Penhaligon’s Pride by Terri Nixon

Even better than Book 1!

It’s great to find Freya tidying up the old bookshop again, struggling to overcome her terror of the sea with Mairead’s patient help, having earnest talks with her best friend Juliet and generally making sure all is well in Caernoweth. But it’s not long before things start to get very hot.

Terri Nixon has succeeded in conjuring up a complex mesh of everyday events laced with misunderstandings, suspicions, accusations and fears that look as if they are going to Continue reading “Penhaligon’s Pride by Terri Nixon”

Das Buch der Mitte von Vishal Mangalwadi

Das Buch der Mitte: Wie wir wurden, was wir sind: Die Bibel als Herzstück der westlichen Kultur, von Vishal Mangalwadi, ist eine mutige Analyse des starken Einflusses der christlichen Bibel auf die Entwicklung der westlichen Welt.

Mangalwadi ist ein äußerst gebildeter und überzeugender Wissenschaftler. Er verbindet sein akademisches Studium mit politischem und sozialem Handel, so weit dass es für ihn selbst und seine Familie lebensgefährlich wurde. Durch seine vielen Bücher und seine Vorträge in aller Welt versucht er, die Augen einer Welt zu öffnen, die ihr geistliches Erbe zu vergessen scheint.

Dieses Buch ist eine Mischung aus persönlichen Erfahrungen und philosophischen Aussagen. Der Autor beschäftigt sich mit den Lehren einflussreicher Denker und Künstler aller Zeiten (Buddha, Augustinus, Thomas von Aquin, Thomas à Kempis, Francis Bacon, Desiderius Erasmus, Martin Luther, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, JRR Tolkien, Kurt Cobain usw.) Er bezieht sich auch auf bedeutende historische Dokumente (der Koran, die Magna Carta, die Geneva Bible, die “Trilogie der Freiheit” der Hugenotten usw.) Und er zitiert spezifische Beispiele aus seinem eigenen Heimatland Indien sowie aus Europa und Nordamerika.

Continue reading “Das Buch der Mitte von Vishal Mangalwadi”

The Book that Made Your World by Vishal Mangalwadi

The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization, by Vishal Mangalwadi is a bold analysis of the powerful influence the Christian Bible has had on the development of the western world.

Mangalwadi is an extremely erudite and lucid scholar, who has combined academic learning with political and social action, even at the risk of his and his family’s life. Through his many books and his international lecturing programme he seeks to open the eyes of a world that seems to have forgotten its spiritual heritage.

This book is a mixture of personal experiences and philosophical statements. The author delves into teachings of influential thinkers and artists throughout the ages (Buddha, Saint Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas à Kempis, Francis Bacon, Desiderius Erasmus, Martin Luther, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, J.R.R. Tolkien, Kurt Cobain, etc.). He also refers to significant historical documents (the Qur’an, the Magna Carta, the Geneva Bible, the Huguenots’ “Trilogy of Freedom”, etc.). And he cites specific examples from his own home country of India, as well as Europe and North America.

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Fenny by Lettice Cooper

Ellen Fenwick, commonly known as Fenny or Elena, a burnt-out, single English teacher, jumps at the chance to become a governess for eight-year-old Juliet, whose family is recuperating for some months in a villa near Florence. She has been caring for her sick mother and has never travelled before, never experienced romance.

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Lion, by Saroo Brierley

An almost incredible but true story, told in a rather unemotional, matter-of-fact manner. Hardly old enough to know who he is and with no idea where he comes from, 5 year old Saroo finds himself trapped in a railway carriage, which ends up taking him to the sprawling, stinking, merciless city of Calcutta. What will his dear mother, his worldly-wise brothers and the baby sister he should be looking after think has happened to him? Will they care?

After several close scrapes with the river and unscrupulous railway workers, Continue reading “Lion, by Saroo Brierley”

What Friends Are For, by J.B. Reynolds

Tracy is worn out from caring for her young daughter Hayley, the fruit of a drunken teenage binge. She’s also fed up with the judgemental remarks not only from her relatives but even from strangers in the street. Pious churchgoers criticise her immoral behaviour and foul language. Her boyfriend Davy is neither very bright, nor at all romantic and doesn’t help with the housework, but he loves Tracey and Hayley.

It’s a total surprise when Kate, the beautiful and well-off mother of another daycare child, Corbin, invites her out Continue reading “What Friends Are For, by J.B. Reynolds”

Penhaligon’s Attic by Terri Nixon

Barely recovered from almost drowning when she went out at night to welcome her dear father back from his fishing, a new tragedy shatters eight-year old Freya’s heart: her mother is taking her away from her beloved Cornish village to London – for ever, it seems.

Her father Matthew is also broken with remorse, as he admits his unrestrained drinking was responsible not only for his family’s breakup but Continue reading “Penhaligon’s Attic by Terri Nixon”

Incendium by A. D. Swanston

Gripping from beginning to end, we follow the tense developments of the Papist struggle to overpower the Huguenots in France and reclaim the English crown from Protestant sympathiser Queen Elizabeth I in the late 16th century.

Lawyer Christopher Radcliff finds his life threatened when he is sent by his patron, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, on a secret mission to Paris at the height of the religious conflict, then makes use of dubious intelligencers to investigate rumours of a massive plot in London, involving murder, torture and executions.

Swanston has developed the historical scene very well, as also the key characters.

Is Jesus the Only Way? by Brian McLaren

The Only Way to What?

A provocative start. Followed by a challenging summary:

Jesus was not focused on saving sinners from an angry God who is hellbent on making them suffer forever. Jesus was interested in the very opposite: helping us angry, hostile, combative, confused, misguided human beings learn to know, love, and follow a loving God, so we can learn to love our fellow humans, ourselves, and all creation, not just after we die, but starting right now.

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True to Her Faith by Harriet Gabourel

4 stars I bought this book mainly because of the subtitle: A Story of France in the Time of the Huguenots. That was the subject of interest to me, as some of my ancestors in Jersey were forced to flee France during the persecution after the Edict of Nantes was repealed in 1685. The fact that the story was apparently told through the life of a child, and claimed to be suitable for reading to 7 year olds, was an added benefit; my grandson is almost seven.

The book is beautifully and vividly written, both as regards descriptions of the rural scenery and depictions of the convictions and tortured emotions of the main players, and contains a wealth of information about the sufferings of the Huguenots under the obsessive and paranoid King Louis XIV. Continue reading “True to Her Faith by Harriet Gabourel”

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