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April 2025 Voting
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My votes go to The Last Ugly Person and the Mango Murders.
Our Lady of the ArtilectsChampions of the Rosary
The Last Ugly Person: And Other Stories, by Roger ThomasWith Two Eyes Into Gehenna, by Jane Lebak
I vote forChampion of Valdeor, by Sandralena Hanley, nominated and
The Fifth Level of Evolution by Manuel Alfonseca
Champions of the Rosary and Vipers’ Tangle
Our Lady of the ArtilectsThe Spirit of the Liturgy
Our Lady of the Artilects and Vipers' Tangle
Our Lady of the ArtilectsWith two eyes into Gehenna
The Spirit of Liturgy and Dilexit Nos
I vote for War Demons, by Russell S. Newquist and The Genius of Christianity or the Spirit and Beauty of the Christian Religion, by François-René de Chateaubriand,
The Last Ugly Person: And Other Stories, by Roger Thomas
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Dilexit Nos
Sex and the Unreal CityUnderstanding the Hillbilly Thomist
Champions of the RosaryThe Fifth Level of Evolution
Our Lady of the ArtilectsSex and the Unreal City
Sex and the Unreal City: The Demolition of the Western MindThe Spirit of the Liturgy
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Sex and the Unreal City
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The Catholic Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Catatonia (other topics)Champion of Valdeor (other topics)
Champions of the Rosary (other topics)
The Fifth Level of Evolution (other topics)
The Genius of Christianity or the Spirit and Beauty of the Christian Religion (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Courtney Stephen Crane (other topics)Sandralena Hanley (other topics)
Donald H. Calloway (other topics)
Manuel Alfonseca (other topics)
François-René de Chateaubriand (other topics)
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The book(s) with the most votes will be our BOTM. If there is a tie, the moderator uses a random list generator to determine the order and they are all read over however many months. Books that receive fewer than 2 votes will be removed from the Voting List, with those that receive 1 vote being placed at the end of the Nominations List.
Voting will end at approximately 11:00 AM Eastern Time on Wednesday, February 19.
The Voting List for April is:
Catatonia by Courtney Stephen Crane, nominated by Courtney
Catatonia is a penetrating examination of the idea of freedom in the 21st century. It is a spiritual and psychological drama centered around Bella Benfont, a constantly self-analysing young woman caught between her fading loyalty to her mother’s Catholicism and the new idea of freedom espoused by the monomaniacal Nicholas Shelley, the self-styled Apex of The Evolution of the Individual. It is a story of tragic intensity propelled by deeply-imagined characters brought to vivid life and an unrelenting pace that leaves readers breathless.
Voting History: March 2025: 2
Champion of Valdeor, by Sandralena Hanley, nominated by Fonch
Alloryn faces a mythical creature to win a fabled sword, is taken under the wing of a mysterious mentor, and sets out to find the lost Princess Lauressa. Her quest is to free the land from cruel rulers and the evil warlord over them all who usurped her throne. Together they search for stones of power, which they win by practicing a corresponding virtue, while facing foes and dangers from every side. During their travels they make many allies, who join with them against the tyrannical warlord in the final battle for the kingdom.
Voting History: March 2025: 4
Champions of the Rosary by Donald H. Calloway, nominated by Ann
From the best-selling author of the classic Catholic conversion story, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy by Fr. Donald H. Calloway, comes a powerful and comprehensive history of a spiritual weapon: the rosary.
Voting History: NONE
The Fifth Level of Evolution by Manuel Alfonseca, nominated by Manuel
The theory of evolution is well established by scientific evidence, but it is far from explaining everything. Some puzzles are still pending, whose resolution does not seem to be immediate. Does evolution have a direction? Many biologists deny it, but reality is different. If we measure the amount of information available to each living being throughout the history of life, we can see a steady increase. Human society seems to be building, since a few decades, a new super-organism, in which the role of the nervous system is represented by the Internet. However, that nervous system has no head. Does that mean we are going towards the fifth level of evolution? This book attempts to answer this question and argues that the fifth level is not a modern idea, but has somehow been known for two thousand years.
Voting History: NONE
The Genius of Christianity or the Spirit and Beauty of the Christian Religion, by François-René de Chateaubriand, nominated by Fonch
The Genius of Christianity or The Spirit and Beauty of the Christian Religion is a book written by Viscount Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand, a French writer and diplomat, in 1802. The book is an exploration of the Christian faith and its impact on human civilization, culture, and society. De Chateaubriand argues that Christianity is the most sublime and beautiful religion, and that it has played a crucial role in shaping the Western world.The book is divided into four parts, each of which deals with a different aspect of Christianity.
Voting History: NONE
The Last Ugly Person: And Other Stories, by Roger Thomas, nominated by Steven R.
What would happen if … a society ever actually succeeded in eliminating its undesirable members? … a man was asked to travel through a land he did not know to bring a prisoner before a king he had never seen? The tales in The Last Ugly Person and Other Stories explore these and other themes using a variety of mythological settings. Both entertaining and thought provoking, these short stories are novellas written from an unapologetically Christian viewpoint. Awash in hope, yet fully recognizing the agony of sin and destruction, these stories avoid both sugary unreality and bleak pessimism, weaving instead a rich and intricate tapestry that reflects the complex ways in which man responds to the call of Christ.
Voting History: NONE
The Mango Murders, by Mara Campos, nominated by Madeleine
All is not what it seems in Old San Juan, in the Pio Nono home for boys, in the life of the island's most famous artist, or in the memories of his models. Detective Sergeant Julio Ramos and gringo FBI agent Steve Halloran work in uneasy alliance to catch a serial killer with a penchant for mangoes and a need to avenge lost love and innocence lost to corrupt priests. A shadowy puppet master lies behind it all. To come to truth, the investigators have to face their own painful issues, and even their targets must choose between light or darkness. In language, memory, race, and blood, the novel tells the story of the burden and the promise of recovered identity.
Voting History: November 2024: 2; March 2025: 2
Our Lady of the Artilects, by Andrew Gillsmith, nominated by Andrew
World leaders are on edge when reports start coming in of next generation androids having strange, apocalyptic visions of a lady in white. But when an Artilect belonging to the wealthiest man in Africa shows up at Our Lady of Nigeria basilica claiming to be possessed, the stakes are raised. The Vatican sends Father Gabriel Serafian, an exorcist who left behind a brilliant career as a neuroscientist, to Benin City to investigate...and to figure out who is behind what must surely be a hack.
Voting History: NONE
The Purple Robe, David Dean, nominated by David
Rumors rising out of the Yucatan jungle report healings and miracles attributed to a holy relic. Father Pablo Diego Corellas discovers that even his own parishioners are making secret pilgrimages to the decrepit plantation where it is held. There, Doña Josefa, a mysterious woman who is either mystic or mad, possesses an artifact that she claims is a fragment of the robe worn by Christ at his trial. Guarded by armed Mayan farmers, she holds sway over an ever-growing number of pilgrims desperate for the healing power of the Purple Robe.
Voting History: March 2025: 3
Sex and the Unreal City: The Demolition of the Western Mind, by Anthony M. Esolen, nominated by John
Unreal City: a zany cartoon megalopolis where towers are built of cotton candy, facts scatter like pixie dust, and the truth is whatever you feel it to be.
And it's no fantasy. It's where we live. "We dwell in Unreal City. We believe in un-being."
Voting History: July 2024: 2; October 2024: 2; November 2024: 3; March 2025: 3
The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Ratzinger nominated by John
Considered by Ratzinger devotees as his greatest work on the Liturgy, this profound and beautifully written treatment of the great prayer of the Church will help readers rediscover the Liturgy in all its hidden spiritual wealth and transcendent grandeur as the very center of our Christian life. In his own foreward to the book, Cardinal Ratzinger compares this work to a much earlier classic of the same title by Romano Guardini because Ratzinger feels that his insights here are similar with what Guardini achieved in his time regarding a renewed understanding of the Liturgy.
Voting History: NONE
Understanding the Hillbilly Thomist: The Philosophical Foundations of Flannery O’Connor’s Narrative Art by Damian Ference, nominated by Fergus, Quondam Happy Face
Flannery O’Connor is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Her novels and short stories―shockingly violent, absurdly comic, spiritually potent―continue to entertain, beguile, and transform readers of all backgrounds to this day. For many encountering them for the first time, O’Connor’s stories of backwoods prophets and outcasts feel strangely nihilistic and dark. Others familiar with her letters and essays appreciate the deep Catholic understanding of sin and grace that animates them. In this new book, Fr. Damian Ference proposes a more precise lens for decoding Flannery O’Connor’s narrative art, one that originates in O’Connor’s own words about Hillbilly Thomism. The author examines the various ways in which St. Thomas Aquinas and the philosophical tradition of Thomism shaped not only O’Connor’s view of reality but also the stories she told to help us see and know it.
Voting History: NONE
Vipers' Tangle by François Mauriac, nominated by Susan
Vipers’ Tangle tells the story of Monsieur Louis, an embittered aging lawyer who has spread his misery to his entire estranged family. Louis writes a journal to explain to them—and to himself—why his soul has been deformed, why his heart seems like a foul nest of twisted serpents. Mauriac’s novel masterfully explores the corruption caused by pride, avarice, and hatred, and its opposite—the divine grace that remains available to each of us until the very moment of our deaths.
Voting History: March 2024: 3; March 2024: 3; June 2024: 3; August 2024: 2; October 2024: 3; November 2024: 4; March 2025: 2
War Demons, by Russell S. Newquist, nominated by Fonch
Driven by vengeance, Michael Alexander enlisted in the Army the day after 9/11. Five years later, disillusioned and broken by the horrors he witnessed in Afghanistan, Michael returns home to Georgia seeking to begin a new life. But he didn't come alone. Something evil followed him, and it's leaving a path of destruction in its wake. The police are powerless. The Army has written Michael off. Left to face down a malevolent creature first encountered in the mountains of Afghanistan, he’ll rely on his training, a homeless prophet, and estranged family members from a love lost… But none of them expected the dragon.
Voting History: March 2025: 2
With Two Eyes Into Gehenna, by Jane Lebak, nominated by Steven R.
Rome, 1562. It’s the era of the Index of Banned Books and the Roman Inquisition. Kings still burn heretics. The worst threats come from within the Church itself. Only seventeen, Magdalena killed a priest who tried to rape her within the walls of her convent. His powerful family will see her executed, and then they’ll destroy her mother and young sister. Instead, the pope makes an offer. To save her life and protect her family, Magdalena can disappear into a secret religious order, one with a demanding physical regimen to go along with the prayers. She’ll pray the psalms and learn to climb walls. She’ll sharpen her mind and fine-tune her body. Perfected, she’ll infiltrate the Council of Trent.
Voting History: March 2025: 3
Dilexit nos - He loved us: Encyclical letter about the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus-Christ by Pope Francis, nominated by Manuel, from the Current Interest List