2021 Reads, Update #2

I don’t quite post an update every quarter any more.  This would be the third quarter update.  This is only my second update for the year.  But I do keep track of my reading by quarter.  Here’s what I’ve read these past three quarters, what I’m reading, and what I plan to read.

Completed First Quarter:

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

Magnificat, January 2021, a monthly Catholic devotional.

“Baptism,” a (Don Camillio) short story by Giovanni Guareschi, translated by Adam Elgar.

Magnificat, February 2021, a monthly Catholic devotional.

In This House of Brede, a novel by Rumer Goddard.

“The Coffee-House of Surat,” a short story by Leo Tolstoy.

“The Presence,” a short story by Caroline Gordon.

Dark Night of the Soul, a non-fiction work of spirituality by St. John of the Cross.

Magnificat, March 2021, a monthly Catholic devotional.

“Nimram,” a short story by John Gardner.

“Screwball,” a short story by William Baer.

 

Completed Second Quarter:

Magnificat, April 2021, a monthly Catholic devotional.

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

Magnificat, May 2021, a monthly Catholic devotional.

“Swept Away,” a short story by T. Coraghessan Boyle. 

 “Wintry Peacock,” a short story by D. H. Lawrence. 

“Acts of God,” a short story by Ellen Gilchrist.

“Candor Lucis Aeternae,” an Apostolic Letter from Pope Francis.

A Devotional Journey into the Mass: How Mass Can Become a Time of Grace, Nourishment, and Devotion, a non-fiction devotional concerning the Catholic Mass by Christopher Carstens.

Magnificat, June 2021, a monthly Catholic devotional.

 

Completed Third Quarter:

Magnificat, July 2021, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Catholics: A Novel, a novel by Brian Moore.

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

 “In the Walled City,” a short story by Sewart O’Nan.

“Granted Wishes: Unpopular Girl,” a short story by Thomas Berger.

Magnificat, August 2021, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God, a non-fiction work by Scott Hahn.

The Power and the Glory, a novel by Graham Greene.

“Gods,” a short story by Vladimir Nabokov.

Acts of the Apostles, a book of the New Testament, RSV translation.

“The Manager of ‘The Kremlin,’” a short story by Evelyn Waugh.

Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition, a non-fiction book by Roger Scruton.

“Dead Man’s Path,” a short story by Chinua Achebe. 

Magnificat, September 2021, a monthly Catholic devotional.

 

Currently Reading:

How Catholic Art Saved the Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art, a non-fiction book by Elizabeth Lev.

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

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, a non-fiction book by Tyler Kepner.

Charming Billy, a novel by Alice McDermott.

Four Quartets, an extended lyric poem by T. S. Eliot.

Hildegard of Bingen: Selected Writings, a collection translated and edited by Mark Atherton.

 

Upcoming Plans:

“A Matter of Chance,” a short story by Vladimir Nabokov.

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed, a memoir on the development of stealth aviation technology by Ben Rich and Leo Janos.

The Red and the Black, a novel by Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle).

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a novel from the Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.

“A Sea Change,” a short story by Ernest Hemingway. 

“A Snowy Night on West Forty-Ninth Street,” a short story by Maeve Brennan.

The Book Of Hosea, a book of the Old Testament, KJV and RSV translations. 

 

I accomplished an incredible amount of reading in the third quarter: four full length books and completed finished Robert Barron’s Catholicism, which I had been dabbling for a couple of years.  I should be posting on The Power and the Glory shortly.  It’s a great novel.

The current read at the Goodreads Catholic Thought Book Club is Elizabeth Lev’s How Catholic Art Saved the Faith.  I’m also currently juggling a couple of books as well: Dominican Life, K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, and the Hildegard of Bingen Selected Writings, which I just repacked up again.  I am woefully behind on my Biblical reading plans.  I’ve only read Acts.  There’s no way I’m going to come close to my plans, but I need to read at least one or two more. 

Plans always are greater than reality.  Happy reading.