Sofa Shelf on Singleness

New read for me this week is:

The Heart of Singleness - Andrea Trevenna 

So I've never read a single book on singleness. Mainly because I like being single and therefore it's not high on my list of struggles. But as this one has been sitting on my bookcase for a while I thought now was as good a time as any to have a read of it.

Sofa Spotlight - A very Different Christmas, Rico Tice and Nate Morgan Locke

So it's March (and also nearly Easter) and maybe a little early to be doing prep for Christmas, but there are some good reasons for doing so. One of them is if you want to give this book to someone to help them understand what Christmas is about from the Bible's perspective it's a good idea to read it before it gets around to Christmas. If it's just for you then leaving it until Christmas is a good idea. (Also if you read this earlier you know whether it is a good one to pass on or not before you get all wrapped in the early Christmas shopping).

Anyway on with the show.

It's short very short. Which I think works really well for this book. It isn't over facing or daunting in any way. In fact I would say that it isn't so much like reading a book as going for a coffee with the authors and having a nice discussion about what is important in life. (In my case that's a hot chocolate - coffee is vile). You can easily have this book read within a couple of hours, probably less if you are fast. And what I really liked was how the meaning of Christmas was explained in this book.

Because it wasn't an explanation as such. As the reader you are invited to spend Christmas with God and exchange presents. And it is in this scenario that the real beauty and awe-inspiring wonder of Christmas comes alive. Like any book this will work for some people and not others. It's up to you to decide if this is a book that is useful to you,  but I would recommend reading it to find out.

It's not just a very different Christmas, it's also a very different way of getting the message across.

Also nice cover.

Sofa Shelf - Retired Murder

One book this week:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Poirot has retired from unravelling murder mysteries, but they seem to follow him around. This is one that I remember seeing on the TV, in fact it might have been the first Poirot that I had seen. I do know who the murderer is, but I enjoyed the TV version so much that I want to see how close it is to the book.

Sofa Spotlight - The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie

This is the first story with the expertise of Hercule Poirot in it. As expected there is a murder. This one involves the family of one of Hastings' friends who he happens to be staying with. And the best bit is that Hastings tries to solve the crime himself, and goes hopelessly wrong.

The book is narrated by Hastings and seeing the story through his eyes really made me laugh. Not just at Hastings trying to work out what is going on (because I would be just as hopeless) but also at how unique Poirot is in his ways and methods.

In my edition of the book the original unpublished ending is also included. Because I like to know what my options are I read both, and I have to agree that the ending that was published was better than the original. The original was noticeably less dynamic and required serious concentration, whereas the published one has you in that reading state where you are so desperate to find out the solution to the mystery that you are more skimming than reading. At least that's what I end up doing because I can't cope with the tension.

A nice read if you want something intriguing but also light hearted.

Sofa Shelf

Two books on the shelf this week:

The Children of the New Forest - Captain Marryat

This is a book that I have read once before and loved, so naturally I am looking forward to reading it again. It's set during the English Civil War, or just after it and so there is a suitable amount of adventure and tension, but what I remember most from reading it last time was that there was  a lot of running backwards and forwards across the forest for no apparent reason. Anyway looking forward to having another read.

A Very Different Christmas - Rico Tice & Nate Morgan Locke

I missed reading this for Christmas but better late than never. This is a new book that came out last year to explain what Christmas is like from the Bible's perspective and I want to find out what it is like. It's not very long so I'm hoping that it will be a quick read.

Sofa Spotlight - Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, Dr & Mrs Howard Taylor

This is a biography of Hudson Taylor and how he set up the China Inland Mission which is now OMF. When I started this book I wasn't sure that I would like, mainly because of a comment that I found in the foreword. The insinuation is that it's important to have a book about Hudson Taylor because he is being forgotten about and that many young people don't even know where China is on a map. Which I think is a bit unfair, and I had a twinge of guilt about not knowing anything about Hudson Taylor.

But that lack of knowledge on my part is now a thing of the past. It was worth moving beyond the foreword and into the book, which is a sensible thing to do with a book. I wouldn't say that I agree with everything that Hudson Taylor did and sometimes the tone in which the book is written grated on me a bit, but there is a lot in the book that is inspiring. His desire for people to know about Jesus is what drives his work and the sacrifices that he makes. And the sacrifices he makes are pretty big.

If you don't know who Hudson Taylor is then this is one you should pick up sometime soon.

Sofa Shelf - The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux

This is the second time I have read this book and the second reading was just as good. Although the problem with second readings is that you can't forget the key parts so you lose a bit of the suspense. For example once you have read Jane Eyre you can never feel as scared as the first time you read it when you didn't know what was lurking in Mr Rochester's attic.

Anyway The Phantom of the Opera will remain one of my favourite books because there is nothing boring in this book. At every page there is some puzzle you are trying to work out as Raoul chases around the Paris Opera House searching for the phantom like being that is playing havoc with his plan to marry the love of his life, Christine. The best part is when Raoul is accompanied by the Persian who sheds an awful lot of light on the dark goings on in the Opera House.

One thing that I noticed is that everyone has an opinion on the quality of the character of the Phantom. No matter what horrors the Phantom is behind, both Christine and the Persian at some level feel sorry for him. From Raoul's point of view all he can see is someone who is out to harm Christine, and so you have to go with Raoul on his journey to find out why the Persian and Christine feel the way that they do. 

Worth a read if you like a good bit of suspense.