Beautiful book

The author sent me a copy for me to write a review. I couldn't put it down!

“ I couldn't put the book down, it reads like a love story. A down-to-earth farm girl from North Dakota living an ordinary life, joy-filled and in the service of Christ in our own 21st century. The book is beautifully done with an attractive layout, explanatory footnotes, relevant forward and afterword. A chapter-by-chapter study guide is included at the end. The author does a phenomenal job telling the biography of a beautiful young woman who touched a myriad of lives, was immensely active and dreamed of marriage and children, only to endure her own "holy week" year. After reading of her life and death, we understand the popularity of her cause and the growing number of pilgrims that visit her her grave in ND. Servant of God Michelle Duppong, pray for us!

 

Well-Read Mom book by Marcie Stockman: my quick review

Customer Review

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2020

Verified Purchase

Marcie Stockman’s book is even a pleasure to hold, in its handsome format and attractive cover and layout. I will avoid repeating what other reviews have eloquently stated. Let’s just say that I consider myself very well read, and yet it has been in the last few years being involved with this movement that I finally got to read and love many great classics such as Dante’s Divine Comedy, Homer’s Odyssey, and The Brothers Karamazov!
I have been part of her book club movement from the beginning. One of the best aspects of Well Read Mom is that it is so very easy to start and lead a book club! My book clubs have not only enriched my life, they have also enriched the life of my book club members in unimaginable ways. What Marcie has done, which she retells so beautifully here, is something so needed in our culture today, with ramifications stretching far into the future—as mothers raise future leaders!
This book will also make a delightful gift.

A review about a kids book on "mindfulness": "Sitting with a Saint by Bottaro"

In this day and age of general spiritual confusion, my friend Mary Daly came across this new children's book and wrote  thoughtful review. I thought I would share it here.

---

M. Daly
1.0 out of 5 stars

Does Bottaro invite us to achieve peace by, for example, imitating the saints' pets?

April 13, 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
We are all looking for a book to help us teach our children to pray and meditate in a manner coherent with the Catholic faith. I was excited to see this charming title and hoped it might fill the bill.
Alas! It is not an impressive book; in some respects, it feels more Buddhist than Christian. Starting out with a quote from St. Faustina does not entirely fix the problem. Mystics of every tradition always have passages that be interpreted in a quietist manner, lending themselves to Buddhist, Hindu, or secular New Age reading. I don’t have the impression that the authors are trying to put anything over anyone, but at the same time, quietism is not Catholic contemplation.
Catholics teach that someone living intimately with the Spirit of God, may receive “infused” gifts which are not merely the culminating touch on a natural virtue, but an out-and-out gift, an ‘infusion” from God. These gifts are certainly compatible with natural virtues, but they are not like Aristotelian virtue in the sense of a median between the extremes of two vices, or a cleverly achieved balance between two opposing tendencies in our nature. Infused virtue is a share in God’s perfection, plain and simple.
The Bottaros’ ideas about calming down are natural approaches to human peacefulness. Their reference to God and the saints is pious and credibly sincere, and it could bear fruit in friendship with the holy ones, but the saint stories are more of a setting for their message than evidence that the saints were living their message. Consider the following:
Their version of St. Teresa of Avila in the mud is actually shifted away from her humorous but wry complaint: “If this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few,” to an implication that she laughed off her troubles, and you can lie in the dirt (or flowery grass, see drawing) and laugh off yours too. That may be, but it was not Teresa’s story. It was raining; she was in the mud; the road was bad; she had to get up and get help righting the cart and continuing her thankless journey. She did not lie there and giggle.
St. Francis and the wolf of Gubbio is a marvelous story, and I’m always careful to tell my children that when the Gubbio Church was renovated several hundreds of years later, the head of a very large wolf was found under the front step or somewhere. In other words, there really was a wolf, and quite a large one, and not one with the delicate face of Lassie (see image). But… it’s worse. Bottaro does not invite us to imitate the simplicity of Francis, who knew by faith that the wolf had to obey him, since he was obedient to God, -- “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” – No; Bottaro has us imitating the gentleness -- of the wolf!
The Solanus Casey story similarly invites us to imitate the bees he kept. Cute, and Solanus may have enjoyed their buzzing, but they were not the source of his peace; friendship with the saints does not mean imitating their animals but themselves.
Bottaro quotes Joan of Arc, “I am not afraid; I was born to do this.” (I presume it’s a quote.) Then he explains how to arrange our breathing and our imagination to be fearless. This was not her technique; we know this. Because of her fully recorded trials, we know more about Joan than about any other person in the 15th century. Indeed, it is important to get a grip on your imagination when you are fearful by habit, and breathing differently can help; furthermore, you will find that when you calm down, your breathing changes, so there is a relationship… which way does it go? Both ways, maybe… But that has nothing to do with Joan; she simply had a vocation and she knew it. You might wish for such a clear vocation, but remember, she was born to be burned at stake too, so it wasn’t easy; it was just clear and she was specifically aware of her celestial friendships. That helps, and you can work on it.
It goes on. I hope that gives you the flavor. I don’t think that the Bottaros have the relationship between psychology and faith figured out. Few do. St Paul writes that only the Spirit of God can distinguish between the soul and the spirit. Precisely that distinction is what is confused here. Emotions are not part of our spiritual life; they touch it and are touched by it, but the movement of the Holy Spirit is distinct. We cannot access it by any technique, still less by presuming to imitate the saints’ pets. Their pets?
It was a disappointment and an irritation to read this book.

38 people found this helpful

Helpful1 comment Report abuse

Kimberly
1.0 out of 5 starsCaution: Seems very New Age to me! Not authentically Catholic!April 17, 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I’m a Catholic Children’s author with young children. I decided to purchase this book because of the insanely high rankings it was receiving on Amazon. Not only was I surprised by the small, difficult-to-read text, but a red flag quickly came up at me as I started to realize the New Age feel of the book. Children pretended that they are mean wolves and then to do breathing extercises to be calmed? I wonder what Michael O’Brien would think! The illustrations are beautiful, but also have a New Age feel to them. Immediately I knew I could not even expose my children to the book. Now I don’t even know what to do with my copy! How sad that it is getting such high rankings and many good Catholic families are receiving it this Easter. We must demand for more authentically Catholic children’s books and get the word out that this book is not authentically Catholic!

3 people found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

AnaBH
1.0 out of 5 starsMindfulness is not contemplative prayerApril 13, 2019
Format: Hardcover
I agree with M. Daly’s review. It’s very important to make the correct distinction between “mindfulness” and authentic Catholic contemplative prayer.
3 people found this helpful
Edit
Delete Comment

Julie & Julia, a review of sorts

I've liked Julia Child ever since I first encountered her, back when the kids and I visited the library weekly and grabbed all sorts of books. We went through a phase of watching old videos of her so I am familiar with her mannerisms. We can all still sing her "Remixed" video! It is one memory that brings Braga-Henebry smiles every time!

Having now time more time available with Husband, who enjoys watching movies, we sat to watch the delightful film about the American blogger who challenges herself to cook all of Julia Child's recipes in the space of one year. She gets a book deal in the process. As invariably all movies go, the film is  far from perfect, but it was fun and interesting for the most part. The character of Julia Child was very well done, if a bit stretched, by Meryl Streep, and as likeable and classy as I have encountered her before. I have never done much French cooking, but will try this or that once in a while, and always think of good and fun Julia Child. The story of her book came to be is well told in the film.

Now for the American protagonist--if I started watching thinking "maybe I should have read the book first", those thoughts were quickly spelled away. Because of the very sweet and likeable actress, the American blogger personality seems to have been redeemed somewhat. I was not surprised to see that on Amazon the majority of her reviewers gave her the lowest rating. Let's say also that the climax of the film is when she eats a poached egg and finds it surprisingly delicious. Every other building to a climax is sorely disappointing. To note is that early in the movie we find out the French chef celebre is still alive and well, and obviously we think at some point a meeting will happen! Instead we are told toward the end that the real Julia is not impressed by her American blogger counterpart. I had to read more and a brief online research showed me how different their personalities were. One was bright, generous, classy; the other was quintessentially self-centered. The movie fails somewhat to show the negative side of Julie because of the sweet actress, but it does come through. A quick read of her book preface alone suffices.

Somehow it all ends boiling to virtue, to love. Doesn't it, always? Julia Child wouldn't have been Julia Child hadn't she been the loving, fun, bright and giving person she was. She believed in the sacredness of cooking and feeding our fellow human beings. I am so glad I have "met" her.

There is something about cooking that is so hard to express, but it is completely tied to loving, and serving. This has been the one theme I have touched on in cooking "career"—be it a home entertaining guests, or teaching my cooking classes.

My review of a Pulitzer Prize book

I have edited the review a bit, it is more succinct now, as the book is now much more viewed on Amazon.

Read it here.

Difference between Madeira and Port wines

Telling Number Three about my recent Amazon review, he corrected me: the wine was a Madeira, but the rest of the story was very similar. And so are the wines. How I can forget such an important detail? Age, I guess. I never knew exactly the difference so I looked for it online. Here is what I found:

What are the differences between a Madeira and a Port wine?

Delfim G. Almeida, Traveling the world one question at a time.
Answered Dec 3 2016 · Author has 561 answers and 486.1k answer views

Both wines are fortified sweet wines and both are produced in Portugal, albeit in different areas. You can also cook with both of them, and can make cocktails with Madeira wine.
PORT - is a sweet, red wine from the Douro River region, an old, craggy, windy, cold and also unbearably hot, sunny dry area of Northern Portugal. It can only be produced there, and it is most commonly enjoyed as a dessert wine because it is rich and sweet. There are several styles of Port, including red, white, rosé and an aged style called Tawny Port. While much of the Port we see in the supermarket is of average quality, there are amazing fine Ports that are highly treasured for sipping and can cost several hundred dollars.
Being a fortified wine means that grape brandy is added to stop the fermentation before all the sugar is turned to alcohol, so that you have a sweet wine, yet one with a quite high alcohol content by volume. One of the most important qualities of true Port is the unique blend of Portuguese indigenous grapes, which include Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo), Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cão; there are said to be at least 52 varieties! Each grape adds a unique flavor to the blend. For example, Touriga Nacional adds blueberry and vanilla notes, and Touriga Franca adds raspberry and cinnamon notes. Port is traditionally fermented in lagars where people stomp grapes with their feet while the wine ferments, but today, most Port wineries use automatic lagars with mechanical “feet” in place of manual labor. Port wine pairs wonderfully with richly flavored cheeses (including blue cheese and washed-rind cheeses), chocolate and caramel desserts, salted and smoked nuts, and even sweet-smoky meats. A popular way to serve Ruby Port in the summer (with a meal) is on the rocks with a peel of lime! Amazing wine, drink it with a much smaller shot type glass.
MADEIRA - wine is produced in the beautiful semi-tropical island of Madeira, in the mid-Atlantic.
It is also a fortified wine going thru the same process as Port, however, what is interesting about this one, is that the wine is heated at a high temperature for a long time. This duplicates the effect first noticed in the old days, when shipped barrels of wine in wooden sailing ships took a long time to cross the Equator. So much so that the wine virtually 'cooked' in the barrels but it tasted good! The heating created a wine with flavors of roasted nuts, stewed fruit, caramel, and toffee. Also Madeira wine differs from any other wine in the world in its aging process. What winemakers try to avoid in every other wine region, Madeira wine producers do plainly and deliberately. They heat the wine and cool it dozens of times throughout the aging process, exposing it to oxygen (a winemaking no-no) often evaporating without being topped off in barrel. Dry styles of Madeira are chilled with starter courses, and sweeter styles are served as after-dinner-sippers like a fine Cognac.
Madeira’s rich and layered character makes it a fine substance for deglazing, reducing sauces and adding to salad dressings. Mushrooms are one of the greatest partners for Madeira’s sweet earthiness. For this, you sauté mushrooms and splash in Madeira before adding in the chicken or vegetable stock to make the sauce. Madeira also adds a smoky sweetness to soups or simmering vegetables (imagine butternut squash or turnips). The longer its aged the more nuttiness it will impart to a dish. If you can’t find a real Madeira, you might try a dry or sweet Marsala but it is not the same. You can use a smaller cognac type glass for sipping Madeira, and once you try it, you will be hooked!

My review of McCall Smith's “My Italian Bulldozer”

In my conversations with dear Urszula, she once told me that I could lead a Catholic readers’ discussion on this beloved author. As I finish this recent volume of the master contemporary storyteller, I told Husband that I can see myself writing a dissertation on the ins and outs of Catholic themes in his fiction.

       A dissertation takes a long time, so I wrote an Amazon review instead.

[Spoiler alert]

I wish I could get a confirmation from the author about my theory of how he had the idea for this delightful volume. If one reads his other (numerous) works, one knows of the author's love and admiration for the Brunello wine and the village of Montalcino in the heart of idyllic Tuscany. They are all over his Edinburgh series! McS must have, on a visit to that area, one of his favorite spots, come across someone a conversation about the justice of the property boundaries and how the wine labels are so dependent on these seemingly arbitrary, hand-traced borders. Well, he must have thought, at times a simple bulldozer in a couple of hours could re-trace one wiggly property line, and voila--a new wine label is licensed, propelling a bright future for the excellent maker. Are labels important? Yes! I grew up with a Portuguese father for whom the only wine of value in the world was a genuine Port. One is not allowed to call a port-wine Port unless it comes from OPorto, Portugal. Well, recently I have come across a magnificent Port! A priest-friend special ordered it and brought it over to our dinner table to celebrate a momentous occasion. You cannot get it anywhere, not in all of Chicago, not anywhere. You have to know the wine grower and special order it. It is THAT good, but alas, it is from California, and therefore not allowed to be called a Port. In my personal anecdote, no bulldozer of any size could fix the injustice. However, in McS's fertile and gracious imagination, kindness is exercised, love finds people who are willing to give it, and justice is done. The bulldozer was necessary for his wine to receive its proper and just label, so the author wove a story around a heartbroken food & wine writer who experiences much more than good food and superb wine during his stay in the delightful Montalcino.

I gladly give this wonderful story five stars, even if my usual caveats with the author remain. I am a Catholic and love the history and traditions of the Church, and a like-minded reader will agree with me that throughout his work, McCall Smith seems to be challenged by the Catholic Church in regular intervals. One of the most lovable things about his writing, and one that has helped his success in my opinion, is exactly the popping-up of traditional values he evidently believes in. You cannot read any subset of his oeuvre without noticing it: he praises classical education, with the study of the ancient classical works, of beautiful art and music through the centuries, the memorization of good poetry. How many of his characters will rely on those beautiful poems, memorized in school days, when a sensitive situation arises… And invariably, they think back to those teachers with gratitude. He praises the importance of the roles of the man and woman as complementary and different, he believes in positive, healthy discipline in the home, and he constantly and faithfully highlights the centuries-proven virtues of kindness, generosity, sacrifice, love. Even in hospitals--I recall at least two volumes in which the role of the ward’s Matron is praised, along with all of its positive rewards: order, cleanliness and efficiency. In my opinion, however, the author unfortunately falls short on theology. Being an Anglican, he is fascinated by the Catholic aspects of the Christian faith that he encounters at any unexpected turn, and most especially in things Italian. He has Catholic religious characters appearing here and there, and churches and art, and history of Catholic objects and events retold. It is almost impossible for me to read one of his books without googling the places or artwork he mentions… the Church of the Madonna del Soccorso in Montalcino, the works of Nicolas Poussin, the fascinating story of the Italian chapel in the Orkneys, built by Italian WWII prisoners. His characters regularly bring up Catholic beliefs and traditional devotions, and the dialogues often go between the unbeliever and the one who wonders on what might be behind such practices. Every time I encounter this, I challenge the author himself: why don’t you take the time to read and study further on a subject that is obviously so attractive to you?

In this volume, the friendly Padre Stefano has one of the crucial, future-determining closing lines, when he tells Paul to “follow your heart”. Had McCall Smith stepped out of his Oprah-pseudo moral sappy molasses, and studied some solid theology, Padre Stefano would rather give Paul the advice that is actually life changing: follow your God-given conscience. That is the moral compass. Following one’s heart is akin to following the feelings and whims that lead many to a lifetime of egotistical unhappiness and misery. I believe McS meant exactly to say that, because we all read in a previous chapter that Paul had already shown himself to be someone with the integrity to follow not the heart, but a higher authority. (A wonderful chapter by the way, the one of his picnic with Anna and Andrew and his Port-wine stain.) Alas, he did not say it, perhaps because he has not read Thomas Aquinas or some basic theological writings for that matter. Who knows, in future volumes he will have characters who are actually studying and understanding the ancient wisdom of the Church, with is beautiful sacramental life, its example of charity, and its teachings that are anchored in what is most real in this life. One can always hope!

A couple of new reviews

I have been listening to audio books as I have many hours alone during the day. here are a couple of recent reviews. 

Text:

I just finished the entire series. Great writing, intelligent characters, well-built plots. I felt like I really liked the author. I learned a lot about the Jewish faith and appreciated his anti-hero, intelligent protagonist, immensely.
My husband lived as a little boy in the town Barnard's Crossing is mirrored after, and I feel like like I learned so much about life in New England.
The author's personal opinion about what was beginning to happen in the academic world is even more relevant today. In fact, in my opinion, the books are simply disguised as murder mysteries. They are really a personal account of what the author thought of life in his slice of time and place, with the addition of what I see as a college credit or two in Judaic studies.
I also enjoyed the respect shown to Christians, and especially Catholics, throughout the books. I recommend the series.

Greatly enjoyed this new book! Review here. Text below.

I live in SD and it is fascinating to see how few here have a real sense of how widely known Laura Ingalls' books are! I loved them as a child in South America, and I believe they will be around for a long, long while. The books offer a rare combination of a mesmerizing story, a historical setting of a fascinating time and place, and extremely talented, poetic writing. But even these factors together, I think, may have missed the mark. Laura's books are beloved all over the world because she tells the story of a real girl, imperfect and yet yearning for virtue: integrity, justice, honesty, gratitude, faith. A real girl who strives constantly to improve herself, acknowledging her faults and learning from them, and life-lasting words of wisdom woven into the tales. Great books are made of such characters: think Dostoevsky, Alcott, Austen! Laura' books speak to the human spirit, coming to meet the longings of the human heart in any age, in any space--that top off the happy combination of factors making the Little House books extraordinary in every sense.
This is a comprehensive and updated biography of Laura. I wanted to know details of her personal life, and the book satisfied me in that end. I could have used way less information on her unfortunate, awful daughter. Another reviewer asks how Laura could "raise someone like Nellie?" and my answer is, we all are, in the end, who we decide to be. Rose was a major sorrow in Laura's life, a source of profound grief for the beloved author, I am sure. But are we to blame our parents for who we become in life? Is Rose's character and life's choices the fault of her mother?
Laura created in her work a character who valued integrity, honesty, cheerfulness, gratitude. These attributes are the makings of a great soul. And that she was, the real Laura, through the end of her life--the book shows me that through all of her lengthy correspondence quotations and more. Therefore, although in literary terms one can say the Laura in the book is a fictional character based on a real person, what I find is that the character and the real Laura are one. I always thought that--had she created a character who did not mirror herself, she would have talked about it later in life. Laura was an admirable woman who embodied the virtues she lauded so vividly in her work.
(Albeit the erroneous pronunciation of Pierre, capital of SD, the audible narrator was very good.)
Took one star off because of two problems: too much Rose and her politics, and too little on Garth Williams' illustrations. The illustration, in my opinion, such a visual landmark of her books, deserved much longer treatment as they embody so much of our common Laura Ingalls imagination! Much more so than the awful daughter's comings and goings and empty life. I could have used several chapters on that creative process, and what others have written about them!
Interesting that Laura's books are perennial presence in literature, while her daughter Rose's books, on the other hand, are forgotten and ignored, steamy romances or personal political opinions. Rose is quoted saying, "I wonder what conscience is... and why I don't have it." Bleh. We all have a conscience, but anyone can do a very good job at justifying one's errors and pettiness, and ignoring it. The difference between Laura and her daughter was virtue. The lasting values Laura stood for and promoted all her life. Her books are classics, transcending time and space, because these things speak to the human heart.

An Amazon Review

The book was written by the sister of our friend Mary Daly. I loved it.

Here's the book:

And my brief review (votes are always good, hint hint.)

5.0 out of 5 starsLovely, lovely read

By Ana Braga-Henebry VINE VOICE on October 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

"What an unexpected and lovely story! Beautifully written and engaging, with many elements of real life making it so alive. A little boy who is under cancer treatment, a good and kind doctor, and twin sisters who carry crosses with courage. The mystery is well woven, the suspense done just right. Everything is unraveled in time, and we get to know a lot about a beautiful grotto in Iowa. I enjoyed very much the many Catholic references as well. I highly recommend this short novel, and a wonderful value it is!"

A wonderful gift from my niece!

Monica is a dear cartoon character in Brasil, and my niece Carolina sent me this darling book where Monica and friends visit the huge Marian shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida! She also sent me one where they go to Rome and see the Pope!  I went on the Brazilian Amazon site and wrote a review, and it was first review there.

Link for the book here.

My review:

Minha sobrinha me mandou esse livrinho de presente--que maravilha! Fiquei muito agradecida. Me lembro da turma da Monica sendo criada no Brasil, e meu personagem mais querido foi sempre o Chico Bento, dono de uma fé simple mas capaz de mover montanhas. Fiquei contente de ve-lo como parte da turma nesse livrinho! Morei perto de Aparecida nos tempos de faculdade e achei as ilustrações muito boas! Uma mistura dos desenhos de quadrinhos da Monica e desenhos mais realistas--as ilustrações funcionam muito bem!
Mas o melhor aspecto desse simpático livrinho e' que ele traz para as crianças de hoje a história tão querida no coração do povo brasileiro. Nesse mundo de tablets e eletrônicos, as crianças correm o risco de crescerem sem as histórias que vem reinando no coração do Brasil por séculos--esse livrinho vem ao encontro desse triste fato, e acendendo uma vela no escuro!


Translation:

My niece sent me this little book - how wonderful! I was very grateful. I remember Monica the cartoon character (and her friends) having been raised in Brasil. My dearest character was always the Chico Bento, the country boy, owner of a simple faith, but one that can move mountains. I was glad to see him as part of the gang in this little book! I lived near Aparecida in college and found the illustrations to be very faithful. A mixture of comic drawings of Monica and more realistic drawings, the illustrations work very well! But the best aspect of this little friendly book is that it brings to the children of today the story so dear in the heart of the Brazilian people. In this world of tablets and electronics, children are at risk of growing up without the stories that have reigned in the heart of Brazil people for centuries - this little book come to encounter this sad fact, and lights a candle in the dark!

New Book of Laura Ingalls Letters!

Now that was a delightful book to red, and a wonderful review to write! 

New book by Karen Edmisten

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsLong-awaited!

By Ana Braga-Henebry VINE VOICE on February 4, 2016

Format: Paperback

Some books feel like they have been long-awaited. This is one of them for this reviewer. So many Christians wonder about the issue of evangelization. We are supposed to do it--nay, we are all called to do it by Jesus Christ himself--but how? How to go about something that seems so daunting? Karen Edmisten comes to our aid! She begins by sympathizing with our dumbfounded position, and opens the conversation by telling the reader of her own faith journey. I loved the fact that she talks of the love and kindness found in her atheistic upbringing--and of how some Christians almost turned her away from the Church. She is honest but kind, and the story she tells very interesting. For this cradle Catholic, it was fascinating to read about her first encounters with Catholics. Her chapters are a neat list of Dos and Don'ts and will be helpful to readers, giving ideas and showing perhaps that we have already done some good without even noticing! I'd like to offer this (lengthy) quote that I loved in the Introduction: "[We want to] say, “There’s something out there that’s bigger than we are, and Someone who cares about us, who wants us to band together.” When we lose a job, have a baby, investigate nursing homes for our parents, Someone is there. When we cradle a broken heart, are deployed, are left behind during deployment, volunteer at a homeless shelter, go to the movies, discuss Nietzsche, are ill, or become victims of violence, Someone is there. When we pray in a cold church on a Tuesday afternoon, wondering if anyone hears us, Someone is there. Someone who knows and cares about we’re wearing, and why we couldn’t sleep last night. When we see that truth, we know there’s no presumption in being an evangelist. It is a way of life. Like any life, it can be tiring, exciting, joyful, discouraging, and sometimes overwhelming, but the one thing it’s not is presumptuous. How can it be presumptuous to know you were given the gift of never-ending nourishment and, in return, hope you can help feed a hungry world? "

Book Review: Will Wilder by Raymond Arroyo

Customer Review

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful Kudos to a new children's series!, January 28, 2016 By Ana Braga-Henebry This review is from: Will Wilder: The Relic of Perilous Falls (Hardcover) I am delightfully surprised by this new children's book. The author is talented and the story progresses without you noticing it... Yes, the story grabbed me from the first chapter, and that is a lot to say for this reviewer who is a mother of seven and has read many children's books to her kids. I liked many things about it. Like Frodo and Sam in Lord of The Rings--and all of us ordinary people--Will isn't perfect. He is an ordinary kid called to an important mission. His family and his town are realistic, and the mystery, dangers and mishap well told. I can see myself holding a captive audience when my grandchildren are old enough to enjoy this story!

My McCall Smith's Emma Book Review, revisited

The other day a friend alerted me to the fact that she was looking at this title and saw that my review was the top one. I went to check it and yes, surprisingly so, my review is the top one. It is surprising to me because his books are so well loved all over the world, and, well, my review isn't exactly positive. I wrote it about a year ago and posted about it here. There are many comments there now, and I have enjoyed receiving and responding to them.

Book Review

Oh bliss! A new title by McCall Smith to read, enjoy and review! Read it on Amazon here and feel free to "like" it! 

My review on Amazon of Dr. Pepino's translation

The link for the book is here. 

My review:

I have lived for thirty years with English as a second language, my first language being also a Romance one. Translating has been, all these years, a constant activity for me, both in writing and in my mind. I have raised our children in a language I did not speak as a child, so I have had to re-imagine family stories in a new, English way. Furthermore, during my graduate studies I studied translation at the Center for Translation Studies at UTD. This is all to say that I can well value to quality of the translation this book offers.
There is a modest, wonderful phrase towards the end of the Translator's preface: "... at bottom, ...[this translation] seeks to stay out of the way of the intimate bond of friendship ... that develops between the memorialist and his reader." Now, that is wonderful indeed. That is exactly the translator's quest: to bring to the reader the best version of the original, adding necessary explanations and staying "out of the way" of that author-reader relationship. We readers understand that relationship. 

I grew up reading literature that came to me mostly by translation, be it from English, French or Russian... sometimes others such as German or Polish. That is not the case with Americans. I see in my children's high school reading lists: there is virtually no translated works. Except for what our children have read that was proposed by their parents: Verne, Hugo, Tolstoy and the like, their reading assignments stopped short of continental Europe, the British Isles offering plenty of fodder for American readers without the need of a translator. One who grows up reading translated works learns to identify problems faced by translators early on. As a child I could already pinpoint translator's issues by reading the Laura Ingalls books! The translators were not the same from one published volume to the next, and I was fascinated by how differently they chose to describe details and events of the Western pioneer life in America, marred by brutal winters that were utterly foreign to Brazilian readers. 

Back to the Dr. Pepino's translation: I have been but once, and very briefly, to Paris, but was able to have a first hand glimpse of that world. The memoirs' first pages throw us right into that world, and the translator's notes help the curious, knowledgeable reader locate oneself with precision into the Paris map. Just as helpful are the brief notes about people and references that come up again and again. The translator knows well which ones will be foreign to the American reader. His bottom-of-page notes do exactly what the translator promises to do: to place us there in the author's literary landscape, at the same time "staying out of the way". He makes this difficult task seem easy. 

We readers are far removed from that world both in time and space, and Dr. Pepino's notes are so welcome to the reader. I mean, there are hundreds and hundreds of them, on the bottom of each page, making this probably them most annotated translation I have ever seen. Every obscure publication, work of art, musical composition, place, religious house... every reference is carefully placed, explained, geographically located or cross-referenced for the reader. How wonderful to have this wealth of explanatory notes when reading such an intricate story taking place in another continent! 

Add Pepino's beautiful choice of vocabulary and sentence structure, in a careful balance between keeping the French-flavor and making it unencumbered for the American reader. The text is a delight to read: the language flows easily and one is caught into the world the author is telling about. Again, this "disappearing" on the part of the translator is what makes it superior.

I will stay here, saying what a pleasure it is to read an interesting autobiography of a man who lived to see first hand what many would like to have seen. A book translated and annotated so painstakingly and beautifully.

Emma by McCall Smith: my review

See it at Amazon here.

Meeting Jennifer Fulwiler

Last Saturday Husband, Number Six and I traveled 50 minutes north to Watertown, SD to hear Jennifer Fulwiler speak. If the reader remembers, Husband and I both read and greatly enjoyed her recent book, Something Other than God.  

The talk she gave--to a large audience--was basically the story of the book again. Hearing it told by her, however, was far from an experience of repetition. She speaks in an engaging, intelligent manner, and the packed-full room was enraptured by her story for well over an hour! It was like having a great, well-loved book come alive! If you haven't read the book, both Husband and I highly recommend it!

Of course I took the opportunity for a couple of pictures...

With the delightful author and mother of six! 

And with good Fr, Rutten, Diocesan Vocations Director and friend

Why do I recommend the book? Here's my review on Amazon:

I just finished the new auto biography by Jennifer Fulwiler, and loved it. The FedEx truck dropped it off in the middle of the day and I haven't been able to put it down.
The book is friendly and funny. It's never preachy or arrogant. She comes across as a wonderful, amusing, sincere and humble person. Even when she describes her first prayers, she is funny, light, and yet the whole scene is true and genuine as prayer can be.
She tells the story of going from completely ignorant of everything and anything Christian--and being sort of proud of that--to someone who allows herself to wonder, "could this be true?", to a very well-read, authentic Catholic--to the point of risking her life to live her new-found Church's teachings.
Jennifer is likable. I love auto biographies and biographies but, well, the subjects are not all likable. I read a while ago a biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and one of Picasso, and I discovered men I neither liked nor respected. But even a conversion biography is not always likable. I respected Dorothy Day in The Long Loneliness, but I can't say I liked her. Jennifer, on the contrary, is like someone with whom you want to have a coffee, or a Margarita, and talk and laugh together!
The book is written as a novel, chapters beginning in wonderfully told vignettes, their story so interesting and well-written, and so very good. A story of sincere people who, through life's difficulties, and despite of them, look for Love, Goodnesss, and Truth. And find them, because as the book reminds us, if you sincerely look for these, you find them.
This is a good book. There is so much discussion of what makes a book good. This is one. A book that tells a great story, and so well, entertains, delivers the best closing you ever ask of a story--a true happy ending--, and leaves you a better person.
The best part? Probably her apologizing to her Mother, all that took for that step, and finding, in the mystery of asking for forgiveness, the Peace she never dreamed existed. I so loved that. But there were also so many other good parts. The whole book was excellent! I want to read it again!

Last but not least, we purchased a second copy (as our first one has been lent away...) and had it signed!

Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. I just finished the new auto biography by Jennifer Fulwiler, and loved it. I went to check her blog at Conversion Diary and decided to join in the Seven Quick Takes Friday, which is her brainchild. Seven is great number for me, and I sure have seven things to say about the book. I've posted a few thoughts on Facebook during my reading and I have friends already asking for a review.

2. Book cover:

 3. She finished off the book leaving the reader in cloud nine. No, life isn't perfect. But the interior life can be complete, and peaceful. As a reader I cannot but ponder on my own Catholic journey: being a cradle Catholic and growing up immerse in the privilege and grace of educated, authentic Catholic parents. I've always loved my faith and prayed much as a child. If I sin, it has always been in the full knowledge that what I was doing was wrong--and to this day I leave the confessional in tears, eternally grateful for God's mercy.  

4.  Jennifer's drawing:

5.  I wonder if I would have her courage as she faced the doctor about contraception. I've been there--holding a newborn in the hospital only to be asked "what are you going to do about birth control?" by a loud nurse practitioner. It always sounded to me like an ugly "what are you doing to avoid having another one of these?" and all I wanted was to send them away and free my room and my baby from being immersed too soon in the contraceptive mentality, the Culture of Death, as coined by Saint John Paul II. Jennifer faced the doctor the way she should: she told him she was entering the Catholic Church, and found the doctor to be incredibly respectful and helpful. I too found positive, even praising responses, from medical professionals over the fact that I've never, and never would, take a birth control pill--they know too well how healthy it is to stay away from those--but I didn't have Jennifer's super serious health issues hanging over my head. 

  

6. Her Seven Quick Takes graphic.

7. My Amazon review: 

I just finished the new auto biography by Jennifer Fulwiler, and loved it. The FedEx truck dropped it off in the middle of the day and I haven't been able to put it down.
The book is friendly and funny. It's never preachy or arrogant. She comes across as a wonderful, amusing, sincere and humble person. Even when she describes her first prayers, she is funny, light, and yet the whole scene is true and genuine as prayer can be. She tells the story of going from completely ignorant of everything and anything Christian--and being sort of proud of that--to someone who allows herself to wonder, "could this be true?", to a very well-read, authentic Catholic--to the point of risking her life to live her newfound Church's teachings.
Jennifer is likable. I love auto biographies and biographies but, well, the subjects are not all likable. I read a while ago a biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and one of Picasso, and I discovered men I neither liked nor respected. But even a conversion biography is not always likable. I respected Dorothy Day in The Long Loneliness, but I can't say I liked her. Jennifer, on the contrary, is like someone with whom you want to have a coffee, or a margarita, and talk and laugh together!
The book is written as a novel, chapters beginning in wonderfully told vignettes, their story so interesting and well-written, and so very good. A story of sincere people who, through life's difficulties, and despite of them, look for Love, Goodnesss, and Truth. And find them, because as the book says, if you sincerely look for these, you find them.
This is a good book. There is so much discussion of what makes a book good. This is one. A book that tells a great story, and so well, entertains, delivers the best closing you ever ask of a story--a true happy ending--, and leaves you a better person.
The best part? Probably her apologizing to her Mother, all that took for that step, and finding, in the mystery of asking for forgiveness, the Peace she never dreamed existed. I so loved that. But there were also so many other good parts. The whole book was excellent! I want to read it again!

On reviewing books for Amazon

Last night I went to sleep with a smile on my face. I had been savoring a new chapter of the latest Alexander McCall Smith title in his academic series starring a hopelessly self-centered professor of philology. There is no other author who can make me laugh so heartily as McCall Smith. In this volume, the fourth of the series, the professor is being set up with a wealthy widow by the institute's director... With the hope of marriage. Which at this point in the book is still only a hope, mind you. I read very little at a time: don't we do this with what is really a savoring treasure? A nice box of fine chocolates... We eat a little one at a time.

This title, along with another title of another series by McCall Smith, are two of the most recent books I have been sent by Amazon.com for review. I was invited by Amazon to be a reviewer for them a few years ago, but I must say the reviews I am usually passionate about are the ones I write just because I want to write them... In this case, these two titles were available in the list sent to me to choose from, and I as so happy to see latest titles from a favorite author there! As it is, and I have already told Husband this, I will finish this book, write a review, and wrap it up for him for Christmas. After all, this a gift completely from me to him!