The Miracle Detective, Randall Sullivan. A Rolling Stone journalist picks up a thread in Washington state that leads him to Medjugorje in the midst of the Bosnian war to describe the ongoing purported appearances of the Virgin Mary to six local kids, and in the process to plumb the depths of the natural, the supernatural, the delusional, the hysterical, and the paranormal, all with generous doses of sympathy and skepticism and a nose for politics and intrigue. The book culminates in an extended interview with Benedict Groeschel, which lays out the most mature treatment of the Catholic Church’s take on the miraculous I have yet encountered.
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, read by Kenneth Branagh. Anything Branagh touches turns to gold, no less this one of my very favorite books.
Culture and the Death of God, Terry Eagleton. Explores and assesses the string of surrogates for God—reason, art, culture, Geist, morality, etc.—that have arisen to take his place following his purported demise. Fascinating, erudite, but I’m still trying to figure out why he wrote it in the first place.
The Good Nurse, Charles Graeber. Tells the story of Charles Cullen, the nurse arrested in 2003 for murdering hospital patients, killing perhaps hundreds. And of the labyrinthine investigation and cover-up by the hospitals involved.
Primetime Propaganda: The True Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV, Ben Shapiro. A Manichean rendering of TV history, exposing—to great effect—the downright antipathy towards conservative America held by many TV moguls, and their attempts to reprogram us.
The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and The Rise of a Shadow Government, Mike Lofgren. A Beltway insider attempts to answer how the two parties, embroiled as they ostensibly are in the culture wars, can suddenly unite on matters so immense and consequential as Libya. Points towards the existence of a sort of military-contractor-Silicone Valley-Wall Street-government agency complex.
Early Christian Fathers, Cyril Richardson. You need to read Clement, Ignatius, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus before declaring the Real Presence, the hierarchy, the virgin birth, the efficacy of the sacraments, the apostolic succession, etc., to be later medieval inventions.
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley. Equal parts prescience and pedantry, always worth a revisit.
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, read by Kenneth Branagh. Anything Branagh touches turns to gold, no less this one of my very favorite books.
Culture and the Death of God, Terry Eagleton. Explores and assesses the string of surrogates for God—reason, art, culture, Geist, morality, etc.—that have arisen to take his place following his purported demise. Fascinating, erudite, but I’m still trying to figure out why he wrote it in the first place.
The Good Nurse, Charles Graeber. Tells the story of Charles Cullen, the nurse arrested in 2003 for murdering hospital patients, killing perhaps hundreds. And of the labyrinthine investigation and cover-up by the hospitals involved.
Primetime Propaganda: The True Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV, Ben Shapiro. A Manichean rendering of TV history, exposing—to great effect—the downright antipathy towards conservative America held by many TV moguls, and their attempts to reprogram us.
The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and The Rise of a Shadow Government, Mike Lofgren. A Beltway insider attempts to answer how the two parties, embroiled as they ostensibly are in the culture wars, can suddenly unite on matters so immense and consequential as Libya. Points towards the existence of a sort of military-contractor-Silicone Valley-Wall Street-government agency complex.
Early Christian Fathers, Cyril Richardson. You need to read Clement, Ignatius, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus before declaring the Real Presence, the hierarchy, the virgin birth, the efficacy of the sacraments, the apostolic succession, etc., to be later medieval inventions.
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley. Equal parts prescience and pedantry, always worth a revisit.