Most of the Salt+Light staff are major bookworms, and it shows. Chats about the latest Catholic releases happen regularly on the SLHour radio show, and our network has its very own book show, Subject Matters.  So while Subject Matters is off the air for 2018 - as the team is busy working on our latest documentary, The Francis Impact (check out the trailer) - I want to share with our readers the newest books I'm enjoying in this weekly blog series.

One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler

To borrow from the famous opening line of Pride and Prejudice (my apologies to Jane Austen and the literary purists among our readers), it is a truth universally acknowledged that any book opening on the author desperately pleading with their mother-in-law to not bring a possum over to their house, is one I’m probably going to enjoy. In One Beautiful Dream: The Rollicking Tale of Family Chaos, Personal Passions, and Saying Yes to them Both (2018, Ignatius Press/Zondervan), Jennifer Fulwiler finds a way to blend the everyday and the eternal in a style that is down to earth, highly readable, and surprisingly relatable.  More than a mere collection of funny anecdotes (though there are plenty of them beyond just the possum story), this book is a reflection on what it means to be part of the domestic church - the family - in an increasingly individualistic world. And while I - a childless 20-something - couldn’t immediately relate to some of the questions this book grapples with, it dawned on me as I read that the links Fulwiler draws between vocation, personal passion, and breaking free of the secular, individualistic mindset around profession and family are universally applicable. Fulwiler’s writing style is conversational and simple.  Just like last week’s The Fisherman’s Tomb, this is a great summer read - easy to breeze through, but just thought-provoking enough that the investment of time and effort required to get from start to finish feels pleasantly rewarded.  It would make a great present for Catholic moms and grandmas, or even those of other Christian denominations, as it’s general enough to appeal to a wider ecumenical audience.