The Interior Castle
Recommended. Age: 17+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
This is a Doctor of the Church teaching prayer from the inside. Teresa is humble, funny, and practical, and she keeps saying that the proof of prayer is love of neighbor and doing God's will. The honest reservation is difficulty. The later mansions describe visions and raptures that are gifts, not goals, and a reader who chases them will go wrong.
For parents
For adults and for older teens with a steady prayer life. Not a read-aloud. Independent reading from about 17, slowly, a chapter at a time. Ask: what does Teresa say is the door of the castle? Why does she insist that humility and love of neighbor matter more than spiritual sweetness?