Book Log 2021 #36: For the Love of Europe by Rick Steves

Rick Steves has spent a lifetime traveling to Europe and sharing his tips and suggestions for visiting that continent. From his early Europe Through the Back Door travel guide he developed a multifaceted buiness that publishes a wide range of guidebooks, runs tours, and airs travel shows on PBS. 

This book collects 100 of his favorite stories and memories from his time in Europe. Unfortunately, if you watch his TV shows or listen to his radio show -I do both, and have for years - a lot of what's in this book is going to be familiar.  The writing is fine, and the format makes it easy to pick up and put down, it's just that you'll probably get more out of it the less familiar you are with the other corners of the Rick Steves media empire.

 Book Log 2021 #35: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

A young woman working as a lady's maid meets an older widower in Monte Carlo, and after a whirlwind courtship they get married. They return to his estate, Manderly, where the woman quickly learns that her husband's dead wife still exerts a strong pull over the estate and its housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.

The narrator tries to put her own stamp on Manderly and assert herself as the new mistress of the house, but finds herself increasingly isolated by others' memories of Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers' manipulative nature. When things seem to be coming to a head between the narrator and Mrs. Danvers, a discovery is made that changes everything.

This novel quickly became a gothic classic and one of the most popular books of the 20th century. Its been adapted several times for film, TV, and other media. For what it's worth, I liked the book but wouldn't think of it as my favorite or most memorable book. 

 Book Log 2021 #34: The Heretic's Apprentice by Ellis Peters

A local man once accused of holding heretical views dies during a pilgrimage, and is returned to Shrewsbury by his attendant, who was tasked with finding his master a burial site on the abbey grounds. That task grows more difficult when the attendant is also accused of heresy by a fellow servant, who fears losing his place in the household. When it becomes clear that's not an issue, the servant goes to recant his charges - but winds up dead.

Once again, it's up to Cadfael to help find the killer and prove the attendant's innocence. He is of less help against the heresy charges, which are pursued by a visiting canon. 

I liked that there was a heresy subplot to augment the usual murder mystery, it's not a topic that's come up much (or at all) in the series. It gives an extra insight into religious life and practice at the time, one that we don't often consider in the current day. Seriously, when was the last time you heard of someone charged with heresy?

 Book Log 2021 #33: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

The title of this memoir by the comedian and host of The Daily Show is literal, in that Noah was the product of a relationship between a white man and Black woman, which was illegal in South Africa at the time. From that beginning, Noah recounts the challenges of growing up in that environment, largely without a father, and with the feeling of not fitting in anywhere due to being mixed race.

But with those challenges is a large amount of humor, recounting stories of high school, dating woes, his extended family, and how he discovered that he had the talent to move beyond his circumstances. 

I really enjoyed this book, as your average comedian's memoir is often too busy trying to be funny to tell you anything about the person. I felt like the book gave me a much better idea of who Noah is as a person and a comedian, and got to laught a bit along the way. It's a quick and entertaining read.

 Book Log 2021 #32: The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

A priest in Mexico is on the run, as the country has outlawed Catholicism and priests can be executed if they're found practicing their sacred duties. While many states take a less rigorous approach to the law, the state of Tabasco enforces it rigorously, and forces preists to take wives and pensions as part of the plan to make them unable to minister to their flock.

This priest did take that deal for a while, and has fathered a daughter, but he still feels the need to work as a priest, even at risk to his own life. Complicating matters is that Tabasco is legally dry, making it impossible for him to get sacramental wine and hard to get the whiskey he craves. Looking to escape into a neighboring state, he is on the run from a police lieutenant who has a personal stake in prosecuting preists. The chase comes to a head when the priest appears to have crossed the border, but is tempted to cross back to hear the confession of a dying man. It feels like a trap, but can the priest set his duty aside for his own personal safety?

Greene wrote this book after visiting Mexico to research and write a non-fiction account of the country's anti-clerical movement, and the book he wrote (The Lawless Roads) was a template for this novel, with many of the characters and stories coming from what Greene saw and heard while in country. Some in the Catholic Church were against the novel for its depiction of a drunk priest who fathered a child, while others found the book to be a positive example of a man following his faith despite the personal and political obstacles in his way.

A number of people hold this to be Greene's best book, and that could be the case, though I think I liked The Quiet American more. You should read both (and Our Man in Havana while you're at it).

 Book Log 2021 #31: Touch by Elmore Leonard

A woman in Michigan is apparently cured of her blindness after being touched by a young man named Juvenal. While there are questions as to whether or not Juvenal can heal by the laying on of hands, there are those who see dollar signs or unlimited power in even the thought that he can do this. Juvenal has his own plans, and sets out to see them through while trying to avoid being taken advantage of by others.

Leonard wrote this in 1977 and it was widely rejected. He was able to bring it to press ten years later, but it's not clear if he made many changes to it. I kind of hope he didn't, as it's not a particularly good book, and the idea that it's the improved version would make me wonder how bad it was originally. 

Unless you're a completist, I'd say skip this one and pick up any book Leonard wrote in the 1990s.

 Book Log 2021 #30: The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Matthew King is, at first glance, your stereotypical semi-absent father. He works more than he should, and relies on his wife to manage their daughters and other domestic issues. That this may not have been the best plan is revealed when his wife - an ex-model and adrenaline junkie - gets into an accident during a powerboat race that leaves her in a coma. All at one, King discovers that he has two daughters who may be going off the rails - and that his wife was having an affair. It's the discovery of the affair, and they ways in which King and his daughters decide to address it in the context of their wife and mother's imminent demise, that powers this novel.

For a book about such a serious - and depressing - topic, the story is told with a fair amount of humor. It also helps that there's a secondary plot involving the King family's land holdings and their potential development. This provides another focus on the book's themes of family and what one owes to the people who came before (and will come after) them.

You may be familair with the movie based on this book, which stars George Clooney as King. I've not seen the film, but can very much recommend reading the novel.

 Book Log 2021 #29: Sovietistan by Erika Fatland

In this book, the author travels alone through the five Central Asian countries that were formerly Soviet republics - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan - to understand how each has sought to balance their ancient cultures with the realities of the post-Soviet world.  

The journey is not always easy. Start with the logistical challenges that spring up trying to get around this part of the world. Add in that Fatland is a female traveling alone in what is sometimes fairly conservative Islamic territory. Then add in that she's a journalist, which if known would prevent her from being able to enter at least one of these countries. That the author is able to get the stories she does, and can talk to people as freely as one can in these countries, makes for a very engaging book.

 Book Log 2021 #28: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

In the wake of a lethal heat wave in India, the international community creates the title organization, which is charged with representing the rights of future people to live on a habitable planet. The book follows its minister as she tries to convince governments of the threat climate change presents not just in environmental terms but in economic and financial terms as well. The other main narrative follows an aid worker who survived the Indian heat wave but has become increasingly adrift from society. 

In addition to these two main stories, the book presents other points of view, often times from anonymous characters, to give depth to the global nature of climate change. There are also a number of technical advances depcited, not so much as solutions, but as ways to mitigate changes while larger solutions are enacted.  There's also an ongoing campaign waged by a radical ecological group, who occasionally resort to violence as a way to remove obstacles to what they see as progress.

Some of the reviews of this book found it too optimistic, which I can see. I do think it will be much harder to convince politicians in office now to act in the best interests of people not yet born than depicted here. That being said I do think putting the danger of climate change into economic/financial terms is likely the best way to convince those in power (or those who can manipulate the levers of power) to act in a climate-friendly manner. 

 Book Log 2021 #27: The Pigeon Tunnel by John Le Carre

This memoir presents stories from the life of the author (born David Cornwell), providing detail and color to his personal journey from language teacher to intelligence officer to novelist. It is the only feature-length non-fiction book in his bibliography, which is unfortunate, as his skills writing fiction easily carry over.

He also goes into some detail into his difficult parental relationships. His mother left the family when Cornwell was five, and he did not see her again until he was an adult. His dad was a small-time criminal, assocaited with the Kray brothers and always on the make. To me, these are the most interesting stories in the book, less due to any insight they may give to Cornwell as a writer, but more to how he was able to survive a childhood of poverty and neglect to get to where he did (though it's worth noting that his sibilings all achieved a certain amount of success as well).

Very much worth reading, especially if you're a le Carre fan.

 Book Log 2021 #26: Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish

I might have been the only person in America that didn't try to bake his own soudough bread during the Covid-19 pandemic, though this book almost changed that. While there are parts of the book that detail how the author developed his baking skills and opened his own bakery, the bulk of the book walks you through various recipies and how to manage the amounts of the four title ingredients when making bread, pizza dough, and other baked goods. 

The one thing I really took from this book wasn't the recipies as much as the importance of time. Not just baking time, but time spent preparing dough, waiting for it to rise, and so on. While not all the recipies require a huge investment in time, reading through it became clear to me that you have to have a certain amount of patience to turn out really good bread. Maybe that not being obvious to me is why I never gave making some of these loaves a shot.

 Book Log 2021 #25: Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman

David Small is the new rabbi for a Convervative temple in a Boston suburb, and while he's personable he doesn't quite mesh with the committee that runs the temple. The rabbi is bookish, while the committee thinks they may want someone whose more focused on fundraising and supporting the growth of their community.

This tension comes to a head when a young woman is found murdered on temple grounds, and evidence suggests that the rabbi is the killer. But it turns out the rabbi's academic nature is actually well-suited to applying logic to the evidence at hand, and working with the local (Catholic) police chief, he not only sets out to clear his name, but figure out who actually committed the murder.

You don't find mystery solving rabbis everywhere, and the shifting points of view - you get chapters focusing on the rabbi, the committee, and even the victim before her untimely demise - further sets this book apart from your standard murder mystery. But there was still something about this book where I couldn't really connect with it. I don't know if it's the prose feeling a little old-fashioned or what, but I just felt kind of meh about the whole thing.

Which is too bad, as I had a couple of external factors that wanted me to like the book (the author is also a BU alum, and the town in the series is based on Marblehead). The books in this series were also adapted into the short-lived TV show Lannigan's Rabbi if you'd rather watch than read.

 Book Log 2021 #24: The Last Trial by Scott Turow

After a long and storied career as a criminal defense attorney in Kindle County, Sandy Stern prepares to represent his final client, a longtime friend and Nobel laureate whose cancer drug gave Stern a new lease on life... before it was found to have potentially killed several patients. Working with his daughter Marta (who has already announced that she will retire and close their firm at the end of the case), Stern has to plot a defense while also battling the physical and mental infirmities that can come with advanced age.

The legal thriller part of the book is solid as usual, but it's the parts that deal with the looming end of Sandy's career that made it stand out. We don't often see aging in real(ish) time in series like this, and seeing how Sandy confronts the end of his career and looming mortality adds a dimension to the book that would otherwise be missing. Hopefully some of the other characters will get a similar valedictory novel. 

 Book Log 2021 #23: The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford

In this alternative history/fantasy novel, four strangers (a female Italian doctor, a mercenary, the exiled heir to the Byzantine throne, and a Welsh wizard) join forces to ensure that Richard of Gloucester will gain the English throne and become Richard III.  The story mixes elements from our world (the Medici family, for example) with elements of the supernatural (the Byzantine army is led by a duke who is also a vampire) to create a really engaging and entertaining story.

This isn't a book that I would normally pick up - I'm not a fantasy reader generally - but a recommendation during an episode of So Many Damn Books sold me. What interested me as much as the plot was the story of the author, whose complicated personal and professional life seemed to lead to his works falling out of print and staying out of print for years after his death. It's a story as interesting as this book, which is saying something.

 Book Log 2021 #22: Sword of Kings by Bernard Cornwell

Uhtred of Bebbanburg has regained his Northumbrian fortress, and seems set to live out his days in the land of his birth.

Fate, of course, has other plans.

Edward, son of Alfred, is on the English throne, but there are questions if he can keep his kingdom together. Mercia and Wessex seem on the verge of splitting into independent kingdoms again, and various claimants to all the thrones start to stake their claims. In order to settle the unrest, and to live up to the oath he made to Edward's heir Aethelstan, Uhtred once again rides into battle.

This was on par with the other books in the later part of the series. Although as the next to last book in the series, how likely are you to bail now?

Unrelated technical note: I like to link to author websites rather than publishers where I can, but Cornwell's website basically acknowledges that this book exists and points you to where you can buy it. The lack of detail is surprising,  

 Book Log 2021 #21: Grant by Ron Chernow

I don't read many biographies, but read Alexander Hamilton when the musical first became a thing, and liked it quite a bit. Which is what led me, eventually, to this book about our drinkiest president. Or at least our most rumored to be drinkiest president.

That's one of the main takeaways I took from this book, that the stories about Grant's familiarity with the bottle were embellished quite a bit. The stories aren't totally false - Grant clearly had a problematic relationship with alcohol - but they tended to fill in the gaps for any lapse or problem he encountered (or created). 

The story the book tells is of a man whose political inexperience, loyalty to those close to him, and general trusting nature all played significant roles in whatever troubles arose during his fighting days, presidency, and later life. I felt much more sympathetic towards Grant after reading this, and saw a little more clearly the facile nature of the characterizations of Grant as a corrupt drunk. It's not that he was blameless in the ill that befell him, but that the reasons for those ills run deeper than generally presented.

Even though this book (and Hamitlon) are pretty weighty, Chernow does a great job of balancing detail and thoroughness with readability. Both books require investing time and effort in reading, but pay off handsomely for that investment.

 Book Log 2021 #20: In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty

Sean Duffy is enjoying retirement from the RUC, if by enjoying you mean" drunkenly existing after a dodgy termination." But he's put back into action not by his former employer but by MI5, who want his help in tracking down a IRA bombmaker who has escaped from prison. The bombmaker also happens to be an old friend, one who talked Duffy out of joining the IRA.

He picks up the case, but in order to solve it he will have to solve another case in a quid pro quo - if he can figure out who killed a woman in a locked pub, her mother will give Duffy information as to the bombmaker's whereabouts. And all of this may wind up having national and international implications, if the bombmaker is able to assist the IRA with an audacious plan.

I always get a little nervous when the main character in a series gets involved with higher powers, but Duffy holds his own here, even as his pursuit of the IRA man puts him at further odds with both communities (other Catholics who don't want him working for the British, and Protestants who don't fully trust Catholics). It's another strong outing, and if you haven't read the other books you should go start at the beginning.

 Book Log 2021 #19: The B-Team by John Scalzi

This was the product of some confusion on my part, as I don't think I was aware (or I forgot) that The Human Division was a collection of stories, the first of which is... The B-Team. I actually noted this confusion when I wrote about the collection, so I clearly learned nothing. On the plus side, I still liked this story (set in the same universe as Old Man's War but doesn't require having read any of the books in that series), so I'm at least consistent on that front.

 Book Log 2021 #18: The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

A Marine returns to the American southwest after serving in Vietnam, only to find that developers and other business types are threatening to ruin the region's solitude and natural beauty. He teams up with a motley crew of like-minded misfits to commit eco-sabotage against road projects, dams, and other intrusions of the built environment on the natural environment.

This is the sort of book that I should like, but I didn't. It never quite came together for me. In retrospect I had similar feelings towards this book as I did for Cat's Cradle. Don't know if there's a shared writing style that I don't get, or if both books use a style of humor that doesn't appeal to me for whatever reason.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 40: Chewidden Thursday

To wrap up we head to Cornwall and this celebration of an obscure saint who apparently played a large role in Cornish history. For it was St. Chewidden who is credited with taking black tin (tin ore) and turning it into white tin (smelted ore). The refined tin brought in more money than just the ore, helping to develop the tin industry overall in the region.

There is almost nothing online about Chewidden or what he did to become a saint (or even that he is a saint). I did find one link that said Chewidden translates into English as "white house," so it could be that this saint was conjured up to honor the process that helped Cornwall avoid widespread poverty (at least some of the time). It's also not clear why the day is held on the last Thursday that was at least one week before Christmas day. 

Chewidden is typically said to be a friend of St. Piran, of whom much more is known. A fifth centuty abbot, he is the patron saint of tin miners and of Cornwall itself (though there are at least a couple other patron saints of Cornwall as well). The Cornish flag - a white cross on a black background - is named for him. His feast day is March 5, and is widely celebrated, to the point where it's a kind of unofficial Cornish national holiday.

That's it for 2021, see you in 2022 with a decidedly non-holiday based Lentorama!

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 39: Lazarus Saturday

In Eastern Christian churches, the day before Palm Sunday is known as Lazarus Saturday, which celebrates Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This feast has ancient roots in Christianity, coming up in sermons recorded in the 4th and 5th centuries.  The service on this day reflects on the resurrection of Lazarus as pre-figuring the resurrection of Jesus (and the general resurrection promised when Jesus returns).

This day is still a fast day, but with one notable exception: caviar. Eggs are a symbol of the resurrection, and fish eggs are apparently seen as a shadow of bird eggs (which I guess is an ovate comparison of Lazarus to Jesus). This is also the day when, historically, hermits would return to their monasteries to celebrate Holy Week. 

There are also local differences in this feast. Celebrants in Greece and Cyprus bake and eat a bread that symbolizes Lazarus (this page gives more detail as to how the day goes in Greek Orthodox churches). In Serbia and Bulgaria you find traditions that may have more pagan roots, such as a fire to ward off vermin and snakes, and a procession that involves six maidens (though I'm not finding much of anything indicating that these practices are actually current).

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 38: Education Sunday

Observed primarily in the UK, this day is set aside to pray for and remember those involved in education. It apparently was held for a good century or so on the ninth Sunday before Easter, but in 2016 it was moved to the second Sunday in September to coincide with the start of the new school year (as with most things in education, change came slowly). There is surprisingly little history out there for this day considering that it was established fairly recently.

There is at least some recognition of this day in the US, though it looks like it's celebrated on the first Sunday of September, which is probably closer to the start of the school year in a lot of the country (I am continually surprised at the number of friends I have whose kids start school in mid-August). Confusing matters is something called Christian Education Sunday, which focuses on getting kids to learn about religion, which I've seen listed both in late September and early June.

 Book Log 2021 #17: The Trespasser by Tana French

Antoinette Conway is finding life on the Dublin Muder Squad difficult. She's working crap cases and gets all manner of grief from her colleagues. She's an easy target as the only woman on the squad, and garners extra attention for not being willing to go along as if it's all in good fun.

Her latest case looks like more of the same - a domestic dispute gone wrong - but as she and partner Stephen Moran (the same duo from the previous book) investigate, it becomes clear that there was more to the victim than meets the eye, and that her death may not be as open and shut as first appeared. That the powers that be want it to be open and shut is put clearly to Conway, who can't quite tell if she's being told not to overthink the case, or if she's being told off of going where the investigation leads.

This isn't the first book in the series told from a female point of view - The Likeness had Cassie Maddox as its lead detective - but it does come from a very different perspective. We get a lot more ambivalence about being a detective from Conway, even as she's finding obvious fulfillment in working this case.

This installment in the series maintains the high quality present in the previous books, which is remarkable given that we're six books in. Recommended, as is the series in general.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 37: Sinulog

Officially this is Sinulog-Santo Nino Festival, which is held annually on Cebu, one of the islands of The Philippines. The name Sinulog comes from a Cebuano adverb describing the movement of water, and refers to a dance that is part of the celebration.

That celebration predates the arrival of Christianity, with the dance done in honor of local gods (though there is at least one source that claims the dance came after, due to a miracle cure attributed to the Santo Nino). Christianity came into the story when Ferdinand Magellan showed up in 1521, claiming Cebu for Spain. When the local rulers and their subjects converted to Christianity, Magellan gave the rulers the Santo Nino, a figure of the Christ child. And while Magellan didn't last much longer (he would be killed about six weeks later), the Santo Nino did, becoming the oldest Christian artifact in the country.

There are a few good pages out there that talk about Sinulog (this one seems to have the best balance between photography, history, and description of the festival, even if it does feel like it's mostly trying to sell me a tour). They all stress the idea that this is as much a cultural event as a religious one, which makes a fair amount of sense when you consider its likely pre-Christian origin and the fervor with which Filipinos approach their faith. 

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 36: Detinjci

Historically, people in Serbia didn't give presents at Christmas. Presents were instead given on the three Sundays before Christmas day. Detinjci is the first of these three days, in which children are tied up at the legs, and give presents to their parents as "ransom" so they can be untied. The two following Sundays - known as Materice and Oci - have the kids turn the tables and tie up their mothers and fathers, respectively, with more presents as ransom.

Not sure what event led to this tradition, but no doubt it was something not at all scarring.

This tradition has waned over time, and now it's more likely that if gifts are being given it happens on Christmas Eve. I couldn't find anything really helpful to explain the origins of this tradition (at least in English), but I did run across some Serbian Orthodox churches that incorporate Detinjci into that particular Sunday's services.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 35: Sea Sunday

Held on the second Sunday in July, Sea Sunday is observed by a number of Christian churches as a day to pray for people who work on the water and their families. It's a popular day for organizations with a maritime focus to raise money for their works. 

In Catholic churches there is usually a second collection on this day to support the Apostleship of the Sea, which does things like provide priests for ships and run ministries in port cities. This page talks about the US branch of the Apostleship. The overall association of these branches is known as Stella Maris, and the patron saint of the organization (and also the namesake of my parish) is the Virgin Mary as Our Lady, Star of the Sea.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 33: Feast of the Holy Winding Sheet

Set on the day before Ash Wednesday, this feast was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in 1958 to honor what we now call the Shroud of Turin. It's not the first feast to celebrate the winding sheet of Jesus, and not even the first to celebrate a winding sheet of Jesus. There were two other feasts of this name that celebrated winding sheets other than the one currently in Turin. There was also a feast in 1831 which wasn't dedicated to any particular winding sheet, which seems like a good idea given the multiplicity of winding sheets.

There aren't any specific celebrations related to this day other than church services, at least that I could find. The keepers of the Shroud of Turin have a website with a video of the most recent service, but not much else about this subject in particular. Plenty on the Shroud itself, of course.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 32: Demetrius Saturday

Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches recognize a number of Saturdays as Soul Saturdays, when prayers are given for departed relatives and others who would not be recognized as saints. Saturday was chosen as it was the day where Jesus lay dead in the tomb. Not surprisingly, many of the Soul Saturdays happen around Lent and Easter.

Demetrius Saturday, however, takes place on the Saturday closest to October 26, the feast day of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki. Its celebration is generally like that of the other Soul Saturdays, where the regular Divine Service has added hymns to remember the dead. There is also usually a memorial service held either before Divine Service or after Friday night Vespers, and the blessing of koliva, a dish of boiled wheatberries and honey that is eaten after the service in memory of the departed.

A much fuller discussion of Saint Demetrius and the establishment of this day can be found here.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 31: Vardavar

This Armenian celebration takes place roughly 14 weeks after Pascha (Easter), and involves people throwing water on each other. There's also a large cultural festival on the day, with traditional songs, food, art, etc. on display. That the festival is held at both Armenia's best known monastery and its best known pagan temple should tell you something about Vardavar's origins.

The Christian explanation of the holiday says it either celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration or was a tradition started by Noah where his descendants would sprinkle water on each other and release doves in memory of the Flood. The pagan explanation is that the holiday celebrates Astlik, the Armenian goddess of love, fertility, and water (there's also a tradition that Astlik was actually a daughter of Noah born after the flood, which would be a handy way of tying the pagan and the Christian together). 

The word Vardavar actually references the pagan tradition, as it has a meaning along the lines of "burning roses," which references the offerings of roses given to Astlik. 

Smithsonian Magazine gives a good summary of the holiday and has pictures to underscore that if you're in the country on that day you're going to get soaked.

 Book Log 2021 #16: The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer

Varian Fry was an American journalist who, stationed in Europe in the 1930s, saw the danger in the rise of Nazi Germany and wrote extesnively on the subject. Once war started, and the Nazis occupied France, Fry and a small group of like-minded individuals started an organization that helped get people out of the country, with a focus on writers and artists who had been previously persecuted by the regime. This novel dramatizes his story and that of the rescue effort.

That effort was impeded on both sides of the war, with both the Nazis and the "free" French Vichy government keeping close tabs on Fry and his group, while American and other Allied governments resisted taking in refugees who were largely Jewish. In the short time the group was able to operate, they sent as many as 4000 people out of France (mostly to neutral Portugal), including notable figures like Hannah Arendt, Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Claude Levi-Strauss, and Marc Chagall (the title refers to a collection of his work that was kept on hand as a potential bribe).

I'd not heard of Fry or his organization before, and found their story both inspiring and frustrating. The book also delves into Fry's complicated personal life as a married but closeted man, adding an extra dimension of personal risk to the story.

I'd definately recommend this book, for the way it gives light to a darker corner of World War II.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 30: World Communion Sunday

Originally known as World Wide Communion Sunday), this day (held on the first Sunday in October) was created to give various denominations a chance to revisit the unity of Christianity through the Eucharist. It started in 1933, and in 1936 was adopted as a denomination-wide practice by the US Presbyterian Church. In 1940 it was promoted by what is now the National Council of Churches for celebration worldwide. 

It seems like it's mostly observed by Protestant faiths (which make up the bulk of the NCC), and I have to admit I don't recall it being promoted extensively in my Catholic parish (though I also have to admit I may not have noticed). 

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 29: Powder Day

Celebrated in the Spanish village of Tolox, Powder Day sees people (mostly younger people) throw talcum powder at each other until they are coated in the stuff. It takes place on Shrove Tuesday, and marks the end of carnival in Tolox. 

Some point to the Ash Wednesday reminder that we "are dust, and unto dust shall you return" as the reason for the powdering, but local history points to a more secular beginning. The story goes that two women in the town were in love with the same man, and got into a fight over him. Both worked at the same bakery, and they started throwing flour at each other as they fought. This became a kind of courting ritual, with men throwing flour on women in whom they had a romantic interest. Women who did not want to get hit with flour (or who weren't interested in the man most likely to throw the flour) would stay home.

This led to some frankly appalling behavior, with men breaking into homes in order to throw their flour. Take a hint, dude.

At least one other town in Spain has a similar practice, though neither appear to be related to the Hindu festival of Holi, where participants throw colored powders at each other.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 28: Lajkonik Festival

This celebration held in Krakow, Poland, features a man dresses as the lajkonik, a folkloric figure dressed in Tatar clothing riding a wooden hobbyhorse. This man is the central figure in a procession that goes from a local convent to the city's market square, which includes other people dressed either in local traditional clothing or costumes with an eastern theme.

Along the procession route, the lajkonik touches people with his golden mace (which is thought to give good luck) and collects ransom money. Once at the square, the lajkonik meets up with the city's mayor, the ransom is exchanged, and a chalice is drunk to the health and good fortune of all of Krakow's citizens.

The origins of the festival are a little murky, but all stories agree it stems from the appearance of Tatar raiders in the 13th century, who may or may not have taken Krakow during the Mongol invasion of Poland. Most stories have Krakow repelling the invasion, with the lajkonik being created when locals put on Tatar dress either to celebrate their victory or to play a joke on the locals. 

In any case, the festival is held on the first Thursday after Corpus Christi, though it's not clear to me why that's so. This page gives a little more information on the festival, but nothing to help understand the date. 

 Book Log 2020 #3: Appetite for America by Steven Fried

This book tells the story of Fred Harvey, the entrepreneur who saw the expansion into the American west, and the railroad lines taking passengers there, as a business opportunity. He built an empire of restaurants and hotels along the Atcheson, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad, which not only made travel more comfortable and manageable for passengers, but developed systems for running such a far-flung enterprise that continue to influence the industry today.

Harvey's most notable (and remembered) innovation came with his staff, as he hired scores of "Harvey girls" as servers at his railside restaurants. The women had to be single and willing to work and live according the rules set by Harvey, which were often restrictive. Even so, this was a very early opportunity for women to join the workforce and earn money independently.

The Harvey empire waned as road and air travel supplanted rail, and most of his establishments are gone. Some still exist and are in use, as this CBS Sunday Morning story details. I found the book engrossing, as I didn't know much about Harvey or this particular part of US history, and would recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about this period, US rail travel, or the hospitality industry.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 27: Sunday of the Myrrhbearers

This Eastern Christian observance takes place on the third Sunday of Pascha, and celebrates the people who brought myrhh and other spices to the tomb of Jesus (such as Mary Magdalen) and those who oversaw the entombment (like Joseph of Arimathea). 

The placement of this feast reflects a concept called synaxis, where the secondary figures in a larger feast are celebrated with their own feast on the following day. In this case, though, the day has to be pushed back due to the observance of Bright Week and Thomas Sunday. There doesn't seem to be any specific celebration tied to the feast, though there are special mention of the myrrhbearers during the week, and churches named for any of the myrrhbearers may have their own festival as well. 

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 26: Volkstrauertag 

This day is sort of a German Memorial Day, but broader, as it's a day of mourning for all military and civilian dead from armed conflict (which in this case includes political oppression as well as war). It's held on the second Sunday before the first day of Advent, after it moved from mid-November to the second Sunday of Lent to early March, where the Nazis changes its meaning to best suit its propaganda aims.

After World War II, the government moved it to its current day and given its broader scope. Celebrations are kind of like a combination of Memorial Day and Veterans Day in the US, with speeches by elected leaders and parades of veterans that often go from a religious service to a local war memorial.

 Book Log 2020 #2: Medallion Status by John Hodgman

The follow-up to Vacationland, Hodgman talks about how he rose to a certain level of fame, the benefits that come with that, and what happens when that level of fame starts to recede. Like Vacationland it bounces between the absurd aspects of his life and very personal reflections on how his work and relative fame impacted his real relationship with his family. 

As with Vacationland I found the essays engaging and very funny (I admit I'm probably right in the middle of the target demo for Hodgman's brand of absurdly dry humor). Very much recommended.

(Note: not that it has anything to do with this particular book, but I'm pretty sure this is the last physical book I read from our local library before the Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down. I don't think the library was even open to return it until the fall.)

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 25: Azores Day

As you might have guessed, this holiday celebrates the Azores island group, or more specifically the granting of political autonomy in the Portuguese constitution. So how does it fit in with our theme?

The day is celebrated on the same day as the Festival of the Holy Spirit, which is celebrated by the Cult of the Holy Spirit that is centered in the Azores. Note in this case, it's a cult in the sense of an accepted religious practice within a faith rather than what we usually think of as a cult. It is held on the Monday after Pentecost Sunday, usually in late May or early June.

This combination of religious and secular motives for the holiday were noted in the preamble to the law that created it, and is seen in its celebrations, which not only celebrate Azorean autonomy but their culture, which is pretty bound up in religious observation. Not surprisingly, the celebration of the day winds up being part of the Holy Ghost festivals, which are held in towns across the islands. 

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 24: People's Sunday

Held on the first Sunday of Lent, this day (known as Ħadd in-Nies in Maltese) is local to Zabbar, Malta. It is a day to celebrate Mary as Out Lady of Graces, and dates back at least to the 15th century. The day started out as an Ash Wednesday pilgrimage to the Our Lady of Graces chapel in Zabbar to seek penance for the greater excesses of Carnival. As doing this on Ash Wednesday proved inconvenient given the other solemnities of that day, the observance moved to the first Sunday of Lent.

The actual festivities on the day seem to be fairly muted, focused mainly on processions with floats depicting Mary and the history of the town's devotion to her. 

 Book Log 2021 #15: Henry Reed's Journey by Keith Robertson

Henry Reed is a teenage boy who lives abroad, as his father is a diplomat.  Henry spends his summers with his aunt, uncle, and cousin Midge in Grovers Corner, New Jersey. Except for the summer in this book, where he meets the family in California for a cross-country drive back to New Jersey and records what happens in journal style.

This was one of my favorite books as a kid, and as I had my own kids I bought a used copy of the edition I'd grown up reading. They never quite took to it, and I decided to reread it. 

Suffice it to say that parts of the book did not age well. There is a near-constant griping by the uncle about the shopping habits of women, and a plot involving Native Americans goes about as you'd expect for a book published in 1963. Still, many of the stories are entertaining and not cringe-inducing, so I think the book would be worth introducing to current kids (with an appropriate amount of context-setting).

This is the second book in a five book series, but it's the only one I really got into (I have vague memories of reading Henry Reed, Inc.). The first four books in the series include illustrations by Robert McCloskey, which always led me confuse the Henry Reed books with the two books McCloskey wrote and illustrated featuring another teen boy who gets into adventures, Homer Price (Home Price and Centerburg Tales). I liked those, too, but haven't gone back to reread them. Yet.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 23: Quinquagesima

So it may be cheating to follow up the holiday for 60 days prior to Easter with the one for 50 days prior to Easter, but it's hard to resist taking a closer look at a day that has an alternate name of Pork Sunday.

Quinquagesima is the last Sunday before Easter, and is named for the 50 day period between it and Easter. The day no longer exists in the Catholic liturgical calendar, but is included in ordinary time. This is the typically the day when palms blessed on the previous Palm Sunday are burned, with the ashes used for Ash Wednesday.

To get to the pork, you'd need to visit Northern Europe and the traditionally Lutheran countries, where this day is the highlight of Fastelavn, the Nordic carnival prior to Lent. After services, there would be feasting that included meat, iced buns, sweets, etc. all done as a last blowout before Lent. 

There is a similar day in Eastern Christianity called Maslenitsa Sunday or Cheesefare Sunday, which is the last day non-Lenten foods can be eaten before the start of the Great Lent.

Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 22: Sexagesima

Held on the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday, this day was created so people could prepare themselves for Lent, spiritually, with many people taking penance. While the name suggests this day falls 60 days before Easter, it's really 57 days before Easter. There were two related days - Quinquagesima and Septuagesima - which were also for Lenten preparations (Quinquagesima was even numerically correct, as it did occur 50 days prior to Easter).

Sexagesima was observed in Catholic churches and some Protestant churches (usually ones with Anglican or Lutheran roots), but Vatican II removed all of these days from the liturgical calendar. The Anglicans followed suit not long afterwards, but there are congregations in both where the days are still observed (

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 21: St. Joseph's Day

The feast day of humanity's best-known cuckold (Wikipedia calls him the "legal father" of Jesus), this typically falls on March 19. As this date is always during Lent, there are rules about what day it moves to when it falls on certain days within Lent. For example, if March 19 is a Sunday in Lent but not Palm Sunday, the feast is observed on March 20. Unless that's a feast day for another saint, then this day moves somewhere else. And since 2008, if March 19 falls during Holy Week, the feast moves to the closest day before March 19 that isn't in Holy Week (this is typically the Saturday before Holy Week starts). But if you use a particular missal, the feast actually moves later than March 19.

And none of this applies if you're an Orthodox Christian, as you celebrate this feast after Christmas.

The feast seems most associated with Italy, and Sicily in particular. Legend holds that Joseph interceded to end a drought and famine in Sicily during the Middle Ages, and so the locals honored him by creating special altars to him on which food was placed that would later go to feed the poor. Fava beans play a significant role in the dishes made for the feast, as that was the crop that ended the famine.

In some countries, this day also doubles as Father's Day.

One thing to note is that many Italian-American communities hold a big celebration of St. Joseph's Day, similar to what the Irish-American community does with St. Patrick's Day. Seems to me like this might be an ideal substitution for Columbus Day, given that Columbia Day hasn't taken off.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 20: Bolludagur

Another Lent-related food day, this one started in Norway and Denmark but it now best known as an Icelandic observance. Happening on Shrove Monday, kids would decorate a small stick with colorful paper, and then use that to spank their parents while yelling "bolla," the Icelandic word for bun.

As a reward, the kids would get what looks like a cream puff, which has a cream and jam filling and a chocolate coating (or get one for each time they were able to spank a parent). The spanking has apparently fallen by the wayside, but eating the buns has now. According to this article, Icelanders eat more than a million of these buns every year.

I'm not sure how this holiday ties into Lent, though the Wikipedia article on it suggested the spanking stick was inspired by the wand used by priests to sprinkle holy water on people during services (also known as an aspergillum).

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 19: Bretzelsonndeg

This comes from Luxembourg, where on the third Sunday of Lent it is traditional to eat pretzels (usually sweet ones). The story goes that there was a tradition where men would give a woman he fancies a pretzel on this day, and if she were similarly interested in him she would give him an egg on Easter Sunday. If the pretzel failed to spark a connection, the woman would give the man a basket. 

This article from Luxembourg's national broadcaster gives more detail on this day and how it's been celebrated over the years. Not a real religious holiday or observance like most of what we've talked about so far, but with the Lenten connection I thought it was worth mentioning. Although I now want a pretzel.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 18: World Youth Day

John Paul II instituted World Youth Day in 1985, influenced by a Polish movement where mixed groups of Catholics would go on retreat together to develop their faith. It's held annually on a diocesan level, with an international gathering every two to four years that's attended by the pope. 

The smaller, annual celebration was traditionally held on Palm Sunday, but Pope Francis changed the date to the Solemnity of Christ the King. The larger event was first held in the spring, but has mostly been held in summer (July or August) since 1989. When it's scheduled for a more tropical location - like Panama or the Philippines - it's held in January.

While the local events tend to be pretty focused on Catholic learning and life, the international event runs over several days and includes a lot of entertainment. Benedict XVI apparently was critical of these events as being seen as similar to a rock festival. But considering it's drawn over 300000 visitors as recently as 2016, maybe let people see it in the light that makes the most sense to them.

I don't know if this really counts as a holiday, but it's a religious event whose date changes regularly so I'm going to run with it. Not to mention that the date of the Solemnity of Christ the King moves as well. 

 Book Log 2021 #14: Normal People by Sally Rooney

Connell and Marianne are from the same town, go to the same school, but travel in different circles. Connell is popular, outgoing, and middle class, while Marianne is a loner, kind of abrasive, and from a more affluent family (Connell's mom cleans her family's house). The pair strike up a relationship (one initially kept secret by Connell), and they drift in and out of each other's lives during the rest of their time at school. 

They both wind up at Trinity College in Dublin, and the change of venue leads to unexpected changes in personal status. Their relationship continues in its elliptical fashion, as both try to come to terms with who they are becoming, and if these new people can finally be together.

This was the It Book of 2018, and maybe I was jaded by all the accolades, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. I did like it, but found it hard at times to understand the motivation behind how the characters acted (which I'm chalking up in part to being a Gen X reader of a book by and about millenials).  I'd be interested to see where these characters are today. 

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday To Go

Day 17: Chalica

Christians have the Advent wreath, Judaism the menorah, and African-Americans have the kinara. If you're Unitarian Universalist, then you also have your very own object to light on fire in the winter thanks to the relatively new holiday of Chalica.

Created in 2005, the purpose of Chalica is to celebrate the seven principles of the UU faith. Each day, a chalice is lit (the chalice being one of the major symbols of the church), and you then spend the day reflecting on one of the seven principles and then acting upon it.

While the holiday typically starts on the first Monday in December and runs through the following Sunday, there are some people who observe it over seven weeks to make it easier to find the time to act on each principle, rather than have to fit all seven acts into one week.

This page has a brief description of Chalica, with links to the seven principles and an article on the founding and growth of the holiday.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday To Go

Day 16: Jeûne genevois

This day, celebrated on the Thursday after the first Sunday in September, is a civic holiday in Geneva, Switzerland, but has religious roots.

While some Swiss Protestants, most notably Huldrych Zwingli, spoke out against fasting laws as being man-made and not supported by the Bible, it was not uncommon for cantons or cities to have laws that required fasting for thanksgiving. There were also fasts during times of trouble, be they plagues, persecutions, or massacres. The people of Geneva notably fasted in response to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572. This fasting became an annual tradition, and in the 19th century became a federally-endorsed holiday.

This didn't last too long, as by the end of the 1800s the celebration of the fast was once again largely practiced only by Genevans. The religious aspects of the fast also fell away, and today it's really a civic holiday. The one tradition that seems to have persisted (perhaps ironically for a fast) was the eating of plum tarts, which became the main food source of the fast as it could be prepared the day before and used a fruit that was in season.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday To Go

Day 15: Festum Ovorum

Also known as Egg Saturday, this "holiday" occurs on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday at the University of Oxford. I use the quotes around holiday as what little information is out there about the day suggest that it's not a holiday in the same sense of the other days we've looked at so far.

Based on passing mentions of the day in Oxford histories, this was the last day for students to complete their bachelor's degree requirements for the year. There was also apparently a tradition for the degree seekers to provide a meal for the senior bachelor students, which included eggs.

While there's an obvious connection between Easter and the symbolism of eggs. it doesn't appear that the day had any overt religious meaning. Why the editors at Wikipedia decided to include it with their list of moveable feasts of Western Christianity I don't know, but I thank them for giving me a really odd day to talk about.

 Book Log 2021 #13: My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

It can be hard to be the older sister when your younger sister is known as the pretty one, and gets all of the attention. It's that much harder when she also has a tendency to kill her boyfriends.

This is the dilemma that Korede, a nurse in Lagos, finds herself in. Once again she has to help her sister, Ayoola, clean up and dispose of the body of her latest victim. And while Korede feels underappreciated for helping her sister, she's accepted that she'll have to keep doing so to protect Ayoola.

But this changes when Tade, a doctor that Korede has unrequited feelings for, meets Ayoola and falls for her. Will Korede stand and allow Tade to be the next person to feel Ayoola's knife, or will she try to break the chain of violence and cover-ups?

The story is told as a dark comedy rather than straightforward crime/horror, which adds an unusual dimension to both the love triangle and the familial relationships. The book also gives plenty of detail about contemporary Lagos, which helps those of us who do not have a firm grasp on what life is like in modern Nigeria. The strength of the book lies in the sisters, who are fully drawn and complex (which I guess they'd have to be given the circumstances). Recommended.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday To Go

Day 14: Stir-up Sunday

This is an informal name in the Anglican church for the last Sunday before Advent. It takes its name from a prayer for the day in the Book of Common Prayer that starts, "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord." This would then remind churchgoers that it was time to "stir up" the ingredients to make the Christmas pudding. 

That you would start making your Christmas pudding nearly a month before Christmas should tell you something about Christmas pudding. A dense cake made with dried fruit, spices, dark sugar/treacle, and usually some sort of alcohol, the pudding would be boiled or steamed for several hours, after which it would be left somewhere to mature until Christmas. At which point it could be reheated or doused with brandy and set aflame before serving. Which probably helped kill whatever would be growing on it after several weeks of sitting around.

The association between this particular day and Christmas pudding has waned a bit, between the growing popularity of store bought puddings and the adoption of the Feast of Christ the King on the same day. 

In the US, Episcopalians hear this prayer on the third Sunday of Advent, which I assume reminds them to stir up a Jello mold or something.

 Book Log 2021 #12: Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier

I am not much of a comic book person, and wouldn't have picked this up except it fit a reading challenge I was doing. I had heard of Jack Kirby, didn't know much about him, and am now glad I had a chance to read about his extraordinary life and career. Suffice it to say if you've ever watched a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you've seen the fruits of Kirby's labor (though he also worked for DC and other publishers, so you've probably seen his work outside of the MCU, too).

There's a fair amount of struggle in this story - from getting into comics to his eventual break from Marvel and Stan Lee - but there's a lot of success, and it's all captured in engaging prose written by someone who is an obvious comics fan. It was very accessible to someone like me, who has rudimentary knowledge of the comics industry, and is well worth reading if you want to kmow a little more.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 13: Feast of Our Lady of the Audience

Early in the 16th century, a wealthy family brought a statue of the Madonna and Child created by Antonello Gagini to the town of Sambuca di Sicilia, where for many years it was hidden near the town ovens. In 1575 it was rediscovered, and locals decided to parade it through the city streets to an infirmary that was dealing with an outbreak of leprosy. The people prayed for the outbreak to end, which it did, and the statue was given the name Our Lady of the Audience as it helped the prayers of the sick to be heard.

Installed in the local church, locals recreate the statue's original journey on the third Sunday in May, with celebrations lasting to Monday morning. Other churches on Sicily - and the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Kansas City - also observe the feast, with a replica statue or other depiction of the miracle standing in for the original.

Sambuca di Sicilia also grabbed 15 minutes of secular fame when it became one of the Italian towns that offered derelict homes for one Euro, in the hopes of bringing in new residents. This prompted the American actress Lorraine Bracco to buy a house and attempt to renovate it, as seen on the HGTV show My Big Italian Adventure.

Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 12: Store Bededag

This Danish holiday takes place on the fourth Friday after Easter. King Christian V, as the head of the Church of Denmark, introduced it to the church in 1686 as a way to consolidate a number of minor holidays that originated in the Catholic church and survived the reformation in Denmark. In English, the name translates to "Great Prayer Day."

There aren't many specific traditions related to the holiday. Early on it was common for people in Copenhagen to walk along the city's ramparts, but now that the ramparts are gone people walk on specific streets or along historic fortifications (assuming the weather is good, which is always a dicey proposition at this point in the year).

There is also a tradition of eating varme hveder, a type of bread, with people stocking up the day before as bakeries would be closed during the holiday. This is also one of two days in the Church of Denmark where people are confirmed into the church.

 Book Log 2021 #11: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Confession time: prior to reading this, I had never read a Kurt Vonnegut novel. We were never assigned one in high school, and I missed that Vonnegut phase that it seems like so many people go through in their teens and early adulthood. My only experience with Vonnegut was his story "2 B R 0 2 B," which was in a non-Vonnegut anthology of sci-fi stories. It was fine.

And honestly, I had pretty much the same reaction to reading this. It was fine. It was actually a pretty similar response that I had to reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it was fine but didn't quite measure up to what I'd heard about Vonnegut over the years. 

Maybe I just don't jibe with Vonnegut. At some point I'll read another of his books and we'll see.

Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 11: Feast of the Crown of Thorns

In 1239, French king Louis IX brought what he believed to the Crown of Thorns, worn by Jesus during his crucifixion, to Paris. A royal chapel was constructed to house it and other relics, and feast day was instituted in August. Originally specific to the chapel, the feast would later be celebrated across northern France.

Additional feast days for the crown were adopted over time, specific to other locations, with Rome settling on the Friday after Ash Wednesday as the feast day. But it's not a universal feast, so it does still crop up at other times in other places, such as Heiligenkreuz in Austria, which celebrates the feast in August. There are a couple of crown relics in town, between one granted in the 12th century by Leopold V (given to him by Baldwin IV, king of Jerusalem), and a thorn that Louis IX took from his crown and gave to the Austrian duke Frederick II (also known as Frederick the Quarrelsome). Not sure why they chose August - as far as I can tell neither gift was made in that month - but August it is.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 10: Trinity Sunday

Occurring on the first Sunday after Pentecost (for Western Christians; it's on the Sunday of Pentecost for Eastern Christians), Trinity Sunday celebrates the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. While it got its feast day in the 14th century, it was celebrated well before then. Pope Alexander II refused to create a specific feast in the 11th century, but allowed local feast to continue, so it was likely being celebrated for some time before then.

The basis for the feast comes from an office that was created in response to the Arian heresy, which cropped hundreds of years before Alexander II. How it went from something observed every Sunday to an annual feast day isn't clear, but one theory is that Thomas Beckett, after being made Archbishop of Canterbury, decreed that the date of his ordination should be a feast day in honor of the Holy Trinity.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed a number of cantatas for the holiday, three of which are still known  (BWV 129, 165 and 176). A fourth (BWV 194) wasn't created for the day but was later played on it.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday To Go

Day 9: White Sunday

Held on the second Sunday in October, this holiday is celebrated mostly in the Pacific. There is some debate as to its origins, as some tie it to a Christian adaptation of native harvest festivals, while other say it's a version of a family-based celebration that became widely significant after the influenza epidemic of 1918-19.

Or both could be wrong, as the first White Sunday celebrated by the The Congregational Christian Church in Samoa (former the London Missionary Society) happened in 1898 (albeit in June). Then as now it was a holiday honoring children, with church services focused on children and childhood. Kids also got presents and in a sort of Boxing Day twist, were granted special privileges usually held by adults only. There is also now a public holiday on the following Monday. In American Samoa, the holiday also causes traffic headaches and a shortage of cash at ATMs.

The name comes from the tradition of wearing white on the holiday, though some include red and blue elements to reflect the colors of the Samoan flag 

 Book Log 2021 #10: Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

By all appearnaces, Don and Mimi Galvin were the ideal family of the Baby Boomer era, raising their 12 kids in a large house in Colorado. But as the kids grew into adulthood, it was clear that some of them were progressing differently from their siblings. In the end, six of the kids - all boys - developed schizophrenia. This book tells the story of how the family coped with this run of mental illness, and how the family played an important role in our current understanding of mental illness (and schizophrenia in particular).

Both the personal and clinical stories here are fascinating, and the author does an excellent job of telling both in a clear, straightforward manner. There are plenty of places where he could have played up the more lurid parts of the personal story, or focus on the researchers to the point of dehumanizing the family, but that never happens.

This is likely the best book I will read all year. You should read it too.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 7: Reek Sunday

This Irish holiday sees pilgrims climb the highest mountain in the country, Croagh Patrick (which is nicknamed The Reek, hence the name of the day), in honor of St. Patrick, who is said to have spent forty days on its summit fasting and praying. Some pilgrims climb barefoot as an additional act of penance, while others practice a "rounding ritual" where they circle various features a number of times. 

It's estimated that the climb has been held annually for at least 1500 years, though there's evidence that the climb has much earlier, pagan origins (like almost every other Christian holiday or festival) connected to Lughnasa, the start of the harvest season.

The climb up takes a couple of hours, probably due more to the number of climbers (which can be up to 30,000) than the mountain's height (764 meters, which is just over 2500 feet). Considering the mountain has about 100,000 climbers annually, you can imagine how busy things get on this one day. So if you're ever in County Mayo on the last Sunday of July, you've either got a lot of climbing buddies or a reason to do something else, if you're not into crowds.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 6: Store Bededag

Apparently, Switzerland isn't the only country into organizing religious observances into one day. Denmark created Store Bededag, or Great Prayer Day, in the late 17th century to consolidate a number of minor Catholic holidays that held on in that country after the Reformation. It then survived a revision of the national calendar of holidays and continues to this day (held on the fourth Friday after Easter).

On the day before the holiday, residents of Copenhagen would walk the city ramparts and eat a traditional bread called varme hveder, which are apparently some sort of wheat roll. According to this page the bread was made the day before the holiday so people could eat them when the bakeries were closed, but the people couldn't wait and ate them on the day they bought them (which based on my experiences with fresh baked bread seems about right). Nowadays people in Copenhagen walk elsewhere (the ramparts being long gone) but apparently still eat the bread.

This page gives a little more about the holiday, not that much really, but it's from the Lutheran church in Denmark, so if nothing else it's about as close to the source of the holiday as you can get.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 5: Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer

So this is a weird one. It's a Swiss public holiday, but is an interfaith feast day celebrated by a number of religious denominations, Christian and otherwise. Only the Swiss.

It's held on the third Sunday in September, and this page gives a pretty good explanation of how the holiday came about (short version: it was created in the Middle Ages so everyone could do their fasting, penance, etc. at the same time, which seems even more Swiss). This page also talks about the holiday a bit, and has links for other Swiss holidays in case you're interested. Both pages note that the holiday is pretty much secular at this point, so if you're in Switzerland for this feel free to tuck into that raclette.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 4: Feast of Our Lady of the Audience

In the early 15th century, a wealthy family brought a statue of the Virgin Mary and Jesus to the town of Sambuca di Sicilia, and hid it in the fortifications there. In 1575, the statue was rediscovered by a farmer, and he and his colleagues decided to parade it around town. There was an outbreak of leprosy going on, and they hoped that the procession would miraculously stop it. Which apparently is just what happened, giving the statue the name of Our Lady of the Audience (referring to her hearing the prayers of the sick).

This led to an annual procession, held on the third Sunday in May, where the statue is again paraded around town (though no further miracles, as far as I can tell). Other cities and town in Sicily also celebrate the feast, using either a replica statue or a painting of the miracle. In the US, some churches that were founded by Sicilians also observe the feast, perhaps most notably Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Kansas City (which has a page dedicated to the feast and their replica statue).

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 3: Plough Sunday

On this day, celebrated primarily in England, a plowshare is brought into church, and blessings are given to farmers and farm workers prior to the start of the new growing season. Typically, no work was done in the field until the day after, known as Plough Monday (which doesn't appear to have any religious connections other than coming the day after Plough Sunday). 

Plough Sunday occurs on the Sunday after Epiphany, so in early to mid-January, which seems really early to go back into the fields, though I suppose English winters aren't quite so cold or snowy as New England winters. I did read one article that linked the day to the end of the Christmas season and getting back to work generally, so maybe more work in the barn than the actual fields.

Modern celebrations often include farmers driving their tractors to the church for a blessing. There are also special prayers for soil and seed (or both together, as seen in this service bulletin). 

I'd never heard of this day, but I suppose that's not surprising as I'm not English, a farmer, or Protestant.

 Book Log 2021 #9: The Summons by John Grisham

Ray Atlee is a law professor at the University of Virginia, and while he's recently divorced he has a pretty good life. But then he gets the titular summons - his father, a judge in Mississippi, requests that Ray and his brother Forrest return home to discuss the disposition of the judge's estate. Ray reluctantly returns, only to find his father dead in his study. Problematic as this may be, there are two further complications: Ray discovers something unexpected - and potentially illegal - in the house, and there is apparently someone else who knows about this.

I haven't read anything by Grisham in some time - I've moved away from legal thrillers in general outside of Scott Turow - but tucking into this book reminded me of why I read them in the first place. The lively pace and well-crafted twists keeps you engaged in the book, papering over the places where plot and/or character may be a little thin. I didn't necessarily like the book, but wanted to keep going to see how things turned out. 

I don't know that I'll go back to reading Grisham regularly, but an occasional visit might work.

 Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 2: Feast of the Holy Winding Sheet of Christ

Over time there have been several feasts created by local churches in honor of a relic which purportedly was the sheet in which Christ was entombed. That there were more than one of these feasts - thanks to their being more than one sheet - should tell you something about the church and relics. 

In any case, this particular feast started around 1495, celebrating the sheet that has come to be popularly known as the Shroud of Turin. Pope Julius II approved the celebration of the feast in 1506, and it got its current date (Shrove Tuesday) from Pope Pius XII in 1958.

Why Pius decided to move the date nearly 500 years after the feast was approved isn't clear. Pius did undertake a number of reforms during his papacy, and this may have been a casualty of making other changes to the liturgical calendar. In some places it looks like the change didn't stick, as there are contemporary references to the feast taking place on May 4.

Anyway, as the linked article mentions, this is not a particularly notable feast in the US. I can honestly say I'd never heard of it prior to yesterday, and it's likely I won't hear about it again after today.

Considering I'm only about a third of the way through the entries for 2020, it seems a little presumptuous to announce this, but as today is Ash Wednesday it's time again for my annual "40 day" trip through a subject related to the season. And so we have:

Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday To Go

The theme this year is moveable holidays and observances, focusing on Western Christianity but certainly taking from other faiths as needed. And to start, might as well go with the obvious.

Day 1: Ash Wednesday

Easter is probably the best known moveable holiday on the Western Christian calendar, and by being moveable it makes all of the other holidays associated with it moveable too. Which is really pretty helpful if you're trying to write about 40 moveable holidays and observances.

Anyway, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the 40 day period where people prepare themselves to celebrate Easter. The day itself is said to be a day of prayer, fasting, and repentance. Fasting can take a few forms, from fasting during the day and having a light evening meal to having one full meal and two smaller meals which together don't add up to a second full meal. 

Repentance is signified by the ashes; there are several examples in the Old Testament of the use of ashes to signify a person's repentance for their sins (there's also the donning of sackcloth rather than regular clothes, giving us "sackcloth and ashes").  Covering oneself in ashes as a public penance started to fall out of favor in the first millennium AD, with the practice of taking ashes on Ash Wednesday starting as early as the 8th century (though as the strewing of ashes on the head rather than the cross we get today).

Ash Wednesday is 46 days before Easter, and can occur between February 4 and March 10. The year 2096 will be the first time that Ash Wednesday will occur on February 29, so mark your calendars accordingly.

Apart from the religious significance, Ash Wednesday is also National No Smoking Day in Ireland, due to the connection of smoking and ashes, and as a way to get people to think of giving up smoking for Lent.

 Book Log 2021 #8: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

And here we have what might be the exact opposite of Charles Lenox: Precious Ramotswe, a woman in present-day Botswana who leaves school at 16 and comes into detective work after discovering that a fellow employee is stealing from the bus company they both work for. Her agency mostly handles domestic issues - missing husbands and children, settling disputes between family members, and the like.

This first installment in the series tells the full story of how Precious became a detective and the difficulties in her personal life that helped shape that decision. We also see her work through her first three cases, using her common sense and innate intelligence to solve the cases - though perhaps not alway in the way her client might expect.

I did like this book and the way it combined its unique setting with a plot that managed to stay positive even though there's a lot of heartache in it. It's the start of a long series, which I expect I'll continue reading.

 Book Log 2021 #8: A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch

Charles Lenox is a Victorian gentleman of leisure, who spends his time at his club, studying the ancients, planning trips he will never take, and solving the occasional crime. In this case, his neighbor (and secret love interest) Lady Jane Grey, asks him to look into the apparent suicide of one of her former maids, who has gone on to work in the house of a much wealthier and powerful personage.

Despite the initial assumption of suicide, Lenox suspects murder. With the help of his butler and a a doctor friend, he takes on the case to see who, out of the numerous suspects in the great house, is the killer.

I did like this book, enjoying the depiction of Victorian-era London and the life of someone who takes on criminal investigation as a hobby. I do feel like it may have been a little light, but it may be that I've just gotten used to series (like Alex Grecian's Scotland Yard Murder Squad) that are pretty dark.

 Book Log 2021 #6: A Separation by Katie Kitamura

A woman goes to Greece to find her ex, whose gone missing six months after they agree to split up (a parting that they've not yet made public).  He was staying at a luxury hotel in a remote part of the country, and the juxtaposition of that arrangement only heightens the narrator's emotional state. She goes from high-end meals and clean modernity to a countryside full of burned woods, packs of dogs, and other omens that suggest her search will be in vain. She also quickly determines that she knew even less about her husband than she thought, that his serial infidelity was just the baseline of where his reality diverged from what she thought she knew of him.

Writing this, and reading some of the online reviews of the book, I think this novel reads a lot better in synopsis than in full. The book is much more of a psychological examination of marriage, relationships, and alienation, than it is a convential mystery. I think I wanted the latter, but the reviewers who were more positive about the book praised it for the former. Keep that in mind if you're interested in picking this up.

 Book Log 2021 #5: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

What is it that makes the most successful people successful? Is it all hard work, determination, and grit, or are there other factors that allow some to rise while others fall? Gladwell looks to asnwer these questions in this book, which I read to fulfill a self-help book requirement for a reading challenge. Which is kind of funny, as I don't think whoever classified this as "self-help" actually read the book.

The reason I say that is because many of the factors that Gladwell identifies as promoting success are beyond an individual's control. Things like birth date, family socioeconomic status, and where one grows up all can play an outsized role in whether or not you become an outlier. No one factor is determinative, but it can give a person a leg up that others with similar intelligence may not get.

This is also the book where Gladwell talks a lot about the "10,000 hour rule," where putting in that much practice at a particular endeavour allows you to develop the talent needed to succeed. He cites the Beatles (and all of their club gigs in Hamburg) and Bill Gates (and his access to a computer as a youth) as examples. I tend to not buy into this idea so much, as I think you need at least some innate ability to make use of this much practice. It's also worth noting that the researcher who is credited with the rule, Anders Ericsson, later clarified that the "rule" isn't really a rule.

The book was fine for what I needed to read it for. It's certainly better than most self-help books, for what that's worth.

 Book Log 2021 #4: Bruno and the Carol Singers by Martin Walker

It's the Christmas season in St. Denis, and local police chief Bruno is in the thick of the village's celebrations. But crime doesn't take a holiday, leaving Bruno to also figure out what happened to the money collected by the town for charity.

This is kind of a holiday special for the series, more like a novella in length and without the usual body count. It's a pleasant addition to the series, and just the right length and tone if you want a mystery for the holidays but not something too serious.

 Book Log 2021 #3: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

The goon squad in this book (which is either a novel or a series of linked short stories, though I tended to think of it as a novel) is a metaphorical reference to time, and how its relentless march spares no one. Each of the chapters shows how this assault plays on each of its characters (and the main linking character, a record producer). 

The book was highly praised, won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and made several lists of the top books of the decade.

And I didn't care for it at all.

I think I never really bought into the goon squad metaphor. To me, a goon squad comes in and causes immediate harm.  Time doesn't do that. Time is like a steady drip that slowly erodes. You don't notice changes day to day, but after a couple of decades pass you can really see what time's done to you.

I don't think that's the only reason I didn't like the book - I'm sure some of the characters rubbed me the wrong way - but it's likely the main one. 

 Book Log 2021 #2: Lost and Gone Forever by Alex Grecian

Change has come to the Scotland Yard Murder Squad in the wake of Walter Day's kidnapping, most notably the sacking of Segreant Neville Hammersmith, who has started a private detective agency whose primary case is finding Day and catching Jack the Ripper. 

This book appears to wrap up the series, which is unfortunate as I liked the characters quite a bit and enjoyed seeing how the different factions in the Murder Squad interacted.  But I guess there's not a lot of places you can go after you bring in Jack the Ripper as your villain.

It's a good end to the series, at least, wrapping things up without doing so too neatly.

 Book Log 2021 #1: On the Plain of Snakes by Paul Theroux

Spurred to investigate the truth behind the rhetoric and stereotypes that dominate the discussion of the US-Mexico border, Theroux bought a used car and set out to drive the border, and then deep into Mexico itself, to get a sense of what current day Mexico is like and what motivates its people to either stay or go to the US.

The result is, not surprisingly, far more complex and nuanced than what we get from the evening news or blustering politicians. And while Theroux occasionally falls into stereotypes himself, he is a seasoned enough traveler to know how to connect with locals and draw conclusions from their stories. And while I miss the stories of his train travels, using a car gives him more time and flexibility to follow stories as they develop.