Category Archives: The Reading Life

Book and article recommendations

My Reading Challenge Pick for… “A Biography of a Prominent Catholic”

The 2018 Catholic Reading Challenge is underway, and I will be sharing my picks for each category about once a month. It’s time for my first pick…

Category: “A Biography of a Prominent Catholic”

My Pick: Love is the Measure: A Biography of Dorothy Day by Jim Forest (love the cover art on this hardcover edition)

I must admit that I knew very little about Dorothy Day’s life and work before reading this captivating biography. Jim Forest, who knew and worked with her the last couple of decades of her life, does a masterful job of introducing you to a tangible person who cannot be boxed into a tidy category or stereotype. This book, especially the first half describing her early life and conversion, was a real page-turner for me. The chapters are not very long, and one propels you into the next.

Aspects of Dorothy’s life that stood out to me: Continue reading →

The 2018 Catholic Reading Challenge!

It’s a new year, and that means it’s time for a new year of reading goals! Working through The 2017 Catholic Reading Challenge this past year was really rewarding, and I found that having that list to guide me helped to broaden my reading scope and introduce a good variety of perspectives. I think it helped me be a more well-rounded reader in regard to the “voices” that are edifying and educating my faith.

So as I started to put together The 2018 Catholic Reading Challenge over the last couple of months, I began to get excited about all of the books that were coming to mind for the 12 categories. The list is done, and I’m happy to be ready to share it with you! Here it is…

Continue reading →

My Last 2 Picks for the 2017 Catholic Reading Challenge

It’s the end of the year and the end of the 2017 Catholic Reading Challenge! I’ve been sharing what I’m reading throughout the year for each one, and here are my last two picks…

Category: A Book on Catholic Spirituality Written More Than 100 Years Ago

My Pick: The Spiritual Canticle by St. John of the Cross

 

Category: A Book by Bishop Robert Barron

My Pick: Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master 

Little did I know when I picked these two books how well they paired together, and I just happened to read them back to back. St. John of the Cross was a devoted student of St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings, and The Spiritual Canticle (a work of verse similar to the Song of Solomon) is steeped in Thomist philosophy. You initially become aware of this from reading the introduction to St. John’s work, but this Thomist theme became even more apparent when I subsequently read Barron’s book.

I want to mentioned a couple of themes from each book, but I would first stress that both share the characteristic of being works that deeply nourish the spiritual life and offer much in the way of spiritual direction and insights for extensive meditation, though written centuries apart and in much different styles. Continue reading →