September 12 - Come Rack! Come Rope! (Robert Hugh Benson)

(388 pages, paperback, hardcover, kindle) 

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.

October 10 - Dracula (Bram Stoker)

(230 pages, paperback, Gutenberg digital copies)

While Stoker was not a Catholic, this book explores many themes connected to the faith, such as friendship, the battle between good and evil, and the devil. While lacking theological precision, it is powerful for its compelling story and entertainment value.

November 14 - Wise Blood (Flannery O’Connor)

(256 pages, paperback, hardcover, kindle, audiobook) 

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.

December 12 - The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov)

(402 pages, paperback, hardcover, kindle, audiobook). 

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.

January 9 - Ashenden (W Sommerset Maugham)

(200 pages, PDF, paperback, Gutenberg digital copies)

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.

February 13 - Taming of the Shrew (William Shakespeare)

(304 pages, paperback, Gutenberg digital copies)

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.

March 13 - The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)

(608 pages, paperback, audiobook)

(From the publisher) 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.

(From Martin) Avoid the movie!

April 10 - Ballad of the White Horse (G.K. Chesterton)

(144 pages, paperback, Gutenberg digital copies)

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.

May 10 - Marzio’s Crucifix (F. Marion Crawford)

(100 pages, paperback, Gutenberg digital copies)

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.