Finished The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name, by Brian C. Muraresku. A look at the role of psychedelics in the founding of Western civilization and the early days of the Christian church. Interesting stuff. The author explores the archaeochemical and archaeobotanical data suggesting a possible unbroken chain of spiritual, psychedelic experiences from all the way back in the Stone Age to the first couple of centuries or so AD. Ancient Greece in particular had the Mysteries of Eleusis, whose ceremonies were overseen by women officiants. By the time the newest magician in town had appeared, Jesus, he and his followers were vying with the cult of Dionysus for the faithful. Possibly the early church coopted the Eleusynian eucharist, and it was possibly a little more psychedelic in the early days than what is offered at Mass these days, along with the Dionysian myths in a bid to win converts – Dionysus had been turning water into wine long before Jesus came along. As the Christian Church became dominant and male-centric, the Eucharist became watered down, and the literal witch hunts of the Middle Ages by the Church was, according to the author, nothing more than a concerted effort to stamp out the last vestiges of folk pharmacology still dominated by women. Interesting stuff, and I certainly had heard before of the male-dominated Church brutally wresting power away from the women.
I recently started reading this. These days I just can’t suffer through 3-1/2-hour movies as well as I used to, but I heard this was a fantastic story, so I picked up the book. I’m almost halfway through it – the newly formed FBI has just entered the fray.
I finished listening to The Exchange by John Grisham.
Full disclosure: I have read each and every one of Grisham’s novels. I can say that I have enjoyed reading each of these books, even though at times it has felt like Grisham was churning out a story because he knows it will sell.
I can no longer say that. I did not like this book. The premise was fine, and the first part of the story was okay, but the majority of the book was, in a word, boring. There was precious little action throughout, and the ending was totally unsatisfactory. ISTM that this book was written because the author and publisher decided that it would sell, no matter how bad the story might be.
Virtually all of Grisham’s novels take place somewhere in the Deep South, with Southern lawyers as the protagonists. This book has the lawyer, but the action (such as it is) is either in NYC, Maine, or Libya. I hope that his next book takes place back in Memphis.
Over the long Christmas weekend, I read Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh by Mo Willems, the latest of his seven offbeat, funny kids’ books about a strong-willed pigeon who wants to do cool stuff others tell him he can’t. I also read Penny by Karl Stevens, a graphic novel about the inner life of a housecat. A must-read for any cat lover.
I also browsed through This is What a Librarian Looks Like by Kyle Cassidy, including essays by Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi, and an interview with George R.R. Martin. Good stuff.
I’ve begun What’s the Deal with Deadman’s Curve? And Other Really Good Questions about Cleveland by Jim Sweeney, which has interesting short essays on all sorts of North Coast lore. I’m enjoying it.
Just finished Dolly Parton: Behind the Seams, a big coffee table book full of beautiful color pictures of Dolly and her outfits through the years. I was just going to skim through it, but there’s plenty of text and I got sucked in. There are amazing closeups of the fabric that make you realize the amount of work that goes into these clothes. I think Dolly is the best person on earth and I’m glad she got to live her dreams of wearing these beautiful things. She deserves them.
Finished Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius, by Nick Hornby, which was very interesting with lots of historical anecdotes. I’m not much of a fan of either of its subjects, but I liked this book a lot anyway.
Now I’m reading Firefly: Carnival, by Una McCormack. (It’s based on the TV show and set during its run.)
I’m reading We Wish You Weren’t Here by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch. Ghost hunting family called in to get rid of a haunting in a small town find more than they bargained for. The book was recommended by one of my favorite authors. So far quite enjoyable.
Read A Man and His Cat by Umi Sakurai last night. It’s a short manga about a lonely widower who adopts a lonely cat. Surprising emotional for the comic strip format.
Just finished My Darling Girl, by Jennifer McMahon, a novel about a woman who comes to realize her dying mother is possessed by a demon. It was just okay.
Wondering now if I can fit in one more book before the end of the year!
Finished Saevus Corax Captures the Castle which was ok, enough that I immediately started the last book in the trilogy Saevus Corax Gets away with Murder, which was ok too (finished it last night)
Now I’m reading Here begins the Dark Sea: Venice, a Medieval Monk, and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of the World by Meredith F. Small which at first was hard for me to get into because the author style seemed similar to many social sciences textbooks:
Define concept A, then define it again with other words, then define it AGAIN with other words, then, just in case somebody still doesn’t get it, define it yet again, with different words.
I swear they must be paid by the word or something.
Fortunately this seemed to be only the writing style in the prologue, subsequent chapters do not have that style and I’m happily chugging along.
I finished We Wish You Weren’t Here by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch… and damn the second half did not live up to the first half. Also I HATE when the ending isn’t a conclusion because the author is planning a series. So I’m stuck with a bunch of whys and no inclination to read the next book.
On the upside, I’m back to A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher. I am enjoying it a whole lot.
I squeezed in another book today, and it was amazing, possibly the best of the year! The Sight, by Melanie Golding. It’s about a woman in a traveling carnival who can see how a person will die when she looks into their eyes. Sounds like a horror novel but isn’t.
Ronnie Spector, the autobiography. I never knew about the lunatic known to the world as Phil Spector. He quite literally tortured her and drove her to drink. She was lucky to escape that fucker. An interesting book about the time of the doo-wop singer, for all that. She hung out with the Stones and The Beatles, among other stars of the time.