The title of this blog borrows from a phrase used by the British novelist and Catholic convert, Evelyn Waugh: “There is an Easter sense in which all things are made new in the risen Christ. A tiny gleam of this is reflected in all true art.” It is a hopeful and worthwhile idea and aspiration to believe that the human creation of art is a refracting of the truth as expressed in the person of the risen Christ.

This blog serves as a place to comment on and explore literature – or any other mode of art, such as film, poetry, visual art, and the like. Although the explorations and reactions here need not be centered on religious structures or ideas, it is assumed that the foundational core of the responses is a belief in the power and truth of Catholicism. Rather than this having the effect of a narrowing of perspectives, as some may claim, this standpoint is in fact one of freedom, for freedom is found fully only in truth – while a detachment from this bedrock of veracity, even in hopes of finding objectivity, is bound to end in hollow and incomplete untruth.

Monday, December 30, 2013

2013 in Review

I began this year with an implicit goal of reading 50 books. I came up 10 short. However, considering we had a baby and I was taking classes at Drew that didn’t require reading as much as writing, I am very pleased with 40. Moving forward, I think this will be my yearly goal. Perhaps down the road I can increase it, but life is awesome and full and 40 books a year sounds good to me.

Three of the five for this year are Catholic novels. This reflects my deliberate jump into serious Catholic fiction. (How awesome would it be if every year 3 of the 5 were Catholic novels?) In particular, I want to give a shout-out to Ron Hansen. He’s one of the best contemporary prose writers I’ve encountered, up there with Marilynne Robinson.

Here are my top five, in no particular order:

Moby-Dick: Herman Melville
Waiting for the Barbarians: JM Coetzee
Mariette in Ecstasy: Ron Hansen
Morte D'Urban: J.F. Powers
A Good Man is Hard to Find (and other stories): Flannery O'Connor

Here are notables that didn’t make my top 5.

Skellig: David Almond
Desperadoes: Ron Hansen
In Cold Blood: Truman Capote
Don Quixote: Miguel de Cervantes
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