One of my favorite parts of what my writing has become is reviewing books. I’ve been writing about books for a couple of years now, for CatholicMom.com, Verily, Aleteia, and more. Since books make GREAT gifts, I’m compiling the book reviews I’ve written thus far to help you give a meaningful gift to someone you love.

Note: Links to books are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission when you purchase through them. This is at no cost to you, but it helps pay for this site! Thanks!

Theology of Home II by Carrie Gress and Noelle Mering, with photography by Kim Baile with Dori Greco Rutherford at Blessed Is She

61 Minutes to a Miracle: Fulton Sheen and a True Story of the Impossible by Bonnie Engstrom at Blessed Is She

Be Brave in the Scared: How I Learned to Trust God during the Most Difficult Days of My Life by Mary Lenaburg at Blessed Is She

Come, Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta at Blessed Is She

The Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life by Kendra Tierney at Blessed Is She

Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O’Connor at Blessed Is She

When Life Gives You Pears: The Healing Power of Family, Faith, and Funny People by Jeannie Gaffigan at Aleteia

Grieving Together: A Couple’s Journey through Miscarriage by Laura Kelly Fanucci and Franco David Fanucci at Verily

Anything by Katherine Reay at Verily

From a round-up at Verily, “5 Books You Can Breeze Through in a Weekend”:

• Gold by Chris Cleave
• The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
• Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
• How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford

From another round-up at Verily, “These Fave Young Adult Books Are Just as Good (if Not Better) When You’re an Adult”:

• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle—or the graphic novel edition, by Hope Larson
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Do you see a pattern of my round-ups at Verily? This one is “Books to Devour When Sound Bytes Get You Down”  

• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakesby Suzanne Collins
• The Cul-de-Sac War by Melissa Ferguson
• The Dating Charade by Melissa Ferguson
• When Life Gives You Pears: The Healing Power of Family, Faith, and Funny People by Jeannie Gaffigan (I couldn’t resist writing about it again—so good!)
• The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
• My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme

And for good measure, a few round-ups at Radiant:

Here’s one:

• Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It by Jennifer Fulwiler
• Mulieris Dignitatem by Pope St. John Paul II 
• Catechism of the Catholic Church
• Philothea, or an Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales
• Who Does He Say You Are?: Women Transformed by Christ in the Gospels by Colleen C. Mitchell

And here’s the other (spot Jeannie Gaffigan for the third time and Narnia and Mary Lenaburg for the second!):

1. “Babette’s Feast” by Isak Dinesen
2. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
3. Be Brave in the Scared: How I Learned to Trust God during the Most Difficult Days of My Life by Mary Lenaburg
4. Searching for and Maintaining Peace: A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart by Fr. Jacques Philippe
5. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
6. Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay
7. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
8. Treasures in Clay by Ven. Fulton Sheen
9. When Life Gives You Pears: The Healing Power of Family, Faith, and Funny People by Jeannie Gaffigan
10. Ever Eden Literary Journal

Happy reading, and happy gifting!