Psalm 104

The prayer conveys an image of God as the creator of heavens and earth. It echoes the narrations of the book of Genesis in which God brings the whole universe to existence in seven days and creates the man and the woman with love in order to live peacefully in the garden. 

In the gospel according to John, the Word is the person who pre-exists everything and for whom  everything is created. These days, this Word has lowered and has pitched his tent among us. 

The author of this brilliant psalm shows an overly detailed depiction of mother nature contemplating its cedars of Lebanon, birds' nests and storks. This prayer suggests that we stop in order to think what a wonderful  world that surrounds us. Don't you think it is a good idea going for a walk in nature with the family one day adopting a contemplative attitude? This is something that the psalm itself invites to do. 

'The elements of style' by William Jr. Strunk

This book has taught me a lot of things that will help me in my writing. It is not true that the book does not teach anything to a person contriving to write well. For instance, you have to write a possessive pronoun as a subject of a noun-verb (gerund) when writing in formal style (“they have permitted his walking at the countryside”). Another rule that the book has taught me is avoiding indefinite subjects like “it is”, “there are” or “this is”. Instead of this, you should rewrite the phrase (“There are plenty of medlars in the princess’ garden” = “Plenty of medlars decor the princess garden”). The book contributes with many topics to a person longing to write well.
The book offers an idea about the style which is reformulating the main idea in different manners to emphasize it within a paragraph. Writing the main idea of a text in only one manner does not emphasize it. You should write the main idea in different manners because this idea remains highlighted; because the reader focuses on it, and because the text is more ordered (spoiler alert: “According to the message you are trying to communicate in your writing, you may”, the writer maintains, “relate the body of the paragraph to the topic sentence in one or more of several different ways”). Namely, you have to write the topic you are referring to in several ways so that you highlight this topic.
This book will appeal to those who want to be writers and to those who already are good redactors. This leads us to a conclusion. Reading this book should be attached to practise. Doing it without writing in the manner it teaches is useless.

'The story of English in 100 words' by David Crystal

 The author has written many books about the English language. Some of them are about grammar. Grammar, in language, is what builds the meaning of what we say and write. But this book is about semantics. It is about words which are the pieces of the language.

One strong point of the book is its method. He digs into the story of selected words. Then, he tells us which is their story. He explains their pedigree. Who the dad and the mom of each word are. Another strong point is that the stages of the History of English are very well drawn. Each stage has representative words analysed by Crystal. However, something you may miss in this book is a complete index of cites. Crystal is a very cult writer. He makes a lot of references. One would like, once finished reading, come back and look for these references.
Reading this book has been very pleasant for me. It will appeal to people who like the history (story) of English, and philological curiosities.

'Saint Thomas Aquinas' by G. K. Chesterton

 In this book, Chesterton offers clues to understand the thought of the great philosopher of the Middle Ages. Although he is not a specialist in Aquinas, he asserts that has drunk from the published books of others (J. Maritain).

Chesterton writes as an apologist. He struggles against, not only the enemies of the time of Aquinas, such as Bravante, but against the later enemies of the philosopher, such as Martin Luther, who burnt the great work of Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, and against the usual target group of Chesterton - modernists, agnostics and atheists-, such as Bernard Shaw.
The author does not swot on the theology of Aquinas, but only in his philosophy, his thought about the being, although he does it brilliantly.
This book is reader-friendly, I have read it in two days, and thought-provoking. For those who want to know what was said by the Mute Ox.

'How to read the Church fathers' by Adalbert Hamman

A strong point of this book is that all the information is well organized. There are useful maps, charts, and tables. The fathers are got together by periods. It results in a handy sourcebook.

Many fragments of texts from the fathers can be read. In each chapter, there are some representative texts from the fathers who have been dealt with at that period. 

Another strong point is that, at the end of the book, the author displays his thoughts about the issue. An interesting one is that the Church fathers are close to the period of Jesus and the composition of the New Testament. The Greek fathers were within the milieu in which the gospels and the letters of Paul were written. It is fitting to going for these writers to know the exact meaning of the Greek text of the New Testament. They are witness to that time and give us a historical reading of the last writings of the Bible.

The book, nevertheless, would have more deepen in each author. They could have been dedicated more study. 

Letter 211 by Saint Augustin, 5-8: The rule for women

Saint Augustine was a Shepherd, so he had a pastoral concern for his flock. He wrote a rule for religious men, the Praeceptum, as well as a rule for women. The latter was written in 423 for the occasion of a dispute of the religious who wanted to remove her superior. It is contained in his letter 211.

Paragraphs 1-4 seem to be a rebuke, whereas number 5-10 contains the precepts for the community. In these precepts, Augustine highlight common possession of goods, unanimity, prayer, and fasting.

The religious are not allowed to have anything of their own. They have all in common. The superior distributes food and clothes to each one according to their needs. For it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: 

They had all things in common and distribution was made to each according to they need.

The religious come from both well-to-do families and poor families. They live together, nevertheless, this must not be an occasion of pride for neither the former nor the latter. What would be the use of renouncing the earthly belongings and giving them to the poor if this is a cause of pride? They have to live in unanimity, as they were only one soul. 

Prayer has to be at the appointed time. They must avoid distractions because the heart and the lips have to work at once. 

Finally, it is important that the religious follow fasting and abstinence from food and drink. 

 

'Roald Dhal: Collected stories'

 The book consists of a compilation of 51 stories written by Roald Dahl. Some of these are settled in Greece during the German invasion in the II world war. Other ones go by on urban stages or rural ones in England.

A strong point of these stories is that they have ironical twists. Some of them present antic whirls, like in “William and Mary”, and end with unexpected outcomes, like in “Genesis and catastrophe”. The work carried out by Dahl is to set a plot that relentlessly evolves towards an unexpected denouement. Another strong point of the book is Dahl’s style. It is precise and economic. No sentence left over. The book has, nevertheless, a weak point. The narration is shallow, so even often remains in the anecdote.
Although Dahl’s books are frequently for children, the stories contained in this one are addressed to an adult audience. They will appeal to those who are keen on popular British Literature.