Daily Update: Wednesday, June 5th, 2024

Today is the Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr (died 754). Today is World Environment Day.

The Double by José Saramago, Translated by Margaret Jull Costa

This book came out in 2002; while computers were on the scene, the Internet as we now know it was not, and neither were ubiquitous cell phones. I mention these facts because this is a book that depends on land lines and on methods other than Google to find out information. But this is also a book that deals with identity, and what we feel to be our identity, and it is a very good, and funny, and sad book.

One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters

This is the second book in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury, in the England of the twelfth century. Cadfael lived a full life before becoming a monk, having been to the Crusades; he has now been a monk for some fifteen years, and is sincere about his faith, his obligations to the Benedictines, and his maintenance of the monastery gardens. However, his intellect is always piqued by mysteries, especially concerning young people. These are fun little mystery novels, and this one is a great introduction to the series. My first recorded reading of this book was in 2002, and the next in 2010.