Jean Williams is the part-time woman’s worker at her local church, supports her husband in university ministry, raises four kids in a rambling house in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, and writes for gotherefor.com as well as TGC Australia. After dreaming about it for 15 years, she helped to start Entrust Women conference three years ago. Her great loves, after Jesus and her family, include walking, staring at trees, musing about life, and sipping on a spiced chai (she can do up to three of these simultaneously). Oh, and reading books. And more books. And yet more books. As you are about to see, she can seldom limit herself to one. Or even ten.
TGCA – What books are currently on your bedside table?
I just re-read Tolkien, so that would be The Silmarillion and several volumes of The Lord of the Rings.
I’m also reading Zeal and Burnout by Christopher Ash, a gift from our pastor and his wife to everyone on our staff team. It’s proving to be a great encouragement.
I have a few other Christian books on slow burn, including Women’s Ministry in the Local Church by J Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt.
And I’ve just started to work my way through a pile of novels from the library (EM Delafield, Emma Donaghue, Liane Moriarty, Ranson Riggs, Orson Scott Card).
TGCA – What was the last book you left unfinished?
It was actually two books on prayer that I found a bit uninspiring, by authors I usually love. Prayer is one of those things that is wonderful in practice but hard to write about well (for the record, Don Carson’s Call to Spiritual Reformation and Paul Miller’s A Praying Life – apart from one slightly shaky chapter – are brilliant exceptions).
There are too many great books in the world to persevere to the end of the disappointing ones.
TGCA – What’s a book you feel guilty for not reading?
Anything by Flannery O’Conner. And I always have this nagging feeling that I should have attempted James Joyce’s Ulysses and Dante’s Inferno when I was young and working my way through the classics.
TGCA – Fiction or Non-fiction?
Both, always.
TGCA – What’s a book that someone needs to write?
Lots of books on grace-centred womanhood have been published in the last few years, and I’ve appreciated them greatly, but I haven’t found one that I’d give to women without qualification. Women are prone to guilt, so it’s a hugely important topic.
TGCA – What books did you read to your children?
An enormous pile of picture books, especially anything by Shirley Hughes. The Narnia series by CS Lewis. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John. Danny the Champion of the World and Fantastic Mister Fox by Roald Dahl. Charlotte’s Web by EB White (if reading out loud is the test of a book, this wins hands down). The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. When we were very young and Now we are six by AA Milne.
TGCA – What books made a big impact on you during adolescence?
Anything and everything by CS Lewis. Perhaps also Joni Eareckson Tada’s autobiography Joni, and The First Easter by Peter Marshall.
TGCA – What was the last book you gave as a present?
The Dean’s Watch by Elizabeth Goudge and In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. Two quiet, beautiful books full of grace.
TGCA – Should Christians write fiction?
Of course.
TGCA – Do you re-read books?
I think what’s on my bedside table might be a give-away. I’ve been going through a major re-reading phase: all my favourite novels from my bookshelves. It’s like visiting old friends.
TGCA – Best biography you’ve read?
I enjoyed Eric Metaxas’ biographies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and William Wilberforce. And Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs was fascinating.
TGCA – What 10 books would you take to a desert island?
The Bible.
JI Packer Knowing God.
After that it gets tricky, like choosing a favourite child. But here goes:
King’s Cross by Tim Keller.
John Calvin’s Institutes (I need something to keep me going).
The Norton Anthology of Poetry
William Shakespeare’s Complete Works (if Rory Shiner can do it, so can I).
Gilead and Home by Marilynne Robinson.
Can I take series as well as single books? Because I’m taking Lord of the Rings and Narnia. And Harry Potter. And Cynthia Voigt’s Homecoming series. I’m sure there’ll be room on the life raft. Who needs life jackets?
Those good at arithmetic will notice a slight issue here, and those who know me well will be entirely unsurprised.
TGCA – What was the last book that made you angry?
Without naming names, it would be a couple of highly respected books on the spiritual disciplines that describe a whole lot of disciplines you won’t see in the Bible, then tell Christians they should be doing them. The only book I’ve read on spiritual disciplines that I’d recommend is Jerry Bridges’ The Discipline of Grace, which limits itself to biblical disciplines. The title says it all.
TGCA – Is there a book that you wish you’d written?
Nancy Guthrie’s Holding On To Hope would come pretty close. It’s rare to find a book on suffering that is biblical, emotionally honest, and appropriate to put into the hands of those struggling with grief.
And who doesn’t want to write like CS Lewis? I admit to total writer’s envy.
TGCA – Most overrated book?
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (dark and dreary). Tess of the D’Urbivilles by Thomas Hardy (I will never get those hours back again). Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare – not because of the amazing language, but seriously, is teenage infatuation really worth all this? It’s Twilight for the 16th century. Which is probably why I loved Romeo and Juliet so much as a teenager.
TGCA – What’s a book that we would be surprised to find that you enjoyed?
Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares. (I just lost the respect of half of the readers of this article … the male half … and most of the women too.)
I also love a good dystopian fantasy, and have read a fair few. Hunger Games, anyone? Not sure if that’s surprising.
TGCA – What’s your favourite time and place to read?
Christian books: on my mornings off, sitting in a café and sipping a spiced chai.
Novels: in bed at night just before I fall asleep. I’ve got lying in bed reading sideways down to a fine art.
I’m also pretty skilled at reading while cleaning my teeth.
TGCA – What was the last book you read?
Rico Tice’s Honest Evangelism. It was brilliant. A life-changer, and so clearly written. Unlike most books on evangelism, it admits that it’s painful, and helpfully addresses our motivations. I’d recommend it to anyone.
TGCA – What is your favourite novel?
See the first question about my bedside table.
TGCA – What is your favourite poem?
Psalm 23. “God’s grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins. “Mending wall” by Robert Frost. I don’t read a lot of poetry (except for the Psalms) so these are pretty obvious choices, but I don’t care: I love them anyway.
TGCA – What is one book, apart from the Bible, you’d encourage every Christian to read?
JI Packer’s Knowing God, without a doubt.
TGCA – Which book, apart from the Bible, has most shaped your approach to ministry?
People, more than books, have shaped my ministry. But as I adjust to my new role as the women’s worker at our local church, I’ve been guided by Word-Filled Women’s Ministry, edited by Gloria Furman and Kathleen Nielson. It’s a gem.
