Feb 24: GRACE (EVENTUALLY) by anne lamott

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It's the rare author who can write about faith without coming off like a preachy zealot or over-earnest schoolmarm. Lamott's self-deprecating stories are refreshingly frank and endearingly fun. -- The Washington Post

Lamott has chronicled her wacky and (sometimes) wild adventures in faith.... -- Chicago Sun-Times

She observes her world with honed humor-and without a whiff of deceit or concealment. ... This is a Christian even an atheist could still respect in the morning. -- The Seattle Times

These recent essays show a new mellowness....With gentle wisdom refining her signature humor, Lamott explores helpfulness, decency, love and especially forgiveness. -- Publishers Weekly

Lamott's third collection of funny, smart, and prayerful essays-to-live-by contains just what readers expect from this nimble and candid writer: the unexpected. Sure, Lamott writes, as she always does, about her son, Sam, now 17. And yes, she continues to shift through the psychic rubble of her bad drinking and drug days, searching for shards of wisdom and bright bits of sustaining humor. But the particulars are always startling and provocative because, like all artists, Lamott can riff inventively on the most commonplace themes. She presents finely crafted homilies about binging and aging, and recounts episodes of despair, craziness, fear, guilt, and grief, followed by out-of-the-blue rescues. An advocate for kindness, reflection, and the ongoing effort to do the right thing, Lamott can be downright rancorous and self-absorbed, just like everyone else. And for all her attachment to her church community, she thinks for herself, and believes deeply in freedom....she praises librarians as "healers and magicians." Lamott also performs these essential roles, and readers do feel better for it.
-- Donna Seaman, Booklist

Jan. 20--THE SPARROW by mary doria russell

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I know, we thought we could squeeze in a book for December, but...well...executive decision: our next discussion is in January. So you have no excuse of not having time to read this acclaimed sci-fi novel: THE SPARROW

"An unusual kind of speculative fiction, challenging the heart even more than the mind … harrowing and strangely beautiful." ― Christian Science Monitor

"Brilliant first novel about the discovery of extraterrestrial life and the voyage of a party of Jesuit missionaries to Alpha Centauri. Russell lays down two narratives: One begins in 2059, in the aftermath of the mission; the other in 2019, when a young astronomer intercepts a transmission of haunting songs from Alpha Centauri. In the latter, a linguist and Jesuit priest named Emilio Sandoz swiftly organizes a group of Jesuits and civilian specialists to turn an asteroid into a spaceship. The ship will reach the singing planet, called Rakhat, in four years of passenger time, even though 17 years will pass on Earth. In the narrative beginning in 2059, therefore, the mission's only survivor, Sandoz himself, is only a decade older. But he is a broken man physically and spiritually.... A startling portrait of an alien culture and of the nature of God as well, since, in his utter humiliation and in the annihilation of his spirit, Sandoz is reborn in faith. Shades of Wells, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Arthur C. Clarke, with just a dash of Edgar Rice Burroughs--and yet strikingly original, even so." Kirkus Reviews

Nov. 25 - CALLED OUT OF DARKNESS by Anne Rice

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This spiritual memoir from best selling author, Anne Rice, follows the big circle of her life, from a whimsical Catholic childhood in New Orleans, through her abandoning of the faith (though it remained an inspiration in her successful vampire fiction), to her return to New Orleans and the church. A warm, enchanting book, full of surprises. Look past the triumphalist title and sentimental cover art to find a gem of spiritual biography that, in fact, opens into the ambiguity of faith and the welcoming diversity of the church.

Oct. 21 - THE DEATH OF A POPE by piers paul read

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In The Death of a Pope, the versatile Piers Paul Read, who has distinguished himself in many genres, returns to what can be called the ecclesiastical thriller. If the mystery looks to the past to explain a crime already committed, the thriller aims to prevent something from happening. When that something is a terrorist act, planned for the Vatican, drama is assured, and Read, writing in the present tense but in multiple viewpoint, takes us from character to character, from city to city, from continent to continent, with everything converging on the Vatican during the conclave following the death of John Paul II. To say more would rob the reader of his pleasure. The Death of a Pope is a great Read - in every sense of the term. - Ralph McInerny

The Death of a Pope is a faith-driven theological thriller, narrated by a storyteller of the first order whose unassailable orthodoxy is as refreshing as it is rare among the bedraggled ranks of contemporary novelists. -Joseph Pearce

Piers Paul Read has managed to combine sheer storytelling power with great learning and insight about the inner workings of the Church to fashion an entertainment of the highest order. If John LeCarre took on Vatican politics, his book of suspense might aspire to be much like this one. -Ron Hansen

If you love the Catholic Church, you will probably love this book whether or not you love a good story. If you love a good story, you will probably love this book whether or not you love the Catholic Church. But if you love both the Church and a good story, you will certainly love this book. - Peter Kreeft

For links to reviews, talks, articles visit http://www.ignatius.com/death-of-a-pope-book

Our November book will be Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession by Anne Rice.

Sept 23 - WAITING FOR THE APOCALYPSE by Veronica Chater

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"A compelling story with a dramatic climax. Affecting and unsparingly honest. " - Kirkus Review

Growing up Catholic in a family where the reforms of Vatican II are seen as the work of Satan. It is 1972, and Veronica Chater's parents believe that Vatican II's liberalization has corrupted the Catholic Church, inviting the Holy Chastisement—an apocalypse prophesied by three shepherds in Fatima, Portugal. To spare his family this horror, Veronica's father quits the highway patrol, sells everything, and moves the family of eight from California to an isolated village near Fatima. But Portugal is no Catholic utopia, and the family schleps home penniless to join the nascent Catholic counterrevolution: attending the Latin Mass in truck garages and abandoned buildings, serving meals to religious soldiers, breeding a new member of the faithful every year. As Veronica comes of age on the fringes of the American Dream, she rebels against a fanaticism that forbids anything modern—clothes, movies, or music. This is the story, both sad and funny, of a family torn apart by religion and brought back together in spite of the injuries it inflicted on itself.

Check out more at the author's website: http://www.veronicachater.com/

October book will be Death of a Pope by Piers Paul Read.

AUG 19: HOME by marilynne robinson

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Winner of the Orange Prize
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
National Book Award Finalist
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Winner of the Christianity Today Book Award

New York Times Book Review Notable Book
Los Angeles Times Favorite Book of the Year
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Best Book of the Year
Seattle Times Best Book of the Year
Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
Library Journal Best Book of the Year

"An anguished pastoral, a tableau of decency and compassion that is also an angry and devastating indictment of moral cowardice and unrepentant, unacknowledged sin. . . . . Beautiful."--A. O. Scott,
The New York Times Book Review

"Marilynne Robinson is so powerful a writer that she can reshape how we read."--Mark Athitakis, Chicago Sun-Times

"When Marilynne Robinson writes a new book, it’s an event."--Pat MacEnulty, Charlotte Observer

Description

Marilynne Robinson returns to the small town in Iowa where her Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, Gilead, was set. Home is an entirely independent novel that is set concurrently in the same locale, this time in the household of Reverend Robert Boughton, Ames’s closest friend. Glory Boughton, aged thirty-eight, has returned to Gilead to care for her dying father. Soon her brother, Jack—the prodigal son of the family, gone for twenty years—comes home too, looking for refuge and trying to make peace with a past littered with ongoing trouble and pain. Jack, a bad boy from childhood, an alcoholic who cannot hold a job, is perpetually at odds with his surroundings and with his traditionalist father, though he remains Boughton’s most beloved child. Brilliant, lovable, and wayward, Jack forges an intense bond with Glory and engages painfully with Ames, his godfather and namesake. Their story is one of families, family secrets, and the passing of the generations, about love, death, faith, and healing.


LINK to more info, audio, and discussion guide.

September book: WAITING FOR THE APOCALYPSE by Veronica Chater

JULY 22: THREE CUPS OF TEA

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The #1 New York Times bestseller.
The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard

Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson’s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.

Introduction. In Mr. Mortenson's Orbit
Chapter 1. Failure
Chapter 2. The Wrong Side of the River
Chapter 3. "Progress and Perfection"
Chapter 4. Self-Storage
Chapter 5. 580 Letters, One Check
Chapter 6. Rawalpindi's Rooftops at Dusk
Chapter 7. Hard Way Home
Chapter 8. Beaten by the Braldu
Chapter 9. The People Have Spoken
Chapter 10. Building Bridges
Chapter 11. Six Days
Chapter 12. Haji Ali's Lesson
Chapter 13. "A Smile Should Be More Than a Memory"
Chapter 14. Equilibrium
Chapter 15. Mortension in Motion
Chapter 16. Red Velvet Box
Chapter 17. Cherry Trees in the Sand
Chapter 18. Shrouded Figure
Chapter 19. A Village Called New York
Chapter 20. Tea with the Taliban
Chapter 21. Rumsfeld's Shoes
Chapter 22. "The Enemy Is Ignorance"
Chapter 23. Stones into Schools
Acknowledgments
"Greg Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest . . . is not only a thrilling read, it’s proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world."-Tom Brokaw

"An inspiring chronicle . . . this is one protagonist who clearly deserves to be called a hero."-People

"Mortenson’s mission is admirable, his conviction unassailable, his territory exotic."-The Washington Post

AWARDS:
Kiriyama Prize Nonfiction Award
Time Magazine Asia Book of The Year
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association - Nonfiction Award
Montana Honor Book Award
Borders Bookstore Original Voices Selection
Banff Mountain Festival Book Award Finalist
Dayton Literary Prize Nonfiction Award - Runner-up
Mom's Choice Award Nominee

More info and discussion questions: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/three_cups_of_tea.html