Meeting Susannah Macready
Susannah Macready will be contributing our notes for January on The Scarlet Letter, so I thought we'd ask her a few questions before we begin.
How did you come to faith in Christ?
I got jealous of some Christian friends and wanted what they had! Not very disinterested of me, but highly effective. God is gracious indeed to accept us on such terms.
What do you most love about reading?
I most love seeing the characters being kind to each other or the author being kind to them. After finishing two whole degrees in English Literature one would think I could come up with something more theoretical and high-brow than that. And so I could, but it wouldn't be true. The other thing about reading that I love is reading out loud and being read to, especially if it's something uproariously funny like a P.G Wodehouse book or Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome.
What is your favourite novel?
Although I did a PhD. on The Scarlet Letter, I'm sorry to say I admire it rather than love it, so even though it is amazing it doesn't rate a mention on this list. Bleak House is up there, however, and Daniel Deronda, and Adam Bede, and The Lord of the Rings, but I think Persuasion would have to be number one. When I'm tired or have a cold my favourite books are Dorothy Sayers' crime fiction stories (but her essays are good too) and E. Nesbit's The Railway Children.
What book(s) has helped you most in growing in your knowledge of God?
Not surprisingly the Bible is first - especially the 1560 Geneva Bible (which you can get in facsimile) with its wonderful marginal notes. The 1662 Prayer Book would have to be second, and the poetry of George Herbert equal third with C.S. Lewis' Surprised by Joy.
I got jealous of some Christian friends and wanted what they had! Not very disinterested of me, but highly effective. God is gracious indeed to accept us on such terms.
What do you most love about reading?
I most love seeing the characters being kind to each other or the author being kind to them. After finishing two whole degrees in English Literature one would think I could come up with something more theoretical and high-brow than that. And so I could, but it wouldn't be true. The other thing about reading that I love is reading out loud and being read to, especially if it's something uproariously funny like a P.G Wodehouse book or Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome.
What is your favourite novel?
Although I did a PhD. on The Scarlet Letter, I'm sorry to say I admire it rather than love it, so even though it is amazing it doesn't rate a mention on this list. Bleak House is up there, however, and Daniel Deronda, and Adam Bede, and The Lord of the Rings, but I think Persuasion would have to be number one. When I'm tired or have a cold my favourite books are Dorothy Sayers' crime fiction stories (but her essays are good too) and E. Nesbit's The Railway Children.
What book(s) has helped you most in growing in your knowledge of God?
Not surprisingly the Bible is first - especially the 1560 Geneva Bible (which you can get in facsimile) with its wonderful marginal notes. The 1662 Prayer Book would have to be second, and the poetry of George Herbert equal third with C.S. Lewis' Surprised by Joy.