Book Description
Winner of the Oregon Book Award and finalist for the National PEN/Hemingway Award. In Diana Abu-Jaber's "impressive, entertaining" (Chicago Tribune) first novel, a small, poor-white community in upstate New York becomes home to the transplanted Jordanian family of Matussem Ramoud: his grown daughters, Jemorah and Melvina; his sister Fatima; and her husband, Zaeed. The widower Matuseem loves American jazz, kitschy lawn ornaments, and, of course, his daughters. Fatima is obsessed with seeing her nieces married—Jemorah is nearly thirty! Supernurse Melvina is firmly committed to her work, but Jemorah is ambivalent about her identity and role. Is she Arab? Is she American? Should she marry and, if so, whom?
Winner of the Oregon Book Award and finalist for the National PEN/Hemingway Award, Arabian Jazz is "a joy to read.... You will be tempted to read passages out loud. And you should" (Boston Globe). USA Today praises Abu-Jaber's "gift for dialogue...her Arab-American rings musically, and hilariously, true." Reading group guide included.
Customer Reviews:
Arabian Jazz.......2006-11-06
I have read three of Diane Abu Jaber's novels, and this was my least favorite. I did not identify with the characters as easily as I did in her other novels, and the story and characters were not as believable The main characters in Crescent and The Language of Baklava were more real, and the plots were more engaging.
interesting.......2006-11-03
Interesting but not super as her novel Crescent was. Crescent was really a wonderful novel that I have given as a gift to many friends. I was hoping to feel this way about Arabian Jazz.
Just okay..........2004-09-10
I agree with many of the above reviewers. While it is a fun, sort-of, peek into Arab/American culture, I do not find it to be all that realistic. As a part of an Arab/American family, I was really surprised to find main characters who are supposed to be Arab Christian with names like Fatima, or Abdul so and so. This is not authentic--any Arab would recognize this as false, as well as the constant use of phrases referring to the Prophet, which would not, as another reviewer asserted, ever be used by Arab Christians. Even the transliterated Arabic phrases and descriptions are incorrect and seem contrived or false somehow. I also had a hard time even liking most of the characters, as they never really seemed to develop beyond the outward description of themselves. I think that non-Arab readers will not see a picture of an Arab/American family; rather, they will only see a cartoonish parody of the "A-rab" culture they do not understand as it is. However, for someone who knows/lives/understands the culture, it is somewhat entertaining, though slightly irritating. For a more realistic view of Arab life, read books by Leila Ahmed, Hanan Al-Shaykh, Ahdaf Soueif, or Naguib Mahfouz.
Uneven, but when it's good it soars.......2003-07-22
Worth reading, though the first few pages (and some later) are extremely disappointing. Arabic names are mispronounced, the attempt at comedy is poor, and none of the characters are remotely sympathetic. As the book proceeds, we meet a very different kind of writing. Some of the passages in the book are exceptionally insightful and well written. For those passages it is well worth reading the book. I would rate the book between 1 and 5. It won't tell you much about Arab culture except in parody, but it portrays alienation and prejudice with candor and poignancy.
A joyful adventure in cultural diversityý.......2003-07-05
This light-hearted and imaginative novel portrays a Jordanian family as they adjust to life in the United States. Jazz musician and widower Mattusem Ramoud has raised his two daughters alone since his wife's death, balancing their lives as Americans with their Jordanian hertiage. The extended family is like any other large, eccentric group of people, full of intensity and humor, loving each other unconditionally through whatever difficulties arise.
Jemorah and Melvina have reached marriageable age and their Aunt Fatima, Matussem's sister, is determined that this year, during "Family Function Season", at least Jemorah will find a husband before she is old enough to be disqualified as a spinster. The search is on and Fatima leaves no stone unturned, offering an assortment of odd relatives, second cousins and distant "uncles". But Jemora is in no hurry to make a choice that will alter the course of her life, determined to make a well-informed decision.
This intimate peek into one Arab-American family's experience, blends two generations of Ramouds, all of them quirky and colorful. Many are recent visitors from Jordan who speak in fractured English that renders them even more charming and eccentric, if that is possible, as Abu-Jaber holds her finger directly on the pulse of this remarkable family. Cousin Saiid enthuses, "I must be in heaven, man. You are our cousins, man? This is completely, like, my mind is psyching out."
Old Country fables abound, along with the foolish antics of the younger generation in this eclectic mix of characters. Each page is a delight, bursting with life and energy, family connections and intimate portraits of the bonds of love. Whatever Jemorah decides, she will always have a soft place to fall, her Jordanian-American family her greatest asset. Abu-Jaber has deftly penned the tale of a raucous family, enthusiastic about everything in their lives, music, the future and each other. The Ramoud's share their fascinating culture with the reader, reinforcing the belief of an America that offers infinite possibilities to those who embrace her opportunity and generosity, enriching this country with their accomplishments. Luan Gaines/2003
Average customer rating:
- Too nosey and obsessive to love?
- A brilliant historical romance
- 0 stars if I could
- Barely passable
- I can't believe Ms. Smith wrote this....
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Too Wicked To Love
Barbara Dawson Smith
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ASIN: 0312968930 |
Book Description
Too Wicked to LoveHe is Ethan Sinclair, the Earle of Chasebourne, the most notorious rogue in all of England. She is Miss Jane Mayhew, the keen-witted spinster Ethan had never even noticed. But when Jane discovers his love child abandoned on her doorstep, she is determined to see him face responsibility.If it weren't for the baby she claims is his, Ethan would have nothing to do with her. The last thing he wants is to become involved with the prim and proper Jane. But sometimes, the last thing you want is the one thing you need....
Customer Reviews:
Too nosey and obsessive to love?.......2006-12-16
This isn't exactly a run-of-the-mill Regency; there's more plot to this book than the vast majority out there (Rakish nobleman meets debutante, seduces her, treats her badly, they make up) as this story includes a foundling child, a kidnapping, some character development and an ugly-duckling-becomes-swan transformation. The story moves along quickly, the characters are all well drawn and the ending is suitably upbeat.
This wasn't a great book, though. Although set in the Regency it could almost be in any era - there was very little Regency-specific background, description or events. The central premise (the reforming of a rake, who was less rakish than people thought anyway) is a common theme in these books which always gives me a moment of pause - what IS so attractive about a rake? Having heard the history of Ethan Sinclair, the Earl of Chasebourne (and Ethan is a rather dubious Regency name anyway), I would have thought he's already caught syphilis at least! Still, despite the Earl being caught in flagrante delicto, Jane Mayhew, prim on-the-shelf spinster, finds him rather appealing. A baby has been left on Jane's doorstep that is the illegitimate child of the Earl so Jane insists that he take the child as his own and find the mother. This is where Jane's obsessiveness comes in and it's not a particularly attractive side to her. At the end of the day, we English don't like nosey neighbours being involved in our business and boy is Jane involved! Not only that, she doesn't seem to have that much regard to the concept of privacy - the poor Earl's poetic scribblings aren't safe from her nosiness.
Part of the story is the hunt for the mother of Marianne - one of a possible four women - but after the middle of the story that subsides and the focus changes to the attempt by Jane to make the Earl fall in love with her. She goes about this in a rather strange way but then she's evidently a rather singular woman. I couldn't really work out what he found attractive in her (apart from the obvious - beauty - and the fact that she'd evidently make a good mother) but, as one requires in these novels, at the end he realises that she's the woman for him. Also, rather conveniently, despite being a womanising rake he's the soul of fidelity once the wedding vows are said. How realistic is this?
Although this book is written pretty well and the subject is slightly different from the norm, I couldn't entirely like the book. I've awarded it four stars as it's worth reading, especially at the cheap Mass Market Paperback price, but at the end of the day I think it's rather a forgettable novel.
A brilliant historical romance.......2003-05-30
"Too Wicked to Love" is a fabulous historical romance set in Regency England. Jane Mayhew is a proper virtuous and spirited spinster living in her little cottage with her spinster aunt. When she finds a babygirl with a note on her doorstep she makes a bold decision.According to the note the baby is the abandoned lovechild of the Earl of Chasebourne. He is Ethan Sinclair, Jane's neighbour a notorious rake and he lives his life in scandalous debauchery. Jane in her rightful fury confronts him in his bedchamber and shocks him by the news and herself too by her ridiculous behaviour. They have known each other since childhood but while Ethan experienced the pleasures of his title and life Jane was helping her scholar father with his work. Ethan doesn't know whether he is the baby's father or not and he decides to investigate the whereabouts of the mother. His mother arrives in the middle of all this arguing and excitement and she invites Jane and her aunt with them to London. Jane insists on accompanying Ethan on his investigative visits and they are forced to spend considerable time together. They both realise their attraction and they can't help it despite of their strong and different opinions. Jane slowly falls in love with Ethan but she knows he hides some important things from her and he shuts everyone out of his heart. Ethan doesn't understand his feelings. The only thing clear to him is that under Jane's spinster garbs is a beautiful intelligent and passionate woman.Their finding the way to each other is wonderfully described by the author and their personalities fully developed. Both leading protagonists are remarkable characters and they deeply pull the reader into their fascinating and passionate lives. Ms. Smith knows human nature very well. She sees in the hearts and minds of her characters and the reader gets the opportunity to follow their emotional development throughout the book. As in all her novels the author combines the romance with a bit of mystery and it keeps the reader captivated until the end.
TO WICKED TO LOVE is a masterfully written historical romance with a very entertaining plot and interesting characters. I highly recommned it and look forward to reading more by this exceptionally imaginative author.
0 stars if I could.......2002-01-23
I really did not like this book. The plot has been described well already but my problem with this story is...Jane, our prissy, spinster heroine. Why oh why do so many historical authors feel that in order to redeem the hero rake he must fall in love with the plainest gal around? Make Jane plain if you must, but not so plain that it is ridiculous to really imagine Ethan not recognizing her at the ball. Hello - I don't believe plastic surgery was around back then to really allow such a transformation in Jane. Yes, good clothes can improve but not to recognize her? Really pretty ridiculous. Jane was so judgemental and nosy. Again, she barges into a man's bedroom, in his own home, and is surprised to find him with a woman? And why is it her business anyway?...Ethan deserved better than Jane, one of the most annoying female characters written in a along while.
Barely passable.......2002-01-03
A baby is dumped on the doorstep of the most disapproving spinster in the disctrict; she immediately jumps to the - not impossible - conclusion that it is the bastard offspring of the local rakish earl, so Jane decides that it's her job to make Chasemore aware of his obligations. Poking her nose in, in other words. And she is shocked when she invades his bedchamber and finds him naked in bed with a woman - as if she had any right to be shocked, since it was her decision to insinuate herself.
You may guess that I don't like the heroine. Jane is incredibly self-righteous and judgemental, and Smith does not do enough to redeem her for my liking. Even when Jane has to acknowledge that she was wrong about something, she says so in such a way that it still sounds as if she's criticising Ethan, or whoever it is she's talking to. She isn't at all a nice person, or someone I could like and identify with.
What's worse is that, as other reviewers point out, Jane behaves exactly like Ethan's first wife: knowing that Ethan was manipulated into marriage by Lady Portia, Jane sets out to do exactly the same thing. She deliberately seduces Ethan, knowing that he will do the right thing. It would have served her right if he'd refused - in fact, I was hoping that he would. He deserves better.
As for the baby, I found it hard to believe that an earl would show such interest in a foundling which might or might not have been his. Most aristocratic males showed absolutely no interest in any bastard children they might have fathered; if they gave the mother a sum of money for the child's keep, or found it a foster-home, they considered that they'd been more than generous. They would not be remotely interested in actually getting to know the child.
Oh, and I too guessed the identity of the baby's mother at a fairly early stage. Again, it felt a very implausible development.
One irritant: there is no such place as Wessex in England. The mythical court of King Arthur (he of the Round Table) was in Wessex, but this doesn't exist other than in legend.
Again, Smith's writing is competent, but - as with Once Upon A Scandal - she fails to engage my emotions in any way. The very unlikeable heroine here probably means that I won't bother reading anything else by this author.
I can't believe Ms. Smith wrote this...........2001-08-04
I have tried on 3 differenct occasions to finish this book but have given up. It goes on the trading block on my next visit to my used book store. I don't usually rate a book less than 4 stars but this is only worth 1 star in my opinion. I have read so many of her great books and just finished the best "Silver Splendor". This prissy, stiff upper lipped, holier-than-thou, judgemental, demanding, intrusive blue stocking is beyond me. All the while looking down her prudish, priggish little nose at anyone who dares to have different values from her outlook on life, yet having erotic fantasies about the hero in the story... ... Sorry Ms. Smith but I am so glad I have read your earlier books with much better stories and with all those great characters. I agree...that the step-back in this book is fantastic and worth the price before I trade it, as well as the step-back in "Seduced By A Scoundrel" which I gave a much higher rating for a better book
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Too Wicked to Love
Manufacturer: St. Matin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739403060 |
Average customer rating:
- My first Rita Estrada book & it was a joy
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Too Wicked To Love (Zebra Historical Romance)
Rita Clay Estrada
Manufacturer: Zebra
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 082177073X |
Customer Reviews:
My first Rita Estrada book & it was a joy.......2005-04-18
I have to say, I first bought this book for the ever-so-hunky
Stefan Adreas Schwarze on the cover, but it turned out to be a
very good book. I never did figure out, though, who was suppossed
to be the wicked one? Certainly not Sarah, and I didn't even think
of Ben as being the one. Perhaps it was Fairy/Merci? Probably not, she was so sweet, with wisdom beyond her years. I actually
didn't see any villans in the book, truth be told. As for the way
the book ended, I felt it was a bit abrupt, because we don't actually get to hear Sarah tell Ben her secret, and because I wanted an actual wedding ceremony & an epilogue of their life with
kids & a ranch years later. Also, the book was a bit of a slow
starter, the angst, if you could call it that, didn't start until sometime after the first 50 pages. All in all, a very good read.
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Too Wicked to Love
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HT63E6 |
Book Description
These 18 darkly complex short stories and novellas touch upon human nature and perception, metaphysics and epistemology, and gender and sexuality, foreshadowing a world in which biological tendencies bring about the downfall of humankind. Revisions from the author's notes are included, allowing a deeper view into her world and a better understanding of her work. The Nebula Award–winning short story Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death, the Hugo Award–winning novella The Girl Who Was Plugged In, and the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning novella Houston, Houston, Do You Read? are included.
Customer Reviews:
James Tiptree/Alice Sheldon: Best author of the genre.......2007-06-12
All the best stories written by Sheldon are here, and they are as powerful as they ever were, and more cogent in today's violent world. We think we've come a long way, but there's so much more to be done. Sheldon says it all, and says it best. Buy this book for your collection, and for your daughters.
I am over the age of 13, but first started reading sci fi when I WAS 13, many eons ago!
Outstanding Sci-Fi with an Unusual Perspective.......2007-03-31
I'm an unsure how James Tiptree/Alice Bradley's work hasn't appeared in more of the feminist/women's studies courses I took in either undergrad or graduate school. Her perspective on the future of humanity and the exploration of science has a viewpoint I have never read in science fiction up to this point and I'm glad a book review in a different source led me to reading these stories - in particular The Screwfly Solution, Houston, Houston Do You Read? and a Momentary Taste of Being. Both provocative and incredibly disturbing, I have already recommended this book to other female sci-fi aficionados.
A Look into a Dark Soul.......2007-03-22
Some of the blurbs about Alice Sheldon, writing as James Tiptree, Jr., indicate that her real gender was a mystery and, in fact, some commented that `he had to be a man' because of the writing. I have a hard time, in retrospect, seeing that. All of these stories seem to me to have easily been seen as a woman writing, if you were so inclined to think about those things. The other thing is that Alice Sheldon is described as an `ardent' feminist. Again I don't see that, but I do see a somewhat clinical misanthrope. The men in these stories tend to be ineffectual neuters or sexual-sociopaths. The women tend to be background or professional victims (with the exception of `Slow Music,' probably the best story in the collection).
Having said that I did find the stories very well written and I can well understand the awards and critical acclaim at the time. However they do tend to take on a rather common theme of hopelessness and profound melancholy at the future aspects of humans. One or two of the stories made a passing attempt at uplifting the future of humans, but mostly these are, to me, the writings of a deeply depressed person. I found it no surprise to learn that Ms Sheldon died at her own hand after killing her husband, probably as a suicide pact.
I do recommend these, especially if you are a fan of the SciFi short story. All are well written but the best way to appreciate them is to read one story at a time over a long interval. These have such a common `feel' to them that if you read them one after another you start to get the feeling that you've been there, done that.
Absolutely Fantastic.......2007-03-17
I do remember as a kid ( 60's ) picking books from my parents library in the middle of a desert peninsula in Venezuelan Caribbean , inside a Shell Oil Refinery and reading Alexander Kazantsev: The Destruction of Faena, Jules Verne and most of his known and unknown classics , the Bible and it's amazing human tales ; then moving to the Usa and discovering Assimov's Foundation , Frank Herbert's Dune , Kurt Vonnegut Jr's The Sirens of Titan ( after watching 20 or less times Slaughterhouse 5 ) and Galapagos , Aldous Huxley's Island and Door's of Perception , Gurdjiell's All and Everything ; then coming to the Mexican Caribbean and discovering Ann Rice and the Vampires , Daniel Quinn and his adventures of mind and spirit and James Tiptree Jr ( she spent the 70's in the now Rivera Maya ) . To bad i did not get to read her as a man , it does change some prespective , but the stories in these collection are Up there with the Classics ... Highly entertaining with provoking ideas that we have not been able to surpass as the slow learners we are as humans ...
a great old find.......2007-01-05
These stories were almost forgotten but for a recent biography of the author. A great read by a great author. Reading the stories may kindle interest in the biography but enjoy them anyway.
Customer Reviews:
A greatly under-appreciated talent.......2006-02-05
Alice Sheldon, a clinical psychologist who wrote science fiction as "James Tiptree Jr.," was a candle who burned fast and bright. Though she published a couple of comparatively weak novels before her suicide in 1987, all her important short fiction appeared between 1970 and 1977. I read much of it as it appeared, in magazines and original anthologies, and I was as taken as everyone else with the focus and literary richness of her style and with the electric impact produced by the content of what she wrote. Before anyone knew who she really was, Robert Silverberg famously described "Tiptree" as quintessentially male. But it's flatly impossible to read "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" -- in my opinion, the very best piece in this volume and one of the most important SF short stories of the past half-century -- and to imagine that the author was anything other than an extremely thoughtful and aware woman. "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" is more the "standard" sort of story, and very well written, too, but it simply doesn't carry the weight of "The Women Men Don't See" or "A Momentary Taste of Being" or the title story. Sheldon was a product of her time, and it's unlikely a writer like this, with this sort of eye-opening agenda could appear again. Which is all the more reason to read and appreciate her work.
Awesome.......2000-07-14
It is really difficult to imagine how anyone could write fiction that is so tormented and passionate.
She is just unbelievable, and that's all there is to it.
My Favorite Book in the World.......1998-12-27
Do you have a favorite book in the world? This book, quite simply, is mine. This is a posthumously-published collection of eighteen stories by James Tiptree, Jr. (pseudonym for Alice Sheldon). It contains most of her best short fiction. It also contains a compelling introduction by John Clute. Mark Richard Siegel, who wrote the Starmont Reader's Guide on James Tiptree, Jr., wrote the sentence that I think best captures the essence of what is distinctive and special about Tiptree's work. He wrote: "Her stories showed that, for the individual, the most significant thing is passionate experience, the intensity of certain moments, good and bad, when she is most truly alive." Do you crave passionate experiences? Tiptree will put you through them. But be warned that Tiptree often put her characters through mercilessly gut-wrenching passionate experiences, wrenching THIS reader's gut right along the way. Tiptree is not for readers who like their fiction safe and cozy, knowing everything will turn out all right in the end. Here are a few words on my five favorite stories in the book.
My own personal favorite Tiptree story is "The Screwfly Solution." In this story a sort of psychological plague has broken out in various parts of the world where men are murdering women wholesale. Tiptree introduces us to (and makes us care about) one particular family. In 21 pulse-pounding pages Tiptree gives us the stunning macro-story of the fate of humanity in the face of this terrifying "plague," along with the heart-wrenching micro-story of its effect on one family. It is a masterpiece of economical storytelling, and no SF story has an ending which packs a bigger wallop.
My (close) second favorite story in the book is "A Momentary Taste of Being." In his introduction to the book, John Clute writes of this story: "...word-perfect over its great length, and almost unbearably dark in the detail and momentum of the revelation of its premise...[it] may be the finest densest most driven novella yet published in the [science fiction] field." I can tell you it is my all-time favorite novella. The story concerns a space mission, a desperate attempt by humanity to find a habitable planet (for colonization) to relieve some pressure from a horrendously overpopulated and polluted Earth. The pressure in the story just builds and builds to a climax as intense as any you are likely to experience in fiction.
I think "Love is the Plan the Plan is Death," a story of alien love, is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece of style. Not everybody agrees. Gardner Dozois in his excellent and mostly laudatory essay, "The Fiction of James Tiptree, Jr.," writes of this story: "I can never read [its] galumphing, ungrammatical, childishly-rapturous narration without hearing it in the accents of the Cookie Monster...." Tiptree herself, in typical self-depreciating fashion, described it as being written in "the style of 1920 porno." I think the highly unusual style helps us understand and feel the true alien-ness of the viewpoint character, and I believed totally while I was reading. As John Clute writes, "...[it] has a juggernaut drive, a consuming melancholy of iron, a premise the author never backed away from...."
In "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" three astronauts return from a trip around the sun only to find they have somehow been transported hundreds of years into the future. What they find in the future, and more important, how they react to what they find there, constitutes the most powerful story I've ever read dealing with the gulf between the sexes.
In "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" a horribly-deformed young woman gets a chance at a happy life. This is another story with an unusual narrative style, and frankly, when I first read this story over two decades ago, I found it a bit disconcerting. It works for me now, though. This is a heartbreaking story, fiercely told.
One caution is that I would encourage you to read the stories in the book before reading John Clute's introduction, as Clute gives away some of the story endings in his introduction. And surprise endings are not uncommon in Tiptree stories. I am not talking about gimmicky, meaningless surprises, there for the sake of having a surprise. Tiptree's surprises often ENLARGE her stories, altering the meaning of what has gone before, increasing their power to move us. The book gets my most passionate recommendation.
An excellent Tiptree retrospective. Highly recommended!.......1997-04-03
A long overdue retrospective of James Tiptree Jr, aka Alice Sheldon. All of her award-winning stories about love, sex and death are here, along with an incisive introduction by John Clute. Powerful reading
Book Description
The Catholic Church may be the most controversial institution in the world. Whether the question is the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the relationship of Catholicism to other religious communities, the meaning of freedom, the use and abuse of sex, the dignity of human life from conception until natural death, or the role of women, the Catholic Church has taken challenging positions that some find inexplicable, even cruel.
In The Truth of Catholicism, George Weigel, author of Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, explores these perennial questions and more, showing Catholicism and its controversies from "inside" the convictions that make those controversies not only possible but necessary. The truths of Catholicism then come into clearer focus as affirmations and celebrations of human life and human love, even as they challenge us to imagine a daring future for humanity and for ourselves.
Download Description
"
The Catholic Church may be the most controversial institution in the world. Whether the question is the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the relationship of Catholicism to other religious communities, the meaning of freedom, the use and abuse of sex, the dignity of human life from conception until natural death, or the role of women, the Catholic Church has taken challenging positions that some find inexplicable, even cruel.
In The Truth of Catholicism, George Weigel, author of Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, explores these perennial questions and more, showing Catholicism and its controversies from ""inside"" the convictions that make those controversies not only possible but necessary. The truths of Catholicism then come into clearer focus as affirmations and celebrations of human life and human love, even as they challenge us to imagine a daring future for humanity and for ourselves.
"
Customer Reviews:
A Solid Introduction.......2007-09-28
The Truth of Catholicism is a good introduction to some of the Catholic beliefs and issues that are most commonly misunderstood and opposed by both non-Catholics and Catholics. George Weigel provides clear explanations of the Church's positions on such hot-button issues as the all-male priesthood, contraception, abortion, euthanasia, ecumenism, and salvation. Weigel writes with wit, style, and charity, and he never dumbs down the truth of the Catholic faith, which is the great strength of his book. I would recommend this book to curious Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Clear and Succinct.......2007-03-31
Mr. Weigel is a gifted author and this book clearly explains the basis for many Catholic practices and beliefs. I highly recommend it for any Catholic, ex-Catholic or critic of the Catholic Church.
A teaching essential for students of Catholicism.......2005-01-06
Thank God someone has finally stepped up to the plate and dared to take on the questions of "What do Catholics actually believe and WHY do Catholics believe this?" in a tone that suggests there might actually be some meaning behind the doctrine of this monumental institution. From the first page, Weigel establishes exactly how he will respond to the ever-present critics and cynics who keep the Catholic Church constantly in their sight: truthfully, carefully, and without apology. What a refreshing change in a cultural climate that suggests the Church exists for something other than the mission on which its foundations were originally established.
While I ultimately love and appreciate the content of this book, especially a light but accessible treatment of the true theology behind Catholic doctrine, I give the book four stars and not five because of a specific detail that, for me, detracts a bit from the overall point of the book. Weigel's clear and undying devotion to Pope John Paul II, a figure who was also the focus of a Weigel biography, clouds any attempt at an objective treatment of problematic doctrinal issues. I think some of the problems that create such cynicsm when it comes to the Church today are glossed over in an attempt to "protect" the portrayal of this man. While I completely understand the intention, this fact does seem to taint some of his credibility in reaching the people who may be questioning some of the decisions of the hierarchy of the Church. While Pope John Paul II has been a great positive force in the Church, he hasn't been the sole positive force in the Church which is a claim that Weigel implies at times.
Overall, this is the best book I've found for answers to some very complex questions. For a faith that, at times, appears completely countercultural, often for no good reason, this book gently but surely straightens out any misconceptions and paints a reasonable picture of the thought behind the belief.
Apologetics with Panache.......2004-09-13
Weigel explains the ten "controversies" that critics of the Faith usually challenge Catholics to defend, e.g., the all-male priesthood, the Church's teaching on sexuality, and the Church as the sacrament of salvation.
In less than two hundred pages, he provides succinct, faithful explanations footnoted to official documents like the Cathecism of the Catholic Church.
This book is highly recommended to the lightly-catechized as a way to explore the Faith "from the inside", as Evelyn Waugh once put it, and to other Catholics seeking a chartitable way of explaining truths to critics both inside and outside the Church.
Truth if You Already Believe.......2004-08-22
Weigel's book is a good introductory book to Catholicism, its assumptions, beliefs and theology. On the other hand, it assumes the answers and then creates a structure and rationalization to support those answers, which in my view sums up both the major strength and weakness of religious thought. By adopting this technique religion lets men and woman step outside of themselves and judge themselves and the world more objectively. Let me suggest an analogy A friend has a personal crises which is eating him up. You give him or her advice which you know is good advice and she knows is good advice. Indeed if the circumstances were reversed, he'd give you the same advice. The problem is that knowing the facts objectively and knowing how one should react objectively doesn't make it happen. The most difficult thing for a person to do is to step outside his or her own skin and then take action as if they were someone else. It is too hard to separate emotions and objectivity. What religion does is help someone to do just this, to look into a mirror and see ourselves as we would see another person facing the same questions and crises.
Books:
- Auggie Wren's Christmas Story
- Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: A Novel
- Babyji
- Blacker the Berry. . .
- Blue Angel: A Novel (P.S.)
- Brazzaville Beach
- Cadillac Jack : A Novel
- Ciudad de las Bestias, La
- Clear Light of Day
- Cloudstreet : A Novel
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Diana: An Extraordinary Life
- The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Third Edition
- Purple America: A Novel
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- Scientific Computing
- The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: It's Not About the Money...It's About Being the Best You Can Be!
- Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out into the Real World
- My Life With IBM
- Debt Is a Four Letter Word
Crescent
The Language of Baklava
Raising Fences: A Black Man's Love Story (Today Show Book Club #4)
The Language of Baklava: A Memoir
Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail
