Chasing Francis: a pilgrim's tale by Ian Morgan Cron

In the form of a contemporary novel this book introduces the value of Saint Francis of Assisi for today's world and church. The story revolves around what happens when the successful pastor of a modern middle-American megachurch realises his faith is empty and takes time out in Italy and discovers the life and teachings of Francis.

The Spiral Staircase: a memoir by Karen Armstrong

This is the autobiography of one of the most acute of contemporary interpreters of religion writing in Britain today.It is well described in the cover notes as an exploration of one woman's painful journey to find herself and claim her place in the world.

Triksta: life and death and New Orleans rap by Nik Cohn

What happens when a middle-aged white male music journalist who's obsessed
with New Orleans sets out to make a rap album. This book takes you deep
into the poverty and struggle of the real pre-Katrina New Orleans behind
the tourist facade. Even if you don't care about or for rap this is still a
gripping read about personal journey across cultures. If you do want to
know more about rap Cohn's stories of the rappers he works with help to
explain what gangsta is all about. There is a final chapter added to the
paperback edition after Hurricane Katrina with personal inside stories of
what happened and his own return after the flood. Rap lives on but the New
Orleans he both hated and loved - the old quarters with their rich street
culture and family networks is gone forever. Yet sadly the gangs with the
drugs and the guns are returning because where else will have them.

Fateless by Imre Kertesz trans from Hungarian by Tim Wilkinson

An astonishing book. The story of a fourteen year old Hungarian Jew
imprisoned in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Narrated as seen through the eyes
of this teenager it brings a deeply realistic perspective of one who
genuinely lived through the experience, made all the more chilling by the
innocence of the childl's way of thinking.

Authenticity by Deidre Madden

This is a very accomplished novel abour artists, about relationships, about
life generally, but perhaps most of all an examination of the dynamics of
both loss and redemption, what may be redeemed and what may not be.
Roderic, a middle-aged abstract painter successful in his work but at the
cost of his family life and his personal equilibrium meets Julia a
struggling young artist twenty years his junior, who also becomes
strangely attached to a wealthhy businessman in need of her help. The
story ranges across the lives of these three intermeshed characters for all
of whom art and the artistic passion is central and family relationships
are complex.

The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

I have come to this bestseller rather later than most people. I picked it
up for a few pence at a school fete a few weeks ago and decided it might be
a good read for the plane on the way to Greece this summer. I read finished
it a couple of days into the holiday. What I hadn't realised from earlier
reviews was that this is a book about the arts as well as about travel.
Botton looks at how a variety of artists and writers have treated travel
and the sense of place in their works. He covers amongst others Baudelaire,
Edward Hopper, Flaubert, Wordsworth, the Book of Job, Vinccent van Gogh,
and John Ruskin. It is a meditation on the lure of travel, what we hope for
from it, and the nature of paying attention which links the artistic
endeavour and travel. I found it a very thought- provoking and satisfying
read.

Mission-Shaped Spirituality:the transforming power of mission

Sue Hope writes out of her experiences and those of others about moving church life and ministry from the "come" to the "go" mode. The Church of England has been used to being a settled church but now it needs to go out in mission to its own community. This sounds daunting but in fact has the potential to transform the lives of churches, communities, and Christians. She uses stories from her own ministry and other stories too to testify to this.