The Anchoress Bookchat

In the middle ages an Anchoress was a woman who lived in a small, sealed room inside a church;she would have visual access to the Sanctuary and to Holy Communion. Usually there was also a small side window at which she could converse with visitors, receive foods, etc. As a shy sort of person who prefers to hang in the background, the persona suits.

Consider this my window. Instead of passing me food, comments will do! I ask only that you be civil, because I do believe that decent people can disagree and still be decent people.

All posts are copyrighted, 2007 The Anchoress. Blog administrator is not responsible for content of comments. Note: All emails are considered fair game for publication, unless you specifically tell me not to quote you or use your name, in which case I am happy to comply.

Okay, so and that wasn t my last book recommendation for 2006. These are!
For Doubleday, acquiring the publication rights for the first book by Joseph Ratzinger since his ascension to the papacy is , especially since the prolific and very readable Benedict XVI s books routinely make the bestseller s lists.

In anticipation of Benedict s book, Jesus of Nazareth, it s not a bad idea to take a look at two recent Doubleday/Image releases by the also prolific and very readable John L. Allen, Jr, a terrific writer and the foremost American journalist covering the Vatican and all things Catholic. John Allen is a top-notch analyst, and a balanced reporter who gives you the goods without forcing you to endure the whrrrrr of grinding axes in the background.

His understanding of the faith in its spiritual and human aspects is comprehensive and informative, and Allen s insider stuff is fascinating, even if you are not a devotee of all things Roman.
For instance, there is a common misconception, made by Catholics and non-Catholics alike, that anytime the press mentions the Vatican one may take it to mean the Pope. In fact, when one hears that the Vatican has made a comment on some issue it is very likely the pope had nothing to do with that statement, unless specified.

That s where a book like Allen s All the Pope s Men; The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Works can be extraordinarily helpful and clarifying. He we have an exposition of just how the Vatican itself works, and the pope s role within it. Allen explores the Italian influence of the Vatican s world-perspective and how that influence breeds misunderstanding and distrust between, for example, Rome and the United States.

The first chapter gives an overview of the whole structure of the Curia while the second - a most entertaining chapter - debunks the Top Five Myths About the Vatican, beginning with The Vatican. Allen writes: A surprising number of otherwise intelligent people, including many Catholics, regard the Vatican as an unltrasecretive, Stepford wives-type environment with a maniacle focus on wealth and power. [ ] The first bit of news, which will be surprising to many readers, is that there is no such thing as the Vatican.

Myth two is - who s in charge? Like I said, it s fun!
Much of the book gives background on how things happen within the church, but one cannot read his description of the bureaucracy that is Rome without seeing in it, something like the bureaucracy that is the US Government, or any government.

This particular government just happens to run a church, and rarely perfectly. Allen takes an unflinching look at Rome s perceptions of the sexual abuse scandals in the US - not a happy read, but an instructive and ultimately helpful one. Overall, All the Pope s Men is readable and instructive, and timely, too.

I am only slightly less fond of The Rise of Benedict XVI; The Inside Story of how the Pope was Elected and Where he will take the Catholic Church. Once again, Allen brings great insider knowledge to the story, but this is less an in depth look at Benedict than the whirlwind around him which brought about his papacy. Allen provides some thoughtful - often amusing - anecdotes, and his deep background interviews with Cardinal electors and others are very enlightening.

I especially liked his take on Why Ratzinger Won, - a riveting multi-part electoral analysis:
Ratzinger benefited from the funeral effect. While it might have been thinkable before John Paul s death to elect a quiet, pastoral Italian to allow the Church to catch its breath, the reminder the funeral issues of the international stature gained for the Church under John Paul, and the momentum of his pontificate, meant that the cardinals knew they had to elect another serious, world-class leader. Based on everything they knew of Ratzinger, as well as his performance over the interregnum, he was ideally suited for the part.

He is a man to whom the world will listen.
Allen looks at Benedict s concerns re the Dictatorship of Relativism and how those concerns are already beginning to shape his papacy, and what his taking of the name Benedict means for both him and the world, particularly Europe. Fascinating stuff, and a very fast read that leaves you feeling acquainted with the pope and eager to learn more about him and to hear his thoughts.

Just in time for the pope s own book.
Yes, it s great marketing on Doubleday s part, but these are also two really splendid, informative and enjoyable books.
Spoiled Rotten America: Outrages of Everyday Life, by Larry Milller
Comedian/Actor Larry Miller - you might remember him as the obsequious shop manager in Pretty Woman you are not only a powerful man, but a handsome man - has always been a favorite, and he s got a new book of 17 essays on life in America that is just knocking my socks off.

It s funny, yes, but also very insightful.
I don t know about you, but I spend half my life looking at people through Norman Rockwell lenses: loving them, seeing their decency and generosity, smiling at the foibles of their children, feeling their sweetness and cheerful good manners in every small encounter of the day; watching the gentle rustle of a tree in the low, western sun and knowing, really knowing, the perfect joy of it; and so, so grateful for the mysterious good fortune to be born here, now, together.
The other half of the time, I look around me and think, how sweet it would be to kill them all.

Do you know that feeling? Do you know what I mean? Of course you do.

We all do.
Most people swing back and forth between light and dark like a silver-backed gorilla with nothing but time. Sometimes people act out their good instincts.

This is called charity. Sometimes they act out their bad instincts. This is called strangling.

And sometimes they shuffle quietly from home to work and back again, simply puzzled by it all. This is called The Rest of Us.
Remember that old game where you pull the petals off a flower while saying, she loves me she loves me not (you kow, the one where we seek to confirm our affections by taking the most beautiful thing we can find and then mutilating it?

) I m thinking of patenting an updated version: She loves me she can t believe we ever went out she loves me she s stunned by how the passage of time doesn t make my stories any funnier she loves me she wants to bludgeon me whenever I m chewing cereal
That s just the beginning of the introduction but it s not what the book is about. As Miller writes later (still in the intro):
That s what this book is about - the hamburger and the stadium, the large and the small, the innocent and the cynical, division and unity. The joyous sylph dancing round the glade, while the plump bureaucrat glances up just in time to see Western Civilization spiraling down like a gumball at the Guggenheim.

The American pendulum swings only to extremes. The news is on all day, but we know less and less; there s music in ever mall, but we don t hear it; everyone has a phone but nothing to say. The chubbiest of us have the strictest diets, because we can t learn to modulate and moderate.

It s all or another she loves me, she loves me not
I ve only read a few essays into it, but they re staggeringly good. I was particular taken with his story of being a young man of privilege at a premeire college and the greatest lesson he learned there, which stemmed from his rudeness toward a woman in her sixties. And I loved his imagined conversation between Moses and God on the whole issue of adultery, marital fidelity and whether or not there might be some way around it.

It s a good book - and if you re stumped for a Christmas gift for someone with a sense of humor and an appreciation for biting prose, I think Amazon is still promising delivery by Christmas, for a little while longer!
UPDATE: I ve added another terrific book to this last recommendation, thanks to . I picked it up for my son and it looked like fun.

I ll clearly have to borrow it from him!
Actually, it s the best definition I ve ever read.
Once again I find myself flabbergasted by a bit of wisdom from a Terry Pratchett book. Actually, from one Terry Prachett book, Carpe Jugulum, which I wrote about , just the other day.

Apparently, I was not the only one taken with . Siggy got inspired by it, too (commentingly eloquently at Happy Catholic) prompting Julie to send him more, which he posted .
“There is a very interesting debate raging at the moment about the nature of sin, for example,” said Oats.

“And what do they think? Against it, are they?” said Granny Weatherwax.

“It’s not as simple as that. It’s not a black and white issue. There are so many shades of gray.

”
“There’s no grays, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things.

Including yourself. That’s what sin is.
“No.

It ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.

”
“Oh, I’m sure there are worse crimes –”
Yes, yes, yes!!
It s the source of every sin.

I used to think the source of sin was connected to vanity, pride and selfishness but even those things are all about treating others as things, or even treating ourselves as mere things. We forget that we are created creatures, begotten - as in loved into being. In our exceedingly polarized world we increasingly lose sight of that, to the point where we - which always leads to bad stuff.

Lots to think of here, and for me it s wrapping itself up - all stuff that s rattling around in my still-unquiet brain (I think I need to go on retreat - can t get quiet, and I need to). It s all stuff I mean to write about, as soon as I can put it together.
Julie is always the one to be counted on to make us think.

She always finds the gems and shares them with us. She s the Diamond miner! In the meantime this seems like a book I ll have to read, even if I never could understand the Disc World series.

I know exactly the fella who ll get this. And he ll appreciate it, too!
I may pick it up for a few nephews, too.

As uz al, I ve got myself with 30 or so dad-blamed open tabs o stories too good not to write about cept, you know it s 30 stories! and so they s simply no tahme to write em up - so s I m-a gittin em rounded up for you, along with another book recommendation at the bottom fer all ye s folks who insist on bein readers, stead o breeders! And ah m in a mood today so s yu ll have to endure , too.

Oh, ya ll hush, you love it. You love it like a possum roadkill loves a good shake o tabascy and a couple cloves of garlic mashed in. Ass-rot, ah said possum-an-tabascy!

Now git yer dad-blamed mind outta the gutter! You go wash out yer mind with some lye and sody! Ass-rot, I said LYE and SODY, if you think I’m-a cussin’, when alls I’m sayin’ is a thing is rot or rung.

I don’t know why y’all have trouble unnerstandin’ me, W gits it! Ass-rot, he do!
Now, I been-a gettin’ a couple crotchety emails, here an’ agin’ from some folks who think I been takin too much time off and not writin nuff, and then there s them other varmints sayin I write too damn much, too damn long and no one wants to hear it, anyhow, on account its more innerestin to talk about these days.

My mama told me never to say “bite me” to anyone, so I won’t. I’ll just say that a smart cowgirl knows how to travel the clearest paths to stay outta trouble and git the li’l doggies home, and that’s what I’m-a aimin’ to do!
So while I hitch on my britches and snap on my spurs and tuck in my nickleplated Smith n’ Wesson, y’all enjoy these tasty links I have lasso’ed and corralled up’n for ye and quit yer bellyachin’ or ye get no dessert and no dancin’ girls, neither!

As granny always said with a guffaw as she sewed up her bloomers an’ pushed out her wooden dentures, “ye can bite at the links, or ye can bite me!”
Now, it seems this here Pill-o-She woman is at the menfolk an who-all ever else she has control over. Report says they s fixin policy.

Seems to me they s gettin told, you don t need to fall in love, you jes fall in line with whutever you s told to vote! Which is actually whut Hill y been known to say, but this Pill-o-She (is she eye-talian?) women and Hill y seem fixin to be in each other s face afore long anyhow.

Meanwhile this reporter fella name o Gerstein seems like he s a-lookin to get hisself a bit of a whuppin, but I give him credit: comin from Washinton and about tahhhme someone did, I ll tell you whut!
Not ever reporter is so innerested in gettin to the bottom of things like this Gerstein. Take the .

According to this li l Malkin gal , or if n . Ol Ali Bubba is about it, though and given em 24 hours afore he starts-a shootin, or sumthin . Meanwhile, seems .

Seems fair to me, since the press don t seem to think much of the troops, the way they s shamin em ever chance they gets.
McGovurn says . Well, that ties em up like calves awaitin a brandin doesn t it?

Mayhap McGovurn oughta try bein on the other end of a blade or a hot iron before he consigns innocent little ones to that fate, eh? He s jest one of them kai-yotes, always a-scroungin around for hisself. Jes like , about whom it ain t neither.

Well this is jes too depressin fer words: ! Ass-rot, the land of Tiny Tim and Scrooge an figgy puddin an paper Christmas crowns is too afraid of the ummm, not-Christmas element to do the season up proper! Can I jus say, they behavin like cowards, all of em, and they bein unfair to the Muslims for whom they are (without acknowledgement) self-censoring.

The Muslims have been sayin . Mayhap it s not the Islamists the Brits are . Maybe it s their own types in their gov munt.

Alots o folks about and . I hope something can be done , and not just our country but Iraq, too, but I don t put much faith in this study group and I agree with this J-Pod fella who says , or he ll be irrelevent for the next two years. Sorta said as much , but ain t nobody istenin .

I wonder if anyone will listen to , who says taint a civil war over there!
Meanwhile, poor Debra Burlingame, who lost her brother on 9/11, is writing about them Flying Imams and she sounds a cautionary whistle. Ed Morrisey her well-done piece in .

Sister Toldjah gives within the Burlingame family, today.
The feller doesn t like and I gotta say I don t like it neither, so I m dang grateful he wrote about it. Ah m also glad his n wife wrote about and what might come of it!

Dr. Sanity says . Think about it.

Maxed Out Mama has and she links to . And this is just , which how offen do you get to read about steno machines?
The beautifully tempestuous Beth has a link to this good and in a way that just gets the heart perkin along.

Snap out of it, indeed. If this election has proved nuthin else, it validated Frank Sinatra s dictum that you gotta love livin baby, cause dyin s a pain in the ass! Losing an election has been like dyin and yes, it s been a pain in the ass.

And yessum, the GOP lost fer - among other reasons - bein a bunch of morose little crybaby s who couldn t see any good in the 75% their president kept tryin to give em.
Now, if n yer thinkin yer done with Christmas shoppin, you ain t and so you mights well where they re gittin helpful with ideas. Paw and me have had some success usin fer some fresh idears.

I don t like I ll tell you whut!
I like this: It s not just smart to be smart, it s . Hence this book recommendation!

Right. Right. That s people for you.

Now if I d seen him [God], really there, really alive, it d be in me like a fever. If I thought there was some god who really did care two hoots about people, who watched em like a father and cared for em like a mother well, you wouldn t catch me sayin things like there are two sides to every question and we must respect other people s beliefs. You wouldn t find me just being gen rally nice in the hope that it d all turn out right in the end, not if that flame was burning in me like an unforgivin sword.

And I did say burnin , Mister Oats, cos that s what it d be. You say that you people don t burn folk and sacrifice people anymore, but that s what true faith would mean, y see? Sacrificin your own life, one day at a time, to the flame, declarin the truth of it, workin for it, breathin the soul of it.

That s religion. Anything else is just is just bein nice. And a way of keepin in touch with the neighbors.

And then the recipe! Just lay me back and , please.
“Stands the cross, still point of the turning world”
A while back, I wrote ( ) of the - the sudden appearance, and print of not one but two inspiring and popular pieces concerning the Carthusians, the least-reformed, most mysterious of all Catholic monastic orders.

Well, , was in the NY Times and even, surprisingly at , and won a prize at the 2006 Sundance film festival, but it is little-seen, I suspect, and not yet available on DVD. A shame.
But the second Carthusian release of the past year, Nancy Klein Maguire s gripping, information-packed and surprisingly fast-paced An Infinity of Little Hours seems to be doing very well, indeed.

Certainly lots of visitors to this website seem to have ordered it and continue to do so, and now Maguire has in support of the book. Explore it and read the reviews, not just from professional book reviewers but from the people whose lives it has touched. It really is a stunner of a book for anyone who is even mildly curious about the monastic lifestyle and the people drawn to its extremes.

If you re looking for a Christmas gift for a lover of history, or church or church history. This might be the baby.
By the way, the Carthusians of St.

Hugh s (who opened up their place for Maguire s extended research-stay and made the book possible) have ! For those of us who read An Infinity of Little Hours and longed to see for ourselves what Maguire was describing so well, it s a feast for the eyes - and for the ears, too! Click it on, listen to the ancient chants and marvel that these men who keep to silence and stillness and who have removed themselves from the world have managed to get the website just right!

Quite a while back I read St. Patrick s Gargoyle by Katherine Kurtz. The story of a Gargoyle named Paddy for the Church in Dublin that he guards, stolen alms basins and a roughed up verger, and the desecrated grave of a Knight returned from the Holy Land.

The gargoyles of Dublin meet once a month, on a moonless night, to discuss what s happening with their various charges (the churches) and what may be happening in the city. The gargoyles explain (both to one another and Paddy to a human, Francis Templeton - an elderly Knight of Malta who helps him out - that gargoyles were once avenging angels. In the Old Testament avenging angels were seen frequently, but they aren t around in the New Testament.

Reflected briefly in the car s polished black door, just as his visitor ducked back into the sheltering shadow of the shutters, was not a darkly menacing shadow-shape laced with fire, but the stern, majestic figure of an armored warrior, with a diadem of stars across its noble brow and dark pinions sweeping from powerful shoulders to trail rainbows behind. And what its strong hands were cradling to its armored breast was not a radiator mascot but a tiny winged cherub.
Oh , Paddy said apologetically, as Templeton gave a wondering little gasp, slack-jawed with awe.

I guess your car door s a black mirror. You weren t supposed to see that. That s the only way mortals can see us in our true form unless, of course, they ve really pissed us off.

Then you don t wanta know. Like I said we used to be avenging angels.
Not anymore, though.

We don t get to kick ass like we did in the old days. The Boss has mellowed a lot, since the days when He was a Old Testament God. I think it started when His Son joined the Firm.

The Son was human for a while, you know, so He s inclined to be a little softer on sinners.
The advent of Christ does obviate the need for avenging angels. The Old Testament God punished.

After God gave us his Son, there was no need for avenging angels. Through Christ, we are forgiven and saved. Let us remember this as we come into this most Holy season.

Merry Christmas to one and all.
I ve recommended this particular DVD several times and it s a mainstay in . It s terrific fun from start to finish and even conductor Myung-Whun Chung gets into the act.

Hopefully I ll be back on my feet very shortly. Meantime, enjoy for as long as they last!
Working against a deadline so I am not allowed to play in the blogosphere today, but I figure I ll just point out a few goodies
Doug Ross looks at .

Not that you ll hear about that anywhere. Once the Times realized that Bush s action in Iraq, the story . Barone spells it out: .

On John Smarteststupidmanintheworld Kerry Blue Crab Boulevard highlights an that is quite affecting and moving. It s a good thing the guy didn t accept Kerry s apology, since, as Ace reveals, , anyway. His website basically negates his half-assed, I m sorry you were too stupid to understand my brilliance mea culpa.

Apparently, if this sign is a clue, .
. At this point, I guess, it s like housework.

People get used to a clean house, they doesn t even register, after a while, that someone is keeping it clean. There s no thanks for washing the kitchen floor, Ma! Kinda the same thing with the president.

He s kept us so safe and gotten everybody so employed that no one is looking up and saying, oh this is a good thing. Dangerous complacency.
Somewhat related, Dr.

Sanity writes about - she relates it to politics. Fascinating.
The press is writing about and now the pronouncement has been made: even though to be .

I think the press and the about things. But I also think .
I think the polls are so dishonest or poorly done, the spin is so distortive and that no one is going to be able to accurately call this election beforehand.

More (and unconscionable emotional manipulation) meant to campaign. Staggering connivance.
That said, I do not for a second understand how in a sane, just and rational world doesn t win his race.

I mean he - more than any other candidate I can think of in any race - has earned a solid win. And our country would be better off for his winning.
Gotta Dash Buster and I made a deal he finishes a pressing project this weekend, and I finish one, too.

He even took away my copy of Mark Steyn s excellent (I HIGHLY recommend) new book America Alone, until I ve done my work. He s really strict. I pity his kids.

The Steyn book is such a must-read! Gives you and he manages to do it while still making you laugh. He s a rare talent.

Did a Dem candidate call a female reporter . Wellll, you know, if he did it s not like the feminists will mind, anyway.
My Li l Bro Thom, who is a particular fan of E.

B. White, sent a link this morning to . The latest film version of White s classic, Charlotte s Web will be in theaters this December, and Thom can t wait.

Neither can I!
And what a great Christmas gift for youngsters in your family! A wise and wholesome book to stir the imagination and maybe - just maybe - make your kid fall in love with great writing!

I ve convinced myself! My neice is getting Charlotte s Web!
As a long-time fan of Mark Steyn I looked forward to reading out of Human Events, just as I have long-anticipated his book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It.

One of Steyn s consistant themes over the past few years is a warning that Europe was not merely the sick patient of the West - that she was actively transitioning from life unto death, and death will bring no victory, only only backward momentum:
Basically the European nations are dying and the populations in them are turning into relatively hostile Muslim populations, not all of them terrorists, but all of them, almost all of those people not sympathetic to America and American interests. And I feel that the great assumption that we all have, that the present tense is somehow permanent, or that it’s like technological progress. You know, it’s like, cars don’t go backwards.

You don’t suddenly have a Cadillac Escalade and you go out into the yard one morning and it’s turned into a Ford Model T and it’s got a rumble seat and all kinds of other stuff in it. You take the view that—we think that social progress is like technological progress, that it can never be reversed, but I think it can be reversed and I think a lot of the world is going to be re-primitivized in the decades ahead and America has to change.
For as long as I have been reading Steyn, he has used demographics to powerfully make his point.

He does so in this book as well, and the numbers are sobering. America Alone is a book you will want to read, and I urge you to. The world is going to look very, very different in another generation, and your children will be dealing with it.

You need to anticipate it.
As if to whet your appetite, Brussels Journal has today a piece , and just as sobering and demonstrative:
The German author Henryk M. Broder recently told the that young Europeans who love freedom, better emigrate.

Europe as we know it will no longer exist 20 years from now. Whilst sitting on a terrace in Berlin, Broder pointed to the other customers and the passers-by and said melancholically: “We are watching the world of yesterday.”
Europe is turning Muslim.

As Broder is sixty years old he is not going to emigrate himself. “I am too old,” he said. However, he urged young people to get out and “move to Australia or New Zealand.

That is the only option they have if they want to avoid the plagues that will turn the old continent uninhabitable.”
Many Germans and Dutch, apparently, did not wait for Broder’s advice. The number of emigrants leaving the and has already surpassed the number of immigrants moving in.

[emphasis mine - anchoress] One does not have to be prophetic to predict, like Henryk Broder, that Europe is becoming Islamic. Just consider the demographics. The number of Muslims in contemporary Europe is estimated to be 50 million.

It is expected to double in twenty years. By 2025, one third of all European children will be born to Muslim families. Today Mohammed is already the most popular name for new-born boys in Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and other major European cities.

This article also addresses the inability and disinterest of secularist cultures (not, mind you secular governments, but the culture of the secular elite) to fight to keep what they have: In a recent op-ed piece in the Brussels newspaper De Standaard (23 October) the Dutch (gay and self-declared “humanist”) author Oscar Van den Boogaard refers to Broder’s interview. Van den Boogaard says that to him coping with the islamization of Europe is like “a process of mourning.” He is overwhelmed by a “feeling of sadness.

” “I am not a warrior,” he says, “but who is? I have never learned to fight for my freedom. I was only good at enjoying it.

”
We are in for an interesting few decades. The last few weeks have seen releases of books like Damon Linker s The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege, which sound the warning bell that American liberty is in danger from the Christian people - you know, the ones who built the Europe which now lies gasping and moribund under secularism. Linker and his ilk take the extreme view that Christians in America are the equivalent of the Taliban.

But in worrying about what they perceive to be a turn toward religious governance in America (which would not be a particularly good thing, btw, but which I am also quite sure Americans would never ascent to) the fearful secularists are missing an important truth that is going to be meaningful to our own survival: eventually it is going to come down to America and Islamic regimes. If America is going to effectively fight people who have sensibilities which are locked not only into the here-and-now, but into the supernatural side, as well then we d damn well better not lose touch with our own supernatural sensibilities, with our own disposition of faith.
The Brussels Journal piece ends thusly: “If faith collapses, civilization goes with it,” says [Tom] Bethell.

That is the real cause of the . Islamization is simply the consequence. The very word Islam means “submission” and the secularists have submitted already.

Many Europeans have already become Muslims, though they do not realize it or do not want to admit it.
People, particularly the hardline secularists, do not want to admit it but America is going to be forced to play things out on both a secular and supernatural stage, if she is going to stay alive, and not just alive but comprehensively American. Those, like Rosie O Donnell, who would into the same boat do not realize that in doing so they are consigning themselves to Europe s fate.

And Europe is dying. Europe will not fight.
UPDATE: Meanwhile, .

Coverage of the turmoil , and the obit is being prepared. And Michelle Malkin .
The (she deserves to be named) but I knew immediately that they were writing about the great Oriana Fallaci, here: Atheist gifts pontifical school in will
An Italian journalist and self-described atheist who died last month has left most of her books and notes to a pontifical university in Rome because of her admiration for Pope Benedict XVI, a school official said Saturday.

Oriana Fallaci had described the pontiff as an ally in her campaign to rally Christians in Europe against what she saw as a Muslim crusade against the West. As she battled breast cancer last year, she had a private audience with Benedict
In one of her final interviews, Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal: I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true.
You ll want to read the whole article, it s pretty good.

Fallaci was and I think the left is making a cowardly mistake in distancing themselves from her because of her ardent writings on Europe and the rising threat from Islamofascists. In decreeing Fallaci insufficiently tolerant, the left has been slowly but surely throwing away one of its most interesting and honorable legends. I love this story about her:
Forced to wear a chador while interviewing the Ayotollah Khomeini, Fallaci asked a more insolent question: “How do you swim in a chador?

” Khomeini snapped, “Our customs are none of your business. If you do not like Islamic dress you are not obliged to wear it. Because Islamic dress is for good and proper young women.

” Fallaci saw an opening, and charged in. “That’s very kind of you, Imam. And since you said so, I’m going to take off this stupid, medieval rag right now.

” She yanked off her chador.
That the fierce, passionate and relentlessly cerebral Fallaci, a former resistance fighter against true fascists, is shunted aside and bookstore clerks while is a sad reflection of our dumbed-down era and the devolution of genuine, classically liberal thought.
It s alright.

In 20 years, we ll still be talking about Oriana Fallaci. I doubt we ll be able to name her detractors. Her most recent books translated to English were The Rage and the Pride and The Force of Reason.

Both are brilliant, thoughtful, passionate, maddening and moving and whether you agree with her or not, she will challenge you to think. When or if the third book in that trilogy will be translated to English is anyone s guess, given the times. I m not even sure of its title.

While Fallaci was dying of cancer, she couldn t eat, so she drank champagne, instead. I love that. She lived a life.

Heavens, today was a banner day for books in the mail, I received four of em (only three I m ready to write about) and they all look unique and interesting!
The Shoemaker s Gospel is a novel by Daniel Brent, and kind of an unusual idea. It takes the Ignatian practice of imagining oneself participating in the gospel as a spectator to the goings on of Jesus and the apostles to a new level.

The author has imagined himself a simple-but-literate shoemaker who has been intrigued by John the Baptizer, and is now coming face-to-face with the teacher Jesus, who affectionately nicknames him Soft Shoes.
I have only read a little, and I can tell you this is a fast read with very fetching characterizations, wonderfully vivid descriptions and a very intimate and immediate feel. I m thinking it is excellent reading for Ordinary Time, such as we are in, where were are not in Advent, anticipating the Incarnation, nor in Lent, holding our breaths until resurrection.

This is good, daily, ordinary stuff made less ordinary and more memorable, because we are seeing Jesus from a different persepective - one that is rather common to ourselves, and thus rendered uncommon to what we are accustomed to. This looks to be a book which can appeal to a broad audience, too, not strictly to a Catholic readership, although there are some clearly Eucharistic themes, particularly in the Paschal Evening chapter. The Shoemaker s Gospel looks really good, though, I m enjoying it and looking forward to getting back into it this evening.

If you re looking for something different, this might be just the ticket.
The County Fair by Katherine Valentine is scheduled for release in March of 2007, but I was very happy to receive a bound galley for preview as I enjoyed a previous novel by the author. The County Fair is the fourth installment of what is referred to as the Dorsetville Series, which chronicles the happenings in the little town of Dorsetville, Connecticut and the Catholic parish of St.

Cecilia s. (That means if you think you are interested, you have time to read the first three novels, A Miracle for St. Cecilia s, A Gathering of Angels, and Grace Will Lead Me Home before The County Fair is published!

)
I enjoyed A Miracle for St. Cecilia s several years ago - it was refreshing to read a novel with unapologetically Catholic characters (of both the faithful and the troubled variety) and a faithful priest, all living and working together to marvel at the twists and turns of a life of faith while pondering mysteries both natural and supernatural. I am thrilled to learn that Catholic fiction like this is successful enough to warrant Doubleday/Random House s continued publication and support.

Having had no idea that St. Cecilia s had been successful enough to spring into a series, I ll have to catch up on the succeeding novels, myself! I ll write more about The County Fair after I have read it, but don t wait to check out the preceeding books in the series, which are all available at Amazon (and which I will slip ) These novels are light but not empty reading.

In our home we have Icons in every room, and actually, now that I think about it, a cross or crucifix in pretty much every room, also. I recall when I came into possession of a Sick Visit crucifix (it has a hollow inside which holds a small candle and anointing oils) people cranked, what in the world are you going to do with that old-fashioned thing? Now it hangs in the family room where it seems quite at home, and I really like it being there - my family does too.

Occasionally visitors wonder about it - a crucifix right out in the open and no in a bedroom, or even a closet, but the crucifix has deep meaning for us, and I personally find great compassion, understanding and consolation whenever I contemplate it, because I know that Jesus, in undergoing all that for our sake, also showed us that no human emotion or feeling was foreign to him. So, I was happy to receive the next book.
The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day is one of those books my husband is going to tease me about, because I love reviving Catholic Customs that have fallen out of practice.

He puts up with the daily readings while we light the Advent candles, and rather likes the Holy Water Font by the front door, but I don t know how he ll deal with me trying some Catholic recipes. He s a tolerant sort, though. I ll let you know how it plays out!

And don t forget, Jim Geraghty s Voting to Kill, which and which I heartily recommend, both in an electoral season and out but especially in!
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