Library

What I am reading along with my own version of a review.  What?  You didn’t think I could make a list without having something to say, did you?

May 2009

• Native American Literature, Edited by Gerald Vizenor.  Genius!  Vizenor, a professor of Literature at the University of California at Berkley and winner of the American Book Award, is described by Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott Momaday as a “man to be reckoned with.”  Indeed!  After tiring of one white perspective after the other when trying to describe the ‘Native American experience’, Vizenor dumped his entire class curriculum and began assigning Native American literature by Native American writers.  This book includes biographies, poetry, short stories and play by Native Americans that are gut wrenching, powerful and slap-your-knee hilarious.
• Sacred Circles:  A Guide to Creating Your Own Women’s Spirituality Group, by Robin Deen Carnes and Sally Craig.  Have I ever told you how much I despise women’s gatherings that amount to nothing more than complaining about men and making stupid puff paint t-shirts together?  They make me want to die.  This, on the other hand, is something I can and will do.  Something to get my head around and sink my teeth into.  Not everything in this book is something I will embrace, but women friends and I are already planning our circle.

April 2009

• Two Ravens:  The Life and Teaching of a Spiritual Warrior, by Louis Two Ravens Irwin and Robert Liebert.  A mentor to Leonard Peltier, Louis Two Ravens made some of the most important inroads in history for joining all human beings on a road of understanding and peace.
• Blackfoot Physics, by F. David Peat.  My introduction to Native American spirituality has been most encumbered by what has come naturally to me up until this point; linear and one dimensional thinking.  Yes, I have long considered myself as someone who has an open-mind.  I even call myself ‘Citizen of the World’, or ‘Citizen of the Universe’.  This book helped me see how what I already know can be joined with all that I don’t with confidence.
• The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Ogala Sioux, Recorded and Edited by Joseph Epes Brown.  One of the first to bring sacred Native American traditions into the mainstream, Black Elk gives anyone who wants it the technical knowledge to begin walking down the Red Road.  And, I go back again and again to the photo of aged Native American men who participated in the battle of Little Big Horn.  Even in their 80’s and 90’s they look to be a beautiful and awe inspiring force to be reckoned with.
• Gift of Power:  The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man, by Archie Fire Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes.  I admire anyone who can be arrested 168 times and end up one of the most powerful teachers of our times.  Honestly, what have I learned from those whose purity is blinding?  Another ‘joiner’ of Native Americans and non-Native Americans who became willing to bring messages of the Red Road to anyone who wants to follow.

March 2009

• Wisdom’s Daughters:  Conversations With Women Elders of Native America, by Steve Wall.  Some very good answers for times when I look in the mirror and say, “Wow!  Who is that!?“
• Horse Colour Explained:  A Breeder’s Perspective, by Jeanette Gower.
• The Trial, by Franz Kafka.  Do I believe ‘K.’  could have just made the whole thing up.  Of course I do.  At the same time, it reminds me so much of the criminal justice system of the U.S.A. that I also believe it is happening right now.  Probably to someone I know.
• The Complete Book of Foaling, by Karen E.N. Hayes, DVM, MS.  500 times?  Probably.  I love this book.  A veterinarian I completely admire.  Her perspective is that choosing to breed your horse makes you immediately responsible for every single moment of her life and the life of her foal.  I could not agree more, and feel the same way about all of our horses.

February 2009

• Stonewall, by Martin Duberman.  What an amazing time.  As always, my hero is the drug addicted drag queen who makes a difference for everyone in spite of it all.
• Moo, by Jane Smiley.  Another re-read.  I’ve always admired the way Smiley normalizes crazy, power struggles, and lust.
• The Prison Angel:  Mother Antonia’s Journey From Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail, by Martha Jordan and Kevin Sullivan.  Another re-read.  I love Mother Antonia for turning a criminal justice system on its head.  However, I was once again let down by the authors for not being able to write in the gritty detail I believe her story deserves.

January 2009

• Anton Chekhov’s Short Stories,  Selected and edited by Ralph E. Matlow.  This is a re-read and my favorite short story is still ‘Misery’.
• This Book Will Save Your Life, by A.M. Homes.  I am too jaded for this book.  True, it is the story of a man who is completely stuck and, by fate is forced to change.  And I found myself cheering him on throughout the book.  I think my own dirty personal history simply makes it hard to believe a person can have a personal revolution without skimming along near death for a few years first.
• A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry.  Heartbreaking and hopeful.  I literally found myself wringing my hands one day after I read this over how sad it was that none of the main characters ‘made it out’ for good.
• Brotherly Love, by Pete Dexter.  Boooo-ring.