Suscipe Domine Traditional Catholic Forum

The Parish Hall => Arts and Leisure => Topic started by: Francisco Suárez on December 26, 2012, 09:48:56 PM

Title: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Francisco Suárez on December 26, 2012, 09:48:56 PM
I'm still getting through The Last Superstition by Edward Feser.

You?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lyubov on December 27, 2012, 01:00:34 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psupress.org%2Fimages%2Fcovers%2FFullSize%2F0-271-02861-0md.jpg&hash=b88dd9e048a1d6d3e00307e2b9734fa9e191961a)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on December 27, 2012, 01:12:50 AM
Lyubov, I once read on a conspiracy theory/tin foiler website that the Memoirs are a hoax.

In any case, I'm glad to see you are into Russia!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lyubov on December 27, 2012, 01:16:09 AM
Quote from: Bonaventure on December 27, 2012, 01:12:50 AM
Lyubov, I once read on a conspiracy theory/tin foiler website that the Memoirs are a hoax.

Haha! I hadn't heard that theory.

Quote
In any case, I'm glad to see you are into Russia!

I guess you could say that!  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on December 27, 2012, 01:39:53 AM
I'm working on a more concerted effort to read all the books I own, so I'm going back to "The Mass" printed by Angelus Press and written by Fr Joseph Dunney.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fangeluspress.org%2Fimage%2Fcache%2Fdata%2Fproducts%2Fcatalog1578-800x800.jpg&hash=34cd9a2357bc3bc8cb51f1c81ee6322ff7c9315c)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Francisco Suárez on January 06, 2013, 10:32:15 PM
Aquinas by Dr. Edward Feser and Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War by Peter H. Wilson.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Der Kaiser on January 07, 2013, 05:01:45 AM
The Mass-Adrian Fortescu  this is the second time I have read it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tx2step on January 07, 2013, 08:31:55 AM
Abandonment to Divine Providence
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 07, 2013, 04:00:21 PM
Bounced to reread Brideshead Revisited
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TerrorDæmonum on January 07, 2013, 04:34:39 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on December 27, 2012, 01:12:50 AM
Lyubov, I once read on a conspiracy theory/tin foiler website that the Memoirs are a hoax.

In any case, I'm glad to see you are into Russia!

In Soviet Russia, memoirs write you.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: EcceQuamBonum on January 07, 2013, 07:20:53 PM
Vision and Resonance:  Two Senses of Poetic Form, John Hollander
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 07, 2013, 11:35:45 PM
Quote from: Francisco Suárez on January 06, 2013, 10:32:15 PM
Aquinas by Dr. Edward Feser and Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War by Peter H. Wilson.

A coincidence. I'm also getting through Aquinas, and Copleston's History of Philosophy
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Francisco Suárez on January 31, 2013, 09:55:21 AM
Just finished The Truth of Papal Claims by Cardinal Raphael Merry Del Val. It was a very enjoyable and informative read. The Cardinal had a brilliant sense of humour! He ripped to shreds Dr. Oxenham's objections to Papal infallibility and supremacy wielding the utmost charity. An excerpt from the Cardinal's conclusion in the book which I found particularly inspiring:

QuoteMay Dr. Oxenham reach the same conclusion [as John Henry Newman], as he reads the works of the Fathers, and let him rest assured that, if this grace is bestowed upon him, he will have no truer friend than the author of these pages.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Ben on January 31, 2013, 10:04:39 AM
The Genius of Christianity by Chateaubriand.
Title: What are you reading right now?
Post by: Archer on February 01, 2013, 12:35:41 AM
Self-explanatory.  I'm actually surprised we don't have this thread yet. 

I'm currently reading...

The Cure D'Ars: St. Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney, by Abbe Francois Trochu

Lord of Chaos: Book 6 of the Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan
Title: Re: What are you reading right now?
Post by: Quo Vadis on February 01, 2013, 12:57:51 AM
bear hunting with the politburo (spelled it wrong, then I spelled it right)
Title: Re: What are you reading right now?
Post by: Kaesekopf on February 01, 2013, 01:06:03 AM
To the Other Towns, a bio on Bl. Peter Favre, SJ.
Quadragesimo Anno (?)
Living the Little Office
Title: Re: What are you reading right now?
Post by: Gottmitunsalex on February 01, 2013, 01:06:23 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.idahojims.com%2Fshop_image%2Fproduct%2F014462.jpg&hash=84943488ceaaee01d4798bdbfcb295e1109a067d)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: dust on February 01, 2013, 08:16:59 PM
Running through the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'brien again. Needed a break from detailing the Break with Tradition. I find myself getting depressed sometimes.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Ancilla Domini on February 01, 2013, 10:23:16 PM
Quote from: Ben on January 31, 2013, 10:04:39 AM
The Genius of Christianity by Chateaubriand.

Nice!  :)

Though you'll miss the beauty of his prose reading it in translation. :(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Quo Vadis on February 01, 2013, 11:13:48 PM
Archer started the same thread in arts & leisure.  I wonder if they can be combined, maybe in arts & leisure.

Arts and Leisure / Re: What are you reading right now? http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?board=13.0 (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?board=13.0)

Anyways, Bear Hunting with the Politburo.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on February 02, 2013, 02:21:46 AM
Merged!

Like a boss.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on February 02, 2013, 10:20:09 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on February 02, 2013, 02:21:46 AM
Merged!

Like a boss.


You da man.  I looked but I must've missed it. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Southern Ascetic on February 02, 2013, 11:58:29 AM
The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 03, 2013, 05:45:34 AM
Just finished Great Expectations. Again. I think it was even better than usual, this time.  ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on February 03, 2013, 11:34:54 AM
I'm just a few chapters into The Silmarillion, but it may already be my favourite book by Tolkien.

Quote from: Bernadette on February 03, 2013, 05:45:34 AM
Just finished Great Expectations. Again. I think it was even better than usual, this time.  ;)

Good choice!  I'll have to read that again sometime soon.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: phnuggle on February 03, 2013, 12:11:12 PM
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/allitfrm.htm (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/allitfrm.htm)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Quo Vadis on February 03, 2013, 10:22:31 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on February 03, 2013, 05:45:34 AM
Just finished Great Expectations. Again. I think it was even better than usual, this time.  ;)
Glad to hear it. I also really like that book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PatrickG on February 08, 2013, 02:06:26 PM
Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: FaithByProxy on February 08, 2013, 05:19:01 PM
The Incorruptibles.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on February 08, 2013, 07:32:35 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F51bsZ992iLL.jpg&hash=b6c6726054710f72eb7db6f032234f3386983e7c)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on February 15, 2013, 09:38:34 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm5.static.flickr.com%2F4142%2F4791330560_8d38b85d53_m.jpg&hash=82a077ab678c1a6c66dedefc878b4c282082b527)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on February 15, 2013, 10:00:02 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F56ab8f3ba9bdd574fe36-43c4012dcbf8f9f0863b6d682e183a2e.r94.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F2012%2F10%2Fbig06716571511.jpeg&hash=a3297ad5d3680e87776226423d4d7098b0adb1b3)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on February 16, 2013, 08:01:12 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcovers.feedbooks.net%2Fbook%2F73.jpg%3Ft%3D1347816085&hash=d5815f94d44d7d34f2e053ca96fbcd7a9bfb0243)


The unabridged version. Yippee.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tmw89 on February 23, 2013, 07:04:13 PM
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle, and Julia Child.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mithrandylan on February 23, 2013, 07:08:50 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on February 16, 2013, 08:01:12 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcovers.feedbooks.net%2Fbook%2F73.jpg%3Ft%3D1347816085&hash=d5815f94d44d7d34f2e053ca96fbcd7a9bfb0243)


The unabridged version. Yippee.  :)

I think you're supposed to put a comma after "Cristo"

Unless you were trying to say something else

I kill me
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on February 24, 2013, 02:20:44 AM
Light and Peace, by Quadrupani.

Before that, Eight Men Out, History of the Franks, and the Analects.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 18, 2013, 06:15:12 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg1.imagesbn.com%2Fp%2F9780547844206_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG&hash=9259da399cd2245f23f047b805fb610fb6a256d8)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Vetus Ordo on March 20, 2013, 02:55:55 AM
I've just finished reading Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F25.media.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_lwd8n7EBEb1qdo62to1_500.jpg&hash=2df6f40ab7e138e03153f678dea024f43ff76f4c)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Vetus Ordo on March 20, 2013, 03:12:04 AM
And although I'm not that into economics, I've recently bought Milton and Rose Friedman's Free To Choose. I've read a few chapters already. It's quite interesting.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2F5%2F5a%2FFree_to_Choose.jpg&hash=ddbfe92c172798e3549e81e24ec471098433c7eb)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elliott on March 20, 2013, 05:03:43 AM
Destroying Angel by Michael Wallace. It's the fifth book in the Righteous series.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Cesar_Augustus on March 20, 2013, 08:22:37 AM
Textos I - Nicolás Gómez Dávila
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 20, 2013, 08:30:16 AM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on February 15, 2013, 09:38:34 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm5.static.flickr.com%2F4142%2F4791330560_8d38b85d53_m.jpg&hash=82a077ab678c1a6c66dedefc878b4c282082b527)

How did you like it? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 20, 2013, 01:29:59 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on March 20, 2013, 08:30:16 AM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on February 15, 2013, 09:38:34 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm5.static.flickr.com%2F4142%2F4791330560_8d38b85d53_m.jpg&hash=82a077ab678c1a6c66dedefc878b4c282082b527)

How did you like it?

Very much.  I've always liked Forster's essays, but when I finally read A Passage To India I found it dull and preachy, and decided that his skills as novelist weren't as great as I thought they might be.  Fortunately, I picked up Howards End at a used book sale and decided to give it a go.  I'm glad I did.  Rather than being preachy, it's a terrific novel of ideas, ranging all over the Anglo-Saxon character and the modern way of life.  Forster hated the quickening of the contemporary pulse and the overall cheapening of things, and that sentiment is at the fore in Howards End.  I'd have to recommend it very cautiously on this forum, though, as his attitudes are very pessimistic in regards to capitalism and industrialism, which I imagine most people here are in favor of.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PatrickG on March 20, 2013, 01:32:05 PM
QuoteI'd have to recommend it very cautiously on this forum, though, as his attitudes are very pessimistic in regards to capitalism and industrialism, which I imagine most people here are in favor of.
Really? I loathe both and would have thought any traditionalist Catholic would - Rerum Novarum comes to mind.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 20, 2013, 01:35:18 PM
Quote from: Vetus Ordo on March 20, 2013, 02:55:55 AM
I've just finished reading Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

How did you like it, Vetus?  Kundera has a calm and brooding resignation about things; I'm sure he read his E.M. Cioran with relish.  It gets very philosophical and even animal-rights-tinged towards the end.  Have you seen the movie?  And is Lena Olin one of the most beautiful actresses ever to grace the silver screen?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 20, 2013, 01:42:22 PM
Quote from: PatrickG on March 20, 2013, 01:32:05 PM
QuoteI'd have to recommend it very cautiously on this forum, though, as his attitudes are very pessimistic in regards to capitalism and industrialism, which I imagine most people here are in favor of.
Really? I loathe both and would have thought any traditionalist Catholic would - Rerum Novarum comes to mind.

Good point.

I wonder, though, whether or not you live in the United States, where (at least in my experience) traditional Catholicism is typically bound up very firmly with either the politics of the Republican party or with economic libertarianism.  On this forum, in particular, a rejection of industrialized (and secular) society is frequently ridiculed as "Amish," or made out to be the province of frumpy-looking Little House on the Prairieists.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PatrickG on March 20, 2013, 02:59:40 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on March 20, 2013, 01:42:22 PM
Quote from: PatrickG on March 20, 2013, 01:32:05 PM
QuoteI'd have to recommend it very cautiously on this forum, though, as his attitudes are very pessimistic in regards to capitalism and industrialism, which I imagine most people here are in favor of.
Really? I loathe both and would have thought any traditionalist Catholic would - Rerum Novarum comes to mind.

Good point.

I wonder, though, whether or not you live in the United States, where (at least in my experience) traditional Catholicism is typically bound up very firmly with either the politics of the Republican party or with economic libertarianism.  On this forum, in particular, a rejection of industrialized (and secular) society is frequently ridiculed as "Amish," or made out to be the province of frumpy-looking Little House on the Prairieists.
No - I'm English. I don't know a great deal about present politics (I treat Westminster with complete disgust, while I don't trust and won't read any newspaper) outside a very local level, relating to farming and country life.

Is there a particular party associated with traditional Catholicism in this country? We have no 'Action Francaise' nor even any party, like the Republicans, who are manifestly better than the alternative. I am a distributist of sorts, perhaps a High Tory* (in Canada a Red Tory), I refuse to vote, but I expect most traditionalists voted Tory and will now vote UKIP. To my mind, much good may it do them! I will spoil my ballot at the next election - each one of the parties is as much a band of brigands as the rest.

As for industrialism, I see it as something every party supports (along with abortion, fornication, Modernism, mass immigration - the list goes on) - Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberals, UKIP all support monopolies (whether it be the People's Soviet or the Rothschilds), the banking system and the despoiling of the countryside.

I should have thought that a traditional Catholic had a duty to reject secular society, if by that you mean popular culture - it's rotten right through, modern men are rotten right through with Kant and Hegle and all that nonsense.

Sorry, I'm going on! I don't know if that helps at all.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Tory
More closely akin to the point, I'm reading 'Parade's End' by Ford Madox Ford.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 20, 2013, 06:07:06 PM
Quote from: PatrickG on March 20, 2013, 02:59:40 PM
As for industrialism, I see it as something every party supports (along with abortion, fornication, Modernism, mass immigration - the list goes on) - Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberals, UKIP all support monopolies (whether it be the People's Soviet or the Rothschilds), the banking system and the despoiling of the countryside.

That's as true here as it is there.  The "despoiling of the countryside," as you so aptly put it, does not seem to register much outrage on the anger-meters of traditional Catholics.  That's generally considered a "greenie liberal hippie" issue, the province only of longhairs and treehuggers, and so the onward march of suburbia continues: an endless expanse of shopping centers, parking lots, and ugly houses.  This is mainly considered fine since it creates jobs.

QuoteI should have thought that a traditional Catholic had a duty to reject secular society, if by that you mean popular culture - it's rotten right through, modern men are rotten right through with Kant and Hegle and all that nonsense.

I don't know how many threads you peruse here, but I think it's a fair assessment to say that popular culture is not exactly roundly rejected on this forum.  Correct me if I am wrong.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Vetus Ordo on March 20, 2013, 06:59:24 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on March 20, 2013, 01:35:18 PM
Quote from: Vetus Ordo on March 20, 2013, 02:55:55 AM
I've just finished reading Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

How did you like it, Vetus?  Kundera has a calm and brooding resignation about things; I'm sure he read his E.M. Cioran with relish.  It gets very philosophical and even animal-rights-tinged towards the end.  Have you seen the movie?  And is Lena Olin one of the most beautiful actresses ever to grace the silver screen?

No, I've never seen Kaufman's adaptation to the silver screen but I'm aware of Miss Olin's beauty.

The book itself was given to me in my birthday. After reading it, it struck me as a sort of nihilistic manifesto more than a proper novel. The stories of the four main characters are more of an excuse for Kundera to explain his philosophy of life. At a certain point the book is a bit preachy, like the animal rigths thing in the end.

Nevertheless, it had its interesting insights. I found Sabina's hatred for kitsch amusing and even insightful. "When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object. In the realm of kitsch, the dictatorship of the heart reigns supreme."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PatrickG on March 21, 2013, 12:47:39 AM
QuoteI should have thought that a traditional Catholic had a duty to reject secular society, if by that you mean popular culture - it's rotten right through, modern men are rotten right through with Kant and Hegle and all that nonsense.
Quote
I don't know how many threads you peruse here, but I think it's a fair assessment to say that popular culture is not exactly roundly rejected on this forum.  Correct me if I am wrong.

True enough - but I'm a die-hard follower of Bishop Williamson (a 'rad trad' is you like!)  and follow his judgement on it - rock music, for instance - it's the jungle drums, it really is.
Quote from: Fr. (now Bp.) Richard Williamson, September 1985THE EXPERIENCE of being with fourteen thousand teenagers to see the Beatles is unbelievable and frightening and, believe me, it is not at all funny, as I first thought when I accepted this assignment. The hysteria and loss of control go far beyond the impact of the music. Many of those present became frantic, hostile, uncontrolled, screaming unrecognizable beings. If this is possible - and it is - parents and adults have a lot to account for to allow this to go on.

"This is not simply a release, as I first thought it would be, but a very destructive process in which adults allowed the children to be involved - allowing the children a mad, erotic world of their own without the reassuring safeguards of protection from themselves. The externals are terrifying. Normally recognizable girls behaved as if possessed by some demonic urge, defying in emotional ecstasy the restraints which authorities try to place on them. The hysteria is from the girls and when you ask them what it is all about, all they can say is, 'I love them.'

"There are a lot of things you can say about why the Beatles attract the teenage crowd. The music is loud, primitive, insistent, strongly rhythmic, and releases in a disguised way (can it be called sublimation?) the all too tenuously controlled, new-acquired physical impulses of the teenager. Mix this up with the phenomena of mass hypnosis, contagious hysteria and the blissful feeling of being mixed up in an all-embracing orgiastic experience and every kid can become "Lord of the Flies," or the Beatles.

"Why do kids scream, faint, gyrate, and in general, look like a primeval, protoplasmic upheaval and go into ecstatic convulsions when certain identifiable and expected trademarks come forth, such as "Oh, yeah!" a twist of the hips or the thrusting out of an electric guitar?

"Regardless of the causes or reasons for the behavior of these youngsters, it had the impact of an unholy bedlam, the like of which I have never seen. It caused me to feel that such should not be allowed again, if only for the good of the youngsters. It was an orgy for teenagers."
In full:
http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php/Rock-and-Roll-A-deadly-Revolution

Of course, the good Bishop is scathing (and rightly so) of modern innovation in classical music, modern 'art' (which is wicked in itself to my mind). It makes perfect sense that the effluvia of modern society, which is so very evil and almost certainly deliberately so (Jews, Freemasons) is itself evil - the Beatles, rock and roll, jazz and so on lead or greatly helped the appalling sexual license today. Modern fashions, any traditionalist woman could tell you, are deliberately shameful and immodest. Yes, I sound like a conspiracy nut, I am a conspiracy nut (the good Bishop again!) but the Archbishop said we must 'resist them to their face' - resist it all, the Council, the New Mass, New Theology and I would say by practical extension 'New Music', 'New Art' and 'New Society'.

It's practically impossible not to come into some contact with the 'modern world' but at least we can react against, let us say, rock and popular music by refusing to listen to it, popular culture (and the undeniably corrupt Hollywood) by refusing to allow a television across our door-steps, bad modern books by reading good old ones, slovenly modern dress by dressing like men, effeminacy by behaving like men, the prevailing atheist humanism and liberalism by sending our sons and daughters to really Catholic schools (read: SSPX schools) and remembering (to borrow a revolting phrase) that to be a traditionalist Catholic is 'counter-cutural', it runs headlong to the massed scholarship and opinion of the age, yet we know it to be right. Nothing is more contemptible than a rallié.

PS:
Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkien.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 21, 2013, 12:20:47 PM
Patrick, I think most of the active posters here are very supportive of Bishop Williamson.  When he speaks on topics such as the Jews or Vatican II, he is considered a maestro non pareil.  But let him turn his attention to women wearing pants or rock n' roll music, and many will have a bit of chuckle and be forced to conclude that, well, the old boy isn't perfect, and he can sure come up with some dotty musings when he sets his mind to it.  So I think they're kind of selective in that regard.

There is a Hip Hop Thread (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=1672.0) on this forum, and there is another one entitled To what are you currently listening? (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=2.0) which (and correct me if I am wrong) is not exactly filled with Penderecki and Mozart.  I submit these threads without comment.  I am only, to use a popular phrase, "just sayin'."

I know this isn't a movie thread, but I was watching a movie called Fish Tank the other night and it featured a hip-hop song by someone called Nas.  The chorus went:

Life's a bitch and then ya die
That's why we get high
'Cos you never know
when you're gonna go, so
Life's a bitch and then ya die
That's why we puff lye.


I don't know, I found it pretty catchy.  "Jungle drums," indeed.  "But what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend. And why not? The mind of man is capable of anything—because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future," said Joseph Conrad.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on March 21, 2013, 12:31:29 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on March 21, 2013, 12:20:47 PM
Patrick, I think most of the active posters here are very supportive of Bishop Williamson.  When he speaks on topics such as the Jews or Vatican II, he is considered a maestro non pareil.  But let him turn his attention to women wearing pants or rock n' roll music, and many will have a bit of chuckle and be forced to conclude that, well, the old boy isn't perfect, and he can sure come up with some dotty musings when he sets his mind to it.  So I think they're kind of selective in that regard.

There is a Hip Hop Thread (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=1672.0) on this forum, and there is another one entitled To what are you currently listening? (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=2.0) which (and correct me if I am wrong) is not exactly filled with Penderecki and Mozart.  I submit these threads without comment.  I am only, to use a popular phrase, "just sayin'."

I know this isn't a movie thread, but I was watching a movie called Fish Tank the other night and it featured a hip-hop song by someone called Nas.  The chorus went:

Life's a bitch and then ya die
That's why we get high
'Cos you never know
when you're gonna go, so
Life's a bitch and then ya die
That's why we puff lye.


I don't know, I found it pretty catchy.  "Jungle drums," indeed.  "But what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend. And why not? The mind of man is capable of anything—because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future," said Joseph Conrad.

You're coming awfully close to trashing the forum here. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 21, 2013, 02:01:04 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on March 21, 2013, 12:31:29 PMYou're coming awfully close to trashing the forum here.

I apologize.  That was not my intent.  As I said to Patrick, I submit the facts without judgment.  I admitted to liking a hip-hop song, and I've posted rock music selections in the music thread.  I think popular culture is very alluring, although at heart I think Bp. Williamson makes an excellent point.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I think most people are selective in what they choose to take from His Excellency, are they not?  I doubt most of us would agree with him on The Sound of Music.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on March 21, 2013, 03:53:37 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on March 21, 2013, 12:31:29 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on March 21, 2013, 12:20:47 PM
Patrick, I think most of the active posters here are very supportive of Bishop Williamson.  When he speaks on topics such as the Jews or Vatican II, he is considered a maestro non pareil.  But let him turn his attention to women wearing pants or rock n' roll music, and many will have a bit of chuckle and be forced to conclude that, well, the old boy isn't perfect, and he can sure come up with some dotty musings when he sets his mind to it.  So I think they're kind of selective in that regard.

There is a Hip Hop Thread (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=1672.0) on this forum, and there is another one entitled To what are you currently listening? (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=2.0) which (and correct me if I am wrong) is not exactly filled with Penderecki and Mozart.  I submit these threads without comment.  I am only, to use a popular phrase, "just sayin'."

I know this isn't a movie thread, but I was watching a movie called Fish Tank the other night and it featured a hip-hop song by someone called Nas.  The chorus went:

Life's a bitch and then ya die
That's why we get high
'Cos you never know
when you're gonna go, so
Life's a bitch and then ya die
That's why we puff lye.


I don't know, I found it pretty catchy.  "Jungle drums," indeed.  "But what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend. And why not? The mind of man is capable of anything—because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future," said Joseph Conrad.

You're coming awfully close to trashing the forum here.

I thought it was a fair response.  There are many Williamson supporters on the forum but not everyone is.  In fact there's even a divide among his supporters regarding certain issues.  I see nothing wrong with the way Brock critiqued Patrick's post, especially considering his narrow minded views which he presents as truths. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on March 21, 2013, 07:44:12 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on March 21, 2013, 02:01:04 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on March 21, 2013, 12:31:29 PMYou're coming awfully close to trashing the forum here.

I apologize.  That was not my intent.  As I said to Patrick, I submit the facts without judgment.  I admitted to liking a hip-hop song, and I've posted rock music selections in the music thread.  I think popular culture is very alluring, although at heart I think Bp. Williamson makes an excellent point.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I think most people are selective in what they choose to take from His Excellency, are they not?  I doubt most of us would agree with him on The Sound of Music.

Fiar enough.  Perhaps I misread your post.  It seemed as though you were saying that there was a lack in holiness on the forum due to the fact that there is a Hip Hop thread or a lack of Mozart or Penderecki on the music thread.

If you hold that opinion that is perfectly fine, but I'd invite you to speak about it in a more concrete sense.  Help to change people's minds in a charitable way.  Again, maybe this isn't what you meant at all.

But, Penderecki?  He's a far stretch from Mozart, no?  One is reflective of the grandeur, beauty, and orderliness of God while the other is reflective of the chaotic ugliness of Satan.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 21, 2013, 09:16:39 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on March 21, 2013, 07:44:12 PM
Fiar enough.  Perhaps I misread your post.  It seemed as though you were saying that there was a lack in holiness on the forum due to the fact that there is a Hip Hop thread or a lack of Mozart or Penderecki on the music thread.

You're not misreading me, but I wouldn't go so far as to accuse anyone of lacking holiness simply because they listen to rock or hip-hop.  I'm as guilty of that as the next person.  I do have a hunch, though, that Patrick and Bp. Williamson are probably right on this issue.  I just think it's something to keep in mind.  As my posting history probably indicates, I'm very wary of worldliness.

QuoteBut, Penderecki?  He's a far stretch from Mozart, no?  One is reflective of the grandeur, beauty, and orderliness of God while the other is reflective of the chaotic ugliness of Satan.

Poor Penderecki.  He was certainly composing in the modern vein, but I wouldn't call his stylings Satanic.  Some of his pieces frequently make their way into horror movies (yikes!), but he does have some sacred music to his credit (maybe not to everyone's tastes, of course).  And then there's his Requiem Mass, which he altered after the death of John Paul II to memorialize him.  Okay, you're right.  Maybe Penderecki wouldn't be a good choice for a trad forum after all ...

:toth:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on March 21, 2013, 09:24:08 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on March 21, 2013, 09:16:39 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on March 21, 2013, 07:44:12 PM
Fiar enough.  Perhaps I misread your post.  It seemed as though you were saying that there was a lack in holiness on the forum due to the fact that there is a Hip Hop thread or a lack of Mozart or Penderecki on the music thread.

You're not misreading me, but I wouldn't go so far as to accuse anyone of lacking holiness simply because they listen to rock or hip-hop.  I'm as guilty of that as the next person.  I do have a hunch, though, that Patrick and Bp. Williamson are probably right on this issue.  I just think it's something to keep in mind.  As my posting history probably indicates, I'm very wary of worldliness.

QuoteBut, Penderecki?  He's a far stretch from Mozart, no?  One is reflective of the grandeur, beauty, and orderliness of God while the other is reflective of the chaotic ugliness of Satan.

Poor Penderecki.  He was certainly composing in the modern vein, but I wouldn't call his stylings Satanic.  Some of his pieces frequently make their way into horror movies (yikes!), but he does have some sacred music to his credit (maybe not to everyone's tastes, of course).  And then there's his Requiem Mass, which he altered after the death of John Paul II to memorialize him.  Okay, you're right.  Maybe Penderecki wouldn't be a good choice for a trad forum after all ...

:toth:

Believe it or not, I share a lot of your concerns with worldliness.  Holiness is really a balance between apathy/heathenism/liberalism and scrupulosity/over-sacrilizing/jansenism.  It's important that we carefully consider and pray about how to find this balance in our life and not just reject something because it seems crazy.  The truth seems absolutely bizarre in this society.

But Penderecki...  He's worse than a lot of secular music.  His stuff is like a soundtrack to hell.  I think it can be utilized well (if I was a director I'd use his music to give a backdrop to sin and evil), but man, just turning on some Penderecki while cleaning out the garage...

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 23, 2013, 06:44:46 PM
The Eternal Woman by Gertrude Von Le Fort.  Excellent so far. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: BierKaiser on March 23, 2013, 09:57:59 PM
Summa Theologica
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Eliza on March 23, 2013, 10:14:34 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on March 23, 2013, 06:44:46 PM
The Eternal Woman by Gertrude Von Le Fort.  Excellent so far.

Yeah, it's a great book.

If you like that one, you'd probably like "the privilege of being a woman" by Alice Von Hildebrand. I have read bits and pieces of it, but I intend to read it in its entirety soon.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 24, 2013, 03:19:00 PM
Quote from: Eliza on March 23, 2013, 10:14:34 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on March 23, 2013, 06:44:46 PM
The Eternal Woman by Gertrude Von Le Fort.  Excellent so far.

Yeah, it's a great book.

If you like that one, you'd probably like "the privilege of being a woman" by Alice Von Hildebrand. I have read bits and pieces of it, but I intend to read it in its entirety soon.

I've read the book by Alice Von Hildebrand, too.  Very, very good. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Graham on March 24, 2013, 03:38:44 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on March 21, 2013, 12:20:47 PM
I know this isn't a movie thread, but I was watching a movie called Fish Tank the other night and it featured a hip-hop song by someone called Nas.  The chorus went:

Life's a bitch and then ya die
That's why we get high
'Cos you never know
when you're gonna go, so
Life's a bitch and then ya die
That's why we puff lye.


It's a little known fact that Nas' next album featured a Traditional Catholic remix.

Life's a bitch and then ya die
That's why we remain in the state of grace
'Cos you know know when you're gonna go


According to Puff Daddy, the flow was awkward, but the theology was impeccable.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 24, 2013, 09:57:01 PM
 :lol:

Graham, I commend you!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Graham on March 31, 2013, 04:26:45 PM
Mr. Brocklehurst, who are your favorite cynical/misanthropic/curmudgeonly authors?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Coastal GA Trad on April 04, 2013, 04:15:46 PM
"They Have Uncrowned Him" by His Grace Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on April 04, 2013, 04:26:33 PM
Quote from: Graham on March 31, 2013, 04:26:45 PM
Mr. Brocklehurst, who are your favorite cynical/misanthropic/curmudgeonly authors?

Vladimir Nabokov would have to top that list.  He's one of the rare authors to whom cynicism & misanthropy seem to come naturally; so many others are simply trying too hard to affect a pose.  Have you read any of his books, Graham?

Nietzsche rates pretty highly on that meter as well.  Very incisive.  Some of his lines are just hilarious.  He was horribly anti-Christian, of course, but somehow one feels for him anyway.  He was introverted and weird, and I like to think he was tilting against the bourgeois & saccharine Christianity of his day.  He wrote, famously, that "the last Christian died on the cross," indicative perhaps of how high he considered the bar set and how lazy the disciples of Christ were in imitating Him.  Nietzsche had an aversion to pity which I find strange.  Yet his last act before his family had him committed was to run out into the street to console a horse being mercilessly whipped by its master.  He was an enigmatic guy.  And a great writer.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tmw89 on April 04, 2013, 09:50:02 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on April 04, 2013, 04:26:33 PM[Nietzsche's] last act before his family had him committed was to run out into the street to console a horse being mercilessly whipped by its master.

Don't suppose you've seen the Bela Tarr film named after the incident?




Also, re-reading Monsignor Fenton's The Concept of Sacred Theology.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on April 04, 2013, 09:56:25 PM
Madman's Diary - Lu Xun


Commie crap.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Dom Passerini on April 05, 2013, 12:25:14 AM
Leaving a Trace, by Alexandra Johnson.

I informally keep several journals and was surprised to come across this book on my bookshelf that's all about journaling.  It's something my wife picked up before we even knew each other and I've seen this book on the shelf for seven years, but we have so many books that I never actually even looked at it.  I finally just grabbed it the other day to see what it was all about, and lo and behold, it's about something I already do and have an interest in.  It's pleasant but so far (first 30 pages) are more of a ferverino about journaling than anything else.

"Journal keeping is that rare activity centered in the present, contemplating the past, yet aimed for a future self."

And it's true.  I always enjoy going back and rereading things I wrote or jotted into the margin of class notes in college etc.

I also started rereading The Hobbit, the Fellowship of the Ring, and the Return of the King...simultaneously.

I also do a fair bit of regular reading out of my 1950 copy of The Reader's Encyclopedia by William Benet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on April 05, 2013, 04:08:17 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.imagesbn.com%2Fp%2F9781439195123_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG&hash=b01657aee9db597b9afeffa6a787b6b5c23b8c3e)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on April 05, 2013, 03:47:45 PM
Quote from: tmw89 on April 04, 2013, 09:50:02 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on April 04, 2013, 04:26:33 PM[Nietzsche's] last act before his family had him committed was to run out into the street to console a horse being mercilessly whipped by its master.

Don't suppose you've seen the Bela Tarr film named after the incident?

I haven't.  Not yet.  Bela Tarr makes some of the most difficult films in the world.  He makes Guy Maddin look like Michael Bay.  I have to be in the right mood for that sort of thing, and that mood may never strike again for as long as I live.  But if it does, I'll watch it. 

Do you like Bela Tarr films?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ts aquinas on April 07, 2013, 03:07:06 PM
Life of Saint Benedict by St. Gregory the Great
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tmw89 on April 07, 2013, 03:10:59 PM
Quote from: Mr Brocklehurst on April 05, 2013, 03:47:45 PM
Do you like Bela Tarr films?

Like?  Well... my opinion varies from film to film.  When his movies work, they're magnificent... when they don't...  :trainwreck:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: kayla_veronica on April 07, 2013, 04:23:37 PM
Acts of the Apostles with commentary (Haydock).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on April 18, 2013, 08:38:52 PM
Power and the Holy in the Age of the Investiture Conflict
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PatrickG on April 23, 2013, 10:55:30 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_m9fke6S0jF1qdkuns.jpg&hash=76daa261d93f176a343290b6bd90268e2836d4e6)
Probably (to my mind) one of the greatest scholars of his day and one of the greatest authors ever to live. The Silmarillion is majestic as well. By the by, a devout Catholic.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 23, 2013, 11:06:39 AM
Quote from: PatrickG on April 23, 2013, 10:55:30 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_m9fke6S0jF1qdkuns.jpg&hash=76daa261d93f176a343290b6bd90268e2836d4e6)
Probably (to my mind) one of the greatest scholars of his day and one of the greatest authors ever to live. The Silmarillion is majestic as well. By the by, a devout Catholic.

That looks good. I'm slowly working my way through the Silmarillion.  I think I'll have to reread LOTR after I finish.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Dom Passerini on April 24, 2013, 04:43:38 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 23, 2013, 11:06:39 AM
Quote from: PatrickG on April 23, 2013, 10:55:30 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_m9fke6S0jF1qdkuns.jpg&hash=76daa261d93f176a343290b6bd90268e2836d4e6)
Probably (to my mind) one of the greatest scholars of his day and one of the greatest authors ever to live. The Silmarillion is majestic as well. By the by, a devout Catholic.

That looks good. I'm slowly working my way through the Silmarillion.  I think I'll have to reread LOTR after I finish.

Ooh, I haven't done much reading outside the Hobbit, LOTR, and the Silmarillion in years.  I think I have to get back to it!

Maryslittlegarden, how do you find the Silmarillion?  I think most people just quit but it really is fantastic.  Yeah, a lot of history and names, but he was such a gifted storyteller and the tales are so great.  What an imagination!

"Yet the making of things is in my heart from my own making by thee; and the child of little understanding that makes a play of the deeds of his father may do so without thought of mockery, but because he is the son of his father." (ch. 2)

and

"She spoke no word; but being filled with love Elwë came to her and took her hand, and straightway a spell was laid on him, so that they stood thus while long years were measured by the wheeling stars above them; and the trees of Nan Elmoth grew tall and dark before they spoke any word." (ch. 4)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 25, 2013, 05:25:13 PM
I started the Sillmarin a few years back and loved it.  I got too busy reading other stuff (I was in  the process of becoming Catholic at the time.)  I've started it up again and still think it's fantastic. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Der Kaiser on April 26, 2013, 02:57:30 PM
The Lobby Kevin B McDonald  its about the Jewish lobbiests that control our government.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: stitchmom on April 26, 2013, 03:00:36 PM
I borrowed Fabiola for my son but I might read it.
I checked out Pimsleur Spanish too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on April 26, 2013, 03:11:11 PM
Quote from: stitchmom on April 26, 2013, 03:00:36 PM
I checked out Pimsleur Spanish too.

Is it helping you?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: stitchmom on April 26, 2013, 03:17:23 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on April 26, 2013, 03:11:11 PM
Quote from: stitchmom on April 26, 2013, 03:00:36 PM
I checked out Pimsleur Spanish too.

Is it helping you?

I haven't used it yet. I did use the Dutch ones before and for conversation it's an excellent program.  I recommend it 100%. I found it more interesting than Rosetta Stone. It's so easy just play them in your car or when you exercise.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: stitchmom on April 26, 2013, 03:25:53 PM
http://www.cfnews.org/Mercier-Modernism.htm  I read that the other night thanks to Gottmitunsalex  :)
It's a great read!!!!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tmw89 on May 01, 2013, 03:25:10 PM
Partly in honor of what happened today in 1776, I've started reading the Abbe Barruel's Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mithrandylan on May 01, 2013, 04:28:03 PM
Quote from: tmw89 on May 01, 2013, 03:25:10 PM
Partly in honor of what happened today in 1776, I've started reading the Abbe Barruel's Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism.

Ah, it's Weishaupt day, isn't it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tmw89 on May 01, 2013, 04:29:06 PM
Quote from: Mithrandylan on May 01, 2013, 04:28:03 PM
Quote from: tmw89 on May 01, 2013, 03:25:10 PM
Partly in honor of what happened today in 1776, I've started reading the Abbe Barruel's Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism.

Ah, it's Weishaupt day, isn't it?

;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: peanut on May 01, 2013, 04:35:49 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on April 26, 2013, 03:11:11 PM
Quote from: stitchmom on April 26, 2013, 03:00:36 PM
I checked out Pimsleur Spanish too.

Is it helping you?

I started doing that but it became complicated after lesson 10 so I gave up. :(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on May 01, 2013, 07:04:59 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.amazon.com%2Fimages%2FP%2F0671047345.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg&hash=e93fae6510db663c7ac5f0b7fb796f759e89d2af)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on August 18, 2013, 10:35:15 PM
The Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith aka J. K. Rowling.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on August 18, 2013, 11:50:17 PM
Quote from: piabee on August 18, 2013, 10:35:15 PM
The Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith aka J. K. Rowling.

How is it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 20, 2013, 05:21:38 PM
"Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse" James Rawles
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on August 21, 2013, 07:00:01 PM
The Order of Melchisidech by Michael Davies.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: moneil on August 21, 2013, 11:19:50 PM
Across God's Frontiers: Catholic Sisters in the American West, 1850-1920 by Anne Butler http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080783565X/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1470826852&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0899EKANH2QZT72VYB4W (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080783565X/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1470826852&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0899EKANH2QZT72VYB4W)

Just finished listening to the Audible audio version www.audible.com (http://www.audible.com) today.

It is a fascinating history, and as I live in the northwest there were many familiar refernces:  The Sisters Of St Joseph Of Carondelet, who taught me (or tried to ...  ;D ) from 2nd. through 9th grade at St. Patrick's School in Pasco, WA. The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary:  I have a great aunt (my paternal grandmother's sister), and my mother has a cousin who were SNJM.  My mother,  a paternal aunt, and two cousins are alumni of the Holy Names Academy boarding school in Spokane, WA. (now merged with Gonzaga Prep, operated the the Oregon Provence of the Society of Jesus), and another aunt (mum's sister) was at The Immaculate in Seattle.  There are many references to Mother Joseph of the Sisters of Providence (Mother Joseph is one of the two personas WA selected that each state is allowed in Statuary Hall in the old House chamber of the U.S. Capital, our other being Marcus Whitman, a Presbyterian medical missionary) http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-buildings/national-statuary-hall (http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-buildings/national-statuary-hall); I was born at Providence Hospital in Seattle on June 28, 1951).  There are references to St. Francis Xavier Cabrini of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, who personally purchased the land that the now extinct Cabrini Hospital in Seattle (where I had two surgeries) was located (her relics are in the Altar of St. James Cathedral, just 2-3 blocks away).  There is an entire chapter on Saint Katharine Drexel (1858-1955, canonized in 2002).

As I've already mentioned, it is a fascinating history of the spread of Catholicism in the western U.S. territories during their settelment time, the Church's care for Her European immigrant members, the Church's charitable and evangelical outreach (certainly entwined IMHO) to those not united to Her Bosom, the Church's care for God's children regardless of their persuasion at a given point in time.

One thing that struck me after this "reading" (a listen in audio book format) was that the decline in professed women (and men) Religious has had as significant an effect on the Church's mission as the decline in priestly vocations.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on September 02, 2013, 10:19:30 PM
How to be happy, how to be holy
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: per_passionem_eius on September 02, 2013, 10:24:15 PM
'The Whole Truth about Fatima'.  What a treasure. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on September 02, 2013, 11:57:31 PM
I recently finished Our Lady Of Fatima by William Thomas Walsh. 


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 03, 2013, 07:33:15 AM
finally finished Charachters of the INquisiion a couple days ago,
now Im on the third or fourth chapter of Work of human Hands
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: erin is nice on September 03, 2013, 08:29:20 AM
Serious book: The Book of Confidence by Father Thomas de Saint-Laurent

Fun book: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire  :-[
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on September 04, 2013, 11:26:29 PM
The Book of Lost Tales 2 by Tolkien.  Still working my way through Jacob's epic Tolkien reading list.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on September 04, 2013, 11:38:28 PM
An easy way to become a saint
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Der Kaiser on September 05, 2013, 12:35:36 AM
Charlemagne-A biography
For class Feminist voices 1900-1960 ::) ( I have put off taking the Womyns and Gender studies class until the end of my college years.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on September 05, 2013, 01:37:21 AM
I suggest you get Two Lives of Charlemagne. They are both primary sources, and you will enjoy them.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 05, 2013, 07:41:14 AM
"William Wallace" Andrew Fisher
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on September 05, 2013, 05:19:09 PM
I'm about to read The Gunpowder Plot by Hugh Ross Williamson.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 05, 2013, 06:09:38 PM
Dante's Inferno for class
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Der Kaiser on September 05, 2013, 08:43:18 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on September 05, 2013, 01:37:21 AM
I suggest you get Two Lives of Charlemagne. They are both primary sources, and you will enjoy them.

Does that have his bio that was written by the Monk Einhard? If that is the one I read that way back. It is VERY good. I'll have to pick that up again.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Der Kaiser on September 05, 2013, 08:44:21 PM
Quote from: piabee on August 18, 2013, 10:35:15 PM
The Cuckoo's Calling,

I think that is the subtitle for the feminism book I have to read for class. 8)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on September 05, 2013, 09:19:39 PM
Einhard and Notker.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Roland Deschain on September 06, 2013, 07:35:56 AM
The Sources of Catholic Dogma

Jesus, Peter and the Keys
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 06, 2013, 10:00:14 PM
Quote from: Der Kaiser on September 05, 2013, 08:44:21 PM
Quote from: piabee on August 18, 2013, 10:35:15 PM
The Cuckoo's Calling,

I think that is the subtitle for the feminism book I have to read for class. 8)

*snort*

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Haha.  Oh my.  I'm laughing too hard at this one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on September 07, 2013, 10:54:39 PM
Garrigou-Lagrange's The One God.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on September 07, 2013, 11:49:43 PM
I'm currently reading The Law of Contracts and the Uniform Commercial Code. I'm about to begin reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on September 08, 2013, 01:46:56 AM
Quote from: Archer on August 18, 2013, 11:50:17 PM
Quote from: piabee on August 18, 2013, 10:35:15 PM
The Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith aka J. K. Rowling.

How is it?

The story was just starting to pick up when I posted this. She took some time to establish the characters and plot. Maybe I was prejudiced, but it is so her style, although written for adults, that I don't know how anyone wouldn't be able to guess. It's gotten a little bogged down in detail since then but we'll see how it turns out.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on October 07, 2013, 08:47:34 AM
The Rise and Fall of Triumph: The History of a Radical Roman Catholic Magazine, 1966-1976 by Mark D. Popowksi. An excellent book so far, here's the link on Amazon(get it from the library if you can because it's a little pricey).

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rise-Fall-Triumph-1966-1976/dp/0739169815/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381157073&sr=8-2&keywords=rise+and+fall+of+triumph


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AnneTce on October 08, 2013, 12:45:40 PM
Is anyone on   GoodReads  ?
:)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Penelope on October 08, 2013, 02:03:19 PM
9th graders' essay outlines. Fascinating stuff.

Actually, I'm not reading them right now. I'm putting off reading them.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 08, 2013, 02:27:28 PM
St Bonaventure's biography of St Francis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Ancilla Domini on October 10, 2013, 12:41:34 PM
I've been reading a lot of James A. Michener's historical novels. I read Mexico and Caribbean and have just started Texas. They're not great works from a literary standpoint, but for me they are a much more accessible way to study history, and in that respect they are very interesting and very well written in my opinion.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 10, 2013, 12:50:44 PM
By the way, I'm writing a Paper regarding THomistic Philosophy in the Inferno, does anyone have any recommendations for sources?

Besides the Summa and the Inferno?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 10, 2013, 02:39:35 PM
Quote from: Ancilla Domini on October 10, 2013, 12:41:34 PM
I've been reading a lot of James A. Michener's historical novels. I read Mexico and Caribbean and have just started Texas. They're not great works from a literary standpoint, but for me they are a much more accessible way to study history, and in that respect they are very interesting and very well written in my opinion.

Centennial is one of my favorites.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on October 11, 2013, 09:15:08 AM
Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration by Gregory Mank. 3rd time I've read it, it's an outstanding book if you're interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tmw89 on October 14, 2013, 10:25:38 AM
Re-reading Mons. Fenton's The Concept of Sacred Theology.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on October 17, 2013, 10:31:15 AM
A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor. (1955 short story collection)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: FaithByProxy on October 17, 2013, 10:45:37 AM
This is The Faith by Canon Francis Ripley

An Easy Way to Become a Saint by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan

The Catholic Guide to Depression by Aaron Kheriaty

I'm about halfway through all of them. It's hard for me to focus on one book at once, there's so much to learn about the Catholic faith and so little time to read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on October 17, 2013, 11:23:27 AM
Quote from: FaithByProxy on October 17, 2013, 10:45:37 AM
This is The Faith by Canon Francis Ripley

An Easy Way to Become a Saint by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan

The Catholic Guide to Depression by Aaron Kheriaty

I'm about halfway through all of them. It's hard for me to focus on one book at once, there's so much to learn about the Catholic faith and so little time to read.

The bolded is a very good book.  I enjoyed it immensely, and learned a lot. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GloriaPatri on October 17, 2013, 01:09:16 PM
Unfortunately, most of my free time is spent reading textbooks  :( But now that fall break from Uni is approaching I'll hopefully have some time to read whatever book I happen to find unread. I have at least 20 books that I haven't gone through yet. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 17, 2013, 02:39:07 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on October 17, 2013, 11:23:27 AM
Quote from: FaithByProxy on October 17, 2013, 10:45:37 AM
This is The Faith by Canon Francis Ripley

An Easy Way to Become a Saint by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan

The Catholic Guide to Depression by Aaron Kheriaty

I'm about halfway through all of them. It's hard for me to focus on one book at once, there's so much to learn about the Catholic faith and so little time to read.

The bolded is a very good book.  I enjoyed it immensely, and learned a lot.

This is The Faith is on my perpetual read list.  Along with The Story of a Soul.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on October 17, 2013, 11:29:36 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F41YYTTUsP0L.jpg&hash=088cfd7383c2d5616c810a0ef50bcaebc8178ebb)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 19, 2013, 07:59:52 AM
The Presence of the Present: Topics of the Day in the Victorian Novel, by Richard Altick. I'd been wanting to read this for a long time, and finally treated myself for my birthday. I'm still in chapter 1, but it's already interesting and informative.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: per_passionem_eius on October 19, 2013, 08:06:45 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 19, 2013, 07:59:52 AM
The Presence of the Present: Topics of the Day in the Victorian Novel, by Richard Altick. I'd been wanting to read this for a long time, and finally treated myself for my birthday. I'm still in chapter 1, but it's already interesting and informative.  :)

Happy Birthday!!!  ;D

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 19, 2013, 08:09:46 AM
Awww, thanks!  :) It was last month- I got the book late.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on October 19, 2013, 02:31:40 PM
I'm re-reading Stephen King's Night Shift for the first time in 11 years. And I'm reading Poirot Investigates.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 27, 2013, 09:34:14 AM
Just finished "Puritan's Empire" by Charles Coulombe. This was excellent. From 1492 up to Vatican II.
This was a real eye opener. I had no idea how much FDR changed the way government works.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JoyfulMother on October 27, 2013, 02:31:56 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 27, 2013, 09:34:14 AM
Just finished "Puritan's Empire" by Charles Coulombe. This was excellent. From 1492 up to Vatican II.
This was a real eye opener. I had no idea how much FDR changed the way government works.

I read this earlier this year.  Awesome book!  Amazing the puritan influence in America, it goes so deep, and I love how Coulombe shows the ways it affected the Catholic Church here in America.  The roots of Americanism.

He made one comment in the book that blew me away - that most European Catholics see the Baltimore Catechism as too soft and skirting heresy!  I wonder what catechism Coulombe would recommend?  I would love to ask him.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Der Kaiser on October 30, 2013, 05:21:34 AM
"Deep book" Julius Evola Revolt against the Modern World. "Fun Book" Dracula Bram Stoker "School Book" Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Usually I just read two a "deep" and a "fun" one but, now I have a school book
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 30, 2013, 08:09:06 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg1.imagesbn.com%2Fp%2F9781586174132_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG&hash=d5af84a6918824eeb789dda931a17f2da6427990)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: erin is nice on October 30, 2013, 09:08:20 AM
Quote from: JoyfulMother on October 27, 2013, 02:31:56 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 27, 2013, 09:34:14 AM
Just finished "Puritan's Empire" by Charles Coulombe. This was excellent. From 1492 up to Vatican II.
This was a real eye opener. I had no idea how much FDR changed the way government works.

I read this earlier this year.  Awesome book!  Amazing the puritan influence in America, it goes so deep, and I love how Coulombe shows the ways it affected the Catholic Church here in America.  The roots of Americanism.

He made one comment in the book that blew me away - that most European Catholics see the Baltimore Catechism as too soft and skirting heresy!  I wonder what catechism Coulombe would recommend?  I would love to ask him.

Coulombe doesn't believe in Baptism of desire, so of course he will take issue with the Baltimore. I can find out for you what catechism he thinks people should use.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on October 30, 2013, 09:54:26 AM
Quote from: erin is nice on October 30, 2013, 09:08:20 AM
Quote from: JoyfulMother on October 27, 2013, 02:31:56 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 27, 2013, 09:34:14 AM
Just finished "Puritan's Empire" by Charles Coulombe. This was excellent. From 1492 up to Vatican II.
This was a real eye opener. I had no idea how much FDR changed the way government works.

I read this earlier this year.  Awesome book!  Amazing the puritan influence in America, it goes so deep, and I love how Coulombe shows the ways it affected the Catholic Church here in America.  The roots of Americanism.

He made one comment in the book that blew me away - that most European Catholics see the Baltimore Catechism as too soft and skirting heresy!  I wonder what catechism Coulombe would recommend?  I would love to ask him.

Coulombe doesn't believe in Baptism of desire, so of course he will take issue with the Baltimore. I can find out for you what catechism he thinks people should use.

It's probably the Catechism of St. John Neumann. That's the one that the St. Benedict Center recommends.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Othmar on October 30, 2013, 09:57:57 AM
I've been reading from Carl Sagan's Cosmos every now and then. Whenever he mentions historical stuff, it's really annoying. It's as if historiography never moved beyond Gibbon for him.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on October 30, 2013, 06:10:00 PM
Someday, Someday, Maybe, by Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood fame.

I'm also getting my hair chemically straightened right now and I think the stylist forgot about me.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Parresia on October 30, 2013, 06:15:44 PM
I'm working my way through the Navarre Study Bible series, and also reading Christ, the Ideal of the Monk, by Blessed Columba Marimon, OSB. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: dueSicilie on October 31, 2013, 07:29:19 AM
"The Conquest of New Spain" by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, one of the Conquistadores  that conquered Mexico.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ConverteNosDeus on October 31, 2013, 01:21:53 PM
I just finished reading The Scarlet Letter for my English class and I really enjoyed it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on October 31, 2013, 04:28:23 PM
I've just finished The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life by Fr Arminjon, and raved about by St Therese of Lisieux.

Lined up next is Archbishop Lefebvre's Pastoral Letters.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 31, 2013, 07:50:12 PM
Quote from: Clare on October 31, 2013, 04:28:23 PM
I've just finished The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life by Fr Arminjon, and raved about by St Therese of Lisieux.

Lined up next is Archbishop Lefebvre's Pastoral Letters.

I've been thinking of reading the Fr Arminjon book- did you like it?



Quote from: ConverteNosDeus on October 31, 2013, 01:21:53 PM
I just finished reading The Scarlet Letter for my English class and I really enjoyed it.

Hmmm- I should dig out that book and reread it.  It's been awhile.  Did you know that one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's daughters was a Catholic convert who started a religious community (the Hawthorne Dominicans)?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JoyfulMother on October 31, 2013, 08:04:35 PM
We really need a book swap...  Some of these books I don't have access to or the money to buy.

I would like to red Abp. Lefevbre's "They Have Uncrowned Him".
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on November 01, 2013, 03:48:13 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on October 31, 2013, 07:50:12 PM
Quote from: Clare on October 31, 2013, 04:28:23 PM
I've just finished The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life by Fr Arminjon, and raved about by St Therese of Lisieux.

Lined up next is Archbishop Lefebvre's Pastoral Letters.

I've been thinking of reading the Fr Arminjon book- did you like it?
Yes, it had some good insights. It doesn't seem to have an imprimatur, unless you count St Therese's endorsement.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth on November 01, 2013, 06:43:12 AM
Quote from: ConverteNosDeus on October 31, 2013, 01:21:53 PM
I just finished reading The Scarlet Letter for my English class and I really enjoyed it.

You DID????  Please share why!  My student is doing it for home school and it's killing me.  What am I missing?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on November 01, 2013, 09:42:12 AM
Reading three books on the go at the moment (not because I'm a super brain; more likely because I have a super active brain that gets bored quickly).


Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky
I've never read any of his works but on recommendation I've just started reading it.

The Story of English by David Crystal
I've always had an interest in the history of the English language and out of all the books I've read this one is the absolute best!


Byzantium by some-or-other PhD
I like Byzantine history.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on November 01, 2013, 01:51:15 PM
Quote from: Clare on October 31, 2013, 04:28:23 PM
I've just finished The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life by Fr Arminjon, and raved about by St Therese of Lisieux.

I've been reading this as well.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on November 01, 2013, 02:16:47 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on November 01, 2013, 01:51:15 PM
Quote from: Clare on October 31, 2013, 04:28:23 PM
I've just finished The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life by Fr Arminjon, and raved about by St Therese of Lisieux.

I've been reading this as well.
What do you think of it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Der Kaiser on November 01, 2013, 06:03:44 PM
Quote from: ConverteNosDeus on October 31, 2013, 01:21:53 PM
I just finished reading The Scarlet Letter for my English class and I really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this as well
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on November 01, 2013, 07:49:50 PM
Quote from: Clare on November 01, 2013, 02:16:47 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on November 01, 2013, 01:51:15 PM
Quote from: Clare on October 31, 2013, 04:28:23 PM
I've just finished The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life by Fr Arminjon, and raved about by St Therese of Lisieux.

I've been reading this as well.
What do you think of it?

I think it's very good.  He helps to bring out a Catholic view of the End Times, but it's also a spiritual consideration.  It's not as systematic as a DuPont work on the subject, but it's very good for what it is.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on November 02, 2013, 01:30:21 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on November 01, 2013, 07:49:50 PM
Quote from: Clare on November 01, 2013, 02:16:47 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on November 01, 2013, 01:51:15 PM
Quote from: Clare on October 31, 2013, 04:28:23 PM
I've just finished The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life by Fr Arminjon, and raved about by St Therese of Lisieux.

I've been reading this as well.
What do you think of it?

I think it's very good.  He helps to bring out a Catholic view of the End Times, but it's also a spiritual consideration.  It's not as systematic as a DuPont work on the subject, but it's very good for what it is.

I wonder if you can help me, LouisIX. I finished the book a few days ago, and I never learn! Whenever I read books, I see interesting snippets, and I think, "I'll be able to find that again when I've finished." I never can!! I really ought to write notes in margins.

Anyhow, Fr Arminjon wrote surprisingly nice things about the fate of the unbaptised, and I can't find it now. I thought it would be near the end of the section on Hell, but it's not where I thought it was. If you know where it is, please give me the page number!

Thanks!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on November 02, 2013, 01:59:58 PM
Quote from: Clare on November 02, 2013, 01:30:21 PM
I wonder if you can help me, LouisIX. I finished the book a few days ago, and I never learn! Whenever I read books, I see interesting snippets, and I think, "I'll be able to find that again when I've finished." I never can!! I really ought to write notes in margins.

Anyhow, Fr Arminjon wrote surprisingly nice things about the fate of the unbaptised, and I can't find it now. I thought it would be near the end of the section on Hell, but it's not where I thought it was. If you know where it is, please give me the page number!
Don't worry. I've found the text online (http://archive.org/stream/TheEndOfThisPresentWorldAndTheMysteriesOfTheLifeToCome/EndOfThisPresentWorldAndMysteriesOfTheLifeToCome-FatherCharlesArminjon_djvu.txt) and searched for the word "unbaptized", and I found it.

(This was what I was after: "These children who have died unbaptized will not be separated from God completely: they will be united to Him in the sense that they will attain their natural end, and will see God, as far as it is possible to see Him, through the medium of eternal beings, to the extent that He manifests Himself in the marvels and harmonies of creation.")

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on November 02, 2013, 02:23:31 PM
Oh, now that is an interesting quotation.  I'm wondering if the context gives more clarity to the phrase "through the medium of eternal beings, to the extent that He manifests Himself in the marvels and harmonies of creation."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on November 02, 2013, 03:18:28 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on November 02, 2013, 02:23:31 PM
Oh, now that is an interesting quotation.  I'm wondering if the context gives more clarity to the phrase "through the medium of eternal beings, to the extent that He manifests Himself in the marvels and harmonies of creation."
I think I'll start a thread about it!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Cesar_Augustus on November 09, 2013, 07:46:14 PM
Iota Unum by Romano Amerio.

Various drawing books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 13, 2013, 09:01:21 AM
Just finished Warren Carroll's "The Last Crusade" about the Spanish Civil War. This was excellent reading. Well researched and he backed up statements with footnotes.
Almost every page was the martyrdom of laity, priests and even bishops by the Reds. In many cases he listed their names and circumstances surrounding their deaths.
I only had one complaint. 7/8ths of the book was devoted to 1936. '37 through '39 were rushed through in one chapter at the end. It would have been much better had
he spent the same amount of time on the last three years of the war as he did on the first imo.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 13, 2013, 11:06:52 AM
Ivanhoe and heading to the library today to get some more books. :) :) :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 13, 2013, 12:19:38 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 13, 2013, 09:01:21 AM
Just finished Warren Carroll's "The Last Crusade" about the Spanish Civil War. This was excellent reading. Well researched and he backed up statements with footnotes.
Almost every page was the martyrdom of laity, priests and even bishops by the Reds. In many cases he listed their names and circumstances surrounding their deaths.
I only had one complaint. 7/8ths of the book was devoted to 1936. '37 through '39 were rushed through in one chapter at the end. It would have been much better had
he spent the same amount of time on the last three years of the war as he did on the first imo.

I think the book is titled The Last Crusade:1936
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on November 14, 2013, 12:07:41 PM
Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on November 14, 2013, 07:39:41 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on November 14, 2013, 12:07:41 PM
Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope

Nice.  What did you think of The Warden?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on November 15, 2013, 03:29:15 PM
Archbishop Lefebvre's Pastoral Letters.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on November 16, 2013, 11:00:31 PM
Trinity - Leon Uris
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 18, 2013, 04:40:58 PM
Dickens' Fur Coat and Charlotte's Unanswered Letters, by Daniel Poole. I've read his earlier book, too, What Charles Dickens Ate and Jane Austen Knew. Both bery good. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on November 18, 2013, 08:21:39 PM
The Father's Tale by Michael O'Brien (author of Father Elijah).  It's pretty hefty at just over 1,000 pages, but it's really good so far.  This man has a way of bringing characters to life.  It's hard to describe the story just part of the way through, but it's touching on fatherhood (a given), poetry, Russian history...and it's turning into a bit of an adventure/retelling of the prodigal son.  It probably sounds a bit eclectic, but it works.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on November 18, 2013, 08:36:29 PM
The latest issue of the New Oxford Review.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 19, 2013, 08:45:08 AM
Quote from: Pheo on November 18, 2013, 08:21:39 PM
The Father's Tale by Michael O'Brien (author of Father Elijah).  It's pretty hefty at just over 1,000 pages, but it's really good so far.  This man has a way of bringing characters to life.  It's hard to describe the story just part of the way through, but it's touching on fatherhood (a given), poetry, Russian history...and it's turning into a bit of an adventure/retelling of the prodigal son.  It probably sounds a bit eclectic, but it works.

Really, really good book.   :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 25, 2013, 10:36:41 AM
I just finished The Christmas Hirelings, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Sweet, but predictable.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on November 25, 2013, 10:42:42 AM
About 3/5 of the way through Crime and Punishment now.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I am. It's really, really gripping. Awesome book. I wanted to read it just to be cultured (as one does!) but I thought I'd hate it because so many hipsters these days are all like, "So like Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy are totally like my favourite authors because they're like totally deep". But actually it's very good.

Raskolnikov has just gone to Sonya's apartment and she's reading about Lazarus.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 25, 2013, 01:13:46 PM
I read Crime and Punishment in college, and found it incredibly depressing. I just read The Brothers Karamazov last year, for the same reason that you read C&P, and while I enjoyed it more than C&P, mainly because of Alyosha, elements of it really disgusted me and made me wish that I hadn't read it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on November 25, 2013, 01:16:21 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 25, 2013, 01:13:46 PM
I read Crime and Punishment in college, and found it incredibly depressing. I just read The Brothers Karamazov last year, for the same reason that you read C&P, and while I enjoyed it more than C&P, mainly because of Alyosha, elements of it really disgusted me and made me wish that I hadn't read it.

You're right, it's depressing, but in a weird way. I don't feel "down" reading it... I just feel kind of sucked into the mindset of Raskolnikov. The writing makes you really understand his frame of mind which is where it feels depressing, but at the same time you don't feel sympathy with him or anything. It's very weird and I was also disgusted at various times with Raskolnikov and his thoughts.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on November 25, 2013, 02:34:32 PM
Quote from: Clare on November 02, 2013, 01:30:21 PM
I wonder if you can help me, LouisIX. I finished the book a few days ago, and I never learn! Whenever I read books, I see interesting snippets, and I think, "I'll be able to find that again when I've finished." I never can!! I really ought to write notes in margins.

Anyhow, Fr Arminjon wrote surprisingly nice things about the fate of the unbaptised, and I can't find it now. I thought it would be near the end of the section on Hell, but it's not where I thought it was. If you know where it is, please give me the page number!

Thanks!

This is one of the reasons why I love Kindles. If you make a highlight of some text in a Kindle book, you can then go to www.kindle.amazon.com (http://kindle.amazon.com) and once you log in, you'll see your highlights from all your books.

It's helpful because you can then, just cut and paste the text that you highlighted if you need to quote it somewhere... (I'm lazy, I don't like to type/transcribe the text)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 02, 2013, 09:22:27 AM
Just finished "Betrayed: An American Catholic Priest Speaks Out"  Raymond Kevane.
Reading this made me feel schizophrenic. He's a good solid Traditionalist pointing out the usual heresies. Modernism. Americanism. CITH etc.
But then he turns around and says that Vat.II is the best thing the Church has done in a long time.   :shrug:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on December 02, 2013, 11:52:08 AM
Motherhood and Family, which is a compilation of various Integrity articles.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 02, 2013, 12:04:06 PM
Rereading this one:

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net%2Fbooks%2F1180399650l%2F1035450.jpg&hash=b06591c97f8eacdd1610000400f61b39ad3aad95)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on December 10, 2013, 08:28:20 PM
I am Charlotte Simmons - Tom Wolfe.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hohenstaufen on December 11, 2013, 10:14:18 AM
Rereading Robert Fagles' (http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Penguin-Classics-Homer-ebook/dp/B002WE46X4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386778517&sr=8-1&keywords=fagles+iliad) glorious translation of the Iliad.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F2%2F24%2FCoypel%2C_Charles-Antoine_-_Fury_of_Achilles_-_1737.jpg&hash=a2be163c1fe1a899b5e7fe374f01f0a63907a062)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on December 13, 2013, 06:37:49 PM
elephant song by wilbur smith. not as good so far as some of his other stuff i've read though
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Ancilla Domini on December 13, 2013, 07:04:04 PM
Quote from: Hohenstaufen on December 11, 2013, 10:14:18 AM
Rereading Robert Fagles' (http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Penguin-Classics-Homer-ebook/dp/B002WE46X4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386778517&sr=8-1&keywords=fagles+iliad) glorious translation of the Iliad.

My favorite book of all time!  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on December 13, 2013, 07:55:51 PM
Quote from: Ancilla Domini on December 13, 2013, 07:04:04 PM
Quote from: Hohenstaufen on December 11, 2013, 10:14:18 AM
Rereading Robert Fagles' (http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Penguin-Classics-Homer-ebook/dp/B002WE46X4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386778517&sr=8-1&keywords=fagles+iliad) glorious translation of the Iliad.

My favorite book of all time!  :)

Get out! It's also my favori-- Wait...sorry, that would be Through the Looking Glass.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: drummerboy on December 14, 2013, 12:56:31 PM
On Killing The psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society

by lt.col dave grossman

Its an interesting read, even if I've been reading it in little bits because of school.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 14, 2013, 01:34:10 PM
Still Don Quixote, alternating with The Relations of St. Teresa of Avila (from Librivox).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 21, 2013, 11:41:55 AM
AA- 1025 by Marie Carre.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ReadyJoan on December 25, 2013, 04:21:27 AM
The Brothers Karamazov and The Secret of the Rosary.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 25, 2013, 11:18:50 AM
"Reality: A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought"; Reginald Garrigou-LaGrange. It has been a lot easier read than I anticipated. A couple of sections were difficult, especially when explaining the concept of "Person" as it applies to the three divine Persons in the Blessed Trinity. I would describe this book as a dummed-down resume of the Summa. Its not beyond the reach of an ordinary Catholic who doesn't have any formal training in philosophy (like me). I'm right now page 352; where the concept of "merit" is being explained. You should read this with a pen or pencil in hand to take notes for future reference.


"The Spiritual Doctrine of Fr. Louis Lallemant of The Company of Jesus" translated by Fr. Faber. A nice book on spirituality by the 17th Century Jesuit. Mostly aimed at the persons in the religious state; one can take some of the spiritual counsels and apply them to a person living in the secular state. An easy book to read for the average Catholic.
Fr. Antoni Royo Marin O.P. in his book "Teologia de la Perfeccion Cristiana";pg. 17;  describes this book in the following manner:
"A precious book, one of the best produced from this school (the Jesuit) of spirituality."


Finally: "Les Fins derniers de l'homme et du Monde"; "Le Peche". By Fr. Auguste-Alexis Goupil. S.J. Its in French; and out of print; I purchased my copy from "Abe books"; two studies in one book; one on the four last things and the end of the world; the second on Sin. Another good spritual book that is easy to read and understood by the average Catholic (if you read French, that is). Fr. tells us in the book that he will only explain what the Church holds on these subjects, and he will not advance any personal theory or introduce any speculation on these matters. So far (pg. 47) its very solid.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on December 26, 2013, 10:34:01 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on December 25, 2013, 11:18:50 AM

"The Spiritual Doctrine of Fr. Louis Lallemant of The Company of Jesus" translated by Fr. Faber. A nice book on spirituality by the 17th Century Jesuit. Mostly aimed at the persons in the religious state; one can take some of the spiritual counsels and apply them to a person living in the secular state. An easy book to read for the average Catholic.


I'm reading that also (on-line)! Fr. Lallemant's "Novena to St. Joseph" is life changing. And it is especially awesome that it was brought to us by Fr. Faber, one of my all-time favorites.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spooky on December 26, 2013, 11:34:29 PM
This biography of Heinrich Himmler.
http://www.amazon.com/Heinrich-Himmler-Peter-Longerich/dp/0199651744

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 27, 2013, 10:23:19 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on December 26, 2013, 10:34:01 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on December 25, 2013, 11:18:50 AM

"The Spiritual Doctrine of Fr. Louis Lallemant of The Company of Jesus" translated by Fr. Faber. A nice book on spirituality by the 17th Century Jesuit. Mostly aimed at the persons in the religious state; one can take some of the spiritual counsels and apply them to a person living in the secular state. An easy book to read for the average Catholic.


I'm reading that also (on-line)! Fr. Lallemant's "Novena to St. Joseph" is life changing. And it is especially awesome that it was brought to us by Fr. Faber, one of my all-time favorites.
Yes, I have never read anything by Fr. Faber, but I am very definitely going to have to add one of his books to my reading list; any recommendations, Max? (Hopefully nothing to do with Scotsmens wearing kilts, Har!).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on December 29, 2013, 05:31:56 PM
Just finished Huxley's Brave New World.  What a depressing read (especially the ending).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 29, 2013, 06:15:03 PM
Quote from: Pheo on December 29, 2013, 05:31:56 PM
Just finished Huxley's Brave New World.  What a depressing read (especially the ending).
Yes, very depressing. I also hated how Christianity is portrayed ei. Some small flagelant sect.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on December 29, 2013, 06:30:28 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on December 29, 2013, 06:15:03 PM
Quote from: Pheo on December 29, 2013, 05:31:56 PM
Just finished Huxley's Brave New World.  What a depressing read (especially the ending).

Yes, very depressing. I also hated how Christianity is portrayed ei. Some small flagelant sect.

I thought it was vindicated in the end (the long quote from Cardinal Newman was neat), but the part that bothered me most was how Christianity only ended up existing in a syncretist form.  Although to be fair, we find out about those independent islands at the end, so who knows what happens on them.

I liked John (the Savage) for most of his appearance.  He displayed self-mastery, virtue, and intelligence...until that strange ending.  It really seemed out of character.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on December 29, 2013, 07:47:03 PM
Quote from: Pheo on December 29, 2013, 05:31:56 PM
Just finished Huxley's Brave New World.  What a depressing read (especially the ending).

Was this your first read?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on December 29, 2013, 08:40:54 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on December 27, 2013, 10:23:19 AM

Yes, I have never read anything by Fr. Faber, but I am very definitely going to have to add one of his books to my reading list; any recommendations, Max? (Hopefully nothing to do with Scotsmens wearing kilts, Har!).

Drop whatever you're doing, stop wasting your time reading speculative theology, and pick up Fr. Faber's "Growth in Holiness." It is the ideal thing for someone like yourself. You can read it on-line for free, but it's worth the investment to buy a paper copy. I bought a used hardback ex-seminary some years back on Ebay or Amazon (or maybe Abe Books), and it's the best money I've ever spent.

Based on his experience being a spiritual director, Fr. Faber knows exactly why you and I are not progressing in the spiritual life, and what we should do about it. He has mastered all the medieval spiritual manuals and condensed them into a single, readable volume that is very accessible to the modern man. He is so personable that you feel that you know him as a good friend after reading some of his writing.

As traditional Catholics today, one of the problems we face is the lack of spiritual direction. Priests are simply too worn out with their excessively demanding schedules. And at no time in history were the majority of priests ever suited or qualified for spiritual direction, and today is probably the worst time in history, with so few priests to start from.

Fr. Faber's "Growth in Holiness" can fill this lacuna in your soul. He can be your spiritual director (up to a point of course). He will get you past many of the hurdles that we would never be able to figure out on our own.

Also good is Fr. Faber's "Spiritual Conferences." However, as the name implies, the work is not a unified whole, but rather a collection. An excellent collection that is well worth your time and investment to read. But "Growth in Holiness" has the superior virtue of being a finished work, with a beginning, a middle and an end, and it has a telos -- to get the reader to take their spiritual life seriously and to succeed where others have failed.

And after reading it, you will finally come to understand the brilliant profundity of the "no true scotsman" fallacy." (lol - No, that's asking too much, even of Fr. Faber.)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on December 29, 2013, 09:18:11 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on December 29, 2013, 07:47:03 PM
Quote from: Pheo on December 29, 2013, 05:31:56 PM
Just finished Huxley's Brave New World.  What a depressing read (especially the ending).

Was this your first read?

Yep.  Somehow I avoided it till now.  I suppose as a warning it was interesting, and he had some prophetic insight into the dangers of rampant materialism and consumerism, but John's final act of despair seemed really out of character.

Edit: I'd say it's more applicable to our situation - at least in the West - than something like 1984 is, but I found it difficult to get around a few far-fetched aspects of the plot.  And it's probably not fair to look at it in contrast to my favourites by Orwell and Benson.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 29, 2013, 09:38:34 PM
Max,
Thank you so much! I will indeed buy a copy of Fr. Faber's book and read it. I don't like to read things online (except for post on discussion forums of course! Ha!); I like to make notes in the back of my book on different ideas in the book that strike me as important.
I might even have a copy of Fr.'s book in my book shelves.
QuoteAnd after reading it, you will finally come to understand the brilliant profundity of the "no true scotsman" fallacy." (lol - No, that's asking too much, even of Fr. Faber.)
Har!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 29, 2013, 10:04:19 PM
Pheo stated:
QuoteI thought it was vindicated in the end (the long quote from Cardinal Newman was neat), but the part that bothered me most was how Christianity only ended up existing in a syncretist form.  Although to be fair, we find out about those independent islands at the end, so who knows what happens on them.

I liked John (the Savage) for most of his appearance.  He displayed self-mastery, virtue, and intelligence...until that strange ending.  It really seemed out of character.
I now remember little about the book, as I read it in High School (40 yrs ago). It made a bad impression on me at the time. I remember that it didn't offer any hope to the reader of a real alternative to the corrupt system of society in place.
The other horrible books that we had to read at our nominally Catholic High School were: "Catcher on the Rye" (horrible). "1984" (ditto). "Lord of the Flies"; this last one was a little better, but still none of them could be classified as "Catholic literature", or really appropriate for High School students.
Some of the literature books that we had to read, and that I did like were: "Fahrenheit 451". Arthur Clarke (an atheist) a future distopia, where the fire department burns books!!. "Anthem" by. Ayn Rand (another atheist). on individual freedom vs. a future colectivist/egalitarian distopia. " Alas Babylon". (a nuclear war survivors novel; very entertaining).   
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on December 30, 2013, 01:51:45 AM
Daughters of Juarez by Teresa Rodriguez
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on December 30, 2013, 02:32:03 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on December 29, 2013, 08:40:54 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on December 27, 2013, 10:23:19 AM

Yes, I have never read anything by Fr. Faber, but I am very definitely going to have to add one of his books to my reading list; any recommendations, Max? (Hopefully nothing to do with Scotsmens wearing kilts, Har!).

Drop whatever you're doing, stop wasting your time reading speculative theology, and pick up Fr. Faber's "Growth in Holiness." It is the ideal thing for someone like yourself. You can read it on-line for free, but it's worth the investment to buy a paper copy. I bought a used hardback ex-seminary some years back on Ebay or Amazon (or maybe Abe Books), and it's the best money I've ever spent....
I'll have to get that too.

I read All For Jesus in Lent. That was very good. Kindness was great too, but I should have got the Spiritual Conferences which includes it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 30, 2013, 07:04:16 AM
All For Jesus WAS good! I read it so long ago that it's probably time to read it again. I have Growth in Holiness, too, and it's probably time to revisit that as well. The Blessed Sacrament is also excellent. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on December 30, 2013, 11:42:30 AM
How is "Rulers of Russia" by Fr ...  Fahey?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on December 30, 2013, 12:35:18 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 30, 2013, 07:04:16 AM
I have Growth in Holiness, too, and it's probably time to revisit that as well.

Reflecting more about "Growth in Holiness," I think one reason why it is so good and so useful for us modern people is that the central heart of the book is the section where he deals with "Understanding the Human Spirit," and then "Overcoming the Human Spirit." Previous spiritual writers, no matter how wonderful and holy and inspiring they were, did not have the experience to deal with this primary obstacle to progress in the spiritual life the way that Fr. Faber did because they did not experience this in the same way due to the progress of history.

It's true that the Human Spirit has been present ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, but during the 500 years since the Renaissance, it has grown unimaginably larger and more powerful than it was during the Middle Ages, for example. And so a man like Fr. Faber living in England in the 1850's is a witness to these new modern phenomena, and was able to address them in his spiritual direction, whereas the men coming for spiritual direction to St. Bernard or the women under the spiritual direction of St. Theresa of Avila were very different creatures in their psychological makeup.

Fr. Faber was living in the time and the place (London) that were on the cutting edge of these developments in his day. He was, for example, appalled by what he read in the "Life of Charlotte Bronte," metaphorically exclaiming, "O brave new world which has such people in it," and which inspired him to revise a few sections in the second edition of "Growth in Holiness" to account for this new modern spirit.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 30, 2013, 12:54:50 PM
Max,
thanks for your additional comments on Fr. Faber's book. I just ordered it from Amazon. If you don't mind, would you keep posting more comments on Fr.'s book?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on December 30, 2013, 11:47:30 PM
I just started reading Catholic Home Schooling by Mary Kay Clark, just in case. I just finished the first volume of The Fatima Code (who's title has changed, yet again).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tradne4163 on December 31, 2013, 12:03:05 AM
I will be starting a book that is actually two books in one: The Dogma of Hell by Father F.X. Schouppe, S.J., and How To Avoid Hell by Thomas A. Nelson. I'm already somewhat familiar with the first one, but never heard of the second one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on December 31, 2013, 12:22:46 AM
Dogma of Hell made me want to go to confession after turning every page.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 31, 2013, 12:51:00 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on December 31, 2013, 12:22:46 AM
Dogma of Hell made me want to go to confession after turning every page.

This is why I don't read it. What was that someone said about how reading certain things being like pouring acid on an open wound?  :o :hide: So scary...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on December 31, 2013, 01:00:01 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 31, 2013, 12:51:00 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on December 31, 2013, 12:22:46 AM
Dogma of Hell made me want to go to confession after turning every page.

This is why I don't read it. What was that someone said about how reading certain things being like pouring acid on an open wound?

That's what a trad priest once told me after I told him my scruples went crazy.

It's weird. I have a big mouth but I'm scrupulous.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tradne4163 on December 31, 2013, 01:58:12 AM
Quote from: Bonaventure on December 31, 2013, 01:00:01 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 31, 2013, 12:51:00 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on December 31, 2013, 12:22:46 AM
Dogma of Hell made me want to go to confession after turning every page.

This is why I don't read it. What was that someone said about how reading certain things being like pouring acid on an open wound?

That's what a trad priest once told me after I told him my scruples went crazy.

It's weird. I have a big mouth but I'm scrupulous.
I just figured I'd give it a read. It's been gathering dust for quite a while. There are one or two others I was wanting to read soon, but I figured I'd save them for Lent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 07, 2014, 02:09:29 PM
Queen Isabella by William Walsh.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on January 07, 2014, 02:36:49 PM
Wheel of Time 1: Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on January 07, 2014, 06:56:54 PM
Quote from: vakarian on January 07, 2014, 02:36:49 PM
Wheel of Time 1: Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Oh no, there goes the next few months as you try to plow through 10,000 pages of Rand saving the world. lol Among the various LOtR knock-offs, I found these rather entertaining.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on January 07, 2014, 07:06:13 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on January 07, 2014, 06:56:54 PM
Quote from: vakarian on January 07, 2014, 02:36:49 PM
Wheel of Time 1: Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Oh no, there goes the next few months as you try to plow through 10,000 pages of Rand saving the world. lol Among the various LOtR knock-offs, I found these rather entertaining.

Nah, it will take me years to plow through this series. It took 2 years to get through combined series of The Belgariad and The Mallorean. Plus, I plan to read other books in between WoT, including Brandon Sanderson's works.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 08, 2014, 08:23:58 AM
I'm really enjoying Volume 1 of The Collected Letters of St. Teresa of Avila. Her turns of phrase are really witty.  :D I find her letters of spiritual direction to be particularly interesting and helpful. She even wrote to men who asked her for advice in prayer and spiritual matters! And I love how convenient the footnotes are, using the Kindle: you can click on the citation and the footnote pops up for you to read, without even leaving your current page!  :D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on January 08, 2014, 08:26:28 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 08, 2014, 08:23:58 AM
I'm really enjoying Volume 1 of The Collected Letters of St. Teresa of Avila. Her turns of phrase are really witty.  :D I find her letters of spiritual direction to be particularly interesting and helpful. She even wrote to men who asked her for advice in prayer and spiritual matters! And I love how convenient the footnotes are, using the Kindle: you can click on the citation and the footnote pops up for you to read, without even leaving your current page!  :D

Link to purchase please?!  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 08, 2014, 08:33:32 AM
Quote from: Lynne on January 08, 2014, 08:26:28 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 08, 2014, 08:23:58 AM
I'm really enjoying Volume 1 of The Collected Letters of St. Teresa of Avila. Her turns of phrase are really witty.  :D I find her letters of spiritual direction to be particularly interesting and helpful. She even wrote to men who asked her for advice in prayer and spiritual matters! And I love how convenient the footnotes are, using the Kindle: you can click on the citation and the footnote pops up for you to read, without even leaving your current page!  :D

Link to purchase please?!  :)

Here are both volumes:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=The+collected+letters+of+st.+teresa+of+avila

What a shame that The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux aren't available for Kindle! I'd be willing to buy them again in order to have those gloriously convenient footnotes!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on January 08, 2014, 08:50:22 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 08, 2014, 08:33:32 AM
Quote from: Lynne on January 08, 2014, 08:26:28 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 08, 2014, 08:23:58 AM
I'm really enjoying Volume 1 of The Collected Letters of St. Teresa of Avila. Her turns of phrase are really witty.  :D I find her letters of spiritual direction to be particularly interesting and helpful. She even wrote to men who asked her for advice in prayer and spiritual matters! And I love how convenient the footnotes are, using the Kindle: you can click on the citation and the footnote pops up for you to read, without even leaving your current page!  :D

Link to purchase please?!  :)

Here are both volumes:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=The+collected+letters+of+st.+teresa+of+avila

What a shame that The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux aren't available for Kindle! I'd be willing to buy them again in order to have those gloriously convenient footnotes!

Thank you! I got the sample of Volume 1 just to be sure... (Kindle samples are like crack)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on January 08, 2014, 01:31:43 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fshelflove.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F06%2Fgirl-of-the-limberlost.jpg&hash=f98f0a2e474b3d3cbd52aa6825e09bd9bbb38fd1)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on January 10, 2014, 08:46:21 PM
Finally reading Brideshead Revisited.  I hope it redeems itself after this drawn out, effete, gossipy soliloquy by Anthony.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on January 12, 2014, 01:36:30 PM
Just starting The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on January 12, 2014, 03:01:08 PM
I've been in the habit of reading books about the Shroud of Turin lately. Right now I'm reading Verdict on the Shroud by Kenneth Stevenson and Gary Habermas, a book I've read several times in the past(but it's been awhile). I also ordered a bunch of Shroud books used from Amazon for like a penny apiece(all I pay is the shipping), including some that attack the Shroud's authenticity. I already know the answers to their arguments(and I had read at least one of them in an earlier edition in the past), but I still want to read them anyway. The Shroud is a subject that has never ceased to fascinate me ever since a nun in the 6th grade showed me a holy card of the Holy Face. To me, there's no question that the Shroud is the real thing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 18, 2014, 11:26:52 AM
I'm not currently reading this book, I read it last year; its very well written and entertaining; the plot line is  realistic and if anyone is looking for an gripping fiction book, they will like this one; here is what amazon has posted on its  site:

One Second After Mass Market Paperback
by William R. Forstchen
http://www.amazon.com/One-Second-After-William-Forstchen/dp/0765356864/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390065640&sr=1-1&keywords=one+second
In a Norman Rockwell town in North Carolina, where residents rarely lock homes, retired army colonel John Matherson teaches college, raises two daughters, and grieves the loss of his wife to cancer. When phones die and cars inexplicably stall, Grandma's pre-computerized Edsel takes readers to a stunning scene on the car-littered interstate, on which 500 stranded strangers, some with guns, awaken John's New Jersey street-smart instincts to get the family home and load the shotgun. Next morning, some townspeople realize that an electromagnetic pulse weapon has destroyed America's power grid, and they proceed to set survival priorities. John's list includes insulin for his type-one diabetic 12-year-old, candy bars, and sacks of ice. Deaths start with heart attacks and eventually escalate alarmingly. Food becomes scarce, and societal breakdown proceeds with inevitable violence; towns burn, and ex-servicemen recall "Korea in '51" as military action by unlikely people becomes the norm in Forstchen's sad, riveting cautionary tale, the premise of which Newt Gingrich's foreword says is completely possible. --Whitney Scott
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on January 19, 2014, 04:58:53 AM
St Francis of Assisi, by G K Chesterton
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 19, 2014, 06:09:18 AM
Lots of Kindle samples, trying to decide which book to buy next.  :tongue:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on January 19, 2014, 06:59:13 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 19, 2014, 06:09:18 AM
Lots of Kindle samples, trying to decide which book to buy next.  :tongue:

Kindle samples = crack
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 19, 2014, 07:27:29 AM
Amchurch Comes Out  by Paul Likoudis. Horrifying.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 19, 2014, 11:41:58 AM
Quote from: Lynne on January 19, 2014, 06:59:13 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 19, 2014, 06:09:18 AM
Lots of Kindle samples, trying to decide which book to buy next.  :tongue:

Kindle samples = crack

But free. Even better!  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on January 19, 2014, 01:01:19 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 19, 2014, 11:41:58 AM
Quote from: Lynne on January 19, 2014, 06:59:13 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 19, 2014, 06:09:18 AM
Lots of Kindle samples, trying to decide which book to buy next.  :tongue:

Kindle samples = crack

But free. Even better!  ;D

:rofl:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on January 19, 2014, 03:23:19 PM
The Acts of the Apostles.

Understanding the NEC, Residential Wiring.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on January 19, 2014, 04:36:47 PM
I'm currently reading:
Know Your Mass by Fr. Demetrius Manousos
Prophecy of Daniel by God through Daniel (Douay-Rheims translation)
Aquinas's Shorter Summa by St. Thomas Aquinas (translation of the Compendium Theologiae)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JoyfulMother on January 19, 2014, 04:41:55 PM
Archbishop Lefebvre & the Vatican.  Found on-line here:  http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Archbishop_Lefebvre_and_the_Vatican/prologue.htm
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on January 19, 2014, 05:46:57 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 19, 2014, 11:41:58 AM
Quote from: Lynne on January 19, 2014, 06:59:13 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 19, 2014, 06:09:18 AM
Lots of Kindle samples, trying to decide which book to buy next.  :tongue:

Kindle samples = crack

But free. Even better!  ;D

Web Archive has become my crack addiction.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on January 19, 2014, 06:28:10 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on January 19, 2014, 05:46:57 PM

Web Archive has become my crack addiction.

That too! There's lots of good old embroidery books too...

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 19, 2014, 08:17:15 PM
Quote from: Lynne on January 19, 2014, 06:28:10 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on January 19, 2014, 05:46:57 PM

Web Archive has become my crack addiction.

That too! There's lots of good old embroidery books too...

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

Ooooh, yes! I've lost count of how many books I've downloaded from that site!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Southern Ascetic on January 19, 2014, 09:30:37 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F51otcSsoH4L._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2%2CTopRight%2C1%2C0_SH20_BO1%2C204%2C203%2C200_.jpg&hash=d3373c5e6a6bcd9d03ac644c84adee88227f8892)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 20, 2014, 07:51:54 AM
Quote from: JoyfulMother on January 19, 2014, 04:41:55 PM
Archbishop Lefebvre & the Vatican.  Found on-line here:  http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Archbishop_Lefebvre_and_the_Vatican/prologue.htm

This is really good, as you already know.

I'd encourage you, if you want to learn more about the SSPX, Rome, etc, read "Pro Apologia" as well.

Do you have an e-reader?  I seriously need to post the "ebook" I made out of the files from SSPX Asia.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pius Papa Decimus on January 20, 2014, 07:55:40 AM
 Brothers Karamazov
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JoyfulMother on January 20, 2014, 09:24:15 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 20, 2014, 07:51:54 AM
Quote from: JoyfulMother on January 19, 2014, 04:41:55 PM
Archbishop Lefebvre & the Vatican.  Found on-line here:  http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Archbishop_Lefebvre_and_the_Vatican/prologue.htm

This is really good, as you already know.

I'd encourage you, if you want to learn more about the SSPX, Rome, etc, read "Pro Apologia" as well.

Do you have an e-reader?  I seriously need to post the "ebook" I made out of the files from SSPX Asia.

I wish I had an e-reader.   Reading on-line is a pain.

I am also reading "Pro Apologia" as well.   Great book.  Makes me wish I had had the chance to meet the Abp. in person.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on January 20, 2014, 09:33:08 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 20, 2014, 07:51:54 AM
Quote from: JoyfulMother on January 19, 2014, 04:41:55 PM
Archbishop Lefebvre & the Vatican.  Found on-line here:  http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Archbishop_Lefebvre_and_the_Vatican/prologue.htm

This is really good, as you already know.

I'd encourage you, if you want to learn more about the SSPX, Rome, etc, read "Pro Apologia" as well.

Do you have an e-reader?  I seriously need to post the "ebook" I made out of the files from SSPX Asia.

Let us know if you do, I'd love to read those on my kindle.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 21, 2014, 11:19:49 AM
The Count of Monte Cristo, again. (Librivox)

https://librivox.org/the-count-of-monte-cristo-version-3-by-alexandre-dumas/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on January 25, 2014, 06:54:13 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fhexploitation.files.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F07%2Ffowlesmagus.jpg%253Fw%253D331%2526h%253D550&hash=fae51b58f380b9367dadb7f6bc9a74cc2ed439ed)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on January 25, 2014, 10:53:52 PM
Mr Brocklehurst, that looks like one weird-ass book my man... whats it about?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on January 26, 2014, 10:51:40 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 21, 2014, 11:19:49 AM
The Count of Monte Cristo, again. (Librivox)

https://librivox.org/the-count-of-monte-cristo-version-3-by-alexandre-dumas/


:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

One of my favorite books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on January 26, 2014, 07:04:48 PM
Quote from: Arun on January 25, 2014, 10:53:52 PM
Mr Brocklehurst, that looks like one weird-ass book my man... whats it about?

So far, not much.  But I only just started it.  I assume a plot will take shape eventually.  The book jacket is vague and unhelpful concerning plot points.  It tells me instead that "THE MAGUS is a maze, a dark door.  Once through that door, however, the reader is drawn on by the story, by its strangeness, by its fascination, by its intricately woven web of suspense until he has followed the labyrinth to its center and to its compelling climax."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Der Kaiser on January 27, 2014, 06:27:17 PM
For "serious" reading Revolt against the Modern World by Julius Evola
For "Fun" Die Nibelungenlied
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Angelorum on January 28, 2014, 03:25:01 PM
Goethe's Faust
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on January 29, 2014, 05:21:08 AM
Out of the Silent Planet (Cosmic Trilogy), C S Lewis.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ChristConquers on January 29, 2014, 09:56:40 PM
Quote from: Der Kaiser on January 27, 2014, 06:27:17 PM
For "serious" reading Revolt against the Modern World by Julius Evola
For "Fun" Die Nibelungenlied

I've read Revolt three times and still can't figure out what tradition really is. Jokes aside, wonderful book and I am glad to see others interested in Evola.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on January 30, 2014, 12:27:10 PM
Just about to start Perelandra now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on January 30, 2014, 02:14:22 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F51FpBXnvlpL._BO2%2C204%2C203%2C200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click%2CTopRight%2C35%2C-76_AA278_PIkin4%2CBottomRight%2C-66%2C22_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg&hash=3e252dc64ae3b88d3a7c8e7f211e4c65008f505b)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 30, 2014, 05:00:11 PM
Quote from: Clare on January 30, 2014, 12:27:10 PM
Just about to start Perelandra now.
I read the C.S. Lewis trilogy a long time ago. I mostly remember "That Hideous Strenght", of the three.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on January 31, 2014, 02:02:08 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on January 30, 2014, 05:00:11 PM
Quote from: Clare on January 30, 2014, 12:27:10 PM
Just about to start Perelandra now.
I read the C.S. Lewis trilogy a long time ago. I mostly remember "That Hideous Strenght", of the three.
I'm looking forward to tackling that one after Perelandra. I've heard interesting things about it. I can't remember what, exactly, but I know it sounded good! It seems to be longer than the first two books combined.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 03, 2014, 06:00:25 AM
Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation by Robert Wilson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spooky on February 03, 2014, 11:28:37 AM
Just finished Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (http://www.amazon.com/Thunderstruck-Erik-Larson/dp/1400080673) and now reading The Devil in the White City by the same author (http://www.amazon.com/The-Devil-White-City-Madness/dp/0375725601/ref=pd_sim_b_3)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: drummerboy on February 03, 2014, 01:11:41 PM
Warren Carroll's The Last Crusade, about the Spanish Civil War
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on February 04, 2014, 10:06:27 AM
Quote from: drummerboy on February 03, 2014, 01:11:41 PM
Warren Carroll's The Last Crusade, about the Spanish Civil War
Great book.  It has a pro-Carlist bias; and therefore somewhat anti-Franco; but its the best book in English on the Spanish Civil War or at least on the small part that it covers of that war.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on February 10, 2014, 02:52:00 AM
That Hideous Strength
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on February 10, 2014, 04:29:29 PM
Quote from: Clare on February 10, 2014, 02:52:00 AM
That Hideous Strength

Be sure to let us know your reaction.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on February 11, 2014, 05:58:22 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on February 10, 2014, 04:29:29 PM
Quote from: Clare on February 10, 2014, 02:52:00 AM
That Hideous Strength

Be sure to let us know your reaction.
Will do. It was you who piqued my interest in this book in the first place, Max! :D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Angelorum on February 12, 2014, 07:54:24 PM
Drink the Tea by Thomas Kaufman
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Der Kaiser on February 13, 2014, 04:42:53 AM
WWII and the fall of the West.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 17, 2014, 06:28:00 AM
Intellectuals by Paul Johnson. A scathing critique that covers them all. Rousseau.Marx.Brecht. Mailer. Loved it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on February 26, 2014, 09:26:35 AM
Quote from: Clare on February 11, 2014, 05:58:22 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on February 10, 2014, 04:29:29 PM
Quote from: Clare on February 10, 2014, 02:52:00 AM
That Hideous Strength

Be sure to let us know your reaction.
Will do. It was you who piqued my interest in this book in the first place, Max! :D
Well, I've finished it now. What a remarkable book! I think I was a little disadvantaged by not knowing a great deal about King Arthur's story.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on February 26, 2014, 10:07:32 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg1.imagesbn.com%2Fp%2F9780786101122_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG&hash=eb34af87becaa496837e06a590fd9a6b33036a0a)

Shelby Foote's The Civil War - got all three volumes from the library
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pius Papa Decimus on February 26, 2014, 12:40:55 PM
Christ, the life of the soul by Blessed Columba Marmion.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on February 26, 2014, 12:59:23 PM
Quote from: Pius Papa Decimus on February 26, 2014, 12:40:55 PM
Christ, the life of the soul by Blessed Columba Marmion.

Ooo I've heard wonderful things about that...

Sent from my Droid Maxx

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pius Papa Decimus on February 26, 2014, 06:25:06 PM
It's pretty great so far, Lynne. I bought it for $10.00, so worth it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on February 26, 2014, 09:49:17 PM
Quote from: Clare on February 26, 2014, 09:26:35 AM
Quote from: Clare on February 11, 2014, 05:58:22 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on February 10, 2014, 04:29:29 PM
Quote from: Clare on February 10, 2014, 02:52:00 AM
That Hideous Strength

Be sure to let us know your reaction.
Will do. It was you who piqued my interest in this book in the first place, Max! :D
Well, I've finished it now. What a remarkable book! I think I was a little disadvantaged by not knowing a great deal about King Arthur's story.

To tell the truth, I kind of faded out when it got to the Merlin part at the end. It was the earlier parts of the story that I found insightful. Lewis tried to tack on a happy ending. I'm afraid the real life analogue of the story does not have a positive outcome.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on March 02, 2014, 03:17:16 AM
The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580

by Eamon Duffy
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on March 02, 2014, 01:03:00 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on March 02, 2014, 03:17:16 AM
The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580

by Eamon Duffy

How is it,?  I have it and have been meaning to get to it...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 02, 2014, 02:51:42 PM
The Judgement of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism by Ross King
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 02, 2014, 05:38:38 PM
The Elusive Pimpernel via Librivox
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on March 02, 2014, 05:40:08 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 02, 2014, 01:03:00 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on March 02, 2014, 03:17:16 AM
The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580

by Eamon Duffy

How is it,?  I have it and have been meaning to get to it...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

For a history, it's outstanding. Well written and not dry, excellently sourced, sufficiently thorough.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on March 02, 2014, 06:06:20 PM
Sweet.  That is exciting.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on March 02, 2014, 07:23:57 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on March 02, 2014, 05:38:38 PM
The Elusive Pimpernel via Librivox

Is that different than The Scarlet Pimpernel (which I liked)?

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 03, 2014, 06:38:22 AM
Quote from: Lynne on March 02, 2014, 07:23:57 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on March 02, 2014, 05:38:38 PM
The Elusive Pimpernel via Librivox

Is that different than The Scarlet Pimpernel (which I liked)?

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

Yes - there is a whole series of Pimpernel books.  Librivox has a lot of them, web archive might have a print version of them. I think most of the sequels have been out of print for awhile. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on March 03, 2014, 08:16:14 AM
Oh boy!

Sent from my Droid Maxx

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 03, 2014, 08:29:53 AM
Quote from: Lynne on March 03, 2014, 08:16:14 AM
Oh boy!

Sent from my Droid Maxx

Yeah, I love the Pimpernal stories.  (Monarchist that I am :) :) :) )

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:02:21 AM
I just finished reading "A Family of Brigands" by: Marie de Sainte-Hermine.  This is the story of two sisters who lived in the Vendee during the period of the uprising against the Revolutionary government in Paris.  The story is chronicled by Marie, the youngest, as the family goes from a tranquil existence of a noble family in the province; to the uprising of the Vendee, and the struggles that lead to the loss of much of that happy life.  Through it all, the faith of these noble people, both peasants and aristocrats shines through.  I highly recommend it to anybody who would like to read a rousing and gripping  Catholic adventure story; I and several of my family who have read it, have really been edified by the tale of these Crusaders and Martyrs for the faith.  Five Stars. 
Ps. This is a true story.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:13:02 AM
A Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew; St. Thomas Aquinas; trans. By Fr. Paul Kimball.
I'm currently reading this excellent commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew by St. Thomas; it is very interesting to read the depth of meaning that so many verses of the Gospel have, and which St. Thomas brings to light by his weaving together the commentaries of so many of the Church Fathers.  If you want to increase in your knowledge of the faith and of the Gospels, then I would highly recommend this book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:23:55 AM
On the recommendation of my friend Maximilian, who advised me to buy anything written by Fr. Faber. I decided to follow his advice;  Fr. Frederick Faber, is the well known English spiritual writer of the 19th C. and the book I'm reading is  "Growth in Holiness".  I have only advanced to the third chapter, but I had to write that what Fr. Faber has been saying in the first two chapters is worth the price of the whole book.  His chapters on "Kindness" and "Kind Thoughts", are a must read for any Catholic who is serious about making progress in the spiritual life.  There is enough material in those two chapters to keep me busy in examining and  reforming my own exterior and interior behavior for the rest of my life.  Five stars.
Ps. This will not be the last Fr. Faber book I will purchase.
Pp. Ss. Thanks Max!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on March 07, 2014, 09:30:26 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:23:55 AM
On the recommendation of my friend Maximilian, who advised me to buy anything written by Fr. Faber. I decided to follow his advice;  Fr. Frederick Faber, is the well known English spiritual writer of the 19th C. and the book I'm reading is  "Growth in Holiness".  I have only advanced to the third chapter, but I had to write that what Fr. Faber has been saying in the first two chapters is worth the price of the whole book.  His chapters on "Kindness" and "Kind Thoughts", are a must read for any Catholic who is serious about making progress in the spiritual life.  There is enough material in those two chapters to keep me busy in examining and  reforming my own exterior and interior behavior for the rest of my life.  Five stars.
Ps. This will not be the last Fr. Faber book I will purchase.
Pp. Ss. Thanks Max!

I'm reading this for Lent. I agree, it's very good...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on March 07, 2014, 09:37:20 AM
I'm reading the New Testament, and The Mystical City of God by Venerable Mary of Agreda for Lent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 10:05:43 AM
Quote from: Larry on March 07, 2014, 09:37:20 AM
I'm reading the New Testament, and The Mystical City of God by Venerable Mary of Agreda for Lent.
I've read the M.C.G. Several times, and it is very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on March 07, 2014, 10:14:09 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 10:05:43 AM
Quote from: Larry on March 07, 2014, 09:37:20 AM
I'm reading the New Testament, and The Mystical City of God by Venerable Mary of Agreda for Lent.
I've read the M.C.G. Several times, and it is very good.

I got it for Kindle, and so far it's excellent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on March 07, 2014, 10:32:22 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:02:21 AM
I just finished reading "A Family of Brigands" by: Marie de Sainte-Hermine.  This is the story of two sisters who lived in the Vendee during the period of the uprising against the Revolutionary government in Paris.  The story is chronicled by Marie, the youngest, as the family goes from a tranquil existence of a noble family in the province; to the uprising of the Vendee, and the struggles that lead to the loss of much of that happy life.  Through it all, the faith of these noble people, both peasants and aristocrats shines through.  I highly recommend it to anybody who would like to read a rousing and gripping  Catholic adventure story; I and several of my family who have read it, have really been edified by the tale of these Crusaders and Martyrs for the faith.  Five Stars. 
Ps. This is a true story.

Thanks for this recommendation. It sounds great, but I can't find it available anywhere. Amazon has never heard of it. Did you read it in French?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on March 07, 2014, 10:33:49 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:23:55 AM
On the recommendation of my friend Maximilian, who advised me to buy anything written by Fr. Faber. I decided to follow his advice;  Fr. Frederick Faber, is the well known English spiritual writer of the 19th C. and the book I'm reading is  "Growth in Holiness".  I have only advanced to the third chapter, but I had to write that what Fr. Faber has been saying in the first two chapters is worth the price of the whole book.  His chapters on "Kindness" and "Kind Thoughts", are a must read for any Catholic who is serious about making progress in the spiritual life.  There is enough material in those two chapters to keep me busy in examining and  reforming my own exterior and interior behavior for the rest of my life.  Five stars.
Ps. This will not be the last Fr. Faber book I will purchase.
Pp. Ss. Thanks Max!

You're welcome. However, "Kindness" and "Kind Thoughts" are not in "Growth in Holiness," but in "Spiritual Conferences." Both are great books to read for Lent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on March 07, 2014, 11:09:40 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on March 07, 2014, 10:32:22 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:02:21 AM
I just finished reading "A Family of Brigands" by: Marie de Sainte-Hermine.  This is the story of two sisters who lived in the Vendee during the period of the uprising against the Revolutionary government in Paris.  The story is chronicled by Marie, the youngest, as the family goes from a tranquil existence of a noble family in the province; to the uprising of the Vendee, and the struggles that lead to the loss of much of that happy life.  Through it all, the faith of these noble people, both peasants and aristocrats shines through.  I highly recommend it to anybody who would like to read a rousing and gripping  Catholic adventure story; I and several of my family who have read it, have really been edified by the tale of these Crusaders and Martyrs for the faith.  Five Stars. 
Ps. This is a true story.

Thanks for this recommendation. It sounds great, but I can't find it available anywhere. Amazon has never heard of it. Did you read it in French?

It only seems to be for sale at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary...

http://stas.org/en/media/books/family-brigands-1793-2709 (http://stas.org/en/media/books/family-brigands-1793-2709)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on March 07, 2014, 11:23:10 AM
Quote from: Lynne on March 07, 2014, 11:09:40 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on March 07, 2014, 10:32:22 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:02:21 AM
I just finished reading "A Family of Brigands" by: Marie de Sainte-Hermine.  This is the story of two sisters who lived in the Vendee during the period of the uprising against the Revolutionary government in Paris.  The story is chronicled by Marie, the youngest, as the family goes from a tranquil existence of a noble family in the province; to the uprising of the Vendee, and the struggles that lead to the loss of much of that happy life.  Through it all, the faith of these noble people, both peasants and aristocrats shines through.  I highly recommend it to anybody who would like to read a rousing and gripping  Catholic adventure story; I and several of my family who have read it, have really been edified by the tale of these Crusaders and Martyrs for the faith.  Five Stars. 
Ps. This is a true story.

Thanks for this recommendation. It sounds great, but I can't find it available anywhere. Amazon has never heard of it. Did you read it in French?

It only seems to be for sale at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary...

http://stas.org/en/media/books/family-brigands-1793-2709 (http://stas.org/en/media/books/family-brigands-1793-2709)

Thank you. I bookmarked that link.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 01:13:25 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on March 07, 2014, 10:33:49 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:23:55 AM
On the recommendation of my friend Maximilian, who advised me to buy anything written by Fr. Faber. I decided to follow his advice;  Fr. Frederick Faber, is the well known English spiritual writer of the 19th C. and the book I'm reading is  "Growth in Holiness".  I have only advanced to the third chapter, but I had to write that what Fr. Faber has been saying in the first two chapters is worth the price of the whole book.  His chapters on "Kindness" and "Kind Thoughts", are a must read for any Catholic who is serious about making progress in the spiritual life.  There is enough material in those two chapters to keep me busy in examining and  reforming my own exterior and interior behavior for the rest of my life.  Five stars.
Ps. This will not be the last Fr. Faber book I will purchase.
Pp. Ss. Thanks Max!
Ooops! Sorry about that; I left the book at work and I didn't have it in front of me when I wrote the post.

You're welcome. However, "Kindness" and "Kind Thoughts" are not in "Growth in Holiness," but in "Spiritual Conferences." Both are great books to read for Lent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on March 07, 2014, 03:10:32 PM
My Lenten reading. 

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F51Z%252BR8LxjRL.jpg&hash=6d12e8a428601efe186088778690e483c3201360)

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.betterworldbooks.com%2F145%2FSt-Joseph-Prince-of-the-Church-9781450026826.jpg&hash=62e291570cec981bd644b4034456d24fafb1d042)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on March 07, 2014, 04:32:21 PM
Horn of the Unicorn is a great book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: kempff on March 07, 2014, 05:32:56 PM
https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/Easy-Way-To-Become-A-Saint
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on March 08, 2014, 08:53:43 AM
Quote from: Larry on March 07, 2014, 04:32:21 PM
Horn of the Unicorn is a great book.

Agreed.  David Allen White's writing style is fantastic and the book doubles as a history book.  I'm truly enjoying reading it. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on March 14, 2014, 02:21:05 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on March 07, 2014, 09:23:55 AM
On the recommendation of my friend Maximilian, who advised me to buy anything written by Fr. Faber. I decided to follow his advice;  Fr. Frederick Faber, is the well known English spiritual writer of the 19th C. and the book I'm reading is  "Growth in Holiness"...
I got that for my birthday, and I've just started it (having finished Surprised by Joy by CSL).

I'm also reading a little CTS pamphlet, Words of Encouragement, by Fr Daniel Considine, SJ.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on March 14, 2014, 03:59:24 PM
Quote from: Archer on March 08, 2014, 08:53:43 AM
Quote from: Larry on March 07, 2014, 04:32:21 PM
Horn of the Unicorn is a great book.

Agreed.  David Allen White's writing style is fantastic and the book doubles as a history book.  I'm truly enjoying reading it.
Fantastic book; Bishop De Castro Mayer demonstrated to all the other bishops of the world, that it was possible to keep the TLM and faith alive in their diocese if they had had the guts.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 27, 2014, 03:41:28 PM
A Wrinkle in Time
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on April 01, 2014, 08:19:04 PM
The man who saw through Heaven, Wilbur Daniel Steele.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on April 01, 2014, 10:46:10 PM
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 02, 2014, 05:37:07 AM
The Pope and Mussolini by David Kertzer
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Francisco Suárez on April 06, 2014, 10:11:27 AM
Right and Reason by Fr. Austin Fagothey S.J.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 06, 2014, 10:35:52 AM
I've just finished My Prison Life by Jabez Spencer Balfour, about his time in prison from 1896-1906 for some kind of investment fraud. I find Victorian/Edwardian social hostory fascinating. 

Oh, and The Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley. Never read it before.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on April 09, 2014, 03:22:03 PM
I am slowly working on two books, Getting Things Done by David Allen and The Three Greatest Prayers, a summary of sorts of Aquinas's sermons of the Apostle's Creed, Our Father, and Hail Mary (as the Ave existed back then).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on April 09, 2014, 05:07:10 PM
I just finished "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by G.C. Chesterton (on Librivox).

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 24, 2014, 09:04:40 AM
Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on April 27, 2014, 01:21:53 PM
The Great Divorce, CS Lewis.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on April 27, 2014, 01:25:18 PM
Just finished Dr. Sleep by Stephen King. Now reading The Wheel of Time book 2: The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on April 27, 2014, 06:09:10 PM
Quote from: vakarian on April 27, 2014, 01:25:18 PMNow reading The Wheel of Time book 2: The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

Think this series is worth reading?  It's quite the time investment...but it sounds interesting.

I'm just starting The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson so long books don't put me off at all.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: verenaerin on April 27, 2014, 06:15:57 PM
A biography on St. Lydwine. Great book, as soon as I am finished I will post a short write up on it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on April 27, 2014, 06:57:53 PM
Quote from: Pheo on April 27, 2014, 06:09:10 PM
Quote from: vakarian on April 27, 2014, 01:25:18 PMNow reading The Wheel of Time book 2: The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

Think this series is worth reading?  It's quite the time investment...but it sounds interesting.

I'm just starting The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson so long books don't put me off at all.

Well, I had read that books 1-5 were great, 6-8 not so much, 9-11 were ok, and the last 3 (by Sanderson) were great. Book 1 was a page-turner, so I read it quickly in spite of being a slow reader.

So, I'd say yes, it's worth reading.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on April 27, 2014, 09:12:36 PM
Quote from: vakarian on April 27, 2014, 06:57:53 PM
Quote from: Pheo on April 27, 2014, 06:09:10 PM
Quote from: vakarian on April 27, 2014, 01:25:18 PMNow reading The Wheel of Time book 2: The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

Think this series is worth reading?  It's quite the time investment...but it sounds interesting.

I'm just starting The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson so long books don't put me off at all.

Well, I had read that books 1-5 were great, 6-8 not so much, 9-11 were ok, and the last 3 (by Sanderson) were great. Book 1 was a page-turner, so I read it quickly in spite of being a slow reader.

So, I'd say yes, it's worth reading.
I agree with your assesment. I liked the series, there is a lot of character development and a multitude of characters and plot lines (I kept a page marker with the names of the people and notes of who they were, as I would lose track and many of the names sounded alike). I hated the ending.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 28, 2014, 06:01:11 AM
Lord of the World
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on April 28, 2014, 06:06:07 PM
Thanks, gents.  I'll throw them on the list.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on May 03, 2014, 02:36:24 AM
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 03, 2014, 10:32:17 AM
I just finished "!0 Little Indians" by Agatha Cristie; I have read two other of her books, this one I didn't like the ending, and after thinking about it, I thought the whole premise and the story was impossible.  She deliberately misleads her reader, and everything happens too tidy and works out too perfectly.  Thumbs down on this one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 03, 2014, 10:38:51 AM
I also read a Y.A. Series entitled "Divergent"; it takes place in the U.S. in the future after a war; Chicago survives as a lone city governed by the 'factions', here is the description from Amazon:
QuoteIn Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.
The first book was very good, the heroine was believable and so was the plot and story; the second one was also very good; but I have head so many complaints from the kids at the High School about the third and final book, nobody liked it;  that I'm not going to read it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on May 03, 2014, 10:48:18 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on May 03, 2014, 10:32:17 AM
I just finished "!0 Little Indians" by Agatha Cristie; I have read two other of her books, this one I didn't like the ending, and after thinking about it, I thought the whole premise and the story was impossible.  She deliberately misleads her reader, and everything happens too tidy and works out too perfectly.  Thumbs down on this one.

If I recall correctly the name was later changed to "And then there were none?" If so I read it and didn't like the ending either.  It was too neat and rather morbid. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hector, Tamer of Horses on May 03, 2014, 01:05:28 PM
Yes, Ten Little Indians isn't one of Dame Agatha's best.  Far too contrived.  Although, when I was little, I was supposed to be in a play version, but all the deaths frightened me too much and I bowed out, so I guess it's somewhat effective.  It made me quite paranoid for a while.  Same thing with Sherlock Holmes stories.  I would lie awake at night waiting for a snake to crawl through the air grate.  Ah, childhood...

I'm reading The Stripping of the Altars and Philip II by William Thomas Walsh.  Both are good, but I have a thing for biography, especially of royalty, so the latter is absorbing most of my interest.  A very worthwhile read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 03, 2014, 06:54:17 PM
Quote from: Hector, Tamer of Horses on May 03, 2014, 01:05:28 PM
I'm reading The Stripping of the Altars and Philip II by William Thomas Walsh.  Both are good, but I have a thing for biography, especially of royalty, so the latter is absorbing most of my interest.  A very worthwhile read.

Have you read his biography of Queen Isabella? I have his biography of St. Teresa of Avila and it's really good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hector, Tamer of Horses on May 03, 2014, 10:03:42 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 03, 2014, 06:54:17 PM
Quote from: Hector, Tamer of Horses on May 03, 2014, 01:05:28 PM
I'm reading The Stripping of the Altars and Philip II by William Thomas Walsh.  Both are good, but I have a thing for biography, especially of royalty, so the latter is absorbing most of my interest.  A very worthwhile read.

Have you read his biography of Queen Isabella? I have his biography of St. Teresa of Avila and it's really good.

No, I haven't, when I found this book I'd actually never heard of him.  If his other books are anything like this one then I'm sure they're great.  It's very readable and very Catholic.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on May 03, 2014, 10:18:25 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on May 03, 2014, 10:38:51 AM
I also read a Y.A. Series entitled "Divergent"; it takes place in the U.S. in the future after a war; Chicago survives as a lone city governed by the 'factions', here is the description from Amazon:
QuoteIn Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.
The first book was very good, the heroine was believable and so was the plot and story; the second one was also very good; but I have head so many complaints from the kids at the High School about the third and final book, nobody liked it;  that I'm not going to read it.

i think the missus saw this at the movies the other week...?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AugustineA on May 03, 2014, 10:34:22 PM
Father Elijah by Michael O'Brien

I just finished chapter two, and I'm hooked. A sweet traditional girl from the US recommended it to me, and so far it doesn't disappoint. The plot is built around the end of ages and persecution of the Church from within and out, and a Carmelite monk who has to save as many souls as he can.  :D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on May 04, 2014, 12:39:43 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewarehouse.co.nz%2Fis-bin%2Fintershop.static%2FWFS%2FTWL-B2C-Site%2FTWL-B2C%2Fen_NZ%2Fproduct%2Flarge%2F6d%2F5f%2F9781468594324_l.jpg&hash=43aef2871da9360fd4682e825150e8d6211f6af1)

I read it while kids take exams. 128 pages in. It's excellent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 04, 2014, 05:28:45 AM
Quote from: Bonaventure on May 04, 2014, 12:39:43 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewarehouse.co.nz%2Fis-bin%2Fintershop.static%2FWFS%2FTWL-B2C-Site%2FTWL-B2C%2Fen_NZ%2Fproduct%2Flarge%2F6d%2F5f%2F9781468594324_l.jpg&hash=43aef2871da9360fd4682e825150e8d6211f6af1)

I read it while kids take exams. 128 pages in. It's excellent.

Wow. Did you have to put a book cover on it?  :huh:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 04, 2014, 08:27:06 AM
Quote from: Hector, Tamer of Horses on May 03, 2014, 01:05:28 PM
Yes, Ten Little Indians isn't one of Dame Agatha's best.  Far too contrived.  Although, when I was little, I was supposed to be in a play version, but all the deaths frightened me too much and I bowed out, so I guess it's somewhat effective.  It made me quite paranoid for a while.  Same thing with Sherlock Holmes stories.  I would lie awake at night waiting for a snake to crawl through the air grate.  Ah, childhood...I'm reading The Stripping of the Altars and Philip II by William Thomas Walsh.  Both are good, but I have a thing for biography, especially of royalty, so the latter is absorbing most of my interest.  A very worthwhile read.

I read the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as an adult; I loved the character, he is so pompous and cock-sure of himself that he is actually likeable; poor Mr. Watson; I especially like the scene where Mr. Watson visits Holmes who he hasn't seen in a while; Holmes is bored and needs some stimulation; somebody has left their cane as a calling card, and Holmes asks Watson what can he surmise of the owner by examining the cane.  Watson proceeds to examine it, and then gives his profile of the owner to Holmes.  Holmes reaction is Holmes at his pompous obnoxious best; he tells Watson something to the effect: "your bumbling incompetence somehow acts as a mysterious stimulant that helps my powers of analysis." He then goes on to give the true profile of the owner by pointing out all the clues that the cane gives.  A real Holmesian tour de force. 

I read his "Isabella The Catholic", and his St. Teresa of Avila; both were excellent. I've been meaning to read "Phillip II" for a long time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on May 06, 2014, 01:13:32 AM
Picked it up at Sea-Tac airport and then it just so happened to be set in Seattle.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F41HGJKFdW3L.jpg&hash=f422e98fff2a5b7c36b0e7704802cca89e756af1)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hector, Tamer of Horses on May 06, 2014, 07:53:47 PM
The library at school has a free book table where all the old slightly ratty books that are no longer wanted are placed and anyone can take them, and today I picked up a nice copy of That Hideous Strength from 1960.  It's not even in very bad shape.  And luckily it's the book in the "Space Trilogy" that I haven't read yet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 06, 2014, 08:44:11 PM
True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis-Marie de Montfort. I love it. It gives me more desire to do the Total Consecration.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 06, 2014, 09:47:13 PM
My copy of Apologetics and Catholic Doctrine arrived today. It turns out that this edition includes both volumes, which means that I'll have an extra copy of Volume II. I get a feeling of sadness reading it, though: the author probably never imagined what would happen to the Church in just a generation after his book's publication.  :'(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on May 07, 2014, 01:51:30 AM
Quote from: Hector, Tamer of Horses on May 06, 2014, 07:53:47 PM
The library at school has a free book table where all the old slightly ratty books that are no longer wanted are placed and anyone can take them, and today I picked up a nice copy of That Hideous Strength from 1960.  It's not even in very bad shape.  And luckily it's the book in the "Space Trilogy" that I haven't read yet.
I read that a couple of months ago. Very good!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on May 07, 2014, 08:18:30 AM
I'm reading the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian this summer.

Right now I'm in the third book, H.M.S. Surprise.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 12, 2014, 09:08:03 AM
Not I: Memoirs of a German Childhood by Joachim Fest. The author was a schoolboy when Hitler came to power. His father was one of the founders of Reichsbanner, a
group of conservative Catholics set up to be an alternative to Nazis or Communists.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on May 14, 2014, 08:06:33 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on May 12, 2014, 09:08:03 AM
Not I: Memoirs of a German Childhood by Joachim Fest. The author was a schoolboy when Hitler came to power. His father was one of the founders of Reichsbanner, a
group of conservative Catholics set up to be an alternative to Nazis or Communists.

The Wiki entry on this group mentions not this fact.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on May 15, 2014, 12:35:27 AM
Probably the best work I've ever read for those suffering from scruples. Will post more soon.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 15, 2014, 03:46:49 PM
Open Letter to Confused Catholics.

Eye-opening
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hector, Tamer of Horses on May 15, 2014, 04:21:40 PM
Re-reading The Splendid Century by W.H. Lewis.  Such a great book.  People sure were characters in the seventeenth century...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on May 15, 2014, 04:44:19 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on May 15, 2014, 03:46:49 PM
Open Letter to Confused Catholics.

Eye-opening

Isn't it? It's enlightening to read about the crisis from his perspective too. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on June 09, 2014, 02:51:50 AM
The Screwtape Letters
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hector, Tamer of Horses on June 09, 2014, 05:29:46 PM
A Nervous Splendour: Vienna 1888/1889 by Frederic Morton.  Very interesting.

Also picked up at the library Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt by John Manchip White.  The Egyptians are so much fun to read about.  Though really the Ptolemies a bit later on are my favourites.  They have the best family tree in human history.  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on June 10, 2014, 05:49:41 AM
Just finished reading The Hunt for Red October
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on June 10, 2014, 10:41:06 AM
Geocentrism 101
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 11, 2014, 05:02:22 AM
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson. Very accurate for something written in 1907.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on June 11, 2014, 09:34:14 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 11, 2014, 05:02:22 AM
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson. Very accurate for something written in 1907.
The Dawn of All (http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11626/pg11626.html) is worth reading too.

QuoteIN a former book, called Lord of the World, I attempted to sketch the kind of developments a hundred years hence which, I thought, might reasonably be expected if the present lines of what is called "modern thought" were only prolonged far enough; and I was informed repeatedly that the effect of the book was exceedingly depressing and discouraging to optimistic Christians. In the present book I am attempting—also in parable form—not in the least to withdraw anything that I said in the former, but to follow up the other lines instead, and to sketch—again in parable—the kind of developments, about sixty years hence which, I think, may reasonably be expected should the opposite process begin, and ancient thought (which has stood the test of centuries, and is, in a very remarkable manner, being "rediscovered" by persons even more modern than modernists) be prolonged instead. We are told occasionally by moralists that we live in very critical times, by which they mean that they are not sure whether their own side will win or not. In that sense no times can ever be critical to Catholics, since Catholics are never in any kind of doubt as to whether or no their side will win. But from another point of view every period is a critical period, since every period has within itself the conflict of two irreconcilable forces. It has been for the sake of tracing out the kind of effects that, it seemed to me, each side would experience in turn, should the other, at any rate for a while, become dominant, that I have written these two books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on June 11, 2014, 09:49:24 AM
Quote from: Clare on June 11, 2014, 09:34:14 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 11, 2014, 05:02:22 AM
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson. Very accurate for something written in 1907.
The Dawn of All (http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11626/pg11626.html) is worth reading too.

Yep, both are great.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on June 12, 2014, 03:50:13 AM
Quote from: Clare on June 11, 2014, 09:34:14 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 11, 2014, 05:02:22 AM
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson. Very accurate for something written in 1907.
The Dawn of All (http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11626/pg11626.html) is worth reading too.

QuoteIN a former book, called Lord of the World, I attempted to sketch the kind of developments a hundred years hence which, I thought, might reasonably be expected if the present lines of what is called "modern thought" were only prolonged far enough; and I was informed repeatedly that the effect of the book was exceedingly depressing and discouraging to optimistic Christians. In the present book I am attempting—also in parable form—not in the least to withdraw anything that I said in the former, but to follow up the other lines instead, and to sketch—again in parable—the kind of developments, about sixty years hence which, I think, may reasonably be expected should the opposite process begin, and ancient thought (which has stood the test of centuries, and is, in a very remarkable manner, being "rediscovered" by persons even more modern than modernists) be prolonged instead. We are told occasionally by moralists that we live in very critical times, by which they mean that they are not sure whether their own side will win or not. In that sense no times can ever be critical to Catholics, since Catholics are never in any kind of doubt as to whether or no their side will win. But from another point of view every period is a critical period, since every period has within itself the conflict of two irreconcilable forces. It has been for the sake of tracing out the kind of effects that, it seemed to me, each side would experience in turn, should the other, at any rate for a while, become dominant, that I have written these two books.

I read a few pages of that one. I love how his writing flows. Very smooth.

Right now, I'm reading Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffighan. Funny light reading. The pacing threw me off because I was reading it as If I was listening to his routine, but my eyes are faster than his delivery. Not the writer's fault. I got over it, though.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hector, Tamer of Horses on June 13, 2014, 09:52:33 PM
The Day the World Discovered the Sun: An Extraordinary Story of Scientific Adventure and the Race to Track the Transit of Venus by Mark Anderson.  Eighteenth-century history AND space?  Count me in!

Picked it up at the Calico Cat Bookshop, if anyone knows Ventura.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on June 14, 2014, 07:17:18 AM
The Fortune of War, book six of Aubrey-Maturin.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: kayla_veronica on June 16, 2014, 02:29:54 PM
Sword of Honor by Evelyn Waugh.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on June 16, 2014, 03:11:00 PM
Quote from: kayla_veronica on June 16, 2014, 02:29:54 PM
Sword of Honor by Evelyn Waugh.


Great book. Starts slowly, but builds as it goes along.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on June 16, 2014, 03:24:21 PM
Just about done the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on June 16, 2014, 09:27:46 PM
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on June 16, 2014, 11:25:14 PM
"Jesus Christ, Before He Became a Superstar" - James K. Fitzpatrick, published by Roman Catholic Books

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on June 17, 2014, 02:00:29 PM
The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F.F. Bruce

and, for fun, The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael Kaminski
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Roland Deschain2 on June 19, 2014, 05:39:08 AM
TCP/IP: Principles, Protocols and Architectures by Douglas Comer
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 19, 2014, 07:45:58 AM
Quote from: Pheo on June 16, 2014, 03:24:21 PM
Just about done the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.
Pheo,
how is this series?
I liked how Brandon was able to get the "Wheel of Time" series back on track and finish it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: BigMelvin on June 21, 2014, 08:21:19 AM
Quote from: Clare on June 11, 2014, 09:34:14 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 11, 2014, 05:02:22 AM
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson. Very accurate for something written in 1907.
The Dawn of All (http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11626/pg11626.html) is worth reading too.

QuoteIN a former book, called Lord of the World, I attempted to sketch the kind of developments a hundred years hence which, I thought, might reasonably be expected if the present lines of what is called "modern thought" were only prolonged far enough; and I was informed repeatedly that the effect of the book was exceedingly depressing and discouraging to optimistic Christians. In the present book I am attempting—also in parable form—not in the least to withdraw anything that I said in the former, but to follow up the other lines instead, and to sketch—again in parable—the kind of developments, about sixty years hence which, I think, may reasonably be expected should the opposite process begin, and ancient thought (which has stood the test of centuries, and is, in a very remarkable manner, being "rediscovered" by persons even more modern than modernists) be prolonged instead. We are told occasionally by moralists that we live in very critical times, by which they mean that they are not sure whether their own side will win or not. In that sense no times can ever be critical to Catholics, since Catholics are never in any kind of doubt as to whether or no their side will win. But from another point of view every period is a critical period, since every period has within itself the conflict of two irreconcilable forces. It has been for the sake of tracing out the kind of effects that, it seemed to me, each side would experience in turn, should the other, at any rate for a while, become dominant, that I have written these two books.

are these intended to be read in sequence?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on June 21, 2014, 09:34:22 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 19, 2014, 07:45:58 AM
Quote from: Pheo on June 16, 2014, 03:24:21 PM
Just about done the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.
Pheo,
how is this series?
I liked how Brandon was able to get the "Wheel of Time" series back on track and finish it.

I have to come down on the side of most of its reviews - it's great.  I haven't read a ton of fantasy so I'm not sure how you'd classify it, but so far I prefer more poetic books along the lines of The Silmarillion.  The reason I mention that is because at times the tone was a little more on the teen fiction side than I would have liked, but that really didn't take away from the series very much.

What boggles my mind is how quickly he comes out with new books.  And these don't feel rushed...the man is really creative.  I found out he's Mormon, so part of that may be because he's regularly exposed to a lot of crazy fantasy (i.e. The Book of Mormon). I can see where his worldview might have influenced certain elements in the series...but certainly not in a dangerous way.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 21, 2014, 11:41:16 AM
Thanks Pheo!
Robert Jordan was also a Mormon, and I wonder if the theory behind his series "The Wheel of Time" i.e. Endlessly recurring cycles of history repeating themselves has something to do with Mormon theology?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on June 21, 2014, 01:20:11 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 21, 2014, 11:41:16 AM

Robert Jordan was also a Mormon,


Interesting, I didn't know that.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on June 21, 2014, 08:07:44 PM
The Surgeon's Mate by O'Brian.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on June 21, 2014, 08:11:22 PM
The Dragon Reborn (1991) by Robert Jordan.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on June 21, 2014, 08:56:24 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on June 21, 2014, 01:20:11 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 21, 2014, 11:41:16 AM

Robert Jordan was also a Mormon,


Interesting, I didn't know that.

Actually, after further research on google, there is no evidence that Robert Jordan was a mormon. Perhaps you are confusing him with Brandon Sanderson who concluded the series after Robert Jordan died?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on June 22, 2014, 03:55:37 AM
Quote from: BigMelvin on June 21, 2014, 08:21:19 AM
Quote from: Clare on June 11, 2014, 09:34:14 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 11, 2014, 05:02:22 AM
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson. Very accurate for something written in 1907.
The Dawn of All (http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11626/pg11626.html) is worth reading too.

QuoteIN a former book, called Lord of the World, I attempted to sketch the kind of developments a hundred years hence which, I thought, might reasonably be expected if the present lines of what is called "modern thought" were only prolonged far enough; and I was informed repeatedly that the effect of the book was exceedingly depressing and discouraging to optimistic Christians. In the present book I am attempting—also in parable form—not in the least to withdraw anything that I said in the former, but to follow up the other lines instead, and to sketch—again in parable—the kind of developments, about sixty years hence which, I think, may reasonably be expected should the opposite process begin, and ancient thought (which has stood the test of centuries, and is, in a very remarkable manner, being "rediscovered" by persons even more modern than modernists) be prolonged instead. We are told occasionally by moralists that we live in very critical times, by which they mean that they are not sure whether their own side will win or not. In that sense no times can ever be critical to Catholics, since Catholics are never in any kind of doubt as to whether or no their side will win. But from another point of view every period is a critical period, since every period has within itself the conflict of two irreconcilable forces. It has been for the sake of tracing out the kind of effects that, it seemed to me, each side would experience in turn, should the other, at any rate for a while, become dominant, that I have written these two books.

are these intended to be read in sequence?
I'm not sure. Several years went between my readings of them. It might be interesting to read them one after the other though.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on June 22, 2014, 08:46:33 AM
They do make an interesting contrast, but they don't have to be read in sequence.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on June 22, 2014, 09:09:13 AM
"Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 22, 2014, 10:58:17 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on June 21, 2014, 08:56:24 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on June 21, 2014, 01:20:11 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 21, 2014, 11:41:16 AM

Robert Jordan was also a Mormon,


Interesting, I didn't know that.



Actually, after further research on google, there is no evidence that Robert Jordan was a mormon. Perhaps you are confusing him with Brandon Sanderson who concluded the series after Robert Jordan died?
My bad!  I wikied up his name and it states that he described himself a "High Church Episcopalian"  and also a Freemanson.
QuoteHe began writing in 1977. He was a history buff and enjoyed hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool, and pipe collecting. He described himself as a "High Church" Episcopalian[6] and received communion more than once a week.[7] He lived with his wife Harriet McDougal, who works as a book editor (currently with Tor Books; she was also Jordan's editor) in a house built in 1797.[8] Responding to queries on the similarity of some of the concepts in his Wheel of Time books with Freemasonry concepts, Jordan admitted that he was a Freemason. However, "like his father and grandfather," he preferred not to advertise, possibly because of the negative propaganda against Freemasonry. In his own words, "no man in this country should feel in danger because of his beliefs."[9]
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on June 22, 2014, 01:51:07 PM
Quote from: Older Salt on June 22, 2014, 09:09:13 AM
"Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor.

Great book!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 22, 2014, 01:59:42 PM
Quote from: Larry on June 22, 2014, 01:51:07 PM
Quote from: Older Salt on June 22, 2014, 09:09:13 AM
"Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor.

Great book!

I have this book.  Still working through it.

What makes it so great?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Larry on June 22, 2014, 03:40:11 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 22, 2014, 01:59:42 PM
Quote from: Larry on June 22, 2014, 01:51:07 PM
Quote from: Older Salt on June 22, 2014, 09:09:13 AM
"Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor.

Great book!

I have this book.  Still working through it.

What makes it so great?

It's a good story, well written, with interesting characters. I read the whole thing in one afternoon. It is bizarre though(as most of Flannery's stuff is), so it's not for all tastes.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on June 22, 2014, 06:48:47 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 22, 2014, 01:59:42 PM
Quote from: Larry on June 22, 2014, 01:51:07 PM
Quote from: Older Salt on June 22, 2014, 09:09:13 AM
"Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor.

Great book!

I have this book.  Still working through it.

What makes it so great?
The dialogue between characters and the protagonist arrival at a realization of his nothingness without Grace.

Also it helps if you live in the American south to see the works poignancy, and sense of irony.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on June 22, 2014, 06:51:10 PM
Quote from: Larry on June 22, 2014, 03:40:11 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 22, 2014, 01:59:42 PM
Quote from: Larry on June 22, 2014, 01:51:07 PM
Quote from: Older Salt on June 22, 2014, 09:09:13 AM
"Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor.

Great book!

I have this book.  Still working through it.

What makes it so great?

It's a good story, well written, with interesting characters. I read the whole thing in one afternoon. It is bizarre though(as most of Flannery's stuff is), so it's not for all tastes.
It is bizarre, but not alien to reality.

I live in the South and have seen people like "Haze" quite often.

For my money the best American short story writer ever.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on June 22, 2014, 07:33:06 PM
I've not read much of Flannery O'Connor's work, but what I have read I have enjoyed. I do agree one is better off with having familiarity with the South.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 22, 2014, 09:17:43 PM
I don't like her work; we read some of her short stories when I was in High School (40+ years ago); but the supposed Catholic message is so well hidden as to be imperceptible to the average dumb reader like myself.  In other words I don't see what "the big whoop" on F.O'C is all about.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tmw89 on June 22, 2014, 09:42:15 PM
The Homogeneous Evolution of Catholic Dogma by Fr. Marin-Sola.  Have been reading it for a while (thanks to The Catholic Archive), it's a fascinating book.  I still wonder if it might have played a role in the deliberations for the later definition and declaration of the dogma of our Lady's Assumption...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 22, 2014, 10:10:22 PM
Quote from: tmw89 on June 22, 2014, 09:42:15 PM
The Homogeneous Evolution of Catholic Dogma by Fr. Marin-Sola.  Have been reading it for a while (thanks to The Catholic Archive), it's a fascinating book.  I still wonder if it might have played a role in the deliberations for the later definition and declaration of the dogma of our Lady's Assumption...
I have that book; I have had a real problem getting through it; its very heavy to lift, to read and especially to grasp everything that Fr. Sola is saying.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on June 23, 2014, 02:40:16 AM
The Four Men, Hilaire Belloc.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on June 23, 2014, 05:44:12 AM
I was reading The Concise History of the Crusades (as part of my research for a paper that was due two weeks ago that I haven't yet written).  I think I'm going to stop reading that book because there's no way I'm going to be able to finish it by the end of the semester (although the Crusades are interesting so maybe I'll resume reading that book at a later time).

I'm currently reading the Book of Job (Douay-Rheims Challoner translation) and I'm also reading St. Thomas Aquinas's Expositio super Iob ad litteram (Brian Mulladay translation) in order to help me to better understand the literal meaning of the Book of Job.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: The Dumb Ostrich on June 23, 2014, 06:47:35 AM
Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 23, 2014, 09:05:10 AM
Locked On by Tom Clancy. Not bad.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 23, 2014, 10:46:41 AM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 23, 2014, 06:47:35 AM
Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser.

I want to get that.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on June 23, 2014, 01:40:08 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 23, 2014, 10:46:41 AM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 23, 2014, 06:47:35 AM
Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser.

I want to get that.

Sounds fascinating. Our priest used metaphysical explanations in regards to Corpus Christi yesterday.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on June 23, 2014, 01:43:11 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 23, 2014, 01:40:08 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 23, 2014, 10:46:41 AM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 23, 2014, 06:47:35 AM
Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser.

I want to get that.

Sounds fascinating. Our priest used metaphysical explanations in regards to Corpus Christi yesterday.

What did he say?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on June 23, 2014, 01:48:41 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on June 23, 2014, 01:43:11 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 23, 2014, 01:40:08 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 23, 2014, 10:46:41 AM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 23, 2014, 06:47:35 AM
Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser.

I want to get that.

Sounds fascinating. Our priest used metaphysical explanations in regards to Corpus Christi yesterday.

What did he say?

The miracle of Transubstantiation: The body and blood of Christ while retaining the accidents of bread wine.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on June 23, 2014, 02:10:29 PM
Priests should just start reading from the Summa every other week.

I'm mostly kidding.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 23, 2014, 03:23:35 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on June 23, 2014, 02:10:29 PM
Priests should just start reading from the Summa every other week.

I'm mostly kidding.

It would be infinite improvement over the NO's happy-feeling storytime priests usually tell.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 24, 2014, 06:18:49 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 23, 2014, 03:23:35 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on June 23, 2014, 02:10:29 PM
Priests should just start reading from the Summa every other week.

I'm mostly kidding.

It would be infinite improvement over the NO's happy-feeling storytime priests usually tell.

Tell me about it. I hid in the bathroom last Sunday during the homily because I couldn't take it.  :-[
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on June 24, 2014, 12:58:18 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on June 24, 2014, 06:18:49 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 23, 2014, 03:23:35 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on June 23, 2014, 02:10:29 PM
Priests should just start reading from the Summa every other week.

I'm mostly kidding.

It would be infinite improvement over the NO's happy-feeling storytime priests usually tell.

Tell me about it. I hid in the bathroom last Sunday during the homily because I couldn't take it.  :-[

That's a great idea! (although I'm very sorry you have to do it.)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tmw89 on June 24, 2014, 02:59:36 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 22, 2014, 10:10:22 PM
Quote from: tmw89 on June 22, 2014, 09:42:15 PM
The Homogeneous Evolution of Catholic Dogma by Fr. Marin-Sola.  Have been reading it for a while (thanks to The Catholic Archive), it's a fascinating book.  I still wonder if it might have played a role in the deliberations for the later definition and declaration of the dogma of our Lady's Assumption...
I have that book; I have had a real problem getting through it; its very heavy to lift, to read and especially to grasp everything that Fr. Sola is saying.

Mr. Wilson, would you mind my asking where you found your copy?  I subscribed to The Catholic Archive chiefly because they'd added that title to their download collection, as I was unable to locate a copy outside of three different libraries (Harvard, I think Oxford, and the National Library of the Philippines).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: BigMelvin on June 24, 2014, 03:50:42 PM
Quote from: Pheo on June 22, 2014, 08:46:33 AM
They do make an interesting contrast, but they don't have to be read in sequence.

Thanks, and to Clare as well. I am thundering through Lord of the World at the moment. Very good, and very touching in some parts as well.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 24, 2014, 07:46:12 PM
Quote from: tmw89 on June 24, 2014, 02:59:36 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 22, 2014, 10:10:22 PM
Quote from: tmw89 on June 22, 2014, 09:42:15 PM
The Homogeneous Evolution of Catholic Dogma by Fr. Marin-Sola.  Have been reading it for a while (thanks to The Catholic Archive), it's a fascinating book.  I still wonder if it might have played a role in the deliberations for the later definition and declaration of the dogma of our Lady's Assumption...
I have that book; I have had a real problem getting through it; its very heavy to lift, to read and especially to grasp everything that Fr. Sola is saying.

Mr. Wilson, would you mind my asking where you found your copy?  I subscribed to The Catholic Archive chiefly because they'd added that title to their download collection, as I was unable to locate a copy outside of three different libraries (Harvard, I think Oxford, and the National Library of the Philippines).
My copy is in Spanish, and I found it on abe books; I believe it is also available in French.  John Lane had/has a thread somewhere on his forum about finding this book in English. You could pop over there and inquire.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on June 24, 2014, 10:00:46 PM
I don't think I mentioned this one yet...read it a couple months back, and it was just awesome.  Catholic Sci-Fi, and not cheesy at all (imagine that).  I won't go into it too much, but the book took a bit of a jaw-dropping turn near the end.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi57.tinypic.com%2F2npnw8.jpg&hash=fe6625b5516951fe1b17ac7df16c89f03ef9d781)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: The Dumb Ostrich on June 25, 2014, 05:26:54 AM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 23, 2014, 01:48:41 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on June 23, 2014, 01:43:11 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 23, 2014, 01:40:08 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 23, 2014, 10:46:41 AM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 23, 2014, 06:47:35 AM
Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser.

I want to get that.

Sounds fascinating. Our priest used metaphysical explanations in regards to Corpus Christi yesterday.

What did he say?

The miracle of Transubstantiation: The body and blood of Christ while retaining the accidents of bread wine.
SO far the book is good. It's not just a book on intro to Metaphysics. He spends the first part of the book refuting Scientism than goes into Thomism basically start with Act and Potency. Than into further sub division to show further distinctions. He also shows other scholastic thinks like Scotus. I'm only half way through chapter one because I'm also reading Life of Christ by Sheen. Very good book. very beatiful. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 25, 2014, 07:20:07 AM
Do you have theological training, ostrich?

Sounds really good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 25, 2014, 08:11:44 AM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 25, 2014, 05:26:54 AM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 23, 2014, 01:48:41 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on June 23, 2014, 01:43:11 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 23, 2014, 01:40:08 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 23, 2014, 10:46:41 AM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 23, 2014, 06:47:35 AM
Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser.

I want to get that.

Sounds fascinating. Our priest used metaphysical explanations in regards to Corpus Christi yesterday.

What did he say?

The miracle of Transubstantiation: The body and blood of Christ while retaining the accidents of bread wine.
SO far the book is good. It's not just a book on intro to Metaphysics. He spends the first part of the book refuting Scientism than goes into Thomism basically start with Act and Potency. Than into further sub division to show further distinctions. He also shows other scholastic thinks like Scotus. I'm only half way through chapter one because I'm also reading Life of Christ by Sheen. Very good book. very beatiful.
Sheen's book is one of the best I've ever read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: The Dumb Ostrich on June 25, 2014, 03:26:01 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 25, 2014, 07:20:07 AM
Do you have theological training, ostrich?

Sounds really good.
I don't think so, granted to be honest I don't know what it means to be theologically trained. I read a lot books/ fesers blogs on various topics that pertain to Thomism. I've read Thomas's shorten Summa, summa contra gentiles vol 1 and half of two. I've read parts of the the actual summa. My understanding of Aristotelian logic is OK. I'll always see myself as a beginner, but I'd think we'd all say that because we had to consistently reread everything.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 25, 2014, 03:27:01 PM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 25, 2014, 03:26:01 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 25, 2014, 07:20:07 AM
Do you have theological training, ostrich?

Sounds really good.
I don't think so, granted to be honest I don't know what it means to be theologically trained. I read a lot books/ fesers blogs on various topics that pertain to Thomism. I've read Thomas's shorten Summa, summa contra gentiles vol 1 and half of two. I've read parts of the the actual summa. My understanding of Aristotelian logic is OK. I'll always see myself as a beginner, but I'd think we'd all say that because we had to consistently reread everything.

By theological training, I mean formal schooling/education, etc.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: The Dumb Ostrich on June 25, 2014, 03:27:54 PM
Sheen's book is really amazing to read. It's so profound and simpler style of G.K. ish.  Scripture use is great too. Brings both natures of human and divine together so well in understanding the Apostles and Jesus.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: The Dumb Ostrich on June 25, 2014, 03:28:46 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 25, 2014, 03:27:01 PM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 25, 2014, 03:26:01 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 25, 2014, 07:20:07 AM
Do you have theological training, ostrich?

Sounds really good.
I don't think so, granted to be honest I don't know what it means to be theologically trained. I read a lot books/ fesers blogs on various topics that pertain to Thomism. I've read Thomas's shorten Summa, summa contra gentiles vol 1 and half of two. I've read parts of the the actual summa. My understanding of Aristotelian logic is OK. I'll always see myself as a beginner, but I'd think we'd all say that because we had to consistently reread everything.

By theological training, I mean formal schooling/education, etc.
No, the closest thing to that is Louis and I reading and discussion Thomism.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 25, 2014, 03:29:58 PM
Quote from: The Dumb Ostrich on June 25, 2014, 03:28:46 PM
No, the closest thing to that is Louis and I reading and discussion Thomism.

OK.  Cool! 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 30, 2014, 07:05:57 AM
Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic,  by Jennifer Niven. Not bad, but not worth keeping/rereading. Back onto PBS it goes.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 30, 2014, 08:14:43 AM
Thanks to the discussion I had on the "Baptism of Desire" thread, I started reading "The Theological Virtues I. Faith" By Rev. Reginald Garigou Lagrange.  A commentary on St. Thomas' Theological Summa Ia IIae qq. 62, 65, 68; IIa IIae, qq. 1-16;
Here is the first paragraph of the Preface:
Quote Four editions of the author's previous work, "De Revelatione," on "Revelation as proposed by the Catholic Church, " serve as an important milestone in fundamental apologetics,  The volume now presented is to acquaint religious minded readers with the manner of spiritual life demanded by the mysteries revealed. It must be a life of Christian faith, hope, and Charity, kept ardent and unctuous by the gifts of the Holy Ghost.....
I'm not the smartest guy around (to say the least), but I find that Fr. Lagrange makes the most complicated subjects easier to understand for the average layman.  He is a great teacher and an author whose orthodoxy and fidelity to the Church's perennial magisterium, make him a sure guide for any Catholic seeking to deepen their knowledge of the Catholic faith.
Any book with Fr. Lagrange as its author is a good book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Stu Cool on June 30, 2014, 12:31:22 PM
The Reform of the Roman Liturgy by Msgr. Klaus Gamber.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 30, 2014, 12:35:23 PM
Quote from: Stu Cool on June 30, 2014, 12:31:22 PM
The Reform of the Roman Liturgy by Msgr. Klaus Gamber.
Such a wonderful book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: moneil on July 04, 2014, 11:57:43 AM
I don't remember if I mentioned it but I am finishing up St. Augustine's Confessions.  It is excellent (and interestingly relevant to some personal circumstances).  It defiently will be read again, and again.

The new "lighter" read is The Undertaking: Life Studes From the Dismal Trade by Thomas Lynch http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/undertaking-thomas-lynch/1100871708?ean=9780393334876 (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/undertaking-thomas-lynch/1100871708?ean=9780393334876)

Mr. Lynch is a second generation Irish Catholic funeral director who grew up in a family of 9.  Today he and several of his siblings, children, neices and nephews operate seven funeral homes in Michigan. http://www.lynchfuneraldirectors.com/Default.aspx (http://www.lynchfuneraldirectors.com/Default.aspx)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 04, 2014, 10:17:37 PM
Life of Christ-by Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 05, 2014, 07:12:52 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on July 04, 2014, 10:17:37 PM
Life of Christ-by Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen

This is SO good! I read it practically every year.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 05, 2014, 07:13:36 AM
Second attempt has been very succesful, I love it.

Enviado desde mi SCH-I545 mediante Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on July 05, 2014, 04:46:06 PM
Skeleton Crew (1985) by Stephen King
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Revixit on July 05, 2014, 08:48:50 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 22, 2014, 09:17:43 PM
I don't like her work; we read some of her short stories when I was in High School (40+ years ago); but the supposed Catholic message is so well hidden as to be imperceptible to the average dumb reader like myself.  In other words I don't see what "the big whoop" on F.O'C is all about.

Correction: you did not like Flannery O'Connor's short stories when given them as a reading assignment in high school, more than forty years ago.  Surely you have changed somewhat over more than four decades so the possibility that you could like O'Connor today certainly exists.  The world has gone through a lengthy period of rapid and mind-boggling change during our lifetimes and we've all changed along with it, to some degree.  Certainly, we have learned things as we matured.

As a high school sophomore, I found my Latin II homework incredibly boring when, night after night, I had to translate long passages from the Latin original of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. I love Latin and aced my Latin classes, but I didn't enjoy what I read of Caesar's words.  Scholars, though, still consider the work, comprised of several books, a classic, and I assume they know better than I do.  I also know that if I were to read Caesar again, in English, I might enjoy it.

We read books and articles explaining our Catholic Faith, the works of Early Church Fathers, the Bible, Thomism, anything we find difficult to understand.  I'm sure you could find articles online explaining the symbolism in Flannery O'Connor's work, if you wanted to.  Or you might just try reading one of her short stories now, which I'm sure you can also find online.  You'll never know if you understand and/or enjoy her work now that you're older unless you try reading her again.  I'm considering giving Julius Caesar another try.  Aut Caesar aut nihil is still a catchy motto.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 06, 2014, 08:48:17 AM
Just finished Flannery O'Connors's, "A good Man is Hard to find"

They were all killed except.....
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 06, 2014, 08:50:31 AM
Revixit,
I recently re-read: "The Misfit" and I have the same opinion of it as I did when I was in High School; the story is shocking and pointless.  Then I read Miss O'Connor's explanation of the story; where she states that the moment that the grandmother touched the misfit, it was like his moment of grace, and that maybe down the road he might have even converted.
At that very "moment of grace", the misfit recoils back and lets granny "have it".  There is no way to see this "moment of grace"; all you see is a pathological killer cold-bloodedly killing an innocent person.  Miss O'Connor's message is lost to the average reader (like myself).
There was another O'Connor story I also found repulsive and meaningless: a traveling salesman arrives at a farmhouse, where a girl with a prosthetic leg lives; she is an unpleasant character.  The salesman pretends to be romantically interested in her; tricks her into climbing into the hayloft and then tricks her again into taking off her prosthesis.  Then he takes the leg and leaves her.
The moral of the story?  Again,  unless Miss O'Connor tells us, the only one I can think of is that there are some unpleasant people in this world, and they deserve to be taken advantage of by con-men. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 06, 2014, 11:42:01 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 06, 2014, 08:50:31 AM
There was another O'Connor story I also found repulsive and meaningless: a traveling salesman arrives at a farmhouse, where a girl with a prosthetic leg lives; she is an unpleasant character.  The salesman pretends to be romantically interested in her; tricks her into climbing into the hayloft and then tricks her again into taking off her prosthesis.  Then he takes the leg and leaves her.
The moral of the story?  Again,  unless Miss O'Connor tells us, the only one I can think of is that there are some unpleasant people in this world, and they deserve to be taken advantage of by con-men.

I remember that one. *shudder* I'm with you: I don't enjoy Flannery O'Connor's short stories either (last reading approx. 8 years ago). Thankfully for me, I get to make my own reading choices now, and can't think of a single circumstance in which I will have to read a work of fiction that I don't enjoy.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Revixit on July 06, 2014, 08:13:30 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 06, 2014, 08:50:31 AM
Revixit,
I recently re-read: "The Misfit" and I have the same opinion of it as I did when I was in High School; the story is shocking and pointless.  Then I read Miss O'Connor's explanation of the story; where she states that the moment that the grandmother touched the misfit, it was like his moment of grace, and that maybe down the road he might have even converted.
At that very "moment of grace", the misfit recoils back and lets granny "have it".  There is no way to see this "moment of grace"; all you see is a pathological killer cold-bloodedly killing an innocent person.  Miss O'Connor's message is lost to the average reader (like myself).
There was another O'Connor story I also found repulsive and meaningless: a traveling salesman arrives at a farmhouse, where a girl with a prosthetic leg lives; she is an unpleasant character.  The salesman pretends to be romantically interested in her; tricks her into climbing into the hayloft and then tricks her again into taking off her prosthesis.  Then he takes the leg and leaves her.
The moral of the story?  Again,  unless Miss O'Connor tells us, the only one I can think of is that there are some unpleasant people in this world, and they deserve to be taken advantage of by con-men.

I'm very glad to know that you have tried reading Flannery O'Connor again.  Of course we don't have to read what our English teachers or professors of literature told us was good or what critics say is good but I think we should challenge some of our old dislikes, just in case we're missing out on something we'd like now that we've had more experience with life.  Short stories often tend toward the bizarre and Flannery's work is definitely no exception.  Do you read short stories often?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on July 06, 2014, 08:52:15 PM
Quote from: Revixit on July 06, 2014, 08:13:30 PM

Do you read short stories often?

I'm afraid I must agree with the negative judgment of the other readers here re Flannery O'Connor. I tried to like her, but I just couldn't do it.

However, there is another O'Connor, the true master of the short story -- Frank O'Connor. Every one of his stories is a delight. And they are all infused with a true Catholic sensibility, not a gothic horror version.

I highly recommend his works to everyone.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1981/oct/08/oconnors-crab-apple-jelly/?pagination=false

"The stories of Frank O'Connor refresh and delight long after they are first read. They pass into our experience like incidents we have ourselves known or almost known. Generous in spirit, acute in perception, they sum up a provincial culture in terms that are less provincial, but never cosmopolitan. Detachment from his own country was not one of Frank O'Connor's aims. Nobody was more aware than he of the mules, crows, foxes, who with dogs, horses, gazelles, and doves populated in human form his island home, and nobody was more unwilling to give up the local fauna. His stories preserve in ink like amber his perceptive, amused, and sometimes tender observations of the fabric of Irish customs, pieties, superstitions, loves, and hates. He wrote at the moment when that fabric was being slowly torn by modern conditions. "Crab-apple jelly" was his own description of the sweet and tart mixture thus compounded. His best stories stir those facial muscles which, we are told, are the same for both laughing and weeping."

Recently I posted here his story, "First Confession."

http://www.ireland-information.com/firstconfession.htm

"My Oedipus Complex" by Frank O'Connor

http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0201-oconnor.html (http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0201-oconnor.html)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 06, 2014, 09:38:56 PM
Revixit,
thanks for your thoughts on F.O'C. I also know people who absolutely love her writings, including my 10th grade English teacher (Mrs. Gautier); its great that we do have a variety to chose from.
I don't read short stories anymore, except when I'm working in School and I read those that are included in the English readers.  I like them, but I don't know where to fit them in to the short time I have for reading.  But if you want to suggest something, I will certainly give it a try.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 06, 2014, 09:41:00 PM
Thanks Max for the information on Frank O'Connor, I might have to give him a try one of these days.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 07, 2014, 04:06:02 PM
I think F O'connor is brilliant.

She very blatantly mocks fallen nature primarily in the person or persons of Prots.

I know a very old priest from Georgia that knew her in the late 50's, and he has told me this about her.

They could find the truth through actual grace and natural law, but O'Connor makes it perfectly plain that many southern prots refuse to act like civil humans and in fact live like sub animals.

She was laughing all the while she wrote.

I see this same mindset [or lack of] living in the rural American south.

FOC is simply brilliant.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 07, 2014, 04:12:40 PM
No idea why there is lines through the above post.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 07, 2014, 06:23:13 PM
Quote from: Older Salt on July 07, 2014, 04:12:40 PM
No idea why there is lines through the above post.

I'm not sure why, either.  However, I quoted the post and noticed that there's a lower-case s in brackets before the lines start (after "person," and before "of Prots").  Maybe the bracketed S is code for a strike-through font.

Old Salt: try modifying the post and remove that S-in-brackets.  I think it'll work.  Here's my quote of it with the S removed.

Quote from: Older Salt on July 07, 2014, 04:06:02 PM
I think F O'connor is brilliant.

She very blatantly mocks fallen nature primarily in the person of Prots.

I know a very old priest from Georgia that knew her in the late 50's, and he has told me this about her.

They could find the truth through actual grace and natural law, but O'Connor makes it perfectly plain that many southern prots refuse to act like civil humans and in fact live like sub animals.

She was laughing all the while she wrote.

I see this same mindset [or lack of] living in the rural American south.

FOC is simply brilliant.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 07, 2014, 06:27:34 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fca.pbsstatic.com%2Fxl%2F68%2F4768%2F9780451144768.jpg&hash=1041690651aa7de9671635352377354b07172f8c)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JubilateDeo on July 07, 2014, 08:28:17 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.betterworldbooks.com%2F091%2FWood-of-the-Cradle-Wood-of-the-Cross-Houselander-Caryll-9780918477323.jpg&hash=65db35004b1948645fd26ab2d5345699c1c19534)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 08, 2014, 07:20:54 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 07, 2014, 06:23:13 PM
Quote from: Older Salt on July 07, 2014, 04:12:40 PM
No idea why there is lines through the above post.

I'm not sure why, either.  However, I quoted the post and noticed that there's a lower-case s in brackets before the lines start (after "person," and before "of Prots").  Maybe the bracketed S is code for a strike-through font.

Old Salt: try modifying the post and remove that S-in-brackets.  I think it'll work.  Here's my quote of it with the S removed.

Quote from: Older Salt on July 07, 2014, 04:06:02 PM
I think F O'connor is brilliant.

She very blatantly mocks fallen nature primarily in the person of Prots.

I know a very old priest from Georgia that knew her in the late 50's, and he has told me this about her.

They could find the truth through actual grace and natural law, but O'Connor makes it perfectly plain that many southern prots refuse to act like civil humans and in fact live like sub animals.

She was laughing all the while she wrote.

I see this same mindset [or lack of] living in the rural American south.

FOC is simply brilliant.
It worked Pon!

You are a true gentleman FOC would find nothing to write about.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on July 08, 2014, 09:36:29 AM
Quote from: Older Salt on July 07, 2014, 04:06:02 PM
I think F O'connor is brilliant.

She very blatantly mocks fallen nature primarily in the person or persons of Prots.

I know a very old priest from Georgia that knew her in the late 50's, and he has told me this about her.

They could find the truth through actual grace and natural law, but O'Connor makes it perfectly plain that many southern prots refuse to act like civil humans and in fact live like sub animals.

She was laughing all the while she wrote.

I see this same mindset [or lack of] living in the rural American south.

FOC is simply brilliant.

I think you just showed very well why so many don't get FOC.  You have described her work as a massive in-joke no one familiar with Southern prots are likely to get.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on July 10, 2014, 03:21:22 PM
Just finished this one:

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi58.tinypic.com%2F2lvec08.jpg&hash=fc5b0ba133b42d967104387dbdc4559ba9c24149)

I enjoyed it, although I'm not sure I understand the huge majority of rave reviews.  I think it was kept on the short side to maintain a certain level of tension, and the author did that well.  It's basically Cast Away on Mars, although admittedlty that's a bit of a guess since I've never seen Cast Away...can't stand Tom Hanks.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on July 10, 2014, 05:40:07 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fthumb%2F7%2F7e%2FGone_Girl_%2528Flynn_novel%2529.jpg%2F202px-Gone_Girl_%2528Flynn_novel%2529.jpg&hash=d6a7bf0274dc5f351266a85d9a791cc1a8dca124)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on July 11, 2014, 10:19:28 AM
I started Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian the other day.  Jack and Stephen are in Malta enjoying the Mediterranean sun.

Quote from: Pheo on July 10, 2014, 03:21:22 PM
Just finished this one: [The Martian]

I enjoyed it, although I'm not sure I understand the huge majority of rave reviews.  I think it was kept on the short side to maintain a certain level of tension, and the author did that well.  It's basically Cast Away on Mars, although admittedlty that's a bit of a guess since I've never seen Cast Away...can't stand Tom Hanks.

My brother got this book this spring and I skimmed through it (skipped a lot of the science).  I enjoyed most the stuff back on Earth.  The book did go pretty fast and that was a bit disappointing.  I was hoping for an actual extended stay on Mars with it all being gamed out, a real look at humans surviving on Mars indefinitely.  But it was still a cool book and I think deserves the praise it received.  It certainly is Hard Sci-fi and that's always worth reading.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 11, 2014, 10:59:02 AM
Just finished "The River" by Flannery O'Connor.

Wow!
Can she write!

About a five year old prot boy who's parent's are always drunk.

A neighbor lady takes him to a revival "healing" service down in the river, and the preacher man actually baptizes him.

And says to him  [truthfully], "Now you count".

The 5 year old loves being baptized and in a almost infant way wants to see the Kingdom of Christ and thinks jumping into the current of the river will bring him there.

It is implied that he drowns doing this, but goes straight to Heaven.

Amazing story.

Flannery scorns and laughs at the hee- haw parents and takes the child somewhere else.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on July 11, 2014, 11:08:20 AM
She was a superb writer. I finished her 1955 short story collection a couple months ago, but had to pace myself because her career was all too brief. Don't want to burn through her whole canon too quickly.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 11, 2014, 11:15:26 AM
The Uncommercial Traveller, by Dickens. Thoroughly enjoyable- I particularly enjoyed "Captain Murderer."  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on July 11, 2014, 02:36:53 PM
Flannery has some fantastic short stories, but one always has to be careful with her.  She was a great fan of Tielhard de Chardin.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Revixit on July 11, 2014, 06:32:27 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on July 11, 2014, 02:36:53 PM
Flannery has some fantastic short stories, but one always has to be careful with her.  She was a great fan of Tielhard de Chardin.

We're supposed to judge whether short stories are good based on the author's reading of certain theologians? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Akavit on July 11, 2014, 08:05:30 PM
Which one should I choose?

Read Free Books Online (http://www.readbookonline.net/titles-a.htm)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on July 11, 2014, 11:14:52 PM
Quote from: Revixit on July 11, 2014, 06:32:27 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on July 11, 2014, 02:36:53 PM
Flannery has some fantastic short stories, but one always has to be careful with her.  She was a great fan of Tielhard de Chardin.

We're supposed to judge whether short stories are good based on the author's reading of certain theologians?

Yes, when the author is being promoted because she is supposed to be a "Catholic" author. In that case it's a legitimate question whether or not she is really Catholic, or whether we are being sold a bill of goods.

Especially when so many people have the experience of reading her stories, finding them too grotesque for them to stomach and lacking the transcendental meaning which they were told to expect, but then they are told they have an obligation to like her because she is a Catholic.

The experience of reading a 20th-century "Catholic" author like Flannery O'Connor reminds me very much of the experience of reading 20th-century "Catholic" philosophers like Jacques Maritain and "Love and Responsibility." You are told that this stuff is awesome and that you are obliged to love it, even though your actual instincts as you read it find it revolting.

At first you try to convince yourself that it is really wonderful, like some gourmet food that makes you want to throw up even though other people try to convince you what a great delicacy it is, like monkey brains or something. Eventually you stop trying to fool yourself and simply admit that it makes you sick, you don't care whether it is "Catholic" or not.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 12, 2014, 02:33:04 AM
Doesn't Dr David Allen White like her work?

Would Brits "get" her?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on July 12, 2014, 05:30:41 AM
Anti-Catholicism in America: The Last Acceptable Prejudice by Mark S. Massa S.J.


interesting book. It reads like a Ken Burns documentary so far. I was expecting something very dry, but history is rarely that.

Caveat - I am only a couple of chapters in, but amazon reviews indicate that the authors solutions may not the Catholic ones. I will update.

' People who despise Catholicism and appreciate a well written and well referenced book arguing that Catholicism itself is the root of its problems will enjoy this book. The author genuinely seems to want anti-Catholicism to end. However he considers the substance of Catholicism to blame and believes that the solution is Catholicism reinventing itself so that its structure and beliefs enable it to blend better with popular secular culture.'

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on July 12, 2014, 05:47:40 AM
There is another book on this subject, The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice, by Philip Jenkins, that is a better read by all accounts.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 12, 2014, 06:48:40 AM
FOC is not a Catholic "theologian" through her works.

She is  just a great American writer who is Catholic.

The only Catholicism I see in her works is her hatred of Protestantism.

I really enjoy the "grotesqueries" she writes of as I enjoy Poe's morbidity.

Always have.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 07:46:24 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 12, 2014, 02:33:04 AM
Doesn't Dr David Allen White like her work?

Would Brits "get" her?
I don't 'get' her; and I'm not a Brit.  However you could try reading a couple of her short stories, and see if you like her.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 12, 2014, 07:53:17 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 07:46:24 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 12, 2014, 02:33:04 AM
Doesn't Dr David Allen White like her work?

Would Brits "get" her?
I don't 'get' her; and I'm not a Brit.  However you could try reading a couple of her short stories, and see if you like her.
What is there to "get"?

She is a very talented writer who paints an amazingly accurate and humorous picture of life in the rural American South in the middle of last century.

What you see is what you get.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 10:41:53 AM
Quote from: Older Salt on July 12, 2014, 07:53:17 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 07:46:24 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 12, 2014, 02:33:04 AM
Doesn't Dr David Allen White like her work?

Would Brits "get" her?
I don't 'get' her; and I'm not a Brit.  However you could try reading a couple of her short stories, and see if you like her.
What is there to "get"?

She is a very talented writer who paints an amazingly accurate and humorous picture of life in the rural American South in the middle of last century.

What you see is what you get.
What I don't 'get' is the supposedly inherent Catholicism of her stories; if it is there, it is buried so deeply as to be imperceptible.  As Max pointed out; if I would read F.O'C.  Not as a Catholic writer but as a Southern regional writer;  I can see that she is a talented story teller; and she has a great ear for the authentic culture and dialect of the South.  But her stories are strange, and I simply don't enjoy reading them.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 12, 2014, 12:14:01 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 10:41:53 AM
Quote from: Older Salt on July 12, 2014, 07:53:17 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 07:46:24 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 12, 2014, 02:33:04 AM
Doesn't Dr David Allen White like her work?

Would Brits "get" her?
I don't 'get' her; and I'm not a Brit.  However you could try reading a couple of her short stories, and see if you like her.
What is there to "get"?

She is a very talented writer who paints an amazingly accurate and humorous picture of life in the rural American South in the middle of last century.

What you see is what you get.
What I don't 'get' is the supposedly inherent Catholicism of her stories; if it is there, it is buried so deeply as to be imperceptible.  As Max pointed out; if I would read F.O'C.  Not as a Catholic writer but as a Southern regional writer;  I can see that she is a talented story teller; and she has a great ear for the authentic culture and dialect of the South.  But her stories are strange, and I simply don't enjoy reading them.
I personally do not believe there is any covert or overt Catholicism intended by FOC in any of her work.

Accidentally it might be there.

Since I was a little boy I always enjoyed "strange " stories.

It is a refreshing break from the mundane.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 12:23:03 PM
O.S.
I understand that essentially its: "different strokes for different folks".   I can see how some people like F.O.C.  Because she is a good writer, and a Southern regional writer.  What I don't at all see, is those who want to advance Miss O'Connor as a writer of Catholic stories; or stories that have some inherent Catholic message that we are supposed to read and be either enlightened by or edified by.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 12, 2014, 01:15:40 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 12:23:03 PM
O.S.
I understand that essentially its: "different strokes for different folks".   I can see how some people like F.O.C.  Because she is a good writer, and a Southern regional writer.  What I don't at all see, is those who want to advance Miss O'Connor as a writer of Catholic stories; or stories that have some inherent Catholic message that we are supposed to read and be either enlightened by or edified by.
Michael

I agree.  There is nothing especially Catholic about F.O.C's writing even though many say there is.

I see barely anything.

People like to think that since she went to Mass very often and was big into Thomism, included "Jesus" in a lot of her work and stayed single her whole life she must be some sort of monastic Catholic writing recluse.

I just think she was a spectacular writer of tongue in cheek black humour.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Revixit on July 12, 2014, 06:48:51 PM
Quote from: Older Salt on July 12, 2014, 01:15:40 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 12:23:03 PM
O.S.
I understand that essentially its: "different strokes for different folks".   I can see how some people like F.O.C.  Because she is a good writer, and a Southern regional writer.  What I don't at all see, is those who want to advance Miss O'Connor as a writer of Catholic stories; or stories that have some inherent Catholic message that we are supposed to read and be either enlightened by or edified by.
Michael

I agree.  There is nothing especially Catholic about F.O.C's writing even though many say there is.

I see barely anything.

People like to think that since she went to Mass very often and was big into Thomism, included "Jesus" in a lot of her work and stayed single her whole life she must be some sort of monastic Catholic writing recluse.

I just think she was a spectacular writer of tongue in cheek black humour.


She might have married if she hadn't developed lupus, specifically systemic lupus erythematosus.  I don't think medical science had yet discovered prednisone as treatment for lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases when Flannery was living.  Lupus is what caused her early death, probably from kidney failure.  Lupus can affect every system in the body and it usually hits young women, sometimes at puberty.  Oddly, her father also died of lupus.  It doesn't usually "run" in a family like that.  The life expectancy for people after a lupus diagnosis was not long in the 1950s, about two years, I think.  How she was able to write on a manual typewriter puzzles me.  I guess her hands weren't too badly affected by lupus.

By the way, she and her mother kept peacocks on their farm and those beautiful birds make awful noises.  They lived near Milledgeville, where the Georgia state insane asylum was at the time.  Peacocks and psychotics probably influenced Flannery.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 12, 2014, 07:41:48 PM
My priest went on a retreat to the monastery where Flannery O'Connor's peacocks went to live after her death. He and his fellow retreatants were woken up the middle of the night by their bloodcurdling shrieks.  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lydia Purpuraria on July 12, 2014, 07:51:23 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 12, 2014, 07:41:48 PM
My priest went on a retreat to the monastery where Flannery O'Connor's peacocks went to live after her death. He and his fellow retreatants were woken up the middle of the night by their bloodcurdling shrieks.  :lol:

LOL -- what are the chances!?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 11:31:19 PM
Quote from: Older Salt on July 12, 2014, 12:14:01 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 10:41:53 AM
Quote from: Older Salt on July 12, 2014, 07:53:17 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 12, 2014, 07:46:24 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 12, 2014, 02:33:04 AM
Doesn't Dr David Allen White like her work?

Would Brits "get" her?
I don't 'get' her; and I'm not a Brit.  However you could try reading a couple of her short stories, and see if you like her.
What is there to "get"?

She is a very talented writer who paints an amazingly accurate and humorous picture of life in the rural American South in the middle of last century.

What you see is what you get.
What I don't 'get' is the supposedly inherent Catholicism of her stories; if it is there, it is buried so deeply as to be imperceptible.  As Max pointed out; if I would read F.O'C.  Not as a Catholic writer but as a Southern regional writer;  I can see that she is a talented story teller; and she has a great ear for the authentic culture and dialect of the South.  But her stories are strange, and I simply don't enjoy reading them.
I personally do not believe there is any covert or overt Catholicism intended by FOC in any of her work.

Accidentally it might be there.

Since I was a little boy I always enjoyed "strange " stories.

It is a refreshing break from the mundane.
O.S.  That is great; I'm glad you enjoy her writings.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 14, 2014, 05:17:29 AM
"Russians: The People Behind the Power" by Gregory Feifer. The author's mother was a Russian who married an American and emigrated
to the US. He was NPR's Moscow reporter where  he lived for years and traveled extensively in the country. He raised some of the following
points.
That Putin's relationship with Russia is less that of a president of a country and more like the Don of a mafia family.
That Putin skillfully uses PR to maintain his image. Oligarchs are allowed to amass wealth as long as they kowtow to him. People who
cross him get a visit from the dreaded Tax Police.
Although the government doesn't keep accurate records the author feels that the rate of alcoholism has tripled since the fall of the Soviet
Union.
That profits from oil and gas are going into the pockets of a few and very little is being  spent on infrastructure.
That although Russia produces good military hardware, their consumer goods don't compare well to those produced by other countries.
In spite of a lot of problems the author feels that Russia still produces world class art and literature and because they suffer, Russians
consider themselves morally superior to the West.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 14, 2014, 07:35:29 AM
That sounds like a very interesting book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on July 14, 2014, 11:54:21 AM
RSC: Anything mentioned on rates of abortion?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 14, 2014, 12:08:01 PM
Not offhand no. He did say that places like insane asylums and orphanages were often appalling.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 14, 2014, 12:37:18 PM
I read in "30 Days" maazine, (during the late '90s-early 2000's) an account by two Catholic missionaries in the Russian far East; they stated,  that officially the average Russian woman has eight abortions; But they also said that in their opinion,  the real number was much higher.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on July 14, 2014, 04:32:36 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 14, 2014, 12:37:18 PM
I read in "30 Days" maazine, (during the late '90s-early 2000's) an account by two Catholic missionaries in the Russian far East; they stated,  that officially the average Russian woman has eight abortions; But they also said that in their opinion,  the real number was much higher.

How is that possible? Their is no way a woman can't come out of that unscathed? Horror.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 14, 2014, 08:18:53 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on July 14, 2014, 04:32:36 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 14, 2014, 12:37:18 PM
I read in "30 Days" maazine, (during the late '90s-early 2000's) an account by two Catholic missionaries in the Russian far East; they stated,  that officially the average Russian woman has eight abortions; But they also said that in their opinion,  the real number was much higher.

How is that possible? Their is no way a woman can't come out of that unscathed? Horror.
Indeed, the two missionaries said that they couldn't even convince any women to carry their babies to term, and give them up for adoption; the spiritual damage wreaked by Communism in Russia, is very profound.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on July 15, 2014, 11:10:02 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.basbleu.com%2Fgraphics%2Fproducts%2Fregular%2FUF5072.jpg&hash=54d3fb161af7784a0f26622385702c55a4d6ffaf)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on July 16, 2014, 09:23:54 AM
The Far Side of the World by O'Brian.  Half way through the series!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on July 16, 2014, 12:42:56 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on July 15, 2014, 11:10:02 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.basbleu.com%2Fgraphics%2Fproducts%2Fregular%2FUF5072.jpg&hash=54d3fb161af7784a0f26622385702c55a4d6ffaf)

HA! Druids ====> Christians ====> Toughest (mortal) dude to ever live: Richard II ======> illegal possession of France ======> Henry VIII ======> Empire =======> throne of NWO(City of London).

Good book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on July 16, 2014, 01:29:56 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on July 16, 2014, 12:42:56 PM
Quote from: LouisIX on July 15, 2014, 11:10:02 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.basbleu.com%2Fgraphics%2Fproducts%2Fregular%2FUF5072.jpg&hash=54d3fb161af7784a0f26622385702c55a4d6ffaf)

HA! Druids ====> Christians ====> Toughest (mortal) dude to ever live: Richard II ======> illegal possession of France ======> Henry VIII ======> Empire =======> throne of NWO(City of London).

Good book.

Haha.  You've read it?  I'm happy with it so far, though I've only just begun.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on July 16, 2014, 01:34:11 PM
I have not read it. Just providing a study guide. I am sure it is fascinating. Please edify us with some HK-esque observations that are not well known, but devastatingly "A HA!"/"HMMMM!" factoids.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 22, 2014, 04:16:32 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 14, 2014, 08:18:53 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on July 14, 2014, 04:32:36 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 14, 2014, 12:37:18 PM
I read in "30 Days" maazine, (during the late '90s-early 2000's) an account by two Catholic missionaries in the Russian far East; they stated,  that officially the average Russian woman has eight abortions; But they also said that in their opinion,  the real number was much higher.

How is that possible? Their is no way a woman can't come out of that unscathed? Horror.
Indeed, the two missionaries said that they couldn't even convince any women to carry their babies to term, and give them up for adoption; the spiritual damage wreaked by Communism in Russia, is very profound.

Russia is such a messed up country that people choose to use croc even though they know what it will do to them. thats harsh.

currently reading Black Belt Blueprint by Nic Gregoriades, Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz and weighing up my options to factor in some spiritual reading again at long last. plus i'd like some recreational reading too, might have to go find me some more Chris Ryan books pretty sure there is still a couple i never read yet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 24, 2014, 07:34:27 AM
The Hobbit.

And, no, I've not read it before!  :-[
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 24, 2014, 10:36:51 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 24, 2014, 07:34:27 AM
The Hobbit.

And, no, I've not read it before!  :-[

I've never been able to read that. I'm "reading" Librivox's latest Wilkie Collins book, The Queen of Hearts. Fun Victorian creepy stories loosely tied together by a romance.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on July 24, 2014, 10:49:49 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 24, 2014, 07:34:27 AM
The Hobbit.

And, no, I've not read it before!  :-[

How fun to be able to read it for the first time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 24, 2014, 11:30:32 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on July 24, 2014, 10:49:49 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 24, 2014, 07:34:27 AM
The Hobbit.

And, no, I've not read it before!  :-[

How fun to be able to read it for the first time.
Yes, I'm liking it so far.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AugustineA on July 24, 2014, 02:32:21 PM
The Mystery of St. Joseph
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 24, 2014, 03:40:50 PM
Jane Eyre (rereading)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on July 24, 2014, 04:01:13 PM
Finished The Way of Kings, now onto Words of Radiance.  One of the things I like most about Sanderson so far is the restraint he shows in his storylines.  He really lets the stories unfold naturally, but he gives you more than enough to make them page turners.  At least that's been my experience so far.



(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi61.tinypic.com%2F2vru0kw.png&hash=aec87c337d4d7480ffeb794cb174b7878080bd33)    (https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi62.tinypic.com%2F29dcksl.jpg&hash=61dc4c27f6e7614b64bf505fd46b942515f36a37)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on July 24, 2014, 05:59:18 PM
The Reverse of the Medal, by O'Brian.  I am getting into unfamiliar territory again.  I have read FSW many times, but not the next one in the series and I've been waiting to see the continuation of events from FSW.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on July 28, 2014, 10:00:32 AM
I'm just finishing up reading the Apocalypse (in the original 1582 Rheims New Testament).  Does anyone know of a good traditional commentary on it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on July 28, 2014, 10:56:19 AM
Quote from: AugustineA on July 24, 2014, 02:32:21 PM
The Mystery of St. Joseph
hpw js b
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on July 28, 2014, 12:34:59 PM
Not reading it yet, but I just ordered "The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde".
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 30, 2014, 02:42:10 PM
Rereading the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Gandolf rocks and Frodo Lives!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Dom Passerini on July 30, 2014, 03:10:23 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on July 30, 2014, 02:42:10 PM
Rereading the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Gandolf rocks and Frodo Lives!

Samwise lives!

Love that story and have read it many, many times.  I was always more enthusiastic about Sam than Frodo to begin with, and then the movies cemented that position even more.  Am not a fan of the Elijah Wood Frodo.

Have you ever read the Silmarillion?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on July 30, 2014, 08:09:51 PM
Quote from: Dom Passerini on July 30, 2014, 03:10:23 PMHave you ever read the Silmarillion?

Gotta jump in here and say that this is probably my favourite Tolkien book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Dom Passerini on July 30, 2014, 08:21:02 PM
Quote from: Pheo on July 30, 2014, 08:09:51 PM
Quote from: Dom Passerini on July 30, 2014, 03:10:23 PMHave you ever read the Silmarillion?

Gotta jump in here and say that this is probably my favourite Tolkien book.

I really really really like it, too.  Not sure if I can definitively say I like it better than lotr, but between the hobbit and the silmarillion, no contest.  It has a biblical feel to it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on July 30, 2014, 09:17:49 PM
Quote from: Dom Passerini on July 30, 2014, 08:21:02 PM
Quote from: Pheo on July 30, 2014, 08:09:51 PM
Quote from: Dom Passerini on July 30, 2014, 03:10:23 PMHave you ever read the Silmarillion?

Gotta jump in here and say that this is probably my favourite Tolkien book.

I really really really like it, too.  Not sure if I can definitively say I like it better than lotr, but between the hobbit and the silmarillion, no contest.  It has a biblical feel to it.
+1
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 31, 2014, 12:32:30 PM
Quote from: Dom Passerini on July 30, 2014, 03:10:23 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on July 30, 2014, 02:42:10 PM
Rereading the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Gandolf rocks and Frodo Lives!

Samwise lives!

Love that story and have read it many, many times.  I was always more enthusiastic about Sam than Frodo to begin with, and then the movies cemented that position even more.  Am not a fan of the Elijah Wood Frodo.

Have you ever read the Silmarillion?

Yeah, I'm more of a Samwise fan than Frodo.  I'm slowly working my way the Silmarillion - I like it very much.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 31, 2014, 05:27:04 PM
I should reread The Lord of the Rings I read it exactly six years ago, so it's been long enough. I thought that it was powerful, but I wasn't enthralled by it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on July 31, 2014, 06:08:46 PM
I've gotta read some Tolkien.  I haven't read any of it yet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on August 01, 2014, 09:18:03 AM
The Letter of Marque by O'Brian.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 03, 2014, 07:50:45 AM
Blood Royal by Eric Jager
In the fall of 1407, Louis I of Orleans brother of King Charles VI, was hacked to death by unknown assailants. This book follows Guillaume
de Tigonville the provost of Paris as he tracks and identifies the murderers. And there are lots of suspects who would want Louis dead.
Louis himself was a notorious womanizer. He was even rumored to have dallied with Queen Isabeau. There were also Charles's
fractious nobles who were competing for power among themselves and with Louis. Also in the mix is the kings intermittent insanity and
threats of war with the English. Very much a medieval who dunnit. An excellent read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sbyvl36 on August 03, 2014, 01:55:29 PM
The Fall of Eagles by G.L. Sulzberger.  It documents the collapse of the Habsburg, Romanov, and Hohenzollern dynasties.  Some of you may be familiar with the BBC series of the same name.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on August 03, 2014, 04:01:58 PM
Quote from: Sbyvl36 on August 03, 2014, 01:55:29 PM
The Fall of Eagles by G.L. Sulzberger.  It documents the collapse of the Habsburg, Romanov, and Hohenzollern dynasties.  Some of you may be familiar with the BBC series of the same name.
sounds fascinating.

I will have to see if there is an eBook or audio version
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tmw89 on August 03, 2014, 09:45:25 PM
On an "on and off" basis, a biography of Otto von Bismarck.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on August 04, 2014, 11:30:15 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo.

I like revenge stories.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 09, 2014, 12:20:22 PM
Quote from: Daniel on July 28, 2014, 10:00:32 AM
I'm just finishing up reading the Apocalypse (in the original 1582 Rheims New Testament).  Does anyone know of a good traditional commentary on it?
http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=4079.0
"The Book of Destiny" Rev. Bernard Kramer

The Apocalypse of St. John; Rev. Elwood Sylvester Berry S.J.
http://www.strobertbellarmine.net/books/Berry--Apocalypse.pdf

commentary on the Apocalypse from the Church Fathers.
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0712.htm
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 09, 2014, 12:54:12 PM
Quote from: Basilios on August 04, 2014, 11:30:15 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo.

I like revenge stories.

I love this book. :) I wish there were more like it. Have you read it before?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on August 10, 2014, 02:00:26 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on August 09, 2014, 12:54:12 PM
Quote from: Basilios on August 04, 2014, 11:30:15 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo.

I like revenge stories.

I love this book. :) I wish there were more like it. Have you read it before?

No first time reading it. It's a great book. Simple enough story but it does have everything. I'm nearing the end so planning on my next book. I might go for more Dumas and read the Muskateers.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 10, 2014, 04:52:17 AM
Quote from: Basilios on August 10, 2014, 02:00:26 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on August 09, 2014, 12:54:12 PM
Quote from: Basilios on August 04, 2014, 11:30:15 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo.

I like revenge stories.

I love this book. :) I wish there were more like it. Have you read it before?

No first time reading it. It's a great book. Simple enough story but it does have everything. I'm nearing the end so planning on my next book. I might go for more Dumas and read the Muskateers.

It's so exciting. And the whole redemption thing- my favorite theme in books. I couldn't get into The Three Musketeers, though. Have you read Les Miserables? It's really good, way better than any of the adaptations.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on August 10, 2014, 03:34:08 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on August 09, 2014, 12:20:22 PM
Quote from: Daniel on July 28, 2014, 10:00:32 AM
I'm just finishing up reading the Apocalypse (in the original 1582 Rheims New Testament).  Does anyone know of a good traditional commentary on it?
http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=4079.0
"The Book of Destiny" Rev. Bernard Kramer

The Apocalypse of St. John; Rev. Elwood Sylvester Berry S.J.
http://www.strobertbellarmine.net/books/Berry--Apocalypse.pdf

commentary on the Apocalypse from the Church Fathers.
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0712.htm

After reading so much about the Book of the Apocalypse, what conclusions have you come to?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 11, 2014, 07:38:34 AM
Max,
I have both the Fr. Kramer and Fr. Berry books, but I have never read them.  Also, I just found the link to the "Commentary" while searching the web.  I have read the Apocalypse several times, and some of the commentary in the Haydock New Testament; I get a lot of spiritual consolation reading it, because it foretells the final triumph of Our Lord and the defeat of His enemies.  As well as foretelling the happiness of those who are saved.
I believe that we are living in the time of the "great apostasy" as predicted by St. Paul in his Second letter to the Thessalonicans 2. 3-5:

Quote [3] Let no man deceive you by any means, for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, [4] Who opposeth, and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God. [5] Remember you not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
comment:
[3] A revolt: This revolt, or falling off, is generally understood, by the ancient fathers, of a revolt from the Roman empire, which was first to be destroyed, before the coming of Antichrist. It may, perhaps, be understood also of a revolt of many nations from the Catholic Church; which has, in part, happened already, by means of Mahomet, Luther, &c., and it may be supposed, will be more general in the days of the Antichrist.

[3] The man of sin: Here must be meant some particular man, as is evident from the frequent repetition of the Greek article: 'the man of sin, 'the son of perdition, 'the adversary or opposer. It agrees to the wicked and great Antichrist, who will come before the end of the world.

[4] In the temple: Either that of Jerusalem which some think he will rebuild; or in some Christian church, which he will pervert to his own worship: as Mahomet has done by the churches of the east.
How Fatima the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the conversion of Russia, along with the appearance of the anti-Christ, all fit together; I haven't a clue.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LongfellowDeeds on August 11, 2014, 07:51:42 AM
The New Faithful by Colleen Carroll Campbell
You Did It For Me by Fr. Michael Gaitley, MICM
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on August 11, 2014, 08:55:25 AM
I finished The Thirteen Gun Salute the day before yesterday.  Now I'm waiting for The Nutmeg of Consolation and Clarissa Oakes/The Truelove to be checked back into my library so I can get them.  It's been a great ride with Jack and Stephen so far.  Seven more books and the final published fragment to go!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on August 13, 2014, 11:39:53 AM
Quote from: Basilios on August 04, 2014, 11:30:15 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo.

I like revenge stories.

Just about my favorite book of all time. Really brilliant.

Quote from: Daniel on July 31, 2014, 06:08:46 PM
I've gotta read some Tolkien.  I haven't read any of it yet.

:eek:
Never, ever, ever?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 13, 2014, 11:43:49 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on August 13, 2014, 11:39:53 AM
Quote from: Basilios on August 04, 2014, 11:30:15 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo.

I like revenge stories.

Just about my favorite book of all time. Really brilliant.

Have you read any of the "sequels?" I haven't been able to stomach the idea, even though I've been able to accept the fact that Dumas is thought to have made use of a ghostwriter.  :-\
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 16, 2014, 07:24:13 AM
The Trip to Echo Springs: On Writers and Drinking by Olivia Laing.
The English author covers six prominent American writers; John Cheever, Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams,
John Berryman and F. Scott Fitzgerald. She traveled America visiting the boyhood homes of these authors or places where they did he
bulk of their writing. She shows how all six endured difficult childhoods and used those experiences in their writing. How drink affected
their relationships and contributed to their deaths. The exception being John Cheever who was able to successfully quit drinking.
The title is from the play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The character Buck used it to mean a trip to the liquor cabinet. Echo Springs is a Kentucky
bourbon still available today though some consider it rather bottom shelf.
A fascinating read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on August 16, 2014, 12:15:31 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.novusordowatch.org%2Fgreat_facade.jpg&hash=0a83deb640a926fed248e6cd37d698839d490e97)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sbyvl36 on August 16, 2014, 12:28:41 PM
Quote from: Archer on August 16, 2014, 12:15:31 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.novusordowatch.org%2Fgreat_facade.jpg&hash=0a83deb640a926fed248e6cd37d698839d490e97)

How is it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on August 16, 2014, 08:33:58 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on August 13, 2014, 11:43:49 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on August 13, 2014, 11:39:53 AM
Quote from: Basilios on August 04, 2014, 11:30:15 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo.

I like revenge stories.

Just about my favorite book of all time. Really brilliant.

Have you read any of the "sequels?" I haven't been able to stomach the idea, even though I've been able to accept the fact that Dumas is thought to have made use of a ghostwriter.  :-\

No.... Monte Cristo is about the only one I really like of what Dumas "wrote."  The Three Musketeers is OK (haven't read it since I became Catholic though so that might change my thoughts on it.)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on August 17, 2014, 03:54:21 AM
I finished Count of Monte Cristo now looking for my next fictional book. I am also looking for my next non-fictional book (preferably history).

I was thinking the Dark Tower series for fiction. Non-fiction does anyone have any good Catholic history books to recommend?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on August 17, 2014, 01:21:50 PM
The Sapphire Rose by David Eddings (1991)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on August 17, 2014, 02:09:45 PM
Dark Debts by Karen Hall.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on August 17, 2014, 02:40:51 PM
Philip II by William Thomas Walsh
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on August 18, 2014, 11:25:36 AM
Quote from: Basilios on August 17, 2014, 03:54:21 AM
I finished Count of Monte Cristo now looking for my next fictional book. I am also looking for my next non-fictional book (preferably history).

I was thinking the Dark Tower series for fiction. Non-fiction does anyone have any good Catholic history books to recommend?

Not a Catholic history book, but a darn fine read and great writing: http://books.google.com/books?id=G70OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Bird
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Stu Cool on August 18, 2014, 12:02:25 PM
Life of Christ by Bishop Sheen on the basis of recommendations in this forum.  It is very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on August 18, 2014, 12:57:32 PM
One More Thing

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-udrxkhQz0Ak%2FUwNbrGzR7uI%2FAAAAAAAALrQ%2FSwwHOQiWx8s%2Fs1600%2FOne%2BMore%2BThing.png&hash=b66efe98b6b06df6d3422acf798f0fe7e4c75469)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on August 22, 2014, 02:48:09 PM
The Awakening of Miss Prim: A Novel
by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera

http://www.amazon.com/The-Awakening-Miss-Prim-Novel/dp/1476734240/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408739679&sr=8-1&keywords=awakening+of+miss+prim

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F51ufRQoXTlL._SY344_BO1%2C204%2C203%2C200_.jpg&hash=9fda47acad8ec3aba4feb16c70e36cdf9f1452d4)

Very good book. Definitely written by a traditional Catholic. It might be a good model for other aspiring writers who would like to work traditional Catholic themes into their writing without being too heavy-handed and didactic.

You might also consider it as an option to offer to secular relations/acquaintances to give them a feel for traditional Catholic values without hitting them over the head with something like sedevacantism on the first go-around.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Cesar_Augustus on August 23, 2014, 03:44:10 PM
I have that one on the waiting list.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on August 23, 2014, 03:52:41 PM
First book of the Farseer series, Assasins apprentice. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 24, 2014, 05:01:14 AM
Quote from: piabee on August 18, 2014, 12:57:32 PM
One More Thing

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-udrxkhQz0Ak%2FUwNbrGzR7uI%2FAAAAAAAALrQ%2FSwwHOQiWx8s%2Fs1600%2FOne%2BMore%2BThing.png&hash=b66efe98b6b06df6d3422acf798f0fe7e4c75469)
Isn't he the fellow from The Office?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on August 24, 2014, 08:30:19 AM
Quote from: Sbyvl36 on August 16, 2014, 12:28:41 PM
Quote from: Archer on August 16, 2014, 12:15:31 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.novusordowatch.org%2Fgreat_facade.jpg&hash=0a83deb640a926fed248e6cd37d698839d490e97)

How is it?

Excellent.  So far they've done an excellent job in dissecting the neo-Catholic vs. Traditionalist arguments. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on August 24, 2014, 01:18:50 PM
Quote from: Cesar_Augustus on August 23, 2014, 03:44:10 PM

I have that one on the waiting list.

Written originally in Spanish.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Cesar_Augustus on August 24, 2014, 02:03:30 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 24, 2014, 01:18:50 PM
Quote from: Cesar_Augustus on August 23, 2014, 03:44:10 PM

I have that one on the waiting list.

Written originally in Spanish.

Yes.

How did you found about it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on August 25, 2014, 01:48:30 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on August 24, 2014, 05:01:14 AM
Isn't he the fellow from The Office?

Yes. He wrote a book of short stories that's actually pretty good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on August 25, 2014, 04:03:15 AM
The Way of A Pilgrim, reading it under instruction lol...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on August 25, 2014, 05:24:36 AM
Quote from: Cesar_Augustus on August 24, 2014, 02:03:30 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 24, 2014, 01:18:50 PM
Quote from: Cesar_Augustus on August 23, 2014, 03:44:10 PM

I have that one on the waiting list.

Written originally in Spanish.

Yes.

How did you found about it?

I don't remember. Maybe someone mentioned it here on SD.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on August 25, 2014, 05:36:44 AM
I just started this one, hopefully it is as good as everyone who recommends it says

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.logosbooksrecords.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F10%2Fmaster-3.jpg&hash=88da50610cea3d8522ea78a898a6631f6e96a000)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Miriam_M on August 25, 2014, 10:27:41 AM
Quote from: Archer on August 24, 2014, 08:30:19 AM
Quote from: Sbyvl36 on August 16, 2014, 12:28:41 PM
Quote from: Archer on August 16, 2014, 12:15:31 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.novusordowatch.org%2Fgreat_facade.jpg&hash=0a83deb640a926fed248e6cd37d698839d490e97)

How is it?

Excellent.  So far they've done an excellent job in dissecting the neo-Catholic vs. Traditionalist arguments.

In that regard -- with admission I have not read the book yet! -- here is a critique of it on the negative side, topic by topic:

http://www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com/The_Great_Apostasy.php

(I often like to read various reviews of a single book before I purchase it, just because I have seen in the past that titles can be deceptive.  Sometimes even a negative review motivates me more to buy or borrow the book if it looks as if the critic himself has an agenda and is just a destroyer.)

If you get around to it, do you agree or disagree with any of the arguments made in the link above?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on August 25, 2014, 11:07:57 AM
Now reading The Sapphire Rose, Book 3 of the Elenium trilogy by David Eddings (1991).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on August 25, 2014, 11:23:37 PM
Consoling Thoughts of St. Francis de Sales

https://librivox.org/the-consoling-thoughts-of-saint-francis-de-sales-by-jean-joseph-huguet/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 26, 2014, 04:29:10 AM
The One I Knew Best of All, Frances Hodgson Burnett's autobiography.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sbyvl36 on August 26, 2014, 06:00:11 PM
Freemasonry and Judaism: The Secret Powers behind Revolution
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GopherBroke on August 26, 2014, 09:08:52 PM
Coriolanus, William Shakespeare.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 27, 2014, 10:14:30 AM
Just started The Glories of Mary last night. Haven't read it for about six years, and I'm really enjoying it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: dymphna17 on August 27, 2014, 09:02:52 PM
Since lightening took out our TV, internet, and telephone for a few days, I got some reading done.  Have any of you ever read "The Anatomy of Revolution", by Crane Brinton.  It was written in 1938.  It takes and dissects the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the English Revolution,  and the American Revolution and finds their commonalities.  I can see how Vatican II was plotted, this stupidity with Ukraine and Russia, and how the ME is coming to power after reading this book.  I'm 2/3 the way through and would be interested to hear others thoughts about it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on August 27, 2014, 10:05:12 PM
In the Shadow of His Wings by Fr. Gereon Goldmann. A great read. The obvious work of Providence in this man's life was amazing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 28, 2014, 01:26:21 PM
Eleanor of Aquitaine by Amy Kelly
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sbyvl36 on August 28, 2014, 04:36:59 PM
Quote from: dymphna17 on August 27, 2014, 09:02:52 PM
Since lightening took out our TV, internet, and telephone for a few days, I got some reading done.  Have any of you ever read "The Anatomy of Revolution", by Crane Brinton.  It was written in 1938.  It takes and dissects the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the English Revolution,  and the American Revolution and finds their commonalities.  I can see how Vatican II was plotted, this stupidity with Ukraine and Russia, and how the ME is coming to power after reading this book.  I'm 2/3 the way through and would be interested to hear others thoughts about it.

Who are the ME?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: dymphna17 on August 28, 2014, 05:00:51 PM
Quote from: Sbyvl36 on August 28, 2014, 04:36:59 PM
Quote from: dymphna17 on August 27, 2014, 09:02:52 PM
Since lightening took out our TV, internet, and telephone for a few days, I got some reading done.  Have any of you ever read "The Anatomy of Revolution", by Crane Brinton.  It was written in 1938.  It takes and dissects the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the English Revolution,  and the American Revolution and finds their commonalities.  I can see how Vatican II was plotted, this stupidity with Ukraine and Russia, and how the ME is coming to power after reading this book.  I'm 2/3 the way through and would be interested to hear others thoughts about it.

Who are the ME?

The Middle East.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sbyvl36 on August 28, 2014, 05:02:15 PM
Quote from: dymphna17 on August 28, 2014, 05:00:51 PM
Quote from: Sbyvl36 on August 28, 2014, 04:36:59 PM
Quote from: dymphna17 on August 27, 2014, 09:02:52 PM
Since lightening took out our TV, internet, and telephone for a few days, I got some reading done.  Have any of you ever read "The Anatomy of Revolution", by Crane Brinton.  It was written in 1938.  It takes and dissects the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the English Revolution,  and the American Revolution and finds their commonalities.  I can see how Vatican II was plotted, this stupidity with Ukraine and Russia, and how the ME is coming to power after reading this book.  I'm 2/3 the way through and would be interested to hear others thoughts about it.

Who are the ME?

The Middle East.

Ah, for a second I though you were referring to the MeMes.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: dymphna17 on August 28, 2014, 07:52:10 PM
Quote from: Sbyvl36 on August 28, 2014, 05:02:15 PM
Quote from: dymphna17 on August 28, 2014, 05:00:51 PM
Quote from: Sbyvl36 on August 28, 2014, 04:36:59 PM
Quote from: dymphna17 on August 27, 2014, 09:02:52 PM
Since lightening took out our TV, internet, and telephone for a few days, I got some reading done.  Have any of you ever read "The Anatomy of Revolution", by Crane Brinton.  It was written in 1938.  It takes and dissects the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the English Revolution,  and the American Revolution and finds their commonalities.  I can see how Vatican II was plotted, this stupidity with Ukraine and Russia, and how the ME is coming to power after reading this book.  I'm 2/3 the way through and would be interested to hear others thoughts about it.

Who are the ME?

The Middle East.

Ah, for a second I though you were referring to the MeMes.

Yeah, their revolution was something else!   :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on August 30, 2014, 08:27:33 AM
Selous Scouts: Top Secret War.

http://www.amazon.com/Selous-Scouts-Top-Secret-War/dp/0620066741/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409408787&sr=1-1&keywords=selous+scouts+top+secret+war

Glad my copy is a loner.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on August 30, 2014, 01:18:41 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on August 30, 2014, 08:27:33 AM
Selous Scouts: Top Secret War.

http://www.amazon.com/Selous-Scouts-Top-Secret-War/dp/0620066741/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409408787&sr=1-1&keywords=selous+scouts+top+secret+war

Glad my copy is a loner.

Those were hard men.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Angelorum on August 31, 2014, 04:47:51 PM
I'm reading this for a Medieval political theory class - it's pretty interesting.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net%2Fbook_images%2Fcvr9780684836416_9780684836416_lg.jpg&hash=e409c98df486f9e51abc01325c3aecfa7c154790)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on September 01, 2014, 11:32:14 PM
Quote from: Angelorum on August 31, 2014, 04:47:51 PM
I'm reading this for a Medieval political theory class - it's pretty interesting.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net%2Fbook_images%2Fcvr9780684836416_9780684836416_lg.jpg&hash=e409c98df486f9e51abc01325c3aecfa7c154790)

How far into are you? Can you give us a brief synopsis of his political thoughts?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on September 02, 2014, 11:35:43 AM
Quote from: GeorgeT on August 27, 2014, 10:05:12 PM
In the Shadow of His Wings by Fr. Gereon Goldmann. A great read. The obvious work of Providence in this man's life was amazing.

That's an amazing book! If it's the same one I'm thinking of. It's about a seminarian in the SS?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Angelorum on September 02, 2014, 01:43:49 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on September 01, 2014, 11:32:14 PM
Quote from: Angelorum on August 31, 2014, 04:47:51 PM
I'm reading this for a Medieval political theory class - it's pretty interesting.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net%2Fbook_images%2Fcvr9780684836416_9780684836416_lg.jpg&hash=e409c98df486f9e51abc01325c3aecfa7c154790)

How far into are you? Can you give us a brief synopsis of his political thoughts?

I haven't entirely finished it, but here a few nuggets of wisdom:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on September 02, 2014, 02:06:41 PM
I'm reading St. Michael and the Angels because it's September now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AngloFalcon on September 05, 2014, 12:25:57 PM
Radio Replies by Fathers Rumble and Carty. The three books are excellent and work as incredibly useful refreshers for Catechism. My less dignified reading includes The Wind in the Willows. It's becoming a bit of an annual tradition  ::).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on September 05, 2014, 12:52:58 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcontentcafe2.btol.com%2FContentCafe%2FJacket.aspx%3F%26amp%3BuserID%3DNYPL49807%26amp%3Bpassword%3DCC68707%26amp%3BValue%3D0670878553%26amp%3Bcontent%3DM%26amp%3BReturn%3D1%26amp%3BType%3DM&hash=14ff033bb7e764ba9505ca50fbbb424c5921878f)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 05, 2014, 01:10:54 PM
Going to start The Sign of Jonas soon.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on September 05, 2014, 02:36:57 PM
Quote from: AngloFalcon on September 05, 2014, 12:25:57 PM
My less dignified reading includes The Wind in the Willows. It's becoming a bit of an annual tradition  ::).

Ahem! Do you mean "I'm reading the substantial Dickens novel that's on my set reading list before uni starts again"? 'Cos I'm sure that's what you are doing, right?

Just wondering  ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sbyvl36 on September 05, 2014, 04:08:19 PM
All Quiet on the Western Front
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on September 05, 2014, 06:20:45 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftimeentertainment.files.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F07%2Ft100_novels_french-lieutenants-woman.jpg%3Fw%3D260&hash=07a8e75ce43cf943e632271dbfdcff0f196b76f5)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on September 05, 2014, 08:47:36 PM
Quote from: Rose on September 02, 2014, 11:35:43 AM
Quote from: GeorgeT on August 27, 2014, 10:05:12 PM
In the Shadow of His Wings by Fr. Gereon Goldmann. A great read. The obvious work of Providence in this man's life was amazing.

That's an amazing book! If it's the same one I'm thinking of. It's about a seminarian in the SS?

Yes that's the one. I'll probably make some of the stories into comics sometime soon.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AngloFalcon on September 06, 2014, 11:29:32 AM
Quote from: Rose on September 05, 2014, 02:36:57 PM
Quote from: AngloFalcon on September 05, 2014, 12:25:57 PM
My less dignified reading includes The Wind in the Willows. It's becoming a bit of an annual tradition  ::).

Ahem! Do you mean "I'm reading the substantial Dickens novel that's on my set reading list before uni starts again"? 'Cos I'm sure that's what you are doing, right?

Just wondering  ;)
Quote from: Rose on September 05, 2014, 02:36:57 PM
Quote from: AngloFalcon on September 05, 2014, 12:25:57 PM
My less dignified reading includes The Wind in the Willows. It's becoming a bit of an annual tradition  ::).

Ahem! Do you mean "I'm reading the substantial Dickens novel that's on my set reading list before uni starts again"? 'Cos I'm sure that's what you are doing, right?

Just wondering  ;)
Must have been a typo.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 06, 2014, 11:35:08 AM
I love The Wind in the Willows!  :) That's about how often I read it, too. Which Dickens novel? I could probably find you a free, public domain audiobook link, if you'd like.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on September 06, 2014, 01:50:55 PM
Just finished Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb. The sequels are at my mothers so I have to wait to get them, so in the meantime I have started the Dark Tower series with The Gunslinger.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AngloFalcon on September 07, 2014, 05:18:20 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 06, 2014, 11:35:08 AM
I love The Wind in the Willows!  :) That's about how often I read it, too.
;D
QuoteWhich Dickens novel? I could probably find you a free, public domain audiobook link, if you'd like.
Thanks so much for the offer. Sadly my Uni specified the edition I needed to purchase (paperback penguin edition) so I just received it Friday.  :(
Hard Times; to answer your question. I've never read that one before and don't actually know the story. Do you like Dickens? I quite enjoyed Great Expectations.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 08, 2014, 04:21:47 AM
Quote from: AngloFalcon on September 07, 2014, 05:18:20 AM
QuoteWhich Dickens novel? I could probably find you a free, public domain audiobook link, if you'd like.
Thanks so much for the offer. Sadly my Uni specified the edition I needed to purchase (paperback penguin edition) so I just received it Friday.  :(
Hard Times; to answer your question. I've never read that one before and don't actually know the story. Do you like Dickens? I quite enjoyed Great Expectations.

I love Dickens. He's my favorite author.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 11, 2014, 05:13:06 AM
On the recommendation of a fellow Sierra Dog I've just finished Robert Bellarmine: Saint and Scholar by James Broderick SJ.
Good read. Two factoids I learned; Bellarmine believed Christ was crucified with 4 nails. And he also had a publication on the Vatican's
Index of Forbidden Books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spera In Deo on September 11, 2014, 02:27:35 PM
Just finished Open Letter to Confused Catholics.  Also reading They Have Uncrowned HIm and Removing the Blindfold by John Rao.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 11, 2014, 02:50:31 PM
How is removing the blindfold?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spera In Deo on September 11, 2014, 04:11:53 PM
Just beginning this one.  Will update more later
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on September 12, 2014, 06:47:09 AM
I just finished Yes God! By Susie Lloyd. It's a parenting book about families that raised children with vocations. Many of the families were far from perfect. It was pretty interesting. It had some nice comments about how terrible the 1970s were in the church.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on September 12, 2014, 09:27:54 AM
Quote from: GeorgeT on September 12, 2014, 06:47:09 AM
I just finished Yes God! By Susie Lloyd. It's a parenting book about families that raised children with vocations. Many of the families were far from perfect. It was pretty interesting. It had some nice comments about how terrible the 1970s were in the church.

sounds interesting
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on September 12, 2014, 09:41:42 AM
Quote from: Chestertonian on September 12, 2014, 09:27:54 AM
Quote from: GeorgeT on September 12, 2014, 06:47:09 AM
I just finished Yes God! By Susie Lloyd. It's a parenting book about families that raised children with vocations. Many of the families were far from perfect. It was pretty interesting. It had some nice comments about how terrible the 1970s were in the church.

sounds interesting

It has a Kindle version...   :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on September 15, 2014, 11:15:44 PM
The Machine Stops, a sci-fi novella by E. M. Forster. Metaphorically heavy-handed but some interesting Christian elements so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JubilateDeo on September 15, 2014, 11:40:57 PM
The Desolate City: Revolution in the Catholic Church by Anne Muggeridge
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on September 16, 2014, 12:29:33 AM
Iota Unum

While I do not have a philosophical or theological background that I envision is necessary to fully understand what this book is saying, it is still remarkable and gives amazing insight into what the Council has done. I'm only about 150 pages in, but hearing about how vehemently the Bishops opposed Humanae Vitae is disgusting.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on September 21, 2014, 03:33:39 PM
You're all reading such brainy books!

I'm reading The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude...1930s classic British whodunit  :whistling:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 21, 2014, 07:42:51 PM
Just about to start Dante's Purgatorio. I'm looking forward to it, since I've never read it before.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on September 21, 2014, 09:35:48 PM
I'm reading The Lamb's Supper.  It's about the connection between John's Apocalypse and the Mass.  The book itself is Novus Ordo but I think it's based on traditional sources and I've learned a few things from it.

Quote from: Bernadette on September 21, 2014, 07:42:51 PM
Just about to start Dante's Purgatorio. I'm looking forward to it, since I've never read it before.
I haven't read that either (or the other two).  Maybe I'll check them out.  Are they each stand-alone books or does they really only make sense when they're all read together?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 25, 2014, 07:46:50 AM
The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century by William Rosen.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on September 25, 2014, 09:16:00 AM
The Divine Pity, Gerald Vann OP
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth on September 25, 2014, 03:09:38 PM
Quote from: AngloFalcon on September 05, 2014, 12:25:57 PM
Radio Replies by Fathers Rumble and Carty. The three books are excellent and work as incredibly useful refreshers for Catechism. My less dignified reading includes The Wind in the Willows. It's becoming a bit of an annual tradition  ::).

I wouldn't describe The Wind in the Willows as anything less than brilliant.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on September 25, 2014, 03:37:56 PM
Quote from: Elizabeth on September 25, 2014, 03:09:38 PM
Quote from: AngloFalcon on September 05, 2014, 12:25:57 PM
Radio Replies by Fathers Rumble and Carty. The three books are excellent and work as incredibly useful refreshers for Catechism. My less dignified reading includes The Wind in the Willows. It's becoming a bit of an annual tradition  ::).

I wouldn't describe The Wind in the Willows as anything less than brilliant.

Hmm. Hate to be a killjoy. And some parts of it are hilariously funny. Other parts, however, like "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" are openly pagan and pan-theistic in a typical early 20th-century way.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2Fb%2Fbf%2FFrontispiece_to_The_Wind_in_the_Willows.png%2F220px-Frontispiece_to_The_Wind_in_the_Willows.png&hash=3d141832bf7fbf4c8dab845dc78878734ddaf9a5)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on September 25, 2014, 05:30:35 PM
i thought Piper at the Gates of Dawn was a Pink Floyd album...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on September 26, 2014, 12:50:36 AM
Quote from: Arun on September 25, 2014, 05:30:35 PM
i thought Piper at the Gates of Dawn was a Pink Floyd album...
So did I!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on September 26, 2014, 10:42:56 AM
Well, it is that too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on September 27, 2014, 01:06:22 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on September 25, 2014, 03:37:56 PM
Hmm. Hate to be a killjoy. And some parts of it are hilariously funny. Other parts, however, like "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" are openly pagan and pan-theistic in a typical early 20th-century way.
offtopic - What's "pan-theism"?  I think I've heard that term before and just assumed it was another way of saying "pantheism".  But you're using it as if it has something to do with the pagan god Pan?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on September 27, 2014, 03:29:48 PM
Quote from: Daniel on September 27, 2014, 01:06:22 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on September 25, 2014, 03:37:56 PM
Hmm. Hate to be a killjoy. And some parts of it are hilariously funny. Other parts, however, like "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" are openly pagan and pan-theistic in a typical early 20th-century way.
offtopic - What's "pan-theism"?  I think I've heard that term before and just assumed it was another way of saying "pantheism".  But you're using it as if it has something to do with the pagan god Pan?

No, just a random extra hyphen. But in this particular case it does have to do with Pan. But I wasn't intending to make a pun.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melanie_T on October 09, 2014, 06:18:57 AM
I am trying to read "The Last Illusion"by Porochista Khakpour....which is a reworking of a Persian myth/ legend.  I can't settle with it, having discovered I hate modern writers, all who have university qualifications and trying to be clever imho.

I am also reading "The knight in the panther's skin", a medieval tale from Georgia...the one by the Back Sea, not America. Georgia has a fascinating history straddling the West and the East.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melanie_T on October 09, 2014, 06:21:06 AM
Has anyone read " Three men in a boat" by Jerome Jerome?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on October 09, 2014, 02:11:35 PM
Quote from: Melanie_T on October 09, 2014, 06:18:57 AM
I am trying to read "The Last Illusion"by Porochista Khakpour....which is a reworking of a Persian myth/ legend.  I can't settle with it, having discovered I hate modern writers, all who have university qualifications and trying to be clever imho.

I am also reading "The knight in the panther's skin", a medieval tale from Georgia...the one by the Back Sea, not America. Georgia has a fascinating history straddling the West and the East.

Georgia has some beautiful histories and traditions. it was one of the oldest Christian nations in the world.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 13, 2014, 09:01:04 AM
The Station by Robert Byron.  The author visited the famous Mt Athos of Greece in 1927 with an archaeologist friend to record the frescos and mosaics of the various
Orthodox monasteries. Athos is famous for banning women from the entire peninsula including  female domestic animals and even laying hens.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 13, 2014, 09:51:02 AM
St Pius X catechism
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on October 13, 2014, 02:06:48 PM
I'm now reading If the World Only Knew by Noël DEROSE.  It's a brief biography of Fernand Crombette (a Catholic cosmologist and Egyptologist) and an overview/summary of Crombette's writings.  But at first glance, some of Crombette's stuff seems heretical, so I'm not sure what to think of it at this point.

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kolbecenter.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F10%2FIfTheWorldOnlyKnew.jpg&hash=ae120c60f226333799359af9164719f88397d25b)

(the image on the cover is actually a side view of what Crombette believed Pangaea looked like:
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fceshe-usa.org%2F_borders%2FPangea.JPG&hash=c1950cd8048fe8d27e626a5d5311534caaba5e44))
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JubilateDeo on October 13, 2014, 09:20:30 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmama.ie%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F03%2Fno_cry_sleep_solution.jpg&hash=b3463da04da2a4f95e1f33ba3136b234eff28783)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: sprungli on October 18, 2014, 09:36:15 AM
re-reading the lion, the witch and the wardrobe and pippi longstocking for a literature essay.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melanie_T on October 19, 2014, 06:12:54 PM
Still having my love affair with Georgia, as Arun says it is one of the oldest Christian nations although schismatic orthodox. There are many beautiful monasteries and churches. It is thought the Garden of Eden was around there!

The medieval period is lovely, and the national love of polyphonic music. It is with sadness I know I will never travel there.....
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melanie_T on October 19, 2014, 06:14:09 PM
Currently listening to "The White Company" by Arthur Conan Doyle. Boys own adventure stuff.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on October 20, 2014, 06:30:56 PM
Working through The Wine-Dark Sea by O'Brian.

Really interesting look at Peru in the early 19th century.  Stephen is ashore visiting a Benedictine monastery.  O'Brian's use of the setting and his details here and there paint a very cool portrait of the life of the Church at that time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on October 24, 2014, 08:29:40 AM
Just finished UnderAngelWings by Sr Maria Antonia. It's about a nun who saw her guardian angel since she was a young girl. It was very anecdotal, which always sits well with me.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on October 24, 2014, 10:43:59 AM
Quote from: GeorgeT on October 24, 2014, 08:29:40 AM
Just finished UnderAngelWings by Sr Maria Antonia. It's about a nun who saw her guardian angel since she was a young girl. It was very anecdotal, which always sits well with me.

That was a wonderful book :) IIRC, there was an incident when a rogue had tried to drag her off at a party (or was it to a circus?) and the guardian angel thumped him!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on October 26, 2014, 12:43:57 PM
Quote from: Rose on October 24, 2014, 10:43:59 AM
Quote from: GeorgeT on October 24, 2014, 08:29:40 AM
Just finished UnderAngelWings by Sr Maria Antonia. It's about a nun who saw her guardian angel since she was a young girl. It was very anecdotal, which always sits well with me.

That was a wonderful book :) IIRC, there was an incident when a rogue had tried to drag her off at a party (or was it to a circus?) and the guardian angel thumped him!
Yeah. Some situations were funny. She would go to a movie with her father and her angel would censor almost the entire movie by standing in front of her. Later, when her father tried to discuss the film with her, she would not know what he was talking about. He thought she had some intellectual deficit because of this.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on October 26, 2014, 06:14:46 PM
Quote from: GeorgeT on October 26, 2014, 12:43:57 PM
Quote from: Rose on October 24, 2014, 10:43:59 AM
Quote from: GeorgeT on October 24, 2014, 08:29:40 AM
Just finished UnderAngelWings by Sr Maria Antonia. It's about a nun who saw her guardian angel since she was a young girl. It was very anecdotal, which always sits well with me.

That was a wonderful book :) IIRC, there was an incident when a rogue had tried to drag her off at a party (or was it to a circus?) and the guardian angel thumped him!
Yeah. Some situations were funny. She would go to a movie with her father and her angel would censor almost the entire movie by standing in front of her. Later, when her father tried to discuss the film with her, she would not know what he was talking about. He thought she had some intellectual deficit because of this.

How great would it be if all our Guardian Angels censored media for us?  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on October 27, 2014, 08:55:44 AM
Finished Wine Dark Sea.  Stephen and Jack are homeward bound. :)

Now just need to get The Commodore from the library.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 27, 2014, 09:29:14 AM
Waiting for the Apocalypse: A Memoir of Faith and Family by Veronica Chater.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on October 27, 2014, 10:10:22 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 27, 2014, 09:29:14 AM
Waiting for the Apocalypse: A Memoir of Faith and Family by Veronica Chater.

I've heard mixed reviews about that one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on October 27, 2014, 11:06:52 AM
Quote from: Archer on October 27, 2014, 10:10:22 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 27, 2014, 09:29:14 AM
Waiting for the Apocalypse: A Memoir of Faith and Family by Veronica Chater.

I've heard mixed reviews about that one.
After having seen the weeks long argument on FE however long ago, I want to read it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on November 05, 2014, 02:24:22 PM
Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. As an English major (plus a few post-grad writing courses), I'm ashamed to admit I have never read it before.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 11, 2014, 06:00:25 AM
A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre. This tells the story of the notorious British traitor Kim Philby and his close friend Nicholas Elliot, a high ranking
intelligence officer in MI6. Included in the cast of interesting characters are Flora Solomon the daughter of a Russian gold baron whom Philby tried to
recruit for the KGB. She was reputed to have had an affair with Aleksander Kerensky, the Russian prime mimister deposed by Lenin. Her son Peter Beneson went on to found Amnesty International. Jona von Ustinov a German journalist who supplied info to the British. His mother was half Ethiopian half Jewish
and whose son was the famous actor Peter Ustinov. Miles Copeland a CIA agent and former jazz musician whose son Stewart was the drummer for the band Police. Even Kim's father, St John Philby was a real character. On the last day of his life he got drunk at lunch, made a pass a another man's wife
and dropped dead. His last words were "God I'm bored".
There's even a six page postscript by John LeCarre who interviewed Elliot later in life. Elliot said that when the writer Graham Greene, one of Phiby's
deputies, published Our Man in Havana , MI5 considered prosecuting him under the Official Secrets Act for revealing inside information.
All in all a fascinating read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on November 11, 2014, 08:43:33 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on October 27, 2014, 11:06:52 AM
Quote from: Archer on October 27, 2014, 10:10:22 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 27, 2014, 09:29:14 AM
Waiting for the Apocalypse: A Memoir of Faith and Family by Veronica Chater.

I've heard mixed reviews about that one.
After having seen the weeks long argument on FE however long ago, I want to read it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Right?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on November 11, 2014, 08:47:46 AM
Quote from: piabee on November 05, 2014, 02:24:22 PM
Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. As an English major (plus a few post-grad writing courses), I'm ashamed to admit I have never read it before.

!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on November 11, 2014, 02:47:51 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on November 11, 2014, 08:47:46 AM
!

Strunk wholeheartedly advocates the Oxford (or serial) comma.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on November 11, 2014, 04:57:18 PM
Through the Eye of the Needle, Peter Brown; Sacred Violence, Shaw; Capital in the 21st Century, Thomas Piketty, Abp Marcel Lebefvre, Open Letter to Confused Catholics...etc.

Kindle has spoiled me. I cannot concentrate on one book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on November 11, 2014, 05:02:37 PM
Quote from: Archer on November 11, 2014, 08:43:33 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on October 27, 2014, 11:06:52 AM
Quote from: Archer on October 27, 2014, 10:10:22 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 27, 2014, 09:29:14 AM
Waiting for the Apocalypse: A Memoir of Faith and Family by Veronica Chater.

I've heard mixed reviews about that one.
After having seen the weeks long argument on FE however long ago, I want to read it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Right?
I remember that one. It sounds really sad. Listening to the story of a woman who lost her faith through the acts of an impractical but well meaning father. It sounds like a hatchet job and a book length violation of the fourth commandment, but if I saw it in a book store, I might flip through it. I always like a good survival story. And it is always good to know what your potential enemies are doing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on November 11, 2014, 05:26:35 PM
Quote from: GeorgeT on November 11, 2014, 05:02:37 PM
I remember that one. It sounds really sad. Listening to the story of a woman who lost her faith through the acts of an impractical but well meaning father. It sounds like a hatchet job and a book length violation of the fourth commandment, but if I saw it in a book store, I might flip through it. I always like a good survival story. And it is always good to know what your potential enemies are doing.

Also sounds like a good guide book of what NOT to do.

How many young trad men do we see pontificate on Internet about how to do things, etc? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 11, 2014, 06:44:42 PM
The parents meant well. They were good traddies. But the father just quit his job and they all moved to Portugal, sight unseen,
looking for a Traditional Mass uncorrupted by Vatican II.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on November 12, 2014, 07:25:56 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 11, 2014, 06:44:42 PM
The parents meant well. They were good traddies. But the father just quit his job and they all moved to Portugal, sight unseen,
looking for a Traditional Mass uncorrupted by Vatican II.

Stupid trad, you mean.

He shunned his vocation and state in life without knowing a thing.  He had an obligation to raise his children in the Faith, not chase after private revelation.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on November 12, 2014, 08:32:13 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on November 12, 2014, 07:25:56 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 11, 2014, 06:44:42 PM
The parents meant well. They were good traddies. But the father just quit his job and they all moved to Portugal, sight unseen,
looking for a Traditional Mass uncorrupted by Vatican II.

Stupid trad, you mean.

He shunned his vocation and state in life without knowing a thing.  He had an obligation to raise his children in the Faith, not chase after private revelation.

I haven't read the book so I can't say for certain, but maybe he thought he was doing his duty.  People love a good soap opera so the book sounds like a way for the woman to make money    Maybe her childhood was nuts.  Maybe her Dad was a bit cookoo. But there is always a second side to every story. Who knows what combination of circumstances drove him to do what he did? But to me this sounds like an easy way for her to make a few bucks, make her problems everyone else's, and throw her family under the bus in the process. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 12, 2014, 09:00:53 AM
In the father's favor he did have a wealthy backer that was supposed to provide work in Portugal. First he was weeks late then months late in showing up. And
then the plans fell through. The father was too trusting a soul.
The behavior of the parents would be considered normal on fora such as SD, but to someone "mainstream" would appear nutty. I don't think the publishers
would have accepted the book if it didn't show the Church in a bad light.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Johnny Midnight on November 17, 2014, 07:59:53 PM
i just started reading the secret of the rosary by de montfort.  i like but i wish i was better at praying the rosary.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on November 17, 2014, 10:22:00 PM
Quote from: Johnny Midnight on November 17, 2014, 07:59:53 PM
i just started reading the secret of the rosary by de montfort.  i like but i wish i was better at praying the rosary.

Great book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on November 18, 2014, 06:06:53 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on November 17, 2014, 10:22:00 PM
Quote from: Johnny Midnight on November 17, 2014, 07:59:53 PM
i just started reading the secret of the rosary by de montfort.  i like but i wish i was better at praying the rosary.

Great book.

Anything by the good Saint is a great book  8)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on November 18, 2014, 06:18:24 AM
I have made a little start on De Montfort's Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. It took repeated readings for Frank Duff to understand it, so I don't have too many expectations.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on November 18, 2014, 07:37:57 AM
There's a brilliant book by Fr Helmut Libietis which draws together all of the reading recommended by St. Louis for the Consecration to Our Lady. Very comprehensive and very readable.

This morning on the bus I was reading Villette by one of the Brontes- not that great so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on November 18, 2014, 08:57:41 AM
Quote from: Rose on November 18, 2014, 07:37:57 AM

There's a brilliant book by Fr Helmut Libietis which draws together all of the reading recommended by St. Louis for the Consecration to Our Lady. Very comprehensive and very readable.

Yes, that's a great book. The type that can change your life.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 24, 2014, 05:57:58 PM
Radical Son by David Horowitz.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on November 25, 2014, 12:10:57 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 24, 2014, 05:57:58 PM
Radical Son by David Horowitz.

Did he write the Alex Rider series?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 25, 2014, 12:56:01 PM
Quote from: Rose on November 25, 2014, 12:10:57 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 24, 2014, 05:57:58 PM
Radical Son by David Horowitz.

Did he write the Alex Rider series?
I think that's Anthony Horowitz.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on November 25, 2014, 01:02:47 PM
Oh yes! You're right. What's the book you're reading about?

I'm reading Radio Replies ATM for spiritual reading and love the Q&A style- keeps things bite-size for my little brain  :coffee:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on November 26, 2014, 04:25:49 AM
I'm reading Heliotropium by Fr. Jeremias Drexelius...an excellent book on the Will of God and conforming to it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on November 27, 2014, 01:48:06 AM
What was the other one you mentioned a while back, Laus? The Heresy of Forlorness I think it was called?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on November 27, 2014, 01:54:16 AM
skimming through some Shulgin again
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on November 27, 2014, 06:15:22 AM
Quote from: Arun on November 27, 2014, 01:54:16 AM
skimming through some Shulgin again

A whole new topic for debate  :whistling:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on November 27, 2014, 01:34:21 PM
Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkien. Published posthumously in 1980.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on November 27, 2014, 01:59:17 PM
Quote from: zork on November 27, 2014, 01:34:21 PM
Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkien. Published posthumously in 1980.

Have you read The Book of Lost Tales and The Children of Hurin?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on November 27, 2014, 02:09:26 PM
Quote from: Rose on November 27, 2014, 01:59:17 PM
Quote from: zork on November 27, 2014, 01:34:21 PM
Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkien. Published posthumously in 1980.

Have you read The Book of Lost Tales and The Children of Hurin?

Well, I haven't read those ones yet, but I intend to read Book of Lost Tales I right after Unfinished.

I also purchased Tales Before Tolkien, a book of short stories including works Tolkien referred to and fantasy published during his younger years.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 27, 2014, 02:47:17 PM
Quote from: Arun on November 27, 2014, 01:54:16 AM
skimming through some Shulgin again
If your into that sort of thing you might like The Doors of Perception: Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley.
Another one I enjoyed was Flesh of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens. Edited by Peter Furst
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on November 30, 2014, 10:01:52 AM
Quote from: Rose on November 27, 2014, 01:48:06 AM
What was the other one you mentioned a while back, Laus? The Heresy of Forlorness I think it was called?

Formlessness,  by Martin Mosebach.

Good book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on November 30, 2014, 11:16:26 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on November 30, 2014, 10:01:52 AM
Quote from: Rose on November 27, 2014, 01:48:06 AM
What was the other one you mentioned a while back, Laus? The Heresy of Forlorness I think it was called?

Formlessness,  by Martin Mosebach.

Good book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

I just got this off the parish free table. Wasn't sure if good but knew was free -- is free ever bad!?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on November 30, 2014, 12:35:19 PM
It's good.  It's an artsy case for the tlm.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on November 30, 2014, 08:11:08 PM
The Heliand: The Saxon Gospel
A translation and commentary by G. Ronald Murphy, S.J.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on November 30, 2014, 08:56:47 PM
Quote from: Gardener on November 30, 2014, 11:16:26 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on November 30, 2014, 10:01:52 AM
Quote from: Rose on November 27, 2014, 01:48:06 AM
What was the other one you mentioned a while back, Laus? The Heresy of Forlorness I think it was called?

Formlessness,  by Martin Mosebach.

Good book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

I just got this off the parish free table. Wasn't sure if good but knew was free -- is free ever bad!?

What the Chief said. It's an excellent book (although I read it like 6 years ago) and argues quite convincingly for the TLM without using theology really...he's a playwright so he argues, like KK mentioned ,from the artsy side. It convinced me of the superiority of the TLM beyond just the smells and bells
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on December 07, 2014, 04:19:39 PM
The Whole Christ, by E Mersch SJ.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 12, 2014, 03:28:41 PM
Just finished From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple. The author retraces the footsteps of John Moschos a Byzantine monk who in 587 AD visited
various holy site and monasteries of Eastern Christendom. Moschos wrote a book about his experiences called The Spiritual Meadow. Among the places
visited by Dalrymple were the Fishponds of Abraham in Edessa Turkey. These are ancient and were considered sacred first by pagans then Jews. Then Christians and finally Moslems. The lore of these ponds says that when Abraham smashed the idols, King Nemrut (Nimrod) had a large bonfire kindled and
had Abraham tossed in. But God took pity and turned the fire into water and the wood into fish.
Another spot was the Convent of Seidnay , north of Damascus. Here the Syrian Church has an icon of Notre Dame that muslims believe can cure childlessness. Women who want children sleep on the floor in front of the icon and even eat the burnt wicks of the candles lit there. Who would have thought.
Another place was the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Saba north of the Dead Sea. Here, with the exception of two weeks in 614 AD when all but a few of
the monks were slaughtered by Persian raiders, Divine Office has been sung every morning for 1,380 years.
All in all this was an excellent read
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on December 13, 2014, 10:20:20 AM
Previously I got through The Yellow Admiral and now I'm working through The Hundred Days.  Then just two more and I'm done with Jack and Stephen!  It will be a sad day when i finish 21 though.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on December 22, 2014, 12:19:43 AM
More Catholic Than the Pope: A Critique of Extreme Traditionalism by Patrick Madrid...because, yenno, I felt I needed more mortification in me life (it's the shittiest critique ever...but that's not too hard to imagine when you're trying to critique Catholicism)

and


The $100 Startup...because to hell to working for The Man.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on December 22, 2014, 05:03:58 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on December 22, 2014, 12:19:43 AM
More Catholic Than the Pope: A Critique of Extreme Traditionalism by Patrick Madrid...because, yenno, I felt I needed more mortification in me life (it's the shittiest critique ever...but that's not too hard to imagine when you're trying to critique Catholicism)

and


The $100 Startup...because to hell to working for The Man.

"Extreme Traditionalism" - attending the TLM?  ::)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on December 22, 2014, 05:39:36 PM
All the President's Men by Woodward and Bernstein.  I really got sucked in last night and stayed up until after 1am.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on December 22, 2014, 08:50:46 PM
Quote from: Lynne on December 22, 2014, 05:03:58 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on December 22, 2014, 12:19:43 AM
More Catholic Than the Pope: A Critique of Extreme Traditionalism by Patrick Madrid...because, yenno, I felt I needed more mortification in me life (it's the shittiest critique ever...but that's not too hard to imagine when you're trying to critique Catholicism)

and


The $100 Startup...because to hell to working for The Man.

"Extreme Traditionalism" - attending the TLM?  ::)

Tell me about it. The book is childish, illogical and as unacademic as they come. If they're right than being a Catholic pre 1960 is extremism
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on December 22, 2014, 09:02:46 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on December 22, 2014, 08:50:46 PM
Quote from: Lynne on December 22, 2014, 05:03:58 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on December 22, 2014, 12:19:43 AM
More Catholic Than the Pope: A Critique of Extreme Traditionalism by Patrick Madrid...because, yenno, I felt I needed more mortification in me life (it's the shittiest critique ever...but that's not too hard to imagine when you're trying to critique Catholicism)

and


The $100 Startup...because to hell to working for The Man.

"Extreme Traditionalism" - attending the TLM?  ::)

Tell me about it. The book is childish, illogical and as unacademic as they come. If they're right than being a Catholic pre 1960 is extremism

I paged through it at a store in my FSSP days...

Even then it seemed silly!  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 23, 2014, 09:25:44 AM
I read it a few years ago.... meh. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AngloFalcon on December 25, 2014, 04:01:21 PM
The Scorch Trials (sequel to the Maze Runner). It's relatively entertaining but probably not especially well written. Easy read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on December 28, 2014, 09:36:15 AM
Before Christmas, my library book was All the President's Men.  Still got that on the table.

At Christmas, I got two Calvin and Hobbes books and another book about a reporter looking for a lost expedition into the Amazon.  I read one of the C&H books.  Very interesting how Watterson talks about his work and why he wouldn't compromise on licensing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 28, 2014, 12:26:11 PM
The book about the lost expedition. Was that the Lost City of Z?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 28, 2014, 12:28:24 PM
I just finished The Help, by Katherine Stockett (again).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on December 28, 2014, 01:09:53 PM
Quote from: Jacob on December 28, 2014, 09:36:15 AM
Before Christmas, my library book was All the President's Men.  Still got that on the table.

At Christmas, I got two Calvin and Hobbes books and another book about a reporter looking for a lost expedition into the Amazon.  I read one of the C&H books.  Very interesting how Watterson talks about his work and why he wouldn't compromise on licensing.

i love calvin and hobbes my son has a stuffed hobbes we got him when he q was a baby
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on December 28, 2014, 01:10:49 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on December 22, 2014, 09:02:46 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on December 22, 2014, 08:50:46 PM
Quote from: Lynne on December 22, 2014, 05:03:58 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on December 22, 2014, 12:19:43 AM
More Catholic Than the Pope: A Critique of Extreme Traditionalism by Patrick Madrid...because, yenno, I felt I needed more mortification in me life (it's the shittiest critique ever...but that's not too hard to imagine when you're trying to critique Catholicism)

and


The $100 Startup...because to hell to working for The Man.

"Extreme Traditionalism" - attending the TLM?  ::)

Tell me about it. The book is childish, illogical and as unacademic as they come. If they're right than being a Catholic pre 1960 is extremism

I paged through it at a store in my FSSP days...

Even then it seemed silly!  :lol:
you were a seminarian?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on December 28, 2014, 01:17:37 PM
Lol no, just when I attended only FSSP masses.

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Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on December 28, 2014, 02:49:34 PM
I was reading parts of second volume of The Mystical City of God during Advent, and today I read part of the chapter on the massacre of the Innocents (because today is the commemoration of the Holy Innocents).

I'm also currently reading The One-Minute Aquinas.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on December 28, 2014, 03:43:45 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on December 28, 2014, 12:26:11 PM
The book about the lost expedition. Was that the Lost City of Z?

Yes, that's the one.  It had been on my wishlist for five years and I had completely forgotten it was there.  So when my brother got a book about the Franklin Expedition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_lost_expedition), we thought at first it was a book he was looking to pick up as well. ;)

Quote from: Chestertonian on December 28, 2014, 01:09:53 PM
i love calvin and hobbes my son has a stuffed hobbes we got him when he q was a baby

I read the strip intermittently when Watterson was still doing it (when visiting my grandparents who subscribed to a daily paper).  I always enjoyed it when I was a kid and I wrote some kind of essay about my interpretation of the final strip (http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/12/31) for an English class in high school.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on January 03, 2015, 05:31:04 PM
Revival by Stephen King
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 04, 2015, 08:36:00 AM
Sacred Sea: a Journey to Lake Baikal by Peter Thomson.
This was really two stories in one. One about Lake Baikal which is the deepest body of water in the world with exceptionally clear water
due to tiny native shrimp the filter out all the impurities and the only population in the world of freshwater seals. The other story is the
journey itself from San Francisco by freighter  to S. Korea. Then by ferry to Japan and then to Vladivostok. From there he took the famous
Trans-Siberian Express to the lake. The six day trip consisted mostly of Russians getting roaring drunk and inviting the author to join them
and getting belligerent when he declined.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on January 04, 2015, 10:13:50 AM
Blue at the Mizzen, O'Brian's last completed and published novel.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on January 04, 2015, 08:34:51 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on January 04, 2015, 08:36:00 AM
Sacred Sea: a Journey to Lake Baikal by Peter Thomson.
This was really two stories in one. One about Lake Baikal which is the deepest body of water in the world with exceptionally clear water
due to tiny native shrimp the filter out all the impurities and the only population in the world of freshwater seals. The other story is the
journey itself from San Francisco by freighter  to S. Korea. Then by ferry to Japan and then to Vladivostok. From there he took the famous
Trans-Siberian Express to the lake. The six day trip consisted mostly of Russians getting roaring drunk and inviting the author to join them
and getting belligerent when he declined.
sounds intriguing
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on January 05, 2015, 08:50:30 AM
Pride and Prejudice.  Started it yesterday afternoon.   

Also, per the request of my husband, 'Masculinity: The Gentle Man', by Fr. Fox.  The tone is a bit.....haughty, but it has some good stuff in there, regarding man's authentic role in marriage.  It covers the wife's role, too, but more briefly. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 05, 2015, 08:58:05 AM
Is that a book, mcm?  Didn't find it google.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on January 05, 2015, 10:16:55 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 05, 2015, 08:58:05 AM
Is that a book, mcm?  Didn't find it google.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Really?!  That's crazy....'Pride and Prejudice' has got to be one of the most widely known books of all time.  I find it hard to believe Google didn't turn anything up. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 05, 2015, 10:18:22 AM
No no no, lol, the fr fox one!

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Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on January 05, 2015, 10:24:53 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 05, 2015, 10:18:22 AM
No no no, lol, the fr fox one!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Yeah, I figured....I just couldn't pass it up  ;).  Seriously, though....yes, it's a paperback book.  It was given to my husband awhile back, so I don't even know where it was purchased.  I don't know much about that priest, either.  His full name is Father Robert J. Fox, and the book was published by the Fatima Family Apostolate.  Maybe that'll help. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 05, 2015, 11:26:17 AM
:lol:

I see!  :P

And, okeedoke.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on January 05, 2015, 12:20:16 PM
^ I need to get over to your apartment.  I can just imagine stacks of books floor to ceiling. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 05, 2015, 12:22:10 PM
Quote from: Archer on January 05, 2015, 12:20:16 PM
^ I need to get over to your apartment.  I can just imagine stacks of books floor to ceiling.

I just set up my new bookshelves and TV and organized my books (although, the other half of my books are at home in Milwaukee).  I'm supposed to get a couch soon, so I'll be far more set up to entertain than right now.  :D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on January 05, 2015, 03:43:04 PM
I just read Freakonomics and Think Like A Freak and now I'm reading Moonwalking with Einstein
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AngloFalcon on January 06, 2015, 03:43:06 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on January 05, 2015, 03:43:04 PM
I just read Freakonomics and Think Like A Freak and now I'm reading Moonwalking with Einstein
Sounds about right.  :P

Quote from: MundaCorMeum on January 05, 2015, 08:50:30 AM
Pride and Prejudice.  Started it yesterday afternoon.   

Also, per the request of my husband, 'Masculinity: The Gentle Man', by Fr. Fox.  The tone is a bit.....haughty, but it has some good stuff in there, regarding man's authentic role in marriage.  It covers the wife's role, too, but more briefly. 

P&P is a good book. I haven't heard of the other, but it sounds intriguing. Is it the Fatima apostolate as in Fatima.org, or something else?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on January 08, 2015, 03:30:14 PM
Quote from: AngloFalcon on January 06, 2015, 03:43:06 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on January 05, 2015, 03:43:04 PM
I just read Freakonomics and Think Like A Freak and now I'm reading Moonwalking with Einstein
Sounds about right.  :P

Quote from: MundaCorMeum on January 05, 2015, 08:50:30 AM
Pride and Prejudice.  Started it yesterday afternoon.   

Also, per the request of my husband, 'Masculinity: The Gentle Man', by Fr. Fox.  The tone is a bit.....haughty, but it has some good stuff in there, regarding man's authentic role in marriage.  It covers the wife's role, too, but more briefly. 

P&P is a good book. I haven't heard of the other, but it sounds intriguing. Is it the Fatima apostolate as in Fatima.org, or something else?

I looked it up.  It's something else.  Fatimafamily.org 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AngloFalcon on January 09, 2015, 09:10:19 AM
Thanks.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on January 09, 2015, 10:40:24 AM
I'm reading Watches of the Passion Vol. 1 for spiritual reading (brilliant books), The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse for light reading, and UnPlanned by Abby Johnson for not-so-light reading.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 09, 2015, 08:06:03 PM
Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour, by Kate Fox. Thanks for the recommendation, Greg.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 19, 2015, 01:44:31 PM
"Ready Player One"

It's really engaging.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on January 19, 2015, 04:01:45 PM
don't mind me, just wanted to post a Crucifix for this post. think about it, you'll get it lol...

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.internetmonk.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgiotto_crucifix.jpeg&hash=2e1e68dd6a00e2e328f92b50cb78a56ea6639a4c)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on January 19, 2015, 04:38:44 PM
lol

The Wheel of Time, Book 4: The Shadow Rising
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 19, 2015, 05:24:28 PM
I got it

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on January 19, 2015, 05:28:13 PM
:D

Sent from my GT-S5360T using Crapatalk 2

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 19, 2015, 08:16:25 PM
Quote from: zork on January 19, 2015, 04:38:44 PM
lol

The Wheel of Time, Book 4: The Shadow Rising
I read the whole series and really liked it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on January 21, 2015, 12:04:22 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn3.sbnation.com%2Fassets%2F3332173%2Fgoldfinch.png&hash=8a1c45961df7e67c498bf5494fe6ca2cba8f11f0)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 21, 2015, 06:03:21 AM
Holyland USA: A Catholic Ride Through America's Evangelical Landscape by Peter Feuerherd.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on January 21, 2015, 08:32:45 AM
Quote from: piabee on January 21, 2015, 12:04:22 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn3.sbnation.com%2Fassets%2F3332173%2Fgoldfinch.png&hash=8a1c45961df7e67c498bf5494fe6ca2cba8f11f0)
I've seen this around, piabee- any good?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on January 23, 2015, 05:02:58 PM
Quote from: Rose on January 21, 2015, 08:32:45 AM
I've seen this around, piabee- any good?

It was slow going at the beginning but I'm about a quarter through now and it's picked up quite a bit. A lot more is supposed to happen by the end so we'll see. The writing is detailed but not heavy. My sister likes the author and lent me her other two books but I haven't gotten to them yet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 24, 2015, 11:23:10 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on January 21, 2015, 06:03:21 AM
Holyland USA: A Catholic Ride Through America's Evangelical Landscape by Peter Feuerherd.
Can you give me a  review; this sounds like an interesting book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Adeodatus on January 31, 2015, 09:38:39 AM
"Tigers in the Mud" by Otto Carius. Mr. Carius just passed away on Jan 24th, 2015 at the ripe old age of 92.

Mr. Carius was highly decorated in WWII, twice winning his country's medal of valor as well as lesser decorations, and was credited with over 150 confirmed tank kills during his career. He also held various command positions. After the war, he became a pharmacist.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 31, 2015, 11:01:18 AM
The Imitation of Christ.

Very interesting timing, and the bits I peeked at drew me in even more.  (I've read it before, but I need to re-read it).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on January 31, 2015, 11:22:25 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 31, 2015, 11:01:18 AM
The Imitation of Christ.

Very interesting timing, and the bits I peeked at drew me in even more.  (I've read it before, but I need to re-read it).
I'll have to read that again soon. I read it a couple of years ago. Great book.

Now, though, I'm reading C S Lewis: A Life, by Alister McGrath.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 31, 2015, 02:45:34 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on January 24, 2015, 11:23:10 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on January 21, 2015, 06:03:21 AM
Holyland USA: A Catholic Ride Through America's Evangelical Landscape by Peter Feuerherd.
Can you give me a  review; this sounds like an interesting book.
The author used to write for the National Catholic Register and for his diocesan newsletter on Long Island. He became disillusioned by the sex scandal and left the church. He worked for a while at the American Bible Institute but got laid off. He wound up at Northwestern being paid by a grant from the Lilly Foundation to study major American religions. Buddhism, Scientology, Sikhs, Mormons etc. He traveled around quite a bit and spent time talking to evangelicals and Catholics observing the overlapping, grey areas between the two.
He feels that the press presents a world view of a strict divide between conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans that isn't accurate. He sees fundamentalists and conservative Catholics as sharing similar views on things like abortion, immigration and homosexual marriage.
  Some of his conclusions:
That the Catholic church did a good job at preparing children with catechism and seeing to the needs of the elderly. He said where it fails is with teenagers. That evangelicals provide more opportunities for teens to socialize. That they are attracted to rock style music at their services. He also said that evangelical churches had numerous programs for dealing with community problems. Things like marriage counseling, addressing addiction, helping the unemployed. That these sorts of problems in Catholic parishes usually fell on overworked priests. That evangelical churches were more Oprah type self help and less moral chastisement. That the top down structure of the Catholic church didn't allow for flexibility in dealing with social needs.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on February 01, 2015, 11:39:43 AM
Thanks for the review, Red.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on February 01, 2015, 03:37:11 PM
the little prince
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on February 01, 2015, 04:07:03 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on February 01, 2015, 03:37:11 PM

the little prince

What do you think of it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 06, 2015, 06:06:45 AM
Phillip II by William Thomas Walsh.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on February 06, 2015, 09:24:20 AM
Quote from: Chestertonian on February 01, 2015, 03:37:11 PM
the little prince

I got a bit choked up when I read that first  :'( St. Exupery was a devout Catholic IIRC.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on February 12, 2015, 08:10:41 AM
Just finished Mitre and Crook.  Glad I picked it up.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on February 12, 2015, 09:26:18 AM
I spend about half my waking hours reading....

I'm reading sections of the Metaphysics and One Hundred Years of Modernism.  This is part of my variable reading - constantly changing month by month. 

Then I have my more or less permanent reading: Chaucer, Homer and Dante.  On the latter, I have near zero Italian and so I have been teaching myself the Tuscan dialect while making my way through La Divina Commedia.  Actually, i was thinking about starting a reading group around Dante this if anyone's interested. 

At night I'm now reading The Imitation of Christ - in Knox's translation.  It's a bitter hoe.  By the time I'm done with a few pages I feel pretty darn worthless, lol. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OzarkCatholic on February 12, 2015, 09:40:29 AM
Revisiting Shakespeare's Henriad- Richard II, Henry IV 1&2, and Henry V. Teaching them to my Juniors and Seniors.

[yt]ngNXFbTwZZ4[/yt]
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on February 12, 2015, 09:58:35 AM
Nothing at the moment, which which is nice since a few of the light bulbs in my living room where I read are burned out.  Need to replace those, but I'm not into bulbs that include mercury.

Finished Aubrey-Maturin in January before the Darkness.  The series ended well enough.  Overall, I enjoyed it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on February 12, 2015, 10:08:48 AM
Quote from: OzarkCatholic on February 12, 2015, 09:40:29 AM
Revisiting Shakespeare's Henriad- Richard II, Henry IV 1&2, and Henry V. Teaching them to my Juniors and Seniors.

[yt]ngNXFbTwZZ4[/yt]

That looks pretty good, is it?  I've served on a Shakespeare co. board for years, make a yearly trip to Stratford, and am pretty up on all-things-Shakespeare...how did I miss this? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tradne4163 on February 15, 2015, 10:55:26 PM
The Spiritual Life, which is the third book compiling Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's preaching on a certain overall topic. I usually read at least a little each day. Obviously, it's a deep subject.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on February 16, 2015, 05:06:52 AM
Quote from: tradne4163 on February 15, 2015, 10:55:26 PM
The Spiritual Life, which is the third book compiling Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's preaching on a certain overall topic. I usually read at least a little each day. Obviously, it's a deep subject.

Who is the author?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: tradne4163 on February 16, 2015, 10:37:11 AM
Quote from: Lynne on February 16, 2015, 05:06:52 AM
Quote from: tradne4163 on February 15, 2015, 10:55:26 PM
The Spiritual Life, which is the third book compiling Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's preaching on a certain overall topic. I usually read at least a little each day. Obviously, it's a deep subject.

Who is the author?
Strictly speaking, the Archbishop himself. It's a collection of his sermons and conferences, word for word, on the spiritual life. But it was compiled by Father Patrick Troadec, SSPX. The book is sold only through Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary as far as I know.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on February 16, 2015, 10:48:47 AM
Quote from: tradne4163 on February 16, 2015, 10:37:11 AM
Quote from: Lynne on February 16, 2015, 05:06:52 AM
Quote from: tradne4163 on February 15, 2015, 10:55:26 PM
The Spiritual Life, which is the third book compiling Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's preaching on a certain overall topic. I usually read at least a little each day. Obviously, it's a deep subject.

Who is the author?
Strictly speaking, the Archbishop himself. It's a collection of his sermons and conferences, word for word, on the spiritual life. But it was compiled by Father Patrick Troadec, SSPX. The book is sold only through Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary as far as I know.

Ah... Thanks!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on February 16, 2015, 10:51:33 AM
Quote from: tradne4163 on February 16, 2015, 10:37:11 AM
Quote from: Lynne on February 16, 2015, 05:06:52 AM
Quote from: tradne4163 on February 15, 2015, 10:55:26 PM
The Spiritual Life, which is the third book compiling Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's preaching on a certain overall topic. I usually read at least a little each day. Obviously, it's a deep subject.

Who is the author?
Strictly speaking, the Archbishop himself. It's a collection of his sermons and conferences, word for word, on the spiritual life. But it was compiled by Father Patrick Troadec, SSPX. The book is sold only through Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary as far as I know.

Let us know how it is.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 18, 2015, 06:30:17 AM
The Devil's Alliance: Hitler's Pact With Stalin, 1939-1941 by Roger Moorhouse
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on February 18, 2015, 02:48:55 PM
Life of Christ, by Archbishop Sheen
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on February 18, 2015, 02:49:27 PM
Quote from: Clare on February 18, 2015, 02:48:55 PM
Life of Christ, by Archbishop Sheen

Excellent book
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on February 21, 2015, 07:49:29 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on February 18, 2015, 06:30:17 AM
The Devil's Alliance: Hitler's Pact With Stalin, 1939-1941 by Roger Moorhouse

How is it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on February 21, 2015, 08:17:33 AM
Quote from: Baldrick on February 12, 2015, 09:26:18 AM
I spend about half my waking hours reading....

I'm reading sections of the Metaphysics and One Hundred Years of Modernism.  This is part of my variable reading - constantly changing month by month. 

Then I have my more or less permanent reading: Chaucer, Homer and Dante.  On the latter, I have near zero Italian and so I have been teaching myself the Tuscan dialect while making my way through La Divina Commedia.  Actually, i was thinking about starting a reading group around Dante this if anyone's interested. 

At night I'm now reading The Imitation of Christ - in Knox's translation.  It's a bitter hoe.  By the time I'm done with a few pages I feel pretty darn worthless, lol.

I find the Imitation almost unbearably lacerating, lol.  So I've been interspersing reading it with Fr. Boudreau's Happiness of Heaven, which is truly wonderful, and balances out Kempis somehow  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 21, 2015, 12:07:29 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on February 21, 2015, 07:49:29 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on February 18, 2015, 06:30:17 AM
The Devil's Alliance: Hitler's Pact With Stalin, 1939-1941 by Roger Moorhouse

How is it?
Quite good. It was interesting to read how the two greatest homicidal maniacs  of the 20th century used each other for their own advantage. How they divided eastern Europe between them. Germany needed Russia's raw materials particularly when anticipating a British blockade while Russia needed industrial equipment and military hardware from Germany.
Most of the negotiations were held in secret as the propaganda machines of both countries had heaped vitriol on each other for years.
When it came time for the Russian negotiators to visit Berlin it was discovered there were no Soviet flags to be found in the capitol so a bunch of hausfraus were put to work sewing them for the main hall of the train station.
In addition, the Russians had plenty of advance warning of Germany's 41 invasion but Stalin refused to believe it. He thought it was a bargaining ploy on Hitler's part. Stalin even had an informer who brought this information shot for spreading disinformation.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JubilateDeo on February 21, 2015, 01:27:57 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F5164-VWIdwL._SX258_BO1%2C204%2C203%2C200_.jpg&hash=226f03154c703536840945dd335246817902d906)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on February 21, 2015, 07:21:37 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on February 21, 2015, 12:07:29 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on February 21, 2015, 07:49:29 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on February 18, 2015, 06:30:17 AM
The Devil's Alliance: Hitler's Pact With Stalin, 1939-1941 by Roger Moorhouse

How is it?
Quite good. It was interesting to read how the two greatest homicidal maniacs  of the 20th century used each other for their own advantage. How they divided eastern Europe between them. Germany needed Russia's raw materials particularly when anticipating a British blockade while Russia needed industrial equipment and military hardware from Germany.
Most of the negotiations were held in secret as the propaganda machines of both countries had heaped vitriol on each other for years.
When it came time for the Russian negotiators to visit Berlin it was discovered there were no Soviet flags to be found in the capitol so a bunch of hausfraus were put to work sewing them for the main hall of the train station.
In addition, the Russians had plenty of advance warning of Germany's 41 invasion but Stalin refused to believe it. He thought it was a bargaining ploy on Hitler's part. Stalin even had an informer who brought this information shot for spreading disinformation.

Sounds interesting...thanks
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 05, 2015, 09:04:30 AM
A Movable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. His account of Paris in 20's. It has all the usual suspects. Pound. Fitzgerald. Elliot. Joyce. Gertrude Stein. Even though it was early in his career, by his own account he was already putting away enormous quantities of alcohol.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 05, 2015, 04:30:33 PM
I've finally finished The Pickwick Papers, and am in the middle of Leviticus (both from audible, and both narrations excellent).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 05, 2015, 06:33:04 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on March 05, 2015, 09:04:30 AM
A Movable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. His account of Paris in 20's. It has all the usual suspects. Pound. Fitzgerald. Elliot. Joyce. Gertrude Stein. Even though it was early in his career, by his own account he was already putting away enormous quantities of alcohol.

I need to read that one.   If I could time travel, Paris in the 20's would be my first place to visit.  Rose colored glasses and all.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 26, 2015, 07:33:53 PM
Parade's End, by Ford Madox Ford. Anybody read it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on March 26, 2015, 07:43:18 PM
I am reading the transcripts of the lectures from one of the Open Yale Courses, SPAN 300: Cervantes' Don Quixote (http://oyc.yale.edu/spanish-and-portuguese/span-300).  I'm reading a lecture per day and am up to number three.  I read Don Quixote the summer before last and have learned a lot so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on March 26, 2015, 07:43:31 PM
The Little Prince
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on March 26, 2015, 10:42:48 PM
Red Green Talks Cars
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 27, 2015, 04:58:43 AM
On the recommendation of fellow posters, I've just finished God's Battalions by Rodney Stark. Quite an eye opener.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spera In Deo on April 08, 2015, 03:44:38 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on September 11, 2014, 02:50:31 PM
How is removing the blindfold?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Guess what?  I was reading too many things at once, never finished it.  Now it is waiting to be unpacked with all my other books.  I will have to get back to it.

My first impression was that it is a more densely written book than what I am used to.  I can not read large doses of it.

I liked Abp Lefebvres "They Have Uncrowned Him".  The Abp writes with simplicity and clarity, which is rare.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on April 09, 2015, 12:03:57 PM
Hemingway short stories. They talk about how great it would be to take Chesterton fishing in one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 09, 2015, 12:38:39 PM
Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on April 09, 2015, 02:14:50 PM
Enders Game. Dune was amazing, hoping this also loves up to the hype.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on April 09, 2015, 02:27:14 PM
frog and toad are friends
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 09, 2015, 02:59:27 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on April 09, 2015, 02:27:14 PM
frog and toad are friends
Love Frog and Toad. I always read them to my kids. Great for kids AND adults.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 09, 2015, 03:44:15 PM
Quote from: Basilios on April 09, 2015, 02:14:50 PM
Enders Game. Dune was amazing, hoping this also loves up to the hype.

Oooh, I loved Ender's Game. The only science fiction book on my shelves. One of the books that I wish I could read for the first time all over again.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on April 09, 2015, 04:14:40 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 09, 2015, 12:38:39 PM
Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.

Simultaneously?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on April 09, 2015, 04:52:30 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on April 09, 2015, 02:59:27 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on April 09, 2015, 02:27:14 PM
frog and toad are friends
Love Frog and Toad. I always read them to my kids. Great for kids AND adults.

I LOVE Frog & Toad.  Remember my father laughing so hard when he read it to me.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on April 09, 2015, 05:38:33 PM
It's been so long since I've read Tom Clancy at length.  The climax of The Sum of All Fears is really the only book I've ever read where I was indeed 'page turning' to find out how it would all end.

But I look back and I realize that I am all Tom Clancyed out.  I just don't think I could get back into that groove, especially now that I am older and more aware of his flaws as a writer.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 10, 2015, 09:32:22 AM
Quote from: Archer on April 09, 2015, 04:14:40 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 09, 2015, 12:38:39 PM
Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.

Simultaneously?
Yup.  I usually have more than one book going at a time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on April 10, 2015, 10:19:00 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 10, 2015, 09:32:22 AM
Quote from: Archer on April 09, 2015, 04:14:40 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 09, 2015, 12:38:39 PM
Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.

Simultaneously?
Yup.  I usually have more than one book going at a time.

So do I, but doesn't Patriot Games occur chronologically before Red October?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 10, 2015, 11:01:39 AM
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States. In the 30s the Work Projects Administration sent out interviewers to every state that had participated in slavery, and interviewed former slaves. They collected something like 2300 interviews and published 17 volumes (many in several parts), one for each state. I've just started reading Volume I, Alabama, and I was absolutely shocked by the number of people who expressed longing to go back to those days because they had plenty to eat and wear, and "didn't have to worry about anything."  :o :o :huh: I have never heard anything like this in school or from the History Channel, and here it is, coming from the people themselves!  :confused: 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 10, 2015, 01:52:27 PM
Quote from: Archer on April 10, 2015, 10:19:00 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 10, 2015, 09:32:22 AM
Quote from: Archer on April 09, 2015, 04:14:40 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 09, 2015, 12:38:39 PM
Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.

Simultaneously?
Yup.  I usually have more than one book going at a time.

So do I, but doesn't Patriot Games occur chronologically before Red October?

Yes, but I've read Red October before... and I know what's coming :). (And possibly I have a weirdly wired brain, but only possibly.)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on April 10, 2015, 03:35:27 PM
European Air Law and Flight Planning procedures.

If you only knew how riveting it is folks
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on April 10, 2015, 03:40:32 PM
I have recently read Fatima Priest and a smallish book on the life of The Cure of Ars by TAN. Both really great.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on April 10, 2015, 03:46:04 PM
For my devotional reading (at night before bed), I'm currently reading Montfort's Secret of the Rosary
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on April 10, 2015, 06:45:37 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 10, 2015, 01:52:27 PM
Quote from: Archer on April 10, 2015, 10:19:00 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 10, 2015, 09:32:22 AM
Quote from: Archer on April 09, 2015, 04:14:40 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 09, 2015, 12:38:39 PM
Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.

Simultaneously?
Yup.  I usually have more than one book going at a time.

So do I, but doesn't Patriot Games occur chronologically before Red October?

Yes, but I've read Red October before... and I know what's coming :). (And possibly I have a weirdly wired brain, but only possibly.)

Naw, whatever works for you. I just couldn't do it. I can read multiple books at once but not ones with the same characters. That'd get too confusing lol.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on April 10, 2015, 07:55:31 PM
 Brent D. Shaw, Sacred Violence. It largely concerns the Donatist-Catholic conflict. This was a conflict not of doctrine, but of how clergy who surrendered vessels and scriptures to Roman officials were to be treated. Some were very unforgiving to the traditores or lapsi, and came to be identified as Donatists after Donatus Magnus, who became for one faction the Bishop of Carthage and Patriarch of African Catholics. They held that clergy or people who lapsed, had to be rebaptised. They were often called 'Rebapisters.' Augustine, Bishop of Hippo was the most famous of the majority faction, the one Rome (both Pope and Emperor) adjudged orthodox. One fascinating detail is that when Augustine asked local peasants who they were, they replied in they were Canaanites. They spoke almost only Punic. Even gentlemen with Roman tria nomina might have difficulty speaking Latin and were more comfortable speaking Punic.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: dymphna17 on April 10, 2015, 10:15:00 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on April 10, 2015, 03:35:27 PM
European Air Law and Flight Planning procedures.

If you only knew how riveting it is folks

Careful you don't end up bald from pulling your hair out.  A little of that goes a loooong way.   :lol:

Are you studying to become a pilot?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on April 11, 2015, 04:39:44 AM
Quote from: dymphna17 on April 10, 2015, 10:15:00 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on April 10, 2015, 03:35:27 PM
European Air Law and Flight Planning procedures.

If you only knew how riveting it is folks

Careful you don't end up bald from pulling your hair out.  A little of that goes a loooong way.   :lol:

Are you studying to become a pilot?

Well I shave my head, so I think my next option would be stabbing myself with a pen...and yes, I am
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on April 11, 2015, 09:40:18 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 10, 2015, 11:01:39 AM
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States. In the 30s the Work Projects Administration sent out interviewers to every state that had participated in slavery, and interviewed former slaves. They collected something like 2300 interviews and published 17 volumes (many in several parts), one for each state. I've just started reading Volume I, Alabama, and I was absolutely shocked by the number of people who expressed longing to go back to those days because they had plenty to eat and wear, and "didn't have to worry about anything."  :o :o :huh: I have never heard anything like this in school or from the History Channel, and here it is, coming from the people themselves!  :confused:

You might find this interesting, too:

http://www.creators.com/opinion/walter-williams/virginia-s-black-confederates.html
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on April 11, 2015, 10:21:35 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 10, 2015, 11:01:39 AM
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States. In the 30s the Work Projects Administration sent out interviewers to every state that had participated in slavery, and interviewed former slaves. They collected something like 2300 interviews and published 17 volumes (many in several parts), one for each state. I've just started reading Volume I, Alabama, and I was absolutely shocked by the number of people who expressed longing to go back to those days because they had plenty to eat and wear, and "didn't have to worry about anything."  :o :o :huh: I have never heard anything like this in school or from the History Channel, and here it is, coming from the people themselves!  :confused:
Bernadette.
the fact that blacks living in the South might have wanted to go back to slavery, was that after the Civil War, all the former Confederate states passed a series of laws known as "Black Codes"; which essentially reduced the freed blacks back into a position of slavery, but without the former slave owners interest in protecting his property.  Blacks were in many ways worse off after the Civil War and the abolishing of Reconstruction than before the War.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Cesar_Augustus on April 11, 2015, 01:27:33 PM
Quote from: Baldrick on April 10, 2015, 03:46:04 PM
For my devotional reading (at night before bed), I'm currently reading Montfort's Secret of the Rosary.

Great book!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 15, 2015, 03:57:01 AM
Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves. This is the English writers account of four years in the trenches during WW I. How he started out believing in King, country and class and became embittered and disillusioned when he realized that his statesmen lied and his generals were incompetent. He became a self described Socialist, admiring Bolsheviks and communism.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on April 28, 2015, 10:03:44 AM
Meet Mr. Hyphen (And Put Him in His Place)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on April 28, 2015, 11:50:29 AM
Story of a Soul by the Little Flower.

First time, and it is amazing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 28, 2015, 01:17:13 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on April 28, 2015, 11:50:29 AM
Story of a Soul by the Little Flower.

First time, and it is amazing.

Looooove that book
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on April 28, 2015, 01:26:39 PM
the giving tree
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on April 28, 2015, 04:00:38 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on April 28, 2015, 11:50:29 AM
Story of a Soul by the Little Flower.

First time, and it is amazing.


St Therese is amazing
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on April 28, 2015, 06:19:15 PM
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

I'm not really messy as it is, but I'm kind of interested in paring down what I have.  So far it's more annoying than anything.  Martha Stewart (or what I imagine her books would be like) meets Eastern "energy" theory.  That's what I get for picking a NYT bestseller.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on April 28, 2015, 06:56:53 PM
I'm reading Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence.  That book will change your life.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on April 28, 2015, 07:34:34 PM
Quote from: Daniel on April 28, 2015, 06:56:53 PM
I'm reading Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence.  That book will change your life.

Who is the author?

Pheo, sounds like you need to step up your game  ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on April 29, 2015, 05:52:30 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on April 28, 2015, 07:34:34 PM
Quote from: Daniel on April 28, 2015, 06:56:53 PM
I'm reading Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence.  That book will change your life.

Who is the author?

Pheo, sounds like you need to step up your game  ;)
The first part is written by Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure, S.J. and the second part is written by St. Claude de la Colombière, S.J.  It's published by TAN Books.

I have only read the first few chapters so far, but it really has given me an entirely new perspective on the "problem of evil" and on the divine providence in general.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on April 29, 2015, 10:32:15 AM
Quote from: Pheo on April 28, 2015, 06:19:15 PM
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

So far it's more annoying than anything.

My friend gave me this but I couldn't get through it. The translated voice was so patronizing. Or maybe that's just the Japanese style.

The idea of items "sparking joy" is so materialistic, even as she's trying to detach you from things. Personally, I find joy in options. If I have a dress that fits and is appropriate for work I'm going to wear it, even if I don't love it. I'm probably a borderline hoarder, though.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 29, 2015, 11:03:13 AM
Quote from: piabee on April 29, 2015, 10:32:15 AM
I'm probably a borderline hoarder, though.

My kind of person.

Although I am trying to get rid of my stash of junk er priceless memorabilia. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on April 29, 2015, 11:11:49 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 29, 2015, 11:03:13 AM
My kind of person.

I've always thought we would get along swimmingly. :seeya:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on April 29, 2015, 04:28:52 PM
Quote from: piabee on April 29, 2015, 10:32:15 AMThe idea of items "sparking joy" is so materialistic, even as she's trying to detach you from things.

That's what bothered me the most too.  Plus I don't "feel" anything when I hold my kettle or a flashlight...or >99% of what I own.  In her system, it would all have to go.

In happier news, it turns out you can return kindle books.  This one is probably going back.  How's that for tidying up?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 30, 2015, 02:20:34 PM
Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on April 30, 2015, 09:53:29 PM
Yarick: The Last Man on Earth
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on May 03, 2015, 02:27:56 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on January 07, 2014, 02:09:29 PM
Queen Isabella by William Walsh.

I just started this. What a tangled weave European royalty was.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on May 03, 2015, 03:23:21 PM
Starting to work my way through The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 03, 2015, 10:05:58 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on May 03, 2015, 02:27:56 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on January 07, 2014, 02:09:29 PM
Queen Isabella by William Walsh.

I just started this. What a tangled weave European royalty was.
A really great book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 04, 2015, 11:27:39 AM
This Side of Paradise by F Scott Fitzgerald
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 06, 2015, 03:11:40 PM
The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, translated by Dr. Jonathan Scott. The clean, Victorian-approved version.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on May 06, 2015, 03:17:53 PM
where the wild things are, make way for the ducklings
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on May 06, 2015, 06:01:35 PM
The Black Man's Guide Out of Poverty
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 06, 2015, 06:27:32 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on May 06, 2015, 03:17:53 PM
where the wild things are

I love that!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on May 09, 2015, 11:08:12 AM
Kristin Lavransdatter
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 23, 2015, 10:00:27 AM
Lulu's Christmas Story a warm, cozy look at a Catholic family's life during the Great Depression.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on May 23, 2015, 10:41:51 AM
Quote from: Baldrick on February 12, 2015, 09:26:18 AM
I spend about half my waking hours reading....

Then I have my more or less permanent reading: Chaucer, Homer and Dante.  On the latter, I have near zero Italian and so I have been teaching myself the Tuscan dialect while making my way through La Divina Commedia.  Actually, i was thinking about starting a reading group around Dante this if anyone's interested. 


This has evolved into every morning reading, in the original languages, a bit of Homer, something from the New Testament or Psalms, some Middle English poetry, and - as I mention above - I'm making my way through La Divina Commedia.  This way I keep fresh and make my way through quite a bit if I do it every day. 

On Dante, I'm getting better at it - can't "read" it quite yet, but getting close.  It was rather difficult to find an original text sans a facing page translation, which I find distracting.  The 3 Grandgent volumes are impossible to find but you can get them printed via the Harvard Bookstore.  The text is a wee bit outdated but it has some basic language-focused annotation, which is helpful.  And the are nicely sized. 

I'm also gathering around me books that will help me get a deeper understanding of the poem.  I have every single one of the extant English language commentaries digitally (through Dartmouth website).  I also have Charles William's Figure of Beatrice, Dorothy Sayers' Introductory Papers on Dante, as well as her Further Papers on Dante, Gilson's volume and a few scattered others.  I welcome any other suggestions!



Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on May 23, 2015, 01:11:29 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on April 30, 2015, 09:53:29 PM
Yarick: The Last Man on Earth

What is this?  I haven't heard of it and cannot find anything about it? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Revixit on May 23, 2015, 10:47:41 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on May 03, 2015, 10:05:58 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on May 03, 2015, 02:27:56 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on January 07, 2014, 02:09:29 PM
Queen Isabella by William Walsh.

I just started this. What a tangled weave European royalty was.
A really great book.

Thanks for the tip.  The book is available at Amazon for $5.99 for the Kindle book, and their affiliated sellers have one new hardcover edition for $57.56 plus used hardcovers priced higher than the new one. (What?!)  I've already downloaded a free Sample of it, am about to go to bed and read it until I fall asleep and my Kindle shuts off.

European royalty was indeed a very tangled weave. On my Kindle Paperwhite, during the past few days I've read Samples (a great Kindle feature) of Eleanor of Castile:The Shadow Queen; Joan of Kent, the First Princess of Wales; and A Reed in the Wind: Joanna Plantagenet, all of which promise to be very good reads.  Each one is a web of complicated relationships between royal families.

If you don't have a Kindle, you can read the Kindle books on a Kindle app, which I'm fairly certain is a free download.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 24, 2015, 04:43:12 AM
Quote from: Revixit on May 23, 2015, 10:47:41 PM

Thanks for the tip.  The book is available at Amazon for $5.99 for the Kindle book, and their affiliated sellers have one new hardcover edition for $57.56 plus used hardcovers priced higher than the new one. (What?!)  I've already downloaded a free Sample of it, am about to go to bed and read it until I fall asleep and my Kindle shuts off.

European royalty was indeed a very tangled weave. On my Kindle Paperwhite, during the past few days I've read Samples (a great Kindle feature) of Eleanor of Castile:The Shadow Queen; Joan of Kent, the First Princess of Wales; and A Reed in the Wind: Joanna Plantagenet, all of which promise to be very good reads.  Each one is a web of complicated relationships between royal families.

If you don't have a Kindle, you can read the Kindle books on a Kindle app, which I'm fairly certain is a free download.

Kindle samples are like crack.  ::)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on May 24, 2015, 05:02:13 AM
Quote from: Clare on May 09, 2015, 11:08:12 AM
Kristin Lavransdatter

How do you like it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on May 24, 2015, 08:24:24 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on May 24, 2015, 05:02:13 AM
Quote from: Clare on May 09, 2015, 11:08:12 AM
Kristin Lavransdatter

How do you like it?
I'm enjoying it. I'm into the second part now, The Wife.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 26, 2015, 04:32:27 PM
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger. A German soldier's WWI account of trench warfare. Very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Revixit on May 27, 2015, 08:06:03 AM
Quote from: Lynne on May 24, 2015, 04:43:12 AM
Quote from: Revixit on May 23, 2015, 10:47:41 PM

Thanks for the tip.  The book is available at Amazon for $5.99 for the Kindle book, and their affiliated sellers have one new hardcover edition for $57.56 plus used hardcovers priced higher than the new one. (What?!)  I've already downloaded a free Sample of it, am about to go to bed and read it until I fall asleep and my Kindle shuts off.

European royalty was indeed a very tangled weave. On my Kindle Paperwhite, during the past few days I've read Samples (a great Kindle feature) of Eleanor of Castile:The Shadow Queen; Joan of Kent, the First Princess of Wales; and A Reed in the Wind: Joanna Plantagenet, all of which promise to be very good reads.  Each one is a web of complicated relationships between royal families.

If you don't have a Kindle, you can read the Kindle books on a Kindle app, which I'm fairly certain is a free download.

Kindle samples are like crack.  ::)

:rofl:  Isn't that the truth?  Now, in addition to the three or four I mentioned wanting to read, I'm also really excited about reading Queen Isabella by William Thomas Walsh, having read the entire Sample.

I've also downloaded Samples of four of his other books:

Philip II (1527-1598);
St. Teresa of Avila;
Characters of the Inquisition;
Moses

But there's bad news: I was just over at Amazon and saw that
Philip II (1527-1598) is now only available in hardcover @ $46.95, though it was available on Kindle just a couple of days ago, probably for $9.99, and I have been reading the Sample on my Kindle!  Also, the Sample of Moses seems to have disappeared from my Kindle. I'll be calling Amazon later to ask them what the hell they're doing, will let you guys know what I learn, if anything. 

I did manage to download Queen Isabella for $5.99 just now, thought I'd better get it quick before the Kindle edition vanished like Philip II (1527-1598) did!  It's great reading.  Get it while you can!

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 27, 2015, 10:32:58 AM
That's weird. It showed up when I searched just now.  :shrug: Do you back up your kindle library to Calibre?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 27, 2015, 10:59:01 AM
I just ordered the sample of the Queen Isabella book. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Molly Grue on May 27, 2015, 12:24:04 PM
I'm reading Those Terrible Middle Ages by Pauline Reage, and The Witches by Roald Dahl (daughter's bedtime book).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 27, 2015, 02:56:47 PM
Purgatorio
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OCLittleFlower on May 27, 2015, 06:35:43 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-29xPfiopH9g%2FU4zgentHhkI%2FAAAAAAAAGiI%2F2owtQl8xbtQ%2Fs1600%2Fdorothy%2Bmust%2Bdie.jpg&hash=49e6f14b1f788a69c72c10f59ecd91f57a37f5b4)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on May 27, 2015, 06:43:48 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on May 27, 2015, 02:56:47 PM
Purgatorio

Which translation do u prefer? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on May 27, 2015, 11:54:41 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 27, 2015, 10:32:58 AM
That's weird. It showed up when I searched just now.  :shrug: Do you back up your kindle library to Calibre?

Calibre is an awesome program. My eReader isn't a Kindle (it's a Kobo) and I have no idea how to add PDF books and what not through the native software (pretty sure it's impossible)...Calibre saved my butt.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 28, 2015, 02:07:31 AM
Quote from: Baldrick on May 27, 2015, 06:43:48 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on May 27, 2015, 02:56:47 PM
Purgatorio

Which translation do u prefer?

I'm finishing what I started with Esolen, I like his notes, and the fact that he actually tries to put it in verse.
Plus; it actually comes with the Italian for when I get ambitious enough to improve mine.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on May 28, 2015, 02:14:46 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on May 28, 2015, 02:07:31 AM
Quote from: Baldrick on May 27, 2015, 06:43:48 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on May 27, 2015, 02:56:47 PM
Purgatorio

Which translation do u prefer?

I'm finishing what I started with Esolen, I like his notes, and the fact that he actually tries to put it in verse.
Plus; it actually comes with the Italian for when I get ambitious enough to improve mine.

Yes, his translation certainly has its merits; his notes are good too.  He's a very good and interesting person, have spoken with and corresponded with him about Dante, among other things.  He also has quite a few audio lectures on Dante. 

Personally, however, for my purposes, I prefer to keep to translations that don't try to "put it in verse" - because doing so requires all kinds of acrobatics and embellishments that really aren't there. 

When I consult a translation for an idiomatic rendering of the text, there is no question that Durling's is the superior translation for this, as it's a very literal translation.  His notes are also good. 

Incidentally, the Dante project at Dartmouth has all of the major commentaries (digital).  It's quite useful. 

Happy reading!  :) 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 28, 2015, 02:32:51 PM
If I want the real meaning, I'll go to the Italian.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on May 28, 2015, 03:12:56 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on May 28, 2015, 02:32:51 PM
If I want the real meaning, I'll go to the Italian.

LOL, well of course!   ;D   And presumably you are seeking the "real meaning"! 

However, literal translations assist (and I should say invaluably so) with the teasing out of an idiomatic rendering from the medieval Tuscan.  Dante's syntax in particular can be quite crabbed; and that's an understatement.  Even the best Dante readers with excellent Italian need that on occasion.   8)   As with middle English for most modern English readers, even many generally-educated Italians can't read Dante.

With Esolen one is reading mostly Mr. Esolen.  This is true of Durling too, of course - just less so. 


 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on May 28, 2015, 04:43:59 PM
A Mirror of Shalott by Msg. Robert Hugh Benson, one of my favorite authors. Unlike his usual historical or futuristic novels, this is a collection of "ghost" stories, apparently collected from several priests in a Vatican hostel while Msg. Benson was still a lay person. A very good read, not horror by modern standards but compelling nonetheless, and quite scary if you consider that they may be true.

It's only 99p on Amazon for those with Kindles :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 28, 2015, 05:45:38 PM
Quote from: Rose on May 28, 2015, 04:43:59 PM
A Mirror of Shalott by Msg. Robert Hugh Benson, one of my favorite authors. Unlike his usual historical or futuristic novels, this is a collection of "ghost" stories, apparently collected from several priests in a Vatican hostel while Msg. Benson was still a lay person. A very good read, not horror by modern standards but compelling nonetheless, and quite scary if you consider that they may be true.

It's only 99p on Amazon for those with Kindles :)

Excellent! Running off to purchase...

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 28, 2015, 05:50:20 PM
Quote from: Lynne on May 28, 2015, 05:45:38 PM
Quote from: Rose on May 28, 2015, 04:43:59 PM
A Mirror of Shalott by Msg. Robert Hugh Benson, one of my favorite authors. Unlike his usual historical or futuristic novels, this is a collection of "ghost" stories, apparently collected from several priests in a Vatican hostel while Msg. Benson was still a lay person. A very good read, not horror by modern standards but compelling nonetheless, and quite scary if you consider that they may be true.

It's only 99p on Amazon for those with Kindles :)

I just downloaded it from Internet Archive.  :P It DOES sound good!

Excellent! Running off to purchase...

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on May 29, 2015, 02:11:10 AM
Quote from: Lynne on May 28, 2015, 05:45:38 PM
Quote from: Rose on May 28, 2015, 04:43:59 PM
A Mirror of Shalott by Msg. Robert Hugh Benson, one of my favorite authors. Unlike his usual historical or futuristic novels, this is a collection of "ghost" stories, apparently collected from several priests in a Vatican hostel while Msg. Benson was still a lay person. A very good read, not horror by modern standards but compelling nonetheless, and quite scary if you consider that they may be true.

It's only 99p on Amazon for those with Kindles :)

Excellent! Running off to purchase...
Me too!

Have you read Shane Leslie's Ghost Book, or Ghosts and Poltergeists by Fr Thurston?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OCLittleFlower on May 29, 2015, 03:29:55 AM
Quote from: Rose on May 28, 2015, 04:43:59 PM
A Mirror of Shalott by Msg. Robert Hugh Benson, one of my favorite authors. Unlike his usual historical or futuristic novels, this is a collection of "ghost" stories, apparently collected from several priests in a Vatican hostel while Msg. Benson was still a lay person. A very good read, not horror by modern standards but compelling nonetheless, and quite scary if you consider that they may be true.

It's only 99p on Amazon for those with Kindles :)

That sounds very good!

Adding it to my wishlist.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on May 29, 2015, 03:32:35 AM
The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

If previous threads are to be believed, some of you will commend me, some will condemn me  ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 29, 2015, 05:08:57 AM
Quote from: Clare on May 29, 2015, 02:11:10 AM
Quote from: Lynne on May 28, 2015, 05:45:38 PM
Quote from: Rose on May 28, 2015, 04:43:59 PM
A Mirror of Shalott by Msg. Robert Hugh Benson, one of my favorite authors. Unlike his usual historical or futuristic novels, this is a collection of "ghost" stories, apparently collected from several priests in a Vatican hostel while Msg. Benson was still a lay person. A very good read, not horror by modern standards but compelling nonetheless, and quite scary if you consider that they may be true.

It's only 99p on Amazon for those with Kindles :)

Excellent! Running off to purchase...
Me too!

Have you read Shane Leslie's Ghost Book, or Ghosts and Poltergeists by Fr Thurston?

Was that question directed to me? I have not read either of those but I will check them out.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Molly Grue on May 29, 2015, 06:17:33 AM
Just in case anyone saw my post and was interested in reading a fun book about the Middle Ages, I need to make a correction. Those Terrible Middle Ages is by Regine Pernoud, not Pauline Reage. Pauline Reage wrote Histoire d'O, a very famous piece of French erotica that the inexplicable French people revere. She has nothing in common with Regine Pernoud except that they were both French women writers and they had the same initials only reversed. I have no idea why I keep on mixing them up, but please don't look for anything by Miss Reage.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on May 29, 2015, 06:45:40 AM
Quote from: Molly Grue on May 29, 2015, 06:17:33 AM
Just in case anyone saw my post and was interested in reading a fun book about the Middle Ages, I need to make a correction. Those Terrible Middle Ages is by Regine Pernoud, not Pauline Reage. Pauline Reage wrote Histoire d'O, a very famous piece of French erotica that the inexplicable French people revere. She has nothing in common with Regine Pernoud except that they were both French women writers and they had the same initials only reversed. I have no idea why I keep on mixing them up, but please don't look for anything by Miss Reage.

haha, I was wondering:  wow, someone else wrote a book with that exact same (unique) title?  :) 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 29, 2015, 07:04:08 AM
Quote from: Molly Grue on May 29, 2015, 06:17:33 AM
Just in case anyone saw my post and was interested in reading a fun book about the Middle Ages, I need to make a correction. Those Terrible Middle Ages is by Regine Pernoud, not Pauline Reage. Pauline Reage wrote Histoire d'O, a very famous piece of French erotica that the inexplicable French people revere. She has nothing in common with Regine Pernoud except that they were both French women writers and they had the same initials only reversed. I have no idea why I keep on mixing them up, but please don't look for anything by Miss Reage.

hahahaha I *did* look up the title and author you first mentioned.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on May 29, 2015, 07:19:36 AM
Quote from: Lynne on May 29, 2015, 05:08:57 AM
Quote from: Clare on May 29, 2015, 02:11:10 AM
Quote from: Lynne on May 28, 2015, 05:45:38 PM
Quote from: Rose on May 28, 2015, 04:43:59 PM
A Mirror of Shalott by Msg. Robert Hugh Benson, one of my favorite authors. Unlike his usual historical or futuristic novels, this is a collection of "ghost" stories, apparently collected from several priests in a Vatican hostel while Msg. Benson was still a lay person. A very good read, not horror by modern standards but compelling nonetheless, and quite scary if you consider that they may be true.

It's only 99p on Amazon for those with Kindles :)

Excellent! Running off to purchase...
Me too!

Have you read Shane Leslie's Ghost Book, or Ghosts and Poltergeists by Fr Thurston?

Was that question directed to me? I have not read either of those but I will check them out.
It was directed at either you (Lynne) or Rose. Or anyone else interested! I've got both the books I mentioned, but I've only read the Shane Leslie one so far. Very interesting.

And I did order the Msgr Benson one earlier.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on May 29, 2015, 07:36:45 AM
Clare, is there a link to either of those on Amazon or elsewhere online? I couldn't find either of them for Kindle.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on May 29, 2015, 08:49:34 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on May 29, 2015, 03:32:35 AM
The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

If previous threads are to be believed, some of you will commend me, some will condemn me  ;)

Trying to impress them Polish girls, eh?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Molly Grue on May 29, 2015, 08:50:39 AM
Quote from: Lynne on May 29, 2015, 07:04:08 AM
Quote from: Molly Grue on May 29, 2015, 06:17:33 AM
Just in case anyone saw my post and was interested in reading a fun book about the Middle Ages, I need to make a correction. Those Terrible Middle Ages is by Regine Pernoud, not Pauline Reage. Pauline Reage wrote Histoire d'O, a very famous piece of French erotica that the inexplicable French people revere. She has nothing in common with Regine Pernoud except that they were both French women writers and they had the same initials only reversed. I have no idea why I keep on mixing them up, but please don't look for anything by Miss Reage.

hahahaha I *did* look up the title and author you first mentioned.

I hope I didn't lead any innocent soul to a really perverted book!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 29, 2015, 09:58:17 AM
Quote from: Molly Grue on May 29, 2015, 08:50:39 AM
Quote from: Lynne on May 29, 2015, 07:04:08 AM
Quote from: Molly Grue on May 29, 2015, 06:17:33 AM
Just in case anyone saw my post and was interested in reading a fun book about the Middle Ages, I need to make a correction. Those Terrible Middle Ages is by Regine Pernoud, not Pauline Reage. Pauline Reage wrote Histoire d'O, a very famous piece of French erotica that the inexplicable French people revere. She has nothing in common with Regine Pernoud except that they were both French women writers and they had the same initials only reversed. I have no idea why I keep on mixing them up, but please don't look for anything by Miss Reage.

hahahaha I *did* look up the title and author you first mentioned.

I hope I didn't lead any innocent soul to a really perverted book!

I figured it was a mistake because I had heard of the book on the Middle Ages and as soon as I saw the cover of the other one, it was like, oops, I don't want that!

lol
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on May 29, 2015, 02:20:52 PM
Quote from: Rose on May 29, 2015, 07:36:45 AM
Clare, is there a link to either of those on Amazon or elsewhere online? I couldn't find either of them for Kindle.
I don't know anything about Kindle, but Abebooks (http://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/ghost-book/author/leslie-shane/) seems to have the cheapest copy of the Shane Leslie book, although it makes up for it in postage! The Tablet archive (http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/27th-december-1952/9/some-ghost-stories) has some excerpts.

I can't find much else regarding Fr Thurston's book except what comes up on Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=thurston+ghosts+poltergeists&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Athurston+ghosts+poltergeists).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on May 29, 2015, 02:35:45 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on May 29, 2015, 08:49:34 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on May 29, 2015, 03:32:35 AM
The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

If previous threads are to be believed, some of you will commend me, some will condemn me  ;)

Trying to impress them Polish girls, eh?

I do that without the book son.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on May 29, 2015, 06:46:12 PM
Fatima Priest :)

:pray1: :pray2: :pray3: for Father Gruner. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TPC on June 03, 2015, 09:01:07 PM
Principles of Catholic Theology,  by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI).

An intellectual intellectualizing on the intellectualization of the Catholic Faith pre and post Vatican II from various perspectives.

QuoteAdmittedly, it can be argued that, however great Gregory (of Nazianzus) may have been as a theologian, as a person he was a hypochondriac and possessed of an oversensitive artistic nature.
pg. 368.

QuoteIf it is desirable to offer a diagnosis of the text as a whole (Gaudium et spes), we might say that in conjunction with the texts on religious liberty and world religions it is a revision of the Syllabus of Pius IX, a kind of countersyllabus...Let us be content to say here that the text serves as a countersyllabus and, as such, represents, on the part of the Church, an attempt at an official reconciliation with the new era inaugurated in 1789.
pg. 381, 82.
(bold emphasis added)

QuoteWas the Council (Vatican II) a wrong road that we must now retrace if we are to save the Church? The voices of those who say that it was are becoming louder and their followers more numerous. Among the more obvious phenomena of the last years must be counted the increasing number of integralist groups in which the desire for piety, for the sense of mystery, is finding satisfaction. We must be on our guard against minimizing these movements. Without a doubt, they represent a sectarian zealotry that is the antithesis of Catholicity.
pg. 389

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 03, 2015, 09:05:13 PM
Thanks for the quotes TPC; keep them coming.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TPC on June 03, 2015, 09:17:00 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 03, 2015, 09:05:13 PM
Thanks for the quotes TPC; keep them coming.

Lol. I see where you are coming from. He does have extensive footnotes which (at least to me) take different perspectives and have some interest spanning the history of the Church.

QuoteI came across a text by Eusebius of Caesarea, who, in the year 325, had participated in the first ecumenical council in the history of the Church - the Council of Nicaea - and had formulated his impressions of this ecclesial assembly...
pg. 367

I bought his book primarily to see his point of view in full context after I had read partial quotes taken from his book on the internet (ha, like this post).   
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 03, 2015, 09:20:32 PM
What do you think, so far?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on June 03, 2015, 09:52:11 PM
"Matt & Ben" by Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TPC on June 04, 2015, 01:46:28 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 03, 2015, 09:20:32 PM
What do you think, so far?

I disqualify myself in the sense that my goal for reading this book was for specific information and selected topics to understand rather than general discovery. In particular, searching for evidence of a connective tissue or converging/overlapping ideologies espoused by Vatican II, Enlightenment/ Masonic Principles (Albert Mackey Albert Pike), and a Thelemic/ Crowleian world view (do what thou wilt);....based on a primal liberty of conscience. Of recent, coming upon weird synchronicities between these diverse groups has driven me (in my off time) to search for objective data to link them. An admitted prejudice. But my thoughts so far...     

His approach (B16's) reminds me of somebody 'thinking out loud,' in print. Revealing his philosophy behind his reasoning. In particular, towards the concept of 'Church' in it's worship, doctrines, morality, and government. He liberates his conscience in the sense of stating his perceptions outside of structure and boundaries to what the Church has previously taught into searching creatively to break down the struggles facing the social existence of man in relation to religion. A tall order considering he's addressing both Catholic and non-Catholic communities; both in isolation and with each other in the search for a higher spiritual existence through the vehicle of religion.

His methodology gives weight to the needs of man into re-evaluating Catholic theology as a time dependent anachronism in It's claims of the immutability of her dogmas and doctrines; her constitution and liturgy. Seemingly affected is the apostolicity of the Church, if viewed in threefold: of origin, of teaching, and succession -- to which these concepts are also examined in reference to the needs of man, the current general landscape, and the reality of the Church (Conciliar) adapting to the changing realities of her environment.

His perspectives include and range from Luther to the Patristic Fathers in an amalgamation of concepts and ideas to reconcile previous doctrinal disagreements into perhaps a new way to look at old divisions and religious demarcations. For example, in bringing up the broad and complex topic of the connection between 'salvation and history', Ratzinger calls upon Karl Rahner and breaks down the good and the questionable to this modern Theologian ...
QuoteI propose to outline here the most effective and surely the most penetrating of these attempts: that of Karl Rahner, who wrestled with the problem in his early work Hörer des Wortes and later undertook to build on that beginning, particularly with his concept of the anonymous Christian.
pg. 162

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 05, 2015, 04:17:08 AM
The Gentleman in the Parlour by Somerset Maugham
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 05, 2015, 12:27:06 PM
TPC,
thank you so much for your thoughtful and interesting post.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on June 05, 2015, 04:27:36 PM
The Pilgrim continues His Way, the Bacovcin translation. both this and the first part (Way of A Pilgrim) are primo spiritual reading.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JubilateDeo on June 05, 2015, 08:15:48 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fangeluspress.org%2Fimage%2Fcache%2Fdata%2Fproducts%2Fcatalog400-340x340.jpg&hash=1ff3f5aab0e73759a240989c898a1ee570e4a803)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 05, 2015, 08:38:10 PM
Good choice

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on June 12, 2015, 12:16:23 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnozama.typepad.com%2F.a%2F6a00e54ed05fc2883301bb0809df53970d-500wi&hash=719c17859275b92a81e1169d2054e9e0303769ec)

...on the train. So meta.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on June 12, 2015, 10:18:32 AM
Quote from: piabee on June 12, 2015, 12:16:23 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnozama.typepad.com%2F.a%2F6a00e54ed05fc2883301bb0809df53970d-500wi&hash=719c17859275b92a81e1169d2054e9e0303769ec)

...on the train. So meta.


Hmmm... that looks interesting.


I'm really old- had to look up what meta is.  Sigh.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on June 12, 2015, 10:25:20 AM
Four Past Midnight by Stephen King (1990)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on June 13, 2015, 12:41:10 PM
Almost finished with the story of St. Louis de Montfort, as told by Mary Fabian Windeatt, and True Devotion by de Montfort.  Amazing saint. 

Also, my latest Interweave Knits magazine  :knit:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: samguk yusa on June 15, 2015, 07:17:33 AM
Ann ( spelled with a E) Of Green Gables.
I would highly recommend it because so far its 100% clean ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on June 15, 2015, 11:17:20 AM
Agents of Empire
Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World

Noel Malcolm.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on June 15, 2015, 11:35:58 AM
Quote from: samguk yusa on June 15, 2015, 07:17:33 AM
Ann ( spelled with a E) Of Green Gables.
I would highly recommend it because so far its 100% clean ;D

Hold on. Just leave it to trads to find something wrong with Anne of Green Gables.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 15, 2015, 01:51:51 PM
Quote from: Archer on June 15, 2015, 11:35:58 AM
Quote from: samguk yusa on June 15, 2015, 07:17:33 AM
Ann ( spelled with a E) Of Green Gables.
I would highly recommend it because so far its 100% clean ;D

Hold on. Just leave it to trads to find something wrong with Anne of Green Gables.

Well, it's Protestant, of course!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on June 15, 2015, 01:58:00 PM
Quote from: Archer on June 15, 2015, 11:35:58 AM
Quote from: samguk yusa on June 15, 2015, 07:17:33 AM
Ann ( spelled with a E) Of Green Gables.
I would highly recommend it because so far its 100% clean ;D

Hold on. Just leave it to trads to find something wrong with Anne of Green Gables.

"Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer." - Anne of Green Gables. Emotional garbage.


"It is ever so much easier to be good if your clothes are fashionable." Vanity.

"Do you know what I think Mayflowers are, Marilla? I think they must be the souls of the flowers that died last summer, and this is their heaven." Denial of vegetative souls' mortality, in direct contradiction to Aristotelian metaphysics.

Does this mean I get a prize? :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on June 15, 2015, 03:07:43 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on June 15, 2015, 11:17:20 AM
Agents of Empire
Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World

Noel Malcolm.

sounds like a good read.


gonna be re-reading one of my favourite books again soon, and written by a real hero of his people; One Day in My Life by Bobby Sands, MP.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: samguk yusa on June 15, 2015, 05:41:39 PM
Haha the comments were so funny....
You for forgot to mention her treatment of Gilbert. Clearly showing HATE >:(
Oh and getting drunk, disrespecting your elders and promoting feminism.
But all jokes apart I would recommend it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 07:06:29 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbookcrush.in%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2Fdoon.jpg&hash=c2be6f637a6b4d620858855b09051013e6a12720)

It's set in the same world as the musical Brigadoon. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on June 15, 2015, 08:14:31 PM
Quote from: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 07:06:29 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbookcrush.in%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2Fdoon.jpg&hash=c2be6f637a6b4d620858855b09051013e6a12720)

It's set in the same world as the musical Brigadoon.

Any good?  I need a summer novel.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 08:18:31 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 15, 2015, 08:14:31 PM
Quote from: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 07:06:29 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbookcrush.in%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2Fdoon.jpg&hash=c2be6f637a6b4d620858855b09051013e6a12720)

It's set in the same world as the musical Brigadoon.

Any good?  I need a summer novel.

Decent if you like young adult books.  The main character's friend is a little annoying (though I hear she's better in book two).

The world in the books is more modern than in the movies -- they have taken new technology, food, etc, every 100 years.  So they have sushi and pizza but live in castles.  It's fantasy, that's for sure, and a bit of wish fulfillment.  :p
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on June 16, 2015, 10:18:45 AM
Wheel of Time 5: The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan (1993)

Rand and company's adventures continue.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Basilios on June 24, 2015, 11:47:20 AM
Mistborn Trilogy.

Moving on to Wheel of Time next. That's gonna take me like 2 years.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 26, 2015, 03:34:58 PM
Quote from: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 08:18:31 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 15, 2015, 08:14:31 PM
Quote from: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 07:06:29 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbookcrush.in%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2Fdoon.jpg&hash=c2be6f637a6b4d620858855b09051013e6a12720)

It's set in the same world as the musical Brigadoon.

Any good?  I need a summer novel.

Decent if you like young adult books.  The main character's friend is a little annoying (though I hear she's better in book two).

The world in the books is more modern than in the movies -- they have taken new technology, food, etc, every 100 years.  So they have sushi and pizza but live in castles.  It's fantasy, that's for sure, and a bit of wish fulfillment.  :p

Pizza must suck in this mythical world...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on June 26, 2015, 03:39:16 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 26, 2015, 03:34:58 PM
Quote from: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 08:18:31 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 15, 2015, 08:14:31 PM
Quote from: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 07:06:29 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbookcrush.in%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2Fdoon.jpg&hash=c2be6f637a6b4d620858855b09051013e6a12720)

It's set in the same world as the musical Brigadoon.

Any good?  I need a summer novel.

Decent if you like young adult books.  The main character's friend is a little annoying (though I hear she's better in book two).

The world in the books is more modern than in the movies -- they have taken new technology, food, etc, every 100 years.  So they have sushi and pizza but live in castles.  It's fantasy, that's for sure, and a bit of wish fulfillment.  :p

Pizza must suck in this mythical world...

Wonder if Domino's delivers?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 26, 2015, 03:44:19 PM
It's like my friend used to say...at least it's not papa johns
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OCLittleFlower on June 27, 2015, 11:03:48 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 26, 2015, 03:34:58 PM
Quote from: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 08:18:31 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 15, 2015, 08:14:31 PM
Quote from: OCLittleFlower on June 15, 2015, 07:06:29 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbookcrush.in%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2Fdoon.jpg&hash=c2be6f637a6b4d620858855b09051013e6a12720)

It's set in the same world as the musical Brigadoon.

Any good?  I need a summer novel.

Decent if you like young adult books.  The main character's friend is a little annoying (though I hear she's better in book two).

The world in the books is more modern than in the movies -- they have taken new technology, food, etc, every 100 years.  So they have sushi and pizza but live in castles.  It's fantasy, that's for sure, and a bit of wish fulfillment.  :p

Pizza must suck in this mythical world...

The main characters seem to think it tastes good -- then again, brick oven pizza really is the way to go, and without electricity that's what they've got.  *shrug*

The modern/Western-style Sushi got more of a side-eye from me than the pizza.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on June 27, 2015, 11:07:13 AM
Hold On to Your Kids


I have no kids but thought it'd be an interesting read regardless.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on June 27, 2015, 12:13:11 PM
The dissents from yesterday.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on June 28, 2015, 08:39:54 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on June 27, 2015, 11:07:13 AM
Hold On to Your Kids


I have no kids but thought it'd be an interesting read regardless.

I've read this book.  I thought it was a very good book.


I should clarify...overall I though it was very good.  The authors aren't Catholic, and so I didn't agree with everything in there.  But, it an was interesting read
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on June 28, 2015, 09:01:00 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 28, 2015, 08:39:54 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on June 27, 2015, 11:07:13 AM
Hold On to Your Kids


I have no kids but thought it'd be an interesting read regardless.

I've read this book.  I thought it was a very good book.


I should clarify...overall I though it was very good.  The authors aren't Catholic, and so I didn't agree with everything in there.  But, it an was interesting read

Thanks Munda. What did you agree with? What didn't you agree with? I vaguely remember being recommended it on a Catholic site, but can't remember which one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on June 28, 2015, 09:23:43 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on June 28, 2015, 09:01:00 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 28, 2015, 08:39:54 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on June 27, 2015, 11:07:13 AM
Hold On to Your Kids


I have no kids but thought it'd be an interesting read regardless.

I've read this book.  I thought it was a very good book.


I should clarify...overall I though it was very good.  The authors aren't Catholic, and so I didn't agree with everything in there.  But, it an was interesting read

Thanks Munda. What did you agree with? What didn't you agree with? I vaguely remember being recommended it on a Catholic site, but can't remember which one.

I agreed with the fact that part of the problem with today's society, especially youth, is that we are far too peer oriented.  It fosters a lack of due respect for proper authority. 

I remember the author saying that if parents teach proper order with their children, with respect to adults and peers, then children will automatically want to please thier parents and not want to disappoint them.  So,  they neglect to take into account the effect of original sin, even on children.  I think he also only agrees with positive reinforcemt with kids, and no punishment.  Personally, I disagree with that.  Kids need to learn that bad  choices = bad consequences and good choices = good consequences.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on June 28, 2015, 09:55:15 AM
Interesting...thanks Munda. I only got through the first chapter, but I look forward to the rest  8)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on June 28, 2015, 05:35:03 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 28, 2015, 09:23:43 AM


I remember the author saying that if parents teach proper order with their children, with respect to adults and peers, then children will automatically want to please thier parents and not want to disappoint them.  So,  they neglect to take into account the effect of original sin, even on children.  I think he also only agrees with positive reinforcemt with kids, and no punishment.  Personally, I disagree with that.  Kids need to learn that bad  choices = bad consequences and good choices = good consequences.

that is going to be the pitfall of any secular book

i liked the book as well.. it matched a lot of my own observations. 

as for reinforcent and original sin, i think that being a model of respect by respecting young people goes a long way in preventing transgressions in the first place, hence st don bosco's preventive system

Quote:  "There are two systems for educating the young that have been used throughout time – preventive and repressive. The repressive system consists of making the subjects learn the law, then watching them to find the transgressors and inflicting the merited punishment wherever necessary...

Different and, I would say opposite, is the preventive system. This consists of making the regulations of an institute be known and then watching the pupils in such a way that they always have over them the attentive eye of the headmaster and his assistants. They, like loving fathers, talk and guide them through every event, giving advice and lovingly correcting them. This is like saying: put the pupils in the position of being unable to commit errors. This system is based on Reason, Religion and, above all, Love; it therefore rejects any form of violent punishment and tries to distance itself from the same thoughtless punishment. It would seem that this is preferable..."

negative reinforcement may still be necessary but at don bosco outlines a lot of guidelines for correction and discipline that are respectful

http://salesians.org.au/resources/doc_download/34-the-preventive-system-in-the-education-of-the-young
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 29, 2015, 11:47:02 AM
Faustus by Marlowe
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 01, 2015, 09:17:19 AM
Raised Catholic by Ed Stivender
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 02, 2015, 02:19:07 PM
Just about to read C S Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy again, which I first read last year.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 02, 2015, 04:07:08 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 01, 2015, 09:17:19 AM
Raised Catholic by Ed Stivender

What's it about and how is it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 02, 2015, 04:11:01 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on July 02, 2015, 04:07:08 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 01, 2015, 09:17:19 AM
Raised Catholic by Ed Stivender

What's it about and how is it?

I have this. It's a memoir, and it's pretty good. :) I should add it to my "Moving Sale."  ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 02, 2015, 04:12:36 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 02, 2015, 04:11:01 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on July 02, 2015, 04:07:08 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 01, 2015, 09:17:19 AM
Raised Catholic by Ed Stivender

What's it about and how is it?

I have this. It's a memoir, and it's pretty good. :) I should add it to my "Moving Sale."  ;)

Do you ship to Poland?  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 02, 2015, 04:30:48 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on July 02, 2015, 04:12:36 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 02, 2015, 04:11:01 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on July 02, 2015, 04:07:08 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 01, 2015, 09:17:19 AM
Raised Catholic by Ed Stivender

What's it about and how is it?

I have this. It's a memoir, and it's pretty good. :) I should add it to my "Moving Sale."  ;)

Do you ship to Poland?  ;D

No wonder you were so happy about those kindle publishers!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hiero of Syracuse on July 02, 2015, 04:56:32 PM
I am currently reading Fatima in Twilight by Mark Fellows. It's a pretty good read, though I already knew most of the history covered by the book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 02, 2015, 06:19:58 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftoddsmedia.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F03%2Fgersberms.jpg&hash=0d7bc2ddb9ef102b38be01efa97855d0d0f2e0ef)

no, seriously. the kids got some Goosebumps books and i decided tgo take a trip down memory lane. lousy trip.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hiero of Syracuse on July 02, 2015, 06:29:21 PM
I used to love that series. Maybe I should give it another read somewhere down the line. Any recommendations my good man?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on July 02, 2015, 06:29:57 PM
Quote from: Clare on July 02, 2015, 02:19:07 PM

Just about to read C S Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy again, which I first read last year.

Did you ever give us your thoughts on "That Hideous Strength"?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 02, 2015, 06:34:02 PM
Quote from: Hiero of Syracuse on July 02, 2015, 06:29:21 PM
I used to love that series. Maybe I should give it another read somewhere down the line. Any recommendations my good man?

hahaha they're all pretty terrible. so far i've gone back over Don't Go To Sleep and Carnival of Horrors. i see they have The Haunted Mask - i used to like that one when i was a lad. perhaps it's aged well...? lmao.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 02, 2015, 08:04:51 PM
Trying to get through Caesar's Gallic Wars.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hiero of Syracuse on July 02, 2015, 10:48:09 PM
My friend loves it, so that is definitely on my to-read list. Be sure to tell us what you think.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 03, 2015, 12:22:13 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on July 02, 2015, 06:29:57 PM
Quote from: Clare on July 02, 2015, 02:19:07 PM

Just about to read C S Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy again, which I first read last year.

Did you ever give us your thoughts on "That Hideous Strength"?
I'm not very good at analysing and reviewing, so this (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=3.msg120182;topicseen#msg120182) was all I said then! I'll see what I can do this time though.

I've finished Kristin Lavransdatter now by the way. That was very good, what I could follow.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 03, 2015, 09:49:03 AM
Finished why Catholics can't sung by Thomas day. 

Great book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hiero of Syracuse on July 03, 2015, 09:56:11 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 03, 2015, 09:49:03 AM
Finished why Catholics can't sung by Thomas day. 

Great book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

I've heard great things about that. I even read a little bit of it online. What do you think of his thesis? I think it has some merit myself, though I haven't read the book in it's entirety so I can't judge all his opinions on the subject of why singing has never really taken off in the United States.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 03, 2015, 10:24:32 AM
Quote from: Hiero of Syracuse on July 03, 2015, 09:56:11 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 03, 2015, 09:49:03 AM
Finished why Catholics can't sung by Thomas day. 

Great book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

I've heard great things about that. I even read a little bit of it online. What do you think of his thesis? I think it has some merit myself, though I haven't read the book in it's entirety so I can't judge all his opinions on the subject of why singing has never really taken off in the United States.

I generally like it and agree.

It's varied, I think.  American Catholicism suffered by having the heavy irish influence, and that mixed with the Council, helped squash good Catholic singing. 

People also didn't see something as important or necessary for them.  And the postconciliar church has been trying to beat the laity to sing.

Couple that with craptastic hymns that cant be sung by a congregation, along with the OVERBEARING MICROPHONE SHOUTING AT YOU FOR AN HOUR, and it's not a wonder why most catholics dont sing.

Also, JFKs funeral being a paltry Low Mass, the should have been high point of American Catholicism, was no help at all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 03, 2015, 10:30:42 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 03, 2015, 10:24:32 AM
Quote from: Hiero of Syracuse on July 03, 2015, 09:56:11 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 03, 2015, 09:49:03 AM
Finished why Catholics can't sung by Thomas day. 

Great book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

I've heard great things about that. I even read a little bit of it online. What do you think of his thesis? I think it has some merit myself, though I haven't read the book in it's entirety so I can't judge all his opinions on the subject of why singing has never really taken off in the United States.

I generally like it and agree.

It's varied, I think.  American Catholicism suffered by having the heavy irish influence, and that mixed with the Council, helped squash good Catholic singing. 

People also didn't see something as important or necessary for them.  And the postconciliar church has been trying to beat the laity to sing.

Couple that with craptastic hymns that cant be sung by a congregation, along with the OVERBEARING MICROPHONE SHOUTING AT YOU FOR AN HOUR, and it's not a wonder why most catholics dont sing.

Also, JFKs funeral being a paltry Low Mass, the should have been high point of American Catholicism, was no help at all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
You aren't implying the Irish can't sing, are you? Do you really want to go there?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 03, 2015, 10:34:30 AM
I'm saying the Irish fascination of low mass and hatred for pomp and ceremony is a bad thing.  :)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 03, 2015, 10:43:28 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on July 02, 2015, 04:07:08 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 01, 2015, 09:17:19 AM
Raised Catholic by Ed Stivender

What's it about and how is it?
Growing up Catholic in the 50s. A traddy's dream come true. At parochial school, when a priest or nun entered the room, all the children stood up from their desks. The boys bowed and the girls curtsied. The author remembers a nun who had a lock of hair escape her wimple. He was stunned to realize nuns had hair.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on July 03, 2015, 12:08:12 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 03, 2015, 10:24:32 AM
Quote from: Hiero of Syracuse on July 03, 2015, 09:56:11 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 03, 2015, 09:49:03 AM
Finished why Catholics can't sung by Thomas day. 

Great book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

I've heard great things about that. I even read a little bit of it online. What do you think of his thesis? I think it has some merit myself, though I haven't read the book in it's entirety so I can't judge all his opinions on the subject of why singing has never really taken off in the United States.

I generally like it and agree.

It's varied, I think.  American Catholicism suffered by having the heavy irish influence, and that mixed with the Council, helped squash good Catholic singing. 

People also didn't see something as important or necessary for them.  And the postconciliar church has been trying to beat the laity to sing.

Couple that with craptastic hymns that cant be sung by a congregation, along with the OVERBEARING MICROPHONE SHOUTING AT YOU FOR AN HOUR, and it's not a wonder why most catholics dont sing.

Also, JFKs funeral being a paltry Low Mass, the should have been high point of American Catholicism, was no help at all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
i blame the English
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on July 03, 2015, 05:20:54 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alexwaterhousehayward.com%2Fblog%2Fuploaded_images%2FMaster-%26amp%3B-Commander-760192.jpg&hash=ab6b4a03603bed45a0146ea46dcc552d45aee377)

First time reading Patrick O'Brian and, although I just started, I'm already getting sucked in.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on July 03, 2015, 05:50:37 PM
Quote from: Archer on July 03, 2015, 05:20:54 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alexwaterhousehayward.com%2Fblog%2Fuploaded_images%2FMaster-%26amp%3B-Commander-760192.jpg&hash=ab6b4a03603bed45a0146ea46dcc552d45aee377)

First time reading Patrick O'Brian and, although I just started, I'm already getting sucked in.
excellent book
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 04, 2015, 03:59:50 AM
Quote from: Archer on July 03, 2015, 05:20:54 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alexwaterhousehayward.com%2Fblog%2Fuploaded_images%2FMaster-%26amp%3B-Commander-760192.jpg&hash=ab6b4a03603bed45a0146ea46dcc552d45aee377)

First time reading Patrick O'Brian and, although I just started, I'm already getting sucked in.

is that same as the russel crow movie?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Archer on July 04, 2015, 07:16:10 AM
Yeah, the movie is loosely based on this book as well as a book later in the series titled "The Far Side of the World."

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 04, 2015, 10:25:11 AM
Never knew it was a book. Thanks Archer, I'll have to give it a read
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 04, 2015, 11:20:03 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on July 04, 2015, 10:25:11 AM
Never knew it was a book. Thanks Archer, I'll have to give it a read

It's a series... which reminds me, I should start rereading those. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 04, 2015, 11:59:11 AM
Waiting for the Apocalypse.... 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 04, 2015, 01:12:25 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 04, 2015, 11:59:11 AM
Waiting for the Apocalypse....

So are most Trads
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JubilateDeo on July 06, 2015, 09:01:14 PM
(https://www.tanbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/270x405/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/5/1535x.jpg)

Obviously it's not a fashion book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: VeraeFidei on July 06, 2015, 09:36:47 PM
Quote from: JubilateDeo on July 06, 2015, 09:01:14 PM
(https://www.tanbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/270x405/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/5/1535x.jpg)

Obviously it's not a fashion book.
Whadda mean!?! Dad's tie matches the girls' vest/skirt...thingy!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 06, 2015, 09:40:43 PM
Quote from: JubilateDeo on July 06, 2015, 09:01:14 PM
(https://www.tanbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/270x405/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/5/1535x.jpg)

Obviously it's not a fashion book.

that fabric would make nice curtains though, or upholstery fabric.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on July 06, 2015, 10:44:10 PM
they almost look like a family habit
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on July 07, 2015, 06:29:38 AM
Quote from: Arun on July 06, 2015, 09:40:43 PM
Quote from: JubilateDeo on July 06, 2015, 09:01:14 PM
(https://www.tanbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/270x405/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/5/1535x.jpg)

Obviously it's not a fashion book.

that fabric would make nice curtains though, or upholstery fabric.

They probably were curtains at one point
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on July 07, 2015, 06:33:53 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on July 07, 2015, 06:29:38 AM
Quote from: Arun on July 06, 2015, 09:40:43 PM
Quote from: JubilateDeo on July 06, 2015, 09:01:14 PM
(https://www.tanbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/270x405/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/5/1535x.jpg)

Obviously it's not a fashion book.

that fabric would make nice curtains though, or upholstery fabric.

They probably were curtains at one point

And then the St. Mary's Fabric Famine hit, and they had to slaughter all the curtains for clothes fabric lest it go to waste or be gobbled up by the NO for vestments.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on July 07, 2015, 07:47:33 AM
Quote from: Gardener on July 07, 2015, 06:33:53 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on July 07, 2015, 06:29:38 AM
Quote from: Arun on July 06, 2015, 09:40:43 PM
Quote from: JubilateDeo on July 06, 2015, 09:01:14 PM
(https://www.tanbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/270x405/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/5/1535x.jpg)

Obviously it's not a fashion book.

that fabric would make nice curtains though, or upholstery fabric.


They probably were curtains at one point

And then the St. Mary's Fabric Famine hit, and they had to slaughter all the curtains for clothes fabric lest it go to waste or be gobbled up by the NO for vestments.

Well, they could have made a quilt out of it...  ::)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 08:04:06 AM
It's goofy shit like that that helps make serious Catholics look like basketcases.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on July 07, 2015, 09:34:12 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 08:04:06 AM
It's goofy shit like that that helps make serious Catholics look like basketcases.

Yeah, I don't know why people always want to take a few extreme cases and apply it to the general group. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 09:36:35 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on July 07, 2015, 09:34:12 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 08:04:06 AM
It's goofy shit like that that helps make serious Catholics look like basketcases.

Yeah, I don't know why people always want to take a few extreme cases and apply it to the general group.

Well, it doesn't help that this goofy image is on the cover of a book about how to live a good Catholic life.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on July 07, 2015, 09:49:08 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 09:36:35 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on July 07, 2015, 09:34:12 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 08:04:06 AM
It's goofy shit like that that helps make serious Catholics look like basketcases.

Yeah, I don't know why people always want to take a few extreme cases and apply it to the general group.

Well, it doesn't help that this goofy image is on the cover of a book about how to live a good Catholic life.

Good point.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 07, 2015, 09:58:21 AM
How superficial are we supposed to get in our concerns about how cool we look in the eyes of the world?

I think there's more to worry about than the fashions on the cover of a book.  They look like a nice family; fashions are ephemeral.  January Jones can make early 60s housewife fashions look fetching, but I don't think anyone's clamoring for a return to those styles.  They're generally regarded as silly now.

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/3a/dc/b8/3adcb8b32a30b4cc0814065888e65ee0.jpg)

But they were the norm when they were around.  "Goofy" is relative.  What someone wears isn't necessarily indicative of their spiritual disposition or whether or not they're a basketcase.  People who are really pious probably don't care if the clothes they're wearing are from the 60s or the 90s, as long as they're modest.  "Lo, the Kingdom of God is within you."

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on July 07, 2015, 10:05:50 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 08:04:06 AM

It's goofy shit like that that helps make serious Catholics look like basketcases.

No, it's the cruel maliciousness of this kind of mockery which makes Catholics look like they are lacking in charity.

http://www.catholicapologetics.info/morality/general/btongue.htm

"To tear apart an absent friend; to not defend him when he is attacked; to work at inciting indiscreet laughter and to build your reputation on an attitude of mockery; such is the behavior of a despicable person."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 10:08:40 AM
The girls' vests and slacks (dresses?) match the man's tie.

Goofy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 07, 2015, 10:13:56 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 10:08:40 AM
The girls' vests and slacks (dresses?) match the man's tie.

Goofy.

And that kind of trivial, superficial detail is going to make serious Catholics look like "basketcases"?  There are greater dangers than that, I assure you.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 10:16:15 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 07, 2015, 10:13:56 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 10:08:40 AM
The girls' vests and slacks (dresses?) match the man's tie.

Goofy.

And that kind of trivial, superficial detail is going to make serious Catholics look like "basketcases"?  There are greater dangers than that, I assure you.

Yes, because appearances and the way you present yourself matters.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 07, 2015, 10:24:10 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 10:16:15 AMYes, because appearances and the way you present yourself matters.

Okay.  I was not aware that fashion sense was such an essential matter of importance to Catholicism.  I stand corrected.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 07, 2015, 12:09:55 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 10:16:15 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 07, 2015, 10:13:56 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 07, 2015, 10:08:40 AM
The girls' vests and slacks (dresses?) match the man's tie.

Goofy.

And that kind of trivial, superficial detail is going to make serious Catholics look like "basketcases"?  There are greater dangers than that, I assure you.

Yes, because appearances and the way you present yourself matters.

Does it ever.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JubilateDeo on July 07, 2015, 03:09:30 PM
I have heard from some women (mostly on the internet) that finding modest clothing is so hard for them, that they just gave up some time ago and just started buying loose fitting Amish clothes from places like The King's Daughters, etc.  The vast majority of clothes I see that would fit me in modern clothing stores are not appropriate for traditional Catholic women, so finding nice modest clothing is very challenging.  I'd never wear Amish clothes (those would be difficult for me to find) but it is a struggle not to just buy a bunch of shapeless muumuus and call it a wardrobe.  It is still worth it to try to dress nicely and modestly, because other people still have to look at you...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on July 07, 2015, 03:49:07 PM
Quote from: JubilateDeo on July 07, 2015, 03:09:30 PM
I have heard from some women (mostly on the internet) that finding modest clothing is so hard for them, that they just gave up some time ago and just started buying loose fitting Amish clothes from places like The King's Daughters, etc.  The vast majority of clothes I see that would fit me in modern clothing stores are not appropriate for traditional Catholic women, so finding nice modest clothing is very challenging.  I'd never wear Amish clothes (those would be difficult for me to find) but it is a struggle not to just buy a bunch of shapeless muumuus and call it a wardrobe.  It is still worth it to try to dress nicely and modestly, because other people still have to look at you...

Pinterest is great for modest outfit ideas, although you still get the occasional Amish-looking garb. Colleen Hammond has a Pinterest account and following her boards can be very helpful. Obviously a lot of the items shown are triple-figure designer wear, but the general look can often be imitated with more affordable clothes, especially if you master the art of Ebay :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on July 07, 2015, 03:55:31 PM
Some men drink; I thrift. Wife has a lot of skirts from my relaxation outings, and it's probably cheaper than a booze habit.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on July 07, 2015, 06:01:49 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 07, 2015, 09:58:21 AM
How superficial are we supposed to get in our concerns about how cool we look in the eyes of the world?

I think there's more to worry about than the fashions on the cover of a book.  They look like a nice family; fashions are ephemeral.  January Jones can make early 60s housewife fashions look fetching, but I don't think anyone's clamoring for a return to those styles.  They're generally regarded as silly now.

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/3a/dc/b8/3adcb8b32a30b4cc0814065888e65ee0.jpg)

But they were the norm when they were around.  "Goofy" is relative.  What someone wears isn't necessarily indicative of their spiritual disposition or whether or not they're a basketcase.  People who are really pious probably don't care if the clothes they're wearing are from the 60s or the 90s, as long as they're modest.  "Lo, the Kingdom of God is within you."
you can be counter cultural without looking like my mom's laura ashley catalog from 1986

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lydia Purpuraria on July 07, 2015, 07:08:20 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on July 07, 2015, 06:01:49 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 07, 2015, 09:58:21 AM
How superficial are we supposed to get in our concerns about how cool we look in the eyes of the world?

I think there's more to worry about than the fashions on the cover of a book.  They look like a nice family; fashions are ephemeral.  January Jones can make early 60s housewife fashions look fetching, but I don't think anyone's clamoring for a return to those styles.  They're generally regarded as silly now.

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/3a/dc/b8/3adcb8b32a30b4cc0814065888e65ee0.jpg)

But they were the norm when they were around.  "Goofy" is relative.  What someone wears isn't necessarily indicative of their spiritual disposition or whether or not they're a basketcase.  People who are really pious probably don't care if the clothes they're wearing are from the 60s or the 90s, as long as they're modest.  "Lo, the Kingdom of God is within you."
you can be counter cultural without looking like my mom's laura ashley catalog from 1986

That's true.  Although I really don't care much about what's "in style" at the moment, I don't dress like I'm from the 80's.  However, what if someone wants to dress like they are from 1986?  Maybe that is how they are most comfortable, or how they think they are going to be most pleasing to God -- should they not do so for fear of being ridiculed or embarrassing to other Catholics?

I remember reading of how St. Gemma always wore the same black cloak whether it was summer or winter and she was chastised and mocked by a relative for wearing it to their wedding (I guess she embarrassed the relative).  Yet, she is now a Saint enjoying the beatific vision. While the relative is known for: being embarrassed by how St. Gemma dressed.  (Although hopefully that relative is now in heaven as well).

ETA:
from a quick search: the last printing of the book was 1998 -- so the picture of this family is almost 20 years old, anyway.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on July 07, 2015, 09:06:11 PM
The family was probably stylish then, or was at the very least not out of fashion.

Either way, the clothes do seem a bit ridiculous now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 07, 2015, 10:14:56 PM
Quote from: Gardener on July 07, 2015, 09:06:11 PM
The family was probably stylish then, or was at the very least not out of fashion.

Either way, the clothes do seem a bit ridiculous now.

Regardless, just make sure youre wearing some at Mass G!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on July 07, 2015, 10:33:48 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on July 07, 2015, 10:14:56 PM
Quote from: Gardener on July 07, 2015, 09:06:11 PM
The family was probably stylish then, or was at the very least not out of fashion.

Either way, the clothes do seem a bit ridiculous now.

Regardless, just make sure youre wearing some at Mass G!

And coordinate with the liturgical color!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 08, 2015, 06:53:17 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 07, 2015, 09:58:21 AM
What someone wears isn't necessarily indicative of their spiritual disposition or whether or not they're a basketcase.  People who are really pious probably don't care if the clothes they're wearing are from the 60s or the 90s, as long as they're modest.  "Lo, the Kingdom of God is within you."

Gotta agree with Pon here. It's none of my business what other people wear.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 08, 2015, 10:30:38 AM
Quote from: Chestertonian on July 07, 2015, 06:01:49 PMyou can be counter cultural without looking like my mom's laura ashley catalog from 1986

Right.  But that doesn't mean that dressing out of fashion is a threat to serious Catholicism.  If anything, I think having a superficial and condescending attitude about "goofy" fashions is much more deleterious; it makes Catholicism look like a petty bourgeois religion with its adherents more focused on this world than the next. 

I don't deny that the people in the photo look a little unfashionable.  The photo might be twenty years old, but I'm not sure if those fashions were ever really in style.  I think that's what gives the family in the picture some charm.  They have a certain naiveté which is very appealing; they don't look like people who would be snarky or judgmental about something as trivial as outfits.  In short, they look like good Christians.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 08, 2015, 10:33:29 AM
Quote from: Lydia Purpuraria on July 07, 2015, 07:08:20 PMI remember reading of how St. Gemma always wore the same black cloak whether it was summer or winter and she was chastised and mocked by a relative for wearing it to their wedding (I guess she embarrassed the relative).  Yet, she is now a Saint enjoying the beatific vision. While the relative is known for: being embarrassed by how St. Gemma dressed.

Excellent.  My point exactly.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christknight104 on July 08, 2015, 12:44:54 PM
Is not the main objective  of modesty to not draw attention to oneself? Would not dressing up like someone from the 60s, though unintended, contradict the main point of modesty?

Fashion is indeed subjective. However, there is no doubt that Catholics for centuries have always had a reputation for good taste, whether in fashion, architecture, music, etc...  At least one would like to think so.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 08, 2015, 01:34:49 PM
Quote from: Christknight104 on July 08, 2015, 12:44:54 PM
Is not the main objective  of modesty to not draw attention to oneself? Would not dressing up like someone from the 60s, though unintended, contradict the main point of modesty?

Fashion is indeed subjective. However, there is no doubt that Catholics for centuries have always had a reputation for good taste, whether in fashion, architecture, music, etc...  At least one would like to think so.

I wasn't aware that the "main objective of modesty" is to "not draw attention to one's self."  I don't think we're supposed to try to make ourselves invisible.  Presumably a Catholic is permitted to dress nicely and look attractive, and if a person does this well, they will indeed draw some attention.  (In the case of a young person looking to attract a spouse, this may even be something of a necessity).  So I think a Christian is allowed to be somewhat fashionable, but their fashions aren't supposed to be too sexy or revealing.  ("Yikes!")

Anyway, people will vary in their tastes.  "Catholics for centuries" are not actually united in what they considered "good taste."  St. Paul, who cautioned against adorning one's self with "plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire," and St. Clement of Alexandria, who railed against "the embellishment of the body," clearly had very different standards in those early centuries than did the dandy Catholics who lived in the Baroque era and gussied themselves up with frilly shirts and extravagant gowns and powdered wigs.  So it's hard to get a gauge on standards, and people's personal tastes are naturally going to vary.  My objection in this thread was with the attitude that Catholics who dress by someone else's subjective definition of "dorky" are somehow bringing disrepute onto other Catholics.

As for "dressing like someone from the 60s," I don't think that would draw much attention these days.  I believe "retro" fashions are popular.  I hate that hipster darling Zooey Deschanel, but I have to admit she does do a good job of tastefully reviving some of the 1960s mod fashions.  I wouldn't say she's immodest.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on July 08, 2015, 02:19:59 PM
Quote from: Christknight104 on July 08, 2015, 12:44:54 PM

Is not the main objective  of modesty to not draw attention to oneself?

No. A nun's habit is a practice of modesty. But it certainly draws attention when you wear it on the street.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on July 08, 2015, 02:29:51 PM
habits are meant to be otherworldly to point us to the supernatural.

it's not "weird for the sake of weird"
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 08, 2015, 04:06:50 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on July 08, 2015, 02:29:51 PM
habits are meant to be otherworldly to point us to the supernatural.

it's not "weird for the sake of weird"

But where on this thread were we talking about people who dressed "weird for the sake of weird"?  The family on the book cover, I would imagine, were not intentionally trying to freak people out in the same way as people who wear multiple facial piercings or fishnet body garments.  Perry Farrell was never a topic.  You can dress like the family in that photograph (unfashionable, but endearing), or you can dress like Zooey Deschanel (fashionably retro).  In neither instance would you be causing your fellow Catholics to appear like basketcases.  As long as modesty is observed, we can have a variety of tastes.  Or is there some sort of coolness level we have to conform to?  I didn't know Catholicism was a fashion clique.  Apparently it is.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on July 08, 2015, 05:27:17 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on July 08, 2015, 02:29:51 PM

habits are meant to be otherworldly to point us to the supernatural.


Not relevant to the question of modesty.

Quote from: Chestertonian on July 08, 2015, 02:29:51 PM

it's not "weird for the sake of weird"

It's ironic that you would say that now when earlier on the thread you said that the people on the cover looked like they were wearing a "family habit."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Baldrick on July 08, 2015, 05:42:54 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 08, 2015, 04:06:50 PM
  Or is there some sort of coolness level we have to conform to?  I didn't know Catholicism was a fashion clique.  Apparently it is.

Well, not intentionally.  However, a person who understands that every action and word matters - and that for good reason we pay all kinds of homage to form, whether we acknowledge this or not - because it points to something beyond itself, is also likely to have a sense of style.  Style being a very different concept from what is "fashionable". 

 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 08, 2015, 06:43:56 PM
Quote from: Baldrick on July 08, 2015, 05:42:54 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 08, 2015, 04:06:50 PM
  Or is there some sort of coolness level we have to conform to?  I didn't know Catholicism was a fashion clique.  Apparently it is.

Well, not intentionally.  However, a person who understands that every action and word matters - and that for good reason we pay all kinds of homage to form, whether we acknowledge this or not - because it points to something beyond itself, is also likely to have a sense of style.  Style being a very different concept from what is "fashionable".

I understand that.  Philosophically, we have nothing against beauty.  That's why we don't drape our women in burqas.  We can dress ourselves in things other than burlap sacks.  It's not wrong, when choosing clothes, to pick things that will (in a wholesome way) accentuate beauty. 

In fact, the family in question seems to have actually attempted something stylish in their own way: they thought it might be nice to have matching patterns in their outfits.  There's nothing ugly about the picture or the fashions.  Matching outfits or patterns can even be cute on kids who are twins.  It may just look a little goofy on adults.  So be it.  They tried at something and perhaps they didn't quite succeed.  Not everyone can be suave and cosmopolitan when it comes to fashion.  This minor fashion faux pas does not mean that these good people give serious Catholics a lousy reputation.  Should we also get rid of kitsch art and folk Catholicism if the sophisticates consider them an embarassment?  I hate bourgeois tyranny.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 09, 2015, 08:47:08 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 08, 2015, 04:06:50 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on July 08, 2015, 02:29:51 PM
habits are meant to be otherworldly to point us to the supernatural.

it's not "weird for the sake of weird"

But where on this thread were we talking about people who dressed "weird for the sake of weird"?  The family on the book cover, I would imagine, were not intentionally trying to freak people out in the same way as people who wear multiple facial piercings or fishnet body garments.  Perry Farrell was never a topic.  You can dress like the family in that photograph (unfashionable, but endearing), or you can dress like Zooey Deschanel (fashionably retro).  In neither instance would you be causing your fellow Catholics to appear like basketcases.  As long as modesty is observed, we can have a variety of tastes.  Or is there some sort of coolness level we have to conform to?  I didn't know Catholicism was a fashion clique.  Apparently it is.
If I dress like Zoey Deschanel, I'll get a magazine cover...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 09, 2015, 08:58:01 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on July 09, 2015, 08:47:08 AMIf I dress like Zoey Deschanel, I'll get a magazine cover...

Perhaps.  But there's a difference between transvestism and transgenderism.  A man dressed in women's clothing can be funny, like Benny Hill.  But Bruce Jenner, I believe, is sacrificing an important appendage for his own transformation.  (Yikes!)  That's when you go from the frivolous to the insane.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: JubilateDeo on July 09, 2015, 10:03:46 AM
Either way, it's a good book.

Just not a fashion book :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 09, 2015, 10:21:17 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 09, 2015, 08:58:01 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on July 09, 2015, 08:47:08 AMIf I dress like Zoey Deschanel, I'll get a magazine cover...

Perhaps.  But there's a difference between transvestism and transgenderism.  A man dressed in women's clothing can be funny, like Benny Hill.  But Bruce Jenner, I believe, is sacrificing an important appendage for his own transformation.  (Yikes!)  That's when you go from the frivolous to the insane.

I'm not in the protesting mood...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 09, 2015, 08:31:24 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 09, 2015, 08:58:01 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on July 09, 2015, 08:47:08 AMIf I dress like Zoey Deschanel, I'll get a magazine cover...

Perhaps.  But there's a difference between transvestism and transgenderism.  A man dressed in women's clothing can be funny, like Benny Hill.  But Bruce Jenner, I believe, is sacrificing an important appendage for his own transformation.  (Yikes!)  That's when you go from the frivolous to the insane.

forget transgenederism for a minute. i'm transageist. it's discrimination that they don't make footsie pajamas for 120kg, broad shouldered men. the biggest one i could find wouldn't even fit one of my legs in. where's my magazine cover??
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 10, 2015, 08:44:45 AM
Quote from: Arun on July 09, 2015, 08:31:24 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 09, 2015, 08:58:01 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on July 09, 2015, 08:47:08 AMIf I dress like Zoey Deschanel, I'll get a magazine cover...

Perhaps.  But there's a difference between transvestism and transgenderism.  A man dressed in women's clothing can be funny, like Benny Hill.  But Bruce Jenner, I believe, is sacrificing an important appendage for his own transformation.  (Yikes!)  That's when you go from the frivolous to the insane.

forget transgenederism for a minute. i'm transageist. it's discrimination that they don't make footsie pajamas for 120kg, broad shouldered men. the biggest one i could find wouldn't even fit one of my legs in. where's my magazine cover??

Actually, I think they do now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 10, 2015, 08:58:30 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 10, 2015, 08:44:45 AM
Quote from: Arun on July 09, 2015, 08:31:24 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 09, 2015, 08:58:01 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on July 09, 2015, 08:47:08 AMIf I dress like Zoey Deschanel, I'll get a magazine cover...

Perhaps.  But there's a difference between transvestism and transgenderism.  A man dressed in women's clothing can be funny, like Benny Hill.  But Bruce Jenner, I believe, is sacrificing an important appendage for his own transformation.  (Yikes!)  That's when you go from the frivolous to the insane.

forget transgenederism for a minute. i'm transageist. it's discrimination that they don't make footsie pajamas for 120kg, broad shouldered men. the biggest one i could find wouldn't even fit one of my legs in. where's my magazine cover??

Actually, I think they do now.

:rofl:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 12, 2015, 12:11:36 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on July 02, 2015, 06:29:57 PM
Quote from: Clare on July 02, 2015, 02:19:07 PM

Just about to read C S Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy again, which I first read last year.

Did you ever give us your thoughts on "That Hideous Strength"?
I'm not there yet, but I've just finished Out Of The Silent Planet again. It would be great if some bright spark could devise a Weston-Ransom Malacandrian translator, so politicians' speeches can be entered in and translated into Malacandrian-English, Ransom style!

That part of the book really made me chuckle. I'd read Weston's speech, then Ransom's translation and think, "Did Weston really say that?"; and then look back at what Weston had said, and think, "Yes, I suppose he did!"
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 12, 2015, 12:49:30 PM
Just started God's Playground by Norman Davies
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Molly Grue on July 12, 2015, 05:20:16 PM
Pon de Replay and Clare, I love you both. Thank you.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 12, 2015, 07:39:10 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 10, 2015, 08:58:30 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 10, 2015, 08:44:45 AM
Quote from: Arun on July 09, 2015, 08:31:24 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 09, 2015, 08:58:01 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on July 09, 2015, 08:47:08 AMIf I dress like Zoey Deschanel, I'll get a magazine cover...

Perhaps.  But there's a difference between transvestism and transgenderism.  A man dressed in women's clothing can be funny, like Benny Hill.  But Bruce Jenner, I believe, is sacrificing an important appendage for his own transformation.  (Yikes!)  That's when you go from the frivolous to the insane.

forget transgenederism for a minute. i'm transageist. it's discrimination that they don't make footsie pajamas for 120kg, broad shouldered men. the biggest one i could find wouldn't even fit one of my legs in. where's my magazine cover??

Actually, I think they do now.

:rofl:

well all right then
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 24, 2015, 11:45:41 AM
The Sun Also Rises
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 25, 2015, 06:37:52 AM
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye.  Been meaning to read this for years out of curiosity. Really REALLY dumb.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 27, 2015, 12:09:52 PM
Stones From the River, by Ursula Hegi. I love books like this, that give you such tiny details about the characters' lives.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 28, 2015, 11:23:44 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 25, 2015, 06:37:52 AM
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye.  Been meaning to read this for years out of curiosity. Really REALLY dumb.

good?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on July 28, 2015, 11:40:10 PM
Quote from: Arun on July 28, 2015, 11:23:44 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 25, 2015, 06:37:52 AM
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye.  Been meaning to read this for years out of curiosity. Really REALLY dumb.

good?

Imagine if Clive Cussler wrote fundie evangelical prot novels.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 29, 2015, 01:38:53 AM
Quote from: Gardener on July 28, 2015, 11:40:10 PM
Quote from: Arun on July 28, 2015, 11:23:44 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 25, 2015, 06:37:52 AM
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye.  Been meaning to read this for years out of curiosity. Really REALLY dumb.

good?

Imagine if Clive Cussler wrote fundie evangelical prot novels.

i'm re-reading PIHKAL. not putting it down for that, sorry...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 29, 2015, 05:38:53 AM
We know you love the phenethylamines. The question is do they love you back?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 29, 2015, 05:39:45 AM
Quote from: Gardener on July 28, 2015, 11:40:10 PM
Quote from: Arun on July 28, 2015, 11:23:44 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 25, 2015, 06:37:52 AM
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye.  Been meaning to read this for years out of curiosity. Really REALLY dumb.

good?

Imagine if Clive Cussler wrote fundie evangelical prot novels.
Cussler is far better than LaHaye.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 29, 2015, 11:25:42 AM
Electromagnetics.

So much electromagnetics.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 29, 2015, 01:18:56 PM
Quote from: Arun on July 28, 2015, 11:23:44 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 25, 2015, 06:37:52 AM
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye.  Been meaning to read this for years out of curiosity. Really REALLY dumb.

good?

Not in a million years.  Only thing worse are the movies.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on July 29, 2015, 06:40:17 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 29, 2015, 05:38:53 AM
We know you love the phenethylamines. The question is do they love you back?

that's a microscopic question with an omniscopic answer, man...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hiero of Syracuse on July 29, 2015, 06:59:32 PM
I'm reading a book by Fr. Arminjon called the "End of the Present World", I skipped ahead to chapters that caught my attention and from what I've read so far, it seems pretty solid. In addition to this, I am reading a fan-fiction (tis a guilty pleasure of mine) called "Prince Iroh". It's a very polished work and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes war stories. 

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 30, 2015, 12:57:08 AM
Quote from: Hiero of Syracuse on July 29, 2015, 06:59:32 PM
I'm reading a book by Fr. Arminjon called the "End of the Present World", I skipped ahead to chapters that caught my attention and from what I've read so far, it seems pretty solid....
I read that last year. A very interesting book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on July 30, 2015, 12:58:27 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 30, 2015, 12:57:08 AM
Quote from: Hiero of Syracuse on July 29, 2015, 06:59:32 PM
I'm reading a book by Fr. Arminjon called the "End of the Present World", I skipped ahead to chapters that caught my attention and from what I've read so far, it seems pretty solid....
I read that last year. A very interesting book.

Was a fav of St. Therese.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 30, 2015, 07:08:20 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on July 02, 2015, 06:29:57 PM
Quote from: Clare on July 02, 2015, 02:19:07 PM
Just about to read C S Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy again, which I first read last year.
Did you ever give us your thoughts on "That Hideous Strength"?
I've just finished it again. I'm not sure where to begin giving my thoughts. It's an amazing book. First time I read it, I thought the ending was a bit disappointing, but this time I didn't. What were your thoughts, Maximilian?

The whole trilogy is great.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on July 30, 2015, 09:08:47 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 30, 2015, 07:08:20 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on July 02, 2015, 06:29:57 PM
Did you ever give us your thoughts on "That Hideous Strength"?

I've just finished it again. I'm not sure where to begin giving my thoughts. It's an amazing book. First time I read it, I thought the ending was a bit disappointing, but this time I didn't. What were your thoughts, Maximilian?


I thought it was amazingly prescient. Written in 1945, it was 3 years before "1984." It's prophetic in a religious sense, but it succeeds as a work of science fiction. Like most English sci-fi (e.g. Dr. Who) there's not much science in the sci-fi, but it was ahead of its time in mixing science fiction with fantasy. I think C.S. Lewis identified the real problems that we face today even better than Aldous Huxley or George Orwell, although those men were geniuses as well.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 30, 2015, 09:21:36 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on July 30, 2015, 09:08:47 AM
Quote from: Clare on July 30, 2015, 07:08:20 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on July 02, 2015, 06:29:57 PM
Did you ever give us your thoughts on "That Hideous Strength"?
I've just finished it again. I'm not sure where to begin giving my thoughts. It's an amazing book. First time I read it, I thought the ending was a bit disappointing, but this time I didn't. What were your thoughts, Maximilian?
I thought it was amazingly prescient. Written in 1945, it was 3 years before "1984." It's prophetic in a religious sense, but it succeeds as a work of science fiction. Like most English sci-fi (e.g. Dr. Who) there's not much science in the sci-fi, but it was ahead of its time in mixing science fiction with fantasy. I think C.S. Lewis identified the real problems that we face today even better than Aldous Huxley or George Orwell, although those men were geniuses as well.
When I was reading a bit on Wikipedia about That Hideous Strength, I was surprised that it had influenced so little. A couple of Heavy Metal bands, and not much else! I've been watching some old Dr Who series recently, and I could imagine THS providing inspiration for potential stories, if only its writers had read it!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on August 04, 2015, 08:51:24 AM
I've just finished The Problem of Pain by CS Lewis, and I'm re-reading The Ball and the Cross by GK Chesterton now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on August 04, 2015, 03:27:34 PM
the brain that changes itself, by norman doidge.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 06, 2015, 05:29:05 AM
Off the Planet by Jerry Linenger.  Linener is a naval flight surgeon who spent five months aboard the Russian space station Mir. Very entertaining and informative. When he described liftoff and entry into orbit, it was hard to put it down. Mir was designed to last five years. When the author was on board it was in it's tenth year. As a result there were constant problems; many of them life threatening.
There were constant cooling leaks causing them to breath glycol fumes. There was a fire that burned long enough and hot enough to melt nearby metal. There was even a bungled docking maneuver that caused a near miss of a one ton module.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on August 06, 2015, 10:25:48 AM
Quote from: Arun on August 04, 2015, 03:27:34 PM
the brain that changes itself, by norman doidge.
how is it
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on August 06, 2015, 07:33:05 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on August 06, 2015, 10:25:48 AM
Quote from: Arun on August 04, 2015, 03:27:34 PM
the brain that changes itself, by norman doidge.
how is it

pretty amazing man. all about neuroplasticity and how the brain is malleable and can reorganise itself to allow "normal" function despite extensive irreparable brain damage. it can shift processing and functions to other areas to compensate for when another area is damaged. that's mainly what it's covered so far, given a bunch of people's case stories and stuff. cool read tho; i can send you a pdf if your interested in reading it man.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on August 15, 2015, 09:51:02 AM
I'm re-reading The Great Divorce by C S Lewis.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on August 15, 2015, 06:59:40 PM
Wheel of Time 5: The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on August 15, 2015, 07:32:03 PM
Quote from: zork on August 15, 2015, 06:59:40 PM

Wheel of Time 5: The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan


Someone just posted a graph here the other day claiming to show that the relationship between how good a book is and how many words the author made up is a 1/x inverse functions. I immediately thought of Robert Jordan.

I don't know if anyone can find that graph again.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on August 15, 2015, 07:43:38 PM
Oh yeah, I saw that too. Stephen King made up words for his Dark Tower series, and the words he used became cloying rather quickly.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on August 15, 2015, 09:36:06 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 15, 2015, 07:32:03 PM
Quote from: zork on August 15, 2015, 06:59:40 PM

Wheel of Time 5: The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan


Someone just posted a graph here the other day claiming to show that the relationship between how good a book is and how many words the author made up is a 1/x inverse functions. I immediately thought of Robert Jordan.

I don't know if anyone can find that graph again.

I posted it in the LMS USA/Canada thread. The graphic is from xkcd: https://xkcd.com/483/

To keep it literary for the thread: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/alternative_energy_revolution.jpg
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on August 15, 2015, 09:38:58 PM
Quote from: Gardener on August 15, 2015, 09:36:06 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 15, 2015, 07:32:03 PM
Quote from: zork on August 15, 2015, 06:59:40 PM

Wheel of Time 5: The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan


Someone just posted a graph here the other day claiming to show that the relationship between how good a book is and how many words the author made up is a 1/x inverse functions. I immediately thought of Robert Jordan.

I don't know if anyone can find that graph again.

I posted it in the LMS USA/Canada thread. The graphic is from xkcd: https://xkcd.com/483/

To keep it literary for the thread: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/alternative_energy_revolution.jpg

Thanks for the link:

(https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/fiction_rule_of_thumb.png)

It's pretty hard to see this graph without thinking of Robert Jordan.
On the other hand, there are lots sci-fi/fantasy writers who are just as bad.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on August 15, 2015, 09:41:39 PM
Quote from: Gardener on August 15, 2015, 09:36:06 PM

To keep it literary for the thread: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/alternative_energy_revolution.jpg

Great cartoon. I have often thought the same when I have seen these things along the highway. They remind me of some sort of creepy sci-fi characters. Their appearance is distinctly eerie and foreboding.

(https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/alternative_energy_revolution.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 16, 2015, 04:23:33 AM
I'm reading Food in England, by Dorothy Hartley. Highly recommended! I've been looking for it for years, but unwilling to pay $20-$30 dollars for it, and then I finally found it for $7.50. When I opened it to start reading, the bookseller had written: "£4.99. Sought after" on the first page. lol Sought after was right! Anyway, it really makes me want to read Dorothy Hartley's other books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 16, 2015, 08:55:04 AM
Re. Wheel of Time: I admit that R.J. "Goes long"; but since I really didn't want the books to end, for that would mean that the world he created was finished; I enjoyed all the "baroque" verbal decorations that his books contained. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on August 16, 2015, 09:46:22 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on August 16, 2015, 08:55:04 AM

Re. Wheel of Time: I admit that R.J. "Goes long"; but since I really didn't want the books to end, for that would mean that the world he created was finished; I enjoyed all the "baroque" verbal decorations that his books contained.


At some point around 10 years ago I tried to read volume 10, but found it incomprehensible. It was as if Robert Jordan had a stroke, and the words kept coming out of his word processor, but they didn't make sense any more.

Also, having failed to complete the story in 9 volumes as he had intended, the 10th volume made no progress whatsoever in bringing any plot lines to conclusion. Instead it introduced a myriad of new characters with incomprehensible names, thus indicating that the series would never conclude. As it turns out, it was only after Jordan's death that a new author was able to wrap up the story.

That being said, I did enjoy many of the earlier volumes quite a bit. The series is a tremendous feat of imagination.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 16, 2015, 10:03:44 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 16, 2015, 09:46:22 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on August 16, 2015, 08:55:04 AM

Re. Wheel of Time: I admit that R.J. "Goes long"; but since I really didn't want the books to end, for that would mean that the world he created was finished; I enjoyed all the "baroque" verbal decorations that his books contained.


At some point around 10 years ago I tried to read volume 10, but found it incomprehensible. It was as if Robert Jordan had a stroke, and the words kept coming out of his word processor, but they didn't make sense any more.

Also, having failed to complete the story in 9 volumes as he had intended, the 10th volume made no progress whatsoever in bringing any plot lines to conclusion. Instead it introduced a myriad of new characters with incomprehensible names, thus indicating that the series would never conclude. As it turns out, it was only after Jordan's death that a new author was able to wrap up the story.

That being said, I did enjoy many of the earlier volumes quite a bit. The series is a tremendous feat of imagination.
Yes, most people agree that the series reached its bottom at the 10th volume; and began its climb back up with the 11th.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on August 16, 2015, 10:51:45 AM
Joan of Arc by Mark Twain (thanks Yankee for raising it).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on August 19, 2015, 05:42:20 PM
Took the kids to story time at the library today, and managed to steal a few minutes to find 3 books on baking bread.  Browsing through those this evening.  (Also read Pinocchio earlier to the kids....and, looked at some pictures in the Saint George and the Dragon book we found today, with the four year old....I was impressed our small town library had it!)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 19, 2015, 09:01:37 PM
A Bitter Trial. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bl. Karl Hapsburg on August 20, 2015, 09:34:26 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on August 16, 2015, 08:55:04 AM
Re. Wheel of Time: I admit that R.J. "Goes long"; but since I really didn't want the books to end, for that would mean that the world he created was finished; I enjoyed all the "baroque" verbal decorations that his books contained.

The wheel of time a bit too much fantasy for me and it had to do with the writing style. I love Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire. Would you say I  should give it another shot?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spooky on August 20, 2015, 04:50:56 PM
Right now I'm slogging through Ian Kershaw's "Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris". I've had this book since the beginning of July and I'm only on page 80, and that's with the first 35 pages missing (a printing error I guess). It's not boring, just very, very, detailed. And notey. Lots and lots of notes.


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 20, 2015, 07:55:59 PM
Quote from: Bl. Karl Hapsburg on August 20, 2015, 09:34:26 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on August 16, 2015, 08:55:04 AM
Re. Wheel of Time: I admit that R.J. "Goes long"; but since I really didn't want the books to end, for that would mean that the world he created was finished; I enjoyed all the "baroque" verbal decorations that his books contained.

The wheel of time a bit too much fantasy for me and it had to do with the writing style. I love Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire. Would you say I  should give it another shot?
Its not everybody's cup of tea. The writing style is deliberately archaic and very florid in descriptions.
It is a thirteen book series; which means that you will invest about 2 years or so of steady reading.
I liked it; but I admit that it doesn't have the same uplifting ethos as L.O.T.R. But once in a while I enjoy getting into a fantasy series, just to get away from my usual heavy reading.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on August 24, 2015, 11:10:23 AM
I'm just about to start reading The Fire Sermon for the first time. Fingers crossed!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on August 24, 2015, 02:17:36 PM
I am reading the book by Carlson about Senior, Quinn, and the third guy and the Integrated Humanities Program at KU.  It's pretty interesting.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 24, 2015, 02:25:50 PM
The Greatest Story Ever Told by Fulton Oursler. One of those books I've been fixing to read for years. Finally got around to it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Rose on August 25, 2015, 02:34:14 PM
A bit of a random question- can anyone recommend a book similar to Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky? I'm not usually keen on sci-fi/horror but AF and I read the first chapter and found it gripping (very atmospheric). We were put off by the irreverence later in the book and decided not to continue with it. Any ideas?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on August 25, 2015, 03:23:41 PM
I'm rereading 11/22/63 by Stephen King. 

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on September 03, 2015, 06:15:24 PM
Animal Day by Geoff Thompson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 03, 2015, 07:38:31 PM
Getting ready to start The Penguin History of the World: 6th Edition $1.99/kindle. ;D And I'll be perfectly honest, and say that I plan to skip the parts that I'm not interested in. ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on September 04, 2015, 05:29:15 PM
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
How to Raise Good Catholic Children by Mary Reed Newland
A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot
What the Best College Students Do by Ken Bain
The Gospel according to St. John

;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 04, 2015, 05:42:54 PM
Which translation of Don Quixote are you reading? I like the Edith Grossman one. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 04, 2015, 05:45:32 PM
Ambitious...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on September 09, 2015, 06:55:10 PM
Library day again....Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Childs;  Anthology of Children's Literature by Johnson, Sickels, & Sayers (4th edition).   
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 10, 2015, 05:31:12 AM
St Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. He seems to have genuinely admired her. His non-fiction is usually pretty cynical but not this.
Christ Denied by Rev. Paul Wickens. Scathing indictment of modernism and of de Chardin in particular.
Both of these were very good but much to short.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 10, 2015, 08:21:20 AM
I'm listening to Ben Hur again. So good. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on September 10, 2015, 09:33:36 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 10, 2015, 05:31:12 AM
St Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. He seems to have genuinely admired her. His non-fiction is usually pretty cynical but not this.
I'm still reading that (I go through books quite slowly sometimes). It's very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on September 10, 2015, 11:42:38 AM
Fr Malachi Martin's The Jesuits and reading of startlingly heretic they became. I knew of the Communist guerrilla Jesuits,  business suit wearing Karl Raehner SJ, but the heresy and People's Church anti-Catholicism was from top to bottom in the once great order. Also glancing at Tom Holland's Dynasty on the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He tells a familiar tale very well, and he wrote a book on Islam (Islam: the Untold Story) with a Saudi funded hackademic/propagandist glaring at him with a look of barely suppressed hatred. He contended that Mohammed's real origins were around Palestine where some descriptions in the Quran of olive groves are a far better march to that region and the Arab kingdoms which bordered.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on September 12, 2015, 08:40:03 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 04, 2015, 05:42:54 PM
Which translation of Don Quixote are you reading? I like the Edith Grossman one. :)
Mine was translated by P.A. Motteux, with introduction and notes by Stephen Boyd.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 12, 2015, 08:40:42 PM
"The Council in Question" by Fr Aidan Nichols, OP and Moyra something.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on September 14, 2015, 04:53:27 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on September 12, 2015, 08:40:42 PM
"The Council in Question" by Fr Aidan Nichols, OP and Moyra something.
Doorly?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on September 22, 2015, 08:48:46 PM
http://www.amazon.com/Fight-Like-Physicist-Incredible-Science/dp/1594393389/ damn i want this
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 22, 2015, 09:40:56 PM
Quote from: Clare on September 14, 2015, 04:53:27 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on September 12, 2015, 08:40:42 PM
"The Council in Question" by Fr Aidan Nichols, OP and Moyra something.
Doorly?

I think so yes

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 23, 2015, 10:43:00 AM
How to Be a Victorian, by Ruth Goodman. Fascinating social history, plus personal experience from someone who has actually lived like a Victorian in our own day and age. One of the best Kindle books that I've ever bought on sale! :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on September 23, 2015, 03:08:09 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 23, 2015, 10:43:00 AM
How to Be a Victorian, by Ruth Goodman. Fascinating social history, plus personal experience from someone who has actually lived like a Victorian in our own day and age. One of the best Kindle books that I've ever bought on sale! :lol:

If you like that, you might like this website/couple

http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/

They live "victorian" as much as they can.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on September 26, 2015, 10:25:31 AM
Manalive, by G K Chesterton
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 27, 2015, 12:43:04 PM
The Memoirs of Louis Bouyer
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 27, 2015, 12:52:28 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 27, 2015, 12:43:04 PM
The Memoirs of Louis Bouyer

Post a review when you're done!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 27, 2015, 02:47:37 PM
The book was very good but kind of challenging to read. Bouyer has a convoluted way of speaking. That combined with it's being translated from the French led me to often reread several previous pages to be sure if he was for or against any particular subject.
He was a Lutheran pastor who converted to Catholicism. He knew Thomas Merton from seminary. Said he was painfully shy. He worked with T.S. Eliot on a journal of religion and philosophy called Dieu Vivant. He was good friends with Tolkein having spent a lot of time in England.
There was also lots of tittle tattle from behind the scenes at Vatican II. Bouyer was always enthusiastic for liturgical reform till he wound up on a committee for that at Vat2. He realized he'd made a terrible mistake when he saw what they wanted to do. He even tried to resign a couple of times but Paul IV wouldn't accept it.
Some of the things were hard to comprehend. At one point there was a serious attempt to remove all the Poles from the list of saints.
Some even considered eliminating Ash Wednesday. When Bouyer referred to Bugnini and his friends he used words such as lunatic and malicious. Bugnini was one of the few who had access to Paul at the time. He would go to Paul and say the cardinals were unanimous on something when in fact they were against it. Then he would go to the cardinals and say that Paul was demanding something the cardinals were against. He played both sides against each other.
Bouyer's contention was that Paul quickly approved everything the council wanted to bring it to a quick end before "the chaos spread".
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on October 04, 2015, 03:38:18 AM
i picked up a book that has the magician's nephew, lion the witch and the wardrobe, and the horse and his boy for a couple dollars. never read the first one before, reading it with my children. diggory has just rung the bell... wonder what's coming up lol.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 04, 2015, 04:13:35 AM
Quote from: Arun on October 04, 2015, 03:38:18 AM
i picked up a book that has the magician's nephew, lion the witch and the wardrobe, and the horse and his boy for a couple dollars. never read the first one before, reading it with my children. diggory has just rung the bell... wonder what's coming up lol.

What a treat. :) My aunt got me the set when I was seven. I read them so many times over the years, that I wore them out! :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 13, 2015, 05:21:45 AM
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on October 13, 2015, 05:27:46 AM
Sin Revisited by Solange Hertz, also very good!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 13, 2015, 08:23:06 AM
Slave Narratives: Arkansas, Volume 4. I'm cleaning it up for the Kindle.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 14, 2015, 01:18:44 PM
Just finished A Guide to Elegance by Madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux, a French fashion expert during the 60s and 70s. The book was first published in 1962, but some of the advice that she gives is pretty well timeless. It covers things like accessories, pearls, hairstyle, and generally, how to be an elegant lady. Pretty good little book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on October 16, 2015, 05:18:48 AM
All For Jesus, by Fr Faber

Read it a few years ago. I like it because it sets the bar lower than Growth In Holiness does!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on October 16, 2015, 12:18:10 PM
Holiness for Housewives....again.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: queen.saints on October 16, 2015, 01:07:32 PM
Re-reading the short story Where Love Is by Tolstoy and still don't know how to feel about it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on October 16, 2015, 07:20:20 PM
Volume IV of Jonathan Sumption's history of the Hundred Year War Cursed Kings. He is a judge of the UK's Supreme Court, the first I think, and a barrister who charged around 800,000 for a few weeks of work when working as barrister.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 17, 2015, 01:44:59 PM
Mansfield Park
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on October 17, 2015, 07:35:11 PM
Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on October 18, 2015, 08:15:15 AM
Quote from: Arun on October 17, 2015, 07:35:11 PM
Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro
Arun, you somewhat interested in Jiu Jitsu or what?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on October 18, 2015, 08:04:48 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on October 18, 2015, 08:15:15 AM
Quote from: Arun on October 17, 2015, 07:35:11 PM
Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro
Arun, you somewhat interested in Jiu Jitsu or what?

whatever gave you that idea? lol.

that book is pretty much a must-read.

i just bought How To Win Friends and Influence People too, because someone told me i should read a chapter of it every day. so we'll see how that goes.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on October 18, 2015, 09:04:29 PM
Quote from: Arun on October 18, 2015, 08:04:48 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on October 18, 2015, 08:15:15 AM
Quote from: Arun on October 17, 2015, 07:35:11 PM
Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro
Arun, you somewhat interested in Jiu Jitsu or what?

whatever gave you that idea? lol.

that book is pretty much a must-read.

i just bought How To Win Friends and Influence People too, because someone told me i should read a chapter of it every day. so we'll see how that goes.
That's right; if they can't come along nicely, put them in a submission/choke-out hold. I know that would "influence" me a lot!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Arun on October 18, 2015, 09:07:04 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on October 18, 2015, 09:04:29 PM
Quote from: Arun on October 18, 2015, 08:04:48 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on October 18, 2015, 08:15:15 AM
Quote from: Arun on October 17, 2015, 07:35:11 PM
Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro
Arun, you somewhat interested in Jiu Jitsu or what?

whatever gave you that idea? lol.

that book is pretty much a must-read.

i just bought How To Win Friends and Influence People too, because someone told me i should read a chapter of it every day. so we'll see how that goes.
That's right; if they can't come along nicely, put them in a submission/choke-out hold. I know that would "influence" me a lot!

hahahaha. from watching my 2 year old son with his older brother right now, it appears he thinks along the same lines. lol.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 25, 2015, 03:39:24 PM
Jarhead by Anthony Swafford. The author was a marine sniper in Desert Storm. Entertaining.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on October 25, 2015, 05:50:16 PM
Guns, Germs and Steels

And Stalingrad by Antony Beevor
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 25, 2015, 06:07:35 PM
How We Lived Then: A History of Everyday Life During the Second World War. I got it when it was on sale, months ago. Just the kind of book I like, filled with personal anecdotes. Excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Lived-Then-Everyday-ebook/dp/B0031Y9DQO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1445817906&sr=1-1&keywords=Norman+Longmate
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on October 25, 2015, 06:30:21 PM
Col. Charlie Beckwith's book on Delta Force. Fascinating read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 26, 2015, 05:06:02 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on October 25, 2015, 05:50:16 PM
Guns, Germs and Steels

And Stalingrad by Antony Beevor
Beevor is a terrific author. His book on D-Day is outstanding.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on October 26, 2015, 06:24:16 AM
Hes probably my favourite WWII author...but its hard to choose
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 26, 2015, 08:46:05 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 25, 2015, 06:07:35 PM
How We Lived Than: A History of Everyday Life During the Second World War. I got it when it was on sale, months ago. Just the kind of book I like, filled with personal anecdotes. Excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Lived-Then-Everyday-ebook/dp/B0031Y9DQO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1445817906&sr=1-1&keywords=Norman+Longmate

That sounds good.  Have you ever seen the PBS (British Chanel 4 I think actually) the 1940's House? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 26, 2015, 09:09:33 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on October 26, 2015, 08:46:05 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 25, 2015, 06:07:35 PM
How We Lived Than: A History of Everyday Life During the Second World War. I got it when it was on sale, months ago. Just the kind of book I like, filled with personal anecdotes. Excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Lived-Then-Everyday-ebook/dp/B0031Y9DQO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1445817906&sr=1-1&keywords=Norman+Longmate

That sounds good.  Have you ever seen the PBS (British Chanel 4 I think actually) the 1940's House?
Yes. This author actually edited the companion book for that. ;)

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 26, 2015, 01:06:55 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 26, 2015, 09:09:33 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on October 26, 2015, 08:46:05 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 25, 2015, 06:07:35 PM
How We Lived Than: A History of Everyday Life During the Second World War. I got it when it was on sale, months ago. Just the kind of book I like, filled with personal anecdotes. Excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Lived-Then-Everyday-ebook/dp/B0031Y9DQO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1445817906&sr=1-1&keywords=Norman+Longmate

That sounds good.  Have you ever seen the PBS (British Chanel 4 I think actually) the 1940's House?
Yes. This author actually edited the companion book for that. ;)

Hmmm.... gonna check that one out.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on October 26, 2015, 03:40:39 PM
Still reading volume IV of Jonathan Sumption's series on the Hundred Years War. Being highly successful QC, and latterly Supreme Court Justice, hasn't slowed his output of this excellent series. He won an OBE for the series, a deserved honour, I might add. I certainly recommend it.

I have downloaded but have yet to start Mary Beard's SQPR, same with Robert Harris' Dictator. Former is non-fiction, latter fiction, but I know both will be excellent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 08, 2015, 04:56:46 PM
The Story of My Boyhood and Youth by John Muir.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 08, 2015, 05:57:24 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 08, 2015, 04:56:46 PM
The Story of My Boyhood and Youth by John Muir.

SO good! I listened to it from Librivox, and it was incredible! To think that his education was so thorough that even after such a huge gap, he was able to keep up in college! And he was so intelligent! I still have it on my ipod. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 09, 2015, 04:51:43 AM
Muir was so casual about the harshness of life in those days. When he was in school in Scotland it seemed that knowledge was acquired through beatings. And then in Wisconsin when he was digging the well for their farm. How his father would lower him down on a rope and then leave him there till the end of the day.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 09, 2015, 09:36:28 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 09, 2015, 04:51:43 AM
Muir was so casual about the harshness of life in those days. When he was in school in Scotland it seemed that knowledge was acquired through beatings. And then in Wisconsin when he was digging the well for their farm. How his father would lower him down on a rope and then leave him there till the end of the day.

While the father himself was inside, reading theological books and taking no part whatever in the farm work. That was what got me when I read that part. I'd never heard of such a system!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on November 09, 2015, 10:10:26 AM
Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco
Influence by Robert Cialdini
Started Catch-22 today as well
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 23, 2015, 05:09:00 AM
Put my back out last week and spent three days on the couch. In that time I managed to read:
Sphere by Michael Crichton. Not great. Not awful. Just OK.
Deviant by Harold Schechter. The biography of Wisconsin's favorite son, Ed Gein. Learned a lot I didn't know.
Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture by Philip Lawler. This was an excellent read and I highly recommend it for traddies and NOers alike.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on November 23, 2015, 06:37:16 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 23, 2015, 05:09:00 AM

Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture by Philip Lawler. This was an excellent read and I highly recommend it for traddies and NOers alike.

I'm sorry about your back! One never understands how much their back is used till something bad happens to it.

I read that book when it came out. I thought it was very good then and would re-read it but I think I threw it out.  :( I should see if the library has it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 23, 2015, 09:54:57 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 23, 2015, 05:09:00 AM
Sphere by Michael Crichton. Not great. Not awful. Just OK.

Mmmm, in high school I was a super big reader.  I blew through all of Crichton's paperbacks.  Sphere is a pretty good read.  I liked others better, but Sphere is classic Crichton.

Right now I am reading Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on November 23, 2015, 12:22:27 PM
Red Harvest (1929) by Dashiell Hammett.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 23, 2015, 01:35:51 PM
Quote from: zork on November 23, 2015, 12:22:27 PM
Red Harvest (1929) by Dashiell Hammett.
Hammett or Chandler?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on November 23, 2015, 08:29:18 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on November 23, 2015, 01:35:51 PM
Quote from: zork on November 23, 2015, 12:22:27 PM
Red Harvest (1929) by Dashiell Hammett.
Hammett or Chandler?

Well, so far I've only read Hammett's stories; RH is the first Hammett novel I've read anything of. I have not yet read any of Chandler's works though I own all of his novels and short stories (thanks to Border's closing sale in 2011). I have such a backlog of reading that I will eventually get to Chandler's works; I really anticipate reading up on the adventures of Phillip Marlow and the generic detectives that preceded him.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on November 24, 2015, 07:42:43 AM
Just finished To Kill a Mockingbird last night. Starting on The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church by Malachi Martin. Then on to The Grapes of Wrath.  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 24, 2015, 09:30:14 AM
Was it your first time reading To Kill a Mockingbird? What did you think?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on November 24, 2015, 03:09:36 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 24, 2015, 09:30:14 AM
Was it your first time reading To Kill a Mockingbird? What did you think?

Read the whole damn thing; didn't even tell me how to kill a mockingbird
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 25, 2015, 12:19:51 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on November 24, 2015, 07:42:43 AM
Just finished To Kill a Mockingbird last night. Starting on The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church by Malachi Martin. Then on to The Grapes of Wrath.  ;D
Read East of Eden...it is the best
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on November 25, 2015, 12:58:32 PM
I've read T.K.A.M. Many times; I thought it was a great book when I first read it as a teen; and I read it last year; I still think the same thing. Scout is perfect as the innocent yet adventurous and strong willed protagonist; the cast of characters are very believable, as is her description of life in a small Southern town, and the prejudice that the blacks had to live under.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on November 25, 2015, 03:52:56 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 24, 2015, 09:30:14 AM
Was it your first time reading To Kill a Mockingbird? What did you think?
Yep, first time. I thought it presented some good points on the education system and being a good friend/neighbor. The way that racism was treated seemed like such an accurate snapshot of the time period. And Atticus! Man, what a character!
The day after I finished the book, my dad said, "So, who killed Bob?" As if I would know. It was "darker than thunder" when it happened.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on November 25, 2015, 03:54:16 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on November 24, 2015, 03:09:36 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 24, 2015, 09:30:14 AM
Was it your first time reading To Kill a Mockingbird? What did you think?

Read the whole damn thing; didn't even tell me how to kill a mockingbird
How to Kill a Mockingbird:

Step 1. DON'T.

;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 25, 2015, 07:05:34 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on November 25, 2015, 03:52:56 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 24, 2015, 09:30:14 AM
Was it your first time reading To Kill a Mockingbird? What did you think?
Yep, first time. I thought it presented some good points on the education system and being a good friend/neighbor. The way that racism was treated seemed like such an accurate snapshot of the time period. And Atticus! Man, what a character!
The day after I finished the book, my dad said, "So, who killed Bob?" As if I would know. It was "darker than thunder" when it happened.

I absolutely LOVE Atticus. :) It took me a couple of readings to figure out who killed Bob.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on November 26, 2015, 11:48:53 AM
The Power of Habits.  Pretty good so far.   Somewhat enlightening.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 27, 2015, 11:27:35 AM
The Martian and Go Set a Watchman. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 27, 2015, 12:10:40 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on November 27, 2015, 11:27:35 AM
The Martian and Go Set a Watchman.

I can't read that, after reading reviews of it. :(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 27, 2015, 01:18:20 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 27, 2015, 12:10:40 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on November 27, 2015, 11:27:35 AM
The Martian and Go Set a Watchman.

I can't read that, after reading reviews of it. :(

I wasn't sure about it either, but I'm going to give it a try... .
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on November 28, 2015, 12:53:44 PM
Here is a review of a book I just finished: 'Sisters, Catholic Nuns and The Making Of America"; I copied and posted this review from the Amazon site http://www.amazon.com/Sisters-Catholic-Nuns-Making-America/dp/0312325967

QuoteMost Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 51 people found the following review helpful
"Where have all the Sisters gone . . . "
By Raymond G. Meyers on March 26, 2003
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Boy, if this isn't an eye-opener! Not a particularly scholarly treatise (thank God), the book nonetheless chronicles well the incredible story of the impact on our American history and way of life "the Sisters" have had. Living in the "heyday" of the 50's - early 60's, and having had the blessings of a parochial education, I was not only mesmerized by Fialka's exploration of the scope and breadth and depth of the impact nuns in America have had, but deeply saddened to get a fuller sense of the decline of this influence in our society. I'm no feminist, but if any women in our history deserve greater recognition and honor for what they contributed to our lives it's these women. Fialka's narrative bounces around a little, but he keeps you focused on the mostly selfless dedication many of these Sisters lived by. The stereotypical nun whacking your knuckles with a ruler obscures the realities Fialka chronicles in case after case of the love and devotion so many of these Sisters lavished on their students (or patients). His discussion of the causes of the decline of the Sisters as a force in our society cites numerous influences, not least of which were the upheavals in all corners of our social fabric in the mid-late-sixties, nor the disruption (my word) of the "Catholic eco-system" resulting from so much misguided interpretations of Vatican II doctrine. Good book. Read it, revel in your memories, and weep for its demise -- America's great loss.
My own impression of the book is the same as the above reviewers; the author does a really good job of putting in front of us the heroic deeds of just a small number of religious sisters (mostly the Irish sisters of Mercy); and the tremendous work they accomplished in building a system of hospitals, schools and other institutions of spiritual and corporal works of mercy. This whole wonderful institution make crashing down after the Council of sad notoriety. I wept at many of the descriptions of the sacrifices made by the sisters; and also reading of the horrible destruction that the implementation of the reforms in the convents, which destroyed their religious life. The few post conciliar bright spots are from conservative congregations that kept their regular prayer and community life.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth on November 28, 2015, 02:57:34 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on November 25, 2015, 12:19:51 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on November 24, 2015, 07:42:43 AM
Just finished To Kill a Mockingbird last night. Starting on The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church by Malachi Martin. Then on to The Grapes of Wrath.  ;D
Read East of Eden...it is the best
It's the Great American Novel!  I think I wept when it was over all those years ago.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on November 29, 2015, 07:17:11 PM
Seven Gothic Tales, by Isak Dinesen
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on December 01, 2015, 08:02:18 AM
Finished The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church and Huckleberry Finn. Now I'm starting on The Grapes of Wrath.

Will request East of Eden from the library this week.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 01, 2015, 11:27:32 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on November 27, 2015, 11:27:35 AM
The Martian and Go Set a Watchman.

Finished both.  The Martian is excellent.  Go Set a Watchman not so much. 

Quote from: Bernadette on November 27, 2015, 12:10:40 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on November 27, 2015, 11:27:35 AM
The Martian and Go Set a Watchman.

I can't read that, after reading reviews of it. :(

I did not enjoy it as a novel. Better of with To Kill A Mockingbird.  It would have helped had it been edited (probably not much, though).  It was interesting to have an adult version of  Scout.  It was also interesting to me to get a glimpse of Harper Lee's writing process (just getting from Go Set A Watchman to To Kill a Mockingbird). 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on December 01, 2015, 03:13:42 PM
Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim by John Guy.

Also sort of fully reading/re-reading Randy Engel's Rites of Sodomy but it's sort of depressing. I learnt of it from whigboi's Youtube. Voris had either changed a lot or he barely read it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on December 02, 2015, 03:50:47 PM
I had just started Career of Evil, the latest Robert Galbraith mystery, when my interlibrary loan for The Clasp came in, so I read that first. But now I have switched over to Death Comes for the Archbishop because it feels more Advent appropriate.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 07, 2015, 06:06:41 AM
Wellington: The Years of the Sword by Elizabeth Longford. Very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 26, 2015, 01:27:01 PM
Lulu's Christmas Story. Again. :) So heartwarming. Catholic family in the Great Depression. What's not to love? One of the few books I've seen that has 100% five-star reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Lulus-Christmas-Story-During-Depression-ebook/dp/B00O5RR7NW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451157892&sr=1-1&keywords=lulu%27s+christmas+story
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 28, 2015, 09:07:52 PM
Just finished The High Window
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on December 28, 2015, 09:40:02 PM
I am stalled in Doctor Zhivago.

One of my Christmas presents is Seveneves by Neal Stephenson.  I am working on that.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 29, 2015, 03:41:17 PM
Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul by Tony Hendra. Hendra wrote for National Lampoon and Spitting Image. He also played Ian Faith in Spinal Tap. The book tells his story from being an ardent Catholic to loosing his faith and regaining it with the help of his spiritual advisor, Father Joe. Funny and inspiring. A wonderful read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on December 30, 2015, 04:13:01 PM
The First Christmas Tree and The Other Wise Man.  Two short stories by Henry van Dyke. Enjoyable read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 30, 2015, 10:58:38 PM
Starting Tomorrow: The Lady in the Lake
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on December 31, 2015, 09:22:09 AM
Just finished Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton and Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim.

I found Chesterton harder than I thought it would be. Maybe it's because I'm used to philosophical books where every idea is in a compact box, and Chesterton's style seemed rambling and random at first. In any case, I got into it in the last two chapters and understood the spirit of things by the end.

Without You, There is No Us was written by an English teacher who taught in a North Korean university a few years ago. Regardless of how many books I read about the country, it never ceases to baffle me at how little the people know of the outside world and how utterly brainwashed they have been.

Moving on to East of Eden, as per MilesChristi's suggestion, and 1984.

Happy New Year!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: misericonfit on January 05, 2016, 06:53:00 PM
Harry Potter Book 7
Harry Potter a l'Ecole des Sorciers
Harry Potter e la Camera dei Segreti
The  Worm Ouroboros
Remaining in the Truth of Christ
Chinese Philosophy by Wen Haiming
My Door is Always Open (Pope Francis & Antonio Spadaro S.J.)

If anyone knows of a really thorough modern Catholic commentary on the Apocalypse, I'm all ears. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 05, 2016, 07:18:47 PM
Quote from: misericonfit on January 05, 2016, 06:53:00 PM
Harry Potter Book 7
Harry Potter a l'Ecole des Sorciers
Harry Potter e la Camera dei Segreti
The  Worm Ouroboros
Remaining in the Truth of Christ
Chinese Philosophy by Wen Haiming
My Door is Always Open (Pope Francis & Antonio Spadaro S.J.)

If anyone knows of a really thorough modern Catholic commentary on the Apocalypse, I'm all ears.

Book of Revelation or the end of the world?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hiero of Syracuse on January 05, 2016, 09:54:38 PM
I'm trying to get through Moby Dick, though every time I pick the book up, something gets in the way of me finishing it. But from what I've read so far, it's pretty good. My only complaint is that it's rather slow. I was hoping that I'd get to the part where a crazy captain goes berserk on a giant sperm whale, but apparently it takes over a dozen chapters before Ishamel even sets foot on a boat!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 06, 2016, 09:08:21 AM
Quote from: Hiero of Syracuse on January 05, 2016, 09:54:38 PM
I'm trying to get through Moby Dick, though every time I pick the book up, something gets in the way of me finishing it. But from what I've read so far, it's pretty good. My only complaint is that it's rather slow. I was hoping that I'd get to the part where a crazy captain goes berserk on a giant sperm whale, but apparently it takes over a dozen chapters before Ishamel even sets foot on a boat!

I actually studied this book twice in college. Guess that's what I get for transferring. Good news is that I didn't have to actually read it the second time around. ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on January 06, 2016, 10:01:09 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 06, 2016, 09:08:21 AM
Quote from: Hiero of Syracuse on January 05, 2016, 09:54:38 PM
I'm trying to get through Moby Dick, though every time I pick the book up, something gets in the way of me finishing it. But from what I've read so far, it's pretty good. My only complaint is that it's rather slow. I was hoping that I'd get to the part where a crazy captain goes berserk on a giant sperm whale, but apparently it takes over a dozen chapters before Ishamel even sets foot on a boat!

I actually studied this book twice in college. Guess that's what I get for transferring. Good news is that I didn't have to actually read it the second time around. ;)

I like Melville's short stories (Bartleby the Scrivner is awesome). Moby Dick was ok, but yeah, it's slow.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 06, 2016, 04:50:31 PM
Wise Blood
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 06, 2016, 05:35:43 PM
Dream Days, by Kenneth Grahame.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 06, 2016, 06:37:08 PM
Quote from: misericonfit on January 05, 2016, 06:53:00 PM
Harry Potter Book 7
Harry Potter a l'Ecole des Sorciers
Harry Potter e la Camera dei Segreti

Pfff. Showoff. :lol: ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: misericonfit on January 07, 2016, 03:22:52 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 06, 2016, 06:37:08 PM
Quote from: misericonfit on January 05, 2016, 06:53:00 PM
Harry Potter Book 7
Harry Potter a l'Ecole des Sorciers
Harry Potter e la Camera dei Segreti

Pfff. Showoff. :lol: ;)
ROFL. Not *entirely* :) - I want to broaden my horizons by seeing what is made of it in other languages, and, equally important, improve my knowledge of those languages. HP is a painless way to do that. Foreign grammar is much less painful to learn when one has been prepared for it by reading the original text in English.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 07, 2016, 03:43:46 PM
Quote from: misericonfit on January 07, 2016, 03:22:52 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 06, 2016, 06:37:08 PM
Quote from: misericonfit on January 05, 2016, 06:53:00 PM
Harry Potter Book 7
Harry Potter a l'Ecole des Sorciers
Harry Potter e la Camera dei Segreti

Pfff. Showoff. :lol: ;)
ROFL. Not *entirely* :) - I want to broaden my horizons by seeing what is made of it in other languages, and, equally important, improve my knowledge of those languages. HP is a painless way to do that. Foreign grammar is much less painful to learn when one has been prepared for it by reading the original text in English.

I've read Babar in French. :) Most enjoyable.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 08, 2016, 06:10:22 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 07, 2016, 03:43:46 PM
Quote from: misericonfit on January 07, 2016, 03:22:52 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 06, 2016, 06:37:08 PM
Quote from: misericonfit on January 05, 2016, 06:53:00 PM
Harry Potter Book 7
Harry Potter a l'Ecole des Sorciers
Harry Potter e la Camera dei Segreti

Pfff. Showoff. :lol: ;)
ROFL. Not *entirely* :) - I want to broaden my horizons by seeing what is made of it in other languages, and, equally important, improve my knowledge of those languages. HP is a painless way to do that. Foreign grammar is much less painful to learn when one has been prepared for it by reading the original text in English.

I've read Babar in French. :) Most enjoyable.
I'm reading Green Eggs and Ham in Sanskrit.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 10, 2016, 11:14:39 AM
Militant and Triumphant: William Henry O'Connell and the Catholic Church in Boston 1859-1944 by James O'Toole. Very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on January 10, 2016, 11:17:45 AM
Joan of Arc: Her Story
by Régine Pernoud and Marie-Véronique Clin

An excellent telling of the story of St Joan. It is also research for a future illustration I will be doing. My niece is going to model for Joan. Régine Pernoud is an excellent author who's writings debunk many of the liberal notions about the medieval period.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hiero of Syracuse on January 10, 2016, 11:20:58 AM
Sweet. I'm going to check this one out. Thanks for bringing it up, Habitual Ritual.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on January 10, 2016, 12:16:58 PM
Pernoud has a newer book release on  St Joan now too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 10, 2016, 12:31:34 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on January 10, 2016, 11:14:39 AM
Militant and Triumphant: William Henry O'Connell and the Catholic Church in Boston 1859-1944 by James O'Toole. Very good.

Sounds good. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on January 17, 2016, 07:53:13 AM
Orthodoxy by G K Chesterton. (Read it 15 or so years ago too.)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 17, 2016, 08:12:11 AM
Willoughbyland: England's Lost Colony by Matthew Parker.It was in Guyana, roughly and worked well as a place for those poor English and Irish displaced from Barbados by African slaves (a monopoly of a company headed by Charles II and the Prince of Wales), although their terms of service were little different from slavery, but the time in bonded servitude was finite. Most failed colonies were failures from start to finish, but this prospered for a considerable time. It helped that the Navigation Act was not applied to it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on January 17, 2016, 09:51:03 AM
Doomsday Key by James Rollins. Light adventure fiction in the same vein as Clive Cussler stuff. Nice to take a break from heavier fare.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: INPEFESS on January 17, 2016, 12:23:39 PM
Heliotropium
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on January 17, 2016, 02:19:58 PM
Quote from: INPEFESS on January 17, 2016, 12:23:39 PM
Heliotropium

Interest blurb on that from 1918:

https://books.google.com/books?id=jKQEAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR6&lpg=PR6&dq=heliotropium+catholic&source=bl&ots=1kZ38AqioC&sig=1FxQOHcu2zPE6BKYL44kSkft5hk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3qOb60LHKAhUI1mMKHYQTBdYQ6AEIUzAP#v=onepage&q=heliotropium%20catholic&f=false
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 17, 2016, 05:35:24 PM
Just finished East of Eden this afternoon. Quite a fascinating read. Also read The Glass Castle. That book almost made me cry.

Time for Shakespeare!!! As You Like It and All's Well That Ends Well coming up.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on January 19, 2016, 06:28:40 PM
http://trueorfalsepope.com/articles/Feature%20-%20Fr%20Cekada%20Recognizes%20and%20Resists%20Pope%20Pius%20XII.pdf

An excerpt of True or False Pope by Salza and Siscoe.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 28, 2016, 05:52:54 AM
Black Robe on the Kennebec by Mary Calvert. The life and death of Fr. Sebastien Rale. Born in Pontarlier, France, he joined the Jesuits and was sent to Quebec as a missionary to the Indians. First among the Huron, later the Illinois, he finally was assigned to the Abenakis in central Maine.
He produced the first written dictionary of the Abenaki language. He was martyred along with about a hundred Indian men, women and children by English raiders in 1724.
People were incredibly tough in those days to endure Canadian/Maine winters without modern clothing. Starvation was common and to fall into the hands of enemy tribes meant being slowly tortured to death or burned alive. Many Jesuits were canonized for dying this way for the faith.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 28, 2016, 08:02:59 AM
The Egg and I as an audiobook. Even better when read aloud.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on January 28, 2016, 08:25:12 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on January 28, 2016, 05:52:54 AM
Black Robe on the Kennebec by Mary Calvert. The life and death of Fr. Sebastien Rale. Born in Pontarlier, France, he joined the Jesuits and was sent to Quebec as a missionary to the Indians. First among the Huron, later the Illinois, he finally was assigned to the Abenakis in central Maine.
He produced the first written dictionary of the Abenaki language. He was martyred along with about a hundred Indian men, women and children by English raiders in 1724.
People were incredibly tough in those days to endure Canadian/Maine winters without modern clothing. Starvation was common and to fall into the hands of enemy tribes meant being slowly tortured to death or burned alive. Many Jesuits were canonized for dying this way for the faith.

Sounds like an awesome book.

I still owe the Canadian Martyrs a pilgrimage to their shrine in Ontario. I promised them I would if we won gold in hockey during the 2010 Olympics. We did, so....

Their stories are really interesting and even though we're not "old world" like Europe it is nice to that our lands were "baptized", so to speak, with the blood of martyrs.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 28, 2016, 02:01:22 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on January 28, 2016, 08:25:12 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on January 28, 2016, 05:52:54 AM
Black Robe on the Kennebec by Mary Calvert. The life and death of Fr. Sebastien Rale. Born in Pontarlier, France, he joined the Jesuits and was sent to Quebec as a missionary to the Indians. First among the Huron, later the Illinois, he finally was assigned to the Abenakis in central Maine.
He produced the first written dictionary of the Abenaki language. He was martyred along with about a hundred Indian men, women and children by English raiders in 1724.
People were incredibly tough in those days to endure Canadian/Maine winters without modern clothing. Starvation was common and to fall into the hands of enemy tribes meant being slowly tortured to death or burned alive. Many Jesuits were canonized for dying this way for the faith.

Sounds like an awesome book.

I still owe the Canadian Martyrs a pilgrimage to their shrine in Ontario. I promised them I would if we won gold in hockey during the 2010 Olympics. We did, so....

Their stories are really interesting and even though we're not "old world" like Europe it is nice to that our lands were "baptized", so to speak, with the blood of martyrs.
If it were me, that's a promise I wouldn't leave unfulfilled. Just saying.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on January 28, 2016, 02:09:06 PM
I wont. I take my promises seriously...especially to Saints. But I dont get to Ontario often
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on January 28, 2016, 10:20:49 PM
Beautiful grounds at Martyrs' Shrine, but it's run by Jesuits so Mass there is...really Jesuit-y.  It's neat to see the relics of the martyrs though.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 03, 2016, 12:16:40 PM
My Childhood, by Maxim Gorky. So sad.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on February 03, 2016, 01:16:50 PM
Just finished "One Second After" by  William R. Forstchen.

It's about an EMP attack against the United States. It takes place in North Carolina. Out of 5 stars, I'd give it a 3.5. The dialog between the men and women is hokey and it gets pretty preachy.

But as a prepper study guide, it's full of good ideas. If we ever had an EMP attack launched against us, though, I'd want to go quickly. This was a depressing book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on February 04, 2016, 07:47:58 AM
Quote from: Lynne on February 03, 2016, 01:16:50 PM
Just finished "One Second After" by  William R. Forstchen.

It's about an EMP attack against the United States. It takes place in North Carolina. Out of 5 stars, I'd give it a 3.5. The dialog between the men and women is hokey and it gets pretty preachy.

But as a prepper study guide, it's full of good ideas. If we ever had an EMP attack launched against us, though, I'd want to go quickly. This was a depressing book.

I wasn't very impressed with the writing either. I thought James Wesley Rawles did a better job with his series, and much more info.

OSA had real potential, and there were great moments that showed it off, but the author just wasn't up to the challenge.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on February 04, 2016, 11:41:07 AM
The Wheel of Time - Book VI: Lord of Chaos (1994) by Robert Jordan
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 08, 2016, 06:14:28 AM
The latest from Anthony Beevor, Ardennes 1944: The Battle of the Bulge. All of Beevor's stuff is wonderful to read. An anecdote; Early in the winter
of '44 ,the relentless rains made tank movement nearly impossible. Patton called up the Third Army chaplain, James O'Neill and asked him for a prayer beseeching God to end the rains and grant them victory. O'Neill provided one and Patten had 250,000 copies printed and distributed to his men. The rains ended and Patton awarded O'Neill a Bronze Star for his effort. Can you imagine an American general doing that nowadays?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on February 08, 2016, 09:26:19 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on February 08, 2016, 06:14:28 AM
Early in the winter of '44 ,the relentless rains made tank movement nearly impossible. Patton called up the Third Army chaplain, James O'Neill and asked him for a prayer beseeching God to end the rains and grant them victory. O'Neill provided one and Patten had 250,000 copies printed and distributed to his men. The rains ended and Patton awarded O'Neill a Bronze Star for his effort.

This is fictionalized in the movie Patton and tied in to the relief of Bastogne where the chaplain is asked for the "weather prayer" because Third Army needed air cover to make it time to save 101st Airborne.  It's a very moving sequence as Patton reads the prayer in a voice-over while soldiers fight and die soundlessly.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on February 09, 2016, 12:15:29 AM
How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on February 09, 2016, 03:28:22 AM
Quote from: piabee on February 09, 2016, 12:15:29 AM
How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are

Step 1: no showers
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 09, 2016, 06:01:10 AM
Step 2: Keep nose in air.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on February 09, 2016, 06:54:16 AM
The Ottoman Endgame, Sean McMeekin. It's the Ottoman Empire and the Great War.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on February 09, 2016, 08:49:32 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on February 09, 2016, 06:54:16 AM
The Ottoman Endgame, Sean McMeekin. It's the Ottoman Empire and the Great War.

Sounds interesting. How is it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on February 09, 2016, 10:30:38 AM
Just a few chapters left in The Almost Nearly Perfect People.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on February 09, 2016, 12:36:36 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on February 09, 2016, 08:49:32 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on February 09, 2016, 06:54:16 AM
The Ottoman Endgame, Sean McMeekin. It's the Ottoman Empire and the Great War.

Sounds interesting. How is it?

Very interesting. It shows how the Ottomans and then Turks seemed through luck or the unscrupulous skill of certain leaders, and the stupidity of opponents to come back from the dead again and again. Yet Enver Pasha's lunacy of trying to conquer Turkic central Asia (taking advantage of the fall of the Russian Empire which seemed close to defeating the Ottomans) while there were barely the troops to defend Syria or even Rumelia and Istanbul, finished the Empire. It also covers the Armenian Genocide well. There were Armenians rebelling in collusion with Russia, but initial prudential deportations escalated wildly into something murderous. I'm now into the chapters on how Mustapha Kemal, the Ataturk gave the Turks a measure of dignity (at a well known cost though).
Title: Re: What are you reading right now?
Post by: misericonfit on February 21, 2016, 12:42:35 PM
Quote from: Archer on February 01, 2013, 12:35:41 AM
Self-explanatory.  I'm actually surprised we don't have this thread yet. 

I'm currently reading...

The Cure D'Ars: St. Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney, by Abbe Francois Trochu

Lord of Chaos: Book 6 of the Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan.
Wheel of Time vol. 1 - The Eye of the World, same author. Trochu's Life of St John Vianney is a good example of a thoroughly fascinating 600-page biography.

There are a good few books I would love to read, that may, perhaps, not yet exist - at least not in English: such as a detailed study of the Vulgate and its strengths and weaknesses.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 22, 2016, 06:07:18 AM
Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene. Not what I expected. Still a good read though.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 10, 2016, 06:29:13 AM
The Guillotine and the Cross by William Carroll.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: alicewyf on March 10, 2016, 11:17:45 AM
2/3 of the way through God Or Nothing by Cardinal Sarah. Lots to chew on so I'm going slow. Same with Elisabeth Leseur's diary. My husband and I are taking turns reading aloud to the kids from an anthology of short stories entitled Easter Stories at night. I think that's it for now. I have a stack about a foot high on my bedside table but those are the only ones that have been cracked as of yet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on March 10, 2016, 12:22:27 PM
Lenten reading: The Spiritual Combat by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli (1990, TAN)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on March 10, 2016, 06:31:19 PM
Quote from: alicewyf on March 10, 2016, 11:17:45 AM
2/3 of the way through God Or Nothing by Cardinal Sarah. Lots to chew on so I'm going slow. Same with Elisabeth Leseur's diary. My husband and I are taking turns reading aloud to the kids from an anthology of short stories entitled Easter Stories at night. I think that's it for now. I have a stack about a foot high on my bedside table but those are the only ones that have been cracked as of yet.

The Indult Parish (usually I hear Mass there) book stall has ordered more copies of Cardinal Sarah's book. I hope a Kindle sample is about.

I'm reading now The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History Peter H Wilson. He parses it thematically, from Reichstag, Electors, Chancellery, Religious Policy and so on.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on March 14, 2016, 12:41:56 AM
Just finished "island of the world".

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 14, 2016, 08:45:02 AM
Finished The Collected Letters of Saint Teresa of Avila, and finished linking the footnotes in The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila (someone scanned their copies and uploaded them to Archive.org  ;D ) to make them more kindle-friendly, so I guess that counts as reading. Still haven't found the story of the partridges (which I think is bunk, since St. Teresa specifically restricted the eating of meat in all of her foundations to medical necessity, so there's no way the whole community would have been feasting on them).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on March 14, 2016, 11:33:59 AM
A Tale of Two Cities.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spooky on March 20, 2016, 08:12:09 PM
I just re-discovered Agatha Christie, so I'm on a AG binge. Currently on "Ordeal by Innocence"
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on March 21, 2016, 02:46:53 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vippilot.com%2Fimg%2Fproduct%2FD190.jpg&hash=6048271513452009606dbbec9428dcb4f082b9bd)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on March 21, 2016, 06:33:53 AM
I'm halfway through Father William Doyle SJ by Professor Alfred O'Rahilly. I've been finding the information regarding his mortifications rather disturbing, but I'm not a saint!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on March 21, 2016, 09:39:02 AM
I've started reading Dante 's The Divine Comedy (the portable edition translated by Mark Musa)

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth on March 21, 2016, 11:38:26 AM
Quote from: Clare on March 21, 2016, 06:33:53 AM
I'm halfway through Father William Doyle SJ by Professor Alfred O'Rahilly. I've been finding the information regarding his mortifications rather disturbing, but I'm not a saint!
What did he do? 

One of the most cringe-worthy to me is the saint who lived in a bog being eaten alive by mosquitos for 6 months or something.  How did he not go stark raving mad?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 21, 2016, 12:50:04 PM
Quote from: Elizabeth on March 21, 2016, 11:38:26 AM
Quote from: Clare on March 21, 2016, 06:33:53 AM
I'm halfway through Father William Doyle SJ by Professor Alfred O'Rahilly. I've been finding the information regarding his mortifications rather disturbing, but I'm not a saint!

One of the most cringe-worthy to me is the saint who lived in a bog being eaten alive by mosquitos for 6 months or something.  How did he not go stark raving mad?

Did he get malaria?

St. Jean-Marie Vianney's mortifications were pretty extreme, from what I remember.   :o
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth on March 21, 2016, 07:35:53 PM
He was unrecognizable, swollen with bites.  Don't know if he got malaria but I know he suffered for sinners!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 31, 2016, 08:55:44 AM
Joan of Arc: A History by Helen Castor. The author did a good job of explaining the complex struggle between the factions of England, Burgundy and Armagnac. That alone took up the first two thirds of the book. Castor treated Joan fairly without an axe to grind either way.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on March 31, 2016, 09:04:07 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on March 31, 2016, 08:55:44 AM
Joan of Arc: A History by Helen Castor. The author did a good job of explaining the complex struggle between the factions of England, Burgundy and Armagnac. That alone took up the first two thirds of the book. Castor treated Joan fairly without an axe to grind either way.

I'll have to give that a read. I'm always wary of reading histories on her, given how she can be a polarizing figure.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 03, 2016, 10:46:23 PM
Little Dorrit
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on April 07, 2016, 08:20:36 AM
Quote from: Elizabeth on March 21, 2016, 11:38:26 AM
Quote from: Clare on March 21, 2016, 06:33:53 AM
I'm halfway through Father William Doyle SJ by Professor Alfred O'Rahilly. I've been finding the information regarding his mortifications rather disturbing, but I'm not a saint!
What did he do? 
...
Rather than trying to type examples out (my fingers aren't great at the moment!) I've taken a picture of a small paragraph which gives some idea:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on April 19, 2016, 09:23:40 PM
Finished Kristin Lavransdatter! There aren't many books that I strongly want to read over and over again, but this is one of the few. What a picture of medieval Christianity it painted, and what a character Kristin is! I can see how reading this book as a teenager is very different from reading it as a young mother, or as a widow, since Kristin faces all of those periods with different attitudes and amounts of grace. Like it or hate it, it's an interesting book.

Just started on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. So far it's like an American Lucy Maud Montgomery Litetm with a side of Catholicism. Mmm...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 19, 2016, 09:49:17 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on April 19, 2016, 09:23:40 PM

Just started on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. So far it's like an American Lucy Maud Montgomery Litetm with a side of Catholicism. Mmm...

One of my absolute favorite books. I love how it takes you right into the characters' lives- how you get to know everything about them: what they eat, what they do for fun, how they drink their coffee, etc.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on April 19, 2016, 10:45:18 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on April 19, 2016, 09:23:40 PM
Finished Kristin Lavransdatter! There aren't many books that I strongly want to read over and over again, but this is one of the few. What a picture of medieval Christianity it painted, and what a character Kristin is! I can see how reading this book as a teenager is very different from reading it as a young mother, or as a widow, since Kristin faces all of those periods with different attitudes and amounts of grace. Like it or hate it, it's an interesting book.

Just started on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. So far it's like an American Lucy Maud Montgomery Litetm with a side of Catholicism. Mmm...

Since you liked Kristin Lavransdatter I'll bet you would also like The Master of Hestviken: The Axe, The Snake Pit, In the Wilderness, The Son Avenger, also by Sigrid Undset.  (I originally read it all in one volume)

Truly great Catholic novels.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on April 19, 2016, 10:50:27 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 19, 2016, 09:49:17 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on April 19, 2016, 09:23:40 PM

Just started on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. So far it's like an American Lucy Maud Montgomery Litetm with a side of Catholicism. Mmm...

One of my absolute favorite books. I love how it takes you right into the characters' lives- how you get to know everything about them: what they eat, what they do for fun, how they drink their coffee, etc.

Be sure to see the movie, if you haven't already (1945) (IMDB rating 8.2).  When I hear the title I always think of the movie - one of my absolutely favorite movies.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 20, 2016, 04:56:04 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 19, 2016, 09:49:17 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on April 19, 2016, 09:23:40 PM

Just started on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. So far it's like an American Lucy Maud Montgomery Litetm with a side of Catholicism. Mmm...

One of my absolute favorite books. I love how it takes you right into the characters' lives- how you get to know everything about them: what they eat, what they do for fun, how they drink their coffee, etc.

I love that book, too.  And a second recommendation for the movie
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 22, 2016, 05:29:30 AM
My Life With Thomas Aquinas by Carol Robinson. A series of essays from Integrity Magazine written from  1946 to 1956 on applying Aquinas to
modern problems. From Angelus Press. Very good and still quite relevant.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on April 22, 2016, 05:51:53 AM
Ian Hughes, Patricians and Emperors: The Last Rulers of the Late Roman Empire, also Medieval Christianity: A New History, more slowly.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: alicewyf on April 22, 2016, 01:29:00 PM
I just read a book called Escape by Carolyn Jessop about her time in the FLDS. Such an evil cult of a religion. The book made me so angry.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on April 22, 2016, 03:13:13 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on April 22, 2016, 05:29:30 AM
My Life With Thomas Aquinas by Carol Robinson. A series of essays from Integrity Magazine written from  1946 to 1956 on applying Aquinas to
modern problems. From Angelus Press. Very good and still quite relevant.

I have this book.

I need to read it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on April 22, 2016, 03:18:15 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on April 22, 2016, 03:13:13 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on April 22, 2016, 05:29:30 AM
My Life With Thomas Aquinas by Carol Robinson. A series of essays from Integrity Magazine written from  1946 to 1956 on applying Aquinas to
modern problems. From Angelus Press. Very good and still quite relevant.

I have this book.

I need to read it.

Of course you do!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on April 22, 2016, 06:41:56 PM
Quote from: Lynne on April 22, 2016, 03:18:15 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on April 22, 2016, 03:13:13 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on April 22, 2016, 05:29:30 AM
My Life With Thomas Aquinas by Carol Robinson. A series of essays from Integrity Magazine written from  1946 to 1956 on applying Aquinas to
modern problems. From Angelus Press. Very good and still quite relevant.

I have this book.

I need to read it.

Of course you do!

:lol:

I'm working on stopping!  Honest!  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on April 26, 2016, 09:16:37 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on April 22, 2016, 05:29:30 AM
My Life With Thomas Aquinas by Carol Robinson. A series of essays from Integrity Magazine written from  1946 to 1956 on applying Aquinas to
modern problems. From Angelus Press. Very good and still quite relevant.
This sounds really good.
Finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I will be returning to that one in the years to come, for sure.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on April 26, 2016, 09:39:35 PM
Hounds of the Lord.  Got it from the local seminary library.  Great book so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: alicewyf on April 29, 2016, 02:31:21 PM
I'm afraid I might be opening a can of worms here, but has anyone read Spiritual Blackmail: My Journey Through A Catholic Cult by Sherri Schettler? Sounds interesting. About CMRI. Is there an alternate viewpoint available?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on April 29, 2016, 03:32:38 PM
King of Kings: The Triumph and Tragedy of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia by Asfa-Wossen Asserate. His great grandmother was Empress of Ethiopia and his great grandfather Ras Kassa arguably had a stronger claim than Ras Tafari having two lines of relevant descent, not just the Shoan Solomonic line, but also descent from the Gondarine-Lasta line of earlier Emperors. His father was the chief advisor the Emperor. Although written by a Prince of the Imperial House, it has the detachment of the analyst and scholar he has been for years. He identifies neatly an element of the patriotic-Resistance forces were severely alienated after the Italians were ejected, and that this alienation was passed down to the children, and was possibly the nemesis of the Imperial House.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on April 29, 2016, 04:07:39 PM
The Divine Office: How to say it devoutly, how to make it a pleasure
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 29, 2016, 04:08:35 PM
Quote from: alicewyf on April 29, 2016, 02:31:21 PM
I'm afraid I might be opening a can of worms here, but has anyone read Spiritual Blackmail: My Journey Through A Catholic Cult by Sherri Schettler? Sounds interesting. About CMRI. Is there an alternate viewpoint available?
I read that the author was a lesbian. Did she address that in her book?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: alicewyf on April 29, 2016, 11:52:35 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on April 29, 2016, 04:08:35 PM
I read that the author was a lesbian. Did she address that in her book?

I am not sure. I haven't read it yet. I think I might get it through my library so I'm not giving this lady money if I think she has questionable motives for writing the book. I don't know much about CMRI though, other than what I've read online. I don't like to read just one side of things, especially Catholic related issues. I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for a book about CMRI.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on April 30, 2016, 01:45:37 AM
EWTN: A Network Gone Wrong. I was inspired to read it after Mother Angelica's death. I had tried reading it years ago but lost interest because of the first part of the book. The first part explains why V2 was problematic using the arguments with which I was already very well familiar. I should have stuck it out. The later parts are very interesting.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 02, 2016, 08:53:31 PM
Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers, by Ralph Moody. I absolutely love this book. :) Such a heartwarming, moral story.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on May 03, 2016, 09:34:30 AM
Quote from: alicewyf on April 29, 2016, 11:52:35 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on April 29, 2016, 04:08:35 PM
I read that the author was a lesbian. Did she address that in her book?

I am not sure. I haven't read it yet. I think I might get it through my library so I'm not giving this lady money if I think she has questionable motives for writing the book. I don't know much about CMRI though, other than what I've read online. I don't like to read just one side of things, especially Catholic related issues. I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for a book about CMRI.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22798281-spiritual-blackmail

http://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Blackmail-Journey-Through-Catholic-ebook/dp/B00KXL17XK

Reading of some reviews, it looks the sort of book that people hostile to Tradition read to buttress their view that it is hive of lunatics. Other reviews are more focussed in her experience in this book. Bishop Francis Schuckardt appears to have a notable part in the book, but he was ousted in 1984. Not a book I'd read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on May 03, 2016, 10:31:24 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 02, 2016, 08:53:31 PM
Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers, by Ralph Moody. I absolutely love this book. :) Such a heartwarming, moral story.

You're not the first person I've heard this from.....I've been wanting to get this for our family library.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on May 06, 2016, 02:28:15 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on April 22, 2016, 03:13:13 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on April 22, 2016, 05:29:30 AM
My Life With Thomas Aquinas by Carol Robinson. A series of essays from Integrity Magazine written from  1946 to 1956 on applying Aquinas to
modern problems. From Angelus Press. Very good and still quite relevant.

I have this book.

I need to read it.
I recommend it too. I read it a few years ago, and intend to read it again before long.

Meanwhile, I've just started on Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 07, 2016, 07:44:34 AM
Finishing the Paradiso
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 09, 2016, 12:58:00 PM
Inside Out: A True Nun's Story by Sister Ann Edward O.P.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth on May 09, 2016, 03:09:19 PM
Quote from: alicewyf on April 29, 2016, 02:31:21 PM
I'm afraid I might be opening a can of worms here, but has anyone read Spiritual Blackmail: My Journey Through A Catholic Cult by Sherri Schettler? Sounds interesting. About CMRI. Is there an alternate viewpoint available?

There used to be a forum of survivors from the bad old days of Schuckhardt...it used to be horrible there, but oddly, I couldn't help but think that their harsh penances had "payed off", because they were just lovely, really humble Catholics.  No ugliness of a type which infects some forums.   Reading that forum (and Sherri sounds like a member of it) really helped me in the time of doubt when we were in a rival of the CMRI cult.

I thought they had completely cleaned up their act.

I can't figure out how to download a free PDF copy. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Fleur-de-Lys on May 09, 2016, 03:38:33 PM
Quote from: alicewyf on April 29, 2016, 02:31:21 PM
I'm afraid I might be opening a can of worms here, but has anyone read Spiritual Blackmail: My Journey Through A Catholic Cult by Sherri Schettler? Sounds interesting. About CMRI. Is there an alternate viewpoint available?

Oh... This is concerning. My family is going to be moving soon, and the CMRI is one of our only options for the TLM. I don't know anything about them, but at first glance they looked very orthodox. Any information would be appreciated.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Fleur-de-Lys on May 09, 2016, 03:40:58 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on May 09, 2016, 03:38:33 PM
Quote from: alicewyf on April 29, 2016, 02:31:21 PM
I'm afraid I might be opening a can of worms here, but has anyone read Spiritual Blackmail: My Journey Through A Catholic Cult by Sherri Schettler? Sounds interesting. About CMRI. Is there an alternate viewpoint available?

Oh... This is concerning. My family is going to be moving soon, and the CMRI is one of our only options for the TLM. I don't know anything about them, but at first glance they looked very orthodox. Any information would be appreciated.

I should probably start another thread rather than derail this one. Sorry!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on May 09, 2016, 03:42:16 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on May 09, 2016, 03:40:58 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on May 09, 2016, 03:38:33 PM
Quote from: alicewyf on April 29, 2016, 02:31:21 PM
I'm afraid I might be opening a can of worms here, but has anyone read Spiritual Blackmail: My Journey Through A Catholic Cult by Sherri Schettler? Sounds interesting. About CMRI. Is there an alternate viewpoint available?

Oh... This is concerning. My family is going to be moving soon, and the CMRI is one of our only options for the TLM. I don't know anything about them, but at first glance they looked very orthodox. Any information would be appreciated.

I should probably start another thread rather than derail this one. Sorry!

From what I understand, CMRI purged the Schuckhardtian scourge pretty extensively.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Fleur-de-Lys on May 09, 2016, 03:48:00 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on May 09, 2016, 03:42:16 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on May 09, 2016, 03:40:58 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on May 09, 2016, 03:38:33 PM
Quote from: alicewyf on April 29, 2016, 02:31:21 PM
I'm afraid I might be opening a can of worms here, but has anyone read Spiritual Blackmail: My Journey Through A Catholic Cult by Sherri Schettler? Sounds interesting. About CMRI. Is there an alternate viewpoint available?

Oh... This is concerning. My family is going to be moving soon, and the CMRI is one of our only options for the TLM. I don't know anything about them, but at first glance they looked very orthodox. Any information would be appreciated.

I should probably start another thread rather than derail this one. Sorry!

From what I understand, CMRI purged the Schuckhardtian scourge pretty extensively.

So this is an isolated event that shouldn't be a problem elsewhere?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on May 09, 2016, 04:21:21 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on May 09, 2016, 03:48:00 PM

So this is an isolated event that shouldn't be a problem elsewhere?

As far as I know, yes.  But, I have never associated with CMRI folks, except for online. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on May 10, 2016, 08:58:33 PM
Been reading off and on (and currently reading) The Book of Sainte Foy, trans. Pamela Sheingorn.

Also, just finished reading Bodies Like Bright Stars: Saints and Relics in Orthodox Russia, by Robert H. Greene.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 10, 2016, 09:51:59 PM
Around the World in 80 Days. First time. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on May 15, 2016, 03:27:53 PM
Belgarath the Sorcerer by David Eddings (1995).

His books immediately preceding the one above were just awful, but a trad friend of mine recommended this anyway (while acknowledging the suckiness of Eddings' other books; with that in mind, I'm giving this one a chance.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on May 15, 2016, 03:28:42 PM
The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett (1929)

I usually read two fiction books at once.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 15, 2016, 05:38:48 PM
More of Ralph Moody's Little Britches series. I'm amazed at his maturity at the age of 12-13. Seriously, I've seen less in grown men. Definitely a good example for young boys! 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on May 16, 2016, 07:04:40 PM
The Life of the Virgin, attributed to Maximus the Confessor, early 7th c., trans. Stephen Shoemaker (whose course on late Eastern Christianity course I took once).

Earliest complete biography of the Virgin Mary and the first translation into English from Old Georgian (autograph ms. being in Greek, now lost).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 17, 2016, 03:42:30 AM
Quote from: Machaut1377 on May 16, 2016, 07:04:40 PM
The Life of the Virgin, attributed to Maximus the Confessor, early 7th c., trans. Stephen Shoemaker (whose course on late Eastern Christianity course I took once).

Earliest complete biography of the Virgin Mary and the first translation into English from Old Georgian (autograph ms. being in Greek, now lost).

Where did you get this? ETA: Never mind, I found it (on Amazon)!  ::)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on May 17, 2016, 06:15:22 PM
Quote from: Lynne on May 17, 2016, 03:42:30 AM
Quote from: Machaut1377 on May 16, 2016, 07:04:40 PM
The Life of the Virgin, attributed to Maximus the Confessor, early 7th c., trans. Stephen Shoemaker (whose course on late Eastern Christianity course I took once).

Earliest complete biography of the Virgin Mary and the first translation into English from Old Georgian (autograph ms. being in Greek, now lost).

Where did you get this? ETA: Never mind, I found it (on Amazon)!  ::)

haha, that's where I got my copy too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 21, 2016, 08:00:04 AM
I just finished Call the Midwife. Gah.  :o  I wasn't expecting graphic descriptions of prostitution and illegal abortions. I feel like I need brain bleach.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 21, 2016, 01:01:09 PM
Empire: The Life Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes by Donald Barlett. Very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 22, 2016, 09:17:36 PM
Just read Screwtape for the first time. Trying to figure out what to read next.
Just picked up A Handful of Dust.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on May 23, 2016, 07:09:59 PM
Screwtape is amazing. I should re-read it.

Currently reading Thrifty:  Living the Frugal Life with Style by Marjorie Harris.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on May 24, 2016, 12:37:17 AM
My Life With Thomas Aquinas, by Carol Robinson. I read it about five years ago too. Still good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on May 25, 2016, 03:28:06 PM
Bede's "A History of the English Church and People," (trans. Sherley-Price)

Also, making my way through "Zur Diskussion: A Modern Approach to German Conversation," by Dieter and Ingrid Sevin.

Ever so often I read a story from Grimm's Fairy tales (in German, it's good and fun practice) and from the "Original Bayerische Volksmarchen: Ausgewahlte Schonwert-Geschichten"
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on May 28, 2016, 11:03:35 AM
How to be Tudor by Ruth Goodman
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 28, 2016, 12:12:22 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on May 28, 2016, 11:03:35 AM
How to be Tudor by Ruth Goodman

Do you like it? I loved How to be a Victorian. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on May 28, 2016, 03:16:30 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 28, 2016, 12:12:22 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on May 28, 2016, 11:03:35 AM
How to be Tudor by Ruth Goodman

Do you like it? I loved How to be a Victorian. :)

So far, yes.  I"m not very far into it.  If  you liked the other one, I think you'd like this one.  I'm a sucker for the Tudor period, though 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 05, 2016, 12:16:22 PM
John Le Carre The Biography by Adam Sisman. Very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 05, 2016, 02:37:59 PM
St Thomas Aquinas (Chesterton)

Commentarii Bello Gallico
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on June 13, 2016, 03:07:15 AM
The Four Loves, C S Lewis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 21, 2016, 04:55:26 AM
The Scotch-Irish: A Social History by James Leyburn.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 21, 2016, 09:29:07 AM
Getting ready to start Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I know absolutely nothing about it, other than what I just saw on the movie trailer via Youtube.

Edit: Can't do it. So boring and contrived. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on June 22, 2016, 09:08:09 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 21, 2016, 04:55:26 AM
The Scotch-Irish: A Social History by James Leyburn.

How is it, what do you think of it?

Is it more on the academic scholarly side or is it more of a popular history?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on June 22, 2016, 09:10:09 PM
The civil war in the west: victory and defeat from the appalachians to the mississippi
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 23, 2016, 04:44:39 AM
Quote from: Machaut1377 on June 22, 2016, 09:08:09 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 21, 2016, 04:55:26 AM
The Scotch-Irish: A Social History by James Leyburn.

How is it, what do you think of it?

Is it more on the academic scholarly side or is it more of a popular history?
Popular. Easy to read. Pretty thorough from Scotland to Ulster to America with an emphasis on the Mid-Atlantic states. Strictly Lowland Scots,
quite different from Highland culture.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on June 23, 2016, 08:29:43 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 23, 2016, 04:44:39 AM
Quote from: Machaut1377 on June 22, 2016, 09:08:09 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 21, 2016, 04:55:26 AM
The Scotch-Irish: A Social History by James Leyburn.

How is it, what do you think of it?

Is it more on the academic scholarly side or is it more of a popular history?
Popular. Easy to read. Pretty thorough from Scotland to Ulster to America with an emphasis on the Mid-Atlantic states. Strictly Lowland Scots,
quite different from Highland culture.

Thanks.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on June 24, 2016, 06:42:45 AM
LAST STAND OF FOX COMPANY...not currently, but a favorite! One of my favorites. Highly recommend it!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on June 26, 2016, 02:42:12 PM
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on June 26, 2016, 04:38:58 PM
Work of Human Hands, Rev. Anthony Cekada.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Fleur-de-Lys on June 28, 2016, 11:48:15 AM
I've just ordered Jean Raspail's Le camp des saints. I'm reading it in the original French, but there is an English version available, The Camp of the Saints. It looks like a fascinating and strangely prophetic book. From a review on Amazon:

QuoteThis book is so politically incorrect that I admire Amazon.com for actually carrying it. Written in the early 1970s, this book looks beyond the cold war to a North-South confrontation in which European civilization is unilaterally morally disarmed. The thesis is simple: suppose a million starving people from the Ganges actually took Western rhetoric of compassion, explotiation, etc., to heart, and comandeered, en masse, shipping, with the intention of moving to the shores of France? (Raspail, of course, is French.) Would anyone stop them? The imagery employed is interesting. The title comes from Revelation, Chapter 20, and refers to the forces of evil laying seige to the camp of the saints, here meant to be the nations of the West. "The thousand years are over..." is chanted from Third World lips, harking to the millenial reign of Christ, as well as to the millenial domination of Europe over the globe. Raspail has the Vatican, World Council of Churches, and other organs of what he saw as Western liberal compassion try to feed the Armada, as it sails around the Cape. The bodies of their would-be benefactors are cast into the sea. The characters who oppose, with violence, the Armada are named with names like Constantine Drasages and Luke Notaras, namesakes of the last Byzantine Emperor and Admiral. They are portrayed as villans in the media; one of the more thoughtful leftists, fashionably in support of opening up France's shores, but cynical enough to see the potential results, reflects on the parallels between Byzantium's fate and that of the West. The author's point is that any who dare to say that 'white' civilization has a right to exist are branded racists and cast out of the pale of polite society. The narrative is set up as a flashback. The Armada is about to disgorge its human cargo in Provence as we begin. An old man, M. Calgues, awaits them, Mozart playing in the background, after setting what he expects to be his last supper among the living. From there, we go back to the beginning, in India, as a Western cleric preaches quasi-liberation theology to the masses. Along the way, as the news spreads over the world, we digress, looking at Manhattenites holing up in skyscrapers as the spectre of race riots beckon, and at Russian troops on the Manchurian border contemplating the human waves gathering to wash over them. The central question of the book is this: will the West (including Russia - more properly, the North), when (not if) confronted with de facto occupation of national territories by Third World people, coming to live, but not to assimilate, use violence to save itself? Is there left in Euro-American civilization a will to live that is strong enough to pull a trigger? The stark question is answered in one of two possible ways by the concluding chapter. This astringent book, whether you agree with Raspail's views or not, demands thoughtful attention to the questions posed. How will we deal with population/immagration issues? Is our culture and way of life worth fighting for? -Lloyd A. Conway
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 29, 2016, 05:11:54 AM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on June 28, 2016, 11:48:15 AM
I've just ordered Jean Raspail's Le camp des saints. I'm reading it in the original French, but there is an English version available, The Camp of the Saints. It looks like a fascinating and strangely prophetic book. From a review on Amazon:

QuoteThis book is so politically incorrect that I admire Amazon.com for actually carrying it. Written in the early 1970s, this book looks beyond the cold war to a North-South confrontation in which European civilization is unilaterally morally disarmed. The thesis is simple: suppose a million starving people from the Ganges actually took Western rhetoric of compassion, explotiation, etc., to heart, and comandeered, en masse, shipping, with the intention of moving to the shores of France? (Raspail, of course, is French.) Would anyone stop them? The imagery employed is interesting. The title comes from Revelation, Chapter 20, and refers to the forces of evil laying seige to the camp of the saints, here meant to be the nations of the West. "The thousand years are over..." is chanted from Third World lips, harking to the millenial reign of Christ, as well as to the millenial domination of Europe over the globe. Raspail has the Vatican, World Council of Churches, and other organs of what he saw as Western liberal compassion try to feed the Armada, as it sails around the Cape. The bodies of their would-be benefactors are cast into the sea. The characters who oppose, with violence, the Armada are named with names like Constantine Drasages and Luke Notaras, namesakes of the last Byzantine Emperor and Admiral. They are portrayed as villans in the media; one of the more thoughtful leftists, fashionably in support of opening up France's shores, but cynical enough to see the potential results, reflects on the parallels between Byzantium's fate and that of the West. The author's point is that any who dare to say that 'white' civilization has a right to exist are branded racists and cast out of the pale of polite society. The narrative is set up as a flashback. The Armada is about to disgorge its human cargo in Provence as we begin. An old man, M. Calgues, awaits them, Mozart playing in the background, after setting what he expects to be his last supper among the living. From there, we go back to the beginning, in India, as a Western cleric preaches quasi-liberation theology to the masses. Along the way, as the news spreads over the world, we digress, looking at Manhattenites holing up in skyscrapers as the spectre of race riots beckon, and at Russian troops on the Manchurian border contemplating the human waves gathering to wash over them. The central question of the book is this: will the West (including Russia - more properly, the North), when (not if) confronted with de facto occupation of national territories by Third World people, coming to live, but not to assimilate, use violence to save itself? Is there left in Euro-American civilization a will to live that is strong enough to pull a trigger? The stark question is answered in one of two possible ways by the concluding chapter. This astringent book, whether you agree with Raspail's views or not, demands thoughtful attention to the questions posed. How will we deal with population/immagration issues? Is our culture and way of life worth fighting for? -Lloyd A. Conway
In the days before Amazon the only way to get a coy of this was from the reading list of National Alliance, a group also founded by Bill Pierce.
At the time it was believed that purchasing it and other titles like Turner Diaries would get you put on a government list. They were quietly
handed around among people you trusted. Things sure have changed.
And those Russian troops on the Manchurian border? They were the only ones with the guts to do what needed to be done.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 05, 2016, 12:52:06 AM
Journey to the Baobab Tree, by Krys Latham

QuoteA true story of courage, endurance and love. 'Hauntingly beautiful and compelling'. This is the true story of two children's epic journey from Eastern Poland to Siberia, their escape to Persia and finally to Africa during World War Two. Alinka's family lived in a small river town in Eastern Poland where her father was chief of police. Witek's father was a forest keeper in the remote forest regions bordering Russia. When the war began in September 1939, the Soviets, allied for the first two years of the war with the Nazis, invaded Eastern Poland and brutally deported over one and a half million Polish people in cattle trucks to the far ends of the Soviet Union. Alinka and Witek, both ten years old at the time, were among those taken. A million died in the deportations. Against all odds, Witek and Alinka, in different parts of the Soviet Union, survived and escaped. They meet for the first time in Africa under a Baobab Tree....
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 05, 2016, 03:58:01 PM
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 Fort Sumpter to Perryville, by Shelby Foote. Accessible and interesting.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on July 06, 2016, 08:50:07 AM
Yesterday I read Wild by Cheryl Strayed.  It is a first person account of Cheryl's trip up the Pacific Crest Trail through California and Oregon interspersed with stories from Cheryl's life up to that point.

An interesting book. Always fun to read about liberals seeking meaning in their lives by flailing about and eventually finding something that Christians have known for 2,000 years (the pilgrimage, finding one's own Calvary, self-flagellation, etc.).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on July 06, 2016, 09:44:11 AM
Augustus: the Biography, Jochen Bleicken. Excellent book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 06, 2016, 01:01:27 PM
The Sacred Monster of Thomism, an intro to the life of Garrigou-Lagrange.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 06, 2016, 03:14:29 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 06, 2016, 01:01:27 PMThe Sacred Monster of Thomism, an intro to the life of Garrigou-Lagrange.

:o

Excellent title.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 06, 2016, 03:44:54 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 06, 2016, 03:14:29 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 06, 2016, 01:01:27 PMThe Sacred Monster of Thomism, an intro to the life of Garrigou-Lagrange.

:o

Excellent title.

The first bit is taken from maritains epithet reference to the saintly theologian.  The second bit of the title is longer, but I am lazy.  :)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 06, 2016, 04:48:53 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on July 06, 2016, 03:44:54 PMThe first bit is taken from maritains epithet reference to the saintly theologian.  The second bit of the title is longer, but I am lazy.

The second bit is worthless to me.  But "The Sacred Monster of Thomism" is excellent.  I didn't know it came from Maritain.  Great title.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on July 06, 2016, 07:25:17 PM
:)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 07, 2016, 04:51:41 AM
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on July 07, 2016, 07:04:57 AM
St. Lydwine by Thomas A. Kempis.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeT on July 08, 2016, 06:34:25 AM
Quote from: Carleendiane on July 07, 2016, 07:04:57 AM
St. Lydwine by Thomas A. Kempis.

I read the one published bu TAN. I forget who wrote it. It summarizes all of her biographies into one book including Thomas A Kempis'. It was really great. Although the beginning was a little tedious. Alright, we get it, the world was bad!

I am now reading The Golden Legend. So many great stories in one book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 08, 2016, 07:21:37 AM
Quote from: GeorgeT on July 08, 2016, 06:34:25 AM
Quote from: Carleendiane on July 07, 2016, 07:04:57 AM
St. Lydwine by Thomas A. Kempis.

I am now reading The Golden Legend. So many great stories in one book.

I really need to read that. I downloaded it years ago.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 08, 2016, 03:29:30 PM
Road to Tara - bio of Margaret Mitchell.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 08, 2016, 05:44:39 PM
Dorian
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 08, 2016, 08:33:49 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on July 08, 2016, 03:29:30 PM
Road to Tara - bio of Margaret Mitchell.

Oh, I have that! I should read it again.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on July 09, 2016, 07:49:21 AM
The Dain Curse (1929) by Dashiell Hammett
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 09, 2016, 10:13:11 AM
A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter Miller.

I've read it twice before. Interesting book, written shortly before V2 and set well into the future, with no hint of V2 having happened! He didn't foresee that!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on July 09, 2016, 06:17:27 PM
THE END of the present world....and the mysteries of the future life.By Father Charles Arminjon.

This was read by St. Therese. She claimed  it to be "one of the greatest graces of my life."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 10, 2016, 01:19:29 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on July 09, 2016, 06:17:27 PM
THE END of the present world....and the mysteries of the future life.By Father Charles Arminjon.

This was read by St. Therese. She claimed  it to be "one of the greatest graces of my life."

Awesome! Did you download it from here? :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on July 10, 2016, 04:28:27 PM
Bernedette, someone gave me a copy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 10, 2016, 05:06:42 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on July 10, 2016, 04:28:27 PM
Bernedette, someone gave me a copy.

Lucky! It's excellent!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Machaut1377 on July 22, 2016, 07:46:09 PM
A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of East European Germans, by Alfred-Maurice de Zayas.

A rather sobering book on the fate of millions of ethnic germans living in east european countries at the end of world war ii. Told mostly through first hand accounts it ranges from being raped multiple times, cruxifixions (stripping women naked and nailing them to barn doors was a favorite in Poland), strafing ice to weaken it when german refugees were crossing over it, death camps in the old Yugoslavia, and deportations to Russia as "reparations in kind." 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on July 22, 2016, 08:05:25 PM
The BFG
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 22, 2016, 08:21:18 PM
Beverly Cleary's autobiography, A Girl From Yamhill. I first read it when I was a kid, living in Oregon myself. I don't like the new cover.  :(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 23, 2016, 10:35:05 AM
The Edge of the Empire. A Journey to Britannia: From the Heart of Rome to Hadrian's Wall by Bronwen Riley
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 25, 2016, 08:26:47 PM
About to finish, A Confederacy of Dunces
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on July 31, 2016, 02:50:41 PM
Just finished reading The Inimitable Jeeves. Very funny!

Now reading Why I Became A Catholic by Cardinal Manning.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 31, 2016, 03:12:59 PM
The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. I just discovered this, after thinking that I'd read all of them. So sad to know that there really aren't any more. :(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 31, 2016, 03:13:27 PM
About to finish The Man who was Thursday
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 31, 2016, 03:42:22 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 10, 2016, 01:19:29 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on July 09, 2016, 06:17:27 PM
THE END of the present world....and the mysteries of the future life.By Father Charles Arminjon.

This was read by St. Therese. She claimed  it to be "one of the greatest graces of my life."

Awesome! Did you download it from here? :)

Where can I download it from?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on July 31, 2016, 03:47:57 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 31, 2016, 03:12:59 PM
The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. I just discovered this, after thinking that I'd read all of them. So sad to know that there really aren't any more. :(

Yes!  :(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 31, 2016, 03:54:54 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on July 31, 2016, 03:42:22 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 10, 2016, 01:19:29 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on July 09, 2016, 06:17:27 PM
THE END of the present world....and the mysteries of the future life.By Father Charles Arminjon.

This was read by St. Therese. She claimed  it to be "one of the greatest graces of my life."

Awesome! Did you download it from here? :)

Where can I download it from?

http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=12546.msg272111#msg272111 (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=12546.msg272111#msg272111)  :toth: It was really good. I just wish I was able to internalize it, the way St. Thérèse did.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 31, 2016, 04:55:11 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 31, 2016, 03:54:54 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on July 31, 2016, 03:42:22 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 10, 2016, 01:19:29 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on July 09, 2016, 06:17:27 PM
THE END of the present world....and the mysteries of the future life.By Father Charles Arminjon.

This was read by St. Therese. She claimed  it to be "one of the greatest graces of my life."

Awesome! Did you download it from here? :)

Where can I download it from?

http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=12546.msg272111#msg272111 (http://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=12546.msg272111#msg272111)  :toth: It was really good. I just wish I was able to internalize it, the way St. Thérèse did.
Thanks B!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Graham on August 01, 2016, 10:19:07 AM
What is Art? and Other Essays on Art by Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy and Ruskin are the most sensible and sensitive authors on art I've run across.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 01, 2016, 11:13:44 PM
A Cánticle for Leibowitz
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 04, 2016, 08:25:53 PM
The Sun Also Rises
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 05, 2016, 03:42:27 PM
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Not impressed.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on August 05, 2016, 08:10:49 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on August 05, 2016, 03:42:27 PM
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Not impressed.

Hmmmm....on the waiting list for that from the library
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on August 05, 2016, 11:03:39 PM
Quote from: Clare on July 31, 2016, 02:50:41 PM
Just finished reading The Inimitable Jeeves. Very funny!

I'm a PG Wodehouse/ Jeeves & Wooster addict ... I think I've read most of them. I haven't seen many of the videos, just the books. I think they are hilarious.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on August 06, 2016, 02:22:04 AM
Quote from: Non Nobis on August 05, 2016, 11:03:39 PM
Quote from: Clare on July 31, 2016, 02:50:41 PM
Just finished reading The Inimitable Jeeves. Very funny!
I'm a PG Wodehouse/ Jeeves & Wooster addict ... I think I've read most of them. I haven't seen many of the videos, just the books. I think they are hilarious.
The Fry & Laurie series is really good. Quite a few liberties are taken with the stories, but it's still hilarious.

I'm now reading The Everlasting Man, by G K Chesterton.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 08, 2016, 04:14:13 AM
Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence by Lauro Martines.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 08, 2016, 09:50:59 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on August 08, 2016, 04:14:13 AM
Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence by Lauro Martines.
This sounds interesting.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on August 08, 2016, 10:10:41 PM
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1929, 1930)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 08, 2016, 11:24:24 PM
The Violent Bear It Away
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 09, 2016, 05:51:08 AM
Right now I'm trying to finish a number of books I started over the last year or so.  Little catechism of cute dars, soul of apostolate, the council in question.  Then to finish some memoirs by a dominican missionary in western Wisconsin.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 13, 2016, 08:11:32 AM
A Handful of Dust
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on August 15, 2016, 07:09:00 PM
168 Hours:  You have more time than you think by Laura Vanderkam
Arms of Love by Carmen Marcoux
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on August 26, 2016, 06:30:14 PM
Not currently, so maybe this doesn't count. But Fr. Hardon had 1 fiction book on his lifetime reading list. It was The Betrothed, but I can't remember the author. Alessandro somebody. I also love the Count of Monte Cristo. Another favorite book was Jeremiah Dentons, When He'll was in Session. Denton is a Catholic who was held in a Vietnam prison camp, the Hanoi Hilton. He served as a U S senator. The book Endurance, another favorite. It was a story of survival in the North Pole in the early 19 hundreds, with photographs. Makes the guy who cut his arm off  when caught between two boulders, seem like a baby. Though surely he wasnt.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 26, 2016, 06:37:15 PM
Alessandro Manzoni?

https://www.amazon.com/Betrothed-I-Promessi-Sposi-ebook/dp/B0030F2T5G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1472258162&sr=1-1&keywords=I+Promessi+Sposi (https://www.amazon.com/Betrothed-I-Promessi-Sposi-ebook/dp/B0030F2T5G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1472258162&sr=1-1&keywords=I+Promessi+Sposi)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on August 26, 2016, 06:39:10 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on August 26, 2016, 06:37:15 PM
Alessandro Manzoni?

https://www.amazon.com/Betrothed-I-Promessi-Sposi-ebook/dp/B0030F2T5G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1472258162&sr=1-1&keywords=I+Promessi+Sposi (https://www.amazon.com/Betrothed-I-Promessi-Sposi-ebook/dp/B0030F2T5G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1472258162&sr=1-1&keywords=I+Promessi+Sposi)

I believe you are right, my dear little librarian.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 26, 2016, 06:47:19 PM
You might enjoy Fr. Hugh Thwaites' "War Memoirs of an Amateur", available as audio from Proecclesia.com.

Part 1: http://www.proecclesia.com/talk_HTWarMem1.mp3 (http://www.proecclesia.com/talk_HTWarMem1.mp3)

Part 2: http://www.proecclesia.com/talk_HTWarMem2.mp3 (http://www.proecclesia.com/talk_HTWarMem2.mp3)

It details his time in a Japanese POW camp during the war. I especially liked the part about the priest who used to come and visit the camp to bring the Sacraments to the prisoners.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spera In Deo on August 26, 2016, 09:19:21 PM
The Human Body in Health and Disease.

ONe of the last 2 classes I need for Nursing Pre-requisites.  Clinicals, here I come!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on August 26, 2016, 09:24:19 PM
Quote from: Spera In Deo on August 26, 2016, 09:19:21 PM
The Human Body in Health and Disease.

ONe of the last 2 classes I need for Nursing Pre-requisites.  Clinicals, here I come!
do we need an "is nursing worth it" thread to celebrate
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 26, 2016, 09:43:32 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on August 26, 2016, 09:24:19 PM
Quote from: Spera In Deo on August 26, 2016, 09:19:21 PM
The Human Body in Health and Disease.

ONe of the last 2 classes I need for Nursing Pre-requisites.  Clinicals, here I come!
do we need an "is nursing worth it" thread to celebrate

"They're gonna die anyways, so forget 'em!"

:lol:

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spera In Deo on August 26, 2016, 11:09:47 PM
Quote from: Chestertonian on August 26, 2016, 09:24:19 PM
Quote from: Spera In Deo on August 26, 2016, 09:19:21 PM
The Human Body in Health and Disease.

ONe of the last 2 classes I need for Nursing Pre-requisites.  Clinicals, here I come!
do we need an "is nursing worth it" thread to celebrate

:lol:  No.  I have worked in a nursing home for the last 2 & 1/2 years.  I know what I am getting into, the hours, the stress, about what it pays.

Ask any nurse.  They don't do it for the money.  They do it to care for others.  I miss my peeps from my other job.  I love my residents and any nurse worth her salt does too.

They don't last long with all the stresses of the profession if they don't.  I might & oughta shoot some of these kids that go straight from high school to nursing school without ever having worked or volunteered in a clinical setting because nursing is a stable profession with decent money.  Most of those don't make it through, but some do and they make crummy nurses.  You shouldn't be allowed in nursing school without a year as a CNA or hospital or nursing home volunteer.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on August 27, 2016, 12:45:21 AM
Attempt #28,384 at The Brothers Karamazov. Here's hoping I actually finish it.
Also reading The Spirituality of the Christian East by Tomas Cardinal Spidlik
Also, also reading A Manual of Practical Devotion to St Joseph
And for proper spiritual reading I'm reading Humility of Heart by Bergamo (as recommended by Fr Ripperger)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 27, 2016, 05:47:29 AM
Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life by Eve MacDonald.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on August 27, 2016, 06:31:45 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on August 27, 2016, 12:45:21 AM
Attempt #28,384 at The Brothers Karamazov. Here's hoping I actually finish it.
Also reading The Spirituality of the Christian East by Tomas Cardinal Spidlik
Also, also reading A Manual of Practical Devotion to St Joseph
And for proper spiritual reading I'm reading Humility of Heart by Bergamo (as recommended by Fr Ripperger)

I thought Humility of Heart was by Fr. Catejan.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 27, 2016, 09:17:40 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on August 27, 2016, 12:45:21 AM
Attempt #28,384 at The Brothers Karamazov. Here's hoping I actually finish it.

I'm telling you right now: spare yourself. I can't remember any other book (among the classics) that made me more disgusted with the baseness of human nature.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on August 27, 2016, 10:42:54 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on August 27, 2016, 12:45:21 AM
Attempt #28,384 at The Brothers Karamazov. Here's hoping I actually finish it.

I have owned Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov for years, but haven't yet cracked into them, so props to you, man.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 27, 2016, 11:24:57 AM
Quote from: zork on August 27, 2016, 10:42:54 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on August 27, 2016, 12:45:21 AM
Attempt #28,384 at The Brothers Karamazov. Here's hoping I actually finish it.

I have owned Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov for years, but haven't yet cracked into them, so props to you, man.

I have yet to make it through either the Audible or the Kindle edition of War and Peace. The really sad part is, I find myself giving up earlier and earlier each time!  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 27, 2016, 12:20:50 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on August 27, 2016, 06:31:45 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on August 27, 2016, 12:45:21 AM
Attempt #28,384 at The Brothers Karamazov. Here's hoping I actually finish it.
Also reading The Spirituality of the Christian East by Tomas Cardinal Spidlik
Also, also reading A Manual of Practical Devotion to St Joseph
And for proper spiritual reading I'm reading Humility of Heart by Bergamo (as recommended by Fr Ripperger)

I thought Humility of Heart was by Fr. Catejan.

It is! 

Humility of Heart by Rev. Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo

:lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Chestertonian on August 27, 2016, 03:08:01 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on August 27, 2016, 11:24:57 AM
Quote from: zork on August 27, 2016, 10:42:54 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on August 27, 2016, 12:45:21 AM
Attempt #28,384 at The Brothers Karamazov. Here's hoping I actually finish it.

I have owned Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov for years, but haven't yet cracked into them, so props to you, man.

I have yet to make it through either the Audible or the Kindle edition of War and Peace. The really sad part is, I find myself giving up earlier and earlier each time!  :lol:
how far did you get

the first few hundred pages are the hardest because he is laying out the characters and setting the scene...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 27, 2016, 03:12:34 PM
The first time (years ago), I got as far as one of the soldiers going home on leave. I think it was Prince Andrei. They were riding in a wagon? That's all I remember. It hadn't snowed yet.  :shrug:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on August 27, 2016, 03:21:55 PM
Jane Eyre
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on September 01, 2016, 08:18:40 PM
Read John Rao, Black Legends. Business as usual and keeping up the status quo throughout history.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on September 01, 2016, 09:26:28 PM
The Scarlet Letter. To ensure that I write study questions demanding a close reading. Sparknotes proof.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sagradocorazon on September 02, 2016, 04:47:57 PM
True Crime by Andrew Klavan

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on September 02, 2016, 05:58:51 PM
The Kingdom of God is Within You, by Leo Tolstoy

(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F_KXLNTmtvfTE%2FTQ_M_RokwaI%2FAAAAAAAAD5A%2FhC1m-kL-xfM%2Fs400%2Ftolstoi%252B2.jpg&hash=5c58e836d7a6d0fc2450d559d03ff1322bdbc836)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on September 05, 2016, 08:47:46 PM
The Wheel of Time 7: Crown of Swords (1996)
Title: Re: What are currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on September 06, 2016, 02:59:35 PM
Working my way through the Betsy Tacy books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on September 06, 2016, 06:11:01 PM
Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993) a short story collection by Stephen King
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 06, 2016, 11:33:21 PM
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. I love its tone. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 07, 2016, 10:34:59 AM
The Libellus by Bl Jordan of Saxony. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 08, 2016, 05:29:36 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 06, 2016, 11:33:21 PM
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. I love its tone. :)
I tried to read this. Seemed quite promising at the start. I kept waiting and waiting for something to happen. After about 300 pages I gave up.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on September 08, 2016, 08:25:38 AM
The Barbarian Bible by Ianto Watt.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 08, 2016, 10:05:03 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 08, 2016, 05:29:36 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 06, 2016, 11:33:21 PM
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. I love its tone. :)
I tried to read this. Seemed quite promising at the start. I kept waiting and waiting for something to happen. After about 300 pages I gave up.

Yes, the reviews that I read mentioned that it was slow. But I watched the miniseries on Netflix, so I know something happens eventually.  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on September 09, 2016, 01:48:54 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mqup.ca%2Ffilebin%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2Fzoom%2F9780773533714.jpg&hash=46c570bec3c58f601673c61b52f3b104fa600195)

Quote
The Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution

The Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution challenges a version of history central to modern Quebec's understanding of itself: that the Quiet Revolution began in the 1960s as a secular vision of state and society which rapidly displaced an obsolete, clericalized Catholicism. Michael Gauvreau argues that organizations such as Catholic youth movements played a central role in formulating the Catholic ideology underlying the Quiet Revolution and that ordinary Quebecers experienced the Quiet Revolution primarily through a series of transformations in the expression of their Catholic identity.

Providing a new understanding of Catholicism's place in twentieth-century Quebec, Gauvreau reveals that Catholicism was not only increasingly dominated by the priorities of laypeople but was also the central force in Quebec's cultural transformation.. He makes it clear that from the 1930s to the 1960s the Church espoused a particularly radical understanding of modernity, especially in the areas of youth, gender identities, marriage, and family.

Basically, far as I can tell, the author is trying to argue that the Quiet Revolution in Quebec was caused by Catholicism itself, rather than a victorious "over throw" from seculars....in that sense Quebec is a microcosm of the entire Church and the modernity that befell it. I just picked up this book from the library (been wanting to read it for forever) and I can't wait to get into it. My Quebec roots are where I got my Faith from and it's such a bloody shame Quebec has turned her back on her heritage.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on September 09, 2016, 03:36:11 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on September 09, 2016, 01:48:54 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mqup.ca%2Ffilebin%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2Fzoom%2F9780773533714.jpg&hash=46c570bec3c58f601673c61b52f3b104fa600195)

Quote
The Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution

The Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution challenges a version of history central to modern Quebec's understanding of itself: that the Quiet Revolution began in the 1960s as a secular vision of state and society which rapidly displaced an obsolete, clericalized Catholicism. Michael Gauvreau argues that organizations such as Catholic youth movements played a central role in formulating the Catholic ideology underlying the Quiet Revolution and that ordinary Quebecers experienced the Quiet Revolution primarily through a series of transformations in the expression of their Catholic identity.

Providing a new understanding of Catholicism's place in twentieth-century Quebec, Gauvreau reveals that Catholicism was not only increasingly dominated by the priorities of laypeople but was also the central force in Quebec's cultural transformation.. He makes it clear that from the 1930s to the 1960s the Church espoused a particularly radical understanding of modernity, especially in the areas of youth, gender identities, marriage, and family.

Basically, far as I can tell, the author is trying to argue that the Quiet Revolution in Quebec was caused by Catholicism itself, rather than a victorious "over throw" from seculars....in that sense Quebec is a microcosm of the entire Church and the modernity that befell it. I just picked up this book from the library (been wanting to read it for forever) and I can't wait to get into it. My Quebec roots are where I got my Faith from and it's such a bloody shame Quebec has turned her back on her heritage.

Sounds sad but interesting. I'm of French Canadian descent, my great-grandfather came down from Granby, Quebec.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on September 09, 2016, 05:59:49 AM
The Collects of the Roman Missals, Dr Lauren Pistras.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Optatus on September 09, 2016, 08:10:09 PM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on September 09, 2016, 01:48:54 AM
Basically, far as I can tell, the author is trying to argue that the Quiet Revolution in Quebec was caused by Catholicism itself, rather than a victorious "over throw" from seculars....in that sense Quebec is a microcosm of the entire Church and the modernity that befell it.

That seems to be the usual explanation you get from the Québécois, even many of those who remain Catholic. This idea is, IMO, typically Marxist. It is, in fact, an idea communicated by Marx himself when he argued that the Church exists primarily to protect and insulate the unjust system of the bourgeoisie by pacifying the masses and indoctrinating them with Catholic virtues like patient suffering. Simply exchange the word "bourgeoisie" for "Anglo" in this case. This is to say only, if it's even necessary at all to say, that the turncoat Catholics behind the Quiet Revolution were essentially carnal. They remind me in some respects of the early Protestants of the Reformation and also of the Jews in Christ's time. They didn't like the message they were receiving so they rebelled.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 12, 2016, 04:45:46 AM
The latest from Bill Bryson, The Road to Little Dribbling. Like all of his stuff, an excellent read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 12, 2016, 10:21:27 AM
The Little Sister
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on September 12, 2016, 12:25:46 PM
Spiritual Friendship by Aelred of Rievaulx
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 13, 2016, 01:38:39 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on September 09, 2016, 05:59:49 AM
The Collects of the Roman Missals, Dr Lauren Pistras.

I want to read this

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 13, 2016, 01:39:18 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on September 09, 2016, 01:48:54 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mqup.ca%2Ffilebin%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2Fzoom%2F9780773533714.jpg&hash=46c570bec3c58f601673c61b52f3b104fa600195)

Quote
The Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution

The Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution challenges a version of history central to modern Quebec's understanding of itself: that the Quiet Revolution began in the 1960s as a secular vision of state and society which rapidly displaced an obsolete, clericalized Catholicism. Michael Gauvreau argues that organizations such as Catholic youth movements played a central role in formulating the Catholic ideology underlying the Quiet Revolution and that ordinary Quebecers experienced the Quiet Revolution primarily through a series of transformations in the expression of their Catholic identity.

Providing a new understanding of Catholicism's place in twentieth-century Quebec, Gauvreau reveals that Catholicism was not only increasingly dominated by the priorities of laypeople but was also the central force in Quebec's cultural transformation.. He makes it clear that from the 1930s to the 1960s the Church espoused a particularly radical understanding of modernity, especially in the areas of youth, gender identities, marriage, and family.

Basically, far as I can tell, the author is trying to argue that the Quiet Revolution in Quebec was caused by Catholicism itself, rather than a victorious "over throw" from seculars....in that sense Quebec is a microcosm of the entire Church and the modernity that befell it. I just picked up this book from the library (been wanting to read it for forever) and I can't wait to get into it. My Quebec roots are where I got my Faith from and it's such a bloody shame Quebec has turned her back on her heritage.

Sounds very interesting.  You'll have to give us a summary and if it's worth reading!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 13, 2016, 09:28:55 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on September 13, 2016, 01:38:39 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on September 09, 2016, 05:59:49 AM
The Collects of the Roman Missals, Dr Lauren Pistras.

I want to read this

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Only $17.04 on Amazon, and doesn't take up any shelf space! Like you need encouragement. ;) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTTFYAU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTTFYAU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)  I'd read it, but I don't want to be more depressed/enraged about my current Mass than I already am.  :'(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on September 14, 2016, 04:38:02 AM
Anna Karenina
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 14, 2016, 11:06:30 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 13, 2016, 09:28:55 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on September 13, 2016, 01:38:39 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on September 09, 2016, 05:59:49 AM
The Collects of the Roman Missals, Dr Lauren Pistras.

I want to read this

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Only $17.04 on Amazon, and doesn't take up any shelf space! Like you need encouragement. ;) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTTFYAU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTTFYAU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)  I'd read it, but I don't want to be more depressed/enraged about my current Mass than I already am.  :'(

Ha.  My issue now is saving money...  ;)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on September 25, 2016, 11:35:24 AM
End of Watch by Stephen King (2016)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 25, 2016, 02:37:25 PM
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 29, 2016, 06:13:12 PM
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Can't believe it's been all these years!  :o
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on September 30, 2016, 10:17:42 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 29, 2016, 06:13:12 PM
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Can't believe it's been all these years!  :o

That one is next on my list -I've been working my way through the series.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on October 03, 2016, 12:19:44 AM
The Devil in the White City.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on October 03, 2016, 12:28:40 AM
Quote from: piabee on October 03, 2016, 12:19:44 AM
The Devil in the White City.

Good book.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on October 03, 2016, 10:52:50 AM
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (1928)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: abc123 on October 03, 2016, 03:48:40 PM
Trinity by Leon Uris
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 03, 2016, 06:11:40 PM
everything at hand but trying to focus on The Samurai and read all of my back issues of CFnews
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 13, 2016, 12:43:49 PM
My Life with the Saints by James Martin, SJ
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 13, 2016, 05:19:13 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 13, 2016, 12:43:49 PM
My Life with the Saints by James Martin, SJ
James Martin is a liberal
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 13, 2016, 05:45:46 PM
The House of Arden, by Edith Nesbit.  ;D My absolute favorite of her books, closely followed by Harding's Luck and The Wonderful Garden.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on October 13, 2016, 05:50:56 PM
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 14, 2016, 04:27:32 AM
Quote from: martin88nyc on October 13, 2016, 05:19:13 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 13, 2016, 12:43:49 PM
My Life with the Saints by James Martin, SJ
James Martin is a liberal
Indeed. And the book was filled with Jesuitical nonsense.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on October 14, 2016, 07:31:44 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 14, 2016, 04:27:32 AM
Quote from: martin88nyc on October 13, 2016, 05:19:13 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 13, 2016, 12:43:49 PM
My Life with the Saints by James Martin, SJ
James Martin is a liberal
Indeed. And the book was filled with Jesuitical nonsense.

God bless you! I couldn't read that. I hope you borrowed it from the library.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 15, 2016, 06:18:48 PM
Starting The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco tonight.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 15, 2016, 07:26:32 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on October 15, 2016, 06:18:48 PM
Starting The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco tonight.
Is the movie version similar to the book? Does it follow the plot closely?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on October 15, 2016, 08:03:14 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on October 15, 2016, 07:26:32 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on October 15, 2016, 06:18:48 PM
Starting The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco tonight.
Is the movie version similar to the book? Does it follow the plot closely?

Eh...  The same basic plot, but not major details and the conclusion.

Christina, The Name of the Rose is worth a read, but can be hard to get through if you're not committed.  Good luck.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 23, 2016, 08:38:13 AM
Just picked up this:

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Iu4lV18gL._AC_US240_FMwebp_QL65_.jpg)

https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts-ebook/dp/B00INIXLPW/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477233379&sr=8-1&keywords=napoleon+a+life+by+andrew+roberts (https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts-ebook/dp/B00INIXLPW/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477233379&sr=8-1&keywords=napoleon+a+life+by+andrew+roberts)

which I've wanted ever since it came out. On sale for $2.99 today, so too good to pass up.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 26, 2016, 03:41:46 PM
Cheaper by the Dozen.  :rofl:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on October 26, 2016, 05:18:54 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 23, 2016, 08:38:13 AM
Just picked up this:

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Iu4lV18gL._AC_US240_FMwebp_QL65_.jpg)

https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts-ebook/dp/B00INIXLPW/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477233379&sr=8-1&keywords=napoleon+a+life+by+andrew+roberts (https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts-ebook/dp/B00INIXLPW/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477233379&sr=8-1&keywords=napoleon+a+life+by+andrew+roberts)

which I've wanted ever since it came out. On sale for $2.99 today, so too good to pass up.

I think Andrew Roberts is over positive towards this destroyer of ancient kingdoms, duchies and abbacies.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 27, 2016, 08:41:11 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 26, 2016, 03:41:46 PM
Cheaper by the Dozen.  :rofl:

Like that one, too

The original movie with Clifton Web and Myrna Loy is great.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ABlaine on October 27, 2016, 10:29:50 AM
Finishing War and and La Chute, beginning Augustine's Confessions right now. My grandmother sent me Hundrearingen Som Klatret Ut Gjennom Vinduet Og Forsvant, not really sure how I am going to find time for all of this...

I guess I can finally give up Reddit or something for good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on October 29, 2016, 08:58:23 AM
Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 29, 2016, 07:58:49 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on October 27, 2016, 08:41:11 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 26, 2016, 03:41:46 PM
Cheaper by the Dozen.  :rofl:

Like that one, too

The original movie with Clifton Web and Myrna Loy is great.

Now it's The Egg and I (again). Somehow, even with all of the sarcasm and hyperbole, it always makes me want to live on a farm somewhere. :) But not in Oregon.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 31, 2016, 05:18:22 AM
The Christian Century in Japan 1549-1650 by C.R.Boxer. A fascinating read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 31, 2016, 09:47:19 AM
Story of American Catholicism by Theodore Maynard
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: piabee on October 31, 2016, 11:21:03 PM
My friend lent me the first Poldark book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 17, 2016, 05:55:22 AM
Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander. The author spent 7 days in a coma due to bacterial meningitis and had a profound Near Death Experience.
Alexander is an experienced neurosurgeon and his account is thought provoking.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 17, 2016, 09:48:19 AM
Getting ready to start Hillaire Belloc's Cautionary Verses. https://archive.org/details/hilairebellocsc00bell (https://archive.org/details/hilairebellocsc00bell) I've read ordinary children's moral literature, so I'm looking forward to this...quirky variety. ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on November 19, 2016, 11:50:02 PM
The Man Who Was Thursday by good ol' Chesterton.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on November 20, 2016, 10:38:15 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 17, 2016, 05:55:22 AM
Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander. The author spent 7 days in a coma due to bacterial meningitis and had a profound Near Death Experience.
Alexander is an experienced neurosurgeon and his account is thought provoking.
My neighbor ,just yesterday, read me a poem from this book. His friend died a couple of days ago and he wants to read it at the wake.
PS: Are his, the author's, experiences in line with true doctrine? I mean there are many book on this subject but most of them are just sappy protestant "babble".
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 21, 2016, 09:52:49 AM
Quote from: martin88nyc on November 20, 2016, 10:38:15 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 17, 2016, 05:55:22 AM
Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander. The author spent 7 days in a coma due to bacterial meningitis and had a profound Near Death Experience.
Alexander is an experienced neurosurgeon and his account is thought provoking.
My neighbor ,just yesterday, read me a poem from this book. His friend died a couple of days ago and he wants to read it at the wake.
PS: Are his, the author's, experiences in line with true doctrine? I mean there are many book on this subject but most of them are just sappy protestant "babble".
When it comes to doctrine, I'm the last person to ask.  Before his experience, the author was a tepid Episcopalian. The book was recommended to me by my RCIA instructor years ago but I recently came across a free copy. The writer didn't seem to be a kook.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on November 21, 2016, 10:57:23 AM
Charles D Stanton, Medieval Maritime Warfare.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 04, 2016, 03:56:21 AM
The Mosque of Notre Dame by Elena Chudinova. This is the book that has been advertised on The Remnant. I was disappointed. It was choppy and uneven. How much was due to it's being translated, I don't know, but it made it hard to read. The idea of French Catholics rebelling against their muslim overlords was intriguing but I disagreed with their solution.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on December 04, 2016, 09:10:46 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on December 04, 2016, 03:56:21 AM
The Mosque of Notre Dame by Elena Chudinova. This is the book that has been advertised on The Remnant. I was disappointed. It was choppy and uneven. How much was due to it's being translated, I don't know, but it made it hard to read. The idea of French Catholics rebelling against their muslim overlords was intriguing but I disagreed with their solution.

That's a disappointment. I might check reviews. It sounds like something which will get reviews based on whether the reviewers agree with the author, rather than agreeing whether it is good or bad art. Bad translation ruins something, and bad translation can be very formally correct, but it reads badly. Every other Italian written or translated book in English might be perfectly grammatical, but the idiom is wrong. Would it be a spoiler to ask the solution?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 04, 2016, 11:22:17 AM
I think it would. PM on the way.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Karasu on December 04, 2016, 12:44:36 PM
Introduction to the Devout Life. Hopefully it will easy my conscience, than I'll stop being a nuisance here.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on December 04, 2016, 01:05:21 PM
Quote from: Karasu on December 04, 2016, 12:44:36 PM
Introduction to the Devout Life. Hopefully it will easy my conscience, than I'll stop being a nuisance here.

I find the stuff interesting. It's an insight into the thought process of a convert. That book is very cheap on the Kindle too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 04, 2016, 01:17:54 PM
Quote from: Karasu on December 04, 2016, 12:44:36 PM
Introduction to the Devout Life. Hopefully it will easy my conscience, than I'll stop being a nuisance here.

It's a really good book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on December 07, 2016, 06:06:13 PM
Quote from: Karasu on December 04, 2016, 12:44:36 PM
Introduction to the Devout Life. Hopefully it will easy my conscience, than I'll stop being a nuisance here.
What a coincidence! I'm just starting on that one myself.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 07, 2016, 06:18:26 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on December 04, 2016, 01:05:21 PM
Quote from: Karasu on December 04, 2016, 12:44:36 PM
Introduction to the Devout Life. Hopefully it will easy my conscience, than I'll stop being a nuisance here.

I find the stuff interesting. It's an insight into the thought process of a convert. That book is very cheap on the Kindle too.

Also free here: https://archive.org/details/anintroductiont00salegoog (https://archive.org/details/anintroductiont00salegoog)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on December 08, 2016, 02:09:45 AM
War is a Racket, General Smedley Butler.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ABlaine on December 08, 2016, 02:40:09 AM
Still working through War and Peace, in between 'books' of War and Peace I read Stevenson's The New Arabian Nights as well as The Imitation of Christ (no other book makes me realize what an awful Catholic I am like this book, kind of depressing).

I'm VERY slowly working through Ovid's Ars Amatoria and I just ordered Lucian's The Ass with a running commentary.

Lastly, I am getting close to finishing Marvaux's Le Peitit Maître Corrigé (going to see it next friday) and still working on Maupassant's Bel-Ami

I miss college, studying a job was much more fun than working.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on December 08, 2016, 06:51:31 AM
Quote from: ABlaine on December 08, 2016, 02:40:09 AM

I miss college, studying a job was much more fun than working.

lol Depends on the job. First few years out of college, one is learning the ropes. You'll have fun someday. What field are you in?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ResRev on December 08, 2016, 07:41:54 AM
Quote from: Christina_S on December 07, 2016, 06:06:13 PM
Quote from: Karasu on December 04, 2016, 12:44:36 PM
Introduction to the Devout Life. Hopefully it will easy my conscience, than I'll stop being a nuisance here.
What a coincidence! I'm just starting on that one myself.
Reading it right now, too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 17, 2016, 05:48:52 AM
The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton. I read this about 15-20 years ago before I became Catholic. Thought I would reread it with fresh eyes.
It was like reading a completely different book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on December 17, 2016, 07:42:56 AM
Roger Scruton - Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left. A must read for those that want to understand the motives of progressives in media, culture and academia
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on December 17, 2016, 08:30:01 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on December 17, 2016, 05:48:52 AM
The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton. I read this about 15-20 years ago before I became Catholic. Thought I would reread it with fresh eyes.
It was like reading a completely different book.

I had that same experience a few years ago. Re-read it for the first time in 20 years. So much had gone past me the first time. Like the fact that he was a member of a communist cell just before he discovered his "vocation." He tries to play it off as youthful hijinks, but he provides enough details for the interested reader to realize that he was serious. When you think "Who were these men described by Bella Dodd?" it's clear that Merton must have been one of them.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on December 17, 2016, 08:57:41 AM
Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom by Peter J Leihart. The Anglican author writes in defence of an emperor revered by EO as a saint, making a particular target of historians and polemicists who created this 'Constantinian Church' or 'Constantinian Shift' as popularised by the Memmonite writer John H Yoder. He shows Constantine the Great as a sincere Christian who tried his best to let Church councils (say over Donatism) rather than Imperial fiat govern it. I learned of it from the usually reliable Tradition in Act (http://www.traditioninaction.org) (let down a bit by highlighting some impossible letters of +Guerard des Lauriers OP which had +Marcel Lefebvre celebrating the New Mass before a missal for it existed).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on December 18, 2016, 05:42:18 PM
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 20, 2016, 09:30:26 PM
Two really great books: "Pope Pius IX The Man and the Myth" very well written and documented; dispelling the myth of Pius IX once belonging to freemasonry (TIA); that he was once a liberal; that he entered the priesthood because he has unlucky in love or that he was rejected by the Papal guard. Probably more myths as I get more into the book.
https://www.amazon.com/Pope-Pius-IX-Man-Myth/dp/1892331314/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482289151&sr=1-1&keywords=Pius+Ix+the+Man++and+the+Myth
The one I just finished: "Firebrand, the Life of Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey SS.CC" by Marcel Boquet. A very interesting life of this apostle of the enthronement of the Sacred Heart; the Kingship of Christ, the sanctification of the Clergy and of home and family life through the Home Enthronement and the holy hour of reparation in the home. A tireless missionary that went all over Europe, America and the Far East preaching the love of the Sacred Heart everywhere.
https://www.amazon.com/firebrand-Father-Mateo-Crawley-Boevey-SS-CC/dp/B0006BO72U/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1478453445&sr=1-1&keywords=Firebrand%2C+Marcel+Bocquet%2C+SS.CC
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on December 21, 2016, 10:36:17 AM
Jesus: Our Eucharistic Love by Fr. Stefano Manelli

Cure d'Ars by Francis Trochu
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on December 30, 2016, 08:15:50 PM
Silence

Sh?saku End?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 31, 2016, 05:08:36 AM
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 31, 2016, 01:24:44 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on December 17, 2016, 05:48:52 AM
The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton. I read this about 15-20 years ago before I became Catholic. Thought I would reread it with fresh eyes.
It was like reading a completely different book.

There's no way I could handle reading that book again. Absolutely no way.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: zork on January 03, 2017, 04:11:57 PM
Finally starting The Complete Father Brown Stories by GK Chesterton
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 03, 2017, 06:16:40 PM
Quote from: zork on January 03, 2017, 04:11:57 PM
Finally starting The Complete Father Brown Stories by GK Chesterton

Those need to go back onto my to-read list!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 03, 2017, 06:17:24 PM
Medieval Maritime Warfare, Charles D Stanton, and soon will start No Parachute: a classic account of war in the air in WWI, sort of inspired by Battlefield: One and Rise of Flight United.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on January 04, 2017, 04:51:17 AM
A Grief Observed - C S Lewis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 04, 2017, 08:41:25 AM
Quote from: clau clau on January 04, 2017, 04:51:17 AM
A Grief Observed - C S Lewis

Oh, man, I read that years ago during a really depressing period of my life. I should have taken notes: it would have been fascinating to have a record of my reactions and thoughts from that time, in that emotional state.  :tinfoil: :leaving: I've always been terrified of the thought of reading it again (which is good, since now I have first-hand experience and don't need to read about that kind of grief in books in an attempt to understand it.)

Oh, um, I also bought myself a $.99 kindle edition of the original, unabridged version of Mrs. Beeton's Guide to Household Management.  :whistling: :knit: It's like the "real" How to Be a Victorian!  ;D But no, I'm not reading it for suggestions on how to run a house!  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 07, 2017, 01:54:00 PM
Finishing up "A Tale of Two Cities" and then re-reading "The Four Loves" by CS Lewis.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 07, 2017, 04:18:24 PM
Intending to read 'The Illiad'
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 07, 2017, 07:03:53 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on January 07, 2017, 04:18:24 PM
Intending to read 'The Illiad'
It's worth it. Best of luck to you.
I first read "The Iliad" when I was 14...homeschoolers. sheesh  ::)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 07, 2017, 07:04:29 PM
Too busy translating the Aeneid.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 12, 2017, 10:06:47 AM
Vanity Fair. For the first time. I love the tone!  ;D

Edit: I'm not loving Becky Sharp, to say the least. So much like Scarlett O'Hara!  :o  >Shudder.<
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 13, 2017, 04:48:06 AM
Desire and Deception, Charles A Coulombe. Near the start he recounts how when it was first published under a pseudonym, a diocesan official sent an effusive letter in red ink, all caps, to try and lure the author to a meeting in order to expose him. Mr Coulombe sent the letter to the bookshop, so his book would have a positive comment on the catalogue. The official in great annoyance rang the bookshop, and finally, the lady who took the call suggested the official (who hadn't paid on time for advertising) should advise them when he is lying.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OCLittleFlower on January 13, 2017, 01:14:51 PM
Fiction: Twenty-eight and a half wishes (it's a mystery with paranormal elements)

Non-fiction: The Fate of the Romanovs.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 14, 2017, 08:58:38 AM
Christifideles Laici by St. John Paull II

Also, finished A Tale of Two Cities on Monday. What a terrific plot!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on January 14, 2017, 11:00:32 AM
Grand Orient Freemasonry unmasked, as the secret power behind Communism by Dillon with preface by Denis Fahey.
Don't know why but books on freemasonry fascinate me. Not that I find it attractive in any way but it's good to know the intentions of the enemies of the Church.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 15, 2017, 03:19:46 PM
The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages by Norman Cohn.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on January 23, 2017, 04:24:15 AM
One Day in August: The Untold Story Behind Canada's Tragedy at Dieppe by David O'Keefe
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 23, 2017, 08:16:33 AM
Wheelock's Latin, chapter XXIII:  Participles  :leaving:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 24, 2017, 11:43:45 AM
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography, by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pamela Smith Hill. Fascinating. I love annotated books. I wish all of the "working correspondence" between Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane could be published. I'd love to see exactly how the series evolved.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 24, 2017, 03:09:15 PM
Henry IV of France: His Reign and Age, Vincent J Pitts.

Bought it years ago, never read it.

Paris vaut bien une Messe
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on January 24, 2017, 10:22:47 PM
Stocker's Dracula and Decline and Fall by Waugh
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on January 26, 2017, 02:52:57 PM
Drinking with the Saints: A Sinner's Guide to a Holy Happy Hour  by Michael P. Foley

A Christmas gift from our son  :cheeseheadbeer:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on January 26, 2017, 05:29:13 PM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on January 26, 2017, 02:52:57 PM
Drinking with the Saints: A Sinner's Guide to a Holy Happy Hour  by Michael P. Foley

A Christmas gift from our son  :cheeseheadbeer:

That's an awesome book eh? It's really well put together and there's a ton of stuff in it. You could get pretty plastered testing out all the cocktails if you're not careful.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on January 26, 2017, 09:27:38 PM
QuoteYou could get pretty plastered testing out all the cocktails if you're not careful.

But I'm of Irish heritage.  Donegal, no less!
It really is a nice little fun book, with very clever drink analogies, and good saintly information. 

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 01, 2017, 04:10:50 AM
Charlemagne, Father of a Continent by Alessandro Barbero.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 03, 2017, 02:32:45 PM
Pollyanna. I'm enjoying it a lot more this time around. :) There's a lot of "making the best of things," and "giving people the benefit of the doubt about why they act a certain way, instead of interpreting their actions in a bad light and getting upset." And it shows how much people can misunderstand each other, by just judging from appearances. Basically a guide for optimists having to deal with pessimists. Most admirable.  :thumbsup:

Edit: Fluffy and Buffy...and Jimmy!  :rofl:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on February 03, 2017, 05:54:45 PM
Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes, Charles A Coulombe.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Boccaccio on February 07, 2017, 07:45:29 PM
Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on February 07, 2017, 11:44:24 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on February 03, 2017, 05:54:45 PM
Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes, Charles A Coulombe.

I got that from the library today - can't wait to read it
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on February 07, 2017, 11:44:53 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on February 01, 2017, 04:10:50 AM
Charlemagne, Father of a Continent by Alessandro Barbero.

Good?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 08, 2017, 12:03:23 AM
I just received an incredible HAUL from my RedditGifts Book Exchange Santa, so I'm getting ready to start Sigrid Undset's Happy Times in Norway.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 08, 2017, 04:19:58 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on February 07, 2017, 11:44:53 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on February 01, 2017, 04:10:50 AM
Charlemagne, Father of a Continent by Alessandro Barbero.

Good?
It was OK.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on February 09, 2017, 11:08:13 PM
Just started Dracula the Un-dead after finishing Stoker's Dracula today. This was one of the best books I've ever read. I would've never even thought that Dracula book could portray Christian symbolism so powerfully. I am glad I've read this book.  :)
   The sequel was written by Bram Stoker's great grand-nephew Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. The book begins with a letter by Mina Harper to her son and Seward tracking down Elizabeth Báthory.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 11, 2017, 11:16:03 AM
Not I, by Joachim Fest. Surprising!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 13, 2017, 04:52:08 PM
Lost Voices of the Edwardians: 1901–1910 in Their Own Words, by Max Arthur. Just the sort of book that I like: little anecdotes about daily life during the period, covering a range of subjects.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on February 13, 2017, 04:55:50 PM
I just started reading The Lord of the Rings. Question: I have never read any Tolkien before. Would vos advise me to stop reading The Lord of the Rings until after I've read The Hobbit? Not sure why I chose to read it out of order, but I'm not that far into it yet, so it's not too late for me to turn back...

I'm also reading A Map of Life (my former spiritual director told me to read it a while back). I started it months ago but kind of stopped halfway through, but started reading it again a few days ago. It's a good book. (Something between catechesis and spiritual reading.)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 13, 2017, 05:03:16 PM
I read and enjoyed The Lord of the Rings without ever reading The Hobbit.  :shrug:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Stella Maris on February 13, 2017, 05:07:17 PM
Quote from: Daniel on February 13, 2017, 04:55:50 PM
I just started reading The Lord of the Rings. Question: I have never read any Tolkien before. Would vos advise me to stop reading The Lord of the Rings until after I've read The Hobbit? Not sure why I chose to read it out of order, but I'm not that far into it yet, so it's not too late for me to turn back...

That's how I read them. It seemed more epic to begin in medias res.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on February 13, 2017, 05:14:18 PM
Quote from: Daniel on February 13, 2017, 04:55:50 PM
I just started reading The Lord of the Rings. Question: I have never read any Tolkien before. Would vos advise me to stop reading The Lord of the Rings until after I've read The Hobbit? Not sure why I chose to read it out of order, but I'm not that far into it yet, so it's not too late for me to turn back...

I'm also reading A Map of Life (my former spiritual director told me to read it a while back). I started it months ago but kind of stopped halfway through, but started reading it again a few days ago. It's a good book. (Something between catechesis and spiritual reading.)

I'm about half way through Return of the King for the umpteenth time.    I read the Hobbit after LOTR, but I tend to do things kinda backward anyway.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Akavit on February 13, 2017, 09:43:38 PM
It doesn't really matter whether The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings is read first.  Both are worthwhile as stand-alone stories and don't require knowledge of the other.  Now I definitely do not recommend any attempt to read The Simarillion until after finishing the others.  Even then, it's only worth reading if you really, really want to fill in some of the plot holes in the Lord of the Rings.  That book is terribly dull.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on February 13, 2017, 11:50:06 PM
LOTR audiobook for fweeeee
http://www.mediafire.com/folder/cjjdiknzeieol,6jmo2c5q9vbll,jdmyib22aeqpm/shared
PS:  :beer: I know I know  8)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on February 14, 2017, 09:05:32 AM
The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 14, 2017, 09:16:17 AM
Quote from: Clare on February 14, 2017, 09:05:32 AM
The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky

First time, or rereading?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on February 14, 2017, 11:35:15 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on February 14, 2017, 09:16:17 AM
Quote from: Clare on February 14, 2017, 09:05:32 AM
The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky

First time, or rereading?

It's Clare.  8) I bet she's re-reading it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on February 14, 2017, 03:10:59 PM
Quote from: Lynne on February 14, 2017, 11:35:15 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on February 14, 2017, 09:16:17 AM
Quote from: Clare on February 14, 2017, 09:05:32 AM
The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky
First time, or rereading?
It's Clare.  8) I bet she's re-reading it.
No, this is the first time! I'm not that well-read!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 15, 2017, 04:34:11 AM
Culloden: Scotland's Last Battle and the Forging of the British Empire by Trevor Royle.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on February 16, 2017, 05:07:14 PM
Going through "Christian Origins" Vol. I and Vol. II by Patrick Madgett. found these two on the sidewalk by a parochial school. They still get rid of all things pre-concilliar.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 19, 2017, 12:36:22 AM
Bleak House. I just love John Jarndyce: so self-effacing and gentle-hearted.:) I can never get enough of Dickens' portrayal of virtue. He does it so well.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on February 28, 2017, 12:03:51 PM
When the King Was Carpenter by Maria Von Trapp.

It's wonderful in that it has a lot of detail about how Jews lived during the Old Covenant while Jesus was growing up.

It does make me wonder, though, as to when Jesus understood His mission here. It doesn't paint Him as totally unknowing of His mission and who He was but...

It's a very enjoyable read, though if you want to picture the day-to-day life of the Holy Family.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on February 28, 2017, 12:37:32 PM
Brideshead Revisited
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 28, 2017, 01:16:27 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on February 28, 2017, 12:37:32 PM
Brideshead Revisited

I love that book. And the miniseries. I actually have the audiobook, narrated by Jeremy Irons. Time to...(I can't help myself!) revisit it, since I think I'll be able to look at it with fresh eyes and get new insights.  ;D I also have a replica "Aloysius" (since I love bears). He's a charmer.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on February 28, 2017, 01:47:23 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on February 28, 2017, 01:16:27 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on February 28, 2017, 12:37:32 PM
Brideshead Revisited

I love that book. And the miniseries. I actually have the audiobook, narrated by Jeremy Irons. Time to...(I can't help myself!) revisit it, since I think I'll be able to look at it with fresh eyes and get new insights.  ;D I also have a replica "Aloysius" (since I love bears). He's a charmer.  :)

Yeah.  I haven't read it since I became Catholic, so it's interesting to pick up on all the catholic stuff now. Love the mini series, may have to get that from the library
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 28, 2017, 02:09:42 PM
Isn't it on Youtube?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 28, 2017, 02:27:17 PM
City of God...I'm on book 7
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 28, 2017, 03:21:52 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on February 28, 2017, 02:27:17 PM
City of God...I'm on book 7

Ooooh. This is piled on the "to read" shelf, in my brain. It's a big shelf, and that book is buried under many, many other books. But this might have moved it a little closer to the top of the pile.  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on February 28, 2017, 05:53:20 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on February 28, 2017, 02:09:42 PM
Isn't it on Youtube?
Yeah, but I like my library. 

Forgot how much I like the prose in this book. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 02, 2017, 05:22:29 AM
Barbarians: How Baby Boomers, Immigrants and Islam Screwed My Generation by Lauren Southern.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 04, 2017, 02:45:48 PM
That Russian social history book, The Domostroi. I just bought it, and I'm really hoping that it's going to be like a Russian, primary-source version of How to Be a Victorian. I'm particularly interested in things like the "split" houses, and room construction, and food. And education. And the whole matchmaking thing.  ;D

Edit:  :lol: It totally wasn't like this.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 04, 2017, 04:31:53 PM
Finished Bridesead Revisited and am on to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 05:02:59 PM
Just starting Brideshead Revisited.   ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 04, 2017, 05:47:41 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 05:02:59 PM
Just starting Brideshead Revisited.   ;)
For thé first time?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Boccaccio on March 04, 2017, 07:42:12 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 05:02:59 PM
Just starting Brideshead Revisited.   ;)

Mark Twain was a Freemason, keep that in mind when you read Connecticut Yankee. Might make the experience richer.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 09:29:36 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 04, 2017, 05:47:41 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 05:02:59 PM
Just starting Brideshead Revisited.   ;)
For thé first time?
Indeed, yes.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 04, 2017, 10:31:07 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 09:29:36 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 04, 2017, 05:47:41 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 05:02:59 PM
Just starting Brideshead Revisited.   ;)
For thé first time?
Indeed, yes.

You'll love it, or you'll never be allowed in polite Catholic society again
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 04, 2017, 10:50:01 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 09:29:36 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 04, 2017, 05:47:41 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 05:02:59 PM
Just starting Brideshead Revisited.   ;)
For thé first time?
Indeed, yes.

Don't forget to try the miniseries! I actually watched the miniseries before reading the book, and don't regret it in the slightest. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 04, 2017, 11:49:46 PM
The Broad Highway, by Jeffery Farnol. It's my favorite of all of his books that I've read so far. So excellent. So unusual!.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 07, 2017, 10:07:18 PM
Sam Lawson's Oldtown Fireside Stories, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Via Librivox:

https://librivox.org/oldtown-fireside-stories-by-harriet-beecher-stowe/ (https://librivox.org/oldtown-fireside-stories-by-harriet-beecher-stowe/)

These are so much fun! The reader is particularly talented. There's a novel, Oldtown Folks, with the same characters, but I prefer this collection of stories, myself.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on March 08, 2017, 05:17:41 AM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 09:29:36 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 04, 2017, 05:47:41 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 04, 2017, 05:02:59 PM
Just starting Brideshead Revisited.   ;)
For thé first time?
Indeed, yes.
I've never read it, but I'd like to have done so; then I could read it again and say that I was revisiting Brideshead Revisited.

Maybe one day!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on March 08, 2017, 05:19:25 AM
Still reading Karamazov, and for Lent I'm revisiting Life of Christ by Archbishop Sheen.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 08, 2017, 05:38:16 AM
Quote from: Clare on March 08, 2017, 05:19:25 AM
Still reading Karamazov, and for Lent I'm revisiting Life of Christ by Archbishop Sheen.

*shudder* I found The Brothers Karamazov to be absolutely repulsive, when I read it. But I adore Sheen's Life of Christ, and have recommended it more than once.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lydia Purpuraria on March 08, 2017, 09:29:51 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 08, 2017, 05:38:16 AM
Quote from: Clare on March 08, 2017, 05:19:25 AM
Still reading Karamazov, and for Lent I'm revisiting Life of Christ by Archbishop Sheen.

*shudder* I found The Brothers Karamazov to be absolutely repulsive, when I read it.

Why?  In what way?

(I've only read the first chapter or so, keep meaning to pick it back up and finish it.)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 08, 2017, 09:37:04 AM
Quote from: Lydia Purpuraria on March 08, 2017, 09:29:51 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 08, 2017, 05:38:16 AM
Quote from: Clare on March 08, 2017, 05:19:25 AM
Still reading Karamazov, and for Lent I'm revisiting Life of Christ by Archbishop Sheen.

*shudder* I found The Brothers Karamazov to be absolutely repulsive, when I read it.

Why?  In what way?

(I've only read the first chapter or so, keep meaning to pick it back up and finish it.)

I just remember there being so much depravity and misery in there. Ick. Though I think I have a low tolerance for Russian classics, in general. YMMV.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on March 08, 2017, 10:48:37 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 08, 2017, 09:37:04 AM
Quote from: Lydia Purpuraria on March 08, 2017, 09:29:51 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 08, 2017, 05:38:16 AM
Quote from: Clare on March 08, 2017, 05:19:25 AM
Still reading Karamazov, and for Lent I'm revisiting Life of Christ by Archbishop Sheen.

*shudder* I found The Brothers Karamazov to be absolutely repulsive, when I read it.

Why?  In what way?

(I've only read the first chapter or so, keep meaning to pick it back up and finish it.)

I just remember there being so much depravity and misery in there. Ick.
I'm just over a third of the way through, and I'm liking it so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on March 08, 2017, 01:18:30 PM
The Passion of our Lord by Mary of Agreda
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on March 08, 2017, 06:33:24 PM
Eamon Duffy, Reformation Divided. Starts with essays on St Thomas More. The Saint was very much a hammer of heretics judicially as well as in copious writing. Later he'll deal with Hillary Mantel's vapourings which have the corrupt Thomas Cromwell as hero and More as villain. It is some irony that Cromwell managed to be beheaded for heresy (actually treason but suspected Anabaptism was a major charge). Mantel's cucked father (altho I doubt Prof Duffy covered that point) is a big reason why she hereticated.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 08, 2017, 06:47:39 PM
I just love St. Thomas More. So strong. So determined. So absolutely selfless. :thumbsup: And so approachable, thanks to his writings (and the talents of Paul Scofield  :lol:)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on March 10, 2017, 11:36:48 PM
I like the sound of that book, Prayerful.

QuoteLater he'll deal with Hillary Mantel's vapourings which have the corrupt Thomas Cromwell as hero and More as villain.
Not unlike Wolf Hall. The retelling of our history is carried out on every front.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on March 13, 2017, 12:55:59 PM
Thanks PerEvangelicaDicta and Bernadette

Anti-Catholic revisionist claims always gets a hearing in England no matter how many times they have been refuted.

I'm still reading Prof Duffy's book, now finished a chapter on the extraordinary William Cardinal Allen, but I got and have read a little of In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart, the journal of a priest at prayer by Benedictine monk. One purpose of the book is to raise money for Silverstream Priory (https://www.cenacleosb.org/), just recently canonically erected with the approval of the Ecceslesia Dei Commission and the Pope. Aside from their life as Benedictines, online efforts like Vultus Christi (http://vultuschristi.org/) and a superb shop (consider the other full sized Church bookshop in or around Dublin is Veritas (http://www.veritasbooksonline.com/featured-1/roman-missal.html?p=1) (who seem to make a point of ignoring the Mass of Ages and have staff of really doubtful orthodoxy) which has books of the sodomite monk Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP on prominent display and is really over priced), they offer daily the Mass of Ages, open to the public, and crucially they offer lodgings for priests seeking rest and young men discerning a vocation with them.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 17, 2017, 08:11:07 PM
I've just found E. Nesbit's Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare

https://librivox.org/beautiful-stories-from-shakespeare-by-edith-nesbit/ (https://librivox.org/beautiful-stories-from-shakespeare-by-edith-nesbit/)

which I'll save until after Easter as a sort of "treat" for myself. :) I love E. Nesbit: she's one of the few people whom I would trust with Shakespeare's stories.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 19, 2017, 03:59:01 AM
The Magic City, by E. Nesbit (which I read years ago, but can't remember very well). I love how completely she enters into the minds of her child protagonists, and thus relates to her child-readers (and to her adult readers who remember what it was like to be children). :)

Awww! Philip's such a noble little soul, and Lucy's so practical and just. :)

Nobody does children's lit like the British!  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 19, 2017, 02:18:58 PM
The Farm by Lough Gur by Mary Carbery.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 19, 2017, 05:21:16 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on March 19, 2017, 02:18:58 PM
The Farm by Lough Gur by Mary Carbery.
Oh, Red, a book after my own heart. This one's going on the list!  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on March 19, 2017, 07:41:29 PM
I received two of the Calvin and Hobbes treasury books for Christmas.  Just finished one tonight and will start on the second tomorrow probably.

In one of the weekly story arcs, Calvin and Hobbes flew to Mars in Calvin's wagon. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on March 19, 2017, 07:46:57 PM
Someone gave me a copy of "Betrayal," the Boston Globe's investigation that they turned into the movie Spotlight. I'm barely through chapter 1, but I'm absolutely disgusted so far with what I read. It's made me think for the first time in my life that our present crisis is necessary to purify the Church. Priests, bishops, and Monsignors allowed men totally incapable of living a priestly life into the ranks, the laity trusted these monsters, and they took away the innocence and scarred hundreds of little boys.

I'm just reading about Fr. Jack Goeghan, and my Lord. The man ought to have been hanged from a street lamp until he died. Raped or molested 200 boys. Tons of Bishops and priests knew about his danger to children, and they covered it up, shuffled him around, and even implored parents to not go public or to the police.

We cannot blame these monsters on the "Novus Ordo" either. These men received their formations years before Vatican II, and often began their treachery in the late 50s or early 60s.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on March 19, 2017, 10:08:49 PM
Finished Brideshead Revisited tonight. Starting By Love Refined by Alice von Hildebrand.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 20, 2017, 04:41:17 AM
Quote from: Bonaventure on March 19, 2017, 07:46:57 PM
Someone gave me a copy of "Betrayal," the Boston Globe's investigation that they turned into the movie Spotlight. I'm barely through chapter 1, but I'm absolutely disgusted so far with what I read. It's made me think for the first time in my life that our present crisis is necessary to purify the Church. Priests, bishops, and Monsignors allowed men totally incapable of living a priestly life into the ranks, the laity trusted these monsters, and they took away the innocence and scarred hundreds of little boys.

I'm just reading about Fr. Jack Goeghan, and my Lord. The man ought to have been hanged from a street lamp until he died. Raped or molested 200 boys. Tons of Bishops and priests knew about his danger to children, and they covered it up, shuffled him around, and even implored parents to not go public or to the police.

We cannot blame these monsters on the "Novus Ordo" either. These men received their formations years before Vatican II, and often began their treachery in the late 50s or early 60s.
Geogan was killed in prison by his cellmate. He tied his hands behind his back and repeatedly jumped on his chest from the top bunk till he was dead.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 20, 2017, 04:45:58 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on March 20, 2017, 04:41:17 AM
Quote from: Bonaventure on March 19, 2017, 07:46:57 PM
Someone gave me a copy of "Betrayal," the Boston Globe's investigation that they turned into the movie Spotlight. I'm barely through chapter 1, but I'm absolutely disgusted so far with what I read. It's made me think for the first time in my life that our present crisis is necessary to purify the Church. Priests, bishops, and Monsignors allowed men totally incapable of living a priestly life into the ranks, the laity trusted these monsters, and they took away the innocence and scarred hundreds of little boys.

I'm just reading about Fr. Jack Goeghan, and my Lord. The man ought to have been hanged from a street lamp until he died. Raped or molested 200 boys. Tons of Bishops and priests knew about his danger to children, and they covered it up, shuffled him around, and even implored parents to not go public or to the police.

We cannot blame these monsters on the "Novus Ordo" either. These men received their formations years before Vatican II, and often began their treachery in the late 50s or early 60s.
Geogan was killed in prison by his cellmate. He tied his hands behind his back and repeatedly jumped on his chest from the top bunk till he was dead.

Oh, God help us.  :pray3: That takes a certain amount and kind of conviction, and I just...shudder to think of it. The whole thing is horrific.  :pray3:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 20, 2017, 04:48:04 AM
Quote from: Jacob on March 19, 2017, 07:41:29 PM
I received two of the Calvin and Hobbes treasury books for Christmas.  Just finished one tonight and will start on the second tomorrow probably.

In one of the weekly story arcs, Calvin and Hobbes flew to Mars in Calvin's wagon. :)

Someday, when the time is right, I will dive into Calvin and Hobbes with my customary abandon, and relish it.  :grin:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: attiret on March 26, 2017, 06:17:01 PM
I picked this up during a book haul for $1.47. Pretty interesting so far.

(https://global.oup.com/academic/covers/pdp/9780199600724)

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 26, 2017, 06:43:55 PM
attiret, have you ever read The Prague Cemetery (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10314376-the-prague-cemetery), by Umberto Eco?  You might like it; it's quite remarkable.  It covers anti-Semitism, not in England, but in France and continental Europe in the late 19th century, and is wrapped in a dense Huysmans-esque fog.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: attiret on March 26, 2017, 06:58:08 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 26, 2017, 06:43:55 PM
attiret, have you ever read The Prague Cemetery (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10314376-the-prague-cemetery), by Umberto Eco?  You might like it; it's quite remarkable.  It covers anti-Semitism, not in England, but in France and continental Europe in the late 19th century, and is wrapped in a dense Huysmans-esque fog.

No, I have not! Thank you for the recommendation. When I get through this book I will look into it.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 26, 2017, 07:06:36 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 26, 2017, 06:43:55 PM
attiret, have you ever read The Prague Cemetery (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10314376-the-prague-cemetery), by Umberto Eco?  You might like it; it's quite remarkable.  It covers anti-Semitism, not in England, but in France and continental Europe in the late 19th century, and is wrapped in a dense Huysmans-esque fog.

You know, more than one source has expressed shock at the fact that the Holocaust was started in Germany: apparently, France was seen as so much more anti-semetic than other countries (not sure whether at the time, or as a result of their history) that people were surprised that it didn't start there: it seemed so much more likely/in keeping with the overall attitude.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: attiret on March 26, 2017, 07:19:18 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 26, 2017, 07:06:36 PM
You know, more than one source has expressed shock at the fact that the Holocaust was started in Germany: apparently, France was seen as so much more anti-semetic than other countries (not sure whether at the time, or as a result of their history) that people were surprised that it didn't start there: it seemed so much more likely/in keeping with the overall attitude.

You should look into events in the USSR post-WWII!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 26, 2017, 07:21:42 PM
Quote from: attiret on March 26, 2017, 07:19:18 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 26, 2017, 07:06:36 PM
You know, more than one source has expressed shock at the fact that the Holocaust was started in Germany: apparently, France was seen as so much more anti-semetic than other countries (not sure whether at the time, or as a result of their history) that people were surprised that it didn't start there: it seemed so much more likely/in keeping with the overall attitude.

You should look into events in the USSR post-WWII!
I've dabbled, but haven't given the subject any serious attention.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 26, 2017, 07:47:01 PM
On second thought, I should maybe make that book recommendation with reservations.  One of the questions being teased at on this forum as of late seems to be, "is anti-Semitism Catholic or un-Catholic?"  I think the author's response to that question would be that it is (Catholic).  So, caveat emptor, depending on your position.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Spera In Deo on March 26, 2017, 08:44:45 PM
Pharmacology for Nursing by Lilley.  I can bet that no one else here is reading that.  LOL.

I am loving nursing school!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 26, 2017, 09:25:38 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 26, 2017, 07:47:01 PM
On second thought, I should maybe make that book recommendation with reservations.  One of the questions being teased at on this forum as of late seems to be, "is anti-Semitism Catholic or un-Catholic?"  I think the author's response to that question would be that it is (Catholic).  So, caveat emptor, depending on your position.
Seriously?! Anti-semetism as was commonly expressed/practiced back in the day (and is commonly expressed/practiced now)?! Or the actual Catholic anti-semetism (which obviously isn't what the term has come to reflect), that says that Jews need to convert?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 27, 2017, 08:35:04 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 26, 2017, 09:25:38 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 26, 2017, 07:47:01 PM
On second thought, I should maybe make that book recommendation with reservations.  One of the questions being teased at on this forum as of late seems to be, "is anti-Semitism Catholic or un-Catholic?"  I think the author's response to that question would be that it is (Catholic).  So, caveat emptor, depending on your position.
Seriously?! Anti-semetism as was commonly expressed/practiced back in the day (and is commonly expressed/practiced now)?! Or the actual Catholic anti-semetism (which obviously isn't what the term has come to reflect), that says that Jews need to convert?

Definitely the former.  If the only Catholic anti-Semitism was the opinion that "the Jews need to convert," then the book would never have been written.  Surely there is an historical Catholic attitude toward the Jews which is more than just a demand to convert.  From the Roman pogrom instituted by Pope Paul IV ("Cum Nimis Absurdum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cum_nimis_absurdum)") to the Judensau (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judensau) to the inclusion of St. Simon of Trent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_of_Trent) in the Roman martyrology, there is a palpable thread of hostility and distrust going on there.  It's also one of the ongoing debates between the Novus Ordo Catholics (who believe that the Church ought to apologize for this history, as John Paul II did) and the traditional Catholics, who feel that there is precious little to apologize for, and that the cultus of St. Simon ought not to have been repressed, &c.

Even on this forum, I think a person can see a kind of casual anti-Semitism in random comments like "the Jew York Times."  The reader immediately understands the implication: that Jewish influence controls the mainstream media (and the banks, and the entertainment industry).  From there, one is a short skip away from ideas of dirty, bearded, hook-nosed old men gathering together in a cabal in the dead of night to plot the demise of the West.  Like the old French cartoons of the "Jewish octopus" with his tentacles in every cultural and political situation.  In fact, The Prague Cemetery is liberally peppered with illustrations in the form of such actual vintage drawings.  It's really a well-put-together novel, as are many of Eco's books.

(https://www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2010/06/452563.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 27, 2017, 08:41:55 AM
P.S. I don't have any grammatical suggestions, Bernadette, as your writing seems impeccable.  I have only an aesthetic suggestion: perhaps put a space (or, a "carriage return," as we used to say with typewriters) between the quote box and your text.  Otherwise it can look like the quote box and your text are kind of "squished together."  It looks cleaner and more spacious and more readable with a space there.  Such a minor thing, I know.  But since you are open to one kind of suggestion, I venture to dare another kind.  Pax.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on March 27, 2017, 09:04:20 AM
I mean, do Jews not dominate the media and entertainment industry?  Is it somehow "anti Semitic" to point out their gross over representation in these positions? 

I keep reading that we have too many white males in varying industries.  No one ever is permitted to say we have too many Jews leading corporations, etc, though.  If you do, as you said yourself, you're just a short skip away from hook noses, and so on and so forth.  Why is that?  What makes the Jews so special as to be immune from any and all criticism, much less notice/attention?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:46:58 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 08:35:04 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 26, 2017, 09:25:38 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 26, 2017, 07:47:01 PM
On second thought, I should maybe make that book recommendation with reservations.  One of the questions being teased at on this forum as of late seems to be, "is anti-Semitism Catholic or un-Catholic?"  I think the author's response to that question would be that it is (Catholic).  So, caveat emptor, depending on your position.
Seriously?! Anti-semetism as was commonly expressed/practiced back in the day (and is commonly expressed/practiced now)?! Or the actual Catholic anti-semetism (which obviously isn't what the term has come to reflect), that says that Jews need to convert?

Definitely the former.  If the only Catholic anti-Semitism was the opinion that "the Jews need to convert," then the book would never have been written.  Surely there is an historical Catholic attitude toward the Jews which is more than just a demand to convert.  From the Roman pogrom instituted by Pope Paul IV ("Cum Nimis Absurdum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cum_nimis_absurdum)") to the Judensau (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judensau) to the inclusion of St. Simon of Trent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_of_Trent) in the Roman martyrology, there is a palpable thread of hostility and distrust going on there.  It's also one of the ongoing debates between the Novus Ordo Catholics (who believe that the Church ought to apologize for this history, as John Paul II did) and the traditional Catholics, who feel that there is precious little to apologize for, and that the cultus of St. Simon ought not to have been repressed, &c.
CINO, at its finest. That's disgusting. Distrust should be confined to individuals. Extending it to entire groups of people by default shows a lack of goodwill. Guilt by association is a logical fallacy for a reason. Untrustworthy Jews aren't untrustworthy because they are Jews: they're Jews who are untrustworthy.

Even on this forum, I think a person can see a kind of casual anti-Semitism in random comments like "the Jew York Times."  The reader immediately understands the implication: that Jewish influence controls the mainstream media (and the banks, and the entertainment industry).  From there, one is a short skip away from ideas of dirty, bearded, hook-nosed old men gathering together in a cabal in the dead of night to plot the demise of the West.  Like the old French cartoons of the "Jewish octopus" with his tentacles in every cultural and political situation.  In fact, The Prague Cemetery is liberally peppered with illustrations in the form of such actual vintage drawings.  It's really a well-put-together novel, as are many of Eco's books.
That's another example of an inability to distinguish the underlying quality from its "package." The untrustworthiness happens to be wrapped in a "Jewish package." But it's the untrustworthiness that one ought to hate, in order to be virtuous, not the Jewish part. They're not inseparable.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:49:13 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 27, 2017, 09:04:20 AM
I mean, do Jews not dominate the media and entertainment industry?  Is it somehow "anti Semitic" to point out their gross over representation in these positions? 

I keep reading that we have too many white males in varying industries.  No one ever is permitted to say we have too many Jews leading corporations, etc, though.  If you do, as you said yourself, you're just a short skip away from hook noses, and so on and so forth.  Why is that?  What makes the Jews so special as to be immune from any and all criticism, much less notice/attention?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

If the people who gain positions of influence and responsibility, gain them unjustly, then hate the injustice. Why go any further?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on March 27, 2017, 09:51:52 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:49:13 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 27, 2017, 09:04:20 AM
I mean, do Jews not dominate the media and entertainment industry?  Is it somehow "anti Semitic" to point out their gross over representation in these positions? 

I keep reading that we have too many white males in varying industries.  No one ever is permitted to say we have too many Jews leading corporations, etc, though.  If you do, as you said yourself, you're just a short skip away from hook noses, and so on and so forth.  Why is that?  What makes the Jews so special as to be immune from any and all criticism, much less notice/attention?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

If the people who gain positions of influence and responsibility, gain them unjustly, then hate the injustice. Why go any further?
Maybe they're getting the positions from Jewish privilege?

At least, that's how "some" explain white males being "overrepresented" in given fields.  Clearly the Jews are discriminating against the goyim and exercising "Jewish privilege"!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:55:10 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 27, 2017, 09:51:52 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:49:13 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 27, 2017, 09:04:20 AM
I mean, do Jews not dominate the media and entertainment industry?  Is it somehow "anti Semitic" to point out their gross over representation in these positions? 

I keep reading that we have too many white males in varying industries.  No one ever is permitted to say we have too many Jews leading corporations, etc, though.  If you do, as you said yourself, you're just a short skip away from hook noses, and so on and so forth.  Why is that?  What makes the Jews so special as to be immune from any and all criticism, much less notice/attention?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

If the people who gain positions of influence and responsibility, gain them unjustly, then hate the injustice. Why go any further?
Maybe they're getting the positions from Jewish privilege?

At least, that's how "some" explain white males being "overrepresented" in given fields. Clearly the Jews are discriminating against the goyim and exercising "Jewish privilege"!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

If those "some" are right, then it's injustice (which can be hated, because it's a defect in virtue). If they're wrong, then they're wrong, and nothing more needs to be said.  :shrug:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:56:48 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 08:41:55 AM
P.S. I don't have any grammatical suggestions, Bernadette, as your writing seems impeccable.  I have only an aesthetic suggestion: perhaps put a space (or, a "carriage return," as we used to say with typewriters) between the quote box and your text.  Otherwise it can look like the quote box and your text are kind of "squished together."  It looks cleaner and more spacious and more readable with a space there.  Such a minor thing, I know.  But since you are open to one kind of suggestion, I venture to dare another kind.  Pax.
I tend to want to conserve space, by default. To me, it looks...compact. :) But I do appreciate your feedback.  :toth:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 27, 2017, 09:57:38 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 27, 2017, 09:04:20 AM
I mean, do Jews not dominate the media and entertainment industry?  Is it somehow "anti Semitic" to point out their gross over representation in these positions? 

I keep reading that we have too many white males in varying industries.  No one ever is permitted to say we have too many Jews leading corporations, etc, though.  If you do, as you said yourself, you're just a short skip away from hook noses, and so on and so forth.  Why is that?  What makes the Jews so special as to be immune from any and all criticism, much less notice/attention?

It's definitely an interesting discussion to have.  It's almost fascinating that Jewish people are, in fact, over-represented in certain industries.  For some reason I can't read enough about it; I especially like the "Jewish magician" subculture (since this is a books thread), from Isaac Bashevis Singer's The Magician to Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.  Houdini, of course, was Jewish.  Stanley Kubrick is my favorite film director; Bob Dylan is one of my favorite singer/songwriters.  Then there's the question, "do Ashkenazi Jews have the highest average IQ of any population?"  Bobby Fischer was almost certainly the greatest chess mind there ever was; his own story is particularly fantastic as he himself became an anti-Semite* (Bobby Fischer Against the World (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer_Against_the_World) is an engrossing documentary on the subject; it was directed by a Jewish person).  The Jews of Eastern Europe have flourished in the United States.  So what exactly is going on here?  It's a provocative question.

I don't know if the above paragraph, though, which does acknowledge the over-representation of Jews in certain areas, is a short skip from hook-nosed caricatures.  Saying "the Jew York Times" seems the shorter skip (even though, truly, the New York Times is factually owned by a Jewish family).  I think it's a matter of the whether the over-representation is incidental or something more nefarious.



* The most extreme version of Fischer's case is probably that of Daniel Burros.  Burros was born into an observant Jewish family, but he appears to have been something of a pudgy weirdo and temperamental misfit as child.  He ending up passionately rejecting his Hebrew heritage as a teenager—but not, as one might imagine, to switch religions or become an atheist.  Instead (professing a fond admiration for Adolf Hitler) he joined, of all things, the American Nazi Party.  There he distinguished himself by venting his countless fantasies involving the torture and murder of Jews.  He was nonetheless deemed a dubious character by some of his American Nazi confreres, who suspected his secret identity and therefore his motives.  Subsequent to leaving that movement, Burros aligned himself for several years with various other Nazi revival and white supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, where he was actually made the Grand Dragon of New York.  Burros committed suicide in 1965, aged 28, after a reporter for the New York Times "outed" his Jewish background.  His biography was the inspiration for the 2001 film The Believer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Believer_(film)), starring Ryan Gosling, and directed by Henry Bean (who is Jewish).

nypress.com | The Death of Daniel Burros: A Jewish Klansman who did more than just hate himself (http://www.nypress.com/old-smoke-the-death-of-daniel-burros-a-jewish-klansman-who-did-more-than-just-hate-himself/)


(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fen.rightpedia.info%2Fw%2Fimages%2Fc%2Fcc%2FBurros2.jpg&hash=52f9adc8072fa2f59a08329c2540e93713d7fecd)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 27, 2017, 10:09:08 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:46:58 AMThat's another example of an inability to distinguish the underlying quality from its "package." The untrustworthiness happens to be wrapped in a "Jewish package." But it's the untrustworthiness that one ought to hate, in order to be virtuous, not the Jewish part. They're not inseparable.

I'm not sure if I take your meaning.  I think the history of the Catholic attitude toward the Jews is more than just "we find you untrustworthy."  For many centuries, it included a strong emphasis on Jewish witchcraft and ritual murder.  Popes, even, variously ordered that the Talmud be confiscated and burned for containing blasphemies, and surmised that Jews carried out the sacrifice of Catholic children in religious ceremonies.  It seems more widespread and widely-attested-to than just an innocent misunderstanding.  I'm not sure if I take a particular side in the debate, but the traditional Catholics who argue for what might be called "the anti-Semitic stance" do have an established timeline they appeal to.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 10:22:48 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 10:09:08 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:46:58 AMThat's another example of an inability to distinguish the underlying quality from its "package." The untrustworthiness happens to be wrapped in a "Jewish package." But it's the untrustworthiness that one ought to hate, in order to be virtuous, not the Jewish part. They're not inseparable.

QuoteI think the history of the Catholic attitude toward the Jews is more than just "we find you untrustworthy."  For many centuries, it included a strong emphasis on Jewish witchcraft and ritual murder.
A justifiable emphasis? Or fear-mongering/lack of evidence?

QuotePopes, even, variously ordered that the Talmud be confiscated and burned for containing blasphemies,
Yeah, that's going to make them want to convert. I understand that the Pope has a duty to protect his flock, but that's why the Index was created. This just seems like it would create distrust and bad blood. How did they think the Jews would react, to having what they consider their sacred book burned? Just because someone takes the Lord's name in vain, doesn't mean that it would be a prudent course of action for the Pope to punch him in the mouth, authority or no authority.

Quoteand surmised that Jews carried out the sacrifice of Catholic children in religious ceremonies. 
Surmising is also imprudent: retaliation shouldn't be carried out without strong evidence or a firm conviction. There's a reason why justice is only guaranteed to be perfectly executed by God Himself: because all other authority is capable of error.

QuoteIt seems more widespread and widely-attested-to than just an innocent misunderstanding.  I'm not sure if I take a particular side in the debate, but the traditional Catholics who argue for what might be called "the anti-Semitic stance" do have an established timeline they appeal to.
I didn't mean that it was an innocent misunderstanding. I meant that pogroms were an excessive use of force. I don't see how a case can be made that terrorizing people is an appropriate, virtuous reaction to a dire situation. Seems downright vengeful, on the surface at least.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 27, 2017, 10:38:11 AM
I understand where you're coming from now, Bernadette.  You are taking, more or less, the "John Paul II stance."  Essentially you are saying that the thread of hostility, distrust, and hatred aimed at the Jews by the Church was a gross collective error, full of unwarranted excess and unvirtuous prejudice. 

One wonders whether the other side has a point, though, when they say that maybe an isolated incident or two could be excused as an aberration.  But when they notice that the attitude was hallowed by time and nearly ubiquitous, they are wont to question whether this is something that can or ought to be disowned in a single latter-day swoop—in much the same way, basically, that Vatican II equivocated on certain "uncomfortable" theological points.  What they are saying, to be fair, is that the traditional Catholic attitude toward the Jews is the traditional Catholic attitude.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 27, 2017, 01:32:45 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 10:09:08 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:46:58 AMThat's another example of an inability to distinguish the underlying quality from its "package." The untrustworthiness happens to be wrapped in a "Jewish package." But it's the untrustworthiness that one ought to hate, in order to be virtuous, not the Jewish part. They're not inseparable.

I'm not sure if I take your meaning.  I think the history of the Catholic attitude toward the Jews is more than just "we find you untrustworthy."  For many centuries, it included a strong emphasis on Jewish witchcraft and ritual murder.  Popes, even, variously ordered that the Talmud be confiscated and burned for containing blasphemies, and surmised that Jews carried out the sacrifice of Catholic children in religious ceremonies.  It seems more widespread and widely-attested-to than just an innocent misunderstanding.  I'm not sure if I take a particular side in the debate, but the traditional Catholics who argue for what might be called "the anti-Semitic stance" do have an established timeline they appeal to.

Does not the Talmud contain blasphemy?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on March 27, 2017, 01:37:15 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 27, 2017, 01:32:45 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 10:09:08 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:46:58 AMThat's another example of an inability to distinguish the underlying quality from its "package." The untrustworthiness happens to be wrapped in a "Jewish package." But it's the untrustworthiness that one ought to hate, in order to be virtuous, not the Jewish part. They're not inseparable.

I'm not sure if I take your meaning.  I think the history of the Catholic attitude toward the Jews is more than just "we find you untrustworthy."  For many centuries, it included a strong emphasis on Jewish witchcraft and ritual murder.  Popes, even, variously ordered that the Talmud be confiscated and burned for containing blasphemies, and surmised that Jews carried out the sacrifice of Catholic children in religious ceremonies.  It seems more widespread and widely-attested-to than just an innocent misunderstanding.  I'm not sure if I take a particular side in the debate, but the traditional Catholics who argue for what might be called "the anti-Semitic stance" do have an established timeline they appeal to.

Does not the Talmud contain blasphemy?
It does. It is an evil book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 27, 2017, 03:02:23 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 27, 2017, 01:32:45 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 10:09:08 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:46:58 AMThat's another example of an inability to distinguish the underlying quality from its "package." The untrustworthiness happens to be wrapped in a "Jewish package." But it's the untrustworthiness that one ought to hate, in order to be virtuous, not the Jewish part. They're not inseparable.

I'm not sure if I take your meaning.  I think the history of the Catholic attitude toward the Jews is more than just "we find you untrustworthy."  For many centuries, it included a strong emphasis on Jewish witchcraft and ritual murder.  Popes, even, variously ordered that the Talmud be confiscated and burned for containing blasphemies, and surmised that Jews carried out the sacrifice of Catholic children in religious ceremonies.  It seems more widespread and widely-attested-to than just an innocent misunderstanding.  I'm not sure if I take a particular side in the debate, but the traditional Catholics who argue for what might be called "the anti-Semitic stance" do have an established timeline they appeal to.

Does not the Talmud contain blasphemy?

Yes.  It does.  I had disagreed with Bernadette, who was saying that just because a Catholic had an encounter with an untrustworthy Jewish person, that was not grounds for treating all Jews as deceitful. 

In the post you quoted (my reply to her), I was trying to point out that the traditional claims about Jews made by Catholics were based, not on individual misunderstandings, but on such things as the content of the Talmud and the alleged rituals performed by Jews in secret on Passover.  The Talmud, as you indicate, is a text which a person can read and determine fairly easily whether it has blasphemous content.  The ritual murder claim cannot, perhaps, be determined with the same surety, but it enjoyed a broad acceptance, and was endorsed by several popes, and there were saints in the Roman martyrology who were said to have suffered such deaths.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 27, 2017, 03:52:30 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 03:02:23 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 27, 2017, 01:32:45 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 10:09:08 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:46:58 AMThat's another example of an inability to distinguish the underlying quality from its "package." The untrustworthiness happens to be wrapped in a "Jewish package." But it's the untrustworthiness that one ought to hate, in order to be virtuous, not the Jewish part. They're not inseparable.

I'm not sure if I take your meaning.  I think the history of the Catholic attitude toward the Jews is more than just "we find you untrustworthy."  For many centuries, it included a strong emphasis on Jewish witchcraft and ritual murder.  Popes, even, variously ordered that the Talmud be confiscated and burned for containing blasphemies, and surmised that Jews carried out the sacrifice of Catholic children in religious ceremonies.  It seems more widespread and widely-attested-to than just an innocent misunderstanding.  I'm not sure if I take a particular side in the debate, but the traditional Catholics who argue for what might be called "the anti-Semitic stance" do have an established timeline they appeal to.

Does not the Talmud contain blasphemy?

Yes.  It does.  I had disagreed with Bernadette, who was saying that just because a Catholic had an encounter with an untrustworthy Jewish person, that was not grounds for treating all Jews as deceitful. 

In the post you quoted (my reply to her), I was trying to point out that the traditional claims about Jews made by Catholics were based, not on individual misunderstandings, but on such things as the content of the Talmud and the alleged rituals performed by Jews in secret on Passover.  The Talmud, as you indicate, is a text which a person can read and determine fairly easily whether it has blasphemous content.  The ritual murder claim cannot, perhaps, be determined with the same surety, but it enjoyed a broad acceptance, and was endorsed by several popes, and there were saints in the Roman martyrology who were said to have suffered such deaths.

Ah ok
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 07:26:38 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 10:38:11 AM
I understand where you're coming from now, Bernadette.  You are taking, more or less, the "John Paul II stance." 
I would rather the stance didn't carry the unpleasant connotation that so many people seem to give it. Especially when that connotation is connected so...immediately with my name. People are often unable to make fine distinctions in things like this, as I think has been evident over the forum and in the world at large. ;)

QuoteEssentially you are saying that the thread of hostility, distrust, and hatred aimed at the Jews by the Church was a gross collective error, full of unwarranted excess and unvirtuous prejudice. 
Yes. This approach seems reasonable and logical to me.  :shrug:

One wonders whether the other side has a point, though, when they say that maybe an isolated incident or two could be excused as an aberration.  But when they notice that the attitude was hallowed by time and nearly ubiquitous, they are wont to question whether this is something that can or ought to be disowned in a single latter-day swoop—in much the same way, basically, that Vatican II equivocated on certain "uncomfortable" theological points. 
This is why it's so important to distinguish between virtue and vice, (objective) and their packages (subjective). It's logical thinking and conclusions, in a nutshell.  :) And it's a mistake to think that time hallows, of itself. One needs to examine whether the subject (a particular action/practice) is objectively good: if it is, then the amount of time spent doing it is spent reinforcing virtue, the highest good that man is capable of in this world, and is a positive influence. If it isn't, then the time spent doing it is spent reinforcing vice and imperfection, and becomes a negative influence.

What they are saying, to be fair, is that the traditional Catholic attitude toward the Jews is the traditional Catholic attitude.
Then that's where they're wrong. Things aren't good, of themselves, just because they've been done for a long time. That's a common error, and is dangerous for the very reason that it lends itself to conclusions like the one that these people come to. Not everything is Catholic because it's traditional: Catholicism can only be fundamentally tied to objective good. Because of its very essence as a Divine institution/teaching.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 28, 2017, 07:54:30 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 07:26:38 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on March 27, 2017, 10:38:11 AMI understand where you're coming from now, Bernadette.  You are taking, more or less, the "John Paul II stance."

I would rather the stance didn't carry the unpleasant connotation that so many people seem to give it. Especially when that connotation is connected so...immediately with my name.

That's a fair point.  I only decided to call it that because JP2 was the one who issued the official apology, so in that sense he stands in personally for all those who agree with him.  But I concede that his name would tend to taint it on a traditional Catholic forum.  I hesitate to call it the "philo-semitic* stance" (as that seems to overstate the case), but I'll try to think of an alternative the next time I refer to it.

Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 07:26:38 PM
QuoteWhat they are saying, to be fair, is that the traditional Catholic attitude toward the Jews is the traditional Catholic attitude.

Then that's where they're wrong. Things aren't good, of themselves, just because they've been done for a long time. That's a common error, and is dangerous for the very reason that it lends itself to conclusions like the one that these people come to. Not everything is Catholic because it's traditional: Catholicism can only be fundamentally tied to objective good. Because of its very essence as a Divine institution/teaching.

Hmm.  I don't think anyone is claiming that merely being "hallowed by time" is a sufficient justification for anything.  That's why I included examples of the attitude being hallowed by the institutional Church itself: in official decrees by popes, in ecclesial artwork, and in the Roman martyrology.  But perhaps I should've been more specific.  The charter for the attitude is contained in the New Testament itself, in places such as when the Jews are perpetually accursed of their own accord at Jesus' sentencing by Pilate (Matthew 27:24-25 (http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=47&ch=27&l=25#x)), and where Christ refers to them as children of Satan (John 8:44 (http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=50&ch=8&l=44#x)).  I apologize for the earlier omission; these passages are notorious enough that I took it for granted they were already in evidence. 

Now these are just words, of course, and they can be taken in a variety of ways, but the salient point is that the Church Fathers who did do exegesis on them were inclined to take them straight.  I believe St. John Chrysostom's commentary was the most influential.  I remember taking a "bible study" course at a Novus Ordo parish many years ago, and this topic was covered in the course material.  I seem to recall that they claimed St. John, when he used the term "the Jews," had actually meant "Judaizers"—indicating early Christian heretics who believed the Old Testament law was still in force.  I'm not sure this holds up, though.  I asked why St. John hadn't just used the word "Judaizer."  It seems absurd that he would've used a word denoting a community outside Christianity to refer to a certain strain of Christian.  (I don't remember getting a good answer).

So the issue is not just that Catholics had this attitude for a long time, independently of anything Catholic, but rather that the attitude itself was already bound up intrinsically with the Catholic religion.  It would be easy to condemn it otherwise.  But if you come at the issue after two thousand years, as JP2 did, and say "I find this whole history to have been in the wrong," then the problem is that you call into question aspects of the religion itself.  It's a position that essentially says there's some objective moral position outside of Christianity by which past Christians can be judged, even when they were appealing to the bible, the Church Fathers, the popes, &c. 

I think you will find some pushback against your position for this reason.  It's not like the custom of cat-burning in France (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat-burning), for example, which was something that Catholics did and even became a tradition for a time.  But there was nothing in the bible that said "cats are the familiars of the devil, let them be accursed," nor were there any staunchly anti-feline Church Fathers, nor popes who ordered their burning†.  It was something you could condemn out of hand, and you wouldn't have to worry about contradicting anything that was already tied into the Catholic religion.  Hopefully this illustrates the difference in the situations.



* Which reminds me, since this a book thread, of an interesting-looking essay about my favorite author, Vladimir Nabokov: Nabokov's Minyan: A Study in Philo-Semitism (https://muse.jhu.edu/article/178358).  Unfortunately the site tells me "you must be logged in through an institution that subscribes to this journal or book to access the full text."  It's a shot in the dark, but if anyone reading this piece of minutiae has a Project Muse login that I could use, please let me know.

With the possible exception of the (likely apocryphal) bull Vox in Rama (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_in_Rama), issued by Pope Gregory IX.  "Some historians have claimed that Vox in Rama is the first official church document that condemns the black cat as an incarnation of Satan.  In the bull the cat is addressed as 'master' and the incarnate devil is half-man half-feline in nature. Engels claims that Vox in Rama was 'a death warrant for the animal, which would be continued to be slaughtered without mercy until the early 19th century.' It is said that very few all-black cats survive in western Europe as a result."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 28, 2017, 08:58:14 AM
Well, I've said my say, and that's about all I have to say on it, at least at the moment. I've got considerably bigger (and more important, both personally and spiritually to me) fish to fry.  :lol: My mind has already moved onto more...nutritious pastures, in which to stop, dwell, and repose while nourishing itself. :) Like a sheep. Baaa. ;D I love how the mind and soul are so intimately connected. Isn't it wonderful? :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hat And Beard on March 28, 2017, 09:09:54 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 27, 2017, 09:51:52 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 27, 2017, 09:49:13 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 27, 2017, 09:04:20 AM
I mean, do Jews not dominate the media and entertainment industry?  Is it somehow "anti Semitic" to point out their gross over representation in these positions? 

I keep reading that we have too many white males in varying industries.  No one ever is permitted to say we have too many Jews leading corporations, etc, though.  If you do, as you said yourself, you're just a short skip away from hook noses, and so on and so forth.  Why is that?  What makes the Jews so special as to be immune from any and all criticism, much less notice/attention?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

If the people who gain positions of influence and responsibility, gain them unjustly, then hate the injustice. Why go any further?
Maybe they're getting the positions from Jewish privilege?

I don't think this forum can call them out on it. If you look at the Jobs subforum, there are many places where someone wants to hire a Catholic for the position at their company.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 28, 2017, 09:39:24 AM
That sounds delightful for you, Bernadette.  And if you ever want to come back to the subject, I'm sure there will be no shortage of pertinent threads on this forum in the future on which we can return to it (and more pertinent threads, certainly, than "What are you currently reading?").
:beer:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Graham on March 28, 2017, 10:11:50 AM
I've been listening to Mein Kampf and The Turner Diaries on audiobook during REM sleep.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 28, 2017, 10:18:02 AM
Quote from: Graham on March 28, 2017, 10:11:50 AM
I've been listening to Mein Kampf and The Turner Diaries on audiobook during REM sleep.

Have you started to find sandwiches in the oddest of places?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on March 28, 2017, 10:18:12 AM
Quote from: Graham on March 28, 2017, 10:11:50 AM
I've been listening to Mein Kampf and The Turner Diaries on audiobook during REM sleep.

:lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on March 30, 2017, 06:53:47 PM
Just picked up 3 books, 1$ each, at my local book store.
The death of Ivan Ilyich by tolstoy and two titles by Greene.
Good deal huh
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MARCH on March 31, 2017, 08:16:25 AM
The Art of Loving God by St. Frances De Sales
Deliverance Prayers by Fr. Chad Ripperger
Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.
Spirit of Penance - Path to God by Dom Hubert Van Zeller
A Doctor at Calvary by Pierre Barbet, M.D.

It's no wonder I don't get any housework done!  :-[
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 31, 2017, 08:45:36 AM
Quote from: MARCH on March 31, 2017, 08:16:25 AM
The Art of Loving God by St. Frances De Sales
Deliverance Prayers by Fr. Chad Ripperger
Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.
Spirit of Penance - Path to God by Dom Hubert Van Zeller
A Doctor at Calvary by Pierre Barbet, M.D.

It's no wonder I don't get any housework done!  :-[

Good selection
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on April 01, 2017, 12:46:36 AM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.gr-assets.com%2Fbooks%2F1327868566l%2F2429135.jpg&hash=0d866ef7c5b88a77b81adbdcfaa719c03e12e4c5)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on April 01, 2017, 05:20:42 PM
Still with Sinu Jesu but got The War of Spanish Succession, 1701-14 for 99c also Tommy Robinson, and his best selling Enemy of the State, who recounts standing up to radical Islam has earned continual police/leftist harassment.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 02, 2017, 01:47:35 PM
The Shadow of His Wings: The True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldman OFM. As a seminary student Goldman was drafted into the SS. He was openly anti-Nazi and a couple of times came within hours of being executed. He would attend Mass in his SS uniform and jaws would drop. A man of extraordinary courage.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on April 02, 2017, 07:00:35 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on April 01, 2017, 05:20:42 PM
Still with Sinu Jesu but got The War of Spanish Succession, 1701-14 for 99c also Tommy Robinson, and his best selling Enemy of the State, who recounts standing up to radical Islam has earned continual police/leftist harassment.

In Sinu Jesu is amazing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on April 04, 2017, 07:31:36 AM
Mere Christianity, CS Lewis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on April 04, 2017, 12:58:07 PM
For the record, By Love Refined is quite possibly the best book on marriage that I've ever read.

Starting on Catherine of Siena by Sigrid Undset and Salvifici Doloris by Pope St. John Paul II.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on April 10, 2017, 04:54:36 PM
Among the Thugs, Bill Bufford

I am picturing young Clau Clau and Greg, and their soon dashed optimism about JPII in the 80s.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 10, 2017, 05:01:52 PM
Quote from: Bonaventure on April 10, 2017, 04:54:36 PM
Among the Thugs, Bill Bufford

I am picturing young Clau Clau and Greg, and their soon dashed optimism about JPII in the 80s.
I read this a few years ago. It's about soccer hooligans right?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on April 10, 2017, 07:28:31 PM
Yes, so far, so good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hat And Beard on April 12, 2017, 05:44:36 PM
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco(decided I need to take a break from school work)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on April 13, 2017, 10:52:51 AM
Quote from: Hat And Beard on April 12, 2017, 05:44:36 PM
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco(decided I need to take a break from school work)

Much better than the film. Close to twenty years since I read it, might bear re-reading it

Antigonus The One Eyed: The Greatest of the Successors. The Hellenistic world created by Alexander III and the Successors made the spread of the Faith so much easier, although this book purely concentrates on a harsh general and king who might lose battles or engagements (I don't think the wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigonus_I_Monophthalmus) is remotely correct to say he never lost a battle. He did, but he recovered his losses with interest).

edit: missing bracket.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hat And Beard on April 13, 2017, 11:13:29 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on April 13, 2017, 10:52:51 AM
Quote from: Hat And Beard on April 12, 2017, 05:44:36 PM
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco(decided I need to take a break from school work)

Much better than the film. Close to twenty years since I read it, might bear re-reading it

I saw the film years ago, and again recently, and it's amazing just how much was left out of the film. I'm not sure that enough time has passed since the movie, but it seems to be fertile ground for a Netflix or HBO series with all the Sherlock Holmes adaptations that have killed at the box office/in streaming land.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on April 13, 2017, 06:14:27 PM
Quote from: Hat And Beard on April 13, 2017, 11:13:29 AM
I saw the film years ago, and again recently, and it's amazing just how much was left out of the film. I'm not sure that enough time has passed since the movie, but it seems to be fertile ground for a Netflix or HBO series with all the Sherlock Holmes adaptations that have killed at the box office/in streaming land.

I totally agree.  NotR would make an excellent miniseries.

Today I finished my Calvin and Hobbes books from Christmas.  I've been thinking about Don Quixote for this summer, but maybe I should go with NotR.  It's been awhile.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 13, 2017, 06:32:31 PM
Quote from: Jacob on April 13, 2017, 06:14:27 PM
Quote from: Hat And Beard on April 13, 2017, 11:13:29 AM
I saw the film years ago, and again recently, and it's amazing just how much was left out of the film. I'm not sure that enough time has passed since the movie, but it seems to be fertile ground for a Netflix or HBO series with all the Sherlock Holmes adaptations that have killed at the box office/in streaming land.

I totally agree.  NotR would make an excellent miniseries.

Today I finished my Calvin and Hobbes books from Christmas.  I've been thinking about Don Quixote for this summer, but maybe I should go with NotR.  It's been awhile.
I loved the Edith Grossman translation, from Audible.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on April 13, 2017, 06:37:41 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 13, 2017, 06:32:31 PM
I loved the Edith Grossman translation, from Audible.  :thumbsup:

If you ever feel like a second time through, I recommend the Tom Lathrop translation from Signet.  I don't know if it's made it to audio.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 17, 2017, 04:18:10 AM
Scotland Forever!: The Scots Greys at Waterloo by Ian Gale.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 17, 2017, 02:10:44 PM
Tonight, I feast on E. Nesbit's Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, hopefully while eating some fudge that I made earlier. Willy Wonka, here's to you, bud.  :beer:

Edit: I chose The Taming of the Shrew to listen to first. Loved it, too. :) Kate's father really did her a disservice, I think, but it all worked out in the end. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 18, 2017, 10:51:31 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 17, 2017, 02:10:44 PM
Tonight, I feast on E. Nesbit's Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, hopefully while eating some fudge that I made earlier. Willy Wonka, here's to you, bud.  :beer:

Edit: I chose The Taming of the Shrew to listen to first. Loved it, too. :) Kate's father really did her a disservice, I think, but it all worked out in the end. :)

Working my way through the treasure seekers. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: angelcookie on April 20, 2017, 06:20:48 PM
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Movie to follow
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 21, 2017, 07:44:38 AM
Quote from: angelcookie on April 20, 2017, 06:20:48 PM
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Movie to follow

You listen to the podcast? Either This American Life, or Radiolab, not sure which.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on April 21, 2017, 08:44:31 AM
Quote from: angelcookie on April 20, 2017, 06:20:48 PM
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Movie to follow

Very good book
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 23, 2017, 03:03:26 AM
Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine. One of my all-time, desert island-worthy favorite books. Thank God for my kindle: I want to cover this text with annotations!  :swoon:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 24, 2017, 07:05:10 AM
"Cymbeline," from Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare. E. Nesbit's Arden books make so much more sense, now that I see how thoroughly familiar she was with Shakespeare! :)

"That which is lost shall be found; that which came not, shall come again! In this world's goods you shall be blessed, and blessed in the goods of the heart also."

Also:

"All which I took from thee I did but take,   
  Not for thy harms,   
But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms.   
  All which thy child's mistake   
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:        
  Rise, clasp My hand, and come!' "
- "The Hound of Heaven," by Francis Thompson.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on April 24, 2017, 12:05:37 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on April 19, 2016, 09:23:40 PM
Finished Kristin Lavransdatter! There aren't many books that I strongly want to read over and over again, but this is one of the few. What a picture of medieval Christianity it painted, and what a character Kristin is! I can see how reading this book as a teenager is very different from reading it as a young mother, or as a widow, since Kristin faces all of those periods with different attitudes and amounts of grace. Like it or hate it, it's an interesting book.
And...I'm returning to it just over a year later! Reading it during my flight on Wednesday.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on April 24, 2017, 10:32:02 PM
Revisiting Brideshead
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OCLittleFlower on April 25, 2017, 02:06:46 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on April 21, 2017, 08:44:31 AM
Quote from: angelcookie on April 20, 2017, 06:20:48 PM
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Movie to follow

Very good book

Very.  Also a bit unfair to the hospital where Lacks was treated, however.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on April 25, 2017, 02:16:22 AM
The Vision of the Anointed - by Thomas Sowell

A nice lady from Gaithersburg, Maryland sent me a copy.  It's a great book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vision_of_the_Anointed
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on April 25, 2017, 02:19:34 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on April 24, 2017, 12:05:37 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on April 19, 2016, 09:23:40 PM
Finished Kristin Lavransdatter! There aren't many books that I strongly want to read over and over again, but this is one of the few. What a picture of medieval Christianity it painted, and what a character Kristin is! I can see how reading this book as a teenager is very different from reading it as a young mother, or as a widow, since Kristin faces all of those periods with different attitudes and amounts of grace. Like it or hate it, it's an interesting book.
And...I'm returning to it just over a year later! Reading it during my flight on Wednesday.  :)
That must be a long flight!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on April 25, 2017, 02:20:15 PM
The Idiot, Dostoyevsky
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: angelcookie on April 25, 2017, 05:05:18 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 21, 2017, 07:44:38 AM
Quote from: angelcookie on April 20, 2017, 06:20:48 PM
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Movie to follow

You listen to the podcast? Either This American Life, or Radiolab, not sure which.

No never heard of it
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 25, 2017, 05:29:06 PM
Just finished The Wonderful Garden. I'm somewhat embarrassed to have to admit that it took about 4 readings for it to dawn on me, what Nesbit was doing in this one. Which means that her target audience probably never would have gotten it, so that's a comfort. ;) The woman deserves a medal, for trying to maintain and foster a sense of wonder in her child readers.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on April 25, 2017, 05:47:34 PM
Quote from: Clare on April 25, 2017, 02:19:34 PM
That must be a long flight!
18 hrs. And I'll a couple weeks before spring classes start when I get back, so I'll spend a lot of time reading and drinking tea then  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 28, 2017, 11:55:18 AM
Learning to Go to School in Japan: The Transition from Home to Preschool Life, by Lois Peak. Fascinating insight into cultural expectations governing life as a group in Japan, and how these are taught primarily in school, rather than at home. Gives me a lot of insight into my grandma's life.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on April 28, 2017, 12:32:34 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 28, 2017, 11:55:18 AM
Learning to Go to School in Japan: The Transition from Home to Preschool Life, by Lois Peak. Fascinating insight into cultural expectations governing life as a group in Japan, and how these are taught primarily in school, rather than at home. Gives me a lot of insight into my grandma's life.

When was that written?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 28, 2017, 02:25:22 PM
Quote from: Lynne on April 28, 2017, 12:32:34 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 28, 2017, 11:55:18 AM
Learning to Go to School in Japan: The Transition from Home to Preschool Life, by Lois Peak. Fascinating insight into cultural expectations governing life as a group in Japan, and how these are taught primarily in school, rather than at home. Gives me a lot of insight into my grandma's life.

When was that written?
1991, but the cultural principles aren't that recent.  :lol: This book is just explaining them to the Western mind.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on April 28, 2017, 02:53:18 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 28, 2017, 02:25:22 PM
Quote from: Lynne on April 28, 2017, 12:32:34 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on April 28, 2017, 11:55:18 AM
Learning to Go to School in Japan: The Transition from Home to Preschool Life, by Lois Peak. Fascinating insight into cultural expectations governing life as a group in Japan, and how these are taught primarily in school, rather than at home. Gives me a lot of insight into my grandma's life.

When was that written?
1991, but the cultural principles aren't that recent.  :lol: This book is just explaining them to the Western mind.

Ah...  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Hat And Beard on May 01, 2017, 10:19:05 PM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-yuwKWVYAAsOlS.jpg:large)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 02, 2017, 05:35:26 AM
Treason: Liberal Treachery From the Cold War to the War on Terrorism by Ann Coulter. Some eye-opening stuff about Joe McCarthy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 08, 2017, 01:33:36 PM
Sacrae Theologiae Summa IB: On the Church of Christ • On Holy Scripture By Rev. Joachim Salaverri S.J. and Rev. Michaele Nicolau S.J.  The second volume of an eight volume set on Catholic Theology. Excellent. For any Catholic who wants to deepen the knowledge of their faith. Like Ott on steroids.
https://www.amazon.com/Sacrae-Theologiae-Summa-IB-Scripture/dp/0991226879/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0991226879&pd_rd_r=ZZBM02EE2CFKEA6GKWER&pd_rd_w=mSlWQ&pd_rd_wg=RFu3p&psc=1&refRID=ZZBM02EE2CFKEA6GKWER
here is the publisher's review:
QuoteThis English translation from the original Latin, On the Church of Christ • On Holy Scripture, is meant for seminarians and theology students who want to learn scholastic and Thomistic theology. This book is the second half of Volume I of the four volume series under the title of Sacrae Theologiae Summa, which was published in Latin in 1956 by the Bishops' Conference of Spain. The Spanish publisher is called B.A.C. The four volumes contain the treatises that cover all the basic dogmas of the Catholic faith and it does it in a detailed and scholarly way, with a heavy reliance on the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas. One advantage of this Summa is that it gives the student the "theological note," that is, the grade of certitude for each thesis. Here you will learn what is a defined dogma of the Church, what is theologically certain, and what is just a theological opinion. The original publisher has given permission to publish the individual treatises as separate books, instead of the four large volumes of about 1,000 pages each. The project will take a few years and, when finished, should add up to eight volumes covering all the traditional courses of dogmatic theology: Revelation, Church, Scripture, The One and Triune God, Creation, Sin, Christology, Mariology, Grace, Virtues, The Seven Sacraments, The Last Things[note, the translation is finished and all 8 vol. Are availabl]. The text has not been altered from the original, with the exception of the references to Denzinger (D). The best available version is the 43rd Edition edited by Peter Hünermann and published by Ignatius Press. It is the translator's hope that this volume and those that follow will help theology students, whether seminarians or graduate students, to learn the great Catholic tradition of dogmatic theology which is based on the Holy Scriptures, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, the ecclesiastical Magisterium, and the works of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 08, 2017, 03:13:19 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on May 08, 2017, 01:33:36 PM
Sacrae Theologiae Summa IB: On the Church of Christ • On Holy Scripture By Rev. Joachim Salaverri S.J. and Rev. Michaele Nicolau S.J.  The second volume of an eight volume set on Catholic Theology. Excellent. For any Catholic who wants to deepen the knowledge of their faith.
Like Ott on steroids.

Wow.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on May 08, 2017, 04:53:57 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on May 08, 2017, 01:33:36 PM
Sacrae Theologiae Summa IB: On the Church of Christ • On Holy Scripture By Rev. Joachim Salaverri S.J. and Rev. Michaele Nicolau S.J.  The second volume of an eight volume set on Catholic Theology. Excellent. For any Catholic who wants to deepen the knowledge of their faith. Like Ott on steroids.
https://www.amazon.com/Sacrae-Theologiae-Summa-IB-Scripture/dp/0991226879/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0991226879&pd_rd_r=ZZBM02EE2CFKEA6GKWER&pd_rd_w=mSlWQ&pd_rd_wg=RFu3p&psc=1&refRID=ZZBM02EE2CFKEA6GKWER
here is the publisher's review:
QuoteThis English translation from the original Latin, On the Church of Christ • On Holy Scripture, is meant for seminarians and theology students who want to learn scholastic and Thomistic theology. This book is the second half of Volume I of the four volume series under the title of Sacrae Theologiae Summa, which was published in Latin in 1956 by the Bishops' Conference of Spain. The Spanish publisher is called B.A.C. The four volumes contain the treatises that cover all the basic dogmas of the Catholic faith and it does it in a detailed and scholarly way, with a heavy reliance on the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas. One advantage of this Summa is that it gives the student the "theological note," that is, the grade of certitude for each thesis. Here you will learn what is a defined dogma of the Church, what is theologically certain, and what is just a theological opinion. The original publisher has given permission to publish the individual treatises as separate books, instead of the four large volumes of about 1,000 pages each. The project will take a few years and, when finished, should add up to eight volumes covering all the traditional courses of dogmatic theology: Revelation, Church, Scripture, The One and Triune God, Creation, Sin, Christology, Mariology, Grace, Virtues, The Seven Sacraments, The Last Things[note, the translation is finished and all 8 vol. Are availabl]. The text has not been altered from the original, with the exception of the references to Denzinger (D). The best available version is the 43rd Edition edited by Peter Hünermann and published by Ignatius Press. It is the translator's hope that this volume and those that follow will help theology students, whether seminarians or graduate students, to learn the great Catholic tradition of dogmatic theology which is based on the Holy Scriptures, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, the ecclesiastical Magisterium, and the works of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Author: SJ
Author: SJ
Translator: SJ

:crazy:


;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on May 08, 2017, 05:18:07 PM
Fr. Baker is solid...

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 13, 2017, 04:26:08 PM
Heidi and On the Banks of Plum Creek. It's like comfort food for the mind. :/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on May 13, 2017, 05:28:55 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 08, 2017, 05:18:07 PM
Fr. Baker is solid...

I think Louis is teasing because it's a theology text that "is meant for seminarians and theology students who want to learn scholastic and Thomistic theology", but it's all being done by Jesuits, with no collaboration or work by Dominicans.  :lol:

(Not that I blame his teasing...)

:lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on May 13, 2017, 06:20:28 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 13, 2017, 04:26:08 PM
Heidi and On the Banks of Plum Creek. It's like comfort food for the mind. :/

My grandparents lived about an hour or so from where Laura lived on Plum Creek (or Walnut Grove).  Lovely area and a favorite book. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on May 14, 2017, 06:47:34 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on May 13, 2017, 05:28:55 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 08, 2017, 05:18:07 PM
Fr. Baker is solid...

I think Louis is teasing because it's a theology text that "is meant for seminarians and theology students who want to learn scholastic and Thomistic theology", but it's all being done by Jesuits, with no collaboration or work by Dominicans.  :lol:

(Not that I blame his teasing...)

:lol:

The only thing being done is translation. The text is from 1956 and Fr. Baker is translating it.

Dominicans cannot even update their own house of studies site with more English translations of St. Thomas' works. Why on earth would they get to translating an entire massive volume.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 14, 2017, 02:21:09 PM
Re. The Jesuits and Thomism; I read this book by Louis Jugnet entitled: "La Pensee de St. Thomas d'Aquin" its purpose is to introduce laymen to the thinking of St. Thomas Aquinas; he gives a short history of the history of Thomism with its gradual decline and almost total eclipse in the 18th C. By Cartesian philosophy:(My translation)
That we owe the survival of Thomism not only to the in  Jesuits in general,  but to the Spanish Jesuits in particular: 
Pg. 226:
QuoteBy the XVIII C. Scholasticism, whether thomistic or other appeared to be dead. Apart from a few cloisters and universities, especially in the Southern countries (Spain and Italy), it had practically ceased to exist. Even the Ecclesiastical meliux had been penetrated by modern philosophies, especially the Cartesian. Perhaps, however, it is this perseverance in the state of misunderstood and almost exhausted trickle of water, on the part of some Italians and Spaniards, that we owe (in terms of immedite causes, or rather Material conditions), the modern Renaissance of Thomism.
Nineteenth century: Two stages: A) Before the encyclical Aeterni Patris, that is to say -1800-1879: While Cartesianism, ontologism (a system analogous to that of Malenbranche in some respects) impregnated the Catholic minds; some Spanish Jesuits, expelled from their home,  Had found refuge in Italy, notably at Naples. Formed in scholasticism, and even perhaps Thomists of strict observance (despite some suarezian influences), they taught a handful of Italian priests that were unhappy with the philosophy that they were taught, and made them rediscover Thomism. Once gained, these new disciples spread the doctrine, despite a very violent opposition. Among the valorous were Vincenzo Buzzetti (1777-1824) and Domenico Sordi. Then the Jesuites Liberatore (1810-1872), Taparelli d'Azeglio ((1793-1862), Cornoldi (1892) and the Dominican Zigliara (1833-1893) with his brother Sanseverino (1811-1865), who produced on the one hand, neo-scholastic societies, on the other hand, vigorous polemical works of actuality; and in Spain Cardinal Gonzalez, in Germany the Jesuit Kleuten, in France a laic, Count A. de Margerie and Others...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on May 15, 2017, 11:33:12 AM
This thread is very valuable for 1) adding to one's library  2) gift ideas

In addition to daily Catholic references, I also often review Living a Beautiful Life - Alexandra Stoddard, and Drinking with the Saints - Michael P. Foley.  :cheeseheadbeer:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on May 15, 2017, 02:30:03 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 14, 2017, 06:47:34 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on May 13, 2017, 05:28:55 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 08, 2017, 05:18:07 PM
Fr. Baker is solid...

I think Louis is teasing because it's a theology text that "is meant for seminarians and theology students who want to learn scholastic and Thomistic theology", but it's all being done by Jesuits, with no collaboration or work by Dominicans.  :lol:

(Not that I blame his teasing...)

:lol:

The only thing being done is translation. The text is from 1956 and Fr. Baker is translating it.

Dominicans cannot even update their own house of studies site with more English translations of St. Thomas' works. Why on earth would they get to translating an entire massive volume.

This presupposes that the pre-conciliar Jesuits were worth listening to.

;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on May 16, 2017, 06:49:40 PM
The Soul of the Apostolate.  I say I'm "reading" it, but really it just keeps punching me in the gut.  Highly recommended.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 16, 2017, 07:39:43 PM
Quote from: Pheo on May 16, 2017, 06:49:40 PM
The Soul of the Apostolate.  I say I'm "reading" it, but really it just keeps punching me in the gut.  Highly recommended.
One of the greatest books I've ever read. I keep going back to it again and again.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on May 16, 2017, 07:45:21 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on May 16, 2017, 07:39:43 PMOne of the greatest books I've ever read. I keep going back to it again and again.

I'm only around a quarter of the way through, and I was starting to think along the same lines.  I borrowed this copy from a friend at church - I'll definitely be buying myself a copy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on May 16, 2017, 09:51:38 PM
Just started "Cranmer's Godly Order". I read the first or the second edition few years ago and now I feel even more excited to read the latest edition with additional appendices and revisions.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 21, 2017, 02:47:47 PM
Oh, Florida!: How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country by Craig Pittman.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 21, 2017, 04:19:46 PM
Finishing  Mere Christianity
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 26, 2017, 06:35:24 PM
A Grief Observed
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on May 26, 2017, 07:48:15 PM
Quilting Shortcuts by Maggie Malone ....library find.  I also found a few cookbooks to research 😍
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 26, 2017, 08:20:57 PM
The Abolition of Man
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 29, 2017, 09:50:49 PM
The Problem of Pain
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 30, 2017, 05:43:52 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on May 29, 2017, 09:50:49 PM
The Problem of Pain

I sense a trend.  :D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 30, 2017, 09:01:23 AM
Lol. I'm trying to finish a collection of his works that I got in one volume
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 02, 2017, 02:02:19 PM
Mainly Keats poetry
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 04, 2017, 03:12:38 PM
The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton by Michael Mott. Very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 07, 2017, 05:17:42 PM
The Long Goodbye
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on June 07, 2017, 05:23:16 PM
The Life of Blessed Margaret Mary.  Almost done this one.  The saints were awesome.  Also makes me feel like a bit (who am I kidding...a lot) of a spiritual wimp.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LouisIX on June 07, 2017, 07:21:45 PM
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51MYK-HgJsL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on June 07, 2017, 07:24:02 PM
LouisIX reading about Louis IX.  Yes.  Looks like an interesting one too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on June 07, 2017, 07:27:22 PM
Daughter #2 and I read about LouisIX in school today.  I wish my brain could still absorb information like those kids can!  For the life of me, I have no idea what we read  :-\
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on June 08, 2017, 10:49:42 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 07, 2017, 07:27:22 PM
Daughter #2 and I read about LouisIX in school today.  I wish my brain could still absorb information like those kids can!  For the life of me, I have no idea what we read  :-\

Oh good! I thought it was just me...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 09, 2017, 05:08:59 PM
The Silmarillion
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on June 09, 2017, 06:09:11 PM
I just started reading "The Sayings of the Desert Fathers".
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on June 09, 2017, 09:40:03 PM
The Priest of The Fathers by Edward Heston.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on June 10, 2017, 12:51:28 PM
Moved onto Medieval Essays by Christopher Dawson.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 13, 2017, 11:38:36 AM
The Republic
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on June 15, 2017, 01:56:36 PM
The Singer Trilogy by Calvin Miller.  ::)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on June 15, 2017, 04:30:47 PM
Robert K Massie's two books on Peter the Great (read) and Catherine the Great (reading). Very much a secular, liberal outlook, of the old sort, for he called for a boycott of retailers refusing to sell Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Now Moslems can do no wrong for the Left.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on June 15, 2017, 07:37:19 PM
Today I picked up a book by Flannery O'Connor called "Wise Blood". this is not my cup of tea but I just started reading so I might give it a chance.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 16, 2017, 06:59:07 PM
Just finished Out of the Silent Planet

Either returning to The Republic, or beginning Black Mischief
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on June 16, 2017, 07:32:10 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 16, 2017, 06:59:07 PM
Just finished Out of the Silent Planet

Either returning to The Republic, or beginning Black Mischief

Are you going to finish the C.S. Lewis trilogy?

Can't go wrong with one of Waugh's funniest.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 16, 2017, 08:29:58 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on June 16, 2017, 07:32:10 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 16, 2017, 06:59:07 PM
Just finished Out of the Silent Planet

Either returning to The Republic, or beginning Black Mischief

Are you going to finish the C.S. Lewis trilogy?

Can't go wrong with one of Waugh's funniest.

I will, this was my first crack at it. I'm basically just taking books from my library two at a time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on June 16, 2017, 09:10:07 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 16, 2017, 08:29:58 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on June 16, 2017, 07:32:10 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 16, 2017, 06:59:07 PM
Just finished Out of the Silent Planet

Either returning to The Republic, or beginning Black Mischief

Are you going to finish the C.S. Lewis trilogy?

Can't go wrong with one of Waugh's funniest.

I will, this was my first crack at it. I'm basically just taking books from my library two at a time.

My experience with the C.S. Lewis trilogy is that the first 2 books are kind of "meh" but still worth reading, while the third book is a true classic. Uneven, like all of Lewis's work, but the good parts deserve to be recognized right up there with "Brave New World" and "1984".

"Fairy Hardcastle," for example. Just in the past little while we've seen the rise of butch dykes taking over the world. Angela Merkel, Nicola Sturgeon, Ruth Davidson, Arlene Foster -- they all look like they could have a good shot at a casting call for playing Fairy Hardcastle.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on June 16, 2017, 09:45:37 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on June 16, 2017, 09:10:07 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 16, 2017, 08:29:58 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on June 16, 2017, 07:32:10 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 16, 2017, 06:59:07 PM
Just finished Out of the Silent Planet

Either returning to The Republic, or beginning Black Mischief

Are you going to finish the C.S. Lewis trilogy?

Can't go wrong with one of Waugh's funniest.

I will, this was my first crack at it. I'm basically just taking books from my library two at a time.

My experience with the C.S. Lewis trilogy is that the first 2 books are kind of "meh" but still worth reading, while the third book is a true classic. Uneven, like all of Lewis's work, but the good parts deserve to be recognized right up there with "Brave New World" and "1984".

"Fairy Hardcastle," for example. Just in the past little while we've seen the rise of butch dykes taking over the world. Angela Merkel, Nicola Sturgeon, Ruth Davidson, Arlene Foster -- they all look like they could have a good shot at a casting call for playing Fairy Hardcastle.

I liked C.S. Lewis' "Perelandra" the best (for its imagery and analogies with Adam and Eve) and "That Hideous Strength" the least.  I agree "Out of the Silent Planet" was pretty meh.

Maybe I'll read "That Hideous Strength" again.  I agree it was like "1984" and "Brave New World". Maybe that's why I didn't like it.  Good books about a horrible world - I can't take too much of them.  But I guess this world is just about as bad.

Wikipedia has the following interesting bit on "Black Mischief"

QuoteThe book was criticised by the editor of the Roman Catholic paper The Tablet. Waugh had become a Roman Catholic in 1930 yet the editor condemned the book as "disfigured by outrageous lapses, which would be a disgrace to anyone professing the Catholic name."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on June 16, 2017, 10:54:05 PM
Quote from: Non Nobis on June 16, 2017, 09:45:37 PM

Wikipedia has the following interesting bit on "Black Mischief"

QuoteThe book was criticised by the editor of the Roman Catholic paper The Tablet. Waugh had become a Roman Catholic in 1930 yet the editor condemned the book as "disfigured by outrageous lapses, which would be a disgrace to anyone professing the Catholic name."

Those "outrageous lapses" are probably just the bits that make the book worth reading.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on June 18, 2017, 04:03:55 PM
(https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FE39HOFH.jpg&hash=2337424d27edb3fb251be4a07fb85d4f3c3cd355)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 20, 2017, 01:39:15 PM
Perelandra
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 22, 2017, 09:52:49 AM
Decline and Fall
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on June 22, 2017, 05:29:47 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 22, 2017, 09:52:49 AM
Decline and Fall
How do you like this book? I read just about 30 pages of this one and really liked it. will go back to reading it once I finish something else I just started.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 22, 2017, 09:20:06 PM
I liked it, but I didn't find it to be as funny as I thought it might be. There are definitely parts I laughed at, but I liked Black Mischief better on the humour department. It's worth reading.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on June 22, 2017, 09:38:38 PM
Do you guys know of any good noir or detective novels written by catholic/christian authors. I also love suspense and thriller genres.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on June 22, 2017, 10:28:00 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on June 22, 2017, 09:38:38 PM
Do you guys know of any good noir or detective novels written by catholic/christian authors. I also love suspense and thriller genres.

The Fr. Brown series by Chesterton is probably the top hit on this. Personally, I didn't like the stories. They always felt like he left out key info in order to make Fr. Brown seem witty at the end. Then again, I felt the same way about Agatha Christie's stuff, so I probably just don't like the genre and you should take my thoughts on it with a grain of salt.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 22, 2017, 10:38:58 PM
Quote from: Gardener on June 22, 2017, 10:28:00 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on June 22, 2017, 09:38:38 PM
Do you guys know of any good noir or detective novels written by catholic/christian authors. I also love suspense and thriller genres.

The Fr. Brown series by Chesterton is probably the top hit on this. Personally, I didn't like the stories. They always felt like he left out key info in order to make Fr. Brown seem witty at the end. Then again, I felt the same way about Agatha Christie's stuff, so I probably just don't like the genre and you should take my thoughts on it with a grain of salt.
That's my reaction to the fr brown series too.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 23, 2017, 04:10:15 AM
Deliver Us from Evil by Ralph Sarchie. Author is/was an NYPD cop who participated in many exorcisms. These were done in Connecticut with the permission of then Bishop Robert McKenna. Sarchie was a friend and admirer of Fr Malachi Martin. Martin was godfather to one of Sarchie's daughters. This book is a good supplement to Hostage to the Devil.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on June 23, 2017, 08:40:09 AM
There is Father Brown (tv series). I watched a couple of episodes last year. Pretty cool.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 23, 2017, 07:43:23 PM
The Old Man and the Sea
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 26, 2017, 04:18:12 PM
The Last Tycoon
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 26, 2017, 04:21:59 PM
The Girl Who Came Home, by Hazel Gaynor. About the Titanic. I'm planning to stop when the ship hits the iceberg, though.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on June 26, 2017, 05:51:47 PM
Are there any traditionalist novels out there?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 26, 2017, 06:03:03 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on June 26, 2017, 05:51:47 PM
Are there any traditionalist novels out there?
Ben Hur?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on June 26, 2017, 06:04:34 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on June 26, 2017, 05:51:47 PM
Are there any traditionalist novels out there?

Father Brown series by Chesterton..
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 26, 2017, 06:48:07 PM
The Fr. Finn books, if you don't mind children's literature. They're available on archive.org.
https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Finn%2C+Francis+James%2C+1859-1928%22 (https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Finn%2C+Francis+James%2C+1859-1928%22)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on June 26, 2017, 08:06:23 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on June 26, 2017, 06:04:34 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on June 26, 2017, 05:51:47 PM
Are there any traditionalist novels out there?

Father Brown series by Chesterton..
This was already mentioned but thank you anyway.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on June 26, 2017, 08:55:29 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on June 26, 2017, 06:48:07 PM
The Fr. Finn books, if you don't mind children's literature. They're available on archive.org.
https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Finn%2C+Francis+James%2C+1859-1928%22 (https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Finn%2C+Francis+James%2C+1859-1928%22)
Well, I don't really mind. Sometimes a light read is more satisfying than a serious literary piece. any other ideas. I made some room on my book shelf for catholic fiction and fiction in general. I need more titles in my small library
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on June 27, 2017, 02:49:09 AM
Quote from: martin88nyc on June 26, 2017, 05:51:47 PM
Are there any traditionalist novels out there?

William Biersach has written several novels. Unfortunately, the paperback version is expensive but the Kindle one is cheap...

https://www.amazon.com/Endless-Knot-Father-Baptist-Book-ebook/dp/B00995P0E8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498553247&sr=8-1 (https://www.amazon.com/Endless-Knot-Father-Baptist-Book-ebook/dp/B00995P0E8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498553247&sr=8-1)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on June 27, 2017, 08:38:58 AM
Quote from: Lynne on June 27, 2017, 02:49:09 AM
Quote from: martin88nyc on June 26, 2017, 05:51:47 PM
Are there any traditionalist novels out there?

William Biersach has written several novels. Unfortunately, the paperback version is expensive but the Kindle one is cheap...

https://www.amazon.com/Endless-Knot-Father-Baptist-Book-ebook/dp/B00995P0E8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498553247&sr=8-1 (https://www.amazon.com/Endless-Knot-Father-Baptist-Book-ebook/dp/B00995P0E8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498553247&sr=8-1)
Don't worry I usually get my books on abebooks or ebay. You can sometime get great deals on books.  ;)
For example I found The story of American Catholicism by Theodore  Maynard (hardcover from 1940-1950) on Abebooks for only 3$, shipping included and The New Testament  (Confraternity version for 2.98).
Liberalism is a sin - 1.84$
Peace of Soul Fulton Sheen - mere 1$
On average I pay 3.50 for well kept useds books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on June 27, 2017, 10:15:20 AM
The Whole Truth about Fatima. Vol. 1 by Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinitè
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 27, 2017, 11:17:44 AM
Fahrenheit 451
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on June 27, 2017, 11:44:19 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 27, 2017, 11:17:44 AM
Fahrenheit 451

Good read
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 03, 2017, 09:47:10 AM
The Power and the Glory
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on July 03, 2017, 11:39:55 AM
Pierced by the sword
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 03, 2017, 06:40:21 PM
Jesus of Nazareth: The Story of His Life Simply Told, by Mother Mary Loyola.

Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/jesusnazarethst01loyogoog (https://archive.org/details/jesusnazarethst01loyogoog)

Librivox:
https://librivox.org/jesus-of-nazareth-the-story-of-his-life-simply-told-by-mother-mary-loyola/ (https://librivox.org/jesus-of-nazareth-the-story-of-his-life-simply-told-by-mother-mary-loyola/)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Pheo on July 03, 2017, 08:10:43 PM
The City of God.  St Augustine is great.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 06, 2017, 10:53:08 AM
Jesus in the Talmud
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 06, 2017, 11:35:46 AM
Brideshead Revisited for the 75th time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on July 06, 2017, 01:13:23 PM
Peter Crawford, Constantius II: Usurpers, Eunuchs and the Anti-Christ. The title is a bit over the top, and the author is rather negative about St Athanasius, but it is a strong account of a a ruthless and very able Emperor (a dealer of death to family rivals and those who failed him, usurpers, rebels, one bishop, civil and military officials who couldn't play politics well enough, and Sassanid generals and Germanic warlords) who suffered a lose of repute due to the hostility of historian and Guard officer Ammianus Marcellinus and Church historians due to his harsh upholding of a semi-Arian position.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 07, 2017, 05:51:15 PM
The Third Man by Graham Greene.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 13, 2017, 06:07:18 PM
The Deathly Hallows Lectures: The Hogwarts Professor Explains the Final Harry Potter Adventure, by John Granger. I thoroughly enjoyed his previous book, as well: Looking for God in Harry Potter, now updated and sold under the title: How Harry Cast His Spell: The Meaning Behind the Mania for J. K. Rowling's Bestselling Books . The latter's next on my to-read list.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 17, 2017, 04:53:37 PM
Starship Troopers
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 20, 2017, 03:55:31 AM
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. This won a Pulitzer.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 20, 2017, 12:07:50 PM
The Loved One
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 20, 2017, 08:24:40 PM
How to Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life, by Ruth Goodman.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on July 20, 2017, 11:11:01 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on July 06, 2017, 01:13:23 PM
Peter Crawford, Constantius II: Usurpers, Eunuchs and the Anti-Christ. The title is a bit over the top, and the author is rather negative about St Athanasius, but it is a strong account of a a ruthless and very able Emperor (a dealer of death to family rivals and those who failed him, usurpers, rebels, one bishop, civil and military officials who couldn't play politics well enough, and Sassanid generals and Germanic warlords) who suffered a lose of repute due to the hostility of historian and Guard officer Ammianus Marcellinus and Church historians due to his harsh upholding of a semi-Arian position.

thank you for the summary. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: kayla_veronica on July 22, 2017, 07:08:22 AM
Dicipline That Lasts a Lifetime by Dr. Ray
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on July 22, 2017, 08:19:34 AM
Quote from: kayla_veronica on July 22, 2017, 07:08:22 AM
Dicipline That Lasts a Lifetime by Dr. Ray

How is it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: kayla_veronica on July 22, 2017, 07:16:35 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on July 22, 2017, 08:19:34 AM
Quote from: kayla_veronica on July 22, 2017, 07:08:22 AM
Dicipline That Lasts a Lifetime by Dr. Ray

How is it?

So far, I like it a lot. I've been looking for a book like it for quite a while, but could never decide who to trust. It was recommended by a mother I know who has very well behaved kids.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on July 23, 2017, 03:15:37 PM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on July 20, 2017, 11:11:01 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on July 06, 2017, 01:13:23 PM
Peter Crawford, Constantius II: Usurpers, Eunuchs and the Anti-Christ. The title is a bit over the top, and the author is rather negative about St Athanasius, but it is a strong account of a a ruthless and very able Emperor (a dealer of death to family rivals and those who failed him, usurpers, rebels, one bishop, civil and military officials who couldn't play politics well enough, and Sassanid generals and Germanic warlords) who suffered a lose of repute due to the hostility of historian and Guard officer Ammianus Marcellinus and Church historians due to his harsh upholding of a semi-Arian position.

thank you for the summary.

Welcome.

Similar enough thing now, covering what the author, John S Harrel calls Nisibis War, the defence of the Roman East Ad 337-363, which has roughly the same end point when Julian the Apostate recklessly and unwisely hazards the Roman East on almost a turn of the card, a full scale invasion of Sassanid Emperor. Not too far in, but Peter Crawford noted that Constantius husbanded Roman resources well enough in the East, but his successful and fairly economic defensive posture in three theatres of war had no glory to it. His austere, chaste, military existence gain the respect of his troops, but outside of that, limited respect from those who wrote history. Julian the bearded philosopher king hoped to be Trajan and Alexander, which didn't work out. I wonder how this author will reckon it. This author is more focussed on logistics, less so on other aspects, but they aren't neglected.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on July 29, 2017, 05:38:18 PM
https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/saints/cure-d-ars-st-jean-marie-baptiste-vianney.html (https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/saints/cure-d-ars-st-jean-marie-baptiste-vianney.html)
(https://www.tanbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/270x405/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/0/1/0184x.jpg)
I am reading this biography of the Cure of Ars. I got it for my birthday last year and am reading it for the second time now. I highly recommend it. His life is very impressive and this book is readable. He is one of my favorite saints. I love this book and also a book of his sermons that I also own. I think it is very inspiring.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: kayla_veronica on August 01, 2017, 07:57:02 PM
The 4 Temperments by Rev. Conrad Hock
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 03, 2017, 04:47:14 AM
Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the creation of Holmes by Michael Sims. Fans of Sherlock Holmes will enjoy this.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 08, 2017, 08:36:55 PM
The Culture of Critique
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 08, 2017, 08:54:48 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on August 08, 2017, 08:36:55 PM
The Culture of Critique
Oy

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on August 09, 2017, 03:55:05 AM
Screwtape Proposes a Toast, by C S Lewis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 09, 2017, 10:38:26 AM
The Church Under Attack; Five Hundred Years That Split the Church and Scattered The Flock.
Diane Moczar.
Amazon review:https://www.amazon.com/Church-Under-Attack-Diane-Moczar/dp/1933184930
QuoteHere's an unabashedly Catholic history that documents scores of sustained and unprecedented assaults on our Catholic Faith these past five centuries and delineates our Church's brave response to each one.

For five hundred years, from Luther to Marx, through Darwin, Hitler, and Rousseau, wave after wave of cynical anti-Catholic men and movements have wrought havoc even worse than that of Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan, leaving our once noble Christendom a ruined city, devastated politically and spiritually, morally and intellectually.

They've ripped the heart from our culture's chest: the Catholic Faith that once gave life and strength to her body. They've wounded even the Church herself.

Celebrated Catholic historian Diane Moczar counters here with an unflinching sketch of these five woeful centuries with sound reasons for hope. For, as she demonstrates, even after five hundred years of sustained persecution, our Church has not merely survived, but continues in many places to flourish.

Almost two thousand years ago, Tertullian noted that the "blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church," a truth borne out these past five hundred years.

Time after time, as Moczar shows, persecution has not snuffed out the Faith, but has brought forth great saints whose holy deeds and brave examples frustrated their persecutors by communicating to the besieged Church a vigor greater than that of her persecutors.

These pages will renew your confidence that the Church is indeed Christ acting in the world and that no matter how strong or ruthless or vicious her opponents, she will not be vanquished but will endure to the end of time.
I've read 90 pages so far, and it is a very interesting book, as it outlines the great crisis that have affected the Church and Europe over the past 500 years. Does not go into great depth, but gives a suggested reading list at the end of the book for those who wish to dig deeper into any of the subjects of her chapters.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on August 09, 2017, 11:03:09 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on August 09, 2017, 10:38:26 AM
The Church Under Attack; Five Hundred Years That Split the Church and Scattered The Flock.
Diane Moczar.
Amazon review:https://www.amazon.com/Church-Under-Attack-Diane-Moczar/dp/1933184930
QuoteHere's an unabashedly Catholic history that documents scores of sustained and unprecedented assaults on our Catholic Faith these past five centuries and delineates our Church's brave response to each one.

For five hundred years, from Luther to Marx, through Darwin, Hitler, and Rousseau, wave after wave of cynical anti-Catholic men and movements have wrought havoc even worse than that of Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan, leaving our once noble Christendom a ruined city, devastated politically and spiritually, morally and intellectually.

They've ripped the heart from our culture's chest: the Catholic Faith that once gave life and strength to her body. They've wounded even the Church herself.

Celebrated Catholic historian Diane Moczar counters here with an unflinching sketch of these five woeful centuries with sound reasons for hope. For, as she demonstrates, even after five hundred years of sustained persecution, our Church has not merely survived, but continues in many places to flourish.

Almost two thousand years ago, Tertullian noted that the "blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church," a truth borne out these past five hundred years.

Time after time, as Moczar shows, persecution has not snuffed out the Faith, but has brought forth great saints whose holy deeds and brave examples frustrated their persecutors by communicating to the besieged Church a vigor greater than that of her persecutors.

These pages will renew your confidence that the Church is indeed Christ acting in the world and that no matter how strong or ruthless or vicious her opponents, she will not be vanquished but will endure to the end of time.
I've read 90 pages so far, and it is a very interesting book, as it outlines the great crisis that have affected the Church and Europe over the past 500 years. Does not go into great depth, but gives a suggested reading list at the end of the book for those who wish to dig deeper into any of the subjects of her chapters.

I have her book, "Seven Lies about Catholic History: Infamous Myths about the Church's Past and How to Answer Them".

It's a pretty good book. She does a good job of cutting through modern myths.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 16, 2017, 09:57:28 AM
Vile Bodies
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on August 17, 2017, 11:35:20 AM
https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/life-of-st-gemma-galgani.html (https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/life-of-st-gemma-galgani.html)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/W2ZcQzD6ahLdEI-TOWNovRc0dYnbc9n51sFfaq4eOjmM9dfgFOi1UvWOt6QmMYITWGO6vfnwMcizYXkSYD_P9jR-Tp3cXBXIhdSZHlTXcf9BvXrQguXThCwbHSORhTjQHmDQV7xmh6pk6RlVeXKRBNl6igNYbPA-vAP11TaDJ_Hq4gwDyeuP6_qvpcXVfXVE7BoDNrPDENtil4vRljD9zWteWCJHyGvrLQNrlzbXzcKnmwlUQ-uCYSkeyU8aj3w_fVdSu4tlAwS2i8FBX__d-YhI-1iMGzjC4fi9iiysHL9bAJloi2Cw1hVJxYGxCD3X54zuFtx1ByvnDQSEOvr7qA2cnihhcHLQ0f6_ZTCH5CuxfBvCkMY50gckpCzqU64FC2S46fbxZbmNwmgDj_qwL0qMJB-F8ltsoW5exXqXC9_aMzFSlS5yvc4tv0FTkZOpjMT5UHMK075AfjGBIFuO3jsA0m0we6aLKFOLfzfTU5z9tfe_ngfP_AMUjLrH7a38qOMlSo92wMtW7xYw5FnHrm7h-YxPXElPNvZ0f2AZXAnNeuxHs-e8Qg4twa-hJTjzWgtx5fIVp1j2RHpMVDT0Md_-UDLShAJTl-ZOoh2loezLZKhpATvq=w270-h405-no)
I am reading the Life of St. Gemma Galgani again. I have a devotion to her and pray to her often. She had many mystical experiences and had the stigmata on Thursday evenings and Fridays for a while. She died in 1903.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 20, 2017, 04:08:24 AM
The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. I always suspected I was a bad catholic. Now I'm sure.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christe Eleison on August 20, 2017, 10:58:53 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on August 20, 2017, 04:08:24 AM
The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. I always suspected I was a bad catholic. Now I'm sure.


Could you please give us a brief summary on the book you read?
It would probably be helpful to a lot of us. Thank you. God bless you  :pray1:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 20, 2017, 11:15:48 AM
Quote from: Christe Eleison on August 20, 2017, 10:58:53 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on August 20, 2017, 04:08:24 AM
The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. I always suspected I was a bad catholic. Now I'm sure.
That should be a general rule of thumb for all posters on this thread; also, it would be nice if the poster would state their own opinion of the book and the reasons thereof.


Could you please give us a brief summary on the book you read?
It would probably be helpful to a lot of us. Thank you. God bless you  :pray1:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 20, 2017, 04:04:21 PM
Quote from: Christe Eleison on August 20, 2017, 10:58:53 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on August 20, 2017, 04:08:24 AM
The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. I always suspected I was a bad catholic. Now I'm sure.


Could you please give us a brief summary on the book you read?
It would probably be helpful to a lot of us. Thank you. God bless you  :pray1:
The book  is primarily designed for retreats but I got a lot out of it from the reading. It's set up for a month of spiritual activity divided into four weeks. Each week has different emphasis but all have preparatory prayers and various exercises on such things as overcoming sin, giving up attachments, confession etc. There's a lot of contemplation with a section at the back of biblical passages to consider. One thing it's heavy on is what we would call visualization. Putting yourself there at the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, in the sepulchre  etc.  To see it. Hear it. To make it vivid. All to put you in the mind of Christ.
The book was quite good and I know I'll be rereading it in the future.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 20, 2017, 07:13:47 PM
That Hideous Strength
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on August 24, 2017, 05:07:35 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World

I really need to read that, just so I'll know what's coming next...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on August 24, 2017, 10:03:42 AM
Confess ion of a Convert by Robert Hugh Benson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 24, 2017, 02:05:24 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on July 23, 2017, 03:15:37 PM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on July 20, 2017, 11:11:01 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on July 06, 2017, 01:13:23 PM
Peter Crawford, Constantius II: Usurpers, Eunuchs and the Anti-Christ. The title is a bit over the top, and the author is rather negative about St Athanasius, but it is a strong account of a a ruthless and very able Emperor (a dealer of death to family rivals and those who failed him, usurpers, rebels, one bishop, civil and military officials who couldn't play politics well enough, and Sassanid generals and Germanic warlords) who suffered a lose of repute due to the hostility of historian and Guard officer Ammianus Marcellinus and Church historians due to his harsh upholding of a semi-Arian position.

Once again, I appreciate your time to expound a bit.
I have this on a price watchlist.  Thank you!

thank you for the summary.

Welcome.

Similar enough thing now, covering what the author, John S Harrel calls Nisibis War, the defence of the Roman East Ad 337-363, which has roughly the same end point when Julian the Apostate recklessly and unwisely hazards the Roman East on almost a turn of the card, a full scale invasion of Sassanid Emperor. Not too far in, but Peter Crawford noted that Constantius husbanded Roman resources well enough in the East, but his successful and fairly economic defensive posture in three theatres of war had no glory to it. His austere, chaste, military existence gain the respect of his troops, but outside of that, limited respect from those who wrote history. Julian the bearded philosopher king hoped to be Trajan and Alexander, which didn't work out. I wonder how this author will reckon it. This author is more focussed on logistics, less so on other aspects, but they aren't neglected.

Once again, I appreciate your time to expound a bit.
I have this on a price watchlist.  Thank you!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on August 25, 2017, 07:12:17 AM
Quote from: Lynne on August 24, 2017, 05:07:35 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World
I really need to read that, just so I'll know what's coming next...
It's good. This'll be the fourth or so time I've read it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 07:20:43 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World

I've recently read that, and I kept on wondering what the economic system was. The totalitarian nature of the society would suggest socialism, but the allusions to Henry Ford would suggest a capitalist system. Also encouraging high consumer spending wouldn't seem to make sense in a socialist system.

A similar question about Fahrenheit 451. Maybe neither author was making a point about economics.

Any thoughts?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 27, 2017, 08:51:55 AM
Quote from: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 07:20:43 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World

I've recently read that, and I kept on wondering what the economic system was. The totalitarian nature of the society would suggest socialism, but the allusions to Henry Ford would suggest a capitalist system. Also encouraging high consumer spending wouldn't seem to make sense in a socialist system.

A similar question about Fahrenheit 451. Maybe neither author was making a point about economics.

Any thoughts?
https://prezi.com/jnxbc9satmlu/brave-new-world/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 10:43:12 AM
Thanks, red solo cup. I'm not sure it fully answered my question, but had to view it on "prezi lite", so it wasn't fully navigable.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on August 27, 2017, 11:19:07 AM
Quote from: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 07:20:43 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World

The totalitarian nature of the society would suggest socialism, but the allusions to Henry Ford would suggest a capitalist system.

The reference to Ford is to the creation of the production line. There can be production lines just as easily in both socialist and capitalist systems. Huxley's point it about the extension of the production line to human life. We become part of the production line, rather than it serving us. This happens equally in both socialist and capitalist systems.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 11:52:59 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 27, 2017, 11:19:07 AM
Quote from: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 07:20:43 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World

The totalitarian nature of the society would suggest socialism, but the allusions to Henry Ford would suggest a capitalist system.

The reference to Ford is to the creation of the production line. There can be production lines just as easily in both socialist and capitalist systems. Huxley's point it about the extension of the production line to human life. We become part of the production line, rather than it serving us. This happens equally in both socialist and capitalist systems.

I suppose my question is about the motivation of the rulers of society in the novel. Encouraging consumption would make sense in a society where there were private corporations in which, perhaps, the rulers of society had a stake. But it wouldn't make sense in a socialist society where people's income came from the state; a socialist society might have reason to encourage greater productivity, but not greater consumption, as far as I can see.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on August 27, 2017, 12:52:03 PM
Quote from: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 11:52:59 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 27, 2017, 11:19:07 AM
Quote from: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 07:20:43 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World

The totalitarian nature of the society would suggest socialism, but the allusions to Henry Ford would suggest a capitalist system.

The reference to Ford is to the creation of the production line. There can be production lines just as easily in both socialist and capitalist systems. Huxley's point it about the extension of the production line to human life. We become part of the production line, rather than it serving us. This happens equally in both socialist and capitalist systems.

I suppose my question is about the motivation of the rulers of society in the novel. Encouraging consumption would make sense in a society where there were private corporations in which, perhaps, the rulers of society had a stake. But it wouldn't make sense in a socialist society where people's income came from the state; a socialist society might have reason to encourage greater productivity, but not greater consumption, as far as I can see.

Producing without consuming is just as much a problem as consuming without producing.

Oleg Atbashian addresses the problem of this in his book "Shakedown Socialism" (https://www.amazon.com/Shakedown-Socialism-Pitchforks-Collective-Redistributive/dp/1882514912)

James03 addresses this problem of government trying (and failing) to be omniscient in social/market needs in his book. (https://www.amazon.com/Economics-Catholic-Subsidiarity-James-DePrisco/dp/1535109904)

The whole point of a free market is to allow the process of equilibrium. We don't see this in either so-called Capitalist markets these days(which are not Capitalist, properly speaking), nor in left wing fascist socialism. As Atbashian points out, overproduction of socks leads to sock factory workers getting paid in socks. Since they cannot exchange socks with the people (who would have bought them and consumed the production, via producing that which others consume), this government idea of producing has screwed the sock factory worker because it interrupts the market process and forces them into what is essentially indentured servitude with a useless fungible proxy for their time and labor: socks.

Ann Barnhardt, love her or hate her, touches on these concepts in this article:
https://www.barnhardt.biz/2017/08/26/the-magi-didnt-bring-baby-jesus-gold-because-schlomo-gave-them-a-good-price/
and this one:
https://www.barnhardt.biz/2017/08/24/monetary-theory-be-fruitful-and-multiply/

Her monetary/economic theory is the same as Atbashian's, DePrisco's, Denninger's...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on August 28, 2017, 05:51:13 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 27, 2017, 11:19:07 AM
Quote from: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 07:20:43 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World

The totalitarian nature of the society would suggest socialism, but the allusions to Henry Ford would suggest a capitalist system.

The reference to Ford is to the creation of the production line. There can be production lines just as easily in both socialist and capitalist systems. Huxley's point it about the extension of the production line to human life. We become part of the production line, rather than it serving us. This happens equally in both socialist and capitalist systems.
Basically totalitarian and utilitarian, I guess.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ludimagister on August 28, 2017, 06:50:41 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 28, 2017, 05:51:13 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 27, 2017, 11:19:07 AM
Quote from: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 07:20:43 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World

The totalitarian nature of the society would suggest socialism, but the allusions to Henry Ford would suggest a capitalist system.

The reference to Ford is to the creation of the production line. There can be production lines just as easily in both socialist and capitalist systems. Huxley's point it about the extension of the production line to human life. We become part of the production line, rather than it serving us. This happens equally in both socialist and capitalist systems.
Basically totalitarian and utilitarian, I guess.

Of the two, Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, which would you say has been more accurate in its predictions, in general terms?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on August 28, 2017, 07:33:32 AM
Quote from: ludimagister on August 28, 2017, 06:50:41 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 28, 2017, 05:51:13 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on August 27, 2017, 11:19:07 AM
Quote from: ludimagister on August 27, 2017, 07:20:43 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 24, 2017, 03:25:14 AM
Brave New World

The totalitarian nature of the society would suggest socialism, but the allusions to Henry Ford would suggest a capitalist system.

The reference to Ford is to the creation of the production line. There can be production lines just as easily in both socialist and capitalist systems. Huxley's point it about the extension of the production line to human life. We become part of the production line, rather than it serving us. This happens equally in both socialist and capitalist systems.
Basically totalitarian and utilitarian, I guess.

Of the two, Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, which would you say has been more accurate in its predictions, in general terms?

Brave New World is more accurate for what we see in the West, imo... but moving towards 1984.

The East is more 1984, moving towards BNW.

This web comic does a good compare/contrast:
https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 28, 2017, 10:19:33 AM
QuoteThis web comic does a good compare/contrast:
https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/

+1
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on August 28, 2017, 10:30:17 AM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 28, 2017, 10:19:33 AM
QuoteThis web comic does a good compare/contrast:
https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/

+1

Wow. We're there... I wonder if it would be ironic to post it on Facebook.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on August 30, 2017, 02:19:27 AM
Quote from: Lynne on August 28, 2017, 10:30:17 AM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 28, 2017, 10:19:33 AM
QuoteThis web comic does a good compare/contrast:
https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/

+1
Wow. We're there... I wonder if it would be ironic to post it on Facebook.
I just did!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on August 30, 2017, 02:56:12 AM
Quote from: Clare on August 30, 2017, 02:19:27 AM
Quote from: Lynne on August 28, 2017, 10:30:17 AM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 28, 2017, 10:19:33 AM
QuoteThis web comic does a good compare/contrast:
https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/

+1
Wow. We're there... I wonder if it would be ironic to post it on Facebook.
I just did!

So did I.  8)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 04, 2017, 02:01:37 PM
I've just started James Joyce's Ulysses for the first time. I got it for free from Audible, read by my favorite narrator. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 06, 2017, 08:29:40 PM
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 06, 2017, 10:59:46 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on September 06, 2017, 08:29:40 PM
For Whom the Bell Tolls

For whom does it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on September 07, 2017, 02:44:04 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on September 06, 2017, 10:59:46 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on September 06, 2017, 08:29:40 PM
For Whom the Bell Tolls

For whom does it?

It tolls for thee...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 07, 2017, 05:43:39 AM
What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era by Peggy Noonan. The author had been a writer/editor at CBS News and became a speech writer in Reagan's 2nd term. For a while her boss was the legendary Pat Buchanan. She also wrote for George Bush and was the one who came up with a Thousand Points of Light.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on September 07, 2017, 05:50:16 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 07, 2017, 05:43:39 AM
What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era by Peggy Noonan. The author had been a writer/editor at CBS News and became a speech writer in Reagan's 2nd term. For a while her boss was the legendary Pat Buchanan. She also wrote for George Bush and was the one who came up with a Thousand Points of Light.

And then she voted for Obama...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on September 07, 2017, 02:58:39 PM
The Memoirs of Louis Bouyer which combine vivid evocation of a vanished world of Paris before the Great War with an extraordinary intellect and deep faith. His contempt for and embarrassment at a liturgy (the supposed Novus Ordo Missae) he worked hard despite growing disillusionment is clear. The translated term 'pathetic creature' waters down a term which could translate as an aborted foetus. His phrasing in regard to Mgsr Bugnini suggests that while Fr Bouyer was very possibly a Freemason or under their control, he was moreover a notable deceiver who pushed dubious work on Concilium waverers by claims that Paul VI willed it, and gave illicit support to dubious liturgical experimentation in northern Europe. Fine book, though I'm sad my very limited French forces me to resort to translation.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 15, 2017, 10:02:03 AM
Going to try The Iliad again. Have the time and, hopefully, the attention span for it now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Regina Caeli on September 15, 2017, 11:09:13 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on September 15, 2017, 10:02:03 AM
Going to try The Iliad again. Have the time and, hopefully, the attention span for it now.

I love The Iliad. Are you reading it in Greek or in translation?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 15, 2017, 03:33:13 PM
Quote from: Regina Caeli on September 15, 2017, 11:09:13 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on September 15, 2017, 10:02:03 AM
Going to try The Iliad again. Have the time and, hopefully, the attention span for it now.

I love The Iliad. Are you reading it in Greek or in translation?

Translation, I haven't really begun to learn Attic Greek, let alone Homeric
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OCLittleFlower on September 16, 2017, 02:35:16 AM
Quote from: Lynne on September 07, 2017, 05:50:16 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 07, 2017, 05:43:39 AM
What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era by Peggy Noonan. The author had been a writer/editor at CBS News and became a speech writer in Reagan's 2nd term. For a while her boss was the legendary Pat Buchanan. She also wrote for George Bush and was the one who came up with a Thousand Points of Light.

And then she voted for Obama...

For serious?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on September 16, 2017, 04:16:24 AM
Quote from: OCLittleFlower on September 16, 2017, 02:35:16 AM
Quote from: Lynne on September 07, 2017, 05:50:16 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 07, 2017, 05:43:39 AM
What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era by Peggy Noonan. The author had been a writer/editor at CBS News and became a speech writer in Reagan's 2nd term. For a while her boss was the legendary Pat Buchanan. She also wrote for George Bush and was the one who came up with a Thousand Points of Light.

And then she voted for Obama...

For serious?

Yup. Her name is mud among many conservatives.

Her stuff at WSJ is behind a paywall but here are some excerpts/commentary...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2127644/posts (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2127644/posts)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2524734/posts (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2524734/posts)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 16, 2017, 10:17:38 PM
I'm about to slowly start reading Nicholas Gihr's "The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Akavit on September 19, 2017, 09:20:32 PM
(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0550/7897/products/selling-book-firstedition.png?v=1498836595)

Greg would appreciate the author's bluntness.  The general premise of the book is that if the reader isn't landing sales, the reader is a lazy whiner.  Picked it up at a Goodwill during one of my road trips and it's fun to read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 21, 2017, 01:57:31 PM
The Odyssey
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on September 21, 2017, 04:10:23 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on September 16, 2017, 10:17:38 PM
I'm about to slowly start reading Nicholas Gihr's "The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

Just read this today :)

Resisting the Cult of Speed
https://www.catholicgentleman.net/2017/07/resisting-cult-speed/ (https://www.catholicgentleman.net/2017/07/resisting-cult-speed/)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 24, 2017, 03:34:19 AM
In the Footsteps of Johnson and Boswell: A Modern Day Journey Through Scotland by Israel Shenker.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on September 24, 2017, 11:22:19 AM
I just finished reading "The Price to Pay: A Muslim Risks all to Follow Christ" by Joseph Fadelle.
A member of a powerful Iraki Shiite clan encounters a Christian during his military service, this encounter will change his whole life. The very moving story of how Joseph Fadelle converted to Christianity and how he ended up having to give up all his worldly possessions and almost his life, in order to follow Christ.
https://www.amazon.com/Price-Pay-Muslim-Follow-Christ/dp/1621640302/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506273291&sr=8-1&keywords=the+price+to+pay+a+muslim+risks+all+to+follow+christ
from one of the reviews on Amazon:
QuoteByCaliph al Ma'munon December 5, 2012
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
Since I am an Ex- Muslim , I was waiting enthusiastically to get this book. The author , an Iraqi Shiite who is descended from the prophet himself , risked his life , his family , his wealth, and his country for the sake of Christ. Joseph's woes were not easy at all. He faced many difficulties, and was very close to be killed by his own family. At one point , the highest ayatollah in Iraq was involved making a fatwa against him. His wife and children , who left Islam too, were sharing the tragedies with him. Joseph's dream was to receive "the bread of life." To achieve his goal he needed to be baptized. Nevertheless , the road to baptism in the middle east is full of obstacles.Bishops and clergymen at some point refused to even listen to the Spiritual needs of Joseph."The price to Pay" , therefore, is an incredible testimony in two ways; first it stresses how much sacrifices a person will make for Christ; secondly , it describes clearly the lack of basic freedom in the middle east.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on September 24, 2017, 08:53:27 PM
Just finishinga book about the conversion of Monsignor Hugh Benson front Anglican to Roman Catholic. Absolutely facinzting. More about the spiritual journey than the practicalities of the switch from A to RC.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 25, 2017, 10:29:44 AM
Le Petit Prince

Practicing m'y French
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on September 25, 2017, 10:41:55 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on September 24, 2017, 11:22:19 AM
I just finished reading "The Price to Pay: A Muslim Risks all to Follow Christ" by Joseph Fadelle.
A member of a powerful Iraki Shiite clan encounters a Christian during his military service, this encounter will change his whole life. The very moving story of how Joseph Fadelle converted to Christianity and how he ended up having to give up all his worldly possessions and almost his life, in order to follow Christ.
https://www.amazon.com/Price-Pay-Muslim-Follow-Christ/dp/1621640302/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506273291&sr=8-1&keywords=the+price+to+pay+a+muslim+risks+all+to+follow+christ
from one of the reviews on Amazon:
QuoteByCaliph al Ma'munon December 5, 2012
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
Since I am an Ex- Muslim , I was waiting enthusiastically to get this book. The author , an Iraqi Shiite who is descended from the prophet himself , risked his life , his family , his wealth, and his country for the sake of Christ. Joseph's woes were not easy at all. He faced many difficulties, and was very close to be killed by his own family. At one point , the highest ayatollah in Iraq was involved making a fatwa against him. His wife and children , who left Islam too, were sharing the tragedies with him. Joseph's dream was to receive "the bread of life." To achieve his goal he needed to be baptized. Nevertheless , the road to baptism in the middle east is full of obstacles.Bishops and clergymen at some point refused to even listen to the Spiritual needs of Joseph."The price to Pay" , therefore, is an incredible testimony in two ways; first it stresses how much sacrifices a person will make for Christ; secondly , it describes clearly the lack of basic freedom in the middle east.

Worth the money?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 27, 2017, 04:07:58 PM
A Tale of Two Cities, from Audible. Got it at a reduced price, since I own the (free) kindle version. ;) Read by my second-favorite narrator, but I'm hoping that my favorite narrator will take it on one day. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on September 27, 2017, 04:48:34 PM
I'm listening to Lord of the World from Audible. It's very good. Msgr Benson does a good job of painting the picture, so to speak.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on September 27, 2017, 06:43:01 PM
Gardener,
yes, the book is very well written and the story is a good one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on September 27, 2017, 08:17:36 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on September 24, 2017, 08:53:27 PM
Just finishinga book about the conversion of Monsignor Hugh Benson front Anglican to Roman Catholic. Absolutely facinzting. More about the spiritual journey than the practicalities of the switch from A to RC.

Was that Benson's "Confessions of a Convert", or something else?

QuoteHere's a 5-star review of "Confessions of a Convert" on Amazon

A classic. The only problem of reading Benson's explanation of why he decided to become a Catholic (his father was the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest authority in the Anglican communion) is that it makes you seriously nostalgic of the pre-conciliar Catholic Church...

I just downloaded it to my Kindle for 99 cents. It's the kind of book I may have read long ago and forgotten (reflecting the state of my memory, not the worth of the book).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on September 28, 2017, 10:46:51 PM
Epistles of St Clement of Rome and St Ignatius of Antioch.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 30, 2017, 11:06:17 PM
The Bell Curve
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 03, 2017, 05:35:37 PM
The Club of Queer Trades, by Chesterton.

https://librivox.org/the-club-of-queer-trades-by-g-k-chesterton/ (https://librivox.org/the-club-of-queer-trades-by-g-k-chesterton/)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on October 03, 2017, 05:44:15 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 03, 2017, 05:35:37 PM
The Club of Queer Trades, by Chesterton.

https://librivox.org/the-club-of-queer-trades-by-g-k-chesterton/ (https://librivox.org/the-club-of-queer-trades-by-g-k-chesterton/)

I'm finally jumping on the librivox bandwagon, and I love it!  At the end of the school day, when I just need 30 more minute with my 8th grader, and the littlest ones are starting to get rowdy, I put on a story for them and give them colors and coloring books.  Works like a charm!  Even my middle schoolers will come sit and listen, if they are done with their work. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on October 04, 2017, 03:26:01 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on October 03, 2017, 05:44:15 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 03, 2017, 05:35:37 PM
The Club of Queer Trades, by Chesterton.

https://librivox.org/the-club-of-queer-trades-by-g-k-chesterton/ (https://librivox.org/the-club-of-queer-trades-by-g-k-chesterton/)

I'm finally jumping on the librivox bandwagon, and I love it!  At the end of the school day, when I just need 30 more minute with my 8th grader, and the littlest ones are starting to get rowdy, I put on a story for them and give them colors and coloring books.  Works like a charm!  Even my middle schoolers will come sit and listen, if they are done with their work.

So many good books there!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 07, 2017, 09:30:56 AM
Galleys of Lepanto

Interrupting my in progress books for the sake of being festive
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 07, 2017, 11:36:22 AM
Orpheus Emerged by Jack Kerouac.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on October 07, 2017, 02:42:19 PM
The Mass of Brother Michel by Michael Kent. Not real far in it but it is about a young man, handsome, wealthy, beautiful in every way, engaged to be married to a lovely woman. He is gored by a wild boar. Loses a hand and a couple fingers on his other. Because of his disformity, he is cast out by his father. Picked up by a priest and superior of a monastery, nursed back to relative health and falls in love with the Mass and religious life.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on October 07, 2017, 03:34:28 PM
Dublin in the 1950s and 1960s: cars, shops and suburbs, Joseph Brady.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on October 07, 2017, 04:07:52 PM
https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/saints/saint-bernadette-soubirous.html (https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/saints/saint-bernadette-soubirous.html)
(https://www.tanbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/270x405/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/0/1014x.jpg)
I am reading this biography of St Bernadette. I chose to read it because I enjoyed reading the Biography of the Cure of Ars written by the same author. The forum member christulsa kindly gave the book to me as a birthday present. I am still early on in the book. I just read the chapter on the first apparition.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on October 07, 2017, 04:45:39 PM
Also To Raise the Fallen: A Selection of the War Letters, Prayers and Spiritual Writings of Fr Willie Doyle SJ, compiled edited by Patrick Kenny.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 07, 2017, 05:04:42 PM
Quote from: Matto on October 07, 2017, 04:07:52 PM
https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/saints/saint-bernadette-soubirous.html (https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/saints/saint-bernadette-soubirous.html)
(https://www.tanbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/270x405/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/0/1014x.jpg)
I am reading this biography of St Bernadette. I chose to read it because I enjoyed reading the Biography of the Cure of Ars written by the same author. The forum member christulsa kindly gave the book to me as a birthday present. I am still early on in the book. I just read the chapter on the first apparition.
An excellent biography. I have it and the one on the Cure of Ars, but I haven't read the latter yet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on October 08, 2017, 10:23:21 AM
Quote from: Carleendiane on October 07, 2017, 02:42:19 PM
The Mass of Brother Michel by Michael Kent. Not real far in it but it is about a young man, handsome, wealthy, beautiful in every way, engaged to be married to a lovely woman. He is gored by a wild boar. Loses a hand and a couple fingers on his other. Because of his disformity, he is cast out by his father. Picked up by a priest and superior of a monastery, nursed back to relative health and falls in love with the Mass and religious life.

Should check out "Brother Petroc's Return" by SMC
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 16, 2017, 07:41:08 PM
Alcestis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 17, 2017, 10:20:28 AM
The Clouds
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 17, 2017, 11:06:20 AM
Printed material from catholic traditional sphere but I mainly want to focus on the Liturgy now. The Mass by Fortescu. This will help me win the arguments put forth by my Novus Ordo friends who rarely know a thing or two and won't even listen to what I have to say.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on October 17, 2017, 11:10:26 AM
Martin, I suggest not trying to win arguments, but rather explain the beauty of the Mass and everything it represents. They will then see for themselves that the outward presentation of many a Novus Ordo is in fact an affront to God.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on October 17, 2017, 04:33:43 PM
Quote from: Gardener on October 17, 2017, 11:10:26 AM
Martin, I suggest not trying to win arguments, but rather explain the beauty of the Mass and everything it represents. They will then see for themselves that the outward presentation of many a Novus Ordo is in fact an affront to God.

Yes, the NOM is so banal, shallow. The plainest Low Mass has unfathomable depths in comparison. Talking down something someone identifies with, mistakenly, raises hackles. Working off something like Fr Fortescue's intro to the many, many editions of The Roman Missal: the liturgy for layfolk (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7s8Mn1xJYAyMWlLbDZ1ZHI1WHc/view?usp=sharing) and everything he wrote, is a great to way to find the words to espouse the cause of the Mass of Ages. Talking up the Mass of Ages, ignoring the NOM works better, I find.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 19, 2017, 09:01:58 AM
The Birds
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on October 20, 2017, 06:31:10 AM
Lord of the World
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: HaloGraphics on October 20, 2017, 09:43:10 AM
Our Lady of Fatima Comic...
Hello,
I wanted a children's book for my kids and found this. I was wanted to review it before I bought it, so I got the Ebook. This book was Beautiful! I'm in my late twenties, but I cried because Our Lady's messages became so real...and practical! Not only are the messages clearly summarized, but it shows the reader HOW to be able to apply them. This book reads like a comic book, but is so beautifully illustrated, it really is for all ages! This type of work is so relevant in our generation and really should be supported! I hope and pray for MORE of these in the future. May God bless the team who made this. Go Deo Gratias Company!

Go to: www.fatimacomic.com

Ebook:

https://www.amazon.com/Our-Lady-Fatima-Graphic-Novel-ebook/dp/B0768MJNNV/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507489821&sr=8-1&keywords=our+lady+of+fatima+graphic+novel
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lumen Christi on October 20, 2017, 10:09:54 AM
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41IwKoujHDL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)

I'm also going to be rereading this soon:

(https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1459840934i/29779177._UY500_SS500_.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: HaloGraphics on October 20, 2017, 10:18:00 AM
Yes very good book from Arroyo!!!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 20, 2017, 02:51:05 PM
Medea
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 21, 2017, 05:05:09 AM
Radical Integrity: The Story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Michael Van Dyke
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 21, 2017, 08:43:40 AM
Lysistrata
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lumen Christi on October 21, 2017, 12:35:14 PM
Quote from: HaloGraphics on October 20, 2017, 10:18:00 AM
Yes very good book from Arroyo!!!
I'm very pleased in general with Raymond Arroyo. His coverage of Pope Francis' more troubling remarks with the "Papal Posse" has been very solid.

As for Chesterton, this is my first book of his. What I understand I find very clever. Much of it goes completely over my head. Oops.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Older Salt on October 21, 2017, 12:54:43 PM
Complete works of Flannery O'Conner.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 21, 2017, 06:33:27 PM
Hippolytus
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on October 21, 2017, 06:52:26 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on October 21, 2017, 06:33:27 PM
Hippolytus

Miles, you are a reading machine! You have tackled more than I have ever even tried! And I am eons older than you!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 21, 2017, 07:52:55 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on October 21, 2017, 06:52:26 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on October 21, 2017, 06:33:27 PM
Hippolytus

Miles, you are a reading machine! You have tackled more than I have ever even tried! And I am eons older than you!

I'm sure my pace will slow when I get hired
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on October 21, 2017, 07:57:20 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on October 21, 2017, 07:52:55 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on October 21, 2017, 06:52:26 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on October 21, 2017, 06:33:27 PM
Hippolytus

Miles, you are a reading machine! You have tackled more than I have ever even tried! And I am eons older than you!

I'm sure my pace will slow when I get hired

But being young as you are, use the  youth and power  of youth and read these types of books and give us oldsters, the insight your gleamed from these works.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 23, 2017, 04:06:04 PM
The Frogs
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on October 23, 2017, 05:31:26 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on October 23, 2017, 04:06:04 PM
The Frogs

French cooking?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 24, 2017, 02:46:51 PM
The Wasps
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 25, 2017, 02:00:59 PM
Hecuba
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 28, 2017, 02:04:38 PM
Ion
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 28, 2017, 07:43:22 PM
The Suppliants
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 29, 2017, 03:48:44 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on October 28, 2017, 07:43:22 PM
The Suppliants
I hope your taking time out for meals.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ÆneasQuébécois on October 29, 2017, 10:19:11 AM
The Liturgy of the Mass by Pius Parsch
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 29, 2017, 12:53:37 PM
Dracula
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 29, 2017, 03:58:44 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on October 29, 2017, 12:53:37 PM
Dracula
My favorite book. a remarkable classic; has never been out of print.
Dracula the Un-dead is next on my list but I just don;t have the time and passion/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on October 29, 2017, 07:19:29 PM
Not to worry. It may be a classic, but you will be fine if you never read. I like that type of book, which shows I have a dark side. But to not read it, will not impact my life. To have read Immitation of Christ,  has impacted my life. To have read traditional Catholic classics surely has impacted my life. Reading lives of the saints, has impacted my life. Reading "Phantom of the Opera" has not....though I truly enjoyed it. If you never get to some of these classics, such as Dracula, your life will not be lacking in any way, except maybe some pleasure.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 01, 2017, 03:07:55 PM
Walking the Road to God by Fr. Lawrence Carney
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 02, 2017, 03:59:29 PM
Andromache
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on November 02, 2017, 05:10:00 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on November 01, 2017, 03:07:55 PM
Walking the Road to God by Fr. Lawrence Carney
I came across this gem as I was looking at Mr. Kwasniewski's reviews on amazon. I am getting this one for Christmas. How is it so far?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 02, 2017, 05:47:57 PM
The Children of Heracles
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 03, 2017, 05:02:53 AM
Quote from: martin88nyc on November 02, 2017, 05:10:00 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on November 01, 2017, 03:07:55 PM
Walking the Road to God by Fr. Lawrence Carney
I came across this gem as I was looking at Mr. Kwasniewski's reviews on amazon. I am getting this one for Christmas. How is it so far?
)

Excellent, he is very devoted to St Louis DeMontfort (a favorite saint of mine)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on November 03, 2017, 07:44:40 AM
The Winter Name of God.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 03, 2017, 07:51:49 AM
The Trojan Women
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 03, 2017, 11:38:35 AM
Electra
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 05, 2017, 01:43:44 PM
The Suppliant Maidens
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lumen Christi on November 05, 2017, 02:21:00 PM
Miles, I have some reading to catch up on. Could you take care of it for me? ;)

I'm still working on The Everlasting Man. I read to the end of Chapter Three of Mother Angelica: Her Grand Silence and then gave it back to my mom (it's her book). Here's a beautiful highlight from that chapter:

"Then there was the storied interaction with the Child Jesus at a shrine in Bogota in 1996. According to Mother the statue of the Divino Nino came to life and instructed her to build Him 'a temple.' Years later, once the grand monastery had been erected in Hanceville, Alabama, Mother claimed she saw the Child Jesus running up and down the chapel steps announcing 'This is my temple. This is my temple.' Occasionally she would also spy the Child dashing through the cloister hallways and at times clasping her about the legs." - p. 93-94
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 05, 2017, 04:45:06 PM
The Persians
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 05, 2017, 05:10:21 PM
The Phoenix and the Carpet
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kephapaulos on November 05, 2017, 05:38:39 PM
How long does it take you all to read a single book? I have a hard time staying focused on one book at a time and even on longer paragraphs, including things that interest me. Much less do I finish books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 05, 2017, 05:54:06 PM
I devoured the last Harry Potter book in about a day. That's the last time I remember really paying attention to how long it took me to finish a book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kephapaulos on November 05, 2017, 09:50:26 PM
Wow! Neat! I must set the goal of reading a tome of some sort in a month then. ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 06, 2017, 08:59:48 AM
Quote from: Kephapaulos on November 05, 2017, 05:38:39 PM
How long does it take you all to read a single book? I have a hard time staying focused on one book at a time and even on longer paragraphs, including things that interest me. Much less do I finish books.

It depends on how much free time you have on your hands and how long the book is. I read Dracula in three days, and I think I can read most Greek Tragedies each in about an hour. Only 1000 or so lines.

Could be less though, don't time myself
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on November 06, 2017, 10:42:06 AM
Miles I also devoured the "Dracula" book. Do you know of any other page turners like Dracula. It was a literary feast better than ice cream and cake.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 06, 2017, 11:00:43 AM
The Aubrey/Maturin series of books by Patrick O'Brien consists of twenty-one books.  They're all pretty slender (by my standards at least); none of them are doorstoppers.

A few summers ago, I read all of them.  When I was in the groove, I got through a book in two or three days.  Most of the delays overall were due to waiting for the next book to be returned to the library so I could check it out.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 06, 2017, 01:14:18 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on November 06, 2017, 10:42:06 AM
Miles I also devoured the "Dracula" book. Do you know of any other page turners like Dracula. It was a literary feast better than ice cream and cake.

Hmmm, I will have to think. There's a difference between my favourite books  (East of Eden, Brideshead Revisited, A Tale of Two Cities) and those books I read incredibly quickly because I couldn't put it down. I will have to think...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 06, 2017, 01:14:38 PM
Seven Against Thebes
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 06, 2017, 01:21:08 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on November 06, 2017, 01:14:18 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on November 06, 2017, 10:42:06 AM
Miles I also devoured the "Dracula" book. Do you know of any other page turners like Dracula. It was a literary feast better than ice cream and cake.

Hmmm, I will have to think. There's a difference between my favourite books  (East of Eden, Brideshead Revisited, A Tale of Two Cities) and those books I read incredibly quickly because I couldn't put it down. I will have to think...

Looking at my bookshelf, some of my page turners were actually non-fiction works: Carrol's History of Christendom series and Beeching's Galleys of Lepanto. I also had a similar experience with Culure of Critique (to a lesser extent) and E Michael Jones' works (minus the Slaughter of Cities that I still haven't finished and I really should start again).

Depends what you like, I really enjoyed Raymond Chandler''s Marlow novels
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 06, 2017, 03:39:43 PM
Prometheus Bound
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on November 06, 2017, 05:26:58 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on November 06, 2017, 01:21:08 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on November 06, 2017, 01:14:18 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on November 06, 2017, 10:42:06 AM
Miles I also devoured the "Dracula" book. Do you know of any other page turners like Dracula. It was a literary feast better than ice cream and cake.

Hmmm, I will have to think. There's a difference between my favourite books  (East of Eden, Brideshead Revisited, A Tale of Two Cities) and those books I read incredibly quickly because I couldn't put it down. I will have to think...


Looking at my bookshelf, some of my page turners were actually non-fiction works: Carrol's History of Christendom series and Beeching's Galleys of Lepanto. I also had a similar experience with Culure of Critique (to a lesser extent) and E Michael Jones' works (minus the Slaughter of Cities that I still haven't finished and I really should start again).

Depends what you like, I really enjoyed Raymond Chandler''s Marlow novels
I like anything set in Victorian England.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 06, 2017, 06:02:36 PM
Wilkie Collins is good, if you like Victorian. He wrote popular mystery/suspense novels.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 07, 2017, 07:56:52 AM
The Oresteia
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on November 07, 2017, 09:11:07 AM
Great Jobs for Music Majors.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 07, 2017, 12:49:14 PM
Centennial by James Michener
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 07, 2017, 06:53:27 PM
Shattered: Inside Hilary Clinton's Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 08, 2017, 06:08:11 PM
Ajax
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on November 08, 2017, 06:55:51 PM
The Great Railway Bazaar. By train thorough Asia.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 08, 2017, 07:10:06 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on November 08, 2017, 06:55:51 PM
The Great Railway Bazaar. By train thorough Asia.

I have this jotted down for future reading.  How is it so far?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on November 08, 2017, 10:10:33 PM
Quote from: Jacob on November 08, 2017, 07:10:06 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on November 08, 2017, 06:55:51 PM
The Great Railway Bazaar. By train thorough Asia.

I have this jotted down for future reading.  How is it so far?
It's OK. I just boarder the Orient Express. I'll let you know more once I arrive at the next major station.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 09, 2017, 06:09:40 AM
Quote from: Jacob on November 08, 2017, 07:10:06 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on November 08, 2017, 06:55:51 PM
The Great Railway Bazaar. By train thorough Asia.

I have this jotted down for future reading.  How is it so far?
Theroux's stuff is great. I'd highly recommend Riding the Iron Rooster and Old Patagonian Express
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on November 09, 2017, 10:10:38 AM
The Four Last Things, death judgement, heaven, hell by Father Martin von Cocham.

Would someone please give me their opinion on this book? There are several books on this topic, but I've never read this author.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 09, 2017, 01:27:07 PM
The Women of Trachis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on November 09, 2017, 03:32:30 PM
Dom Paschal Scotti OSB, Gallileo Revisited.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lumen Christi on November 09, 2017, 06:34:35 PM
I'm taking a break from The Everlasting Man in order to listen to an audiobook of The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 09, 2017, 08:10:55 PM
Electra
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 10, 2017, 11:19:52 AM
Philoctetes
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on November 10, 2017, 01:27:24 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on November 09, 2017, 10:10:38 AM
The Four Last Things, death judgement, heaven, hell by Father Martin von Cocham.

Would someone please give me their opinion on this book? There are several books on this topic, but I've never read this author.

I'm surprised that no one else has jumped in but I believe that he is solid and orthodox. I have not read this book...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on November 10, 2017, 03:12:26 PM
Quote from: Lynne on November 10, 2017, 01:27:24 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on November 09, 2017, 10:10:38 AM
The Four Last Things, death judgement, heaven, hell by Father Martin von Cocham.

Would someone please give me their opinion on this book? There are several books on this topic, but I've never read this author.

I'm surprised that no one else has jumped in but I believe that he is solid and orthodox. I have not read this book...
He is solid.  Also did a commentary on the Mass.

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 10, 2017, 04:25:05 PM
Antigone
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 10, 2017, 05:16:39 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on November 10, 2017, 03:12:26 PM
Quote from: Lynne on November 10, 2017, 01:27:24 PM
Quote from: Carleendiane on November 09, 2017, 10:10:38 AM
The Four Last Things, death judgement, heaven, hell by Father Martin von Cocham.

Would someone please give me their opinion on this book? There are several books on this topic, but I've never read this author.

I'm surprised that no one else has jumped in but I believe that he is solid and orthodox. I have not read this book...
He is solid.  Also did a commentary on the Mass.

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

Gonna put that one on my reading list.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sophia3 on November 10, 2017, 05:28:03 PM
Currently reading: The Devotion to The Sacred Heart by Fr. John Croiset, S.J.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 10, 2017, 07:01:28 PM
Oedipus Rex
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 11, 2017, 09:08:39 AM
Oedipus at Colonus
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 11, 2017, 01:31:04 PM
Histories - Herodotus
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 15, 2017, 09:10:36 AM
Taking a break from Herodotus to read:

Helen
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on November 15, 2017, 09:20:07 AM
Miles -- how on earth do you find the time to read so much? Are you popping Adderall like crazy or something? do you sleep?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 15, 2017, 09:30:58 AM
Sleep is overrated when it comes to books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lumen Christi on November 15, 2017, 11:15:33 AM
Back to The Everlasting Man.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 15, 2017, 03:28:15 PM
Quote from: Gardener on November 15, 2017, 09:20:07 AM
Miles -- how on earth do you find the time to read so much? Are you popping Adderall like crazy or something? do you sleep?

Well, I'm looking for work, and nothing is biting. If things go well with an interview I had two weeks ago, I should have little time to read further.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on November 15, 2017, 08:16:09 PM
Finally got my hands on Father Brown mystery stories.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 17, 2017, 05:03:36 PM
The Madness of Herakles
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 19, 2017, 10:01:37 AM
The Phoenician Maidens
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ÆneasQuébécois on November 19, 2017, 11:13:08 AM
The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: The Curt Jester on November 19, 2017, 05:33:03 PM
I am about to begin Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets by Georges Simenon
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 20, 2017, 05:48:49 AM
Ivanhoe
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 20, 2017, 11:25:14 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on November 20, 2017, 05:48:49 AM
Ivanhoe
I should try reading this again.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on November 20, 2017, 11:38:15 AM
Inside the Housing Crash by Aaron Clarey
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 20, 2017, 11:54:36 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 20, 2017, 11:25:14 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on November 20, 2017, 05:48:49 AM
Ivanhoe
I should try reading this again.

You should.  It's fantastic
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 20, 2017, 07:05:30 PM
Orestes
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ÆneasQuébécois on November 21, 2017, 07:48:24 AM
Back to Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes. Only have a few more chapters to go in this one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 21, 2017, 09:08:52 AM
Iphigeneia in Taurica
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 21, 2017, 09:48:40 AM
The Lord of the Rings (again). I've just finished reading The Hobbit for the first time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 21, 2017, 05:48:27 PM
The Cyclops
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on November 21, 2017, 11:59:19 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 21, 2017, 09:48:40 AM
The Lord of the Rings (again). I've just finished reading The Hobbit for the first time.
This book is almost always on my mind, especially when I start feeling better and when my my mind is clear enough to immers myself in he world of day dreaming. It my best escapist novel. I wish there was a real shire but without those nasty ogers and orks.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ÆneasQuébécois on November 22, 2017, 04:48:28 AM
Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 22, 2017, 05:11:56 PM
Rhesus
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 22, 2017, 06:19:15 PM
I am within one-hundred pages of the end of Doctor Zhivago (the original translation, not the new one that is twice as long).  It's been quite a long time since I started the book, but this last push over the summer and into the fall has been productive.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 22, 2017, 06:27:26 PM
Pontius Pilate: Deciphering a Memory by Aldo Schiavone
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 24, 2017, 08:44:54 AM
Iphigeneia in Aulis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ÆneasQuébécois on November 24, 2017, 09:58:24 AM
A Tale of Two Cities
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 24, 2017, 02:47:16 PM
The Bacchæ
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 07, 2017, 10:30:42 AM
The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I'll probably regret this, as Dickens never finished it, but I couldn't resist any longer.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on December 07, 2017, 11:54:54 AM
The Art of Conducting.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 07, 2017, 02:20:50 PM
The Great Betrayal
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sophia3 on December 08, 2017, 12:12:52 PM
Your Body's Many Cries For Water
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on December 08, 2017, 12:19:29 PM
The Apocalypse of St John by Father E.S. Berry
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 09, 2017, 07:47:12 AM
Nixon's White House Wars: The Battles that Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever by Patrick Buchanan. Very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Counter Revolutionary on December 18, 2017, 06:37:02 PM
Life of Christopher Columbus: Discoverer of the New World by Rev. A.G. Knight, S.J.
https://archive.org/stream/lifeofchristophe00knig#page/n9/mode/1up

I'm over half way through and am very happy with the book so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on December 18, 2017, 06:56:41 PM
Just finished this month's issue of NOR.  Some people are quite pissed at NOR over its comments on the recent statue/monument removal issue.  Fun times!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 22, 2017, 05:27:13 PM
Coriolanus
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 23, 2017, 09:22:48 PM
What's wrong with the world
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 24, 2017, 09:36:56 AM
Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli in His World by Erica Benner.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on December 26, 2017, 12:01:24 PM
Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People. Christulsa got it for me as a Christmas present so I thank him. For some reason I thought I would like this play ever since I first heard about it. Now I am finally reading it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 26, 2017, 07:46:49 PM
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lumen Christi on December 26, 2017, 09:51:06 PM
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51AbclTIOyL.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on December 28, 2017, 06:57:57 AM
Quote from: Lumen Christi on December 26, 2017, 09:51:06 PM
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51AbclTIOyL.jpg)

How is that?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lumen Christi on December 28, 2017, 09:43:02 PM
Quote from: Lynne on December 28, 2017, 06:57:57 AM
How is that?
Wonderful. I highly recommend it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on December 30, 2017, 12:02:26 PM
I am now reading The Six Enneads by Plotinus. In choosing this book I was inspired of course by Pon de Replay and also my brother. So far it is difficult reading which I am having trouble understanding and remembering with my broken mind.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 30, 2017, 05:41:01 PM
The Deerslayer.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: The Curt Jester on December 30, 2017, 07:40:54 PM
Revolt in the Desert by T.E. Lawrence
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on January 05, 2018, 09:42:31 AM
The Writings of Clement of Alexandria

https://books.google.com/books?id=kzYYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA186#v=onepage&q&f=false (https://books.google.com/books?id=kzYYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA186#v=onepage&q&f=false)

I have been expanding my google books library by finding free out of copyright books, some religious and some secular. I found this book of writings of Clement of Alexandria. I first read the chapter on eating starting on page 186 and it was fascinating. I will be looking at other parts of the book in time. Apparently he was recognized as a Church Father and a Saint for a while but then was kind of un-canonized by a Pope in the fifteen hundreds. I don't know much about him yet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 07, 2018, 05:44:39 PM
Metamorphoses
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 07, 2018, 08:08:44 PM
Among the Ruins: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Catholic Church by Paul L. Williams.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on January 07, 2018, 09:10:23 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on January 07, 2018, 05:44:39 PM
Metamorphoses

By Kafke?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on January 07, 2018, 09:49:08 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on January 07, 2018, 09:10:23 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on January 07, 2018, 05:44:39 PM
Metamorphoses

By Kafke?

by Ovid, I'm guessing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on January 08, 2018, 10:25:05 AM
Fire and Fury
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 19, 2018, 03:27:04 PM
Brothers Karamazov
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 20, 2018, 06:19:26 AM
The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic by Mike Duncan.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 20, 2018, 07:26:30 AM
Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart by Marvin R. O'Connell. It helps explain the story of this extraordinary polymath and man of great faith and that de-facto Arnauld family undertaking of Port-Royal, and how Jesuit plotting and calumny poisoned the mind of both king and Pope. Although Augustinianism admixed with elements of Thomism could have a congruence to the heresies of Luther and particularly Calvin, denying free will and co-operative grace, which was condemned, the suppression of both Cistercian convents of Port-Royal was deeply negative. The Pope tried his best to keep back from this until the animus of Jesuits (enraged at how Blaise Pascal had oft humiliated them and caused their casuistry to be condemned by Bl Innocent XI) and pupil Louis XIV forced a much misused condemnation of 'Jansenist' propositions, most of which weren't even held by the intended target. The book notes how St Vincent de Paul was deeply hostile, and Jansenism was itself flawed, in effect, confining the Faith to a class of over-achievers.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on January 20, 2018, 07:27:49 AM
Currently Reading:

Religions of the Orient, a Christian Perspective - John A Hardon

The Coming Revolution (Political writings of Patrick Pearse)

Literature Lost - (Coruption of the Humanities in Academia)

Dr Bill Warner's Self study course on Political Islam, levels 1-3. (Everyone should get these)


Lots more books waiting in the wings. I have been stock-piling
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on January 20, 2018, 02:55:43 PM
Set All Afire  -Louis de Wohl
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 25, 2018, 04:58:27 PM
Myth of the Andalusian Paradise, Dario Fernández -Morera on the myth of the convivencia, a time of tolerant Islamic ruler over 'Iberia' preceding intolerant Catholic domination. It traces to variously nineteenth century secular Spanish liberalism, Moslem states funded chairs of study, and a deep conviction that Islam can never be criticised, while Christianity can be discounted with such things as BCE and CE instead of BC and AD.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on January 25, 2018, 07:40:49 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on January 19, 2018, 03:27:04 PM
Brothers Karamazov

Who is the translator?  Are you liking it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 30, 2018, 01:05:31 PM
Loved it. Constance Garnett. First time I've read it, though I picked it up 3-4 years ago
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 30, 2018, 01:05:50 PM
Twelfth Night
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on January 31, 2018, 07:34:03 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on January 30, 2018, 01:05:50 PM
Twelfth Night

One of my favorites
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on January 31, 2018, 07:49:45 AM
Secret of the Rosary, by St. Louis de Montfort.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 02, 2018, 08:16:27 PM
Measure for Measure
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 03, 2018, 06:48:32 AM
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on February 04, 2018, 11:49:28 PM
Prayerful, your book descriptions are akin to watching a gourmet chef prepare a meal.  I can't wait to indulge.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 06, 2018, 09:37:06 PM
The Tempest
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 10, 2018, 08:03:36 AM
As You Like It
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on February 10, 2018, 09:59:02 AM
Your Life Is Worth Mine: How Polish Nuns Saved Hundreds of Jewish Children in German-Occupied Poland, 1939-1945 by Ewa Kurek
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on February 10, 2018, 07:05:27 PM
Degenerate Moderns by E. Michael Jones. Most excellent. I am really getting in Jone's work
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on February 10, 2018, 08:16:35 PM
Habitual, I feel like I SHOULD know who your avatar is. But...I dont. Who is it? I give up.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 11, 2018, 04:34:19 AM
Mr. From My Cold Dead Hands.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lydia Purpuraria on February 11, 2018, 06:03:29 AM
Quote from: Carleendiane on February 10, 2018, 08:16:35 PM
Habitual, I feel like I SHOULD know who your avatar is. But...I dont. Who is it? I give up.

I think it's "El Cid" / Charlton Heston, Carleen.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on February 11, 2018, 07:49:57 AM
Yep. I think you're right. Thanks, Lydia!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 11, 2018, 09:28:06 AM
The Winter's Tale
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on February 11, 2018, 03:53:13 PM
Quote from: Habitual_Ritual on February 10, 2018, 07:05:27 PM
Degenerate Moderns by E. Michael Jones. Most excellent. I am really getting in Jone's work
I like Jones' work but unfortunately he is quite opinionated.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Asbury Fox on February 13, 2018, 12:11:31 AM
Charles De Foucauld by Jean-Jacques Antier. Printed in English by Ignatius Press.

A fascinating man and life. Currently beatified, he may one day be a saint.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on February 15, 2018, 08:17:08 AM
Think Well On It, by Bishop Richard Challoner
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 15, 2018, 10:52:01 PM
The Merchant of Venice
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on February 16, 2018, 03:30:21 PM
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper (Dr. Brant Pitre):

https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Jewish-Roots-Eucharist-Unlocking/dp/0385531842

Having heard the audio presentation on this from Lighthouse Media, I'm glad to be able to read more in depth.

What Dr. Pitre does is goes back to the original Passover, looks at relevant Scriptural texts, looks at the Talmud, Midrash, etc. to show how the Jews viewed the Passover, the Bread of the Presence, etc. and then shows their fulfillment in the Last Supper and the Mass. Very fascinating and a good companion to older books on the continuity of the Faith, particularly in the Liturgy.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on February 16, 2018, 03:57:11 PM
Quote from: Gardener on February 16, 2018, 03:30:21 PM
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper (Dr. Brant Pitre):

https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Jewish-Roots-Eucharist-Unlocking/dp/0385531842

Having heard the audio presentation on this from Lighthouse Media, I'm glad to be able to read more in depth.

What Dr. Pitre does is goes back to the original Passover, looks at relevant Scriptural texts, looks at the Talmud, Midrash, etc. to show how the Jews viewed the Passover, the Bread of the Presence, etc. and then shows their fulfillment in the Last Supper and the Mass. Very fascinating and a good companion to older books on the continuity of the Faith, particularly in the Liturgy.
"How Christ said the first mass" by TAN is something to read next.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 17, 2018, 05:28:20 AM
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. One of my favorite historians.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 17, 2018, 02:07:57 PM
Much Ado About Nothing
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 19, 2018, 07:26:19 PM
Love's Labour's Lost
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 22, 2018, 05:05:13 PM
The Taming of the Shrew
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 26, 2018, 07:23:02 PM
Richard II
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on February 28, 2018, 05:43:40 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on February 26, 2018, 07:23:02 PM
Richard II
Me too!! Just started today.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 28, 2018, 10:32:47 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on February 28, 2018, 05:43:40 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on February 26, 2018, 07:23:02 PM
Richard II
Me too!! Just started today.

Curious, that :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on March 01, 2018, 11:23:27 AM
Man Alive! Chesterton. This is the type reading I enjoy to help me relax. Gave up fiction for about 5 years, but have decided there is a place for Catholic and Classical fiction. I was addicted to suspence, conspiracy, intrigue novels with complex plots, but they also included a lot of parts I had to skip over. Then one day I thought...just quit, quit reading this junk, and I did. But who doesn't love Fr. Brown, etc. by Chesterton?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Penitent on March 01, 2018, 11:43:56 AM
The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St John Climacus. Good reading for Lent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 01, 2018, 03:02:43 PM
The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway. Growing up in Australia's outback.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 02, 2018, 03:20:07 PM
1 Henry IV
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Greg on March 02, 2018, 03:51:08 PM
No angel.  A biography of Bernie Ecclestone.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on March 03, 2018, 07:12:45 PM
Triplanetary, by E. E. Smith.  Been wanting to read the Lensmen series for a long time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 06, 2018, 10:01:18 PM
2 Henry IV
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on March 07, 2018, 09:39:14 AM
Blessed John Duns Scotus: Marian Doctor, by Fr. Stefano Manelli, FI
Day of Wrath, by William Forstchen
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on March 08, 2018, 10:26:04 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 06, 2018, 10:01:18 PM
2 Henry IV
I'm not copying you, honestly. But I'm reading the same thing as part of a course now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on March 09, 2018, 08:14:26 AM
Now I know where our fellow poster got his username!!!!! Innocent Smith. Character from Chesterton's book, MANALIVE!  What a fun tale that is!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 09, 2018, 10:06:56 AM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 08, 2018, 10:26:04 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 06, 2018, 10:01:18 PM
2 Henry IV
I'm not copying you, honestly. But I'm reading the same thing as part of a course now.

What course?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 10, 2018, 11:23:32 PM
Henry V
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on March 11, 2018, 03:55:35 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 09, 2018, 10:06:56 AM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 08, 2018, 10:26:04 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 06, 2018, 10:01:18 PM
2 Henry IV
I'm not copying you, honestly. But I'm reading the same thing as part of a course now.

What course?
English 338 at my uni. English is my minor, and this course was one of the better options among the senior level courses.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 11, 2018, 04:13:15 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 11, 2018, 03:55:35 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 09, 2018, 10:06:56 AM
Quote from: Christina_S on March 08, 2018, 10:26:04 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 06, 2018, 10:01:18 PM
2 Henry IV
I'm not copying you, honestly. But I'm reading the same thing as part of a course now.

What course?
English 338 at my uni. English is my minor, and this course was one of the better options among the senior level courses.

Both are much better watched than read, and Part I is superior, honestly.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 15, 2018, 04:06:10 AM
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Browning. This book was recommended by Jordan Peterson in one of his videos. Grim.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on March 15, 2018, 07:26:52 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on March 15, 2018, 04:06:10 AM
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Browning. This book was recommended by Jordan Peterson in one of his videos. Grim.
Somewhat  misleading title. It was German occupied Poland. Just as they say polish concentration camps etc.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 19, 2018, 04:34:38 PM
Henry VI, pt 1
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on March 19, 2018, 06:03:43 PM
Quote from: Jacob on March 03, 2018, 07:12:45 PM
Triplanetary, by E. E. Smith.  Been wanting to read the Lensmen series for a long time.

Finished this today.  It was...  Mind blowing.  Science fiction/space opera before things like "continuity" and "everything has to make sense" became important was just out of this world.   It was like Dune on steroids, without any hindrances like characterization or background lore.  Next up from ILL: First Lensman!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on March 20, 2018, 04:47:14 AM
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waiting-Apocalypse-Memoir-Faith-Family/dp/0393066037

Fantastic read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on March 20, 2018, 08:37:31 AM
Quote from: clau clau on March 20, 2018, 04:47:14 AM
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waiting-Apocalypse-Memoir-Faith-Family/dp/0393066037

Fantastic read.

We were going to have a discussion group for this book (https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=15249.0), but other people got pulled away and it never got going. :(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 22, 2018, 08:46:02 PM
Henry VI, pt 2
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on March 24, 2018, 02:01:14 AM
I just finished "Paper Towns" by John green (hearing protection required).

Pretty interesting book. 

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 24, 2018, 04:37:07 PM
Henry VI, pt 3
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on March 24, 2018, 11:34:28 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 24, 2018, 04:37:07 PM
Henry VI, pt 3

I see a trend.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 26, 2018, 12:16:16 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 24, 2018, 11:34:28 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on March 24, 2018, 04:37:07 PM
Henry VI, pt 3

I see a trend.

What am I reading next?
You couldn't possibly guess
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on March 27, 2018, 09:33:35 PM
King Lear.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 27, 2018, 10:02:29 PM
Richard III
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christe Eleison on March 28, 2018, 12:37:53 PM
Quote from: Jacob on March 20, 2018, 08:37:31 AM
Quote from: clau clau on March 20, 2018, 04:47:14 AM
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waiting-Apocalypse-Memoir-Faith-Family/dp/0393066037

Fantastic read.

We were going to have a discussion group for this book (https://www.suscipedomine.com/forum/index.php?topic=15249.0), but other people got pulled away and it never got going. :(


I was looking forward to reading what you all thought about it.
And how it might compare to your personal experiences, people you might know in real life.
How about trying to get people to have a discussion group again? Maybe the timing was not right. Try again  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on April 03, 2018, 06:54:45 AM
Titus Andronicus
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on April 03, 2018, 02:38:19 PM
I ordered and just received these:

Bernadette of Lourdes: A Life Based on Authenticated Documents, and Bernadette Speaks: A Life of St. Bernadette Soubirous in Her Own Words
both works by Fr. René Laurentin

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U. S. Navy
by Ian Toll
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on April 03, 2018, 02:49:48 PM
Autobiography of a Hunted Priest (https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Hunted-Priest-John-Gerard/dp/1586174509), John Gerard SJ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gerard_(Jesuit)).

First landed on a Norfolk beach, shortly after ordination (having first entered Douai college aged 12), of an Elizabethan England where to be a priest was treason, he travelled throughout England upholding the Faith, without which no one can be saved, converting many, including some ministers of the Gospel, giving courage to those schismatics (Catholics by conviction who avoided fines by attending the so-call Divine Service) to be Catholic, sheltering in priest's holes with vestments, books and sacred vessels needed for the Mass. Arrested and judicially tortured in the Tower of London, without betraying those who helped him, he continued to travel secretly, to offer the Holy Mass, later escaping to the continent to help train priests for the English Mission. His superiors got him to write an account in Latin, recently translated into English.

It is saddening to compare this holy, humble yet fearsomely able priest, one of a Society who could never accept preferment to ecclesiastical office, so that ambition could never master service to the Church, to the present Society, which appears to be full of men scheming for ways to drag people away from Salvation.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on April 03, 2018, 03:11:18 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on April 03, 2018, 02:49:48 PM
Autobiography of a Hunted Priest (https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Hunted-Priest-John-Gerard/dp/1586174509), John Gerard SJ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gerard_(Jesuit)).

First landed on a Norfolk beach, shortly after ordination (having first entered Douai college aged 12), of an Elizabethan England where to be a priest was treason, he travelled throughout England upholding the Faith, without which no one can be saved, converting many, including some ministers of the Gospel, giving courage to those schismatics (Catholics by conviction who avoided fines by attending the so-call Divine Service) to be Catholic, sheltering in priest's holes with vestments, books and sacred vessels needed for the Mass. Arrested and judicially tortured in the Tower of London, without betraying those who helped him, he continued to travel secretly, to offer the Holy Mass, later escaping to the continent to help train priests for the English Mission. His superiors got him to write an account in Latin, recently translated into English.

It is saddening to compare this holy, humble yet fearsomely able priest, one of a Society who could never accept preferment to ecclesiastical office, so that ambition could never master service to the Church, to the present Society, which appears to be full of men scheming for ways to drag people away from Salvation.

Another superb book recommendation, with a superb description/critique.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on April 03, 2018, 10:26:46 PM
The Pearl (Steinbeck)
Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 05, 2018, 06:07:52 AM
The Dark Side of Camelot by Seymour Hersh. A couple points worth noting. Jack used to have nude swim parties around the White House pool when Jackie was out of town. At one of these he so badly sprained himself that he couldn't stand upright. To appear in public he had to wear a rigid brace that ran from groin to shoulders and kept him from bending over. He was wearing the brace when he was shot in Dealey Plaza. It kept him from bending over out of the way after the first shot through the throat and it held him upright for the fatal second shot. No mention of the brace was made in the Parkland Hospital report nor the official autopsy.
The other point was that on being informed of Jack's shooting, the first thing Bobby said was "Giancana". This is according to witnesses.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on April 05, 2018, 05:00:00 PM
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: drummerboy on April 13, 2018, 12:13:01 AM
Liberty The God That Failed, Christopher Ferrara

and

Physical Degeneration and Nutrition, by Dr. Weston Price
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on April 13, 2018, 03:10:41 AM
Quote from: drummerboy on April 13, 2018, 12:13:01 AM
Liberty The God That Failed, Christopher Ferrara

and

Physical Degeneration and Nutrition, by Dr. Weston Price

Good books!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Penitent on April 13, 2018, 06:24:23 AM
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/618a0XrEiEL.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on April 13, 2018, 12:08:26 PM
Belloc's The Great Heresies
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on April 17, 2018, 05:05:36 PM
Cancer Ward
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on April 17, 2018, 05:31:40 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on April 05, 2018, 05:00:00 PM
The Sorrows of Young Werther

How did you like it?  It's one of my very favorite books.  The Suscipe Domine poster I most respect once remarked of Goethe that, like Nietzsche's, "his was one of the most beautiful pens to have ever written, without a doubt [ ... ] a giant almost unsurpassable in all of history, and this is only really appreciated in German, which is, I believe firmly, the most beautiful of all languages for too many reasons to describe."  I don't know German but I'm inclined to believe him.  Even in translation, though, The Sufferings of Young Werther is excellent (in my opinion).


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: OCLittleFlower on April 17, 2018, 07:53:10 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on April 17, 2018, 05:05:36 PM
Cancer Ward

Just got a copy of this.  Might give it a try soon...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on April 17, 2018, 08:21:10 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on April 17, 2018, 05:05:36 PM

Cancer Ward

In the book, Solzhenitsyn says that he cured himself with chaga, a fungus that grows on birch trees.

I'm drinking some chaga tea tonight.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on April 17, 2018, 09:25:51 PM
Quote from: drummerboy on April 13, 2018, 12:13:01 AM
Liberty The God That Failed, Christopher Ferrara

and

Physical Degeneration and Nutrition, by Dr. Weston Price
Have you read what Dr. Price had written about root canal treatments?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on April 17, 2018, 09:29:53 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on April 17, 2018, 08:21:10 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on April 17, 2018, 05:05:36 PM

Cancer Ward

In the book, Solzhenitsyn says that he cured himself with chaga, a fungus that grows on birch trees.

I'm drinking some chaga tea tonight.
A pharmacist at my local pharmacy once showed me chaga concentrate from Russia. She said a guy from our area has healed stomach cancer with chaga. It is one of the most potent medicinal fungi.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on April 19, 2018, 05:47:45 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on April 17, 2018, 05:31:40 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on April 05, 2018, 05:00:00 PM
The Sorrows of Young Werther

How did you like it?  It's one of my very favorite books.  The Suscipe Domine poster I most respect once remarked of Goethe that, like Nietzsche's, "his was one of the most beautiful pens to have ever written, without a doubt [ ... ] a giant almost unsurpassable in all of history, and this is only really appreciated in German, which is, I believe firmly, the most beautiful of all languages for too many reasons to describe."  I don't know German but I'm inclined to believe him.  Even in translation, though, The Sufferings of Young Werther is excellent (in my opinion).

I liked it. It was quick and short and I found myself wanting to continue reading. I liked clawing my way inot Werther's thought pattern, his infatuation over a woman, his familiarity and love for other people, and his morbid desire to well, you know.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on April 19, 2018, 05:57:14 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on April 19, 2018, 05:47:45 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on April 17, 2018, 05:31:40 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on April 05, 2018, 05:00:00 PM
The Sorrows of Young Werther

How did you like it?  It's one of my very favorite books.  The Suscipe Domine poster I most respect once remarked of Goethe that, like Nietzsche's, "his was one of the most beautiful pens to have ever written, without a doubt [ ... ] a giant almost unsurpassable in all of history, and this is only really appreciated in German, which is, I believe firmly, the most beautiful of all languages for too many reasons to describe."  I don't know German but I'm inclined to believe him.  Even in translation, though, The Sufferings of Young Werther is excellent (in my opinion).

I liked it. It was quick and short and I found myself wanting to continue reading. I liked clawing my way inot Werther's thought pattern, his infatuation over a woman, his familiarity and love for other people, and his morbid desire to well, you know.

Sorry, but Sturm und Drang is a mindless, petulant precursor to our modern emoting age. The whole Continental Romanticisn, as a philosophy, is a vapid attempt to fill the Enlightenment's voiding of a prelapsidarian modus vivendi pre Renaissance.

While I agree that German is the most beautiful of languages, it is hard to separate the bad philosophy from Goethe.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on April 19, 2018, 06:16:38 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on April 19, 2018, 05:57:14 PMSorry, but Sturm und Drang is a mindless, petulant precursor to our modern emoting age. The whole Continental Romanticisn, as a philosophy, is a vapid attempt to fill the Enlightenment's voiding of a prelapsidarian modus vivendi pre Renaissance.

While I agree that German is the most beautiful of languages, it is hard to separate the bad philosophy from Goethe.

Well, Goethe himself didn't consider it as a great a book as I do.  He considered it something of "a youthful indiscretion," to paraphrase Henry Hyde.  But I don't disagree with you.  In a sense, Werther exchanges the worship of God for the worship of a woman, even though this isn't explicit.  I don't think it would be a stretch to call his devotion to Lotte almost religious.  He has a contemptus mundi for the inanities of high society.  He is like a pilgrim in this world.  His love is almost a kind of fanaticism.  What compels the fanatic?  It seems strange that a suicide bomber is driven by the supposed words of God as revealed to a seventh century Arabian prophet.  It does not seem so strange to me, though, if the object of obsession is a beautiful woman.


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on April 19, 2018, 08:54:50 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on April 19, 2018, 06:16:38 PMHe is like a pilgrim in this world.  His love is almost a kind of fanaticism.  What compels the fanatic?
. . .
It does not seem so strange to me, though, if the object of obsession is a beautiful woman.

Warning, this post is about sins though it is not graphic.

This book would remind me of my youthful romantic insanity. I know what it is like to fall into irrational fanaticism over a woman. I sometimes think about a girl who I fell in love with when I was younger. We worked together for a while. It was completely irrational. She was a former S&M prostitute. She was a submissive and people paid her to let them abuse her. She told me how one time one of her clients chained her to a radiator and left her there all night. I fell in love with her and she seemed to have liked me also, but we never dated or had sex. I would have married her and if I did it would have been a disaster in every way probably ending with both of us in hell. One time we spent the night together at her apartment but I was too scared to touch her other than letting her kiss my forehead a few times. She asked my permission and I allowed her. But I was petrified and we spent the whole night awake lying next to each other without sleeping, watching movies, as I hand-rolled and chain-smoked cigarettes. It is possible that I have never been more afraid than I was of her that night. And I thought at the time that that night of pure terror was one of the best nights of my life. On the last night we worked together she came up to me in the back room and grabbed my head and kissed me on the lips. Then after work I walked her half the way home and we talked. I remember her telling me that I always said the right thing like Cary Grant in the movies. Obviously this happened in my years when I sinned with women and had no religion, before I converted. Sometimes I look at pictures of her online to remind myself of what she looked like. I would post her picture here and ask if people thought she was beautiful, but I do not want to reveal her identity. I wonder if she ever thinks of me like I do of her sometimes. I do not miss her or wish that we did get married, but I think about how irrational our relationship was and what a disaster it would have been.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 20, 2018, 03:48:06 AM
The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution by Barbara Tuchman.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on April 20, 2018, 05:37:01 AM
Quote from: Matto on April 19, 2018, 08:54:50 PMThis book would remind me of my youthful romantic insanity. I know what it is like to fall into irrational fanaticism over a woman. I sometimes think about a girl who I fell in love with when I was younger. We worked together for a while. It was completely irrational. She was a former S&M prostitute. She was a submissive and people paid her to abuse her. I fell in love with her and she seemed to have liked me also, but we never dated or had sex. I would have married her and if I did it would have been a disaster in every way probably ending with both of us in hell. One time we spent the night together at her apartment but I was too scared to touch her other than letting her kiss my forehead a few times. She asked my permission and I allowed her. But I was petrified and we spent the whole night awake lying next to each other without sleeping, watching movies, as I hand-rolled and chain-smoked cigarettes. It is possible that I have never been more afraid than I was of her that night. And I thought at the time that that night of pure terror was one of the best nights of my life. On the last night we worked together she came up to me in the back room and grabbed my head and kissed me on the lips. Then after work I walked her half the way home and we talked. I remember her telling me that I always said the right thing like Cary Grant in the movies. Obviously this happened in my years when I sinned with women and had no religion, before I converted. Sometimes I look at pictures of her online to remind myself of what she looked like. I would post her picture here and ask if people thought she was beautiful, but I do not want to reveal her identity. I wonder if she ever thinks of me like I do of her sometimes. I do not miss her or wish that we did get married, but I think about how irrational our relationship was and what a disaster it would have been.

Well, Matto, I think you have composed here one of your best posts.  This is a terrific vignette of autobiography.  A lot of fascinating strands woven into a single paragraph; a perfect marriage of detail and brevity.  Perhaps my favorite part: "it was completely irrational. She was a former S&M prostitute."  I enjoyed reading it, and thank you for sharing it.  The version I read last night was slightly longer (and IMO better), but I defer to the author in what should be taken out.  I would tell of a twenty-two-year-old Puerto Rican girl with jet black hair and sleeves of tattoos, but I could not hope to match you for your conciseness and wistful quality.  I will only say that I think you might like The Sufferings of Young Werther.  I disagree with Heinrich's assessment that it is petulant and emo.  I found it more solemn and fatalistic, though it is indeed passionate.


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on April 20, 2018, 08:10:42 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on April 20, 2018, 05:37:01 AM
Well, Matto, I think you have composed here one of your best posts.  This is a terrific vignette of autobiography.
. . .
The version I read last night was slightly longer (and IMO better), but I defer to the author in what should be taken out.
. . .
I will only say that I think you might like The Sufferings of Young Werther.
When I edited my post I took out an important sentence that made the post much better I thought. But I removed it because I thought it might reveal the identity of the woman involved on the odd chance that someone who knew us would have read it. But now I changed my mind and put it back. Perhaps I am being paranoid that people are watching. I don't think any of my old friends read traditional Catholic forums. If I did not worry about revealing our identities I would have posted the woman's picture and given her name because pictures and names are important and I thought she was beautiful and that she had a very good name.

About The Sufferings of Young Werther, I was interested in it and found out that there are two versions, the original and one changed by the author years later, which version would you recommend and by which translator?

Edit: Is there a thread on SD where men talk about the irrational things they do when they fall in love with women? Sometimes when I think about it it makes me wonder if romantic love is just temptations from the devil to get men to fall into sin. Like, for example, suicide. But then again it serves the useful purpose of inspiring people to get married and start families. And it leads to great works of art, yet it also leads to more bad art than good and pornography.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on April 20, 2018, 08:18:57 AM
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brain-Fire-My-Month-Madness/dp/0141975342



Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on April 20, 2018, 08:56:22 AM
Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 08:10:42 AMAbout The Sufferings of Young Werther, I was interested in it and found out that there are two versions, the original and one changed by the author years later, which version would you recommend and by which translator?

I'm not sure which version I have.  I notice that most translations are entitled The Sorrows of Young Werther, whereas mine is called The Sufferings of Young Werther.  I think I like "sufferings" better.  There is an anguish in unrequited love more so than there is a sorrow.  Sorrow comes later.  But maybe the German word is more accurately rendered "sorrow."  The name of the translator is Harry Steinhauer.  This is yet another of many instances where it would be nice if AustrianOrthodoxCatholic were still here.  His command of English was far better than most native speakers (he was the best writer on this forum), and yet his mother tongue was German, so he more than almost anyone else in the world would surely be able to tell us which English translation comes closest to capturing the original.  He had a lot of wisdom to offer and all I could see fit to do was bug him about papal infallibility, a topic so pointless and frustrating and impossible to pin down I don't even care about it anymore.  Well, life is full of regrets.  At least that's only a minor one.

I skimmed the afterword to see if there was an indication as to which edition mine is.  No luck, but I liked this portion of the commentary: "Werther puts into [his love for Lotte] the spiritual energies which a Christian ought to reserve for his God and his religion."  Heinrich and I would share this assessment.  I've changed my mind about the best sentence in your story.  It's this one: "I would have married her and if I did it would have been a disaster in every way probably ending with both of us in hell."


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on April 20, 2018, 12:20:04 PM
Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 08:10:42 AMIs there a thread on SD where men talk about the irrational things they do when they fall in love with women? Sometimes when I think about it it makes me wonder if romantic love is just temptations from the devil to get men to fall into sin. Like, for example, suicide. But then again it serves the useful purpose of inspiring people to get married and start families. And it leads to great works of art, yet it also leads to more bad art than good and pornography.

If there is such a thread, it's probably in the "St. Joseph's Workbench" subforum (men only).  But I don't have access to that forum.  Somehow I don't like the name.  I also don't like how it shows up between one's user name and ranking.  My user name is horrible enough as it is.  "Feldwebel" is about the best thing I have going for me, and I don't want to clutter that space up with "St. Joseph's Workbench."  I'm doubtless missing out on some good threads.  I do wonder what goes on in there.

(https://i2.wp.com/www.thereyago.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/grossa1.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on April 20, 2018, 12:57:24 PM
I did figure out how to add someone to the men's group and have it not show in their profile.  Fyi... :)

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on April 20, 2018, 02:05:43 PM
Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 08:10:42 AM


Edit: Is there a thread on SD where men talk about the irrational things they do when they fall in love with women? Sometimes when I think about it it makes me wonder if romantic love is just temptations from the devil to get men to fall into sin. Like, for example, suicide. But then again it serves the useful purpose of inspiring people to get married and start families. And it leads to great works of art, yet it also leads to more bad art than good and pornography.

So you're saying that the Holy Spirit allowed, inspired, and used diabolical disorientation in order to write of God's love for His people, and in relation of Christ to the Church? a la Song of Solomon, etc.?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on April 20, 2018, 02:15:13 PM
Quote from: Gardener on April 20, 2018, 02:05:43 PMSo you're saying that the Holy Spirit allowed, inspired, and used diabolical disorientation in order to write of God's love for His people, and in relation of Christ to the Church? a la Song of Solomon, etc.?
Yes, Gardner, I truly believe that the Song of Solomon was not inspired by the Holy Ghost, but was really inspired by the devil and that the Church was wrong to endorse it and put it in the Canon (This caused confusion so I will make it clear that this is a joke. I was kidding, I do not believe that the Song of Solomon was inspired by the devil). You found me out. Actually what I do wonder sometimes is that perhaps some people are inspired by God to love each other but many or most I would say are tempted by the devil when they "fall in love". Yes, I am at fault for not using the word "most" or "many" and just speaking generally. I could easily believe that the time I "fell in love" with the girl I posted about in this thread it was due in part to the inspirations of the devil or his demons of lust who inflamed my passions, inspiring my irrational attraction, and that this happens often, leading to many millions of bad relationships (In case this is not clear also, this part of the post is not a joke, but something I have considered).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on April 20, 2018, 04:41:51 PM
Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 02:15:13 PM
Quote from: Gardener on April 20, 2018, 02:05:43 PMSo you're saying that the Holy Spirit allowed, inspired, and used diabolical disorientation in order to write of God's love for His people, and in relation of Christ to the Church? a la Song of Solomon, etc.?
Yes, Gardner, I truly believe that the Song of Solomon was not inspired by the Holy Ghost, but was really inspired by the devil and that the Church was wrong to endorse it and put it in the Canon. You found me out. Actually what I do wonder sometimes is that perhaps some people are inspired by God to love each other but many or most I would say are tempted by the devil when they "fall in love". Yes, I am at fault for not using the word "most" or "many" and just speaking generally. I could easily believe that the time I "fell in love" with the girl I posted about in this thread it was due in part to the inspirations of the devil or his demons of lust who inflamed my passions, inspiring my irrational attraction, and that this happens often, leading to many millions of bad relationships.
What???!!!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on April 20, 2018, 06:00:33 PM
I am still reading The Six Enneads by Plotinus. I cannot understand it well or remember it well but I want to finish reading it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on April 20, 2018, 09:09:00 PM
Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 08:10:42 AM

Sometimes when I think about it it makes me wonder if romantic love is just temptations from the devil to get men to fall into sin. Like, for example, suicide.

Yes.

Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 08:10:42 AM

But then again it serves the useful purpose of inspiring people to get married and start families.

No, this is a false argument. People got married and started families before the days of Goethe and Lord Byron. Much more effectively than today.

Today marriage is a dying institution. No advanced nation is having enough children to replace itself. The more that romance has taken over, the more that relationships between men and women have become impossible.

There was an article about the situation in Japan that got a lot of attention a couple years ago. Men and women find each too mendokusai to bother with each other. Mendokusai is Japanese for "troublesome." Relationships between the sexes are just too much bother. The Japanese don't need to use birth control anymore. They just aren't interested in each other.

This is the result of 2 centuries of romanticism. It's not just Japan. Here in the US and the rest of the West, men and women just find each other totally unappealing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on April 20, 2018, 09:33:11 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on April 20, 2018, 09:09:00 PM

Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 08:10:42 AM

But then again it serves the useful purpose of inspiring people to get married and start families.

No, this is a false argument. People got married and started families before the days of Goethe and Lord Byron. Much more effectively than today.


Romanticism has become excessive, and certainly isn't the be-all-and-end-all of marriage.  But even people in arranged marriages (that may sometimes end up better) surely often have some romantic interest in each other (even if only after the marriage) that most certainly does not hurt the marriage: even if the romance may end.  It seem to me natural that this should be true before people marry too - romance that is moral is surely sometimes intended by God as an innocent indication that people may be meant for each other by Him.  Not a proof, since the attraction between too people might come from another source than God. But God uses natural means too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on April 20, 2018, 09:53:12 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on April 20, 2018, 04:41:51 PM
Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 02:15:13 PM
Quote from: Gardener on April 20, 2018, 02:05:43 PMSo you're saying that the Holy Spirit allowed, inspired, and used diabolical disorientation in order to write of God's love for His people, and in relation of Christ to the Church? a la Song of Solomon, etc.?
Yes, Gardner, I truly believe that the Song of Solomon was not inspired by the Holy Ghost, but was really inspired by the devil and that the Church was wrong to endorse it and put it in the Canon. You found me out. Actually what I do wonder sometimes is that perhaps some people are inspired by God to love each other but many or most I would say are tempted by the devil when they "fall in love". Yes, I am at fault for not using the word "most" or "many" and just speaking generally. I could easily believe that the time I "fell in love" with the girl I posted about in this thread it was due in part to the inspirations of the devil or his demons of lust who inflamed my passions, inspiring my irrational attraction, and that this happens often, leading to many millions of bad relationships.
What???!!!

Martin, Matto was joking - not clear from his ORIGINAL op, but after you read it he modified it to this:

Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 02:15:13 PM
Quote from: Gardener on April 20, 2018, 02:05:43 PMSo you're saying that the Holy Spirit allowed, inspired, and used diabolical disorientation in order to write of God's love for His people, and in relation of Christ to the Church? a la Song of Solomon, etc.?
Yes, Gardner, I truly believe that the Song of Solomon was not inspired by the Holy Ghost, but was really inspired by the devil and that the Church was wrong to endorse it and put it in the Canonn (This caused confusion so I will make it clear that this is a joke. I was kidding, I do not believe that the Song of Solomon was inspired by the devil). You found me out. Actually what I do wonder sometimes is that perhaps some people are inspired by God to love each other but many or most I would say are tempted by the devil when they "fall in love". Yes, I am at fault for not using the word "most" or "many" and just speaking generally. I could easily believe that the time I "fell in love" with the girl I posted about in this thread it was due in part to the inspirations of the devil or his demons of lust who inflamed my passions, inspiring my irrational attraction, and that this happens often, leading to many millions of bad relationships (In case this is not clear also, this part of the post is not a joke, but something I have considered).

You have to really be careful about joking/sarcasm/etc online!  ;D :D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on April 20, 2018, 10:35:14 PM
Quote from: Non Nobis on April 20, 2018, 09:33:11 PM

Romanticism has become excessive, and certainly isn't the be-all-and-end-all of marriage.  But even people in arranged marriages (that may sometimes end up better) surely often have some romantic interest in each other (even if only after the marriage) that most certainly does not hurt the marriage: even if the romance may end.  It seem to me natural that this should be true before people marry too - romance that is moral is surely sometimes intended by God as an innocent indication that people may be meant for each other by Him.  Not a proof, since the attraction between too people might come from another source than God. But God uses natural means too.

So how's that working out for you?

I don't mean that as a personal attack, but rather as a reflection on a generation. When an entire generation fails in the most basic human instincts, then isn't that perhaps time to re-think, to re-consider?

When relationships between men and women have become too "troublesome" to bother with, is that time to stop and think? Or when is it going to be time to stop and think? When the last human tries to find a soul mate and realizes that there isn't anyone else left?

In the last few years we had the violent dysfunction of the "Girls" generation. Now that has already been surpassed by the newer generation of young people who don't even know whether they are "Girls" or "boys."

Body dysphoria is rampant. It's not just on television. I spent a few days on campus recently, and nearly everyone looked uncomfortable in their own bodies. All the girls wanted to be boys, and all the boys wanted to be girls. The chances of any of these people ever marrying and raising a family are virtually nil.

Yet the dream of love persists. Transgressive love. This year's Oscar-winning movie feature trans-species love.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on April 21, 2018, 07:44:26 AM
Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 06:00:33 PMI am still reading The Six Enneads by Plotinus. I cannot understand it well or remember it well but I want to finish reading it.

I wouldn't want to discourage you if you're intent on finishing it, but that is one hell of a dense, dry, and difficult collection to slog all the way through.  "Difficult to understand well" is an accurate criticism.  It is possibly best read occasionally and in small portions, but everyone is different in how they proceed.

I have just begun reading The Most Dangerous Man in America: Timothy Leary, Richard Nixon and the Hunt for the Fugitive King of LSD.  If I were a Grammar Nazi I would complain about the lack of an Oxford Comma in the subtitle.  I am now a member of "St. Joseph's Workbench," but in browsing the threads there I didn't see any where "men talk about the irrational things they do when they fall in love with women."  Actually, I get the feeling such a thing would be frowned upon.  Werther, I think, would not receive a warm or sympathetic welcome if he poured out his thoughts there.  "Dude.  Man up and stop fixating on this chick like a weepy pansyboy."


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on April 29, 2018, 09:48:36 AM
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

Read it many times before, but I need a break from more serious stuff.  Jack and Stephen are at just setting off on a cruise in search of prizes.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on May 02, 2018, 06:48:21 PM
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 03, 2018, 02:15:02 PM
Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley by Antonio Garcia Martinez.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on May 08, 2018, 04:41:30 PM
Alas! what boots it with incessant care
To tend the homely, slighted shepherd's trade,
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse?
Were it not better done, as others use,
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair?

Of course that is the seductive part of Lycidas. The pastoral elegy for the drowned protestant hireling by Milton. I always thought it was a shame that most English writers were protestants and my native and only tongue is English. What hot-blooded male wouldn't want to sport with Amaryllis in the shade, or with the tangles of Neaera's hair?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on May 08, 2018, 06:11:34 PM
Finished leafing through this month's NOR.

Some strong explanations of what drives the TLM community in reply to a deacon who suggested last month in an article that Latin Mass goers could be accommodated by reverent NOs should Francis ever decide to dump SP.  Because, you know, those who go to TLM are only interested in smells and bells.   ;D

There was an excellent review of a book about the Carthusians in Italy.

There was an update on the ongoing story of a Pakistani Christian and his family and their travails as they have gone from Pakistan to a Thai refugee (concentration) camp and back to Pakistan.  This month the father got beat up by Muslims and they are considering options. :(

There was a very cool piece by a guy who has been traveling around Europe.  This month he talked about his experiences in Montenegro and compared the blossoming post-communist Orthodox community with that of the local Catholics who are very modern.  He was not kind to the awful Catholic wreckovations he found.  The Catholic church in the capital is in the "brutalist" style.  Ouch.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on May 08, 2018, 06:27:13 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 02, 2018, 06:48:21 PM
A Canticle for Leibowitz

I bought that and have been meaning to read it; I hear it is very good.  It's a "real book" and not on Kindle, and I've been reading mostly on Kindle lately.  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on May 08, 2018, 06:47:44 PM
Quote from: Non Nobis on May 08, 2018, 06:27:13 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 02, 2018, 06:48:21 PM
A Canticle for Leibowitz

I bought that and have been meaning to read it; I hear it is very good.  It's a "real book" and not on Kindle, and I've been reading mostly on Kindle lately.  ;D

It's interesting so far — like a future dystopia with flavors of the Middle Ages. I ended up buying its sequel for continuity, despite the sequel having mixed reviews.



Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on May 13, 2018, 12:06:48 AM
Development of Christian doctrine by Cardinal Newman

http://www.newmanreader.org/works/development/index.html (http://www.newmanreader.org/works/development/index.html)

Here is a gem:

How was the man to guide his course who wished to join himself to the doctrine and fellowship of the Apostles in the times of St. Athanasius, St. Basil, and St. Augustine? Few indeed were the districts in the orbis terrarum, which did not then, as in the Ante-nicene era, present a number of creeds and communions for his choice. Gaul indeed is said at that era to have been perfectly free from heresies; at least none are mentioned as belonging to that country in the Theodosian Code. But in Egypt, in the early part of the fourth century, the Meletian schism numbered one-third {249} as many bishops as were contained in the whole Patriarchate. In Africa, towards the end of it, while the Catholic Bishops amounted in all to 468, the Donatists rivalled them with as many as 400. In Spain Priscillianism was spread from the Pyrenees to the Ocean. It seems to have been the religion of the population in the province of Gallicia, while its author Priscillian, whose death had been contrived by the Ithacians, was honoured as a Martyr. The Manichees, hiding themselves under a variety of names in different localities, were not in the least flourishing condition at Rome. Rome and Italy were the seat of the Marcionites. The Origenists, too, are mentioned by St. Jerome as "bringing a cargo of blasphemies into the port of Rome." And Rome was the seat of a Novatian, a Donatist, and a Luciferian bishop, in addition to the legitimate occupant of the See of St. Peter. The Luciferians, as was natural under the circumstances of their schism, were sprinkled over Christendom from Spain to Palestine, and from Treves to Lybia; while in its parent country Sardinia, as a centre of that extended range, Lucifer seems to have received the honours of a Saint.

When St. Gregory Nazianzen began to preach at Constantinople, the Arians were in possession of its hundred churches; they had the populace in their favour, and, after their legal dislodgment, edict after edict was ineffectually issued against them. The Novatians too abounded there; and the Sabbatians, who had separated from them, had a church, where they prayed at the tomb of their founder. Moreover, Apollinarians, Eunomians, and Semi-arians, mustered in great numbers at Constantinople. The Semi-arian bishops were as popular in the neighbouring provinces, as the Arian doctrine in the capital. They had possession of the coast of the Hellespont and Bithynia; and were found in Phrygia, Isauria, and the neighbouring parts of Asia Minor. Phrygia was the {250} headquarters of the Montanists, and was overrun by the Messalians, who had advanced thus far from Mesopotamia, spreading through Syria, Lycaonia, Pamphylia, and Cappadocia in their way. In the lesser Armenia, the same heretics had penetrated into the monasteries. Phrygia, too, and Paphlagonia were the seat of the Novatians, who besides were in force at Nicæa and Nicomedia, were found in Alexandria, Africa, and Spain, and had a bishop even in Scythia. The whole tract of country from the Hellespont to Cilicia had nearly lapsed into Eunomianism, and the tract from Cilicia as far as Ph?nicia into Apollinarianism. The disorders of the Church of Antioch are well known: an Arian succession, two orthodox claimants, and a bishop of the Apollinarians. Palestine abounded in Origenists, if at that time they may properly be called a sect; Palestine, Egypt, and Arabia were overrun with Marcionites; Osrhoëne was occupied by the followers of Bardesanes and Harmonius, whose hymns so nearly took the place of national tunes that St. Ephrem found no better way of resisting the heresy than setting them to fresh words. Theodoret in Comagene speaks in the next century of reclaiming eight villages of Marcionites, one of Eunomians, and one of Arians.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 13, 2018, 04:11:33 AM
Quote from: Non Nobis on May 08, 2018, 06:27:13 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 02, 2018, 06:48:21 PM
A Canticle for Leibowitz

I bought that and have been meaning to read it; I hear it is very good.  It's a "real book" and not on Kindle, and I've been reading mostly on Kindle lately.  ;D

I got the audio version from Audible (my commute is about 30 - 40 minutes so I was able to listen to a good chunk each day). The first 1/3 was interesting, the middle was boring (imo) and the last third was amazing. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 13, 2018, 07:11:41 AM
Moby Dick
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on May 13, 2018, 07:50:52 AM
Quote from: Lynne on May 13, 2018, 04:11:33 AM
Quote from: Non Nobis on May 08, 2018, 06:27:13 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 02, 2018, 06:48:21 PM
A Canticle for Leibowitz

I bought that and have been meaning to read it; I hear it is very good.  It's a "real book" and not on Kindle, and I've been reading mostly on Kindle lately.  ;D

I got the audio version from Audible (my commute is about 30 - 40 minutes so I was able to listen to a good chunk each day). The first 1/3 was interesting, the middle was boring (imo) and the last third was amazing.

I'm in the middle now. I think if you go back and listen to it as an analogy for historical events it really opens up some profound insights:

The Church trying to survive against the machinations of the world, the world using the efforts of the Church with no thanks -- seeing the careful means of preserving and advancing knowledge of the philosophical and natural sciences amidst the dark environment of barbarians' minds, the willingness of secular scholars to sell out the Church when convenient despite owing to her their own work's foundation, the thorny relationship with Benjamin Eleazar (who has taken it upon himself to embody the remnant of Israel), the wisdom in the impious and often irreverent Poet's proclamations, etc.

I'm not at the end yet.

This author was a learned man and his ability to recall information and weave it together is astounding. I think he makes a solid case for the Church by placing historical concepts in a remote, dystopian future where they are sanitized by obfuscating in fiction.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 14, 2018, 05:06:44 AM
Quote from: Gardener on May 13, 2018, 07:50:52 AM
Quote from: Lynne on May 13, 2018, 04:11:33 AM
Quote from: Non Nobis on May 08, 2018, 06:27:13 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 02, 2018, 06:48:21 PM
A Canticle for Leibowitz

I bought that and have been meaning to read it; I hear it is very good.  It's a "real book" and not on Kindle, and I've been reading mostly on Kindle lately.  ;D

I got the audio version from Audible (my commute is about 30 - 40 minutes so I was able to listen to a good chunk each day). The first 1/3 was interesting, the middle was boring (imo) and the last third was amazing.

I'm in the middle now. I think if you go back and listen to it as an analogy for historical events it really opens up some profound insights:

The Church trying to survive against the machinations of the world, the world using the efforts of the Church with no thanks -- seeing the careful means of preserving and advancing knowledge of the philosophical and natural sciences amidst the dark environment of barbarians' minds, the willingness of secular scholars to sell out the Church when convenient despite owing to her their own work's foundation, the thorny relationship with Benjamin Eleazar (who has taken it upon himself to embody the remnant of Israel), the wisdom in the impious and often irreverent Poet's proclamations, etc.

I'm not at the end yet.

This author was a learned man and his ability to recall information and weave it together is astounding. I think he makes a solid case for the Church by placing historical concepts in a remote, dystopian future where they are sanitized by obfuscating in fiction.

I had forgotten about Benjamin Eleazar. So many interesting characters in the book. I should listen to it again.

Chapter 27(?) - The abbot went into a long discussion on evilness of euthanasia. It had me sobbing as I was driving down the highway to work. It was just so moving to imagine that a priest would fight so hard against euthanasia. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 19, 2018, 04:14:09 AM
The Thirty Years War by Peter H. Wilson.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on May 19, 2018, 10:21:44 AM
I just read an essay by Schopenhauer called "On Women" and thought it was very interesting and makes one think. I don't know anything at all about Schopenhauer. I just saw a youtube video about the essay and decided to read it. I plan on reading some of the other essays in this collection to see how the man thinks. "On Suicide" seems intriguing.

https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/essays/chapter5.html (https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/essays/chapter5.html)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: jovan66102 on May 19, 2018, 10:54:55 AM
A day or two ago I finished, 'Liberalism is a Sin' by Don Felix Sarda y Salvany, and now I'm reading 'The Liberal Illusion' by Louis Veuillot, translated by His Lordship, Bishop Richard Williamson.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on May 20, 2018, 04:11:15 PM
Quote from: Matto on May 19, 2018, 10:21:44 AM
"On Suicide" seems intriguing.
So I read it. He tried to justify suicide basically so the essay was pretty evil. I don't think I will read the rest of his essays.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: jovan66102 on May 20, 2018, 04:48:35 PM
I've also started reading Msgr Robert Hugh Benson's 'Dawn of All', his 'mirror image' of 'Lord of the World'. It's a fascinating book
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on May 20, 2018, 07:40:00 PM
Quote from: Matto on May 20, 2018, 04:11:15 PMI don't think I will read the rest of his essays.

You should at least read "On Noise (https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/pessimism/chapter8.html)."  Not that this matters, but it is one of my favorites.  His biography is almost as interesting as his philosophy, and I think he was a remarkable human being, as evidenced by the things that irritated him.  Also, because you remarked on your blog that veganism is something that intrigues you (even though you are not "numbered among the vegans"), you might like this post (https://aholeintheearth.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/schopenhauer-animal-rights-and-anti-semitism/) on a philosophy blog, which actually seems to be the only post on that person's blog, which I guess I can kind of respect.  It's called "Schopenhauer, animal rights, and anti-Semitism."  A fine choice of subject matter.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on May 20, 2018, 07:49:14 PM
Pon...off topic, I know. But...look at your forehead. Not knowing quite how to broach this subject, I'm just gonna dive in. It's too big, Pon. That's the thing. Everything about it is stern. Please, reconsider your appearance, I know that there must be a more appropriate avatar for you. Just tellin you cuz.....I care. I like you. :grouphug:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on May 20, 2018, 07:58:25 PM
Wait a minute rabbit! Have I already broached this delicate subject with you, Pon. If I repeat myself, please forgive me.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on May 20, 2018, 08:09:43 PM
Thank you, Carleen.  I appreciate your concern.  But if there is any person's picture that adequately sums up how I look at the world, it is this one.  Indeed it is stern.  That gaze of the aging Verlaine is an unmitigated gaze of annoyance and disappointment in all things, a scowl at the great let-down of life.  Bald on the top, hirsute on the chin.  He likely hadn't showered for weeks.  That is a picture of a person who looks like he despises the very laughter of children, because it trespasses on his absinthe-soaked daydreams.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Fleur-de-Lys on May 20, 2018, 08:12:38 PM
I just finished Michel Houellebecq's Soumission (Submission). I read it in French. It is available in English, but I can't speak to the quality of the translation.

From Wikipedia:

QuoteThe novel, a political satire, imagines a situation in which a Muslim party upholding traditionalist and patriarchal values is able to win the 2022 presidential election in France with the support of the Socialist Party. The book drew an unusual amount of attention because, by a macabre coincidence, it was released on the day of the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

It was hilarious in its insightfulness. I could have done without the graphic descriptions of some sexual acts, but to be fair, they were not salacious or gratuitous. They were meant to show how jaded the protagonist had become and how ultimately unsatisfying the modern hedonistic lifestyle is. And I'm not sure the author could have made his point so effectively without them. With that one caveat, I highly recommend the book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on May 20, 2018, 08:21:53 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on May 20, 2018, 08:09:43 PM
Thank you, Carleen.  I appreciate your concern.  But if there is any person's picture that adequately sums up how I look at the world, it is this one.  Indeed it is stern.  That gaze of the aging Verlaine is an unmitigated gaze of annoyance and disappointment in all things, a scowl at the great let-down of life.  Bald on the top, hirsute on the chin.  He likely hadn't showered for weeks.  That is a picture of a person who looks like he despises the very laughter of children, because it trespasses on his absinthe-soaked daydreams.

OH. Yes. Pon.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: jovan66102 on May 20, 2018, 10:59:01 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on May 20, 2018, 08:12:38 PM
I just finished Michel Houellebecq's Soumission (Submission). I read it in French. It is available in English, but I can't speak to the quality of the translation.


My French is abysmal, but I'd love to read it in English. I just grabbed a free sample chapter on Kindle. I look forward to reading it. When I get a bit of extra $$ I'll buy the book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 21, 2018, 05:08:09 AM
Quote from: Carleendiane on May 20, 2018, 08:21:53 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on May 20, 2018, 08:09:43 PM
Thank you, Carleen.  I appreciate your concern.  But if there is any person's picture that adequately sums up how I look at the world, it is this one.  Indeed it is stern.  That gaze of the aging Verlaine is an unmitigated gaze of annoyance and disappointment in all things, a scowl at the great let-down of life.  Bald on the top, hirsute on the chin.  He likely hadn't showered for weeks.  That is a picture of a person who looks like he despises the very laughter of children, because it trespasses on his absinthe-soaked daydreams.

OH. Yes. Pon.
Whatever you do don't mention Sufjan Stevens.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on May 21, 2018, 02:19:16 PM
Jeremy Armstrong, Early Roman Warfare, also a version of Blaise Pascal's Pensées.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on May 21, 2018, 03:53:03 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on May 20, 2018, 07:40:00 PMYou should at least read "On Noise (https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/pessimism/chapter8.html)."  Not that this matters, but it is one of my favorites.
. . .
Also, because you remarked on your blog that veganism is something that intrigues you (even though you are not "numbered among the vegans"),
I read the essay and blog post you recommended. I liked the essay. From the ten pages or so of Schopenhauer I have read I think he is a remarkable man (I liked "On Suicide" also but I just thought it was dangerous). About vegans, I respect vegans, and think Catholics should imitate them somewhat in how they eat. I mean, I think there is a great beauty in eating nothing but potatoes or nothing but bread, and not wanting to be responsible for animal suffering. I have an essay about veganism I am working on which you may like because you told me you enjoyed my musings on food and my strange eating habits (my bowl of rice and lentils).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on May 23, 2018, 04:58:41 PM
Stroke of Insight by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor. It's a neuroscientist's personal experience of having a stroke and the recovery afterwards.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on May 23, 2018, 07:37:03 PM
Now, that sounds interresting, having had a large stroke myself. Would love to read it!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on May 27, 2018, 08:11:48 PM
Drums Along the Mohawk
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 03, 2018, 03:43:40 AM
Alfred The Great: The King and His England by Eleanor Shipley Duckett
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on June 06, 2018, 08:06:44 AM
The Great Sacrilege:

QuoteIn 1971, amidst the chaos and confusion wrought by the Second Vatican Council and the advent of the Novus Ordo Missae, well-meaning Catholics craved clarity and direction.  A voice of clarity was found in the late Father James Wathen and his book The Great Sacrilege.  Father's love of the true, the good, the beautiful, and the holy shone forth from every page, and he minced no words in his criticism of his fellow clergy or in his analysis of what was at the heart of the New Mass.

In recent years, this great Catholic treatise of monumental significance has become nearly impossible to find, so the Fr. James F. Wathen Foundation is please to announce The Great Sacrilege is finally back in print, with an easier-to-read font and layout. Father's insights into the crisis in the Church and the evil which is at the heart of the New Mass are just as relevant today as they were in 1971.  Order today and rediscover the wit and wisdom of Fr. Wathen.

http://fatherwathen.com/product/the-great-sacrilege/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 12, 2018, 05:49:59 PM
The Name of the Rose
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: jovan66102 on June 12, 2018, 06:32:40 PM
Puritans' Empire by Charles Coulombe.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on June 12, 2018, 09:07:14 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 12, 2018, 05:49:59 PM
The Name of the Rose

Let me know what you think of it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 14, 2018, 12:08:57 PM
Quote from: Jacob on June 12, 2018, 09:07:14 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 12, 2018, 05:49:59 PM
The Name of the Rose

Let me know what you think of it.

I loved it actually. Not really all that uplifting, but the plot flows well, and the setting is developed well.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 14, 2018, 12:09:11 PM
The Art of War
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on June 14, 2018, 02:10:19 PM
Read this a long time ago but wanted to share it

Prisoner of Chillon by Lord Byron

My hair is grey, but not with years,
Nor grew it white
In a single night,
As men's have grown from sudden fears:
My limbs are bow'd, though not with toil,
But rusted with a vile repose,
For they have been a dungeon's spoil,
And mine has been the fate of those
To whom the goodly earth and air
Are bann'd, and barr'd—forbidden fare;
But this was for my father's faith
I suffer'd chains and courted death;
That father perish'd at the stake
For tenets he would not forsake;
And for the same his lineal race
In darkness found a dwelling place;
We were seven—who now are one,
Six in youth, and one in age,
Finish'd as they had begun,
Proud of Persecution's rage;
One in fire, and two in field,
Their belief with blood have seal'd,
Dying as their father died,
For the God their foes denied;—
Three were in a dungeon cast,
Of whom this wreck is left the last.


The rest: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43842/the-prisoner-of-chillon (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43842/the-prisoner-of-chillon)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on June 14, 2018, 06:54:35 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 14, 2018, 12:08:57 PM
Quote from: Jacob on June 12, 2018, 09:07:14 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 12, 2018, 05:49:59 PM
The Name of the Rose

Let me know what you think of it.

I loved it actually. Not really all that uplifting, but the plot flows well, and the setting is developed well.

Did you read it in two days?  Whoa!  Hat's off to you.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 14, 2018, 07:09:19 PM
Quote from: Jacob on June 14, 2018, 06:54:35 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 14, 2018, 12:08:57 PM
Quote from: Jacob on June 12, 2018, 09:07:14 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 12, 2018, 05:49:59 PM
The Name of the Rose

Let me know what you think of it.

I loved it actually. Not really all that uplifting, but the plot flows well, and the setting is developed well.

Did you read it in two days?  Whoa!  Hat's off to you.

A bit less than two weeks. Honestly read a couple chapters took a break and finished the rest in four or five days
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 14, 2018, 07:10:17 PM
Titus Andronicus

(Art of War I, however, started and finished today)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on June 14, 2018, 08:22:28 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 14, 2018, 12:08:57 PM
Quote from: Jacob on June 12, 2018, 09:07:14 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 12, 2018, 05:49:59 PM
The Name of the Rose

Let me know what you think of it.

I loved it actually. Not really all that uplifting, but the plot flows well, and the setting is developed well.

The monologue at the end is a classic. Very eye-opening too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: abc123 on June 16, 2018, 01:38:12 PM
The Birth of Britain: A History of the English Speaking Peoples by Sir Winston Churchill
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Fleur-de-Lys on June 16, 2018, 01:53:10 PM
L'Agnese va a morire (And Agnes Chose to Die) by Renata Viganò. It's pure communist propaganda. Strange that I didn't notice that when I first read it in college. But I'm desperate to practice my Italian these days.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on June 16, 2018, 02:05:28 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on June 16, 2018, 01:53:10 PM
L'Agnese va a morire (And Agnes Chose to Die) by Renata Viganò. It's pure communist propaganda. Strange that I didn't notice that when I first read it in college. But I'm desperate to practice my Italian these days.

You should read I promessi sposi by Alessandro Manzoni. Haven't read it myself but it is a classic.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 16, 2018, 09:49:25 PM
Men at Arms
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 17, 2018, 03:07:18 AM
Lee and Grant by Gene Smith.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on June 17, 2018, 09:12:50 PM
Quote from: Sempronius on June 16, 2018, 02:05:28 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on June 16, 2018, 01:53:10 PM
L'Agnese va a morire (And Agnes Chose to Die) by Renata Viganò. It's pure communist propaganda. Strange that I didn't notice that when I first read it in college. But I'm desperate to practice my Italian these days.

You should read I promessi sposi by Alessandro Manzoni. Haven't read it myself but it is a classic.

I read The Betrothed years ago and loved it. It is the one and only work of fiction on Fr. John A. Hardon's, lifetime reading list. The humor was great and a very pleasant read, a comedy/drama, Catholic through out, and I've never forgotten it. I may just read it again. I read very few books twice. Yep, I recommend it, but would enjoy reading others take on the book. An historical novel first published in 1827 in Italian.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 21, 2018, 10:16:49 PM
Summa of the Summa
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on June 22, 2018, 05:53:45 AM
Quote from: Carleendiane on June 17, 2018, 09:12:50 PM
Quote from: Sempronius on June 16, 2018, 02:05:28 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on June 16, 2018, 01:53:10 PM
L'Agnese va a morire (And Agnes Chose to Die) by Renata Viganò. It's pure communist propaganda. Strange that I didn't notice that when I first read it in college. But I'm desperate to practice my Italian these days.

You should read I promessi sposi by Alessandro Manzoni. Haven't read it myself but it is a classic.

I read The Betrothed years ago and loved it. It is the one and only work of fiction on Fr. John A. Hardon's, lifetime reading list. The humor was great and a very pleasant read, a comedy/drama, Catholic through out, and I've never forgotten it. I may just read it again. I read very few books twice. Yep, I recommend it, but would enjoy reading others take on the book. An historical novel first published in 1827 in Italian.

From one of the reviews on Amazon... "Pope Francis has read this novel three times, and to this day keeps a copy of it on his desk and plans to red it again." Oh well, I bought it anyway...   :D $0.83 on Kindle.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 22, 2018, 06:52:48 AM
King John

(Summa Summa is like a textbook, will take me longer)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: John Lamb on June 29, 2018, 03:47:16 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on April 19, 2018, 06:16:38 PM
Well, Goethe himself didn't consider it as a great a book as I do.  He considered it something of "a youthful indiscretion," to paraphrase Henry Hyde.  But I don't disagree with you.  In a sense, Werther exchanges the worship of God for the worship of a woman, even though this isn't explicit.  I don't think it would be a stretch to call his devotion to Lotte almost religious.  He has a contemptus mundi for the inanities of high society.  He is like a pilgrim in this world.  His love is almost a kind of fanaticism.  What compels the fanatic?  It seems strange that a suicide bomber is driven by the supposed words of God as revealed to a seventh century Arabian prophet.  It does not seem so strange to me, though, if the object of obsession is a beautiful woman.

I read Werther years ago and wasn't terribly impressed with it. I think the reason is that the more grand, more profound, more beautiful romantic gesture would have been if Werther had continued to love her even into his old age, doing what he might for her without intruding upon her marriage, even if all he was able to do was pray for her daily and compose the odd poem for her occasionally, i.e. like Dante's love for Beatrice. Suicide just seems like the cheap and easy way out, motivated more by excessive vanity and the desire to win easy fame as one of history's great lovers, rather than bearing the pain of love like a true lover and a true man. So I agree with Heinrich here on the vapidness of Sturm und Drang.

Here's one of the most beautiful verses in the bible: "So Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed but a few days, because of the greatness of his love." (Genesis 29:20)

Here's one of the most beautiful passages about romantic love I've come across, from Kierkegaard:

Quote from: Søren Kierkegaard
A young swain falls in love with a princess, and the whole content of his life consists in this love, and yet the situation is such that it is impossible for it to be realized, impossible for it to be translated from ideality into reality.

The slaves of paltriness, the frogs in life's swamp, will naturally cry out, "Such a love is foolishness. The rich brewer's widow is a match fully as good and respectable." Let them croak in the swamp undisturbed. It is not so with the knight of infinite resignation, he does not give up his love, not for all the glory of the world. He is no fool. First he makes sure that this really is the content of his life, and his soul is too healthy and too proud to squander the least thing upon an inebriation. He is not cowardly, he is not afraid of letting love creep into his most secret, his most hidden thoughts, to let it twine in innumerable coils about every ligament of his consciousness–if the love becomes an unhappy love, he will never be able to tear himself loose from it. He feels a blissful rapture in letting love tingle through every nerve, and yet his soul is as solemn as that of the man who has drained the poisoned goblet and feels how the juice permeates every drop of blood–for this instant is life and death. So when he has thus sucked into himself the whole of love and absorbed himself in it, he does not lack courage to make trial of everything and to venture everything. He surveys the situation of his life, he convokes the swift thoughts, which like tame doves obey his every bidding, he waves his wand over them, and they dart off in all directions. But when they all return, all as messengers of sorrow, and declare to him that it is an impossibility, then he becomes quiet, he dismisses them, he remains alone, and then he performs the movements. If what I am saying is to have any significance, it is requisite that the movement come about normally.

So for the first thing, the knight will have power to concentrate the whole content of life and the whole significance of reality in one single wish. If a man lacks this concentration, this intensity, if his soul from the beginning is dispersed in the multifarious, he never comes to the point of making the movement, he will deal shrewdly in life like the capitalists who invest their money in all sorts of securities, so as to gain on the one what they lose on the other–in short, he is not a knight. In the next place the knight will have the power to concentrate the whole result of the operations of thought in one act of consciousness. If he lacks this intensity, if his soul from the beginning is dispersed in the multifarious, he will never get time to make the movements, he will be constantly running errands in life, never enter into eternity, for even at the instant when he is closest to it he will suddenly discover that he has forgotten something for which he must go back. He will think that to enter eternity is possible the next instant, and that also is perfectly true, but by such considerations one never reaches the point of making the movements, but by their aid one sinks deeper and deeper into the mire.

So the knight makes the movement–but what movement? Will he forget the whole thing? (For in this too there is indeed a kind of concentration.) No! For the knight does not contradict himself, and it is a contradiction to forget the whole content of one's life and yet remain the same man. To become another man he feels no inclination, nor does he by any means regard this as greatness. Only the lower natures forget themselves and become something new. Thus the butterfly has entirely forgotten that it was a caterpillar, perhaps it may in turn so entirely forget it was a butterfly that it becomes a fish. The deeper natures never forget themselves and never become anything else than what they were. So the knight remembers everything, but precisely this remembrance is pain, and yet by the infinite resignation he is reconciled with existence. Love for that princess became for him the expression for an eternal love, assumed a religious character, was transfigured into a love for the Eternal Being, which did to be sure deny him the fulfilment of his love, yet reconciled him again by the eternal consciousness of its validity in the form of eternity, which no reality can take from him. Fools and young men prate about everything being possible for a man. That, however, is a great error. Spiritually speaking, everything is possible, but in the world of the finite there is much which is not possible. This impossible, however, the knight makes possible by expressing it spiritually, but he expresses it spiritually by waiving his claim to it. The wish which would carry him out into reality, but was wrecked upon the impossibility, is now bent inward, but it is not therefore lost, neither is it forgotten. At one moment it is the obscure emotion of the wish within him which awakens recollections, at another moment he awakens them himself; for he is too proud to be willing that what was the whole content of his life should be the thing of a fleeting moment. He keeps this love young, and along with him it increases in years and in beauty. On the other hand, he has no need of the intervention of the finite for the further growth of his love. From the instant he made the movement the princess is lost to him. He has no need of those erotic tinglings in the nerves at the sight of the beloved etc., nor does he need to be constantly taking leave of her in a finite sense, because he recollects her in an eternal sense, and he knows very well that the lovers who are so bent upon seeing "her" yet once again, to say farewell for the last time, are right in being bent upon it, are right in thinking that it is the last time, for they forget one another the soonest. He has comprehended the deep secret that also in loving another person one must be sufficient unto oneself. He no longer takes a finite interest in what the princess is doing, and precisely this is proof that he has made the movement infinitely. Here one may have an opportunity to see whether the movement on the part of a particular person is true or fictitious. There was one who also believed that he had made the movement; but lo, time passed, the princess did something else, she married–a prince, let us say–then his soul lost the elasticity of resignation. Thereby he knew that he had not made the movement rightly; for he who has made the act of resignation infinitely is sufficient unto himself. The knight does not annul his resignation, he preserves his love just as young as it was in its first moment, he never lets it go from him, precisely because he makes the movements infinitely. What the princess does, cannot disturb him, it is only the lower natures which find in other people the law for their actions, which find the premises for their actions outside themselves. If on the other hand the princess is like-minded, the beautiful consequence will be apparent. She will introduce herself into that order of knighthood into which one is not received by balloting, but of which everyone is a member who has courage to introduce himself, that order of knighthood which proves its immortality by the fact that it makes no distinction between man and woman. The two will preserve their love young and sound, she also will have triumphed over her pains, even though she does not, as it is said in the ballad, "lie every night beside her lord." These two will to all eternity remain in agreement with one another, with a well-timed harmonia praestabilita, so that if ever the moment were to come, the moment which does not, however, concern them finitely (for then they would be growing older), if ever the moment were to come which offered to give love its expression in time, then they will be capable of beginning precisely at the point where they would have begun if originally they had been united. He who understands this, be he man or woman, can never be deceived, for it is only the lower natures which imagine they were deceived. No girl who is not so proud really  knows how to love; but if she is so proud, then the cunning and shrewdness of all the world cannot deceive her.

In the infinite resignation there is peace and rest; every man who wills it, who has not abased himself by scorning himself (which is still more dreadful than being proud), can train himself to make this movement which in its pain reconciles one with existence. Infinite resignation is that shirt we read about in the old fable. The thread is spun under tears, the cloth bleached with tears, the shirt sewn with tears; but then too it is a better protection than iron and steel. The imperfection in the fable is that a third party can manufacture this shirt. The secret in life is that everyone must sew it for himself, and the astonishing thing is that a man can sew it fully as well as a woman. In the infinite resignation there is peace and rest and comfort in sorrow–that is, if the movement is made normally. It would not be difficult for me, however, to write a whole book, were I to examine the various misunderstandings, the preposterous attitudes, the deceptive movements, which I have encountered in my brief practice. People believe very little in spirit, and yet making this movement depends upon spirit, it depends upon whether this is or is not a one-sided result of a dira necessitas, and if this is present, the more dubious it always is whether the movement is normal. If one means by this that the cold, unfruitful necessity must necessarily be present, one thereby affirms that no one can experience death before he actually dies, and that appears to me a crass materialism. However, in our time people concern themselves rather little about making pure movements. In case one who was about to learn to dance were to say, "For centuries now one generation after another has been learning positions, it is high time I drew some advantage out of this and began straightway with the French dances"–then people would laugh at him; but in the world of spirit they find this exceedingly plausible. What is education? I should suppose that education was the curriculum one had to run through in order to catch up with oneself, and he who will not pass through this curriculum is helped very little by the fact that he was born in the most enlightened age.

Actually he goes on, and develops the idea into an even higher stage.
http://www.solargeneral.org/wp-content/uploads/library/fear-and-trembling-johannes-de-silentio.pdf
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: John Lamb on June 29, 2018, 04:00:03 PM
Quote from: Matto on April 19, 2018, 08:54:50 PM
This book would remind me of my youthful romantic insanity. I know what it is like to fall into irrational fanaticism over a woman. I sometimes think about a girl who I fell in love with when I was younger. We worked together for a while. It was completely irrational. She was a former S&M prostitute. She was a submissive and people paid her to let them abuse her. She told me how one time one of her clients chained her to a radiator and left her there all night. I fell in love with her and she seemed to have liked me also, but we never dated or had sex. I would have married her and if I did it would have been a disaster in every way probably ending with both of us in hell. One time we spent the night together at her apartment but I was too scared to touch her other than letting her kiss my forehead a few times. She asked my permission and I allowed her. But I was petrified and we spent the whole night awake lying next to each other without sleeping, watching movies, as I hand-rolled and chain-smoked cigarettes. It is possible that I have never been more afraid than I was of her that night. And I thought at the time that that night of pure terror was one of the best nights of my life. On the last night we worked together she came up to me in the back room and grabbed my head and kissed me on the lips. Then after work I walked her half the way home and we talked. I remember her telling me that I always said the right thing like Cary Grant in the movies. Obviously this happened in my years when I sinned with women and had no religion, before I converted. Sometimes I look at pictures of her online to remind myself of what she looked like. I would post her picture here and ask if people thought she was beautiful, but I do not want to reveal her identity. I wonder if she ever thinks of me like I do of her sometimes. I do not miss her or wish that we did get married, but I think about how irrational our relationship was and what a disaster it would have been.

Quote from: Matto on April 20, 2018, 02:15:13 PM
Actually what I do wonder sometimes is that perhaps some people are inspired by God to love each other but many or most I would say are tempted by the devil when they "fall in love". Yes, I am at fault for not using the word "most" or "many" and just speaking generally. I could easily believe that the time I "fell in love" with the girl I posted about in this thread it was due in part to the inspirations of the devil or his demons of lust who inflamed my passions, inspiring my irrational attraction, and that this happens often, leading to many millions of bad relationships (In case this is not clear also, this part of the post is not a joke, but something I have considered).

This reminds me of a passage from St. Thérèse's diary.

St. Thérèse met a young girl her own age at school, and they became somewhat close. They parted for a while (it may have just been over the summer break) and St. Thérèse was excited to be reunited with her old friend: but when they finally met, she wanted nothing to do with Thérèse. But it's what St. Thérèse writes next that is significant, something along the lines of: "nevertheless, I never fail to mention this girl / this friend of mine in my prayers, because when my heart loves, it loves forever."

It's hard to know in romantic love what part of it is simple human passion, what part is demon-inspired lust and delusion, and what part is God-given inspiration mixed with divine charity. Obviously Thérèse's case is not about romantic love specifically, but it's similar to yours in that it's a failed relationship in worldly terms that still nevertheless made a permanent impression on her heart, so spiritually speaking it is somewhat of a success.

I met a woman who I knew it was imprudent for me to be involved with, but I asked God to let me be with her anyway. God answered my prayer by letting it end very quickly. Still, even though it was a failure and even a regret from one perspective, I'm not entirely sorry that I met her, because even though I realise it was stupid to have been romantically involved with her, I still made a connection and can still say I love her on some level, and still pray for her. Perhaps that's why God let you meet this woman, maybe He wants you to pray for her.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 30, 2018, 05:38:09 AM
Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer. This short video shows some of the things he witnessed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbnKkuYR3Jk
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on June 30, 2018, 09:01:31 AM
This is very interesting:

(https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fca-rc.com%2Fimage%2Fcache%2Fcatalog%2FBooks%2FJudaism%2520and%2520the%2520Vatican-500x500.jpg&f=1)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on June 30, 2018, 11:17:04 AM
Quote from: John Lamb on June 29, 2018, 03:47:16 PMI read Werther years ago and wasn't terribly impressed with it. I think the reason is that the more grand, more profound, more beautiful romantic gesture would have been if Werther had continued to love her even into his old age, doing what he might for her without intruding upon her marriage, even if all he was able to do was pray for her daily and compose the odd poem for her occasionally, i.e. like Dante's love for Beatrice. Suicide just seems like the cheap and easy way out, motivated more by excessive vanity and the desire to win easy fame as one of history's great lovers, rather than bearing the pain of love like a true lover and a true man. So I agree with Heinrich here on the vapidness of Sturm und Drang.

I would say that for Werther, the deranged response is almost the only appropriate one.  The passage you quoted from Kierkegaard verges on Plato's spirituality, where Diotima teaches Socrates that the contemplation of physical beauty is the beginning of the contemplation of mystical beauty.  This aligns with the Platonic notion that the perfect exists somewhere afar off in the heavens, and that the forms we observe in this world are only imperfect reflections of the ideal.  And for the most part, this is a satisfying scheme.  But it can be upended.  What happens when earthly beauty surpasses all else?  It is completely orthodox to say of holy wisdom, "she is the effulgence of eternal light, the unspotted mirror of God's majesty," and "being compared to the light, she is found before it."  But it would be blasphemous to say such things of a mortal creature.  Who is she whose beauty eclipses the glory of God?  This is a terrible occurrence when it happens, and there is really no sane response that honors it. 

Writing poetry certainly has its place, but that is kind of like the mannered solemnity of the priest calmly pacing the altar and swinging the censer.  It's the appropriate thing to do when things are nicely ordered: when the heavens are above, and the squalor is here below.  But what's to be done when the whole scheme is thrown into disarray?  I think that's why Werther has his vehemence.  His obsession can't be decorous, but in its delirium it's just as grand and profound.  He is truly like a pilgrim in the world.  He is so sensitive and perceptive and keenly attuned to beauty; this is why he finds society so banal and tiresome.  Let's face it, there are a great many people who have dull and coarse minds, and can breeze through life contentedly without being too terribly troubled over beauty.  Werther's condition is both a blessing and a curse.  But the Sturm und Drang in Werther, as I see it, is a reaction against vapidity.  It's a romantic fervor as strong as any religious ecstasy, and Werther is as mad in the eyes of the world as those saints who go off to desert caves and live on locusts and wild honey.  His passion simply goes in the opposite direction.  At one point Werther writes about feeling as though he's possessed by a demon.  It's like that line in The Cloud of Unknowing: "the devil hath his contemplatives as surely as God has His."


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: John Lamb on June 30, 2018, 11:12:59 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on June 30, 2018, 11:17:04 AM
I would say that for Werther, the deranged response is almost the only appropriate one.

The thing is that I question his sincerity. Yes, he's a sensitive soul by nature. But he's also one by choice. I think he's aware and proud of it. I remember in the opening chapters his musing on his own artistic appreciation of nature, and on reflection I think it's somewhat vain and foppish. There are emotions that come to us by nature, and there are contrived ones that we almost force ourselves to have. This is especially the case with young people and romantic love, when they brood on that love and strain their emotion beyond its natural limits because they're obsessed with the romantic idea of being in love. However, the Platonists (like Dante, at least in his relationship to Beatrice) have the correct understanding of how to sublimate romantic love and lift it beyond mere passion. They see it precisely as a participation in the eternal Beauty, as a kind of shadow and foretaste of the beatific vision; and this isn't idolatrous because there's no confusion (assuming the lover's a correct Platonist) between the Divine Beauty and its mortal representative.

The Byronic corruption of romantic love - Werther being a precursor and Byron himself its fulfilment - is a degeneration of the medieval, Platonic tradition. It's precisely a failure to see the heavenly in the earthly, the divine in the human, the eternal in time. It's a failure of the spirit. Byronic love is the atheistic version of Platonic love; it's what happened when the romantic European soul lost its faith in God, but still wanted to flirt with the divine Eros. That's what Byron is compared to Dante: a mere flirt. Once you cut off romance from the Platonic realm, and keep your passion from ascending to heaven (the only place where it can find fulfilment, seeing as romantic longing has a certain infinity to it), you really do fall into Wertherian madness and idolatry: the girl, no matter how pretty she is, can never satisfy that longing which is really the religious desire to worship the Divine. They commit a kind of blasphemy in refusing to give thanks to God for His creation; instead of saying, "thanks be to God, Creator of all beauty," and lifting their love for the woman up to a love for God, they effectively turn away from God and try to worship the creature rather than the Creator. So Werther's suicide would be what St. Paul calls a "sacrifice to idols". He's really worshipping his own vanity, stubbornly refusing to worship God. In fact, you can almost see it as Werther himself trying to take God's place, as in the opening chapters where he tries to take the beauty of nature and, instead of giving thanks to God for it, gives thanks to himself for his own refined art of appreciation: a profound shift in the European soul tracing its descent from the worship of God to the worship of man, of man usurping God's role as creator.

Byronic love is a kind of impiety; despite however much the Werther-Byronic types might flatter themselves for their superior sensitivity to beauty and profundity of emotion, for all that they're merely just failing to do what any simple man can do: giving thanks to God. Werther didn't need to kill himself to "prove" that he loved Charlotte, he just needed to offer his love for her to God as a prayer. That's why I'd insist that, despite all his pretension, he's at bottom a selfish and conceited idiot who's more a lover of his own self than of Charlotte (after all, why burden someone you love with your suicide?).

QuoteWhen the world talks of worthy gentlemen, we hear "Po Yi and Shu Ch'i." Yet Po Yi and Shu Ch'i declined the rulership of the state of Ku-chu and instead went and starved to death on Shou-yang Mountain, with no one to bury their bones and flesh. Pao Chiao made a great show of his conduct and condemned the world; he wrapped his arms around a tree and stood there till he died. Shen-t'u Ti offered a remonstrance that was unheeded; he loaded a stone onto his back and threw himself into a river, where the fish and turtles feasted on him. Chieh Tzu-t'ui was a model of fealty, going so far as to cut a piece of flesh from his thigh to feed his lord, Duke Wen. But later, when Duke Wen overlooked him, he went off in a rage, wrapped his arms around a tree, and burned to death. Wei Sheng made an engagement to meet a girl under a bridge. The girl failed to appear and the water began to rise, but, instead of leaving, he wrapped his arms around the pillar of the bridge and died. These six men were no different from a flayed dog, a pig sacrificed to the flood, a beggar with his alms-gourd in his hand. All were ensnared by thoughts of reputation and looked lightly on death, failing to remember the Source or to cherish the years that fate had given them.

https://terebess.hu/english/chuangtzu3.html#29
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 01, 2018, 09:57:06 AM
I agree with almost everything you wrote there, John Lamb, except I don't think I can be persuaded to see Werther as a poseur.  At worst I might consider him as "a child of his age," since we can agree that the 18th century was a huge upheaval in European thought and marked an overall turning away from God; and Romanticism was a rejection of both Enlightenment sensibilities as well as the religious dogmatism which the Enlightenment strove to overturn.  So the Romantics turned back to nature, and even in its Christian expressions Romanticism has a distinctly pagan tinge.  But Werther precedes Bryon and Romanticism.  If he's doing anything along the lines of a trend, he's actually starting the trend.  His Christianity is lukewarm at best; he can quote the bible, but he's alienated by the boring and bourgeois quality of the Christianity with which he is familiar: it's a whited sepulchre.

Perhaps if he had a better religious formation things would have played out differently for him.  Or perhaps not.  Suicide is always a ghoulish act, but at what point does "too much" become "too much to bear?"  When the sensitive and perceptive soul collides with an incomprehensible level of beauty and grace, then it becomes almost impossible to see one's way to the traditional ordering of the passions.  It has nothing to do with vanity or self-aggrandization, I don't think.  It is simply madness from being overwhelmed.  And I don't think Werther could help that.  We might say that he should "be more sensible," but he is not so made. 

QuoteAlbert replied, "a person who is carried away by his passions loses all power of judgment and is viewed as a drunkard or madman."

"Oh you sensible people!" I exclaimed.  "Passion!  Drunkenness!  Madness!  You stand there so calm, so unsympathetic, you moral people.  You condemn the drunkard, abhor the man bereft of his reason, pass by like the priest and thank God like the Pharisee that He did not make you as one of these."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on July 01, 2018, 11:00:36 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 01, 2018, 09:57:06 AM
When the sensitive and perceptive soul collides with an incomprehensible level of beauty and grace, then it becomes almost impossible to see one's way to the traditional ordering of the passions.  It has nothing to do with vanity or self-aggrandization, I don't think.  It is simply madness from being overwhelmed.  And I don't think Werther could help that.  We might say that he should "be more sensible," but he is not so made. 

Werther needed to read Sense and Sensibility.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: John Lamb on July 01, 2018, 02:30:11 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on July 01, 2018, 09:57:06 AM
But Werther precedes Byron and Romanticism.  If he's doing anything along the lines of a trend, he's actually starting the trend.

Yes, he's a precursor.

QuotePerhaps if he had a better religious formation things would have played out differently for him.  Or perhaps not.  Suicide is always a ghoulish act, but at what point does "too much" become "too much to bear?"  When the sensitive and perceptive soul collides with an incomprehensible level of beauty and grace, then it becomes almost impossible to see one's way to the traditional ordering of the passions.  It has nothing to do with vanity or self-aggrandization, I don't think.  It is simply madness from being overwhelmed.  And I don't think Werther could help that.  We might say that he should "be more sensible," but he is not so made. 

But I'm not saying that he should be "more sensible" or even that he should necessarily "order his passions". Plato says in the Phaedrus that love can be seen as a form of madness, and I agree. From the world's perspective the saints seem mad. If anything I'm saying that he is being too sensible because he's confining his love to the earthly realm and not letting it rise to the heavenly. Actually, he sort of gets stuck midway between heaven and earth. Natural / earthly love does not make anyone commit suicide. It's when people try to make a false heaven-on-earth that destruction occurs. He wants to place Charlotte on a pedestal and treat her like a goddess, but he fails because of his lack of real piety. It's a kind of romantic constipation where he fails to deliver / give birth to his love and he ends up dying with it. Like Kierkegaard said in the lengthy passage I quoted, a true romantic does not care what the "princess" is doing in the temporal realm because he is united with her perfectly in the eternal realm - where it actually matters. Dante was a perfect practitioner of this. He didn't kill himself when Beatrice died; he got on with the daily business of his life because he had faith that he would be united with her in heaven. The fact that Werther had to kill himself when it turned out he couldn't be with her in the earthly realm proves that he is a false romantic and indeed a poseur; his suicide was a pretentious and futile gesture - he couldn't succeed in loving her properly so he despised and killed himself. He was distraught over the fact that he wasn't a true romantic - which his vanity had convinced him he was - and couldn't bear to live with himself.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on July 01, 2018, 06:06:37 PM
Quote from: John Lamb on July 01, 2018, 02:30:11 PMBut I'm not saying that he should be "more sensible" or even that he should necessarily "order his passions". Plato says in the Phaedrus that love can be seen as a form of madness, and I agree. From the world's perspective the saints seem mad. If anything I'm saying that he is being too sensible because he's confining his love to the earthly realm and not letting it rise to the heavenly. Actually, he sort of gets stuck midway between heaven and earth. Natural / earthly love does not make anyone commit suicide. It's when people try to make a false heaven-on-earth that destruction occurs. He wants to place Charlotte on a pedestal and treat her like a goddess, but he fails because of his lack of real piety. It's a kind of romantic constipation where he fails to deliver / give birth to his love and he ends up dying with it. Like Kierkegaard said in the lengthy passage I quoted, a true romantic does not care what the "princess" is doing in the temporal realm because he is united with her perfectly in the eternal realm - where it actually matters.

Yet for Werther, it is not merely wanting to treat Lotte like a goddess, but that she is a goddess.  There is nothing that compares to her, not even the heavenly.  I think Werther would probably agree with St. Paul that faith is "the evidence of things that appear not."  But he lacks that faith.  He is a child of Enlightenment doubt.  He has been inculcated with some Christian learning, but what can he know of "things that appear not"?  Those things remain obscure to him.  Lotte, at least, appears.  She is real.  And because he is so acutely sensitive to beauty and grace, and because she is so beautiful and graceful, the heavenly unfortunately hasn't a shot.  It's certainly true that to Christian eyes he is "stuck between heaven and earth."  To him, however, Lotte is the heavenly.  That she cannot return his love is hell.  After that, suicide is something, to him, akin to annihilation.

We will probably end up having to agree to disagree, but this has been a good discussion, and it's a provocative book whether you love it as I do, or don't, as you do.  I was doing an internet search this morning for the passage about madness and the Pharisees, and I found this one on suffering.  It expresses a nearly Schopenhauerian pessimism.  What a great book (IMO).

QuoteThere is not a moment but preys upon you,—and upon all around you, not a moment in which you do not yourself become a destroyer. The most innocent walk deprives of life thousands of poor insects: one step destroys the fabric of the industrious ant, and converts a little world into chaos. No: it is not the great and rare calamities of the world, the floods which sweep away whole villages, the earthquakes which swallow up our towns, that affect me. My heart is wasted by the thought of that destructive power which lies concealed in every part of universal nature. Nature has formed nothing that does not consume itself, and every object near it: so that, surrounded by earth and air, and all the active powers, I wander on my way with aching heart; and the universe is to me a fearful monster, forever devouring its own offspring.

Pax.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 02, 2018, 01:50:44 PM
The Birth of Tragedy

(Taking a break from the Summa summary)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Greg on July 05, 2018, 02:37:49 AM
This forum.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on July 05, 2018, 02:54:47 AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Claudius
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 06, 2018, 05:28:23 PM
Julius Caesar
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 08, 2018, 10:15:32 AM
The Four Loves
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on July 08, 2018, 10:24:04 AM
The Year of Living Dangerously (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_of_Living_Dangerously_(novel)) by Christopher Koch.

Arc words (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArcWords): "What then must we do?"
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 08, 2018, 10:58:21 AM
A Mind for Numbers - Barbara Oakley
Story of A Soul - the John Clarke translation
Start with Why - Simon Sinek
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 12, 2018, 07:47:30 AM
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Vetus Ordo on July 12, 2018, 08:23:47 AM
Teaching Concepts: an Instructional Design Guide by M. David Merrill and Robert D. Tennyson.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 13, 2018, 04:26:27 AM
The Honorable Schoolboy by John LeCarre.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on July 14, 2018, 11:41:16 AM
The Life of Christmas by F Sheen. A bit flowery for me, but provides much to meditate on. My weakness is complex, twisted plots, with suspense, death, villians and heroes. So how come I have to make myself read the Life of Christ? Maybe because it will lead to meditation, which is good forme?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on July 18, 2018, 09:34:37 AM
Quote from: Jacob on July 08, 2018, 10:24:04 AM
The Year of Living Dangerously (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_of_Living_Dangerously_(novel)) by Christopher Koch.

Arc words (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArcWords): "What then must we do?"

I finished this yesterday.  Excellent read, highly recommended.  There is some sex, but nothing graphic.  The book is actually quite hostile towards the Sexual Revolution, equating it with the downfall of civilization.  Rather prophetic for a mainstream novel published in 1978.

Going to finish up Part I of Don Quixote and then I have a long list of books I have culled from my notes from which I have to choose.  I am thinking Hilaire Belloc: No Alienated Man by Frederick Wilhelmsen looks good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 18, 2018, 11:18:02 AM
Antony and Cleopatra
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 27, 2018, 05:40:34 AM
Cymbeline
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 28, 2018, 04:31:50 AM
Maugham A Biography by Ted Morgan
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 29, 2018, 08:03:24 PM
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 30, 2018, 03:01:47 PM
Beowulf
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on July 30, 2018, 04:48:35 PM
MilesChristi is going to be the most well-read man alive...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 30, 2018, 07:08:53 PM
Very impressive.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on July 31, 2018, 08:14:25 AM
MilesChristi:

(https://i.imgflip.com/2f0wdz.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on July 31, 2018, 02:58:41 PM
Quote from: Lynne on July 30, 2018, 04:48:35 PM
MilesChristi is going to be the most well-read man alive...

Or the biggest bullshitter :P
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on July 31, 2018, 04:00:29 PM
Bullshitting gets me places, but I'm telling the truth here.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 01, 2018, 06:11:32 AM
All's Well That End's Well
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on August 01, 2018, 08:04:58 AM
Quote from: MilesChristi on August 01, 2018, 06:11:32 AM
All's Well That End's Well

/thread
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Greg on August 07, 2018, 05:17:01 AM
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/675/675-h/675-h.htm

American Notes for General Circulation by Charles Dickens.

Found it very interesting.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on August 07, 2018, 08:17:40 AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather_(novel)

"Live by the sword.  Die by the sword."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on August 07, 2018, 11:07:13 AM
Quote from: clau clau on August 07, 2018, 08:17:40 AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather_(novel)

"Live by the sword.  Die by the sword."

Leave the gun, take the cannolis.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 07, 2018, 05:38:16 PM
I knew it was Barzini all along.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 13, 2018, 10:11:12 AM
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 18, 2018, 03:07:18 PM
Dominican Spirituality: Principles and Practice    - Fr. William Hinnebusch
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on August 18, 2018, 04:14:25 PM
A book about venerable Solanus Casey. Needs one more miracle for canonization.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on August 18, 2018, 07:57:02 PM
Just finished The Prince by Machiavelli. Now on to Campus Confidential: 100 startling things you don't know about Canadian universities.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on August 19, 2018, 02:48:51 PM
The Leonard Feeney Omnibus. Whatever some might think of his upholding of strict EENS, his prose and verse is charming.

Also Eamon Duffy's Royal Books and Holy Bones. The author of Stripping of the Altars provides an evocative set of essays which tries to understand medieval piety.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 19, 2018, 04:01:15 PM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 18, 2018, 03:07:18 PM
Dominican Spirituality: Principles and Practice    - Fr. William Hinnebusch
Nice!

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 19, 2018, 04:01:34 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on August 18, 2018, 04:14:25 PM
A book about venerable Solanus Casey. Needs one more miracle for canonization.
Which one?

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 19, 2018, 11:24:37 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 19, 2018, 04:01:15 PM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 18, 2018, 03:07:18 PM
Dominican Spirituality: Principles and Practice    - Fr. William Hinnebusch
Nice!

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

Oh Kaes, my head, heart and soul are reeling with Dominicana!   Then I attended my first 3rd Order meeting today, and feel on fire.   Literally, within a matter of days, the entirety of my spirituality is changed.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 20, 2018, 03:47:46 AM
The Enigma of Hastings by Edwin Tetlow.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on August 20, 2018, 01:52:30 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 19, 2018, 04:01:34 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on August 18, 2018, 04:14:25 PM
A book about venerable Solanus Casey. Needs one more miracle for canonization.
Which one?

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk
Meet Solanus Casey: Spiritual Counselor and Wonder Worker
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on August 28, 2018, 03:02:48 PM
I am reading "The monastic world" by Christopher Brooke.  It is a book with a lot of big pictures(those are keepers) discussing the various monastic movements throughout history in chronological order.  I am currently at the premonstratensians. 

I am also reading a book called "all the plants of the bible" by walker.  It is a pleasant little book.  It has a quality colored art drawing of each plant drawn by the author of the book, with the scriptural quote from the bible regarding the plant, and a paragraph text discussing the plant's influence in relation.  I have been feeling good while reading it.  It was 50 cents from the library, so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

And, lastly, I am re reading for the second time in the past few months Thomas Aquinas' Catechetical Instructions. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on August 28, 2018, 06:58:55 PM
Bede's Ecclesiastical History
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: semper_catholicus on August 28, 2018, 07:45:55 PM
I'm currently reading Holy Scripture (Douay Rheims), the Catechism of St. Pius X and Lives of Saints Selected and Illustrated. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on August 28, 2018, 08:20:03 PM
Quote from: semper_catholicus on August 28, 2018, 07:45:55 PM
I'm currently reading Holy Scripture (Douay Rheims), the Catechism of St. Pius X and Lives of Saints Selected and Illustrated.
Which book on Saint are you reading?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 28, 2018, 09:59:44 PM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 19, 2018, 11:24:37 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 19, 2018, 04:01:15 PM
Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta on August 18, 2018, 03:07:18 PM
Dominican Spirituality: Principles and Practice    - Fr. William Hinnebusch
Nice!

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

Oh Kaes, my head, heart and soul are reeling with Dominicana!   Then I attended my first 3rd Order meeting today, and feel on fire.   Literally, within a matter of days, the entirety of my spirituality is changed.

Glad to hear it!  St Dominic, pray for us!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 28, 2018, 10:00:10 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on August 20, 2018, 01:52:30 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 19, 2018, 04:01:34 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on August 18, 2018, 04:14:25 PM
A book about venerable Solanus Casey. Needs one more miracle for canonization.
Which one?

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk
Meet Solanus Casey: Spiritual Counselor and Wonder Worker

Let us know how it is.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on August 28, 2018, 10:26:31 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 28, 2018, 10:00:10 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on August 20, 2018, 01:52:30 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 19, 2018, 04:01:34 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on August 18, 2018, 04:14:25 PM
A book about venerable Solanus Casey. Needs one more miracle for canonization.
Which one?

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk
Meet Solanus Casey: Spiritual Counselor and Wonder Worker

Let us know how it is.
Sure thing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on August 29, 2018, 12:55:07 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on August 28, 2018, 06:58:55 PM
Bede's Ecclesiastical History

I love that book!  I love the exchange between St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine of Canterbury.  St. Gregory the great is amazing.  His teachings regarding marriage issues are so right. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on August 29, 2018, 12:59:46 PM
Quote from: Philip G. on August 28, 2018, 03:02:48 PM
I am reading "The monastic world" by Christopher Brooke.  It is a book with a lot of big pictures(those are keepers) discussing the various monastic movements throughout history in chronological order.  I am currently at the premonstratensians. 

I am also reading a book called "all the plants of the bible" by walker.  It is a pleasant little book.  It has a quality colored art drawing of each plant drawn by the author of the book, with the scriptural quote from the bible regarding the plant, and a paragraph text discussing the plant's influence in relation.  I have been feeling good while reading it.  It was 50 cents from the library, so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

And, lastly, I am re reading for the second time in the past few months Thomas Aquinas' Catechetical Instructions.


Nice find!  My kids and I are studying botany this year in science, and ancient history in history.  I'm going to look this one up; sounds like it would scaffold our studies quite well.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on August 29, 2018, 01:37:08 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on August 29, 2018, 12:59:46 PM
Quote from: Philip G. on August 28, 2018, 03:02:48 PM
I am reading "The monastic world" by Christopher Brooke.  It is a book with a lot of big pictures(those are keepers) discussing the various monastic movements throughout history in chronological order.  I am currently at the premonstratensians. 

I am also reading a book called "all the plants of the bible" by walker.  It is a pleasant little book.  It has a quality colored art drawing of each plant drawn by the author of the book, with the scriptural quote from the bible regarding the plant, and a paragraph text discussing the plant's influence in relation.  I have been feeling good while reading it.  It was 50 cents from the library, so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

And, lastly, I am re reading for the second time in the past few months Thomas Aquinas' Catechetical Instructions.


Nice find!  My kids and I are studying botany this year in science, and ancient history in history.  I'm going to look this one up; sounds like it would scaffold our studies quite well.

Botany is fascinating.  I find it fascinating from a linguistic perspective.  Because, if you ask me, many words seem to find their origin in plants.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on August 29, 2018, 02:15:41 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on August 28, 2018, 08:20:03 PM
Quote from: semper_catholicus on August 28, 2018, 07:45:55 PM
I'm currently reading Holy Scripture (Douay Rheims), the Catechism of St. Pius X and Lives of Saints Selected and Illustrated.
Which book on Saint are you reading?
? :-)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on August 29, 2018, 05:34:32 PM
Mundacormeum - if you like, I will mail you this copy free of charge.  I plan on donating it when I am done anyways.  PM me if you are interested.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 11, 2018, 01:56:34 PM
The Story of a Family: The Home of St. Therese of Lisieux, by Fr. Stephane Piat. I've read it before, but this time I'm listening to it on my Kindle Fire. Still excellent. Now all I need is The Last Conversations and my kindle collection of books on St. Therese will be complete. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 11, 2018, 07:42:30 PM
Romeo and Juliet
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on September 11, 2018, 08:29:48 PM
Measure for Measure, as part of my second Shakespeare class at uni  8)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 13, 2018, 05:20:39 AM
Henry VIII: Court, Church and Conflict by David Loades.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 18, 2018, 08:44:43 AM
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GeorgeB on September 18, 2018, 11:43:04 PM
"Sociology of Mental Disorder" by William Cockburn.

Interesting to know that the first "mental hospital" was founded by a Catholic priest. You learn something new every day.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sophia3 on September 24, 2018, 08:22:32 AM
Butler's "Lives Of The Saints" every day.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on September 24, 2018, 11:27:22 AM
Timon of Athens
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on September 24, 2018, 04:48:00 PM
Ilkka Syvanne's Military History of Late Rome having read his interesting biography of Caracalla, which makes a strong case for an emperor was rightly wary, but not wary of the right men, men whom he had raised from nothing, but had suffered some slight, the Moorish Praetorian Prefect Macrinus was mocked for his effeminacy, and while his was a civil not a military official, he could access disgruntled soldiers. The despised senators who managed to cling to military or civil offices, were not the source of the plot, but rather freedmen. The current book is comprehensive, everything from sieging, counter-sieging to supplies and naval affairs.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on September 25, 2018, 08:54:38 AM
Just started: Treason: A Catholic Novel of Elizabethan England by Dena Hunt

https://www.amazon.com/Treason-Catholic-Novel-Elizabethan-England/dp/1933184922
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on September 25, 2018, 01:28:53 PM
I have had a little problem with depression and sleeping lately.  So, I have decided to read fiction novels in order to combat it.  I began reading the lord of the rings, which I had not yet read.  And, it is working.  I am getting flashbacks from the movie an liking it.  But, there is a lot already in the book that is not in the movie, so my imagination is going.  It is almost as if imagination is synonymous with the nature of a child/youth.  Laetificat juventutem meam.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on September 25, 2018, 10:29:00 PM
Quote from: Philip G. on September 25, 2018, 01:28:53 PM
I have had a little problem with depression and sleeping lately.  So, I have decided to read fiction novels in order to combat it.  I began reading the lord of the rings, which I had not yet read.  And, it is working.  I am getting flashbacks from the movie an liking it.  But, there is a lot already in the book that is not in the movie, so my imagination is going.  It is almost as if imagination is synonymous with the nature of a child/youth.  Laetificat juventutem meam.
There is a dramatized audiobook online. I downloaded the files. If you would like to I could post a link where you can download all of the files.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Optatus on September 26, 2018, 05:41:59 AM
Quote from: Philip G. on September 25, 2018, 01:28:53 PM
I have had a little problem with depression and sleeping lately.  So, I have decided to read fiction novels in order to combat it.  I began reading the lord of the rings, which I had not yet read.  And, it is working.  I am getting flashbacks from the movie an liking it.  But, there is a lot already in the book that is not in the movie, so my imagination is going.  It is almost as if imagination is synonymous with the nature of a child/youth.  Laetificat juventutem meam.

Wait until you go all in and start reading the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and the mammoth 12-volume History of Middle Earth. I just bought the recently-released The Fall of Gondolin but I haven't had time to sit down and read it yet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on September 26, 2018, 10:47:38 AM
Martin88nyc - Sure, post the link. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 26, 2018, 03:35:10 PM
Flowers for Algernon.

Edit: That has got to be one of the saddest books I've ever read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on September 26, 2018, 08:17:25 PM
Quote from: Philip G. on September 26, 2018, 10:47:38 AM
Martin88nyc - Sure, post the link.
here
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/cjjdiknzeieol,6jmo2c5q9vbll,jdmyib22aeqpm/shared
or here
https://raby.sh/media/lotr/

Here is an old BBC version with full cast
https://archive.org/details/LordOfTheRings_201706
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 27, 2018, 06:11:16 PM
Just started The Mirror of Shalott, by Robert Hugh Benson, from archive.org.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 28, 2018, 05:22:12 PM
The first in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy, All the Pretty Horses. Outstanding.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 28, 2018, 08:13:59 PM
Winnie the Pooh.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 30, 2018, 02:06:44 PM
A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture, and Boy, by Roald Dahl.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 01, 2018, 07:39:24 PM
The Memoirs of Louis Bouyer from Angelico Press
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on October 01, 2018, 08:53:52 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 30, 2018, 02:06:44 PM
A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture, and Boy, by Roald Dahl.

That's interesting. I never knew that Roald Dahl wrote "A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on October 02, 2018, 05:34:24 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on October 01, 2018, 08:53:52 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 30, 2018, 02:06:44 PM
A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture, and Boy, by Roald Dahl.

That's interesting. I never knew that Roald Dahl wrote "A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture."

:laugh:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 02, 2018, 06:03:40 AM
Troilus and Cressida
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on October 02, 2018, 10:00:21 AM
Quote from: Lynne on October 02, 2018, 05:34:24 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on October 01, 2018, 08:53:52 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 30, 2018, 02:06:44 PM
A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture, and Boy, by Roald Dahl.

That's interesting. I never knew that Roald Dahl wrote "A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture."

:laugh:

(https://i.imgflip.com/2j7oie.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 03, 2018, 11:31:57 PM
Antony and Cleopatra
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 12, 2018, 07:43:01 AM
The Comedy of Errors
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 13, 2018, 11:33:55 AM
A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 13, 2018, 12:14:36 PM
Augustine's Confessions, the new translation by Sarah Rudkin.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 17, 2018, 09:45:02 AM
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 19, 2018, 05:55:55 PM
Fear and Trembling
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 19, 2018, 10:05:34 PM
The Heresy of Formlessness: The Roman Liturgy and Its Enemy Revised and Expanded Edition
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 20, 2018, 03:55:07 AM
Book 2 in the McCarthy trilogy, The Crossing. As good as the first.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 20, 2018, 10:04:06 AM
Othello. Definitely didn't understand Iago's many euphemisms the first time I read this in high school...  :o
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 25, 2018, 08:38:25 PM
Henry VIII
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 26, 2018, 12:23:07 PM
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography. It's finally available for Kindle: no more squinting at all of those footnotes.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: rosenley on October 26, 2018, 07:52:50 PM
"True or False Pope?: Refuting Sedevacantism and Other Modern Errors" by John Salza & Robert Siscoe.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on October 28, 2018, 05:17:34 PM
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 31, 2018, 03:37:53 PM
Out of the Silent Planet, by C. S. Lewis. I've never read it before. Just got the trilogy for $1.99 on kindle, if anyone's interested.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 03, 2018, 07:02:12 AM
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on November 03, 2018, 07:22:48 AM
Got a liking for historians that witnessed and took part in the events which they write about. So now I'm reading The History of the Rebellion by Edward Hyde 1st earl of Clarendon

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hyde,_1st_Earl_of_Clarendon (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hyde,_1st_Earl_of_Clarendon)

And The Memoirs of Philippe de Commines, Lord of Argenton
Containing the Histories of Louis XI, and Charles VIII. Kings of France and of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_de_Commines (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_de_Commines)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on November 03, 2018, 05:19:43 PM
I read a great history on King Louis XI and his reign; he was a genius; he had to deal with his crazy cousin Charles the Bold and with constantly rebelling nobles; he outmaneuvered all of his adversaries, more though his diplomacy than through war.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 08, 2018, 08:32:05 PM
Ben-Hur.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 09, 2018, 07:57:25 AM
Threefer:

Complete Sonnets and Poems - Shakespeare

Britannica Guide to Particle Physics

Passport: Network+
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on November 11, 2018, 10:20:19 AM
The Sailor who Fell Out of Grace with the Sea
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 14, 2018, 05:10:00 AM
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II by Philip Eade.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on November 14, 2018, 09:16:17 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 14, 2018, 05:10:00 AM
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II by Philip Eade.

He's like the George W. Bush of the Royal Family. Dude says insane things all the time apparently:
https://imgur.com/gallery/ESUu3
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 14, 2018, 09:47:06 AM
Quote from: Gardener on November 14, 2018, 09:16:17 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 14, 2018, 05:10:00 AM
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II by Philip Eade.

He's like the George W. Bush of the Royal Family. Dude says insane things all the time apparently:
https://imgur.com/gallery/ESUu3
I wouldn't compare him to Bush 43, who really did talk like there was something wrong mentally at times.  Phil on the other hand is just a man of his time who has no internal filter when he tells it like it is.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on November 14, 2018, 04:50:43 PM
Philip holds some fairly extreme views on population control, which suggests it was for the best he remained a sort of meme prince.

Reading, or re-reading at some long remove, The Bones of St Peter: The First Full Account of the Discovery of the Apostle's Tomb. First published in the early 80s, and I read it originally some time later, now re-reading a republication which was a parochial book of the month.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: mikemac on November 15, 2018, 01:30:09 PM
Quote from: Jacob on November 14, 2018, 09:47:06 AM
Quote from: Gardener on November 14, 2018, 09:16:17 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on November 14, 2018, 05:10:00 AM
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II by Philip Eade.

He's like the George W. Bush of the Royal Family. Dude says insane things all the time apparently:
https://imgur.com/gallery/ESUu3
I wouldn't compare him to Bush 43, who really did talk like there was something wrong mentally at times.  Phil on the other hand is just a man of his time who has no internal filter when he tells it like it is.

The Mountbatten's (Battenberg) are quite the crew.  Before I realized that it was the IRA that assassinated his uncle, Louis Mountbatten I figured it may have been a Canadian that did the job, seeing Louis was central in the planning and promotion of the raid on the port of Dieppe, that had casualties of almost 60%, the great majority of them Canadians.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 15, 2018, 07:27:53 PM
The Biafra Story by Frederick Forsyth
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on November 16, 2018, 11:28:29 AM
On Managing Yourself (Harvard Business Review).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on November 16, 2018, 11:32:20 AM
Quote from: Christina_S on November 16, 2018, 11:28:29 AM
On Managing Yourself (Harvard Business Review).

THOUGHTS TO ADD TO A HARVARD COMMENCEMENT
(scroll down at link)
https://fatherfeeney.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/the-point-july-1952/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 01, 2018, 06:14:00 AM
Disraeli: A Picture of the Victorian Age by Andre Maurois
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on December 01, 2018, 10:47:10 PM
Just finished "Vietnam in Wonderland" by William (Bill) Price, sent to me by his lovely wife and our very own CarleenDiane.

It is here: https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Wonderland-William-Price/dp/0615402461

On one hand, it's a very small book, so I'm unsure if I would have paid $22 for it. However, it is chock full of interesting, and often overlooked, quotes, facts, social realities, etc. of that time period.

Like a "nap of the earth" (often called map of the earth) chopper ride, it's at times disorienting until you pick up on the author's method of presentation. And yet, just when you think you have it, he throws you for a loop and bends in a direction your mind and stomach weren't quite ready for. Why? I suspect that it's because, like a chopper in low altitude combat flights, the tracers of incoming societal fire necessitate it. The truth is often winding, and its paths beset with the punji sticks and trip wires of false understandings. The path itself is indeed straight, but its navigation is what is winding in order to sidestep and defuse the obstacles placed by the enemy.

From personal anecdotes bolstering the reality that the fighting men of the USMC, Army, Navy, and Air Force did not lose the war (our politicians and bureaucrats ripped it from underneath them), to historical analysis showing the social changes, political subterfuge, and all of it mixed up in a ball of purposeful and accidental; disorienting and yet clear at the same time.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: james.rogerson on December 02, 2018, 12:42:58 AM
"Speak, Memory" by Vladimir Nabokov.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 05, 2018, 02:42:23 PM
Macbeth
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Carleendiane on December 05, 2018, 05:26:26 PM
Quote from: Gardener on December 01, 2018, 10:47:10 PM
Just finished "Vietnam in Wonderland" by William (Bill) Price, sent to me by his lovely wife and our very own CarleenDiane.

It is here: https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Wonderland-William-Price/dp/0615402461

On one hand, it's a very small book, so I'm unsure if I would have paid $22 for it. However, it is chock full of interesting, and often overlooked, quotes, facts, social realities, etc. of that time period.

Like a "nap of the earth" (often called map of the earth) chopper ride, it's at times disorienting until you pick up on the author's method of presentation. And yet, just when you think you have it, he throws you for a loop and bends in a direction your mind and stomach weren't quite ready for. Why? I suspect that it's because, like a chopper in low altitude combat flights, the tracers of incoming societal fire necessitate it. The truth is often winding, and its paths beset with the punji sticks and trip wires of false understandings. The path itself is indeed straight, but its navigation is what is winding in order to sidestep and defuse the obstacles placed by the enemy.

From personal anecdotes bolstering the reality that the fighting men of the USMC, Army, Navy, and Air Force did not lose the war (our politicians and bureaucrats ripped it from underneath them), to historical analysis showing the social changes, political subterfuge, and all of it mixed up in a ball of purposeful and accidental; disorienting and yet clear at the same time.

Bill's selling price was 12 dollars. Someone is screwing around with the price. 22 dollars? Crazy!

Thank you Gardener for reviewing the book. That was great. Read it to hubby and he was pleased you put your thought into that review. God bless. 22 bucks? Crazy, lol.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 09, 2018, 09:56:44 AM
Just finishing "Red Platoon" by Clinton Romesha; a story about the assault on Combat Outpost Keating, in Nuristan, Afghanistan. 50 american soldiers in the outpost are suddenly assaulted by a force of 300 guerrillas, and what happens in the next few hours as they fight to save their lives and prevent their base from being overrun. Here is a review from Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Red-Platoon-Story-American-Valor/product-reviews/0525955054
Quote
I've taught History at USMA (West Point), served 24 years on active duty, and published a book myself. I've read military history for nigh on 50 years now, with a very heavy emphasis on memoirs. How many, I couldn't say for sure, but probably 1000+.

And I have never read a memoir as powerful, gripping, and vivid as this one.

The narrative of the fight for Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan is structured with a personal depth, fluidity, and originality of presentation such as I have never encountered. Nothing else is even close to this book in getting the reader into the minds and personalities of the soldiers involved, and touching them in a human way that equals or exceeds the best character development I've ever encountered in the most moving literature in any genre.

This is also superbly-researched history, as the author does an excellent job of weaving a tale that places COP Keating within the larger scheme of things in Afghanistan, and presents aspects of the battle that the author pulled together from participants and documents long after the battle. Logistics, air support, Quick Reaction Force (QRF) employment, are related to the facts on the ground, in the fight, for which this Staff Sergeant served in multiple roles as a platoon sergeant and squad leader, team leader and assistant base defense commander.

He clearly focuses in Red Platoon's role in the fight—his platoon—and the actions of Blue and White platoons on Keating and nearby outpost Kitsche are sketched out insofar as their actions bore on Red Platoon's part of the fight. That is perfectly in keeping with the author's intent to portray the battle fought by him and his platoon, and it also serves as a continual reminder to readers that SSG Romesha's vision was limited dramatically by the fog of war. Indeed, the book's narrative portion and primary focus is on his continual confrontation with the fog of war and his relentless attempts to see through it and take action.

Clinton Romesha doesn't fall into a common narrative difficulty faced by memoirists, which is to treat every comrade as a flawless hero and cover everyone's faults. Yet, precisely by examining and critiquing those faults, mistakes, miscommunications, and mishaps, he accomplishes two things that separate his work from anything else I've read: (1) he weaves a far more complete, human, and intimately accurate narrative of the fight, and (2) in pointing out flaws, he also highlights the strengths each soldier, each human being, each buddy, truly deserves credit for, and thereby honors them more highly, sincerely, and grippingly than in any memoir or battle history I've ever seen. These are young American soldiers, not fictional superheroes. But even with their mistakes and human flaws made plain, their grit, determination, comradeship, and professionalism shine through with brilliant and touching clarity.

This microhistory of a one-day battle on a remote outpost necessarily reads differently than most first-person memoirs. It also reads differently than a historian's microhistorical recreation of a day's fighting by a small unit in an utterly desperate situation. Because the microhistory here is provided by an active participant, who observed, recalled, and recreated this battle with an immediacy that even the best historians can't attain, and which even the most gallant participants can never recall and articulate—and wrestle with—so fully, effectively, and touchingly.

I am at a loss right now to praise this book adequately, and am not sure I could ever do so in any case. This is a one-of-a-kind tale that takes the reader into the innermost workings of a dismounted cavalry troop of the 4th Infantry Division, fighting a battle against all odds, and eventually prevailing. It is impossible for a reader to walk away from this experience without a sense of awe for the training, dedication, commitment, courage, tenacity, and skill of the very human young American soldiers who held Keating against all odds.

Clinton Romesha obviously used this book to come to grips with what he saw and did at COP Keating, and to pay homage to men he loved closer than brothers after passing with them through this crucible. Although his book differs in so many important ways from other books that have moved me deeply about American soldiers and Marines at war, I will close by placing his book on my personal top shelf, along with "Company Commander" by Charles McDonald, "With the Old Breed at Pelelieu and Okinawa" by E.B. Sledge, "Visions from a Foxhole: A Rifleman in Patton's Ghost Corps" by William A. Foley. I hate to omit other deeply moving accounts deserving of mention, but I am so impressed with Romesha's book; the fighting man he proved himself to be; and the fighting men he led, followed, served with, and boldly risked his life for and helped lead to victory; that I feel it appropriate to simply call it, The Best I've Ever Seen.

There are many questions left unanswered by his narrative, which I would like to talk to Romesha about someday, or research elsewhere. But no book can cover everything, from every angle, at every operational level, with the gripping power Romesha achieves in his narrative of Red Platoon. So I'll simply repeat my bottom line and close with it: The Best I've Ever Seen.
I would caution that the book has a lot of profanity, as the author accurately portrays the dialogue and humor of the book. Also what is sad is that in the midst of this life and death struggle, there is not a single mention of a prayer being offered or anything like that. Also, military life is pretty much as Gardener has described it in other posts, its a marvel to me that such a collection of such flawed individuals would perform so admirably and bravely in such an extreme situation. One of the best combat books I've read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 09, 2018, 06:36:38 PM
Othello
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TheReturnofLive on December 09, 2018, 07:45:11 PM
I've only read the first two chapters thus far, but I'm reading Gogol's "Dead Souls." It's an unfinished first part of a trilogy about a man who goes around buying the names of dead serfs from people, claiming he has a use for them, in order to alleviate people from the tax burden of the serfs, as censuses were infrequent in Russia. The book is a satire and critique of Russian social structures and culture, while also supposing to be a modern-day version of Dante's Inferno (kind of like how James Joyce's Ulysses was supposed to be a modern-day version of the Odyssey), as the main character visits place to place getting acquainted and meeting eccentric serf-owners, and I suppose Russia represents Hell.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 10, 2018, 03:48:49 PM
I forgot to mention one of the best lines from "Red Platoon" is the sign hanging over one of the doorways to the Pilots room  in the air force base: "Combat is an 18 year old kid with a rifle in his hand; everything else is support."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 12, 2018, 12:38:33 PM
Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, by Studs Terkel. I also got The Good War. Love these cheap Kindle books.  :P
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 18, 2018, 05:16:04 AM
John Brown: The Making of a Martyr by Robert Penn Warren.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 18, 2018, 08:14:45 AM
Hamlet
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on December 18, 2018, 08:47:18 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on December 09, 2018, 09:56:44 AM
Just finishing "Red Platoon" by Clinton Romesha; a story about the assault on Combat Outpost Keating, in Nuristan, Afghanistan. 50 american soldiers in the outpost are suddenly assaulted by a force of 300 guerrillas, and what happens in the next few hours as they fight to save their lives and prevent their base from being overrun. Here is a review from Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Red-Platoon-Story-American-Valor/product-reviews/0525955054
[snip]
I would caution that the book has a lot of profanity, as the author accurately portrays the dialogue and humor of the book. Also what is sad is that in the midst of this life and death struggle, there is not a single mention of a prayer being offered or anything like that. Also, military life is pretty much as Gardener has described it in other posts, its a marvel to me that such a collection of such flawed individuals would perform so admirably and bravely in such an extreme situation. One of the best combat books I've read.

The secret to such a reality is layered, complex, and interwoven. It can be explained, but not understood except by the men who were there.

Units that succeed in a bond are forged in the fires of suffering, simply. No amount of "fun" achieves this. Whether before or during, if they do not suffer together and individuals blend into the background of the whole, the song of battle stinks of discord rather than a polyphony of beautiful violence directed at the enemy listener. Those who have been a part of such a choir of ordered-though-seeming-as-chaos robed in camouflage  still cannot know that feeling of the reality in those hectic moments. The melody is always slightly different, the timbre of the voices unlike their own, and the acoustics of the valley, street, or open desert cannot be replicated. It is a moment special in its uniqueness, demanding sustain when breathless, strength when weak, and rhythm amidst one's own clumsy failure.

In a phrase: there is only the now and only the otherness of your comrades. "You", really, do not matter except for and to them. Any other mindset, gazing back on oneself, is unacceptable and deadly. This is why the spiritual writers, taking their lead from Scripture, liken the spiritual life to warfare and the Church on Earth as Militant. It's why we must suffer here on earth, not just as mere individuals, but parts of the whole Mystical Body of Christ, Who in His own Body led the charge of suffering in the Passion. Having been baptized into His Death and Resurrection, we can only grow closer to Him in suffering.

The thing about combat is it's very "Benedictine". There is a clear delineation of times to do things. I'm sure many of those men were praying internally, and in some way their bravery was fed by the strengthening of those prayers. But there would have been no time for anything formal. That would come before or after. In those hours, all that mattered was a strict focus on defending their brothers and killing the enemy. But the thing about losing oneself is that such is not lost, truly. For you, the individual, are truly why everyone else is fighting so hard. And afterward, when safe to do so, you gain not only yourself as you knew prior, but those parts lifted up by your comrades that were impossible for you to recognize, much less lift up. In a word, it's: special.

I only wish that as a Church, a people of God, we could understand and implement this more. We are far too individualistic, myself included.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on December 22, 2018, 07:49:55 PM
I am currently reading a fictional story called The Joyful Beggar by Louis De Wohl published by Ignatius Press.  It is a fictional novel involving St. Francis as a character, and so far it is as good as the other L.D.W. fictional story I read with St. Ignatius Loyola as a character.  He wrote many fictional stories set in the stages of many of the saints.  Has anyone read any of his books?  He might be my favorite author. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on December 25, 2018, 09:44:23 AM
Picked up three books for Christmas:

Beren and Luthien and The Fall of Gondolin, both by J. R. R. Tolkien.

And

James03's book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 25, 2018, 02:22:21 PM
I received my entire wishlist of books for Christmas, and bought some more $1 ebooks from TAN. Unfortunately, my kindle's battery was defective, so I had to send it in for a replacement which hasn't arrived yet. Luckily I still have my tablet, so I'm about to start The Life and Revelations of Anne Catherine Emmerich.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 26, 2018, 06:25:53 PM
The Life of General De Sonis; Msgr. Louis Baunard.  Published by St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary and available from the Angelus Press:
QuoteChristian hero has been given to the English-speaking public at the earnest request of several military men, and especially of the one to whom it is dedicated. It will be read with interest, not only by all who love their profession and are stirred by a tale of gallant deeds and hairbreadth escapes, but also by those who look upon life as an earnest thing, to be spent for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. In Monseigneur Baunard's admirable Preface to the French edition, he says :This life is more than a rare spectacle it is a great lesson. I hear on all sides that what is most wanted in these days are men of character. M. de Sonis was eminently a man of marked character; we have rarely seen one like him, even in better times than the present.

Here is the article on Gen. De Sonis from Wiki:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Gaston_de_Sonis
QuoteLouis-Gaston de Sonis (25 August 1825 – 15 August 1887) was a French Army officer who particularly distinguished himself in the Battle of Loigny during the Franco-Prussian War, where he lost a leg. Louis Gaston was born August 25, 1825 in Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe), and came to France in 1832, where he studied for the military, following in his father's footsteps. At age 10, he lost his mother, and at age 19, his father. This double wound marked the beginning of his conversion. In 1848, as a young officer—the only practicing Catholic in his class—he discerned a call to become a monk of Solemes, but realized that it was in the world that he was called to serve God. At age 23, he married Anaïs, a girl of 17 years, with whom he began a family that would grow to include 12 children. He was a loving husband and father, showed great love for the Eucharist, and shone especially in the virtue of obedience. To grow closer to God, he joined the Third (Secular) Order of Discalced Carmelites.

Appointed general of the army corps at the age of 45, he led the heroic charge of Loigny under the protection of the banner of the Sacred Heart, embroidered by Visitation nuns of Paray le Monial. Seriously injured in this battle, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the General, assuring him that all was not lost; France would survive.[2] However, the General's left leg had to be amputated. He died August 15, 1887 in Paris, after 17 years of suffering.

Some of his thoughts:

"When one begins to love God, one cannot love enough."

"Mary is placed on the threshold of eternity to inspire confidence in those who must bear the cross."

"Fight bravely against the demon of sadness. Oppose it by a fresh submission to the will of God, and serve God in joy, with great simplicity of heart."

He showed that the martial spirits that are so often admired in soldiers of the warrior class do not mutually exclude a strong faith life. Indeed, General de Sonis showed that in all actuality, a proper understanding of manly courage and virility can only be properly understood when grounded in a proper understanding of God, and of one's subordination and responsibility to the Divine Creator. De Sonis shared many similar attributes with a current day exemplar of another great Catholic warrior—Colonel John Ripley.

His cause for canonization in the Roman Catholic Church has been proposed.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Matto on December 27, 2018, 07:19:45 AM
I am reading The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe now because it was talked about here. I am reading the last revision, translated by Michael Hulse, published by Penguin Classics.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on December 31, 2018, 10:00:24 PM
Kang Lear
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 01, 2019, 10:53:59 AM
Just read two short booklets that I purchase from "Refuge of Sinners Publishing"  (Mother of Our Savior Catalogue)
1. "Perfect Contrition, The Golden Key of Heaven" by Rev. J. Von Den Driesch (orignial in German) 1903.
Novus Ordo Watch published a short summary here: https://novusordowatch.org/2017/11/perfect-contrition-key-to-heaven/
QuoteFor the great majority of Catholics in the world today, it is virtually impossible to go to confession to a validly ordained priest who professes the true Catholic Faith of the ages and does not profess communion with a public heretic or apostate like Francis or Benedict XVI. Throughout Church history, there were many people in sundry places and circumstances that made approaching a priest for confession, for one reason or another, impossible. And it goes without saying that although everyone will die one day, most people will not have a priest close-by to whom they can make their deathbed confession.

Does this mean, then, that our chances of making it to Heaven are, for that reason, very slim? By no means!

It is a deplorable fact that although all Catholics know to approach the sacrament of Penance to have their mortal sins forgiven, only few seem to know that there is a way to have one's mortal sins forgiven outside the sacrament of Penance, although not entirely apart from it: through Perfect Contrition. In order not to fall prey to any confusion, it will be important to understand exactly what is meant by it and how it "works", that is, how to obtain this great grace.
What is Perfect Contrition?

In the sixteenth century, the Council of Trent issued a decree on the Sacrament of Penance, which includes a chapter dedicated to the subject of contrition. The subsequent Catechism of the Council of Trent also explains contrition and how it relates to the sacrament of Penance. The 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia likewise contains an informative article summarizing the essentials on contrition.

In a nutshell: Perfect Contrition is a supernatural sorrow for, and hatred of, the sins one has committed, accompanied by a firm resolution never to sin again, because by committing them one has offended God, who is infinitely good and deserving of all of one's love.

It is evident that if the truth about Perfect Contrition is to bear rich fruit in souls, then this somewhat complex definition needs a detailed explanation that is easily comprehensible by the common man. To this end, the Australian Catholic Truth Society in 1959 issued a very readable booklet on this topic written by an Italian priest. You can read its full text online here:

    Contrition: The Golden Key of Paradise. Key to Heaven
On Feb. 26, 2016 our friends at True Restoration released an episode of their "Spiritual Life" series on Restoration Radio about Perfect Contrition, in which the Benedictine monk Fr. Bernard Uttley explains in an easy-to-follow manner the nature, mechanism, effects, and importance of Perfect Contrition. You can listen to this 105-minute episode in its entirety, free of charge here: (see N.O.W. Site to listen to Fr. Utley's sermon).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 01, 2019, 11:05:23 AM
The second booklet is "In the School of Jesus" from the German of Rev. Cassian Karg. O.M. Cap. here is an extract from the preface:
Quote I greet with a heartfelt 'Deo gratias' every contribution which proposes to stimulate anew in the souls of men the interior life. We can never do too much to fill the hearts of men with love for God. God loves each individual soul to such an inexpressible extent, that every one can attain to a high degree of sanctity, and yet only a few respond to this love. It is not malice that holds them back. They simply do not understand the secret of self-sanctification. I may well add, that the majority cannot respond because they fail to understand the language of the interior life. This booklet proposes to give an introduction to this language, which I would designate as the "breathing'' of the soul. The scholar will immediately recognize "old wine in new bottles." That well-meaning words of a priest are still welcomed by men of good will, is evident from the rapid successions of new editions. I thank God for this success. May the important lessons I have learned from such eminent masters of the spiritual life as Francis de Sales, Alfonse Liguori, and the the two Teresas, soon become known to many.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on January 01, 2019, 02:57:03 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on December 31, 2018, 10:00:24 PM
Kang Lear

Is this about a Southeast Asian king and his hateful daughters?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on January 01, 2019, 07:13:39 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on January 01, 2019, 10:53:59 AM
Just read two short booklets that I purchase from "Refuge of Sinners Publishing"  (Mother of Our Savior Catalogue)
1. "Perfect Contrition, The Golden Key of Heaven" by Rev. J. Von Den Driesch (orignial in German) 1903.
Novus Ordo Watch published a short summary here: https://novusordowatch.org/2017/11/perfect-contrition-key-to-heaven/
QuoteFor the great majority of Catholics in the world today, it is virtually impossible to go to confession to a validly ordained priest who professes the true Catholic Faith of the ages and does not profess communion with a public heretic or apostate like Francis or Benedict XVI. Throughout Church history, there were many people in sundry places and circumstances that made approaching a priest for confession, for one reason or another, impossible. And it goes without saying that although everyone will die one day, most people will not have a priest close-by to whom they can make their deathbed confession.

Does this mean, then, that our chances of making it to Heaven are, for that reason, very slim? By no means!

It is a deplorable fact that although all Catholics know to approach the sacrament of Penance to have their mortal sins forgiven, only few seem to know that there is a way to have one's mortal sins forgiven outside the sacrament of Penance, although not entirely apart from it: through Perfect Contrition. In order not to fall prey to any confusion, it will be important to understand exactly what is meant by it and how it "works", that is, how to obtain this great grace.
What is Perfect Contrition?

In the sixteenth century, the Council of Trent issued a decree on the Sacrament of Penance, which includes a chapter dedicated to the subject of contrition. The subsequent Catechism of the Council of Trent also explains contrition and how it relates to the sacrament of Penance. The 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia likewise contains an informative article summarizing the essentials on contrition.

In a nutshell: Perfect Contrition is a supernatural sorrow for, and hatred of, the sins one has committed, accompanied by a firm resolution never to sin again, because by committing them one has offended God, who is infinitely good and deserving of all of one's love.

It is evident that if the truth about Perfect Contrition is to bear rich fruit in souls, then this somewhat complex definition needs a detailed explanation that is easily comprehensible by the common man. To this end, the Australian Catholic Truth Society in 1959 issued a very readable booklet on this topic written by an Italian priest. You can read its full text online here:

    Contrition: The Golden Key of Paradise. Key to Heaven
On Feb. 26, 2016 our friends at True Restoration released an episode of their "Spiritual Life" series on Restoration Radio about Perfect Contrition, in which the Benedictine monk Fr. Bernard Uttley explains in an easy-to-follow manner the nature, mechanism, effects, and importance of Perfect Contrition. You can listen to this 105-minute episode in its entirety, free of charge here: (see N.O.W. Site to listen to Fr. Utley's sermon).

There's an audio version of the book on Perfect Contrition...

http://www.alleluiaaudiobooks.com/perfect-contrition/ (http://www.alleluiaaudiobooks.com/perfect-contrition/)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on January 02, 2019, 12:54:45 PM
We Were Soldiers Once and Young by Harold Moore
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 03, 2019, 07:34:57 AM
This thread often doesn't show for me. I'd suggest considering a pt 2 for this thread.

Archbishop Richard Creagh of Armagh, 1523-86, Colm Lennon. Before he was likely poisoned at Secretary Walsingham's orders, after over twenty years of imprisonment and repeated failed attempted to convict him of treason or other capital offences, this Limerick man provided an example of white and red martyrdom. Several testified to seeing a strange light from his Dublin Castle and Tower of London cells, which doesn't count his improvised efforts to get light with bits of fat and wax to read his Office and Missal.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Stefano on January 03, 2019, 03:30:59 PM
Presently reading a compendium of Papal encyclicals called "The Popes Against Modern Errors". Despite it being me re-reading a few of these, it is a really great resource.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on January 03, 2019, 06:09:09 PM
The Phoenix and the Carpet, by E. Nesbit.  It's my read aloud with the children. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: syllabus.errorum on January 03, 2019, 08:25:33 PM
i just finished ship of fools by tucker carlson and am nearly done with the sexual state by jennifer roback morse
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 04, 2019, 08:39:43 AM
Ficciones by Borges
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 05, 2019, 09:49:09 AM
Nathaniel's Nutmeg or The True and Incredible Adventures of the Spice Trader Who Changed the Course of History by Giles Milton.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 08, 2019, 04:25:53 PM
Starting Kristin Lavransdatter again. I've read parts of it at times when I needed the encouragement to use painful experiences as a means of advancing in womanhood and holiness. Now is another one of those times.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 12, 2019, 10:53:45 AM
Historia Universal de la Infamia
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 14, 2019, 02:35:56 PM
Cronica de una muerte anunciada
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on January 15, 2019, 02:19:13 AM
My mother bought me for Christmas some fiction books from Angelus Press, and they just arrived.  She bought me the Outlaws of Ravenhurst, and Tales of Foreign Lands vol. 1.  However, those will have to wait because I am currently reading Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 15, 2019, 09:59:13 AM
Black Beauty, for the first time since I was a kid.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 15, 2019, 12:31:26 PM
Jesus of Nazareth
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on January 15, 2019, 03:05:34 PM
Read it years ago, but these lines have stuck with me, because they are so funny. From John Dryden

Some of their chiefs were princes of the land:
In the first rank of these did Zimri stand;
A man so various, that he seem'd to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome:
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;
Was everything by starts, and nothing long;
But, in the course of one revolving moon,
Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon:
Then all for woman, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Beside ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.
Blest madman, who could every hour employ,
With something new to wish, or to enjoy!
Railing and praising were his usual themes;
And both, to show his judgment, in extremes:
So over violent, or over civil,
That every man with him was God or Devil.
In squandering wealth was his peculiar art:
Nothing went unrewarded but desert.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on January 15, 2019, 03:40:41 PM
Second time through The Rite.  Father Gary is apprenticing with Father Carmine and has just had his first experience with the possessed Sister.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 17, 2019, 08:50:19 AM
El coronel no tiene quien le escriba
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 19, 2019, 03:27:18 PM
Teaching Piano (to prepare for my first student)

and


El Aleph
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 19, 2019, 04:51:23 PM
I keep being amazed at the number of books (and serious ones) that Miles Christi reads.
This whole thread would only be a couple of pages shorter, if we eliminated every other post that is not his.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on January 19, 2019, 07:06:18 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on January 19, 2019, 03:27:18 PMEl Aleph

How many of Borges' ficciones have you read?  Are you reading them in Spanish?  The Aleph would definitely be in my top ten of his.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: carmina laetitiae on January 19, 2019, 08:11:02 PM
"True Devotion to Mary" by St. Louis de Montfort
Unfortunately it's slow going because I've started back at school (last semester) so I have assigned reading to do, and first trimester nausea is making me lazy to the point that I prefer watching mindless TV shows.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 20, 2019, 07:08:34 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on January 19, 2019, 07:06:18 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on January 19, 2019, 03:27:18 PMEl Aleph

How many of Borges' ficciones have you read?  Are you reading them in Spanish?  The Aleph would definitely be in my top ten of his.

I'm reading them all in Spanish.

I've read the stories in the Ficciones, and the Historia Universal de la Infamia collections.

I just started the collection of El Aleph, but have not read the titular story.


I will read them again, after I'm more used to reading Spanish and more familiar with his style
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 20, 2019, 07:16:39 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on January 19, 2019, 04:51:23 PM
I keep being amazed at the number of books (and serious ones) that Miles Christi reads.
This whole thread would only be a couple of pages shorter, if we eliminated every other post that is not his.

LOL I always feel like I've been catching up
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on January 20, 2019, 07:30:20 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on January 20, 2019, 07:08:34 PMI'm reading them all in Spanish.

That's fortunate.  I wish I could read such a great writer in the language in which he originally composed.  He sometimes referred to his stories as "poems," and that designation doesn't seem wrong, as he appears to have devoted so much care and attention to his wording and economy.  Precision and brevity, but at the same time depth and richness.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 22, 2019, 05:38:11 AM
Rome in the Dark Ages by Peter Llewellyn
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 24, 2019, 08:34:34 AM
Life with Father, by Clarence Day.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 25, 2019, 07:04:19 AM
Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on January 25, 2019, 02:20:33 PM
Noticia de un Secuestro
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 25, 2019, 06:55:13 PM
A pair of books on the European volunteers in the Waffen-SS, Charlemagne, Tony Le Tissier, and We will not go up the Tuapse, Fernand Kaisergruber. The first is a general history on a well known, though small, French volunteer force, while the second is the account of a Walloonian volunteer in one of the Belgian WW-SS formations. The translator tries to capture the author's immediate style. I had been reading Kaveh Farrokh's The Sassianians which is hefty and details account of this Iranian empire which faced Rome, almost destroying the Eastern Roman Empire only itself to be swallowed by the Mohammadan tide.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 28, 2019, 06:59:44 PM
The Cold Hard Truth on Family, Kids, and Money by Kevin O'Leary. So far I've seen that he has a poor understanding of what makes a marriage, and his perspective is limited to the area of finances.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: rosenley on February 08, 2019, 07:35:40 PM
"The Hound of Distributism" Edited by Richard Aleman

https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/hounds-of-distributism.html
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Josephine87 on February 08, 2019, 08:53:01 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on January 25, 2019, 06:55:13 PM
A pair of books on the European volunteers in the Waffen-SS, Charlemagne, Tony Le Tissier, and We will not go up the Tuapse, Fernand Kaisergruber. The first is a general history on a well known, though small, French volunteer force, while the second is the account of a Walloonian volunteer in one of the Belgian WW-SS formations. The translator tries to capture the author's immediate style. I had been reading Kaveh Farrokh's The Sassianians which is hefty and details account of this Iranian empire which faced Rome, almost destroying the Eastern Roman Empire only itself to be swallowed by the Mohammadan tide.

What are the names of those two first books? . Never mind, I thought that was a list of books, but those are the names of the books, lol.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 09, 2019, 05:43:46 AM
Bismarck by Edward Crankshaw.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on February 09, 2019, 11:33:23 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on February 09, 2019, 05:43:46 AM
Bismarck by Edward Crankshaw.

Junker. Guy was a partier in his younger days, eh? Have you gotten to the point in his life when he realized that time was up: time to study. He bought tutored almost non stop for a few weeks, passed the bar.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 09, 2019, 01:38:59 PM
Los Funerales de la Mama Grande
A Listener's History of Music
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on February 09, 2019, 06:00:36 PM
"Heaven Open To Souls" by Rev. Henry Churchill Semple S.J.
Quote

HEAVEN OPEN TO SOULS. Love for God above All Things and Perfect Contrition Easy and Common in Souls resolved to avoid Mortal Sin. By the Rev. Henry Churchill Semple, S.J., Moderator of the Theological Conferences of the Archdiocese of New York, Chaplain of Fordham University, Benziger Brothers: New York. 1916. Pp.567.

One of the most practical aids to solid piety that have in recent times been spread among the faithful is the tiny booklet, consisting of just thirty-one pages, bearing the title Perfect Contrition: "A Golden Key to Heaven," written by Fr. Von den Driesch, S.J., translated by Fr. Slater, S.J., and introduced by Fr. Lehmkuhl, S.J. The illustrious names of its sponsors are a guarantee of the solidity of its doctrine; while the affiliation of those sponsors with a Society that has always been identified with a sanely human and therefore a truly divine devotional spirit, may be taken as a pledge of its Catholic sanity. In the volume at hand Fr. Semple of the same Society gives us in extenso what his confrere had done in miniature; that is, he develops at considerable length the Scriptural, Patristic, theological, as well as the rational, grounds upon which the doctrine that supreme love of God and consequently perfect contrition are relatively easy for all souls who are determined to shun mortal sin.

The author acquaints his reader at the start with the fact that the propositions heading the various chapters have each been the subject of a paper discussed at a theological conference over which he presided as moderator; also, that the suggestion to publish the papers in book-form emanated from Cardinal Farley who was present at the said conferences. The fact therefore that the material was originally given forth orally, may explain the somewhat diffuse and discursive style. The work would certainly have gained somewhat by greater condensation. At the same time the feature of expansiveness favors another purpose for which the book is peculiarly adapted. We read that Cardinal Franzelin was wont to say that, could he preach throughout all the world, he would speak of nothing so much as of perfect contrition. The desire of the eminent theologian might well be assimilated and reduced to act by the clergy generally. The relative easiness of perfect love and contrition is perhaps not often enough heard of from the pulpit. Reasons for this are sufficiently obvious. The present volume is so rich in material that a priest could hardly find a more helpful source of suggestive sermons and instructions on so important a topic. Aside therefore from its practical value as spiritual reading, the volume makes a most helpful aid to the ministry of the word.
Fantastic and very spiritually uplifting as well as consoling. I am now on page 311 of this 500 pg. Book. I have recommended it to friends and family as well as a couple of our posters here. Easy to read, not in technical or philosophic language. Five Stars.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on February 09, 2019, 08:03:05 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on February 09, 2019, 06:00:36 PM
"Heaven Open To Souls" by Rev. Henry Churchill Semple S.J.
...
Fantastic and very spiritually uplifting as well as consoling. I am now on page 311 of this 500 pg. Book. I have recommended it to friends and family as well as a couple of our posters here. Easy to read, not in technical or philosophic language. Five Stars.

Sounds wonderful. I need to read more!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on February 10, 2019, 10:23:51 AM
Also, the little booklet: "Perfect Contrition: A Golden Key to Heaven," written by Fr. Von den Driesch, S.J., translated by Fr. Slater, S.J., and introduced by Fr. Lehmkuhl, S.J.

Which is mentioned in the above review is a good short summary of this wonderful spiritual doctrine.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 11, 2019, 09:48:18 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on February 09, 2019, 06:00:36 PM
"Heaven Open To Souls" by Rev. Henry Churchill Semple S.J.

Fantastic and very spiritually uplifting as well as consoling. I am now on page 311 of this 500 pg. Book. I have recommended it to friends and family as well as a couple of our posters here. Easy to read, not in technical or philosophic language. Five Stars.

Just downloaded from Internet Archive. Thanks! :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on February 11, 2019, 11:13:07 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on February 10, 2019, 10:23:51 AM
Also, the little booklet: "Perfect Contrition: A Golden Key to Heaven," written by Fr. Von den Driesch, S.J., translated by Fr. Slater, S.J., and introduced by Fr. Lehmkuhl, S.J.

Which is mentioned in the above review is a good short summary of this wonderful spiritual doctrine.

You can get an excerpt of that on audio from http://www.alleluiaaudiobooks.com/ (http://www.alleluiaaudiobooks.com/).  :toth:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 11, 2019, 11:49:57 AM
I'm listening to The Count of Monte Cristo from Audible, narrated by Bill Homewood. So far, it's excellent. I also got Les Miserables narrated by him, too, which I'm looking forward to.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 12, 2019, 02:34:14 PM
St Francis of Assisi by GK Chesterton
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Serendipity on February 12, 2019, 05:10:28 PM
Oh dear, at the risk of lowering the tone.......................  I am reading........................................ Game of Thrones - can I ever be forgiven!!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on February 12, 2019, 06:19:58 PM
Quote from: Serendipity on February 12, 2019, 05:10:28 PM
Oh dear, at the risk of lowering the tone.......................  I am reading........................................ Game of Thrones - can I ever be forgiven!!
We all have our side readings: I've read the 13 vol. (or is it 14) set of "The Wheel of Time"; a total waste of time; but that was basically what is was: A "pastime"
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on February 12, 2019, 10:42:26 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on February 12, 2019, 06:19:58 PM
Quote from: Serendipity on February 12, 2019, 05:10:28 PM
Oh dear, at the risk of lowering the tone.......................  I am reading........................................ Game of Thrones - can I ever be forgiven!!
We all have our side readings: I've read the 13 vol. (or is it 14) set of "The Wheel of Time"; a total waste of time; but that was basically what is was: A "pastime"

I read several of those volumes. And then at some point they became literally unreadable.

I was at a library trying to do real work. Looking around for any possible source of procrastination, I thought, "Maybe they have a new Robert Jordan volume," and sure enough, they did. I was desperate to read something to avoid working, but the sentences seemed to make no sense.

Most maddening of all was that in just the first few pages, he was adding additional new plot lines to the series at a time when it was already apparent that he had no hope of ever tying the story together as he claimed he would.

Ultimately the series was finished by another writer after the death of Robert Jordan. Perhaps he was able to pull together the countless plot strings that were left dangling, but it seems unlikely.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on February 13, 2019, 04:54:27 PM
Parish priest has The Lion of Münster: the bishop who roared against the Nazis, Daniel Utrecht of the Oratory, as book of the month, so reading it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on February 15, 2019, 12:49:15 PM
Max,
Basically all the plot lines were resolved; not always to my satisfaction. R.J. Loved intricate description and detail; a lot of dialogue and new Characters. Brandon Sanderson was hired to finish the series and he did a great job; the die-hard fans did not like his work on Matt, but I thought it was good.  I liked the series, but there is a lot of divided opinion on it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Padraig on February 15, 2019, 12:57:47 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on February 12, 2019, 10:42:26 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on February 12, 2019, 06:19:58 PM
Quote from: Serendipity on February 12, 2019, 05:10:28 PM
Oh dear, at the risk of lowering the tone.......................  I am reading........................................ Game of Thrones - can I ever be forgiven!!
We all have our side readings: I've read the 13 vol. (or is it 14) set of "The Wheel of Time"; a total waste of time; but that was basically what is was: A "pastime"

I read several of those volumes. And then at some point they became literally unreadable.

I was at a library trying to do real work. Looking around for any possible source of procrastination, I thought, "Maybe they have a new Robert Jordan volume," and sure enough, they did. I was desperate to read something to avoid working, but the sentences seemed to make no sense.

Most maddening of all was that in just the first few pages, he was adding additional new plot lines to the series at a time when it was already apparent that he had no hope of ever tying the story together as he claimed he would.

Ultimately the series was finished by another writer after the death of Robert Jordan. Perhaps he was able to pull together the countless plot strings that were left dangling, but it seems unlikely.

Finishing the Wheel of Time series is something you do more out of anger and frustration than enjoyment. But the wrap-up by Brandon Sanderson was at least intelligible. It helps that he's a decent writer who writes on a schedule and as a profession, so he was able to crank out almost a million words in about three years.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on February 15, 2019, 03:52:57 PM
Charlesmagne by Derek Wilson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on February 15, 2019, 10:26:33 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on February 15, 2019, 12:49:15 PM

Brandon Sanderson was hired to finish the series and he did a great job;

Glad to hear the positive recommendation.

It's been about 15 years, however, since I was reading the series, so I don't think I'll go back to finish it, since my desire to know how it all ends has cooled considerably, or entirely.

But you never know. I might find myself in a library again one day and check out the Brandon Sanderson final installments.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on February 16, 2019, 12:47:54 PM
Admittedly, Sanderson doesn't have the same eye for intricate detail or love of the long conversational exchanges, but he cuts to the chase and gets the dang thing done.
I would only recommend you finish the series if you have already read the seventh or eight book. Even Jordan was starting to pick things up  ( a bit) after that.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: rosenley on February 18, 2019, 07:30:26 PM
"The Ways of Mental Prayer" By Rt. Rev. Dom Vitalis Lehodey
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on February 20, 2019, 10:33:04 AM
I just finished reading "The Protestant's Dilemma" By Devin Rose;
If you like apologetical works, this one is well done, with short easy to read chapters that are not too technical and the average Catholic can grasp the arguments without any problems. Here is the Amazon description:
QuoteWhat if Protestantism were true? What if the Reformers really were heroes, the Bible the sole rule of faith, and Christ's Church just an invisible collection of loosely united believers?

As an Evangelical, Devin Rose used to believe all of it. Then one day the nagging questions began. He noticed things about Protestant belief and practice that didn't add up. He began following the logic of Protestant claims to places he never expected it to go -leading to conclusions no Christians would ever admit to holding.

In The Protestant's Dilemma, Rose examines over thirty of those conclusions, showing with solid evidence, compelling reason, and gentle humor how the major tenets of Protestantism - if honestly pursued to their furthest extent - wind up in dead ends. The only escape? Catholic truth. Rose patiently unpacks each instance, and shows how Catholicism solves the Protestant's dilemma through the witness of Scripture, Christian history, and the authority with which Christ himself undeniably vested his Church.
And here is one of the reviews of the book by a Protestant:
Quote of 5 starsFlaws Within Protestantism Point to the Rightness of Catholicism
September 25, 2014
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
If you are a Protestant willing to have your faith challenged, then read "The Protestant's Dilemma" by Devin Rose. This should be a book that every Protestant read. At the very least, it helps explain to us Protestants why Catholics believe in certain doctrines the way they do even if they seem a bit strange to us. At best, it helps a Protestant better understand why he/she may be drawing closer to the ancient beliefs and traditions of the Catholic faith such as myself.

In my early years of the Christian faith I was a right-wing fundamentalist Evangelical Christian that was taught that Catholics and their Church are apostates and heretics. I read a lot of anti-Catholic propaganda that led me to believe that the Popes are corrupt and Catholicism is really just a powerful and wealthy cult.

As I have grown in my faith and come to know Jesus more, not only have I left fundamentalism, but I have actually begun to understand and in some ways embrace many of the doctrines, traditions, and teachings of the Catholic faith. While this book helped clear up many misunderstandings and misgivings I had with the Catholic faith (i.e. the apocrypha/deuterocanonical books, purgatory, praying for and seeking prayer from the saints, and apostolic authority), I still have issue with a couple of key Catholic doctrines, such as: transubstantiation of the Eucharist and Marian theology. Aside from these two issues, I come just short of fully identifying with the Catholic faith.

Very well written and laid out, humbly explained, and uncritical to those of other faith traditions, I highly recommend this book to those Protestants who have enough balls to have their faith challenged and for those who desire to seek and understand more about our Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ and their rich history.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 21, 2019, 08:14:44 AM
Just finished the Tom Playfair series, by Fr. Finn. It was excellent. Now I'm in the middle of Claude Lightfoot.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on February 26, 2019, 08:06:45 PM
Diary of a Country Priest.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 27, 2019, 08:08:50 AM
The Complete Short Stories of Hercule Poirot. Pretty good so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on February 27, 2019, 12:42:16 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on February 27, 2019, 08:08:50 AM
The Complete Short Stories of Hercule Poirot. Pretty good so far.
I love the TV series
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 27, 2019, 03:22:01 PM
The Voice of the Dawn: An Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation by Frederick Wiseman
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: rosenley on March 01, 2019, 05:27:15 PM
"Creation Rediscovered: Evolution and the Importance of the Origins Debate" By Gerard J. Keane
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on March 02, 2019, 08:28:14 AM
I'm reading kind of a weird duet:

La Parabola de Pablo

And

Louis IX: Most Christian King of France
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 16, 2019, 01:56:06 PM
The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages by Norman Cohn
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 31, 2019, 08:12:01 AM
How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on March 31, 2019, 11:22:00 AM
This morning saw my finishing of the Psalms. I had been doing about 2 chapters a day. Some days more for the really short ones.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on March 31, 2019, 02:26:55 PM
Für Volk and Führer: The Memoir of a Veteran of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Erwin Hartmann, which unlike Fernand Kaisergruber's biography of war in Russia and near twenty years of prison, does depict the author was evincing elements of doubt with the cause (the Walloonian says little enough on political except to state he saw his fight as that of a Europe of its nations against Communism), or least not an overt hostility to Jews and others, and Four Days in September: The Battle of Teutoburg, Jason B. Ardale.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on March 31, 2019, 06:10:57 PM
Forgot to mention I recently read Pius XI's encyclical on Motion Pictures. Refreshing in its pithiness, unlike modern "encyclicals". Quick read. Easily understandable.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on March 31, 2019, 09:23:58 PM
Quote from: Gardener on March 31, 2019, 11:22:00 AM
This morning saw my finishing of the Psalms. I had been doing about 2 chapters a day. Some days more for the really short ones.

Get Bellarmine's commentaries.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on March 31, 2019, 10:11:53 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on March 31, 2019, 09:23:58 PM
Quote from: Gardener on March 31, 2019, 11:22:00 AM
This morning saw my finishing of the Psalms. I had been doing about 2 chapters a day. Some days more for the really short ones.

Get Bellarmine's commentaries.

Got that for my mother-in-law for Christmas. I really should buy my own copy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on April 01, 2019, 12:51:32 AM
Quote from: Gardener on March 31, 2019, 10:11:53 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on March 31, 2019, 09:23:58 PM
Quote from: Gardener on March 31, 2019, 11:22:00 AM
This morning saw my finishing of the Psalms. I had been doing about 2 chapters a day. Some days more for the really short ones.

Get Bellarmine's commentaries.

Got that for my mother-in-law for Christmas. I really should buy my own copy.

I just bought that for my Kindle during the past week!  My Kindle is encouraging me to read it... ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 01, 2019, 05:23:29 AM
The Medieval Underworld by Andrew McCall
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on April 03, 2019, 02:46:20 PM
About to finish:

Spring Snow
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on April 19, 2019, 10:46:13 PM
I just started reading Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck.  I am really enjoying it so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 22, 2019, 04:04:26 AM
The Armada - 400th Anniversary Edition by Garrett Mattingly
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on April 23, 2019, 04:17:18 PM
Mystery of the Last Supper, Sir Colin J Humphreys, Professor of Materials Science in Cambridge. Heard of this via Fr Longnecker's blog, which while hardly trad, can be very interesting. The author argues that Jesus and the Disciples worked with a traditional, pre-Babylonian Exile calendar like Essenes and maybe the Samaritans (and a bit like how trads keep the Catholic calendar as was), making the apparent contradictions between the Evangelists to be apparent but not real.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Francisco Suárez on April 30, 2019, 06:42:12 AM
It's been a while since I posted in this thread.

Somewhat humorously, I'm getting through Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War by Peter H. Wilson again. I highly recommend it for anyone who's interested in 17th century Europe. The chapters that describe the meticulous inner workings of the Holy Roman Empire are really fascinating.

I also started reading Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth book covering Holy Week. It's an inspiring work that illustrates the symbolism of Jesus' actions, with reference to the Old Testament and the prophecies contained therein.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Francisco Suárez on April 30, 2019, 06:45:40 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on February 13, 2019, 04:54:27 PM
Parish priest has The Lion of Münster: the bishop who roared against the Nazis, Daniel Utrecht of the Oratory, as book of the month, so reading it.

I'd love to hear what you thought of this book. August von Galen is a hero of mine, so if it's any decent, I'll grab it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on May 08, 2019, 04:06:23 PM
Finished Dracula the other day, now working on Catch-22.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Vetus Ordo on May 09, 2019, 08:26:24 AM
Quote from: Jacob on May 08, 2019, 04:06:23 PM
Finished Dracula the other day...

What did you think of it?

I read it many years ago but I really enjoyed it. The epistolary format suited it well.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on May 09, 2019, 10:23:00 AM
Quote from: Vetus Ordo on May 09, 2019, 08:26:24 AM
Quote from: Jacob on May 08, 2019, 04:06:23 PM
Finished Dracula the other day...

What did you think of it?

I first read this when i was ten or so. Dracula! Vampires and coffins and gothic horror! How did it go? Let's just say ten-year-old-I wasn't prepared for its epistolary nature, with letters, diaries, clippings, and memoranda (I didn't even know what that word meant) woven together to tell the story with their late Victorian vocabulary. I made it to the end, but I didn't get all there was to get out of it.

Almost thirty years later, I was much better prepared to make my way to Transylvania with Jonathan Harker at the start of the book. It really moved right along. There were definite moments where I was turning pages to see what would happen next. Someone I was talking to called it a technothriller and I agree it is an apt word.

One thing I was surprised by was all the things Dracula could do that don't survive into the modern conception of vampires. To be able to go about by day was really interesting. That did lead to not a little confusion on my part when when and why he would need to rest in his native earth. Just after feeding?

The end was really good with the chase from the Black Sea to Castle Dracula told from the various points of view and then the final confrontation where everyone came together to do their part. Everything was wrapped up and the forces of good overcame Dracula and his un-dead lady-vampires.

The Guardian in 2014 listed it as number 31 of the 100 best novels. That seems fair to me.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on May 09, 2019, 11:28:28 AM
Runaway Horses
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 10, 2019, 03:58:45 AM
Of Men and Mountains by William O. Douglas
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: ChristusRex on May 13, 2019, 05:18:39 PM
Humility of Heart by Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo

This is my 3rd time reading it in roughly 5 months.
This is probably my favorite spiritual book. Second place goes to The Sinner's Guide and of course, just about anything St. Alphonsus has authored.

I will have to read this book for the rest of my life in order to conquer my pride!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TheReturnofLive on May 16, 2019, 06:49:28 AM
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81TAWJdFX3L.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Josephine87 on May 16, 2019, 02:59:23 PM
I am concurrently reading Bellarmine's and Aquinas' commentaries and I prefer the latter. Bellarmine is more engaging and lively but Aquinas provides a lot more detail and instruction and tons of scripture references. He has helped me understand more of what is meant in the psalm.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on May 17, 2019, 01:57:34 PM
By Joseph Addison. Sir Roger is a fictional character in his Spectator.
A COUNTRY SUNDAY.

I am always very well pleased with a country Sunday, and think, if keeping holy the seventh day were only a human institution, it would be the best method that could have been thought of for the polishing and civilizing of mankind. It is certain the country people would soon degenerate into a kind of savages and barbarians, were there not such frequent returns of a stated time, in which the whole village meet together with their best faces, and in their cleanliest habits, to converse with one another upon indifferent subjects, hear their duties explained to them, and join together in adoration of the Supreme Being. Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week, not only as it refreshes in their minds the notions of religion, but as it puts both the sexes upon appearing in their most agreeable forms, and exerting all such qualities as are apt to give them a figure in the eye of the village. A country-fellow distinguishes himself as much in the Church-yard, as a citizen does upon the Change, the whole parish-politicks being generally discussed in that place either after sermon or before the bell rings.
My friend Sir Roger, being a good churchman, has beautified the inside of his church with several texts of his own choosing. He has likewise given a handsome pulpit-cloth, and railed in the communion-table at his own expense. He has often told me, that at his coming to his estate he found his parishioners very irregular; and that in order to make them kneel and join in their responses, he gave every one of them a hassock and a common prayer-book: and at the same time employed an itinerant singing-master, who goes about the country for that purpose, to instruct them rightly in the tunes of the psalms; upon which they now very much value themselves, and indeed outdo most of the country churches that I have ever heard.
As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation, he keeps them in very good order, and will suffer nobody to sleep in it besides himself; for if by chance he has been surprised into a short nap at sermon, upon recovering out of it he stands up and looks about him, and if he sees any body else nodding, either wakes them himself, or sends his servants to them. Several other of the old Knight's particularities break out upon these occasions. Sometimes he will be lengthening out a verse in the singing-psalms, half a minute after the rest of the congregation have done with it; sometimes, when he is pleased with the matter of his devotion, he pronounces Amen three or four times to the same prayer; and sometimes stands up when every body else is upon their knees, to count the congregation, or see if any of his tenants are missing.
I was yesterday very much surprised to hear my old friend, in the midst of the service, calling out to one John Mathews to mind what he was about, and not disturb the congregation. This John Mathews it seems is remarkable for being an idle fellow, and at that time was kicking his heels for his diversion. This authority of the Knight, though exerted in that odd manner which accompanies him in all circumstances of life, has a very good effect upon the parish, who are not polite enough to see anything ridiculous in his behaviour; besides that the general good sense and worthiness of his character makes his friends observe these little singularities as foils that rather set off than blemish his good qualities.
As soon as the sermon is finished, no body presumes to stir till Sir Roger is gone out of the church. The Knight walks down from his seat in the chancel between a double row of his tenants, that stand bowing to him on each side; and every now and then enquires how such an one's wife, or mother, or son, or father do, whom he does not see at church; which is understood as a secret reprimand to the person that is absent.
The chaplain has often told me, that upon a catechising day, when Sir Roger has been pleased with a boy that answers well, he has ordered a Bible to be given him next day for his encouragement; and sometimes accompanies it with a flitch of bacon to his mother. Sir Roger has likewise added five pounds a year to the clerk's place; and that he may encourage the young fellows to make themselves perfect in the church service, has promised upon the death of the present incumbent, who is very old, to bestow it according to merit.
The fair understanding between Sir Roger and his chaplain, and their mutual concurrence in doing good, is the more remarkable, because the very next village is famous for the differences and contentions that rise between the parson and the 'squire, who live in a perpetual state of war. The parson is always preaching at the 'squire, and the 'squire to be revenged on the parson never comes to church. The 'squire has made all his tenants atheists and tithe-stealers; while the Parson instructs them every Sunday in the dignity of his order, and insinuates to them in almost every sermon, that he is a better man than his patron. In short, matters are come to such an extremity, that the 'squire has not said his prayers either in publick or private this half year; and that the parson threatens him, if he does not mend his manners, to pray for him in the face of the whole congregation.
Feuds of this nature, though too frequent in the country, are very fatal to the ordinary people; who are so used to be dazzled with riches, that they pay as much deference to the understanding of a man of an estate, as of a man of learning; and are very hardly brought to regard any truth, how important soever it may be, that is preached to them, when they know there are several men of five hundred a year who do not believe it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on May 17, 2019, 04:39:54 PM
Quote from: Sempronius on May 17, 2019, 01:57:34 PM

the ordinary people; who are so used to be dazzled with riches, that they pay as much deference to the understanding of a man of an estate, as of a man of learning; and are very hardly brought to regard any truth, how important soever it may be, that is preached to them, when they know there are several men of five hundred a year who do not believe it.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Josephine87 on May 17, 2019, 09:14:13 PM
Quoteand at the same time employed an itinerant singing-master, who goes about the country for that purpose, to instruct them rightly in the tunes of the psalms

We need one of these in every parish.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 21, 2019, 06:17:54 AM
Currently reading Les Miserables, the Julie Rose translation (and skipping the boring parts); and The Old Curiosity Shop. Not one of my favorite Dickens novels, but it has its good points.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 21, 2019, 08:30:31 AM
"Jesus All Good", Fr. Alexander Galleriani, S.J. (1908)Nice little book 254 pgs. All about the goodness an mercy of Our Lord:
Quote...Many Christians, even devout and religious souls, are unable to conceive a filial and tender trust in Jesus. They are full of trembling reverence and fear, and stand in His presence with hearts constrained and ill at ease. These lowly feelings are not to be be altogether blamed; they are justly due to the Majesty of so great a Lord. But they are too often like an icy wind freezing the spirit of devotion, or like a chill mist, nipping the opening buds of piety as they form in the soul. Would that this fear were accompanied by Hope, namely, that He will do us good, and also Charity, flowing naturally from Faith and Hope, it being impossible not to love the Being who can, who will help us. It thus contains the three theological virtues.
Order from Mother of Our Savior Refuge of Sinners Catalog. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Josephine87 on May 21, 2019, 09:41:25 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 21, 2019, 06:17:54 AM
Currently reading Les Miserables, the Julie Rose translation (and skipping the boring parts); and The Old Curiosity Shop. Not one of my favorite Dickens novels, but it has its good points.

What are the boring parts? I haven't read it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 21, 2019, 10:16:45 AM
Quote from: Josephine87 on May 21, 2019, 09:41:25 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 21, 2019, 06:17:54 AM
Currently reading Les Miserables, the Julie Rose translation (and skipping the boring parts); and The Old Curiosity Shop. Not one of my favorite Dickens novels, but it has its good points.

What are the boring parts? I haven't read it.

The history of the Paris sewer system; the contemplation of Waterloo; and I'm pretty sure he ruminates on the Church somewhere in there, but I can't remember (probably because I skipped it  :P).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on May 21, 2019, 10:25:34 AM
Recently bought several E Michael Jones books. Gonna be a lot of reading this summer
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on May 21, 2019, 10:31:53 AM
I think I'd find the history of the Paris sewers more interesting than a bunch of Enlightenment hooey
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 21, 2019, 10:41:46 AM
Quote from: Gardener on May 21, 2019, 10:31:53 AM
I think I'd find the history of the Paris sewers more interesting than a bunch of Enlightenment hooey

Honestly, I just read the actual plot. With the characters.  ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on May 21, 2019, 12:52:53 PM
Finished Dena Hunt's evocative Treason set in Elizabethan England when a Rescusant community tries to survive. Also continuing with Franz Schmidt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schmidt_%28executioner%29)'s Hangman's Diary which is a translation of a diary detailing the work of Nuremburg's public executioner. Meister Franz's career started when he was picked out of a crowd in his home town of Hof. Interested in dissection of the executed, ready enough to give prisoners the relative mercy of beheading, and seems to have taken some role to substitute drowning for that penalty, where drowning was a common penalty for women sentenced to death. Also seemed willing to allow prisoners the benefit of either Catholic or heretic Lutheran sacraments before death. Also Eamonn Duffy's Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor. It is saddening to think that so many were to be lost to heresy later as Mary could not have a child. All slowly as time allows.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on May 21, 2019, 12:55:18 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on May 21, 2019, 12:52:53 PM
Finished Dena Hunt's evocative Treason set in Elizabethan England when a Rescusant community tries to survive. Also continuing with Franz Schmidt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schmidt_%28executioner%29)'s Hangman's Diary which is a translation of a diary detailing the work of Nuremburg's public executioner. Meister Franz's career started when he was picked out of a crowd in his home town of Hof. Interested in dissection of the executed, ready enough to give prisoners the relative mercy of beheading, and seems to have taken some role to substitute drowning for that penalty, where drowning was a common penalty for women sentenced to death. Also seemed willing to allow prisoners the benefit of either Catholic or heretic Lutheran sacraments before death. Also Eamonn Duffy's Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor. It is saddening to think that so many were to be lost to heresy later as Mary could not have a child. All slowly as time allows.

I enjoyed Treason, though I felt it tended to wrap things up a little more quickly than I care for.

Compared to something like Macken's Seek the Fair Land, it was at best a B- grade novel. But on its own, having not read Macken, I think a person would thoroughly enjoy it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on May 21, 2019, 01:11:44 PM
Quote from: Gardener on May 21, 2019, 12:55:18 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on May 21, 2019, 12:52:53 PM
Finished Dena Hunt's evocative Treason set in Elizabethan England when a Rescusant community tries to survive. Also continuing with Franz Schmidt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schmidt_%28executioner%29)'s Hangman's Diary which is a translation of a diary detailing the work of Nuremburg's public executioner. Meister Franz's career started when he was picked out of a crowd in his home town of Hof. Interested in dissection of the executed, ready enough to give prisoners the relative mercy of beheading, and seems to have taken some role to substitute drowning for that penalty, where drowning was a common penalty for women sentenced to death. Also seemed willing to allow prisoners the benefit of either Catholic or heretic Lutheran sacraments before death. Also Eamonn Duffy's Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor. It is saddening to think that so many were to be lost to heresy later as Mary could not have a child. All slowly as time allows.

I enjoyed Treason, though I felt it tended to wrap things up a little more quickly than I care for.

Compared to something like Macken's Seek the Fair Land, it was at best a B- grade novel. But on its own, having not read Macken, I think a person would thoroughly enjoy it.

That was a flaw of Treason, certain characters could also also have been developed a little more, but surely a fine first outing for her. The real descendants of Coote only recently sold Coote Hall which gave its name to the Co. Cavan town.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 27, 2019, 03:34:14 AM
Sailing Alone Around the World by Captain Joshua Slocum.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on May 29, 2019, 04:39:49 AM
The life of Benvenuto Cellini, written by himself.

Interesting character. Lived in 16th century Florence. Together with Michelangelo and other famous painters and cardinals. He had a very fierce temperament and he brags about everything that he has done.

Some excerpts.

He gets into a fight to defend his brother:

"AT that time I had a brother, younger by two years, a youth of extreme boldness and fierce temper. He afterwards became one of the great soldiers in the school of that marvellous general Giovannino de Medici, father of Duke Cosimo. [1] The boy was about fourteen, and I two years older. One Sunday evening, just before nightfall, he happened to find himself between the gate San Gallo and the Porta a Pinti; in this quarter he came to duel with a young fellow of twenty or thereabouts. They both had swords; and my brother dealt so valiantly that, after having badly wounded him, he was upon the point of following up his advantage. There was a great crowd of people present, among whom were many of the adversarys kinsfolk. Seeing that the thing was going ill for their own man, they put hand to their slings, a stone from one of which hit my poor brother in the head. He fell to the ground at once in a dead faint. It so chanced that I had been upon the spot alone, and without arms; and I had done my best to get my brother out of the fray by calling to him: Make off; you have done enough. Meanwhile, as luck would have it, he fell, as I have said, half dead to earth. I ran up at once, seized his sword, and stood in front of him, bearing the brunt of several rapiers and a shower of stones. I never left his side until some brave soldiers came from the gate San Gallo and rescued me from the raging crowd; they marvelled much, the while, to find such valour in so young a boy."

He relates how he punched Michelangelo in the nose. And actually the broken nose is visible in his portraits.

"NOW let us return to Piero Torrigiani, who, with my drawing in his hand, spoke as follows: This Buonarroti and I used, when we were boys, to go into the Church of the Carmine, to learn drawing from the chapel of Masaccio. [1] It was Buonarrotis habit to banter all who were drawing there; and one day, among others, when he was annoying me, I got more angry than usual, and clenching my fist, gave him such a blow on the nose, that I felt bone and cartilage go down like biscuit beneath my knuckles; and this mark of mine he will carry with him to the grave. [2] These words begat in me such hatred of the man, since I was always gazing at the masterpieces of the divine Michel Agnolo, that although I felt a wish to go with him to England, I now could never bear the sight of him."

And another fight. But this got me wondering - Was it morally right of the monk to help Cellini disguise himself and escape the authorities?


"I WENT off in the direction of Santa Maria Novella, and stumbling up against Fra Alessio Strozzi, whom by the way I did not know, I entreated this good friar for the love of God to save my life, since I had committed a great fault. He told me to have no fear; for had I done every sin in the world, I was yet in perfect safety in his little cell. Frate Alessio disguised me like a friar and gave me a lay brother to go with me. [3] Quitting the convent, and issuing from the city by the gate of Prato, I went along the walls as far as the Piazza di San Gallo. Then I ascended the slope of Montui, and in one of the first houses there I found a man called Il Grassuccio, own brother to Messer Benedetto da Monte Varchi. [4] I flung off my monks clothes, and became once more a man. "
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on June 01, 2019, 05:18:45 PM
Never was assigned this one. I wonder why?

http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/pri-par.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prioress%27s_Tale
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 05, 2019, 06:26:00 PM
Finished The Temple of Dawn
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on June 06, 2019, 08:34:37 AM
Quote from: Jacob on May 08, 2019, 04:06:23 PM
...now working on Catch-22.

Would have been finished with is a long time ago if I was still in my reading prime. :(

Going very well.  Getting into the second half of the book where things are darker.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 06, 2019, 09:30:44 PM
Thé Long Loneliness
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on June 06, 2019, 10:06:17 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 06, 2019, 09:30:44 PM
Thé Long Loneliness

A story about tea, and the long loneliness it brings in a world full of coffee lovers.

Or it could be read as Thé Long Loneliness -- while drinking "Dragon Tea" one is overwhelmed with a sense of isolation from humanity. Like the herbal tea made from lime leaves that stirred up a flood of memories in Proust, Thé Long, i.e. "Dragon Tea," awakens one's sense that we are born alone and must die alone. Just as the bitterness of kudingcha reminds us that pleasure is a delusion, so Thé Long reveals our inability to bridge the chasm that divides us.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Padraig on June 07, 2019, 01:03:41 PM
I honestly thought you must have been quoting from a book review, and thought, "Wow, this sounds like one of the most fascinating books I've ever heard of, and one of the most poetic reviews I've ever read!"
That was a very clever joke :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on June 07, 2019, 04:27:10 PM
Midnight in Chernobyl, interesting, a fuller back story having watched the series, and refreshing of memories of reading and watching it on the news.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: The Curt Jester on June 07, 2019, 08:39:43 PM
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on June 08, 2019, 06:34:48 PM
Also intermittently Emperor: A New Life of Charles V, Geoffrey Parker. The Emperor was devoutly Catholic, but Lutheranism was bolstered rather than hindered by his ill-judged response to it, allowing the renegade monk to spread his errors before the Imperial Diet at Worms without making an effort to refute him, and later selling toleration in pursuit of troops and taxes from Lutheran princes. The savage 1527 sack of Rome when unpaid Lutheran German and Catholic Spanish troops under the command of the exiled Duke of Bourbon (although their talismanic white robed commander was shot dead before the walls of Rome) can be held against him, but it was substantially provoked by the grievous diplomatic and political blunders committed by Pope Clement.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on June 08, 2019, 08:27:18 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on June 08, 2019, 06:34:48 PM
Also intermittently Emperor: A New Life of Charles V, Geoffrey Parker. The Emperor was devoutly Catholic, but Lutheranism was bolstered rather than hindered by his ill-judged response to it, allowing the renegade monk to spread his errors before the Imperial Diet at Worms without making an effort to refute him, and later selling toleration in pursuit of troops and taxes from Lutheran princes. The savage 1527 sack of Rome when unpaid Lutheran German and Catholic Spanish troops under the command of the exiled Duke of Bourbon (although their talismanic white robed commander was shot dead before the walls of Rome) can be held against him, but it was substantially provoked by the grievous diplomatic and political blunders committed by Pope Clement.

This was the thing in the mid Middle Ages, huh. The German Investiture issue, which coulda been ended with Henry IV, appeared to have continued. I am drawing a 500 year old line, but this seems to have the same ingredients.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 13, 2019, 04:42:43 AM
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MilesChristi on June 13, 2019, 04:30:58 PM
Just finished:

The Decay of the Angel
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on June 19, 2019, 10:58:03 AM
From ancient Rome, written by Plutarch. Somehow this reminds me of something from our own time

"The law of Gracchus added three hundred equites to the senate, who were also three hundred in number, and it made the judices eligible out of the whole six hundred. In his endeavours to carry this law he is said to have made every exertion; and in particular it is recorded that all the popular leaders who preceded him turned their faces to the senate and the comitium while they were speaking, but he was the first who turned his face the other way to the Forum while haranguing the people, and he continued to do so; and by a small deviation and alteration in attitude he stirred a great question, and in a manner transformed the government from an aristocratical to a democratical form, by this new attitude intimating that the orators should direct their speeches to the many and not to the senate."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on June 23, 2019, 08:36:56 PM
Finished Catch-22.  Oh man!

Moved on to Dune.  Paul has discovered he has some terrible purpose.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on June 24, 2019, 03:32:41 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on June 06, 2019, 10:06:17 PM
Quote from: MilesChristi on June 06, 2019, 09:30:44 PM
Thé Long Loneliness

A story about tea, and the long loneliness it brings in a world full of coffee lovers.

Or it could be read as Thé Long Loneliness -- while drinking "Dragon Tea" one is overwhelmed with a sense of isolation from humanity. Like the herbal tea made from lime leaves that stirred up a flood of memories in Proust, Thé Long, i.e. "Dragon Tea," awakens one's sense that we are born alone and must die alone. Just as the bitterness of kudingcha reminds us that pleasure is a delusion, so Thé Long reveals our inability to bridge the chasm that divides us.

You are so deep.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 01, 2019, 06:41:23 AM
In This House of Brede
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on July 08, 2019, 04:47:22 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on July 01, 2019, 06:41:23 AM
In This House of Brede

That's on my list! <sigh>
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 12, 2019, 03:59:43 AM
Hermit of Peking: The hidden life of Sir Edmund Backhouse by Hugh Trevor-Roper
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 15, 2019, 04:43:07 PM
Quote from: Lynne on July 08, 2019, 04:47:22 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on July 01, 2019, 06:41:23 AM
In This House of Brede

That's on my list! <sigh>

It's good. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 17, 2019, 05:40:36 PM
Stones From the River, by Ursula Hegi
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: rosenley on July 17, 2019, 06:59:06 PM
I'm currently reading four books:

1. The World's Debt to the Catholic Church by James J. Walsh
2. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (introduction by Gareth Jones, Penguin Classics Edition)
3. The Ways of Mental Prayer by Rt. Rev. Vitalis Lehodey
4. Heroic Catholic Chaplains by Thomas Craughwell 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on July 21, 2019, 10:13:25 AM
3 out of 4 great books. Nice reading list.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 27, 2019, 04:15:22 PM
A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain by Marc Morris
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TheReturnofLive on July 28, 2019, 03:41:46 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on July 21, 2019, 10:13:25 AM
3 out of 4 great books. Nice reading list.

The person of Karl Marx, and his all-encompassing ideology, can be best summed up in this painting from Montenegro (I don't consider it an icon):

(https://mediadc.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e54743b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4004x2604+0+0/resize/4004x2604!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmediadc.brightspotcdn.com%2F09%2F03%2F0bc0b5dc2e02395e523cb46caae4%2F1ccd71065139d4cec1008a8f23ef74ee.jpg)

With that being said, there are things that I think Marx is absolutely right about - for example, how money is able to morph one's perception of reality (such that ugly people are now lusty, fat people are muscular, stupid people are intelligent), or about the inherent self-destructive nature of Capitalism insofar as technological innovation is concerned - I.e., as technology allows production to be more efficient, division of labor becomes more extreme, which will ultimately lower the demand for skilled labor and raise the supply for unskilled labor, lowering the cost of unskilled labor, such that the masses get less and less for unskilled labor, to the point that living conditions become dire and horrendous, leading to inevitable societal collapse and unrest.

That being said, look to his earlier essays he wrote when he was younger, like "On the Jewish Question" (which isn't really about Jews) because the Communist Manifesto doesn't go too in depth about how Marx perceived the world or his rationale to the degree that his individual essays do; it's just a basic definition of what Communism is, a logical argument for communism and how it can achieve its goals as a political platform.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TheReturnofLive on July 28, 2019, 03:53:21 PM
Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisiton, and the Defeat of the Moors
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 09, 2019, 07:09:48 AM
The Book of My Life, by St. Teresa. I need something familiar and encouraging. ICS translation.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on August 09, 2019, 02:59:50 PM
The third Calvin & Hobbes treasury book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 09, 2019, 04:36:40 PM
I was a big fan of C&H when they were in the funny papers.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on August 09, 2019, 05:52:31 PM
I was a fan, but I didn't get to read it on a regular basis back in the day.  Living in Iowa, the only newspaper that had it was the big regional paper out of Des Moines and people in my family only got that on Sundays usually.  The little Fort Dodge Messenger couldn't afford it.  Though it had no problem shelling out for mangy Garfield and stale old Peanuts.

So I got the treasury books one or two at a time over successive Christmases awhile ago.  I've been through them once already and am making my way through them again the last few weeks, 20-25 pages every few days, three strips per page and a Sunday comic every other page unless a Sunday fell in the middle of an ongoing story.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on August 10, 2019, 02:32:34 AM
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882).  Complete Poetical Works.  1893.

Christus: A Mystery
Part II. The Golden Legend.
II. V. A Village Church

A woman kneeling at the confessional.

THE PARISH PRIEST, from within.
GO, sin no more! Thy penance o'er,   
A new and better life begin!   
God maketh thee forever free   
From the dominion of thy sin!   
Go, sin no more! He will restore           5
The peace that filled thy heart before,   
And pardon thine iniquity!

The woman goes out. The Priest comes forth, and walks slowly up and down the church.

O blessed Lord! how much I need   
Thy light to guide me on my way!   
So many hands, that, without heed,           10
Still touch thy wounds, and make them bleed!   
So many feet, that, day by day,   
Still wander from thy fold astray!   
Unless thou fill me with thy light,   
I cannot lead thy flock aright;           15
Nor, without thy support, can bear   
The burden of so great a care,   
But am myself a castaway!

A pause.

The day is drawing to its close;   
And what good deeds, since first it rose,           20
Have I presented, Lord, to thee,   
As offerings of my ministry?   
What wrong repressed, what right maintained,   
What struggle passed, what victory gained,   
What good attempted and attained?           25
Feeble, at best, is my endeavor!   
I see, but cannot reach, the height   
That lies forever in the light,   
And yet forever and forever,   
When seeming just within my grasp,           30
I feel my feeble hands unclasp,   
And sink discouraged into night!   
For thine own purpose, thou hast sent   
The strife and the discouragement!

A pause.

Why stayest thou, Prince of Hoheneck?           35
Why keep me pacing to and fro   
Amid these aisles of sacred gloom,   
Counting my footsteps as I go,   
And marking with each step a tomb?   
Why should the world for thee make room,           40
And wait thy leisure and thy beck?   
Thou comest in the hope to hear   
Some word of comfort and of cheer.   
What can I say? I cannot give   
The counsel to do this and live;           45
But rather, firmly to deny   
The tempter, though his power be strong,   
And, inaccessible to wrong,   
Still like a martyr live and die!

A pause.

The evening air grows dusk and brown;           50
I must go forth into the town,   
To visit beds of pain and death,   
Of restless limbs, and quivering breath,   
And sorrowing hearts, and patient eyes   
That see, through tears, the sun go down,           55
But never more shall see it rise.   
The poor in body and estate,   
The sick and the disconsolate,   
Must not on man's convenience wait.

Goes out.

Enter LUCIFER, as a Priest.

LUCIFER, with a genuflexion, mocking.
This is the Black Pater-noster.           60
God was my foster,   
He fostered me   
Under the book of the Palm-tree!   
St. Michael was my dame.   
He was born at Bethlehem,           65
He was made of flesh and blood.   
God send me my right food,   
My right food, and shelter too,   
That I may to yon kirk go,   
To read upon yon sweet book           70
Which the mighty God of heaven shook.   
Open, open, hell's gates!   
Shut, shut, heaven's gates!   
All the devils in the air   
The stronger be, that hear the Black Prayer!

Looking round the church.
        75

What a darksome and dismal place!   
I wonder that any man has the face   
To call such a hole the House of the Lord,   
And the Gate of Heaven,—yet such is the word.   
Ceiling, and walls, and windows old,           80
Covered with cobwebs, blackened with mould;   
Dust on the pulpit, dust on the stairs,   
Dust on the benches, and stalls, and chairs!   
The pulpit, from which such ponderous sermons   
Have fallen down on the brains of the Germans,           85
With about as much real edification   
As if a great Bible, bound in lead,   
Had fallen, and struck them on the head;   
And I ought to remember that sensation!   
Here stands the holy-water stoup!           90
Holy-water it may be to many,   
But to me, the veriest Liquor Gehennæ!   
It smells like a filthy fast-day soup!   
Near it stands the box for the poor,   
With its iron padlock, safe and sure.           95
I and the priest of the parish know   
Whither all these charities go;   
Therefore, to keep up the institution,   
I will add my little contribution!

He puts in money.

Underneath this mouldering tomb,           100
With statue of stone, and scutcheon of brass,   
Slumbers a great lord of the village.   
All his life was riot and pillage,   
But at length, to escape the threatened doom   
Of the everlasting penal fire,           105
He died in the dress of a mendicant friar,   
And bartered his wealth for a daily mass.   
But all that afterwards came to pass,   
And whether he finds it dull or pleasant,   
Is kept a secret for the present,           110
At his own particular desire.   

And here, in a corner of the wall,   
Shadowy, silent, apart from all,   
With its awful portal open wide,   
And its latticed windows on either side,           115
And its step well worn by the bended knees   
Of one or two pious centuries,   
Stands the village confessional!   
Within it, as an honored guest,   
I will sit down awhile and rest!

Seats himself in the confessional.
        120

Here sits the priest; and faint and low,   
Like the sighing of an evening breeze,   
Comes through these painted lattices   
The ceaseless sound of human woe;   
Here, while her bosom aches and throbs           125
With deep and agonizing sobs,   
That half are passion, half contrition,   
The luckless daughter of perdition   
Slowly confesses her secret shame!   
The time, the place, the lover's name!           130
Here the grim murderer, with a groan,   
From his bruised conscience rolls the stone,   
Thinking that thus he can atone   
For ravages of sword and flame!   

Indeed, I marvel, and marvel greatly,           135
How a priest can sit here so sedately,   
Reading, the whole year out and in,   
Naught but the catalogue of sin,   
And still keep any faith whatever   
In human virtue! Never! never!           140

I cannot repeat a thousandth part   
Of the horrors and crimes and sins and woes   
That arise, when with palpitating throes   
The graveyard in the human heart   
Gives up its dead, at the voice of the priest,           145
As if he were an archangel, at least.   
It makes a peculiar atmosphere,   
This odor of earthly passions and crimes,   
Such as I like to breathe, at times,   
And such as often brings me here           150
In the hottest and most pestilential season.   
To-day, I come for another reason;   
To foster and ripen an evil thought   
In a heart that is almost to madness wrought,   
And to make a murderer out of a prince,           155
A sleight of hand I learned long since!   
He comes. In the twilight he will not see   
The difference between his priest and me!   
In the same net was the mother caught!   

PRINCE HENRY, entering and kneeling at the confessional.
Remorseful, penitent, and lowly,           160
I come to crave, O Father holy,   
Thy benediction on my head.   

LUCIFER.
The benediction shall be said   
After confession, not before!   
'T is a God-speed to the parting guest,           165
Who stands already at the door,   
Sandalled with holiness, and dressed   
In garments pure from earthly stain.   
Meanwhile, hast thou searched well thy breast?   
Does the same madness fill thy brain?           170
Or have thy passion and unrest   
Vanished forever from thy mind?   

PRINCE HENRY.
By the same madness still made blind,   
By the same passion still possessed,   
I come again to the house of prayer,           175
A man afflicted and distressed!   
As in a cloudy atmosphere,   
Through unseen sluices of the air,   
A sudden and impetuous wind   
Strikes the great forest white with fear,           180
And every branch, and bough, and spray   
Points all its quivering leaves one way,   
And meadows of grass, and fields of grain,   
And the clouds above, and the slanting rain,   
And smoke from chimneys of the town,           185
Yield themselves to it, and bow down,   
So does this dreadful purpose press   
Onward, with irresistible stress,   
And all my thoughts and faculties,   
Struck level by the strength of this,           190
From their true inclination turn,   
And all stream forward to Salern!   

LUCIFER.
Alas! we are but eddies of dust,   
Uplifted by the blast, and whirled   
Along the highway of the world           195
A moment only, then to fall   
Back to a common level all,   
At the subsiding of the gust!   

PRINCE HENRY.
O holy Father! pardon in me   
The oscillation of a mind           200
Unsteadfast, and that cannot find   
Its centre of rest and harmony!   
For evermore before mine eyes   
This ghastly phantom flits and flies,   
And as a madman through a crowd,           205
With frantic gestures and wild cries,   
It hurries onward, and aloud   
Repeats its awful prophecies!   
Weakness is wretchedness! To be strong   
Is to be happy! I am weak,           210
And cannot find the good I seek,   
Because I feel and fear the wrong!   

LUCIFER.
Be not alarmed! The Church is kind,   
And in her mercy and her meekness   
She meets half-way her children's weakness,           215
Writes their transgressions in the dust!   
Though in the Decalogue we find   
The mandate written, "Thou shalt not kill!"   
Yet there are cases when we must.   
In war, for instance, or from scathe           220
To guard and keep the one true Faith   
We must look at the Decalogue in the light   
Of an ancient statute, that was meant   
For a mild and general application,   
To be understood with the reservation           225
That in certain instances the Right   
Must yield to the Expedient!   
Thou art a Prince. If thou shouldst die,   
What hearts and hopes would prostrate lie!   
What noble deeds, what fair renown,           230
Into the grave with thee go down!   
What acts of valor and courtesy   
Remain undone, and die with thee!   
Thou art the last of all thy race!   
With thee a noble name expires,           235
And vanishes from the earth's face   
The glorious memory of thy sires!   
She is a peasant. In her veins   
Flows common and plebeian blood;   
It is such as daily and hourly stains           240
The dust and the turf of battle plains,   
By vassals shed, in a crimson flood,   
Without reserve, and without reward,   
At the slightest summons of their lord!   
But thine is precious; the fore-appointed           245
Blood of kings, of God's anointed!   
Moreover, what has the world in store,   
For one like her, but tears and toil?   
Daughter of sorrow, serf of the soil,   
A peasant's child and a peasant's wife,           250
And her soul within her sick and sore   
With the roughness and barrenness of life   
I marvel not at the heart's recoil   
From a fate like this, in one so tender,   
Nor at its eagerness to surrender           255
All the wretchedness, want, and woe   
That await it in this world below,   
Nor the unutterable splendor   
Of the world of rest beyond the skies.   
So the Church sanctions the sacrifice:           260
Therefore inhale this healing balm,   
And breathe this fresh life into thine;   
Accept the comfort and the calm   
She offers, as a gift divine;   
Let her fall down and anoint thy feet           265
With the ointment costly and most sweet   
Of her young blood, and thou shalt live.   

PRINCE HENRY.
And will the righteous Heaven forgive?   
No action, whether foul or fair,   
Is ever done, but it leaves somewhere           270
A record, written by fingers ghostly,   
As a blessing or a curse, and mostly   
In the greater weakness or greater strength   
Of the acts which follow it, till at length   
The wrongs of ages are redressed,           275
And the justice of God made manifest!   

LUCIFER.
In ancient records it is stated   
That, whenever an evil deed is done,   
Another devil is created   
To scourge and torment the offending one!           280
But evil is only good perverted,   
And Lucifer, the bearer of Light,   
But an angel fallen and deserted,   
Thrust from his Father's house with a curse   
Into the black and endless night.           285

PRINCE HENRY.
If justice rules the universe,   
From the good actions of good men   
Angels of light should be begotten,   
And thus the balance restored again.   

LUCIFER.
Yes; if the world were not so rotten,           290
And so given over to the Devil!   

PRINCE HENRY.
But this deed, is it good or evil?   
Have I thine absolution free   
To do it, and without restriction?   

LUCIFER.
Ay; and from whatsoever sin           295
Lieth around it and within,   
From all crimes in which it may involve thee,   
I now release thee and absolve thee!   

PRINCE HENRY.
Give me thy holy benediction.   

LUCIFER, stretching forth his hand and muttering.
            Maledictione perpetua           300
            Maledicat vos   
            Pater eternus!
   

THE ANGEL, with the æolian harp.
Take heed! take heed!   
Noble art thou in thy birth,   
By the good and the great of earth           305
Hast thou been taught!   
Be noble in every thought   
And in every deed!   
Let not the illusion of thy senses   
Betray thee to deadly offences.           310
Be strong! be good! be pure!   
The right only shall endure,   
All things else are but false pretences.   
I entreat thee, I implore,   
Listen no more           315
To the suggestions of an evil spirit,   
That even now is there,   
Making the foul seem fair,   
And selfishness itself a virtue and a merit.   
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 13, 2019, 04:14:36 AM
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Sempronius on September 04, 2019, 01:19:02 PM
Here's something for the french speakers.

A pious poem written by one of Frances greatest poets, Nicolas Boileau

EPITRE XII
1695.
A M. L'ABBE RENAUDOT[1].

L'AMOUR DE DIEU.
Docte abbé, tu dis vrai, l'homme, au crime attaché,
En vain, sans aimer Dieu, croit sortir du péché.
Toutefois, n'en déplaise aux transports frénétiques
Du fougueux moine auteur des troubles germaniques[2],
Des tourmens de l'enfer la salutaire peur
N'est pas toujours l'effet d'une noire vapeur,
Qui, de remords sans fruit agitant le coupable,
Aux yeux de Dieu le rende encor plus haïssable.
Cette utile frayeur, propre à nous pénétrer,
Vient souvent de la grâce en nous prête d'entrer,
Qui veut dans notre cœur se rendre la plus forte,

Et, pour se faire ouvrir, déjà frappe à la porte.
Si le pécheur, poussé de ce saint mouvement,
Reconnoissant son crime, aspire au sacrement,
Souvent Dieu tout à coup d'un vrai zèle l'enflamme ;
Le Saint-Esprit revient habiter dans son âme,
Y convertit enfin les ténèbres en jour,
Et la crainte servile en filial amour.
C'est ainsi que souvent la sagesse suprême
Pour chasser le démon se sert du démon même.
Mais lorsqu'en sa malice un pécheur obstiné,
Des horreurs de l'enfer vainement étonné,
Loin d'aimer, humble fils, son véritable père,
Craint et regarde Dieu comme un tyran sévère,
Au bien qu'il nous promet ne trouve aucun appas,
Et souhaite en son cœur que ce Dieu ne soit pas :
En vain, la peur sur lui remportant la victoire,
Aux pieds d'un prêtre il court décharger sa mémoire ;
Vil esclave toujours sous le joug du péché,
Au démon qu'il redoute il demeure attaché.
L'amour, essentiel à notre pénitence,
Doit être l'heureux fruit de notre repentance.
Non, quoi que l'ignorance enseigne sur ce point,
Dieu ne fait jamais grâce à qui ne l'aime point.
A le chercher la peur nous dispose et nous aide ;
Mais il ne vient jamais, que l'amour ne succède.
Cessez de m'opposer vos discours imposteurs,
Confesseurs insensés, ignorans séducteurs,
Qui, pleins des vains propos que l'erreur vous débite.
Vous figurez qu'en vous un pouvoir sans limite
Justifie à coup sur tout pécheur alarmé,
Et que sans aimer Dieu l'on peut en être aimé.
Quoi donc ! cher Renaudot, un chrétien effroyable,
Qui jamais, servant Dieu, n'eut d'objet que le diable,
Pourra, marchant toujours dans des sentiers maudits,

Par des formalités gagner le paradis !
Et parmi les élus, dans la gloire éternelle.
Pour quelques sacremens reçus sans aucun zèle,
Dieu fera voir aux yeux des saints épouvantés
Son ennemi mortel assis à ses côtés !
Peut-on se figurer de si folles chimères[3] ?
On voit pourtant, on voit des docteurs même austères
Qui, les semant partout, s'en vont pieusement
De toute piété saper le fondement ;
Qui, le cœur infecté d'erreurs si criminelles,
Se disent hautement les purs, les vrais fidèles ;
Traitant d'abord d'impie et d'hérétique affreux
Quiconque ose pour Dieu se déclarer contre eux.
De leur audace en vain les vrais chrétiens gémissent :
Prêts à le repousser, les plus hardis mollissent ;
Et, voyant contre Dieu le diable accrédité,
N'osent qu'en bégayant prêcher la vérité.
Mollirons-nous aussi ? Non ; sans peur, sur ta trace,
Docte abbé, de ce pas j'irai leur dire en face :
Ouvrez les yeux enfin, aveugles dangereux.
Oui, je vous le soutiens, il seroit moins affreux
De ne point reconnoître un Dieu maître du monde,
Et qui règle à son gré le ciel, la terre et l'onde,
Qu'en avouant qu'il est, et qu'il sut tout former,
D'oser dire qu'on peut lui plaire sans l'aimer.
Un si bas, si honteux, si faux christianisme
Ne vaut pas des Platons l'éclairé paganisme ;
Et chérir les vrais biens, sans en savoir l'auteur,
Vaut mieux que, sans l'aimer, connoître un créateur.
Expliquons-nous pourtant. Par cette ardeur si sainte,
Que je veux qu'en un cœur amène enfin la crainte,

Je n'entends pas ici ce doux saisissement,
Ces transports pleins de joie et de ravissement,
Qui font des bienheureux la juste récompense,
Et qu'un cœur rarement goûte ici par avance.
Dans nous l'amour de Dieu, fécond en saints désirs,
N'y produit pas toujours de sensibles plaisirs ;
Souvent le cœur qui l'a ne le sait pas lui-même ;
Tel craint de n'aimer pas, qui sincèrement aime ;
Et tel croit au contraire être brûlant d'ardeur,
Qui n'eut jamais pour Dieu que glace et que froideur.
C'est ainsi quelquefois qu'un indolent mystique[4],
Au milieu des péchés tranquille fanatique,
Du plus parfait amour pense avoir l'heureux don,
Et croit posséder Dieu, dans les bras du démon.
Voulez-vous donc savoir si la foi dans votre âme
Allume les ardeurs d'une sincère flamme ?
Consultez-vous vous-même. A ses règles soumis,
Pardonnez-vous sans peine à tous vos ennemis ?
Combattez-vous vos sens ? domptez-vous vos foiblesses ?
Dieu dans le pauvre est-il l'objet de vos largesses ?
Enfin dans tous ses points pratiquez-vous sa loi ?
Oui, dites-vous. Allez, vous l'aimez, croyez-moi.
Qui fait exactement ce que ma loi commande,
A pour moi, dit ce Dieu, l'amour que je demande.
Faites-le donc ; et, sûr qu'il nous veut sauver tous,
Ne vous alarmez point pour quelques vains dégoûts
Qu'en sa ferveur souvent la plus sainte âme éprouve ;
Marchez, courez à lui : qui le cherche le trouve ;
Et plus de votre cœur il paroît s'écarter,

Plus par vos actions songez à l'arrêter.
Mais ne soutenez point cet horrible blasphème,
Qu'un sacrement reçu, qu'un prêtre, que Dieu même,
Quoi que vos faux docteurs osent vous avancer,
De l'amour qu'on lui doit puissent vous dispenser.
« Mais s'il faut qu'avant tout, dans une âme chrétienne,
Diront ces grands docteurs[5], l'amour de Dieu survienne,
Puisque ce seul amour suffit pour nous sauver,
De quoi le sacrement viendra-t-il nous laver ?
Sa vertu n'est donc plus qu'une vertu frivole. »
Oh ! le bel argument digne de leur école !
Quoi ! dans l'amour divin en nos cœurs allumé,
Le vœu du sacrement n'est-il pas renfermé ?
Un païen converti, qui croit un Dieu suprême,
Peut-il être chrétien qu'il n'aspire au baptême,
Ni le chrétien en pleurs être vraiment touché
Qu'il ne veuille à l'église avouer son péché ?
Du funeste esclavage où le démon nous traîne
C'est le sacrement seul qui peut rompre la chaîne :
Aussi l'amour d'abord y court avidement ;
Mais lui-même il en est l'âme et le fondement.
Lorsqu'un pécheur, ému d'une humble repentance,
Par les degrés prescrits court à la pénitence,
S'il n'y peut parvenir, Dieu sait les supposer.
Le seul amour manquant ne peut point s'excuser :
C'est par lui que dans nous la grâce fructifie ;
C'est lui qui nous ranime et qui nous vivifie ;
Pour nous rejoindre à Dieu, lui seul est le lien ;
Et sans lui, foi, vertus, sacremens, tout n'est rien.
A ces discours pressans que sauroit-on répondre ?
Mais approchez ; je veux encor mieux vous confondre,
Docteurs. Dites-moi donc : quand nous sommes absous,

Le Saint-Esprit est-il, ou n'est-il pas en nous ?
S'il est en nous, peut-il, n'étant qu'amour lui-même,
Ne nous échauffer point de son amour suprême ?
Et s'il n'est pas en nous, Satan toujours vainqueur
Ne demeure-t-il pas maître de notre cœur ?
Avouez donc qu'il faut qu'en nous l'amour renaisse :
Et n'allez point, pour fuir la raison qui vous presse,
Donner le nom d'amour au trouble inanimé
Qu'au cœur d'un criminel la peur seule a formé.
L'ardeur qui jusiifie, et que Dieu nous envoie,
Quoiqu'ici-bas souvent inquiète et sans joie,
Est pourtant cette ardeur, ce même feu d'amour,
Dont brûle un bienheureux en l'éternel séjour.
Dans le fatal instant qui borne notre vie,
Il faut que de ce feu notre âme soit remplie ;
Et Dieu, sourd à nos cris s'il ne l'y trouve pas,
Ne l'y rallume plus après notre trépas.
Rendez-vous donc enfin à ces clairs syllogisme ;
Et ne prétendez plus, par vos confus sophismes,
Pouvoir encore aux yeux du fidèle éclairé
Cacher l'amour de Dieu dans l'école égaré.
Apprenez que la gloire où le ciel nous appelle
Un jour des vrais enfans doit couronner le zèle,
Et non les froids remords d'un esclave craintif,
Où crut voir Abéli[6] quelque amour négatif.
Mais quoi ! j'entends déjà plus d'un fier scolastique
Qui, me voyant ici sur ce ton dogmatique
En vers audacieux traiter ces points sacrés,
Curieux, me demande où j'ai pris mes degrés ;
Et si, pour m'éclairer sur ces sombres matières,

Deux cents auteurs extraits m'ont prêté leurs lumières.
Non. Mais pour décider que l'homme, qu'un chrétien
Est obligé d'aimer l'unique auteur du bien,
Le Dieu qui le nourrit, le Dieu qui le fit naître,
Qui nous vint par sa mort donner un second être,
Faut-il avoir reçu le bonnet doctoral,
Avoir extrait Gamache, Isambert et du Val[7] ?
Dieu, dans son livre saint, sans chercher d'autre ouvrage,
Ne l'a-t-il pas écrit lui-même à chaque page ?
De vains docteurs encore, o prodige honteux !
Oseront nous en faire un problème douteux !
Viendront traiter d'erreur digne de l'anathème
L'indispensable loi d'aimer Dieu pour lui-même,
Et, par un dogme faux dans nos jours enfanté,
Des devoirs du chrétien rayer la charité !
Si j'allois consulter chez eux le moins sévère,
Et lui disois : « Un fils doit-il aimer son père ?
— Ah ! peut-on en douter ? » diroit-il brusquement.
Et quand je leur demande en ce même moment :
« L'homme, ouvrage d'un Dieu seul bon et seul aimable,
Doit-il aimer ce Dieu, son père véritable ? »
Leur plus rigide auteur n'ose le décider,
Et craint, en l'affirmant, de se trop hasarder !
Je ne m'en puis défendre ; il faut que je t'écrive
La figure bizarre, et pourtant assez vive,
Que je sus l'autre jour employer dans son lieu,
Et qui déconcerta ces ennemis de Dieu.
Au sujet d'un écrit qu'on nous venoit de lire,
Un d'entre eux[8] m'insulta sur ce que j'osai dire
Qu'il faut, pour être absous d'un crime confessé,

Avoir pour Dieu du moins un amour commencé.
« Ce dogme, me dit-il, est un pur calvinisme. »
O ciel ! me voilà donc dans l'erreur, dans le schisme,
Et partant réprouvé ! « Mais, poursuivis-je alors,
Quand Dieu viendra juger les vivans et les morts,
Et des humbles agneaux, objets de sa tendresse,
Séparera des boucs la troupe pécheresse,
À tous il nous dira, sévère ou gracieux,
Ce qui nous fit impurs ou justes à ses yeux.
Selon vous donc, à moi réprouvé, bouc infâme,
« Va brûler, dira-t-il, en l'éternelle flamme,
« Malheureux qui soutins que l'homme dut m'aimer ;
« Et qui, sur ce sujet trop prompt à déclamer,
« Prétendis qu'il falloit, pour fléchir ma justice,
« Que le pécheur, touché de l'horreur de son vice,
« De quelque ardeur pour moi sentit les mouvemens,
« Et garda le premier de mes commandemens ? »
Dieu, si je vous en crois, me tiendra ce langage :
Mais à vous tendre agneau, son plus cher héritage.
Orthodoxe ennemi d'un dogme si blâmé,
« Venez, vous dira-t-il, venez, mon bien-aimé :
« Vous qui, dans les détours de vos raisons subtiles
« Embarrassant les mots d'un des plus saints conciles[9],
« Avez délivré l'homme, ô l'utile docteur !
» De l'importun fardeau d'aimer son Créateur ;
« Entrez au ciel, venez, comblé de mes louanges,
« Du besoin d'aimer Dieu désabuser les anges. »
A de tels mots, si Dieu pouvoit les prononcer,
Pour moi je répondrais, je crois, sans l'offenser,

« Oh ! que pour vous mon cœur moins dur et moins farouche,
« Seigneur, n'a-t-il, hélas ! parlé comme ma bouche ! »
Ce seroit ma réponse à ce Dieu fulminant.
Mais vous, de ses douceurs objet fort surprenant,
Je ne sais pas comment, ferme en votre doctrine,
Des ironiques mots de sa bouche divine
Vous pourriez, sans rougeur et sans confusion,
Soutenir l'amertume et la dérision. »
L'audace du docteur, par ce discours frappée,
Demeura sans réplique à ma prosopopée.
Il sortit tout à coup, et, murmurant tout bas
Quelques termes d'aigreur que je n'entendis pas,
S'en alla chez Binsfeld, ou chez Basile Ponce[10],
Sur l'heure à mes raisons chercher une réponse.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 07, 2019, 07:07:59 AM
Getting ready to start Revelations of Divine Love (Oxford World's Classics edition). I listened to it years ago, and found it uplifting, so hopefully reading it will be a helpful experience right now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GloriaPatri on September 08, 2019, 03:51:15 PM
I'm about to begin rereading The Second Apocalypse series by R. Scott Bakker. If you like fantasy novels with interesting philosophical themes woven throughout I'd definitely recommend it. It's also one of those series that can, and should, be reread multiple times if you want to get the most out of it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: rosenley on September 09, 2019, 12:14:48 AM
"The Long Loneliness" by Dorothy Day.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 10, 2019, 05:51:24 AM
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 10, 2019, 05:56:05 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 10, 2019, 05:51:24 AM
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I have this, but haven't read it (as with so many of my books). Do you like it? Is it easy to follow?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on September 10, 2019, 05:59:44 AM
Louis de Wohl's Set All Afire, about St. Francis Xavier
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 10, 2019, 09:27:57 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 10, 2019, 05:56:05 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 10, 2019, 05:51:24 AM
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I have this, but haven't read it (as with so many of my books). Do you like it? Is it easy to follow?
Yes I enjoyed it. It's very easy to follow. It seemed pretty accurate. I don't usually care for most modern fiction but this held my interest...which is good because the book is 989 pages.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on September 18, 2019, 09:21:45 PM
Quote from: Gardener on September 10, 2019, 05:59:44 AM
Louis de Wohl's Set All Afire, about St. Francis Xavier

I am currently reading his David of Jerusalem book.  I haven't read set all afire yet.   
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on September 18, 2019, 09:33:22 PM
It's very good. Makes me think of our own poster Xavier, and the flame which burns within him for the souls of his countrymen.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Vetus Ordo on September 20, 2019, 01:39:31 PM
I'm thinking about ordering this one:

(https://images.ucpress.edu/covers/300/9780520340411.jpg)

In Muhammad and the Empires of Faith, Sean W. Anthony demonstrates how reading non-Muslim and Muslim sources in tandem with a critical eye can breathe new life into the historical study of Muhammad and the world that his message transformed. By placing these sources within the intellectual and cultural world of Late Antiquity, Anthony offers a fresh assessment of the earliest sources for Muhammad's life, taking readers on a grand tour of the available evidence, and suggests what new insights stand to be gained from the techniques and methods pioneered by countless scholars over the decades in a variety of fields. Muhammad and the Empires of Faith offers both an authoritative introduction to the multilayered traditions surrounding the life of Muhammad and a compelling exploration of how these traditions interacted with the broader landscape of Late Antiquity.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on September 20, 2019, 03:01:55 PM
Had read Jonathan Clements. Christ's Samurai which recounts first the mainly Portuguese Jesuit mission, its suppression, and finally rebellion by both persecuted and over-taxed Catholics, and others were similarly over-taxed, under the leadership of sorts, of the youthful Jerome Amakusa. Nagasaki was briefly granted to the Jesuits, but Rome warned the mission that they were not to divest themselves of that. It switches between the past with the rebellion, the more recent past where hidden Christians were discovered reciting the distorted by sincerely recited Pater Noster. The Shogunate was thorough in its persecution, and while Christianity was not eliminated among the Japanese, almost books were lost, priests martyred or expelled with people having to stamp on sacred images and register with a temple on pain of severe, lethal punishment. It also switches to the present at points where Jerome Amakusa became a symbol of disaffected youth, and a local tourist draw.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on September 22, 2019, 03:03:51 PM
Columbine, by Dave Cullen; a really intense read. Mr. Cullen's research into the boy's lives and the tapes and dairy's that they left behind as well as tapping into the research of the F.B.I. Psychologist that headed the team that investigated their motives, as well as a vivid account of their plans and attack on the school, makes for a very fascinating book. I keep fantasizing on how I would stop them from perpetrating their horrible crime.
Here is a review from Amazon:
QuoteIf you want straightforward, factual information on the murders at Columbine High School, this is the book you want to read. It presents the facts and debunks many of the myths, but it also explains where the myths and misconceptions originated from. A lot of reviewers of this book disliked the way Cullen told the story by going back and forth between the day of the killings and the events leading up to April 20, 1999, but I thought it was a unique way to present the information. A lot of books written about events such as this tend to lead with all the background information and it can cause the reader to get bored. By weaving the background within the story of the killings, it kept me engaged in the story. This book also tackled the Cassie Bernall/Valeen Schnurr mix-up in a way that clarifies what happened without degrading Cassie Bernall, her family or those who still consider Cassie Bernall a martyr. This book also devotes a lot of effort into understanding the thought processes of both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Many other accounts I've read simply label Harris as a psychopath and Klebold as a "follower" or "sidekick" This book has more insight on Harris and Klebold than any other account I've read. It also explores the law enforcement cover-up of their knowledge about Eric Harris's bomb experimentation and his history of violent threats. A must-read for anyone looking to know the truth about what happened and to understand what can be done to prevent these attacks in the future.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 24, 2019, 03:46:24 AM
Baghdad Without a Map and other misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on September 24, 2019, 05:55:00 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 24, 2019, 03:46:24 AM
Baghdad Without a Map and other misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz.

It's an interesting read.

QuoteThings were never what they appeared. Deviousness was a folk art, contradiction a way of life, and nowhere more so than in the Iran of the ayatollan revolution. Mr. Horwitz tells of attending a rally in Teheran during the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Black-suited men were marching down a street, beating their chests and raising their fists, chanting "death to America." Mr. Horwitz managed to find a demonstrator who knew English, but when the man found out that Mr. Horwitz was American, he turned the conversation in a peculiar direction: he wanted to talk about Disneyland. "It has always been my dream," he explained, "to go there and take my children on the tea-cup ride." With that, he rejoined the other marchers and resumed his death-to-America chant.
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/17/books/baghdad-without-a-map-where-yes-and-no-mean-maybe.html
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 25, 2019, 07:43:51 AM
The Backbiting Tongue. And Winnie the Pooh.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 08, 2019, 05:06:30 AM
Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks. It's a novel about the Black Death. It's pretty boring, actually.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 14, 2019, 03:34:15 AM
The Last Plantagenets by Thomas B. Costain
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on October 15, 2019, 10:07:43 PM
I am reading "The man who founded california, the life of blessed junipero serra" by murville, ignatius press. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 20, 2019, 03:57:56 AM
Heidi. I finally found my favorite translation in hardcover. Leather-bound, no less! Received it for my birthday.  ;D Guess I'm still young at heart.   :P
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on October 20, 2019, 05:22:34 AM
1/3 of the way through Louis de Wohl's Citadel of God, about St. Benedict.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on October 20, 2019, 11:05:27 AM
"Twelfth  Night" by "Shakespeare"
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 04, 2019, 05:27:06 AM
The Three Edwards by Thomas B. Costain.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Vetus Ordo on November 04, 2019, 03:22:59 PM
The Mukhtasar al-Quduri:

A manual of Islamic Law according to the Hanafi School.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 04, 2019, 07:30:34 PM
Last week I read American Exorcism by Michael W. Cuneo.  I originally read it when it first came out in 2001 and used it as a source when I wrote a paper about exorcism in different religious traditions for a senior seminar in university.

Cuneo in the book examines exorcism and deliverance in both Catholic and protestant traditions, including the charismatics, prot and Catholic; the Pentecostals from whom the charismatics sprang; evangelicals; and the bona fide Catholic rite as performed by duly approved priests.  He interviews people and observes various deliverance and exorcism rites.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on November 05, 2019, 05:45:02 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on October 20, 2019, 11:05:27 AM
"Twelfth  Night" by "Shakespeare"

I abandoned this read. Too much prose, and when there was pentameter, most of the endings were female. Picked up King Henry IV Part 1 and I find immensely edifying. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 12, 2019, 07:04:55 PM
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin, translated by Lisa C. Hayden.

Only on page one.  It's set in medieval Russia.  When it came out a few years ago, it won awards.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on November 14, 2019, 04:33:23 PM
Quote from: Jacob on November 12, 2019, 07:04:55 PM
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin, translated by Lisa C. Hayden.

Only on page one.  It's set in medieval Russia.  When it came out a few years ago, it won awards.

It has good reviews on Amazon. Let us know what you think of it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on November 15, 2019, 08:10:13 AM
The book of Isaiah, Louis de Wohl's The Joyful Beggar (St. Francis of Assisi), and Col. Stuart A. Herrington's Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy Catcher's World.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 26, 2019, 09:39:32 AM
Quote from: Jacob on November 12, 2019, 07:04:55 PM
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin, translated by Lisa C. Hayden.

I enjoyed this very much and got a lot out of it.  It is an easy read, moves right along, with interesting characters.  It doesn't drag at all.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on November 27, 2019, 07:48:06 PM
Went to the library today and dropped off Laurus.  Picked up The Aviator by Vodolazkin.  It was well reviewed.  It won awards.  Translated by the same woman.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 30, 2019, 07:53:45 AM
Rescue of the Bounty: Disaster and Survival in Superstorm Sandy by Michael Tougias and Douglas Campbell.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on November 30, 2019, 10:35:57 PM
I am reading Tan Modern Saints, Louis Lamour short stories of the frontier, and Pascal's Provincial Letters. 

I just came across a passage last night that seems like a prophecy in Letter 2 of Pascal, where in dialogue with the New Thomists who try to ride a middle between the Jesuits and the Jansenists, Pascals says to him/them.  "The Jesuits will gain a triumph, it will be their grace, which is sufficient in fact, and not yours which is only so in name, that will pass as established: and the converse of your creed will become an article of faith." 

For a bit of context, Pascal says "in one word, then, I found that their difference about sufficient grace may be defined thus.  the Jesuits maintain that there is a grace given generally to all men, subject in such a way to free will that the will renders it efficacious or inefficacious at its pleasure, without any additional aid from God and without wanting anything on his part in order to act effectively; and hence they term this grace sufficient, because it suffices of itself for action.  The Janesnists, on the other hand, will not allow that any grace is actually sufficient which is not also efficacious; that is, that all those kings of grace which do not determine the will to act effectively are insufficient for action; ;for they hold that a man can never act without efficacious grace."

As for the doctrine of the new thomists "it is rather an odd one, they agree with the jesuits in admitting a sufficient grace given to all men, but they maintain at the same time, that no man can act with this grace alone, but that in order to do this, he must receive from God an efficacious grace which really determines his will to the action, and which God does not grant to all men."  "So, this grace is sufficient without being sufficient?  Exactly."

Do you think Pascal's prophecy came true?  Do you think the Jesuit's sufficient grace ties in with modernism? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 02, 2019, 05:44:15 PM
Little Dorrit. One of my favorites. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 19, 2019, 08:58:11 AM
The Last Job: The "Bad Grampas" and the Hatton Garden Heist by Dan Bilefsky
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on December 19, 2019, 12:11:42 PM
A Kindle Liturgical Year (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Y7C6247/ref=docs-os-doi_0) which seems fairly well done, and at c. 18 Euro is cheap than the hardcopy, which I'll get in time. Also an abbreviated Butler's Lives of the Saints[/url] 'edited for daily use' by Rev. Bernard Kelly. Published 1949. Interesting.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on December 21, 2019, 12:52:42 PM
I started reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and so far I am enjoying it. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 21, 2019, 01:02:02 PM
Phil,
the critique by Pascal on the Thomistic concept of "Sufficient grace" is the same as that emitted by other Catholic non-Thomistic theologians. The Thomists responded by stating that the Jesuit concept of "Sufficient grace" is Neo-Palagian. I agree with Pascal's view; but the Church has permitted both the Thomists and Molinists to hold their view and not to qualify the opposing one with the note of heresy. So things pretty much stand as they were after the "Chapter of Grace".
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 21, 2019, 01:11:57 PM
I just finished reading "This Kind of War" by T.R. Fehrenbach. The classic history of the Korean War;
I found it very interesting, one of the best Military History books I have read. The action is gripping and heartbreaking at the same time, as one reads of the sad and unprepared state that our soldiers were in when thrown into combat with a very determined enemy.
an Amazon Review From Mike Powers:
QuoteBefore this year, I knew very little about the Korean War. Now I know a lot more about what is called "the forgotten war," thanks to two books on the subject that I've read over the last two months. Earlier this week, I finished "This Kind of War: The Classic Military History of the Korean War" by T.R. Fehrenbach.

Fehrenbach tells his story primarily through the perspective of the individual soldiers who fought on the front lines of the war. He describes the living hell of some of the great battles of the war, including Seoul, Osan, Inchon, Imjin River, Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir, Bloody and Heartbreak Ridges, Pork Chop Hill, and others.

Fehrenbach wrote "This Kind of War" about ten years after he served in Korea as an Army officer. Although doesn't mention his Korean War experiences anywhere in his book, Fehrenbach's disillusionment with how the war was fought at all levels fairly drips from each page. His main criticism is that the United States was very much unprepared to fight a major land war in Asia – or anywhere else, for that matter. The Truman Administration had spent the five years after the end of World War II gutting defense budgets, reducing military personnel levels, and depriving the armed forces of the essential equipment they needed in order to win. Soldiers – especially those stationed in Japan, the ones who would end up being sent to Korea – had lost their fighting edge due to inadequate training and soft living.

Fehrenbach brings to life many of the most famous historical events of the war, including President Harry Truman's firing of General Douglas MacArthur, the death of General Walton Walker in a motor vehicle accident, and – most interestingly – the plight of prisoners of war (POWs) on both sides. Relying on interviews with American POWs who survived captivity, Fehrenbach paints a devastating picture of the sub-human conditions these soldiers were forced to endure. The author also gives a detailed account of the uprising in the United Nations POW camp on Koje-do Island, and how that rebellion by North Korean and Chinese prisoners was suppressed.

"This Kind of War" is an excellent account of the Korean War. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I learned a great deal from it. Highly recommended.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on December 25, 2019, 04:18:44 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on December 19, 2019, 12:11:42 PM
A Kindle Liturgical Year (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Y7C6247/ref=docs-os-doi_0) which seems fairly well done, and at c. 18 Euro is cheap than the hardcopy, which I'll get in time. Also an abbreviated Butler's Lives of the Saints[/url] 'edited for daily use' by Rev. Bernard Kelly. Published 1949. Interesting.

That *is* a great price for The Liturgical Year... I bought the Advent and Book One of the Christmas volumes (so far).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on December 25, 2019, 01:08:31 PM
Twilight of the Hapsburgs by professor Alan Palmer. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 25, 2019, 05:51:38 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on December 19, 2019, 12:11:42 PM
A Kindle Liturgical Year (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Y7C6247/ref=docs-os-doi_0) which seems fairly well done, and at c. 18 Euro is cheap than the hardcopy, which I'll get in time. Also an abbreviated Butler's Lives of the Saints[/url] 'edited for daily use' by Rev. Bernard Kelly. Published 1949. Interesting.
Finally! I've been waiting for so long for a kindle version! I've got a hardcover set that I'd be willing to part with, if you're interested. ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on December 25, 2019, 06:07:21 PM
Quote from: Lynne on December 25, 2019, 04:18:44 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on December 19, 2019, 12:11:42 PM
A Kindle Liturgical Year (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Y7C6247/ref=docs-os-doi_0) which seems fairly well done, and at c. 18 Euro is cheap than the hardcopy, which I'll get in time. Also an abbreviated Butler's Lives of the Saints[/url] 'edited for daily use' by Rev. Bernard Kelly. Published 1949. Interesting.

That *is* a great price for The Liturgical Year... I bought the Advent and Book One of the Christmas volumes (so far).

I ordered v1 off Ebay, for most of what I paid for the Kindle text. A hardback book has a comfy aspect, and a hardback Liturgical Year, but the price tag for it, and quite probably the space requirements, will be a bit beyond me for a while. Glossaries for words link to the online Catholic Encyclopedia[/url], and the content is properly navigable.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on December 25, 2019, 08:17:39 PM
I got mine here for around 200$. It's soft cover
https://www.traditionalcatholicpublishing.com/liturgical-year.html
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 04, 2020, 11:55:40 AM
I'm considering 1Q84, by Murakami. I'm worried that it might be too weird for me, though. Anybody read it?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 04, 2020, 04:07:27 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on December 25, 2019, 08:17:39 PM
I got mine here for around 200$. It's soft cover
https://www.traditionalcatholicpublishing.com/liturgical-year.html
I owned those books for a while, and they are really great; unfortunately the only thing I remember about them, is that D. Gueranger stated that August was the month with the most saints feastdays.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 08, 2020, 04:24:03 AM
The third in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy, Cities of the Plain. Outstanding.
"A landscape of low shacks of tin and cratewood here on the outskirts of the city. Barren dirt and gravel lots and beyond them the plains of sage and creosote. Roosters were calling and the air smelled of burning charcoal. He took his bearings by the grey light to the east and set out toward the city. In the cold dawn the lights were still burning out there under the dark cape of the mountains with that precious insularity common to cities of the desert. A man was coming down the road driving a donkey piled high with firewood. In the distance the churchbells had begun. The man smiled at him a sly smile. As if they knew a secret between them, these two. Something of age and youth and their claims and the justice of those claims. And of the claims upon them. The world past, the world to come. Their common transiencies. Above all a knowing deep in the bone that beauty and loss are one."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 23, 2020, 02:54:04 PM
http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=19648&fbclid=IwAR1I-TNCASVbBzPjOHHnX8aBVW6YCaupTmyrVxMNYdmjWf7BNq7JETGo1Fc
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 23, 2020, 05:58:39 PM
"On Desperate Ground" by Hampton Sides; on the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Korea. Fantastic account of how the First Marine Division, trapped and surrounded on Chosin Reservoir, repelled repeated attacks by five Chinese Communist divisions and was able to fight its way back to the coast and withdraw successfully from North Korea, under terrible winter conditions. A great story.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on January 23, 2020, 06:06:57 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on January 23, 2020, 05:58:39 PM
"On Desperate Ground" by Hampton Sides; on the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Korea. Fantastic account of how the First Marine Division, trapped and surrounded on Chosin Reservoir, repelled repeated attacks by five Chinese Communist divisions and was able to fight its way back to the coast and withdraw successfully from North Korea, under terrible winter conditions. A great story.

I read this about 10 years ago, or something similar, but I am pretty sure it was this. Handed to me from a Marine friend at the time. Incredible feats of fortitude. The author did a masterful job of weaving personal stories within the wider topic. Crap freezing solid before their pants are pulled up, stacking bodies of 15 year olds for bumper, pinched on three sides. Misery.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 26, 2020, 04:29:20 AM
King Edward VIII by Philip Ziegler
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 26, 2020, 02:11:02 PM
Read Tom Holland, Dominion, The Making of the West Mind which is a history of how Christianity formed European political thought and attitudes, even where Christianity seems absent, like with Marxist-Leninism, by pointing out how these systems draw from Christian ideas of the 'New Man' or redemption, or that Richard Dawkin's evangelical atheism is heavily influenced by his own Anglican upbringing, although he at least admits that. Anyhow, Tom Holland notes wryly that some of the harsher ideas brought about by Darwinism, like Social Darwinism, really originate with the Origin of the Species which posited that inferior human societies went extinct. It wasn't the sinister work of Hebert Spencer or others.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on January 27, 2020, 06:14:22 AM
In This House of Brede.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on January 27, 2020, 09:01:14 AM
Endo's "The Samurai"
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 10, 2020, 06:15:20 AM
The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. Very good. The story of a guy who stole bird skins from a natural history museum to sell to fly tiers and made a fair amount of money at it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 10, 2020, 09:17:13 AM
https://www.city-journal.org/cultural-moralists?fbclid=IwAR0ouGX7Or4cGU6bEqFygx0fwJCyRwBK1BhC07M9fjOv0BayANvgrJ05ywg#.XkFu7i6d1tY.facebook
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Gardener on February 10, 2020, 09:44:05 AM
Desert Wife by Hilda Faunce.

"This is the compelling narrative of the wife of an Indian trader in the desert wilderness of the Navajos before World War I. No other book about life at such trading posts equals its revealing portrayal of the land and the people, and its implication of the racial differences still confronting us today."—From the introduction by Frank Waters
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 08, 2020, 04:05:46 PM
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk by Jennifer Niven
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on March 09, 2020, 12:12:38 PM
This topic seems not to appear at times.

Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour, William C. Davis.

A balance and utterly detailed account of the Confederate President, which shows both his nobility of character but also extraordinary flaws. Obsessive to getting the last word in any argument, favouring friendship over ability among Generals, yet tried extraordinarily hard to lead states and politicians who disdained his ceaseless efforts at leadership, and, following his brother Joseph, applied the humane policies of Robert Owen to his own slaves, dismissing any foremen who flogged them, and making sure they could be educated.

Did Muhammed exist?, Robert Spencer

In spite of the title, this polemicist again Islam is more focused the Quran shows more than a trace of an Arian or anti-Trinitarian Syriac text. I find this intriguing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 13, 2020, 08:09:55 AM
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith, One of my favorites when I was 16. Let's see if it's aged well. ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on March 14, 2020, 06:12:21 PM
I'm reading through the Narnia books for the first time, and am on Prince Caspian now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 16, 2020, 02:34:36 AM
Prince Caspian was always my favorite. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 16, 2020, 07:26:32 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 13, 2020, 08:09:55 AM
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith, One of my favorites when I was 16. Let's see if it's aged well. ;)

I love that book
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on March 16, 2020, 11:15:50 PM
I am reading "it happened in old santa Barbara".  It contains short stories/events from the towns history.   

I am also reading treasure mountain by louis lamour. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 31, 2020, 05:08:45 AM
American Sniper by Chris Kyle.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 05, 2020, 04:25:30 PM
A Painted House, by John Grisham.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 13, 2020, 04:07:59 AM
Evelyn Waugh: A Biography by Christopher Sykes
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Habitual_Ritual on April 14, 2020, 09:02:24 AM
My copy of E Michael Jones' Logos rising just shipped. Should be a good 'un. Discussed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMxjioJzF3k&t=1780s

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 15, 2020, 03:54:57 PM
Looking forward to reading The Lord of the Rings. I just bought the hardcover set on Amazon: they have it on sale right now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on May 15, 2020, 07:29:10 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 15, 2020, 03:54:57 PM
Looking forward to reading The Lord of the Rings. I just bought the hardcover set on Amazon: they have it on sale right now.

I'm listening to that on audible right now when I fold laundry.  I rotate between that and a few other things each day
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 16, 2020, 07:16:16 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on May 15, 2020, 07:29:10 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 15, 2020, 03:54:57 PM
Looking forward to reading The Lord of the Rings. I just bought the hardcover set on Amazon: they have it on sale right now.

I'm listening to that on audible right now when I fold laundry.  I rotate between that and a few other things each day

I have it on audible, too. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on May 16, 2020, 03:57:45 PM
Rereading Master and Commander by O'Brian right now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 18, 2020, 05:14:49 PM
St. Pius X, By Ives Chiron. This is the second biography that I have read from the same author, the other being, Pius IX; both of them very well done, well written and researched. Covered all the most important aspects of St. Pius' life, including a lot of information from his earlier youth, seminary years and his first parish assignments. The fight against Modernism; the struggle against the French governments confiscation of Catholic property; the sanctification of the priests through assuring of good doctrinal and moral formation in the seminaries; the promotion of frequent even daily Communion among the faithful and early first Communion; frequent and regular catechetical instruction by the parish clergy;  etc.
Very good book. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 18, 2020, 05:36:50 PM

Raised by the Church: Growing up in New York City's Catholic Orphanages, by Edward Rohs. $2.99 on kindle. I hope it portrays the Church positively.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 18, 2020, 07:21:25 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 18, 2020, 05:36:50 PM

Raised by the Church: Growing up in New York City's Catholic Orphanages, by Edward Rohs. $2.99 on kindle. I hope it portrays the Church positively.
Let us know, once you read it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 29, 2020, 10:01:25 AM
I'm listening to Herman Wouk's Winds of War. Figured I'd get the most bang for my audible credit. ;)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 04, 2020, 01:46:53 PM
The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution by Alan Taylor
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: rosenley on June 04, 2020, 04:25:51 PM
1. Liberty, the God That Failed: Policing the Sacred and Constructing the Myths of the Secular State, from Locke to Obama by Christopher A. Ferrara

2. Nothing to Vote for: The Futility of the American Electoral Process by Daniel Schwindt

3. The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit: And Its Impact on World History by E. Michael Jones
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on June 04, 2020, 05:49:22 PM
The Far Side of the World by O'Brian.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on June 05, 2020, 01:35:21 AM
The Hobbit - Never actually read it in full, nor have I read LOTR, and that will change.

Smarter - Dan Hurley

Aquinas - Ed Feser
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: rosenley on June 06, 2020, 02:39:27 PM
Quote from: rosenley on June 04, 2020, 04:25:51 PM
1. Liberty, the God That Failed: Policing the Sacred and Constructing the Myths of the Secular State, from Locke to Obama by Christopher A. Ferrara

2. Nothing to Vote for: The Futility of the American Electoral Process by Daniel Schwindt

3. The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit: And Its Impact on World History by E. Michael Jones

I just finished Daniel Schwindt's book today. I have now started Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire by William T. Cavanaugh.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 17, 2020, 02:56:36 PM
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr and Harding's Luck, by Edith Nesbit.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on June 17, 2020, 08:52:09 PM
The Wine-Dark Sea, O'Brian.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on June 22, 2020, 08:04:23 AM
Rereading James Herriot series
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 22, 2020, 03:58:37 PM
Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on June 22, 2020, 04:13:37 PM
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003L77ZVQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on June 23, 2020, 02:23:59 AM
I'm re-reading While the Eyes of the Great are Elsewhere.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 23, 2020, 09:19:34 AM
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 23, 2020, 09:57:37 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 23, 2020, 09:19:34 AM
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford.

I almost bought that, when it was on sale a few weeks ago. Is it good?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on June 23, 2020, 12:23:55 PM
The Spartans: An Epic History,', Paul Cartledge.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on June 24, 2020, 04:54:52 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on June 23, 2020, 12:23:55 PM
The Spartans: An Epic History,', Paul Cartledge.

This is madness ...

I'll get me coat.

(context: here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Prc1UfuokY) )
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 26, 2020, 11:05:55 AM
I just found Stones From the River, by Ursula Hegi, as an unabridged audiobook. I can't wait to listen to it: I've wanted it as an audiobook for about 15 years!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 01, 2020, 08:02:40 PM
Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 11, 2020, 05:07:41 AM
Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. The third in a trilogy of Roosevelt's life. This one covers  his post-White House years.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Santantonio on July 11, 2020, 03:23:15 PM
The End of American History, David W. Noble.

* actually a re-read, as I first read it 33 years ago!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Antoninus on July 12, 2020, 09:52:39 AM
Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians

It is the first in a trilogy by John Hemming. This volume covers the discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese to the expulsion of the Jesuits from South America.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 17, 2020, 05:41:08 PM
The Annotated Secret Garden
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: rosenley on July 18, 2020, 11:10:58 PM
"Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism: Considered in Their Fundamental Principles" by Juan Donoso Cortes
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: abc123 on July 23, 2020, 05:52:05 PM
History of the 2nd Regiment, West Virginia Cavalry Volunteers by J.J Sutton, 1892
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: truly-a-philosofan on July 24, 2020, 03:20:43 AM
Rereading The Confessions by St. Augustine. And I need more commitment to continue reading the two volumes of The Great Political Theories, which contain passages from the works of various western thinkers for two and a half millennia. They were edited by Michael Curtis.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: paul14 on July 24, 2020, 04:50:43 AM
Just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - enjoyed it.

reading Hilaire Belloc - the Jews (but it is a bit heavy going) - many interesting points though.  It's interesting to note that when it was written that there was no state of Israel so many of the points he makes about the Jewish diaspora have a different perspective.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50556

I might read this again. It was very sad but then it fits my melancholy temperament.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unreasonable-Behaviour-Jim-Parton/dp/068481692X/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&qid=1595588012&refinements=p_27%3AJim+Parton&s=books&sr=1-4&text=Jim+Parton
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on July 24, 2020, 07:12:27 AM
Quote from: paul14 on July 24, 2020, 04:50:43 AM
Just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - enjoyed it.

reading Hilaire Belloc - the Jews (but it is a bit heavy going) - many interesting points though.  It's interesting to note that when it was written that there was no state of Israel so many of the points he makes about the Jewish diaspora have a different perspective.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50556

I might read this again. It was very sad but then it fits my melancholy temperament.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unreasonable-Behaviour-Jim-Parton/dp/068481692X/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&qid=1595588012&refinements=p_27%3AJim+Parton&s=books&sr=1-4&text=Jim+Parton

"Harry Potter is from Hell." -- a priest  There is significant evidence from Exorcists that aforesaid books are portals to darkness. Not recommended, Paul. I know you are a grown man and will make your own decisions, but I say this in full Charity.

The Belloc title, on the other hand, is something for indexing for later. Thanks.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: paul14 on July 25, 2020, 09:53:52 AM
Quote from: Heinrich on July 24, 2020, 07:12:27 AM
Quote from: paul14 on July 24, 2020, 04:50:43 AM
Just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - enjoyed it.

reading Hilaire Belloc - the Jews (but it is a bit heavy going) - many interesting points though.  It's interesting to note that when it was written that there was no state of Israel so many of the points he makes about the Jewish diaspora have a different perspective.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50556

I might read this again. It was very sad but then it fits my melancholy temperament.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unreasonable-Behaviour-Jim-Parton/dp/068481692X/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&qid=1595588012&refinements=p_27%3AJim+Parton&s=books&sr=1-4&text=Jim+Parton

"Harry Potter is from Hell." -- a priest  There is significant evidence from Exorcists that aforesaid books are portals to darkness. Not recommended, Paul. I know you are a grown man and will make your own decisions, but I say this in full Charity.

The Belloc title, on the other hand, is something for indexing for later. Thanks.

Who are these 'priests' you speak of?  Would they be the priests who have closed the churches for 4 months and deprived countless billions of the sacraments!  Harry Potter may be a portal to hell (in your opinion) but these priests have closed the portal to Heaven.

Go forth and multiply.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on July 25, 2020, 11:38:42 AM
Quote from: paul14 on July 25, 2020, 09:53:52 AM
Quote from: Heinrich on July 24, 2020, 07:12:27 AM
Quote from: paul14 on July 24, 2020, 04:50:43 AM
Just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - enjoyed it.

reading Hilaire Belloc - the Jews (but it is a bit heavy going) - many interesting points though.  It's interesting to note that when it was written that there was no state of Israel so many of the points he makes about the Jewish diaspora have a different perspective.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50556

I might read this again. It was very sad but then it fits my melancholy temperament.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unreasonable-Behaviour-Jim-Parton/dp/068481692X/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&qid=1595588012&refinements=p_27%3AJim+Parton&s=books&sr=1-4&text=Jim+Parton

"Harry Potter is from Hell." -- a priest  There is significant evidence from Exorcists that aforesaid books are portals to darkness. Not recommended, Paul. I know you are a grown man and will make your own decisions, but I say this in full Charity.

The Belloc title, on the other hand, is something for indexing for later. Thanks.

Who are these 'priests' you speak of?  Would they be the priests who have closed the churches for 4 months and deprived countless billions of the sacraments!  Harry Potter may be a portal to hell (in your opinion) but these priests have closed the portal to Heaven.

Go forth and multiply.

Here's one who is not alive to close churches: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/worlds-top-exorcist-saw-the-devil-in-harry-potter-yoga-and-thousands-of-middle-aged-middle-class-women

Who is your priest who has not closed up church and is OK with the HP?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: paul14 on July 25, 2020, 01:12:04 PM
I'm tired of the old Harry Potter canard which gets rolled out on a regular basis.

If you are going to spout warnings about anything in the modern world it should be pornography. I reckon it is by far the biggest temptation for men.

The irony is that I was not really into Harry Potter all that much when it came out. I know people who raved about it. I picked up a copy in the library about 5 years after all the hysteria had died down. Bottom line, I just thought it was quite a good story. Sure, they are waving wands and casting spells and stuff but doesn't Gandalf do stuff like that in Lord of the Rings. I liked the way everything linked up and the character development.

It did not make me interested in the occult or anything. I finished it and then moved onto other books.

Maybe everybody is perfect on this forum but I think that there is a fair bit of literary virtue signalling going on. Everybody seems to be reading St Ignatius, or some kind of spiritual exercises. I do not believe that some of these same people do not read other profane literature (they just talk about all the virtuous stuff). I do not think people like to admit that the are reading it in case it makes them look bad. Same thing applies to TV. I guarantee people are watching stuff which has the odd unsuitable bit in it which perhaps they have to skip. They would not admit to it.

The post was, "What are you reading at the moment". Well, that is what I was reading. This whole covid19 stuff has
really got me down and I just wanted a story to take my mind off my troubles. I have about 50 books on my Kindle; some are religious, some are scientific, financial etc.

There is a similar series to Harry Potter called His Dark Materials which I think is more sinister and I would not read.

Rant Over.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jayne on July 25, 2020, 02:34:33 PM
Quote from: paul14 on July 25, 2020, 01:12:04 PM
There is a similar series to Harry Potter called His Dark Materials which I think is more sinister and I would not read.

This author of His Dark Materials, Philip Pulman, is on record saying that his goal in writing this series is to draw children to atheism.  He sees himself as an atheist version of CS Lewis, presenting his ideas through children's stories.  They really are horrid and blasphemous.  I always found it ironic that people make such a big fuss about Harry Potter, when Pulman's stories are far worse.  I acknowledge that there are legitimate criticisms of Harry Potter, but it is not at the same level.

Since I'm on this thread, I'll say that I am currently reading a Regency romance series by Sheila Simonson.  I know I have read some of them already but it was a long time ago so I am just put them all on my Kobo and am doing the whole thing in order now. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: truly-a-philosofan on July 26, 2020, 10:41:56 AM
Quote from: paul14 on July 25, 2020, 01:12:04 PM

The irony is that I was not really into Harry Potter all that much when it came out. I know people who raved about it. I picked up a copy in the library about 5 years after all the hysteria had died down. Bottom line, I just thought it was quite a good story. Sure, they are waving wands and casting spells and stuff but doesn't Gandalf do stuff like that in Lord of the Rings. I liked the way everything linked up and the character development.

Gandalf, according to the lore, is not human anyway. And the power he has is one of his natural faculties. So comparing the LOTR ?wizards? with the human wizards in Harry Potter is a non-starter.

Anyway, to add to this thread, I am also reading The City of God by St. Augustine (yes I am attracted to the works of this great western Father), and Pensées by Blaise Pascal.


P. S. I did not read either of the Harry Potter books or the LOTR books. But I pretty much learned some facts about the LOTR lore by spoilers from the internet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Daniel on July 26, 2020, 04:38:56 PM
Quote from: Jayne on July 25, 2020, 02:34:33 PM
I always found it ironic that people make such a big fuss about Harry Potter, when Pulman's stories are far worse.  I acknowledge that there are legitimate criticisms of Harry Potter, but it is not at the same level.

I suppose so. But it's only because His Dark Materials isn't as mainstream. So Harry Potter is the bigger danger, even though it's not as bad.


Quote from: paul14 on July 25, 2020, 01:12:04 PM
I liked the way everything linked up and the character development.

Personally, I didn't like the seventh book. (And I read it before I was Catholic, before I was much aware of all the controversy.) I enjoyed the first six books, but the seventh seemed sloppy and abrupt. As if the author wanted to end the series in a certain way but realized too late that there were still like four or five horcruxes left, and that she needed to squeeze it all into a single book, so she basically came up with the whole "Nazis take over the school" idea in order to abandon the established formula, and then she started killing off characters left and right to get them out of the way. The ending didn't make a whole lot of sense either, though my memory's kind of foggy on the details.

The thing with the character development is that it only worked because most of the heroes were antiheroes and because most of the villains were antivillains. While this may make the story more interesting or more entertaining, it's extremely problematic for a young audience who looks up to the "heroes" as role models. This is the problem with most literature and movies these days. Nothing's black and white, and there's no sense of a "virtuous hero" until you get to the very end of the final book (and that's assuming the hero has actually attained virtue by the end).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 27, 2020, 04:40:17 AM
The Decline and Fall of the House of Windsor by Donald Spoto
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on July 27, 2020, 03:33:05 PM
Imperial Tragedy, from Constantine's empire to the destruction of Roman Italy AD 363-568 Michael Kulikowski.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 16, 2020, 05:23:58 AM
The Sea-Wolf by Jack London
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on August 16, 2020, 11:50:26 AM
I am reading California by Dana Fuller Ross.  It is a fictional novel set in California gold country during beginning years of the gold rush.  It is really good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 31, 2020, 06:42:20 PM
Little, by Edward Carey. About Mme. Toussaud and the French Revolution. Very creepy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Non Nobis on August 31, 2020, 09:54:50 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on August 31, 2020, 06:42:20 PM
Little, by Edward Carey. About Mme. Toussaud and the French Revolution. Very creepy.

I was intrigued after reading the Amazon reviews too, and it was only $1.99 for Kindle so I gave into the impulse... Maybe good for Halloween?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 01, 2020, 05:10:41 AM
Benedict Arnold's Navy by James L. Nelson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 12, 2020, 12:43:01 PM
Flowers for Algernon and Oliver Twist.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on September 14, 2020, 10:52:33 AM
Lark Rise to Candleford: A Trilogy
https://www.amazon.com/Lark-Rise-Candleford-Flora-Thompson/dp/1567923631/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3K4VOH9LGJEWP&dchild=1&keywords=lark+rise+to+candleford+book&qid=1600102317&sprefix=lark+rise+%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-1

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 14, 2020, 11:36:54 AM
Ooh, that looks good!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on September 14, 2020, 11:47:18 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 14, 2020, 11:36:54 AM
Ooh, that looks good!

It is very good so far.  THere is a british tv version that is good, too
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 17, 2020, 04:59:32 AM
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Frank on September 19, 2020, 02:08:52 AM
This looks interesting.

https://medium.com/@rjpmeridian/misinformation-and-the-prospect-of-catalytic-war-9a3b4ca70cd9

I've copied the text below in case the link is lost.

It's almost tempting to become paranoid and think
SD is being penetrated by the Vatican mafia.

Or even the Russians - after all Greg does have a
Russian wife. 😈

QuoteMisinformation and the Prospect of Catalytic War

In July 1870, France declared war on Prussia after learning the Prussian king had insulted the French envoy during a meeting concerning affairs in Spain. Unknown to the French, Prussian Chancellor Bismarck had fabricated the story about the insult to provoke them into war. Bismarck knew France was militarily inferior and that a declaration would push southern German states to finally unify with Prussia. The "Ems Dispatch" ruse worked and the war was a catastrophe for France, marking the end of the Second French Empire and the birth of the German Empire.
Battle of Sedan https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Sedan
In August 1964, the United States Navy alleged their ships had been unjustly attacked by North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin in international waters. Some officers contended the reports were inaccurate but before the incident could be fully verified, the President ordered military retaliation. The President then requested and received near-unanimous congressional and public approval for virtually unlimited authority to wage war on North Vietnam. In 2005, declassified documents confirmed the president knew the reports were false. The war, however, quickly escalated out of the president's control, sparking years of protest and major political divisions throughout the country before ending in an ignominious withdrawal nine years later.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/gulf-of-tonkin-resolution-1
These historical incidents demonstrate how war can result from misinformation and deceit as much as they can from accidents and miscalculation. All warfare may be based on deception but disinformation is poised to destabilize international affairs in an unprecedented way.
Thomas Rid is a political scientist who focuses on the nexus between technology and conflict. His latest book, Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare, provides an exceptional historical overview of misinformation operations and the challenges they present for national security.
Active Measures, The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare by Thomas Rid https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780
Within the counterintelligence portfolio, active measures are unique in their embedding of disinformation within an ostensibly legitimate and mostly truthful medium, whether it is a document, report, periodical, book, audio or video recording, or a digital posting.
Rid describes how disinformation marked the origins of the Soviet Union and how its brand of misinformation came into its own in the early Sixties in the middle of the Cold War. Soviet leadership devoted considerable funding and manpower, elevated political warfare's organisational standing, and integrated its satellites' intelligence capabilities. The mission of the new KGB organisation, Service A, was to identify and analyze enemy fissures and failures, and then "to exploit the discovered vulnerabilities in a systematic, worldwide effort."
Psychological Warfare, Psychological Operations, and Information Operations https://www.psywar.org/
And the Soviets excelled — "anti-Western campaigns were aggressive, fast-paced, and used innovative methods that evolved quickly and in unexpected frightening ways."
The Soviets altered Army Field Manuals, leaked falsified nuclear plans for Europe, invented rumors of Nazi gold in a Czechoslovakian lake, co-opted the nuclear freeze movement, and, most notoriously, claimed AIDS was the invention of American scientists.
Operation "Denver": KGB and Stasi Disinformation regarding AIDS https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/operation-denver-kgb-a
After the Cold War ended, Russian intelligence services withered significantly. Misinformation, instead, became the weapon of choice in the competition for power during the Nineties — a virtual information civil war. The period ended when a former KGB agent ascended to the presidency in 2000 and conscripted this new generation of seasoned operators and their sophisticated media skills into a revitalized Russian national security apparatus.
Initially, Russian information operations took the form of cyber-disruption and were once limited to the country's "near abroad," such as Estonia in 2007 and Georgia in 2008.
When democratic upheaval finally breached Russia's near abroad in the form of the 2014 Maidan Revolution in the Ukraine, it began targeting the West.
Russian efforts culminated in 2016 and 2017, when it undertook election interference operations directly against the United States and the United Kingdom (Brexit), France (presidency), and Germany (federal offices).
Image for post
Regarding the 2016 American presidential election, many observers have speculated why. At the personal level, many allege Russia acted to deny Hillary Clinton the presidency in revenge for her comments during anti-government protests in 2011. In terms of geopolitics, others suggested various reasons. Interference was retribution for democracy promotion in Russia's sphere of influence or a warning to refrain from seeking regime change in Moscow or simply a reminder to treat Russia as a great power.
Whatever the reason, a few high-profile email leaks and a provocative Facebook campaign resurrected Russia as a great power competitor (despite half the population, half the economy, and half the defence budget of the United States).
In Rid's analysis, the email hacks and fake social media accounts were entirely ineffective.
However, the power of misinformation lies in its indirect consequences.
In the main, Rid describes how the media indefensibly exaggerated the impact of the Russian Facebook campaign. Journalistic standards collapsed as reporters failed to scrutinize questionable evidence, published unverified conclusions, circulated unsubstantiated accusations, and adopted an overtly partisan tone. Misinformation had succeeded in inverting reality — what was balanced was derided as biased and what was suspect was declared plausible.
Image for post
Rid's conclusions are twofold — neither comforting.
First, misinformation succeeds because its melding of fact and fiction prompts not contemplation but consternation. Misinformation is essentially anti-information — a weapon marked by reassuring facts but concealing an emotionally inflammatory payload.
Second, the Internet accelerates, augments, and amplifies misinformation. Deposited in the obscure corners of cyberspace, seemingly dormant misinformation is instantly animated when it's discovered. Whether the mark ratifies or refutes it, misinformation's very acknowledgment unknowingly legitimizes it and initiates its dissemination. Inexorably, journalists will elevate its visibility, analysts will debate its validity, pundits will argue over its significance, and everyone will share it on social media.
Image for post
While Cold War forgeries could be exposed and refuted, the Internet endlessly recycles misinformation from objective to subjective and back again. The antagonist then feeds the media scrum another fabrication, which has been designed to exacerbate the original confusion by "validating" one side's interpretation. The result is a proliferation of heated emotional fissures across the body politic and the inability to separate fact from fiction.
Traditionally, active measures are the product of a state bureaucracy staffed by professionals and allocated substantial budgets, but, as with many enterprises, misinformation is being privatised and decentralised.
More ominously, anyone with Internet access can obtain and use the world's most sophisticated cyber-weapons and undertake their own misinformation campaign.
Rid closes his history by recounting how a mysterious cadre of hackers calling themselves the Shadow Brokers penetrated the National Security Agency in 2016 and stole the country's arsenal of cutting-edge cyber tools.
Image for post
The intrusion constituted a monumental security breach and jeopardized wide-ranging signals intelligence operations around the world. Furthermore, the penetration distracted national security agencies at a critical time, namely defending the nation's electoral system from cyber-attack.
Hackers eventually gained access to NSA's tools and rapidly overwhelmed IT systems around the world. Ukraine's national infrastructure, Britain's health system, a Danish shipping giant, and an American multinational food distributor were among the theft's many collateral victims.
And no one has figured out who the Shadow Brokers were.
Episodes such as this feed theorists' speculation that in the future America will suffer a "cyber Pearl Harbour" or a "cyber 9/11." Plausible fears but, at a minimum, decision-makers could take comfort knowing that in each of these precedents, the identity of the aggressor was immediately obvious and the fate visited upon the Japanese and the Taliban (at least at the outset) would deter any imitators.
However, the potential combination of cyber-weapons promising anonymity and anti-information introduces the prospect of manufactured security crises.
The greater threat is a "cyber Ems Dispatch" or a "cyber Gulf of Tonkin" whereby a third party anonymously introduces misinformation to purposely instigate or aggravate existing tensions in a volatile region (e.g. Western Pacific, Persian Gulf). The active measure sabotages decision-makers' ability to objectively assess the situation and enrages their respective publics. The result is an armed conflict arising from circumstances falsified by a third party — a catalytic war.
Like American national security after a cyber-catastrophe, international security would never be the same after a misinformation-instigated catalytic war.
Prussian theorist Carl von Clausewitz's simple but enduring maxim asserts war is nothing but a duel on a larger scale. If the Prussian theorist were alive today, he might concede the duellists may not know the truth behind their post-haste rush to the duelling grounds.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Greg on September 19, 2020, 02:32:28 AM
So the Russians were simultaneously brilliant at super secret and super effective global plots, whilst being absolutely crap at making safe nuclear reactors and putting sausages on the shelf?

Their cars were shit, but the guy who went to university with the apparachik who ran the car factory was able to infiltrate western institutions?

That super clever master plotter had to drive a crap car and live in an apartment where the lift smelled of an alcoholic's puke and drive a car like a Volga, (which drives like a hillbilly's Volvo), was not bothered by that?  He never drove to work thinking, "if I undermine the west I may never own a Mercedes or Lexus"

Does not compute.  Russians laugh at the idea that they are competent enough to do any of this stuff.  They have some good computer hackers and are good at fraud, ballet and synchronised swimming.  But the KGB simply are nothing like that clever.  You are describing a super-human level of organisation, secrecy and determination that exists perhaps at Google or Goldman Sachs, where they have the cleverest people, the best tools and unlimited budgets, but you are not describing Russia.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on September 19, 2020, 07:53:17 AM
Quote from: Greg on September 19, 2020, 02:32:28 AM
So the Russians were simultaneously brilliant at super secret and super effective global plots, whilst being absolutely crap at making safe nuclear reactors and putting sausages on the shelf?

Their cars were shit, but the guy who went to university with the apparachik who ran the car factory was able to infiltrate western institutions?

That super clever master plotter had to drive a crap car and live in an apartment where the lift smelled of an alcoholic's puke and drive a car like a Volga, (which drives like a hillbilly's Volvo), was not bothered by that?  He never drove to work thinking, "if I undermine the west I may never own a Mercedes or Lexus"

Does not compute. 

Yes it does, if you consider "What do they want? What do they care about?"

The driven idealogues who were often very brilliant cared about destroying the West more than they cared about consumer goods. So that's what they focused on.

Soap in the stores was not a priority for them. Nuclear bombs and undermining the West was.

Just yesterday the Daily Mail had an article about a woman who spent years living a normal life in England on the surface, but all the time she was passing nuclear secrets to the Russians. She was a brilliant Jew from Berlin, and this is how she chose to spend her life.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-8744865/Cotswolds-mother-renowned-perfect-scones-Soviet-spy-Colonel-Ursula-Kuczynski.html

Village housewife, first-rate baker... and top Soviet spy: Mrs Len Burton was a Cotswolds mother of three renowned for her perfect scones - but was also a colonel in Russian intelligence who sent Britain's atomic secrets from her privy

- Ben Macintyre's book Agent Sonya tells story of  Colonel Ursula Kuczynski
- She lived in Oxfordshire hamlet Great Rollright and was known as Mrs Burton
- The spy was on active duty and had radio transmitter tuned to Soviet intelligence
- She fled to East Berlin in 1950 and retired as a spy before dying in 2000 aged 93


Her scones were the envy of the Oxfordshire hamlet of Great Rollright, where the friendly woman known as Mrs Burton lived in a stone farmhouse.

In her late 30s, she moved there with her three children and husband Len just after the end of World War II.

She had a faint foreign accent but the locals took no notice and she soon became a stalwart of village life.

They were unaware of the massive secret she was hiding — one that even now, 75 years later, had me reeling in amazement at the audacity and ingenuity it involved on her part.

And the unforgivable treachery.

Because, beneath the mask of respectability, Mrs Burton was really Colonel Ursula Kuczynski of the Red Army — aka Agent Sonya, a dedicated communist, decorated Soviet intelligence officer and highly trained spy who had conducted espionage operations in China, Poland and Switzerland before coming to Britain on Moscow's orders.

In Oxfordshire, she was very much on active duty.

In the privy was a radio transmitter tuned to Soviet intelligence headquarters.

Growing up in a family of Left-wing Jewish intellectuals in Berlin, Ursula committed herself to communism as a teenager, joining the party (whose paramilitary wing taught her to shoot) and being clubbed to the ground by police at a banned May Day demonstration.

Effortlessly she switched between her two identities. As Mrs Burton, she had a settled home, contented children and friendly neighbours.

As Agent Sonya, she had a camera for producing microdots, a network of sub-agents and a radio transmitter in her bedroom cupboard.

Three times a week, while the children slept, she would transmit reports to Moscow, often about Britain's atomic bomb research.

Her source was the nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs, a leading member of the so-called 'Tubes Alloy' project, Britain's equivalent of America's Manhattan Project.

She would meet him in the Oxfordshire countryside where he would hand over technical documents, drawings and blueprints, for her to copy and transmit.

Those she couldn't put into code she would leave in a hollow tree root for 'Sergei' from the Russian Embassy to pick up.

Fuchs, a German communist fugitive, believed it wrong for Britain and the U.S. not to share this world-changing nuclear knowledge with the Soviet Union, a supposed ally: passing over secrets was redressing an unfairness.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 20, 2020, 01:55:42 AM
I'm currently reading this lovely little biography sort of thing on Pier Giorgio Frassati.  It is translated and adapted from the Italian of Antonio Cojazzi by H.L. Hughes.  It's essentially a series of stories/vignettes by people who knew Frassati, and tells his life that way.  It gets a shoutout on the Frassati USA page (https://frassatiusa.org/blog/which-pier-giorgio-book-is-the-best) on the different bios on him.  So far, I'm a big fan, although it tends towards "wow look at this obvious saint", which is somewhat annoying - I doubt he was as perfect as the snippets imply. 

It's out of print, though.  Thanks, library!  :) 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 05, 2020, 09:55:12 AM
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: paul14 on October 05, 2020, 10:27:54 AM
I just started reading the dead-tree version of this.  It looks good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Politically-Incorrect-English-American-Literature/dp/1596980117

About 40% through it.  It is an excellent book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on October 05, 2020, 01:07:25 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on September 19, 2020, 07:53:17 AM
Quote from: Greg on September 19, 2020, 02:32:28 AM
So the Russians were simultaneously brilliant at super secret and super effective global plots, whilst being absolutely crap at making safe nuclear reactors and putting sausages on the shelf?

Their cars were shit, but the guy who went to university with the apparachik who ran the car factory was able to infiltrate western institutions?

That super clever master plotter had to drive a crap car and live in an apartment where the lift smelled of an alcoholic's puke and drive a car like a Volga, (which drives like a hillbilly's Volvo), was not bothered by that?  He never drove to work thinking, "if I undermine the west I may never own a Mercedes or Lexus"

Does not compute. 

Yes it does, if you consider "What do they want? What do they care about?"

The driven idealogues who were often very brilliant cared about destroying the West more than they cared about consumer goods. So that's what they focused on.

Soap in the stores was not a priority for them. Nuclear bombs and undermining the West was.

Just yesterday the Daily Mail had an article about a woman who spent years living a normal life in England on the surface, but all the time she was passing nuclear secrets to the Russians. She was a brilliant Jew from Berlin, and this is how she chose to spend her life.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-8744865/Cotswolds-mother-renowned-perfect-scones-Soviet-spy-Colonel-Ursula-Kuczynski.html

Village housewife, first-rate baker... and top Soviet spy: Mrs Len Burton was a Cotswolds mother of three renowned for her perfect scones - but was also a colonel in Russian intelligence who sent Britain's atomic secrets from her privy

- Ben Macintyre's book Agent Sonya tells story of  Colonel Ursula Kuczynski
- She lived in Oxfordshire hamlet Great Rollright and was known as Mrs Burton
- The spy was on active duty and had radio transmitter tuned to Soviet intelligence
- She fled to East Berlin in 1950 and retired as a spy before dying in 2000 aged 93


Her scones were the envy of the Oxfordshire hamlet of Great Rollright, where the friendly woman known as Mrs Burton lived in a stone farmhouse.

In her late 30s, she moved there with her three children and husband Len just after the end of World War II.

She had a faint foreign accent but the locals took no notice and she soon became a stalwart of village life.

They were unaware of the massive secret she was hiding — one that even now, 75 years later, had me reeling in amazement at the audacity and ingenuity it involved on her part.

And the unforgivable treachery.

Because, beneath the mask of respectability, Mrs Burton was really Colonel Ursula Kuczynski of the Red Army — aka Agent Sonya, a dedicated communist, decorated Soviet intelligence officer and highly trained spy who had conducted espionage operations in China, Poland and Switzerland before coming to Britain on Moscow's orders.

In Oxfordshire, she was very much on active duty.

In the privy was a radio transmitter tuned to Soviet intelligence headquarters.

Growing up in a family of Left-wing Jewish intellectuals in Berlin, Ursula committed herself to communism as a teenager, joining the party (whose paramilitary wing taught her to shoot) and being clubbed to the ground by police at a banned May Day demonstration.

Effortlessly she switched between her two identities. As Mrs Burton, she had a settled home, contented children and friendly neighbours.

As Agent Sonya, she had a camera for producing microdots, a network of sub-agents and a radio transmitter in her bedroom cupboard.

Three times a week, while the children slept, she would transmit reports to Moscow, often about Britain's atomic bomb research.

Her source was the nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs, a leading member of the so-called 'Tubes Alloy' project, Britain's equivalent of America's Manhattan Project.

She would meet him in the Oxfordshire countryside where he would hand over technical documents, drawings and blueprints, for her to copy and transmit.

Those she couldn't put into code she would leave in a hollow tree root for 'Sergei' from the Russian Embassy to pick up.

Fuchs, a German communist fugitive, believed it wrong for Britain and the U.S. not to share this world-changing nuclear knowledge with the Soviet Union, a supposed ally: passing over secrets was redressing an unfairness.

A holocaust survivor to boot!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 07, 2020, 04:48:37 PM
Talking Hands. It's about the emergence of Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (and sign languages in general). It's very fascinating to see how the grammar of these languages emerges and evolves!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 22, 2020, 10:14:13 AM
Getting ready to start A Prayer for Owen Meany. Sounds oddly similar to the movie Simon Birch.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on October 22, 2020, 10:24:53 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 22, 2020, 10:14:13 AM
Getting ready to start A Prayer for Owen Meany.

I really liked this book with the theme of preparing one's whole life for a final destiny. However, be forewarned that the author, John Irving, is a really evil person. Other books by him glamorize incest and abortion.

Quote from: Bernadette on October 22, 2020, 10:14:13 AM

Sounds oddly similar to the movie Simon Birch.

Wikipedia says that the movie was based on the book, but the title of the movie was changed at the request of the author since they had changed so much of the story.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 22, 2020, 10:28:22 AM
I don't plan on reading his other books. I got this one because it reminded me of the movie (and it was free. Lol).
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 24, 2020, 06:32:53 AM
Bloody Falls of the Coppermine: Madness, Murder and the Collision of Cultures in the Arctic, 1913 by McKay Jenkins
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on November 11, 2020, 10:49:21 AM
American Heritage history of the American Revolution
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on November 11, 2020, 12:02:42 PM
God Owes Us Nothing, Leszek Kolakowski, suggests that the Pope ended up condemning a Augustinian, Catholic understanding of grace. It does proceed carefully. For instance it shows the weakness of Arnaud's contrived defense of Jansenism, interpreting the Pope as having a meaning he could not have had, and how the royal chaplain Fr Annatus, who strongly supported the efforts against Jansenism, was quite careful not to caricature the doctrinal stance of Jansenius and the Arnauds. However, the author suggests that Annatus was wrong that a Papal condemnation of the five propositions in the sense of Jansenius, because Augustine could not be heretical. It suggests there was limited differences between Calvinism and Jansenism, that their positions on the iresistabilty of grace was 'a distinction without a difference.' The author notes how the 'Calvinist Pope' Jurieu who made a strong case for the conformability of Calvinism to Augustinianism, and who scornfully opined that the Pope barely understood the issue at hand, that he, 'understood of little of them as if they had spoken to him in Arabic.'

It does suggest the wisdom of an earlier Papal suppression of Jesuit-Dominican debates on those topics and matters close to it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 14, 2020, 06:45:22 AM
No Bone Unturned: The Adventures of a Top Smithsonian Forensic Scientist and the Legal Battle for America's Oldest Skeletons by Jeff Benedict
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on November 29, 2020, 05:44:38 AM
Ronald A. Knox, Englishing the Bible. Mgsr Knox sounded sensible, and makes a good case for his translation choices, and you sympathise how translation was traditionally expected to be a slight alteration from prior translations. Taylor Marshall doesn't like the Knox Bible for some reason.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 09, 2020, 05:22:00 AM
Mountains Beyond Mountains : The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on December 10, 2020, 04:50:08 PM
Annibale Bugnini: Reformer of the Liturgy, Yves Chiron. The Vincentian actually favoured extending the 'Agatha Christie indult' to the broader Church, which Paul VI rejected. Apparently con-celebration was a thing before V2, for ordination Masses and the consecration of bishops. Paul VI appears to have had a far greater hostility to anything Catholic than +Bugnini. During the preparation for V2, the Antepreparatory Commission, the then Cardinal Montini of Milan wanted a more 'theological and biblical' piety and to 'moderate unhealthy forms of piety turned towards various and often arbitrary devotions that run against liturgical piety and an authentic religious sense.' It can well be seen how the journey towards cold and empty churches with ugly and sterile sanctuaries accelerated. Even without V2, something approaching the 'New Mass' threatened. The Holy Week reforms happens without V2, to be obvious. I cannot imagine hearing Mass in a church where Fr Bugnini had some annoying paraphrased commentary running alongside Mass, Canon excepted.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on December 10, 2020, 09:14:04 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on December 10, 2020, 04:50:08 PM
Annibale Bugnini: Reformer of the Liturgy, Yves Chiron. The Vincentian actually favoured extending the 'Agatha Christie indult' to the broader Church, which Paul VI rejected.

Interesting.

Quote from: Prayerful on December 10, 2020, 04:50:08 PM

Paul VI appears to have had a far greater hostility to anything Catholic than +Bugnini.

That throws a fresh light on the history of the New Mass.

Quote from: Prayerful on December 10, 2020, 04:50:08 PM

Even without V2, something approaching the 'New Mass' threatened. The Holy Week reforms happens without V2, to be obvious.

True. You can read Carol Byrne's 100-part exposition on the "Liturgical Movement" at Tradition in Action.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Clare on December 13, 2020, 12:13:52 PM
 "The Book of the The Saviour", compiled by Frank Sheed.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 18, 2020, 01:19:10 PM
Witness by Whitaker Chambers
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Santantonio on December 18, 2020, 03:09:50 PM
Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #1

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: abc123 on December 18, 2020, 05:41:52 PM
Holiness by JC Ryle

The Doctrine of Repentance Thomas Watson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Graham on December 20, 2020, 07:08:43 AM
Guilds in the Middle Ages by Georges Renard
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on December 21, 2020, 04:01:54 PM
The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, by St. Alphonsus Liguori; I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a book filled with practical spiritual advice; the pages are not numbered in the edition that I have, but I would estimate about 150-200; not very long and it is easy to read; here is the Editor's introduction:
QuoteThe Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ"
We have here one of the masterpieces of St. Alphonsus, a book that speaks to all hearts, that reveals to every Christian soul its true needs and true means to satisfy them. One cannot read this book without becoming better; nor can one grow tired in reading it again and again. It is indeed a very highly-prized and widely spread work. It was published in 1748.
The holy bishop, developing the celebrated text of St. Paul on the qualities of true love, explains in thirteen  chapters the principal virtues that we ought to practice and the defects that we ought to avoid in order to render our Lord love for love. He treats of patience in general (ch. 1), and in particular in sickness, poverty, and contempt (Chap. 10); of meekness (Chaps. 2 & 8); of purity of intention (Chap. 3); of tepidity, and the remedies against this vice, namely, the desire of perfection, the determination to attain perfection, mental prayer, frequent communion, and prayer (Chap. 4); of humility (Chap. 5); of ambition and vain-glory (Chap. 6); of detachment from all things, especially when there is question of following one's vocation (Chap. 7); of conformity to the will of God, and of obedience (Chap. 9); of faith (Chap. 11); of hope (Chap. 12); and, finally, of temptations, and spiritual desolation (Chap. 13). The work is concluded by a summary of virtues that are to be practiced. ED
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 03, 2021, 06:34:32 AM
War by Sebastian Junger
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on January 03, 2021, 08:01:45 AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worlds_in_Collision

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Wic-cover.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 08, 2021, 05:23:14 PM
Ceremonies of the Sarum Missal, R.J. Urquhart. It carries the Imprimatur of Bishop McKinney of Nottingham. The author offers his reconstruction of Sarum ceremonies. At every point there are footnotes offering alternatives. It concludes with an Ordo Missae with simple rubrics. It is somewhat expensive at £80 hardback, £50 Kindle.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 17, 2021, 12:52:36 PM
"The Mysteries of Christianity", Fr. Mathias Joseph Scheeben. People here may be familiar with his work: "The Glories of Divine Grace"; this work takes one through the deepest questions of Catholic doctrine: The Blessed Trinity; the Incarnation; Original Sin; the Redemption; etc. etc. Its not written in the style of a manual of dogmatic theology; it is written in essay form, drawing from both the Scolastic sources and Patristic; he enthralls the reader with his beautiful descriptions of the mysteries of our faith. I highly recommend this book; its well worth the effort.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 23, 2021, 12:01:14 AM
I'm really, really trying to get through Ed Feser's "Aquinas."  So far, so good.  I'm 40 pages in and it's going slow but well.  It's like drinking water from a fire hydrant, though! 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on January 23, 2021, 08:20:57 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 23, 2021, 12:01:14 AM
I'm really, really trying to get through Ed Feser's "Aquinas."  So far, so good.  I'm 40 pages in and it's going slow but well.  It's like drinking water from a fire hydrant, though!

Take heart.  Slow, deep reading is better than getting through a book quickly, if you really want to grasp and understand the material well.  Keeping a notebook handy to write down your favorite quotes will help all the more.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 23, 2021, 10:38:55 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on January 23, 2021, 08:20:57 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 23, 2021, 12:01:14 AM
I'm really, really trying to get through Ed Feser's "Aquinas."  So far, so good.  I'm 40 pages in and it's going slow but well.  It's like drinking water from a fire hydrant, though!

Take heart.  Slow, deep reading is better than getting through a book quickly, if you really want to grasp and understand the material well.  Keeping a notebook handy to write down your favorite quotes will help all the more.
For sure ! 
And I have a little. Notebook with me when reading for just that reason.  :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on January 23, 2021, 01:14:35 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 23, 2021, 12:01:14 AM
I'm really, really trying to get through Ed Feser's "Aquinas."  So far, so good.  I'm 40 pages in and it's going slow but well.  It's like drinking water from a fire hydrant, though!
James03  is a big fan of Fesser's and has recommended his books on several occasions; I will eventually get around to reading him.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on January 25, 2021, 06:17:12 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on January 23, 2021, 08:20:57 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 23, 2021, 12:01:14 AM
I'm really, really trying to get through Ed Feser's "Aquinas."  So far, so good.  I'm 40 pages in and it's going slow but well.  It's like drinking water from a fire hydrant, though!

Take heart.  Slow, deep reading is better than getting through a book quickly, if you really want to grasp and understand the material well. 

I prefer to devour a book, or fall asleep. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 26, 2021, 05:41:56 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on January 23, 2021, 01:14:35 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 23, 2021, 12:01:14 AM
I'm really, really trying to get through Ed Feser's "Aquinas."  So far, so good.  I'm 40 pages in and it's going slow but well.  It's like drinking water from a fire hydrant, though!
James03  is a big fan of Fesser's and has recommended his books on several occasions; I will eventually get around to reading him.
Feser made my brain hurt.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 27, 2021, 10:13:43 AM
Just got two in from the library: O'Connor's The Violent Bear it Away and Undset's Ida Elisabeth. But I need to finish this teaching application before I can crack them open.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 28, 2021, 06:41:03 AM
The Minutemen and Their World by Robert Gross
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on February 10, 2021, 10:16:44 AM
The Sea Wolves: A history of the Vikings by Lars Brownsworth. Excellent author, and avoids the usual slights against Christianity employed by many historical authors.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on February 10, 2021, 11:29:46 AM
Dear husband and I are reading through The Marian Option by Carrie Gress. It's supposed to be a response to Dreher's The Benedict Option, but so far, I'm unconvinced by her unclear thesis and lack of solid scholarly work.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 17, 2021, 05:00:37 AM
Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on February 17, 2021, 12:51:10 PM
Girl Around the World, by Dorothy Kilgallen.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on February 22, 2021, 12:32:23 PM
Coming in the mail is a book on Richard the Lionhearted, and another one on Saladin. Also H.P. Lovecraft stories compilation. Very excited.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on February 22, 2021, 05:45:03 PM
Demonic Foes, by Richard Gallagher, MD
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on February 23, 2021, 11:04:36 AM
Punished by Rewards:  The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, As, Praise, and Other Bribes by Alfie Kohn.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth.2 on February 23, 2021, 11:40:37 AM
 
Quote from: red solo cup on February 17, 2021, 05:00:37 AM
Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
:rofl:
That was so funny!  You might try Homicide by what's his name from the Baltimore Sun, by which TV shows were inspired, but the book is twisted and funny.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Francisco Suárez on February 25, 2021, 10:58:04 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on January 23, 2021, 12:01:14 AM
I'm really, really trying to get through Ed Feser's "Aquinas."  So far, so good.  I'm 40 pages in and it's going slow but well.  It's like drinking water from a fire hydrant, though!

It's funny you say that. I tried reading it several years ago, and despite finding it interesting, I got a bit too.... fatigued? Ended up moving on before finishing it. His other book, The Last Superstition, kept me peeled for the entire thing. Struggled to put it down!

Just commenced The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Let's hope I sail through it with the grace of Churchill...  :toth:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on February 26, 2021, 08:53:12 PM
Quote from: Jacob on February 22, 2021, 05:45:03 PM
Demonic Foes, by Richard Gallagher, MD

This book is an interesting read coming from the perspective of a medical doctor.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on February 27, 2021, 08:04:07 AM
Shylock's Ewes and Rams by E Michael Jones. A condensed version of his 1500 page book Barren Metal. An absolute trove of insight into the economic growth of the West and how it diverged from a usury free society into an economically Darwinian world, ie usurious Capitalism.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on March 02, 2021, 10:38:46 AM
Finished Saladin by Richard Man. Not too impressed, he was pretty biased towards the Sultan. Reading Richard the Lionheart by W.B. Bartlett. The Crusaders (most of them) were more brutal and barbaric than most Catholics will like to admit, but they were fighting militant Islam, which was far worse than most historians will admit.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 09, 2021, 06:22:34 AM
On The Plain Of Snakes: A Mexican Journey by Paul Theroux
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on March 09, 2021, 10:53:32 AM
Fellowship of the Ring.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Philip G. on March 24, 2021, 10:45:12 PM
Who here has read the lord of the rings trilogy more times than they have read the bible?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on March 25, 2021, 07:45:38 AM
Me! Though I love the Children of Hurin and the Silmarillion more than the original trilogy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacob on March 25, 2021, 05:59:04 PM
Been working through The Two Towers.  Smeagol just swore by the Precious to serve Frodo.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on March 25, 2021, 08:22:04 PM
Smeagol's character is so complex and rich. Brings the story to another level imo.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 27, 2021, 12:51:16 PM
https://www.amazon.com/Forget-Alamo-Lone-Star-Reloaded-ebook/dp/B077J39F2C/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=drew+mcgunn&qid=1616871007&sr=8-1

Forget the Alamo series by Drew Mcgunn.. I'm only on the first one, but it's good so far. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 29, 2021, 03:13:43 PM
Byzantium: The Decline and Fall by John Julius Norwich
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on March 29, 2021, 04:15:05 PM
Dan Jones, In the reign of King John. Innocent III should probably have taken a more neutral line between King John and his barons. They might have been violent, arrogant men, but their King was a tyrant. That there were no further King Johns says enough.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 04, 2021, 09:56:22 AM
All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. The first depiction of a blind character that I've ever read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on April 04, 2021, 11:12:01 AM
Going through the Raven's mark series again, just finished Ravencry, on to Crowfall.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Santantonio on April 11, 2021, 04:25:50 PM
The Risen Christ by Caryll Houselander.

Her last published work. Sheed & Ward

great writer.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Blue Violet on April 11, 2021, 11:48:27 PM
Is Tradition Excommunicated?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: george_aeterno on April 18, 2021, 12:19:12 AM
Prayer of the Heart by George Maloney.

It's surprisingly orthodox and sound for a Jesuit author of the era (despite some liberal use of the words 'mantra' and 'nirvana'). It's a shame that the author, a Catholic priest, would later convert to Orthodoxy. If anyone is interested in the Jesus Prayer, here's a phenomenal little book with an imprimi potest.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on April 18, 2021, 04:09:07 PM
Kathryn Warner, Richard II, a true king's fall, which initially seemed overly intricate, nearly repeated the series of mini bios, but it had a purpose. Richard II had a very sorry fate.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 19, 2021, 04:05:10 PM
Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America by John M. Barry
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on April 19, 2021, 04:49:35 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on April 18, 2021, 04:09:07 PM
Kathryn Warner, Richard II, a true king's fall, which initially seemed overly intricate, nearly repeated the series of mini bios, but it had a purpose. Richard II had a very sorry fate.

And now her book on Edward II, perhaps a more sympathetic character, also physically imposing. Richard tried to get him canonised, and there were reports of miracles at the tomb of Sir Edward of Carnarvon, his name after he was deposed. It is claimed either or both were sodomites, but that is not clear, despite claims. Queen Isabella, wife of Edward, despite contently munching an apple while two of her husband's allies were hung, drawn and quartered, was buried in the clothes she wore when she married Edward. It is claimed that Edward had a very degrading fate, but it is likelier, if he died, that he was smothered. Yet Edward possibly survived, wandering the Holy Roman Empire as a hermit (there is some informed evidence). Edward was close to the Dominicans, although a would be breakout crew of a few Dominicans were not successful in freeing him from imprisonment.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: DigitalLogos on April 24, 2021, 10:42:32 PM
I've been slowly working my way through St. Augustine's De Trinitate for the second time. I'm about 2/3 through it. I'm also reading The Ascent of Mt. Carmel by St. John of the Cross, Bergoglio at War - With the Catholic Faith by Dr. Thomas Droleskey, and Uniformity with God's Will by St. Alphonsus Liguori.

I actually just finished Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, which is an excellent, excellent read alongside Humility of Heart by Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo. I love books that crush my self-will and pride and show the futility of this world.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 12, 2021, 03:28:55 PM
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain. My (and his) favorite of all of his works.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 13, 2021, 01:13:20 PM
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 13, 2021, 08:16:31 PM
About 4/5 of my way through "Symbolism: Exposition of the Doctrinal Differences Between Catholics and Protestants as Evidenced By Their Symbolical Writings (Milestones in Catholic Theology) ; Johann Adam Mohler; written in the 19th C. It explores the differences in doctrine between Catholics and manly Lutherans and Calvinists, by comparing the different credal statements of each group. Very well written and argued. My only objection is that practically all of the extensive footnotes quoting the works of Protestants and Catholics are in Latin; so I miss some of the information that he gives his reader.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: DigitalLogos on May 14, 2021, 07:32:53 PM
I'm still working my way through The Ascent by St. John of the Cross and Bergoglio at War by Dr. Thomas Droleskey, and am almost finished with Uniformity with God's Will by St. Alphonsus.

I have also picked up another book, this time a Sci-Fi novel by James Blish called A Case of Conscience, which is about a Jesuit on an alien, Eden-esque world populated by sentient reptilians, wherein he slowly begins to question whether these beings are truly ensouled rational creatures untouched by the Sin of Adam, or merely soulless rational beasts there to tempt him away from his Faith. It's quite good so far coming from an agnostic author.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Insanis on May 15, 2021, 12:30:48 AM
The Jewish War by Josephus, however, I pulled out the Baltimore Catechism No. 4 for a bit of a read for a sanity check.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on May 22, 2021, 09:20:25 AM
Breaking Bad Habits by Freek Vermeulen.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 02, 2021, 04:36:27 AM
The Shroud of Turin by Ian Wilson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: DigitalLogos on June 08, 2021, 05:13:42 PM
I'm almost finished with The Glories of the Sacred Heart by Cardinal Edward Henry Manning, which has quickly become one of my favorite books on the Devotion. I've started reading the first volume of the Fr. Cekada collection from SGG. And I'm also on a Japanese comic tangent right now, re-reading Dragon Ball, catching up on One-Punch Man and have started D.Gray-Man.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 08, 2021, 05:22:30 PM
The Bear and the Nightingale, by Kathleen Arden. It's pretty good. I think it's a historical fantasy? Not really sure.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on June 08, 2021, 06:42:30 PM
Just finished 'The Treasure Seekers' by E. Nesbit as a family read aloud.  Love her!  She's so witty, and the kids are always disappointed at the end of the chapter, when we have to wait until the next day to continue.  We started 'Swallows and Amazons' this week, by Arthur Ransome.  I'm enjoying it so far. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 08, 2021, 06:45:12 PM
I like The House of Arden and Harding's Luck best. I bought a hard copy, I liked them so much.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on June 08, 2021, 06:47:26 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on June 08, 2021, 06:45:12 PM
I like The House of Arden and Harding's Luck best. I bought a hard copy, I liked them so much.

I'll have to get those for next school year!  We've read all the E. Nestbit books in the house  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 08, 2021, 07:24:55 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 08, 2021, 06:47:26 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on June 08, 2021, 06:45:12 PM
I like The House of Arden and Harding's Luck best. I bought a hard copy, I liked them so much.

I'll have to get those for next school year!  We've read all the E. Nestbit books in the house  ;D
They're on librivox.org, too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on June 09, 2021, 08:25:24 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 08, 2021, 06:47:26 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on June 08, 2021, 06:45:12 PM
I like The House of Arden and Harding's Luck best. I bought a hard copy, I liked them so much.

I'll have to get those for next school year!  We've read all the E. Nestbit books in the house  ;D

I've recommended before "The Land of Far Beyond" -- not by E. Nesbit but by E. Blyton.

Children really enjoyed it, and the Christian message made a strong impact on them.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on June 09, 2021, 09:51:17 AM
Quote from: Maximilian on June 09, 2021, 08:25:24 AM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on June 08, 2021, 06:47:26 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on June 08, 2021, 06:45:12 PM
I like The House of Arden and Harding's Luck best. I bought a hard copy, I liked them so much.

I'll have to get those for next school year!  We've read all the E. Nestbit books in the house  ;D

I've recommended before "The Land of Far Beyond" -- not by E. Nesbit but by E. Blyton.

Children really enjoyed it, and the Christian message made a strong impact on them.

Thank you (again)!  I'm starting school planning later this month for our next school year, so it's perfect timing to have this on my radar  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 19, 2021, 05:19:49 PM
The Hound of the Baskervilles. One of my favorites.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on June 19, 2021, 07:13:19 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on June 19, 2021, 05:19:49 PM
The Hound of the Baskervilles. One of my favorites.
I love all the Sherlock Holmes stories; he is such a conceited fat-head, its hilarious.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Ex Cathedra on June 19, 2021, 07:27:19 PM
I'm finishing Windswept House. It's truly prophetic.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Optatus on June 19, 2021, 07:37:47 PM
Quote from: Ex Cathedra on June 19, 2021, 07:27:19 PM
I'm finishing Windswept House. It's truly prophetic.

You've probably already read it, but if not: check out Lord of the World.

For myself, I'm juggling Book VI of The History of Middle-earth and The Mothman Prophecies.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 20, 2021, 04:29:24 AM
In the Garden of Beasts : Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on June 22, 2021, 06:37:48 AM
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/The_Sound_of_Waves-Vintage.jpg)

Yukio Mishima, The Sound of Waves
(transl. Meredith Weatherby)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: dellery on June 23, 2021, 06:39:58 PM
Starting The Devil's Guard tonight. A lot of people I know have been telling me to read it for years --seems kind of silly though.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Santantonio on July 07, 2021, 03:25:04 PM
here is my review of the book I'm almost finished with.
Nostradamus and the Lost Templar Legacy. I feel it's a groundbreaking work that should draw more attention.
because the case that Nostradamus stole the Quatrains is strong.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3301357717?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 09, 2021, 03:56:49 PM
The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins. Considered to be the first detective novel.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 11, 2021, 10:09:31 AM
Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on July 11, 2021, 11:02:06 AM
Children of Hurin (Tolkien). The story is still one of the best I have ever come across. So sad.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on July 12, 2021, 08:02:17 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 11, 2021, 10:09:31 AM
Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck
I like Steinbeck, but I don't think I've read this one. Next up on my list...

Currently reading When Books Went To War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 21, 2021, 04:21:10 PM
Pan's Labyrinth. I just watched the movie a few nights ago and decided to spend an audible credit on the book adaptation. Edit: This was so good! Definitely worth the credit.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on July 22, 2021, 07:10:49 AM
Miss Buncle Married by  DE Stevenson.  Just finished another book (Celia's House) by the same author
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on July 24, 2021, 07:42:42 AM
Has anyone else lost all interest in reading and forgotten almost everything they've read? I don't like reading anymore.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 24, 2021, 08:00:57 AM
Quote from: Tennessean on July 24, 2021, 07:42:42 AM
Has anyone else lost all interest in reading and forgotten almost everything they've read? I don't like reading anymore.

I find myself listening to audiobooks a lot more these days. I still read, but not like I did in my teens.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on July 24, 2021, 07:36:39 PM
I've even forgotten what I've read. I'm not only complaining, some things are better forgotten, but I don't like what's happened to my attention span for reading.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on July 27, 2021, 09:44:33 AM
Just finished Where the Bodies Lie by Mark Lisac. It's set in my home province and the twist at the end got me!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: MundaCorMeum on July 27, 2021, 01:52:13 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 09, 2021, 03:56:49 PM
The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins. Considered to be the first detective novel.

How is it?  What age would you say it is good for?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 27, 2021, 02:38:14 PM
Quote from: MundaCorMeum on July 27, 2021, 01:52:13 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 09, 2021, 03:56:49 PM
The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins. Considered to be the first detective novel.

How is it?  What age would you say it is good for?
It was really good. There's a suicide in it though so not for kids. I would say 15 and up.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 29, 2021, 01:23:25 PM
American Terrorist. Timothy McVeigh & The Oklahoma City Bombing by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on August 01, 2021, 05:14:51 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 29, 2021, 01:23:25 PM
American Terrorist. Timothy McVeigh & The Oklahoma City Bombing by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck.
What's the author's opinion: was he acting alone or a scapegoat?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 02, 2021, 04:55:28 AM
The authors did extensive interviews with McVeigh and there wasn't a hint of other people than those indicted. And for the record, McVeigh never scouted inside the Murrah Building and was unaware of the day care center. He said if he had known, he wouldn't have set the bomb on a weekday.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on August 03, 2021, 03:38:19 PM
Yeah. Its thanks to him we have a surveillance state. He got off easy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 03, 2021, 04:42:54 PM
A traditionalist priest saw McVeigh before he was executed; McVeigh went to Confession and received Holy Communion. He had been away from the faith for a while.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on August 04, 2021, 03:47:35 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on August 03, 2021, 04:42:54 PM
A traditionalist priest saw McVeigh before he was executed; McVeigh went to Confession and received Holy Communion. He had been away from the faith for a while.
I had completely forgotten he repented, or was even Christian. I remember Ruby Ridge (or was it Waco?) incited him to attack the government.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth.2 on August 04, 2021, 12:46:25 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on July 29, 2021, 01:23:25 PM
American Terrorist. Timothy McVeigh & The Oklahoma City Bombing by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck.
If that's the one I read from 25 + years ago, it's super informative!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on August 04, 2021, 03:17:23 PM
It was revenge for the massacre/sucide at Waco with the Branch Davidians.
Here is one article from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/06/16/in-his-final-hours-an-appeal-to-god/9c015727-da69-48e1-82f5-6e9b662dc5b1/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on August 04, 2021, 06:43:07 PM
John Matusiak, James I: Scotland's King of England. James I is claimed as an early Freemason. It makes no mention of that. James I was tolerant enough according to the values of the time, with his wife Anne of Denmark becoming Catholic, in part due to her friend with a Catholic noblewoman, but also due to a deep loathing she formed of the Scottish Kirk and its ministers. His writings after the discovery of the Gunpowder plot made clear he no issue with Catholics who kept in their lane, seeking no converts. James famously loathed the new habit of tobacco smoking, even though it ensured the survival of his otherwise near doomed colonial efforts. James was also likely a homosexual (with a tunnel from his bedroom to that of his favourite George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, whom one Puritan writer and translator Lucy Hutchinson called him a prostitute and a Huguenot poet used earthier, clearer language). Unlike the stereotypical Scot, James was not mean, although it a generosity with taxpayer money, not revenue from the royal demense or estate. Down to our day, rulers can be very generous with other people's money.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on August 04, 2021, 07:49:16 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on August 04, 2021, 03:17:23 PM
It was revenge for the massacre/sucide at Waco with the Branch Davidians.
Here is one article from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/06/16/in-his-final-hours-an-appeal-to-god/9c015727-da69-48e1-82f5-6e9b662dc5b1/
The Oklahoma bombing and the Olympic Park bombing truly instigated the surveillance state. The technology had caught up. Not long after we would all be volunteering our every move on facebook. In the 90s you read essays by men like Col Ralph Peters list "retrogrades" among America's enemies. Its always irritating to hear these sorts of "people" calling others terrorists, when terrorism is their own regime's tactic. I'm sure they've buried spies in the traditionalist movement.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 19, 2021, 12:08:24 PM
https://timothybcb.substack.com/p/ripples-of-kabul-by-victor-davis
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on August 19, 2021, 05:30:50 PM
Reading or re-reading Afghantsy: The Russians in Afghanstan 1979-89 by Rodric Braithwaite, a one time UK ambassador to Russia, economic advisor to John Major, banker. The Soviets who opposed the intervention over Amin, the PM murdering his President Taraki, the founder of the Afghan Communist Party, foresaw what would happen, when Charlie Wilson and others made it the Soviet Vietnam, but were to a degree trapped. The soldiers were largely ignored by the political class who sent them in when it ended. No Soviet leader came to see them off, and the war was to a degree officially never was. It dispels myths like the Soviets dropping bombs disguised as toys. It derived from a sort of coloured daisy like munition which was copied from the US. The later US occupier relied to a extent on contracted ex Soviet helicopter pilots, both for the helicopter and their skills.

One point is that the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan lasted three years after the Soviets withdrew and nearly a year after Boris Yeltsin halted aid. It was a Communist state, abhorrent to most Moslems, while the just fallen Islamic State of Afghanistan was supposedly a state after the values of the Quran. It makes the US effort seems doubly awful. Billions spent for nothing but better weapons for the Taleban. Maybe they should have got them delivered in a sort of Great Game move, cheaper for some discount lapis lazuli.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 21, 2021, 06:16:33 AM
My Invented Country. A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile by Isabel Allende
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 21, 2021, 07:50:51 AM
The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 24, 2021, 06:33:41 PM
I tried reading Jakob the Liar, but I don't like the tone.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on August 25, 2021, 07:21:22 PM
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/l9pNollsoAkP5V58UpzpTi_PQ2xrwIY5Vi6te3zMimHJ2BqYUNVHbZXnmEpOvspHNj0O52zSVXdxMntl9fhOlzF81aFEVvY84G4k_N4B63FfBFdZ7iRIjA)

Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 26, 2021, 05:50:40 AM
.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 26, 2021, 05:54:12 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on August 25, 2021, 07:21:22 PM
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/l9pNollsoAkP5V58UpzpTi_PQ2xrwIY5Vi6te3zMimHJ2BqYUNVHbZXnmEpOvspHNj0O52zSVXdxMntl9fhOlzF81aFEVvY84G4k_N4B63FfBFdZ7iRIjA)

Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan
Hearn was quite a character. If I recall correctly, he had to leave the state of Illinois for marrying a black woman. In those days, illegal.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on August 26, 2021, 06:25:44 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on August 26, 2021, 05:54:12 AM
Hearn was quite a character. If I recall correctly, he had to leave the state of Illinois for marrying a black woman. In those days, illegal.

You recall correctly, but the locale was Cincinnati.  Paris Review | The Many Lives of Lafcadio Hearn (https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/02/the-many-lives-of-lafcadio-hearn/).  His life's trajectory seems sufficiently interesting that I considered purchasing a 1936 biography, Unfamiliar Lafcadio Hearn, by Kenneth P. Kirkwood, but opted for this instead.  I do not have the handsome two-volume hardcover set pictured here, unfortunately.  It's a fat paperback in trade size from Tuttle Publishing, 580 pp.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 28, 2021, 08:30:02 AM
The Lost Prince, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and The Diary of a Young Girl: The Revised Critical Edition, by Anne Frank. The latter was put together by the Dutch War Institute, and contains all three versions of her diary,
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 03, 2021, 05:20:19 PM
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith. This was one of my favorites in my teens and early twenties. Haven't read it for years.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on September 04, 2021, 06:24:26 AM
The Future of Nostalgia, Svetlana Boym. I'm also rereading A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on September 06, 2021, 04:48:01 AM
Quote from: Tennessean on September 04, 2021, 06:24:26 AM
I'm also rereading A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller.

I loved this.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 07, 2021, 04:46:14 AM
John Adams by David McCullough. This won a Pulitzer.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Optatus on September 24, 2021, 03:50:40 PM
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's Secret of the Rosary. I'm familiar with many of its more famous excerpts but am ashamed to report that I've never read it in full until now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on September 24, 2021, 05:01:26 PM
Military History of Late Rome, 457-518, Ilka Syvanne, sort of alongside Robert di Mattei's St Pius V.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 26, 2021, 01:53:11 PM
El Camino. Walking to Santiago de Compostela by Lee Hoinacki.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on September 26, 2021, 01:56:12 PM
Quote from: Optatus on September 24, 2021, 03:50:40 PM
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's Secret of the Rosary. I'm familiar with many of its more famous excerpts but am ashamed to report that I've never read it in full until now.

Better late than never.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 29, 2021, 10:27:02 AM
Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr. It's pretty slow right now.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on September 29, 2021, 10:44:59 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 26, 2021, 01:53:11 PM
El Camino. Walking to Santiago de Compostela by Lee Hoinacki.

How is it?

The Camino and more so the Via Francigena have always been on my bucket list
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on September 29, 2021, 04:38:17 PM
Nicholas Nickleby by the one and only Charles Dickens.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 30, 2021, 06:35:53 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on September 29, 2021, 10:44:59 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 26, 2021, 01:53:11 PM
El Camino. Walking to Santiago de Compostela by Lee Hoinacki.

How is it?

The Camino and more so the Via Francigena have always been on my bucket list
Very good. The author was nonpractising since childhood. While on the journey he began saying the rosary, had a profound experience and returned to the faith.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 04, 2021, 09:03:24 AM
Getting ready to start The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on October 04, 2021, 10:41:37 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 04, 2021, 09:03:24 AM
Getting ready to start The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco.

It is perhaps a bit unfair on aspect of the Spiritual v Conventual Franciscan and the efforts of Bernardo Gui OP, who endeavoured to always emphasise mercy and repentance. Perhaps the film or drama recreations exaggerate it still further. Yet it is a fascinating book, and quite an outing for semiotics.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 04, 2021, 11:47:21 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 04, 2021, 09:03:24 AM
Getting ready to start The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco.
Man, I guiltily enjoyed that one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 04, 2021, 12:14:27 PM
Rereading  In This House of Brede
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 05, 2021, 02:22:09 PM
Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. So far it's good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 08, 2021, 09:37:16 AM
Taking a break to listen to Lulu's Christmas Story, by Ludmilla Bollow. I love this book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on October 08, 2021, 07:41:30 PM
The Red and The Black

"Beware, my son, of what is passing within your heart," said the curé with a frown, "I congratulate you on your mission, if that is the only reason why you despise a more than ample fortune. It is fifty-six years since I was first curé of Verrières, and yet I shall be turned out, according to all appearances. I am distressed by it, and yet my income amounts to eight hundred francs. I inform you of this detail so that you may not be under any illusions as to what awaits you in your career as a priest. If you think of paying court to the men who enjoy power, your eternal damnation is assured. You may make your fortune, but you will have to do harm to the poor, flatter the sub-prefect, the mayor, the man who enjoys prestige, and pander to his passion; this conduct, which in the world is called knowledge of life, is not absolutely incompatible with salvation so far as a layman is concerned; but in our vocation we have to make a choice; it is a question of making one's fortune either in this world or the next; there is no middle road. Come, my dear friend, reflect, and come back in three days with a definite answer. I am pained to detect that there is at the bottom of your character a sombre passion which is far from indicating to me that moderation and that perfect renunciation of earthly advantages so necessary for a priest; I augur well of your intellect, but allow me to tell you," added the good curé with tears in his eyes, "I tremble for your salvation in your career as a priest."

Julien was ashamed of his emotion; he found himself loved for the first time in his life; he wept with delight; and went to hide his tears in the great woods behind Verrières.

"Why am I in this position?" he said to himself at last, "I feel that I would give my life a hundred times over for this good curé Chélan, and he has just proved to me that I am nothing more than a fool. It is especially necessary for me to deceive him, and he manages to find me out. The secret ardour which he refers to is my plan of making my fortune. He thinks I am unworthy of being a priest, that too, just when I was imagining that my sacrifice of fifty louis would give him the very highest idea of my piety and devotion to my mission."

"In future," continued Julien, "I will only reckon on those elements in my character which I have tested. Who could have told me that I should find any pleasure in shedding tears? How I should like some one to convince me that I am simply a fool!"

Three days later, Julien found the excuse with which he ought to have been prepared on the first day; the excuse was a piece of calumny, but what did it matter? He confessed to the curé, with a great deal of hesitation, that he had been persuaded from the suggested union by a reason he could not explain, inasmuch as it tended to damage a third party. This was equivalent to impeaching Elisa's conduct. M. Chélan found that his manner betrayed a certain worldly fire which was very different from that which ought to have animated a young acolyte.

"My friend," he said to him again, "be a good country citizen, respected and educated, rather than a priest without a vocation."

I'm reading Burton Raffel's translation, I like it more, but I wanted to share this part because its so ominous to me.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 14, 2021, 06:17:22 AM
A Pride of Lions. Joshua Chamberlain & Other Maine Civil War Heroes by William Lemke
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on October 14, 2021, 07:46:05 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 14, 2021, 06:17:22 AM
A Pride of Lions. Joshua Chamberlain & Other Maine Civil War Heroes by William Lemke

Please give some anecdotes when done.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 19, 2021, 09:17:43 PM
The Thousand and One Nights. A new translation. I''ve had these for a while, but never got around to reading them.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 21, 2021, 12:10:37 PM
The Ways of Mental Prayer by Fr. Lehodey.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on October 21, 2021, 04:19:16 PM
Quote from: Christina_S on October 21, 2021, 12:10:37 PM
The Ways of Mental Prayer by Fr. Lehodey.

Solid book
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 04, 2021, 06:06:39 AM
Lucrezia Borgia by Sarah Bradford. The author contends that Lucrezia's history is unfair as it was written mostly by her enemies.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on November 04, 2021, 09:43:56 PM
Three men in a Boat, to Say Nothing of the Dog. One of the funniest books I have ever read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 06, 2021, 04:08:04 PM
The Life of Thomas More, by Peter Ackroyd. Now I'm getting all kinds of recommendations for books about Martin Luther in my audible app. Blach.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 27, 2021, 09:30:58 AM
Imperial Grunts. The American Military on the Ground by Robert Kaplan
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on November 27, 2021, 09:32:04 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 06, 2021, 04:08:04 PM
The Life of Thomas More, by Peter Ackroyd. Now I'm getting all kinds of recommendations for books about Martin Luther in my audible app. Blach.

How is it?

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on November 27, 2021, 09:33:58 AM
Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss.

Watching a ton of his videos on Youtube too. Going to apply a bunch of his principles on cold calls next week, we'll see how they do. I'm willing to bet very well, considering his outcomes were life or death.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 30, 2021, 09:47:44 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on November 27, 2021, 09:32:04 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 06, 2021, 04:08:04 PM
The Life of Thomas More, by Peter Ackroyd. Now I'm getting all kinds of recommendations for books about Martin Luther in my audible app. Blach.

How is it?
It's good. I read it years ago and enjoyed it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 10, 2021, 04:31:38 PM
Pan's Labyrinth. I prefer it to the movie, although both are good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Optatus on December 11, 2021, 09:47:07 AM
Letters from Father Christmas.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 16, 2021, 08:54:02 AM
Getting ready to start Shogun, by James Clavell. Got a free credit from Audible.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 16, 2021, 09:36:16 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 16, 2021, 08:54:02 AM
Getting ready to start Shogun, by James Clavell. Got a free credit from Audible.

Have you read anything by James Michener?  Centennial is a one of my favorites.  Kinda similar to James Clavell stuff
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 16, 2021, 09:37:06 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on December 16, 2021, 09:36:16 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 16, 2021, 08:54:02 AM
Getting ready to start Shogun, by James Clavell. Got a free credit from Audible.

Have you read anything by James Michener?  Centennial is a one of my favorites.  Kinda similar to James Clavell stuff

I have a few of his books on my kindle, but haven't read them yet. My dad loves his work.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 16, 2021, 09:54:00 AM
And Les Miserables, the Christine Donaugher translation.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 17, 2021, 06:03:27 AM
General Patton. A Soldiers Life by Stanley Hirshson
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 06, 2022, 08:14:37 AM
1Q84, by Haruki Murakami. I'm trying it again as I got distracted the first time I read it, and it's not the kind of book you can pick up again after a long absence.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 06, 2022, 08:25:55 AM
I needed a little piece of non-fiction to read after finishing A Mother's Rule of Life, and my husband suggested Brave New World by Aldous Huxley  ::)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 06, 2022, 07:31:55 PM
The Burgundians, Bart van Loo. It covers the history of this nation from the Germanic people originating somewhere in Eastern Europe to the Valois Burgundians who went extinct in 1477 with the death in battle of Charles the Bold (his name was really relating to his recklessness). Their territory spanning the Burgogne, Netherlands, Belgium (where Burgundian is a term for eating and living well) and was the source of such innovations as oil painting as now understood, a complex administrative and financial system and even a sort of standing army, although it did the last Dukes not much good. The Habsburgs inherited the lands, like most of their lands, by marriage. Emperor Charles V saw himself as Burgundian, while his son Philip II was indifferent, and perhaps this distance was a factor in the loss of the Netherlands.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 07, 2022, 09:51:38 AM
Is Paris Burning?  How Paris Miraculously Escaped Adolf Hitler's Sentence Of Death In August 1944 by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 08, 2022, 05:41:09 PM
Finishing up Harry Potter #4. My favorite one.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 10, 2022, 04:59:50 PM
Centennial, by James Michener. People hated the narrator, so hopefully I can stand him.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: FaithByProxy on January 18, 2022, 11:39:49 AM
Currently slogging through The Count of Monte Cristo. I never read it growing up so I'm attempting to now, and boy is it hard to get through a novel this length as a homeschooling mother now haha. I'm enjoying it so far, though.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 18, 2022, 12:03:36 PM
Quote from: FaithByProxy on January 18, 2022, 11:39:49 AM
Currently slogging through The Count of Monte Cristo. I never read it growing up so I'm attempting to now, and boy is it hard to get through a novel this length as a homeschooling mother now haha. I'm enjoying it so far, though.

One of my favorites. I downloaded it as an audio book from Librivox.org.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 18, 2022, 06:34:22 PM
Finished Nineteen Eighty-Four yesterday, so now I'm on to Yours, Till Heaven, which tells the story of the marriage of Charles and Susie Spurgeon. A Protestant friend gifted it to me.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 19, 2022, 05:10:04 PM
Bleak House, one of my favorite Dickens novels.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth.2 on January 19, 2022, 08:21:53 PM
Quote from: FaithByProxy on January 18, 2022, 11:39:49 AM
Currently slogging through The Count of Monte Cristo. I never read it growing up so I'm attempting to now, and boy is it hard to get through a novel this length as a homeschooling mother now haha. I'm enjoying it so far, though.
It stresses me out so much I can't get through it.  The betrayal. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 20, 2022, 07:54:08 AM
Quote from: Elizabeth.2 on January 19, 2022, 08:21:53 PM
Quote from: FaithByProxy on January 18, 2022, 11:39:49 AM
Currently slogging through The Count of Monte Cristo. I never read it growing up so I'm attempting to now, and boy is it hard to get through a novel this length as a homeschooling mother now haha. I'm enjoying it so far, though.
It stresses me out so much I can't get through it.  The betrayal.
What a shame. It's so good. People think it's about revenge, but it's not really.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 25, 2022, 04:01:00 PM
Game Change. Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on January 25, 2022, 06:08:19 PM
On to Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 25, 2022, 06:13:18 PM
Dissolution of the Monasteries, a New History, James G. Clark. It treats of the dissolution of the monasteries in England and Wales, where Henry VIII held sway, but does not cover Ireland, stating that that is different story, its own. Given the sheer size, there is already enough material. Scotland is omitted as it was a separate kingdom with its own king.

One thing with Scotland is it had a few lay abbots or so when it was firmly Calvinist under James I. The assets were presumably a useful thing for the king to have in his gift, and James did sometimes entertain ideas of a sort of peace with Catholicism.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 28, 2022, 09:43:05 AM
The Help. It's been a while since I last read it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 18, 2022, 05:41:00 AM
The Age of the Moguls by Stewart Holbrook
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on February 18, 2022, 09:31:15 AM
DH started reading aloud from St. Gallen Mafia by Julia Meloni. I'd say it's an engaging, quick-paced mystery/thriller, but the fact that it's real makes it somehow less enthralling...
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on February 18, 2022, 10:44:18 AM
I'm re-reading The Hobbit, having last read it before the LOTR movies came out.  The book even had the old Borders bookstore receipt inside... :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TerrorDæmonum on February 18, 2022, 01:14:12 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on February 18, 2022, 10:44:18 AM
I'm re-reading The Hobbit, having last read it before the LOTR movies came out.  The book even had the old Borders bookstore receipt inside...

I bought the Hobbit today, twice. One is a nice edition to match my Lord of the Rings. The other is in Latin.

In foramine terrae  habitabat hobbitus.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on February 18, 2022, 01:15:34 PM
Quote from: Pæniteo on February 18, 2022, 01:14:12 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on February 18, 2022, 10:44:18 AM
I'm re-reading The Hobbit, having last read it before the LOTR movies came out.  The book even had the old Borders bookstore receipt inside...

I bought the Hobbit today, twice. One is a nice edition to match my Lord of the Rings. The other is in Latin.

In foramine terrae  habitabat hobbitus.

:O
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TerrorDæmonum on February 18, 2022, 01:23:09 PM
It is light reading, for balance.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 19, 2022, 03:43:26 PM
The Wonderful Garden, by E. Nesbit. One of my favorites, other than the Mouldiwarp Adventures. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 20, 2022, 05:35:25 PM
Ben Hur. It's been long enough since I read it that it's like reading it for the first time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on February 25, 2022, 05:43:32 AM
Talaat Pasha, Father of Modern Turkey, Architect of Genocide by Hans-Lucas Kieser. This man started as a postman in Thessalonica, and only scorn for men of religion in private, but was able to make himself the de-facto leader of what was still a vast theocracy. This was a man who sent onetime Armenian friends to their death. A fascinating angle is how Zionists ignored or even downplayed the genocide of the Armenians, with their eyes of the prize of a Jewish homeland which was expected to be under the suzerainty of the Sublime Porte. It might be noted that the US ambassador, himself Jewish, Henry Morganthau, clearly chronicled the genocide, and wrote in detail about it afterwards in his memoirs (which by modern standards seem a bit racist, with characterisations of the character of the 'Turk' as emotional and prone to sway between laughter and rage. The tyrannicide who shoot Talaat Pasha, by then in exile in Germany in fear of legal measures and worse, was cleared as his act was ruled justified (which was legally dubious). Liberal Germany took the part of the Armenians while conservative Germans were very much on the Turkish or Ottoman side. Kemal Ataturk owed a lot to his fund raising abilities, but was happy enough he remained in exile.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 02, 2022, 05:23:29 PM
A Tale of Two Cities. I don't love this work as much as Dickens's other works.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TerrorDæmonum on March 02, 2022, 05:38:18 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 02, 2022, 05:23:29 PM
A Tale of Two Cities. I don't love this work as much as Dickens's other works.

What were the best of his works, what were the worst of his works?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 11, 2022, 05:24:05 AM
The Howling Arctic. The Remarkable People who made Canada Sovereign in the Farthest North by Ray Price. Definitely not a book for the woke crowd. Published in 1970, the author states among other things that eskimos are like children and that blacks are psychologically suited for slavery. Much of the material was drawn from the Oblate Fathers of the Hudson Bay Vicariate.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 14, 2022, 04:07:28 PM
The Little Princesses, by Marion Crawford.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on March 15, 2022, 09:45:54 AM
The Ultimate Pipe Book by Richard Carleton Hacker.

It's pretty good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 25, 2022, 11:05:52 AM
Lulu's Christmas Story, by Ludmilla Bollow. One of my favorites.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 29, 2022, 09:47:27 AM
The Book Thief. The narrator is excellent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on March 31, 2022, 11:04:52 PM
Call of the Crocodile.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 04, 2022, 09:34:36 AM
The Egg and I, by Betty MacDonald. So funny.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 07, 2022, 10:07:22 AM
The Happy Isles of Oceana. Paddling the Pacific by Paul Theroux
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Acolyte on April 20, 2022, 05:11:10 PM
Cultivating Virtue (Tan Books)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on April 21, 2022, 03:09:26 AM
Quote from: Acolyte on April 20, 2022, 05:11:10 PM
Cultivating Virtue (Tan Books)

That looks really good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 22, 2022, 04:14:40 PM
The Queen of Hearts, by Wilkie Collins.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on April 25, 2022, 04:17:04 AM
Meet The Witnesses Of The Miracle Of The Sun by John Haffert.
One thing I learned from this was that among other phenomena reported by Fatima witnesses, was a strong wind blowing but trees and branches did not move.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Aulef on April 25, 2022, 06:34:28 AM
La Perfeccion Cristiana, by Emilio Gonzalez y Gonzalez.

It is a book that explores the spirituality of Saint Francis of Sales. Great for meditations, for it has the right structure for them.

I don't know whether there is an English translation.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TraddingtonBear on April 28, 2022, 02:05:13 PM
The Three Ages of the Interior Life by Garrigou-Lagrange
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on May 07, 2022, 07:18:02 AM
The Master and Margarita.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on May 07, 2022, 08:14:02 AM
Quote from: Aulef on April 25, 2022, 06:34:28 AM
La Perfeccion Cristiana, by Emilio Gonzalez y Gonzalez.

It is a book that explores the spirituality of Saint Francis of Sales. Great for meditations, for it has the right structure for them.

I don't know whether there is an English translation.
Unfortunately there isn't.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 09, 2022, 03:38:35 AM
The Apostles and Their Times. Archeology, History, and Scripture Unveil What Life Was Really Like During the Apostolic Age by Mike Aquilina
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Aulef on May 09, 2022, 06:37:23 AM
I began a new one yesterday. Main objective is meditation as well.


Holy Abandonment, by Dom Vitalis Lehodey.


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 09, 2022, 07:10:49 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on May 09, 2022, 03:38:35 AM
The Apostles and Their Times. Archeology, History, and Scripture Unveil What Life Was Really Like During the Apostolic Age by Mike Aquilina
This sounds good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on May 09, 2022, 09:59:16 AM
Rereading Miss Buncle's Book
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on May 18, 2022, 10:42:15 AM
(https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571889454l/52024701._SX0_SY0_.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on May 18, 2022, 10:43:01 AM
Quote from: Tennessean on May 07, 2022, 07:18:02 AMThe Master and Margarita.

One of my favorites.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on May 18, 2022, 10:44:09 AM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on May 18, 2022, 10:42:15 AM
(https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571889454l/52024701._SX0_SY0_.jpg)

Indispensable if one wants to understand the bourgeoisification of modern Russia.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on May 18, 2022, 11:05:47 AM
Quote from: Heinrich on May 18, 2022, 10:44:09 AMIndispensable if one wants to understand the bourgeoisification of modern Russia.

I suspect it will prove as much.  I have borrowed this one from the library, but recently I was re-reading some selections from my own copy of The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol.  What has happened with Ukranian identity that a century and a half ago, a great writer like Gogol could consider himself ethnically Ukranian but spiritually Russian, whereas now it would be considered traitorous to do so?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 19, 2022, 03:50:18 AM
I was forced to read The Cherry Orchard when in college. I still bear the scars.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on May 19, 2022, 03:58:52 AM
200 Years Together - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Managed to find a PDF of it in English and put it on my Kindle.  It's a long read, but very interesting. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Hundred_Years_Together
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: BlueInGreen on May 25, 2022, 10:25:55 AM
Where the Crawdad Sings by Delia Owens.
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

After those two it'll be listening to the audiobook of Hell House by Richard Matheson and then reading Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 25, 2022, 02:10:51 PM
Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst: A True Story of Inside Information and Corruption in the Stock Market by Dan Reingold.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on June 08, 2022, 12:36:51 PM
(https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553358477l/44576501._SY475_.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Justin Martyr on June 08, 2022, 04:52:56 PM
The Dogma of Hell by Fr. Schouppe S.J.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on June 08, 2022, 05:41:37 PM
Eve Morrison, Kilmichael: the Life and Afterlife of an Ambush.

The biographer of Tom Barry, Meda Ryan, who refused to talk to Eve Morrison, actually gave me a copy of her biography of Tom Barry, who was one of the IRA commanders. I was then in hospital with various injuries. The book is as much a history of the controversy, as Liam Deasy, who was a commander of Barry, disagreed with his recall of the ambush.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 12, 2022, 01:23:09 PM
Little Sister. A Memoir by Patricia Walsh Chadwick. Growing up in Leonard Feeney's St Benedict Center.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TulitAutemAgnum on June 12, 2022, 05:51:44 PM
I just read Dune by Frank Herbert and I thought it was horrendous but I couldn't put it down, I'm glad its over.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth on June 13, 2022, 12:50:36 PM
Quote from: Justin Martyr on June 08, 2022, 04:52:56 PM
The Dogma of Hell by Fr. Schouppe S.J.
One of my favorites  :cheeseheadbeer:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Padraig on June 13, 2022, 02:24:07 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on May 18, 2022, 11:05:47 AM
Quote from: Heinrich on May 18, 2022, 10:44:09 AMIndispensable if one wants to understand the bourgeoisification of modern Russia.

I suspect it will prove as much.  I have borrowed this one from the library, but recently I was re-reading some selections from my own copy of The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol.  What has happened with Ukranian identity that a century and a half ago, a great writer like Gogol could consider himself ethnically Ukranian but spiritually Russian, whereas now it would be considered traitorous to do so?

Heinrich and Pon, have either of you read any of Eugene Vodolazkin? I read Laurus last year, and it was one of the most remarkable books I've ever read. I was just given two of his latest novels: The Aviator and Brisbane. I'm looking forward to both.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on June 13, 2022, 03:31:16 PM
Quote from: Padraig on June 13, 2022, 02:24:07 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on May 18, 2022, 11:05:47 AM
Quote from: Heinrich on May 18, 2022, 10:44:09 AMIndispensable if one wants to understand the bourgeoisification of modern Russia.

I suspect it will prove as much.  I have borrowed this one from the library, but recently I was re-reading some selections from my own copy of The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol.  What has happened with Ukranian identity that a century and a half ago, a great writer like Gogol could consider himself ethnically Ukranian but spiritually Russian, whereas now it would be considered traitorous to do so?

Heinrich and Pon, have either of you read any of Eugene Vodolazkin? I read Laurus last year, and it was one of the most remarkable books I've ever read. I was just given two of his latest novels: The Aviator and Brisbane. I'm looking forward to both.

Never heard of him. I am barely getting through E Micheal Jones' Jewish RS and Don Quijote(en Castellano moderno). However, this is noted. Thanks, Dr.!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 13, 2022, 10:21:06 PM
I just devoured Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton for the first time ever.  Very fun book!  I could hardly keep it down.  I bought it yesterday from Half Price Books... :lol:

Next on the (fiction) list is Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on June 14, 2022, 07:19:21 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf link=topic=3.msg581298#msg581298 date=

Next on the (fiction) list is Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

[yt]https://youtu.be/f06_CkYvIik[/yt]
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Padraig on June 14, 2022, 07:46:28 AM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 13, 2022, 03:31:16 PM

Never heard of him. I am barely getting through E Micheal Jones' Jewish RS and Don Quijote(en Castellano moderno). However, this is noted. Thanks, Dr.!

Don Quixote is quite a door-stopper. I read Book I (en Ingles) a long time ago, but never finished Book II.

I heartily recommend Laurus. Set in 15th century Russia during the plague, tragedy and sin transform the life of the main character into a pilgrimage of redemption, during which he assumes and casts off the various identities of healer, holy fool, and hermit. It's a stunning work, beautifully written and translated. If you enjoy Russian literature, this is the book I would recommend as the best modern example.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 14, 2022, 08:39:48 AM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 14, 2022, 07:19:21 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf link=topic=3.msg581298#msg581298 date=

Next on the (fiction) list is Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

[yt]https://youtu.be/f06_CkYvIik[/yt]

:lol:   Yes!
I just saw the movie for the first time last week, and I see that the book series is very well-regarded.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on June 14, 2022, 01:20:26 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 13, 2022, 10:21:06 PM
I just devoured Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton for the first time ever.  Very fun book!  I could hardly keep it down.  I bought it yesterday from Half Price Books... :lol:

Next on the (fiction) list is Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

Timeline by Michael Crichton is kinda good crack historical(?) fiction
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 14, 2022, 05:17:53 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on June 14, 2022, 01:20:26 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 13, 2022, 10:21:06 PM
I just devoured Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton for the first time ever.  Very fun book!  I could hardly keep it down.  I bought it yesterday from Half Price Books... [emoji38]

Next on the (fiction) list is Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

Timeline by Michael Crichton is kinda good crack historical(?) fiction
[emoji38]

All of my friends have been suggesting I jump into the entirety of Chrichton's works. [emoji38]

I'll be adding them :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Aulef on June 14, 2022, 05:55:58 PM
Added a second reading (other purpose than meditation)



Saint Peter the Apostle, by William Thomas Walsh
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 15, 2022, 04:10:41 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 14, 2022, 05:17:53 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on June 14, 2022, 01:20:26 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on June 13, 2022, 10:21:06 PM
I just devoured Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton for the first time ever.  Very fun book!  I could hardly keep it down.  I bought it yesterday from Half Price Books... [emoji38]

Next on the (fiction) list is Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

Timeline by Michael Crichton is kinda good crack historical(?) fiction
[emoj
Add Eaters of the Dead to your list.





Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on June 15, 2022, 12:04:19 PM
Quote from: Padraig on June 13, 2022, 02:24:07 PMHeinrich and Pon, have either of you read any of Eugene Vodolazkin? I read Laurus last year, and it was one of the most remarkable books I've ever read.

I have not read this; I am unacquainted with modern Russian literature.  The Soviets effectively killed culture, and based on the cinematic offerings I have seen from Russia post-glasnost, it did not appear as if the arts there were going to return to their nineteenth century heights.  It is generally a failure of modern conservatism that it does it not encourage great art, and that seems to have been a failure of the Putin regime as well.  Perhaps Vlad is too macho, but one cannot be an Augustus without a Virgil.  So I am pleased to read your praise for this modern Russian novel; I researched it some, and it looks interesting.  Unfortunately, my local library in these semi-literate pinelands in Trump country does not carry it, so it will have to go on my Amazon wish list and languish there.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on June 15, 2022, 12:23:56 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on June 15, 2022, 12:04:19 PM
Quote from: Padraig on June 13, 2022, 02:24:07 PMHeinrich and Pon, have either of you read any of Eugene Vodolazkin? I read Laurus last year, and it was one of the most remarkable books I've ever read.

I have not read this; I am unacquainted with modern Russian literature.  The Soviets effectively killed culture, and based on the cinematic offerings I have seen from Russia post-glasnost, it did not appear as if the arts there were going to return to their nineteenth century heights.  It is generally a failure of modern conservatism that it does it not encourage great art, and that seems to have been a failure of the Putin regime as well.  Perhaps Vlad is too macho, but one cannot be an Augustus without a Virgil.  So I am pleased to read your praise for this modern Russian novel; I researched it some, and it looks interesting.  Unfortunately, my local library in these semi-literate pinelands in Trump country does not carry it, so it will have to go on my Amazon wish list and languish there.

Do you work for Twitter? LOL!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on June 15, 2022, 12:33:36 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 15, 2022, 12:23:56 PMDo you work for Twitter? LOL!

I'm not getting the joke.  Was my post exactly 140 characters?  Or maybe I write like a sentient form of artificial intelligence, but I think that one's at Google, not Twitter.

Twitter now belongs to Elon Musk, who once dated Amber Heard.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 15, 2022, 01:17:53 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on June 15, 2022, 12:04:19 PM
Quote from: Padraig on June 13, 2022, 02:24:07 PMHeinrich and Pon, have either of you read any of Eugene Vodolazkin? I read Laurus last year, and it was one of the most remarkable books I've ever read.

I have not read this; I am unacquainted with modern Russian literature.  The Soviets effectively killed culture, and based on the cinematic offerings I have seen from Russia post-glasnost, it did not appear as if the arts there were going to return to their nineteenth century heights.  It is generally a failure of modern conservatism that it does it not encourage great art, and that seems to have been a failure of the Putin regime as well.  Perhaps Vlad is too macho, but one cannot be an Augustus without a Virgil.  So I am pleased to read your praise for this modern Russian novel; I researched it some, and it looks interesting.  Unfortunately, my local library in these semi-literate pinelands in Trump country does not carry it, so it will have to go on my Amazon wish list and languish there.
Have you considred the Inter Library Loan? Though not all libraries belong.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on June 15, 2022, 01:57:27 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on June 15, 2022, 01:17:53 PMHave you considred the Inter Library Loan? Though not all libraries belong.

According to the state website (https://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/search-library/access-materials-and-resources/interlibrary-loan), one has to be on the Government & Heritage Library system (https://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/about-us/government-and-heritage-library), something my library card does not make mention of.  Mostly research and public records, it looks like, and not Russian novels.


Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Padraig on June 15, 2022, 04:11:23 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on June 15, 2022, 12:33:36 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on June 15, 2022, 12:23:56 PMDo you work for Twitter? LOL!

I'm not getting the joke.  Was my post exactly 140 characters?

I think Heinrich's question was prompted by this phrase:
"these semi-literate pinelands in Trump country" :lol:

If I ever get my copy back from the current borrower, I'll lend you mine if you're unable to secure a copy :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on June 15, 2022, 06:16:59 PM
Quote from: Padraig on June 15, 2022, 04:11:23 PMI think Heinrich's question was prompted by this phrase:
"these semi-literate pinelands in Trump country"

Ah, I see the connection.  Donald Trump was banned from Twitter ? deriding Trumpkins is associated with being a censor on Twitter.  I actually don't hate Trump himself.  I think he was great comedy and a refreshing tonic, and even some of his attempts at policy were decent, like the Muslim ban, but I'm afraid he didn't do anything positive to improve literacy or culture.  When Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are visiting the White House with presidential approval, nothing serious is being conserved.

Quote from: Padraig on June 15, 2022, 04:11:23 PMIf I ever get my copy back from the current borrower, I'll lend you mine if you're unable to secure a copy.

Thanks, I'll see how it goes.  I don't have too many books lined up for purchase, but the ones on my list are expensive.  Next up is The Magic of My Youth, by Arthur Calder-Marshall.  Good quality hardcover: 269.99 USD.  Maybe I'll win the lottery.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Padraig on June 15, 2022, 07:32:27 PM
Quote from: Pon de Replay on June 15, 2022, 06:16:59 PM
Quote from: Padraig on June 15, 2022, 04:11:23 PMIf I ever get my copy back from the current borrower, I'll lend you mine if you're unable to secure a copy.

Thanks, I'll see how it goes.  I don't have too many books lined up for purchase, but the ones on my list are expensive.  Next up is The Magic of My Youth, by Arthur Calder-Marshall.  Good quality hardcover: 269.99 USD.  Maybe I'll win the lottery.
Whew! I thought my wish-listed book, Iain Gilchrist's two volume The Matter with Things, for $148 was steep!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: TulitAutemAgnum on June 15, 2022, 08:46:40 PM
Crucified Rabbi by Taylor Marshall
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on June 16, 2022, 10:03:12 AM
Quote from: Padraig on June 15, 2022, 07:32:27 PMWhew! I thought my wish-listed book, Iain Gilchrist's two volume The Matter with Things, for $148 was steep!

And that book clocks in at 1500 pages, so you're paying a dollar a page, which is normally steep, but depending on how much you like the writer and his insights, it could be a value.  I just checked outside of Amazon on mine, and I'm glad I did, because the independent sellers there often price-gouge, and it looks like Abe Books has good quality paperback versions at much more reasonable prices.

ETA: wait, I think it would be a dime a page, not a dollar.  So that's almost a steal.

ETA again: Or is it ten dollars a page?  Why can't I do this math?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Padraig on June 16, 2022, 11:38:26 AM
:lol: Yes, a dime per page. That's a pretty good value when you frame it like that
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 17, 2022, 03:08:20 PM
David Copperfield. For the hundredth time. :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on June 20, 2022, 06:35:43 AM
Just started Lonesome Dove
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: FaithByProxy on June 21, 2022, 07:33:08 PM
Nonfiction: Teaching from Rest, A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie

Fiction: Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter D. Edmonds
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 28, 2022, 06:28:22 AM
Roots, by Alex Haley. Kindle $1.99.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 29, 2022, 10:14:52 AM
Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness In The West by Cormac McCarthy. I don't care for most modern fiction but McCarthy is outstanding.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 17, 2022, 02:57:54 PM
The Storm Before The Storm. The Beginning Of The End Of The Roman Republic by Mike Duncan
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Elizabeth on July 18, 2022, 12:31:39 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on June 20, 2022, 06:35:43 AM
Just started Lonesome Dove
I read that maybe over 40 years ago, but I recall that I wept because it was over.  My dad used to love chatting with McMurtry at his little bookshop in Georgetown, ages ago.   :coffee:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 29, 2022, 08:25:59 AM
Dem Days Was Hell: Slave Narratives collected by the Federal Writers' Project. The entire 31 volume series is .99, couldn't pass it up.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 06, 2022, 04:09:14 AM
Clouds of Glory. The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee by Michael Korda
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Heinrich on August 06, 2022, 07:36:32 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 29, 2022, 08:25:59 AM
Dem Days Was Hell: Slave Narratives collected by the Federal Writers' Project. The entire 31 volume series is .99, couldn't pass it up.

Try to find this one to balance the propaganda:

https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/9780692630099?shipto=US&curcode=USD&gclid=Cj0KCQjworiXBhDJARIsAMuzAuxdv6m2t4pNuYKuwPpBftWodFF8kGJ1UrKFLH7yhh8uSx6lY6wOXQsaAhNgEALw_wcB
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jmartyr on August 06, 2022, 09:04:15 AM
Outside The Church There Is Positively No Salvation by Father Michael Mueller CSSR. Great read. From the late 1800's. Shows, once again, how Lefebvre was so consistent in doctrine, especially religious liberty.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 06, 2022, 01:44:16 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on August 06, 2022, 07:36:32 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 29, 2022, 08:25:59 AM
Dem Days Was Hell: Slave Narratives collected by the Federal Writers' Project. The entire 31 volume series is .99, couldn't pass it up.

Try to find this one to balance the propaganda:

https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/9780692630099?shipto=US&curcode=USD&gclid=Cj0KCQjworiXBhDJARIsAMuzAuxdv6m2t4pNuYKuwPpBftWodFF8kGJ1UrKFLH7yhh8uSx6lY6wOXQsaAhNgEALw_wcB
I wouldn't call it propaganda. There are stories of people who loved their "white folks", and stories of people who were treated badly. It seems pretty balanced.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on August 08, 2022, 06:55:15 AM
The Consoling Thoughts of St Francis De Sales
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 11, 2022, 09:56:53 PM
The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Acolyte on August 16, 2022, 09:52:02 PM
Edit :Oops, wrong forum
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on August 17, 2022, 05:42:32 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on August 11, 2022, 09:56:53 PM
The Hound of the Baskervilles.

I personally think that that is the greatest mystery novel ever written. My sister, who is a big Agatha Christie fan, denies it quite vigorously lol.

Edited for a typo
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Melkor on August 17, 2022, 05:44:35 AM
The Sea Warriors by Richard Woodman. A masterful insight into the importance of the role that frigates played during the Napoleonic wars.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Polymath on August 17, 2022, 08:24:36 AM
The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God by Michael Pakaluk, about his late wife who was so clearly a saint.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 17, 2022, 05:35:48 PM
Getting ready to start Nella Last's War which is a collection of one woman's diaries in wartime Britain. She wrote for the Mass Observation Project, which documented the effects of the war on everyday citizens.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 26, 2022, 02:40:28 PM
Just finished The Gate of the Giant Scissors, a sweet children's story, and getting ready to start London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew, and Food in England by Dorothy Hartley.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 27, 2022, 04:22:43 AM
The Death of the West by Patrick Buchanan. Everything happening today, he predicted 20 years ago.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 30, 2022, 07:52:24 AM
Getting ready to reread My Catholic Faith, by +Morrow. I found a copy on archive.org and am curious to see how it compares to the original.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 30, 2022, 08:44:37 AM
I'm slowly meandering my way through Bram Stoker's Dracula.  It's interesting.  It's somehow both fast-paced and long.  :lol:

Besides that, I've also got a book checked out on the 1916 Easter Rising, under the same title 1916: Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Justin Martyr on August 30, 2022, 10:03:49 AM
Handbook of Moral Theology by Fr. Prümmer O.P.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on August 30, 2022, 10:46:50 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 30, 2022, 08:44:37 AM
Besides that, I've also got a book checked out on the 1916 Easter Rising, under the same title 1916: Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan.

I've got a couple of other books by Tim Pat Coogan (The Troubles and Michael Collins), good author
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on August 30, 2022, 12:57:52 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on August 30, 2022, 10:46:50 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 30, 2022, 08:44:37 AM
Besides that, I've also got a book checked out on the 1916 Easter Rising, under the same title 1916: Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan.

I've got a couple of other books by Tim Pat Coogan (The Troubles and Michael Collins), good author
Adding this to my list.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on August 30, 2022, 01:10:03 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on August 30, 2022, 10:46:50 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 30, 2022, 08:44:37 AM
Besides that, I've also got a book checked out on the 1916 Easter Rising, under the same title 1916: Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan.

I've got a couple of other books by Tim Pat Coogan (The Troubles and Michael Collins), good author

Oh yea?  That's good to hear.  If I like this book, I think the latter (Collins) might be next.  He seems rather... complex.

Any recommendations on a bio/history on Eamon de Valera? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Padraig on August 30, 2022, 09:56:44 PM
Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on August 31, 2022, 06:45:12 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 30, 2022, 01:10:03 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on August 30, 2022, 10:46:50 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 30, 2022, 08:44:37 AM
Besides that, I've also got a book checked out on the 1916 Easter Rising, under the same title 1916: Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan.

I've got a couple of other books by Tim Pat Coogan (The Troubles and Michael Collins), good author

Oh yea?  That's good to hear.  If I like this book, I think the latter (Collins) might be next.  He seems rather... complex.

Any recommendations on a bio/history on Eamon de Valera?

No....I'd be interested in a good one, though. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 02, 2022, 08:29:02 AM
Getting ready to start The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Malachi on September 03, 2022, 09:44:20 AM
Three books at once, each in a different part of the house:

The Keys To This Blood

Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Revelations
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on September 06, 2022, 06:52:42 AM
Last Call. Its the Parzival in Las Vegas.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 07, 2022, 04:26:46 PM
How to Be a Tudor, by Ruth Goodman. I haven't read this in years, so it's like reading it for the first time.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on September 08, 2022, 07:14:10 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 07, 2022, 04:26:46 PM
How to Be a Tudor, by Ruth Goodman. I haven't read this in years, so it's like reading it for the first time.

I love that book.   Also the "How to be a Victorian."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on September 08, 2022, 02:04:04 PM
The Invisible Man - H G Wells
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 10, 2022, 06:22:37 AM
The Little Princesses: The Story of the Queen's Childhood, by Marion Crawford.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 21, 2022, 06:24:23 AM
The Warrior Saint by R.V.C. Bodley. The life of Charles de Foucauld.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 21, 2022, 06:38:11 AM
Getting ready to start Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. Three immense volumes.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on September 21, 2022, 07:39:38 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 21, 2022, 06:38:11 AM
Getting ready to start Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. Three immense volumes.

They are fantastic, though
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on September 21, 2022, 07:40:40 AM
Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 21, 2022, 08:19:44 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on September 21, 2022, 07:39:38 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 21, 2022, 06:38:11 AM
Getting ready to start Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. Three immense volumes.

They are fantastic, though
I just wish that he'd read the audiobooks himself. He had a great voice.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 21, 2022, 09:46:21 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 21, 2022, 06:38:11 AM
Getting ready to start Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. Three immense volumes.
I have the '74 version. All three in one book. Foote is quite good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 21, 2022, 09:56:32 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 21, 2022, 09:46:21 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 21, 2022, 06:38:11 AM
Getting ready to start Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. Three immense volumes.
I have the '74 version. All three in one book. Foote is quite good.
My goodness, I'm surprised the binding holds up!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 21, 2022, 01:10:02 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 21, 2022, 09:56:32 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 21, 2022, 09:46:21 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 21, 2022, 06:38:11 AM
Getting ready to start Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. Three immense volumes.
I have the '74 version. All three in one book. Foote is quite good.
My goodness, I'm surprised the binding holds up!
Yes, the spine is starting to come away.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on September 23, 2022, 04:02:29 PM
Michael Fewer, Battle of the Four Courts. He takes care to consult an artillery officer and has a very sure grasp of the layout of the Four Courts. His account also supports the idea that Churchill was something of a lunatic, offering artillery (in the wake of the assassination of Chief of the Imperial Staff, Longford man, tho Monkstown born, contrary to Wikipedia, Sir Henry Wilson) that would have been utterly reckless in a dense city environment. A simpler, smaller calibre artillery piece able to strafe the Four Courts and punch holes is used. One detail is that the British Army was still in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, and notes details like how Armistice Day and other Empire festivals were still marked in the Phoenix Park a fair few decades after formal 26 country near independence in 1922. Also old firms like Fannins have a roll. Also touches like women pushing their pram past the artillery piece shelling the Four Courts, some inner city woman notably hostile to Republicans or Irregulars as in 1916 for wrecking the place, yet in instance a Republic gun man is anointed with holy water by a slum dweller. Also the women staff of the occupying Republic forces going for their lunch in nearby coffee shops while men went to pubs and drank with National Army men just waiting for orders.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on September 25, 2022, 09:44:10 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 30, 2022, 08:44:37 AM
I'm slowly meandering my way through Bram Stoker's Dracula.  It's interesting.  It's somehow both fast-paced and long.  :lol:

Besides that, I've also got a book checked out on the 1916 Easter Rising, under the same title 1916: Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan.

Finally picked Dracula back up and knocked the rest of it out.  Enjoyable book, but still maintains the "fast-paced" but also "long" description.  Big recommend on reading it, though.  Definitely worthwhile. 

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on September 26, 2022, 02:58:22 AM
Moon Man - Bart Sibrel
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 27, 2022, 08:39:58 AM
Taking a break from The Civil War to read Peter Ackroyd's huge Dickens biography (which I borrowed from Internet Archive so I don't have to get out my print copy and stronger glasses. :))
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 03, 2022, 08:03:36 PM
Read The Brothers Karamazov for the first time last month and it was (surprisingly) a much easier read than I expected. Also finished reading Crucial Conversations last week. Now we're on to Northanger Abbey.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 10, 2022, 01:53:16 PM
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan. The failed Market-Garden campaign.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Angelorum on October 10, 2022, 06:28:05 PM
Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 by Charles Murray

He basically predicted the Trump phenomenon in 2013.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 10, 2022, 07:01:12 PM
Just started Holiness and Happiness by Fr. Lasance and I already like his simple yet profound way of conveying the truths of living the life in God's grace. I'm also looking at two (PDF copies) of his prayer books, The Young man's guide and My prayer book. These are not just prayer books as many of you already know. The former is more like a practical guide for young men on how to overcome temptations and grow in virtue. Over 500 pages of reflections, counsels and introduction to certain aspects of faith and devotions plus 250 or so pages of traditional and indulgenced prayers. The latter is widely known among trads so I won't go into detail about the content of the book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 10, 2022, 09:30:51 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on September 25, 2022, 09:44:10 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on August 30, 2022, 08:44:37 AM
I'm slowly meandering my way through Bram Stoker's Dracula.  It's interesting.  It's somehow both fast-paced and long.  :lol:

Besides that, I've also got a book checked out on the 1916 Easter Rising, under the same title 1916: Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan.

Finally picked Dracula back up and knocked the rest of it out.  Enjoyable book, but still maintains the "fast-paced" but also "long" description.  Big recommend on reading it, though.  Definitely worthwhile.
Fast paced is what I remember mostly about it. Probably the most captivating book I've ever read. Once you start it you can hardly put it down. It was a real treat.
You find everything in that book. Drama, romance, horror, mystery, suspense, etc. even catholic element throughout. It's a multi genre book for all readers.
PS: I think this is one of the very few books that were never out of print.
BTW do you know of any similar fast paced and absorbing books?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on October 10, 2022, 10:07:35 PM
Quote from: martin88nyc on October 10, 2022, 09:30:51 PM
Fast paced is what I remember mostly about it. Probably the most captivating book I've ever read. Once you start it you can hardly put it down. It was a real treat.
You find everything in that book. Drama, romance, horror, mystery, suspense, etc. even catholic element throughout. It's a multi genre book for all readers.
PS: I think this is one of the very few books that were never out of print.
BTW do you know of any similar fast paced and absorbing books?

Yea, I felt the same.  Even in the "slow" sections (mostly the dialogue, to be honest) was pretty snappy.  I watched the Bela Lugosi Dracula and ended up setting the book down for a few weeks, but picked it back up and finished it pretty quick.  I did have a chuckle at the random Catholic elements, and how they were used.  I liked the effort.  :lol:

I do not know of similar fast-paced books.  I did just start and finish Dune by Frank Herbert in like under a week.  It was around 700 pages or so?  I couldn't put it down - I was pretty enthralled by the plot, the world, and some of the characters.  Looking forward to reading the rest in the series (but I've heard the rest of the books by F. Herbert aren't as good...), but between now and then, I've got some non-fiction (Catholic) stuff I want to read, and also Frankenstein - which I've never actually read.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: martin88nyc on October 11, 2022, 12:22:30 AM
I read about 25 pages of The young man's guide and so far I'm impressed. Not only does Fr. Lasance communicate the truths and wisdom of our faith but also gives great examples from the lives of saints and other great catholic figures. Now I see why he was blessed by Pope Pius XI. I highly recommend this prayer book. Good stuff. This is exactly what I was looking for. May modernism and its errors be vanquished by Our Lady of the Rosary.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jacafamala on October 15, 2022, 09:54:56 AM
I have a bunch of things going...

The Ways of Mental Prayer by Vitalis Lehodey O.C.R.

St. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle

The Naked Communist, by L. Cleon Skousen (Audible)

The Bible in a year.



Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 17, 2022, 06:55:19 AM
Dune
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Acolyte on October 17, 2022, 08:51:37 PM
Quote from: Jacafamala on October 15, 2022, 09:54:56 AM
I have a bunch of things going...

The Ways of Mental Prayer by Vitalis Lehodey O.C.R.

St. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle

The Naked Communist, by L. Cleon Skousen (Audible)

The Bible in a year.





That Lehodey is a good one !  I may read Interior Castle after I finish Lehodey's
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on October 17, 2022, 09:36:16 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on October 17, 2022, 06:55:19 AM
Dune

I just finished Dune a week or so ago!

What do you think of it?  I had never read it before, and really enjoyed it. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: BlueInGreen on October 18, 2022, 12:19:31 AM
Audio book of Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

I'll then transition to Dietrich von Hildebrand's In Defense of Purity immediately. I hope to finish both by the end of October. For the month of November, St. Augustine's Confessions is waiting alongside Brenda Maddox's Rosalind Franklin: The Dark of Lady of DNA. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 18, 2022, 06:54:47 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on October 17, 2022, 09:36:16 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on October 17, 2022, 06:55:19 AM
Dune

I just finished Dune a week or so ago!

What do you think of it?  I had never read it before, and really enjoyed it.

That was what prompted me to start it.  It's been on my "list" for a long long time. Good so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 18, 2022, 06:56:06 AM
Quote from: BlueInGreen on October 18, 2022, 12:19:31 AM
Audio book of Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

I'll then transition to Dietrich von Hildebrand's In Defense of Purity immediately. I hope to finish both by the end of October. For the month of November, St. Augustine's Confessions is waiting alongside Brenda Maddox's Rosalind Franklin: The Dark of Lady of DNA.
I like Larson. Dead Wake, Garden of the Beasts and Thunderstruck are all very good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on October 18, 2022, 07:43:25 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on October 18, 2022, 06:54:47 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on October 17, 2022, 09:36:16 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on October 17, 2022, 06:55:19 AM
Dune

I just finished Dune a week or so ago!

What do you think of it?  I had never read it before, and really enjoyed it.

That was what prompted me to start it.  It's been on my "list" for a long long time. Good so far.
Oh, that's awesome.   I briefly scrolled to see if I mentioned it, I thought I didnt , then saw that I did. [emoji38].  I hope you enjoy it!  I don't really know what I expected from it, because I didn't know much about it, just that I kept running into it for whatever reason.  But yeah, I didn't find it a waste, I generally enjoyed the whole thing.  The main character was fun to watch develop from where he was to where he went. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on October 18, 2022, 07:43:59 AM
Quote from: BlueInGreen on October 18, 2022, 12:19:31 AM
Audio book of Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

I'll then transition to Dietrich von Hildebrand's In Defense of Purity immediately. I hope to finish both by the end of October. For the month of November, St. Augustine's Confessions is waiting alongside Brenda Maddox's Rosalind Franklin: The Dark of Lady of DNA.
Read Devil in the White City ages ago, but I really liked it.  Drew me to pick up the Nazi Germany book, but I haven't read that one yet. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bonaventure on October 23, 2022, 08:44:00 PM
Little Sister, by Patricia Walsh Chadwick
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on October 23, 2022, 10:55:01 PM
I picked up "Starship Troopers" for $1 at a nearby library sale Friday.  About 160 pages into it.  Interesting book.  I'm not good at reviewing literature.  It has a nice way of telling the story.  Both matter-of-fact, but also somewhat personal. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 25, 2022, 04:48:12 AM
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
In high school English class, 1968, they gave us a choice. Gatsby, Return of the Native or Lord Jim. I chose Native. Been carrying around my sisters copy of Gatsby for 54 years and finally got around to reading it. A very good read but not what I would call great literature. All the main characters were shallow, selfish and ignorant. The only people with any decency or morality were bit players with no face or name.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 25, 2022, 12:38:01 PM
The Story of a Soul, translated by John Clarke. It's my favorite translation, because it has more material than the others.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on October 26, 2022, 04:24:45 PM
Just finished Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of An American Family by Robert Kolker. A fascinating look at a Catholic family of 12 kids in which 6 of the 10 boys had some form of schizophrenia.
Now on to Videocracy: How YouTube Is Changing the World . . . with Double Rainbows, Singing Foxes, and Other Trends We Can't Stop Watching by Kevin Alloca.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on October 30, 2022, 09:56:24 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 25, 2022, 04:48:12 AM
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
In high school English class, 1968, they gave us a choice. Gatsby, Return of the Native or Lord Jim. I chose Native. Been carrying around my sisters copy of Gatsby for 54 years and finally got around to reading it. A very good read but not what I would call great literature. All the main characters were shallow, selfish and ignorant. The only people with any decency or morality were bit players with no face or name.
I couldn't find any people with decency or morality in the book: Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Tom's girlfriend, her husband, the gambler, daisy's friend (the cheater). Who else? Mr. Fitzgerald's "hero" presumably is Nick; he is just as shallow as the people that he admires or criticizes; Gatsby is a crook who supposedly loves Daisy. Why does anybody love Daisy? Much less two people? I didn't like the story at all, and why Fitzgerald is considered a "great" writer is beyond me; maybe he wrote other stories?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on October 31, 2022, 07:35:56 AM
Quote from: Michael Wilson on October 30, 2022, 09:56:24 AM
Quote from: red solo cup on October 25, 2022, 04:48:12 AM
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
In high school English class, 1968, they gave us a choice. Gatsby, Return of the Native or Lord Jim. I chose Native. Been carrying around my sisters copy of Gatsby for 54 years and finally got around to reading it. A very good read but not what I would call great literature. All the main characters were shallow, selfish and ignorant. The only people with any decency or morality were bit players with no face or name.
I couldn't find any people with decency or morality in the book: Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Tom's girlfriend, her husband, the gambler, daisy's friend (the cheater). Who else? Mr. Fitzgerald's "hero" presumably is Nick; he is just as shallow as the people that he admires or criticizes; Gatsby is a crook who supposedly loves Daisy. Why does anybody love Daisy? Much less two people? I didn't like the story at all, and why Fitzgerald is considered a "great" writer is beyond me; maybe he wrote other stories?

Fitzgerald and Hemingway are both overrated authors in my opinion.  Which along with a $10 bill will get you a cup of coffee   :coffee: :coffee: :coffee:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 13, 2022, 05:44:55 AM
Age of Ambition. Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos. For all the changes in China, corruption is still the byword. It costs about a million yuan in bribes to become a general in the army. The expectation being to make 10 million in one's "career". Makes you wonder how well China would do in a war.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on November 13, 2022, 07:15:35 PM
Crypts of London, Malcolm Johnson. This covers inhumation in the Anglican churches of London. It meant income for rectors, but after a time it often meant a bad smell and hygiene issues. It covers history but also focusses a lot on the practicalities. Most church burials were banned in the 1850s and usually after that remains both old and new were moved to common plots in suburban or urban cemeteries carefully design to avoid the old issues.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on November 14, 2022, 12:42:16 PM
Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss. Also Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 19, 2022, 05:21:18 PM
Ben-Hur. So good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Tennessean on November 20, 2022, 06:00:10 AM
I'm reading Suttree after finishing Blood Meridian.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 20, 2022, 05:40:38 PM
The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. It's a young adult historical novel. Pretty good.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GMC on November 29, 2022, 06:14:50 PM
Reasons to Believe by Abbot Yves Moureau.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on November 30, 2022, 12:43:59 PM
In This Corner of the World . A manga about a young woman during WWII in Japan.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on November 30, 2022, 03:31:58 PM
The Vaccine-Friendly Plan by Dr. Paul Thomas. Borrowed from a library, but it's so good I might end up buying a copy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on November 30, 2022, 03:47:57 PM
Burning the Big House[i/], Terence Dooley which covers the years preceding and those years of the early 1920s where many, many country houses were burnt. Sometimes it might relate to an aristocrat's forceful support then and before for the British connection, perhaps support for RIC auxiliaries (like the 'Black and Tans'), menaces to estate workers to enlist in WW1 or be dismissed, hostility from a mix of things like historic poor relations, including memories of the Famine, but also graziers or their sons who wanted the untenanted lands that former landlords let out for cattle grazing. Many were empty, but others had seen the death of sons in WW1 (thanks to the tactics which ensured officers perished in huge numbers), so younger landowner families without an adult male were vulnerable enough.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 01, 2022, 05:51:43 AM
Landscape Turned Red. The Battle of Antietam by Steven W. Sears
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 02, 2022, 04:37:36 PM
1,001 Nights, the new translation by Malcolm C. Lyons.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mono no aware on December 06, 2022, 11:51:59 AM
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Title_Page_to_The_Life_of_Samuel_Johnson%2C_LL.D.png)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GMC on December 06, 2022, 04:04:44 PM
The whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I have read parts of the Bible, but never all of it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 08, 2022, 02:45:07 PM
Dragonfly in Amber, by Diana Gabaldon. It's not particularly good but I spent a credit on it so I feel like I should finish it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 08, 2022, 04:39:42 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 08, 2022, 02:45:07 PM
Dragonfly in Amber, by Diana Gabaldon. It's not particularly good but I spent a credit on it so I feel like I should finish it.

Have you read any of her other books?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 08, 2022, 05:50:41 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on December 08, 2022, 04:39:42 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 08, 2022, 02:45:07 PM
Dragonfly in Amber, by Diana Gabaldon. It's not particularly good but I spent a credit on it so I feel like I should finish it.

Have you read any of her other books?
Just Outlander.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 13, 2022, 03:19:16 PM
They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei, about the Japanese internment during WWII.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on December 13, 2022, 03:56:44 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 08, 2022, 02:45:07 PM
Dragonfly in Amber, by Diana Gabaldon. It's not particularly good but I spent a credit on it so I feel like I should finish it.

I've read some books which are really heavy weather, badly editing and so I give up, but I return and find that after the start, the book can be quite good.

UnRoman Britain, Miles Russell, Stuart Laycock which advances the thesis that Roman authority there was stoutly resisted and fairly superficial with most continuing to live in roundhouses and hillforts even after villas bloomed in the third and fourth centuries. It notes particularly how militarised civilian late Roman deposits became with military belts, knives, spear heads, military darts and arrow heads. It was a basic Roman idea that civilians could not bear arms, but after the country had been largely denuded of troops by claimants such as Magnus Maximus (who has a long afterlife in Welsh legend and another claimant Allectus seemed to have been a name used by some Welsh suggested he too was in legends now lost), plus notes examples of an Athenian militia led by historian Dexippus against Goths in the third century. The early part was making this and that claim which didn't seemed well supported, but later on the authors try to sustain their claims.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 14, 2022, 06:53:44 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 08, 2022, 05:50:41 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on December 08, 2022, 04:39:42 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 08, 2022, 02:45:07 PM
Dragonfly in Amber, by Diana Gabaldon. It's not particularly good but I spent a credit on it so I feel like I should finish it.

Have you read any of her other books?
Just Outlander.

I had a hard time getting into her books after Outlander  too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 20, 2022, 06:09:50 AM
All The Gallant Men. An American Sailor's Firsthand Account Of Pearl Harbor by Donald Stratton
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Christina_S on December 31, 2022, 12:43:23 PM
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman and Famous Father Girl by Jamie Bernstein, daughter of conductor Leonard Bernstein.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on January 03, 2023, 04:55:52 AM
One man and his Bike - Mike Carter.

What would happen if you were cycling to the office and just kept on pedalling?

Needing a change, Mike Carter did just that. Following the Thames to the sea he embarked on an epic 5,000 mile ride around the entire British coastline - the equivalent of London to Calcutta.

He encountered drunken priests, drag queens and gnome sanctuaries. He met fellow travellers and people building for a different type of future. He also found a spirit of unbelievable kindness and generosity that convinced him that Britain is anything but broken. This is the inspiring and very funny tale of the five months Mike spent cycling the byways of the nation.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Man-Bike-Mike-Carter/dp/0091940567

Really enjoyed this.  I read it on the Internet Archive.

https://archive.org/

This is a really excellent resource. It's worth setting up yourself an account as you can 'borrow' books; some only for 1 hour, but just keep borrowing every hour.

The local libraries in the UK are a bit rubbish these days as hardly any books but this is an internet version of effectively the same thing. The biggest drawback is that you have to read the book online; on a pc screen - but you might be able to connect something like a Kindle Fire using the browser.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 03, 2023, 10:32:49 AM
Getting ready to start The Physician by Noah Gordon. Set during the 11th century.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on January 03, 2023, 11:48:18 AM
Quote from: clau clau on January 03, 2023, 04:55:52 AMhttps://archive.org/

This is a really excellent resource. It's worth setting up yourself an account as you can 'borrow' books; some only for 1 hour, but just keep borrowing every hour.

Archive is fantastic.  There is a ton of audio and movie stuff on there besides books, too
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on January 03, 2023, 12:19:56 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 03, 2023, 10:32:49 AMGetting ready to start The Physician by Noah Gordon. Set during the 11th century.

Ooo, sounds very interesting!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 03, 2023, 02:39:30 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on January 03, 2023, 11:48:18 AM
Quote from: clau clau on January 03, 2023, 04:55:52 AMhttps://archive.org/

This is a really excellent resource. It's worth setting up yourself an account as you can 'borrow' books; some only for 1 hour, but just keep borrowing every hour.

Archive is fantastic.  There is a ton of audio and movie stuff on there besides books, too
I found all 297 episodes of my favorite Japanese tv series on there recently!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 04, 2023, 05:27:22 PM
All Creatures Great and Small, by James Herriot. One of my favorites.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 13, 2023, 04:35:24 AM
Zero Fail. The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service by Carol Leonnig
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 14, 2023, 08:27:59 AM
Weedflower, by Cynthia Kodohata. The narrator has bad Japanese pronunciation.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: bilbobaggins on January 15, 2023, 09:09:22 AM
Everything medieval.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on January 15, 2023, 06:40:26 PM
Peter Heather, Christendom, where the author suggests that Frankish Clovis was a Homoean or Arian before he became Catholic, not a pagan and that the Papal was marginal enough except where Roman Emperors, Ostrogothic kings, Merovingian kings, and later the heirs of Charlemagne gave him attention, using the Pope to support decisions they had already taken, but needed some political stardust to avoid rancour. However a combination of land gifts from Charlemagne and the Carolingian legacy of a sufficient body of well trained churchmen who took pride in their office and professional conduct helped give Catholicism a recognisable form (no more Bavarians priests baptising in the name of the 'fatherland, daughter..., patria, filia..). His explanation of how the late Roman bureaucracy, colonised by honestiores after cities saw their land holdings and tax powers taken from them, and this itself served to push many to convert. All senior posts were in the gift of the Emperor or his advisors and unless a pagan was some irreplaceable intellectual or notable landowner, there was any number who would do what was required, whether converting or rejecting a heresy a previous emperor favoured. Mentions Paschal II. At least Popes don't blind or kill officials they find unsatisfactory or they come to distrust.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 20, 2023, 07:21:52 AM
At the Back of the North Wind, by George MacDonald.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Mushroom on February 03, 2023, 10:41:26 AM
Introduction to the Devout Life: Saint Francis de Sales
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Acolyte on February 03, 2023, 07:20:35 PM
The Secret of the Holy Face by Fr Lawrence Carney
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 04, 2023, 06:50:37 AM
To The Field of Stars. A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago De Compostela by Kevin Codd
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on February 04, 2023, 03:18:43 PM
I just finished Mario Puzo's The Godfather

Decent book, but the movie was better, IMO.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Instaurare omnia on February 04, 2023, 04:15:52 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on February 04, 2023, 03:18:43 PMI just finished Mario Puzo's The Godfather

Decent book, but the movie was better, IMO.
"the" movie? It's a trilogy. There are Part I fans and Part II fans, nobody in their right mind prefers Part III. Mannaggia la miseria... :lol: 8)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on February 04, 2023, 05:24:22 PM
Quote from: Instaurare omnia on February 04, 2023, 04:15:52 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on February 04, 2023, 03:18:43 PMI just finished Mario Puzo's The Godfather

Decent book, but the movie was better, IMO.
"the" movie? It's a trilogy. There are Part I fans and Part II fans, nobody in their right mind prefers Part III. Mannaggia la miseria... :lol: 8)

:lol:

I always just think of the first movie, tbh. 

I remember someone elsewhere preferred Part III - but I've only seen it once.  Might have to re-evaluate that opinion after a re-watch.  It's been probably a decade since I last saw the first one, and probably 20 years since seeing III.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on February 04, 2023, 07:18:47 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on February 04, 2023, 03:18:43 PMI just finished Mario Puzo's The Godfather

Decent book, but the movie was better, IMO.

The book was clearly written as a screenplay. It performed well in that function, but the movie was the natural conclusion of its intended organic development.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on February 04, 2023, 07:20:22 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on February 04, 2023, 05:24:22 PM
Quote from: Instaurare omnia on February 04, 2023, 04:15:52 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on February 04, 2023, 03:18:43 PMI just finished Mario Puzo's The Godfather

Decent book, but the movie was better, IMO.
"the" movie? It's a trilogy. There are Part I fans and Part II fans, nobody in their right mind prefers Part III. Mannaggia la miseria... :lol: 8)

I always just think of the first movie, tbh. 

Quite rightly. Godfather III is a joke. Godfather II is highly praised, but I detest it with a great loathing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on February 04, 2023, 09:28:54 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on February 04, 2023, 07:18:47 PMThe book was clearly written as a screenplay. It performed well in that function, but the movie was the natural conclusion of its intended organic development.

In hindsight, yea, I can see this.  The novel wasn't written "well" as a novel.  It was a bit too casual, I think, for anything "serious", literature-wise.  If that makes sense. 

Quote from: Maximilian on February 04, 2023, 07:20:22 PMGodfather II is highly praised, but I detest it with a great loathing.

Why don't you like it? 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on February 04, 2023, 11:41:19 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on February 04, 2023, 09:28:54 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on February 04, 2023, 07:20:22 PMGodfather II is highly praised, but I detest it with a great loathing.

Why don't you like it? 

The original Godfather movie is a great classic, filled with human values like family loyalty.

Watching Godfather II felt like spending 2 hours being dragged through hell. Everyone was evil. Michael's wife aborts their child. Michael kills his brother. There were no redeeming virtues. Maybe that was the point of the moviemakers, but I don't want to watch it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 05, 2023, 05:10:51 AM
According to the rules, Michael did the right thing topping Fredo. When you get "made" you take an oath that you put La Cossa Nostra before anything else, even family. As they say, it's a matter of honor.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 15, 2023, 08:30:16 PM
Getting ready to start World Without End, by Ken Follett. Hope it's better than Pillars of the Earth.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Aulef on February 18, 2023, 02:44:32 PM
Finished 'Introduction the Devout Life' last week.

Restarted 'Treatise on the Love of God'.

Both by Saint Francis de Sales.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Josephine87 on February 18, 2023, 09:04:16 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 30, 2022, 12:43:59 PMIn This Corner of the World . A manga about a young woman during WWII in Japan.

How did you like this?  Would it be appropriate for a 5th/6th grader?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 19, 2023, 07:49:01 AM
Quote from: Josephine87 on February 18, 2023, 09:04:16 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on November 30, 2022, 12:43:59 PMIn This Corner of the World . A manga about a young woman during WWII in Japan.

How did you like this?  Would it be appropriate for a 5th/6th grader?
I didn't get very far into this, but I've seen the movie that's based on it. It deals with war and violence, so I'm not sure I'd recommend it to a 5th grader.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 23, 2023, 06:11:51 AM
Blood Sport. The President And His Adversaries by James Stewart. A fairly evenhanded account of Vince Foster and Whitewater.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on February 23, 2023, 08:20:35 AM
Just finished.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-Small-Island-Journey-Through/dp/1784161195
-- Bill Bryson

I am not sure I liked the author much *. Some of his observations about Britain's towns
and cities were interesting. He seemed to jump around all over the place though.

Effectively, he visited random places across the 'small island' and criticised most of them
but then concluded that he liked Britain. He seemed to like the posh 'cultured' parts most.
(smells and bells?).

* - He seemed to lose his temper fairly regularly with 'little' people like hotel receptionists
and bus drivers. People like that piss me off.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 25, 2023, 05:52:34 AM
Quote from: clau clau on February 23, 2023, 08:20:35 AMJust finished.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-Small-Island-Journey-Through/dp/1784161195
-- Bill Bryson

I am not sure I liked the author much *. Some of his observations about Britain's towns
and cities were interesting. He seemed to jump around all over the place though.

Effectively, he visited random places across the 'small island' and criticised most of them
but then concluded that he liked Britain. He seemed to like the posh 'cultured' parts most.
(smells and bells?).

* - He seemed to lose his temper fairly regularly with 'little' people like hotel receptionists
and bus drivers. People like that piss me off.
Highly recommend his In a Sunburned Country. Hilarious.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Instaurare omnia on February 26, 2023, 12:45:44 PM
Quote from: clau clau on February 23, 2023, 08:20:35 AMJust finished.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-Small-Island-Journey-Through/dp/1784161195
-- Bill Bryson

I am not sure I liked the author much *. Some of his observations about Britain's towns
and cities were interesting. He seemed to jump around all over the place though.

Effectively, he visited random places across the 'small island' and criticised most of them
but then concluded that he liked Britain. He seemed to like the posh 'cultured' parts most.
(smells and bells?).

* - He seemed to lose his temper fairly regularly with 'little' people like hotel receptionists
and bus drivers. People like that piss me off.

Sounds similar to how he went about The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America. It's very perceptive and evocative and sometimes hilarious, but after a while the condescension gets to be a bit much, and the people he describes sound more like an anthropological vitrine of caricatures.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 27, 2023, 07:19:21 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo, the Robin Buss translation. It's like a completely different book. In a good way. :P
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Prayerful on February 28, 2023, 02:47:43 PM
Butler's Lives of Saints is something I try read most days. The Saints selected are interested, a mix of the most notable, but also relatively obscure like SS. Romanus and Lupicinus for today. My great grandfather on my mother's side read it to his children every night.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 08, 2023, 08:36:45 AM
Life of Christ and Biblical Revelations by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 12, 2023, 07:58:29 AM
The Way of Divine Love. I had to buy this from Kobo since that was the only place I could find it as an ebook. I'm still reading Sr. Josefa's biography.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on March 16, 2023, 10:32:19 AM
Mussolini's War. Fascist Italy From Triumph To Collapse 1935-1943 by John Gooch
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 16, 2023, 05:50:39 PM
Following PRayerful's example, I'm reading Butler's Lives of the Saints. The complete version, all 6,000+ pages of it.  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on March 17, 2023, 07:38:58 AM
Biography of Michael Collins
https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Collins-Tim-Pat-Coogan/dp/1784753262
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: moneil on March 17, 2023, 11:16:59 PM
"The Breviary Through The Centuries" by Dom Pierre Salmon
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on March 19, 2023, 08:54:14 AM
I read this short story last night. I really enjoyed it.


Miss Winchelsea's Heart - HG Wells

http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/11/
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on March 20, 2023, 01:48:11 PM
I started the Count of Monte Cristo two nights ago.

I tore through the prison "scene" in one sitting.  :lol:  Oops.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 20, 2023, 02:05:08 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 20, 2023, 01:48:11 PMI started the Count of Monte Cristo two nights ago.

I tore through the prison "scene" in one sitting.  :lol:  Oops.
Which transformation? I favor the Robin Buss.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 22, 2023, 06:14:18 AM
That should say translation. Stupid autocorrect.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 27, 2023, 06:17:31 PM
Memoirs of St. John Bosco I had a devotion to this saint when I was younger. I even bought a painting of him when I was in Rome, to hang on my wall. He was the teacher and biographer of St. Dominic Savio. I love reading Saints' stories of other Saints.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: GMC on April 29, 2023, 07:14:22 AM
Quote from: GMC on December 06, 2022, 04:04:44 PMThe whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I have read parts of the Bible, but never all of it.

Finished.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on April 29, 2023, 01:25:06 PM
I read All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot a couple of months ago and then started All Things Bright and Beautiful, his second book. I'm enjoying them but I'll probably take a break after this one as some of the stories are sad.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on April 29, 2023, 01:55:11 PM
Quote from: Lynne on April 29, 2023, 01:25:06 PMI read All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot a couple of months ago and then started All Things Bright and Beautiful, his second book. I'm enjoying them but I'll probably take a break after this one as some of the stories are sad.
I love this series. I have them all on kindle and as audio books. There's a TV series also.  The actor who plays James Herriot narrates the audio books.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: drummerboy on May 02, 2023, 09:52:45 AM
Osprey Publishing's "U-Boats of the Kriegsmarine 1939-1945 (2)"  Exciting stuff
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on May 14, 2023, 03:37:53 PM
Sun Tzu at Gettysburg. Ancient Military Wisdom in the Modern World by Bevin Alexander
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on May 14, 2023, 04:02:47 PM
Saint Teresa of Avila by William Thomas Walsh. It's very enjoyable.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on May 15, 2023, 01:17:51 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on March 20, 2023, 02:05:08 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on March 20, 2023, 01:48:11 PMI started the Count of Monte Cristo two nights ago.

I tore through the prison "scene" in one sitting.  :lol:  Oops.
Which transformation? I favor the Robin Buss.

Whichever one my wife has on the Kindle.  :lol: 

I think it is Robin Buss.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on May 16, 2023, 10:31:15 AM
I'm like 78% of the way done now! 

It's been a long slog, especially between school.  But, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 16, 2023, 03:59:35 PM
I first listened to it on librivox.org, in an old translation. Then I got the Robin Buss translation on kindle. I enjoy both, mostly because the Brit reading the audiobook does fantastic accents.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on May 16, 2023, 04:02:27 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 16, 2023, 03:59:35 PMI first listened to it on librivox.org, in an old translation. Then I got the Robin Buss translation on kindle. I enjoy both, mostly because the Brit reading the audiobook does fantastic accents.

The one thing that I find somewhat annoying, after 700 some pages, is the interchange of titles in French.  "Oh, so the Vicomte is a <so and so>".  Makes it a bit harder keeping track of the three dozen characters :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on May 20, 2023, 10:05:33 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on May 16, 2023, 04:02:27 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 16, 2023, 03:59:35 PMI first listened to it on librivox.org, in an old translation. Then I got the Robin Buss translation on kindle. I enjoy both, mostly because the Brit reading the audiobook does fantastic accents.

The one thing that I find somewhat annoying, after 700 some pages, is the interchange of titles in French.  "Oh, so the Vicomte is a <so and so>".  Makes it a bit harder keeping track of the three dozen characters :lol:


I think there is more than three dozen characters.... :).  I love that book though. Gotta check out the librivox version
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on May 20, 2023, 11:20:22 AM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on May 20, 2023, 10:05:33 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on May 16, 2023, 04:02:27 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 16, 2023, 03:59:35 PMI first listened to it on librivox.org, in an old translation. Then I got the Robin Buss translation on kindle. I enjoy both, mostly because the Brit reading the audiobook does fantastic accents.

The one thing that I find somewhat annoying, after 700 some pages, is the interchange of titles in French.  "Oh, so the Vicomte is a <so and so>".  Makes it a bit harder keeping track of the three dozen characters :lol:


I think there is more than three dozen characters.... :).  I love that book though. Gotta check out the librivox version
It's read by David Clark.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 03, 2023, 02:29:07 PM
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: AlNg on June 03, 2023, 04:27:49 PM
I am reading Marcus Tullius Cicero: De Natura Deorum. He says that: "Ex quo exstitit illud, multa esse probabilia, quae quamquam non perciperentur, tamen, quia visum quendam haberent insignem et inlustrem iis sapientis vita regeretur." Which translates roughly as probability should guide the life of a wise person, because you cannot know some things with certainty, but still, they may possess a certain clarity which indicates that the wise man should support them.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on June 04, 2023, 10:37:29 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on May 20, 2023, 10:05:33 AM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on May 16, 2023, 04:02:27 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on May 16, 2023, 03:59:35 PMI first listened to it on librivox.org, in an old translation. Then I got the Robin Buss translation on kindle. I enjoy both, mostly because the Brit reading the audiobook does fantastic accents.

The one thing that I find somewhat annoying, after 700 some pages, is the interchange of titles in French.  "Oh, so the Vicomte is a <so and so>".  Makes it a bit harder keeping track of the three dozen characters :lol:


I think there is more than three dozen characters.... :).  I love that book though. Gotta check out the librivox version

I finally finished it last week! 

It was good.  Just, a lot.  But, good.  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Jean Carrier on June 05, 2023, 12:09:35 AM
Quote from: AlNg on June 03, 2023, 04:27:49 PMI am reading Marcus Tullius Cicero: De Natura Deorum. He says that: "Ex quo exstitit illud, multa esse probabilia, quae quamquam non perciperentur, tamen, quia visum quendam haberent insignem et inlustrem iis sapientis vita regeretur." Which translates roughly as probability should guide the life of a wise person, because you cannot know some things with certainty, but still, they may possess a certain clarity which indicates that the wise man should support them.

You should read De senectute (sometimes called Cato Maior) next. One of my favorites :cheeseheadbeer:, though De Natura Deorum is quite good too.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on June 12, 2023, 01:54:11 PM
Bleak House. One of my favorite Dickens novels.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on June 19, 2023, 02:54:54 AM
Buttertea at Sunrise. A year in the Bhutan Himalaya by Britta Das.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on July 08, 2023, 04:45:08 AM
Einstein. The Life and Times by Ronald Clark
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on July 09, 2023, 08:44:49 AM
Japanese Myths, Legends, and Folktales, by Yuri Yasuda. I bought the kindle version to read to my niece. My grandma gave me an antique copy, signed by the author, when I was seven. I've loved it ever since. I love being able to read the same fairy tales that she enjoyed when she was little.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Lynne on July 09, 2023, 10:00:38 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on July 09, 2023, 08:44:49 AMJapanese Myths, Legends, and Folktales, by Yuri Yasuda. I bought the kindle version to read to my niece. My grandma gave me an antique copy, signed by the author, when I was seven. I've loved it ever since. I love being able to read the same fairy tales that she enjoyed when she was little.

That's so sweet.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: truly-a-philosofan on July 19, 2023, 09:41:53 AM
Soul of the Samurai: Modern Translations of Three Classic Works of Zen & Bushido published in paperback by Tuttle Publishing.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 01, 2023, 05:23:34 PM
The Human Factor by Graham Greene
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 08, 2023, 09:07:28 AM
Laddie, by Gene Stratton Porter. One of my favorites. A very wholesome, family type book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on August 11, 2023, 01:26:13 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on August 08, 2023, 09:07:28 AMLaddie, by Gene Stratton Porter. One of my favorites. A very wholesome, family type book.

A Girl of the Limberlost is one of my favorites
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: CinMed65 on August 12, 2023, 02:14:35 PM
The Life of St. Frances of Rome: With an Introductory Essay on the Miraculous Life of the Saints, by Georgiana Fullerton.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 17, 2023, 07:20:45 AM
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, by Rachel Field. One of my favorite "doll books."
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on August 21, 2023, 03:22:27 PM
Gentleman Spy The Life of Allen Dulles by Peter Grose
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on August 31, 2023, 08:22:53 AM
Getting ready to start Carlyle's French Revolution: A History, thanks to A Little Princess  :P
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 04, 2023, 02:34:20 PM
This Kind of War. The Classic Korean War History by T.R. Fehrenbach. One of the best I've ever read on the subject.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 08, 2023, 07:38:09 AM
Speaks the Nightbird, by Robert McCammon. It's a historical thriller. Pretty good so far.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 10, 2023, 07:22:45 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 08, 2023, 07:38:09 AMSpeaks the Nightbird, by Robert McCammon. It's a historical thriller. Pretty good so far.
Don't read this. There are some graphic descriptions of vile things in it.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: andy on September 10, 2023, 07:38:21 PM
I just got Father Hector Bolduc- Defender of the Catholic Tradition by Thomas Summers
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 12, 2023, 08:34:39 AM
The Book Thief. The narrator is perfect for this book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on September 12, 2023, 10:12:42 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 10, 2023, 07:22:45 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 08, 2023, 07:38:09 AMSpeaks the Nightbird, by Robert McCammon. It's a historical thriller. Pretty good so far.
Don't read this. There are some graphic descriptions of vile things in it.

They went to the Novus Ordo and prayed the Luminous Mysteries?  ;D  ;D
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Aethel on September 12, 2023, 10:35:56 AM
I just finished Mark Twain's "Captain Stormfield visits Heaven" - short read, and obnoxious because Twain tries to make Stormfield uptight and pretentious sounding...by 19th century standards (which is already uptight and pretentious). Interesting ideas (like how people get a job in heaven because they get bored of sitting around with a harp; how people prefer looking older age because they can't relate to the mental naivety of younger people, etc.)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 12, 2023, 10:48:34 AM
Quote from: LausTibiChriste on September 12, 2023, 10:12:42 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 10, 2023, 07:22:45 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 08, 2023, 07:38:09 AMSpeaks the Nightbird, by Robert McCammon. It's a historical thriller. Pretty good so far.
Don't read this. There are some graphic descriptions of vile things in it.
They went to the Novus Ordo and prayed the Luminous Mysteries?  ;D  ;D
Well, they're all Anglican so who knows what they got up to in church.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on September 15, 2023, 09:02:13 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 12, 2023, 08:34:39 AMThe Book Thief. The narrator is perfect for this book.
There's so much blasphemy in this book. I don't remember that from my first reading of it years ago.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on September 15, 2023, 03:50:51 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 15, 2023, 09:02:13 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on September 12, 2023, 08:34:39 AMThe Book Thief. The narrator is perfect for this book.
There's so much blasphemy in this book. I don't remember that from my first reading of it years ago.

That's a good sign that you notice it now. You must be making spiritual progress.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Michael Wilson on September 15, 2023, 04:53:00 PM
Quote from: red solo cup on September 04, 2023, 02:34:20 PMThis Kind of War. The Classic Korean War History by T.R. Fehrenbach. One of the best I've ever read on the subject.
Fantastic book! I would also give it a 5 star rating.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on September 24, 2023, 02:18:22 PM
The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 by Alistair Horn
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on October 13, 2023, 06:32:03 PM
Death in the Haymarket. A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America by James Green
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on October 23, 2023, 06:52:21 PM
The Wind in The Willows. I was nearly grown when I first read it, and Kenneth Grahame's other works, but I fell in love with them immediately.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on November 21, 2023, 05:49:23 PM
The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic by Robert O'Connell
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 02, 2023, 08:17:07 PM
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. I've loved this book since I first read it at age 16.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on December 04, 2023, 10:49:50 AM
I whipped through Sphere by Michael Crichton.  Now I'm slowly making my way through Christian Perfection and Contemplation by Fr Garrigou-Lagrange, OP. 
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 04, 2023, 12:22:47 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on December 02, 2023, 08:17:07 PMA Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. I've loved this book since I first read it at age 16.

I love that book.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on December 06, 2023, 10:04:03 AM
I ran right through "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" by John LeCarre.  It was pretty good.  I had seen his novels recommended online.  Chewed through it in under two days.  Pretty engaging story.  Kept me going from page to page, chapter to chapter.   

Also, gosh I am so happy about the Overdrive app or whatever you wanna call it.  In my state, at least, it coordinates the lending of ebooks via Amazon and my local public library.  Has saved me so much money and time (from buying fiction books or running to the library).  :lol:
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 06, 2023, 10:13:56 AM
My library doesn't have Overdrive. :(
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on December 06, 2023, 10:48:19 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 23, 2023, 06:52:21 PMThe Wind in The Willows. I was nearly grown when I first read it, and Kenneth Grahame's other works, but I fell in love with them immediately.

I liked "The Wind in the Willows". Have you read "The Willows in Winter"? I think it is by a different author (William Horwood) but has a similar theme. I think I liked it more that the original.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 06, 2023, 10:50:57 AM
Quote from: clau clau on December 06, 2023, 10:48:19 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on October 23, 2023, 06:52:21 PMThe Wind in The Willows. I was nearly grown when I first read it, and Kenneth Grahame's other works, but I fell in love with them immediately.

I liked "The Wind in the Willows". Have you read "The Willows in Winter"? I think it is by a different author (William Horwood) but has a similar theme. I think I liked it more that the original.
No, I'll look it up.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LuxVera on December 08, 2023, 11:34:21 PM
1. Re-reading "Sir Gawain the Green Knight" again, but now in the original Middle English. I'm also reading it out-loud because of the amazing alliteration; which I feel can only be appreciated when you're attempting to pronounce everything.

2. "Deltora Quest: the Shifting Sands" by Emily Rodda.

3. Works of H.P. Lovecraft, I think I'm about to start "The Man outside of time"(?). I'm not too crazy about the whole Cthulu mythos but I love Lovecraft's writing style; descriptions of his characters and landscapes; and his fascination with hills lol. Plus his short stories have interesting conclusions.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: maryslittlegarden on December 09, 2023, 12:36:13 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on December 06, 2023, 10:04:03 AMI ran right through "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" by John LeCarre.  It was pretty good.  I had seen his novels recommended online.  Chewed through it in under two days.  Pretty engaging story.  Kept me going from page to page, chapter to chapter.   

Also, gosh I am so happy about the Overdrive app or whatever you wanna call it.  In my state, at least, it coordinates the lending of ebooks via Amazon and my local public library.  Has saved me so much money and time (from buying fiction books or running to the library).  :lol:

If you like overdrive.... check to see if they have Libby.  I like that one a lot for audio books. My library also has a roku app called Kanopy for streaming movies.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 11, 2023, 04:17:25 PM
The Siege of Mecca. The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda by Yaroslav Trofimov
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 12, 2023, 05:48:53 PM
The Bone People, by Keri Hulme. I first read it when I was fifteen; and haven't reread it in at least ten years. It's like reading it for the first time all over again.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on December 24, 2023, 07:42:35 AM
The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx. Excellent.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: drummerboy on December 24, 2023, 11:00:02 AM
The Gerson Therapy: The Proven Nutritional Program for Cancer and Other Illnesses
by Charlotte Gerson and Morton Walker
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on December 31, 2023, 03:27:55 PM
The Day of Battle. The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson. The second in his outstanding WWII trilogy.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Kaesekopf on January 01, 2024, 02:32:42 PM
Quote from: maryslittlegarden on December 09, 2023, 12:36:13 PM
Quote from: Kaesekopf on December 06, 2023, 10:04:03 AMI ran right through "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" by John LeCarre.  It was pretty good.  I had seen his novels recommended online.  Chewed through it in under two days.  Pretty engaging story.  Kept me going from page to page, chapter to chapter.   

Also, gosh I am so happy about the Overdrive app or whatever you wanna call it.  In my state, at least, it coordinates the lending of ebooks via Amazon and my local public library.  Has saved me so much money and time (from buying fiction books or running to the library).  :lol:

If you like overdrive.... check to see if they have Libby.  I like that one a lot for audio books. My library also has a roku app called Kanopy for streaming movies.

I think for my state, Libby is part of Overdrive (or vice versa). 

I haven't looked into Kanopy but I'll check!  My friends were recently singing the praises of just buying secondhand DVD copies (I think Greg was as well).  :)
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 19, 2024, 06:16:31 PM
The Story of the Treasure Seekers, by E. Nesbit.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on January 21, 2024, 03:24:24 PM
In The Name of God, The Khomeini Decade by Robin Wright
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 22, 2024, 09:41:36 AM
Might try Kirstin Lavransdatter again. Fourth time lucky?
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Maximilian on January 22, 2024, 12:41:29 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 22, 2024, 09:41:36 AMMight try Kirstin Lavransdatter again. Fourth time lucky?

If you're in the mood for "Kristin Lavransdatter," but you've already read it 3 times, you might want to try "Olav Audunssøn," Sigrid Undsett's subsequent novel. There's a new translation available, and they just finished the 4th volume. [Previously titled "The Master of Hestviken."]
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 22, 2024, 03:11:20 PM
Quote from: Maximilian on January 22, 2024, 12:41:29 PM
Quote from: Bernadette on January 22, 2024, 09:41:36 AMMight try Kirstin Lavransdatter again. Fourth time lucky?

If you're in the mood for "Kristin Lavransdatter," but you've already read it 3 times, you might want to try "Olav Audunssøn," Sigrid Undsett's subsequent novel. There's a new translation available, and they just finished the 4th volume. [Previously titled "The Master of Hestviken."]
Excellent. I was hoping they'd have a new translation of that.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LausTibiChriste on January 22, 2024, 03:55:23 PM
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard.

Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on January 30, 2024, 05:48:50 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo, read by David Clarke.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: red solo cup on February 09, 2024, 04:29:32 PM
Titans Of The Seas. The Development and Operations of Japanese and American Carrier Task Forces During World War II by James and William Belote
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: LuxVera on February 12, 2024, 01:14:30 AM
Book form: Ben—Hur

Audible: some audiobook about the English Civil Wars
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 17, 2024, 09:37:47 AM
I can't focus much on printed books at the moment, so I'm doing all of my "reading" via audiobooks. Last night was The Queen of Hearts, by Wilkie Collins. A collection of loosely connected short stories.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on February 29, 2024, 07:39:25 PM
Getting ready to start Martin Chuzzlewit. I always skip the American chapters.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 14, 2024, 09:48:14 AM
Quote from: Bernadette on February 29, 2024, 07:39:25 PMGetting ready to start Martin Chuzzlewit. I always skip the American chapters.
This is really excellent. I'm listening to the Derek Jacobi version.
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: drummerboy on March 22, 2024, 10:23:13 PM
To Love Fasting by Adalbert de Vogüe
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: clau clau on March 23, 2024, 02:50:27 AM
Till we have faces - C.S. Lewis

In Plain Sight (The life and lies of Jimmy Savile) - Dan Davies
Title: Re: What are you currently reading?
Post by: Bernadette on March 25, 2024, 05:11:36 AM
Quote from: clau clau on March 23, 2024, 02:50:27 AMTill we have faces - C.S. Lewis

In Plain Sight (The life and lies of Jimmy Savile) - Dan Davies
I've always meant to read more C.S. Lewis. I've only read the Narnia books, Surprised by Joy, A Grief Observed, and The Screwtape Letters.