2011 Book List, part one

2011 Book List

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and the Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson. I ordered all three of these books on Amazon at once—why? Because I had heard so much about them, and I thought the name of the first book was very cool. I read the first one and didn’t like it much, and didn’t plan on reading the others. Then, found myself with nothing to read (my stacks and stacks of books must have been covered with clothes) and so I started the second one--also, a good friend had read the books, and she seemed to think they were pretty good--plus I had spent all that money buying them! Turns out the second and third were pretty good. Still I would not recommend these books. Cool titles though. I have not seen the movie.

The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith. I got this in a garage sale for $1 and (again) I have friends who read these, so I gave it a shot. Some interesting writing, some interesting plot. But not enough to earn a recommendation from me.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Picked this up also at a garage sale. Saw it right after hearing an interview with, I think, Bill Clinton, who said he had read it several times and was currently rereading it. So I started it and realized I had read it years and years ago, but went ahead and read it again. An interesting tale about faith, listening, and the soul of the world. I would recommend it. Here are a few quotes.

All things are the manifestation of one thing only.

They were men who had dedicated their entire lives to the purification of metals in their laboratories; they believed that, if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be the Soul of the World

I learned that the world has a soul, and that whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of things. I learned that many alchemists realized their Personal Legends, and wound up discovering the Soul of the World, the Philosopher’s Stone, and the Elixir of Life.

But, above all, I learned that these things are all so simple that they could be written on the surface of an emerald.

If I have to fight, it will be just as good a day to die as any other.

Because people become fascinated with pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the Language of the World.

The Soul of the World can hear the screams of battle. No one fails to suffer the consequences of everything under the sun.

Listening for the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality by J. Philip Newell. I bought this book from Amazon—no, I don’t get all my books at garage sales. The title of the book is worth the price—so beautiful. (It was inspired by the picture of John laying his head against Jesus at the Last Supper.) This book is about, sort of, the conflict of philosophies between Pelagius and Augustine. (Augustine won the day obviously.) Pelagius was more of a spiritualist, whatever that is, believed that all God’s creations were worthy of our love. Even believed in teaching women how to read scripture—a shocking and sinful act!  Here’s a quote from Pelagius:

You will realize that doctrines are inventions of the human mind, as it tries to penetrate the mystery of God. You will realize that Scripture itself is the work of human minds, recording the example and teaching of Jesus. Thus it is not what you believe that matters; it is how you respond with your heart and your actions. It is not believing in Christ that matters; it is becoming like him.

I know, radical stuff. More quotes from the book:

Augustine believed that from conception and birth we lack the image of God until it is restored in the sacrament of baptism, and that conception involves us in the sinfulness of nature, sexual intercourse being associated with lustful desire. The perspective conveyed by Pelagius, on the other hand, is that to look into the face of a newborn is to look at the image of God; he maintained that creation is essentially good and that the sexual dimension of procreation is God-given. The emphasis that would increasingly be developed in the Celtic tradition was that in the birth of a child God is giving birth to his image on earth.

The church becomes liberator rather than custodian of salvation.

This is a wonderful book for meditation, and only 100 pages.

I will continue my book list tomorrow.