What I've Been Reading Recently - April 11, 2020




One positive thing about being a non-essential worker and so told to stay at home is that I’ve gotten to do a lot of reading and gardening, two of my favorite activities.  I may find it hard to go back to work!
Here are some of the books I’ve been reading recently.  I have been on a Ronald Blythe binge recently, haven’t I?  I decided to consider it my Lenten reading.

River Diary by Ronald Blythe:
This is the fifth volume of Ronald Blythe's collected columns, Word from Wormingford, written weekly for the Church Times for over 20 years. In them we follow him through the year, participating in his many activities, listening to his thoughts, seeing what he sees, meeting the people he knows. He is writer, walker, gardener, book reviewer and critic, lay canon and reader, preacher and historian. lover of books, music and cats. He lives by himself, with his white cat, in an ancient farmhouse in the Stour Valley, only a few miles from where he was born and grew up. His reading and thinking range as widely as his walks. He is a noticer and a rememberer, and seems to have a gift for friendship. He is a great companion for this journey through the year.
"Most writers' memories," he says, "are jackdaws' nests of infant as well as grown-up facts which are unlikely to separate themselves when they are grown up." Later he says, "But the caring for and hoarding of small and precious memories is really a duty in each one of us, for it is these which re-shape art and philosophy." 

Under a Broad Sky by Ronald Blythe:
Another volume of Blythe's columns from the Church Times. I so enjoy these essays, full of gentle wisdom and musings, memories of friends alive and dead, gardening, walking, local history and Anglican services, and, of course, his white cat. He makes everyone come alive, from St. Paul and St. Timothy, to the poet-priest George Herbert, and the artist John Nash whose house he inherited, as well as his neighbors and friends from all over.
"Always doubt 'progress.' It is sometimes progressive to return to what was, to what was long-tested and found best. Yet, at the same time, we have to be visionary. Remember Lot's wife?" 

Outsiders: A Book of Gardening Friends by Ronald Blythe:
A book of essays, long and short, revolving around gardens and gardening. Blythe muses on the seasons, on his own garden at Bottengoms Farm, on gardens he has known and visited, on changes in farming in Britain, of gardens long gone and seen only through the eyes of their creators. Many friends wander through these pages, friends known personally, as well as friends met only through their books. The book is wonderfully illustrated with line drawings, paintings and photographs by his friends, particularly those by John Nash and Sir Cedric Morris. Blythe's writing is superb at evoking the atmosphere of places he has been and the details of what he has seen. The people he writes about are viewed sympathetically and generously, but with clear sight.

The Circling Year: Perspectives from a Country Parish by Ronald Blythe:
Blythe is known as Ronnie to his friends, an unpretentious and even humble nickname that seems to personify the man himself. I first encountered him almost two decades ago when I was in seminary and found his book Word from Wormingford in the college bookstore. I felt instantly befriended. W from W was a compilation of his articles from the final page Church Times of England. I've been collecting his books ever since. The Circling Year is a volume of his "talks" - he doesn't call them sermons - at the three churches where he serves as Reader. As the local writer it was decided by the combined parish that he should contribute his talents by providing the equivalent of sermons for the three churches. His talks are intimate, friendly, and wise. I have found them valuable in understanding some of the more puzzling aspects of the scriptures and the significances that are easy to miss given the time and cultural differences between now and then. He shares his friends with us, from his contemporaries back to Francis Kilvert, John Clare, George Herbert, and that "sad young man" Jeremiah. He is knowledgeable but never lectures, humorous but but never hurtful.


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