Developing a Taste for Good Books

Here’s a question: why do people read the classics? It’s not because they’re “important” in some abstract way; it’s not that they’re “good for you,” like literary vegetables. In truth the real classics, the works that truly have earned a place in the canon, are read because they’re the most satisfying and enjoyable books to read. They are, in the most concise way of putting it, good books....

Recommended Reading: Athanasius’ The Life of Antony

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” – C.S. Lewis, Preface to The Screwtape Letters. Let me be clear: the year is 2010, and the Enemy is real. Not a metaphor for “negativity” or some other waffle-word, but a real, conscious spiritual...

Capsule Reviews: Thomas Sowell’s Intellectuals and Society; Tolkien’s The Silmarillion

Here are short reviews of two interesting books I’ve read recently. Enjoy!...

Reading Versus Television: Which Is Better?

Which is better – to read a book or watch a television program? I’m a literature professor, a writer, and an avid reader. I bet you know what my answer will be. Don’t be so sure....

Advent and Christmas Poetry 4: Awe – John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 15”

After the anticipatory and penitential season of Advent, we come to Christmas. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 14) Christmas is the Feast of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ – the Word made flesh....