lory_enterenchanted's Reviews (582)

I found the mood of this more cynical and bitter than the first book -- Dan's tactics verged on sexual harassment, and Felicity's snobbery and everyone's bashing on Sara Ray were more egregious. It was interesting to learn via this post: https://sarahemsley.com/2023/11/17/the-golden-road-of-youth-readingstorygirl/) that LMM did not want to write the sequel and was unhappy about it - which perhaps shows through.

Otherwise, it was another pleasant stay on PEI.

Fascinating glimpse of the pre-war Jewish community in Rhodes, destroyed by the Holocaust, and of an extraordinary survivor. 

Fascinating look at the science of near-death experiences, from a doctor who entered the field without a previous attraction to the paranormal, incited by an experience with a patient he could not explain. Along with the information about these remarkable experiences, we learn about the resistance of many scientists to doing actual, unprejudiced science, even when it challenges their previously held beliefs. Fortunately, Dr. Greyson went against this stream and pursued the research that has the potential to help change our outdated view of the mind as proceeding from the brain. There is no evidence for that view, and mounting evidence that they are different things; the brain is an instrument for the mind, and not the only way of accessing one's soul-spiritual side. Our ability to experience freedom, love, and life are not dependent on the body, though it is our task to bring them into this world through the body. The reports of these life-changing experiences are humbling and inspiring, expanding our view of what it can mean to be human.

Recommend for anyone with end-of-life questions who wants an approach based on science and not religion.

Slowly read through this after learning about Focusing in my Spiritual Direction training. It's so important to connect with the body in our spirituality, and to drum into our thick skulls that pain is not solved in the head, but resolved in the body. I want to explore more in practice!

Inspired by a readalong at Consumed by Ink, I enjoyed this tale by LMM that I'd never read in childhood.

I was surprised that so much of the content had to do with religious ideas and practices, though not in an overly pious and sentimental way. The innocent wonder and faith of childhood was there, along with quite some digs at the “whited sepulchres” of organized religion. I found religion more of a presence than in any of the other LMM books I’ve read, and I wondered if there was some reason behind that – did she set out to explore this topic? Or did it just happen to come in?

I found this an incredibly moving and enlightening look at life from the inside of a recovering alcoholic's mind. Do we really stop to notice how amazing it is that humans can explore their own abnormal mental states? That they can choose to turn themselves around and move towards health? Too often we focus on the failures and look down on those who are "weaker" than us, while ignoring the true strength that can shine through in the greatest darkness.

In terms of alcohol use and abuse in particular, some people may have that particular susceptibility that makes them helpless "alcoholics", but why are so many people using alcohol to wash away their feelings so much of the time? Is this really a good thing? I think the question needs to be much broader than how to prevent or treat alcoholism. The reluctance to feel one's real feelings is a spiritual ailment that has many ramifications.

"You often hear in AA meetings that denial is the disease of alcoholism, not just its primary symptom."  I'd say denial is the disease, and alcoholism is the symptom. There are countless other symptoms, but we've got to get to the heart of this illness.

A moving story of a man struggling to reconcile his faith with the fact of death. I appreciated his honesty and humility; one so often sees doctors who are determined to present a know-it-all facade, which is neither realistic nor healing. Here is one doctor who admits he has technical expertise, but in terms of the big questions of life, he is a learner along with the rest of us. No faith can be truly strong that has not been shaken and tested, and he shares that process with us in a way that can stimulate our own questions.

"In the darkness of the tent I realize that's all this walk is -- a hope, a need, a prayer for the dance of light to resume."

"The biggest skill...is holding on to the knowledge that however tough it gets -- whether it's blisters, mild concussion, or the boredom of one more mile down a path that never ends -- you will get through it and in some as yet undiscovered way, you will be the better for it."

"We've revolutionized the way we live, made breathtaking and miraculous discoveries, and yet we seem totally incapable of changing ourselves."

"'I read something once, a philosophy from Sufism I think. It's the idea that the action of walking for a long time allows the world to fall away; eventually the walker and the path become one, the walker reaches the wayless way.'"

"The last years have been all about adaptation. But we're all moving into a world where we need to adapt, in ways we can't imagine right now. Adapt to a new world, and a changing climate, like the cuckoos moving north and the midges moving south, adapt our borders, adapt our thinking about why we choose to have borders, adapt to a new life, adapt to a way of living it. Adapt to survive."

"I realize that we don't always have to seek out the easiest path, or take the one that's presented to us; sometimes it's the hardest one that holds the greatest riches."

"These paths that cross our lands take human energy and imprint it on the earth, connecting us to it, leaving both the land and the human changed by that connection. Thousands of feet over thousands of years have trodden many of the same trails we have, tracing their passage on to the landscape, imprinting their memories into the soil What remains are not just paths, they're precious landlines that connect us to the earth, to our past and to each other. We've followed them for a thousand miles, seen so much, heard so many stories, and now, at the edge of the land, we've become something other than just walkers. We're at the point where time and place and energy combine, where we become the path, the walker and the story. No need for runestones, it's all held within us; we're already part of our landlines, part of the song of the land."

The thrilling conclusion to Harper's Wolf Den trilogy. Review on Shiny New Books.

https://shinynewbooks.co.uk/the-temple-of-fortuna-by-elodie-harper

I enjoyed my first book by Le Carre, a murder mystery rather than a spy novel, but I ended up confused at the end about the solution. I know I'm dense, I just become more preoccupied with character and setting than with the details I'm supposed to pick up to understand puzzle mysteries.