Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Glimmung wants Joe Fernwright. Fernwright is a pot-healer – a repairer of ceramics – in a drably utilitarian future where such skills have little value. The Glimmung is a being that looks something like a gyroscope, something like a teenaged girl, and something like the contents of an ocean. What’s more, it may be divine. And, like certain gods of old Earth, it has a bad temper.... Read more
My 2012 book challenge was so rewarding, making me pick up books I would just keep skipping over in favor of lighter reading. I’m doing it again this year. Some books are carried over from last year and some I dropped because they just didn’t look interesting to me right now. But you can see I have plenty of others to fill in the gaps. As before, I may not get through all of them in a year, but I... Read more
So we were given this game for Christmas: Miskatonic School for Girls. The basic notion is that you are a student in an elite girl’s school in Arkham Massachusetts, and the kicker is that all of the faculty members, from the headmaster on down, are Lovecraftian horrors bent on driving you insane. Your goal is to retain at least some of your sanity (you won’t keep all of it) longer than the other players. The mechanics are interesting. This is... Read more
A Season of Mystery: 10 Spiritual Practices for Embracing a Happier Second Half of Life by Paula Huston My rating: 4 of 5 stars Transcending the endless cycle of want-satisfaction also gets us ready for death and what follows. My friend Betty, age eighty-five, sums it up like this: “Getting old is about preparing for the next life. But nobody these days is thinking about that anymore.” … So how shall we face old age and dying? We can set... Read more
A few months ago, my mother-in-law asked me to write her a book. She’s facing issues now as a “mature mom” that, frankly, she could use some support with. I’m not exaggerating: I found the request impossible. I’m well outside my experience, for one thing! Thankfully, one of my favorite writers tackled the topic and wrote a book that I can now freely share and endorse: A Season of Mystery: 10 Spiritual Practices for Embracing a Happier Second Half of Life,... Read more
FINAL results on books I’ve read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011. One Sunday, when we’d gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to avoid getting embroiled in a local marathon that shuts down all the streets around our church (don’t ask … Tom has been enraged before to the point of risking arrest for civil disobedience). Wait, what was I saying? Oh. Right. Anyway, we were sitting around until about 1 p.m. in our jammies talking... Read more
Top books I read in 2012 with descriptions in 10 words or less. In no particular order. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins A great book. Too bad she didn’t stop at that one. Gospel of Mark (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Mary Healey Very accessible while still being scholarly. (my review here) Coraline by Neil Gaiman A children’s story that isn’t just for kids. I listened to Gaiman’s excellent narration. (discussion/review at A Good Story is Hard to Find) The... Read more
It is rather understandable when nonbelievers and skeptics look at the New Testament and come to an understanding that follows from a framework of doubt and skepticism. It is quite another for believers to take the exact same approach and to undermine reasons for faith. There is certainly a role to play for Christians as St. Paul said to “Test all things” and as St. Peter said to “Always be prepared to offer a reason for the hope that is... Read more
I have long been a fan of Magnificat’s books. Their simple companions to praying the rosary or to the liturgical seasons of Lent or Advent have served as guides to helping me focus on prayer and meditation. Their more complex books such as The Beauty of the Word or the series praying with the gospels help me to steadily meditate on larger works over the year. In short, I have come to rely on them. When Pope Benedict XVI’s proclaimed... Read more
… when he forgets the name of every actor he mentions. Meanwhile, Julie and Scott get lost in the tunnels of Tolkien-y goodness for a very long time. At long last, The Hobbit is discussed at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. Read more
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