Welcome to the May 2024 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

Life has been busier than usual with all the spring concerts, sports, etc., with more to come in May, including exams. Reading is happening in the margins of our days. Even so, I have some great books to share with you this month.

I’ve been reading an advance copy of Rebecca W. Martin’s debut novel, Love in the Eternal City, A Swiss Guard Romance. A contemporary Catholic romance? Yes! More of these, please. I’ve never visited Rome, so I’m traveling vicariously with the heroine, Elena, who has re-located to Italy after a broken engagement, disintegrated friendship, and lost job. There she meets a Swiss Guard, Benedikt. I knew nothing about the Swiss Guard, other than their colorful uniforms, and I appreciate learning more about their history and modern role. Looking forward to the rest of this romance, which releases in August.

Love, Treachery, and Other Terrors by Katharine Campbell is a fun and quirky historical fantasy. I think historical context is the thing that makes fantasy palatable—even enjoyable—for me. A pair of mischievous—no, evil sibling fairies have induced a coup in the royal household. Alexander, the legitimate heir to the throne, flees, leaving his power-hungry (but not completely ruthless) sister in control. With a sweet romance, humor, and a clever game of wits, the novel is fresh and fun while demonstrating the beauty of virtues such as courage, integrity, and loyalty.

A Lion for a Tomb by Corinna Turner is the fourth book in her Friends in High Places series for teens. It’s told from the point of Razim, best friend to Daniel, the young man with leukemia who ties this series together. Razim is culturally Muslim, at best, and his radicalized brother is a threat to him and Daniel, whose faith has grown during his health ordeal. Inspired by the Christian zeal of St. Ignatius of Antioch, both Razim and Daniel are forced to consider the sacrifices demanded by love and faith.

In advance of his twenty-first birthday, my oldest son has been reading his dad’s The Complete Whiskey Course: A Comprehensive Tasting Course in 10 Classes by Robin Robinson. We’re also considering a summer vacation that includes a bit of the Bourbon Trail, so this will be useful. The book includes whiskey history and a “global tour,” explaining how whiskey is made in different regions. Comprehensive with lots of photos, almost like a coffee table book.

For a course, he’s also been reading Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper. From the description, since I think it summarizes Pieper’s point well: “Pieper shows that the Greeks and medieval Europeans understood the great value and importance of leisure. He also points out that religion can be born only in leisure — a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the first foundation of any culture. Pieper maintains that our bourgeois world of total labor has vanquished leisure and issues a startling warning: Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for non-activity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture — and ourselves.”

For lighter reading, my son has been reading the novelization of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover. If you’ve seen the movie (the third film in the second trilogy), then you know the story. In it, Anakin Skywalker turns to the Dark Side, culminating in a fiery battle against his mentor, Obi Wan Kenobi.

My high school daughter is working on an essay on Catholicism in Dante’s Divine Comedy. I handed her Joseph Pearce’s Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know as a starting point, and she decided she’d like to read not just the chapter regarding Dante but the entire book and all of the classics Pearce recommends. (This will be a long-term reading plan.) The book is basically an overview of great literature every Catholic should read from Tolkien to Dostoevsky and Austen.

My youngest son has been reading The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White with his fifth-grade class. If I read this classic at all, it’s been a very, very long time. The summary: “Louie is very popular. Who wouldn’t love a swan who can read, write, and play the trumpet? When Louie goes to camp, he meets a boy named A.G. who doesn’t like birds, and since Louie is a bird, that means he doesn’t like Louie. When A.G. pulls a dangerous stunt out on the lake, he realizes that Louie is a hero, after all.” My son likes it because he says it’s “extraordinary,” in the sense that it’s different and fantastical.

I was happy to endorse a beautiful new picture book from Holy Heroes, Jellybean: A Baby’s Journey to God by Theoni and Bastian Bell. It provides a much-needed resource for families suffering the loss of a child through miscarriage or stillbirth. Heartrending in its honesty and depiction of earthly and spiritual realities – with all the joy, grief, and ultimately hope that families feel in welcoming and then relinquishing their precious baby from the mother’s womb to the arms of the Father.

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