I can't figure out whether I want to recommend Patricia Lockwood's Priestdaddy. Lockwood's memoir reminds me of David Sedaris: she tells stories about her surreal family with writing that's so good (she's a poet) but sometimes so bodily specific that you can't decide whether to read it aloud or not. Lockwood's father is a Catholic priest… Read More
Category: Blog
Victoria Sweet on Servant Leadership
I've loved both of Victoria Sweet's books so much, that I ordered a copy to keep while the library book was still in my house. (I had to transfer all my dog-ears). I read God's Hotel first, and I've just finished Slow Medicine. One of her stories about being a temporary doctor (filling a gap in a relatively… Read More
Speaking on my Conversion in Chicago
On February 8th, I'll have the pleasure of visiting Loyola University Chicago to deliver their annual Newman Lecture. The Lecture, presented by the Joan And Bill Hank Center For The Catholic Intellectual Heritage. The Cardinal Newman Lecture Series is named after the great 19th century English prelate who wrote very movingly about his intellectual journey toward Roman… Read More
Books I Plan to Read in 2018
This year, I read all but one of the books on my Books to Read in 2017 list. Spiritual Letters by Dom John Chapman is in progress (so it doesn't have its checkmark yet), but I didn't read The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods by A.G. Sertillanges, O.P. for the second year in a row, so it's coming… Read More
My Favorite Books of 2017
Nonfiction about prisoners and dead bodies, just one work of fiction (alas!) about tiny dragons, lunar tipplers, and attack oragami. These were my favorite books I read for the first time this year, or, technicallyDec 2016-Nov 2017. I like to put the list together a little early each year, in the hopes of getting some… Read More
Destroying Marriage, a Diptych
From the New York Times, a feature on the new Argentine trend of throwing fake weddings to enjoy the spectacle and the celebration. In case there was any doubt, as the couple (hired actors) left the stage, colored lights flashed, the disc jockey started the music pumping, and the announcement was made to the paying guests:… Read More
Speaking in St Paul on my conversion and better fights
I'm in St. Paul, Minnesota this weekend, to speak to the Cathedral of St. Paul's class of RCIA students, and to give two talks open to the public as part of the First Saturdays program. The Cathedral offers the First Saturday gatherings as "mini-retreats in accord with Our Lady’s instruction at Fatima, designed to foster… Read More
Fare Forward returns, with me on New Stoicism
Fare Forward, the Christian journal of ideas, is returning to print this December with a special edition. I have a feature on New Stoicism, with particular emphasis on Ryan Holiday (The Obstacle is the Way) and Massimo Pigliucci (How to be a Stoic) The magazine will also include: Matthew Loftus and Brandon McGinley (author of The… Read More
Debating Virtue, Inculcating Virtue
In David Brooks's op-ed today, praising Alan Jacobs's How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds, he cites what I'm pretty sure is Jacobs citing me! Brooks discusses C.S. Lewis's essay on the Inner Ring, and how the desire to belong to a group can warp our character as we compromise to be… Read More
Trappist monks discuss my book
I was pleased and surprised to find that a group of Trappist monks at New Melleray Abbey have been discussing my book, Arriving at Amen: Seven Catholic Prayers that Even I Can Offer. One of the monks described their impressions: This evening several of us gathered to watch a segment of The Gist in which Leah Libresco talks… Read More