Never Split the Difference

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss           Audio Book:  8 hours   Paperback: 288 pages        

Good read written by a former FBI hostage negotiatior out of Kansas City, MO, who now runs the Black Swan Group a consulting group that offers negotiating advice to groups world wide.    Chris Voss is also a sought after speaker and is a professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business and Georgetown U’s McDonough School of Business.    The cases this man has been a hostage negotiator on are straight out of the news, he has been involved in some aspect of pretty much every major negotiating situation the FBI has dealt with during his career with them.    He discusses these events and gives the reader a clear view of both the hostage taker’s point of view and the tactic used to speak to each of the perpetrators in ways that has led to amicable release of hostages and lives saved.   He teaches you what verbal cues to listen for and how best to respond to make the other person come to your side of reasoning.    Once you learn the strategies involved in working out where the other person is coming from, if they are telling the truth or lying, even in dire circumstances amicable ends can be reached and the other person may even believe they reached the conclusion on their own without your swaying them in any way.   Now that is some trick to bring another person to your way of thinking and leave them thinking it was all their idea in the first place and you were the one that went along with them.    Not too shabby, Chris Voss.    He keeps things really interesting all the way through, whether citing cases he worked or helping the reader to understand the logic behind another person’s actions, words and/or reactions.   I bet his classes are fascinating.    This book will teach you a lot and will make you look at negotiating all things in a new light.

Wordbirds

Wordbirds by Liesl Schillinger   224 pages.

"If you’ve escaped binary confinement and find yourself rushing cell-mell to a clusterfete— slurpwalking as you commutikaze—then who are you?

You are a typical citizen of the young millennium, caught up in the fast-paced megatasking socio-professional whirl of our ever-evolving digitally-enhanced lives.

If you’ve ever wondered what to call it when you answer the TV remote instead of the phone, or wished you had a phrase to capture your supervisor’s stealth campaign to stall your career, here is your guide. Now you can say “Oops, droidian slip!” with ease, and call out your boss for the impedimentor that he is. Armed with Wordbirds, you will be able to skillfully talk your way into, or out of, any situation the twenty-first century throws at you."

I couldn't have come up with a better summary.  In this beautifully illustrated book, the author takes us, term by term, through chapters such as "fashion and style," "friends, frenemies and fellow students," "domestic life," and more. The terms are stated, shown in a sentence and accompanied by a beautiful bird illustration.  I found many of these that would be fun to use in my everyday conversations, and some where the picture was pretty enough to frame.  Some of them definitely made me laugh, like this one, for "rotter."

Rotter (n.) 'rah-tur  The plastic drawer in a refrigerator where fresh vegetables are put away to keep "crisp," but where, hidden away, they typically decay until they become foul sludge.

This is an example of an illustration.  Nice, yes?

Back in the Saddle

Back in the Saddle by Ruth Logan Herne      304 pages

Years ago, Colt, the oldest of the Strafford brothers, left the Double S Ranch for Wall Street. He exchanged his boots for wingtips and became successful. But one bad investment, and his world came crashing down around his ears. Readers aren’t privy to Colt’s demise, but Herne provides enough information that readers can’t help but know if they’ve read a newspaper or heard a news report. He has come to the Double S. Not only due to his setback, but the family patriarch, Sam, is ailing.

The Double S’s housekeeper is the beautiful Angelina Morales. She not only cooks and cleans, but helps with Sam. She has secrets of her own that she’s trying to hide. She is well-respected by the Strafford clan and those who live in Gray’s Glen, Washington. It’s a tiny town, made up of ranchers and small business people.

There is no love lost between the town and Sam Strafford, who had always been more interested in creating an empire than paying attention to his boys or other people. 

Spark start to fly the moment Colt and Angelina meet…and they both feel them. I loved that Back in the Saddle is not your typical romance where boy meets girl, they hate each, boy and girl fall in love. There isn’t much conflict in the first half of the novel. It’s not all bad considering that this is the first book in a series. Herne does an excellent job in allowing readers to get to know who the characters are, so I’m sure that they’ll be popping up in other novels. Still, that slow, slow beginning is why Back in the Saddle receives 4 stars out of 5 in Julie’s world.

This is Book One in the Double S Ranch Series.

 I received the book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

Out of the Ashes

Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture by Anthony Esolen, 193 pages

Anthony Esolen's examination of our current cultural collapse casts it as the consequence of a wholesale flight from reality - a preoccupation with what we can make of things which blinds us to the nature of things as they are.  The only cure, then, is a renewed commitment to truth - truth about good and evil, beauty and ugliness, human nature and the nature of the world around us.  That means confronting what he calls the "higher cant", the slogans, propagated with unprecedented power by the modern media and educational establishments, which serve to replace thinking.

As is frequently the case with Esolen, his contagious enthusiasm and far-ranging interests are accompanied by a lack of organization and focus, a combination which is alternately thrilling and frustrating.  It is easy to dismiss much of what he writes as tendentious - an unrealistically bucolic vision of the past contrasted with a rhetorically denigrated present.  Yet it is only possible to do so consistently from within the same narcotic cloud of unreality he seeks to disperse - his central argument is as reflexively simple as asserting that children ought to have childhoods, educators ought to educate, art ought to be beautiful, and that we should be defined more by the homes we build than by the work we do.

Marlena

Marlena by Julie Buntin.  288

To 15 year-old Cat, everything about the rural town in Michigan that her family has moved to is lonely and strange. However, when she meets Marlena, her beautiful, manic neighbor, all of that changes. Cat, desperate for a friend, is quickly lured into Marlena's orbit. As the two girls turn their small town into a kind of playground, Cat catalogs a list of firsts: first drink, first pill, first cigarette. Meanwhile, Marlena's habits intensify and within the year, Marlena is dead, drowned in six inches of water in the woods nearby. Now, decades later, Cat is still trying to forgive herself and move on.

I liked this book well enough, although I found both of the characters to be off-putting. However, I liked the way that the author explored the relationship between the two girls, focusing on Cat and through Cat, showing Marlena's own struggles. The story has a palpable sense of slight unease because although it's revealed early on that Marlena has died (so that's not a spoiler above), you're not sure how things get to that point. You wonder how out of control she will get, and wonder if Cat will also spin out of control. Interesting story, although I don't see picking it up for a second read.

Conversations with Friends

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney.  304 pages

This novel centers on Frances, who is a 21 year-old college student and aspiring writer.  Devoted to a life of the mind, she is also devoted to her best friend, Bobbi. The two of them perform spoken-word poetry together in Dublin, where they meet Melissa, a journalist who wants to write an article about them. Drawn into Melissa's orbit, Frances is impressed by her home and life, as well as by Melissa's husband, Nick. When her flirtation with Nick turns into something more, Frances tries to keep her life in check and her relationship with Bobbi intact.

The summary on Goodreads says, "Written with gem-like precision and probing intelligence, Conversations With Friends is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth."   Personally, I found this book to be kind of boring.  It was interesting enough, but I never quite liked Frances and most of the time, kept reading because I was curious to see what would happen in the story. However, I felt like it just didn't live up to my expectations. I liked the author's writing style, but I found I lacked interest in the characters and after a while, the storyline.

Pimp: the story of my life

Pimp: The Story of My Life  by Iceberg Slim           Paperback: 302 pages            

I enjoy reading biographies of people.     Learning all the ins and outs of another person’s life is fascinating.    Learning what happened, what they experienced that has made them who they are.      From his rough childhood with his father who dealt a harsh discipline (hitting him so hard he hit the wall) to a better life with the next man in his mother’s life who treated him with love and respect like a real father only who he dearly loved and cherished the memory of him for the rest of his life only for his mother to leave this good man who treated them well and paid all the bills and gave them both everything they could ever want to go back to the streets with a vile man who told Iceberg when he was a preteen he had better get out or he would kill him.     When a mother chooses her lover over her child there is only one thing that child can do and that is to be raised by the streets and that is what happened to him.     So many dark things were endured by this dear child it is a wonder he made it to become a man.   And it is no wonder that he became hardened to life and did whatever he could to make money.   He learned from the older men on the streets how to turn a woman out to prostitution and how to keep one’s stable of  prostitutes in line and bringing in a steady flow of cash.    Iceberg Slim does not mince his words nor does he make apologies for what he did to survive.    He treated woman with love and hate sometimes simultaneously.    He did stints in prison, he learned to run cons both in the streets and from some of the older cats in the joint.  He was a quick learner and observer of life and how not to let the suckers get over on him nor to let any woman Georgia him, maybe a throw back from his mother taking him out of the one home environment that was stabile and away from the one man who he loved as a father who treated him as his son, at least that is what the prison psychiatrists said.  In later years he tried to live the life of a “Square” even married, had kids, loved his family and tried to make a living for his family.   Unfortunately it wasn’t to be.   He met with adversity every where he turned.   Thinking a career in sales would be right and easy for him (since he had sold women to johns for years) he was articulate and well dressed and fit the part but couldn’t get passed all those white suits that wouldn’t give him the opportunity to show what he could do in the straight world.   So, every time, he had to turn back to hustling to make a living and keep food on the table for his kids.    This was his day to day grind until the time he began to put his life stories down on paper and a new career awaited him as a prolific author.   There were so many stories to tell that Iceberg Slim is the author of many books and has left a legacy of his writing and what the soul can endure and keep on keeping on.   Rest in peace, Iceberg Slim.  

The Undead Pool

The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison     Audio Book:  16 hours, 15 mins.        Hardback:  423 pages        

What is not to love here?   A witch day walking demon in love with an Elf posing as a Werewolf, whose best friends are a vampire and a pixie with 6 kids (also pixies) that are constantly into everything and scurrying all over the place but always want to be in the midst of what’s going on so they can help.   Throw into the mix a Gargoyle who can be bribed with cookies.   And it all takes place in Cinncinnatti!     There is an insane goddess and mystic spirits that possess the Demon heroine.   The undead are in a sleep state and can’t seem to be awakened.   There is so much magic afoot and pixie dust afloat like I said what is not to love about this story?   I think I liked the language used the best, especially the main character’s best friend Jinks – he is hilarious.   A fun read.

Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis by JD Vance, 257 pages

Hillbilly Elegy is a tour through the childhood of its author, JD Vance, a childhood set in a world of crime, poverty, violence, substance abuse, mental illness, and shattered families.  From the revolving door of father figures to the preoccupation with respect to the outspoken religiosity to the feeling of being an outsider to mainstream American society, much of Vance's upbringing would not be out of place in a memoir of growing up in the inner city, except that his home was in a "holler" in the backwoods of Kentucky.  Not that Vance is interested in comparing narratives of victimhood or arguing about privilege - his goal is to describe the function and dysfunction of hillbilly America at the dawn of the 21st century through the lens of his own experience.  

It is this experience that is the heart of the book - Vance is wise enough to understand that the problems involved are as complex as life.  His observations do not fit into sociological boxes and do not result in a 6-point public policy proposal.  In his estimation, the crisis faced by his family and culture is not so much an economic crisis as a crisis of values, itself sparked by alienation and a loss of dignity in a society where poverty is considered a personal failing.  At one point, Vance recalls attending one of his mother's court hearings and noticing that the judge and lawyers all spoke with "newscaster accents" quite unlike those of his family and friends.  The sense that "people like us" don't hold positions of influence and authority, don't attend Ivy League schools or start successful businesses, dogged him for much of his life, and although he did eventually graduate from Yale and settle into a stable marriage, one of the major themes of the book is that he couldn't have done so without a great deal of help - beginning with his grandparents and sister and including sympathetic high school teachers, college professors, and the United States Marine Corps.  The lesson is that the only cure for a vicious culture is a virtuous culture, and the first virtue (Peguy's "little one who leads them all") is theological - hope.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt, 386 pages



The title relates to doing Voodoo magic. In the graveyard, the Voodoo to cause good is done before midnight and the part to cause bad is done after midnight. This book is part history of Savannah, GA, part about the people of Savannah, especially the upper class, and part true crime. John Berendt was living in NYC and starting traveling. He decided to start living in Savannah part-time which turned into most of the time. Most of the events in this book happened in the 1980s.


The people of Savannah like to drink and have their parties, are ok with their relative geographical isolation and like things the way they are. Some of the eccentric people include Mr. Glover, Emma Kelly, Luther Driggers, Joe Odom, and Lady Chablis. Mr. Glover "walks" a dog that died years ago. It turns out that after the owner died he was to be paid by the estate to walk the dog. The judge continues to pay him to "walk" the dog even though the dog has died. Emma Kelly is a woman in her 60s who is known as The Lady of 6,000, a title given to her by Johnny Mercer, travels around Georgia playing piano and singing. Luther Driggers glues filaments to his pets flies, attaches the filaments to his clothes and walks around town with them. It is well known around town that he has a poison he could put in the water supply to kill everyone. Joe Odom is a lawyer of questionable character who has parties on a nightly basis. He lives in a series of historic homes that he gives tours of (sometimes illegally), He also plays piano and sings. Lady Chablis is a transgender woman who had drag shows at a local club until she has a dispute with the owner and takes her show on the road.


Most of the book is about Jim Williams. He is not one of the blue bloods. He has made his own fortune through house restorations and as an antiques dealer. He restored and lives in the famous Mercer House. One night, he shoots and kills one of his employees, Danny Hansford. Danny was a troubled young man who lived with him. Was it premeditated, did events happy as Jim said they did or did he try to cover part of it up? There have been other cases of murder in Savannah that have not been prosecuted or the perpetrator has gotten off lightly but the new District Attorney decides to prosecute Jim on the charge of murder. In the end, Jim Williams is tried four times. To help win, Jim employs a Voodoo witch named Minerva.


I liked this book but the sections on the trials were not my favorite parts. I enjoyed reading about the city of Savannah - its culture, history and people. I would recommend this to people who like true crime or are interested in finding out more about these parts of Savannah.


This book was turned into a movie starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack. If you have to read this book for a school assignment I would not recommend watching the movie instead. Too much is different.

Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses by Ovid, translated by Rolfe Humphries, 392 pages

Ovid's Metamorphoses is a source for many of the most enduring tales and memorable characters in literature - Phaethon, Adonis, Narcissus, Orpheus, Icarus, Midas, Arachne, Pygmalion, Atalanta, and many others besides.  Even when the stories are familiar due to repetition, the manner in which they are artfully interwoven is delightful.  Some of the tales are surprisingly brief, others deliberately drawn out.  Ovid peppers his tales with humor, as when Perseus slays the wedding guests

     ...and Dorylas,

     who was very rich, and the end of all his fortune

     Was a spear jabbed through the groin...

Apollo, Venus, Bacchus, and Cupid - the gods of rapture - preside over Ovid's living tapestry of tales of transformation, but some of the most memorable passages concern more direct personifications - Famine, Sleep, Rumor.  In the closing chapters he brings the story up to his own day, and ends with a fully justified boast,

     Now I have done my work.  It will endure,

     I trust, beyond Jove's anger, fire and sword,

     Beyond Time's hunger.  The day will come, I know,

     So let it come, that day which has no power

     Save over my body, to end my span of life

     Whatever it may be.  Still, part of me,

     The better part, immortal, will be borne

     Above the stars; my name will be remembered

     Wherever Roman power rules conquered lands,

     I shall be read, and through all centuries,

     If prophecies of bards are ever truthful,

     I shall be living, always.

A Crown of Swords

A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan, Audiobook: 31 hrs, Paperback book: 684 pages

This is the seventh book in the Wheel of Time series. So that I don't provide spoilers to the ending of the sixth book I will be careful. Rand is recovering from some events that occurred at the end of the last book and trying to fix the problems that the events caused. His plans have to be changed. A legendary Aes Sedai named Cadsuane shows up and vows to teach Rand and help him. Now, his friend Perrin is the one leading the army towards Sammael.

Mat has been redirected to take Elayne to Caemlyn so she can take the throne but Nynaeve and Elayne have other plans. They have made him go to Ebou Dar so they can find the Bowl of the Winds - a magical artifact that could be used to correct the unnatural weather that the Great Lord of the Dark has caused. While searching for the Bowl, Nynaeve and Elayne discover a secret group of women, known as the Kin, who were not considered good enough for the Aes Sedai. It is not until they enlist Mat's help(and his luck) that they make progress in finding the Bowl.

Egwene and the "rebel" Aes Sedai are marching towards the other Aes Sedai in the White Tower to take it over and reunite the order. Rand goes to visit the Sea Folk who have been waiting for him. His ta'veren(it means he can effect the pattern of the world) effect is strong that day so after leaving he decides on a whim to visit a group of rebel lords incognito. Events are going well until a bubble of evil shows up and things turn sour. Having barely healed from the attack that occured, he decides that since Sammael will not expect him to be coming it is the perfect time to go after him.

As with the last book in the series, there is not a lot of action but the plot is moved along. There are several action sequences near the end that will cause changes in the plot. I liked this one more than the last one because some of the developments are more significant. I like most of the characters but my one quibble is the way some of the female characters are written. Sometimes they are people who act like they know it all.

Edmund Campion

Edmund Campion: Memory and Transcription by Gerard Kilroy, 241 pages

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth,

     Relligion thear was treason to the Queene,

     preaching of peanaunce, war agaynst the lande,

     preestes were such dawngerous men as had not beene,

     prayeres and beads weare fyghte and force of hand,

          Cases of conscience bane unto the state,

          Soe blynde ys error, so false a witnes hate.

As was proven by the fate of St Edmund Campion, it was a time when holding the wrong faith or speaking the wrong words could lead to torture - forbidden under Edward and Mary but allowed under Elizabeth - and execution, when even copying a forbidden manuscript could result in having one's ears chopped off or nailed to a pillory.  In such times even the written word becomes subject to equivocation, and, as Gerard Kilroy explains, equivocation can become a language of its own.

     Yee thought perhapps when learned Campion dyes,

     his pen must cease, his sugred townge be still;

     But yow forgot how lowd his death yt cryes,

     how farre beyond the sownd of tounge or quill.

          yow did not know how rare and great a good

          yt was to write hys precious guiftes in bloode.

In this expansion of his masterly biography, Edmund Campion: A Scholarly Life, Kilroy transcribes and elucidates a series of texts - the saint's own "Virgilian epic" retelling the story of the apostolic age, Henry Walpole's hagiographic eulogy "Why doe I use my paper, ynke and pen", and a selection of Sir John Harington's "All my ydle Epigrams".  He also discusses a different sort of text in the form of the symbolic architecture of Thomas Tresham.  Throughout, Kilroy is not only interested in the meaning of the texts themselves, but in what their history and manner of transmission can tell us about the time in which they were written down.  While this may not be the most exciting subject, it is a fascinating glimpse into life and faith in a time of persecution and martyrdom.

Lovemurder

Lovemurder by Saul Black.  345 pages

San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart is planning a rare weekend away from the job when she gets the call: a woman has been found brutally murdered. If that's not enough, there's also a note on the body addressed to Valerie.

And thus begins Valerie's quest to discover who is murdering women and leaving her clues with each body, taking her back to a woman named Katherine Glass who is awaiting execution for a series of gruesome murders, and who is in prison because Valerie put her there. While the last thing Valerie wants to do is talk to Katherine, it's necessary because the clues on the bodies give her no choice. Katherine holds the key to the killings and Valerie needs to find out what she knows before more women die . . . and before the murders come even closer to home.

This is the second book from this author that features homicide detective Valerie Hart. I picked up this book as a galley (it comes out in July, 2017) and had not read the first book. However, I didn't have any trouble getting in to the book or really understanding the characters. This story starts with a crime and then the tension just keeps ramping up. I found the main characters to be interesting, although at times, the sexual violence was a bit much. I don't know if I'd want to go back and read the first book with Valerie Hart or not, but this was a good read and definitely held my interest.

The Luster of Lost Things

The Luster of Lost Things by Sophie Chen Keller.  304 pages (coming out in August, 2017)  

Walter Lavender, Jr. feels most at home in his mother's unusual West Village dessert shop, where vol-au-vents scamper and marzipan dragons breathe real fire. When the magical and mysterious Book at the heart of the shop vanishes (right when their new landlord is threatening to stop their lease), it's up to Walter and his unusual talents to find it. Although Walter has a communication disorder that renders him speechless (and friendless), he has a special ability to find things that no one else can. Accompanied by Milton, his golden retriever, Walter's quest for the Book takes him around and under New York City, introducing him to some extraordinary people along the way.

This is the kind of story that has some sweet and sad elements together, combined with unforgettable characters and, as I'm sure you've guessed, a touch of magical realism. I enjoyed getting Walter's perspective and found him endearing and fascinating. His unusual way of looking at the world makes him insightful and he's apt to notice things that many people just gloss over. Admittedly, I did worry for him several times when he's on his quest to find the book, but I chalk that up to really caring about the character (which is a good thing).

Shoe Innovations

Shoe Innovations: A visual celebration of 60 styles by Catherine Cox.  256 pages.

Let me state: I am not one of those women who feels that she can never have enough shoes. While I admit that I have shoes that I love (and some that I might not wear often, but can't bear to get rid of), I have no interest in collecting shoes, wearing heels that hurt my feet, etc etc.

However, that does not mean that I didn't find this book to be interesting.  The author divides sections down into time periods and then explores different styles of shoes that have evolved.  The chapter on sandals, for example, discusses how this is most likely the original style of shoe, from which all others have evolved.  Filled with information, along with full-color photos, this book is a fun exploration of something that's commonplace, yet still has moments of innovation.  It was interesting to learn about some of the innovations from designers who, in working to make improvements, created a new style.  And, while I thought I knew just about all of the shoe styles out there, I found a few new ones here.  For example, the Valenki, a flat, felt boot developed about 300 years ago to walk on the dry snow of the harsh Siberian winters.

The Forgetful Gentleman

The Forgetful Gentleman: Thirty Ways to Turn Good Intentions Into Action by Nathan Tan.     224 pages

I had found this little book on a cart waiting for evaluation (because the book has not circulated at all) and even though it's aimed at men, I thought it would make for an interesting read.   The summary on Goodreads says: "An illustrated reference guide instructs and informs readers on the subtle art of being a contemporary gentleman by incorporating both traditional and modern practices. This book offers action-oriented guidance on a range of subjects, including advice on managing social networks, choosing the right suit silhouette, fostering the art of conversation, hosting a successful party, mixing a signature cocktail, developing creativity and much more. "

The author divides down his advice into different chapters, and that's one of the quibbles I have with this book.  It's not that they are divided into chapters, but rather that I felt the chapters didn't flow well.  For example, the chapter on how to iron a dress shirt goes to a following chapter on mentoring. Perhaps it would be better to have the chapters on clothing, shoes, ties, etc. all follow each other in a logical progression.

I did find some of the advice to be helpful, especially the information on digital and business etiquette, table manners and a chapter titled "The Courage to Encourage."  However, I felt that the book was a bit much when it came to chapters on microbrews, "The Gentlemanly Escape," and how to "Start an Honorable Gentleman's Club,"   Whether it's tongue-in-cheek or not, though, there are some interesting things to glean from this book.

Lord of Chaos

Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan, Audiobook: 43 hrs, Paperback book: 940 pages

This is the sixth book in the Wheel of Time series. "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning." So begins every book in the series (after the prologue) with the wind rising in a different place in each book. This is an epic fantasy series that involves multiple characters and multiple storylines. Most of the book is setting the stage for future events with some action at the end.

The final battle between the Dragon Reborn and the Great Lord of the Dark is approaching. Rand Al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn. He is making plans to take down Sammael - one of the Forsaken. His friend, Mat Cauthon is leading an army towards the land that Sammael is ruling. Egwene al'Vere is recovering from events in the previous book and is with the Wise Ones of the Aiel. The women who run her magic order call her to them. Is she being disciplined or is there another reason? This order is named the Aes Sedai. The order has split approximately in half and each half has sent an embassy to Rand. For now, he hasn't committed to either side and keeps them at a distance. There are too many other storylines to summarize in a concise manner.

I liked this book in the series. It moved the overall storylines along, created a foreshadowing of future events and came to an exciting conclusion. With the multiple characters and multiple storylines I would recommend it for people who like epic fantasy and can keep track of all of it. If you are interested in this series I recommend starting at the first book: The Eye of the World.

Turmoil and Truth

Turmoil and Truth: The Historical Roots of the Modern Crisis in the Catholic Church by Philip Trower, 199 pages

"Ecclesia semper reformanda est," St Augustine declared in the 4th century, "The Church is always in need of reform."  This was as true in the middle of the twentieth century as in Augustine's time, and historically the most powerful impetus to reform has been the ecumenical councils.  With the Second Vatican Council, however, the worst abuses seemed to follow rather than precede the Council, so that it seemed to many to be the cause rather than the cure.  The mission of aggiornamento entrusted to the Council by St John XXIII necessarily involved the sifting of the fruits of the modern world, keeping the wheat and disposing of the chaff.  According to Philip Trower, it was precisely this task that Church authorities and theologians proved unable - or unwilling - to perform in the wake of the Council.  

In Trower's view, the Church not only had the opportunity but also the moral responsibility to assimilate the goods of modernity, but not at the cost of the goods already entrusted to her.  The faith does not evolve, with the present replacing the past, rather it develops, with yesterday being refined and expanded upon today.  As such, modernity needs to be evaluated critically, but as Trower demonstrates, many of the reformers' reforms were outdated before they were even implemented - the idea of an immanentist Church which downplayed irrational elements of mystery and the supernatural was advanced even as the youth of the West embraced exotic mysticism and inchoate spirituality.  The modernists triumphed just as post-modernity began.

There are some problems with the book, the first being that it is really half a book - the sequel, The Catholic Church and the Counter-Faith, being the second half.  Trower concentrates on the ideas themselves rather than how they were propagated - he particularly seems to underestimate the extent to which dissenting Catholic intellectuals were bolstered by Western cultural elites, allowing them to make their case directly to the public instead of the bishops.  Still, it is precisely Trower's faith in the power of ideas that makes his history of the sowing of the wheat and tares reaped in the wake of the Council so worthwhile.

A Snicker of Magic

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd                 Audio Book:  8 hours, 14 mins..   Hardback Book:  320 pages     

I really like the Pickle family which is why this is the second book by Natalie Lloyd that I have read.    They are magical in a folk magic kind of way and now that they have moved to Midnight Gulch, Tennessee, it seems this magical family has found a magical town, or at least what had been a magical town.    I don’t want to give too much of the story away but let’s just say it is possible for people to have magic within them without even realizing their special gift.   Family is very important and misunderstandings should never be left to grow and fester.   Tiny mustard seed sized misunderstandings can grow to gargantuan sized issues and sometimes there can be tears or severs in even the most loving of bonds.     Thank goodness for the sweet spirit of Felicity Pickle and her gift of being able to see words above people.    Her spirit and her gift are more than just charming they are miraculous.   Felictiy is surely a Fixer if ever there was one.   Wanting so much to find a home they could stay put in, finding the friend she had desperately wished for and wishing for her Mama to find happiness seem to be things that are far out of her grasp, but, when magic is afoot anything can happen.    Enjoy the story, I did.    It will make you want to dance.    The joy here is tangible.