My 2010 Reading List

I suddenly find myself drowning in new books that are calling for my attention! Here are the ones that I hope to read in the near future:

Italian Folktales selected and retold by Italo Calvino
This was God's birthday present to me! I entered Half Price Books on a whim that day and exited with an exquisite book of fairytales, bound in earth-colored canvas with a gold peacock stamped on the front! And only $8! There are no less than 200 tales in the 763-page volume, and so far I have only read 102 of them.

William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, Wells and Taylor Second Edition
Alright, so I know I won't be able to read all of these anytime soon... but a good priest friend of mine is an avid Shakespeare fan and last year he gave me the audio recordings for all of Shakespeare's major works. Unfortunately I lost the recordings in the Great Computer Crash of Fall Semester 2009, so I can't listen and read along as he suggested. I hope to find the recordings somewhere, perhaps in some library's collection, so I can get to it. People who read Shakespeare are so well-rounded, don't you think?

The Autobiography of St. Margaret Mary: Translation of the Authentic French Text by the Sisters of the Visitation
This saint is my middle-name saint, and I love her very dearly. Her devotion to the Sacred Heart is quite humbling and inspiring. Although I've read other versions of her life story, I've never read the official text. Apparently when cloistered nuns die it is customary to release a brief story of her life to other orders and sometimes to the outside world. That is how 'Story of a Soul' by St. Therese (my confirmation name saint!) got out in the first place and I'm assuming that this book is the same. My parents gave this to me for Christmas along with the next book on the list...

Thoughts and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary for Every Day of the Year
This is, as the title suggests, a day-by-day book that offers some little morsel of St. Margaret Mary's writings every day. Today's: "You know that there is no middle course, and that it is a question of being saved or lost for all eternity. It depends on us: either we may choose to love God eternally with the Saints in Heaven after we have done violence to self here below by mortifying and crucifying ourselves as they did, or else renounce their happiness by giving to nature all for which it craves." Is she not wonderful??

for women only: what you need to know about the inner lives of men by Shaunti Feldhahn
This book explores and/or overturns some of women's "surface understandings" about men such as "men need respect," "men are visual," and "men are unromantic clods," among others. It's actually my sister's book (someone gave it to her for Christmas) but she enjoyed it and is lending it to me. She said it would be a quick read, but it's not holding my attention very well. I guess I just don't care about men enough. Ha! Favorite quote so far: "Notice that one of the main biblical passages on marriage - in Ephesians 5 - never tells the wife to love her husband, and it never tells the husband to respect his wife (presumably because we each already tend to give what we want to receive). Instead, over and over, it urges the husband to love his wife and urges the wife to respect her husband and his leadership. Women tend to want to control things, which, unfortunately, men tend to interpret as disrespect and distrust (which, if we're honest with ourselves, it sometimes is). Marriage is about putting the other person's needs above your own (he's required to do that, too, remember), and it does tremendous things for your man to know that you are choosing to trust and honor him."

The Canary Handbook by Matthew M. Vriends, Ph.D. and Tanya M. Heming-Vriends
Yes, I am giving some thought to becoming a canary fancier (a flowery way of saying canary owner) so I picked up this book real cheap off of Amazon.com to get some background info. (Internet research only goes so far I've learned.) I've kept budgies for many years, so perhaps I'll be expanding my aviary again. Canary song is quite beautiful!

Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly
My aunt heard someone speak at her church and they handed out these books. She was inspired and picked up one for all of us. I'm a little skeptical, because last time I tried to read Matthew Kelly I didn't finish the book (something about being called to joy, I think?) but I'm willing to give it a whirl, I guess.

Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach
One of my goals for 2010 is to organize my finances (draw up a budget, perhaps do some investing) so this book, a gift from my engineer sister, came at an opportune time. I'm not very far along, but so far I like the tone and I am eager to soak up the information contained therein. It's not so much that I want to "finish rich" (although that would be nice) but rather that I have heretofore relied entirely on my accountant father to manage my money because I've always been completely clueless about all things fiscal. This book should be a good antidote to my ignorance. I am using my great-grandmother's lace handkerchief (crocheted by hand!) as a bookmark; I come from a long line of strong women, and I wish to join their ranks asap!

Preparation for Total Consecration according to Saint Louis Marie de Montfort
Yes, I am making my consecration at last!! I was going to start in November to be ready by the feast of the Immaculate Conception, but on the very day that I was supposed to begin I fell ill with the flu. So now I begin again to be ready by the feast of the Presentation of our Lord. I have made my consecration vow many times with my family, for we do the devotion every Lent, but I've never done one on my own and I think it is about time. I could ask for no better mistress than the dear Mother of God, Mary Most Holy. Today's meditation is from Matthew chapter 7. A snippet: "Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him."

The World's First Love by Fulton J. Sheen
I ordered this book from amazon.com a while ago and it finally came! It's a blue hardcover with gorgeously aged pages that don't quite match up at the edges. I just love that. It's copyrighted 1952, but this is a special 1953 reprint edition. Fancyyy!
I read a few paragraphs from this book one day in the library of our Newman Center and I was totally hooked. It's all about Mary, the Mother of God and the world's most perfect woman. The dedication alone is enough to make me sigh with love and devotion for her:
"Dedicated to the Woman I Love, the Woman Whom even God dreamed of before the world was made; the Woman of Whom I was born at cost of pain and labor at a Cross; the Woman Who, though no priest, could yet on Calvary's Hill breath, 'This is my Body; This is my blood; - for none save her gave Him human life. The Woman Who guides my pen, which falters so with words in telling of the Word. The Woman Who, in a world of Reds, shows forth the blue of hope. Accept these dried grapes of thoughts from this poor author, who has no wine; and with Cana's magic and thy Son's Power work a miracle and save a soul - forgetting not my own."
She is so beautiful! And I hope to discover more of her beauty through the reading of this book.

Well, that about sums it up. And these should keep me busy for quite a while; I don't read as often as I used to, very rarely now, in fact. But sometimes the easiest way for me to fall asleep is still to open up a book and read until my eyelids are heavy. So there's always that, I suppose. Or perhaps I can read a bit during my commute, much as I hate carrying extra books around during the day.