On Drowning by the Page

Way back in May, when I first decided to write this post, I apparently had it in mind to make book recommendations. I now find this rather amusing, so I'm retooling my original idea.

You see, I'm one of Those People. You might know one of us: we love to read and learn, so we start many books on many different topics, all at once. For a while, we read a few pages in each book every single day, then less frequently, and then as other books catch our eye and we get busy, we forget some of the first books entirely! The result, predictably, is two-fold: no book gets even half-read and there is at least one high pile of partially-read books cluttering our house at any given time!

So, rather than give some "partial-book" recommendations at this time, I'm going to link to a better source and recommend that we all bite-off no more than we can chew at once!

A very sharp and reliable priest, Fr. John McCloskey, has written "A Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan." Below, I've reproduced some info on it that I wrote for a brochure some time ago. Perhaps, as I make my way through my ever-growing library, I will actually post some recommendations of my own.

A CATHOLIC LIFETIME READING PLAN
(A BRIEF SELECTION)

Fr. McCloskey’s complete list can be found at:
www.catholicity.com/mccloskey/readingplan.html

Catechism of the Catholic Church – Catholicism Explained/Theology
Boylan – Tremendous Lover – Spiritual Reading
Caussaude – Abandonment to Divine Providence – Spiritual Reading
de Sales – Introduction to Devout Life – Spiritual Reading
Escriva – Way, Furrow, Forge – Spiritual Reading
Guardini – The Lord
Lewis – Mere Christianity – Spiritual Classics
Liguori – 12 Steps to Holiness and Salvation – Spiritual Reading
Lovasik – The Hidden Power of Kindness – Spiritual Reading
O'Connor – Flannery O'Connor: Complete Stories – Literary Classics
Phillipe – Interior Freedom – Spiritual Reading
Scupoli – Spiritual Combat – Spiritual Reading
Sertillanges – Intellectual Life – Misc

*****
Many of these books can be found new and at a steep discount at www.amazon.com, or sometimes even new or used at www.ebay.com. It’s a great idea to buy what you can so that you can loan or refer to the books later. The local library system may also have some of them.

Please note that www.catholicity.com/mccloskey has
several other excellent articles by Fr. McCloskey, which I
recommend.