Good Books & Good Talk: Learning to Die in Miami

Thursday, February 23, 2012

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O God, the maker of heaven and earth, you gave your venerable servant, the holy and gentle Polycarp, the boldness to confess Jesus Christ as King and Savior and the steadfastness to die for his faith: Give us grace, following his example, to share the cup of Christ and to rise to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

The February gathering of Good Books & Good Talk is set for the day after Ash Wednesday, when we will discuss Carlos Eire’s much-acclaimed memoir of his boyhood as a Cuban refugee: Learning to Die in Miami. It is a profound book, at times quite grim, and yet full of hope. You will want to note the little book that he carries in his back pocket for so many years. For more info on this remarkable memoir (which is deeply, if surprisingly, an account of real providence), see this review in the NY Times.

Anyone who has read the book is welcome to the discussion.

(Looking ahead: The March book, although vastly different, is also of literary worth and appropriate to Lent: Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa.)