Media update

I am SO behind on updating my book reviews that I'm just going to post this list with my little grades and thoughts that I shared on FB.

Books-- Nonfiction

*Mold Warriors (Ritchie Shoemaker)--CThis has really good information for those who are genetically susceptible to biotoxin illnesses. However, it's poorly written and poorly organized and could be reduced to about a fifth of its current length. However, I'd still recommend it for those who have known mold exposures or those who are chronically ill.

*The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse (David Johnson & Jeff VanVonderen)-- AHighly recommended for Christians, even those who are in a church that is healthy...because it will help you be aware of the difficulties others have faced and equip you to minister to them

*Lady in Waiting (Jackie Kendall)-- C

*O Me of Little Faith (Jason Boyett)-- B+
(I actually want to say more about this one later.)

*Methland (Nick Reding)-- BVery interesting book, well-researched.

*Healing with Whole Foods (Paul Pitchford)-- B

*Lost at School (Ross Greene)-- A+
I've successfully used Greene's approach with families before, but I wasn't quite sure how to implement it in a school environment. This book explains how, and I can't recommend it highly enough. If you work with kids or teens, please read this! Have I mentioned that I think all school & youth counselors, teachers and administrators should read this? You'll come away from this book encouraged about the kids who normally want to make you bang your head against a brick wall. You'll have some strategies, and your head (and the kids) will thank you.

*Stuff Christians Like (Jonathan Acuff)-- B
Funny but I think you could get a lot of it on his website

*House Rules (Rachel Sontag) -- D

*The Heart of Christianity (Marcus Borg)-- C+

*Steering by Starlight (Martha Beck)-- B+
This is kind of a "sequel" to Finding Your Own North Star...more do-it-yourself life coaching.

*Radical Acceptance (Tara Brach)-- A
Although this is from a Buddhist perspective, I think a lot is applicable to those with other worldviews as well. The author is a clinical psychologist and does a good job explaining ideas of mindfulness and compassion.

*Why I Stayed (Gayle Haggard)-- B
Definitely worth reading, even though some of my conclusions would differ from the author.

Books-- Fiction

*Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)-- A
Second book in the Hunger Games trilogy

*Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins)-- A+
This is the last book in the Hunger Games trilogy. It's the first series in a LONG time where I felt that the conclusion was both unexpected and satisfying. I can't recommend it highly enough, both for teens and for everyone else. It's a very intelligent trilogy that manages to be pretty deep (if you want to go there and think about the ethics of war and revolution and the cost to human life in military combat vs. the cost to staying oppressed), but at the same time, extremely accessible for even reluctant readers due to the constant action & suspense. The only caveat is that it is quite violent, but the violence is the complete opposite of gratuitous.

*Into the Wilderness (Sara Donati)-- B
Oft compared to Diana Gabaldon-- and rightly so. Light historical fiction with romance

*Whistling in the Dark (Leslie Kagen)-- B
Fabulous "voice" and great use of a somewhat unreliable narrator. Set in the 1950's, 10-year-old Sally O'Malley and her younger sister are basically left to fend for themselves when their mother becomes ill. At the same time, Sally works to solve the murders of two little girls in the neighborhood. It all sounds very depressing, but it's actually a pretty fun book.

*Take One (Karen Kingsbury)-- C-
Eh...not bad but not that great. Apparently, this is a spin-off series from another series by the same author, and not knowing the characters made it a little confusing.

*Traveling Light (Katrina Kittle)-- C-

"I'm thinking of what Sarah said: 'Love is watching someone die.'" -Death Cab for Cutie
I don't know what I was thinking to choose this book-- I don't like books in which a main character dies. And yet, before I began reading, I knew this was a book about a woman caring for her brother with end-stage AIDS. I can't really say that I expected a different outcome. Anyways, I think the characters are well-developed, and if you just want to read a sad book, this would be a good choice.

*Two Truths and a Lie (Katrina Kittle)-- B-
Considering that this book includes a main character who communicates empathically with animals and another who remembers some of his past reincarnations, this could easily have been a disaster. Surprisingly, it's not! It's actually a very character-driven suspense/mystery story that would make a great beach read.
*Thank You for All Things (Sondra King)-- C

*The Kindness of Strangers (Katrina Kittle)-- B
Absorbing. Somewhat reminiscent of Jodi Piccoult but better. Subject matter is probably too intense for many, but if you know me, you know my idea of a happy book is rather different than that of many other people. ;)

*Blankets (Craig Thompson)-- B+
Interesting and resonant. Don't be put-off by the length of the book (about 500 pages). Because it's a graphic novel, it's a fast read.

*When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead)-- B (This past year's Newbery Winner)
Mix A Wrinkle in Time with The Time Traveler's Wife and A Bridge to Terabithia, and you'll get something like this enjoyable but intricate Newbery winner. I'd recommend it for tweens and young teens who like to ponder life's mysteries. :)

*Voyager (Diana Gabaldon)-- B-
Enjoyable. Not great, but I do like the characters. (You have to read the other books in the series before reading this one, or you will be extremely confused.)

*The Way Life Should Be (Christina Baker Kline) -- B-

Movies

*Sunshine Cleaning-- B

*Paper Heart-- C+

*Up-- A

*The Blindside-- B

*Fantastic Mr. Fox-- B

*The Hangover-- D

TV on DVD

*Big Love, Season 3-- B+

*United States of Tara, Season 1-- A

*Lie to Me, Season 1-- A

*The Wire, Season 1-- B

*The Wire, Season 2-- B

*The Adventures of Mark and Ollie-- B

*Damages, Season 2-- B

*Criminal Minds, Season 5-- B

The Heart of Christianity

Thoughts on the book, The Heart of Christianity (Borg):

If I were to put the "earlier paradigm" and the "emerging paradigm" on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being extremely conservative/fundamentalist and 10 being what Borg believes, I would probably be right around a 6. Maybe a 5...or a 7. Depends on the day. :) Borg covers so many things in this book that I'm not going to comment on all of them. However, here are a few thoughts I'd like to share (with anyone still reading :):

*My favorite chapter of this book is Faith. I really appreciate Borg's assertion that faith means a lot more than "intellectually believe," that it has a lot to do with giving our allegiance

*The chapter on the Bible-- I agree with some aspects of this. I agree that a person doesn't have to believe in a literal-factual interpretation of the Bible in order to be a Christian or to appreciate the Bible. Was Jonah really inside of the belly of a whale for three days? I don't know. It doesn't seem that important to me to know whether that is literally true or metaphorically true. However, to believe in God at all, I have to believe that he could certainly suspend natural laws in order to do whatever he wants. Thus, "fantastical" elements of the Bible are not UNbelievable, simply because they seem implausible. On the other hand, I don't see their literal occurrence as vital to my belief system. As far as the Bible being more a product of human tradition as opposed to Divine inspiration, I'm not so sure. I'd like to hear other people's thoughts.

*Two concepts of God-- I don't actually see these two concepts of God as an either/or proposition. I see God as both a personlike being who is up in heaven AND as the One in whom I live and move and have my being. Borg talks about how seeing God as One who could intervene makes the question of his non-intervention problematic. I have to agree with that. I really don't know why God doesn't intervene in a lot of situations. Borg's answer to this is what he calls panentheism [EDIT: I had originally & mistakenly written "pantheism], with no concept of divine intervention. To me, that doesn't answer the problem. Right now, I'm reading Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (Yancey), and it addresses this topic too. Still no answers, but some interesting thoughts......

*Jesus-- I disagreed the most with this chapter. My understanding is that Borg basically comes to the conclusion that Jesus was not divine (in any peculiarly special way) but that Jesus was a man who embodied what it means to be Christian. I'm more with Frederick Buechner on this topic (emphases mine):

As everybody knows by now, Gospel means Good News. Ironically, it is some of the Gospel's most ardent fans who try to turn it into Bad News. For instance:
*"It all boils down to the Golden Rule. Just love thy neighbor, and that's all you have to worry about." What makes this bad news is that loving our neighbor is exactly what none of us is very good at. Most of the time, we have a hard time even loving out family and friends very effectively.
*"Jesus was a great teacher and the best example we have of how we ought to live." As a teacher, Jesus is at least matched by, for instance, Siddhartha Gautama. As an example, we can only look at Jesus and despair.
*"The Resurrection is a a poetic way of saying that the spirit of Jesus lives on as a constant inspiration to us all." If all the Resurrection means is that Jesus' spirit lives on like Abraham Lincoln's or Adolph Hitler's but that otherwise he is just as dead as anybody else who cashed in two thousand years ago, then as Saint Paul puts it, "our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:14). If the enemies of Jesus succeeded for all practical purposes in killing him permanently around A.D. 30, then like Socrates, Thomas More, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., and so on, he is simply another saintly victim of the wickedness and folly of humankind, and the cross is a symbol of ultimate defeat.
What is both Good and New about the Good News is the wild claim that Jesus did not simply tell us that God loves us even in our wickedness and folly and wants us to love each other in the same way and to love him too, but that if we will let him, God will actually bring about this unprecedented transformation of our hearts himself.
What is both Good and New about the Good News is the mad insistence that Jesus lives on among us not just as another haunting memory but as the outlandish, holy, and invisible power of God working not just through the sacraments (q.v.) but in countless hidden ways to make even slobs like us loving and whole beyond anything we could conceivably pull off ourselves.
Thus the Gospel is not only Good and New but, if you take it seriously, a Holy Terror. Jesus never claimed that the process of being changed from a slob to a human being was going to be a Sunday School picnic. On the contrary. Childbirth may occasionally be painless, but rebirth never. Part of what it means to be a slob is to hang on for dear live to our slobbery.
--Frederich Buechner from Wishful Thinking, A Seeker's ABC...or better yet, Beyond Words (which includes Wishful Thinking and a couple other books)

*Social justice-- Somehow, I think that Christian America has largely missed this point, and in my opinion, it's kind of a big aspect of the Christian life. Another great book I'm reading deals with this topic (on a world level): The Hole in Our Gospel (Stearns).

*Thin places-- I love this description for Christian sacraments and disciplines. It's a perfect visual image. Someone should do a painting with that title & concept. :)

*Pluralism/Exclusivity-- I can best sum up my beliefs on this topic with a quotation from the last book in the Narnia series (The Last Battle):

"Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, 'Son, thou art welcome.' But I said, 'Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash.' He answered, 'Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.' Then by reason of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, 'Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one?' The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, 'It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites -- I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore, if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child?' I said, 'Lord, thou knowest how much I understand.' But I said also (for truth constrained me), 'Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days.' 'Beloved,' said the Glorious One, 'unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.'" -C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

"For all find what they truly seek." I believe that. :)

Think mold exposure is harmless?

I'm copying this blog post from Andrea Fabry whose entire family was sickened by toxic mold in their home. She writes about how mold toxins (mycotoxins) are well-known in the military world for their harmful effects. Stachybotyrs was one of the molds found in my condo.

I spent some time tonight reading a report issued by the United States Military. The report is titled "Medical aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare". I find it astounding that the military has known about the dangers of toxic mold for decades and the general public knows so little. The yellow rain used by the Russians in Vietnam and later Afghanistan was comprised of the same mycotoxin found in stachybotrys. The details of this are contained in the report. This is an excerpt from the introduction:

This family of mycotoxins
causes multiorgan effects including emesis and diarrhea,
weight loss, nervous disorders, cardiovascular
alterations, immunodepression, hemostatic
derangements, skin toxicity, decreased reproductive
capacity, and bone marrow damage.4,6
In this chapter, we will concentrate on T-2 mycotoxin,
a highly toxic trichothecene that, together
with some closely related compounds, has been the
causative agent of a number of illnesses in humans
and domestic animals.1,2,4 During the 1970s and
1980s, the trichothecene mycotoxins gained some
notoriety as putative biological warfare agents in Southeast Asia.

The report is quite detailed but here's the summary:

... trichothecene mycotoxins are proven lethal agents in warfare.
Symptoms include vomiting, pain, weakness, dizziness,
ataxia, anorexia, diarrhea, bleeding, skin
redness, blistering, and gangrene, as well as shock
and rapid death. Sensitive immunoassays and
chemical procedures are available for the identification
of trichothecene mycotoxins in biological
samples, but no detection kits have been fielded.
Prevention of exposure is the only current defense,
with a protective mask and clothing worn
when under attack. Previous successful lethal attacks
have always occurred against unprotected civilians
and soldiers. Skin decontamination with
water and soap can be used effectively up to 6 hours
after exposure. Experimental treatments for systemic
toxicity are being investigated, but no therapy
is available for humans..

This explains why avoidance for those exposed to stachybotrys is the first and foremost line of defense. The good news, of course, is that there are now therapies available.

If you would like to see the report it is available at this website.
http://www.envirochex.com/Downloads/Chapter34_Military_Medicine.pdf

Media update

I might go back and write more about the different books, but if I don't at least post this skeleton now, I'm probably not going to do it.

Books

Nonfiction

*Wesley the Owl (Stacey O'Brien)-- B- -- Informative memoir about a scientist who adopts an owlet.

*Wild Goose Chase (Mark Batterson)-- B- -- I would call this Christian motivational nonfiction...basically, a sermon series in a book.

*No Plot, No Problem (Chris Baty)-- B -- Good book for NaNoWriMo, but in my experience, not having a plot kind of is a problem.

*Girls of Tender Age (Mary Ann Tirone Smith)-- A- --I like hearing people's stories (probably part of why I like my field of work) so I read a lot of memoirs. This one is particularly well-written. The juxtaposition of the author's memories (of growing up after WWII in a housing project in Connecticut with an eccentric, Italian & French extended family and brother with ...autism) with the history of a serial killer who eventually kills one of the author's friends shouldn't work nearly as well as it does. Parts of this book are so hilarious that you know it has to be nonfiction-- no one would ever write a novel that includes serial murder and this kind of humor. Very much enjoyed.

*The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)-- B- --I liked this book. It's well-written, interesting and portrays the resilience of children and families even in horrible situations. However, I'd heard so many positive things about the book that I was expecting to LOVE it....and it wasn't quite that good for me.

*The Ashes of Waco (Dick Reavis)-- C- --This is so-so. It's interesting but not terribly well-written. Supposedly told "from both sides," the author is definitely biased against the ATF and FBI. While I do think that the gov't handled the situation very poorly and that the tragedy could have been avoided, I'd still like to read an account that's truly from b...oth sides. I think I'll have to read a couple more books on the subject to have a better grasp of the events.

*From Fatigued to Fantastic (Jacob Teitelbaum)-- A
http://www.endfatigue.com/

*Help At Any Cost-- (Maia Szalavitz) D --I did not enjoy reading this book, but I suppose some of the knowledge may come in useful some day. Basically, be very, very careful when sending a teen to any type of residential or "adventure-based/wilderness" treatment program. There are some wonderful, legit places (NOT covered by this book), but others (covered by... this book) are abusive, reckless, harmful and even deadly to the kids they purport to treat. If you want more info, or need help figuring out options of an at-risk teen, send me a message, and I will do my best to help you find safe, appropriate resources.

Fiction

*Say You're One of Them (Uwem Akpan)-- B- -- I felt very depressed when I finished this book. After reading a book about children in various war torn nations in Africa, that's probably an appropriate response.

*The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening-- F --I've been enjoying the tv series so I thought I'd try the books. Big mistake! This is one of those few occasions when the tv series/movie is a vast improvement over the book!

*The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)-- A -- I read this because it's gotten a lot of YA acclaim, but I must say, it deserves all the praise. Set in a dystopian future, teens are forced to compete in the ultimate reality show-- a battle to the death. The main character tries to survive and remain true to herself at the same time. I highly recommend it. For about the first twenty or so pages, it reminded me of Uglies (which I read with a group of the middle school girls last year and liked okay....but which they loved and their enjoyment was the point!), but then it gets a lot deeper, more surprising and suspenseful. Enjoyable reading that would make generate lots of discussion in a book group or class! (Warning for high body count.)

*Criminal Minds: Jump Cut-- B-/C+ --Good for what it is-- a book based on a tv show.

*A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens, read by Jim Dale)-- A -- It's good every year! :)

*The Virgin Suicides (Jefferey Eugenides) -- D+ --Not that great. Rather disappointing to read after Middlesex. However, Eugenides wrote it before Middlesex so it's good to know that he's improving!

DVDs

*Criminal Minds, Season 1-4 -- A+ -- I have fallen in love with this show!

*Damages, Season 1 -- A- -- Great cast, intriguing mystery and suspense....an extended riddle.

*No End in Sight-- B-/C+ -- Not only did I watch the DVD, but I also watched about 4 hours of the Special Features. It's very interesting and informative....but lacks any solutions or suggestions for proactive response. I kind of walked away thinking, "Okay, I'm really sorry, people of Iraq. Things are a mess. But there's no hope for things to get better." Maybe I'm too optimistic, but there's got to be something we could do that would be helpful, even at this point.

*Downfall-- C -- In German with English subtitles. This is about the last days of WWII in Hitler's bunker. It's a really upper. (I'm kidding, of course.)

TV on TV

*House-- A-- This season has been fantastic!

*The Vampire Diaries-- B+ -- Television Without Pity named this show as one of the best things of 2009. Surprising, but true!

*Supernatural-- C -- I think the writers have given up on coherence, but the show is still passable for those who are die-hard fans.

*Glee-- A- -- I'm so pleased this won a Golden Globe for Best Comedy!

*Brothers & Sisters-- B-/C+ -- I find this show rather hit or miss. Again, they have the dream cast for an intergenerational drama so I put the blame squarely on the writers' shoulders.

Music

*Hello Hurricane CD (Switchfoot)-- A -- Although the title is somewhat unfortunate in light of recent events, the CD is excellent. (Actually, in one sense, the theme is very apropos to not only the crisis in Haiti but also to crises in general. The song is about keeping your spirit and love strong in the midst of trials:

Hello Hurricane

You're not enough

Hello Hurricane

You can't silence my love

I've got doors and windows boarded up

All your dead end fury is not enough

You can't silence my love

My favorite song is "Your Love Is A Song." Great lyrics also on "Needle and Haystack Life." And "Yet": "If it doesn't break your heart, it isn't love."

I shall not want......

From Frederick Buechner:

”’I shall not want,’ the psalm says. Is that true? There are lots of things we go on wanting, go on lacking, whether we believe in God or not. They are not just material things like a new roof or a better paying job, but things like good health, things like happiness for our children, things like being understood and appreciated, like relief from pain, like some measure of inner peace not just for ourselves but for the people we love and for whom we pray. Believers and unbelievers alike, we go on wanting plenty our whole lives through.

But when the psalm says, I shall not want, maybe it is speaking the utter truth anyhow…maybe it means that whatever else is withheld, the shepherd never withholds himself, and he is what we want more then anything else.”