Catholic Readers discussion

What books can you recommend for this group that we otherwise may have overlooked (or never even heard of)? We've all heard of Scott Hahn and Matthew Kelly and stuff (if we've been on the Catholic book scene for any time at all, that is), but what about that guy that wrote that one book you found at a used bookstore that turned out to be a super insightful commentary on Catholic spirituality? Or, in the same vein, which Lenten devotional or Biblical commentary or anything like that stands out among the countless others as "the one you keep going back to", etc?

I was struck by this the other day when an elderly lady was giving away a number of Catholic books that her brother (who is a priest) was trying to get rid of. There were plenty of things I recognized or knew they would be worth the while (writings of the Saints and similar classics, or Biblical commentaries and stuff like that), but there were plenty of other books that I didn't know if they would even be worth taking home. Our parish's garage sale is a similar story, but with a much bigger selection; so often it seems like there are gems among them, but how do you separate the sheep from the goats among books, so to speak? Are there any good Catholic books that you discovered that you had no idea were worthwhile?

I put this in the nonfiction section because I figure that's what usually fits this description but if you found Catholic fiction that nobody knows about feel free to share about that as well. Thanks in advance! :)

Well, I'm not sure how "hidden" this is, but I always go back to Did Adam & Eve Have Belly Buttons? by Matthew Pinto. It's a great reference for youth and teens, answering the questions they really have in a language they can understand. It's especially useful since I teach 5th graders and they ask me questions like, "Can you see in Heaven? Because you don't have your eyes." So now I have the answers! (Which, by the way, is that there are two kinds of seeing - the kind you do in your mind (like dreaming) and the kind with your eyeballs. Until the resurrection of the body, we'll only see with our minds.)

I'm reading The First Thousand Years of Christianity by Robert Louis Wilken right now and love it. I recently purchased Leon Uris' Exodus. It's a classic that I've never read. Ans I also recently started a book called Searching for Sunday by Rachel Evans. Exodus is about the founding of Israel, the history of it's conflict in the Middle East, etc. the Sunday book is about why people leave the church and why/how they return.

Cool, those all sound great - Emily, I think I have a related book, Did Jesus Have a Last Name?: And 199 Other Questions from Catholic Teenagers, but (like so many others) I haven't gotten a chance to crack into it yet. That's good to know though. Good point about using it as reference for catechesis :)

Leslie, those sound great. I'm going to have to add Exodus (and probably the First Thousand Years book as well) to my to-read shelf, from the sound of that - that would be super useful to have a background in. As for Searching for Sunday, that kind of reminds me of Rebuilt in a way. Have you heard of that?

Ryan,

I haven't heard of Rebuilt. Was it good? I have only just begun Searching for Sunday, but I like what I've read because it's from a 20-30 year old perspective of the church today. As always with these things, the opinions stated may not always be my own, but I enjoy hearing other's thoughts when well stated and presented in a meaningful way. LOL.

I needed The First Thousand Years to help me get all of the major players straight in my head. Exodus should arrive in the mail today and I can't wait. The history of Israel and it's place in our modern world is something I really want to better understand.

So many books to read!!!!!

I just read "A Prayer Book of Catholic Devotions" by William George Storey that I thoroughly enjoyed. I love to read and collect prayer books based on scripture and liturgy. If you're not familiar with this one, it's a prayer book for the major and lesser known feasts. A pure delight. I was very pleasantly surprised!