As always I shall switch from \u201cbest\u201d to \u201cfavorite\u201d and back as my whimsy takes me.<\/p>\n
Books (nonfiction)<\/strong>. Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, And Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity<\/em>. A classic (I think?) study of the many varied practices and meanings of continence (aka no sex having from now on) in the early Church. Fantastic, fun to read, and I\u2019m really looking forward to writing something inspired by this, on the varied practices and meanings of specifically gay lay celibacy in our own time. Extremely recommended.<\/p>\n Evelyn Waugh, Two Lives<\/em><\/a>. A gorgeous, grim hagiography of Edmund Campion and a lovely if to me a lot less necessary bio of Fr. Ronald Knox.<\/p>\n Lawrence Wechsler, A Miracle, A Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers.<\/em><\/a> Case studies in attempts at truth and\/or reconciliation.<\/p>\n Virginia Burrus, Saving Shame: Martyrs, Saints, And Other Abject Subjects<\/em>. Scattershot but very interesting essay-arguments about how Christianity, far from turning shame cultures into guilt cultures, turned shame into a badge of honor. Overturning hierarchies rather than instituting equality. I am not sure how much I trust this author (e.g. she has a footnote where she talks about how John\u2019s Gospel only refers to Mary by her relationship to Jesus, never by name, but she neglects to mention that this is also how \u201cthe disciple whom Jesus loved\u201d refers to himself<\/em>\u2026) but I like her moxie and I\u2019ll be re-reading this.<\/p>\n Karl the Barth, Deliverance to the Captives<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n And a very honorable mention to Gregory Coles, Single, Gay, Christian<\/a><\/em>. Hey there\u2019s another good book about this stuff!<\/p>\n Books (real books)<\/strong>. In recent years my favorite book of the year has usually been some huge epic: Kristin Lavransdatter<\/a><\/em>, Infinite Jest<\/a><\/em>, Wolf Among Wolves<\/a><\/em>. This year I did read two vast tomes, and they did have the features I love in epic novels. They were strange and haunting evocations of an entire way of life, filled with memorable characters. Both of them also degenerated steadily in their long back half, and included at least 200 pages which should\u2019ve been cut. Still, I can\u2019t really compare them to the short sharp novels I enjoyed less ambivalently this year, so I\u2019ll stick them up here in their own paragraphs.<\/p>\n Alan Moore\u2019s Jerusalem<\/em><\/a> is, when it\u2019s good, maybe the most poignant portrayal I\u2019ve ever read of a beloved hometown sinking into despair. (And I read the Washington Post<\/em> Metro section in the early \u201990s!) It\u2019s fluorescently imaginative, a rampant weird fantasia full of life and afterlife. But when it\u2019s bad, it\u2019s screeds about how you shouldn\u2019t repent sex with pubescent children because free will is a lie. The pornography is mostly incomprehensible, so it has that going for it.<\/p>\n Jose Maria Gironella\u2019s The Cypresses Believe in God<\/em><\/a> is a touching, quite funny portrait of a middle-class Catholic family in a country heading toward civil war. It includes one of the sweetest and funniest portrayals of a saint you\u2019ll ever read. It turns into a welter of Masonic conspiracy and the acronyms steadily spread until they outnumber the names. Things pick up again once the Communists start shooting nuns.<\/p>\n Okay, let\u2019s rank the shorter novels, from best to\u2026 less-best.<\/p>\n Carmen Boullosa, They\u2019re Cows, We\u2019re Pigs<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen\u2019s Union<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Jim Thompson, The Grifters<\/em>. Honestly this could easily switch places with the Chabon. It has some gauche and clumsy elements but the mother-son relationship is just so perfectly bruised and sleazy. What I loved in this book, I loved a lot.<\/p>\n Jachym Topol, The Devil\u2019s Workshop<\/em>. Czech satire of genocide tourism; review is in the new Fare Forward<\/em>, which you can purchase<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shohei Ooka, Fires on the Plain<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Movies (seen for the first time)<\/strong>: Madchen in Uniform<\/a>; Dog Day Afternoon<\/a>; I, Tonya (review forthcoming of course); A Nightmare on Elm Street<\/a> (1986); The Unknown Girl<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also notable (in order of when I saw them): The Tenth Victim<\/a> (oh hey, my very first post of 2017 had one of my year\u2019s best headlines), #Horror (for real!), The Baby<\/a>, Get Out<\/a>, Blue Collar<\/a>, A Cottage on Dartmoor, Confession<\/a> (2005, don\u2019t @ me, I can\u2019t be shamed about this), Together<\/a>, Ava\u2019s Possessions<\/a>, Hamlet (the Royal Shakespeare Theatreee one with David Tennant), Marshland<\/a>, Ab-Normal Beauty<\/a>, Passing Strange<\/a>, Scarface, The Roaring Twenties.<\/p>\n Television<\/strong>: I loved BoJack Horseman<\/em> season 4<\/a>. I\u2019m also really happy with how this review turned out, though it does contribute to the decadent genre of \u201creading theology into secular television.\u201d Here are some extra notes<\/a> as well. Also adored Miami Vice<\/em><\/a> season one. Season 2<\/a> of that wonderful show had some duds but also some terrific, innovative and hot episodes. After that it settles down into a more normal procedural, although the bad conscience lingers. I\u2019m in season 4 now.<\/p>\n And I saw A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> for the very first time. It is charming and lovely; and a deeply-felt portrayal of Christmas as rescue. If you watch it on Amazon Video it is followed by a desultory, pointless semisequel from 1992.<\/p>\n Theater<\/strong>: The theatrical event I enjoyed most wholeheartedly was the reading of Fr Bill Cain\u2019s Equivocation<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Best articles etc by other people<\/strong>: To be honest, I read a lot fewer articles this year than in past years, and kept worse track of them. So I will list a few things here but will also just say that Eleanor Parker<\/a> has been an absolute all-star of Twitter. She\u2019s a medievalist and she has filled my days with frolicsome caroling friars<\/a>, beautiful Anglo-Saxon sermons, and \u201cSt Edith of Wilton: Nun, Fashionista, Artist, Zookeeper, Ruler of the Waves<\/a>.\u201d Tradical<\/a> sometimes needs somebody to yank his leash (and to his credit he very obviously knows this) but his daily saint-of-the-day art devotional posts are delightful, and he posts gems like this extraordinary Christmas Mass setting<\/a>.<\/p>\n And I really do love America<\/em>\u2018s historical profiles. Church history is my only praxis tbh. Here are three great examples<\/a>: Cornelia Augusta Peacock Connelly, Nicholas Black Elk, & Sr. Mary Antonia Ebo.<\/p>\n Leah Libresco Sargeant, \u201cLosing My Child at Easter<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Kaitlyn Greenidge, \u201cSecrets of the South<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Hastings, \u201cThe Alphabet and the Inevitability of Death in Early Protestant America<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n And this is not an article exactly, but: \u201cA Message to Those Who Kill Us<\/a>,\u201d a sermon from Coptic Fr. Boules George.<\/p>\n Best articles by me<\/strong>: My tribute to\/critique of Desert Hearts<\/em><\/a>, a movie I truly love.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat it\u2019s like going to church when you\u2019re homeless<\/a>.\u201d There\u2019s too much of my own voice in this piece\u2013too many transitions, too much padding. But the quotes from the people I interviewed are terrific.<\/p>\n \u201cBeyond religious life and marriage<\/a>.\u201d Interviews with people living in intentional community, families forged by godparenthood, celibate partnership, and more.<\/p>\n \u201cHow the Eucharist Helps the Lonely and Desperate<\/a>.\u201d Christ the Victim is Christ the Liberator.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenges of being both gay and Catholic<\/a>.\u201d Final paragraphs are probably the best.<\/p>\n Best blog posts by me<\/strong>: \u201cMourning and Weeping in this Valley of Brunch<\/a>.\u201d Does Christianity exalt the body?<\/p>\n \u201cA Girl in Love<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAgainst the Weaponization of Gay Christian Witness & Other Notes from Canada<\/a>\u201c: \u201cMammals gonna mammal, y\u2019all\u201d and other words of wisdom.<\/p>\n lol \u201cJudgment on the Orient Express<\/a>\u201d should\u2019ve been in the \u201carticles\u201d section but my own laziness got in my way. Use every Branagh after his desert and who shall \u2018scape whipping?<\/p>\n \u201cLet Him Be Filthy Still: \u2018Wise Blood\u2019 & \u2018Home.\u2019<\/a>\u201d I\u2019m including this piece even though like an idiot I straight-up forgot<\/em> to talk about the actual most obvious similarity between these two books, which is that the central character\u2019s self-destruction is driven by a belief that Christ\u2019s sacrifice on the Cross did not save him. Hazel says Christ didn\u2019t save anybody, Jack suspects Christ didn\u2019t save him specifically, and yet penance somehow must be paid. You can\u2019t live with yourself, it turns out. This is what I initially wanted to talk about and lol it only ended up in the title of the post. What is wrong with me sometimes, for real.<\/p>\n I always stick a bonus item in this section. I did a lot of fun yapping about horror movies this year, but none of the yapping was quite<\/em> good enough to make a best-of list, so instead let\u2019s have this post about \u201cThe Two Theologies of \u2018The Witch.\u2019<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n ETA: Can\u2019t let the year end without trying to make you buy my novel<\/a>. So, best compliment my novel received<\/strong>: a comparison to Florence King<\/a>. (Although I do think King loved all the main characters in When Sisterhood Was in Flower<\/em>. Even the liberal!)<\/p>\n Best book by me<\/strong>: I didn\u2019t publish anything this year, but next year the anthology I edited will appear. Christ\u2019s Body, Christ\u2019s Wounds: Staying Catholic When You\u2019ve Been Hurt in the Church<\/em> includes practical guidance, family history, spiritual reflections, and poetry. As far as I know it\u2019s the only collection of its kind. If you read it you\u2019ll find a cornucopia of crimes and cruelties\u2013racism, embezzlement, abuse, gossip and more. That is our church. But you will also find meditations on healing, forgiveness, trust, and the communion of the saints. It has been a true privilege to edit these pieces.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As always I shall switch from \u201cbest\u201d to \u201cfavorite\u201d and back as my whimsy takes me. Books (nonfiction). Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, And Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. A classic (I think?) study of the many varied practices and meanings of continence (aka no sex having from now on) in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[209],"tags":[339],"class_list":["post-11001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of","tag-best-of-2"],"yoast_head":"\n