While I was at this year’s Easter School in Durham, I have the chance to attend the book launch of a new book, which has several contributions from YMC tutors. The book looks excellent, and is available now in paper and Kindle format from Amazon. Once I’ve read a bit more of it I’ll do […]

Chrysalis (Faith in an Emerging Culture), by Alan Jamieson, is a book that’s hard to fit into an exact category. The back of the book proclaims: Have you ever felt that the very things that once inspired and nurtured your faith now seem lifeless and perhaps even frustrating? I guess it says something about my […]

Rob Bell is rapidly becoming one my heroes. The nooma DVDs are an inspiring breath of fresh air, and the books of his I’ve read – Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (on Amazon) and this one ( Jesus Wants to Save Christians (on Amazon)) have been excellent. He has studied the 1st Century Jewish […]

That’s it. The end of the Harry Potter series. Just finished Deathly Hallows. Now I know whether Snape was Ever-So-Evil, or double-agent extraordinaire. I know whether Harry, Hermione, and Ron survive. Come to that I know whether ‘ol Voldy makes it, or is beaten. It’s probably no spoiler to say that at least one of […]

Might have peaked too soon – just finished Half Blood Prince, which means I read all 2757 pages in 23 days, or over 120 pages a day. Guess I didn’t leave it too late! I did nearly miss my stop once or twice though, so absorbed was I. Will have to read HBP again at […]

Basic Types of Pastoral Care and Counselling, Howard Clinebell, SCM Press, 1984. A very interesting and helpful book – quite daunting in many ways, but very illuminating as to the particular pastoral role that clergy have, and the crisis points that we all face in life. This is clearly a book that needs proper study […]

Labyrinth, by Kate Mosse, was a book I was really looking forward to reading. I was hooked by The Davinci Code (even if it annoyed me by being utter drival from a factual point of view), and was under the impression Labyrinth was going to be even better. In this regard I have to confess […]

I read The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, many moons ago, and yet in the last few months it seems to have made a comeback, regularly appearing in the “Top 10” shelves in Smiths, or being read by people on the train. Let’s be frank – this is not a nice book, deeply disturbing with […]

The Eyre Affair, by Jasper FForde, is a very odd but brilliant book that takes you on something of a magical mystical tour to an alternate reality of modern England, where Dodos are not extinct, certain people have special talents (like being able to move through time, or enter into the text of a book), […]

Strangely billed as a children’s book, Mark Haddon tells the story of Christopher Boone, a 15 year old with Asperger’s, who finds a neighbour’s dog murdered, and sets out to solve the case. The book is written as Christopher’s diary, and gives a real insight into the mind of a child with this condition. There […]