Bradley J. Birzer, scholar-at-large: I could write (and will) that one of the greatest joys of being on academic break is that I get to read what I want, but it would be only somewhat true. As an academic, I pretty much get to read what I want all the time. A blessing I never take for granted.

What I do get to do on break, however, is linger over books. A few days ago, I finally received a copy of Geddy Lee’s first book, The Big Beautiful Book of Bass. It arrived a week late, but it was worth the wait. The book is truly huge and gorgeous, more images than words, but the words are excellent, even if sparse. And, in case you’re wondering, the book is about music, not fishing. Canadian Geddy Lee is, arguably, the greatest living bass guitar player, especially since Yes’s Chris Squire entered the great gig in the sky. The bass player, keyboardist, and vocalist for five decades in Rush, the author knows his subject. In addition to presenting a tantalizing photographic history of the bass guitar, the book also offers a series of fascinating interviews with rock and jazz bass players. The Big Beautiful Book of Bass is a delight and a treasure.

I also just finished, for the umpteenth time, The Lord of the Rings in what has become an annual tradition in adulthood for me. Every reading rewards one with new ideas and before unrecognized gems of wisdom and beauty. On this reading, I especially focused on the themes of redemption and purpose. The book has been a personal comfort and inspiration for almost four decades now. The only thing better than reading it is reading it out loud to one’s own children and friends.

For religious and philosophical interest, I have also been carefully reading Jacques Maritain’s 1924 masterpiece, Art and Scholasticism, the book that inspired a significant number of Englishmen to convert to Roman Catholicism and Anglo Catholicism in the interwar years. Given our current time of clerical crises in the Church, it’s a nice reminder that the faith is larger, wider, deeper, less corrupt, and wiser than this present moment of pediophillac horrors. Maritain was, to be sure, one of the best, in thought, word, and deed.

Along those same good lines, I’ve been very interested in another inspiring convert to Catholicism, Dave Brubeck, the jazz master who passed away six years ago. Crazily, no one has written a biography of this man. Biographers, take note! Preferably, in 5/4.

♦♦♦

Casey Chalk, contributor: Sometimes it happens that the most influential people of a generation fly largely under the radar, their impact felt far more in the lives of those they touched than in books or television appearances. Such seems to be the case with Fr. Arne Panula, Vicar of the Prelature of Opus Dei in the United States and former director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C., who died of cancer in 2017. A recent book edited by Mary Eberstadt titled The Last Homily: Conversations with Fr. Arne Panula gives some indication of the legacy left by this Finnish-American priest who never wrote a book or made national headlines.

Because the Catholic Information Center is a spiritual oasis situated not far from the corridors of power in the nation’s capital — K Street between 15th and 16th street, to be precise — it has served as an engine of devout Catholic belief and practice among the city’s elite. Fr. Arne, who held a Phd in theology from the University of Navarre, served at the helm of this organization for ten years. A list of those individuals who laud his work there offers insight into his reach — they include writer George Weigel, theologian Fr. Thomas Joseph White, Catholic University of America president John Garvey, American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks, law theorist Hadley Arkes, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, among many others. Though I never met him, even my social circle were blessed by his efforts — he was spiritual director for one friend, while another completed the one-year program at the Leonine Forum, which Fr. Arne co-founded.

The Last Homily is a series of conversations between Fr. Arne and Mary Eberstadt, a prolific Catholic writer and thinker in her own right. They cover a variety of subjects, including literature, community, spiritual growth, addiction and depression, guidance for young professionals, and advice for ambitious women. A robust conservatism runs through Fr. Arne’s understanding of the world and God that meshes well with The Benedict Option, a book that the prelates praises. On the atomization of the twenty-first century world, much of it propelled by technological innovations, Fr. Arne observes: “If were to try to tweak the natural physical world the way we now try to tweak human nature, we’d not only destroy the world in a week, but the universe. There’s extraordinary order throughout the physical world, as scientists know. Yet somehow we human beings think we’re different, exceptional, immune to the rules about what we are.”

There’s one anecdote told by an anonymous friend of Fr. Arne’s that is especially endearing. Though the person was too busy to help a little girl carve a pumpkin at a parish fall festival, Fr. Arne approached and said, “I’ll help you.” He started carving with her, observing, “Isn’t it amazing how God puts all these seeds into this little pumpkin?” The friend wryly describes Fr. Arne: “friend and confidante to billionaires and Supreme Court Justices, carver of pumpkins.”