12 Books Read in 2022:

1. Singapore Swing, John Malathronas, Summersdale, 2007, 318pp

I read this book as I’d been in Singapore in the past. Quite likeable, but including too many Buddhist myths: 2 stars.

2. Lion and the Unicorn – Gladstone v Disraeli, Richard Aldous, Pimlico, 2007, 368pp

I’ve been to Gladstones Library in North Wales several times, so this was an interesting book to read. It’s hard to work out who came out on top, as these men had both strengths and weaknesses. However, this is a great book and well worth reading: 5 stars.

3. A Field Guide to the British, Sarah Lyall, Quercus, 2008, 277pp

The author is American, and I’d recently read a book by her husband, Robert McCrum, ‘Every Third Thought’, about his stroke in London (very good). However, this book looks at the many differences between the UK and America. Quite interesting: 3 stars.

4. Conclave, Robert Harris, Penguin, 2017, 380pp

This is one of my favourite authors. This book is good, and I enjoyed it very much. It basically looks at ‘power’ in the Catholic Church as the Cardinals choose their next Pope. Definitely worth reading: 4 stars.

5. Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall, Elliott and Thompson, 2016, 304pp

An excellent author. I came to read this book quite late, but it is so good. It looks at ten regions and countries around the world, including Russia. I learnt so much from it. Do read it: 5 stars.

6. Crete (Travel), Fisher and Garvey, Rough Guides, 2022, 380pp

7. Crete (Travel), Marco Polo, 2018, 156pp

We visited Crete last year. These are the two books we took with us. Both very good: 4 stars.

8. Operation Mincemeat, Ben Macintyre, Bloomsbury, 2010, 414pp

Another good author – I love what he writes. This book looks at an Allied attempt at fooling the Germans in WW2. Good film too. It’s set in Spain, and apparently it changed the course of the war. Somewhat of an unbelievable plot, but it seemed to work: 4 stars.

9. Power of Geography, Tim Marshall, Elliott and Thompson, 2021, 380pp

More Tim Marshall, and more regions/countries of the world including ‘Space’ as well. Again, I learnt so much from reading this book. Please get one yourself, it’s very good: 5 stars.

10. Crossways, Guy Stagg, Picador, 2018, 416pp

An interesting author, and for Guy, this was a ‘secular’ pilgrimage as he’s a practising non-believer. Guy walked across Europe, through Turkey and he finished in Jerusalem, Israel. I heard him speak recently and enjoyed what he said. I like this book, and he is quite open about all that he saw en-route. A very useful book, and I hope you enjoy a good read too: 4 stars.

11. A303 – Highway to the Sun, Tom Fort, Simon and Schuster, 2019, 355pp

I live in the South-West of England now, and use this road quite frequently. It’s a much better road that the M4. This is an excellent book, and I really enjoyed reading it: 5 stars.

12. Andalucia and Gibraltar (Travel), Noble and Forsyth, Lonely Planet, 1999, 440pp

We visited Spain at the end of last year. This was a helpful book, although it was the first printing: 4 stars.

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Reflection – Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

I am not long back from a tour of Israel. I last went in 1988. The country has developed massively in that time but the politics remain complex. With a population of 8 million, contradictions and conundrums appear at every turn. Instinctively, as a Christian, I want to love Israel but they themselves make this far from easy. The national character is likened to the ‘sabre’, or prickly pear. The visit left me saddened, and with a deep disquiet of whether the present situation can ever truly be resolved. How can such divided peoples live side-by-side, even if a two state solution were to prove possible?

Whilst there I read through Psalms 120-134, ‘The Songs of Ascent’; songs sung by the Jews travelling up to Jerusalem. Psalm 122:6 exhorts us to ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem’. Peace is never more needed than it is today. Hostilities and injustice abound across Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Even the Christian denominations add to the sense of tension. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a travesty of all that the gospels teach. Discord and disharmony lie at the centre of one of the most important Christian sites on earth!

A visit to the Holy Land is far from straightforward. It throws up thorny issues of land ownership, disputed borders and national security; concepts which in the UK we are rarely forced to consider. We Brits have our own issues to face as our history from the Mandate period has left bitter memories in Israel. I fully support Israel’s right to exist, but how does its antagonistic policies toward the Palestinians sit with the scriptural injunction to take care of the stranger and neighbour?

There are no simple answers. The situation would appear intractable. What we can and must do, however, is to continue to ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem’; an anguished city over which Jesus himself wept.

This reflection was published in Together Magazine (May to June 2014).