The furious longing of God (by Brennan Manning)

(Amazon UK link)

I do like the books by Brennan Manning. He was a Roman Catholic priest and a reformed alcoholic who wrote some thought-provoking books about what it really means to be loved by God. I have been rereading some of his books, and remembered that I have ‘The furious longing of God’ on my Kindle. I wanted a Christian book to read while travelling, and I last read this in 2013. 

It’s not a long book, and it’s divided into quite a few sections with titles such as ‘healing’ or ‘boldness’, each one looking at a slightly different aspect of God’s love, and with a page of points to ponder at the end of each section. But since I was with family, and very busy, I didn’t read this every day; or sometimes only a couple of pages.

The author expounds on his favourite theme, which I first came across in ‘The ragamuffin gospel’ many years ago. But in this book it’s as if he takes a step deeper - he points out, more than once, that being a Christian believer is not just about becoming a nicer person, or avoiding certain behaviours. It’s about becoming a new creation, caught up in the passionate love of our father who created us. 

With love and kisses (by Patsy Collins)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve followed the writing blog by Patsy Collins - off and on - for many years now. Every so often she offers one of her ebooks as a free download, and I’ve taken advantage of that more than once. I downloaded her short story collection, ‘With love and kisses’ last year, and decided to read it while travelling. 

Short stories are ideal when out and about, or at the airport, as each one can be read in just a few minutes. And I was pleased to discover that these short stories - 25 of them in all - are light-hearted, with uplifting or encouraging endings, and a few unexpected twists and turns in some of them.

The first story features a couple who are both actors. It’s unclear for a moment what’s going on as one of them asks the other to marry her… and they get into discussion about the script, and whether or not she’s ad libbing. It’s light, and amusing. 

Conditional love (by Cathy Bramley)

(Amazon UK link)

On the whole, I enjoy the novels by Cathy Bramley. They’re character-based, mostly light-weight, and well-written. I have several of them in paperback form, but when I saw a couple of them on offer for the Kindle at 99p, I decided to download those rather than add them to my wishlist. 

I read ‘Conditional love’ while I was travelling, in part on my Kindle and in part on the app on my phone; I find it very convenient to do this, as a downloaded book can be read when offline, and dipped into at any odd moment. And it’s not the kind of novel that I found difficult to put down, nor to pick up again and continue after a gap of a day or more.

Sophie is the main protagonist of this book, which is told in the first person. She’s in her thirties, and at the start of the book she’s in a comfortable relationship with a good-looking man called Marc; so much so that she is half expecting a marriage proposal at any moment. She wakes up on Valentine’s Day after they spent a night together… so she’s devastated when, in contrast to her expectations, he announces that he’s breaking up with her. 

Emily's quest (by Lucy Maud Montgomery)

(Amazon UK link)

Since I reread LM Montgomery’s ‘Emily of New Moon’ and ‘Emily climbs’ earlier in the year, it was natural to reread the third in the trilogy, ‘Emily’s quest’. I started in paperback form, then switched to Kindle as we were travelling; it’s taken me much longer than I would normally take on a relatively short book. I last read it in 2005, and hadn't remembered anything about it. 

Emily, is an adult at the start of this book. She has completed her formal education, and is returning to the small town in Canada where she lives at a house called New Moon with her elderly aunts and her cousin Jimmy. Not that we see a lot of them, other than with comments to and about Emily, both positive and negative. Emily is still passionate about writing and has had several short stories accepted by magazines and newspapers. She is determined to pay back her relatives who supported her during her college years. 

The elegance of the hedgehog (by Muriel Barbery)

(Amazon UK link)

I had never heard of Muriel Barbery, but her book ‘The elegance of the hedgehog’ was chosen for our local reading group. I liked the cover when my (used) copy of the book arrived, and thought the blurb on the back sounded very interesting. It was originally written in French, and set in Paris, so I have been reading a translation. 

Indeed, it’s not just set in Paris: almost everything in the book takes place in a luxurious apartment block in Paris. There are two main protagonists in the book, and at first sight they seem quite different. Renée is the concierge; she’s middle-aged, widowed and tells us that she’s somewhat overweight. 

Paloma is a twelve-year-old girl who lives in one of the flats with her parents and older sister. Her parents are supposedly socialists, but they’re also very wealthy. Paloma has decided that she’s going to kill herself on her 13th birthday. She sees a tedious adulthood ahead of her, and doesn’t think she can escape.