Caliban in Grub Street

Caliban in Grub Street by Ronald A Knox, 218 pages

In Caliban in Grub Street, the redoubtable Msgr Knox turns his attention to the religious opinions of the common Englishman of 1930, through a series of articles and essays published in the popular press, including works by such luminaries as Arthur Conan Doyle, Bertrand Russell, Hugh Walpole, and Rebecca West.  What he discovers is that most of them reject religion, but they do not do so because their reason demands it, but rather because they reject reason, or at least they deny that reason can be applied to matters of the spirit.  For Knox, this accounts for the modern preference for spiritualism over religion - spirituality being to religion what sentimentality is to emotion - and the fuzziness of thought found even among those who outwardly profess religion.  

Needless to say, Knox is emphatically not among those who reject either reason or religion, and it is a pleasure to follow him as he examines these journalistic efforts, uncovering their hidden inconsistencies, craven ambiguities, and patent nonsense.  For Knox's God is not only reasonable, but the source and ground of reason, and therefore also no lagniappe to a satisfying life, but the condition of all human fulfillment.

I Capture the Castle

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith   343 pages

This book is Cassandra's journal but it doesn't read like a journal. Her family is from the upper class but they are poor and live in a rundown castle. They are an eccentric lot. Her dad is a writer who wrote one successful book but hasn't written anything since.

The status quo changes when their landlord passes away. The Cottons inherit Scoatney Hall and show up one day. Cassandra and her sister Rose are intrigued by the Cotton brothers. Rose becomes engaged to the older brother Simon. The Cottons seem to have inspired her dad to start writing again but the family is not sure. Things are not so simple though. Does Rose love Simon? Has her dad just gone mad? Along the way, Cassandra matures and hijinks ensue with an ambiguous ending that might upset some readers.

I certainly enjoyed this book. There are memorable characters and a good plot. There are some humorous parts in this book that may have you laughing. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes coming of age stories or period dramas.

   

Murder at the Brightwell

Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver
325 Pages

This was a Library Reads pick for October  and is a murder mystery set in 1930's England.  Amory Ames is a woman in an unhappy marriage to a playboy.  When her former fiancee asks for her help in dissuading his sister from marrying a man with similar character, she embarks on a holiday at the sea.  When a murder occurs, Amory tries to figure out who is responsible, but there are many suspects.

 Several people seemed to have liked this mystery, but I didn't feel engaged by Amory or any of the other characters.  For this reason I wouldn't recommend this book to a mystery lover.