{"id":27805,"date":"2014-10-24T07:53:52","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T12:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=27805"},"modified":"2014-10-24T07:53:52","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T12:53:52","slug":"what-were-reading-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;What We&#8217;re Reading&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em style=\"color: #000000;\">Editor\u2019s note: In coming weeks,\u00a0<\/em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pray Tell<\/span><em style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0contributors and readers will share what they\u2019ve been\u00a0reading these days.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>by Todd Flowerday<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/empire-antartica.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-27806\" src=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/empire-antartica.jpg\" alt=\"empire antartica\" width=\"226\" height=\"346\" \/><\/a>My reading tastes fluctuate between church and non-church things. Sometimes I&#8217;m looking for links between them. One of the best books I&#8217;ve read this year is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.randomhouse.co.uk\/editions\/empire-antarctica-ice-silence-emperor-penguins\/9780099565963\"><em>Empire<\/em>\u00a0<em>Antarctica<\/em>\u00a0by Gavin Francis<\/a>. The subtitle struck me: ice, silence, and emperor penguins. Dr Francis was assigned to a remote British base in Antarctica for fourteen months. How much like a monastery!<\/p>\n<p>The author reminded me a great deal of Thomas Merton. Like Merton, he sometimes chafed at the community he loved. Dr Francis wrote with a spiritual longing for solitude, and he seemed to cherish the insights that came.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to an interesting topic, I appreciate good writing. For a man of science, Gavin Francis is a fine and lyrical writer. His book has won a selection of awards in his native Britain.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/befriending-our-desires.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-27809\" src=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/befriending-our-desires.jpg\" alt=\"befriending our desires\" width=\"216\" height=\"346\" \/><\/a>Sometimes I savor a book for a period of time. For weeks this older volume by Philip Sheldrake:\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.darton-longman-todd.co.uk\/titles\/1796-9780232524468-befriending-our-desires\">Befriending Our Desires<\/a><\/em>\u00a0has been on my desk or bedside. Getting to the heart of Ignatian discernment is about surfacing and paying attention to our inner desires. This Jesuit author&#8217;s exploration aligns closely with mid-life discernment I&#8217;m experiencing. He draws on a number of spiritual guides from outside of the Society of Jesus. An insightful comment that meant a lot to me during my recent visit home to visit my ailing mother was from Teresa of Avila:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230; the important thing is not to think much, but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Other summer reading included\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.avemariapress.com\/product\/1-933495-58-8\/Atchison-Blue\/\">Atchison Blue<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Judith Valente (This is a Benedictine-hosted site so I have to say this was excellent, right?)\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.paracletepress.com\/radical-hospitality-benedicts-way-of-love-new-expanded-edition.html\">Radical Hospitality<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(another Benedictine book devoted to that classic Benedictine virtue) by Lonni Collins Pratt and Father Daniel Homan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/radical-hospitality.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-27810\" src=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/radical-hospitality.jpg\" alt=\"radical hospitality\" width=\"260\" height=\"322\" \/><\/a>Possibly the best work of fiction I read this summer was\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/knopfdoubleday.com\/book\/174183\/the-book-of-heaven\/\">Patricia Storace\u2019s\u00a0<\/a><em><a href=\"http:\/\/knopfdoubleday.com\/book\/174183\/the-book-of-heaven\/\">The Book of Heaven<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>It consists of four novellas about as connected as four independent books of the Old Testament might be. Speaking of which, two of these tales are retellings of honored figures from the Hebrew Scriptures. But the viewpoint is from the woman: how Sarah might tell the Abraham cycle, and how one of Job&#8217;s daughter&#8217;s might view her father&#8217;s misfortune.<\/p>\n<p>This last work is not for the faint of heart. Like the Bible, it contains great brutality&#8211;some of the passages would be excised from a Lectionary. But if the Bible were told from the perspective of feminists: this would be a mythology insightful, troubling, and piercing to any sensitive soul.<\/p>\n<p><em>Todd Flowerday is a regular Pray Tell reader and blogs at <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/catholicsensibility.wordpress.com\/\">Catholic Sensibility<\/a><em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My reading tastes fluctuate between church and non-church things. Sometimes I&#8217;m looking for links between them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[795],"class_list":["post-27805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recently-published-books","tag-what-were-reading"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;What We&#039;re Reading&quot; - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;What We&#039;re Reading&quot; - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My reading tastes fluctuate between church and non-church things. Sometimes I&#039;m looking for links between them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-24T12:53:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/empire-antartica.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Other Voices\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Other Voices\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Other Voices\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4eec536020900714d992552a4e06f913\"},\"headline\":\"&#8220;What We&#8217;re Reading&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-24T12:53:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":465,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/empire-antartica.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"What We're Reading\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Recently Published Books\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"What We're Reading\\\" - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/empire-antartica.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-24T12:53:52+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/empire-antartica.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/empire-antartica.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/24\\\/what-were-reading-3\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"&#8220;What We&#8217;re Reading&#8221;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4eec536020900714d992552a4e06f913\",\"name\":\"Other Voices\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/othervoices\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"What We're Reading\" - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"What We're Reading\" - Home","og_description":"My reading tastes fluctuate between church and non-church things. Sometimes I'm looking for links between them.","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2014-10-24T12:53:52+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/empire-antartica.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Other Voices","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Other Voices","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/"},"author":{"name":"Other Voices","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4eec536020900714d992552a4e06f913"},"headline":"&#8220;What We&#8217;re Reading&#8221;","datePublished":"2014-10-24T12:53:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/"},"wordCount":465,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/empire-antartica.jpg","keywords":["What We're Reading"],"articleSection":["Recently Published Books"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/","name":"\"What We're Reading\" - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/empire-antartica.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-24T12:53:52+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/empire-antartica.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/empire-antartica.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/what-were-reading-3\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"&#8220;What We&#8217;re Reading&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4eec536020900714d992552a4e06f913","name":"Other Voices","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/othervoices\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27805"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27808,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27805\/revisions\/27808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}