Review: Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this sequel to The Shining, although I had to get over the new Danny Torrance as a grownup, drunk, lousy human being.

Alcoholics Anonymous figures prominently in the story, and at times it reads like King wrote the novel to fulfill one of the Twelve Steps.

But the story is well-plotted (as always with King) with memorable characters, and the idea of the True Knot, with the evil Rose the Hat as their leader, was frightening.

I found the story to be an entertaining read. Like most Stephen King novels, you don't come away any smarter, but you're rarely disappointed with the time you spent in his company.

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My TOB-Based Fiction

Today I thought I'd share with you my TOB-based fiction. These works range from novella to novel length, and the degree of TOB (Theology of the Body) content varies from work to work.

For those who might not know what the TOB is, I'll try to sum it up as simply as I can: the TOB is a theology developed by Pope St. John Paul II in the 1980's through a series of Wednesday Audience addresses (the traditional day that the Pope addresses the faithful in St. Peter's Square, in Rome. Usually, the Popes deliver a series of lectures on a specific topic. Pope Francis is currently discussing families.

But back to John Paul II. With an inspired look at the Gospels, JP II developed his Theology of the Body a couple of decades ago. The theology is only beginning to be understood by different clerics and theologians. Part of the problem stems from the fact that JP II was a philosophy student back in his college days, and his favorite style of philosophy was, as it happens, the same as my own field of study: Existential Phenomenology.

This is a difficult type of philosophy to understand and to use and a tool: it mainly uses the dialectical method, (cf. Hegel, et al) and it involves positing the existence of the real world objects (not an obvious thing in philosophy) and trying to find Truth by examining the subject's interplay between concepts and their corresponding real world entities.

As Edmund Husserl pointed out, this is most easily done by using a process of "enframing" where the object studied is framed, set apart from its everyday relations in/with the world, in order to better understand it. I applied this theory to works of art, since my major was Phenomenological esthetics.

Pope JP II did the same with the theological implications of the relations between men and women, in order to better understand (and develop) a more authentic understanding and way of being in-the-world. He later referred to this theory as the Theology of the Body. It is a beautiful, Bible-based examination of human relations, with a special emphasis on the sacrament of marriage, using the Phenomenological method for analysis and exposition.

In my fiction (particularly in my romances) I use a very rudimentary understanding of the TOB to show how men and women can, and should, fall in love with each other, while respecting each other's body and soul. So, premarital sex and one-night stands and hookups are verboten, since a person does not show basic fundamental respect for one's love interest in acting/using them in that way.

Do my characters show passion? Emotions? You bet they do. They love each other! Do they desire each other? Yep! But they also respect themselves and their loved ones. In fact, one of the Amazon reviewers of Down By Contact, my sports-themed romance novella, complained that I've misleadingly presented the story as a Christian romance, but that the characters' physical interaction gets pretty hot. Of course they are excited to be in each other's company! They're human, after all. And they're physically attracted to each other. But they use restraint and decide to get to know each other before getting more intimate. One of the characters explains why, and the other one eventually accepts his decision. And she can't help but feel more loved, instead of simply being used for sex.

So, having gone into such a lengthy explanation, here are my current TOB works.Check around at different retailers, some of them might be free (although, due to regulations out of my control, none of them are free at Amazon. Kindle readers can download them from Smashwords):

Down By Contact (a football-themed romance)

St. Nicholas (a Christmas-themed short story)

The Betrothal (an art-based novella on van Eyck's The Betrothal painting)

The Well (not directly a TOB work, but an inspirational story)

Sprainter (a young adult, sci-fi, art-based, dystopian, romance novella)

The Wedding Scheme (an art-based romantic comedy novel).

These are all available here and everywhere e-books are sold:

http://www.amazon.com/JT-Therrien/e/B00B27D94Y

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jttherrien

I hope people will take a look at some of the stories and let me know what they think.

~JT~

Review: Make Something Up: Stories You Can't Unread

Make Something Up: Stories You Can't Unread by Chuck Palahniuk
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Up front, I'm a huge Chuck Palahniuk fan, so it's no surprise that I loved this eclectic collection of short stories.

The collection features the "typical" Palahniuk heart-wrenching plots and odd characters.

I especially loved "Romance" which is available online, read by Palahniuk himself. I think it should be considered for an O. Henry award.

For readers who have never read Fight Club or anything else by Palahniuk (my favorite novel is Rant), I would recommend this sampler. If you like these stories, you'll love just about everything else he's written. And if you've read everything else by Palahniuk (and love his edgy writing), then you'll love these stories too.

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Review: The Sea

The Sea by John Banville
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Once again, the Man Booker Prize selection committee does not disappoint!

I loved this wonderful story about a tortured man trying to cope with the depth (and breadth) of his anguish. I'm also thankful to Banville for introducing the artist Bonnard to me. Impressionism is not my favorite style, but I would love to see some of these paintings in an exhibit. Like Banville's story, the paintings present indecipherable slices of ephemeral dreams, gossamer realities, where the interloper wonders about her place in the world, as does narrator Max.

And lovers of language will re-read many of Banville's beautifully crafted sentences.

The Sea was my first John Banville novel, but I look forward to reading many more!

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Review: Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ of the Holy Father Francis : On Care for Our Common Home

Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ of the Holy Father Francis : On Care for Our Common Home by Pope Francis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I understand that the Church (and especially Pope Francis, taking his name from St. Francis) has to make a formal statement about the Church's social doctrine and this is the optimum time to say something about the pastoral care of our planet and its varied cultures and denizens, but I question the efficacy of disseminating this message in an encyclical.

First of all, Laudato Si' could use an edit. It is at least twice as long as it needs to be. I found it repetitive and tedious.

Also, the Pope's message is intended for everyone, yes, but he mostly addresses the issues of two social groups: the disenfranchised poor and the consumer/capitalist-oriented rich; the haves and the have-nots; first-world and third-world peoples. The main problem is that these two groups have different lived experiences and so speak different languages. For example: what do people in North America know about digging through mountains of garbage to find the day's food? What do third world people know about shopping at Wal-Mart and being faced with the "choice" of thirty different chewing gums?

I fear that each group will only be able to relate to their own situation and, as the Pope warns, the poor (who have no political clout) will continue to suffer for the rich's selfish consumerism.

The text had barely been released and critics (American media) were already criticizing the encyclical's communist-leaning themes. So much for the worldwide collaborative effort to eliminate the problem at the geo-political level.

The Church does not need yet another document outlining its social doctrine, or bemoaning the destructiveness of miss-used technology. The track record speaks for itself, especially in Gaudium et Spes - the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World.

Sadly, as far as the issue of the Earth's care is concerned, no dire words of warning issued from the Vatican (a moral voice that even many misinformed Catholics are ignoring more and more these days) will create the necessary economic or social revolution.

Consumers will simply not delay instant gratification for a 'possible' environmental change to be enjoyed by a 'possible' future generation.

Pope Francis, and all idealists, welcome to the future: it is now.


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Review: Searching for and Maintaining Peace: A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart

Searching for and Maintaining Peace: A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart by Jacques Philippe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book doesn't crack my Top Five Essential Catholic Books to Read, but I would put it in sixth or seventh spot. This is the first book/treatise by Father Jacques Philippe that I've read, but I will be reading many more. Searching for and Maintaining Peace is a book that does exactly what it says it will do. I enjoyed Fr. Philippe's straightforward commonsense, yet profoundly theological, style and approach to finding peace and maintaining it both in everyday life and in a Catholic context. Explaining and understanding the issue of sin is fundamental to his treatise. Fr. Philippe is not a Carmelite, but he draws time and again from St. Thérèse, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. I highly recommend this short treatise to anyone who might be interested in deepening their Catholic spirituality.

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Book Review - The Hidden Treasure

The Hidden Treasure: Holy Mass (with Supplemental Reading: Novena of Holy Communions) [Illustrated] by St. Leonard of Port Maurice
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In this book St. Leonard argues against the common view expressed in the sentiment: "What's one more Mass, more or less?"

He presents numerous arguments why it does make a difference, and why the believer should attend as many Masses as possible for the safety and care of his/her soul.

Along with these arguments, the small book contains prayers and acts, along with a novena.

Besides prayers to pray during the Mass (Chapter IV) there is also a chapter on spiritual exercises in preparation for Holy Communion and Confession (Chapter V). Chapter VI lays out a program of rules for living well.

This book is definitely worth reading, but if you don't already attend Mass every day, St. Leonard probably won't convince you to change your ways - although, who knows, the reader might be convinced to attend more than once a week on Sundays.

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