Christian Reader - Book lists, discussion, writing

( September/October Books )

September/October Books: 12
Books read in 2009: 64

( Books for June/July )

Edited to include brief comments).

1) From the Angel's Blackboard: The Best of Fulton J. Sheen (about 240 pages)

Since beneficient also read this book in February and already described it in her post, I'll only add that I absolutely loved it, and would highly recommend it. It's probably one of the best books (top 5) I have ever read (not written by my favorite author) :-)

2) The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (about 300 pages)

As the title states, it is the collection of the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), and I found it very nice and fun to read. :-)

3)Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy: The Making of GKC 1874-1908 by William Oddie (about 380 pages)

This is a brand new book (published in 2008) that traces Chesterton's "imaginative and spiritual development" up to the publication of Orthodoxy in 1908 (when Chesterton was 34), drawing extensively on much source material (such as unpublished letters and notebooks) that had not been used in earlier major studies of GKC. The person who recommended it to me has over the last 40 years or so read almost everything by or about GKC, and highly recommended this book as a book that needs to be near the top of the list for those who read Chesterton (though it would not be the best as an introduction to Chesterton). After reading it, I was especially impressed by its coverage of the Blatchford controversies, though the entire book was very good.

40Surprised By Joy by C.S. Lewis (about 240 pages)

For the first time in quite a while I got around to reading a book by Lewis, and, of course, it only confirmed in my mind that I need to read him far more often than I do. Reading his spiritual autobiography was very enlightening.

Books read in February: 4
Books read in 2009: 5

Hi,

This is my first post to this community (I just joined a few days ago), and while I know moredetails will be shocked, I'm just curious if there are any other G.K. Chesterton fans on here? He's my favorite Christian author (actually, my favorite author period, as you can see from LJ. Heh.)

Just to give you a sample of his writing style (if you aren't aware of him), here's a passage of his I love (BTW, he wrote in like all genres on all topics, or so it seems. lol.) :
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There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person. Nothing is more keenly required than a defence of bores. When Byron divided humanity into the bores and bored, he omitted to notice that the higher qualities exist entirely in the bores, the lower qualities in the bored, among whom he counted himself. The bore, by his starry enthusiasm, his solemn happiness, may, in some sense, have proved himself poetical. The bored has certainly proved himself prosaic.

We might, no doubt, find it a nuisance to count all the blades of grass or all the leaves of the trees; but this would not be because of our boldness or gaiety, but because of our lack of boldness and gaiety. The bore would go onward, bold and gay, and find the blades of grass as splendid as the swords of an army. The bore is stronger and more joyous than we are; he is a demigod--nay, he is a god. For it is the gods who do not tire of the iteration of things; to them the nightfall is always new, and the last rose as red as the first.

The sense that everything is poetical is a thing solid and absolute; it is not a mere matter of phraseology or persuasion. It is not merely true, it is ascertainable. Men may be challenged to deny it; men may be challenged to mention anything that is not a matter of poetry...

...A great many people talk as if this claim of ours, that all things are poetical, were a mere literary ingenuity, a play on words. Precisely the contrary is true. It is the idea that some things are not poetical which is literary, which is a mere product of words. The word "signal-box" is unpoetical. But the thing signal-box is not unpoetical; it is a place where men, in an agony of vigilance, light blood-red and sea-green fires to keep other men from death. That is the plain, genuine description of what it is; the prose only comes in with what it is called. The word "pillar-box" is unpoetical. But the thing pillar-box is not unpoetical; it is the place to which friends and lovers commit their messages, conscious that when they have done so they are sacred, and not to be touched, not only by others, but even (religious touch!) by themselves. That red turret is one of the last of the temples. Posting a letter and getting married are among the few things left that are entirely romantic; for to be entirely romantic a thing must be irrevocable. We think a pillar-box prosaic, because there is no rhyme to it. We think a pillar-box unpoetical, because we have never seen it in a poem. But the bold fact is entirely on the side of poetry. A signal-box is only called a signal-box; it is a house of life and death. A pillar-box is only called a pillar-box; it is a sanctuary of human words. If you think the name of "Smith" prosaic, it is not because you are practical and sensible; it is because you are too much affected with literary refinements. The name shouts poetry at you. If you think of it otherwise, it is because you are steeped and sodden with verbal reminiscences, because you remember everything in Punch or Comic Cuts about Mr. Smith being drunk or Mr. Smith being henpecked. All these things were given to you poetical. It is only by a long and elaborate process of literary effort that you have made them prosaic.

Heretics, "On Mr. Rudyard Kipling and Making the World Small" (1905)
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Also, who are *your* favorite authors? Anyone in particular you would recommend me reading? Thanks!