My favourite books-part 1

I realised that I've written about the books that the children enjoy but not about my own much loved books.

My husband and I both love books. I don't know how many we have; I occasionally get rid of some so we only have thirteen bookcases. The cookery books in the kitchen don't really count nor do the books on shelves in a wardrobe. Books are more important than clothes, of course.

Most of the children seem to have inherited the book gene. We found our youngest sitting on the kitchen floor, by the wellington boots, with some books, the other day. We've probably made a rod for our own backs with reading in the evening. We read and pray with the little ones individually then read them various books-it starts with one or two but one or two baby books aren't many so we read a few more and end up with children bringing us a pile of books. I left Mr Exhuberance this evening to the cry of "More books".

Anyway, here is a small sample of my favourites. Many are easier to find second hand-it seems silly to be constrained by whether a book is in print or not. Many of the best books have been found in second hand shops or came from my Grandparent's home.

The best book, as the chorus says, is of course, the Bible. It is in a completely different league to the rest being God's inspired word. I will only comment on the peripherals. We use the Authorised (King James' Version) mainly on textural grounds. Being Varifocal Mum, I like a Bible with large print. My current favourite is the Concord Edition from the Trinitarian Bible Society.

Perhaps the most exciting and least well known Christian history book is Axminster Ecclesiastica.
This is the church book of a persecuted non-conformist church in Devon in the years prior to the Glorious Revolution of 1688. It is a great read with some amazing stories of escapes.
I suspect that it suffers from its Latin title. It was edited by the late KWH Howard whose ministry I found very helpful, as a teenager, when he pastored Union Chapel, at Bethersden. When I outgrew the Sunday School, at the church I attended with my parents, I used to cycle to Bethersden where my Grandmother was in membership. As a young Christian, Mr Howard's ministry was searching and helpful and I looked forward to those Sunday afternoons,all week. Mr Howard was a scholar and could never have been accused of being glitzy. Sadly, the book could have benefitted from a more snappy title.
Christian Bookshop Ossett stock more of Mr Howard's works and are a great bookshop, prepared to order books in or give recommendations.

Completely different and about the other side of the world is a book called Thousand Miles of Miracle in China.

This is the hair-raising story of the escape of a young missionary couple with their two young children and a single lady missionary from China at the time of the Boxer Revolution. I read this as a child, and enjoyed it but read it again after I had children. Second time round, I couldn't put the book down and read into the early hours.. The thought of all the hardship and danger with little children and whilst Mrs Glover was pregnant was amazing.

I have many more to write about but no time now so hope to post more on another occasion.
Please feel free to recommend your favourites-it is great to discover new books.