Reading Catholic

Reading Catholic and catholic

Nancy Piccione

Catholic Post December Column–Gift Book Suggestions for Grown-Ups

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As I wrote in my column about books for young readers, books really do make thoughtful and lasting gifts at Christmastime.   With the variety of Catholic books on abundant topics available at Catholic booksellers, it’s easy to find something for everyone.

As a starting point, here are just a few recommendations of some recent releases that would make great gifts for the friends in your life:

*What does it mean to be a friend, to have a friend?  What is spiritual friendship?  Walking Together:  Discovering the Catholic Tradition of Spiritual Friendship by Mary DeTurris Poust, explores this topic in a worthwhile mix of history, personal memoir and reflection on the nature of spiritual friendship.   

My favorite chapter is “Kindred Spirits:  Friendships Come in All Forms” about friendships within the family. Poust shares her poignant experience of the deep friendship she shared with her mother, who died when her daughter was a young adult.  The ways family members, from spouses to siblings, can be friends to each other, is explored deeply and well here.

I so enjoyed learning more about the spiritual friendship from the famous—St. Francis de Sales & St. Jane Frances de Chantal—to the brotherly—Pope Benedict XVI and his brother, a German priest, and many others. 

At the end of each chapter, there are reflection questions—good for discussion or just personal reflection—and a meditation on the chapter’s themes.

What I like best about Walking Together is that it shows how our closest, deepest friendships are meant to bring us closer together and closer to God, and practical ways to make this happen in our friendships.

*In Travelers Along the Way:  The Men and Women Who Shaped My Life by Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, writes about many of his different spiritual friends.  This book is like a “who’s who” of Catholicism, from mini-biographies of saints and blessed, the famous and the obscure, in fascinating color.  Each chapter is a little gem of anecdotes and memories of the particular fellow “traveler,” from Cardinal Cooke to Groeschel’s secretary.

The prolific Fr. Groeschel is easy to read (in the best sense of the word); he’s such an excellent writer that he makes it look easy to write in a conversational, relational style.  Travelers Along the Way puts that great style to good use, as you can easily pick up and read one “traveler’s” story.

It’s hard to select favorites from the dozens of “travelers”, but I especially enjoyed the laugh-out-loud chapter on his fellow friar Fr. Innocent; and the touching story of Groeschel’s long friendship with Mother Teresa.

Groeschel writes, “Part of the reason for writing this book was to suggest, dear reader, that you spend some time examining your own journey and recalling the fellow travelers you have encountered along the road of life.  I believe it can be very profitable to meditate on how their presence has changed you and, perhaps, brought you a little closer to God.”

*For the fiction reader on your list, a great new novel with wide appeal is Looking for the King: An Inklings Novel by C.S. Lewis expert David C. Downing. 

I was delighted by this novel , in which C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams are characters in WW II era England who help the two engaging protagonists “solve” a mystery about Arthurian legend. Downing expertly weaves actual quotes from the English writers into the dialogue; I say expertly because I didn’t know that fact until after I finished the novel—the dialogue is very natural & the adventure fast-paced. 

There’s also a very cool website to go with the book: www.lookingfortheking.com.

*Heart Sounds by Janice Steinhagen and John Howland, M.D., (a regional director of the Catholic Medical Association) presents first-person accounts of 12 doctors.  Each professional—from a second-year medical student to decades-practicing doctors — tells the story of his or her vocation to health care, intertwined with a spiritual journey of faith.  Heart Sounds is wonderful, edifying reading that would be of interest to many in the health care field or curious about it.

*St. Francis famously created the Christmas tradition of a crèche, and Franciscan Christmas, by Kathleen M. Carroll, is a very—I don’t know another way to say it–Franciscan reflection on this spiritual tradition.  This small and beautifully sized volume is organized as one chapter for each element in a Nativity set—Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and so on.  Throughout are interwoven stories and thoughts from St. Francis’ life, Scripture and Carroll’s own colorful life.  This book would make a great gift for Christmastime reading, especially for those with love their Fontanini set or who collect crèche sets.

Gift Book Suggestions for Young Readers {my December column @TheCatholicPost}

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Did I ever tell you about the Christmas when I was 9 years old and I didn’t get the game “Operation”?

My neighbor and schoolmate Liz did get “Operation.”  Let me here confess the envy that I felt seeing it on her dining room table amidst all the Christmas wrapping paper.

The envy lasted about five minutes while we played it together, and then it was abandoned to play “Little House on the Prairie” in her backyard.  I don’t remember ever playing or desiring “Operation” again.  (Though sometimes, when I’m in the toy aisle, I gaze wistfully at it.)

I learned a valuable lesson that day:  some whiz-bang toys that seem cool truly do pale in comparison to a good story. (As an adult, I also realize how wise my parents were—I was the fifth of six children, so they were pretty smart by me—that glitzy toys are not pure gold).

Don’t get me wrong.  We have plenty of electronics at our house.  We like using them, from fighting over who gets to play “Angry Birds”  on the iPad to marathon games of hula hoop or “Sports Resort” on the Wii.

But there is nothing like carving out some time, especially in these colder months, for enjoying and sharing good books.    I propose the giving of engaging and soul-filling books, as gifts this Christmas season.

At our house, we have a newer tradition of giving books on St. Nicholas Day, so there is plenty of time throughout Advent and the Christmas season for reading.  Even with a book-loving mom & dad, I notice our kids sometimes might seem –underwhelmed.

But as the gifts stays out on the coffee table, every well-selected book eventually gets devoured and shared with siblings and friends, gets talked about at the dinner table, and becomes part of our family life.

With so many great, well-produced and well-written books out there for youth, you’re sure to find something new for every young person on your list.

Graphic Novels & Comic Books

It surprises me that graphic novels have become one of my favorite book genres, but there’s so many good publishers out there with myriad themes (who knew dental issues could be such an engaging topic for a YA graphic novel, as it is in Raina Telgemeier’s Smile?), that I’m a convert.

Several Catholic publishers have entered the market with graphic/comic book style that match or exceed the quality of the best out there.  These are particularly good for reluctant readers, but enjoyable for everyone:

*The Adventures of Loupio is the graphic novel The Adventures of Lupio, Volume 1 (in the Ignatius Press/Magnificat series).  Lupio tells the story of an orphan troubadour who learns from St. Francis about courage

 

*The Daughters of St. Paul have published two new graphic novels of saints’ lives:  Saint Joan of Arc:  Quest for Peace and Saint Bernadette:  The Miracle of Lourdes, both by Brunor and Dominique Bar.  I can’t write more about how good they are because my children have absconded with them and won’t give them back.  Enough said.

*For younger readers, Ignatius/Magnficat’s The Illustrated Gospel is–that’s right–a graphic novel of key gospel stories.  I know some may startle at that idea, but it is fantastic and reverent.   What a great way to introduce younger children (and older children, too) who’ve graduated from the board book Bibles to the Gospel message in a fresh and engaging format.

*Bernadette:  The Little Girl from Lourdes and John Mary Vianney:  The Holy Cure of Ars, both by Sophie Maravel-Hutin, are not exactly graphic novels, but they are advanced picture books illustrated in a more modern way, so I’ve kept them in this category.  Nicely done stories for a younger set and those new to reading.

 

Newer Fiction:

*For girls, Olivia’s Gift by Nancy Carabio Belanger follows Olivia in her summer before 7th grade, navigating friends, family and trying (and not always succeeding) to live out St. Therese’s “Little Way.”  There’s a very powerful, but sensitively handled, pro-life theme here. The book is a sequel to the wonderful Olivia and the Little Way, that chronicles Olivia’s fifth grade year and her ups & downs.  The books can be read independently of each other, but most girls will want to read both once they’ve read one.

 

*For mystery fans, The Father Brown Reader II: More Stories from Chesterton is now out, much to the delight of young Chesterton fans everywhere (even those who don’t know they are yet Chesterton fans!).  Several years back, author and Chesterton scholar Nancy Carpentier Brown adapted several of GK Chesterton’s “Father Brown” mysteries for children, keeping the heart of the language and plot.   This “sequel” wonderfully continues the tradition, with witty illustrations from Ted Schluederfritz.

 

*For older tween and teenage readers,Alex O’Donnell and the 40 CyberThieves, Regina Doman’s latest offering.  I can’t think more highly of a teen/tween series than Doman’s Fairy Tale novels.  For older tweens and teenagers, it’s a great way to explore relationships, dating, and the Catholic faith through adventurous, well-paced fictional retellings of fairy tales.  If your teen loves the Twilight series, offer these as a much more well-written and just plain more fun alternative.   My favorite is the first of all, The Shadow of the Bear, but Alex O’Donnell and the 40 Cyber Thieves, the newest in the series, is great good fun and would be of special interest to guys (or girls) interested in all things IT.

 

For the littlest ones:

 

*Who’s Hiding? A Christmas lift-the flap Book by Vicki Howie.  Lift-the-flap books are staples in the younger set, for good reason.  This is a sweet Christmastime one that is delightful.  I especially like the folk-art illustrations from Hungarian artist Krisztina Kallai Nagy.

 

Ignatius has teamed with Magnificat to produce a great crop of children’s books (including many of the graphic novels listed above) for all ages:

 

*Three board books, My First Prayers for My Family, My First Prayers for Christmas, and The Bible for Little Ones, are illustrated in the same lovely style familiar to readers of “Magnifikid,”  Magnificat’s children’s counterpart.

 

*The Bible for Little Ones is a well-produced and illustrated Bible picture book for little ones, with hard pages and rounded corners for little ones.

 

Coming tomorrow:  books for grown-ups.

December Book Giveaway # 2: The Father Brown Reader II–More Stories from Chesterton

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Our second December giveaway here at the Catholic Post Book Group is a copy of  The Father Brown Reader II:  More Stories from Chesterton, by Nancy Carpentier Brown.  You can read my interview with Nancy here, and enter the giveaway to receive this book here or on that Q&A Post by Monday, December 13 (I have fixed the confusing language in the last one).  On Tuesday I will pick a winner.  Let me clarify that you can enter all the giveaways this month, so you can also enter to win a copy of Newman 101 at the first book giveaway post, until this Friday.  Good luck!

Q&A with Nancy Brown, author of "The Father Brown Reader II: More Stories from Chesterton"

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Here’s my interview with one of my favorite authors and a dear friend, Nancy Carpentier Brown.  I hope you enjoy this interview, and that you will consider entering the book giveaway of her newest, The Father Brown Reader II.   That giveaway will begin running through Monday, so be sure to enter.   You can enter one of two ways:  by leaving a comment either on this post or a giveaway-specific post tomorrow.  The deadline for this is Monday, December 13.  On Tuesday, I’ll select a winner.   It’s a great book and would make a great Christmas gift!


Tell me a little about your books and your most recent one, The Father Brown Reader II.

My books have all been to some degree or another about Chesterton, because I happen to love British author G. K. Chesterton.

My first adaptations of Father Brown stories for children were four mysteries that did not involved murder. The Blue Cross is Chesterton’s most famous Father Brown story, involving the stealing of a valuable jewel-encrusted cross. The Flying Stars is again about a jewel heist. The Strange Feet is about stealing some very interesting and valuable silver forks and knives, and the last story is The Absence of Mr. Glass, in which a person appears to be missing. The first book was so widely loved I got fan mail begging me to write more. The publisher was also overwhelmed with requests for another adaptation. And that is how this second collection came to be. Although this time, murders are included because Chesterton’s stories are mainly murder mysteries.

I’ve written two study guides to Chesterton books, which help readers delve more deeply into The Blue Cross and his biography of St. Francis of Assisi.

I’ve also written a highly controversial book titled The Mystery of Harry Potter: A Catholic Family Guide. I managed to introduce each chapter of that book with a quote from Chesterton.

What gave you the idea to adapt stories from GK Chesterton for young readers?

This particular book is an outcome of my desire to introduce, first of all, my own children to an author that I love. When I realized how difficult it was for young people to read the original Father Brown stories, I wanted to do something about it. I was in the library perusing in the children’s section and I came across a children’s adaptation of four Sherlock Holmes mysteries. I became very excited, and wanted to know if something like that had been done for Father Brown. When I discovered that no one had yet adapted them for children, I took it upon myself to do the work.

In this second adaptation, the four stories are The Invisible Man, where two men are involved in a jealous rivalry, The Mirror of the Magistrate, where a man is mistaken for another in a mirror, The Eye of Apollo, where a young lady is fooled into following a pagan god, and The Perishing of the Pendragons, where an old legend foretells the fortune of a sailor.

You made it look easy to adapt Chesterton with still keeping his essential language.  Was that hard to do?

Yes, it is quite difficult to make an effective adaptation, and I must give credit where it is due. Rose Decaen and Margot Davidson helped me tremendously with editing the text. Many discussions flew back and forth over which language to retain, and which to adapt. The easiest thing to retain is the dialog, which is pretty straightforward. But there was a lot of description and British slang and references to persons unknown to us today that could be removed without changing the essential story. It was definitely a collaborative effort. But we are often complimented on our faithfulness to the original, so I believe we’ve done well.

Why do you think it is important to introduce young readers to GK Chesterton?

My belief is that everyone today needs Chesterton. There is very little thinking for one’s self going on, despite the cultural plea to “think outside the box” and be “open minded.”  Hollywood and Big Media conspire to do our thinking for us and so what they often mean is “think over here inside my box” and “be open-minded to my ideas.”  Chesterton teaches us first of all how to think. Then he teaches us how to be truly open-minded; then how to clamp down on the ideas that are right.

I often wish I would have known about Chesterton earlier in my life; I believe he would have helped me in many situations where clear thinking was needed. In debates about religious beliefs, political beliefs, in family conversations with people who only listen to sound bites and spout them as if that’s thinking for oneself, Chesterton would have helped. These situations crop up regularly and one needs right thinking—the kind of thinking Chesterton helps one to do.

I don’t believe all children will “get” Chesterton. However, if they have a pleasant first experience with Chesterton, such as enjoying the Father Brown mysteries at a young age, I believe that lays the groundwork for reading Chesterton later on.
For grown-ups or older kids who might be interested in Chesterton after reading your book, what would you recommend as a good introduction to a full Chesterton work?

The best first book is American Chesterton Society President Dale Ahlquist’s Apostle of Common Sense. I think the best first novel is The Man Who Was Thursday; a book I often suspect is more relevant today than when Chesterton wrote it 100 years ago. I also love The Ball and the Cross, but you have to be persistent and get past the first chapter to get into it. If you love St. Francis, his biography is wonderful. If you love social issues, What’s Wrong With the World? is great.

Any new projects or books in the works?
I am currently working on a biography of Chesterton’s wife Frances. She was the woman behind the man, and although she’s been in the background, I believe I can bring her into the spotlight a little. She was an author, speaker, playwright and poet, although few know much about her. She was her husband’s rock; they relied heavily on each other for emotional and physical support.

She’s intrigued me ever since I first read about her, because as the wife of an artistic genius myself, I knew that she had to have played an important role in their partnership as a married couple, as well as an important role as a business partner for his writing business. I’ve been researching her for years and it seems like a book is the natural outcome of all this research. I’ve got an editor and a publisher, so all that’s needed now is the time to write.

Anything else you would like to add?

Read Chesterton!

December Book Giveaway # 1: Newman 101

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A number of publishers have graciously given copies of their books for giveaways this month on the blog.

So all this month, as we discuss good books for gifts, the Catholic Post Book Group will be running some book giveaways!

Blog giveaways are a great way to “be lucky.”  The odds are much better than most contests and giveaways, and there’s no cost involved.  I’m surprised at the few things that I have won through blog giveaways–books, mostly (surprise!) though all sorts of things are given away on blogs and websites.   I highly encourage you to enter yourself and let others know about the giveaways.

To enter each giveaway, you should comment on the post before the deadline.   Deadline for this giveaway is this Friday, December 10.   On Saturday, I’ll draw a winner.

Our first giveaway is a copy of Newman 101: An Introduction to the Life and Philosophy of John Cardinal Newman by Father Roderick Strange.  This book was the September selection for the Catholic Post Book Group,  and the book itself is, indeed a great introduction to the newly canonized British writer.  Thanks to Ave Maria Press for providing the book for this giveaway.

Good luck!

First, What are You Reading? Volume 4, December 2010

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Here are my answers to the four questions I ask on the first of each month:
 first, what are you reading?
 what do you like best about it?
 what do you like least?
 what’s next on your list/pile to read?
I hope you’ll consider sharing yours on your blog and/or sharing yours here in the comments or on Facebook.  Happy reading!
First, what are you reading?
I am re-reading two of my favorite books for kids this week in preparation for two books groups happening late this week and early next week.
First, The Ruins of Gorlan, the first book in John Flanagan’s rollicking adventure series about a young “apprentice” to an ranger (a kind of spy/police force in the medieval-like fantasy world).  I’m reading that again for the mother-daughter book group my (almost) teenaged daughter and I attend monthly.



Second, The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden, truly one of Godden’s finest children’s novels.  That is hard for me to even write, considering she wrote so many wonderful novels for children.  


What do you like best about them?


What is not to like about the Ranger’s Apprentice series?  I don’t know if John Flanagan is Catholic or not, but he’s really on the side of the angels as far as promoting virtues like honesty, hard work, perseverance and excellence.  But mostly, they are just fantastic stories, fast-paced and good, clean fun.  The violence is not overwhelming (though a bit dramatic for younger ears–we’ve saved some of the later books for our 7-year-old to read when he’s a bit older).  Until recently, we were able to get the latest Ranger’s Apprentice book earlier than the US market, as I had a grown-up nephew living in Australia, who would send us the latest release.  But he moved back recently, and now we’ll have to wait with the rest of the country to read The Emporer of Nihon-Ja, 10th book in the series, due out in April.


The Kitchen Madonna, in a handsome new reprint by Bethlehem Books (hooray Bethlehem Books!  what a fantastic publisher), is about an English brother and sister who make a “kitchen Madonna” icon for their beloved but homesick cook.  Godden tells wonderful stories; I pretty much love everything she wrote. 


What do you like least about them?


This is a very minor gripe about the Ranger’s Apprentice series.  Frankly, I’m not sure if I’m projecting this onto the series since I learned that John Flanagan was a television sit-com writer years before starting the Ranger’s Apprentice series.   I have noticed from time to time a little bit of a “movie or tv” feel to them.  For instance, the banter between characters occasionally–very occasionally–can strike me as something from a buddy adventure movie or sit-com.


All of Rumer Godden’s books are tinged with melancholy, certain books painfully so–I’m thinking The Doll’s House or Gypsy Girl.  That’s not really what I like least about her writing–Rumer Godden novels wouldn’t be that without it, but it’s still there and can leave an ache.


What are you reading next?


I am in earnest about trying to re-read Anthony Trollope, one of my favorite authors, but I just can’t seem to carve out the time, even as I would put the paperbacks of The Warden or Can You Forgive Her? on my bedside table.   There they sit, forlorn and dejected, as I have so many other reading responsibilities, a reproach to all my good intentions.


I don’t own a Kindle, but our family owns an iPad purchased several months ago at a discount from one of my sisters who got one of the first iPads and decided she didn’t want it.    Thank you, dear sister!  I really enjoy it, especially when I can wrestle it away from my children playing “Angry Birds” or “Bejeweled Blitz.” (Yes, we don’t just read at our house).  I like it for various Apps, chiefly my all-time favorite App, Universalis, for the Liturgy of the Hours.   But I also downloaded some time back the Kindle App for iPhone/iPad.    I decided to try to see if downloading some of Trollope’s novels (easily found for free, can’t beat the price) would make me more likely to read it.  So far, I’m well into Can You Forgive Her? first of the fantastic Pallister novels. Now if I can just get together an Anthony Trollope book group, I will be happy for the long winter ahead.  Any takers?