Daily Update: Sunday, June 9th, 2024

Today is the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Alleluia!) and the Optional Memorial of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, Deacon and Doctor (died 373). And today is the birthday of Richard’s nephew Steve (the older son of Richard’s sister Susan in Iowa).

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

This book is the second of the Leatherstocking Tales in chronological time (after the events of The Deerslayer), but the second book to be published by the author in the series (after The Pioneers). This book is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War, and is set in upstate New York, some fifty miles north of Albany. The book is another tale of Hawkeye, otherwise known as Natty Bumpo, and his Delaware Indian companions, and is a good book, with a fairly convoluted plot.

Monk’s Hood by Ellis Peters

This is the third 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.