Mogen Library

08/11/2025

We owe a lot to William Shakespeare — more than you may think...

Book Name: Coined by Shakespeare: Words and Meanings First Penned by the Bard
Available at : (https://amzn.to/4cITWWs)

08/11/2025

What I've read lately: The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness

How can a book be hauntingly beautiful when dealing with the unspeakable evils that men (generically) do to each other both in real time and in the imagination that drives the modern arts? In The Kingdom of Cain, Andrew Klavan traces the echo of horrific, historical evil acts over centuries into the inspiration for books, film, and even more evil acts---things that our "better angels" would urge us to shun but instead stick to our culture and fester like the co**se strapped to the backs of condemned traitors in ancient Roman. It is because, as Klavan explains, we live in the Kingdom of Cain, the first murderer, yet also in the Kingdom of Christ.

Klavan's book is a highly original examination of the "problem of evil." He looks unflinchingly at the accounts of murderous deeds and then traces the aftermaths of their influence over space and time and over subsequent men's actions and cultural philosophies up to the present day. Such a catalog would be an unremitting trail of horror if not for Klavan's equal insistence of an accompanying phenomena--the "problem"of beauty.

The Kingdom of Cain ends with a vision of the world as a glorious art museum poised at the far end of a plain littered with destruction. The pieces housed there tell our history of reaching for beauty that has ended in despair. But, we are not to give up hope--there is a door...

Thank you, Mr. Klavan, for another book that calls us to beauty and assures us that it is not an illusion.

08/11/2025

There's still time for a car trip before summer ends and we live in the best part of the country for magnificent views! Mogen Library has a large handful of travel guides with great ideas for day, weekend, or even week-long travel. Start with this general NW guide or any of several that detail trips or hiking trails around Kootenai County or just CDA. Just search the "tags" or "titles" box using IDAHO, MONTANA, or WASHINGTON.

Lonely Planet Pacific Northwest's Best Trips (Travel Guide)

07/23/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18DCdPzD2H/

Happy Birthday, Beatrix Potter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEATRIX POTTER: Born July 28, 1866

07/09/2025

What I've been reading lately:
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, is practically beyond categorization. Science fiction? Philosophical fiction? Theological fiction? Anthropological fiction? Horror? Whatever category you pick, I believe that it is the best I've read in any of them.

SETI listeners finally pick up a true transmission signal from a star system that is feasibly reachable from Earth (given the advances in space travel in the story's future setting). Rather than merely mathematics or words, the short signal is composed of exquisitely ethereal music and song. The world is astonished, but it is the Jesuits of the Roman Catholic Church that first mount and finance a mission to discover the planet and beings behind such mesmerizing art. The chosen team is composed of a variety of scientists and Jesuit priests with the optimum skills to reach the source and engage in first contact. The voyage will take 17 years to travel each way (only months for those on board) and is equipped to stay for 3 years. But after 2 years on the planet Rakhat pass, contact with the team, is lost with no warning or explanation.

A second mission financed by an international team, sent shortly after the first, then arrives to discover that only one of the original voyagers, Father Sandoz, is still alive, but on death's door. What happened? Sullen, broken, and bitter, he refuses to tell them and is shipped back, alone, to be debriefed by his Order.

Alternating between the history of the team members before the mission, their time on Rakhat, and the struggles of the members of the Jesuit Order to find out what caused the catastrophic failure of the mission after Sandoz returns forms the compelling narrative of The Sparrow.

A compelling book for group discussion, The Sparrow, raises questions that deal with all the categories above in a unique but oddly familiar story.

06/28/2025

Be aware--a recent new category of fiction, Romantasy, is being pushed in Young Adult sections of book stores and libraries and much of it is little more than soft p**n for teens.

Publishers cash in on popular “fantasy” books, but they often feature sexual content

06/23/2025

What I've been reading lately:
Although this is YA Fiction, I found it a good introduction to how Native Americans view their world. The mystery of m**h production on the rez and the tragedy of addiction and the drug-related deaths of young people was compelling. Not really a book you can "love" but I'm glad I read it.

Not unexpectedly, there are a lot of unChristian things and attitudes going on in this story, but I recommend it as a read-together (after you have read it first) with your 11th or 12th grader. This is a realistic exposure (without being overly graphic) to how the world is really operating and how young people are thinking as well as insight into current Native American life and beliefs. Lots of relevant topics for discussion.

06/23/2025

What I've been reading lately:

Returned from the fields of Waterloo, Captain Rider Sandman finds his patrimony gambled away by his father who has killed himself for shame and responsible for his mother and younger sister. With no resources save his admired talent for cricket, he is recommended to the Home Office as an investigator into a murder conviction that has captured the attention of Queen Charlotte. Assured that the week he has been allowed to bring the matter to a conclusion is more than adequate, Rider finds that there is much more to the case than meets the eye. A desperate search for the truth through the heights and depths of Regency society ensues. I thoroughly enjoyed Gallows Thief and wish that Cornwell had given us more Rider Sandman adventures, another great character worthy of comparison with his Richard Sharp.

06/05/2025

"Don't sell your morals..." Wonder what is going on in public and school libraries that keeps book controversies alive? Has it always been like this? What has changed in the last several decades? This hour long discussion between an American and a British librarian offers a clear view from the librarian perspective of what is going on in schools and libraries.

Https://x.com/ukcolumn/status/1930594452411937206

06/03/2025

The Second Lady of the United States is having a summer reading challenge... audiobooks count!
https://www.whitehouse.gov/read/

Kids in K - 8th grade can earn a certificate and enter a drawing for a trip to Washington D.C.

06/03/2025

What I've been reading lately...

A high school Christian mission trip to Central America goes horribly wrong in a story by Andrew Klavan that could very easily become reality in the dangerous political climate of the present day. Good teen discussion book. Highly recommended