Books for Bodhisattvas-in-Training

The Coconut Monk by Thich Nhat Hanh

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I used this book in Dharma School to demonstrate Sila Paramita, or ethics. It's a true story of a monk who lives with a cat and a mouse during the Vietnam war. He truly embodies an ethical life.





The Hermit and the Well by Thich Nhat Hanh

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A boy and his friends want to find and learn from a wise hermit they've heard about. Instead the boy finds the Buddha within himself.

This could be a good book for Dharma School for demonstrating aspiration, and for demonstrating the natural wisdom we can find in ourselves, our buddha nature.



Samsara Dog by Helen Manos

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A youth librarian shared this book with me when it came out...she thought it would interest me.

A dog is reborn many times, and each time learns a little about love and loving actions, and each time he's reborn into better circumstances to learn.

This would be a great book to use for a preschool Dharma School throughout a year, perhaps one of the dog's lives per lesson. I would focus on the aspects of his life that helped the dog become more loving.

I could also see using it as examples for grade school kids. The lives of the dog correspond with aspects of the Six Realms.



Sky Sweeper by Phillis Gershator

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This could be used for an example of a bodhisattva who is dedicated to keeping a vow. Focused purpose, single-minded purpose even in the face of distractions, and finding the whole universe in that purpose.

The sweeper considers other paths in life, but he always remembers that a sweeper is needed for the monastery garden, and he keeps choosing that. His dedication and care are overlooked until he is no longer able to take care of the garden as he did.



Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World... One Child at a Time by Greg Mortenson

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Don't have time to read the original version of "Three Cups of Tea"? I suggest you make the time. I believe it is the answer to the world's problems. War is not the answer. Three cups of tea is the answer. However, if you insist you just don't have the time, read this version. Many of the details of Greg Mortenson's journey are truncated, but the essence is still here, and it is a much quicker read. Two evenings should do ya.

I would also recommend reading this book a year or two after the original. This is a story that bears repeating, and I was grateful for the reminder.

And of course, I would recommend this for kids with the reading level for a book this size. There are more color photos, including some of and from Mortenson's beautiful family. There is also a glossary, and the words included in the glossary are handily printed in bold in the text.


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Books Read

The Pinhoe Egg: A Chrestomanci Book by Diana Wynne Jones
rating: 3 of 5 stars

I loved the Chrestomanci books, but perhaps it's been too long since I read them. I couldn't remember the history of the characters, but it seemed I was supposed to.

That said, I still liked it, and liked returning to the magical world of the Chants. Theirs is a slightly different magic than that of the villagers, who seem all secretly to be hedgewitches. They especially don't want The Big Man, Chrestomanci, to know of the extent of their abilities, and set up diverting spells to keep all non-Pinhoes from their town.

This was categorized as a teen book. With a horse, a unicorn, and a fairy tale creature I won't give away, this one's for kids. I would recommend it for kids reading higher than their age level.

Taking Up Space: How Eating Well and Exercising Regularly Changed My Life by Pattie Thomas
rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pattie Thomas shares her personal journey recovering from treating fat as the enemy, and applies her understanding as a sociologist to her experience, and the messages we all receive.

She says, "Learning about sociological theory has afforded me a view of the social structures that shape my life and other people's lives in a way that is usually not noticed in everyday life. We do and say things with little thought to how we know what we know or where we learned what we think. Social interactions are often reactions and replications. We often follow certain preset scripts as to what is normal and acceptable in these interactions."

It becomes especially clear that those in the health care industry do this regarding fat. In some ways my recovery from fat phobia paralleled Patti's, though I was fortunate to turn away from dieting at a much younger age. She says, "I came to believe that I was engaged in a cultural struggle, not a medical one." Over and over she points to instances where health is cited as the reason for dieting, but the true motive uncovered is the unreal beauty standard.

As a sociologist, she traced the origins of the so-called medical condition of "obesity" to the 20s. Women wanted the waifish look of the flapper, and turned to their doctors for help. In turn, the doctors made 'excess' weight a medical condition.

Like other books debunking the obesity myth, she traces the link between fat and other diseases to faulty conclusions or inconclusive links. With a sociologist's eye, she roots out the faulty premises that affect studies and conclusions. This allows a culture that recommends dangerous procedures as a precaution and as a solution, but when they fail, it is the fat that is blamed, not the procedure. Again, when diets fail and poor health follows, it is fat that is blamed rather than the diets. Indeed, she traces how the average fat American has been blamed for our high health costs.

She uses the image of the sumo wrestler, and a theme throughout the book is her own quest to carry her own weight gracefully.

I appreciated this view of a sociologist. It helps not only with finding our own way in this war on obesity, but with politics, and with choosing any kind of life swimming against the tide. She says, "Culture is built largely upon repetition of words, images, and thoughts. The battleground of the war on fat is wherever the idea that "fat is bad" (or its equivalents, such as "fat is ugly," "fat is dirty," "fat is ignorant," "fat is unwanted," "fat is unsightly," fat is lazy," "fat is unhealthy," and so forth) is repeated. A reasonable argument will not make the idea go away. ..."Fat is bad" is an extremely embedded given in this society. If we are to eradicate this idea, we will have to repeat other messages, loudly and often. Stereotypes are most often replaced rather than erased."

Also included are poems, diary entries, and drawings. While these give a broader picture of Pattie's journey, I think the book could have used better editing. Some of these were included in a sidebar format that went on more than 2 pages. This made it difficult to read at times. I think the book would be more powerful if these personal bits were more judiciously used.

Wizards at War by Diane Duane
rating: 3 of 5 stars

While I was previously turned off by the good/bad/savior metaphor of the series, this thread wasn't as strong in this book. I appreciated how well the author integrates plot and details from previous books, including them seamlessly in conversations and descriptions. Characters from previous stories return in this one, adding to its appeal as a series book.



Voices by Ursula K LeGuin
rating: 4 of 5 stars

At first it seems this could be a good/bad, right/wrong sort of book...but this is Ursula LeGuin we're talking about.

The occupiers outlaw books and have their way with the people. The occupied hide their books, and keep their magic hidden, what they have left. A girl is born from both sides, and learns to find her place and her talent.


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Books Read

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Erlbaum

4 of 5 stars
A co-worker saw me with this book and warned me it could be triggering around drug issues...not an issue for me. What is it about super-smart girls and getting involved with drugs early? Author Janice Erlbaum leaves home because she told her mother if he took the abusive stepfather back, she would. This is her story about that time. I knew I was in for a good read at this early sentence:

Dave Malley was crazy. He smelled crazy. He smelled like bad soup and aluminum foil, and his unfiltered camels left murky stains on his fingers and teeth. I was introduced to Dave when I was twelve years old, and I wrote down that he was itchy.

The moment Janice told her mother this was when Dave attempted to kidnap his and her mother's baby. When he came back, Janice left, and went directly to a shelter. There, drugs cured boredom, and "group therapy" was about "How bad can I admit I am?" She hung out in Washington Square. Part of what tickled me about this book, for once a place was mentioned that I had visited. She did a lot of acid.

Some people will tell you that LSD makes you paranoid. Paranoid, hah! --aware is more like it. Acid elucidates all those things you would ordinarily take for granted: the color of the clouds, the frailty of the social contract, the disgusting miracle of the human body...

Of course I'm fascinated with descriptions of the use of drugs that I've never done, but more than that, this was a great memoir of a strong young woman who creates her life the way she
wishes.


Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

rating: 5 of 5 stars
One of my favorite authors to read in the 90s, reading this again for my book group reminded me that it's been too long since I've read Vonnegut.

People often focus on the time-travel, but gloss over the significance of the beginning. Vonnegut himself really did go back to Dresden, really did win Guggenheim money, really did take over twenty years to write about Dresden. He writes, "I think about how useless the Dresden part of my memory has been, and yet how tempting Dresden has been to write about...." He has to keep singing the same song over and over, invoking a limerick and a song, "My name is Yon Yonsen..."

At the end of the first chapter, perhaps to let the reader know that this song will not go on forever, he says this:

Listen:
Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.
It ends like this:
Poo-tee-weet.

I wonder if he could have written of horrific war scenes any other way but a man unstuck in time. While I love Vonnegut for the science fiction elements, I cannot help but read those elements as metaphors of a philosophy. When a death occurs, the Tralfamadorians say, "So it goes." They create books in a way I think Vonnegut wished us to read this book. It is very Zen...very Dogen.

"...each clump of symbols is a brief, urgent message--describing a situation, a scene. We Tralfamadorians read them all at once, not one after the other. There isn't any particular relationship between all the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when seen all at once, they produce an image of life that is beautiful and surprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time."

Marvelous, funny, profound, tragic moments, all contained in a whole that couldn't be written for the longest time. I read this a year after Vonnegut died. So it goes.


A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

rating: 3 of 5 stars
For it's time, this was ground-breaking, and is a classic sci-fi book for kids. I recall liking it more when I was young, but now it seems more dated and less sophisticated. Strong Christian themes make it less appealing to me.





The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Carlo Chuchio loves to read and daydream. His name, translated as a certain braying animal, earns him further disdain. He works in his uncle's business as a clerk, but his imagination doesn't do well with numbers.

A bookseller gives him a book, and in it Chuchio finds a map. He will seek the treasure, and adventure. After a costly mistake, his uncle sends him on his way with a little money to get started.

Complete with swords, a maiden in need of help, a questionable guide, it's a book made for dreamers. This was the last book offered by Alexander before he died. I can't say I've read any others. Time to get started...

For a better review, go here. I took just too long between time of reading and reviewing.

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Books Read

The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going
Eve's mother was the one that told the stories, but Eve's mother is dead. When her father buys a farm, Eve doesn't want to go. Neither does she want to give up the last piece of clothing that her mother bought her, even though it is too small. The trees of the orchard do not bear fruit, and Eve and her father arrive just as a funeral takes place. The boy she sees playing on gravestones seems to be a ghost. Eve has been bequeathed a seed. How did that happen? Does her mother who told stories about Eve's Garden have anything to do with this? She plants the seed, and only she and the ghost can see the tree that grows from the center of the orchard. Of course she must climb the tree. I am not usually enamored of Biblical metaphor, but I really liked this story that brought archetypal themes of grief and regrowth to a child's world. This might be just the story for a grieving child.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
My favorite book blogger doesn't like this character. I cringed at the meanness of most teens, and admired the tenacity of flower-child Stargirl, and of course the hint of Buddhist thought, even if pop Buddhism, gave me more reason to like it. Mostly I liked her as the girl I wish I could have been.

This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness
I was very enthusiastic about this book until I read the jacket cover. If at first you think these are poems written by a 6th grade class, inspired by the famous poem of apology by William Carlos Williams, you will love this book. When you find out they're not really, it's still a good book, but not quite as amazing. You can just imagine the two boys whispering, "I'll write a poem on dodgeball if you do." You'll wonder a little more if a girl could really apologize to her teacher over making fun of her dress*, or if a boy would really understand that he picks on a girl because he likes her. Not only poems, it is a vignette, a peek into the lives of 6th graders.

*You smiled
but your smile looked like a frozen pond
People were high-fiving me on the way
Down to lunch, but I felt like a traitor.

Teacher responds:
Just these few warm words
and spring sunlight fills the room;
my dress turns to sky

Books Read

Undine by Penni Russon

Steve happened to see this book on the table moments before I carried it off for my day's commute and work. "Undine? Would that be related to 'ondine'?" he asked. "An ondine is some kind of mythical woman of the sea." When you read enough fantasy, your understanding of the myths becomes richer, deeper, and more filled with details. Most often the fairies under the hill, allergic to iron, uncaring of humans, are the mythical creatures represented in fantasy. I don't believe I'd come across an ondine before.

I didn't know of such a mythical creature, so I was glad for the heads up. When you're aware of the myth underlying the story, rather than give away the plot, it adds layers of implications. For instance, when you recognize the story of the Pied Piper, your mind is not tied up with the plot, but with the undercurrents of the human psyche revealed by this particular telling. The story isn't just about a mysterious stranger that charms rats and takes the town's children. It also invokes the rest of the story, and the details not used are just as telling as the details used. Deviations change and enhance the myth. Some good fantasy writers allow the myth to sneak up on you, and before you know it, you realize you've been led into the pied piper myth.

So before I even started reading, I had the opportunity to find out what I could expect. I learned Undine is an elemental. There are stories based on elemental magic, such as Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters series. Ondine is a water nymph in German mythology. She has a siren-like voice and she can become human...and lose her immortality...if she falls in love with a man. There's always a dark side to a myth, and Ondine's curse will cause her unfaithful man to lose his ability to breathe if he falls asleep.

Magic in stories often seems to me to be about external expressions of growing sexual passions, and so does Ondine's myth. Magic fantasy especially displaces the wildness of sexual stirrings into the amoral, sometimes cruel, energies of magic and fairies. This book begins as though it could play either way…either it's real "magic" stirring in the Australian teenager, or it is a girl becoming a woman. Soon though it becomes clear that this is a book about unbridled magical power, when she dreams of three bronze fish, and three bronze fish turn up at her door. Undine becomes interested in an older boy, and the engulfing energies of magic and sexual feelings become linked. I see such books as a way for teen girls to deal with such emotions but making it more about magic. It becomes a way to lasso this primal, sacred and slightly dangerous need.

That said, this book is more of a teen book than a crossover book. Adults who don't normally read fantasy would find it pretty simple and straightforward.

Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer

Eoin Colfer wrote the hit Artemis Fowl series, but he doesn't limit himself to the fantasy genre. I enjoyed the unmagical Benny and Omar, a quick read in which a boy moves with his family from Ireland to Tunisia. In this case, you have the kid's version of a hard-boiled detective. Even in Colfer's fantasy books, mysteries show up as the core of the plot, and I saw shades of Artemis Fowl in this character, Fletcher Moon. Less evil genius and more nerdy sherlock, Fletcher has solved mysteries from the age of three. The thing about super-smart kid characters, they're able to use their age to their advantage when adults don't take them seriously. Fletcher Moon is almost too smug about his ability and good guy status, but as the book progresses, he becomes less the know-it-all detective, and more the smart kid forging friendships and a future as a real detective. Just a side note: I think this is the first book I've read in which the characters used euros, not dollars, not pounds.

Shadows in the Starlight by Elaine Cunningham

Back in the fall I read the first book, Shadows in Darkness in this the Changeling Detective Series. It seems to be losing its sexy promise, and concentrating more on hard-boiled detective intrigue. It's ok, but I'm not chomping at the bit to read the next one. A little more of the elven world is revealed: their lack of care for humans, the changeling detective's care for her human friends, and hints that those bonds could be dangerous for her and the otherworldly folk.

A Gift of Dragons by Anne McCaffrey
Much like the Star Trek TV shows, the Dragonriders of Pern series gives a satisfying drama in space fix. The characters become familiar, the roles of the various guilds, the individual quests to be all they can be, all these satisfy that itch for a happy ending. The good conquers trials and tribulations.. Mostly it's a freak of nature, the wild is that which must be conquered. I read through the whole series until Anne McCaffrey started sharing the writing with her son. By that point it became a craft of plugging in the correct formula for this trial, that reaction, those responses. It became predictable, just like Star Trek. But it was good to revisit that world and meet new characters with their personal trials and quests.

Books Read

Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago

A 13 year old girl moves to Brooklyn from Puerto Rico with her family. Esmeralda chronicles her own coming of age, her time in the High School for the Performing Arts in Manhattan, her first relationships. Liked it alot.

Olla-Piska: Tales of David Douglas by Margaret J. Anderson

When I visited the coast recently I saw a sign for the David Douglas Park I had cause to wonder how important David Douglas was to our local history. The day I came back to work, a youth librarian shared her delight with this book, so I checked it out. Funny thing, I read through this book for children (in the form of diaries from several people) about a Scottish botanist searching for new plants in the Pacific Northwest, yet I did not see the punch line. Think Christmas trees from Oregon. Fir trees from the Northwest? Yeah...that Douglas. Liked it.

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl books are a must-read for the lover of fairy tales with a twist stories. In the first books, Artemis is an evil genius that seeks to harness the power of the magic of fairies for himself. All the creatures of myth live underground and not only have magic but far superior technology to humans. (Stop reading this if you haven't read them but want to.) In this the 5th book he's one of the good guys (but still not completely trusted) and entering puberty and finding himself interested in another evil genius, female. Demons enter the pantheon of the Artemis Fowl world. Liked it alot.

Winter Count by Barry Lopez

I can't remember where I saw this as a recommended read. Short stories that read like poetic non-fiction journals, vignettes that indicate years in a winter count, like a tribal record. Unusual happenings mark the years, like a river disappearing and reappearing, blue herons in New York, cosmic white buffalo. Each story had its own picture, as winter counts do. The book was ok, a quick read...but I'm more tickled about learning about winter counts. I get the idea that there's a lot I could unpack from the book if I had the time, just as winter counts refer to a more detailed oral history.

Books Read

The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

This author is fiendishly clever. A person could start reading this book and think it's a straightforward scifi novel: imagine a city where many if not most buildings are skyscrapers, and the elevator inspectors have a crucial position of power in the city. Among those inspectors are the Empiricists, who inspect elevators in the usual way, by physically inspecting the bits and pieces and ticking things off a list, and there are the Intuitionists, who enter an elevator and 'feel' where the problem lies. Clearly this is a scifi world where people have some sort of paranormal talent, and the world of elevators is a Big Deal.

But as a person gets further into the story, she realizes that this world shares quite a bit of the history of the real world, including the rampant racism and the struggle of black people to enter competitively into the world of whites. The reader thinks, "Wait a minute, wouldn't elevators be the center of the world to an elevator inspector?" Maybe this world isn't such a scifi world after all, but a funny fishbowl look at an insular guild with all the trappings of politics, bribes, and bigotry. Funny thing is, the Intuitionists have a better track record than the empiricists. It's a quick read, but don't let that fool ya. I'm still thinking about it two weeks later. Heh, elevators as metaphors of the human race.

Grass Dancer by Susan Power

I like to read Native American authors. I must admit I grew up with a romanticized vision of American Indians that white people are prone to having. I also grew up with an unconscious racism that I hope I have rooted out and purged from my self-understanding. As with any fiction, I get an opportunity to get inside the head of a character and her life, and with this book I get a glimpse of the grass dancer. I get a glimpse of the social webs that inform attenders of a powwow, a glimpse of the real presence of ancestors in a native's life. The author warns, quoted here, "I worry too much that people read my work sometimes as History, Sociology, Ethnography, when it's really fiction, and that's all it's meant to be." And she tells a good story, albeit backwards. Most chapters step back in time, sort of like peeling off layers of quilts to find the core of the story that is the body of the ancestral archetype.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

Darn it, there's too many patrons at my current library who like scifi/fantasy and are making me aware of more books that I just have to read. Ah, at least they're usually quick reads. In this universe, various countries are run by magicians who get their magical power from djinni. Magicians are no great beings, but petty overlords that think of their djinni slaves as demons, and non-magicians as commoners. As is often the case with fantasy, this trilogy shows some promise in the exploration of class and bigotry.

The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint

Another take on dangerous fairies and the people who attract their attention, and outcast teens becoming something special. A girl moves to town with a past and a free spirit. I've known a couple of strong young women why got messed up around age 13 but they got past that and are now ahead of the game. Tough smart and kind this character reminds me of them. She gets to know a ghost which leads her to the slightly cruel world of fairies. The book is as much or more about her friendship with Maxine who learns to find herself again a character so thus to life


Shadows in Darkness by Elaine Cunningham

A woman must leave the police force when a drug bust goes bad. The first hint that all is not as it seems is when her dying cop friend watches her leave the scene and sees her blue halo.

Clues of corruption and deeper intrigue keep the book moving along, with sexy elven tension kicking it up a notch. Reminds me a lot of Laurell K. Hamilton but with more complex story threads.

Redefining Our Relationships by Wendy-O Matik

I could have written a lot of this book. I have discovered for myself and written a lot of the ideas of this book. I find it interesting that there are so many ways in which people who really give polyamory a fair shake with integrity come upon the same universal ideas. Those who judge it from the outside don't, and those who haven't yet experienced it, don't. This would be a great book for someone who wants to experience polyamory, but wants to know more about what it can be like.


Killing Color by Charlotte Watson Sherman

Very earthy earth mother out of Africa book of short stories. A hint of sacred sexuality enters almost every story. I like that. Every story also has this pulsing ancient wisdom coursing through the bodies of characters, a very physical spirituality. I like that too but not all the time. I didn't get the sense that the characters were different people, but more different aspects, and not very different, of one person.

Books Recently Read

A Fool's Gold: A Story of Ancient Spanish Treasure, Two Pounds of Pot, and the Young Lawyer Almost Left Holding the Bag by Bill Merritt

I almost stopped reading this book because early on I came across this, "Her face was round with double chins.... When you are carrying as much weight as Abby hauled around.... For someone otherwise so careless with her looks, Abby took pride in her hair. She must have gotten a lot of compliments on it when she was younger and men paid more attention to her." I think he meant to say, "When shallow men like me paid more attention to her..." It is no wonder then that as a young lawyer he bumbles through and wonders 'wha...how'd that happen?" But it read quickly, and he was writing about secret shenanigans at one of my favorite places: Neahkanie Mountain and beach on the Oregon Coast. He thought Abby was a stupid doper, but her trial revealed how smart and funny she was. Written all these years later, it seems possible the author now realizes it, but that would mean a level of sophistication in his writing that isn't really apparent. That said, this book is a pretty remarkable glimpse into the hidden side of the Oregon coast: smugglers and graft and seemingly crazy seekers of treasure. While this is about events over 2 decades ago, it makes me wonder today whether that really is a fishing boat I see when I stay at Neahkanie Beach.

A Caress of Twilight by Laurell K Hamilton

The second book in the author's Merry Gentry series, it fills that need for sexy fairy fantasy. There's a whole sub-genre of scifi-fantasy in which authors use the legends of fairies. Some of them have the creatures sexily dangerous, erotic, exotic and a little scary. This is one of them, and I like to relax with LKH's books. There's a strong BDSM thread going on. Laurell K Hamilton also has a vampire/supernatural detective series with a similar BDSM thread going on called Anita Blake.

A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane

I'm up to this the 6th book in this Wizard series. I discovered these after Harry Potter (as many did) but they have been around longer and are, dare I say, better. Maybe they missed that internet word-of-mouth phenomena. A person would want to start with the first, So You Want to be a Wizard. A boy and a girl meet soon after taking the wizard's oath, and they do the wizardly work of fighting entropy together. Grade B+

King of the Pygmies by Jonathan Scott Fuqua

There are some really complex and profound reads in teen fiction. With so many demands on my time, I also like that they're a quick read. Just as a teen boy is interested in a certain girl, he starts hearing voices that really seem to him to be the thoughts of people around him. The author admits in his afterword he found it fascinating that some people live their whole lives going undiagnosed as mildly schizophrenic. They find their own ways to deal, and this book explores that grey area between so-called normal people and more severe mental illness.

The Divide by Elizabeth Kay

This book caught my eye (and so it was designed to do) because the front cover is divided in the middle, like majestic double doors. The Divide turns out to be the mountainous divide in Costa Rica that separates two water systems. When straddled in a certain moment and in a certain state, magic happens, and a person could end up in another world. In this world science is real and magic is myth...in that one, magic is real and science myth.

Theories of Relativity by Barbara Haworth-Attard

Another teen book. (I'm so busy lately, quick reads are good so I can actually finish the book.) A homeless boy rejected by his mother tries to find his way without getting sucked in by the vultures found on the streets. Sometimes I read too much fiction where there's a satisfying resolution. Sometimes there just isn't a good ending or easy answers.