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My apologies for running a day late in getting the voting started. I had a busy weekend with birthdays (granddaughter and wife) and Mother’s Day and overslept yesterday �� a blessing in itself as getting a good night’s sleep is a challenge for me.
Anyway, it is time to vote for our June 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 approximately 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Friday, May 19.

The Voting List for June is:
Benedict XVI: Defender of the Faith, by Joseph Pearce, nominated by Fonch
Pope Benedict XVI will go down in Church history as one of the greatest popes. In this heartfelt defense of Pope Benedict’s words and works, a tribute to his life and legacy and a homage to his sanity and sanctity, Joseph Pearce’s biography provides an unforgettable encounter with this great historical figure.
Voting History: NONE

The Burning Bush by Sigrid Undset, nominated by Fonch
[From M. Alfonseca's review:] Second part to Undset's The Wild Orchid, starting where the other book left the plot. Actually these two books make a single novel in two volumes and five parts, in the same way that The Lord of the Rings is a single novel in three volumes and six parts. It makes no sense to read one of these two novels without the other.
Voting History: May 2023 - 4

Could You Not Watch with Me One Hour?: How to Cultivate a Deeper Relationship with the Lord through Eucharistic Adoration by Florian Racine, nominated by Mariangel
Fr. Florian Racine offers us a beautiful formation guide on Eucharistic adoration that will help us to practice it in all its depth, and with a missionary perspective.
God has made himself particularly close to mankind in Jesus his Son. The redemptive Incarnation of his Son is how God reconciles mankind with himself. The memorial of the Passover of Christ is therefore at the heart of our relationship with God. In the Blessed Sacrament, the resurrected Jesus is really present and acting; he draws all mankind into his filial relationship with the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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: April 2023 - 3; May 2023 - 3

From Islam to Christ: One Woman's Path through the Riddles of God, by Derya Little, nominated by John
Born and raised in Muslim Turkey, Derya Little wandered far and wide in search of her true home. After her parents' divorce, she rejected her family's Islamic faith and became an atheist. During her stormy adolescence, she tried to convince a Christian missionary that there is no God but was converted to Christ instead. Her winding path through the riddles of God was not over, however. While attending a Turkish university and serving as a Christian youth minister, Derya began to compare the teachings of Protestantism and Catholicism, and during her doctoral studies in England, she entered the Catholic Church.
Voting History: May 2023 - 2

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: April 2023 - 4; May 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: 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

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; April 2023 - 5; May 2023 - 2

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

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; April 2023 - 3; May 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.
Voting History: March 2023 - 6; April 2023 - 3; May 2023 - 2

Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living by Charles J. Chaput, nominated by John
With a balance of wisdom, candor, and scholarly rigor the beloved archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia takes on life’s central questions: why are we here, and how can we live and die meaningfully?
In Things Worth Dying For, Chaput delves richly into our yearning for God, love, honor, beauty, truth, and immortality. He reflects on our modern appetite for consumption and individualism and offers a penetrating analysis of how we got here, and how we can look to our roots and our faith to find purpose each day amid the noise of competing desires.
Voting History: NONE

Wheat that Springeth Green by J.F. Powers, nominated by Steven R.
J. F. Powers's beautifully realized final work, is a comic foray into the commercialized wilderness of modern American life. Its hero, Joe Hackett, is a high school track star who sets out to be a saint. But seminary life and priestly apprenticeship soon damp his ardor, and by the time he has been given a parish of his own he has traded in his hair shirt for the consolations of baseball and beer. Meanwhile Joe's higher-ups are pressing for an increase in profits from the collection plate, suburban Inglenook's biggest business wants to launch its new line of missiles with a blessing, and not all that far away, in Vietnam, a war is going on. Joe wants to duck and cover, but in the end, almost in spite of himself, he is condemned to do something right.
Voting History: NONE

With Two Eyes Into Gehenna, Jane Lebak, Steven R.
A rosary in one hand. A dagger in the other. Sister Magdalena never heard of the Catherinite nuns until the day she faced her own death sentence.
Rome, 1562. It’s the era of the Index of Banned Books and the Roman Inquisition. Kings still burn heretics. The worst threats come from within the Church itself.
Only seventeen, Magdalena killed a priest who tried to rape her within the walls of her convent. His powerful family will see her executed, and then they’ll destroy her mother and young sister.
Instead, the Pope makes an offer. To save her life and protect her family, Magdalena can disappear into a secret religious order, one with a demanding physical regimen to go along with the prayers. She’ll pray the psalms and learn to climb walls. She’ll sharpen her mind and fine-tune her body. Perfected, she’ll infiltrate the Council of Trent.
Voting History: NONE

The Last Ugly Person: And Other Stories, by Roger Thomas
Wheat that Springeth Green by J.F. Powers

Things Worth Dying For;
Wheat that Springeth Green.

Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living by Charles J. Chaput,

Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know, by Michael D. Greaney,

Benedict XVI: Defender of the Faith and Wheat that Springeth Green

The Idol of Our Age
The Restless Flame

Saint Monica Club
The Burning Bush

The Idol of Our Age
Race with the Devil

The Tartessian crown
The Restless Flame

Benedict XVI: Defender of the Faith
Faith of Our Fathers: A History of "True" England

Could You Not Watch with Me One Hour?

Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know

With Two Eyes into Gehenna
Wheat that Springeth Green

The Idol of Our Age

The Last Ugly Person: And Other Stories

The Last Ugly Person: And Other Stories
Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

To those who read “Wild Orchid�� by Sigrid Undset, do you think it ruins your experience if you read her volumes out of order? I’m hesitant to vote for / read “Burning Bush�� before I read “Wild Orchid��.

Ann, you should read Wild Orchid first.

It's not really 2 separate books, and in my opinion they should be published as a single volume. The Burning Bush starts right where Wild Orchid ends and continues the story from that point.

Thank you Mariangel 🥰

Joseph Pearce
Faith of Our Fathers: A History of True England

Louis De Wohl
The Restless Flame: A Novel about Saint Augustine

Benedict XVI
Ten Battles

I vote for The Tartessian crown by Manuel Alfonseca, and
Faith of Our Fathers: A History of True England by Joseph Pearce.

Hard choices this month (like every other month):

The Idol of Our Age: How the Religion of Humanity Subverts Christianity

Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know

The Idol of Our Age

The Idol of Our Age
Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know

Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know
The Tartessian crown

The Restless Flame: A Novel about Augustine, Louis de Wohl

Wheat the Springeth Green, J.F. Powers

With Two Eyes Into Gehenna, The St Monica Club

Race with the devil

Faith of our fathers

Voting is closed. Results will be posted shortly.