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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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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