One Catholic Life Blog

Sherlock and Watson

Books and Reading

Follow the Clues Mystery Challenge 2018

One of the reading challenges that took the most planning last year was the Follow the Clues Mystery Challenge from Bev at My Reader’s Block. I’m still working on finishing this year’s challenge, but it was such fun to set up that I’ve decided to try it again for next year. As Bev describes the challenge, the goal is to follow a set of clues furnished by the mystery books you read to create a body of evidence to support a book court case. Each book clue should...

Book Review / Books and Reading

Alfred Hitchcock’s Hard Day at the Scaffold

Hard Day at the Scaffold is a solid collection of short stories edited by Alfred Hitchcock that I read over the course of a year for the Deal Me In Short Story Challenge. Hitchcock’s anthologies always feature darkly humorous stories with a generous dose of creepiness, and this one was no different. Though this collection had fewer memorable stories than others I’ve read, it was still enjoyable. My favorite was “One on a Desert Island” by Donald Westlake, the tragicomic story of what can happen to a man’s...

Advent Wreath

Spirituality

Resources for the Beginning of Advent

Advent is upon us, our annual invitation to living with hope and expectation. As we begin this sacred time of waiting and watching, here are some resources to help us in our preparations for Christmas: America Magazine offers An (Unconventional) Advent Playlist for those who like to wait until the actual Christmas season to play Christmas music. Busted Halo has updated their Advent in 2 Minutes video: Dynamic Catholic is once again offering their daily video mediations, The Best Advent Ever. And if you’re looking for a good...

Books and Reading

The 2018 Reading Challenge Season Has Begun

I had so much fun with my first year of reading challenges that I can’t wait for next year. I still have several challenges to finish for 2017, but I’m already planning for 2018. Last December I summarized all of my challenges in one post and tracked them all on one page. This year I still plan on tracking them on one page, but I’m going to write separate posts about each of the challenges, and right now I’m already up to nine challenges, not including the Les...

Books and Reading

Nonfiction November 2017 Week 5: New to My To-Be-Read List

This final week of Nonfiction November 2017 is hosted by Lory at The Emerald City Book Review who asks us to look back on the month: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! Looking back, not only has Nonfiction November 2017 given me several interesting book suggestions, but it has also motivated me to put more nonfiction on my reading list for 2018. I...

Fantasy Castle

Books and Reading

Flights of Fantasy 2017 Reading Challenge Wrap-up

The Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge motivated me to read some books that had been on my TBR list for many years, and it also enabled me to re-read some of my favorites. Fantasy was my first favorite genre, but I haven’t read a lot of it lately because it seems to have lost its magic, as I wrote about several weeks ago. In fact, all of the fantasy I read this year was written before 1993. My year in fantasy fiction began with a fantastically original series...

Book Review / Books and Reading

Classics Club #15: Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol reaffirmed one thing for me: I really don’t like classic satires. From Candide to Gulliver’s Travels to Zuleika Dobson, they hold very little interest for me. I’ve had a bit more success with modern satires like the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett, but in general satire is not a genre I appreciate. Dead Souls is an episodic story in which the main character Chichikov travels to various Russian estates trying to purchase “dead souls.” It’s not as creepy as it sounds. Dead souls are peasants that...

The Violent Land by Wayne D. Overholser

Book Review / Books and Reading

The Violent Land by Wayne D. Overholser

I had thought of this country as the big range, but now, I told myself, I would rename it the violent land. That was it, a violent, savage land. It had changed me since I had come into it. The Violent Land by Wayne D. Overholser is a classic of western fiction, but it would be a mistake to limit its value to a single genre. Part adventure, part romance, part Bildungsroman, Overholser’s award-winning novel is outstanding in every respect. The plot is tight, the characters are believable and...

Some of Nick's Nonfiction Favorites

Books and Reading

Handprints on the Wall of My Soul: Nonfiction November 2017 Week 4

Nonfiction November 2017 continues with a prompt about favorite nonfiction books hosted by Katie of Doing Dewey: Nonfiction Favorites: We’ve talked about how you pick nonfiction books in previous years, but this week I’m excited to talk about what makes a book you’ve read one of your favorites. Is the topic pretty much all that matters? Are there particular ways a story can be told or particular writing styles that you love? Do you look for a light, humorous approach or do you prefer a more serious tone?...

M. R. James Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

Book Review / Books and Reading

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James

All this time a growing feeling of discomfort had been creeping over him—nervous reaction, perhaps, after the delight of his discovery. Whatever it was, it resulted in a conviction that there was someone behind him, and that he was far more comfortable with his back to the wall. I read Ghost Stories of an Antiquary over the course of this past year as part of the Deal Me In Short Story Challenge. Each week I would draw a card from a deck of playing cards, and if it...

The Worm Ouroboros detail

Book Review / Books and Reading

Classics Club Book #14: The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison

Abase thee and serve me, worm of the pit. Else will I by and by summon out of ancient night intelligences and dominations mightier far than thou, and they shall serve my ends, and thee shall they chain with chains of quenchless fire and drag thee from torment to torment through the deep. The Worm Ouroboros might be called world-building fantasy in the tradition of The Lord of the Rings but for two details: it was published 22 years before Tolkien’s trilogy, and it is much darker. In fact, though Tolkien himself...

Treasure box of pearls

Homily

A Value Far Beyond Pearls – Homily for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

As the church year begins to wind down over the next two weeks, many of the the Scripture readings are about the end of time, when Jesus will come again. So today’s first reading may seem out of place. In the cycle of readings for Sunday, the first reading is paired with the gospel. But today’s reading from Proverbs about the worthy wife seems a bit disconnected from the gospel. Why are these two readings paired together today? Since the gospel seems to fit this time of year...