Thursday, January 05, 2012

Books, Glorious Books!

Booklists abound in Blogland! This makes me beatifically happy!

Jen Fulwiler asked a number of bloggers, including moi, to recommend "just one book" for 2012. Find her compilation of recommendations here at the National Catholic Register, along with plenty of other suggestions in the combox.

The seventh edition of "Best Books I Read" is up at Ignatius Insight. Funny: I found the Ignatius list in its first year of existence (2006) when I was new to blogging. I shared my list of books read in 2005 and -- no surprise -- the recommendation I gave to Jen for this year was on the '05 list, too. I meant it when I said that I "turn and return" to the spiritually evergreen Abandonment to Divine Providence.

Happy Catholic's list is here.

My pal Lissa blogged about her 2011 books here.

Here is Mental Multivitamin's list of books read in 2011.

And -- oooh! Possibly the mother lode! -- Go visit Semicolon to overdose on booklists.

10 comments:

Kimberlee said...

Happy New Year, Karen!
Is the edition of the book you linked to (Beevers) the one you have? Or do you have the Ignatius or Tan ones (which have an Imprimatur)? I am confused as there are so many versions, and the reviews imply the translation is important. Help?!

Lissa said...

Mmmm, booklists. Sometimes I think I like reading them more than reading actual, you know, books!

Karen Edmisten said...

Lissa, I know, right?!

Kimberlee, happy new year to you, too!

Yes, I have the Beevers translation, the one I linked to.

When you read the Amazon reviews, you can see that not all reviews apply to the edition one is looking at.

For example, some of the reviews under on the Beevers page say things such as, "Horrid translation!" but when you look closely, you'll see a note (just under the reviewer's name) specifying which edition or translation the reviewer wrote about, and those negative reviews are about a different edition (and often say, "Get the Beevers one instead.")

It's annoying that Amazon groups all reviews together under one title, no matter the edition, because, as you say, translation matters with a book like this.

Does that help at all?

Kimberlee said...

Yes, thank you!

Colleen said...

I love all the book recommendations around the blogosphere right now, too. The only problem is, now my list of books that I want to read is so long that it will probably take me years to get through them all!

Melanie Bettinelli said...

I'm kind of afraid to go look at everyone's book lists. I'm only one fifth of the way through Middlemarch and am determined I'm going to finish it. I greatly fear I will be seduced if I look at too many suggestions. I would love to resolve that in 2012 I will finish all the books I begin. Heck, I'd love to go back and finish all the books I started and didn't finish in 2011. But the siren song calls so sweetly... more and more and more books luring me ever onward.

Which I suppose is another way of saying what Lissa said. I love the book lists more than finishing the books.

Danae said...

Thanks for all of the links! I agree with Lissa and Melanie, although it is helpful to have that TBR list, just in case the well of books ever runs dry! As if that would ever happen. :)

Karen Edmisten said...

Yeah, my TBR pile is distressingly high. And yet somehow, it doesn't distress me. :)

The Bookworm said...

Ooh! Having fun with the Semicolon lists!

Karen Edmisten said...

Ditto. :)