Books, NOW's "Dirty 100", History, Insults, Sentimentality, Tunes, and Pet Peeves

 Carl (Short) Cuts for July 8, 2014 | Carl E. Olson | Catholic World Report

• I'm making a concerted effort to keep this edition of "Carl's Cuts" quite short. Which is why I've titled it—

• Nevermind, it'll take too long to explain.

• What books are you not reading this summer? I ask because the Wall Street Journal recently ran an interesting piece, "The Summer's Most Unread Book Is..." by Jordan Ellenberg, about popular books that apparently aren't read from beginning to end, eroding or even destroying the reader's will to continue reading. Among them is one book I have read from start to finish: The Great Gatsby (and I also read Fitzgerald's final—completed—novel, Tender Is the Night, which I liked more than Gatsby). The "winner" for least read book is Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, which was published just a few months ago. I've not read it (need I say so?), but I did read Jonah Goldberg's review of it—and that was sufficient.

• Most interesting book under 150 pages I've read in a while: How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor (Eerdmans, 2014), by James K. A. Smith. Funny thing: it is a guide—a commentary of sorts—to a 900-page book: Taylor's 2007 volume, A Secular Age, of which I've read short snippets. More on Smith's book in the near future.

• Speaking of summer reading, George Weigel has posted a short, but intriguing, list.

• Speaking of lists! NOW (the National Organization of [Contracepting] Women) has launched a campaign against "The Dirty 100", stating, "The 100-plus lawsuits challenging the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage mandate are less about legitimate religious beliefs than about the fervent desire of extremists to roll back women’s equality, including access to the full range of reproductive health care." Many of the "dirty" institutions are, of course, Catholic, including several Catholic schools and dioceses. Oh, and the Little Sisters of the Poor. Because we know what a bunch of women-hating extremists the Little Sisters of the Poor are!

• How, exactly, are these 100 institutions and groups "dirty"?

Continue reading on the CWR blog.