One of the first " Catholic " novels I read was Pierced With A Sword by Bud McFarlane. That was a fantastic story about modern day people who are trying to live their faith and how they impact other people, each other and the culture. I read his next two books as they came out. Conceived Without Sin was about marriages as I recall and House of Gold was a futuristic book about the collapse of society like we feared in Y2K. They were both great!
I next got into the Michael O'Brien books which a friend of mine owned and lent to me one by one.I read his four novel apocalyptic series Father Elijah , Strangers and Sojourners, Eclipse of the Sun and Plague Journal.These were excellent. Suspenseful and all about the same family trying to live in the end times.
Since my homeschooling days, I have had the opportunity to read a great many biographies of the saints. Most of these are written for younger readers but I enjoyed every one of them. Joan of Arc by Marc Twain, Citadel of God, a novel about St. Benedict, by Louis de Wohl were full length books written for adults and A Story of a Soul, essentially written by St. Therese were also great reads.I just finished the 400 page book Elizabeth Bayley Seton ( St. Elizabeth Ann Seton) the definitive biography written by Annabelle M. Melville. This book was extremely well researched and had 100 pages of footnotes!
I just purchased Catherine of Siena which is a novel based on the life of this 15th century saint. It is written by Sigrid Undset.This author is known to me because a few summers ago I read 8 of her books in a row and wished there had been more! Undset is a Norwegian convert to Catholicism. Kristen Lavransdatter is a three (thick!) book series about a family in the Middle ages.The Master of Hestviken is a four book series about a different family at the same time period. All of those I checked out of the library and read by the pool and the lake.I look forward to her story about St. Catherine.
A new Catholic novelist on the scene is Brian J. Gail who wrote Fatherless, pictured above.I read this a few years ago. It is a very modern tale about high finance, advertising executives, sports stars and wayward teenagers all living in the fast lane and their holy parish priest who tries to shepherd them. I just found out that Gail wrote a new book called Motherless. I started that novel this week and it is actually even better written than his previous novel. This book continues on with the same characters. So far, one is now president of a Women's Hospital and will be facing ethical dilemmas like dealing with Stem-Cell research. Gail is now writing his third novel in this series, Childless which I am looking forward to.This writer would be very good for a man to read because he talks a lot about business and it is definitely from a man's point of view which is interesting.
Of course there are so many Catholic books that aren't novels that are also great to read.This summer, I finally took the plunge and became acquainted with the writings of G.K. Chesterton by reading Dale Ahlquist's The Apostle of Common Sense .His book is filled with the quotes from many of his subject's writings.The title says it all but leaves out the fact that Chesterton is as funny as he is sensible! Chesterton, of course, converted to Catholicism after reading C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkein. I enjoyed The Screwtape Letters but am not a fan of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.I may give them another try sometime down the road!
I do my reading in the evenings after dinner. There are usually a few kids reading their own books at the same time. We kick back on the couches and enjoy our own books in the quiet. I love to drink herbal tea while I read and often have two cups. Sometimes I put my book down on my lap and spend a few minutes thinking about some idea or concept that became clearer because of what I read. My favorite used book store in town has this quote by someone named Jessamyn West " Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures". I could never express it like that but this says it very well. If this is true, than it makes even more sense to spend my free time reading not only the classics, but also Catholic novels. I have really found them to illuminate truth, goodness and beauty. They are great stories with memorable characters who are trying to live out their Faith in the time and place they are born into. Reading a good book is not a waste of my time. On the contrary, it often enriches my faith and my life and is one of the most pleasant things I get to do!
