Category: Adult books – Catholic

Book Review: Why Enough is Never Enough

So I have told you to buy this book about three times now.  But perhaps you were waiting for your tax refund.  Or perhaps you holding out for my official Catholic Company review, because you, too, had noticed I’d utterly forgotten to post it.  Now you will have to think up a new excuse.

The book you want is:  Why Enough is Enough: Overcoming Worries about Money — A Catholic Perspective, by Gregory S. Jeffrey (OSV, 2010).

What you’ll be getting is:  A book about how to develop a healthy relationship with money.  This is not a book about how to write a budget.  It is not a book about whether to pay off your credit card or your student loan first, or which kind of retirement account to have.  There are other books about that, and they are worth your time. I like those books.  I am a firm believer in the message of [many of] those books.  But this book is more important.

–> If you don’t have a healthy relationship with money, you will never be able to manage it well.

You might be able to accumulate it.  You won’t be able to live well with it.

And conversely: No matter how diligent and prudent and immpeccably sensible you are, it is possible that you just won’t have much money.  Life can be hard.  There is something about your relationship with money that matters much more than your bank balance. And this is what the book is about.

Is this book too hard for me?  No.  Very readable.  Lots of funny stories.  Good candidate for a book club or a parish study group, because it is approachable, friendly, encouraging, and a quick read.

Is this book protestant-friendly?  I think so.  It’s a catholic book, for sure.  Talks about things like “The Church” and “The Catechism”.  But I can’t recall anything that a non-catholic would find objectionable.

But I’m money master, and I have the 401K to prove it.  Surely you don’t mean I, too, should read this book??  Actually, yeah. That ‘buy’ recommend is across the board.  Because though the topic is money, the topic is really your spiritual life and your relationship with God.  If you have a great handle on money, this book is exceedingly helpful in showing you how to take the principles you are using without knowing it when it comes to cash, and applying them to other areas that you do struggle with.

(In keeping with sound financial principles, make that a “borrow” or “beg” recommend, if you don’t have the cash on hand.)

Can I skip around and stuff?  I don’t recommend it.  And I don’t usually say that.  Read it from page 1 forward, you will get the most out of it that way.  BUT, it is so chock full of useful tidbits, that I, the reviewer, can just randomly open anywhere, and find nice review-quality quotes.  Like this:

The notion of trading pleasure for joy works particularly well for almsgiving.  Money can provide a certain amount of personal pleasure, and that can be a good thing.  But the pleasure that comes from spending money is different than the joy of giving it away . . .  to help another person — to provide food, clothing, shelter, education — is a joy that lingers. (p. 116)

Or this:

To believe that every success is motivated by a heart filled with greed is to expose the envy in your own (p. 40).

And this:

God intervenes in our lives constantly.  Not in the sense that he forces: love does not impose.  Rather, we are offered a never-ending series of invitations that await our cooperation.  Even though burdened with self-deception, we can hope to learn humility, because we are aided from on on high. (p.6o).

And one more I really like, and then I promise to quit:

Imagine if we replaced the language of “social justice” with that of “personal justice”.  What if, instead of speaking of “unjust social structures”, we examined “unjust personal behaviors’?  Again, that is the proper starting point.  Society is made up of individuals.  To have any hope of changing social structures, we need individuals willing to embrace their own call to holiness.

–> FYI on this last one: Jeffries is not arguing that we should ignore problems that are properly dealt with at the governmental level.  Read it and see — in fact there is a great story about how the homestead laws of the 19th century had a very powerful — negative — structural impact on North Dakota farm life.  But yes, if it is your opinion that other people’s money should be spent to relieve the poor, but your own wallet is clamped shut, then indeed he will take you to task in no uncertain terms.

***

So that’s the book.  Get one of your own.  Courtesy of our very patient sponsor The Catholic Company, who reminds me  to remind you that they are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

I also see that The Catholic Company is . . .

STILL Accepting new applicants:

With the completion of our new review book ordering and reporting system, we are now capable of handling more reviewers.  You are welcome to invite other bloggers to join in the fun.  You can find info on joining at
http://www.catholiccompany.com/content/Catholic-Product-Reviewer-Program.cfm

So if your book appetite dwarfs your book budget, sign up.  Great program.  [And FYI, even though I keep ending up with books I really like, they want you to post honest reviews.  I just happen to honestly like this one.]

Books for people willing to be happy

Ooh I’m so excited.  Look what I got today:

 

Walked into church this morning feeling a little rumpled and not quite myself, and who had set up shop in the narthex? My favorite local catholic bookstore.  Which is sort of like running into the ice cream truck, Santa Claus and your best friend all at once.  Happy happy.  Tons of cool stuff on display, but I had to stop looking after I spotted Manalive and Julie Davis’s book.  Doesn’t do to spend too much on books when the spouse is so very nearby.

***

So, about the book. (Happy Catholic’s — not the other one by the other happy catholic, because I haven’t read it yet, plus probably you have):

Apparently I have this secret fear that my favorite internet authors will write bad books.  I thought Eric Sammon’s book would be too hard for me, because he is so much smarter than me.  Not so.  I was sort of nervous about Julie Davis’s Happy Catholic book for the same reason.

I was double nervous about the Happy Catholic book because it is inspirational. And sometimes inspirational-genre books have heart-warming stories about boys named Johnny who teach their parents important lessons about The True Meaning of Christmas, and then the mother dog who sacrifices her life to save the puppies and three orphaned children . . . you know what I mean.  One takes ones chances.

Julie, on the other hand, tackles questions like: Why does Han Solo deserve our attention?  How shall we rank Oprah, Miss Manners, and Jesus?  And is it possible Monty Python is more catholic than we realized?  Even in The Life of Brian? Plus lots of Fr. Benedict Groeschel quotes, so that pretty well settles it.

Four-and-some reasons this one is a keeper:

  • It’s reliable.  Solid catholic thinking, neither to the right nor to the left.
  • Written for ordinary catholics.
  • You don’t have to read the whole thing.  You just open to a random page.  Better than a magazine.
  • It’s entertaining.  So you’ll probably mean to read just one quote-n-meditation, but then stick around for the next one.  Worse things could happen you know.

What I like most: Julie grapples with popular culture head-on.  Lots of quotes from popular books, TV shows, movies.  And she doesn’t always agree! Sometimes, there’s a quote that sounds good, the kind of thing that someone says at a dinner party and everyone’s nodding and agreeing with it, and you want to say something very uncharitable because really even though it sounds so wise, it’s just drivel.   Julie takes quotes like that and answers them directly:  What’s the underlying truth?  What’s the lie?  What’s a catholic to do with that sentiment?

–>  For this reason, I think this is a great book to keep lying around in reach of teenagers.  It’s a textbook on critical thinking in disguise.  Oh and a sermon or 200.  And a lot of Wizard of Oz.  With an index.

I give it an I’ll-think-you’ll-be-pretty-happy-with-it Recommend.

 

 

 

Lent-o-rama: Slubgrip; Sardines

1. Slubgrip.

You may have been wondering:  What could cause a person who doesn’t post ads on her blog, to suddenly post an ad on her blog?

And you would not have been far off, if you thought, “She just wanted that cool-loookin’ gargoyle image.”  Except that she hadn’t seen the gargoyle image until after she wrote to Fr. L saying she’d be happy to post his ad.

Very puzzling, isn’t it?  The solution to the mystery is this: The Gargoyle Code is a really good book.  And your hostess likes to promote really good books, because, well, the more good books people buy, the more good books publishers will print, and thus the more good books your hostess will find crowding the shelves of her favorite local Catholic bookstore.

Blatant self-interest.  And now, in a fabulous wish come true, Father Longenecker has written yet more gargoyle-y fiction goodness.  You can read this week’s episode here. And then you will know why you should buy his book.  Which you can do by clicking the ad in the sidebar, or by visiting your favorite local catholic bookstore.

 

2. Sardines.

This is not usually a food blog, which is strange given how much I like the stuff.  But as many of my readers eat, and a few of them cook, why shouldn’t we go off topic now and again?

Now is the time for my older sister and all other people who don’t like seafood to depart by clicking on one of the fine links in the sidebar.  Many of them contain no horrid accounts of eating things that used to swim.

Anyway, here’s the story:  SuperHusband points out to me, a person who eats tuna straight from the can, that anchovies and sardines are superior in every way.   Insert list: health, environment, mercury . . . you begin to get the picture of the moral superiority that can be had by purchasing the flat rectangular tin instead slightly taller round tin.

How could I resist such an opportunity?  I cannot be upstaged in the food-virtue department by my own spouse, can I?

So I go buy the stuff on the next grocery trip, and stick it in the cupboard where the tuna used to sit.

And then a couple weeks later, I get really really hungry, on a Friday when my normal non-lenten penance of staying off the internet has once again spectacularly failed and not eating meat seems much simpler, and we are all about light penances here, and in a fit of braveness I open the anchovies.

Here is the part where you laugh.  Because, you who know anything about anchovies (as your hostess did not), knows that one does not eat them straight from the tin as one might do with tuna.

So now I have this open tin of anchovies, moral superiority on the line, and no, I can’t just give them to the cat.  She is a small cat.  And the dog will just get indigestion.  And anyway, giving the pets expensive human food is no way to one-up the spouse.

But here’s what I discovered: You can cook with the stuff. And it’s good!  Convenient!  Useful!  Tasty!

Now all the readers who already know how to cook with sardines and anchovies may quit laughing at me and click on a link in the sidebar.

Also, all readers who can boil pasta and have three Joy of Cooking recipes you can make, but you don’t really know how to cook yet, because let’s admit it, “winging it” in the kitchen is a skill one builds over time, you should just maybe consider the sidebar too.  Because the potential for disaster and ridicule is quite high any time a can of tiny, strongly-flavored fish is involved.

*******

Now, to the empty internet, here’s what I figured out:

VERY IMPORTANT:  Purchase the sardines or the anchovies “in oil”. Not the one in mustard sauce or something.  Just oil.  Fish in oil.  That’s all you want.  Two ingredients. (Plus salt or whatever.  But no delightful surplus condiment flavors.)

Now you’ve got the proper tin in hand.  You know the part of the recipe at the very beginning, where you put oil in the bottom of the pan and saute your garlic or onions or ginger or whatever it is that needs to be sauteed first of all?

Instead of the butter or oil, just dump the whole tin of fish right into the bottom of the pan. Use that as your cooking oil for that sauteing step.  The fish will naturally get diced/shredded in the process of sauteeing your vegetables.  Then proceed with the recipe as normal.

MORE VERY IMPORTANT:  If you don’t like how fish tastes, don’t cook with fish.  This is not one of those “how to sneak seafood into the recipe” tricks.  This method gives the recipe a light seafood-taste, akin to say a crab recipe, or adding fish sauce to your curry.  Depth, complexity, and all the moral superiority for which you had hoped, but in a seafood-y way.

What it’s good for:

  • Recipes that call for ‘fish sauce’.  Think of certain thai recipes, curries, etc.
  • Soups that either already seafood-y, or that would like to be converted.  With the caveat that say your spouse really loves oyster stew, that does not mean he loves anchovy-oyster stew.  Don’t over-complicate recipes that want to be simple.  Use bacon drippings for the oyster stew, your spouse will thank you.
  • Pasta sauce!  Red sauce if you like, but this makes a great base for a vegetable-parmesan sauce, and maybe use up the last little bit of the cream leftover from the vichyssoise.

If you use anchovies, plan around the saltiness. You will not need to add the usual amount of salt or soy sauce to your recipe. Also, this is a good time to balance the intensity of the anchovies with something sweet and something sour (lime, vinegar, etc.)  Sardines are milder, so you season more or less like you would have if you’d just made the recipe the normal way.

Happy Lent.  Does it count as a penitential if you are looking forward to the new recipes?

 

Dear Lent-a-Claus,

UPDATE: Christian LeBlanc adds his list in the combox – classic catholic novels version.  More additions welcome.

*************************************

Actually I’m not planning to ask Lent-a-Claus for any books this year.  I already own copies of the two I should be reading, and I’ve got a backlog of other good stuff sitting around.  But if you need ideas, here are my three top picks from what I’ve read in the Good Catholic Books department lately.

All three are good enough I personally may do a re-read for lent.  Not many books qualify for that.  And all three are entirely suitable for normal people. How often does that happen?  So sit up and take notice:

The Gargoyle Code by Fr. Dwight Longenecker.  See the shiny ad in the sidebar?  You can get one, too.  I already own a copy, so unlike my usual will-work-for-books ethic around here, I actually volunteered to post the ad purely because it is a good book. (And no, I don’t belong to Fr. L’s parish either, so I’m not sucking up.  It’s just a good book. Did I mention it’s a good book?)  If you liked the Screwtape Letters, this is a very enjoyable catholic counterpart.  Highly readable and edifying.  It will be serious Lenten mortification to make yourself read just one entry a day, rather than staying up to finish the book in a single sitting.

Who is Jesus Christ? by Eric Sammons.  Here is the link to my review, in case you missed the part about how You Should Definitely Buy This Book.  Impeccably written, meaty, and it will push you in your faith.  After reading my copy (courtesy of the Catholic Company), I visited my local Catholic Bookstore to purchase a second copy to use as a loaner.  The owner told me, “No, we don’t have it in stock.  Should we?”  Yes, I told her.  I lent her my copy.  She read it, and that is how it became the store’s next Book Club book.    So yes, it’s that good.

Why Enough is Never Enough by Gregory S. Jeffrey.   It’s the book I keep reviewing without ever reviewing.   The topic is money, and if you struggle with trusting God about how to manage your money, this is your answer.  There are other (worthwhile) books on the topic of getting out of debt and keeping a budget.  This is not that book.  This is about the deeper picture — developing a proper relationship with money, and learning to use the amount you have in a way that helps you grow in happiness and holiness.   Unqualified buy recommend.

***

I’ll post more recommendations if any particularly suitable additions come to my attention.  Meanwhile, if your book made the top three and you didn’t already send me a sidebar linky-picture-widget, feel free to do so.  It doesn’t seem fair that my readers should only be made to read book reviews.  They should also have to look at pictures.