I spent most of this past week in Arlington taking in the amazing Catholic Writer’s Guild Live! Conference, that took place in the same place as the Catholic New Media Conference, and the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show. WOW!!! It has taken me nearly three days of recovery to even begin to absorb all that I attended. First, the good. I loved meeting people whose blogs and books I have read, am reading, or would like to read. That was so very very FUN I can barely handle it yet. Give me time. I’m a mite slow in managing input … Continue reading
Category Archives: Reviews
My friends Bill and Elizabeth Kimes have teamed up to create visually stunning, doctrinally excellent, beautiful, easy to use APPS and iBooks and make them available through St. Clement ePress. I met Elizabeth when we were both graduate students eagerly absorbing as much theology as our brains could hold. Our friendship began over tomes written by the likes of Aquinas, Athanasius, and John Paul II. The good old University of St. Thomas School of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary in the diocese of Galveston-Houston gave us both the opportunity to grow our understanding of Scripture, the early Church Fathers, Doctors … Continue reading
“Personal style is a wink at the fashion world. Your style says, I’ve got control over you, and you’ve got nothing over me.” –from the introduction to It’s So You IT’S SO YOU by Mary Sheehan Warren, New York, Scepter Publishers, 2011, originally published by Spence Publishing, Dallas, TX, 2007; reprinted with permission. We all want to enjoy having control over fashion and often do not know how to do it. Fashion is ever changing and usually totally wrong for anyone outside of the model walking down the runway. IT’S SO YOU by Mary Sheehan Warren is a marvelous answer … Continue reading
IT WAS ONLY ON STUN has now been published. This link gives you the source for a print copy but you can get a KINDLE copy from Amazon.com. I enjoyed this rollicking good tale. It spoofs dozens of science fiction, fantasy and other literary sources and does so with delightful good humor. I liked it. Is it Tolkien, Heinlein or Austen– noooo, but it isn’t trying to be either. It is written more in the spirit of Robert Asprin. While reading, I was constantly on the alert for the various references to other scifi cultures and that was plain fun. … Continue reading
Christ commanded that we be salt and light [Matt 5:13-16] and often we ponder this admonition without a clue how to fulfill it. The Catholic Briefcase by Randy Hain can help. The Catholic Briefcase would be an excellent choice for an individual or a group study. The questions gently encourage discussion and reflection. An individual working alone will find them easy to use in prayer or writing in a journal. A group would find them an easy start for group discussion. Each chapter stands as part of the whole but also as its own unit– this means if the book is used in … Continue reading
I read a really great story today. It was fast paced, funny and held my attention. I wanted to know what happened next and I cared about the characters. I liked how the story was woven of several threads that were followed by changing from viewpoint to viewpoint. Changing point of view is tricky in any story, and this one relied heavily on this technique. Over-all, in this case, I believe it works well to promote the storyline. It also needed to be developed more to give each viewpoint character more unique qualities to their voice and the point of … Continue reading
Writing, recommendations, reviews, and reading books delight me. I like to share with my friends those books I find particularly useful and helpful and today, I began reading a book sent to me for review by Aquinas & More Catholic Goods by Randy Hain titled, The Catholic Briefcase. This is a practical book is aimed at demonstrating how to integrate faith into a vocation regardless of what career or job you hold. I’m only through chapter 3 and so far all I can think is how wonderful this book would be for a small Bible Study group in a parish. … Continue reading
The Chant Cafe had a marvelous post titled Doing Something About It rather than merely complaining about a problem. VERY GOOD. In this case, it is about the music for Mass and the persons who are working hard to DO SOMETHING about the problem rather than just complaining about it. In particular, I found the upcoming Words With Wings interesting and exciting. I hope to get this when it comes out so that I can use it in my home school efforts. House Unseen, Life Unscripted, is a blog I very much enjoy so when I saw the article Why … Continue reading
I’ve been reading a really good book titled, Style, Sex and Substance, 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things that Really Matter, edited by Hallie Lord. Each chapter has spoken to me about where I am in my life, my faith, my relationships, and my work. I didn’t expect to get so much out of this book, with its odd title and pink cover, but I have. Just the other day I was bemoaning the fact that my friends are spread out all over the country and their lives are as busy as mine and sometimes I feel a bit lonely. … Continue reading
Sometimes a book is so interesting to me that it takes less than two days for me to read it through. THE EIGHTY DOLLAR CHAMPION: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts is one such book. This is the story of the horse who came to be known as Snowman. He was purchased off the slaughterhouse truck by a horseman, Harry de Leyer, who saw something in the beat up old gelding’s eyes that caused him to think that he needed to take this horse home in spite of his underfed appearance. The old gray gelding came to … Continue reading