As an avid reader, Leah Heselton, the operations coordinator for the Office of Communications at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, has read 25 books this year. She is shooting for 45 total as her goal for 2024.
Heselton shared her summer reading recommendations with “Practicing Catholic” radio show producer Kayla Mayer during an interview that will debut at 9 p.m. July 5 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Currently, Heselton is reading a crime novel by Michael D. O’Brien titled “A Cry of Stone.”
“I’ve read it before,” Heselton said. “I read it a few years ago and I loved it, and a professor I had always told me to reread good books … It is about a girl named Rose in Canada in modern day … She is growing up. It’s her life story and she has a lot of pain right now and she just offers it up to Christ.”
Another recommendation is “Hannah Coulter” by Wendell Berry, one of Heselton’s favorite books. It follows the life of the titular character growing up in the early 20th century.
“It’s really simple and beautiful and I love the dedication to her family that she has and expresses,” Heselton said. “There’s this communal life that she’s kind of mourning as she’s in her 70s, which is really beautiful to think about in our own lives, the communities that we’re feeding into and that we’re living in and how we can live that better.”
Next up is “The Chosen” by Chaim Potok, a story about two Jewish boys in the 1950s.
“They’re kind of unlikely friends,” Heselton said. “One of them is a Hasidic Jew and the other’s more secular, both living out their faith really devotedly, but they become friends in a really unlikely way and it’s kind of a coming-of-age story … Again, this one’s pretty simple, too. It’s just about two boys trying to be friends in a world that doesn’t really want them to be friends and in the ‘50s, there’s a lot of turmoil with the state of Israel being created, too. There’re lots of different opinions on that and they dive into that in this.”
Heselton’s favorite recommendation is “The Wild Orchid” by Sigrid Undset. “The Wild Orchid” tells the story of a man named Paul who was raised in Norway and by the time he’s an adult, he’s living a life of longing.
“It’s such a page-turner,” Heselton said. “You just always want him to figure out what he’s longing.”
Heselton’s reading journey can be found on Instagram: @what.is.Leah.reading.
To hear more book recommendations for this summer from Heselton, tune into the “Practicing Catholic,” which also repeats on Relevant Radio at 1 p.m. July 6 and 2 p.m. July 7.?
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the program also includes an in-depth discussion with a local dad offering youth sports for Christ with a summer camp program.??
Listen to interviews after they have aired at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
