Summer Reading - Suggestions?

[notredame_adam]

Hello, all. This is my first post on these forums - and I understand that this makes me generally more disposed to stepping on people’s feet, asking a dumb question, breaching etiquette, or embarrassing myself or others.

However, my first year of college has just ended, and I’m trying to avoid the “summer drain” by getting in a lot of reading in between working and enjoying the time off. I am hoping, with that, to find some good Catholic literature. The selection at my local library was so expansive and overwhelming that I figured it would make more sense to see what a community like this would recommend.

A little about myself - I am a fairly devout Catholic. I say fairly because ritual and “technicalities” mean very little to my religious life. However, I take faith very seriously.

Would anyone have any summer reading recommendations, with all of this in mind? I am hoping to accomplish two things with any Catholic literature I find:

-Deeper insight into the Catholic faith
-A means of rectifying some of the things about Church structure / tradition which tend rub me the wrong way

Thanks so much for any help you can offer.

 

[carol_marie]

Hi there!

I will let someone else reccomend a good book - I’m sort of a fiction/mystery girl myself - but I did want to welcome you to the forums! Don’t worry about stepping on toes - we’re all wearing shoes.

God bless,
CM

 

[kage_ar]

Matthew Kelly “Rediscovering Catholicism”

George Weigel “Letters to a Young Catholic” (don’t let the title put you off, it is beautiful!)

 

[notredame_adam]

Thank you both!

I will see if the library has either book on its shelf. Matthew Kelly actually spoke at my church and lived several minutes from my house at one time in the Cincinnati area.

 

[kage_ar]

Your library may also have some books by Peter Kreeft - grab those in your second trip (after you whet your appetiet).Scott Hahn is good for explaining - as a Convert, his writing was a a big help for me.

 

[carol_marie]

Light reading might be My Life on the Rock by Jeff Cavins.

He was Catholic… became a Protestant Pastor and then… well, I don’t want to spoil the ending for you but it’s good. I think he’s similar to Scott Hahn, but more conversational in his writing style IMO.

 

[aj830]

For deeper spirituality that is also good for educations sake I would suggest:

 *Introduction to the Devout Life *by St. Francis de Sales(A must read for any Catholic.  Very spiritual and very Catholic.)

 *Divine Mercy in My Soul *by St. Faustina Kowalska(A long read but very good)

 *The Way * by St. Josemaria Escriva(Good short thoughts that you can just pick up and meditate on)

 *Day by Day with St. Augustine* by Donald X. Burt

For deeper understanding of the Catholic faith I would offer

 *Catholicism for Dummies *by Fr. John Trigilio (Don't be thrown off by the name it is actually quite good and it will help explain those things that "rub you the wrong way")

 *Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church *(Must have for you library and if you don't have a *Catechism* I would suggest getting it to go along with this book)

I’m just going into college this year and I have read through all these books and found them quite enriching to my faith and life.

 

[leonie]

Oh, oh…read lives of the saint! This helped me so much in my faith life especially when I was just starting out to form my Catholic identity.

For one thing, I learned the value of obedience by reading of great saints like St. Pio (Padre Pio) and the Cure of Ars.

St. Faustina’s diary taught me about the seriousness of sin and the value of suffering/praying for souls.

Reading about modern saints (Ann Ball has some books on this) taught me about the radical call of holiness in today’s world.

Reading a book about the family life of St. Therese of Liseux helped me to have a vision about my own family.

I also love conversion stories.

And, hey–don’t forget to read the Bible and the Catechism.

*Making Senses out of Scripture *by Mark Shea is very good for understanding how we interpret scripture. And, I also love You Can Understand Scripture by Peter Kreeft.

If you don’t have time to read or if you have a lot of time in the car, you can download (and burn) lots and lots of programs at www.ewtn.com audio library.

 

[notredame_adam]

Thank you all. Hopefully I stay motivated enough to get through some of these works!

 

[bluerose]

If you’re inclined toward novels at all, read Louis de Wohl’s. Start with “The Spear”. His novel on St. Catherine of Siena is fabulous as well (it’s called “Lay Siege to Heaven”)