One of the best films I saw this year was Master and Commander, directed by Peter Weir and staring Russell Crowe. After seeing it I quickly did a search on Amazon and found that the story was based on the novel 'Far Side of the World,' the 10th of 20 novels written by 'Patrick O'Brian.'
Now I have some fiction to sink my teeth into, something I have not done for quite a while. O'Brain (it's a pen name, but no matter) is an absolutely smashing prose writer. When he's in a groove, it is amazing to see. It's a bit like Jane Austin for men, even though O'Brian started the books in the late 1960's and 70's. The naval terminology can be overwhelming, but it's not crucial to know a jib from a mizzen to follow along. And the characters! Aubrey and Martin are beyond compare, and I'm being introduced to more - such as Diana Villiers - as I go along.
At the moment I'm only in book two, Post Captain, and I foresee a long period of good reading ahead. I'm happy to recommend the series to anyone who likes historical fiction but finds it hard to find good material.
Ecce Homo I haven't done a quote from Pope Ratzinger's Introduction to Chistianty in a while and even though I have finished the book there are still one or two passages I want to share, including - perhaps even especially - this one. When I first began to look over what Christianity teaches, to look at the gospel story and to try penetrate why it has been so compelling to so many for so long, this was one of the things that leapt out at me. I was happy to see our Pope confirm it. Expanding on the Apostles Creed where it says "... suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried," Ratzinger writes: The fact that when the perfectly just man appeared he was crucified, delivered up by justice to death, tells us pitilessly who man is: Thou art such, man, that thou canst not bear the just man - that he who simply loves becomes a fool, a scourged criminal, an outcast. Thou art such because, unjust thyself, thou dost always need the injustice of the n...
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