Category: Book Reviews

  • What Does it Mean to Have a Spiritual Friendship?

    Our concept of “friend” has changed in recent years. With the advent of social networking, we tend to use the term much more loosely. We can count hundreds of people among our “friends.” We “friend” people we may never have had even one interaction with, and if it goes wrong, we can “defriend” them with […]

  • Book Review: Take Five – Meditations with John Henry Newman

    Take Five: Meditations with John Henry Newman by Mike Aquilina & Fr. Juan R. Velez Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2010 I approached “Take Five: Meditations with John Henry Newman” knowing very little about this recently beatified Cardinal. I finished it wanting to know much more. Cardinal Newman was a “teacher, editor, administrator, and clergyman […]

  • Book Review: Rachel’s Contrition

    Rachel’s Contrition by Michelle Buckman Sophia Institute Press, 2010 Every now and then, a novel comes along that is so powerful and so well-written that it will stay with you forever. “Rachel’s Contrition” by Michelle Buckman is that kind of novel. Part of the Chisel and Cross imprint from Sophia Institute Press, it is Catholic […]

  • Book Review: Marthe Robin and the Foyers of Charity

    Marthe Robin and the Foyers of Charity by Martin Blake Nottingham, England: Theotokos Books, 2010 “Marthe Robin and the Foyers of Charity” was written to help introduce more of the English-speaking world to the French Servant of God Marthe Robin, a suffering soul who lived solely for God. Robin lived from 1902-1981 and neither ate […]

  • St Teresa of Avila Interior Castle

    October 15th is the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila. A Carmelite nun living in the 1500s, one of her most famous works is “Interior Castle” (known as “The Mansions” in her native Spain) which she wrote at the request of her confessor. A mystic who communed intimately with God, she had experienced a […]

  • Book Review: Paths to Prayer

    Paths to Prayer: A Field Guide to Ten Catholic Traditions by Pat Fosarelli Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2010 Have you ever heard someone speak of “Augustian spirituality” or “Ignatian Spirituality” or “Dominican spirituality” and not been sure exactly what he was talking about? What does it mean to speak about different schools of spiritual […]

  • Book Review: “Olivia and the Little Way”

    Olivia and the Little Way by Nancy Carabio Belanger Illustrated by Sandra Casali LewAllen Rochester, MI: Harvey House Publishing, 2008 “Olivia and the Little Way” by Nancy Carabio Belanger is a sweet story about a fifth grader who is struggling to follow St. Therese. Her grandmother is the person who first introduces Olivia to the […]

  • Book Review: Dear God, I Don’t Get It

    Dear God, I don’t get it! by Patti Maguire Armstrong Illustrated by Shannon Wirrenga Waterford, MI: Bezalel Books, 2009 Why does God answer some prayers and not others? This is a question that plagues even adults. Sometimes, we pray so hard and think we know what God should do in our lives. And then, God […]

  • Book Review: Things Seen and Unseen

    Things Seen and Unseen: A Catholic Theologian’s Notebook by Lawrence S. Cunningham Notre Dame: Sorin Books, 2010 One of the key features of writing a book review is to determine a book’s purpose and whether the author achieved it. As the title states, “Things Seen and Unseen” by Lawrence S. Cunningham, a longtime theology professor […]

  • Book Review: Outlive Your Life

    Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make A Difference by Max Lucado Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010 In the Discussion and Action Guide that comes at the end of “Outlive Your Life,” David Drury states that “Max [Lucado] wants you to do more than read the book of Acts. He wants you to live out […]