Review - Dance of Souls by Audrey Kalman

This novel starts with the story of Amy, a sculptor and Zach, a student; a mother and son introduced to us just as the son is running away from home.  Throughout the book we are introduced to a public school science teacher whose finding of God causes drastic changes to his previously monotonous life; a documentary film maker and his assistant; a police officer; a Muslim woman; a school principal, a spoiled rich kid; and several others.  All of these characters at first appear to have lives that have no connection to each other, but as their storylines unfold all of their lives begin to weave together.  With characters of all ages and backgrounds, storylines running from the mundane to the curious and exciting, I think just about anyone could find something in this novel to touch them in some way.

It was, however, painfully obvious to me from the very first page that this is a self-published novel.  I literally lost count of all the typographical errors, grammar blunders, punctuation problems, missing words, and over-complicated, incorrectly structured sentences that riddled this novel.  All of these are issues that even a novice editor would have noticed and marked for correction prior to publication, and I couldn’t help but think that surely the author must have known someone with a love for the written word and a little remembrance of high school English class that could have reviewed this novel for her prior to submitting it to the public.

As if the editorial issues didn’t make this book hard enough to read, the author had a habit of moving back and forth in time in a manner that I found to be somewhat confusing and definitely annoying.  In addition, her attempts at foreshadowing were extremely blatant and often stated outright exactly what would happen several chapters later.    Quite a few of the many main characters in this novel were poorly defined leaving the reader confused about their actions and reactions.  The storylines, while basically very good, often lacked definition, and were not brought to enough of a close at the end of the novel for my comfort.

 All of these issues made the book a little more difficult to read than it truly needed to be.

I have, since finishing this book, discovered that this was the author’s first published work.  I think this novel could be an extremely good read and would be a great sell if it were a little “cleaner”.  It was obvious that the author has a fantastic imagination and is actually quite a skilled writer; what she desperately needs is an editor to help work out some of the kinks.

Review - Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

I have not read Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, so I cannot speak to the similarities mentioned by other reviewers of this book, but I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I find Sarah Addison Allen's writing style to be deliciously easy to read with just enough descriptive detail to tell you what you need to know without wasting precious trees on pages of superfluous narration.

Her story of the Waverly sisters is woven with just enough wonder and magic to make it slightly reminiscent of a good old fashion fairy tale without being overladen with supernatural themery. The characters are all a bit quirky, but they are all presented in the author's easy-going light-hearted manner that make them so very loveable and interesting!

While the individual storylines involve real-life trauma and turmoil, the author manages to maintain a light and easy feel throughout the book. Topics that could easily be made into a darker and more foreboding tale are instead presented in a lighter, less overpowering context to allow the positive intentions and inner strength of her characters to shine.

Set in the small town of Bascom, North Carolina, the Wavery family has long been considered by their neighbors to be unusual. Waverly family members are special lot: guardians of a seemingly sentient apple tree; weavers of magical culinary dishes created from their own garden; psychicly intuitive gift givers; hair stylists with a knack for bringing out hidden qualities in their clients with the snip of a scissors.

A light and easy read, I would recommend Garden Spells to just about anyone!       

Review-Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

I don’t know what possessed me to read this book.

It is true that I am a fan of vampires and other supernatural beings; both from the standpoint of their historical place in mythology and superstition as well as their place in modern fiction and film. It is also true that I am a fan of just about any kind of history, be it documentaries on my favorite nerdy television stations, biographies from the library or historical fiction. Still, I am surprised that I actually paid for and proceeded to read a tome with a title as hokey as: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter; and by an author of another book with the equally, if not even hokier title of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!

But I did. I downloaded the kindle edition, and by the end of the first chapter this history-loving fan of mythology and the supernatural was entranced!

The book is skillfully written in the form of a biography, complete with a multitude of first-hand accounts from Lincoln’s personal, albeit fictional, journals; which conveniently happened to fall into the hands of the author. It is never fully explained why the giver of the journals chose the author as the one to receive them, turn them into a biographical account of Lincoln’s life as a vampire hunter and then share the story with the rest of the world. This was the first of a few items of unexplained convenience/coincidence that left me a bit disappointed at the end.

In general I enjoyed this book. The author did a fantastic job of weaving a relatively believable vampire conspiracy into the historical facts of Lincoln’s life story and political career. Yes, I said believable, please allow me to clarify. That would be “believable” in the context of what one might consider to be realistic behavior by an unrealistic being. I do believe that if vampires existed the behaviors they exhibited in this book would most certainly be a viable behavior pattern for them to adopt, or attempt to adopt in order to survive alongside the non-vampire majority.

For those of you less thrilled with the whole vampire genre of fiction and film that has again become so popular in recent times, don’t discount this book because of its hokey title or its vampire content. You will not be bored with drawn out descriptions of vampire attacks, blood sucking vampire lust, or the turning of humans into vampires. In writing this book as a faux-history it is almost as though the author did not want to glorify the vampires or give them any chance at some sort of romantic empathy on the part of the reader. There are an amazingly small number of descriptions of vampires attacking humans and those that did find their way into print are written in a very matter of fact manner as if they were only included in the tale because of their great importance in the life Lincoln.

On the flip side of the story and as an amateur history nut I was quite impressed with the amount of research the author did to ensure that the non-vampire related aspects of the “biography” were accurate and historically founded. There were times when history was bent a bit to allow the vampires to fit a bit better, but overall the history in the story was enticingly accurate.

The writing style made an easy read, the research made it a believable read, and the content made it a fun read. There were however a few ends which I felt were tied up a bit too loosely or too conveniently; and the ending, which I will not reveal here, left me wanting for just a few more details. However, overall I enjoyed the read, and if I can get past the titles, I may even read another book by this author!

Photography: Harbor Point Yacht Club, West Alton Missouri

The Book of Awakening: January 3

The Book of Awakening:   Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have … by Mark Nepo

January 3

“Each person is born with an unencumbered spot – free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarrassment, free of fear and worry – an umbilical spot of grace where were each first touched by God.  It is this spot the Psychologists call Psyche, theologians call it the Soul, Jung calls it the Seat of the Unconscious, Hindu masters call it Atman, Buddhists call it Dharma, Rilke calls it Inwardness, Sufis call it Qaib, and Jesus calls it the Center of our Love.

To know this spot … is to know who we are … by feeling our place in relation to the Infinite and by inhabiting it.”

I have been very conscious of this unencumbered spot my entire life, it has exerted a pull on both my conscious and unconscious mind for as long as I can remember.  From my earliest childhood I have always had an acute awareness of this spot and endeavored to identify its nature.   This is not to say that I am on a higher spiritual level for this awareness and all of my endeavors.  Quite the contrary, I spent most of my life battling with myself in this spot,  in fear of what I would find if I spent too much time in that spot, in fear of having to recognize all the unskillful means I had employed throughout my life, in fear of the changes I knew I would be compelled to make if I seriously listened to what I already knew.

My entire life has been a spiritual journey, with “spiritual” being defined as “in relation to my personal relationship with and to the Universe”.  Again, this is not to be interpreted as any kind of evidence that I am a highly evolved spiritual being; I may be more evolved spiritually than some,  but I am most definitely less evolved spiritually than many others.  It simply is meant to relate the fact that I am very aware of both my spiritual growth and my spiritual shortcomings.

In the reading for January 3 the reader is asked to reflect upon two things she enjoys doing that make her feel the most alive, the most connected to this unencumbered spot, and to further reflect upon what these two things have in common that produce this feeling.

I had three things come to mind almost immediately: meditation, awareness/communion with the natural world, and doing for others.  It is during the practice of these things that I feel the most alive, the most connected to the unencumbered spot within me, the most connected to the Infinite.

At first these things appeared to have little to nothing in common with each other, but upon further reflection it soon became abundantly clear what traits they share.  In the course of all three of these activities I lose, to varying degrees, my sense of self as an individual.

When I meditate, and I am by no means a master of this art, I have brief moments of complete clarity.  During these moments of clarity I no longer feel confined by or attached to my physical form.  I no longer feel confined by or attached to my mental formations, my thoughts.  I no longer feel confined by or attached to the other beings in my life.  I no longer feel confined by or attached to the physical and natural world around me. Likewise, I no longer feel detached or separated from my physical form, my mental formations, the other beings in my life, the physical and natural world around me.  In those little moments of clarity I am one with all, but not defined by any. 

I have moments of this same clarity when I truly commune with the natural world and simply let all that nature has to offer engulf me.  In these moments, whether I am walking down a city street picking out the sound of the birds chirping and leaves rustling in the wind amid the sounds of traffic; or whether I am deep in the forest totally engulfed by nature with the sounds of civilization too far away to hear, I encounter that same sense of oneness.

Likewise when I am doing for others I have the same experience.  Even simple acts such as getting a cup of coffee for my love can, and more often than not do, bring me to that unencumbered spot, to a place of oneness, peace and understanding.

It is my belief that what these things have in common is not as important as what I bring to the proverbial table when I participate in these activities.  I fully believe that this sense of clarity, this oneness can be achieved regardless of what I am doing; it is merely a matter of practice.  When I participate in these particular activities I expect to experience this awareness, and I do achieve this awareness (to varying degrees and for varying lengths of time) because I have practiced doing so.  If I want to experience this awareness more often and for longer periods of time, I need to practice more often.

Meditation, for me, is the means of practice that has yielded the most consistent results and allowed me to experience this awareness, this oneness on a more frequent basis.  However, I do not practice as regularly as I once did, and I have become a bit stagnant on my journey to full awareness, enlightenment.

I have, over the past couple of years, allowed myself to get distracted from my goal by my own mental formations/thoughts, and to stray from my practice.  The exercise of reading this book and reflecting upon all that it asks of me is one of the methods I am using to help get myself back in the habit of a regular spiritual practice. 

Photography: Nag Champa

I have always enjoyed photography, and am trying to spend more time in creative mode.  Here are some images I took today, just a few in a series called Nag Champa.

The Book of Awakening: January 2

The Book of Awakening:   Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have … by Mark Nepo

January 2

“It’s such a simple thing, but in a moment of ego we refuse to put down what we are carrying in order to open the door.  Time and time again, we are offered the chance to truly learn this:  We cannot hold on to things and enter.  We must put down what we carry, open the door, and then take up only what we need to bring inside”

I have been spending the past few days meditating on what it is that I need to let go of in order to breach any of the thresholds upon which I currently find myself.  I have found this to be a much more difficult task than I expected.

While reflecting on this I couldn’t help but notice some small irony to the fact that when it comes to material possessions I do not hold on to anything.  I am the complete opposite of a packrat, giving away or throwing away all but the most necessary and/or prized possessions.  I have very little attachment to 99% of my personal belongings.  Apparently, however, I am extremely attached to my non-material possessions, most of which are nothing more than excess baggage weighing me down and holding me back!  I have to laugh at the stupidity of it all!

I seem to be so attached to the things I should be letting go of, that I can hardly allow myself to consider the mere possibility of putting them down for even a short moment!  Why am I emotionally attached to my self-doubt and insecurities?  So attached, that thinking about leaving them behind fills me with defensiveness and a dread that just makes no sense!?!?

I clearly need to reflect on this one a bit more …