BEING CATHOLIC NOW (Kerry Kennedy)

I can't say enough good things about this compilation of essays on Catholicism written by clergy, politicians, entertainers, authors, educators, and lay people, almost all of them baptized into the Catholic faith as children. Some of them are still practicing Catholics while others have moved on for various reasons. A few are even embittered, like Bill Maher, who advocates abolishing organized religion. In Kennedy's introduction she describes her childhood in a devout Catholic family, including her mother's preparation for each holiday, frequent family Masses, the death of family members, and how these activities molded her own current approach to the Church and the practice of her faith.

What I got from reading this book is the realization that a lot of people feel as I do about that Catholic Church and our role in it. I found it gratifying to realize that I am not alone in believing that while the foundation of the Church, the teachings of Christ, is solid, there are many areas in which the church's rules and attitudes do not reconcile with these teachings. It is fascinating to read the experiences and justifications of people like Nancy Pelosi, Frank McCourt, Susan Sarandon, nuns, priests, former priests, and many others. I would recommend this book for any and all former, current, doubting, or otherwise interested Catholics and non-Catholics who want to learn more about how other people feel and what decisions they have made about their faith. It's fascinating!

SO SHALL YOU REAP (Marilyn Wallace)

I have some mixed feelings about this mystery. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the story itself and the atmosphere of the novel. It is a classic tale of psychological suspense set in a wonderful small town in the Hudson River Valley. The main character, Sarah Hoving, is a beekeeper and maple syrup maker whose mother abandoned the family under mysterious circumstances when Sarah was just 4 years old. Sarah's mother-in-law, Ruth Hoving, organizes a reenactment of the lives of the town's original settlers for the town's bicentennial celebration. As plans for the celebration progress, mysterious parallel events start occurring, causing Sarah to have flashbacks to long-blocked events in her own life and to fear that she herself will become a victim of this recreation of local history. The storyline is logical and the ending makes sense given the events described.

What I DIDN'T like about this novel was the lack of development of the characters. I felt that, although we were given enough background and description of each of the main players for the book to make sense, the story seemed like it was being acted out by cardboard cutouts. Peter, Sarah's husband, was barely described and we have little idea of how their relationship developed, this despite the fact that their marriage figured prominently into some of the parallels to the past. Sarah's father, a menacing and angry man, was never quite revealed as he should have been. I will give the author credit, though, for creating characters and then making me, the reader, want to know them better. The problem is that there was no way to do that. Although there were some stereotypes, that wasn't the problem. It was the lack of the little details and nuances that flesh out characters and make them seem real that made the book less satisfying than it should have been. For atmosphere and storyline I would recommend this book, but if characters drive your enjoyment of a novel, skip this one.

STRAIGHT MAN (Richard Russo)

You may be more familiar with Russo as the author of the best-selling "Empire Falls", but "Straight Man", one of his earlier works, is also worth reading. It is an interesting study of one week in the life college professor/author William Henry (Hank) Deveraux, Jr. , whose father abandoned Hank and his mother 40 years earlier and has now come back into their lives.

At times the book is uproariously funny. In one scene Hank, who is experiencing "flow" problems that he believes are caused by a kidney stone, has an "accident" while napping in his office and ends up climbing into a hole in the ceiling to hide from his colleagues. While there, he observes a meeting from above and overhears one of the attendees commenting about the awful unidentified smell in the room. In another scene Hank, wearing a fake nose and glasses combo, holds a goose up by the neck and threatens to "kill a duck a day" until he gets his department budget. This incident is caught on tape by a TV crew and ends up on Good Morning America.

At other times, I had difficulty maintaining my interest in this novel, but I suspect that this is because it is really man's fiction, written by a man and about a man. Although I found the struggles of the English Department very realistic, having several friends who teach in colleges, I wasn't really impressed with the development of the characters or the relationships between them. There were many troubled marriages and parent-child problems that I would have liked to see examined in more detail, but that might have resulted in a novel more reminiscent women's fiction. I appreciate the humor and I believe the book to be well-written, but it is not my cup of tea. Don't let my opinion stop you from reading it, though! It's just a matter of taste!