Read in 2018

With just a few hours left in 2018, it's unlikely I'll finish another book. So here is the list of 35 books read this year:

Padre Pio: The True Story by C. Bernard Ruffin
The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G. K. Chesterton
Christmas with Norman Rockwell by John Kirk
The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters
Four Hundred and Two Snails - Haiku Society of America 2018 Anthology
An Actor Bows by Kevin O'Brien
Brother Cadfael's Penance by Ellis Peters
The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
New Selected Poems of Stevie Smith
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The Llama Who Had No Pajama (poetry) by Mary Ann Hoberman
Ghastlies, Goops & Pincushions by X. J. Kennedy
It's Halloween (poetry) by Jack Prelusky
Blackberry Ink (poetry) by Eve Merriam
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
How to Become a Perfect Christian by The Babylon Bee
The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus by Adam C. English
Joan of Arc by Mark Twain
The Lessons of St.Francis: How To Bring Simplicity and Spirituality Into Your Daily Life by John Michael Talbot with Steve Rabey
The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
St. Benedict: The Story of the Father of the Western Monks by May Fabyan Windeatt
St. Thomas More of London by Elizabeth M. Ince
The Paradiso by Dante Alighieri (Ciardi translation)
Seeds of the Word: Finding God in the Culture by Father (later Bishop) Robert Barron
My Sisters The Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbell
Masaoka Shiki: Selected Poems Translated by Burton Watson
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters by Annie Dillard
the sun and her flowers by Rupi Kaur
To Light A Fire On The Earth: Proclaiming The Gospel In A Secular Age by Bishop Robert Barron (with John Allen, Jr.)
The Aeneid For Boys and Girls by Alfred J. Church
Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff
King Lear by William Shakespeare

It was  typical year.

A number of books for school -  The Sword in the Stone, The Trumpeter of Krakow, The Aeneid For Boys and Girls, Black Ships Before Troy, and so on.

There are the Franciscan books or spiritual related books: To Light A Fire On The Earth: Proclaiming The Gospel In A Secular Age, The Lessons of St.Francis: How To Bring Simplicity and Spirituality Into Your Daily Life, Padre Pio: The True Story, My Sisters The Saints, and so on. 

And the poetry - child and adult: Blackberry Ink,  The Llama Who Had No Pajama,  Masaoka Shiki: Selected Poems, Four Hundred and Two Snails, New Selected Poems of Stevie Smith, etc. 

Some mysteries for fun: The Pilgrim of Hate, Brother Cadfael's Penance, and The Hermit of Eyton Forest. 

The Classics (some of which I had read before, but a long time ago): King Lear, The Screwtape Letters, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Paradiso, Joan of Arc, Wise Blood, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, and more.

The list includes some book I really enjoyed, such as Seeds of the Word: Finding God in the Culture, My Sisters The Saints, and, my favorite book of the year, Joan of Arc.

There were a few books I read because I had to (for school) or thought I needed to, but which I did not really enjoy. My biggest disappointment was the sun and her flowers - a book others touted that I found really weak and uninteresting.

I'm already starting a Christmas gift book - a biography of Mr. Rogers - and will be looking forward to reading a variety of poetry, classics, mysteries, and spiritual books in 2019.

Pax et bonum