Adrian Plass - Author Profile

Adrian Plass

About a decade ago I was introduced to two UK authors whose main weapon was looking at life, and life in and around the church through humorous eyes. They were Adrian Plass and Fred Secombe. I instantly fell in love with their humour and writings. I have read about a third of Plass' books and almost all of Sacombe's. Over the next few months I plan on re-reading some of my favourites from each but thought I would post an author profile first.

Adrian Plass born in 1948 in Tunbridge Wells, worked with disadvantaged children for several years before a personal breakdown. That breakdown and his recovery have subsequently shaped much of his thinking and reflections on life and life in the church. Because of his intense vulnerability about his own faults, failures and struggles, he has become a beloved author and example to many. For a Christian to admit that he struggles with faith, hope, depression and liking the drink a little too much, is not common and makes him unique in his presentation. His writings, loosely focused around his own and his family's experience, will make you laugh out loud and maybe help you experience some of his struggles so that when you encounter trials you will be better prepared for them. Adrian Plass is an author who writes primarily Christian humour, but also short stories, Bible commentaries and novels with a more serious tone. His most famous book is The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37¾. The title parodies Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole books and is a humorous, fictional satire of his own Christian life, including such moments as trying to move a paperclip by faith and the enthusiastic but not very talented young Christian band, 'Bad News for the Devil'. Plass has developed a wide and devoted following at home in the UK, Australia, Germany and to a smaller extent in Canada. Some of his books are harder to find in North America but are well worth tracking down.

Books By Adrian Plass:
An Alien at St. Wilfred's
And Jesus Will Be Born
Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation
Blind Spots in the Bible
Broken Windows, Broken Lives
Cabbages for the King
Clearing away the Rubbish
Colours of Survival
Father to the Man
The Final Boundary
Ghosts
The Growing-up Pains of Adrian Plass
Jesus - Safe, Tender and Extreme
The Heart of the Family
The Horizontal Epistles of Andromeda Veal
Never Mind the Reversing Ducks
Nothing But the Truth
Philip Illiot, Biography
Plass At Christmas
The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37 3/4
The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, Christian Speaker Aged 45 3/4
The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, on Tour: Aged Far Too Much to Be Put on the Front Cover of a Book
A Smile on the Face of God
Stress Family Robinson
Stress Family Robinson 2
The Theatrical Tapes of Leonard Thynn
The Unlocking
View from a Bouncy Castle
The Visit
When You Walk
Why I follow Jesus
Words from the Cross
A Year at St. Yorick's
You Say Tomato