The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke

This is a collection of eight short stories that return readers to the world of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. As I enjoyed Simon Prebble's narration of Strange & Norrell, I returned to that format to hear these stories. Prebble shares narration duty with Davina Porter whose undeniable skill I enjoyed even more than Mr. Prebble's and that is saying quite a lot.

Since all but one of these stories were previously published elsewhere, they vary from mere fragments (The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse) to retold fairy tales (Lickerish Hill). These are almost like some of the longer footnotes from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which often meander away to tell fully imagined stories before returning to the main narrative.

The one constant is Clarke's skill at conveying readers to a magical England in the style of well known 19th-century writers such as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Clarke has a dry wit which enlivens many of the tales and a good imagination for weaving attention holding yarns. I enjoyed all these stories quite a lot. If you are wondering whether to take the plunge into Strange & Norrell, these stories might be a good test of the waters.

Originally reviewed for SFFaudio.

Troy and Abed Airing Someday ...

I believe in October 19 ... I believe, I believe ...

In One God: Professing the Creed for the Year of Faith

The Wine Dark Sea's series continues considering the creed phrase-by-phrase with "In one God" ... which is my contribution to the series as it turns out. Check it out at Wine Dark Sea.

In Which Virgilia's prevision comes in handy ... or does it?

More of The Unforeseen at Forgotten Classics.

The Good Cook Series

Every cook should have a set of The Good cook series. To find out why, read my review at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Baldur's Gate: The Greatest Role Playing Game of All Time.

I concur.

Although my true love is the second game, Shadows of Amn, it hasn't been easy to find for Mac's updated systems. The thing that impresses me is that there are enough Baldur's Gate fans to make doing an updated version financially viable. It's been around for a long time.

Why dwell on this now?

Because there is an enhanced version of the original Baldur's Gate and the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack (which I never had) coming out very soon. With more characters and extra quests.

AND (because that's not enough ... it never is) there will be a remake of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and the expansion, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal.

AND (because even that is not enough) there is a plan to make Baldur's Gate 3 after both enhanced editions are done. Of course this depends on how well these other remakes do.

I am willing to do my part. Just get that Mac OS X version out there and I will buy it.

Frankenweenie: "I went to see this hoping that this would be Tim Burton's return to his former glory."

The concept is simple and should be charming. When Victor's dog and best friend Sparky is hit by a car, Victor uses the town's frequent lightening storms to bring him back to life. But when his fellow classmates discover his secret, they all begin to bring their pets back to life with disastrous results. So part of the problem lies in the fact that what starts out as a Frankenstein spoof suddenly turns into a monster movie during the climax only to abruptly return to the Frankenstein plot.

But the problems are greater than that. ...

Double Exposure (Rose) weighs in on Frankenweenie. I also was crossing my fingers for this one but dubious. Read it all at Double Exposure.

On the other hand, I still am excited about Looper and Argo which have gotten top notch reviews ... we might even go to the movies to see one or the other (is seeing both a dream that could come true? We shall see...)

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

IN THE BEGINNING
A bit of birthday book-a-liciousness that I had no idea what to think of. As a kid I reread Beautiful Joe and Black Beauty with no problems, though as an adult I cringe from revisiting those tough stories. As an adult I love Watership Down, but my overall experience with animal POV stories is that they tend to be sadder than is my preference. Reading Alice Walker's comment on the cover somewhere that she cried like a baby (ok, I'm paraphrasing) made me wary. However, I trusted my mother, who gave me this, so I figured I'd dip a toe into this doggy tale.

BY THE END OF THE BOOK
This is a simply told tale from the dog's point of view. I am loathe to say much about it because that would spoil the story. It is a very quick read, because of the simplicity, and yet it grabbed me in a way that is difficult to describe. I found myself thinking about it when I put it down. Part of the appeal is the various situations the dog finds itself in which are intriguing in the details of the experience. More than that I dare not say except to reiterate that it is much, much better than you might think.

Year of Faith: Professing the Creed

In his Apostolic Letter announcing the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict exhorts us to find a way to publicly profess the creed: “Religious communities as well as parish communities, and all ecclesial bodies old and new, are to find a way, during this Year, to make a public profession of the Credo.”

Melanie Bettanelli has begun a series meditating upon the creed. She's divided it into 47 pieces and invited a flock of bloggers to help. I myself will be chiming in very soon. Just click the pieces of the creed at The Wine Dark Sea to go to each post through the year.

Celebrate the Year of Faith by Reading the Documents of Vatican II ... or the Catechism

Jeff Miller at Happy Catholic Bookshelf says:

The start of ”The Year of Faith” coincides purposely with the start of the Second Vatican Council 50 years ago. Much has been said about the false “Spirit of Vatican II” which was a purposeful misdirection to the texts of Vatican II. While I have read some of the documents and parts of others I haven’t read through all of them. So I figured this was an opportune time to correct that.

So I have put together an ebook containing all the Councilar Documents which I will read this year and make available for others.

I too have read a few of those documents, enough anyway to show me that they were grossly misinterpreted by some people. I always meant to get around to reading all the documents. This is a great reminder to do just that ... and Jeff's ebook formats make it easy. Download them at the link above.

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For this Year of Faith, Pope Benedict has encouraged you to study and reflect on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Well, here’s an easy way to do it.

Simply enter your email address and – starting October 11, 2012 – you’ll start getting a little bit of the Catechism emailed to you every morning.

Read that little bit every day and you’ll read the whole catechism in a year. Cool, right?

Sign up here. Via The Curt Jester who always knows what's going on.

Educating the women who didn't learn cooking from their mothers ...

My review of The Kitchen Counter Cooking School is up at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Julie's exploring a tomb. Scott's lost contact but he's sure she's fine, just fine ...

It's October. Time for the scary stuff!

Scott and I discuss four H. P. Lovecraft stories: Dagon, The Statement of Randolph Carter, The Color Out of Space, and The Dunwich Horror. All at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Pope Benedict's Homily Opening the Year of Faith

Watch it right here.

If you have a PC, that is. It seems to want Microsoft Silverlight before showing the video.

I am lucky enough to have a pal who saved the audio of the homily and sent it to me.

Whispers in the Loggia has the homily for readers.

Three Items of Interest (Plus One)

ITEM 1: Catholicism Pure and Simple

It's no secret that I love Father Longenecker's writing. Catholicism Pure and Simple is no exception. I'll be doing a full review soon, but wanted to mention that it is out now ... and it's good. Really good. Here's the description which is really accurate ... and, now that I think of it, doesn't leave me with much to add. Never fear, I'll find more to tell you:

The Catholic faith doesn't have to be complicated. Fr. Dwight Longenecker shows how it can be Pure and Simple. Starting with arguments for the existence of God, this book takes the reader step by step through the basics of the Catholic faith. Without using churchy language, difficult theological concepts or confusing arguments Dwight Longenecker explains not only the truths of the faith, but how to embark on the adventure of living the Catholic faith today. He uses plain illustrations from ordinary life, and explains the faith without complex footnotes or intimidating references. Catholicism Pure & Simple is perfect for high school students, confirmation candidates, members of RCIA classes and anyone seriously seeking God in the modern world.

Item 2: FaithWorks!

This is a short, punchy weekly newsletter with articles on prayer, relationships, family, spirituality and service. Father Longenecker is writing this for the Year of Faith. It's just right for help with the practical practice of our faith.

Check out the latest issue and sign up here.

Item 3: One More Soul

One More Soul has created and published a very comprehensive challenge to the HHS mandate--"Obey Mandate or Scripture?" In this 24 page newspaper, over twenty authors explain why you should be very concerned about the Health & Human Services mandate and its requirement that virtually all health insurance plans cover the intrinsic evils of contraception, sterilization and abortion.

 These writers--including bishops, priests and a seminarian, doctors, lawyers, and economists--provide very readable and common sense explanations for why this mandate is evil in seven different ways. It is a must read for anyone who values their religious freedom, and the conscience rights of employers, medical personnel, and all Americans.

Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis Schnurr has granted "Obey Mandate or Scripture?" his Imprimatur, assuring that the newspaper is free of doctrinal or moral error.
We sell the publication in newspaper format, the entire piece is viewable for free on our website. We really just want to get the information out.

One More Soul is a non-profit dedicated to educating people on God's design for love, chastity, and marriage, with a focus on the blessings of children, Natural Family Planning, and the harms of contraception.

Read One More Soul here.

Plus One More Item: One Body, Many Blogs

When T.J. Burdick launched his blog back in 2010, he was puzzled by one question: how do you become an effective Catholic blogger?

Two years and many blog posts later, T.J. had few answers. So he began searching for help. He emailed a number of blogging friends and asked, "in your opinion, what are the 'ten commandments' that Christian bloggers should keep in mind?"

Ten Catholic bloggers responded with a diversity of answers. Some were deep, some pithy; some were practical, some spiritual. But together they provided T.J. a solid foundation for Catholic blogging.

Wanting to help others, T.J. decided to package all of this wisdom into a short, $1.99 eBook titled One Body, Many Blogs: A Guide for Christian Bloggers (eBook, 52 pages).

Brandon Vogt has a great review that includes much more information about this interesting sounding ebook with a solid list of trust-worthy contributors. Here is author T.J. Burdick's blog.

Tandoori Pizza

Marinated chicken, mango chutney, green onions ... an amazing pizza. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

"Everything that I can remember, I have told with perfect candor.

... if anything remains vague, it is only because of the dark cloud which has come over my mind—that cloud and the nebulous nature of the horrors which brought it upon me."

The Statement of Randolph Carter by H.P. Lovecraft ... read for us at Forgotten Classics by Will Duquette.

The Beckoning Fair One and Real Life Ghost Stories

Get 'em now at SFFaudio where my unabridged reading of the story is followed by Jesse Willis, Scott Danielson, and me discussing it ... and each telling about our own brushes with ghosts!

Weekend Joke

This one is in honor of the baseball playoffs. It never fails to make me laugh.

A man walks into a bar with a dog. The bartender says, "You can't bring that dog in here."

"You don't understand," says the man. "This is no regular dog, he can talk."

"Listen, pal," says the bartender. "If that dog can talk, I'll give you a hundred bucks."

The man puts the dog on a stool, and asks him, "What's on top of a house?"

"Roof!"

"Right. And what's on the outside of a tree?"

"Bark!"

"And who's the greatest baseball player of all time?"

"Ruth!"

"I guess you've heard enough," says the man. "I'll take the hundred in twenties."

The bartender is furious. "Listen, pal," he says, "get out of here before I belt you."

As soon as they're on the street, the dog turns to the man and says, "Do you think I should have said 'DiMaggio'?"

Why You Should Be Reading a Little Bit o' Lovecraft This Weekend

Because Scott and I will be discussing four of his short stories next week at A Good Story is Hard to Find.

And you know you want to find out why two good Catholics would love the lurking horror that is in these tales:

• Dagon
• The Statement of Randolph Carter
• The Colors Out of Space
• The Dunwich Horror

I recommend reading them in this order as the ethos and worldview build nicely that way.

Although I must warn you that I have had a nightmare about Dagon ... and he was invisible. So, there is that to consider.

Nonetheless, it is quite good fun and I'm excited that I was able to listen to the stories. Lovecraft's prose just rolls into your ear so beautifully.

6 Month Economic Forecast

I've done the accounting for our small firm for nigh on these twenty-three years. One of the interesting things is that we seem to reflect economic trends about four to six months ahead of the big business reports that show up in the newspaper.

If we're rolling in business and have built up a good cash reserve, months later the government is reporting a banner year for business and employment. If we're scraping for business, then about six months later we read a doom-and-gloom report from the Wall Street Journal.  I am not accounting minded and so even noticing this trend means it has to have been borne out repeatedly.

Suddenly, and I mean within the past month, almost none of our regular clients are paying their bills on time. There are always some people who pay late and some who pay on time. Like every business, we count on the "on time" customers to cover the ones who are slow. But now ...practically everyone is running into the 60-90 day overdue slot on all their bills. And my statements are being ignored ... I have  to call and put people on the spot to get those 60 days bills paid, which is also not usual. I've never experienced anything so sudden from so many at once.

Tom began checking around and found out we're not the only ones. There's a big slow down from everyone.

I'm don't keep up with any political economic plans or forecasts. We just keep working to pay the bills. But I'll tell you this from a purely practical standpoint ... whatever's being done now -- it ain't workin'.