Ashes From Burnt Roses: 2020 Reads

Thursday, January 28, 2021

2020 Reads

Completed First Quarter:

“Leaf by Niggle,” a short story by J.R.R. Tolkien.

“The Turkey,” a short story by Flannery O’Connor.

“The Trouble,” a short story by J. F. Powers.

Magnificat, January 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

“Theft,” a short story by Katherine Ann Porter.

Book of Baruch, a book of the Old Testament, RSV Translation.

Magnificat, February 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, March 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Completed Second Quarter:

Gospel of John, a book of the New Testament, RSV Translation.

Introduction to the Devout Life, a non-fiction work by St. Frances de Sales.

“The Blue Hotel,” a short story by Stephan Crane.

Magnificat, April 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find, a short story by Flannery O’Connor.

Oronooko or The Royal Slave, a novel by Aphra Behn.

“The Magic Paint,” a short story by Primo Levi.

Magnificat, May 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Lord of the World, a novel by Robert Hugh Benson.

The Book Of Ezekiel, a book of the Old Testament, KJV translation.

The Book Of Ezekiel, a book of the Old Testament, RSV translation.

Magnificat, June 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Completed Third Quarter:

“God Rest You Merry Gentleman,” a short story by Ernest Hemingway.

Educated, a non-fiction memoir by Tara Westover.

Magnificat, July 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Brideshead Revisted, a novel by Evelyn Waugh.

Utopia, a novella by St. Thomas More.

Magnificat, August 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Book of Daniel, a book of the Old Testament, KJV Translation.

Last Post, the 4th novel of the Parade’s End Tetralogy by Ford Madox Ford.

Book of Daniel, a book of the Old Testament, RSV Translation.

Magnificat, September 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Completed Fourth Quarter:

Catherine of Siena, a biography by Sigrid Undset.

“Hermann the Irascible—A Story of the Great Weep,” a short story by Saki (H.H. Munro).

“The Thistles in Sweden,” a short story by William Maxwell.

Magnificat, October 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

The Book of Revelation, a book of the New Testament, KJV translation.

The Book of Revelation, a book of the New Testament, RSV translation.

Justification by Faith and Works?: What the Catholic Church Really Teaches, a booklet of theology by Jimmy Akin.

Quas primas, an encyclical by Pope Pius XI.

“Blessed Harry,” a short story by Edith Pearlman.

“Times Square,” a short story by William Baer.

“The Androgynous Papa Hemingway,” a review of Kenneth S. Lynn’s Hemingway by James Tuttleton.

Magnificat, November 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

I Am Going: Reflections on the Last Words of Saints, a non-fiction devotional work by Mary Kathleen Glavich, SND.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a long narrative poem by an anonymous author, translated into contemporary English by Marie Borroff.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a long narrative poem by an anonymous author, translated into contemporary English by Simon Armitage.

The City of God Books 1-10, by Augustine of Hippo, translated by William Babcock.

Magnificat, December 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

“Dédé,” a short story by Mavis Gallant.

Currently Reading:

Dominican Life: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine, a non-fiction work by Walter Wagner, O.P.

Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith, a non-fiction work by Robert Barron.

Prince Caspian, a novel from the Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.

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I think this was a good year of reading. Perhaps a little short of the amount from last year, but last year was exceptional. This year I think I can say was still at or above average. One thing you will find added to my listing this year are the listing of Magnificat, a monthly devotional that provides the daily Mass readings, lives of saints, and devotional articles. I read most of it every month. I have been doing so for years, so this is not additional reading material. I just never thought about listing it here. A typical edition runs about 450 pages every month, and I read at least half of it. That’s quite a bit of reading I never documented. You can assume that most of the years I have been keeping this blog I have also been reading the monthly Magnificat.

On a comprehensive level, I read twelve books and twenty-four “shorts,” a short being lesser than a book length work. That’s one book per month and two shorts per month, which is spot on my intended annual goal, I should also state that three books are still being read and are more than half way through. When I finish, they’ll wind up being counted into next year’s reading but if you consider them here they pushed my overall reading above my goals.

Of the books completed, five were non-fiction and seven were fiction. Let’s start with the non-fiction. Of those, one was a work of theology (Part 1 of St. Augustine’s City of God), one a biography (Sigrid Undset’s Catherine of Siena), one a memoir (Tara Westover’s Educated), and two devotional books (St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life and Kathleen Glavich’s I Am Going: Reflections on the Last Words of Saints).

My edition of City of God, translated by William Babcock, is physically two books, which I call the first, Part 1 (Books 1-10). The entire City of God is over a thousand pages, so you can see why I count it as two separate books. And to complicate matters, what we might call chapters within the work, St. Augustine calls “Books.” Part 1 deals with the history of Rome, her pagan religion, and Greco-Roman philosophy as it relates to Christianity. It can be a bit dry reading, but if you have an interest in classical Rome it can be quite fascinating. It’s a great classic of philosophy and theology and a core part of the Western intellectual tradition. Part 2 deals with Judaism and Christianity itself, so I can’t wait.

Sigrid Undset’s Catherine of Siena should be familiar to readers here. It’s my second read of this superb biography. I don’t think I have actually blog posted on the same book on separate occasions. This is the first time. As you know if you go back to my 2013 posts, this was a transformational book for me. Not only did it make me more devout but it led to my devotion to St. Catherine as my patron saint. I think I have called her the patron saint of this blog. The book is just as superb on a second read.

If you read reviews of Educated, Tara Westover’s memoir of her upbringing to get an education when her father refused to send her to school (she ultimately went to college and then earned a Ph.D. from Cambridge in United Kingdom), you will see reviews at the two extremes: either you loved it or did not think it great. I ended up with those that didn’t find it well put together, but it does hold your interest. She’s a smart young lady but if you check my review here on my blog you’ll see I think she left too many answered questions.

The two devotional books were both great reading. St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life is the absolute best work on spiritual direction. Actually I would consider this a manual for spiritual direction. In my posts I said I was sorry I had bought this as an eBook. A physical book should be kept on one’s bedside for frequent review. Kathrine Glavich’s devotional I Am Going uses famous saint’s dying last words as a starting point for a devotional reflection. There are about one hundred saints whose last words are identified and, with the background and reflection, amount to a couple of pages for each saint. That provides a nice bedtime reading where if you read one saint per night, you can finish in just over three months.

It is interesting that the fictional works divide between those written in the 20^th century and those written in pre-modern times. Though I claim seven fictional works, there are six actual works since I count Sir Gawain and the Green Knight twice because I read two different translations. Sir Gawin is also not an actual novel but a long narrative poem that reads like a novel. The three pre-modern works were Sir Gawain (written around 1370), St Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516), and Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave (1688). Sir Gawain in any translation is a joy to read, while Utopia and Oroonoko are a bit more problematic. Once I understood them I appreciated them more. Read my blog entries. You can search them in the search box at the top left of the blog page.

The more contemporary works were Robert Hugh Benson’s dystopian novel, Lord of the World (1907), Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisted (1945), and Ford Madox Ford’s Last Post (1928), the fourth and last novel in Ford’s Parade’s End tetralogy. Brideshead is a great classic of the 20^th century, and deservedly so, and Lord of the World is an underrated novel which should be considered a classic. Last Post brought to a close my reading of Parade’s End, and while I think Parade’s End as a whole as a classic of the 20^th century, none of the four novels on their own holds up as a great work. The tetralogy is really one novel divided into four books. You need to read all four to appreciate the work.

Biblical reads were Books of Baruch, Ezekiel, and Daniel for the Old Testament, and Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation for the New Testament. Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation were read twice for the King James and RSV translations. (Note: I have mentioned my desire to have a complete read through in the KJV for English language appreciation purposes; that’s why I read two translations.) Baruch is only in Catholic Bibles, so no KJV. I had already read the Gospel of John before in the KJV; no point in reading it again. The reading of Revelation in KJV completes the New Testament in KJV. I am now just left with the prophets after Daniel and I will have accomplished my KJV goal.

Last year I started assessing the short stories in their own blog post, and I will do that again this year. But I should note the non-fiction shorts I read this year. There were three: Pope Pius XI’s 1925 encyclical, Quas primas, establishing the Feast of Christ the King, an essay by James Tuttleton titled, “The Androgynous Papa Hemingway,” on the hidden sexuality of Ernest Hemingway, and a booklet by the Catholic Apologist, Jimmy Akin titled, Justification by Faith and Works?: What the Catholic Church Really Teaches, on the Catholic understanding of the difficult theological term “justification.” All three were worthwhile reads.

Finally I should mention the three books I’ve not finished. Bishop Robert Barron’s Catholicism is one of the best contemporary books on understanding the faith. I’m about 70% completed according to my Kindle. C.S. Lewis’s Prince Caspian is the fourth book of the Chronicles of Narnia series. I had pledged to read one book of the series per year with my son. You have to pull teeth to get my son to read. We’re 78% done. Dominican Life by Fr. Walter Wagner, O.P. is a book reflecting on life in the Order of Preachers using the elements of their Rule as a taking off point for discourse. I’m 62% into the book.

Here is the same reads listed above chronologically now listed by type of work. Some may find this is easier to read.

Full Length Books: 12

Non-Fiction: 5