Novel Thoughts blog
  1. John Herreid

    Embedding the Question

    December 31, 2015 5:56 pm 6 Comments

    “The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.” —G. K. Chesterton The other day I was listening to an interview with an actor. He brought up the fact that he had been raised Catholic but fell away after reaching adulthood. His reasoning was something along the… Read more »

    Tags: agnosticism Catholicism gauguin religious education

  2. Ignatius Press Novels

    Rev. John Morrison is an Episcopal priest living in Brightwaters, New York. A member of the New York C. S. Lewis Society, he is a retired English teacher with degrees from Darthmouth, Hofstra, SUNY Stony Brook, and the George Mercer School of Theology. He has presented a number of papers… Read more »

    Tags: C.S. Lewis John Morrison Michael O'Brien New York C. S. Lewis Society

  3. Ignatius Press Novels

    Top posts! Top sellers! An Ignatius Press Novels Review of 2015

    December 23, 2015 2:00 pm Leave a Comment

    2015 is almost over, and it’s time to look back over the past year in novels and in posts here at the Novel Thoughts blog. First off, here’s a list of the top-selling novels from the year: Elijah in Jerusalem: The long-awaited sequel to Father Elijah takes the top spot… Read more »

    Tags: best sellers top posts year in review

  4. John Herreid

    Fairy Tales in Space

    December 22, 2015 12:00 pm Leave a Comment

    Note: this review is spoiler-free. Comments on it, though, may contain spoilers. On Sunday we went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The theater was jam-packed with families; lots of kids dressed up as their favorite characters—including one kid dressed as Wolverine. I have a feeling he was simpatico… Read more »

    Tags: movie reviews Star Wars The Force Awakens

  5. John Herreid

    Giving Nothing for Christmas

    December 18, 2015 5:28 pm 7 Comments

    Fiction is full of stories of those who, having nothing themselves, give the smallest thing as gifts, only to have it shown that their gift was actually a thing of great value. These stories draw upon various sources, one being the Gospel passage where Jesus draws the attention of his… Read more »

    Tags: Advent Christmas Mother Teresa spirituality

  6. Ignatius Press Novels

    The Shop of Ghosts

    December 15, 2015 6:33 pm 1 Comment

    Nearly all the best and most precious things in the universe you can get for a halfpenny. I make an exception, of course, of the sun, the moon, the earth, people, stars, thunderstorms, and such trifles. You can get them for nothing. Also I make an exception of another thing,… Read more »

    Tags: Charles Dickens Christmas G.K. Chesterton short story

  7. Great Films for Kids: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

    December 11, 2015 3:38 pm Leave a Comment

    A few days ago that powerhouse of an actor Kirk Douglas turned 99. I might not have noticed it if it weren’t for the fact that a week before, when my three kids were picking out a DVD for family movie night, they settled on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea…. Read more »

    Tags: great films for kids James Mason Jules Verne Kirk Douglas

  8. Meryl Kaleida

    Mockingjay Part 2: A story of true love?

    November 30, 2015 11:23 am Leave a Comment

    The Hunger Games trilogy came to a cinematic close the weekend before Thanksgiving, and while Mockingjay Part 2 redeemed itself from Mockingjay Part 1, I do not think most people will understand the message this series conveys. In 2012, I wrote a review on the first and second movie, which gave… Read more »

    Tags:

  9. Ignatius Press Novels

    Reading and Community

    November 23, 2015 5:49 pm 3 Comments

    The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, has a profile of the Misfits, a group of men who get together to read and discuss works of literature: On a soggy November evening, 14 Catholic men sloshed their way to a taproom in Stillwater, shook off… Read more »

    Tags: book clubs reading groups

  10. John Herreid

    Killing the Dragon

    November 20, 2015 1:19 pm 2 Comments

    After it was posted several times on social media, I finally watched a short video of a French father comforting his child who was asking about the terror attacks in Paris. His answer was that we would fight the bad men with guns with flowers and love. The child looks… Read more »

    Tags: children G.K. Chesterton terrorism

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