The Tortoise's Reading List 2009 No.2

Book No:
Four Stories

Author:Alan Bennett
Read: 25 April 2009
Category: Short Stories/Novellas
Pages: 282

My Review

Four Stories by Alan Bennett is a mixed bag of stories. The Laying on of Hands is about a masseur to the rich and famous who has died and the story is set in the church where his service is being carried out by one of his clients. The story is very well-written but I thought the subject matter was seedy and subversive.

The Clothes They Stood Up In is the best of the four stories. It is about a couple whose flat is burgled and the burglar has taken literally everything. And I am using literally in a literal sense! If it could be moved, it was taken. This is a witty story and very enjoyable.

Father! Father! Burning Bright is the weakest of the four stories. It was originally written as a television play and Bennett later wrote the story as a background for the programme director. I think it probably worked better as a play. It is about a man whose father is dying. That’s it. Witty in places, I imagine it was funnier on television.

The Lady in the Van is extracted from Bennett’s Diary and is about a woman who lived in a van in Bennett’s front garden for fifteen years. It is a very warm-hearted and touching story

My Recommendation:

Cons:

Bennett published this book by trading on his fame, in my opinion. (I wish I had his fame, he said enviously!) Lady in the Van appears in another of Bennett’s books. The content varies in quality.
At £7.99 the value/cost ratio is not favourable. (I am an Accountant!)

Pros:

Worth reading for The Clothes They Stood Up In and The Lady in the Van.
It cost me less than £1. The value/cost ratio was favourable. (Scrooge is my middle name!)

My Rating:


3 Shells and a half.

Got you starred again, TT!

Thanks Stasia,

My posts have dwindled of late. My workload is horrendous. Next week I will have to work late (very late!) every night. I have been researching for my new book and Mrs. Tortoise and I have both been suffering with flu.

I am expecting May to be a comparatively easier month.

Thanks for your sage advice, Richard - I am actually doing what you suggest. I have sketched out 71 scenes so far. Some, very briefly. I am working to a plan as outlined in First Draft in 30 Days. All is going to plan so far!

~ TT

Sorry to hear that you and Mrs. T have been unwell. I hope you both feel better soon! In the meantime, do not work too hard.

ditto what Stasia said.

Sending all good wishes!

And, I have starred your new thread...would not want to miss your posts!

flu, ick...feel better!

rmd

ditto what richardear said

Huzzah for everything going to plan in your writing timeline! I wish you all the best in the coming week, as it sounds very full and not entirely conducive to getting healthy again. Treasure the moments of rest where you can find them. :)

Thank you for all your good wishes. I ignored all your take it easy messages and spent the whole weekend researching! However, Mrs. T. and I are both recovered and working harder than ever. Well, one of us is! Need to work late every night this week. But easier days are coming when I will laze around at work doing practically nothing! My work/lazy times are cyclical. Then I can catch up on LT.

~ TT

Hope May shows the relief you're predicting. I've also been having trouble with getting into books. I've been posting about them if I decide I never want to pick them up again. And, just today, I put up a list of most of my 'stalled books (Flossie's excellent term).

Here' hoping for an engaging read as well. Glad you guys are feeling better.

TT, I'm glad to know that you and Mrs. T. are on the mend. Sorry to hear about the reading slump. I hate them...usually I fall back on some old, oft-repeated reads, frequently favorite mysteries or books from the the forties that don't require any thought...just sheer enjoyment and mindless escape.

Hope May will be a good month for you.

Book No: Prayer: Does it Make a Difference?

Author: Philip Yancey
Read: 27 April 2009
Category: Christian Non-Fiction
Pages: 344

My Review

Philip Yancey, in Prayer: Does it Make a Difference?, addresses all our doubts, fears and perplexities about faith and praying to an invisible God who often seems far away.

He argues for prayer as a relationship rather than as God as Genii and all round fixer. He argues that prayer affects the pray – er in profound ways.

His straight-forward no-nonsense approach to this tricky subject is refreshing. He tells us that there are no easy answers to unanswered prayer. There is no immediate answer for suffering, sickness, war and death. They are part of the fallen human condition and cannot be got round.

Another telling point he makes, and he makes hundreds of excellent points throughout the 344 well-written pages, is that there is no right way to pray. I suppose it could be put in the negative as well: there is no wrong way to pray!

He has researched this subject and interviewed hundreds of people as well as drawing on his extensive correspondence. This is an in-depth examination of the very nature and purpose of prayer and it is not possible to do justice to the topics covered in this excellent book on this subject.

My Recommendation:

Cons: I can’t think of any.

Pros: He tells it like it is.

My Rating:


5 Shells

As a devout believer in the power of prayer, and a virulent non-Chirstian, I am delighted to see this sincere treatment of a gigantically important subject. Thank you, milord, for this! I am heartened.

Also, I posted a review of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire over in my 75-Books Challenge thread in post #87, in case you'd like to cast an eye over it.

>12 TheTortoise: I must get around to reading Yancey's Prayer. It's been sat on my shelf unread for the best part of two years. I'm glad to hear it's so good.

Ditto. Another book that actually made me want to pray rather than feeling discouraged or guilty is Hybel's Too Busy Not to Pray. He doesn't approach it in a scholarly manner as it sounds like Yancey does. It's more like a fireside chat, but worthwhile anyway :) Thanks for the rec!

>15 suslyn: Susie, If I have given the impression that Yancey has written a scholarly tome then I have seriously misrepresented him. He is thoroughly unstuffy and very readable. His style is popular rather than dry-as-dust. Every one of his books that I have read have been enjoyable to read as well as informative.

- TT

LOL -- more that it was researched and others' views were represented (all the interviews etc.)... there's very little of anything but Hybels chatting in Too Busy Not to Pray. And it may just be that I needed to just chat with somebody about prayer when I read it...

TT - Thanks for your review of Prayer: Does It Make a Difference. It sounds like great book. I've never read anything by Yancey, but I just bought What's So Amazing about Grace, which came highly recommended by my pastor.

TT

Just waving "hi!" I read the last 60 posts I missed on the other thread and came over here to get completely caught up with your stuff and to star the new thread.

Very belated congratulations on finishing your Book Traveler novel. I will be very anxious for you to find a publisher so we can read it! Your new one sound very good, also. I'm reading in depth about Africa so that one interests me, also.

I had hoped May would be an easier month for me--but so far I'm still swamped. I'm really longing for summer! I have some catching up to do in my reading as well as in the threads I like to keep track of.

The Yancey book on prayer is going on my wish list.

I'll be back to see how the new book is coming. :-)

Susan

I, too, loved Too Busy Not to Pray--Hybels really addresses my biggest problem. I always seem to have more to do than I have time to accomplish and must continually remind myself to prioritize my time.

I've added Prayer:Does it make a difference to my wish list although it doesn't appear that it is available in the US though I will keep a look out for it. Thanks for the review.

# 21 Carmenere

Amazon for the US has Prayer: Does it make a Difference available in hardcover for $15 (marked down from $22). I don't see a PB edition.

Just catching up on threads, TT. I am adding the Yancey book to the Continent based on your recommendation.

Book No:
Decline and Fall

Author: Evelyn Waugh
Read: 08 – 09 May 2009
Category: Humour
Pages: 128

My Review

Decline and Fall is an unexpected delight, because it is not evident from the title what the book is about. This book is full of unexpected delights as it twists and turns with witty turns of phrase and with extraordinary characters. The book is very well written, witty, sparkling and satisfying.

The story is about Paul Pennyfeather a hapless victim of a schoolboy prank which leads him into all kinds of adventures and he is thrown into the company of some unusual and interesting characters.

It is a short book, more like a novelette. The chapters are short and it can be read in a few hours.

My Recommendation:

Cons:

There were a couple of authorial comments which is a minor quibble.

Pros:

Witty sparkling prose, very enjoyable.

My Rating:


4 Shells

You make me wanna dip my toe in and try it out :)

>18 porch_reader: Porchy, I thought What's So Amazing About Grace was, well... amazing! I reviewed it on my earlier thread. The thing I like about Yancey is the fact that he does not speak from some high and lofty position, he is down where we all are - in the dust!

- TT

#24: I think Waugh is one of the writers whose works I need to read completely. I have added Decline and Fall as well as several of his other books to the Continent lately.

Book No: Yes Man

Author: Danny Wallace
Read: 1 April – 10 May 2009
Category: Humour
Pages: 402

My Review

Yes Man is a story about Danny who decides to say yes to everything. It is presented in a series of loosely connected episodes. Danny has adventures as a result of always saying yes. He is involved in some strange and often amusing situations and meets some interesting and often weird people. The book is well-written, is witty and easy to read. The episodic nature of the book meant it was too easy to put down and even easier not to pick up again when something with a bit more substance beckoned.

At times I felt it was a bit naive and bit immature but that could just be me being bit stuffy. It was written with tongue in cheek and for entertainment. It was an imaginative and well-presented idea and is ok for a bit of light fun.

My Recommendation:

Cons:

There was no plot to speak of, the adventures were episodic.

Pros:

Imaginative idea, witty and well-written.

My Rating:


3 Shells and a half.

>19 MusicMom41: Carolyn, my May madness is now over, so I can do some catching up on the threads and catch up on my reading. I have just about finished the plotting for my new book. I have plotted 106 scenes. Now I am going to tag and trace my plot lines and see if I can strengthen them anywhere. Another week or so and I will be in a position to start writing.

I hope your spring fever will be over soon.

- TT

>23 alcottacre: Stasia, thank you for the lovely Tortoise. I might use that on my profile!

- TT

#30: Glad you liked it! I picked him out especially for you.

> Stasia, I knew that and it was appreciated.

Thanks. I hope your Dad is a lot better now.

~ TT

#32: Dad is improving daily. I am hoping he will be moving from the hospital into a rehab facility in the next few days. Thanks for the good wishes, TT!

Book No: Wise Blood

Author: Flannery O’Connor
Read: 15 May 2009
Category: General Fiction
Pages: 131

My Review

Wise Blood is a strange story about strange characters written by a strange writer. My initial understanding before reading this writer was that she wrote from a Christian world-view. Wise Blood seems to represent the very antitheses of this world-view. It is full of blasphemy. Its central character is a preacher of a Church Without Christ. He is a detestable, mean-spirited character without any redeeming features. The supporting actors in this weird tale are all vile and self-centred. I could not detect any motivation behind any of their actions.

The only character that interested me in this otherwise pointless story was the young girl. I read on to see what the author would make of this character and of this story in general. She didn’t make anything of either, as far as I could see. I had to finish this story to see what all the hoo ha was about. I read with a kind of fascinated horror, like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

I could not understand the motive force behind this author’s writing of this story. If I have missed some profound meaning in this repulsive story, about repulsive characters, written in the most repulsive style, then please enlighten me!

My Recommendation:

Cons:

Completely lacking in Southern charm.

Pros:

It was mercifully short!

My Rating:


2 Shells

Sorry about the read, but thanks for the chuckle (pros)

Book No: I Walked the Line
Author: Vivian Cash
Read: 14 – 18 May 2009
Category: Autobiography
Pages: 330

My Review

Having recently watched the film: I Walk the Line, based on Johnny Cash’s autobiographies, I was intrigued when I saw this book in my local library. I Walked the Line is the autobiography of Vivian Cash, the first wife of Johnny Cash.

The book is in three sections. The first section is a brief introduction to Vivian and her family and the reason for the book. The second section, which is the main bulk of the book, contains all the love letters that Johnny wrote to Vivian during the three years that he was in the US Air force in Germany.

The letters are intense, passionate, romantic and sometimes funny. They reveal Johnny Cash as prudish, God-fearing, self-righteous, hypocritical, devoted, faithful, inconsistent, weak-willed, tortured and prone to addictive and destructive behaviour.

The final section is a brief survey of the events that happened after Johnny returned from Germany. He married Vivian within a month of his return and within one year he was a successful recording artist. When he began touring, he was away from home for 250 days in the year. He fathered four daughters with Vivian. The touring took its toll and he began to take pills and indulge in alcohol which he said he hated and which he had forbidden Vivian to use.

When June Carter joined Johnny’s tour she went all out to ensnare him. Johnny, made vulnerable by drugs and alcohol, succumbed to her charms and in spite of Johnny’s passionate letters in which he told Vivian hundreds of times that she was the only woman for him, he allowed himself to be seduced by June Carter.

Vivian was torn apart by this betrayal and she divorced him. They had been married for fourteen years. Within a month she married another man. Two months later Johnny married June Carter.
They both remained married to their respective partners until they both died. Vivian died soon after finishing the autobiography.

I finished the book on Monday evening on my way home from work on the train and when I got to the end of the line I accidently left I Walked the Line on the train. I wouldn’t have minded so much but it was from the library!

My Recommendation:

Cons: The final section of Vivian’s autobiography is too sparse – there needed to be more depth to get a clearer understanding of the underlying events. It left me feeling that there is more to the story than was revealed in this book. I need to read a biography to get a clearer understanding of what went wrong.

Pros: The love letters are compelling reading and are the best part of the book. The intensity of them left me feeling that disaster could not be far behind. The contrast between the almost daily profession of Johnny’s undying love for Vivian and the reality of his later betrayal with June Carter is a stark reminder of the fallibility of human nature.

My Rating:


4 Shells

TT

You've done it again....hooked me in with your wonderful, clear writing! I cannot help but believe there is a future for you in the writing field. You are incredible!

Oh no, you left a library book on the train!

I love the movie Walk the Line, and always planned on reading more about Johnny Cash. Maybe I will start with this one! To be fair, I should probably read a book from June Carter Cash's perspective as well - your review sounds like Vivian really paints her in a negative light, so I am sure there is more to this love triangle.

Great review!

>37 Whisper1: Thanks Linda, love the graphic!

>38 Cait86: I believe that Johnny's Autobiographies are from June Carter Cash's perspective. The film was based on these books and they do not reflect his marriage to Vivian or the affair with June from Vivian's point of view.

There is bound to be bias in a love triangle situation. Each one wanting to tell it from their persepective. Apparently, Vivian's autobiography was approved by Johnny before he died. But I don't think he read it.

~ TT

Book No: Three Men in a Boat

Author: Jerome K. Jerome
Read: March/April/May
Category: Humour
Pages: 192

My Review

It has taken me a couple of months to finally finish Three Men in a Boat, when I could have read it in a couple of days! The reason was it was too easy to put it down and forget about it. There is no plot to speak of so there is no driving force to the narrative. The writing is discursive, digressive and episodic. The characterisation is weak and the digressions, while sometimes witty, are more often boring, dull and self-indulgent.

The style is witty, but eventually I found it palled due to the lack of plot. The dull bits far outweighed the witty bits and I found it dragged and I was wishing for the end.

My Recommendation:

Cons: Digressive, dull in places, and entirely episodic.

Pros: Witty style.

My Rating:


3 Shells

Does this mean you'll be reading Doomsday Book soon? Or am I forgetting that you've already read it? The latter is all too possible!

Milord...interesting to see Vivian's perspective on the events in "I Walk The Line." I think Cash's situation was no-win, and June's seduction was merely a case of who got there first...another woman would've done it if she hadn't. Touring like that is death on a marriage. Thanks for the review!

Book No: Climbing the Mountain

Author: Kirk Douglas
Read: 22 -23 May 2009
Category: Biography
Pages: 256

My Review

Kirk is one of my favourite actors; he was unforgettable in Spartacus with Lawrence Olivier, as Doc Holliday in Gunfight at the OK corral with his friend Burt Lancaster and as Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life with Anthony Quinn. So when I saw this book in the library yesterday, I couldn’t resist it. I am glad I didn’t, I simply devoured it, it was so interesting.

Climbing the Mountain is subtitled My Search for Meaning. This is Kirk rediscovering his Jewish roots, searching for the purpose of life, on a quest for spirituality. The book also details his struggles with ageing and the realisation of his mortality, overcoming the effects of crippling injuries and a devastating stroke.

Kirk can really write. This is his fifth book, written at the age of eighty. Here are some of his observations: “What you do with your life has got to count far more than what you believe. I think what you do with your handicap, that illness, that challenge in your life, is what God pays attention to, not how loudly you pray for a cure.”

“It’s not important to reach the top of the mountain. What is important is the climb. All of life is climbing the mountain, even if we take different routes. But the journey is far more important than the destination, because it is of our making. What counts is how we behave as we are climbing.”

“As long as we have the capacity to give, we are alive. …even while you’re hurting you can still notice that another person hurts too…when you stop giving, you die. To be able to give – not just money, but something of yourself to another, your love, your understanding – that is life itself.”

As a Christian I can empathise with our Jewish brothers because we believe in and worship the same God, well at least some of us do! We have the same basis of morality in the Ten Commandments; the only departure is in our faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour of mankind, the ultimate Passover Lamb. Kirk emphasises doing good work as a way to work your passage into God’s good graces. I applaud Kirk and other Jewish people for the good works they do and I am sure they will not go unrewarded, but if I had to weigh up the good I have done in my life against the evil I have done, I would certainly be consigned to you know where, if there was such a place! Thank God I don’t have to rely on my good deeds but on Christ’s sacrifice and on God’s mercy and grace!

Kirk has written a fine book and I think Jew or Christian will get something out of it.

My Recommendation:

Cons:

I would have liked more of the search for meaning and less about the film and fame aspects of his life,

Pros:

A sincere and heart-felt memoir in which Kirk searches for his spiritual roots. Well-written and thought-provoking. A fascinating read by a screen legend.

My Rating:


4 Shells

#43: I will definitely look for Douglas' book based on your recommendation, TT! Thanks for another great review.

And he's a really nice man, besides.

TT

I'm adding Climbing the Mountain to my tbr list. Your description is great!

Book No: Tears of the Giraffe

Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Read: 23 – 24 May 2009
Category: Detective
Pages: 217

My Review

Tears of the Giraffe is the second book in The No. Ladies Detective Agency series. I recently watched three episodes of the T.V, series produced by the BBC and I was instantly charmed by Precious Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi. The book is utterly beguiling, the stories are simply told (just how I like detective stories to be told, I don’t like puzzles) and the characters are lovingly drawn. The Botswana setting is also quite magical.

The episode in the book where Mr. J L B Matekoni, Mma Ramotswe’s fiancé, introduces her to the two orphan children he has unofficially ‘adopted’ is very moving. Her response brought a tear to my sentimental old eye. This is a lovely book and if you have not yet made the acquaintance of Precious Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi and Mr. J L B Matekoni then you are in for a great treat.

My Recommendation:

Cons:

For those who are looking for plot twists and conundrums this is not that kind of detective novel.

Pros:

But if you want to spend some time enjoying a quietly amusing, sometimes moving story with superbly-drawn characters then this book and series is the one for you.

My Rating:


4 Shells

I tried the first book in the series and did not care for it. Maybe I should give the series another go . . .

Stasia....try listening to Lisette Lecat's audio narration of 1st Ladies Detective Agency You will be hooked. I couldn't get into the book at first, but after I got used to the glorious cadence of the language in audio, I find the books easy, fun, and a joy to read or listen to.

>48 alcottacre: Stasia, I understand the first book is the least effective. I began with the second book. I already knew the stories from the T.V. series so I would like to read some more that I don't know. I think I would enjoy the books even more. If you get the opportunity to watch the BBC series, it is a gem. I watched it on the BBC i-player and before I could watch them all they took them down. I was so disappointed!

~ TT

OK then, I will not re-read the first one that I did not care for, I will just start with the second book in the series and see how I like it. Thanks for the idea, TT!

>43 TheTortoise: I read The Ragman's Son by Kirk Douglas several years ago and was pleasantly surprised by what a good writer he is! I thought the first part, about his childhood growing up in the ghetto and later attending university on a scholarship was the most interesting. I will look for Climbing the Mountain on my next trip to the library! Great review.

>51 alcottacre: Stasia, I am reminded of Trollope and the Barsetshire Chronicles. It would be a pity if anyone reading the inferior Warden should be put off from reading the altogether brilliant Barchester Towers and the rest of the series.

~ TT

#53: Since Tina suggested listening to the audiobooks, I am going to see if that changes my opinion of the first book. My local library has both of the first 2 in audio form.

I agree with you about the Trollope!

Book No: No Tears For The Clown
Author: Les Dawson
Read: 27 -29 May 2009
Category: Autobiography
Pages: 201

My Review

No Tears For The Clown is the second autobiography of a much loved English comedian. As a comedian I admired his dexterity with the English language and his droll humour was very appealing.

In this autobiography he tells the story of the loss of his first wife to cancer after 25 years of marriage.
He details his excessive drinking, smoking and his workaholism. He was grossly overweight and of course, his lifestyle eventually took its toll with heart attacks, loss of breath through congested lungs and general loss of energy.

He married his second wife, who was twenty years younger than him, eighteen months after the death of his first wife. The press hounded them because of the age gap. She gave him a new lease of life and encouraged him to adopt a healthier lifestyle, which he did for a short while but soon lapsed back into his old ways. He was an actor and novelist as well as a comedian. He acted in plays, pantomimes and on television. He was also a game show host and had his own television series. He appeared in ten Royal Variety shows, being Prince Philips favourite comedian.

As he grew older, into his late fifties, his television work ended and he became depressed to think that he was over the hill but his last Variety performance was an overwhelming success. In 1992, Tracey, his second wife gave birth to their longed for child and the autobiography ends on this triumphant note.

Unfortunately, he died eight months later at the age of 62.

My Recommendation:

Cons:

This book would probably only appeal to us Brits who loved his dry wit and who remember him with affection.

Pros:

Written in his usual witty, droll style, but the humour is probably somewhat dated. He often rails at fate and God, so he obviously believed in a higher power but he was not motivated by a religious faith. Here is a typical Dawson Joke: "The other day I was gazing up at the night sky, a purple vault fretted with a myriad points of light twinkling in wondrous formation, while shooting stars streaked across the heavens, and I thought: I really must repair the roof on this toilet."

My Rating:


3 Shells

#54: I finished the first of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books on audio last night and my opinion remains unchanged. I still do not care for it. I am still going to listen to Tears of the Giraffe and hoping I like it better than the first book in the series.

#55: I may give that one a go because I like droll British humor.

>55 TheTortoise: that sounds wonderful!

Book No: The Impatience of a Parson

Author: H.R.L. Sheppard
Read: 30 May 2009
Category: Christian Non - Fiction
Pages: 237

My Review

The Impatience of a Parson was written in 1927 by a retired Vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. He argued then, and it is still relevant today, for the recovery of vital Christianity. He was disturbed then, and I am disturbed now, by the condition of Institutional Religion. That Institutional Religion, as it is presently organised, does not represent the teachings of Christ is obvious to any thinking Christian. The teachings and practice of organised religion alienates both believers and non-believers alike.

He argues that the Church, however essential, is subsidiary to the adventure of Christian living. He says: ‘there are times when it impossible to be loyal to Christ and the Church.’ The Churches have lost their vitality and have become mainly devotional societies.

He says: “…churchmanship, however serviceable, is not essential to Christian living or the profession of Christianity, and … a real interest in religion is quite compatible with a total lack of interest in Churches and Church affairs.” This is my present position.

Up to the age of thirteen I was a member of the Catholic Church, at sixteen I became a member of the Pentecostal Church and in my early twenties I became a member of a Sabbath keeping Church. I was member of this Church on and off for nearly 40 years. When this Church broke up into schisms I stopped attending and now I feel I can neither go back nor forward, so I feel that organised religion has failed me. So now, I take comfort in John 4:23 – 24 “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Sheppard argues for the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man, (love for God and love for neighbour) which are the essential ingredients of Christianity as espoused by its founder, Jesus Christ. One of the most pernicious teachings of organised religion is its demonising of the Father as a cruel and monstrous tyrant who intends to torture sinners in a burning hell for all eternity. A moment’s reflection by any loving human father concerning his own wayward children would see that any such teaching is a travesty of stupendous proportions. We would have to change that famous scripture to read: “God so hated the world…” “But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Churches muddy the waters by teaching anything different.

My Recommendation:

Cons:

Sheppard wrote this book for the members of the Anglican community, in particular for the Lambeth Conference of 1930. I fear he was a voice crying in the wilderness. 90 years later the voice is still unheeded. The book is both a general survey of the state of the Church and was written to provide particular Resolutions for the Lambeth Conference of 1930 to consider.

Pros:

A balanced and well argued plea for the recovery of Vital Christianity. While Intuitional Religion may ignore it, it can be taken up by individual Christians.

My Rating:


4 Shells

Mistress of the Art of Death is the Highly-Rated Book Group read starting on Monday June 1st. Click the link and join now
~ TT

#59: I signed up, TT. Now all I have to do is find my copy of the book!

I'm all signed up too!

I will have to find a copy of The Impatience of a Parson. It looks extremely interesting.

@59, I'm sorry, a book that I don't have and do not feel the urge to buy and read it at the moment... Hope to join again next time.

>58 TheTortoise: -- Thx for the cogent review and for sharing a bit or your story. I had some similar experiences which almost led me to join the Orthodox church (had read some very compelling and seemingly unassailable arguments for it). The funny thing is that it was a display of Byzantine art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY which showed the fallacies in that book! LOL

Blessings,
Susan

>59 TheTortoise: -- I thought, 'yes, I could do this in ebook format, at that pace I could survive reading a full book on my computer' -- the average price for ebook? $30. It's $6 at Amazon. So count me out. :(

>58 TheTortoise: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Wisdom indeed from that parson of so long ago.

AT LAST I CAN WRITE A REVIEW OF Mistress of the Art of Death!! I feel like a fat guy who just took his girdle off.

Book No: The Ladies of Grace Adieu

Author: Susanna Clarke
Read: 30 May2009
Category: Fantasy/Short Stories
Pages: 235

My Review

Story 1. The Ladies of Grace Adieu I thought was strange, I couldn’t comprehend it.
Story 2. On Lickerish Hill I thought was delightful and witty. Has some aspects of Rumplestiltskin by the Brothers Grimm about it , however, Clarke’s version is way more superior than theirs.
Story 3. Mrs. Mabb I thought was delightful and witty.
Story 4. The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse is pathetic, silly and preposterous. Fortunately, it is only seven pages long.
Story 5. Mr. Simonelli is excellent. Wonderfully well-written.
Story 6. Tom Brightwiind is foolish, pointless and not very good.
Story 7. Anticks and Frets is a slight episode about Mary Queen of Scots.
Story 8. John Uskglass is another foolish story.

This collection covers a spectrum from the sublime to the ridiculous, from very excellent to really rather poor. There are three stories in the collection that shows Clarke to be an excellent writer, the characterisation is first class, and the stories are witty and delightful: On Lickerish Hill, Mrs. Mabb and Mr. Simonelli. The others are just tosh. Some stories I found to be incomprehensible or downright foolish and I resented a writer of her calibre foisting these stories on me as literature. Shame on you, Susanna, you naughty girl, don’t do it again!

So while I admired her skill in the good stories I was overall disappointed in this mixed bag, a bit like a grocer putting the rotten tomatoes underneath the good ones hoping you pay for them and all and not notice.

Clarke is a very good writer and I am looking forward to reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I think the longer form is better suited to her considerable talents.

My Recommendation:

Cons:

Susanna Clarke was ill-advised to put out this collection as 62,5% of it is frankly, not very good.

Pros:

Contains three excellent stories, read those and leave the filler.

My Rating:

Stories 1, 4, 6,7,& 8


2 Shells

Stories 2,3 & 5


4 Shells

#67: I read this short story collection with high hopes and for the most part was not disappointed. I am sorry you did not enjoy it more, TT. Maybe your next read will be better for you!

Thanks for the great reviews...and comments.

mmmHHHmmm

Well, well, well

aaahhhaaaaaa

*sucking teeth sound*

tsk

>68 alcottacre: Stasia, I have just started Henry: Virtuous Prince by David Starkey. I watched a four part series that he did on Channel 4 (UK) and this is the first part of Henry's biography. I have read about his six wives but this book is focussed on Henry. I am am sure I will enjoy this.

>70 richardderus: Rich, what are your objections to my balanced review, I did say that I thought Clarke had considerable talents and was an excellent writer. I just disliked some of the stuff she wrote about, I thought she gave us less than her best in some of those stories. She also gave some of her best in the three stories I mentioned. I guess it may be 'one man's meat, etc.'

~ TT

TT - very much enjoying your record of the books that you've read this year and I love your mini review formats :-). You're a bit ahead of me in the 75 book challenge - I've only reached my 30th book!

>71 TheTortoise: Milord, I have no objections to your review whatever! You were completely unassailably within the scope of a reader-response review at every turn, and never once made an objectionable characterization of the author or the material.

I simply wonder how someone so intelligent and so creative himself could fail to appreciate the luminous perfection of these stories. I think your mother dropped you on your head a lot as an infant. Or perhaps it's your inexplicable inability to see cats as the living, toxic spit-having evidence of Satan's plan to exterminate mankind recrudescing.

;-P~~~~~ xoxo

#71: I will be interested in seeing what you think about the Henry book, TT. I read Starkey's book Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne last year and thought it was very good.

>73 richardderus: Rich, I think luminous puurfection may be carrying it a bit too farrrr, but I puurfectly underrrrstand yuuur point of view, Miaouooooooow!

>74 alcottacre: Stasia, if Starkey delivers the goods on Henry then I plan to have a Starkey Fest. I want to read his Elizabeth book and his Six Wives book, also part two of Henry is coming out soon.

>72 magemanda: Mage, I usually read about 100 books in a year, so I am on target!

~ TT

Book No: Henry: Virtuous Prince

Author: David Starkey
Read: 04 – 06 June 2009
Category: Biography
Pages: 370

My Review

Henry: Virtuous Prince is a biography of Henry VIII. Perhaps, only once in a generation along comes a historian of real depth and substance. David Starkey has spent 30 odd years thinking about his subject. He has thoroughly mastered it and has gained real insight that has enabled him to take a fresh approach to what many consider to be an overdone subject.

His scholarship is impeccable; he is an historian that you can trust. Yet his style, though fact-filled, is not too ponderous. Though, he does suffer from the condition that all historians seem to suffer from, of overloading the text with a series of names, titles and facts. This can be a bit bewildering without some introductory background which would give substance to the name, title, or fact being discussed.

Like all historians I have read, Starkey assumes that we know all about the supporting players, so he refers to them by their titles or names without fleshing out their characters. This is why I prefer historical fiction because character is of vital importance.

The only other character apart from the main players of Henry VII, Henry’s father and Catherine of Aragon that is fleshed out is Pirkin Warbeck, the Pretender.

One drawback of historians is that they feel compelled to explain and delineate every minutiae of detail rather than concentrating on the psychological drama of the subject. Facts are interesting up to a point, but they don’t fascinate me as much as motivation, conflict, endeavour, success, failure and the inner compulsions that drive character. This could be a fault with me rather than Starkey. I suppose I cannot complain that he lacks the novelist’s ability when he is not a novelist but an historian. I suppose he would be criticised if he used his imagination too much. I say too much because he certainly does ask questions and imagine what if?

By calling this first volume of Henry’s Biography, Virtuous Prince he compels us to adjust our thinking away from the image conveyed by Holbien in his masterly portrait of Henry as the powerful and tyrannical figure of popular legend that he was to become, and to look at Henry as he was in his youth. He persuades us to look at Henry with fresh and unbiased eyes. This is a substantial achievement and brings much needed perspective to this fascinating and important king.

Starkey argues, and I agree with him, that Henry’s importance in the development of English national consciousness is second only to the Norman Conquest of 1066.

This excellent historical biography lays the groundwork for Starkey’s Biography of Henry the tyrant. As an aside, I heard on radio yesterday that when Henry’s horse fell on him he was unconscious for two hours and after that he was a changed man, became the tyrant of popular legend. Hmm, interesting, I wonder what Starkey will make of that, if anything, because in his closing chapter of this book he implies that it was under Wolsey’s tutelage that he began to exert his powers.

My Recommendation:

Cons:
Fact-laden, with names and titles abundantly strewn throughout the text.

Pros:

A fresh approach, by an historian of real depth and substance.

My Rating:


4 Shells

>76 TheTortoise:: I'm always amused by how some topic will come to one's attention...a topic that you've haven't heard about for a long time...and suddenly, you notice it everywhere.

I went to Portsmouth to see Nelson's Victory and, when done, wandered over to an exhibit on Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose. I hadn't thought about Henry VIII in a long time and didn't know about the latter ship until I got there. Then, I go to the The Tower of London and it turns out there's a huge exhibit placed in the White Tower on his armor with discussions about his love of jousting, etc. Then I'm sitting in a pub in Croydon and the Australian next to me was reading Alison Weir's book Henry VIII and his Court. Then, on the flight home, my wife starts watching the Showtime series "The Tudors" and it was about (at least the episodes available in the plane)...you guessed it.

Now your post.

Is life telling me to learn about Henry?

*sigh*

Another book I have to have. Thanks, Milord.

Tad...
Your observations are spot on. The same thing happened to me recently after stumbling upon a Charlane Harris book, A Grave Sight book. Suddenly, in every bookstore and wherever I went, it seemed people where reading her books...

#76: As I really liked Starkey's book on Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne, I probably ought to read the one about her father as well. Thanks for the recommendation, TT.

#76 and #80: Thank you for contributing to Mt. TBR, both sound like great reads.

Book No: All Quiet on the Western Front

Author: Erich Maria Remarque
Read: 1 8 June 2009
Category: General Fiction
Pages: 215

My Review

All Quiet on the Western Front is the story of Paul Baumer, an 18 year old German conscript during the 1914 – 1918 World War. It is remarkable in that it transcends patriotism, country and the individual. Paul is everyman, that is, every soldier, from every country in every war. There is no personal hatred, heroism or jingoism in Paul’s attitude.

The real enemy is death. War and its results, the sufferings of ordinary people, but also the amazing will for survival in the midst of the horrors of war, are Remarque’s themes in this extraordinary novel.

All Quiet on the Western Front reads like a memoir, and indeed Remarque draws on his own experiences as a young conscript, but it is, nevertheless, a novel and a very fine one.

There are very few military details, no expressly political dimension, it is not a history. It is the story of an ordinary soldier and his comrades caught up in the horrors of war and how they cope in those exceptional circumstances.

From the Afterword by Brian Murdoch: “The novel shows us very clearly that war is something else: war is not about heroism, but about terror, either waiting for death, or trying to avoid it, even if it means killing a complete stranger to do so, about losing all human dignity and values, about becoming an automaton; it is not about falling bravely and nobly for one’s country ( ‘he was killed instantly’ was usually a lie), but about soiling oneself in terror under heavy shellfire, about losing a leg, crawling blinded in no man’s land, or (in those telling hospital scenes) being wounded in every conceivable part of the body.”

My Recommendation:

Cons:

It contains scenes of graphic violence. It is not something you would necessarily want to read about again.

Pros:

A very fine anti-war novel.

My Rating:


4 Shells

*whew* I've actually read this one. No need to procure or place upon server-straining lists.

And well-said, Milord: "The real enemy is death. War and its results, the sufferings of ordinary people, but also the amazing will for survival in the midst of the horrors of war..." is succinct and still manages to convey the real sense of the book.

Two tortoise-shell martini shakers up!

>83 richardderus: Thanks Rich.

~ TT

#82: I read that one for the first time last year, TT, so I do not have to add it to the Planet.

Great review!

BTW - How do you feel about Dickens? lol

#82: This book I know from history classes from high school and I always thought I was an uninteresting read. But the last month I see it coming up on LT so many times, that I just ordered it. Sounds like a promissing book.

~TT;
I have slowly been going through the threads I want to read and catching up with those I find interesting and today it just happened to be your turn. Let me first say that I have enjoyed your comments elsewhere on LT for some time and I certainly enjoyed reading your thread today.
Now -- (and I don't know why but--)

re: msg # 58;

I found this very interesting and thought provoking and took myself to task on it. In my spare bedroom there is a built in bookcase with 10 shelves across the end of the room. Three of the shelves are very short (height wise) and I used them for my praise and worship, gospel, etc CDs. The rest were full of Christian literature, several Yancy works included. About 2 years ago I went in and cleared the shelves. I bagged up and boxed up everything and there it sits in those same bags and boxes. Eleven bags and 3 big boxes.
I was raised in the Methodist church, went to many nondenominational churches at adulthood, and came to rest with the Assembly of God churches who are Pentecostal as I am sure you know. But that was until two years ago. All of a sudden I realized I was coming home from church more hungry than when I went and I quit going. I have not been back and I have come to realize that there is no "church"! "We" are the church!~! "Organized religion" is simply that. "Organized religion". He didn't come to give us "organized religion". "He came "that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18/20 and John 10/10.
We don't need churches to spend time with God. We need the heart to spend time with Him. We need the desire to spend time with Him.
And now I am exhausted and most likely half the people on LT will never speak to me again. But the more of your post I read the more I knew that I needed to say this. Sometimes we just know what we need to do.
belva

by the way; good review.

And now I am exhausted and most likely half the people on LT will never speak to me again.
I bet that's not true.
But the more of your post I read the more I knew that I needed to say this. Sometimes we just know what we need to do.
Sing it, Sister Belva! The truth shall set you, me, and the guy behind the tree, free!

HI THE TORTOISE,IM NEW AND MY NAME IS JOELYS.IF YOU GET THIS MESSEGE CAN YOU PLESE WRITE ME BACK.PLESE AND THANK YOU.

>90 joelys: Joelys, I have sent you a message on your profile.

87 Nannybebette, no one will ostracise you on here for your honest beliefs. I try to be interesting and thought provoking without being obnoxious, even Richard Dear, our resident unbeliever, doesn't object to my rabid Christianity!

~ TT

>91 TheTortoise: Monsignor du Tortoise, this is true...there must be room in this place, this wonderfully open and stimulating place, for all shapes and sizes and colors and textures of ideas to have room. Even, and in my never-very-humble opinion especially, those we personally disagree with!

I know that, in seeking out those who agree with me on all things, I stop my growth as a human being cold. I know that, in seeking out those who will avoid challenging and thereby possibly offending me, I stop my growth as a human being even colder. But in this place, in the safety of a cyberworld where the unmediated response to a disagreement is not the only possibility, we can listen better to each other, and come to better personal understandings of the ideas that we ourownselves don't share.

And still know that *I* am Right and you are Wrong.
*nyah*

Thank you all for that.
~TT, in reading your review, something just came over me and I had to write or burst. And since I didn't wish to have blood and guts all over my computer desk, obviously I choose the former. Thank you for your graciousness in the fact that it occurred on your thread.
And it is wonderful that we are all so different and can be accepting of that fact. What a boring place this world would be, were we all like minded.
>damn, St. Richard, we do love you!~!
And now; how bout them mets?
belva

Book No: Spiritual Classics

Author: Richard J Foster and Emilie Griffin
Read: April/May/10 June 2009
Category: Christian Non-Fiction
Pages: 377

My Review

Spiritual Classics is an eclectic mix of Christian writers from the past 2000 years. The book is organised into 52 readings and 13 sections as follows:

There are four readings for each of the following:

Inward Disciplines:
Meditation
Prayer
Fasting
Study

Outward Disciplines:
Simplicity
Solitude
Submission
Service

Corporate Disciplines
Confession
Worship
Guidance
Celebration

Readings for the Fifth Week:
Four unrelated readings

Each reading is divided into seven sections:

A Brief Biography by Emilie Griffen
A Reading from a Classic Christian Writer.
A Bible Selection that enhances the theme.
Discussion Questions for a small group or for journal reflections by individuals.
Suggested Exercises
Reflections by Richard Foster
A brief bibliography for Going Deeper into the selected writer.

This is an excellent devotional resource. It can be read and explored on a weekly basis or as I did, one a day for 52 days.

There is a companion volume called Devotional Classics which also has 52 readings organised under six heads:
Preparing for the Spiritual Life
The Prayer-Filled Life
The Virtuous Life
The Spirit-Empowered Life
The Compassionate Life
The Word-Centred Life

Both books are highly recommended.

My Recommendation:

Cons:

The approach is ecumenical and eclectic which it must be to cover 2,000 years of Christian thought and practice.

Pros:

A superb collection of Christian thinkers and writers which is richly rewarding and thought-provoking.

My Rating:


5 Shells

I have found the books of Richard Foster's that I have read to be excellent. I will track this one down too as I have not read it yet. Thanks for the recommendation, TT!

Book No: The Virginian

Author: Owen Wister
Read: 10 – 12 June 2009
Category: Classic American Fiction
Pages: 367

My Review

The Virginian starts off written in the first person, jumps to the third person and then fluctuates between the two until it becomes a first person omniscient narrative in that the narrator tells us things which he could not possibly have seen, heard or been told.

The Virginian was originally written as seven short stories and Wister has combined them into a single narrative which could account for the shifts in point of view. After the first abrupt shift in POV I got used to it and just ignored POV because the style was so delightful, the characterisation was superb and the incidents so enjoyable.

The plot is fascinating and the twists and turns in the relationship between the Virginian and Molly, the woman he loves is psychologically satisfying. There is one minor blemish in that the plot hinges on a coincidence, which is always less than satisfying, however, Wister tries to make it as plausible as possible and in the overall scheme of the novel it becomes an irrelevance. There are also a couple of authorial comments interjected into the narrative, but this was common at the time this book was written, so can be overlooked.

This was a deeply satisfying and enjoyable book, containing wonderful writing, witty, philosophical observations, and utterly delightful episodes. I loved it!

Many thanks to Mac the Black Dog for recommending it.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

For Purists: Contains abrupt shifts in POV, two authorial comments, and a couple of coincidences.

Pros:

A wonderful book, fascinating plot, marvellous characterisation, witty, philosophical dialogue and inspiring descriptions of the landscape of the Old West.

My Rating:


5 Shells
Worth Reading Again

Sounds like a great read. Onto the TBR mountain it goes. Great review.

#96: Glad you liked it, TT!

your list of interesting books just keeps on growing TT

Ahhh...I don't need to add it to my pile because I done read it! Great review, thanks!

Good review ~TT.
Until I read it I wasn't sure if The Virginian I kept seeing mentioned on LT was the original or if there was a new one. Sounds like you really enjoyed it to give it 5/5 shells.
Have a good 'un.
belva

Book No: Arthur Conan Doyle:Beyond Sherlock Holmes

Author: Dr. Andrew Norman
Read: 14 June 2009
Category: Biography
Pages: 177

My Review

Why did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle reject Christianity and embrace agnosticism, spiritualism and a belief in fairies?

He rejected his Roman Catholic faith because he heard about that damnable doctrine of eternal damnation from “Father Murphy, a great fierce Irish priest who declared that there was sure damnation for everyone outside the church…”

The question as to why he embraced spiritualism and went off with the fairies is another matter altogether and one which this book answers.

Did you know that Doyle’s father was consigned to a mental institution at the age of 47 and was in various mental institutions until his death at the age of 61?

The author therefore postulates a genetic reason which Doyle himself endorses when he says of Moriarty “the man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind, a criminal strain ran through his blood…”

The sad thing is that Doyle even believed that Harry Houdini, the escapologist, effected his escapes by turning himself into ectoplasm and simply oozed free of the handcuffs, straightjackets or packing cases which confined him. When Houdini asserted that he escaped by purely material means, Doyle thought he was being merely modest!

The author argues “that Doyle was suffering from hallucinations (perceptions that occur when there is no external stimulus) and delusions (fixed irrational ideas not shared by others and not responding to reasoned argument).

That Doyle was suffering from hallucinations at first sounds shocking, but the evidence seems overwhelming. The author lists auditory, visual, olfactory, and tactile hallucinations all recorded by Doyle himself.

He suffered from referential, influential and grandiose delusions. Doyle believed himself to have been especially chosen by God (he was not an atheist, but an agnostic), to convince the world that spiritualistic knowledge was true.

The author believes and demonstrated that Doyle was suffering from a significant psychiatric disorder: encapsulated delusional disorder, probably as a consequence of inherent mania which typically manifests itself in later life. He believes that Doyle “inherited his delusional disorder from his father Charles (who had exhibited many of the features of a schizophrenic).”

This book is a fascinating study of a fascinating man.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Contains some extrapolations from Doyle’s fiction, which the author relates to Doyle, his father and his mother. While this is an interesting exercise it is speculative and suppositional and should only be seen as corroborative evidence rather than as factual evidence.

Pros:

A convincing study which explains Doyle’s irrational behaviour in the latter part of his life.

My Rating:


4 Shells

Sounds like a good one, TT. I will have to put it on the Planet!

oh my goodness...he sounds like he needed to spend some time in the goofy garage. Iiinteresting!

Book No: Great Expectations: The Graphic Novel

Author: Charles Dickens
Read: 13 -14 June 2009
Category: Classical Comic
Pages: 146

My Review

I found the BOLD emphasis in every speech bubble puzzling, unnecessary and irritating. Also, the whole text is printed in UPPER CASE LETTERS. Perhaps this is the normal convention for Graphic comics.

I thought the representation of Abel Magwitch, the convict, at the beginning, was overdone – he was made to look bestial and Estelle was not made to look pretty enough. Later in Book Two she is made to look more attractive. Perhaps she grew into her looks!

The story as presented in this book is disjointed in places. It seemed to me to present the bare bones of the story thus lacking depth of characterisation and story. I suppose I shouldn’t complain because this is probably in keeping with the nature of the format.

I thought the artwork for the background scenery, places and things was very well done and it pleased me far more than the artwork for the characters. I felt that was too overstated.

I have not read the original, I have only seen the film with John Mills as Pip, but I don’t think I could judge Dickens by this Graphical format. I will need to read the original to compare.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Style irritating, character drawings overdone, story disjointed.

Pros:

Background artwork is excellent.

My Rating:


3 Shells and a half

Think I will stick with the original on the Dickens, TT.

Must have Arthur Conan Doyle:Beyond Sherlock Holmes. Simply must have it.

Does anyone else out there find a big (huge) difference between "Christianity" and "Catholicism"?

108: Yes, I do :) In fact, a very close friend and I have frequent discussions about the subject...

I'm also going to be on the lookout for Beyond Sherlock Holmes... it sounds fascinating!!!

>108 rainpebble: Belva, from a non-Christian standpoint, I find there is a distinction without a difference, but that's an outsider's POV.

Milord, I admire your fortitude...Dickens and comics, two horrible things, married in one project and you read it anyway!! How brave, how noble of you to make this sacrifice!

>110 richardderus: Rich, the things I do for love! I knew I was being noble as I read it! :)

~ TT

Book No: The Sonnets
Author: Warwick Collins
Read: 14 June 2009
Category: Autobiographical Novel
Pages: 262

My Review

The Sonnets is a novel which creates a vivid fictional account of Shakespeare’s time during the period between 1592 and 1594 when the theatres were closed due to the plague. During this time he was unable to earn his living as playwright and actor and he was thrown upon the resources of his patron, the Earl of Southampton. It is believed that it was during this period that Shakespeare wrote the 154 sonnets that have come down to us today.

This Biographical narrative brings this period to life in a new and fresh way. Warwick Collins takes 32 of Shakespeare’s sonnets and two original compositions of his own and weaves them seamlessly into a story. The method Collins uses in The Sonnets is not to use them in the order in which they are printed but to imagine Shakespeare composing them individually at the prompting of his patron, Henry Wriothsley, and as a result of their conversations or as a result of their love affair with the dark lady, Mistress. Floria.

The method is ingenious and highly original. What Warwick achieves in this book is to give the sonnets a context which enhances understanding of some of Shakespeare’s more ambiguous lines. (I still don’t understand them!)

The other thing he does is to give us a glimpse of Shakespeare composing his verses. For example:

“That night I sat at my own hard board, the flickering light of the little flame on the white face of the paper, writing feverishly. Through the open window I could see the moon shining on a dew-laden field. I was oblivious to my surroundings. Occasionally I had resource to a cup of wine. Sometimes, if my thoughts flowed well, or I found some hidden virtue in a phrase, I smiled to myself, nodded, dipped my quill in inky darkness, and began to scratch the paper.”

This was an enjoyable book and a quick read.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

I still think Shakespeare’s sonnets are dense and impenetrable!

Pros:

Ingenious and highly original.

My Rating:


4 Shells

TT: You used an 'a' tag inside that image specification, which isn't valid HTML.

>113 TadAD: Thanks Tad, a slip of the mouse when copy and pasting!

Now the touchstone is not working properly, I will try and fix it later.

~ TT

Book No: Drawn From Memory

Author: E.H.Shepard
Read: 16 - 17 June 2009
Category: Autobiograpy
Pages: 190

My Review

Drawn from Memory is the first Autobiography of my favourite illustrator. You may remember him from Winnie the Pooh or The Wind in the Willows. But I know him from the illustrations form two of my favourite books: Everybody’s Boswell and Everybody’s Pepys.

Shepard tells the story of when he was alittle boy of seven and eight years old growing up in Victorian London. It was an idyllic childhood (unlike my own!), which he shared with his brother Cyril who was two years older and his sister, Ethel. They had a nursery maid and domestic servants and maiden aunts.

It is delightful autobiography, full of charm and lavishly illustrated with more than 120 of Shepard’s lovely line drawings. Including two drawn when he was seven and eight years old. I was astonished and marvelled at his precocious gift which was evident even at that age.

The world he describes is a vanished age which was one of innocence, simplicity and the enchantment to be found in simple home-spun pleasures. He evokes a bygone age in which horse-drawn buses and Hansom cabs crowded the London streets.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Some may find this dull and unexciting, but that is the nature of the beast.

Pros:

Very beguiling, sweet and full of the innocence of childhood and a bygone age.

My Rating:


4 Shells

Milord, I have at last cracked your code: "4 Shells" is really your subtle, subtle tip-off to the cognoscenti that the book in question is execrable and should on no account be ordered or otherwise procured by any self-respecting Thinger.

*whew* I almost went off and bought these two before the light came on!

> Rich, well spotted! The only books I would unreservedly recommend are those I have awarded five shells, of which there have been nine out of 49 in the last six months.

~ TT

Hello again--finally catching up on threads here, and found you enjoyed All Quiet on the Western Front. Be sure to see the Lewis Milestone version of the film starring Lew Ayres as Paul. It is fabulous!

I also think you're probably correct about Johnny Cash not having actually read the biography by Vivian before approving it. The fact that both of them remarried and had enduring second marriages says a lot more about both of them than might be realized at first sight. Me? I just love the man's voice.

And I totally feel for you leaving the library book behind on the train. I did that with a collected volume of Heinlein stories (long out of print!) on a city bus. Ouch!

>118 Prop2gether: Prop, I was amazed when I checked my library account a day or two later on the internet to find that that the book I left on the train was no longer outstanding. Some kind soul had returned it to the library for me! It restored my faith in human nature!

~ TT

#119 - Someone returning your lost library book is the type of story of which we need to hear more - after all, human beings are inherently good - or at least that's what I like to think! Too often our society dwells on the bad, rather than seeing the good. Your story made me smile, TT - thanks! :)

>120 Cait86: Hello Cait, it is a wonderful thought that human beings are unherently good, but 6,000 years of man's inhumanity to man, does not bear out that sentiment, I am afraid. Still, there are some goodish people about, thank God.

~ TT

Book No: Micah Clarke

Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Read: 18 – 28 June 2009
Category: Historical Adventure
Pages: 494

My Review

Micah Clarke is one of Doyle’s Historical Adventures. The pivotal event around which the story is woven is the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685. (In other words, Monmouth lost!) Doyle is much more than just a chronicler of the stories of Sherlock Holmes. He also wrote ten volumes of short stories in a wide variety of settings. He wrote science fiction in the Professor Challenger stories, he wrote the Brigadier Gerard stories. In fact, the Brigadier Gerard stories are a good place to start in reading Doyle’s historical fiction. The adventures of Brigadier Gerard and the Exploits of Brigadier Gerard which are set in the Napoleonic era are excellent examples of Doyle’s historical fiction.

Micah Clarke could just as easily have been called either The Adventures of Micah Clarke or the Exploits of Micah Clarke because the same elements that Doyle used in the Brigadier Gerard stories he uses in Micah Clarke. Brilliant characterisation, surprising developments, thrilling escapades, and superb writing. The thing I like about Doyle’s style of writing is the way he can draw you into the character or story with a few well chosen, dynamic words. His style is lively, dynamic, fluid and involving. As soon as I start reading anything by Doyle I feel a frisson of excitement because I know I am in the hands of a master. I could never imagine using words like dull, lifeless, boring or uninteresting in respect to Doyle. To be in the presence of Doyle is to be in the presence of a towering intellect and a superior imagination.

I just love his style. I keep asking myself, ‘how does he do that!’ Sheer Genius!


My Recommendation :

Cons:

What’s not to like!

Pros:

Brilliant characterisation, surprising developments, thrilling escapades, and superb writing. Come on, what more do you want!.

My Rating:


5 Shells

I love Doyle's Holmes stories and I've enjoyed one book of his short stories, so I'll have to see if I can find this book. Never would have known about it, so thank you!

I've only read Doyle's Holmes books, but these historicals sound most intriguing. Must add to wishlist :)

#119--If only! It was a fine plus replacement fee of nearly $45 to clear my account! Although as I understand it, it may be sitting in the MTA lost and found, which, unfortunately, is only weekdays between 10 am and 4 pm (and closed for lunch), and is across town. All I have to do is take a day off and get there on time. *sigh* Of course, I'm being much more careful about my books on the bus these days!

Here is my six-month wrap-up.

These are the books that I have rated five stars, they were excellent and worth reading again.

Novels:
Random Harvest
The Virginian
Micah Clarke

Short Stories:
Ashenden

Non-Fiction:
The Definitive Book of Body Language
First Draft in 30 Days

Christian Non-Fiction
Prayer: Does it Make a Difference?
Spiritual Classics

Biographies:
84 Charing Cross Road
Oscar’s Books

So, it means I think ten books, or one in five, is worth reading again.

I have read 20 others, that I rated four stars. that were worth reading once.

30 books in all were good or excellent.

20 books were average or worse. Which means, I ought to give up on inferior books a lot sooner! Why should I persevere with books that are just average, when I could be reading something better?

Note to self: Cut out the chaff earlier!

In the first six months I also wrote a 105,000 word novel, The Book Traveller, revised my 30,000 word novella, The Messenger as a sequel to The Book Traveller and I have completely plotted out 105 scenes for my new book At The World’s End and written the first 20,000 words.

For the next six months I am going to be reading longer books of fiction and biography because I want to immerse myself in the character, story or subject. Short books just seem to pass in a blur without making any deep impression on the mind. I am going to aim at quality rather than quantity for the next six months. Well, that’s the plan, anyway!

I plan to write the rest of At The World’s End and revise The Book Traveller.

~ TT

Fabulous analysis of your reading, but remember that you need some of that chaff around just to fully appreciate the wheat. Good luck with your books.

Ye gods and little fishes! I feel like such a slug-a-bed when I read that analysis.

*slinks off with firm purpose of amendment*

>128 richardderus: St? Richard, I am so glad my example inspires you to amend your wicked ways! :) I mean sluggish ways.

Just to inspire you a bit further, I have written over 27,000 words of my new novel since 25th June! Should hit over 30,000 by tomorrow.

~ TT

>129 TheTortoise: Milord, if the Cat'lic Choich and its promises of Eternal Damnation couldn't change my wicked ways...wha'chu got they ain't?

>130 richardderus: Well since you ask Rich, there was only one thing that got me to change my wicked ways - the Goodnes of God. Unless God is good then what is the point? But, ah, if God is good, then we have eveything to gain and nothing to lose!

~ TT

Besides which St. Richard:
I would rather believe what I believe and be wrong
than believe what you believe and be wrong.
belva

Amen

Thank you for sharing your 6-month wrap-up. Your reflection and organization is impressive and inspiring!

>131 TheTortoise:, 132, 133: I've always thought that the most sincere form of proselytization is living the creed, not bloviating about God and Sin and Damnation and Grace.

I imagine, Milord, that you're a live-r not a screamer. Hearts speak through actions, or else it's just gas emissions.

>135 richardderus: Rich, you are right, I never attempt to proselytise. As I don't belong to any organised Church I have nothing to prosyletise to!

As for bloviating, God forbid!

>132 rainpebble: nannybebette, our dear St Richard is not be condemned for his sincerely held beliefs.

~ TT

Book No: The Captive of Kensington Palace

Author: Jean Plaidy
Read: 29 Jun – 03 July 2009
Category: Historical Fiction
Pages: 288

My Review

I absolutely loved The Captive of Kensington Palace. This was the eighth book I have read of Jean Plaidy’s, only one of which I haven’t liked and this is definitely my favourite, a book to treasure. It tells the story of Victoria from her eighth to her eighteenth year when she becomes Queen of England.

This book has got everything. There is a mad uncle in George IV, a loving uncle in Leopold who becomes King of the Belgians, whom Victoria adores, a bad uncle in Cumberland who schemes to murder her and seize the throne for himself, and a wacky uncle in William IV.

There is the controlling mother, in the Duchess of Kent, who hopes William will die before Victoria reaches her majority at 18 so she can rule as Regent, there is the wicked advisor, whom Victoria can’t stand and there are the handsome and charming cousins from whom Victoria is expected to find a husband.

With consummate skill and deftly handled research Plaidy weaves a wonderful story that had me enthralled right up to the end where Victoria finally escapes from her eighteen years as a captive of Kensington Palace and becomes the Queen. The ending left me with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, it was so moving.

I had read books on Queen Victoria as the widow of Windsor but this is the first one about her childhood. It is a truly amazing and enlightening book. I learnt a lot and now I am dying to read the next in the series because I want to know what she did about her controlling mother and her advisor Sir John Conway. I am dying to know if they got their come-uppence!

My Recommendation :

Cons:

None!

Pros:

An enthralling story based on accurate historical research by a superb story-teller. Excellent characterisation and style.

My Rating:


5 Shells

Two 5 star reads in a row, TT! Congratulations!

My mother read Jean Plaidy when I was a kid and when I got to be a teen I read them all as well, thoroughly enjoying them and from there moved on to history rather than historical fiction (Philippa Gregory should have taken instruction on doing historical fiction well from Plaidy, IMHO). I will have to re-visit Plaidy's books since it has been 30 years or so since I read them.

I am also putting Micah Clarke on Planet TBR.

I too, read some Plaidy eons ago... I don't remember which...

I don't think I ever have read Plaidy - but I think I'm going to start with The Captive of Kensington Palace as soon as I can get hold of it!

I too used to read Plaidy in my teens - I have picked up a few recently and will give them another go.... On the basis of others' recommendations here, I have avoided Gregory like the plague!

Here's what I think: we love the Earth, we love each other, if we cherish what we have in the here and now, the world would be a better place - if we knew this is our time, and that's it, we would value everything so much more. Striving for an after life takes our mind off what we actually have, and in many times in history, and even now, keeps people under control for someone else's interests. Nature should be our religion, and it was for our ancestors. Because it is us, and we are part of it. That we ARE sure of!

Well said!

dihiba;
I love that. How beautiful and oh, so true. May I quote you?
belva

> #136:
re: #132:
Thank you ~TT.
And St. Richard:


glitter-graphics.com

nannybabette, belva, I would be honoured to be quoted by you! Diana.

sorry?

what did ya do?

I was a bad "gurl".

>138 alcottacre: Stasia, if only all our reads could be as wonderful. I have read 100 pages of The Crimson Petal and the White and it is definately not a five star read! It is sordid and the author rubs our noses in all the filth and grime of Victoria London. Ok, it is about a prostitute and I am not exactly a prude, far from it, but I am not sure if I want to... can't think of the word exactly, be subjected to this much degradation. I prefer to be edified, if I can use a Christian term. Well, if not exactly edified then not defiled. Actually, I am not sure if that is the reason that I am not enjoying the book, it just that I don't particularly like the author's style. So, I will give it another chapter or two and if I am not enjoying it, it is on to something else.

~ TT

#148: I will give it another chapter or two and if I am not enjoying it, it is on to something else.

Wise move, TT!

>149 alcottacre: Stasia, I made my wise move and have now starting reading Dissolution. Now we're cooking!

~ TT

Belva...I didn't take what you said as critical of me...I took it as a statement of your means of belief! I make a real effort not to personalize what others say unless they aim it directly at me in some inescapable way.

And I agree with you...I'd rather believe what I believe and be wrong than believe what you (or anyone else) believe(s) and be wrong! It's all in where you sit.

Well, right now, I am sitting in this big *ss computer chair and I knew you weren't THAT sensitive, for pete's sake. (even though I do find you to be a sensitive and caring person)
Well, I am off to the old 4 poster. This old girl is tired and wants her bed and book. (the new B & B) hee hee

Belva, what a great idea for a B & B - a book theme! And well stocked with them, of course. Someone, get one started - we'll all come and stay!

glitter-graphics.com

>152 rainpebble: Belva, do you read before or after?!

~ TT

Book No: Dissolution

Author: C. J. Sansom
Read: 04 -10 July 2009
Category: Historical Fiction
Pages: 443

My Review

Dissolution is set in 1537 during the Tudor period. Anne Boleyn had been executed in 1534 and Queen Jane had recently died. Henry is seeking revenue and Thomas Cromwell his Machiavellian minister has hit upon the idea of sacking the monasteries for their accumulated wealth. Under the guise of reform he systematically dismantles the monasteries and distributes their wealth to the deserving rich! At the stories opening the smaller monasteries have been dissolved now it is time for the larger monasteries. Cromwell has sent a commissioner to seek the voluntary surrender of Scarnsea Monastery on the Sussex Coast.

But! The commissioner is killed. OO dun it? Enter out hero! Matthew Shardlake, the hunchback lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform has been sent by Cromwell to uncover the truth behind the horrific murder and the accompanying acts of sacrilege.

Shardlake uncovers a hotbed of vice and corruption and of course, he discovers the killer.
This is a brilliantly atmospheric murder mystery with a really original and unlikely hero set in a fascinating period of Tudor history.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

A few too many “God’s teeth!” and “God’s bones!” types of exclamations but not enough to spoil my enjoyment of this marvellous book.

Pros:

An original Tudor murder mystery with great characterisation, a terrific story and a page turner. Sansom has a Ph.D in History and he expertly brings the period to life in this fascinating book.

There are three more in the Shardlake series!

Dark Fire
Sovereign
Revelation

I have all three!

My Rating:


5 Shells

I have the first 3 books in the series. I need to get to them evidently!

-156 'Od's Bodkins! I think I should read this series : ).

>#155:
Silly turtle; don't you know you always have a smoke after?
belva

(if one smokes, that is--which we do not, do we.)

I keep seeing Dissolution in charity shops and have never bought it.........now I think I should. And, of course, now I've said that I won't be able to find it anywhere!

I really enjoyed his Sovereign which I read last year and I'm keen to read the others in the series, the characters are too interesting to let go. Sansom also wrote a book based on the Spanish Civil War Winter in Madrid which I'm planning on reading soon.

>159 rainpebble: belva, I am not a turtle! I am a Tortoise, strictly a land animal.

So you smoke after reading - you are seriously wierd. I always read after I get in bed. :)

>161 avatiakh: Ava, let me know what you think of Winter in Madrid.

I am currently reading The Pillars of the Earth. Read the first 80 pages and with only 1,000 pages left to go, I think it is going to be too short - it is brilliant! Another 5 star read, I think!

~ TT

I read on the bed, in the bed, near the bed, far from the bed...actually the bed is immaterial. No cigs.

Me either Berly. Just *hitting him!~!
belva

I knew that! LOL. I do like candy cigarettes. And I did smoke a cigar once...nearly died coughing. (I inhaled rather deeply.)

I smoked a cigar once too. My youngest son told me that to celebrate his graduation, he wanted to smoke a cigar... with me. Okee dokee

I smoked one or two after.... that was pre asthma...

Book No: The Seven Deadly Sins and How to Overcome Them

Author: Graham Tomlin
Read: 14 -17 July 2009
Category: Christian Non-Fiction
Pages: 185

My Review

When I saw The Seven Deadly Sins in the public Library I thought that looks interesting. I suffer from a couple of those, like anger and lust; I might be able to gain some insight to deal with those. It was a shock to discover that I suffer from pride, envy, gluttony, greed and sloth as well! Oh well, no one’s perfect!

Some of these sins seem harmless enough on the surface and we all suffer from them to one extent or another, unless your name is Mary Poppins and you are practically perfect in every way, like I once foolishly thought I was. I prided my self on my great patience. Until, that is, it was tried to breaking point and beyond! Then I discovered I wasn’t patient at all!

This book is useful for everyone, whether or not you are a Christian. It is not trying to get you saved, it does not refer to a future life; it deals with the practical results of our behaviour in the here and now. It is all about maintaining healthy relationships.

This book could be called the The Seven Habits of Highly Destructive People, because these habitual responses are destructive of human life, families, marriages, reputations, communities and peace.

So it is vital, if we are to live good, healthy lives, enjoying good, healthy relationships, that we learn to avoid those patterns of behaviour that destroy us and the people we love, and instead learn the habits of life that build strong lives and communities, the author argues.

I prided myself that I was not Slothful, I am not lazy, (well, not excessively so!), but I discovered from this book that my understanding of sloth was faulty. Sloth is best defined as weariness, despair and a feeling of ‘couldn’t be bothered’. Dorothy Sayers described sloth like this: “It is the whole poisoning of the will, which, beginning with indifference and an attitude of ‘I couldn’t care less’, extends to the deliberate refusal of joy and culminates in morbid introspection and despair.” The opposite is passion: a life lived with passion, intensity, laughter, suffering, joy and pain. It is to be involved and to feel and empathise with others. It is to avoid that which is trashy and superficial, which causes boredom and weariness and to find things that have real depth and value.

This is a book to be studied, pondered and read again.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

For Non-Christians: the book is written from a Christian, God-centred perspective.

Pros:

This book provides the antidote to the poisonous consequences of the seven destructive habits to which we are all prone.

My Rating:


5 Shells

#167: That one sounds very good, TT, even if I am practically perfect in every way (yeah, right). I will see if I can find a copy. Thanks for the recommendation!

>167 TheTortoise: That one sounds interesting! I shall try to get hold of a copy.

Book No: Christ the Lord Out of Egypt

Author: Anne Rice
Read: 18 July 2009
Category: Historical Fiction
Pages: 426 Author’s Note to 466

My Review

I approached this book with eager anticipation. I had read Interview with the Vampire by the same author, many years ago and enjoyed it. So this was a surprising book by this author. She explains how she had returned to her Catholic faith in the accompanying note and was desirous of writing a life of the Jewish childhood of Jesus. A brilliant idea, I thought. I came to the book with an open mind and was, of course, prepared to accept some poetic licence in an imaginative work of fiction. As she indicates in her note the amount of research was impressive, in fact she spent ten years researching for this book and visited the locations as well. So, I was very excited and settled down for a great read. However, this book was a huge disappointment.

How, I asked myself, could an idea that was so exciting turn out to be so dull and boring? And why, having spent ten years researching this book, could she get some basic facts so wrong?

I believe the answer lies in her Catholic approach to the story. She makes free use of apocryphal material and bases her portrait of Mary on the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, rather than on the Gospels, which ironically Rice talks about, in her note, with such approbation.

To illustrate, Rice uses apocryphal material that has Jesus bringing clay birds to life and she has him kill a bully and resurrect him, which lays the moral foundation for Jesus’ character at the beginning of the story of Jesus as a kind of magician. It just didn’t ring true for me. This is a different Jesus to the one I know.

Now with respect to Mary as a perpetual virgin, Rice has Mary tell Jesus, who is seven years old at this time, “I have never been with a man, not then, not now, nor will I ever. I am consecrated to the Lord.” This, apart from being psychologically unsound, is factually inaccurate. Compare this with what Matthew 13:55 says about Jesus, “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brother’s James, Joses, Simon and Judas, and his sister’s are they not all with us?” The answer, of course, is yes. Here are Jesus’ four brothers and at least two sisters, all born by Mary and fathered by Joseph.

So what does Rice do to account for this? She gives Jesus one brother. But she makes him seven years older than Jesus and gives Joseph a previous wife! We wouldn’t want Mary to actually have sex now would we! And Joseph is a model of sexual restraint, even greater than we previously thought; he is a lifelong celibate in Rice’s portrait of him!

Another section that puzzled me is why did Rice have Jesus talk to the Rabbi’s in the temple when he was eight year’s old when Luke 2:42 says he was twelve years old? Because the action of the book only covers one year, that’s why!

I could probably have overlooked all this nonsense if the book had actually been interesting and well-written. But I didn’t like Rice’s style. Her use of five word sentences throughout the book was blatantly obvious and her constant use of Little Judas and Little Symeon and Little Salome, all with a capital L, was an irritant. But apart from that I just found it boring.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Boring, inaccurate and not very interesting.

Pros:

She captures some of the Jewishness she set out to capture but at the expense of biographical accuracy.

My Rating:


3 Shells

I have that book (unread) on my shelf and it is going OUT!~!
I just really don't think I have time to read it. Anybody want it? Just let me know.
It is brand new and in excellent condition. (from a smoke free, lotz of pets home) hee hee (ebay description!~!
belva

#170: I had checked that one out of the library at one time and returned it unread - I am leery of fiction about Christ anyway - and it seems now that it was a good decision not to read it. Now, I never have to worry about it again. Thanks for the review, TT.

With four 5 star books in a row (five if you include my book in progress Pillars of the Earth which is simply brilliant, Rice had to come along and spoil it! :(

~ TT

Sorry about that, TT. Glad to hear that you are enjoying Pillars of the Earth more than I did, though.

>174 alcottacre: Stasia, what didn't you enjoy about Pillars?

~ TT

I really enjoyed the first part of Pillars, but I did not care for the last part of the book at all. I decided not to read the sequel, so I have no opinion on it.

That was pretty much my own experience Stasia...

#177: I am glad to know it was not just me!

I have only read Part one so far, but loved that. I cannot judge the remainder of the book yet.
Was happy to get the Rice book off my shelf though. I often wonder why we read so many books about the Bible rather than just reading the Bible. (or rather why I feel the need to do so)
belva

I have, on several occasions purged books that were unread. What was I htinking? is my mantra at times...

>179 rainpebble: Belva, why not do both?

>180 mckait: purging unread books - ooohh - that sounds painful!

~ TT

Whaaaaaaaaaaat; R U A cricket or a tortoise?
I so dislike going to bed upon having read a common sense comment from you. It becomes a worm in my brain!~!
But I appreciate you.
belva

P.S. Do you have any idea how many bags and boxes of books I must unpack if I put my "Jesus" books in my "library" and back on my shelves?

>182 rainpebble: Belva, 42?

~ TT

*hears echo*

*leaves*

Book No: The Queen and Lord M

Author: Jean PlaIdy
Read: 20 – 23 July 2009
Category: Historical Fiction
Pages: 331

My Review

The Queen and Lord M is the sequel to The Captive of Kensington Palace. (Reviewed above). This book covers the two years from Victoria’s accession at the age of eighteen until her marriage to Prince Albert at the age of twenty. This story centres on the relationship she had with her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne for those first two years of her reign.

Lord Melbourne is a fascinating character in his own right. He was married to Lady Caroline Lamb who notoriously had a very public affair with Lord Byron while still married to Melbourne. Melbourne was witty, urbane, laid-back and a man of the world, who, at fifty-eight was a kind of father-figure to Victoria. Plaidy paints their relationship as a very sweet Platonic love affair between the fresh young Queen and the worldly-wise statesman.

The first five chapters are excellent and Plaidy uses her source material to good effect. Her research, as usual, is impeccable.

On P152, which occurs in the sixth chapter, Victoria says of Lord Melbourne for the umpteenth time, “How knowledgeable he was! And how light-hearted everything seemed when he was near!” At this point I became heartily sick of hearing Victoria gush at how wonderful Lord Melbourne was. Plaidy lays it on so thickly that it became cloying, treacly and nauseous. I have got the point now give me a break! Thankfully, from this point on, she does. She must have heard me!

Overall, this is a quick and easy read and very enjoyable.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Some repetitive themes.

Pros:

An enjoyable and interesting book which is impeccably researched. The story is backed up by letters and diary entries, from which Plaidy quotes. There is a good bibliography, which shows Plaidy’s sources.

My Rating:


4 Shells

Nice review on "the Queen &". I read Plaidy's "Tudor" series and did enjoy it. She seems to do her research, but after 2 or 3 in a row one does need a break.

>182 rainpebble: Belva, 42?

Nah, more like eleven bags and three large boxes. But I started yesterday with one bag and will probably do one today. I didn't realize how much Sproul I had until I began logging them into my library. I think that I will even get to go shopping for a new bookcase because the kids have rather taken over the built ins that I was using.
later dayz.
belva

I enjoy the Jean Palaidy books. They are fun and easy to read.

You are tempting me to read Plaidy again, TT. After all, it has only been 30+ years since I read them . . .

> 188 Stasia, I only have another ten or so unread on my bookshelves, so the temptation will only grow!

~ TT

#189: I sure appreciate your helping me discover books I need to re-read, TT :)

Book No: Amazing Grace

Author: Eric Metaxas
Read: 20 – 26 July 2009
Category: Biography
Pages: 281

My Review

Amazing Grace is the biography of William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to end Slavery, which was inspired by the motion picture of the same name.

William Wilberforce was at the forefront of a moral revolution. Not only did he campaign tirelessly for 45 years to achieve the abolition of the slave trade and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire and the world but he also changed the moral outlook of the world.

He has been proclaimed as the greatest social reformer that the world has ever known. It sounds like hyperbole and exaggeration but it is in very fact, true!

Before Wilberforce, a world power like Great Britain could do what it liked with the people of Asia and Africa, and for over two hundred years it did, treating human beings as they treated dumb animals or insensate resources; but after Wilberforce, all that changed.

The trade in slaves was horrific beyond our imagining and slavery was very often a death sentence for those enslaved. To abolish this state of affairs required a change in the moral outlook of the entire civilised world and it is this that Wilberforce and his fellow Christians accomplished.

Wilberforce died just three days after parliament voted to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire. He died happy in the knowledge that his lifelong battle had been won. Exactly one year after his death eight hundred thousand slaves were freed.

Wilberforce was a great man and while this book was good, detailing the facts, it was not as great as its subject. To be fair, the author himself acknowledges this in his bibliography. He writes: “It was our sincerest hope in writing this book to whet the readers’ appetite for those other books, each of which will add depth, breadth, and height to the portrait in your hands, and for which purpose I heartily recommend each of them.”

My Recommendation :

Cons:

If you want immediate scholarly “depth, breadth, and height” then this introductory portrait of Wilberforce is not for you.

Pros:

However, this is a good popular introduction to the life and work of Wilberforce.

My Rating:


4 Shells

Hi TT
Once again, you wrote a great review!

Hey, Tortoise, you listed two different books as No. 35, so you're actually one book ahead of yourself!

BTW, the film version of Amazing Grace is quite good.

>193 Cariola: Cariola, you are right, I suspected I might do that one time - I have just started numbering my reviews in word to avoid that - closing the door after the horse has bolted! So the next book will be number 58! Thanks for letting me know.

> 194 I would love to see the film. I will have to see if I can locate it.

~ TT

I didn't know the movie was based on a book. I'll be adding Amazing Grace to my wishlist :) Thanks for the review!

#191: Another nice review, TT. I will look for the book. Thanks!

>196 Kittybee: Kittybee, the book was a tie in for the film. The front cover says: "Inspired by the major motion picture Amazing Grace." I suspect the screenplay was an original, based on Wilberforce's life and work. The book has 48 colour stills from the film.

~ TT

Ah, that would explain why I hadn't known about it. I didn't think there had been anything about the movie being based on a book. Thanks for the info!

Hello!

I'm reading your book and enjoying it very much!

Book No: The Pillars of the Earth

Author: Ken Follett
Read: 13 Jul – 7 Aug
Category: Historical Fiction
Pages: 1,076

My Review

Although The Pillars of the Earth is ostensibly about the building of a Cathedral, this is merely the bare bones on which the story hangs. The story is an epic family drama of violent conflict and vaunting ambition. I must congratulate Ken Follett on his masterly writing – he is a master writing at the height of his powers. The narrative is intimate and involving, the characters are fascinating and rounded, and the story is sweeping and broad. It is a hugely enjoyable book in spite of the architectural detail which was over my head, but this may be due to the fact that I am hopeless when in comes to understanding spatial relationships. I have one cavil and that is the graphical presentation of sadistic rape on more than one occasion. No doubt, the author and perhaps some readers would argue that it was the times and that it was necessary to delineate and explain the character of the perpetrator. Nevertheless, for this reader, it detracted from what is otherwise an excellent and well written book.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Contains several scenes of sadistic rape, which means it falls short of perfection.

Pros:

A masterly and powerful narrative.

My Rating:


4 Shells and a half

#201: You liked it a lot more than I did, TT. Nice review!

>202 alcottacre: Stasia, I actually think I liked it a lot less than I think I did!

I scored it high because of the writing rather than the content, if that makes sense!

~ TT

TT
I'm with you on your opinion/thoughts of The Pillars of the Earth, only I would give it a 3 out of 5.

I loved The Pillars of the Earth but I don't appear to be among the highest calibre of reader so thats my excuse :P

I too loved the read. I wasn't happy with the rape scenes either but accepted them as part of the narrative. I was very pleased with how Follett acquainted us with all of the characters and thought that he drew us intimately into their lives as well. Though I am not a technically nor mathematically inclined person, I enjoyed the building of the cathedral as well as the personal stories. It was very much a characterization within the framework of the novel. I think it was powerfully and masterfully written. I loved most of the storylines so I think I was happy with the content as well as the writing. I think I would probably score it 4 1/2 out of 5. I wish all my reads were this all-consuming of my mind.
belva

Hi TT!!

I also enjoyed Pillars a lot, perhaps because it was my first LT group read. Although I found it hard to slow down and wait to read the new section, I really liked having the different threads each week. Despite the ungainly heft of the book, it was a perfect summer read!

Ditto Belva's comments. :)

Lunacat, really, if you like the book, no excuses needed (and yours isn't even a valid one!).

Book No: Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism

Author: John Shelby Spong
Read: 08 – 11 Aug 2009
Category: Christian Non-Fiction
Pages: 249

My Review

The book is subtitled: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture. At the time of publication in 1991 Spong was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark. Spong believes the Bible contains historical, philosophical and scientific aberrations and this book aims “to free it from the clutches of a mindless literalism.”

I was intrigued by the title of this book and Spong does have some interesting things to say in this book. However, it needs to be understood where he is coming from. He is steeped in the German Higher Criticism which teaches a revisionist approach to Scripture, he is an evolutionary humanist and I detected a New Age influence in some of his conclusions.

I found it difficult to understand exactly what it is this supposed Christian Bishop actually believes. So I will share with you what he does not believe because he makes that absolutely clear in his book by unambiguous statements.

He does not believe that Scripture is the inspired word of God in a literal sense. I am not sure in what sense he does think it is inspired because for example he states “I do not believe I can make a case for a single word attributed to Jesus in the Fourth Gospel ( John’s Gospel) to be a literal word actually spoken by the historic Jesus.” Also this: “The question must also be raised as to whether we have the actual words of Jesus in any Gospel.”

He does not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Thus he does not accept either Matthew’s testimony or Luke’s. Therefore perforce he must believe that Jesus had a human father in contradiction to the text. In fact, he states: “that none of the Gospel writers is correct in the literalness of their assertions.” He further states that “there are mutually exclusive traditions, historic errors and blatant exaggerations” made by the Gospel writers in their narration of the resurrection.

He states that Paul in his epistles “cannot be taken literally. He did not write the Word of God. He wrote the words of Paul, a particular, limited, frail human being.” Of course Paul wrote the words of Paul and his humanity shines through as it does in all the Scripture writers. That is the wonder of it all, that God took limited, frail human beings and spoke through their experiences. This is what makes the Scriptures so profound, they are both human and divine – that is why they speak to our condition.

But aside from all this, the most damning assertion has got to be this: He does not believe that Jesus died to save us from our sins, which should hardly be surprising as he repudiates the whole of Scripture yet at the same time purports to be a Christian. But in what sense is he a Christian? He believes that Jesus was divine but does not accept the testimony of the Scripture writers about him.
He states: No, the words of the Bible are not for me the words of God.”

He writes: “To talk of a Father God who has a divine-human son by a virgin woman is a mythology that our generation would never have created and, obviously could not use. To speak of a Father God so enraged by human evil that he requires propitiation for our sins that we cannot pay and thus demands the death of the divine-human son as a guilt offering is a ludicrous idea to our century. The sacrificial concept that focuses on the saving blood of Jesus that somehow washes me clean, so popular in evangelical and fundamentalist circles, is by and large repugnant to us today.”
Instead he prefers to think in terms of “consciousness-raising experience”

He says: “We do not see human life as created good and then as fallen into sin. Human life is evolving, not always in a straight line, but evolving nonetheless into higher and higher levels of consciousness.” Now, anyone who has read the Bible will know that this is not a Christian concept, but a Buddhist concept and part of the New Age synthesis, which mixes Buddhism and Christian concepts.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Fundamentally unchristian .

Pros:

Contains an interesting analysis of Paul.

My Rating:


3 Shells

Edited to correct pros and cons - I got them the wrong way round!

Milord, I have often wondered where Spong fits in the Christian hierarchy of a major world sect...retired now, but still, how can someone of his unambiguously stated opinions be a *Bishop*?! I read and enjoyed Living in Sin? long ago, and even made a stab at some later books (not including this one), but I felt that he was giving me his own opinions, not those of a representative of Episcopalian clergy as a whole, so I lost interest in reading his work.

I can't understand how he snuck into Christian clergy life. Isn't there some sort of orthodoxy imposed on y'all's clergy? If not, why ever not?

#208: I am skipping that one - I know I would be arguing the book to death, especially if the pro is that it is fundamentally unchristian :)

>210 alcottacre: oops, I got them back to front! :)

~ TT

#211: I wondered if that might be the case, lol.

I gave up on Spong a long time ago. I do like the writings of Marcus Borg. He presents a more user friendly version of Christianity imo.

Book No: Seventy Two Virgins

Author: Boris Johnson
Read: 12 – 16 Aug, 2009
Category: Humour
Pages: 326

My Review

Boris Johnson is the current Mayor of London. Before that he was a Member of Parliament, an Editor and a Journalist. Boris is known for his idiosyncratic personality, his wit and erudition. All his best qualities are evident in this very entertaining novel.

The President of America is on a state visit to Britain and he is giving a major address to a top level audience in Westminster Hall. (Parliament). In spite of the top level security that is attending his visit a group of suicide bombers enter Westminster Hall and the leader handcuffs himself to the Leader of the Free World.

They demand the repatriation of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay back to their respective countries in order to be given a fair trial. Otherwise…goodbye to Dubya!

Johnson’s language is rich in literary, Biblical and cultural allusions; his erudition shines through in his use of inventive and witty similes. I found his style a joy and a delight. This is not a laugh out loud kind of book; it is more an intellectual feast of wit.

I will quote just one sentence as an example:

“After fifteen years, I’m going to get the point that marriage is not a final act, it’s like a meeting of the European agricultural ministers, an endless negotiation of insolubles.” Exactly so, Boris!

I found the plot to be as dense and devious as a Times Cryptic Crossword. Fairly often, I lost the plot!
The plot requires concentration and application to follow, and as I am not a fan of Cryptic Crosswords or dense plotting that leaps about like a demented suicide bomber, I just wallowed in the witty and erudite language. I still managed to follow the story.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Densely plotted and requires concentration to follow. But the witty style makes it is worth the persevering.

Pros:

Wonderful language, rich in allusion and simile. Very enjoyable.

My Rating:


4 Shells

Book No: I am Not Ashamed

Author: Martin Lloyd-Jones
Read: 06 – 18 Aug 2009
Category: Christian Non-Fiction
Pages: 224

My Review

I Am Not Ashamed was a series of eleven sermons that Martyn Lloyd-Jones gave at the Westminster Chapel, London between 12th April 1964 and 21st June 1964.

They were all based on 2 Timothy 1:12. “I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

I did not believe it possible to obtain so much from one text but Lloyd-Jones brings out all the richness and nuances that are to be found in this text.

At the time Paul wrote this to Timothy he was a prisoner of the Emperor Nero and on death row, but the note of triumph in this, his last recorded letter shines through. He was in chains for preaching the gospel and he knew that he had reached the end of the line. Timothy was fearful and couldn’t understand how his mentor was in such a situation and he feared for his own safety. Paul wrote this letter to encourage him and to tell him not to be ashamed of his chains as he himself gloried in them.

Remember Timothy, he admonishes, “Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel…. You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

Paul’s final words to Timothy are some of the most stirring and encouraging ever written: “…the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have love His appearing.”

My Recommendation :

Cons:

It is necessary to ignore his passing reference to hell as a place of everlasting torment! This idea is an impossible construct and does not hold water. (It’s too hot!) The old English word hell in the Bible means the grave. It is sin, death and the grave that are to be destroyed by the purging fire of God’s righteousness, not people! “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There will be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” I don’t know about you but if I was being roasted alive I should imagine it would feel a little painful and I should feel somewhat sorrowful having my backside roasted and I think it might bring tears to my eyes as well!. End of sermon! :)

Pros:

A very encouraging and inspiring book.

My Rating:

5 Shells

I enjoyed your sermon! :D

I only learned of Martyn Lloyd-Jones two years ago, but I haven't yet picked up one of his books. I'm going to have to look for this one, not just for myself but for our church library. It sounds very good. Thank you for the beautiful words from Paul, they are pleasing words to reflect upon as I retire to bed. :-)

What great reviews, TT. I am adding both books to Planet TBR. Thanks for the recommendations!

Book No: Boswell: The Great Biographer

Author: James Boswell
Read: 8 – 19 Aug, 2009
Category: Journal
Pages: 317

My Review

Boswell: The Great Biographer 1789 - 1795 is the thirteenth and final Journal of James Boswell, the author of the Life of Johnson, acknowledged as being the greatest biography ever written. Boswell has also written the greatest autobiography in his journals which is extraordinary in its scope and variety.

This final journal sees Boswell being acclaimed by his contemporaries as the great biographer of his friend Samuel Johnson. But he was dissatisfied and depressed because his professional ambitions of making a name for himself as a barrister or as a political figure were thwarted. Boswell suffered from constitutional depression and he often sought dissipation in society, alcohol and encounters with prostitutes. His much loved wife, Margaret, had died in early 1789.

This journal is noteworthy for detailing his many moods and his wide range of experiences and social contacts with many notable figures in politics, the law and the arts. Boswell was a bon vivant, loved company and was much appreciated by his company.

If you have never read Boswell before then I recommend that you become acquainted with him as a twenty-two year old in Boswells London Journal. It is a wonderful animated journal in which he first comes to London from his family seat in Scotland and meets the old bear, Johnson.

This final volume of Boswell’s Journal paints a somewhat gloomy picture of Boswell’s declining years in which he sees himself as a failure, his depressions are deep and of long duration. His attempts at alleviating his depression by heavy drinking and his subsequent unseemly behaviour are sad to read.

But most heartening was his success as an author and biographer, the high regard in which his friends held him, the relationship with his brother and especially the touching relationship with his eldest son, James Boswell Jr. who encouraged him in his declining years. This is what he wrote to his father on 18th October 1794 just eight months before his father’s death:

“Am sorry to find you writing about ‘your dull and depressed spirits.’ Pray, sir, do not suffer yourself to be melancholy. Think not on your having missed preferment in London or any of these kind of things, the unreasonableness of which you yourself upon reflection must be sensible of if you consider that your manner of living has never been that of a man of business and that, in short, you have been entirely different in every respect from those who have been (in that line) more successful – they who have obtained places and pensions etc. have not the fame of having been the biographer of Johnson or the conscious exultation of a man of genius. They have not enjoyed your happy and convivial hours. They have not known Johnson, Voltiare, Rousseau, and Garrick, Goldsmith, etc., etc. They have not visited the patriots of Corsica. In short, would you rather than have enjoyed so many advantages have been rich, though dull, plodding lawyer? You cannot expect to be both at the same time. Every situation in life has its advantages and disadvantages.”

What a sensible young man, which his father gratefully acknowledged.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

This volume of Boswell’s Journal paints a somewhat gloomy picture of Boswell’s declining years in which he sees himself as a failure, his depressions are deep and of long duration. But his love of London society and his success and fame as Johnson’s biographer offset this gloomy picture.

Pros:

There is no better chronicler of eighteenth century London society than James Boswell Esq., Laird of Auchinleck.

My Rating:


4 Shells

What a sensible young man, which his father gratefully acknowledged.

I would add, generous, for being a good father to his father. SOMEwhere in this house there is a Boswell journal...now I need to go search it up.

I read Boswell's Presumptuous Task several years ago (if you've not read it, TT, I highly recommend it), but have not actually read any of Boswell's Life of Johnson or anything else on Boswell. I will have to give him a try.

>221 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia, I have Boswell's Preumptious Task I agree that it is excellent. The first three hundred pages of Boswell's Life of Johnson is pure hagiography but once Boswell meets Johnson the interest picks up considerably. I recommend Boswell's The Journel of a Tour to the Hebrides with Johnson as a foretaste of his excellent style of writing. (Touchstones not working).

I used to have a large collection of Boswell and Johnson material but unfortunately I had to leave it all behind in South Africa back in the early 1990's. :(

~ TT

I just checked and my local library has Boswell's The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Johnson, so I will pick it up next time I am over there. Thanks, TT.

Book No: According to Queeney

Author: Beryl Bainbridge
Read: 19 – 20 Aug 2009
Category: Fictional Biography
Pages: 244

My Review

I am afraid that this is a book that does not live up to its hype. Beryl Bainbridge is reputed to be one of the greatest living English novelists. I found nothing to fascinate me in her style, I was not impressed by her characterisation and I found the story to be inconsequential. There is no detectable plot and I could not follow her ramblings.

The book is based on the 20 years that Samuel Johnson spent living with Henry and Hester Thrale; the Queeney of the title was their eldest daughter.

I was truly under whelmed.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Over hyped.

Pros:

The cover has a lovely picture of Mrs. Thrale and her Daughter Hester (Queeney) by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The best thing about the book!

My Rating:


3 Shells

I read According to Queeney several months ago, mainly because I had also heard so much praise of Bainbridge here on LT. Like you, I was underwhelmed, and I haven't been motivated to look for any more of her books.

T--Why did you even give it three shells? You are too nice. Sounds like a two-shell review!

Berly

Alan is "too nice." But, what a lovely trait to have in the world of today where people seem nasty, harsh, critical and self obsessed.

That is why I like LT so much because of folk like you, TT and the others here on our 75 challenge group.

>226 Berly: Berly, I gave it an extra shell for the cover! :)

Also, Linda is right, I didn't want to be too harsh, after all some other people may like it. I would question their judgement, but they are entitled to their taste. :)

~ TT

All right, but then I am only going to read your five-star recommendations! LOL

>230 Berly: Berly that is very sensible, so you will want to check out the following post!

~ TT

Book No: Lincoln’s Melancholy

Author: Joshua Wolf Shenk
Read: 20 – 23 Aug 2009
Category: History/Psychology
Pages: 350 comprising, Text: 218, Afterword: 25, Notes: 56, Bibliography, 23, Acknowledgements: 5, Index: 23

My Review

Lincoln’s Melancholy is subtitled: How Depression Challenged a President and Fuelled His Greatness. This book combines four of my favourite subjects: History, Psychology, Biography and Lincoln so I knew I would be fascinated and I wasn’t wrong.

“Based on seven years of research on Lincoln and the medical, intellectual, and political culture around him, Lincoln’s Melancholy also reflects Shenk’s longstanding interests in mental health, psychology, and spirituality in contemporary life.”

Shenk’s book is a remarkable achievement in that he has rescued Lincoln from the myths and false ideas about him in respect to the source of his depressive personality. Not only that but he reveals conclusively how Lincoln surmounted his depression and learned not only to cope with it but how it shaped his sensibilities and approach to his responsibilities as the Civil War leader.

This is a brilliant scholarly work that is both fascinating and sound. As a fellow sufferer my admiration for Lincoln, which was already high, has risen to new heights as a result of Shenk’s superb analysis.

I read the text straight through without referring to the notes but I intend a second reading with the notes. It is a book that deserves to be read again, marked and inwardly digested.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

This is not a quick read, but requires a measured, thoughtful, studious attitude.

Pros:

Scholarly, convincing, fascinating and a brilliant addition to Lincoln studies.

My Rating:


5 Shells

#232: That one looks terrific, TT. Thanks for a great review!

Lincoln’s Melancholy is one that I have looked at several times. I will add it to my list, thank you!

ditto what Stasia and Kath said! Thanks for your excellent review. I'm heading off to give it a thumbs up!

Hi Alan

I don't see your review posted for this book. I plan to give it thumbs up.

Oh drat. Blast. Pfui. Now I can't come into Milord's thread anymore, either. Books too good to miss simply must not be brought to my attention, Milord. We have had this chat. But here you are....

*grumbles off to wishlist*

ETA: Oh! I forgot to ask, after wishlisting Lincoln's Melancholy, it occurred to me...have you heard of any links between depression and Marfan syndrome, which it's probable Lincoln suffered from?

>236 Whisper1: Linda, I tend to post on my thread and then only do catch up about a month later. I have now posted my last batch of reviews.

>237 richardderus: Rich, Shenk does mention Marfan Syndrome on page 22 and has an extensive note on the subject. It would appear that Lincoln did not suffer from Marfan syndrome as he did not have all the necessary symptoms. However, opinion is divided on whether Marfan syndrome actually causes depression.

There are some who would dispute that Lincoln was sufferring from a mental illness at all! After reading Shenk it is obvious that Lincoln was not just feeling a little blue! He had the full blown Black Dog hounding him for most of his adult life.

As a fellow sufferer I recognise the symptoms of depression when I see them!

~ TT

>238 TheTortoise: oooh. I've read conflicting info on Marfan-Lincoln, but his depression seems to me to be beyond a reasonable doubt proven. Of course, it's a forensic finding, what with him being dead and all, but good gracious! How could one look at the record and not immediately conclude he was biochemically depressed?

I have a lot of depressed people in my family...to date, I am not among them...but I understand that condition all too well. I hope you take the ameliorative meds available there in benighted Britain, so as not to suffer unduly...?

>239 richardderus: No, Rich, I do not take "the ameliorative meds". I tried it once way back in the far distant past and it made me feel like a zombie. I decided that I prefer feeling depressed!

Fortunately, mine is cyclical, about every six weeks and only lasts for two days most times. Although, I have known longer periods, sometimes a week, sometimes months.

The most foolish thing people have said to me is "why are you depressed?" or "what have you got to be depressed about?!"

I am usually not depressed about anything in the external world - I am depressed because I am depressed!

However, it is not all depressing, I am very resliient and have learned to live with it, much as Lincoln did.

~ TT

>240 TheTortoise: mmm...pharmacology has come a very, very long way in the last 120 years, Milord, the leeches-and-laudanum days of your young manhood are well and truly over. I know you're coping successfully, but coping is such a bleak concept when other help can do so much that was once impossible....

I will never preach or hector, but I will express my admiration for your strong response and my dithering fretful desire to see it transmuted from coping to enjoying.

That is all.

I can only blame an incurable curiosity and sadistic pleasure in visiting your thread, because I invariably add more books to my wishlist and ultimately to my TBR as a result of the wonderful reviews you write.

I am definitely going to have to get Lincoln's Melancholy when I get back from my travels. It sounds like something I will enjoy. I am fascinated by all things Lincoln (except maybe the Lincoln Room at the White House), more so if they are well written.

Book No: David Livingstone

Author: C.S. Nicholls
Read: 23 24 Aug 2009
Category: Biography
Pages: 112 comprising Text: 101, Notes:6, Bibliography: 4

My Review

David Livingstone is one of those people that you think you know because of Stanley’s famous phrase: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” This Pocket Biography told me all I want to know about this selfishly ambitious man who has been eulogised as almost a Saint. What I discovered about Livingstone in this book is that Livingstone was prepared to sacrifice his wife and children and anyone else who stood in his way of fame. He neglected his wife and children for years at a stretch while he pursued his selfish ambitions. He was an ordained minister and as a missionary he managed to lead one person to Christ. Then he gave up being a missionary in favour of exploration because it made him rich and famous.

He was a curious man who was prepared to endure any hardship (and they were plenty in the tropical jungles of Africa) he was reckless and foolhardy, dishonest and selfish and led many to their deaths in the tropical jungles. Also, he alienated practically every white man who came in contact with him. He was not someone you could warm to. He was irascible and difficult.

As an explorer and writer he achieved lasting fame and glory. He opened up Africa for future missionaries and explorers.

The thing for which he can be admired is that he genuinely respected the natives of Africa and sought to end the slave trade.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Not a very likeable character.

Pros:

Respected the natives and sought to end the slave trade.
This is a pocket Biography but for me it is enough.

My Rating:

> 241 Rich, leeches-and-laudanum works for me!

My favourite drug of choice is reading!

~ TT

Alan

Sounds like a person I would not want to know! Actually, sounds like someone I knew a long time ago.

Thanks for the great review (as always.)

Linda

#243: If you want something more in-depth on Livingstone, I recommend Tim Jeal's biography Livingstone. It does not pull any punches about Livingstone's flaws either.

>246 alcottacre: Stasia, I have had my fill of Livingstone for now, thanks, but thanks for the recommendation.

Next up is Thomas: A Novel of the life, passion and miracles of Becket by Shelley Mydans

~ TT

Book No: I’m Not Supposed to Feel Like This ISBN 9780340786390

Author: Chris Williams, Paul Richards and Ingrid Whitton
Read: 24- 27 Aug 2009
Category: Christian Non-Fiction
Pages: 279

My Review

I’m Not supposed to Feel Like This is subtitled A Christian Self-Help Approach to Depression and Anxiety. After reading Lincoln’s Melancholy this book caught my eye in the public library and the title summed up a thought that I, as a Christian suffering from a depressive illness, have had many times.

This book is a breath of fresh air in helping Christian’s to understand the difference between suffering from a depressive illness and losing faith in God. It challenges Christian misunderstanding of depressive illness and anxiety. The authors demonstrate conclusively that one can have faith in God and also suffer from a depressive illness. Of course, I suppose I have known this most of my adult life as I have suffered from intermittent depression since I was thirteen and became a Christian when I was sixteen. Battling with sin and battling with depression has often confused me in the past, but this book is an eye-opener. Of course depression does affect a Christian’s spiritual life as it does all relationships, but God is patient and kind and does not condemn us when we are weak and feeling helpless.

The book is a self-help manual containing lots of questions which challenge unhelpful feelings, thoughts and behaviour when in the throes of depression. It contains worksheets which can be photocopied. It outlines practical things you can do that can make a difference when you are feeling depressed. Through Five Area Assessment of Altered Feelings/emotions, Altered physical symptoms, Altered thinking, Altered behaviour and Situations, Relationship or practical problems the authors encourage a realistic analysis of your situation to devise coping strategies.

Two of the authors are psychiatrists and one is a pastor. All three are Christians. The authors use a combination of the Bible, prayer and the principles of CBT: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – a proven and effective treatment that is fully compatible with the Christian faith. They offer suggestions for focussed prayer and meditations from the Bible that provide a clear plan of things you can do to improve how you feel.

I have only one small caveat and that is that there appears to be a suggestion that depression is necessarily caused by external relationship misunderstandings and wrong thinking about the issues involved which seems evident from the examples they cite in the text. I would dispute this as too simplistic as in my own case my depressions are cyclical and have no observable external causative agent. But this apart it does not detract from the helpful advice offered by this excellent manual.

There is a chapter on psychiatry and other mental health services including drug therapy that those who are severely depressed will find helpful.

My Recommendation :

Cons:

Depression may be caused or exacerbated by external factors but cyclical depression does not fit this pattern. So the examples given in the book may not exactly fit your case.

Pros:

An excellent resource for examining depression and anxiety in relation to Christian faith. Contains helpful worksheets and challenging questions and biblical meditations/principles that are very helpful.

My Rating:


4 Shells and a half

Nice review, TT!

Ditto what Stasia said.

Tortoise,
Your reviews are so thorough and helpful. Sounds like a good book for the church library!

Just ordered Lincoln's Melancholy! Love your thoughtful reviews.

You've written some excellent, helpful reviews. I've put Lincoln's Melancholy on my wishlist.

Thank you for all your kind comments it makes the effort of writing reviews worth the while when they are appreciated.

>251 thomasandmary: thomasandmary, every church library should not only have this book but every church leader (and members) should read it to dispel any erroneous misunderstandings they may have of this complex issue.

~ TT

>254 TheTortoise: Thank you TT. I'll have to mention it to my pastors.

>#208:
Sorry, it is back there a ways, but I am still playing catch up. Re: Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism---
I think you gave an excellent review ~TT on a book that I will NOT be reading. What was he thinking? I am thinking that he must have a brain tumor or something. I mean, why did he even bother?
He, the author, reminds me of someone in a meeting that I was in one time who stood up and said that Jesus was "one" of the masters.
belva

>#215:
Re: I am Not Ashamed, which I DO intend to read-----
Another good review for what sounds like a wonderful book and I too enjoyed "the sermon"
My idea of hell is total and eternal separation from God. Whatever could be worse than that?
And I suppose I could google it, but was it Paul who said "I die to Christ daily."?
Thank you again.
belva
P.S. I took your advise and am slowly but surely emptying the bags and boxes of my "Jesus" books as my husband calls them and entering them into my library and putting them back on my shelves. I think I have now completed 3 bags and one small box.

>256 rainpebble: nannybebette, that is typical New Age thinking. I read this morning this extraordinary quote by Napoleon! “I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires, and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and whatever other religions the distance of infinity…Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and his will confounds me. Between him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by Himself. His ideas and sentiments, the truth which He announces, His manner of convincing, are not explained either by human organisation or by the nature of things…

“The nearer I approach, the more carefully I examine, everything is above me – everything remains grand, of a grandeur which overpowers, His religion is a revelation from an intelligence which certainly is not that of man…One can absolutely find nowhere, but in Him alone, the imitation or the example of life… I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history, nor humanity, nor the ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.”

Quoted in Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell taken from The Reason of Our Hope by Vernon C. Grounds

I am astonished by this quote. I thought I knew Napoleon fairly well but I am not aware that he was a Christian or thought of Christ in this light.

~ TT

I like the Evidence That Demands a Verdict books, but do not ever recall seeing that quote. I am going to have to pull out my copies again.

> 259 Stasia, it is on Page 106 of Vol 1. or Chapter Seven 4A.

~ TT

Thanks, TT!

See thread No.3

http://www.librarything.com/topic/72912#1491661