In Defence Of Book Lists

I like to read.

It is an engaging way to use your body, (because you have to sit or lay somewhere to read) heart, mind and soul in one particular activity that connects you deeply with another person who took the time to pour out their selfs in words typed most likely on a computer and then printed out and published either electronically or physically. You may never meet them in this life but through their words that echo across time and place. If a book is printed physically you are likely to see it amongst the 1000’s of other people who did the same thing and had their copy of their work displayed in a bookstore either used or in Barnes and Noble. I often think when I walk through the aisles of a bookstore that each individual worked hard to get that book to where I am looking at it as stroll past, maybe stopping to pick it up and look at it.

I like browsing books.
Because I like reading.

But what I do more often than actually read a book is make lists of books I want to read.
There are so many things to read and not enough time or attention span to do it.

Ah, but book lists give you a chance to familiarize yourself with things out there you would read if you could.
It gives you a knowledge of books and who has written what when.
You can then talk about those books you haven’t read as if you have read them.

“There is more than one way not to read, the most radical of which is not to open a book at all. For any given reader, however dedicated he might be, such total abstention necessarily holds true for virtually everything that has been published, and thus in fact this constitutes our primary way of relating to books. We must not forget that even a prodigious reader never has access to more than an infinitesimal fraction of the books that exist.”
― Pierre Bayard, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read

Having a book list, a detailed glorified book list is the key to talking about books you haven’t read and this blog post is myself handing you that key.

I’m going to explain the rhyme and reason of these book lists I have and are planning to write.

If you have already read or do not want to read this explanation then skip to the end of this article and click on the list links.

This series of lists so ephemeral and even superfluous may seem at the first glance to require some excuse; probably the best excuse is that the books on the list will have been completely forgotten, and therefore may be read again with entirely new sensations. I am not sure, however, that this claim is so modest as it sounds, for I fancy that Shakespeare and Balzac, if moved to prayers, might not ask to be remembered, but to be forgotten, and forgotten thus; for if they were forgotten they would be everlastingly re-discovered and re-read. It is a monotonous memory which keeps us in the main from seeing things as splendid as they are. The ancients were not wrong when they made Lethe the boundary of a better land; perhaps the only flaw in their system is that a man who had bathed in the river of forgetfulness would be as likely as not to climb back upon the bank of the earth and fancy himself in Elysium.

The preceding paragraph has been modified to fit this essay from The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Defendant, by G. K. Chesterton in which he defends all kinds of things like PENNY DREADFULS, SKELETONS ,NONSENSE, PLANETS, CHINA SHEPHERDESSES, USEFUL INFORMATION, UGLY THINGS, DETECTIVE STORIES and more.
I an use it hear with no citation problems because of the power of the public domain which is another blog post for another time.

Ok so here is the inside scoop from my brain to explain these books lists.

Explanation of My Book Lists

What Are My Blog Posts Of Books Lists?
They are a selection of the many examples of fiction,non-fiction and Catholic books that have been published and that an avid reader and lover of knowledge may want to read or may have read. Because this is a Catholic blog I will naturally talk about Catholic books. And when it comes to non-catholic books and authors I believe that a person of faith can See God In The Secular by Having A Catholic Worldview and using the Whatever Biblical Principle.

Whatever is true,
Whatever is noble,
Whatever is right,
Whatever is pure,
Whatever is lovely,
Whatever is admirable—
Anything that is excellent or praiseworthy
—Write about such things
so others can think about such things.
Philippians 4:8-New International Version (modified).

Finding the Truth, Beauty and Goodness in the created world and sharing it with others is a very Catholic thing indeed.

Catholics believe that the sacred is everywhere and walks among us. Everyday pursuits and objects convey God’s presence to us and stir our natural impulse to seek the divine in the world. God is not confined to the pages of the Bible. For Catholics, he is immanent, inextricably woven into daily life. In the eighteenth century, Jesuit priest Jean-Pierre de Caussade wrote, “Are not all times the successive effects of the divine operation which pours itself forth on all the instants of time, filling them, sanctifying them, supernaturalizing them all?” he wrote. “Everything is a means and an instrument of holiness; everything without any exception.” The divine flows through the ordinary stuff and ordinary moments of life.
Jay Copp, 150 People, Places, and Things You Never Knew Were Catholic (2022 ) Our Sunday Visitor

Who Are These Book Lists Written For?
They were written for the book lover who wants a list of good readable fiction, non-fiction and Catholic books. You can make new discoveries or rediscover favorites.

What The Book Lists Are Not
They are not lists that necessarily cover every genre of fiction, non-fiction and variety of Catholic teaching. It doesn’t cover every possible subject and doesn’t necessarily cover every time period, nationality, or class of people. But I do try on occasion to include diversity but not always.

What It Does Cover?
It covers mostly books I have discovered through browsing in bookstores, used and Barnes and Noble, libraries and online browsing. There are a lot of published books in the 2000’s by those in the English-speaking world. And there are a lot of classics and public domain books. You will sometimes see some names pop up over and over again as they have made the time to write about many diverse topics and genres.

Why I Use A Lot Of Quotes

“I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.”
― Marlene Dietrich

I tried not to quote too big a section of a book so the posts won’t be too long.
I also tried not to quote too little of a section so that what I’m sharing would fairly represent the book I’m telling you about.
Sometimes though some authors just have so many good things to say worth sharing that it is hard to cut someone short.

There are so many quotes

By So many people

Even long before Jesus walked the earth as man

And still today Even more people

From Everywhere are coming up with still more quotes

Will writing new quotes every end?

Are we trying to out quote one another? –

This was made to fit with your theme and not to be the best quote of all time.

You’re not writing that down, are you? I’m just talking.
-Kristin Wilson

Please Note
I haven’t read all the books or even most of them. These are lists of books that I thought looked interesting and engaging when browsing the book shelfs and online book lists, they were stored or mentioned in. I would read all of them if I had the time, energy focus, and retention necessary to read them. But knowing they exist and being able to catch a glimpse of the great writing of a particular author is enough for me.

There is more books I could have put in and more I could have taken out.
And always more I can create.

I might not agree with everything a particular author has written in other books or maybe even in the book I’m listing.

For example, I might agree with the science in a science book and disagree with the philosophical and theological conclusion there is no God.

I might like the story telling of a particular author but object to the amount of swearing or sex scenes like Stephen King or love the story telling of a particular author like Neil Gaiman and disapprove of his inappropriate lifestyle.