Lost Without You: The Story of Noor (by Kate McCallum)

'Lost Without You: the story of Noor' is a Christian biography, published in India, about a Lebanese girl known as Noor. It's written 'as told to' Kate McCallum; we bought it in Lebanon and I read it because I've met Noor although I don't know her well.

The story opens with Noor in the airport in Cyprus, where she has come to do a six-month Christian discipleship course. The picture is of a naturally friendly and strong-willed girl, who argues with the officials and is determined to follow the path she believes to be right. After that one scene, we're taken back to her early life.

Her story is a horrific one, though told fairly unemotively. Reasonably happy as a small child, her life changes drastically when she is four years old, and sees her mother brutally killed. From then on, her gentle older brother is her only refuge. Traumatised by what they've seen, they are first sent to a psychiatric hospital, but nobody knows how to handle them. They move to grandparents, but as one parent was nominally a Christian and the other Druze, all the grandparents consider the children defiled, and their cruel words stay with Noor for many years. She believes herself useless, and wonders why she was ever born.

As she grows up, she meets real Christians who show her love and care, but although she discovers God for herself, the book is not preachy. I suppose the story is a bit like that of 'Cinderella' in plot, but there's no glitz in the new life. As she grows and matures, she must learn to forgive those who have wounded her in the past, and there are times when she goes back rather than forward for a while.

The writing felt a bit stilted in places, perhaps because English is not Noor's first language, but it was well worth reading. Even though I knew the ending - foreshadowed in the first chapter - I found it difficult to put down once I had started. It's undoubtedly a testimony to the way God can work in even the most difficult of circumstances.

There is a Tide (by Agatha Christie)

I don't generally like crime fiction much, but I do enjoy the occasional Agatha Christie. This one, 'There is a Tide', revolves around a family who had hoped to inherit a significant amount of money. However deceased the wealthy relative married shortly before dying, so his new wife gets everything. Then, not surprisingly (given the author) a murder or two happens, and Hercule Poirot gets involved.

I found it quite hard to get into this book at first, since the cast is rather large and everyone needed to be introduced in the early chapters. There's a lot of hearsay too, and it was difficult to grasp who was who, particularly since so many belong to one family, so they all share a surname. However by about a quarter of the way through, it began to get interesting, and by the time I was in the last few chapters I could barely put it down.

It's a clever plot, relying on the understanding of human nature more than anything, although I'm not sure if I could ever have guessed the ending. There weren't the usual clues, or not any that I could spot, and I didn't feel the climax was quite realistic. I thought the final chapter rather bizarre, too. But all in all, quite an enjoyable light read.

The Nanny (by Melissa Nathan)

'The Nanny' isn't the kind of book I would usually read, falling as it does into the 'chick-lit' category with a rather garish cartoon-like front cover. But I read an excellent review of it which inspired me to try it, and recently bought it second-hand.

The author, Melissa Nathan - who apparently died recently at a young age - uses an informal style, tinged with light humour and language that's rather too strong for my liking at times. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable story with excellent characterisations and well-paced action. Jo, a 23-year-old trained nanny from a 'working class' background, decides to move away from home and take a new job with a higher salary in London. There she suffers immense culture shock as she becomes part of the health-conscious and exhausting Fitzgerald household, taking charge of three delightful children.

There are plenty of sub-plots, involving the unlikely relationship between the children's parents, and also their two half-brothers, new friends that Jo makes, and her confusion about the long-term boyfriend Shaun whom her parents idolise. Some of these people are rather caricatured, but it doesn't really matter; Jo herself and the three children are believable and warm, and I found myself almost unable to put the book down. It has over 500 pages and I read it in two days.

Ideal for older teenagers or adults wanting a light read that's rather deeper than the average in this genre.

Who Switched the Price Tags? (by Tony Campolo)

'Who Switched the Price Tags?' is 20 years old, but still mostly relevant. Tony Campolo, a fairly outspoken American Christian, uses the premises that God wants us to enjoy life, and that we've got a lot of our values upside-down. He has a point, and I felt the book was well-written and quite thought-provoking in places.

However, I didn't agree with all he said. That we should avoid legalism is fine; that we should put time and energy into our marriages and family life is of course good advice. That we are part of the Body of Christ, like it or not, and that church fellowships should care for each other and enjoy social times as well as worship is also correct and probably needs to be said repeatedly.

On the other hand, I didn't really agree that 'traditions' are necessarily a good thing. Indeed, his arguments (that 'traditional' churches have a lot of loyal members, who threaten to leave when a new minister introduces new ideas) seems rather flawed to me. What is the point of hanging onto church members who are there simply because they like traditions? He suggests that families need to build similar rituals and traditions to hold onto their children as they grow up. I would hate to think that my children only came home for the sake of traditions. Relationships, in both the home and the church, are vital and while there may sometimes be value in traditions, they can equally disguise the importance of the primary relationships.

Nor am I convinced by the author's recommendation to take risks. Yes, we shouldn't get too caught up in security and avoid all possibility of anything new. On the other hand, some risks are simply foolish. There's a happy mid-ground.

Still, I think the book is worth reading for anyone feeling as if the world's values are upside down - and perhaps those of the church, too. There's no need to agree with everything in a book in order for it to be interesting and useful.

A Price for Everything (by Mary Sheepshanks)

'A Price for Everything' was the first novel by Mary Sheepshanks, and it's now out of print but widely available second-hand. I found it, on the whole, an enjoyable read. The heroine, Sonia (Lady Duntan) finds herself struggling to cope with the huge family home which she loves - and which is in need of an enormous amount of restoration.

As the novel opens, she is trying to find ways of raising money to make the home habitable, and her husband Archie is convinced they would be better off living in another, smaller house on the estate. This causes tension, which is not eased when Archie's mother and young half-sister come to stay unexpectedly, along with a very strange 'monk' from a small religious sect.

I found Sonia very believable, and could empathise with her through most of the book. She loves her four children and her husband, but often finds herself snapping at them. She finds it hard to relate deeply to anybody, or to talk with Archie about things that are important to her. She needs time to herself - and is, in a small way, an artist.

Archie is a bit more predictable, and the children are slightly caricatured, other than the delightful Birdie, who at about six years old is enormously sensitive to all that goes on, full of anxieties and fears. Other less important characters are also rather typecast and flat, but that doesn't really matter - they are easily distinguishable, and fulfil their roles reasonably well.

The book is well-written, the plot moves at the right sort of pace, the characterisations made me care (at least about Sonia and Birdie) and the ending was satisfying in a thought-provoking way. So on the whole, I thought it a good book.

One (perhaps minor) gripe is the way the church is portrayed. Not the strange monk, from a dubious sect, but the local Vicar who's treated as a figure of fun. The congregation seem to consist either of peculiar people who don't belong anywhere, or traditionalists (like the Dunsan family) who attend because they've always done so, as a matter of duty. The Vicar's attempts at starting a prayer group is written as a comedy scene, although it was rather sad than humorous, and he's shown to be rather a hypocrite in many ways. No doubt there are vicars like this, but their part in the book did not seem to add to the story in any way, and it was sad to see an otherwise excellent plot spoilt with these vain attempts at humour.

The other thing I found a bit objectionable was that Polly - Sonia's oldest daughter - has a friend with a very 'modern' mother who discusses sex with her in detail. So mealtimes are often punctuated by Polly announcing something else which she has learned, and asking embarrassing questions of her parents. Perhaps this too was supposed to be amusing, but I didn't find it so. It wasn't part of the plot, it didn't enhance any of the characters, it made Polly look rather stupid and attention-seeking, and it could easily have been left out.

Nonetheless, despite these things, I did mostly enjoy the book. The author's style is generally very good, conversations mostly realistic, and it flows well.

Tennis Shoes (by Noel Streatfeild)

I don't think I had read 'Tennis Shoes' previously; I'm not even sure where we got it. But Noel Streatfeild is always good for a light read. Her books are intended for children, mainly girls, of around 8 and older but are well enough written that they can be enjoyed by people of any age, and I re-read most of my copies frequently.

This particular story focuses on the Heath family of four children. They learn to play tennis, since their father used to be rather good before having a leg injury, and their grandfather helps to pay for tennis racquets, and eventually coaching. One of them turns out to be particularly good, but they all learn and enjoy the game in different ways.

What makes this book particularly enjoyable is the characterisation. The twins, Jim and Susan, are the oldest (nine when the book starts) and generally responsible and generous. Jim is very boyish, keen on swimming and cricket, and Susan is rather nervous, determined to do well for her school 'house'. She's good at arithmetic, too. Then comes Nicky, who's outgoing and a little arrogant, determined to make an impact on the world but hoping to do so without any hard work. The youngest is David, a delightful chap who is four when the story opens, and likes using long words. He too is confident, and has a surprisingly good voice for singing, but somehow he is nowhere near as obnoxious as Nicky.

It's written in the era before World War II, when middle class boys in the UK were sent to boarding school, and girls either had a governess or went to a private day school. The family are not rich - they struggle, at times, to find the funds for playing tennis and entering tournaments - but there's no mention of state schooling. Moreover, it's taken for granted that even a fairly impoverished family would have a cook-housekeeper and general companion helper who were part of the family. Annie, the cook, provides a delightful extra character since she was originally a trapeze artiste with a circus.

So it's a nice piece of social history in a low-key way, which somehow doesn't seem seriously dated, since the children are so real - if a little caricatured. The parents are pleasant, if a little strict at times, and the country is a safe place for children to walk by themselves at quite young ages.

All in all, an enjoyable book for a quiet evening. Still in print in the UK; available second-hand in both UK and USA.

Vitamin Vitality (by Patrick Holford)

I like health-food books, and picked up 'Vitamin Vitality' for a pound. It's well-written, and makes the case for the majority of illness and aging problems being due to poor diet and (to a lesser degree) lack of exercise. The author, Patrick Holford, has plenty of experience in nutritional advice and I tend to trust what he wrote.

On the other hand, it's now 20 years out of date. Moreoever, although he presents his case clearly, he hasn't really said anything that was new to me. Perhaps nutrition is, basically, an obvious science with differences needed for people's environment, state of health, genetics and individual metabolism. That's what I've believed for 25 years or more, so reading it in this book was hardly revolutionary.

Still, as a quick reference guide, it's quite handy. It has a questionnaire checklist to alert people to possible health problems, and reasons why they might need extra vitamin supplementation. It also has a useful brief guide to common ailments, and suggested nutritional defences.

I would have been a bit irritated if I had paid full-price for this - it's not a long book, and I didn't really learn anything new from reading it. But at a pound, it's a reasonable addition to the bookshelves.

A Slipping-Down Life (by Anne Tyler)

I was a little disappointed with 'A Slipping-Down Life'. I usually find Anne Tyler's novels to be a little bizarre and caricatured, but enjoyable and thought-provoking nonetheless. She has an amazing eye for detail, and a great gift in portraying incidents with a touch of irony, and without excessive description.

Those traits were still true in this book, but I found the characters so unappealing that it was hard to relate to any of them. The main protagonist is a 17-year-old girl called Evie, who is a bit overweight, bland, and generally nondescript. It's set in the 1960s in the USA. Evie lives with her father and spends her time listening to the radio. She becomes interested in a local rock singer, takes her even more overweight friend Violet to listen to him at a club, and then does something completely out of character which changes her life.

The singer ('Drum' Casey) is rather a dead loss as a person, and the relationship, such as it is, which he develops with Evie is basically dull. Evie does grow up somewhat during the book, but Drum is so shallow and self-centred that it was hard for me to find anything good about him.

I finished the book - it was well-written, as always with this author, but the conclusion seemed to happen much too fast and left too many questions open.

Not really recommended.

The Wisdom of Tenderness

I do like Brennan Manning's books. He seems to get criticism from various organisations, but then so does just about every Christian author - it's a sad fact of the divisiveness and judgementalism of many in today's church. Moreover, those who pass such negative judgement are perhaps those who would most benefit from reading and assimilating the messages of Manning's books.

Having said that, I didn't find this as moving or inspiring as either 'The Ragamuffin Gospel' or 'Abba's Child'. But it was still well worth reading, if a little long-winded in places. The premise is that we need to allow God's 'fierce mercy' to transform our lives, and in doing so we will no longer have any desire to sin (or, indeed, to judge). The author suggests that many of us have a false image of God, and that we need to let go of it and allow ourselves to be changed by his indwelling Spirit.

Perhaps had I read this before his other books, I would have found it more exciting. But what he says in this isn't really any different from what he said in the others, and it isn't exactly new anyway.

Still, I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone struggling with judgementalism, or wanting to understand what Christianity is really about. It's a bit shorter than the other books by this author, so perhaps more accessible.

A Village Dilemma

This is the ninth in the 'Turnham Malpas' series by Rebecca Shaw. They all revolve around a small, old-fashioned village in the UK where everyone knows everyone else. There's a church, a pub, a general grocery store, a school... and we get glimpses into them all, through the lives of the different characters.

I'm not sure quite why this series is so compulsive. I don't find any of the characterisations particularly deep or thrilling, and there's not a huge amount of action. This particularly book did have a rather moving scene, when the Rector's twins finally learn the details of something which has been kept from them through the rest of the series, but the rest is either mundane or melodramatic. A face from the past reappears with great plans for the village, and causes a near rift between a couple; however he has a sudden tweak of conscience which really doesn't fit with the way he's described in the earlier part of the book.

Nonetheless I keep picking up second-hand copies of these books and reading them, and finding myself interested in what happens in the life of this village. I suppose it's the 'soap opera' effect. I doubt if this book would be of interest to anyone who hasn't read any of the previous volumes in the series - however it's not necessary to have read them all. I think I've read about four of them in all prior to this one.

To conclude: a pleasant enough light read for anyone who likes village style novels, or who wants to know more about the lives of the Turnham Malpas characters from previous books.

Kilmeny of the Orchard

This is a short novel for teenagers and adults by LM Montgomery, best known for her 'Anne of Green Gables' series. It's nowhere near as compelling as the 'Anne' books, and yet surprisingly enjoyable in its way.

The overall story is straightforward: Eric, newly graduated from college, goes to teach at a village school for a few months to help a friend. There he meets Kilmeny, a very beautiful girl...

There are a few unexpected plot twists which I won't reveal, making it a little more unusual than the average romance, and while the characters are a little stereotyped, they are still likeable and I found myself caring what happened. The conclusion was rather melodramatic - I'd have preferred it to take a little longer, and be slightly less predictable - and if the author hadn't been famous for her other works, I'm sure this little book would have been lost by now. As it is, it's published in paperback and also available to read online since it was written in 1910 and is now out of copyright.

An Accidental Life

Unfortunately, most of Titia Sutherland's books are out of print, but I finally managed to get hold of the ones I didn't have from Abebooks UK.

This is the story of Ellie, who wants to find out what went wrong in her marriage. Basically that's the plot - with the slight twist that we, the readers, find something significant out in the first chapter which Ellie is not aware of. That makes for a very moving book, as we see her discovering clues, and growing more stressed and confused until she finally manages to make sense of it - uncovering a great deal more than was hinted at in the first chapter, of course.

It's really a character-driven book, and very sympathetically done. Ellie's husband Philip was a well-known actor who suffered depression, then became a writer. As the book opens, they have a daughter at college, a son just finishing school, and a nine-year-old daughter. Each of them is affected by the dramatic start to the book in different ways, and we see events through each of them, although Ellie is the primary character.

There's a fair amount of delving into the past, as Ellie remembers significant events from her marriage, but it all works well, blending smoothly with the main part of the story without seeming intrusive. The past complements the present, and a good picture is built up of each member of the family as we gradually understand why that crisis in the first chapter happened.

It's not a long book (just under 240 pages) and I had a hard time putting it down once I had read about fifty pages. Definitely recommended.

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (and a selection of entrees)

A collection of two longish short stories, and four short ones by Agatha Christie, probably the world's best known crime writer. The first five stories feature Hercule Poirot, and the last involves Miss Marple.

I thought the longer stories were pretty good, and particularly enjoyed the Christmas Pudding one, revolving as it did around an old-fashioned country Christmas mixed up with the theft of a jewel. Poirot comes across well, and the author even slightly pokes fun at detective stories in general.

However I felt the short stories were all rather disappointing. Because of being short, there's no real characterisation; yet crime stories tend to rely rather on understanding the personalities involved. So the detectives made what appeared to be intuitive guesses that were impossible to a casual reader.

I think this author generally does better with full-length novels which give her a chance to get deeper into the psyche of each of the characters, since she doesn't tend to use much fast action or (thankfully) any gore or horror to pad out her books. Still, these weren't bad stories to while away a couple of hours. Just not the usual enjoyable logic puzzles that can be solved by careful observation from a reader.

The Corinthian

Not a long novel, but very enjoyable, by one of my all-time favourite authors: Georgette Heyer. I hadn't read it for nearly ten years, and found I had forgotten much of the plot, which meant it was difficult to put down, once I had started!

The bored, elegant Corinthian, Richard Wyndham, is persuaded that it is his duty to offer marriage to the rather cold Melissa Brandon since nobody else has attracted him. On the eve of proposing, he gets drunk and on his way home spots a young lady, dressed as a boy, escaping from her bedroom window.

Not entirely himself, he insists on helping her.. and thus is pitchforked into a series of adventures which would have astounded his sedate family and friends. All a little unlikely, of course, but very enjoyable reading with plenty of light humour and some excellent characterisations.

Plenty of plot too, fast-paced and exciting. Definitely recommended.

Head over Heels in the Dales

This is the third in Gervase Phinn's autobiographical account of life as a school inspector in the Yorkshire Dales. I wasn't all that impressed by the first in the series, surprised it would be compared with James Herriot's stories of life as a vet. But I enjoyed the second more, and having just finished the third one today, I think it's my favourite so far. The author has definitely got into a good style, telling a complete story rather than simply giving individual anecdotes.

There are the same interesting mixture of characters, presumably either real or very close to life, and a fascinating mixture of children. The portrayal of the wide variety of schools in his patch sounds very believable - from the hard-working, inspiring grammar school to the struggling comprehensive in an impoverished catchment area. Anyone wanting to know what typical British schools are like - albeit from the point of view of someone who believes absolutely in state education - would probably find these enlightening and interesting as well as very amusing in places.

Recommended.

The Return of the Prodigal Son

This is a fairly short book by the late Henri Nouwen, a Roman Catholic priest who spent some years pastoring a community for disabled people in Canada. He was inspired to write this book after many years studying and pondering on a painting by Rembrandt, depicting the return of the Prodigal Son.

The book is broadly divided into three sections, mirroring the author's spiritual journey. He thinks of himself first as the younger son, wanting to do his own thing, giving in to temptation, and finally returning. Then a friend points out that he's really more like the older son - not seriously rebelling, but being resentful that he does not receive enough recognition. So this becomes the second stage of his journey. Finally someone says that he is like the father, working as a priest and pastor, so the last section explores what it means to become more like Christ.

Quite thought-provoking, although I personally thought the author probably took more out of the painting that was meant to be there, and certainly more from what is basically a fairly simple paragraph. I was a little uncomfortable at times, too, when he talked about becoming God - although in context he seemed to mean becoming LIKE God, which I don't have a problem with.

Still, an interesting book and well worth reading.

When God Weeps

This is a book written by two authors, and I found the difference in style quite striking. The main part is written by Joni Eareckson-Tada, who was paralysed in an accident in her late teens and now lives as quadriplegic. She overcame major depression and learned to live an active and cheerful life in her wheelchair despite being dependent on others. She has written other books and does a lot of speaking as a Christian too.

The main focus of this book is on suffering, and the age-old questions: why does God allow it? Is he in fact not all-powerful, or not all-loving? What possible benefit can there be to suffering?

Because Joni has suffered in a way that most of us are unlikely ever to experience, she speaks with the voice of experience that is sometimes moving, always relevant. She tackles really difficult questions, sometimes giving examples of suffering even worse than her own, times when it's impossible to see any possible value in somebody's pain. She manages to stay positive and encouraging without ever being trite or triumphalistic. Very thought-provoking, too.

The first six chapters, and one towards the end, are written by Steve Estes, a pastor and academic who has worked on books with Joni before. Unfortunately I didn't find his writing nearly so helpful. I think it was supposed to be a theological and Scriptural basis for what Joni was writing about, but it came over in some places as preaching from a particular doctrinal viewpoint. His writing also felt rather harsher than Joni's, and as if he were writing purely from a theoretical standpoint.

If I read this again some time, I will miss out these more academic sections, as I think the book would have been much better without them. But no doubt others would disagree - and there, perhaps, is part of the value of this book. It approaches the topic from different perspectives, so there's probably something in it for everyone.

The Birdcage

This is one of the more recent novels by Marcia Willett, and I very much enjoyed it. It's about Lizzie, a forty-something actress who's recently suffered a major shake-up in her life, and discovers some clues to her rather unusual past. She makes a decision to try and find an old friend - and makes some new and wonderful friendships along the way.

In one or two of this author's earlier books, I felt that she made too much use of lengthy flashbacks in the pluperfect tense, most of which weren't necessary and distracted from the flow of the narrative. But in this one, the flashbacks work very well, using - a little bizarrely - the present tense when anyone is dreaming or thinking about the past. However this gives an immediacy to the memories, and makes them fit in very well with the overall story.

The novel is character-driven, and some of the characters really do seem very realistic and warm. There are quite a few in the cast, but they're introduced in such a way - and with such distinct names and personalities - that I never found myself confused as to who was being referred to.

I wasn't so gripped that I couldn't put it down, which is just as well since the book is about 550 pages long, but I still found myself reading several chapters each evening rather than the one or two I had intended. A delightful book overall, without an obvious or trite ending, and one I look forward already to re-reading in a few years.