Reading List Update

Since I wasn’t doing my usual posts during Lent, I’m overdue for a Reading List update…

The Victory Pile

In January, I finished the following books:

The Screwtape Letters The Great Divorce , Mere Christianity, Problem of Pain– C.S. Lewis
The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks – Penguin Classics

In February and March I complete three more:

Every Man’s Journey – James P. Campbell
This was thirty day devotional book following the life of St. Peter which I read at my desk each morning. It was definitely enjoyable, but I wasn’t really blown away by it.

Hold Me Tight – Dr. Sue Johnson
This book by psychologist Dr. Johnson examines Attachment Theory, a way of looking at relationships primarily in light of the attachment bond between two people. I found the writing not quite to my style, but the content was superb and I found the book genuinely thought-provoking. I’m hoping to write a post soon summarizing some of book’s key points.

After Jesus – Reader’s Digest
This was a light review of the early centuries of Christian history. I found quite a few bits of the historical analysis rather questionable but at least, since it was a Reader’s Digest book, it had lots of nice glossy pictures 🙂

Work In Progress

I currently have quite a few books on the go at the moment:

Confessions – St. Augustine
I’m about half way through now and picking up pace as the narrative picks up.

St. Francis of Assisi – G.K. Chesterton
A rather appropriate book given the name taken by the new Holy Father! Chesterton’s writing is as wonderful as always and this book has become my new Holy Hour book.

Introduction to the Devout Life – St. Francis de Sales
This has replaced Every Man’s Journey as my daily reading before work.

Jesus of Nazareth – Pope Benedict XVI
I’ve stalled on this one – I’m still only about a third of the way through.

Weaving The Web – Tim Berners-Lee
The first book this year which wasn’t on The List because I was feeling in the mood for something a little lighter. The book chronicles the rise of the World Wide Web and its invention by Tim Berners-Lee. I’m sure it would be quite a dull book to many, but since my University (Southampton) is one of the forerunners of hypertext technology I’m finding it really interesting. After St. Augustine and G.K. Chesterton, it’s an extremely easy read!

Staring at me from my bookshelf

That leaves the following books still unread:

Rediscover Catholicism – Matthew Kelly
Jesus Among Other Gods – Ravi Zacharias
Philosophy For Dummies – Thomas Morris
The Path of Life – Cyprian Smith OSB
Immitation of Christ – Thomas à Kempis
Everlasting Man – G.K. Chesterton

Since I’ve got quite a bit of air travel over the next month I’m hoping to make a serious dent in the rest of this list by my next update.