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The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O'Connor's Spiritual Journey by Lorraine V. Murray


Flannery O'Connor is considered one of the best American short story writers. John Huston's film of her novel, "Wise Blood" is a cult classic. Reading her stories inspired Bruce Springsteen to make one of his best albums, the story-laden "Nebraska". Yet she's also one of the least understood writers, despite the many scholars and critics who claim to interpret her writing. Rather than provide yet another lens to look through, Lorraine Murray explores the life of the woman behind the pen who died at the age of 39 from an incurable disease, to reveal her strong faith.





Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G.K. Chesterton by Joseph Pearce

Who was Gilbert Keith Chesterton? One of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century? A jolly journalist who wrote incessantly for the London papers? The author of the Father Brown mystery stories and nearly a hundred more books? A lively and humorous sparring partner who debated George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and other leading figures of the day in public meetings, all the while remaining their friend? The author whose book, "The Everlasting Man" C.S. Lewis credited with turning him from atheism, and whose own book, Orthodoxy, penned in 1908, remains at the top of numerous "most influential books" lists to this day? All of the above and more. Biographer Joseph Pearce leads a merry chase to discover this giant of a man.







Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles by Raymond Arroyo

In 1981, one year after Ted Turner christened CNN, a simple nun launched EWTN in the garage of an Alabama monastery. Today Eternal Word Television Network reaches over 180 million viewers worldwide. Raymond Arroyo, popular host of EWTN's "The World Over", tells the story of Mother Angelica, born Rita Rizzo in Ohio, who was abandoned by her father, and raised in poverty. After being supernaturally healed, she became a cloistered nun, and the rest is history, as only Mother Angelica could live it, here told as only Raymond Arroyo could write it.









The Life of the Right Reverend Ronald Knox by Evelyn Waugh

"Waugh writes like an angel, a fallen one", the Irish Times whimsically remarked of the British satirist, author of "Brideshead Revisited", "Travels With My Aunt", "Scoop", and numerous other novels. Here he introduces a most remarkable man, Ronald Knox, one of the best writers of his generation, who composed two handfulls of novels and detective stories, wrote several hundred essays and sermons, and single-handedly created a translation of the Bible known as the Knox version. The son of an Anglican bishop, he became a Catholic priest and was chaplain at Oxford at the time when C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were professors there.






Left to Tell: Discovering God in the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza.

In 1994, Immaculee's village was descended upon, and her family murdered during a three month period of genocide which claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans. She and seven other women hid for three months, emerging as the few left to tell the story.







St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton

This book is sort of three books in one. 1. It's a chance to read some of Chesterton's best biographical writing. 2. It's a chance to learn about St. Thomas Aquinas, nicknamed "The Angelic Doctor", and discover his "five proofs for God". 3. It's a chance to discover St. Francis of Assisi, popularized in the film "Brother Sun Sister Moon". These biographies were originally written and published separately, but are here together in a single volume, with introductions by Ralph McInerny and Joseph Pearce.





Crossing the Goal by Danny Abramowicz

The former coach of the New Orleans Saints tells the story of his time in the NFL, the temptations, challenges, and his struggle with alchoholism, what turned his life around, and of his reinvigorated faith. He used his coaching skills to begin a men's ministry called "Crossing the Goal", which eventually led to a show on EWTN of the same name. A quick read of an engrossing story, Crossing the Goal" will appeal to men interested in sports, faith, or life stories.







Unplanned by Abby Johnson

One day Abby Johnson, director of a Texas Planned Parenthood clinic, quit her job and walked down the street to join the Coalition for Life. That simple act sent shockwaves around the world, embroiled her in fierce legal battles, and changed her life forever. Here she tells her own story, and offers hope for women facing crisis pregnancies.




No Price Too High by Deacon Alex Jones

Pentecostal Preacher Alex Jones' unlikely journey to the Catholic Church reads like an adventure story. From growing up in a rough neighbrohood to surviving martial law during the Detroit riots, and the parallel adventure of his discoveries while reading the Bible and Church Fathers, Alex Jones tells his story with the candor and verve which has made him a favorite on EWTN. In a separate section, his wife, Donna Jones, tells her own story in her own words.



The Third Spring: G.K. Chesterton, Graham Greene, Christopher Dawson, and David Jones by Adam Schwartz.


If this seems like four biographies, it's because it is. The four profiled are British journalist G.K. Chesterton, popular novelist Graham Greene, historian Christopher Dawson, and poet David Jones. But it's also like a fifth book, because the author pursues an underlying theme in the thirty page introduction and following throughout the book of their commonalities and differences, and how and why each became Catholic. Adam Schwartz is a professor of history at Christendom College, but he is also on the board of the American Chesterton Society, and has presented some of the material at Chesterton Society conferences, the popularity of which resulted in this book. It can be read as four separate biographies of under 100 pages each, or, beginning with the introduction, following the thread through all four authors, and includes extensive notes and a bibliography.T




Something Beautiful For God by Malcolm Muggeridge.

"Whatever you do to the least of these," said Jesus, "you do to me." In a former temple of Kali, the goddess of death, in the "Black Hole of Calcutta", BBC journalist Malcolm Muggeridge stumbled on Mother Teresa and her Sisters of Charity providing mercy and help to the "the least of these", the dying and forgotten on the streets of India. Under the iron rule of Communism, Albania had declared itself the world's first atheist country, but from there an Albanian nun following the words of Jesus would go on to change the world. Muggeridge was profoundly moved by his experience, and in this book and broadcast, gave Mother Teresa to the world. Since her death, her Sisters of Charity have continued to operate world-wide, and she has been canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.


Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends by Mary Claire Kendall

We all know that Hollywood is an image factory, in which private problems and struggles in the lives of its stars are kept under wraps in an effort to portray an illusion of perfection. But wouldn't it make it more enjoyable to watch their movies if you knew their lives had a happy ending? Journalist Mary Kendall sketches a dozen profiles of celebrities and their all-too human struggles with alchoholism, infidelity and other problems, and the rocky road that led finally to spiritual peace. Betty Hutton, Bob Hope, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Gary Cooper, Mary Astor, Patricia Neal, John Wayne, and director Alfred Hitchcock are among those profiled. Foreword by Mother Dolores Hart, a former actress who became a nun.


Race With the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love by Joseph Pearce.

Why is Joseph Pearce able to write so many lively biographies? It may be because his own past is as adventurous and shocking as any of his subjects. In this no-holds barred autobiography he lays out his life as a revolutionary leader in Britain's racist National Front, and his part in the riots in Britain in the '70s and '80s. This led to several incarcerations, and eventually to his unlikely conversion from racial hatred to rational love. Reading such authors as C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Hilaire Belloc helped him along the way, and he eventually used his gift as a writer no longer for agitprop but as their biographer.


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