The Whole Day Through
They say that writers need to read, and I certainly do. I like to keep a really well-written novel on the go most of the time, because although I don't write fiction there is something important about staying constant with the challenge, not just of writing down information in the right order, but putting the words together so that they are believable, beautiful, intriguing.
I love Patrick Gale's writing. His characters are so believable that you start to get interested in what happens even to characters who are not likeable. His plots are believable too – he doesn't just do happy endings or horror or bleak tragedy, but a much more real life mix. His characters fill you with hope in the midst of disappointment, and right in the middle of a blossoming love story there will be a reality check – nothing is perfect, but life goes on anyhow. Gale obviously has an inside understanding of religious themes too: there is a thread of religious culture in all of his novels, which he delivers shrewdly but affectionately.
I thought Notes from an Exhibition couldn't be bettered, but I just finished his latest, and it's one of his best yet. Click here for fantastic holiday reading.
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author musician theologian
Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
In an increasingly secularised society few people have a good working knowledge of the Bible. Yet a great deal of our culture is built on stories or ideas that come from the Bible. Literature, art, music, language and even the fabric of our society - such as our justice system - are built on Christian concepts and biblical references. The Writing on the Wall provides a fascinating introduction to the Bible's best-known, and most influential, stories. Each chapter gives some background to the text of the Bible, and shows how the stories have become enmeshed in Western culture. Adam and Eve, the ten plagues of Egypt, The Prodigal Son and Mary Magdalene all feature - along with how the Bible has influenced everyone from Shakespeare to Monty Python, and Caravaggio to Banksy. 
Giving It Up explores the Lenten idea of 'giving up', taking it beyond the traditional idea of simply abstaining from something, and suggesting instead that what we need to give up is our existing ideas about God. With a daily readings for each day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, it follows the heroes of the Bible who had to give up their own too-small ideas about God.
This is Maggi’s bestselling book of daily readings for each day of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Advent is the beginning of the Church year, and marks the anticipation of the coming Messiah. These readings explore how beginnings and endings in our own lives are illuminated by the different Gospel narratives of Christ's coming.
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How bizarre, I was there this week too. Glad to hear you missed the rain…
I was there in March and loved the exhibition – seeing a mind that was disintegrating yet could still see the beauty in darkness of the night
Good for you Maggi. Pleased you went…