Oscar Hijuelos's 'Mr. Ives' Christmas' doesn't start out as a cheery story—but in the end, this parable of good will lost and good will regained is a perfect Christmas tale.

Bishop John Cummins had a significant and lasting impact on the Catholic Church in his own diocese and elsewhere through his quiet leadership and ministry. He was a reminder to many of what Pope Francis meant when he called for bishops who are “pastors, not princes.”

John Banville is surely the only crime novelist in recent memory who has won the Booker Prize and is regularly rumored to be in the running for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The box office success of “Gladiator II” is a reminder that many Americans are obsessed with the Roman Empire. They've been joined over the years by more than a few ‘America’ contributors.

Doris Grumbach was an accomplished novelist, literary critic, biographer and memoirist and an early pioneer for her books exploring L.G.B.T. themes. She was also a longtime book reviewer and essayist for ‘America.’

‘Lolita’ may have been canceled, but Vladimir Nabokov remains the godfather of modern prose.