Books of historical fiction that engaged me in 2025: The Ghosts of Rome, Joseph O’Çonnor; The Book Thief, Markus Zusak; The Sound of Murder, Joseph Zellnik; Sweet Sorghum Winter, Melanie Hill .
Books by my favorite espionage and thriller writer, Frederick Forsythe, RIP: Fox and Revenge of Odessa, (with Tom Kent).
Books on families & moral courage in WW II that lifted me in 2025: Family of Spies, Christine Kuehn; No Dram of Mercy, Sybil Kathigasu; The Sower of Black Field: Inspired by the True Story of an American in Nazi Germany, Katherine Koch; The Paris Library, Janet Skeslien Charles.
Books on artificial intelligence and human soul that awakened me in 2025: All Brain and No Soul?: Real Humanity in an AI Age, Robert A. Hunt and Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro.
Books on spirituality and religious history that stirred me in 2025: The Future of Christian Spirituality: In Our Lives, In our Churches, and in the Academy: Essays in Honor of Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, David Pocta and John J. Markey; Catholic Fundamentalism in America, Mark S. Massa
Books on Malaysia that guided me in 2025:
Under the Malaccan Sun: A Malaysian Childhood, C.P. Bok; Caught in Culture, Brigitte Rozario; Ultimate Sacrifice: The Unaccounted Death of Catholic Missionaries ni WWII , Cosmas Lee; Convents of the Saint Maur Sisters, Chen Yen Ling.
Books on marital and family relationships that touched me in 2025: Seasons of a Family’s Life: Cultivating the Contemplative Spirit at Home, Wendy M. Wright; The Marriage You’ve Always Wanted, Gary Chapman; Memorial Days, Geraldine Brooks.
More books on Discipleship that inspired me in 2025:
King’s Cross, Timothy Keller; Mystical Christianity: A Psychological Commentary of the Gospel of John, John A. Sanford; The Wisdom of Sundays, Oprah Winfrey.
Books on Discipleship that inspired me in 2025:
Prayer: Exploring Contemplative Prayer through Eastern and Western Spirituality, Swami Abhishiktananda; Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus Become like him Do as he did, John Mark Comer; The Road to Daybreak, Henri Nouwen.
Four Malaysian history and fiction favorites this year:
The Gift of Rain, the Garden of Evening Mists, The House of Doors, Tan Twan Eng
Land Below the Wind, Agnes Newton Keith
Three psycho-social growth favorites this year:
Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, James Hollis
Less Helping Them More Healing You, Jean P. Kelly
Jumpstarting Your Own Legacy, Paul Mast
Three favorites for the inner journey this year:
Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone, James Martin, SJ
Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
The Eloquence of Silence: Surprising Wisdom in Tales of Emptiness, Thomas Moore
Three spirituality favorites this year:
Jesus Before Christianity, Albert Nolan
Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom, Albert Nolan
Called on the Way: The Daily Practice of Discipleship, Kathleen A. Cahalan and Laura Kelly Fanucci
Two church history favorites this year:
The Mole of Vatican Council II, Richard A. Zmuda
Cloistered: My Years as a Nun, Catherine Coldstream
Three Civil War favorites this year:
Lincoln’s Mentors, Michael J. Gerhardt
Demon of Unrest, Erik Larson
Master Slave Husband Wife, Ilyon Woo
Four mysticism favorites this year:
Love is Stronger Than Death: The Mystical Union of Two Souls and Thomas Keating: The Making of a Modern Mystic, Cynthia Bourgeault
Modern Mystics, Bernard McGinn
The Difference Nothing Makes: Creation, Christ, Contemplation, Brian D. Robinette
Four fiction favorites this year:
Orbital, Samantha Harvey
A Shining, Jon Fosse
Kairos, Jenny Erpenbeck
Long Island, Colm Tóibín
Timothy Coldwell retweeted
"The Synod on Synodality needs every bit of constructive help it can get. But surely mischaracterizing the Instrumentum is not helpful. Nor is raising the specter of Joachim of Fiore."
Peter Steinfels in @commonwealmag
commonwealmagazine.org/imbel…
Timothy Coldwell retweeted
We learn more about God when we say that love is divine than when we say that God is love. -Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan
