september 2022 books…

Do I Stay Christian? (Brian McLaren): I bought this book (‘A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed and the Disillusioned’) to assist me in my meandering spiritual journey! American pastor McLaren is a wise, gentle, articulate man and he talks an awful lot of sense in this book of ‘guidance’ (in which he freely acknowledged reasons for leaving, staying and, whatever we decide, the need to do so in a “good, honest and loving way”) and doesn’t try to “push any foregone conclusion” on to its reader. He deals with the ‘big picture’ issues in a convincing and helpful way but, crucially for me, I realised that, for all his wisdom and experience, he wasn’t able to put his finger on the key issues that were most relevant for me: eg. ‘What was the point of it all?’, ‘Does it really matter what I believe as long as I take a humanitarian view of the world?’. It’s all too complicated to try to encompass such matters in a brief book review, so I might write a separate blogpost at some stage (then again?). Anyway, a fascinating book focussing on making a responsible, honest, ethical decision about religious identity.
Milk Teeth (Jessica Andrews): I read, and enjoyed, Andrews’s first book ‘Saltwater’ and so it seemed like an easy decision to read her second – especially as she lives in Bristol and I was able to attend a ‘book release’ evening at my beloved Storysmith’s bookshop. In ‘Milk Teeth’, the narrator - a young woman plagued by bodily shame - leaves her difficult family in Durham and travels to London, Paris and Barcelona, unable to escape her emotional demons. Like her previous book, it’s written in a series of brief chapters (97 of them) fluctuating between the present and the past. Love and desire take centre stage as the woman struggles with her uneasy journey to rid herself of issues that have prevented her from discovering who she is and what she’s seeking in her life. Beautiful writing and an impressive book – but perhaps not quite my cup of tea.
Plainsong (Kent Haruf): This book was recommended to me by my good friend Charlotte… and how right she was! First published in 1999, the novel is set in a small town, Holt in Colarado, and recounts the lives of individuals who share little else than belonging to fractured families – including a schoolteacher struggling to bring up his 8+10 year-old sons alone; a pregnant, homeless schoolgirl and two old bachelor rancher brothers who take her in. The writing is magical - graceful and almost poetic – with a quiet, understated gentleness and decency that I found quite captivating. One of those special books that I felt I should be reading out loud. I loved it.
Game Of Mirrors (Andrea Camilleri): This must be something like the eighth Inspector Montalbano book I’ve read (and, for my sins, I’ve also watched the 30-odd telly episodes!). As with most detective mysteries, I’m not brilliant at following all the plot intricacies (often slightly farcical), but I do enjoy the Montalbano character, the humour, his work colleagues, his passion for food and the Sicilian setting. In this book, Montalbano comes to the aid of a neighbour (predictably female and beautiful!) after the engine of her car is interfered with… which, in due course, he realises is tenuously linked to a bomb explosion case he’s also dealing with. Drug-dealing, suspicious mafia links and a barrage of false clues from an anonymous source threaten Montalbano’s reputation… (you get the general idea!). Enjoyable, easy reading and a welcome escape from the depressing events in the real world.
The War Between The Tates (Alison Lurie): This is our Storysmith bookgroup’s next book.
First published in 1974, Brian and Erica Tate appear to have every advantage of life: academic careers, two children, good friends and money. He’s a political science professor at Corinth University and she’s a well-educated stay-at-home wife and mother. They’ve had a good marriage and a happy family, but now it’s all starting to break down. He has always been a reliable and faithful husband… but then Erica learns that he’s been having an affair with a graduate student. And so the war begins. It’s very much a ‘campus satire’ and one that, at times, made me feel angry and depressed in equal measure… but it’s also a wise, compassionate and humorous novel. Lurie is a clearly very gifted writer… but, did I enjoy the book? I’m really not sure (I’ve been mulling over this question ever since finishing the book some 10 days ago). There were several times when I found myself laughing at its wit, but also lots of occasions when I found myself angry and frustrated at the actions taken by its principal characters.