Review: A Thousand Lives: An Untold Story..... by Julia Scheeres

A Thousand Lives:An Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown

Author:Julia Scheeres
Publisher Format: Simon and Schuster, Free Press, e-book galley, 320 pages
Year of publication: 2011
Subject: Jim Jones leader of the People's Temple, and the organization's structure and activities
Setting: San Francisco, and Guyana
Genre: historical narrative
Source: e-galley from publisher via Net Galley

Publisher's marketing copy:

"They left America for the jungles of Guyana to start a better life. Yet what started as a Utopian dream soon devolved into a terrifying work camp run by a madman, ending in the mass murder-suicide of 914 members in November 1978.

In A Thousand Lives, the New York Times bestselling memoirist Julia Scheeres traces the fates of five individuals who followed Jim Jones to South America as they struggled to first build their paradise, and then survive it. Each went for different reasons-some were drawn to Jones for his progressive attitudes towards racial equality, others were dazzled by his claims to be a faith healer. But once in Guyana, Jones's drug addiction, mental decay, and sexual depredations quickly eroded the idealistic community.

It's been 33 years since this tragedy occured, in which 914 people died in a mass suicide/murder scheme in November 1986, and the story still is repugnant to me.  I can perhaps understand that individuals might choose to commit suicide for a variety of reasons, but I'm not able to comprehend participating in a mass suicide event that included killing hundreds of innocent children.   Julia Scheeres has done extensive research, including interviewing survivors, and its shows in the details she was able to uncover to give us so much of the story behind the headlines.  She begins with the young Jim Jones and traces his "call" to ministry, his education, and his founding of the People's Temple.

But she doesn't stop with Jones' story.  By telling us the story of several members of the church - young, old, black, white, married, widowed, divorced, single, recovering addicts, paroled criminals - we begin to understand why people felt wanted, needed, and hopeful that here was an opportunity the world was not offering anyplace else.  As she follows these members through the years from California to Guyana, we witness the increasing megalomania of Jones and the tension, the uncertainty and the terror of those who finally come to realize that there is no way out of the situation in which they have placed themselves. 

It's terrifying, shocking,and appalling, but it's mesmerizing, spell-binding, and absolutely compelling. It was so depressing to see that the promise of hope so many accepted was perverted by someone purporting to be God, and that people could believe such a person could in fact lead them to eternal happiness.  Watching Jones turn disatisfied people into sub-human creatures who could turn on their own spouses, and children, was not a pleasant reading experience, but it was a story that once started could not be put down.

I only wish the review copy I received had been better edited, but I'm sure the publisher cleaned up those glitches by the time it was released.  It's a powerful story, and one that deserves to be shown to the world, if for no other reason than to prevent it happening again.

Favorites from the Past - Genesis

Genesis
a Living Conversation

by Bill Moyers

 

A few weeks ago, when I was doing my post about Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth, I noticed this one on the other end of the shelf.  This was a treasure when I bought it, and after spending an hour thumbing through it last week, it is definitely going back onto the Read it again shelf.

 

As elegantly readable as the TV series from which these conversations were taken, this volume features the transcripts from 10 different talks with a total of 38 participants about the story of and stories in the book of Genesis.  No matter what religion, there is something to ponder for everyone.  I read this several years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the exceptionally intelligent and non-biased discussions that Bill Moyers so effortlessly moderated.  

 

For those of you who didn't see the original PBS series on TV, or who have forgotten it, this book is the companion to the series.  It presents, in print format the actual panel chats that appeared.  The ten different talks include, among others, The First Murder, Temptation, and God Wrestling, and feature such notable participants as Karen Armstrong, John Barth, Norman Cohen, Mary Gordon, Samuel D. Proctor, and Eugene Rivers....a broad group of thinkers from a vast array of traditions, coming together, respectfully adding their perspectives to a delightful conversation.  A feast for the brain, the eye (some gorgeous illustrations), and the soul.

Lenten Reading wrap-up

During Lent, I always try to increase my reading to include some 'religious' topics (or "GOD STUFF") as my children used to call it. This is much more satisfying both spiritually and physcologically than the "giving up something" of my youth. So here's a wrap-up of what I managed this Lent.

The Women Around Jesus

Author: Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel,
Format: 148  pgs
Subject: historical women in Christian theology and scripture
Genre: non-fiction
Source: personal shelves
Challenge: Read from My Shelves,

The author looks at various women mentioned in the bible or other contemporaneous writings and then researches thoroughly future mentions and interpretation of the traditional view of these women.  The reading is very academic, although the book cover mentions that this is an example of "the forgotten art in theology: the use of imagination".   I found the imagination too dry to get my arms around.  Recommended for anyone looking for scholarly discussion, but not for general reading.
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 Called Out of Darkness

Author: Anne Rice
Format: 245 pages hardback
Subject religious faith; conversion
Genre: memoir
Source:Public library
Challenge: Support Your local Library

An honest, soul-searching, look into the personal faith journey of one of America's most noted novelists. Going from Roman Catholicism to atheism and secular humanism back to Roman Catholicism, she allows us to see her upbringing in very Catholic New Orleans during the late 1940s and 1950s, her struggles with reading, and gender issues while attending first a Catholic college, and then a state university in Texas. She gives us breath-taking detail, in some cases TMI, and only gives us her "conversion" and subsequent love affair with Jesus in the last 15% of the book.

I've never read any of her vampire or other novels, but have read both of her "Christ the Lord" novels and found both of those very inspirational. This book provides a good introduction to those two by presenting us with the background and motivation for her embracing the subject.

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The Woman Who Named God

Author: Charlotte Gordon
Format: 400 pages
Characters: Abram, Sarai, Hagar
Subject: Abram's journey and  the roots of three great religions
Setting: Canaan desert and surrounding area
Genre: non-fiction
Source: blog contest prize (my own shelves)
Challenge: TBR Challenge, Read from my Shelves


A very readable, very scholarly discussion of Abraham's families and their antecedents in modern day religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.  While this could have been very dry and boring, it wasn't.  Gordon  covers Abram's entire life from his call by God to leave his home to his meanderings over the years through various lands up to his burial. The research and notes are extensive and well-documented, but don't get in the way.

Gordon looks at Abran's long journey and life through all prisms: Jewish, Christian and Islamic scriptures, (both the Bible and the Koran) as well as other  historical and religious writings. She will present an incident or story and then explain how each religion views the episode, what learned teachers and rabbis have said over the years, and offer the pros and cons of each interpretation.

I thought when I started the book that it was going to be only about Abraham and Sarah, but found that the title really referred to Hagar. In fact, I think when I got it, I thought it was another fiction like Diamont's RED TENT.  It isn't fiction, and  I definitely found myself enlightened by ideas I'd never pondered before.  Although it is deep reading, it is enjoyable and certainly recommended.

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  Rome Has Spoken

Author Maureen Fiedler and Linda Rabben, eds.
Format paperback 224 pages + bibliography and notes
Subject Papal pronouncements over the years
Genre: non-fiction, essays
Source: my own shelves, signed copy from author
Challenge: World Religions, Reading from my Shelves

The subtitle tells it all: A Guide to Forgotten Papal Statements and How they Have Changed Through the Centuries.

A very academic but interesting volume reviewing various "issues" that seem to have been interpreted and enforced differently over the two centuries of Roman Catholicism. The topics cover the range from evolution to slavery, from Galileo to usury, and include the current buzz topics of contraception, women's ordination and divorce.
Each topic presents first the scriptural references cited throughout history, and progresses with quotes from the early fathers, to Papal pronouncements over the years, to conciliar declarations (if available) and ends with an essay from a noted scholar of today.

Some topics are more interesting than others, but all are well researched, intelligently and objectively presented. A book worth reading for those wanting to know how the Catholic Church got to certain "beliefs" and what might happen in the future. It's dry, but not so dry that it can't be read. The short essay format lends itself to being read in pieces, so it can easily be picked up and put down without feeling like one has to do it all at once. In fact, I've been 'reading' this one for about four years, and finally think I've read all of it that I'm interested in.

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Jesus (The Son Of Man: His Words And His Deeds As Told And Recorded By Those Who Knew Him)

Author : Kahlil Gibran
Format: Hardcover, 216 pages
Genre: fiction,
Source: my own shelves, inherited from Auntie
Challenge: World Religions, Reading from my Shelves

Almost like reading poetry. While it is fiction, it takes words from published sources, some apocryphal, and gives us a portrait of Jesus from the viewpoints of many different people. The vision is mind-expanding, and for believers, inspirational. I really found this to be an excellent Lenten read, as I could simply soak up one short reading at a time. In fact, it will most probably become one of my favorites to go to for short bursts of spiritual energy.


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Seven Storey Mountain

Author:Thomas Merton
Format: Hardcover, 423 page
Genre: Autobiography
Source: My own shelves, inherited from Auntie

This one is currently now in the "Did not finish, try later" collection in my LibraryThing catalog.  I got through about 120 pages, and while it was interesting, it wasn't yet at the point where I'd label it inspiring.  Merton writes in an extremely verbose style, making it necessary for modern day readers used to the 'hurry up and get there' lifestyle to slow down and listen, and think.

Unfortunately, this book appears (at least in the beginning) to cover almost every single day of his life in excruciating detail.  I wanted to get to the mountain....but at page 120, it's only a mirage on a distant horizon.   I plan to come back to this one, but I suspect it will be read in chunks over a period of several more years.

So now that I'm inspired and renewed, I look forward to Easter, spring, flowers, sunshine, and another chance to live life to the fullest--ok, ok...read more books!

2010 Challenges - World Religion Challenge

World religions Challenge hosted by Bibliofreak.  There are various levels but.....
4. The Unshepherded Path (Also Known As: The Don't Tell Me What to Do Path): Read as many books as you would like about whatever religions you want.

I have an entire shelf labeled religion, and several on that shelf fit this challenge nicely.  I've identified 3-4 I'd like to tackle during the year, so having the challenge will provide me an incentive to crack a spine or two.

They're Everywhere!!

As you can see , my TBR shelf is full--in fact it's grown to four shelves.

Since I confess to being someone who likes to seem like I'm in control, I decided to take today to prioritize things so I could leave town next week with a clear conscience:

• I have my sister Cheli lined up to do a guest review of one of the books she 'borrowed' from my TBR pile
• I'm taking my last 999 book (Saudade by Katherine Vaz) with me to finish while cruising (or flying over the Atlantic)
• I've been trying to straighten up the office and blog space because my daughter is going to house-sit/vacation/work here, and I'd like her to have a place to put a coffee mug at least.

So what happens when I return on Labor Day?

Although I'm participating in several personal reading challenges, I'm going to give priority to ARCs and Early Review copies I've agreed to read and review.

First priority: I have four books that I personally received from the authors:

• Susan Vaughan, a local author who has written several suspense romances, gave us a copy of her latest book Primal Obsession. Knowing how difficult it can be for Indie presses to get wide coverage, I offered to review for the blog. It's first up when I get back.
  
• Sam Moffie offered me a copy of No Mad. I confess it wouldn't be something that I would normally go out and buy, but I have been trying to expand into new genres and this looks like it will be interesting.
  
• Circle of Souls was sent by Preetham Grandhi -- another story with a young psychiatric patient with visions, her pyschiatrist, a murder, art therapy; the book cover calls it a "Stunning pyschological thriller". After reading The Rapture I think I can handle this and am looking forward to it.
  
• The Saint and the Fasting Girl was sent by the author Anna Richenda. It arrived just as I finished Sacred Hearts and I wanted to put some space between the two. It will be an excellent read for my 2nd 999 challenge's Historical Fiction category.
  

Then there are two Early Reviews I received from LT-- they will be the next up. Both are books I really wanted because the suspense thriller is a genre I am coming to enjoy more and more.

• Rizzo's War by Lou Manfredo
  
• Guardian of Lies by Steve Martini
  

Shortly after those, I have to get to ARCs I've received from publishers, and I'm going to try to behave myself and not request any more (unless they are to die for!) until I get this pile under control. In no particular order they are...

• The Maze Runner, by James Dasher - due out in October. I'm trying to expand and read more YA, and fantasy: genres I don't normally read. This one really caught my attention.
• The Weight of Silence, a book about children lost in the woods by Heather Guedenkauf. After I survived reading Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon,I guess I can do this one without fainting.
• Half-Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World by Douglas Hunter. I love biography, and this book is a topic that really interests me.
• The Boy who Harnessed the Wind LP: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba. Set in Malawi, this is a true story of courage and inventiveness. I have enjoyed the previous books I've read this year set in various countries of Africa, and this will be another to help expand my knowledge. I'm hoping this will also be suitable for the YA group in our library.
  
• An Artist in Treason: The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkerson by Andro Linklater. I requested this one because it's set in a period I love to read about- the American Revolution- and it's about someone I'd never heard of. Curiosity is a great reason for picking books...
• Sand Sharks by Margaret Maron. I love the Deborah Knott series, so when Hachette Books offered me the chance to review and run a contest to share this one with others, I could not resist.
  
• The Christmas Cookie Club: A Novel by Ann Pearlman. I am a Christmas cookie nut...I go absolutely crazy baking for weeks before the holidays, and if I'm not going to be with people, I actually mail giant boxes of them. I'm always looking for new recipes and new mysteries, so in spite of the plain red cardboard wrapper on the galley proof, this one looks great. I'm hoping to be able to try some of the recipes as I read it, so I can share the results in my review.
• The Evolution of God, by Robert Wright. I honestly don't remember requesting this one, but it is an area in which I read a lot. I've tried three times to read Karen Armstrong's History of God but just couldn't get into it. Maybe this one will be better.
• South of Broad by Pat Conroy. Another of my favorite writers, and settings.
• The Brutal Telling (An Armand Gamache Novel) by Louise Penny. Another of my favorite authors. I was thrilled to be able to be among the first to get this one. My sister also wants it, so I may try to eek out a spot in the luggage to take it along for the cruise. The Armand Gamache books are some of the best in the genre today. I hope this one doesn't disappoint.

And finally, there are three others that I received as prizes from other people's contests that I am itching to get to:

• The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.
• The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden by William Alexander.
• The Woman Who Named God: Abraham's Dilemma and the Birth of Three Faiths by Charlotte Gordon.

So if you are OCD and counted the books in the pictures, there are 75 there. The ones that are left after the ARCs, and ERs are books that were on my original list to be read for various challenges during 2009. I'm not sure I can finish all 75 of them before New Years but I'm going to have a wonderful time trying.

Review: Our Lady of the Artichokes....

When I first saw the title, I laughed out loud and ordered it. I think I expected something on the line of 'Dave Barry poking fun at the Japanese' humor. HOWEVER....this is a serious, well-written, at times very deep, collection of stories that could only have been written by a Luso(Portuguese)-American. I'm married to one. We have many relatives in California's central valley where several of the stories are set. This morning as we ate breakfast, my husband related his memories of the Holy Ghost Festivals (today being Pentecost) and we discussed the story The Man who was made of Netting. Manny wanted his daughter to be the star of the festival and so found some creative financing to get her a gem studded cape (at a mere $10K!) to wear in the procession. The results of this desire/decision are in that category of 'would be comical if it weren't so sad.' The story of the young Portuguese girl writing to Sr. Lucia (the last survivor of the Fatima miracle and the keeper of the 'last secret') is one every woman who ever had a dream as a pre-teen can relate to. Written as a series of letters, it shows the progression of dreams being dashed by reality. The title story, Our Lady of the Artichokes --so California in addition to being so Portuguese--I won't do spoilers-- is again funny and sad. All the stories have a desolate beauty, a longing for a better life while being resigned to what is here and now. A Portuguese saudade if you will. The prose is so sharp it can cut. For example:

Women were leaning over windowsills, looking altogether like open flaps in an Advent Calendar.

I didn't like the first story Taking a Stitch in a Dead Man's Arm and put the book down over a month ago, but came back to it and found on a re-read that while I may not like it, I can feel it, and appreciate the prose. The final story, The Lisbon Story -- about two dying men--one young, one old-- who are brought together by a house in Lisbon is a stunner, and will cause me to come back periodically to pick up this book and read a story here and there again and again.

I suspected it was five in the morning, an hour I worship; the sky pounds the black pearl of the night until it is in pieces and for a brief time, right then, the white of day is the grout holding it together, a perfect tiled mosaic to greet us...

This is definitely a sleeper. If you live in California, or have any Portuguese relatives or friends, you'll really enjoy this wonderful collection by Katherine Vaz.

Review: Mysteries of the Middle Ages:

Thomas Cahill's series Hinges of History started with a bang with the publication of How the Irish Saved Civilization in 1995. This is the 4th in the Series, and it is a beautiful ART book. I love history. I love to read history books, although many tend to be dry and academic. Cahill is not academic, but this book could never be used as a text book. It is supplementary reading; it is not even quite history. It has an agenda that is actually stated in the subtitle: "The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe." However, it is not until the last chapter that we are bombarded with his personal angst with 20th and 21st century Roman Catholicism. To say there's an ax to grind is putting it mildly. Raised and educated as a Catholic, his bias and love for, and now his anger (however righteous one might view it) about Catholicism has almost turned him into a modern day Dante. Reading the last chapter, I was waiting to see to which circle of hell he consigned present day leaders. And......while I am no fan of George W. Bush, Cahill's thinly veiled vitriol (he claims he was referring to Phillip the Fair)--in his ending diabtribe, the last paragraph of the chapter "The Politician's Emptiness" was aimed directly at W.

...the acquisitive, dissembling, violence-prone politician...who could lie to himself and lie to others...give orders to torture the helpless and banish the innocent while on his way to church, hold men prisoner indefinitely without charging them...refuse to acknowledge the mercenary motives of his closest advisers, abrogate international treaties, pollute whole ecosystems while pretending to do otherwise, and declare his vicious wars just, necessary and blessed by God.

Certainly, the study of history should lead us to lessons learned. Cahill's lessons learned are quite biased however. At least he admits that he left out huge chunks of Medieval History (this book covers approx 900-1300 A.D.) of the period--he has one "Intermezzo" (it doesn't even rate being called a chapter) for "Entrances to Other Worlds..The Mediterranean, The Orient, and The Atlantic." Aside from being the proximate cause of half of Europe spending an inordinate amount of time, money and manpower on the Crusades, the Muslims get short shrift for any contributions they may have made. OK OK...he stated on the cover he was studying Catholic cults. The Iberian peninsula, the British Isles, and anything not centered in the Holy Roman Empire, especially present day Italy, is given only glancing mention. My mother always told me that if I couldn't say something nice, not to say anything at all. So if we put down the Hinges of History book, and read the subtitled book, this is an exquisite discussion of the early Renaissance in Italy. Beginning with the lucious endpapers of deep blue and sparkling gold showing the Ceiling of Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, through the numerous maps and charts helping the reader keep track of the myriad of players in the political doings of the times, to the 57 (!!) color illustrations of works of art of the period, this is a gorgeous feast for the senses. It is almost like reading an illustrated manuscript of the period. Even the font is spectacular. This book deserves to be picked and read if for nothing else than the sensual experience. Each chapter (until the last two) presents a piece of his explanation of the influence of the Catholic church on modern day feminism, science and art. Hildegard of Bilgen, Heloise & Abelard, Francis of Assissi, Thomas Aquinas and Dante receive star billing. In fact, I wish I'd read this before embarking on my earlier read of Dante this year. Cahill has a classic education, and certainly takes great pains to present his theories in very readable, easy to understand prose. It is not dumbed down, never boring, neither does it exhibit blatant snobbery. While I normally prefer my history books with more specific citations and references than Cahill offers, I'm not left with the impression that his research is lacking. It is interpretive research at its best. He presents suggestions for further reading based on his assessment of what he thinks his readers might be interested in. If we look at this as a history book, it's maybe a 3 star. If you look at it as a narrative of very specific theories, well-researched and supported, exquisitely presented, it's a 5 star.

Review: NIGHT by Elie Wiesel

Earlier this year, I read a book Great Souls by David Aiken in which the author presented biographical tributes to six people he thought had made significant contributions to humanity in the 20th century. Each story was so well done, and made such an impression on me, that I set out to read something more about each of the honorees. In the case of Elie Wiesel, I decided to read his first book, NIGHT, a short, dramatic, painful and powerful description of his life in German concentration camps during World War II. He was only 14 when taken prisoner. Able to stay all of his time with his father (and encourage the older man while receiving his father's support), he takes us with him on rides on the crowded cattle cars, through a life of living on one cup of coffee, a small piece of bread, and sometimes a bowl of very thin soup daily, while doing hard labor, or forced marches, trying to avoid being identified as one chosen to go to the crematorium. The story of how he goes from being a star Talmudic student in the pre-war Jewish ghetto, to an almost total rejection of a God who could allow all this horror to occur, is written in a stark, simple, and heartbreaking prose. It was not an enjoyable book to read, but an essential one. The audio book version I listened to ended with the acceptance speech he delivered when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. The speech was as inspiring as the book , and greatly affirming. This is a must read for any human who wants to understand what it means to be human. The closing sentences (after he had been emancipated from the camps) say it all:

"One day when I was able to get up, I was able to look at myself in a mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me."

Review: There is a Season

Wow! That's what I said when I first picked up this book. Wow! is what I said after almost every chapter, and Wow! is what I'm still saying as I try to bring my senses back to earth after wallowing in this book for almost a week. This work, a meditation on the famous words of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, "To everything there is a season..." is also a series of reflections on the art of John August Swanson's incredibly sumptuous serigraph Ecclesiastes which provides the cover art and illustrations for each chapter. Chittister begins with reflections on the Seasons of Life and the Dimensions of Time and studies each element of the zodiac in the center of the picture and on the cover off the book. I seldom quote from books when I do reviews, but Joan Chittister had me gasping with some of her insights: Speaking of the scriptural verses she says: "...I saw...Swanson's painting...and suddenly, in the struggle to understand the print, everything came together. The words took on a timbre I had not heard before; the ideas sprang to meaning in a new way, a new form.The painting with all its complexity made it very clear....Life is the citadel of time in which we find ourselves and which we ourselves build...." pg. 1. She goes on to examine each element of the picture matched to its appropriate "a time to...." One of my favorites is "A Time for Peace". The picture shows a young person standing in front of lambs lying down with a huge lion, with figures above sharing a meal of bread and probably wine, stars, sunbursts, a figure of what is obviously a dove meant to portray the Holy spirit, peacocks, birds, all in drenching colors. Chittister begins by quoting Kazantzakis "I fear nothing. I hope for nothing. I am free." then she posits that "...we are too enslaved to ourselves to be at peace."(pg. 107). She talks about how noisy the world is today, blocking out our ability to be quiet, to listen, to THINK.

She says "..Quiet has become a phantom memory in this culture. Some generations among us have had no experience of it at all....In New York City, in Small Town USA, (noice pollution) is blaring every hour of the day....Muzak in elevators, ...people standing next to you on cellphones, ...the ubiquitous television spewing talk devoid of thought... we don't think anymore. We simply listen."

She discusses how we are afraid of silence, how different societies in the past dealt with thinking and silence. She quotes the desert monastics, and ends this section by saying that "Peace will come when we stretch our minds to listen to the noise within us that needs quieting and the wisdom from outside...that needs to be learned." (pg.109). Each section is just as deep and thought provoking. Each provides enough food for the soul to last an entire season of seasons. The final chapter, "A Time for Every Purpose under Heaven" shows dancers, musicians, a panoply of colors and banners and joy. She uses this to recap everything and ties it together:

"No doubt about it, the cycle of time shapes and reshapes our misshapen selves until we have the opportunity to become what we can." "There is a time to kill whatever it is within us that fetters our souls from flying free... There is a time... ...to sow the seeds that will be reaped by the next generation... ...to weep tears of pain and ...loss to dignify the going of those...people in life who have brought us to where we are... ...to embrace the goods of our life with great, thumping hugs.... ...to reap, to work without stint...so that what must be done in life can be done... ...to love...to find ourselves in someone else so that we can find ourselves at all. ...to lose...to let go of whatever has become our captor... ...to be born fresh and full...to begin again... ...to laugh, to let go of the propriety and ...pomposities ...to die, to put things to an end... ...to heal ourselves from the hurts that weigh us down... ...to build up, to construct the new world.... (pp.113-118)

This book is not readily available in libraries or used book stores. I don't think too many people will want to part with it. I gave my original copy to my son and his wife for a first anniversary present (paper gifts!!), and had to get another one online. It's that good. It's every adjective you can think of and then some. The words are almost poetry. The artwork is breathtaking. All I can say is Wow!

Reviews: Ego Trips in Annual Doses

Lately, I've read (or endured) several books written that had as a theme a year's worth of something...cooking thru Julia's cookbook, (Julie and Julia:365 days, 564 recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen) finding oneself in a bowl of pasta or an ashram or a hut in Indonesia, (Eat, Pray, Love) living in a foreign country without knowing the language or customs and complaining because things weren't like they were in the US, (A Year in Provence, Sixpence House, A year of No Money in Tokyo,) and deciding to read the Bible and live it literally --to hell with what his wife wanted--(A Year of Living Biblically). The latest (although not necessarily published later than the others) to drive me over the edge is supposedly about reading passionately (italics are mine) for a year from a pre-determined list. (So Many Books, So Little Time) The author of this self-flagulating piece wants us to believe how arduous it was to figure out what to read, and how this almost paralyzed her in her attempts, how at the end of the year, she still hadn't read all of the books on her list (she only wanted to read one book a week), but had substituted others along the way. Frankly, I'm getting really tired of all of this year of this, year of that, blah, blah, blah. I wanted to yell at all of them...get a grip, get a life. And for goodness sake...if you're that obsessive, seek help. The only one in the bunch that was worth anything.....and it was so good I almost hesitate to mention it here in the same breath (it deserves its own review)....was Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking, winner of the National Book Award. Ms. Didion didn't set out to spend a year mourning her husband after his sudden death, nor did she set out to have an adventure to write about so she could write a book, or collect a big advance from her publisher. This one is about real life and what happened during that year. It wasn't a phony, ponied up premise to sell a book...it was real life, with real feelings portrayed in an exquisite openess. If you missed it when it came out, be sure to reach for it, particularly if you're tempted to try some of these other 'look at my wonderful/questing/awful/fun/lousy year' books on the shelves. Save your year for the real thing.

Review: The Shack

I hadn't planned to read this book. The last book on my Theology list that I had planned to read this week to finish up Lent was Jose Saramago's Gospel According to Jesus Christ HOWEVER.....I got about 40 pages into it and decided that Sr. Saramago's vision of gospel and JC was NOT mine, and my mind would just not go that far. So, I needed something to read, wasn't ready to tackle Karen Armstrong History of God and my eye fell on The Shack which I'd picked up off the donation pile at our library last week just to look through to see what all the fuss was about. I'm one of those people who can read a book like this and love it. Oh, I can see how some people who take their Bible very literally are NOT going to like this. Others will have trouble with the level of the writing, which is as one reviewer said 'kinda hokey.' Ten years ago, I would have thrown this book in the trash heap. But now, the fact that the author states up front and at the end that you can believe it or not, makes it a wonderful grace if you choose to accept it. I for one have no difficulty at all with having pancakes with God as long as she pours Maine maple syrup on them --- and I don't mean that to be flip. I think we go thru stages in our life where we have different perceptions of (and therefore relations with) God, religion, sacred scripture, etc. In fact, this book and some of it's theories (and its vision) came up for discussion several times in a Lenten scripture study I just finished at my church. It's a great book for office lunch discussions...lots of different ideas but encouraging all to be respectful and mindful that others don't always believe the same way we do. I found it a thought-provoking read and will probably recommend to several people I think will like it. For me it was a 4 star, for others it will be trash. For a few it will be a life-changing event. I think most books in this category will have widely ranging ratings depending on the reader's background and reason for choosing the book to begin with. Not sure I want to see the movie, but the book is worth a look.

Review: Amazing Grace

This book is going to be one on my "read again and again" shelf.. It is the first book in years (if ever) that I was compelled to mark up. It is beautifully written and was for me at least, truly inspirational. Raised in mainstream American protestant religion, the author then left organized church membership during her college years. As her career as a poet progressed, and her husband endured some incidents of deep depression, she began to visit Benedictine monasteries close to her home in North Dakota, and discovered the poetry of Judao/Christian scripture, and the tradition of the litury of the hours as a form of worship. Eventually, she re-joined the Presbyterian church of her grandmother, and was called to preach, while at the same time becoming a Benedictine oblate. Her book is a series of short, compellingly written inpirational essays (none more than 5 pages long) about the 'vocabulary of faith' as she calls it. There are thoughts on such words as Heresy, Reprobate, Idolatry, Anger, Herod, Hospitality, Orthodoxy, Ecstacy, Trinity, and a host of others. It is difficult for me to explain how deeply this book affected me, and how personally inspirational I found it. She certainly is well-studied, but it is the poetic insight that she imparts to traditional scriptural and 'doctrinal' terminology and worship that is so gripping. The fact that she manages to weave her personal story into this is almost a cherry on top a huge sundae. It may not be the book for everyone, but if you are looking for a positive, beautifully written, easy to read book, you will not go wrong with this one.

Review: Dante - The Inferno- A Classic

A review I saw used the well-worn, but very descriptive phrase: “I can’t believe I read the whole thing!” In my case, I read the Inferno as part of an on-line discussion for LT. There were 12-15 people participating, and we tackled this using about 6 different translations, two audio readings, a sprinkling of Roberto Begnini reading on YouTube in the original Fiorenzian dialect (absolutely splendid –see it here. )

We chatted about the politics of 12^th and 13^th century Florence, the classical references to Greek and Roman mythology, to Virgil, his hatred of the religious figures of the day and his references to Biblical figures of the Old Testament. I can see why this is considered one of the greatest poems ever written. Greater men and women than I have attempted to explain, commentate, educate and bloviate about this work, so I’ll refrain from that and instead offer some general conclusions/afterthoughts. You can see our entire discussion on this thread at LT.

1. I actually want to continue on with the Divine Comedy and read Purgatorio and Paradiso –but NOT this year. I think this must be taken in small gulps unless you’re doing an actual college course. Probably one a year is all I'm going to be able to handle.

2. I had to smile (How can you smile at hell?) when I got to the ending cantos and found to my surprise that Hell –according to Dante—has indeed frozen over. At least, the lake supporting the various circles of Hell has frozen.

3.I wish, oh how I wish, I had learned to speak and read Italian when my father and uncles were alive. I studied enough Latin and French and was around the spoken Italian long enough that I can scan the poem in its original and at least hear the tertia rhyma in its original beauty. What a glorious language! Although I actually read four different translations (Mandelbaum, Cary, Norton, and Longfellow) doing this study, and listened to the Pinsky translation read by George Guidall (who is such a great actor/narrator that he could read the phone book and I’d listen), I still ended each canto by skimming the Italian…no translation comes close for beauty. By the way, for the English, I like the Longfellow translation the best. (see sample side by sides here.)

Classics are classics for a reason. No matter when they were written, or what purpose the author had in writing them, they can be read and appreciated in later times and still be a great read. Granted, depending on the overall education and background of modern readers, many notes and commentaries may be needed to enhance the experience, but the original cannot be bettered. Shakespeare, move over.

Review: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis certainly writes with clarity, although there is little splash and dash to his prose. His willingness to tackle all subjects, dogma and doctrine can at times be actually sleep inducing. I was not as impressed as I expected to be, but can't tell you why. I graduated from Catholic college with enough credits for a minor in theology, so none of this was new, and that may be why I found it so boring. I had never read any of his works before, so this was definitely an 'expand your horizons' volume, but it's probably not going to be on the 'read it again' list too soon.

Review: I'm Fine with God....It's Christians I Can't Stand

Another abandoned book... I bought this book by Bruce Bickel thinking it was written by a friend of ours by the same name, who also happens to be a preacher. I should have done more checking first. I agree with the premise of the book (that some people who call themselves Christian are giving the rest of us who share that belief a bad name) but this collection of sound bites is just plain dull, patronizing, platitudinous, repetitive and as if the writing weren't boring enough, the typography of the book was just plain awful. The paper was cheap, the font very hard to read, the ink was very pale. A total waste of money. other than that, it was ok....