Sunday, January 20, 2019

The Queue: Book Club Special

Novels read more quickly than non-fiction books, which helps to explain the swiftness with which I finished The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; also helping is that it is both a book for children &, especially in light of the Harry Potter series, not a terribly long book for children. The Abiding Together podcast series on The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe begins tomorrow, 21 January, & ends on Monday, 11 February, the same day by library loan of The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe is due back. The perfect timing makes me smile.

I've belatedly commenced Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, originally published in the U.K. as Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War (& also as a mashup of the U.S. & U.K. titles: Peacemakers: Six Months That Changed the World). I had planned to begin Paris 1919 immediately after the centenary of the Armistice (11 November 2018), but as the man wrote, "the best laid plans of mice & men oft go awry." Better late than never, I say!

Upon the morrow, a ninety-day spiritual exercise of prayer, asceticism, & fraternity begins, called Exodus 90. As part of the discipline, I intend to read one chapter of Thomas à Kempis's The Imitation of Christ per day. There are one hundred fourteen chapters in The Imitation of Christ, a disproportionate fifty-nine of them in Book 3: On Interior Conversion, versus a combined fifty-five in Books 1: Useful Admonitions for the Spiritual Life, 2: Considerations for Leading an Interior Life, & 4: On the Blessed Sacrament & Devout Exhortations for Holy Communion; so if I wish to finished The Imitation of Christ during Exodus 90, twenty-four days will have to pull double duty. Only time will tell how it goes.

Recently
Mac Barron, Clueless in Galilee: A Fresh Take on the Gospels
Brant Pitre, The Case for Jesus: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Christ
C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Currently
G. K. Chesterton, The Defendant
Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World

Devotionally
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

Perpetually
Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations ***suspended***

Presently
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Steve Weidenkopf, Timeless: A History of the catholic Church
Tim Gray & Jeff Cavins, Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible
Diane Moczar, Converts and Kingdoms: How the Church Converted the Pagan West—and How We Can Do It Again
Sherry A. Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus
Curtis Martin, Making Missionary Disciples
Dynamic Catholic Ambassadors, Why I Love Being Catholic
Bishop Robert Barron, Seeds of the Word: Finding God in the Culture
Mike Aquilina, Understanding the Mass: 100 Questions, 100 Answers
Xavier Rynne, Vatican Council II
John W. O'Malley, What Happened at Vatican II
Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love)
Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (The Sacrament of Charity)
Scott Hahn, A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God's Covenant Love in Scripture
Rosario Carello, Pope Francis Takes the Bus and Other Unexpected Stories
Father Mathias D. Thelen, Biblical Foundations for the Role of Healing in Evangelization
Jennifer Fulwiler, Something Other than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It
Richard Price, Clockers
Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator, "Sinbad the Sailor" from The Arabian Nights
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
William F. Buckley Jr., The Unmaking of a Mayor
John le Carré, A Legacy of Spies

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