Joseph Rendini: Week Without Abortion: Too Little, Too Late “Russia needs Russians to survive. The country’s abortion rate, a cultural by-product of 75 years of imposed atheistic socialism, remains among the highest in the world. Nearly 70 percent of Russian pregnancies end in abortion. In 2004, there were 100,000 more abortions than live births. No nation can withstand such wholesale, self-induced slaughter of its own children.” I know that the abortion rate has been going down in the past ten years or so, but are we headed, under Obama, for the kind of slaughter that Mr. Redini talks about here? I pray not.

On a lighter note, Steven Riddle at Flos Carmeli reviews 44 Scotland Street and Expresso Tales, both serialized novels by Alexander McCall Smith.

“McCall Smith writes well. There is a suppleness and almost a poetry in his simple, direct, clear writing. There is an obvious affection for even the most odious of characters and he can’t seem to quite give them their comeuppance. And in the course of the books, that turns out to be quite all right.

If you need something to take your mind off of present difficulties, or if you’re looking for something to fill in the gaps left between the novels of Jan Karon, you may enjoy the works of McCall Smith, and most particularly these two books about the residents of Scotland Street.

I’ve read 44 Scotland Street and several novels by Mr. Smith, and I would agree with Mr. Riddle’s assessment. Alexander McCall Smith writes vignettes/short stories that I can enjoy, loosely strung together but each a small “pearl.”