“Perverted people and pure people often fail to communicate.” After I saw this, I have adopted it as one of my favorite proverbs.

I looked at my Amazon Kindle recommendations a while ago, and noticed a rather unexpected title: True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Now, my initial reaction was that I must have strayed further into Catholic territory than I intended, and that is indeed the proper conclusion. But the next thought was what my Liberal friends would think if they saw that book title. That’s almost enough to make a grown man blush.

I came to think of it today again because of the book I am reading on the bus. While I tend to read paper books at home (if at all), I read e-books on my Galaxy Tab. This has the side benefit that people can’t see the title or even the general type of book you are reading. (The same goes for dedicated reading boards like Kindle or Nook. I however read books in Kindle format on the Tab, which I use anyway to read up on Twitter and such.)

Now this particular book is indeed Catholic, although I am not. It is called Fire Within and is about the lives (just a little) and teachings of St Teresa of Avila (also known as Teresa of Jesus) and her friend St John of the Cross (of “Dark Night of the Soul” fame, which honestly sounds like the title of a full-fledged horror book. I would not be surprised if some, even among Christians, feel that way about it too). Fire Withinis quite an inspiring book, claiming that the kind of life shown by these two saints is available to all and indeed the intended Christian life even in our days. It is a book suited to call forth self-reflection in a modern reader.

The title Fire Within also happen to sound like a trashy novel about lovers with uncontrollable urges. Or perhaps that is just me.

Don’t get me wrong, a few years ago I have in fact read some romance novels for the decidedly feminine audience, although quite possibly all of them were “supernatural romance” before that became synonymous with more or less glittering vampires. I have written about this in the past, but basically there were sorcerers, aliens, fallen angels, survivors from sunken continents, that kind of things. So I guess if someone mistook me for reading a trashy novel these days, I would not even get what I deserved.

And the paper book I am occasionally reading at home? Meditations on the Tarot, at least it does not sound like a cheap Harlequin title. It does sound like a typical New Age book though, about how to win the lottery with playing card or things like that. It is also, as it happens, a pretty certified Catholic book, not quite mainstream but accepted by people close to the Pope and quite possibly the Pope himself.

(Why all the Catholicism? Well, it happens to be pretty much the only branch of Christianity I know of with a strong intellectual tradition, and even that mostly in the upper echelons, I’m afraid.)

Yeah, I bought up a bunch of books this summer, just before the Norwegian government launched their tax on e-books from abroad. Because you know, if we don’t tax e-books, people might buy them instead of paper books, and our friends in the paper pulp industry might not contribute to our next election campaign. Paper pulp used to be a pretty big industry around here, although it has largely outsourced of late.

Anyway, I guess the titles weren’t so “ha ha” funny. I am just easily amused. And of course, it is entirely incidental that I get to show off how pious books I am (occasionally) reading these days. Probably holier than thou. Certainly holier than me! I guess I am hoping that it will rub off on me eventually. That could be useful: The less than pious reader my recognize the picture for today’s entry as a picture from the anime Seitokai Yakuindomo, which is virtually all about double entendres and off-color misunderstandings, mostly of the verbal sort. So I may need all the rubbing I can get…