Recommended Saints' Reading

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What books do you recommend when wishing to read more on the saints?
 
Joan of Arc: by Herself and her Witnesses
by Regine Pernoud

amazon.com/Joan-Arc-Herself-Her-Witnesses/dp/0812812603/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390926735&sr=1-2&keywords=joan+of+arc+pernoud

Of the thousands of books written about Joan, this one is probably the most complete rendering of the great saint and martyr’s amazing story.

“Joan is a being so uplifted from the ordinary run of mankind, that she finds no equal in a thousand years.” – Winston Churchill

“In the history of the human intellect…nothing approaches this. Joan of Arc stands alone.”
– Mark Twain
 
Wonderful book on Joan of Arc
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I have read Mark Twain’s “Joan of Arc”.
He did keep to the spirit of Joan. He became interested in her because he thought she was the only completely selfish person who ever lived.

He spent twelve years researching and writing the book. He wrote six versions. His wife didn’t like the first five but she liked the sixth which is what we have today.

Twain tried to reach the general audience, particularly the young. To connect to them he took certain poetic liberties. For example, the character narrating the story somehow manages to be close to Joan from the time she left her village right up to her death. Well of course this would be impossible. This character was made up to provide continuity to the story.
The giant soldier named Dwarf is another fiction. He symbolized France which had all but given up when Joan came on the scene.

Like most writers, Twain leaves out many details of the story. Regine Pernoud’s “Joan of Arc: by Herself and her Witnesses” talks about all her battles and much other detail.

In his defense of Twain, Americans were not that familiar with Joan at this time. She wasn’t canonized until 1920. It was mostly the Canadian French who followed her canonization process.

So it’s your choice, Mark Twain’s great writing, or Pernoud’s historian’s accuracy and completeness.
 
I like Ann Ball’s “Modern Saints: Their Lives and Faces” (Books 1 and 2) since the books contain actual photos of many saints, beatus, and venerables.
 
I’m reading The Fulfilment of All Desire: A Guidebook for the Journey to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints by Ralph Martin at the moment, and it is excellent; profound and yet accessible. It concentrates on the writings of St. Augustine, St. Francis De Sales, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and St. Therese of Lisieux.

It is often recommended on these forums. I kept coming up against the title here for weeks before I finally had to get it myself to see what all the fuss was about. Google it for more refined reviews than I can offer.
 
empther said:
I have read Mark Twain’s “Joan of Arc”.
He did keep to the spirit of Joan. He became interested in her because he thought she was the only completely selfish person who ever lived.

He spent twelve years researching and writing the book. He wrote six versions. His wife didn’t like the first five but she liked the sixth which is what we have today.

Twain tried to reach the general audience, particularly the young. To connect to them he took certain poetic liberties. For example, the character narrating the story somehow manages to be close to Joan from the time she left her village right up to her death. Well of course this would be impossible. This character was made up to provide continuity to the story.
The giant soldier named Dwarf is another fiction. He symbolized France which had all but given up when Joan came on the scene.

Like most writers, Twain leaves out many details of the story. Regine Pernoud’s “Joan of Arc: by Herself and her Witnesses” talks about all her battles and much other detail.

In his defense of Twain, Americans were not that familiar with Joan at this time. She wasn’t canonized until 1920. It was mostly the Canadian French who followed her canonization process.

So it’s your choice, Mark Twain’s great writing, or Pernoud’s historian’s accuracy and completeness.
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In your first paragraph did you mean “unselfish” instead of “selfish”?

I also read this book and really liked it.
I would like to read a good book on St. Thomas Moore.
 
7_Sorrows said:
In your first paragraph did you mean “unselfish” instead of “selfish”?

I also read this book and really liked it.
I would like to read a good book on St. Thomas Moore.
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Since empther is no longer with us (:o), I’ll go out on a limb and say he probably meant to say “selfless” rather than “selfish”.

This thread is a year old. It looks like therese revived a number of old threads to post those links. 😛
 
7_Sorrows said:
Okay. Thanks. Didn’t notice the date.
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Well, recommendations on readings from the saints never really go out of date anyway. 🙂 I just didn’t want you to be left hanging waiting for an answer that will never come. :o
 
Joe_5859 said:
Well, recommendations on readings from the saints never really go out of date anyway. 🙂 I just didn’t want you to be left hanging waiting for an answer that will never come. :o
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Yep. I didn’t notice he was banned either! :doh2:
 
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