Tuesday
A friend made the mistake of asking me what I'm currently reading. I thought TDE readers might find my list halfway interesting.
"What am I reading? Oh, it's hard to say. I finish one book for every four I start, but here goes. My apologies if I bore you here (smile):
"Arroyo's life of Mother Angelica, which I'm greatly enjoying, though it's causing me to lose even more respect for American bishops, and that's not a good thing. (In this regard, if you have any "honest" articles to act as a counterpoise to the pro-Angelica position presented in this book, I'd love to see them.)
"Anything by Catherine Doherty. I took my first poustinia last winter, and it was far more intense than I ever imagined it would be. Other than to call it "intense" and to say I eagerly look forward to my next one and am simultaneously eagerly avoiding it, I can't describe it.
"Jacques Barzun's life of William James. James is a secular philosopher that I trust. By this, I mean that I think he was honest with his results and analyses, even if subsequent generations of followers were not.
"Gerard Casey's Libertarian Anarchy. My heart and gut tell me libertarianism, much less anarchy, isn't correct, but my head tells me otherwise. When I read a critique of libertarianism that I otherwise respect (Lumen Fidei comes to mind), I find that the critique part "talks past" libertarianism and doesn't address the basic issue that drives libertarians, which is the exact issue that drove GKC and Belloc: Hudge and Gudge, the combination of the Big State and Big Business that sticks it to the middle class. If you know anything that intelligently addresses the libertarian principle that government should be kept extremely small because, otherwise, powerful forces in society (read: big business, but also read: unions, educational establishments, and medical establishments) will misappropriate it for their ends, I'd love to see it.
"Robert Wild's The Tumbler of God. Not an easy book, but few things worthwhile are.
"Lots of articles from Philosophy Now. They're publishing one of my pieces in a few weeks and my compensation included a free online subscription. I'm downloading articles and sending them to my Kindle. Great reading."
