I have indulged in a passion for puns throughout my career. Despite feeling gleeful about this on one level, I also remember an army of English literature professors intoning that puns were the lowest form of wit. While there are legions of people who deeply oppose puns on principle, there is an equally vast array of fans that believe in them at all costs.

Elizabeth Seton: American Saint by Catherine O’Donnell (Cornell University Press, 552 pages, hardcover, $37.44 on Amazon.ca)

I was recently tagged on a Twitter post in what has been called the Book Challenge. If invited, the recipient is asked to post a cover of an all-time favourite book, with no explanation or description of the choice. Just seven covers over seven days, and with each post the recipient is asked to nominate someone new to take up the challenge — a chain letter, of sorts, for the 21st century. 

I love making lists. It is how I fall asleep at night. Sometimes I try to name every baseball club and at least one player from each team, or think of 10 music albums I would bring with me should I ever be sent to an offshore penal colony or to the opera.

In a first for Toronto’s St. Augustine’s Seminary, students, faculty and friends came together recently to celebrate four Catholic authors who happen to also be St. Augustine’s professors. Celebrating Catholic authors, Catholic books and Catholic publishing is important, said Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Wayne Kirkpatrick because books build Catholic culture and add to a legacy of faith.

I officially jumped on the audiobook bandwagon about a year ago. 

Mary and the Incarnation by Christine Granger (Novalis, 80 pages, softcover, $17.95)

There are many ways to tell the story of a city. In Extraordinary Ordinaries, Fr. Seamus Hogan explores aspects of Toronto’s history by examining the challenges, successes and even the blind spots of the 12 men who have served as the bishop or archbishop of Toronto.

It’s big news for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien that Amazon has made a billion-dollar commitment to bring to television a five-season series based on the epic Lord of the Rings fantasy saga.

Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro (Anansi International, 256 pages, softcover, $17.96 on Amazon.ca)

It started out in 2011 as a Lenten practice.