Welcome to Litsy!

It looks deceptive that I read a lot in July: all of The Walking Dead were read on the first two days (I loved all of it), and total 11 of the books were graphic novels. Also, I only read about 30 pages of the Daily Show to finish it. I am actually in a bit of a reading slump. I did have some excellent reads, though. I loved Azazeel, A Dirty Job, The Souls of Black Folk, Eats Shoots And Leaves. Hard to pick favorites!

Azazeel (=devil) is the kind of rare historical fiction that I love: a story set during a time of upheaval, a long gone era and place; also a human story of faith and doubt, of the nature of good and evil, of love and devotion; with the message that fanatism of any kind is evil.

Beautifully written, lyrical, with two passionate romances, and vivid description of a 5th century Egypt between paganism, Hellenism and Christianity. Loved it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A large portion of this book talks of Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople around 430, and his "heresy", so I looked it up. After reading Wikipedia, the site of the Catholic Church, and Christianity.com (above), I see almost no difference. Both sides believe that Christ is both God and human, with some wording dispute.

Me thinks that dogmatism of this sort is simply a guise for a power grab.

"Killing people in the name of religion does not make it religious."

There is much to be learned from history.

#controversial

My #currentread is quite #controversial. It is a lovely historical novel about a 5th century Coptic monk in Egypt, his travels and his struggles with faith. He is a very devout Christian but sees his faith-brothers commit atrocities in the name of Christ and his belief is shaken. No wonder the Coptic church does not approve of this novel.
#jubilantjuly #currentlyreading
@RealLifeReading

I've been putting this off for a while. It's time to start now.