Summer Reading Ideas? We've Got 'Em in Spades.

Actually, this is our Catholic women's book club summing up from last night. But that's no reason not to share it with everyone, is it? Of course not ...

Remember, this is open to any Catholic woman who can get to my house at the right time, on the right day. You don't have to belong to our parish, etc. We're a relaxed crowd and you don't have to have read the book as long as you don't mind us mentioning spoilers in discussion. There were some newcomers last night who I think can attest to that fact. Also, we have refreshments (you can see, I stop at nothing to lure readers in ... ). If you have questions don't hesitate to contact me.

We had a really wonderful discussion last night about Flannery O'Connor and how inspirational she was as a person. This is a real tribute to Abbess of Andalusia author Lorraine Murray. Everyone agreed that the book was very easy to read and told us a lot about Flannery without sugar-coating who she was as a person.

Next up is Quo Vadis. We will be reading half of it for July and finishing up in August. (As soon as I pick up my copy from the library we will know what "first half" means in terms of chapters and pages.)

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz, an epic tale from the days when Christianity was new ... of Romans, Christians, slaves, and ... lions in the arena. Yep, we're doin' it old-school. I think that you can find this pretty cheaply from Half Price Books though I haven't yet looked. I never realized that this was written in Polish and, as it says on Amazon, "The novel has as a subtext the persecution and political subjugation of Poland by Russia."

Upcoming books were also selected. I have arranged them in alternating fiction and nonfiction sequence with the only reasoning behind anything being to keep some of the lighter, shorter books for summer reading and trying to aim close to Halloween in reading The Rite (yes, I'm all about themes).

1. The Power of Pause (September)
   
2. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (October)
   
3. The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist (November)
   
4. Til We Have Faces (December)
   
5. Circling My Mother (January)
   

I have links and descriptions of these books in the July meeting post.

Please keep in mind that we have an ongoing book recommendations list which I try to keep fairly current with new suggestions. It is good for personal reading ideas as well as for selecting book club readings. :-)

Also, there were many recommendations for summer reading which was just of a generally good nature, not necessarily religious at all. I list them below for your own exploration:

1. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
2. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
3. My Life with Karol
4. Mother of Pearl
5. World War Z
6. The Heretic