John Marsh's holiday reading

Have you ever wondered which book you would take to your Desert Island under the rule of 'one only' (and the Bible already there)?
How would you apply it to your holiday spot? Are you going to fly? If so, how heavy is the book? I know one person who took the Lloyd-Jones biography to Africa - but then he was using the long flight to read it for review.
Another practical problem is light to read by. Many holiday cottages are furnished on the principle that you will be out with the children all day on the beach, and in the evening you will be too exhausted to read, and so there is economy in the form of 40-watt bulbs. I have friends who take a 100-watt bulb of their own, just as I knew a boy who took his own bulb on blacked-out trains in the war, to give him enough light to do his homework on the journey back from school.
(I have always wrestled with the problem that I might opt to take one book that I had never managed to read to my desert island, and then find out when I got there that the reason I never managed to read it was that I found it unreadable.)
Now as to size - the old World Classics series were pocketable. One of my teachers who was a medical officer in East Africa and had a very small luggage allowance, had a copy of War and Peace in his knapsack when kept him going through the 1940 campaign. There are lots of bargains in the classics, although they are bigger now. If you are so fortunate as not to have read Pride and Prejudice yet, there are copies at £2.99 in the shops.
But assuming you have the light, space and time available, let me suggest three, no four, books for the holiday - one to inform, one to relax the mind and one to warm the heart. The fourth should do all three on Sunday.

An informative read

First then, philosophy. Do you have problems here, as I have? Have you struggled with chapters 2 and 3 of The Gagging of God by Don Carson? Do you get your ontology and epistemology mixed? If you would like to know something of what the philosophers were on about, try Sophie's World by Jostein Gaadner, published by Phoenix at £6.99 and easily available. It is written as a child's introduction to philosophy, but that must really mean an intelligent teenage child. It is very suitable for amateur adults. The author weaves the thoughts into a story so that it is a book within a book and not merely a philosophy textbook with a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. There is a story where you want to know what happens. It is not for the beach, but it is thought-provoking and informing. As someone who has tried to read The History of Western Philosophy and similar so-called easy-to-apprehend books and failed, let me recommend this if you want to try again. But it does not get as far as postmodernism.
Other serious books include Jenkins's Gladstone. I would leave this out of a holiday read, however, because it is not yet in paperback and is correspondingly expensive and heavy. I found it excellent on the political side, being written by an author who understands cabinet quarrels, but with less insight unto Gladstone's religious side (which probably wants a book in itself). Gladstone knew all the Oxford Movement leaders, yet stayed in the C of E after leaving his evangelical roots behind.
On the other hand, John Cole's book As it seemed to me now in paperback from Phoenix at £7.99 is a fascinating read for anyone interested in recent political history.

A short Christian novel

My next choice both warms, informs and relaxes the reader. Waterbound by Jane Stemp is from Hodder's children's list, but is worthy of adult reading. The author tells us she has cerebral palsy; she is a Christian and this is her first novel. I found that it accomplished the very difficult task of having a message that is integral to the story and not tacked on. Why are the children waterbound? Is there any hope? What is going to happen? An excellent first novel. It has only 167 pages at £3.99, so if you are away for a fortnight you may need something else.

Whodunnit?

Do you read detective stories? Are you convinced that the old-fashioned detective story is a moral story in that there is right and wrong? There is logic and analysis and the truth is established and vindicated. It's even better if you like the detective character. There are not so many around like that these days but Jill Paton Walsh has written two. Both are available as Coronet paperbacks at £5.99. The Wyndham Case came first and the second (which I particularly enjoyed) is called Piece of Justice. Her imaginary Cambridge college is very well conceived.

Warming the heart

What is to warm the heart? What will you read on Sunday if your cottage is miles from the nearest kirk and the service there is in Gaelic? IVP still has The Cross and Christian Ministry by Don Carson, which is basically a Bible study, although his Jesus and his friends seems to be out of print. Like The Sermon on the Mount from Baker these are paperbacks, very portable but with excellent deep yet accessible material. However, I must take the risk of suggesting a book that I have not read, but hope to take on holiday myself - Old Testament Sermons by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones from the Banner at £12.95.
Remember to make sure the family have some books too, or they might want to borrow the very one you are settling down to read!

Recommended books for reading on holiday

An informative read

A short Christian novel

Whodunnit?

Warming the heart

John Marsh

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