Year: 2015

{Review} Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives – The Story of Christmas

Posted December 24, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

{Review} Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives – The Story of ChristmasJesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives by Pope Benedict XVI
Series: Jesus of Nazareth
Publisher: Image (2012)
Hardcover (127 pages)
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2015 Alphabet Soup, 2015 What's In A Name?, Read 2015

Synopsis

New York Times Bestseller! The momentous third and final volume in the Pope’s international bestselling Jesus of Nazareth series, detailing how the stories of Jesus’ infancy and childhood are as relevant today as they were two thousand years ago.
In 2007, Joseph Ratzinger published his first book as Pope Benedict XVI in order “to make known the figure and message of Jesus.” Now, the Pope focuses exclusively on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life as a child. The root of these stories is the experience of hope found in the birth of Jesus and the affirmations of surrender and service embodied in his parents, Joseph and Mary. This is a story of longing and seeking, as demonstrated by the Magi searching for the redemption offered by the birth of a new king. It is a story of sacrifice and trusting completely in the wisdom of God as seen in the faith of Simeon, the just and devout man of Jerusalem, when he is in the presence of the Christ child. Ultimately, Jesus’ life and message is a story for today, one that speaks to the restlessness of the human heart searching for the sole truth which alone leads to profound joy.

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{Review} City of Saints: A Pilgrimage to John Paul II’s Kraków

Posted December 23, 2015 in Faith, Reading, Review / 0 Comments

{Review} City of Saints: A Pilgrimage to John Paul II’s KrakówCity of Saints by George Weigel
Publisher: Image (2015)
Paperback (336 pages)
Via: Blogging for Books
Rating:

Synopsis

“Karol Wojtyła, Pope John Paul II, was a man whose life was the expression of a richly textured and multidimensional soul. The many layers of that soul took on their first, mature form in Kraków.” – George Weigel
In this beautifully illustrated spiritual travelogue,
New York Times bestselling author George Weigel leads readers through the historic streets of Kraków, Poland, introducing one of the world’s great cities through the life of one of the most influential Catholic leaders of all time.
“To follow Karol Wojtyła through Kraków is to follow an itinerary of sanctity while learning the story of a city.” Weigel writes. “Thus, in what follows, the story of Karol Wojtyła, St. John Paul II, and the story of Kraków are interwoven in a chronological pilgrimage through the life of a saint that reveals, at the same time, the dramatic history and majestic culture of a city where a boy grew into a man, priest, a bishop—and an apostle to the world.”
With stunning photographs by Stephen Weigel and notes on the city’s remarkable fabric by Carrie Gress, City of Saints offers an in-depth look at a man and a city that made an indelible impression on the life and thought of the Catholic Church and the 21st century world.

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{TTT} Books on My Christmas Wishlist

Posted December 22, 2015 in Reading / 12 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s list is the Top Ten Books on My Christmas Wishlist. Well, I have more than ten books that I would love to receive for Christmas but I’ll limit this to the possibilities. That means I’m only going to list three. These are the three that I have been talking to my family about the most and so they are actual possibilities.

Illustrated Harry Potter
The Raven BoysThe Rose and the Dagger
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{Review} Winter – Will Cinder Really be able to Start a Revolution?

Posted December 21, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

{Review} Winter – Will Cinder Really be able to Start a Revolution?Winter by Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (2015)
Hardcover (824 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress
Also in this series: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress
Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling, 2015 Finishing the Series, Read 2015

Synopsis

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.
Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.
Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

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{F56} City of Saints

Posted December 18, 2015 in Faith, Reading / 16 Comments

City of Saints

I have been wanting to read this book for quite some time. When I saw that it was available for request on Blogging for Books, I jumped at it. As you may have recalled me mentioning, I will be going to Poland in July for World Youth Day 2016 Kraków so this book is perfect timing. Through the book, I am learning the history of Poland and Kraków through the biography of Pope Saint John Paul II.

From City of Saints: A Pilgrimage to John Paul II’s Kraków by George Weigel:

Discerning a vocation is a matter of learning the truth about oneself, accepting that truth, and living that truth. That takes courage – and courage was another of the cardinal virtues that Karol Wojtyła began to display in his Dębniki years.

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