April Book Brackets
I love and despise months like this, in which most books I finished were good, if not completely amazing. I wish I could spread the wealth to weaker monthly brackets!
With All Her Mind, edited by Rachel Bulman
This collection of essays by Catholic women explores the intellectual life in many of its facets, including especially its ties to the spiritual life.
Why I picked it up: It sounded interesting to me; what began as me trying to sneak in reading a gift before I gave it to a bridesmaid resulted in me getting a little food on the page and buying her a brand new copy. So now I own this amazing book!
My impressions: You can read all the impressions in the previous blog post. It was fantastic, with this being a conclusion that, although realized, truly came home to me only after reviewing each essay and typing out what stood out to me. I've said this in person and written it down as well, but this is one of the first "directed specifically at women" works that I felt encouraged me to pursue excellence and deep topics in the spiritual life. I highly recommend it to all women, Catholic or Christian and possibly even otherwise; I bet men could take away something from it too, but I don't know that they'd find it nearly as applicable.
Theology of Home, by Carrie Gress, Noelle Mering, and Kim Baile (photograper)
Women consider what a home is from a Catholic perspective.
Why I picked it up: The priest who was giving me and my now-husband marriage prep dropped this title during one of our meetings; I put it on the wedding registry, and one of my cousins very generously got it (and the second one!) for us.
My impressions: I hope to do a deep dive into my impressions of this work later, modeling it on the reflection I did on "With All Her Mind". However, I can summarize here. This book is great. I hadn't even gotten very far into it before I was recommending it to one of my sisters-in-law. This book moves slowly and just about demands that the reader take time to ponder its words. This book is beautiful, from the illustrations lining the inside of the cover to the photographs of real homes and families to the interspersion of text and picture. I make the same recommendation here that I did for "With All Her Mind."
The Blood-Red Crescent, by Henry Garnett
This fictional account of the Battle of Lepanto centers around the coming-of-age adventures of Guido as Europe readies for battle with Turkish forces.
Why I picked it up: I think this one had made it onto my "to-read" list at some point and it was available through the Formed.org app for free.
My impressions: I think the poem by G. K. Chesterton is better. This is a good book for folks who are or were enamored of the tale of the Battle of Lepanto; it's a full novel and has some exciting episodes in it. Although there are chapters here and there that have some very engaging action sequences, there isn't much in this book that's going to make it memorable - at least for me. I think its a solid work of historical fiction, but it was slow to get into and easy to put down after the more interesting bits ended; the pacing was not all that I hoped for, and the final battle felt like it carried equal climactic value with other action sequences. The writing style worked most of the time, but sometimes my progress would be arrested by the way something was worded (I know, I'm not really one who ought to make that criticism). However, there were some writing decisions that I thought worked well, such as naming specific figures, and giving some allusive hints about them (e.g., calling one Turkish captain a "Christian renegade") but not explaining any more - this made me want to learn more about them. Some people might like that certain historical figures appear and have speaking roles in this tale, but I didn't appreciate how Cervantes was portrayed - too much like his creation, Don Quixote, and not enough like the rather ironic person I imagine he was. I'm not sure that descriptions of the Turkish warriors sat well with me - perhaps it was a reflection of the views at the time and historically accurate, but I felt uneasy reading them at times. Some readers might find descriptions of violence and death in this book a little graphic. I think the best audience for this book would be young lads who want action and battles and the victory of good over evil. I bet GKC would have appreciated this book.
Tales of Faith, by Holly Ordway
Evangelist and college professor discusses how pre-modern literature can provide fruitful ground for discussion and evangelization, building a base with excerpts from select works and discussion questions.
Why I picked it up: You know my story from how I got into reading "With All Her Mind"? Duplicate that, but exchange "food" with "water."
My impressions: This is a good book and makes me wish that I was formally working through literary classics with others. I don't desire that enough to actually go and do it, but it reminded me of some of the joys of being a college student. I absolutely loved the first chapter or so, as Ordway was laying the groundwork - her discussion of "intellectual hospitality" was especially excellent. I can't say that I loved the works she discussed, but it's alright to not love specific works - although it is beneficial to appreciate them. I'd recommend this book to high schoolers, college students, and those teaching them, as well as evangelists.
Bracket Play
This was a great month of reading. I finished four books, all of which I'd started before my wedding. Three of the books were strong enough to make even part of the first round more difficult than usual. "With All Her Mind" won easily against the weak "The Blood-Red Crescent", which, though an admirable attempt at Catholic creative writing, was not a real delight to read. However, it was a little sad to see Ordway's "Tales of Faith" go down in the first round. I'm confident that the right book won, but I think Ordway's book is well done and has a lot of potential to lead readers and discussion groups towards great pondering. The second round was also a little saddening because I couldn't really pick both. Both of these works led me to slow down, think, and engage more deeply with what I was reading. I loved thinking about "home," as in, what it is, and what we are ultimately pointed to by our desires for a more perfect home. That hit me in all the right places. But I also loved considering what the intellectual life is, how it can be so well integrated with the spiritual life, and what I might consider doing to deepen it - and more importantly, my spiritual life. "With All Her Mind" won in the end - almost every essay having some delight to ponder or quote to take away - but "Theology of Home" was similar in that sense. It easily could have won in a different month. Well fought, books of April! Well done!
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