Editor’s Note: The Catholic Star Herald is asking known book lovers around the Diocese to recommend their favorite reads and explain what makes these not-to-miss tales. This is the second in an occasional series.
Alaina Silber estimates that she’s read a dozen books since the end of the school year.
The Gloucester Catholic High School English and religion teacher says she loves the freedom books can bring – transporting one to encounters with new worlds, new people and new ways of thinking.
It’s a lesson she’s tried to impart to her English students, among others. “Not only do books help one escape, they teach them how to read, write and speak,” she says.
She also teaches a service-learning course for seniors, helping them understand Catholic social teaching and its tenets on matters such as solidarity and the dignity of every human person.
As such, every year Silber has her class read “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion,” by Father Gregory Boyle, SJ, (2010).
First encountering the book 10 years ago, Silber said the story “shook me, and helped me to understand that God just wants to love us where we are at, in our holiness. I don’t have to be perfect.”
Through powerful and moving personal stories and anecdotes, the Jesuit priest recounts his time serving in gang-ridden Los Angeles in the 1980s and 1990s, and guiding the city’s youth to understand love, dignity, patience and respect.
“[Father] Boyle is pursuing the message of God and sharing Jesus” to those otherwise shunned by society, Silber says.
For her service-learning students, the book’s contents are invaluable, especially since they spend time volunteering at places such as Camden’s Cathedral Kitchen – providing food to the poor and homeless – and Saint John of God Community Services, Westfield, where they aid those with special needs.
Father Boyle’s short episodes on grace and compassion “help Gloucester Catholic students encounter the stranger and form a relationship with them, recognizing that we are brothers and sisters,” she says. “At the same time, it’s a beautiful book on understanding our own identity and importance in God’s eyes.”
“I reread it every summer, and every time, I get reminded why I love this book.”
Other book recommendations by Silber:
• “A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” by Suzanne Collins
• “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah
• “The 7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” by Stuart Turton
• “The Shack” by William P. Young
Related Article: Paul VI teacher shares her picks for summer reading
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