And Jesus Will be Born (by Adrian Plass)

I thought I had all the published books by Adrian Plass, who is my favourite living British Christian writer. So I was a bit surprised when I spotted his book ‘And Jesus will be born’, subtitled ‘a collection of Christmas poems, stories and reflections’, in a box of books which a relative was giving away. So, naturally, I acquired it and decided to read it, a few pages at a time, during some of December.

It turns out that it’s not a new book as such; most of the items in the collection have appeared in one of Adrian Plass’s other books or publications. But I’m convinced there are some I’ve never been before, even those which (according to the appendix) are in books I own and have read at least a couple of times.

Some of them probably are new to me, as it also states that unless otherwise stated, they were first published in the author’s advent calendar, in Germany. I wonder if they were translated from German for the sake of this book.

However, even with the handful which I recognised, it was a very pleasant selection of short pieces, mostly with the author’s standard slightly off-the-wall low-key humour. I particularly liked the piece about his family in Cornwall on holiday, which has an ending I didn’t see coming, and then stops. I read it aloud at a Christmas gathering a couple of weeks ago, and it was much appreciated. Apparently it’s from the author’s biographical book, but I had no memory of it at all. Evidently I should re-read ‘The Growing-Up Pains of Adrian Plass’ again as I haven’t read it for over ten years.

Poetry tends to wash over me. I did try to read the few poems in this book slowly and thoughtfully, and I could see that they were quite profound in places. But they didn’t move me as some of the prose pieces did. It’s a lovely mixture of light and a little deeper, and of course the theme of every piece of writing in this book is Christmas, or something to do with the Christmas story.

All in all, I liked it very much and would recommend it to anyone who would like a gentle collection of Christmas stories - true and fictional, poetry and prose - to read at a busy time of year. It’s not really a book to read it in one sitting. But it worked well reading about nine or ten pages a day. Sometimes I kept reading, or picked it up again later, but mostly I was content to read just two or three of the short pieces each morning.

It’s a book for Christians, or those on the fringe of Christianity, perhaps, or at least those who were brought up knowing the Biblical accounts of the Nativity. It takes for granted an understanding of God, and a general knowledge of the cast of characters involved in the birth of Jesus. It would make a lovely gift book for someone who likes faith-related Christmas stories, though probably not to hardline Biblical literalists or those who might object to some of the author’s extra-Biblical thoughts.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews