Monday, September 01, 2008

Five Favorite Books I've Read This Year


I know it's early in the year- September but I think my reading cycle is just about down. Now I'll go back to reading only the Angelus, Yankee Magazine and Country Living. School is starting and things will get hectic and harried.

So, # 1 is [drumroll please] The Faithful Departed by Phil Lawler. Personally I don't understand why this book isn't getting more press. I guess because it has been blacklisted by so many bookstores, Daughters of St Paul (but true to their principles they will ORDER the book for you) maybe if Phil writes a book about Medjugorje he will get top billing. The National Shrine bookstore in D.C. also blacklisted the book and cancelled a book signing. Freedom of speech, isn't it wonderful?

But anyway, order the book and you'll find that you end up ordering half a dozen and giving them out as gifts. The book is that good.The blog is pretty good too.

2. Swimming With Scapulars by Matthew Lickona.
This book has been around for a while but I only got to read it after my brother gave it to my sister who read it and then gave it to me. Very interesting book. While some of it was "too much information" and he does reveal a sentiment that he himself proclaims "monstrous" this is a useful book and says a lot about the young, orthodox Catholics emerging from schools like Thomas Aquinas. I'll give it 3 1/2 stars.

3. The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan.
Don't know why but I went on an Amy Tan reading spree this summer. Found this book at a book store and it was really a good one. Love the theme of the old world informing the new and how what seems like irrelevant superstitions are really figurative reality. If someone can figure out what that means let me know. I mean I know but am I the only one?

4. Master of Hestviken by Sigrid Undsett. Man was this great. Tragic, dramatic, brilliant and leaves Kristin Lavransdatter in the dust. (sort of). Reminds me a little of Tess of the d'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy.

5. Fix it and Forget it- A Recipe book for Slow Cookers (because that sounds so much more refined that "crock pot" doesn't it?) This book has helped me reclaim hours during the day, my husband's adoration and at least 10 lbs and that is as mixed a compliment as you can get. Money saving too.

9 comments:

Lily said...

Fix it and Forget it, lightly...that is the next one you need to get, I have that one! I actually have them both, but use the lightly more often. What are your favorite recipes?

Leila said...

Your first pick is definitely the best!! Although I might be biased :)
Have you read Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan? It's her best book by far. It really expresses the disconnect between mothers and daughters-- why mothers can't tell their daughters their stories, how daughters really need their mother's affirmation...
The movie is a heart breaker. Poor Joseph sat in a dark room with 5 of his female relatives who SOBBED through the ENTIRE movie! It was that good :)

Lily said...

OOOH, Mary, I just checked a book out of the library, The new slow cooker by Taste of Home. ISBN no. 9780898215830 See if you can't track that one down, it has some really neat slow cooker recipes which use normal ingredients. Most of them do not call for soup-in-a-can as the base, and I love that for slow cooking. Hmm, maybe I'll post a couple of slow cooker recipes that we l-o-v-e at our house. One of them does use the Lipton Onion Soup Mix, sadly. I keep trying to avoid those recipes because of the extra salt, but this one is really, really good.

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Anonymous said...

Hmm, I wish that I had read a few of those, especially Lawler's work.

M. Alexander said...

Well, what's stopping you Crusader 88? Amazon.com.

Anonymous said...

Thick in the middle of Patrick Buchanan's Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War, I currently have six classes, and I sure can't fall behind on the news. Maybe I can fit it in later.

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Dymphna said...

I went to my local Catholic bookstore to buy Faithful Departed. They aren't carrying it so I've ordered it from Borders.