Blessing the church (by Clifford Hill)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s over twenty years since I read the book ‘Blessing the church?' It’s written by four different people: Clifford Hill, Peter Fenwick, David Forbes and David Noakes. I acquired the book after meeting Clifford Hill briefly at our church, and the first time I read it I was very impressed. So I thought it was time for a reread.

The overall idea of the book is to give a general overview of the ‘charismatic movement’ over the course of the 20th century. It particularly looks at how it was presented and accepted in the UK, and it leads up to discussion of the ‘Toronto blessing’ which was controversial in the 1990s. 

This book was published in 1995 so it’s now thirty years out of date. But the history is well-written and interesting, as is the examination of the different streams of the charismatic movement. The authors are careful to compare everything with Scripture, looking at the work of the Holy Spirit through the book of Acts, and Paul’s advice and warnings in some of his letters. 

Shopaholic and baby (by Sophie Kinsella)

(Amazon UK link)

I am thoroughly enjoying rereading the ‘Shopaholic’ series by the late Sophie Kinsella. I was surprised that I liked them when I first picked them up, around fifteen years ago; they are well-written with a lot of humour, and some quite poignant moments too. 

I finished ‘Shopaholic and sister’ last month, so it was time for the next in the series, ‘Shopaholic and baby’, which I previously read in 2012. I hadn’t remembered anything about it, other than that it was mostly about Becky’s pregnancy rather than her life as a new mother. She had just discovered that she was pregnant at the end of the previous book, so this one is set not long afterwards.

Naturally, Becky - a compulsive shopper - is excited at the thought of new purchases for her baby, even quite early in her pregnancy. She peruses catalogues and visits shops and specialist showrooms… she’s in the fortunate position of being married to a wealthy businessman, Luke, who doesn’t seem to care what she spends on baby equipment. 

In the fifth at Malory Towers (by Enid Blyton)

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I’m a bit surprised to find that it must be at least thirty years since I last read Enid Blyton’s ‘In the fifth at Malory Towers’. The six-book series was my favourite as a teenager; apparently I read it three times in the 1970s, and I’m sure I must have read it at least once or twice as an adult… but I had not remembered most of the details. 

This book takes place in the term immediately after the previous book, ‘Upper fourth at Malory Towers’, which I reread last month. Darrell and her friends have passed the School Certificate (a kind of precursor of GCSEs) and have moved up to the fifth form. Alicia and Gwendoline did not pass the exam, but Alicia was ill and Gwendoline was faking illness, and both are now too old to stay in the fourth form. 

Darrell’s younger sister Felicity is in her second term, still in the first form, and is passionate about lacrosse. Darrell is delighted to be put in charge of sports for the younger girls, but worries that she’s showing favouritism if she puts Felicity in one of the teams.

An innocent diversion (by Kathleen Rowntree)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s a bit of a shock to realise that it’s twenty-four years since I first read Kathleen Rowntree’s novel ‘An innocent diversion’. So it was more than time to reread. I had, unsurprisingly, forgotten everything about it - all the people and storylines felt entirely new to me. I quite like that feeling, knowing that I did enjoy the book first time around.

There are two main characters, and the author succeeds in making them quite distinct. Fran is the one I related to the most. She’s in her fifties, and married to a farmer. She looks after the house, cooks for whoever needs meals, and also does some of the farm chores. Her husband, Steve, is a decade older than she is, and a very likeable man. The two are still close. 

Fran has some bad days, particularly the anniversaries of events from her teenage years which are still poignant to her. It’s fairly soon clear what has made her depressed at the start of the novel, though we don’t get the details until much later in the book. But Steve is understanding, and kind; and Fran appreciates him. They have two daughters: Heather, who works in an upmarket shoe shop, and Janie, who is in her mid-teens and rather geeky. Heather and Janie are totally unalike, and don’t get along. 

Go set a watchman (by Harper Lee)

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I read Harper Lee’s classic novel ‘To kill a mockingbird’ when I was in my teens at school. I don’t know that I really understood it, and was not inspired to read it again. Not until last month, that is, when I read it with an open mind, and very much enjoyed it. The reason was that the author’s other novel ‘Go set a watchman’ was chosen as this month’s local reading group book.

I did understand that it’s not - and was never intended as - a sequel to the first book. It was written first, and the publishers asked Harper Lee to write about earlier events. She did so, and the subsequent book became highly popular and is now considered a classic. ‘Go set a watchman’ was thought to be lost until it was discovered and then published about a year before the author died. 

I read it over the past few days. It features many of the same characters as ‘To kill a mockingbird’, and almost functions like a sequel although there are a lot of flashbacks. The girl formerly known as Scout is now twenty-six and goes by her full name of Jean Louise. She’s been working in New York, but is travelling back to her home town of Maycomb for her annual vacation.