There are two sorts of books in my life at the moment: books to bind and books to read. This last week was dominated by books to bind as I started my new job on Monday and it didn’t leave me with much energy for anything else! It is good to have started and I think that it will work out well, but it will take some settling into – it’s not so much the work that is tiring as the process of adapting, learning how things are done here and how particular processes work.
However, in order to not entirely lose track of other sorts of books, it may be as well to mention the following.
- On the way home from work yesterday I went via the Catholic Bookshop and bought Father Gabriel (Bunge)’s Earthen Vessels: The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition
which I had seen that they had the previous week. It had long been on my to-be-read list, especially since someone I respect had seriously recommended it to me about a year ago. However, I only had access to it in French, and glancing through it saw that it was clearly worth reading really seriously which would have required sitting with my nose in a dictionary, and so decided to wait until I could find it in English. I’ll write more about it again, but, for those who don’t know who Father Gabriel is, there is more here and here.
- Yesterday I also received an email offering me a review copy of Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon’s The One And The Many
. It is the first time that I’ve been offered a review copy (on the recommendation of a friend – I have my suspicions who it was, but will not say more except that I am grateful). I have occasionally thought of approaching publishers for review copies but haven’t got that far yet. Plus, I have sort of wondered if publishers wouldn’t be inclined to blacklist me for posting too many quotes.
- However, it doesn’t seem that this deters people from actually buying books. I mentioned a few months ago that I’d become an Amazon associate which means that if people buy books as a result of clicking on my links I get a small commission. While I did not expect this to become hugely lucrative, it has added up so that I was recently able to order two books. Father John Behr’s The Way to Nicaea should hopefully get here soon and which will provide a reading project that I had hoped to start a couple of years ago. And I recently ordered The Festal Menaion
(it’s actually cheaper here) as that is something that I do need to have and it’s probably good to get it as soon as I can.
Of course it would be fun if the two sorts of books could be combined, i.e. if I could bind some of the one’s that I read. I may do that with some of the liturgical ones if I have time. And I am tempted to restore the battered version of Newman’s Apologia that I bought recently, but suspect that I am going to have to prioritise time and energy…
November 6, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Metropolitan John’s book sounds very interesting – a former teacher of mine (Father Norris Clarke, S.J.) wrote a book with the same title, and given the influence of French personalism upon both men I suspect that the two works are not radically dissimilar.
Regarding the Festal Menaion, I hope you didn’t have to pay a price like those quoted on Amazon – it’s available for much less in a high-quality reprint from St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press here in Pennsylvania, which is why I was surprised the copies listed at Amazon are so expensive.
November 6, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Thanks for picking that up, Joe. I’ve changed the link to a cheaper edition although I see that getting it from St Tikhon’s direct works out cheaper. I actually ordered a second hand copy which worked out cheaper, although Amazon don’t seem to want to post second hand things to SA from the USA; this one was from Britain and that didn’t seem to be a problem.
November 6, 2010 at 8:07 pm
how lovely that you were able to get these books. Am glad for you!
November 6, 2010 at 9:16 pm
I recently acquired Fr Gabriel’s book as well, and as a proof-reader received a comp copy of Met. John’s book. I too have my suspicions about who mentioned your name for a review copy of the latter….
November 6, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Aaron, yes, I rather suspected that it was you as I remembered that you’d been proof-reading it. Many thanks, assuming I’m correct!
November 7, 2010 at 10:28 pm
When I picked up my copy of Earthen Vessels in 2006, I bought 2 other books. Of the 3 authors, one is still Cistercian but reads Orthodox writers and the other two have become Orthodox! Little did I know where I was headed.
It’s nice of you to give a heads-up on what you might be reading. That way those of us who have the book might reread ours and then we can all have a sort of “book group” experience.
Think of this as your little ministry…
I have been thinking of you getting settled into the job. Know that you are supported by the prayers of many!