In My Mailbox #11

It's Sunday and time for In My Mailbox, a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren to show what books we got over the past week.

This week I got two books from the library:

A Year of Living Generously: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Philanthropy by Lawrence Scanlan (2010)

Can one person make a difference? When we write a cheque to a charity or volunteer at a food bank, we're part of the solution-aren't we? Author Lawrence Scanlan went looking for answers to those questions by selecting twelve different charitable organizations and spending a month in each. What he discovered during his year-long odyssey was the new face of philanthropy-its players, its politics, its undeniable satisfactions and its fundamental perils. This fresh and critical look at diverse approaches to the troubles of the world's less fortunate demonstrates the compelling need for greater commitment and real connection from us all-individuals, philanthropists of every stripe, and government.

The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre (2009)

Known to fellow priests as the "Exorcist" because of his special role as clean-up man for the Bishop of Antigonish, Duncan has a talent for coolly reassigning deviant priests while ensuring minimal fuss from victims and their families. It has been a lonely vocation, but Duncan is generally satisfied that his work is a necessary defense of the church. All this changes when lawyers and a policeman snoop too close for the bishop's comfort. Duncan is assigned a parish in the remote Cape Breton community of Creignish and told to wait it out. Attempting to distract himself with parish work, Duncan takes an interest in troubled young Danny, whose good-hearted father sells Duncan a boat he names The Jacinta. To Duncan's alarm, he discovers that the boy once spent time with an errant priest who had been dispatched by Duncan himself to Port Hood. Duncan begins to ask questions, dreading the answers. When tragedy strikes, he knows that he must act. But will his actions be those of a good priest, or an all too flawed man?