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May 2018 Reading

On overview of what I’ve read this month – too many murders!

Apologies that this post is a few days late; we’ve just returned from a holiday in the Lake District and today is my first day back at my desk for a while. For much of the month of May, I had a pile of 20 or so mission books which shifted between my desk and the floor next to my chair. This is because I’ve been reworking the literature review of my thesis. Though the bunch of books looked impressive, they were all ones that I’d read before and won’t make it into this month’s list, which is once again dominated by detective fiction.

Theology

Heralds and Community: An Enquiry into Paul’s Conception of Mission and Its Indebtedness to the Jesus-Tradition this is undoubtedly a very good book – it just isn’t the book that I wanted to read. It will appeal more to Pauline scholars than to people trying to understand the relationship between the church and mission agencies, which is what I was after.

Running

It’s a Hill, Get Over It is a fascinating book about the history of fell running. It won’t appeal to everyone, but if you are a runner, then you should think about it. I’ve started muttering the title to myself as I run in the hills.

Science Fiction

I started reading the Wanderer’s Odyssey – Books 1 to 3 with a tinge of concern, I’ve read enough cheap science fiction to know that there is a lot of rubbish out there. At first, the books seemed to confirm my worst fears; the author has created an interesting universe and then kept breaking his own rules in order to get the heroes of the story out of trouble. However, by the end of book three, I was pretty much hooked. I’m not sure that I’ll read the rest of the series at full price, but I enjoyed the start.

Murder Most Foul

For less than a quid on Kindle, The Polish Detective, is definitely a good read, nothing earth shattering, but a pleasing enough mystery with an interesting cast of characters. Last month (or was it the month before?) I mentioned that I’d read a number of books by Faith Martin; I added a few more this month MURDER IN THE VILLAGEMURDER AT HOME and MURDER IN THE FAMILY are all excellent reads with a good sense of character development as the series progresses (I’m sorry about the upper case letters, I’m not shouting – it’s just the way that Amazon produces the links).

I’ve had a bit of a binge read of Ann Cleeves Vera novels this month: Silent VoicesHidden DepthsTelling TalesThe Moth Catcher,The SeagullHarbour Street and The Glass Room are all excellent books and well worth a read if you like detective fiction. I love the television series, but the books are far better and the setting in North East England is much better described in print than on the screen.

Set in the 1970s or 80s with people smoking in their offices and much unconvincing Cockney dialect The Home Secretary Will See You Now is a nice little read centred around Whitehall. Cleaver Square is a good mystery, which leaves you guessing all the way – well worth a read. One of the things which sets detective novels apart is the choice of an interesting location (I get fed up with people being murdered in Oxford colleges) Preserve The Dead is set in Londonderry (or Derry if you prefer) and this brings a whole new series of interesting possibilities and an excellent mystery.

On a personal note, the shear volume of fiction that I’ve read this month indicates two things; firstly, I’ve been on holiday and secondly, I’ve not been sleeping well. Much though I enjoy a good mystery story, I’d rather be asleep at three am. If you are a praying sort….

One reply on “May 2018 Reading”

I can recommend ‘Why we sleep’ by Matthew Walker. Fascinating, but also useful advice in there. ://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/21/why-we-sleep-by-matthew-walker-review

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