Saint Giuseppe Moscati (Ignatius Press)

When we think of saints in the Catholic Church, we tend to think of the popular ones, Peter, Paul, Therese, and Teresa just to name four. Due to the sheer number of saints in our Tradition, it is easy to overlook some of the lesser known ones. For example, have you ever heard of Saint Giuseppe Moscati? Me neither! Ignatius Press has graced us with a book, bearing his name, to tell us more about his life.

The book begins with a backstory on the life of Giuseppe's father and mother. His father was a judge, so Giuseppe came from a noble family. There were nine children in all, and Giuseppe was number seven! His parents were devout Catholics, and they placed great importance on the Sacraments. Giuseppe was a brilliant boy, who used his smarts to become a professor and a doctor. During his time teaching, his life was just as much an example as his words were. He was apparently gifted at autopsies, and he used them as a way to teach medicine and exhibit his faith in a very sad and desolate place. With his brilliance in medicine, good looks, and pleasant personality, he could have had a high paying job, lived a very comfortable life, and done good works by merely giving a tithe and calling it a day. He instead became a doctor for the poor; often helped people, receiving little to no payment; and almost put other doctors out of business due to his practice. Truly, a great man!

In addition to receiving a biography of his life, this book also contains numerous primary sources to better paint the picture of Giuseppe's life and the influence he had on others. After his death in 1927, he was beatified in 1975 by Pope Paul VI and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1987. Often thought of as a miracle-worker in life, his canonization miracle involved curing a man of leukemia. He was the first "modern doctor" to be canonized and his feast day is November 16th. This book is a great read during the Jubilee Year of Mercy, because St. Giuseppe Moscati is an amazing example of mercy. Anyone could benefit from reading this book, but if you have a family member or friend in or considering entering the medical field, then I'd consider this a must-read for them. Great book on a great man! Be sure to check out the movie with the same name!

This book was provided to me for free by Ignatius Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Maiden of Nazareth (Scepter Publishers)

I don't normally read fiction, with the exception of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Every now and then, I will dive into some classics, historical fiction, or religious fiction, and today I want to tell you about a new religious fiction book I have recently read called The Maiden of Nazareth. Written by Javier Suarez-Guanes, an Opus Dei priest, this book combines elements of Scripture, tradition, and the author's imagination to weave a narrative of Mary's life.

The book begins with Joachim and Ana. We learn that Ana is aged and barren, like other notable women before her, i.e., Sarah and Hannah. However, it isn't long in the book before she experiences feelings of nauseousness and other pregnancy symptoms. She waits a few months to share the news, which is understandable given her age and probably high risk the pregnancy would be, but when she does inform others, they are all extremely happy for her. She eventually gives birth to a girl, whom they name Mary (Miriam), like Moses' sister.

The rest of the book takes us through the rest of her life all the way to her death and Assumption. I know the thought of Mary dying will upset some people who believe she was assumed into Heaven without experiencing death, but that is not what the ancient tradition teaches. In her life, we see her parents teaching her Scripture, her assisting in the Temple, and the role she in Jesus' ministry, both during Jesus' time on Earth and after. There is also a heavy focus on Joseph in this book, which is nice, because he surely was responsible in shaping the man Jesus became. In addition to Joseph, we see other Biblical figures, like Elizabeth, Cleophas, the Apostles, etc. Many are introduced before Jesus' ministry again, so it is like getting a glimpse of their lives before Jesus changed their lives forever.

The book has a nice pace and flow to it. You get a fair glimpse at what Mary's childhood could have been like, but it doesn't overly dwell on it. You can also see clear foreshadowing or references to Scripture in some of the things the author says. Two examples that most stand out in my mind are when she is memorizing Scripture, it says she remember them while other kids forgot them. This reminds of the passage where it talks about Mary treasuring all things and letting them dwell in her heart. The other most obvious one was her seeing a man about to be crucified. However, the author does a nice job of not glamorizing Mary's life. There are a few moments where it just spells out the mundane tasks of daily life and how it can be boring. Overall, I found this book to be an interesting read, and even if it was fictional it gave flesh to people in the Bible and made them feel more real.

This book was provided to me for free by Scepter Publishers in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

Tabletop Game Reviews

Hello my loyal readers. You've stuck with me through the past years and seen my blog grow in number of posts and variety of items I've reviewed. While this blog is and will continue to be mainly about books, I like to continue to add the types of products I review to this blog as well. Starting this year I am adding tabletop games to my mix. For the moment, these posts will not replace my current posting schedule of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but will instead be an additional post once a month or twice a month, depending on the number of games I have to review. This post is designed to introduce you to the world of tabletop gaming and provide you with some key information.

Tabletop games have been around for centuries. We see them in games such as Chess, Checkers, Mahjong, etc. They can come in many categories, including but not limited to board games, card games, and dice games and within these three broad categories, are further subcategories like word games, party games, worker placement games, card collecting games, etc. There are also genres of games, which are so wide and varied they have something for everyone. You have fantasy, horror, war, vampires, zombies, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc. There's also various levels of strategy involved in games, which range from casual to the hardcore gamer. The casual games are simple to pick up, but the more complex games have rule books so thick that it might make you faint. I hope to slowly ease you into the world of tabletop gaming by introducing you to casual games first, but sometimes a game is just so awesome I might have to share it with you, even if you're not quite ready for it.

I am very excited about this future endeavor, because I have been in a technology war with myself for almost a decade. I like and hate technology; embrace and reject it all at the same time. This is a big reason I love physical books so much and generally avoid e-books. What does this have to do with games? Well, I used to play an equal mix of video games and tabletop games, but for a while it seemed like video games were winning the war and killing tabletop games. My household was thankfully the opposite, but there's only so many times you can play Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit. And then, I discovered what I am referring to as the Tabletop Game Renaissance. It has been going on quietly for a few years, but 2015 exploded with so many amazing games. Many of these games came from smaller game companies, and they are giving Hasbro and Parker Brothers a run for their money. It's an exciting time, and I can't wait to share some of these games that I love with you! Tune in for my next post, which is a review of the game Chrononauts from Looney Labs!