The Book of Mormon, redux

.

035) The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition edited by Grant Hardy, finished May 23

I've been a fan of this volume for some time, but this is my first time reading it straight through, no other edition. And let me say: everyone who reads the Book of Mormon should take this edition for a ride.

When I first started reading, I kept finding myself reading more than I intended. Why? It's just pleasant to read. It's nice on the eyes. The headings are genuinely helpful and easy to scan for. The breakdowns of the text those headings signify are sensible and help the stories take shape. The footnotes are minimal and directly connected to the next, rather than interpretive. By which I mean, many of the footnotes in the official LDS edition send you all over the scriptures on themed scavenger hunts---and while there are upsides to that, certainly, the minimal footnotes here help me find the information I'm especially interested in. For instance, if a Mormon or someone quotes a previous speaker, the footnote shows you where that came from. If the English translation can be understood differently depending on punctuation (Joseph Smith did not enforce a particular punctuation), a footnote will provide the alternate.

Hardy has also picked out apparently poetic portions of the BofM and broke the lines accordingly. This encourages a new way of reading that feels more open to the text.

The extratextual features are nice as well. It includes the Three and Eight Witnesses of course, but also Emma Smith and Mary Whitmer.

Hardy himself is a close reader of the Book of Mormon, and his attention to detail is reflected on every page. His close study enables your own.

Anyway. I can't recommend it enough.

one school year


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The other books of 2018

1 – 4

001) Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet Book 3 by Ta-Nehisi Coates &‎ Brian Stelfreeze & al., finished January
002) The Complete Peanuts 1950-2000 by Charles M. Schulz & al., finished January
003) The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, finished January 10
004) El Deafo by Cece Bell, finished January 12

5 – 9

005) Cleopatra in Space: Target Practice by Mike Maihack, finished January 13
006) Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve by Ben Blatt, finished January 15
007) Glister by Andi Watson, finished January 18
008) Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished January 20
009) The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J.R.R. Tolkien, finished January 21

10 – 11

010) The Vision by Tom King et al., finished January 23
011) Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds, finished January 24

16 – 16

012) Anthem by Ayn Rand, finished February 8
013) The City in Which I Love You by Li-Young Lee, finished February 14
014) Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle, finished February 21
015) It Needs to Look Like We Tried by Todd Robert Petersen, finished March 7
016, 017) Fences by August Wilson, finished March 8

18 – 20

018) The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, finished March 13
019) Star Wars Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to a Galaxy Far, Far Away by Tim Leong, finished March 22
020) Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen, finished March 25

21 – 25

021) M Is for Malice by Sue Grafton, finished March 28
022) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany; finished March 31
023) It All Started with Hippocrates: A Mercifully Brief History of Medicine by Richard Armour, finished April 6
024) Don't Bump the Glump by Shel Silverstein, finished April 14
025) Coriolanus by Wm Shakespeare, finished April 16

26 – 32

026) The Trouble with Reality by Brooke Gladstone, finished April 24
027, 28) Coriolanus by William Shakespeare, finished April 26
029) The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost, finished April 28
030) Twisted Tales from Shakespeare by Richard Armour, finished April 28 or April 29 depending on when midnight happened
031) Bless The Child: A Romance of Redemption and Glory in the Ancient World by David J. West, finished May 1
032) The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody by Will Cuppy, finished May 3

32 – 34

032) Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, finished May 9
033) Stargazing Dog by Takashi Murakami, finished May 9
034) Vader Down by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato, finished May 18

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