Category: Books and Reading
The 10 Best Books I Read in 2010
These are the best ten books I read this year in rough order of how enriching and enjoyable they were: The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything by Fr. James Martin, SJ The Road by Cormac McCarthy The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing by Peter Kreeft Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird The Children of Hurín by J.R.R. Tolkien Deep Conversion/Deep Prayer by Fr. Thomas Dubay A Travel Guide to...
Mortimer Adler: The Forgotten Educational Reformer
I firmly believe that Mortimer Adler is one of the most misunderstood and neglected thinkers of the last one hundred years. Often labeled elitist and Eurocentric, people often confuse his views on education with people like Allen Bloom and Ed Hirsch, who advocate a kind of cultural literacy as a key component of education. On the contrary, I believe Adler’s views on educational reform are deeply democratic and innovative. He was recommending changes to the educational system decades before other more trendy names were found for them. The...
iBreviary – Using Your iPod to Consecrate the Day
iBreviary is the perfect app for anyone who desires the pray the Liturgy of the Hours but has a difficult time finding the correct readings in the four thousand pages that make up the printed prayer books. The four volume set of books that makes up the full text of the Divine Office is beautiful to behold, but is also heavy, cumbersome and costs well over one hundred dollars. iBreviary, on the other hand, is as light as your iPod Touch or iPhone, fits easily in your...
Rare Patrick O’Brian Interview
As some of you know, I am a great fan of Patrick O’Brian’s series of Napoleonic-era naval stories featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and Doctor Stephen Maturin. Patrick O’Brian was a very private man, and interview footage of him is hard to come by, so I was thrilled when I recently discovered that C-Span has posted the interview O’Brian gave to Walter Cronkite in 1999. C-Span is not allowing the video to be embedded on other sites, so you’ll have to follow the link to watch it, but it’s...
A Glimpse of Heaven Through Mythopoeic Literature
Having just finished Peter Kreeft’s book Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing, I find myself aching for the numinous: Have you ever felt it–the haunting of the world?…The haunting has been called the sense of the “numinous.” It is the sense that the world we see is haunted by something we do not see, an unseen presence.” Kreeft goes on to discuss this haunting in the human face, romantic love, pictures, stories and music. I think I have lost touch with the numinous in my daily life as practical...
Gotta Keep Reading! Inspirational Video
Need to inspire someone to read? Here’s a fantastic video from Ocoee Middle School: Tip of the Hat to the Educators group on Diigo.
My Favorite Reads of 2009
In reverse order, here are the best 10 books I read this year: Quest for the Living God by Elizabeth Johnson – an intelligently written survey of where modern theology is heading, for good or ill; I can tell that one reading of this book is not enough His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik – great mixture of history and fantasy Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza – hard to believe a genocide like this took place in my lifetime; with all its tragedy, still an uplifting testament...
The Top 10 Books I Read in 2008
These are the best books I read this year: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz – Fantastic thriller Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick – Great for junior high students Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life by Fr. Robert Spitzer – Grow spiritually in the midst of a busy life What’s So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D’Souza – Explains Christianity to modern skeptics Praying the Word: An Introduction to Lectio Divina by Enzo Bianchi – Learn how to pray with the Bible using this small but powerful book...
Bookshelves Arranged by Spine Color
It looks cool, but how do you find the book you’re looking for? From Designverb.
My Reaction to The Knight by Gene Wolfe
I finished Gene Wolfe’s The Knight today. My Wolfe gene must be missing, because I don’t get it. I understand that his books are often obscure on a first reading, and that this is just the first of a two-book series, but nothing in the book really moved me. Some of the scenes were beautifully written, and I liked the main character, Able of the High Heart, but the story left me flat. It just didn’t seem worth the effort. I thought I’d search the web for other...