The Tree of Hands / A Demon in my View - Ruth Rendell

There will be spoilers, so don't go on, if that will ruin your enjoyment. 

The Tree of Hands 

I picked up a paperback from the book exchange shelf in the hotel, as I often do when these things exist.  This review is only for the first of these two stories - The Tree of Hands.  It is my first Ruth Rendell.  To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of it.  

Fairly early on, we start off with the criminal act of a woman who is clearly certifiable.  At this point we are following her daughter, Benet, who is set up as a self-sufficient woman.  So much so that she has had a child quite deliberately by a man she wants nothing to do with, and perhaps never really did.

Then we meet Carol, and her lover, Barry.  Carol is a career petty thief, and has the looks and character that make her unlikely to ever really love anyone.  It is Carol's child that goes missing.  The police involvement is really a side plot.  

Other characters are bought in, some are developed well, others are just there to round out the narrative.  

It is a very easy read, and there are plenty of twists and turns. One of those is Carol's murder, which is inadequately explained and seems to be a device to bring the book to a conclusion.  Having carefully wrapped up all the other plot lines, this one is terminated messily and seems like an easy way out for the author.

I am not sure if I should be sympathetic with the main character - Benet, or appalled by her actions and her selfish lack of judgement - she got away with it, as some criminals do, but I couldn't be more than disappointed at the ending.

⭐⭐☆☆☆ 

A Demon in My View
================
Of the two, this was better, the ending, a proper ending, a reasonable, believable ending. However, there is still an unexplained death, which favours the protagonist and so detracts from the believability of the plot. The characters are once again well-developed and rounded. There is less jumping around, which made the story easier to follow. Quite an enjoyable read. Delving into the mind of a psychopath was interesting, we've all met people like him and never realised. The action, the physical murders are almost glossed over, but the feelings are examined to a limited degree.  

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆  

 

Review: In the beginning GOD?

ISBN:0 901015 03 2

In the beginning GOD? by David A. Wilkinson

In the Beginning God?: Modern Cosmology and Biblical Creation Today - The Origin of the Universe According to Science and the Bible by David A. Wilkinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In his pamphlet style booklet, David covers a good amount of ground for the size of the book. His outlines of the science sound a little dated now - it was published in 1991. As a Christian and a (very) amateur scientist, I found it interesting and helpful. Redshift is explained in a simple way, which is one of the key factors in understanding an expanding universe. His look at the structure of Genesis diagram, quoted from "Genesis Today, E. Lucas" was also useful, and added to my thinking a little.

I have only rated this 4* because of its age, I'm sure there are more up-to-date booklets available now.

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Review: Hothouse - Brian Aldiss

ISBN:978-0-141-18955-0

Hothouse by Brian W. Aldiss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was a very long time ago that I first read Hothouse. I remembered a little about the world that the children initially find themselves in. The dumblers and running along the branches of the great banyan. I remembered Lily-yo and Gren, but beyond that I had forgotten much of the adventure.

This book is a science fiction classic and because it is such a good imaginative story set me reading science fiction for years. The story is set millions of years in the future when the rotation of the moon has slowed the earth to almost a standstill. The earth now has one face to the sun and one face from it (the dark side), just as the moon does with the earth. Vegetation has taken over, although a few insects and animals still exist - man included, the humans then are not like the humans now they have evolved to live in the new environment, and de-evolved in some senses too. Gren is an intelligent child and this attribute causes problems, and that is what makes the adventure so fascinating. Gren leaves the forest through various (mainly poor) decisions, but it is nor entirely his fault. This plot line give the opportunity to bring in new species of plant and animal. There are new dangers to overcome and new opportunities to be exploited. Eventually, through some tragedies (which are not greatly dwelt on) and through some comic scenes he makes it back to the forest.

Only one thing in the book did not work for me. They find what would not be described as a talking drone. Quite how that is supposed to have survived, power supply in tact, for thousands of millennia is not explained and for me the scene ruined the timeline that had been so carefully constructed and explained. It is only a small criticism of what is rightly a masterpiece.

The plot is a simple adventure story but the world it is set in is amazing.

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Review: The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset

The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book 1 especially is a real page turner as we get inside the mind of a young woman forced by her circumstances to undertake a remarkable challenge so that she can continue to do what she has been doing for much of her life - protecting her family. Seeing events through her interpretations and hearing her thoughts (or memories as I suppose they really are) mean we have a very clear view of her character. The story takes us from her 'selection' through to the end of the 74th Hunger Games.
I remember hearing the author on a radio program saying something like "what Katniss does has consequences, which is why it is a trilogy and didn't stop at one book".
Certainly at the end of the first book you cannot stop, there are too many questions about what happens next. The second book though is not such a brilliant read, but here we begin to get a feel for what is happening outside in the world, rather than just inside in the character. Is this just Katniss maturing, or is there more too it?
In the third book we are into revolution and war - a very different set up from the first two and a very different approach by Katniss. For me this third story was the hardest to read, it felt as though some of the characters needed to be removed before the end, and there were increasingly strange ways of killing them, like some sort of bizarre video game. But then that is the world she lives in! That aside there are atrocities for Katniss to come to terms with and her memories become a little fragmented it seemed (as they probably would in the real world, but I was in danger of losing track once or twice).
I read all three books in the lead up to my holiday, while I was away and in the few days after, rarely have I been so captivated by a trilogy, so having read them so close together may have skewed my view.
Highly recommended if you enjoy this genre.

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Review: Child 44

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The very first thing to comment on is the style of the printing. Dialogue is not in quotes, but italics and preceded by a long hyphen. There are no chapters in the conventional sense, the book is split up into scenes (ready for the film?).
These things take a little getting used to, but if we put presentation aside and concentrate on content the message is very different. I have lived through the lies that came out of Soviet Russia and read a little about what it was like inside. At the start of the book we see the abject poverty that existed in Stalinist Russia. Whole villages are starving to death. The first scene is about children trying to catch a cat to eat, at a time when all the cats have long ago been eaten - where has this one come from? (That piece of background has been provided for the reader, but not the characters.) The atmosphere this scene generates sets the whole tone for the book. In the next scenes, time has moved on and we are taken into into the world of the MGB (Stalin's secret police, or security service) where absolute dedication to the state is paramount and the slightest deviation or failure is rewarded with torture and death. The paranoia is well founded. Two central characters are introduced and the competitiveness between them makes for a large part of the story. Slowly their backgrounds are exposed. Sometimes this is done by a straight forward flashback scene, sometimes by revealing the characters internal thought processes. Their relationships with others, particularly around the central character (Leo Demidov) are slowly built and expanded. We begin to find out a little about Raisa, Leo's wife.
Leo is given some awful things to do - arrest people who are clearly innocent, torture them to get a 'confession' and have them killed. Then a child is murdered and Leo is given the job of covering it up - because Communist society could not possibly have murderers - there is no need to murder.
As the power games are played out, first one then the other of the rivals is on top, but things go wrong for Leo and he is moved, finally about half way through the book our detective is in the right location to begin to solve the crime. Until then there is little clue as to the main theme of the book.
That does not make the story slow at any point, with well drawn characters and a real sense of danger there is excitement from the minute the cat is discovered all the way through. Of course towards the end of the story the tension increases and there is a real chance that they will never solve the crime.
The story is based on a real criminal case, but how closely it is impossible to say. The crime itself is bizarre enough for a double episode of CSI or a BBC mini-series. The ending however, once the crime has been resolved is even more of a surprise and I wonder how close to the real events it can be, leaving as it does the possibility of a 'happy ever after' for at least some of the characters.

This is a primarily a detective story, and like all good detective story the loose ends are carefully rounded up and dealt with. It is also partly a love story, and partly a horror story, but most of all it is a story that draws you into the world in which it exists and the lives of the characters it portrays. Its description as a 'page turner' is thoroughly justified.

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The Shepherd's Crown (Discworld #41) by Terry Pratchett

Having previously read and enjoyed almost all the Discworld books, I approached this one with some trepidation. Would it live up to the rest of the series, or would it be a disappointment, and therefore affect my memory of Discworld as a whole.
While not the funniest of the novels, that award goes to the early ones, it still has some great humour. This is mostly generated by the Nac Mac Feegles - always up for a fight, never up for thinking, they provide the comedy and the muscle when it is needed. The story centres around Tiffany Aching and the return of the Elves to our world, but things have changed. No only does Granny Weatherwax die early in the story, but the Discworld has progressed and we have trains.
In many ways it is a story about a young woman (don't dare call her a girl) maturing under difficult circumstances. She has already proved her worth (in a previous book), but must now establish herself, and in the most difficult of roles - the 'head' witch.

It is a compelling read, and an up-to-date commentary on our times, it is not in the top half of the series in my opinion, and lacked a really good tense fight scene. The fight was left too late and covered in too little detail, so it was over before the struggle had hardly got under-way. Nevertheless it is a good read.

Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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.

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The Shack by William P. Young

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 one morning, 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 a paling of characterization in the last chapter as we try to understand the visible effects that the encounter has had on the main character and his relationships.  For me this should have been the bulk of the story.

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.

Eight Bells and Top Masts: Diaries from a Tramp Steamer

by Christopher Lee

published: April 2nd 2002 by Headline Review (first published 2001)

isbn 0747264201

 

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 developm ...more 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, to be replaced by containers and bulk carriers. It is (eventually) an engaging tale of growing up, and the diary entries show the development and growth of character as the story progresses. 

There's the drama of life aboard, brief visits ashore and the problems of living in very close quarters with strangers.  

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.

A Dog called Demolition

I was given this book as an introduction to Robert Rankin.  I read it.  That's probably the best that can be said.  It's a nice science fantasy idea but the execution of the no beginning, middle and end story just doesn't work.  I didn't really get to care about any of the characters, except perhaps the one who died near the beginning (at the end of the beginning?)
Some of the 'music hall' humour was out of place, some of the other humour has already dated.  The ending was more Monty Python than a fantasy story, and so hugely disappointing.

Bomber Boys

ISBN 978-0-00791215-1
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 taken 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 is also covered, and some time is spent on wartime 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, Hamburg 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.

Blood River - Tim Butcher

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 ...

The Blokes Bible - Dave Hopwood

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.

On the Edge - Richard Hammond

Weidenfiled & Nicolson
isbn 13 978 0 85327 5

When a national TV star has a serious accident in the course of his work it is BIG news. That is how things are these days. The viewer builds up some sort of relationship with the person on the small(ish) screen. So Richard's jet car accident was a big deal. The newspapers and the TV and radio news not only reported his crash, but also to some extent his recovery. This book is Richards record, for public consumption, of that whole process.

I started reading this on our quiet weekend, and got a fair way through. It starts with Richard's childhood and gives you some idea why he turned out like he did, his family life, and how he ended up on 'Top Gear'. This is all very interesting stuff as autobiographies go, but it isn't the main point of his book. The point is the recovery from the accident. It was just another mad day of filming. Richard describes the 'car' as he normally would. I could hear him as I read the words. The preparations for the run, the description of the simplicity of the controls. His evaluation of the vehicle and the driving experience. The description of the accident is brief. His thoughts during it are also recorded, but obviously from his memories - after the accident. He is used to observing and recording his impressions and playing them back for the viewer, and the accident is recorded in a similar way.

Immediately after the accident Mindy (his wife) takes over the narrative. It is through her descriptions of the aftermath that we get a real feeling for the impact that such an accident has on those around the victim. At first just the worry, the narrow focus on the person you think you may loose, and the overwhelming shock of it all. All this comes through really clearly.
The recovery process is more prolonged, this part takes about half the book. There are some lovely scenes that portray the madness of it all, they should be funny, but because we have got to know Richard somehow, they are not. The escape from the hospital, the military style operation to move the family to somewhere quiet so that the recovery can continue should be a point of high humour - but we care, so it isn't. Mindy's passages about the family, and particularly the children make for difficult reading. They are well written, but hard to read, hard to get through, especially if you have children of your own, I suspect.

Towards the end where Richard and Mindy are both writing, and it is possible to compare what they were doing by putting the passages next to each other, the font is changed so that we can easily tell who is who. That is helpful, but that part of the book is still the most confusing. It would have been better separated into chapters, and some explaining used to help the reader through. The constant switches from Richard to Mindy and back again just serves to break both stories.

It is a very readable book, from one of our best TV personalities, describing a difficult period in his life. Mindy's sections are perhaps the most important, and perhaps communicate the experience better than Richard's, but then she is on the outside, just as we are.

Nation - Terry Pratchet

Nation is not a disk world book, but something slightly different. The alternative reality is not so alternative. There will be times when you have to ask if there is any alternative here at all, but you won't get as far as asking about reality - that's solid enough. A boy is going through his right of passage to become a man when a tsunami hits the island. He is the only survivor because he was the only one not on the island waiting for the party to start. Others arrive, a ship - the Sweet Judy - arrives in the trees of the rain forest, from the more technologically advanced world. There is only a young girl left alive. Then there are survivors from other islands, as they arrive the world is slowly revealed.

As always it is a very good read. The characters are well created, and the claim that there has been thinking happening is clearly substantiated. There is the usual preponderance of discussion and thinking about God. This occurs at many levels, and the culture has a complicated set of gods. There is an ultimate creator, all the way through to ancestor worship. Some of this is rejected by some of the main characters, and some isn't. Quite why this is I have not worked out yet. Perhaps I need to do more thinking, but it seems to give the book an anti-religious sentiment for a while. The visitors also bring there own views and gods into the equation. As life returns to the island, and the world impinges on it more and more a reality returns, and an innocence is lost.

Humor is always a feature with Pratchet and Nation is no exception. While this book cannot be described as hilarious, the parrot is used to good effect most of the time, its interruptions breaking the tensions and generating a laugh.

At its root, Nation, is a love story, (not a romance - not quite) although you would not necessarily see it like that until close to the end of the book. I don't think that I've given anything away.

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.

Making Money (A Discworld Novel)

Terry Pratchett
Transworld Publishers (Double Day)

ISBN 9780385611015

The latest book in the ever lengthening Discworld series again concentrates on Moist von Lipwig as the central character. The environment is familiar and Ankh-Morpork is still ruled by Vetinari. Most of the characters though are new. The wonderfully comic Cosmo, who is completely mad, and his relatives, and a small dog all vie with Moist for ownership of the Ankh-Morpork bank. The bank has been under performing for years and requires the same type of transformation as the Post-Office (see the previous book in the series – Going Postal). Then there's the Golden Golem, the Golem Trust, and the possibility of war with the other cities on the Disc. Unseen University, Ponder Stibbons, and the Necromancy department Department of Post-Mortem Communications, are there to help out and avoid catastrophe, or contribute to it. A full cast list can be found in lspace.

We also come across another type of computer this one is water based and the whole area where is is operated is wet. It models the economy (read the book to find out how). When Moist is introduced to it, he says to it's programmer “Hello, I'm Moist”, to which the reply is “I should have put the umbrella closer to the door”. That's my type of quote!

It is clear from this novel that Pratchett does not have a high level of respect for banks. What is there that's of real worth – could it be Gold? As unlikely here as it is on the Discworld, but nonetheless something that people are drawn to. The gold standard is abandoned, as it has been in the sphere world. The story develops with its usual flourish, and a good deal of comedy, but here the characters themselves are more obviously comic in their own right. This is an easy and enjoyable read. Unlike most of the other novels in this series, its pace does not pick up dramatically at the end, which is no bad thing.

My last review of a Pratchett book was Wintersmith.

The Puzzle of Evil

The Puzzle of Evil
Peter Vardy
Harper Collins
ISBN 0-00-627638-5

Why does the good God of Christian belief let evil exist?

That's the question this book sets out to answer. If God really is omnipotent, omniscient, and all loving, how is it possible that there is so much evil? Well that's the simple version of the question, Peter takes the first chapter to examine exactly what the question is really, and the understanding of God we need to make it a valid question. We then take a look at the beliefs of Augustine and Aquinas. In the first few hundred year of the church the understanding of who God is developed quickly, and the core ideas settled. These two church fathers played an important part in establishing our tradition, and their ideas rightly receive careful examination. Then there are a few chapters discussing the free will defence – God had to give us free will, so that we could love Him. Love cannot be 'programmed in' – a robot cannot love. It really isn't that simple though.. Then natural evil – disease and disasters are examined – what effect do they have on the view of why there is evil in the world – they can't be caused by humans – or can they? Finally, in the first half of the book the questions “Is it all worth it?” is examined.

The second half of the book concentrates on the type of world we live in, the type of creatures we are, the type of God we have, Job, the devil, and how the moral framework and the beliefs we have hold all these things together.

This is not an easy subject, the greatest minds in history have puzzled over it, and have not come to a straight forward conclusion, let alone one that satisfies many of us in today's world, with the holocaust, the killing fields, and the tsunami all still fresh in our corporate consciousness. There are others too – the abduction and molestation of small children, and suicide bombings to name just two.

If you have the time, and the space for a relatively short book (205 pages), to set the scene and outline the arguments, then this will prove a good investment. For me it required some serious thought, and the arguments are still challenging. No doubt they will be for you as well. Peter Vardy has made a good attempt to help us into this difficult subject.

Why men hate going to church

Why Men Hate Going to Church

David Murrow
Nelson Books
ISBN 0-7852-6038-2

Almost any church you walk into, any Sunday service, any church committee, you will notice the gender gap. There are more women than men. Is this just the way of things? Are women just naturally more religious than men? If you think that's unlikely, but don't understand why and want to know mote, then this is the book for you. David starts by looking at Masculinity, and then at some more detailed categories of people who are not attending church. Did you know that the church is also lacking young women? Then he uses lots of statistics to prove the point. All of these are American, but look at the numbers and think of the churches you know. It begins to make sense. Now you're hooked. You have to read on to find out what can be done about this situation. Having explained his background, he move on to make some suggestions as to what might need to change. If you can remember back before the feminist movement, and see how things are different now, you'll get the idea, or part of it at least. If not you'll have to read the book and see how the church 'thermostat' as he calls it can be set in a more comfortable way for men.

I read this book while preparing for a training course I will be running shortly on reaching men. These ideas are not so much about reaching, as about keeping. There's no point in reaching men, having them commit their lives to Christ, only to leave the church in six months. So I will cover both – to some extent anyway.

WINTERSMITH

Wintersmith
Terry Pratchett

Doubleday
ISBN 978-0-385-60984-5

Tiffany Aching is almost thirteen, she live on Disc World, and is a trainee witch. Tiffany has voices in her head that help her, and us, see what is really going on. She is also frequently surrounded by very small blue men, they are called the Nac Mac Feegles. They have a duty of care over Tiffany, although they would not necessarily express it like that, so when ever she's in trouble they are watching over her and do their best to help. The Nac Mac Feegles have no fear, except of women, especially angry women, and of course witches. Otherwise they are always up for a fight. They provide the lighter moments in the book, and prevent us from taking the story too seriously. Tiffany is the typical precocious child, and will not do as she's told. She's not bad, quite the reverse, but her sense of independence gets her into trouble. She's looked after by an older witch, who is supposed to be training her. She's taken to see the dance where summer and winter swap as the dominant elemental for the new season. The dance is the Black Morris. -She joins in – always a bad idea, and gets mistaken for the Summer Lady. That's when the trouble starts, the wintersmith falls in love with her, and all sorts of dangerous things begin to happen.

Its Mistress Weatherwax (the hag 'o' hags as the Nac Mac Feegles call her) who's really looking after Tiffany and training her and testing her. She is one of the original characters in Disc World, and appears in many of the books. Here we see a softer side of her, but only just.

Using elements from various mythological stories, new ideas and twists, and of course the setting of disc world itself we have another brilliant story from Terry Pratchett. If you've read any of the Disc World stories, you'll already know what a good story teller Pratchett is. The characters are developed nicely from the previous book in the series, and you have a feeling there is more to come. Which we certainly hope there is.