Rabbi Blue revisited

I needed a reasonably slim paperback to fit into my bag for waiting room duty. I picked up my copy of 'A Backdoor to Heaven'. My mum must have sent it to me when it came out in paperback in 1985. She knew how much I was missing his 'Thought for the Day' slot on BBC Radio 4.

It turned out to be perfect for waiting rooms; nice bite-size chapters. I think people must have thought me mad when I laughed out loud. I’m so glad I picked it up to read again: I got it when I first read it and I get it even more today. Anyone who has had/is having a struggle with faith should get hold of a copy and read it.

I just looked him up on Wikipedia and he’s in his early 80s. How did that happen?

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

I recently found a copy of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark in a branch of the French Charity shop Emmaüs.  It was in English - as it happens they have quite a few books in English. 

Inside was a bookmark advertising James Thin Bookshops, a company which seem to have bookshops throughout Scotland.  I couldn't help wondering if Caroline had left it lying around somewhere on a visit to France.

I remember that it was dramatised on TV when I was quite young and I remember enjoying watching it, but would I enjoy the book?  Well dear reader, I couldn't put it down!  I was amused by the vision of life from the point of view of young girls on the edge of puberty.  They are troubled by the idea of sex and imagine all sorts of things, especally when they find out that their teacher (who is in her Prime!) had a lover who died during the First World War.  The book is only 126 pages long, which is much too short.

Paint