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A Comedian's Prayer Book
On sale
1st April 2021
Price: £9.99
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Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9781529368956
A Comedian’s Prayer Book. The title is a worry, isn’t it?…
God is a tough audience as far as audible response is concerned, but at least you don’t have to explain the references. In this collection of prayers, much-loved comedian, broadcaster and radio host Frank Skinner has tried to retain the bare candour of the rehearsal-room improvisation – to show what faith feels like, from the inside – but infused it with all the production values required to make it a passable public entertainment. In it are his convictions, his questions, his fears, his doubts, his elations – all presented in an eavesdropper-friendly form.
Hell, Judgement, atheism, money, faith and the X-Men all feature: it’s a bit like reading the Bible, except you only get one side of the conversation, and all the jokes are left in.
God is a tough audience as far as audible response is concerned, but at least you don’t have to explain the references. In this collection of prayers, much-loved comedian, broadcaster and radio host Frank Skinner has tried to retain the bare candour of the rehearsal-room improvisation – to show what faith feels like, from the inside – but infused it with all the production values required to make it a passable public entertainment. In it are his convictions, his questions, his fears, his doubts, his elations – all presented in an eavesdropper-friendly form.
Hell, Judgement, atheism, money, faith and the X-Men all feature: it’s a bit like reading the Bible, except you only get one side of the conversation, and all the jokes are left in.
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Reviews
He takes laying bare your soul to a level I've never come across before by a well-known name.
The book is a simple, unpretentious invitation to kneel alongside someone who has experienced the lows and highs of life, who has grown up through that experience, and has found that a conversational relationship with God is essential to living kindly, thoughtfully and well. Anyone new to faith or for whom prayer has become jaded and routine may well find in it an unconventional yet rich source of encouragement to keep on keeping on
This is a fine, brave book, beautifully expressed. Richard Dawkins had better look to his laurels.
The questions he raises are serious, and central to Christian theology, and he expresses them much more pithily than most professional theologians...This is a fine, brave book, beautifully expressed.
It's far from being a comfortable read, though it never ceases to be amusing and thoughtful.
Skinner's thoughts on religion are far more than just amusing: there is a bold freshness to his voice.
'Skinner's tome also asks some big questions, but is ultimately a prayerbook with a small p. You mightn't hear God laugh at the jokes, but surely He approves.'
Skinner uses the book to open up about his ongoing relationship with God and the Catholic Church - and his words make very compelling reading.
'He makes prayer sound normal and natural, and God the obvious person to talk to... His prayers often contain musings on his favourite Bible passages... which he has clearly thought about in detail.'
Frank Skinner's A Comedian's Prayer Book must confuse booksellers as they puzzle over whether to file it under Humour or Religion. It's actually a bit of both, as Skinner is far from solemn... I like my religion to feel like poetry rather than prose... I don't like it cosy.