"Books are Fun"

That was the name of a song by Barney the purple dinosaur when Toby was very small. But anyway, that aside, the long hours travelling to and from India (and in India) and some bits of down time while there did give an opportunity to read some bits. Here's a summary:

Divorce and Remarriage in the Church - David Instone-Brewer: A helpful look at a potentially difficult subject; it made, for me at least, a compelling case that the "traditional" way of reading the New Testament on these issues may not be the most faithful.

Home - Marilynne Robinson: This is the "follow-up" to Gilead (see my earlier post) and in many ways tells the same story but from a different point of view. Once again it is wonderfully written, and I could imagine myself re-reading it without any trouble at all. It somehow manages to be sad, regretful and yet strangely hopeful all at once.

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins: Well, I figured I had to read it for myself at some point. Inevitably, there's a lot of rant I suppose you'd call it. But Dawkins does write well, is witty, and makes some fair points. That said, the main point of his argument seems to be a (only slightly) more sophisticated version of the question every child asks: "Who made God, then?". The saddest bit for me was the venom that some "Christians" have poured out on Dawkins...not helpful in any way at all as far as I can see.

The Believers - Zoe Heller: This novel is actually about a family who have strong Socialist values, that starts to fall apart. An interesting enough way to spend a long flight, but didn't really compete for my attention with the others!