see-through faith

There are some who don’t think I’m a very good wife. I suppose it all depends on what your definition of a wife is, and what the expectations are. Since hubby doesn’t have many complaints, and since we are still together after 22 years, I’m probably not that bad of a wife (all things considered), although occassionally (and for financial reasons) he threatens to confiscate my passport and change the password on my amazon account (grin)

I started reading an excellent book a week or so ago. It’s by a favourite author (Margaret Forster) and it’s entitled Good Wives? Mary, Fanny, Jennie and me, 1845-2001.

Forster looks at the lives of three wives, all of important, prominent men (David Livingstone (missionary and explorer), Robert Lewis Stevenson (author), and Aneurin Bevan (Labour MP, Cabinet minister) and compares herself to them. The theme throughout is, not surprisingly, what is a good wife? but what was most interesting (for me) was the way at the end of each biographical section Margaret Forster writes a reflection, and evaluates her own experience of marriage (to author Hunter Davies) against the experiences of the other wives. It makes for fascinating reading.

Forster is a feminist, but not of the die-hard variety. What was interesting was that she had to get married, not because she was pregnant, but because they couldn’t rent a flat any other way. Only she didn’t (at first) really get married, but bought a curtain ring from Woolworths and passed herself off as Mrs Davies. In otherwords she was to all intents and purposes ‘a mistress … though I didn’t like that label either’. (p. 5.)

The quote that resonated most with me, reads

It is an urge, surely, felt by almost every wife at some point in a marriage – to get away, to think of oneself for a change, to escape all the domestic routines, and, indeed, to escape the husband however must he is loved, not to mention the children. All completely understandable, and yet somehow thought not quite the thing for a good wife to want to do even today.

I can so identify with that. And consider myself to be in a marriage where my husband and I both recognise my need to get away, and both love it too when I return.

Interestingly for me Margaret Forster herself, although totally approving of wives holidaying alone, never actually does it herself … what she prefers is having the house to herself for a while … but what she does have (and will not give up!) is her Saturdays.

Saturday is my holiday day, my weekly day off and I don’t want him tagging along. I want to be a single woman. … selfish woman that I am. I want to wander as a free spirit, changing directions as I change my mind, without having to discuss where I’m going and especiallly without having to think about eating [I can so identify with that!]. I want to sit on my own in parks and observe others, I want to go to plays and films and feel isolated among the audience, I want to walk miles and miles along the river, over the bridges, through the squares, an oldish invisible woman. I emphatically do not want to be part of a couple, a wife. No one notices me and that’s exhilarating. I don’t speak for the whole eight hours or so that I’m otu, except to ask for tickets and so forth, whereas, together, we never stop talking.

The lives of the three women Forster looks at are all very interesting, and to my shame, I knew very little about any of them, even Jennie Lee who was an MP in her own right. I’m not sure I agree with all of her conclusions, but I really enjoyed the book, particularly her reflections.

At the end of the book there is an epilogue, where Forster looks at the whole question of matrimony, particularly the church service. Hubby and I got married in a church here in Finland. We didn’t have the whole white wedding and expensive reception, but we did want God’s blessing on our lives together, and today, 22 years later, I still wouldn’t have had it any other way. I didn’t promise to obey him, but I did promise to love him and forsake all others for him (and he me). I think that is well in line with the spirit of what Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus and Colossee . And I do believe God has smiled on our marriage over the years … for better for worse, for richer for poorer and in sickness and in health. Amen.

When I arrived in London two weeks ago a copy of this book was waiting for me

Priceless by Tom Davis

It’s a fictional story about the dramatic rescue of girls and young women who are caught up in the s-x slavery business in Russia, and is based on true life stories. As Natalie Grant (Christian songwriter) says

I applaud Tom’s courage in tackling this subject matter. While this is a fictional account, the s*x trade is a reality for millions of people.

I heard a really good sermon here in London on Sunday.

The churches here are much more political and community minded than those back in Finland. The Lambeth parish and circuit have been having a month of teaching on healing. Many churches I’ve been involved in / visited have had healing meetings, but the focus and emphasis here was very different. The topics tackled have included the healing of the nations (war, conflict, racism and violence) as well as the healing of mother earth (poverty, environmental issues etc). As the vicar, Alison, said on Sunday.

Making poverty history will become irrelevant because unless we do our bit against climate change and reduce our carbon footprint, poverty will become permanent.

Talking of politically minded churches … Just down the road from here Steve Chalk OBE (Anglican vicar) has launched a campaign STOP THE TRAFFICKING which tackles the very same issues as Priceless i.e. women and children (male and female) who are forced into the s-x business, indeed into slavery. Part of the campaign is to raise awareness of this very issue.

It’s so good to see not only individual Christians getting involved in making the world a better place, but churches too (and way beyond the let’s drink Fairtrade tea and coffee too!)

***

England is world cup mad. It’s all very exciting. Or was until England got knocked out by Germany a week or so ago. What the millions of fans here are far less aware of however is that lots and lots of women and girls were shipped into south africa for the duration of the camps to satisfy the needs of men in Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and other places where the matches were being played. Football truly has a seedier side.

Now, none of those men are likely to read the novel Priceless. It’s not aimed at them to be fair, and Priceless is definitely a ‘girlie’ type novel. Its primary readership will be Christian women, particularly Americans, some of whom will be from more conservative / fundamentalist backgrounds and therefore perhaps are less likely to read secular literature. But none the less it’s a good book with an important theme and deserves a wider audience.

The twist in the story is that while the heroes of the story have (some) faith, the (Orthodox) Church comes out smelling more like the fertiliser spread on the roses rather than the roses themselves.

The book has two parallel stories that of the photographer who gets caught up in the rescue operation and Marina an orphan who is freed. It’s very readable and the plot moves along quite quickly, with some very believable (and horrendously sad/scary) scenes in it. It does have a touch of Hollywood in that this episode does have a happy ending (and would make a good film), but the reader is well aware that this rescue was the tip of the iceberg and there are thousands of other women and girls (not only in Russia) still imprisoned, still s-xually abused, still trapped not only in poverty but enslaved to the perv*erted s*xual persuasions / addictions of others.

So what about the book itself?

I read the book fairly quickly -over a period of a few days, and was glad that I had the opportunity to read and review this. Any good review also lists a book’s shortcomings. So it’s only fair to say that what I didn’t like about the novel was the use of Russian in the dialogues (with translation into English in brackets). That was really irritating. It didn’t make the story more authentic for me. I didn’t learn any Russian because of it. And it slowed down the story. Worse, in some ways it felt that the author was simply showing off. Also, for those of us who do read a lot of secular literature, the plot lacked depth. It’s clear that the author’s goal was to highlight the travesty occurring over in Russia, but I felt there could have been more descriptions of what the girls were really being freed from, not in a smutty sense, but all too often it felt that this was the sanitised version as if Christian women could not cope with the harsh realities of what was really happening.

So 10 /10 for bravery in dealing with a topic that cries out for more public exposure, and over 7.5/10 for the book itself.

I’ve offered this copy to anyone who wants it. Several people signed up for the draw over at facebook (where I will also post this reflection) and I’ll draw it tonight. My hope is that this book will do the rounds, so that many women can read it (and then talk to men about it).

William Wilberforce stood up against slavery. Today we can, if we choose, stand up together to stop trafficking, which is, afterall, the slavery of the C21st.

Ten days ago I received three books from Canongate to read and review, have to say I really didn’t enjoy the second of them, Serena by Ron Rash.

Ironically the book came with good reviews, and was even a finalist in the PEN Faulkner (American fiction) Award. It just goes to show how different we all are, because I didn’t rate this book highly at all.

The setting of the novel (the early days of the timber empire and rail roads in the Appalacian mountain) was interesting, and the novel started in a very exciting way, but then seemed to fizzle out.

I was fascinated by Serena’s method of rooting out the rattlesnakes. That eagle was magnificently majestic, and put a new spin on the idiom “having the eyes of a hawk”. I also found the description (towards the end of the novel) of the landscape post timber-felling heart-breakingly real. But otherwise the novel really didn’t work for me. The characters never really developed, the descriptions overall didn’t work well either, and I found the plot – ambition, violence and revenge – horribly depressing!

Because there is a lot of action in it, Serena might make a good film,  but as a novel, this was a disappointing read!

I’ll bookcross this book (in the autumn when I’m back in Finland) in the hope someone else will enjoy it more than I did.

A week ago I got three new books to review from Canongate. I’ve just finished reading the first. I can’t say I liked it, but it was interesting and it did make me think.

As I wrote in my post

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber is billed as “the first great 19th-century novel of the 21st century,” but actually seems to be anything but Victorian. I am expecting to be somewhat shocked by it, because the heroine, Sugar, a young pr*, “who is trying to drag herself from the gutter any way she can”.

In re-reading what I wrote earlier,  I realise that I was guilty of labelling the Victorian era as one of great moral values, forgetting that it was actually a time of great contradition.

The Victorians are of course famous for their outward appearance of good and pure moral values, and their strict social code of conduct which supported s*xual restraint. This outward appearance of high morals amongst the elite, however, was set against the extreme poverty of the ordinary people, and  the pure morals of the nobility and upper classes masked a huge web (hidden in the shadows) of prostitution, a plethora of mistresses, the horrors of child labour and awful conditions for workers such as those of the soap factories that the wealth of Rackham’s (the main family in the novel) was built upon.

The novel then, is set deep within Victorian London, and can be summarised as a story which sets virtue against corruption, filth against cleanliness.

Agnes (the wife) was – for me – a very disturbing character. Her lack of knowledge of any of the facts of life when set against Caroline and Sugar’s lifestyles – and their rudimentary rites of washing to avoid pregnancy – was horribly real. Agnes’ lack of any contact with (knowledge of?) her only child was truly horrific. Sugar (the heroine) was a very, very complex character and her relationship with Sophie (her protegee) a very intriguing one. The minor characters of Mrs Fox and William’s pious older brother, Henry, and their efforts to save souls was, for me, an interesting sub plot (more on that later). The existance of Rescue Societies, which concentrated their efforts on fallen women (and also little girls forced into prostitution), in that era was very real. It’s alarming too that they focused on the fallen women was because

A woman’s character unlike a man’s, was judged according to her s*xual reputation.Girls and women could ‘fall’ but boys could not, according to the Victorian sexual schema.

(Jackson Lousie A., Child S*xual Abuse in Victorian England, (London: Routledge, 2000)

Call me a prude but I do think the s*xual descriptions in the book were way, way too much, p*** graphic at times I felt. I honest don’t think there was much purpose in describing every act in so much detail … and I confess too that  -in the end- I did skip over most of them!

That said, the novel made me think. It reminded me that life often isn’t quite what it seems.

The novel ends by Caroline slinking off  ‘before he has a chance to make her life too complicated’ . This really made me ponder. How had Sugar’s life been changed because of her encounter with Willam Rackham. Did she  actually drag herself out of the gutter or not? The end also poses a terrific ‘what if?’. And the reader – that’s you and me! – can only speculate on the future of Sugar and her protegee Sophie.

I was interested to note that Faber has written a sequel to this novel. It’s called The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories, in which the author ‘returns to Silver St., conjuring tantalising glimpses of Sugar, Clara, Mr Bodly et al, their lives before we first encountered them and their intriguing futures’. I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if you really liked the first one, I am sure curiosity would compel you to do so.

PS. I’m bookcrossing this book on Friday.

So, if you live locally and want to read it, why not nip into the secondhand bookstore near the concert hall. (Omituiset Opekset in Sibeliuskatu). It’ll be on the FREE book shelf (opposite the door) from 11am on. (Note: You don’t have to be a member to bookcross, you can do so anonymously). There are other books available there too.

Three books arrived today – out of the blue – from Canongate Books (Scotland)  for me to review. All are novels, none of which are Christian and none of which are probably on the recommended reading list for any seminary anywhere, and yet they all (in their own way) look good. I’ll enjoy reading and reviewing them I think.

The first (The Crimson Petal and the White) is billed as “the first great 19th-century novel of the 21st century,” but actually seems to be anything but Victorian. I am expecting to be somewhat shocked by it, because the heroine, Sugar, a young pr*, “who is trying to drag herself from the gutter any way she can” Watch this space for my thoughts on this!

The second (Serena by Ron Rash) also has a woman as the heroine.

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton arrive from Boston in the North Carolina mountains to create a timber empire. Serena is new to the mountains – but she soon shows herself the equal of any worker, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband’s life in the wilderness. Yet she also learns that she will never bear a child. Serena’s discovery will set in motion a course of events that will change the lives of everyone in this remote community. (backcover)

Looks interesting doesn’t it!

The third novel, however, is the one that intrigues me the most. Even its title is intriguing: Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey through Isl*mic Lands (by Aatish Taseer).

The Spectator review states

This is a work though ought to be read by policy-makers in Whitehall and Washington as well as in Isl*mic countries – for its insights into the thinking of angry young M*slim men.

So watch this space. I’ll review each of them in due course! And all will be bookcrossed later too so they can enjoy a wider audience.

Reviews will come during the summer. (At least one this coming week before I skip off to England.)

Yesterday I started to write a post about a new book I’m reading

As you can see it’s by Brian McLaren, a Christian leader who admits he has been labelled “a heretic”, “dangerous” and “unbiblical” (and probably a lot worse!)

So why then am I reading him? It’s a good question!

I first came across McLaren’s writings when I was still in seminary. We did a course on post-modernism. The teaching left a lot to be desired (to put it mildly!) and so I went on a quest on my own. McLaren was one of the writers I discovered. But there were others too. What they all had in common was that they made me think. And what I found was- surprise surprise- new ways of engaging with the God I love and hold in awe.

Just before Christmas I heard McLaren speak in person. He and Steve Chalk were put in the hot spots in a local church just behind Waterloo station in London and grilled. Actually it wasn’t quite like that. They handled a whole range of questions from a very interested and diverse audience.  It was there my friend bought the book I’m now reading as a Christmas gift to me.

I could write loads about A New Kind of Christianity, but most of it would fail to give justice to it, because McLaren really does have the talent of getting under my skin, and as I said already, making me engage in the text and think for myself.

Example: McLaren talks about slavery. That’s a topic close to my heart. While in London at Easter I was privileged to watch the movie Amazing Grace which tells of the struggle of William Wilberforce, a deeply religious man, who was led not into the pastoral ranks but into the world of politics, and who spent his life working for the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom.

But to get back to McLaren. He makes the very interesting point (page after page – pp.93-100) that for years slavery was defended by “the argument that the Bible defends and legitimises slavery” (p.97), can be defended by passages in both the Old and New Testament (Eph 6:5-8, Tit 2:9-10, and Col 3:22-4) but that ‘that whole argument ended up in ‘oblivion’ because it was discredited by events’.

McLaren goes on to write

We not only stopped defending [slavery], we repented of it, so that now a pro-slavery advocate would be excommunicated from the very denominations whose leading pastors once defended slavery in the name of a ‘pro-slavery God’, quoting a ‘pro-slavery Bible’

And perhaps equally importantly

We’ve gone through a similar process in regard to anti-semitism, segregation and apartheid. Many of us have also gone through a similar process regarding the status of women in the Church … We are also going through a similar process regarding stewardship of the environment, religious supremacy and (I hope) the sanctioning of war

I really don’t want to get into a debate here about any of these issues in themselves (we all hold opinions that we feel are right and in line with the Bible as we understand it) but what I find most interesting is McLaren’s suggestion that we ought to question

the habitual, conventional way of reading and interpreting the Bible – that allowed slavery, anti-Semitism, apartheid, chauvenism, environmenal plundering, prejudice … and other injustices to be legitimised and defended for so long.

As I said it’s all making me think. And that’s great! There is a connection too to yesterday’s post entitled but is it church?, which I feel is more than a co-incidence (hence the title of this post)

Sadly I’m out of time now … but check back later, I’ll be back to write more on this.

-stf

I received a copy of The Blood of Flowers (by Anita Amirrezvani) almost two years ago from a fellow bookcrosser in the USA. When, at long last, I started reading it yesterday, I couldn’t put it down … I read late into the night and from very early this morning…all 375 pages of it!

Very simply it is the story of a young woman living in Persia in the 1520s. The woman purposefully remains nameless throughout the novel, “in tribute to the anonymous artisans of Iran” … because that is what she is, an anonymous artisan – a knotter (and designer) of  the carpets for which Persian was once- and is still – famous.

I loved the book for many reasons.

Firstly, it’s exquisitely told. The author (born in Tehran, now living in California, and who intriguingly dedicates this work to her “family: Iranian, Lithuanian and American”), weaves the narrative like a craftswoman, so that the characters spring to life, and have depth of colour. The conditions in which people lived (the rich, the artisans and the poor and very poor) come alive through the descriptions ,and there are also insights into Islamic practices at that time – specifically marriage, the necessity of a dowry and something which I hadn’t come across before called sigheh (a legal document for a temporary ‘marriage’).

Secondly, the art of the oral tradition (specifically story telling) is captured beautifully, and woven simply into the thread of the story. Amirrezvani uses five traditional Islamic/Iranian stories and adds two of her own  – each beginning with the words

First there wasn’t and then there was. Before God no one was.

These stories were captivating in their own right, and I particularly enjoyed the sixth (Islamic) one, and Amirrezvani’s own contribution in the seventh and final chapter.

Thirdly, the book made me think (which, in my book, is always a good thing!).

The novel is well researched, and although set almost five hundred years ago ( in the 1520s), The Blood of Flowers made me think about the situation of women living under Sharia law today,which seem as restrictive as they were then!

(Here I freely admit I have been influenced by reading books like A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Swallows of Kabul (both set in Aghanistan) – and in particular one book – the name of which escapes me (though I’ve racked my brains)- which was written from the perspective of a woman forced to wear a burqa for the first time.)

When thinking about living in an extremely patriarchical society, with its fundamental interpretation of Islamic Law, and the consequent imposition of  restrictive dress codes (being forced to be hijab or burqa-clad) and the overall (lack of) legal status /medical health care etc for women,  is seems to me, that the era in which Blood of Flowers was set, while still very very harsh for women, were actually more humane than those living under the Taliban (and elsewhere) for example. I don’t know about you, but as a woman from the Western world, that makes me shudder!

I highly recommend The Blood of Flowers as a novel. It reads well, is interesting, and I learnt something about the art of carpet making too. (Set in the same era, albeit  in Europe Tracey Chevalier’s The Lady and the Unicorn, also explores the theme of artisans, in this case those of tapestry weavers, and is also a pretty good read)

Please note the copy I read was an arc (uncorrected advanced proof) but it has since then been published, probably with very few changes,  in paperback.

Restoration is truly humanity’s deepest desire. From the third chapter of Genesis through the last word of Revelation, the Bible shows us God’s plan to restore what was damaged in the garden. But becoming a believer in Christ does not magically undo all the destruction in a life; it is only the beginning of God’s restoration process.

This blog is subtitled journey to the heart of God.  More accurately, it used to be … I just noticed that that’s no longer written on the banner, and I wonder when (and how) that happened.  Nonetheless writing this blog has been – in part – my recovering a life of authenticity. I know, of course, I cannot blog about everything. That would be totally inappropriate. That notwithstanding I’ve found this a place where I can write about some of my struggles in my journey to the heart of God.

The cry for authenticity is a very post-modern value. It’s also what marked the earliest Christians, who came together to share life (warts and all) and I often find myself mulling over the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5: 1-10) whose sin was actually not withholding some of their possessions, but in their being deceitful.

The book Restoration Road by Mitch Kruse (and Derek Williams) was sent to me by B&B Media Group to review. It is about the condition of our hearts, which, according to Kruse can be either sand or stone, but which need to become like clay ‘softened by love and easily reshaped by the hands of its gracious Designer’ (i.e. God)

It’s an important message. The trouble was that I really couldn’t get into the book, and it’s hard for me to put my finger on why. It might have simply been the style. It’s a bit long-winded and in places quite repetitive too – particularly Kruse’s emphasis our finding proper vertical  (us and God) and horizontal (us and others) alignment as we surrender our lives to God.I agree with what he writes, that’s not the issue here, but I found it hard to relate to the way it was said.

The picture of God as Designer was also something  that I found a bit hard to relate to, and again I’m not quite sure why. I know we are beautifully and wonderfully made (Ps 139) – and therefore designed – and I also know (in my head) that designers are really involved with their ‘creations’ but nonetheless my heart doesn’t quite get the image of God as my Designer.

What I really enjoyed – and this suprised me – was Kruse’s stories about the restoration of antique cars. And I also liked the way that the book was – in so many ways – the story of how he had to allow God to come in and work on his heart. That was interesting! I think the book would have worked better had he stuck more to that, rather than the teaching that came alongside it. I do think the message is an important one, but the two lines of the book didn’t quite come together for me – which is a shame- and ironic really as this book is about authenticity.

It’s somewhat ironic that sometimes we feel that becoming a believer in Christ is – should be – the end of our struggles. My own experience is that it’s actually the beginning of a lot of new ones. Becoming a believer does not automatically undo all the consequences of our sins (we wish it would) but what it does do is open us up to the power of God in our lives to be transformed. We do need to be on the road to transformation- and seeing what God did (also through nurturing mentoring relationships) to turn Kruse’s life around gives me hope. And that’s always good.

That’s always the BIG question for me … what next in and for the Kingdom of God.

Those of you who follow this blog know that I’ve been away from Finland for a couple of weeks in London, most of which has been a museum-shopping extravangza with DD in preparation for her 18th birthday in May. We had a lot of fun but it was exhausting too.

It was Samuel Johnson who said

When a man is tired of

London, he is tired of life.

and I have to agree.

I was in London for two weeks (DD ten days) and while we did something educational every day (a museum or tourist attraction) -as well as a lot of shopping- we barely skimmed the surface. There is so much to see and do still! We did three trips to the British Museum, visited the V&A, and the Natural History (to see the dinosaurs) … rode the London Eye, visited the London Dungeon,saw part of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Walked along the Thames a lot (especially the South Bank) a lot saw the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, St Paul’s, visited Southwalk Cathedral, Covent Garden Market etc etc.

For me the highlights have been mostly seeing DD’s face as she’s experienced new things, and also see her gain in confidence in dealing with a big city – she fitted in so well in SW1 and SW3 and mastered the tube pretty quickly even in rush hour! She really is a young adult already and I’m so proud of her!

Her favourite museum was the British Museum (though the guide on Friday when we did the Romans wasn’t up to par!) but I think the Imperial War Museum also had a huge impact on both of us!

There’s a great section about WW2 though kids’ eyes – and given that both my parents were evacuees (dad to Somerset and mum to Sheringham) – I found it really interesting too. A couple of years ago a friend gave our family tickets to the Lion the Witch and the Wardrom (first of CS Lewis’ NARNIA series) and it opens with a bombing raid and then the four kids are evacuated. When in London this time I finally got to see Prince Caspian (on DVD) and as you can see from this trailer … it starts in the tube (at the imaginary ‘Strand’ Station) which made me smile given how much we’ve used the tube and London busses this trip. Thank God for oyster cards and a maximum inner zone fare of about £6 a day!

Also at the Imperial War Museum there is a huge holocaust exhibition. It is really well done and its impact is powerful. There are news clips, interviews from that time and from survivors, interesting things to look at and things that make you cry. DD spent far longer there than either my friend or I expected … and it made a huge impact on her. If any of you visit London this is well-worth doing.

It is true that when one tires of London it’s a sign that one is tired of life … but that said I did come home tired – very tired – in part because of all we’d done, but also becuase there was a transport strike here in Finland yesterday. It meant that there were almost no coaches or local busses   -and I considered myself very fortunate to have got on one back to Turku very late last night after a wait of four hours. I arrived in Turku at 3 am to a welcome committee of hubby and three dogs at Turku cathedral! I’m always glad to see them but was especially so last night!

But what next?

Today’s been invested in being a taxi driver to DD and my inlaws (because of the bus strike), catching up with laundry and re packing my little case. Yes re-packing. I know I must be crazy!!!

I’m off to a silent retreat tonight (for 48 hours) led by Rev Henry Morgan (Anglican) from the UK. I have to admit I desperately need this time with God and am hoping and praying that He’ll show the way forward for me. It’s been a bit tough for me for a few weeks – though I haven’t felt able to blog about it – and to be honest I feel a bit directionless as to what to do now that I have finished my MA in theology in part because the doors that I felt God was opening for me here in Finland have been firmly closed again.

In my bag I have a couple of books (as well as my Bible) The first is Brian McLaren’s new book

which my friend bought for me the day it came out in the UK when we went to hear Brian speak at Oasis (church.co.uk) (don’t you just love their banner heading!!!) … and the second book is one I’m about to read and review. It’s called Restoration Road (by Mitch Kruse) and on the back cover it states

Regardless of where your journey has taken you, whether a sand heart, a stone heart, or a clay heart, your story is not finished. In fact, the next step always provides a new beginning.

Sounds just what I need don’t you think?

Back blogging on Saturday.

PS into the Bible has taken a bit of a break (unintentionally). I just didn’t have time to post while I was away.However, I’ve been reading Maggi Dawn during Lent. Her book Giving it Up is great – very challenging but so inspiring about what it means to be a Christian! Over at her blog last week she wrote

It’s a common misconception that Lent is about self-improvement. … [It]is not about giving up luxuries, not about losing weight or gaining other benefits, not about food per se, not about de-cluttering or Feng Shui or about ay other kind of feel-good, de-toxifying exercise. In the end, it’s about denying yourself some of the essentials of everday life in order to focus on the reality that we depend upon God for life itself; about re-aligning ourselves with God and his purposes in our world; about reminding ourselves that all we have is a gift from God in any case.

(emphasis mine)

is the intriguing name of the latest book I have been reading

And the plot was pretty intriguing too.

The book only arrived here late last week (some delay in the post I think) and as I’d promised to review it by October 13th I had to put my skates on.

It’s supposedly a book for children – but it’s definitely for very confident readers, as it’s 425 pages long, and there are no illustrations. I suspect adults will enjoy this book a lot as it’s in the genre of Harry Potter and Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy, though probably not quite that calibre if I’m honest. At the back of the book Nelson has included a glossary of words. That’s pretty useful (though I’m not sure a younger reader will find it unless pointed there by an adult). I only stumbled on it by chance.

It’s clear the author, Mike Mason, has been influenced by e.g. CS Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) and writers of his ilk -there’s a wardrobe in this book too and there are also similarities to Harry Potter too, in as far as this too is a book where the central character is a young boy caught up in a fight between good and evil, and his protagonist is an evil magician who is intent on stealing the ultimate treasure. But the book has a lot of twists and turns of its own and is definitely no copycat work of fiction.

Mike Mason is already a best-selling author, but this is his first novel. In some ways I felt that that showed. 425 pages wasa bit too long and IMHO the book would have benefitted from better and a bit more ruthless editing. I was also a bit uncomfortable that Mason gave so much attention to the beatings in the book. They were a crucial part of the story, and to gloss over them would have been equally wrong, but I did feel the balance was a bit off.

At the end of the book there’s a short question answer section. There, when asked whether this book is an allegory,  Nelson says

For years I’d written nonfiction books with a message, and I was tired of that. I had nothing more to tell anyone; instead I just wanted to tell a good story. I had just turned fifty and realised that fiction is what I’d really wanted to write all along. Somehow I’d gotten away from that, and it was time to return to my original dream.

So with The Blue Umbrella I set out with no message in mind, no allegory, just a story. As I went along, I myself was very surprised at the spiritual depth that developed.

mmm. While the duel between good and evil is there I can’t say the spiritual depth was very obvious, at least to me.

Nelson has already planned books two and three of the series. The Blue Umbrella, the first, was written from the point of view of Zac, the second will be from Ches’ viewpoint and the third from Chelsea’s. She was definitely my favourite character in this book, so I think that it will be very interesting to see how the series develops.