christianreader | My February reads

A better month than January.

Fiction:

Adam Bede by George Eliot
I'm glad I didn't give up on this.
Reading it echoed my experience with Middlemarch in some ways: it took about 100 pages for me to commit, 200 pages for me to get really interested, and by the time I hit 300, I was having a hard time putting it down. (Only with Middlemarch, you could probably double those counts and be more accurate...) It takes a long time for her to establish characters and unroll the setting, but if you're willing to be patient, the rest of the story will repay your efforts.

Based on remarks from a former professor, I expected this to be a lot about Methodism. While I'd actually *love* to write an essay on the religious themes in this book (I'm sure it's been done many times over), I was surprised by the directions it ultimately took. Shocked, actually, in spots. I'm still working out what I think about Hetty Sorrel and her story, but the descriptions of her journey to and from Windsor are just so affecting. The sorrow and suspense of chapters 34 through 48 left me drained. I even risked carsickness by reading on the bus; that's how badly I wanted all the unknowns to get resolved.

At this point, I'm almost ready to put myself down as a George Eliot fan, but I think I need to enjoy one more book before that happens. The Mill on the Floss perhaps?

The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macauley

I wanted to love this 1956 English novel, which is the Near Eastern travel story of an eccentric camel-riding Anglican lady, her nephew, and a cranky old priest who doesn't have much time for anyone or anything that's not Anglo-Catholic. Actually -- unfortunately -- it turns out to be mainly the story of the nephew, who is the least interesting of the three. The first 100 pages or so were uproarious and charming, but once I was left alone with Laurie, much of the appeal was sucked out of the narrative for me, even the actual travel bits. His stream-of-consciousness religious musings grew tiresome quickly. (Many reviewers seem to read Laurie as a woman, but I'm pretty confident that he is discreetly written as a gay man.)

Nonfiction:

Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus by Andrew Hofer
A monograph read/skimmed for the dissertation. More readable than many academic books.

Spurgeon's Sorrows: Realistic Hope for those who Suffer from Depression by Zack Eswine
A lovely, powerful book that draws strongly (if discreetly) on the author's own experiences of depression. It also draws liberally on the writings of beloved 19th-century preacher Charles Spurgeon, who suffered similarly. A Christ-centered and genuinely helpful book I'd recommend to Christians who struggle in this way.

Total read: 4