I want to bring to your attention some books I have read over the summer and more recently.
The first of these is on a subject which is very current. It is a story of a former gay activist who writes about his life. He shares how he has struggled with how he perceived what the Holy Bible says and how felt as a person, particularly in regard to his sexuality.
It is a very moving book. The author is very honest about how things have been for him in the church and out of the church. The conclusion of his thoughts and life in regards to sexuality and the Bible may come as a surprise to people especially in this day and age.
He thinks very deeply about his life and the life of others who have a different sexuality to others.
I commend the book to you in its honesty and would endorse the path that he has taken. It is not an easy path but if anyone reading the book faces the same issues they need to seriously consider the reality of the truth he asserts.
The book is:
The next book I would like to recommend is one I discovered in the library. Initially I had seen it in the RHS Wisley shop but was not taken with it at that point.
The book I refer to is Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness. Again another heartfelt book. The book is about his struggle with anxiety, depression and OCD. These mental health issues are more widely recognised these days and in his case have been clinically diagnosed.
I found the book very easy to read and along with the beautiful illustrations a fresh insight into an interest that I have of birdwatching.
For Joe the very act of birdwatching is a way to help focus his mind off his problems and onto the immediate moment. He shares with humour what he experiences from and with birds.
I personally don’t have mental health issues that have been diagnosed but I do get anxious and have low cycles from time to time like I suspect many people do. I have been involved with different people first hand who have very defined mental health challenges and I know a little of what it is like because of this. I think it was very courageous of Joe to write about his challenges. We need to be more understanding of people like him.
It was good to experience through Joe and David’s eyes what there lives are like. In the case of Joe to hear about birds and what they get up to from a different perspective was refreshing.
For the next book I think it requires a whole blog of its own. A few lines as a taster though.
This book is very different from the above two and is more academic. It is about a subject that is only beginning to be looked at in a fresh way. It is a scholarly work. A book about a particular study within a biblical context. The subject is as the title states the Unseen Realm by Dr. Michael Heiser. More about it here:
Unseen Realm – recovering the supernatural worldview of the Bible
My blog on that will follow shortly sharing some of my thoughts.
Finally I want to write about one other book. Like the one above, I am listening to it on Audible!
This book is Wilding by Isabella Tree. It has been on my wishlist for some time and now I get to hear it read by her charming voice! It is for me as an amateur armchair conservationist, one who stands in no-mans land – a gem! I love it.
At times I have been moved to tears both of joy and sadness by her descriptions. (I was moved to tears by David Bennet and Joe Harkness at times too).
This book is a book about farming. A book about how we have used and abused the land. It is a book about nature and nature conservation. It is a book about people and how they are on both sides of the story in looking after the land. It’s a book about recovering the beauty of working with nature and not against it. It’s a book about the Knepp Estate in Sussex, written by a wonderful writer.
I love it so much if I had the land and money I would research about that piece of land and create another wilding project with a similar ethos and similar principles.
I think the book is made so much more real as it’s about the author and her family and how she and her husband have thrown their lives into their land.
As yet I have not finished listening to it but I don’t think I’ll be disappointed as the author writes so well. There’s a sense with any good book, I don’t want it to finish!