The Winter Vault, Anne Michaels
Although, the novel is somewhat reminiscent of her other fictional masterpiece, “The Winter Vault” is interwoven in such eloquent, passionate, and beautiful language that reading it almost seems like an intrusion to the melancholic, isolated, and beautifully flawed characters. Due to a move, this book took its sweet time to get to me, but the wait was well worth it. Michaels’ voice is ebullient, richly evocative, and still manages to be self-deprecating at times.
Burning Bright, Tracy Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier’s latest foray into the yesteryear is a quietly affecting journey of two mismatched youths into adulthood. Burning Bright portrays the Kellaway family subsequent to the loss of their middle child to tragedy in rural Dorset. At the outset of the novel, the Kellaway family is on an arduous journey to settle in late 18th century London and begin anew.
Soon after, they move in next door to the revolutionary painter and poet extraordinaire William Blake and his loving wife. Burning Bright juxtaposes the budding friendship of young introvert Jem Kellaway with the sassy and street-smart London girl Maggie Butterfield with their exploration of the poet’s illustrious and now famous poetry collection Songs of Innocence and Experience which the fictionalized Blake bases on his interactions and impressions of the young protagonists. As usual, Chevalier paints a lush historical background which infuses intricate and enriched visual imagery and makes the ordinary characters come alive with beautiful vigour.
Midnights with the Mystic: A Little Guide to Blissful Living, Cheryl Simone and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
In Midnights with the Mystic: A Little Guide to Blissful Living, Cheryl Simone illustrates the Indian spiritual guru’s teaching and philosophy in beautiful undertones. Unlike previous publications espousing Sadhguru’s workshops and teachings, this book is devoid of too much jargon. Instead, her personal experiences and struggle to simply embrace the mystical and mythical are welcoming elements to cynical readers.
Perhaps this reader needed to be truly ready to embark on her spiritual journey which would explain my hesitation if not utter rejection of Sadhguru’s ideals in the past. In fact, I recently read Sadhguru’s Encounter the Enlightened which enabled me to understand the self-actualized teacher’s history, purpose, and enlightened morsels of truth, but it has taken several years and fierce rebuttals for me to arrive at this juncture where I am more accepting and certainly open-minded.
In Midnights with the Mystic, Cheryl Simone presents morsels of profound spiritual teaching in an inviting and humble manner. Through her experiences, this reader was able to drop her pretenses or cynicism and embrace mystical thoughts which she may not always reconcile with as much as accept how they co-exist in her own rising consciousness. Through introspection, I have come to realize that spiritual enlightenment is more intertwined with my personal nature, thoughts and desires than I would have cared to admit. Indeed, my ongoing quest for slow living, voluntary simplicity, and meditation will slowly but surely lead me back to my solitary sanctuary away from the madding crowd and their sentimentalities.
New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle’s latest guide to spiritual living has proved to be a phenomenal success on the usual bestseller circuit thanks partly to the Oprah Book Club seal of approval which in turn has led to the pioneering webinars that millions of people have already participated in and Christian critics and foes alike have ceremoniously bashed.
The predecessor to Tolle’s current chef d’oeuvre, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, was an instrumental tool, a guide to living one’s best life right now. In fact, I eventually read Tolle’s The Power of Now with glee (after picking it up half a dozen times) because it captured the inner turmoil I had long been feeling about my inability or unwillingness to live mindfully, full of awareness, and always in the present.
As discussed elsewhere, I have often found myself significantly melancholic about the past and always weaving dreams and tales of the future. In other words, I scarcely live in the moment. Whereas The Power of Now was difficult to infuse enthusiasm in the reader and was full of jargon, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is remarkably easy to understand and it captures the reader’s attention and imagination so thoroughly. Indeed, Tolle has cleaned up his writing and the words, ideas, and pages flow into one’s mind and consciousness. It is like having a leisurely conversation with the spiritual teacher.
Since childhood, I have been seeking inner peace and struggling to balance the demands of societal mores and demands against my personal values and desires. Indeed, my precocious curiousity for the unknown and the other and my existential thought processes have gradually led me to seek something more. In a world fraught with struggles to make slow and simple living more than a fad or a mantra, I think Tolle’s simple and sublime teachings are echoes of our subconscious thoughts and desires. It is time we honour them and bring them alive instead of being a prisoner to our worries, paranoid thoughts, and being captive to endless noise and prattle without knowing how to be still and seeking our true selves instead of seeking them in the next relationship, the next adventure, the next job before we end up disillusioned, disappointed, and blame outside events and triggers for what is merely an imbalance of our very selves.
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle
In my case, I wanted to embrace Tolle’s The Power of Now mostly because it seemed that I could benefit from his teachings in order to live more in the present. During most of my adult years, I have found myself significantly melancholic about the past and always dreaming of the future. In other words, I scarcely live in the moment. At the outset, The Power of Now proved to be slightly uninviting and interwoven with too much techno-spiritual jargon. . . for the five times that I attempted to read it. Nevertheless, I picked it up once again on the week-end and found myself identifying with Tolle’s enthusiastic and succint prose which can be a bit off-putting to the uninitiated. Unlike most self-help gurus, Tolle has a humbling presence and his self-deprecating mannerisms speak well to me.
In particular, The Power of Now does not preach to the masses regardless of what the blogosphere seems to conjecture. In my humble opinion, Tolle provides the spiritual, psychological, and quasi-academic tools to enable everyone to see the truth that already lies within us. Indeed, my keen observation and analytical skills were interlaced with Tolle’s teachings. As a young girl, I was quite introspective and over the course of my reading, I was struck how in tune I was to the concepts Tolle was prothelizing because they were echoes of my own thoughts and observations which have lay dormant recently.
In The Power of Now, Tolle is resolute to wake us up from our collective stupor and emotional numbness with a particular focus on our intrinsic psyche and problems. Indeed, in this society where personal responsibility is a dead concept it is a lesson well-learned for all of us. In fact, Tolle’s teachings are reminiscent of the late Father de Mello’s spiritual blatherings in the posthumously published Awareness. Both teachers set out to remind us to be truly present and mindful in our lives which is the most beautiful lesson that we should heed in these tenuous times that we live in.
The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
“Pooh?”, he whispered.
“Yes, Piglet?”
“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw.
“I just wanted to be sure of you.”
As a lifelong Winnie the Pooh fan, I was delighted to count The Tao of Pooh among my most recent reads. In an almost serendipitous fashion, The Tao of Pooh has enabled me to further my quasi-spiritual journey of books. Indeed, I have been exploring the state of my Ego and inner truths lately, learning to meditate in an effort to revert to a slightly more relaxed and more mindful mindset.
In this particular case, the author beautifully transports the reader to A. A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood to meet Pooh, Piglet, and friends who are illustrated in a Zen light which enables us to draw the greatest life lesson of all: childlike innocence and simple living are essential elements to a life worth exploring and savouring without the artifice of pretension nor world weary experiences.
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction, J.D. Salinger
In comparison to Salinger’s other work, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction slightly disappoints with its lackluster plot and overwrought observations. On the other hand, I relished the ubiquitous narrator Buddy Glass’ overflowing sprint down memory lane. In both stories, the eldest surviving Glass child attempts to elucidate the long departed Seymour’s quirky traits, intelligence, and his actions before almost jilting his soon to be young widow on their wedding day on a hot, sweltering New York day.
Despite a lukewarm welcome among bookworms and critics alike, this reader lovingly warmed up to Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction partly because the elusive Buddy’s narration holds such promise, providing snippets of Glass family anecdotes which almost makes the reader feel like a fly on the quasi-alienated overachieving family’s living room wall with all their dysfunctional warts itching to break free.
Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger
Franny and Zooey, originally published in New Yorker magazine as two distinct short stories, consists of two more or less loosely connected stories concerning the spiritual unraveling and emotional upheavals of college student Franny Glass in 50s New York. Both stories are part of an ever growing non-linear saga about the quirky, artistic, and manical Glass family whom discerning readers may recall meeting in A Perfect Day for Bananafish (1948), Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenters (1955), and finally in Seymour: An Introduction (1959). In Franny, Franny Glass is on her way to meet her preppy Princeton boyfriend, Lane Coutell, for a week-end of football matches and other frivolities. During dinner, Franny’s snappy banter turns to an overwrought meltdown which would be a precursor to her all-encompassing spiritual crisis that gradually unfolds in Zooey.
In Franny and Zooey, Salinger’s introspective protagonist embarks on a journey of self-discovery that marries religious fervour and social antipathy in equal measure. Despite popular opinion, the author’s masterpiece A Catcher in the Rye and this title were not nor are they meant to be interpreted interchangeably. Unlike the former masterpiece, the characters that inhabit the self-titled Franny and Zooey are prone to existential crisis of a more personal nature. Whereas Holden Caulfield has a corrosive chip on his shoulder, Franny Glass’ inner conflict is of a more metaphysical nature despite her dissatisfaction with the art of being genuine as explored in her drama classes and plays.
Interestingly enough, my reading material has recently consisted of spiritual guides that have for the most part served to alleviate the discontent that I have been feeling lately. However, I was almost disheartened to discover (via Google) Salinger’s allegedly fanatical indoctrination of Eastern religions which may have heavily influenced his family life and hermit behaviour. Oddly, I was disconcerted because idle suppositions about the legendary writer’s spiritual beliefs and behaviour may have superseded or influenced my unbiased view and analysis of Franny’s own exploration of her self.
Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger
Nine Stories has all the undertones of that classic Salinger off-beat, retro stamp and it is often overshadowed by A Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey despite being a small masterpiece in its own right, but I was apprehensive about picking up the short story collection all the same. It is rather silly to hold on to a writer’s more established and acclaimed work and not venture out to slightly unchartered territory specially when this reader realized that it was not quite unchartered territory for her after all.
Moreover, it feels strange to revisit Salinger’s unique world not merely because his eclectic turns of phrases and marginalized characters make the reader yearn for the yesteryear and a world gone by, but it is also an odd contrast to modern literature and life. Salinger’s oddball, somewhat hostile, and always beautifully vulnerable gang struggling in a pedantic and square world have an immense cultural significance. Indeed, the Rockwellian undertones of Salinger’s pen feels slightly uncomfortable to today’s discerning viewer. In this day and age, intimate friendships and conversations between precocious children and adult men are seen as unnatural if not immediate cause for alarm which is a poor, poor reflection of our society and its crumbling mores. Salinger understands and treats young adults with dignity and serious aplomb which is quite bittersweet and worth revisiting if only to reclaim our own displaced sense of wonder and childlike innocence.
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Our Lady of the Lost and Found, Diane Schoemperlen
Unlike other Canadian novels of its genre, Our Lady of the Lost and Found is a profound and quietly affecting gem that does not produce ennui or restlessness. Despite her critics, Schoemperlen produces an entrancing tale which begins with a window to a writer’s solitary yet comfortable life and routine in Anyville, North America (although the author betrays her Canadian roots at the outset of the novel) and leads to a series of spiritually sumptuous moments that begin with the arrival of the Virgin Mary at the narrator’s doorstep (rather at the foot of the fig tree in the living room).
In Our Lady of the Lost and Found, Schoemperlen juxtaposes the nameless narrator’s ordinary life and daily preoccupations with a brief albeit rousing history of the Virgin Mary and her apparitions throughout the past two millenniums. Indeed, Schoemperlen’s gem of a novel is not riddled with a defining plot or particularly thrilling or resonating events in the course of its denouement. Then again, this bookworm does not object to a slow paced book that unfurls a delightful narrative which interweaves faith, science, and the frailty of the human mind and psyche with amazing attention to detail, pathos and humour.
Schoemperlen displays an effacing and quasi-self-deprecating sense of humour which makes the dreariness of a quiet existence come alive in vivid shapes and colours. In reading Our Lady of the Lost and Found, one is drawn in quietly towards the germination of the story of the protagonist’s life which rings surprisingly true to the quiet existence of this particular reader’s reality. In some way, one cannot help feel a slight forbearing of things to come which was oddly comforting to me. Schoemperlen’s protagonist recognizes romantic (dis)entanglements in her youth as foolish mistakes and ruminates over yesterdays and used-to-bes yet all the while being fully appreciative of the current of her life with some dignity.
Some readers and critics admonish Schoemperlen for the ambivalent role that religion and faith play throughout Our Lady of the Lost and Found. Is it a work of fiction, a compilation of historical narratives, or a tentative recollection of the writer’s hallucinatory visions of the Virgin Mary? In my opinion – it does not matter. As an agnostic who struggles with her wavering faith, the narrative was blissful in that it enabled the character of Mary to intersperse humourous anecdotes with wry intelligence and field questions on the conflicting role that religious fervour and spiritual apathy have in modern society. Millions of people across the globe firmly believe in their faith and hold true to their tales of apparitions and miracles. After all, these fascinating debates on the role of unwavering faith is sorely lacking nowadays despite the rising influence of spiritual gurus and their teachings.
A House for Mr Biswas, V.S. Naipaul
During his 46 short years, Mr Biswas has always struggled to seek and define his sense of self but to no avail. A House for Mr Biswas is V.S. Naipaul’s gripping and satirical tragicomedy of errors which is quite reminiscent of Gogol’s portrait of harried and desperate characters. Early in life, Mr Biswas is proclaimed to be “born the wrong way and thrust into a world that greeted him with little more than a bad omen” and shuffled from one frail and crumblng house to another, from one set of relations to another, always threatened with instability and ridicule. Hence, Mr Biswas has attempted to be self-sufficient, carve out a modest living, and shape his own destiny away from the cloying purse strings and meddling influence of his treacherous in-laws.
During my frenzied reading, I felt my literary sensibilities bursting with such fervour. As an ardent bookworm, I have always associated the art of reading with the will to live, the desire and willingness to savour life’s bittersweet moments. Indeed, my reading hibernation ended with the gradual bloom of Spring. In fact, A House for Mr Biswas recalled to mind my Indiophile tendencies which had been laid to rest for quite some time. Through the sometimes comical, witty, and the quietly desperate Mohun Biswas, I found myself reclaiming something of myself. Indeed, the character of Mr Biswas felt like a kindred soul who, like me, has spent almost a lifetime carving out a distinct identity which struggles against calamitous and trivial events alike time and time again.
The Wrinkle in Time Quintet, Madeleine L’Engle
It all started with L’Engle’s classic children’s tale A Wrinkle in Time. At the time, my curiousity was kindled because L’Engle’s masterpiece was instrumental in an old lover’s youth and I wished to familiarize myself with this muse of sorts. Years later, I bought A Wrinkle in Time and got hooked. Soon followed A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters. Before I knew it, I was immersed deeply in this fantastic, whimsical, and avant-garde series of children’s adventures. It has been several months since my ardent travels through the Murry family’s space and time travels concluded yet I feel just as excited as ever. The award-winning L’Engle has encompassed wonder, filial love, and adventure in the series which shall continue to resonate with kids across the globe for generations to come.
Métaphysique des tubes, Amélie Nothomb
The Paradox of American Power: Why the World’s Only Superpower Can’t Go It Alone, Joseph Nye
Nonetheless, Nye presents his hypothesis in a comprehensive fashion which serves the reader (and non-academics) to warm up to his thoughts and hopefully, to partake the author’s poignant advice. Overall, Nye believes that the U.S. should be mindful of emerging economic scions and to employ isolationist and unilateralist policies only as a last-chance measure. However, there are times when his point of view becomes almost simplistic, particularly when the author attempts to justify the Bush Administration’s unequivical denouncement of the Kyoto Protocol. All in all, Nye’s eloquence and pertinent framework would be well-placed to be the catalyst for many fiery political debates and discussions.
A Natural History of Love, Diane Ackerman
I Know This Much is True, Wally Lamb
The Virgin Blue, Tracy Chevalier
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J. K. Rowling
At the time, I read the first four books again in a matter of days – I was eating, sleeping, and reading Harry Potter and nothing else. It was funny to see, actually, a 27 year old so excited about devouring these books. It took me another month to get to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but once I started this particular tome, I had to purchase Rowling’s latest, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in order to read them without interruption. In fact, I read them in a two day period in which time I was completely sleep deprived. In retrospect, the fifth and sixth are my absolute favourites and, like every ten year old, I am eager for the seventh book and conclusion to the series.
When I was growing up in Beirut, I did not surround myself with children’s fantasy. Instead, I was a precocious child who avidly read classical literature. Of course, I read and cherished the ubiquitous fairy tales and novels that are geared for children, but I never read some of the books penned by, say, Dr. Seuss and C.S. Lewis or some such “famous” children’s literature. Instead, my childhood was spent in the loving (and sometimes agonizing) care of Stevenson, Zola, Dumas (père), May Alcott, and others. Therefore, it is no surprise that I find myself reveling in Harry Potter. . . it is like reclaiming my childhood at times, while I am sure I take immense pleasure in exploring the magical world of Hogwarts as an adult who still possesses a healthy dose of childlike innocence.
