The Confessions - St Augustine (Books 1-8)

I started off not liking Augustine very much. Book One starts with an extended grovel, something that I've never been able to respect very much, even in a religious context. The books are in chronological order so Augustine starts his tale in infancy. This leads to a passage on Orignal Sin:

Who remindeth me of the sings of my infancy? for in Thy sight none is pure
from sin, not even the infant whose life is but a day upon the earth. Who
remindeth me? doth not each little infant, in whom I see what of myself I
remember not? What then was my sin? was it that I hung upon the breast and
cried? for should I now so do for food suitable to my age, justly should I be
laughed at and reproved. What I then did was worthy reproof; but since I could
not understand reproof, custom and reason forbade me to be reproved.

Speaking as the father of a very young newborn, I can hardly disagree more with the idea that normal infant behavior is 'sin' in any way shape or form. I know that Augustine further explores Original Sin in his other works so it might be unfair to judge the snippets that appear here. But what I've read so far, didn't convince me in any way, shape or form.
My impression of the man did improve though. Each book deals with a segment of his life and, taken alone, each books is fairly interesting. Not only that, but his writing is compelling and has an unusual poetry to it. There is this near the beginning of Book Three:

I loved not yet, yet I loved to love, and out of a deep seated want, I
hated myself for wanting not. I sought what I might in love, in love with
loving, and safety I hated, and a way without snares.

Read that out loud to yourself, with a full pause at each comma. Some very lovely stuff. And I remember well being 'in love with loving'. Augustine was very much a sinner and his frank and open manner of recounting his past sins makes it easy to understand him as a man.
Also impressive is his intellect and his way of attacking problems with his mind. His knowledge of Christianity had been colored by Manichean criticism. When he investigated the scriptures on his own, he found those criticisms to be unfounded. He realized the huge respect that he had for the Christians near him (notably his mother and separately, a friend who died while young) and he let that speak well of Christians in general.
His studies led him to Rome and then to Milan. He found himself more and more led towards Christianity. Augustine opened a Bible at random and found a verse that spoke to him:

Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision
for the flesh, in concupiscence.

Since 'concupiscence' (strong sexual desire) was one of Augustine's main temptations, he thought this was aimed straight at him and finally converted.