Buried Secrets by Joseph Finder My rating: 4 of 5 stars Joseph Finder’s books are fast reads, fun, and worth dropping my other books for. He introduced Nick Heller, a “private spy,” in Vanished (my review here) and this is a follow up novel. An old family friend, who also happens to be the richest man in Boston, has a big problem and has turned to Nick for help. Teenage daughter Alexa has vanished and the FBI isn’t willing to... Read more
A new document Instrumentum Laboris – The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith has been released by the The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. This is the the working document that will form the basis for discussion at the October meeting of the Synod of Bishops. The Synod of Bishops will meet in Rome from October 7 to 28. I have made an ebook version of this document complete with footnotes. epub – Most ereaders... Read more
I’m just finding out about this now? Of course, I’d never have discovered it if not for Brandywine Books. Thank you guys! My biography of Flannery O’Connor–The Terrible Speed of Mercy–will be released later this summer, so why don’t we read through some of her stories? Each Monday from now through the end of August I will post an article about one of O’Connor’s stories. They’re only on story three so it won’t be hard to catch up. Get it here. Read more
Today Cardinal Timothy Dolan has released a small book called True Freedom: On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty It’s easy to take religious freedom for granted. It’s enshrined in our Constitution and praised by the Church, and most of us have grown up without questioning it. However when this liberty is threatened, when it’s not respected as a fundamental right, we’re forced to pull back and ask a basic question: why do people deserve religious liberty? Cardinal Timothy Dolan of... Read more
Leah Libresco has blogged to good effect at the atheist channel at Patheos. Or so I’m told. I don’t surf the channels much, being more interested in Catholics, the book club, and the movie club. My friend pressed me to stop beating up on other people’s explanations and offer one of my own. “I don’t know,” I said. ”I’ve got bupkis.” “Your best guess.” “I haven’t got one.” “You must have some idea.” “I don’t know. I’ve got nothing. I... Read more
This link is bookish related in that it is an interview with an author. The author in this case is SF writer John C. Wright. The interview was done for a Spanish site, but is available in English. It starts off covering his conversion story from Atheism to first Protestantism and then later to the Catholic Church. This section in itself is well worth reading. He is also asked how the Great Books program at the college he attended affected... Read more
Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith May God have mercy on me … I am dying to read this book! …the so-called “Three Wise Men” are infamous thieves, led by the dark, murderous Balthazar. After a daring escape from Herod’s prison, they stumble upon the famous manger and its newborn king. The last thing Balthazar needs is to be slowed down by young Joseph, Mary and their infant. But when Herod’s men begin to slaughter the first born in Judea, he... Read more
Polaris by Jack McDevitt My rating: 4 of 5 stars Having really enjoyed McDevitt’s Engines of God and read Orson Scott Card’s review of the Alex Benedict/Chase Kolpath mystery/archeological-treasure-hunt series I turned to the library to see what was around. I was happy to see that they had number 2 in the series and so that’s where I’m beginning. As with Engines of God, this book presents one mystery/cliffhanger after another and then goes about investigating in a very straight... Read more
“Providing the Catechism in this particular electronic format will make this foundational resource even more accessible to people,” explained Bishop John Wester, chair of the USCCB Communications Committee. “It is free to anyone who has access to the Internet.” Available through any Internet browser, the Catechism file displays and functions as an e-book. Users can bookmark or highlight areas, see footnotes in a “light box” without leaving the original page, and search within the Catechism, including by paragraph number. …“The... Read more
Scott learns that Texas is it’s own direction. Julie changes her opinion about Robert E. Lee. Neither of them are certain where in the timeline to find Lincoln’s vampire slaying. Our discussion of this Pulitzer Prize winning book about the Civil War at Gettysburg is episode 36 at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. Read more
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