Mr. Ives’ Christmas
by Oscar Hijuelos
HarperCollins, 1995
ISBN 0060171316
Mr. Ives’ Christmas is a melancholy tale that emphasizes the grayness and coldness of winter. One may not want to actually read it at Christmas depending on whether one’s outlook on the holiday tends to be on the darkish side or not. I read it this past [...]
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The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd
Viking, 2002
ISBN 0670894605
The Secret Life of Bees is the story of Lily Owens, fourteen years old in the summer of 1964. Lily’s mother is dead, and she is somewhat precariously cared for by her abusive father and black housekeeper Rosaleen. Lily, a social outcast and loner, spends a [...]
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Paradise News
by David Lodge
Viking, 1992
ISBN 0670842281
A cultured, British academic joins a tourist group on a “Hawaiian Paradise” vacation package so his father can visit his dying sister. The British academic also happens to be an ex-priest who is barely making a living as what we would call a part-time adjunct at a second or third [...]
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The Last Catholic in America
by John R. Powers
E.P. Dutton, 1973
ISBN 0829421300
The Last Catholic in America, like Catholics by Brian Moore, has been recently re-published by the Loyola Classics Series.
The Last Catholic is typical of the many “I Survived Catholic Schools” memoirs about parochial school life before Vatican II. It’s humor is affectionate and genial. However, it [...]
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Franny and Zooey
by J.D. Salinger
Little, Brown and Company, 1955
ISBN 3-316-76954-1
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (which is actually two longish short stories published together as a novel) is not what’s usually thought of as “Catholic Fiction.” However, I have a tradition of giving it to my nieces and nephews when they receive Confirmation, along with [...]
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The Cape Ann
by Faith Sullivan
Penguin, 1989
ISBN: 978-0140119794
The Cape Ann begins as an innocent coming of age story about a young girl, Lark Ann Erhardt, preparing to make her First Holy Communion and planning with her mother, Arlene, to build a house based on floor plans called The Cape Ann. The story is set during the [...]
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Kitty from the Start
Judy Delton
Houton Mifflin, 1987
ISBN: 978-0395428474
Should you be looking for a nice Christmas or First Communion gift for a young girl, Kitty from the Start by Judy Delton would be a good choice. Kitty herself is in third-grade, but the book should appeal to readers from 3rd-5th. Good second grade readers could enjoy [...]
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Circle of Friends
by Maeve Binchy
Delacorte Press, 1991
ISBN: 0385301499
When I first read Circle of Friends many years ago, I had planned to read a little bit while I was eating my lunch and then go back to the paper I was working on. I stopped to eat lunch about noon. I finally put the book down [...]
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