What I've Been Reading Lately: The Mostly 5-Star Stuff

Some quick looks at books I've enjoyed lately which you may not hear talked about much.


The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a superbly written book which gives you excellent insight into what it would have been like to live back in the 1300s, by the simple method of acting as a travel book for your trip through time. I had several stereotypes upset (they did like to bathe and noticed people who smelled bad), was made to think of things which never occurred to me (such as how bad a pothole really can get), and most of all was able to relate to the human beings who lived in those days.

As is often the case, what we find is that human beings are still the same now as then, in our loves, hobbies, fears, and ambitions. Most of all I appreciated the author taking the trouble to remind us that these were real people who felt as we do. He didn't dwell on it excessively or bring it up often, but when he did it was just what was needed to jolt me out of my modern "superiority."


The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a book my mother has long tried to get me to read since it was a childhood favorite of hers. Over the years I have heard it was also a favorite of C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, G.K. Chesterton and (possibly) J.R.R. Tolkien. With all that going for it, you'd think I'd have jumped on the bandwagon long ago.

It took me finding this LibriVox recording from one of my favorite narrators who has lamentably few books recorded, Andy Minter. He is simply superb. I get that delicious feeling of being a child snuggled down for a story being read by a favorite uncle as I am listening. It was funny, sweet, exciting, and was very enjoyable indeed.


One Bright Star to Guide Them by John C. Wright

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not sure how Wright did this. This novella picks up the idea of what happens when the children who were once engaged on a grand adventure (a la The Lion and the Wardrobe) reach middle age. The adventure has been sublimated to the necessities of adult life. When the call goes out for their heroic talents how will they respond? What will be the consequences for each of them? And for the rest of the world?

This is a very deep story with much to ponder and it promises rich enjoyment upon rereading. I now want the sequel.


Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy by Douglas A. Anderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an anthology of short stories (specifically fantasy) that J.R.R. Tolkien read and which could have sparked his imagination. It is the sort of book where I don't feel I have to painstakingly read every story if one isn't the sort I like. A quick skimming is perfectly adequate to give me the gist.

I've been surprised at how many of the stories I have enjoyed and how many have a fresh, modern feel considering how old they are (most from 1919 and earlier).

I also enjoyed the author's story introductions and the fact that he didn't try to force the idea that Tolkien read each of these or that each influenced him. It is enough that this is the fantasy atmosphere which was floating around during his formative and reading years before he began writing.


Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction by Douglas A. Anderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


As with this editor's Tales Before Tolkien, this collection presents not only tales Lewis read but those which would have been in the current story environment when he was growing up. A really wonderful collection and one which I enjoyed thoroughly, all the moreso for the inclusion of short stories by some of Lewis's fellow Inklings who are lesser known.

I didn't feel I had to painstakingly read every story if one wasn't the sort I like. A quick skimming was perfectly adequate to give me the gist. If one approaches it that way then you will probably like it just as much as I did.


H.P. Lovecraft's Favorite Weird Tales: The Roots of Modern Horror by Douglas A. Anderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I come to this book via two influences. The first is that of The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast which, when they finished discussing all of Lovecraft's writing, then proceeded to read the authors and stories mentioned in his influential essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature. Hence, I've heard many of these stories discussed even though I haven't read them.

Secondly, this was a logical progression after reading Douglas A. Anderson's Tales Before Narnia and Tales Before Tolkien, both of which I greatly enjoyed.

This collection earns an additional star than Anderson's other anthologies simply because I am enjoying every single story in it. That speaks more to my enjoyment of weird tales than to Anderson's selection but it is a fact that this is the collection I'll be buying and rereading in the future.


The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If there is a God, then why is there so much suffering and pain in the world?

This is a common problem brought up by atheists and C. S. Lewis says it was a problem for him before he became Christian. Somehow it's not a question that ever bothered me whether I believed or didn't. So I welcomed the premise of the book since that's a question that always stops me in my tracks. I also was happy to see my library had it available on audio.

This is one of those books that pulls no punches. In his trademark style, Lewis applies logic, common sense, and his considerable breadth of knowledge to the question. Whether he convinces any unbelievers or not, I don't know. But he includes so much that I either agreed with or found to be "mooreeffoc" thinking that I now want to get the print version for leisurely rereading.

Well Said: Before we commit a sin ...

Before we commit a sin, Satan assures us that it is of no consequence; after we commit a sin, he persuades us that it is unforgivable.

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

And there we have the Father of Lies' interference in our lives brilliantly summed up. What is worse, we know these things and we still listen. Or at least I do. I am very lucky that my conscience or guardian angel or the Holy Spirit are all there to whisper in my other ear, reminding me of reality.

And if I am very determined and allowed the grace to do so, I make my choices determined not by what I'd like, what would be easy, what I want ... but by that reality. Every time I do I'm the better for it. What gets me is why it never seems to get easier.

Blogging Around: Informative Edition

What Many Catholics Don't Know About Divorce and Receiving Communion

I was as surprised as Deacon Greg to find that many people don't know this basic fact:

Let me state this plainly: if you are divorced but have not remarried, and have no mortal sins to confess, you can receive communion. Simply being divorced does not bar you from the Eucharist.

He's got more but that's the gist. The very important gist.

Braving Ebola

Via GetReligion comes this pointer to an excellent NYTimes photo essay of those who labor and those who survived at an Ebola treatment center in rural Liberia. Informative. Inspirational. Humbling.

The Kenyan Bishops Expose WHO and Unicef

From Pia de Solanni:

... the Bishops of Kenya issued what appeared to be a courageous statement exposing a clandestine population control program disguised as a tetanus vaccine program.

I hadn't heard of this until now and, like Pia, feel it goes hand-in-hand with the much better publicized story of the 11 women who died after being paid to undergo sterilization in India. Do go read Pia's posts because she has some good points about what this says about how women are viewed in many cultures and the value of NFP (Natural Family Planning) whose high success rates seem to be a well kept secret.

"Blue Bloods" Runs Cold on Church's Treatment of Homosexuals

I'm not a Blue Bloods fan myself, but I know a lot of Catholics who appreciate their relatively positive portrayal of Catholicism on the show. It seems that they decided to get "edgy" and take on the Church's stance on homosexuals. I can't speak to this, as I say, since I don't watch. This piece on the episode is worth reading because not only is the author a regular viewer but also represents the Church's teachings well when discussing the episode. (Thanks to regular commenter Mack Hall for the heads up on this one.)

But in “Burning Bridges,” the episode that aired Oct. 10, Goldberg and Co. decided to mount a full, frontal assault on the Church and her teaching on homosexuality. But it was an anemic one, as my anger ultimately gave way to amusement: It was evident that the producers and script writer were too afraid to give the Church real equal time in addressing the controversy.

Blogging Around: Priests Who Forsake Their Vows and Adultery

Priests who forsake their vows and the women who love them

Deacon Greg at The Deacon's Bench points out a New York Times story "Support groups spring up for women in love with priests." Most interesting of all for me were Deacon Greg's comments on this.

Adultery is not the only option

Jennifer Fitz at Sticking the Corners uses Deacon Greg's story as a springboard to consider this fact: The temptation to adultery is boringly common.

She gives us five things "grown-ups do to avoid letting that falling-in-love impulse get out of control." Here's a snippet from #4, which is about removing yourself from the scene of temptation. This applies to much more than inappropriate romantic impulses.

People will go on and on about how if only you were a good Christian with a pure heart, you could lay down naked in a locked room with the most attractive person in the world, and never think or do one impure thing. Well that’s true as far as it goes, but you aren’t that good of a Christian. Get over yourself. Do like the rest of us wannabes and flee temptation.

Tales of Terror - read by Victor Garber

Tales of Terror Collection: A Night in Whitechapel, Was It a Dream?, Caterpillars, John Mortonson's Funeral by E.F. Benson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Night in Whitechapel" - Guy de Maupassant
When two young men make a trek to London on a cold December evening, they expect to take in the city and maybe a pub or two along the way. But a chance encounter with a mysterious woman soon has them questioning not only the proceedings of their evening but their sanity as well.

"Was It a Dream?" - Guy de Maupassant
A young man recounts the tragic death of his love, claimed by an unknown illness. In his grief, he wanders the cemetery where she is buried to find a dark secret that she, and many other corpses, share.

"Caterpillars" - E.F. Benson
A man recalls his terrifying stay at a haunted Italian villa. You will never look at caterpillars in the same way.

"John Mortonson’s Funeral" - Ambrose Bierce
The mourners at this funeral will be forever changed.

This collection is well named. All of these tales have a certain creepiness factor that will leave your skin crawling if you think about them too much. They also have the virtue of not being the usual "classic" horror tales included in most anthologies, although they are by authors acknowledged as master storytellers.

What enhances the subtlety and creeping horror is Victor Garber's soft spoken narration. As any good actor would, he reads each tale differently to reflect its own character, but never with obvious technique that draws the listener away from the story itself. My favorite was "Was It a Dream?" in which the protagonist's lovelorn state gradually gives way to shuddering fear in the graveyard. The transition was so seamless that I couldn't tell you when it happened and by the end of the tale I myself was horror stricken.

The collection is short, clocking in at slightly more than an hour, but it is choice. Definitely recommended.

NOTE
I received this audio as a review copy for SFFaudio. My love for Victor Garber and these tales is my uninfluenced own opinion (if you can count loving the first two seasons of Alias as no sort of influence at all).

Weekend Comic: Mustache Power!

And we're thankful!

Both for Tom Selleck's super-power and Doug Savage's permission to share this comic!

Well Said: Saints and Constellations

The saints bring to light in creative fashion quite new human potentialities… The saints are themselves the living spaces into which one can turn. ... One might say that the saints are, so to speak, new Christian constellations, in which the richness of God’s goodness is reflected. Their light, coming from God, enables us to know better the interior richness of God’s great light.

Pope Benedict XVI

Having just been deeply influenced by reading about Satoko Kitahara this quote rings very true.

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Or the Protestant Reformation!

Scott and Julie talk about the history of the Catholic Church and how it applies to our lives today in The Catholic Church Through the Ages by John Vidmar, OP. Get it at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Well Said: What God Seeks

God neither seeks or asks anything more of us than that we willingly love him, avoid all that offends him, and always and everywhere give him thanks.

Thomas a Kempis

Oh, well, ok. If that's all.

It sounds easy until you start to think about what it encompasses. And you pretty quickly realize it encompasses everything in your life. You will be remade if you agree with what God asks.

Is it worth it?

Indubitably.

But it ain't always easy.

Well Said: The misunderstandings between Britain and America

Half the misunderstandings between Britain and America are due to the fact that neither will regard the other as what it is — in an important sense of the word — a foreign country. Each thinks of the other as part of itself which has somehow gone off the lines.

John Buchan

Isn't that an interesting observation and one made by a Canadian. I didn't realize until just recently that John Buchan was not only an author of "every man" adventure tales but a highly placed Canadian government official. That makes his observation even more amusing and, dare I say even at this later day, truer.

Worth a Thousand Words: Gray Seal

Gray Seal
taken by Remo Savisaar

First of all, look at those crazy balancing powers!

Second of all, it is as if someone posed those two shapes deliberately to complement and offset each other in the photo. Simply amazing.

Leave It to Computer Geeks to Understand the Pope on Evolution

Ars Technica is one of my husband's regular stops on the internet. They are a lively community who are more likely to argue about computer coding technique than about Catholicism.

However, they took notice when Pope Francis talked about evolution and science. The Ars Technica report was a fine piece of straight forward reporting which dealt very well with the history of the Church and evolution.

Even the comments are pretty much on target. Under the article is a "Promoted comment" that is really good. A promoted comment "gives Ars editors and writers the ability to “promote” a reader comment from the comments section to the bottom of the actual story. We will now endeavor to promote the best one or two comments from reader discussions into the story, with an eye toward one goal: making you the most informed readers in tech. This means that we’ll promote the best comments, not necessarily the comments that agree with our reporting. It's our hope that this practice will help raise the signal-to-noise ratio in article discussions by celebrating the best comments.

It was a real pleasure to read such interested reporting and comments after seeing the mess that regular media and hostile blogs made of the Pope's address. Do go to the link and read it.

Well Said: Christ and Cultural Catholics

Jesus Christ did not come to suffer and die so that he could make "cultural Catholics."

Archbishop José Gomez, Los Angeles

That's gotta sting.

And it is meant to. I know a surprising number of people who say they are Catholic but never observe their faith. Being Catholic isn't like being Italian, it follows you wherever you go. Cultural Catholics are the lukewarm of their faith, not caring enough to cast off the "Catholic label" or to live it.

And we know how God feels about being lukewarm.

So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Revelation 3:16

Whoever has ears ought to hear ...

The Smile of a Ragpicker by Paul Glynn, S.M.

The Smile of a Ragpicker: The Life of Satoko Kitahara Convert and Servant of the Slums of Tokyo by Fr Paul Glynn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Satoko Kitahara was a young Japanese woman born to a wealthy family with a prestigious heritage. In 1947 she, like so many of her contemporaries, had a feeling that life contained nothing but pointless emptiness after her country was defeated. Then one day she wandered into a Catholic church for the first time in her life and was drawn to a plain plaster statue of Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes.

This was the very first time I had seen a statue of the Blessed Mother. Drawn, I know not why, to enter that church, I gazed on the statue, sensing the presence of a very attractive force that I could not explain. I had always experienced a vague but strong yearning for the Pure. It was not something I could describe in words but it was definitely with me from childhood. ...

That encounter led to investigating Catholicism and conversion, which made her a definite oddity in post-war Japan.

Fr. Glynn tells us how Satoko lived her faith so completely that she remains a well known heroine for Japanese of all religious persuasions. As Satoko strove to follow Christ to the fullest extent she wound up becoming the "Mary of Ants Town," living with with the destitute in a shanty town in a public park where subsistence living came from ragpicking. One might call Satoko Kitahara the "Mother Teresa" of Tokyo to get an idea of the depth of her Christian example.

Father Glynn does an excellent job of bringing the reader into Japanese sensibilities and mind set so that we understand Satoko's life. In a broad sense, it is like a sequel to his more famous novel A Song for Nagasaki about Takashi Nagai. In that book we got a history of Catholicism in Japan along with Nagai's life story. The Smile of a Ragpicker brings us a deeper view of Japanese spirituality and the spirit of the country after losing World War II. I thought I knew a lot about such things already but Glynn's lyrical descriptions gave me a much deeper understanding.

She stood there for some time, both repelled and attracted by this ugly place that was home for one hundred people. The dingy huts were built from odds and ends, the bare earth was a festering mess of mud, puddles and rubbish. Some roughly dressed men and women had emptied a big cart full of rubbish collected from city bins and were now sorting it, indifferent to her presence. Suddenly she found herself doing something so typically Japanese. She lifted her eyes from the squalor, focusing them on the serenely flowing Sumida, and then on across the river to Mukojima, where cherry trees flung up bare limbs in silent prayer for spring to come quickly. Silhouettes of rooftops and chimneys stood out sharply against the opaque winter sky. "It was like a Sesshu sumie painting," she writes. "I was moved by the beauty of the setting.

This is a rich story on many levels. I especially appreciated the way gruff, rough anti-religious Mitsui was just as influential in Satoko's spiritual growth as she was on his. That was a surprise but one that was only possible because Satoko was so open to following God in every way she could.

Among the other surprises I encountered were:

• A Polish history lesson also, all wrapped around Brother Zeno and (wait for it) Maximilian Kolbe. In all the stories I've read of this saint somehow the fact that he went to Japan and founded a ministry there (before returning to Poland and his well known eventual martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis) completely escaped me. Fascinating.
• There was a special Japanese - Polish connection after World War I due to an effort to return orphans to Poland.
• The Japanese people's famous sense of wonder and appreciation of beauty allows them to appreciate grandeur even in the midst of disaster such as an air raid.

On a personal level I cannot stress enough the effect this gentle saintly girl's story continues to have on me. I won't go into details here but her honesty in her spiritual journey, her complete faith and dedication, and her love of Mary affected me deeply.

This is a simply wonderful book that I will read many times in the future. I can't recommend it highly enough.

All Saints Day (Holy Day of Obligation): We Must All Desire to Be Saints

Reposted from last year ... because it still holds true for me.

The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs (about 1423-24), Fra Angelico, via Wikipedia

Therefore, another one of those times that turned out to be historical, as far as my own soul is concerned, was when Lax and I were walking down Sixth Avenue, one night in the spring. The Street was all torn up and trenched and banked high with dirt and marked out. with red lanterns where they were digging the subway, and we picked our way along the fronts of the dark little stores, going downtown to Greenwich Village. I forget what we were arguing about, but in the end Lax suddenly turned around and asked me the question:

“What do you want to be, anyway?”

I could not say, “I want to be Thomas Merton the well-known writer of all those book reviews in the back pages of the Times Book Review,” or “Thomas Merton the assistant instructor of Freshman English at the New Life Social Institute for Progress and Culture,” so I put the thing on the spiritual plane, where I knew it belonged and said:

“I don’t know; I guess what I want is to be a good Catholic.”

“What do you mean, you want to be a good Catholic?”

The explanation I gave was lame enough, and ex pressed my confusion, and betrayed how little I had really thought about it at all.

Lax did not accept it.

“What you should say”– he told me — ”what you should say is that you want to be a saint.”

A saint! The thought struck me as a little weird. I said:

“How do you expect me to become a saint?”

“By wanting to,” said Lax, simply.

“I can’t be a saint,” I said, “I can’t be a saint.” And my mind darkened with a confusion of realities and unrealities: the knowledge of my own sins, and the false humility which makes men say that they cannot do the things that they must do, cannot reach the level that they must reach: the cowardice that says: “I am satisfied to save my soul, to keep out of mortal sin,” but which means, by those words: “I do not want to give up my sins and my attachments.”

Lax said: “All that is necessary to be a saint is to want to be one. Don’t you believe that God will make you what He created you to be, if you will consent to let him do it? All you have to do is desire it.”

Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain

Looking back I see that I have posted the quote about desiring to be a saint every year.

Finally having listened to most of The Seven Storey Mountain, though, I know that the context provided by Merton's confession of inner thoughts is key to the desire.

At least that is the case for me.

I, too, like Merton, use the saints' holiness as an excuse for laxness and lukewarmness.

Once I realized this, I also realized the simplicity and truth of Lax's statement, "All you have to do is desire it."

I have begun focusing on that desire more ever since that self-discovery.

Obviously, I have not become a saint. For one thing, saints usually take very long times to grow and mature. I am no exception.

However, I can say that I recently noticed a big change in that my desire to be a saint has grown by leaps and bounds. It is the center of my prayer. It sometimes bobs to the surface just when I need a hint to put a rein on undesirable behavior.

In turning my desire over to God, He has responded by letting that desire increase.

It is not an obsession but it is always there and often is the center of all my prayer.

I count that as a great grace and today, on All Saints' Day, it helps me look at the great cloud of witnesses and feel closer to them, my brothers and sisters of the Church Triumphant who are cheering all of us on in our race to Heaven.

They, too, had that great desire.

They let that desire and love push them past fear, lukewarmness, laziness, and any other impediments.

They put themselves into God's hands to see what He would make of them.

Their hearts were changed and they, in turn, changed the world around them as they showed God's love for us all.

I pray that He will do the same with me and with you.

All we must do is desire it.

That seems too simple, doesn't it? We have lives to live, families, supper to cook, houses to clean, and so forth and so on. Certainly these are the mental objections I raise sometimes.

The problem is in thinking that the saints waited until their schedules were clear to do great things for God.

OR, in thinking that there are no saints that do regular things.

My grandfather is one of those saints who this feast day is for ... a saint that the Church doesn't know about. He was a businessman, a father, a husband, a grandfather (possibly the best ever), a neighbor, and to the cursory glance he was ordinary.

Everyone who ever knew him though, knew one thing. He was a saint among us.

Just as surely as Mother Teresa. Just as surely as St. Patrick. Just as surely as any saint you want to name.

He did it all within the confines of living his "ordinary" life.

If God put me or you into the midst of an "ordinary" life, then what does He want us to do?

He wants us to transform it into an extraordinary life while cooking, cleaning, going to work, buying groceries, mowing the lawn, and loving all those around us.

So, we can't let ourselves off the hook.

There is no other time.

All we have is now.

Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.

Mother Teresa

The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allen Poe

The Oval Portrait as narrated for SFFaudio by me and also by Wayne June. Take your pick as to which interpretation you like best! I personally like Jesse's illustration most of all. Check it out!

Worth a Thousand Words: Impression, Sunrise

Impression, sunrise, Claude Monet, 1873
via WikiArt

You can read more about this at WikiArt but I included it because it looked hauntingly foggy.

Worth a Thousand Words: Last Leaf Left

Last Leaf Left
taken by Remo Savisaar

The Perfect Halloween Cocktail?

Possibly ... if you want to be one of the walking dead. Zombies this way, at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

In an attempt to make the best zombie movie ever ...

... Julie and Scott meet their friends at the train station late at night to film a Big Scene. It gets crazy after that. If it wasn't for Tam, their explosives expert, they'd have been in a real mess.

We discuss Scott's movie choice, Super 8, written and directed by J.J. Abrams, at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

2014 Ladies' Horror Film Fest Report

This isn't every movie we tried because some movies ran into technical or other difficulties (Shaun of the Dead had accents too strong for Mom to understand but we couldn't get the captioning on her tv to work right, for example). Some she just didn't like so we quit watching after 15 or 20 minutes.

We also took a leisurely attitude. Sometimes we did outside activities like cutting out quilting materials for Mom or making a cake or sitting by the ocean for a lovely dinner. And so forth. Such are the joys of homegrown film festivals!

The ratings below reflect my own opinion and not those of my fellow viewers. Also, don't miss below for What We Learned!

It was a blast overall and I highly recommend such festivals to any movie-loving family! In fact, we were already beginning a list for the next film fest (not horror based) before we left.

FRIDAY

Halloween 1978

★★★★★

Part of the horror film fest that my mother, oldest daughter and I had over the weekend. We watched my mother's copy. Yeah. You read that right. I told you she was a horror film fan, which was confirmed when she said she watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to see why a friend liked it. Bottom line, she was surprised that it was so funny.

My daughter and I hadn't seen Halloween before. Loved it! There is one scene that suddenly brought the whole thing into focus and made me embrace it ... you know what I'm talking about, probably. It involves a gravestone and a pumpkin ... Truly a classic horror film that was delightful in its simplicity.

Poltergeist 1982

★★★

The second of our ladies' horror film fest (Mom, daughter Hannah, and me). This did not age as well as one could have hoped for. As my mother said, it came off as a combination of ET and a horror movie. It was a bit slow in the story telling and as a look back at that particular style I could appreciate it. However, the second ending was too much and I wish they'd have wrapped it up more quickly.

The Woman in Black 2012

★★★★

The final film of Friday for our horror film fest. I'd always meant to watch this and I can understand complaints I'd seen that it was a bit slow and not much happened. However, we were all pleased with the sheer beauty of the film and the hovering spookiness of Daniel Radcliffe's experiences in the old house. Honestly, if you want someone to stand around looking gloomy and startled, I can hardly think of anyone who could have done it better.

SATURDAY

The Haunting 1963

★★★½

This was on Saturday's bill of fare for our horror fest. We all had read The Haunting of Hill House (on which it is based) so many times that we could pick out where it diverged from the original story. Honestly, they did a really good job of adapting the book faithfully, except for Eleanor's love interest and the character of the professor's wife. None of us could figure out how those changes were an improvement to the story or any easier to film but they didn't make the movie any less enjoyable.

Mama 2013

★★★★★

Saturday evening's showing in our horror film fest. I'd been avoiding this because I thought it would be a lot more violent and disturbing than it actually was. It had the feel of a lot of Guillermo del Toro's work, which isn't surprising since he produced it and one wonders if he didn't advise also. However that may be I was surprised at how much I really liked this movie.

SUNDAY

The Night of the Hunter 1955

★★★

Mom has been pushing me to watch this for years and not surprisingly it was her pick for winner of our horror film fest. I was not quite as taken with it. It felt like three different movies sewn together with Mitchum's terrorization of the kids leading into a slow, meditative Huck Finn turn, followed by spunky Lilian Gish showing us how good parenting is really done while taking on Mitchum. I really loved Lillian Gish's sung response to Mitchum's trademark gospel song. I can understand why Charles Laughton's direction is always mentioned because he had some really wonderful moments of staging that will stick with me for a long time.

Pitch Black 2000

★★★★

A guilty pleasure and not strictly part of the ladies' horror film fest we were staging. We didn't think Mom would enjoy it, so Hannah and I put it on and watched it bit by bit whenever Mom was taking a nap. We didn't finish it but somehow it was always there in the background. Alien monsters and Vin Diesel. 'Nuff said.

Young Frankenstein 1974

★★★★★

This was the final film we watched in our horror film fest. It was just what we needed to wind up feeling good and finding our way back into the real world where people don't sit around watching movies all day long. It's practically perfect in every way.

WHAT WE LEARNED

Watching so many of these back to back we soon learned that there were common themes for certain elements. We took these to heart. So much so that by the last evening I was made nervous by looking in a bathroom mirror

Disregard these hard-earned lessons at your peril!

In no particular order:

1. Do not trust ethereal women in black. They are not nice.
2. If you've seen a mysterious, masked, disappearing man and then the boy you're babysitting sees a mysterious, masked, disappearing man — they are connected. Listen to the children.
3. If a doctor/professor is writing a paper on psychic phenomenon, do not think he ever has your best interests at heart.
4. Flickering lights almost never mean a bad electrical connection.
5. You are never going to get a good night's sleep in a looming house — especially on a hill — especially when it is loaded with Victorian decorations.
6. Begin investigations in the morning, not in late afternoon when it's getting dark and all you have is a candle or tiny flashlight.
7. Do not look in the mirror. I repeat — do not look in the mirror.

We're Leaving Town - Bye, Bye

Hannah and I are winging our way to Florida to see Mom. We're going to be soaking in the horror movies for three days solid since that's a passion that Hannah and Mom share.

Me? I'll be counting on Hannah to tell me when jump scenes are coming.

Of course, we'll also be having fun cooking and talking and everything else that goes with fun family visits. But it's mostly about the horror. Of course.

Mom's choices: Halloween • The Night of the Hunter • The Haunting

Hannah's choices: 28 Days Later • Sharknado • The Conjuring (and about 15 more)

My choices: Aliens • Young Frankenstein • Attack the Block • King Kong (the original of course!)

And a couple of non-horror choices just in case we need to break the mood: Stranger Than Fiction • Lars and the Real Girl

I'll let you know how many of these we got through when we return.

Well Said: A Lesson We All Need

It is a lesson we all need—to let alone the things that do not concern us. He has other ways for others to follow him; all do not go by the same path. It is for each of us to learn the path by which he requires us to follow him, and to follow him in that path. Let us remember our Master's injunction, and we shall be saved from many pitfalls: "What is it to you? You follow me" (John 21:22).

Saint Katherine Drexel

It is impossible for me to state how very strongly I agree with this statement.  Therefore I will simply leave it here for contemplation without further comments.

In which we sample some of the ghastly, ghostly goodness ...

... from The Big Book of Ghost Stories. Now at Forgotten Classics.

Well Said: A Holy Curiosity

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. one cannot help but be in awe when he contemplate the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.

Albert Einstein

Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

Worth a Thousand Words: Nothing like a mud bath to get the wrinkles out

Nothing like a mud bath to get the wrinkles out
taken by Valerie, ucumari photography
Creative Commons License, some rights reserved

Troubleshooting and the Synod on the Family

Will Duquette has some sound advice on why you shouldn't either flip your lid or celebrate too soon over some of the news scraps coming from the Synod on the Family.

He points out that the Synod is essentially a troubleshooting session, just laying everything on the table to see where it all fits (or doesn't) into understanding and approaching solutions. He makes me think of the scene from Apollo 13 where Ed Harris dumps a box full of odd items onto the table and tells the scientists they have to come up with an air filter.

First, you have to consider all of the possible causes, including the ones that seem obviously wrong on the face of it. Things really do work better when you plug them in, and just because you think it’s plugged in doesn’t mean that it is.

Second, you have to consider all of the possible solutions, including the ones that seem obviously unworkable, infeasible, or (in this case) unethical or heterodox. ...

Go read all of it before reacting or commenting or anything else.

This makes me think of something I just came across in The American Catholic Almanac where Pope Paul VI had asked a commission to consider contraception. The committee drafted The Majority Report and a few dissenting members drafted The Minority Report.

The Majority Report said Catholics should be allowed contraception, which makes it easy to figure out what the Minority Report said. The pope considered both reports for about a year before coming out with Humanae Vitae which explicitly rejected his commission's recommendations from The Majority Report.

Leaking these documents to the press and the subsequent speculation about The Majority Report contributed greatly to the confusion and disappointment when Humanae Vitae came out.

So let's all settle down and let everyone talk over the issues, shall we? And not get too worked up until something conclusive is produced.

Art, Poetry, and Literature: Two New Books on Prayer You Need to Get

I haven't done more than dip into these books but I already know enough to recommend them. Full reviews will follow but I didn't want to wait until I was finished to tell you about them.



Art and Prayer: The Beauty of Turning to God by Timothy Verdon

There is an “art of prayer,” when faith and prayer become creative responses by which creatures made in the image and likeness of the Creator relate to him with help of the imagination. ... Richly illustrated, Monsignor Verdon explains that images work in believers as tools that teach them how to turn to God.

They had me at "richly illustrated." Over the years I have become more and more attracted to paintings as keys to helping me connect more honestly and deeply with God.

The book does indeed have many gorgeous pieces of art which are wonderfully explained and made personal by the text of the book. For example, looking at both the inset and whole painting of Piero della Francesca's Baptism of Christ, the author takes us through what the painter hopes to show us, the importance of the original setting for the piece and it's possible impact on the monks who would have seen it daily, and the importance of interior transformation for every one of us. He then uses the painting's landscape to segue into nature, Scripture, and imagination before moving on to the next piece for inspiration. All this is by page 6, by the way.

Needless to say, I am finding this thought provoking, eye opening, and inspirational. This is a gem.


Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany by Sarah Arthur

One of my favorite inspirational books is At the Still Point (my review here). It is an unusual devotional for ordinary time with thematically arranged classic and contemporary fiction and poetry which pulls the reader deeper into prayer and worship.

My one wish was that it would be popular enough that author Sarah Arthur would do similar devotionals for the other liturgical times of the year. With Light Upon Light, my wish is  coming true. Appropriate themes take us through the liturgical seasons from expectation and longing to joyful arrival and the cost of such a gift as Christ's incarnation. There is traditional and modern poetry, as well as literary excerpts which are not confined to those we'd expect such as A Christmas Carol (though that is there also).

This is a real treasure, not least because it may introduce you to new sources of inspiration you wouldn't have encountered otherwise.

Well Said: Success and Failure

Success isn't permanent and failure isn't fatal.

Mike Ditka

And if he could say it, then it must be true. At least for football. But I need this reminder too, as the product of a society that preaches perfection is the only acceptable result.

Be Careful What You Wish For ...

We go to the most formal of our parish Masses with a full choir and the most likelihood of having older songs selected. As my husband puts it, "the good ones, written before 1900."

So some time ago when we began singing the "Lamb of God" bit of the liturgy in Latin (Agnus Dei) I though it was charming. Since it was short I was able to go through the mental translation into English while I was singing and still get something out of it.

Then, months ago, the Glory to God in the Highest went partially to Latin (Gloria in excelsis Deo). I likewise mentally translated that. It was getting painful (I ain't that good at it) but I was hanging on.

Recently we had the third Latin encroachment and the "Holy, holy, holy" turned completely into the Sanctus. This was too much for me to mentally translate and I took the tactic of lowering my head and murmuring the English words to the tune. Otherwise I was left in the cold for any meaning on this third section.

Unusually enough, I didn't mention it to anyone, not even my husband. I thought of Augustine asking Ambrose about different customs and receiving the advice, "When you are in Rome, live in the Roman style; When you are elsewhere, live as they live elsewhere." But I really saw the wisdom of the Novus Ordo being in a language we commoners could understand.

This Sunday the Sanctus went back into English. As I listened to the lector teaching the congregation and heard the "solemn modern" tune, I looked at Mary's statue and thought, "What would Mary do? She would do what the elders of the temple said." I inwardly laughed, thinking that I got the English I wished for, but at a cost.

So I resigned myself and forgot it until that moment broke upon us during the Mass. I sang and looked at the crucifix. I thought of the real suffering of Christ and my whining about a simple tune. In the middle of these thoughts I was startled at what shot abruptly and sharply into my mind, "Hey, I have to listen to it. Just sing."

So I sang. And laughed.

I love a mutual sense of humor.

Dallas - 30. Seattle - 23.

With 14 of the Seahawk's points were given to them by the Cowboys special teams.

In Seattle, one of the toughest locations for teams to visit.

I was honestly dreading this game, fearing a meltdown under pressure. But they turned in a solid performance such as I hardly dared hope for.

HOW 'BOUT THEM COWBOYS!

Weekend Joke: Watches

Many thanks to xkcd who generously allows us to enjoy his comics here.

Blogging Around: Heavenly Spy, Casablanca, Big Weddings, Singing Nun, Gone Girl, and the Catholic No-Go

Heavenly Spy

A new blog ... Lebanese Catholic ... with some interesting things to say. Check it out and say hi!

Gone Girl and Christian Engagement With Art

Jeffrey Overstreet on a subject dear to his (and my) heart. Be sure to read it all because this is just the tip of the iceberg.

... there is a distressing delusion at the heart of so much Christian engagement with art: It's the delusion that says "The style and the substance are two different things. We should care much, much more about substance than we do about style.

Here's the thing: Style is substance.

Casablanca and the Four Main Types of Love

Ferdy on Films is not the place where I'd expect to find a discussion of how we see the four types of love as the Greeks defined it. What's more, Casablanca doesn't automatically spring to mind in this mix either. Definitely read this piece.

Casablanca is much more than just a boy-meets-girl kind of romance, and to show that, I’m going to have to go all schoolmarm on you. The birthplace of most of the philosophies that guide Western societies is Greece, and the Greeks had four terms for the main types of love human beings experience: agape, eros, philia, and storge. Agape means love in a spiritual or humanitarian sense, wanting the good of another. Eros, the most common love in Hollywood romances, is the passionate love of longing and desire. Philia is more general and can extend to family, friends, or activities. Finally, storge is natural love, as by a parent for a child; importantly, Greek texts also use this term for situations people must tolerate, as in “loving” a dictator. Casablanca activates each of these forms of love, giving audiences a quadruple whammy of loves so powerful that the film has become the stuff of legend, with well-remembered quotes that distill the essence of these forms of love.

Singing Nun Sister Christina Releasing an Album for Christmas

I've seen just enough Sister Christina clips from Italy's "The Voice" tv show to know one thing. I want this album. Old news maybe but I thought you'd like to know ... read more at The Deacon's Bench.

Mega-Weddings: Why You Should Say I Don't

Although this showed up in the WSJ's financial section it could easily have been an advice column. Financial strain isn't the only thing wrong with extravagant weddings. It may be an early indicator to underlying problems. It seems to me that if more couples were paying for their own weddings instead of relying on fond parents to cough up the cash, this might be less of a problem.

"The evidence suggests that the types of weddings associated with the lower likelihood of divorce are those that are relatively inexpensive but high in attendance," write Messrs. Francis and Mialon.

(This is a subscriber only feature on the internet. But if you look it up on Google and click through there you should be able to read the whole thing.)

Why is Gay Marriage the Catholic No-Go?

This question comes up more and more, especially as the Synod on the Family is going on in Rome. Jen Fitz sets it out for us clearly and understandably.

I’d like therefore to review some of the myths concerning Catholic teaching on same-sex attraction and Church participation, because the reality is both more extreme and not nearly as extreme as people guess, and that paradox is what bites.

Julie and Scott read a vampire novel by a horror writer they feel will be popular one day.

Keep writing Steve! Success is just around the corner! Yes, we've arrived at 'Salem's Lot ... launching our celebration of October at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Well Said: Obsessed With Purpose

Would it not be strange if a universe without purpose accidentally created humans who are so obsessed with purpose?

Sir John Templeton

Pasta Sauce and a Little English Village

A couple of things I've got located elsewhere:

- Spicy Sausage Ragu, perfect for Fall weather, at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen

- Another Place, a little English village just like the kind you might find in The Twilight Zone, at Forgotten Classics.

Worth a Thousand Words: Badger

Badger
taken by Remo Savisaar

I hear "Badger" and think of The Wind in the Willows. Somehow those illustrations and my mental pictures don't match the badger in this image. I love the nose. Just imagine how helpful it is in tunneling and finding one's way underground. Or perhaps the idea that they live in underground comes from The Wind in the Willows. I'm not sure about that...

What We're Watching: Person of Interest

After last season's ending I really wasn't sure where this series would be able to go.

Having watched the first two episodes I can say that it was a fascinating job of reorientation to "the same old thing" of working the numbers to save people and simultaneously adjusting to the fact that our heroes are the hunted.

Most interesting of all was the strong moral statement in the first episode from the most psychopathic character. Just as I've mentioned before, it is a pleasure to watch a show that affirms so many of the values I hold.

Finch: In the face of such a struggle what do one or two lives matter?

Root: Every life matters. You taught me that.

We often see the greater good for the greatest number being held up as an ideal but this show repeatedly points out that we can't ignore each person, no matter how easy it would make our lives.

The second episode ended by strongly affirming free will.

Finch is struggling with how to convince someone to make the right choice, wondering if The Machine would give him a plan for manipulation. Root points out that "she" (The Machine) would tell him just what he taught it ... that each person must make their own decisions. As happened in the last season, we were left longing for someone to make the right choice, knowing that force would not have served in the long run.

All that with Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel too. What a pleasure!

Well Said: The Humble Man

The humble man receives praise the way a clean window takes the light of the sun. The truer and more intense the light is, the less you see of the glass.

Thomas Merton

Yes. Am I letting Christ shine through me? Only if my best self is there to let Him do so. Looking at myself, looking at Christ, it makes me so grateful for His grace and the gift of confession.

Well Said: If a man dethrones God in his heart ...

If a man dethrones God in his heart, Satan must ascend to His position.

Stephen King, 'Salem's Lot

Foreshadowing of The Stand! I've seen several things as I read which King later picked up on and developed in The Shining and The Stand. It is interesting to read this earlier work with those so firmly in mind.

Scott chose Salem's Lot to launch October's Halloween emphasis at A Good Story is Hard to Find and I've got to say I rarely have enjoyed disliking a story more. King really conveys with conviction the utter contempt that evil carries for anything good.

The American Catholic Almanac: A Daily Reader of Patriots, Saints, Rogues, and Ordinary People Who Changed the United States

The American Catholic Almanac: A Daily Reader of Patriots, Saints, Rogues, and Ordinary People Who Changed the United States by Brian Burch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'm a sucker for daily readers whether they are devotionals, writings of the saints, or historical almanacs. So if you combine American History with Catholicism naturally I'm going to be interested. I grew even more interested when a cursory glance revealed that General Longstreet, Buffalo Bill, and General Sherman were all Catholics. I did know that John Wayne became Catholic but not that famed director, and Wayne's longtime friend, John Ford was Catholic. Some of these famous men were more devout than others, some were late comers to the faith, but Catholicism helped define who each of them were.

The American Catholic Almanac by Brian Burch and Emily Stimpson looks not only at famous Catholics but at famous people who flirted with the faith in one way or another (Ronald Reagan and Mark Twain among them) although they never went all the way. It also tells us about people and events who are much less known but should be remembered by all of us today.

I was really interested to see how many "modern" hot button topics were a struggle for Catholics much earlier in our history. Separation of church and state became a Catholic issue in 1828 when schismatic priests appealed to President Andrew Jackson complaining the pope was acting like a "sovereign ruler." Nuns of today who shed their habits as a sign of "freedom" might be surprised to learn that in 1843 the Sisters of Mercy longed for the freedom to wear their habits but had to wear secular clothing because of the prevalent anti-Catholicism. The eugenics enthusiasts of 1927 would be openly approving of today's ability to test for such things as Down's Syndrome and would approve even more of the modern trend to abort any baby who the test shows might have it. We haven't really progressed as far as we'd like to think in that area. And those who lambast today's courts for not holding the high ideals of old times, might be surprised to learn that the Supreme Court supported Virginia's eugenics law with only one justice, a Catholic, dissenting. The authors don't make those comparisons for us, by the way. They leave us to draw our own conclusions and simply present the facts for our perusal.

It's not all serious, of course. In addition to tales of the famous people I mentioned above, there are stories of explorers, tales of churches, celebrations of faithful Catholics, and reminders of those who were not a credit to the faith. There is no telling when something will pop up to remind you how you are connected to the faith throughout our history and across our country. I was surprised to learn there is a cathedral in Dodge City, Kansas, where I lived for a year and a minor basilica in Victoria, Kansas. My husband and I were interested to read about the founding of St. Mary's in Galveston, Texas, because that is the church his grandmother fled to as a child during the devastating 1900 hurricane. It stood and she survived.

Speaking of my husband, I must praise the cover for this book which caught his attention and made him begin perusing it. He's not given to reading about Catholicism but this grounding of it in American history is right down his alley. Chalk one up for the value of having a printed book around to pique interest and keep him asking, "Who is it about today?" when he sees me pick it up for breakfast reading.

The one flaw is that it needs an index. There are a few appendices but if you want to find Sherman or Longstreet or Edgar Allen Poe then you've got to page through the book hoping they aren't too buried in the pages. Hopefully there will be a reprinting and this lack can be rectified.

Regardless of the lack of an index, this is a really great book and I highly recommend it.

NOTE
I received a review e-book and print copy of this work. My comments, as readers here know, are solely my own opinion.

The Joyful Beggar by Louis de Wohl

The Joyful Beggar by Louis de Wohl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What is it with Louis de Wohl's books? They're like peanuts or popcorn. You just keep tossing back handfuls because they're so good and go down so tastily.

I received The Joyful Beggar on a Saturday at noon in the mail. Sunday at noon I was 75% done. It really grabbed me, obviously. I should've expected that since I've had that reaction to de Wohl's books before. They are consistently entertaining, historical fiction of saints and the times in which they lived.

I'm aware of the details of St. Francis's life but have never felt much connection with this saint. I wondered if sinking deeper into his life could help my life as a Christian. That's another of Louis de Wohl's talents, by the way. Whether or not you feel a personal affinity for someone, he brings to light aspects of their lives that illuminate your own.

Sharp as a blade, the Pope's mind put it all together. This beggar was a troubadour, a Minnesanger, as they called them in Germany, a "singer of love," but for once here was one who was singing in praise of the Love of God.

"I am the poor woman in the desert," Francis explained merrily. "And I trust my Lord, the King. he will look after my sons."

A jester and a dancer; a beggar and a troubadour; a preacher, a monk, a teller of parables, and perhaps a saint: there was no end to the man. If Satan could distort the minds of many to preach against the Church in the name of purity, here was one who could preach for the Church in the same name; here was, perhaps, the antidote against the poison in the veins of Europe, the man to give fresh life to a world grown cold. And therefore this man could be, nay, was the one who held up the falling walls of the Church. And that was all Innocent wanted to know.

What I felt after reading this book was Francis's joy in serving, his release from fear, his complete trust in God. I especially appreciated the way Francis connected Brother Sun and Sister Moon and all the other elements of his famous Canticle of the Sun with Jesus. It was that connection which made nature holy, the connection with our Lord in his Incarnation. Beautiful.

As always, de Wohl shows us the saint's story through other imagined characters who have their own journeys to God. This is very useful for explaining the history and customs of the times. Quite often there is a contrast which layers meaning and context for the overall power of that particular saint. In this book there were both Clare of Assisi on her own journey to holiness and Roger of Vandria, continually striving to simply regain his ancestral lands. As they grow so do we.

"In that case, why not make a test?" Francis suggested. "Let a great fire be lighted before your tent, and these learned priests of yours and I will enter it. Then God may show which is the true faith."

Roger gasped. If that was supposed to be a bluff, it was a very dangerous one. There were fanatics enough among Moslem priests, and at least some of them might accept the challenge.

The sultan glanced at his imams and mullahs. they looked a little vague, as if they had not understood the little dervish's words, and one of them, standing at the back, began to move with great dignity toward the exit of the tent.

"I don't think my priests are very likely to consent to this test of yours, little dervish," Al Kamil said, smiling.

He's got out of it, Roger thought, half relieved, half angry.

"Then I will enter the fire alone," Francis said quietly, "If you promise for yourself and for your people that you will worship Christ if I come out of the fire unhurt." After a little pause he added, "If I should be burned to death, it will be due only to my sins. But if God protects me, it is a clear sign of his holy will, and you must all accept Christ.

Now he has killed himself, Roger thought. This is too good a spectacle for the sultan to miss. The man is mad. He is a fanatic. He is magnificent. By all the angels and devils, he is the only crusader in the army. What a pity he is done for. Those priests will take him at his word, even if the sultan doesn't.

Did I wind up best friends with Francis of Assisi? No. But we can't be best friends with everyone. I did, however, wind up as more than a casual acquaintance with my own life enriched thanks to the story of the joyful beggar.

NOTE:
This is a review book from Ignatius Press. This opinion is my own, uninfluenced by anything as paltry as a free book. As anyone is well aware who reads this blog regularly.

For a good overview of the novels, take a look at Rose Trabbic's piece Discovering the Novels of Louis de Wohl. Also well worth reading is Will Duquette's review of The Citadel of God where he gives a concise commentary on de Wohl as an author, with which I completely agree.

Worth a Thousand Words: Pepsi 12 Oz.

Pepsi 12 Oz.
painted by James Neil Hollingsworth

I'm continually in awe of James Neil Hollingsworth's realistic paintings. Just look at the way the empty bottle refracts the box. This one is best viewed large to really appreciate it. If you click through the link and then on the painting you'll see what I mean.

The Sacred Year by Michael Yankoski

The Sacred Year: Mapping the Soulscape of Spiritual Practice -- How Contemplating Apples, Living in a Cave, and Befriending a Dying Woman Revived My Life by Michael Yankoski

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Father Solomon spoke again, and the shaking of my foundation continued. "The God who called you into existence ex nihilio—out of nothing—is the same God who holds you in existence this moment and every moment. Were he to withdraw his hand, you would vanish wihtout memory. All things would. No, you can't make God love you. You can't make God like you. But nor do you need to; he already does. Never forget that is why he made you—because he wants you to exist. He wants you to live life in all its fullness."

Now this is interesting. What happens when a Protestant motivational speaker realizes he is in perpetual inner turmoil, goes to a monastery to rest for a week, and takes a monk's advice to explore spiritual practices for a more authentic encounter with God? Is there a way to live intentionally that shapes us so we can better catch God's wind in our sails and "allow Him to move us?"

Catholicism has a long tradition of various disciplines designed to help believers do this. Not every Catholic practices such disciplines. It just depends on the person. Yankoski's dive into different spiritual practices is a bit more extreme than the average Catholic, I'd say, because he's meeting every few weeks with a spiritual director and their conversations lead him from one discipline into another.

This is interesting me both as a Catholic and as someone who too often skirts the shallow end of the pool. Which is probably why the Patheos book club began soliciting Catholics to read this book.

Right from the beginning this book is compelling. I'm more or less familiar with most of the practices that Yankoski engages with. Some are part of me, like lectio divina, and keeping the Sabbath. Others I dance around, trying and leaving, then returning to again occasionally. Yet others I have sampled and found not to be helpful.

Every chapter in the book had at least one moment that made me more aware. I've practiced keeping the Sabbath for several years now. And so while I was nodding my head at some of Yankoski's realizations on that topic, he also had some wonderful moments like this one which opened my eyes.

One thing this Sacred Year is beginning to show me is how each of these spiritual practices can work like an antidote to some of the more poisonous aspects of our culture today. Tey are refreshing and life giving, whereas so often the habits and methods I've developed in my frenzied, stressed-out life are deadly poisons. The spiritual practices work like balm on wounds,healing even if painful at first.

Thus silence counteracts noise. And contemplation counteracts commodification.

Might Sabbath counteract the idol of the self-made man?

No wonder I mocked Sabbath at first: idols always die hard.

I have to say there are some practices that I had a hard time accepting that the author was coming to completely unawares, such as being aware of how our lives often affect those who are less fortunate (think Chinese children working in shoe factories sort of situations). That is, after all, one of the cries of conscience of our secular society, to be aware of how privilege comes at such a cost. However, perhaps it had never occurred to him to connect it with faith somehow. However, even these chapters had moments that were valuable for me.

This book is inspirational for any Christian who struggles with how to be "in the world" and yet not "of the world." That is a line that both Catholic and Protestant struggle with. If we read enough history, we know that it is also something that not only modern people have struggled with. Michael Yankoski discovered that turning to these spiritual traditions eases the way to help us "live life in all its fullness" ... and he shares that discovery with us.

I really enjoyed this book and will be rereading it.

Note: I wish they'd have included an appendix briefly explaining how to do some of the traditional practices (like the Examen).

REVIEW COPY PROVIDED FREE
The review copy was provided by the Patheos Book Club. Publishers pay for Patheos to feature their books. My review is my own based solely on the book's merits.

Well Said: Pope Benedict is like the "grandfather of all grandfathers"

Retired pontiff Benedict XVI joined some 50,000 pilgrims in Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday, Sept. 28 for a meeting between Pope Francis and elderly people from around the world.

Welcoming his predecessor, the Holy Father described Pope Benedict as the “grandfather of all grandfathers.”

“I have said many times that it gives me great pleasure that he lives here in the Vatican, because it is like having a wise grandfather at home. Thank you!”

Catholic News Agency, via The Deacon's Bench

I love the idea of Pope Francis bumping into Benedict XVI in the garden in the evenings and the two of them exchanging a few words about whatever is on the Pope's mind at the time. For some reason that possibility just never occurred to me. It sounds very companionable and comfortable.

Weekend Joke: Atheists

This is from xkcd (Randall Munroe) who graciously allows me to share his humor here.

He's got a new book out which has me drooling just having looked through the Amazon sample: What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. It isn't cartoons, other than those which illustrate the answers. Orson Scott Card's review gives a good idea of what it's like.

Herbed Pita Crisps

You want to make these. Heck, you definitely want to eat these! Get 'em at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

In which a vacation turns into an encounter with gods older than recorded history ...

...  in our latest sampling of "tall tales told in taverns"  at Forgotten Classics podcast.

Great Expectations Time After Time

One of my GoodReads friends said that watching me try to force myself to finish Great Expectations was better than the book itself. I feel rather proud actually as my usual practice is to just toss a book when it's not working for me. Even the classics (especially Russian classics).

But this is Charles Dickens who I learned to love with A Tale of Two Cities, and who left me awestruck after reading Bleak House and Little Dorrit. And I am now quite glad I did. If you're interested, a tale of my trek through Great Expectations follows.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A kind friend gave me the Blackstone Audio read by Simon Prebble, a narrator whose shoes other readers are not fit to touch.

I've never really been interested in reading Great Expectations. However, it's been too long since I've had any Dickens in my life. At least a month or two. And that's too long.

Oh Dickens, Dickens. I'm still in the very early pages but already his little observations are making me laugh.

UPDATE
I really hate Pip. Really, really. However, I had a great breakthrough when I went and read G.K.Chesterton's introduction to this novel. It made me realize Dickens' boldness in writing a novel with an antihero. I realize he is far from the first to do so, but I really hadn't expected it since his other books that I've read have all had at least one likable heroic protagonist. This accounts for my difficulty in connecting with the book, which I'm a third of the way through. And it helps me to reorient mentally on the story.

Secondly, something Chesterton said made me go look at GE's chronology. I hadn't realized it was the next to the last finished novel Dickens wrote, thus making it more a more mature work. I realized that I needed to trust this author to show me something new, to sit back and let the story sink in, rather than to rush to judgment because I would like to give Pip a good smack.

Chastened ... I continue ...

UPDATE THE SECOND
Just can't make myself go back to this book after I stopped to read something else. Even fantastic narration can't make up for the fact that I'm just not into the story. If I pick this up, and anything is possible (!), it will be in print because that will go much faster than audio.

BEGINNING AGAIN and ENDING

Having finished all the Jane Austen books and casting around for a classic for "background" reading ... I thought I'd give this book yet another try. My method was to skim the second half of the book from my Kindle as fast as I could (a couple of hours ... I'm a topnotch skimmer). Naturally as the plot twisted and turned I found myself slowing down in many spots to enjoy the story's development. Oh Dickens ... you did it again. This is not Bleak House or Little Dorrit (or even A Tale of Two Cities) but the second half definitely redeemed the first half.

... AND ONCE MORE FROM THE MIDDLE
I am now listening to the second half in audio so I pick up the details I missed in my breakneck race through the print version. I picked up the library's audiobook which is by Michael Page and I like this narration much better, though I couldn't tell you why as Simon Prebble is a longtime favorite of mine. But, once again, it is making all the difference. Audio got me through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It got me through The Lord of the Rings. It got me through C. S. Lewis's space trilogy. And now, it is redeeming Great Expectations for me.

I am really enjoying all the funny bits that Dickens includes in the midst of the drama, such as Pip and Bentley Drummle standing shoulder to shoulder refusing to give up the fire, or the Aged's reading of the newspaper aloud.

I still feel all the mooning after Estella to be quite boring but am willing to put up with it based on the rest of what is happing.

I was interested to see that this book has two endings. The original and the one that Dicken's good friend Edward Bulwer-Lytton asked for. I love that Dickens was so obliging as to write a second ending for him. My copy had both. I'm not sure which I preferred as both work well.