I'm always up to check out a new genre, whether it be zombified Jane Austen novels, alternate history, or in this case, Christian sci-fi. It's about as strange as it sounds, but I was surprised to really get sucked into this book. Told from the perspective of a Christian missionary to the first alien population discovered by man, "The Book of Strange New Things" is a contemplation on religious belief, humanity, and marriage. The book lives up to its title and is indeed very strange. Made a lot of sense when I found out that this author also wrote [b:Under the Skin|123063|Under the Skin|Michel Faber|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1171847901s/123063.jpg|118483] which got turned into that weird Scarlett Johansson movie!

Some of my favorite quotes below

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Proof, once again, that reality was not objective, but always waiting to be reshaped and redefined by one’s attitude. Of course, everybody on earth had the power to reshape reality. It was one of the things Peter and Beatrice talked about a lot. The challenge of getting people to grasp that life was only as grim and confining as you perceived it to be.

“Most true things are kind of corny, don’t you think? But we make them more sophisticated out of sheer embarrassment. Simple truths with complicated clothes on. The only purpose of the linguistic dressing-up is so people won’t look at the contents of our naked hearts and minds and say ‘How naff.’ ”

Addicts don’t handle praise well. The pressure of living up to it drives them back to drink and drugs.”

one of the dictums he enjoyed quoting, whenever he sensed that people in the congregation were staring at his grubby, decrepit, dog-eared New Testament, was “Clean Bible—dirty Christian. Dirty Bible—clean Christian.”

There is so little said in the New Testament about sexual love, and most of it consists of Paul heaving a deep sigh and tolerating it like a weakness. But I feel certain Jesus didn’t see it that way. It was He who talked of two lovers becoming one flesh.

Someone at work said to me this morning, ”Where is God in all this?” I didn’t rise to the bait. I can never understand why people ask that question. The real question for the bystanders of tragedy is “Where are WE in all this?” I’ve always tried to come up with answers to that challenge. I don’t know if I can at the moment. Pray for me.

“The end of a marriage is never a mutual decision,” she said.

A bit of a loner, even. What I mean is, you’re not disgusted or irritated by the human animal. You just take them as they come. Some people never get fed up with dogs; they’re dog people. Doesn’t matter what sort of dog it is, big or small, placid or yappy, well-behaved or naughty—they’re all lovable in their own way, because they’re dogs and dogs are a good thing. A pastor should feel that way about human beings. But you know what?—not many do. Not many at all. You’ll go far, Peter.”

Animals suffer, but Jesus ate meat, and he hung around with fishermen.

He only wished he’d had the chance to explain more fully how prayer worked. That it wasn’t a matter of asking for things and being accepted or rejected, it was a matter of adding one’s energy—insignificant in itself—to the vastly greater energy that was God’s love. In fact, it was an affirmation of being part of God, an aspect of His spirit temporarily housed inside a body. A miracle similar, in principle, to the one that had given human form to Jesus.

When in distress, don’t self-obsess, reach out. Bea’s motto. Their motto as a couple, actually.

We are all specialized forms of survivor, Peter reminded himself. We lack what we fundamentally need and forge ahead regardless, hurriedly hiding our wounds, disguising our ineptitude, bluffing our way through our weaknesses.

When it came down to it, it was not Jesus but these women on whose mercy he threw himself, and who must decide if he’d finally gone too far.

The holy book he’d spent so much of his life preaching from had one cruel flaw: it was not very good at offering encouragement or hope to those who weren’t religious.

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