icepatton's world-ending fire

I'm still new to the site and not sure how I'm supposed to use these forums, so please bear with me. (Does having a clever title win me any points?)

I don't have a set list of things to read this month or this year (I'm not that organized). But here are a few books I've been reading recently:

Not Even Wrong by Paul Collins

As someone on the spectrum, I'm interested in what non-autistic authors have to say about autism and neurodiversity. And I'm pleased that Collins has done his research and invites us to consider the complex relationship of non-autistic parents with their autistic children. And it just seems that he genuinely cares about his own autistic son. Well-written and enjoyable so far.

The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins

Just a neat history book that interests me as a Christian raised as a WASP but disillusioned by the barren landscape of Christianity in the West. I had no idea there was such an extensive community of Christians in countries that today we tend to associate with Islam. Interesting to compare and contrast the Christianities of that time and relate them to the religious landscape of today.

Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i by Hokulani K. Aikau

My literary attempt to follow up on my visit to Hawaii with my wife last year. We were newlyweds and traveled to Hawaii to meet some of her friends and celebrate our marriage together. Going into Honolulu, however, I had never seen such a stark contrast between the glitzy tourism and high-rise buildings and houselessness and poverty in the streets. I was vaguely aware of the history of Hawaii leading up to this visual clash (the ridiculous real estate situation and such) and before going there I had heard about the work of Haunani-Kay Trask in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. And this book serves as a kind of bridge between the places I visited on Oahu and the unsettling history of the islands that writers like her present for those of us concerned with social issues. This is also just a good read for those interested in indigenous histories.

I tried the first book and didn’t care for it - i was interest in his son but not the wild child from the 1700s. The other two sound very interesting.

Definitely kudos for your thread title, and I'm glad you are jumping in.

Speaking of Hawaii, did you happen to read the NPR story a day or two ago about Marc Benioff buying up hundreds of acres around Waimea on the Big Island?

>3 labfs39: Thank you. I checked out that article just now and it doesn't surprise me. Apparently, some other rich a****le has the whole island of Lanai for himself. The book actually touches on this aspect of capitalism in Hawaii, with the people of Molokai offering an interesting counterexample.

>2 dianeham: Thank you. I understand what you mean. I was unsure at first whether he would be focusing on the wild child for the whole book, but fortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. I don't get the sense that he is comparing his own son or other autistic kids to the wild child, but he makes it a point that scientific speculation over the phenomenon of autism could go as far back as that.

>5 icepatton: maybe I should have stuck it out a little longer.

>6 dianeham: It's worth a try!

Welcome. Hawaii is a complicated place. The lost history of Christianity sounds quite interesting too.

>1 icepatton: Hi, hope you find some good books here. Chancing upon your post today I see you are interested in Hawaii. I’ve never been there’d but remember being fascinated at high school when I read Hawaii by Michener. I suspect it’s probably shallow in today’s terms, but it was a big read for me at the time.

I look forward to following your thread.

>8 dchaikin: Indeed! I was blown away by the cultural diversity when I first visited. Definitely a lot more going on than meets the eye. Have you ever been to Hawaii?

I admit I'm not that far along into The Lost History of Christianity, but it looks promising.

I am also new here.

>9 kjuliff: Thank you for your encouragement. I'm afraid I haven't read anything by Michener, but it's interesting to note that Hawaii was published the same year Hawaii became a state. It seems like a good read even now!

>11 LilahFoster: Hello! Welcome.

>9 kjuliff: Michener’s Hawaii gets beaten up by critics with any cultural sensitivity. And, of course, he put entertainment over accuracy. I haven’t read him in ages and I haven’t read his Hawaii novel. But I would hope that readers kept that in mind if they were to read him now.

>10 icepatton: just a week-long family vacation on Maui. A fantastic week. But I didn’t see many Hawaiian residents…

But it led to some great reading. I have this collection, Island Fire: An Anthology if Literature from Hawai’i edited by Cheryl and James Hardstad from 2002. If you like literary stories and poetry, and you can find a copy, I can heartily recommend it. It goes into many aspects on Hawaiian life, including poverty and cultural variety and history.

>14 dchaikin: I was about 12 when I read it in Australia so would not have picked up on the negatives. I remember my mother telling me he was a rubbish writer but I can’t remember the reason she gave. Of course I would know now.

Hi, icepatton! Rich asshole ideology AKA capitalism is burying us all indeed, but as long as the comfy people stay comfy that's OK.

I had no idea there was such an extensive community of Christians in countries that today we tend to associate with Islam.

Well, mostly there WAS--the trend is to ever decreasing populations, although one shouldn't underestimate that Christians punch above their weight in the Near East, for instance in Lebanon and Syria (although the exodus is particularly intense from the latter). If you're interested in these communities in situ, especially those still extant in the Maghreb outside Egypt, now would be the time to visit.

>14 dchaikin: Thank you for your recommendation. I'll check it out.

I only saw Oahu when I went. I will definitely have to visit the other islands, though.

>16 LolaWalser: Hello, LolaWalser. Yes, that makes sense. I believe Jenkins will address the current situation farther along in the book, but I'm not sure. What got me interested in the book is the mystery surrounding artifacts like the Xi'an Stele in China.

Like many other users, I suppose, I have used Goodreads as well as LibraryThing to organize my personal library. I only have access to digital copies of most books I've read at this point, but I dream of acquiring the physical copies of all books I read and putting up a real bookshelf in my room.

Anyway, I guess I ought to present what I have read on a yearly basis, since the importation of items from Goodreads has totally flattened my numbers.

Starting with last year, here are things I've read, apart from children's books (I teach kids English in Japan, and use those books mainly as teaching materials), in no particular order:

ー2023ー
The Japanese Linguistic Landscape by literary scholar Susumu Nakanishi
Disability and the Church by autistic pastor Lamar Hardwick
Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety, an anthology of writers from New Zealand
Letters to a Young Teacher by public education activist Jonathan Kozol
Local Geography by Hawaiian writer Dennis Kawaharada
Shinto Meditations for Revering the Earth by philosopher Stuart D. B. Picken
The Anatomy of Loneliness by anthropology professor Chikako Ozawa-de Silva
Boundless Deep and Other Stories by writer and translator Gen Del Raye
The New Leviathans by philosopher John Gray
Bright Green Lies by writers Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Max Wilbert
The View from Breast Pocket Mountain by writer and columnist Karen Hill Anton
Meiji Revisited: The Sites of Victorian Japan by architecture historian Dallas Finn
Reading Zen in the Rocks by art historian François Berthier
Delight in One Thousand Characters by calligrapher Kazuaki Tanahashi
Japanese Buddhism: A Cultural History by scholar Yoshiro Tamura
The Outnation: A Search for the Soul of Japan by author and journalist Jonathan Rauch
Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture, a companion piece to an exhibition curated by Takashi Murakami
Japanese Popular Culture and Globalization by history professor William M. Tsutsui
The Story of Buddhism by scholar Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Zen and the Birds of Appetite by Trappist monk and theologian Thomas Merton
Catching the Light: The Entwined History of Light and Mind by physicist Arthur Zajonc
Celtic Christianity: Ecology and Holiness by Christopher Bamford and William Parker Marsh
Essay on Man and Other Poems by poet Alexander Pope
Standing by Words by writer and activist Wendell Berry
How to Write about Africa by journalist and author Binyavanga Wainana
Fire Flood and Plague, an anthology of writers from Australia
A Poet's Bible & An Educated Man by Biblical scholar David Rosenberg
The Man They Wanted Me to Be by writer and political commentator Jared Yates Sexton
Reports from the Zen Wars by philosophy professor Steve Antinoff
Letters from Montreal, an anthology of writers from that city

>1 icepatton: Greetings and welcome to the group. Regarding autism, I was wondering whether you had any opinions about/insight into the book NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman. It's been on my shelf waiting to be read since it was published. Mostly it's received a lot of acclaim but another LT member who identified herself as having autism expressed some reservations a while back.

>19 icepatton: what a wonderful year you had.

>20 rocketjk: Thank you for your welcome. And that's a very good question. To be frank, as someone having to come to terms with autism and my own experience of autism, I have sought to learn as much as I can about what other autistic writers have to say about their own experiences and, to a lesser extent, what their non-autistic allies have to say about autism in general. This is because it's been crucial for us autistics to drive home the point that we do have a voice. As helpful and illuminating as Silberman's book seems to be, I haven't read it simply because, given the choice between someone like Paul Collins or Temple Grandin and Silberman, I would choose the former. Do you see what I mean?

>21 dchaikin: On a personal level, it was a rollercoaster! This year is looking to be a lot smoother...

I’m definitely partial to smoother. Glad you’re having a better year

An addendum to my previous post, here is a list of books I read in 2022. Although my cumulative list goes back well into my college years, the past two years of my life in Japan are illustrative of my current interests for LibraryThing.

ー2022ー
A Disability of the Soul by anthropologist Karen Nakamura
Loud Hands by autism rights activist Julia Bascom
On the Spectrum by autistic Christian writer Daniel Bowman, Jr.
The Greek East and the Latin West: A Study in the Christian Tradition by author and translator Philip Sherrard
What Are People For?, Blessed Are the Peacemakers, and Life is a Miracle by writer and environmental activist Wendell Berry
New Woman New Earth by feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Reuther
The Reason for God by pastor and theologian Timothy Keller
Wrestling with the Prophets by priest and theologian Matthew Fox
Listening to the Land, Thought to Exist in the Wild, and Dreams by writer and environmental activist Derrick Jensen
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Orientalism and Occidentalism by writer and translator Robin D. Gill
Dancing in the Margins by Catholic writer Kathy Coffey
Fifty Sounds by translator Polly Barton
The Christian Century in Japan, 1549-1650 by historian C. R. Boxer
The End of Solitude by professor and cultural critic William Deresiewicz
The Nutmeg's Curse by novelist Amitav Ghosh
Engaging the Powers by Biblical scholar Walter Wink
Japan: The Paradox of Harmony by Keiko Hirata and Mark Warschauer
Running on Emptiness by anarcho-primitivist author John Zerzan
Whose Bible Is It? by Christian scholar Jaroslav Pelikan
The Man without a Face by journalist Masha Gessen
Every Human Intention by journalist Dreux Richard
The Emptiness of Japanese Affluence by professor Gavan McCormack
A Brain for All Seasons by neurobiologist William H. Calvin
Weapons of Mass Instruction by schoolteacher John Taylor Gatto
Silent Voices: People with Mental Disorders on the Street by psychiatrist Robert L. Okin
Modern Japan: A Social History since 1868 by professor J. E. Thomas
Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist by writer and columnist Baye McNeil
Jesus and the Disinherited by theologian and civil rights activist Howard Thurman
Chrysanthemums and Thorns by journalist Edwin M. Reingold
God is Red by Native American rights activist and professor Vine Deloria, Jr.
Facing the Wave by poet and travel writer Gretel Ehrlich
Climate Wars by military historian Gwynne Dyer

I love lists. This is another fascinating one. And again all new to me. The only author i’ve read is Ghosh.

>26 dchaikin: Ghosh is a fine novelist. I remember reading only a couple of his novels, though. What do you think of his fiction?

I've read three of Ghosh's novels and enjoyed them. I have The Nutmeg Curse, but haven't read it. What did you think?

>27 icepatton: i read Sea of Poppies. Honestly, i was mixed on it. But it had enough to keep me interested in him. The glossary was fantastic.

>28 labfs39: I mean, I first read The Shadow Lines for a literature course in college, then read The Circle of Reason on my own out of curiosity. Joseph Conrad's short novel, "The Shadow Line," apparently has something to do with Ghosh's novel, but I forget what it was. What drew me to The Nutmeg's Curse was something completely unrelated, I think: the fact that Ghosh comes from one of the regions in the world most vulnerable to climate change. So the book has a personal side to it, but Ghosh uses his skills as a storyteller to make the subject more palatable, I guess.

>22 icepatton: ". . . . given the choice between someone like Paul Collins or Temple Grandin and Silberman, I would choose the former. Do you see what I mean?"

Absolutely. That makes perfect sense to me.

Re: Ghosh, I read The Glass Palace several years back. I thought that the writing was strong throughout but that the plot could have used some tightening.

>31 rocketjk: I actually thought The Glass Palace is one of Ghosh's weakest books. People tend to sleep on The Calcutta Chromosome - of his early books, that one is much better.

>32 rv1988: I thought about reading that one after finishing his first two novels. Is it set in Kolkata?

Here are some books I have read or finished reading this year with some thoughts for the interest of other readers:

So Can You by lawyer and speaker Mitsuyo Ohira

Were you bullied in school? Even to the point of contemplating suicide? You should read this book. Not only did Ohira survive horrific bullying in junior high school and a suicide attempt, she now prospers as a lawyer, a profession notoriously hard to get into in Japan. With its extremely high hurdles, admittance into law school was something Ohira studied for as if her life hung in the balance. With the encouragement (and sometimes admonishment) of friends and family, and despite a lack of education beyond junior high school, she forced herself to study and won against seemingly insurmountable odds. As the title implies, the message of the book is, essentially, you too can survive and thrive, to get revenge on your bullies not by putting them down, but by going that extra mile farther than them.

Who Can Stop the Wind? by theologian Notto R. Thelle

Those familiar with Thomas Merton or D. T. Suzuki may be interested in this small book about the author's experiences as a missionary in Japan, a historically Buddhist country. The title comes from a saying by the legendary temple founder, Kūkai, which Thelle likens to the words of Jesus in John 3:8, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes." Thelle's unconventional approach to faith and missions allows for an open mind that is notoriously absent in mainstream churches. Why would a Christian missionary want to participate in Zen meditation sessions, or use Buddhism itself to pique the interest of Japanese people in the message of Christianity? These are questions that Thelle grapples with in an attempt to bridge the cultural gaps between Japanese Buddhism and his own Protestant tradition.

American Zion: A New History of Mormonism by historian Benjamin E. Park

It was refreshing to come across this title after a lot of searching on my part for books about the contemporary LDS church, most of which seemed dated to me. I was able to learn a lot of history from Park in this book and could tell he spent years researching the subject as well as reflecting on his own LDS background. I've always been interested in the LDS church, having grown up with Latter-day Saints as neighbors and classmates. I would say this is a good book for understanding the contemporary LDS scene as well as the fraught relationship of Latter-day Saints with other religious and political groups in the US.

>34 icepatton: Nice reviews, Corey, you make all three sound interesting.

>35 labfs39: Well, thanks. I hope it's not going to be just me tooting my own horn.

>36 icepatton: I'm not sure what you mean. I'm enjoying your reviews, even when our reading doesn't overlap. If you are looking for more traffic on your thread, you might post a few teasers on the What are You Reading? and Nonfiction threads with a link to your review here. Also, there are a lot of lurkers who read threads, but rarely comment unless they have something particularly cogent to say.

>33 icepatton: Hello! And yes, it is set in Kolkata and New york City. It's not like his other books; it's a blend of historical fiction and sci-fi (it won the Arthur C Clarke Award in 1997). Loosely, it's based on the work of scientist Ronald Ross, who helped with discovering ways to treat malaria. Ross was actually born in British-occupied India: he was educated in England and returned to India where he identified the mosquito that carries malaria, which helped in treating and preventing it. Ghosh's book is about a modern day data tech who is trying to investigate the disappearance of a colleague who was obssessed with Ross; in the process, he discovers a wild conspiracy.

I read this book when I was much younger, so I'm not sure how well it stands the test of time. But I do recall liking it more than The Glass Palace.

>37 labfs39: OK, I understand. I really do appreciate the advice!

>38 rv1988: Two of my favorite cities - similar cities in many respects, Kolkata and New York. I’ll have to res it now.

>38 rv1988: Thank you for sharing. Epidemiology seems to be one of the themes of the book, based on your description. I'll check it out.

Other books read this year so far:

Kūhaku & Other Accounts from Japan, a collection of essays and stories

Admittedly, this is an obscure title among the many anthologies of writers on Japan, but I'm such a book nerd I was able to find it by refining my search on a certain web archive (it turns out that browsing a publisher's back catalog is a useful way to discover lost gems). There's really not much for me to say about this particular anthology; it's just simple, straightforward reporting and commentary by various writers that, unlike what is commonly sold at bookstores, doesn't retreat into a silly fetishizing of Japan at the expense of one's own cultural heritage (no disrespect to pioneers like Lafcadio Hearn). I wouldn't recommend this book as an introduction to Japanese culture, however; it seems geared more toward readers with less gratifying views of Japan.

Legends of Nara by Kenji Inui

Another obscure title, but one that stood out to me as I visited the English book section at a public library in Osaka. Just a neat collection of folktales about one of my favorite places in Japan, Nara. This would be a good read for people interested in Japanese folklore.

Flowers, Birds, Wind, and Moon: the Phenomenology of Japanese Culture by Seigo Matsuoka

This book seems to fulfill the task of "explaining Japanese culture to the ignorant masses" in the only way that makes sense to meーthe culture as something rooted in nature and expressions of nature, without the imperative of industrial civilization to separate "us" from "them," or Japan from the rest of the world. Although it doesn't take a PhD to understand that Japanese history stretches back into hunter-gatherer days, it takes a historian's sensibility to show just how Japanese words themselves have been used in many ways to express the wonders of nature.

Matsuoka aptly sets the tone for the book with the title, which comes from among the various 4-character compounds used in Japanese to express complicated themes in a pithy manner. That is, the compound 花鳥風月, pronounced ka-chō-fū-getsu, is used to express the artist's and poet's reverence for nature, as embodied in the four phenomena of flowers (with their transient beauty), birds (with their graceful movements and song), wind (with its invisible force), and the moon (with its otherworldliness). Matsuoka touches on various subjects when exploring these phenomena, to the point of him losing focus here and there, but this would be a good read for those interested in Japanese culture.

Are you familiar with this book? A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations by Pico Iyer. He was born in Oxford to Indian parents but he live in Nara.

>43 dianeham: I haven't read it, but I know about Iyer. I'm not sure where he's coming from when he writes his books (as you say, he is Indian-British but lives in Japan), but I think with him that's the whole pointーbeing content with not belonging to any particular country and traveling freely. I can't say I agree with that sentiment, but he has a certain authority based on real-world experience that I respect.

>44 icepatton: He’s lived in Japan since 1992 and his wife is Japanese.

>45 dianeham: You're absolutely right. Maybe he considers Japan his home after all, but I would say his definition of home and belonging is complicated.

Living Life As It Comes: Post-Disaster Reflections of a Zen Priest in Fukushima by Gen'yu Sokyu

I'm not sure why a Japanese publisher of English translations of books like this one wouldn't also make the e-books available outside of Japan. JPIC International has produced some very fine English books about Japanese history and culture that deserve more attention, but I digress. Living Life as It Comes was on my radar for a while, owing to the fact that my wife lost her home in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan, and because the Buddhist response to disaster has interested me as a Christian. Surprisingly, Sokyu doesn't say very much about what happened in the region as a result of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear debacle, but he nonetheless invites readers to consider with him the philosophy of letting go of the self in order to experience life more richly, which is something he professes as the head priest of a temple indirectly affected by the disaster.

Something tells me, however, that even if his entire temple and community were lost, his vivacious tone wouldn't change much. He seems to have a level head on his shoulders as he relates the comings and goings of visitors to his temple as well as his thoughts on contemporary Japanese life (with some very cute drawings by the illustrator!). It doesn't seem like he is trying to draw attention away from the suffering and misfortune of Tohoku residents by spending much of the time writing about things unrelated to the disaster. That said, readers shouldn't expect to learn very much about Fukushima in this book; it's more like a celebration of the little things in life that bring us joy despite adversity.

>47 icepatton: I'm not sure why a Japanese publisher of English translations of books like this one wouldn't also make the e-books available outside of Japan.

I'm not sure why either but copyright licensing is a complicated mystery. BTW, did you see the message in Interesting Articles about Japanese ebooks that are being made available to US and Canadian readers? I immediately signed up. I hope there are some good selections.

>48 labfs39: That looks to be right up my alley. I actually have Libby on my phone but misplaced my American library card... I'm glad I can still use the app to see what books the Japan Foundation has to offer, though. Thanks!

Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber

I put this book on hold for a while due to the density of its content, but it's a very interesting approach to economic history, and Graeber was a brilliant researcher. I can't say I'm now more able to explain economic theory, but I think the importance of the book comes from Graeber's response to a more philosophical question: what does it mean to pay our debts? I find myself asking as I read the book, what do we owe each other? How does our understanding of debt affect our relationships to each other and to life on earth? How has our attachment to money shaped civilization? And, as Graeber invites us to ponder, given our present economic woes, what are the alternatives? A very good read to understand the kind of world we live in and also to imagine what is possible.

>50 icepatton: I should read this book. I’ve been telling myself that for several years now.

>51 FlorenceArt: >50 icepatton: Same! Perhaps this review is the inspiration I need to pick it up.

>52 rv1988: I'm flattered!

>51 FlorenceArt: This book would be a good introduction to Graeber's bibliography, I think.

Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i, an anthology of essays about indigenous Hawaii

In this book, you'll learn not only Hawaiian history as it ought to be toldーnative Hawaiians are still alive today and have stories to tellーbut about topics taken up by scholars elsewhere (for example, the ancient method of navigation used by Polynesians to settle Hawaii and the islands of the vast Pacific). This book is also, as the title suggests, a multi-staged detour from the tourist traps of Waikiki or the Disney Aulani Resort for readers to get a less commercial and more respectful image of the Hawaiian Islands, which, as Kekuewa Kikiloi points out in the final essay, are by no means limited to the inhabited islands but include the chain of smaller islands lying northwest, with each having equal cultural and historical significance to native Hawaiians as does Mauna Kea (the subject of Iokepa Casumbal-Salazar's essay about the observatory controversy) or Pūowaina, a.k.a. Punchbowl Crater (the subject of Noenoe K. Silva's introduction to the site and its environs).



It was fascinating to read about the ambassadorial voyages of modern-day navigators on the double-hulled canoe Hō'kūle'a to other indigenous communities across the world (in Linda H. L. Furuto's essay) and to learn more about the places I visited with my wife last year, particularly those in Honolulu and elsewhere on Oahu (the subject of numerous essays). I admit that I was just another tourist when venturing through one of the seemingly hundreds of ABC Stores or buying my fashionable Hawaiian shirt at the Ala Moana Center, thereby contributing in some way to the imperialist project on the islands, but now I understand more clearly how Hawaii can't be reduced to the pancakes at Eggs 'n Things or hula dances at the Polynesian Culture Center. I tend to follow the herd when traveling to new places, but reading books like this one has been a check on my prejudices toward others, which includes our non-human relations as well as the landbase.

>55 icepatton: Detours sounds like a lovely book to read before venturing back to Hawaii (if I ever get to go). I've been twice (to the Big Island and to Kaua'i). I wish I had read something like this before going so that I could have appreciated it even more.

>56 labfs39: It's nice to hear that you went to different islands. I would like to go to the Big Island myself to see more of nature (volcanoes and such).

>57 icepatton: There was active lava flows when I was on the Big Island in 2000. We hiked out at night to better see it and the vibram souls on my hiking boots melted! There are also the petrified trees, black and green sand beaches, and Waimea where we went horseback riding with a guide. Three distinct regions (volcanic, rainforest, and grasslands). Kaua'i was even more lovely, although we did lower key hiking as at that point we had our three-year-old daughter with us.

>58 labfs39: Wonderful! What a fun trip that must have been for you all.

Not Even Wrong By Paul Collins

In this heartwarming book, Collins shows that parenting an autistic child can be a wild rideーin the best possible way. While interjecting bits of his daily interactions with his son, Morgan, he goes on a journey to different parts of the world to uncover the embattled history of autism research, doing so in a way that doesn't detract from the love and concern he has for Morgan back home. Even when telling the story of Peter the Wild Boy, he does so not to suggest that feral children were autistic, or that autistic children are like animals, but as one of many episodes in his quest to understand how caregivers regarded children who were singled out by society, and for us to understand the possible routes that autism research throughout history has taken. Collins presents such cases with a grace and self-awareness that I respect and, as an autistic, I imagine him being a good role model for Morgan and for other guardians of autistic children. Collins even points to some sources at the end of the book for the benefit of readers wanting to learn more about autism.

>60 icepatton: I had read a negative review of this one, but you make it sound interesting. I might try it and see how it goes.

Getting Wet: Adventures in the Japanese Bath by Eric Talmadge



This is a book for people who like a good long soak in the bathtub at the end of a long day, albeit with a view from Japan. Talmadge was a journalist tasked with covering the story of Japanese bath culture, even adding reflections of his own as a long-time resident of Tokyo. Readers will learn a bit about the science of bathing, or balneology, as well as the history of bathing in Japan. The issue of public nudity at Japanese bathhouses and hot springs is a hot topic, since Talmadge wrote as an American from a culture that has long lost its toleration of the sight, what with the decline of the Roman baths and the rise of puritan values in the West (though he does address the contemporary scene of nudism). Overall, I think this was a good bookーnot amazing, but decent.

Obey, Not Know: Essays on Japanese Law and Society by Colin PA Jones

I wish I had known about this book a lot sooner. Very informative and plain-spoken, with a tang of sarcasm and cynicism. Although it is quite a demanding read for someone unfamiliar with law, Jones does a wonderful job of laying his subjects bare in a concise essay format. I would say this is a rare instance of an expert (in this case, a lawyer) describing the foibles of Japanese society in terms that anyone can understand (that is, not just other experts and their hangers-on). Touchy subjects like child abduction and Japanese war crimes are featured in these essays and Jones treats them all remarkably well, I think. A good read for anyone interested in international law.

Be Smaller than Flowers by disabled artist and poet Tomihiro Hoshino

It is important that I mention the author being disabled because he makes no bones about the fact that he lost the use of his arms and legs in an accident, yet is able to use a brush in his mouth to paint the beautiful pictures of flowers that grace these pages, and to write down his thoughts about life and Christian faith. He makes it clear that his disability doesn't disconnect him from the world but rather draws him closer to nature and to a better understanding of his own place in God's design. I truly admire his example as a fellow Christian and would recommend this book even for its aesthetic value.

>63 icepatton: It's not specifically my field, but this sounds fascinating. I looked up the author, and his dissertation looks even more interesting. I'll keep an eye out for it, as I understand it is being prepared for publciation right now.

>64 icepatton: What an intriguing title, as well!

>65 rv1988: Thank you for your comment.

I decided to put The Lost History of Christianity on hold. Its tone is getting bleaker than I anticipated, but it is still a fascinating history. Some other books I've put on hold for whatever reason (likely, the fact that still other books are more captivating):

All the Weight of Our Dreams by various authors

This book was very expensive, even as a used book at the store I visited while on vacation in Hawaii (nearly $60!). Both its size and its rarity seem to be factors in the pricing. The book itself is an interesting conjunction of anti-racist and anti-ableist polemic from autistic writers who not only identify as people of color but as non-binary in some instances. I see this book as fostering a discussion of neurodiversity and the need for autistic people to be recognized for their hard work and capacity to feel despite racism and other forms of bigotry. A good book so far, but quite dense and incisive.

Capitalism: A Ghost Story by Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy

My attention easily drifted to other books upon reading the first part of this book, because I think Roy is trying to say what I have already heard many other writers say: capitalism is bad. The only thing left for me to learn, I think, is just how badly capitalism and imperialism have affected Roy's country of birth, as it is an important region of the world to understand when it comes to the disparity between rich and poor that capitalism enables. I'll get around to reading the rest of the book because I know that Roy is a good writer (she did win the Booker Prize after all), but it is not that high on my to-read list.

No Man Is An Island by Trappist monk Thomas Merton

I'm not sure why I started this book, to be honest. Maybe it was because I read Zen and the Birds of Appetite that I became more interested in Merton's worldview. This book feels a bit dated to me, though its words about faith and suffering still resonate. I hope I can get through it soon enough because Merton is one of the few Christian writers I can relate to.

I admire Tomihiro Hoshino, but also, whoa. I don’t think I could get through Arundhati Roy’s book either. I agree with you, we all probably already know most of the issues.

>68 dchaikin: Right. I suppose it would be a good read for someone unfamiliar with the issues.

Poems of a Mountain Home by itinerant Buddhist poet Saigyo (selected and translated by Burton Watson)



After reading this selection of poems, I think I finally understand how a poem should be read. A skillfully written poem (or at least in its most terse form) seems to be one that negates the poet's presence entirely and brings up only the impressions of the words themselves for the reader. In other words, the poem takes up universal themes like love or ambition and the skill of the poet lies in using words that capture one's own sentiment while leaving things open to interpretation. For example, here is one of Saigyo's many poems about natural phenomena in the book:

Take a good look:
even the blossoms
of the old cherry seem sadー
how many more times
will they see the spring?

This poem only makes sense if readers know that the Japanese cherry blossom only blooms for a few weeks in the spring. This leads to the feeling of melancholy that pervades the poem, as Saigyo attaches his own feelings of sadness to the cherry tree, while it is indisputably the nature of the cherry tree to shed its blossoms quickly, even as people take all the time they can to admire themーand this keeps happening every year to the point of one wondering how such a beautiful flowering tree could put up with it (again, having been invested with human sentiments).

The message of the poem, of course, is that as humans we want the beauties of nature to last forever because we always look for hints that a better world is possible. We see things in the world that clash with our deep-seated awareness that one day we will die. How could our lives be so brief, yet cherry blossoms so beautiful? This is the kind of question put to readers in this fine volume.

The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English by Mark Abley

This book seems to be addressed to people of my generation (i.e. those who dabbled in the world of MMORPGs as kids and listen to hip hop as adults). It's funny that World of Warcraft, Japanese culture, and hip hop all happen to be touched on in the book, as these reflect my own background. However, I'm not sure how Abley's research compares with the work of other professionals on the subject of language change. It just seems he is spreading himself thin in these chapters (the one about cyberspace in particular had me scratching my head). There are just too many potential routes to take and I'm not sure Abley took the best ones, though it was wise of him to devote a chapter to speculative fiction, where prescient authors like Orwell and Le Guin make an appearance.

Some great NF reading here! I'm one of those Lisa mentioned who doesn't really comment unless I have something specific to say, but I'm enjoying your reading choices.

The Saigyo collection sounds terrific and I enjoyed your comments and perspective. (Although the “should” in your 1st sentence feels too strong a word for reading poetry, which generally doesn’t adapt well to restrictions. 🙂)

>73 dchaikin: Thank you for your comment. I use should because I otherwise struggle to understand the impact that written poetry has on people. It's because I believe the form is meant to be spoken or performed, as in hip hop or battle rap. But in this case, the brevity of the form is such that the impressions of the words themselves are rather striking.

>72 lisapeet: Thank you for tuning in, Lisa. I honestly struggle to keep up with other users but still feel it necessary to keep a journal of sorts.

Sun at Midnight: Poems and Letters by Musō Soseki

I was expecting more from this book. While the biographical introduction was very good, I had a hard time getting through the poems and sermons without footnotes. The notes at the end of the book didn't reveal very much of what I had read in the poems. Thus I wonder who the intended readership is. Not very illuminating of who Musō was as a Buddhist gardener and poet but rather his seemingly sequestered worldview.

19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei by Eliot Weinberger



I first heard about Weinberger a long time ago from the linguistic blog, Language Hat, which is still going strong the last time I checked. And not long after that I read The Ghosts of Birds with fascination. Weinberger has come up again recently in my readings of Buddhist nature poetry, and it seems 19 Ways is his most well-known piece of textual criticism. I didn't know who Wang Wei was before reading this, but I had known about the difficulties of translating Chinese poetry.

As the title implies, Weinberger presents 19 different translations (and ten more in this updated edition) of one of Wang Wei's poems in different languages (mostly English) up to the present. He bases his criticism of these translations on his own reading of Wang Wei's text as a translator himself, which yields a fascinating discussion about the limits of interpretation (I myself am drawn to the works of Burton Watson among those cited in the book). This would be a good read for aspiring translators or anyone interested in Chinese poetry.

>77 icepatton: This sounds fascinating. I'm adding it to my list. I do enjoy reading about translation itself - especially multiple versions of the same poem.

>77 icepatton: I agree with Rasdhar, this sounds very interesting ! I follow Language Log very sporadically but not Language Hat. Too many blogs, not enough time!

>79 FlorenceArt: Thank you for your comment. What literary blogs do you follow? I'm interested.

>78 rv1988: I appreciate your comment.

The Question of Palestine by Edward Said

I reckon that if there were ever a time for me to read this, it would be now. I remember reading Orientalism in college and enjoying it. I also read several books by Chomsky addressing the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Given the current situation, it is frightening to think of how the world is going to look in the next decade or so. Although this book is now decades-old, it seems proper to refer to Said, an ethnic Palestinian and accomplished scholar, to better understand the nature of the beast.

>80 icepatton: No literary blog I’m afraid, and the few blogs I "follow" I tend to visit very rarely.

>82 icepatton: Frightening, indeed. Your comments reminded me that I haven't reviewed The Hundred Years' War on Palestine yet.

>83 FlorenceArt: I see. By the way, have you heard of Futility Closet? You may like it just for its quirkiness.

>84 kidzdoc: Thank you for your comment. I've been wondering about that book. I look forward to your review.

>85 icepatton: No, I had not. Quirky indeed!

>85 icepatton: Futility Closet is great. They have an audio version now, as well.

A is for Aloha: A Hawai'i Alphabet by U'ilani Goldsberry

Since my first trip to Hawaii last year, I've been trying to find more books to read about the culture and history of the islands. I came across this neat little book while searching for titles about Hawaiian foodways (more on that to come). It seems to be an accurate representation of the life of the islands and the illustrations are nice. I'm glad this book is part of a series featuring alphabets of all US States. Being a North Carolinian, I will be sure to read T is for Tar Heel next.

Wildlife by Eliot Weinberger

I'm not sure how Weinberger rates among other translators and essayists, but he seems to have made a big impression in literary circles. I like how his essay collections take readers to various parts of the globe, presenting various subjects with a "Did you know?" kind of vibe. He also has a wit that I think keeps readers interested in his research, no matter how all-over-the-place it may seem. I get the impression from books like this one of a well-seasoned traveler and storyteller.

I haven't read the previous collections mentioned at the start of the book that comprise the essays therein, but I like how they are strung together under the encyclopedic theme, "Wildlife." There are snippets about birds and longer essays about mammals. There are camels and rhinoceroses and sea cucumbers. There are stories of indigenous peoples, cultural exchanges, and imperialism. Animals are somehow involved in the various dramas of history. It is wise of Weinberger to insert statistics here and there to draw attention to the fact that many animals have gone extinct and many more are in danger of extinction. Indeed, there seems to be a little bit of everything in Wildlife for the adventurous reader.

T is for Tar Heel: A North Carolina Alphabet by Carol Crane


_{No, this is not going to be an endorsement of stock car racing.}

Since coming to Japan, I've understood the importance of knowing where you come from and the knowledge of who you are and what you can do that this entails. I realized that as someone teaching English, I need to know more about English literature and the part of America I come from, not just for my own benefit, but for the people I meet from other walks of life. Reading the essays of Wendell Berry, who is actually from Kentucky, did a lot to point me in this direction. I learned from him how even if one lacks an elite education and is unable to move up in the world, the character one has and one's sense of propriety toward the landbase are what gives a person integrity.

As a North Carolinian, I can't say I know very much about my own state beyond its gallery of symbols (the cardinal is the state bird, the sweet potato is the state vegetable, and so forth). Or maybe I should say I don't know much about the history of the state, which was among the original Thirteen Colonies and, as this book points out, was the first to vote for independence from Britain. There are quite a few things I learned about in the book, namely the life of Carl Sandburg, but nothing jaw-dropping. Most memorable for me were actually the vivid watercolor illustrations, which remind me of the times I spent as a kid taking art lessons.

The selection of icons for this state alphabet is decent enough. I just found myself wondering as I read: what about the Cherokee or Lumbee tribes? What about pulled-pork barbecue? What about the farmer's markets and festivals? While such things reflect my own understanding of North Carolina's heritage, there are plenty of representative images in this book for those unfamiliar with the state (NASCAR being a strangely fitting choice for the letter Z, under which racecars are seen to be zooming under a checkered flag). Overall, not a bad book.

A is for America: An American Alphabet by Devin Scillian

The last book to round off my selection from this fun series of books featuring all the US states (I may read more of them down the road). This one seems to present the stereotypical image of America as a nation of all races and genders, where anything is possible and everyone gets along just fineーbut presents it in the best way possible. The illustrations more or less cement this humorous and slightly absurd image for the readerーthe letter P is for Rosa Parks eating popcorn on the bus while watching pilgrims on a ship bound for Pennsylvania; the letter N is for Norman Rockwell painting a picture of Earth on the moon in the illustrious presence of Neil Armstrong of NASA. The idea that this series of books was intended for people of all demographics underscores the celebratory mood of this book in particular, or the idea that the US is "of, by, and for the people." I could almost hear Schoolhouse Rock! tunes playing in the background as I read this. Take it however you will.

A poignant quote as I'm reading The Question of Palestine:

I refer to the plain and irreducible core of the Palestinian experience for the last hundred years: that on the land called Palestine there existed as a huge majority for hundreds of years a largely pastoral, a nevertheless socially, culturally, politically, economically identifiable people whose language and religion were (for a huge majority) Arabic and Islam, respectively. This people—or, if one wishes to deny them any modern conception of themselves as a people, this group of people—identified itself with the land it tilled and lived on (poorly or not is irrelevant), the more so after an almost wholly European decision was made to resettle, reconstitute, recapture the land for Jews who were to be brought there from elsewhere. So far as anyone has been able to determine, there has been no example given of any significant Palestinian gesture made to accept this modern reconquest or to accept that Zionism has permanently removed Palestinians from Palestine. Such as it is, the Palestinian actuality is today, was yesterday, and most likely tomorrow will be built upon an act of resistance to this new foreign colonialism. But it is more likely that there will remain the inverse resistance which has characterized Zionism and Israel since the beginning: the refusal to admit, and the consequent denial of, the existence of Palestinian Arabs who are there not simply as an inconvenient nuisance, but as a population with an indissoluble bond with the land.

Aside from obvious differences in dates and social structures, many passages like this seem to describe the experience of Native Americans in colonial America exactly. Just substitute "Jew" with "Puritan," "Zionism" with "Manifest Destiny," and "Palestinian Arab" with "Cherokee" or "Navajo" or what have you, and I believe one arrives at a correct understanding of how America, as both a country and idea, gained traction. Said's previous work on the phenomenon of orientalism in history and literature suggests that colonialist projects around the world run along the same lines. I'm also just reminded of a quip that a Facebook friend once posted on Columbus Day, "to honor this day, walk into a stranger's house and declare that you now live there."

>93 icepatton: Fantastic quote and comments. This sounds like a book I should read. Even more I would love to read a book that showed a path forward for Palestinians and Israelis. It seems a hopeless morass, but in Apeirogon, which I'm currently reading, one of the protagonists (based on real people) says that peace is inevitable. Who would have thought, he says, there would be an Israeli embassy in Berlin? I see his point, but I know too that sometimes a people is wiped out on the way to a one-sided peace.

>94 labfs39: Thank you for your response. It is a book you should read. I believe showing a path forward is exactly what Said has set out to do in this book, though he starts out by clearing away misconceptions about Palestine and Palestinians (and this takes a while). Peace certainly is inevitable, but as Chomsky once reflected, and I paraphrase, even Hitler wanted peaceーthe question being, on what terms?

Selected Poems by John Keats

I feel like this marks the year when I start reading more English classics seriously. It doesn't really matter to me which period of literature I start with; I believe it's just important that I start somewhere. So I've mentioned Swift's papers before, and I've made some progress to that end. Now I'm trying to get into a collection of Keats' poems, though without really knowing anything about Romantic poetry or Greek mythology. I'm really like a snail when it comes to books like this, but I've already made my choices of what to read (for the time being) and I'm going to get through them all, however long it takes. The unread pages of Crime and Punishment may well continue to gather dust on my shelf, but I've reasoned that when it comes to understanding where I come from as a WASP, I don't need to mind Dostoevsky so much. I believe that once I'm more well-read in my own literary tradition, then I can approach other traditions with more confidence.

I'm nearing the end of The Question of Palestine; it's an eye-opening read, to say the least. The critical eye that Said brings to the situation in the Levant reminds me that I need to continue reading the novel Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif (interestingly, referred to as petrofiction). I'm glad I can better understand the current situation in Gaza by reading Said's book.

>96 icepatton: Did you enjoy Keats? I find myself going back to poets I read when I was younger, and finding a new appreciation for them.

>98 rv1988: Well, I've barely started this collection, but I'm enjoying Keats from a strictly poetic standpoint. There are so many references and allusions to Greek mythology and European history that are lost on me. I may never appreciate the poetry as I could have when I was younger and more impressionable, but I'm still going to treat the writing as wisdom to learn from.

And just like that, a third of 2024 is now over. War is rampaging in Gaza and Ukraine, Donald Trump is still neither dead nor in prison, and I'm still making peanuts as an ALT in Japan. I want to be a writer, but I also need to know what to do about finances. My wife and I tried the lottery once out of curiosity. Sometimes I wonder if we truly believe, despite our Christian faith, that just having enough money is the key to solving all our problems.

Anyway, here is a list of books I have read so far this year:

・Wildlife & 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei by literary critic and translator Eliot Weinberger
・A is for America, A is for Aloha, and T is for Tar Heel in the Discover America State by State series
・Be Smaller than Flowers by disabled poet and artist Tomihiro Hoshino
・The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English by journalist Mark Abley
・Between Heaven and Earth: A History of Chinese Writing by calligrapher Bo Shi
・Obey, Not Know: Essays on Japanese Law and Society by lawyer and professor Colin PA Jones
・American Zion: A New History of Mormonism by historian Benjamin E. Park
・Who Can Stop The Wind?: Travels in the Borderland Between East and West by Protestant theologian Notto R. Thelle
・Kuhaku & Other Accounts from Japan, edited by Bruce Rutledge of Chin Music Press
・So Can You by lawyer and speaker Mitsuyo Ohira

(By the way, I'm not going to make posts about my ratings of books, just as I wouldn't assign an arbitrary value to a work of art, which is disrespectful, in my opinion. I only rate something on LibraryThing based on my level of enjoyment or comprehension of the material, which is what I assume most people on this website are doing anyhow. I don't think anyone should feel that one's experience of a text can be reduced to an algorithm.)

>100 icepatton: 2024 is indeed not going down in the history books as a time of great joy. Nice reading so far though.

As for ratings, I use them to reflect my enjoyment of a book too. So a children's book could rate the same as a classic, despite the obvious differences in substance. My ratings tend to be 3s or above, simply because I will DNF a book I'm not enjoying, and I don't rate them unless I've read the whole thing.

>101 labfs39: I appreciate your comment.

Some other books I forgot to add that I was reading last year but finished this year:

・Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism
・Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i
・Legends of Nara
・Flowers, Birds, Wind, and Moon: the Phenomenology of Japanese Culture
・Living Life as It Comes: Post-Disaster Reflections of a Zen Priest in Fukushima
・Debt: The First 5000 Years
・Getting Wet: Adventures in the Japanese Bath

K is for Kabuki: A Japan Alphabet


_{Helen Keller with her pet Akita dog. I had no idea she had one!}

Another one of those short-and-sweet publications of a series that I actually wasn't expecting though it makes sense: why not introduce an alphabet of other countries? It's a much more risky move than setting out to introduce the 50 states of the US, and this particular series of books, Discover the World, is far from complete (the publisher's webpage shows a lot of letters missing). At any rate, the publishers seem to have started the series with what must be familiar to most readers: other industrialized countries of the First World, of which Japan is one. The alphabet they compiled for this book is as follows:

・A is for the Akita breed of dog, native to Japan
・B is for Bullet Train, or the high-speed rail system of Japan
・C is for Cherry Blossoms (a no-brainer)
・D is for Drama, or the theatrical arts and traditions of Japan
・E is for Emperor, the historical Japanese head of state
・F is for Mt. Fuji (also a no-brainer)
・G is for Ginza, a place in Tokyo known for its high-end shopping and nightlife
・H is for Haiku (of course)
・I is for Island, because Japan is a nation of islands
・J is for Jujitsu or Judo, both of which originate in Japan
・K is for Kimono, a traditional garment worn by both men and women but often associated with women
・L is for Lantern, particularly the paper lanterns adorning busy streets, temples, and shrines
・M is for Manga, Japan's answer to comic books in the US
・N is for Names, which alone may say a great deal about a Japanese person, from the time of year one is born, to the hopes that parents have for their child's future success
・O is for Origami, the art of folding paper into shapes of animals and familiar objects
・P is for Pottery, a time-honored craft with many local varieties and traditions
・Q is for Quilting, or the art of embroidery and stitching used to make snug, durable clothing
・R is for Religion (although contemporary Japanese aren't particularly religious, the country has a colored religious past)
・S is for Samurai (not to be left out of any proper description of Japan)
・T is for Tea Ceremony, in which the preparation of tea is elevated to an artform
・U is for Ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world," a well-known genre of woodblock prints and paintings from the Edo period
・V is for Volcanoes, of which Mt. Fuji is but one
・W is for Wasabi, or Japanese horseradish, often used with sushi and fresh fish
・X is for the Letter that Isn't, or the fact that Japanese does not consist of an alphabet, but of Chinese characters and kana syllabaries
・Y is for Yen, the currency of Japan (don't get me started on the dollar-yen exchange rate)
・Z is for Zen, the rigorous Buddhist tradition that started in Japan

As someone living in Japan, I think this alphabet is pretty good. But newcomers could just as easily replace "Names" with "Ninja" or "Ginza" with "Godzilla." Also, the word for K somehow isn't "kabuki," but "kimono," possibly an editorial mix-up. Overall, not a bad introduction to one of the most visited and studied places in the world.

Something a little different for this post: I'm in Kyoto for the Golden Week holidays in Japan, essentially a long weekend during the first week of May. I visited the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art for a special exhibit about Studio Ghibli films and it was great. Then I went to the gift shop and noticed that Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture was among the books for sale by or about Takashi Murakami and Japanese pop art. Actually, there was a Murakami exhibit taking place on the first floor of the building, while the Ghibli exhibit was upstairs. Although I've been to Kyoto many times, it was my first time at this museum and I had not expected to see Little Boy, which I read last year and enjoyed (though I can't say I'm much of a fan of Murakami's art).

Kyoto is my favorite city in Japan and I go there whenever I get the chance. During my last visit, I went to a large bookstore that featured a whole section of English books, where I came across a newly published translation of Kawabata's The Rainbow. Later on I thought, I like rainbows and I've read several of Kawabata's novels, so why not give it a try? It had been a long time since I last read any Japanese fiction, however. I wish I had more to say about this book as I've only just started it. The last book by Kawabata I read was The Old Capital, which didn't make quite as strong of an impression as did The Master of Go or The Sound of the Mountain, though I remember wanting to read it because the story is set in Kyoto.

This time, I went to the same bookstore and hovered around the "Books On Japan" shelves, coming across titles like Gazing at the Moon, Exploring Kyoto, Making Xavier's Dream Real, and Tales of Moonlight and Rain. Although I didn't end up buying anything, it was nice to see physical copies of books I have read digitally, or anything recently published that caught my eye. This continues to be a reason why I go to any bookstore.

>105 icepatton: Your sojourn in Kyoto sounds lovely! I read The Old Capital recently, and the atmosphere has remained with me, despite my not being overwhelmed by it at the time. I thought I had The Rainbow, but it's not in my LT account. Perhaps it's on my Kindle and I forgot to add it. Talking about Kawabata makes me want to read it.

>106 labfs39: My memory is not so great, but I'm glad to hear you've also discovered his books. I'm curious to hear what kind of place you imagined Kyoto to be when reading The Old Capital. If I remember correctly, Kawabata didn't have much to say about the city itself, but the seasonal festivals of Kyoto serve as a cultural backdrop to the drama in the story. And maybe I'll get around to reading The Rainbow this year.

>107 icepatton: Hmm, from that single book I would say, historical, genteel, quiet, and beautiful. Kawabata talked about the clothmakers district as being rather close-knit and insular. He does spend a lot of time talking about the different festivals, of which I know very little.

>108 labfs39: I see. Thank you for your reply. Festivals definitely play a major part in the city, but there is plenty going on besides. I think it's safe to say that Kyoto is the Zen capital of Japan.

Revolution of Values by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

The religious establishment has long kept me from finding books like this one. I've only read the introduction, but I already know it is going to be a book addressed to me. I'm excited to hear more about the Christianity that inspired Thomas Merton and seemingly Wilson-Hartgrove as wellーa Christianity that truly honors the Gospels and the least of these, therefore taking a firm stand against systems of injustice. And Wilson-Hartgrove is from my home state!

Speaking of Merton, I'm actually getting further along No Man is an Island, which I will have more to say about later. I've been trying to dig deeper into traditions outside the establishment, which has led me to feminist theology (Rosemary Radford Ruether), liberation theology (Howard Thurman and, to a certain degree, Chris Hedges), as well as mysticism (Matthew Fox). Now I believe Wilson-Hartgrove will articulate many points that I have been pondering ever since white Christian nationalists elected Trumpーpoints that I might encapsulate in a question, what has happened to the Church?

The Question of Palestine by Edward Said

Although Said passed away in 2003, perhaps he would be equally dismayed and unsurprised at the turn of events in Israeli-Palestinian relations. It really does seem after all these years, after many political tugs of war, that Israel is intent on wiping all of Palestine from the face of the earth. Now that I've finished this book and seen what has happened for myself in the decades since it was last updated, I'm stricken by the resolve and recalcitrance of Israel to slowly but surely eat away at the edges of Palestinian land until the idea that "Palestinians never existed" becomes the standard narrative. What is happening in Gaza and to Palestinians is genocide. Period.

Not only has Said, a Palestinian, confirmed in this book much of what I had suspected about the current situation, he brings a certain fervor to his writing that suggests for all his life he was fighting an uphill battle. Yet in his astute political analyses and literary criticism, he proves himself an eminent scholar in his own right. I think he follows through pretty well on his intention at the start of this book, which he calls an essay, to be forthright and undeterred on the thorny subject of Palestine, which has been plagued by one misconception after another that he does his best in this instance to dispel for the reader. It's not easy to speak on Palestine in such a cogent and affirmative way as Said has done in this book.

In other words, I don't get the sense from this tractate of a hell-bent political extremist out for vengeance, though there is plenty of indignation in Said's voice over the reality of Israeli oppression and brutalization of Palestinians. No doubt it is a reality he experienced firsthand in the war of 1948, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, including his own family, were driven out of the land or killed by Zionist militants. This is sad history that just keeps on repeating to this day, though it is remarkable how organizations like PLO have articulated coming to terms, even a peaceful coexistence, with Israel over the years, rather than an all-out campaign of extermination of Israelis and Zionists. As Said points out, this is a remarkable achievement given that secular democracy and rational thought are antithetical to the historical Western image of the East, just as Zionism flatly denies the right of Palestine to exist.

So I would say this book has aged quite well, or history just proves to be a lesson that too few people are willing to learn for books like this to ever lose their impact.

Powerful review of The Question of Palestine, icepatton. As you know I read The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance by Rashid Khalidi earlier this year, but I haven't reviewed it yet. Khalidi is, perhaps, the most logical scholar to read after Said, as both men spent much of their academic careers at Columbia, both have strong familial ties to Palestine, and both are very critical of what successive Israeli governments, backed by the UK, the US, and, most disturbingly, other Arab countries, have done to keep Palestine from achieving statehood as it certainly deserves.

Another Palestinian author I'm very fond of is Sari Nusseibeh. I gave 5 stars to his brilliant memoir Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life, and I own but haven't yet read What Is a Palestinian State Worth?

>112 kidzdoc: Thank you for your recommendations! Those look like good choices for reading about contemporary Palestine.

>111 icepatton: Great review of a powerful book. I hope more people will read Said, now especially. I can add a recommendation if you are willing to read a nonfiction comic (not funny - just the art style) - called Palestine, by journalist and artist Joe Sacco, which also has an introduction by Said.

>114 rv1988: Thank you for your comment and recommendation. That puts me in mind of when I read Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers for a 9/11 literature course in college. It was pretty good. Lately, I've been seeing a lot of barbed commentary about US politics from the cartoonist and author Eli Valley (who is Jewish and regularly posts on Instagram). Maybe I'll check out Sacco as well.

>114 rv1988: I too would recommend Palestine. I have been meaning to read his later book Footnotes in Gaza as well. Adding In the Shadow of No Towers to my wishlist.

A Modest Proposal and Other Writings by Jonathan Swift


_{"Scholars of a Lecture," by a contemporary of Swift, William Hogarth, was chosen as the cover art for this book.}

I first read the classic satire, "A Modest Proposal," for an English class in high school, but I didn't appreciate at the time how important Swift would be to my literary education. Now that I've read some other papers of his, published or unpublished during his lifetime, in this edition, I can't say I understand everything I read, but Swift's satirical wit and sense of humor definitely came to the fore. The cover art is also an apt expression of the silliness, foppery, and, to use a word of Swift's, flummery that characterize the writer of A Compleat Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, for example, or the gentleman giving all kinds of ridiculous advice in Directions to Servants. I can see where modern British humor could have taken inspiration as I read this book, which made me think of a scowling Samuel Johnson in a periwig mixed with Stephen Fry. Now that I've seen what Swift can do as a writer, even though I don't know much about British history or the kind of society he lived in, I'll be sure to read Tale of a Tub and Gulliver's Travels next.

The Joys of Engrish by Steven Caires


_{Does anyone remember this meme?}

Another short book about Japan, unfortunately (for readers and for Japanese people, that is). Although I knew about the phenomenon of accessory English in Asian countries before coming to Japan (I hesitate to use the word "Engrish" due to its slightly racist undertone), I didn't expect books like this to actually be published and taken seriously by readers. Reflecting on my experiences teaching English in Japan and encountering the various English phrases put on everything from signboards to T-shirts, I had some trouble understanding what "intellectual stimulation," to use Caires' words, could result from fragmented English that is obviously not intended by the designers as such.

Now that I've read this book, (or looked through it, since it is more of a picture book), I can see what Caires means, but it hardly reveals anything that readers ought to know about the relationship of Japanese people to the English language, or the need for Japanese people to communicate with English speakers. The only message communicated to me in this book is that Japanese people are bad at English, which is unhelpful and not as funny as Caires seems to think. I venture to say that any book with "Engrish" in the title is bound to be a disappointment for people who care about teaching.

>118 icepatton: I'm affronted, and I haven't even read the book. American egocentrism knows no bounds.

Silver Screen Fiend: Learning about Life from an Addiction to Film by Patton Oswalt

On a different note, I added this book to my list after finding out that Patton is a published author as well as a comedian and actor. Younger generations may know him for voicing the main character, Remy the rat, in the 2007 Pixar film, Ratatouille. These are some things I looked up while trying to think of an example to show my junior high school students for a "Write a Fan Letter to a Celebrity" exercise in our English class. I had no idea Patton wrote a memoir, but I've known him mainly for his stand-up comedy. His somewhat morbid sense of humor and sardonic wit are what I'll be expecting to get from this book, in which he relates his fascination with movies and his entry in the film industry.

A Literary Bible: An Original Translation by David Rosenberg

The Bible is a luminous guidebook to our past yet it is put out of reach by colorless professors. At the same time, the broad range of poets who gave voice to the original words has been rendered voiceless by pendantic translations. Reading in a spiritual community may lift a graceless translation, but once, the poets lent us what one critic has called, in the context of soul music, the "spiritual magnitude of the individual voice." (p. 664, "Afterword")

To use a Biblical metaphor, I feel that the scales fell from my eyes as I read this book. What an ambitious project! As for Rosenberg's other books, I have also read A Poet's Bible: Rediscovering the Voices of the Original Text and An Educated Man: A Dual Biography of Moses and Jesus, but this book really hit home with me: I get to thinking more seriously just what I've been missing in contemporary versions of what Rosenberg cites as "arguably the most important work of art in the Western literary canon." Put simply, Rosenberg has taught me that the Bible should be seen as precisely thatーa work of art.

The concluding essays in the book do a lot to explain Rosenberg's motives behind this project and to give us a clearer image of who the Biblical writers were. For example, I'm fascinated by the idea that a woman, referred to mysteriously as "J," wrote much of what we know as the Book of Genesis (Rosenberg actually takes this up at length in The Book of J, which I might read later). While the mystery surrounding the identity of ancient Biblical authors has concerned me as a Christian, Rosenberg (who happens to be Jewish) makes a pretty good case that the authors were part of an extensive literary culture and tradition in their own day, and their work should be approached in the same way we approach the work of any esteemed author in our own culture. In other words, the authors were real people bound by history and society just as we are in our own cultural endeavors. It's just saddening to think of how this sense of history is lost in modern translations and pontifications of the Bible that are spoon-fed to us as children.

To my discredit, I don't know much about Hebrew or any other Biblical language, but it was satisfying to read Rosenberg's translation of Psalm 23, which begins with:

The Lord is my shepherd
and keeps me from wanting
what I can't have

There are many instances of this in the book, where Rosenberg takes the original language and aims to make it more intelligible in our own cultural context, according to his assessment of the Biblical world as "an ancient cosmic theater in which secular and religious interact without negating each other." Another translation I quite like for its unconventionality comes from the caustic words of the prophet, Isaiah:

by all means consult the machines
they are superior to us
like the dead

I never knew how a translator could take the words of a Biblical prophet and really make them ring in the modern listener's ears, but Rosenberg seems to have done it handily in this audacious work. Only certain portions of the Bible are translated here, to be sure, and not all of Rosenberg's choices of words sit well with me (how is the lamentable state of "gypsies" and "Indians" a proper reference when reading about the life of Job?) but this is definitely a good read for those trying to get a better grasp of their own religious faith as well as anyone interested in the Bible as literature.

>121 icepatton: Great review of A Literary Bible: An Original Translation! That definitely goes onto my wishlist.

>122 kidzdoc: Thank you for your comment. I apologize for my lack of reciprocity; I follow other users' reading as well but don't have much to comment upon.

_{It would be an interesting exercise to imagine how this regalia will go down in history, like the Confederate flag or Nazi armband.}

Well, it's happening again: I'm making a lot more progress in a book written in the past few decades rather than one written in the last century or more. It's just because Wilson-Hartgrove has a lot more that speaks to me personally than does Merton or Keats. And Wilson-Hartgrove has more to say about highly charged images like this one that I can't get as easily from older works. That's not to say that older writers had nothing to say about politics or power struggles. For example, I was struck by Swift's obversation in his own time:

I have been sometimes thinking, if a Man had the Art of the Second Sight for seeing Lyes, as they have in Scotland for seeing Spirits; how admirably he might entertain himself in this Town; to observe the different Shapes, Sizes, and Colours, of those Swarms of Lyes which buz about the Heads of some People, like Flies about a Horse’s Ears in Summer...

Quotes like this continue to resonate because of what we know about government propaganda and how people go on believing lies even when exposed to the truth. And we know about books like 1984 and other dystopian novels. I think there is actually a lot of power in the ability to make timely connections with past works that it seems only a few in our contemporary, mass-media culture have ever thought to make. The point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't have to be someone like Salman Rushdie or Michelle Alexander who does this; anyone who makes it their business to read books should be able to do this. Reading is a skill we all need to hone especially as times get worse for public libraries and liberal arts programs.

>124 icepatton: Excellent, well-said post, Corey.

>125 labfs39: Thank you, Lisa.

Another sidenote: these days, I feel a bit like the tragic character in that episode of The Twilight Zone who wanted more time to read books despite the bitter opposition of his wife and boss (and who accidentally broke his only pair of glasses with which to read a library worth of books luckily shielded from damage after a nuclear holocaust makes him the sole survivor). I can't imagine that my boss or wife would be very keen to know how much time I've spent reading at home or at work, when I could be doing other things more useful. I imagine that the character was the equivalent in our time of the English major who graduates from the world of college only to find that there are no rewarding jobs available to him. I imagine that the bulk of young people today look around for a partner who knows more about business than literature. I imagine that a manager's organizational skills are more important than an artist's imagination.

When I was young, I wanted to be an artist or cartoonist but soon came to realize that this wasn't going to work. I think the reasons were largely economic. As cultural critic William Deresiewicz dryly observed, no one wants you to be an artist. While there were plenty of people around me who could recognize a person's talent, there were very few examples to go by of someone who was actually making a living with that talent. And for one reason or other, I couldn't relate to older generations of artists who seemed to have grown up under conditions more conducive to taking up art as a serious profession.

As for the writer's life, I've already accepted the fact that I'll never be a Stephen King or Ray Bradbury. The most I've ever done is keep a journal about my life teaching English in another country. I have a dream of publishing what I've written but I think my political and religious views would alienate the people in my life. And yet a lot of my writing is based on what I've been reading since coming to Japan, where sometimes I feel like I'm following in the footsteps of David Mitchell or Baye McNeil. At the end of the day, it just seems like I'll always be more of a reader than a writer.

Enjoyed your review of A Question of Palestine and also your thoughts on your own reading experiences. It was good to catch up with your thread.

>128 baswood: I appreciate it!

I just finished Book I of Keats' long poem Endymion while going through a selection of his poetry by Penguin Books. I can't remember if I ever read any of Keats in school, but I have Wendell Berry to thank for opening my eyes to the staying power of literary tradition, which for me means delving into the works of so-called "dead white men" from the birthplace of Englishーeveryone knows about Shakespeare, but maybe not as much about the Romantic or Elizabethan age of poets. At this point, I'm most attuned to 18th-century literature, namely the satire of Swift, when it comes to talking about pre-nuclear age stuff (I'm not about to write a critical essay, though).

In fact, I've been learning since reading Berry and as I approach middle age how useless it is to wallow in self-pity. This isn't quite the same as dealing with anxiety, but I suppose one could say that reflexively resorting to self-pity when things go wrong is a result of failing to adequately come to terms with one's anxiety. I could be lying in a dark corner somewhere sucking my thumb but I've learned that this is no way to involve others in the reality of anxiety disorders and mental illness. Anxiety can't be an excuse for people to separate themselves from others just because "they will never know what it's like." Is anxiety such a terrible thing that people can never step out of their comfort zone? Why should feelings of pity and regret over past failures put a stop to trying to do better about one's ignorance now?

Anyway, these are just some things that come to mind as I go a little farther down a list of unread classics well into my adulthood. So many books, so little time, as they say!

At the prompting of ecophilosopher Derrick Jensen in a vlog about some books that inspired him, and because Latin America remains a part of the world I've never really explored, I decided to put Eduardo Galeano's Memory of Fire trilogy on my to-read list. I'm not sure what kind of books these will be, but I get the sense from Jensen that I ought to read the first book, at least. I don't know much about South American literature, but several authors I've read in the past have favorably mentioned Borges, Lispector, Bolaño, as well as Galeano, who seems to be known most for his political writings.

Revolution of Values: Reclaiming Public Faith for the Common Good by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Maybe none of us can be free until the Bible is set free.

To summarize this book, I think all it really takes is this one sentence. In this very well-composed book, Wilson-Hartgrove takes up for me where Chris Hedges left off when I read his I Don't Believe in Atheists and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America several years ago. Ever since then, I had been looking for more voices of authority to read as times prove to get worse and ugly, rancid faces like Trump's can never seem to go away. I seem to have found what I was looking for as a passing reference in a Wikipedia article about Christian monasticism. I was also happy to see that Wilson-Hartgrove is a fellow North Carolinian.

To expand a bit on the quote above:

Political operatives who know the power of moral narratives spent decades investing in an infrastructure that would create a cultural world to constantly reinforce the misreadings of Scripture that prop up their politicians. They were not the first to do this. We can still find in the theological libraries of the United States both the scholarly treatises and the popular sermons that promoted slaveholder religion in the nineteenth century. If we go back further, we can read how the Bible was used to justify colonization, crusades, inquisitions, and imperial domination that are widely condemned today.

I found this to be a pretty good explanation of the Christian nationalism we're seeing today, which Hedges deliberately called fascism. Being a disillusioned white Christian North Carolinian myself, I actually have a lot more in common with Wilson-Hartgrove, so this book really is a godsend. Basically, he talks about the peculiarly American brand of Christianity that smacks of white supremacy and gave rise to charlatans like Trump. He also presents a needful counternarrative, another way of experiencing God's love and grace, based on faithful readings of Scripture, which includes the fact that prophets, or people who insisted on telling the truth in a culture of lies, were shunned and vilified for doing so. Although Jesus points this out to the religious hypocrites and charlatans of his day, he was ultimately spat upon and crucified as a common criminal, which Wilson-Hartgrove points out is not unlike what many of the poor and wretched in our own society have faced at the hands of the Christian right.

A good illustration that Wilson-Hartgrove uses to drive home this point is the juxtaposition of the American Cowboy with the Good Shepherd, both of great influence in American culture but only one of which is Biblical:

America’s cowboy stands in contrast to the Bible’s good shepherd. Throughout Scripture, the good shepherd is a metaphor for moral leadership, taken from daily life in Middle Eastern culture. From the promise of economic security for God’s people—“He makes me lie down in green pastures” (Psalm 23:2)—to the image of true authority—“My sheep listen to my voice” (John 10:27), the shepherd offers a model of leadership. Muslims remember that the Prophet Muhammad said, “There was no prophet who was not a shepherd.” Good shepherds know the land and are known by their sheep. They are alert to dangers, take care to provide for their flocks, and do it all under God’s big sky, ever aware that human freedom is dependent on the green pastures and still waters, which are a gift and not an achievement.

In other words, Wilson-Hartgrove makes it clear that the role model of so-called Christians who gladly support Trump is more likely to be someone pretending to be John Wayne than Jesus Christ. Although I am a white Christian man, it's quite obvious to me that Trump is a fraud. But I've had to learn during these dark times that the great danger is precisely because he is such a crook that Christians believe himーbecause God will somehow do a great work in him, and aren't we all weak vessels to be used for his glory? and so on and so forth, with whatever wily interpretation of faith they can muster.

I could just be ranting at this point, but this book has a lot that speaks to me personally and I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand what a Christianity of truth is all about.

>131 icepatton: I too know little about Central and South American literature, but I did read Bolaño's By Night in Chile and found it very interesting and well-written. A Guatemalan author that I can't get enough of is Eduardo Halfon. His novel Canción is my favorite, but all three I've read were good.

>133 labfs39: I see. Thank you for sharing!

>121 icepatton: I had not heard of this translation, but it has been many years since I was a religion major in college. I took Koine Greek way back then because I loved languages, and I'm a great believer in seeing for myself what a text says in the original language. Of course, one can't possibly learn ALL the languages, and just learning a language doesn't mean that you understand all of the cultural and linguistic history behind it. I have stuck with Indo-European languages. I wonder if the reference to "gypsies" and "Indians" refers to nomadic tribes from northern India? Job is one of the oldest books of the Bible and likely took place in Persia somewhere which did share a border with the Punjab of northwest India. Anyway, this is going on my want to read list!

>135 WelshBookworm: Thank you for your insight, Lauren. I'm glad you find Rosenberg's book interesting.