A WANDERER'S WAY - Charles E. Raven, D.D., Canon of Liverpool and chaplain to the King.
A friend lent me this book published in 1928. It is the story of the Reverend Raven's journey to the Anglican priesthood. More unusual is his very liberal theology (liberal even for a present day Anglican priest). He writes very clearly, that is to say not like a theologian. He recounts his unhappiness at boarding school, his early indifference to and then rejection of religion. At Cambridge he ranged from paganism to neopaganism to materialism, but although he thought Christianity "bankrupt", he found its replacements even more so. How he finally became a Christian - albeit as he terms it "I was at home with the heretics and an anathema to the devout" -- is a journey of twists and turns. He is an advocate for changes in the creed and forms of service of the church. He looks at God with the knowledge of a scientific age. Here, he distinguishes between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the Twentieth Century:
"He (the OT God) was a sultan, they His ministers sending out decrees from a supernatural realm to which man's intellect could not aspire nor his criteria of judgment apply. Nowadays we must start from the data furnished by science, history, and experience, observing the world, the records of mankind, and our own personal and corporate lives, testing and comparing the results, and forming hypotheses to cover and explain them. For us God is manifested always and everywhere, the fullness of the manifestation being determined by the quality of the medium in which it is given. We can learn something from the flower in a crannied wall, more from knowledge of our own physiology and psychology, more still from men of large heart, sound intellect and moral worth, most from Jesus, the full-grown Son of Man." .
I found his book inspiring and am trying to find more of his writings, most of which are out of print. If you'd like to read it, I'm sure my friend will lend it to you.
Monday, February 28, 2011
BACK WITH DERIC IN YORKSHIRE
I'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF - Deric Longden; A PLAY ON WORDS - Deric Longden
I've already reviewed several of Longden's books. The first one here dates from 1990 when he and his second wife, the writer Aileen Armitage, move to Huddersfield in Yorkshire. Longden describes his books as his writing about nothing. That is, he can write an entire chapter about going shopping or a repairman fixing the stove or a cat with attitude (and all the Longden cats have attitude). The point is that somehow all these very ordinary enterprises become humorous in his writing. In the second book, he recounts more of his ordinary adventures and also his more extraordinary as he takes part in the filming for TV of his story about his mother. His world is such a pleasant one. Reading his books is like being in the presence of a friend. Of course, it helps if you like cats.
Amazon or borrow from me
I've already reviewed several of Longden's books. The first one here dates from 1990 when he and his second wife, the writer Aileen Armitage, move to Huddersfield in Yorkshire. Longden describes his books as his writing about nothing. That is, he can write an entire chapter about going shopping or a repairman fixing the stove or a cat with attitude (and all the Longden cats have attitude). The point is that somehow all these very ordinary enterprises become humorous in his writing. In the second book, he recounts more of his ordinary adventures and also his more extraordinary as he takes part in the filming for TV of his story about his mother. His world is such a pleasant one. Reading his books is like being in the presence of a friend. Of course, it helps if you like cats.
Amazon or borrow from me
BARSETSHIRE AGAIN
GROWING UP - Angela Thirkell
Angela Thirkell with her usual wit makes even World War II Barsetshire seem like the place to be.Best to start earlier in the series, but if you find you like Thirkell, you are in for a treat as she, like the author who is a character in her books, wrote a book a year for many years. Although full of humor, the novel also depicts the continuing changes in English society from one of landed aristocrats and servants to land-poor aristocrats with a few old retainers and most of the young unwilling to be servants. The war in this case has moved the lord and lady into the servants quarters (which in fact they find more comfortable) as their manor house is turned into a convalescent hospital. Men and women, as is usual in Thirkell, manage to fall in love, but all the characters are touched by losses of loved ones in this war or the last.
Virtual catalogue. Amazon
Angela Thirkell with her usual wit makes even World War II Barsetshire seem like the place to be.Best to start earlier in the series, but if you find you like Thirkell, you are in for a treat as she, like the author who is a character in her books, wrote a book a year for many years. Although full of humor, the novel also depicts the continuing changes in English society from one of landed aristocrats and servants to land-poor aristocrats with a few old retainers and most of the young unwilling to be servants. The war in this case has moved the lord and lady into the servants quarters (which in fact they find more comfortable) as their manor house is turned into a convalescent hospital. Men and women, as is usual in Thirkell, manage to fall in love, but all the characters are touched by losses of loved ones in this war or the last.
Virtual catalogue. Amazon
A BOY'S HIGH JINKS
JUST WILLIAM - Richmal Crompton
This is the first book in a popular English series of the 1920s-40s.. Supposedly a book for children, it is certainly an entertaining book about one particularly rascally boy that adults will enjoy. Whether today's children will, I am not sure. Apparently the young of England did at one time as there is a club, they can join, the Outlaws,and receive a badge, wallet, secret password, etc. Crompton is an inventive writer. William manages to get in trouble in chapter after chapter, and always leaves the reader smiling. Excellent before bed reading and also because the book is actually pocket-sized and the chapters are self-contained, a good book to put in your pocket for times you may have to wait in line, or more appropriately, in a queue.
Amazon or borrow from me.
This is the first book in a popular English series of the 1920s-40s.. Supposedly a book for children, it is certainly an entertaining book about one particularly rascally boy that adults will enjoy. Whether today's children will, I am not sure. Apparently the young of England did at one time as there is a club, they can join, the Outlaws,and receive a badge, wallet, secret password, etc. Crompton is an inventive writer. William manages to get in trouble in chapter after chapter, and always leaves the reader smiling. Excellent before bed reading and also because the book is actually pocket-sized and the chapters are self-contained, a good book to put in your pocket for times you may have to wait in line, or more appropriately, in a queue.
Amazon or borrow from me.
ENGLAND ON THE VERGE OF WORLD WAR I
THE SHOOTING PARTY - Isabel Colegate
The novel depicts a fateful weekend in the lives of the aristocrats and servants taking part in a shooting party at a stately home in England in the fall of 1913. The author weaves together the individual stories flawlessly, bringing to life pre-war English society.Here is the last look at a society about to be changed forever by war and its subsequent social upheaval both for good and ill. The shooting party with its codes that once broken bring about disaster is a microcosm of what is to come. Beautifully written, this is a book that takes you back into a lost world. An excellent movie was made from this book.
Library, Amazon
The novel depicts a fateful weekend in the lives of the aristocrats and servants taking part in a shooting party at a stately home in England in the fall of 1913. The author weaves together the individual stories flawlessly, bringing to life pre-war English society.Here is the last look at a society about to be changed forever by war and its subsequent social upheaval both for good and ill. The shooting party with its codes that once broken bring about disaster is a microcosm of what is to come. Beautifully written, this is a book that takes you back into a lost world. An excellent movie was made from this book.
Library, Amazon
CHINESE ROMANCE IN LAST DAYS OF MING DYNASTY
GREEN MOUNTAIN, WHITE CLOUD - Francois Cheng
An elegantly written tale of a secret love by a French-Chinese author, winner of the Grand Prix for Lifetime Contribution by the Academie Francaise. This poetic novel balances passion with restraint in the lives of a man and a woman who fall in love at first sight and are then separated for thirty years. Even upon meeting again their love must remain unrequited physically as she is married, and he, a monk now. Still they manage to express their love in such a way as to enrich their lives while not breaking their vows. A bittersweet reflection on the power of love as well as the pain of unfulfilled love.
This book was a discard from our local library. You can borrow it from me. Probably available on Amazon.
An elegantly written tale of a secret love by a French-Chinese author, winner of the Grand Prix for Lifetime Contribution by the Academie Francaise. This poetic novel balances passion with restraint in the lives of a man and a woman who fall in love at first sight and are then separated for thirty years. Even upon meeting again their love must remain unrequited physically as she is married, and he, a monk now. Still they manage to express their love in such a way as to enrich their lives while not breaking their vows. A bittersweet reflection on the power of love as well as the pain of unfulfilled love.
This book was a discard from our local library. You can borrow it from me. Probably available on Amazon.
TOLKIEN & LEWIS
TOLKIEN AND C.S. LEWIS: THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP - Colin Duriez
For readers of the above authors, this book is a pleasant account of their friendship and its effect on their writing and spiritual lives. The fascination of the two men for the "other" world of fairy, myth, and Christianity and the joy they found in all three was the foundation of a friendship that survived the politics of Oxford - and most probably helped them both to survive the same.
Virtual catalogue, Amazon
For readers of the above authors, this book is a pleasant account of their friendship and its effect on their writing and spiritual lives. The fascination of the two men for the "other" world of fairy, myth, and Christianity and the joy they found in all three was the foundation of a friendship that survived the politics of Oxford - and most probably helped them both to survive the same.
Virtual catalogue, Amazon
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