Well Said: We could never learn

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.

Helen Keller

Lenten Reading: Two New Books to Consider

Lent begins early this year — February 10.

We might as well begin thinking about what to read. These two are a good start.


Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide by Sarah Arthur

Between Midnight and Dawn uses your imagination to draw you deeper into God’s presence. Join poets and novelists from across the centuries as you travel through the liturgical seasons of Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide. This collection of daily and weekly readings from classic and contemporary literature uses both new voices and well-loved classics such as Dostoevsky, Rossetti, and Eliot. 

I really loved Sarah Arthur's first devotional, At the Still Point, which was for ordinary time. It was an unusual devotional with thematically arranged classic and contemporary fiction and poetry. Of course, that was right down my alley and it became a favorite devotional. I can vouch that Arthur does a wonderful job of choosing pieces that speak both to poetic or literary content and to the Christian message.

At the time I reviewed it, I wished for devotionals to cover the rest of the liturgical year. Arthur obliged with  Light Upon Light for Advent. Now with Between Midnight and Dawn for Lent and Easter, my wishes have come true. I'll be using this throughout Lent and Easter.


Seven Last Words: An Invitation to a Deeper Friendship with Jesus by James Martin

Each meditation is dedicated to one of the seven sayings:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

“Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

“Woman, this is your son” . . . “This is your mother.”


“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”


“I thirst.”


“It is finished.”


“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Jesus’s final statements, words that are deeply cherished by his followers, exemplify the depth of his suffering but also provide a key to his empathy and why we can connect with him so deeply.

There can hardly be any better Lenten reading than meditations on the seven last words of Christ. This book originated when James Martin was invited by Cardinal Dolan to give a series of Good Friday reflections last year. Having read several I feel we are lucky to have them for deeper contemplation. I will be using this book during Passion Week this year.

Worth a Thousand Words: Vole Hunting

Vole Hunting
taken by the incomparable Remo Savisaar

Well Said: Our Time Machines

We all have our time machines, don't we? Those that take us back are memories ... And those that carry us forward are dreams.

The Time Machine (2012 film)

Worth a Thousand Words: St Mark's Square, Venice

St Mark's Square, Venice; William Logsdail; 1883
via The Athenaeum

Be sure to click through on the link above to see this photo full size. You can't really appreciate its rich complexity otherwise.

Worth a Thousand Words: Zojo-ji in Shiba

Hasui Kawase, Zojo-ji in Shiba, 1925
via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: Early to Bed, Early to Rise ...

At length it became high time to remember the first clause of that great discovery made by the ancient philosopher, for securing health, riches, and wisdom; the infallibility of which has been for generations verified by the enormous fortunes constantly amassed by chimneysweepers and other persons who get up early and go to bed betimes. The young ladies accordingly rose ...

Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit

Made me laugh at the same time as I was realizing just how many examples we have of that old adage not being true.

Pro-Life March in Dallas: Saturday, Jan. 16

Everything seems to be coming fast this year. Lent begins in a month. Our goddaughter's birthday is in a couple of weeks.

And the Dallas Pro-Life March is this Saturday.

To be fair, the March always takes me by surprise. I think it's because I've just managed to get back out of the holiday calendar and back into regular schedules so I'm not thinking about anything "extra."

This is an "extra" that should just be a matter of course. We've been thrilled to watch attendance grow steadily from 1,000 when we began attending in 2008, to close to 10,000 last year.

The politicians and media only seem to understand numbers. If everyone who believed abortion is wrong took part of a Saturday to stand in person for what they believe, they would have to sit up and take notice.

Here's the website with the Dallas schedule and information.

Join us!

Well Said: Messages from beyond the grave

That's what literature is. It's the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them!

Connie Willis, Passage

Preach it, sistah!

Worth a Thousand Words: A Song Sweetly Sung

A Song Sweetly Sung, Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje (Dutch, 1829-1895).
Via Books and Art

7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Rickey asked Jackie if he was up to the job, he wasn't talking only about playing great baseball. He knew Jackie could do that. What he meant, he explained, was that if Jackie were to become major-league baseball's first black player, he would be in for a tremendous amount of abuse, both verbal and physical.

Jackie said he was sure he could face up to whatever came his way. He wasn't afraid of anyone and had been in any number of fistfights over the years when anyone had challenged him.

But Rickey had something else in mind. "I know you're a good ballplayer," Rickey said. "What I don't know is whether you have the guts." Rickey knew he meant something dramatically different from what Robinson was thinking, so he continued. "I'm looking," Rickey said, "for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back."

This was an unexpected wrinkle, to put it mildly.

[...]

Jackie knew that resisting the urge to fight back really would require a superhuman effort, but he was deeply moved by Rickey's vision. He thought of his mother. He thought of all the black people who deserved someone to break this ground for them, even if it was difficult. He believed God had chosen him for this noble purpose. He believed he had to do it--for black kids, for his mother, for his wife, for himself.

Eric Metaxas wrote this book to ask two questions: (1) What is a man? (2)What makes a man great? He answers them by looking at the lives of seven men who are worthy of emulation.

Metaxas initially caught my interest by pointing out that today manhood is often denigrated in popular culture because of a lack of positive role models. These days the news is more likely to have stories about men using their gifts in negative ways than in heroic behavior. For example, a man misuses his strength by being bullying or domineering which is the opposite of what it should be used for, to protect those who are weaker.

He then tells the stories of seven men who lived their lives in ways we can admire. These biographies are short but pack in a lot of information. They cover a diverse group including Jackie Robinson, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Chuck Colson. Even when I thought I knew everything pertinent about someone like George Washington or Eric Liddell, Metaxas was able to show a whole new side to them.

Each story turns on the fact that they surrendered themselves to God and sacrificed themselves in some way for the greater good. Metaxas isn't heavy handed but he doesn't shy away from occasionally raising points that encourage the reader to look deeper within his (or her) own heart.

I came away inspired and with several new heroes. It's early in the year but I already have a book to put on my "2016 Best" list.

Guns, gimlets, gumshoes, and yes, a very long goodbye ...

We talk all about this classic detective story by wordmeister Raymond Chandler. Nobody wrote 'em better.  Join Jesse, Seth, Maissa and me at SFFaudio for some hardboiled fun!

Worth a Thousand Words:

Ballet School. Jules René Hervé (French, 1887-1981).
Via Books and Art

Listen Up: One Podcast and Two Classic Books

These have given me a great deal of listening pleasure, so I wanted to be sure you knew about them.

Lanky Guys

A weekly attempt to draw some meaning and humor out of the sacred treasury of the Scriptures in the context of the liturgy.

Our deacon recommended these to me and I'm hooked.

Fr. Peter Mussett and Scott Powell get us ready for each Sunday by taking us through the scriptures. They read each one aloud and dig deeper into context and background about historical, scriptural and liturgical connections. They combine scholarship, humor, and joy which makes the time fly by.

You can pick them up at their website, Lanky Guys, or on iTunes.

Pride and Prejudice

I loved Pride and Prejudice all through my youth, but never explored any of Austen's other novels. Finally having filled that gap in my education a few years ago, Pride and Prejudice sank from favorite to mid-range enjoyment for me.

I have narrations of all except this one of Austen's novels because Juliet Stephenson inexplicably only did an abridged version of it. When Rosamund Pike's new narration came out it was lauded by so many, including Orson Scott Card, that I thought it might be the fitting reading to match the others I love so much.

It is all that and more. Pike's narration raises Pride and Prejudice to the level of the sparkling, delightful tale I loved so much when I was young. In some ways it is as if I was reading it for the first time. Highly recommended.

Around the World in 80 Days 

When I discovered the talented Jim Dale had narrated a new translation of this classic adventure, I began searching ... and was pleased to see that my faithful library had a copy.

I'm not sure if it is the narration or the translation or both, but it is as if this story has new life in it. No one does it better than Jim Dale or this translator. Also Listening Library added occasional sound effects and appropriate music. At first I found it distracting but later it enhanced sense of travel and adventure.

Worth a Thousand Words: In the Wild North

Ivan Shishkin, In the Wild North, 1891
via Arts Everyday Living

You know, at first glance, I could've sworn this was a photograph. Extraordinary!

Worth a Thousand Words: Exquisite Beauty

Exquisite Beauty
taken by the incomparable Remo Savisaar

Worth a Thousand Words: Sun and Moon Flowers

George Dunlop Leslie, Sun and Moon Flowers, 1890
via Arts Everyday Living

Fields of Wrath: A tough, fascinating mystery with spiritual implications

Fields of Wrath by Mark Wheaton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Following his ordination as a priest, Father Luis Chavez returns to the mean streets of his youth, hoping to put his past behind him. But the brutal murder of a worker in Ventura County’s vast farm fields compels Luis to return to his criminal roots in order to unravel a massive conspiracy. Teaming up with Michael Story, an ambitious Los Angeles deputy DA, Chavez goes undercover as a farm laborer to bring down an immense human-trafficking ring tied to one of California’s most prominent and powerful families.

Fighting to stay on the path of the righteous while confronting evil at every turn, Father Chavez finds himself in a battle of good versus evil, with the souls of hundreds hanging in the balance.

I picked this up as a Kindle First free for Amazon Prime. It was a wonderful surprise.

There is a nuanced look at different priests in a large L.A. parish. One of those priests is Luis Chavez, a former gangbanger who found God and wound up back in his home town. There is a Mexican man who was harassed by cops his entire life and took the unusual path of becoming an officer himself to do it the right way. There are desperate illegal immigrants, crooked lawmen, and scheming corporation managers.

They've all got their own problems in real life and on the job. In other words, these are more interesting and complex characters than I often find in a mystery, whether free or otherwise. The mystery is involved and the writing is good to boot.

Most of all I like the way the Catholic faith is represented through Father Luis. We see him in many encounters with various priests, believers, scoffers, and acquaintances from the old life. No one is neutral and many challenge him. Yet Father Luis never seems to hit a false note. He's sincere, honest, and nonjudgmental while somehow never being soft about the things that count. The author never makes the mistake of attributing too much to God or presenting a cynical or overly deferential view of the Church. This is really refreshing.

Come for the mystery. Stay for Father Luis.

Here's hoping there will be a second mystery featuring the good father.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

★★★★★

This was everything we hoped for. A return to the way the first Star Wars movies felt - adventure, excitement, romance (a bit anyway), and fun.

I liked the way the movie paralleled the first one, with little bits of the second two thrown in where needed, providing just enough context to see that one person's story is never quite finished. Also that it's always about families and friends, the people we love and fight while we're trying to accomplish bigger goals. That age old truth works really well here.

And it fixes the problem with the second trilogy. The new Darth's "issues" connect with us in a way that couldn't happen before.

I also like what Mrs. Darwin wrote about Finn and Rey's relationship. It wouldn't have occurred to me to think about it that way but I definitely agree with her. It was also refreshing, for one thing, to see a strong female who wasn't as pushy as Leia or as wishy-washy as Amidala. Rey was just herself, a natural product of her environment. Huzzah!

We were also thrilled to see John Boyega. We loved him in Attack the Block, one of our favorite movies, and it is nice to see his talent appreciated with this choice role. I also thought it was a genius move to show a Stormtrooper's point of view. They might be clones but they are still people and this acknowledges that.

I've seen various people complaining about different things but I think they are looking for something this movie is not meant to be. The Force Awakens made us feel the way we felt when we saw the original Star Wars. As young college students, my friends and I left the theater excited, happy, and thrilled to see an opening for a sequel. This delivered that same feeling.

Here's hoping the next one is as strong as The Empire Strikes Back. Well done, J.J. Abrams!

2016 Book Challenge

You can find my 2015 Book Challenge here, with the results recorded. I went off target about halfway through the year and yet that list prompted me to do some reading I'd never have done otherwise — like poetry — which was very rewarding.

This year, considering the lack of attention I paid last year, I thought about not doing a list. However, I realized I do actually have some goals for this year. They are fewer and more focused, which is all to the good.

1. Dante's Divine Comedy [done]
   I feel as if this is going to be my year of Dante. Last year my interest in Louis Markos' Heaven and Hell put Dante on my mind. I began reading Anthony Esolen's translation. I wanted to read through with as little use of notes as possible this time through.
   
   I read John Ciardi's translation my first time around.
   
   Once I finished the Esolen translation, I began listening to the Benedict Flynn translations which were done specifically for audio and read by Heathcote Williams. They were simply fantastic and added to my understanding of the book (at least on the surface level).
   
   And then I read it a third time for conversations at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. And a FOURTH for my Catholic women's book club! I didn't intend a Year of Dante but it turned out that way!  - Inferno (Good Story #135) - Purgatorio (Good Story #137) - Paradiso (Good Story #139)


2. Finish Dickens' novels: [done]
   
   • Martin Chuzzlewit — liked this despite expecting to hate it because Dickens' savages America in the middle. That part was so one-dimensional that it slid right off of me. 
   • The Old Curiosity Shop — there was more to this than I had been led to expect. And I liked it!
   • Mystery of Edwin Drood — read this one last. Liked it even though it was only half finished upon Dickens' death.
   • Hard Times — the biggest surprise of all was liking this book which I'd heard was dour, dark and ... hard. Loved it!


3. Reread Middlemarch — never did it
   I've been wanting to do this for the last half of 2015. It's time to let it happen.


4. Use my "To Read" list
   I have pages listed of interesting fiction and nonfiction titles that I never get to because something shiny distracts me to the latest new thing. No more! There is a reason I wrote those names down. I need to try them out!


5. Read the Bible in Chronological Order - ADDED IN APRIL
   Now I won't be doing this in a year, but it is a new reading goal, so I'm tossing it in here in case anyone else is interested. I'll keep track of what I've read here (fingers crossed I remember) — I actually have been doing this pretty regularly and enjoying the heck out of it. It has led to some surprising realizations. For example, did you know that when Isaiah was prophesying doom and gloom initially ... there were several other prophets also doing the same thing? And still no one listened. Oy veh! I'll be continuing this in 2017.

1. Use my "To Watch" list
   It's the same problem I have with books. So many reviews have prompted me to keep lists of movies and then I never use the list! No more!