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Poll

Should I write book reviews for CI?

No!
1 (10%)
Yes!
9 (90%)

Total Members Voted: 10

Voting closed: November 14, 2021, 05:36:34 PM

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Author Topic: Book Reviews  (Read 921 times)

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Offline StLouisIX

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Book Reviews
« on: November 07, 2021, 05:36:34 PM »
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    • I'm thinking about writing up some book reviews for some books I've been reading in my spare time to put here on CI, and perhaps even to turn into scripts for videos on my Odysee channel. Since there is so much in the way of Catholic literature, biographies of saints, theological texts, and so on, I think that my reviews of books that are generally more "obscure" would help Catholics learn about them and rediscover them. These would be far more in-depth than your typical Amazon book review. I would not only go over some edifying quotes, but also elaborate on lessons and themes from these works, to give the reader a solid idea about the contents of the books. Two books that would be up for review would be Hilaire Belloc's Europe and the Faith, and The Life of Bishop Challoner by Michael-Trappes Lomax. I am especially motivated to write a review of The Life of Bishop Challoner, since he is a saintly figure that deserves more recognition among English speaking Catholics, and this work did a tremendous job of opening my eyes to that truth. I find his example especially uplifting during our times, something to help us not give into the nihilism and despair that is so prevalent in our times and to inspire us to grow in holiness. Furthermore, I cannot seem to find any reviews of that book out there, since it is out of print (you can find it on archive.org, but I secured a physical copy through purchasing one on biblio.com). There are other books I have in my collection that share that level of obscurity, which is a shame. I may review books that are more secular in nature but are more "controversial" (ex. The Origins of the Second World War by A.J.P Taylor), but I will give much more attention to Catholic works. 

    Some other books I would review once I get around to reading them in their entirety: 

    St. Joan of Arc by Rev. Denis Lynch, Who Shall Ascend? (Vols. I & II) by Fr. James Wathen and Dante's Divina Commedia by Fr. Franz Hettinger. 

    Some more well known books I would review: The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila and Prayer the Key to Salvation by Father Michael Muller. 

    To close out my little pitch, I'd like to know if users here would appreciate this sort of thing. 
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    Offline Emile

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #1 on: November 07, 2021, 05:41:38 PM »
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    • Sounds like a great idea!
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    Patience is a conquering virtue. The learned say that, if it not desert you, It vanquishes what force can never reach; Why answer back at every angry speech? No, learn forbearance or, I'll tell you what, You will be taught it, whether you will or not.
    -Geoffrey Chaucer

    Offline DigitalLogos

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #2 on: November 07, 2021, 05:43:22 PM »
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    • Please do. I'm always looking for more good books to eventually read.
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    "Be not therefore solicitous for tomorrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." [Matt. 6:34]

    "In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin." [Ecclus. 7:40]

    "A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon." [Ecclus. 27:12]

    Offline StLouisIX

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #3 on: November 08, 2021, 04:47:38 PM »
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    • Bumping this so I can get more input from other users concerning this concept. Appreciate the responses so far!
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    Offline bodeens

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #4 on: November 08, 2021, 04:56:23 PM »
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    • Anything on saint's lives would be awesome! If you did do a video/podcast form for it as well that'd be great as well... A lot of us need some good Catholic content at work :)
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    Regard all of my posts as unfounded slander, heresy, theologically specious etc
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    Offline Carissima

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #5 on: November 08, 2021, 05:10:42 PM »
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    • Have you read ‘My Daily Bread’ by the Confraternity of the Precious Blood? It is so beautifully written and comes from the perspective of Jesus speaking to you and counseling you on daily life. I have often recommended and would love to see it reviewed by someone. 
    I would love to find more books written in the same way and am hoping they are as well done as this one. 
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    Offline Nadir

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #6 on: November 08, 2021, 05:28:27 PM »
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    • Do it, Louis!
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    Help of Christians, guard our land from assault or inward stain,
    Let it be what God has planned, His new Eden where You reign.

    Offline StLouisIX

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #7 on: November 08, 2021, 05:31:09 PM »
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    • Quote from: Carissima on November 08, 2021, 05:10:42 PM
    Have you read ‘My Daily Bread’ by the Confraternity of the Precious Blood? It is so beautifully written and comes from the perspective of Jesus speaking to you and counseling you on daily life. I have often recommended and would love to see it reviewed by someone.
    I would love to find more books written in the same way and am hoping they are as well done as this one.

    I have not, but I will definitely look into getting a copy after reading your recommendation!
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    Offline Emile

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #8 on: November 08, 2021, 05:37:03 PM »
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    • Quote from: Carissima on November 08, 2021, 05:10:42 PM
    Have you read ‘My Daily Bread’ by the Confraternity of the Precious Blood? It is so beautifully written and comes from the perspective of Jesus speaking to you and counseling you on daily life. I have often recommended and would love to see it reviewed by someone.
    I would love to find more books written in the same way and am hoping they are as well done as this one.
    This comes to mind:
    https://archive.org/details/imitationofsacre00arno/page/n7/mode/2up
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    Patience is a conquering virtue. The learned say that, if it not desert you, It vanquishes what force can never reach; Why answer back at every angry speech? No, learn forbearance or, I'll tell you what, You will be taught it, whether you will or not.
    -Geoffrey Chaucer

    Offline Carissima

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #9 on: November 08, 2021, 07:10:11 PM »
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    Offline songbird

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #10 on: November 08, 2021, 07:29:21 PM »
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    • Carissima:  My great-great uncle Fr. Rudolph Stoltz was ordained in the Confraternity of the Precious Blood, Carthegena Ohio in 1907.

    Fr. Faber wrote many great books, one being the Precious Blood.  One of his teachers was Fr. Nagelisne(sP) wrote the book, Charitable Souls all Tan books.

    There is a book of Precious Blood devotions but the book has been decreased in size and I was disappointed.  But it is small purse size with Mass and devotions.

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    Offline FlosCarmeli13

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #11 on: November 09, 2021, 11:02:56 AM »
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    • Yes, I'd be interested in reading your reviews too.
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    Offline Nadir

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #12 on: November 10, 2021, 06:41:33 PM »
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    • Any opinions on this newbie?

    The Early Church Was the Catholic Church


    by Joe Heschmeyer
    As of today, I have a brand-new book out, called The Early Church was the Catholic Church. As the subtitle says, it looks as “the Catholic Witness of the Fathers in Christianity’s First Two Centuries.”

    Here’s how I begin the book:

    Quote
    ANY CRITIQUE of Catholic teaching falls into one of two categories: either Catholics are getting blamed for believing what Jesus taught, or they’re getting blamed for straying from what Jesus taught. If you’re looking for ways to answer the first kind of argument (that Catholics shouldn’t be so faithful to Jesus), there are a lot of good books for you, but this one isn’t it. My goal is to reach those who believe that Jesus’ original teachings were good—but that the Church lost her way over time.
    There are lots of people who fall into this second category, from Muslims who think that Christians corrupted the original teachings of Jesus (the Injeel)… to Mormons who claim that after the Apostles were killed, “priesthood authority—including the keys to direct and receive revelation for the Church—was taken from the earth”… to folks who believe Dan Brown’s claims (from The Da Vinci Code) that people didn’t think Jesus was the Son of God until the Council of Nicaea… to Protestants who believe that the teachings of the original Christians were slowly corrupted (eventually leading to the formation of the Catholic Church). But even those these groups may not agree with one another on much, they’re all making variations of the same argument: Jesus’ original teachings (whatever they were) were good, but somewhere along the way, corruption set in and these teachings were lost, and/or false teachings were added.
    In response to these claims, I look at what the earliest Christians (up until about the year 200) had to say on four major topics:

    • What does Baptism do? Is it just symbolic, or does it do something? Are we “born again” in Baptism or by making a personal commitment to Jesus Christ?
    • What’s the nature of early Christian worship? In particular, what did these earliest Christians believe about the Eucharist? Did they view their worship as a Sacrifice, or did they view that idea as repugnant to Christ’s unique priesthood?
    • What did the earliest churches look like? When we look at the earliest evidence (and listen to the early Christians describe the state of their churches), do they describe a diversity of church structures, or do they think that all churches should be structured in the same way? In particular, did they view the idea of a single bishop per church as a necessity, a helpful innovation, or a corruption of the apostolic structure of the Church?
    • Which books count as “Gospels”? Did the early Christians have a clear sense of particular books (like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) being “the Gospels,” or did they have more of an “open canon,” in which there was widespread disagreement about which books were truly Gospel, or truly orthodox, or truly inspired?
    As I said, in looking at this, I’m looking at Christianity up until about the year 200 (in the book, I also explain why I chose this as the rough cut-off date, and use the real-life examples of St. Polycarp and St. Irenaeus to give a sense of how much “living memory” would still be operative by the close of the second century). Finally, I close the book with a chapter presenting the “stakes,” so to speak: what happens if we believe the Christians of the second century? And what happens if we think that they’re wrong (either duped or lying)?
    If that sounds interesting to you, I’d encourage you to go and check it out. As of today, it’s available (and on sale!) in the Catholic Answers store, and it should be available on Amazon in about a week or so. If you do read it, it would mean a lot to me (and actually help people discover the book) if you would write a review on Amazon. Enjoy!




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    Help of Christians, guard our land from assault or inward stain,
    Let it be what God has planned, His new Eden where You reign.

    Offline StLouisIX

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #13 on: November 29, 2021, 10:05:24 PM »
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    • I will be publishing my first book review here on CI soon, I haven't forgotten about this poll. This review is currently around 7 pages long, and may be extended to 8. This may seem excessive, but I think the book in question deserves the lengthy coverage. Pray that I may discern well how to finish it. Thanks again to all who participated in the poll!
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    Offline StLouisIX

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    Re: Book Reviews
    « Reply #14 on: December 15, 2021, 04:35:54 PM »
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    • Here is the link to the first review, for those who didn't catch it went it first went up: 

    https://www.cathinfo.com/art-and-literature-for-catholics/review-of-'bishop-challoner'-by-michael-trappes-lomax/msg790327/#msg790327
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