Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church by H. W. Crocker III With a title like Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church, any reader can make a reasonable guess about the attitude of author H. W. Crocker III. He’s as pro-Catholic a writer as you may ever come across. He covers the two thousand year history of the Catholic Church and hits all the highlights–the apostles’ initial efforts, the age of Constantine,... Read more
As a convert to the faith I have become quite interested in the history of the Church during the whole lifetime of the Church. Pretty much every age of the Church is quite fascinating. The ups ands downs, the saints and sinners, all the ecclesiastical conflicts. These tensions in Church history are chronicled from the New Testament on. After reading a new book I reflected on the fact that one aspect of Church history I have read a good deal... Read more
City Beyond Time: Tales of the Fall of Metachronopolis by John C. Wright Nothing lasts forever, even if you have the ability to travel through time and try to make it stay. John C. Wright’s collection of short stories tell various significant and insignificant events near the end of the city of Metachronopolis, where time travelers called “Time Wardens” live and gather various items and people from history for their own amusement. With great power comes great corruption, but not... Read more
The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connections and Courage by Brené Brown “In my research,” Dr. Brown says, “the word I use to describe people who can live from a place of vulnerability is wholehearted.” Being wholehearted is a practice—one that we can choose to cultivate through empathy, gratitude, and awareness. Join this engaging and heartfelt teacher on The Power of Vulnerability as she offers profound insights on leaning into the full spectrum of emotions—so we can show up,... Read more
Art: A New History by Paul Johnson In Art: A New History, Paul Johnson turns his great gifts as a world historian to a subject that has enthralled him all his life: the history of art. This narrative account, from the earliest cave paintings up to the present day, has new things to say about almost every period of art. Taking account of changing scholarship and shifting opinions, he draws our attention to a number of neglected artists and styles,... Read more
Stephen J. Binz’s book Scripture–God’s Handbook for Evangelizing Catholics is one that in my review stack that I had not prioritized in reading. I had stereotyped it in my mind as another general book on the subject urging Catholics to go deeper into scripture. Besides the title is easily misconstrued. In fact in social media, where my progress through this book was recorded, several people thought that this was a Protestant book based on the title. What I found in... Read more
I have often heard on Catholic radio that the size of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is intimidating for many people. I am not one of those people since a 802 page tome is like a good start for me. Still I can totally understand why this is so for many people. The Church understands this also which is why there is a Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Still having a range of other formats is... Read more
Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (Writing this without spoilers probably will lead to misdirection, but I feel there are too many people who probably haven’t read this book. And I DO want to say some things.) *big sigh* Oh, that was good. It is interesting to me that I began reading Dickens with his later books. Going backwards to his earlier creations, one can see the training wheels on in some places. There are some very predictable plot developments... Read more
The Book of Feasts & Seasons by John C. Wright THE BOOK OF FEASTS & SEASONS is a beautifully mind-bending stroll with a grandmaster of science fiction through the annual Catholic calendar. Over the course of the year, from January to December, the author takes his inspiration from ten different holidays and explores their meanings in a series of stories of marvelous imagination. … I’d already read several of these stories online, exactly where escapes me but probably on the... Read more
Tweeting with God: # Big Bang, Prayer, Bible, Sex, Crusades, Sin, Career . . . by Michel Remery I’m a sucker for books about the basics. Even if I know a lot about something, there’s always some new detail to learn. I also often find food for thought when something is expressed in a new, imaginative way. Best of all, it can give me simple ways to explain something I might know so much about that it’s hard to remember... Read more
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