Just to see, with us Catholic bookworms, if there’s a least favorite. It’s not something that’s meant to be controversial. Just to see if people had an opinion about the listed four works, that I have read,
The Confessions is a bit more difficult to read since the writings style is a bit hard for me to understand. I have not read the City of God yet so I cannot say anything about it. But I do really like all them.
City of God by Augustine, or Mystical City of God by Agreda?
Out of the great classics, I think the hardest one I tried wrapping my mind around was The Dialogue by Catherine of Sienna. It would seem like she was arguing in favor of one thing at one point, and then a few pages later, it seemed like she was arguing in favor of the exact opposite philosophy. I had to put it down, because it was way over my head. I really need to find a good reading aide to help me tackle that one, and give it another go. But it’s not a problem with the author’s shortcomings-- it’s definitely a problem with the reader’s shortcomings.
I didn’t get that far into it to worry about the literal vs literary device part. I can’t even remember what I was so confused about. I just remember that impression of, “Wait a minute, I don’t get it; I thought you were saying the opposite…”
I thought she was very literate and intelligent, and far more sophisticated in her understanding of things than I can ever hope to be.
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