NOTE
In February, Leroy and I will go on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City with Fr. Tom, Deacon Eric, and other All Saints University Parish parishioners. We are truly grateful for the opportunity and look forward to the experience. Please keep us in your prayers, as you will be in ours. If you have any particular prayer intentions, message us, and we’ll carry them with us on this journey.
BOOK REPORT
BOOK: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Is it possible to love a book’s characters and writing style and still hate the story? Yes. That is the case for me with this novel. It was our Book Club selection for January, and the ladies who enjoyed it are fans of mystery, police procedurals and ‘whodunnits.’ I have never enjoyed this genre. Most of us had a little difficulty keeping the characters straight. It is obvious that it was written with sequels (several) in mind, and so many of the storylines were left open.
However, I will say that I loved the character development in this book. Each was unique, but the author did an incredible job keeping them interesting and appealing. I also enjoyed the humor immensely.
BOOK: Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
I received this book from Taylor and Steel as a Christmas present. Although the book and its author were unfamiliar, Taylor said she was reading and enjoying it. The author is a former Franciscan priest who left the priesthood to marry.
I, too, enjoyed the book. It truly presents God’s love as “Good News” instead of the “Gotcha God” many of us grew up with. It was a great reminder that His grace is sufficient.
BOOK: The Women by Kristin Hannah
This book has been on the TBR for a long time. I purposely waited to assign it to Book Club to make it easier to access, but it has not come off the Best Seller list since it was published. Although Kristin Hannah’s books are predictable, I enjoyed this one and learned a lot about the Vietnam War. It reminded me of the Tom Cruise movie, “Born on the Fourth of July,” where an idealistic kid leaves for Vietnam and comes home physically and emotionally damaged to a country that made things even worse. I can see why this book has remained so popular and I am looking forward to the Book Club discussion.
BOOK: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
I was looking for a short read before I started the next Book Club book, and this one popped up. It was an “Oprah Book Club” selection and tells the story of abuse at one of the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland run by the Catholic Church. I had to keep reminding myself that the year of this story was 1985 and in my lifetime. A merchant and family man discovers the abuse and then grapples with his conscience (and his wife and neighbors) about a solution. It is a gripping story, and I loved it.
MOVIE: Small Things Like These – Streaming
I recently told Sierra I would watch Cillian Murphy read The Phone Book. So when I heard he had recently made a film about a book I had just read (and loved), I couldn’t wait to see it. I was not disappointed. The film stayed true to the book, and the casting was outstanding. Murphy has a knack for making you feel his distress; this film was no different. I highly recommend both the book and the movie.
MOVIE: The Six Triple Eight on Netflix
I don’t pass up movies about World War II, and this new one (by Tyler Perry) was based on a true story I had never heard. There was a mail backlog during the war, and a black women’s unit was charged with cleaning it up. The movie describes the problem with soldiers and families not being able to communicate, but also the personal struggles this unit endured being both black and women in a world where neither was appreciated. It is a great story and an outstanding film. I highly recommend it.
COMMONPLACE
“At any moment, you are one good choice away from a meaningfully better life.” — James Clear
“If you keep showing up, you’ll almost certainly break through — but probably not in the way you expected or intended. You need enough persistence to keep working and enough flexibility to enjoy success when it comes in a different form than you imagined.” — James Clear
“The end of a melody is not its goal.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought.” — Abraham Lincoln
“The unexamined life is not worth living” — Socrates
“People can sometimes be held hostage by their expectations. They have a dream of something they would like to achieve or a path they intend to follow, but their mindset falls apart when things don’t work out how they had hoped. The key is to reach for an extremely high bar but to be adaptable enough to reframe the failures, disappointments, and defeats into fuel for the next thing. Give your best effort, but no matter how it works out, trust that life will be good for you. Focus on how the world is working with you, not against you. Everything you are given is material for the next move. Everything.” — James Clear
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” — Marie Curie
