Happy weekend, y’all. I’ll be writing a sermon on Colossians, making only my third sermon appearance at my church, so wish me all the best with that! Otherwise, just getting ready for Women in Translation month… Usually, I only manage to read one or none, but this year I’m hoping to do a bit better. I’ve got a few candidates lined up. Hope you have a fab weekend, and here’s a book, a blog post, and a link to help you on your way.
1.) The link – it’s very old, but while trying to see if there’s any table of all previous Booker judges (I couldn’t find one), I stumbled across this excellent Guardian article from 2008. It was celebrating 40 years of the Booker, and managed to get a judge from every previous year to spill the beans – often quite indiscreetly.
2.) The blog post – I wanted to remind myself of the characters in On the Calculation of Volume III before I started On the Calculation of Volume IV, and so stumbled across a blog post on a blog I didn’t know before, A Reader of Else. Well, it certainly acted as a reminder – but so much more than. It is such a brilliant piece of writing about literary fiction and science fiction, characters changing their worlds or resisting them, etc. I can’t believe such fascinating, well-written literary criticism is just available for free!
3.) The book – somehow I only recently learned that Anne Fadiman has written another collection of essays! Frog is the title – does anybody know it? Ex Libris was the starting point for my love of books-about-books, so a new Fadiman volume is always welcome.
Will be thinking of you as you study Colossians and prepare your sermon. I know you are not meant to have favourite books of the Bible but Colossians and Ephesians (I think of them as covering a lot of similar ground but Colossians is more succinct!) do rank as up there near the top for mine.
Thanks for the links which I hope to enjoy later.
Thanks Sarah!
I picked up Frog while I was in the States in June. (My review is here: https://bookishbeck.com/2026/06/25/20-books-of-summer-4-7-fadiman-kingsolver-ofarrell-rereads-sullivan/) Slightly mixed feelings, but I’m sure you’ll still want to read it.
Oo thanks for sharing
Wonderful use of the word ya’ll in your first sentence. As someone from the southeastern US, it always makes me smile to see it in print! Also, good luck on your sermon.
Haha! It is pretty inauthentic, coming from a Brit, but I do like to throw it in occasionally.
All the very best with your sermon Simon.I do enjoy your blog.
Thank you!
I’ve just read Vol II of the Balle, and loved it more than the first, which I also loved. So glad she could sustain it – will look forward to Vol III soon. Thanks for the link to that blog – I shall return to read it later.
I’ve just finished the fourth, and eagerly awaiting the fifth in November!
Thank you for the link to the very interesting Guardian article!
Isn’t it eye-opening?