“Splendid the beams and the pillars/ Of marvellous pork.” - T.H. White

I’ll be honest, we’re only 2 months in and I’m already struggling with the challenge I’ve set myself. January gave me a false sense of security since I finished The Shock of the Fall well before the end of the month, and then suddenly February was over. Since I’d started February’s first book in August last year and I…still haven’t finished the second one…I didn’t actually manage to complete a whole book in February. But we shall persevere. The many cries of ‘WE WANT BLOG’ from my countless fans have spurred me on. You are welcome. (Seriously though, I received so many nice messages after my last two posts – thank you!)

January’s two books were very similar in many ways (you can read all about them here *plug*), whereas my two books this month had zero similarities. One of them brought about a dilemma – The Sword in the Stone (T.H. White) is the first of five volumes in The Once and Future King, and even though I’d originally planned to count all five as one of my 30 books, once it became clear that I was never going to finish it on schedule I took the easy way out and decided to count them as five separate books. I felt bad about it, don’t worry.

The book I actually did finish in February was The Hole in our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung. I. loved. this. book. I’ve been reading it on and off since August, and the main reason it took me so long is because every chapter gave me a whole lot to think about (which is the case for many Christian books). Holiness feels impossible when you are aware of how sinful you are, but even though as Christians we are still sinners, we are also alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:4) and we are God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). Holiness is possible because of who we are: we belong to God! He has given us everything we need for a godly life (2 Peter 1:3) – it’s not impossible, but it’s also massively important that we do not think we can manage it by ourselves. This book was both challenging and encouraging, and I would really recommend it to any Christian. I got to hear Kevin DeYoung preach on Sunday night which was very cool, but that was not how I imagined his voice. If (more like when) I read this book again I’m going to have a whole different voice in my head.

If you’re not a Christian and you’re interested in knowing anything more about this, I would love to chat to you!

The Sword in the Stone is based on the legend, and unlike The Hole in our Holiness, features a castle made out of food. And a poem all about it:

Its two soft door-posts of custard,
Its dais of curds and butter,
Beds of glorious lard,
Many shields of thin pressed cheese.

Yep. That’s just one verse. There’s also a chapter where Arthur gets turned into an ant, for reasons which were not clear at all. Arthur gets called ‘The Wart’ and Merlyn is Merlyn not Merlin and Robin Hood is in it except he’s actually called Robin Wood…it’s an interesting experience. My plan is to read all 5 of the books but since I’m two thirds into the first one and there has been mention of neither a sword nor a stone, I’m finding it difficult to stay motivated. We shall see. At the very least reading it has made me want to watch the Disney film.

This month I’m going to get back on track and read Compared to her by Sophie de Witt and The Story of my Father by Sue Miller. Keep coming with the recommendations and plz lend/give me your books. You da best, thanks for reading!