the Shaking of the Foundations

This book is a collection of sermons from Paul Tillich, the renowned 20th-century existential theologian and teacher. They are extremely wide-ranging in topic and theme, also varying considerably in terms of length & layperson-accessibility (as there are several sermons in here that feel more like transcripts of philosophy lectures); but all have in common Tillich's holistic approach to Christian teaching, which draws on everything from contemporary science to the horrors and promises of modern history to make its points. His writing style is engaging and lucid and I would've loved to hear the man preach live, as there is also a strong undercurrent of emotive heft to his written teachings to the Church - which needs thinkers and leaders like him, given modernity's "shaking the foundations" of ecclesial assumptions. Of course, the title is double-edged - alongside the meaning just noted it also hints at the "shaking the foundations" of the whole modern order by means of God's revelation and Christ's activity in the redemptive power of the Christian worldview. A highly interesting and thought-provoking read: I'd strongly recommend this to readers who are believers that it may challenge and hone their own theology, as well as a tentative recommendation to non-believers, as I think Tillich's arguments stand up pretty darn well on philosophical grounds and therefore could function quite well as apologetics.

Life in the Garden

This book by Penelope Lively is a relatively short but topically wide-ranging survey of the common contemporary garden. Drawing on historical developments, cultural trends, socioeconomic possibilities, and the human relationships with natural plant-life that makes the rest of it all possible, she weaves an interesting path across the subject and makes the humble* garden come to life in a new, invigorating way. Her prose is agreeable enough, and I learnt quite a lot from this book, but didn't particularly feel too compelled to finish it, which is why I've been reading it on-and-off several months before finally completing it. A niche book to recommend, though if you're into gardens or gardening, and want to know more about the rich and storied context of the contemporary "yard", I reckon this would probably be a good place to start.

* Or not so humble in the cases where she's discussing the huge grounds of stately homes, etc. But you get the drift.

the Christmas Creature

This book by Erin Kubo is a sweet, slightly dark festive children's tale. The illustrations are whimsical and somewhat haunting - I think this would make a great gift for anyone under the age of six (or parents of such children) as it seems particularly strong on the anti-Santa mythological front (which I am an ardent supporter of*). You can hear the whole book read aloud by the brilliant Hank Green here.

* Psychological studies indicate that children raised to believe in Santa, once they get over that white lie, are far more likely to similarly discard belief in God as a parental tactic. This is not good.

Axiom's End

This book is the debut novel by video essayist Lindsay Ellis, and it's a stonker. It's been a long time since I read* a first contact story, so I don't have much in my medium-term memory to compare it fairly with, so I'll just talk about my thoughts on it. If you don't find my musing particularly satisfactory here is also an excellent Q & A with the author where she talks at length about things in and around the book.

   Firstly, the aliens themselves. They're pretty darn alien - with wholly different biological, technological and sociocultural norms to humans, which always makes for an interesting read. Ellis has clearly put a lot of thought and effort into developing them as a species and drawing out how and where this conflicts with Earthling sensibility, and as such forms a heavy element of the plot (which for sake of spoilering I will not discuss here).

   Secondly, the main character. While something of an everywoman and thus a highly-engaging perspective through which to be mediated the story and world Ellis has built, I do feel that the narrative would have been a lot more compelling if written in first-person rather than third as it is. That said, and while I stand by the description of Cora as something of an everywoman protagonist - she is not in the typical sense your average main character, showing depths of empathic thoughtfulness that make her relationships with the aliens quite interesting to read as her experience is broadened and challenged. While the prose is perfectly passable I wouldn't go so far as to say it is particularly glitteringly written - but at the same time it is of course well-enough put to page that you don't find yourself rankling at its inadequacy on any front.

   Thirdly and finally, the overarching thematic concern, which (upon my reading of it at least) is the human power structure's tendency toward controlling via secrecy. This theme both helps to drive the plot forward as conspiracies are uncovered and unravelled and gives Cora and the chief alien character a lot to react to and muse upon, making for some pretty provocatively nuanced reflections on the nature of power, security, unity and such, which in the context of alien contact are arguably under-developed concepts in the sci-fi canon.

   So to conclude, I think this is a strong first novel, and while I am excited about the potential for the series to develop in sequels, I'm not tripping over myself to preorder it - but it's 100% the kind of book where when I next see its sequels in charity shops will not hesitate to buy and consume. For anyone who enjoys alien stories and/or political intrigue, and obviously especially the combination of the two, this is a novel I would certainly recommend.

* That said, I technically did write one this year. We seem to have shared idea notes for quite a bit of worldbuilding...

the Tombs of Atuan

This book is the second in the phenomenally magical Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin. We are brought into the story alongside the life's-eye-view of Arha, the high priestess of the dark powers known only to her as "the Nameless Ones", who ate her soul when she was six so she could undertake her lifelong duty. This duty revolves around the protection of sanctified dark spaces under the tombstones - only for one day, Arha to discover an intruder in her labyrinth. A wizard from over the sea whose name he gives as Sparrowhawk - and she learns much of the outside world from this possibly dangerous man... I'll stop there, for spoilers.

   I'm really enjoying this series so far. Le Guin writes masterfully, and the stories she tells are so simple in scope yet epic, mythic even, in their twists and turns that it is very much like reading the real tales of a Yester-Earth dug up afresh for modern audiences. The magic system she uses is more like what real magic is probably like than any incantations found in Harry Potter or the million knock-off forms of sorcery that prevail nowadays. Facing shadows and chasing down one's own frailties is what Le Guin's characters are all about and it makes for a brilliant read.

Watchmen

This book, written by Alan Moore and turned into the resplendent comic it is by Dave Gibbons, is quite rightly affirmed as numbering among the best graphic novels ever written. And it probably is. If you don't want to fall accidentally prey to the Spoiler Virus, much less the inchoate narrative fury of the anarchist wizard* who wrote this thing, look away now and read the novel before you read this post because I'm going to talk about its plot and characters at length. Content warning first because this shit is set in the 1980's.

   First up - the nature of vigilantism in general. The way Moore portrays the motivational and psychological weights that spur someone into this kind of lifestyle is second to none in my book, with Silk Specter and Nite Owl both agreeably displaying the innate childishness (from the fuller perspective) of such activities. I just think he paints the picture so well of what it would be like growing up as a "superhero" then dealing with the fallout of your own doings - police strikes, riots, etc. It sets the scene from the start as a perfectly subversive story about superheroes failing to be super heroic - even when they succeed.

   Why then would anyone choose such a lifestyle? Well, because of man's inhumanity to man - this building strut supports the strong psychological horror elements throughout, seen with especial vivacity through the eyes of Rorschach (who, in turn, sees it through his blotch-fluid mask/face). The scene where he is cross-examined by the prison shrink is absolute genius, and the sheer brutality of some of the crimes described, not to mention acts of violence committed by this paranoid quasi-detective in pursuit of justice and/or survival - is enough to blow anyone's sense for what is normal superhero par for the course. Which leads me nicely onto...

   The Comedian, who though he dies at the beginning of the story embodies the gritty, brutal reality that these characters inhabit better than any other. He was the man who saw the true face of the twentieth century and, as a "joke", decided to become a grotesque, borderline fascist caricature of it. He works for the American government, so that figures. I will say that I am still uncomfortable with how Moore handled his attempted rape of the previous Silk Specter (i.e. her mum) but this still serves an important thematic role for the plot, it's just an uncomfortable flashback all round. That said the Comedian's hyper-gritty aesthetic makes for a compelling read and really helps ground the story overall.

   The other superhero employed by the USA's top echelon is Dr. Manhattan, who is arguably the only "superhero" in the story but may as well be a god (the quote "God is real and he's an American" tells you all you need to know about the hype around this outrageously over-powered character in-world - although I would cite also here Manhattan's own views, "I don't think god exists, and if he does I'm nothing like him") for all the plot purposes. However - he is as fallible and imperfect as anyone who didn't have to reassemble themselves by hacking the fundamentals of atomic reality. He forgets Laurie needs to breathe when he teleports her to Mars, for Pete's sake. A fascinating character who blurs the line between hero and villain, antagonist or not - so well that the moral complexity of his arc throughout the story will leave you breathless. Not to mention imagining the scenes from Vietnam.

   And finally Ozymandias - and every other empire fell... I won't spoil the ending here, but I should just say the way Moore pulls it off is nothing short of a marvel, and his characterisation of the man behind this particular mask is as real-worldly as I can imagine superheroes being made as. Being super smart is proven to be the greatest power when combined with a bit of luck, sheer willpower and the ability to predict the actions of others. Still a whore in Rorscach's book, though I guess that's a fair critique of someone who literally sells action figures of himself and his ex-compatriots/enemies.

   That's the main characters - I've realised I've given away far fewer spoilers than I thought I would given this post's beginning, but I just wanted to give you a flavour of the characters and feel like the post can sit on its own by now. Strongly recommended reading for any fans of the superhero genre, even if you're generally similar to me in only liking the extreme end of this particular category of story. Even short of graphic novels it has to be one of the best novel-length stories out there, superheroes or no. Get reading it if you haven't - and do so before you watch the Zack Snyder film, however relatively good that may be. Thanks also to my housemate Josh, who lent me his copy of this book for my reading.

* I have nothing to corroborate this with, I just assume that if an author is a powerful enough wizard or whatever they auto-cast some kind of curse type doodah on people who disrespect their written works by feeding upon unnecessary spoilers. Oh shit, that puts me in a very precarious position for being here talking about it... Never mind

Xanathar's Guide to Everything

This book is another* of the recommended reads for new Dungeon Masters and their ilk. The eponymous Xanathar is a beholder** who is generally disparaging of humanoids and as such the information laid out here - which is ample, and of a most generous help to the discerning Dungeon Master in their trials and work - is accompanied by misanthropic comments and snide little "ooh look at you lot all being magical and whatnot" type comments, which I found amusing, and they don't really detract from the main content at all. Not one of the core books but a viable case could be made that it should be just to have all bases properly covered.

* That link should bring you to a web page wherein you can access and download pretty much all the main books from Fifth edition. If it doesn't work cut it down to just the initial web address and hunt through the clicky lists for the resource you want.

** And if you don't know what one of them is, you should read the D&D lore books as I am.

the Soul of Wine

This book by Gisela Kreglinger is an entertainingly readable, life-affirming and impressively moderation-levelled introduction to the spirituality of wine. She - coming from a winemaking family - has a deep and rich appreciation for the dimensions of life that the juice of the vine can bring out in human social relations, and she has shared with us in this short book a powerful testimony of what this can look and feel like. I was shocked at some of her theological statements but taken poetically I don't think there's anything in here that all but the most ardent of teetotaller-Puritan Christians should really be bridling at. Jesus loved wine enough to not only develop "a reputation" among the Pharisees but even instituted the sharing of wine as part of his own disciples' maintenance of their relations with him and each other - i.e. the Communion - and as such we should think not drunkenly but drinkingly of the Spirit as the gift of life that it is, given to us to share in the abundance of all good things that God has given His Creation - and call me Bernard Black but I've always held good old fermented grape juice as being one of those higher gifts. You know, like cheese, with crackers and olive paté. A recommended gift book to Christians who like a glass or two. Not a recommended gift book to those struggling with over-drinking, as it will likely just send them into Rasputin mode.

How to Argue with a Cat

This book by Jan Heinrichs claims to be "a human's guide to the art of persuasion", to such extremes that you might not only be able to win arguments against other real people but even cats. Even cats!

   The principles of rhetoric, psychology, context sensitivity and body language discussed in this book are the direct claims of a professional in his field and they make tons of common sense. You will come away from this book feeling empowered to try out your newfound skills of persuasion on any human or cat you can - I did, and it didn't work, because I'm a rat at heart and struggled to get to grips with a lot of the theory. But I'd strongly recommend this one for anyone wishing to become a more persuasive, more effective person.

Rumours of Another World

This book by Philip Yancey is a masterfully composed, Biblically grounded and refreshingly open-minded take on Christian apologetics. Instead of dealing directly with Christian claims and how the world tries to refute them, Yancey begins with the premise that there is more to life than the mundane material lets on. He then leads us through a winding series of arguments tackling some of the biggest blockages against our as natural beings' shortfalls in perception of life and the universe's supernatural elements: the false gods of money, sex and power cloud over much of this reality by demanding God-level attentiveness from their soul-sold devotees, and we get stuck in ruts of finite perception, ignorant of the infinite love and goodness on the "other side" - this despite all Scripture over its history aiming to create and maintain communities deeply rooted in the practice of perception of such Otherness - even believers construct walls to keep out the less-than-neat-or-easy elements of supernatural being.

   I'm using lots of hyperlinks to make points in this post as the themes of this book tie into a lot of things I've read already, but moreso since Yancey's writing style is itself full of "hyperlinks" - he writes extremely accessibly, this is far from an academic slog of a book, and references to previous chapters or other things he's written criss-cross almost every page as he builds us a picture of the unseen Coming Kingdom of Christ - a picture rooted not in human institutions but the communications of a great and absolute God who loves us and desires us to know His goodness first hand. Through the intimations of poetry and work of the imagination we can take steps toward this all-filling spark of creativity and mystery that is the eternal Godhead, who is far closer than most presume to the beating heart of pop culture just as much as the dried-out flakes of gnostic "faith" in what we do not yet know fully - perhaps never will or can know. Some things are God's knowledge and no human mind ever needs to be big or complex enough to comprehend them, and as beings of an amphibious nature, that is we have both bodies and souls - we should be okay with this reality. Only obedience in faith ultimately helps us find the spiritual oases - and only grace will redeem us at the end of history, whenever that may be for us personally.

   This book is a powerful communication of the Christian faith, but philosophically speaking there is a lot in here to pique the interest of skeptics too. I would commend this book to those who are maybe new to spirituality and have no intrinsic reason to doubt or distrust the Jesus traditions - not that there aren't sometimes good reasons to be wary of such - but on the whole it is my experience that life with Christ in it is richer and realer and more enthralling than life without, and so I would hope that in the spirit of receptivity people would not dismiss the supernatural things in our world without at least trying to taste-test them to see what sticks.

Dungeon Master's Guide

This book (again, a free pdf available) is another of the Wizards of the Coast's core rulebooks for fifth edition. I would strongly recommend reading this if you are a games master - and would conversely strongly recommend against reading this if you're only a player as it helps maintain the mystique and narrative quality of the roleplaying element when the PCs are frequently given fresh new methods of stumping themselves or winding up in plot corners at the DM's behest... It's a license for all manner of cruelty should you wish to see it as thus, for Dungeon Masters must practice that sanest of all game-management principles: it's kinder to be cruel, to be the "bad guys" and give the Player Characters something to really strive for - it's more fun that way! 

Baptism and Fullness

This book by John Stott I admittedly mostly speed-read, as it was about as intellectually challenging as a typical Christianity Today article scaled up to a full book - that's not meant to sound disparaging, it's a signifier of how accessibly and readably Stott writes, while never losing the merit of soundness and authority with which he can dispense such rich theological wisdom. The core topic covered in this book is the "fillingness" by which Christ bestows the Holy Spirit on his adopted brethren; how by the sign of the water we open ourselves to spiritual baptism from heaven that sanctifies us in the sight of God and helps us on our walk in space-time by grounding us in the light of eternity. A profoundly encouraging book and one I would highly recommend to new Christians, or the friends of these, to dig out the vibrant and heartwarming truths Stott so deftly lays out about our newfound identity and flourishing through Jesus.

Budapest to Babel

This book is Ágnes Lehóczky's first published poetry collection in English - and boy, is it a doozy. As the book's title suggests, she draws heavily on the sociological and historical experiences of linguistic mishap, inarticulated or poorly-articulated trains of thought buffetting each other as the whorl around the mindscape of possible communication across the loquacious border-patrols of Different Actual Languages - probing at whether translation is possible at all - or if it is poetry could never exist sufficiently to the task, and can only pour petrol into the tornado of communications and dreams...

   I really enjoyed this book. The poems are chunked into three parts, the first dealing with our sense of linguistic home-ness, the second exploring the contemporary Babel-scape in biblically subtle twists of genius language-manipulation; the third finally looking through the eyes of Narcízs (a poetic type, we may presume) at this same wordscape and inviting open critique of everything said, unsaid and/or half-said throughout the book entire. The are poems that stare into your depths as they confound your expectations, as if to drop some immense wisdom egg into your craw, only to bark like crows and flap away idly again as though their invisible task was complete and the non-comprehension of over-hearers means nothing to them. A powerfully evocative collection that will provoke much thought about language, peace (of the inner and/or outer types) and possibility.

the Lost Art of Scripture

This magisterial tome by Karen Armstrong is to date the best book on comparative religion I've read so far in my life. It's a truly stupendous work of holistic scholarship. She works through the full historical span of recorded religious writings, built out of preexisting oral traditions for millennia already - Israel, India, and China are the big three foci throughout, with all major world religions given ample coverage during the thematically roving chapters.

   The book is prefaced by a couple of quotes from William Blake that really set the tone for the rest of its argument: one hears his decried notions that "all religions are one" resonate through the Poetic Genius of all the texts we might consider Scripture today, so eloquently and rich in detail are the introductions Armstrong makes with each distinct faith. Jainism and the roots of the polycultural faith commonly banner-termed Hinduism are examined with as much diligence as the Hebrew canon, including the Talmudic midrash that later emerged as the preeminent focus of Jewish scripture; or the traditions of China, where Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist ideals grow up around each other and inter-pollinate sociologically across vast areas of human population over time - we witness the birth of Christianity with its own new emergent canon building in the already established edificies of Hebraic tradition; and latterly Islam also as Abraham's God bears angelic witness in an altogether different but ultimately similarly upbuilding revelations to the offspring of Hagar - Isaac's half-brother Ishmael, whose visitation in the presumed descendancy of the Prophet Muhammad of him bears claim to God's faithfulness even to those overlooked by established canonical traditions - Armstrong's framing all this as it unfurls over time has radically influenced my perception of other faiths compared to my own: I cannot but proudly assert that I understand any other religion enough to dismiss its claims entirely unless I put the effort into reading their scripture, observing their rituals and obediences and examining my own psychological and spiritual states as I take part in such things; how can you really know what's on the other side of a door if you won't even approach the doors you start seeing? Scripture is important because it records truths that are all too brilliantly human, but that exist as Truer than reality itself at certain points of belief - the maintenance of religion is not the purpose of any scripture, awakening people to better more peaceable states of collective mind is, through reason, tradition, and the cultivation of virtue. Forging peace between Muslims and Hindus was the sole reason for Sikhism's founding; how sad that as other faiths frictions of extremism do persist in the world... such we may always have to have with us to whatever extent; all the rest of us can do is try to be different and hope that goodness will more or less prevail. Which it does so the more for our faithful participation in Reality as it is. That's all any religion that works really is or does at the end of the day. The ancients knew this - Moses and Chuang Zhu would have seen eye-to-eye on far more than modern, compartmentalized intellects might presume - in any case I'm sure they would have found plenty of generousity to praise each other in the sight of Heaven as they understood it, as compared perhaps to the disinterested, polarized happenstance as much in the world today how there seem to be so many insurmountable obstacles in the way of what we might call Religious Belief - or even let alone Fervour! - I'm rambling. This risks turning into an unwarranted and largely speculative Holistic Essay, so for sake of possible Inquisitorial readership on this blog I'm going to cut myself short here and just end by saying that her chapter on ineffability is the best on the subject I've read outside of the Cloud.

   Highly recommended reading for agnostics or indifferents who may be at all interested in an unbiased, pretty solidly comprehensive guide to the core textual living examples of so-called Holy texts - and it's a diverse bunch but there is so much that unites them in similitude at the same time; a fact that will resonate with anyone of any faith or none from reading Armstrong is that you will develop a much deeper appreciation for the plain facts of how much good, more or less, religious-originating values and ethics still hold fundamentally impressive sway on the vast majority of people in ways we don't perceive - perhaps we don't care to? But it's there, it's a real part of our world and the beyondness past what we know and cannot know. I'm saying all of this as a born-again Christian, without denominational affiliation though I technically do belong to an Anglican monastic community, but my home church situation got complicated and I have been congregationally homeless for over a year. I've got used to it and I'm not sure how spiritually healthy that is long-term, but it'll take a while to get over what happened at and with The Crowded House. That said, I'm steering a pretty orthodox path in my own way, I'd like to think. Even though I am also now a Taoist with possibly a smidge of Sufi too... God, give me wisdom and slowness as I explore the richness and variety of other religions for a spell. Well, okay, for a novel. Or seven. 

Arcadia

This book, I should start by saying, is a play by Tom Stoppard and has nothing to do with Guillermo del Toro's ongoing Netflix entanglements.* Much like the other play of his I've posted about before, this seems to be relatively minimal in terms of story, instead weaving another deft web of surmised interconnections and/or freshly-dug-up intellectual treasure in its intricate dialogue, which truly does throw you headfirst into these characters' world.

   To give you a taster without giving away any spoilers... well, first off I mean obviously go and see this live in a theatre if you ever get the chance! But onwards: we fluctuate between two time periods, the early 19th century and late 20th, with the constants between these being a library and concordant desk within which most of the action takes place. The action being, of course, one Bernard turning up at the stately home with the express intent of uncovering a historical long-buried plot involving trauma, shame, Lord Byron, and the quest for a mathematical theory capable of unfurling such meta-complexity within its parameters that the future's events can be ascertained through proper examination of events through this formula; long-dead and scarcely-known poet Chater and academic Hodge are responsible for nurturing this mathematical golem into life with the genius insights of young Thomasina, while in the deep future of the play, garden historian Hannah unpicks enough threads to shed light on the whole damn mix of stuff and ruins Bernard's project by pipping him to the post of truth. We by the curtain-fall are brought to the realisation that Newtonian physics is missing something of immense import to anthropocentric metaphysics: that is, the laws of sexual attraction, the missing piece of the Grand Formula's puzzle.

   If none of that makes sense then you might not get the play. But you'd probably enjoy it - as with Stoppard's other work that I've read, while there is an enormous amount of intellectual subtextual weight being lifted by almost every line uttered herein the speech itself flows with a naturalistic poise that muffles that otherwise-pretentious sheen on everything and brings you face to face with these intrepid bookish characters, for better or worse...

* Seriously, if you haven't seen or read Trollhunters, Wizards or 3 Below - get on that shit right now. It's kid-friendly epic fantasy for the 21st century done far more properly than properly even knows.

All My Cats

This book is a partially autobiographical shortish novel, or longish novella, by Czech author Bohumil Hrabal, who, once upon a time, moved into a house in the Bohemian area of Kersko just outside Prague, hoping that he would have peace there in which to write. However he finds the town's wild cat population seeps into his life and thus commences the book's central theme and relationship - that of Hrabal with all the cats that start visiting, then staying in, then breeding in, his Kersko home, despite the regular complaints of his wife "what are we going to do with all these cats!?"

   Of course, what he actually does do with the cats is the meat of the story so I won't spoil it here. But be warned - cat lovers expecting a ride as soft and complacently-cattish as this novel will be sorely disappointed, as Hrabal's cat cabal relatively quickly begins a descent into grim, almost Dostoevskian horror and brutality - look out for the mailbag...

   I'd happily recommend this book to people who enjoy reading about the nature and character of cats, as this book I think feeds into that kind of metanarrative really interestingly. But if you just want a nice story about a man with lots of cats, don't read past the first chapter of this one - this is not that kind of story. It is, however, once you get past the sheer darkness of its core conflict, a deeply funny and thought-provoking story about life, care, responsibility, and "whatever are we going to do with all these cats!?"

the Man Who Was Thursday

This book, a nightmarish novel by Gilbert Keith Chesterton, that sly old dog, is very rightly one of my new favourites. Without giving away any spoilers, the premise is the Supreme Anarchist Council, who furtively behind-the-scenes are really running the shop, and there are seven of them named after days of the week* - and the man who was Thursday, otherwise known as Gabriel Symes, an extravagant poet; after one of the Council's meetings is taken into a darkened room where he meets with a mysterious figure (supposedly not one of the Council, though it should be said that all of them are also pretty mysterious figures) who gives him a small blue card, accompanied by the instructive comment that they are now working with the Metropolitan Police, in an effort to infiltrate the Anarchists and foil their plans, many of which, because of course they do, involve dynamiting large public events and buildings and personnel.

   Anyway Mr Symes/Thursday is rightly terrified by all this, and cops it to the police in his heart - later divulging this to other members of the Council as he spins an ever-more desperate web of lies, half-truths and mental gymnastics in trying to perjure or gain advantages over the other Anarchists while seeking their comeuppance by the law... Of course, they soon catch on. And for want of spoiler bait I'm leaving it there and retreating into discussion of its abstract qualities.

   Chesterton has played an absolute blinder here. The resonant subtextual symbolism and lurid imagery and superlatively playful prose make for a riotous read, the pacing feels a little off kilter but it's gripping throughout anyway and you really feel your way through the fears, the machinations and frustrations of the characters, despite how opaque and duplicitous they all succeed in being throughout. The ending will have you howling for anything more, better or different, and yet at an absolute loss for how else it could have ended. Sunday is surely the most ominous, powerfully charismatic villains I've encountered in text** since Culzean, and that's saying something. A fantastically riddling read for mystery thriller lovers of all ages.

* Yes, I know that's similar to Reservoir Dogs, they copied it. This is from 1908.

** Yeah, and Satan probably counts as this too but he's long since given up reading over my shoulder when I read the Bible, probably, but I fear he's leveraging my own extra reading against me in unfathomable ways. God knows I'm the furthest thing from a heretic when it comes to the crunch decision point - at least that's what I'd hope and aspire of myself.

The Waste Land and other poems

This book by T. S. Eliot was a pleasant surprise. If you're a regular reader you may recall during my post about Rupi Kaur I somewhat dismissively used Eliot as the counter-example of a poet whose work was purportedly and academically excellent but somewhat dry and lifeless when actually imbibed, and I admit here and now that I wrote that without actually having read any of Eliot's work at least since GCSE Poetry Anthology days - if even then! And so it was, that with trepidation and intrigue, I bought this for 79p in Oxfam and read it in a couple of sittings - and whewf.

   The titular poem itself is fairly impenetrable but also gives you far more to work with as a reader than I was expecting. I don't actually know what I was expecting - but whatever it was, the actual poem is far shorter and actually pretty powerful stuff, if admittedly I would have found it somewhat inaccessible had I not committed so much time on this blog to mystical theology and comparative religion... Anyway, that said, The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock is just saddening, a bleakly accurate portrait of postwar romanticism well-bridged into the modernist era. Ash Wednesday and the Two Choruses from 'The Rock' however were deeply powerful, and I saw as for the first time that Eliot's struggle as a poet was far higher-minded and nobler than the mere academical muddyfooting that I'd previously shunted it down as, and religious ideals shine through gaps between the lines in these two poems particularly with a light and resonance that I think is truly powerful and would speak to many people who may not even like poetry at all. Religious readers will, I wager, find much of inspiration here as Eliot responds to the grim, industrial choke-points of secular 20th-centuryism.

   Aside from the traditionally contemporary gripe that in a couple of places he'll quote something in Latin or Greek without offering a translation in the footnotes, I actually really enjoyed this book and imagine it will be another one for the semi-regular poetic rereading as I grow in my own capacities and voice as a writer. Definitely go for this one if you're new to Eliot - at least this of his books hasn't had The Ultimate Furry-Friendly Musical based on it as with one of his other publications.

Phantasmagoria

This book, by the pseudo-anonymous D. M. Riddles, is effectively just a creepypasta that's been sucked off its online home and printed, for some inchoate incoherent reason. It's a "scary story" about a kid who finds a cursed notebook that allows him to see reality through the Grim Reaper's eyes, a lá the narration in The Book Thief - and the whole book as such functions more or less like a long, unbroken whinge as the underlying riddle, whatever it is, I can't be bothered to figure it out because it'll probably demand the reading of the two sequels promised to be on their way to follow this one and fuck that noise. I'm dropping this off at Oxfam, don't touch it with a bargepole. Not because it's necessarily cursed, but because it is definitively crap.

The Magos

This book is the fourth instalment in the epic sci-fi thriller Eisenhorn series by Dan Abnett - as well as the newest novel in the series, this includes eight or so short stories that flesh out the world and side characters to our eponymous Inquisitor quite brilliantly. As ever with Abnett's writing, the pacing is punchy and gripping, the horror element pitch-perfect (you can hear the warp itself screaming with glee at some of the sentences herein) and for my money I think in terms of dialogue the characterisation has never been better. It helps having Gregor as a third-person figure rather than the narrator as in the first three books - not that his narrations wasn't great, but having him as more of an outside figure to the readers helps maintain his elementary mystique that makes for such a killer read. Don't read this without also having read all of the first two trilogies... Though that said, maybe stay away even if you have. Warp taint, innit.

Stardust

This book by Nail Gaiman is an absolute treasure. Prepare for a deep dive into a world so magical it feels almost like Gaiman is witness-bearing to its reality as a travel writer rather than a mere imagineer - fairies, witches, foul-mouthed falling star-folk, pirates and fratricide aplenty - this is simply one of the most fun stories I've had the pleasure of reading for a while. Old stories are reforged on every other page and always rehashed with so generous a helping of Neil's own freshly-conjured brilliant quirks of ethereality that you may well find yourself, as I did, finishing this in only a sitting or two within a day of picking it up. I mean, lockdown helps with the time management on that front, but even assuming you're reading this and Covid 19 is no longer The News, I'm sure you can find time for a rollicking romp through the Gap in the Wall and find yourself adrift with Tristran Thorn on his romantic quest for something or other. I'm quite pleased and shocked at having got this far without dropping a spoiler so I'll sign off to stay safe on that.

The Bucket

This book by Allan Ahlberg is a mixed bag. It's an autobiographical look through rose-tinted age-fogged glasses at the author's own childhood, in 1940's/50's Oldbury in the Black Country - and for a Millennial reader like myself, the sheer distance between his childhood and the contemporary average is mind-boggling, but I pride myself on being feral enough that despite being born in the 1990's my own youth bears many hallmarks of similarity to what is presented in this book. We meet a young Allan who hates baths, loves hiding under the table, dart, playing football, alternately squashing and empathizing with snails, playing with things that aren't even technically toys but can become such through active imagination, etc.

   I'm not really sure who this book's meant to be for. Ahlberg is a masterful and prolific kids' author and this claims to be his first book intended for adults, but other than nostalgic curiousity for the inner life and memories of a similarly-aged person, I'm struggling to think why exactly an adult reader would read this off their own bat. It would be a fantastic book to read to younger readers to give them a sense of how much lifestyles, attitudes and such can change in a short fifty year generation or so - but in my opinion it just wasn't entertaining enough on its own merit to warrant picking up and reading as a grown-up. Unless you really like terse poetry, rambling anecdotes about half-forgotten things, and of course buckets and buckets of Brummie good cheer.

Fox

This book by Isabel Thomas and illustrated by Daniel Egnéus is a visually fantastic and lyrical ode to that darkest and greatest most mystical of natural forces; death.* It follows the life cycle of a mother fox raising her litter - and trusting their instinct to persist their foxy little lives even after their ma gets [SPOILER WARNING] got and becomes food for the worms, flies, and fungi. Probably not a book for every kid but ones that are interested in nature will love the pictures and learn to fear the Reaper less should they give this one a chance.

* Not quite as comprehensively as certain other books lobbed at the younger audience, but the upshot of how it's pulled off in this one is far less morbidly humourous and instead performs more like a sanitary duty to the kids' psyche with an adroit and non-scary inspection of Death as Natural... just part of the circle of life!

Pistache

This book, by Sebastian Faulks, is a brilliantly inventive and meta-Faustian anthology of spoofed imitation samples writing like other writers. A voice-skipping task with Faulks pulls off with great aplomb and good humour - the Dan Brown, T. S. Eliot and Noel Coward ones are particularly funny I thought - but in the sense of remaining spoiler free I won't give away too many of the names in there but they're all at least pretty funny. Worth keeping on the coffee table or it's the kind of book you could read on the Tube or something, pretty broad appeal to bibliophiles and literary-buffs all across the table I'd reckon for this one.

Now We Are Six Hundred

This book is a collection of Doctor Who themed poetry, apparently written in the Time Lord's own actual voice, by the supremely talented voice-snatcher James Goss - and if that wasn't enough already it also includes a number of pretty stylish illustrations apparently by Russell T. Davies himself! The poems vary hugely in terms of content and tone, as you'd expect from one such as a Gallifreyan consciousness; but deal with the show's lore deftly and with utmost respect for the integrity of poetic form. A powerful, resonant collection in my book. Retiring really spoke to me with Twelve's distinct voice, while The Hard Stair struck me as a very timely almost whinge foreshadowing Thirteen - also there's a poem about a Dalek, which is fun, though later on I almost felt personally attacked as a poet and Whovian myself by the phrasing of one of the lines in Shortness of Breath, but that's another story for another time, probably never. To Her Coy Doctor is presumably by River Song, or Clara... or - and some of these seem to be about the Time War, which we can only presume is still going on in some kind of poetic format?* There's just so much mystery shrowding the show that it inevitably spills out when the showrunners start upselling that as pure poetic mindbombs etcetera, very enjoyable collection if you're a fan of the show. 11/10. and no that's not my score rating of 110% just a DT MS reference.

* As though the book's first inset page claims it was published in 2017 - I'm pretty confident I would have had a copy by now, and it's been retconned into reality this very year for sake of Chris Chibnall's metasocial ethical integrity for what he's doing to the Timeless Children of Sheffield and its surrounding countryside... They set giant spiders on us up here, you do know that down in London don't you? It's all a scareshow shitfest for maximal profit. Gross

Holes

This book by Louis Sachar is a marvel of young readers' literature in so many ways, but - and I hate that I have to do this, but I do - it's not as good as the film for two simple reasons:

1. The soundtrack
2. Shia Labeouf

And that is all I have to say about this book, other than that obviously it's a great read, with a really fun plot and satisfying ending, with a pretty interesting set of themes and one of my favourite side-characters from any kids' novel in the hero that is Zero.

Spider-Man: Full Circle

This book is a collaborative work by seven different writers as a celebration of the iconic character's 80th birthday since Spidey's inception by the late great Stan Lee - and to tell you the flat-up truth, I'm really not sure what happens in this comic at all, despite just having read the thing twice. It's a helter-skelter ride of apocalyptic fervour-dream wish-wash madness with werewolves and time travel and a fully circular plot and some kind of magical pixie escape clause or something or maybe Peter Parker's just hallucinating the whole thing while stranded dying in space... I don't know. It was very entertaining though, and there's also a really fun little appendix where the writers and editorial team are chatting about how to make the ending work along with the beginning (oh, should note, when the writers were working on this they knew what had just happened but not where the overall story was going or who'd be passing them, or taking, their plot relay torches at each step); shed some neat lights over the collective process of pulling off a story as crazy in content and methodological form as this one. 8/10 overall, might be higher on a further reading in the future, though also I found myself digging into the Omegaverse lore after being prompted into such a curiosity by this comic - and boy, lemme tell you, that's one rabbit-hole you don't want or need to find the bottom of. You've been warned. By a friendly neighbourhood Spiderman [not me].

the Prodigal God

This book by Tim Keller is an explosively insightful and well-considered re-exploration of the parable commonly misknown as the story about a prodigal son - when in fact, as Keller so adeptly points out, the story is a story about God's family, skewing its various three members narratively in ways that totally upend conventional contemporary wisdom about societal and religious norms. As a singular book I can only think of one or two that effectively provide a comprehensive theological overview of Christianity's core point more concisely and powerfully than this. Highly recommended as an apologetic evangelistic primer for believers looking to share their faith simply and authentically.

the Book of the People

This book by A. N. Wilson is a masterfully woven deep dive into how to read the Bible as emergent from its contained truth claims unpacked from history, context and intention. It is written with a poetic eye for detail and a rigorously pragmatic approach to problem-solving the tangles and conflicts of meta-historical academic considerations of Scripture - instead, Wilson is bent on showing us how Scripture comes alive when it is lived in, understood by meaningful participation in the story of God's people, and that is an immensely reinvigorating view of the Bible: regardless of your religious belief I think you would find this book a stimulating and freshly thought-provoking take on the tenets of biblical thinking. Highly recommended for apologetic reading if you're already a believer or an explorer.

Emil and the Sneaky Rat

This book by Astrid Lindgren is a hearty romp that will amuse the children just as much as the adults reading this to them - think what if Just William was Swedish, only with a far more elusive tone to the narration that lends an almost mythically folklorish bent to many of these tales; in which Emil, a young boy always getting into distinctly Emilian mischief, shocks and delights many people in his hometown and the surrounding villages. I highly commend this book for readers between five and eight as a rough bracket.

Romans 1-7 for You

This book by Tim Keller was a real treat. I read through the whole thing as a Bible study with my dad, which was a great means of digesting better the sheer amount of incredible commentary Keller brings to what many consider the theological cornerstone of New Testament systematic thinking - that being, obvs, the book of Romans itself. Tim writes to and for the laypeople, always considering well the many sides and dimensions to take into account when talking about the application of deeper passages of scripture to our modern lives, modelling ourselves as we must on Paul as he strives to emulate Christ... it was a bonus crossover for me having been reading through this weekly having also read Phoebe earlier this year, which is a great resource for understanding the original historical context and impact of the Romans' epistle.

Chapter & Verse: 1000 Years of English Literature

This book, which I can't find for sale anywhere on the internet so good luck clarifying the veracity of the text should you wish to track it down in real life... is a visually striking ramble through the history of the literary pinnacles of our great Albion's loremasters and bards... from Keats to Shakespeare, Beowulf to Liz Barrett Browning, Margaery Kempe to Kubla Khan - snippets of the original handwritten manuscripts are included to flag up the sheer beauty and tenacity of what writers had to do before keyboards came along. I know, right? Also, I will mention here out of gratitude that this book was gifted to me some years ago by Yunzhou, or Eve, a good friend of mine from university days - if she's reading this, which I doubt, but I want to thank you for the present anyway, and sorry it took me so long to get around to reading it!

the Tale of Three Trees

This book by Angela Hunt is a powerful short story about ambition, hope, competitiveness and nature versus nurture... The prides of each of our three protreegonists is thwarted, but then totally vindicated, when they're turned into, respectively, a manger, a fishing boat, and a Roman cross: the threesome had always wanted to be of usage deeply important and treasurable; and now because the Jesus story happens to these trees they have eternal significance for their part in the saga. Touching, if not the most theologically compelling of stories, but this is not a book designed to convert non-Christian children so much as to stimulate the humble imagination of all possible readers to the transcendent truths of the Crucifixion as it happened.

Know yourself through your Handwriting

This book, appropriately enough for an anonymous sheaflet from the 1970s that came for free with a box of breakfast cereal probably, would be an invaluable tool to anyone looking into psychology, criminal theory or practical forgery tips; and that's about all as I'll say on't.

How to Speak Emoji

This book is quite literally the least entertaining book I think I've ever reviewed for this blog. Do with that information what you please. One for the white elephant game bag...

Ozma of Oz

This book, adapted from the original Frank L. Baum for Marvel Comics by Eric Shanower and Shottie Young, is a marvellously-illustrated romp through the magical land of Ev, where, to give a taste without giving too much away, Dorothy Young of Kansas inexplicably finds herself once again embroiled in a zany adventure - this time teaming up with clockwork men and a sassy hen called Bill to take on the Nome King and restore order to the topsy-turvy kingdom's inhabitants. I've never read the originals nor even seen the movie "The Wizard of Oz" but I really enjoyed this graphic novel and it's made me excited to explore the rest of the series - this is book three of that, and Marvel have done all three, so I'm on the lookout in Oxfam next time (was where I got this one) for the prior two instalments of these actually magical bizarre adventures.

Ripon in Old Picture Postcards

This book, once again, I cannot find anywhere online, but it's along similar lines to this book I read about my old hometown - this town instead being my parents' old university stomping ground, and so I looked into this book out of aesthetic interest for that slice of northern history. Not the most exciting read but a fab little window into the quirks of anonymous sparklings or harkings of whenceforth yesteryear.

I am Number Four

This book by Pittacus Lore is the first in the Lorien Legacies series, which if I'm flat out honest I have no plans to read any more of as I really wasn't that impressed with the writing style, or the characters, or the plot, or the worldbuilding... I'm not out on a rant I just feel like the whole thing was on the verge of obscenely derivative of a billion well-worn fantasy adventure YA tropes, and didn't make the best use of them even. My favourite character was his dog, because it seemed to be the only one responding properly to the silliness of the book's internal tone problem. But I mean seriously, what with Netflix churning out content like The Old Guard or Umbrella Academy stories like this are going to have to really up their game in the next few years to not be completely left behind by the inter-canonical meta-lore governing story production conspirators, whoever they be. I borrowed it off my now-18 year old brother so will just be dumping it back at the main Stovell house whenever. Thanks Ryan, I'll get you a better book for Christmas.

Small Dreams of a Scorpion

This book by Spike Milligan is a fairly dry and cynical compendium of poems, if I'm being brutally brevitous; it's alright if you're worried about my reading budget, as you may well be forgiven for being seeing what this blog may inherently imply, but I borrowed this one from the Stovell house, as with many of the lent or temporarily-available books that have similarly been spewn onto the ethereal textscape... I'm rambling about almost nothing. Like this poetry book, a bit.

Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle

Can't find this one online either - I found it slightly waterlogged in a park, it looks like it probably came from a Happy Meal or something. Anyway it's a pretty bog standard Scooby story so I won't spoil the fat old mystery here in case you also find a copy of this riveting pocket-size adventure somewhere in the mad fuzz of our outdoors world.

D.I.Y. Dentistry

This book by Andy Riley is one of those "flip through it over the course of six or seven poos and then never think of it again" kind of books, for the coffee table in your nearest bathroom, then to be given away after being disinfected thoroughly to someone you vaguely hope might find it funnier than you did. Not a very humorous humour book if you ask me, very samey and barely even pretends to try to double down on its own penchant for the squeamish.

senses

This book is an early learning picture book about the five senses. I read it to a toddler on the wrong [as it happened] expectation that it would feature sections about things like proprioception and humour but alas. It did not. And the cover the main five were given was a bit all over the place if you ask me.

Sloth Life: Don't Hurry, Be Happy

This book by Forrest Greenwood is a damn near perfect coffee-table toilet-shelf micro-book of cute sloth pics and funny text. That is, I believe, all that needs saying about it - at least, it's all I will say, as ironically I'm writing this in a spot of a rush.

A Pair of Sinners

This book by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by John Lawrence, is a classical-style poetic fairy type story with, as its title implies, a strong moral compulsion/conundrum baked into it. A bit grim and dark compared to the kinds of children's books I've primarily been enjoying recently, but a bit of grim and dark in kiddish bedtime reading never went too far awry, right? Dunno. I reckon many 4 - 6ish year olders would get a kick out of this, but I can't imagine it would become a regularly-demanded favourite for the majority of normal children. But what do I know?

Realist Manifesto

This text by Naum Gabo is as it says on the tin; a potently concise and polemically clear statement of the philosophy of a school of artistic performance/criticism - that of realism. Certainly a thought-provoking read should anyone be interested in that kind of thing; I read the text initially live at the Tate in St Ives.

Reckless

This book by Amanda Quick started off relatively interesting and turns into a pulpy erotica mess about eighty pages in, which didn't really surprise me from the blurb-geist I'll concede but I still could've done with a bit more attention paid to the whole "knight-errant" angle which kicks off the plot and made for a fairly interesting dynamic between the female protagonist and her "not that noble" a chivalrous aide. Would make for a great trashy beach read if you're not fussy about the above elements.

the Diary of a Killer Cat

This book by Anne Fine (and illustrated excellently by Steve Cox) is a poignant, on-the-nose assessment of ways in which we misunderstand or misinterpret the kindnesses or otherwise our pet cats bestow upon us. Now, as an arguably OTT cat-empath who sees a lot of myself reflected in the being of cats (see also Waldron's Ginger), I found this bright eyed six-day seven-chapter Whodunnit tale extremely entertaining, and this would be an optimal Good Bedtime Week's-worth of Reading to Cat AND dog children* as some kind of litmus test for any pet-getting considerations. I enjoyed it, in any case.

* All other pets, rabbits and rats and such, forbid you introduce them to the flesh of these pages. For it is, this book, only truly for cat-lovers, and lovers of cats alone. Which, and I know this is weird, but even the author isn't.

The Twits

This book by Roald Dahl is a grim, somewhat funny but mostly grim, story about domestic abuse taken to its most horrendous logical conclusion, in a flamboyantly misanthropic married couple who end up more or less killing each other with all their schemes and plots. I mean, the monkeys helped, but spoilers.

Talking about Jesus without Sounding Religious

This book by Rebecca Manley Pippert is a fantastic pocket-size readable-in-an-hour kind of sort of a book - if you're an evangelist who struggles to "evangelize" in, on the fences around, or outside of your own Comfort Zone - this book may really help you to seize the joy of Christian living by the throat and gargle your own bloody song along to its tune; you will be challenged and exhorted by this book & all to your blessing by the empowerments as Gospel Truth undermines all that is crooked around us.

Daredevils and Desperadoes

This book, by seemingly esteemedly myth-renderingly prolific children's author Geraldine McCaughrean; is simple enough. If your presumption from the title is that this is but one more expansion from D&D - think again; this is a collection of well-kept buried much-ken but-morely-mistold in recall - twenty tidbits of the true history of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - though focusing on England, as you would. Spanning a 300 year or so wash of events and change, McCaughrean revels in her ability to dive into the darkest, strangest corners of our own national mythology to bonk or debunk or misun-bodge or something and just tell the story straight in language that wouldn't offend anyone with pleasant sensibilities nor scare the children. Too much.

   I can hardly claim to do justice to the tales regaled here, but I will list them, and in the true saken apprehension likeness of a knight-errant in diligent digitude, will append each story with a Wikipedia link so you can chase down the funny connections yourselves.

1. My running best bet on the Hokey Cokey's Origin as bourgeois burlesque, in 1348.
2. How being a cat-breeder can make you the Mayor of London.
3. The backstory of the first Tyler Durden style Revolt - and how it was quashed.
4. Henry the 5th's morale-boosting all-nighter - which G.R.R. Martin totally ripped off.
5. An inter-village love story involving bells so Niche I can't find a Wikipage for it.
6. Richard the 3rd's child prince prisoners; and/or their disposals.
7. How an anti-English plot to replace the King achieved a new kind of cake.
8. The clan MacLeod Faery Flag, which is probably actually tartan magic.
9. William Tyndale's much-punished quest to translate the Bible into English.
10. Some contextual notes on Anne Boleyn. And her ghost[s].
11. Jack Horner in 1537 saving illuminated monastic deeds and manuscripts from Henry VIII; if it's a true story, some Monastic Scripts were saved but he is remembered only in nursery rhymes. With a pie, for some reason.
12. More sordid context-notes for our best-known least-loved monarch's spouse[s].
13. How it's likely, or at least speculatively possible, that the wife of Elizabeth the 1st's stablesman killed herself for Queen & Country.
14. Using your velvet cloak as a carpet for a Queen when she would otherwise have to tread in mud is a great way of getting off to a Toady Start.
15. El Draco could of course defeat the Spanish Armada - but finished his game of bowls first. Just cos he's the kind of man who would, and purportedly did.
16. A cousin, losing her head to another. Heavy is the crown, indeed.
17. First settlements and whatnot. Raleigh wanted a city, but kept flitting off.
18. Where in 1588 a long-blown-off Spanish vessel was decimated by locals.
19. One of Shakespeare's greatest tricks - the silent business of upping sticks.
20. A bit more contextual insight into the Fall Guy for big Catholic plots - foiled, 1605.

   Anyway, that's it.
   Yes, I already know I live in a crazy country, but I love it here. Each chapter - as well as telling the fuller stories much more satisfyingly than I have here sketch'd, include short afternote detailing exactly how apocryphal most historiographers tend to agree upon.

Enjoy your Prayer Life

This book by Michael Reeves (same great author as this) does what it says on the tin: it is a hearty and helpful guide to diagnosing whether and why one's life of relational prayer with God may, or may not, be flourishing at any particular time in your life. Readers of this blog will not be surprised that maintaining a strong lifestyle element of prayerfulness is, I think - fundamental to my personal flourishing and joy.

   It's a very short book, in fourteen bitesize chapters: I finished it over a single coffee. Any normal reader could likely do the same, were they not taking the time-outs to think over what they've read - as I didn't feel much need to, as it rather just revivified in affirmation of my actual IRL views on prayer anyway, grounded well in Scriptural theology as you'd expect. Helpful reminders from this book include:

• Prayer is not a magical formulaic means of "getting summat" from God
• It is merely asking God for help with that which we cannot resolve
• Our prayers to the Father are conducted through and by Jesus
• Intentionality of resting in Christ's name gives our prayers a "pleasing fragrance" when the words reach the heavens; and all prayers are answered, though we might not always recognize these when they come as God's wisdom exceeds our own understanding of right and Need
• Ideally, prayer should be done constantly - that is, in that it becomes an added layer of consciousness to those practicing it, in all things; not just ritual verbiage
• Total dependence on God through Jesus's accomplished work is the best method for achieving constancy of prayerful mindfulness; it is the antithesis of "independence"
• Obviously, the Holy Spirit guides much of all the inner workings herein
• So be honest - for God sees you as you truly are
• And trust in Christ's promises - that as we pray in and with Him we will be brought ever deeper into God's bosom; in joy, understanding and obedient love

   And so on.

   Hardly the kind of book that would be necessarily enticing to someone who doesn't think God is real or good or whatever - but as a Christian pilgrim, this is worth a read. If you're able to afford it - it's probably worth buying a few dozen copies and handing them out to all your Christian mates/acquaintances. In any case, I have left my (somewhat dog-eared, soz) copy in the Trewan Hall bookswap library.

Edge of Glass

This novel by Catherine Gaskin is a pretty mediocre but satisfying for what it says on the tin romance romp through antique shop clerk Maura's enticing dalliance with an enigmatic Irishman, who shows up suspiciously close to the disappearance from the D'Arcy shop of an almost priceless glassware item; the Cullodan Cup, the last in known existence as t'other is inconveniently smashed near the novel's kickoff.
   Not really my cup of tea, but it was fun to try a genre I usually steer clear of. If it sounds like your kind of book though, there is alongside the Cheap-as-Freebook a well-brown'd copy of it in the Trewan Hall library. To be perfectly honest it was a pretty tough one to speed-read, but I pushed on as it had a vaguely Seymourish smell to the prose.

Jeremiah Jellyfish Flies High

This book written and illustrated fantastically by John Fardell is a very close second, or almost joint first, to my favourite children's books I've read this year. The illustrations are detailed but not distracting from the story - full of characterful detail and gorgeous depth of attention to colour - plus speech bubbles, which add a comicky layer on top of the text narration! Anyway, it's about a jellyfish called Jeremiah who gets curious as to what it's like doing anything but drifting along with the rest of his family-shoal; he evades a small range of supposed dangers (the picture of the jellyfishermen & their evil contraption-boat is one of my fave pages in any kids' book), and eventually meets a man who works in the industry of rocket science. SPOILER ALERT the pair swap roles for a bit, with J.J. taking on the test-pilot entrepreneurial side of running the rocket-plane business while the CEO of actual company takes some time out to just drift, wetsuited up so the jellyfish-fam don't sting him. Eventually they both realise their original placements in the world were of a better long-term run than their freshly realized acted roles; and they switch back, but both are forever changed by their Freaky Friday style career swap. A genuinely great little children's book - with excellent morals about work, and a healthy respect for uglier smaller corners of marine biology.

Max the Brave

This book by Ed Vere is a close to perfect kids' book. Plotwise it's very much the same kind of general gist as The Gruffalo, but the protagonist is a cat looking for mice to hunt instead of a mouse seeking to not be hunted; both lead to monstrous conclusions that are neatly amusing. Though if I'm honest the style of illustrations in this one - being scribblier and black blobby inkspot style rather than Overly Detailed; I don't have the real excuse anymore of having to read to Small Isaac so I did read this purely for my own entertainment, and I very much enjoyed it. Another front on which it's better than the other more famous story I compared it with here is that only one lie is told throughout the whole book - still the mouse saving his own skin, obviously - but it just resolves itself as a moral quandary much more neatly than The Gruffalo, in my honest opinion. But hey, what do I know, I'm just a 26-year-old non-binary Children's Books Nerdstalgia Meta-Guardian.

Ten Days in a Mad-House

This book, a reprint of an 1887 work compiled by Ian Munro from the reports and news-clippings from intrepid journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran, a.k.a. Nellie Bly - or for the sake of her narration in here, N. Brown. I won't say much about it because Wikipedia can give you a better-sourced summation than I can be bothered to - but basically she feigned dementia/insanity for a while to see how hard it would be to get committed to an asylum, in which pursuit she could then report first-hand on the conditions of such places. She spent ten days in Blackwell's Island Asylum, having been processed through the bulk of an inept bureaucratic system up to that point. It is gross and shocking reading that makes me so grateful to God for the NHS; and to the sheer ballsiness of people like Liz Cochran / Nellie Bly for diving headlong into the messes of our world to tell the truth, and their stories amidships. Grimly fascinating, and I will be digging out more books by Nellie to see how she managed to circumnavigate the world in eight days less than Jules Verne thought probable. Following her exposé of the terrible conditions, the state of New York committed an extra $1,000,000 to the cause of properly caring for the "insane". What a woman. 

Mary Wilson: Selected Poems

This book is, as it says on the tin, a collection of poems by one Mary Wilson, best known for being the spouse of one of my great country's past prime ministers. They aren't very good poems, I hate to say, in my opinion. They come across as heartfelt but immature; with an attempted grasp at profundity but almost completely lacking the linguistic toolkit to craft anything of much artistic worth.

   Certain poems, like her closer The Lunarnaut and the penultimate When in the night remorse returns did though strike a chord with my reading; and while her leftist-leaning views are far too politely and patronizingly masked in my opinion (as per The Durham Miners' Gala and its contrast to the little-Englandness of Oxford and Cambridgeshire, both of which are given a far more in-depth poetic scouring examination than the celebrancy of working class norms), there's a strong Christian ethic and metaphysical undercurrent to several which meant the pair If I could end my life on such a day and You have turned your back on Eden both hit home hard; but it feels she is emulating Dickinson or Whitman (see also The Lifeboat and St Mary's Church) too hard rather than striking out at any means of finding her own voice. I guess it's hard to do that too individualistically when you're married to someone who gets elected to lead the United Kingdom twice. After the Bomb makes some interesting thought-trains about nuclear warfare and its ongoing standoff - while the poem about a smelly homeless person I probably enjoyed the most for its authenticity. While not wanting to end on a scathing note for a post that's maybe been more critical than I usually am with poetry - I reiterate I don't think this is a fantastic volume, but it has some nice, decent poems in it, and the best one is its opener which I will transcribe here verbatim:

If I can write, before I die

One line of purest poetry;

Or crystallize, for all to share

A thought unique, a moment rare

Within one sentence, clear and plain

Then I shall not have lived in vain.

   Beautiful, no?

   Worthy of other current poetic leaders. And a full vindication of Mrs Wilson as poet, in my eyes - see the post on Rupi Kaur's milk and honey for more in-depth considerations regarding what makes poets good or poets at all. If you're a poetry fan with centrist sort of political leanings, and are interested in what makes for being a good power couple; this is the sort of collection I'd recommend you pick up if you run across it in a charity shop.

The Secret Boat

This book is one of the many, many, many works of Patricia St John that blend Quality Kids' Writing with depth-charged rocket-fuelled evangelically Christian propaganda. I say this not to be derisive - its doctrine is sound, and its storytelling far slicker than other similar efforts - but to a non-Christian reader whose experience of the faith has been less than 100% A-Okay I'm pretty sure it would just come off as disingenuous and twee.
   What St John does do very well is literary diveable portraiture of life as a "third culture kid" and it being an unpredictable impact on these youths; and while much of the decolonization of the Western Christendom mindset that I think is essential to the ongoing successes of a western missionality, the characters draw up workable examples from the story itself - of the Gnosis of Christ, of the beauty of salvation through faith and the humanized power of raw, friendly forgiveness: on these fronts, St John's book makes fantastic uses of living metaphorical touchstones that root the story heavily in Christian ethics and thought, and while it in places does certainly come off as "twee" - it never bonks the reader over the head with strict dogma, and its subtext is as generous as I could have hoped to expect from Christian literature.
   One for the bookshelves if you're a Christian family with children who Read Stuff - especially the secret stuff. Whose boat are you in? Do you own it or is it a rental, borrowing, theft kind of boat? And most importantly do you know how to handle the rudder and mainsails when the waves get choppy?