Posted in blog, books on 1 June, 2008 | 30 Comments »
The culling of books has begun.
The trouble with being a dabbler is that I keep hoping to turn back to things to study them (or remember them) properly one day. So, given the task of choosing which of my State-side books to keep, I have a riduculous pile of things that includes books on [...]
Posted in books, congregation on 9 April, 2008 | 10 Comments »
Sometimes fiction speaks more effectively than anything that is objectively true. And never more so than in complex pastoral situations where no one (not even the poor pastor) can hold all the pieces.
So today, I offer a double book recommendation for the emotional unravelling of pastoral knots. But be warned: the books [...]
Posted in blog, books on 24 March, 2008 | 10 Comments »
Having faced the horrors of the new non-dom tax laws and cleaned the downstairs storage space, I have imposed as ‘frivolous novels and films only’ rule for the rest of the day.
So why do I have this irrational urge to read theology??
I know I mustn’t. My mind needs to rest. A classic [...]
Posted in books, church on 17 January, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Funny how the strange days always seem the most expressive of priesthood.
It began simply enough — phone calls, emails, a bit of desk clearing, a bit of feline distraction. Then off to a number of visits. Intended conversations: ‘how are you, then?’, general encouragement, group dynamics, graves and funeral hymns. Actual [...]
Posted in books on 10 January, 2008 | 9 Comments »
A tangential thread on an earlier post sent me browsing through an old favourite: Elizabeth Aldrich’s From the Ballroom to Hell. The relevant bit is in the comment thread below, but I thought a more fulsome quotation might amuse you.
This one is especially for father Zebadee (and I dare say, his son).
The [...]
Posted in books, church, learning on 4 January, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Once a year, or so, I make a point of browsing at length in a section of the bookshop I don’t usually go to. Business, home, New Age, Self-help, science, biography — anything other than fiction, poetry, cookbooks, or religion really. And then I come home with whatever strikes me. Good or [...]
Posted in books on 18 November, 2007 | 6 Comments »
After a crazy week, Molly and I spent Sunday evening reading From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler. I had last read it in — oh, say, 1982?
If you don’t know it (which is an excusable state of affairs only for British readers), it is the story of two young children who [...]
Posted in books on 11 November, 2007 | No Comments »
Time for an old friend, I think. The Doctor Seuss Sleep Book. Goodnight…
The news just came in
From the County of Keck
That a very small bug
By the name of Van Vleck
Is yawning so wide
You can look down his neck.
This may not seem
Very important, I know.
But it is. So I’m bothering
Telling you so.
A yawn [...]
Posted in books on 20 October, 2007 | 9 Comments »
So today we have learnt that Dumbledore is gay.
Peter Tatchall rejoices: ‘It’s good that children’s literature includes the reality of gay people, since we exist in every society.’
But now, I find myself in a dilemma.
I would have no issue with Dumbledore being gay.
I can even see the line of thought that says that his evil [...]
Posted in books on 23 September, 2007 | No Comments »
Kelvin has written very movingly of the ways the eucharist reforms us. He alluded to Dom Gregory Dix’s wonderful words, and it seemed worth quoting them in full:
Was ever another command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has [...]
