Leaping From The Box

I have finished several books and neglected to post reviews about any of them. So here are some short reviews of what I have been reading lately.

Flying Crows, by Jim Lehrer

Did you know that Jim Lehrer, the PBS News Hour anchorman, is also a fiction author? I didn’t, so I was surprised to learn that Lehrer has written over a dozen fiction books. Flying Crows concerns two mentally ill men who are inmates in a mental institution in the 1930s and a present-day cop trying to unravel their interwoven stories. Lehrer writes good dialogue and has a real feel for the mid-west, particularly Kansas City. Flying Crows was a quick and enjoyable read, although not necessarily mind-altering or deeply memorable. I would definitely read another of Lehrer’s novels if it were to drop in my lap, but I likely will not go out of my way to find another one.

Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey

I used to say that I did not care for fantasy and I still do not care to read about non-human characters or worlds that do not resemble our own. Kushiel’s Dart is fantasy, with human characters and a setting that is almost, but not quite, European. Kushiel’s Legacy is an epic trilogy (think Tolkein), that revolves around the trials and tribulations of its heroine, Phedre no Delaunay. Carey weaves a masterful plot in Kushiel’s Dart, creating memorable characters and provides plenty of good dialogue and rousing action. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and could not wait for book two, Kushiel’s Chosen, to become available used, so I went out and bought myself an early Christmas gift.

Word of caution: Kushiel’s world revolves around a religion that has one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. With that rule, you can expect some very adult sexual themes to occur throughout the book. While Carey does not become explicit when dealing with these sexual themes, the reader has a very good idea of what is occurring, and it is not your usual “vanilla” situations. So if a book with a non-Christian religious theme and sexual topics bothers you, you might wish to skip this series.

On Becoming Fearless in Love, Work, and Life, by Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington is an author, political commentator and owner of the Huffington Post, a very popular blog. I first became aware of Huffington when she ran for governor in California several years ago, but had never read any of her books. Huffington wrote this book for her daughters when she realized that they were being negatively affected by societal messages. Those messages, from media, from well-meaning friends and relatives, and even from ourselves, often cause women to live their lives fearfully, cautiously, slowly losing confidence in themselves and their abilities. Huffington relates stories and anecdotes about her life and other women’s lives, showing by example ways to become fearless. I am not sure what I expected, certainly something more than inspirational anecdotes, some concrete exercises or actions to take, but there were none of those. Overall, while the messages were inspirational, I did not really feel that my time was well spent reading On Becoming Fearless.

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman wrote one of the weekly “rah-rah” letters for this year’s NaNo participants, reassuring us that we could reach our 50K writing goal. Not ever having read any of his works, I took a chance and requested one of his more popular titles from PaperbackSwap. I will say one thing for Gaiman, he created some memorable characters in American Gods, ones I am not likely to forget right away. The plot, too, was memorable, although I did figure out two major plot twists about two-thirds of the way through the book, which disappointed me. While it was difficult to put down American Gods until I finished it, at the end I was left with that familiar post-Christmas “is-that-all-there-is” feeling of disappointment. And a vague wondering “what was the point?” of reading this book. I think I will reserve judgement on Gaiman until I read another of his books … if I read another one. There are just too many authors out there that I wholeheartedly enjoy to read more by an author that I was so-so about.

I know I said there would be four book reviews, but I thought I would throw in a bonus and add the book that I am currently reading.

Iguana Love, by Vicki Hendricks

I have not finished Iguana Love yet, but already I can see that I will not be recommending it to anyone. It is not a genre I usually read (Amazon lists it as a “Mystery & Thriller), but that really is not the problem. The characters just are not engaging me in any way. I am about half way through and I really could not care less what happens to anyone in the book, let alone wonder how it will end. I need a book with memorable characters, either those you love or those you love to hate. This has neither. What does it have? Ramona, who lives in southern Florida and who kicks out her husband because she is bored with her life. She goes deep into debt in order to take diving lessons. She has sex (and it does get explicit) with any breathing male that appears before her, or for that matter, behind her! Of course, she does not like the nice guy but goes for the dark, seedy guy who seems ready to involve her in drug running. I will finish the book, but only because it is a short book and I would like to see if it improves, even just a tiny bit. Given my current feelings, though, I doubt I will read another book by Hendricks.

I recently read a topic on Amy’s Live, Learn, Knit blog titled What Brings You Joy? In her post Amy mentioned a book she had read, Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer, which I have added to my “must read” list. During this past week’s marathon NaNo writing, I found myself often distracted from my story and thinking about joy. I began to wonder what the difference was between joy and pleasure, since I could easily think of many things that brought pleasure to my world, but not so many things that seemed to bring joy. So today I looked up the words “pleasure” and “joy” online and found an explanation that suited me at Dictonary.com.

Pleasure, enjoyment, delight, joy refer to the feeling of being pleased and happy. Pleasure is the general term: to take pleasure in beautiful scenery. Enjoyment is a quiet sense of well-being and pleasurable satisfaction: enjoyment at sitting in the shade on a warm day. Delight is a high degree of pleasure, usually leading to active expression of it: delight at receiving a hoped-for letter. Joy is a feeling of delight so deep and so lasting that one radiates happiness and expresses it spontaneously: joy at unexpected good news.

So what does bring me joy?

My first thought was writing, but writing is not always joyful or even pleasurable. It can be difficult, painful and emotionally revealing, none of which brings me joy. Writing is something that I have to do, like breathing and eating. It is a rare day that I do not write something, whether a blog post, an email or a letter to a friend (sometimes those are even handwritten!). It does not matter to me whether anyone reads what I write or not. The possibility of an audience is not why I choose write.

Reading also comes to mind, but again, it is more of a need I have, like an addiction to caffeine or nicotine. A day is not complete if I have not had my daily fix of word input and output, reading and writing.

Crocheting gives me pleasure and satisfaction. I find it relaxing, soothing. But crocheting does not give me joy. The act of giving a crocheted item away, knowing that it will be used and appreciated by the recipient, that gives me joy. I never really understood why we needed to save an item that someone had made, pass it down from generation to generation, never to be used. To me, the value of the item is in knowing the person who created that item. If I did not personally know great-grandma Tilly, I am not going to value something made by her nearly as much as I am going to value something made by my Grammy. And so it brings me joy to know that items I have made and given to others are actually being used. That was the reason I made them in the first place!

Here is a picture of the baby afghan I made for my niece’s new baby boy:

Knowing that Aiden’s older brother loved his afghan and carried it around with him for several years gave me great joy. I hope Aiden enjoys his half as much.

Here is another thing that gives me joy:

Copper has taken to sleeping on laptops and computers. When it was ninety degrees and better outside, she preferred sleeping out on our balcony all day long. But when cooler temperatures came in September, she ceased wanting to go out on the balcony and now sleeps away the day on top of laptops or any other computer she can find that is running and warm. Anyway, just seeing a cat gives me pleasure, but having one (or more) of my own that I can interact with gives me joy.

Photography brings me joy. Amy mentioned photography and art in her post, too. Unlike Amy, I have never been interested in the darkroom and developing of pictures. What I love is the hunt for a good subject, the art of framing the subject and the sense of accomplishment I feel when I capture a moment in time. That gives me joy, knowing that I have saved some essence of “now” that can easily be recaptured in the future simply be looking at the picture.

My children, of course, bring me moments of joy. Their individual births were three such moments. Add to that my granddaughter, Miss Munchkin; I was lucky enough to be present at her birth and one of the very first to hold her. Miss Munchkin brings me joy almost every time I see her. There is just something about a toddler who is happy and curious and loving that is joyful, especially when she is related to you.

I feel joy when we hit the road for a road trip, whether it is just a day’s jaunt somewhere or a vacation. There is something truly joyous about leaving behind the every day world for a bit and looking forward towards possible great adventures. And I feel joy every time I step onto a beach. Hearing the waves crashing onto shore and the cry of the gulls, feeling the heat of the sun through the sand on your bare feet, the smell of the salt spray, it all fills me with joy. Oh, and the skirl of bagpipes bring me joy. If ever I were to come across bagpipes being played on the beach while I was walking barefoot with my granddaughter, my heart would likely burst from experiencing too much joy all at once.

Amy’s post talks a lot about finding joy in your work or rather work that you find joyful. I know this is the goal of many unschoolers, to find a way to turn their passion into a career. That is a great goal, although I know few that have been able to truly realize it. The only possible work-related thing that brings me joy is being able to find answers and resources for others. I love to research; I love to hunt for the perfect gift, for the perfect book, for that needed quote or just the right word that will complete a project. I think that is why I continue with my website, since HTML and web design certainly does not bring me joy. On the contrary, many days it fills me with stress and frustration. But I love to know that a resource I have reviewed or something I have written has provided an answer to someone’s quest. That brings me joy.

So, what brings you joy?