The Catholic Book Club discussion

It is time to vote for our February 2024 BOTM. You may vote for up to 2 of the books listed below. The book(s) with the most votes will be our BOTM. If there is a tie, the moderator uses a random list generator to determine the order and they are all read over however many months. Books that receive fewer than 2 votes will be removed from the Voting List, with those that receive 1 vote being placed at the end of the Nominations List.

Voting will end at 6:00 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, January 18.

The Voting List for February is:

The Adventurous Nun: Stories My Family Told Me: Biography of Sister Mildred Lungile Madlala, by Marcia Mandisi Mabaso, nominated by Marcia
The Adventurous Nun – Stories my family told me is a comprehensive biography of Sister Mildred Lungile Madlala, a Franciscan Missionary of Mary (FMM), born on Mistake Farm, KwaZulu-Natal south coast, South Africa. As a Sister, a nun, a Franciscan Missionary of Mary, she dedicated her whole life to God until the end. She wanted to tell her story to inspire, teach and motivate others. This book is written for anyone in the world, including people who do not belong to the Roman Catholic Church.
Voting History: January 2023: 2

Beheading Hydra: A Radical Plan for Christians in an Atheistic Age, by Dwight Longenecker, nominated by John
Never before has humanity existed in a culture that rejects belief in a transcendent power. Previous cultures ― even when rent by bitter disagreements ― shared a common belief that a greater force stood above the material realm. But when one side acknowledges an ultimate source of truth while the other side denies it, debate is dead, and mutual understanding is impossible. So claims Fr. Dwight Longenecker in his most captivating book yet,
Voting History: December 2023: 2; January 2023: 2

53. A Bloody Habit, by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson, nominated by Fonch
It is 1900, the dawn of a new century. Even as the old Queen's health fails, Victorian Britain stands monumental and strong upon a mountain of technological, scientific, and intellectual p
Voting History: January 2023: 2

The Chronicles of the Magic Jigsaw Puzzle (5 vols.), by Manuel Alfonseca, nominated by Fonch
Inspired by the Narnia Chronicles, these five fantasy books show how redemption could have been in a different world. The books are:
1. The Journey of Tivo the Dauntless: Book One in the Chronicles of the Magic Jigsaw Puzzle
2. The Mystery of the Black Lake
3. The Silver Swan
4. The Secret of the Ice Field
5. The Lost Continent
Voting History: August 2023 - 2; September 2023 - 2; November 2023 - 5; December 2023 - 5; January 2023: 6

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, nominated by Susan
Willa Cather's best known novel is an epic--almost mythic--story of a single human life lived simply in the silence of the southwestern desert. In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour comes to serve as the Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico. What he finds is a vast territory of red hills and tortuous arroyos, American by law but Mexican and Indian in custom and belief. In the almost forty years that follow, Latour spreads his faith in the only way he knows--gently, all the while contending with an unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Out of these events, Cather gives us an indelible vision of life unfolding in a place where time itself seems suspended.
Voting History: NONE

The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos, nominated by Susan
In this classic Catholic novel, Bernanos movingly recounts the life of a young French country priest who grows to understand his provincial parish while learning spiritual humility himself. Awarded the Grand Prix for Literature by the Academie Francaise, The Diary of a Country Priest was adapted into an acclaimed film by Robert Bresson.
Voting History: NONE

Elfling by Corinna Turner, nominated by Fonch
Alone on the streets of London, young Serapia Ravena seeks her father, her only hope of survival. When the elusive Duke suddenly returns to the city, Serapia finds a loving father, who quickly thwarts her uncle’s murderous plans. But it soon becomes clear that he hides a dark secret, one that threatens his very life, and his very soul. The search for his salvation will carry Serapia hundreds of leagues, to the heart of the wild places, and to the fort of the elfin, bringing her face to face with her own mysterious heritage.
Voting History: ; December 2023 - 2; January 2023: 3

The Eternal Woman: The Timeless Meaning of the Feminine by Gertrud von le Fort, nominated by Stef
Mary's fiat to God is the pathway to our salvation, as it is inextricably linked with the obedience unto death of Jesus her son. Like the Son's acceptance of the Cross, Mary's acceptance of her maternity symbolizes for all mankind the self-surrender to the Creator required of every human soul. Since any woman's acceptance of motherhood is likewise a yes to God, when womanhood and motherhood are properly understood and appreciated, the nature of the soul's relationship to God is revealed.
Voting History: August 2023 - 4; September 2023 - 4; November 2023 - 6; December 2023 - 6; January 2023: 3

Francis and Clare: The Struggles of the Saints of Assisi by Kathleen Brady, by Kathleen
When the adolescent Lady Clare agreed to secretly meet Francis Bernadone, the eccentric merchant’s son who had become a wandering preacher, she was desperate to avoid the marriage that her parents were arranging for her. Francis, having gathered more than a dozen male followers, including her cousin, believed Clare to be the one to lead the female half of his movement, a movement that was loyal to the church but inspired by heretical sects where women played a prominent part. Over many meetings he promised a future in which she would preach and serve the lepers of Assisi. Warming to his plans, Clare and her kinswoman escaped their family under cover of night and began to live the life that Francis had envisioned. They continued until one particular cardinal, a future pope, took notice.
Voting History: January 2023: 2

The Last Ugly Person: And Other Stories, by Roger Thomas, nominated by Steven R.
The stories are very different from each other. And could easily be classified as different genres. Starting with a futuristic dystopian tale, an epic military story, an allegory reminiscent to The Pilgrim’s Progress, and concluding with a micro fiction western story. (From Steven R.'s review)
Voting History: June 2023 - 3; August 2023 - 3; September 2023 - 4; November 2023 - 4; December 2023 - 3; January 2023: 2

Light From Darkness: Nine Times the Catholic Church Was in Turmoil- and Came Out Stronger Than Before, by Steve Weidenkopf, nominated by John
In this book, Weidenkopf shows how the Church’s past ages were no less tumultuous than our own. Yet, whether it was decadent hierarchs selling out the Faith for pleasure and power, or hostile princes, heresies, or ideologies (sometimes all three at once) menacing Christendom, the Catholic Church not only persisted during hard times but came through them stronger than before.In each case, though, Weidenkopf demonstrates how the Church’s survival was not an accident or a last-minute miracle. Instead, good Catholics (lay and clergy alike) cooperated with God’s grace to beat back error and corruption and reform the house of God from within.
Voting History: NONE

Paradoxes of Catholicism, by Robert Hugh Benson, nominated by Sergio
The mysteries of the Church, a materialistic scientist once announced to an astonished world, are child’s play compared with the mysteries of nature. He was completely wrong, of course, yet there was every excuse for his mistake. For, as he himself tells us in effect, he found everywhere in that created nature which he knew so well, anomaly piled on anomaly and paradox on paradox, and he knew no more of theology than its simpler and more explicit statements.
Voting History: December 2023 - 2; January 2023: 6

Prison Journal, Volume 1 The Cardinal Makes His Appeal, by George Cardinal Pell, nominated by John
Innocent! That final verdict came after George Cardinal Pell endured a grueling eight years of accusations, investigations, trials, public humiliations, and more than a year of imprisonment after being convicted by an Australian court of a crime he did not commit. Led off to jail in handcuffs, following his sentencing on March 13, 2019, the 78-year-old Australian prelate began what was meant to be six years in jail for "historical sexual assault offenses”. Cardinal Pell endured more than thirteen months in solitary confinement, before the Australian High Court voted 7-0 to overturn his original convictions. His victory over injustice was not just personal, but one for the entire Catholic Church.
Voting History: NONE

Race with the Devil, by Joseph Pearce, nominated by Fonch.
Growing up on the rough streets of Dagenham, England, Joseph Pearce was thrown into a life that led anywhere but to God and salvation. A world of hate and violence was all he knew, until one day he picked up the writings of G.K Chesterton and everything changed. Take a journey through the peaks and valleys of one of the most fascinating conversion stories of our time, written first-hand by Pearce himself.
Voting History: February 2023 - 6; March 2023 - 4; April 2023 - 4; May 2023 - 3; June 2023 - 2; August 2023 - 4; September 2023 - 3; November 2023 - 4; December 2023 - 5; January 2023: 3

The Saint Monica Club: How to Hope, Wait, and Pray for Your Fallen-Away Loved Ones, by Maggie Green, nominated by Maggie.
In the fourth century, a young man named Augustine turned his back on the Church, plunging into a frenzied life of lust and dissipation. His renunciation left Monica, his pious Catholic mother, weeping and praying for his salvation . . . for more than a decade! In these pages, author Maggie Green provides wise, compassionate guidance for members of what she calls “The Saint Monica Club”: good Catholics suffering like Monica the rejection of the Faith by persons they love dearly.
Voting History: ; July 2022 - 2; September 2022 - 2; November 2022 - 2; February 2023 - 3; March 2023 - 2; April 2023 - 5; May 2023 - 5; June 2023 - 2; August 2023 - 3; September 2023 - 2; November 2023 - 7; December 2023 - 5; January 2023: 3

I vote for "The Chronicles of the Magic Jigsaw Puzzle (5 vols.)", by Manuel Alfonseca and "Elfling" by Corinna Turner.

Very tough to choose, as there are many intriguing choices here!

I will go with "Beheading Hydra".

The Chronicles of the Magic Jigsaw Puzzle (5 vols.), by Manuel Alfonseca
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Beheading Hydra.
Immortal Combat by Fr. Longenecker was, easily, the best book I read last year so I’m ready for seconds.

Eternal Woman
Light from Darkness

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Catherine

Willa Cather not Catherine

Beheading Hydra: A Radical Plan for Christians in an Atheistic Age
Dwight Longenecker

Beheading Hydra or Death Comes for the Archbishop

Prison Journal
Beheading Hydra
A Bloody Habit

Easy choice for me, because it's old, and it's nonfiction:
The Eternal Woman: The Timeless Meaning of the Feminine

The Diary of a Country Priest for me

The Last Ugly Person: And Other Stories, by Roger Thomas

Prison Journal

Diary of a Country Priest

I vote for The Chronicles of The Magic Jigsaw Puzzle

Gosh, so many good choices.

1 - Light from Darkness
2 - Eternal Woman

1. The Eternal Woman: The Timeless Meaning of the Feminine
2. The Chronicles of the Magic Jigsaw Puzzle (5 vols.), by Manuel Alfonseca

Paradoxes of Catholicism
The St. Monica Club

Diary of a Country Priest
Death Comes for the Archbishop

Diary of a Country Priest

Diary of a Country Priest

Paradoxes of Catholicism

The Chronicles of the Magic Jigsaw Puzzle
Elfling

The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos - I only voted for one earlier.

Death Cones for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Beheading hydra and the Prison Journals are my choices!

The Chronicles of the Magic Jigsaw Puzzle

Prison Journal

1 - Diary of a Country Priest (I've heard so much about this one and always wanted to read it)

2 - Saint Monica Book Club

Thank you all!

Death Comes for the Archbishop

The Eternal Woman
Death Comes For the Archbishop

Race with the Devil
Diary of a Country Priest

The Chronicles of the Magic Jigsaw Puzzle
Prison Journal

Only allowed to vote for 2 when there are so many interesting looking books!!!? I'll be happy to read any of these books, but I vote for:
Diary of a Country Priest
Paradoxes of Catholicism

Diary of a Country Priest
Saint Monica Club

Voting is closed. Results are here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

By the way, Faith made a mistake and voted for three books. Only the first two were counted.