Great Big Book Giveaway (1)
Even though I rarely do reviews, I get sent lots of books by publishers. Sometimes I get sent several copies of the same book. In the past I have given them away to local churches, but now I'm going to experiment with giving them away to you. The books are listed below. If you would like one of these, email me, ruth.gledhill@thetimes.co.uk, with your name and address. I promise I will delete the address from my inbox immediately after posting the book. All I ask in return is that, when you've received and read the book, you post a little comment to this blog telling us all what you thought of it. For the first books on my list, see below. I'll just post ten to start with to see how this goes, but I have about 300 to give away so if it goes well I'll post a lot more next time. If you happen to be the author of one of these books, please don't be offended. It is not that I don't rate the books, it is that there simply isn't room to store them here or at home and this is after all a way of giving them some publicity. It'll be strictly first come first served. Ruth
1. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Can there be anybody out there who hasn't got a copy? Could this be the book that you can't, as they say, 'give away'? (gone)
2. The Christian and the Pharisee. Dr RT Kendall and Rabbi David Rosen. A great book pulling no punches and addressing some of the key interfaith questions of our time. (Gone)
3. Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World. Stephen O'Shea. A weighty tome that I wish I had time to read properly. Particularly useful on the suppression of the Cathars. (gone)
4. Spirit Guides, Angel Guardians: Contact your invisible helper. Richard Webster. How to find life's purpose with the help of your guardian angel. Is there anyone out there.... who wants this? (gone)
5. New English Praise: supplement to the New English Hymnal. Nice Anglican folk mass at the end. (gone)
6. Spiriting Around. Mark Tomback. 'Real life from a spiritual standpoint'. A guide to 'finding yourself' - I think. (gone)
7. John Paul II: Man of History. Edward Stourton. How could I give this one away? I can't, I'm keeping the other one, this is my spare copy. If you're ever trying to get a book published, try Hodder and Stoughton, they must have lots of advance dosh to give away considering how many free copies of expensive books they send to journos. This one's a £20 glossy stunner. (gone)
8. Contemporary Creed by John Morris. I actually reviewed this one on my blog and in the CEN. John taught Archbishop Sentamu in Uganda. Read this book, compare and contrast the two Johns. Enjoy. (gone)
9. The Story of the Bible: How it came to us. Henry Wainsborough OSB. A monk from Ampleforth tells how the bible came into being. Fascinating and authoritative, I really recommend this book. (Gone)
10. Journey into God's Heart. |Jennifer Rees Larcombe. Author continues her story of faith and healing. (gone)
That's it for now. As it is the first time I've done this on this blog, I'll be interested to see your response. I used to do it years ago on my old website, long since taken down. I stopped doing it then after one angry author demanded the return of his books after I put them up on the site. It was terrifying, he got so cross. I am more robust now but won't be putting up any self-published books again, just in case....
(Update: It is fewer than 24 hours since I posted this entry and all ten books are spoken for. Many apologies to those who requested a book and it had gone, Ed Stourton's was easily the most popular and I'm giving away both my copies because it was so awful having to say no to so many. Last to go was Dan Brown. Next week I'll post another 20 books and see how long they take to go.)
What a good idea. I have also just been giving books away, mainly to various clergy who speak the necessary biblical languages, or the local ecumenical library.
I like Edward Stourton: he said some very nice things about kashrut on the most recent Radio 4 Sunday Programme. But I haven't read the Da Vinci Code and don't intend to
Posted by: irene lancaster | 23 May 2006 17:37:04