Selected books

Here is a brief list of novels that I have been moved by and
encouraged to share with others at different times in my life.
If you read one of them and like it. It is probable that you will
like the others also. There is a common theme in them of the
vulnerable lover the fool who triumphs and the folly of trusting in
human resources.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
To begin the page I will simply list the titles.
Short reviews of the books will added in due course.

Books of Shusaku Endo
SILENCE Quartet books London ISBN 07043 3189 6.
The story of the coming of Christianity to Japan.
A fine and all embracing novel. I first read this in 1982 before
visiting Japan for the first time.
There are accounts of the persecution of the church.
Endo develops his theme that not only heros are brave but cowards
also may exhibit bravery into their own way.

In Japan I was shown some of the signs of these times.
The fumie boards with the image of Jesus and Mary rubbed smooth by
the many hundreds of feet that had trampled upon them.
This was what was demanded by the authorities as a sign of rejecting
the Christian Faith.
The novel illustrates in a profound way some of the complex moral
dilemmas that face people of faith today.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Novels by Endo all equally good. My suggestion is to read them
in the following order The last few are somewhat traumatic, but
extremely well written and compassionate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

WONDERFUL FOOL ISBN 0-14-011048

also good by S. Endo.

A LIFE OF JESUS

THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND

DEEP RIVER

WHEN I WHISTLE

VOLCANO

SCANDAL

THE SEA AND POISON

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Other books:

PETER SIMPLE by Captain Marryat Richard Edward King
London.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey ISBN 0 33023564 8

THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV F. Dostoevsky.

also CRIME AND PUNISHMENT; andTHE IDIOT

CHRIST RECRUCIFIED by Nikos Kazantzakis.

TOO LATE THE PHALAROPE by Alan Paton

better known for his book

CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY.

CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN Louis De Bernares

ISBN 0 679 76397

SAINT MAYBE by Anne Tyler Ivy Books N.Y. ISBN 0-8041-0874-9.

THE GIVER by Lois Lowy. Harper Collins London 1983.

ISBN 9780006748281

ORBITTING THE GIANT HAIRBALL by Gordon Mackenzie former creative paradox of Hallmark cards ISBN 0-670-87983-5.

A corporate fool's guide to surviving with grace

This is one of the most encouraging books I've ever read. It is a
summary of Mackenzie's talks on motivational leadership through
creativity and vulnerability.

This book was on the reading list for Renewal and leadership course
for D. Min. at Fuller Seminary California in 2001.
If you like this you'll find it worth looking out for the better
known:

ALL I REALLY NEEDED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN

by Robert
Flughum, Villard books, N.Y 1988. Uncommon thoughts on common
things.

Flughum wrote a second book on the same lines but it is not, in my
opinion, nearly as good.
I first learned ofthis book in the 1980's at the first world clown
convention in Dalkeith Scotland.

THE ETHIOPIAN TATTOO SHOP by Ed Hays ISBN 0 -939516-06-3

Ed Hays is a master story teller, a Roman Catholic priest with an
interesting creative approach. `The last I hear ofd him he had
'retired' to be a prison chaplain in Kansas.

Ed Hays has writen many other books, on prayer, foolishness, and
even an interesting novel or two. If you like his style try

IN PURSUIT OF THE GREAT WHITE RABBIT

ISBN0-939516-13-6

--------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Books need to be read with the heart

--------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------

back to Philip Noble's homepage
--------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------

back to St. Ninian's homepage
--------------------------------------------------------------------