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April 2023 BOTM - Voting
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Idol of Our AgeRace with the Devil
seems like a shorter list than usual, and doesn't include Screwtape, for which several have already voted
The Idol of Our Age, by Daniel MahoneyThe Saint Monica Club, by Maggie Green
Mexican MartyrdomThe Ancient of Genes
Mexican Martyrdom: Firsthand Accounts of the Religious Persecution in Mexico 1926-1935, by Wilfrid ParsonsTen Battles Every Catholic Should Know, by Michael D. Greaney
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The Tartessian crown
The Restless FlameThe Screwtape Letters
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Race with the Devil
seems like a shorter list than usual, and doesn't include Screwtape, for which several have already voted"
Hi Jill, the Voting List does have 15 books by my count and does include Screwtape Letters, third book after Race with the Devil.
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Ten Battles every Catholic Should Know
All good choices. I'm particularly interested in reading Mexican Martyrdom. But the only book I own out of all the choices is The Screwtape Letters. Having read it several times, I feel qualified to offer commentary. So, I vote for Screwtape.
Ten Battles Every Catholic Should KnowThe Light . . . , by Jacqueline Brown
Voyage to Alpha CentauriMexican Martyrdom
I vote for Ancient of Genes by Dan Gallagher and The Tartessian Crown, by Manuel Alfonseca
BTW, Mexican Martyrdom is on sale at Tan Books. They are having their St. Benedict's sale, 40% off, until March 21
Race with the DevilSaint Monica Book Club
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Hi Mary, St. Augustine's Confessions isn't on the voting list. I will count this as a vote for Restless Flame.
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In any case, the clear winner was The Screwtape Letters. I will post the full results shortly.
SUSAN wrote: "BTW, Mexican Martyrdom is on sale at Tan Books. They are having their St. Benedict's sale, 40% off, until March 21"Ten battles every Catholic should know is also on sale.
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The Catholic Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Ancient of Genes (other topics)Faith of Our Fathers: A History of True England (other topics)
The Ghost of Madison Avenue (other topics)
The Idol of Our Age: How the Religion of Humanity Subverts Christianity (other topics)
The Light: Who Do You Become When the World Falls Away? (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Dan Gallagher (other topics)Joseph Pearce (other topics)
Nancy Bilyeau (other topics)
Daniel J. Mahoney (other topics)
Jacqueline Brown (other topics)
More...
Voting will end at approximately 6:00 PM Eastern Time on Saturday, March 18, though as I am traveling, the results may not be posted until Sunday morning.
The Voting List for April is:
Ancient of Genes by Dan Gallagher, nominated by Dan
Prehistoric Resurrection... or Genetic Warfare? A geneticist’s regeneration of Ice Age animals AND humans is stolen and becomes the basis for genetic warfare weapons � and the prophesied Resurrection of the Dead!
Voting History: NONE
Faith of Our Fathers A History of 'True' England, by Joseph Pearce, nominated by Fonch
The Catholic Church has been a part of English history since the arrival of Christian missionaries to Roman Britain in the first century AD. England was evangelized in these early centuries to such an extent that, by the time the Romans withdrew in the fifth century, the Celtic population was largely Catholic.
This Catholic heart was ripped from the people of England, against their will and in spite of their heroic resistance, by the reign of the tyrannical Tudors. This made England once again a land of saints, though it was now a land of martyrs, Catholic priests and laity being put to death for practicing the Faith. The martyrdoms continued for 150 years, followed by a further 150 years of legal and political persecution.
Voting History: NONE
The Ghost of Madison Avenue by Nancy Bilyeau, nominated by Fonch
In this compelling and poignant story, bestselling author Nancy Bilyeau takes readers to New York City’s Morgan Library in December 1912, when two very different people haunted by lost love come together in an unexpected way.
Voting History: NONE
The Idol of Our Age: How the Religion of Humanity Subverts Christianity, by Daniel J. Mahoney, nominated by John
This book is a learned essay at the intersection of politics, philosophy, and religion. It is first and foremost a diagnosis and critique of the secular religion of our time, humanitarianism, or the “religion of humanity.� It argues that the humanitarian impulse to regard modern man as the measure of all things has begun to corrupt Christianity itself, reducing it to an inordinate concern for “social justice,� radical political change, and an increasingly fanatical egalitarianism. Christianity thus loses its transcendental reference points at the same time that it undermines balanced political judgment. Humanitarians, secular or religious, confuse peace with pacifism, equitable social arrangements with socialism, and moral judgment with utopianism and sentimentality.
Voting History: NONE
The Light: Who Do You Become When the World Falls Away?, by Jacqueline Brown, nominated by Madeleine
A blinding flash � then darkness. Bria Ford and her three closest friends are stranded on a country highway in the middle of a November night. No phones. No car. No lights. Helpless and hundreds of miles from home, they put their lives in the hands of handsome Jonah Page and his flinty sister, East, strangers who somehow know Bria better than she knows herself. As the group bonds to adapt to a new, yet old, way of life, the secrets of Bria’s past provide them with the means to survive the extremes of Mother Nature, and the even more frightening extremes of human nature. Quietly suspenseful, The Light explores how the stories we tell ourselves shape the person we present to the world, and what happens to that person when the world falls away.
Voting History: February 2023 - 7; March 2023 - 3
The Mango Murders, by Mara Campos, nominated by Madeleine
All is not what it seems in Old San Juan, in the Pio Nono home for boys, in the life of the island's most famous artist, or in the memories of his models. Detective Sergeant Julio Ramos and gringo FBI agent Steve Halloran work in uneasy alliance to catch a serial killer with a penchant for mangoes and a need to avenge lost love and lost innocence. To come to truth, the investigators have to face their own painful issues, and even their targets must choose between light or darkness. In language, memory, race, and blood, the novel tells the story of the burden and the promise of identity.
Voting History: November 2022 - 5; February 2023 - 2; March 2023 - 3
Mexican Martyrdom: Firsthand Accounts of the Religious Persecution in Mexico 1926-1935, by Wilfrid Parsons, nominated by Susan.
Mexican Martyrdom is a series of true stories of the terrible anti-Catholic persecutions which took place in Mexico in the 1920s. Told by the Jesuit priest, Fr. Wilfrid Parson, these stories are based upon cases he had seen himself or that had been described to him personally by the people who had undergone the atrocities of those times.
Voting History: March 2023 - 5
The Mystery of Joseph, Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe, OP, John.
Although the greatest of saints, after Mary, St. Joseph is perhaps the least well understood. What Scripture teaches is compelling, but mysterious: he moves quietly and thoughtfully through its pages, almost unobserved in his humility and silence. In this illuminating book, Fr. Philippe leads you deep into the beautiful mystery of St. Joseph -- revealing the greatness of the apparently unremarkable man who was the guardian of Jesus and Mary, and who is now the Guardian of the Church, ''overflowing with immeasurable wisdom and power.''
This book may be difficult to find.
Voting History: July 2022 - 5; September 2022 - 6; November 2022 - 4; February 2023 - 6; March 2023 - 2
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
The Restless Flame: A Novel About Saint Augustine by Louis de Wohl, nominated by Manuel.
This is a stirring novel which deals reverently but realistically with the fascinating life and era of St. Augustine, one of the most remarkable men of all time.
Voting History: March 2023 - 6
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
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, by Nishaal, nominated by Fonch and Susan.
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a classic masterpiece of religious writing that entertains readers with its portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of a nephew of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below."
Voting History: March 2023 - 6
The Tartessian Crown, by Manuel Alfonseca, nominated by John.
In this third novel in the Aeolian Family series, Julius Aeolius is a fourteen-year-old boy who lives with his grandfather Lucius in Cesaraugusta, present-day Zaragoza, in the days of the Visigoth king Theodoric. They start a long journey, for Lucius is obsessed with finding the Tartessian crown. According to legend, whoever owns the crown will be king of all Hispania. But who is the mysterious goth who insists on going with them? What is Lucius hiding, who seems to know more than he says? Will Julius win the love of Dido, the orphan girl who barely speaks, but who knows how to get them out of their troubles? In this journey through the most important cities and islands of the Mediterranean (Tarraco, Carthage, Malta, Rome...), the protagonist will face not just many adventures, but also an internal journey towards his own maturity.
Voting History: March 2023 - 3
Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know, by Michael D. Greaney, nominated by Fonch.
Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know offers readers richly detailed accounts of pivotal engagements—many little known in the West—in the centuries-long defense of Christendom against militant Islam. Join military historian Michael D. Greaney as, in gripping prose, he describes the struggle, primarily on Christendom’s eastern borders, against the dreaded Ottoman Turks in places such as:
� Manzikert, which marked the beginning of the fight,
� Wallachia, where Vlad II, the real “Dracula�, carried out a personal crusade against the Turks to such good effect that his name strikes terror down to the present day,
� Mohács, “the Tomb of Hungary,�
� Vienna (the siege of 1529), the first setback experienced by Süleymân the Magnificent, perhaps the greatest ruler the Ottoman Turks ever knew,
� Szigetvár (known as the “Hungarian Alamo�),
� ...and five others.
Voting History: March 2023 - 6
Voyage to Alpha Centauri, Michael D. O'Brien, nominated by Fonch
Set eighty years in the future, this novel by the best-selling author Michael O'Brien is about an expedition sent from the planet Earth to Alpha Centauri, the star closest to our solar system. The Kosmos, a great ship that the central character Neil de Hoyos describes as a "flying city," is immense in size and capable of more than half light-speed. Hoyos is a Nobel Prize winning physicist who has played a major role in designing the ship. Hoyos has signed on as a passenger because he desires to escape the seemingly benign totalitarian government that controls everything on his home planet. He is a skeptical and quirky misanthropic humanist with old tragedies, loves, and hatreds that are secreted in his memory. The surprises that await him on the voyage--and its destination--will shatter all of his assumptions and point him to a true new horizon.
Voting History: NONE