Books read in June 2017

1. Dunstan: One Man Will Change the Fate of England by Conn Iggulden  (Author)

This most gifted author of historical fiction has introduced me to a character and a century of which I knew nothing.  It appears an accurate account on the whole. The pace sees a little slow at times but some parts are indeed gripping. I had not realised that clerical celibacy was not a 10th century norm. So my education has been enhanced.

2. A Way to Pray: A Biblical Method for Enriching Your Prayer Life and Language by Shaping Your Words with Scripture by Matthew Henry  (Author), O Palmer Robertson (Editor)

Matthew Henry is justly famous as a biblical commentator so I am surprised this excellent volume is not so well known. O Palmer Robinson deserves thanks for revising and modernising it. You will not realise it is modernised until you find that prayer for travellers now encompassed travel by air as well as sea. I consider this the most helpful aid to prayer I have ever read. It shows Henry's amazing knowledge of Scripture that he could take countless biblical texts and form them into prayers which are there to stimulate and aid the reader's praying. This is the one book I have with my Bible to aid daily devotions. It is a book I have read more than once.

3. Travel with John Bunyan: Exploring the World of John Bunyan, Author of "The Pilgrim's Progress" (Travel Guide with): Exploring the World of John Bunyan, Author of "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Pestell  (Author)

This book has a good biographical account of Bunyan as well as a comprehensive guide to the places in his life and those associated with Pilgrim's Progress. This whole series of books are excellent. Here one can but marvel at the determination of Bunyan and his courage in the face of persecution and imprisonment. One also sees the hand of providence for confinement set Bunyan free to write and minister to his and futire generations.

4.Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett  (Author)

Probably the best thriller I have read in a long while. Had so far only read his long saga starting with The Pillars of the Earth. This is much more of a page turner. If I read more Follett perhaps he will displace Seymour as my favourite thriller writer.My only criticism is that the sex is unecessarily explicit.The same message could have been communicated with more subtlety, less salacious.