Ask Sister Mary Martha
Sister Shari, our Porteress of the Internet, recommends, "Ask Sister Mary Martha." Sister Mary Martha's motto: Life is tough, but nuns are tougher. Some good reading in there, with no-nonsense theology.

Sister Jean is still trying to get around to her book reports, but Sister Mary Martha will keep you entertained and informed in the meantime.

February read in honor of St. Modomnoc (check him out on our Home page quick links to important saints!), "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
A family of black women and their friends run an apiary, worship a black Madonna and offer refuge to an abused white girl and her nanny.

Sister Jean wonders if black women get sick of being portrayed as the refuge of helpless white women. But "Bees" is so beautifully paced and written that it’s hard not to be affected. Not a great book, but a restful and redeeming one.

Discuss:
1. Would you consider the women who run the apiary and their friends nuns? Why?
2. What are some of the many things honey represents in the book? (Catholic sisters will have an edge here; think chrism.)
3. Would you want to live at the apiary or just visit there? Why?

Real nun blogs
Sister Julie Viera, IHM, observes life in and outside the convent on A Nun's Life. Interesting fact: Sister Julie watches "The Simpsons."

Sister Susan Rose Francois, CSJP, writes Musings of a Discerning Woman. Interesting fact: Sister Susan Rose's movie boyfriend is Ewan MacGregor, which proves she's somewhat younger than most of the Little Sisters whose favorite movie boyfriend is Colin Firth.

Sister Christer is really Sister Christine Wilcox, OP, director of a Catholic school system, which includes a Montessori school. Interesting fact: Sister Christine has a pretty loopy sense of humor and enjoys novelty toys like Nun Chuks.

Sister Steph, OSB, is a high school teacher and writes the very messy and engaging Narrow at the Outset. Interesting fact: Sister Steph feels just as crappy as a layperson when she has a cold and very sensibly goes to bed with a Harry Potter book.

Holy Fools
by Joanne Harris

“Holy Fools” by Joanne Harris, almost-winner of the literary Whitbread Prize, is the story of a traveling circus performer, Juliette, hiding out with her illegitimate daughter in a fictional convent in 17th Century France. If you read it, consider:

The 17th Century was a time when Protestants and Catholics alike were burning witches and heretics.. What parallels do you see between the congregation at St. Marie de la Mer and young women in Arthur Miller’s play, “The Crucible”?

Compare the two statues of the Virgin in the novel. How do they reflect life before and after the reform in the abbey?

Nuns’ habits varied widely, but were generally supposed to be what poor widows of the region would wear. Modification of habits has long been a source of contention among nuns and others. What does the outlawing the quichenotte, the sunbonnet worn by the old nuns at St. Marie de la Mer, symbolize?

Sister Perette, a feral child, wears a medal of St. Christina Mirabilis, aka Christina the Astonishing. How do the stories about St. Christina resonate in Harris’ novel?

Don't see a book you'd like to read? Check out these handy library lists from Michigan and Missouri for books about nuns.

You might also try the daily lectionary courtesy of Creighton University’s outreach ministry program. Follows the Universal Lectionary used by Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists and other denominations.

Sister Frevisse mysteries
by Margaret Frazer

Sister Jean has enjoyed some of the books in the Sister Frevisse mystery series by Margaret Frazer. Sister Frevisse herself is a devout nun who wishes to spend her days in prayer. But, alas, she gets dragged into one damn murder investigation after another. While these are definitely light reads, you will learn lots about later medieval abbeys and medieval law. Point of interest: Fictional Sister Frevisse is a shirt-tail relation to real-life Chaucer.

Particularly Cats
by Doris Lessing

Among the works of science fiction writer and social commentator Doris Lessing’s novels is a very slim book called “Particularly Cats.” It’s not so much a novel as an account of her life with two cats in a London flat. If you read it, consider:

Lessing’s book opens with her childhood encounters with cats on the family farm in Africa. What distinctions did she make as a child about domestic and feral cats? Do you make the same distinctions? What does this say about you?

Lessing seems to have a philosophy of cat ownership (if that’s not an oxymoron!). How would you describe it? How does it differ from yours?

If you had to select a famous person MOST like each of the two cats, who would it be? Explain why?

Instead of judging whether her cats make nice pets, Lessing judges them by how successful they are as cats. How does her approach make you see cats in a new or different way?

Select three observations Lessing makes about her cats that seem to ring true of all the cats you’ve known.