Top Ten Catholic Fiction Books

[Ora et Labora]

I am very much into Catholic Fiction. I've read most of what was posted.

I am going to comment on most of the authors mentioned...

Bud MacFarlane in my opinion had good Catholic books, but at the same time didn't satisfy me morally and had way too many sexual scenes in them that didn't need to be there. I know he needed to prove points about the characters, but to actually put them in detail like he did in all first three (I've read them all) was pointless. And now, seeing where he is now, there is no surprise as to why he did that. In House of Gold he let one of the main characters (buzz) have the girl he physically wanted in the second book. I know it doesn't look like it right when you read it, but after thinking about it, I think the actual point of the plot was not very good, morally speaking. That's just me personally.

Regina Doman is one of my all time favorite authors. She writes very well and her story plots in all three books of the trilogy are excellent!! I would recommend her books to anyone: they are so well written, fun and Catholic!

Arms of Love and Surrender are Chastity related mostly. They are my boyfriends favorite novels, but they didn't seem realistic to real life and they weren't comparable to Regina Doman's trilogy. The author did write as well and the plot was obvious. Also, I could personally relate much more to Regina's characters. Her books are simply better in every way.

Now, no one yell at me...*gulps* But every book I've tried to read of Michael O'Brien's, I couldn't finish because they were boring. That's just me! The rest of my family loves his books and I can't think of more then 2 people who agree with me! He writes well, but for me personally, they weren't interesting enough...they seemed to drag. Catholic-wise, they were great.

ANYTHING Louis de Wohl!! I love him to death. Such a good writer...and every book is different and interesting. I've read most of his books and all mentioned here, and I love them all! Citadel of God (which is about st. Benedict) was especially good. But they are all wonderful.

Come Rack, Come Rope! by Robert Hugh Benson is one of the most intense and well written Catholic novels I have ever read. It was real, and it put you right there with the characters. The plot very well could have been something that could have happened in the past and it was very well thought out. I love that book, and in my opinion, it is the best book written by him (as far as I know.) I have also read his Lord of the World, and Initiation and another book, but Come Rack, Come Rope! surpassed them all.

Sorry if my words dragged or didn't make sense...I love talking about Catholic Fiction so I tend to get ahead of myself.

Also, G.K. Chesterton's Ballad of the White Horse I would put in my top 10 Catholic fiction novels. Maybe even in my top 5...it is a wonderful book.

Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis was certainly interesting and worth reading, and Tolkien has wonderful fiction stories as well.

Ok, I'm done.

[Ora et Labora]

[quote name='kafka' post='1563558' date='Jun 8 2008, 04:36 PM']Only read two Catholic Fiction novels and both were excellent:

1. Mr Blue by Myles Connelly: out of this world tale of a young enigmatic man who roams Boston and New York.

2. Lord of the World by Hugh Benson: fictional story about the Last Pope and Antichrist[/quote]

Oh yes!! Mr. Blue is also excellent!! It makes you love Catholicism even more and gives you this supernatural happiness toward virtue and the world in general. That was a good, short, easy novel that I would also recommend.

[Extra ecclesiam nulla salus]

As far as Anne Rice's books go There are some potential issues with church teaching.


Did Christ, as a divine Being, retain his divine knowledge? according to Anne Rice, he did not. I think the Church position is that he did.


Regardless, I enjoyed her first book. haven't gotten around to the second one yet.

[goldbug16]

Brideshead Revisited!
Lord of the Rings!
Narnia series!
The Divine Comedy!

[rhetoricfemme]

[quote name='Extra ecclesiam nulla salus' post='1581036' date='Jun 23 2008, 09:05 PM']As far as Anne Rice's books go There are some potential issues with church teaching.
Did Christ, as a divine Being, retain his divine knowledge? according to Anne Rice, he did not. I think the Church position is that he did.
Regardless, I enjoyed her first book. haven't gotten around to the second one yet.[/quote]


The impression I get is that Christ chose to not to acknowledge his divine knowledge, in order to fully empathize with people. I hope I'm saying that in the sense she meant it, she explains it better herself in an interview with a Roman Catholic priest.

I think the second book clears a lot of this up. Saying this gives nothing away, but it's clear in the second book that Jesus is aware of himself and who He is, what His purpose is, etc.

I enjoyed her first book a lot, but I enjoyed the second one even more.

[melporcristo]

JMJ

LOTR
Peirced by a Sword

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty White

[Thomist-in-Training]

Walker Percy's "The Moviegoer" is pretty good. His setting is very vivid--Louisiana in the fifties?sixties? when he was writing--and his main character in that book knows there's something bigger than himself out there, but he doesn't know what it is (although his cousin does). Catholic but not preachy at all. I don't recommend "Second Coming" though, that one had several odd bits.

I second Nunsense's recommendation of Don Camillo! The books are so charming. If you're learning Italian, it's a really fun way to practice, too, if you can find Italian copies. I believe the books have some line drawings, too, which helps.

"In This House of Brede," by Rumer Godden, is a novel which somehow manages to cover what seems to me to be every possible thing that could come up in convent life. Fascinating and a good read.

I think there's a big gap in the market for [b]children's and young adult Catholic novelists[/b]. I like Regina Doman, but what we need is about twenty more of her I think they are the only young adult books I've read which sympathetically refer to children going to Mass.

As a girl I read the "Alice" books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (my mom stopped me at a certain point). Alice has two best friends, Elizabeth, the Catholic one, and Pamela (I think), the one with the nudist parents. Alice herself lives with her widowed father and older brother and is curious about their romantic lives. Once to dissuade a visiting girlfriend of the brother, she tells her he's thinking about the priesthood. Afterwards, she asks her father, "What would he have to do if he were going to be a priest?" and his answer is that they are many denominations away from having a priesthood. Elizabeth, the Catholic girl, is portrayed as pretty but too squeamish and Alice's boyfriend tells her "Elizabeth is in the slow lane... Pamela is in the fast lane... but you're just right." I.e., the narrator, whom the reader is to sympathize with, has the sensible view of romance, whereas the Catholic one is too far to the right.

The "Anastasia" books by Lois Lowry I read a few of. Anastasia is Jewish, and curious about the Catholics at school, not really in a negative way.

I think these series started in the 80s or early 90s... my sense is that books now wouldn't even refer to characters as being Catholic (or Protestant), but I could be wrong. So my conclusion is that someone should write books that are real novels (as opposed to lives of Saints, which are great in their place and also necessary), but whose characters happen to be Catholic, in the vein of Regina Doman, and to counteract books like the Alice books where generic Protestantism is normal and assumed. Sorry for the long post.

[geetarplayer]

[quote name='Thomist-in-Training' post='1602680' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:44 PM']... I don't recommend "Second Coming" though, that one had several odd bits.[/quote]
See, that was my first Walker Percy book, and I found it so fascinating and charming.

[jkaands]

Try AJ Cronin's
[b]
The Keys of the Kingdom[/b]

1941. a best seller then. About a Scottish missionary in China. Very moving and gripping.

I'm sure that you can get a cheap hardback at www.bookfinders.com (that's bookfinderS--the singular form is a porn site!)



I

[Cam42]

10. Windswept House; Malachi Martin
9. Pierced by a Sword; Bud McFarlane, Jr.
8. The Red Hat; Ralph McInerny
7. Fr. Elijah; Michael O'Brien
6. The Accidental Pope; Raymond L. Flynn
5. Mariette in Ecstasy; Ron Hansen
4. Vatican; Malachi Martin
3. Strangers and Sojourners; Michael O'Brien
2. The Shoes of the Fisherman; Morris West
1. The Cardinal; Henry Morton Robinson

Pretty much in that order....

(caveat; I don't consider C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien part of this genre. IMO, they are in a class by themselves)

[Cam42]

[quote name='jkaands' post='1620708' date='Aug 7 2008, 05:31 PM']Try AJ Cronin's
[b]
The Keys of the Kingdom[/b]

1941. a best seller then. About a Scottish missionary in China. Very moving and gripping.

I'm sure that you can get a cheap hardback at www.bookfinders.com (that's bookfinderS--the singular form is a porn site!)
I[/quote]

Great movie btw....stars Gregory Peck. Not available on DVD, but I own it on VHS.

[walk_on_water]

If sci fi counts, I'd add A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller

[melporcristo]

[quote name='MStar' post='1569088' date='Jun 11 2008, 08:38 PM']Oooh yes, I love Regina Doman's books, how could I have forgotten them! Although I didn't like Arms of Love, and never really got into Surrender, Arms of Love just didn't seem very realistic, although I suppose it could be.[/quote]

Regina Doman didn't write Arms of Love. I believe it was Carmen Marcoux

[Guest the CFRs are my bffs]

I'm reading Father Elijah right now and I love it. Also:

Anything by Chesterton
Regina Doman's Series
The Spear

[Guest Everlast]

The Power and the Glory. The best fictional representation of the office of the priesthood.

And Flannery O'Connor's short stories for their sharp, confronting depiction of revelation and the Holy Spirit.

Edited August 23, 2008 by Everlast