Book review: “Fatherland” by Robert Harris
Historical fiction is dangerous territory for a writer. It's all too easy to make actual people, say, Abraham Lincoln or John Wilkes Booth, into stick figures, and actual events, say, [...]
Who’s not on first?
The new baseball season is upon us, and hope springs eternal across the major leagues as 30 teams and more than 700 players vie for a chance at the World [...]
Sarah laughs — and other human moments
The Bible is filled with people acting like people — such as Sarah playing the nosy snoop in Genesis. She and Abraham are an aged childless couple. Outside their tent, [...]
Book review: “She’s on First” by Barbara Gregorich
Linda Sunshine plays shortstop for the Chicago Eagles, the first woman to become a major leaguer. Her manager, the star pitcher and some of her other teammates don't like the [...]
The impatience of Job
We talk about the "patience of Job," and that makes him seem like a meek and mild fellow who heroically and stoically endures waves of misfortune from God and the [...]
Book review” “The Maul and the Pear Tree” by P.D. James and T.A. Critchley
A little before midnight on the last night of his life Timothy Marr, a linen draper of Radcliffe Highway, set about tidying up the shop, helped by the shop-boy James [...]
God’s phone number
Half a century ago, phone numbers had prefixes as well as numbers (such as ESterbrook 9-3392), and the Roman Catholic Mass was in Latin. "Dominus vobiscum," the priest would say. [...]
Book review: “Houses and Homes – Exploring Their History” by Barbara J. Howe, Dolores A. Fleming, Emory L. Kemp and Ruth Ann Overbeck
Every once in a while, when I'm in the basement and can see the foundations of our two-flat, or rummage in a closet and notice a crack in the plaster [...]
Waiting for Alzheimer’s
The other day, I was talking with some friends about movies, and somehow the conversation got onto the film "Elf." There was a point I wanted to make about the [...]
Lincoln, work and prayer
"Orare est laborare." That's the motto of the Benedictine order. It means: Working is praying. By most accounts, Abraham Lincoln wasn’t terribly interested in organized religion. But that’s not to [...]