I am interested to know what readers of the blog are presently reading or about to read due to Christmas books received this year. Let us know what is a good read or not so good a read that you may have recently put your hands on. This way, everyone can perhaps improve their personal libraries with any extra book money received at Christmas. Book lists can range in anything from theology to good novels or biographies. Forward this post to others who may not read the blog and get them to leave their list of books as well. Thanks and let us remember to pray to end abortions and all Christian suffering throughout the world on the Feast of Holy Innocents!
Monday, 28 December 2009
What Are Readers Reading?
I am interested to know what readers of the blog are presently reading or about to read due to Christmas books received this year. Let us know what is a good read or not so good a read that you may have recently put your hands on. This way, everyone can perhaps improve their personal libraries with any extra book money received at Christmas. Book lists can range in anything from theology to good novels or biographies. Forward this post to others who may not read the blog and get them to leave their list of books as well. Thanks and let us remember to pray to end abortions and all Christian suffering throughout the world on the Feast of Holy Innocents!
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Fires of Faith: Catholic England Under Mary Tudor, by Eamon Duffy.
An excellent and enlightening read.
My brother gave me two P.G. Wodehouse books for Christmas! Wodehouse had a prolific career writing incredibly funny books. If you're not familiar with them, try "Right Ho, Jeeves" or "Something Fresh".
Chris,
Wodehouse is great! We've had lots of laughs reading him.
I usually have three or four books on the go. I am just nearing the end of "Brideshead Revisisted",(Waugh's brilliant writing) and I recently returned to the Holy Father's book on "Jesus" (which is superb - but has to be read slowly!). I recently got the book "Chill" which looks like one of the best books on global warming which suggests - from strong scientific evidence - that present changes in the climate are due to natural events and are not the result of man-made carbon emissions.
I also just purchased Scott Hahn's new book about Catholic customs, "Signs of Life"
Thank you very much Father! I look forward to a report back on _Signs of Life_. Do let us know how beneficial this book is. Perhaps something from could go in the comment on my post just published on, Priesthood, liturgy and beauty! God bless and keep the recommendations coming!!
I just got and have begun:
* Called to Communion by Ratzinger
* The Fathers by Pope Benedict (a collection of his Wed. audiences covering the early Church Fathers)
* The Cleaving of Christendom (volume 4 in Warren Carroll's excellent Christian history)
Merry Christmas!
Just finished: God Off-Broadway: The Blackfriars Theatre, 1940-1972 (Matthew Powell, OP). It's a history of the only professional theatre run by a religious order in the U.S.
Now reading: The Image of the City (Charles Williams). A collection of essays & poems by one of the Inklings (including a poem called "The Parable of the Wedding Garment" that helped me make sense of that parable for the first time).
Also enjoyed: The Intellectual Life (A.G. Sertillanges, OP). On the vocation and best practices of the thinker.
Now on to revising for my Gospels & Jesus collections...
-Cole
http://colematson.com
Not quite a 'read' but a 'listen': Dr. Feingold (Institute for Pastoral Theology) on 'Themes from the Early Church Fathers' at---
http://www.hebrewcatholic.org/themesoftheearly.html
Much of this is familiar territory---and may be to Team De Cura Animarum as well---but I've appreciated the connectivity (i.e, from Clement, Ign., Poly, Irenaeus, etc.), and filling in some gaps. An excellent introduction to the Fathers & Early Church for anyone who's never been exposed to the 'early years.'
I'm currently reading "Serpico" by Maas, which is about ethics (corrupt policemen) rather than theology, but before that I read Belloc's book on the Reformation, which was good for this new Catholic to read, as it gives a very strong Catholic prespective on some of the pan-historical truths about the Church--for instance, how there has always been a distrust of the priesthood and the Church in general, something that was there way before Luther came along. Dave
Thanks Cole, Anons, and Dave for some really interesting titles. Building the list as we go...Send more people around to offer a title or two!
Two books on the go: "The Private Patient" by P D James and "Lord, have mercy" by Scott Hahn
Half way through "The Eucharist" by Cabié in the series The Church at Prayer by Martimort - I have a frustrating habit of picking up a book while in the middle of another and forgetting about the one I am reading. Hence not looked at “The Eucharist” for 6 weeks!
Also got Scott Hahn’s “Signs of Life” just before Christmas
DVD collection of Jeeves and Wooster was a Christmas prezzie – started watching them – fantastic! Must get the books which I have not read.
Present from one of my sons (cos of recent events) was DVD “The Catholics” (1973)
Presently I too have a number of things going on at once as I usually do.
Spiritual Reading: Priests of Jesus Christ by Pope Benedict XVI and The Stature of Waiting by Vanstone.
Theological Reading: Rediscovering the Eucharist, ed. by Roch Kereszty and Sacrifice and Community by Matthew Levering.
Fun Reading: Eclipse of the Sun by Michael O'Brien
Catholic News: The Catholic Herald
Biography on its way: John Henry Newman by Ian Ker.
Tweeted the link, Father.
"La Eucaristía, signo rememorativo, demostrativo y profético: síntesis del misterio de la Salvación" - Fr. Juan Sebastián Vallejo Agostini (a priest-friend).
"Introduction to Christianity" - Joseph Ratzinger (in spanish).
Read The Stature of Waiting some years go, a good book
Had the Catholic Herald for a few years now - does anyone read The Catholic Times or The Universe? What are they like?
Bought Ker's book on Newman a few years back and got part way through - started something else and never got back to it, but someone bought me the hardback version as a gift for my reception into the Catholic Church a couple of weeks ago so that's a hint to get back to it
Read Roderick Stange's recent book on Newman in November - and finished it without picking anything else up - recommend it to all
I just finished reading "Catholic Matters" by the late Richard John Neuhaus, which offers a detailed version of his conversion as well as his fascinating diary from his time in Rome in 2005 during the death of John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI.
Mmm...just reading some of these other posts makes me drool for some of the books...but alas, I have way to many books on my shelf that haven't been read. As for now, I am reading:
- The Challenge of Jesus (Wright): reading it as a precursor/overview to his 3-vol series.
- The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (J Pelikan): trying to eat my way through some heavy historical scholarship and the entire 5-vol series.
Currently reading Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict which is proving to be an exceptional read and has opened my non-catholic eyes to his admirable theology and abilities.
Next to read is God's Batallions: A History of the Crusades as the First Western War on Muslim Terror and Aggression by Rodney Stark.
I have been enjoying Olivier Clément's You Are Peter, An Orthodox Reflection on the Exercise of Papal Primacy, which was written in response to John Paul II's encyclical, Ut unum sint.
I have just finished "The Abbess of Andaluia: Flannery O'Connor's Spiritual Journel" by Lorrine V. Murray (Saint Benedict Press, LLC, Charlotte, North Carolina 2009) ISBN: 978-935302-16-2. Ah, but she is wonderful. Please read it - everybody!
Oops! Some typos! Sorry!
I have just finished "The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O'Connor's Spiritual Journey" by Lorraine V. Murray (Saint Benedict Press, LLC, Charlotte, North Carolina 2009) ISBN: 978-1-935302-16-2. Ah, but she is wonderful! Please read it - everybody!
'Stature of Waiting', a most helpful spiritual work.
Somebody mentioned Scott Hahn's 'Lord Have Mercy'. Mmmm...excellent when considering the nature of sin and the deep rooted need for confession. But when Hahn came to tackle the actual process of making one's confession I found him very pedestrian. His piece on 'examination of conscience' was highly mechanistic and lacking in imagination.
Jeff - if you haven't already devoured it, let me recommend 'Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?'
It's by John Powell SJ (an American by the way so I know you will approve!) It was first published way back in 1969, but is one of the most penetrating (and challenging) little books I ever came across. Have just been dipping into it again - it always makes impact.
Best wishes to you and the family for 2010.
Well....I am reading:
Cardinal Manning, From Anglican Archdeacon to Council Father at Vatican I
Also:
The Framework of The Christian State by E. Cahill, S.J.
And:
The Mystical Body of Christ in The Modern World by Fr. Denis Fahey.
It doesn't get any better than this chaps!
Timotheus
Got two books for Christmas. One fiction, one nonfiction. The fiction book is Taylor Caldwell's "Dear and Glorious Physician" about St. Luke. The nonfiction book is an English translation put out by Ignatius Press of Regine Pernoud's "The Templars, Knights of Christ.
The God Who Won't Let Go by Peter Van Breemen
And Now I See by Robert Barron
Jesus And The Victory of God by N. T. Wright
A Shepherd Look at Psalm 23rd by Phillip Keller
The Yes of Jesus Christ by Joseph Ratzinger
I had so many books for Christmas & a new Douay Rheims Bible (to replace my protestant old faithful NIV from school days!), I've been really spoiled!
I also have several on the go.....
"The Better Part" Fr John Bartunek LC-fab daily meditations, always challenging, Christ centered.
2 on the Sacrament of Reconcilliation; Scott Hahn- "Lord Have Mercy" & Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh "Coming Closer to Christ".... Love Hahn (all converts do) but the Metropolitan Anthony is the one I'd really recommend if you are seeking to have a deeper and more life changing experience of the Sacrament.
Happy New Year!
I've just finished the first chapter of Ian Ker's biography of John Henry Newman and can say that it is outstanding. The similarities of how my own thinking developed from a Reformed Calvinism to what brought me into the Catholic Church this year is nothing short of remarkable. Like Newman, the very first thing that I theologically moved on was baptismal regeneration and a moving away from the 'conversion' experience sought in Evangelicalism. Reading of St. Paul's letters with careful attention to the corporate identity of the Church even though he had to rebuke bad behaviour was the first giant step to land me where I am and I have never been happier in my life and neither has my family! Thank God for 2009 for it is the year of a new birth for me!
We have the Ancient Church of our land Im sorry but its the Anglican Church we do not need to be converted we are as CATHOLIC as you are why does Rome insist on trying to say otherwise who are they to tell us the ENGLISH our church was invented in Tudor times or that we don't have apostolic succession WRONG 100% its the same Church that has always been in England,reformation or not and Our Lady Of Walsingham is an ENGLISH devotion not a Roman one!!!!
Re-reading The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene.
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