Please, please, please dear dear readers: list at least five books in the comments that you would highly recommend and wish everyone would read! BUT please do not list The Holy Bible or The Catechism of the Catholic Church because I have read the first one several times and the second, I reference it plenty.
A huge MAHALO for your assistance in suggesting good reads for me!
And, to make it FUN for you: I will randomly draw a name from the comments for a surprise gift from me. It will maybe be something I make, but definitely will have some good eatables from Hawaii. Does that up the ante a bit? Because I'm seriously in need of good books to read!
Winner will be chosen randomly and announced here on 15 January 2010. For clarification and to make it fair to those who actually leave 5 or more suggestions, I will only enter names from the comments who list at least 5 books. For every five entries your name will be entered once more. So 10 = 2; 15 = 3 etc.
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23 comments:
My most recent favorites are of course Rome Sweet Home by Scott Hahn which is about his and his wifes conversion.
The Heartache No One Sees by Sheila Walsh which is about being Christian and battling depression.
The Power of a Praying Woman by Stormie Omartian
Without a Doubt by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin
and I am currently working on Where is God? by Dr. John Townsend.
I read lots of different books with lots of different topics and of course by various authors. If you are interested in any of these let me know perhaps we could arrange a swap!
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
The Actor and The Housewife.
Anything by Jane Austen.
Mystical City of God...if I come up with more later, I will let you know...right now I am off to Mass!
Sarah...I started reading this last year...but never finished it because the kids got the stomach flu and I never went back to it. However, it is Excellent!
The Domestic Church: Room By Room
A Study Guide for Mothers
By Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle.
I second that The Domestic Church: Room by Room
That is the book we are reading for our book club.
Love and Respect
Another great book, for your marriage!
Okay..I'm not going for the religious books because I know you've read most of what I've read..so here goes my list:
Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
The Dark Tower Series - Stephen King
The Christmas Sweater - Glenn Beck
(recommended by my mom) (not a political book)
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Beloved - Tony Morrison
The Great Divorce - C. S. Lewis
1) HA! Lord of the Rings of course!
2) Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD
3) Story of a Soul by St. Therese
4) Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila
5) Any works by St. John of the Cross
Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell
Anna Karenina By Tolstoy
Please Don't Drink the Holy Water by Susie Lloyd
Island's of the World by Michael O'Brien
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
I have to say, coming up with just five was the most difficult part of this exercise!
The Discernment of Spirits
by Rev Timothy Gallagher
(great book for the spiritual life; was recommended to me by my spiritual director and has changed the lives of almost everyone I have recommended it to)
The Examen Prayer
by Rev Timothy Gallagher
(more by the same author above; great stuff; very practical; great introduction to this kind of prayer)
A Mother's Rule of Life
by Holly Pierlot
(a guide to developing a rule of life for your home, similar to rules developed by religious communities, based on, in order of importance: prayer, person (yourself), partner (spouse), parent, and provider (everything else)
and a couple of novels I've enjoyed:
Anna Karenina (by Leo Tolstoy)
and
East of Eden (by John Steinbeck)
Happy reading!
My favorite book of all time is Watership Down by Richard Adams
There We Stood, Here We Stand by Timothy Drake is another good conversion book. I suggested it to Steve even though he was Catholic just because it gives you a point of view of converts and can help make some things more appreciated.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. So much better than the movie, aren't they always?
Perhaps you've read some or most of these, but they're my favorites!
Can I list more than five? Here are some I've read within the past year or so:
1. "The Lamb's Supper" AND "Hail, Holy Queen," both by Scott Hahn
2. "Going Rogue," by Sarah Palin
3. "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson
4. "Left to Tell" by Immaculee Ilbagiza
A couple of novels I like:
5. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" (I forget the author's name)
6. "The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde (it helps if you've read Jane Eyre first)
Only 5?
These are not necessarily my absolute bestest favorites but they have all made an impact on my life in some way. And I only have 10 minutes to think so these will have to do:)
Prayer for Beginners by Peter Kreeft (short and simple but it packs a punch. Changed the way I pray and view prayer)
The Privilege of Being a Woman by Dr. Alice von Hildebrand (also short. Changed the way I looked at my femininity)
Come Rack, Come Rope by Msgr. R.H. Benson
(This is historical fiction and when I first read it 10 years ago it changed the way I looked at the priesthood)
Ditto the recommendation for The Lamb's Supper by Hahn.
Holiness for Housewives by Dom Hubert Van Zeller (another short and sweet book that packs a punch. Practical guidelines for a life of sanctity within our vocation)
I would suggest Tolkien but I think you're an even bigger fan than I!!
Hmmm...
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (this was my introduction to the classics. I took "advanced" literature classes in school so we read a bunch of modernist garbage. I read this for the first time when I was 31 and was livid that no one had ever suggested I read it before. Big book but worth every page.)
Anything by Mother Angelica
The Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser
The Lamb's Supper by Scott Hahn
Full of Grace by Johnnette Benkovic
Anything by Patrick Madrid
I have a long list on my blog. However, here would be some of my top candidates:
(1) The Book of Privy Counseling (my all-time favorite)
(2) The Cloud of Unknowing
(3) The Practice of the Presence of God (Brother Lawrence)
(4) Ruthless Trust (Brendan Manning)
(5) The Fire Within (Thomas Dubay -- and anything else by Dubay: all his books are super)
And if you have not read it, "The Hound of Heaven" by Francis Thompson. This is a poem (long one), not a book, but worth the read.
Happy New Year!
I'm going to have to come back to look all the suggestions ... for myself to read!
Here are my humble suggestions:
1) Bathe Seven Times: A Contemplative Look at the Seven Captial Sins by Mother Nadine
2)Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (hilarious IMHO!)
3-5) Kristin Lavransdatter series by Sigrid Undset
*The Bridal Wreath
**The Cross
***The Mistress of Husaby
If you aren't familiar with The Meanderings of Susanne Barrett blog, she has just listed all of the books she read in the past year, there are some great ones there!
Here are some of my faves:
The Holy Longing -Ronald Rolheiser
Gifts from the Sea-Anne Morrow Lindbergh
An Interrupted Life-Etty Hillesum
The Cloister Walk-(why does her name escape me?)
anything by Fr. Robert Barron
Also, are you familiar with the Booklady blog? She has some fabulous suggestions!
Happy reading!
Sarah, Here are some that come to mind. Some fun and some faith-enriching ...
* Father Elijah: An Apocalypse by Michael D. O'Brien (Catholic fiction; couldn't put it down)
* A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot (a reread from time to time)
* Shadow of the Bear by Regina Doman (target audience is teens, but I enjoyed it. Perhaps you could read it with your daughter? I can't remember how old she is, but I'd say this book would be for 14+)
* After Shadow, read Black as Night and Waking Rose (they're a trilogy)
* Lifeline by James Stenson (Catholic discipline book, excellent)
* For fun, if you like P&P, I suggest the trilogy by Pamela Aidan: An Assembly Such as This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain. This is light, fun reading. But she maintains the decorum that Austen writes with and does NOT include all this ridiculous romance stuff like some of the P&P sequels. But this is actually not a sequel, it is the story of P&P told through Darcy's point of view. The first and third books are best, but you have to read the 2nd one, which is just OK.
* Redeming Love by Francine Rivers (definitely a romance but with a Christian perspective)
* Oh, and I agree with the gal who suggested "Rome Sweet Rome." I haven't read it, but I heard Kimberly Hahn tell their conversion story at a conference this fall, and it.was.amazing!
So far, "A Homemade Life," Sarah Palin's book, Kimberly Hahn's "Graced & Gifted" and the Pioneer Woman's cookbook are the only ones on my definite to-read list. So, I look forward to hearing which ones you end up picking, because maybe they'll end up on my list, too =) You have a lot of great suggestions from others!
One more: Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza!
Ah, Therese, glad to see you stole mine...:) - Mystical City of God - Venerable Mary of Agreda
Purgatory - Fr. Shouppe
Hell- is that Fr. Shouppe too?
An Exorcist Tells His Story - Fr. Amorth
Michael Brown's Stuff
Anything by Maeve Binchy, particularly "Light a Penny Candle." You will laugh, you will cry!
The Nun's Story by Kathryn Hulme. I learned more about orthodox Catholicism by reading this than anything else - and it's a novel!
Anything by Fr. B. Groeschel but particularly "Healing the Original Wound." I have met Fr. BG and he is a living saint!
George Weigel's "Letters to a Young Catholic" (I am old but read it anyways and got a lot out of it!)
Vinny Flynn's "Seven Secrets of the Eucharist" - you will never receive Holy Communion in a state of apathy again!
Oh - and Zmirak and Matychowiak's "The Bad Catholics Guide to Good Living" is both hilarious and orthodox!
Ladies - DO NOT read anything by Ron Rolheiser. He is the kind of priest who "doesn't like to wear a collar" and is liberalliberalliberal. yuck. The only women in my parish that like him are the 60+ hippie-womyn-priest crowd.
consider yourself warned!
Oh! Corrie ten Boom and Catherine Marshall - even though they are protestant those two writers did more to bring me back to the Catholic church than reading dissident Catholic writers!
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