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May 2023 BOTM - Voting
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This is the hardest month I can recall for voting. So many great titles. Many I have read and would love the discussion on. My two picks are:Faith of Our Fathers A History of 'True' England, by Joseph Pearce,
Mexican Martyrdom: Firsthand Accounts of the Religious Persecution in Mexico 1926-1935, by Wilfrid Parsons,
Mexican MartyrdomThe Burning Bush.
Race with the DevilThe Restless Flame
Mexican MartyrdomTen battles every Catholic should know
Faith of our fathers 10 battles every Catholic should know
Mexican MartyrdomThe Saint Monica Club
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I don't know if it's the hardest, but it is certainly a challenge. I've got a half dozen I really want to read. One seems to be getting a lot of support, but a couple haven't received any votes yet. Well, let's see if I can help keep these two on the list for next month:
The Idol of our Age
The Tartessian Crown
The restless flameThe Tartessian crown
The Saint Monica Club...The Idol of Our Age...
From Islam to Christ by Deriya Little.
I vote for Ancient of Genes by Dan Gallagher and The Tartessian Crown, by Manuel Alfonseca
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The second greatest story ever told
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The Catholic Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Ancient of Genes (other topics)The Burning Bush (other topics)
Faith of Our Fathers: A History of True England (other topics)
From Islam to Christ: One Woman's Path Through the Riddles of God (other topics)
The Idol of Our Age: How the Religion of Humanity Subverts Christianity (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Dan Gallagher (other topics)Sigrid Undset (other topics)
Joseph Pearce (other topics)
Derya Little (other topics)
Daniel J. Mahoney (other topics)
More...
Voting will end at approximately 11:00 AM Eastern Time on Tuesday, April 18.
The Voting List for May 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: April 2023 - 2
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: 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
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: 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: April 2023 - 4
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; April - 4
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; April 2023 - 6
Prison Journal, Volume 1 The Cardinal Makes His Appeal, by George Cardinal Pell, John
Led off to jail in handcuffs, following his sentencing on March 13, 2019, the 78-year-old Australian prelate began what was meant to be six years in jail for "historical sexual assault offenses”. Cardinal Pell endured more than thirteen months in solitary confinement, before the Australian High Court voted 7-0 to overturn his original convictions. His victory over injustice was not just personal, but one for the entire Catholic Church. Bearing no ill will toward his accusers, judges, prison workers, journalists, and those harboring and expressing hatred for him, the cardinal used his time in prison as a kind of "extended retreat". He eloquently filled notebook pages with his spiritual insights, prison experiences, and personal reflections on current events both inside and outside the Church, as well as moving prayers.
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
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
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
The Second Greatest Story Ever Told, by Michael E. Gaitley, nominated by Manuel
In The Second Greatest Story Ever Told bestselling author Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, reveals St. John Paul II’s witness for our time. Building on the prophetic voices of Margaret Mary Alacoque, Thérèse of Lisieux, Maximilian Kolbe, and Faustina Kowalska, The Second Greatest Story Ever Told is more than a historical account of the Great Mercy Pope. This book expounds on the profound connection between Divine Mercy and Marian consecration. It serves as an inspiration for all those who desire to bear witness to the mercy of God, focused on Christ and formed by Mary. Now is the time of mercy. Now is the time to make John Paul’s story your own.
Voting History: None
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
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; April 2023 - 3
The World of Marian Apparitions: Mary's Appearances and Messages from Fatima to Today, by Wincenty Laszewski, nominated by Steven R.
The world-changing appearance of Our Lady at Fatima ushered in a continuing series of remarkable apparitions worldwide that the Church has either officially approved or marked as likely-authentic. Author and Mariologist Wincenty Laszewski summarizes the powerful and urgent messages of these apparitions in this unparalleled, encyclopedic work-instantly the new standard on the subject. Most of these riveting chapters include portentous warnings - some are ominous, others more hopeful. This stunning book serves as a wake-up call to the faithful and is a worldwide clarion call to deeper prayer and conversion.
Voting History: NONE