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Eamon Duffy's "Ten Popes Who Shook the World". I read it shortly after reverting back to the faith and was a bit bothered by it. I don't want to say he was critical of the Church's claim of an unbroken line since St. Peter... but there were comments here and there which shook my fledging f...

The final chapter on memory titled "On Memory" addresses the tendency of the older generation talking about how good things used to be, but have since gone to pot. It always has been and always will be the same. The old folk of our grandfathers' young days sang a song bearing exactly the s...

Then he ends that chapter with another one of his wistful notes, beautifully crafted… Talking about the beginning of the child’s journey contrasted with the end of the adult’s: Poor little feet, just commencing the stony journey! We old travelers, far down the road, can only pause to wave a hand to ...

After one pretty boring chapter; and loaded with bad advice at that... which did not strike me as the author being funny, he gives a laugh out loud chapter when talking about babies. Very likely, however, I am only making myself ridiculous—I often do, so I am informed—and I will therefore say no mor...

On the supreme vanity of cats contra dogs :laughhard As for cats, they nearly equal human beings for vanity. I have known a cat get up and walk out of the room on a remark derogatory to her species being made by a visitor, while a neatly turned compliment will set them purring for an hour. I do like...

Father, I was close to coming to your opinion after a couple of chapters. Not funny, just dry, and of opinions that don't cause much concern these days (pawning a wristwatch and the embarrassment of doing so and then being approached on the street for "the time"). But the chapter on the to...

I was definitely expecting more humor. But I'm still really enjoying it.

JkJ has a way with words.

Good heavens… Paragraph immediately following that is even better: A solemn sadness reigns. A great peace is around us. In its light our cares of the working day grow small and trivial, and bread and cheese—ay, and even kisses—do not seem the only things worth striving for. Thoughts we cannot speak ...

Now this part has no humor in it…. But the writing is just fantastic. You find yourself just being drawn into the imagery: Talking of poor Tom and Maggie Tulliver brings to my mind a saying of George Eliot's in connection with this subject of melancholy. She speaks somewhere of the "sadness of ...

Happy to have ya.

Each chapter contains reflections (from an idle man) on a variety of topics: idleness, the weather, babies… The 2nd chapter has Love as its focus. It’s a humorous book but the writing is something else: No, we never sicken with love twice. Cupid spends no second arrow on the same heart. Love's handm...

.... and not because I like sports all that much. Whenever most of the guys from my church/kids' school form a group the topic comes up cloaked in all variety of dress: how good kids are doing in it, how much they have to travel for it, basketball, volleyball, baseball, soccer.... Even faking those ...

I am currently re-reading the City of God by St Augustine. Ch 19 on Happiness is the best place to start if you have no history with this book In my whole life NO oNE has been more influential to me as a thinker, Catholic, member of the human family. Thanks for the tip. I haven't read it yet, but I...

My wife's sister works in administration at Wisconsin Lutheran College and she stated, about 3 years back, that colleges were needing to get ready for the student enrollment drop off that is about to hit. The college I graduated from, St. Norbert College, has been in local news as the current Presid...

A comment from peregrinator got me thinking how few books I'll actually re-read. One, Till We Have Faces, I re-read only because I missed the significance the first time around (this was after listening to a talk by Peter Kreeft on the book). Now I would re-read it for enjoyment. "Mayflower&quo...

peregrinator wrote: ↑Fri Apr 18, 2025 11:34 am I read the first one and thought it was fun. Not sure I'd read it again

You and me both.

Enjoyable. But a one and done. I'm glad you made this comment, it's prompting another thread idea.

Alittle change of pace from what I typically read. My son goes to a Catholic grade/middle school. I do like the school, but the reading selections are almost exclusively from some marginalized group: it can never be a book about an important war that was fought by the US - but has to focus on the ef...

Are you only focusing on the economists that think tariffs will have an adverse effect?

Is there any long term good that can come from this? Or is that not what you're interested in?

I heard this a year or two back... where? I can't recall, but it was a Catholic podcast from someone who was a smaller channel, but reputable. Then I started hearing it more and more. From even larger Catholic channels. I know Matt Fradd had a section where it was briefly mentioned. But, in all of t...

.... until I spun off the interstate back in January of 2024. I live in Wisconsin and am well accustomed to driving in snowy, sloppy conditions. But January of 2024, late at night, I was heading back home on an interstate after visiting some friends up in my hometown. The roads were not even all tha...