I’ve been tagged. Shellie wants to know what I’m reading and is confident that I’m good for a “list a mile long.” If she only knew.
Let’s start with the books I am reading aloud to my children:
Patron Saint of First Communicants: The Story of Blessed Imelda Lambertini by Mary Fabyan Windeatt: I highly recommend this book for anyone who is preparing for reception of the Eucharist or would like a greater appreciation of it.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling. My children highly recommend this book because of the turning the school into a swamp prank.
A book I just finished and can’t recommend highly enough:
Left to Tell by Imaculeé Ilibagiza. This one rates five stars, two thumbs up, and must read status. Let’s see if I can describe it. Wow! Prayer. Wow! Forgiveness. Wow! Prayer. Wow! Divine Mercy. Wow! Did I say wow?
Then the book I “gotta” read for the current course dh and I are taking for Catechist Certification:
People of God: The History of Catholic Christianity by Anthony E. Gilles. I don’t recommend this one for anyone undertaking a serious study of church history except for anything other than discovering what you really want to study. It’s more of a secondary ed. resource. It isn’t completely worthless and that’s as charitable as I can get about it.
I am on a Church History jag these days with a particular interest in the Anglican split. I am reading or reading parts of:
Characters of the Reformation by Hilaire Belloc
The Facts About Martin Luther by Patrick F. OHare
The Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism by Dr. Nicholas Sander
A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland by William Cobbett
A History of Christianity: Volume I Beginnings to 1500 and Volume II: Reformation to the Present by Kenneth Scott Latourette
**Triumph: The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church by H.W. Crocker
The Gospel, The Church, and The World by Kenneth Scott Latourette
Christianity Through the Ages by Kenneth Scott Latourette
**How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
** I’ve read these previously and highly recommend them.
Current spiritual reading and/or apologetics:
Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross
Heretics by G. K. Chesterton
Exposition of the Seven Penitential Psalms by St. John Fisher
Controversies: High-Level Catholic Apologetics by Karl Keating
And if I could find it (don’t you hate that!?) Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of John Paul II by Gian Franco Svidercoschi
And two I’ve been disappointed in recently and will likely leave unfinished:
If Your Mind Wanders At Mass by Thomas Howard I normally really like Thomas Howard’s works but this one left me a little flat, but it is a potentially good read-aloud for the kids.
J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion by Richard L. Purtill This one isn’t bad so much as I hoping for more Joseph Pearce’s Tolkien: Man and Myth and so was a little disappointed.
I tag Take the Long Way Home, Kid Sister of Blessed Imelda, and In Search of Something More.
