Summer Reading

Even though I'm officially retired, life still slows down for me during the summer months. Many of our parishioners are "snowbirds" who head north to their summer homes under the mistaken belief that it will be better somewhere else than it is in Florida...Not! It's always better in Florida, even in the summer months. Anyway, this seasonal migration typically means fewer demands on my time. For example, the two Bible Study sessions I facilitate at the parish go on summer hiatus. The upshot? I have more time for leisure activities, especially reading.

During the past few months I've purchased a number of books and set them aside for my summer reading. Most of you who check out this blog regularly -- at least as regularly as I write in it -- probably don't give a hoot about my reading habits. But I make this list more for myself than for anyone else. By posting the titles here I turn this reading list into a public promise, one I will more likely fulfill. You see, with the addition in my life of more leisure time I can get a wee bit lazy. When I plop my slightly overweight body into my comfortable easy chair each evening, I might opt to watch a rerun of American Pickers instead of reading Augustine. And so, the list.

First, some general non-fiction titles...

Permanent Things, Ed. by Andrew A. Tadie & Michael H. McDonald; Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995. A collection of essays about some of the 20th century's greatest minds, true conservatives such as T. S. Eliot, G. K. Chesterton, Russell Kirk, C. S. Lewis, etc.

Small Is Beautiful, by E. F. Schumacher; Harper Perennial, 1973. Subtitled, "Economics as if People Mattered", this is one of more influential books of the 20th century. I simply never got around to reading it, although a few years back I read the author's A Guide for the Perplexed and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm particularly interested to see how this economist's thoughts mesh with the distributist ideas championed by Chesterton and Belloc.

Beginning at Jerusalem, by Glenn W. Olsen; Ignatius, 2004. Subtitled, "Five Reflections on the History of the Church", the book looks at the Church during five different historical periods and examines how she has maintained her essentials and how she has developed over the centuries.

The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia, by Roger Kimball; St. Augustine Press, 2012. This book won't be released until the end of June, so I have it on order and hope to receive in in early July. I read a couple of reviews and it sounds interesting.,

Then, some biographies...

Bishop John Carroll

A few months ago, while roaming through a used bookstore, I came across two biographies of members of the Catholic Carroll family of Maryland. Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) was a Founding Father and signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his cousin, John Carroll of Baltimore (1735-1815), was the first Catholic bishop and archbishop in the United States. I found the two books leaning against each other on one of the shop's bookshelves.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, by Ellen Hart Smith; Harvard University Press, 1942.

John Carroll of Baltimore, by Annabelle M. Melville; Charles Scribner's, 1955.

After reading these two books, I intend to see if more recent biographies have been written on these two men, since modern scholarship might well shed additional light on their lives and work.

And some fiction...

Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle; Ballantine Books, 1977. For many folks, science fiction is one of those genres they ridicule in public but read in secret. Here, however, I declare openly that I actually enjoy science fiction, certainly not all of it, but the writing of certain authors; for example, Gene Wolfe and Walter M. Miller, Jr. For more than 30 years now several friends, knowing what I enjoy in the genre, have been urging me to read Lucifer's Hammer. So, finally, I bought it and intend to start it this evening.

Charles Williams

All Hallows' Eve, by Charles Williams; Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1948. Charles Williams who, along with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, was a member of the famous Inklings, wrote this book not long before he died in 1945. I actually read it, along with Williams' six other supernatural thrillers about 30 years ago. In those days, before the arrival of internet booksellers it was hard to find Williams' novels. And then, one day, while browsing in a Cape Cod bookstore I found all seven, newly reprinted by Eerdmans. I bought them all, read them one after another, and enjoyed each one immensely. I've decided it's time to reread them and will start with All Hallow's Eve because I've always considered it the best of the seven.

Finally some poetry...

Dante's Paradise, trans. by Anthony Esolen; Modern Library Classics, 2007. Dr. Esolen, a professor at Providence College, is one of those remarkable people whose work never fails to educate and delight. I've already read his translation of Dante's Inferno and Purgatory, and now look forward to being lifted up heavenward by his translation of Paradise. And don't neglect Dr. Esolen's other books; they're all wonderful.

Farming, A Hand Book, by Wendell Berry; Counterpoint Press, 1971 (2011). A book of poetry (and a play) by this contemporary, rural American poet whose work, much like the Psalms, always calms me. And that's saying a lot considering I'm so citified and suburbanized.

Use the comment function to share some of your summer reading...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A Christmas List of Books I Haven't Read

Recommending books for others to read can sometimes be a bit problematic. For example, some years ago I posted a list of books for summer reading and received a rather hostile email from someone who began by complaining about the "conservatism" of several of the authors on my list. Then he got to the real point of his email. "How come," he asked, "you listed books only by Catholic authors?" Well, Duh! -- Let's see...I'm a permanent deacon in the Roman Catholic Church, this blog tends to address subjects of interest to Catholics, and that particular list was aimed at Catholic readers who wanted to deepen their theological knowledge. (Actually, one of the authors on the list was David Bentley Hart, an Eastern Orthodox theologian from the University of Virginia. Another author on that list, Robert Alter, is a Jew who published a translation and commentary of The Five Books of Moses.) A few weeks later I received another complaint from a reader who purchased one of the recommended books, but didn't particularly like it. I think he expected me to reimburse him. I answered neither of these emails.

I mention this so you know I won't pay any attention to complaints about the following selection of books.  The titles I have listed below are simply books that have piqued my interest recently. Although I have yet to read any of them, I hope to do so once time and budget permit. Some books are included because I have read others by the same authors and enjoyed them. Some were added simply because their subject matter interests me. In a few instances I have read reviews written by people I trust. And some are "classics" that I have meant to read for years but just never seemed to have the time. In a sense, then, these are all second-hand recommendations, so I suggest you Google the titles and check out a few online reviews before buying. In any event, I seek neither praise nor blame. Save either for the authors.

Here's my list:

Imagination in Place, by Wendell Berry; Counterpoint Press, 2010. Berry, American poet and essayist, social critic and farmer, is a true man of letters. He is the kind of writer who can change minds through the eloquence and passion of his writing. He is a man with whom I occasionally disagree, but always with great difficulty. I look forward to reading this latest collection of essays in which he examines those writers who have helped form his own thought.

Jacques Barzun: Portrait of a Mind, by Michael Murray; Frederick C. Beil, 2011.  Jacques Barzun is now 105 years old and still writing. And so I suspect this will not be the last biography of the man. Who knows how long he will be with us? Born in France, Barzun came to the United States as a youth and embraced his new country. A prolific writer on a wide variety of subjects, he taught at Columbia for almost 50 years and then began a second career as an editor at Scribner's. I have read only a few of his books -- From Dawn to Decadence (2001); God's Country and Mine (1954); and The House of Intellect (1978) -- and enjoyed them all. I look forward to learning more about the life of this remarkable man.

Firmly I Believe and Truly: The Spiritual Tradition of Catholic England, by John Saward, John Morrill and Michael Tomko; Oxford University Press, 2011. This anthology of writings spans 500 years of England's post-Reformation history from a Catholic perspective. The selections, put together and introduced by a team of scholars, include writings of historical, theological and literary value. As someone who has long been interested in the lives and struggles of English Catholics during this period, I intend to read this book soon...as soon I can afford the rather hefty price tag.

The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers; Continuum, 2005 (first published in 1941). This book is one of those classics that has sat unread on my bookshelf for a few decades. (My copy is an older, now out of print, paperback edition published by Harper Collins in 1987.) I've enjoyed reading Sayers ever since I was introduced to her when I was in high school and assigned to read her series of plays on the life of Jesus, The Man Born to be King (1941). After that I turned to her mystery writings, particularly her Lord Peter Wimsey Stories, which I continue to reread on occasion. But Sayers was more than a playwright and mystery writer. She was also a poet, a respected translator of Dante, a noted essayist, a cultural critic, and a Christian apologist. I intend to pull this book of the shelf this week and finally read it.

The Order of Things, by James V. Schall, S. J.; Ignatius Press, 2007. Once you read one book by Father Schall, you want to read everything he has written. This book happens to be one of his I apparently missed. I intend to order it this week, envelop it in colorful Christmas wrapping paper, and discreetly place it under the tree -- thus ensuring that I receive at least one wanted gift this year. Father Schall, a Professor of Government at Georgetown University, is a must-read author for anyone struggling to understand the ongoing intellectual and spiritual conflicts in the city of man and the city of God. I can hardly wait to open my present. If you feel inspired to read more of his work, try the following: Another Sort of Learning (1988); On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs (2001); and The Life of the Mind (2006).

The Peasant of the Garonne, by Jacques Maritain; Holt Rinehart Winston (1968). A friend gave me this book a few years ago, but I've never found the time to read it. Written by the great Catholic theologian and philosopher at the age of 85, it created quite a furor when it was published. In it Maritain attacked the modernism of the "new theology," claiming its evolution posed a real threat to the Church's spirituality and its core doctrinal beliefs. He apparently pulls no punches as he takes on those who would bow down to the modern world and its ephemeral fads and trends. In my younger days I made my way slowly through a number of Maritain's philosophical works, so perhaps it's time I read this book, which promises to be a bit more accessible to my aging mind.

The Myth of Hitler's Pope, by Rabbi David C. Dalin; Regnery, 2005. This book, which has the subtitle, How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis, provides a well needed defense of Pope Pius XII who has been viciously and dishonestly attacked by the enemies of traditional religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular. This well-documented book, written by a Jewish rabbi with a Ph.D. from Brandeis University, goes a long way to correct the disinformation surrounding Pope Pius XII and the spiritual battle he fought against the Nazis before and during World War II. It, too, was a gift, given to me by a Jewish friend earlier this year. I intend to read it during the Christmas season.

I think that's enough reading for this Christmas. While most of the authors on my list are Catholics, I've also included a Baptist (Berry), a Jew (Dalin), an Anglican (Sayers), and a maybe-believer (Barzun). That should appease those enamored of diversity.

God's peace.,..

A Ten-Volume Autobiography?

A Young Compton Mackenzie

A few weeks ago I shared my summertime reading list of about a dozen books through which I'm picking my way ever so slowly. The slowness is due to a recent discovery of a forgotten box in a closet. Inside the box were all ten volumes of Compton Mackenzie's autobiography which he titled, My Life and Times. Some time ago I set out to acquire all ten books, long out of print. It took over a year to locate relatively good hardbound copies of each volume at reasonable prices, but through persistence and the help of several particularly kind online booksellers, I managed to acquire all ten volumes, one at a time and very inexpensively.

At the time Diane and I had just completed our move to Florida and I was simply too busy to begin the reading of this man's remarkable life -- hence the forgotten box in the closet. I have always believed that biographies, autobiographies and novels should be read straight through, interrupted only by sleep and life's other necessities. And when the reading involves a ten-volume autobiography (close to 3,000 pages)...well, this demands I set aside a significant block of time. This time has now come and already I have completed the first three volumes. As a consequence, the summer reading list has suffered.

Compton Mackenzie in his old age

Unless one is particularly fond of English literature of the first half of the 20th century, I suspect few today have even heard of Compton Mackenzie. Born into a famous theatrical family in 1883, Mackenzie lived a long and productive life, dying in 1972 a few months short of his 90th birthday. He was actually quite the prodigy as a youth, and attended London's St. Paul's School and then went on to study at Oxford's Magdalen College. Not only did he publish over 100 books during his long life, but he also founded (in 1923) the authoritative and still-published classical music magazine, The Gramophone. He served in British Intelligence during the First World War and later wrote several best-selling books about his experiences in the Eastern Mediterranean. Particularly proud of his Scottish ancestry, Mackenzie was an unapologetic Jacobite and actually co-founded the Scottish National Party. Born an Anglican, he held strong Anglo-Catholic beliefs from his youth and eventually converted to Catholicism in 1914.

I first stumbled across Mackenzie about 30 years ago when I picked up a copy of his novel, Vestal Fire, in a used bookstore. Although I recognized his name, having encountered brief references to him in a few literary biographies, I really knew very little about him. Vestal Fire is a novel about an odd collection of ex-patriots living on the Italian isle of Sirene, a fictitious name for Capri where Mackenzie lived for a number of years. I actually enjoyed the novel and so began to pick up other examples of his fiction as I came across them. As I read more of his work, I became increasingly intrigued by the man himself and turned to his non-fiction, much of it autobiographical. It was then that I bought a copy of the first volume of My Life and Times. He began writing the ten volumes when he was 80, dividing his life into ten eight-year periods he called octaves. Probably the most honest autobiography I've ever read -- Mackenzie doesn't shy away from his exposing the mistakes and sins of his long life -- it not only describes the man, but also provides wonderful insights into the remarkable times in which he lived and many of the famous and not so famous he numbered among his friends and acquaintances.

This is why my summer reading list might well remain unfinished when September rolls around. If you're interested in reading some of this author's works, here's a few suggestions:

Whiskey Galore, Mackenzie's 1947 novel set in Scotland that was later (1949) made into a feature film.

Monarch of the Glen, another Scottish novel (1941) on which was loosely based the BBC TV series (2000-2005) of the same name. The series also appeared on PBS in the US. (The link I've provided is to a book that includes this novel, as well as Whiskey Galore and The Rival Monsters.)

Sinister Street, a novel focusing on the lifelong psychological and moral growth of his protagonist. His depiction of life at Oxford in the early 1900s is particularly interesting. One of my favorites.

The Four Winds of Love, was published in six volumes between 1937 and 1945. Almost 1 million words in length it was truly ambitious, a remarkable 20th-century Scottish novel. 

Gavin Wallace, one of Compton Mackenzie's biographers, offers this insight into the man:

"Although Mackenzie's output of novels (including delightful books for children), essays, criticism, history, biography, autobiography, and travel writing was prolific - a total of 113 published titles - it can truly be said that if he had never written a word he would still have been a celebrity. He had a personality as exhibitory and colourful as his writing, and remained throughout his life a gregarious man with a brilliant sense of comedy. Flamboyant, a raconteur and mimic, he was no less memorable as the formidable scourge of politicians, bureaucrats, and governments, and the passionate defender of the ostracized, the shunned, and the wronged."

Mackenzie was a remarkable man, and I'm truly enjoying this lengthy glimpse into his life and times.

Summer Reading

Back when I was a student -- and that's way back -- each spring I would prepare a list of books I intended to read during the summer months. Naturally, in those youthful days the summer held other attractions besides reading, so I usually considered it a success when I completed maybe half the books on my list. Oddly enough, once my schooling was behind me I continued to make my summer reading list, even though free time was just as scarce in the summer as it was in any other season. That's one thing about work: it has a way of homogenizing the seasons so that summer can sometimes come and go almost unnoticed. Maybe that was why I continued to make my list, as a way of acknowledging that summer had arrived and forcing myself to make good use of what leisure time I managed to squeeze out of the warm months. Of course, now that I'm retired and living in Florida, the seasons are even less distinct...but I still make my list.

Usually, and this year is no exception, I begin my list-making in the fall and continue adding books to it throughout the year. Once I pick up a copy of a reading-list book I set it aside, placing it on a separate bookshelf. Sometimes I cheat and read a book ahead of time, and so must remove it from the list. I suppose I kept my cheating to a minimum this year, because my summer reading list seems much more ambitious than those of recent years, almost half-again as long. Perhaps it's because I've included more fiction than usual. Something I noticed on previous lists is that I've usually read most of the included authors before, with only a few being new to me. I do tend to feed my prejudices when it comes to reading. I find an author I enjoy, and then want to read everything he's written. This year is really no different, although the list contains a few new authors and Ive tried to ensure no author has more than two books on the list. Perhaps this will force me to broaden my reading a bit. Finally, I've included several books I've read before, but with one exception I read them years ago and decided it was time to reread them. Maybe my older and, I hope, wiser self will develop a new and different appreciation of these works.

And so, here is this year's list:

V. S. Naipaul, Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (1981 -- out of print). Naipaul, an ethnic Indian originally from Trinidad, is a Nobel Prize-winning author who has written extensively on the aftermath of the colonialism of the British Empire. I have read many of his novels and several of his non-fiction works and enjoyed them all, but just never got around to reading this detailed description of his journey through four Islamic nations: Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia. Naipaul is a keen observer of people and culture, and since his journey took place over 30 years ago, I look forward to reading his observations and comparing them to today's reality. (Although out of print, used copies are available online at very reasonable prices. Click on the title link above.)

Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter (1920). Sigrid Undset was a remarkable woman, a Norwegian author who won a Nobel Prize for this three-volume novel, Kristin Lavransdatter, a book that chronicled life in medieval Scandinavia.

Brought up in an atheistic household, Undset converted to Catholicism in her early forties and became a lay Dominican. When the Nazis occupied Norway in 1940 she was forced to flee to neutral Sweden and ultimately to the United States. Because her books were banned in Germany and she had openly criticized Hitler, she would no doubt have been imprisoned or executed. While in the US during the war she worked tirelessly on behalf of her native Norway and for Europe's Jews. She returned to Norway after the war and died in 1949. Over the years I've read a number of her other books and enjoyed them all. I first read this particular novel over 40 years ago and believe it's time to read it again.

Anthony Esolen, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization (2008). Dr. Esolen, a professor of English at Providence College, is a true man of letters and one of those remarkable people whose works have a civilizing effect on those who read them. He is also a translator of Dante's Divine Comedy which in itself is a remarkable accomplishment, especially since his translation is so wonderfully readable. I got to know Dr. Esolen slightly during the few years I was employed at Providence College, and thoroughly enjoyed our occasional conversations. I expect this book to be equally rewarding.

Although it's not on my list, because I read it just last year, I highly recommend another of Dr. Esolen's books, Ironies of Faith: The Laughter at the Heart of Christian Literature, published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). Read it and you will come to a whole new appreciation of Christian literature.

E. C. Bentley, Trent's Last Case (1913). Edmund Clerihew Bentley was an English novelist, journalist, and humorist, as well as the inventor of the Clerihew, the light, humorous verse-form named after him. Two volumes, filled with Bentley's Clerihews, sit on my bookshelves and never fail to bring me a little joy when I open them. They are strange little verses, for example;

St. Francis of Assisi
Was all nasty and greasy;
But in spite of that
He wore a halo round his hat.

Bentley was also a schoolmate (St. Paul's School, London) and lifelong friend of my favorite Englishman, G. K. Chesterton. Indeed, Chesterton, who was also a clever artist, illustrated Bentley's volumes of Clerihews.

This novel, Bentley's detective story written before the First World War, is often praised as the first modern detective mystery. Two of Bentley's more well-known contemporaries, Dorothy Sayers, who penned the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, and Chesterton, who wrote the Father Brown mysteries, both thought very highly of the book Some years ago a friend, knowing I enjoy a good mystery, gave me a copy, along with a copy of its sequel, Trent's Own Case, but I never got around to reading either. I think it's time I do so.

Charles Williams, Many Dimensions (1931). Charles Williams, novelist, poet and literary critic, was also a close friend of C. S. Lewis and a member of the famous Oxford literary group, the Inklings. Between 1930 and his untimely death in 1945, Williams wrote a series of seven novels that can best be described as -- in the words of T. S. Eliot -- "supernatural thrillers".Over the years I have purchased and read six of the seven Williams novels and while I certainly have my favorites -- All Hallows Eve, for example -- I enjoyed every last one of them. But for some reason I never got around to buying a copy of Many Dimensions, the second of Williams' novels. And then last month, when we were visiting family on Cape Cod, I found a hardcover copy in one of my favorite bookstores, Parnassus Books in Yarmouthport, MA. I can hardly wait to begin reading it.


Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Volume 2 (2011). I purchased this second volume of Pope Benedict's major work on Jesus Christ several months ago and began reading it immediately. I read it much too quickly, however, and have placed it on my summer reading list in the hope of reading it again, more slowly this time, with my Bible at my side as I do so. The first volume covers virtually all of Jesus' public ministry, from His Baptism by John in the Jordan to His Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. I had previously read many books by Pope Benedict, but this book made me realize how blessed we are to have a pope who is such a learned and deeply spiritual scriptural scholar. If you have not yet read the first volume, by all means do so. This second volume focuses on Holy Week, from Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem to His Resurrection. I enjoyed it the first time, and look forward to learning even more the second time around.

James Boswell. The Life of Samuel Johnson (First published, 1791). Like the plays of Shakespeare, or the novels of Jane Austen, Boswell's Johnson is one of those books that every English-speaking human being should read at least once in his life. As for myself, I did so back in 1962 when I was a freshman at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. It wasn't assigned reading for any course; I had simply read some excerpts during my senior year in high school and became fascinated by this man, Samuel Johnson. And when I came across a used copy of the unabridged edition, I parted with a few of my scarce dollars and bought it. I probably spent far too much study time reading Boswell when I should have been pouring over the uninspired readings assigned by my professors. But in hindsight I think I can honestly say that perhaps 80% of the courses I took during my seven years of college and graduate school have been absolutely useless to me. Certainly, they were nowhere near as useful as this one book. If you haven't read it, you should. Pick up a copy and read a bit every day. As you know if you've read it, it is a substantial book, and my current edition runs well over 1,200 pages.


Joseph M. Callewaert, The World of St. Paul (2011). This book was given to me recently by a friend and, after glancing through it and reading a few pages here and there, I decided to add it to my list.

I was completely unfamiliar with the author, but it seems he is quite the authority on St. Paul's life. Callewaert has based his interpretation of Paul's life on both Scripture and the apostolic tradition held by the Church over the ages.

A book like this might well perform a needed service by placing St. Paul in a real historical, cultural and religious context, helping us better understand both his writings and his missionary work. It should be a nice introduction to the Apostle to the Gentiles. I will see if it is.

Patrick O'Brien, The Far Side of the World (1984). This was, I believe, the 10th of Patrick O'Brien's swashbuckling novels of the Royal Navy during the time of Nelson and Napoleon. After one has read a few of these wonderfully written stories, O'Brien's main characters, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, become close friends of the reader. O'Brien died in 2000 at the age of 85.

The series consists of some 20 novels, but I have never actually read even one of them; and yet I know most of the stories and their characters well. You see, years ago, as I commuted 90 miles (one way) between my home on Cape Cod and Providence, RI, I would listen to O'Brien's books on tape. (Dear Diane worked in a public library and would regularly provide me with audio books.) I believe I listened to probably 15 of the novels in this series, and The Far Side of the World is one of the few I missed. When I spotted a copy on the "bargain table" in a bookstore not long ago, I grabbed it for all of $2.

Alice Thomas Ellis, Fairy Tale (1996) and Pillars of Gold (2000). Ellis (real name, Anna Haycraft) was an English novelist who died in 2005. Of Welsh and Finnish stock, she was raised in an actively atheistic home but converted to Catholicism when she was 19. She even spent some time in a convent, but had to leave due to health problems. She later married and she and her publisher husband had seven children. Despite her large family, she apparently found time to write, publishing her first novel in 1977. In addition to her novels, she also wrote several best-selling cookbooks and for years wrote a column in a Catholic newspaper.

I have already read a few of her novels, wonderful stories which are always touched slightly by the supernatural. I particularly enjoyed Unexplained Laughter and The 27th Kingdom. And then, late last year, while browsing in a used book store in St. Augustine, Florida, I found these two and bought them. I look forward to reading them.


Edward Crankshaw, The Fall of the House of Habsburg (1963 -- out of print). This is another book that caught my eye in a used book store some months ago. When I was a Midshipman at the Naval Academy back in the early sixties, I didn't get home too often. But during one of those brief visits with my parents, I remember sitting in their family room and asking my mother what she was reading with such obvious interest. She held up the book and said, "It's a marvelous book. You should read it. It's all about the last years of the Habsburgs", and then returned to her reading. Isn't memory a very strange thing? I can remember and picture this brief, seemingly inconsequential incident as if it happened only moments ago, and yet I can recall for certain nothing else that occurred during that long weekend visit. It would seem there's a reason I can remember this incident so clearly after 45 years; and so, when I spotted this book in that bookstore, I simply had to buy it...for all of $8.00. Although out of print you can find inexpensive copies of this book online -- click on the title link above. I hope to discover what my dear mother found so fascinating.

Milton Walsh, Second Friends: C. S. Lewis and Ronald Knox in Conversation (2008). As a fan of both C. S. Lewis and Ronald Knox, I couldn't resist buying this book. These two Christian apologists, one Protestant and the other Catholic, were neighbors in Oxford and yet knew each other only slightly. The author, however, looks deeply into their writings and beliefs shows how each man's work supports that of the other. It promises to be a good read.

Well...that's it! That's my complete summer reading list, unless another book or two or three come along and catch my fancy.
God's peace...