For Those Upset at the Appalling State of American Literature

A Lone Bird on the Horizon

You are told what is indelible by advertisements.  “Inspirational” books are applauded.  What is meant by inspirational now, is something that leaves a sweet aftertaste.  There are problems overcome, but it is doubtful that the problems are that entrenched.  Nothing new is learned about “human nature.”  In the time of this economic crisis, the gatekeepers have determined that “positivity” will sell.  At least it will sell to Oprah’s Book Club.  And that is a guaranteed best seller.  A Porsche or Ferrari in every garage.  Fake and phony women for arm candy on fat and balding authors.  Unnatural!

Here is an excerpt from an unnamed agent’s blog as to the type of novel he is looking for:  (mind you this excerpt has been altered)

In these tough and downright awful, scary economic times, even I a humble literary agent have a difficult time selling “realism”, so I have decided to go with more of the escapist fare.

• Escapist fare stories that take us out of this miserable world and into another one.  (However I don’t represent science fiction or fantasy)
• Subjects that are happy and upbeat.  Memoirs about coping with addiction, depression, losing a fortune on the stock market, terrorists who wish to destroy America, and other post-apocalyptic disasters (i.e. Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD) will be tough sells.
• Stories that are inspirational.  These novels will celebrate life, and inspire people to try harder in their lives and go to work more instead of lying in bed reading romance novels.  I am not looking for sappy stuff, I am really looking for the next (The Kite Runner) or (The Secret Life of Bees) because those were bestsellers and anything like them is sure to be a best seller too!

With an individual like this guarding the gates of American literature, it is a wonder than anything “real” gets published at all.  What is real now is TRAGEDY.  The Ancient Greeks had a notion about TRAGEDY, that it is ennobling of the HUMAN SPIRIT.  That is…it makes you stronger, and better able to cope with what is probably a SHITTY world, or at least in my opinion A ROCK IN THE MIDDLE OF PROBABLY AN INFINITE UNIVERSE full of human beings who for better or worse are human beings, and swine viruses, and nuclear weapons and stuff like that.  This literature is not “Saccharine”…but I prefer a better term…..”narcotic”.  Escapism assumes that this world is a terrible place in need of being “escaped” from.  This is the very basis of Christianity.  I tell you that a baggie of heroin or a crack rock is cheaper than any tithe or escapist book.  If you want to go that route, do it up!  The correct formula is TRAGEDY in the bad times to make you realize that things could be much worse, and COMEDY in the good times (particularly Satire) so that you do not get too big a head, and realize that in fact, things could be much worse!

In the world, there  are plenty of first loves, and romances, and heated passionate affairs between married men and baby sitters, and mischevious dogs but in my humble opinion these situations are boring.  Even if it is a love affair between a virgin and a vampire without penetration.  Have we ever stopped to think that much of the literature which has been forgotten about followed these classic formulas .  The good thing about books that are bound in paper, is that they biodegrade.

I am glad, that I have decided NEVER to write for a market.  I am glad that I write because I love writing, and to avoid killing myself on a daily basis.  My books will probably never sell.  I don’t care.  Every morning when I wake up, I look in the mirror as I am combing my hair and I have to decide that life is worth living.  It is in my humble opinion, worth living today.  As times get tougher, I meet my stride.

My recent query letter:

Dear Agent,

and people like you.  You salesmen.  You marketers.  You lawyers adept at contracts.  I will never take on your services.  I do not care about ever being published by a traditional house.  These traditional houses and the industry you act as a gatekeeper for are on their way out anyway.  That means that you are on your way out.  Every time I enter a big waste of space bookstore, I smell a rotting corpse.  I look at the published titles and see an early grave.

I am happy to take on risk by myself.  Don’t fret, I do not consider myself a professional.  Professionals are those who take their food by whatever it is they do.  I do not know of any professional artists.  If you know of any professional artists please correct me.  You are professional salesmen and women, that is it.  You are a judge of markets, not the artistic integrity of a work of art.  Men like Vincent Van Gogh and John Kennedy O’ Toole prove you wrong on a daily basis.  Both of these gentlemen killed themselves because they were “failures” in life.

I write nearly everyday.  It is fun.  It is much better than killing myself.  I never have thoughts of suicide while I am writing.  I would never act on these thoughts, but they do bubble up from time to time.  I think it is in my genes.  I have been told these are unnatural thoughts.  I tame them with exercise, writing, and sexual intercourse.  (the third of these is a necessary component to staving off depression, just ask any depressed person - their libido plummets and aids in dragging them down further).

In fact, I consider myself much like the seabird in this photograph.  I have flown to the middle of the ocean on a dare.  I dared myself, and I have only one care in the matter.  Just to see if I could do it.  Maybe I would tire and plunge into the waves to be eaten by sharks?  I must keep going.  Flying until I reach land.

Writing is much like a marathon.  Life is much like a marathon.  You can be fat and lazy.  You can trade on pat notions of right and wrong, you can write for a market, you can hope against hope to sell a billion copies of your self help book.  If you write one for fat, intellectually and physically lazy bastards to feel good about themselves, you are sure to sell 125 million copies in America alone.  Get on it.

I view the economic crisis as a profound opportunity to change art in the United States of America.  It will be led by individuals willing to take on risks themselves.  I say, that any crisis which does not produce art remains a crisis.  We are on the cusp of a Golden Age, if we only take up our pens, our paintbrushes, and our guitars.

“A Lone Bird on the Horizon” copyright 2009 by Jeffrey M. Hopkins, All Rights Reserved.  Photograph composed with Leica IIIF, Leica 50mm Elmar F/2.0 lens with Ilford Delta 100 film.

Jeffrey M. Hopkins is the author of Broken Under Interrogation, a novel about the war in Iraq.  And how can we write an escapist novel about that?

Book Review: <em>Traffic</em> by Tom Vanderbilt

I expected Traffic (2008) by Tom Vanderbilt to be an interesting but it proved to be a fascinating and provocative book about driving.  There’s a lot of stuff here about the assumptions and practices of driving that amazed even me someone who hates driving and obsesses over how dangerous it is.  Vanderbilt surveys the world, history, and numerous studies to evaluate the way humans operate machines at high speeds in a changing environment. Some things learned:

• every driver has an optomistic bias - thinking they’re above average - and in the worst cases this leads to narcisism and aggressive driving
• driving is the most dangerous thing most people do on a daily basis
• sober speeders and cell phone users (even hands free variety) can be as dangerous as drunken drivers but are not restricted, stigmatized or punished in the same way
• incorrect to refer to auto collisions as “accidents” as if they were out of the driver’s power to prevent.  This is seen in media portrayal of celebrity “accidents” like baseball pitcher Josh Hancock and politician Bill Janklow who were obviously at fault
• unintentional blindness to things the driver is not looking for, as proved by the famous attention test with the basketball players:
• there is safety in numbers for pedestrians
• SUV & pick up truck drivers speed more
• the Leibowitz Hypothesis that says that human beings are very bad at judging the speed of oncoming objects
• remote traffic engineers adjust traffic signals and road use on Oscar Night so that 100’s of celebrity-laden limousines arrive on time (I think some gutsy celeb should take the Metro to Hollywood & Highland next time)
• some Jewish neighborhoods in Los Angeles have “Sabbath Crossing” lights that change automatically for observant pedestrians who cannot push a button
• roundabouts are safer than traditional intersections, although their perceived danger encourages the more vigilant driving that contributes to their safety
• the more divisions between the “traffic space” and the “social space” in a city the more dangerous it is for everyone
• there is a linkage between low GDP and traffic fatalities throughout the world although greater corruption also affects traffic safety
• safety devices on cars have not made in significant impact in reducing traffic fatalities over the past 50 years.  It seems that the greater the sense of “safety” leads to more risky or inattentive driving behaviors although the issues are complex

I highly recommend that everyone who drives, bikes and/or walks to read or listen to this illuminating book.  It might make you as paranoid about driving as I am, but it also may make you safer.  This book challenges the assumptions we make about driving in the same way The Death and Life of Great American Cities challenges the assumptions of urban planning.

Author Vanderbilt, Tom. Title Traffic [sound recording] : [why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us)] / by Tom Vanderbilt. Publication Info. Westminster, Md. : Books on Tape, p2008. Edition Unabridged. Description 11 sound discs (ca. 74 min. each) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

The Noticer, Andy Andrews

Have you ever thought to yourself, “What difference does it make?”, or “What difference do I make?” Have you found yourself, or your life, in a state of unrest, unhappiness, unfulfillment? There are so many things that we think, do or say on a daily basis that we don’t necessarily recognize as important, life changing, even consequential. In his latest novel, The Noticer, Andy Andrews addresses the power of perspective in our lives, bringing to the forefront its capacity to change–not only our own lives, but the lives of others as well. Andrews’ character Jones speaks to a broad audience that almost any reader will resonate with on some level. He crafts a story that weaves the varying lives of a coastal town into one, common fabric that is hard to put down.

The Noticer is a refreshing read at a time when life for so many is filled with its challenges, dashed hopes, and discouraging turns. Within the first chapter, Jones becomes a friend you want to get to know better–a “best friend,” as he terms it, to many. I found myself rexamining my own life as Andrews reveals the lives of others, chapter by chapter. Surely there is a valuable nugget of wisdom (or three!) for anyone who takes the time to invest in this book. This will be one you want to read again–and one to pass on to those who matter to you most!

The Noticer was reviewed in connection with Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger Program

Save Me, Joe Louis

Madison Smartt Bell’s Save Me, Joe Louis is a violent book filled with drug abuse, robbery, and murder. Racial & sexual orientation slurs and degrading portrayals of women were also prevalent throughout this book, which chronicled the lives of Charlie and Macrae, two drifters who connected in a New York City subway and began a life of crime. The duo started as muggers and quickly progressed to committing armed robberies, which turned deadly when they committed them in Maryland and Tennessee.

Perhaps Bell’s point in writing this book was to illustrate the fringe lifestyle and poor decision-making often found in the criminal lifestyle. Maybe Save Me, Joe Louis was supposed to be a social commentary of criminal life in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, Bell’s frequent choices about using slurs and negative views of women turned me off from enjoying whatever he might be saying about society. Apologists of Bell might say it was necessary to write this way either to show the raw thoughts of the characters or to make situations realistic. I acknowledge there are people in the world who believe the use of slurs is acceptable. I am also sure there are men who only view women as objects and inferior humans. However, every woman in the book, with the possible exception of Lacy, was portrayed negatively. In addition, the amount of slurs used in the book goes beyond what is necessary to develop a character.

I tend to think he could have made his point without joining in with the chorus of slurs and degradation running rampant in our culture. There are ways to write that can avoid the descent into vulgarity. I can personally withstand some vulgarity if it contributes to a larger meaning the writer is trying to convey. However, Save Me, Joe Louis lacked this meaning and was simply an exercise in showing how nasty humans can think, act, and write. If I wanted to see this, I would just turn on the network news.

Productive Day!

Okay, guys. last night’s bad entry? Totally gone out the window today. I had an amazingly productive day! So, here is how it went!

-Despite not getting to sleep till a quarter to five, I was woken up by 7:30. SIGH. I hate when that happens.

-I finished up Chapter Tweleve of “A Home For Life” the sequel to “Remember Me” and discovered it was the last chapter, so that fic is finished! YES!

-I read the rest of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows finally, and I was very satisfied with the ending. Yay!

-Read a little ficlet of ’s today, and I just loved it. The girl is a talented writer, and I love her stuff! Plus, she writes great mysteries, a genre I struggle to write for!

-It was 87 degrees out today. 87! WOW! Skipping over Spring much, are we? Wow. I had to get into SHORTS!

I listened to my Ipod on Shuffle today, and I got to hear some songs I really haven’t listened to in a while, and it made me appreciate the shuffle function so much, I think when I’m using my dock, it’s going to be my own personal radio now.

Loz is home! YES! She sent some interview of two of her favorite Avenue Q puppeteers, and that was awesome. They’re so wonderfully British.

My Alec and Jane fic is poking along. Alec is playing me around, and i can’t figure out how to write for him. It’s frustrating!

Speaking of Alec. Jacksper (Dani) posted and article on T20 of Cameron Bright. OMG. I wish I was a few years younger, because this guy is just SO damn sweet, and honest about life! He is new to the media, even though he’s been in several big movies. He seems so down to earth. By the way. He’s sixteen. He’s going to be a perfect Alec!

And Voltur talk continuing, Dani posted ANOTHER Volturi themed article, and it was really good! It talked about the entire cast that had taken on the roles of the Volturi including more on Cam and Dakota Fanning. Hehe. New Moon overload today. Haha.

Before I forget. Already loving Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause. I am up to Chapter Five. Vivian reminds me of Leah Clearwater, seriously.

WEll, gonna go. See you guys later!

In the Forest by Edna O'Brien

Michael O’Kane is one of those troubled kids who slips through the cracks. After the death of his beloved mother, he gets into one increasingly more serious scrape after another until he is finally sent away. His stint in reform school is brutal and not even the priests offer solace.

O’Kane is the central character of Edna O’Brien’s riveting (and difficult) novel In the Forest. Reading this book reminded me a little bit of reading Joyce Carol Oates. I want to like Oates but I find her difficult to read. Still,  I know that if I stick to it I’ll often feel rewarded in the end. O’Brien is an Irish writer and I was happier when I was able to read this book for longer stretches of time. After a half an hour or so I got used to the rhythm of the language and it became as musical as the Irish lilt is to the ear.

Ultimately though In the Forest is a brutal story. O’Kane returns home after his latest stint behind bars and wreaks havoc. Everyone in the village is afraid of him; he’s clearly dangerous and crazy. O’Brien’s book is based on true events, but I won’t tell you more than that. I will tell you that there is a moment at the end of the book that is deeply touching and unexpected. Trust me, coming after all the violence it will be impossible to miss.

Read a Review

And another

Passion Fest

Guest Editor, Amanda Cole Author of I Hate Cinderella

True Louise Bagshawe fans don’t really notice what is written on the back of the book, we see her name splashed across the front of an unread brand new release and pounce on it. Making sure that our hands wrap around it quickly, fingers flicking the pages to breathe in the scent, relinquishing it only for a second, long enough to pay for it, then tucked into a safe handbag to devour it hungrily as we go about our day on the bus, or on a lounge chair or curled up in bed.  If you haven’t read a Louise Bagshawe book (I doubt there are any people like this really!) be prepared to become one of her worldwide fans as you are drawn in by the back cover.

“Passion“, her latest sumptuous feast, reads so well and so fast for such a big book, that I had to force myself to put it down so I wasn’t late for real life.

Heroes, Heartbreak and Hitmen. Can it all lead to happily ever after…? A failed marriage between Melissa Elmett and Will Hyde did a lot of damage. She was too young, he was hurt when she left him. Years later, Melissa becomes the target for a kidnap plot, a consequence of her father’s ground-breaking invention, and Will is the only man who can protect her. Now they’re on the run, thrown together again by the pursuit of vengeance, will their passion for each other reignite? (Hachette)

Her words about a lost love, tangled emotions, assassins, high society, glittery social set and intrigue, captured me. Her main character Melissa (or Missy as we come to know her) is so real you feel like handing her a towel to wipe her brow with, through the pages of the novel and her “Will” simply makes you turn the pages quicker to see more of his manly and decisive nature, unfold.

It’s sharp pace, as it treks from Oxford where young love blooms, to America, through Boston (my favourite City) through Paris and Rome and across the globe in a frenetic pace that you almost wish it was you being chased by a top class assassin “or operatives” just to have Will beside you.

“Passion” is simple that, a tale as believable in a world that we dream of, of two people almost destined to be part of each others’ lives, inextricably tied to each other. After the initial introduction to Will & Missy’s failed marriage due to snobbery, you read the words hungrily waiting for them to meet again and when they do, it does not disappoint on any level, intellectually, physically or spiritually.

Bagshawe’s characters are divine, complex, complete and probably have their own twitter accounts!

Pick “Passion” up and read, but before you do that, turn your phone to silent, secure the coffee and get ready! It’s as addictive as all her others to the very last drop!

Available: 1st May, Hachette, $32.99

Look out for my interview with Louise herself very soon.

Love,

Amanda

Life of Rev John Mackay (by Alexander Mackenzie)

This biography of John Mackay, one of the leading Free Church ministers of the last decades of the nineteenth century, was published in 1921, three years after his death. He was prominent in causing many congregations in the Highlands not to follow the ministers who formed the Free Presbyterian Church in 1893 and the ministers who maintained the Free Church in 1900 when the vast majority left and formed the United Free Church by joing with the United Presbyterian Church. A person with such influence deserves consideration even by those who disagree with his actions.

Mackay was born on 14th February, 1846, in Inverness. His father, a farm manager, died suddenly when Mackay was about seven and young John went to live with relatives in Kirkhill. He was converted as a young teenager during the 1859-60 revival; he used to walk regularly the dozen or so miles to Inverness to attend special meetings and it was at one of those meetings that he received assurance of salvation and also sensed a call to the ministry.

Eventually he proceeded to Glasgow University. In addition to his studies, he also taught in a school in the afternoons and developed a commendable prayer life. A common practice in those days was for students to engage in teaching in country schools during the months they were not at university, and Mackay chose to teach in a school in Skye, where he was under the supervision of Rev. Alexander MacColl, a highly-regarded preacher. The years that he taught there was the period in which the first Union controversy in the Free Church over possible union with the United Presbyterians was at the forefront of church issues. The Free Church ministers in Skye, especially MacColl, were against the proposed union apart from the well-known Roderick Macleod of Snizort. Mackay highly regarded MacColl as a preacher but did not share his views on the union; instead he adopted the opinions of Roderick Macleod.

During his time at university, Mackay won several prizes and his academic ability was there for all to see. On finishing university he went to Glasgow Free Church College to study theology. He also engaged in mission work in the city, having been appointed to this role by Maryhill Free Church, with his main evangelism target group being the many Highlanders who flocked to the city for work. During those years he met and fell in love with Marion Macdonald, and it was Marion who overcame his scruples at the methods used by Moody and Sankey when they came to Glasgow in 1874.

Mackay’s first charge was in Glen Lyon in Perthshire, but he was only there for about a year before he received a call to Oban Free Church in 1875. Since he had only been in Glen Lyon a short time, he did not accept the call; but Oban took their case to the Synod and it told Mackay to accept the call. He had arrived in Glen Lyon a bachelor, but he left it a married man.

Oban at that time was not the tourist centre it later became. Nevertheless it was an important town in Argyll and the Free Church there was quite large. Mackay was to stay there for eight years: during that time he saw numerical growth in the congregation and began several initiatives such as a conference on the spiritual life. His middle of the road attitude in the church can be seen in the men he invited to preach in Oban: on the one hand, there were conservative Calvinists like John Kennedy of Dingwall and Andrew Bonar of Glasgow; on the other hand, there were liberal evangelicals such as Alexander Whyte of Edinburgh and James Candlish of Glasgow. Sadly, in 1880, his wife died, leaving him with two children. In 1882, he remarried, this time to Agnes MacFie, the daughter of Robert MacFie of Airds, one of the wealthy supporters of the Free Church. 

In 1883, Mackay was called to the Free Church of Cromarty in the Black Isle, north of Inverness. This location allowed him to preach at many communion occasions in the Highlands and he became one of the best-loved preachers at such events. His ministry in Cromarty also knew numerical growth. During his time in Cromarty, conflict over doctrinal changes was taking place in the Free Church. These changes climaxed in a Declaratory Act of 1892, and Mackay approved of them.

After eleven years in Cromarty, Mackay contacted the General Assembly, offering to become an evangelist in the Highlands. The catalyst for his decision was the response by the Free Church to the controversy linked to the Declaratory Act. Several experienced ministers, including Mackay, were set apart to operate as roving preachers who visited congregations and endeavoured to get them to focus more on evangelism. During this period of visitations, Mackay concluded that he should offer his services as an evangelist, and in 1895 he was appointed to this role. He left Cromarty and went to live in Inverness.

For the next twenty-three years Mackay’s evangelistic work took him all over the Highlands. Mackay’s method was to spend two weeks in each place: the first week was used in creating interest and the second week was for getting results (conversions). His annual reports reveal that there was usually considerable interest in most places he visited. There can be no doubt that he had many souls for his hire, including the souls of many who perished in the First World War.

Mackay published two books. One was a set of Cromarty sermons on Jonathan, the friend of David (1896); the other was his Chalmers Lectures called The Church in the Highlands (1914), and this volume is still prized by those who can find a copy. 

Mackenzie does not say much about Mackay’s closing days. For a few months prior to his death he endured physical weakness until he passed away on March 13, 1918. He had been involved in the founding of the Crown Church in Inverness and there is a tribute from its then minister. The funeral sermon is given in some detail.

The biography is typical of many volumes of lives of ministers. No mention is made of character flaws or ecclesiastical mistakes. While it is possible to go too far and turn every wrong attitude or action into a huge defect, it would be interesting to see how Mackay responded to them. But the author is silent on such matters.

There is no doubt that Mackay was an accomplished preacher. Six of his sermons are included in the book and they reveal that he had a simple style, an orthodox outlook, a pastoral heart, and an evangelistic bent. His preaching was understandable by children as well as appreciated by adults.

The author endorses the response of Mackay to the liberal theologians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Mackay was willing to tolerate them in the church, only wishing that they would be more careful in voicing their speculations. In this he was a follower of Robert Rainy and Alexander Whyte. Like them, he did not grasp that theological error eventually leads to spiritual decline, no matter how evangelistic and prayerful a denomination or congregations may be.

Mackay approved of using evangelism as a response to church squabbles. Both in the periods after 1893 and 1900, the remedy suggested by denominational committees was for quarelling congregations to engage in regular evangelism. This activity did bring about immediate numerical success and the disagreements were overshadowed for a while, but it did not provide long-term stability and eventually the gospel disappeared from most of these congregations. The obvious deduction is that orthodox doctrine, and not evangelism and other spiritual activities, must be the basis of church life.  A church that only has orthodox doctrine will not survive, but neither will a congregation that only has evangelism and spiritual activities. The lesson from Mackay’s situation is that we need both.

Stackhouse Fever

I while ago I started (and finished) a fun series of books.  It’s the Southern Vampireseries written by Charlaine Harris (also known as the Sookie Stackhouse series).  Apparently the first book was made into the first season of the HBO series True Blood.

In short, I would say that the series is funny at times, it’s suspenseful, it has at least one guy in each book that you would just love to do things to, there are vamps, wares (wolves and others), fairies, witches, and Sookie is a mind reader. The books are really fast reads. Very few books have me lying in wait till R is “sleeping” to turn the light back on and start back up. Ok, I only did that on the weekends (sure).

Here’s the order of the books.  Don’t be intimidated at how many there are.  They really do read very fast (I’m talking a day or three at most).

1. Dead Until Dark
2. Living Dead in Dallas
3. Club Dead
4. Dead to the World
5. Dead as a Doornail
6. Definitely Dead 
7. All Together Dead
8. From Dead to Worse
9. Dead and Gone (May 2009)
10. A Touch of Dead (October 2009)

Now for the family ratings: There are a few mature scenes but nothing graphic.  Think Harlequin Romance style mature scenes.

Compassion and Ministry

 Compassion.  It is a beautiful blend of love, empathy, mercy, and patience.

Jesus healed people, forgave people, fed people, wept for people out of compassion.  We are commanded to have compassion toward others, to share with those in need out of compassion, to “make a difference” through our compassion.  For references on this word, click here.

How does one learn compassion?  From a book?  From a sermon?  We may glean some pointers on the topic from outside sources; but I think the primary way to really have compassion woven into your personal fabric is through trial.

Some suffering is simply to grow us up, and to bring us out of the Egypt of ourselves.  This is the kind that reveals the true nature of our hearts.  I don’t know about you, but mine can be a veritable “dry and thirsty land, where no water is.”  Struggles keep me dependent on those springs of Living Water.

Other times, suffering is for correction; but never is it punishment simply for the sake of a spanking.  God’s correction as a Father to His dear children is always purposeful and positive.  We should not despise His chastening (Heb. 12:5).  Here is a small snippet from “A Steadfast Heart” by Elyse Fitzpatrick.  I am slowly making my way through this book, and the author has a gift for revealing (out of her own cultivated compassion, through trial and suffering) the compassionate heart of God:

“Yes, we are suffering, but our suffering is not judgment for our sin, will not be eternal, and is something we don’t walk through alone.  It is true that there are times when we reap the consequences of our sin, but even in this reaping, we’re not being punished by God.  He does discipline us, but His discipline is always redemptive and remedial, never punitive.  He does correct us for our good and out of love, but if we’re in His Son, we’ll never know His eternal judgment and displeasure.  He’s with us even in our failures and is using them to benefit our sould and cause us to love the cross more and more.” ~Elyse Fitzpatrick, A Steadfast Heart, PRP Publishing, p. 43.

And then, there is the compassion that is honed through suffering, which will be used to comfort others:

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” 2 Cor. 1:3,4

We’ll have more on this.

shelf awareness

 

daily enlightenment for booklovers

This is probably my favorite daily e-mail. If you like books, subscribe. They’ll tell you what’s new, what’s hot, what’s interesting and what’s in the news. 

Once a week, they pick a writer to be the “Book Brahmin,” and the answers always intrigue me. I got to be the Book Brahmin one day in March, and here are some of the questions and responses. I’ll post one or two over the next few days. Your mission–post your answers in Comments!

On your nightstand now:

SW: The Urban Outfitters catalog, a Clairefontaine notebook and pen, a tin of Bag Balm, a chapter of my work-in-progress, and The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant. I adore Roald Dahl, and I’m a sucker for true stories of heroic deeds in WWII.

Your turn: What’s on your nightstand?

Singing the Psalms of the Brokenhearted

Are you dealing with grief, sadness, or despair? Take heart, this book “Singing the Songs of the Brokenhearted - Psalms that Comfort and Mend the Soul” by author and pastor Bill Crowder, is a breathe of fresh air for the tired heart.

Who could know you better than your Creator? The Psalms were written for you from your Creator to include all the highs and lows of your life. But for the times when you are brokenhearted, the Psalms are especially soothing.

Bill Crowder has taken selected passages of the Psalms and illuminated those passages that speak to the weary and downtrodden, giving a fresh perspective using modern day music lyrics which offer words of hope and encouragement.

Particularly interesting is comment he makes about the Psalms and its honesty,

“One of my seminary professors said that in the Bible we have sixty-five books in which God speaks to us, and one book in which we speak to God - the Psalms. And when the psalmists speaks to God, they do so without any attempt at religious propriety. There is no attempt to swath everthing in spirituality. There is no interest in saving face. There is just honesty.”

Honesty is the common denominator in all grief. When we suffer, we do not need to hear platitudes or well meaning sympathetic comments.

In despair we need honesty.

Drawing on his years of pastoral experience, Bill Crowder expounds on those chosen to write the Psalms, revealing the history of what these psalmist were going through as these psalms were written.

Perspective is a beautiful thing, especially in times of Grief (Psalm 6), Despair (Psalm 12), Defeat (Psalm 13), Guilt (Psalm 32), Fear (Psalm 39), Desperation (Psalm 42), Hate (Psalm 56), Stress (Psalm 69), Unfairness (Psalm 73), and Sin (Psalm 22).

Read this book for a fresh view of the Psalms.

• Author: Bill Crowder
• Publisher: Discovery House Publishers (February 1, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 1572932740
• ISBN-13: 978-1572932746

P. D. James -- The Private Patient

I’ve never reviewed a crime novel on this blog, for the simple reason that I haven’t read one in a long time. But I was happy to make an exception for the latest from P. D. James, unchallengeable doyenne of the classic English murder mystery.

James is 88, and if the thought of churning out 400-page novels at that age impresses you, spare a thought for her detective, Adam Dalgliesh, who’s been wrestling culprits to the floor since 1962. I can only assume he’s been drinking the same elixir as James Bond, and gets younger and more muscular with each new case.

The setting for The Private Patient (2008) is, naturally, a decaying outpost of provincial privilege with a spooky and claustrophobic atmosphere. Rhoda Gradwyn, a fearless investigative journalist with a fair tally of accumulated enemies, books in to the private Dorset clinic of her plastic surgeon, George Chandler-Powell. The purpose of the visit: the removal of a deep scar across Gradwyn’s cheek, inflicted during childhood. The operation is completed successfully. But the following night, bandages still wrapped round her face, Rhoda is strangled in her bed.

Helpfully enough, the clinic, a beautiful yet intimidating Tudor manor house, is an enclosed space chock full of suspects. Two of the staff have longstanding grudges against Gradwyn, another has a dark past that has caused her to assume a new identity, one of Rhoda’s friends stands to gain from her will, and Chandler-Powell’s two medical assistants both have reasons for wanting to ruin the surgeon’s reputation. So whodunnit? And what is the significance of the ancient stone circle outside the manor, where a witch was once burned, and where strange lights were seen on the night of the murder?

The Private Patient is a novel resolute in its conformity to the conventions and clichés of its genre, but it’s a class act nonetheless — the work of a novelist rightly confident of the continuing power and relevance of the old Agatha Christie format. The story thrills and entices, like it should, but it’s also familiar and pleasurable, a book to be dipped into at leisure rather than one to be read from a grim compulsion to get to the end. James is simply a terrific writer, elegant, erudite and concise. She pries into her characters’ private thoughts and private places with a forensic precision and an eye for detail.

Bedrooms seem to hold a particular fascination. They are uniquely personal spaces from which the tenants can never be fully evicted, and as such are one of James’s favourite means of evoking the absent dead:

The front room had been her father’s. Here everything had been cleared away apart from the narrow bed to the right of the window. This had been stripped bare except for a single sheet stretched taut and pristine over the mattress, the universal domestic acknowledgement of the finality of death.

What James sees, perhaps more clearly than anyone writing today, is that the detective novel owes its persistence to its power as memento mori. Death touches everything yet remains hidden from view: “how briefly death is allowed to interfere with life,” muses Lettie, the clinic’s accountant, after Gradwyn’s death. Detective novels take us to the edge of that unspeakable abyss; but then, with their tidy resolutions, bring a necessary measure of solace and reassurance.

At one stage Dalgliesh contemplates that “few of us will die with the dignity for which we hope … Whether we choose to think of life as an impending happiness broken only by inevitable grief and disappointments, or as the proverbial veil of tears with brief interludes of joy, the pain will come.” But if this is an expression of the author’s inner fears, the book’s final lines (from the perspective of Annie, a rape victim only tangentially involved in the plot) counter them, arguing that, despite everything, we can draw consolation:

Deeds of horror are committed every minute and in the end those we love die. If the screams of all earth’s living creatures were one scream of pain, surely it would shake the stars. But we have love. It may seem a frail defence against the horrors of the world but we must hold fast and believe in it, for it is all we have.

If this should prove to be James’s final word, it will be an epitaph as crisp and measured and apt as the Dalgliesh series deserves.

The Years by Virginia Woolf

I’m currently engaged in a battle with Virginia Woolf’s The Years. The book is amazing and the way in which Virginia draws focus on one particular family as it confronts birth, death, joy, and sorrow through various ‘years’ at the turn of the century is amazing.  It is written like a literary soap opera.  The various ups and downs of a family that deal with jobs gained and lost, marriages, etc. It is a slow read though and I find myself wondering why I really care about this family. Virginia has created a large cast of characters in such a way that focus is not given on any one single character. Just as you find yourself starting to become wrapped up in one character, she changes focus onto someone else which is both enjoyable and yet frustrating.  It is a slow book but one that allows you to sink your teeth into the text. Virginia also deftly weaves the changing face of society and time in the background of these characters lives.  Small scenes that step outside of the the characters point of view and glance at men and women walking down the street, railways, trams, trolleys, carriages, etc. Well worth picking up. Will write a proper review soon. Cheers.

The Giver

The Giver by Louis Lowry reminds me a lot of Farenheit 451, Anthem or Brave New World in the sense that these books begin with a Utopian society in place and the set up for the main character to challenge this utopia. The society in The Giver exists to maintain a sense of sameness for everyone in the city, but in turn has removed some of the depth, mainly the highs and lows from life. Children are regulated and awarded (2 per couple, one boy, one girl), not the product of a regular marriage relations, marriages are arranged, children have schedules to follow down to when they begin riding bicycle, wear shoes with buttons, when they don’t have to have ribbons in their hair (for girls). The children also go through a volunteer process, where they try out various areas of labor and work so that the council can evaluate their skills and assign them a job task for life. The book begins with Jonas, the main character, anticipating this big life change for him. He hasn’t been partial to any of the jobs he has volunteered at and therefore does not know where he will be assigned. At the ‘Ceremony of Twelve’, after initially being skipped over, Jonas is given the task of the ‘Receiver of Memory’, of which, there is only one in the community. He is given cryptic instructions and begins meetings with ‘The Giver’. Turns out ‘the Giver’, who eventually becomes like his surrogate grandfather, holds all of the knowledge of the past, wars, snow, family, hate, violence, the ocean, etc. His job is to transfer these memories to Jonas. Through the transfers, Jonas becomes disillusioned with the society he lives in. The remainder of the book chronicles Jonas’ decisions of what to do with this new found knowledge that he can’t share with anyone.

I really enjoyed this book - it was a very quick read and highly recommended! Hopefully, I’ll read the two sequels soon, Gathering Blue and The Messenger. . . 8.5/10

Book Reviewing: A Contact Sport

Sunken Treasure: Wil Wheaton’s Hot Cocoa Box Sampler

Wil Wheaton

Monolith Press April 2009

90 pages $13.00, paperback ($5.00 download)

When I started reading this, I walked right into a mailbox.   Whack!  Okay, backstory.  I’d been wanting to read it for a while, met up with Mr. Unhipster and borrowed his copy, but then had to scurry off to The Day Job.  Except I really wanted to start reading the second I got it.

So I engaged in the risky, but usually navigable, exercise of reading while walking to the subway.

Cue the mailbox.  Thunk!  Rubbing bruised legs and slightly sprained dignity, I slipped Sunken Treasure into a pocket, and continued on my slightly more alert way to work.

What does this tale of reading-as-contact sport have to do with my review of the actual text?  Maybe nothing.  Or a compliment, to some fine, attention-grabbing essays.  I’d been looking forward to reading the collection.    I said goodbye to Mack, flipped it open, and buried my nose in “The Trade,” relying on my peripheral vision.  I’d read “The Trade” before.   But still.  Tra la la la walking- clunk!

The entire collection is absolutely worth whacking my knees on a mailbox.  Wheaton offers some vignettes that will be familar to his blog readers.  I recognized “The Trade” and “You’re Gonna Be a Great Writer Someday, Gordie,” from Just a Geek. Those stories, and the rest of the volume’s 90 pages pack good, honest, heartfelt writing.  Wheaton doesn’t have an easy task- navigating through fame, memory, identity, acting craft, and the strangeness of an acting childhood as part of a legendary science fiction machine.  The collection tracks the process from a variety of angles.

Wheaton has a graceful touch with self-deprecating humor, and his honesty comes with warmth and very clear love for his family.

And that’s exactly what makes the collection so frustrating.  While it’s a good survey and introduction to Wheaton’s excellent prose, these tantalizing bits of larger works are maddening.  Must get myself copies of Dancing Barefoot and The Happiest Days of Our Lives.

It was sheer dumb luck that I read Just A Geek a few years ago, and learned what a great writer Wheaton can be.  Although I have geeky leanings, in my reading and viewing tastes, I am, compared to many of my friends, a dabbler.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation with Wil’s character, Wesley Crusher.

One of the features of this sampler is an episode guide Wheaton wrote for the episode “Datalore.”  Howlingly funny, even though I’m pretty sure I never caught this specific episode on late night television.  Piqued my interest in a closer viewing of the series, especially if Wheaton writes and releases a more comprehensive viewer’s guide.  That, and Wheaton’s filming diary for his episode of Criminal Minds made me excited to see the shows he described, and also eager to read more of his thoughtful, behind-the-scenes analysis.

Teen Review: Igor reviews Bleach*

Bleach, Volumes 1-22 The manga is great if you ask me, even though it gets tiresome at times and you want to stop reading it. But there are always things that bring you back and get you interested again in the manga. I personally always come back to the books for I always was interested in re-reading the first 12.  There are other expeditions but the first 12 with soul society always interest me the most. There are plenty of moments when you are just wondering “what the $#%! is going on?” but when you reread that’s when you come to understand them. Ichigo has an encounter with a soul reaper and that’s how it starts off.  While trying to save his family he becomes a soul reaper.  Then he goes on a quest to same the soul reaper that converted him…. fun… so he has a lot of time to run around and make friends who “inhered” powers in one way or another.  Joy….. well, he fights, gets stronger, and eventually has to face the king of hollows who is supposed to be the strongest.  Will he defeat him?  God I hope so, for thats why I am reading this series……. *Thank you to Igor, for writing this blog post as part of our fine alternative program at Carnegie Library - Main. Holly CLP-Main

Table Talk

Stevens, Wallace. “Table Talk.” Opus Posthumous. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957.

I like the first line best, “Granted, we die for good.” I can just imagine two people sitting around a kitchen table talking about why they like certain things and how it all matters only when you are alive. While all poetry can be manipulated to suit the reader, I believe that Wallace’s philosophical nature comes through in “Table Talk.” There is an awareness to the good things in life; the joys of being alive. It’s almost as if this poem is more than good timing.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lustin the chapter “Poetry Pleasers” (p 189).

Inerrancy, Hazardous to One's Spiritual Health? Pt 1

Carlos Bovell’s book, Inerrancy and the Spiritual Formation of Younger Evangelicals, grabbed my attention, simply because I know how evangelicals often teach as though inerrancy is the key to genuine faith in God. Bovell hazards something of the obverse: inerrancy will ruin the spiritual formation of ‘younger evangelicals’, a term he self-consciously borrows from Robert Webber’s book, The Younger Evangelicals.

In the introduction, the author seems worried about the way in which inerrancy hinders the interpretation of the text, and thus prevents readers from fully understanding the Bible for what it is. For example, evangelical scholars encountering a problem surfaced by critical scholarship will enter into apologetic mode, and seek only to find a way of downplaying the problem (through, e.g., harmonization). Bovell thinks once younger evangelicals recognize the flimsiness of these apologetic interpretations and how inadequate they are for a reading of Scripture, they will become disillusioned with the Christian faith altogether. Indeed, he admits it happened to him. As noted above, for evangelicals, faith in the Bible is paramount to faith in God; when the former falls, so does the latter.

 The book is not just concerned with how inerrancy corrupts the reading of Scripture, however; it also tackles the larger culture of evangelical theology. The author seems to think, though regrettably nowhere states outright, that inerrancy is but a product of the larger evangelical understanding of truth. Thus, one way of reading Bovell’s book is to see it as not so much decrying the affect of the doctrine of inerrancy, but evangelicalism’s philosophical underpinnings. Indeed, as it becomes apparent, Bovell worries that the evangelical concept of truthfulness actually conflicts with the nature of faith and the reality of the Bible, a recipe for spiritual torture.

The first chapter considers the evangelical investment in “worldview philosophy” (see books by IVP’s James Sire or the project of J. P. Moreland and Bill Craig). Bovell notes that according to most theorists, the chief characteristic of a worldview is its ability to see the world through a single interpretive grid, thus possessing coherence and capacity for synthesis. Yet, says Bovell, Christianity “will produce worldviews that are inevitably 1) inconsistent to varying degrees; 2) inherently plural; 3) ’synthesis-frustraters’” (p. 16). He goes on to demonstrate these, pointing to things like the hypostatic union and the way in which mystery is an irremovable feature of faith, to the affect that it allows diverse, even divergent views to be compatible with Christian revelation.

In a sense, this first chapter complements some claims by Kenton Sparks in his book, God’s Word in Human Words. Sparks argues that inerrancy is actually a product of the influence of Cartesianism upon evangelical epistemology. Sparks thinks that because evangelicals assume something like the Cartesian view of indubitable truths, they can only see the Bible as authoritative if its claims operate thus. Sparks thinks that these philosophical commitments keep evangelicals from actually viewing the Bible as it is. For both authors, it seems, the real problem is the conflict between the evangelical concept of what counts as truth and the fact of Christian truth. And in a sense, both authors are aware of how evangelicals have invested themselves in outdated views, and thus, sensitive to the changing intellectual landscape, worry younger evangelicals are feeling the pressure. Bovell simply highlights how this erroneous investment will return a deficit to evangelical spirituality once younger evangelicals find out for themselves how inadequate it is.

So much for chapter 1. What are your thoughts? Is it true that evangelicals have invested themselves in certain philosophical systems and that is what shapes their doctrine of inerrancy? If you’re an evangelical, do you resonate with spiritual turmoil over inerrancy?

<i>One Hundred Years of Solitude</i> by Gabriel García Márquez

I absolutely loved this book, which surprised me.  Last year, I tried reading The Autumn of the Patriarch, but couldn’t get into it.  However, I tumbled into One Hundred Years of Solitude with no effort.  It was all so real.  Even the parts that you knew were complete and utter nonsense, Remedios the Beauty, for example, you found yourself almost believing it.  Something tells me that Señor García Márquez would be an excellent poker player.

This book is a fascinating read.  A rich feast for the imagination.  While reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, I spent a wonderful few days, and about hundred years, is Macondo.  It was a glorious, memorable vacation from reality.  I could almost see the ghosts of Melquíades and José Arcadio Buendía drift around the room in front of me.  I am definitely giving Señor García Márquez’s other books a try.  If you have not read one yet, I heartily recommend you start with this one.

Rating:  5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

I read this book for the Book Awards Challenge.

From the back of the book:

At the age of twelve, Ishmael Beah fled attacking rebels in Sierra Leone and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At sixteen, he was removed from fighting by UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at his rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to heal.

Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is one of those books that puts it all in perspective. As I sat mesmerized by his story, I couldn’t help but think about the petty worries that occupy my thoughts and realize how insignificant they are compared to the very real life-and-death struggles that people my age—Beah is just a few years older than I am—face every day in other parts of the world. It is one thing to know that things like this are going on out there in the world; it is entirely another to read a firsthand account that takes you into the heart and mind of a very young boy who overcame incredible trauma.

When the rebels attacked his village, Beah and a group of friends were walking to a town several miles away, where they were supposed to participate in a song-and-dance competition by performing to some of their favorite rap music.

We didn’t know that we were leaving home, never to return.

At first, Beah and his friends manage to stay together. He writes vividly of the boys’ various reactions to the stress and trauma of being separated from their families and thrust into a war they did not understood. One boy tells stories. One is completely silent. One fears that he was dying one piece at a time. Beah can’t sleep. He has horrible headaches. He does everything he can to avoid thinking about his parents and brother, trying not to consider what might have happened to them. And he tries to make sense of the war around him.

I had heard from adults that this was a revolutionary war, a liberation of the people from corrupt government. But what kind of liberation movement shoots innocent civilians, children, that little girl?

After being separated from his group during a rebel attack, Beah flees into the forest, where he survives—completely alone—for more than a month. He remembers being physically and emotionally exhausted and incapable of processing the psychological effects of his experiences. After all, he was only twelve years old.

I couldn’t comprehend what or how I felt.

Eventually, Beah meets up with another group of boys who are running from the attacks, and he travels with them from village to village as they do all they can to prove to the untrusting strangers that they are not a threat.

Then, the soldiers find them and take them away.

The soldiers give the boys guns and put them through intense military training. They force them to watch while they kill innocent villagers, and they praise the boys who step up and begin taking lives themselves. When Beah is initially horrified by what he sees and does, a soldier tells him “You will get used to it, everybody does eventually.”

We don’t want to believe that it’s true, that innocent young boys could be turned into brutal killers. But, as Margaret Atwood says in The Handmaid’s Tale, “Humanity is so adaptable…Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.” In the army, the compensations are drugs—cocaine, marijuana, and a mixture of cocaine and gun powder called “brown brown”—and staying alive.

Between the drugs, the exhaustion, and the psychological impact of losing everything and becoming a trained killer, Beah hardly ever sleeps. He no longer feels or thinks. He just does what he has been trained to do. And, eventually, he comes to enjoy it on some level. He recounts sitting around with his fellow soldiers, taking drugs, plotting attacks, and celebrating their latest successes.

The idea of death didn’t cross my mind at all and killing had become as easy as drinking water. My mind had not only snapped during the first killing, it had also stopped making remorseful records, or so it seemed.

And later:

My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed.

Beah’s ability to give voice to what war does to those who are asked or forced to fight is what makes A Long Way Gone so terrifying. He describes in graphic detail the massacres he witnessed and those he participated in. He repeatedly describes watching as his friends and fellow soldiers suffer seemingly irreparable psychological damage, and he recalls experiencing many symptoms of post-traumatic stress himself. The fact that, when he was rescued by UNICEF, he was eventually able to heal from and talk about what he went through is testament to his statement that

Children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.

That message is the heart of A Long Way Gone. This book is written in beautiful language that is sometimes jarringly dissonant with the horrific events being described.

We kept running until the sky swallowed the sun and gave birth to the moon.

And, sometimes, it is so vividly descriptive that one can almost not bear to read it. At one point, Beah tells of walking barefoot in the desert with temperatures over 120 degrees. He describes first the constant pain and burning, followed by numbness, followed by the discovery that shreds of skin are hanging off the bottoms of his feet, which are crusted with bits of blood and sand and dirt, and which hurt so badly that he can’t even cry over them. It is one of those scenes I will never forget reading.

A Long Way Gone is an amazing account of a horrible experience, but it ends on a very hopeful note. We know that Beah survived, that he was able to begin what I’m sure will be a lifelong healing process, and that he is telling his story so that the world will know and will, hopefully, save other boys from having to go through the same thing. Beah successfully takes into the consciousness of a young boy who does not really understand what this war he’s fighting is all about, a boy who can only afford to think about one day at a time and what he needs to do to stay alive, and he writes with great grace and immediacy. His is a difficult story to read, but I cannot recommend it highly enough, and I certainly hope there will be a follow-up. 5 out of 5.

Click here to learn more about the Sierra Leone civil war and here to learn more about Ishmael Beah and A Long Way Gone.

Book Review : "Why We're Not Emergent"

A new book called “Why We’re Not Emergent by Two Guys Who Should Be” is written by two guys, Kevin DeYoung an Ted Kluck and they approach the controversial movement with good hearted and often good humored approaches.

So, what is the emergent movement?  Well, as the authors would tell you, finding that answer is like nailing Jell-O to the wall.  The emergent/emerging church is a postmodern movement that can generally be described ( but not exclusively ) as heavily liberal and with a more a focus on experience and journey as opposed to doctrine and decision.

Unlike other books on this subject, this one tackles the subject from two angles…the academic theological view of a Pastor ( Kevin ) and the laid back “every-man” view of your average young churchgoer ( Ted ).  This makes for a very enjoyable read as your brain will get a fresh intake every chapter.  I found it quite difficult to put the book down!

The book emphasizes some very significant obstacles to biblical Christianity that the movement has yet to deal with…those mainly being Brian McLaren and Peter Rollins.  These men, although adamantly denying any leadership role, have nonetheless become the de-facto strongmen in this new movement.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m somewhat of a doctrine geek, but I’ve also got  a heavily sarcastic Scottish side!  This book hit me on both levels, yet does so in a very respectful way.  Is this an exhaustive resource on the emerging movement? No, but then again not everything needs to be in order to get a picture of what is going on.

Would I recommend this book to your average Evangelical?  Heck yes. Would I recommend this book to someone currently in the movement?  Again, a resounding yes.  The book is polite, lays its facts out well, and never comes to the conclusion that the ideas behind the emergent movement are necessarily bad, just that the theology needs to be paid better attention to.

4 Stars out of 5

Transitioning to raw foods

Since I find myself transitioning to raw foods again I thought it would be a good time to talk about it.

Some like to jump in head first and go straight to eating 100% RAW.  Some like to slowly up their percentages of raw foods over a time.  I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to go about it as long as you listen to your body and follow its lead.  I find for me that the detox effects are less the slower I go.

When I first decided to try out raw foods the only book I had read on the subject was Natalia Rose’s book The Raw Food Detox Diet.  I followed her plan of a slow transition and really liked it.  What I loved most about her approach is there was no perfect standard and she made it seem easy.  The fact that her recipes are very tasty helped out too.  I always suggest this book for those that express an interest in eating raw foods.  She includes a lot of cooked transition recipes.

Having tasty, fast and simple foods to grab and eat help tremendously.  A well stocked pantry and refrigerator keep me grabbing something processed.  I like to eat fruit throughout the morning and then have a salad, sprouted grain sandwich, or veggie wrap for lunch.  Dinner is usually a cooked vegan meal.  It helps me to stay away from dairy, wheat and soy while I’m transitioning.

Menu: (I wasn’t very hungry yesterday so I had a very light food day.  I had pasta and white bread the day before which slowed down my digestive track immensely.)

Breakfast: banana, orange, handful of sunflower seeds and cashew mix.

Lunch: avocado

Dinner: baked sweet potato, steamed vegetable mix

What I Read - March 2009

Here’s the past month’s booklist.  Asterisks mark books that were especially powerfull/enjoyable.  All links take you to my reviews on Goodreads.com.

Chocolat, Joanne Harris

*Exit Music, Ian Rankin

Hush: An Irish Princess’ Tale, Donna Jo Napoli

Growing Herbs, Richard Bird

*Kushiel’s Scion, Jacqueline Carey

*The Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner

I also re-read Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Miracles.   I liked Miracles more the second time around, and the Sutras make a lot more sense once I was introduced to a few other translations/interpretations.

What did you read this past month that you really enjoyed?

March Reading Wrap-Up

Is it really April already? I’m in total denial that another year is already 25% over. Sheesh, time really does fly as you get older. (Which freaks me out because if it’s going this quickly while I’m still in my mid-20s, what’s it going to be like in another couple decades? Wow.)

Anyway, this was a pretty great reading month. I read nine books, which puts me back on track toward my goal of 100 for the year. There was some nice variety, and I really enjoyed each book.  Here’s what I read this month, which each cover linked to my review (except for The Angel’s Game, which I’m going to hold off on until the release date gets a little closer).

   

I like it when a month ends up this way, where fiction and nonfiction reads are almost equal. It’s always nice to have that balance. Because they were all so good, it’s going to be hard to pick favorites, but that’s a problem I’m willing to have.

The Angel’s Game was hands-down the best novel I read this month (seriously, it’s phenomenal), but since I won’t review it for a little while, I’m going to pick The Brightest Moon of the Century as my favorite fiction book of the month. There was nothing I didn’t like about it, and I’m already looking forward to reading it again.

My nonfiction selections weren’t quite as varied as they usually are because I wanted to focus on women’s issues for Women’s History Month. The Purity Myth was easily my favorite read—and one that I think pretty much everyone could benefit from reading—so don’t forget to enter my giveaway!

What was the best book you read in March? The worst book? Any total wallbangers?

High Fashion Sewing Secrets

By Claire B. Shaeffer

I may not say this about any other book, but if you want to sew seriously, buy this book.  It will tell you how to master the nit-picky details that make the difference between “where did you get that” with a slight tone of disdain and “where did you get that” with an unmistakable undercurrent of envy.  

Welt pockets?  Check.

Bound buttonholes?  Check.

French seams?  Check

Bagging a jacket?  Check.  

Many of these terms may be unfamiliar, and that’s ok.  If you really want to sew well, you will learn what they mean and you will want to be able to create them yourself.  Buy this book.  The example clothing may be questionable, don’t worry.  The detailed instructions translate to whatever fabric and item you are working with.