Include Me Out! (by Colin Morris)

'Include Me Out!' is a forty-year-old short book by a Methodist minister, Colin Morris. He starts by describing the shock he receives when an impoverished man dies of starvation not far from his front door. He is stopped in his tracks, realising that his previous preoccupation with theology and church dogma is really irrelevant in the scheme of things. Jesus told us to do as he did: to heal the sick, to feed the starving, to reach out to the world. Not to debate, ad nauseam, fine details of Scriptural interpretation.

Moreover, as his denomination was currently discussing, at great length, possible unity with the Anglican church, Morris sees the irony clearly: does it really matter what happens to leftover consecrated bread, when a human being dies in the street for lack of any kind of bread?

Much of the book might be considered 'unsound' by many modern evangelicals, yet it would be hard to argue with the author's principles and logic. He focuses very much on 'works' - not as a means of salvation, necessarily, but of evidence of God using men and women, whether or not they acknowledge him. Is an atheistic Communist handing out bread to the starving actually following Jesus more than a Christian debating fine points of theology, while ignoring the starving? Not an easy question. But the parable of sheep and goats kept coming to mind, as well as the parable of the men who built their houses, respectively, on the rock and the sands.

Probably not a popular book in today's world, but I found it refreshingly radical and thought-provoking. Well worth reading for anyone interested in real Christianity, or for Christians wondering why so much time is spent on debate and teaching, and so little on practical ministry in the world.

Rebel Heiress (by Jane Aiken Hodge)

I always enjoy Jane Aiken Hodge's historical novels. As well-researched and readable as Georgette Heyer's, they usually include a bit of intrigue and more serious historical context. On the other hand, they don't have quite the brilliant characterisation or humour that makes Heyer my favourite historical author.

Still, 'Rebel Heiress' was an enjoyable book. I had read it only four years previously but had forgotten the plot and outcome. In outline: Henrietta, an American girl, brought up by her strict aunt, learns something unexpected about her British father, and sets sail to visit him when her aunt dies. Her trip coincides with threats of war between the USA and UK, in the time of Napoleon.

Once in the UK, she makes friends, and also meets those who would take advantage of her. She falls in love - naturally - and receives several proposals of marriage. Her frank open manner offends some and charms others. Conversation is believable, situations perhaps a little fraught with coincidence, but still the story reads well.

I felt there were a few subplots that never really came to fruition, but they didn't spoil the book, just slightly surprised me. The ending was also perhaps a bit sudden with events coming to a head (mainly after explanations, rather than action). But, even so, I liked reading the book and hope to enjoy it again in another four or five years. Recommended for anyone who enjoys light historical novels.

Skipping Christmas (by John Grisham)

Hardly a seasonal book, nor is John Grisham an author I have previously read. I understand that his novels are primarily legal or political thrillers, and that's not a genre that appeals to me.

However 'Skipping Christmas' was on our shelves, and reviews suggested it was quite different from the author's usual style, being instead a mildly humorous family book. This turned out to be the case. It focuses on a caricatured American middle-class couple, Luther and Nora, whose only daughter has just gone abroad to work in the Peace Corps. Luther, an accountant, has calculated what vast sum they spent on the previous year's Christmas festivities, and Nora is feeling that Christmas will be depressing without their daughter.

So they decide to skip Christmas entirely, and spend some of the money on a cruise. The majority of the book is taken up with the bewilderment and anger this causes amongst their neighbours and colleagues. I found it both humorous and rather sad... do people really put enormous floodlit snowmen on their roofs, and then expect the entire street to follow suit? Do they insist on new dresses for business dinners? Can anybody really spend as much as $6000 simply on Christmas?

I assume not - and that it is, indeed, an exaggerated caricature. But it felt as if there was a grain of truth in much of the book: that consumerism really has destroyed the meaning of Christmas in some places. As such it felt almost like an Anne Tyler book at times, looking through the eyes of two people who felt more like her creations than any thriller heroes.

Enjoyable on the whole, a light and quick read, and a satisfying conclusion, albeit a little annoying.

Revolution of Love and Balance (by Geroge Verwer)

'Revolution of Love and Balance' is a short book (less than 100 pages) which was written nearly 40 years ago by George Verwer as a transcript of some of his teaching sessions to young people interested in Christian mission work. Nonetheless, the messages are relevant today, to Christians of all ages.

The book covers the vital need for love, more important than any doctrine or theology. It also looks at the need for balance, with examples of people who are unbalanced in various ways. And there's a hard-hitting chapter about what the author calls 'pseudo disciples' - those who are motivated by the wrong reasons, such as status or fear.

Despite starting as talks, this book reads well and the message is clear. Verwer does not want half-hearted or lukewarm Christians on his teams. However despite this, he does not come across as judgemental - simply aware that if people start out with wrong motivations, then no matter how enthusiastic they are, they will come to grief. Moreover he gives examples in his own life of times when has not displayed love or balance.

Recommended to anyone wanting to take discipleship seriously.

That Certain Age (by Elizabeth Buchan)

'That Certain Age' is a pleasant enough light read by Elizabeth Buchan, though not particularly gripping. The book is actually two stories, each told in the first person, switching ever two or three chapters.

Barbara, one of the voices, is a forty-something housewife in the late 1950s. She's reasonably happily married to an airline pilot and has grown-up children whose view of life is somewhat different to hers. Every so often she wonders whether there's more to life than being a traditional housewife, and her worldview begins to change when she meets a young psychologist who introduces her to Freud.

The other voice is that of Siena, a wealthy career-woman in her mid-thirties, in about 2004. She too is happily married, and very busy with a successful fashion-orientated writing column, and potential TV show. However her husband is increasingly eager to slow down and start a family. Siena sees how disruptive children can be, and how depressed some mothers become, and keeps putting it off...

So the novel follows each woman in their very different lifestyles, as they are challenged by the thought of breaking out of the life they have always known.

The people are believable, the writing fast-paced and clear, the plots reasonably satisfying. I found it a bit confusing at first having two entirely separate plots alternating without any clear link, and if I put the book down for a couple of days it wsa a bit difficult to remember who was who, and which story I was in the middle of. Nonetheless, it was reasonably enjoyable - recommended for holiday reading, when you don't want anything too heavy.

Marriage Without Pretending (by Anne Townsend)

This is a fairly light-weight book about marriage, which I first read over 20 years ago but haven't picked up since. Anne Townsend has written several books in this series, which I find well-written and full of insight.

Sure enough, 'Marriage Without Pretending' contains several clear and positive chapters covering various topics in marriage, from 'Why get married' to 'What happens when it goes wrong?'. She shatters the myth that Christian marriage is always successful, or that a couple simply need to pray more if things are going wrong. She points out the dangers of complacency, the stresses that come with children, the necessity for complete honesty and sensitive role-allocation, and the problems of over-committed church members who spend little time with their spouses.

There are plenty of anecdotes, mostly based on real situations (with names changed) illustrating the various points. The author doesn't give any easy answers, although she sometimes points out where people started to go wrong, or where changes could have been made. But the overall effect is of shared confidences rather than preaching or strong advice.

Ideal for anyone considering marriage, or newly married and finding life rather more stressful than expected. Even knowing that problems are 'normal' can be a huge relief to someone struggling to maintain a positive image, particularly in the church.

On the other hand, there wasn't much in the book for someone married long-term, other than warnings not to take each other for granted. Recommended for young couples, particularly those who want something short and concise, but not really for repeated reading.

People in Prayer (by John White)

'People in Prayer' is a 1970s IVP book by the late John White. The focus is ten prayers taken from the Bible, starting with Abraham's bargaining with God in Genesis, and ending with Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane, and his last words.

The author quotes one of the prayers in full at the start of each chapter, and then expounds on them. He looks at the motivation behind the prayer, the kind of person praying, and the relevance to modern life. It was well-written and quite thought-provoking, and I read about half a chapter per day or a bit more, over a couple of weeks.

It's a book for Christians who take the Bible seriously, not one to pick up and learn about prayer from scratch. On the other hand, it's not particularly heavy and the principles mentioned are straightforward. Nothing new or dramatic, but there's nothing wrong with reminders about how to pray more effectively.

I don't know that I'd recommend it highly unless this is a topic that interests someone, but it's a good book to have on the shelves.

Pemberley (by Emma Tennant)

'Pemberly', a short novel by Emma Tennant, is supposedly a sequel to Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'. It begins a year after Elizabeth and Darcy have married, after the death of Mr Bennet, and opens well with a comment parodying Austen, suggesting that Elizabeth must produce an heir to Pemberley. This is then the theme of the book, which revolves around a Christmas gathering of both Elizabeth and Darcy's family and friends.

I felt that the author had got hold of the characters and their voices accurately. We recently watched the BBC version of 'Pride and Prejudice', and I could 'hear' the relevant actors in Tennant's lines fairly clearly. The plot, too, was plausible: frequent misunderstandings between Darcy and Elizabeth based on his pride - albeit abated - and her tendency to leap to conclusions, trusting everything she hears.

On the other hand, contrary to the blurb on the back cover, I didn't feel the author had really got hold of Austen's style of writing at all. It felt too 20th century, with far too much of the characters' thoughts being described, and hardly any of the delicious irony that permeates 'Pride and Prejudice'. Nor was I very impressed with the two new characters introduced: an elderly and blubbery relative of Mrs Bennett's, and a young and pompous relative of Darcy's. As for the timeline, it was completely wrong: Elizabeth has been married for a year, yet her sister Jane has a child who must be at least two or three years old, and another on the way - and Lydia, who was only married a few months before Jane, somehow has four children!

Moreover, the plot seemed to ramble - not in the long-winded and amusing style that Austen uses, but with Elizabeth's thoughts and decisions changing constantly depending on her mood and who she happens to have spoken to most recently. Her reluctance to speak to Darcy about things that bothered her seem at variance with the great love she also shows, and the way he omits to tell her almost anything of importance (while communicating with his housekeeper, sister, and friend's sister) seems entirely unbelievable.

Moreover, I was uncomfortable that Mrs Bennett seemed even more vulgar than before. Not just in her snobbery and lack of sensible thought: in this book she is sometimes vulgar in the modern sense of the word, with some incidents being included for no apparent reason other than to show her in a poor light.

The the ending was rushed, with the predictable conclusion being described rapidly, without any particular hints or events leading up to it.

OK as a light read, as one possibility of what happened 'after' Pride and Prejudice, but not brilliant.

The Poisonwood Bible (by Barbara Kingsolver)

It feels as if I've been reading for weeks and weeks... looking back, I realise it's only two and a half weeks. Still, that's a long time for me to take over a novel, and reflects my mixed feelings about it. It's the first book I've read by Barbara Kingsolver, and I certainly enjoyed her writing style. The narration is shared by five people - a mother and her four daughters - and their distinct voices and characters came through strongly, with humour in places - particularly Rachel's malapropisms.

'The Poisonwood Bible' is about a hard-headed Baptist missionary who wants to convert a village in the Congo. He's not a very well-developed or likeable character, but the caricature enables the rest of the family to write about him from their differing perspectives, to learn valuable lessons about culture, and to cope with the immense difficulties that beset them.

At times it felt long-winded, and I found that one section was enough for me to read at a time. The ending dragged a bit, too. Yet it was a somehow compulsive book that kept me thinking, and I was never tempted to give up on it. Politics are interwoven throughout the book, which is well researched in addition to being based partly on the author's childhood experiences living in Africa. Does it reveal the truth about the destruction of a lovely country and American plots to overthrow its attempt at independence? I don't know enough to be certain, but there's almost certainly a fair amount of truth in it, even if only one person's viewpoint. Politics are never straightforward, after all.

It also cleverly demonstrates, without preachiness, the shallowness of some people's lives, and they way perspectives change so radically when living elsewhere. The family start by taking - of all things - packaged cake mixes into the Congo, not realising that humidity would ruin them. These mixes are a symbol of the frivolous lives they led before - and which Rachel continues to hanker after, until she believes she has found true fulfilment.

Recommended in a guarded way as a not-so-light read with good characterisation.