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What's the Secret to Getting In: Admission

Thali Too, Oaxaca Kitchen & Thali Tasting Tour - Part 1 of 3

 

Life in Camelot: The Kennedy Years

 

 The Rittenhouse Hotel Interview - Lee Daniels & Cuba Gooding, Jr: LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER

Book Review: The Gospel of Inclusion by Bishop Carlton Pearson

I'm horrible about giving up something for Lent and sticking with it. So in recent years, I decided during Lent to read a book with a religious theme, someone's experience of God or something spiritual and mystical. This seemed a more positive way of participating without torturing myself with giving up bread, alcohol or cake.

This year I choose "The Gospel of Inclusion" because I heard tell of Bishop Pearson's fascinating journey on the NPR radio program "This American Life". Bishop Pearson's transformation, loss, struggle and ultimate gain is a compelling story.

The problem with this book is it preaches to the already converted. As Bishop Pearson found out first hand when he lost practically his whole congregation, you cannot persuade "Christians" away from a dogmatic, rules & regulation, judgmental, bigoted, fire and brimstone mentality. This type of church-goer needs this way of thinking, otherwise they feel lost in the vastness of this world.

So everything he imparts in the book is to those who already have a more open, inclusive, spiritual way of looking at God, religion and faith. I didn't really come away with any new revelations.The book does touch on what was lost of the real message of Jesus and his teachings, due to the formation of "religion". So much of what we are taught has been influenced by the politics and power struggles which took place starting year 1.

I believe Jesus came to remind us of our own power and divinity, but this message was deliberately obliterated, and manically stamped out to keep control on societies. It was good to hear Bishop Pearson speak on this in similar terms.

I recommend the book, but be prepared for some redundancy.

Gabriel's Inferno/Gabriel's Rapture Quick Review

Here's my latest Audible.com mini book review on Sylvain Reynard's Gabriel's Inferno and Gabriel's Rapture:

"How to Stretch a Short Story Into Two Novels"

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you? 

 

It's obvious Reynard tried way too hard to recapture the lightening in a bottle that is "50 Shades of Grey":

Like Christian, Gabriel is extraordinarily rich and a troubled soul. Orphaned as a child and raised by the perfect adoptive parents. Including a sister who is the only one not intimidated by him. He even has an unstable ex-girlfriend wanting him back.

Like Anna, Julia is a 23 year-old, innocent student, studying literature. And just as stupidly clueless. She even has a very similar relationship with her father.

It's a drawn out romance with minimal plot, centered around dialog & sex between the two protagonists; but believe it or not, the dialog is not as good as 50 Shades, which was not exactly pros. And the sex doesn't even come close!

What was most disappointing about Sylvain Reynard’s story?

 

The one thing the story had going for it was the many references to the middle ages poet Dante Alighieri and his muse Beatrice. The climax of the book would be the perfect opportunity to bring their "alter egos" full circle. Instead Gabriel leaves clues for Julia to let her know why he's disappeared, by quoting another middle ages couple. This wouldn't be so bad except Julia doesn't pick up on any of the literary references, even though she's supposed to be getting a Harvard Doctorate on this stuff!

Then once all is revealed she doesn't even feel stupid or apologize for being so obtuse.

What didn’t you like about John Morgan’s performance?

 

Narrator John Morgan had the perfect voice for Gabriel, but because there is so much dialog, it would have been better if Julia had been read by a woman. Morgan sounded like a strange drag queen and never seemed to have the right inflection for Julia's emotions.

Any additional comments?

 

These characters were not delightful or interesting enough for two books. If she had combined "Gabriel's Inferno" and" Gabrriel's Rapture" into one book, it would have been passable in terms of plot and romance.

But trying to stretch such a simple story into two books, made each novel feel weighted, full of exposition and never ending.

I know you're probably wondering why I read the second book if I was so dissatisfied with the first one. I was curious to see if things would pick up. More importantly, Gabriel and Julia's physical relationship, was supposed to heat up in "Gabriel's Rature", which it did, but again, not worth a second book. 

PS - Why was Gabriel's ex-lover named Paulina and Julia's other suitor "the Angel F'er" named Paul?

Bigger than Chruch and I Still Got to Sing

This year on Christmas Eve me and three of my siblings ventured out to Longwood Gardens instead of attending church services, and I have to say, the vastness of the outdoors, the artistic splendor of the displays, the quiet reflection of the snow, and the exhilaration of the cold, made the whole experience very holy and very festive!

I'm so glad we decided to change things up.  At times we even separated and ventured down a path or two alone allowing for some tranquility and then through the magic of cell phones, would meet back up.  My favorite part of attending church on Christmas Eve is singing. My mediocre voice miraculously becomes pleasing when singing hymns and carols.  And such was the case at Longwood Gardens where we were invited into the Conservatory to sing along with their historic organ and organist.

Best of all, I got some really good nighttime shots on my camera.

Here's a link to the complete album on facebook

Response to Girl With Anxiety

I'm a member of SITS ( a group of 40,000 women bloggers dedicated to supporting one another by leaving comments & learning about blogging). Each week SITS hosts Saturday Sharefest, which allows you to post a link to your favorite blog post from the week, and in turn, you are supposed to read the blog of the person who posted before you and be sure to leave a comment.

It seems like a good way to get traffic to your blog and maybe pick up some new readers (I normally submit a post from Tinsel & Tine).  But it hasn't been very effective for me. I do follow the rules and read someone's blog post from the site and make a comment, even if it's not the last person who posted before me. But I often find my blog still devoid of comments at the end of my Saturday:(

Anyway, the blog I read today is called Singing Through The Rain and she wrote a post called "The Secret Life of a Girl With Anxiety. 

I admired her courage in writing the post and found myself responding with more that just the perfunctory "Stopping by from SITS - Nice blog". Here's my comment:

A very moving and brave post. I'm glad you were able to write it. Anxiety is so very difficult to deal with. I've suffered from panic attacks too and in the beginning truly believed I was having a stroke or heart attack. The mind/body/spirit connection is an actuality that many people scoff at as new age crap, but in actuality, if one's mind and spirit are in turmoil, the body reacts in debilitating ways.

I admire those who suffer with anxiety but are still able to get married and have children. I feel like my problems with anxiety have in some ways prevented me from having a relationship that could lead to marriage. I try to alleviate my stress and fears through meditation, acupuncture, exercise, and a magnesium complex I get from Whole Foods called Calm, but there are times I feel I should be taking something stronger.

I am thankful my anxiety is not just general and across the board or all the time or has an unknown cause. Mine has always been centered around lifestyle - desperately seeking a certain lifestyle. It really kicked in at age 38 when I realized my life was no where near being where I thought I'd be at that age, with no knowledge, ability or plan of how to catch up to my age and live out my dreams.

I'm constantly working on acceptance and trying to enjoy the present (see blog post from July), but it's very hard.

Visiting from SITS

Quick Review: The Night Circus -"Wonderfully Weird"

 

 

Audible.com allows us to rate the books after we've listened to them, so figured I may as well post my review to Book of Hours too:

 

The Night Circus by  Erin Morgenstern

 

 

Audible: Would you listen to The Night Circus again? Why?

Me: I don't normally listen to books twice. However, I did so love the odd rhythm of this novel, that if I were to revisit books, I would put "The Night Circus" on my re-listen list.

Audible: What was one of the most memorable moments of "The Night Circus"?

 

Me: All the scenes involving Celia and Prospero (her father) are engrossing. Their love/hate relationship holds many facets. The reader is always aware the stakes of  "the game" are much higher than either Celia or Marco are aware and it's made doubly wicked by the fact that Perspero is so willing to possibly sacrifice his only daughter.

Audible: Rate narrator Jim Dale's performance

Me: A+

Audible:Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Me: No. It's engrossing, but does not have a traditional narrative, you tend to want to enjoy it in smaller sessions.

Audible: Any additional comments?

Me: This book may as well have been written as a screenplay first. It's so easy to imagine it as a film. The colorful characters and the black and white set. I can't wait to see all the clever CGI they'll use to create the magical illusions of Le Cirque des Reves. And also the spectacle of red scarfs and roses against a backdrop of en noir et blanc.