My Reaction to The Knight by Gene Wolfe

I finished Gene Wolfe's The Knight today. My Wolfe gene must be missing, because I don't get it. I understand that his books are often obscure on a first reading, and that this is just the first of a two-book series, but nothing in the book really moved me. Some of the scenes were beautifully written, and I liked the main character, Able of the High Heart, but the story left me flat. It just didn't seem worth the effort. I thought I'd search the web for other reactions to the book to see what I was missing, and while many reviewers were positive, most of them were vague about why they liked it so much. Their comments generally bore on the same theme: "I'm not sure what the book means, but I look forward to reading the next book to find out." Finally I found a review that I could relate to. Steven Wu, a "huge fan of Gene Wolfe," found the novel "too random, too aimless," and "like some fantasy writer's first stab at the art." Like me, Wu stuck with the book, "because this is Wolfe." He continues, "I tried hard with this book, slogging through it for a month and a half, and it just never got better." My feelings exactly. Be sure to read the entire review at Steven Wu's Book Reviews. And while you're there, check out his opinion of The Power and the Glory, Anubis Gates and Bridge of Birds.

Genealogy Meets Web 2.0 with OurStory.com

If you've always wanted to keep a record of your family's history but didn't know where to begin, you might consider looking at OurStory.com. I've just been playing around on the site, and the unique thing about it is the way it makes family history a collaborative effort. (In the interest of full disclosure, let me say up front that OurStory.com is a sponsor of this site, but they are not sponsoring this post.) After the free sign-up, you can create a time line for anything, and then invite others to join you in creating the story. For instance: You can invite others to write about what they remember about your wedding, including adding pictures. You can set up a tribute page for your grandparents' 50th anniversary and invite all the grandchildren to contribute their favorite memory. You can tell your family's history and invite all your relatives to participate. One idea I had was to invite everyone I know to tell the story of the one book that's had the biggest impact on their life. Each story gets its own time line, and collaborators can subscribe to new entries via RSS, so you can always keep up with newly added memories. You can also add your time line to any blog you author. I've been trying for over 15 years to put together my family's history, but with OurStory.com I can now invite my parents, brothers, sisters, and cousins to help me in this daunting project. In addition to adding memories, they can also add pictures and videos, creating a multimedia story of my family's memories. OurStory.com brings the power of social networking to genealogy and memory-making. As one of their tag lines goes, OurStory.com - Life is a journey. Tell the story.

Disappointed by Tim Powers' Novel Declare

I finally had to abandon Tim Powers' supernatural spy novel, Declare. I read over 200 pages into it and just couldn't go any further. I really enjoyed Powers' earlier novel, The Anubis Gates, and I had high hopes for Declare after reading reviews. But the book didn't evoke any emotional reaction from me at all. I never really connected with Hale, the main character, and I didn't care for the way Powers' narrator alternated back and forth between the 1940s and the 1960s. I think part of the problem was my unfamiliarity with many of the historical references in the book. If the characters or the story would have captivated me more, I would have done a little research into the history, but it just wasn't worth the time. As a point of comparison, when I began reading Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series, I only had a surface knowledge of nautical terms and Napleonic history, but I was so interested in Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin that I bought companion books to help me understand the story better. I had no such desire with Declare. I was intrigued by the religious elements in the book, but not enough to keep reading. Fans of spy novels may have better luck with it than I did. Disappointing.

Master and Commander Audio Book Review

Simon Vance does a superb job reading every character in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander except one: the central character Jack Aubrey. I just finished listening to Blackstone Audio's unabridged version of Master and Commander, and the book keeps getting better each time I experience it. I first read it about ten years ago, then a few years after that I listened to Patrick Tull's unabridged audio recording from RecordedBooks.com. This time around I didn't get so bogged down trying to understand the naval jargon, so I was able to concentrate more on the characters. If you've never read any of O'Brian's books, you're missing out on some fantastic characters and compelling stories. But Simon Vance just didn't read Jack Aubrey correctly, in my opinion. Vance read him with a deep voice that sounded overweight and pompous, rather than forceful and commanding. I realize that Aubrey is a big man, and Maturin is constantly harping on him to lose weight, but Vance's reading went a bit beyond what was necessary. I much prefer Patrick Tull's gravelly, rough voice. However, Vance's overall narration was excellent, and I would still recommend this recording to those who can't get a hold of Patrick Tull's superior reading. And speaking of the late Patrick Tull, I'll end with a video of Tull reading from The Reverse of the Medal, and one of the most powerful scenes in the whole series. Warning: the video contains a strong vulgarity and gives away some of the plot, so take that into account before watching.

Berserker Death: RIP Fred Saberhagen

Fred Saberhagen , one of my favorite science fiction writers, passed away from cancer on June 29, 2007 at the age of 77. Saberhagen is probably best-known as the author of the Berserker series, a set of science fiction stories about humanity's war against self-repairing killing machines that roam the universe with the sole purpose of eliminating all life. Saberhagen used his Berserker stories to explore what it meant to be human, and several of them were based on works of literature such as Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" and Melville's Moby-Dick. Saberhagen was also Catholic, and if you can find a copy of his First Book of Swords, there's a fantastic afterword written by Catholic science fiction/fantasy critic Sandra Miesel (co-author of The Davinci Hoax) who summarizes his major works and explores his recurring themes and values. I highly recommend the following books for any science fiction/fantasy fan (especially teenagers): The Berserker series: As mentioned earlier, the Berserkers are machines that scour the universe obeying their directive to destory life. Consider the opening paragraphs of "Without a Thought," the first Berserker story: The Machine was a vast fortress, containing no life, set by its long-dead masters to destroy anything that lived. It and many others like it were the inheritance of Earth from some war fought between unknown stellar empires, in some time that could hardly be connected with any Earthly calendar. One such machine could hang over a planet colonized by men and in two days pound the surface into a lifeless cloud of dust and steam, a hundred miles deep. This particular machine had already done just that. It used no predictable tactics in its dedicated, unconscious war against life. The ancient, unknown, gamesmen had built it as a random factor, to be loosed in the enemy's territory to do what damage it might. Men thought its plan of battle was chosen by the random disintegrations of atoms in a block of some long-lived isotope buried deep inside it, and so was not even in theory predictable by opposing brains, human or electronic. Men called it a berserker. You can see echoes of the Berserkers in the Cylons of the new Battlestar Galactica series. Some stories read like horror tales, others like sword-and-sorcery fantasy, and still others like space opera. The Berserkers books are truly a landmark science fiction series. Empire of the East Empire of the East is a blend of science fiction and fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic future. Warriors wield swords and wizards wield magic, and citizens occasionally come across an remnant of the Old Days, like flashlights, hand grenades or tanks. The book was originally published in three volumes: The Broken Lands, The Black Mountains, and Changeling Earth. Sandra Miesel describes the series in this way: Saberhagen's Empire takes place in a post-catastrophe North America whose culture is vaguely medieval. Wizardry dominates this demon-ridden age while the rare bits of technology surviving from the Old World are objects of superstitious awe. (afterword, The First Book of Swords) The story is epic and imaginative, from its boy-hero Rolfe to the giant beast Draffut. Saberhagen is at his finest in this series. It appears that Saberhagen added to the original series with the 2006 publication of Ardneh's Sword. The Books of Swords and The Books of Lost Swords As a dedicated fantasy reader in my younger days, I could never get enough of magic swords: Arthur's Excalibur, Frodo's Sting, Elric's Stormbringer, I loved reading about enchanted blades. So I was in pure sword heaven with Saberhagen's Swords series, where there is not one magic sword, nor even two or three, but twelve enchanted blades made by Vulcan, blacksmith to the gods. In The First Book of Swords we learn that the gods have created twelve magic swords, each with a special power and a corresponding curse. For instance, the sword Coinspinner brings good luck to its wielder but is easily lost or taken; Wayfinder shows its bearer the quick path, but adds danger to the journey. Other swords include Sightblinder, Farslayer, Soulcutter and Townsaver. The gods then cast these swords across the world to watch mortals fight over them. Taking place in the same world as Empire of the East, Saberhagen's two Swords series are not so much a continuation of the earlier story as much as they are new stories within the same environment. There are two different Swords series, both with similar titles. The first series has been collected in one volume titled The First Swords. The second series, known as the Books of Lost Swords, is eleven books long, and (almost) each sword gets its own story. Saberhagen appeared to run out of steam on the final book, but all in all it's an entertaining series. Conclusion Fred Saberhagen may not have been the most well-known fantasy/science fiction writer, but he is certainly worth reading. And I haven't even touched upon his Dracula series, which some say is his best work. I haven't read the series yet, mostly because I don't particularly care for vampire stories, as you may remember from my review of the first Harry Dresden book. I'd love to hear from any of you who've read any of his Dracula stories. As I bring this to an end, I'll leave you with a description of Fred Saberhagen by Roger Zelazny, from the Prologue to Empire of the East: Fred is a genial, witty, well-informed individual, with a wonderful wife named Joan, who is a mathematician, and the three best-behaved children I've ever met: Jill, Eric and Tom. He likes good food and drink and conversation.

Lord Darcy: Sherlock Holmes Meets Jonathan Strange

If you, like me, find the Harry Dresden series not to your taste, but like the idea of a magic-wielding detective, you might enjoy the Lord Darcy stories by Randall Garrett. Mix together Sherlock Holmes and Jonathan Strange, and add in a little alternate history, and you have an idea of what the Lord Darcy stories are all about. What if Richard Lionheart didn't die, and what if the Protestant Reformation never happened? Garrett imagines an alternate history where in the twentieth century the Plantagenet dynasty still rules, and where magic works. Lord Darcy is the Chief Investigator for the Duke of Normandy, and along with his assistant, Master Sorcerer Sean O'Lochlainn, he deals with locked-room mysteries, espionage and murder. And if you like CSI, you'll enjoy reading how forensic sorcerer Sean O'Lochlainn applies the science of magic to crime scenes. These stories are humorous, historically interesting, and extremely well plotted. There's a strong Catholic element present as well. They're a perfect next step for teenagers who like Harry Potter, and Lord Darcy's exploits would appeal to anyone who likes mysteries, alternate universes or contemporary fantasies. The stories were all written between 1964 and 1979, but were not collected in one volume until 2002. As editor Eric Flint points out, they're filled with allusions to many of the famous detective stories of the 1960s and 1970s: Nero Wolfe, the Pink Pather and the Man from U.N.C.L.E., to name a a few. I highly recommend them, especially the full-length novel at the heart of the collection, Too Many Magicians.

Harry Dresden Book One: Not for Me

I finished Storm Front: Book One of the Harry Dresden Files, and it wasn't quite as good as I had hoped it would be, but it was still quite entertaining. In brief: What I liked: The setting: I particularly liked Harry's house and office, and his idea about magic affecting complex machines The film noir elements combined with traditional wizard-lore Butcher's conception of magic and how it works: a little Latin, a staff, some magical symbols, all the things traditionally associated with users of magic The action scenes What I didn't like: The brutal and explicit plot elements, which, while mostly necessary to the story, were not really to my taste; I've never enjoyed reading about the seedy side of life in works of literature, and I like it even less in popular fiction; this is most definitely not a book for kids The demon/vampire characters: Even in shows like The X-Files I didn't like the stories that revolved around these kinds of characters The characterizations of the female characters: most of them were one-dimensional and not very complimentary The mob angle: For some reason, shows like The Sopranos or Once Upon a Time in America have never appealed to me, though there are some that I've really liked (i.e., The Godfather, Some Like it Hot); the gangsters in Storm Front seemed almost like Dick Tracy villains The mystery plot: If Butcher was aiming at a traditional mystery plot, he violated one of the rules of the game in not introducing a key character until very late in the story The writing style: I liked the first person viewpoint, but sometimes it was a bit over the top. I remember the end of one chapter when Harry, battered and bruised, said to the reader, "Do I have a great job, or what?" As you've probably noticed, most of my complaints against the book have more to do with my own tastes rather than with Butcher's writing. And I have to say that it's significant that I finished the book, so it's definitely not awful. Far from it. It's just not a series that I'm going to be continuing with. My next book is going to be Declare by Tim Powers. I loved his story The Anubis Gates and I have high expectations for Declare, based on reviews I've read online.

The Knight of the Sorrowful Face Will Put a Smile on Yours

I finally finished listening to the Don Quixote audiobook narrated by George Guidall, and it remains my favorite book of all time. It took almost five months to listen to (I have a very short commute to work), but it was worth the time. Guidall is deservedly known as the king of audiobooks, and his reading was masterful. In a book full of dozens of characters, he managed to give each one a separate personality and voice. I don't want to say too much about the story itself, since the people at Tilting at Windmills are reading Don Quixote right now. One thing I will say, however, is that the second half of Don Quixote is far superior to the first half. I enjoyed the first half, but most of my fond memories come from the second half. It's funnier, more interesting from a literary point of view, and really develops the character of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. It's important to know that the second half was written some fifteen years after the first half as a reaction to unauthorized sequels that were circulating through Spain at the time, making Don Quixote possibly the first book in recorded history to have fan fiction. Cervantes did not like others messing with Don Quixote, so he really had no choice but to write his own sequel. Thank goodness he did! Finally, the Edith Grossman translation that was used for Guidall's audio recording is marvelous. It's easy to read or listen to without sounding too modern. Every reader of literature should get to know Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, so let Edith Grossman and George Guidall introduce you to them. You will come to love the Knight of the Sorrowful Face and his trusty squire, and they will entertain you for hours on end.

Harry Dresden - For Teenagers?

I'm about a quarter of the way into Storm Front, book one of the Harry Dresden Files, and I wanted to answer a question posed by Maureen, who wants to know about its suitability for junior high/high school readers. It didn't take long to get the answer to that question. Keep in mind that I believe in each parent deciding what their kids can read or watch, so don't take my comments as gospel truth on this. Here we go: I'm really enjoying the book so far as a light, entertaining read. But I wouldn't be able to read this book to my eighth grade class because of some pretty graphic crime scene details that occur early in the book. It's graphic not only in its description of the state of the murder victims, but also in what the victims were doing when they died. In other words, if this book were made into a movie, this crime scene alone would give the movie an "R" rating. That doesn't mean teens shouldn't read it. I think the story is just the kind of thing a teenager would enjoy. But a parent should probably read it first to see if their teen could handle it. I'm not going to give it to my seventh grade boy to read, and I'm not even sure if I would give to my freshman. I have to wait until I get finished with the book to know for sure. Sometimes a book has a such a great message and is so deep that graphic violence or sexual content can be tolerated, if it's an integral part of the story. Storm Front doesn't strike me as that kind of book yet, but as I said earlier, I'm only a fourth of the way through it. There's a bit of rough language, but so far nothing you wouldn't hear in a PG-13 movie, and the plot is engaging. Storm Front has been described as Philip Marlowe meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I think of it more as Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell meets The X-Files. And maybe that's a good comparison for its suitability for teens: if you let your teens watch The X-Files, you would probably be ok with them reading Storm Front. I'll write more about Harry after I've finished the book.

Are ROMANs Elite?

John at SF Signal reviewed my free ebook ROMAN Reading in post called When in Rome...Do as Elitists Do? I really appreciate the time he took to read the book and write about it. His comments actually illustrate a couple of the elements of ROMAN Reading: Asking questions about what you read, and Naming your experiences. One of the questions he asks is if the neighborhood analogy is elitist. Here are his thoughts: Encouraging reading is a good thing, but I detect a smack of reading elitism here, particularly in this passage: Books are like neighbors, and your personal library is your neighborhood. Take a look at your bookshelves. What kind of neighborhood are you living in? Are you in a slum or in the suburbs? Who are your neighbors? Are they trash talkers or shrewd sages? If you live next door to Socrates, then invite him to dinner every night. If you live next to Dan Brown, then put your house on the market. He goes on to say: I sometimes hear people speak as if (or say outright that) reading is not a worthwhile activity unless you are reading Literature with a capital L. Enter self-doubt. Am I wasting my time by reading anything else? Am I denying myself the true value of reading? Am I becoming a literary snob? Is this self-doubt the beginning of a midlife crisis? What great questions! I began to leave John a comment, but it kept getting longer and longer, so I thought I'd respond here. Again, I'd like to thank John for mentioning the book and linking to it. First let me say that I have "lowbrow" tastes in books, too--my favorites span a wide range: on the "lower" end I have such favorites as pulp hero Doc Savage, the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison, the Conan series, and any short story collection with Alfred Hitchcock in the title. Reading for fun is as necessary as taking the weekend off from work, or going on an extended vacation every once in a while. Not every book is meant to educate or inspire. What I was trying to say with the neighborhood analogy (while poking a little fun at Dan Brown), is that behind every book is a real person. Books have as much power to influence us as the friends we hang around. Each person must choose their own friends, but if I see my teenage son constantly getting into trouble because of the influence of his friends, I will try and point that out to him. In the same way, books can have a positive or negative effect on us, and I was trying to remind my readers of that. I'd like to insert one of my favorite quotes here. It's by Father John Hardon, and you can find it on every page of this blog: "Everything we read stimulates our mind to think, and what we think determines what we desire, and desires are the seedbed of our actions. Given this iron law of human nature--from reading to thinking, to desiring, to acting--we are shaping our destiny by the ideas we choose to have enter our minds through print." Are there some books that I think everyone should read? Yes, I must admit that I believe there are. Not necessarily because they are "better" than others, but because they have so much to offer everyone. Think of it this way: Aren't there some people who are just so inspirational and intelligent (and even holy) that everyone would benefit from meeting them? Mother Teresa comes to mind. Well, I can't meet Mother Teresa in person anymore because she has passed on, but I can read what she left behind and get to know her through her books. She is someone I think everyone would have benefited from meeting. There's also some faulty logic that people can slip into when talking about books. I'm guilty of it myself at times. I occasionally fall into the trap of putting books into two categories: (1) fun books, and (2) literature. The mistake is thinking that these two categories are mutually exclusive. What has happened to me as I've expanded my reading is that the books I used to think of as "fun" (like Conan, for instance) have actually become a bit boring and not as entertaining as they used to be. What I find now is that literature is more fun and entertaining to me, and much of the enjoyment comes from wrestling with the author's ideas. If you "wrestled" with my ideas in ROMAN Reading, I hope it gave you some enjoyment. I'm sorry if it seemed elitist, and I hope this post has clarified things a bit. Thanks again, John, for your challenging remarks and for linking to Literary Compass.

Literary Testosterone - 30 Must-Read Classics for Teenage Boys

This is a follow-up to Maureen's question about recommendations for 12 and 13 year-old boys. Without getting into a big discussion about gender stereotyping, let me just say that in general boys at this age tend to read books that are more action and adventure oriented, while girls enjoy reading more about relationships. Case in point: I teach The Hobbit and Les Miserables to my eighth graders each year. Both boys and girls love these books. But when I look at the few students who didn't like them, I have more girls who didn't like The Hobbit, and more boys who didn't like Les Miserables. The books I'm about to recommend for boys are also great for girls to read, and there are many books not listed here that boys would like. I think boys should read Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Louisa May Alcott, but I don't think most boys would pick these books up on their own. The following books are titles and authors that I think most boys would enjoy, and that contain themes that are valuable for teen and pre-teen boys to think about. Fantasy/Horror Anything by Ray Bradbury: I think of Ray Bradbury as a modern-day Edgar Allen Poe, and his books are perfect for teenage boys. There's always something to talk about after reading Ray Bradbury. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Every boy should read this book, and every father, too. It can be frightening, but it is well worth reading. Dandelion Wine - Scary, funny and tender. The Martian Chronicles - Great sci-fi. Fahrenheit 451 - Perfect for talking about the value of books and reading. The Illustrated Man - Thought-provoking stories. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs - Along with Treasure Island, probably the perfect action/adventure story. The Belgariad by David Eddings - Lord of the Rings lite; lots of fairly innocent fun; not much depth, but a good read. Animal Farm by George Orwell - An excellent introduction to talking about political systems. The Once and Future King by T.H. White - Classic story of King Arthur. The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin, Jr. - This book is a hidden gem--important spiritual themes, connections to Chaucer and the middle ages. I once had the opportunity to interview the author with my eighth graders after we finished studying it - they loved the interview and the book. Don't miss it. Science Fiction Flatland by Edwin Abbott - A brief fairytale-ish book that explores mathematical concepts like the fourth dimension. Fun and educational. The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov - A sort of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire set in space; great plot twists. A true classic of the genre and very accessible to teens. The first book in the series is Foundation. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov - A great murder mystery set in the future. Combines elements of science fiction and classic mystery stories into one. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - I hesitated to put this on the list because it contains some profanity and a few disturbing elements, but every single student of mine who has read this has loved it. Without exception. Read this with your kids so you can talk about it with them. The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Before Michael Crichton's version, the author of Sherlock Holmes had already written about a lost island of dinosaurs. Time and Again by Jack Finney - A terrific time travel story; the amount of historical detail in this book is mind-boggling. Part mystery, part romance, part sci-fi, it really defies categories. Historical The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - Pulitzer winning novel of the battle of Gettysburg; would be great to read in conjunction with an American History class. After they finish, show them the movie Gettysburg. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas - Look up swashbuckle in the dictionary and you'll find this book. Young readers may need help understanding church politics. Mr. Midshipman Easy by Captain Frederick Marryat - a great precursor to Forester's Hornblower series or Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series. Fun and easy to read. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott - Classic medieval adventure. Mysteries The Father Brown stories by G. K. Chesterton - The gentle, intelligent Father Brown makes a great role model for boys, and gives them a healthy portrayal of a priest. Anything by Agatha Christie - Her books are continual favorites of my students, especially the novels featuring Hercule Poirot. Make sure they read Curtain (but only after reading four or five other Hercule Poirot mysteries first). The Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael is a monk in the thirteenth century who always seems to end up in the middle of murder investigations. The first book is A Morbid Taste for Bones. Assorted other titles: Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling - Terrific coming of age story set at sea. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Explores many issues, but one key issue is the definition of courage. The Ox-bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark - Not only a great Western, but an insightful exploration of justice and vigilantism. Perfect for discussing over the dinner table. Hondo - Every boy should read at least one Louis L'Amour novel in his life, and Hondo is one of the best. Shane by Jack Schaefer- The all-time greatest Western ever written (in my humble opinion). Another must-read for pre-teen or teenage boys. Hiroshima by John Hersey - A nonfiction account of survivors of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. This can be a frightening book for young readers, so use your own judgement. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot - Nonfiction account of a rural veterinarian; another perfect book for boys. For more titles for both boys and girls download my Books to Be Tasted Junior High Reading List. You may need to sign up at FreeIQ to download it, but the account is free. Also, I'm currently developing a summer reading group for junior high and high school students and their families that I plan to launch in the next week or two. Stay tuned.

Don Quixote for Young Readers?

Maureen asks: I have 12 and 13 yo boys and would love some book recommendations. Is Don Quixote appropriate for their age group? They are voracious readers, and I find we're on the brink of children's and adult books. Thanks for any advice. What a great question! One of my favorite things to do is recommend books. First, concerning Don Quixote: In sixteen years of teaching junior high students, I only recall three students who read Don Quixote all the way through, but each of them really enjoyed it. My wife and I have a sixteen-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old boy (not to mention our two daughters ages 8 and 2), and I have to say that our sixteen-year-old who is not a habitual reader yet (sigh), would not touch Don Quixote with a twelve-foot pole; but our twelve-year-old laughs out loud whenever my wife listens to the audiobook in the car. I'm not sure he's ready to read it, but he definitely gets the humor. One caveat: Don Quixote can be a bit risque at times, almost like a vaudeville show. It's very tame compared to society's standards (alas!), but there are a few sections where an innocent young man might come to his parents to ask what something means. Purity, honor and religion are always upheld as virtues, but there are occasional references to things like prostitutes and consummating marriages. Finally, Part I of Don Quixote is filled with digressions, side stories, and one out-and-out novel that is inserted into the story. I happen to enjoy the side-stories, but young readers may not have the patience to read about secondary characters for long periods (and most of the side stories are love stories). However, if they can make it to the second half of the book it will be worth it. Part II was written about fifteen years after Part I, and as enjoyable and necessary as Part I is, Part II is by far the better half, in my opinion. You could even suggest that they read Part I then take a break and read something else before coming back to Part II, so they don't get burned out on too much Don Quixote. Wow, I didn't expect to say so much about Don Quixote. But then, I do have Manchegan Madness, so I guess it's to be expected. I'll follow this post up with some book recommendations for pre-teenage and teenage boys.

Read for Your Life

Motivational speaker Pat Williams has an important new book out called Read for Your Life: 11 Ways to Transform Your Life with Books. Pat is the father of nineteen children, a marathon runner, the senior vice president of the Orlando Magic basketball team, and a reader. His book is designed to encourage people to read for an hour every day. He says, "Hey, if I can do it with nineteen kids, so can everyone else." Yeah, but does his wife read for an hour every day, too, or is she the one taking care of the children so he can read? :-) (Cranky aside: Some of you may have noticed how similar his title is to my ebook, ROMAN Reading: 5 Practical Skills for Transforming Your Life through Literature. Not only is the title similar, but he basically wrote the book I was intending to write, and [grits teeth] he did it better. It was released just last month, and I couldn't believe it when I took it off the shelf to look at. It was one of the most demoralizing moments of my life. He even used some of the same quotes I was planning on using. Oh well, I have lots of other books inside me, even if I'm not the father of nineteen kids, or a marathon runner, or the vice president of an NBA team, or a motivational speaker with a crack team of researchers and ghost writers. And I'm not bitter at all.)

Made to Stick Will Stick with You

I began Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood a few weeks ago, but I got sidetracked by a few nonfiction titles that grabbed my interest. That happens to me every so often. I'll make up my mind to start a book, and then another one will grab me by the shirt and say, "NO! Pick ME!" That's what happened with the Heath brothers' Made to Stick, a fantastic exploration of what makes ideas memorable. I started reading it in the bookstore and couldn't put it down. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I never buy new hardcovers, but this one was just proving to be too fascinating--I had to take it home. And was it worth it. Teachers, writers, public speakers, anyone with an interest in spreading ideas should read Made to Stick. It's absolutely brilliant. Chip is a professor of organizational behavior and Dan is a consultant and former business researcher. Together they have put together a fascinating history of some of the ideas that have "stuck" with us, from urban legends about Elvis' motorcycle to memorable ad campaigns like "Where's the Beef?" But Made to Stick is really about how to make your ideas memorable, and this is really the heart of the book. Using the simple mnemonic device SUCCESs, the Heath brothers have identied the essential elements of a sticky idea: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion, and Story. Sure, these elements have been talked about before, but not with such clarity and insight. One of the great features of the book is what they call the "Clinic." At the end of each chapter Chip and Dan take a situation and show how applying one or more of the six elements can make the idea more "sticky." I'm a teacher, writer and speaker, and Made to Stick has already had an impact on my work. It's one of the most practical and insightful books I've read in a long time, and I highly recommend it.

Review of Children of Hurin

Elizabeth Hand at Powell's Books reviews Tolkien's The Children of Hurin: If anyone still labors under the delusion that J.R.R. Tolkien was a writer of twee fantasies for children, this novel should set them straight. A bleak, darkly beautiful tale played out against the background of the First Age of Tolkien's Middle Earth, The Children of Húrin possesses the mythic resonance and grim sense of inexorable fate found in Greek tragedy. See the rest here.

The Intellectual Devotional

I never buy new hardcovers because they're too expensive, but I made an exception yesterday and bought two: The Intellectual Devotional and Made to Stick. At first I was a bit worried when I saw the title for The Intellectual Devotional, thinking it was going to be a kind of anti-prayer book for atheists, pitting faith against reason or science against religion. As I thumbed through the pages, though, it doesn't appear to be any such thing. Like a devotional, it consists of daily readings, but rather than meditations, these are readings in different intellectual areas: History on Mondays, Literature on Tuesdays, Visual Arts on Wednesdays, Science on Thursdays, Music on Fridays, Philosophy on Saturdays, and Religion on Sundays. I like these "daily reading"-type books, and I had some money burning a hole in my pocket (a rare thing), so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. Today's reading was all about cloning, and it doesn't take any kind of moral stance on the issue, it simply recounts what cloning is and focuses on the story of Dolly the sheep. As I peek at this Sunday's topic, I see that the subject is the Torah. A quick browse through the rest of book reveals readings on Dickens, the Last Supper, Chemical Bonds, Real Numbers, the Manhatten Project, Rainbows, Verdi, the Battle of Midway, and Confucianism. It does bother me a bit to see the word "devotional" in the title, since it implies religious enthusiasm towards something non-religious, but the book doesn't appear to be anti-religious. In fact, the Sunday readings in religion appear to be respectful and informative, more like a survey of world religions. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it, and if my opinion changes I'll let you know. As for the other book, Made to Stick, I'll talk about that another day.

Book Review: The Samurai by Shusaku Endo

I just finished reading Shusaku Endo's The Samurai, and it was eye-opening in so many ways. It is the story of two men: Father Velasco, the flawed but well-meaning missionary to Japan, and Hasekura Rokuemon, the quiet Samurai who only wants to do his duty. Both men have a mission, both of them are forced to compromise their integrity for the sake of that mission, and neither of them get what they want. In the end, however, The Samurai is a gentle reminder that God "writes straight with crooked lines," and no matter how hard we try to bring the gospel to others, it is Jesus Christ alone who has the power to convert hearts. Endo, a Japanese Catholic, reminds us that "the essence of Christianity is determined not by bureaucratic fiat, but by the private yearnings of each and every believer." On the surface, The Samurai is historical fiction, recounting the journey of Hasekura Rokuemon and other Japanese emissaries to Mexico, Spain, and eventually Rome to see Pope Paul V in 1615. Rokuemon and his companions were the first Japanese emissaries to the Americas. It's a fascinating story, and Endo tells it with great restraint, avoiding the temptation to over dramatize the events. At its heart, however, The Samurai is an honest, unsentimental look at religious conversion, and the frustration of trying to bring about conversion in someone else. Father Velasco, as good as his intentions are, makes the mistake of thinking only he can bring salvation to Japan, and that only he understands God's will. Velasco is a compelling character, because he is so much like so many of us--trying to do the right thing, thinking we know what God has planned for us, and hurt when things don't go the way we expect them to. Despite all of Velasco's manipulations, Hasekura Rokuemon resists Christianity, continually asking the same question: "How can you revere such a miserable, wretched fellow? How can you worship someone so ugly and emaciated?" Yet all the time it is the "ugly emaciated man on the cross" that Rokuemon cannot get out of his head. It is not Velasco's catechism classes, nor his rational arguments, nor his manipulative machinations. It is simply the man on the cross, the companion in our suffering. In one of the most beautiful scenes from the book, the power of Jesus is summarized in two lines: "From now on...He will be beside you." "From now on...He will attend you." Unlike Velasco, Jesus makes no promises to us in this life, except that he will always be with us, especially in our suffering. The Samurai is beautifully written, and an essential book for all Catholics to read, especially those engaged in active evangelization. Highly recommended.

Top 10 Catholic Prayer Books - Daily Devotionals

With the Easter season rapidly approaching, this is a great time to re-commit to daily prayer. Here is my top ten list of the best Catholic daily devotional books. Each of these books is designed to be used every day, and most of them are interwoven with the liturgical year. The Liturgy of the Hours: Also known as the Divine Office, this is more than simply a daily devotional; the Liturgy of the Hours is the public prayer of the Church, the official set of prayers for each day of the year, as many as seven times a day. Those who pray the Office join with the entire body of Christ in praising God. The bulk of the prayers come from the book of Psalms, arranged for daily use. There is a pretty steep learning curve for praying the Liturgy of the Hours, but the benefits far outweigh the beginning struggles. They are a continual source of inspiration and guidance for me. I'd be happy to help anyone who wants to learn to use them. Email me or leave a comment if you have any questions. The Vatican II Daily Missal and the Vatican II Sunday Missal: Here you will find the complete texts of the scripture readings used during Mass for each day of the year, accompanied by useful meditations and reflections. My Daily Catholic Bible: This Revised Standard Version of the Bible is arranged in 20 minute segments that are meant to be read over the course of a year. Prayers and Devotions by Pope John Paul II: This collection of meditations is drawn from the documents, writings and homilies of the late Pope John Paul II. This is a beautiful edition, containing some of the most eloquent and spiritually nourishing words of the twentieth century. Fr. Peyton's Rosary Prayer Book: Of the several rosary meditation books I've used, this is the one I keep coming back to. The meditations are clear, simple and relevant to everyday life. Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel: This book of meditations has probably been the one that has influenced me the most in my spiritual growth. The wisdom pours out of this book like the wine poured out at Cana, miraculous and surprising with each new sip. The only difficulty is that since it was written before the Second Vatican Council, it can be challenging to find the correct meditation for the day. This is not a major problem, though, since a person could read straight through it, regardless of the day. I do NOT recommend the updated version. In Conversation with God: This set is a major investment, but the price is worth it. You get seven volumes of meditations covering every day of the liturgical year. Each day contains a set of three extensive meditations, usually based on the gospel text for that day's Mass. The reflections are thoughtful, relevant and challenging, and the dust covers are beautiful works of art. Lives of the Saints for Every Day of the Year: Simple and brief, this collection is great for sharing with your family. We use it in our house each day at dinner with the kids. Thirsting for God by Mother Teresa: The profound wisdom of Mother Teresa is served in bite-sized portions in this collection of daily thoughts. Perfect for morning meditation. Daily Readings in Catholic Classics edited by Fr. Rawley Meyers: This is the one book on this list that I don't yet own. Judging by the brief preview I saw on Amazon it looks terrific. Meditations include excerpts from works by Aquinas, Augustine, Chesterton, Guardini, Maritain, Merton, Pascal, Sheen, Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux.

Book Review: The Book on the Bookshelf

The ordinary is always more fascinating than we think. Chesterton knew this, and Henry Petroski knows it. Petroski's The Book on the Bookshelf traces the development of the bookshelf as a reflection of the changing nature of books, and in the process he reminds us that nothing is too ordinary to be written about. The book is part history, part personal reflection and part social science. From descriptions of medieval libraries to debates about where to place bookshelves in a library, Petroski writes in an engaging and warm style, peppering his book with illustrations, photographs and maps. I especially enjoyed the appendix, in which Petroski lists the many ways people organize their home libraries. They range from the obvious (author's last name) to the interesting (by color) to the just plain bizarre (by opening sentence!). The book is well worth reading, both for bibliophiles and for those who enjoy insights into the seemingly ordinary foundations of daily life. 1999, Knopf