This is the stack on my desk at my left elbow.
And this isn’t even my “to read” stack!
You can tell I was working on something at the time these started to pile up.
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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How many books do you have going at any one time, Father?
Is this not proof of why the Almighty in His infinite wisdom created Kindle?
I’ve got a bunch of those too… mostly the liturgy ones.
Even the birds are included! Nice. I like the look of the Church Militant. May have to look about that one. I was given a Kindle from a relative who got a new fancy one. Maybe I’ll look into trying
it out. Whole new ball game for me.
Jealous, and if you want to get rid of some of them, I shall send you my address….
I’d like to read that one on the very top, among others!
Hey, I like the Christiansen at the top! Just read a good paper by him on Orazio G. Wish I could have seen that exhibition.
I see you have the two volumes by the late Prof. László Dobszay: The Bugnini-Liturgy and the “Reform of the Reform” (2003) and The Restoration and Organic Development of the Roman Rite (2010). Very important stuff, IMO. The second expands upon (and clarifies, on some points) the first.
As I looked at the titles I was stirred with admiration for your intellectual life and a deep longing to see such stacks on the side tables of all our priests. If only a few of the priests closer to me were working on things like that!
But I will remember to be respectful and remember the many works our pastors out here are doing to help souls and serve the Lord what ways they can. Not everyone has an aptitude for studies. You inspire me, however, since I have some good books and studies I haven’t given attention to lately.
At first glance I thought I only had the Diurnal in common with you…and then I took a closer look and there’s at least six which also sit in my bookcases (for some reason this gives me a feeling of accomplishment….).
Roguejim: How many books do you have going at any one time, Father?
It varies.
Most of the time I try to have just one. Right now I have three, one being an audio book. At the moment I am listening to a fantastic reading of David Copperfield via Audible.com (connected to Amazon), which I realized I hadn’t read for a very long time indeed (“O my lungs and liver!”) Since it is Dicken’s 200th this year, I am determined to review some of his better books and visit his house in London on my next visit. I just saw an exhibit on him at the Morgan Library in NYC.
I am also working on D. Vincent Twomey’s Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age: A Theological Portrait, and Fr. Paul Mariani’s new biography of the late, great Ignatius Pin Mei Card. Kung: Church Militant: Bishop Kung and Catholic Resistance in Communist Shanghai.
I wouldn’t be upset if donations increased, so that I could upgrade my Audible account!
And there is the Roman Breviary. I guess that makes four.
That’s not so bad.
I think the record-holder among office I have personally seen belonged to Prof. Masuo Suzuki during his last year at the University of Tokyo. His modest-sized office had a pile of books and papers in the middle that was 5 1/2 feet tall, as well as a “carpet” of other papers, books and papers on his desk, chairs, shelves, etc.
But Father, what does the stack on your right side look like? And furthermore, what does your “to read” stack look like? I am interested in the titles.
Nice books, Father. I recently finished “Ratzinger’s Faith” by Tracey Rowland and thought it was a wonderful book about the Pope and his theological beliefs. I think any person looking for a good and somewhat thorough introduction to the thought of Pope Benedict would get a lot out of Rowland’s book.
My husband gave me the entire Ancient Christian Commentary on the Scripture when I came home from grad school bubbling over with enthusiasm about the volumes Fr. Anderson at University of St. Thomas school of theology at St. Mary’s Seminary shared with us. Hubby said, “oh, a tool for your studies?” went online to the publisher and got the whole set (almost, had to wait for the last volume to be published). I have enjoyed it very much. I especially like how every volume has a blurb on each of the Ancient Christian writers so you can guess which were highly regarded by the Church and which might have tended to be heretical. They have been fun to own and use. I also think of how much I love my husband every time I use them.
Mass and Modernity by Fr. Jonathan Robinson of the Oratory = Excellent Read
It looks like an index for material in posts – loosely chronological? Thing is needing a look at one near the bottom. Maybe an eyelevel shelf wrapping around the place would serve you, with books becoming quickly accessible for reference or putting away. I cannot see all that being on a little tech thing helping your mind’s organization or inspiration. But unless your are left handed, doesn’t it take up workspace?
Looks like my stack. Really, all I need is 72 hours in the day.
Great stacks. The Code, I assume, was just out of frame….
[Errrr… that’s right! Yes! Just out of the shot.]
Fr. Jonathan Robinson of the Oratory, excellent author, I just recently purchased a book of his on some weekly theological reflections he posted in a Canadian Catholic Newspaper back in his heydays.
Hey I think I see a Baronius Press 1962 Missal in black in there, right side, near the top! Nice Job Fr. Z.
That’s a nice stack there. Some good ‘uns in there.
This might sound weird, but I’ve got to creating excel reading lists for myself–certain pages in certain books by certain days. I’ve found it has three advantages:
1) It makes sure I’m reading what I want to read in a timely way, without
2) making me feel like I’m not ever getting through enough, all the while
3) being able to visualize what I can get through by what day down the road.
Until I did the neurotic reading list, I always had this nagging feeling that I wasn’t reading enough of what I should be reading. Now, I have a list. I get through the list for any given series of days, and I’m ready to put away the books and watch reality television, or check blogs, or take my wife out, or play with my kids (in that order), or some such thing. :)
How fun! It’s like playing Bingo- how many of those do I have/have I read? Right now I think it’s 3: The Spirit of the Liturgy, the Mass of the Early Christians, and Ratzinger’s Faith.
*grins*
Glad to know I’m not the only one with a stack or two of books awaiting my attention!
In my case, I’m saving “Desolation Island” for the bus ride to DC this month; going to be a chaperone for some kids for the March for Life. [Ah! You are in for a treat, which it has one of the best episodes of the series: the chase through the Roaring Forties with the 74-gun Waakzaamheid. If you ever get to hear the audio book read by Simon Vance, listen to this section with the lights out.]
I have also recently developed something of a vague need to actually READ a few classics that I’ve heard about for decades. So…sooner or later I’ll be reading Moby Dick, followed by the Hell and Purgatory of the Divine Comedy. I’ll wait until I’m done with those before I buy Heaven. And..I may be nuts, but I read the intro to The Canterbury Tales a few months ago, so I eventually need to read the Tales themselves. Eventually too, I hope to read the Iliad and the Odyssey. I know some portions of the stories, I think, but it’d be neat to actually read them in the course of Homer’s work.
Oh, yes, I also have John Paul’s Theology of the Body to finish–I think I’m roughly halfway–then it’ll be Benedict’s books about the early Church, from the Apostles up to the Middle Ages. …I think…
Now, what was it I meant to read tomorrow……?????
Jungmann’s “Missarum Solemnia”, the “ne plus ultra” for the study of the Roman Rite. I sold my copy when I left grad school and have regretted it ever since!
Jason is correct.Ratzinger’s Faith is a great book.
Dr.Rowland’s follow-up book “Benedict XVI,AGuide for the Perplexed”is every bit as good.
Beckoning and indulgent!
Getting Through “The Iliad”, by Cynthia Crossen.
So many books, so little time.
You sure got a lot of Ignatius Press books in your stack there, Father Z!
When I worked in the local Catholic bookstore, I would sometimes, during quiet times when there were no customers to wait on, take a book down from the shelves and read.