Reviews

The Pope Who Quit (or, Who Knew I’d Enjoy a History Lesson?)

March 7, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard 6 Comments

If it wasn’t for the influence of other people, I might well just stay in the little reading box marked “fun fiction.” I might never try anything new, and wow! Look at what I’d miss!

You could have never told me I would enjoy history, not after I suffered through high school history and negotiated my way out of any history in college. It wasn’t until my husband convinced me to read The Frontiersmen a few years ago that I started to think of history as a story.

And hey! I love a good story, whether it’s true or not!

In the present case, I have the Patheos Book Club to thank for the book I just finished last weekend, The Pope Who Quit: A True Medieval Tale of Mystery, Death, and Salvation, by Jon M. Sweeney.

It feels, at first, like you get the whole story in the title, but the fact that the title can be so explicit and the book still 200+ pages says a lot for the content.

Or it should, anyway.

It’s a story of intrigue and, for those of us who are practicing Catholics in 2012, it’s a look at how very much things have changed. The characters are full of mystery and the plot’s thick with suspicion.

How, exactly, does a pope quit? And what, exactly, happens next?

The pope who quit, as it turns out, is a pretty interesting guy. As someone with a bit too much of a tendency to quit when I get in over my head, I rather related with him.

And guess what? He’s canonized!

This book is a great read…it’s as fast-paced as a murder novel, as informative as a text, as entertaining as a gossip column.

Highly recommended!

Filed Under: Books, Reviews Tagged With: Books, Catholic, Jon Sweeney, Reviews

Recent Reads: Books I Loved & One Not So Much

February 29, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard 7 Comments

In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton

I’ve been meaning to read more Chesterton, and wow, is this ever a great way to do that! It’s a collection of 67 essays, ranging from the highly hilarious to the deeply thoughtful. It’s a sampling of Chesterton that whetted my appetite and made me want more. Surprisingly, I couldn’t put it down. I love essays in general (short stories too!), and this is a collection of wonderful work.

Getting #Married: Using Social Media to Celebrate the Sacred, by Meredith Gould

What’s not to love about the concept of this book? It makes me raise my eyebrows, on the one hand (social media? to celebrate the sacred?), but it also appeals to the deeply ingrained geek within. Gould shares her experience of using various social media outlets to celebrate her own wedding and gives us all a glimpse of yet another good way to use these tools!

The Dragon’s Tooth (Ashtown Burials #1), by N.D. Wilson
(fiction, YA)

My husband wasn’t so fond of this book, and he read it before I did. I found it via a friend, who liked it but wavered when I pushed her for how many stars she’d give it (1-5, 1=terrible, 5=fantabulous). I was shocked, then, that I not only loved it, but couldn’t put it down. I gave it four stars out of five, and have already written the publisher requesting a review copy of the second book. I’ll be sharing it with the young people in my life and recommend it for the young people in your life, too!

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, by Todd Burpo

My niece was reading this book for her class in our parish’s religious education program, our director of religious education has been raving about it, and I was just too curious NOT to read it. On the good side: I read it in one day (oh how I love those reading days). On the not-so-impressed side: well, I wasn’t such a fan. I didn’t think it was written all that well. BUT…it has the class of sixth graders paying attention and I’m glad I read it to be able to know what they’re doing. Not the book I would have picked, but it doesn’t really hurt anything, I don’t think. It felt like “settling” to me…here we have our Catholic faith, rich in mystics and tradition. Then again, hearing about heaven from a four-year-old is interesting, to say the least. I gave it three stars over at Goodreads.

Filed Under: Books, Reviews Tagged With: Books, fiction, G.K. Chesterton, Meredith Gould, N.D. Wilson, reading, Reviews, Todd Burpo, young adult

Facts and Lessons from Unbridled Grace

February 17, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard 2 Comments

There are some things that seem too crazy to be true. The premise behind Dr. Michael Norman’s book Unbridled Grace: A True Story about the Power of Choice fits easily in those categories.

Dr. Norman, fresh out of college and saddled with a young family and plenty of loans, answers a classified ad that seems to be the answer to his prayer. It turns out, instead, to be the cause of a decade of drama.

Norman finds out he’s been working for the Mafia and he’s being indicted in a nasty, completely false, federal trial.

This book reads like a novel, complete with Bad Guys and Much Drama. I could see it being a made-for-TV movie, and maybe some smart producer will agree with me sometime in the future.

After each chapter, there’s a lesson drawn from the experience related in that chapter. These sections tied the book together and made it focus on faith.

This book is a testimony to the power of faith and the redemptive power of suffering, but, more than that, it’s also a witness to the heroism of ordinary people facing insurmountable challenges.

Dr. Norman was just a normal guy before his trial. He’s probably just a normal guy now. Thanks to this book, though, he’s also an inspiration to those of us who may face huge challenges ahead of us.

You can learn more about Dr. Michael Norman and the book at his website.

Filed Under: Books, Reviews Tagged With: Books, Michael Norman, Reviews

A Briefcase for Every Catholic

February 15, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard 2 Comments

I picked up Randy Hain’s new book, The Catholic Briefcase: Tools for Integrating Faith and Work, with a lot of excitement. I’ve been longing for good Catholic business resources for quite some time. About 18 months ago, after my husband asked me about it, and then someone emailed me for recommendations, I compiled a list of Catholic business books I could find, but it didn’t feel like much.

And joy of joys, on my to-read pile is ANOTHER Catholic business book!

Randy Hain doesn’t mess around in this book. It reads like the great business books I’ve read, and it offers suggestions that, though I’m arguably not as much in the business world as I am in the home world, applied to me.

For example, Randy suggests using an examen throughout the day. Inspired by this suggestion, I set alarms on my phone and retyped what he provides in the appendix of his book. This practice has helped me enormously in the few weeks I’ve been implementing it.

My favorite part of this book, though, is Randy’s attitude about the integration of faith and work. This is no surprise from the co-founder of the Integrated Catholic Life e-zine. Faith is not EVER separate from who we are, whether we are at work in an office, in our home, or out at the grocery store. This book is a handy guide, a helpful examination of priorities, and a barrel of possibilities. Randy’s deep faith is evident and his joy in the inevitable overlap of his business world and his faith are apparent.

Highly recommended!

Filed Under: Books, Reviews Tagged With: Books, business, Catholic business books, Catholic business resources, Randy Hain, Reviews

Using Theology of the Body for New Evangelization

February 9, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard Leave a Comment

In the fall of 2002, I was pregnant with my first child and a fairly new parish employee. I was tapped to drive a couple of teenagers to a neighboring town to hear Jason Evert speak. The talk was designed for teens, and though I cringe to call it a chastity talk (that just sounds so…boring, and the evening was more exciting than any of the concerts I’ve attended), that’s what it was.

Maybe Evert stole my heart when he mentioned that his wife would be there, except that she had just given birth to their first child.

More likely, though, it was Evert’s reference to John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and his enthusiastic endorsement of Christopher West. I followed his advice and purchased a CD downstairs.

Father Pat would tell you he hasn’t heard the end of it since then. My husband would tell you it’s a bit of an obsession of mine.

I would tell you that these three men–Jason Evert, Christopher West, and John Paul II–changed my life by changing my heart. They showed me the beauty of God’s design for our bodies and they made me dig into my Bible, Church teaching, and the world around me with a new appreciation.

Before I knew it, I was leading a book study on Good News About Sex and Marriage and listening to Naked without Shame. It wasn’t long before my Adoration time had me immersed in the text of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and cross-referencing it with Christopher West’s companion, Theology of the Body Explained. I read the text a second time and then there was an updated version of TOB (which I have not, sadly, yet read).

All of that brings me to the latest book by Christopher West, At the Heart of the Gospel: Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelization, which I read as part of the Patheos Book Club.

–>Read the rest of my review and comments over at the Patheos Book Club blog.

Want to win a copy? It’s part of my big February book giveaway, so be sure to enter!

Filed Under: Books, Reviews, writing Tagged With: Books, Christopher West, New Evangelization, Patheos, Reviews, Theology of the Body, writing

Strengthening Your Family: A Review

February 7, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard Leave a Comment

It probably reveals way too much about me that, a chapter or two into Marge Fenelon‘s new book, Strengthening Your Family: A Catholic Approach to Holiness at Home, I was struggling with feelings of inadequacy and wondering if I could hire Marge to come and mother my children.

It speaks highly of this book, then, that I was able to put it down after finishing it and feel pretty hopeful.

I can do this, I thought to myself.

I credit this book for my new mommy policy: I will make something homemade once a week for after-school snacks (or end up at my mother-in-law’s, where she will make something homemade). The reason has to do with that warm feeling I get when my kids delight in eating freshly baked cookies and with the light in my seven-year-old’s eyes when she walks in the door and sees the goodies.

Much of what I read in Strengthening Your Family was not news to me, but it was refreshing and well-ordered. Fenelon speaks from experience, but she also commiserates with those of us still very much in the trenches of young motherhood. She offers suggestions, but she also offers prayer. She provides many ideas, but she also provides many caveats. Her foundation is not “being an awesome family,” but rather “getting your family to heaven.”

There’s a big difference between being awesome and getting to heaven, and I don’t know that I spent any time considering that before I picked up this book. It’s designed for Catholic families with kids, though I wouldn’t restrict it to kids of any age. If you have teens, you’re sure to find help within its covers, and if, like me, you have grade school and younger, you will get bolstered and emboldened.

Strengthening Your Family is a wonderful resource and guidebook for Catholic families. I’m glad to have read it, and plan to reference it in the coming years!

Filed Under: Books, Reviews Tagged With: Books, Catholic resources, family life, Marge Fenelon, resources, Reviews

Lent Prep – A Book for Your Journey

January 17, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard 2 Comments

I sat down to read Simplifying the Soul: Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit, by Paula Huston, with the intention of just reading the first section. Then I decided I could read the first couple of sections.

And then I read the whole book.

In my defense, I had a whole evening before me and I needed to get the review written for the Patheos Book Club. What I found with this book, though, was much different than what I expected.

I don’t know what, exactly, I expected, but I’m sure it had to do with preaching and a feeling of insignificance at the end. I was excited at the premise and what the book jacket promised, but maybe a little sure that I would not be able to approach Lent using this book as an actual resource.

“It will be good for someone, though,” I thought, “and I can surely read it and see what I have to look forward to.”

(Negative much?)

I was gloriously, wonderfully WRONG. I found myself reading, shaking my head, and looking forward to Lent, when I can dig in.

Will I fail? Yeah, probably. I do every year. In the failure is the kernel I need from Lent, I think, and success isn’t usually about what I plan, but about what graces I allow God to work.

Each day of Lent has a task, with a reflection by the author from her own experience, and then an brief description of the task or practice for the day.

Throughout the book, you get to know Paula Huston as your guide, someone walking beside you and encouraging you, even as she doesn’t settle for less than what you can at least try to do. She’s gentle, but tough. She weaves humor in with what I can only call teaching: she makes the Desert Fathers and Mothers an accessible crew, even for a busy mom in the Midwest.

Not only will I be embracing this book to the best of my ability this Lent, but I encourage you to do the same. It’s not too much, but the seed it will plant and tend during Lent, I believe, will grow into habits that make me a better Christian.