READ CANADIAN: NOVALIS SUMMER BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Summer is a time for relaxing, recharging and rediscovering activities we enjoy. Adding some great Canadian reads to the equation makes this season even more welcome! Here are some books to pack in your suitcase, drop into your backpack or purse, or add to your to be read pile…
The Call of the Heart: Reflections on Women of Faith, Courage and Vision, edited by Bertha Yetman: This is a collection of reflections by various authors on the wonderful feats of wisdom, fortitude and love of Catholic women in what is now Canada. The book highlights how these remarkable women broke down barriers, fought for education, justice and charity, or simply effused a sense of silent peace, finding ways to live out their faith in the service of God and neighbour in a patriarchal institution. These are tales of remarkable resilience and commitment to the Catholic future of Canada.
A Synod Diary: Sixty Days that Shook the Church, by Michael W. Higgins: This is a riveting journal and commentary on and during the high point of Francis’s papacy – the October 2023 and 2024 Synod on Synodality. As the author writes: “This is a sketchbook by a journalist and English literature professor, not a theologian’s measured summary of the synodal proceedings. The latter is, of course, indispensable to a full appreciation of what unfolded at the synod – but it is not what I set out to do. I wanted to create a written gallimaufry: a potpourri of perceptions, characters, factions and tensions, intrigues and turmoils, epiphanies and graced moments of insight.”
Fifty Irish Lives in Canada: 1661 to 2017, edited by Eamonn McKee and Mark G. McGowan: As the 50 mini-biographies in this collection attest, Irish-born Canadians and their descendants have made significant contributions to all aspects of Canadian life. Today, 4.4 million (12%) of Canadians can claim Irish birth or descent. They stand on the shoulders of giants who made enormous contributions to Canadian society and the country’s reputation globally. The prominent Irish could only achieve their pre-eminence from within the communities of ordinary Irish whose own lives as immigrants were extraordinary in themselves. Without those generations, neither the Canada of today nor the Irish community of Canada would have been possible.
Pilgrim Year: Ordinary Time, by Steve Bell: Set out on a prayerful journey through the not-so-ordinary season of Ordinary Time, with reflections, songs, prayers and more by Winnipeg’s own Christian singer-songwriter Steve Bell. Or pick up the 7-book collection covering the entire liturgical year and Bell’s 2-CD set of seasonal songs from the Pilgrim Year book series.
Why Are We Here? A Meditation on Canada, by Mary Jo Leddy: Acclaimed author and human rights advocate Mary Jo Leddy examines the moral challenges facing Canada in this time of social exclusion and environmental ruin. She focuses particularly on three of our national blind spots – our relationship with Indigenous peoples, immigration, and our poor record of caring for the environment – and addresses the fundamental question “Why are we here?”
Northern Light: A Canadian Prayer Book, by Les Miller: This gorgeous full-colour book pairs original prayers and photographs by a seasoned Catholic educator who finds various locations in Canada as starting points for prayerful reflection. There is an assumption that God is indeed present in the landscape: from churches, to the Bruce Trail, to grain elevators in Saskatchewan and beyond. By reimagining some traditional prayers and Bible stories to weave in the Canadian context, he shows how all prayers are grounded in our deep communion with creation.
Wherever the season brings you, take a good book or two along with you… Happy summer!
Anne Louise Mahoney is managing editor of Novalis. She is the editor of several books, including Pocket Book of Hope, and is the author of I Am and I Hope, part of the Seeds of Faith series for young children.
