English Archives – Reflections

Hardiness and healing

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

The double bombshell of unjust eviction and a diagnosis of a terminal illness precipitates the devoted, ‘old’ couple of fifty years on a homeless hike with no future in sight. Backpacking, camping wild, surviving sometimes on little more than fruit gums and boiled limpets.

Adventures in thin places

The Road of Brightness, by Michael Mitton

No one is sure who first suggested undertaking a pilgrimage to Assisi. But a highly improbable group of friends and acquaintances from Dingle, Ireland, decide to do just that. And the new local priest, Father Kilbar, agrees to lead them, although he has never been there before.

Further incidents from a 14th century monastery

The Wounds of God

No. 2 in the Hawk and the Dove Series

This book follows the same pattern as the first in the series. Everyday life in a family of seven can be fun, even though it involves a constant struggle to make ends meet.

The devoted mother picks opportunities to entertain her starry-eyed, fifteen-year-old daughter with legends of their ancestor, Father Peregrine. Many centuries earlier, he was the rather bizarre abbot of a Yorkshire monastery. The bumbling antics of his protégés, together with musings on the nature and will of God, paint a vivid picture.

Healing of the soul

The Hawk and the Dove by Penelope Wilcock

The Hawk and the Dove (The Hawk and the Dove Series Book 1) by [Penelope Wilcock]

If I say this book is about penitence, you wouldn’t read it. It gets worse: it’s about experiencing a brutal assault as a divine blessing.

In fact, it’s a delightful, heart-warming glimpse of 14th century monastic life. Over many generations, grandmothers have passed these anecdotes down to their granddaughters. They relate both humorous incidents and deep lessons of faith in a loving God.

Adventures of a growing Church

The Barabbas Legacy by M.D. House

Further exciting tales of well-known New Testament characters and their fictitious offspring, as they travel the world, encouraging Christian believers and interacting with the powers-that-be.

Heart-searching and bloody hands

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Complete Works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Novels, Short Stories and Autobiographical Writings: The Entire Opus of the Great Russian Novelist, Journalist ... from Underground, The Brothers Karamazov… by [Fyodor Dostoyevsky]

Struggling through this huge work is a great challenge; the style and tone are so unfamiliar.

A Christian ‘Who’s Who?’

They’ll never read that by Tony Collins

Tony comes over as both entertaining and inspiring in this very personal book, in which he neither brags nor seeks to hide his failures. It reads more as an autobiography than – as the subtitle implies – a how-to-fail book about the challenges of book publishing.

Roman history through the eyes of a patrician family

Dominus by Steven Saylor

Dominus: An epic saga of Rome, from the height of its glory to its destruction Kindle Edition

Starting in 165 AD, multiple generations of the legendary Pinarius family of sculptors lead us through 160 years of otherwise rather obscure Roman history. We follow the often very brief reigns of some thirty emperors – often called Dominus. We learn of their military exploits, family rivalries and sexual perversions. But we also become aware of a growing religious tension.

A sad, sad story

Where the Light Fell by Philip Yancey

This is a very personal and a very honest autobiographical book, covering primarily the author’s childhood and youth. Growing up in a very conservative Christian environment, which causes him much emotional anguish, Yancey develops into an intelligent and gifted writer. His many successful books and fame as an inspiring Christian apologist prove he has largely overcome the wounds and fallacies of his upbringing.

Wanting to build a ship?

I like this maxim:

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.