SAINT JOSEPH SUNDAY MISSAL

The Book: SAINT JOSEPH SUNDAY MISSAL (New Revised Liturgy). Catholic Book Publishing, 1999. Very good condition; some pages creased.
First read: still reading
Owned since: 2007

You don't see missals much these days. When the Mass was in Latin, everyone needed a missal in order to follow along; now the order of the Mass is in the hymnbook in the pews, and most parishes order monthly missalettes so parishioners can follow the readings.

This missal belonged to my mother, who was mostly housebound in the last years of her life, and used this for Sunday visits from the lay eucharistic minister. One of the ribbons on the spine marks the readings for the second Sunday after Christmas, which was the last time Mom used the missal. I've never moved that ribbon, and I never will.

Sorry, didn't mean to bring things down. It's kind of a gloomy day. I was up early to find an inch of snow on the ground, and we're supposed to get another three inches before it ends; Dizzy was nonplussed, and looked at me as if it were my fault. He thought it was spring.

Rain, sleet, snow or dead of night, Gaslight's performance of Don't Dress for Dinner will go on tonight as scheduled. Tomorrow night, too. See you there.

What I Read This Week

Laura Lippman, ANOTHER THING TO FALL. This book was my reward for weeks of hard work and theatrical silliness, and it was as good as a vacation. Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan agrees, despite her better judgment, to serve as bodyguard for a starlet who's working on a TV series based in Baltimore. It's all fun and games, until the showrunner's personal assistant gets killed. While ANOTHER THING is lighter in tone than most of Lippman's other work, she makes the point that Hollywood make-believe has real-life consequences. And any book that incorporates references to "Singing in the Rain," "Quantum Leap," and "The Great Gatsby," among other cultural icons, is a-okay with me.