What do you think?
Rate this book
Walking a Literary Labyrinth
Who of us doesn’t have a list of books that changed our life? Reflecting on her own reading life, Nancy Malone examines the influence of reading in how we define ourselves. Throughout, she likens the experience of reading to walking a labyrinth, itself a metaphor for our spiritual journey through life. The paths within the labyrinth are not straight, but winding, and in the end, it is not the small circle in the center that defines the self, but the whole grand design of the labyrinth—every experience, every person we meet, and every book we read—that makes us who we are.
Malone draws from diverse sources, both spiritual and secular—Virginia Woolf, Saint Augustine, E. E. Cummings, Paul Tillich, Nadine Gordimer, George Herbert, Sue Grafton, Henry James, George Eliot, James Joyce, Patrick O’Brien, E. M. Forster, Franz Kafka, Elie Wiesel, Margaret Atwood, and Tom Wolfe, to name a few. Her thoughtful and beautifully articulated examination of influential books takes in a broad range of subjects, including childhood reading; books as sacred objects; reading and social responsibility; “dangerous” reading, which challenges us to examine our prejudices and beliefs; poetry; and erotic literature. And Malone has compiled a recommended reading list to inspire readers to seek out the unfamiliar or return to old favorites.
In Walking a Literary Labyrinth, Malone invites all us readers, of every religious tradition, or none, to consider the influence of reading in our own lives—how and why particular books stay with us, how they shape us, and how they enlarge our humanity.
Malone draws from diverse sources, both spiritual and secular—Virginia Woolf, Saint Augustine, E. E. Cummings, Paul Tillich, Nadine Gordimer, George Herbert, Sue Grafton, Henry James, George Eliot, James Joyce, Patrick O’Brien, E. M. Forster, Franz Kafka, Elie Wiesel, Margaret Atwood, and Tom Wolfe, to name a few. Her thoughtful and beautifully articulated examination of influential books takes in a broad range of subjects, including childhood reading; books as sacred objects; reading and social responsibility; “dangerous” reading, which challenges us to examine our prejudices and beliefs; poetry; and erotic literature. And Malone has compiled a recommended reading list to inspire readers to seek out the unfamiliar or return to old favorites.
In Walking a Literary Labyrinth, Malone invites all us readers, of every religious tradition, or none, to consider the influence of reading in our own lives—how and why particular books stay with us, how they shape us, and how they enlarge our humanity.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published June 23, 2003
6 people are currently reading
384 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
April 24, 2013
Unusually for me, since joining GR, I have not leapt to write a review of this lovely book and that is for three reasons. Firstly, i have been busy about other stuff, secondly, and more significantly, Steve Kendall has already written a masterful review (of course) so mine feels rather superfluous and then thirdly, I am not quite sure what to say.
Normally when I am a bit stuck I just begin to type and then it comes and i can hack it to death before putting it up onto the site but that doesn't feel as if it will work here. Nancy Malone has written a wonderfully personal acccount of her growth as a human being using the people she has met, the experiences she has had and, majorly, the books she has read. However the whole point of her reflection is the convoluted nature of any of our journeys. They are never straightforward, they never follow a pre-planned path and they twist and turn and revolve and spin back on themselves with a passion, whether that passion comes from the people we meet or the books we read or more hopefully from both.
I just feel if i begin to type I would follow the same wondrously circuitous stroll or meander which would probably be quite fascinating for me (and any passing psychiatrist) but not so much for you, dear readers. So i shall not meander. I shall set up my stall and give you a thought or two whilst not straying too far from the simple path for there lies not madness but over-indulgence on my part which I do not need to inflict on you.
She is a a woman of faith. Faith in God, she is actually a catholic nun; Faith in the power of love to heal; Faith in the underlying goodness of people; Faith in the reality and indeed necessity of humour and Faith, most of all, in the power of book. One of my favourite quotations which i have framed on my wall is from Richard Hughes "Do your bit to prevent humanity from lapsing back into barbarity by reading all the novels you can". I think Malone would concur.
She sees the power of literature to transform and enable, to help us become more the people we are called to be. It is stating the obvious but still is a joyous challenge which I found wonderful simply because she delivers it so honestly, so humbly and so evidently as a woman who has journeyed along that road for quite some time.
Three statements struck me:
"It is our capacity to ask questions that go beyond what we already know that makes us self-transcending beings and puts us on the road to authenticity.........we zigzag between the authenticity that is achieved in self-transcendence and the inauthenticity of choosing or settling for less than we can be"
Here there is no pious judgement or churchy preaching or self-rightous sneering, she is a lovely example of a woman of faith who rejoices in the giftedness that brings to her but without the too often associative criticism of others who do not share that belief. She believes we are deeply loved by a God who made us but she does not force that on anyone else. What she does do here is point out the importance of imagination, of wonder and of wondering. The ability to explore ourselves that that enables in us. It reminded me of Ian McEwan's thought that imagination enables sensitivity. It was, to him, the inabilty of the hijackers of 9/11 to imagine the fears and horrors of their victims that made it possible for them to proceed. Imagination necessarily brings with it compassion.
The next statement was this:
"Only the novelist, the omnsicient author, can read the deepest silence in another human being, which is one reason among others that I count some novels as spiritual reading"
and linked was this
"As good serious fiction can, it disclosed to me, more vividly,more acurately, more articulately than my own memories, what my expereince had been"
It is this great recognition of the power of literature not just to entertain, not just to give us that cathartic moment but also to enable me to encounter, experience and understand another's life and indeed even my own. This reminded me of Salman Rushdie's thought that in literature we encounter the people from whom we might flee in 'real life'. Novels thus enable encounter.
The third was this
"Language is grammatically complex because we are........we don't experience oursleves or life simply, declaratively. We need subordinate clauses, compound-complex sentences to express the reality of who we are"
I just loved the clarity of this thought. Ironic, considering what she was actually talking about. However it is this irrational love of things which she also addresses, we cannot always put into words why we love something or indeed why we love someone but lets be happy that we do.
Two other small ideas she gave to me. One, the simple new shine on the old 'You are what you eat'. Her take was 'You are what you read'. The things we spend time with make and mould us and the power of this should never and can never be underestimated. However she is not being a literary snob; she is not drawing up a new list of banned or disreputable books but simply drawing our attention to the ability of literature to have an effect long after we close the covers.
This woman is catholic in more ways then just her convent. Towards the end of this lovely book she puts forward a great theory and one which I feel many members of GR would think a great thing. She suggests how the influences of secular writers has often had a far more profoundly inspiring effect upon her than have the canonized saints of the Roman Catholic Church. As a 'good catholic boy' I would wholeheartedly concur. Why not, she suggests, have a literary equivalent of 'All Saints' Day'. This being the day the Church celebrates those unknown and unheralded men and women who are in Heaven but unnoticed, unacclaimed. Literature, she says, is not made up of solely great moments, of magnificent works of depth and life changing profundity. Let us celebrate and honour, she says, the men and women who enable us to grow, to learn, to laugh and to become the people we might otherwise never imagine it possible to discover within ourselves.
Read this lovely, honest and deeply genuine account of one way in which a reader become more human.
ps. I still managed to ramble....sorry
Normally when I am a bit stuck I just begin to type and then it comes and i can hack it to death before putting it up onto the site but that doesn't feel as if it will work here. Nancy Malone has written a wonderfully personal acccount of her growth as a human being using the people she has met, the experiences she has had and, majorly, the books she has read. However the whole point of her reflection is the convoluted nature of any of our journeys. They are never straightforward, they never follow a pre-planned path and they twist and turn and revolve and spin back on themselves with a passion, whether that passion comes from the people we meet or the books we read or more hopefully from both.
I just feel if i begin to type I would follow the same wondrously circuitous stroll or meander which would probably be quite fascinating for me (and any passing psychiatrist) but not so much for you, dear readers. So i shall not meander. I shall set up my stall and give you a thought or two whilst not straying too far from the simple path for there lies not madness but over-indulgence on my part which I do not need to inflict on you.
She is a a woman of faith. Faith in God, she is actually a catholic nun; Faith in the power of love to heal; Faith in the underlying goodness of people; Faith in the reality and indeed necessity of humour and Faith, most of all, in the power of book. One of my favourite quotations which i have framed on my wall is from Richard Hughes "Do your bit to prevent humanity from lapsing back into barbarity by reading all the novels you can". I think Malone would concur.
She sees the power of literature to transform and enable, to help us become more the people we are called to be. It is stating the obvious but still is a joyous challenge which I found wonderful simply because she delivers it so honestly, so humbly and so evidently as a woman who has journeyed along that road for quite some time.
Three statements struck me:
"It is our capacity to ask questions that go beyond what we already know that makes us self-transcending beings and puts us on the road to authenticity.........we zigzag between the authenticity that is achieved in self-transcendence and the inauthenticity of choosing or settling for less than we can be"
Here there is no pious judgement or churchy preaching or self-rightous sneering, she is a lovely example of a woman of faith who rejoices in the giftedness that brings to her but without the too often associative criticism of others who do not share that belief. She believes we are deeply loved by a God who made us but she does not force that on anyone else. What she does do here is point out the importance of imagination, of wonder and of wondering. The ability to explore ourselves that that enables in us. It reminded me of Ian McEwan's thought that imagination enables sensitivity. It was, to him, the inabilty of the hijackers of 9/11 to imagine the fears and horrors of their victims that made it possible for them to proceed. Imagination necessarily brings with it compassion.
The next statement was this:
"Only the novelist, the omnsicient author, can read the deepest silence in another human being, which is one reason among others that I count some novels as spiritual reading"
and linked was this
"As good serious fiction can, it disclosed to me, more vividly,more acurately, more articulately than my own memories, what my expereince had been"
It is this great recognition of the power of literature not just to entertain, not just to give us that cathartic moment but also to enable me to encounter, experience and understand another's life and indeed even my own. This reminded me of Salman Rushdie's thought that in literature we encounter the people from whom we might flee in 'real life'. Novels thus enable encounter.
The third was this
"Language is grammatically complex because we are........we don't experience oursleves or life simply, declaratively. We need subordinate clauses, compound-complex sentences to express the reality of who we are"
I just loved the clarity of this thought. Ironic, considering what she was actually talking about. However it is this irrational love of things which she also addresses, we cannot always put into words why we love something or indeed why we love someone but lets be happy that we do.
Two other small ideas she gave to me. One, the simple new shine on the old 'You are what you eat'. Her take was 'You are what you read'. The things we spend time with make and mould us and the power of this should never and can never be underestimated. However she is not being a literary snob; she is not drawing up a new list of banned or disreputable books but simply drawing our attention to the ability of literature to have an effect long after we close the covers.
This woman is catholic in more ways then just her convent. Towards the end of this lovely book she puts forward a great theory and one which I feel many members of GR would think a great thing. She suggests how the influences of secular writers has often had a far more profoundly inspiring effect upon her than have the canonized saints of the Roman Catholic Church. As a 'good catholic boy' I would wholeheartedly concur. Why not, she suggests, have a literary equivalent of 'All Saints' Day'. This being the day the Church celebrates those unknown and unheralded men and women who are in Heaven but unnoticed, unacclaimed. Literature, she says, is not made up of solely great moments, of magnificent works of depth and life changing profundity. Let us celebrate and honour, she says, the men and women who enable us to grow, to learn, to laugh and to become the people we might otherwise never imagine it possible to discover within ourselves.
Read this lovely, honest and deeply genuine account of one way in which a reader become more human.
ps. I still managed to ramble....sorry
May 3, 2016
This is a peaceful read book. Reading two or three chapters a day, it was still a quick and easy read. And as positive and well appreciated and enjoyed. Nancy Malone through her own reading path and history over the years rather equates her reading examples to a meditation and prayer cognition. I've always thought that the best states of being lost and embedded within the written word ARE quite similar.
I'm not sure that this Sister is accurate about ALL reading in general for others equating in a similar fashion though. And she does make her definitions in this book sound universal. Because the core of the reading material itself (examples she has chosen), its onus of mood and slant toward selfless and positive human works matters to that particular reading "purpose" or result in core mood. All of Sister's do equate to being food for her soul, heart, life.
I'm not sure that this Sister is accurate about ALL reading in general for others equating in a similar fashion though. And she does make her definitions in this book sound universal. Because the core of the reading material itself (examples she has chosen), its onus of mood and slant toward selfless and positive human works matters to that particular reading "purpose" or result in core mood. All of Sister's do equate to being food for her soul, heart, life.
September 15, 2022
“For me the act of reading is like the act of eating… a devouring of words on the page… the fulfillment of some elemental need.” 💖
December 13, 2023
An interesting book, especially the biographical bits (the author is a nun) and the reading list suggestions. I also like the use of the labyrinth as an emblem for the process of reading: going deeper and deeper into the self, then coming back out into the world to live, using the insights gathered and processed. Recommended!
September 4, 2011
It's hard to know how to rate this book. It's sort of a personal essay on reading. Is it a good essay? Yes. The book has a religious bent to it. So, those who are not interested in God might find the book tiresome. The book is also a compendium—it's difficult to remember too much at the end of the book or to read the book in one gulp. Has the author persuaded me to want to read more? Yes. Has the author persuaded me that reading is a spiritual act? I don't know. But I'll try to read future books with a little more attention.
The book is enlightening in some ways. For example, Malone talks about the pleasure of wasting time for the sake of God, that the "primary purpose of prayer is the contemplation, appreciation, and praise of Goodness, Truth, Beauty, Holiness, Love," that prayer "is its own raison d'être." Oh! This means that the primary purpose of prayer is not to beg for stuff.
Malone quoting Romano Guardini in The Spirit of the Liturgy:
"The soul must learn to abandon, at least in prayer, the restlessness of purposeful activity; it must learn to waste time for the sake of God ... It must learn not to be continually yearning to do something, to attack something, to accomplish something useful, but to play the divinely ordained game of the liturgy of liberty and beauty and holy joy before God."
Lest you think the book is all about religious themes, Malone even gets into the erotic. Yep! Now, what would a nun know about the erotic. To be sure, the first reading she talked about here is from Song of Songs (also, Songs of Solomon): "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth (—for your love is more delightful than wine)." Song of Songs, of course, doesn't mention God. So, we have a book that is sensuous, even erotic, embedded in the Bible, and it begs the question of "why is the book in the Bible?" Well, if God orchestrated the putting together of the Bible, it may be that the subject—human love, that is—actually interests him. Of course, according to Malone, there are those who have provided spiritual explanations for the book. On the other hand, James Fischer says, according to Malone, let the book be without esoteric spiritual justification; human love is good.
The book has a list of books to read. I feel that I would like reading books that Malone enjoyed. So, my next task is to add a bunch of books to my to-read shelf from the list.
The book is enlightening in some ways. For example, Malone talks about the pleasure of wasting time for the sake of God, that the "primary purpose of prayer is the contemplation, appreciation, and praise of Goodness, Truth, Beauty, Holiness, Love," that prayer "is its own raison d'être." Oh! This means that the primary purpose of prayer is not to beg for stuff.
Malone quoting Romano Guardini in The Spirit of the Liturgy:
"The soul must learn to abandon, at least in prayer, the restlessness of purposeful activity; it must learn to waste time for the sake of God ... It must learn not to be continually yearning to do something, to attack something, to accomplish something useful, but to play the divinely ordained game of the liturgy of liberty and beauty and holy joy before God."
Lest you think the book is all about religious themes, Malone even gets into the erotic. Yep! Now, what would a nun know about the erotic. To be sure, the first reading she talked about here is from Song of Songs (also, Songs of Solomon): "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth (—for your love is more delightful than wine)." Song of Songs, of course, doesn't mention God. So, we have a book that is sensuous, even erotic, embedded in the Bible, and it begs the question of "why is the book in the Bible?" Well, if God orchestrated the putting together of the Bible, it may be that the subject—human love, that is—actually interests him. Of course, according to Malone, there are those who have provided spiritual explanations for the book. On the other hand, James Fischer says, according to Malone, let the book be without esoteric spiritual justification; human love is good.
The book has a list of books to read. I feel that I would like reading books that Malone enjoyed. So, my next task is to add a bunch of books to my to-read shelf from the list.
November 12, 2016
“Think, for instance, if the novels that spoke to you when you were eighteen, that you regard as superficial or exaggerated now. Or think of revisiting one of the classics, only to discover a different, deeper book than the one you read decades ago. It’s not the books that have changed. It’s you yourself.” – p. 2
“In good fiction I can observe the characters asking – or failing to ask, or wrongly answering – the questions that make us authentic human beings, true selves, the questions that are the very stuff of our lives, and the very stuff of literature, both tragic and comic.” – p. 32
“We need to be intelligent, discerning, responsible readers. You are what you eat, as the folk saying goes. And you are, in some ways, what you read.” – p. 35
“A good book can create a little hermitage for some people anywhere, even in an airport waiting room.” – p. 73
“In good novels, and I count Middlemarch among the best I have read, we can find pleasure – I do – in the close observation and insightful portrayal of human personalities, the complexity of our relationships, the ambiguity of our motives, and the immense power inherent in social structures to influence our lives, the forces that are arrayed against the human good.” – p. 99
“Language is grammatically complex because we are, our thoughts and feels and relationships are, because life is. We don’t experience ourselves, or life, simply, declaratively. We need subordinate clauses, compound-complex sentences to express the reality of who we are, to show what is more important or less important, just how one thought or feeling or situation is related to another. And we need a rich palette of words with their different, fine shares of meaning, from which to select just the right word.” – p. 122
“I can hardly conceive how limited my perception would be without the books I have been privileged to read, how superficial my understanding od others, how undeveloped my sympathies.” – p. 164
“In good fiction I can observe the characters asking – or failing to ask, or wrongly answering – the questions that make us authentic human beings, true selves, the questions that are the very stuff of our lives, and the very stuff of literature, both tragic and comic.” – p. 32
“We need to be intelligent, discerning, responsible readers. You are what you eat, as the folk saying goes. And you are, in some ways, what you read.” – p. 35
“A good book can create a little hermitage for some people anywhere, even in an airport waiting room.” – p. 73
“In good novels, and I count Middlemarch among the best I have read, we can find pleasure – I do – in the close observation and insightful portrayal of human personalities, the complexity of our relationships, the ambiguity of our motives, and the immense power inherent in social structures to influence our lives, the forces that are arrayed against the human good.” – p. 99
“Language is grammatically complex because we are, our thoughts and feels and relationships are, because life is. We don’t experience ourselves, or life, simply, declaratively. We need subordinate clauses, compound-complex sentences to express the reality of who we are, to show what is more important or less important, just how one thought or feeling or situation is related to another. And we need a rich palette of words with their different, fine shares of meaning, from which to select just the right word.” – p. 122
“I can hardly conceive how limited my perception would be without the books I have been privileged to read, how superficial my understanding od others, how undeveloped my sympathies.” – p. 164
August 20, 2011
I don't often read books in one sitting, but I stayed up until after 2 am to finish this one. It spoke to me on so many levels.
First, she shares my love of fiction and my apprecition of the form as a valid way to experience the world. Interestingly enough, my husband took an English class a few months ago, and the first essay he had to review was about how reading a book is like a conversation. In that author's opinion, only academic non-fiction was worthy of even being considered a book. I found it snobby and both my husband and I disagreed with his theory.
Miss Malone, on the other hand, proposes the same theory -- that reading a book is a conversation, only she includes fiction. Not only did I "get it" when she presented it, I felt I was actually having a conversation with her. I don't usually feel compelled to write in books, but I wrote in this one!
Miss Malone is also a believer in the right book coming into a person's life at the right time. I have had this book on my shelf for quite awhile, but this was certainly the right moment for me to be reading it. She candidly talks about her addiction to pills and her alcoholism. Until this point in my life I could not have understood what she went through. After the events of my life in this past year, not only do I understand but empathize with her.
Overall I felt such a sense of a "kindred spirit" with this author and her words about reading. It has had a huge impact on me.
First, she shares my love of fiction and my apprecition of the form as a valid way to experience the world. Interestingly enough, my husband took an English class a few months ago, and the first essay he had to review was about how reading a book is like a conversation. In that author's opinion, only academic non-fiction was worthy of even being considered a book. I found it snobby and both my husband and I disagreed with his theory.
Miss Malone, on the other hand, proposes the same theory -- that reading a book is a conversation, only she includes fiction. Not only did I "get it" when she presented it, I felt I was actually having a conversation with her. I don't usually feel compelled to write in books, but I wrote in this one!
Miss Malone is also a believer in the right book coming into a person's life at the right time. I have had this book on my shelf for quite awhile, but this was certainly the right moment for me to be reading it. She candidly talks about her addiction to pills and her alcoholism. Until this point in my life I could not have understood what she went through. After the events of my life in this past year, not only do I understand but empathize with her.
Overall I felt such a sense of a "kindred spirit" with this author and her words about reading. It has had a huge impact on me.
September 28, 2010
"Has it ever occurred to you that the acts of reading and meditation resemble each other in many ways?"
This was one of those books that I did not have on a list to read, but rather discovered shelved next to another title for which I went searching. Sometimes the paths we take to find books are circuitous. The author is an Ursuline nun, though that shouldn't prevent non-Catholic readers from enjoying her commentary about how reading has had an important role in shaping her personality and understanding of the world. Her metaphor is that of walking a labyrinth, a spiritual journey, in which a person travels to a center (true spiritual self) and then travels outward back into the world. She says that all our experiences of life, reading good fiction and non-fiction included, shapes who we become. She talks a lot about both secular and non-secular books that have been important to her, and there is a good list of recommended reading at the back of this slender volume. I enjoyed it very much, and added some titles to my list of books I want to read.
This was one of those books that I did not have on a list to read, but rather discovered shelved next to another title for which I went searching. Sometimes the paths we take to find books are circuitous. The author is an Ursuline nun, though that shouldn't prevent non-Catholic readers from enjoying her commentary about how reading has had an important role in shaping her personality and understanding of the world. Her metaphor is that of walking a labyrinth, a spiritual journey, in which a person travels to a center (true spiritual self) and then travels outward back into the world. She says that all our experiences of life, reading good fiction and non-fiction included, shapes who we become. She talks a lot about both secular and non-secular books that have been important to her, and there is a good list of recommended reading at the back of this slender volume. I enjoyed it very much, and added some titles to my list of books I want to read.
December 20, 2013
Loved her perspective on spirituality and reading. Some of my favorite quotes from the book: "we must never be afraid to go to far, for truth lies beyond". ( Marcel Proust)(133)
"No single book can satisfy us, either-- but many books to accompany us like intimate friends at each stage of the journey, to lead us yet closer to the truth that, as long as we live, lies beyond."(137)
"We choose what we see and how to see it." (163)
"But as Wayne Booth persuasively argues in The Company We Keep, 'spending long hours in the company of the 'right' literary friends and avoiding 'bad' (literary) company' is a choic that we make, and one with profound though subtle consequences for who we are."(175)
"No single book can satisfy us, either-- but many books to accompany us like intimate friends at each stage of the journey, to lead us yet closer to the truth that, as long as we live, lies beyond."(137)
"We choose what we see and how to see it." (163)
"But as Wayne Booth persuasively argues in The Company We Keep, 'spending long hours in the company of the 'right' literary friends and avoiding 'bad' (literary) company' is a choic that we make, and one with profound though subtle consequences for who we are."(175)
November 20, 2007
"She must be quite a character," my husband commented and that is probably true, but while Nancy Malone's gentle reflection on the act of reading is personal, she does not dominate the pages. Here is a voice carefully paying attention to how and why we read and what happens to us when we do. It is not abstract, but tangible; her story is that of Catholics coming of age in the last 50 years. I find myself saying, "Ah, yes, this is how reading illumines my life." She advocates reading for the sheer pleasure of it, and that's what reading Walking a Literary Labyrinth has been.
February 11, 2012
This book is written by a Catholic nun as she makes the case for how we learn about ourselves from reading books, she illustrates this with examples for her own life -- both the high moments and the low. I have re-read the prologue multiple times to more fully capture was she is saying. I found her message very powerful. I may try to read some selected books from her recommended reading list at the end.
January 15, 2013
Part memoir, part book about the spirituality of reading. The author is a Catholic nun, and I enjoyed reading about her story and the part that books have played in it. I also appreciated her thoughts on the role reading can play in our spirituality.
The only problem that I had with this book is that I ended up adding so many of the books she talks about to my TBR shelf - like I need more books to read!
The only problem that I had with this book is that I ended up adding so many of the books she talks about to my TBR shelf - like I need more books to read!
November 6, 2008
One of my favorite concepts from the book is that we all have our role in life and, for some of us, that role is to be readers and writers. I loved that! I often wonder what I have to show for a lifetime of reading and I still don't know,but now I feel that it has been the right use of my time and perhaps, someday, I will know why.
January 22, 2009
A wonderful book, which leads to a bit of introspection as well. I have been remiss in writing about it, I now realize, because I received it back today from a friend to whom I has given it on loan. She, too, thoroughly enjoyed it, though I think the Catholic tie in may have enchanted her more. What with literary nuns and all....that's always a comfort for a cradle Catholic.
June 17, 2007
Very impactful book.
October 7, 2016
This is written by a nun. There is a lot of memoir writing. It is funny. She writes brilliantly on sex in books.
June 21, 2025
Growing up in an Irish-Italian Connecticut family, becoming an Ursuline teaching nun as Vatican II changed the Church, getting a Harvard education, and winding up somehow with permission to have her own apartment with an enviable view of NYC, Nancy Malone seems lucky. Yet her battles with depression, insomnia, pills, and the bottle all enter this blended memoir and literary investigation.
Not my usual genre, but staying a weekend at a retreat house, found this and perused it it a couple of sittings. An appropriate choice for my surroundings. She touches on the sight of St Ambrose silently reading, which electrified his mentee Augustine, and brings in, sensibly, Walter Ong and Brian Stock. Yet I wanted more about the connection hinted at by her between contemplation and interior "voices."
The book suggestions are ok, but they didn't cause me to rush to look up "novel" choices, except for Beatrice Bruteau, who I never heard of. They lean towards the expected, and after her decades of serious pursuit of worthwhile study for enjoyment and edification, I guess I'm jaded, too traditional, and/or I already finished too many on her short list. I expected tougher fiber, taut analyses. She is an example of the promise and the problem with a Catholic contemporary perspective sixty years since the shifts which in opening up rigid walls and firm doors haven't met with the success anticipated.
Yet, post-conciliar informed credits for a pithy insight halfway in. Jesus' "mission was not to convert Jews to another religion, but to call them to fidelity with God. I understood that Christians, far from supplanting the Jews as God's chosen people, are privileged to share in their everlasting covenant. Because if that covenant is not everlasting, if God is not faithful to the Jews, then we're all in big trouble, Jews and Christians alike." (107) Is Paul Van Buren's Jewish-Christian theology here relevant?
By the way, the Irish Jesuit based in Japan who was the translator of Shusaku Endo's justly praised Silence (source of the great Scorsese adaptation) also did whichever Christian meditation title she fails to name: she merely suggests that he and Thomas Keating (Trappist monk and colleague of Merton) merit a nod, without any precise data. I know we can look it up, but this kind of incomplete coverage leaves this brief guide feeling too big font skimpy. More of a collection of thematic snippets, as it is...
Not my usual genre, but staying a weekend at a retreat house, found this and perused it it a couple of sittings. An appropriate choice for my surroundings. She touches on the sight of St Ambrose silently reading, which electrified his mentee Augustine, and brings in, sensibly, Walter Ong and Brian Stock. Yet I wanted more about the connection hinted at by her between contemplation and interior "voices."
The book suggestions are ok, but they didn't cause me to rush to look up "novel" choices, except for Beatrice Bruteau, who I never heard of. They lean towards the expected, and after her decades of serious pursuit of worthwhile study for enjoyment and edification, I guess I'm jaded, too traditional, and/or I already finished too many on her short list. I expected tougher fiber, taut analyses. She is an example of the promise and the problem with a Catholic contemporary perspective sixty years since the shifts which in opening up rigid walls and firm doors haven't met with the success anticipated.
Yet, post-conciliar informed credits for a pithy insight halfway in. Jesus' "mission was not to convert Jews to another religion, but to call them to fidelity with God. I understood that Christians, far from supplanting the Jews as God's chosen people, are privileged to share in their everlasting covenant. Because if that covenant is not everlasting, if God is not faithful to the Jews, then we're all in big trouble, Jews and Christians alike." (107) Is Paul Van Buren's Jewish-Christian theology here relevant?
By the way, the Irish Jesuit based in Japan who was the translator of Shusaku Endo's justly praised Silence (source of the great Scorsese adaptation) also did whichever Christian meditation title she fails to name: she merely suggests that he and Thomas Keating (Trappist monk and colleague of Merton) merit a nod, without any precise data. I know we can look it up, but this kind of incomplete coverage leaves this brief guide feeling too big font skimpy. More of a collection of thematic snippets, as it is...
March 25, 2023
I don't know how I ordered this book without knowing it was written by a nun or that many books would be associated with getting closer to God. I have no problems with nuns or God, it was just a surprise. I enjoyed this book and I love the book recommendation list in the back.
May 29, 2010
This book is written by a nun (which is fine, I have only vague philosophical objections to nuns as a general rule), and this is why I think she wrote it:
Nun: *reading 'The Left Hand of Darkness'*
Mother Superior: "Why, Nun, are you reading that heathen book? It's about hermaphrodites and non-heterosexual sex, which, as we learned in Deuteronomy, is so abhorrent that even reading about it will send the unrepentant straight to hell! Explain yourself!"
Nun: *Thinking, 'Oh, shit! I'm done for now!'* "But Mother Superior, all books enhance our spirituality and bring us closer to God by directing our thoughts to introspection and personal growth, much like walking a traditional pagan labyrinth. To read this book is to know the mind of the Creator, as revealed through unnatural sexual practice to my humble understanding! Reading is pure and Godly and should be encouraged to all sinners as a means of true reform."
Mother Superior: "Hmph. I won't believe that until I read it in a book."
************Several Years Later***************
Mother Superior: "Nun! Why are you reading that book? It's about the Greeks and the Greeks were all boy-lovers, which practice, as you know, is not presently in favor with the public. Explain yourself!"
Nun: "Here's a book I wrote about why I read. You should read it."
Mother Superior: "Jolly good! This book answers all my questions about reading and spirituality! Now I can go finish 'The Sexual Life of Catherine M.' with an untroubled conscience. Thank you ever so much, Nun."
Nun: *Resumes reading 'The Iliad.'
All jesting aside, I really get the impression that Malone wrote this book as a justification to her Catholic superiors for her guilty, voracious love of reading. I, for one, never thought it needed much explaining or justification. I do commend her general taste in reading material, however, even if I can't really get into murder mysteries.
Nun: *reading 'The Left Hand of Darkness'*
Mother Superior: "Why, Nun, are you reading that heathen book? It's about hermaphrodites and non-heterosexual sex, which, as we learned in Deuteronomy, is so abhorrent that even reading about it will send the unrepentant straight to hell! Explain yourself!"
Nun: *Thinking, 'Oh, shit! I'm done for now!'* "But Mother Superior, all books enhance our spirituality and bring us closer to God by directing our thoughts to introspection and personal growth, much like walking a traditional pagan labyrinth. To read this book is to know the mind of the Creator, as revealed through unnatural sexual practice to my humble understanding! Reading is pure and Godly and should be encouraged to all sinners as a means of true reform."
Mother Superior: "Hmph. I won't believe that until I read it in a book."
************Several Years Later***************
Mother Superior: "Nun! Why are you reading that book? It's about the Greeks and the Greeks were all boy-lovers, which practice, as you know, is not presently in favor with the public. Explain yourself!"
Nun: "Here's a book I wrote about why I read. You should read it."
Mother Superior: "Jolly good! This book answers all my questions about reading and spirituality! Now I can go finish 'The Sexual Life of Catherine M.' with an untroubled conscience. Thank you ever so much, Nun."
Nun: *Resumes reading 'The Iliad.'
All jesting aside, I really get the impression that Malone wrote this book as a justification to her Catholic superiors for her guilty, voracious love of reading. I, for one, never thought it needed much explaining or justification. I do commend her general taste in reading material, however, even if I can't really get into murder mysteries.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2013
This was a pleasant, companionable sort of book, though I got stuck for awhile toward the end. My favourite parts were all the memoir-ish stories about the author's early years as an Ursuline nun and the slow unfolding of her own reading life. In her retirement years, she received permission to live independently, so she moved to a little house in City Island in the Bronx, where she spends her days reading, writing, and swimming in the Long Island Sound. I loved her closing reflections about the value of reading and contemplation when there is so much all-hands-on-deck need in the world. She doesn't think there's an easy answer. But, she says, “You do what you were made to do. Some of us were made to read and write. Thanks be to God.”
May 15, 2007
In the same vein of "You are what you eat", I think that "You are what you READ", and your literary experiences shape your thinking.
I have made notes of all the books the author has read, and started to read (or re-read) some myself.
I have made notes of all the books the author has read, and started to read (or re-read) some myself.
January 31, 2009
I didn't read the last couple chapters of this disappointing book. There were a few bits that were good, but the author seemed too intent on making it a memoir. But instead of using her life experience to illuminate a "spirituality of reading" for others, it ended up just being about her.
April 15, 2011
This book seemed to me to be more like something one would write for a class or for personal exploration rather than a book to be published. When I finished the book, my first thought was "What was the point?" To me, it seemed a vanity press production.
September 6, 2007
Labyrinths fascinate me so this appealed immediately -- and I wasn't disappointed. Books, books and more on the topic. The labyrinth is an apt description.
Read
March 26, 2010Walking a Literary Labyrinth by Nancy M. Malone (2004)
June 11, 2011
A key premise is that all reading has the potential to be "spiritual" regardless of the label put on it (i.e. mystery, fiction, history) and that fiction can enhance us as much as non fiction.
January 29, 2012
A reading memoir from a reader geek nun. Yes, nun! She of course includes spiritual writing, but her characterizations of classics, poetry and Sue Grafton kept my interest.
August 17, 2015
I agree with another reviewer who commented that it had a few parts that were good, but that the author seemed too intent on making it a memoir
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews