A caricature can reveal more truth than a photograph. The Sisters of the Last Straw, reminiscent of the antics of Don Camillo in the stories by Giovannino Guareschi (1908-68), were in fact human. Thank God. Each had her own “fault,” be it a temper, an obsession or an addiction. […]
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
A nerd geneticist went looking for a wife using the latest scientific advances. Yes, the story involved DNA analysis. The Rosie Project skulked through the dark recesses of the human mind where behavioral genetics loomed even more fantastic than sci-fi. The protagonist, Donald Tillman, PhD reminded me of Spock […]
Flavia 006: The Dead in their Vaulted Arches, by Alan Bradley
Trains, planes and automobiles, along with Winston Churchill and a military escort greeted Hillary de Luce upon her return to her husband, her daughters and her ancestral estate: Buckshaw. Thus began episode 006 of the Flavia de Luce Mystery Series. Alan Bradley had left Flavia, his protagonist, the youngest of […]
The Flavor of Flavia
Why read a Flavia de Luce mystery? Besides the “who done it”- brain jogging action of a tightly crafted plot, when the eleven-year old sleuth isn’t creeping through the grave yard on a foggy night in search of clues, author Alan Bradley entertains with humor, family interactions, village idiocy […]
A Field Guide to the Flavia de Luce Mystery Series
Alan Bradley, born in Ontario had two older sisters. His father left the family during Alan’s early years. Alan withdrew into the world of books, often reading in a cemetery. His award-winning Flavia de Luce Mysteries, set not in Canada, but in rural England described an eleven year old girl […]
Let’s make it a Quigley Family Christmas!
Save Saint Agatha’s Parish With so many empty churches and dispersed communities, what’s so special about the pending loss of Saint Agatha’s Church? Although the closing looms ahead, this particular church exists only in the Catholic sit-com Ordinary. Fans grieve that the December, 2013 Kickstarter funding project failed to meet […]
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon: No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (14), by Alexander McCall Smith
For those who have never read any of the previous episodes of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, this is a wonderful place to start, I would think, because episode 14 reviews so much of the past. Otherwise, the faithful followers of Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi will enjoy […]
A Man of Good Zeal: A Novel Based on the Life of Saint Francis de Sales, by John E. Beahn
Saint Francis de Sales, aristocrat, swordsman, lawyer, author, priest, bishop, loving evangelist, Doctor of the Church and inspiration to millions–his life and message remain particularly relevant in today’s world where discord and violence run rampant, often in the name of religion. Beahn’s novel considers the life of Francis from the […]
Fools, Liars, Cheaters, and Other Bible Heroes, by Barbara Hosbach
Barbara Hosbach invites the reader to come away to a place of quiet refreshment in the company of often overlooked biblical heroes. Taken as a whole, Fools, Liars, Cheaters, and Other Bible Heroes, outlines a self-directed retreat or a series of twenty-eight daily meditations. The author sets the stage […]
Bilbo’s Journey: discovering the hidden meaning of the hobbit, by Joseph Pearce
Pearce and Tolkien believed that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were fundamentally religious and Catholic works. Apparently critics had either missed or resented this interpretation. Pearce paraphrased Tolkien in suggesting that the real reason for critical prejudice against Tolkien’s and similar works had grown out of a […]