A Tale of Two Novels

I recently finished two novels that I was surprised had some significant similarities but yet wildly different takes.  I thought it might be good to talk a little about the two, and in particular, to warn against one of them.

The two novels in question are M.R. Leonard’s Pilgrims and Douglas Preston and Aletheia Preston’s Paradox.  Both are the debut novels for an author (Leonard and Aletheia, the daughter of Douglas).  Both have connections with the question about life on other planets.  Both have connections to the Catholic Church.  Everything else, past this paragraph is major spoilers, because that is the only way to discuss them further.  So, if you’re interested in reading them, but don’t want to be spoiled, stop at this paragraph.  I will just say this summation: I have already recommended Pilgrims to others; I will never recommend Paradox to anyone.

In Pilgrims, humanity has been preparing for an alien invasion for 5 years, since the first sign of them approaching Earth.  The main character is a Latin teacher, Austin DeSantis, who loses his job and is desperate for money.  When the aliens arriving, hovering in ships over major cities, the world is shocked when they start speaking in Latin.  The government forces Austin to act as an interpreter, or face death for being an accomplice to murder.

The aliens, it turns out, are Catholic, hence the Latin.  Austin becomes a pawn of the US government, who want to use him to infiltrate the aliens, gain their friendship, then bring them down.  He, reluctantly, becomes friends with one of the aliens and a Catholic priest-astronomer who has also been chosen to visit the alien spaceship.

Why do the aliens speak Latin?  Why are they Catholic?  Thousands of years ago, through their intellect they came to know that there was a God, but they didn’t know Him until they visited Earth and witnessed Jesus’ Passion, death, Resurrection, and ascension.  When they share their “videos” with the world as proof, Muslims nuke the Vatican, killing the pope.  In retaliation, the aliens completely wipeout every non-Christian in Saudi Arabia.  In an attempt to stop the aliens, the priest agrees to celebrate Mass on the spaceship, allowing them to receive Jesus.

Lots more happens, but in the end, the world is saved, and Austin is on the path to conversion.  It’s a compelling story, and deeply Catholic.  My minor qualms come down to how the priest celebrates Mass on the spaceship.  I’m also not entirely convinced that it is a “sci-fi retelling of Augustine’s Confessions.”  It is much more of a “thinking” sci-fi, with not much action.  But for what it is, it is interesting, it keeps the reader engaged, and, as I said, I have already recommended it to others.  (An aside: a non-Catholic actually recommended it to me, which was interesting)

 

The other novel I just finished reading is Paradox, a sequel to Extinction, which I read last year.  Extinction was not quite the updated Jurassic Park that some reviewers claimed, but I still found it interesting and I wanted to see what happened next with the Neanderthals on the loose.

 

There’s a lot going on in Paradox, but the “Neanders” are nowhere to be found, except as an occasional reference to the previous book.  Essentially, an exobiologist breaks into a church in Rome, steals part of the skull of St. John the Baptist, and an Irish monk is sent to America to bring it back.  Meanwhile, an eccentric prospector and UFO conspiracy theorist is found murdered in his cabin in Colorado (which brings in the main characters, Cash and Colcord, from Extinction).

Where do I begin with how this novel upset me?  First, there is the “trans” reporter who is referred to as “they/them,” making it almost impossible to follow scenes with her because of the stupid plural referring to singular.  So, it’s woke.  Second, there is the problem with the Catholic Church.  The murderers use Inquisition torture methods, because of course the Inquisition is evil.  They also kill two of the characters who are Catholic by stuffing them with the Eucharist, you know, as Viaticum (oh, and by the way, at the end of the book a female character performs the “Last Rites,” because the authors didn’t bother to actually research anything).  Then there is the small-town priest who is portrayed as evil because he prefers the Latin Mass and says that people misunderstand the Inquisition.  Never mind that, in the end, he helps save Cash and Colcord, he still is seen as a crazy person not to be trusted.

Then there is the realization at the end of the novel that “upends everything people think they know about religion.”  You see, Jesus and his apostles (which apparently include John the Baptist?) were all aliens.  So, he wasn’t really God, just an alien with super powers.  I’m all for science fiction and interesting stories, but I draw the line at blasphemy.  In an Afterword, the authors try to explain it all as a fun little theory that some people have, but they also scoff at such theories being a threat to the Church.  It’s all a fiction account, after all, no harm done.  I’m glad it makes it easy for me to say I will never read another book from Douglas Preston again.

52 in 25: #52 - Finishing the Year

To finish off the year, I have two books I’m basically finished with, or at least will be by the end of the year.

The first is something that has been part of my daily holy hour for the year: A Year with the Mystics, compiled by Kathyrn Jean Lopez.  This is basically 365 days worth of reflections from various saints with a prompt for further consideration and a closing prayer.  On the one hand, there are some really good reflections in here.  On the other hand, it was frustrating at points because, by the author’s words, this was not necessarily meant to be read starting on January 1, so it’s kind of random where reflections fell.  It really took me out of it when, for instance, there was something about Christmas in the middle of Lent.  Very mixed bag for me.

 

The other is The Life of St. Francis of Assisi by Saint Bonaventure.  This the TAN Classics reprint of a translation from 1867.  Certainly, this is a classic.  I do have some struggles with it.  The first is that it is not a chronological biography, but rather a thematic reflection on his life.  The second is (and this is somewhat common for some saint biographies) he is presented as so perfect that it can become frustratingly impossible to relate with him.  This is a similar reason why I stopped reading the classic biography of St. John Vianney.  Another difficult is just the language.  I’m not sure if this is due to the original by Bonaventure, or the translation from the 19^th century.  These are long (long) paragraphs with sentences composed in ways that would never be done today.  Sometimes it makes it difficult to follow.  Again, I don’t know if that’s an artifact from the original or a (now) old translation.  That being said, it does not get more classic than this.

 

So, there you have it.  At least 52 books in 2025.  Would I do this again?  Probably not.  It did push me to read more, which was the objective.  It also encouraged me to read more classics that I have been wanting to get to.  That being said, it also discouraged me from reading certain books because I knew that I could not finish them in a timely manner.  My year experiment is done, but I may revisit this.  Perhaps a monthly update and some things I have read?

52 in 25: #51 - Love Does Such Things

There is a tradition in Advent to prepare for Christmas started by my parents years ago, and now I continue it on.  Every year, I read this beautiful little book called Love Does Such Things by Reverand Mary Raymond, O.C.S.O, published in Milwaukee in 1955.  It is a real treasure, and a book I highly recommend picking up if you can find it.

 

Fr. Raymond walks through the Christmas story, from the Annunciation through the return to Nazareth after Egypt.  Each chapter represents a different letter, to spell out the ultimate word of Christmas: “SAVIOUR.”  So the chapters are: Shepherds and Sheep, Angels, a Virgin, Nativity and Name (J=I), Offerings, Urgency, and Return and Retirement.  In the end, he sums it all up that God does all of this for you, for whom Love Does Such Things.

 

I love this book.  Each time I read it, something else jumps out at me.  I can’t tell you how many times little tidbits have made their way into my homilies during the Christmas season.  It also has beautiful paintings recreated in it.  I think it would be awesome if someone like TAN reprinted it to make it more available, because right now the only way to get it is to find it second hand (apparently there was a recent reprint, but it also is not available and it looks like it’s missing the original images).  Again, if you can, get a copy and enjoy it for years.

52 in 25: #50 - 58 Minutes

I followed up the book that “inspired” Die Hard with its sequel.  No, not the books’ sequel, but the novel that “inspired” Die Hard 2.  This was 58 Minutes by Walter Wager.

This is a very, very loose interpretation of “inspired” (or as the cover says: “basis”).  About the only thing that this novel and the movie have in common is that terrorists takeover an airport.  In this, case, it is JFK Airport in New York, along with the others in the area.  They demand the release of seven political prisoners.  On the case is airport officials, the FAA, and the NYPD chief terrorist captain, Frank Malone, who just happens to be there because his daughter is flying in.  The plane she is on will run out of fuel in 58 minutes, hence the title.

It's fine, as these thrillers go.  It’s not necessarily a “page turner” but it’s not boring.  There are quite a few conveniences to make the plot happen.  One of my biggest pet peeves is that, at the end of the story, Malone is convinced that there was an inside person who helped it all happen, he and the others say they need to figure out who it is, and then they all live happily ever after.  Did the author not know who it was?  You can’t just leave that important piece dangling.  Maybe the author was an early influence on J.J. Abrams?

52 in 25: #49 - Nothing Lasts Forever

Next was a book I have been wanting to read for a while.  I finally got it early this year, but was waiting to read it until December.  The book is titled Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, published in 1979.  Doesn’t sound familiar?  It does when you realize it was the “basis” for one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time.

This novel is told from the perspective of a retired police officer named Joseph Leland, and is the sequel to a novel called The Detective, which was made into a movie starring Frank Sinatra in 1968.  Leland flies to LA on Christmas Eve to be with his daughter Stephanie Gennaro and her children.  He meets up with her at her companies Christmas party, taking place in their 40-story skyscraper.  During the party, terrorist led by Anton Gruber take the building hostage in an attempt to steal $6 million dollars that the company, Klaxon, received in a deal with the corrupt government of Chile.  Leland then takes part in a one-man war to stop the terrorists and save his daughter.

 

Sound familiar?  Of course, this was the basis for Die Hard.  This is one case where the movie is significantly better than the source material.  The book isn’t bad.  It can be hard to follow at times.  There’s certainly some conveniences.  I didn’t really like the main character.  Or any of the characters.  In that way, it’s very 70s.  I guess in the end I would say, stick with the movie unless you really want to hunt down a decent action novel.

52 in 25: #48 - The Wingmen

I actually finished this a few days ago but haven’t had the time to write anything.  Next was a sort-of sequel to the previously read The Cloudbuster Nine.  I read Adam Lazarus’ The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams.

            Space.  Baseball.  Military History.  You would think that I had read this already (published 2023) or at least knew about their friendship.  Somehow, as far as I can remember, I had no idea about their connection until I heard about his book shortly after it was published.  I’m still kind of baffled by that.  I finally got around to reading it.

            The author does a great job of setting up the story, detailing the lives of Ted Williams and John Glenn, two of the most famous men of their time.  And, of course, he also goes into length about how the two of them got to be wingmen in the Korean War.  And then he has a number of chapters on their post-war lives, highlighting their interactions of the years.  Probably my biggest problem is how quickly the war goes by (in the book, not in real life).  There are some good chapters on the nature of the war and their role in it, and in particular about Ted’s crash, but it almost seems like an afterthought for their lives.  I do have some sympathy, however, if that is simply from lack of more information.  I know this problem from personal experience.

            Overall, it is an interesting, though not essential, read for anyone interested in baseball or military history.  One credit I will give to the author is that before I read this, I loved Ted Williams and didn’t care for John Glenn.  After reading, I have a better appreciation for Glenn and see more of the deficiencies of Teddy Ballgame (though I am still immensely intrigued by his life and personality).

52 in 25: #47 - That Nothing May Be Lost

I think I mentioned this before, but I take my time with my spiritual reading.  This was no exception.  I just completed Rev. Paul D. Scalia’s That Nothing May Be Lost.  If that name is familiar, he is a priest for the Diocese of Arlington and the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  I first became aware of him listening to his homily for his dad’s funeral in 2016.  It’s the best funeral homily I have heard, it inspires mine, and it is included in the appendix of this book.

 

I had picked up this book a number of years ago, but finally got to reading it.  It is a collection of his work, including some articles he has written and (I think) some homilies.  Topics range from the Sacraments to saints, including Mary, to prayer, feast days, and, of course, Our Lord.  I love this book because it is easy to pick up, read one or two, and reflect on his words.  He also does a great job, since these are written for your typical lay Catholic, of distilling ideas down into something that is easily consumed but will keep you thinking.  I highly recommend this book to enrich anyone's spiritual life.

52 in 25: #46 - Wild at Heart

A couple of months ago, I watched an interview with John Eldredge and was fascinated with his book Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul.  I'm kind of shocked that I had not heard of it or him before, since it was first published 25 years ago.  I was given it for my birthday, so I was happy to get to read it.

 

            It is very thought-provoking.  I don’t agree with everything, but a lot of it I find very powerful.  It has definitely seeped into my homilies recently.  It is about reclaiming masculinity.  Too many men today have become emasculated or gone the “toxic masculinity” route.  For Eldredge, it boils down to three things: a battle to fight, an adventure to love, and a beauty to love.  These are the basics of what makes a man.

 

            I especially liked this book because it is a call to action.  Too many times, as men, and even in the Church, we are called to be passive.  That has caused deep wounds, and, in the case of the Church, has made it uninteresting to too many men.  I see this in the priesthood, where it has been proven that the focus on the priesthood being “easy” has contributed to the vocations crisis, whereas dioceses that emphasis the difficulty of the priesthood tend to have more vocations.  Men need a challenge.  A call to action.  Any man who is worth a lick knows this is true.  Of course, as Eldredge says, we don’t want that to go too far to unmitigated violence.  There must be a balance, a focused energy, but one that is not afraid to take risks.

 

            I will say the one downfall of this book is that in the “beauty” section it might get a little…graphic for some readers.  Kind of a “clinical” graphic, but it might still be too much for some.  Aside from that, I highly recommend this to all men, especially any going through an identity crisis, and even for women to help “their men.”  I understand that there is a series of other books, for the woman’s soul, for couples, which are probably good as well.

52 in 25: #45 - No Greater Glory

I received a number of good books for my birthday, and the first one I went to, in preparation for Veterans’ Day, was No Greater Glory: The Four Immortal Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester in World War II by Dan Kurzman.

             This is a truly fascinating book.  It is largely focused on telling the tale of the Four (Army) Chaplains who gave their lives when the troop carrier SS Dorchester was sunk on its way to Greenland in the early hours of February 3, 1943.  These four brave men were George L. Fox (Methodist), Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling (Dutch Reformed), and Fr. John P. Washington.  I really appreciated how the author gave background for each of them and how they each in their own way worked to bring together those of different faiths by focusing on a good and loving God.  This was true in their lives, their preaching, and in their service.  As the ship was sinking, each of them gave their life preservers to someone in need, and encouraged those who were scared to jump into the ocean (it was, after all, a troop carrier, so most of the men were in the Army not the Navy or Coast Guard).  The last time they were seen, as the ship plunged into the water, they were joined together, praying.  They were a true witness of faith and unity to men in a desperate situation.  Of the 900 men on board, only about 230 survived the sinking.

            The author also does a good job of conveying the terrible situation of the sinking (literally freezing cold water).  He also touches on the questionable, to say the least, decision by the commanding officer of the escort ships not to search for survivors until it was too late for most of the men in the water.  This is contrasted with the heroic, and humane, decision of the commander of the Coast Guard cutter Comanche to defy orders and rescue almost 100 men when we was supposed to be patrolling for the U-boat that was long gone.

             Overall, it is an inspiring and thoroughly human story.  In the end, the big question left with the reader is: how would I have acted in that situation?

52 in 25: #42-44 - "Research reading"

I am slogging through my “fun” reading right now, but remember I should mention the reading I am doing for “research.”  Here’s “3” books that I have read for a project I am working on.

The first is Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton.  I first came across this book while listening to the Bible in a Year podcast.  It is a little bit dated, since it is focused on teenagers at the turn of the century and a lot has happened since then, but it is an insight into how many Americans still view God.  Essentially, it is based on a survey and a series of interviews with teenagers around the year 2005.  The end result was their conceptualization of a new belief system they call “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”  Moralistic means that God wants us to be good, nice to each other.  It is Therapeutic because it is all about being “happy” – and rejects things like repentance from sin, observing the Sabbath or holy days, and redemptive suffering.  Deism is a revision of 18^th century deism in that God is distant, but intervenes when needed to solve a problem.  The sad thing is how much I see this in so many people I encounter today, especially from my generation.  So, again, while it is dated, it remains important for understanding how to evangelize or re-evangelize some people who still hold this worldview.

Next is After Evil by Robert Meister.  The less I say about this the better.  Meister is a professor of social and political thought in California, and a Marxist.  This particular book is about so-called Human Rights Discourse following the evils of the 20^th century, and the search for true justice.  Some of it is good – calling into question moral logic that states that suffering is never good.  Most of it is really bad – essentially arguing that colonialism led to racism, which lead to genocide, and all because of democracy.  And to make matters worse, he writes in such a way that you know he is looking down his nose on anyone who is reading this; he is much smarter than you.  Again, the less I say the better (he should have heeded that advice).

 

Finally there are two small booklets which I will consider together a book.  A Catechism of Modernism by the Reverend J.B. Lemius, O.M.I., originally published in 1908, is basically a copy of Pope Pius X’s encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (“On the Doctrines of Modernists”).  But it is a “catechism” in that it breaks up the encyclical into questions and answers, as old catechisms did.  Honestly, this format does not do anything to help clarify, and in fact is probably less helpful (IMHO) than just reading the encyclical.  Then again, how available were encyclicals at the time?

Then there is Hope for Hard Times by Scott Hahn.  It is a self-titled “30-minute read” (probably, if you’re not taking notes).  I love Hahn, and this is no exception.  He breaks down hope and how it should be a remedy for suffering (hence the title) into eight chapters, which essentially consist of a premise, some teaching, usually using saints, and a take away.  Simple and effective.  It is also a direct contrast to Dr. Meister: suffering makes us holy.

52 in 25: #41 - Blessed Charles of Austria

I have a great devotion to Blessed Karl of Austria, whose feast day happens to be today (October 21).  So, I decided to finally read his biography: Blessed Charles of Austria: A Holy Emperor and His Legacy by Charles Coulombe.

 

If you want to know what a leader should be like, I highly recommend this book.  If you want to know what a husband and father should be like, I highly recommend this book.  If you want to know how to suffer well, I highly recommend this book.  If you want to know what it means to be a real man, an authentic Catholic, etc., I highly recommend this book.

 

Blessed Karl was the final emperor of Austria-Hungary, who came to power after Emperor Franz Joseph died during WWI.  He is known as the Peace Emperor, because he did everything he could to end the war earlier and save millions of lives, but no one would cooperate or listen to him.  He is known as the Eucharistic Emperor, because he would excuse himself from meetings to “see if the tabernacle light was still lit,” i.e., spend an hour or so in Adoration.  He died in exile at a young age, the father of 7 with 1 on the way, but his legacy remains as a great man and a great leader.  This biography no only examines his life, but also how his wife, Servant of God Empress Zita, who lived another 67 years after his death, continued his legacy, as well as his son Archduke Otto, the uncrowned Habsburg king.

 

I could write a long time about him, but that would spoil it.  Please, if you have a chance, read about this hopefully soon-to-be-saint, who is an example for everyone in so many ways.

 

“Thy holy will be done. Jesus, Jesus, come! Yes—yes. My Jesus, thy will be done—Jesus.” – his last words

52 in 25: #40 - Jungle Tales of Tarzan

I had started this a bit ago, but decided to finish it before the weather got too cold.  I’m talking about the next entrance in the Tarzan canon, book #6: Jungle Tales of Tarzan.  The stories ran as monthly additions in Blue Book magazine from September 1916 through August 1917, and were published together as a book in 1919.

 

This one is a bit of a departure from the others for two reasons.  It is a collection of short stories, and it takes place when Tarzan is younger, before he meets Jane.  On the one hand, it is interesting because we get to engage with the more primal Tarzan.  On the other hand, the short stories vary in effectiveness from “what the heck am I reading?” (“Tarzan’s First Love”) to “that’s pretty cool” (“The End of Bukawai”).  Overall, it’s definitely on the lower end of Tarzan books.  Read it for completion’s sake, but don’t expect to be all that excited about it.  I think the biggest problem is that the short story format takes away one of the great strengths of Burroughs’ writing: 3-4 concurrent stories that come together in the end in a satisfying way.

52 in 25: #39 - The Apollo Murders

Uh oh, I have fallen behind pace…

 

My latest completed read is The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield.  I was intrigued by this book because it had good reviews and it was written by a real-life (Canadian) astronaut.

 

It’s long, but it’s a page-turner.  This is squarely in the “historical fiction” genre.  NASA is preparing to launch Apollo 18, the final mission to the moon, this time with purely military astronauts.  They have realized that a new Soviet space station in orbit has the ability to spy on the United States, uncovering major military secrets, so they divert the mission to go deal with the station. (Major spoilers) Once there, they find out the hard way that the station is already manned, and armed, and the Soviets are prepared to protect it.  One astronaut dies, as well as one cosmonaut, and as the space station is destroyed, the final cosmonaut finds her (yes, her) way on board the Apollo capsule and ends up getting a surprise ride to the moon.

 

There’s a good bit of action, and even more intrigue.  My main issue with the story is that I don’t completely buy the (in my opinion not fully fleshed out) motivation of the commander of the mission, who is a last-minute replacement due to the death (murder?) of the original commander.  That being said, the basis in real history (there really was a military mission planned, there really was a Soviet space station and Soviet rover on the moon, many of the people were real) makes it that much more interesting and believable.  Recommended for space history nerds as well as science fiction fans.  Just don’t expect, despite what might be read into the title, a mystery story.