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.

The Famous Five

I went to visit my baby today. He's stuck at the vet, waiting for his body to conform to what he believes about his body. His next x-ray is on Tuesday and then we'll find out when he can come home (I hope). Anyway, after a delightful visit of much love and cuddles, I was starving. This is probably partly due to the fact that it was lunchtime and baby spent most of the visit eating. So I trotted off to Meadowridge Park 'n' Shop, where I would get myself a sandwich before heading home. Now, I know that there's nothing worse than eating by yourself with nothing to do. Being a local girl, I know that the Meadowridge Library is across the road from the shopping centre and that they have books for sale for 50c. A good price, considering that the books the library tends to want to sell are either the stuff that no-one reads or the really badly damaged books.

So I found The Famous Five in Fancy Dress. Being a collector, I knew instantly that this wasn't written by Enid Blyton. I didn't need the fact that her name appears nowhere nor the fact that it's clearly been written sometime in the 70s, nor the fact that the writing is horrific. This is part of Claude Voilier's continuation of the series. I don't recommend it and I won't be reading any of her others. I don't particularly like the original series, but this is just horrific.

I imagine most people are horrified that I could possibly be an Enid Blyton lover and not absolutely adore the Famous Five. I grant you that certain of the books (such as Five go to Smuggler's Top and Five on a Hike Together) are good, solid adventure stories. Some of them, however, are the worst of children's literature. The fact is that Enid Blyton was able to write one of these (and in fact, wrote many of her books) in a single week, or less. Some of them have poorly thought out plots, some are excessively ridiculous and, the thing I hate most about the Famous Five, the characters are more like caricatures. Julian: oldest, kind of bossy, super-sensible, amazes the grown-ups and is always right. Dick: extra boy, able to get into trouble and behave stupidly as he's not the oldest, able to get into fights. George: super-independent girl, 'as good as a boy', cheeky, hot-tempered, fiercely loyal. Anne: girly girl and wimp-extraordinaire, takes delight in cleaning, cooking and home-making, always scared and in need of protection. Timmy: the most anthropomorphic dog ever. The Famous Five novels are also the clearest indication of Blyton's classist opinions - other children are frequently 'beneath' the Five and need to be taught how to behave properly. For some reason I can deal with the racism and sexism, but not the classism.

I collect these books, because of their nostalgic value and for the few that are actually worth multiple-reads. Also, I want the full set. This, however, is not a series I'd recommend for someone who didn't grow up with them. These are not characters we want a future generation of children to emulate.
[Another difficulty of multiple pictures per post: not putting the picture halfway through a word.]

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe

Another children's book, which I read yesterday, wanted to post about and found I couldn't as I'd already used up my post for the day. Releasing myself from such a restriction was a fantastic idea! Anyway, this is a children's book about a ghost of the poltergeist type. Poor James is constantly being blamed for the acts of the ghost, who doesn't seem to understand that it's no longer the 17th century. Eventually, James learns that to get rid of a ghost, you need an exorcism. Only there's a problem: this particular ghost has been exorcised before and isn't about to fall for that again!

There is, of course, a happy ending, but if you want to know how it comes about, you're going to have to read the book yourself. There's a reason it won the 1973 Carnegie Medal. It's certainly worth reading.

200 Four-Ingredient Recipes

I have elected to abandon my 'one post a day' rule. I will now be posting whenever I damn well feel like it. This means that I will post when I finish a book, when I'm bored (I have an enormous back log!) and probably every morning.

My big sister gave me this book for Christmas and I've used it quite a few times. It has some lovely recipes in it, though it will insist on considering 'salt and pepper' as one ingredient and occasionally forgetting that 'water' is a fifth thing. Being of the totally easygoing nature that I am (no, really), I don't mind it occasionally getting confused about the exact amount that 'four' represents. I would also like to point out that if you look at the word 'ingredient' for any length of time, it starts looking very very wrong. If anyone knows the etymology of it, please share.

This is a highly recommended cook book, quick (and sometimes not so quick - read the instructions for the soy-marinated chicken carefully), simple recipes that taste fantastic.
Tonight I'm making chilled chocolate and espresso mousse (except with weak coffee not espresso as the Wendy is allergic to caffeine) and roast chicken with lemon and cheese (or something).

Stephanie Plum

I like a good mystery story, no matter what age group it's aimed at. I also like a certain amount of romantic chick-lit (for a particular definition of 'romantic') and, as an adult reader, nothing makes a mystery more enjoyable than a murder. On the other hand, as we've already discussed, I'm a little on the morbid side and probably don't have quite the normal response towards death and the dead (for a given value of normal, of course).

I have read all the numbered books in this series (though I don't own them all) and one of the four 'between the numbers' novels. Though a quick glance at the author's website tells me that number sixteen is about to come out. The first book (One for the Money) is nowhere near as good as the later ones, though I do think there comes a point where the series needs to stop. I don't know that this series has reached that point yet, it's difficult to tell. The books are just pure fun, complete fluff and require absolutely no brain power. In fact, the less brain power the better, as you're less likely to notice how incredibly ridiculous the entire thing is. Stephanie Plum is exceptionally well written in that she's both the clumsy, awkward girl we all are, as well as being the woman we'd all like to be, what with the combination of Morelli and Ranger being all over her.

If you've got an afternoon to kill and are in the mood for something light and fun, these are a must read. And the best part is that there's no need to read them in order, even though earlier events are occasionally referenced.

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.

Adventure Series

I love children's books, I've said this before. One of my favourite authors is Enid Blyton. Not the 'updated' Enid Blyton that has edited out all the racism and sexism of her era. I like the original Enid Blyton. It's both a period piece and a good adventure story.

My favourite Enid Blyton series (and she wrote over 500 books!) is the Adventure series about Philip, Dinah, Jack, Lucy-Ann and Kiki, with guest appearances by Bill Smugs, Mrs Mannering and, of course, Philip's menagerie. The first in the series (The Island of Adventure) was written in 1944, the final book (The River of Adventure) in 1955. There certainly doesn't seem to be an eleven year period between the first and the last book and I know I'm not the only reader sorry that she didn't continue with this series. Blyton could have easily used this series to explore far more of the world than she did. The children travel across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as going to Austria, the Near East, Morocco, the Mediterranean and a fictional country.
The only book we didn't own as children was The Circus of Adventure, the one set in a fictional country. I did take it out of the library as a child, but it was never as well read as the ones we actually own. To date, it is still my least favourite in the series. My favourite was always The Valley of Adventure when I was growing up and our copy of the book shows that clearly. The Island of Adventure is fun, but it has all the problems of a first in the series - the characters need to be introduced to each other and to the reader.
The Castle of Adventure became my favourite as an older teenager. I had always read it least because, up until then, it had been my least favourite of the ones we owned. I suspect that was partly due to the presence of Tassie. I've never been fond of having other characters being anything other than firmly in the background. This is probably also part of why I dislike Circus so much. Not only is there the addition of Gussie right from the beginning, but the entire book revolves around Jack (frequently my least favourite character) and the various people he meets. Not my idea of what one of these stories should be.
The Sea of Adventure is also great fun and frequently one I choose to read. It is similar to Valley, in that the children are supposed to be spending their time with Bill. Something happens (who am I to give the excitement away to someone who hasn't read these), and the children find themselves alone and stranded. That's my idea of a fun adventure story for children. A group of children having to deal with each other, and deal with a stressful situation all at the same time. Frequently when I'm looking for a light, familiar feel-good story I'll pick up either Valley or Sea. Sometimes Castle, but mostly one of these two.
Next up comes The Mountain of Adventure. This is the one set in Wales and, as an adult who happens to have done more than her fair share of science, this is absolutely hilarious. I'm sure, though, that it's perfectly believable for children in 1950, when this was first published. Of course, even without the ridiculous science, this is the least believable of all the novels in this series. Following Mountain, is the original ending of the series, The Ship of Adventure. Mrs Mannering, fed up with their adventures, is determined not to let the children out of her sight, not will they have anything to do with Bill, who is clearly a bad influence. If that went well, there wouldn't be a book, would there? Lucien is irritating and while this is fun, it's not particularly believable. It's not a favourite, but it's not bad. Ranked about the same as Mountain.
The final book, The River of Adventure, is a fun ending to the series. It's not as good as the early books, but it's fun and adventurous, even with the two extra characters attached to the main group.

In terms of characterisation, Philip and Dinah are probably the two most real characters in the book. I don't doubt that girls like Lucy-Ann existed (and probably still do), but she's weak and annoying (though, I grant you, nothing near as awful as Anne from The Famous Five). Jack is selfish, arrogant and annoying. Kiki is ridiculous and unbelievable, though an enjoyable curiosity. Bill is, well, Bill. Having had a certain amount of hero-worship going on for most of my childhood, I don't think that I'm qualified to say anything. Mrs Mannering is annoying. Yes, I realise there has to be someone to object to their schemes and adventures, but really, you'd think after the first three, she'd have gained a little more of a realistic perspective.

The series is well worth reading and is highly recommended for all lovers of adventure series. In my opinion, it's the best series Enid Blyton ever wrote. [And just so you know, having multiple pictures in one post is really frustrating.]

The Poison Principle: a Memoir of Family Secrets and Literary Poisonings

I'm a huge fan of (auto)biographies. I don't know why, but I'm sure there's a good reason for it. I'm also a little on the morbid side, being an archaeologist. Exploring a cemetery/graveyard is a fun way to spend an afternoon and is probably why I'm so fond of churches, since the two are commonly associated. I've exhumed graves and sorted out physical anthropology collections (ie: boxes of skeletons). I have a somewhat irreverent attitude to death and the dead. I'm fond of murder mysteries and I have a small piece of my (maternal) grandfather's humerus in a match-box on my 'dressing-table'.

As a result, I picked this up expecting a fascinating tale about the discovery of murder in the family. I was disappointed. It was, however, a fascinating description about the suspicion of murder in the family and a woman's quest to uncover the truth of the matter. This also gave some insight into personality and how people can distort the truth for their own ends, sometimes without even realising that that's what they're doing. The effects that such secrecy and suspicion can have on the following generations of the family is also something that interests me. How many family secrets do I not know about, that affect the ways my families interact with each other?

John Calvin: Pilgrim and Pastor

This is one of those biographies that I got at the scary Christian bookstore. I went in looking for a particular book on Saint Francis and picked up a bunch of things, including this. I had only a vague idea of who Calvin was and why he was important. Having read this, however, I now understand what the Reformation was, what it means to be a Dutch Reformed Church (for example). I also understand that this started out as a revolutionary movement - teaching everyone to read? Unthinkable. This was the first step at taking power away from the church and the priests and giving it to the people. The idea was that everyone (which really meant all European men, but I'm feeling forgiving today) should be able to read the Christian Bible (and that they should do it everyday, but that's not really important), which enabled people to begin to interpret passages for themselves and, more importantly, to question the interpretation and the doctrine of the Church. Is anyone surprised that people wanted him executed?

I disagree with a large amount of what Calvin believed and don't really care very much about what he did. Except for two things: he was instrumental in the first steps of bringing literacy to the masses and as a result should be considered instrumental in bringing the ability and power to think critically to the masses as well. If only everyone made use of the opportunities he brought to us.

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.

Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy

Religious people fascinate me. I am drawn to the religious life (by which I mean monks and nuns), but to a large degree I can understand them. What I don't understand is blind faith. I don't understand why people believe the things they do (and what is it that I believe? Do I believe anything?). Which is why they fascinate me. So when I pick up a book at random and find it involves religious themes, I devour it hoping for greater understanding of such a large proportion of the planet.

Which is what happened with Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy, by Rumer Godden. I recall Rumer Godden (and I'm 80% sure it was her) from my childhood, with books about small dolls that came to life. Or something. So I picked up a book of hers at random while at CAFDA and enjoyed it. So I picked up a few others, including this one. This book tells the story of a woman who, after being released from prison, enters a convent. The book covers both her new life and her old life, leading up to how she landed up in prison. It's also a story that appears to have been picked up by Catholic booksellers and made much of as a tale of redemption and salvation. To me the religious aspect of this novel is interesting, but not the focus. This is a story about humanity and compassion and the ability we all have to change ourselves into the person we'd rather be.

Tom's Midnight Garden

Another thing I'm particularly fond of is children's books. I presumably fell in love with them as a child. Quite possibly the fact that every time I started reading one of my parents' grown-up books I got into trouble (presumably due to the fact that I was under ten and there was violence and sex involved) cemented that love. Whatever the reason, I have a collection of children's books (the biggest section in my modest library) and every time I go (book) shopping I'm sure to add to that collection. CAFDA tends to have a large selection of what I'm looking for. I also find all sorts of new things there.

One of my recent 'new' finds was Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce. I have to say that this book did not have an auspicious beginning. The beginning was, in fact, boring. But I pressed on, certain that the good part was coming. And it did. This is a charming book that introduces the concept of time travel to children, without mentioning time travel at all. The ending is blazingly obvious as an adult, but children might not find it so. The book touches lightly on serious subjects, making them accessible and thought-provoking without making it clear exactly what it's doing. A definite start for any future fantasy-readers.

The Cadfael Chronicles

Have I mentioned how much I love CAFDA? Very, very much. It's kind of like the land of free books. Now I could try the whole extended metaphor thing with Sea Point being the enchanted wood, but (a) I don't remember the the Faraway Tree books well enough for that (I see rereading in my future) and (b) I've never been very good at the whole extended metaphor thing. I'm much more of a metaphor mixer than a metaphor extender.

Anyway, the point is that CAFDA has lots of good books, in varying condition I admit, for virtually no money. Also, they're some sort of charity, so the money presumably helps people in need. Or whatever their charity does (as you might imagine I'm more interested in the books than the charitableness, but that's always good too. There's nothing quite like benefitting others while you behave in a purely selfish manner).

At CAFDA, I recently discovered the Cadfael Chronicles, by Ellis Peters (pseudonym of Edith Pargeter). I have read (1) A Morbid Taste for Bones, (2) The Devil's Novice, (3) Dead Man's Ransom and (4) The Potter's Field. They're historically accurate detective novels set in the twelfth century with Brother Cadfael, a Benedictine monk who took his vows at the age of forty, as the central character. The only detail I find difficult to credit is the number of murders that took place in a relatively small area in a relatively short space of time. But this is a requirement of any detective series, so I suspend my disbelief as best I can. There are no forensics, no autopsies, no fingerprints and little in the way of physical evidence in general in these books, and yet they still manage to come across as real and plausible investigations. Somewhat similar to Christie's Poirot in the reliance on what people do and do not say. Unlike the In Death (JD Robb) and Plum (Janet Evanovich) detective series, there is no real action and absolutely no sex. And yet, the series does not suffer for it and, in fact, is far less fluffy than either of those series. Also, there's the advantage of learning about British history of this period quite accidentally.
Highly recommended!

Witch Child

I have resurrected this blog out of nothingness, as I feel a need to record all the books I read (of which there are many. If you want to donate a bookshelf to the cause, I'd be most appreciative).

As you might have guessed from the title, the subject of this post is Witch Child by Celia Rees. It's a historical novel - in about 1659 Mary's grandmother is hung as a witch. As she would come under suspicion, a mysterious benefactor dresses her up as a Puritan and sends her off to the New World. This is one of those novels that pretends to be non-fiction. It's actually fairly well done, with a 'typewritten' bit at the beginning and end, claiming that these pages were found sewn into a quilt and if anyone has more information, they should get in touch.

The narrative is powerful, mixing themes of women's rights, community, colonisation, superstition and religious (in)tolerance. The plot is, itself, fairly predictable, but it's worth reading anyway.

Looks like freedom, but it feels like death.

It's something in between I guess.

So, it's been a long while. There have been two games since - suffice to say we have one new character [the other one dropped something on the way and went back to get it while we were still returning] and we're working on our other problems.

On Friday, one of my second cousins gave birth to a son. The last time she was pregnant she had a miscarriage. This time she died. We're still awaiting the results of the autopsy to see what exactly killed her, but some form of medical complications resulting from an apparently difficult pregnancy seems to be where we're headed. Their [immediate] family was even closer than my [apparently] very close [immediate] family.

On Sunday I discovered Unitarian Universalism. I went to speak with the Cape Town congregation's minister. He was very nice and very helpful. It's so nice to encounter a form of religion that requires you to think for yourself rather than blindly accepting whatever they deign to tell you. I really don't have a very good opinion of organised religion, it's nice to know I'm not alone.

We had people over for games and movies over the weekend. It was fun. We should do it more often. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it on account of how I was feeling very unsociable, but I did.

Other things that have happened:

• some ultracentrifuging
• attempts to order more bromoform [what is wrong with these 'suppliers'?]
• creation of dilute hydrochloric acids [one at 0.5M and one at 0.1M] for decalcifying.
• journal club - of which I skimmed most of the paper and spoke to MGG about it before the session.
• read the book of atheist spirituality, which I would recommend to people, particularly the morons who actually believe that atheists go around murdering innocent babies in their beds because they have no moral compass. Which is not to say that it's not a book for atheists.
• read in cold blood - which focused less on truman capote than I would've thought given how incredibly self-absorbed the movie made him out to be.
• buying birthday presents for my sister, who is impossible to shop for and doesn't like what you get her anyway. But I think I may have succeeded this year. Hopefully she'll be okay with the fact that it's arriving late.

I think that covers everything. If it doesn't, then it's probably none of your business anyway.