Book: Carson McCullers: A Life by Josyane Savigneau
In my brief foray into literature I’ve discovered two things: Firstly, I find most interesting and enjoyable classic American literature, particularly of the South. Secondly, Carson McCullers is my favorite of this type of writer. Of her few novels that she’s written and of the fewer that I’ve read, she touches me in a deep, dark way that no other writer has been able to do so. She writes underwater, underneath my skin. Speaks to places few know even exist. She was very much aware and very much good at portraying the isolation and loneliness that some of us as human beings feel. Her weird, fascinating, and morbid characters continually revealed this isolation, this loneliness. If you’ve not yet read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter please do so. If you’ve not read more than a couple of her books I wouldn’t really recommend this biography of her to you just yet. I know biographies are about the most popular kind of book and that is good fine I guess but one will get much more out this biography after having developed a love for her writings. What I find most intriguing about McCullers was her being just past twenty years old she wrote The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. By literary standards, this is ridiculous. Unlike music, which is obsessed with youth, writers are usually much, much older before they are capable of writing a successful novel. One usually has to have much more life and much more time at their craft in this particular art form, which made McCullers a literary phenomenon. She was considered genius for being able to do this, and one can’t help but respect that at the least. Her life, though, was what could be considered typical of the prevelant idea of the troubled artist. The woman definitely had issues, and this book goes into them, revealing that her characters were not to far from her own home. For me one of the most intriguing things to me about her was her struggle to write despite her being crippled most of her life from around age 30 to her early death at just 50. She was bedridden and unable to care for herself during most of that time. She said she had to write and that it was writing that had kept her alive, even writing on the day of her death. I could go more in depth but like I say, if you like McCullers you will dig this look into her life and ways otherwise I don’t know that outside of that why anyone would read this. It’s not really going to inspire you like a Helen Keller biography or anything.
Sidenote: I do feel much more cultured after reading this biography because the author was a French woman and I’ve never read a book by anyone French before.
Book: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is apparently a big deal in the modern American literary world and to be honest I had no idea. I knew him as the writer of the novel No Country For Old Men but I had only seen the movie (and loved and was disturbed by it for a full three days afterwards). On tour my drummer and guitar player at the time were crazy about The Road written by McCarthy so I read that but didn’t find it all that special. But I like cowboys. And I knew he had written a few books with cowboys in them, and I’ve wanted to read them for some time. I’d go to the library and look at them, always wanting to read them, but never doing so because the time was not right. I believe there is a time for everything, a season, and books are no different. One could read any book at anytime but that doesn’t mean that he was meant to. Books are powerful, and if not handled carefully I think they can be a big waste of time so I am very particular about what books I expose myself to at certain times. So until a few weeks ago it wasn’t yet time for me to read McCarthy, and then it was. Now it is. It’s springtime. The weather is warmer. The wind is blowing. I can sit outside by a stream. Perfect for reading of happenings in the southwest. So I read All the Pretty Horses, the first book of a trilogy known as the Border Trilogy. Now this is less a review of All the Pretty Horses as much as an introduction to me diving into the writer and his works himself. I dug All the Pretty Horses, I really did. I found it a good story that gave me a bit of wanderlust and further cemeted my dream of riding a horse everywhere I go, making love to beautiful Mexican women, and eating beans and tortillas for every meal. But I don’t personally find it anymore than that: a good story. Unlike much of the classic literature I’m getting into, which has the power to change one’s view of the world, it’s people, it’s workings, and one’s own self, my experience with McCarthy is that he is just a good storyteller but beyond that little else. If a Steinbeck novel weighed a ton then you could carry a McCarthy novel in your back pocket. I don’t mean this to be an insult, hardly. For example, I appreciate music that changes my life but not every song is meant to. Sometimes I just want to hear something nice and easy. Sometimes I read to find pearls in the ocean, other times I just wanna sit on the beach. Same with books. So my interest in McCarthy is why there is such an interest in his writings to begin with. He’s won some hefty literary awards, has a society and journal named after him, and has around ten books written just about the books he’s written even though he has only written about ten novels himself…but why? As far as I can tell his stories just don’t have the depth that I would expect them to have for people to pay $30 something a year to join the Cormac McCarthy Society where they are exposed to news about his art and writings other people are publishing about his art. So I’m intrigued. I wonder to myself if I’m just missing something. And I wonder what it is about this writer that makes him so successful. And given the content of his novels, cowboys of the southwest and the extreme violence contained therein, I wonder what it says about the culture that follows his work. So, this begins my exploration into the work of Cormac McCarthy and the reasons for his success. I invite you on the journey as well if you’d like. And should you already have an opinion of him I’d like to know your thoughts as well.
By the way, though some of his books have cowboys in them, it’s not really John Wayne type stuff so don’t be put off by that idea. It’s much more modern.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Egg Explosion
At the request of one of you I’ve started reading Moby Dick. You see, up to a month ago or so I had been thinking long and hard about going sailing for an extended period of time, selling my home and just going for it. But real life and money have hindered that dream, so instead I thought I’d just start reading about others that have gone to sea. Hence, I’m a hundred pages into Moby Dick and thus far I’m into it. The writing style is nothing that I expected but it’s in nice little short chapters so it makes me feel like I can stop and not lose the flow or that I’m briskly moving the book (though in reality I’m not but the mind is interesting and I like to play it’s games).
…
I’ve also started a study of Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Songs. I never really understood Ecclesiastes and I can already see clearer with just a bit of effort. If you are maybe happy go lucky at the moment then I don’t know that the first of the two books will speak to you as much as those that are a bit in the trenches, or a bit more in despair, or a bit more confused. You’ll love Song of Songs I’m sure but those in despair will love it too after spending time with The Teacher and Job. My study has started with one of my favorite teachers, Peter Kreeft. He’s written a mad number of books and is a philosopher teaching at Boston College. He has written Three Philosophies of Life which see Ecc. as life as vanity, Job as life as suffering, and Song of Songs as life as love. This book along with other commentaries and the books themselves are opening up the ways of life, the ways of man, and the ways of God to me more at the moment.
…
Speaking of Peter Kreeft I also recommend his podcast to you. Just look up Peter Kreeft in podcasts and you should see it. Each episode is a lecture him giving somewhere, usually a university, followed by a question and answer time. He’s a Tolkien and C.S. Lewis fanatic and is always teaching about their ideas and such, along with ideas on God and philosophy. He is a hard out Catholic no doubt, so if you are squirmish around hearing this or that that you don’t agree with then this might not be for you, but I’d not turn away an excellent teacher just because you disagree with a few things. I do disagree with him on some things but since discovering Kreeft I am a more rounded Christian for it and I know the Lord more richly than I did before.
…
Another podcast worth checking out if you are into Tolkien is “The Tolkien Professor”. If you love Lord of the Rings and Tolkien especially, this rules. Something about hearing academic lectures on Tolkien just makes me happy. I feel full on dorkish and love every minute of it.
…
Things I’ve recently read or watched…
Book: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
After being engulfed in the Lord of the Rings for the past few years it was very nice to return to where it all began. I love The Hobbit most of all and reading it again I realized how fun and childish it is. I could go on but it’s The Hobbit, you are either down or not.
Film: The War by Ken Burns
For those of you that are PBS watchers this will sound familiar. For a good while it showed parts of this documentary every night. It’s a beast at 15 hours long. And while I don’t doubt that some people could watch 15 hours of Lost straight I’d find it hard to believe that one could watch this in single setting. This is about the most brutal documentary I’ve ever watched. It focuses on four towns in four different states and how each of them and their citizens were during World War II. Many of us already know the facts of WWII as we are taught this stuff all throughout school, but I didn’t care much for a lot of what I learned during school because I don’t think I cared to learn much until the day I graduated. And facts (like soldiers going into battles expecting themselves or 8 of their 10 comrades to die) only go so far but to hear and see the stories of these soldiers as they cry some 60 years later bring home the reality of all the death, all the tragedy, all the questions. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and has actually given me nightmares during and since watching it. I say watch it because one won’t view veterans the same, the idea of free will quite the same, good versus evil, God, America, etc. I’m a big proponent of thinking about things and such a film will produce many thoughts, good, bad, and confusing.
Film: The Horse Whisperer
I didn’t expect this to be so girly, but I should have known better. I did dig the Montana scenery though.
TV: Lost
After years of being adamantly against watching such a grown up soap opera where the writers didn’t even know what was going on, I caved. I’m hooked. The writing is killer and the characters fascinating. It’s doing a genius job of showing how everyone is a walking storybook, full of joy and pain and secrets. I didn’t expect to find such grace and forgiveness here. I am nearly halfway through season two. Yesterday I dreamed that Hurley worked at Wal Mart and was selling me two televisions. “Uh, dude, we don’t have that one in stock I have to special order it for you.”
…
So I was I was typing this I forgot I had eggs boiling. The water evaporated and they just exploded.
Sincerely,
Bradley
…
I’ve also started a study of Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Songs. I never really understood Ecclesiastes and I can already see clearer with just a bit of effort. If you are maybe happy go lucky at the moment then I don’t know that the first of the two books will speak to you as much as those that are a bit in the trenches, or a bit more in despair, or a bit more confused. You’ll love Song of Songs I’m sure but those in despair will love it too after spending time with The Teacher and Job. My study has started with one of my favorite teachers, Peter Kreeft. He’s written a mad number of books and is a philosopher teaching at Boston College. He has written Three Philosophies of Life which see Ecc. as life as vanity, Job as life as suffering, and Song of Songs as life as love. This book along with other commentaries and the books themselves are opening up the ways of life, the ways of man, and the ways of God to me more at the moment.
…
Speaking of Peter Kreeft I also recommend his podcast to you. Just look up Peter Kreeft in podcasts and you should see it. Each episode is a lecture him giving somewhere, usually a university, followed by a question and answer time. He’s a Tolkien and C.S. Lewis fanatic and is always teaching about their ideas and such, along with ideas on God and philosophy. He is a hard out Catholic no doubt, so if you are squirmish around hearing this or that that you don’t agree with then this might not be for you, but I’d not turn away an excellent teacher just because you disagree with a few things. I do disagree with him on some things but since discovering Kreeft I am a more rounded Christian for it and I know the Lord more richly than I did before.
…
Another podcast worth checking out if you are into Tolkien is “The Tolkien Professor”. If you love Lord of the Rings and Tolkien especially, this rules. Something about hearing academic lectures on Tolkien just makes me happy. I feel full on dorkish and love every minute of it.
…
Things I’ve recently read or watched…
Book: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
After being engulfed in the Lord of the Rings for the past few years it was very nice to return to where it all began. I love The Hobbit most of all and reading it again I realized how fun and childish it is. I could go on but it’s The Hobbit, you are either down or not.
Film: The War by Ken Burns
For those of you that are PBS watchers this will sound familiar. For a good while it showed parts of this documentary every night. It’s a beast at 15 hours long. And while I don’t doubt that some people could watch 15 hours of Lost straight I’d find it hard to believe that one could watch this in single setting. This is about the most brutal documentary I’ve ever watched. It focuses on four towns in four different states and how each of them and their citizens were during World War II. Many of us already know the facts of WWII as we are taught this stuff all throughout school, but I didn’t care much for a lot of what I learned during school because I don’t think I cared to learn much until the day I graduated. And facts (like soldiers going into battles expecting themselves or 8 of their 10 comrades to die) only go so far but to hear and see the stories of these soldiers as they cry some 60 years later bring home the reality of all the death, all the tragedy, all the questions. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and has actually given me nightmares during and since watching it. I say watch it because one won’t view veterans the same, the idea of free will quite the same, good versus evil, God, America, etc. I’m a big proponent of thinking about things and such a film will produce many thoughts, good, bad, and confusing.
Film: The Horse Whisperer
I didn’t expect this to be so girly, but I should have known better. I did dig the Montana scenery though.
TV: Lost
After years of being adamantly against watching such a grown up soap opera where the writers didn’t even know what was going on, I caved. I’m hooked. The writing is killer and the characters fascinating. It’s doing a genius job of showing how everyone is a walking storybook, full of joy and pain and secrets. I didn’t expect to find such grace and forgiveness here. I am nearly halfway through season two. Yesterday I dreamed that Hurley worked at Wal Mart and was selling me two televisions. “Uh, dude, we don’t have that one in stock I have to special order it for you.”
…
So I was I was typing this I forgot I had eggs boiling. The water evaporated and they just exploded.
Sincerely,
Bradley
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
You?
Greetings from a truckstop outside of Nashville.
My reading the past couple weeks has been lessened to practically nothing as I've been focusing on recording my newest record. Soooooo...tell me what you guys have been reading. Let's share.
Sincerely,
Bradley
My reading the past couple weeks has been lessened to practically nothing as I've been focusing on recording my newest record. Soooooo...tell me what you guys have been reading. Let's share.
Sincerely,
Bradley
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
I don't read, I ride horses
Hey you guys! (say it like the goonies)
So I didn't read nearly what I expected to while in New Zealand. Instead I took up the practice of wine and cheese in the late afternoon, cups of tea whenever just because, learned to read music, rode horses across a sheep farm, watched it rain, talked jesus and politics, and wrote stuff. It was lovely though not at all what I expected but that's the way life goes.
I am home now and reading like a rabid man only my reading has taken another drastic turn. You see, while in the land of the long white cloud I got inspired to write a book, and I'm in full on research mode at this moment and for months to come. I'll post more about it very shortly as I will be needing your help in more ways than one to complete this task of words and ideas on paper!
...
In the meantime, try to find the children's book Frederick about the little four mice, in particular the one mouse Frederick. While all the other mice are working and storing up for winter, Frederick is seen as the lazy mouse but in fact he has a very important purpose that will come to light once the hardships of winter sit in. It has inspired me in many ways and I hope it does you as well.
Until then,
Bradley
So I didn't read nearly what I expected to while in New Zealand. Instead I took up the practice of wine and cheese in the late afternoon, cups of tea whenever just because, learned to read music, rode horses across a sheep farm, watched it rain, talked jesus and politics, and wrote stuff. It was lovely though not at all what I expected but that's the way life goes.
I am home now and reading like a rabid man only my reading has taken another drastic turn. You see, while in the land of the long white cloud I got inspired to write a book, and I'm in full on research mode at this moment and for months to come. I'll post more about it very shortly as I will be needing your help in more ways than one to complete this task of words and ideas on paper!
...
In the meantime, try to find the children's book Frederick about the little four mice, in particular the one mouse Frederick. While all the other mice are working and storing up for winter, Frederick is seen as the lazy mouse but in fact he has a very important purpose that will come to light once the hardships of winter sit in. It has inspired me in many ways and I hope it does you as well.
Until then,
Bradley
Friday, January 15, 2010
New Zealand reading list/ January selections
Greetings.
So i'm in new zealand on tour now and I've brought a stack of books to read through hopefully at some point or another and they are as follows:
Fiction:
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
Clock Without Hands: A Novel by Carson McCullers
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Nonfiction:
Mother Theresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta edited and with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C.
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief by Francis Collins
Jesus: Made in America: A Cultural History From the Puritans to the Passion of the Christ by Stephen J. Nichols
The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found by Frederich Buechner
The Genesee Diary: Report From a Trappist Monastery by Henri Nouwen
Driving and reading in New Zealand is about impossible as the roads are quite curvy and bumpy as well, so I've not been able to read and drive. I've actually been carsick the entire week but not enough to be "sick" but just enough to be "this sucks".
...
There has been a major shift in my reading since starting this blog, and that is a new found love of fiction. I love it now and cannot wait to study the classics and such. While reading Graham Greene's novel above my stomach literally hurt from the beauty I was taking in. I couldn't understand why my friend recommended it to me and why William Faulkner would call it "the most moving novel of my time in any language" until the halfway point at which I was assaulted with all I can describe as beauty. As a writer myself it's what I hope to give to others but man, the way some of the writers write all I can do is set a book down and thank God for creativity and beauty. I couldn't read anything the day after as I was still reeling from what I had just read then i quickly finished The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers, who is now my favorite writer, and again have yet been able to start another fiction book until I recover from the story I was just living inside. All this to say I am like a child at an amusement park, looking forward to every book, every story, that will come well recommended.
...
To be honest I've yet to read December's selection of The Catcher in the Rye as my library never had it in stock and I don't want to buy it. So forgive me but I will read it when I return. For January, I recommend two books to you, one fiction and one nonfiction.
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Yes, it's about an affair and at first like I said I was bummed and then something in the story happened that blew my mind. And it went from one thing to another, one place to another. To sum up the ideas it's about the relationship between love and hate, love and jealousy, and the searching for the love of god (or rejection of the love of god). So it gives you ideas of romantic love and then explores the relationship of hating and loving god, bitterness, rejection, etc. This book has cemented the idea for me that classic fiction writers were just as consumed with the idea of God than any other idea. Many books I am encountering are exploring Him in one way or another, and this has really surprised me.
Mother Theresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta edited and with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C
If this book were to be weighed on content it would outweigh easily all of the above books mentioned. This book is still so powerful, moving, confusing, inspiring, enlightening, that I can't yet express anything of it to you. For now suffice it to say that these are Mother Theresa's private writings to her superiors, and what they reveal is nothing that anyone thought her to think and feel. A woman convinced of the love of Jesus and a life dedicated to Him, tormented by what she sees as her separation from His company.
Until then,
Bradley
So i'm in new zealand on tour now and I've brought a stack of books to read through hopefully at some point or another and they are as follows:
Fiction:
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
Clock Without Hands: A Novel by Carson McCullers
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Nonfiction:
Mother Theresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta edited and with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C.
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief by Francis Collins
Jesus: Made in America: A Cultural History From the Puritans to the Passion of the Christ by Stephen J. Nichols
The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found by Frederich Buechner
The Genesee Diary: Report From a Trappist Monastery by Henri Nouwen
Driving and reading in New Zealand is about impossible as the roads are quite curvy and bumpy as well, so I've not been able to read and drive. I've actually been carsick the entire week but not enough to be "sick" but just enough to be "this sucks".
...
There has been a major shift in my reading since starting this blog, and that is a new found love of fiction. I love it now and cannot wait to study the classics and such. While reading Graham Greene's novel above my stomach literally hurt from the beauty I was taking in. I couldn't understand why my friend recommended it to me and why William Faulkner would call it "the most moving novel of my time in any language" until the halfway point at which I was assaulted with all I can describe as beauty. As a writer myself it's what I hope to give to others but man, the way some of the writers write all I can do is set a book down and thank God for creativity and beauty. I couldn't read anything the day after as I was still reeling from what I had just read then i quickly finished The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers, who is now my favorite writer, and again have yet been able to start another fiction book until I recover from the story I was just living inside. All this to say I am like a child at an amusement park, looking forward to every book, every story, that will come well recommended.
...
To be honest I've yet to read December's selection of The Catcher in the Rye as my library never had it in stock and I don't want to buy it. So forgive me but I will read it when I return. For January, I recommend two books to you, one fiction and one nonfiction.
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Yes, it's about an affair and at first like I said I was bummed and then something in the story happened that blew my mind. And it went from one thing to another, one place to another. To sum up the ideas it's about the relationship between love and hate, love and jealousy, and the searching for the love of god (or rejection of the love of god). So it gives you ideas of romantic love and then explores the relationship of hating and loving god, bitterness, rejection, etc. This book has cemented the idea for me that classic fiction writers were just as consumed with the idea of God than any other idea. Many books I am encountering are exploring Him in one way or another, and this has really surprised me.
Mother Theresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta edited and with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C
If this book were to be weighed on content it would outweigh easily all of the above books mentioned. This book is still so powerful, moving, confusing, inspiring, enlightening, that I can't yet express anything of it to you. For now suffice it to say that these are Mother Theresa's private writings to her superiors, and what they reveal is nothing that anyone thought her to think and feel. A woman convinced of the love of Jesus and a life dedicated to Him, tormented by what she sees as her separation from His company.
Until then,
Bradley
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Frederick Buechner, Henri Nouwen
First, a couple books I bought last week at a lovely used bookstore in Denton, Texas called “Recycled Books”. It was a massive gem of a bookstore and I enjoyed browsing and then taking a brief walk around the downtown Denton square where I had a nice lunch in an old fashioned soda shop that had it’s own version of a presidential vote where patrons voted using straws! (I read about it on the wall). Two books I bought of note for a nice price (I always buy used books if possible, new books are just too pricey for me and used books in great condition are easy to find. And of course the library has them for free).
The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found by Frederick Buechner
The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days by Frederick Buechner
I have read both of them at one point in the last 5 or so years and look forward to reading them again. Do I remember anything about them? No, not really. Strangely, that isn’t why I like to read Buechner. He in my opinion is more of a writer’s writer than anything. That is to say that he is an absolutely beautiful writer, a master of words yet very simple. Yet I don’t read his books because I like to read, rather I like the way Buechner makes me feel. Though he does say many beautiful and insightful things throughout his writing, I love more taking in his thoughts and being soothed by them, like listening to rain while on the front porch. Like a song. Like a walk in the hoods. He is not heavy, yet he is not light. He is a shoe that feels good on my feet. He is not dramatic. He is not driven by plot. He is a storyteller, a thinker. While some writers "are ____", he simply "is".
…
Speaking of the way certain writers make me feel, Henri J.M. Nouwen is another such writer (of course, along with Thomas Merton as well). Nouwen was a Roman Catholic Dutch priest, educator, writer, and later in life known for living with handicapped people (I forget where, I believe the community was known as L’Arch or something like that). He wore his heart on his sleeve at all times, he wrote profusely about the contemplative life and his desire for God but his constant shortcomings. The Past couple days I have again turned to him my old friend. I am reading The Genesee Diary: Report From a Trappist Monastery for the first time, I have a beautiful hardback edition from the 1970’s and I love the cover and feel of the book in my hands, to my eyes. He has many published journals and this is one of them.
Nouwen is again a writer that I just like to consume and not necessarily think all that much about. Not for his lack of wisdom and insights, which are beautiful and profound, but he is comforting in the way he writes and I truly find myself in his writings. I relate to him. And now, for example, when I feel I have some burdensome decisions to make in my life, I find myself turning to him to calm me down a bit. He encourages me to walk with him in his attempt at stripping away his fears and concerns to be in the presence of God.
If I could say one of my favorite books of all time and by favorite I mean most impacting, and by most impacting I mean most life changing, I would suggest his Return of the Prodigal Son book. But books are like art, and art is subject to the one beholding it. Hence, what Nouwen is for me he may not be for you, especially if you don’t find yourself the contemplative type. And if you don’t know what the contemplative type is then you either are not one or just haven’t heard it called such. I would define one as this: one who is more likely to be content while alone and fancies the thinking of things, particularly thoughts on God. Some of us are this way, and some of us are not. While I think Nouwen, along with Thomas Merton, have many things to teach all of us, they might have more to teach us the contemplative type. (p.s. both are heavily Catholic, one being a priest and another being a monk. This does not frighten me and I don’t think the reading of them will frighten you that are afraid of Catholic theology either. You just have to get a bit used to hearing about some things and then on you go, you are used to it and are prepared to be taught things of God that all believers should be able to identify with).
…
I don’t want to weigh you down anymore at the moment as I went on writing more than I intended and have not even got to my recent book review/suggestion! So I’ll wait a bit to post it. It being The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs.
…
As for what book to read together, I know December is nearly over now but let’s go ahead and say the book for December is by apparent popular demand in the comments Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I bought and read three fourths of this book years ago after watching Conspiracy Theory starring Mel Gibson but couldn’t finish it (the book) because I found it boring but that was many years ago and I have changed so I’ll give it a go again. It’s a classic coming of age novel, (whatever that means) and it’s plenty full of swear words to warn some of you. So let’s say read that now and in January we will pick another but more promptly. Sound good everybody?
Cheers!
Bradley
The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found by Frederick Buechner
The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days by Frederick Buechner
I have read both of them at one point in the last 5 or so years and look forward to reading them again. Do I remember anything about them? No, not really. Strangely, that isn’t why I like to read Buechner. He in my opinion is more of a writer’s writer than anything. That is to say that he is an absolutely beautiful writer, a master of words yet very simple. Yet I don’t read his books because I like to read, rather I like the way Buechner makes me feel. Though he does say many beautiful and insightful things throughout his writing, I love more taking in his thoughts and being soothed by them, like listening to rain while on the front porch. Like a song. Like a walk in the hoods. He is not heavy, yet he is not light. He is a shoe that feels good on my feet. He is not dramatic. He is not driven by plot. He is a storyteller, a thinker. While some writers "are ____", he simply "is".
…
Speaking of the way certain writers make me feel, Henri J.M. Nouwen is another such writer (of course, along with Thomas Merton as well). Nouwen was a Roman Catholic Dutch priest, educator, writer, and later in life known for living with handicapped people (I forget where, I believe the community was known as L’Arch or something like that). He wore his heart on his sleeve at all times, he wrote profusely about the contemplative life and his desire for God but his constant shortcomings. The Past couple days I have again turned to him my old friend. I am reading The Genesee Diary: Report From a Trappist Monastery for the first time, I have a beautiful hardback edition from the 1970’s and I love the cover and feel of the book in my hands, to my eyes. He has many published journals and this is one of them.
Nouwen is again a writer that I just like to consume and not necessarily think all that much about. Not for his lack of wisdom and insights, which are beautiful and profound, but he is comforting in the way he writes and I truly find myself in his writings. I relate to him. And now, for example, when I feel I have some burdensome decisions to make in my life, I find myself turning to him to calm me down a bit. He encourages me to walk with him in his attempt at stripping away his fears and concerns to be in the presence of God.
If I could say one of my favorite books of all time and by favorite I mean most impacting, and by most impacting I mean most life changing, I would suggest his Return of the Prodigal Son book. But books are like art, and art is subject to the one beholding it. Hence, what Nouwen is for me he may not be for you, especially if you don’t find yourself the contemplative type. And if you don’t know what the contemplative type is then you either are not one or just haven’t heard it called such. I would define one as this: one who is more likely to be content while alone and fancies the thinking of things, particularly thoughts on God. Some of us are this way, and some of us are not. While I think Nouwen, along with Thomas Merton, have many things to teach all of us, they might have more to teach us the contemplative type. (p.s. both are heavily Catholic, one being a priest and another being a monk. This does not frighten me and I don’t think the reading of them will frighten you that are afraid of Catholic theology either. You just have to get a bit used to hearing about some things and then on you go, you are used to it and are prepared to be taught things of God that all believers should be able to identify with).
…
I don’t want to weigh you down anymore at the moment as I went on writing more than I intended and have not even got to my recent book review/suggestion! So I’ll wait a bit to post it. It being The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs.
…
As for what book to read together, I know December is nearly over now but let’s go ahead and say the book for December is by apparent popular demand in the comments Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I bought and read three fourths of this book years ago after watching Conspiracy Theory starring Mel Gibson but couldn’t finish it (the book) because I found it boring but that was many years ago and I have changed so I’ll give it a go again. It’s a classic coming of age novel, (whatever that means) and it’s plenty full of swear words to warn some of you. So let’s say read that now and in January we will pick another but more promptly. Sound good everybody?
Cheers!
Bradley
Monday, November 30, 2009
Divine Hours / Guns, Germs, and Steel
Apologies already on lack of updates. Thanksgiving, no internet, etc. etc.
Couple points to clarify about the last post…
One: I gave fiction a bit of a bad rap but that wasn’t my intent so let the reader know a few things. By fiction let me change that to “literature”. I’m no expert but there seems to be a difference. For example, one of my favorite books of all time is a work of fiction, The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo, but I would not consider that literature. But I would definitely consider East of Eden by John Steinbeck or The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers to be literature. Great works of literature, in fact, and if the reader knows of other books as moving as these let’s read them!
Two: I didn’t mean to give the impression that I only read religious books. That just happens to be what I most often read. I will read fiction, or literature, or other kinds of writing about other kinds of things (I just don’t like funny books, except A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson which I happened to unexpectedly find funny and enjoyable).
And now on to things…
…
The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle (sorta)
Nonfiction/Religious/Prayer. Image Books, c. 2000, 661 pages
It’s appropriate I think that I should first of all mention a book that I try to read three times a day, though it’s not really a book in the traditional sense. And it certainly hasn’t been written by Phyllis Tickle, for she is more the organizer and nothing else, save a nice introduction to the daily offices. This book is basically a very organized, easy to use Book of Common Prayer, which are prayers prayed by monks and lay people for hundreds of years and millions of people even today. I have long been interested in participating in the written prayers of the Catholic Church but never really knew where to turn. I went to bookstores and couldn’t figure out how to read the books they had there so gave up until a friend recommended this. And this is not just for Catholics or Anglicans or Episcopalian or whatever denomination, it’s for any believer in Christ. There are no references to anything considered heretical or over the top to noncatholics. It’s simply scripture reading, usually a reading from either the OT or NT, along with various verses of the Psalms. The psalms of course are to be prayed rather than read. Sometimes there would be a hymn to read as well. Always the Lords Prayer, in the evening The Gloria, and then two usually absolutely beautiful prayers of the church passed down for years. There are three times a day to read them: morning, afternoon, evening, and if you are really into it they have the night offices as well which are to be done before going to sleep.
I love this. I love that I am guided in my prayers to get, in a sense, outside of my own self and desires and prayers all to often focused on myself instead of the Lord. I love the idea of feeling a part of a community of believers everyday, all over the world, praying the same prayers each day. I love the structure and rhythm it brings to my life. I love the beautiful prayers of fellow believers. I love how it chooses versus of the Bible that show how beautifully written and expressive scripture is. Above all, I love how it is a reminder each day to bring my attention for at least just a moment to the one who is the maker of the heavens and the earth. Through this discipline I find myself closer to our Lord, which is the purpose and function of all knowledge.
Here are two prayers from this morning’s reading:
The Prayer Appointed for the Week: Stir up you power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory now and for ever. Amen.
The Concluding Prayer of the Church: Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
Please note that if you wish to buy this that there are three books available, one for autumn and wintertime, one for spring, and one for summer. These follow an actual calendar so if you are hoping to join in communion with fellow believers you’ll have to make sure you are on the same day as everyone else!
…
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
Nonfiction/History/Anthropology. Norton Publishing, c.1999, 480 pages
I saw this book for a couple years and wanted to read it based solely on it’s title, cover, and the fact that it won a Pulitzer Prize. I have read it on and off over the past few months and yet to finish it, though I came across the dvd version of it put together by National Geographic and watched it entirely. (so I recommend watching the documentary at least if you’ve not the want to read the 480 page book)Diamond asks a question that I honestly thought to never ask and wouldn’t be surprised if most others haven’t either but now that he has raised the question I am like “Oh, wow, I never thought to ask that. Fascinating. What’s the answer?” Well, first his question. Why have white people taken over dark skinned people and not the other way around? Seriously, I never put two and two together but it was Europeans (which includes Spanish peoples) that conquered and conquered. Europeans conquered the New World. Europeans took over Africans. Europeans defeated islanders and aboriginal Australians. Basically about nowhere were black people ruling over white people.
Apparently the answer before was one of genetic superiority or something racist of that nature but Diamond absolutely rejects that notion. In his lifelong travels he found that genius and ingenuity was in all people groups, for no one people group had all the smarts and the others stupid. What he concluded, then, was simply, or not so simply, geography. He argues that certain civilizations had more things available to them to produce technologies that others could not, from crops to domesticating animals and other natural resources. So it seems natural that a civilization that can grow more crops, or has access to more food with better life sustaining features like protein, would be less consumed with just finding food to survive. Hunter gather societies spent most of their days looking for food, which meant they had less time for other things. Everyone had to find food so no one could spend all their time trying to be a blacksmith (if such materials were even available to them). I found this fascinating. Just having a pig changed a civilization for farming and food, imagine what chickens and pigs and cows could do! Africans couldn’t use a Zebra for plowing but Europeans could use horses, which gave them an advantage. And on and on Diamond goes on to make his case.
One thing I found enlightening was just why European diseases decimating indigenous people. We know that a majority of Native Americans were killed off not by guns and war, but by the white mans diseases. Well why wasn’t the white man dying off from the diseases it carried? Why did the diseases kill so many natives? Obviously, the natives didn’t have immunity to the diseases as it’s carriers did, but why did Europeans even have immunity? The answer lies in animals.
Apparently the major diseases, small pox, etc., had their origins in animals. And over thousands of years of being exposed to domesticated animals (remember Native Americans didn’t have the domesticated animals like their conquerors did) and all of their germs, whites gradually built up a resistance to it. The humans that didn’t died while the ones that did survived and kept making babies, which made a stronger human population more resistant to the deadly diseases. So basically, because of the available resources (in this case, domesticated animals) whites had a superior advantage and the dark skinned peoples of north and south Americas were nearly helpless against their germs.
Not everyone accepts Diamond's theory and I’m not well versed enough in this stuff to offer any worthy critique but it seems to make sense to me. For the lover of history, anthropology, and even agriculture, I recommend a view or a read of Guns, Germs, and Steel. I will note, though, on the documentary by the second disc I never wanted to hear those three words together again as they drug that phrase to the ground over and over again. Guns, germs, and steel. Guns, germs, and steel. Guns, germs, and stop it already.
…
It’s almost December and I thought we’d all read the same book if you are interested. Leave some book titles and a very brief synopsis, I’ll sort, then post a few for us to vote on reading.
…
This morning I read something enlightening and will be for some of you as well, in particular those of you that have a desire to commune with God. It’s from a book The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation by Brad H. Young. (I am not yet endorsing the book, just saying I’m reading it) In it he quotes Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel as saying “The Greeks learned in order to comprehend. The Hebrews learned in order to revere.” Powerful stuff. This too, is why I learn. And with the apostle Paul I want everything I do to be done for the glory of God. So I encourage you, if you are actively seeking the Lord, to read for the same reasons.
Couple points to clarify about the last post…
One: I gave fiction a bit of a bad rap but that wasn’t my intent so let the reader know a few things. By fiction let me change that to “literature”. I’m no expert but there seems to be a difference. For example, one of my favorite books of all time is a work of fiction, The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo, but I would not consider that literature. But I would definitely consider East of Eden by John Steinbeck or The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers to be literature. Great works of literature, in fact, and if the reader knows of other books as moving as these let’s read them!
Two: I didn’t mean to give the impression that I only read religious books. That just happens to be what I most often read. I will read fiction, or literature, or other kinds of writing about other kinds of things (I just don’t like funny books, except A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson which I happened to unexpectedly find funny and enjoyable).
And now on to things…
…
The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle (sorta)
Nonfiction/Religious/Prayer. Image Books, c. 2000, 661 pages
It’s appropriate I think that I should first of all mention a book that I try to read three times a day, though it’s not really a book in the traditional sense. And it certainly hasn’t been written by Phyllis Tickle, for she is more the organizer and nothing else, save a nice introduction to the daily offices. This book is basically a very organized, easy to use Book of Common Prayer, which are prayers prayed by monks and lay people for hundreds of years and millions of people even today. I have long been interested in participating in the written prayers of the Catholic Church but never really knew where to turn. I went to bookstores and couldn’t figure out how to read the books they had there so gave up until a friend recommended this. And this is not just for Catholics or Anglicans or Episcopalian or whatever denomination, it’s for any believer in Christ. There are no references to anything considered heretical or over the top to noncatholics. It’s simply scripture reading, usually a reading from either the OT or NT, along with various verses of the Psalms. The psalms of course are to be prayed rather than read. Sometimes there would be a hymn to read as well. Always the Lords Prayer, in the evening The Gloria, and then two usually absolutely beautiful prayers of the church passed down for years. There are three times a day to read them: morning, afternoon, evening, and if you are really into it they have the night offices as well which are to be done before going to sleep.
I love this. I love that I am guided in my prayers to get, in a sense, outside of my own self and desires and prayers all to often focused on myself instead of the Lord. I love the idea of feeling a part of a community of believers everyday, all over the world, praying the same prayers each day. I love the structure and rhythm it brings to my life. I love the beautiful prayers of fellow believers. I love how it chooses versus of the Bible that show how beautifully written and expressive scripture is. Above all, I love how it is a reminder each day to bring my attention for at least just a moment to the one who is the maker of the heavens and the earth. Through this discipline I find myself closer to our Lord, which is the purpose and function of all knowledge.
Here are two prayers from this morning’s reading:
The Prayer Appointed for the Week: Stir up you power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory now and for ever. Amen.
The Concluding Prayer of the Church: Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
Please note that if you wish to buy this that there are three books available, one for autumn and wintertime, one for spring, and one for summer. These follow an actual calendar so if you are hoping to join in communion with fellow believers you’ll have to make sure you are on the same day as everyone else!
…
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
Nonfiction/History/Anthropology. Norton Publishing, c.1999, 480 pages
I saw this book for a couple years and wanted to read it based solely on it’s title, cover, and the fact that it won a Pulitzer Prize. I have read it on and off over the past few months and yet to finish it, though I came across the dvd version of it put together by National Geographic and watched it entirely. (so I recommend watching the documentary at least if you’ve not the want to read the 480 page book)Diamond asks a question that I honestly thought to never ask and wouldn’t be surprised if most others haven’t either but now that he has raised the question I am like “Oh, wow, I never thought to ask that. Fascinating. What’s the answer?” Well, first his question. Why have white people taken over dark skinned people and not the other way around? Seriously, I never put two and two together but it was Europeans (which includes Spanish peoples) that conquered and conquered. Europeans conquered the New World. Europeans took over Africans. Europeans defeated islanders and aboriginal Australians. Basically about nowhere were black people ruling over white people.
Apparently the answer before was one of genetic superiority or something racist of that nature but Diamond absolutely rejects that notion. In his lifelong travels he found that genius and ingenuity was in all people groups, for no one people group had all the smarts and the others stupid. What he concluded, then, was simply, or not so simply, geography. He argues that certain civilizations had more things available to them to produce technologies that others could not, from crops to domesticating animals and other natural resources. So it seems natural that a civilization that can grow more crops, or has access to more food with better life sustaining features like protein, would be less consumed with just finding food to survive. Hunter gather societies spent most of their days looking for food, which meant they had less time for other things. Everyone had to find food so no one could spend all their time trying to be a blacksmith (if such materials were even available to them). I found this fascinating. Just having a pig changed a civilization for farming and food, imagine what chickens and pigs and cows could do! Africans couldn’t use a Zebra for plowing but Europeans could use horses, which gave them an advantage. And on and on Diamond goes on to make his case.
One thing I found enlightening was just why European diseases decimating indigenous people. We know that a majority of Native Americans were killed off not by guns and war, but by the white mans diseases. Well why wasn’t the white man dying off from the diseases it carried? Why did the diseases kill so many natives? Obviously, the natives didn’t have immunity to the diseases as it’s carriers did, but why did Europeans even have immunity? The answer lies in animals.
Apparently the major diseases, small pox, etc., had their origins in animals. And over thousands of years of being exposed to domesticated animals (remember Native Americans didn’t have the domesticated animals like their conquerors did) and all of their germs, whites gradually built up a resistance to it. The humans that didn’t died while the ones that did survived and kept making babies, which made a stronger human population more resistant to the deadly diseases. So basically, because of the available resources (in this case, domesticated animals) whites had a superior advantage and the dark skinned peoples of north and south Americas were nearly helpless against their germs.
Not everyone accepts Diamond's theory and I’m not well versed enough in this stuff to offer any worthy critique but it seems to make sense to me. For the lover of history, anthropology, and even agriculture, I recommend a view or a read of Guns, Germs, and Steel. I will note, though, on the documentary by the second disc I never wanted to hear those three words together again as they drug that phrase to the ground over and over again. Guns, germs, and steel. Guns, germs, and steel. Guns, germs, and stop it already.
…
It’s almost December and I thought we’d all read the same book if you are interested. Leave some book titles and a very brief synopsis, I’ll sort, then post a few for us to vote on reading.
…
This morning I read something enlightening and will be for some of you as well, in particular those of you that have a desire to commune with God. It’s from a book The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation by Brad H. Young. (I am not yet endorsing the book, just saying I’m reading it) In it he quotes Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel as saying “The Greeks learned in order to comprehend. The Hebrews learned in order to revere.” Powerful stuff. This too, is why I learn. And with the apostle Paul I want everything I do to be done for the glory of God. So I encourage you, if you are actively seeking the Lord, to read for the same reasons.
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