Adrian Plass

What a gem. Christian writers Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas teamed up to produce this book. It consists of letters they exchanged over some months, with a brief introduction by each of them at the beginning. I'm assuming the letters - if they really did start their existence that way - have been heavily edited; but it hardly matters. The personalities of the two writers comes across with that wonderful mixture of humour and deep 'aha' moments that I've found so often with Adrian Plass's show more writing.

There are amusing - sometimes embarrassing - incidents recorded by both, demonstrating their fallibility and humanity; something often missing in books by 'famous' authors (Christian or otherwise). There are some clever gems scattered around, easy to miss if reading too fast. And there are a great many thought-provoking discussions about church life, and boredom, and Christian conferences, and ways that God might - or might not - speak.

I would recommend it highly to any Christians who might be feeling cynical, or disillusioned, or just trying their best in a low-key kind of way to follow Jesus.

Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2022/06/seriously-funny-adrian-plass-jeff-l... show less

This book, originally a column in a Christian magazine, is written in diary format. The fictional writer has the same name as the real author, but a different family. Although Anne (the fictional wife) and Bridget (the real Adrian Plass’s wife) have rather merged into one in my mind, their college-age son Gerald is unique. He makes bad puns, and spends time making anagrams out of the names of famous people.

I’ve just finished re-reading this book yet again, wondering if I would still show more find it as funny as I did previously. I remembered many of the one-liners, and the general story which follows five months of the author’s fictional life. There were still a few places where I chuckled, many where I smiled. Gentle fun is made of the church and the way many Christians behave.

I love this book and have recommended it to many people; most of them have also enjoyed it, but occasionally someone has handed it back to me, a little puzzled, wondering what the point was. The humour won’t appeal to everyone. It’s satirical and British, as are the caricatured friends and colleagues. Yet the writing has a serious vein running through the humour, and I find it very thought-provoking.

Latest longer review: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-sacred-diary-of-adrian-plass-ag... show less

This is not, as I half-expected, an evangelistic book. Instead this is full of short sections explaining different reasons why the author follows Jesus. They range from the standard, self-evident reasons through to the bizarre (such as 'because he's so good at judo' or 'because he doesn't insist that we must all have Scottish accents').

Each of more than thirty sections is about four or five pages long, full of Adrian Plass's typically excellent writing. He uses anecdotes about himself and show more his family and friends, often showing himself at a disadvantage. He uses gentle humour, too, and some satire to make his points.

There's much to think about in this book. I read only about ten pages per day, and enjoyed it very much.

Definitely recommended.

Full review on my blog: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2019/07/why-i-follow-jesus-by-adrian-plass.... show less

A dictionary of Christianese, with Adrian Plass's unique style of humour, blending the ridiculous with some very thought-provoking anecdotes and comments. Well worth reading - just so long as you're not easily offended by someone poking gentle humour at the church.