Let's Talk Lenten Reading

Update:
So it seems that God possibly had other things in mind for me?

Our book club is reading The Fathers of the Church by Mike Aquilina and I have found myself really pondering the early fathers' writing as I read a little each morning during my reflection time. This second time round is proving extremely fruitful. Truly, spending some time with the fathers contemplating the trials they faced is a more relevant project than one might expect.

Also, Paul Among the People is a book I just can't put down. It truly places Paul's words in a different context for me as well as gives me much to ponder about our own modern culture in comparison with those long ago days ... and, of course, what it means to seek God under all those circumstances.

===========================

Has anyone begun thinking of reading something specifically for Lent?

I have two books in mind. One is This Tremendous Lover, a classic that I received thanks to Aquinas and More's wonderful reading program but to my shame have not delved much into. (I was deflected into reading Robert Alter's incomparable translation and commentary of Genesis ... I have never had scripture come alive for me in the way that translation achieved.)

The other book is a book of meditations designed to facilitate lectio divina during Lent. I received Conversing with God in Lent: Praying the Sunday Mass Readings with Lectio Divina for review and, of course, it is perfectly timed.

I also have two different books with meditations on Jesus' seven last words, which would naturally be very appropriate. The Seven Last Words of Jesus I purchased but haven't read and I received a review copy of Hope from the Cross: Reflections on Jesus' Seven Last Words. Both of these might be good to consider as lectio divina subjects during the weekdays.

Father Dwight Longenecker, whose books Adventures in Orthodoxy and St. Benedict and St. Therese I enjoyed immensely, sent another suggestion to consider. I have read very good reviews of this book around the blogosphere.

For those who have read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, this looks like a great choice. If you haven't read The Screwtape Letters ... don't wait until Lent to begin. Go get it now!

Here is last year's list with other good suggestions. I will say that I did read all the books I mentioned for my personal Lenten list and made a few notes for anyone who is interested. Unfortunately, due to the Haloscan changeover all the comments from last year are gone.

That just leaves us more room to make suggestions here ... or to comment upon your own reading plans. Speak up everyone!

•  Plenty of Good Reading for Lent at Your Fingertips: Vivificat opens the interwebs for us with links to pdfs of classic works by saints, priests, and more.
• Jen at Conversion Diary has some classics to recommend as well.

Music to Delight the Heart - The Lateral Cut

IT HAS ALWAYS been Dr. Boli’s delight to encourage worthy artistic endeavors, and most especially in the field of music, for which he admits a particular fondness. When a friend of his offered to share some recordings from quite a long time ago, Dr. Boli at once saw the opportunity to give encouragement to old friends like Mr. Victor Herbert, as well as some of these promising young people with their delightful “jazz” music, which so perfectly expresses the spirit of this mechanical age.

Thus today we launch the latest entry in Dr. Boli’s publishing empire, The Lateral Cut, named of course for the process by which sound is etched in a disc for permanent preservation. Beginning with a very modest collection, this new site will gradually build up a library of music rescued from the undeserved oblivion of the decades, much of it recorded by a purely mechanical process whose ingenuity still astonishes Dr. Boli even all these years after his friend Mr. Edison first demonstrated it to him. Think of it as your virtual gramophone on the World-Wide Web.

I was very interested to see Dr. Boli's announcement that his publishing empire is expanding to include music. Knowing the whimsical nature of Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine, I approached The Lateral Cut with curiosity. To my delight I saw that this is a genuine blog about lost music with something about the artists and a link where one can download the music itself. It is an eclectic collection thus far which just makes it more interesting. About the collection, The Lateral Cut blog begins ...

Language speaks to the mind, but music speaks straight to the soul. Yet music, like other arts, is subject to the arbitrary tyrannies of fashion. Much that is thrilling and beautiful has been utterly forgotten. But it lives on in these recordings, which sit neglected in flea markets and junk shops until someone comes along and says, “I’ll give you five dollars for that whole box.”

Check it out.

Updated: A Fascinating New Book Placing Paul in Context Among the Cultures of His Time

Received a review copy of Paul Among the People on Thursday before leaving for the Beyond Cana retreat and couldn't quite grasp what it was about.

I took it and found it it both easy to understand (essential for my evening reading when helping with a retreat) and fascinating. Sarah Ruden goes to great pains to put St. Paul's writings in the context of Paul's "modern times" of Greek and Roman culture so we can see just what cultural forces he was referring to when he wrote his letters. By juxtaposing her knowledge of those cultures (which were considerably cruder and more hostile to Christian religious concepts than we would think) and writings of the people (not high-brow philosophers) with Paul's writings and concepts, a new picture emerges of just what was being battled and why Christian concepts would be so welcome and revolutionary.

I never had the negative image of Paul that many seem to have picked up from his writings and which were the reason the author began researching the info that has become the basis of this book. However, it is fascinating nonetheless to see just how foreign those ancient cultures really were when compared to ours and what we think we know. I'm on page 40 but it has been eye opening already.

If you are dubious about the book, take a moment to read her after-notes on the scholarship and sources. It will reassure you. This is not a pop-culture take but a scholarly work that has been brought to our level. Or so it seems to this unschooled reader.

Updated summary now that I'm finished
Overall, this is an excellent resource for putting yourself into the culture to which Paul was speaking. The author brings up the common misconception about Paul (such as homosexuality, misogyny, etc), then addresses the reality of the culture on that issue at the time, then cites many examples to make sure the point is clear, then returns to showing what Paul's words really meant as applied to living in those times. Paul emerges as someone who really wants to communicate that if we love God then we must show that love to each other in treating each other as equals, all worthy of God's love.

Highly recommended but not for the squeamish as some of the subjects tend to be explicit by their very nature.

Thank you for the prayers for our Beyond Cana retreat

We certainly needed them. It figures that the day we receive record snowfall (12.5 inches) was to be the beginning of the retreat. I was so impressed that 9 of the 12 couples were able to make it and also inspired by the devotion of the presenting team to being there. People were battling power outages, snowed-in baby sitters, grandparents braved driving long distances through snow to tend grandchildren. This might not sound like much now but there was a definite battle mentality as we just aren't equipped to deal with that sort of weather. Does Dallas even have a snow plow? I doubt it.

The retreat was a resounding success on so many levels, but the most important naturally being that the nine attending couples went home glowing and with renewed marriages and the tools to help them keep moving forward. As well, there is just nothing like the little blessings that God pours out on the people presenting the retreat, to say nothing of the time we got to spend with our team who we love and respect more ever time we do this.

We got home to find three huge limbs cracked but luckily all of them missed the fence, the power line, and the roof! So there is a mess to clean up but it could have been so much worse that we are not too upset. And, surprise, surprise, evidently our driveway had been full of debris but some kind soul had picked it up and neatly stacked it beside our driveway so we could get in! I didn't know we had neighbors that nice! I'm curious to find out who it is so we can thank them.

So, onward and upward back into everyday life ...

IT'S SNOWING! AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL!

So, maybe 3 inches so far (?) have fallen.

I stepped outside before driving to work, looking up into the fat, heavy, moist snowflakes falling from the sky. I thought how glorious and creative God is to find such a beautiful way to give us winter precipitation. And how good He is to make us so that we can thrill at its beauty.

Of course, simultaneously comes agonizing from those involved in our parish's Beyond Cana marriage retreat which begins tomorrow in a location that is a 30 minute drive away. Babysitters, icy roads, and attendees are in peril!

Any prayers are, of course, appreciated ... though I feel extremely calm about it all. Of course, we only have to take our dogs to the vet for boarding. I am, naturally, praying for everyone, although right now I seem to be channeling St. John Vianney as what comes to mind is:

God commands you to pray, but he forbids you to worry.

Good advice no matter what the weather!

In related news, especially for those on the East Coast

This Winter Funk Warning announcement from Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER Service has issued a Winter Funk Warning for the counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Washington, Westmoreland, and Yohogania. A Winter Funk Warning means that prolonged inactivity enforced by unusually high amounts of snowfall will cause blue funks, lugubriousness, depression, grumpiness, annoyance, irritability, petulance, sadness, even more lugubriousness, and mental dry rot. Residents are urged to keep themselves entertained with a good book and not do anything stupid.

In which we consider several new haunting theories.

Yep, we continue with The Uninvited at Forgotten Classics.

The 5th Commandment, part 2: The Death Penalty

Continuing to share the series that I am in process of writing and which appear in our parish bulletins each week. Heading bravely into unpopular ground, we take a deeper look at the 5th commandment.

===============

Living our faith in the real world
The Fifth Commandment: You shall not kill.1
Part 2 — The Death Penalty

 Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein

====

Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord God. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live?

Ez 18:23

— • —

It is only natural is to want to remove a murderer from society where they will never harm another person and also to exact punishment. Executing a murderer is an obvious and simple solution. Equally natural is the desire to ignore the Catholic Church’s teaching that, whenever possible, a murderer must be imprisoned rather than killed. On the surface, this does not seem either practical or sympathetic to the victim’s family and friends. As with so many instances, however, this desire tends to be largely emotional. We must look past our emotions to understand the Church’s teachings about the seamless garment of life.

Clearly, the first concern of society is for the common good of its members. Punishing any wrongdoer is necessary both to repair the wrong and to teach the offender to change their ways. The Catechism puts it thus: The primary scope of the penalty is to redress the disorder caused by the offense. When his punishment is voluntarily accepted by the offender, it takes on the value of expiation. Moreover, punishment, in addition to preserving public order and the safety of persons, has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender.

Note that, while there is a primary goal of righting wrongs, there is always a similar concern for the well being of the offender. Atonement offers not only good to the victim, but also acts as medicine for the offender’s soul.

Obviously it is impossible for a murderer to repair the wrong they have committed. This places a severe strain on the victim’s loved ones for recovery and to extend forgiveness. However, this is the call that Jesus places upon us in the Our Father, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”2 From the Cross itself Jesus gave us the example by forgiving His own murderers, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”3 It is natural to not want to forgive anything so heinous. However, Christ calls us to go beyond what we want and instead do what He commands. It is good not only for the criminal we forgive, but for our own souls as well.

The Church leaves it to individual societies to determine how extreme the punishment must be because some have no other way to protect the general population than the death penalty. Our society has the means to incarcerate a murderer and safeguard the community. Therefore, it is always preferable to give the criminal the opportunity for conversion and the salvation of their soul. To do otherwise is to deny the sacredness of life as well as denying Jesus’ direct command, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”4 Which of us, having committed a terrible crime, would not want the opportunity to repent and cry out to Jesus, as did the penitent thief who hung beside him on Calvary?5 This is the same opportunity we are called upon, in turn, to give criminals in rejecting the death penalty in our society.

— • —

Little by little I was led to change my ideas. I was no longer certain that God did not exist. I began to be open to Him, though I did not yet have faith. I tried to believe with my reason, without praying, or praying ever so little! And then, at the end of my first year in prison, a powerful wave of emotion swept over me, causing deep and brutal suffering. Within the space of a few hours, I came into possession of faith, with absolute certainty. I believed, and could no longer understand how I had ever not believed. Grace had come to me. A great joy flooded my soul and above all a deep peace. In a few instants everything had become clear. It was a very strong, sensible joy that I felt. I tend now to try, perhaps excessively, to recapture it; actually, the essential thing is not emotion, but faith.

Light over the Scaffold and Cell 18: The Prison Letters of Jacques Fesch
Jacques Fesch was a young murderer whose conversion on death row
 was so dramatic that the cause for his beatification was opened in 1993.

— • —

Footnotes

1-Ex 20:13; Cf. Deut 5:17. 
2-Matt. 6:12
3-Luke 23:34
4-Matt. 22:39
5-Luke 23:39-43

Sources

Catechism of the Catholic Church • Evangelium Vitae (1995 encyclical) by Pope John Paul II • Catholic Christianity by Peter Kreeft

It's All Downhill from Here

A little midweek humor from a favorite of mine, Savage Chickens.

A single glance, a connection made ... Nuit Blanche

A powerful and amazing short film (4 minutes) that you will not soon forget. Watch it as large as your screen will show by clicking the 4 arrows next to the Vimeo logo.


Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Here is the blog post by the group that created the film where you may also see a video about the making of Nuit Blanche.

Ozzie and Sharon Osborne's marriage tip: Persevere

Valentine's Day is coming so talk turns to love and marriage. Also, in our parish the Beyond Cana marriage retreat will begin this Friday. Naturally, this WSJ article about long-lived marriages struck a chord. (Heads up, Tom and I are heavily involved in the presentation this time around and so my blogging will become sparse as we get closer to the weekend.)

Never, ever give up. This tip is really important, so pay attention. Sharon Osbourne says it is how she stayed with husband Ozzy for 28 years and counting.

[...]

He also spent years strung out on drugs and alcohol. Never mind the groupies and the near-fatal overdoses. This man set fire to his house, passed out on a freeway median, and once tried to strangle his wife.

Ms. Osbourne, for her part, tried to run him over with a car, smashing his gold records with a hammer and taking out a restraining order. "We became like a soap opera," says Ms. Osbourne, 57, who is her husband's manager.

And yet she stuck by her man. Why? Because she felt he was a good person when sober and that he would kick his addictions one day. And she still believes he is her soul mate. ("Twice recently we've had the same dream on the same night," she says.)

"I went into marriage thinking it was forever. So I was stubborn," says Ms. Osbourne who has three children with her husband.

Mr. Osbourne, who was married once before, finally did sober up "six or seven years" ago, he says, and is very glad his wife stuck it out. "You don't throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble," he says.

And so Mr. Osbourne has made a point of telling his wife he loved her every single day—no matter where he was in the world, no matter how drunk or high. "She sometimes said 'Drop dead' or 'F— off,'" he says. "But at least if you are arguing, you are talking. If you stop talking, it's time to call it a day."

This story covers many good tips from a number of long-lived marriages, among them such famous folk as Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Yet I believe that for all its tempestuous nature with many examples we definitely do not want to ever follow, the Osbornes have the key to the most important step. Never give up. Never surrender. My favorite moment, however, may be the tip conveyed by author, Ellen Bernstein's sister. No, I'm not going to tell you. Read the article.

"I'm not what you expected, but oh, please love me."

I knew the minute I saw her that she had Down Syndrome and nobody else did. I held her and cried. Cried and panned the room to meet eyes with anyone that would tell me she didn't have it. I held her and looked at her like she wasn't my baby and tried to take it in. And all I can remember of these moments is her face. I will never forget my daughter in my arms, opening her eyes over and over...she locked eyes with mine and stared...bore holes into my soul.

Love me. Love me. I'm not what you expected, but oh, please love me.

An absolutely honest and beautiful story about a mother whose baby girl is born with Down Syndrome. It is long but very much worth the time. Much thanks to Margaret for sending me the link.

This 'N That: the Source Edition

From life in person, you know - without that virtual part.Although much of this seems to be ordered over the internet. Which puts us back to using virtual reality to get something real in our hands. Oh well ...

iResQ and Refurbished iPods
Say you've done something like, oh, drop your iPod face down on your tile floor and the glass cracked (cracked in many pieces!). What cha gonna do? Well iResq fixes up iPods and a lot of other things too, such as computers. A new piece of glass? $39 (on sale - do that many people break the glass?) and one day turnaround. The Apple Store sells refurbished iPods for a pretty good price if it isn't worth fixing your iPod.  

UPDATE: iResq was as good as their word. I have never experienced such follow through and I now have "my precious" back. In fact, I now have sent off the famously "washed with the laundry" nano to see if their free diagnosis will find that whatever makes it randomly stop working can be fixed for not too much cash. Yes, I did it the same day that I got back my iPod. That's how good they were.

Dog Treat Warehouse
With three dogs in the house (we didn't plan to have a pack, it just happened somehow) it is no joke when I say that we were spending a fortune buying knotted rawhide dog bones. As well, we were having to scour local sources ... stores just don't offer quantity packs of dog bones all the time. These 8-10" bones are an excellent quality and much less expensive than anything in our local stores. Although where I'm going to stash this giant bag of 30 bones, well, that is a different problem.

Delicious and Wheat Free
A friend's recent discovery that she has wheat allergies sent me looking through recipe archives. I was surprised at just how many recipes are in there that are not dependent on wheat. Of course, they are purely delicious, which is why they are in there in the first place!

The Toffee House
A friend very kindly sent us some of this toffee. I never thought I'd taste toffee better than my mother's but these people did it. Highly recommended. And I like their sense of humor. This was on the little card in the tin:

This toffee came from a recipe that was handed down for generations. (Well, probably. However, we have to admit that it wasn't our family that did the handing down). It's a delicious adaptation of  recipe we found in a magazine. We'd love to impress you with tales of delivering this toffee to the Kings of England or that the Pope has some every morning, but we can't.

All of that aside, we're certain that you'll immediately fall in love wit this tempting confection.

I'll testify to that. You will.

In which we attend a seance, with creepy results!

More of The Uninvited from Forgotten Classics.

5th Commandment: part 1

Requested by some folks here, my ongoing series written for our parish bulletin, part of our occasional series covering the Ten Commandments. We now begin one that is a tough subject in our modern times. It will be a multi-part look at "you shall not kill" as you might expect. Here is part 1.

=================================

Living our faith in the real world
The Fifth Commandment:
You shall not kill.*

You have heard that it was said to the men of old, “You shall not kill: and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.

Matthew 5:21-22

====

2258 “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church

====

“There’s no grays, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.” [said Granny Weatherwax]

“It’s a lot more complicated than that…” [said Brother Oats]

“No. It ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.” [said Granny Weatherwax]

“Oh, I’m sure there are worse crimes…” [said Brother Oats]

“But they starts with thinking about people as things.” [said Granny Weatherwax]

Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

===========

The Hebrew word used in this commandment is ratsach (murder). St. Jerome’s translation of the Hebrew into Latin also used the word “murder” instead of the translation “kill” which we see in the headline above.

This distinction of “you shall not murder” instead of “you shall not kill” is a crucial one. It is what establishes the Catholic Church’s prohibition of taking innocent life. So important is this teaching that mere prohibition is not enough. We are called upon to protect, defend, and nurture life from conception to natural end. Jesus both simplified and expanded upon this teaching when giving the Sermon on the Mount as we see above in the quote from Matthew.

As straightforward as the idea of “not murdering” seems, our society is such that moral and political quagmires are opened every time it arises. Without very careful consideration of the Church’s teachings, the issues this commandment covers are likely to raise modern hackles against what are perceived to be insensitive dictates about just war, euthanasia, abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, stem cell research, and more.

In practically every case where someone objects to Church teachings it is through a laudable desire to express compassion and mercy. Those objections generally are concerned with the “quality-of-life.” However, the great danger of trying to judge the “quality” of another’s life is that when a life is judged to be “not worth living” then action must be taken to solve the problem. The only alternative to life is death. This is especially true as governments and institutions become involved in “life issues.”

Bureaucracies have a great tendency to group and categorize situations without taking the time to look closely at each human being involved. People become equivalent to “things.” Things are easy to dispose of.

The Church, on the other hand, has established her teachings with an eye to “sanctity-of-life.” That is to say, the Church knows life is sacred because God created and maintains it. We come from God, we live in relationship with God, and we return to Him when we die. He alone knows us well enough for judgment.

From the knowledge that life is sacred comes teachings which consistently protect all life and which have been called the “seamless garment” of the Church. The seamless garment of life is a reference from John 19:23 to the seamless robe of Jesus, which his executioners did not tear apart. This is the basis for the fact that Catholics cannot protect any life at the expense of other lives.

Clearly, we will be delving into complicated issues as we explore the Fifth Commandment and how we live our faith as modern Catholics. Different issues relating to this commandment will be examined individually in upcoming bulletin inserts

===========

*Ex 20:13; Cf. Deut 5:17.

Source Materials

• Catechism of the Catholic Church
• Evangelium Vitae (1995 encyclical) by Pope John Paul II
• Catholic Christianity by Peter Kreeft

"Be the Monster!" But What is Being Unleashed?

Gaga, on the other hand, is advising the world to embrace the inner monster, and this is a much more daring proposition; our objectifying ourselves as sexual beings might be easier to cop to — in any age — than the admission that we each of us house "inner monsters" of ego, selfishness, rage, manipulation or superior disdain. Lady Gaga has assigned herself the role of monster's cheerleader. She says, "Be the monster! I love your monster!" What she does not say — because she cannot yet know — is where the unleashing of millions of pent-up monsters may lead.

The Anchoress at NPR is enjoyable and insightful as always. Go and read. If you enjoy it, show NPR you do ... by hitting "recommend" or leaving a comment.

Urgent Prayer Request

For a young girl who is making a decision about an unplanned pregnancy. She wants to give the baby up for adoption but is being pressured to have an abortion. Lord, move her to stand up against pressure, to make the decision to love the little life inside her, and send her the support she needs to have her baby and to thrive.

Update: no news, but I will post an update when I know it. Thank you so much for all of the prayers, comments, and personal emails ... which I have forwarded to my friend who is in touch with the situation. Keep praying...

Payton Is a Genius ... I've Always Said So

So is Christopher Guess, of course, Oh, and the U.S. Census Bureau (or whatever they're named). Simply brilliant.



Which reminds me that I read an interesting piece from The Simple Dollar the other day about what a great part time job opportunity it is to be a census worker. Take a look and if you know anyone who needs work, you might want to send them the link.

We did tune in, by accident, during the State of the Union address

I'd forgotten it was on.

It was during the two minutes where the president was saying, "Dammit, Jim, I can't do this by myself! I'm a president, not a miracle worker!"

Although he actually sounded a bit more whiny, more like Scotty sayin', "I cannae do it, Cap'n. The engines, they will nae hold!"

And he said nothing at all about the iPad.

We went on with our original viewing plan ... Futurama.

The Stories So Far: Some Books and a Show!

Some quick looks at the books I've read this year ... (you can see my current reading in the Goodreads link in the sidebar).

• High Spirits by Robertson Davies
  Can't remember where I saw this recommended but these are extremely enjoyable humorous takes on the classic English "Christmas Eve" tellings of subsequent experiences by the first Master of Massey College. Every year he experiences either a ghostly visitation or some other supernatural adventure which luckily happens in time for him to tell it on Christmas Eve. Funny without being over the top. I will probably have to investigate this author's other works after this. (#4-2010)
  
• The Night's Dark Shade: A Novel of the Cathars by Elena Maria Vidal (review copy)
  A spunky heroine, the Cathar heresy, and some swashes being buckled.  I liked this book quite a lot. Vidal managed to combine romance without immodesty, insight into how a truly Catholic girl would have responded to suddenly being confronted by a heresy, and a feel for life back in those long ago times. I especially liked the heroine's confusion over the many similarities of the Cathar heresy and true Catholicism. It is that same confusion that often hits us today when something is not quite right about the philosophy someone is espousing but we can't quite pin it down.
  
  However, this book also felt strangely incomplete in some way which I have pondered a lot, considering I enjoyed the book so much.  It finally occurred to me that this book was like a slice taken from a larger one and we weren't told enough of the whole story. This "snapshot" was so good that we want to know more about the heroine's time in the convent, more about her marriage without having just bits given to us. For reference to any who would like to know what came to mind when thinking of fully satisfying book, I give you: historical fiction-Samuel Shellabarger; romance/mystery-Jane Eyre, Mary Stewart, Georgette Heyer; overall good fiction-Rumer Godden.  Also, the typesetting was gigantic. The book could easily have been 100 normal paperback pages if it had been set in a more normal size. Oh, the pain. However, despite all those things, I still liked it.
  
  Recommended for those who like a pure romance, who want to know more about the Cathar heresy, and who like historical fiction. #6
• Praying the Mass: The Prayers of the People by Jeffry Pinyan
  Began reading this for a projected project to go in our bulletin per our priest's desire to begin education about the new liturgical translations. Enjoyed it quite well, but the introduction ... Heavens to Betsy, here is the reason people have editors. As far as I can tell this book is self-published and it is good. It is vouched for by the diocese of Metuchen (NJ), but I don't see a professional publisher mentioned which means no professional editor either. The intro is so deep it almost made me skip the entire book, the rest of which is NOT written at that level. Thank goodness. It is not just about the new translation, although I highly recommend it to those who are interested in the reasons for the changes. Pinyan goes deeply into how each part of the Mass is a prayer and that was really enlightening. Highly recommended. #8
  
• Space Prison by Tom Godwin
  I listened to the SciPodBooks reading of this. In many ways this is a unique science fiction book, based largely around a survival story. After pirates hijack an Earth space ship, they dump the "non essential" passengers on a planet on which it seems impossible to survive. The thought of one day attracting and overcoming the pirates keeps the survivors striving to overcome their hostile environment. An absorbing story of several generations and two centuries that is nevertheless fast-paced and interesting. #5
  
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
  How did this author do it? A story about an 11-year-old detective that is a unique blend of Sherlock Holmes, eccentric English country house murder mystery, and Nancy Drew. And it works. Fascinating and wonderful. I say that even though I pegged the murderer the first time there was an appearance. The discovery of why and how and who was entirely enjoyable despite that. (#3)
• The Club of Queer Trades by G.K. Chesterton
  At the beginning of the 20th century, in detective fiction there was Sherlock Holmes and that was all. There were other fictional detectives, to be sure, but they were only bad imitations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous consulting detective. The sleuths offered by other writers would try to outdo Holmes in eccentricity and in solving crimes that were evermore contrived and convoluted.
  
  But in 1905 a book of mysteries came along that finally managed to turn the Sherlock Holmes idea on its head. The book was The Club of Queer Trades by G.K. Chesterton. His detective, Rupert Grant, is a Sherlock Holmes-like private eye who investigates crimes and chases crooks with great self-assuredness in his powers of deduction. But he is always wrong. The hero of these stories is not Rupert, but his older brother, Basil Grant, a retired judge. In each case, Basil proves to Rupert hat there has been no crime and no crooks.
  
  Read the entire lecture on this book, of which the above which has been an excerpt, here. This book was a delight from beginning to end, and I'm not really a G.K. Chesterton fan. I listened to the Librivox recording which was wonderfully read by David Barnes. #7.
• Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
  A rereading of this book, prompted by the fact that I misplaced Hyperion and needed some fiction for bedtime. Perhaps should have been called MacGyver Odd. Odd tracks down a strange group of villains who are obsessed with the supernatural and have kidnapped a friend of his in order to make Odd show them ghosts. Although Odd can see ghosts he can't make them manifest to others so this is something of a problem. Practically the entire book takes place in an isolated, burned out casino and Odd spends the entire book figuring out ways to outwit them and rescue his friend. Rereading this made me notice the many small points about faith that Koontz muses about and that added value to the already enjoyable story. #9
  

And now for the show!

District Nine
Most people have probably heard the premise of this movie, which I found fascinating. A huge alien ship suddenly shows up over Johannesburg, South Africa but nothing happens. When the people finally muster the nerve to investigate they find that the aliens aboard are sick and dying because they are simply workers who have been left to die when their leaders ran away. The aliens, called "prawn" are housed in a government camp (District Nine) which soon deteriorates to a ghetto. Shot to look like a documentary, the movie takes place many years later, following a middle manager who has been promoted to lead the effort to move the aliens to a new camp, District Ten, further away from the city. Everyone being interviewed keeps mentioning "before the event" and "before things went wrong" so we are prepared for things to go downhill in some way for the poor fellow. However, I never would have predicted how this manager is caught up in the storyline and the discoveries of the movie.

It is obviously a movie about racism and bigotry, about how we treat the "other," and how the "other" is not as different from us as we would like to think. However, I was very interested by the types of details that were included. For example, the humans and aliens couldn't speak each other's languages but the could definitely understand each other. As we watch this hapless fellow I began to dislike him more and more which was a very odd feeling to have about the movie's protagonist. (I'm trying to write this without giving much away...) However, Hannah said that she found it interesting because she thought that his actions were actually one of the most realistic things about the movie ... that he was acting as a normal human would when caught up in events that were far beyond him. This was an intriguing thought for me. The more I thought about it, the more I saw her point and appreciated the story telling from this point of view. The protagonist is much more of an "everyman" than the usual so-called type we see. He is not too smart, he is something of a bully because he doesn't even know enough to see a larger perspective on his actions, and he is self absorbed ... all somehow in that hapless, nervous way which helps disarm his least likable characteristics. However, he has a true devotion to his wife and he does learn a larger way of seeing the world, both of which lead to his redemption.

I did feel there was a misguided bit of the movie toward the end, an attempt to meld sci-fi action with the rest of the story. However, it did no great harm and overall this is a very good film. Tom hasn't seen it yet and I look forward to viewing it again sometime soon with him.

iPad? Really?

(Insert joke here about the name.)

Saturday Night Live's gonna have a field day with that. What were they thinking? Maybe none of them are women. Or had sisters. Or are married. Or ever got pummeled with one too many tv ads for certain women's products.