Power Through Prayer (by EM Bounds)

(Amazon UK link)

For some years, we've had a couple of thin paperbacks on our shelves by EM Bounds - someone I know nothing about. He was apparently a clergyman who lived mainly in the 19th century. Nearly five years ago, I picked up and read his book 'Purpose in Prayer', and found it both encouraging and helpful, if a little heavy and (unsurprisingly) somewhat dated.

I always intended to get to the other book, and recently decided to read 'Power through Prayer'. It's a fairly short book - only 128 pages, with twenty chapters. Each one starts with a quotation from some (presumably) famous Christian of the time. The theme of the book is the importance of prayer for those who preach.

So it seems that the book is really intended for pastors, but I thought that it could be worth reading anyway. The early part of the book stresses how the most eloquent or gifted of speakers will not proclaim any message worth sharing unless he spends many hours praying. However if he genuinely prays at length, Bounds insists, then he will speak a message from God, and people will be moved.

Then the next part says the same thing, in slightly different words. And, basically, that's all the book says. It gives a few examples from history, and some from Scripture, of people who made prayer their priority. But it doesn't give any clue about how to pray, or where to find the time.. and by about half way through I was beginning to wonder why it wasn't simply a booklet with the first couple of chapters. I kept reading, but the same theme kept recurring.

Perhaps it was a necessary book to have written over 100 years ago; no doubt many preachers and pastors today could take on board the principle - but I don't think this book would be particularly helpful.

Not really recommended - although it's still in print, so perhaps others have found it more instructive than I did.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 27th October 2010

I Capture the Castle (by Dodie Smith)

(Amazon UK link)

I came across the author Dodie Smith as a child. I read - several times - her classic 'The 101 Dalmations' and its lesser-known (but equally delightful) sequel 'The Starlight Barking'.

However, I had no idea until recently that she had written any other books. A few years ago we acquired the DVD of 'I Capture the Castle', which we watched as a family. We thought it a little odd, rather gothic, somewhat confusing, but - on the whole - enjoyable.

A few weeks ago I borrowed the novel from a friend, as I hadn't ever read it. I saw the film long enough ago that I'd pretty much forgotten it - other than the final part when the father is tricked into doing something he has been putting off.

The whole book is written in journal format by Cassandra, a 17-year-old who lives in a rather draughty castle. She has a light style and a way with words, and we meet the rest of her family through what she says about them. She's particularly fond of her romantic older sister Rose, with whom she shares a room and many secrets. She's often frustrated by their father, who had one book published, some years ago, but now suffers permanent writers' block.

Since the book was written in the 1950s, the entire family fortunes rest on the father's income - or lack of it. Gradually the items in the castle have been sold, leaving them, as the book opens, pretty much on the poverty line. Their stepmother Topaz is a delightful, if somewhat eccentric presence in the household; their brother Thomas rather shadowy at first, but comes into his own later on. And then there's and a young man called Stephen who works for them, but has become almost like another son... and is in love with Cassandra.

Two young men from America arrive on the scene, and play havoc, one way or another, with everyone's emotions. I was reminded, briefly, of the confused tangle in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. There's some slightly surreal humour in the book, and some caricatured class consciousness, all viewed from Cassandra's perspective. It seems dated in some ways, and at first I struggled to find it interesting; but as the book progressed, I found myself drawn more and more into the story.

This was originally written as teenage fiction, and is still published as such; but I suspect it's probably read more, these days, by women with their own teenagers or adult children.

Still in print, both sides of the Atlantic. Recommended.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 21st October 2010

I Married You (by Walter Trobisch)

(Amazon UK link)

I'd never heard of Walter Trobisch when I first read this book. Indeed, I've never read any of his other books, nor those of his wife. I know nothing about them, other than what emerges from this book, since he does not seem to have a website or any information online, other than lists of his books.

Nonetheless, 'I Married You' is one of the best books about Christian marriage that I've ever come across. I don't remember how I came across it in the first place. Perhaps someone gave it to us, or perhaps we bought it in a sale somewhere.

At one point I had at least ten different books about marriage, perhaps more. Most of them are laid out as guide books, with chapters on different topics that may cause tensions within a marriage. Most of them have sections that are well worth reading, but they're all written to couples (or wives) directly, which can sometimes feel a bit condescending, or even irritating.

This book, however, is in a totally different style. It describes the author's experiences when he gave a brief series of lectures about marriage to an audience in an un-named African country. As the book was published in 1971, it must have been in the late 1960s. While I assume names and identifying details were changed, the front of the book states that all the conversations in the book actually took place, and all the stories happened.

During just a few days, Walter Trobisch meets a young woman unsure whether she really loves her fiancé, a girl in an imprisoning relationship with a European, and a young man who would really like to be married but has not yet found the right person. He also meets a hard-working pastor who struggles to balance family life with his ministry. Then, when the author's wife Ingrid joins him for the last day, he finds his own marriage crisis emerging..

The teaching given to the African congregation, which is summarised in the book, is down-to-earth, straightforward, Biblical and wise. He uses some interesting images which stayed with me long after the first time I read the book, as a newly-wed. I found it very encouraging and positive, and also enjoyed it very much because of the stories of real people interwoven amongst the lectures.

I picked this book up again recently, remembering how much I'd enjoyed it nearly thirty years ago, and found myself gripped once more. I read it in just a couple of days. The theories are not new - I found myself thinking that some of what's said in the book would seem very old-fashioned these days, even amongst Christian young people. However, the stories told of individual people could have been written today. Human nature does not change, and the individuals described in the book are warm and likeable.

Walter Trobisch himself comes across as a believable, sometimes flawed person who wants to help others and has a genuine gift of counselling.

Very readable; highly recommended to anyone interested in the theories behind Christian principles of relationships, or who just wants a good read with a bit of teaching on the side. Still in print, despite having been written nearly forty years ago, widely available second-hand, and now also available in Kindle form.

Copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 20th October 2010

The Enchanted Wood (by Enid Blyton)

(Amazon UK link)

I do like children's books. Like many adults of my generation, I started with Enid Blyton at a young age, and enjoyed her books right through my childhood and teens. The very earliest of her books that I remember reading and enjoying were the 'Faraway Tree' trilogy, about three children who have adventures in a magical tree. They were my favourite books from the time I was about five, probably until I was nine or ten.

Sadly, I have lost (or perhaps given away) the three hardback versions I had when I was a child. So I was pleased to be able to pick up inexpensive paperback editions - unabridged, as far as I know - in a charity shop. I read them to my sons when they were young. and recently retrieved them from my collection of children's books to read to a five-year-old friend.

I finished the first in the trilogy, 'The Enchanted Wood' a couple of days ago. I hope my small friend enjoyed it; I certainly did. The story is about three children. Jo, Bessie and Fanny are from rather a poor family, who move to live in the country. Their mother takes in washing to earn some money, and the children, who are apparently educated at home (since no mention is ever made of a school) help their parents in the house. At the end of their garden is a mysterious wood, and in the middle of it is an enormous tree with magical people living in it, and fantastic lands at the top of the tree.

It's a wonderful idea, with all kinds of possibilities, and Enid Blyton makes the most of them. Each adventure covers four or five chapters, with the children and their friends falling into difficulties, but - naturally, since it's a children's book - finding their way out of them again by ingenuity, or luck, or perhaps a little magic.

The children are a little too good to be true, the language is old-fashioned (unsurprisingly since 'The Enchanted Wood' is now seventy years old), the writing a bit trite in places... and yet, the plots are wonderful, exciting enough that I wanted to keep reading, but not too suspenseful for my young friend. I changed a few words here and there as I was reading, but not too many. I'm looking forward to reading her the other two books in the series soon.

Recommended as a read-aloud for a child of about four and upwards who is ready for chapter books with a few line drawings rather than picture books; or to early readers. I'm delighted to find that it's still in print, and hope that it will continue to be for many years to come.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 19th October 2010

Reaching for the Invisible God (by Philip Yancey)

(Amazon UK link)

It's only in the past ten years or so that I've started reading books by the American Christian writer Philip Yancey. I love his style, his honesty, and his thought-provoking reflections about some difficult topics. And now I'm gradually re-reading my way through them.

I first read 'Reaching for the Invisible God' early in 2005. The subtitle, 'What can we expect to find?' is what the book is about, in a nutshell. How, Yancey asks, can Christians possibly talk about having a personal relationship with Somebody we can't see, hear, or touch? It's a question that tends to be avoided by those of us who consider we have such a relationship, and asked with some ridicule by many who don't.

I have to admit, the first half of the book didn't really grab me this time, although I very much enjoyed it five and a half years ago. It covers topics such as faith and doubt, what we mean by personality, what we might expect from God - assuming He exists - and some of the mistaken views that abound. There are some interesting anecdotes, and the writing style is always clear and thoughtful, but I didn't find myself inspired or enthused, or even surprised by anything new. I don't know if this is because I've moved on in the past five years, or slipped back; but for a few days it was a struggle to read even half a chapter in the mornings.

However, by the time I was half way through, I was thoroughly enjoying this book again. I was particularly taken with the section on relating to God in the 'desert', and then subsequent chapters about our relating to each other and to God as child, adult and parent of children. I enjoyed the second half of the book so much that I'd still rate this as one of my favourites, albeit with a slow-moving start.

If I have one slight niggle with Yancey's writing, it's that he appears to have a problem using pronouns for God. Perhaps he - or his publisher - is unsure whether to use a capital letter for such pronouns, and so avoids the problem by simply repeating the name 'God' even when a pronoun would make the paragraph easier to read.

I wondered if Yancey also had a problem with the convention of using a male pronoun, since we have no gender-neutral ones in the English language; but in one of the later chapters I was jolted out of this possibility by a single use of 'He', referring to God. It was as the first word of a sentence, thus had a capital letter for that reason.

It's such a minor detail that I don't, in general, worry about it; but for some reason I found it somewhat distracting in this book, spotting so many places where another writer would have put 'he', 'him' or 'his' (with or without a capital H). It would be interesting to know the real reason, and whether or not this has ever disturbed anyone else.

Nonetheless, highly recommended to anyone wanting a thoughtful and well-written book about our search for the invisible God of Christian beliefs.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 18th October 2010

Perfect timing (by Jill Mansell)

(Amazon UK link)

Not having been a fan of so-called 'chick-lit' in the past, I'd never actually read anything by Jill Mansell. I've branched out into various other authors in this genre, and have mostly been pleasantly surprised, but somehow the covers on Jill Mansell's paperbacks - at least the ones in thrift stores and charity shops - are not appealing.

So when a friend lent me 'Perfect timing', a pastel blue paperback showing a cheerful girl lying in an old-fashioned bath, with glittery gold lettering on the cover, it didn't immediately appeal. I do know that one shouldn't judge the book by its cover, but I would not have chosen this unless I was truly desperate. However, my friend recommended it highly, so a few days ago I picked it up, expecting that it would take a couple of weeks or so to get through it.

The story begins with Poppy, a young woman at her hen party, the night before her wedding. She's not exactly enjoying the strange antics her friends are pushing her into, and escapes for a moment. She trips and falls, and just happens to meet an amazingly attractive man, who picks her up - literally - and implies that he would like to pick her up metaphorically too.

Poppy, who I liked almost from the start, can't bring herself to meet a stranger in such a clandestine way. But she is so disturbed by their meeting that she can't bring herself to go through with her wedding either...

Most of the novel takes place when she has left her family home and moved to London, taking a job working for a high-class caterer in evenings, and as an antique dealer's assistant in the daytime. She's decidedly klutzy, very disorganised, accident prone in general... and altogether a very believable person whom I warmed to more and more.

There is a large cast of characters, some of whom are decidedly caricatured, but they are different enough that I didn't get lost - an impressive feat in itself. Some of them are very interesting people. There are quite a few subplots that intrigued me, and I found myself reading several chapters at a time, rather than just one or two.

There's a messy painter, a geeky antique dealer, a frustrated young mother (one of the less attractive people in the book), and a nouveau riche, vulgar but delightful older couple. Naturally, given the chick-lit genre, there is also plenty of attraction, lots of partying and various couples getting together. Yet, happily, there's nothing sordid or explicit at all, very little bad language, and a light touch that made this book extremely readable and enjoyable.

Recommended to anyone who likes light women's fiction. It was considerably better than I could have guessed from the original cover, so I'm glad to see that it's been re-printed with a much more attractive cover.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 7th October 2010

Trouble in the Village (by Rebecca Shaw)

(Amazon UK link)

I'm not entirely sure why I keep picking up books by Rebecca Shaw, in charity shops. I've read several now, over the past few years. Her characters are flat and not really believable. The writing is full of cliches and brief mentions of incidents and subplots. The dialogue doesn't ring true, and the plot in general is convoluted.

Not exactly a recipe for an author to look out for. 

But, in January, I saw 'Trouble in the Village' in a thrift shop, for a euro... and since I didn't have it (yes, I do have about eight others in this series...) I bought it. It sat on my to-be-read shelf for eight months, but I picked it up about a week ago, wanting something light and undemanding to read at night.

As with others in this village series about the fictional 'Turnham Malpas', this story was strangely compulsive. This book features a couple of young thugs who suddenly come into some money. It also introduces a new verger for the church who evidently isn't quite what he seems to be.

There's a vicious attack on two citizens of the village, a protest against the planned destruction of a hedge, and a man who turns over a new leaf when his wife takes a job and goes to live somewhere else. I was interested enough to keep reading, as I wanted - in a low-key way - to find out what was going on in each of these unlikely subplots.

In a way, the whole series is rather like a TV soap in books, although when I've read one, I usually have NO desire to read any more for at least a few more months. By the end of this book I had become used to the annoying style once more, but I did rather wonder why I bothered.

Not really recommended.

Having said that, Rebecca Shaw's books are remarkably popular in some circles. If you like this series, 'Trouble in the Village' is no worse than any of the others, and marginally more exciting than some.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 1st October 2010