Of Many Things
What’s on your bookshelf? Welcome to Spring Books 2021!
An introduction to all the books, new and old, profiled in our Spring Literary Review 2021.
Features
An American Catholic Pilgrimage
Daniel Hornsby’s debut novel, ‘Via Negativa,’ is the story of a Roman Catholic priest on the road to many destinations, both material and spiritual.
Caroline Gordon, the Catholic novelist we lost and found
Caroline Gordon’s ‘The Malefactors,’ a novel lost to prospective generations of readers, was a classic Catholic tale told by an author of considerable talent.
Books
Review: What if all of our screens suddenly went dark?
Since the 1970s, Don DeLillo has been the wry and cool Jeremiah of American life. His new novel, ‘Silence,’ continues that tradition.
Review: Can we find real community online?
Chris Stedman’s new book is the perfect guide to unpacking what identity means in the digital age.
Review: A parent faces the ultimate sorrow
In stunning, raw prose, Liz Tichenor’s memoir invites readers into a heartrending but ultimately hopeful story of grief, life and renewal.
Friendship is a place of sacrifice—and sanctification
‘Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close’ by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman offers a defense of sacrificial friendship.
When poetry meets spirituality
Eleven different poetry collections reviewed by four America editors offer a sample of the God-haunted and the God-hunted contemporary literary artists who work out their spiritual, intellectual and emotional conundrums through lyrical compositions.
He resisted writing about typical Irish tropes for so long. Now, John Banville is embracing his roots.
Something has changed for the novelist John Banville in the last 15 years. In a twist worthy of his own byzantine fiction, Banville has adopted a new persona and writing style, and even—perhaps—a changed attitude toward “the Irish thing” he once derided.
Can we reimagine the sacramental life? Ask this poet/farmer/educator.
In this time when so much seems to be falling apart, the writer/philosopher/farmer Michael Martin is reimagining and even building anew.
What the Jesuit John Kavanaugh understood about our consumer society
For Kavanaugh, the only true response to our consumer culture is the life of Christ: inviting, healing, self-sacrificing, loving.
John S. Dunne: A theologian (and author) for our dark times
Just as St. Augustine had aimed “to kindle the light of things eternal in human hearts no longer supported by temporal institutions which had seemed eternal but which were crashing on all sides,” so did John S. Dunne, C.S.C., in his many erudite books.
Director Mike Nichols told beloved stories onscreen. His own life was a story of resilience and transcendence.
The highest tribute I can offer this biography is that it is not unlike a Nichols film itself: incisive, dense with detail yet somehow brisk.
Confronting Racism in Basketball and the Jesuits: The Extraordinary Life of Georgetown’s John Thompson
John Thompson Jr.’s autobiography reflects its author’s personality: challenging, unapologetic and unsparingly acute in its observations beyond the basketball court.
Poetry
I heard there’s warm weather somewhere
hung up for too long on a mind’s rack to stretch
What the newborn sees while he flies
The infant won’t remember reeling images
Last Take
Mary Gordon asks: What kind of Catholic are you?
I believe that because the people about whom I am writing share with me a vocabulary, a set of images and shared practices, there are some firm grounds on which we can all stand.
Catholic Book Club
What has the Catholic Book Club been reading?
The two most recent selections by the Catholic Book Club couldn’t have been more different: A look at Thomas Jefferson’s quixotic attempt to rewrite the Bible, and Niall Williams’s richly evocative novel about a small village in the west of Ireland.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts