Last Week in Life I always feature some new or newly discovered book I have found.

Here they are for you to look at and add to your book list.

Including new books from J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling

Ventures into Alternate History and a book by an author who has another book of hers turned into a Netflix series.

A book that tells the true story for the lost ark.

And some some Catholic books that look at Vatican II, interesting saints and a Catholic look at Racism.

And More…

Catholic Books

BONUS: “Reclaiming Vatican II” – Fr. Blake’s New Book! – The Burrowshire Podcast

Reclaiming Vatican II: What It (Really) Said, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church by Fr. Blake Britton (Author), John C. Cavadini (Foreword)

“The ongoing debate within the Church about the Second Vatican Council serves as a microcosm of our age: well-meaning, passionate people have divided themselves into camps, so sure of their own positions that they are unable to hear the truth spoken by the other. Fr. Blake Britton offers a balanced, grounded response that our Church desperately needs. Correctly identifying Vatican II as a ‘kerygmatic’ council, he invites the reader to let go of half-truths and learn from the documents themselves in order to behold the splendor of the Church.”
– Fr. Casey Cole, O.F.M., creator of Breaking in the Habit Media

Cross-Examined: Catholic Responses to the World’s Questions by Fr. Carter Griffin

rory t conley

A welcome gift for contemporary Catholics

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2021

With the publication of this book Father Carter has done a great service for Catholics by providing us with clear and succinct explanations of Church teachings which are often misunderstood or maligned in our society. Readers will not be tongue- tied or feel intimidated when discussing with others some of the more challenging teachings of Christ and His Church. Father Carter’s book is especially helpful in explaining the Church’s teaching on contemporary moral issues and responding to the objections that are commonly hurled at them. If I were king of the forest, this book would be distributed to all adult Catholics. To that end, our parish has purchased multiple copies to make them available to our parishioners at a reduced price. I recommend to my fellow pastors that they do the same as this book is a wonderful tool for evangelization.

Rev. Rory T. Conley, Ph.D.
Pastor, St. Mary’s Church
Bryantown, Maryland

Cross-Examined: Catholic Responses to the World’s Questions by [Fr. Carter Griffin]

A White Catholic’s Guide to Racism and Privilege by Daniel P. Horan

already, the primary audience for this book is white Catholics like me, though I also hope that Catholics and other people of color who pick up this book will find its contents affirming and supportive of an effort to promote anti-racism in our communities and churches. I do not pretend to know the first thing about what it is like to be a woman or man of color in the United States. But I do know a lot about what it is like to be a white person in a society and church that is affected by the realities of racism and white privilege, and I know how hard it is for those on the privileged side to accept the truth of complicity in anti-Black racism as well as the ongoing, intentional, and challenging work of becoming a better anti-racist ally. This book is intended to help guide white people to discover those things that we were socialized to not see, to dismiss, to excuse, to qualify, to rationalize, or to reject outright. It focuses primarily, though not exclusively, on anti-Black racism, given the predominance of this discrimination in the United States, but much of what is discussed can also apply to other people of color in many circumstances. This book is intended to be a beginning and an invitation to go deeper in embracing the work toward racial justice in our communities as a constitutive part of what it means to be a Catholic Christian in the United States.-(2021) Ave Maria Press

A White Catholic's Guide to Racism and Privilege by [Daniel P. Horan]

Pray for Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness by Meg Hunter-Kilmer (Author)

How is it possible that a chain-smoking socialist, a teenage video gamer, an opium addict, a satanic high priest, a disabled beggar, and a self-absorbed mean girl became saints?

Popular itinerant missionary Meg Hunter-Kilmer will stretch your preconceived notions of holiness by exploring the lesser-known lives of seventy-five extraordinary people whose human struggles and limitations reveal the power of God’s grace.

Pray for Us isn’t your ordinary saint book: Hunter-Kilmer highlights the sorrows, struggles, and idiosyncrasies of broken people who turned their lives around and dedicated themselves to God and his work. Through these edgy profiles, full of fresh and fascinating stories, she explores the universal call to holiness and how God can transform anyone—from grouchy theologians to bratty teenagers—into saints. You’ll discover that anyone—even you—can become a saint if you trust in the Lord.

Among those you will meet are

Blessed Carlo Acutis, an ordinary Italian teen who enjoyed video games and loved the Eucharist but refused to waste time on things that weren’t pleasing to God.
Blessed Sara Salkahazi, a chain-smoking socialist and wild-child from an upper-class Hungarian family who exposed the plight of the working class and smuggled Jewish people to safety during World War II.
Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo, a married woman who defied the opposition of her difficult family to lead the Church in Madagascar.
St. Dulce Pontes, the daughter of a wealthy family in Brazil who decided to serve the poor by becoming a nun and teaching literacy to children and their parents in the slums.
Blessed Bartolo Longo, a satanic priest who returned to the Church, worked to bring people back to Christ, founded schools for the poor, established orphanages, and created Rosary groups.
St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, a Christian opium addict who never got clean but still had the courage to die a martyr’s death for his beliefs during the Boxer Rebellion in China.

Hunter-Kilmer presents the unvarnished lives of the saints and holy people in a way that reveals the power of God’s grace in their lives. Their stories—and especially their brokenness—are relatable to us all.

An extensive index that includes names, feast days, and patronages will help you find the inspiration you are looking for in the lives of these holy people.

Jesuit at Large (ignatius.com)

Father Paul Mankowski, S.J. (1953–2020), was one of the most brilliant and scintillating Catholic writers of our time. His essays and reviews, collected here for the first time, display a unique wit, a singular breadth of learning, and a penetrating insight into the challenges of Catholic life in the postmodern world.

Whether explicating Catholic doctrines like the Immaculate Conception, dissecting contemporary academic life, deploring clerical malfeasance, or celebrating great authors, Father Mankowski’s keen intelligence is always on display, and his energetic prose keeps the pages turning.

Whatever his topic, however, Paul Mankowski’s intense Catholic faith shines through his writing, as it did through his life. Jesuit at Large invites its readers to meet a man of great gifts who suffered for his convictions but never lost hope in the renewal of Catholicism, a man whose confidence in the truth of what the Church proposed to the world was never shaken by the failures of the people of the Church.

Jesuit at Large

Fiction Books

Long Road to the Circus

Twelve-year-old Suzy Bowles is tired of summers filled with chores on her family farm in Burr Oak, Michigan, and desperate to see the world. When her wayward uncle moves back home to the farm, only to skip his chores every morning for mysterious reasons, Suzy decides to find out what he’s up to once and for all. And that’s when she meets legendary former circus queen Madame Marantette and her ostriches. Before long, Suzy finds herself caught-up in the fast-paced, hilarious world of ostrich riding, a rollicking adventure that just might be her ticket out of Burr Oak.

Long Road to the Circus by Betsy Bird

Adventure Stories for Young Readers

by Misha Burnett (Author), Fiona Grey (Author), Arthur Acton (Author), Aaron Van Treeck (Author), Becky R. Jones (Author), E H Munro (Author), Denton Salle (Author), David Eyk (Author), David Breitenbeck (Author), Scott Huggins (Author)

Introduction Misha Burnett

I don’t expect you’ll like all of the stories in this book, and that’s okay. It’s kind of like a salad bar. You can come in and sample a lot of different things, and find out what you like and what doesn’t appeal to you so much. At the end we’ve put together some suggestions so that you can find more of what you do like. That’s the great thing about short stories—they’re short. In here you’ll find sample sized servings of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and a couple of stories that don’t fit neatly into any category. Feel free to skip around and try a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Reading is supposed to be fun. If a few of these stories are fun for you to read, and make you want to read other things like them, then we’ve done our job.

Adventure Stories for Young Readers by [Misha Burnett, Fiona Grey, Arthur Acton, Aaron Van Treeck, Becky R. Jones, E H Munro, Denton Salle, David Eyk, David Breitenbeck, Scott Huggins]

This Thing of Darkness by Fiorella De Maria(Author), K V Turley(Author)

Readers seeking out an existential horror story might not look to Catholic authors and a Catholic publishers. But that is precisely what Fiorella De Maria and K.V. Turley have delivered in This Thing of Darkness, published by Ignatius Press, which is a unique fictionalization of the life of iconic horror performer Bela Lugosi.

This Thing of Darkness follows a troubled young British widow who is living in the United States and trying to scrape out a living as a journalist, while simultaneously struggling with her own internal demons. After reluctantly accepting an assignment from her editor to interview a man about whom she knows nothing and for whose profession she has little regard, Evi finds herself thrust into a tale that she can scarcely believe.

It’s difficult for readers to find a modern literary foray into horror that scratches the itch to get spooked without being full of superficial themes and two-dimensional, lustful “romances”. There are very few authors are bold enough in our secular age to name the one and only true Remedy to evils both large and small.

Enter De Maria and Turley.

Fiorella De Maria lives in Surrey, England with her husband and children, and has published several other novels, including We’ll Never Tell Them, Poor Banished Children, Do No Harm and three Father Gabriel mysteries. She has a Master’s in Renaissance Literature, and has been awarded the National Book Prize of Malta for her book The Cassandra Curse.

K.V. Turley is a London-based writer, journalist, and filmmaker. He is also a podcast, radio, and television host. K.V. is the UK correspondent for the National Catholic Register, as well as a regular contributor to EWTN.

In This Thing of Darkness, the authors guide the reader along as Evi slips ever closer to madness and the potential loss of her very soul. Strong parallels are drawn throughout between the real horrors of the human condition and the existential horrors that audiences have sought in popular entertainment for centuries. There is a potential for romance, but it is handled in a tasteful and realistic fashion.New novel serves up a horrifying dip into alternative history – Catholic World Report

A Nation Interrupted: An Alternate History Novel by Kevin McDonald(Author), Linda Morrow(Editor)

“An exhilarating ride through an alternate history.”
—GEORGE GALDORISI, New York Times bestselling author

THE YEAR IS 1862, IN A WORLD THAT VERY NEARLY WAS…
In one of the most unsettling “what-if” reversals to American history, the Union Army is overrun at the Battle of Antietam. Left with no alternative, President Lincoln surrenders, and the Confederate States of America becomes an independent nation. It’s a tragic twist that will produce dire, far-reaching ramifications.

As the divided American nations move into the twentieth century, slavery has long since been abolished; but in the summer of 1941, America faces another challenge—an existential challenge. Almost a century after the Civil War, the disastrous consequences of the Union defeat are threatening freedom on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Second World War represents the defining event of the twentieth century. History dictates the United States must play the decisive role in defeating Adolf Hitler and the Nazis—but that history is no longer intact. America has been divided into two nations, and the resulting shift in global power has altered the course of the conflict, bringing all of North America and Western Europe to the brink of annihilation.

In the spring of 1945, as the Nazis are preparing to deliver the final blow, a young academic and a small, elite group of American airmen are about to determine the fate of the world.

FREEDOM’S VERY SURVIVAL IS COMING DOWN TO ONE, LAST-DITCH MISSION

A Nation Interrupted: An Alternate History Novel by [Kevin McDonald, Linda Morrow]

The Woods Are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins

New from bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, and the perfect companion to her New York Times bestseller There’s Someone Inside Your House, coming to Netflix October 6!

“The scares here are authentic, and the details meticulous, driven by a smart, distinct narrative voice. Hand this to fans of the film Midsommar who will delight in the eerie world building, the disintegration and rebuilding of interpersonal relationships, and the unseen forces of evil that threaten to break two friends apart.” –Booklist

Bears aren’t the only predators in these woods.
Best friends Neena and Josie spent high school as outsiders, but at least they had each other. Now, with college and a two-thousand-mile separation looming on the horizon, they have one last chance to be together—a three-day hike deep into the woods of the Pisgah National Forest.

Simmering tensions lead to a detour off the trail and straight into a waking nightmare … and then into something far worse. Something that will test them in horrifying ways.

Stephanie Perkins, the bestselling author of There’s Someone Inside Your House, returns with a heart-stopping, gut-wrenching novel about friendship, survival, and navigating unmarked paths even as evil watches from the shadows. The Woods Are Always Watching by [Stephanie Perkins]

Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events by Brent Spiner

Brent Spiner’s explosive and hilarious novel is a personal look at the slightly askew relationship between a celebrity and his fans. If the Coen Brothers were to make a Star Trek movie, involving the complexity of fan obsession and sci-fi, this noir comedy might just be the one.

Set in 1991, just as Star Trek: The Next Generation has rocketed the cast to global fame, the young and impressionable actor Brent Spiner receives a mysterious package and a series of disturbing letters, that take him on a terrifying and bizarre journey that enlists Paramount Security, the LAPD, and even the FBI in putting a stop to the danger that has his life and career hanging in the balance.

Featuring a cast of characters from Patrick Stewart to Levar Burton to Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, to some completely imagined, this is the fictional autobiography that takes readers into the life of Brent Spiner, and tells an amazing tale about the trappings of celebrity and the fear he has carried with him his entire life.

Fan Fiction is a zany love letter to a world in which we all participate, the phenomenon of “Fandom.”

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 (The Best American Series ®) Kindle Edition

by Veronica Roth(Editor), John Joseph Adams(Editor)

The best science fiction and fantasy stories of 2021, selected by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Veronica Roth.

This year’s selection of science fiction and fantasy stories, chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and bestselling author of the Divergent series Veronica Roth, showcases a crop of authors that are willing to experiment and tantalize readers with new takes on classic themes and by exchanging the ordinary for the avant-garde. Folktales and lore come alive, the dead rise, the depths of space are traversed, and magic threads itself through singular moments of love and loss, illuminating the circulatory nature of life, death, the in-between, and the hereafter. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 captures the all-too-real cataclysm of human nature, claiming its place in the series with compelling prose, lyrical composition, and curiosity’s never-ending pursuit of discovering the unknown.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 (The Best American Series ®) by [Veronica Roth, John Joseph Adams]

The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 2: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2021 by Jonathan Strahan

The most celebrated science fiction short story editor of our time, multi-award-winning editor and Locus Magazine critic Jonathan Strahan presents the definitive collection of best short science fiction of 2020.

With short works from some of the most lauded science fiction authors, as well as rising stars, this science fiction collection displays the top talent and cutting-edge cultural moments that affect our lives, dreams, and stories. These brilliant authors examine the way we live now, our hopes, and struggles, all through the lens of the future.

An assemblage of future classics, this star-studded anthology is a must-read for anyone who enjoys the vast and exciting world of science fiction.

The Year's Best Science Fiction Vol. 2: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2021 by [Jonathan Strahan]

The Nature of Middle-earth: J.R.R Tolkien,., Carl F Hostetter

first ever publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s final writings on Middle-earth, covering a wide range of subjects and perfect for those who have read and enjoyed The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings, Unfinished Tales, and The History of Middle-earth, and want to learn more about Tolkien’s magnificent world.

It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1954–5. What may be less known is that he continued to write about Middle-earth in the decades that followed, right up until the years before his death in 1973.

For him, Middle-earth was part of an entire world to be explored, and the writings in The Nature of Middle-earth reveal the journeys that he took as he sought to better understand his unique creation. From sweeping themes as profound as Elvish immortality and reincarnation, and the Powers of the Valar, to the more earth-bound subjects of the lands and beasts of Númenor, the geography of the Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor, and even who had beards!

This new collection, which has been edited by Carl F. Hostetter, one of the world’s leading Tolkien experts, is a veritable treasure-trove offering readers a chance to peer over Professor Tolkien’s shoulder at the very moment of discovery: and on every page, Middle-earth is once again brought to extraordinary life.

The Poe Predicament: A Supernatural Mystery Novel by Phil Thomas

#1 Best-selling New Release in Alternative History!

Stuck in another time, Richard Langley just wants to find his way back home.

Richard, a former college professor, wanders a local neighborhood bookstore where he stumbles upon the find of a lifetime: a signed copy of Tamerlane and Other Poems. He’s then swept to another era where he is alone, confused, and his only mission is to get back to where he came from.

While struggling to adapt to his nineteenth-century environment, Richard meets a man he must help exonerate from false accusations in order to restore history’s original timeline and, ultimately, find his way back.

What Richard did not count on, was that man being the owner of the signature…

Edgar Allan Poe.

The Poe Predicament: A Supernatural Mystery Novel by [Phil Thomas]

The Christmas Pig by J. K. Rowling(Author), Jim Field(Illustrator)

A heartwarming, page-turning adventure about one child’s love for his most treasured thing, and how far he will go to find it. A tale for the whole family to fall in love with, from one of the world’s greatest storytellers.

One boy and his toy are about to change everything…

Jack loves his childhood toy, Dur Pig. DP has always been there for him, through good and bad. Until one Christmas Eve something terrible happens — DP is lost. But Christmas Eve is a night for miracles and lost causes, a night when all things can come to life… even toys. And Jack’s newest toy — the Christmas Pig (DP’s replacement) – has a daring plan: Together they’ll embark on a magical journey to seek something lost, and to save the best friend Jack has ever known…

Non-Fiction Books

When my wife and I went to the Scituate Art Festival, October 2021 in Scituate Rhode Island, the Scituate public library had some Rhode Island Authors outside the library selling their goods and talking to folks. There were many good authors with good looking books full of wonderful things to read and look at. Two authors sat next to each other at a table. This buy below was one of them.

Code Name Lily by Julien Ayotte (Author)

WWII Historical Fiction is Finalist in 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

World War II certainly had its share of deserving heroes and heroines, many of whom have received their due recognition. But how many civilian women can say they saved the lives of at least 250 downed airmen in just over two years?”Code Name Lily” takes you on an unforgettable journey from Belgium, into France, and over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. An extremely clever and persuasive young Belgian nurse outsmarts the Nazis time and again, risking her life if she is caught, but protecting every airman she successfully aids to evade the Germans.”Code Name Lily” is based on the true story of Micheline “Michou” Dumon-Ugeux, a legend in the Comet Line escape network from 1940-1944 who went only by the name of Lily. You, too, will fall in love with Lily.

Code Name Lily by [Julien Ayotte]

This guy was the other.

The Hanging and Redemption of John Gordon: The True Story of Rhode Island’s Last Execution (April 23, 2013)

by Paul F. Caranci (Author), Patrick T. Conley (Foreword)

On a frigid day in 1843, Amasa Sprague, a wealthy Yankee mill owner, left his mansion to check on his cattle. On the way, he was accosted and beaten beyond recognition, and his body was left facedown in the snow. What followed was a trial marked by judicial bias, witness perjury and societal bigotry that resulted in the conviction of twenty-nine-year-old Irish-Catholic John Gordon. He was sentenced to hang. Despite overwhelming evidence that the trial was flawed and newly discovered evidence that clearly exonerated him, an anti-Irish Catholic establishment refused him a new trial. On February 14, 1845, John Gordon became the last victim of capital punishment in Rhode Island. Local historian Paul F. Caranci brings this case to life, graphically describing the murder and exposing a corrupt judicial system, a biased newspaper and a bigoted society responsible for the unjust death of an innocent man.

Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution by Woody Holton

A sweeping reassessment of the American Revolution, showing how the Founders were influenced by overlooked Americans—women, Native Americans, African Americans, and religious dissenters.

Using more than a thousand eyewitness accounts, Liberty Is Sweet explores countless connections between the Patriots of 1776 and other Americans whose passion for freedom often brought them into conflict with the Founding Fathers. “It is all one story,” prizewinning historian Woody Holton writes.

Holton describes the origins and crucial battles of the Revolution from Lexington and Concord to the British surrender at Yorktown, always focusing on marginalized Americans—enslaved Africans and African Americans, Native Americans, women, and dissenters—and on overlooked factors such as weather, North America’s unique geography, chance, misperception, attempts to manipulate public opinion, and (most of all) disease. Thousands of enslaved Americans exploited the chaos of war to obtain their own freedom, while others were given away as enlistment bounties to whites. Women provided material support for the troops, sewing clothes for soldiers and in some cases taking part in the fighting. Both sides courted native people and mimicked their tactics.

Liberty Is Sweet gives us our most complete account of the American Revolution, from its origins on the frontiers and in the Atlantic ports to the creation of the Constitution. Offering surprises at every turn—for example, Holton makes a convincing case that Britain never had a chance of winning the war—this majestic history revivifies a story we thought we already knew.

Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution by [Woody Holton]

The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up; A Memoir by Evanna Lynch

From actress and activist Evanna Lynch comes a raw and compelling memoir about navigating the path between fears and dreams.

Evanna Lynch’s casting as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films is a tale that grew to almost mythic proportions—a legend of how she faced disordered eating as a young girl, found solace in a beloved book series, and later landed the part of her favorite character. But that is not the whole story.

Even after recovery, there remains a conflict at her core: a bitter struggle between the pursuit of perfection and the desire to fearlessly embrace her creative side. Revealing a startlingly accomplished voice, Lynch delves into the heart of her relationship with her body. As she takes the reader through a personal journey of leaving behind the safety of girlhood, Lynch explores the pivotal choices that ultimately led her down the path of creativity and toward acceptance of the wild, sensual, and unpredictable reality of womanhood.

Honest, electrifying, and inspiring, this is a story of the battle between self-destruction and creation, of giving up the preoccupation with perfection in favor of our uncharted dreams—and how the simple choice to create is the most liberating action a person can take.

The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up; A Memoir by [Evanna Lynch]

True Raiders: The Untold Story of the 1909 Expedition to Find the Legendary Ark of the Covenant by Brad Ricca

True Raiders is The Lost City of Z meets The Da Vinci Code, from critically acclaimed author Brad Ricca.

This book tells the untold true story of Monty Parker, a rogue British nobleman who, after being dared to do so by Ava Astor, the so-called “most beautiful woman in the world,” headed a secret 1909 expedition to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant. Like a real-life version of Raiders of the Lost Ark, this incredible story of adventure and mystery has almost been completely forgotten today.

In 1908, Monty is approached by a strange Finnish scholar named Valter Juvelius who claims to have discovered a secret code in the Bible that reveals the location of the Ark. Monty assembles a ragtag group of blueblood adventurers, psychics, and a Dominican priest, to engage in a secret excavation just outside the city walls of Jerusalem.

Using recently uncovered records from the original expedition and several newly translated sources, True Raiders is the first retelling of this group’s adventures- in the space between fact and faith, science and romance.

The Nature of September and October Books

Catholic Books

Fiction Books

Adventure Stories for Young Readers

Non-Fiction Books

What does "Jabez" mean in Hebrew?