Tolkien and the Great War: the Threshold of Middle Earth

This is an amazing book. I've never really read much about the First World War. Anyone who's so much as glanced at my non-fiction shelves or GoodReads stats will note a decided preponderance of works relating to the Second World War, but nothing on the First. Everything I know about the First World War is due to Sue Harsant, who taught me history in high school (and I shall never forget her complaining after an exam/test/assignment that we should not simply say Ferdinand, because she might think we were referring to Ferdinand the Bull who went traipsing through the daisies. Her very dry sense of humour delighted myself and Tiina Napoleon at the time).

Anyway, the point of that long aside was that this is the first work I've ever read about the First World War and so was my first glimpse into the horrors of trench warfare. I had an intellectual understanding that it was a horrific thing, but I didn't understand. I still don't, thankfully, but now I have a greater idea of what about it was so horrific. Of what it was like to be there, what happened to people on the ground. On the one hand it makes me glad for the 'advances' of mechanised warfare. At the same time, those same supposed advances terrify me. No longer does individual kill individual, now machine destroys machine and life from afar. I know they had machine guns and bombs and so on, but on the whole they could at least see who they were killing. The horror of war, and the facts of war - the facts being that you are killing individuals that are really no different from yourself - were up close and personal. They no longer are.

At the same time as this works as a general introduction (for me) to the First World War (because you can be sure I'm going to be looking for more on the subject now), it also works really well as a biographical work on Tolkien. Specifically with regard to the effect that his experiences in the war and in the Battle of the Somme particularly must have had on his writing. You cannot go through an experience of that sort without undergoing profound changes. There's a fair amount of speculation on the author's part because Tolkien was extremely reticent regarding those experiences. That speculation is backed up by fairly solid reasoning (in my completely uncritical opinion) and while I'm of the opinion that you can never know exactly how things influenced the creative process, you can work out a fair amount, especially when it's something as significant as this.

If you're interested in either the First World War or Tolkien, I'd recommend this.

Yoga for Pain Relief

This is a fantastic book. If you suffer from chronic pain and enjoy yoga you should read it. Probably, you should read it even if you don't enjoy yoga. I don't really have much else to say...

I will say, though, that it's harder than it seems to put the information into practice. I'm pretty good about doing my yoga, but when I'm sore I tend to skip classes and I don't really want to do yoga. I'd certainly be more inclined to do yoga at home than in a class at those times. The hard part is getting the brain to move past pain and into a place where you can do something about it. I really enjoy seeing the various variations on poses that can make it easier for someone that's hurting. The variety of props and the way they're used is a departure from normal yoga books.

In short: if you're suffering, read it.

A Return to Love

This book is based on A Course in Miracles. Given the essentially Christian culture in which the book was written, it takes a Christian viewpoint, but uses the usual Christian touchstones as symbols, so God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus, the resurrection and the crucifixion are common terms scattered throughout the book but their meaning is not the conventional Christian meaning – for example, God is used interchangeably with love, joy and the light.

The basic premise is that the ego has caused us to live in a world of illusions, caused by fear-based thinking. By focusing on God's will instead, the illusions disappear leaving only the perfection of love behind. In order for us to be able to see the world in this way, we need to pray to the Holy Spirit for miracles – these miracles are changes in the way that we perceive things and will enable us to see the core of perfect love inside every being. It will also enable us to enter situations from the basis of love, rather than fear. A variety of situations are covered, ranging from how to view your career and find total fulfilment in it to the illusions that ruin your relationship with your body, other individuals and people in general.

The Richest Man in Babylon

I got paid to read this book. I would never have read it otherwise and I think I might have preferred that. Do people really need to be told that the only way to accumulate money is to spend less than they earn? Really? Isn't that just plain old common sense? Along with things like taking advice only from people who are qualified to give it and so on. Essentially this is a book of common sense regarding the accumulation of money for people who don't have any common sense of their own.

The Tao of Pooh

I like the idea of Taoism. It seems like the kind of way I'd like to live my life. Reading the Tao Te Ching tends to frustrate me. This, however, is a beautifully simple explanation of what exactly Taoism is all about. I'd like to be able to talk on and on about how inspiring it is and so on, but really the simplest way to do that is this: read the book.

The Essence of Buddha: the Path to Enlightenment

A nice counter balance to all the Christianity I've been imbibing. Christianity fascinates me because I live in a Judeo-Christian culture. Of course, other religions and other ways of seeing the world interest me too, but they often seem comparably unintelligible because I simply don't have the cultural background that enables proper understanding.

Will one book make the difference? No. But it will help. This book is a succinct, clear account of what it means to be Buddhist. Most importantly (from my perspective anyway) it includes practical ways to go about putting Buddhism into practice in your own life.

This book seems very simplistic to me. Perhaps that's because my knowledge of Buddhism is limited. I have the idea that Buddhism is complex and cannot (and shouldn't) be explained so easily. This may just be a result of the Judeo-Christian culture in which I live, which has extraordinarily complicated relationships between the various 'churches', all of whom interpret the underlying message in a slightly different way. On the other hand, I heartily approve simplifying both message and language. We seem to have a desire for complicated things and making things more complicated than they need to be. This is anything but.

On the strength of this, I think it's safe to say that Buddhism as a religion is not for me. Buddhism as a philosophy maybe. And what's the difference between the two? Religion is about faith, belief and worship. Philosophy is a way of living. The Buddhist ideal of a daily meditation practice and self-reflection appeals to my contemplative nature. The rest of it not so much.

The Problem of Pain

This was not quite what I was expecting. Lewis made that clear in his introduction, so I was aware once I started to read that I was getting something else. I was expecting a treatise on methods of coping with pain - emotional, physical, acute, chronic - with some reference to Christianity as Lewis was a Christian and wrote from that standpoint.

This is a book that seeks to answer the question as to why pain exists, given the Christian notion of an all-powerful god that is goodness personified. As I'm not Christian (though if anyone were to persuade me, it would be Lewis) I had to suspend disbelief while reading this book. It is not possible to simply wiggle a little and make what Lewis says fit your worldview. One has to suspend disbelief, read the totality of what he says and then see if what he says makes sense with whatever it is that you believe.

His argument is interesting and it's certainly one that I've never before considered. I'm not even going to try to summarise what he says. Mostly because he says it so much better and more clearly than I ever could and partly because I'm still letting it settle into my mind and find its place there.

I can only recommend this to Christians, or people who wonder what a Christian argument explaining pain and suffering is. If you're not interested in that, this isn't the book for you.

The Experience of No-Self

Oh. Well. This is one of those books. I shall have to read it again, later, to glean more from it. I'm left with a profound sense of something that I can't explain. A peace and certainty that I rarely experience (though it's frequent at the end of a yoga class).

I don't agree with everything that Roberts says, mostly because she's a Christian (presumably Catholic, since Wikipedia tells me she used to be a Carmelite nun) and I am (mostly) atheist. She does not appear to be one of those rabid Christians that believe theirs is the only way, in fact she says a number of things that I imagine orthodox Christians (probably particularly if they're Catholic) would consider heresy. I do, however, consider myself contemplative, as she does, though not in the strict Christian tradition of contemplation. This book talks about (what appears to be) the final journey of the contemplative, using her Christian belief as an explanatory framework. Had I had her experience (and I'm, presumably, working on that as a contemplative) and written on it, I would have written the same basic things, but from an atheistic viewpoint.

Of course, I do wonder if I can be truly contemplative and an atheist at the same time. The fact is, I have no choice. I am an atheist. I've never come across a single religious thing that I can actually believe. I can pretend to believe, but only for a short time. The pretence consumes to much energy for me to keep it going. At the same time, I do yoga, I meditate I read all these religious texts. I'm searching for something to believe. I don't think I'll find it, but I will find myself (or my no-self) and the truth while I'm looking.

The reading of this book is an experience in and of itself. This is a book that should be read time and time again as one progresses through the various stages of life. I do not recommend it for anyone that isn't contemplative.

The Secret

Another book I was paid to read. I approached this one with reluctance and an immense amount of scepticism. This book is a treatise on positive thinking. It takes the common practice of affirmations to an extreme. There's not a whole lot I can disagree with here (if you think of happy things, you'll be happy, if you don't you won't), but then, there's not a whole lot to this.

At first glance, this doesn't seem so bad. But you need to consider the flipside of all this positive thinking. If anything bad or unpleasant happens to you, it's all your fault. You weren't thinking positively enough. If you are attacked and nearly killed, well you shouldn't have been so fearful. You attracted that attack. Got cancer? All the result of negative thinking. Been fired? You were too worried about losing your job. This is not only a treatise on positive thinking, it's a treatise on blaming the victim. Positive thinking is one thing, but one needs to understand that there are forces beyond an individual's control. Other people, for a start.

Tuesdays With Morrie

It has been forever! This is because I have been sick and huddled underneath the duvet reading piles of books. It was fun, although I really do prefer being either not sick or properly sick. I do not like any sort of general malaise characterised by an inability to use my brain.

This is not the sort of book I would normally choose for myself, I don't think. I went and got this one out of the library purely by chance. I'm doing a writing job for some woman who wants summaries of certain books. This was the first one on the list that I spotted, so I took it home with me and began reading and summarising it.

It's a sad story, yet heartwarming at the same time. It's also rather repetitive and badly organised, though that is part of it's charm. It makes me wish I'd met Morrie and glad that I'm nothing like Mitch, the author. It's certainly a book that I'd recommend. It's a quick, easy read that is likely to stay with you for a long time.

The Four Loves

Ah, CS Lewis. I'm just going to come right out and say it. I cannot stand the Narnia books. I will never review them here (or anywhere else, for that matter) because, despite repeated attempts throughout childhood and adulthood, I have never finished the things. Lewis's non-fiction, however, is another story. I've already discussed Mere Christianity, which attempts (sort of) to move from non-belief to belief. This book presupposes a Christian belief. It is, however, possible to substitute most of the Christian bits for whatever it is that you believe or, even better, to just ignore them altogether. When you do, what you're left with is an interesting discussion of the nature of love and the four different aspects that love can take.

It's definitely worth reading, regardless of the fundamentally Christian nature.

(For those of you who're interested, I picked this up at what seemed to be a mostly Christian/Religious book stall at Greenmarket Square on Sunday).

Journeying with God

Yay! I now average one post a day for the month of March! I don't know why I've been aiming at that, but I have. So now I have reached this milestone, I can't say I care that much.

This book (I'll put a picture up once I've found my battery charger, so that I can actually take a picture, since the internet only has ugly, fuzzy images), is not one I would normally buy or read. Nor, for that matter, would I take even a second look at it. I was attracted to it by the cover. So I picked it up and read the back of the book. I'm not even sure I got past the first line ('For many people the thought of a thirty-day silent retreat would be anathema...') before I decided to buy it. A silent retreat has always appealed to me, in quite the same way as the religious life appeals to me. I think it's the reclusive part of me, that would like to withdraw from society and just be left to her own devices (with a few certain necessaries, such as books and [now] Panda).

Anyway, this is the story of a priest (I think) who goes on this retreat after he breaks his leg. It's a wonderful account of the spiritual, mental and emotional growth that you can make on such a retreat, regardless of whether or not you choose to adopt a religious view of the matter. I do not, but I'd still love to go on a retreat (though I think I'd start with a day, then a weekend and slowly build my way up) to experience it.

Non-Believing Clergy

I'm certainly taking advantage of the whole 'post as much as you like' thing!

Bum sent me the link to this article, which I recommend reading if this is a topic that interests you. I am an atheist. I do not particularly want to be an atheist (most likely due to suffering from 'belief in belief' as they put it in the article), but I'm yet to find something I can actually believe. I have considered taking the veil, but haven't because I feel that would be completely hypocritical, given my atheism. I have never suffered from what the men in this article suffer from. I am coming from the opposite direction. I have never believed in anything, despite multiple attempts. That's part of why I like the Unitarian Church, they're all about supporting your individual spiritual journey. Even so, admitting to being an unwilling atheist does not make for pleasant conversation, so I tend not to do it. Believers immediately want to convert you to whatever they believe and get upset when you question things and don't just believe. I suspect that they are as unable to comprehend my continual scepticism and disbelief as I am unable to comprehend their blind faith. Atheists can't understand why you might want to believe in anything. These are sweeping generalisations, but they're based on the people I know.

The point, is not to pontificate on myself, but to say that we need more papers like this and we need for more people to be aware of such studies. Perhaps one day atheism will not be so stigmatised and there will be one less thing in the world to fight over.

Living Yoga: Creating a Life Practice

I'm sore today. The reason that I'm sore is quite simple. After an absence of far too long, I went back to yoga yesterday. Riva seemed determined to make me suffer. Well, it's my own fault really, if I went more regularly I wouldn't be so sore. Even doing just a little bit at home each day doesn't make that much difference because I'm not yet good enough to tell when I'm out of alignment. And to have Riva there to correct the posture makes such a difference. Of all the yoga teachers I've ever had, Riva is without a doubt my absolute favourite. If only she had more than one class a week. Riva does Iyengar yoga, which I prefer to the other forms that I've been exposed to (specifically Ashtanga) because of its insistence on getting the posture right. And, more importantly, on those slight muscle movements that make all the difference.

When I first saw this book (at Wordsworth) I thought that it was something I'd like to have. I'm always trying to do more yoga because (a) it's good for me and (b) it fits with my mental image of the person I want to be. I didn't buy it because (a) it was too expensive and (b) it was written by a model. I've never had a very good opinion of models. This is probably partly because all clothes are made to fit skinny women with excessively long legs and having to pay for clothes and then pay more to make them smaller has always seemed wrong to me. Anyway, I regretted not buying the book and decided to make it my 'yay I finished my thesis' present to myself. Except that by then it was no longer in stock. A week or two later and I was at the Exclusive Books sale. And it was that part of the sale where the sale prices had been halved (I really can't resist their twice yearly sales. It's like a drug, only I get books. I just keep going back and spending more money. But I don't drink, or smoke or do those other things that normal people my age do [sadly this includes having an actual job at the moment, but I'm working on that], so I feel justified in buying piles of books). Anyway, there I spotted this book, albeit with a slightly different cover. So I bought it.

It's both an account of Christy Turlington's yoga practice and how it was established, as well as showing a number of postures. This is an inspirational book designed to help you incorporate yoga into your daily life. I'm not really sure who this book is aimed at, but I enjoyed it. It has a lovely mix of history, biography and instruction.

Mere Christianity

So, in my bid to understand the religious, I occasionally go into that scary bookstore and see if they have anything interesting or informative. I'm particularly partial to biographies (I'll get to those sooner or later, I'm sure), but on one of my forays into Christian literature, I happened across CS Lewis's Mere Christianity. If I knew nothing of Lewis but his abysmal Narnia series, I would not have looked twice at this book. However, I knew that he was a friend of devout Catholic and admired (by me) author JRR Tolkien. I knew that he had been an atheist who, (as I understand it) converted to Christianity as a result of religious discussion with Tolkien and other friends. Button informed me that his writings on religion (particularly The Great Divorce, though I haven't come across that one yet) would interest me greatly.

So I bought this book. And then I read this book. And I was almost converted. This is the most eloquent argument in favour of Christianity and explaining Christianity that I've seen. This is the only explanation of Christianity that makes sense - by which I mean the doctrines and whatnot, not the fact that loads of people believe it without understanding it. Of course, I was not completely converted, unwilling atheist that I am. This did explain a lot and, if you'd like to be converted, or convert someone, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you'd like to understand how people can believe in Christianity, this is the book to read. Though, I grant you, most 'Christians' barely know what they believe and certainly don't understand how or why. But perhaps I'm a little cynical. (If you're looking for reasons not to believe Christianity, I suggest Mike Earl, a complete git, but one who makes a good point nonetheless.)
The point is that this is an informative book, that makes as good a read now as it was good to listen to back around World War II.