http://augustine.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
augustine.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
christianreader2009-06-01 11:04 am
augustine.livejournal.com) wrote in christianreader2009-06-01 11:04 am
Entry tags:
Books for May
Wow. I read more books in May that I had read in the first four months of the year combined. lol. In any case, I enjoyed all the books I read. :-)
1. Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller (about 290 pages)
A book written by a professor of biology at Brown university concerning evolution and God
2. Europe and the Faith by Hilaire Belloc (about 190 pages)
Sort of a short historical overview of the Faith in Europe by a Catholic writer.
3. The Ball and the Cross by G.K. Chesterton (about 180 pages)
From the introduction to the book, written by Martin Gardner:
"The Ball and the Cross was Chesterton's second novel and like all his novels is a mixture of fantasy, farce and theology. The basic plot is easily summarized. Evan MacIan is a tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed Scottish Highlander and a devout but naive Roman Catholic. He is so politically conservative that he is a Jacobite who longs for a restoration of the Stuart monarchy. James Turnbull is a short, red-haired, gray-eyed Scottish Lowlander and a devout but naive atheist. Politically he is a romantic socialist....Both men are fanatical in their opinions.
"The two meet when MacIan smashes the window of the street office where Turnbull publishes an atheist journal. This act of rage occurs when MacIan sees posted on the shop's window a sheet that blasphemes the Virgin Mary, presumably implying she was an adulteress who gave birth to an illegitimate Jesus. When MacIan challenges Turnbull to a duel to the death, Turnbull is overjoyed. For twenty years no one had paid the slightest attention to his Bible bashing. Now at last someone is taking him seriously! Most of the rest of the story is a series of comic events in which the two enemies wander about seeking a spot for their duel, only to be forever prevented from fighting by the police and other civil authorities....
"At the end, each man comes to admire the other for the courage of his convictions, and they become good friends even as they continue their efforts to fight..."
Gardner concludes about The Ball and the Cross that one can "enjoy reading it for its colorful style, with its constant alliteration, amusing puns and clever paradoxes; for its purple passages about sunsets, dawns and silver moonlight; and for the humor and melodrama of its crazy plot."
4. The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton (about 170 pages)
Chesterton's epic poem about King Alfred's battle against the Danes in 878. Here are a couple of famous passages from the poem. First:
"For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad."
Another passage:
"I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.
"Night shall be thrice night over you,
And heaven and iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause,
Yea, faith without a hope.
5. Mary, Mother of the Son, Volume I: Modern Myths and ancient Truth by Mark Shea (about 160 pages)
The first book of a three-book series that explores Catholic teachings concerning Mary and her role within Catholic tradition (both what and why)
6. Mary, Mother of the Son, Volume II: First Guardian of the Faith by Mark Shea (about 190 pages)
The second volume of the above.
7. Mary, Mother of the Son, Volume III: Miracles, Devotion, and Motherhood (about 200 pages)
The third volume of the above.
8. The Da Vinci Hoax by Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel (about 300 pages)
A book that examines the numerous errors found in The Da Vinci Code
9. Basil Howe: A Story of Young Love by G.K. Chesterton (about 130 pages)
The first novel of G.K. Chesterton's, written when he was about 19 and 20, and not published until just a few years ago (about a century after it was written). As the back of the novel describes it:
"With characteristic wit the author recounts the tale of love that unfolds when a young man, Basil Howe, meets the three Grey sisters. It is a moving story which contains many insights into human life."
10. Life of Christ by Fulton Sheen (about 470 pages)
As the title suggests, it is a life of Christ, written by Fulton Sheen (a Catholic archbishop who had a very popular television show in the 1950's that drew up to 30 million viewers each Tuesday night).
Quite simply, outside of obvious exceptions such as the Bible, this has to be my favorite book (non-Chesterton) of all time. Nothing much to add to that.
11. Autobiography by G.K. Chesterton (about 230 pages)
Title is pretty self-explanatory. :-) It also has to have my favorite opening to a book ever:
"Bowing down in blind credulity, as is my custom, before mere authority and the tradition of the elders, superstitiously swallowing a story I could not test at the time by experiment or private judgment, I am firmly of opinion that I was born on the 29th of May, 1874, on Campden Hill, Kensington; and baptised according to the formularies of the Church of England in the little church of St. George opposite the large Waterworks Tower that dominated that ridge. I do not allege any significance in the relation of the two buildings; and I indignantly deny that the church was chosen because it needed the whole water-power of West London to turn me into a Christian."
12. On Being Catholic by Thomas Howard. (about 260 pages)
Thomas Howard (brother of Elisabeth Elliot) gives what is probably the best book I know of describing how Catholics....see the world, I guess you could say.
-----------------------------------
Finally, I've decided to start reading the writings of the Church Fathers a little more, but of course not all of their works would be long enough to classify as "books", so I've decided to create a separate category for those works (but not include those when stating the number of total books for the month/year). Anyway, I read one work this month:
On Christian Doctrine by Augustine (about 80 pages)
----------------------------------
Books read in May: 12
Books read in 2009: 23
1. Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller (about 290 pages)
A book written by a professor of biology at Brown university concerning evolution and God
2. Europe and the Faith by Hilaire Belloc (about 190 pages)
Sort of a short historical overview of the Faith in Europe by a Catholic writer.
3. The Ball and the Cross by G.K. Chesterton (about 180 pages)
From the introduction to the book, written by Martin Gardner:
"The Ball and the Cross was Chesterton's second novel and like all his novels is a mixture of fantasy, farce and theology. The basic plot is easily summarized. Evan MacIan is a tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed Scottish Highlander and a devout but naive Roman Catholic. He is so politically conservative that he is a Jacobite who longs for a restoration of the Stuart monarchy. James Turnbull is a short, red-haired, gray-eyed Scottish Lowlander and a devout but naive atheist. Politically he is a romantic socialist....Both men are fanatical in their opinions.
"The two meet when MacIan smashes the window of the street office where Turnbull publishes an atheist journal. This act of rage occurs when MacIan sees posted on the shop's window a sheet that blasphemes the Virgin Mary, presumably implying she was an adulteress who gave birth to an illegitimate Jesus. When MacIan challenges Turnbull to a duel to the death, Turnbull is overjoyed. For twenty years no one had paid the slightest attention to his Bible bashing. Now at last someone is taking him seriously! Most of the rest of the story is a series of comic events in which the two enemies wander about seeking a spot for their duel, only to be forever prevented from fighting by the police and other civil authorities....
"At the end, each man comes to admire the other for the courage of his convictions, and they become good friends even as they continue their efforts to fight..."
Gardner concludes about The Ball and the Cross that one can "enjoy reading it for its colorful style, with its constant alliteration, amusing puns and clever paradoxes; for its purple passages about sunsets, dawns and silver moonlight; and for the humor and melodrama of its crazy plot."
4. The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton (about 170 pages)
Chesterton's epic poem about King Alfred's battle against the Danes in 878. Here are a couple of famous passages from the poem. First:
"For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad."
Another passage:
"I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.
"Night shall be thrice night over you,
And heaven and iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause,
Yea, faith without a hope.
5. Mary, Mother of the Son, Volume I: Modern Myths and ancient Truth by Mark Shea (about 160 pages)
The first book of a three-book series that explores Catholic teachings concerning Mary and her role within Catholic tradition (both what and why)
6. Mary, Mother of the Son, Volume II: First Guardian of the Faith by Mark Shea (about 190 pages)
The second volume of the above.
7. Mary, Mother of the Son, Volume III: Miracles, Devotion, and Motherhood (about 200 pages)
The third volume of the above.
8. The Da Vinci Hoax by Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel (about 300 pages)
A book that examines the numerous errors found in The Da Vinci Code
9. Basil Howe: A Story of Young Love by G.K. Chesterton (about 130 pages)
The first novel of G.K. Chesterton's, written when he was about 19 and 20, and not published until just a few years ago (about a century after it was written). As the back of the novel describes it:
"With characteristic wit the author recounts the tale of love that unfolds when a young man, Basil Howe, meets the three Grey sisters. It is a moving story which contains many insights into human life."
10. Life of Christ by Fulton Sheen (about 470 pages)
As the title suggests, it is a life of Christ, written by Fulton Sheen (a Catholic archbishop who had a very popular television show in the 1950's that drew up to 30 million viewers each Tuesday night).
Quite simply, outside of obvious exceptions such as the Bible, this has to be my favorite book (non-Chesterton) of all time. Nothing much to add to that.
11. Autobiography by G.K. Chesterton (about 230 pages)
Title is pretty self-explanatory. :-) It also has to have my favorite opening to a book ever:
"Bowing down in blind credulity, as is my custom, before mere authority and the tradition of the elders, superstitiously swallowing a story I could not test at the time by experiment or private judgment, I am firmly of opinion that I was born on the 29th of May, 1874, on Campden Hill, Kensington; and baptised according to the formularies of the Church of England in the little church of St. George opposite the large Waterworks Tower that dominated that ridge. I do not allege any significance in the relation of the two buildings; and I indignantly deny that the church was chosen because it needed the whole water-power of West London to turn me into a Christian."
12. On Being Catholic by Thomas Howard. (about 260 pages)
Thomas Howard (brother of Elisabeth Elliot) gives what is probably the best book I know of describing how Catholics....see the world, I guess you could say.
-----------------------------------
Finally, I've decided to start reading the writings of the Church Fathers a little more, but of course not all of their works would be long enough to classify as "books", so I've decided to create a separate category for those works (but not include those when stating the number of total books for the month/year). Anyway, I read one work this month:
On Christian Doctrine by Augustine (about 80 pages)
----------------------------------
Books read in May: 12
Books read in 2009: 23
no subject
no subject