Father Joe
Father Joe by Tony Hendra was a sweet and interesting read. I didn’t cry as several of the “jacket commentators” claimed they did, but I did thoroughly enjoy the book. Having inclinationstoward a monkish existence myself I really just enjoyed the narrative about the cloister. I also really enjoyed the commentary about the horror of post-Vatican II services. I incline rather strongly toward a Latin mass/Gregorian chant aesthetic (though I’m actually not even Catholic and, while high-church Protestant, attend low-church services).
I’m still in the middle of three different books despite finishing Father Joe. I just started Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon. the man is smart and precocious and while I find him inspiring I also find him intimidating. My book will be trying to do many of the things he’s already done and done masterfully well. So while he provokes me to deeper thought and corrects some of my thought patterns, I sometimes feel like he’s said it all already and it won’t matter if I break out my pen or not. Sigh.