It’s been a year since I have done a review for The Catholic Company.  And I’ve had this book that entire time, which is why I said no more blogging until I got these reviews done.  It’s time.

I started to read The Godless Delusion: A Catholic Challenge to Modern Atheism (a year ago), but it made my head hurt, so I stopped.  It’s not the book’s fault.  I’m very out of practice with anything intellectual written for adults, spending so much of my time reading my children’s school books.  Algebra is pretty much my biggest challenge nowadays, and, for me, that’s as difficult as yawning.

I pulled it off the shelf about a month ago and made myself read it, one section at a time, as I sat in my daughters’ room enforcing quiet so Mary could fall asleep.  It still made my head hurt, because exercising seldom-used muscles is painful, but after doing it for a while, it didn’t hurt quite as much.

I love this book.  I fear that when called upon to utilize anything I gained from this book, I will fail, but then I will just say, “I have a book for you to read.”  One thing I did walk away with was this: it’s not my responsibility to prove that God exists, rather it is an atheist’s job to rationalize his worldview which really cannot be done.

The authors, Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley, do a great job of patiently explaining why atheism is not a natural, logical extension of a scientific inquiry, but rather is firmly rooted in blind faith and, unlike a Christian worldview, is full of contradictions and magic-wand waving.  “Don’t look at the man behind the curtain,” they say, while the Christian says, “That’s God behind the curtain!  Isn’t He marvelous!”

The atheistic worldview is so prevalent is today’s society that I’m hard-pressed to think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit by having a copy of this book.  Certainly any parent with teens or young adults in their lives should know how to counter the Darwinist/naturalism propaganda in which any of the natural sciences are steeped. I know that I would have benefited from reading this book when I was a teenager.  Perhaps it might have saved me a decade or so of angst.

This book is charitable enough that a budding atheist or a confused and defensive young intellectual can be handed it for private reading.  I do not think anyone who suffers extensively from pride will make it through, but those who do make it and who are seriously looking for truth will be given some not-very-easily dismissed arguments in favor of a Divine Creator.  For anyone who finds himself practicing backyard-barbeque and water-cooler apologetics, this book will definitely help you put the atheist on the defensive.

One final note: my 3 year old loved the cover of this book.  She found it amusing, perplexing, insane.  Every time she saw it, she had to talk about it.  “Why is he doing that, Mommy?”  “He’s going to get hurt, Mommy!”  “Mommy, that man is so silly!”  It’s a great cover…perfect.

I received this book for free from The Catholic Company in exchange for my honest review. If you blog and would like to be a Catholic Company reviewer and receive free books (they don’t pressure you to do your reviews quickly, I assure you), then check out this link.

Last December I reviewed a children’s book by Anthony DeStefano, Little Star.  Several months ago, Mr. DeStefano sent me another of his books to read.  I just pulled out the letter he sent, and I’m happy to see it doesn’t have a date on it, so I don’t know how embarrassed I should be about how long it has been sitting on my desk, waiting.  I read the book right away; I just didn’t blog about it.

Unlike Little Star, The Invisible World is not a children’s book.  Subtitled Understanding Angels, Demons and the Spiritual Realities That Surround Us, this book explains the Catholic Church’s teachings of God’s other creatures who were given free will.  Although I do not consider myself ignorant of the world of angels and demons, Mr. DeStefano managed to keep my attention, present new information, and provide a unique perspective on topics to which I had merely given cursory thoughts.  For example, although I pray daily to my guardian angel and have some very concrete examples of times he has helped me, I really had not considered that he would have a unique personality, just as we humans do.

I especially recommend this book to anyone who has little knowledge of angels and the spiritual world and who would like a reliable, Catholic resource.

If you would like to get a free copy of the book for yourself, leave a comment and I will select one person randomly.  Mr. DeStefano offered me a copy to one of my readers, but if that had a time limit which has expired, I will buy a copy myself.

Updated to add a deadline to leave a comment: I’ll randomly pick a name on Thursday morning, Sept 1st.

It’s not very PC to consider yourself a drinker.  Alcohol has a bad rap, and its consumption is best kept to a minimum in public and polite society.  Think I’m joking?  Not too long ago, at a military ball, an official announcement was made that anyone who had had anything at all to drink had better not be driving.  In part, perhaps, it was done to legally cover their rear ends in case someone was irresponsible and reckless.  But honestly, I get the sense that many people really mean it.  It didn’t matter that dinner was served and possibly hours would pass from the time one might imbibe and one might then drive.  The implied rule is that your BAC had better be ZERO if you intend to drive.

I’m certainly not in favor of drunk driving, and I think we need to be cautious and responsible.  But Bill and I went to dinner last night and each of us nursed a drink – he had a Bass Ale and I had a Strongbow Cider – and I didn’t even consider that he wasn’t fit to drive.  I certainly felt fine myself.  But more often than not, if out with others, I drink water and he hands me the keys.

In The Adventures of Beer Man, Eric Scheske tackles this neo-Prohibitionist mentality with humor and logic.  Roy Tate seems like a nice, mild-mannered fellow.  Secretly, though, he battles the forces of Puritanism, Debauchery and Rastafarianism disguised as Beer Man, who hands out free beers at social events that need a little kick in the pants.  Beer Man doesn’t want everyone to get drunk; he merely wants everyone to have a good time. 

This is not a message in favor of hedonism, a self-gratifying indulgence.  Rather, Beer Man shows that the art of drinking leads to good for others as well.  Drinking a few beers will make you more charitable, less likely to quarrel with your neighbor, more likely to sit a spell and have a pleasant conversation, and more likely to be friendly with strangers you would otherwise ignore.  In other words, proper drinking makes you more sociable and being more sociable means being a better neighbor and being a better neighbor means being more the way God intended us to be.  Drinking makes us virtuous.

It’s a message that won’t sit comfortably with the prudes among us.

I really enjoyed this book and found it to be easy, fun reading.  It is self-published via Kindle which means it is not available to sit on your shelf.  I downloaded it to read on my iTouch, which was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I did have to flip pages every 3 seconds or so, but I got used to it.  I also downloaded the Kindle software for PCs to my husband’s laptop so he can read it, and there is definitely more of a page to view through that medium.  It’s also available through Smashwords, although I’m completely unfamiliar with this site.  The book is only $0.99, and I did pay for it, so I am not making even that money in exchange for this review.

Eric Scheske blogs at The Daily Eudemon, and I’ve been reading him there for years.  If you like The Daily Eudemon, you’ll like The Adventures of Beer Man.  Scheske’s voice is prevalent in his novel.

Have you seen the many reviews for this book in the blogosphere?  I, too, received a copy from the author, Anthony DeStefano, in exchange for my opinion of it.

Little Star is a delightful story of the birth of Jesus, told within the story of an insignificant star which burned brightly to warm the newborn King.  Although this star’s effort expended him, he is remembered forever as the Star of Bethlehem and is honored by those who decorate their trees with stars.

In the weeks we’ve had our copy, the book has been read many times, often by the older children to the younger ones.  It would be a wonderful addition to anyone’s Christmas book library.  If you are looking for an inexpensive family gift for someone with young children, I think this would be an appreciated present.

Go here to see the lovely illustrations by Mark Elliot and to hear the story (narrated by Pat Boone).

I don’t even remember when I received this book from The Catholic Company. Before the move…and that was January. I am not a diligent book reviewer. I do the best I can.

I read St. Damien of Molokai – Apostle of the Exiled by Margaret & Matthew Bunson. Right up front, I want to say that I did like the book. I learned quite a bit about the history of Hawaii, the personal background of St. Damien as well as many people who knew him, the conditions at the leprosy camp on Molokai, and St. Damien’s work there with the lepers.

This is my second to last review of the bonanza. I think.

As a thank you for participating, Margot Davidson (who IS Hillside Education), sent Billy a copy of In His Image: Nurturing Creativity in the Heart of Your Home by Mary C. Gildersleeve.

Tired of book reviews yet? I still have a few more.

I’ve seen these two books by Dr. Meg Meeker reviewed and discussed in several places, none of which spring to mind right now. I finally decided to check them out.

Although I am linking to the Catholic Company’s website, these books are secular in nature. She does discuss the importance of religion in raising children (children need answers, you, the parent need to provide them), but she doesn’t say which one (she does say at one point that her parents are Catholic, but she does not herself claim a religion in this book). I would also like to point out that although she discusses in great depth the effect that peers and traditional schooling have on a child, she does not once ever mention the word homeschooling or suggest alternative methods of education. And her opinions, though conservative, are backed up with statistics and her personal experience as a pediatrician.

I say this for those readers of mine who are not Catholic or not homeschoolers or not conservative politically, because I want my next statement to be heard with some understanding that this person is not advocating my personal lifestyle, wonderful though it is.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters is an absolute must read for anyone who has a daughter or anyone who has sons who may one day marry someone else’s daughter. (I will say, though, that if you only have sons, perhaps just borrowing the book would be smarter.) Since my daughters are still young, I have yet to navigate those dreaded waters of adolescence. After reading this book, I’m not sure if I fear those years even more, or if I’m happy to now have a better understanding of the issues girls growing up today face.

Although this book is addressed to fathers, and their central role in a girl’s life is the primary theme, mothers need to read this book too. If you are a single mother, this book will show you what your daughter is missing and the pitfalls for which she is at risk. For me, listening to my 8 year old constantly moaning about her father being gone was beginning to annoy me, but I now have a greater empathy for what she is experiencing, and I try harder to be kinder when she is feeling low (which is every night right after bedtime).

While Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters details the issues of eating disorders, suicide, and teen sex, Boys Should Be Boys has some funny anecdotes. Why is it that boys are funnier than girls? In my house it seems to be that the girls are all about drama, and the boys are all about comedy. Boys Should Be Boys is not all fun and games, though, and Dr. Meeker repeats many of the same, depressing teen statistics that she did in her first book. The bottom line is that the older any child is before he or she gets involved in risky behavior (sex, drugs, and alcohol), the greater the likelihood that he or she will successfully achieve adulthood without needing serious counseling or a few months in a detox center.

Both Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters and Boys Should Be Boys are excellent books that will arm parents with the knowledge they need to raise children in a very child-unfriendly world. I highly recommend them both.

Disclaimer: I happily forked over my husband’s hard earned money for these books. I received no compensation of any kind, although it is never too late and I’d be happy to help someone think of something.

Tuesdays seem to be our regular day for going to the library. The little ones usually get one or two videos that are due back after one week, and the older ones like to get audio books for the car which we generally get through in short order with all the running around. This the first time in seven years of homeschooling that I’ve managed to make the library a routine, and not a rare treat. It’s a huge accomplishment on my part.

Such was the case when I brought home Blueberries for Sal. We own Make Way for Ducklings, by the same author, Robert McCloskey, but I had never heard of Blueberries for Sal. And what a charming book. Little Sal goes hunting blueberries with her mother at the same time that a little bear cub goes hunting for blueberries with his mother. The little ones wander off and then end up following the wrong mother! When I read it to the children, all six of them and myself smiled at the antics of the young ones and laughed when the mothers discovered who was really behind them. Naturally, there is a happy ending to this story which is fun and delightful for children of all ages.

If you are happily married, you probably don’t need to read The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. There really isn’t any shocking new information in there.

If you are unhappily married and you choose to read this book, you will probably have one of two reactions. #1: “Wow, I never knew that about men. I wonder if I try being nice to him instead of nagging him incessantly, if he really will act more romantically.” or #2: “Oh, so it’s MY fault if I’m unhappy? Yeah, right.”

Psychologists and happy people will tell you: you are responsible for your own happiness and you can’t change other people – focus on yourself and what you CAN change. When it comes to spouses, it is more difficult to claim responsibility for personal happiness: it just doesn’t seem possible to be happy if you are married to somebody who isn’t “meeting your needs.” Dr. Laura’s book attempts to show women how they create their own problems by expecting the wrong kinds of things from their husbands and by not meeting their very simple needs.

Although I agree with most of her advice, and am actually quite shocked that so many women would treat their husbands as awfully as the examples she gives, the biggest turn-off in this book is her customary blunt style and her assertion that it’s all the woman’s fault. Naturally, she excludes abusive and other unhealthy situations, but even in normal, healthy marriages, husbands can be guilty of causing hurt and difficulties through poor choices, unkind words, thoughtlessness and selfishness.

I do agree that women tend to hold on to these hurts for longer than men and that these little issues can build up over time to create a mountain out of a molehill (and that women, and not men, are responsible for that mountain). I also agree that acts of kindness on anyone’s part help a person “get over” (forgive) those little problems. So, for an open-minded woman who truly desires a loving marriage and really just doesn’t understand her husband, this book might contain some eye-opening advice. For a wife in a good marriage looking for a refresher course on what her husband needs and wants, it’s an excellent resource. For the wife who really insists that her husband meet her in the middle, it isn’t going to help much at all.

Disclaimer: I did not receive any compensation in any form for this review, unfortunately. I also did not pay for this book. A friend had it on her give-away stack and I took it from there. I assume it was her husband’s hard-earned money that paid for it.