Reviews
Books of the year
by Third Way's family & friends
It's the time of year when Third Way invites
its friends & family to announce the best book of 2011.
Once again I'm afraid they've entirely failed to reach a
consensus, so we're going to have to leave it up to you to read
them all an arbitrate. Do let us know the result.
Among Others
Jo Walton
Tor
The most thought-provoking and delightful book I can remember
reading this year (since I finished it only a week ago) is Jo
Walton's novel Among Others. It's an extraordinary blend of fantasy
and social comedy, rather like an optimistic Alan Garner. It's also
a much better book about growing up unusual than Catcher in the
Rye. Anyone who took refuge in books in adolescence will recognise
and remember themselves in the heroine. Anyone who read a lot of
science fiction then will wonder how Jo Walton stole the diaries we
kept in our heads. She has also managed to write entirely original
fairies who hover in exactly the right way at the edge of vision,
and of credibility. Completely wonderful. Andrew
Brown
The Forty Rules of Love
Elif Shafak
Viking
If you are a fan of Rumi, the Sufi poet and mystic, then you
will love this amazing novel, that reveals through the lives of
different people how he came to be a poet. Interwoven with that
story is the unfolding tale of Ella Rubenstein, a contemporary US
woman, who works as a reader for a literary agency.
When she is asked to read Sweet Blasphemy a book about
Rumi and his teacher, Shams of Tabriz, Ella begins to learn about
love, and about faith, in new ways: by entering into a
correspondence with the author, and through the rules of love that
Shams teaches in the book she is reading. What she learns has
profound consequences for her. I found this book to be exquisitely
written, extraordinarily perceptive and deeply moving.
Christina Rees
Nemesis
Philip Roth
Vintage
Never believe middling reviews of Roth's novels: they are all
great. Nemesis is a vivid glimpse of 1940s America, and the young
male psyche, idealistic and proud. By contrast I found Franzen's
Freedom fun to read but two-dimensional; its trite message seems to
be that one is defined by the success or failure of one's
love-life. Not true: I am happily married but still full of angst!
Theo Hobson
God's Biologist: A life of Alister Hardy
David Hay
Darton Longman Todd
Hardy (1896-1985) was one of the most distinguished marine
biologists of the 20th century. The Continuous Plankton Recorder
which he invented continues to provide information about the small
animals of the ocean, marking seemingly inexorable changes in
climate. In 1914 Hardy vowed to devote his life to 'bringing
about a reconciliation between evolution theory and the spiritual
awareness of man'. His tactic was to achieve eminence in science so
that he would not be written off as a religious nutcase. He
achieved his aim: Oxford Professor of Zoology, Fellow of the Royal
Society and a knighthood. In a series of Gifford Lectures and
through a 'Religious Experience Research Unit' which he set up in
Oxford (but which only achieved financial viability when Hardy
became the first scientist to win the Templeton Prize), he sought
to fulfil his religious vow. David Hay - himself a zoologist -
served for a time as Director of the Unit. He tells the story well.
Hardy's ambition was excellent; his theology somewhat flaky. There
remains a challenge for all of us to finish the task he set
himself. RJ Berry
Death Comes to Pemberley
PD James
Faber & Faber
I can't think of a more delicious literary combination than Jane
Austen and PD James. That's what you get with Death Comes to
Pemberley, James's eagerly-awaited sequel to Pride and
Prejudice. The world is littered with Austen sequels,
most of which are best ignored, but James, herself a lifelong
admirer, has succeeded beautifully in recreating Austen's wit,
perception and immaculate plotting. She gives us a bloody murder to
solve too, the victim being the feckless Wickham, reluctant husband
of Lizzie's wayward sister Lydia. Both Janeites and Jamesites will
be satisfied with the outcome as in the best Austen tradition,
peace, order and harmony are restored once again to Pemberley.
Judith Elliott
Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
Fourth Estate
Preferring these days, to read weighty tomes of intellectual
history that make me look and feel clever, I had to be bullied into
reading a 550 page novel. What foolishness! Wolf Hall is every bit
as good as Booker Prize judges said: vivid (painfully so in
places), lyrical, precise, disturbing. It is difficult - do not
expect to romp through it - written in a voice that demands
attention. But the attention is worth it. Put down that 850 page
history of German thought since Frederick the Great and spend a
fortnight in the early Reformation. You will not regret it.
Nick Spencer
God, Lost and Found
John Pritchard
SPCK
This is not a book for people who want to brush doubt under the
carpet, nor for those who respond to fears and unbelief with pious,
orthodox 'an-swers'. Bishop John Pritchard wrestles alongside those
who are struggling, articulating their case, entering their pain
and anguish, and is unsurprised at doubt. In fact, he gives us
dozens more reasons why we might not believe. But his own response
is itself orthodox:, not glib, not easy, but Christian - full of
honest compassion, wry gentle humour, quiet imagination and solid
hope. Elaine Storkey
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Jeanette Winterson
Jonathan Cape
Anyone familiar with Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, will remember
the bold landmarks of Jeanette Winterson's thinly-disguised
autobiography: the terrifying adoptive mother, the gospel tent, the
collision of lesbianism with fundamentalism.
What's shocking about her memoir, 25 years
later, is that the unvarnished truth turns out to have been much
bleaker. Routinely beaten, often hungry and left all night on the
doorstep, Winterson was told by her depressive mother that she
picked the wrong crib when she adopted her.
Yet Why be Happy When you Could be Normal? (the
title was her mother's question as she evicted her at 16 for
being a lesbian, previous attempts at exorcism having failed) is
singularly free of the anti-religious bitterness one might expect.
Indeed, as Winterson recounts her nervous breakdown, suicide
attempt and quest to find her birth mother, what emerge are grace,
humour, compassion and a spirituality based on the power of
love.
"There are three kinds of big endings," she
writes. "Revenge. Tragedy. Forgiveness… Forgiveness redeems the
past. Forgiveness unblocks the future." A courageous, moving and
ultimately redemptive book. Nick Thorpe
Wolf: The lives of Jack London
James L Haley
Basic
London's biography is as fascinating as his fiction (he is most
remembered here for White Fang and Call of the Wild. Before the age
of 20, he had lived a tough, impoverished existence as the
family 'work beast' in Oakland, California, an oyster pirate, a
fake able seaman and seal hunter, tramp, and student. By
1903, and not yet 30, he had usurped Mark Twain as the USA's
favourite author.
Even if you've never read any of London's books, Haley's is
gripping. He paints a vivid picture of the exploitation and
hardship of the USA's 'Gilded Age' of laissez-faire capitalism. His
experiences made London a life-long socialist with a fascination
for Jesus' teaching that he called 'the sociology of Christ' but he
was horrified at how religion maintained society's injustices.
Catherine von Ruhland
Between Naivety and Hostility Uncovering the best Christian
responses to Islam in Britain.
Eds. Steve Bell and Colin Chapman
Authentic
This book addresses the reality of Britain today where large Muslim
communities form a significant part of many cities. The 20
contributors are all Christians with personal knowledge and
experience of the multiple facets of Islam. They stress the need
for Christians to be aware of the complexities of the different
Islamic viewpoints. This means taking a stand against media
stereotypes and being prepared to be involved in dialogue and
bridge building.. Hard issues such as the place of women and
'jihad' are not sidestepped but many other faces of Islam are
explored and the broader horizons of Islamic teaching are opened
up. This is an encouraging and instructive series of essays.
Caroline Berry
Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial
Age,
Robert Bellah
Belknap Harvard
The currently dominate evolutionary theory of religion can seem
doubly offensive to believers. On the one hand, it likens faith to
a cognitive mistake, akin to seeing a UFO where there is really a
circular cloud. On the other hand, the description of faith it
draws on - essentially, a set of propositional convictions - seems
little like the multifaceted engagement with life that most
believers would recognise. Robert Bellah's book might do much to
challenge that. He is a big shot sociologist of religion, who
understands it as it is, and also suggests that evolution might not
only make good sense of religion but might even deepen religious
people's sense of what they are about. Drawing on powerful theories
about the role of ritual, performance and play in the search for
meaning and understanding, he looks particularly at the shifts in
the history of religions that occurred during the axial period.
It's a long book and heartily to be recommended for those
interested in the interface between science and religion. Mark
Vernon
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot
Macmillan
This is a remarkable book. Ostensibly, it is the story of HeLa
cells, well known to all experimental biologists as a cancer cell
culture used in labs all over the world. But it is also the story
of a poor black American woman, Henrietta Lacks, who 'donated',
without her knowledge, a chunk of her ultimately fatal cervical
cancer from which the cell culture was established. It is the story
of Lacks' family, at the time of her death and through later
generations. And it is the story of their reactions of as they
slowly came to understand the history and significance of HeLa
cells. The whole saga is beautifully related, gripping, emotive,
challenging, thought-provoking and above all true. Although its
basis is science, it is completely accessible to non-scientists
(just ask my wife's book group). I enjoyed this book so much that I
was sorry when I reached the end. John Bryant
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
Century
Cline's novel is set in 2044, 30 years into a depression so bad
that the late 20th century looks like a golden age. The novel has a
thriller plot, but what fascinates me is the book's reflection on
internet culture and online worlds. Social conditions are so dire
that most people escape by immersing themselves in the OASIS, a
virtual universe of cosmic dimensions which provides them with
education, entertainment and relationships. In this sense, the
novel is a credible imagining of how the virtual world might
develop.
It has been improbably hailed as a worthy successor to William
Gibsons's Neuromancer, which introduced the term 'cyber-space', but
it is worth reading in its own right, both for sheer entertainment
and thinking about the state of cyberculture. Simon Jenkins
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Jeanette Winterson
Jonathan Cape
Anyone familiar with Oranges are Not the Only Fruit,
will remember the bold landmarks of Jeanette Winterson's
thinly-disguised autobiography: the terrifying adoptive mother, the
gospel tent, the collision of lesbianism with
fundamentalism. What's shocking about her memoir, 25 years
later, is that the unvarnished truth turns out to have been much
bleaker. Routinely beaten, often hungry and left all night on the
doorstep, Winterson was told by her depressive mother that she
picked the wrong crib when she adopted her. Yet Why be
Happy When you Could be Normal? (the title was her mother's
question as she evicted her at 16 for being a lesbian,
previous attempts at exorcism having failed) is singularly free of
the anti-religious bitterness one might expect. Indeed, as
Winterson recounts her nervous breakdown, suicide attempt and quest
to find her birth mother, what emerge are grace, humour, compassion
and a spirituality based on the power of love. "There are
three kinds of big endings," she writes. "Revenge. Tragedy.
Forgiveness… Forgiveness redeems the past. Forgiveness unblocks the
future." A courageous, moving and ultimately redemptive book.
Nick Thorpe
Wolf: The lives of Jack London
James L Haley
Basic
London's biography is as fascinating as his fiction (he is most
remembered here for White Fang and Call of the Wild. Before the age
of 20, he had lived a tough, impoverished existence as the
family 'work beast' in Oakland, California, an oyster pirate, a
fake able seaman and seal hunter, tramp, and student. By
1903, and not yet 30, he had usurped Mark Twain as the USA's
favourite author. Even if you've never read any of London's
books, Haley's is gripping. He paints a vivid picture of the
exploitation and hardship of the USA's 'Gilded Age' of
laissez-faire capitalism. His experiences made London a life-long
socialist with a fascination for Jesus' teaching that he called
'the sociology of Christ' but he was horrified at how religion
maintained society's injustices. Catherine von
Ruhland
Between Naivety and Hostility:
Uncovering the best Christian responses to Islam in
Britain.
Eds. Steve Bell and Colin Chapman
Authentic
This book addresses the reality of Britain today where large
Muslim communities form a significant part of many cities. The 20
contributors are all Christians with personal knowledge and
experience of the multiple facets of Islam. They stress the need
for Christians to be aware of the complexities of the different
Islamic viewpoints. This means taking a stand against media
stereotypes and being prepared to be involved in dialogue and
bridge building. Hard issues such as the place of women and 'jihad'
are not sidestepped but many other faces of Islam are explored and
the broader horizons of Islamic teaching are opened up. This is an
encouraging and instructive series of essays. Caroline
Berry
Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the
Axial Age,
Robert Bellah
Belknap Harvard
The currently dominate evolutionary theory of religion can seem
doubly offensive to believers. On the one hand, it likens faith to
a cognitive mistake, akin to seeing a UFO where there is really a
circular cloud. On the other hand, the description of faith it
draws on - essentially, a set of propositional convictions - seems
little like the multifaceted engagement with life that most
believers would recognise. Robert Bellah's book might do much to
challenge that. He is a big shot sociologist of religion, who
understands it as it is, and also suggests that evolution might not
only make good sense of religion but might even deepen religious
people's sense of what they are about. Drawing on powerful theories
about the role of ritual, performance and play in the search for
meaning and understanding, he looks particularly at the shifts in
the history of religions that occurred during the axial period.
It's a long book and heartily to be recommended for those
interested in the interface between science and religion.
Mark Vernon
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot
Macmillan
This is a remarkable book. Ostensibly, it is the story of HeLa
cells, well known to all experimental biologists as a cancer cell
culture used in labs all over the world. But it is also the story
of a poor black American woman, Henrietta Lacks, who 'donated',
without her knowledge, a chunk of her ultimately fatal cervical
cancer from which the cell culture was established. It is the story
of Lacks' family, at the time of her death and through later
generations. And it is the story of their reactions of as they
slowly came to understand the history and significance of HeLa
cells. The whole saga is beautifully related, gripping, emotive,
challenging, thought-provoking and above all true. Although its
basis is science, it is completely accessible to non-scientists
(just ask my wife's book group). I enjoyed this book so much that I
was sorry when I reached the end. John Bryant
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
Century
Cline's novel is set in 2044, 30 years into a depression so bad
that the late 20th century looks like a golden age. The novel has a
thriller plot, but what fascinates me is the book's reflection on
internet culture and online worlds. Social conditions are so dire
that most people escape by immersing themselves in the OASIS, a
virtual universe of cosmic dimensions which provides them with
education, entertainment and relationships. In this sense, the
novel is a credible imagining of how the virtual world might
develop. It has been improbably hailed as a worthy successor to
William Gibsons's Neuromancer, which introduced the term
'cyber-space', but it is worth reading in its own right, both for
sheer entertainment and thinking about the state of cyberculture.
Simon Jenkins