- Enjoying the Dickens out of ... A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (a Librivox audio book). I think that such familiarity with numerous movie versions of A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist dulled me to an appreciation of Dicken's story telling abilities. I have snickered more than once over some of his sly, cutting lines delivered with apparent innocence. I guess there had to be some reason he kept people coming back to his serials in the papers.
- Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, is a complete delight, especially if you like the Anansi stories as our family does. When read by Henry Lenny the story soars to new heights. He can do a lazy American drawl, old ladies' querulous Jamaican voices, and stuffy British office managers without a hitch. Check your library. That's where I found this treasure.
- The Rock That Is Higher: Story as Truth by Madeleine L'Engle. I'm rereading this, partly prompted by Steven Riddle's reminder that concrete truth is so often found in fictional stories. I also haven't read this book in quite a long time and am enjoying L'Engle's writing and turn of phrase as well.
- Advent through Christmas reading: Watch For The Light. My liking for this book continues. Every author can't hit me equally as well, naturally, but there is enough variety that it prompts thought quite a lot of the time.
- Reading with Tom: Mark: A Devotional Commentary is the book we have settled on for reading right before bed. It has a nice mix of contextual information and devotional commentary ... which has passed muster as being thoughtful, noncondescending, and not too simple. Whew!
- The Rosary: A Path into Prayer by Liz Kelly ... a nice, simple explanation of the rosary and ideas about how to meditate on the various mysteries. Interspersed with these are stories of people, both famous and ordinary, who have valued the rosary.
- Cosmas, or the Love of God (Loyola Classics) by Pierre de Calan ... the only book written by de Calan who was a banker, this story is told by the vocations master at a monastery. His main concern is whether Cosmas' vocation is a true calling. Cosmas has a great deal of trouble reconciling real life and the ordinary human failings he sees at the monastery with his idealized visions of the perfect monastic life. This short book is quite interesting and, although I prefer In This House of Brede as a story of religious vocation, this book will appeal to people who would like something shorter and less involved.
- Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran ... a delightful book about three Iranian sisters who open a restaurant in a small town in Ireland. The townspeople are initially wary but most fall under the spell of their food which has some magical properties ... perhaps similar to Like Water for Chocolate? I didn't like that book and so don't remember much of it. This book, however, I did like very much and recommend as an easy, charming read.
UPDATE
I forgot to mention that there is a recipe between each chapter. Also, thanks to a kind comment from the author I found her website which has information about a sequel and her life story which is just interesting than that of the sisters in the book.
Tags: Catholicism, Christianity
No comments:
Post a Comment