Miss Roginski's Reading List for Boys

Nothing goes with a pipe like a good book.

The Princess Bride was a novel before it was a movie, a novel (by William Goldman) which was passed on to me by a friend who had the good grace not to say much about it beforehand. If you like the movie, find the book, if it means crossing rivers and climbing mountains.

For years I had the pleasure of holding The Princess Bride as a kind of secret treasure, known only to a few. My favorite part of the book is barely touched on in the movie (which I'm not knocking... our whole family love it), that is, the story of the Six-Fingered Sword and the rise of Inigo Montoya as the Greatest Swordsman Who Ever Lived. It is only after having fed on the rich history of the legendary Inigo and his singular blade that one can hope to truly appreciate the momentous and earth-shaking significance of his duel with the Man in Black atop the Cliffs of Insanity.

But I'm gushing.

Early in the book we are given a fantastic preface, in which Goldman lays the mythical groundwork for The Princess Bride as written by the immortal S. Morgenstern, the greatest literary genius of Florinese culture.

As part of this preface, we are introduced to one Miss Roginski, a flummoxed elementary school teacher doing her best to deal with a very bright but very contentedly underachieving schoolboy.

In short, thanks to his father, the boy develops a love for adventure stories, and Miss Roginski gamely meets the challenge of his growing appetite for literature. She recommends authors and books, and just for fun I have - armed with my trusty pipe - been working through the list to make sure I have read them all. I just finished Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - a story most Westerners know, but I think surprisingly few have actually read. It's so short, more a pamphlet than a book, and it cost me all of a quarter at the local used bookshop. Incidentally, our man Chesterton thought very highly of Mr. Stevenson.

The thing is, to become a man, it's preferable first to be a boy, and I maintain that no boyhood is complete without knowledge of these authors' works (Thanks, Miss Roginski!);

Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped

Sir Walter Scott

Ivanhoe, Rob Roy

James Fenimore Cooper

The Last of the Mohicans, Leatherstocking Tales

Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo

Victor Hugo

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables

Comments

[Del]

I too had the joy of reading The Princess Bride, long before the movie.

I thought the movie did rather well at catching the flavor of the book... but, oh! there was so much missing!

Read the book. READ IT!

[Lee]

The movie left out the robins! (one of the many little tidbits in the book that I loved)

[Barbara]

A very profound book. Gets its points across with humor. Movies are always a disappointment. Glad I read the book before I saw the movie.
Inigo is Spanish for Ignatius. Any thoughts on a possible reference to St. Ignatius of Loyola? Both swordsman, both Spaniards. Roginski? Rogatory from the French rogatoire, Med. Latin rogatorius, Latin, rogare = to ask or supplicate. See rogation and Rogation Days.
Chesterton undoubtedly admired RLS for his defense of then Father Damien, now St. Damien. Pray for GKC's cause!
Here is a great site: www.artofmanliness.com with lists of books
for men and men in the making. Naturally it includes Miss Roginski's - or did they incorporate hers? I favor the latter!
Although the site could use a TLBC nudge about the manliness of Christian faith à la JPII, and you gentlemen, of course. Note the success of the Knights of Columbus and the Society of Jesus was conceived of as an order of chivalry, setting off to reconquer minds and hearts.
You need a ladies auxiliary - did your heroes marry interesting women or what? Don't tell me they weren't fascinating, and trying men to live with!
ing

[Artaban]

How could you forget the Zoo of Death?! "The Princess Bride" holds the distinction of being my most loaned (and least often returned) reading suggestion. I've "given" away six or seven copies.

[Shakespeare's Cobbler - who forgot how to log in]

Incidentally, Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth (if I'm spelling that right) was also quite excellent. The plotline isn't as commonly beloved as Ivanhoe, nor all the characters as famed, but it has... well, pretty much at least a couple of its stars are geeks!!