The Casual Vacancy - J.K. Rowling

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity, and unexpected revelations?

A big novel about a small town, The Casual Vacancy is J. K. Rowling’s first novel for adults. It is the work of a storyteller like no other.

I hadn't seen the plot summary before. I'm not sure what I expected Rowling's book for adults to be about, but this is not the sort of thing I expected. It does look like the sort of book I enjoy though so my hopes are cautiously rising.

The Liberty to Do What We Ought, Fortnight for Freedom, day 13

The quality we Americans most cherish is liberty. It is here that we Christians, while patriots, often find ourselves restless. Not that we are not grateful for our freedom – you bet we are! But we admit that too often liberty has been misinterpreted to mean license. No one articulated this apprehension better than Pope John Paul II, who taught, “genuine freedom is not the right to do whatever we want, but the liberty to do what we ought.” So, our American freedom is not a “cutting loose” from God, morality, virtue, or responsibility, but a bracing impetus to carry out the duties that are ingrained deep in our soul.

Cardinal Dolan's latest post says it perfectly, so go read the whole thing.

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Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us
Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us
St. Monica, pray for us
St. Augustine, pray for us
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us

Passionate Knitters Force Olympics Apology: "we would again like to apologize to the members of the Ravelry community..."

In case you hadn't heard, the US Olympic Committee came down hard on knitting site Ravelry's "Ravelympics," threatening a lawsuit and in general throwing their weight around.

We believe using the name "Ravelympics" for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country's finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.

They didn't expect the public outcry that resulted. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say, they didn't know how many passionate knitters and spinners would take their displeasure straight to the USOC. The USOC is maintaining their right to the Olympic name, however, they are being conciliatory.

As a follow-up to our previous statement on this subject, we would again like to apologize to the members of the Ravelry community. While we stand by our obligation to protect the marks and terms associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Movements in the United States, we sincerely regret the use of insensitive terms in relation to the actions of a group that was clearly not intending to denigrate or disrespect the Olympic Movement. We hope you’ll accept this apology and continue to support the Olympic Games. ...

Mason-Dixon Knitting haven't taken this lying down and before the apology, they began their own offensive ... the knitterly way, using hand knit socks as incentive for Stephen Colbert to publicize the battle.

The whole thing reminded me of one of Stephen Colbert's "PEOPLE WHO ARE DESTROYING AMERICA" segments. You know, where he exposes the deep damage done to the social fabric and the Values We Hold Dear that is being done by, say, a lady who wants to air-dry her laundry to save energy, in a community that has a strict rule against clotheslines.

Stephen Colbert needs to expose this travesty! He needs to protect the pure and noble Olympics from tarnishment by association with millions of handknitters watching the games this summer.

In an optimistic but not too strenuous effort to make this happen, I tweeted Mr. Colbert. (He is @StephenAtHome on Twitter.) I went so far as to promise him that if he did a piece on the Knitters Who Are Destroying the Olympics, there would be a little something in it for him: a lifetime supply of handknit socks.

Of course, there are now 573 knitters in the Socks for Stephen Ravelry group knitting as fast as they can. I see that the apology did nothing to slow the knitting down. See, when these knitters begin a project, they do not stop until they are done.

This is much more amusing than watching the actual Olympics. When I read the original USOC complaint letter my first reaction was that the Olympics are not what they used to be back before they began allowing professional athletes to compete against the amateur ones. After that happened I lost most of my interest in the Olympics.

So for the USOC to complain about a lot of enthusiastic people organizing their days and evenings so they could knit along with the Olympics ... it just showed they don't get it. At all.

Summertime and Corn Salad is Easy

Or so my mother tells me. A recipe that has everyone begging for more ... at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Gloria Purvis, Fortnight for Freedom, day 12

Gloria Purvis is so articulate, reasoned, and intelligent that I am letting her speak for us today.

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Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us
Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us
St. Monica, pray for us
St. Augustine, pray for us
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us

Cowboys and Aliens ...

We watched Cowboys and Aliens this weekend. Once again, Tom said, "Why are the critics so hard to please?"

It was basically a straight-forward Western, albeit with aliens standing in for surly prospectors invading the area and terrorizing the locals. (Extremely small spoiler follows). And there's a gold rush.

Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford step up and stop them.

I saw some critics complained about the lack of humor, but many a good Western has not been humorous. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't have to be. It was a perfectly serviceable Western. We recommend it.

We particularly enjoyed the fact that Harrison Ford's character was the one that experienced marked growth. Not only was it good to see him in a decent part, but interesting that Daniel Craig wasn't given all the attention.

Ladies, I celebrate the costumer who fitted Daniel Craig's duds. Truly, you will not find your time wasted if you enjoy a fine figure of a man.

An Enchanting New "Classic" Fairy Story: The Hidden Princess by Stephanie Angelini

The Hidden Princess by Stephanie Angelini

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A thousand days walk from here, all made in lefts, there was some time ago a young kingdom and a younger King. Even the mountains of the kingdom were young -- sharp and callow and reaching, with a forest thick and thieves and rock upon rock falling over into the sea.

The people were as simple as the salt they did without and the young King was not far behind. While the people toiled to squeeze their life from the stony earth, his majesty spilled the blood of the mountains. Animals of every kind, shy and quick, hid in the trees and streams, the rocks and boulders, the cliffs and crags. These were the meat of the royal table and it was often put there by royal hands.

One day the King went hunting, as he often did, alone and on foot. As he walked, he came across a man sitting near a stone ledge with a strange tool in his hand. Coming closer, the tall, straight King cast a shadow on the bent, old man, who squinted and said nothing. ...

The Hidden Princess is that most unexpected of things ... a modern fairy tale that is beautiful, evocative of "classic" fairy stories, and riveting.

The language is beautifully chosen as you can see. What you cannot tell is that The Hidden Princess hews to standard fairy story convention in such a way that you almost think you recognize it (Is it Sleeping Beauty? No! Wait, maybe it is Snow White). It then turns a corner and becomes once again its own tale, until it again hews close to almost recognizable territory.

Because it is a fairy tale and, because we all know the fairy tale conventions, we are fairly sure where this story will end, but the getting there is such a treat that it is difficult to stop reading. I literally kept reading "just one more page" so that I was continually late all day when I read this. When I finished, I went to the beginning and began reading again, which is the sure test of a tale well told.

At this time, The Hidden Princess is available only as an ebook but it deserves to be in print with beautiful illustrations like those by Arthur Rackham or Heidi Holder.

Highly recommended.

Christ in Three-Space, Fortnight for Freedom, day 11

I realized during one of the quiet meditative bits that I could still be praying. The trouble was that I hadn’t memorized very many prayers, and St. Patrick’s Breastplate was not one of them. But I figured, I might not know the litany accurately, but I know the general form. ”Christ in one place, Christ in a diametrically opposed place.” That’s how I ended up praying something like this:

Christ above me, Christ below me,
Christ within me, Christ beside me,
Christ when I rise up, and Christ when I lie down,
Christ in three-space, Christ in tiny rolled up dimensions where gravity lives

I figured that was probably ok, as it’s totally what St. Patrick would have written if he’d been able to share in the delight of God’s creation through theoretical physics.

Leah Libresco's been up to Math-Related Prayer Hijinks. I say, preach it sister! He is everywhere and at the same time we are held in the palm of His hand. If that isn't using theoretical physics, I don't know what is.

Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us
Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us

Stay Tuned, Fortnight for Freedom, day 10

Justice Ruth Ginsberg, said “A mandate to purchase a particular product would be unconstitutional if, for example, the edict impermissibly abridged the freedom of speech, interfered with the free exercise of religion, or infringed on a liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause.”

Read more at GetReligion

It ain't over til it's over. And even then, if you have enough of a Catholic point of view .... it still ain't over. Because we have to hang onto an eternal viewpoint.

That doesn't mean we stop doing the right thing or fighting the right battles. But it does mean that there is more in heaven and earth than we can comprehend while we are in the "here and now" of life. Our job is to stay faithful, stay the course, be not afraid, and ... pray.

Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us
Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us

Write Like the Wind (George R. R. Martin)

I have not read any of George R.R. Martin's Fire and Ice saga. The one thing I always knew was that the books were gigantic and complicated.

However, lately I have been hearing about them on all sides. Game of Thrones on tv and in book form are being recommended by practically everyone I know. When my spiritual advisor said he'd begun reading the book (quoting from it), and then recommended that Tom and I try the tv show, I knew it had permeated all levels of society. Last night, Rose pushed the show heavily. So we may give it a try ...

You will appreciate, therefore, that this song is even funnier to me than it would normally be.

New Evangelizers - Fortnight for Freedom, day 9

We are looking for writers for the New Evangelizers blog.

If you're interested in sharing your faith and specifically things that tie into New Evangelization, especially how to Know Your Faith, Live Your Faith, and Share Your Faith, we'd love to hear from you.

Contact Sarah Reinhard at blog@snoringscholar.com or leave a comment on this post at her blog.

I continually think back to the first century Christians who had no control over their government or their society. They controlled only the way they lived and worshipped, which was often dangerous if anyone else found out. Yet through their lives and examples they changed the world.

We are called upon to do no less. Sarah's New Evangelizers blog seems like an excellent way to fall more in love with our faith and, of course, through that to fall deeper in love with God.

Definitely go by there and see what's going on. For one thing, Sarah is working her way through a new document from the U.S. bishops, Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization. It's a good way to absorb it a bit at a time and Sarah is a thoughtful guide.

Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us
Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us

The Incredibles on A Good Story is Hard to Find

Sparks fly when Julie explains to Scott that napping in front of the TV is NOT a superpower. Scott thinks it should count. 

Pixar on A Good Story is Hard to Find ... possibly a match made in heaven?

Reviewing "Crater" by Homer Hickam

Crater by Homer H. Hickam

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Crater Trueblood is an orphan and helium 3 miner on the moon, 100 years in the future. This coming of age story features an annoying best friend, a pretty tomboy, and a sidekick—Crater's gillie, a sentient and sometimes insubordinate clump of slime mold cells.

Crater is chosen by "the Colonel" for a mysterious mission because he feels Crater may succeed where others have failed. All Crater has to do is travel to the capital city, pick up a package and deliver it to the Colonel. That sounds almost too easy and, of course, it is. Along the way we get to see other places on the moon, meet memorable characters, and learn about Crater's ingenuity. As with many such tales the journey teaches Crater as much, if not more, than finishing his quest.

I requested this book from Amazon Vine because the gillie was an intriguing concept. I am pleased to say that it was a totally justified decision because the gillie rose far above the "slime mold cells" description by being rather charming and a bit of a know-it-all.

I was surprised to see that there was prayer in the book a few times and then I realized the publisher is known for their Christian books. However, the book didn't come off that way at all. It was just an entertaining adventure.

In fact, one of my favorite parts was actually a commentary on prayer which made me laugh aloud.

Teller pointed at the woman. "It was your stupidity that killed Tilly." He cut his eyes back to Crater. "Say a prayer for her, Crater."

Crater didn't know why the captain wanted him to say a prayer, but he gave it some thought and said, "Dear Lord, I didn't know Tilly, but I hope You'll take her into heaven. She messed up here at the last but that doesn't matter now, not to her and maybe not to You either."

"I said say a prayer, not write an editorial," Teller growled.

The gillie jumped in. For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, blessed be the Lord thy God who loves thee still. Amen and good-bye.

Teller stared at the gillie, then said, "Well, at least that thing's got some sense."

Crater made me feel the way I did when I could sink into the Heinlein juveniles for a rattling good story . This author shows original thinking in such details as the way they bioengineer space suits for outside Moon working, which kept me interested in more than just the adventure. Overall it was a great read and one that left me wishing the sequel was available.

Venerable Fulton Sheen: Fortnight for Freedom, day 8

Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is now “Venerable” after the Vatican announced today that Benedict XVI had signed a decree recognising that the archbishop heroically lived Christian virtues.

The announcement of the decree marks a significant step in the canonization cause of Peoria, Ill.-born Archbishop Sheen (1895-1979), the Emmy award-winning televangelist whose program, "Life is Worth Living," was broadcast from 1951 to 1957.

The Vatican now has to recognise a miracle has occurred through his intercession for him to be beatified, the penultimate step to canonization. Alleged miracles have been reported, which are now being assessed by experts in Rome.

Read the whole story at NCR

If anyone understands Americans and Catholics and American Catholics it is Venerable Fulton Sheen. From my reading, he always struck me as a man with a calm demeanor, a generous heart, and solid common sense. (The Anchoress has quotes, comments and links about him.)

The Supreme Court has ruled upholding the Affordable Health Act as a tax ... and the bishops are responding with pleas to repair fundamental flaws in the act (specifically about immigration, abortion, and contraception).

Surely one of the best advocates we can address in this time is Venerable Fulton Sheen.

Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us
Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Scott and I discussed it on A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast a couple of weeks ago. I'd never have read it otherwise (or even have heard of it, truth to tell).

Will Duquette from The View From the Foothills read it too and has a great review. Check it out.

Supreme Court Decision Info and German Banning of Judaism, Fortnight for Freedom, Day 7

From Aliens in This World comes the reminder that the government's job is not to be everyone's nanny, via Germany. In her usually pithy language, which is one of the joys of reading that blog...(read it all at the link).

“To your tents, O Israel!”

Anybody who’s avoided the impression that we’re reliving the incredibly crappy 1930′s — behold the banning of Judaism in Germany.

History notoriously rhymes with itself, or repeats itself with variations. This time, it’s the German courts instead of the Reich’s “chancellor.” But then, Germany back then justified the killing of those who were ill, or who had mental or physical problems, as being kind and gentle. Now, they claim that they’re banning circumcision for the good of baby boys, because a snip constitutes “grievous bodily harm.”

But it’s the same old thing. Why let people live their lives in freedom when you can use the power of the state to crush them, instead?

UPDATE: here's a German who blogs in English discussing the law.

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Tomorrow morning the Supreme Court is scheduled to release its opinion(s) on the constitutionality of the Affordable Health Care Act. Joanne McPortland mentions something that I didn't know...this decision will only affect the HHS Mandate under one extreme condition (my emphasis below).

But I need to make a clarification, because I’ve seen a lot of misinformation on the Catholic interwebz about this. Many legal commentators are suggesting that the key decision tomorrow will be the fate of what is known as the individual mandate, the part of the legislation that has generated the most constitutional blowback. Please, Catholics, do not confuse the individual mandate—the requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance coverage or pay a penalty—with the HHS mandate, a much smaller corner of the legislation that is of interest to Catholics and others concerned with its implications for religious freedom. There are lawsuits working their way through local federal jurisdictions testing the constitutionality of the HHS mandate, but they are a long way from the Supreme Court level.

So don’t start setting off early Fourth of July Fortnight 4 Freedom fireworks if you happen to hear, tomorrow, that SCOTUS has found the individual mandate unconstitutional. That one provision may be separable from the rest of the omnibus bill, and if it alone is struck down but the rest of the law found constitutional, the HHS mandate will not be affected. It will still be law unless and until challenges to it reach the Supreme Court and are heard and approved. The only other way the HHS mandate would be overturned is if, tomorrow, the Court throws out the entire Affordable Health Care Act, hook, line, and mandates aplenty. I don’t think that’s likely, and I don’t think it would necessarily be worth celebrating. With all its issues (the worst, in my eyes, aside from the HHS nonsense, being the fact that the Affordable part of the title is not even addressed by the legislation) the AHCA is a step toward providing access to health care for all citizens, and that’s a goal toward which we all are called to work.

Definitely go to her place to read the whole thing.

And let us do what we are called to be faithful in during this Fortnight for Freedom: pray.

Also, sacrifice is important. I have forgotten to mention that I've gone on a podcast fast for the duration. Only one audio book and only one podcast at a time on the ol' iPod. And it hurts, people, it hurts. Seems silly, but it is what I'm offering up.

Skillet Lasagna

This is seriously good. At Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

One more reason to love Abraham Lincoln, vampire hunter

Thanks to Addison for sending this ... I notice there is not much vampire sparkling here.

It's Not Just About Us, Fortnight for Freedom, day 6

Nigeria's Christian community was shocked to learn of plans by the Islamic sect known as Boko Haram for an upsurge in the already deadly violence directed at Christians. Boko Haram, which means 'Western learning is un-Islamic,' has issued a threat to make this June "the bloodiest month for Christians." The Islamic sect had already promised to purge northern Nigeria of Christians as part of its effort to eventually impose Muslim religious law over the entire country. Bombs, armed assaults, and directed killings have been used by Boko Haram to rout Christians while also posing an as yet unresolved challenge to the national government.

Will Duquette reminds me ... and all of us ... that the threat to our religious liberty is nothing compared to that being faced by those elsewhere in the world.

Let us keep in mind how blessed we are to live in a land where our differences are not expressed in blood.

Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us

Georgette Heyer at Tor.com

I know. Isn't Tor about science fiction?

Where there's a will, there's a way and writer Mari Ness points out that Heyer's Regency world was really a carefully created fantasy world.

I'm gonna say that's a legit point.

Read her introduction here and then let's all go on to the discussion of The Black Moth.

I'd like to remind everyone that I read The Black Moth on Forgotten Classics, where you may download the episodes (free!).