heelers recommends
Yes folks.
Here it is.
My top ten books for Christmas.
Many bookshops don't carry these. If you want to call my bluff on their quality, you're gonna have to look for em.
These are good as presents for others or as a gift to yourself.
They carry my personal endorsement as "good meaty reads."
The list is numbered from one to ten, but really I recommend each of these books equally. They're all sort of joint number ones.
These are the books Satan doesn't want you to read.
1. The Turin Shroud. (The illustrated evidence.) By Ian Wilson and Barrie Schwortz. Published in 2000 by Michael O'Mara books Ltd, Britain. Mr Wilson is a sceptic who, if I understand him correctly, claims to have had a conversion experience while studying the shroud of Turin. He's a well respected British academic and at times seems more surprised than anyone else to have found himself a Christian. I don't entirely trust Mr Wilson but the book is an experience. The photographs by Mr Schwortz are alone worth the price of admission.
2. The Da Vinci Hoax. By Carl E Olson and Sandra Miesel. The Ignatius Press, 2004. Readable and sound study intended to refute Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Olson and Miesel give good measured yet entertaining analysis. This refutation of the lies and manipulations contained in Brown's novel offered me the prospect of a much deepened and more joyous faith. For a moment I almost felt like thanking Dan Brown for telling the lies in the first place, since the present book which gave me such joy was created to answer those lies.
3. Pope John Paul The Great. By Peggy Noonan. Viking, 2005. She gushes but by gum she can write.
4. The Miracle Detective. By Randall Sullivan. Author and Rolling Stone journalist Randall Sullivan's personal experiences of the supposed apparition site at Medjugorje. The best writing I've encountered on spiritual themes. Hugely entertaining. Occasionally infuriating. Impossible to pin down. Honest. Brave. Sullivan has that rare quality in a writer, the quality of the genuine. If only Christian writers could write like this. But that's the thing. When God uses an atheist, sometimes the atheist, after a genuine conversion, will reveal a light in our faith that the rest of us have never seen.
5. The Great Divorce. By CS Lewis. Forget the Narnia rubbish. Forget the books publishing companies want to pass off as CS Lewis' best. This is his best book. A hidden gem. Dreadful title. But wait till you read it.
6. The Myth Of Hitler's Pope. By Rabbi Dalin. Answering some of the pseudo academic jeers at Pope Pius The Twelfth. Illuminating and sobering when addressing possible anti church agendas in media groups of the free world.
7. Does God Believe In Atheists? By John Blanchard. Published in 2000 by The Evangelical Press, http://www.evangelical-press.org/ and written with gregarious and passionate Protestant conviction. Cheery and adept in its challenge to atheism. This book truly is an engaging read for those of all faiths and none.
8. Mother Angelica. (Biography.) By Raymond Arroyo. The story of the nun who presents a television show on EWTN. We discovered her somewhat late in Ireland. I used to enjoy her show, chuckling at what I thought was its innocence as much as anything else. Boy, did I get a wake up call. This is a cracking read. Like a thriller in parts. It was news to me that Mother Angelica not only presents a show on EWTN but she also set up the network. Raymond Arroyo's account of her life is an eye opener. Not just conformist anodyne worthy spiritual reading. But a rip roaring account. Read this and tell me if I'm wrong.
9. A Life Of Saint Thomas Moore. By George Wegemer. Published in Ireland by The Four Courts Press, email info@four-courts-press.ie . Let me just say this one's a doozy.
10. The Gospel Of Saint John. As I said to the Melia moghul last week: "You haven't really considered the possibility that Jesus is real, until you've read this gospel."
11. Padre Pio. By Colm Keane. Published in Ireland by Mainstream Publishing, 2007. A collection of anecdotes and personal experiences from Irish people who believe they have experienced miracles through the intercession of Padre Pio. The book is refreshing because the editor prints the genuine testimonies without tidying them up or proofing them for grammar, spelling and illogicalities. Some of the stories are corny. Some ring false to me. Some are mighty strange indeed. The compiler has also chosen to print the full names of the people involved in most of the cases, instead of coyly concealing the identities. This adds an extra flavour of immediacy and, who knows, maybe even veracity.
Here it is.
My top ten books for Christmas.
Many bookshops don't carry these. If you want to call my bluff on their quality, you're gonna have to look for em.
These are good as presents for others or as a gift to yourself.
They carry my personal endorsement as "good meaty reads."
The list is numbered from one to ten, but really I recommend each of these books equally. They're all sort of joint number ones.
These are the books Satan doesn't want you to read.
1. The Turin Shroud. (The illustrated evidence.) By Ian Wilson and Barrie Schwortz. Published in 2000 by Michael O'Mara books Ltd, Britain. Mr Wilson is a sceptic who, if I understand him correctly, claims to have had a conversion experience while studying the shroud of Turin. He's a well respected British academic and at times seems more surprised than anyone else to have found himself a Christian. I don't entirely trust Mr Wilson but the book is an experience. The photographs by Mr Schwortz are alone worth the price of admission.
2. The Da Vinci Hoax. By Carl E Olson and Sandra Miesel. The Ignatius Press, 2004. Readable and sound study intended to refute Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Olson and Miesel give good measured yet entertaining analysis. This refutation of the lies and manipulations contained in Brown's novel offered me the prospect of a much deepened and more joyous faith. For a moment I almost felt like thanking Dan Brown for telling the lies in the first place, since the present book which gave me such joy was created to answer those lies.
3. Pope John Paul The Great. By Peggy Noonan. Viking, 2005. She gushes but by gum she can write.
4. The Miracle Detective. By Randall Sullivan. Author and Rolling Stone journalist Randall Sullivan's personal experiences of the supposed apparition site at Medjugorje. The best writing I've encountered on spiritual themes. Hugely entertaining. Occasionally infuriating. Impossible to pin down. Honest. Brave. Sullivan has that rare quality in a writer, the quality of the genuine. If only Christian writers could write like this. But that's the thing. When God uses an atheist, sometimes the atheist, after a genuine conversion, will reveal a light in our faith that the rest of us have never seen.
5. The Great Divorce. By CS Lewis. Forget the Narnia rubbish. Forget the books publishing companies want to pass off as CS Lewis' best. This is his best book. A hidden gem. Dreadful title. But wait till you read it.
6. The Myth Of Hitler's Pope. By Rabbi Dalin. Answering some of the pseudo academic jeers at Pope Pius The Twelfth. Illuminating and sobering when addressing possible anti church agendas in media groups of the free world.
7. Does God Believe In Atheists? By John Blanchard. Published in 2000 by The Evangelical Press, http://www.evangelical-press.org/ and written with gregarious and passionate Protestant conviction. Cheery and adept in its challenge to atheism. This book truly is an engaging read for those of all faiths and none.
8. Mother Angelica. (Biography.) By Raymond Arroyo. The story of the nun who presents a television show on EWTN. We discovered her somewhat late in Ireland. I used to enjoy her show, chuckling at what I thought was its innocence as much as anything else. Boy, did I get a wake up call. This is a cracking read. Like a thriller in parts. It was news to me that Mother Angelica not only presents a show on EWTN but she also set up the network. Raymond Arroyo's account of her life is an eye opener. Not just conformist anodyne worthy spiritual reading. But a rip roaring account. Read this and tell me if I'm wrong.
9. A Life Of Saint Thomas Moore. By George Wegemer. Published in Ireland by The Four Courts Press, email info@four-courts-press.ie . Let me just say this one's a doozy.
10. The Gospel Of Saint John. As I said to the Melia moghul last week: "You haven't really considered the possibility that Jesus is real, until you've read this gospel."
11. Padre Pio. By Colm Keane. Published in Ireland by Mainstream Publishing, 2007. A collection of anecdotes and personal experiences from Irish people who believe they have experienced miracles through the intercession of Padre Pio. The book is refreshing because the editor prints the genuine testimonies without tidying them up or proofing them for grammar, spelling and illogicalities. Some of the stories are corny. Some ring false to me. Some are mighty strange indeed. The compiler has also chosen to print the full names of the people involved in most of the cases, instead of coyly concealing the identities. This adds an extra flavour of immediacy and, who knows, maybe even veracity.
posted by heelers | 9:24 AM
6 Comments:
James, I have not read "The Great Divorce" and only heard of it recently. Is it nonfiction? My favorite (so far) of C.S. Lewis is "Till We Have Faces".
MissJean, I'm telling you nothing about this book. If you have ever had reason to esteem my opinion about anything, then you gotta read it!
J
I have two titles by C.S.Lewis. 'Mere Christanity and the 'Scewtape Letters' I've read 'Inferno' and liked it so I bet I would like that one too although I will probably forget to look into it, unless I happen to run into it on one of my jaunts through the used book stores.
Katkin, I am obviously not communicating to you the appropriate urgency with which I wish you to read this book.
James
I have the book on my shelf, unread. I will start it tonight!
Fingers crossed Caite!
James
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