On the Nightstand: July 2015

Dorothy Day. Frances Perkins, our country’s longest serving labor secretary.  St. Monica–and her son, St. Augustine of Hippo– along with George C. Marshall, Samuel Johnson, and others. New York Times columnist and pundit David Brooks‘ new book looks at what he calls our “eulogy” virtues: kindness, bravery, honesty, or faithfulness. As you can tell by… Continue reading On the Nightstand: July 2015

On the Nightstand: June 2015

I’m headed for central South Dakota later this month–Oacoma, to be exact, a town of about 450 people that’s nineteen miles from where my great-grandparents homesteaded and twenty-five miles from where my father grew up. We’re having a Rigney family reunion, the first I’ve ever attended. And so, it seemed like the perfect time to… Continue reading On the Nightstand: June 2015

On the Nightstand: May 2015

A novel is on my nightstand again this month, and I can’t wait to dig in. It’s Still Life by Christa Parrish. It’s the story of two very different women–one raised in a fringe religious sect, one who’s wandering through an unhappy marriage. They encounter each other when the second woman gives up her seat on a… Continue reading On the Nightstand: May 2015

On the Nightstand: April 2015

I don’t read as much fiction as I once did, which makes me sad sometimes. But that sort of reading seems to get crowded out by the daily readings, devotions, and writings by or about the saints. Not this month! I met Bill Peak, the author of The Oblate’s Confession,at a writers’ conference in February,… Continue reading On the Nightstand: April 2015