Lory
Modern industrialized human beings are incredibly stupid – especially the ones who would seem to be the most highly educated, like doctors and university professors. That's the thought that came to me after reading some of the stories in this book, which demonstrate the idiocy that passes for cleverness today, doing untold harm to children and other vulnerable people, to our entire planet. And out of stupidity, evil is born: not that stupid people are necessarily evil in themselves, but the reiteration of adverse, uninformed treatment brings about increasingly adverse and evil results in an expanding circle, a snowball effect that has created the looming catastrophe we see all around us.
We need wisdom, real wisdom and insight, to come to our aid and reverse this barrage of stupidity. Wisdom that is not cold, empty cleverness, but filled with the boundless warmth of love, and the skill and flexibility to do its work through relationships, not fixed notions, systems, and ideologies. It's the kind of wisdom that is also demonstrated in this book, which tells not just the story of the individuals concerned, but the story of Dr. Bruce Perry's learning a new way of understanding and working with human beings, a way that is truly healing.
He learned it from the children, by listening to and observing them, in an open-hearted way, without the blind prejudice of his psychiatric profession, but with the discipline of a mind trained in clear thinking. If only we could all learn to do the same; our world would be utterly transformed.
Read for the Sylvia Townsend Warner Reading Week at A Gallimaufry. This was quite striking as an evocation of medieval life, with all its stinks, vermin and diseases, along with the persistent human doggedness that was needed to keep people going through all that. Lively and discursive as Chaucer's pilgrims, it's not at all a conventional narrative, leading the reader along a winding road that seemingly goes off into thin air at the end.
Strangely for a story centered around a convent, there was absolutely no sense of the immanence of God nor any striving after Christian love. The primary concern of nearly everyone is money, as they struggle along to keep the convent going, preserve their small luxuries, and keep the threatening and hungry poor at bay. Not a single nun is more than mildly inoffensive, or perhaps too stupid to offend, and most of them are quite unsavory characters, up to and including a murderess. Hers is not the only sin that is never discovered or punished; in this “holy” place, the temptations of the world seem to be hiding in plain sight. I'm not sure whether this is meant as an expression of Warner's own views against religion as an empty and hypocritical exercise, or as a portrayal of the kind of corruption in the religious life that led within a couple of centuries to the Reformation.
For me, it provided an interesting excursion, with often beautiful and highly original language, but I'm not sure what to think about the underlying message.
It's always comforting to read Thomas Keating. This one was less focused and covered much the same territory as Open Mind Open Heart.
I was thinking of reviewing this for Austen in August, but the Austen connection was thin. I did enjoy the Bath setting though, and I'd try more in the series.
I read this some time ago, and remember being vaguely dissatisfied, but after enjoying the recent FM Gibbons releases I wanted to go back to it again. With my expectations not so high or perhaps so divergent from the actual book, I liked it more this time. I wish there had been more of Hetty and a less depressing ending to her story, and less of Viola, a tiresome although basically blameless character.
A melancholy meditation on four “autumnal” lives - the ways in which we meet but miss one another.
This is such an important topic and the research is fascinating. I would like to see more rigor in the thinking and clarity of definition around the huge areas of “empathy” and “love.” While the authors made a convincing case that humans need closeness and connection to grow healthy and lead stable, productive lives, there is also such a thing as unhealthy closeness (enmeshment) and real problems that result from it. The “codependency movement” is briefly criticized at the end of the book as aiming to push people towards independence at the expense of relationship, but I think really it's all about establishing healthy boundaries and a balance between self and other.
Anyway, there is no shortage of research to do in this field ,and I hope we'll be hearing much more about it. The main challenge we seem to face today is to expand the ways we evolved for surviving together in small, close-knit groups, into seeing ourselves as members of a global family, humanity as a whole. Many people are distressed by the hugeness of this and close themselves off in narrowly defined groups, going with the old way of feeling secure as “us” by battling a “them.” Other forces are working strongly to splinter us even further, isolating and distancing us from one another and waling us off behind non-human, mechanical barriers. But the stories of healing in this book - and also the warning images of people damaged beyond repair - can inspire us to learn from the wisdom in the very structure of our brains and bodies, to recover the human bonds of love and caring that made us strong, and to evolve further into a species that uniquely is able to love out of freedom and knowledge, rather than merely by instinct.
This is a visually beautiful book that could be a comforting companion for someone who is struggling with chronic illness. Many of the ideas were not new to me but I still found some nuggets to chew on. My favorite statement from a wise old doctor: “The illness is the cure for the cause of the illness.” Let's all think about that for a while and maybe reconsider our slash-and-burn approach to all disease. What message are they bringing to us, what potentials for renewal and positive energy do they want us to take up? That's what we can ask ourselves when we stop seeing illness as something merely to be avoided at all costs.
In this entry in the Carey family series, the young man of the family is falsely accused of cheating at cards and leaves the country for the family estate in New York. I love the idea and the production values of these books, and the writing is not bad, but the stories fall flat for me. This one is a particularly insensitive demonstration of Brits feeling entitled to conquer the world (lording it over the native Americans, of course, but also French Canadians in the battle for Quebec). Like the other Carey books I've read so far, this one is totally male-centric in a preteen sort of way; the men seem to have no sexual feelings at all and women are almost completely absent from their world. Boys may find this all terribly exciting (my son loves it) but it bores me quickly. I'd far rather have some interesting drawing room conversation than yet another battle.
Read for Summer in Other Languages challenge, to boost my German. Thoughts at enterenchanted.com
I'm on a DWJ reread jag...this one has absurd, almost slapstick humor and a wonderfully characterized family of four distinct individuals who are both flawed and lovable, plus an imaginative array of villains. Like all “twist” books worth reading once, this is also worth reading again after you know the ending - and see how skillfully Jones builds towards it.
Another in my string of DWJ rereads this fall. This is one of the most satisfying “prequels” I can think of - it explains details given in passing in the book Charmed Life while filling them out into a fully satisfying story that can be read on its own. Christopher's character arc is convincing; it's a story of overcoming a neglectful and traumatic upbringing, yet this somber subject is handled with the humor, compassion, and insight that subtly teach young readers without preaching. My only complaint is that it ends too abruptly, but that's not uncommon with Ms. Jones. Maybe it's just that I wish her books would never end.
A follow up to Toxic Parents, focusing especially on five types of toxic (unloving) mothers and their effect on daughters, followed by advice on how daughters can change this dysfunctional relationship, or decide to leave if it can't be salvaged with their own integrity intact. It was not very clear what was particular about the mother-daughter relationship vs. the general parent-child relationship, but that didn't matter for my purposes. I find Forward's approach helpful as a general outline, although a bit narrow and harsh. Good to complement with some other books like It Didn't Start With You, or Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, which go more into the general family dynamic that evolves such bizarre behavior.
Read as a German exercise, I'm not sure I should count it as I probably understand 60 to 80% ... however I did learn some interesting things about the author of Tintin, if in a scattered and superficial fashion (not unlike Tintin itself).
Read my review at Entering the Enchanted Castle:
https://enterenchanted.com/the-1976-club-two-by-le-guin/
Entertaining and full of action, it kept me turning the pages but overall I think I liked Scaramouche better. The racism and colonialism was distasteful–while it's considered absolutely horrific for Blood and his white compatriots to be enslaved, there is never any questioning that for black slaves this treatment is fine for an inferior and naturally subject race. Etc.
More about the mountains and less about Mrs whats her name would have made this a better book. But I did like the parts about the mountains.
A splendid new Folio Society edition reviewed here on my blog:
https://enterenchanted.com/in-which-the-folio-society-comes-to-its-senses-at-last-venetia/
I felt like reading another Burnett after rereading A Little Princess, and this was sitting on my e-reader. I had read it long ago, in what I recall was an abridged edition. Perhaps it was abridged to tighten up the story and make it drag less for younger readers ... in this version, compared to the snappy theatrics of Princess, it was notably lacking in dramatic tension, with a possible villain who totally disappeared in the middle, and an excruciatingly looooooong period during which the reader knows the “secret” the protagonist unbelievably never seems to have guessed. Odd, when Burnett's other books are much more satisfyingly constructed.
In the end, I wondered if it was really an allegory of the Second Coming. The returning prince is described in such overtly religious terms that he hardly seems human, and his mission will be to bring his people “the way” and “the law” (meaning a spiritual law, not a civic law). Interesting, but heavy-handed.
Franny Billingsley writes like a dream. If only she would write faster – but the wait was worth it. Following The Folk Keeper and Chime, another story of feminine re-membering and empowerment, in brilliant, vivid language that juxtaposes simple words in surprising, enlightening ways while slowly unfolding a tale made of secrets hidden in plain sight. This one also contains probably my favorite character ever that is an inanimate object: The Dagger.
The title of this book is a misnomer – it's not really about ritual in general, which would be an immense topic, but about the sources and some selected manifestations of Christian religious ritual, with particular reference to the communion service of the Christian Community, the movement within which the author is a priest. I think the book will be mainly of interest to readers who are familiar with that service; others might be confused or simply uninterested unless they have some experience of what Baan is talking about. For those who do seek a deeper connection to this service, known in English as The Act of Consecration of Man, the book is invaluable.
I used to love Tracy Chevalier's books, but of late I find them a bit “stagey.” The historical details feel wedged in, with scenes and characters arranged to make them possible to mention rather than growing organically. So although this novel was well constructed and the writing was unexceptionable, I was left somewhat disappointed. I also found the resolution quite unrealistic. Louisa Pesel was my favorite character though! I wish she had been more central.
I wish Goodreads would add a DNF option. Sometimes there are books I didn't finish but want to leave some comment on.
I found this title while looking for something to read for Austen in August, and I'm also trying to read more books from around the world, so it seemed like a great combo. I made it to about 45% but though some of Smith's travels were interesting, as a character she was getting on my nerves. Her romantic adventures were remarkably immature and irresponsible, more like a college student than a college professor, making her more a kindred spirit to Lydia than Lizzie Bennett. Which is fine, but not what I expected. And the “book groups” she got together in various locations were seriously underwhelming. Half the time the group hadn't even read the book, or they read some other book by mistake, or a significant number of people didn't show up. Nobody who does make it to the groups has much of interest to say, or it's in very basic, simple language because Smith is a beginner student of Spanish. Along the same lines, when she finally gets to her main teaching gig in Chile, that turns out to be two classes on “travel literature,” one with three American/Canadian students and the other with four, all of whom prefer to go on field trips rather than have discussions in class. This is where I gave up.
Anybody who did read the whole book and can tell me it gets better, might persuade me to keep going .. but otherwise I'm going to go read Sense and Sensibility instead.