Summer Reading

Many of us will spend the rest of our summer breathlessly awaiting, and then analyzing, the Lutheran Church's decisions about same-sex unions and gay pastors. For those of you who prefer to spend August the old-fashioned way, escaping into a good book, here are a few of Father Anonymous's favorite writers:

• Susan Howatch: Lots of sex, lots of religion, not so much politics.
• Anthony Trollope: he pretends to write about religion (in Barchester) and politics (in the Pallisers). But look closely -- sex and money are everywhere.
• J.F. Powers: He gets it. About priests, about the Midwest, about ... well, just read.
• Phil Rickman: Utterly realistic novels about an Anglican priest who is a single mother in a rural diocese. And solves murders. And exorcises demons.