St. Ambrose reading silently.
Summer time is here, as are the long, lazy days of reading. (I can dream, can’t I?) Here are a few of the books I’m reading this summer. Comment with your own reading, below.
~
Memento Mori, by Muriel Spark
Thanks to Michael for the recommendation. I’m quite enjoying Spark’s examination of old age, the petty relationships that never quite sort themselves out, and the inevitability of death. “Remember that you will die.” So we should.
The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
Tartt is a Catholic convert and the author of three rather popular novels. I’m surprised I had never heard of her until recently. Her latest novel is an enormously ambitious odyssey of sorts spinning out of a terrorist attack, exploring the emotional fallout of losing the only real family one has, and what happens when we latch unhealthily to replacements.
The Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, by Pope Gregory I
We know about many of the early monks and anchorites in the West thanks to Gregory’s dialogues. They include a Life of St. Benedict which is magisterial in more ways than one. The saints that inhabit his dialogues lived lives full of miracles and battles with the Devil. You can tell that Gregory has a great fondness for the monastic life he left behind.
On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies, edited by Brian J. Daley
Fr. Daley helpfully collects and translates these early sermons on the Dormition and Assumption of Mary. It is fascinating to read some of the legends that sprung up around the Blessed Virgin’s death and resurrection, how some of them have survived in modified form, and how others were eventually discarded. It also makes one yearn for a revival of good Catholic preaching.
The City of God, by St. Augustine
I made the mistake of starting this monstrous tome as a competition with my brother-in-law. He finished it in a few weeks, and I’ve already been going for months. Maybe I’ll finish it before the summer is out, or maybe it will drag into autumn.
Complete Poems, by Basil Bunting
Bunting is forgotten among the modernist poets, but he was a peer with Eliot, Pound, and others. I can’t say that I understand most of what he writes, but reading his verses aloud is pleasant enough that I keep reading.
First & Second Maccabees
There aren’t many books of the Bible I haven’t read, but the Maccabean war epic is among them. So far it’s a rip-roaring good time. Greece has no idea what’s it’s gotten itself into.
The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher
It’s always good to have some light reading in between more difficult books. Butcher’s urban fantasy, neo-noir, action-adventure series is a lot of fun, if a bit sketchy in places. He has limited insight into human nature, but what he has he exploits well.
~
How about our faithful readers? What are you all reading this summer?
I loved “The Goldfinch,” which I read last summer (to the point that I stayed up entirely too late/early several nights in a row, made all sorts of margin notes, dog-eared pages and read passages to myself aloud (yeah, I’m that book nerd), the writing was so spectacular). I had no idea Tartt was a convert to Catholicism until now, but looking back, that’s quite obviously reflected in the story, looking back on it now. “The Dresden Files” is a fun read, too. 🙂
Jonathan, I’m impressed that this is your “light” reading list! What on earth does your heavy reading list look like?
I loved The Goldfinch too and have started in on Tartt’s The Little Friend, which some have said is even better. I’m about halfway through and reserving judgment although I do like it very much. Looking forward to hearing what you think.
Also in my summer queue:
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (still working, about 70% now)
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
Montessori in the Classroom by Paula Polk Lillard (this is for my homeschool co-op)
The Absorbent Mind by Maria Montessori (ditto, a re-read)
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Meditations Before Mass by Romano Guardini
Bossypants by Tina Fey
In other words, some strange bedfellows.
Peace Like a River & So Brave, So Young, So Handsome by Leif Enger
Everyday Saints by Archimandrite Tikhon
Natural Law & Natural Rights by John Finnis
Rashi by Elie Wiesel
Already read:
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael Gaitley
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
Currently reading:
Theology for Beginners by Frank Sheed
Lady Susan by Jane Austen
The Village of Stepanchikovo by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Also enjoying In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez during this liturgical year.
Reading this more at the end of the season, but here’s my summer list:
Otherwise Known as the Human Condition (Selected Essays) by Geoff Dyer
Henry IV by Billy S.
Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Divine Mercy in My Soul by St. Faustina
Reflections on Art and Creativity by Baudelaire
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
15 Canadian Poets Plus Five, Edited by Gary Geddes
Run by Ann Patches
The Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey
Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcons
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Republic of Imagination by Azar Nafisi