Here are some of my favourite books from 2025. In a chaotic and troubled world, reading books, remains one of life’s great pleasures. It is also a way to stay more deeply informed that is possible by reading newspapers or following on air news, and infinitely preferable to doom scrolling on social media. Take a look.
Best Books 2024, Homer, cold cases, Zionism
In an earlier post, I wrote about some of the books that I had read and enjoyed in 2024. There were too many to squeeze into one post, so this is a second instalment.
2024 Reading List: Highlights and Reviews
I love to read and to share information about books. Here are some that I enjoyed in 2024 and why.
A Communist for the RCMP
Frank Hadesbeck was a long-time civilian informant for the RCMP over a span of 35 years. In this and future blog posts, Dennis Gruending, author of A Communist for the RCMP, explains how he researched and wrote this unique book.
Best Books 2022
At year's end, I wrote about some of the best books that I read in 2022.
Best Books 2021
This is a list of my favourite books from 2021, broken down by month.
My reading list from 2020
At this time of year people who I know often share their reading list for the 12 months just past. I always find that interesting and have decided to mention some of the books that I read in 2020. I would appreciate your comments on any of them, or on your favourites. Here goes: January... Continue Reading →
Trevor Herriot, Towards a Prairie Atonement
In April, I was invited by the Canadian Council of Churches to interview the well-known writer, naturalist and activist Trevor Herriot. Members of the CCC's Commission on Justice and Peace were meeting in Ottawa and asked Trevor to address them during an all-day meeting. They believe, correctly, that Trevor has much to say about living sustainably and with justice in our... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life
Released by: Kingsley Publishers (October 2011) A provocative expose of the competition between religious progressives and conservatives for power and influence in Canadian politics. Gruending follows this contest between from Parliament Hill to the church basements, synagogues, temples and universities of the nation and abroad. Available from the author: dennis.gruending @sympatico.ca Tel: 613-730-6902 Readers™ Comments:... Continue Reading →
Truth to Power: The Journalism of a Benedictine Monk
Kingsley Publishing (2010) This book, introduced and edited by Dennis Gruending, presents the best from twenty years of provocative journalism by Father Andrew Britz, a Benedictine monk at St. Peter's Abbey in the hinterland of rural Saskatchewan, far from the centres of ecclesiastical and political influence. Britz was editor of the Prairie Messenger, a prophetic... Continue Reading →