Every few months, I sit down with a colleague or friend of the magazine to discuss a book that may hold a special interest for America readers. Usually a novel, the books are chosen based their artistry and the ways in which--implicitly or explicitly--they address Catholic themes.
The most recent edition of the America Book Club considers the 2009 National Book Award Winner, Let the Great World Spin. Inspired by Philip Petit's famous tight-rope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, Colum McCann's is told from multiple perpectives and explores themes of beauty, coincidence and grace. My conversation about the book with Kevin Spinale, S.J., a Jesuit scholastic and rabid fiction fan, has just been posted to our site.
Listen to our discussion of Let the Great World Spin.
Last summer, the book club took up Brooklyn, Colm Toibin's story of a young Irish woman's journey to adulthood in an unfamiliar country.
Listen to my conversation about Brooklyn with James Keane, S.J.
And the first edition of the book club centered on up Andrew O'Hagan's Be Near Me, a novel about an Oxford-educated Catholic priest who settles down in a working class Scottish town.
Listen to our discussion of Be Near Me.
Have an idea for our next book? Drop a note in the comments boxes below or email me directly.
Tim Reidy
"Be Near Me" was an EXCELLENT book.
Maybe I'll have to get "Let the Great World Spin" and read it now.