Transforming Pandora by Carolyn Mathews
When we first meet Pandora Armstrong in the spring of 2003 she's grieving for her husband, Mike, who had died just a few weeks before. It hadn't been his first heart attack and he had reduced his workload but this attack was fatal. He was only in his fifties and Pandora feels that he'd been snatched away from her as they'd only been married for a few years. When a friend suggests that she goes with her to an Evening of Clairvoyance she runs out of excuses to refuse and although she's not exactly convinced by what she hears there's a lingering doubt. A spirit voice mentioned her children and Pandora was adamant that she didn't have any children - it's actually quite a sore point - but that wasn't true of Mike. Full review...
Cross Roads by Wm Paul Young
Wm. Paul Young's debut novel The Shack was a revelation in many ways. Whilst many disagreed with his theology, it was refreshing to see such an overtly faith based book on the bestseller lists. Personally, I found it a very moving story and whilst I thought it helpful on some points, it tended to skim over others. Now we get to see if Young can repeat his success with his new novel, Cross Roads. Full review...
The Magic Book of Cookery by Danaan Elderhill
Back in the seventeenth century in what was then the Kingdom of Bohemia there was a coven of witches. As was common at that time witches were hunted and they had to hide their beliefs. The Friends of Euphrosyne, as they called themselves, turned to this deity (she's one of the three graces and there to remind us to have fun) in their time of need and developed rituals which could be assimilated into social gatherings, allowing them to hide in plain sight. Their book - The Magic Book of Cookery - vanished along with the coven when they were discovered but Danaan Elderhill wants us to benefit from its ancient wisdom - and its fun. Full review...
I am not a Buddhist by Charity Seraphina Fields
I am not a Buddhist is an individual through Buddhism and its principles seen from the point of view of one on the path. Charity Seraphina Fields attempts - through her own musings on this ancient Eastern philosophy - to explain why Buddhism is better suited to the rich West than the poorer East. For Fields, the question isn't Why am I suffering without all those things I want?. The right question is actually Why am I still suffering even though I have everything I want? Full review...
Saints, Sacrilege and Sedition by Eamon Duffy
In the introduction to this book Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity at Cambridge History, points out that all too often historians have written about the English Reformation from strongly polarised views. Taking two extreme examples, he cites one which states that the people of England, formerly happy medieval Catholics, were forced by King Henry to abandon their religion, and England was never merry again, alongside another which speaks of the English being oppressed by corrupt churchmen until King Henry gave them the Protestant nation for which they longed. On the following page, he suggests that it had long been an axiom of historical writing that the success of the Reformation in England was an inevitable consequence of the dysfunction and unpopularity of late medieval Catholicism. Such remarks were evidently made by writers with an axe to grind. Full review...
Take the Plunge by Timothy Radcliffe
There appears to be more Christian literature around than ever before at the moment. I don't know whether this is a response to Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, which has meant that Christian writers and publishers have increased their outputs, or because I'm noticing it more. Timothy Radcliffe's Take the Plunge is taking a more or less opposite view to that of Dawkins, exploring the importance of baptism in everyday life and arguing that there is no aspect of life that cannot be touched if you are baptised and therefore living with faith. Full review...
Azazeel by Youssef Ziedan and Jonathan Wright (translator)
An archaeologist in a time and place close to that of modern troubled Syria discovers thirty scrolls. These are the writings of a Coptic Christian monk born into Roman dominated Egypt in AD391. A door thus opens into an ancient world and the emerging vista stretches from the present into the distant past, as if eliciting an omnipresent dimension to reality. The fluent evocative prose flows like a meandering river or a ribbon connecting continuously the present moment with the ancient world. A panorama emerges dominated by Rome and Constantinople and extends to Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch. Full review...
The Face of God: The Gifford Lectures by Roger Scruton
Atheist culture has recently become more mainstream, thanks in part to the success of Richard Dawkins' book, The God Delusion. However, religion does still have a part to play, with Prince Charles urging the United Kingdom to be more tolerant towards faiths other than the Church of England he was raised as part of and even the Prime Minister talking about faith issues. Since 1888, the Gifford Lectures have been given to 'promote and diffuse...the knowledge of God'. Full review...
The Hidden Geometry of Life by Karen French
The Hidden Geometry of Life aims to explore the esoteric and often mystical meanings contained in shapes and patterns [that] represent ideas and distil the essence of reality. This mystical angle was a little bit of a unpleasant surprise for this reader. I should have had a better look at Karen French's Amazon pages and previous work, but I was attracted by an exciting-sounding title, attractive cover and and references to author's art. Full review...
The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen
Grace McCleen's debut novel, The Land of Decoration paints an original, unsettling, sometimes dark and generally rather wonderful picture. Narrated by ten year old Judith, raised by her father who is a fundamental religious follower of the end of the world is nigh variety, it looks at bullying, both at school and in more general society, faith and the possible rejection thereof and the strength of childhood imagination. Full review...
The Wonderbox: Curious Histories of How to Live by Roman Krznaric
'How should we live?' asks author Roman Krznaric. To answer this ancient question, he looks to history. 'I believe that the future of the art of living can be found by gazing into the past', he says. Creating a book which is as full of curiosities as a Renaissance 'Wunderkammer', he has a stab at the big questions: love, belief, money, family, death. The result is a pot-pourri of delights which left this particular reader stimulated and invigorated. Full review...
The Happy Life: The Search for Contentment in the Modern World by David Malouf
There's something quite uplifting about the physical brevity of David Malouf's 'The Happy Life' which is subtitled 'The Search for Contentment in the Modern World'. It suggests that it is easy to find, when of course, the whole point of the book is that despite, or perhaps because of, scientific and technological advances that have taken away many of the causes of true unhappiness in the world, it remains elusive for most. Who can say that they are truly happy? The book runs to less than 100 pages if you take out the Notes section, and the typeface is large. It is, by any reckoning a slim offering. Full review...
My Look and Point Bible by Christina Goodings and Annabel Hudson
This version of the bible for toddlers has been cleverly retold to engage little ones, with lots of illustrations, pictures to point at and words to learn. It includes stories from both the old and new testaments, from the creation and Noah through to the birth of Jesus as well as some of his parables and the crucifixion. Full review...
Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel by Alexandre Christoyannopoulos
Whilst I've long been a Christian, I've never considered myself an anarchist. My thinking is that anarchy is something you're more likely to see on the news than on 'Songs of Praise'. However, there is a school of thought that suggests that Jesus' teachings were so counter-cultural and so against Roman law that it constitutes anarchism. Full review...
In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis by Karen Armstrong
Armstrong's background (there's a page right at the beginning) is certainly diverse and interesting so I was looking forward to reading what she had to say. And thankfully, I didn't have to rummage around looking for my own copy of the bible (I've now located it) as Armstrong obligingly provides Genesis (in beautiful, old-fashioned typeface) here. So roughly two thirds is given over to her investigative prose and the remaining third is the actual book of Genesis, for handy reference. Full review...
Across Many Mountains: Three Daughters of Tibet by Yangzom Brauen and Katy Darbyshire
Fleeing your home can never be easy but when you are six, your only shoes are roughly hand-sewn and stuffed with hay, and your route is over the world's highest mountain range then it must be particularly challenging. This was the journey that Yangzom Brauen's mother took with her parents when they fled Tibet after the Chinese invasion of 1959. They were leaving behind all that they knew and travelling to India in the hope that they could find sanctuary in the country where the Dalai Lama was in exile. 'Across Many Mountains' is their story. Full review...
Shakespeare's Secret Booke: Deciphering Magical and Rosicrucian Codes by David Ovason
One group of people that were convinced the Chilean miners, Los 33, would be relieved of their ordeal, were numerologists. For hundreds of years, it seems, they have held the number thirty-three in good stead. It represents a lot of expression of the ego, or the soul, or the transformation of the spirit from one world to another. It doesn't boil down to just the 33 years Christ was supposed to have held His human incarnation, but refers to many ethereal, magical, alchemical transformations from state to state. And who can deny the Chilean mine was 2010's most vivid embodiment of hell - and that the 33 were reborn in coming back to life on earth? Full review...
Running Scared: For 22 Years He Was a Fugitive - The Corrupt Cop Busted by God by Robert Leon Davis
Robert Davis was the eldest of nine children all living with their grandmother in New Orleans – on welfare. His grandmother was a good, honest woman and Davis loved and respected her, but money was so tight that he resorted to thieving to bring some extra food in for the family. He knew that she would be deeply upset about it, but hunger is hunger. In your heart you can't blame him and it seems that all is coming good when Davis becomes a respected police officer in the mid nineteen-seventies. He's living with a good, decent woman and looks set to have a good career. Great, you think, sometimes life is fair and it works out. Full review...
Columbanus: Poet, Preacher, Statesman, Saint by Carol Richards
Richards is at pains to point out straight away that the reader mustn't confuse Columbanus with Columba of Iona. She informs us that the latter did not travel extensively but the former, the subject of her book, did travel throughout parts of Europe. She gives her subject a terrific introduction on the cover, describing him as 'poet, preacher, statesman, saint.' And then goes into much more detail about these areas of his life. Full review...
The Butterfly Mosque: A Young Woman's Journey to Love and Islam by G Willow Wilson
This memoir is told in the first person so straight away there is a connection with the reader. The story starts - not in Egypt - but in the USA. Willow (lovely name) says she's in the market for a philosophy. And in this search she is extremely thorough. She looks at mainstream religions - Christianity, Buddhism to name but two and puts them under the microscope, so to speak. She dismisses all of them before settling on Islam. It appears to offer what she is after, what she is looking for, that enigmatic thing. But also, there's some little twist which helps make her mind up. But not before she digs deep and seeks answers to complex and awkward questions. She reads and researches Islam and finds out surprising facts, which she shares with the reader. Willow is well-read and well-educated. She seems set for a good career of her choice on American soil. Why not settle for that? But she's set on travel to the Middle East come what may. Full review...
A Pregnant Ghost and Other Sexual Hauntings by Colin Waters
This is a book that does what it sets out to do on the tin, and does so in almost glorious fashion. The back cover blurb promises hilarity and tittilation, but this will also fit on the shelf of any academic looking into the hornier side of the Fortean world, as well as anyone relishing the most singular collection of ghost legends that I can remember reading. Full review...
The Four Gospels with introductions by A N Wilson, Nick Cave, Richard Holloway and Blake Morrison
I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this book. I only skimmed through the description on Amazon, and understood that four modern writers were introducing the four Gospels. What I hadn't really taken in was that the introductions are brief - a few pages each - and that the bulk of the book consists of the Authorised Version (known as the King James Version in the USA) of the Gospels. The whole is published in a fairly trendy looking paperback format, with the idea of appealing to people who are not particularly religious, but who see the Bible as valuable ancient literature. Full review...
Sum: Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman
For some reason I find myself unable to start this review. So I'll mention this book starts with the end, and see where we go from there. Of course, that's the key – this book does just that – starts with the end of our human life here on Earth (or wherever you happen to be reading this) and posits forty possibilities of what happens thereafter, in the hereafter. It's not so much 'Five People You Meet in Heaven' as 'Forty Heavens you Might Meet People In'. Full review...
The Secret Symbol: The Original Masonic Documents Behind Dan Brown's Latest Bestseller by Peter Blackstock
Pop Quiz. What links Scott of the Antarctic, Jim Davidson, Churchill, and Rabbie Burns? Where and when might you come a cropper trying to spell Boaz, but starting with the B? And what has three stages - unless it's thirty-three, or even ten by the York system? Full review...
Robert Crumb's Book of Genesis: All 50 Chapters by Robert Crumb
In the beginning was the picture. Just think of all the countless religious images, both inside and outside religious establishments, designed to convey the message to those who could not read. Art and religion have always been linked, which is probably one of the main reasons I stayed an atheist - I hated art at school, and drawing a man on a donkey, something way beyond my skills, was not a task I appreciated, hence my dislike of both subjects. Full review...
2012: Science or Superstition by Alexandra Bruce
The fuss about 2012 has not started just recently. The first book to feature the story was from a Yale professor, in 1966. We've also had prog rock bands named after Popol Vuh, the Maya creation myth. But as the crunch date of December 21st, 2012 - the winter solstice that year - nears, it's becoming a very big story indeed. Even though it sounds absurd - the end of a 5,125-year long cycle of the Maya calendar, which started on August 13th, 3114BCE - or was judged to start then, when they came across this concept a couple of thousand years into that period. Surely they couldn't predict the future from their 'primitive' state with such accuracy? Full review...
Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
One day, Mitch Albom's eighty-two year old rabbi asks him to write his eulogy. Thinking that he must be close to death Albom reluctantly agrees, but decides to meet with 'the Reb' to try to get to know him better as a man first. What then develops is an eight year friendship as Albom continues to regularly meet with the Reb, who was obviously stronger than he looked, discussing life and religion and death and love. At the same time Mitch becomes involved with a pastor in Detroit called Henry, a reformed drug dealer, who is preaching from an old, run-down church with no power, no heat and a hole in its roof. Albom relates the Reb's story, and thoughts on life, against the back drop of the struggling Henry, querying issues like forgiveness, doubt and faith. Full review...
Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary
I enjoyed history at school and whilst we didn't always work our way through it chronologically I came, over time, to have a working knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. I knew about the rise of Christianity and spoke knowledgeably about medieval England, the Renaissance and the Reformation but was perhaps less taken by the Industrial Revolution and all that followed. I was au fait with the east but it was mainly from the perspective of exploration – or even exploitation. It was an education based on the virtues of the solid, white, English, Christian middle classes and it completely ignored histories from the perspective of other religions. Full review...
Immortal Longings: F.W.H. Myers and the Victorian Search for Life After Death by Trevor Hamilton
Born in 1843, Frederic Myers began his career as a classical lecturer at Cambridge University, but disliked teaching and soon gave it up in favour of writing poetry and essays in literature. Although his social circle included men such as Gladstone, Ruskin, Tennyson, Browning and Prince Leopold, the most intellectual of Queen Victoria's sons, his books (which are not so well remembered today) might have been his sole claim to fame, had it not been for his passionate curiosity about the meaning of human life. If it had a purpose, he was convinced, it could only be discovered through the study of human experiences. Full review...
On Kindness by Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor
As a title, On Kindness doesn't pack quite the same punch as Adam Phillip's earlier: 'On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored'. It put me in mind of an eighteenth century treatise, and, give or take a couple of centuries, that is exactly what the book provides: a thought-provoking exposition on a currently unfashionable virtue. Full review...