So, below I have compiled a fairly modest list of books that I plan on reading this summer. I also, of course, do not include Scripture because it is always profitable for reading and praying with in and out of season. Not quite sure if my list would be considered long or short. I am certain, however, that the summer months tend to go by faster than I think they will, so perhaps a short list is wise.
True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort
(True Devotion to Mary is a book I am currently reading in my men's fellowship group.)
100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura by Dave Armstrong
(I am eager to see if this will be helpful in the Catholic Apologetics class I teach.....how could it not?)
What's Wrong with the World by GK Chesterton
(A book the SE Michigan Chesterton Society is currently reading.)
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
(I am ashamed to say that I have never read this book, but plan to do so before the movie is released in December.)
Converts and Kingdoms by Diane Moczar
(This book looks intriguing. I don't have it yet, still waiting for it to be published.)
9 comments:
Hello Timothy,
As I'm retired, I don't have a summer reading plan. Though I do tend to plan ahead when it comes to my reading choices. FWIW, this is what I'm reading now.
True Devotion to Mary (I just finished my consecration).
Early Fathers from the Philokalia.
The Art of Prayer; An Orthodox Anthology.
The Glories of Mary.
Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition.
Some of the above (#2&3) are devotional reading that I read a page or two at a time, before prayer. The others at regular pace.
And for fun, The Great English Short Story Writers, Vol 1
Pax,
John
My "summer" has started already (though it is hardly distinct from the rest of the year as a grad student) and so I have a head start on my summer reading. This summer, my Fiancee and I will be reading Three to get Married by Fulton Sheen. We recently read selections from his The World's First Love about the Blessed Mother, and we liked that quite a bit.
At this point, I lack a plan, and so will not follow through with the reading I would like to do, which is OK with me at the moment. At the top of my "currently reading and would like to finish" pile is The Life of St. Anslem by Eadmer (his contemporary). Also in that list is Carl Anderson's Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II's Theology of the Body.
Timothy,
You're in for a treat with The Hobbit, and even more so if you read The Lord of the Rings.
Anon,
Just finished up the lord of the rings a month ago. Really enjoyed it!
The Hobbit is excellent!
I downloaded 'Opening the Scriptures: Bringing the Gospel of Luke to Life: Insight and inspiration' by George Martin to my Kindle. In September, we are going to study the Gospel of Luke in my Bible study class and I thought this would be a good 'theological' prep.
Hey Tim, wrote this today and thought it could be of marginal interest:
Along about noon-ish I got it into my head to drive off and fondle Bibles at Generations religious gifts. I examined each carefully, first appreciating the eminently portable Oxford NRSV but eventually growing less enthused over the small print, the bleed-thru pages and the "page warp" for want of a better term, the kind of thing that happens to thin, bible pages. Still it has a novel shape, tall but thin and pocket-friendly.
Then I wandered over to the fleet of NABREs and the class of the field was the Fireside Catholic Companion edition. The cover was leather-like but soft leather, and it melts in your hand. The color was burgundy and the page edges lightly gilded. The only thing I had against it was the how each page was marred by the black side tab with the Bible book on it. It seemed to clutter up the page. But still am tempted to get it since I don't have an NAB with a leather look.
I opened the NABRE at random to Job 15 and found a piquant verse: "Are the consolations of God not enough for you, and speech that deals gently with you?" It was said, though, by one of Job's "friends", whom we can usually think of as wrong-headed although he also says in the same speech words similar to what God Himself would say later, along the lines of "were you around when [He] created the world?"
The most surprising Bible was something called something like The Catholic Rainbow Study edition. The entire Biblical text was highlighted in various shades of color which indicated one of about eight or ten categories: Sin, Salvation, God, etc... It was gaudy to the max. I would find it very hard to concentrate while reading it since the constant color change would be jarring. I assume it's for those people who like to highlight their Bibles by verse type and this does it for you which, to my mind, takes all the fun of discovery out of it. Cheating in a way. Anyway I can't believe there's much of a market for this Bible but God bless the makers and may their tribe increase. I think it's great that we're getting a greater variety of Bibles to choose from these days.
My bible fetish seems to re-appear every year or so. If I plotted my biblical buys I'd probably see a new one every 12 months or less. In recent years the CTS Bible and the NJB hardback (too non-portable) and leather editions. The Little Rock Bible was a big mistake, cracked open thrice. I should've learned from the NJB hardback that I don't tote/read big bibles pretty much ever. I could sell it back on amazon and make likely $3. But I read that darn Catholic Bibles blog and get enthused about buying one. (I'm so suggestible.)
I don't doubt I'd be tempted to buy the Catechism in a leather binding if such an animal existed. I suppose publishers think that would be off-putting, to almost equate the Bible with the Catechism by printing them in similar formats and on "biblical" paper.
Tom,
Thanks for your comments. What do you think of this
edition of the CCC:
http://www.stpauls.com.au/product/2526
intriguing, though I'd still like leather.
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