Moreland and Fleischer or D’Ooge

[Propertius]

Can anyone that’s used those books comment on them? I’ve only looked through D’Ooge’s book and it looks pretty promising. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it asks for Latin-to-English translation (English-to-Latin, or composition, would have made that book a whole lot better). I’ve read that M&F is really tough. I’ve also read that it’s the best book to learn Latin from. Can anyone verify this? Does anyone know of a free version online? Of M&F that is. And how does it compare to D’Ooge’s book?

[pin130]

I've used both books. Your perception is correct. D'Ooge is much the simpler book, the traditional grammar lesson followed by exercises. M&F is more like a review of Latin. It's a steep climb. I've gotten to chapter 8 and am now taking a break from it, back to reading simple enjoyable Latin stories for the time being. One of the problems with textbooks such as M&F (and to some extent Wheelock) is that they feel they must impress the college crowd with abstractions and philosophical thoughts.
Better to teach Latin, I think, with the concrete and material. Reading a Latin sentence is difficult enough without having to encounter the vagaries of someone's individual and non-predictable view of the world. On the positive side, M&F has good grammatical notes. To my knowledge it's not available online.