Review: Exploring 'The Places That Scare You'

No, THE PLACES THAT SCARE YOU (Shambhala 2007) is not a Stephen King novel. It's author, Pema Chodron, is a Buddhist nun, and the book is a concise explanation of how Buddhist principles can help one cope with life's difficulties.

I've grown interested in Buddhism for various reasons and have read other books about it, but this one has brought me as close as I've ever come (so far) to actually understanding it. It still leaves me with questions (and Buddhism encourages you to question everything), some of them paradoxical.

For instance, under Buddhist principles, being human means "being part of the whole called by us 'the universe'" (quoting Einstein) and finding ways to connect with that whole and accepting others (even Hitler or Charles Manson) for what they are. At the same time, although you're supposed to practice compassion, it should not be "idiot compassion" or simply "being kind when we should say a definite 'no'." "When we find ourselves in an aggressive relationship," Chodron writes, "we need to set clear boundaries."

This raises the question of where you draw the lines and how. When are you raising needed defenses versus building unnecessary walls based on fear or anger? Is war inevitable under some circumstances, even from a Buddhist perspective? Of course, Buddhism does encourage one to examine one's own feelings carefully, so maybe you can eventually distinguish between the two situations. And maybe our response to global aggression can be something less than war but more than allowing ourselves to be walked upon. And, since uncertainty and becoming comfortable with it are also part of Buddhism, maybe such a paradox is part and parcel of the whole practice. (Maybe I've just answered my own question. Maybe I actually "get" this after all.)

In any case, Buddhism encourages us to release our bodhichitta, or (roughly speaking) our capacity to love and feel compassion for others, as well as to be in touch with our own vulnerabilities, so that our response to difficult situations and people is based on that, rather than fear and anger. And how bad can that be?

The Contemplative Life in Li-tra-cha

Is the so-called literary life dead? Does a world in which blogs and magazine articles are being adapted into books have no place for the thoughtful novelist?

Three new novelists are about to find out. Each of them co-edits a journal (i.e., they are making a living in the literary field, as opposed to being lawyers, doctors or financial advisors who can also write) and they're coming out with first novels that range from autobiographical to literary with genre influences.

Literary novels get, um, dumped on a bit by genre authors. Frankly, I find the attitude unreasonably defensive, as distasteful in its own way as the most snooty put-down of genre writing from a so-called "real author."

For those who think "serious literature" (whatever that may be) is an antiquated concept, one of the three authors, Nathaniel Rich, has this to say, "I think there are more people engaged with literature than there ever have been. When people think about the golden age of the novel in the 19th century, literacy rates were absurdly low. There wasn't electricity to read by: People weren't just sitting around reading all day then either."

It'll be interesting to see how their books do on the market. And where their careers go from here.

More Praise for the Library and a Few Thoughts on Librarians

The authors at Writers Plot have each weighed in with a contribution to the celebration of National Library Week. Leann Sweeney, Sheila Connolly, Kate Flora, Lorraine (L.L.) Bartlett, aka Lorna Barrett and Jeanne Munn Bracken have all posted their thoughts on what libraries mean to them, as readers, writers and book lovers.

Though some people (even librarians) claim librarianship is a dying profession, I'd prefer to think of it as a changing profession. With all the information available on the Internet, we still need librarians to help us find the best information, as quickly as possible. Doing research on the Internet can be (as the saying goes) like drinking water from a firehose. You can end up drowning in too much of it and Google doesn't distinguish between crappy information and sound information.

So, as long as we need to find reliable information expediently, there will be a role for the librarian or independent information professional. There isn't a search engine yet that can provide the human element of good judgment.

Say the words, Feel the love, Singleton Outsider Hippie Art

Say the words,Feel The Love(C) Singleton 2008Bamboo wind chimesclunking,bunkingdrumming in aFriday night breeze,bohemian musicfor peace....And I'mgiddyfromthe accidental high,hungover in the morningfromlightheaded laughingand twirling in the dark,from chasing firefliesand barflies,playing hide-n-go seek,peek~a~boo, baby,and"Name that song".....Friday's are for dancin'.....And feelin' the love....

Review: Oh, Boy, Here Comes 'Trouble'

Review by guest blogger Star Lawrence.
TROUBLE (audiobook), author Jesse Kellerman and read by Scott Brick.

You’re a medical student who sets out in the middle of the night to replace your gore-slathered shoes and you stab a guy in order to save a screaming woman crawling away from her assailant. What do you have to lose by starting a twisted affair with her?

The author Jesse Kellerman is the son of Jonathan and Faye, the beloved crime novelists. Yes, the spawn is rising. At least Jesse kept the family last name. Stephen King’s son is named Joe Hill. (John Doe was in use, I guess.)

Anyhow, this whiny, smarty-pants med student, Jonah Stem, soon runs into the woman he saved. Her name is Eve Gones, although she informs him this is pronounced “Jones.” OK, now, guy? Now, are you seeing any flags on the play?

Nope.

OK, things progress and our Eve turns out to…well, wouldn’t want to introduce any spoilers. Let’s just say, she has unusual tastes between the sheets, if she even is between actual sheets at any point, I can’t remember. Jonah is quite overwhelmed between these disturbing romps, cracking Gray’s Anatomy, dueling with crabby residents, coping with being a famous superhero who saves winsome masochists from harm, and hanging out with his former girl friend who is almost catatonic from some past trauma or other.

Books on CD are such a different art form from books on dead trees. The reader, in this case, Scott Brick, one of my favorites, has to fit the story—and he does. Brick has a slow paced, patient-sounding, slightly nasal voice that drops at the end of every sentence. It’s kind of an East Coast accent, deliberate, letting the words line up neatly. He does the various voices in an understated way, no falsettos for the women or comical rasps for the men. Yet, you can always tell who’s who and who’s back.

While I notice some grumpy reviews on Amazon, and of course, I am as ever, your Snark Woman, I listened to the bloody end. I rather liked this book and recommended it to my sister.

I doubt I will be doing any midnight shoe shopping soon, though.

Bad, Bad Author

GalleyCat reports that author Deborah MacGillivray "is evidently harassing an Amazon reviewer that goes by the handle Reba." Apparently, MacGillivray was quite upset with Reba's three-star review of her book. So upset that she's reportedly been bad-mouthing Reba in various online author groups and even hired a private detective to hunt down personal information about Reba.

Damn--who knew reviewing could be such a hazardous pursuit? MacGillivray should understand that it's just someone's opinion. And remember that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Except the kind you bring upon yourself with stunts like she's pulling.

Review: Spenser Finds LA to Be 'A Savage Place'

As I make my way through the Robert B. Parker backlist (slowly--it's a big backlist), I find it interesting how he deviates from the PI story formula in some of his later (or, perhaps, middle period at this point--he's done so many) Spenser novels.

In A SAVAGE PLACE, Spenser is hired as a bodyguard for Candy Sloan, a beautiful blonde Los Angeles TV reporter. Sloan's onto a hot scoop about Mob connections in the film industry (I'm sorry--this is news?) and is determined to prove herself as more than just a pretty face and break the story. But her investigative reporting places her in harm's way. When someone beats her up badly to persuade her to stop, things look seriously dangerous for her.

On the plus side, this is a different sort of Spenser novel. He is hired as a bodyguard, not an investigator (though he manages to chime in with a question here and there, when he's on interviews with Sloan). The story has an unusual noir element to it. Spenser gets his customary one-liners in and has a particularly stunning fight scene at the end. And we are blissfully free of Susan Silverman's presence, other than in Spenser's thoughts and a few conversations.

However, the down side is that much of the dialogue descends into Sloan's nattering about how she can do her job as well as any guy, and how Spenser just doesn't understand being a woman in the man's world of television journalism, blah blah. Spenser and Sloan end up engaging in a lot of chit-chat about this man-woman stuff that gets old fast. Sloan strikes me at times as less tough than reckless. Plus Spenser (without going into spoiler detail) does something that underscores the whole double standard applied to men and women, only to reverse himself later and try to justify his contradictory behavior with the flimsiest of rationales. And, to my sorrow, Hawk makes no appearance.

If you like Spenser, it's worth a read. If you've never read the series, don't start with this one--try THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT or another of his early books.