Some things to read

Arts and Letters Daily often comes through with interesting articles to read. One from the Chronicle of Higher Education reminds us that 2011 was the 400th anniversary of the printing of the King James
Bible. The article tells the story of how this great work of literature was created. On a lighter note I recommend a book review on Churchill's eating and drinking habits (Johnny Walker Black and champagne).

It's also the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. I read A Tale of Two Cities early in my high school career and enjoyed it thoroughly. I never realized my high school self missed 90% of the novel until I heard it read as an audiobook. Not sure I can wade through the Victorian prose in a read, but I think I'll celebrate the bicentennial by listening to another Dickens novel.

I'm addicted to Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels which mix history with the contemporary action thriller. Scott Brick, the reader, really makes the action come alive. Just finished Arctic Drift which manages to solve global warming and the lost Franklin expedition in one book. The mystery of Franklin's expedition to find the Northwest Passage has always fascinated me. It also plays into my search for the saddest song ever written, the old ballad "Lord Franklin" certainly is a contender. Just discovered in the 10,000 songs on my IPod that Bob Dylan used the music from the old song in "Bob Dylan's Dream."  The original ballad came out about 1852 with music taken from a song called "The Croppy Boy" about the 1798 Irish rising. Wikipedia calls that one of the "saddest ballads of the rebellion."  Here's the lyrics to "Lord Franklin:"

We were homeward bound one night on the deep
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew
With a hundred seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor sailors do sometimes go.
Through cruel hardships they vainly strove
Their ships on mountains of ice were drove
Only the Eskimo with his skin canoe
Was the only one that ever came through
In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
Lord Franklin alone with his sailors do dwell
And now my burden it gives me pain
For my long-lost Franklin I would cross the main
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To know on earth, that my Franklin do live.