Summer Reading

Reviews by John Tintera

There is something eternal about a really good book. No doubt some books are as spiritually fulfilling as skimming the TV Guide, but there are others that stir you, and keep your attention long after you’ve closed the cover on their final page. Religious or secular, fiction or non, special books can carry us beyond ourselves and offer a glimpse of another way, another reality. Great writing hands us a shovel and helps us unearth possibilities in places where previously we saw only wasteland, or perhaps didn’t bother to look at all.

The five book titles listed below come from various genres. Their authors tell different stories, with voices formed from diverse experience. Yet they all reflect a creative spark that can ignite the reader’s imagination. Perhaps from this short list you will find a book to accompany you through your summer and into the fall, helping you see in ways that open your eyes anew.

• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
• A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
• The Gospel of Mary of Magdala by Karen King
• The Preservationist by David Maine
• The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong

Books that will change your life! A List of favorites from members of our editorial board