patlo's Reviews (1.32k)

Rounded up from 4.5 stars. A very well written tale of the Ride the Divide mountain bike race from Banff, Canada to the Mexican border.

This is a fun and creative - and surprisingly profound - look at praying for other people in a different way. The author, a right-brained (math teacher), finds a way to express prayer in left-brained (doodling) activity. I loved it.

It's an easy read; I started it waiting for my bus to arrive and finished it before the bus commute was over. I found that I highlighted and made a lot more notes than I expected to, and the book spun off some other ideas about creative forms of prayer expression.

This would be a great one for people who are just bored or stuck with rote prayer, but who want to find a way to pray simply and effectively.

I love the world and tensions that Chaim Potok draws me into. This story continues with the world of the previous book My Name is Asher Lev, twenty years later. Asher Lev is married and has a daughter and a son, is living in exile from the Brooklyn Ladover community in the south of France. He's experiencing artistic tension after some harsh criticism at his last show. When his beloved uncle dies, he and his wife and children return to Brooklyn for the mourning.

That is the stage set for The Gift of... On it plays out similar themes to the prior book, plus artistic integrity, the difficult choices of a husband and father and son and disgraced member of community. Potok creates a world so real that I wanted to visit the Ladover in Brooklyn, and especially to see Lev's paintings and drawings and am disappointed that I cannot.

The two novels (and I am now convinced that they both must be read; do not stop with the first) draw the reader deeply into questions of community and tradition, creativity and identity.

A small note. After completing the first novel, I really wanted to dive more deeply into art appreciation (the first novel in particular teases the reader through an art history with just enough touchpoints so as to be tantalizing). After completing the second, I purchased family membership in my city's art museum so that we can go visit and learn.

Another serious candidate for favorite read of 2012. Asher Lev was recommended to me by several friends when I was asking about novels that speak to prayer and spirituality, so I read it.

Oh my goodness.

This is one of the great novels. It’s the story of a brilliant young painter born into a Hasidic Jewish family in Brooklyn, and wrestles with questions of family, community, tradition, art and creativity. I loved this character and loved the way the story of his life was told.

I will read more Chaim Potok in the very near future.

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Read Nov 2012; Jan 2013

Bain’s survey of the practices of the most engaging college instructors was exhilarating for me – and humbling. I read this on Kindle and then bought a paper copy for me to reread and mark up. It’s quite an inspiration to the educator and storyteller in me, and I think its scope is helpful far beyond a classroom to a variety of leadership settings.

This collection of interviews with Potok spans a couple of decades. They provide a good amount of insight into the author's intent in many of his books. I was impressed by Potok's own self-understanding and analysis of the themes of his work.

Kaptchuk writes a fascinating introduction to Chinese medicine. More than just a clinical analysis of acupuncture and herbal treatment, Kaptchuk describes the entirely different, more holistic, worldview of a Chinese physician.

As a patient who has received some relief for chronic migraine through herbal and acupuncture treatment, this book was totally intriguing.