UU's - What are you reading now? January 2009

I just finished Steven Johnson's The Invention of Air and recommend it highly. It's the story of Joseph Priestly, both his life as a scientist and his life as a minister who eventually had to flee England because of his Unitarian ideas and radical politics. Once he arrived in the U.S., he became a close friend of Thomas Jefferson and influenced Jefferson's deep thinking on religion perhaps more than anyone else. But it's not just a biography. It is also a study of innovation and how science, technology, faith, and politics all influence each other. Very relevant for today.

I'm reading Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. It's been reviewed extensively elsewhere on LT, so I will just say I may never eat corn or beef again, but that sneaky corn gets into everything!

I'm reading Saving Paradise by Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker. It's fascinating. In their earlier book, Proverbs of Ashes, they posited that the emphasis in Christianity on the crucifixion and suffering has provided a religious basis for violence and excuse for not resisting violence. This book begins with their search through the early venues of Christianity for the crucified Christ. They did not find that image for 1000 years. Rather, they found paradise, not a "sweet bye and bye" paradise, they argue, but a here and now paradise. Being "born again," is acquiring the ability to see the world through new eyes. Through eyes that tell us, as songwriter Peter Mayer says, "Every thing is holy now."

I just put The Invention of Air on hold. Now let me bring the tone down a bit. I have been on a YA kick lately. I liked The Knife of Never Letting Go, Graceling, Bog Child and Home of the Brave. Recently saw Jordan Sonnenblick at a conference (Notes From the Midnight Driver), he is very funny and a UU. Not too long ago, I read Foreskin's Lament (adult). Makes me glad I was raised UU! The author, Shalom Auslander is sometimes on This American Life. Now I am trying Walking My Dog, Jane.

I'm reading The People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. It's a multi-layered story about the fate of a beautiful Haggadah over the centuries, up to the present day narrator, Hanna. Also reading The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls. It's the fairly terrifying story of a girl growing up in a family with parents who are incredibly self-absorbed and neglectful. And, it's a true story--autobiography. Whew.

>5 ddodd: I just finished listening to People of the Book. I got a little bogged down midway because of all the misery, but I loved the ending. The reader is from Australia (I'm guessing). It was fun to hear her imitation of an American accent. Have you also read March by Brooks? It even has Unitarians. Glass Castle was interesting. It makes my family look good.

Thanks for the response, E.S.!

I'll read March soon.

Right now I'm in the middle of an AMAZING book called Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Intense, set in Bombay, but with enough side trips, character-driven, into themes of poverty, justice, the importance of place and of family and of community, to make it seem like a holy book. It's nearly 1,000 pages long, so it'll be awhile before I get to March.

I loved People of the Book, which I received as a Christmas gift, and followed it with another gift book, Sisters of Sinai, which proves that you can reinvent yourself in your 50s and have a great time doing it.

> I could use some reinventing, I should check out Sisters of Sinai!