Reading, Watching, Listening

Reading:

Two charity shop finds have entertained me this week. The first was my lover’s lover by Maggie O’Farrell.  We did The Vanishing Act of Esmee Lennox at the book group and enjoyed it so was happy to pick up another of hers. I actually loved the premise of this story – a woman seeing the ghost of her lover’s former lover all over the place. It was a book about emotions and jealousy and insecurity and half-truths with some exceptional writing.  The one thing that spoiled it for me was the ending so am reluctant to recommend it. No, that’s not fair – the rest of it is really good so go for it if you can bear a poor ending. Just make up your own like I did.

The second book was The Miracles of Santo Fico by D L Smith. This is a book about love and miracles and forgiveness set in a forgotten village in Tuscany.  Father Elio is having a spiritual crisis and Leo orchestrates a miracle to set things right. There is humour and a light touch to what would be great holiday reading.

Watching:

This week I have watched the first series of Black Books, the comedy series with Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig co-written with Graham Linehan (Father Ted). I had forgotten quite how funny this is so there has been much clutching of stitches. (And it was only £9.88 for the boxed set of 3 series so not to be missed.)

My sister loaned me a boxed set of The Lakes which was a series on BBC1 in the late 90s by Jimmy McGovern. I couldn’t understand why I had never even heard of this until I remembered that I didn’t watch TV from 1996-2000 which were my University years. Us oldies needed to study, study, study into the wee small hours. The series was set in the Lake District so beautiful views and back-drops but was very dark.  Murder, mayhem, sex and more sex, rape – it was all there by the bucketload. Good though.

Son #1 persuaded me to get The World’s Fastest Indian and we watched that one night. It stars Anthony Hopkins as a New Zealander (bad accent Anthony) who wants to enter the world speed record on a motorcycle – the Indian of the title. This is such a feel-good movie and really heartwarming. (Film group will see it soon!)

Also have watched the 1st series of Life on Mars which also passed me by. I was more than a little disappointed to find that I now have to watch the second series to find out if he gets back or not.  However, it was mildly amusing and passed an hour or so.

Listening:

Oh such joy since I discovered Spotify.  I’m sure it was one of the young people in the SEC who mentioned it in a blog or on Facebook and I’m so glad they did. Now I get to listen to all my favourite music on my computer without changing cds etc.  Found lots of my old vinyl on it which is probably unplayable now, having moved house a dozen times and they are still living in the garage. The ads are short and fairly unobtrusive too so bearable. Download it now! You won’t regret it.

And who have I been listening to?  Well since you ask… Bach, Dr Hook, Nick Drake, Faure, Barbra Streisand and Craig Armstrong.

 

What have I been reading?

Why, thanks for asking.

I probably have the biggest Amazon wish list in the world. I am always reading book reviews or hearing people wax lyrically about a certain book and before I forget its name, I pop it on my wish list. From time to time people give them to me as gifts, and sometimes they turn up in charity shops. The two books I’ve read this week have fitted those categories.

The first was The Tenor Wore Tapshoes by Mark Schweizer. I think it was RevGalPals who recommended one of the books in this series but as they are rather expensive over here a lovely friend got me one when in the USA.  It is classed as a Liturgical Mystery which was a new one for me, being a huge fan of the Ecclesiastical Whodunnit.  The blurb says:

Hayden Konig leads a charmed life. He’s rich, he loves his full time job as police chief in the little mountain town of St Germaine, North Carolina, and he still enjoys his part-time employments as the organist and choirmaster at St Barnabas Episcopal Church. He’s also working on his third detective story and is convinced that purchasing Raymond Chandler’s typewriter and using it to compose his opus will impart some magic to his demented prose. He couldn’t be more mistaken.

It was a light read and quite amusing. A body is found in the altar and the Immaculate Confection (a cinnamon bun that looks like the Virgin Mary) is stolen. Hayden and his friend are coerced into attending the Iron Mike Men’s Retreat and the revival evangelist is helped by Binny Hen the Scripture Chicken. If you’re ever in the States, do pick me up another in the series.

The second book I read in one sitting yesterday and loved it. This one was found in a local charity shop and I picked it up thinking it might have some resources for Advent. In fact, it was a story not a resource book, although I suspect I will go back to it again and again.

The Advent Calendar by Steven Croft tells the story of Alice’s adventures in an Advent Calendar which is short on chocolate but big on surprises. There are codes and secrets all inviting us to explore the deeper meanings of Christmas.  Children would enjoy it too.  The imagery of the calendar is still going round my head and I’m almost tempted to read it each day in Advent at Morning Prayer. It certainly will be our next Book Group book.

Steven Croft is/was Archbishop’s Missioner. This book was published in 2006.

What have I been reading?

Well, not the books I was meant to be reviewing unfortunately, but I digress.

The first one was Abide with Me by Elizabeth Strout and I can’t for the life of me remember who mentioned it first but I had it on my wish list and then spotted it in a charity shop.  It tells the story of Tyler the minister whose wife has died and he is bringing up one daughter, Katherine, who was struck dumb with grief. He is struggling to be a leader and preacher when he himself is lost. Basically it is about ‘who cares for the carer’?  Good novel about family secrets, about grief, and about congregations and small towns.

The second one was The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger which I reckon I am the last person in the world to read.  I enjoyed about three quarters of it butwas disappointed with the ending. Good idea for a book but could have been a lot more exciting.  Do I need to explain it if you’ve all read it?  Man can travel backwards and forwards in time, always arriving naked.  I mean, there are so many funny scenarios you could have with that one – and so many scary ones too.  I think that was a missed opportunity. Falls in love and marries and wife knows so there’s a lot of ‘I know what’s going to happen next year but I can’t tell you’ sort of thing.  That’s about it really.

And in case you are interested, our next Bookmark book is My Name Was Judas by CK Stead meeting on 9 November.

Go west

And I went west yesterday to preach at Fr Kirstin’s institution at Bearsden (with Milngavie).  Kirstin’s driving instructions left a lot to be desired as she doesn’t know her left from her right. So when she said that Junction 16 actually comes off at the right and not the left, she lied.  So there I was at the last minute trying to cross 4 lanes of traffic mouthing ’sorry’ as I went. Thank goodness for the traffic jam which I can been cursing not five minutes before for it meant that as we were crawling along at 5mph it was reasonably easy to lane jump.  Then my Sat Nav thought I was still on the motorway because the road had taken me directly underneath it so kept repeating ‘Leave the motorway at the next junction… Leave the motorway…’ you get the picture. I just screamed at it until it got it right.  But I made it to the church in time and with time enough to eat my lunch before all the Glasgow clergy and a few others descended upon the rather nice hall. In fact it is a rather nice wee church with lots of lilac glass in the windows and some rather stunning angels’ wings in the window above the altar.

I was preaching so I got to sit with the choir but I fear I rather let them down.  My favourite St Anne’s mass setting with an Agnus Dei from another MacMillan setting I think which was a bit weird. As there is no bishop in Glasgow at the moment, the Dean Gregor Duncan stood in for him and did a jolly good job. I was really nervous about preaching and it had caused me a lot of grief last week as I tried to get something down on paper. I’m not sure why it was so difficult. Was it because a friend had asked me and that, of course, is an honour?  Or because I would be preaching to so many peers as well as two little flocks? Anyway, it got done at the last hour and seemed to go down okay.

We then wandered down to the BB hall nearby and were treated to some rather nice sandwiches (crustless of course) and a cup of tea. Tea?! No wine?  No fizz? Outrageous! Then some of us went back to have a nosey round the Rectory. This is the real reason clergy go to Institutions. It is really only in the hope that they get to have a gander at the rectory and see how it compares to your own.  All I will say is: many more bathrooms, and lovely conservatory.  And yes I coveted. (Not only the bathrooms but the gorgous Juliet Hemingray green stole that Kirstin was presented with.)

Kirstin gave me 2 lovely books as a pressie which was terribly kind. (One for recent birthday and one for preaching.) They were on my wish list and it always astonishes me when people actually take time to look at the wish list and buy me something I really want.  They were called Imaging the Word and I’ll do a little review later.

And a shared journey home with Mother J and a good blether. So all in all, a lovely day.

Bookmark’s next books

Good meeting last night to discuss The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Positive comments from everyone there which is rare.

Our next book will be Good to be God by Tibor Fischer meeting on Monday 28 September at 7.30pm.

Then the following one will be My Name Was Judas by CK Stead. Date to be announced.

The Wedding Party

Read in the Church Times an interview with author Sophie King and how she had done her research for one of the characters in her latest book The Wedding Party.  Now I have a penchant for fiction which features priests who happen to be women so I ordered it from Amazon tout suite.  Just finished it and it was lovely and light and perfect summer reading. And the priest who happened to be a woman was just right.

For those who also like ‘woman priest fiction’, can I recommend Phil Rickman’s Merrily Watkins series, Anne Borrowdale’s books, Kate Charles‘ later ones (well all of them really but for a woman priest you need the later ones), Michelle Blake’s Lily Connor series, and a few others which I can’t lay my hands on right now.

Amazon Wish List

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Footering around with Amazon today and wondering if this works.

Books and Music

A few books I’ve been reading lately, and also some new music to ponder…

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.  Now I wouldn’t have picked this book myself but as it was forced upon me by a friend and told it was really good and I would love it… well what can you do?  Actually it was quite a good read with a few empowering women bits.  And if you are into knitting it will make you smile here and there.

A Darker Doman by Val McDermid.  This was my first Val McDermid and I don’t really know why she isn’t more widely publicised.  I thought this was just as good as Rankine. Might it be a woman thing? Anyway this story linked up the disappearance of the daughter and grandson of the richest man in Scotland 25 years ago with the Miner’s Strike of 1984. I loved it.

Family Ties by Malcolm Goldsmith.  As Malcolm is known to many of us as priest, campaigner of the spirituality of dementia, prayer and Myers Briggs, and facilitator of our mid-ministry course, then it was a delight to discover that he had written his first work of fiction. This is about relationships and family tensions and I loved it. (Bits of church in there too.)

The Great Lover by Jill Dawson. Just finished this one and still not sure. It tells the story of Rupert Brooke, poet and captor of hearts of men and women alike. It sort of lost momentum for me as it went on but an interesting insight into a complex man.  Quite a bit of sex too. (Not that that’s a bad thing!)

And what have I been listening to?

Well, thanks to Maggi Dawn I have found 2 cds which can be used as reflective mood music on those occasions when you want a group to settle down.

The first one I got was Craig Armstrong Piano Works. There are some beautiful and haunting pieces on this. Lots of ‘I know that tune’ moments too.  I’ll be buying more from this guy.

The second was Mnemosyne by Jan Garbarek and The Hilliard Ensemble. If you like the sound of a sax and medieval chamber music intertwined then this is for you. Little flock, you shall hear more of this I promise. It is just glorious.

Finally, I’ve been listening (and boogying on down) to Fischy Music’s Down to Earth.  Readers may remember that Fischy Music came and played for us at the end of Junior Church term. We had a great time learning to sign the new songs and having a laugh too. J has requested that we have them on Sundays too so I’ve been revisiting them to see which to have first.

Books

Whilst on retreat recently I read John Pritchard’s How to Explain your Faith. I have read Bishop John’s wonderful books on prayer and intercessions and find him easy to read and understand. This book is no different. It covers all the criticisms one might come across against Christianity and gives a reason why we believe. There are lots of good quotes too throughout the book. It might even be used by a group, something I’m thinking about.

The other book I was reading which I have finally finished was Revelation by C J Sansome. I’ve read another one of his books in this series and they are marathons to get through. Lots of history, lots of blood and gore, and a murder or eight to keep you turning the pages.

By the way, the next Bookmark book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society meeting on 24 August. It is a wonderful book and you’ve plenty time to read it.

Bookmark

Our Book Group met last night to discuss The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. As ever, we had a range of opinions about it – some loved it and couldn’t put it down and others found it a bit slow and confusing. Check here for what I thought of it.

Our next book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. C, at church, lent me it a while ago and I loved it. We will meet on Mon 24 August so plenty time to read it on holiday.