The most recommended priest books

I read this series when it first came out and fell in love with the many quirky characters and the small town of Mitford. So, I vowed to re-read the entire series this year. A Light in the Window is one of my favorites. Although it is hard to choose just one.

The main character is an Episcopal priest, Father Tim. This life-long bachelor’s life changes in many ways, especially when a lovely woman moves in next door to the parsonage. First, his life turned a bit when he acquired a huge dog, Barnabus, who, for some reason, calmed down when Father Tim recited Bible verses to him.

So much wit, wisdom, and warmth in each of these books in the series. Jan Karon is a fabulous storyteller, bringing readers into the scenes and developing characters that feel like old friends and some that remind me of my Aunt Ruth!… show more.

I was bowled over with how novelist O’Neill skillfully transmutes a raw and desperate tale into a haunting and unforgettable fable of faith and sacrifice.

The stories of Aitor and Jacob, two priests selected to help rebuild the world following a nuclear apocalypse, are interwoven with those of Talik and Ziek, friends exiled from a city of mutants after Ziek exhibits symptoms of the dreaded Burdening disease. 

The two tragic storylines eventually converge as the sets of characters must confront daunting odds, constantly questioning whether God cares at all for mankind, or if He has finally turned His face away from a hopeless, murderous species. While it’s certainly a dark tale, I absolutely loved the achingly beautiful writing in this work.

Those who think of Agatha Christie as a “soft” crime writer need to look at her books again. She qualified as a pharmacist during WWI, and she made good use of her knowledge of poisons in her novels. Cyanide was her most often used poison choice, but I like The Pale Horse because it’s one of the rare—and accurate—appearances of thallium in a mystery novel. Christie’s writing made my discoveries about North Carolina’s serial female serial poisoners even more intriguing.

KC Carmine has a certain European flair to all of her stories, a quality I appreciate as a reader. I also love how she pushed boundaries and elegantly mixes love and attraction with a heady dose of light-hearted kink.

As the title suggests here, this book features a man disguised as a priest, a besotted parishioner in need of a good seeing to, and no romance would be complete without a mafia backstory and some villains to throw in the mix.

I really, really enjoyed this steamy romp of a M/M romance, and it’s one of the books that stood out the most for me this year because it was different, quirky, and kept me on my toes.

A bookseller friend, whose opinions I highly respect, had highly recommended Rene Denfeld’s debut, so The Enchanted very quickly catapulted to the top of my To-Read List. And I was instantly enchanted by the luscious language, the urgent content, the writer’s ability to fuse metaphorical darkness and light. Told from the perspective of a death row inmate, the writing seamlessly flows from gritty reality to breathtaking fantasy. I wasn’t surprised to learn of Rene’s extensive time in prisons (often on death row) as a public defender’s chief investigator, or that her keen understanding of trauma in childhood came from her own firsthand experience, as the text is drenched in arresting truths, in transgression and redemption, and in the complicated and wondrous humanity of us all.

Scrublands is another crime novel that took me to faraway places, this time to a remote Australian town during a relentless drought.

The desolate landscape was so well described that I could feel the intense heat of the Australian sunshine and the harshness of the outback surroundings. While battling inner demons from traumatic experiences, journalist Martin Scarsden is desperate to rekindle his career, whatever the cost, while investigating a tragic shooting incident a year earlier.

Journalists tend to be outsiders in a small town, prompting suspicion from the locals, but are also well-placed to drag up secrets from the past due to their persistent natures. Author Chris Hammer is a former journalist and his portrayal of Martin and the media feels authentic. 

This book takes place in the windy city of Chicago and Clark is adept at making you feel like you are right there in the midst of the fast-paced, gritty city as you read.

The plotting helps by kicking off with a bang – a priest and a gang member found dead in church. Questions abound. But what really kept me turning the pages of this book (or technically swiping since I read it on my Kindle) was Cass Raines, retired cop turned PI.

Her last case on the police force left her reeling and she struggling to deal with the aftermath.

It’s Cass that makes this book stand out amongst other PI novels, you care about what she’s going through, about this new trauma that has been introduced into her life, and that through it all she’s still working to get justice for people that are often overlooked and… show more.

People have called Henri Nouwen many things: a priest, an author, a spiritual guide, a natural mystic. His books have sold millions of copies and continue to resonate deeply with people from all walks of life. In 2000, when asked to share the book that had most influenced her life, Hillary Clinton chose Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son. The following sentence, in particular, she said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, hit her “like a lightning bolt”: "The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a "gift to be celebrated with joy." 

“I had never thought of gratitude as a habit or discipline before,” she explained, “and I discovered that it was immensely helpful to do so.” I first discovered Henri when I was eighteen years old and gifted with… show more.

This book is a bit different from my other recommendations. It’s not a fantasy. What it is is a series of books to make you laugh, cry, think, and most of all, want to go live in the imaginary town of Mitford, North Carolina. This is a small town where the phrase “Mitford takes care of its own” is sometimes hard but always rewarding. Reverend Tim Cavanough is a flawed man with a heart of gold who is in the mid to later stage in life and takes care of his flock of often eccentric, lovable townsfolk with a heart of love. I was with a friend one time walking through a little town in West Virginia, and we had both finished Ms. Karon’s books. The town and its folks reminded us of Mitford with its quaint charm. 

Pastoral is one of my favorite recent discoveries. It’s one of a quincunx of novels linked by exploration of five classic literary genres—in this case the currently unfashionable pastoral. Newly ordained priest Christopher Pennant isn’t greatly pleased that his first parish assignment is to a rural town where sheep are numerous. He assumes he’ll be a suitable shepherd to the humans, people he expects to be simple and straightforward. Of course, they aren’t. They’re not only as complex as people anywhere else, but very unexpected. Father Pennant not only finds he has a self-appointed cello-playing chef as rectory caretaker, but he witnesses three possible miracles. Or are they trickery? I love the depth and gentle humor in the priest’s attempts to understand his parishioners and himself. And nature, too.