Bookworm

It is well known that I am a bookworm.

After Alice's last stay in hospital I decided to reread the Daisy Dalrymple books by Carola Dunn. I barely stopped till I'd read 20 out of 22 books. You've heard of binge-eating? Let me introduce you to binge-reading.

Back in the summer I reread C.S. Lewis's 'Surprised by Joy'. I like (most of) it for many reasons but one of them is seeing how much of his life he spent with his head in books; and how he read his way to faith in Christ, and how he used his words and his intellect and his imagination to have such an impact on so many people.

 I wonder if he liked whodunnits?

Every now and again I hear Dorothy L Sayers quoted in church: she was the author of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels, which I love. 

But they don't quote her novels. She was also a playwright, a poet, and a Christian evangelist, a very good one as it turns out. I particularly like the way she writes about the 'shattering personality' of Jesus. Here's a little taster courtesy of Google.  And I have set myself the challenge to be quoting from some detective novels on this blog soon. You're welcome. 

'It is the dogma that is the drama- not beautiful phrases, nor comforting sentiments, nor vague aspirations to loving-kindness and uplift, nor the promise of something nice after death- but the terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world lived in the world and passed through the grave and gate of death... they may not believe it; but at least they may realize that here is something that a man might be glad to believe.'

Dorothy L Sayers, Creed or Chaos?: Why Christians Must Choose Either Dogma or Disaster