A really entertaining whilst informative work about how London has disposed of its dead throughout history. This can be dipped into and enjoyed especially by those of a ghoulish disposition. Ironically, Arnold’s writing brings London richly ‘to life’. ISBN 978-1416502487
Dutch born Catholic priest and writer Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen wrote some of the most profound yet accessible works about the spiritual life in the twentieth century. This is one such, about the spiritual life in three movements. Our best chance at salvation is found in reaching out to others. ISBN 978-0006280866
If you have never tried a novel by Thomas Hardy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy) start with The Return of the Native (1878). Its themes of sexual politics, thwarted desire, and the conflicting demands of nature and society mark it out with a modern character. Still underlying is the trademark sense of foreboding and classical tragedy. Hardy’s landscape descriptions of
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Barnes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Barnes and http://www.julianbarnes.com/) may have equals on the English language literary scene but none, I think, better. Here he dissects the sense of his own mortality in a crafted prose that is breathtaking in its poise and elegance. He asks if the fear of death is ‘the most rational thing in the world’, how does one contend
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We are all familiar with John 18:38 where Pontius Pilate asks Jesus ‘What is Truth’. That particular question is as old as philosophy itself. What does it mean to be truthful? What role does truth play in our lives? What do we lose if we reject truthfulness? No modern philosopher is better suited to answer
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The Natural History of Human Co-operation If you have ever been worried by the argument that all human behaviour is ‘genetically determined’, this could be the antidote. Without ever departing from the theory of evolution Pagel (Head of Bioinfomatics at Reading University) argues that art, music, religion and morality have truly constituted what it is
If you enjoy your crime fiction hard boiled and street tough try this one for size. The synopsis is as follows. Maureen Coughlin is in a rut. At twenty-nine, the strong Staten Island native fears she may become a ‘lifer’ at the Narrows, the faux-swank bar where she waits tables five nights a week. Nursing
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The ideas of deep thinkers in religion are often at great variance from the average congregational member. Here, John Macquarrie (d.2007, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Macquarrie and http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/world/europe/03macquarrie.html?_r=0), Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford, gives us a superb account of exactly those theories which have been at the frontiers of religious thought in the twentieth century. You may be surprised
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For the lover of travel writing Patrick Leigh Fermor is iconic, an intriguing blend of romance and mindfulness. He could be Matthew Arnold’s scholar gypsy of the twentieth century. In ravishing prose he recalls adventures walking all over Europe in titles such as A Time of Gifts, Between the Woods and the Water, and Mani:
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