Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Tagged

Fr. Dwight, who spends an inordinate amount of time upside down, tagged me for the book Meme. There is a long-running radio show in England called 'Desert Island Discs' - a celebrity chooses the ten (or is it eight, I can't remember) records that they would take if stranded on a desert island. Of course, if you are invited on more than once, they will probably change, so the 'Books which have influenced me most' section is really arbitrary - so:

What I am Reading at the Moment:
1. Pope Benedict XVI: A Theological Portrait - Fr. Vincent Twomey
2. Cardinal Manning - Sir Shane Leslie
3. The Window in the Wall - Msgr. Ronald Knox

What I've Recently Read:
1. Gentle Regrets - Roger Scruton
2. Thomas More - Peter Ackroyd
3. Confessions of a Convert - Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson
4. Schall on Chesterton - Fr. James Schall
5. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
6. Catholic Converts - Patrick Allitt
7. Cell - Stephen King

Books which have influenced me most:
The Bible and Shakespeare are already on the Island so...
1. The Lord - Romano Guardini
2. The Life of St. Francis - Thomas of Celano
3. The Seven Storey Mountain - Thomas Merton
4. A Time of Gifts/Between the Woods and the Water - Patrick Leigh Fermor
5. Love Unlimited - Barry White (ok, that's a joke)

p.s. - just received an email from the great Fr. George of Park Avenue - his new book is out - go out and buy it immediately!

10 comments:

Ttony said...

Patrick Leigh Fermor's books are a wonderful choice. There is an anthology by his Goddaughter which contains a few bits and pieces about what would be covered in Book 3 if Sir Patrick finishes it before he dies.

the owl of the remove said...

ttony - can you tell me its name? I have been waiting for years for Book 3 - but he's over 90!!

Ttony said...

It's called "Words of Mercury" (ISBN 978-0719561054) and your mother could order it from Amazon.co.uk for £7.99 (paperback £6.39, but PLF is worth hardback). It's an anthology, and if, like me, you have the complete works, there isn't much that you won't have read: except for "what happened next", and a story recounting an episode during his return to Romania at the height of the Ceausescu regime.

But the anthologising brings familiar things together in an unexpected context. It's a bit like having your bookshelves reordered: you have all the old favourites still, but their juxtaposition will bring out new qualities in them.

Ttony said...

Sorry: I pressed Enter too quickly. Artemis Cooper (the Goddaughter) insists that Book 3 is on its way. Max Hastings insists that it will never appear. (Wishful thinking from me: it's written, and will be left in his will to Artemis as a nice little 70 year earner.)

the owl of the remove said...

Excellent - thank you! Perhaps Book 3 is the Motu Proprio, not the Postal Order?

Jeff Miller said...

Do you mean Fr. Rutler? Amazon says his book doesn't come out until the 26th. I loved his book on St John Vianney.

Ttony said...

Swap the postal order for the Motu Proprio, do without the tuckshop for a few days, and desist from saying Harroo.

But hope that PLF produces Book 3 before he dies, or at least before he dies.

My mother talked about the poetry he knew by heart: she was at scool when he was walking, learning exactly the same poetry by heart.

Ttony said...

Sorry!.

"Or at least before we die."

the owl of the remove said...

That's why the books are so wonderful - truly a lost age, a lost Europe - we are, I'm afraid almost enveloped in a new Dark Age - but the 'cognoscenti' think it's light!

Jeffrey Smith said...

The cognowhosits are so busy imagining light that they don't even notice the real thing's about to dawn.

Ttony: This country needs a bit of harooing, among other things.