We think of letters as a two-way form of communication: They go to and fro in the world, from one writer to the reader, who becomes the writer of the next letter. But sometimes we write letters that are not returned in a traditional way. In Brother Epistles: A Sister’s Memoir, Shanda McManus does just […]
Books
Posted inBooks
Review: Rebecca Gayle Howell revisits the Book of Genesis
Rebecca Gayle Howell’s project in ‘Erase Gensis’ seems to exist in the tradition of midrash—the shaping of Scripture in light of contemporary concerns and creative interpretation.
Posted inBooks
Review: Life and taxes in Ray Madoff’s ‘The Second Estate’
How do taxation and democracy rely on and mutually support each other? In her new book ‘The Second Estate,’ Ray D. Madoff tackles this and other thorny questions around taxes and the way we pay them (or don’t).
Posted inIdeas
Sigrid Undset: Scholar, storyteller—and future saint?
Sigrid Undset’s writings were admired by everyone from Willa Cather to Dorothy Day. Her life is being studied by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Who was this Norwegian teller of truths?
Posted inOf Many Things
Enough books to fill the entire world
Can we afford to stop reading when our sacred texts seem at times like the only thing we share?
Posted inCatholic Book Club
‘Ordinary People’ turns 50: a story of family and loss beloved by many—including Pope Leo
A book that feels as if it were published last week has now unlocked a host of exclusive offers from A.A.R.P.
Posted inIdeas
Jesuits, Mohawks and Puritans meet in Molly McNett’s historical fiction
The deeply researched ‘Child of These Tears’ captures the profound humanness of Jesuit missionaries in colonial North America.
Posted inFilm
‘Tony’ takes us back to Anthony Bourdain’s providential summer
Matt Johnson’s biopic ‘Tony’ takes us to parts unknown in the life of Anthony Bourdain: the summer of 1975 and the lessons he learned.
Posted inCatholic Book Club
Why you should study the classics but not kill anyone: Lessons from Donna Tartt’s fiction
Donna Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’ is an engrossing read. But is it also a powerful expression of our human efforts to understand eternal truths?
Posted inNews
Catholic priest’s new study Bible brings faith and science together for a doubting generation
When Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer realized a number of young Catholics were abandoning their faith in the name of science, he decided to do something about it: Create a new study Bible.