Surveys indicate that reading books is dropping precipitously across all age groups. This is a tragedy in itself; it’s also a social disaster, as a post-literate society risks becoming a post-rational society. All the more reason, then, to consider giving books for Christmas: books that entertain, inform, and open new horizons of understanding.

As the church in the United States looks for new ways to foster community, it is helpful to look to the past and understand the history that led to the current state of parish life. OSV News’ Charles Camosy recently dove into this history with Father Stephen M. Koeth, assistant professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, in discussing his new book, “Crabgrass Catholicism: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America.”

Catholic Review Radio Managing Editor George Matysek talks with Marion Amberg, author of “Incredible Catholic America: Smallest, Tallest, Oldest, Oddest,” a fascinating collection of more than 300 stories about the people, places, and traditions that make Catholic America unique. She’s also the author of two award-winning Catholic travel books and a journalist whose work appears in more than 100 markets nationwide.

Much has been written about keeping Christ in Christmas but Catholic children’s author Anthony DeStefano’s new book is helping to keep the Hallow — or “holy” — in Halloween.

A nonprofit dedicated to supporting the U.S. Army has released a graphic novel highlighting the story and service of Father Emil Kapaun, the Catholic military chaplain who gave his life in a prisoner-of-war camp during the Korean War and has an active cause for canonization.

The Liturgy of the Hours is a repeating four-week cycle of psalms, biblical canticles, prayers and Scripture readings that has been part of the church’s public prayer — in one form or another — almost from the beginning. The prayers vary in accordance with the liturgical season and also — like the Mass — commemorate the feasts of the church calendar.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has chosen two Catholic publishers, both known for their print and digital offerings, to print the second edition of the Liturgy of the Hours that is celebrated within the Latin Church.

What I find most impressive in Justice Barrett’s book, however, is not its depth of knowledge or its readability but its tacit display of public service lived vocationally: not as a matter of career enhancement, not as a means of acquiring wealth, and certainly not as performance art.

This is a story of great relevance for Catholics, for we were one of the three groups most targeted by the Klan, along with Blacks and Jews.

Richard A. Zmuda, a parishioner of St. Mary in Annapolis and author of “The Mole of Vatican Council II: The True Story of Xavier Rynne,” tells the tale behind the pseudonym: Redemptorist Father Francis Xavier Murphy, the priest who became Vatican II’s whistleblower.