Possible Book Club Selection

Unafraid of the Dark: A MEMOIR by Rosemary Bray was a suggestion for a future book club selection. Look at the READING GUIDE.

Book Club Selections 2006

Here is a list of books that we have selected so far:

January 20
The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

February 17
All over but the shoutin’ by Rick Bragg

March 17
Zorro by Isabel Allende

April 21
Blind Obedience by Bill Boyd

May 26

The Thing About Jane Spring by Sharon Krum

JUNE 16

Death of a Dreamer by M.C. Beaton. Read an Excerpt.

JULY 21

Untouchables: My Family's Triumphant Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern India by Narendra Jadhav A memoir in tribute to Jadhav's parents.

Book Club Selection for June

Murder mystery Death of a Dreamer by M. C. Beaton, set in Scotland and featuring Hamish Macbeth, will be our book for June. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth is a television series in England. READ MORE. This is a quick read, made me want to read more of her earlier books.

The Da Vinci Code discussion continues. Take a look at this article by Mr. Boyne in the Jamaica Gleaner. I found this part of the early church history interesting:

There were three primary groups batting [sic] for influence in the early centuries: the Ebionites, the Marcionites and the Gnostics. If either of them had won, the Christianity we know would be radically different. READ MORE.

Enjoy your reading this week. I just finished Mary Higgins Clark's Two Little Girls in Blue. I could not put it down.

Angels & Demons - The Movie

Well the movie DaVinci Code is already so successful that Sony is making a movie out of Dan Brown's earlier novel, Angels & Demons published in 2000. That should be an exciting movie but it will again stir up controversy among devout Roman Catholics.

And Lost Fans, I am sure you did not miss the constant reference to the 1865 story Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. One of the characters in the story is upper class Lizzie Hexam a riverman's daughter and a lawyer. In Lost Elizabeth is the name of the boat owned by Libby (short for Elizabeth)and loaned or given to Desmond. Libby and Desmond just happen to turn up on the same mystery island? Is there a clue somewhere there? We'll have to wait until the next season.

Movie Review

If you have not seen the DaVinci Code there is a really accurate and good review from the Jamaica Gleaner's Tanya Batson-Savage.

Here is an interesting quote from the article: Many of the ideas expressed in The Da Vinci Code were once the stuff for which people were excommunicated from the Catholic Church (especially at the time in history when it was sinful to suggest that the sun did not revolve around the earth). So essentially, it plays with ideas that supposedly form the bedrock of Christian faith and then tries to shake them.
READ MORE.

Another one of "those books"

Here is another book that will soon be talked about, The Expected One: a Novel by Kathleen McGowan. McGowan self published a thriller about a descendant of Mary Magdalene and Jesus then it was picked up this year by Touchstone Publishers, affiliated with Simon & Schuster. She got a seven-figure advance for this book. According to amazon.com the book will be released July 26. Interestingly, I read online that last year at the Book Expo McGowan had to beg people to talk to her, this time she was signing autographs and met with a number of foreign publishers.
Dan Brown did not invent this genre of writing but I am sure he will be blamed or praised if McGowan's book becomes a hit.

Book Expo Buzz

Look out for these three titles in the fall; they created the most buzz in Washington D.C. over the weekend at the Book Expo:

For One More Day by Mitch Albom, release date: September 26.

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier, release date: October 3.

The Innocent Man: A True Story by John Grisham, release date: October 10.

Senator Barack Obama will also have a new book out in the fall, The Audacity of Hope: Reclaiming the American Dream, release date: October.

I saw the movie

There was no picket line at the 3:15PM matinee yesterday. I enjoyed the movie. From what I remember of the book, the movie was a very accurate portrayal and for that I can give it 4 stars. I thought the actors who played Silas and Leigh Teabing were exceptional.

I can understand why devout Roman Catholics and Opus Dei supporters would be offended that the antagonists are affiliated with the church but some Roman Catholic priests have done far more damage to the priesthood and to catholicism than this movie could possibly do. Somebody has to be the antagonist in a murder mystery; sometimes it's a lawyer, judge, teacher, I guess church people are not exempt.

It's fiction. Don't take the book or movie so personally, go out and be entertained.

Crossing the Da Vinci Picket Line

I may have to cross a picket line today. I read yesterday in the Waycross Journal Herald that a Christian group will be picketing the movie theater during the showing of The Da Vinci Code.

What is this fear that some Christians have over this movie? I am happy the book has generated dialogue about the church and christianity. However, if I did not know better after reading some of the comments, example one in the Nassau Guardian this morning, I would think Christianity was so weak it was under threat of collapsing because of one movie? I was actually inspired to respond by email to the article Decoding Dan Brown by Vannessa Rolle, the Lifestyles Editor at Nassau Guardian.

And is it my imagination or has The Da Vinci Code book and movie generated more response from Christians than Brokeback Mountain the play and movie version?

May 24
P.S. Heard from Vannessa Rolle and she says she did not write the article. Some error on the part of the webmaster.

Da Vinci code opens today at movie theaters

Go out and see the movie, be entertained. Things to remember when you go to see the movie:

1.The Da Vinci Code is a murder mystery.

2.The Da Vinci Code movie is based on a novel. It's fiction with some legends and historical facts thrown in the mix.

3. Mr. Da Vinci was not at the last supper with Christ and his disciples. His painting is not a photograph, it is what he imagined took place.

Some critics have not been particularly impressed by the movie and have rated it 2 stars. They are saying the book did not translate well into a movie. READ MORE.

Worldwide protests continue against the movie. I heard on the news yesterday that an Albino group has added its voice against the movie.

Others however, are trying to make money by jumping on the Da Vinci Code band wagon, or should I say, the Da Vinci Train. The Eurostar, the London to Paris train that opened in 1994, wants to take you to see the cities mentioned in the Da Vinci Code.

Anti Da Vinci or Pro Da Vinci?

The movie, The Da Vinci Code, opens this weekend and so the anti code protests have begun as far away as Greece as well as here in Waycross. There was an ad in the Waycross Journal Herald on Monday identifying food stores that refused to pull The Davinci Code from their book section and also commending Harvey's for complying with their request to remove the book. For crying out loud the book is fiction.

Anyway, take a look at some anti Da Vinci Code websites:

thetruthaboutdavinci.com: Westminster Theological Seminary

jesusdecoded.com: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

go.family.org/davinci: Focus on the Family

davincioutreach.com: Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

www.archden.org: The Archdiocese of Denver.

Now enjoy the movie and be entertained!