Adult Fantasy

 If you liked

Princess Bride, I think you will like The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar. This book is touted as Louis Sachar's first book for adults.  Think Princess Bride for adults.  It has a princess, a magician, tigers in the castle's moat, and other fantasy kingdom tales.  It's an easy read.  When my book club picks books for next year, this book is definitely one to read around the holidays, because we want easy, short books.

The story takes place around the 1500's, in a land that doesn't exist now.  It was somewhere between Italy, France, and Spain.  The princess is betrothed to a prince. However, the princess falls in love with a scribe.  The magician is called in to make a spell to change their minds.  The magician narrates the tale.  

I like the short chapters.  It's like flash fiction.  It is labeled adult because there are sexual innuendos, and a house of prostitution.  Sachar does it so tastefully that I don't think a young teen would get them. 

If you are not an old grouch, I think you will like this story.

The Tiger By the Tail

 You name it: fiction, mystery, thriller, war story, romance, political thriller, suspenseful novel.  Up Country by Nelson DeMille is all that, besides being a good story.  The main character is Paul Brenner, a retired Army detective.  He had just retired, when his former commander asked him to solve one more crime.  This is the plot.

During the Vietnam War, a wounded Vietnamese Cong was on the second floor, trying to remain quiet when he witnessed a terrible crime taking place, below him on the first floor, by the Americans.  This building had been bombed and there were gaps in the floor.  This Cong wrote what happened to his brother, also a Vietnamese soldier, who was killed.  The letter was found and kept as a souvenir by an American soldier.  Many years later, the American soldier decided to send the letter to the United Staes Army/Government, for historical value or whatever.  When the letter was translated the government realized that a crime had been committed and wanted the perpetrator punished. That's the assignment Paul Brenner was given and that's all the reader knows and understands, too.

Brenner has the name, and the Vietnamese village the witness came from.  That's all.  Brenner doesn't even know if the witness was still alive. If he's dead, that the end of the assignment.  If he isn't, Brenner needs to get a positive identification of the perpetrator.  

I think I enjoyed this book so much because I was alive and can identify (in a way) with the times.  I was a twenty-something year old, during the war, and was both anti-war, and very busy with career, marriage, and new family, to really understand what soldiers like Paul Brenner were going through.  I know less than a handful of people who were in the war.

1.  Joe spent the entire war as a dental hygienist, in Japan.

2.  Tom who was a typist in an office, there.

3.  A cribbage partner, who won't talk about it.

4.  A priest who led platoons and had a bounty on his head, as did other platoon leaders.  The witness of the South Vietnamese soldiers, fighting for their homeland, led him to the priesthood.  The soldiers were devout.  

I was not prepared for the descriptions of fighting in Up Country.  I also hesitate to recommend this book to one of my book clubs.  It is gory--too descriptive of the violence perpetrated during war. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I learned, I laughed, I gagged, I cried, I blushed, and I sighed with relief when the crime was exposed.  I'll be thinking about UP Country, for a long time.

Expectations

 A few weeks ago, a "cloistered brother" asked what do you expect to happen, when you pray?  This book, Thirsting for Prayer by Jacques Philippe, has the answer.  It's a small book, only 152 pages.  It is divided into four parts.  They all address how to pray.  The introduction, however, answers my brother's question.  

When we pray, we expect our prayer to yield fruit.  The problem is, we want the kind of fruit we want.  If we are serious about prayer, we will encounter a relationship with God.  Our conversation will yield answers.  At the least, the supplicant will feel the strength and peace they need for their lives to bear fruit, as God desires, and they will understand that.

I did a lot of underlining in this book.  It contains some gems.

In prayer the soul is purified from sin, charity is nurtured, faith takes root, hope is strengthened,
the spirit gladdened.  In prayer the soul melts into tenderness, the heart is purified, the truth reveals 
itself, temptation is overcome, sadness is put to flight.  In prayer, the senses are renewed, lukewarmness vanishes, failing virtue is reinvigorated, the rust of vices is scoured away; and in the exchange,
there come forth living sparks, blazing desires of heaven, in which the flame of divine love burns.

That's what we expect to happen!

A Plum of a Story

 I picked up Plum Island by Nelson Demille, by mistake.  To me, Plum Island is across the Merrimack River and Salisbury Beach's black rocks.  As a child, my family often went there.  So when I saw a book written about Plum Island, I wanted to read it.

My Plum Island is known as a Wildlife refuge.  It's a state park.  I swam and fished there, also.  Demille's Plum Island is in New York, and not for people. It's a government animal disease research center.

However, the book did not disappoint.  The major character is a smart mouth detective, John Corey.  He is recuperating from being shot.  Across from his uncle's summer home is Plum Island.  Corey's neighbors worked there, until they were murdered.  The local sheriff asks for Corey's help.

While investigating, Corey meets two romantic prospects.  Beth is a detective, too.  Emma is a local historian that helps with the background.  John Corey is one horny male animal.  (I overlooked that aspect.) He does, however, start to fall in love with one of the ladies, until she is brutally murdered.  

The plot is a surprise because the purpose of the murder is not what anyone thought.  The story is fast paced.  It is good.

I've learned that John Corey is the protagonist in Demille's other books.  I'm looking forward to reading those.

On the Run

LECTIO:                                                   Matthew 2:1-12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod, 
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage.”
When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled, 
and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, 
He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, 
for thus it has been written through the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod called the magi secretly 
and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 
“Go and search diligently for the child.
When you have found him, bring me word, 
that I too may go and do him homage.”
After their audience with the king they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, 
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures 
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, 
they departed for their country by another way.

STUDIUM:

Keep in mind, Jesus' bloodline.  As a son of David's line, He is thoroughly Jewish--Herod is not, and thereby a threat.  Also, this Gospel was written after the destruction of the temple.  For Matthew's audience, Jewish Christians, they would know that Jesus was the temple that was resurrected in three days. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19)

But the major character here is Herod and he is shown to be a scheming coward.  He lies to the Magi and orders all males under two to be killed.

Note how it was non-Jews who were among the first to honor Jesus.  God manifest Himself to all nations.

MEDITATIO:

Herod's plotting was for naught.  God's plans trump Satan's.  I have to always remember that.  Herod's plans were foiled but we can see that from the "get/go", Jesus was not welcomed and is going to have a hard time.

ORATIO:

Lord, may I always trust that You are in control.  Your love is for everybody-believers or not.  You came for all.

CONTEMPLATIO:

Lord, I trust in You.  You are God; I am not.

RESOLUTIO:

I must keep reminding myself that God is control.  He knows what He is doing.  Trust Him!

Secret recipes

 

What do you think?  I asked the chef for the recipe and she wouldn't give it to me.  I looked up recipes and made what I thought would approximate what I wanted.  No, it didn't.  I had made stewed tomatoes.  It was good, but not creamy tomato soup.

I am going to try this Martha Stewart recipe.  Someone commented to just use pasta sause instead of cans of tomatoes.  We'll see.  I'll do both and compare.