Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Small Caveat

As many of you know, I'm doing several book reviews on this site. These are intentionally non-academic reviews. I have neither the space nor the desire to engage in systematic dissection of texts on my blog. In reviewing books for DoubleDay I choose to review those books that I think are pertinent and relevant to those who might read my blog. DoubleDay is not paying me and I won't review a book unless I think people might actually be interested (or warned against) reading it.

So a "lens" through which I read these texts is "Will this be helpful to one of my readers?" If it is going to help you pray, to understand your relationship to God better, or to become more knowledgeable about your faith, then I'll probably give it a good review. Since no one's career rests on my review, I can afford to be positive about various works. I don't want to give a book report or a synopsis; rather, I want only to say what I read, give the gist of it, and say something of why I liked it. Feel free to agree or disagree, but know that I am reading/blogging with an eye to what I think might be helpful to my readers.

2 comments:

Joe said...

Um...okay.

-J.

Anonymous said...

I think I would find this interesting and revealing. My reservations about Opus Dei are not connected with the organisation's aims but rather stem from the fact that it seems to promote itself as elitist. Surely to find holiness in the everyday is an aim not restricted to members of Opus Dei nor does it demand the practices and still somewhat mysterious hierarchy of this organisation.

Flute playing priest finds YouTube fame