In a recent online discussion, readers were looking for books with a question mark in the title: once you start thinking about it, there are dozens.
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? and N or M? from Agatha Christie. Is He Popenjoy? by Anthony Trollope. And then there's Are you there, God? It's me Margaret by Judy Blume. That last one was published in 1970, aimed at young teenagers, and looking at all kinds of topics of interest to young people, especially girls - much of it still relevant now. It is not a religious tract at all. The title is the first line of Margaret's regular prayers: her parents are of different faiths, and she has not been brought up in either religion, but she is experimenting throughout the book - as she does also with other aspects of her life. Friendships, clothes, boys, belonging with the cool girls. Margaret is endearing and real, but the book has attracted a lot of attention from censors over the years, with people trying to ban it from libraries because of its frankness.
The title phrase has an enduring charm - it sounds quite teenaged and has been much parodied in US culture - but surely many of us could say it with our own names in there. It's a question we are all asking. Are you there, are you listening, can you help?
A common cry is 'I asked God for help but he didn't answer.' I don't have many clever religious thoughts myself, but that one was answered to my satisfaction when I was in primary school. Sometimes, the answer is no. That may be hard to take, but it's not incomprehensible. If your child asked for something toxic you would say No, even though the child might be very
disappointed and not understand. We have to think of ourselves that way with God - we can't always see the bigger picture. My mother used to say briskly 'you have to ask God for what is best, rather than something specific. He knows what's best.' I will say, this is sometimes hard to accept or believe. But we go on, and all of us, if we're honest, must sometimes realize that we asked for something that we're better off without. It did work out in the end.
More question titles: Anthony Trollope wrote Can You forgive her? (it's quite a long book and prolific horror author Stephen King called it Can You Even Finish it? - though he didn't exactly give short measure himself). Forgiveness a huge feature of Christianity, and although Trollope doesn't give it an overtly religious angle, it is a major theme in his work. He is always looking for ways to forgive and redeem and understand his own characters.
We can all try that, with the real people in our lives. It can be hard to get going on that, but the rewards are huge: the basic fact is that forgiveness works miracles for both parties, it isn't a one-way street.
Kate Atkinson has a book called When Will There be Good News? One answer is that surprise and joy come if you can manage to forgive someone.
These questioning titles can lead us in unexpected directions.