Denny's & Claire's NHN Reading Nominations for 2010

Yes, I know...The Book Den hasn't seen much activity over here this last year or so. Can't help it. All of my Vital Signs Ministries tasks, the increase in Vital Signs blog activity, and now preaching every Sunday at Faith Bible Church has taken away what time I formerly found to spend on Book Den posts.

Yes, yes...I'll try to find another hour in the day somewhere.

But, in the meantime, here's a new post to show how serious my resolution is. (Smile) It's the latest recommended reading list to be submitted to the Notting Hill Napoleons this weekend.

Denny’s & Claire’s Nominations for the 2010 NHN Reading List

1) All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren.
This landmark book is a loosely fictionalized account of Governor Huey Long of Louisiana, one of the most remarkable and controversial politicians in American history. The novel tells the story of Willie Stark, a popular but underhanded governor of a Southern state who effectively appeals to the common man while playing dirty politics with the best of the back-room deal-makers. However, his key assistant cannot shed his idealism so easily and the stormy relationship between the two form much of the novel’s tension. (456 pages. New $5. Several copies in OPL system.)

2) Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister.
This novel hasn’t been widely available until the Conservative Book Club printed a bunch a few years ago. We enjoyed Wister’s seminal Western novel earlier this year and so we suggest this story about life in the post Civil-War South. Using Charleston, South Carolina (renamed Kings Port) as a character in its own right, Wister describes the struggles of the ante-bellum Southern culture in the aftermath of a destructive, demoralizing war as well as the need of reconciliation with the victorious, arrogant and well-fed people of the Union. (422 pages. From $1-6 used.)

3) Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas.
Two decades have passed since the famous swordsmen triumphed over Cardinal Richelieu and M’lady in The Three Musketeers. Time has weakened their bodies a bit and dispersed them from one another. But treason and skulduggery still cry out for justice. Civil war soon endangers the throne of France while, in England, Cromwell threatens to send Charles I to the scaffold. It is in this firestorm that the immortal quartet comes out of retirement to cross swords once again with time, the malevolence of men, and the forces of history. (880 pages. New: $10.85. Used from $6. 4 copies in OPL.)

4) No Highway by Nevil Shute.
A new type of British airliner is flying into certain disaster high above the Atlantic. But one of the passengers aboard is a brilliant scientist who recognizes the fate that awaits. Or does he? This is Nevil Shute with his usual skill in human characterizations, dialogue, and thoughtfulness but with one of his most grippingly suspenseful stories. (280 pages. $6 used.)

5) The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.
"The stranger came early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow, the last snowfall of the year, over the down, walking as it seemed from Bramblehurst railway station and carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand." Thus begins one of the most chilling stories of all time, a short novel which we'll enjoy reading and which will have us talking about science, the social compact, friendship, secrecy, revenge and more. (208 pages in the Penguin Classics. $5 new. Used & library copies aplenty.)

6) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.
This was the fourth Dickens novel in the Napoleon Rota. We've been following the same pattern so far so why not continue? (736 pages. $5 for a new paperback copy. Used copies abound. Over a dozen copies in OPL.)

7) Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans.
"When I wrote my first novel, The Christmas Box, I never imagined it would become an international bestseller. It was a story for my two (then) little girls. But as I wrote, I realized that it was also for my mother -- to ease her pain over losing a child…When The Christmas Box hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, no one, including me, was more excited than my mother. I lost my mother on Valentine's Day of 2006. After weeks of struggling with my grief, I decided I would write a story for her. As she loved Christmas, I chose to write a Christmas novel, my first since The Christmas Box. Finding Noel is about how people come into our lives for a reason. It is a love story about Macy and Mark, two young people from different worlds. I'm sorry that this Christmas, for the first time since I became a writer, I won't be able to present my mother with a copy of my book. I think she would have enjoyed reading it. But, then again, I'm not certain that she hasn't. As you read Finding Noel, I hope that you enjoy the journey and feel the same powerful emotions I felt as the story came to me. Fondly, Richard Evans." (320 pages. $14 new. Used from $6. 17 copies in OPL.)

8) November 1916 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
With August 1914, Solzhenitsyn began his epic of the Russian Revolution, the finished version of which (The Red Wheel) he hoped to leave as his greatest and most important work. After 20 years, the second of the series is here. This is historical fiction at its very best. (1000 pages. New: $20.00. 3 copies in OPL.)

9) A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay.
This novel by the nearly-forgotten Scottish writer was published in 1920. It combines fantasy, philosophy, and science fiction in an exploration of the nature of good and evil. It has been described by critic and philosopher Colin Wilson as the "greatest novel of the twentieth century" and was a central influence on C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. We noticed it mentioned in Lewis’ preface to the 1961 edition of The Screwtape Letters and thought we might give it a go. (204 pages. $10 new. Some used copies are around.)

10) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.
Impoverished sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are sent (following the death of their father and the manipulations of a mean sister-in-law) to a little cottage in Devonshire where they adapt to their new situation, each other, and the entrance of eligible suitors. One of the sisters approaches life with practicality and restraint while the other is more...energetic and impetuous, thus giving Austen (a very young author then) opportunity to look at English country life, the aristocracy, love and courtship, and the development of individual personality from insightful and humorous angles. (220 pages. $5-7 for new copies. Used easily available and there’s over a dozen copies in the OPL system.)

11) The Steel Wave: A Novel of World War II by Jeff Shaara.
“This is the second volume of Shaara’s planned trilogy of novels dealing with America’s role in World War II in Europe. Here Shaara’s topic is D-Day, the Allied effort to begin the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe by amphibious landings on the coast of Normandy. With decades of hindsight, the success of the Normandy invasion may seem inevitable and a tribute to Allied forces. As Shaara’s fine novel illustrates, however, success was far from assured, and the planning fell short in numerous ways.” -- Jay Freeman. (528 pages. $16 new. Used copies will be showing up soon. 7 copies in the OPL system.)

12) The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain.
Costain was one of America’s most popular novelists in the early years of the 20th Century with this being his best selling book. Based on legends that have circulated from the earliest days of the Church, The Silver Chalice describes the life of Basil, the artisan who fashioned the silver chalice that held the sacred cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper. Following its publication in 1953, the Chicago Tribune said of the book, "Costain paints a tremendous canvas filled with color and vitality. . .He breathes life into history. But The Silver Chalice does more than this. It makes the New Testament, perhaps for the first time, seem real." (Doesn’t say much for the reviewer’s preacher and Sunday School teachers, does it?) Anyhow, similarly high praise comes from the woman who wrote the introduction to the latest edition, Peggy Noonan. (533 pages. New $11. Used from $1.25. 2 copies in OPL.)

13) Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
After a terrible fall from a horse in 1920, Margaret Mitchell’s health began to decline. In fact, by 1926, she had to resign from the Atlanta Journal where she had developed into a popular reporter. Fearing that she was becoming bored and depressed, her husband gave her a new Remington typewriter upon which was this challenging message, “Madam, I greet you on the beginning of a new career.” The result? Only the bestselling novel of all time, Gone with the Wind! It’s a long read, but hey - that’s part of its charm for the story, characters and writing are splendid enough to make you never want it to end. Gone with the Wind would make a terrific wintertime book. (1024 pages. New $8. Used from $1. Several copies in OPL.)

14) Fortune's Fool by Rafael Sabatini.
Published in 1922, the novel is set in Restoration London (1665) and concerns itself with the adventures (perhaps "misadventures" is the proper word) of a soldier of fortune who is struggling to deal with the hardships of...peace! The novel sparkles with witty dialogue, intrigue, romance, and the dangers of the plague. Will a possible war with Holland be Randal Holles’ deliverance or will his court enemies bring him down before then? And how will he fare with the gorgeous actress Sylvia Farquharson to whom he's lost his heart? (324 pages. $20 new. Used from $6.)

15) The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington.
This 1919 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel portrays the decline of the extravagantly affluent Amberson family, serving as a touching backdrop for the huge social changes America saw in the decades following the Industrial Revolution. Rather than join the modern age, George Amberson insists on remaining a "gentleman" and tries desperately to hang on to his own version of patrician pride. But his town soon becomes a city and the family palace becomes surrounded by industry, destroying the elegant, cloistered lifestyle enjoyed by the family in years gone by. A genuine masterpiece. (276 pages. New $13. Used from $5. 2 in OPL.)

16) Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
This Victorian bestseller, along with Braddon's other famous novel, Aurora Floyd, established her as the main rival of the master of the sensational novel, Wilkie Collins. And there's plenty to keep the reader turning pages here: mystery, blackmail, crime, secret passages, and a female protagonist that is anything but the usual demure heroine of 19th Century fiction. It's an exciting pot-boiler, fun even for those who normally find old novels difficult going. (496 pages, less if you don't read the new introduction. $8 new. $1 used.)

17) The Monastery by Sir Walter Scott
The novel is set in a turbulent period in Scottish history when the border area and its abbeys were the scene of a fierce rivalry for power. Catholics still held sway but the reformers were getting stronger as both clashed for control. Scott presents the two brothers Glendinning as the main characters, each man dedicated to the opposing faction. The book gives a vivid picture of life in a wild and lawless country. (412 pages. Easily available.)

18) Angels in Iron by Nicholas C. Prata.
"The year is A.D. 1565 and the tiny island fortress of Malta, defended by an anachronistic crusading order called the Knights of St. John Hospitallers, is all that stands between the war machine of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and the very heart of Christendom. Pitifully outmatched and against impossible odds, the indomitable Grand Master Jean Parisot de La Valette nevertheless inspires his knights to ‘strike a blow for Christ’ and sacrifice their lives to halt the invading Turks at the gates of Europe. What follows is a desperate struggle between East and West, Cross and Koran, faith and despair. Nicholas Prata relates the actual events of the Great Siege in riveting and graphic prose which brings the extreme heroism of the knights and the unimaginable horror of combat sharply into focus." (Aquinas and More web site.) (292 pages. $16.95 new. $12.00 used.)

19) No Name by Wilkie Collins.
This is Wilkie Collins at the height of his literary powers. It is the story of two sisters, Magdalen and Norah, who discover after the deaths of their dearly beloved parents that their parents were not legally married at the time of the girls’ births. Disinherited and ousted from their estate, Magdalen and Norah must fend for themselves and either surrender to their fate or recover their wealth by whatever means available. (784 pages. New from $10.25. Used from $3. 1 copy in OPL.)

20) We suggest in this last slot a re-reading. After all, we have thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from re-reading Charles Dickens, we think re-visiting some of the Napoleon’s best reads would be rich indeed. Our suggestions? Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Hugo’s Les Miserables, or Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago.

Bardelys The Not-So-Magnificent

One doesn’t have to love a novel’s protagonists in order to find the book interesting, informative and in other ways, worthwhile.

But if those protagonists are as vain, self-centered and undisciplined as Sieur Marcel de Saint-Pol, the Marquis of Bardelys, and his would-be love, Roxalanne de Lavedan, are in Rafael Sabatini’s Bardelys The Magnificent, the reading for most will be as tense and frustrating as it may be enjoyable.

The novel is set at the "height" of the French aristocracy under Louis XIII. In fact, the King himself is a key character in the action. The stimulus to the plot (one not nearly so adventurous as most created by Sabatini) is a wager between drunken, headstrong rivals. Chatellerault, recently rebuffed by the lovely Roxalanne, goads Marcel Bardelys into risking his entire fortune on the chance of winning Roxalanne as his bride. The dare is taken with confidence. After all, Marcel is hailed by all of France (including himself) as the absolute master of seduction. He is a handsome, accomplished and charming rogue with a somewhat scandalous reputation that only serves to increase his winsome powers.

But Marcel soon finds that he’s met his match in Roxalanne. Through a coincidence every bit as audacious as one that might have thought out by Dickens, Bardelys is taken into the Lavedan estate. But he is embraced for someone he is not. And there the problems begin to multiply.

Marcel's wooing of the maid under false pretenses turns tragic when he realizes he has finally fallen into the snares of love himself. Honor and duty require one course of him but his smitten heart argues for another. At this point the reader is still willing to suspend his disfavor of the aristocracy enough to be attracted to the two protagonists. But events alter (or, perhaps better to say, reveal) their characters. And before the novel closes, there will be a dramatic unveiling, an astoundingly mean act of jealousy, an unjust trial presided over by Marcel's cunning and vindictive enemy (a really nicely-painted bad guy), and more. But don't fret; these all lead to a relatively happy ending.

But again, the difficulty in evaluating the novel is those petty personalities who star as its heroes. I mean, mistakes and character flaws can be overlooked -- but being so disappointed in romance that you turn your would-be husband over to the executioner? Yipes! Or savagely beating a loyal servant nearly to death because he unwittingly got in the way of your plans? Yipes again! No, the protagonists never redeemed themselves in my eyes and, to tell the truth, by the end of the story I was rather pleased to have done with them.

Howver...a couple of hours after I had put the book down, I found my mind wandering back over several scenes and characters, haunted by a new question that I’ll admit I hadn’t entertained at all during the reading. It was this: Had Rafael Sabatini wanted this reaction from me all along? Had he created a suspenseful page-turner, one that showed the same creative genius of his many other works, but one carefully designed to elicit the reader’s disgust with the egotism, the hedonistic excesses and the moral shallowness of the aristocrats who lorded over France in the 17th Century?

If so, Sabatini certainly delineated them much more cleverly, more subtly than the stock characterizations used by most authors whose sympathies lay with the Revolution. It was a fascinating possibility. Was Sabatini trying to give his readers a more realistic appraisal of the nobility of that time – descriptions which did not at all hide their sins but which neither put on them devil’s horns?

Was even the title a clue; namely, that we were not to take at face value that Bardelys was in any way Magnificent, save in his own purse and his own estimations?

On pondering the novel these last couple of weeks, I rather think that’s exactly what Sabatini was suggesting. And that, as you might guess, has made a world of difference in my estimation of it. Instead of my dismissing Bardelys The Magnificent as one of Sabatini’s lesser works, I'm now more likely to regard it as one of his most inventive and profound.

To check myself, I'm planning on reading it a second time fairly soon, perhaps this winter. I'll see how it resonates then.

Now, I should emphasize that believing this particular theory will still not make Bardelys The Magnificent an entertaining read, I don’t think. Not like Dumas or Scott or even most other Sabatini. The enjoyment of this Sabatini, I think, will be more like to what you get when you read Shakespeare, Dostoevsky (no, not that dark) or Waugh.

But whatever else, Bardelys The Magnificent is a novel which, in addition to an eventful story, will give keen insights into culture, the human soul and an intriguing era in European history.

By the way, if you're the kind of person who likes cinematic versions of great novels, you might be interested in the silent film version directed by the esteemed King Vidor back in 1926. It starred John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman.

And the guard that shows up there in the background as a bit player? You're right. That's John Wayne.

Give Me "Liberty and Tyranny"

It may be superfluous for me to recommend Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny. After all, the book has been #1 on the bestseller list for over 4 months. Nevertheless, I’ll join the chorus of high praise. It is a well-written, carefully-documented and critically-timely book, one which illustrates the immense differences between traditional conservatives and liberal Statists on issues of federalism, the free market, Constitutional authority, immigration, environmental concerns and more.

We discussed Liberty and Tyranny a couple of weeks ago at one of our regular Vital Signs Book It! meetings. There were a few of the regulars missing but John and Barb, Matt, Allen and Cindy, Claire and I were on hand – all of us expressing admiration and appreciation for this important book. They join me in recommending it.

The book serves as a history, an exposé, a philosophic review and a profound apologetic for Judeo-Christian values as applied to politics and culture. The book closes with a chapter entitled “A Conservative Manifesto” that outlines those principles and action steps that are most crucial to the protection of America’s best interests and highest calling.

Liberty and Tyranny provides plenty of stimulation for old guard conservatives but it is also a superb education for “converts” and young readers too. In fact, I’ve heard several accounts of how warmly received the book has been by college students and even home-school kids. That’s good news for I can’t think of a more effective political primer.

Beginning next week over on Vital Signs Blog, I’ll be offering “A Week of Liberty” which will feature one of Mark Levin’s observations from Liberty and Tyranny each day. If you’ve already ready the book, you can compare the passages I select with those you might have chosen.

And if you haven’t read it…well, just maybe those gems will be enough to swing the deal.

Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark R. Levin is published by Threshold Editions and is available here and a lot of other places. (Levin is also the author of Men in Black, an excellent political review of the Supreme Court. For more on that title, see this brief Book Den post from... wow...is it four years ago already?)

When Musis Was Music...And Still Is

Kenny Vance (original member of Jay and the Americans and now going strong with Kenny Vance and the Planotones) still sings classic rock because he loves it so.

And singing it like he does makes the rest of us love it too.

Two Poems By Bill Coker

Bill Coker, husband and dad, newly retired teacher, musician and composer, intercessor and worship leader, pro-lifer and missions supporter, poet and a well-balanced connoisseur of life...is also a longtime member of the Notting Hill Napoleonsa and, Claire and I are really pleased to say, a good friend.

Here's a couple of Bill's poems that I think you'll find most provocative.

SUNDAY BEST

I had read all about triumphal entries
with garments—precious garments
in days before washers or dry cleaners—
strewn like palm branches on the road
for a borrowed burro to soil,
but when I saw him striding
smiling towards me with open arms,
saw blood on his forehead, his side,
his hands, my heart leapt at the thought
of what this blood could do—would do—
to my navy blazer, my white shirt, my striped tie,
and I balked, lowered my eyes
and watched dust settle
over the shine
of my wing-tip shoes.

BEIGE AND BLUE

“Ann would’ve loved this,” you say,
as we drive from the cemetery, flanked
by close-cropped bean fields and snaggled
corn stalks still dazed by the late harvest.

“Beige was her favorite color.” Our dust
catches up with us at the stop sign and rolls
on through. Above the shoulders of the highway,
prairie grass whispers to weathered fence posts

and cattail-filled ditches. A linen cloud
stretches in long folds like a shroud cast aside.
The sun is a honeycomb spreading
warm, sweet light along the horizon.

Beneath the deepening sky, we pull out,
turning toward the river where another
dawn will come to sparkle the waters.
“Beige,” you repeat. “Beige and blue.”

The Dangerous Scam That Is Modern Sex Education

Dr. Miriam Grossman, author of the ground-breaking book, Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness Endangers Every Student, has a new one that should be a must read for all parents -- and, for that matter, anyone whose taxes go to support the socially destructive curricula prominent in the public schools.

If you think sex education as conducted by schools and influential, tax-supported organizations is still about the birds and the bees, you'd better think again. And then dare to read Dr. Grossman's latest, You're Teaching My Child What?: A Physician Exposes the Lies of Sex Ed and How They Harm Your Child.

In this alarming exposé, psychiatrist and expert on sexual education, Dr. Grossman describes how today's sex ed programs are not based on science at all. Indeed, they ignore basic science (including those truths crucial to a person's physical health, emotional stability and social development) to serve up instead a dangerous mix of liberal lies and politically correct propaganda.

You're Teaching My Child What? is published by Regnery Publishing. And its 256 pages, fresh off the presses just this week, are available for less than $17. It's a wise investment.

"Is Shakespeare Dead?" Dramatized

Dr. Keir Cutler performs (and performs very well!) Mark Twain's "Is Shakespeare Dead?" debunking the myth that the Stratfordian actor wrote the great works of William Shakespeare.

Unplugging Secularism: An Evangelical Appreciation of Fr. Val Peter’s "Seven Secular Challenges Facing 21st-Century Catholics"

Perhaps I’m not the most likely person to review a book written by a Roman Catholic priest, a book whose very title emphasizes the author’s audience to be American Catholics. After all, I am an evangelical, the director for nearly 30 years of an evangelical organization and the teaching pastor of Faith Bible Church, a small evangelical congregation in south Omaha, Nebraska. What on earth could Fr. Val Peter’s Seven Challenges Facing 21st-Century Catholics say that would be of interest, let alone personal benefit, to me?

The answer is...plenty! Indeed, I found the book one of the clearest and most helpful books on practical theology I’ve read in some time. Well-researched, well-written and full of the wise insights that Fr. Val Peter is known for, Seven Secular Challenges Facing 21st-Century Catholics is a valuable resource for any Christian who desires to effectively stand against the onslaughts of postmodern culture. Catholics, of course, will find it a gem of particular relevance. But, any Christian who appreciates a bold, perceptive analysis of modern secularism will find it an important read. And yes, Fr. Peter doesn't just curse the darkness; he provides practical, hopeful ways to counteract secularism’s influence upon you, your family and your church congregation.

The value of the book did not come as a surprise. As a esteemed professor at Creighton University, an author and speaker and, of course, the Executive Director of Boys Town, Fr. Val Peter’s inspirational impact has been substantial and well known. But more to the point, I have had the honor of knowing Fr. Peter as a friend and fellow pro-life advocate for many years. I’ve read his stuff, heard him speak and seen him in action. So when I picked up Seven Secular Challenges on a visit to the Boys Town gift shop, I bought it with a confident assumption that it would prove more than worthwhile.

I was right.

Seven Secular Challenges has ambitious goals; beginning with the investigation of seven distinct themes of modern secularism: lack of respect for authority, "uncritical openness," cynicism, truncated ideology, "learned helplessness," anti-intellectualism, and an enveloping atmosphere of political correctness. The largest part of the book concerns the loss of authority in the West and how the influences of Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and, on a more popular level, figures like Benjamin Spock and Robert Schuller have weakened the traditional, biblically-centered authority heretofore granted to parents, statesmen and clergy. These writers derided external authorities as outdated obstacles to self-realization, self-fulfillment and even social progress.

Fathers, for instance, were told they needed to be less authoritative and directive; they needed to be more like buddies to their children. Statesmen were instructed to create an increasingly enveloping government, a nanny-state in which citizens were promised more entitlements -- but at the price of less freedom and personal responsibility.

Even clergy succumbed to the new ethos. As Fr. Peter explains, "Since church leaders do not live in a vacuum-sealed container, environmental reinforcement is as strong in their lives as elsewhere. They live in a society that bombards them with continual exhortations to quit preaching sin and just make people feel good by being pastoral."

But these ideas haven’t worked. Society is worse off because of secularist influences, not better.

The answer to this socially-destructive erosion of authority is to re-orient oneself to the fixed truths of divine revelation and to again embrace the God Who is not only the font of all wisdom but of all love and grace. Living life according to the "design specs" given by a masterful, merciful Designer yields true fulfillment. And so thoughtful submission to authentic authority (leaders who are careful to serve under the Lordship of Jesus Christ) is the path of genuine liberation.

But Fr. Peter is strong on insisting that those leaders prove themselves in order to merit (not merely demand) the trust of others. "The remedy for misguided trust in authority figures is to insist on purification, reform and renewal. This starts with developing a set of realistic criteria for trusting those who are in power. Start by replacing unconditional trust in religious leaders with merited trust. This constitutes a monumental change in our expectations. Jesus told us that ‘you know them by their fruits’ (Matt 7:20). A person does not consult a doctor without asking others about the doctor’s reputation. If we do this with physicians why not do the same with our religious leaders?"

What is called for then is what Fr. Peter calls selective openness – a humility that is willing to receive the guidance of authorities but which yet exercises discrimination and moral judgment. When these are properly balanced, one’s freedom is actually enhanced.

Among the many things I appreciated in Seven Secular Challenges was the thoroughness of Fr. Peter’s evaluations. He has sound, biblically-documented arguments that even evangelicals will find insightful and instructive. And he is refreshingly direct in his exhortations. He doesn’t pull his punches. Nor does he aim them at straw men. And Fr. Peter knows the immense stakes involved in this philosophic contest. He understands, for instance, the terrible breadth of the culture of death about which John Paul II and other prophets warned us. It’s abortion and euthanasia. It’s embryonic stem cell experimentation and genetic engineering. But it’s also divorce, adultery, aberrant sexuality, the abuse and neglect of children, the desensitization of conscience and, particularly due to mass media, the disengagement of the person from real life.

But, as I mentioned, beyond Fr. Peter's penetrating analysis (and critique) of the origins, salient features, and general impact of these seven faces of secularism, he goes further by carefully explaining ways in which individuals and families can overcome them in the power, wisdom and joy of the Holy Spirit. The book thus provides not merely a sobering experience but ultimately a most uplifting one -- somewhat like a tough but effectively motivating half-time talk.

We’ve been taking it on the chin from a very aggressive secularism for quite a while now. So, isn’t it past time to start fighting back -- wisely, winsomely and with a new spirit of dedication? Fr. Val Peter’s Seven Secular Challenges to Facing 21st-Century Catholics presents an inspirational game plan to accomplish those very purposes.

Seven Secular Challenges to Facing 21st Century Catholics (185 pages, $17.95) is published by Paulist Press, 2009.

A Re-Opening Celebration?

Do I dare disturb the silent dust over here at The Book Den in order to put a new post on the shelves?

Actually, I've already explained earlier today to the visitors of Vital Signs Blog why I haven't made it over here in a long time.

But then I hinted that I might show up once in awhile after all.

So, here goes -- I'll dust the tomes, run the vacuum, open the windows, and put a brand new post in the shop window. I'll even select a cleaner, crisper template to show off the place.

And then I'll put up a new post that will match the same theme; namely, by "cleaning up" the pile of books I've read since that last entry way back in January.

Let's start then with January. In addition to those I had already written about (Check with Chip on Stem Cell Research by Chip Maxwell, Ozzie by Ozzie Nelson and the Dostoevsky material), I also enjoyed Lowell Thomas' Pageant of Life, H. Rider Haggard's Cleopatra and Fr. Val Peter's Seven Secular Challenges Facing 21st Century Catholics. The star of those books was certainly Fr. Peter's and I'll post here a more detailed review in a couple of days.

From February into April I re-read a couple dozen of my favorite mysteries , some poetry and several GK Chesterton articles and stories. I also managed to fit in a re-reading of Owen Wister's The Virginian, Ann Coulter's Guilty, Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and a re-reading of C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet.

With May comes lawn and garden work (plus other summer pleasures) and so my reading tends to be scaled back a bit. Plus this year my Mom has needed quite a bit of attention. That's cool -- she's worth a lot more than a book! Still May did allow a reading of Nevil Shute's Landfall and a re-reading of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

For June it was The Faith by Chuck Colson and and Harold Fickett, You Know Me, Al by Ring Lardner, The Rising Tide by Jeff Shaara and and a re-reading of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I followed that up in July with my 4th time round with Tolkien's trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King).

Still to come in July is Bardelys the Magnificent by Rafael Sabatini which I have to get read by Friday night's Notting Hill Napoleons' meeting. Yipes.

So there we are. The clean up is over and The Book Den is officially re-opened.

Stem Cell Research -- In Plain Language

The Hartford living room was bright with a glowing fire and spirited conversation last Monday night as the Maleks (John & Barb), the Nelsons (Allen & Cindy), Matt Troutman, Chet Thomas, Karla Struble, and Claire and I gathered for Vital Signs Ministries' latest Book It! discussion. The book we had read was the brief (but intellectually bounteous) Check with Chip on Stem Cell Research by lawyer, former Nebraska state senator and Douglas County commissioner, and now Executive Director of the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research, Chip Maxwell.

I gave a brief description of the book when I recommended it back in September over on Vital Signs Blog but let me add here that Monday night's discussion certainly proved it to be every bit as valuable and provocative as I forecast.

Chip Maxwell is a gifted communicator: concise, clear, authoritative, engaging and witty. And he's courageously forthright (an increasingly rare virtue among conservatives) because he knows the scientific facts back up his case.

Most important of all, what Chip does in this 96-page book is skillfully break down the jargon and the hype which so often surround the issue of stem cell research and, instead, presents the issues in a careful, easy to understand way. And everyone agreed the other night, he does it very well indeed.

The format he uses to accomplish this is that of a radio broadcast (Chip hosted a call-in radio show here in Omaha where he dealt with such subjects) and this approach allows him to show how the case against embryonic stem cell and for adult stem cell research (both critically important) can be effectively, relevantly presented by anyone. Yes, anyone. You don't have to be a scientist to understand these things nor do you have to be a Perry Mason to refute the arguments coming from the other side.

But you do have to get the basic facts down. (That's easier than what you might think.) And then it's also good to pick up tips from as able a communicator as Chip Maxwell. That's why all nine of us at the Book It! discussion the other night enthusiastically endorse for your reading Check with Chip on Stem Cell Research.

You can order the book (only $10) right here.

And the next in line for the Book It! series? Ann Coulter's Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America. The discussion will take place on the second Monday evening in March. If you'd like to be a part, terrific. Read the book and zip us a line at vitalsigns@vitalsignsministries.org