James Martin, S.J.

That s what I wanted to know when my publisher used that phrase As it turns out a book trailer is only the latest way of introducing the webby Youtubey crowd to books It s like a trailer or a coming attraction for a new movie only for a new book Like movie trailers they re short

Yesterday National Public Radio s show On Point produced by WBUR in Boston arranged a conversation on The Golden Compass with Hanna Rosin the journalist who wrote a terrific piece in The Atlantic Monthly that told the story of the way that the film s producers grappled with the controv

I m not sure what s worse about this story Nun Reads List of Curse Words to Kids That it was listed on MSN com s home page as one of the top stories of the day That so far 86 news organizations have picked it up Or that it caters to the same hoary anti-Catholic stereotypes about women re

The New Republic has just put out one of their best issues in years It s hard to know which article to recommend first Included in an issue that focuses on the death or dearth of book reviewing on the face of it a topic that would make only authors upset though the mag prove otherwise ar

The full text of Pope Benedict XVI s new encyclical on hope Spe Salvi has just been released by the Vatican The link is below Like Benedict s first encyclical Deus Caritas Est it is primarily in the form of a meditation See what you think Spe Salvi

Has anyone slogged through Philip Pullman s The Golden Compass part of his bestselling trilogy known as His Dark Materials An excellent article in The Atlantic called How Hollywood Saved God shows how the book s frankly anti-Catholic plotline was successfully watered down for a new ho

Happily the media did a decent job in its coverage of the revelations about Mother Teresa s dark night contained in the bestselling book Mother Teresa Come Be My Light More representative of the overall coverage were thoughtful articles like David Van Biema s piece in Time which was somet