What I've Been Reading: Nonfiction!

I do read nonfiction, of course, but it tends to be very categorized: religion and cookbooks.

I just finished two books in a different category, however.

Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books by Michael Dirda

I have long enjoyed Michael Dirda's book reviews in various collections, The Washington Post (online) or even The Wall Street Journal. He's usually got enthusiastic recommendations for everything from Greek classics to the newest bestseller to weird fiction. And a guy who counts Georgette Heyer among classics everyone should read is my kind of guy.

These essays are from a series Michael Dirda wrote for "The American Scholar" website in 2012-2013. Whether propelled by a power outage or memories of bike riding, Dirda always winds up jumping from one book to another in a way that makes me want to go spend a small fortune at a bookstore. As usual I came away with a long list of authors and books to search for.

I also really enjoy the fact that Dirda's all about the books. In the past I have always appreciated the fact that if he had a political preference or sociological judgment I didn't know it. Halfway into this book he did begin including some of his political views but it was in such a way that it didn't come off as judgmental or harsh. That's because he generally was pondering how he can agree so much with someone whose beliefs are so opposite from his own. (Been there, pondered that.) And, yes, it was book and author selections that provided the bridge upon which he pondered. Nicely done.



The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was such an engaging and informative book ... up to a point. The first few chapters were real eye-openers. I never thought about toddlers' play as a sign of how embedded story is in our basic make up. Or about sports reporting as story telling. Or about the fact that our dreams are stories in themselves. Somewhat incoherent stories much of the time, but stories nonetheless.

However, a lot of the book was an expansion on points made in the beginning. I didn't need it to enhance my understanding of the points already made. Those who enjoy reading through scientific study summaries (engagingly told, to be sure) might enjoy those chapters more than I did. It almost felt as if the topic should have been covered in a long article instead of a book.

Also, the author was unable to be even-handed about topics with which he had a problem, such as religion. "The Moral of the Story" chapter was fascinating (do not skip it) but I could have done without the little swipes at the "three major monotheisms" ... to be fair he's judgmental about a lot of things but usually while presenting justification. For religion, it was delivered as hand slaps.

None of this is to say that the book isn't good or worthwhile. On the contrary, it is both and I definitely recommend it. It's just one I'm not going to buy for my own shelves.

Wish your son or daughter would return to the Church?

Brandon Vogt has a BIG new project called RETURN: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church. It's full of tips and strategies for parents to solve one of the most pervasive and heartfelt problems today: young people leaving the Church.

Here are the basics.

What is RETURN ?
The Catholic Church is hemorrhaging young people. Half of young Americans (50% exactly) who were raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic today. Four out of five Catholics who left the Church left before age 23.

Today, millions of parents grieve their fallen-away children and describe their situation as "helpless" and "hopeless." They feel helpless because their children tune them out or ignore them whenever they bring up religious topics, and they feel hopeless because they think it's impossible their children would ever come back. These parents are desperate to do something—they just don’t know what to do.

That's why Catholic evangelist Brandon Vogt spent several months researching the problem, talking with experts and those who have left and returned, all to determine what really works to draw young people back. The result is a collection of resources which pull together the best tips, tools, and strategies.

Brandon's got a free video series running from 11/3 - 11/12. Check it out and sign up.

Blogging Around: The "Treats" Edition

Catholic Book of the Month Club

Sophia's Book-of-the-Month Club is our way of sharing with you the fundamental elements of the Catholic Faith at the lowest possible price - $15 per month. Every month we will send you one of our new releases, and we will even cover the costs of shipping for US mailing addresses.

Every month we will send you one of our new releases - each guaranteed to enkindle in you a love of the Church and a desire to grow in holiness and in love with Our Lord.

I saw this on the back of the latest Sophia Institute catalog and it seemed like such a good idea I wanted to be sure you knew about it.

Guillermo del Toro's Guide to Gothic Romance

To chime with the recent release of his creepy, goth thriller Crimson Peak, Guillermo has curated a syllabus of the Gothic and Gothic romance novels, short stories, and engravings that influenced the making of the film. He sent us these recommendations with the following words: “I hope you enjoy some of these as fall or winter reads by the fireplace.”

This piece from Rookie (via Scott Danielson) is right down my alley. I've had Uncle Silas on my mind since I've never read it and anyone who says Jane Eyre is his favorite novel is completely trustworthy. Plus he loves Dickens. 'Nuff said. Read this!

Good Summary of the Synod on the Family

The Synod of Bishops on the Family concludes and you don’t know what to think? Some media says one thing, other media says another. Or, you didn’t follow it at all and would like to know what took place, but don’t know where to start with the vast and various coverage. Well, a good place to start is going to the official source itself: the “Relatio finalis,” the final document published at the conclusion of three weeks of lively discussion and prayer. But it’s only in Italian?! Don’t let that deter you. Listen up on Catholic Bytes to discover just what the Synod taught, or better yet reaffirmed.

Good stuff. Both the podcast and this particular episode.

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day

Near the end of 2010, the Associated Press announced that its stylebook, used by many newspaper editors and writers, would now allow for the use of drive-thru instead of drive-through. At an editor's conference in 2014, there was an audible gasp in the room when this was mentioned (never mind that it was a few years old): the decline of English in action!

Hardly. The spelling of through has gone through a number of changes since it first appeared in English around 700 AD: acquiring an o, moving the r around a bit, claiming a g, dropping each of these things willy-nilly. In fact, the spelling thru predates through by over 100 years. Why?

I have been really enjoying the daily emails from Merriam-Webster which usually manage to interest me in an unexpected way. Sometimes with bonus links to articles like the one above about How Thru Turned Into Through and Back Again. Sometimes with their main entry for the day like flimflam which I didn't realize was very old and possibly related to Old Norse.

Blogging Around: The "Tricks" Edition

"Tricks" a.k.a. stuff that makes me feel as if someone egged my house.

You can’t pay your rent with “the unique platform and reach our site provides”

HuffPost: We’d like to publish a story you wrote!

Me: Cool! What do you pay?

HP: Oh, we can’t afford to pay, but EXPOSURE!

Me: How about no.

Wil Wheaton hits the nail on the head ... short, succinct, and worth remembering

Everything Old Is New Again: Processed Meats Not Good For You

Some background: the IARC has so far reviewed more than 900 agents for carcinogenicity and only one was found to be not carcinogenic. Other carcinogens or probable carcinogens identified by IARC? Coffee and wine (alcohol).

It’s important to understand exactly what this designation means. It does not mean that consuming red meat will give you cancer. It means that one or more compounds found in a very diverse category of foods (one that includes everything from fast food burgers to grass fed bison) has the potential to cause cancer. It says nothing about how much or what type of red meat increases your risk of cancer, what the magnitude of that risk might be, or the extent to which other foods in your diet offset that risk.

Leave it to the Nutrition Diva to sort through the latest sensational headlines. As for myself, the idea of putting hotdogs on the same level as cigarettes is laughable. When I'm chain eating a pack of hotdogs a day, then I'll worry. If you have to elevate dangers just to get attention, then that's a sign your news is far too well known to bother people with.

Also, this "old news" just in: study links sugar to conditions that lead to diabetes, heart disease in children.

Well, duh.

My Prison Job Wasn't About The Money

Within this close context, my prison work assignment actually made me feel like a human being. Every other woman with whom I worked felt the same way. Jacques D’Elia, a former prisoner in California who fought wildfires in the state for approximately $2 a day, didn’t care about the low pay either. In August he told a reporter from the Marshall Project, the criminal-justice news organization, that it was an honor to prove his worth through his prison job. I felt the same way.

Debate over how we use inmate labor has intensified lately, with people focusing on the fact that 30%-40% of the firefighters battling California’s wildfires are inmates, paid substandard wages. The activist group US Uncut has released a list of seven household brand names, like Whole Foods, Wal-Mart and Victoria’s Secret, that cut costs by selling products made with low-paid prison labor.

I had to read this article carefully because the idea of protesting low pay for prisoners was a completely new one to me. Don't just go by this excerpt, though it does capture the essence of the issue. Once again we see a lack of thorough understanding can lead to disastrous consequences, no matter how good the intentions.

Worth a Thousand Words: The Offering

Saturnino Herrán (1887 - 1918), La ofrenda (The offering)
via Lines and Colors

Worth a Thousand Words: Autumn

Autumn
taken by Remo Savisaar

I was scrolling through Remo's photographs and this one stopped me in my tracks. It is so heartbreakingly beautiful. Do go see it in full size at his blog.

Worth a Thousand Words: Portrait of Marie Breunig

Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Marie Breunig, 1894
via Arts Everyday Living

Apologies for my absence this week

It's fall which means my heavy load of catalog work has arrived. I love this work, but it has a print deadline which means I have to dedicate most of my time to it.

Also I'm launching another business venture locally and that is adding just enough to my work day that I haven't been able to blog.

Never fear, I'll get this under control. After all, Halloween is coming. I must be sure we're in the mood by Oct. 31!

Worth a Thousand Words: Long-eared Owl Chick

Long-eared Owl Chick
taken by Remo Savisaar

I cannot adequately express the beauty of Remo's photography. Please do go to his blog and see it for yourself.

Well Said: The sure foundation for a beautiful friendship

There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.

P.G. Wodehouse

Maybe that's why I'm always so surprised when I am friends with someone who I share absolutely no literary taste. It happens but I'm always dumbfounded.

Worth a Thousand Words: A Mediterranean Port

A Mediterranean Port, Arthur Melville - 1892
via Lines and Colors

Well Said: One last word, about getting rid of fear.

One last word, about getting rid of fear. Two men had to cross a dangerous bridge. The first convinced himself that it would bear them, and called this conviction Faith. The second said "Whether it breaks or holds, whether I die here or somewhere else, I am equally in God’s good hands." And the bridge did break and they were both killed: and the second man’s Faith was not disappointed and the first man’s was.

C.S. Lewis, from a letter to Mrs. D. Jessup, March 26th, 1954

The Mythology That Has Arisen Around Car Seats

How Did the Belt Win from Freakonomics wends its way from the belt around our waists to the way we belt our kids into the car.

LEVITT: And what we found in the data was really remarkable. It just, it seemed like the benefit of a car seat, a children’s car seat, relative to a child wearing an adult seat belt, was minimal. Almost zero. So in our research, in terms of fatalities, car seats didn’t help at all. In terms of injuries, mostly relatively minor injuries, it seemed like car seats had a small advantage relative to adult seat belts. But compared to the mythology that has arisen around car seats in which people seem to think, wow, these are the greatest inventions ever, the facts and the mythology just didn’t seem to line up very well at all.

Fascinating that we just haven't looked into it, as the story reports. Read the transcript or get the link for the episode.

Rose Speaks at Hannah and Mark's Wedding

Shared with Rose's permission. Tom and I are proud not only of Rose's speech but of the fact that Hannah and Rose love each other so much. That was made abundantly clear not only in this speech but when Hannah showcased her bridesmaid every chance she got, something that not every bride would do. They are such wonderful people.

Well Said: What I do before the Eucharist

What does the poor man do at the rich man's door, the sick man in the presence of his physician, the thirsty man at a limpid stream? What they do, I do before the Eucharistic God. I pray. I adore. I love.

St. Francis of Assisi

The Wedding Album

I can only be thankful for the proliferation of phones with cameras and people posting their pictures to Facebook. There was a photographer but while waiting for those results, it is lovely to see these photos.

Here are a very few of them to give a feel of the essentials.

Almost ready.

You may not be able to see it above, but I love the tender smile on the priest's face. 

I don't believe I've ever seen Mark smile like that.

 Hannah and the next generation of cousins ... who didn't plan it, but all seemed color coordinated. 

It was so much fun seeing the gaggle of girls running through the party.

Let there be pie! 

Cindy baked for days to provide some of the most delicious pies I've ever tasted. 

This is just one of the many personal touches that Hannah and Mark's friends provided 

which made this a really special celebration. 

(As I said, this wedding showed the heart of a great community.)

In Celebration of a Wedding: Hannah Davis and Mark Edinburgh

Edmund Leighton (1853–1922), Signing the register

This is for Hannah and Mark who will wed this afternoon. We are delighted and can't wait for the happy occasion. Tom's and my prayer is that their life together will be as happy as ours.

But there are four lamps of thanksgiving always before him. The first is for his creation out of the same earth with such a woman as you. The second is that he has not, with all his faults, "gone after strange women." You cannot think how a man’s self restraint is rewarded in this. The third is that he has tried to love everything alive: a dim preparation for loving you. And the fourth is – but no words can express that. Here ends my previous existence. Take it: it led me to you.

From "To Frances," G.K. Chesterton's marriage proposal

One of the most delightful things leading up to this big day is how their friends have contributed to the celebration. So many have given of their talents to make this wedding a real reflection of the community joyously supporting this marriage.

It makes this big city wedding feel as if it is happening in the heart of a small town. From flowers to music, from hair and makeup to decorations, from paying for photography to making pies, I feel that it shows they are the "richest couple I know."

May God bless them as they begin this best and richest part of their lives, together.

Well Said: "When I run act, I feel His pleasure" — Hugh Jackman

I’m a religious person. This is going to sound weird to you. In Chariots of Fire the runner Eric Liddell says, “When I run, I feel His pleasure.” And I feel that pleasure when I act and it’s going well, particularly onstage. I feel what everyone’s searching for, the feeling that unites us all. Call it “God.” Before I go onstage every night, I pause and dedicate the performance to God, in the sense of “Allow me to surrender.” When you allow yourself to surrender to the story, to the character, to the night, to the audience, transcendence happens. And when that happens, there is nothing like it on the planet. It’s the moment people experience when they fall in love, which is equally frightening and exciting. That’s what it feels like.

Hugh Jackman, Parade interview, via Christopher Closeup

I knew I liked Hugh Jackman. It's a real pleasure to see how grounded he is in this honest interview.

It also made me think about my own life. I like that running or acting can be moments of feeling God's pleasure because we are using the gifts He gave us and they make us come alive.

What are those moments in my own life? When do I desire to surrender myself so that God may appear? When do I feel His pleasure — not because of other efforts or moments of connection — because I am His creation and am glorying in the special gift He bestowed?

Worth a Thousand Words: Goodbye summer girl

Goodbye summer girl
by Calligraphy in the view

Smile has remained in the mind as impression.

Vivid image will be rumination.

I will meet her again?

Go to the link for the remaining photos, haiku (translated from Japanese), and calligraphy.

Blogging Around: Pop Culture Edition

Uncle Orson Reviews Everything: The Martian

... the American characters are, well, American. Without any tokenism, Americans of many ethnicities play vital roles, and nobody makes a big deal about it. Chiwetel Ejiofor doesn’t play “the black guy,” he plays Vincent Kapoor, a top exec at NASA who argues his case with full authority. Eddy Ko (playing Guo Ming) has Chinese heritage, but it’s not about the stereotype of extra-smart Asians; he’s one smart guy among many, doing the jobs that happen to be his.

Orson Scott Card loved the book (me too) and now he tells why he loved the movie (we'll see it Sunday). As always, in doing so he has some interesting observations about everything else, such as hard science fiction movies, the casting, and how skillfully the story had to be adapted to a different medium. All without spoilers.

Cyber Attack

And how can a simple little old woman keep her herself and her information secure? Well, says the book, “You could cancel your Internet service, ditch your cell phone, close your bank account, throw away your debit card, and turn off your electricity. You could quit school and never take a job, vote in an election, get a driver’s license, or fly on an airplane. Of course, such a solution is completely unrealistic.”

Sherry at Semicolon reviews Cyber Attack. It's for young adults but sounds as if it is a good primer for anyone who wants to know more about the basics than the media headlines tell us.

Disney's Aladdin: A Diamond but not in the Rough

What makes the emphasis on Aladdin’s moral failure is all the more remarkable is how rare this motif is in American animation—outside of Pixar. Where Pixar films feature flawed protagonists whose errant decisions have real consequences that must be faced up to, in most Hollywood animation, including Disney, the hero’s choices are always fundamentally vindicated in the end. Aladdin isn’t the only hero of the Disney renaissance to utter the words “It’s all my fault,” but it’s the only time the words have moral weight.

Steven D. Greydanus takes a look at Aladdin from a Catholic point of view. I admit I watched this when we took the kids, long ago, but it never grabbed me the way some others did. It was interesting to revisit it via Greydanus's commentary.