As we wrap up the Archbishop’s Golden Jubilee reflection series, Archbishop Mark shared some of his favourite books from his vast collection, which he sees as a reflection of his life journey. From his university days to the present, his bookshelf serves as his autobiography, filled with a diverse selection of genres to captivate any reader. Among the standout books he mentioned were “Boy Swallows Universe” by Trent Dalton, a beloved local novel, and “The Rest is History” by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, a book that he found both entertaining and enlightening. We hope you have enjoyed Archbishop Mark’s Golden Jubilee reflection series, and we hope that his words and stories continue to inspire you.
Watch the Archbishop’s reflection here:
Ep9 – The Story of My Life
Where do I start? This bookshelf if you know how to read it is the story of my life. Some of these books go back to my university studies even before I went to the seminary and they carry up to the present day. So this is in a sense, this is my autobiography. A book, well it depends what people interests are because there’s a bit of everything here. No look, all I can say is, I invite whoever is interested in this bookshelf to come and see if there’s something that interests you because there’s something for everyone, I can tell you. And when I move from Wynberg
in the not too distant future, I am going to have to cull this bookshelf because I won’t be able to take it all with me and no library wants these books now. So come and if you feel inclined, come and have a look. I’ll have a look at what you want to take and have to give my permission.
But no, there’s just so much here that is wonderful and books haven’t been quite my life, but they have been an extraordinary part of my life. This is actually a very good one that’s got a lot of publicity by a local author, Trent Dalton, Boy Swallows Universe if you want to read that, it’s a big fat book.
As I’ve got older, I’ve got fatter, I’ve preferred books that are less fat. But if you want a good read, Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, there we are. Well, I have so many favourite books, it’s impossible to choose. But one I have in my hand that I do recommend is by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. Now, you might have heard of them because they do these extremely popular podcasts, The Rest is History. And they were in Brisbane not long ago and I went to see them live at QPAC and it was a great evening. But this is one of their books, not the podcast, not the live show, but the book and it’s called The Rest is History which is the name of their podcast. So I thoroughly recommend it. I was using it as bedtime reading and I found parts of it so amusing it was keeping me awake, not putting me to sleep. But it’s genuinely interesting because they’re both serious historians. But they have a wonderful sense of humour and an ability to tell a story. So, The Rest is History by Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland, history’s most curious questions answered.
So there we are, if you want one recommendation from me, something that’s imminently readable as well as deeply interesting, that is the book!