Sofa Spotlight - That Hideous Strength, C. S. Lewis

The third in The Space Trilogy and in my opinion the best. The pace is much faster and there is more going on in terms of action, but there is still that beautiful prose which makes the writings of C. S. Lewis so excellent.

At first I didn’t think we were going to meet Ransom in this book, and I was concerned that I would never find out what happened to his foot. But all was well, he was there but came in an unexpected way. Which was only one of the things that came out of left field in this book.

On the whole I loved the idea. I think it is very true to life and C. S. Lewis was just as perceptive as George Orwell in terms of where society would be heading. This book is different to the other two in that it is the only one focused on what is happening on Earth. Earth is in the background of the other books but now it is centre stage as a battle takes place between the bent eldila and the gods of the heavens.

It’s subtle, beautifully written and exciting. It cleverly puts into a semi-plausible narrative what might happen at the end of time. The arrival of Merlin was an interesting twist that I didn’t buy entirely but it is certainly an interesting possibility.

Reading the whole series is a must in my opinion.

Sofa Spotlight - Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead

It wouldn’t be the start of summer without reading a Colson Whitehead book. What I love most about his books is that they have the feel of poetry to them. The way he writes brings people and places to life, and you can almost reach out and touch what he is describing. And Sag Harbor was no different.

The story is about two black teenage boys as they spend the summer in Sag Harbor and reacquaint themselves with the friends that they meet every summer. I love the teenage politics and what criteria make another kid cool or what is acceptable to do or say. I honestly didn’t want this book to end, it felt so personal and beautiful. It’s fun watching a group of teenagers getting to know themselves and finding their identity in a complex, contradictory world.

I enjoyed this book a lot, I think it has a lot to say about coming of age and finding out who we are. It provokes thoughts on what influences us, and what are the factors that determine our place in the world.

Sofa Spotlight - Perelandra Voyage to Venus, C. S. Lewis

It’s not taken me long to crack on through this trilogy and this is book two. Thankfully the series is such that there are few spoilers along the way. It’s less about drama driven by action but drama driven through moral dilemma.

As the second book in the series there seems to have been a move from being ambiguous about which religion the story is tied to, and instead it’s fairly explicit about following the Christian narrative. That being said to get full appreciation of the novel a knowledge of the early chapters of the Biblical book of Genesis certainly helps.

In contrast to The Silent Planet which explores what has happened to our world from the perspective of those out in the universe, Perelandra is about the start of a new world. Just as in our own world Perelandra is initially occupied by a man and woman paralleling Adam and Eve. And just as in our world there was a temptation to disobey God, that same temptation is offered to the inhabitants of Perelandra.

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Ransom who reappears in this story and is a pivotal character. He goes through a lot and most of the book I spent worrying that he would lose his integrity by trying to save the innocence of the King and Queen. What upset me though is that it is never resolved whether they could stop his heel bleeding. So if for nothing else I will have to read book three!

Sofa Spotlight - Hamlet Globe to Globe, Dominic Dromgoole

Last year I spent some time reading Hamlet again, possibly the first time I’d read it since studying it for A-level. It was part of a campaign I had to read all of Shakespeare’s works. That didn’t work out so well and I quickly found that spending time studying Hamlet had greatly enhanced my enjoyment of it – an element that was missing in my reading of the other plays. So, I’ve given up until a later date.

The result of the above musing was that I thought that Hamlet Globe to Globe would be a good read. The idea is that Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre tried to take Hamlet to every country in the world and on the whole succeeded. I enjoyed the connections that were made between elements of Hamlet and the cultures that were encountered on the journey.

I think what I appreciated the most was the way that it allowed me to explore Hamlet again. There’s a difference between studying a play for an exam and being able to think about it for pleasure. I would say that there are benefits to both, but this book reopened the play to me and took me around the world as part of the deal!

This is a book I would recommend. The author comes across as very down to earth and human, and not afraid to talk about the less than glamourous side of the tour. It’s fun and informative – what more could you want from a book?

Sofa Spotlight - Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis

 

C. S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy was always one of those things that I meant to read. Right after I had reread The Chronicles of Narnia. I must confess that I was a bit intimidated by it and didn’t want to read it in case I didn’t like it as much as Narnia.

Well, I needn’t have worried.

I’ve finished the first book and as I started it, I wasn’t sure what I was getting, and at the back of my mind was the idea that Aslan would be strolling onto the scene. And in some ways Aslan isn’t far away in this book. Don’t get me wrong – this is a very different kind of story, but there are important scenes. I couldn’t help thinking about what Aslan says in one of the books about how he is not just in our world as well as in Narnia, but he has a different name there.

But before I explain about that. The story is about a guy called Ransom who, at the start of the book, is on a walking tour for the summer. He bumps into two unfriendly types, Weston and Devine, who subsequently kidnap Ransom and set off for the planet of Malacandra. As much as I felt sorry for Ransom, it just goes to show that you shouldn’t tell a relative stranger that you are set to be alone for some time and that no one would miss you for a few weeks.

It’s on Malacandra that Ransom has some similar Narnia experiences. There are different types of creatures and there is an Aslan character, by a different name, just out of sight. But the concept this time centres on a world where sin has not corrupted, and what that would be like. It provides a different take on the Biblical story of what has happened on Earth, the Silent Planet, and gives it a wider context, albeit a fictional one.

I’m certainly interested in reading more in this series. There’s a lot to unpack in this first one. I felt that it was a mix of excellent writing at the beginning as I explored an intriguing world through Ransom’s eyes. But for me the pace really picked up towards the end. It’s not so much that there was more action, just much to ponder and think about.

Sofa Spotlight - Burmese Days, George Orwell

 

Having read the obvious George Orwell books I thought it was time to move on from Animal Farm and 1984 to other books that I didn’t know. Burmese Days was my choice and I have to say that I enjoyed it more than the other two.

The main character, Flory, is part of the white community in Burma sometime after the First World War (I wasn’t paying much attention to when it was set). His struggle is that he doesn’t agree with the racism that radiates off his fellow club members and prefers the company of the local Burmese doctor. 

Flory’s struggle is one of putting his values above his need for a quiet life that doesn’t involve rows with the other members of his club. It is forced to come to a head by the schemes of one of the Burmese officials who wants to be a member of the all white club. What stands in his way is Flory’s friend the doctor who would be a more natural choice for the first non-white member.

From what I’ve read Burmese Days was inspired by George Orwell’s time as a policeman in what was then Burma. I found it hard to read because of the prejudices of many of the characters who seemed to lack substance when compared to Flory, who is capable of thinking for himself even if he has a hard time standing up for himself and his values.

I’d say it’s definitely still a relevant book. There are many contradictions in the characters which reflect so accurately the contradictions people have in themselves in real life. The characters are flawed but real and the book does expose the ridiculousness of racism. 

Sofa Spotlight - Becoming, Michelle Obama

I’m behind on reading this for a couple of reasons. The first is that I’m not a big reader of autobiographies so it wasn’t a book I would naturally reach for, and secondly I thought it might be a bit too heavy on American politics, not something I know a lot about, so my thinking was that it probably wasn’t for me.

But I kept hearing good things about it and I thought it might be worth a try. After I’d got over my initial shock of reading an autobiography I found that I was really enjoying it. It was a very engaging read and provided a window on a world that I didn’t know about. What came across to me was how much both Michelle Obama and Barack Obama cared about what they were doing, and how genuine they seemed to be. Whilst I was reading Becoming I was also reading other books and coincidently the authors of those books mentioned meeting the Obamas. What I thought was great was that the impression that those authors had of the Obamas was the same impression that I was getting as I read Becoming.

The focus is really on her family and what they went through together. It is very readable and one that I would recommend. Her life is inspiring but also human and relatable. Oh and there was an easy balance on the American politics thing, I wasn’t overwhelmed and I could understand what was going on – always a good thing!

Sofa Spotlight - Passenger to Frankfurt, Agatha Christie

If I was not prepared for Towards Zero, I was definitely not prepared for Passenger to Frankfurt. Again I went in blind, no reading of blurbs or anything like that. Just wanting the story to speak for itself, and I was surprised at what this was about.

It isn’t a murder mystery so much as an attempt at a spy thriller. It’s set in a world where someone posing as Hitler’s son is trying to restart the campaign that Hitler began, and is trying to influence the world’s youth to rise up and take power. The fate of the world seems to rest on them being able to find and use a drug or gas, similar to tear gas, that makes those that inhale it permanently benevolent.

I think that I just found this book a little too bizarre and I couldn’t work out what was going on towards the end. Some things I did guess right, but it was a bit too vague for me to really know what the outcome was. Not my favourite read but it was alright and intriguing because of how different it was to other Christie novels.

Sofa Spotlight - Towards Zero, Agatha Christie

This was not what I was expecting. I went into reading it blind, all I knew was that it was by Agatha Christie and would probably involve a murder or two, but I wasn’t sure who would be playing detective – Poirot or Marple. As it turned out it was neither, although Poirot did get a mention.

I wasn’t disappointed though. The idea was introduced by one of the characters early on as the hour of a murder being zero hour, and for a murder novel to be really good it should start long before that, with all the players being drawn together by different events that ultimately lead to murder. It was that same character, Mr Treves, who I thought would be murdered, and indeed he was murdered, and this made me very sad because he was so likeable.

What made this so good was the way everything was tied together. I almost felt at the beginning that it was too long of a build up to the action, but as it happened it worked well. I was annoyed that I didn’t work out who the murderer was but maybe that made it more fun.

Sofa Spotlight - The Chemist, Stephanie Meyer

I wanted to read this because I wanted to try a book by Stephanie Myer that wasn’t Twilight. And this sounded like a good option, my other choice was The Host, which maybe I will get to later this year.

The Chemist is about a scientist who is on the run from her formal employers, not because she did something wrong, but because she knew too much. Her life is all about staying alive and using various convoluted ways of doing that and staying anonymous. I could definitely relate to her as someone who thinks through all the possible scenarios, but not because it’s a life and death thing to me, it’s a be the most efficient I can be thing.

As the story starts she is contacted by the people she used to work for and that throws her for a loop, and the rest of the story is about watching her make choices that she never thought she would make. All that thinking every detail through – it’s gone. And that kind of made me lose a bit of respect for her, but then I’m not in her shoes experiencing what she was.

For me this was very entertaining, there were a few mushy scenes worthy of Twilight, but on the whole it had me semi-guessing what was coming next and the ending was rather pleasing.

Sofa Spotlight - Cumulative Advantage, Mark W Schaefer

The basic premise of this book is that everyone has something that they can build on, some kind of advantage, and if you get the timing right, you can keep building on that advantage to reach your goal.

The principle is to do with what is called the Matthew Effect, taken from Matthew 25:29 which reads: “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” And instantly I’m kind of ticked off because it might be a nice little soundbite that in some way reflects how the world works – the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. But when you look at the context of what Jesus is saying you see that it isn’t a commentary on how society’s work. Where this little soundbite sits is in a wider narrative, where Jesus is talking about the end of time and what it will be like to stand before God as the judge. It’s not about making money or achieving goals. It’s about making sure that we’ve made the most of the truth that we know about God, and that we won’t have any reason to be ashamed when we stand before Him.

Anyway after I’d got over my confusion of how that verse from Matthew was being used I thought that maybe there was something to this book. Maybe in a spiritual sense we should be looking at what we have and using it to have cumulative advantage in spiritual growth. And growing to be more like Christ is a goal, right?

For goal achievement I think this a great book. It is very clear and each section has a handy diagram, which as a visual learner I enjoyed very much. And what I liked about the conclusion of the book was the way Schaefer wasn’t worried that his goals might not be the same as everyone else, but he is doing what has value for him. That for me was a good takeaway and I appreciated his honesty. And in fact, the final part of the book felt very honest. What came across was that he felt no pressure to try and reach the top and have it all, but freedom to choose to do ordinary things well and add value to other people. I suppose for me that is more of a spiritual thing than a material thing.

Sofa Spotlight - Jane Austen: Her Life, Park Honan

If you’re anything like me you’ve probably grown up knowing the classic works of Jane Austen. You’ve probably even studied a few. I remember studying Pride and Prejudice at 16 and being amazed at how much was in it. From there the door was open to go and explore the other works, and whenever I read them I love them just as much as the first time I read them.

So then it occurred to me that I didn’t know much about Jane Austen. In an effort to correct that I picked up this biography of her life. And, I’m not going to lie, it was hard going. But in the spirit of not giving up on a book, I persevered. And I’m half glad I did. I accomplished the goal of learning more about Jane Austen, but I also feel that I could have chosen a better option. And if you know of an informative and fairly easy read biography then I’m all ears. Let me know.

Sofa Spotlight - Resthaven, Erik Therme

This book felt like a horror but without the really scary stuff that makes horror unbearable for me. Resthaven is a bout a group of teenage girls that find themselves trapped in a supposedly empty care home, which is set to be demolished.

Obviously, the care home is not empty and there’s all sorts of adventures to be had as they look for a way out. The ending is excellent in how dramatic it is and is open ended so there’s space for imagination and thought as to what happens next to the main characters.

For me this was a fun thriller without being too frightening and without a load of gore that I’m not a huge fan of. And the feeling I had although the way through was that I wasn’t going to read anything graphic and so it was quite a safe read in that sense. Would recommend if you’re looking for something quick, light and intriguing.

Sofa Spotlight: So Much More Than A Headache, Kathleen O'Shea

To me this was a very significant book to read. I’ve lived with migraines for 15 years and not once did I ever think to see if there was any literature about migraines. Turns out that there’s quite a bit. Which is what this anthology is made up of.

It goes without saying that this book was of interest to me. At the start there is a recommendation that those who don’t have migraines would benefit from reading it, to give an understand of what those who suffer with migraines experience. And I do agree with that, but I think for those readers dipping in and out of different sections would be more beneficial than trying to consume the whole thing.

The anthology is very well structured, each section following a different part of the migraine episode. I don’t often experience aura with my migraines but it was interesting to see and feel what that would be like. And I think that is what is so great about this read, it allows you to step into the shoes of someone who has a migraine and feel what it is like. For me there was a great relief in knowing that I’m not alone with these experiences and there are others who go through the same thought processes and worries.

For me what I found to be most helpful was learning how different people have learnt to live with their migraines. It removed some of the pressure of looking for a cure or a trigger to avoid. I’ve been inspired to think about my migraine life differently – to be thankful for the good days and enjoy them, and to weather the migraine days and not feel guilty about them.

Sofa Spotlight - The Jesus Way, Eugene Peterson

The Jesus Way feels like a continuation of Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. But for me it felt a bit of an easier read. This book deals with the different ways we can live life, what can motivate and drive us, and compares them to the way that Jesus has showed us we can live, when we follow Him.

I think it can be very easy to get caught up in how seeking money or glory or power can look good on the surface. This book really takes these other lifestyles apart, piece by piece, and reveals how they may look good, but they don’t end with satisfaction. Following Jesus is the other way around. On the surface it looks hard, and a bit stupid. But Peterson examines what makes following Jesus hard, but also worthwhile and ultimately the best way to live.

This is definitely one that I would recommend, it requires a bit of thought so maybe have a coffee on hand.

Sofa Spotlight - I Know You, Erik Therme

I love these books because they are an entertaining read. They don’t demand anything from you, all you have to do is make your coffee and settle in for a good ride. The only thing that I take for granted with these books is that it will have some weird twists and the most unlikely of people will be behind what’s going on.

I Know You is about Bree Walker’s journey to uncover what has become of her sister Alissa. Alissa storms out one day after an argument and although she doesn’t return, her backpack and creepy message do. Along the way Bree teams up, albeit reluctantly, with Alissa’s friend and together they start to track down Alissa.

It’s not a long book, but it’s full of action and very fast paced. For a quick and easy read it’s great, but I would love to see more character development and maybe a bit of a slow build. But it certainly gets the imagination going and even if the plot isn’t quite believable it’s a good story.

Sofa Spotlight - Run with the Horses, Eugene Peterson

This is a second read for me and once again I was struck by how relevant this book is. And particularly now I think that this book has a lot to say to us during this pandemic.

Eugene Peterson takes us through parts of the book of Jeremiah, giving us a feel for the time and place he lived. I found it very easy to picture what life would have been like for Jeremiah. Peterson is a great story teller and knows how to bring the pages of the Bible to life. But what he drew out from Jeremiah’s story was his faithfulness and the depth of Jeremiah’s relationship with God.

This isn’t a commentary on the book of Jeremiah, but it does lend many insights into the book. I feel like I need to read it again straight away to gather what I missed the first time round. There are many striking similarities between Jeremiah’s world and our own and the challenge to be faithful is always with us as it was for Jeremiah. Having said that, Jeremiah had to contend with a lot and then he ended up dying in Egypt. But it is an example of faithfulness without seeing the results in this life.

Sofa Spotlight - The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky

I love reading Russian literature. So, I knew that I would enjoy reading this one. What I love so much is how it gets you thinking and questioning your values and attitudes. Not surprising then that I had a great experience with this book.

The Idiot is about Prince Myshkin, who has epilepsy and has suffered an emotional and mental breakdown in his past. The Prince is a really likeable character, but his goodness is thought to be naïve and he is often taken advantage of. I’m still working out what I think of him and his actions but there are many things that this book makes you think about.

One of them is that because the Prince is fairly open about his illness sometimes people think that it is ok to call him an idiot and say harsh things in his hearing because they think he doesn’t understand. It becomes clear that he does understand and doesn’t appreciate this. But also, it got me to thinking that even if someone doesn’t understand what is said, or doesn’t appear to understand, that doesn’t give permission for cruel things to be said.

There’s so much that could be said about this book and much to ponder. Give it a read and see if you agree.

Sofa Spotlight - Gentle and Lowly, Dane Ortland

I read this because it had been recommended to me a few times – and I can see why it was recommended. The book looks at what is the heart of Christ and delves deep into what the means for us as Christians today.

When I was reading this, I was astounded because this book could have been written for me. The stuff it covers is things where I thought I must be the only one who felt like that but turns out there are lots of people! If you’ve ever thought that you are a Christian because God has to let you and He disapproves or is disappointed with you then this is the book for you.

It is beautifully written, and although it’s not the longest of books it is one that you will want to spend a long time in. There is so much to consider and truths that need time to really sink into your soul.

If you read no other book this year let it be this one. You won’t regret it.

Sofa Spotlight - Finding the Right Hills to Die on, Gavin Ortland

I think this is a great title and I was certainly intrigued to find out what was meant by theological triage. In I jumped and thoroughly enjoyed the journey that I took. The book is all about assessing our own theological viewpoints and determining which ones are the ones that we need to guard and which ones don’t need to be fought over.

What I found to be really excellent about this book was the humility of the author. At no point does he try to tell the reader what they should thing about doctrine or which doctrines to hold as most important. What he does instead is to explain the value of different doctrines and how we can decide what is important and what is not worth falling out over.

There were many highlights for me through this book, but one was the immense damage that Christians have done to one another over disagreements on theology. It showed why it’s important to keep things in perspective and work towards unity.

Brilliant book, well worth reading.