I was on a Richard III kick. In addition to re-reading Shakespeare's play, which is fascinating and utterly false, I read Paul Murray Kendall's biography of this truly tragic (and Catholic) king of England, and the novel Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey, which is rightly considered one of the greatest mysteries ever written, but full of facts!
Then I went on a Sheila Kaye-Smith kick. A contemporary of Chesterton, and, like GKC, a convert and famous in her own day but forgotten in ours. I read her autobiography, Three Ways Home, and two of her novels, The End of the House of Alard (better than Downton Abbey and covering the same subject!) and Superstition Corner.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins, explains why a lot of developing nations around the world are, to put it mildly, not too happy with America. Sobering.
For something more inspiring and edifying, I read The Spiritual Writings of Flannery O'Connor. Unlike many of my friends, I've never been keen on her fiction, but this book is exquisite.
During a visit to Italy this summer I discovered the Don Camillo stories by Giovanni Guareschi—delightful stories about a small village in Italy following World War II and the ongoing battle of wits and wills between the Communist mayor and the parish priest. The priest is inspired somewhat by Chesterton's Father Brown, but they are not to be confused! My favorite book of the year.
Now, I also read some books that were actually published in 2015, though one of them may not count, since I published it: The Woman Who Was Chesterton, by Nancy Carpentier Brown. The first biography ever written about Frances Chesterton, GKC's wife, who has remained in his large shadow far too long.
Chesterton and the Jews by Ann Farmer is thorough scholarly treatment of this thorny issue. It is longer than most biographies of GKC, and it fully and calmly addresses the onerous criticisms against a good man, who loved everyone, including the Jews. I am reminded that GKC once wrote: "Brave men do not resent an accusation, they refute it."
Another great book about GKC came out late in the year: G.K. Chesterton - A Reappraisal, by Denis Conlon, one of the world's great Chesterton scholars. Drawing on years of research, he brings out wonderful new material by and about GKC. A perfect complement to the Frances Chesterton biography.
Of course, I also read a lot of pure Chesterton because, as it turns out, I'm still on a Chesterton kick. I read mostly from his Daily News and New Witnessessays, in which I ran across this line: "Liberty is never an easy thing. The man or the nation who seeks liberty under the impression that it is an easy thing, has always sunk, and always deserved to sink, back into slavery, which is the very home of ease."
Dale Ahlquist is president of the American Chesterton Society and publisher of Gilbert Magazine.
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