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“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” – G. K. Chesterton
I love good books and am always looking for more to read. Please share your favorite books in the comments below – no matter what the subject or topic is.
I would appreciate it!
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
The Inferno, Dante
The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
Any book from Cistercian Publications but mostly those that help a person to live in the world but not of the world in monastic style …. finding the monk within.
Lord of the Rings trilogy, *hands down*. Read it when I was twelve and cherished it ever since.
Next top five would be (maybe not in this order):
1. Mystical City of God
2. Mere Christianity
3. The Power of One, Bryce Courtney
4. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
5. The Psychology of Everyday Things
So many books that I love but my top 3 are:
Fr. James Martin’s My Life with the Sints
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Victor Fankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning
The Drama Of Atheist Humanism – Henri de Lubac
God and Philosophy – Etienne Gilson
“The True Believer” by Eric Hoffer is a must read for anyone who is interested in politics.
“Another Sort of Learning” by Fr. James V. Schall
“Leisure: The Basis of Culture” by Joseph Pieper
“Child 44″ by Tom Smith
“Escape” by Carolyn Jessop
“Return to Rome” by Francis J. Beckwith
Sorry, I review.
I liked:
• “How Firm a Foundation” by Marcus Grodi (Fiction)
• “A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God’s Covenant Love in Scripture” by Scott Hahn (Catholic)
• “The Catholic Church And Conversion” by G. K. Chesterton (Catholic)
• “The Salvation Controversy” by James Akin (Catholic)
• “Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Turn-of-the-Century Culture” by Marva J. Dawn (Lutheran)
• “A Royal “Waste” of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World” by Marva J. Dawn (Lutheran)
Books I’d like to read:
• “Orthodoxy” by G. K. Chesterton (Anglican at the time)
• “Arms of Love” and the sequel “Surrender” by Carmen Marcoux (Fiction)
• “Gut Check: Confronting Love, Work, and Manhood in Your Twenties” by Tarek Saab
• “Answering The New Atheism” by Scott Hahn & Benjamin Wiker
• “Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence” (Studying the Historical Jesus) by Robert, E. Van Voorst
• “Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down” by Kaylene Johnson
• “Second Friends: C.s. Lewis and Ronald Knox in Conversation” by Milton T. Walsh
• “Coming Soon: Unlocking the Book of Revelation and Applying Its Lessons Today” by Michael Barber
• “10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn’t Help” by Benjamin Wiker
• “Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations” by Alex Harris
“Padre Pio: Man of Hope” – Renzo Allegri
“Friends of God” – St Josemaria Escriva
“Imitation of Christ” – Thomas a Kempis
“Fr Elijah” (fiction) – Michael O’Brien
I’m sure there are more I can’t think of right now! :)
Paula Huston has two great books for spiritual travelers: “The Holy Way,” and “By Way of Grace,” which I have read and recommend, especially for someone looking for a personal (and less academic) challenge to how one lives one’s faith and spirituality.
Just finished “Mariette In Ecstacy” by Ron Hansen and highly recommend it. Not only is it beautifully written on the fascinating subject of a stigmatic nun at the turn of the century, but it leaves you moved in many ways.
Currently, I’m finding While the Eyes of the Great Are Elsewhere by William Biersach very thought-provoking.
For laughs, A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
*The Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska
*True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort
*The Virtue Driven Life by Fr. Benedict Groeschel
*The Faith Explained by Leo J. Trese
*Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way by John Paul II
“Man’s Search for Meaning”, Viktor Frankl
Still one of my top favorite books even after more than 30 years…
Have way too many favorites, but here are some within the Catholic world of fiction that come to mind.
Graham Greene – The power and the glory
Shusaku Endo – Silence
Chesterton – Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man
Rumer Godden – In this house of Brede
Flannery O’Connor – Wise Blood
and of course the Hobbit and LOTR
1 “Out of the Silent Planet”, “Perelandra” and “That Hideous Strength” (space trilogy), C.S. Lewis
2 “Mere Christianity”, C.S. Lewis
3 “Catechism of the Catholic Church”
4 “Theology of the Body for Beginners”, Christopher West
5 “The Lord of the Rings”, J.R.R. Tolkien
6 “Black Elk Speaks”, John G. Neihardt
7 “The Joy of Mathematics”, Theoni Pappas
8 “Design Paradigms”, Henry Petroski
9 “Parenting with Love and Logic”, Foster Cline & Jim Fay
10 “A Severe Mercy” & “Under the Mercy”, Sheldon Vanauken
11 Anything by Ray Bradbury
12 “The Way Things Work”, David Macaulay
After buying the movie “Into great Silence”, I became interested in the most austere order in the Church.
http://www.liturgy.co.nz/worship/igs.html
I am now reading “An Infinity of Little Hours. So far I am enjoying this book.
http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/publicaffairsbooks-cgi-bin/display?book=9781586483272
“Anam Cara” by John O’Donohue
“The Habit of Being” Flannery O’Connor
“Diary Of a Worm” Doreen Cronin
(In no particular order)
“Christianity and Liberalism” by J. Gresham Machen
“Orthodoxy” by G. K. Chesterton
“Knowing God” by J. I. Packer
“The Institutes of the Christian Religion” by John Calvin
“The Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross
“The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien
“The Imitation of Christ” by St. Thomas aKempis
“The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan
“Chosen by God” by R. C. Sproul
“The God Who is There” by Francis Schaeffer
The Power and the Glory is a great book. Thanks for mentioning it. Anything by Greene is worth reading. Rilke’s Book of Hours…love poems to God. Beautiful.
Cindy,
Hoffer, Schall and Peiper – Great List. Just for that I’ll have to check out “Child 44″ By Tom Smith
Excellent list. Digging into my library for something more esoteric:
* “The Mystical Evolution in the Development and Vitality of the Church” Fr. John G. Arintero, OP TAN
*”A Treatise on Praryer From the Heart” Jean Pierre Caussade, SJ, Institure of the SJ
“The Long Lonliness” Dorothy Day
Off the top of my head:
+ Spiritual Canticle, St. John of the Cross
+ Commedia, Dante
+ Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter H. Miller, Jr.
+ Out of the Silent Planet, Lewis
+ Perelandra, Lewis
+ That Hideous Strength, Lewis
+ Brideshead Revisited, Waugh
+ The Narnia Series, Lewis
+ The Hobbit, Tolkein
Hey Cade_One – “Coming Soon” is a great book! My Bible study is reading this book right now, and it really is amazing the way it reveals how much of Revelation ties into our liturgy.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned Archbishop Fulton Sheen yet! He is, by far, one of my favorite authors. There’s a series of books that I’ve been reading through, the “Seven Words” of. Right now I’m reading “The Seven Words of Jesus and Mary” – contrasting the words of Jesus with the words of Mary. I’ve also read “The Cross and the Beautitudes” – where he contrasts the words Jesus spoke from the Cross to the beautitudes. Both are fairly short and concise books, but boy, there are plenty of punches pulled!
Harry Potter books (my absolute favorites)
Narnia books
The Hobbit, which I like more than LotR.
Hercule Poirot mysteries
All Sherlock Holmes novels and stories except “A Study in Scarlet”, which is frankly terrible.
Lamb, the Gospel according to Biff, Christ’s childhood pal (not nearly as bad as it sounds. It is a work of complete fiction and not mant at all to be taken as real. It’s hilarious and I think a must read.)
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