Book Log 2018 #13: Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

Quirke, a hard-drinking pathologist in 1950s Dublin, comes to work one day to find his brother (by adoption - Quirke is an orphan) tampering with records related to a woman who had just come into the morgue. This leads Quirke to investigate the death more closely, which leads to an even greater mystery - what happened to the woman's baby, who seems to have disappeared not long after birth? This mystery puts Quirke in some difficulty with the powerful Catholic Church, a shadowy organization that's helping them, and members of his own family.

I liked the book, both for the main whodunit plot and the twisted family dynamics, which help explain Quirke's apparent self-loathing (which I'm taking from his apparently lack of care about his physical well-being).  And while it's not a historical novel, the details of mid-century Ireland help to ground the novel, especially in reminding us how much church and state were intermingled at the time.

As a side note, Benjamin Black is the pen name for the author John Banville, whose more literary works have won a variety of awards. He's also considered a potential Nobel Prize winner, which is probably why he was the subject of a hoax phone call saying he'd won the 2019 prize.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 40: Cyprian and Justina

Cyprian was a pagan magician beset by devils. Justina, a Christian woman, used the sign of the cross to keep the devils at bay, while they were finally defeated when Cyrpian made the sign himself. Converting to Christianity, Cyprian would rise to become a bishop, while Justina would head a convent. Both were captured and tortured during the Diocletian persecutions, but did not waver in their faith. Brought to Diocletian himself,  he ordered that they be beheaded. The pair were then made saints for their piety and martyrdom.

Except maybe they weren't?

Evidence suggests that the pair didn't exist, and that this Cyprian was confused with St. Cyprian of Carthage, whose writings, acts, and martyrdom during the persecution of Valerian are all well documented.  Also, there was no bishop in Antioch named Cyprian.

The pair were removed from the Roman Martyrology (a list of saints) in 2001, but as there were five saints named Cyprian and two named Justina the idea that there was confusion as to who exactly was who isn't too far-fetched.

 So that's it for 2018! I now have 320(ish) days to figure out what to do for next year.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 39: Donatus of Arezzo

Not much is known about Donatus, but that didn't keep people from writing about him. There are at least two written accounts of his life that claim Donatus:

• Was orphaned when his family moved to Rome, where he would get religious instruction along with a boy named Julian - who, as Julian the Apostate, would become emperor and kill several Christians, including Donatus' parents... who were already dead?
• Killed a dragon who poisoned a well (no word if Donatus was able to unpoison the well).
• Brought a dead woman back to life and restored the sight of a different blind woman.
• Fixed a glass chalice shattered by pagans, but with one piece missing. The wine did not flow out of the hole, leading 79 pagans to convert.
• Was martyred, or not. 

With that much uncertainty, it's not hard to see why Donatus was dropped from the calendar. His veneration does continue in two interesting ways:

1. A church bearing his name on the island of Murano near Venice has some of his relics, including relics of the dragon he slew. 
2. He's one of two patron saints of Guardiagrele in Abruzzo, and during the festival celebrating the pair it's traditional to eat porchetta.  Given the choice between alleged dragon bones and three days of eating roast pork, I'm taking the pork.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 38: Lucius I

Another early pope who got to be a saint by being an early pope. Serving in the 3rd century, he was briefly banished from Rome but was given permission to return. He got dropped from the calendar based on his not actually having been a martyr. It was claimed that he was martyred under the persecution of Valerian, but that persecution didn't start until after Lucius' death.

One odd story about Lucius. Demons were said to be haunting the Isefjord near Roskilde, Denmark, saying that the only thing they feared was Lucius' skull. (why his skull is an open question). The skull was promptly brought to the fjord, the demons went away, and Lucius was made patron saint of Zeeland.  The skull remained in Denmark as a relic, but carbon dating proved the skull attributed to Lucius dated back to about 100 years after Lucius died. The skull did move around a little, so it's possible Lucius' skull crossed paths with another one and they were switched.

Just another example of why you should always keep your head about you.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 37: Paul of Thebes

Also known as Paul, the First Hermit or Paul the Anchorite. What we know of Paul comes from Saint Jerome, who writes that Paul fled to the desert to avoid persecution (thanks to his brother in law, who was trying to get Paul's inheritance), where he lived for nearly 100 years in a cave, living off of water and dates until a raven started to bring him half a loaf of bread every day.

I think we have a new fad diet to replace keto.

Anyway, once Paul died a monastery was started on the site of his cave, where his remains are kept.

Apparently, Paul was dropped from the calendar due to questions of the historical accuracy of Jerome's story. So while good PR is important, it can only get you so far.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 36: Hyginus

Hyginus was pope after Telesphorus, but his history is murky, to the point that his martyrdom can't be proven. He's also credited with establishing the rank for clergy and requiring all churches be consecrated, but who knows? 

Hygiuns had to deal with at least a couple of well-known Gnostic heretics - his dealings with them make up most of what passes for a biography - and there's no real discussion of how he became a saint. Other than by being an early pope, proving once again that timing is everything.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 35: Telesphorus

You may remember Pope Telesphorus coming up during Lentorama 2010 (and if you do, you should probably work on remembering more important things), but it turns out his feast day was originally created for another martyr. And apparently most of what was attributed to Telesphorus was connected to him well after his death in order to bolster the authority of the papacy. 

The pope Telesphorus has separate feast day from the non-pope Telesphorus, though it doesn't look like either of them are on the General Roman Calendar. Two for one today!

Book Log 2018 #12: Terror in the City of Champions by Tom Stanton

The 1930s were a great time to be a sports fan in Detroit, between the titles won by the pro teams and Joe Louis proving dominant in the ring. Contrasting that was the growing power of a group called the Black Legion, a white supremacist organization whose power grew along with its membership, which included several prominent citizens across the midwest.

The two themes of this book never quite connect - I don't recall that any of the athletes actually joined the Legion - but together they do illustrate an interesting time in American history, between the recovery from the Depresstion and the US entry into World War II.  There are also echoes into the present day, and how "economic anxiety" in the same part of the country helped bring Trump to power with his own particular nativist agenda.

This is one of the more successful books I've read in that Erik Larson style of weaving true crime and social history together, very much worth reading.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 34: Dorothea of Caesarea

The earliest record of Dorothea contains three items: when she was martyred, where she was martyred, and her name and the name of Theophilus. The legend of her death says that Theophilus was a pagan who mocked Dorothea while she was on her way to her execution. She sent him her headdress, whose fragrance of roses and fruits was taken as a sign. Theophilus declared himself a Christian and was martyred for his troubles.

From that story (later embellished), veneration of Dorothea grew and she became the patron saint of gardeners. She also became associated with better known female saints, such as the group known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers.  It never hurts to have good PR.

Book Log 2018 #11: Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton

This is a book version of the website of the same name, which covers the wide variety of weird and wonderful from around the globe. You can try to read it cover to cover, but I found it better to read it in chunks. A great book for browsing, endlessly interesting and engaging. And thinking of the original purpose of this log, probably not a bad book for commuting as it's easy to start and stop (though I'm guessing the size of the book might be an issue).

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 33: Saint Placidus

Another case of mistaken (or combined) identity. This Placidus, along with 30 others, were martyred. Could have been pirates, could have been the emperor Diocletian. Definitely in Sicily. Maybe?

Anyway, jump ahead a few hundred years and a writer confuses this Placidus with another Placidus who was a follower of St. Benedict. Who, to be honest, doesn't have much of a history other than his connection to Benedict. And both men also apparently had connections to Messina. So the confusion is understandable, I guess.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 32: Nicholas of Tolentino

Born in Sant'Angelo, Nicholas moved to Tolentino due to angelic visions. Once there, he settled into a life of preaching and working with the poor. He was responsible for giving food to the poor, and created a special bread based on another vision. Augustinians still bless and distribute St. Nicholas bread today.

Between the visions, his work with the poor and prisoners, and attempts at bringing peace during the conflict between the Guelphs and the Ghibelines, the calls for his sainthood started shortly after he died. He was the first Augustinian to be made a saint when Eugene IV canonized him in 1446.

At least one person suggests that he's responsible for Spain getting a foothold in the New World. The settlement of Potosi, Bolivia apparently was suffering from high infant mortality (not surprising, being a colonial city at 13000 feet in altitude). A man dedicated his unborn child to Nicholas, and the son that was born lived to adulthood. This began a tradition of dedicating children and naming them after the saint, which helped the city to grow and become permanent. I imagine all the silver in the area helped the city stick, but it's a good story.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 31: Gervasius and Protasius

These two were twins, sons of martyrs who were martyred themselves by Nero. Or Diocletian. Or Antoninus. It's not clear. They had big hands, apparently. Not much to build a sainthood on.

Jump ahead a couple of centuries, to when St. Ambrose was asked to consecrate a new basilica in Milan, but needed relics to do so. A dream led him to the place where the pair were buried (I'm assuming their skeletons had huge hand bones), and Ambrose brought them back to the basilica to be his relics, and many miracles apparently ensued.

The twins are patron saints of Milan, which may be a problem if, as is rumored, they were moved to Germany after Frederick Barbarossa destroyed the city. Milan denies this happened, but what else would they say?

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 30: John of Matha

So over the course of doing this we've run into a number of saints whose "demotion" is understandable. You can only get so far when your actual existence is unproven.

I am less sure why today's saint got the heave ho. A French nobleman who joined the priesthood at the end of the 12th century, John reportedly saw a vision during his first Mass which would lead him to found the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, whose original mission was to ransom Christian captives to secure their freedom (which the Crusades made a necessary thing).

Today the order operates worldwide, and continues its mission (although it's broadened the concept of who is captive to cover people who are oppressed or persecuted but not enslaved outright).

Basketball fans may recognize his name thanks to DeMatha Catholic High School, a national hoops powerhouse that is also the order's only secondary/college prep school in the Americas).

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 29: Pope Victor I

Another of the many early popes who became saints for no good reason. He was apparently a pope in the late second century, and was the first pope from the Roman province of Africa (he's believed to have been Berber).

Not much is known of his papacy. He excommunicated a writer named Theodotus of Byzantium for his teachings that claimed Jesus was a mere man. Victor also cut ties with several Eastern churches over a dispute on when to celebrate Easter. None of this seems like particularly fruitful ground for sainthood, which explains why he was removed from the saints calendar altogether.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 28: Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin

Francesco Possenti was the 11th of 13 children, and while he had a reputation for charity and piety as a young man he showed no interest in religious life. He was poised to follow his father into government work, and was also (and perhaps better) known for his attention to his looks and his dancing.

Things were slated to take a turn when he took ill and promised to enter the religious life if he recovered. He did recover, but didn't change his vocation. A similar pledge also went unheeded when he narrowly avoided getting shot during a hunting trip. A second bout of illness brought the same pledge, and this time he actually started the process to join the Jesuits after he healed, but it was never completed.

It was a cholera epidemic that killed a sister that finally drove Francesco into the religious life, when he claimed to hear a voice during a procession of an icon of Mary asking why he continued to live in the world. Despite the best efforts of his father, Francesco joined the Passionists (who gave him the name Gabriel). He showed great promise, both academically and spiritually, but apparently not physically, as he developed a case of tuberculosis.  He would succumb to it before being ordained.

A couple of miracle cures were forwarded as evidence for his canonization, which occurred in 1920. The Passionist monastery in which he was buried (which had been abandoned for a time) developed a shrine for Gabriel, which became a popular pilgrimage site, especially among local youth who go there 100 days before graduation from high school to pray for good scores on their final exams. Even so, he wasn't popular enough to keep on the general calendar.

On a side note, there is a movement to have Gabriel named the patron saint of handgunners, stemming from a story that he saved the village where his monastery is located from a marauding band due to his proficiency with hand guns. I guess we really can let God sort them out?

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 27: Andrew Corsini

As one might expect from one of 12 kids born to a notable family, Corsini fell into a life of dissipation that lasted until his mother recounted a dream where he was a wolf among sheep, which apparently made quite an impression as almost immediately afterwards he joined a Carmelite house. He would become ordained, living a life of mortification and concern for the poor.

He would later be named bishop of Fiesole, a role in which he reportedly increased his personal mortification and attention to the poor. According to legend, in 1373 a visitation by Mary announced that Corsini would pass away on Epiphany, which he did. Almost immediately multiple miracles were said to take place at his tomb, though he wouldn't be named a saint until 1629. He would later be removed from the General Roman Calendar for not being of universal importance, which I guess makes sense for someone who spent his entire life and career in and around Tuscany.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 26 - St. Pope Soter

Soter was notable for his declaration that marriage was only valid as a sacrament blessed by a priest, and (fitting for Lentorama) for making Easter an annual festival in Rome. He was also noted for his charity towards exiled Christians and people condemned to the mines.

What he is not noted for is being a martyr, as he's not listed in the Roman Martyrology as one. It's not a requirement for sainthood, but it's common, and not being listed as a martyr also runs against the common belief that all early popes were martyred. It also doesn't help Soter that the date of his death is unknown.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 25 - Margaret of Antioch

As with many of the early saints, much of what is written about Margaret is said to be fictitious, though with her at least one story was said to be as such pretty much from the start. Margaret was said to be the daughter of a pagan priest who, raised by a Christian nurse, opted for the new religion and moved with her to the country. When a local governor wanted to marry Margaret, but said she'd need to revert to paganism, she refused, leading to various tortures (many of which would result in miracles) before she was martyred.

One of the tortures was reportedly being fed to Satan in the guise of a dragon, The cross Margaret wore irritated the dragon's insides, resulting in Margaret being regurgitated unharmed. The recounting of the story in the Golden Legend lives of the saints says this story is "apocryphal and not to be taken seriously." Further evidence that Margaret wasn't real is her also being referred to as Marina, suggesting she's a version of the Greek Saint Pelagia, and perhaps even influenced by the story of Aphrodite.

Pope Gelasius I declared Margaret apocryphal in 494, but she continued to be venerated, most notably in England, as the Council of Oxford added her to a list of feast days in 1222. She also gained popularity during the Crusades, and was said to have promised great indulgences for anyone who wrote or read her life story. Pretty good staying power for a saint that may never have existed.

(Note that she should not be confused with Margaret of Scotland, of whom there is plenty in the historical record.)

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 24 - Paschal Baylon

From youth, Paschal expressed a deep interest in the Eucharist, to the point where he once disappeared from home and was found climbing the altar steps in the local church so he could see the tabernacle. His religious devotion took a back seat to being a shepherd until his 20s ,when he joined a monastery. He developed a reputation for his austerity and piety, and his continued devotion to the Eucharist saw him sent to France to debate a Calvinist, but he was almost killed by a hostile crowd.

After he died, miracles were reported at his tomb pretty much immediately. Once he was canonized he was named a "seraph of the Eucharist" and was named a patron of groups that venerate the Eucharist. He's also often depicted carrying a monstrance, which you might remember is used to display relics or consecrated hosts. Still, for all his devotion to the centerpiece of the Mass, Paschal got dropped off the calendar for (say it with me now) not being of universal importance.

Book Log 2018 #10: Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel by Zachary Thomas Dodson

My wife picked this out for me as a Christmas present, and I can see what she was thinking. It's not just set in a dystopian future, but the story is told using a variety of aids, from hand-drawn maps to letters and telegrams to parts of another novel that gives insight as to what's going on in the book's present (hence the "illuminations" in the title). It is the sort of book that's right up my alley.

I just wish it had worked a little better.

It's not a bad book. The story, involving a man living in Texas who is close to power (he has a relative that's a US Senator, which is a much bigger deal in the book's future) but not particularly poweful himself, sees the man come across some of the country's biggest secrets, which he has to deal with while dodging a pervasive surveilance state (though in an odd steampunk kind of way). Moving between the present and the past, the book presents interesting characters and story that I can only really describe as weird. But in a good way.

The problem is that it feels like the book was written as a way to show off the design of the book and story rather than for the story itself. This is not surprising given that the author is a designer, with a particular interest in "narrative design" (as you can see on his website). I think if you go into this book knowing that it's as much about experiencing the book as an object of design as plot or character, you'll like it more than if you go into it expecting a traditional book.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 23 - Maurice and Companions

Maurice was the leader of the Theban Legion of the Roman army during the third century. When the unit was transferred to Gaul to help Emperor Maximian, Maurice and his legionnaires (all Christians) refused to sacrifice to pagan gods or pay homage to the emperor. They would then refuse orders to harass local Christians, which led Maximian to order a decimation of the legion. More refused order led to a second decimation, and further refusal to attack Christians resulted in the entire legion being put to death.

There's a fair amount of debate over the historical veracity of this story, with those arguing for its historical basis pointing at physical evidence like coins and contemporary written sources, and those arguing for it being of a literary origin only. It's also noted that monastic sources don't confirm that the entire legion was killed, often suggesting that most of the legion was able to escape. There's also the fact that the Roman military at the time was strongly aligned with pagan gods like Mithras or Isis, so the existence of an entire legion (roughly 1000 men) of Christians seems unlikely.

So while Maurice and his legion aren't on the general calendar any more, Maurice is still widely venerated and is the patron saint for a number of professions and groups, including the pope's Swiss Guard. So it's kind of a soft landing for Maurice.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 22 - Ubald

Like some other saints, Ubald was educated by the church after the death of his father, and earned offices at an early age. Made a canon, and later joining a monastery, he spent a few years in Vienna learning from other canons. He returned to his home city of Gubbio, where he developed a reputation for his piety, poverty, and humility. He refused higher office several times, but finally relented and was named the bishop of Gubbio.

Ubald died in 1160, already having miracles attributed to him during his lifetime. Further miracles were proclaimed, and at his canonization his body was found to be flexible and incorrupt when it was moved to a hilltop oratory. A church was later built at that site, and has remained a popular pilgrimage site for Umbrians. But he's apparently not that popular outside of Umbria, which led to his being removed from the general calendar.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 21 - Geminianus

It always helps to know people. Geminianus found his way onto the calendar through association with Saint Lucy, but found his way off because he was determined to be fictitious. There is an unrelated Saint Geminianus, but it looks like he lived well after Lucy died, which I suppose wouldn't completely prevent some sort of confusion connecting the two. Maybe Geminianus was just a lot more popular of a name in the fourth century.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 20 - Emerentiana

Emerentiana was the daughter of St. Agnes's wet nurse, and may have been considered a foster sister to Agnes. A few days after Agnes was martyred, Erementiana went to her tomb to pray and was stoned to death by a crowd.

That is pretty much all that's known about her (and even that comes from the legends of St. Agnes),  so it's probably not surprising that she got demoted. I did find it interesting that she was not a Christian at the time of her death, as she was a catechumen at the time.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 19 - Martina of Rome

The daughter of an ex-consul, she was ordered to return to the religion of the Roman state, but refused. For this she was ordered to undergo various tortures (including attack by wild animals and burning alive), all of which she escaped from unscathed. This apparently didn't protect her from beheading, which is how she was reportedly martyred.

Over time her story was increasingly embellished, and apparently conflated with the lives of other saints. But no one seemed to mind, and she was canonized just the same. Jump forward 1400 years after her death and her remains were discovered in the crypt of a church named for her. But a couple hundred years later she was taken off of the General Calendar, but she remains on the calendar for her church and in and around Rome, of which she's a patron saint.

Book Log 2018 #7, #8 and #9: The Passage, The Twelve, and The City of Mirrors

I'm not that into vampires, so this is not a trilogy I would have normally picked up. But after seeing a couple of friends rave about the series, I figured I'd pick it up.

OK, these aren't vampires as you'd classically describe them. They are the result of a government experiment to create super soldiers using a bat-borne virus found in South America. As with all such experiments, things go badly wrong, and the subjects escape. The effect on humanity is, also as you might expect, catastrophic.

The books themselves follow some of the humans who survive, including a man who was close friends with the "patient zero" vampire, and a girl whose own pre-vampire supernatural abilities may prove crucial to humanity's ultimate survival.

I didn't like these books as much as the friends who raved about it, though I did appreciate the scope of the story and the ways in which the author brought vampire lore into the present (and near future). My one big problem with the series comes in the last book, where we get the crucial insight as to why that "patient zero" vampire caused the de facto downfall of humanity, and it's underwhelming. I suppose you can say it's a textbook case of the banality of evil.  Still, there's a lot of well-paced story before this, and it's worth a read if this is the sort of thing that interests you.

Lentorana 2018: Second String Saints

Day 18 - William of Montevergine

Born into a rich Italian family, William started on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem when he was beaten and robbed, which he took as a sign that he should stay where he was in southern Italy. He moved to a mountaintop (the Monte Vergine of his name) and became a hermit. He wound up attracting several followers and built a monastery.  He would earn the patronage of Roger II, which allowed him to build several more monasteries.

Which seems like a good thing, right? Maybe too much of a good thing, as William became increasingly at odds with the other clergy in his monasteries over the austerity of life under his domain. So William moved off his mountain and settled in a town called Goleto, where he founded more monasteries but was able to live out the rest of his days.

Not sure how or when William was sainted - he does have a couple of miracles attributed to him (including one in which he laid down on a bed of hot coals to thwart a prostitute who was testing his faith), and apparently knew his death was near by a "special revelation." The king of Naples had his remains moved from its original resting place in 1807, I'm assuming to gain some sort of advantage by relocating him to his original mountain home. He was removed from the calendar, like so many others, for not being of "universal importance." Which I suppose makes sense for a hermit, as that's not exactly a career path that gets you universality.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 17 - John of Sahagun

Unlike many of our previous entries, quite a bit is known about the life of John. The oldest of seven children to a wealthy Spanish family, during his education he was introduced to the bishop of Burgos, who was impressed by John and educated him within his own home. John would quickly be ordained and given several different offices, most notably being made a canon of Burgos cathedral.

John was uncomfortable holding simultaneous titles (it being disallowed under canon law), and resigned them all in order to become the priest to a poor parish, where he could focus on preaching. During this time he became ill and required surgery (a daunting prospect in the 15th century) to remove kidney stones. He made a pledge to become a religious if he survived the operation, which he did.

At that point, John joined a monastery and would work his way up to become master of novices and then prior. He continued to preach, but was also said to have developed an ability to discern a person's conscience, making it nearly impossible to lie to him. His preaching also apparently brought him many enemies as he often preached against vices popular among the local gentry, with the former concubine of one of them (who had turned back towards God) allegedly poisoning John (though this looks to be a detail added well after John's death).

But for all of his apparent piety and the existence of a historical record, John got demoted for not being of universal importance. Not enough days in the calendar.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 16 - Pope Anacletus

You know there may be issues when there's not really agreement on your name. The third pope, he's listed as both Cletus and Anacletus in historical records, and while there's general agreement they're the same person you'd like to think such agreement wouldn't be needed. There's also some minority opinion that he was actually the fourth pope, in case you needed some more ambiguity.

Also unclear is on what grounds Anacletus was actually made a saint. About all that's known about him is that he divided Rome into parishes and ordained an undetermined number of priests. His martyrdom looks to be more asserted than proven, based on the widespread persecution of Christians in the first century.  Kind of hard to believe he stayed on the calendar as long as he did.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 15: Dorothea of Caesarea

Legend has it that Dorothea, a martyr of the Diocletian persecution, was mocked on the way to her death to provide fruits from her bridegroom's garden (the bridegroom being Jesus). Before being killed, she gave her headdress to a six year old boy, who delivered it to the person who mocked her, who found it full of roses and fruits. He then declared himself a Christian, and was killed himself.

As time passed, Dorothea became more widely venerated, most notably in the Middle Ages, and was named a patron saint of gardeners. But as there's almost nothing known of her (just the day and place of her martyrdom and the name of the person who mocked her), she got demoted off of the calendar.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 14 - Liborius

The second bishop of Le Mans, Liborius spent the 49 years in office developing the church in and around Le Mans. He died in the arms of his friend Martin of Tours, and it's after his burial that things got interesting. Several miracles were said to have happened at his tomb, and at the instigation of Pope Leo III Liborius was moved to Paderborn, Germany to serve as the diocese's saint. This began a connection between Le Mans and Paderborn that has survived all the various Franco-German troubles.

And while he's no longer on the calendar, he is still the patron saint for getting rid of/avoiding kidney stones and gallstones, so keep that in mind.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 13 - Hermes

Hermes was said to have been martyred in 120 at the order of a judge named Aurelian, and may have been a wealthy freeman. That is pretty much everything that is known about Hermes, who was made a saint on the strength of his reported acts in various sources. Wasn't enough to keep him from getting dropped of the calendar, though he's still a saint. Whoever he was.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 12 - Pudentiana

Nepotism isn't just for government jobs. Pudentiana is one of the daughters of St. Pudens, though there's no mention of her (or her sister, Praxedes) in what documentary evidence there is of his life. She's said to have helped build a baptistry in her father's church, and assisted in baptizing pagans. She died at 16 and was said to be martyred, which when combined with being the daughter of a saint appears to have paved the way to her own sainthood.

At least until it appears that your very existence was based on an improper translation of a church named for your dad. Still, Pudentiana did get named the patron saint of the Phillipines in the 16th century, and does have a titular bishopric named after her. And like Boniface of Tarsus, she's still venerated in Orthodox Christianity.

(Full diclosure: I originally chose Pudentiana in the hopes that her name was somehow derived from "pudenda." In some ways I am still a 12 year old boy.)

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 11 - Boniface of Tarsus

Not related to any of the popes by that name, Boniface was said to be a slave in Rome who may have been his female owner's lover. They discovered Christianity at the same time, and Boniface was sent to Tarsus by his owner to find relics to bring back to her. Once in Tarsus, seeing the persecution of Christians, he publicly proclaimed his faith and was martyred. His body was returned home, making his remains the relics he was sent to Tarsus to get, kind of a homicidal Gift of the Magi.

It's quite the story, and as is the case for so many early saints it appears to be just that. Without any supporting evidence of Boniface's martyrdom he was removed from the calendar, and from the Roman Martyrology. He is still venerated in Orthodox Christianity, so he's got that going for him.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 10 - Gorgonius

The Gorgonius in question here is Gorgonius of Rome, of whom we only know his name and the date of his death (which makes references of him as a martyr a bit questionable). He's not to be confused with Gorgonius of Nicomedia, who was martyred as a member of Diocletian's household. He's also not to be confused with any of the other four venerated Gorgonii.

Still not sure how you get to be a saint when so little is known of you, but I suppose with all the people having the same name you don't want to uncanonize the wrong one.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 9 - Thomas of Villanova

A Spanish Augustinian monk, Thomas was renowned for his preaching and for his care for the poor. He was made a counselor and court preacher by Charles V, while moving up in the hierarchy of his order. He was offered the position of archbishop of Granada, which he refused, and then of Valencia, which also refused... until his superior ordered him to take the post.

While archbishop Thomas used the office to help the people of Valencia while making up for a period where pastoral governance was almost non-existent. His used the money given to him to redecorate his apartments to help repair a hospital. Thomas also set up social welfare institutions while continuing to look for the underlying causes of recurring problems.

I mention Thomas today due to the NCAA men's division I basketball tournament, where Villanova University was a one seed. Hopefully their namesake saint can work a small miracle or two for them.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 8 - Edward the Confessor

I was surprised to see Edward on the list of saints who were demoted, as there's plenty of historical background for him, and there seems to have been a cult of Edward worship dating to just after his death. But the more you read about him and his canonization, the more it seems like his demotion was a long time coming.

It seems that Edward's saintly reputation was an embellishment of monks at Westminster Abbey, who saw an opportunity to make bank if Edward was canonized. This push wasn't fully supported by English royalty, and the pope at the time was happy to slow play it, as he was at odds with the English king at any rate.

But then politics intervened. The English backed Alexander III during a disputed conclave, and when a new push was made to make Edward a saint, it had the full backing of the monarchy and a quid pro quo ready to be completed. It's here that he picked up the "confessor" nickname, it referring to his living a holy life while not actually being martyred.

Really, the demotion was in the cards once St. George became the national saint and the chapel at Windsor Castle with Edward's name was renamed for George, it was just a matter of time. Being the Catholic church, though, that time was itself a long time in coming,.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 7 - Four Crowned Martyrs

The first sign that there may be issues with your group of saints: your name says there are four, but there are actually nine. Four of them were clerks in the Roman army who refused to make a sacrifice to a pagan god, and were beaten to death for their trouble. The other five were all sculptors who refused to make a statue of a different pagan god, who were then executed by being sealed alive in lead coffins and then thrown into the sea. All of this happened under the reign of Diocletian, who clearly wasn't brooking any monotheism.

It looks like the similarities in the two groups' stories - refusal to pay homage to a pagan god, followed by brutal killings - is what caused them to get lumped together under one name. But there also seems to be plenty of confusion of who these guys are, as there are claims that the names from both groups were co-opted from other religious works (though the names of the clerks are also said to have been learned through revelation). Put on top of that later research suggests that the only group that actually existed is the five stonemasons, and you begin to understand why maybe these folks don't need top billing.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 6 - Pope Mark

Mark is another of those early popes about whom we know almost nothing other than the dates of his pontificate. It's also not clear how he managed to earn sainthood. His run as pope was relatively quiet, some schmimatics were still causing problems, and Mark is thought to have built a couple of basilicas. Overall, it's not clear how he wound up a saint in the first place. So his demotion to local calendars only doesn't seem like a problem, though I do have an objection of a personal nature.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 5- Pope Urban I

Not much is known of Urban's third century papacy, other than it's the first papacy whose dates can be determined through primary sources. Not much was thought to have happened during his tenure, other than some agitating from schismatics. The Romans were laying off the Christians at the time, so the lack of persecution didn't hurt.

There are various acts ascribed to Urban, most notably that he baptized St. Cecilia and that he had several sets of silver liturgical vessels made for local churches, but the sources were written well after his death. It also looks like that there was another bishop named Urban in the area at the time, and that things he did were incorrectly ascribed to the pope. So Urban I may have gotten his sainthood primarily for being pope during a decidedly chill time (relatively) to be a Christian. There are apparently no shortage of saints with this sort of story.

Book Log 2018 #6: The Sanctuary Sparrow by Ellis Peters

A minstrel performing at a wedding is accused of murder and robbery against the groom's father, and takes flight. With the mob of wedding guests at his heels, the minstrel enters the abbey church and claims sanctuary. The sheriff claims that the boy can be granted sanctuary, but only for a period of time where the crime can be investigated. So enters Brother Cadfael, whose belief in the boy's innocence drives him to find the true criminal. While, of course, steering the course of true love between the boy and a maid in the household where the wedding was held.

Nothing surprising here, a very standard Cadfael story with the trappings you'd expect at this point in the series.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 4 - Raymond Nonnantus

Nonnantus was a 13th century Spanish monk whose order specialized in ransoming Christians being held by Moors in North Africa and southern Spain. This worked pretty well until he ran out of funds and, as directed by the rules of his order, he traded himself for the people he was trying to ransom.

While in captivity Nonnantus continued to preach, and his Moorish captors, sick of hearing him, used a hot poker to create holes in his lips so they could padlock his mouth shut. It was in this state that his order ransomed him back. Today, at sites where Nonnantus is venerated, people leave locks as an offering or a symbol of some vocal transgression (lying, etc.). As with yesterday's saint, Nonnantus was removed from the General Roman Calendar for not being universally important.

Although that might change based on Nonnantus being the namsake of the religious house that's at the center of the TV show Call the Midwife. Nonnantus is actually a nickname rather than a last name that references his Cesarean section birth (it's from the Latin for "not born") and death of his mother in childbirth. For this he's the patron saint of childbirth, midwives, and pregnant women. This made it an excellent alias for the actual house that Jenny Lee and friends worked out of while delivering babies in Poplar.

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 3 - Saint Canute

Also known as Canute IV, he was king of Denmark towards the end of the 11th century. A devout Catholic, he aimed to strengthen the church in Denmark and to strengthen Denmark by taking over England, which he believed was rightly his (he was the great-nephew of Canute the Great, who ruled England earlier in the century). He attempted to do so with a peasant army, which he managed to annoy by delaying an invasion long enough to play havoc with the harvesting of crops. Canute eventually disbanded the army, but before he could recall it the following year the peasants revolted, and eventually killed Canute and several of his followers while they took refuge in a church.

Canute was canonized in 1101, the first Danish saint. He's still the patron saint of Denmark. All of which would make you think he'd not get dropped from the general calendar, but he did as he's not "truly of universal importance." Several of the saints dropped from the main calendar were demoted for that reason, which just seems sad. Sorry, you're not cool enough to hang with the really popular saints!

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 2 - St. Christopher

It's a little odd to refer to St. Christopher as a second string saint, given that he's still really popular, but as it's likely that he never existed I'll get used to it.

The general story is that Christopher lived in the second century, and while working to guide people across a river he was given a child to carry across. As they went the water rose, and the child grew incredibly heavy. Barely making the other side, Christopher learned that the child was actually Christ, and that the weight represented the weight of the world.

After this, Christopher wound up in Asia Minor trying to convert the locals, and while there refused to make a pagan sacrifice. Women were sent to Christopher to tempt him, but he wound up converting them. The local king, enraged, ordered Christopher's execution, which took several attempts.

Now for the confusing part. There are no contemporary references to Christopher, so it's possible that he's based on the Egyptian St. Menas, who is also associated with a story where he carried a Christ child across a river. There's also a gap of several centuries between when Christopher was said to have lived and when his veneration became common.

Even with all the mystery about who Christopher actually was (or even if he was), he's still a saint, so feel free to wear you St. Christopher medal the next time you go on a trip.

In what I imagine was a blow to the holiday, Valentine's Day got to share today with Ash Wednesday. Which got me thinking: why is the holiday no longer St. Valentine's Day? It looks like it may have something to do with the 1969 reformation of the General Roman Calendar, which is where the church sets feast days and other celebrations. It took a number of saints off the main calendar, but they can still appear on national or local calendars. So it's kind of a demotion, but not the revocation of sainthood that some people assume.

All of which is the long way around to not having to troll social media this year for...

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Yup, 40 days of saints who have been put on the back burner. And as you might have expected, we'll start with the obvious choice for today.

Day 1: St. Valentine

Very little is known about Valentine, to the point where he may actually be two people whose acts were commingled over time. The legends about Valentine have him as a third century Italian bishop who restored the sight of a judge's daughter, to whom he left a note signed "Your Valentine." He may have done this while in prison for performing banned marriages, either for Christian couples or for soldiers so they would not have to go to war.

In either case, the stories tend to agree that he was martyred on the Via Flamina in Rome (they agree less on the year, with about a half-dozen to choose from), most likely on February 14. The adoption of that day as a romantic holiday is not clear, apparently it may have something to do with the date when birds choose a mate? I've also seen something saying his feast day was promoted in a move to replace the Roman holiday of Lupercalia. That seems more likely.

Regardless of how many Valentines there may have been, what he may have done while alive, and when he may have been killed, he's still a saint. So feel free to call today St. Valentine's Day, I suppose it's retro if nothing else.

Book Log 2018 #5: Testimony by Scott Turow

Set slightly outside of Kindle County, this book follows a former prosecutor who is hired by the International Criminal Court to investigate a claim that a Roma refugee camp was intentionally buried under an avalanche during the Bosnian war, killing hundreds. With one living witness and a cast of supporting characters - none of whom seem to have a fully objective interest in learning the truth - the prosecutor sets out to see who he can trust and what, if anything, he can learn about the final disposition of the camp.

I did like this book, just maybe not as much as the books that cleanly fit in the legal genre mode. Not sure if that's more to do with the author or with me.

Book Log 2018 #4: Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart MacBride

Ash Henderson is a police detective with a secret. His daughter was taken by a kidnapper known as the the Birthday Boy, who snatches girls around their 13th birthdays, and then sends the family a photo of their daughter in various states of distress every year on the girl's birthday. But he's not told his colleagues, as if they knew that his daughter wasn't just a runaway they would take him off the case.

I picked this up because I liked MacBride's series with Logan MacRae and was having trouble finding the newer books at the library (there should be a law that if a library starts carrying a series they need to have at least one copy of each book in the series). I don't remember much about the book (writing this well after reading), but it was probably fine. I've not bothered to read any additional books in the series, though, so take from that what you will. I don't even recall looking for the next book, so it's not like I can blame the library for not following up.

Book Log 2018 #3: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Full disclosure time: I am the parent of a child who has an autism spectrum disorder. I don't know if I've ever really talked about it here, but I tend to think not as (a) there's no label for it among the post labels that have accumulated over the years, and (b) I don't post much here on anything that isn't related to books I've read or Lent.  I probably won't get much more into it going forward, but thought it made some sense to mention this in relation to this book, as it would be hard for me talk about it without referencing personal experience to some degree.

As you might guess from the title, the book involves an incident that took place in the night involving a dog. The main character, Chris, takes it upon himself to investigate the incident to figure out who is responsible for what happened. Chris is never given a specific diagnosis, but it's clear from his various sensory and social issues that he has some sort of ASD (blurbs for the book mention both Asperger's Syndrome and high-functioning autism), which complicates the investigation even while it doesn't allow Chris to drop it. When the case takes a very surprising turn, Chris has to face a new reality and his own plan for confronting it, eclipsing the original investigation.

My child does not share many of the behaviors and challenges that Chris has, but I could see similarities in how they both work through the day, and in how surprises can throw them off. I did think a little about how my child might be like Chris at his age (he's in high school), which I had not really done previously. So the book certainly helped me as a parent, beyond just being an interesting read. Regardless of your personal experience with autism, I do think this is a book worth reading.

Book Log 2018 "#3": 1493 by Charles Mann

Turns out I read this book in 2012, and didn't consult this very book log when I took it out and read it (again) in 2018. Turns out I pretty much felt the same way about the book then as I do now (not quite as good as 1491 but still pretty darn good). Though I don't know that not remembering that I'd read it before is much of an endorsement.

Book Log 2018 #2: The Sanctuary Sparrow by Ellis Peters

A young musician claims sanctuary at the abbey church, as he is accused of robbing and killing a goldsmith while performing at his wedding. Sanctuary is granted, and the authorities (and Brother Cadfael) have 40 days to figure out who attacked the goldsmith (who lived, though there is at least one other murder that crops up later).

This is as good as any other book in the series, and is solidly sets the trope of the accused finding true love while needing their name cleared. I did read one critique of the book that called it more sentimental than others, as the murderer is found relatively early and there's more after-story about the people involved (and a wedding). Not sure if I'd say that makes the book sentimental, but it is different.

Book Log 2018 #1: The Infidel Stain by M. J. Carter

I really enjoyed Carter's first novel, The Strangling Vine (which I apparently didn't log), a mystery set in colonial India featuring a low-level officer of the British East India company and a special investigator who appears to have gone native. I apparently liked this one quite a bit, too - I gave it four stars on Goodreads - but I have a vague feeling I liked it less (as with most of 2017, I'm posting this well after the actual read date). It's set three years after the first book, and back in England. Maybe I was less happy about the change of scenery.

I was surprised to see that there was a title change (you'll see that if you click on the link), and have no idea if it's an improvement or not. I also see that there's a third book, which goes on my list of books to read.

Book Log 2017 #44: Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin

John Rebus finally takes things too far - or has finally taken things too far once too often - as a blow up during the investigation of a murdered art dealer sees him suspended and packed off for "retraining." He winds up with a group of detectives who have similarly fallen out of good graces, and in the process of reviewing a cold case that's part of the retraining, Rebus get drawn in to investigating a scheme that several of his fellow reprobates were involved in. And to make things even trickier, the cold case the group is reviewing may have happened thanks to a mistake Rebus made at the time it occurred.

At the same time, he has to run interference between Big Ger Cafferty and Siobahn Clarke, as she needs information from the gangster that might help solve the killing. And as usually happens, the cases come together, leading to larger and more dangerous implications for all involved.

Do I honestly even need to tell you that you should be reading this series?

Book Log 2017 #43: A Legacy of Spies by John LeCarre

After writing some of the most iconic spy novels of the Cold War era, LeCarre managed to move on from East versus West, still dipping a toe into espionage while moving into new territory with new villains. He largely left George Smiley and his colleagues behind, until this book brought the new and old together.

The new intelligence regime in the UK is looking back at what the old guard did in the past, and is starting to call them to account. In this case, one of Smiley's former lieutenants, Peter Guillam, is hauled back to MI6 to answer questions about the events that unfolded in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, as the son of one of the people involved in the operation at the center of that book is suing the British government.

The book bounces between the events leading up to what happened in the earlier book and Guillam's current attempts to dodge responsibility for what happened. It's not only a great callback for long time readers, but an interesting commentary on modern intelligence. It was also apparently written to help make a case for the UK staying in the EU in the wake of the Brexit referendum, which I didn't get at the time. Absolutely worth reading, though if for some reason you haven't read The Spy Who Came in From the Cold you may want to do that first.

Book Log 2017 #42: The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor

In the aftermath of the Great Fire, a body is discovered in the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. James Marwood, the son of a Cromwell supporter, is pressured into investigating the killing by a shadowy figure of some importance to Charles II, who suspects that it is related to the ongoing threat to the king by republicans, Puritains, and others. While doing so he comes across a woman (who he originally mistakes for a boy), whose father belonged to the same religious sect as Marwood's father. Together they work to solve the crime and improve their personal standings.

I remembered nothing about this book before writing this, but as I read a couple of reviews pieces came back to me, and I do recall liking this more than I originally thought I would. Which makes it surprising that I never got around to reading the sequel. Or any of Taylor's other books, as he's written a number of historical mysteries (most of a more recent history than this). Something to rectify for the future.

Book Log 2017 #41: The Falls by Ian Rankin

A university student from a prominent banking family goes missing, and it's up to Rebus and his colleagues to figure out how her case intersects with the new (an online game she was playing) and the old (a wooden doll in a miniature coffin is found with the body, hearkening back to similar cases in Edinburgh's history). Along the way Rebus gets suspended (of course), and has to maintain an unofficial involvement while Siobahn Clarke risks ending up like the student when she starts playing the online game in order to draw out the person who is running it, known as the Quizmaster.

We're at a point in this series where each book seems to outdo the last. I think what does it for this particular entry is the way in which the new and old elements are portrayed (the depiction of the game and being online in general is better than one might expect, and the historical part is another great use of local flavor in support of the story).

Book Log 2017 #40: The Lost Book of the Grail by Charlie Lovett

I had read The Bookman's Tale and while I wasn't blown away I liked it well enough to pick this up. In it, another bookish protagonist gets involved in solving an ages-old mystery, this time involving the Holy Grail.

Our hero, a lecturer at the local university and amateur Grail enthusiast, spends his happiest hours in the library of the local cathedral, where he can wile away the hours looking at their ancient manuscripts. When a young woman from America shows up to digitize the collection, he senses a threat - until he learns she shares his fondness both for old books and the Grail. Together they search for an ancient (and missing) text which contains information about the cathedral and the Grail, which could just help them turn around the church's precarious financial status.

I did like this one better than The Bookman's Tale, maybe because I'm more interested in the Grail than in Shakespeare.

Book Log 2017 #39: Dark Star by Alan Furst

Andre Szara is a Polish Jew, who escaped the pogroms and as of 1937 is a journalist for Pravda in Paris. He's approached by the NKVD to perform some small jobs for the Soviets, using his job as cover. As you might expect, these small jobs lead to more significant ones, to the point where it's not clear if he's really a journalist anymore. This professional crisis is then complicated by a personal one, which would require him to give the British the same sensitive information he's been passing to the Soviets.

This is the second book in the Night Soldiers series, and it travels some very familiar territory if you've read other books in the series. For some reason I only gave this three stars on Goodreads (I've more typically given books in the series four stars). I have no idea what I may have found lacking, but I doubt it was enough to discourage anyone from actually reading the book.

Book Log 2017 #38: The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness

It's 1989, and a young British man takes job as a university lecturer in Bucharest. Two odd things about the job: he never interviewed for it, and he never graduated from university. It becomes clear when he arrives that his actual job is to front for another faculty member (also a Brit) whose main occupation is actually cataloging (and occasionally selling) bits of the old city before they are destroyed and rebuilt as part of the Ceausescu regime's modernization plan. 

As he settles into life in Romania, he quickly becomes enmeshed with disparate parts of its society. He falls in with a group of dissidents who smuggle people out. He becomes friends with a pre-Ceausescu figure who is writing a memoir about the party and corruption. He becomes romantically entangled with the daughter of a ministry official.  Managing these relationships becomes increasingly difficult, especially with the backdrop of a regime that is slowly losing its grip over the people.

The author actually lived in Bucharest during the fall of Ceausescu, and his experiences and details give the story additional depth, beyond the average book about life at the end of communism. It's a very interesting book about a very interesting (and fairly surreal) time.

Book Log 2017 #37: The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

People from Earth have made their way out into the universe, using something called "The Flow" to make the jump between star systems that would normally be unreachable in a human time scale. After a thousand years of colonization, this has created an empire where trading is handled by noble houses and the state religion celebrates the empire and the Flow as divinely inspired.

Which is all well and good until a scientist determines that the Flow may be collapsing, which would cut off the systems from each other, likely leading to the end of civilization on all but the homeworld, which is the only planet in the empire that supports life on its surface. This information is provided to the new (and not particularly well prepared) emperox, who has to figure out how to handle this information while also fending off the machinations of the nobles (including some in her own house) who would like to seize the throne for themselves.

I really enjoyed this book, both as traditional science fiction and for the ways in which it mirrors our current struggles on Earth (think of the Flow representing climate change, for example).

Book Log 2017 #36: The Lost Order by Steve Berry

The Knights of the Golden Circle was an organization from the 19th century that looked to create a "golden circle" of slave states encompassing the Confederacy and various Western Hemisphere countries. After the Civil War, the group is rumored to have gone underground to continue their struggle. And that's where Cotton Malone comes in.

The story is that the remaining Knights are having a little civil war of their own, with the group split between keeping their caches of silver and gold hidden for use in the future, while the other wants to cash in and foment the revolution they've always wanted. This somehow involves the Smithsonian Institution, one of Cotton's forebears who was a Confederate spy, and the team of the Speaker of the House and a US senator's wife, who want to make some changes to the country and see the Knights as a convenient tool to do so.

It's another perfectly cromulent US-based story for Malone, better if you don't spend too much time thinking about the story and the hype used to build the plot into something it's not (I'm having a hard time believing the Knights were ever the most powerful and/or dangerous secret society in America). We'll all be better off when Malone gets back to Europe so he can shoot up some cathedrals or whatever.

Book Log 2017 #35: The Man from the Train by Bill James

America's best-known baseball statistician dips back into his interest in crime with this outing, where he and his daughter try to figure out who was behind a string of early 20th century murders. And, using their advanced analytical and research skills, they actually come up with a highly credible suspect.

The recounting of the murders (which reminded me of In Cold Blood in some ways) and the process by which James and his daughter come up with the suspect are equally gripping. I was also fascinated by how they were able to find additional crimes that fit the pattern of more well-known killings, making me wonder how many other serial killers are out there waiting to be discovered?

This is a much more readable work than Popular Crime, as I think James is better suited to telling a particular story rather than trying to force his analytical approach to a wider array of issues.

Book Log 2017 #34: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks is one of the most important people in medical history, though not as a doctor (or any other sort of medical professional). A farmer struck with an incredibly aggressive ovarian cancer, the cells taken from her were found to be especially amenable to growing in a lab environment, and quickly became the cells to use for all sorts of experimentation. They were sold by the billions, used to develop medial milestones from the polio vaccine to in vitro fertilization.

And for all of this, Lacks received nothing. She died without any knowledge of what her cells would become, and without any compensation for her or her descendants.

As much as this book is about Henrietta and her story, it's also about how she's been erased (or never written into) the history of her cell line, while doctors who developed it and used it to find therapies have. It's also about her family, who have learned more about her story, but still have many gaps to fill (and misinformation to weed out). The underlying themes of race and class carry throughout, with poorer African-Americans marginalized by a largely white (and wealthy) medical establishment.

While reading this I thought quite a bit about the book One Blood which tells the story of Charles Drew, the African-American doctor who figured out how to separate blood plasma from whole blood, and the urban legend that he died after an accident because he couldn't get a transfusion at a whites only hospital. Both books shed great light on aspects of medical history and how African-Americans are treated within that history. I highly recommend reading both of them.

Book Log 2017 #33: The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek - The First 25 Years by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman

There are two things I remember about reading this book:

1. It seems like the people behind Star Trek spent as much time trying to work around Gene Rodenberry as they did working with him.

2. People generally didn't like Gene Rodenberry.

I suppose these could be combined into one thing, but it did strike me while reading this exhaustive (and occasionally exhausting) oral history that the success and longevity of Star Trek may be attributed to how much its creator could be kept away from it.

There are a ton of additional details about the original series and its eventual transfer to film, which will entertain even the novice Trekkie.

Book Log 2017 #32: The Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters

The English civil war rages on, and as refugees from the fighting stream into Shrewsbury, Brother Cadfael and his fellow monks become aware of a trio that should have arrived at their door but did not: a noble brother and sister being led to their abbey by a nun. Cadfael is too busy tending to a wounded monk to help in the search, but soon determines that the monk may be related to the missing party. His attempt to find the missing trio is made more difficult when a murder is thrown into the mix.

This is one of the better installments of the series that I've read, especially in how it combines the backdrop of the civil war with the mystery being investigated.

Book Log 2017 #31: Set in Darkness by Ian Rankin

With the Scottish Parliament set to re-open, John Rebus is assigned as the police liaison to the new parliament, as its building lies within his precinct. When a rumored murder from long ago seems to be confirmed when builders unearth an old skeleton, the further discovery of a much newer corpse gives Rebus an unexpected murder to investigate. When a future member of the Scottish parliament turns up dead, and a down-and-out suicide case is found to have considerable financial resources, Rebus senses that there's something to connect all of these deaths.

On top of this, Rebus finds himself having to tangle with Big Ger Cafferty again (now out of prison thanks to a suspect diagnosis of terminal cancer), while both wind up dealing with a young new player in Edinburgh's underworld, who would be happy to take over for Cafferty (and inherit Rebus as a friendly link to the cops).

Highly entertaining entry in the series.

Book Log 2017 #30: Zoo Station by David Downing

John Russell is a journalist in pre-war Berlin. He has a bit of a complicated past, with a British and American background (he fought for Britain in World War I) and a spell in the Soviet Union as a committed communist. His present isn't that much less complicated - he's in the middle of leaving his wife (and mother of their young son) for an actress. It gets more complicated when someone from his communist days reappears and asks him to do some work for the Soviets. This gets the attention of both the Brits and the Nazis, who both prevail upon Russell to do some work for them as well.

This is a little more of a typical war/spy novel than the Night Soldiers series, though I did find it remarkable that Russell manages to maintain his journalistic cover while both being a spy and a resistance figure.

As you might guess, the Zoo train station does play a role in the book, which is at least the naming theme of this series (each book is named for a train station that figures in each book, with varying levels of importance).

I wasn't blown away by the book, but liked it well enough to stick with the series.

Book Log 2017 #29: A Hero of France by Alan Furst

Another in the Night Soliders series of World War II novels about spies and other behind the scenes people across Europe. In this case we have Mathieu, a Frenchman whose resistance cell is trying to get downed British pilots back home. We see how his cell, made up of a variety of regular people, do their work while trying to avoid German surveillance.

I don't remember much of the actual plot, but liked it pretty much as well as the other books in the series. I did read a few reviews to jog my memory, and found one complaining about the book's lack of intensity. Which struck me, as I never really think of the books in this series as being particularly intense (at least not in the way of your average/stereotypical book about spies and war). I think the lack of intensity makes sense when you're dealing with people who spend most of their time trying to not draw attention to themselves. It's not on topic, but I think Jim Lovell's line from Apollo 13 sums this up when he talks about something being "three hours of boredom followed by seven seconds of sheer terror." In the case of this series, you get both the boredom and the terror.

Book Log 2017 #28: The Quincunx by Charles Palliser

This sprawling novel set in 18th century England tells the story of a boy who, unaware of his background, grows up trying to learn the secret of who is father is and why there are various forces at work trying to prevent this. It's an epic work in length and detail, with a repeated motif of the number five that runs through everything. It's very reminiscent of Dickens, to the point where one reviewer noted that "Mr. Palliser appears to have set out not merely to write a Dickens novel but to write all Dickens novels."

And like the Dickens novels I've read in the past, there's a lot to recommend it, interspersed with moments of tedium and decisions that strain the suspension of disbelief. The attention to detail (both historic and legal) is impressive, and helped keep me involved when the plot seemed a little off (there are points where it is very hard to believe that the narrator isn't putting the clues together).

The book does require a significant investment in time and attention, but if you like Dickens or are a fan of books set in the period it's worth a try.

Book Log 2017 #27: The Flame Bearer by Bernard Cornwell

This installment in the saga of Uhtred of Bebbanberg and the early history of England sees a fragile peace broken when Scots lay claim to northern lands while West Saxons invade Northumbria, which also throws a wrench into Uhtred's plan to finally retake the ancestral home that was stolen from him. Can England's greatest warrior restore the peace and his rightful control over Bebbanberg? 

I don't recall anything specifically good or bad about the book, but do recall thinking the book moved the overall story along a little better than the previous couple of books.

Book Log 2017 #26: The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson


This is a kind of sequel to Notes from a Small Island, where Bryson once again travels the UK to get a sense of how things are going (and in this case, what's changed in the 20 years since the first book). I gave this book four stars on Goodreads, so I must have enjoyed it, but I do recall a sense of irritation at how much Bryson complained about little things. But that could just as easily have been a feeling from the earlier book, so I wouldn't let that stand in the way if you're considering picking this up.

Book Log 2017 #25: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm writing these recaps well after the fact (it's currently 2019 and I haven't even started on 2018 yet!), so it's hard for me to give more than vague impressions of each book. I do remember some details here - the Underground Railroad is an actual railroad built underground, which does take slaves northward, but based on a schedule (both in terms of time and destination) that's not exactly predictable.

Each stop made by the main character evokes some instance of racial injustice. A stop in South Carolina recalls the Tuskegee experiments. What appears to be the final stop in Indiana bears resemblance to the Rosewood massacre. All set to the backdrop of a relentless slave catcher, whose continued hunt adds a constant level of dread.

It's hard to say at this remove what I felt about the book when I read it, but I do think that it does an excellent job demonstrating not just the horrors of slavery, but how that horror continued to play out over time. It is very much worth reading.

Book Log 2017 #24: The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith

A fisherman in World War II-era Venice comes across a body in the lagoon, a young woman who is alive - barely.  He pulls her into his boat and takes her back to his shack, where he brings her back to health, only to learn that she's a daughter of a wealthy Jewish family on the run from the Germans. Can the fisherman protect the girl while riding out the end of the war?

I did like this quite a bit, especially as a change of pace from the Arkady Renko series of stories.

Book Log 2017 #23: The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

A young woman moves to Sofia, Bulgaria  hoping to put the death of her brother behind her. While helping an elderly couple get into a taxi, she accidentally keeps one of their bags, and discovers it contains an urn with cremated remains. Her attempt to return the urn leads her to learn the history of the person it contains, and how that history puts her (and others) in very real danger in the present.

I mostly enjoyed this book, which tells both the contemporary and historical stories in great detail and with an obvious love for Bulgaria. I did feel at times that the danger posed to the main character and those in her orbit was a little forced, but that's more of a general feeling than anything else.

Book Log 2017 #22: Dead Souls by Ian Rankin

Cases from the past return and merge to create a troubled present, as Rebus has to deal with the aftermath of outing a convicted pedophile, managing the return of a convicted murderer who is keen to settle scores, and a missing persons case involving a colleague's son. It's another solid outing in the series, though I don't remember a ton of details.

Book Log 2017 #21: The Bookseller by Mark Pryor

Hugo Marston is the head of security at the US embassy in Paris, on the back end of his career but enjoying the job and its superb locale. He is a regular patron of a book stall along the Seine staffed by an old man named Max - who is kidnapped at gunpoint during one of Hugo's visits. A lack of interest by the local authorities sees Hugo dive into the case, enlisting the help of his friend (and semi-retired CIA agent) to find Max and figure out what happened. All while dodging rival drug gangs and starting a relationship with a reported, who seems to have some connection to the case as well.

It's the sort of story I should like, and at times did like. But my overall feeling was that I was underwhelmed by the book. Not sure why, but it's enough of a feeling that I've not gone back to read any other books in the series.

Book Log 2017 #20: Black Gods of the Asphalt by Onaje X. O. Woodbine

Unlike Station Eleven, this was a book that I would not normally have picked up but was determined to read after hearing a story about it and its author on Only a Game, the NPR weekly sports show.  The story talked about the book and how it looked at street basketball not only as something that binds a community but as an almost religious experience

At times the book has the feel of a graduate thesis - Woodbine was in a doctoral program when he started going back to games in Boston's Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan neighborhoods - but overall it was an engrossing discussion of how basketball can function for the players, the fans, and the neighborhoods as a way to feel connected (to themselves, each other, etc.), honor the dead, and demonstrate cultural themes that might otherwise be lost.

I admit to struggling through the parts of the book that were more academic in nature (my academic background is nowhere near Woodbine's). But the book was very successful in making me reconsider what I thought I knew about the role of basketball in urban life, which admittedly was only what I'd seen and heard in mass media. Not exactly an easy read - especially compared to your average book about basketball - but worth it for the change of perspective.

Book Log 2017 #19: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

This book kept coming up when I was in Overdrive looking for something to read, and for some reason I never really felt compelled to pick it up. But I'm glad I finally broke down, as I really enjoyed it.

The story jumps between the outbreak of a flu pandemic and 20 years later, when the vast majority of humanity has been wiped out. We follow a group of people through both times, with a connection (not always directly) through a graphic novel called Station Eleven. The post-pandemic timeline focuses on a conflict between a traveling theater troupe and a cult led by a man called the Prophet, over the fate of a couple of actors who stayed behind the previous year.

I really can't do the plot justice here, too hard to explain the shifting narratives and the way you see the relationships between the characters develop between them. It's just oblique enough that there's a real sense of satisfaction when you put some of the dots together.

I admit I'm also hoping that an actual Station Eleven graphic novel sees the light of day.

The book is typically listed as science fiction, but it's really not (at least in comparison to traditional sci-fi), so don't let that put you off if you're not a sci-fi person. I feel like this book is similar to David Mitchell's work, not quite so steeped in the fantastic but more along the lines of how connections are made between people over time. Anyway, if you've not read this you should.

Book Log 2017 #18: Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cornwell

With Alfred gone, his successors work to make their claims on the various parts of England while trying to drive the Danes out. Uhtred finds himself torn as usual, between his oath to Æthelflaed and the needs of his family, the pull of his Danish upbringing against being born a Northumbrian (and his ongoing desire to win back his estate), and between sides in the growing conflict between Mercia and Wessex (ruled by Æthelflaed's brother).

Another entertaining installment in the saga, to the best that I can remember.

Book Log 2017 #17: The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia

A young Talmudic scholar in 16th century Prague has three days to solve the murder of a Christian child before the Jewish community faces reprisals. Complicating matters is that he has to undertake his investigation under the usual limitations put on Jewish residents by the local authority and the laws of his religion.

It's a novel setting (so to speak) for a murder mystery, bolstered by both the historical and religious aspects of the story. For some reason I only gave it three stars on Goodreads, not sure why.

Book Log 2017 #16: When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

A young man, who has grown up from being orphaned in Shanghai to become a celebrated detective in the UK, faces the one case he hasn't been able to solve: the disappearances of both his parents, weeks apart. He returns to Shanghai - currently in the throes of the second Sino-Japanese War - in order to learn the truth.

It's not a bad story, but it never quite came together for me, and at times felt quite generic. I wouldn't seek it out, but there are worse things you could read.

Book Log 2017 #15: The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin

I liked this entry in the Rebus series quite a bit, for two reasons:

1. The development of a rival to Cafferty, and the way in which the real-world issue of human trafficking is given light through this particular story line.

2. Significant developments in Rebus's personal life that are related to the case but have impacts well beyond it.

This may also be the first book in the series where I really got a sense of how characters were aging in real time (not that it didn't come up before, but I think I felt it more acutely with this book than those before it). No doubt that theme will only become more prominent in future installments.

Book Log 2017 #14: Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

This book tells the story of a year in the life of a teenager growing up in England (a character based on the author) and the struggles he faces as he grows older, falls in love, and sees his family change in dramatic ways.  As someone who grew up in a similar time (but not in England) I connected pretty well with the main character, and found the cultural references spot on (where I was familiar with them).

Fans of Mitchell's other works will appreciate all of the Easter eggs (which I won't enumerate here so as not to spoil the surprises) to other novels, connections that give some of the more mystical events of this novel some support.

Book Log 2017 #13: Black and Blue by Ian Rankin

While there's much here that's classic John Rebus, I find the book notable for the inclusion of Bible John, a real-life Scottish serial killer whose identity was never determined. It's a bit of a departure for a Rebus novel to delve this deeply into a real case, though not a bad one I think.  I can certainly see why someone who created a highly successful fictional detective would want to give him a crack at one of Scotland's most notable unsolved crimes.

Book Log 2017 #12: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

This was a nice antidote from some of Bryson's more recent books about living in Britain, much less grouchy. Which is understandable, because it sounds like Bryson had a pretty good childhood. We do tend to over-romanticize 1950s America, and while there's some of that there it's not overdone. I liked this quite a bit.

Book Log 2017 #11: Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin

I have to admit, I don't recall the plot of this installment in the Rebus series, and the linked page doesn't do much to refresh my memory. This Publishers Weekly blurb is better (so maybe I just should have linked to it to begin with?), and do recall liking the way it depicted the corrupting influence of power backed by money and the return of Gill Templar, who I always wished was more prominent in the run of the series (I feel similarly about Samantha Rebus, though it seems true to type that Rebus would fall out of touch with his daughter).

Another thing I read about the book was the prevalence of suicide and how it reflected on Rebus and his own potential for suicide. I don't remember how deeply developed that was, but I've never seen Rebus as likely to do himself harm (outside of the bottle, at least). Still, it's easy to see how it's worth examining that particular topic given how isolated Rebus is.

Book Log 2017 #10: Night Soldiers by Alan Furst

This is the book that inspired the series, and I apparently didn't like it as much as most of the books that came later (three stars on Goodreads). Don't know why, it's been a while since I read it. Where most series take time to develop, it could be that the book wasn't quite at the level of later installments, and I graded on a curve based on having read those other books. Maybe I would have rated it higher if I'd read the books in order, as I try to do with series. Anyway, as with Cornwell there's nothing in this series that I've never liked on some level.

Book Log 2017 #9: Gallows Thief by Bernard Cornwell

I literally remember nothing about this book. From looking at the description it appears to be a stand-alone detective novel featuring a former military officer who, down on his luck after returning from Waterloo, takes a job as an investigator to look into petitions for mercy on behalf of those condemned to die. His first case involves a painter due to hang in a week's time for a murder it looks like he didn't commit.

I gave the book three stars on Goodreads, which is what I usually give books that I liked but didn't have any specific affinity for (which may explain why I don't remember it at all). So it's probably a perfectly cromulent book, I don't think I've ever read anything by Cornwell that I didn't like to some degree.

Book Log 2017 #8: The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee

We don't often think of diseases as having histories - they just kind of are - but this book seeks to give a "biography" of cancer, finding its earliest mentions in history and literature and detailing how humanity has tried to identify, treat, and prevent the disease ever since.

Mukherjee is an oncologist, and his approach to the material balances history, science, and his own experience in treating cancer patients. The blend is highly readable and engrossing, especially if you have an interest in medicine or public health.

There was the odd moment here or there where I thought the focus went a little too strongly on treatment and trying to find a cure (which I suppose makes sense for a book written by an oncologist), but the book never bogs down in scientific detail.

And if it makes any difference to you, the book did win a Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. So if you don't trust my opinion, maybe you can trust the Columbia School of Journalism?