Rules for a Knight

I stumbled across this book during a recent visit to the bookstore.  Frankly, the only reason I bought it was because of the Title.  Since my maiden name is Knight I felt it would be a great coffee table conversation piece.  

A few days after purchasing this book we went on the long drive from Missouri to Alabama to celebrate my Aunt's 97th birthday.   We like to fill the hours on the road by reading to each other.  It makes a dent in the books stacking up on our night stands and inspires conversation alone the way.  

I'll confess hubby wasn't very excited about the book once he realized it was written by the actor and writer Ethan Hawkes for preteens.   I admit that I had no idea who Ethan Hawkes was so I had to do some research on him and his book.  After that I couldn't wait to read it.  Once we got into reading the book we realized it was a book that should be shared with every family with children.  
It teaches through tales of being a Knight all the things that children of our generation  learned from family, teachers and the daily trials of growing up.  

There are 20 Rules For a Knight: 1. Solitude; 2. Humility; 3. Gratitude; 4. Pride; 5. Cooperation; 6. Friendship; 7. Forgiveness; 8. Honesty; 9. Courage; 10. Grace; 11. Patience; 12. Justice; 13. Generosity; 14. Discipline; 15. Dedication; 16. Speech; 17. Faith; 18. Equality; 19. Love; 20. Death. 

 It seems that so many of these twenty rules   have become lost in the busy life of today's parents and children and I believe we need more books like this one.  Heck, if I could afford it I would send one to each of the thirty-five households in my immediate family. 

Should you decide to give this book a try do shop for the best price.  I got my copy at Barnes and Nobel for $18.00 but later found it for $12.73 on Amazon and even less on Ebay.  

In the “Editor’s Note," Hawke explains that the book is his own reconstruction and interpretation of a professor’s literal translation (from Cornish) of a badly damaged letter, purportedly written by a 15th-century knight and Hawke ancestor to his children on the eve of his death in a historical battle, found in the Hawkes’ family farm basement in the early 1970s. Hawke clearly states that the authenticity of the letter has not been conclusively established and that, where he struggled to convey the knight’s thoughts, he borrowed from the writings and expressions of other “knights”, most of whom are 19th- and 20th-century authors, thinkers, leaders, and artists: Emily Dickinson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bob Dylan, Victor Hugo, Vince Lombardi, Nelson Mandela, Thich Nhat Hanh, Anais Nin, River Phoenix, and Mother Teresa, to name just a few. So the book makes no claim to originality or exclusivity.

Since I have been discussing Rules.  This showed up on my Facebook and hit home for me.  Rules number 3, 8,9 and 10 are certainly something I need to work on and part of the reason I decided to get back to blogging.  

Back in January of 2014 I did a post where I announce I was trying to write a book about the weirdness that is my life.  For those who expressed interest  it is still a work in progress.  Emotionally I can only handle writing it in small doses.  Plus, I have changed the format several times which meant starting over.  Not being very computer savvy I even lost the file for a while before realizing I needed an external hard drive to save it too.  Will keep you posted.