Saint Guilhem Cloister |
Happy Sunday! Our next 52 Books Bingo category is the Cloistered Life. Years and years ago when I was a teenager... Why does it sound like the opening crawl to Star Wars? "In a galaxy far far away...." *grin*
No, I did not wish to become a nun when I was younger, but was always fascinated by the idea. Our high school religious class took a field trip to a cloistered convent and it was an interesting experience to say the least. We were allowed to talk to the sisters through a screen in which they could only see us from the waist up, a privacy screen raised in case any outside visitor was inappropriately dressed. They were a giggly group of ladies who enjoyed their simple life of prayer and work inside the convent walls.
The experience stuck with me which is probably why I enjoy stories about hermits and anchorites, monks and nuns, abbeys and monasteries, and lives lived in solitude. Books such as historical fiction The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader, biographical stories such as And Then There Were Nuns by Jane Christmas and Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain, and fictional books such as Dean Koontz's suspense story Innocence in which a young man lives beneath a city in solitude and Louise Penny's The Beautiful Mystery in which Armand Gamache tries to solve a murder within a cloistered monastery.
Delve into books about Cloistered Life, Monks, Hermits, Anchorites or recluses.
Silence in Literature, Catharsis, and Internal Retreats
There are a number of ways to go with this category and you can interpret it anyway you like, so have fun following rabbit trails and see where they lead you.
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Count of Monte Cristo Readalong
Chapter 28. The Prison Register
Chapter 29. The House of Morrel & Son
Chapter 30. The Fifth of September
We are at the end of volume one which ends with chapter 27. How has Dantes changed since the beginning? He's gone from innocence to ...? What happened to the characters in his life during his imprisonment? Who does he save? How will he get his revenge? Share your thoughts and comments on what has taken place so far. Also any favorite quotes if you'd like.
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The cloistered life has fascinated me as well. I look forward to checking out some of those links!
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