Bedside Books


TLS of the Summa Mammas wants to know what we have in the stack of books at the bedside.

I'm going to take that question format as rhetorical. I only have The Imitation on the bed table and I often don't see it because Mary usually goes to bed before I do and I don't want to wake her. But there are just-begun, half-read, and almost-finished books scattered all over the house.

I've been posting bits from "Ecclesiastes: the Book of Archbishop Robert Dwyer" for the past week or so. That's in the almost-finished category.

"The Wife", the second volume of Sigrid Undset's trilogy "Kristin Lavransdattar" is sitting in the front room and that's a half-way through book.

In the kitchen, there's Rex Stout's "And Be A Villain" and next to it "Let Nothing Trouble You: 60 Reflections Taken From the Writings of St. Teresa of Avila." These are both in the just-begun category.

In the den/library/tv room I'm having another read through of Richard Doherty's "Clear the Way! A History of the 38th (Irish) Brigade, 1941-47".

Finally, tucked here, there, and everywhere are various numbers - and in various stages of read-through - of far too many periodicals. Off the top of my head: New Oxford Review, Carmelite Digest, Touchstone, Latin Mass Magazine, the Wanderer, The Spectator, Chronicles, and Lord knows what else.

And sitting by this desk at the moment is "The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church" by James Charles Noonan, Jr. This is not something really intended for reading through like a novel or a history. But it's still a great read and with your nose in this book you can shoot an hour without noticing it. All you ever wanted to know about the Mantellone, Crocia, and Soprana.