A Fool for Christ ...

38

²⁵ "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

39

But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.

40

If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well.

41

Should anyone press you into service for one mile, ²⁶ go with him for two miles.

42

Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

43

²⁷ "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

44

But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,

45

that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

46

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors ²⁸ do the same?

47

And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? ²⁹

48

So be perfect, ³⁰ just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:38-48

That's a hard teaching you know.

Sit and think about it for a while. I have been thinking about it lately.

It's easy to say that you are praying for your enemies. However, notice that praying is the last thing that Jesus asks of us. First and foremost he espouses movement. Doing. Showing with actions. Living it.

He is telling us to be saps, suckers, idiots ... fools. And to let the world think of us as such.

Just as with his teaching about the Eucharist, he doesn't call us back and say, "Oh, well, I didn't mean it literally." No, he lets that sit right where it is. As an order.

It isn't easy being a fool for Christ.

Who can really do such a thing? That's why the saints are ... well, saints ... and we aren't. We haven't learned to be foolish enough. We keep applying the world's reasoning and justification and common sense and practicality.

None of which has any mention at all in what Christ tells us, no, orders us to do.

I wish I were better at it. But, I'm not. The best I can do is to pick myself up every time I fall down and to try again. Which I guess is all that any of us can do.

It is easy to lose sight of this hard and sacrificial teaching in the midst of every day life. I guess that's why I have been thinking about it ... because life is not what we think it and I need to be reminded of the foolishness of God's call in the world.

Ooooo, those melting British tones!

What fun it was talking with Fausta and Siggy about ... well, everything! Food, faith, our mutual admiration for the greatness that is The Anchoress, community and communion of minds and souls ...

Yep, we dug deep and we also coasted shallowly talking about food fads from the 50's. Remember Trader Vic's and all those jello concoctions your grandmother made (at least mine did)?

And Siggy's voice. Dang it. Now I am gonna hafta make him some of those Cinnamon Buns from Heaven! Though I reserve the right to make him come and get them ... when's your next tour in Dallas, Siggy?

Didn't catch the live feed?

Catch the podcast here at iTunes. (And here to think that I thought all they talked about was politics ... I'm subscribing y'all!)

UPDATE
Siggy thoughtfully posted his wonderful post about "Ice Cream Emergency." Go read about it and if you have children think about trying it out. It is a delightful blend of innocence and indulgence in a "forbidden fruit!" (Siggy talks about the podcast some and his reposting is toward the bottom.)

This sounds similar to the idea I read of a long while back and actually remembered to do a couple of times ... when strawberries are in season, have an entire meal that is just strawberry shortcake. Mmmmmm ... now those are some good memories.

Blog Talk Radio: Siggy, and Fausta and ... Me!

The three of us will be on Fausta's blog radio show (see above for Fausta and my photos) ... no Siggy isn't in that picture.

He's here ...

He heard we're going to talk about food and that I might mention Cinnamon Buns from Heaven so he's hurrying on over.

And we'll talk about a whole lot more I'm sure.

It will be tomorrow, Jan. 25, at 11 a.m. (10 a.m. Central time). Chat will be open at 10:45 (that's Eastern time) and the call in number is 646-652-2639.

The link for Blog Talk Radio is here at Fausta's.

(Images stolen from Fausta's blog.)

Looking for Isa [Jesus] in the Muslim World

Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe in Christ
by Brother Andrew and Al Janssen

[Mustafa, a radical Islamic terrorist, has been assigned by his sheik to write a book revealing the distortions of the Christian faith. To do this he has had to read the Bible.]

For the last several days Mustafa had decided to concentrate on the prophecies in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the Injil that referenced the Prophet Muhammad. Though he couldn't find the name Muhammad in the Holy Book, there were twenty-six texts that supposedly pointed to him. Eagerly he had read the first one, Genesis 49:10: "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to Shiloh." Al-Haqq had said that "Shiloh" was Muhammad, but when Mustafa had investigated to prove this linguistically and rhetorically and legally, he'd concluded that Isa the Christ clearly fulfilled the prophecy much more than Muhammad did.

He had turned to Deuteronomy 18:15: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to hm." Al-Haqq had explained that Isaac's sons and Ishmael's sons were brothers, and thus Muhammad was a brother of Isaac's sons. But when he'd referenced the Quran, it said that the prophet would be from the Arab people and speak Arabic. The Torah text spoke of a prophet form the Hebrews who spoke Hebrew. If this prophet was Muhammad, then I would distrust the Quran. That was a dangerous thought.

Mustafa had exhausted himself with study and concluded that none of the twenty-six texts spoke of Muhammad. And now he stared at this verse from sura "The Table" of the Quran: "People of the Book, you will attain nothing until you observe the Torah and the Gospel and that which is revealed from your Lord." The Quran affirmed the authority of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. He turned to sura 3:84 and read: "Say: 'We believe in God and what is revealed to us; in that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, to Isaac and Jacob and the tribes; and in that which their Lord gave Moses and Jesus and the prophets. We discriminate against none of them. To Him we have surrendered ourselves.'" But how could the Christian God be the same as Allah? He'd read in the Gospels: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." Allah commanded exactly the opposite in the Quran. In the sura "Repentance," God commanded: "Slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them." It was impossible that the two Gods were one and the same. It was impossible that the two books, the Holy Bible and Quran, were both right. While the two books agreed on some things, the differences were startling. One of them had to be wrong.

The prayer time was over and the flow of activity on the street was back to normal. But now Mustafa knew what he had to do--pray. Allah, God, which is the real book? Show me which book is right?

A peace washed over him, and Mustafa felt confident that God would reveal the truth.

Mustafa is just one of the people we travel with as we see various encounters with Christianity deep within the world of Islam. Some encounter Jesus (Isa as he is called in the Quran) through reading the Bible. Others find him in the stories told them by friends who are eager to share a new knowledge of God as a loving father, instead of the stern God as commonly communicated in Islam. These believers run the gamut of personalities, from a young girl who is cast off by her family for her Christianity to a Christian couple who return to their country following God's call to minister to native Christians to a highly influential government official who must keep his Christian faith hidden. We are shown just what it means to claim faith in Jesus in a place where religious ecumenism is given lip service but where hate crimes against Christians are given a blind eye by authorities.

Anyone who has read a book by Brother Andrew will recognize a familiar pattern. I first read his book Gods Smuggler when I was lent a copy in high school. It was the compelling story of Brother Andrew's efforts to smuggle Bibles to persecuted Christians in countries under Soviet control. I found it so compelling that I have remembered it to this day and eagerly accepted this review copy based on that memory.

As former Communist countries became free for religious practice, Brother Andrew turned his ministry to countries where Christians are still persecuted and where even owning a Bible will bring them under attack. This book does not show us much of Brother Andrew, however, but focuses on the stories of a group of persecuted Christians in an Islamic country. We follow them over quite a bit of time and get a a good feel for the daily crosses that a Christian experiences under Islam.

Despite the opportunity to show only one extreme, the book authors take pains to stress all sides of Islam's and Christianity's coexistence. For example, when Brother Andrew makes one of his infrequent visits there is a particular university professor who always invites him to visit so that they may contrast and compare their faiths. If Islam were practiced with the attention to kindness that this professor proclaims as the Islamic ideal, our view of Islam would indeed be different than it is today. Another positive fruit of the persecution is that all denominations of Christianity cooperate as fully as possible in order to find ways to exist at all.

One of my favorite sections of the book was when a Protestant lay worker seeks a Catholic priest's advice for how to find a substitute for the daily Islamic prayer structure that some recent converts are desperately missing. The priest suggest a simple adaptation of the liturgy of the hours. He also overlays it with meditations adapted t0 the liturgical year so that they have a way to key their faith into the Islamic calendar, which the men will miss as well. This is not only a wonderful look at ecumenism but at the ways in which Christian faith are adapted within a particular culture. While I read this I found myself thinking of the first century Christians working with both their new found faith and the Roman liturgical calendar.

The book ends with a section called "How Shall We Respond?" which has many insightful commentaries about the reality of the need for Christians to meet the challenges that Islam presents. It is presented in a way that puts a human face on our brothers and sisters who are separated from us by their Islamic faith. Regular readers may recall that this book was the last of a trio that gave me a new prayer resolution. I believe that this eye opening book will do that for many and highly recommend it.

Interestingly, after finishing this book, I began reading George Wiegel's newest, Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism, which is much more intellectually based than Secret Believers. I had seen this book highly praised in many places and expected to enjoy it. However, what I did not expect was that so many of his excerpts from books about Islam would resonate so deeply as being true because I just had read about that very reality as experienced by the persecuted Christians in this book. Readers may want to consider reading these two books together for that very reason.

Although Muslims like to enumerate the 99 names of God, missing from the list, but central to the Jewish and even more so to the Christian concept of God, is "Father"--i.e. a personal God capable of a reciprocal and loving relationship with men. The one God of the Qur'an, the God Who demands submission, is a distant God; to call him "Father would be an anthropomorphic sacrilege. The Muslim God is utterly impassive; to ascribe loving feeling to Him would be suspect.

Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism: A Call to Action

Worth a Thousand Words

Portraits by Shari Lerner.

I met Shari Lerner last night and she graciously gave me permission to show her portraits here. However, these are just bits of them as the large image can't be downloaded ... so be sure to go there and click on the photos to see the whole thing!

Worth a Thousand Words

Tiny Crab from Flickr's Cream of the Crop.

Why did Heath Ledger's death hit our family so hard?

This is the question we were asking ourselves last night. It is nothing new for a young artist to make tragic mistakes and die young. We have countless examples from past years of that very thing. However, usually we are sorry to hear it, shrug our shoulders and move on to the next thing.

When Rose got a phone call from a friend last night and responded in such obviously shocked tones, I had to ask what had happened. I was stunned. The last time I remember feeling this sort of shock was when Princess Diana died. I was making dinner and then in the middle of it would suddenly remember Ledger's death and feel that shock again.

Why?

That is the question. Do I feel silly even posting this? Yes. No question. But after all what is a blog for if not to ruminate about the things that puzzle us?

It is not as if I am a big Heath Ledger fan. I would never see a movie simply because he was in it. I didn't ever understand why people thought he was so "cute."

However, I respected his acting. His obvious skill showed with each new movie. I noted the plaudits from Brokeback Mountain, though I will never see it. For me, his skill showed in The Lords of Dogtown where I didn't even recognize him until I was informed of which character he played about halfway through the movie. It also shone in The Brothers Grimm where he went against type to play his character.

Perhaps it is because he seemed mature beyond his years. If you had asked I would have said he was perhaps 33 or 34. Another shock was to find that he was only 28.

Feeling extremely silly, I mentioned to Tom how shocked I was. He told me that hearing the news had given him a strange shock also. Which was both reassuring and surprising because if anyone really didn't care one way or the other about Heath Ledger, it was Tom.

"I don't know why," he said. "Maybe because he seemed older than his years, we never heard about anything but his movies ... he seemed to have it all together."

Maybe that's it.

He seemed to have it all together.

What is becoming obvious from reports is that Heath Ledger, like most people, had problems that he struggled with, and didn't "have it all together."

Like Owen Wilson, who also seemed so balanced and sunny and who shocked everyone with a suicide attempt recently.

I learned during CRHP formation that quite ordinary seeming people often have unexpected depths, tragedies, traumas, and demons to wrestle. However, that is an easy thing to forget as time goes by and our own affairs absorb us, often taking on an importance that is not warranted if we are not careful. Recently an acquaintance shared some of her history with Tom and me and we were reminded again at the enormity of what some must overcome simply to go on living a normal life.

Rose watched A Knight's Tale last night and I joined her halfway through. It was our way of mourning the loss of that talented young actor who obviously touched us in a personal way without our ever realizing it until he was gone.

I don't know why Heath Ledger's death hit our family so hard.

I may never know. Sometimes there are no answers to our questions.

We are praying for his soul and for the peace of his family and friends who mourn him.

Worth a Thousand Words

Veggie Time by Qiang Huang.

Name a Character in Jeffrey Overstreet's

I can’t call her “the Dispenser.” People will think of Pez.

She needs a name, or rather, a title.

Go to Jeffrey's to read the description of this villainous character and then see if you can name her and get a free copy of the book. We know its a book you'll enjoy because he wrote one of my favorite books of last year (Auralia's Colors ... my review here ... scroll down a bit).

Reports from another blogger about the Liturgy of the Hours

I mentioned last week that Jen from Et Tu had begun praying the Liturgy of the Hours and was reporting her experience.

She's not the only one. Will from The View from the Foothills, another new convert, also has begun praying the Liturgy of the Hours. He tells us his motivation, the mechanics, and so what (it's a positive "so what"). It is interesting to contrast their two experiences.

God Bless Cardinal Mahoney

Now there's something that you don't hear every day.

However, it seems well warranted, according to Will's report from Los Angeles. Go read it all.

Today is a Day of Penance

In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. The Mass "For Peace and Justice" (no. 21 of the "Masses for Various Needs") should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate liturgical observance for this day.

General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 373

Well, well, well. It was quite a shock to come across this in my Magnificat this morning (the link above goes to the posted document at the USCCB).

Perhaps a day of fasting is better when it is sprung on you ... but also perhaps, for all those people not looking at their Magnificat this morning and who have no clue of this day of penance ... it would have been nice if we'd have had a mention during the homily which centered around personal involvement in the struggle against abortion. Or perhaps even a special mention in the announcements after Mass. I don't remember seeing one in the bulletin though I could have missed it.

When searching around I see that some parishes and dioceses had the forethought to mention it specifically. That must be nice ...

Connecting the Dots Between Contraception and Abortion

Catholic Mom reports that her priest pulled off the gloves and told them how the cow ate the cabbage (am I mixing it up enough for y'all?). Go read.

She reminds us also that the march in Washington happens tomorrow ... I happen to know that two of Hannah's friends, Katy and Daniel, will be there. Let's all lift the marchers in prayer.

I must add that Daniel awes me by regularly reading HC despite the continued good natured scorn of friends and family over his uncoolness. Thank you Daniel! (Of course, I'm a Daniel-fan as is anyone who knows him.)

"On that day we were the point of the spear..."

When you stand in front of an abortion mill, you see the culture wars from a different perspective. Two women walked in while we were there. Two. Suddenly, abortion is more tangible. The statistic evaporates, and you’re left with nothing but tragedy. You see the Sidewalk counselors approach someone that doesn’t want to listen, and it’s no longer a story on the news or something we talk about on the internet. Your heart pulls harder. From your lips comes, “…pray for us now and at the hour of our death,” while your head is saying in the background, “Please, oh please, Lord, let them hear.” But they walk on.

Mark Windsor at Raft on the Tiber writes beautifully and movingly about praying the rosary in front of the Fairmount Women's Clinic this weekend. Read it all.

Runner Up? Its a Winner to Me ...

She'd been strangled with a rosary-not a run-of-the-mill rosary like you might get at a Catholic bookstore where Hail Marys are two for a quarter and indulgences are included on the back flap of the May issue of "Nuns and Roses" magazine, but a fancy heirloom rosary with pearls, rubies, and a solid gold cross, a rosary with attitude, the kind of rosary that said, "Get your Jehovah's Witness butt off my front porch."

Mark Schweizer, Hopkinsville, KY

The runner up in the Detective category of 2007 entries in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. See all the winners here.

For those not in the know, the contest is an "international literary parody contest, the competition honors the memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). The goal of the contest is childishly simple: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. ... Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the immortal words that Charles Schulz' beagle Snoopy plagiarized for years, 'It was a dark and stormy night.'"

Impressions from the Dallas March for Life

Source: Texans for Life Coalition.
(Moral: wear a purple parka and you'll get photographed.)

First of all, I was so happy to get to meet Mark Windsor in person (and his lovely daughters and their friend), as well as Heather ... who I also wound up sitting next to in Mass that afternoon. Also, I am always happy to get to spend time with Laura and it was nice for the rest of us newbies that Laura knew the drill, having been to the March for Life several times.

What Moved Me

• How hard-faced were the "Clinic Support" people were who waited outside the abortion clinic where we prayed the rosary first thing in the morning. They are now on my heart in prayer.
• Watching the women come in for their abortions, I suddenly would flash on little Hannah and Rose playing together, being silly and having fun ... my heart would ache for that little person that each of these mothers was murdering in their ignorance and would never know. Thinking back on all my years of similar ignorance, I am grateful for God's grace that I was never in a position to seek out an abortion ... seriously, but for His grace, there could have been I.
  
• During the Mass there was a memorial of roses for the years since the Roe versus Wade ruling. One at a time, a person for each year came up, put a rose on a table before the altar, and a deep bell rang out. I thought of the statistic that says we are now missing one out of four of the children that should be here. It was unexpectedly moving.
• The enthusiasm of the marchers, especially those from groups I never would have thought of ... especially a group of young Hispanic guys with banners who seemed way too cool to be doing this ... it did my heart good.
• I was carrying a bunch of four red daisies which is what I had found in my attempt to get red carnations for our "how do I know you" joke that just kept going and going. Later on I realized that I personally knew the mothers of four babies that were aborted and so I carried that bunch of flowers for them. Which I will do next year as well ... that's the thing about being Catholic, symbolism is where its at!
  

What Shocked Me

• How few people were there. The people speaking at the march said that this was the biggest crowd ever and it was possibly a thousand people. I have been guilty of thinking that all the passionate protesters have been "covering" the march for those like me who "support them in prayer." Hmmm ... having done this March, I now believe that while support in prayer is a necessary thing, it is not enough.
• As far as I could see our parish didn't even have a mention of the protest march in the weekly bulletin. I know that our pro-life group is undergoing a transition and is not very strong, but I would have thought that some sort of reminder would have been published.
  
• Certain people who I didn't see who talk up their pro-life support, attend the bishop's pro-life dinner ... but weren't at the march. I couldn't fathom that if this was as important as they say that they wouldn't have shown up. Granted, again, this was my first time and it is easy to toss judgments around but actions speak louder than words.
• The deacon who gave the homily at our parish later that afternoon mentioned the march. He then said that he and his wife weren't there. He talked about their monthly prayer support at a local abortion clinic instead. The implication that I received was that the march in protest wasn't as important as the regular assistance. I understand what he was getting at because one-on-one is vital to helping individuals decide to choose life. In fact, that is something that I probably will be looking into assisting with. However, I don't think that one can avoid the necessity of public protest because it speaks to the lawmakers on a completely different level.

If every person who felt strongly that abortion is wrong didn't wait for someone else to do it put aside that one Saturday and braved the cold ... would 10,000 people have shown up instead of 1,000? (Please keep in mind, that I know full well, I am one of those "can't someone else do it?" people ... and still would be were it not for Mark Windsor's initiative in It Started Here, Let It End Here).

If every large city had 10,000 people peacefully marching in protest once a year, wouldn't it make the news? Here in Dallas, two of the four television stations showed the march on their news. Fox News had a solid hour of news and didn't give it a two-second mention. (By the way, Heather and I were on channel 8 news when they showed crowds walking ... as always I was talking ...) Wouldn't then the lawmakers take notice?

Actions speak louder than words. I believe that we need to reevaluate our actions in light of our words (and I'm preaching to myself as well here) ... what do we believe and what do we act upon?

Food for thought, especially with Lent not too far away.

For the Future
Now that I've done this and been thinking about it for a couple of days, there is no way I can't continue this ... what would you call it ... apostolate? Anyway, I'm in for another year of It Started Here. Let It End Here. I know Mark is in. Who else?

I will be making a special effort to spend an hour in front of the Eucharist on each First Friday also. I largely blew off that part last year due to work. However, my schedule is much more amenable than most to rearranging and I'm not gonna "let someone else do it" on that front.

I am going to investigate what the sidewalk counselor on our bus meant when she said that an hour a month of volunteering to pray at a clinic can be a big help. For instance, does this really mean just an hour, locations, etc. But I am going to make much more of an effort to put my money time where my mouth is.

Washington March for Life
Thoms at American Papist has the links, photos, and news.

Worth a Thousand Words

Modernist Balcony taken by Barcelona Photoblog.

An Experiment with Prayer

Jen at Et Tu is experimenting with the Liturgy of the Hours. Unlike most of us, she's right out there and reporting results as she goes.

What she's finding is interesting. She's not receiving direct answers to prayer as much as answers to the way her life is lived daily ... which, in a way, is one big answer to prayer!

Here is her plan, day one, and day two.

Don't stop at those, which are the basic essentials to following the action. There is more, much more in some other posts as well. Go scroll around and I think you'll be interested in what you find.

Not Sure What This Means ...

... but it is interesting.

Found at Bluegrass Report by Tom. (My next question is, what was he doing hanging around there? Not being a "political animal" and all that ...)

Calloo, Callay, O Frabjous Day ...

I'm smiling because...

• Tom is going to the March for Life with me tomorrow. Woohoo! That puts a whole new spin on the day.


• Rose finally scored Helvetica at the movie store. (Not that she cares ... but Tom and I do!) That darned thing has been rented every time we've been there for the past month. Can you tell our neighborhood is full of advertising people and artists? Remember, "Friends don't let friends use Arial."



• Tom's mom gave me a Borders gift certificate for Christmas and they've got a whole bunch of the Culinaria books on sale for $10 each. In a way this makes one think of an updating of the Time Life Foods of the World series (reviewed here) although these are done with less of each writer's personality and more continuity between volumes. These books look at the cuisines of countries in depth. When I say "in depth" think about 450 pages, oversized, covering every aspect of culture that relates to food. In short, a foodie's dream. Until now only the hardbacks have been available and they are huge. I mean to say, you don't want to fall asleep reading one because you'd be crushed to death when it fell on you. Sadly, I heard that the original company went out of business but that means the series was picked up by another printer and is being republished in paperback. It is still high quality printing on heavy paper and still huge but at least you can read it on bed without being injured.


• We have our tickets to Ella ... 'nuff said.

Book reports

1. Secret Believers by Brother Andrew**** ... I plan an indepth review of this book. A look at Muslims who convert to Christianity and the troubles they face, from many angles. Eye opening, touching, and inspirational. Highly recommended.
   


2. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill ** ... Steven Riddle loved it but I was hit with the "horror" aspect and had to skim a good part of the book. Well done but rather predictable, except for the extreme-ness (is that a word?) of the horror.
   


3. The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket by Trevor Corson *** ... you will believe that sushi can be interesting! Which I wouldn't have before hearing a Barnes and Noble podcast interviewing this author ... so I got it from the library. A thoroughly entertaining read that shows not only the history of sushi but takes us through a sushi chef class with all the students. Very good indeed.


4. Finder by Emma Bull*** ... quite enjoyable story of "Orient" a guy with the innate talent of finding things that have been lost. He lives in the Bordertown between our world and Faerie (which I believe is a storyline established by another author that has been borrowed and built upon by other like-minded authors. Orient gets sucked into an investigation of murder, a drug ring, and a mysterious virus which may claim the life of his partner if he can't find the answers everyone needs.


5. The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones**** ... much like Julia Child's "My Life in France" (reviewed here) this is a nostalgic journey in the way America cooked from the past to present. Judith Jones is the famous Knopf editor whose love of food and cooking allowed her to sniff out such great food writers as Julia Child, James Beard, Marion Cunningham, Irene Kuo, Marcella Hazen and many more. Not only is this a wonderful look at Jones' life and the foodways of America, but her thinking on food is quite firmly stated ... and delightfully sane and common-sensical it is. Highly recommended.
   


6. 65 Below by Basil Sands*** ... an audiobook action, adventure story in Alaska involving Korean terrorists joining forces with Muslim terrorists. The plot is stumbled upon at different ends by a female policeman and a former Marine who just happen to share a romantic past. Its easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys, action is plentiful, and there is plenty of evidence that being a romantic doesn't make a certain Marine any less of a man. A lot of fun.
   


7. Karl's Last Flight by Basil Sands*** ... another audiobook by the author of 65 Below, this one was earlier and is less developed plotwise. Also quite enjoyable.
   


8. Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword by Tee Morris*** ... Tee Morris is famous in Podiobook/audiobook/podcast circles for having the first podcast book, Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana. This book, however, brings fantasy to gangland Chicago when dwarf warrior Billibub Baddings inadvertently gets brought to our world via a time warp (or some such device). He adapts well and becomes a private investigator. Told in a noirish style that is firmly rooted in humor, this is a good time all 'round for listeners.
   


9. 7th Son: Destruction by J.C. Hutchins**** ... yet another audiobook, this is the final book of the 7th Son trilogy. I am a big fan of the entire series which has the seven "John Smith" in a game of wits trying to overtake John Alpha before he takes over the world ... or at least the United States.