Better to read Borrow or Dalrymple

In the Footsteps of George Borrow: A Journey Through Spain and Portugal by Guy Arnold

This book relates the author's travels through Spain, retracing the steps of George Borrow, who made the journey in the 1830s.

This puts the book in the same genre as William Dalrymple's wonderful In Xanadu (in which Dalrymple retraces Marco Polo's route to China) and his even more brilliant From the Holy Mountain (in which he follows in the footsteps of the Byznatine monk John Moschos). Sadly, this book doesn't measure up to either of those works.

I love George Borrow. I have read three of his books - Lavengro and The Romany Rye describe his dealing with gypsies in England, while The Bible in Spain relates how he went around the Iberian peninsula distributing New Testaments on behalf of the British and Foreign Bible Society. This is the book that Arnold is interested in, as he retraces Borrow's steps.

Arnold admits that he is irreligious, and that colours his interpretation of Borrow. He tends to take a cynical view of Borrow's work, and suggests that The Bible in Spain is not the book of a missionary, but "the highly coloured, exciting work of an adventurer" (p. 175). Arnold argues that Borrow "employs the piety of language expected of religious people - after he had learned or assumed it for the benefit of his paymasters, the Bible Society" (p. 168).

Arnold's lack of knowledge in Christian matters comes out in his misunderstanding of scholastic philosophy (p. 160) and his notion that G. K. Chesterton's poem Lepanto is written from a "cruelly partisan" Protestant view (p. 135).

I can't really recommend this book. Rather, I urge the reader to instead read William Dalrymple or George Borrow, or preferably both.

Kara's Spring Reading

A Walk with Jane Austen by Lori Smith

A combination travel book and spiritual memoir, this book kept me interested even though I was occasionally annoyed by the author's retelling of her love-life dramas. (I should have guessed they were coming from the sub-title, which in the British edition is something about a "search for my own Mr. Darcy." Blegh.) Smith, a 20-something girl battling chronic illness, decides to travel to England and visit all the places connected with Jane Austen. In the process, she learns more about Austen, herself, and God.

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L' Engle

How could I help but be intrigued by a first line like this: "There are dragons in the twins' vegetable garden..."?


Eating with Emperors by Jake Smith

A collection of menus from various world leaders, from Queen Victoria to J.F.K., combined with recipes and historical trivia. Fun to read, but I don't think I'll try any of the recipes. Foie gras just isn't my kind of thing.

Around the World in 80 dinners by Bill and Cheryl Jamison

A great idea for a book is hampered by the attempt to narrate from the point of view of two people. Some of the sentences are truly cringe-worthy. It's bogged down by too many details--did I really need to know exactly what went into the suitcases? And the worst thing about this combination food and travel book is that it didn't make me hungry.

An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle

The last in L'Engle's Time Quintet, it is interesting, but too long.

The Age of Kali by William Dalrymple

Not your typical travel book. Dalrymple's tales of India are weird and heart-wrenching by turns. In this wide ranging collection of essays, he tackles the plight of widows (including an apparent modern occurrence of sati), and interviews terrorists, politicians and a cricket star. These are tales I will not soon forget.


On Rue Tatin and Tarte Tatin by Susan Loomis

Memoirs of an American food writer who moved to France, along with her husband and son, and started a cooking school. Each chapter concludes with a recipe or two. I loved these books! Loomis' rambling style is charming, and I found her observations on settling into another country and culture particularly insightful.

Amy's Bread by Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree

I'm a bread lover and a bread baker on the search for the perfect loaf. Something beautiful, crusty and full-flavoured. This book is helping me reach that goal, with lovely pictures and detailed instructions.

The Italian Baker by Carol Field

Another good baking book, this one was especially helpful to me because of the sweet short pastry recipe, which was broken down into parts by weight. (making it easy to memorize)

Blessed are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper by Peter Leithart

During the past year, I've been reading this as a devotional during the weeks preceding communion. This method works particularly well with this book, as each chapter is a stand-alone meditation on a single Bible passage. Leithart helped me gain a broader understanding of the sacrament, in particular the aspect of a joyful feast. Highly recommended.

Cat O' Nine Tales by Jeffrey Archer

I came to John one day, wanting to read a mystery but bemoaning the fact that I'd already read all the Sayers, Chesterton and Christie in the house. He gave me this collection of short, humorous stories to try. Enjoyable and unpredictable.

Kara's January Reading

These will all be in the category of Finished Recently, as the month is already over...

The Paideia of God by Douglas Wilson

This is a collection of essays on classical education. Not the sort of book to spend a lot of time mulling over, rather, more bits to fit into my growing concept of Biblical education. Best essays: Title, and one discussing whether the Reformed faith and Classical education are necessary counterparts.

One Flesh: A Practical Guide to Honeymoon Sex and Beyond by Amelia and Greg Clarke

This is the first book I've finished from my list of books to read in 2010. As I read it, I asked myself whether I would recommend it to someone preparing for marriage. I've concluded that it wouldn't be my first choice. There's too much detail in some places (i.e. discussion of various positions-- possibly overwhelming, I think, for newly-weds) and not enough detail in others. I would have liked to have seen more discussion of what to expect on the wedding night, and how to prepare. Anyway, for pre-wedding reading about love making, I would recommend selected chapters from Ed Wheat's Intended for Pleasure.

My friend Sherrin has written a more detailed review of this book here.

Asterix the Legionary

My first Asterix comic. And so far my favourite. I knew I had to read these when John started making little jokes, and then remarking that they were "from Asterix". Since the "Legionary", I've also read Asterix in Spain, Asterix in Britain and Asterix the Gaul. I like the funny names and wordplay.

The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht

If I ever need to trail a pickpocket, survive a trip down a waterfall, get out of a locked car trunk, or cross a piranha-infested river, I'll know what to do!

Paddington Marches On by Michael Bond

Not the best, but still fun revisiting a childhood favourite.

Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church by Philip Yancey

Another from the 2010 list. This one made me think. At times, there was so much food for thought that I had to put it down for a few days, just so I could digest it all. Often I found myself getting uncomfortable; other times I began having a spirited debate with some of the ideas promoted by authors Yancey discusses.

In the past year, I've learned not to be afraid to ask hard questions. Soul Survivor gave me many to ponder: What sorts of civil disobedience are Biblical? In what ways has the Church alienated people unnecessarily? What does it mean to love sinners? And many more. This is an important book for me, one I'm still thinking about weeks after I finished reading it.

John's December Reading

Currently Reading:

My Soul Magnifies the Lord: Meditations on the meaning of Christmas by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

This book consists of four expositions on the Magnificat - Mary's song in Luke 1. I've been reading one chapter in each Sunday of Advent.



Powers by John B. Olson

I received a copy of this as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers scheme. Stay tuned for the full-length review coming soon.

Science and Christianity: Four Views edited by Richard F. Carlson

This book is published by IVP, in apparent imitation of Zondervan's Counterpoints series. I'm reading this in preparation for a workshop I will be running at PYV Summer Camp on "Can I be a Christian and believe in science?"

The Faithful Sayings in the Pastoral Letters by George W. Knight III

I am in the middle of a series on the faithful sayings in the Aspendale evening services. Five times in the pastoral epistles (I & II Timothy and Titus), Paul says "this is a faithful [or, "trustworthy"] saying. The first one in particular is a great Christmas text: "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief," (1 Timothy 1:15)

Finished Recently:

The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc

Rather than being the story of Belloc's conversion (he was a life-long Catholic), this is a travel book, written in 1902. Read the book online here.

Belloc undertakes to walk from Toul (in France) to Rome. He does end up cheating, however - twice he catches a train, and twice he hitches a ride on a cart. Here is a Google map of Belloc's trip - I would love to follow in his footsteps one day. By car, of course - it's a 22 hour trip:



Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom

This is the sequel to Dissolution, which I read on my honeymoon. There are currently four books in this series of historical mystery novels, featuring a hunchbacked lawyer as the hero. "Dark Fire" is another name for Greek fire, the long-lost formula of which, in the book, has apparently been rediscovered.

Bound for Glory: A Practical Handbook for Raising a Victorious Family by R. C. Sproul, Jr.

This is the fourth and probably the best book I've read by R. C. Sproul Jr. This has some challenging things to say about Christian family life - and although I have read a fair bit on this subject, I found much in the book that I hadn't thought about before. For example, Sproul argues that a church Session can function as a sort of "court of appeal" for a wife (p. 93):

My wife and I have a dispute. We are not agreeing. I am asking her to do something she doesn't think we ought to be doing. So she goes to court. The court she comes to however, is the church, not the state. That I am not Jesus is painfully apparent. But here, in a church that is willing to exercise discipline and recognizes its rightful calling in these circumstances, she has protection.

The Old Church Book by Robin Langley Summer

This is coffee table book of churches in North America. Although it was a bit frustrating that not all the churches discussed were pictured, I was particularly interested in what it said about revival styles (Greek, Gothic, Romanesque), since they are also to be found in Australia. So, for example, when Kara and I visited Hobart last month, we saw St George's, Battery Point (left) whose pillars are clearly Greek revival. Notice the (architectural!) similarities to the United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts (right) which is one of the churches featured in the book:

Kara's September/October Reading

Currently Reading:

The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond by G. K. Chesterton

Mr. Pond is an odd character. He's always saying things that just don't make sense...at first. Take this from the first story, "The Three Horsemen of Apocalypse" : "... Grock failed because his soldiers obeyed him. Of course, if ONE of his soldiers had obeyed him, it wouldn't have been so bad. But when TWO of his soldiers obeyed him--why, really, the poor old devil had no chance."

And then there were the two doctors who "came to agree so completely that one of them naturally murdered the other..."

I'm enjoying this book. :)

Her Father's Daughter by Gene Stratton Porter

I've only just begun this title, but expect it will be an enjoyable, if somewhat flowery read. Porter's interest in birds and plants again comes to the fore in this story of a young girl living on the outskirts of 1920's Los Angeles.

Recently Finished:

The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out by Mark Driscoll

This book took me a while to finish, simply because I found it hard to get past Driscoll's tone. I found it both overly familiar--this diminished after the first chapter or so-- and times abrasive. However, now that I've made it to the end, I find myself wanting to read it again. There are many things he says about evangelism and culture that make me uncomfortable. But this is a good thing, because I am forced to ask myself "why?".

One thing in this book that I appreciate is the emphasis on evangelism through hospitality. This is an area I would like to grow in. Here are a few other things I've been thinking over:

"The way to avoid sin is not to avoid sinners but to stick close to Jesus." (p. 40)

"As long as Christians fail to repent of self-righteousness, we will continue to speak of evengelism in terms such as outreach, which implies we will not embrace lost people but will keep them at least an arm's length away." (p. 78)

"Jesus told us that the kingdom will be filled with joy, and so we make it a habit to take God very seriously and everything else very lightly." (p. 187)

My husband has written a review which covers the contents of this book more in depth.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

A mark of a good book of historical fiction is that it makes you want to read some real history. Even better if a bit of mystery is in the mix. This book fits the bill. It's a criminal investigation held hundred of years after the suspect(s) and victims are dead. On trial: Richard III.

Overall a great read, even though I was quite irritated at some historical revisionism regarding the Covenanters. Seems a bit much to marginalise them as simply political radicals, none of whom actually died for their faith.


From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple

A travel book in which Dalrymple retraces the steps of John Moschos, a 6th century monk who traversed Byzantium in its declining years, and then wrote a book called the Spiritual Meadow . I suppose what I liked best about the Holy Mountain was how I could learn ancient and modern history simultaneously. I was fascinated by the accounts of many strange sects, such as the Stylites, ascetics who lived on top of pillars. This book gave me a greater understanding of the difficulties that Christians face in the Middle East, and of the complexity of the issues behind conflict in the Holy Land.

Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis

One of the most intense books I've read. Probably wasn't a good idea to pick this up right after finishing Fahrenheit 451! Lincoln's Dreams is the story of a young researcher who meets a girl who is having very strange dreams. He soon concludes that they are not actually her dreams, but the dreams of Robert E. Lee, somehow transferred across the years (an idea I found quite disturbing). He sets out to help her, and soon finds himself in a bit of a predicament. There is a twist to this story that in retrospect I should have picked up on sooner. A very strange story.