The Catholic Book Blogger comes to Patheos!

Back when Strange Gods was first released, I got an email from a friendly fellow named Pete Socks whose site, The Catholic Book Blogger, was about six months old.

He gave my book a spanking review and also shot me some fun and interesting questions for an interview, and I began to follow Pete’s work. I was impressed with his energy, his willingness to read and read when the books sometimes flow in more quickly than most of us can manage them, and to conduct lively give-aways. Along with his reviews, I noted that he was very quickly managing to glean interviews with some impressive names in Catholic writing.

What can I say, I like a hard worker who is enthusiastic about his job! I realized Patheos needed him.

Here at Patheos, we have, of course, Julie Davis’ wonderful Happy Catholic Bookshelf, where Julie and her team of voracious readers, Jennifer Fitz, Will Duquette, Sarah Reinhard and Jeff Miller plow through titles old and new, religious and secular, and in-between — and even give some attention to podcasts and such — and I have long been a fan of The Happy Catholic in all of its iterations. That, like the Eternal, is ever-unchanging!

But I don’t think their interests will clash. Catholic publishing seems to be enjoying a moment or renewal, and Pete seems to have the ability to keep up with the influx of titles, to give level-headed feedback on them and — best of all — to conduct pithy, excellent interviews. With Julie and Company helping us to keep up with the world of publishing in general — secular and religious — and Pete focusing on Catholic reviews and interviews, I think we’re simply being broad-ranged and interesting in our coverage. I have no doubt the two sites will compliment each other well, and benefit everyone by bringing a wealth of perspective to recent titles and old favorites.

We Patheosi love Catholic writers and we love Catholic publishers, and we love Catholic books and we love Catholic readers. We want to serve all of them well, and I think the Catholic Book Blogger is the perfect addition to Patheos, to help us do just that. We are really pleased that he is coming aboard.

Welcome, Pete Socks! Looking forward to what you have in store.