Well Said: Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ

Recorded at his deathbed. This, to me, seems to be the perfect daily prayer. You may know it as the simplified song from Godspell.

Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits Thou hast given me,
For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,
May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly.

St. Richard of Chichester

Free Book! One Day Only!

Free book! One day only

Posted by Lars Walker @ 7:52 pm EDT
Filed under: Bookselling

In our infinite benevolence and generosity, Ori and I are making my new e-book, Hailstone Mountain, available for free download on Tuesday, April 16.

One day only! Act now! Unless it's not Tuesday yet. Or it's Wednesday.

Free on Tuesday. That's the deal. Tell your friends.

Lars from Brandywine Books speaks and I listen. (And get my free book.) I've always meant to read one of his books and now the price is right. 

Ok, you saw it here ... I told my friends. Go get it!

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I've never been that interested in this book or anything by Wilkie Collins for that matter. Collins had that stigma (for me) of having written "classics" and "the first detective novel." Which just killed any interest I'd ever have had because classics and "first ever" books are musty, boring, and stale, right?

I know that isn't true, but I still have a hard time shaking that idea.

However, when B.J. Harrison, narrator extraordinaire of The Classic Tales Podcast offered the first five hours of this book as a free sample I couldn't resist. I soon gave in and ordered the entire books. I was hooked in just a few chapters.

I really didn't expect Gabriel Betteredge, the first narrator, to be so funny. He spends his spare time reading and rereading Robinson Crusoe which is his ultimate guide to any tricky decision he must make.

The second narrator is equally hilarious, a maiden aunt whose dedication to the Christian cause is such that she spends a considerable amount of time hiding religious tracts in people's homes to trick them into reading them. I actually laughed out loud at some of the tract names. Now that I think of it, I knew that Collins and Charles Dickens were good friends and I suppose I should have expected a good sense of the ridiculous.

Not every narrator is humorous but the characterization is strong for everyone. Rachel Verinder's outburst to Franklin Blake toward the end of the book made me applaud her strong common sense while I sympathized with her situation. I was moved to pity by Ezra Jennings' plight and delighted in Sergeant Cuff's penchant for roses.

Harrison's reading emphasized humor without being over the top and pointed out the pathos without being maudlin. His reading was the key to my thorough enjoyment of this Victorian tale complete with a family feud, a cursed diamond, three untrustworthy Indian jugglers, and a small boy nicknamed Gooseberry.

The ending was of its time and incredible by today's standards, but I was on tenterhooks as each revelation was made. In fact, I put off listening to a brand new book in a series I love so that I could get to the end of this mystery.

Harrison is offering the entire book for $5 which is an amazing bargain. I'm sure how long that offer will stand so if you're interested check out the link above.

Jeff Miller's review of Save Send Delete

Here it is ... he liked it just as much as I did.

The often long emails that take so many divergent paths are a wonder to read. They are so funny, pointed, and filled with the realities of life. Political correctness has not only taken a vacation, but I think had run away in alarm.

And, I'll just say it here, I'm a book stalker of Jeff's. So it evens out.

In which there are shady doings in Los Altos while the bus passengers are still on the road.

Chapters 2 and 3 of The Mouse in the Mountain by Norbert Davis at Forgotten Classics.

The Brits and the Yanks ... We Just Don't Get Each Other

Here are 10 American Habits Brits Will Never Understand.
(I'm just sayin', y'all never got corn stuck in your teeth? Floss matters, people!)

And, the corresponding 10 British Habits Americans Will Never Understand
(After watching Doctor Who, I see that grabbing a cuppa tea in an emergency is more practical than you might think.)

Via Brandywine Books.

Well Said: True Interpreters of Scripture

From my quote journal.

The saints are the true interpreters of Holy Scripture. The meanings of a given passage of the Bible becomes most intelligible in those human beings who have been totally transfixed by it and have lived it out. Interpretation of Scripture can never be a purely academic affair, and it cannot be relegated to the purely historical. Scripture is full of potential for the future, a potential that can be opened up when someone "lives through" and "suffers through" the sacred text.

Joseph Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth: 

From the Baptism in the Jordan

to the Transfiguration

Well Said: Solemnity and Bacon

From my quote journal, originally from Jennifer Fitz who gives a recipe to go with it.

Nothing says “solemnity” like bacon on a Friday.

Jennifer Fitz

Of course, you've got to be of the "no meat on Fridays crowd for this to really hit home ... or to even be comprehendible.

The Bones of the Old Ones by Howard Andrew Jones

The Bones of the Old Ones by Howard Andrew Jones

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the highly enjoyable sequel to the excellent Desert of Souls (my review here). I really enjoyed it and if Goodreads allowed half-stars the rating would 4.5.

Asim and Dabir are pulled into adventure when a young woman (Najya) begs them for help escaping kidnappers. The kidnappers have some very strange powers and the young woman seems to have been put under a spell. Investigating how the spell and how to shake the kidnappers propel our heroes into realms resplendent with sorcery, old gods, giant battles, and much more. And there's a flying carpet. That made me very happy.

If someone crossed The Arabian Nights with Robert E. Howard, you'd have Bones of the Old. Asim is a captain of the guard. Dabir is a knowledgable scholar. The classic mixture of brawn and brains are well paired again as the two friends encounter old enemies and solve puzzles from mythical times while traveling through the ancient Arabian desert, albeit one covered with snow.

It is a well-told adventure that I read in 24-hours. It was more of a straight-forward rescue tale than Desert of Souls and, for that reason, I docked it a half star. But that half star is a small one.

I wish these were available as audio books because they are right down SFFaudio's alley and I'd love to have a read along about them. (hint, hint)

However, for those of us who don't mind actual reading, my advice is to get both books and waste no time in jumping feet-first into adventure.

A Super Fantastic Review of Happy Catholic (the book)

"I am suddenly nostalgic for the good old days," Davis remarks, "when you could smoke a cigarette, have a burger, or sip a cocktail without fear of getting a dirty look." What's that got to do with Catholicism, you ask? Davis doesn't hammer her point home in this essay, or in any of the others. She sketches out the main points, and leaves it to the reader to fill in the blanks, to connect the dots. In this essay, she is commenting on British jockey and crime writer Dick Francis' observation that in America, people think that one can fend off death indefinitely by jogging or adopting other healthy habits.

Davis could have produced a thousand-word essay supporting her points with exacting details; she doesn't. Her comments are trenchant and brief, as if you were seated next to a very witty and provocative dinner companion. Americans worship health and equate death with guilt, she remarks. It's almost like we've turned healthy living into a secular religion. And then you realize, oh, that's right. I'm reading a book by a Catholic about being Catholic. You put two plus two together, and before you realize it, you are asking big questions and thinking profound thoughts. You didn't need the thousand-word essay. You just needed a few inspirational bon mots from this erudite, sophisticated, literate Catholic woman.

Danusha Goska, author of Save Send Delete, has a review of Happy Catholic that knocked my socks off! Didja see that? Bon mots. Erudite. She said it, folks, not me. Though it did make me very, very (very) happy.

Danusha's review is generous and kind and ... I'm going to go read it again another time or two (or three). If you are interested I urge you to do the same because what is given above is a mere taste.

Thank you Danusha!

This Just In: Selfless: The Story of Sr. Theophane's Missionary Life in the Jungles of Papua New Guinea

Selfless: The Story of Sr. Theophane's Missionary Life in the Jungles of Papua New Guinea by Reida Immolata

This was a surprise review book that showed up on my doorstep via UPS last night. The cover and photos inside remind me of Story of a Soul (St. Therese of Lisieux's autobiography). This is not an autobiography but is written so far in the same sweet, gentle style of the early-middle 1900s.

I'm still on Sr. Theophane's (Inez's) youth but that little tomboy's earnestness and devotion is getting to me. It probably helps that this is reminding me somewhat of Cheaper by the Dozen in the New York state setting and time period.

I look at this woman's life spent giving to others for love of Christ (the overview makes that clear although I am not far into her actual life). Then I look at the people spending so much time and energy blabbing about changing things to their own tastes (ordaining women priests and suchlike) ... things which they do not have the power to change, for one thing, so they are doing nothing but raising acrimonious feelings on both sides.

It makes me think that if we stopped talking and began doing, giving, serving the less fortunate all around us, how much better the world would be. And our own souls. And, hopefully, the souls of those around us.

It may be that the life of this little anonymous missionary is a true message for our times much along the lines of that of the more famous Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Just a train of thought that this book began in me as I was washing dishes, musing over the book ...

Bleg: A Good Book About Catholicism and End-of-Life Issues?

A pal of mine is in the medical profession, just entered the Church, and was asking about a good book to read for end-of-life issues.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you!

The Universe Within by Neil Shubin

The Universe Within: A Scientific Adventure by Neil Shubin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All the galaxies in the cosmos, like every creature on the planet, and every atom, molecule, and body on Earth are deeply connected. That connection begins at a single point 13.7 billion years ago.

This book takes a big scientific fact and then links it back to life on Earth and our lives specifically. For example, the Big Bang created particles that exist on Earth and in living creatures today (including us). Along the way he tells the stories of scientists whose "wacky theories" just happened to be right and what happened in the process of proving them. Those personal stories, along with Shubin's own scientific exploration which is interspersed throughout the chapters, bring the science to a personal level and keep the reader engaged.

I particularly enjoyed the fact that Shubin celebrates the science and connections without imposing any philosophical opinions on us. I have seen some complaining about his lack of concern about climate change and it was then that I realized how refreshing it was to just get the facts without the author's personal opinion as well.

The book is only 240 pages so clearly it is an overview, but it is one with just enough details for those who, like me, have just a smattering of scientific knowledge.

Note: I received this review copy from the Amazon Vine program.

Eternal rest grant unto Roger Ebert, O Lord.

I was instructed long ago by a wise editor, "If you understand something you can explain it so that almost anyone can understand it. If you don't, you won't be able to understand your own explanation." That is why 90% of academic film theory is bullshit. Jargon is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Roger Ebert blog entry, Nov. 10, 2008

Roger Ebert lived by those words, eschewing jargon with a vengeance. He wound up becoming an American icon. I was surprised that I became a bit weepy when hearing the news. He'd had cancer since 2006 and I recall thinking just recently about what a good run he'd given it all this time, still reviewing movies and weighing in on his blog about whatever caught his interest.

It was on his blog that he recently wrote about being a Catholic in every way except that of belief in God. I pray for his soul and hope that at that last moment of choice, he chose wisely and clasped the hand extended to him from Heaven.

Eternal rest grant unto Roger Ebert, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

April 8th HHS Contraceptive Mandate Comment Period Closes

Go here to leave a comment.

Many thanks to Jen Fitz for reminding me of this. I read her comments and used the first line to launch off on my own.

Do you believe that mentally competent, grown women are capable of making their own purchases? I do. If you don't take all my income with taxes, I'll be able to do so very nicely, thank you.

I can also pick my own health insurance. (It's a shock I know, but try to bear up under it.)

I don't need the government to patronize me in the process. Oops, too late.

In which Doan and Carstairs board the bus to Los Altos and meet their fellow passengers.

Doan and Carstairs are back in The Mouse in the Mountain which sees our hard-boiled duo on the beginning of a Mexican vacation. Hear it at Forgotten Classics.

What I'm Reading: Extinction Machine (Joe Ledger #5) by Jonathan Maberry

Extinction Machine by Jonathan Maberry

Joe's back.

Pulled off vacation, Joe Ledger is knocking on research lab doors with Top and Bunny, looking into cyber-attacks so clever they can't be tracked back to anyone. But no one's answering, even though all the lights are on. Until a couple of men in black, who seem strangely inhuman, step onto the loading dock.

And mayhem ensues.

Yep.

Joe's back.

Sorry Moonstone. Sorry Jane Eyre. Sorry Middlemarch. Sorry stack of audiobooks that I just got in the mail. You're sweet and ... uh ... we'll always be good friends. But I've got to go.

I've got a date.

Joe's back.

And I've got to slip into my slinkiest pair of earbuds.

(Review copy from Audible, via SFFaudio.)

- Patient Zero (#1)
- Dragon Factory, The (#2)
- King of Plagues, The (#3)
- Assassin's Code (#4)

Reviews of the Pope's Performance

Dr. Boli hits the nail on the head (as always).

Save Send Delete by Danusha Goska

Save Send Delete by Danusha Goska

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I became excited when Moyers identified you as a skeptic who questions everything. I actually put down my fork and stopped chewing my pasta fazool. I question everything, and I find that makes me very lonely. If you want to talk about Islam and terror, for example, you know that the Politically Correct, self-identitied "Patiots" won't allow any critical statements about US petro-dependency. Abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage: people bring so many agendas to these matters that real, probing questions are never asked or answered. But you were as dogmatic in your atheism as a Monty Python parody of a pope.

One night after watching a celebrity atheist on a talk show, devout Catholic Mira does the unthinkable. She sends him a long, forceful, clever email that she knows will never get past his secretary. Except that he answers. And he won't let her off the hook with a polite apology.

We see only Mira's side of the correspondence, which soon pulls us into her life, their growing friendship, and doesn't let anyone off the hook in considering faith, love, and what it means to be human. "Save Send Delete" refers to what Mira chooses to do after she's written each email we've read. I was delighted by the way this clever device let us see not only Mira's actual email but her inner thoughts as she hesitated or deleted what she'd written.

Monday 1:20 a.m.
Rand! Good grief, I see that you've written back already. I can't read that right now.

I was drifting off to sleep and I remembered. In my first e-mail to you I called you a "git" and a "wanker." And here I am chastising you for stereotyping me.

But that was so long ago Rand, and we are different people now, and we're doing something different here, aren't we? And it hurts when you refuse to see me.

SAVE send delete

Monday 1:34 a.m.

save SEND delete

I cannot possibly do this book justice. But, of course, you know that's not going to stop me from trying.

The book is a thinly fictionalized version of what really happened to author Danusha Goska. However, don't let that give you pause. It is a finely crafted work of literature, no matter the origin of the ideas conveyed.

It is going on my 2013 Best Books list.

I was really excited reading the first half of the book because I related to the conversations. I've been blogging long enough to have had many long email exchanges about faith or lack thereof. I was cheering in Mira's section as she said all the things that intelligent Christians know and sometimes would like to hurl at unthinking atheists smugly giving knee-jerk answers. (And know this now, there are as many unthinking, knee-jerk atheists out there as there are unthinking, knee-jerk Christians. No group is exempt from this.)

Mira makes her points respectfully, with credit given where it is due, but she doesn't back down. She is adamant about truth being shown and acknowledged by all sides. And, of course, that's another thing I loved about this book. Truth, honesty ... those are hard qualities to come by.

Watching Mira struggle to keep conversations honest was fascinating and taught me some valuable lessons. I want to stress here, that this book is not just for Christians. Both Goodreads and Amazon contain 5-star reviews from all sorts of believers and doubters. All praise Danusha Goska's writing and thinking in this book.

The second part of the book changes in tone as Mira and Rand grow closer and more honest with each other. It becomes less about intellectual answers and more about real life, about finding God or meaning in life when times are hard. This was when the spotlight turned on me and it wasn't comfortable.

It is not that I pulled back or wasn't engaged with the book. It was as if I were reading that other very different yet also great book, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, which this section of the book made me think of for some reason. Mira's life has been hard and it made me realize how very fortunate my own life is. I always know my life is fortunate, but there is a tendency to think one's life is more difficult than it actually is. When one comes up against real hardship, it holds up the mirror, shakes us up (just as the prophets were sent to shake the people up), and gives the corrected perspective so that one may continue. This tendency is actually discussed very compassionately by Mira in a section about house-sitting for a professor.

I couldn't put the book down, as Mira and Rand's story propelled me forward.I spent a good deal of time pondering my actions versus mere lip service (none of us are exempt from our unthinking, knee-jerk moments, remember?). And that's a good thing.

Ultimately, the core message of Save Send Delete is one we all understand. We want to be seen, to be heard, to be known for who we really are, deep down. It is that which we hope and strive for from friends, family, loved ones. The lack of being known devastates us when we have trusted someone deeply enough to allow ourselves to become vulnerable. That is the ultimate betrayal.

What Christians find in God, in Jesus Christ, is that he knows us, in a way we don't even know ourselves. And when He breaks through so that we can recognize it, we are stunned and overwhelmed.

That is why words are so inadequate.

Usually.

Danusha Goska's words ... her original, insightful story ... is up to the task.

Do not miss this book.

NOTE: There is some bad language. Just skim over it if that's a problem.

DVD Review: Understanding Sunday Mass: A Kid's Point of View

A review from Scott Danielson. I have to say this looks like a good resource.


What a great idea this movie is. Understanding Sunday Mass: A Kid's Point of View's goal is to teach young people the mass, and it unconditionally succeeds at being both entertaining and informative.

The film opens with a scene we see nearly every Sunday. A family, including two kids, are attending mass. We see dramatic eye-rolling sighs of the kids as they prepare to tolerate another hour in church. "I confess, to Almighty God," says the priest as their eyes wander around the church, trying to find something to help them pass the time… but then everyone and everything freezes. Father Jerry, with his magic remote control, appears from the back of the church, and spends the rest of the time explaining the mass to the two kids while using the remote to fast forward or reverse.

What's an "ambo"? A "chasuble"? What does "Liturgy of the Word" mean? How about "Liturgy of the Eucharist"? Father Jerry explains it all.

In today's world, as catechists compete with movies, TV, YouTube, and a host of other shiny objects for the attention of students, it's wonderful to have this effective and entertaining film that was created by people who clearly understand that engaging the imagination is a terrific way to educate.

You can find all the information you need about this DVD at http://www.sundaymass4kids.com.