New Year Reading

This year I've once again set my Good Reads reading challenge.  I've done this for a few years now, it's the extreme sport challenge for readers I think - you set how many books you'll read and I love it!  Someone pointed out that if I read 52 books ( - I didn't) that is one a week.  I've opted to read 40 this year - which is some amount of books! Given that I have a stack of unread ones by my bookcase and a library card, this should be very achievable.

I've had an unfortunate start to 2020, having had one of the worst asthma flares after a chest infection that I have had for 10 years.  Not good.  But lots of time for reading.

So here are the recommends:

Ann Cleeves: Wildfire (Shetland series) I haven't read any of the others but if this is the last one the rest must have been excellent.  Twisty plot, interesting characters, evocative descriptions of Shetland scenery and way of life.  Loved it and have ordered another in the series from the library.

Lindsay Davies: Time to Depart (Falco series)  One I hadn't read from fairly early in the series.  I love these books - a Roman "private eye" in a seedy run down quarter of Rome who romps his way through a murder or two.  The humour is excellent - slightly tongue in cheek smutty and the main characters and host of minor folk make me smile.  I think from watching Mary Beard on Roman culture on TV that her portrayal of the dark, grimy "lived outside on the street" overcrowded life of the Roman ordinary folk is pretty realistic.  Life can't all have been marble and hot baths!

Adam Hamilton: Making sense of the Bible.  After a quick chat with a preacher who recommended him.  This is a second hand copy so I have no idea if it's available still.  I'm really enjoying this.  Lots to think about.  So much more substantial than (in my opinion) Rachel Held Evans "Inspired" which left me uninspired and very cold.  He is very fine on the development of the scriptural "canon" and raises all the questions I'm currently asking - and suggests some helpful ways forward.  But what clinches it for me is his obvious love and respect for the Bible and for Jesus, wanting to follow Jesus more closely has to be a hit for me! I suspect he's controversial but I have heard most of the material in RE classes years ago and come across versions of this over time.  Very well worth a read.