Springtime Reading

Every so often, someone asks me: "What are you reading lately?" Most often the question comes from a friend or acquaintance who's visited our home and has taken a peek into my so-called den. Often enough this messy room shocks visitors who for some reason expect me to be more organized. I could include a photo but would prefer to avoid the embarrassment. I'd rather just drop a few hints and leave the rest to your imagination. 

Most of the walls of this room are hidden behind six tall overflowing bookcases. More books rise up from the floor in semi-neat stacks. The storage of books is a process of continual evolution and even a cursory look suggests no real system of organization. The result? Searching for a particular book usually turns into an adventure. I'm not proud of this, but organization takes time. Perhaps every couple of years, the chaos reaches a critical level and I devote most of a day to rearranging books by subject matter, separating others I intend to give away, and moving some to the many bookcases in other rooms of our home. This task, driven by necessity, is far from enjoyable. But it must be done because I lack the discipline to return books to their proper place and tend to stash new books wherever they fit. Yes, indeed, my lack of discipline and organization leads only to chaos.

But even chaos can bring its rewards. Yesterday, while looking for a particular book, I found another I had not yet read and had forgotten. Buried at the bottom of one of those stacks on the floor, it called to me, demanding to be read. Since I tend to have three or four books going at the same time -- something that Dear Diane finds strange -- I simply added it to my current reading.

When do I read? Whenever I have the time. Multiple ministries have no respect for personal schedules and make it difficult to set particular times for other activities, including reading. Fortunately, I read rather quickly, thanks to a speed-reading workshop I attended in graduate school back in the early 70s. Unless the book is a particularly dense theological or philosophical text, I can usually finish it rather quickly.

Anyway, if you are interested, here's a sampling of what I'm reading now, or intend to read, in the springtime of 2022.

Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved? by Hans Urs von Balthasar (1986). 

Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988), one of the great theologians of the 20th century, wrote this book not long before his death. Although I first read this book in the mid-90s, its publication had already generated so much controversy, I wanted to read it myself and see what all the furor was about. And now, as I am much closer to the end of my life, I thought perhaps it was time to read it again.

Although I was (and still am) no theologian, I found the book to be thoughtful, measured, and scripturally sound. I could never understand why von Balthasar and his book became the target of so many attacks. God's plan for the salvation of humanity, particularly for the salvation of each individual, remains a mystery. Can we not hope for the salvation of all?

Von Balthasar examines sacred Scripture and brings to light many of the passages that encourage Christians to hope that God will bring all to salvation. He neither ignores nor denies the more "threatening" passages that obviously argue against this. In his follow-up "Discourse on Hell" (included in the book and written as a response to his critics), he simply says:

"I claim nothing more than this: that these statements give us a right to have hope for all men, which simultaneously implies that I see no need to take the step from the threats to the positing of a hell occupied by our brothers and sisters, through which our hopes would come to naught."

He goes on to write: 

"I do not wish to contradict anyone who, as a Christian, cannot be happy without denying the universality of hope to us so that he can be certain of his full hell: that was, after all, the view of a large number of important theologians, especially among the followers of Augustine. But, in return, I would like to request that one be permitted to hope that God's redemptive work for his creation might succeed. Certainty cannot be attained, but hope can be justified."

Von Balthasar then adds the following, suggesting the Church, in its wisdom, has long understood this:

"That is probably the reason why the Church, which has sanctified so many men, has never said anything about the damnation of any individual. Not even about that of Judas, who became in a way the representative example for something of which all sinners are also guilty."

I've just completed (I think) my third reading of this book and strongly recommend it, especially if you find the idea of God bringing all to salvation highly improbable or even impossible. As for me, I've always been a sucker for hope, the theological virtue that promises me so much more than I deserve.

Eliot and His Age, by Russell Kirk (1971). 

Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was perhaps the most eloquent, influential, and solidly conservative man of letters of the 20th century. I attribute the genesis of my own political beliefs to his book The Conservative Mind which i first read only months after its publication in 1960. At the time I was a high school junior who was searching for some solid foundational ground to support the beliefs I instinctively held. 

Kirk (photo left) was a prolific writer, and many of his books have pride of place in my personal library. I had known of his fondness for T. S. Eliot, with whom he shared a personal friendship, but I had never read this remarkable work. I'm now about halfway into it an already consider it essential reading for anyone truly interested in understanding the great poet's life and works, as well as the ideas that stimulated his timeless writings.

If you're a fan of Eliot (photo left), you'll know that his essays and other prose works are almost as important as his poetry. Indeed, his ideas are perhaps even more meaningful to our society today than when they were first written. Kirk, writing of Eliot's influence in the early 1920s, stated:

"Of missions to the masses, the twentieth century knew too many; Eliot's mission was to the educated classes. The drift toward Marxism, or toward some other totalist ideology, was apparent already among literary people: Eliot would offer them an alternative -- in philosophy and religion, in humane letters, in politics." [P. 81]

And while you're at it, pick up a copy of Eliot's The Idea of a Christian Society, a wonderful essay containing such profound gems as this:

"...in a society which has ceased to be Christian...I would remark that there are two points of view...The first is that a society has ceased to be Christian when religious practices have been abandoned, when behavior ceases to be regulated by reference to Christian principle, and when in effect prosperity in this world for the individual or for the group has become the sole conscious aim. The other point of view, which is less readily apprehended, is that a society has not ceased to be Christian until it has become positively something else...I believe that the choice before us is between the formation of a new Christian culture and the acceptance of a pagan one." [P. 10]

By the way, my copy is a first US edition (1940) for which I paid all of $2.00 in a used bookshop some years ago. 

Of yes, and don't neglect the great poet's poetry...perhaps more on this in some future post.

I'm running out of time (and steam) and still have two homilies to write for Mass and a Baptism on Saturday. Here's one more suggestion, a bit of a change of pace since it's a work of fiction.

There Are Doors, by Gene Wolfe (1988). 

Gene Wolfe (1931-2019) might well have been one of the best modern American writers of fiction. Sadly, his work tends to be overlooked because it is usually classed as science fiction. I suppose it is, but it's really so much more. Just the fact that I rarely read the genre -- except for books written by Wolfe -- might convince you to give him a try.

Every so often I find one of his books in a used bookstore or turn to Amazon and search for one I haven't read. This book is one of those Amazon purchases. A used copy, it arrived on our doorstep a couple of days ago and I just started to read it yesterday evening. It took only about 30 seconds to grab my attention, although after about 50 pages I realized it was too late to continue reading since I had to get up at 5:30 this morning. I'll probably finish it tonight.

Wolfe once wrote that "A great story...is one that can be read with pleasure by a cultivated reader and reread with increasing pleasure." Believe me, this describes Wolfe's stories perfectly.

If you've never read Wolfe, I would suggest turning first to his novel, A Soldier of the Mist (1987). (The link takes you to a double novel that includes this book and its sequel.) The novel tells a remarkable story set in 479 B.C., a time when "the gods walked the earth with men." The hero, a Greek mercenary soldier named Latro, suffered a head would in battle and became separated from his fellow soldiers. As a result of his wound, he experienced severe memory loss that included his ability to remember from one day to the next. He is forced, therefore, to live in a constant present. His only aid is a daily written record which he reads each morning to give his life some continuity. But his wound has also given Latro a gift of sorts: his sense can penetrate into the supernatural world that surrounds him. He can see and communicate with a wide variety of beings, from gods and goddesses to ghosts and demons.

Another of Wolfe's books that received a lot of critical attention is among my favorites: Pirate Freedom (2007). I just love the plot. It's a time-travel story of a Catholic priest, Father Christopher, who finds himself transported back in time to the age of piracy in the Caribbean. There he becomes Captain Chris, a rather successful pirate. An absolutely fascinating story -- I won't reveal the ending -- that examines the relationship among love, faith, and morality.

Wolfe was a Catholic whose deep faith permeated his works, often in the most subtle ways that no doubt had a significant influence on many of his readers.

___________________

In addition to the books mentioned here I'm currently reading a few others. Perhaps I'll take the time to mention them in the near future.

God's peace and happy reading.

Christmas Books- Some Suggestions

If you’re looking for a last-minute gift for someone who can read and actually enjoys doing so, I’ve put together a list of books you can purchase online in time for Christmas. Some I’ve actually read, while others still reside on my personal wishlist. I suppose it’s a bit iffy to recommend unread books to others, but I can live with the consequences. After all, should you actually choose to purchase one of these books as a gift for another, I consider myself out of the loop, neither the giver nor the givee. Anyway, my advice is offered voluntarily, without cost. Because you are free to accept or reject it, I accept no responsibility for your decision. 

With that understood, here’s my list of books, each with an Amazon link. First up, a few books I’ve actually read and enjoyed.

The Puppet Show of Memory, by Maurice Baring (1922). I’ve read many autobiographies, but this book tops them all. Maurice Baring is one of those English writers, popular during the first-half of the 20th century, who has been largely forgotten; and that’s a shame. 

Baring enjoyed a remarkable life (1874-1945), traveling the world in the midst of war and peace. Born into a well-connected family, he knew personally many of the world's movers and shakers, as well as the celebrities of his day. 

Baring wrote a number of wonderful novels, some surprisingly good poetry, and several remarkable books based on his personal experiences in many of the age's great events.  (Indeed, his book, R.F.C.  H.Q. 1914-1918, is a marvelous read and relates his service with the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War.) My personal library probably contains a dozen of his books, volumes you won’t find in many public libraries today. The literary establishment ignores Baring because he was born into a wealthy family, ignored political correctness, converted to Catholicism, and befriended both Chesterton and Belloc, among other sins. How wonderful that his autobiography is in print once again, and even available on Amazon. It’s also available as a Kindle edition — I think, for free.

Dove Descending, by Thomas Howard (2006). Thomas Howard, another convert to Catholicism, died this past October at the age of 85. 

Howard was a remarkable man whom I had the honor of knowing, if only slightly. Although we corresponded a bit via letter, as I recall we met only twice, and spent most of those brief meetings talking about the novels of Charles Williams, a subject on which Howard had written a wonderful book and was probably the world’s most knowledgeable scholar. He also authored a number of scholarly works on C. S. Lewis and T. S. Eliot. The current volume, Dove Descending -- subtitled “A Journey into T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets” -- offers an excellent commentary on what I’ve always believed to be one of Eliot’s greatest poems. If you’re looking for a gift for someone who appreciates good poetry, give them this book. And while you’re at it, you might consider bundling it with a copy of Eliot’s poem: Four Quartets. 

The Well and the Shallows, by G. K. Chesterton (1935). With the possible exception of books by Pope Benedict XVI, my home library probably holds more books by G. K. Chesterton than any other author. This volume, a collection of essays first published just a few years before the onset of World War II, is a true prophetic text in which Chesterton takes a serious look at the grave moral and societal issues facing mankind then and now. He warns the world of Naziism, nationalism, socialism, Communism, and a capitalism that rejects Christian ideals and morality. He examines militarism and pacifism, anti-Semitism, materialism, and the sexual revolution decades before it appeared. Sadly, everything Chesterton wrote about remains true but has been largely ignored...to our peril. Chesterton (1874-1936) died just a year after this book was published. 

The Annotated Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (first published, 1813). If you've read yesterday's post, you'll know I've long been a Jane Austen fan. Should you happen to know someone who's never read her work -- in which case his or her education was sorely lacking -- this annotated version of her most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice, would be a good starting point. The annotations, provided by David M. Shapard, an historian who has annotated all of Austen's novels, will help those who might need an occasional explanation as they navigate through the peculiarities of early nineteenth-century England. Austen died in 1817 at the age of 41. 

Pirate Freedom, by Gene Wolfe (2007). Okay, it's a novel about pirates -- Arrgghh! -- but with a twist, since it's also a sci-fi novel. Don't let that scare you off because the authur, Gene Wolfe, was an amazing writer, among the very best writers of American fiction. Sadly, he died last year at the age of 87. Wolfe is intentionally ignored by many of the literati because of the sci-fi genre, and also because his Catholic faith has colored his work deeply. 

This novel has it all: a Catholic priest with a long -- indeed, a very long -- and strange past; time travel; pirates on the Spanish Main; lots of shiny gold; and a love story thrown in. If you know anyone who enjoys a good yarn, extremely well told, and can suspend his disbelief, this just might be the book to place under the tree.

Now, a few books I have not yet read, but feel confident recommending. In each instance I've either read other works by the author or have read a review of the recommended book by someone whose opinion I trust.

Our Peculiar Times,  by Fr. George Rutler (2020). If you’ve never read anything by Fr. Rutler, you should be ashamed of yourself. Buy one of his books, and do it now! 

Fr. Rutler is one of the leading voices of sanity within today’s Catholic Church. Nothing escapes his notice and he introduces it all to us in a remarkable mix of humor and wisdom. The problem with his books? I read them too quickly. Once I crack the binding, I can’t put it down until I’ve turned the last page. Of course, I usually reread them because I miss so much on that first rapid reading. This latest of his commentaries on the human condition addresses everything from pandemics and societal upheaval to faithlessness and ignorance. As one reviewer put it, "This book is a must-read for anyone interested in rousing our fellow Americans from their slumber and persuading them back to faith, hope, charity and courage."

Blackout, by Candace Owens (2020). If you're wondering why many in the black community are turning to the political right and deserting the Democrat party, Candace Owens will answer your questions. A political activist and star of social media, Owens lifts the lid and exposes the true racism of the political left. Indeed, her book's subtitle says it best: "How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation.” I’ve listened to several of Owens’ podcast talks, occasionally caught her commentaries on various opinion shows, and always came away enlightened and greatly impressed by this remarkable young woman.

Blessed Charles of Austria, by Charles A. Coulombe (2020). I was truly surprised by the number of Catholics who were shocked when Pope John Paul II beatified Emperor Charles of Austria in 2004. The last Habsburg emperor of Austria-Hungary who accepted the throne in the midst of Word War I, Blessed Charles struggled valiantly to bring peace to the world, but was betrayed by almost everyone. This devoted husband and father lived a life of humility and holiness (1887-1922), a life whose story must be told. Yes, it’s a sad story from a worldly perspective, but a glorious story from heavenly perspective. I have read other books about Blessed Charles and the Habsburgs, and enjoyed them, but this promises to be the best yet.

The Right Side: a Novel, by Spencer Quinn (2017). For several years now I've meant to pick up a copy of this novel, but for some reason have failed to do so. For me a novel must first be a good story with well-developed characters, and I'm told this book has both. The novel's lead character is a woman, a soldier who returned from Afghanistan physically and mentally wounded. But she's joined by another character, a dog with an attitude. This, of course, simply piques my interest, making the novel even more attractive. As one reviewer describes the plot: "a deeply damaged female soldier comes home from the war in Afghanistan and becomes obsessed with finding a missing girl, gains an unlikely ally in a stray dog, and encounters new perils beyond the combat zone." Sounds like my kind of novel.

Okay, that's enough...

Let me know if any of my recommendations work out for your gift-gving. If they don't, please keep it to yourself.

Have a blessed and merry Christmas.

A Prophecy

One look at the titles in my home library and you would notice, with a few exceptions, most of the fiction was written by writers who are no longer with us. The exceptions include such novelists as Mark Helprin, Gene Wolfe, Dean Koontz, V. S. Naipaul, Michael D. O'Brien, and a few others. I enjoy the work of authors who write well, who accept the reality of objective truth, and who believe in what T. S. Eliot called the "permanent things" that make us human beings what we are and lead us to what we are destined to become. You will find few atheists or relativists among the novelists residing in my modest library. I hear enough from them in the popular media.

Jane Austen and The Cottage in Chawton, Hampshire

I've written often of my fondness for that early nineteenth-century moral theologian, Jane Austen, a woman so unlike those dark, brooding Brontes. And I continue to enjoy and reread the work of Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, and Anthony Trollope. In truth, these days I don't read Trollope but instead listen to him during my early morning walks, thanks to the good folks at audible.com and the Apple engineers who made my iPhone. Trollope is really quite listenable. And then there are the writers whose stories and novels make me laugh again and again, authors like P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) and H. H. Munro (aka, Saki, 1870-1916). I've also come to enjoy the somewhat strange novels of the late Alice Thomas Ellis (1932-2005) and the ghostly stories of Russell Kirk (1918-1994). I remember my surprise when I learned that Kirk, one of the intellectual fathers of the American conservative movement, also wrote these wonderfully spooky tales. 

A Young Mackenzie

All of this talk of authors and books has brought me to Compton Mackenzie (1883-1972), another writer in whose works I delight. I first encountered him about 30 years ago when I picked up a used copy of his farcical novel, The Monarch of the Glen, a book I thoroughly enjoyed. Since then I've probably read a dozen of his novels. But one day, while browsing in the aisles of my favorite Cape Cod bookstore -- Parnassus Books -- I picked up a copy of Volume 3 of Mackenzie's My Life and Times. I soon discovered that his autobiography was a massive work, filling ten volumes -- yes, that's right, ten! Each volume covers an "octave," eight years of this man's remarkable life. 

Since reading that third "octave", I have searched for and purchased the other nine volumes and, believe me, few lives are more interesting than Mackenzie's. He knew everyone from Kaiser Wilhelm to Winston Churchill, from T. E. Lawrence to D. H. Lawrence, from William Faulkner to Lawrence Olivier. The child of a theatrical family, Mackenzie graduated from Oxford, was a lifelong Scottish nationalist, converted to Catholicism, and developed a deep distrust of invasive government. He also liked cats, a odd trait which I can overlook.

Last evening, while reading Volume 8, which covers the war years (1939 to 1946), I came across something Mackenzie had written late in 1940. This was a most difficult time for the British. In 1939 Stalin and Hitler had signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact, an agreement conceived in hell, one that would last until broken by Hitler in mid-1941. It would be well over a year before the United States entered the war after the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941. At the time Mackenzie was writing, Britain stood virtually alone against the most powerful army the world had ever seen. And that army had just blitz-krieged its way through France and the Low Countries forcing the British troops and a contingent of allied forces to evacuate at Dunkirk. Were it not an island nation, Britain too would have fallen, probably quickly.

Mackenzie's comments were published as the forward to a volume designed to raise money for a charity called the War Orphans Fund. Given that they were written almost 80 years ago, in the early years of World War Two, they are both insightful and prophetic. I have included some excerpts here.

"If would be more comfortable to believe that this great war was merely the result of the last Great War. We might then feel fairly certain of achieving a real peace, for we have learnt a lesson and are in the mood to benefit by it. If this war is part of an evolutionary struggle, whatever the result we cannot hope to see the world securely re-established, because our victory must in time be challenged again but our defeat would be final, at any rate for too long a period to make speculation worth while. 

"I believe that we may soon be witnessing the death agony of that habit of thought and system of economy which is too loosely called capitalism, too loosely as it seems to me because it overstresses the economic aspect and I am not a dialectical materialist who can accept Marx's theory that man's circumstance is entirely determined by this. I regard our period as the beginning of the reaction against the trend that was given to Western development by the Renaissance and the Reformation and the discovery of America, which led to an exaggerated conception of the rights of the individual and an insufficient appreciation of his duties. The process has been accelerated by the abuse of mechanical progress from printing to flying, by the corruption of the ideal of popular education, by the substitution of humanitarian theory for religious practice, by the continually growing power of money, and by the encouragement of an illusory freedom of thought at the cost of real freedom of action. The result has been that never in recorded history was the ordinary man so completely at the mercy of his environment as he is today. The liberty that seemed within his grasp at the beginning of the fifteenth century is now farther away than ever, and is likely to recede still farther as long as man elects to be the slave of self rather than the servant of God."

At this point Mackenzie refers to a drawing of the Holy Family fleeing into Egypt and writes:

"They too were refugees...but they are refugees at this moment. What that Holy Family stood for mankind is even now being driven more brutally into the desert by material progress than ever by Herod's violence...

"After the Great War of 1914-1918 people sat back and declared that another great war would mean the end of civilization. Pamphlets were published to warn the world what appalling weapons and poisons would obliterate humanity. Pacifism was feverishly preached on the text that war was too horrible; its missionaries forgot that only experience teaches and that a younger generation would be excited but not warned by books like All Quiet on the Western Front. Meanwhile for two fatal decades audiences sought a deliberate thrill from gangster films and plays and readers procured themselves a kick from tough novels.

"And then suddenly in September 1938 audiences and readers woke up to the fact that the thrills and kicks they had been administering to themselves, thrills and kicks more pernicious to moral stamina than any hashish or cocaine could supply, were expressions of such a zeitgeist as not even the far-sighted Goethe discerned upon the wing...

"In one last desperate effort to travel out of the respectable past into the disreputable present Neville Chamberlain flew to Berchtesgaden to allay the whispers of politicians who had betrayed their country out of laziness because it was easier not to disturb an electorate with warnings of a storm which after all might not break. To politicians willing to betray their country out of laziness it did not seem a grave offense to betray what Mr. Chamberlain called a 'remote country' like Czechoslovakia out of cowardice. Not that such cowardice was not immediately justified, let it be quickly said; war was impossible for Britain and France. Neither was ready..."

Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler in Munich

Mackenzie goes on to address the muddled thinking of both the Left and the Right in the years leading up to the war, and then writes the following:

"The seat of the trouble was that confused thinking which led to the failure to recognize that Fascism and National Socialism were only different expressions of the same basic evolutionary drive as inspired Communism. Black ants or red ants, they are both ants. The initials of Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité provide the first three letters for the LEFT, and T stands for Totalitarianism...

"The Communist secure in a positive material creed declares the condition of Europe to be evidence that the death agony of capitalism has begun. The Catholic equally secure in a positive creed which transcends materialism .declared the condition of Europe to be the logical result of turning aside from the way of life God Himself indicated when He was Man..."

Interesting stuff by a man who served actively on foreign soil in British Intelligence during World War One. I look forward to reading more of his thoughts as he describes life during the war years.

Mackenzie who wrote upwards of 100 books, also penned a four-volume memoir of those years as an intelligence officer in and near Greece during Word War One -- something else to search for...

God's Peace, the only True Peace...

Ghost Stories

I have a confession to make -- a minor confession, but a confession nonetheless. I like ghost stories. When I mentioned this to an acquaintance the other day, he winced and said, "You're kidding! You're a Christian. You're a deacon. You can't possibly believe in ghosts."

His reaction and his failure to understand what I had just told him are symptomatic of the difficulties associated with communication these days. This failure -- on his part, not mine -- forced me to clarify what should have required no clarification:

"I never said I believed in ghosts. I said only that I like ghost stories."

One can like science fiction stories about alien beings from another galaxy and still believe, as I believe, that no such creatures exist. As a child I often read stories about animals that possessed some very human qualities. I thoroughly enjoyed Peter Rabbit and Charlotte's Web and The Jungle Book and yet, even as a child, I knew that rabbits and spiders and jungle creatures were all incapable of conversing with other animals in English or behaving rationally. But these stories were wonderful tales that taught lessons about how to live life well.

I won't bore you with the rest of our conversation which became increasingly tedious as we sparred over the meanings of words and he struggled to accept that I could suspend my disbelief and enjoy something he considered unbelievable. But then he was educated as a mechanical engineer, so perhaps this explains his attitude.

Actually, I probably shouldn't have used the words, "ghost stories," since the stories I most enjoy aren't always about encounters with the more traditional ghosts. "Supernatural stories" might be a better term. Such stories sometimes include ghostly manifestations, but not always. Their real attraction? They force the reader to consider the possibility of realities beyond the material (natural) world. Indeed, such realities are actually at the very heart of our Christian faith which demands our acceptance of the existence of the supernatural.

I suppose my first exposure to the genre was Henry James' The Turn of the Screw which I read in high school. I found it a less than satisfying read because it left me questioning either the reality of the ghosts or the sanity of the main character or both. I still haven't made up my mind. In any event, the novel failed to whet my appetite for more of the same.

About ten years later a friend, who was emptying his shelves of unwanted books, gave me a cardboard box filled with early 20th-century novels. Among them was All Hallows' Eve, a novel by Charles Williams (1886-1945). The gift of this book began my enchantment with the genre and effected a major change in my reading habits.

Charles Williams

I knew of Charles Williams because of his relationship with both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. All three were longtime members of the Inklings, that literary club of friends who met in Oxford pubs to discuss their works and common interests. Although I had read much of both Tolkien and Lewis and owned a book of Williams' poetry, I had read none of Williams' novels. I soon discovered he had written seven, and like All Hallows' Eve, all are supernatural thrillers. 

Williams, an Anglican, wrote his novels during the 1930s. He died in 1945 at the age of 59. I believe the novels were out of print for some years, but then, starting in the 1970s, Eerdmans, the Christian publishing house, reprinted all seven. Once I had read that first book, I was hooked and had to read the rest. All seven novels are still available. Here's a list, with Amazon links:

Shadows of Ecstacy

War in Heaven

Many Dimensions

The Place of the Lion

The Greater Trumps

All Hallows' Eve

Descent into Hell

Although the novels include occasional encounters with the dead, the books are really concerned with salvation and the battle waged between the forces of good and evil. Williams' Christianity comes through loud and strong. If you're interested in digging more deeply into these seven novels I suggest reading Thomas Howard's wonderful little book, published in 1983, The Novels of Charles Williams.

To learn more about the author himself, visit the website of The Charles Williams Society, an organization devoted to promoting "the study and appreciation of the life and writings" of this author and theologian.

Another author who dabbled in supernatural thrillers is Russell Kirk (1918-1994), a convert to Catholicism in his middle age. Known mostly for his scholarly works on political philosophy, especially his classics, The Conservative Mind and The Roots of American Order,  Kirk also enjoyed writing spooky tales.

Russell Kirk

Although Kirk wrote several novels in the genre, I especially enjoy his short stories. In 2004 Eerdmanns came through once again and published a wonderful collection of Kirk's stories under the title, Ancestral Shadows. Its subtitle is "An Anthology of Ghostly Tales" and so it is.

Of Kirk's novels, my favorite is Lord of the Hollow Dark, a captivating tale set in an evil-infested mansion in Scotland and populated with a remarkable cast of characters. It's a difficult book to find at a reasonable price, so if you want a copy, I recommend doing what I did and search the used book stores and websites. Kirk's first novel, Old House of Fear, is another exciting gothic tale, also set in Scotland, and the novel that received the greatest critical acclaim.

Like that of Williams, Kirk's fiction clearly reveals his Christian beliefs and focuses on salvation and the presence of evil in the world. I only wish he had written more.

If you're interested in learning more about this remarkable man, visit the website devoted to his life and work: The Russell Kirk Center.

Gene Wolfe

And then there's Gene Wolfe (b. 1931), a prolific writer of science fiction and supernatural tales whose Catholic faith has certainly influenced his work. Wolfe is also among the best writers of fiction alive today. Best known for his science fiction, he has also written a number of wonderful novels that I'll carelessly lump under the heading of supernatural thrillers. I've listed a few of my favorites:

Peace (1975). Perhaps my favorite of Wolfe's novels, Peace is a powerful story of a not very pleasant old man who possesses a miraculous imagination that can alter reality.

Pandora by Holly Hollander (1990).  Murder, mystery, and infidelity in a Chicago suburb with a modern-day Pandora's Box thrown in to spice up the plot. It is a story narrated by a clever teenage girl whose wealthy family is at the center of the novel's strange events. It also includes a detective who seems to know more about the small town than than any stranger should.

Pirate Freedom (2007). A remarkable, thoughtful and beautifully written tale of a contemporary priest who finds himself transported back to the distant past and into the life of a pirate captain on the Spanish Main. Sounds weird, and it is, but it works.

An Evil Guest (2008). A strangely wonderful story set in the distant future but with an atmosphere reminiscent of the not so distant past. Like all of Wolfe's stories, it's full of surprises that both delight and horrify.

I've read a lot of Wolfe over the years and I suppose the best way to describe his work is to say that I have never been disappointed. Here's a link to an interesting article about Wolfe published in April 2015 in the New Yorker: "Sci-Fi's Difficult Genius."


There are others, but Williams, Kirk and Wolfe are my favorites. And as I said to my friend, "I like ghost stories," even the ones that aren't about ghosts.

Summer Reading Lists

OK, we're well into the summer and any summer reading list should probably have been posted back in May. My only excuse is that I live in Florida where it's summer most of the year and any attempt to define the start of the season just doesn't make a lot of sense. So without apology I offer my list now while there's still time to make it to the beach before you northerners experience the first snowfall.

Atheist Delusions by David Bentley Hart (Yale University Press, 2009). A wonderful book by a very smart man. He addresses the place of Christianity in transforming the ancient world and the potential repercussions of the present day neglect of Christianity's spiritual and moral values. Dr. Hart is currently a visiting professor in Theology at Providence College and the author of another wonderful book, The Beauty of the Infinite.

Latro in the Mist (Orb Books, 2003) and Soldier of Sidon (Tor Books, 2007) by Gene Wolfe. These two books (actually three since Latro in the Mist combines the two early novels of the series) will hold you spellbound. Written by Gene Wolfe, the undisputed (at least in my mind) best science fiction writer alive today, they tell the story of Latro, a Roman mercenary who roams through the pre-Christian ancient world experiencing rather marvelous things. Extremely well written and real pages-turners.

Letters from Lake Como (Eerdmans, 1994) and The End of the Modern World (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2001) by Romano Guardini. Although these two books by this late great 20th century theologian were written 30 years apart, I include them together because they should really be read consecutively. These prophetic works describe Guardini's vision of a future (actually today's present) in which secularism and Christianity battle for the soul of man.

The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Robert Louis Wilken (Yale University Press, 2005). A well written and informative book by this distinguished scholar of early Church history. A terrific read that offers excellent insights into the thinking of the early Church Fathers.

Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy by William Oddie (Oxford University Press,2009). Another wonderful biography of G. K. Chesterton, the great Catholic apologist and writer on all subjects. Chesterton is the only author I know who could write about absolutely anything and make it interesting to the reader. The reason is that everything interested Chesterton, and all good things delighted him. Oddie's biography covers only the first 32 years of Chesterton's life (1874-1908), but these were the years of his intellectual and spiritual formation. If you're a Chesterton fan, you'll love this book. If you're not a Chesterton fan, read this book and you will be.

Pride and Prejudice (Ignatius Critical Edition) by Jane Austen (Ignatius Press, 2007). This edition of (in my opinion) the best novel by the greatest woman novelist who ever lived also includes a number of excellent critical essays by some of today's most insightful Austen scholars. I read this book at least once yearly, a habit I highly recommend. You might as well begin during the summer months.

These should keep you busy. Should you, however, decide that my selections are not your cup of tea, here's a collection of summer reading lists that should give you plenty of alternative choices: Click here.

Enjoy the summer, except you folks in the Northeast who I understand will not have a summer this year.

Blessings...