Every year our staff picks out our favorite books that we’ve read that year.
We don’t rank them and categorize them only by genre, because, like with all art, this is list is purely subjective and your personal tastes and spiritual needs should be foremost when discerning new stories to inspire you.
But if you’re not sure where to begin this list (or our previous years’ list) is a great place to start.
Eligibility Requirements: Eligible books have had a review published on Catholicreads.com between Oct 31st, 2023, and Sept 30th 2024. Books written by members of staff are not eligible. Editors cannot award books written by themselves or other members of staff.
From here on after Editors Choice Awards will run from September to September each year.
Historical Fiction
Servant of the Suffering by Voyage Comics
Rose Hawthorne dreamed of following in her father’s literary footsteps. Nathaniel Hawthorne was becoming one of America’s most well-known authors with the publication of The Scarlet Letter, and his success allowed the Hawthorne family to travel across Europe. Rose was eager to take-up the pen and show the world what she had to offer.
However, God had other plans for Rose. Through a series of remarkable events, Rose converted to Catholicism and gave-up her quest for literary fame. Instead, she was led to put her talents at the service of God and serve those suffering from incurable cancer. She even founded a religious order and became known as Mother Mary Alphonsa. Her inspiring life story is now made accessible in an engaging comic book format.
To Crown with Liberty by Karen Ullo
New Orleans, 1795. In the wake of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, Alix de Morainville Carpentier—a former lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette, now married to her gardener—seeks peace and security in the Spanish colony of Louisiana. But her journey into the man-eating swamp called Attakapas reopens the wounds of her old life in France. Alix is forced to reckon with the choices that saved her life at the cost of her honor—and perhaps her soul.
In revolutionary France, the Old World is dying; the quest for liberty, equality, and fraternity has become a nightmare where the price of dissent is blood. In the wilderness of Spanish Louisiana, a new civilization is beginning to emerge—but in this budding New World, the slave trade perpetuates the systems of oppression that sparked the revolution. Caught between old and new, scarred by trauma and grief, will Alix ever find a home where she can truly be free?
To Crown with Liberty is a historical novel based on riveting legends from George Washington Cable’s Strange True Stories of Louisiana (1888).
Fantasy
Idol Speculations by Karina Fabian
Vern vs. Godzilla?!
When Japanese investors want Vern as the mascot and protector of their new commercial center in Los Lagos, Vern thinks he’s got it made. Finally, the respect he deserves, a cushy job patrolling the store area and amusement park, and a new lair built into the artificial mountain!
But nothing is ever easy in Vern’s world. When an elder god that’s been hiding in the lakes of Los Lagos, grows under the inadvertent influence of Mundanes, it emerges as a monster out of a kaiju movie. Vern gets the help of mages, the National Guard, and even a mechadragon, but in the end, it’s up to Vern to save the day.
Can a dragon the tenth the size of a monster take on an elder god powered by cliché?
Doctors, Assassins, and Other Tyrants by Katherine Campbell
In this sequel to Love, Treachery, and Other Terrors, seventeen-year-old Augustine has a near-perfect life. His mother and stepfather adore him, he is looking forward to a promising career as a knight, and he’s pretty sure the doctor’s daughter likes him as much as he likes her. Aside from the occasional duel with his cousin, he doesn’t have any real problems.
Until he’s kidnapped by a band of highwaymen. As if tying him up and dragging him away from home wasn’t bad enough, the ruffians start spouting nonsense about how he is the illegitimate son of some horrible, honorless, murdering prince named Justin.
Augustine, of course, doesn’t believe these vile rumors. By his mother’s own account, her late husband was the perfect man in every imaginable way. She would never lie to him about something as important as his father… right?
In this quirky, medieval fantasy Augustine must find a way to escape his captors and uncover who he really is. It’s a story of providence, heroism, and learning to embrace the truth.
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Children’s Literature
My Name is Philomena by Fr. Peregrine Fletcher
For centuries, the story of Saint Philomena was hidden away in the darkness of the ancient catacombs of Rome. Only in recent years has her story finally come to light! In this book, the Virgin-Martyr herself shares the splendid account of her short life: from the first moment she fell in love with God to her final moment on earth, when she laid down her life for Him. Join the Greek princess Philomena as her dangerous and breathtaking story unfolds. Bear witness to how this young “daughter of light” defeated the forces of darkness and inherited the extraordinary title “Powerful with God.”
The World is Awake by Linsey Davis
Inspire children to be thankful for all of God’s blessings with this joyful celebration of the simple pleasures all around us. Perfect for sharing at bedtime or story time, The World Is Awake gives children (and their parents) a sense of awe and wonder at the world around them.
Linsey Davis, New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning ABC News anchor, invites us to celebrate the everyday miracles that surround us in this inspiring and diverse picture book. From blooming flowers in the backyard to the roaring animals at the zoo to the breeze in the evening trees … the world is awake!
Now also available as a board book, The World Is Awake:
- features playful and heartwarming read-aloud rhymes from Emmy Award-winning ABC News anchor Linsey Davis
- includes whimsical, joy-filled illustrations from bestselling artist Lucy Fleming
- is a great board book for ages 0-4, preschool, kindergarten and early elementary age kids
- celebrates diversity and inspires gratitude for God’s blessings
- makes a wonderful gift for birthdays, Easter, and other gift-giving holidays
Celebrate your everyday blessings through The World Is Awake.
Nonfiction
Romance
The Last Monks of Skellig Michael by Phillip Kosloski
A long time ago on an Irish island not so far away…
Return to Luke Skywalker’s island from “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and discover the fascinating real-life history behind Skellig Michael, an enchanting isle off the coast of Ireland where an ancient Christian monastery continues to inspire those who come there.
Learn about the Jedi-like training that occurred on this island according to the traditions of devout Catholic monks.
Immerse yourself in an age when warrior monks were on the front line of a spiritual battle against the dark forces of this world.
Monks meet Jedi in an engaging read that invites the reader to discover the surprising parallels between fact and fiction and what these heroic men can still teach us over a thousand years later.
74 pages
“Philip Kosloski’s The Last Monks of Skellig Michael illustrates the unique place this remote location has played not only in Church history but also in the Star Wars universe. Kosloski takes the reader on a journey with the Irish monks who lived, worked, and prayed on this topographically challenged island providing its past and present history. This book is not simply a telling of the heroic monks and their monastery in this “desert” island off the coast of the Emerald Isle, Kosloski also provides spiritual resources for the reader’s use in order to deepen one’s faith in imitation of the last monks of Skellig Michael.”
— Steve Weidenkopf, author of Timeless: A History of the Catholic Church and Epic Study Series by Ascension Press
*Revised and updated, along with an appendix of ancient Irish prayers.
Messina Book1: The Casa Bella Chronicles by Liz Galvano
Ominous words from the stone-faced physician at the temporary hospital greet her: “Welcome to hell, Miss James.” No description could be more accurate. Earthquake, tsunami, and fire have razed Messina, Sicily. In a single night in 1909, one hundred thousand people never wake up. Physician Lucille James is determined to help despite horrendous conditions, almost non-existent medical supplies, and the opposition of the medical community she worked so hard to join. Giovanni Castello, the man facing her now, stands as her biggest opponent. Surrounded by blood and death and pushed to the edge of exhaustion, Lucille relies on God as her only option. When God gives a gift, after all, a person must use it. Will she have the strength, courage, and faith to do so?
General Fiction
Infinite Regress by Joshua Hren
In the years since his graduation from St. Marquis University, Blake Yourrick has fled his family and Milwaukee, rotating from job to dead-end job—working the Bakken oilfields in Dakota and even signing on as the night caretaker of a rural abbey graveyard. Deep in student debt and estranged from his misanthropic, alcoholic father, Blake is haunted by the memory of his mother’s death—and by his relationship with his college mentor, a defrocked priest named Theo Hape, who is known for his adventurous theological ideas as well as for the uncanny, seductive power he wields over his students. When Hape, learning of his former charge’s desperate straits, proposes a perverse exchange of services, Blake finds himself tempted to test the professor’s radical theories in real life. What follows is a metaphysical duel reminiscent of the novels of Dostoevsky and Bernanos, pitting a modern-day anti-Christ against a reckless but resilient young man and his well-meaning, dysfunctional kin.
Bread from Home by Fr. Stephen Siniari
In this follow-up volume to Big in Heaven and Secret Turning, we see the people of Saint Alexander the Whirling Dervish parish and those around them at their worst and at their best. We see God’s grace shining into even the darkest corners of human life. These stories will make you laugh, cry, examine your own conscience, and look at the people around you with a more compassionate eye.
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Young Adult
Secrets: The Truth Will Out by Verity Lucia
Perfect looks. Perfect boyfriend. Perfect image. High schooler, Elise Thames, has it all under control until one late night and two little pink lines change everything.
After fleeing to Chicago to erase the life growing inside her, Elise begins hearing voices and seeing visions that thrust her into the minds of others. Her newfound telepathy draws out grim insecurities buried within, and Elise’s identity as one of the most popular girls at Jefferson High shatters. When news of her pregnancy spreads, Elise must face the truth about who she is—and make a choice.
SECRETS: The Truth Will Out
- A desperate girl.
- A supernatural bracelet.
- A choice that will change everything.
