Archive for July, 2007

Guns, Germs and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies, By Jared Diamond

Monday, July 9th, 2007

Guns, Germs and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies By Jared Diamond.
Review By:  Linda Padgett
If you have an interest in history, then this is a true gem.  His
basic question is why have some societies progressed and developed
far more advanced technologies and as a result been able to
completely wipe other societies from the face of the […]

The Bells of Nagasaki, by Takashi Nagai, translated by William Johnston

Monday, July 9th, 2007

The Bells of Nagasaki : Takashi Nagai
Translated by William Johnston
originally published 1949
Review By: Linda Padgett
I read a brief biography about Takashi Nagai in the quarterly
magazine, From the House Tops put out by the Saint Benedict Center.
(highly recommend that magazine) In this moving story about the
Japanese survivor of the Atomic bomb dropped on […]

A Life of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, by Carl W. Hoegerl, C.Ss.R., and Alicia Von Stamwitz

Saturday, July 7th, 2007

I love reading the lives of saints! Father Seelos was born in Germany, the sixth child out of a dozen. He entered the Redemptorists (St. Alphonsus Ligouri’s order), and became a missionary. Blessed Seelos traveled to America and faced much opposition by those antagonistic towards Catholicism, yet his life witnessed to Christ […]

The Gift of Saint Benedict, Introduced by Verna A. Holyhead SGS and Illustrated by Lynne Muir

Wednesday, July 4th, 2007

Ave Maria Press, Notra Dame, IN. 2002. 127 pgs.
I think this would be a nice gift book, for most any occasion. I was not overly moved by it and can’t say it satisfies the title’s emphasis regarding the gift this saint gives. I realize it is an introductory work for St. Benedict, […]

The Last Spymaster, by Gayle Lynds

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

This is my first Lynds novel, and I really enjoyed it for a no-brainer summer read.  It has a few language issues which irritate me a bit, but there was no sexual content which was a nice suprise.  This is a story which has an interesting twist.  One of the primary characters is Jay Tice […]