Reading has always been a part of my life.  I have my father to thank for that.  So when the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown first began in March of this year, I looked forward to two weeks of just reading book after book.  As you are well aware, two weeks turned into six months and counting.

I still have a stack of paperbacks and hardcovers to be read and hundreds of ebooks between two devices loaded and ready, but I did get some books read and I’m happy about that.

I mixed things up a bit.  Here are the books I read and highly recommend for the soul and spirit that I reviewed on CatholicMom.com which you can read at the links below:

Everyday Catholicism Chicken Soup for the Soul

The Inner Chapel by Becky Eldredge

A Year with the Mystics by Kathryn Lopez

Radical Saints, 21 Women for the 21st Century by Melanie Rigney

Dorothy Day:  The World Will be Saved by Beauty by Kate Hennessy

In between these books, I opted for some fiction.  One of my favorite genres is historical fiction and the Henry XVIII era.  One of my favorite authors for those types of books is Alison Weir.  At the end of each of her books, she explains why she wrote the story she did based on her research.  That’s a fascinating read in and of itself!

I read Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen, the first in Alison Weir’s Six Tudor Queens series a few years ago.  I read Anne Boleyn, A King’s Obsession and Katheryn Howard, The Scandalous Queen during the pandemic.

I didn’t read them in order, and I don’t think it’s necessary to do so.  All of them were excellent, in my opinion.  The last, one, Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife  will be out in May of 2021.

What I find fascinating about these novels is how the Catholic Church was torn apart by one of its most ardent defenders, King Henry XVIII, simply due to his own desperate need for a legitimate heir.

In another lifetime, I read The First Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders.  It is an old-fashioned police novel.  In this book, the reader already knows who did it.  It’s just a matter of how the main character, Edward X Delaney will catch the killer.

Which lead me to The Third Deadly Sin (also by Sanders).  Once again it went on sale, so I purchased it.  It’s another great, old-fashioned detective read.  The reader knows who did it, but that didn’t make this book any less suspenseful as the end approached.  I was happy to discover I have the second novel in the four book series.

During the pandemic, I discovered Adam Selzer of Mysterious Chicago on Facebook.  His live “virtual tours” of  current cemeteries and bars no longer in existance made staying in fun again.  He is a prolific author and his H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil is a detailed account of what Holmes actually did do.

Reading books during the COVID-19 pandemic has kept me happy during this challenging time.  I hope my suggestions add to your happiness also.

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