Booklist, 2012

[tree_and_leaf]

The list includes books read for academic purposes, but only if I read all of them and not just a chapter here and there.

1. Graham Robb, The Discovery of France. R. (Fascinating if rambling account of the historical landscape of the French provinces; full of astonishing detail about a lost world).
2. Kurt Wanninger, Schwabensommer. One of a popular series of local crime novels set around Stuttgart, which have a certain charm (good dialect and local colour,and some engaging minor characters), but I've come to find the author's very obvious way of pushing his Luthero-Marxist politics a bit tiresome, and he's a lot less feminist than he seems to think. Though admittedly, nowhere near Stieg Larsson leagues here...
3. Arthur Ransome, Winter Holiday. R. Ransome is such a good writer.
4. Arthur Ransome, Pigeon Post. R.
5. Arthur Ransome, We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea. R.
6. Lucy Mangan, The Reluctant Bride. Hysterically funny, and worryingly close to my approach to organising a wedding. R.
7. Stephen Croft and Ian Mosbsby (eds) Fresh Expressions in the Sacramental Tradition. A mixed bag - some interesting articles about what is probably really 'alternative worship', others just plain wrong-headed, in my view (no, you can't just substitute fish and chips for bread and wine and call it a fresh expression of catholicism, nor are - worse still - the elements entirely dispensible to the Eucharist). Often the theological underpinnings are most notable by their absence, but the foreword and afterword - by ++ Rowan and Fr Stuart Burns OSB are quite good.
8. Graham Cray, et al. New Monasticism as Fresh Expression of Church. There's some very interesting stuff going on under the new monasticism rubric, though a lot of it reminds me of the beguines and/ or the devotio moderna (not that that's a bad thing). I found this book a bit frustrating - there were some interesting and challenging snapshots, along with some naive history and some really bad theology, but the main problem was that the various accounts of new monastic communities were very superficial. The article by Shane Claibourne was very good, though.
9. John Henry Newman, Callista.
10. Paul Theroux, The Old Patagonian Express.
11. William Temple, Readings in St John's Gospel.
12. John M Ford, How Much For Just The Planet?
13. John M Ford, The Final Reflection.
14. William Least Heat Moon, Prairyerth. R.
15. William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. R.
16. John Milton, The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce.
17. Martin Luther, The Estate of Marriage.
18. China Miéville, Embassytown.
19. Willa Cather, O Pioneers.
20. Gerald Durrell, The Whispering Land.
21. Michael Chabon, Summerland.
22. Judith Maltby, Prayer Book and People in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England.
23. Foster and Boyde (eds), Cambridge Readings in Dante.
24. Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. R.
25. Maria von Trapp, The Trapp Family Singers.
26. Paul Torday, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.
27. Len Deighton, Fighter.
28. Isabel Allende, Island Beneath the Sea.
29. Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games.
30. Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire.
31. Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay.
32. Mrs Oliphant, Miss Marjoriebanks. R.
33. Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Seville Comunion.
34. Jonathan Raban, Hunting Mr Heartbreak.
35. Jim Butcher, Storm Front. R.
36. Jim Butcher, Grave Peril. R.
37. Jim Butcher, Blood Rites. R.
38. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park. R.
39. Edward J. G. Forse, Ceremonial Curiosities and Queer Sights in Foreign Churches.
40 WR Inge, Mysticism in Religion. Of its time, which was not a good one for the church, but not without interest if you can get past the (Anglo) Catholic bashing and the distrust of socialism.