Tag Archives: Catholicism

The Quest for Shakespeare

Posted on April 23, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Quest for Shakespeare: the Bard of Avon and the Church of Rome© 2008 Joseph Pearce275 pages Although April 23rd is, historically, the feast of England’s patron saint George,   it is also the anniversary of William Shakespeare’s  death.  2016 … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Frodo’s Journey

Posted on April 8, 2016 by smellincoffee

Frodo’s Journey: The Hidden Meaning of the Lord of the Rings © 2015 Joseph Pearce 158 pages Noting that Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring trilogy is rich with symbolism is rather akin to observing that the Pacific Ocean is big. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Brideshead Revisited

Posted on March 30, 2016 by smellincoffee

Brideshead Revisited: The Secular and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder© 1945 Evelyn Waugh350 pages My theme is memory, that winged host that soared about me one grey morning of war-time. These memories, which are my life–for we possess nothing … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Seven Deadly Sins

Posted on October 27, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Seven Deadly Sins: A Tomistic Guide to Vanquishing Vice and Sin © 2015 Kevin Vost 224 pages In the first centuries of the Christian epoch, devotees retreated into the desert wastes to flee temptation. Even away from the cry … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Called to Serve

Posted on October 14, 2015 by smellincoffee

Called to Serve: A History of Nuns in America© 2013 Margaret McGuinness277 pages Long before the suffrage and feminist movements allowed women to assume a more publicly active role within society,  women religious were taking an active role in shaping … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Posted on July 16, 2015 by smellincoffee

 A Canticle for Leibowitz © 1960 Water M. Miller 320 pages A thousand years ago, nuclear war swept the Earth,  rendering to ashes the civilizations which inaugurated it.  In the southwestern desert, however,  there lies an outpost of another civilization … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

American Cicero

Posted on June 24, 2015 by smellincoffee

American Cicero: The Life of Charles Carroll © 2010 Bradley Birzer 230 pages When Charles Carroll of Carrollton signed the Declaration of Independence, he was risking the biggest fortune on the American mainland.  But Carroll had yearned for independence for … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Faith and Treason

Posted on May 2, 2015 by smellincoffee

Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot© 1997 Antonia Frasier384 pages        Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the gunpowder treason and plot….or, as contemporaries called it, the Powder Plot.   Its scale, for the 16th … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Come Rack! Come Rope!

Posted on April 8, 2015 by smellincoffee

Come Rack! Come Rope! © 1912 Robert Hugh Benson 424 pages Dear Miss Manners:       My father, having long been both a leader of resistance against religious tyranny and an inspiration to his countrymen, has surrendered most abjectly … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lord of the World

Posted on December 20, 2014 by smellincoffee

Lord of the World © 1908 Robert Hugh Benson 352 pages At the turn of the 21st century, war between the states of Europe and the East threatens; at the midnight hour, however, comes an obscure American politician, a senator … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments