Wow. I feel like I need to pull up Google Calendar and set aside an hour or to so I can just think about this novel. As a lapsed Catholic, an approximate man of science, someone who peers at my own mortality quite closely every day, Canticle was grippingly relevant.

The 3-part story opens several centuries after a 20th century nuclear apocalypse, where monks in New Mexico are preserving Christianity, some science, and the mere written word. The plot spans out past the year 3000, but stays centered on the Abbey of St. Leibowitz.

The tightest rope binding me to Roman Catholicism, after family ties, was the sense of continuity in a human institution stretching back almost 2000 years. 3 out of my 4 grandparents were German Catholic so presumably I had ancestors saying the same prayers for a millenium or more.

In the book, the monks survive Flame Deluge of the 1900s. They become "bookleggers," copying and recopying any surviving texts through the centuries. This is one of the reqsons communities of men leave human society and say the same prayers over and over. Monastic orders have ridden out the waves of wars, plagues, and the falls of empires. In the novel, they continue to do so after the Fallout devastates the planet.

The monastery, the church, civilization, none of these are presented as wholly good or wholly evil. Modern questions of science vs. church vs. state are presented but not answered. Like I said, I will need some time to think about this.