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It is a long, long time since I read the original series of Ian Flemming books, but much less time since I have seen some of the films. The first thing to point out is that Bond in the films is a different character than in the books, so it is important that the character comes across correctly. I think Sebastian got this just about right. The plot of the book is good too, before writing this I had a look at a couple of other reviews, and I have to say I didn't pick up on the similarities that were mentioned to the previous stories while I was reading the book. It starts with a woman, which is always a good start for Bond. The plot has a nice twist at the end which is well hidden and well explained. After that intrigue the plot slows for a while. The violence and fight scenes are much more realistic than in the films, as they are in Ian Flemming's books, but here the physical limitations of the human being are not respected as much as they should be. A dislocated shoulder does not heal in a couple of days!

Overall this is an enjoyable book and well worth a read, but is not up there with the classics.

So many people (well, OK, one or two, but that's unusual) have asked me about it I thought I should get a copy and read it. As usual I read it mainly on the bus to and from work. The loss of a child is a difficult subject to think about and read about. The emotional reaction that results is not really suitable for the bus. There are plenty of those too if you follow the story through.
The book attempts to provide personal answers to the problem of human suffering caused by other humans. To meet its purpose the author provides various characterisations of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and uses the parent-child relationship to explain what is going on. Humans have standard reactions to situations, so for example, when they are wronged they want revenge. God, it seems does not have the same reactions, but loves us all - all the time. (This is of course an unreasonably short summary - but it is precisely what I was struggling with as I arrived at work, 5 minutes after getting off the bus.)
Some of the images of God are helpful, some are not. There are a few other books where you can check the theology that The Shack proposes and provide some biblical comparison. Two longer reviews with more on this are:
http://www.challies.com/articles/the-shack-by-william-p-young
http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001788.cfm

I nearly stopped at the start. The forward and early chapters are technically too difficult for a story. Things improve once we get to the centre of what's happening - the encounter with God. The ending is also difficult and the plot device used to 'cover up' God's intervention into his world is not dealt with particularity well. There is a lack of detail and the characterization pales in the last chapter as we try to understand the visible effects that the encounter has had on the main character and his relationships.

After reading it and reacting to it, remember that it is FICTION, and doesn't make a claim to be anything else. The god described in the pages bears a resemblance to the God that I know, but sometimes not a very close one. For me, at the end, it could never be transformational, but it is (mostly) a good, well written story, and very thought provoking.

Initially I had a problem with this book. The style is off-putting. The diary entries are interspersed with commentary. The commentary refers to the person writing the diary as 'the lad'. I know when I look back at myself 35 years ago I'm not the same person, but actually I am. The Lad, the author growing up, on his first job chose to work on a tramp steamer as the era of the tramp steamer was ending. It is (eventually) an engaging tale of growing up, and the diary entries show the development and growth of character as the story progresses. This type of life can no longer be experienced so it is a view into another world. The author should have been out of place in this world with his bright observations, but he wasn't and we benefit from that.
The book ends with a few pages on the history of British Shipping - very interesting, but I would have preferred a postscript on what the lad did next.

The 10 commandments, from ten to 1. Kind of a 'chart count down' of commandments. There is also an accompanying study guide, but I won't cover that here. I read this book because we are planning to run 'Just 10' in September - November 2010.
Each commandment is looked at using a similar approach. A detailed discussion of the problems caused by not following the commandment followed by some suggestions about how following the commandment may be achieved more successfully.
You can see from the book why the commandments are called 'Laws of Love'. They simply describe how life works, or rather how we'd all like it to work, so you don't have to be a Christian to read it, but it probably helps if you are.
I wouldn't describe this as an easy read. It should be read slowly and carefully. There will be times, I'm sure when you will want to stop and think about what he's saying. There were times when I wished he would go deeper, times when I wished he hadn't, and times when he really didn't need to.
Overall it does succeed in its aims of showing how the commandments are relevant today, and will always be.

From WWII to the aftermath of Gulf War II, From Churchill to Blair. The book covers all of my life and a few years. My political awareness of general elections goes back to Wilson's first government. It was interesting to read through so much history and try to put my memories in.
The writing style makes the book and easy (if long) read, and some of the connections it uncovers are fascinating. "There is nothing new under the sun" - even the sixties, even the eighties. Especially 'New Labour'.
I especially like the fact that the recent years are treated in the same style as the earlier years. I was expecting the style and intensity to change, if it had I would have been disappointed.
Almost all politicians set out to do one thing and end up doing something different, and sometimes being remembered for something else - completely different.
There are also some excellent insights into popular culture - its not all politics.

I would recommend you read this book if you get the chance, if only to flesh out your memories.

Britain has changed unrecognisably in the last 50 years, and the rate of change is increasing. It's good to take a few hours to find out where we came from and how we got here.

Bomber Harris I'd heard of, but I knew little, if anything about the men under his command. This book puts that straight. It is written about those who actually flew, the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, rear gunners. Most of the recollections are take from their letters. This is because the Bomber Boys formed the front line of WWII. That meant the death rate was appalling. You cannot get away from the sense of loss - although there is a chapter dedicated to death the spectre of it is on almost every page.

We are taken from the start of the war, through the volunteers (all of them were, even if they'd been conscripted) selection and early training. The RAF mechanism for putting crews together - not what you'd expect. On to the operational flights, problems with the aircraft, and good things about the aircraft. Here some of the main characters begin to appear.

In later chapters their friendships are examined, in particular their loyalty to their crew. A special closeness develops very quickly when under fire from flak and fighters in the dark at 15,000 feet., Their personal relationship are also covered and some time is spent on war time romances. Some of these come from letters kept by girlfriends for the remainder of their lives.

For the most part the Bomber Boys believed in what they were doing, even though they were regularly the target of propaganda, they were not so easily fooled. That Nazi Germany was waging total war, and the combined efforts of the Allies were only just enough to turn the tide. So when you hear about Dresden, don't only think in terms of revenge for Coventry, remember that when the raid was made it was not clear that the war had only months to run.


I bought this book towards the end of my unemployment in 2008, and have just finished reading it. Without that episode I would never have considered such a topic. I'm glad I did. It is not an easy read - you just start to get to know someone only to hear they have been killed, or are 'missing', or taken prisoner. Patrick Bishop has done a brilliant job of bringing the Bomber Boys to life, and latterly showing how little their achievements and sacrifice have been officially recognised.


There is only really one criticism. The campaigns, or battles, for the Rhur, Berlin, Hambourg etc are spread throughout the book and it is a little difficult to keep current with just where we are in the war as the topics change. However there are extensive indexes, references., plane schematics and the like to keep you busy once the reading is done.



The main part of the book ends with:



Went the day well,

We died and never knew,

But well or ill, Freedom,

We died for you.


--- which Oh, so many of them did.

ISBN 978-0-099-49428-7
The book is sub-titled A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart. It is the story of one man's obsession. Tim Butcher was obsessed with the Congo. I knew next to nothing about it, and bought the book because it looked like an interesting story. His obsession is not just with the Congo River, but also with the question "What is wrong with Africa?" The Congo has gone from a Belgium colony, made famous by the film "The African Queen", to probably the most failed state in the world today. It is a huge country in the middle of Africa, and the river flows across it from east to west. Tim decides to re-create Stanley's (Sir Henry Morton) journey across Africa, down river from the source on lake Tanganyika to the Atlantic ocean. The current state of the Congo meant that the journey is even more dangerous than it was when Stanley tried, and (just) succeeded, and claimed the Country for the Belgian King. There are any number of groupings of 'rebels' - we'd call them terrorists anywhere else. The government is only in control of a small part of the country and to do anything there are government officials to get approval from, and to pay bribes to. Bribes are the only wages many of them get. The only real 'authority' lies with the U.N. peace keepers and aid workers - who seem to spend most of their time behind closed doors - or better concrete walls.
The book is split into chapters with sketch maps of the parts of the river that each chapter deals with. Tim sounds like a real expert on Congo history - he may possibly be the only non-resident in the world with such a knowledge. In each chapter we get not only the story of the people who he meets but also some of the history of the area. Almost all the histories involve massacres of some kind. It has to be said that they do rather merge into one as you read through the book. There are one or two that stand out as being unusually horrific even by Congo standards. There are time when he has weapons pointed at him, and when he is in fear for his life. The contrasts between these people, the aid workers, and some remaining missionaries, and a few locals is one of the great high lights of the book. There are many people struggling to make their own and other peoples lives work better in a situation that can rightly be described as hell on earth. Their stories are fascinating and leave you wondering why they bother and how they can stand the strain. Then there are those who are there for power and money. Some of those are even helpful to Tim.

Perhaps the most telling passage for me is a few paragraphs on a conversation with a peace keeper from Malaysia. His country was colonised and brutalised, but after independence it is now developing - "we even have a Grand Prix". While Africa, and in particular the Congo is going backwards. So you cannot put all the blame on the European colonists. No solution is offered, but paths are suggested in the last chapters. If you think you have a solution then after reading the book you may well change your mind.

It is not a page turner, not for me anyway. I had to stop a number of times - just to think a little about the horror and the squandering of human life.

Did he succeed in recreating Stanley's journey - you'll have to read it to find out ...

ISBN 978-1-85078-712-9

I spotted this book at Lee Abbey while waiting for the hot chocolate to be served. The reviews on the back looked interesting. "Refreshingly and even Disturbingly honest ...". Also I have an interest in finding material that may be of particular interest to men. This one has a fetching black cover with a light tan coloured strip along the top. If that doesn't remind you of something straight away think toucans, or the phrase "he waits, that's what he does".

The book certainly lives up to its billing from the back cover. The story of one mans escape to his local, his pint, and some time spent reading his black book. Each chapter takes a bible story, some are well known, there's David and Goliath, and Moses' murder of the Egyptian. Some are less well known, and delve into the prophets. These sent me back to my copy of the black book to remind myself of the settings. The stories are re-told in a modern genre. There is by the authors own admission some licence in the re-telling. Then the stories are related to the 'real life' situation in Cutters, which is the Local pub.

"The whole of human life is here" is a phrase often used of the Bible, and is really true of this adaption as well. This version though is a lot shorter! The writing is good and clear, and the biblical characters come to life, you can sometimes get the sense that you knew the sort of person they were. I especially like the characterization of the apostle Thomas (the doubter?).

Does it connect with men? Well assuming you can get them to read, then yes it does. Unfortunately books are not the easiest thing to give to some men. For those that will read it there should certainly be some degree of emotional response as they engage with the biblical stories, although that may not be so true of the cast of Cutters. They, of course, are just a mechanism to ground the story into the real world - the stories themselves are what its all about.

The Blokes Bible is an interesting way of presenting the Bible, which I enjoyed reading. I hope it gets shared around, and gets out there to a wider audience than those who attend Lee Abbey, where the book is sold, and where Dave works.

Here it is on Amazon.

Too Busy not to Pray (Slowing down to be with God)
Bill Hybels
Inter-Varsity Press
ISBN: 0-85111-329-X

I read this book as part of the preparation for the week of prayer at Christ Church. Our vicar Warner recommended it. The back cover overview starts "Why should we pray? How can we when we are so busy?". Thats covers some of the reasons why I wanted to read it. Others include the questions of technique - just exactly WHAT can you do that will help you engage with God. The clue to this is in the sub-title, of course. I also wanted to know about hearing God's word. Many years ago I read "Listening to God" and found it very helpful. Applying some of the suggestions in here improved my prayer life, but over a period of time things get stale, thats how I am (and how most people are , I think). So its is good to find a book that addresses things slightly differently, and allows us to take a new approach. Bill starts his book with three chapters about God. What you understand about God, and how much you really believe it will have an impact not only on how you pray, by also on your motivation to pray at all. Then there are some techniques, based around the ACTS acronym - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. Bill recognises that we will not simple jump into a new way of praying and find that it works brilliantly, he suggests that practice is required. I agree.

The book ends with some discussion on listening to God, and evaluating what you hear - to be sure that the source of the message is indeed the Holy Spirit, and not just our own internal cravings, or something much worse. As a pastor of many years understanding, he has some good examples to share. They may well make you think of some "What if I'd .." situations in your past.

As a way to improve or perhaps establish your personal prayer life this is a useful read. I am currently trying some of his suggestions to see how they work for me. Everyone, is of course different, but most of us aren't THAT different, so its likely there will be something useful for most people.