Oh, thank you for asking.
- The Orthodox Heretic and other impossible tales by Peter Rollins. This is lovely – a book of parables to expand the mind.
- The Road Well Travelled – a simple little book about Christian Spirituality by David Winter which is excellent.
- I’ve been browsing through Sing a New Song, Timothy Radcliffe’s book of bits and pieces.
- I’ve not been reading much fiction in recent weeks, and when that happens, I tend to turn to plays or sometimes poetry. At the moment, it is plays, so its been Angels in America for me, along with another look at the DVD.
- And of course, Joe Orton lies next to my pillow.
How about you?
Find of the summer was ‘The Head Gardeners’ Toby Musgrave – an incredibly well written and engrossing book about – well, head gardeners. I got it thinking it was something I should have read, and find myself reading on and on. Some writers just can do it.
Others can’t and Franny Moyle, (Desperate Romantics) ought to hang up her keyboard – doubt she will, having landed a mini-series. Sent me back to Fiona MacCarthy’s ‘Morris’ to get the taste out of my mouth.
so if those are the books you’ve been reading, which have you been reviewing (for we know that the two never go together)?
The first two are books I am reviewing.
Drat. Another couple of books bought via amazon to feed the popular theological leanings. Your fault 😉
Just finished Marilynne Robinson’s ‘Home’ which is a heartbreaker and Edith Stein’s collected letters which are devastating.
Also just finished ‘Sacred Song in America’ by Stephen Marini. It’s a fairly ordinary study except for the chapter on the ‘Sacred Harp’ which is great and another section which tells the story of the ‘hymnody wars’ in the Southern Baptist Convention (over the revision of the ‘Baptist Hymnal’ in 1991) and the United Church of Christ (over the ‘New Century Hymnal’ of 1995.) Great drama…
Sounds like an enjoyable batch. I’m currently reading Jackie Kay’s collection, ‘Darling’ which I am loving to bits. Also Derrida on writing, Barbara Johnson and Bill Brown on thing theory (who knew there was such a thing as thing theory?) and Miguel Tamen on interpretable objects (sensing a trend) and just finished a number of book chapters on hermeticism and H.D.’s Majic Ring (very strange book). Put it all together and you get hermetic objects having visions of speaking in a Scottish accent about race, sexuality, belonging and other fun stuff. Brain bleeds.
Just finished Abide with me by Elizabeth Strout about a clergyman who has a breakdown in the midst of your usual self-centred congregation.
Now finally getting in to The Time Traveller’s Wife, only because everyone in the world appears to have read it except me. And it is great.
I only do serious theology in Lent and Advent or on Retreat, these days.
As the end of THE BIOGRAPHY draws near, I have been contemplating how to get pop theology into my projected Victorian whodunnit – which has just about everything else (not much straight sex, though). (I might wriggle a bit of that in, but its hard, given other themes) (making ones peace with things etc).
Ooh, Rosemary! A Victorian whodunnit – that sounds fabulous!