Before you get your hopes up, there is nothing about coffee on this page, although I thoroughly recommend that you only ever drink good coffee and excellent gin.
I love a good murder mystery, something with some element of historical fact about it. If I am honest, this is my go-to for leisure reading. But, in equal standing are books, films and documentaries about the paranormal.
I don’t plan on doing full on book reviews, because, quite frankly I don’t have the time for that! At most I just want to share something that I enjoy and hope that you might find something to tickle your fancy!
Lets start with the some historical crime…
These have to be some of my all time favourite books, so much so I went to Fountains Abbey on my holiday last year! Antonia Hodgson is the author of the Thomas Hawkins adventures. Set in Georgian England, this series starts in 1727 with Thomas entering the Marshalsea Debtors prison, where he meets Kitty Sparks. This series is a twisty turney relationship of Thomas and Kitty and all their adventures in 18th Century London keeps you interested and wanting to read more. There are currently four titles in this series – The Devil in the Marshalsea, The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins, A Death at Fountains Abbey and The Silver Collar.
These are brilliant if you like medieval ‘stuff’ and again these sit very high up on my list of excellent books. Susannah Gregory is the author of the Matthew Bartholomew series. She has written a number of series, but this is the one that I have been reading. This series is set in medieval Cambridge and the Monks of Michaelhouse. To find out more about Matthew and his adventures, you can check him and all the other series HERE.
Andrew Taylor is the author of the Marwood series set at the time of restoration England. The series starts at the time of the fire of London 1666. The adventures of James Marwood, a traitors son and Cat Lovett, the daughter of a regicide. From the great fire and the chared remains in St Pauls Cathedral to the slow rebuilding of the City. Times are volatile and danger is only ever a heartbeat away.
Nadia Bolz-Weber – for anyone who is disillusioned with the institutional Church, her writing in Accidental Saints demonstrates what happens when ordinary people share bread and wine, struggle with scripture together, and tell each other the truth about their real lives. This is an account of steps toward wholeness and will ring true for both believer and sceptic alike. At a time when the Church (and I speak about the Church of England) is at a point of falling headlong into oblivion, her book Shamless, is ‘raw, intimate, and timely. A full-blown overhaul of our harmful and antiquated ideas about sex, gender, and our bodies’.
I may be biased, as The Revd Dr Charlie Bell is a friend, and I hold him dear for many reasons, one of those being his steadfastness in the fight for equality and justice for LGBTQIA Christians within the Church of England. His book Queer Holiness: The Gift of LGBTQI People to the Church is a must read for anyone wanting to truly engage in human flourishing.
Tell me on a Tuesday... 