Victory Over Vice

by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. This is an excellent book in which Archbishop Sheen covers the seven deadly sins (pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth). He demonstrates how Christ made atonement for each of these vices during his life and gives advice on how to overcome them. I would highly recommend it for any Catholic young man or woman.

Top 10 Books I Read in 2014

These (in order from least to greatest) are the top 10 books that I read in 2014. Individual posts on each of these books will be forthcoming.

1. Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
3. Manalive, by G. K. Chesterton
4. Outlaws of Ravenhurst, by Sister Imelda Wallace
5. The Living Wood, by Louis de Wohl
6. Lay Siege to Heaven, by Louis de Wohl
7. The Ball and the Cross, by G. K. Chesterton
8. Come Rack! Come Rope!, by Robert Hugh Benson
9. The Catholic Girl's Guide, by Father Lasance
10. Victory Over Vice, by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

The Catholic Girl's Guide

edited by Father F. X. Lasance. This is an excellent book which every Catholic girl should own. The advice imparted to the reader is so useful and relevant today, even though it was first published in the forties or fifties. It is available here and would make a great birthday, graduation, Christmas, or Confirmation gift for any girl around twelve or so and above.
It is the best gift I have ever received! Thank you so much, Mrs. B!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everybody! I hope everyone will have a blessed 2015.

Has it really been over two years since I last posted?!? I plan to post more, since I've read so many good books and would really like to write about and recommend them. I'll start by posting about the best gift I ever received.

Where the Red Fern Grows

by Wilson Rawls. This is a good story about a boy and his two coonhounds, and the many adventures that they have together.

I had to read this for school, and I hoped that it wouldn't be like the book The Yearling, which I didn't enjoy at all. It was nothing like The Yearling, and I really liked the book. My sister also read it, and so I was able to discuss it with her. After I had read it and told my brother a little bit about it, he decided to read it too. That was nice, because then I was able to discuss the book with two of my siblings, instead of just one. Anyone who likes dogs will especially enjoy this book.

Faces of Holiness

by Ann Ball. I actually read this book back in February or March, but I forgot to post it. This is another collection of biographies of saints, along with pictures of them. Ann Ball does a wonderful job depicting the lives of all of the saints in this book.

Modern Saints: Their Lives and Faces

by Ann Ball. This collection of short biographies of many different saints is very interesting to read. Even though they are short biographies, they are packed with information about the saints. The book is also illustrated with photos of each of the saints, except in a few cases where no photograph exists.

My family's pastor read some of the stories from it at a Confirmation retreat, and I found the stories he read interesting. Since the library had the book, I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is definitely one which I would recommend.

Lay Siege to Heaven

by Louis de Wohl. This is a very good biographical novel about Saint Catherine of Siena. Even though it's a long book, I got through it pretty quickly. It's a book that I would want to read again and one that I would definitely recommend to others. The author is very good at writing dialogue, which makes it even more interesting in my opinion.

Jo's Boys

by Louisa May Alcott. The final book in the Little Women series, readers will learn about what happens to each of the "little men" as they grow up. They will also enjoy reading about Jo's last scrape in chapter 3. A good book, which I would recommend but the end is kind of sad because you know that it's really the end.

Little Men

by Louisa May Alcott. The sequel to Little Women, this book is set at Plumfield (Aunt Josephine March's old home) and is about boys who go to the school which Jo and her husband started there. While I would say that Little Women is decidedly a girls' book (though boys might enjoy bits of it), Little Men would probably be enjoyed by boys and girls alike.

The Lilies of the Field

by William E. Barrett. I read this book for school, and enjoyed reading it. Although it isn't a book that I would read over and over again, there are amusing parts in it and it was a good book.

Homer Smith, an ex-GI is on his way to "see the West", and stops to help some nuns build a fence. When they ask him to build a chapel, he, and everyone in the the town are sure he won't do it. However, thanks to the faith of Mother Maria (and partly the people from town, Homer gets the chapel built for "Lilies of the Field".

An Old-Fashioned Girl

by Louisa May Alcott. I read this book once before and got absolutely nothing out of reading it. However, this time I really enjoyed reading and definitely got more out of it than before.

When Polly Milton, a poor country girl, goes to visit Fanny Shaw and her family in the city, she learns how wonderful being poor really is. Although she occasionally wishes that she could dress up and be fashionable like Fanny, she keeps her simple, attractive, old-fashioned ways.