Books

I love to read, to lose myself in stories and to encounter new ideas and ways of seeing the world. Here you can find some of many reviews and articles on literature. Connect with me on Goodreads if you’d like to share reading habits and opinions!

My L’Abri lecture now online: C S Lewis and the Great Dance

By Caleb | November 5, 2021

The Great Dance: C S Lewis’s Cosmic Trilogy and the discarded image of medieval hierarchy is now available on the English L’Abri Podcast! Why not give it a listen and tell me what you think? Listen to my lecture Our culture views power and authority with the greatest of suspicion. Exploring Out of the Silent Planet, […]

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Do characters have to be likeable?

By Caleb | October 6, 2016

A much-debated question among writers and readers is whether characters in a story have to be “likeable”. Some people can’t enjoy stories where they don’t like the characters. Others enjoy the complexities of flawed, unpleasant characters. But I don’t think likeability is the real issue.

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Perelandra Revisited

By Caleb | January 8, 2016

I’ve just had the pleasure of (re)reading Perelandra with my wife – it’s her first time, but one of many times I’ve read it. It’s possibly my favourite C S Lewis novel (against strong competition!). I first read it back when I was in secondary school, and it made a deep and lasting impression on […]

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Review: What Makes Us Human? by Mark Meynell

By Caleb | July 11, 2015

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review. The latest in the Questions Christians Ask series, Mark Meynell sketches out a solid introduction to basic Christian beliefs about humanity. Its brevity is both it’s biggest strength and weakness. It is accessible and easily digested in an […]

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“For heroes, life is a weapon”

By Caleb | January 4, 2015

“Cowards live for the sake of living, but for heroes, life is a weapon, a thing to be spent, a gift to be given to the weak and the lost and the weary, even to the foolish and the cowardly” I’ve just finished reading Empire of Bones by N D Wilson, the third and probably […]

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The pleasures of new bookshelves

By Caleb | September 14, 2014

If you’re a bookworm like myself, then books pose two major problems: time and space. Firstly, finding the time to read all those books that are just waiting for you to immerse yourself in them. And secondly, having the physical space in which to store, display and care for all the books. There is one […]

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Neil Gaiman and the myth of getting what we deserve

By Caleb | June 16, 2013

Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors, so I was really excited to get chance to see the man himself talking with Mariella Frostrup about his new book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, at the Apple Store on Regent’s Street on Thursday night. Tweet of the evening has to be this: Arrived […]

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