Sunday, 31 March 2019
Friday, 29 March 2019
Thursday, 28 March 2019
In Your Defence: Stories Of Life And Law by Sarah Langford
Hardback: Sarah Langford is a barrister. It is a job is to stand in court, representing the mad and the bad, the vulnerable, the heartbroken and the hopeful. She must become their voice: weave their story around the black and white of the law and tell it to the courtroom. These stories may not make headlines but they will change the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary ways. They are stories which, but for a twist of luck, might be yours.
To work at the Bar is to enter a world shrouded by strange clothing, archaic rituals and inaccessible language. So how does it feel to be an instrument of such an unknowable system? And what does it mean to be at its mercy?
With remarkable candour, Sarah describes eleven cases which reveal what goes on in our criminal and family courts. She examines how she feels as she defends the person standing in the dock. She tells compelling stories - of domestic fall out, everyday burglary, sexual indiscretion, and children caught up in the law - that are sometimes shocking and they are often heart-stopping. She also shows how our attitudes and actions can shape not only the outcome of a case, but the legal system itself.
And her book, In Your Defence (2018), asks us to consider, in our increasingly polarized world, what is truth, and what is justice.
About the author: Sarah Langford has been a practising barrister since 2006, both in London and around the country, principally in criminal and family law. She studied English at the University of the West of England. She worked as a barmaid, legal secretary and note-taking clerk before completing a law conversion, in which she gained a distinction. She was awarded a scholarship from Gray's Inn of Court and went on to train as a barrister. She lives with her husband and two small boys in London and Suffolk.
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
In Conversation With God: Daily Meditations Volume Two - Lent, Holy Week And Eastertide (Spiritual Devotion) by Father Francis Fernandez
Paperback: In Conversation with God: Daily Mediations Volume 2 - Lent, Holy Week And Eastertide (2012) consists of 96 meditations. It is part of the series which offers a meditation for each day of the year.
Man's highest aspiration is to be able to converse with Jesus - to pray.
In Conversation With God helps the reader to pray with piety and confidence. It is aimed not at the 'specialist' but is for the ordinary person - for the housewife, for the teacher, for the secretary, for the shop assistant and so on.
Following the thread of the Liturgy, this book gives many practical hints for deepening in one's relationship with God and those around one, improving one's character in and through daily work and family life. The author has clearly succeeded in not creating a straitjacket; rather the book, rich as it is in quotations from spiritual writers throughout the ages, is a source of open suggestions for daily meditation on every aspect of Christian life. Sales of this series, running to several hundred thousand copies in all the main languages, are a testimony to its popularity.
In Conversation With God is a translation of Hablar con Dios - Vol II first published in 1987 by Ediciones Palabra, Madrid, and in 1989 by Scepter with ecclesiastical approval.
About the author: Francis Fernandez Carvajal was born in Granada in 1938. A graduate in History from the University of Navarre, he also holds a doctorate in Canon Law from the Angelicum in Rome. He is a priest of the Opus Dei Prelature. Since his ordination in 1964, much of his pastoral ministry has been with university students. For more than ten years, he has been Editor of the monthly magazine PALABRA. Among his published works are an Anthology of texts (with more than 600 quotations from spiritual writers throughout the ages), Lukewarmness - the Devil in Disguise, and Commentaries on the Gospels of St Matthew and St Luke.
Tuesday, 26 March 2019
If You Seek Miracles: Reflections Of Saint Anthony Of Padua by Claude M Jarmak, OFM Conv
Paperback: Saint Anthony of Padua deserves to be rediscovered as a saintly teacher for our time. To meet this need, in splendid fashion, Father Claude M Jarmak, a Conventual Franciscan friar, responds in the pages of this book, If You Seek Miracles: Reflections Of Saint Anthony Of Padua (1998).
He helps us know Saint Anthony through the Saint’s own words, sharing his profound and engaging reflections on the teachings of Jesus. The Saint claimed that Sacred Scripture supplies us with answers for all important questions in our life: our origin, identity and destination. It is in this sense that each section of this book is entitled "Saint Anthony reflects on..." because not only are his thoughts presented, but so are the passages from Sacred Scripture that he used to verify and confirm his teachings.
No wonder Saint Francis of Assisi commissioned Saint Anthony to teach theology to his first Franciscan priests. No wonder people crowded churches to hear Saint Anthony's preaching. No wonder the reader will find this book an aid for reflective prayer, a resource for preaching and teaching, and a reference for Franciscan spirituality, and much more.
This is because Saint Anthony’s lively intellect and prayerful reading of the Gospel of Jesus open up fresh understanding of the parables and offer uplifting insights on topics which range from the Blessed Trinity through Mary, the Mother of God, to the means of holiness.
May the Holy Spirit use these pages to let Saint Anthony guide the reader more deeply into the truth and power of the Word of God.
About the author: Fr Claude Jarmak was born in Buffalo, New York on 20 August 1927. He became a Franciscan in 1946 and was ordained a priest in 1954. From 1976 to 1982, he was president and academic dean of St Hyacinth College and seminary in Granby, Massachusetts. From 1982 to 1986, Fr Jarmak lived at the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, Italy. Upon his return to the United States, he resumed teaching Latin and Franciscan studies at St Hyacinth. He was also a contributing writer to the Messenger of Saint Anthony, published in Padua, Italy, a magazine for which he wrote a series of articles on the saintliness and spirituality of Saint Francis and Saint Anthony until his death on 19 August 2001. Fr Jarmak is the author of three other books on St Anthony: Seek First His Kingdom, Praise to You, Lord, and Saint Anthony: Herald of the Good News.
Saturday, 23 March 2019
Friday, 22 March 2019
Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
Paperback: In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German industrialist grew into a living legend to the Jews of Kraków. He was a womaniser, a heavy drinker and a bon viveur, but to them he became a saviour.
This is the extraordinary story of Oskar Schindler, who risked his life to protect Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland and who was transformed by the war into a man with a mission, a compassionate angel of mercy.
This is an incredible story of huge risks and enormous gains, as Schindler defied and outwitted the SS to protect the beleaguered Jews who worked for him.
First published in 1982, Schindler's Ark became an international bestseller when it won the Booker Prize and was subsequently made into a multi-Oscar-winning film directed by Steven Spielberg.
About the author: Thomas Michael Keneally, AO, is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982, which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor. The book would later be adapted to Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Born in Sydney, Keneally was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, where a writing prize was named after him. He entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly, to train as a Catholic priest but left before his ordination. He worked as a Sydney schoolteacher before his success as a novelist, and he was a lecturer at the University of New England (1968–70). He has also written screenplays, memoirs and non-fiction books.
Keneally was known as "Mick" until 1964 but began using the name Thomas when he started publishing, after advice from his publisher to use what was really his first name. He is most famous for his Schindler's Ark (1982) (later republished as Schindler's List), which won the Booker Prize and is the basis of the film Schindler's List (1993). Many of his novels are reworkings of historical material, although modern in their psychology and style.
Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (based on his novel) and played Father Marshall in the Fred Schepisi movie, The Devil's Playground (1976) (not to be confused with a similarly-titled documentary by Lucy Walker about the Amish rite of passage called rumspringa).
In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He is an Australian Living Treasure.
He is a strong advocate of the Australian republic, meaning the severing of all ties with the British monarchy, and published a book on the subject in Our Republic (1993). Several of his Republican essays appear on the web site of the Australian Republican Movement.
Keneally is a keen supporter of rugby league football, in particular the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club of the NRL. He made an appearance in the rugby league drama film The Final Winter (2007).
In March 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, gave an autographed copy of Keneally's Lincoln biography to President Barack Obama as a state gift.
Most recently, Thomas Keneally featured as a writer in the critically acclaimed Australian drama, Our Sunburnt Country. Thomas Keneally's nephew Ben is married to the former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally.
He has won the Miles Franklin Award, the Booker Prize, the Los Angeles Times Prize, the Mondello International Prize and has been made a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library, a Fellow of the American Academy, recipient of the University of California gold medal, and is now the subject of a 55 cent Australian stamp. He has held various academic posts in the United States, but lives in Sydney.
Rating: 6/5
Thursday, 21 March 2019
Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Tuesday, 19 March 2019
An Appeal From Argentina: The Apparitions of San Nicolás (Spiritual) by Father René Laurentin
Paperback: I saw her and asked her what she wanted from me. At that moment, her image disappeared and the vision of a chapel came, so that I understood that the Holy Virgin wanted to be among us.
In September 1983, an ordinary woman from San Nicolás in Argentina, Gladys Quiroga de Motta, began to receive visions and later messages, from Our Lady, calling for a sanctuary to be built and for the world to take greater heed of the Word of God and the messages from her son Jesus.
The response by the people of Argentina has been phenomenal, with thousands of people making pilgrimages to the shrine on the 25th of each month (the anniversary of the first apparition), culminating in September, the anniversary of the date of the first apparitions.
The Bishop of San Nicolás, Mgr Castagna wholeheartedly supports Gladys and her visions, leading the pilgrimages, celebrating Mass, and overseeing the construction of the santuary. The apparitions were declared "worthy of belief" by the local ordinary Bishop Cardelli on 22 May 22 2016.
An Appeal from Argentina (1995) is translated from the Spanish by Anne Harriss and is dedicated to Our Lady. May She inspire her readers.
About the author: Father René Laurentin (1917-2017) was a French theologian. He is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost students of Mariology and is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles on topics including Marian apparitions such as Lourdes and Medjugorje; visionaries and mystics including Bernadette Soubirous, Thérèse de Lisieux, Catherine Labouré, and Yvonne Aimée de Malestroit; as well as biblical exegesis, theology, and Vatican II. Laurentin has received various awards and distinctions including the Marian Award of 1963 from the University of Dayton (1964), the Wlodzimierz Pietrzak Literary Award (1974), Italy’s National Catholic Culture Award (1996), Officer of the Legion of Honour (2002), and many other awards for his writing and contributions to Catholicism and Mariology
Friday, 15 March 2019
Life Of St Anthony Of Padua by Rev Father Ubaldus da Rieti OSF
Paperback: St Anthony of Padua confirmed several dogmas of the Catholic Faith by the force of wonder miracles:
1) . the real presence of Jesus Christ in the most Holy Eucharist
2) . the forgiveness of sins in the sacrament of Penance
3) . the sufferings of hell
4) . the glories of the blessed in heaven
5) . the Divine Providence in our spiritual as well as temporal necessities
6) . and the intercession of the saints.
By this is seen:
1) . the divine mercy in the amendment of sinners
2) . the justice of God in punishing the wicked
3) . and the wonderful effects of the omnipotent wisdom and goodness of God toward sinners.
Life Of St Anthony of Padua (2018) was first published in 1895.
Thursday, 14 March 2019
Malice (Detective Kaga Series) by Keigo Higashino
Paperback: Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he is planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver. His body is found in his office, a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis.
Or so it seems.
At the crime scene, Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga recognizes Hidaka's best friend, Osamu Nonoguchi. Years ago when they were both teachers, they were colleagues at the same public school. Kaga went on to join the police force while Nonoguchi eventually left to become a full-time writer, though with not nearly the success of his friend Hidaka.
As Kaga investigates, he eventually uncovers evidence that indicates that the two writers' relationship was very different that they claimed, that they were anything but best friends.
But the question before Kaga is not necessarily who, or how, but why.
In a brilliantly realized tale of cat and mouse, the detective and the killer battle over the truth of the past and how events that led to the murder really unfolded. And if Kaga is not able to uncover and prove why the murder was committed, then the truth may never come out.
Malice (2014) is the first and one of the bestselling - the most acclaimed - novels in Keigo Higashino's series featuring police detective Kyoichiro Kaga, one of the most popular creations of the bestselling novelist in Asia.
Malice is translated from the Japanese by Alexander O Smith with Elye Alexander.
About the author: Keigo Higashino is one of the most popular and biggest selling fiction authors in Japan, as well-known as James Patterson, Dean Koontz or Tom Clancy are in the USA.
Born in Osaka, he started writing novels while still working as an engineer at Nippon Denso Co (presently DENSO). He won the Edogawa Rampo Prize, which is awarded annually to the finest mystery work, in 1985 for the novel Hōkago (After School) at age 27. Subsequently, he quit his job and started a career as a writer in Tokyo.
In 1999, he won the Mystery Writers of Japan Inc award for the novel Himitsu (The Secret), which was translated into English by Kerim Yasar and published by Vertical under the title of Naoko in 2004. In 2006, he won the 134th Naoki Prize for Yōgisha X no Kenshin. His novels had been nominated five times before winning with this novel.
The Devotion of Suspect X was the second highest selling book in all of Japan - fiction or nonfiction - the year it was published, with over 800,000 copies sold. It won the prestigious Naoki Prize for Best Novel - the Japanese equivalent of the National Book Award and the Man Booker Prize. Made into a motion picture in Japan, The Devotion of Suspect X spent 4 weeks at the top of the box office and was the third highest-grossing film of the year.
Higashino’s novels have more movie and TV series adaptations than Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum, and as many as Michael Crichton.
About the translators: Alexander O Smith is founder of Kajiya Productions. He has been translating video games, novels, manga, and lyrics from Japanese to English professionally since graduating from Harvard University with a MA in classical Japanese literature in 1998. After working at Square Enix’s Tokyo offices for four years, he went freelance and is now based in the hills of Kamakura, Japan with occasional stints in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Alex has given talks and workshops on translation for groups, including the Tokyo branch of SCBWI (Society for Children’s Books Writers and Editors), several universities including Dartmouth College and the University of Vermont, and conventions, including PAX Prime and PAX East.
Elye Alexander is a freelance writer and part time editor with Kajiya Productions. A graduate of Harvard University (BA in English and American Literature and Language, 1994), his work with Kajiya includes regular editorial contributions to fiction and poetry projects. Elye's other interests include Welsh language and literature; speculative and literary fiction; poetry and drama in English and translation; song lyrics; and the martial arts. He also works as a custom builder.
Rating: 5/5
Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Mountain Of The Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident (Biography, Travel Literature) by Keith McCloskey
Paperback: In January 1959, ten experienced young skiers set out for Mount Otorten in the far north of Russia.
While one of the skiers fell ill and returned, the remaining nine lost their way and ended up on another mountain slope known as Kholat Syakhl (or 'Mountain of the Dead').
On the night of 1 February, something or someone caused the skiers to flee their tent in such terror that they used knives to slash their way out.
Search parties were sent out and their bodies were found, some with massive internal injuries but no external marks on them.
The autopsy stated the violent injuries were caused by 'an unknown elemental force'.
The area was sealed off for years by the authorities and the full events of that night remained unexplained.
Using original research carried out in Russia and photographs from the skiers' cameras, Keith McCloskey attempts to explain in his book, Mountain of the Dead (2013), what happened to the nine young people who lost their lives in the mysterious 'Dyatlov Pass Incident'.
About the author: Keith McCloskey grew up in Africa and has lived and worked in the Middle East, Africa and Argentina. Having had a lifelong interest in history and travel, he went to Ekaterinburg in Russia to search Mountain of the Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident (2013).
Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Season Of Repentance: Lenten Homilies Of Saint John Of Kronstadt
Paperback: Come, be healed. All are welcome to come now and throughout Great Lent. Christ Himself receives each and every one.
Each year we begin anew the journey to the radiant feast of Pascha, entering the season of repentance known as Great Lent.
The homilies presented in this modest volume, from one of the spiritual giants of the Orthodox Church of Russia, can both encourage and inform us in this struggle of the Fast.
For the first time a selection of St John's Lenten sermons is presented in English translation.
They follow the thematic structure of the Lenten season in the Orthodox Church, from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee through to Great and Holy Friday.
A sermon for St Thomas Sunday, that follows Holy Pascha, is offered as an Epilogue.
Season Of Repentance (Holy Trinity Monastery, 2015) is translated from the Russian by Sergio Tancredo Sette Câmara e Silva.
About the Saint: Ivan Ilyich Sergiev (1829-1908), known to his contemporaries as Fr John of Kronstadt, was the most revered figure of the Orthodox Church of Russia in the half-century leading up to the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. In 1964, the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia formally glorified him as a Saint. St John of Kronstadt is best known through his spiritual journal My Life in Christ, that have been read by millions.
About the translator: Sergio Tancredo Sette Câmara e Silva is a native of Brazil and a graduate of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, New York, USA. He is now a priest serving in South America.
Monday, 11 March 2019
The Life Of Teresa Of Jesus: The Autobiography of Teresa of Ávila
Paperback: St Teresa of Ávila's books were written at the command of her confessors, and she dreaded writing. At first, she thought herself much better off at the spinning wheel. Irked, she said, "For the love of God, let me work at my spinning wheel and go to choir and perform the duties of the religious life, like the other sisters. I am not meant to write. I have neither the health nor the intelligence for it." And she proceeded to write. The most natural and human and unstuffy, unbounded books that also happened to be filled with genius and mystical experience - God's self-disclosure, share. - Gertrud Mueller Nelson
The Life of Teresa of Jesus (1515-1582) by Herself is the autobiographical account of Saint Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, a prominent 16th century Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation.
In these pages is a life of "fire assuaged by water." Stream, rain, garden, enclosure - Teresa of Ávila uses these gentle images to tell the story of the life of her soul. But they are not alone. Flame, fire arrow, fuel - these passionate images complete this incomparable record of the spirit. Few have ever written of the love of God with such tender ferocity.
The time has come to consider anew this great sixteenth-century woman, Saint and Doctor of the Church. Like many of her writings her autobiography has a didactic tone as it intends to instruct the reader on how to live a more devout Christian life in the manner put forth by the Catholic Church.
A classic work of Christian mysticism, The Life of Teresa of Jesus is a must read for anyone seeking a more contemplative life and a closer and more spiritual connection with God through prayer and religious devotion.
It is a work of literary genius and heroic love.
It is the testimony of an epic life.
The Life Of Teresa Of Jesus is translated and edited from the Spanish by E Allison Peers.
About the Saint: Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582), also called St Teresa of Jesus, was a Spanish nun, one of the great mystics and religious women of the Roman Catholic Church, and author of spiritual classics. She was the originator of the Carmelite Reform, which restored and emphasized the austerity and contemplative character of primitive Carmelite life. St Teresa was elevated to Doctor of the Church in 1970 by Pope Paul VI, the first woman to be so honoured.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe: Knight of the Immaculata by Fr Jeremiah J Smith, OFM CONV
Paperback: Modern times are dominated by Satan and will be more so in the future. The conflict with Hell cannot be engaged by men, even the most clever. The Immaculata alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan. - St Maximilian Kolbe
St Maximilian Kolbe is famous as the saint of Auschwitz who volunteered to die of starvation and thirst in place of another prisoner. But his heroic death in 1941 in the worst of the Nazi concentration camps was only the culmination of an amazing life - for St Maximilian was fired by the supernatural ideal of conquering for Christ through Mary all souls in the entire world to the end of time!
Full of interesting stories, this little book describes his mischievous boyhood, his youthful prophetic vision of two crowns, his dream of matyrdom, his use of modern printing technology to further Our Lady's work, his agreement with St Thérèse of Lisieux, his "Cities of the Immaculata" (the one in Poland grew from 19 members to 762 and was the largest religious community in the world), his knowledge that he was fighting Satan, and his prison abuse for being a Catholic priest.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe: Knight of the Immaculata (1952) shows the amazing deeds which Our Lady will accomplish through a person who consecrates himself to her. It is a book to inspire many more Catholics to consecrate themselves to Mary Immaculate - confident that through them too she will do great things!
About the author: The Reverend Father Jeremiah J. Smith, O.F.M. CONV., was a priest and author of the twentieth century. His biography, Saint Maximilian Kolbe: Knight of the Immaculata, is full of fascinating tales of the saint's early youth, dream of martyrdom, and relationship with St. Thérèse of the Little Flower. Father Smith's book was originally published in 1952 by Conventual Franciscan Publications, New York, with the Nihil Obstat, Imprimatur, and Imprimi Potest. It was re-typeset and republished by TAN Books in 1998.
Friday, 8 March 2019
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Wednesday, 6 March 2019
Tuesday, 5 March 2019
Friday, 1 March 2019
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)