For Younger Readers Library LionMiss Moore Thought Otherwise About Illuminated Manuscripts Magic in the MarginsThe Ink Garden of Brother TheophaneMarguerite Makes a BookAcross a Dark and Wild SeaBrother Hugo and the BearThe Sailor Who Captured the Sea For Grown Up Readers 84 Charing Cross RoadA Jane Austen EducationGuernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie SocietyThe Pleasures…
Search Results for: chesterton
Autobiographies & Biographies
The Autobiography of St. ThereseThe Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton House of Dreams: The Life of L. M. MontgomeryInvincible Louisa (Louisa May Alcott)Wisdom and Innocence (G. K. Chesterton)The Quest for Shakespeare Tolkien: Man and MythHelenaLife on the Mississippi (Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens)Mother TeresaMustang: Wild Spirit of the West (Velma Bronn Johnston)The Terrible Speed of Mercy (Flannery…
Hobbit Club: January 2019
This is part of the Hobbit Club series This month we opened our book club with what we understand was J.R.R. Tolkien’s favorite prayer: The Litany of Mother Mary. We Catholics love our litanies. They are so soothing while also inviting contemplation. Our Lord despises vain repetitions, but He did not object to repetition. In…
Hobbit Club: September Meeting
In our September Hobbit Club meeting, we drank Dragon Eye Red Ale beer that Greg and I brewed, we had birthday cupcakes for Frodo and Bilbo, and we laughed until our sides hurt. It was a party for Hobbits! The reading for this month was the Joseph Pearce commentary, Frodo’s Journey. At this point in…
Boys of Blur
When the sugarcane’s burning and the rabbits are running, look for the boys who are quicker than flame. Crouch. Stare through the smoke and let your eyes burn. Don’t blink. While cane leaves crackle and harvesters whir, while blades shatter armies of sugar-sweet sticks, watch for ghost in the smoke, for boys made of blur,…
Thoughts About Rod Dreher’s “The Benedict Option”
The author emphasizes that “The Benedict Option” calls for a spiritual renewal and the strengthening of Christian communities, not retreat.
Book Club: The Bark of the Bog Owl
As I explained in this post, I am having great fun hosting a young readers book club at my local Christian book store, Cathedral Book and Gift. The second book in our middle-grade reader series was The Bark of the Bog Owl by Jonathan Rogers. Bark is a fantastic first book in a very worthy…
Why I think that Percy Jackson is dangerous
The author appreciates classical mythology but critiques the Percy Jackson series for its subpar writing, secular morals, and unsuitability for children.
The Wilderking Trilogy
This spring my family fell in love with The Wilderking trilogy. Much like Narnia or the Shire, the Wilderking books are set in a place that feels romantic and a bit heaven-kissed. Corenwald is a place of physical beauty, vibrant community, traditional values, exotic intrigue, relative peace, and the possibility of high adventure. The fictional…
Why I Won’t Read “The Handmaid’s Tale”
(If you prefer to hear this essay rather than read it, click here to find the spoken tract version of this reflection.) I won’t read The Handmaid’s Tale. And it isn’t because I am a Christian who is afraid of being confronted by ideas that are unsettling. I graduated from Hillsdale College in the very late…
Books Boys Love
Moms often ask us for book recommendations for their 8-12 year old sons. This particular gender and age reader combination can be challenging for many families. Even if the boys are reading independently, many do not just dive into novels the way that girls seem to. Keeping in mind that boys tend to love “real” things,…
Magic in Fairyland
“Material facts are good enough for him. Until it comes to religion. And then, suddenly, the child who has been forbidden to believe in Jack the Giant Killer must believe in Goliath and David. There are no fairies, but you must believe that there are angels. The magic sword and the magic buckler are nonsense,…
Creed in Slow Motion
“Authors Note: The sermons of which this book is composed were delivered to the girls at the Assumption Convent (now at Exton, Rutland) when they were being evacuated to Aldenham Park, Bridgnorth, during the late war.” In 1855, the bishops of England had suggested to John Henry Newman that he should translate the Vulgate Bible…
Wisdom and Innocence
Like a great wind after a night of thunder He rocked the sodden marches of the soul And ripped the mists of cowardice asunder With laughter vivid as an aureole. He does not need to knock against the Gate Who every action like a prayer ascended And beat upon the panels. Trumpets, wait For a…
The Quest for Shakespeare
“Shakespeare is quite himself; it is only some of his critics who have discovered that he was someone else.” G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy In 2008, Joseph Pearce tackled the daunting task of trying to decode the enigma of Shakespeare’s religious identity. An Englishman by birth, Pearce is acutely aware of how intriguing and important the Shakespeare…