Welcome to the December 2025 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!
My husband is seemingly unable to pass the book kiosk in the narthex of our church without taking a book. That’s how he came home with The Roots of Violence by Vincent P. Miceli, S.J. These first sentences from the Introduction made me pause: “We are living in an era whose atmosphere is saturated with the flames of hatred. It is an age of violence whose tempo of disruption is so rapidly escalating that there is scarcely a city anywhere in the world where humans can be assured of normal, physical security.” Sounds accurate. What made me pause was that this book was first published in 1989. How very far we’ve fallen since then! The book examines the roots of violence, the nature of violence, and more, using examples from ancient to modern times.
The Music Box, the fourth book in Crystal Walton’s Love in Willow Creek series, grabbed me from the first pages. Tension and stakes are higher in this book than the previous novels, and I’ve found it hard to put down this story of Lily (and her mysterious past) and Army Seargent Everette (home on leave). Definitely my favorite book of this sweet small town romance series, thus far.
I re-read several of Catholic Teen Books’ exquisite corpses as I prepared to publish them as eBooks. What’s an exquisite corpse, you ask? A series of authors collaborate on a short story following a prompt, in this case provided by Jedlie from the Reading with Your Kids podcast. Only the final author knows the outcome until we read our parts aloud for the podcast recording. It is such fun! I re-read The Gift of the Angel Tree, a story of grief, bitterness, and welcoming strangers set in late 19th-century Chicago and A Lack of Christmas Spirits, a contemporary story of a contentious youth group whose members unite for a service project and end up doing more than spreading a little Christmas cheer.
My oldest son took a little break from historical books for a little philosophy. He read Plato’s Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Criot, Meno, Phaedo. The Socratic dialogue was interesting, and he was able to see what I call the proto-Christian thought of ancient philosophers.
He also read The Servile State by Hillaire Belloc. In this political work, Belloc proposes that socialist doctrine affects capitalism, producing what he describes as the servile state, in which man lives in a sort of slavery to maintain his existence. I read my son’s full summary of the work found it compelling based on my observations of our current political and economic systems.
Returning to history, my son is currently reading Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears, a one-volume account of the bloody three-day Pennsylvania battle considered the turning point in the American Civil War. This account of the campaign takes a modern, more balanced view of the battle and General Lee, and is a good platform for diving into other books about the battle.
My high school daughter won a signed copy of Kayleigh McEnany’s For Such a Time as This: My Faith Journey through the White House and Beyond at the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation’s banquet, at which McEnany spoke. She’s enjoyed the (often humorous) anecdotes the author shares and while the writing is adequate, she thought perhaps a narrative style isn’t the author’s strong suit.
In class, my daughter is also reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. The main event of the play is the marriage of Theseus, Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta. And, of course, there are the forest fairies. I think my daughter was surprised at the humor (courtesy of Puck, I’m sure).
My middle school daughter quickly read Leslea Wahl’s all for One series, which includes four episodes with characters from Wahl’s two novel-length series. The stories, featuring Jack and Sophie from the Blindside series and Ryan and Josie from the Finding Faith series, are emblematic of Wahl’s writing featuring adventure, mystery, humor, and romance.
My middle school son read Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein, which he enjoyed. His sister loved this one when she read it! A famous game-maker hosts a lock-in on opening night at the new town library that he designed. The kids need to solve every clue and puzzle to find their way out.
He also read The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage, a Mo & Dale Mystery. An inherited old inn harbors a ghost, and Mo and Dale are on the case to find out about the haunting. From the description: “a laugh out loud, ghostly Southern mystery.” My son enjoyed this one, which turned out to be not so scary once he got into it.
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Wow, I was not expecting to see that publication year for The Roots of Violence! That book sounds fascinating and I am adding it to my list. Thanks for sharing and hosting the linkup!
Right? That stopped my husband in his tracks.