Being distracted from Buchan by Rob Bell

I'll admit that I picked up this book because it was slim.  At just over 100 pages I was certain to be able to complete it today.  I wanted a short book because yesterday I struggled with continuing to read Steve Jobs biography and at the rate I am reading it, it will take me about 6 days to do so.  So I wanted something short, something I could get through in half a day.  I figured John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps would be just the ticket.  However I hadn't quite figured that I would be a little distracted today.  Mainly because I had pre-booked tickets to see Rob Bell at the launch of his latest book.

This also meant that David and I had to have an impromptu meal at Carluccio's Islington branch prior to the event, so it all ended up eating into our reading time as well (David is currently reading Mario Puzo's The Godfather).

After the event, mainly because Rob ended up being an excellent orator (not that anyone was surprised by that as it's kind of why we went in the first place) I didn't really want to do all that much reading on the way home, because there were things to discuss, like just what Rob Bell thought his philosophy actually was about and how far he's come from the evangelical pastor to the man with a Buddhist-like desire to really see the world for what it is: a wondrous miraculous sparkling mass of energy.  He still wants to see it through Christian tinted glasses, but hey, it's where he's come from.  We can forgive him that much.  Many other Christians are much harder to forgive.

Moving onto to Buchan's book, I can see why it is on The Observer's list of 100 influential books.  It is probably the precursor to just about every spy thriller ever written after 1915.  To sum it up in under a paragraph, the main protagonist discoveris a secret that so dangerous that he must run in order to stay alive. If he stops running, those that want to silence him for what he has learnt will catch him and kill him.  Thankfully he has a military background and is rather good at regional accents.  He also has learnt more than just a little conversational German, and given that all those chasing him speak this language it comes in very handy indeed.

I haven't quite finished the book, I'll do that in the next hour once I've published this and crawled into bed.  However I will finish it today, so check it off the list I must.  

Tomorrow is Cloud Atlas day.  Yay!!

Days Left:    345

Books Read:   6