Tag Archives: books

Has a book changed your life?

I have been known as a bibliophile. As a child “bookworm” might have been my middle name. When I retired I culled my library, disposing of hundreds of books. I also kept hundreds and am culling again – only to make room for more. Reading has changed my life, but no book in particular –Continue reading “Has a book changed your life?”

…increased in wisdom…

… continuing thoughts on transition from full-time work to retirement. Even as I downsize the library I have collected and maintained over several decades of ministry, I contemplate how I will maintain an inquisitive and searching mind that is keen, not only to store information, but apply an accumulation of knowledge and experience in that uniqueContinue reading “…increased in wisdom…”

The Books We Read – Fellow Pilgrims…

Astute followers of this blog will notice a page has been added. This follows the addition of the page that links to bloggers I follow … and is in some way related. A pilgrim never travels alone. The “bloggers I follow” page acknowledges some fellow pilgrims along the way, some of whom march to theContinue reading “The Books We Read – Fellow Pilgrims…”

Craft for a Dry Lake by Kim Mahood

Part of my summer reading is an autobiography that weaves the theme of attachment to land by settler and Aborigine alike. The death of the author’s father prompts a personal pilgrimage to the remote station lands of her childhood. Her connection to the land is marked by ambiguity – it is a wrestling with identityContinue reading “Craft for a Dry Lake by Kim Mahood”

Some books I’ve been reading…

Here’s two I’ve managed to complete in the Christmas New Year lull…  The other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson (Chatto & Windus, London, 2006) The tragic outcomes of sibling rivalry span two generations in a remote Canadian farming community – not too remote to be unaffected by unfolding world events such as theContinue reading “Some books I’ve been reading…”

Book Review: There, Where the Pepper Grows

 Bem Le Hunte, There, Where the Pepper Grows, (HarperCollins, 2005) is a compelling read, tracing the story told by protagonist Benjamin, a Polish Jew who, fleeing Nazi occupation with wife and childhood sweetheart (circumstances of wartime survival inform us these are not the same person), ends up in Calcutta. Here, with attendant complications, they make theirContinue reading “Book Review: There, Where the Pepper Grows”

Book Review – The Shack

Author: William P Young, Windblown Media, 2007 After more than thirty years of trying to come to grips with an adequate articulation of an intellectual understanding of the Trinity, this book has finally convinced me that it can’t be done! No wonder the biblical writers avoided anything like the “T” word with its propensity forContinue reading “Book Review – The Shack”

Revisiting Aquachurch

This book (by Leonard Sweet) was probably one of the most influential in getting this aging baby-boomer to begin thinking outside the square when it comes to organising and leading churches through change. It comes to light again as I travel with my congregation through a Church Life Review process. Many of our learnings areContinue reading “Revisiting Aquachurch”