It is well known that Benedictine monks have a 1,500 year old tradition of devotion to the written word and of preserving culture throughout the Middle Ages. Benedictine monks, following the Rule of St. Benedict, practice daily lectio divina which, according to Dom Edmund Adams, O.S.B. "... is not 'spare-time reading' but rather books chosen to fulfill a Benedictine obligation to do daily spiritual reading..."

Rev. Dom Alban Baer, O.S.B., former Prior of the Monastery and Head of the English Department, wrote in for the Portsmouth Raven in 1949 an article entitled On Reading. In this article, Dom Alban discussed the notion of giving "spiritual reading" wider scope, stating, "All reading should add to our knowledge... scarcely a book exists which cannot provide material for reflection and meditation on our nature and destiny. "

Here is a sampling of what our monks have been reading recently:

Virgil's Georgics - by Peter Fallon
A new translation by Fallon, a poet and farmer, of a great poem about the land of Italy, and farming and interacting with the earth, crops, animals, stars, weather

The Pursuit of Happiness-God's Way: Living the Beatitudes - by Servais Pinckaers
An  exploration into and meditation on the Eight Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, written by a great contemporary European Dominican professor of moral theology

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate - by Alexander McCall Smith
Given to me by Dom Francis Davidson, our former headmaster, on a recent visit to Portsmouth from England, where he is a monk of Ampleforth Abbey. It is ostensibly a mystery story, but is especially enjoyable for its gentle, humorous, wise depiction of characters (which Fr. Francis told me gives an accurate picture of what Edinburgh folk are like).

A Recording of Homer's Iliad, read by Stanley Lombardo (who also translated it)
I have been listening to this recording, from our School Library. The translation is a little free, especially in varying or skipping entirely Homer's formulaic language, so that the whole thing misses one dimension of the original. But Lombardo reads so well that I am not bored by such a long performance by a solo voice.  And there is spare but effective use of background music. The whole thing delivers a powerful punch, especially in a time of war.

Dom Julian's Reading List

The Evidential Power of Beauty-Theology and Science Meet - by Thomas E. Dubay
A tremendous read about how theology and science merge at the point of beauty ...how it takes the immense, remarkable power of raw beauty to show the presence of truth, to scientists and religious alike

Padre Pio Gleanings - by Pascal Calaneo
 A lovely assortment of anecdotes and stories about the many lives who were touched by this compassionate Italian priest

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain

Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's  - by R. A. Scotti
Fascinating tale of the construction of St. Peter's in Rome against the backdrop of Italian politics and war

Humble Pie - St. Benedict's Ladder of Humility - by Carol Bonomo
A funny, touching account written by a Benedictine oblate about embracing humility as a virtue that leads Christians closer to Christ

Dom Damian's Reading List

Joseph & His Brothers - by Thomas Mann
The re-telling of the biblical story of Joseph

Christopher Marlowe - by Park Honan
Biography of the legendary British playwright and poet

The Lambs of London - by Peter Ackroyd
Historical fiction novel that takes place at the turn of the 19^th century about real-life essayist Charles Lamb, his sister, Mary, and their friend, William Henry Ireland, who finds a stash of valuable Shakespeare documents

Advent - by Jean Danielou
One of many works written by the noted French Jesuit, the late Jean Cardinal Danielou

Jesus and the Message of the New Testament - by Joachim Jeremias, K.C. Hanson

The March - by E. L. Doctorow
A Civil War novel

Dom Christopher's Reading List

Samuel Johnson - by W. Jackson Bate
Biography of Samuel Johnson that details the emotional and spiritual character of the man.  I have been fascinated with Samuel Johnson ever since reading "The Manner is Ordinary" by J. LaFarge.  La Farge said he was so disappointed that he was finished reading Boswell's Johnson that he immediately started it all over again!

The Life of Samuel Johnson - by James Boswell
Considered the seminal biography on Johnson 

The Manner is Ordinary - John La Farge, S.J.
Autobiography of the noted American Jesuit La Farge

The Five People You Meet in Heaven - by Mitch Albom

The First Passage:  Blacks in the Americas, 1502-1617 - by Colin A. Palmer
A comprehensive account of the formation of the slave trade in the New World during the 16^th century.  It describes the experiences of slaves, details the differences among African cultures and societies, and describes how slaves were used for more than field work - fishing and mining, too, and showed how an enduring African American culture rose from among the displaced slaves.  

Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery - by Charles Johnson, Patricia Smith, and the WGBH Series Research Team
The companion book to the highly acclaimed PBS series that examines the history of slavery in the United States with a candor that reveals both the horrific and heroic nature of that period

Dom Paschal's Reading List

Exorcism And Enlightenment : Johann Joseph Gassner And The Demons Of Eighteenth-Century Germany - by H. C. Erik Midelfort
An interesting read for a number of reasons, not least because it is rather sympathetic to the main character (a healer and exorcist in the Age of Reason) and because it is published by Yale University Press.

The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids - by Madeline Levine 
An  excellent recent study on the children of affluence

Ages of the Spiritual Life - by Paul Evdokimov 
A very enjoyable study of spirituality from the Eastern Christian perspective

What St. Paul Really Said - by Thomas Wright
An exciting and accessible study of St. Paul's thought

Dom Edmund's Reading List

Brother of Jesus, Friend of God: Studies in the Letter of James - by Luke Timothy Johnson
A thorough, reflective account of the Letter of James

The Christian in the Theology of St. Paul - by Lucien Cerfaux

History of the Church, Vol. IV:  From the High Middle Ages to the Eve of the Reformation (Fint, Wolter, et al)

Rainbow's End - by Ellis Peters
Part of the Inspector George Felse mystery series

Anything by mystery/detective fiction writer Rex Stout

Dom Francis' Reading List

The Kite Runner - by Khaled Hosseni
The award-winning, eye-opening account about a young Afghani, the political turmoil in his home country, and his difficulties in adjusting to American life

The Undercover Economist:  Exposing Why the Rich are Rich, The Poor are Poor - and Why You Can Never Buy A Decent Used Car - by Tim Harford
A wonderful, practical book - a good read; makes economics accessible

The Painted Drum - by Louise Erdrich
The story about a woman who finds an old drum in a NE attic. She traces it back to its roots, to a Indian tribe.  She visits the tribe, returns the drum to them - they had been missing it.

Amish Roots: A Treasury of History, Wisdom and Lore - Edited by John Hostetler
A series of very short essays on Amish society, religion and philosophy

Saving the World - by Julia Alvarez
Historical novel about how a smallpox vaccine was developed and human carriers were used to distribute it around the world in 18^th-C. sailing ships

Necessary Roughness - by Marie Myung-Ok Lee
A Korean girl finds herself transplanted from the inner-city West Coast to rural MN

Somebody's Daughter - by Marie Myung-Ok Lee
An adopted, college-age Korean girl decides she needs to find her biological mother in Korea

Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin-American Journey - by Ernesto "Che" Guevara
A journey through the 60s, viewed through the mind of a young medical student who becomes a major cultural revolutionary

The Memory of Running - by Don McLarty
The novel based on the life of an East Providence family whose son relives his family life as he bikes across America to retrieve the body of his sister, a schizophrenic woman who died homeless in CA

Dom Gregory Havill's Reading List
Paradiso by Dante, the new English/Italian just done by Anthony Esolen."... a new translation that is out of this world."