Rereading — The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall

Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator, does what is needful to solve his cases. They usually involve investigating prospective brides and grooms for arranged marriages, but there are also big, serious cases. Such is the main problem in this book where Puri has to save a crusading lawyer's reputation while discovering what happened to the missing servant the lawyer is rumored to have murdered.

A judiciously quirky Indian detective (meaning realistic) and his operatives are highlighted, as well as his Mummy who sets out to solve a mystery that her son does not take seriously. This was an enjoyable "cozy" sort of mystery, like a trip to India. Rereading it seven years after the last time (for A Good Story podcast #63), I am struck by just how realistically regular Indian life is portrayed. I say that after watching so many Indian films in the last couple of years that I noticed tons of authentic details that slid past me in previous readings.

Ultimately, this was a classic mystery in many ways and yet it still managed to fool me. Extremely well done and gave a bird's-eye view of India without needing tons of info-dumps. Highly recommended. (P.S. I am a big fan of his Mummy-Ji.)

Chilly Spring Morning

Chilly Spring Morning, Remo Savisaar

Well Said: God intrudes

Despite our efforts to keep him out, God intrudes. The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: a virgin's womb and an empty tomb. Jesus entered our world through a door marked "No Entrance" and left through a door marked "No Exit."

Peter Larson

I keep forgetting how utterly impossible Jesus' life was. By human standards, anyway.

Savory (Ham, Mozzarella & Basil) Brioche Couronne

Couronne means "crown" and this is obviously named for the shape. However, it is also fit for royalty. An enriched brioche dough is filled with ham, mozzarella and basil to make a wonderful meal.

Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Dog Politics

We got out two new rawhide bones and Rose said, "Let the dog politics begin." Because, you know, power is all about who controls the bones.

Soon afterward, we had this peaceful scene. Kaylee is just taking a peaceful snooze, coincidentally between the two bones.

So peaceful ...

Or is it?

Another angle shows a different story.

A story of supplication and longing for just one of those tasty bones. You can't hear the heartfelt whining but rest assured begging for bones is both physical and verbal. The bones which Kaylee controls with a simple, steely look into Jeeves' eyes.

A story of power and politics.

Fairy Tales

A mother reads to her children, Jessie Willcox Smith

I love this picture. It perfectly captures the feeling of reading to your children, especially when everyone is enjoying the story. I read to the girls for years and years until they grew out of it, which thankfully they did relatively late.

Now that a grandchild is on the way, this is one of the things I am really looking forward to — sharing all those wonderful story-filled moments together.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #10: Double Indemnity

Be still my heart. Do not miss this classic.

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

10. Double Indemnity

A famous film that I, nevertheless, have to beat people over the head to watch. The screenplay is by director Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler and the dialogue crackles with iconic film noir style.

Fred MacMurray is the insurance salesman who comes up with the perfect murder scheme to rid femme fatale Barbara Stanwyck of her husband's annoying presence. Edward G. Robinson is MacMurray's boss, a wily insurance investigator who feels that things don't quite add up. Told in flash-back, the film nonetheless maintains dramatic tension the entire time.

Ironically, all three stars did not want to do the film. MacMurray and Stanwyck because they were cast against type as evil. Robinson because he was not the main star ... yet he carries the film at the end as his line sums up the movie perfectly.

Word on Fire Bible — A Cathedral in Print

I've been waiting for this ever since Word on Fire mentioned they were working on a Bible. Go watch the video. This is beautiful with tons of art — way more than I imagined it would be.

Word on Fire Bible

There is a detailed review at National Catholic Register that tells more (just makes my mouth water, to be honest). Here's a bit:

As Bishop Barron explains in the introduction, the commentary is meant to be, above all else, evangelical in its purpose: “First, it is specifically geared toward those who, for a variety of reasons, are not affiliated with the Christian faith, or indeed with any organized religion. … Secondly and relatedly, its commentaries hone in on two simple but fundamental questions: Who is God, and who is Jesus Christ?”

At the same time, those two questions plumb, even for the most confident believers, wells whose ultimate depths we will never reach in this life. Those of us safely in the Catholic fold have plenty to learn from the commentaries of those who have pondered the Gospels over the centuries. Yes, the intelligent seeker will be enlightened by the Word on Fire Gospels. And the believer who regularly reads Scripture will become well-disciplined by this text: It forces us to slow down rather than zoom through that daily chapter. It compels us to consider the thoughts of greater minds and holier souls than ours on this or that particular passage.

What's your hurry?

“What's your hurry?"

"Because now is the only time there ever is to do a thing in," said Miss Ophelia.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin

Three Brave Ones

Three Brave Ones, Remo Savisaar

The Continual Tide of the Human Condition

Treading water isn't good enough. There is a continual tide of the human condition that can carry us away. If we're not actively trying to move forward, then we're falling behind.

Father John Libone

Oh and how well I know it. I still catch myself trying to float on that tide, so to speak, for a bit of a holiday. And how do I catch myself? Because I realize how far I've been swept back by the tide.

I am chasing a dream.

I am chasing a dream. I want the unattainable. Other artists paint a bridge, a house, a boat; and that’s the end. They’ve finished. I want to paint the AIR which surrounds the bridge, the house, the boat; the beauty of the air in which these objects are located; and that is nothing short of impossible. If only I could satisfy myself with what is possible.

Claude Monet

(Monet at Giverny by Caroline Holmes)

Woman in the Garden

Woman in the Garden
a study in the effect of sunlight and shadow on colour
Claude Monet

Madame Monet in a Japanese kimono

Madame Monet in a Japanese kimono, Claude Monet

Gospel of Matthew: Struck with Awe

Matthew 9:1-8

Chapter 9 opens with the people bringing Jesus a paralytic for healing, Jesus forgiving the man's sins, and with his chiding the scribes for saying that he was blaspheming. Very familiar and most of us know it well from a different telling when the man's friends lower him through the roof to Jesus.

Once again, the details are all important in helping us to really grasp fully what Matthew is communicating to us. And, once again, I never considered the bit that Martin brings up in "glorified God" discussion. Thought provoking and fabulous.

Hey, check out this mosaic of the paralytic taking up his mat to leave. I always thought of it like a padded quilt. The cot type bed the man is holding makes much more sense in terms of his friends being able to get him to the roof and through the ceiling without him slipping out of their grasp. Also — and you know I had to say it — this is often what we see in Bollywood movies for the beds in the homes of the poor or on rooftops for summer sleeping. So it hit me where I lived.

Mosaic in Sant’Apollinare Nuovo – Ravenna

8 When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe. This is the first mention of crowds being present and witnessing what was happening. The Greek for were struck with awe can also be translated "became afraid." The people of Capernaum had already seen Jesus heal many people (8:14-17), so we can ponder why this particular healing aroused awe and fear. Its only unique feature was that it was done as a sign that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins. The crowd was struck with awe that Jesus had demonstrated that he had such authority; Jesus was a man who could forgive as God could forgive. Joseph had been told that Jesus would "save his people from their sins" (1:21), and the people of Capernaum had just witnessed a down payment.

Consequently they glorified God who had given such authority to human beings. They recognized that Jesus' authority to forgive sins came from God, for only God could forgive sins. They glorified God for sharing his authority with Jesus, bringing his forgiveness to earth (verse 6). Matthew writes that they glorified God for giving authority to forgive sins to human beings rather than simply to Jesus. Matthew's wording foreshadows Jesus' sharing his authority to forgive sins with his disciples and the church (see 16:19; 18:18; James 5:16). Matthew's first readers experienced forgiveness of sins through the church, and they could join in glorifying God for giving such authority to human beings.

For reflection: How have I experienced Jesus' forgiveness through the church? Where am I most in need of forgiveness?

The disciples had wondered about Jesus, "What sort of man is this?" (8:27), and more pieces of the answer are falling into place. Jesus not only has authority over disease (8:1-17), over the physical world (8:23-27), and over demons (8:28-34); he also sees into human hearts (verses 2, 4) and has the authority to forgive sins (verse 6).

Quote is from Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Night Butterflies

Night butterflies, Edward Okuń

The joy of "assigned" reading and book talk

Sometimes I find myself reading a lot of books I didn't intend, faster than I meant to, and it's all because they were chosen by people for discussion ... or, in other words, "assigned." There's nothing like interesting book talk to pull me into a book. Even if I don't love the book, I always get something from the conversation.

Sometimes these are real life discussions. Sometimes they are favorite podcasts that are diving deep. Either way, I usually can't wait to go from one to another.

Here's the latest batch I'm juggling — which is a ton of fun, I must say.

THE SCARLET LETTER

Assigned by: A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast

To be fair, this is my selection so I'm not complaining.

Like a lot of us, I first read it in high school where I had the common dislike for the boring book. Then when my high school age daughters both loved it, I took another run at it and fell in love myself. Both with the book and with Nathaniel Hawthorne's incredible writing style.

I'm always struck by how modern it feels toward toward the end when Hester and her lover are in the woods. She has this moment of "I've never felt so alive!" that just knocks me out. The last few chapters almost turn into a thriller as we are pulling for them while worrying about what their enemy is going to do.

MERE CHRISTIANITY

Assigned by: my Catholic women's book club

I'm reading twenty-five pages a day (roughly 3 short chapters) and will get done the day before. Of course, this isn't my first time through and that helps with quick reading. Which I'm naturally good at anyway.

I always enjoy this immensely as an extremely logical and understandable explanation to which anyone can relate. One need not agree with the author about Christianity or God, but one gets an excellent description of how a Christian understands the world. And that is a valuable thing these days, it seems to me. It is also a good devotional as I was reminded of many of the basics upon which my life is based and to which I aspire.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Assigned by: the Close Reads podcast

I've had a sneaking attraction to this book for over a year. Which really surprised me since I hated The Brothers Karamazov (please, no comments about that - let's just move on). But I'd been told that this was a very different book, a very modern feeling book, and numerous people had urged it on me.

When I saw Close Reads was covering this as part of their Patreon extra book I signed right up. I can't quit reading - except to listen to the episode covering the chapters I just read. I've been loving it more all the time! Finally, a Russian novel I can love (so far anyway - I'm not promising anything until I've finished).

I listen to Close Reads off and on in their regular podcast, depending on what they're reading. They are working from a classical education perspective, which feeds into a homeschooling, Christian audience. That is reflected in their Facebook page which has varied and lively discussions and I regularly check in there too.

THE GREAT DIVORCE

Assigned by: The Literary Life podcast

This is a bit of a cheat since I'm not reading the book along with them. I know it really well so listening to the conversation is enough. But I wanted to let anyone reading this know about the podcast, especially in covering this book. So I slipped it in here — and I really am juggling it with the others!

As with Close Reads, I listen  off and on to The Literary Life, depending on what they're discussing. They also are working from a classical education perspective, which feeds into a homeschooling, Christian audience. That is reflected in their Facebook page which has varied and lively discussions and I regularly check in there too.

JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL

Assigned by:  Mythgard Academy as I relisten to their free classes

I admit it. I'm addicted to Corey Olsen's classes. Of all the book talk-ers on this page, I think he is the best because he focuses on what the text is telling us, not on what we know will happen later in the book or getting sidetracked into tangential ideas.

I usually have something of his on my iPod. I'm not as interested in the lesser known Tolkien writings as he is, so I am often relistening to a class while waiting for him to finish up obscure Tolkien-iana and begin a book I'm interested in. I only read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell once (while listening to the Mythgard classes) and find it is the perfect fantasy to reread during a pandemic quarantine. That makes these classes my perfect "assignment."

Coming Soon
THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL

Assigned by: the CraftLit podcast

I'll begin this as soon as I finish either Crime and Punishment or Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

You know, it's that book by the other Bronte sister. The one whose name no one can ever remember. I did sample the first chapter. Heather Ordover has gotten two excellent readers to do the audiobook and, as always, her commentary is great. It can be a bit "women's issues" oriented which isn't really my cup of tea but it's not so much that it is overly intrusive.

Kites

Bertha Lum, Kites

A lovely review from Mrs. Darwin for Thus Sayeth the Lord

... Underneath the conversational tone is a deep knowledge of scripture and a love for these prickly characters who are the pillars of the Old Testament.

Although Julie Davis doesn't sugarcoat any of the apocalyptic weirdness of Ezekiel or the marital imagery of Hosea, this book is appropriate for and accessible to teenagers, a perfect gateway to a deeper scriptural literacy.

Many thanks for the review which may be read in its entirety at Amazon — where the Kindle book is still on sale for $2.99!

The print version will (finally) be available June 22!

At last ....

At last —

"The library is still closed. Opening plans will be presented by the City Manager at the June 3 City Council Briefing. " (from the library home page).

It's been closed forever and our household has been cast into gloom. Three of us use the library A LOT. So to see "the library is closed with no plans to reopen" on the main page was very depressing. Every so often one of us would check the main page and glumly report no changes. Until last night!

Now we have hope.