Throwback Thursday: Andrew M. Greeley

In which I share vague recollections of books I read long ago that have stuck with me.

Last week I was weeding the biographies at the library and came across a book about the author Andrew Greeley. I had totally forgotten that he existed, but man I ate his books up like candy when I was in high school. They all featured priests having moral struggles, usually relating to sexy ladies, or at least that's how I remember it.

In The Brother's Wife, for instance, the father of two brothers decided that one of them would become a cardinal and the other would be president. The father even chose a wife for the future president. But when he goes to war and becomes missing in action, dad tells his other son he'll have to leave the seminary to marry this girl who, despite his religious leanings, he had always loved. It's all very screwed up, but at the time I totally loved these books. I'm sure it had something to do with growing up Catholic, but not really being totally sold on Catholicism.

I'm glad I came across that biography at the library so I could take this little trip down memory lane. And no, I wasn't tempted to read it - I just tossed it in the bin with all the other unwanted books.