What have Janet Smith, Robert George, Joseph Pearce, Paul Mariani, and other Aleteia Experts been reading this year?I don’t know about you, but for me Christmas means books.
They're not the most important thing about Christmas, I acknowledge, unless we count the Word of God as a book (and I’m sure there’s a theologian out there who can help us with that). But for me, since my childhood, one of the most enjoyable aspects of Christmas has been the giving and receiving of books, not to mention the time to curl up beside the fire with a brandy and eggnog to read (though I haven’t been drinking brandy and eggnog quite from childhood!).
So it was with my mind on books that I turned to the bibliophiles on the Aleteia experts board and asked them for their favorite books of 2013. I told them that while I had a slight preference for books published in 2013, I was interested in any captivating book they read this year that they would like to recommend to you, our Aleteia readers.
Herewith follows the list–with annotations by the experts.
And I hope you will add to it with your own selections in the comment box below!
Eric Brende, rickshaw drive and soap maker
George Saunders, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (Random House, 2012). This award-winning short story writer has Catholic sensibilities. He was a finalist this year for Tenth of December, his most recent collection. Even better was CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, his inaugural collection that put him on the map in a big way. He is like no other writer: think science fiction meets Oprah meets Dilbert's boss after repenting. When I read CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, I thought I'd read no more eloquent defense of the dignity of the human person, placed in situations that our increasingly bizarre and unfolding future is likely to bring us.
Janet Smith, Fr. Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Issues at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit:
[Editor's note: Dr. Smith's first two selections were in no way coerced by the editor of this publication!]
Daniel McInerny, High Concepts: A Hollywood Nightmare (Daniel McInerny Productions, 2012). The best, best, best comedic novel I have read since P.G. Wodehouse.
Daniel McInerny, Stout Hearts & Whizzing Biscuits (Trojan Tub Entertainment, 2011). Terrific and funny children’s book.
Aili and Andreas McConnon, Road to Valor (Crown Publishers, 2012). A biography of Gino Barelli, a world class cyclist who delivered false documents used to rescue Jews from Nazis and Fascist. Read in service of my pursuit to demonstrate the moral legitimacy of some falsehoods.
Gordon Thomas, The Pope’s Jews: The Vatican’s Secret Plan to Save Jews from the Nazis (Thomas Dunne Books, 2012). Pius XII did an incredible amount to save the Jews–including providing false documents. Wonderful book.
Margherita Marchione, Did Pope Pius XII Help the Jews (Paulist Press, 2007). Short and convincing defense of Pius XII.
Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ (Image, 2008). Clear and deep. I am working to advance the cause of Archbishop Fulton Sheen as I seek his intercession for a cure from cancer for my brother Gary.
Alejandro Bermudez, Pope Francis: Our Brother, Our Friend (Ignatius Press, 2013). A great introduction to Pope Francis by those who knew him well. Delighted to find that he supplied false documents to help the persecuted flee their persecutors.
Theodule Rey-Mermet, Moral Choices: The Moral Choices of Saint Alphonsus Liguori (Liguori Publications, 2012). I am working on the question of cooperation with evil. This book is an excellent introduction to the life and thought of Liguori.
Alexander McCall Smith, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (Pantheon Books, 2013). I enjoy almost all of Smith’s books, especially this series that began with the #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Sweet novels.
John Corvino, What’s Wrong with Homosexuality? (Oxford University Press, 2013). A book full of fallacies, but useful for those who want to understand how proponents of homosexual acts and unions reason. Corvino engages in a respectful debate.
Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Crown and Covenant, 2012). The amazing story of a woman who was in a lesbian relationship but was won over to Christianity from her study of Scripture and the witness of a loving and honest minister.
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Praying In Rome (Image, 2013). A recount of the conclave.
Rolland and Heidi Baker, Always Enough (Chosen Books, 2013). A moving and inspirational account of an unbelievably effective ministry in Mozambique.
David Gelernter, Judaism: A Way of Being (Yale University Press, 2009). Not finished yet with this one but love it.
Mary Karr, The Liar’s Club (Penguin, 1995) An amazing writer. Too crude for many. A convert to Catholicism.
Joanne Koenig Coste, Learning to Speak Alzheimer’s (Houghton Miflin, 2004). Invaluable for those caring with those who suffer from dementia.
Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera. The original novel.
Julian Fellows, Downton Abbey Script Book Season 1 (William Morrow Paperbacks, 2013). Haven’t finished it but greatly enjoyed seeing what was left out and why in my very favorite series.
Peter Lawler, Dana Professor of Government, Berry College:
I just finished teaching a course on Technology and Biotechnology, which included a huge and diverse array of texts. Here’s what moved me the most:
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Solzhenitsyn Reader (ed. E. Ericson and D. Mahoney, ISI 2009)–especially Solzhenitsyn's 1992 lecture to the International Academy of Philosophy–"We Have Ceased to See the Purpose," which, among many things, explains that our technological era was given to us as a great trial to our free will and that, beneath the surface of Western/American happy-talk pragmatism it's easy to hear "the howl of existentialism."
Tyler Cowen, Average is Over (Penguin 2013). I wouldn’t say that this is, exactly, a good book, but it's a rather stunningly prophetic one. Cowen, the complacent libertarian, explains that the middle class is withering away. Being average will be less and less common. Techno-society is dividing into a hyper-productive and morally stunted cognitive elite that's distinguished by its comfortable mastery of super-smart machines, and a marginally productive majority that will be something like an idiocracy diverted from its plight by endlessly entertaining screens and legalized marijuana. If you want to know why Pope Francis worries about capitalism does to virtue and relational life, read this book.
Paul Griffiths, Warren Professor of Catholic Theology, Duke Divinity School:
Giorgio Agamben, The Highest Poverty: Monastic Rules and Form-of-Life (Stanford University Press, 2013). From Italian. A serious and very stimulating treatment of the Christian idea of renouncing ownership.
Jim Crace, Harvest (Vintage, 2013). A novel of great beauty about the human relation to the non-human created order, and about a radical transition from one way of organizing that relation to another.
J.M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus (Viking, 2013). Perhaps the most gnomic of Coetzee's novels. A serious satire, with Cervantes and the New Testament as its principal inspirations.
Karl-Ove Knaustaad, My Struggle (Archipelago Books, 2013). The first two volumes (of six), from Norwegian. The most thickly-described and compellingly agonizing depiction of a daily texture of a human life known to me.
Laszló Krasznahorkai, Satantango (New Directions, 2012). From Hungarian. A depiction of hell to rival Dante's.
Flannery O'Connor, A Prayer Journal (Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 2013). A journal kept by O'Connor as a young woman. It's penetrating and precise about prayer, and a clear witness to O'Connor's deep intelligence and passion.
Stephen Mulhall, The Self and Its Shadows (Oxford University Press, 2013). A new collection of essays by one of the best (Catholic) philosophers working today: on individuality and identity and negation. Theologians ought to read it.
Michael D. Torre, Do Not Resist the Spirit's Call: Francisco Marín-Sola on Sufficient Grace (The Catholic University of America Press, 2013). Marín-Sola (1873-1932), an under-studied Fribourg Dominican, seems to me to have gotten as close as we can get here below to the correct account of the relations between grace, freedom, and perseverance. Read Torre's treatment of his thought, and then go back to Augustine's De dono perseverantiae, and you'll see what I mean.
Monsignor Charles M. Mangan, Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota:
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Story of His Life as Recorded in the Prima Vita Bernardi by Certain of His Contemporaries (London: A. R. Mowbray and Co.,1960).
What an inspiring book about an inspiring character. St. Bernard is viewed by several of his contemporaries. I found this volume to be both informative and edifying. It seems to be a reliable look at St. Bernard and his life only a few years after St. Bernard's death.
Geoffrey Gneuhs, artist and member of the Dorothy Day Guild:
Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed (in Italian, I Promessi Sposi) Originally published in 1827, it is considered the greatest Italian novel, and Manzoni, the father of the Italian language.
It has been reported that it is Pope Francis's favorite novel, which he has read three times, and that he keeps at his bedside. This historical novel set in 17th-century Milan chronicles wars, crime, pestilence, famine, plague, and the lives of peasants, two in particular, Renzo and Lucia, and their struggle to be wed in Holy Matrimony. It is a grand presentation of the Catholic faith.
To appreciate the exuberant pastoral proclamations of forgiveness, mercy, and compassion of Pope Francis, one should read this novel.
Frederick Marks, historian, Catholic apologist, and professor of English at New York University Polytechnic Institute:
Warren H. Carroll, The Crisis of Christendom (Christendom Press, 2013). Covering the years 1815-2010, this is volume 6 of a magisterial history of Christendom. Whatever you could want in a history you will find here: magnificent scope, riveting style, a philosophical outlook that is at once cosmopolitan and unashamedly Catholic. Heroes are heroes, villains villains. One of the best chronicles I have ever read of ANY period!
Paul Mariani, poet, biographer, and University Professor of English, Boston College:
Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light (Henry Holt & Co., 2013). The third book in Atkinson’s World War II trilogy.
Alice McDermott, Someone (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013).
Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, and Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School:
Yuval Levin, The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left (Basic Books, 2013).
Russell Shaw, author and journalist:
James Hitchcock, History of the Catholic Church (Ignatius Press, 2013). While researching my book American Church, I was frequently reminded that the history of the Catholic Church in the United States has for years been written mostly by Americanist historians attempting to celebrate and continue the process of cultural assimilation of American Catholics. If this assimilationist bias exists in the historical writing about Catholicism in the United States, how much more so in the many recent histories of the Church generally written from a modernist point of view.
From this perspective (as well as many others), James Hitchcock's History of the Catholic Church is a most welcome gift. Comprehensive, reliable, and clearly written, the book performs the enormous service of telling the story straight, and doing so in little more than five hundred pages. One can only hope it finds the place it richly deserves in school libraries and on the shelves of serious readers. It should be a standard work for a long time to come.
Hugh Sales, assistant professor of business, Belmont Abbey College:
Justin Litke, Twilight of the Republic (University Press of Kentucky, 2013). Offers an historical and comprehensive look at what makes America….America. It asks the ultimate secular question of day for the American "experiment" – are we at the dusk or new-day dawn of what our country is all about?
Bill Thierfelder, Less Than a Minute to Go (Saint Benedict Press, 2013). More than a typical self-help book, Dr. Thierfelder presents a plan that can put the whole you–body, mind, and spirit–ever more frequently into the "zone" of peak performance: acting in the right way at the right time and in the right place.
David Clayton, artist-in-residence and lecturer in the liberal arts at Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts:
Harry C. Veryser, It Didn't Have to Be This Way, Why Boom and Bust is Unnecessary–and How the Austrian School of Economics Breaks the Cycle (ISI Books, 2013). A brilliant description of how Catholic social teaching can be reconciled with free market economics and how such a system is consistent with the promotion of a Catholic culture of beauty.
Michael Connolly, The Gods of Guilt (Little Brown, 2013). Connolly is a great storyteller; all his books are courtroom dramas and detective novels set in modern day LA. His are the best books I know for entertainment and relaxation during long hours spent in airport lounges and in the cramped conditions of economy class up in the air. He manages to write in such a way that is gripping and stimulating while still being easy to read.
Jean Corbon, The Wellspring of Worship (Ignatius Press, 2005). A book that describes how our worship of God in the sacred liturgy is what transforms us so that we can be agents of the New Evangelisation, and, I say, enabling us to fulfill the call from Pope Francis to charity that shines with the light of Christ.
Father Thomas Berg, professor of moral theology, St. Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers, New York:
Sherry Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples (Our Sunday Visitor, 2012). I would just refer you to this column that I wrote on it.
Dan Brophy, Catherine of Siena: A Passionate Life. An extremely well written, non-pietistic, historical biography yet written from the perspective of a believer in a manner which easily situates us in the historical period of Catherine and also does a credible job of penetrating her psychology and spiritual experience.
Jim Gaffigan, Dad is Fat. A hilarious account of parenting which, almost without the reader realizing it, through the vehicle of good, clean humor, constitutes a panegyric for family and parenting.
George Weigel, Evangelical Catholicism. Weigel's account of the period in which the Church now finds itself—the age of evangelical Catholicism—is plausible and thought-provoking.
Joseph Pearce, biographer and writer-in-residence and professor of humanities, Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts:
I'd like to nominate two new works of fiction as my "best books”:
Arthur Powers, The Book of Jotham (Tuscany Press, 2013). This first book is a wonderfully moving novella which narrates the life of Christ through the eyes of a mentally handicapped disciple. His interactions with St. Mary Magdalene, Judas Iscariot and others are psychologically gripping and the whole narrative packs a pro-life punch.
Dena Hunt, Treason (Sophia Institute Press, 2013). This second is an historical novel set in Elizabethan England which follows the interweaving fortunes of an underground priest and a deeply faithful but deeply troubled woman against a backdrop of secular fundamentalist persecution. It's in the same mould as R. H. Benson's novel, Come Rack! Come Rope! and, me judice, is as good.
Ronald Rychlak, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens and Cannada Lecturer and Professor of Law, University of Mississippi School of Law:
Neal Thompson, A Curious Life: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It or Not!” Ripley (Crown Archetype, 2013).
Rich Cohen, Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013).
and, “immodestly,”
Ion Mihai Pacepa and Ronald Rychlak, Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism (WND Books, 2013).
Dr. William K. Thierfelder, President, Belmont Abbey College:
This may be a shameless self-promotion but I did publish a book this year titled, Less Than A Minute To Go: The Secret to World-Class Performance in Sport, Business and Everyday Life. The forward is by Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Michael Novak wrote in one of the reviews:
"If you love peak experiences–the sheer beauty of the perfect act, especially in almost impossible circumstances–the sheer beauty of doing exactly the right thing in the right place, at the right time, in the right way–you will learn here how to achieve them ever more frequently. I don't quite trust people who don't love and respect sports. I trust Bill Thierfelder a lot! He gets it–the beauty of the perfect act, and what that takes in grueling practice and perfect alertness and keen self-knowledge. Besides, he loves and admires George Blanda."
Monica Migliorino Miller, founder of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society:
I would also like to mention my own, Abandoned: The Untold Story of the Abortion Wars (Saint Benedict Press, 2012).
Tim Drake, journalist, author, and New Evangelization Coordinator at Holdingford Area Catholic Community:
Scott Hahn, Consuming the Word: The New Testament and the Eucharist in the Early Church (Image, 2013). I read this as part of a weekly men's prayer and book discussion group this year.
While I've read several of Dr. Hahn's books, I found this one particularly enjoyable and easy-to-read. Dr. Hahn ably connects the early Church's practice of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
It was the Eucharist that first drew me to the Catholic Church as a Lutheran convert to the faith. I continue to have a deep love of Christ in the Eucharist and try to help others to know Christ by teaching RCIA. Dr. Hahn's book would be a great introduction for any non-Catholic wondering about the Church's understanding and teaching of the Eucharist.
Fr. Bill Miscambe, a Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame
Steven Meyer, Assistant Professor of Theology at St Mary's Seminary in the University of St Thomas in Houston, TX
1. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, New Evangelization: Passing on the Catholic Faith Today (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2013).
Published early in 2013, Cardinal Donald Wuerl the Relator, also referred to as the moderator or general secretary of the fall 2012 Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, gives a distillation of the key themes from the Synod. I recommend reading this as a supplement to the Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Francis Evangelii Gaudium.
2. John Vidmar, O.P., 101 Questions and Answers On The Crusades and the Inquisition: Disputed Questions (New York/Mahwah, NJ: 2013).
A Dominican Priest from the Province of St. Joseph (who better to discuss the Inquisition with!), is a former Church History Professor at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. He currently teaches at Providence College. Vidmar’s genius is to translate the most recent historical scholarship on the Crusades and Inquisition with his easy going style.
Daniel McInerny is the editor of the English edition of Aleteia. You are invited to email him at daniel.mcinerny@aleteia.org, friend him on Facebook (“Daniel McInerny”), and follow him on Twitter @danielmcinerny.
