The Woodcutter by Kate Danley My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was interested in this book after reading a few reviews that said the author told a story referencing fairy tales, but in a way that made the tale itself something brand new … yet faithful to fairy tales. And this review pulled me in. A thoroughly enjoyable retelling and combining of fairy tales from various sources.The message is the same, even if the meaning is a little different:... Read more
A couple of weeks ago I finished The Encyclicals of John Paul II: An Introduction and Commentary by Richard A. Spinello. I was all set to review the book when then-Pope Benedict XVI resigned. I just couldn’t write a review of this book at that time since I was a bit depressed over the fact that we were limited to only three encyclicals from him. It was hard to write about a book on the plethora of Blessed John Paul... Read more
Heartened by the support shown when they announced they would have to close their doors, Aquinas and More is stepping out in faith, in this year of faith, to see what the Lord has in store. More importantly, to see if we care enough to be His hands and support them both as a Catholic bookstore and online presence. Read the message below. And then see if you are moved to help out. My dear friends and customers, I write to... Read more
After years of waiting and wishing for someone to start a book club near me, I decided, sometime last summer, that the task was mine. So I sent an email, inviting a few friends to join me for a discussion of one of my favorite novels, Mr. Blue. It’s evolved into a few more ladies, and as it turns out, we’re all Catholic (not a prerequisite for joining) and we all love novels (definitely a plus, since I insist that we... Read more
The Christus Experiment by Rod Bennett My rating: 4 of 5 stars He’s been divinized, demonized, demythologized, and decoded. He’s been spoken for and spoken against, the best loved, least understood, most controversial figure in human history. All of which makes Jesus of Nazareth the single most tempting target for haunted Georgia billionaire Anson MacDonald and his pricy team of time-traveling scientists and historians. What if you could capture Christ?—bring him to our own time, make him sit for modern... Read more
“Hey, wanna watch a movie?” I’ll be honest: I almost didn’t agree to it. In some ways, I wished for at least a week afterward that I hadn’t. But when my husband and I talk in the evenings, and when I’m actually awake enough to watch something and want to watch something (I default to preferring reading, in case you had any suspicion otherwise)…well, everything clicked that night. So, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, our DVR had Taken (2008) on and... Read more
Yes, we’re discussing Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. Join us! Read more
This review is of the audiobook edition and originally appeared at SFFaudio. My rating: 3 of 5 stars. When this audio novella came in for review, it took a few days to make the connection: Mike Mignola is the creator of Hellboy! I’m a fan of the Hellboy movies (directed by Guillermo del Toro), but haven’t picked up any of the comics. If anyone has a recommendation for a particular volume I’d like to give it a go. Mignola and... Read more
When do you break down and write a book review chapter-by-chapter? When you suspect that pound-for-pound, the book is bigger than your own brain. Hence the suspicion that by the time you finish Chapter 25, you’ll have no memory of how you really felt about Chapter 1. Big is not bad, when the topic is The Entire Catholic Faith. There’s a reason RCIA isn’t conducted in a one-week crash course. Introduction to Catholicism for Adults by Rev. James Socias, is... Read more
Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko My rating: 4 of 5 stars Loneliness, dejection, the contempt or pity of people around you–these are unpleasant feelings. But they are precisely the things that produce genuine Dark Ones. As with the previous book in the series, Night Watch, this is comprised of three stories. Unlike the previous book, this is told from the Dark Ones’ point of view and by three different protagonists. Intriguingly, it begins with statements opposite to those which open... Read more
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