A "girl-meets-God" style memoir of an agnostic who, through her surprising opportunity to study at Oxford, comes to a dynamic personal faith ... read full description
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Sep 06, 2011
Melanie
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I am not going to lie, when I saw that the memoir I had agreed to read [Surprised by Oxford] by Carolyn Weber was well over 400 pages, I was a little disappointed in having chosen this title to review. Thankfully, this book is a beautiful narrative filled with poetry and quotes from classic literature, deep and intriguing questions about meaning faith and God, and even a little bit of love and friendship thrown in for good measure. This is not a boring 400+ pages filled with an author d
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Feb 12, 2012
Cynthia
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"Who is God to you? I'd really like to know." No one had actually asked me such pointed questions of the topic before...I felt like a hummingbird that had hit the glass. Hard."
Carolyn left Canada to attend Oxford. She took with her an unquestioned agnosticism and a large chip on her shoulder from her upbringing. She quickly met professors, friends, and assorted others who challenged (both purposefully and not) her beliefs and feelings. Tall, Dark, Handsome (TDH) en More...
Carolyn left Canada to attend Oxford. She took with her an unquestioned agnosticism and a large chip on her shoulder from her upbringing. She quickly met professors, friends, and assorted others who challenged (both purposefully and not) her beliefs and feelings. Tall, Dark, Handsome (TDH) en More...
Nov 28, 2011
Jamie
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How do you criticize someone's personal faith journey? It's impossible. This book did not have the depth to serve as anything more to me than an interesting look at just that: an individual and personal faith journey. I was frustrated by the struggle between unbelieving and Christianity: should it not be unbelieving and simply believing? After all, all religions are right and all religions are wrong: "any idea of Him we have He must in His mercy shatter."
It would have been More...
It would have been More...
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Oct 12, 2011
James
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With alarming statistics about Christians who lose their faith in college, it was refreshing to hear a story of an agnostic finding Jesus in grad school. Carolyn's memoir about her time at Oxford, her introduction to the faith by a man she calls bu the initials TDH (tall dark and handsome), and her coming to terms with what her faith means for her as an academic was well worth reading.
What I especially liked about this story was how it reminded me of people and conversations I had in More...
What I especially liked about this story was how it reminded me of people and conversations I had in More...
Sep 07, 2011
Kristine
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I enjoy stories about self discovery and journeys of faith, so when I read Surprised by Oxford I was not disappointed. I love how the book is set up on the first school year at Oxford. I can say I learned a lot of interesting things about this world renown school. The author has a beautiful command of language which made it easy to slip myself into the scenery of the story.
What a wonderful experience Carolyn Weber had during her time at Oxford. Who knew one could have a journey of fait More...
What a wonderful experience Carolyn Weber had during her time at Oxford. Who knew one could have a journey of fait More...
Sep 13, 2011
Sally
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Make no bones about it; I adore the history of my home country. Oxford and its university are steeped in it. The town was founded in the 8th century and there is evidence of teaching there from the 11th century. Sadly, in 22 years of living in the United Kingdom, I never had the opportunity to visit. Carolyn Weber, on the other hand, got to spend a year there. Her university home was Oriel College, established in 1324.
I thought I'd get a travelogue, mixed with some poetry I didn't u More...
I thought I'd get a travelogue, mixed with some poetry I didn't u More...
Aug 29, 2011
Kirsten
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I generally don't choose to read memoirs, much less to review. I suppose the title hit me, as I have to admit in some small way I dreamed what it might be like to get a Rhodes scholarship. Those, however, are allotted to insanely brilliant people that are simply in a league among their own. That being said, I shouldn't have been surprised by the intellectual depth that Weber wrote into this book.
But I was. Probably not as much as she was surprised, although.
Weber attended More...
But I was. Probably not as much as she was surprised, although.
Weber attended More...
Aug 07, 2011
Susan
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Promo: When Carolyn Weber arrived at Oxford for her graduate studies, she felt no need for God. Her childhood in a broken but loving family taught her to rely on reason and intellect—not faith—for survival. Eager and expectant, Carolyn sets out to study Romantic literature in one of the most inspiring and beautiful academic environments in the world. She had no idea that she was about to embark on a love story of her own—one much deeper, more colorful, and more surprisingly God-shaped than any s
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Sep 18, 2011
Elaine
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When Carolyn Weber won a scholarship to do graduate studies at Oxford, the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world, she expected to greatly increase her knowledge of the romantic writers, make new friends, explore a new country and live an unforeseen life.
She is not long in Oxford when she is befriended by a handsome American man (whom she refers to throughout the book as TDH, short for "Tall, Dark and Handsome), rather than his Christian name. At first this see More...
She is not long in Oxford when she is befriended by a handsome American man (whom she refers to throughout the book as TDH, short for "Tall, Dark and Handsome), rather than his Christian name. At first this see More...
Sep 27, 2011
Elizabeth
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Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber
When I saw this book offered on Book Sneeze (where I get books for free from Thomas Nelson publishing by blogging about them), I thought it looked neat, an inspiring, engaging little book about a lady becoming a believer as an adult. Well I was right about the inspiring and engaging and really wrong about the little. Surprised by Oxford is a book worthy of an Oxford graduate and is a brick. She includes introductions by various authors and intersperse More...
When I saw this book offered on Book Sneeze (where I get books for free from Thomas Nelson publishing by blogging about them), I thought it looked neat, an inspiring, engaging little book about a lady becoming a believer as an adult. Well I was right about the inspiring and engaging and really wrong about the little. Surprised by Oxford is a book worthy of an Oxford graduate and is a brick. She includes introductions by various authors and intersperse More...
Oct 29, 2011
Steve
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I really enjoyed this book. it's a bit disjointed at times but the author uses language beautifully and describes Oxford University in ways which made be want to study there. She also shares her gradual and subtle journey from agnosticism towards Christianity. This journey sometimes includes a few cliched responses to questions that are issues for Christians but, on the whole, does not dominate the narrative. To start with, I wondered whether my interest could be sustained for over 400 pages. B
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Jan 11, 2012
Pilar
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Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber was a delightful surprise for me. Firstly, the title alone immediately grabbed my interest. But, I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated by the word 'Oxford'. Words like 'Oxford' and 'Cambridge' are a bit out of my league. However, I secretly (now not so secretly) relished the concept of vicariously being a student of such a reputable and highly esteemed university. I was undoubtedly salivating throughout the book and compared it to eating a delicio
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Aug 23, 2011
Shola
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Quite an experience, "Surprised by Oxford" is a book written by the writer of her experience and journey in becoming a christian through the hall of oxford university. Carolyn Weber shares her experience while in college,She has known to be moral but being moral does not get you to heaven. She had not need for God, as a fact doing great without him.Until she meet a young guy (THD) hence bringing forth all the unfulfilled questions.There is a life she had planned and well familiar with
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Jan 09, 2012
Dennis
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In this memoir, Weber recounts her coming to faith during her graduate studies at Oxford. In that her field of interest was English Literature, especially the poets, this book is well written. My only complaint is that she wraps all of her events up into metaphors. Every chapter title and topic is a metaphor. However, I like how she wrestled with the big faith questions and the small ones. I like that she met bright, engaging, conversant Christians. I found hope in her discovering these Ch
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Nov 29, 2011
Kwesi 章英狮
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There are times that a person will ask for his faith to God. Asking God's existence, the problem's that he is currently into, or why God did not stop evilness in the world. A normal person can't answer why God created everyone equal and why evil lurks in the earth. Maybe soon, we will be like Carolyn Weber, the girl who meets God in Oxford and how her life change.
Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber, is a four-hundred-page full of questions and answers about God. Ways on how she mana More...
Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber, is a four-hundred-page full of questions and answers about God. Ways on how she mana More...
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Feb 10, 2012
Brenda
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Surprised by Oxford, a memoir by Carolyn Weber, is a relatable and inspiring account of a journey to faith. A Canadian academic, Carolyn comes to Oxford for a graduate degree in Romantic-era literature, dragging heavy baggage both literal and metaphorical. She grew up poverty-stricken, with an erratic and usually absent dad, and this scholarship to Oxford is her big break. As soon as she arrives in England, she falls in with a new group of friends, several of whom are Christians. Her old percept
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Nov 26, 2011
Trish
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In Surprised by Oxford, Carolyn Weber shares her journey from agnosticism to Christianity. The story takes place over the course of a year and is set against the backdrop of time spent in graduate study at Oxford University in England, far from her home in Canada.
From the prologue, we learn that Carolyn had encountered one evangelical Christian professor during her undergraduate studies. She recounts a conversation she had with him after turning in a paper in which she completely mis More...
From the prologue, we learn that Carolyn had encountered one evangelical Christian professor during her undergraduate studies. She recounts a conversation she had with him after turning in a paper in which she completely mis More...
Jan 15, 2012
Famillo2001yahoo.com
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Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber
This is a beautifully written account of a young woman's journey to Christian faith. Caro arrives as a scholarship student from Canada in Oxford to study the literature of the Romantic poets. The beautiful descriptions of student life in Oxford are certainly enough to keep one reading but the spiritual questions that she asks are so universal that it was hard to put down. As she questions and searches for answers, her honesty, humor, and humility More...
This is a beautifully written account of a young woman's journey to Christian faith. Caro arrives as a scholarship student from Canada in Oxford to study the literature of the Romantic poets. The beautiful descriptions of student life in Oxford are certainly enough to keep one reading but the spiritual questions that she asks are so universal that it was hard to put down. As she questions and searches for answers, her honesty, humor, and humility More...
Jan 12, 2012
Julie
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As a Christian with a degree in English Literature who is a serious Anglophile and C.S. Lewis fan, I pounced on this book once I learned of it.
This is an appealing account of a precious interlude in the life of Carolyn Weber. Her descriptions of Oxford are beautiful and evocative and I loved the way she included Milton, Donne, and Hopkins poems and other spiritual insights she gleaned from pop-culture. Unlike one other reviewer I felt that the people and conversations she describes a More...
This is an appealing account of a precious interlude in the life of Carolyn Weber. Her descriptions of Oxford are beautiful and evocative and I loved the way she included Milton, Donne, and Hopkins poems and other spiritual insights she gleaned from pop-culture. Unlike one other reviewer I felt that the people and conversations she describes a More...
Oct 03, 2011
Molly
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I haven't heard of Carolyn Weber, and I thought you had to be sort of like a household name before writing a memoir, so I had my misgivings at first. But I thought anyone who had the wits to give a nod to C.S. Lewis was at least worth a first chapter peek.
I was right. Carolyn Weber is witty and poetic, and her memoir unfolds beautifully. I still don't know who she is, but her story is worth the read. She will take you with her on two parallel journeys: one to Oxford and another into More...
I was right. Carolyn Weber is witty and poetic, and her memoir unfolds beautifully. I still don't know who she is, but her story is worth the read. She will take you with her on two parallel journeys: one to Oxford and another into More...
Feb 08, 2012
Susan
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2/2012 Wow! Well written, thoughtful, and resonating. It has been so many years since I laid down my life and chose to trust God that it was wonderful to read another’s recounting of the experience. I relived the struggles and the arguments. I rejoiced in the freedom and the joy when the commitment was made. I empathized with the struggles following the decision. Honest, intelligent, and filled with connections to literature and life. Very good read!
Jan 08, 2012
This was an engaging and thought-provoking book about a woman's conversion from agnosticism to Christian faith while a student at Oxford. The description of "girl meets God" provided by the marketers does not really do the theme justice. Any person of faith who has tried to navigate the turgid waters of postmodernism in academia is likely to find much here to appreciate. As well, it was a nice way to revisit Oxford through the author's eyes. Some conversational bits did come across as
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Nov 13, 2011
Jordan
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The book reads like fiction and yet you have the clear sense that you are reading a story based on true events. This is the journey of a young woman who thought she had it all figured out and is blindsided by a new reality found in the life-changing God experience. A beautifully written story, Carolyn "Caro" Weber, provides thought provoking witticisms and often times, humble silence to moments that seem to call for a grand response.
I picked this up as it would be the first More...
I picked this up as it would be the first More...
Nov 15, 2011
Carolyn Weber's studied literature at Oxford University. I recently visited London so it was interesting to see some of the places and food mentioned in the book that I was familiar with because of my trip.
Carolyn didn't believe in God when she arrived at Oxford, but as time passed, she started wondering about God, asking questions and reading the Bible. By the time she left Oxford, her thoughts about God had changed completely.
Each chapter starts with poetry and favorite aut More...
Carolyn didn't believe in God when she arrived at Oxford, but as time passed, she started wondering about God, asking questions and reading the Bible. By the time she left Oxford, her thoughts about God had changed completely.
Each chapter starts with poetry and favorite aut More...
Nov 28, 2011
Readnponder
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If the title of this book sounds to you like a play off C. S. Lewis's "Surprised by Joy," you are correct. It is the story of a bright Canadian student who wins a scholarship to study literature at Oxford in the 1990s. She had nominal religious training as a child, but is basically atheist. At Oxford, she seems to keep bumping into Christians, esp an American she calls TDH (for tall, dark and handsome). Conversations, her studies, her reading, all whittle away at her objections to
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Aug 16, 2011
Elliot
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An enjoyable recounting of how the author went from skeptic to Christian believer over a year of graduate studies at Oxford University. The author is a professor of Romantic literature, so there are lots of literary references. And some song references. Mostly to U2.
Aug 31, 2011
Marybeth
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I am such a sucker for memoirs especially those that highlight not only the fragility of human relationships, but the power of redemption as well. What a lovely literary work!
Jan 02, 2012
Rick
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440 pages, and there seemed to be a nugget in every paragraph. This is a very well-written memoir filled with wit and insight. It is the kind of book you are sad to finish because it means you are no longer able to spend time with it anymore.
Feb 16, 2012
Alexandra Patterson
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An interesting memoir about finding faith in an unlikely place. I would've loved more connection with the city itself...but that's probably the Anglophile in me talking.
Sep 20, 2011
Sarah
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A memoir focusing on the unity of Christianity and the academy. An excellent read for the Christian that prefers paper to people.
