How to be a writer on $10,000 a year

I have been been reading Boswell's Life of Johnson, and it's quite fascinating. I'm up to Johnson going to London to try to make a living as a writer. Boswell records a hypothetical budget that one of Johnson's friends had explained to him:

Thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at eighteen-pence a week; few people would inquire where he lodged; and if they did, it was easy to say, "Sir, I am to be found at such a place." By spending three-pence in a coffeehouse, he might be for some hours every day in very good company; he might dine for six-pence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without supper.

Samuel Johnson in 1772

Let's break that down:

Item	Per day	Per week	Per year
Clothes		4 s.	£ 10
Rent		18 d.	£ 4
Food	7 d.	4 s.	£ 10
Coffee	3 d.	18 d.	£ 4

Now, this website tells me that £1 in 1750 would be the equivalent of £190 today, and this in turn equates to A$350. This gives us an annual budget of $10,000:

Item	Per day	Per week	Per year
Clothes		$70	$3,500
Rent		$30	$1,500
Food	$10	$70	$3,500
Coffee	$4	$30	$1,500

For a writer in Melbourne, the coffee works out about right. The food budget would be roughly equivalent – $2 a day will give you bread and milk for breakfast, while $8 will fill you up in Chinatown. Unfortunately, one would be hard pressed to find accommodation at even the most dingiest dive for $30 a week. The clothes budget, both then and now, is wildly disproportionate.

Books Kara read in 2013

 With our new little boy, Zephaniah.

Total read: 36

Fewer than in 2012, but I had other fun things to do, like growing a baby and living with an energetic toddler!

So here they are, with occasional comments. I've only linked to reviews, this time.

The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton

Already Gone by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer

The Lord our Shepherd by J. Douglas MacMillan

They Found a Cave by Nan Chauncy

Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity by Mark A. Noll (my review here)

Thunder on the Right by Mary Stewart

Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement by Kathryn Joyce (John's review here)
Maddeningly unreferenced and anecdotal. Misunderstands her subject on key points, particularly missing the point of Christian self-sacrificial living.

Leepike Ridge by N. D. Wilson (John's review here)

The Puritan Experiment in the New World (1976 Westminster Conference papers)

My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart
I liked it until the last couple of chapters. Not recommended.

Talking About Dragons by William Chad Newsom
Nothing much new here.

Fit to Burst by Rachel Jankovic
Excellent, gospel-centred mothering book. I like her sense of humour and imaginative illustrations.

Standing on the Promises by Douglas Wilson
Best parenting book I've read.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Ride Like an Indian by Henry V. Larom
Children's book that reads like it was written by a health and safety committee. What kid sterilizes his knife before becoming blood brothers with his best friend?

Evening in the Palace of Reason by James Gaines.
Fascinating double biography of J.S. Bach and Frederick the Great.

Asterix the Gladiator

Asterix and the Actress

Family-Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham (John's review here)

Wordsmithy by Douglas Wilson

The Four by Peter Leithart

The Light Princess by George MacDonald

Classical Education and the Homeschool by Wes Callihan, Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson
Short, helpful introduction to the subject.

Monet by Jude Welton (Eyewitness Art series)

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

The Autobiography of G.K. Chesterton

Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher

The Dean's Watch by Elizabeth Goudge
I fear she didn't believe in the resurrection.

Aunt's Aren't Gentlemen by P.G. Wodehouse

A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola
Charlotte Mason isn't God. Sometimes Andreola sounds like she thinks differently.

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

Empire of Bones by N.D. Wilson (John's review here)
This series keeps getting better. Fascinating incorporation of theology into story.

The Last Judgement by Iain Pears

Death By Living by N.D. Wilson
If you read Empire of Bones, you need to read this too.

The Classical Cookbook by Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger

The Lord's Service by Jeff Meyers
Not uniformly convincing, but still very helpful in thinking through liturgical matters.

Kara's Reading Goals for 2014

It's that fun time of the year again. Book lists! Here are twelve books I plan to read in the coming year.

Books that are presents from my husband:

True Companion by Nancy Wilson Finished in June
This is a reworking of the Pastor's Wife e-mails that Nancy has been writing for the past few years. I find her advice biblical and practical.

The Book Lover's Cookbook
A present for our fourth anniversary.

Devotional books:

The Pastor's Wife by Sabina Wurmbrand
I'm reading this as a companion to John's Lenten reading.

Pulpit and Communion Table by John Duncan
This will be my Sunday book.

Books on Raising Children:

Instructing a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp

Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum by Laura Berquist Finished in March
I like to read one book on homeschooling every year. This one is from a Catholic perspective.

Christian Living:

Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by Crystal Paine Finished in March
This is written by a childhood friend.

Holy is the Day by Carolyn Weber Finished in January
This looks like another book about motherhood burnout, which seems a popular topic these days. But I'm interested because her book Surprised by Oxford was so good.

Children's books:

Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff  Finished in February
Illustrated by Alan Lee.

Boys of Blur by N.D. Wilson Finished in April
I like this author so much that I think I'll be reading anything he writes from now on.

Bible Study:

How to Read the Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken
I attempted this last year. Maybe I'll finish this time!

Exegetical Fallacies by D.A. Carson
This book is about things like the etymological fallacy.

20 books John plans to read in 2014

See my previous years' lists: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. Last year I listed 25 books; I have finished 17 of them, and am currently reading another five. Altogether, I read 83 books in 2013.

Anyway, here is my so-called "shelfie":

Five novels:
Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin by P. G. Wodehouse ✔13th Feb.

I include a Wodehouse book on my reading list every year. This will be the 22nd one I have read.
The Dean's Watch by Elizabeth Goudge ✔25th Oct.

I read City of Bells by the same author in 2012.
The Mackerel Plaza by Peter de Vries ✔25th Aug.

In his Dutch Calvinism in Modern America, James Bratt describes Peter de Vries as a "secular Jeremiah, a Christian Reformed Church missionary to the smart set."
The Immaculate Deception by Iain Pears ✔22nd Feb.

This is part of a series of detective novels set in the art world. The protagonists are an English art dealer and his girlfriend, who is a member of the police art squad in Rome.
Scimitar's Edge by Marvin Olasky ✔19th Mar.

Olasky is best known as the editor of WORLD magazine, but among many other books, he has also written this novel.

Five theological books:

An Old Testament Theology by Bruce Waltke

I have a particular interest in the Old Testament, and aim to read one book like this a year.
Through his Eyes: God's Perspective on Women in the Bible by Jerram Barrs ✔11th Feb.

This book discusses about twenty different women in the Bible. This book will, I think, help me in my doctoral thesis, which is on the portrayal of women in the Book of Samuel.
The Four: A Survey of the Gospels by Peter Leithart ✔28th Dec.

I really like Leithart, and this book seems to be in the same vein as his Deep Exegesis, which I read a few years ago.
The Hope Fulfilled: Essays in Honor of O. Palmer Robertson ✔31st Jul.

I generally enjoy Festschriften, and this one has a really interesting collection of essays.  

"Right Reason" and the Princeton Mind: An Unorthodox Proposal by Paul Kjoss Helseth ✔11th Feb.

I am reading the Princetonians in some depth this summer, presently engaged with Charles Hodge's The Way of Life as well as Archibald Alexander's Thoughts on Religious Experience. The "unorthodox proposal" in this book is that the Princetonians were consistently Reformed thinkers rather than Enlightenment rationalists.

Five more Christian books:
Death by Living by N. D. Wilson ✔10th Jan.

I love Wilson's fiction (see my reviews of Empire of Bones and Leepike Ridge) and this looks like it is just as good.
Holy is the Day: Living in the Gift of the Present by Carolyn Weber ✔29th Jan.

Weber's Surprised by Oxford was excellent (see Kara's review) so I am keen to read this, even though the topic doesn't seem as interesting. 
Family Shepherds: Calling and Equipping Men to Lead Their Homes by Voddie Baucham ✔18th Apr.

I appreciated Baucham's Family Driven Faith (see my review) and this book is rather relevant for me.

Defending Constantine by Peter Leithart

Yes, Leithart is the lone writer to appear twice on this year's list. He argues in this book that Constantine was a genuine convert to Christianity.
Sermons in Solitary Confinement by Richard Wurmbrand ✔26th Mar.

Wurmbrand was a Romanian Christian pastor imprisoned from 1948 to 1956 (including three years in solitary confinement) and again from 1959 to 1964. After his release he left Romanian and founded the Voice of the Martyrs organization. This book will be my Lenten reading for 2014.

Five miscellaneous books:
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson ✔23rd Apr.

This book was published around 25 years ago, but I'm sure it will yield some fascinating insights. 
Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff ✔29th Jul.

Hanff is best known for her wonderful 84, Charing Cross Road. (I never realised until now that there was a comma in the title!) This book seems to be a prequel of sorts. The "Q" referred to in the title is Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.
Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life by Douglas Wilson ✔18th Jan.

I don't particularly regard myself as an aspiring writer, but Wilson is usually fun to read.
The Dreams of the Witch House And Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft ✔30th Aug.

I have read a few Lovecraft stories, although now I think of him mostly in connection to Arkham Horror, which is one of my favourite board games.
Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings by  Charles Hapgood ✔9th Oct.

Hapgood argues that the Piri Reis map provides evidence of global exploration by an as yet undiscovered pre-classical civilization.

Nobody seemed to like him much but we think he's great

Gordon H. Clark: Personal Recollections

Gordon Clark was a 20th-century American Christian philosopher and theologian. This is a book published a few years after his death by The Trinity Foundation, an organisation dedicated to promoting his work. This volume is a collection of reminiscences by people who knew Clark.

This is a rather strange book. Again and again reference is made to people who disagreed with Clark, disliked him, and even doubted his Christian faith. One slowly gets an idea of why that might have been the case, but this volume lacks an explanation of the issues involved. It would also have been improved by a balanced assessment of Clark's life and thought.

Here are some representative quotes:

• "Many people found Gordon Clark to be a hard man: cold, ruthless, blunt, unsympathetic, disdainful." (p. 19)
• "His many books testify to his faith. Yet, sadly, even almost to the end of his life, there were those who were skeptical of his salvation." (p. 23)
• "My Apologetics professor had Dr. Clark explain his philosophy to our class one session. After Dr. Clark completed his lecture, responded to questions, and left, the professor said his method of apologetics was heresy and no one would likely come to salvation after hearing the Gospel preached by Dr. Clark." (p. 69)
• "None of the authors I read mentioned Clark very favorably. Some had written before Clark's time; others ignored him; a few made disparaging remarks." (p. 96)

One further claim arrested my attention. Ronald Nash says (p. 87),

From the year when J. Gresham Machen died (1937) to the first publications of Henry and Carnell after World War II, Clark stood almost alone for the set of essential beliefs that came to serve as the foundation of evangelical scholarship in the 1950s. Others who may have shared Clark's convictions neglected the vital matter of getting those views into print.

This is simply not true. It didn't take me long to find some counter-examples:

• O. T. Allis, The Five Books of Moses (1943) and Prophecy And The Church (1945)
• Louis Berkhof, Summary of Christian Doctrine (1938)
• Loraine Boettner, The Person of Christ (1943)
• William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors (1940)

The last book mentioned is significant, since it was the first book published by Baker.  

Gordon H. Clark: Personal Recollections includes numerous frank acknowledgements of Clark's weaknesses, but it does seem to be a little starry-eyed in its assessment of him.

Keller 5, Critics 3

Engaging with Keller: Thinking Through the Theology of an Influential Evangelical

This is a book of essays critiquing certain aspects of Tim Keller's theology. It is written by Presbyterian ministers, acknowledging that Keller is committed to Reformed orthodoxy (p. 20) but taking issue with the way he has chosen to express certain things (p. 21). Now, I like Keller (and have for the last fifteen years) but I found this book surprisingly convincing.

Of course, there are three levels at which one must be convinced:

1. Does Keller really say these things?
2. Is he wrong?
3. Does it matter?

There is no question that the book is accurately portraying Keller's ideas, and the critics seem to be on the right side on some of the points discussed. As to how important Keller's unfortunate phraseology is, I'm not sure. Nor am I sure that it was worth writing a book about it.

Anyway, here are the chapters of the volume, with a running score:

Introduction – the editors do a fine job defending the publication of the book, but I am still uneasy. Is it really worth the effort? The editors asked Keller to write responses (p. 22), but he was too busy. That's a real shame, I think, and at this stage the points are shared.

Keller ½, Critics ½

Sin – when Keller talks to "moderns" he talks about sin as disobedience, but in preaching to postmoderns he emphasises sin as being idolatry. Are we allowed to emphasise different aspects of biblical truth like that? I see no reason not to.

Keller 1½, Critics ½

Hell – following C. S. Lewis, Keller argues that people in hell are there because they chose to be. Now, this may be a simple case of emphasis (as with the previous point) but Keller seems to be downplaying the idea of God condemning people to hell in such a way as to make me think this is a fair criticism.

Keller 1½, Critics 1½

Trinity – Keller describes the persons of the Trinity has being in a  "divine dance". Kevin Bidwell ably demonstrates that this is not the same as perichoresis, and that it isn't a great illustration.

Keller 1½, Critics 2½

Mission – Keller's vision is of the Church being involved in social justice and community relief work. But this is not so much church work as kingdom work, as Keller himself acknowledges (p. 156). Points are shared here as well.

Keller 2, Critics 3

Hermeneutics – Keller has a tendency to base his ideas on his readings of parables, which is a perilous exercise. But they shouldn't be regarded as off limits for Christian doctrine, and it's not enough to say they are intended to be ambiguous (p. 178). I'm giving this one to Keller.

Keller 3, Critics 3

Evolution – Keller is relatively happy for Christians to accept evolution in some sense, as long as they hold to a literal, historical Adam. That strikes me a precisely where we need to draw the line in the sand. Keller again.

Keller 4, Critics 3

Ecclesiology – D. G. Hart, perhaps the most notable of the critics, rounds out the volume with a shocker. In contrast to the generally irenic tone of the volume, Hart accuses Keller of breaking his ordination vows by co-operating with non-Presbyterians (p. 235).

Keller 5, Critics 3

In conclusion, I hope Keller takes on board some of the criticisms expressed in this volume. But there isn't anything here that would make me counsel people against reading Keller's books.

Once again, brilliant Christian story-telling

Empire of Bones by N. D. Wilson

This is the third volume in the Ashtown Burials series. Reviews of this book are a little superfluous. If you have read the first two, you will want to read Empire of Bones, and you will love it. If you haven't read any book in the series yet, you will need to start with The Dragon's Tooth.

Yet I do need to say something about how I love this series so much, and the recent publication of this volume is an excellent opportunity to do so. I want to mention five important themes in the series, that came out in the book in particular.

Firstly, the series is distinctly Christian, and this became slightly more explicit in this book (e.g. p. 333). There is an atonement of sorts, and it has a similar feel to that of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Secondly, as Suzannah Rowntree has astutely pointed out, the Order of Brendan in the book series is used as a metaphor of the Church. This is developed a bit more in Empire of Bones, and we start to see the fuzzy edges of the concept, such the existence of different denominations, and the presence of people who view the Order as a club rather than a calling (p. 313).

Thirdly, Wilson draws heavily on the Old Testament's Book of Daniel. The central character of the book is a boy named Cyrus, who (like his biblical namesake) is a Messiah-figure. His brother, Daniel, is a prophetic figure, and the book contains a significant prophecy about "seventy weeks".

Fourthly, Wilson explores the theme of death in this series, and especially this book. Again and again reference is made to the blessing of mortality. As one transmortal character is told (p. 103), "You fall and you rise and you fall again, but your inner war can never leave off, it can never stay won. Mortals weren't made for it. We were made to run and hit the finish." This is also something that Wilson has been exploring in his non-fiction writing – see this video, for example.

Fifthly, this book is strong on the theme of family, especially fatherhood. There are lots of interesting family dynamics and exploration of the differences between girls and boys (e.g. p. 142).

Finally, I detected a couple of interesting influences in N. D. Wilson's writing that I hadn't seen before. The other day I happened upon a review he had written of Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization many years ago. Wilson had sounded convinced, and his appreciation of Celtic Christianity comes through in Empire of Bones. Also,there is a hint of the Eastern Orthodox concept of the "Holy Fool" (p. 430).

Empire of Bones is brilliant writing. Wilson draws on a wide range of sources, but so much of it is original. This is an imagination most fertile.