Book 6: Taming of the Shrew
A comedy that revolves around the courtship of two sisters. This story offers a comedic, but insightful look into romance, marriage, and the human condition.
Book 7: The Name of the Rose
Italy, 1347. While Brother William of Baskerville is investigating accusations of heresy at a wealthy abbey, his inquiries are disrupted by a series of bizarre deaths. Turning his practiced detective skills to finding the killer, he relies on logic (Aristotle), theology (Thomas Aquinas), empirical insights (Roger Bacon), and his own wry humor and ferocious curiosity.
Book 8: Ballad of the White Horse
An epic poem which recounts the battle between the Christian Saxons and Viking invaders of the 9th century. The ballad recounts and praises heroic virtue, and it extols the vigilance that each Christian must have in the world and in one’s own heart.
Book 9: Maurizio's Crucifix
Two brothers: one, an atheist artisan who believes in the brotherhood of man; the other, a Catholic priest. A commission for a new crucifix for a church brings hatred, love, beauty, and sin to the fore in this short, poignant character drama.
Book 5: Ashenden
Lightly fictionalized accounts from Maugham’s time in military intelligence during and after WW1, these short stories combine interesting historical context with Maugham’s trademark attention to human self-deception.
Book 4: The Master and Margarita
Bulgakov’s masterpiece of Soviet literature had no chance of being published in the author’s life as it was written at the height of Stalinism. The devil arrives in Moscow in 1930 and wreaks havoc among the literary elite; meanwhile the Master languishes in despair in a psychiatric ward while his lover, Margarita, decides to sell her soul to save him.
Book 3: Wise Blood
O’Connor was one of America’s greatest fiction writers and one of the strongest apologists for Catholicism in the 20th century. Better known for her short stories, her first novel tells the story of a world in which Jesus is but another moral man, in which the Incarnation is only for the unintellectual, and in which people can, through their own actions, save themselves.
Book 2: Dracula
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Book 1: Come Rack! Come Rope!
Benson (1871 – 1914) was a convert to Catholicism and was ordained a priest in 1904, and his father was the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury. Based on true events and individuals in the time of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics in England, the story centers on Robin and Marjorie, who give up their love for another and hope of marriage in order to minister to their persecuted neighbors.
Annual Potluck/BBQ
Join us for our annual BBQ/potluck! Families and friends are welcome to join us for food and fellowship at Greenwood Park in Des Moines on August 15, from 4:45pm until 8pm. Please RSVP with the number of people you will bring.