Thank you, Sheri, I nearly hyperventilated upon looking at the blog and seeing my four favorite books in the universe mentioned under "What drew you to steampunk?" I've got loads on request at the library. I brought home a book they had on the shelf (a rare occurrence at my tiny hometown library) by Jaclyn Dolamore, Magic Under Glass which has immediately drawn me in. I think I have my winter reading all sorted...

Sheri and Siobhan, I've 'looked up' the stuff on steampunk being totally unfamiliar with the genre and now understand the steam bit but could you explain the punk part please?
In 'English' English a punk is someone who enjoyed/played loud discordant rock music, took drugs, got into fights and had dyed green/orange hair, many bodily piercings and a strange mixture of torn clothes.
I presume the word, in the context of your books, must have a different meaning in the US?! It certainly makes me feel very old. ;-(

Carolyn, the crime writer Val McDermid, has just brought out a modern 'take' on Northanger Abbey, part of a series by well-known writers to update Austen's work. I haven't read it myself, as I'm still getting over a four year punishing regime of studying JA's works for 'O' and 'A' level English . . . and yes I know it was over fifty years ago but . . .
Have a look at the article and video below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Northanger Abbey

This is OT but arises from something I was reading.
I know that going to a college is very important in the US, there is a lot mentioned about "saving for the college fund", but what happens to those who aren't that academically bright or whose parents cannot afford it?
I realise that some people would take jobs that don't require degrees but what of those who would like to have good jobs but were unable to further their education? What kind of options are there?

Vee, the "punk" in steampunk has nothing to do with punk rock, though I really can't explain why the term was chosen. Wikipedia has an extensive entry on the subject, and this is their explanation:

"... the term steampunk originated in the late 1980s as a tongue in cheek variant of cyberpunk*. It seems to have been coined by science fiction author K. W. Jeter, who was trying to find a general term for works by Tim Powers (The Anubis Gates, 1983); James Blaylock (Homunculus, 1986); and himself (Morlock Night, 1979, and Infernal Devices, 1987), "all of which took place in a 19th-century (usually Victorian) setting and imitated conventions of such actual Victorian speculative fiction as H. G. Wells' The Time Machine. In a letter to science fiction magazine Locus, printed in the April 1985 issue, Jeter wrote:

Dear Locus,

Enclosed is a copy of my 1979 novel Morlock Night; I'd appreciate your being so good as to route it Faren Miller, as it's a prime piece of evidence in the great debate as to who in "the Powers/Blaylock/Jeter fantasy triumvirate" was writing in the "gonzo-historical manner" first. Though of course, I did find her review in the March Locus to be quite flattering.
Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like 'steam-punks', perhaps.
K.W. Jeter

* which of course begs the question, why cyberpunk? I have no idea!

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia Steampunk

Well annpan, I am trying to think up an answer to your question that doesn't take up ten pages. And if I had a real answer, I suppose that would qualify me for a Pulitizer.

In the meantime, I can't let a Christmas go by without mentioning Connie Willis's Miracle and other Christmas Stories. Really wonderful mix of stories, sentiments, emotions. Also she lists her favorite stories, books, films, and poems in the back. I have had quite an enjoyable time exploring her choices.

Annpan, a four year college degree in the US has become almost a universal expectation (at least here in the Northeast), and I think the kids who are not college material (whether lacking academically or simply having other interests or not being able to afford to go) get rather short shrift.

There are technical schools and two year programs where kids can train to be chefs, medical assistants, x-ray techs, welders, auto mechanics, truck drivers, etc., but these are not heavily advertised or encouraged in our high schools, based on what I've seen anyway. The military is also an option.

I was standing in line at the post office last week listening to two men ahead of me talk about kids with college degrees who are still waiting tables or working retail as the job market here is still pretty awful and kids with college degrees are plentiful. Both men thought that there will soon be a severe lack of skilled plumbers, electricians and carpenters as the baby boomers with these jobs age out and fewer younger people train to take their place. And it goes without saying that a good plumber, electrician or car mechanic is worth his or her weight in gold! And these occupations can generate a good standard of living.

I do wish our schools weren't so exclusively focused on college as the be-all and end-all, and offered kids other options. Perhaps this is different in other parts of the country, but in suburban Connecticut, it's all about which college you get into.

As an aside, I have noticed that gap years are gaining traction here, something unheard of when I was in high school. I know this is common in the UK, is it also in Europe and Australia?

About US higher education: many states have "Community Colleges". I used to work for one when I lived in Virginia. Practical courses were offered, heavy on computer technology. (There was a Vo-Tech Department.) Some students transferred to Universities after 2 years. Basics, such as reading skills and writing were also taught. Many minorities attended the community colleges in VA.

Often, students at University support themselves by jobs within libraries, cafeterias, etc. and there are often scholarships available. Having said that, it is not easy, financially, for most middle class American students. Textbooks can be rented, instead of bought, which saves a little money.

My church has a school for Grades K through 12 that has been in existence ~20 years and is thinking of building a new one with updated facilities and offering trade-school courses. Here in Louisville, there used to be a trade high school. It closed a number of years ago, and we are sadly in need of places for young people to train for the trades mentioned above. We, too, have community colleges that offer computer training and nursing courses. I'm not sure what else except remedial courses and the basics from which students can enter four-year colleges. They are less expensive than the four-year schools.

Vee, I like some of Val McDermid's series but not all of them. I have read all the Austen books and seen some of the movies and Masterpiece Theater productions, but I'm not the avid fan that many are. I'll see if the library has the Northanger Abbey takeoff. It sounds like fun. Thanks for the info.

Sheriz, thank you the reply. You are correct about the earning power of tradesmen. Recently there was a program on a current affairs show that mentioned the high wages being offerred to bricklayers and other members of the building trade because of the rush to build new homes in the Perth, Western Australia area.
A Government "first new home owners" grant and low interest rates on borrowing for a house mortgage has increased the number of people wanting to own their own home.
Any school leaver wanting to become an apprentice in a trade can look forward to good wages.
I don't think that there is the pressure to get a University education so much here. Only one of my family has bothered to continue with studies after 18 as she wants to become a Physical Education teacher. The rest have found work in the trades they enjoy. Child care mostly for the girls, where they study for diplomas on the job and the boys prefer working on cars or landscape gardening.
My son left school at 15 and has his own business buffing luxury cars and boats. As these items need constant attention, he has plenty of work and can take time off when he feels like it to go camping and fishing. A life that a high pressured businessman or professional man might envy!
I think a large number of students go to Europe on gap years. They seem to like to take working holidays, particularly in the UK. We were always bumping into them in some very odd places during our travels!

Sheri, many thanks for the steampunk explanation; I am slightly wiser, but now feel even older.
Ann interesting about the attitudes towards and availability of 'tertiary education' (it is probably known by another name now) in Aus.
Here, under the Blair Govt, it was decided that many more students should enter universities, despite the fact that most of them were not capable of the necessary academic rigours. Lots of strange subjects were offered at third/fourth rate so-called universities, many with 'such and such studies' in their titles. Very many of these young people are unable to find meaningful jobs and will eventually have to pay back the loans taken out to pay for their courses (none of the free education offered when I was that age).
The 'trade' jobs have often been taken over by 'Polish' plumbers, bricklayers etc. who are greatly in demand and earn good money.
It seems the career advisers only suggest a university course to students as it boosts the reputation of the (High) school and keeps the unemployment figures among the young artificially low.

I am a couple of chapters into Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub. It's about an interesting subject, but the treatment could have been better.
For example, the author insists on padding the eyewitness narratives with snatches of fiction, e.g. poetry, plays and novels, often by people who weren't there and may have relied on less than trustworthy sources. He also drags in (sometimes sketchy) secondary sources.
Both of these things can, when used judiciously, enliven an account of historical events, but he mixes them into the narrative in such a way as to make it difficult to see what is fact and what is fiction. I suppose it must have been difficult to get enough first-hand material to make it book-length.
Despite this, I am enjoying the book and will persevere, but because of the aforementioned problems I will read it as fiction.

In last month's 'readings' Tim mentioned the novels of Elizabeth Taylor (not the film star) and it reminded me I had a second-hand copy of her first book At Mrs Lippencote's.
It certainly wasn't what I expected. perhaps I thought it would be something along the lines of Diary of a Provincial Lady with some enjoyable witty, brittle lines a la the Thirties.
The book, which came out in 1945, is set in some unspecified English town where Julia, her small son Oliver and a female cousin have come to join J's husband serving on a local RAF base. They take over a large house owned by the Mrs Lippencote of the title, which is still furnished with all her belongings. The cousin gets a teaching job at the nearby Montessori school and joins a local Communist group . . . she is an avid reader of the Daily Worker. Oliver is confined to bed with various illnesses and Julia is very bored. The Wing Commander of the base takes a shine to her and they discuss the Bronte sisters.
I found I was equally bored and, being me, took issue with the hard-to-believe fact that seven year old Oliver read the Brontes yet could not quite manage his twice times tables.
Julia's husband comes across as dull and lifeless, the Brothers and Sisters among the Communists are equally colourless . . . the only moment of humour is in Taylor's description of a Party meeting and how the members pass the time through very long and earnest speeches.
When I finished the book I thought I must have missed something vitally important which would have enabled me to make sense of the 'whole'. I checked with various on-line groups and most people raved about it . . . but usually quoting the back cover of the book or the publishers blurb.
No-one mentioned that E Taylor, though from a well-off middle class background was a committed Communist. "What about the workers" doesn't fit comfortably with the difficulty of getting 'help' or decent food during the War!

Hi Vee -

I've read some Elizabeth Taylor (and other Virago prints) and have arrived at the conclusion that some of these authors are rather prickly and difficult at times (in their plots). I have learned not to expect a nice comfortable and cosy ride when I read one, so I have to sort of "build up" to one. I have a shelf of Viragos that I am slowly getting through (just as a project), but I have to spread them out as they're tricky reads sometimes. Good review!

Liz, I know exactly what you mean about Virago books. They are often rather tough going and definitely not for sissies. I sometimes feel I should get a couple of tattoos and buy a pair of Doc Martens before reading.
Have you read Taylor's Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont? I have seen a good TV adaptation of it way back in 1973 with an elderly Celia Johnson playing the title role . . . and if you have never seen her in that old classic Brief Encounter hunt for it on youtube. Btw Johnson was the sister-in-law of Ian Fleming (Bond - - - James Bond)

I finished The Paris Winter and really liked it, too. It's quite different from the Harriet Westerman series Imogen Robertson writes. Am I mixing her up with someone else who wrote a few books about a nurse working in Oxford who stumbled across dead bodies?

Okay, Google is my friend. I confused Jill Paton Walsh's heroine Imogen Quy with Ms. Robertson, and it was Cambridge rather than Oxford. So many murders, so little memory.

Vee, what is a pair of "Doc Martens"??? (I have watched the series by that name).

Mary, nothing to do with the TV prog. Dr Martens/Docs were originally working boots made in Germany. The patent was bought by a Northampton (UK home of shoe making) company, a new welded sole was developed and in the 80's/90's they became very popular with the new 'punk rockers' and 'skinheads'; in fact anyone looking for a bit of aggro; shin and policeman kicking etc. It wasn't long before every teenager wanted/owned a pair, the higher up the leg the better. A friend visiting from British Columbia had instructions from her four daughter not to return home without them. Our daughter had a pair in ox blood red and wore them with a party dress. Difficult to keep a straight face it was such a strange combination.
The thing in their favour was that they were very good for the feet and well-made, far better than stilettos or winkle-pickers.
They are still available in a huge range of styles and colours.

Here is a link that might be useful: Docs

Carolyn,

Thanks for the recommendation for First Impressions. I'm going to see if my local library system has it.

I haven't been reading much lately; instead I have been watching the extended editions of the first two Hobbit movies (especially the dvd's on the making of each movie) in preparation for the final movie which isn't coming out here until the 17th.

Vee, I think they were also popular in Australia as I remember that my daughter had a pair of Docs. They were ideal for motorbike riding and bushwalking. She wasn't a party dress type and a sarong we bought for her in Bali was as feminine as she got back then!

I finished We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. I continued to like it to the very end. Here is a quote from the book that I really liked: When I run the world, librarians will be exempt from tragedy. Even their smaller sorrows will last only for as long as you can take out a book.

I am going to try another by this author - perhaps Sarah Canary.

I haven't read any of the Miss. Julia series by Ann B. Ross for a while but decided to go back to where I left off after reading the latest one. Sometimes one needs a break from a series and I just recently read the off-series "Etta Mae...." which rekindled my interest.
I have to look up some of the Southern USA expressions and this time it was "stair step children" which had me puzzled and thinking it was a new kind of relationship in an extended family!
There doesn't seem to be a rule of how far apart in age these children should be. A relative of ours had four children each born five years apart , which would have been pretty high stepping!

I just finished The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz, a modern day re-telling of Austen's Persuasion. I only remembered the barest outline of the original. The author substituted modern-day Boston Brahmins for English gentry, and I thought it worked well. I would have liked a bit more character development for the hero, but otherwise no complaints.

I have started Lisa See's China Dolls and am liking it more than some of her other books. It is about three young American Chinese women in San Francisco in the 1930s who are trying to break away from their traditional families.

I just read a really interesting and enjoyable book, very much outside my usual style. It was The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick. He is also the author of The Silver Linings Playbook which I have not read. However, I loved the movie based on that book. A middle aged man of an unusual turn of mind has always lived with his mother. Now that she has died, he is faced with deciding how to live the rest of his life. Normally I would not find this kind of novel attractive, but I took a chance based on liking the movie so well, and I am very glad I did. Recommended.

Siobhan, I have to second your recommendation of Connie Willis's collection of Christmas short stories. I re-read it every December. And every December I also watch Love, Actually.

Rosefolly

This post was edited by rosefolly on Wed, Dec 10, 14 at 23:45

I'm reading Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough. It's about a family of two sets of twin girls, close in age but belonging to two different mothers, in early 1900s Australia. They are all going to nursing school soon after WWI.

I finished November with the delightfully wry The Diary of A Nobody by George Grossmith, with amusing illustrations by his brother Weedon. Very funny in an understated, British way.

I have only read one this December: Daphne du Maurier's Mary Anne, a historical potboiler based on the life of her own great-grandmother, Mary Anne Clarke, one-time mistress of Frederick, Duke of York. Sadly, the novel was a disappointment.

Veer, I am sorry that you did not enjoy the Elizabeth Taylor novel. I feel partly responsible for you wasting your precious reading time! I have not read that particular title. But I loved A Game of Hide and Seek.

Tim, don't worry about me wasting time . . . all reading is useful reading and I was surprised at the 'expressions' used by Taylor. Did people almost of 'my' generation really speak like that?
I read Mary Anne many years ago and quite enjoyed it, especially as the story was 'true'. It's not every day one finds a Royal Prince's mistress in ones family tree. These days it would be all over the tabloids.
Grossmith's Mr Pooter is a delight. I love the part where he keeps writing to the paper to complain when his name is left off a list of guests. I know people like that. :-)

I have now started The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (shades of 'Sisters in the Wilderness') set in a cold Northern Canadian winter.
Has anyone read this?

I was at library, looking for something else, and found Love Burns by Edna Mazya (translated from the Hebrew). It captured me in the 1st paragraph. It is told in the first person by an Israeli middle-aged astrophysicist whose life revolves around his 25-year old wife. He arrives unexpectedly at home and his wife is not there (she works from home). After considering several scenarios, he jumps to the conclusion that she is having an affair. The book won an Israeli literary award.

I have been reading the "Miss Julia" series by Ann B. Ross and am puzzled by something in "Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle".
Perhaps someone here could explain.
Miss Julia goes to the local Presbyterian church but sometimes threatens to "move her letter" and go to another denomination. What does the "letter" signify?

Ann, never having heard of the expression 'moved her/his/my letter' I looked it up . . . and am none the wiser, except it seems to be American and used in a 'church' context. While searching I found a very wide and unusual (to me from England) 'take' on religious ideas/beliefs.

Ann, a 'letter' story for you.
The other day we received through the mail a Christmas card. Posted from the UK and addressed to a family in Australia. The name, street, town, county/state, country were not ours. The only thing the same was 91, the house number. We have re-posted it and hope it doesn't go to lots of other '91's' throughout this country, otherwise it will be very late arriving at its true destination.

Vee, That was an lot of mistakes! My parents sent my daughter a Xmas card to her Carnarvon Western Australia address which had diverted to Carnarvon in Wales before she got it!
When one thinks of how many millions of cards get posted it is a wonder so many arrive safely.

I tried to read the long 3rd volume in the Deborah Harkness trilogy on witches, but I just could not get into it. Back it went to the library. Meanwhile, I finished a book on Charleston SC ghosts and hauntings, a biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, and am now reading "They Were All So Young" by Amanda Viall (about the American ex-pates Gerald and Sara Murphy in the 1920's and their literary and artistic clique).

I think less of F.Scott Fitzgerald now, having learnt that he borrowed his wife Zelda's creative writing for his own novels, shamelessly, unapologetically. He often took credit for her original ideas and was downright abusive. Zelda was a fine writer with her own style, but led a tragic life, due to her marriage to her alcoholic spouse.

I read As You Wish by Cary Elwes, about the making of the Princess Bride as seen through his eyes. It was a fun read and made me want to watch the movie again. Perhaps tonight, for that matter!

In the church I grew up in many years ago, moving your letter referred to moving your membership. I think that is what Miss Julia means. I enjoy those books.

I just recently noticed this forum after years of reading posts on kitchens, etc.

krisz

Right, as Krisz said, in some Protestant denominations one has a letter of membership which may be used if you move or otherwise wish to change churches. However, many other denominations will not accept such a letter but want you to go through their membership process. For one thing, baptism by immersion is mandatory for some as opposed to "sprinkling" (where the minister dips his fingers in water and drips it over one's head) as practiced by others.

Carolyn, former Cumberland Presbyterian (offshoot of regular Presbies from the days when west of the Appalachian Mountains was the frontier)

Thanks for the letter explanations.
My parents weren't churchgoers, like many of our neighbours, but we children used to go to Sunday School and chose which one we attended by finding out which church was going to have the best Sunday School treat!
These treats often took the form of an outing to the seaside for town children but as we lived in a seaside town we checked out the best one for a party with presents.
This may horrify some RP'ers but remember we were in postwar England with rationing and few treats to look forward to.
The clergy understood this, gently got their Christian message to us and were all very kind.

Carolyn, interesting about the 'letter'. I don't think such a thing applies over here, Godless country that we are! If you want to change from one church to another you just do it. Congregations are mostly so sparse these days most new people would be welcomed with open arms. I don't think you would have to be 're-baptised' either . . perhaps in the RC church?
On a seasonal note. I just read in this morning's paper that Christmas Midnight Mass in some Catholic and C of E churches is being brought forward to earlier in the evening or even late afternoon to avoid the nasty scenes of drunkeness and bad behaviour seen in previous years.
See article below . .. and then to lighten the gloom at the low levels of conduct displayed by too many of the UK population scroll down to the article (in box on left called 'related articles') on cathedral choirs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Midnight Mass

Vee, that is a sad state of affairs.
I remember, as a small child, having been to the cinema late show with my mother one Christmas Eve, we went home past the RC church. The doors were open so, attracted by the music, we peeped to see the brilliantly lit place with a service going on.
We were invited to go in but preferred to watch for a short while, not knowing what would be required if we joined in the service.

My father was a church choir boy member and sang the "Messiah" with the famous soprano Isobel Baillie. He could play the organ but only by ear, unable to read a note of music as opposed to my mother who had studied the piano and only played from a score.

..."if you want to change from one church to the other, you just do it...."

I know for a fact that a Protestant in the US cannot just "change" to a Roman Catholic church without a series of formal lessons in catechism. One must be re-baptized. As well, Protestants are allowed to attend Catholic Mass, but are never allowed to participate in Eucharist, or Holy Communion. (On the other hand, any Protestant of any denomination can partake of Communion in any other Protestant church without being a "member.") The same rule applies within the Greek Orthodox church. ( Christians are welcome to attend, but are forbidden to trek down to the altar to receive Communion). I know all this from personal experience.

With regard to Midnight Mass, this has become increasingly popular within the Episcopal and Anglican churches in the US, at least where I live, in the city of Charleston, SC. One nearby Episcopal church has offered free rides to folks who wish to attend these late services who do not feel safe, as advertised in the church bulletin. I am aware of the schedule of several nearby Episcopal churches during Xmas week. All 3 are offering not only Midnight Mass, but also 3 other services during the afternoon and evening, one especially for the children's chorale. There is no lack of religious enthusiasm in the "Holy City", as Charleston is nick-named.

Ann: re: moving your letter. The way I understand it is if you belong to one denomination, say Baptist, and you move to another town or want to go to another Baptist church, you simply move your letter when you join the new church. However, if you want to change your denomination, you would have to do whatever their requirements for membership are.

Does anyone know what form this letter takes? Is it a personal note written to the church one wants to join or a formal application issued by the church which has to be filled in?

Mary, you must not have ever attended some country Baptist churches. Wiki says, "A closed-communion church is one that (perhaps with exceptions in unusual circumstances) excludes non-members from receiving communion. This is the practice of all churches dating from before the Protestant Reformation and also of some Protestant churches such as Lutherans and Baptists." At home (I mean in the rural area where I grew up), it was not unusual when spending a weekend with a school friend to go to church with them on Sunday morning and have the pastor tell the congregation that communion was only for their members.

In the Cumberland Presbyterian church, letters of membership transfer are requested from one's current pastor to the pastor of the church one wishes to attend if it is within the denomination, of course. I doubt if other Protestant denominations would accept such a letter; certainly the Catholic Church would not. You would just express a desire to join the particular church, which, as Mary said, may require "re-baptism" and/or acquiescence to a different set of church government rules.

Carolyn, very interesting and seemingly quite different from what happens in English/Welsh churches (I can't speak for those in Scotland, some of which are very 'strict').
Re the letter. Is it a piece of paper "to whom it concerns . ." or is it some type of printed form with details of the person moving from the area; a sort of reference for them to see if they will be accepted by the new church? And what happens if the new church thinks they might not want this new member, are they able to turn them down?
Mary, I knew that Catholic churches will not let non-RC's take communion. There was the eg here that the papers got hold of, concerning former PM Tony Blair who used to accompany his wife Cherie (She who must be obeyed) and children to Mass and take communion. This was picked up by the hierarchy and he was forbidden to continue. He has since joined the RC Church.
And on a similar note the C of E has just appointed its first woman Bishop. When you consider that women now make up about 45% of the clergy though mostly in 'junior' roles it seems not a moment too soon. :-)

A recent TV prog. spent time at Canterbury Cathedral and talked to women priests. They said after their ordination some 20 years ago they left the building worried to be confronted with banner-carrying women, but were relieved to see they were Catholic women who's message read "We'll be next"! . . .Though they might have a very long wait.

Here is a link that might be useful: A Woman Bishop

Carolyn, I was completely unaware of the "closed communion" churches in your part of the world. Most of my life has been lived in urban or suburban areas. I know that the Lutheran church just behind my building allows me, raised as a Methodist, to take communion. In my experience, the transfer of membership within Protestant churches has been rather loose and liberal. (I am not familiar, however, with the Baptists).

Vee, there is now a female bishop in the Episcopal church, here in SC.

Vee, if you look at Google you will see sample letters of membership change that can be copied by an individual to ask to be accepted into a different congregation as well as one for pastors to send to other pastors on behalf of their members. Certainly, churches have the right to refuse membership if they choose.

This all seems to me to be one of those religious things added by men and certainly not required by God. I believe all the different Protestant denominations came about just a matter of how people feel things "ought" to be done. After all, the Lord condensed His requirements into ten points and the eleventh one from the New Testament that we should love others as we love ourselves. A lot of the other requirements strike me as being like the "scribes and Pharisees."

And here the sermon endeth.

Mary, there are a few small groups, usually rural, that not only refuse communion to people of other denominations but to people from their own denomination but who not members of their particular church group. Nothing so queer as folk, right?

I just remembered that when I lived in VA I had a friend who was a Mennonite. Her church was one of those that had "closed communion." Not only that, but her branch of the Mennonites reserved the right to "shun" members that they thought had violated church precepts or behaved inappropriately. My friend later left this church because she had been married several times and felt hemmed in by all the "laws." The church was governed by "elders" and they called themselves "the bretheren."

I later learnt that the Catholic church practices a similar form of shunning, in not allowing certain "dissidents" to partake of Holy Eucharist.

While I am on this topic, the Methodist church I went to in Atlanta GA only served grape juice and crackers for communion. It was with surprise that I learnt that the Episcopal and other churches actually serve wine and bread, to be truer to what Christ and his disciples would have partaken of.

I finished Love Burns by Edna Mazyas (translated from the Hebrew). It is an engaging book, told in the first person by an Israeli middle-aged astrophysicist whose life revolves around his 25-year old wife. One winter afternoon he leaves college early, with a sore throat, and does not find her at home; "I couldn't avoid thinking that it was strange that the heating wasn't on, if she'd only gone for a little while she would have left it on.".... He immediately suspects that she is having an affair. From there on you follow his actions and internal dialogue, horrified at times. It has suspense, irony, and a dark Old World humor bordering on farce. At times his paranoia becomes a bit too much. There are some turn of phrases that are very good.

Often times lost in the widely varied, strategically extensive Nike Basketball lineup, the nike air max 90 hyperfuse continues to jockey for positioning even among its own siblings. The under-the-radar silhouette takes significant strides forward today with the Nike Hyperquickness 3. Visibly stimulating at first glance thanks to holes throughout the upper, an off-center lacing system adds further distinction to the shoe while Dynamic Flywire cables are noted as well. Swoosh branding lines the rear while a durable mid finishes the look below. Four colorways help debut the new silhouette which has yet to be vindicated with a release date. Although essentially similar to the women’s counterpart, the silhouette dons its original makeup with varying Grey shades across its upper component, while pops of Purple adorn the eyelets, tongue, outsole and miniature Swoosh logo on the heel. Solidified with White across its entirety overall, the sneaker is topped off with hints of Emerald Green on the tongue and visible Air Max unit.

...but who wrote this book? :-)