Bringing in the Sheaves, Richard Coles
Bringing in the Sheaves, Richard Coles
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Bringing in the Sheaves
Wheat and Chaff from My Years as a Priest

Author: Richard Coles

Narrator: Richard Coles

Unabridged: 7 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/06/2016

Synopsis

Richard Coles narrates this witty account of life as a parish priest and Radio 4 broadcaster.

After a life of sex and drugs and the Communards - brilliantly recounted in the highly acclaimed first volume of his memoirs FATHOMLESS RICHES - the Reverend Richard Coles went on to devote his life to God and Christianity. He is also a much-loved broadcaster, presenting SATURDAY LIVE on Radio 4 and giving us regular reason to PAUSE FOR THOUGHT on Radio 2.

What is life like for the parson in Britain today? For centuries the Church calendar - and the Church minister - gave character and personality to British life. Today, however, as the shape of the year has become less distinct and faith no longer as privileged or persuasive, that figure has become far more marginal.

In BRINGING IN THE SHEAVES, Reverend Coles answers this question. From his ordination during the season of Petertide, through Advent and Christmas to Lent and Easter, he gives us a unique insight into his daily experience in the ministry, with all the joy, drama, difficulty and humour which life - and indeed death - serves up in varying measures.

Written with extraordinary charm and erudition, BRINGING IN THE SHEAVES features a multitude of characters and events from parish life against a backdrop of the Christian calendar.

(p) 2016 Orion Publishing Group

About Richard Coles

THE REVEREND RICHARD COLES is a writer, broadcaster and an Anglican priest. He co-presented Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 for a number of years and appears, from time to time, on QI, Have I Got News For You and Would I Lie To You? He has won Christmas MasterChef, Celebrity Mastermind twice, and captained Leeds to victory in Christmas University Challenge in 2019. A contestant on Strictly Come Dancing (2017) and a third place finalist on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (2024) he exhibits huge bravery. He writes regularly for the Sunday Times, and is the author of half a dozen books, including a bestselling autobiography, Fathomless Riches, and the bereavement bestseller The Madness of Grief, written after the death of his partner, David Coles. The first three books in the Canon Clement series have all been No.1 Sunday Times bestsellers.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Connor

3 isn't a bad rating for this book. I liked it quite a bit, but I think the format threw me off at first a little. It is lots and lots of small stories, not told in any order, rather following a calendar structure. I enjoyed many of the accounts but wish I'd got a bit more from it. I'd still recomme......more

Goodreads review by Clive

If you pardon the pun - something of a curate's egg of a book, I'm afraid. When its good, its fascinating and highly readable. However, there are times when its hard going and the anecdotes seemingly irrelevant, inserted for no apparent reason. The book moves through the parts of the ecclesiastical y......more

Goodreads review by Caroline

A thoroughly enjoyable read! I love listening to the Rev. Richard Coles, because he's so interesting. This book, Bringing in the Sheaves, to me reflects his wit, charm, fantastic knowledge and genuine interest in his parishioners. The Rev. Coles tells of his life as a man of God, from becoming a Deac......more

Goodreads review by Katie

Book was ok. Wasn't what I was expecting. It was a bit to heavy going for my liking. I liked his other books better......more

Goodreads review by Jo

I loved this book. This was more like dipping in and out of a diary than a memoir as such. But obviously confidentiality stops this from being like a straightforward memoir. However once you get used to the way it is put together, that is snippets that don't relate to each other, this becomes wonder......more

Quotes

Others mapping the daily clerical grind might hold forth on divine transcendence and immanence, on our fallen natures and need of grace. Not so Richard Coles ... Bringing in the Sheaves is an invitation to see the world as he does: the ultimate in the intimate - after all, what other way is there? SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Bringing in the Sheaves is another lively and perceptive collection of anecdotes and insights derived from his recent experience of juggling daily life as a parish priest with his curious hinterland of burgeoning celebrity. Coles is a witty and likable raconteur GUARDIAN

Coles draws on his 11 years in the clergy, with all the humour, quirky characters and incidents that life - and death - serve up MAIL ON SUNDAY EVENT MAGAZINE

There is much to teach us and inspire us as well as to entertain and make us laugh THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEWSPAPER

His life story is intriguing - pop star to Anglican vicar - but it is his insights into the church's present situation, Christian belief and above all human encounters that are honest, sometimes funny and occasionally revelatory THE SPECTATOR Books of the Year

An entertaining mix of the sacred and the secular, the gossipy and ritualistic grandeur that attempts to give the reader a feel of the texture of the life of a vicar THE HERALD MAGAZINE

It's a vision of contemporary Anglicanism as seen through a particular, perhaps slightly glitterballed perspective. I enjoyed it even though I'm an atheist THE HERALD MAGAZINE

Richly associative and absorbing RADIO TIMES

A series of often hilarious vignettes SAGA

It is a delightful compilation of thoughts, memories and incidents, all told with his signature humanity and humour CHOICE

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List