The following list is just a sampling of some of the books that I think any eclectic reader should discover. They are not mass market paperbacks (although some were eventually packaged that way after settling on the bestseller lists for eons). Some are fun, some are thoughtful, some are just…well…have a whole weekend ahead of you before you start them.

It's just a start. Don't let this list stop you from exploring on your own.

1. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (and if you're over 50, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid)
3. ANYTHING by Edward Rutherfurd
4. Pillars of the Earth (and sequel World Without End) by Ken Follett
5. Beach Music by Pat Conroy
6. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon (okay, warning to men-romance)
7. A Painted House by John Grisham
8. The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques (be nice and share with your children)
9. Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
10. The Eight by Katherine Neville

1. David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim: His previous book, Me Talk Pretty One Day formed the basis of Sedaris' work. Though he had previous works published prior to Me Talk Pretty… this book signified his introduction into literary fame. His follow-up Dress Your Family… is a continuation of his sarcastic tone about the society and life in which he grew up. It is a heartfelt book that focuses not only on the societal pressures of one being homosexual and trying to hide it, but rather being trapped in a world where walls closed in around him. Sedaris brings about the injustices and cruelty of human nature no matter our race, gender, religion, or background.
2. Sarah Vowell, Take the Cannoli: This humorous book of essays truly identifies one woman's struggle growing up in small town USA to big life USA. Her comparison of life on the farm to life in New York are humorous and goes to show that no matter where we grow up or how we're raised, we end up, ultimately, where we want to be. This is a coming of age story that's not as subtle as some might think.
3. Joan Didion, Political Fictions: This vicious commentary on our political process and politicians is chilling and offers solutions to our problems. But also, the book is a looking glass into our future as a people. Didion's prose in this book is that of a fiction novel, and offers a glimpse into our future, politically. It is controversial and conversational. Political Fictions helps us ask the question, “How far does the rabbit hole go?”
4. Norman Mailer, Countless number of essays: While Mailer was an author of fiction, he made his statements through personal essays. His most famous essay, “The White Negro” Mailer discusses violence and sex in 1960's America. Like so many of his essays, which have been attempted to be anthologized, but to no avail, are, much like Jack Kerouac, counter cultural. Mailer's controversial lifestyle extended itself into his writings about the hatred of government and policy.
5. Tom Wolfe, The Pump House Gang: This book was a critique on society post-WWII. It emphasized the basis of American life in regards to our economy, politics, and society as a whole in regards to economic prosperity. This book caused much controversy due to his offensive language toward policy; however, his approach was heralded as unique and impactful playing off the Beat style of writing.

 

The Bruises Didn't Hurt

The author's name escapes me but the book is great. It's a non-fiction story about a survivor of domestic violence. The author is great because she has become a ghost writer for domestic violence survivors and some of the profits of the book go to the survivor. The publisher didn't do a great job at editing and even though their were some text errors, the story is riveting and it's an easy read. If I can enjoy a book and help someone - even better.

Lost - By Joy Fielding

Excellent book. Fiction. Again an easy read, some text errors, but great overall story. Ending is surprising. Drama and Fun at the same time.

Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson

Excellent writing. Easy read and grabs your attention. A must read.

To Distraction by Stephanie Laurens

This is the first book I read by this author and although lengthy the story line is awesome. It is a romance novel with many hot scenes but the great part it doesn't have any vulgarity. Thumbs up for this book.

Other books that are small, easy read, romantic and spiritual and most of all inexpensive are the Love Inspired books. A woman by the name of Andrea Haresign sells these books on the Internet and almost all of them are $1.00. The website is here.

Rainbow's End - Irene Hannon

When Dreams Come True - Margaret Daley

A Tender Touch - Lenora Worth

A Husband to Hold - Cheryl Wolverton

Home to Safe Harbor - Kate Welsh

Hearts Under Construction - Diann Hunt

My story is in fact a real life incidence from Gujarat, an Indian State. In a city called Ahmadabad there was a person named Salesman. He lived in a small house, with his wife and three children. The oldest was 19 and the youngest was 13. Between the sons there was a daughter of 9.

Salesman was about 48 years old. He had been working hard, selling goods from door to door for more than 28 years. He had left school after Matriculation. The circumstances had forced him to do so. After the Independence the majority belonged to the poor in India. There were some states like Bengal and Kerala where Marxism had made a very long lasting impression on the minds of the people, resulting in the working class satisfied with the fulfillment of their basic needs. In Gujarat it was not so. Most of the Guajarati are business minded and hard working.

Our Salesman was also a very hard working person. He had started with detergent powder. He carried a bag of powder packets on his shoulders and tried to visit as many houses as he could in his working hours, from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening. In 28 years he had never taken lunch, instead he would buy something on the road and take it as snacks.

Among his customers there was an old lady named Ramabai. She lived alone in a very big house. She had six dogs and a few cats to give her company. Salesman visited her everyday and took errands to bring anything she needed from the market. Ramabai was a widow but her late husband had left her a fortune in many bank deposits. Salesman never asked anything about her late husband or her relatives. He was the man who rejoiced in making the old woman happy. Everyday he spent more than one hour in her house to help her feed her pet members of the family. It was a kind of duty which he performed very obediently.

Salesman brought goods from the big company stores and he got commission on his sales. He never complained about anything, though his wife and the oldest son often told him to tell the company people to increase his commission. Some people are simply happy to live as unknown citizens and they do not have big materialistic ambitions.

Time kept its pace and the son started going to college. The expenses were increasing but Salesman managed somehow. He never uttered a word which could even hint that he found it difficult to make ends meet. I think his patience was stronger than the patience of creative writers who boast of it in their poems, often vicariously.

One day he was not feeling well and his wife went to a local doctor. Even after three days of medication the fever did not come down. He had to be hospitalized and he remained in the hospital for 20 days. His wife hand a pair of gold bangles and she sold the bangles to meet the expenses. Salesman survived.

After about a month he decided to restart his work. First name which came to mind was of Ramabai. He was not worried as much on his account as he was worried about the dogs and cats because on his every visit he used to find them waiting for him at the main gate in expectation of getting some pieces of bread which Salesman carried with him.

He was surprised to see the house locked. He looked around and saw a man approaching him. He had a black coat on. That man was a lawyer.

"Are you Salesman?" said the lawyer.

Salesman was nervous because he was afraid whether there was a complaint against him. He tried to compose himself and said in a whisper,"Yes, Sir."

"I have been looking for you for more than 20 days. You are a very lucky man," the lawyer smiled and kept his arm around Salesman's shoulder.

Salesman was very nervous but more confused.

"Unfortunately, Mrs. Ramabai passed away last month and she left all her property in your name," he gave a very convincing smile.

Now Salesman is a millionaire, living happily with his wife and children.

You will definitely say that Mr. Miller's play had a class and what I have written is no better than the stories sold penny a dozen. Yes, that is what I want to make you realize that I wrote story for the sake of story because I wanted to write. With due respect to Mr. Arthur Miller, I confess that "Death of a Salesman" is one of the best dramas that I have ever seen. I want to assert that inspiration can come from anywhere and in my case Mr. Miller was an inspiration.

A part of me lives with the story and dies with the story. What others conclude or draw is not my business because writing is my duty and I keep on performing my duty in all sincerity.

 

According to deCerteau, “stories carry out a labor that constantly transforms places into spaces or spaces into places” (deCerteau 118). In opposition to this almost infallible truth of storytelling, Didion maintains a constant voice in which her chosen space, her chosen landscape, is always precious to her-San Francisco is always a place. This is due to the fact that her chosen landscape is also her home. Didion cannot allow herself to fall back on basic readings of the physical landscape--the valley and the architecture surrounding her. As is written by David Sopher in his piece The Landscape of Home: Myth, Experience, Social Meaning: “The primary content of home, from what people say, is not material landscape, but people” (Sopher 136). Didion finds herself connected to the people surrounding her--they are her neighbors: this landscape, her neighborhood. She cannot separate herself from this community-making her a mythological figure within the myth itself.

Despite being knee-deep in the scenery, Didion does push away from her attachment every now and again, reading the scene set before her:

It was the United States of America in the cold late spring of 1967, and the market was steady and the G.N.P. high and a great many articulate people seemed to have a sense of high purpose and it might have been a spring of brave hopes and national promise, but it was not, and more and more people had the uneasy apprehension that it was not (Didion 84-85).

Didion proves herself able to distance her beating, at times wounded, heart from the landscape she is reading. She places herself in situations she finds she cannot relate to. She surrounds herself with hippies and drug addicts and self-proclaimed revolutionaries, in order to drive a wedge between herself and her home, to analyze the situation more thoroughly and accurately. The landscape Didion reads then reproduces in her essay is based more on the people she encounters and the society she currently exists in than on her physical surroundings, though the background and players are virtually inseparable. Didion tells of characters like Chet Helms, who believes in “three significant pieces of data”: that “God died last year and was obited by the press,” that “fifty percent of the population is or will be under twenty-five,” and that “they got twenty billion irresponsible dollars to spend” (Didion 104). These people, the radical thinkers of the mid-1960's, though congregated in a specific location that they deem pivotal to their revolution, are the sole landscape Didion must read and interpret.

As mentioned before, the landscape Didion analyzes is also her home. “Stand still, we are warned, and you die,” Scott Russell Sanders writes in his piece, Homeplace (Sanders 102). Despite this and the importance of the idea of migration in the 1960's wave of counterculture, Didion's heart remains stationary. Her purpose is unwavering--she is seeking some solution to the problems she continues to discover, and she believes it to be within the very landscape she is reading. According to Gaston Bachelard, in his The House. From Cellar to Garret. The Significance of the Hut., from his The Poetics of Space, home “...shelters daydreaming,...protects the dreamer,...allows one to dream in peace” (Bachelard 6). California is Didion's home. In this, it shelters her and allows her to dream safely. In the assault of the 1960's culture and the floods of hippie children who flock to San Francisco, Didion holds to her idea of home and immerses herself in the altered landscape. She quotes a San Franciscan psychiatrist, saying that the 1960's are “a social movement, quintessentially romantic, the kind that recurs in times of social crisis,” that the people are seeking “a return to innocence” and “purification” (Didion 120). In this, the reader finds that the “revolution” and trends that society experiences over the course of Didion's essay can be viewed as a metaphor for Didion's own internal struggle with the society in which she lives; as a metaphor for the debate of her own soul. “The center was not holding,” Didion writes (Didion 84). “The center” can be seen as the center of society as well as the center of Didion's own being--her soul. In her quest to discover a cure for the ailments of her society, Didion is also on a quest to cure her own ailments-a position most mythical figures eventually discover themselves in.

Didion's mythological status is better understood upon reading one passage where Didion has a conversation with her hippie friend, Norris: “Norris and I are standing around the Panhandle and Norris is telling me how it is all set up for a friend to take me to Big Sur. I say what I really want to do is spend a few days with Norris and his wife and the rest of the people in their house” (Didion 94). In this passage, Didion actually recounts a conversation in which she takes part. She is inserting herself into the landscape--transforming her own character into a mythological figure. In her statement of not wanting to leave San Francisco to travel to Big Sur, Didion reaffirms her love for her home. By acting as a voice of reason, a hero, by refusing to leave her beloved city to fall to ruins in her absence, Didion establishes herself as a mythological figure against the landscape of the hippie movement: “Norris says it would be a lot easier if I'd take some acid. I say I'm unstable. Norris says all right, anyway, grass, and he squeezes my hand” (Didion 94). While she does take part in the usage of marijuana, Didion doesn't take the drugs that her companions do-acid, STP, narcotics-which further emphasizes her status as a mythological figure; she keeps her wits about her in order to keep a handle on the situations she is in. Didion's mythology continues: “One day Norris asks how old I am. I tell him I am thirty-two. It takes a few minutes, but Norris rises to it. "Don"t worry,' he says at last. "There"s old hippies too'” (Didion 94). At the end of the passage, Didion and her friend are both acknowledging her place in the landscape. Her status as a mythological figure is stable, as she is constantly reporting on the events she witnesses-consciously granting herself an elevated role within the scene, but she is also a character in this story unfolding around her. Didion's hippie friends think of her as one of them, which is an important realization, as the same hippie friends think that their actions are the ones that will save society from itself, whereas Didion realizes that their actions are hindering the reparation of society as much as those of their parents. In such revelations, Didion secures her position as a mythological figure in Haight Ashbury.

Though she feels something for the people she encounters through her reading of the landscape, Didion ultimately pities them: “Adolescents drifted from city to torn city, sloughing off both the past and the future as snakes shed their skins, children who were never taught and would never now learn the games that had held the society together” (Didion 84). This is significant, in that Didion's reading of the landscape is determined by the generation of people she encounters-her reading of the landscape is defined more by the people she encounters than by the physical landscape itself. The conclusion of Didion's reading of the landscape within this time and place is one she only comes to through her establishment as a mythological figure within her own story; this establishment as “mythological” is achieved through Didion's identifying her landscape, distancing herself from neighbors within her own home, and elevating herself through constant recording of events. The conclusion is simple, defining the landscape as well as the times, and ends as it begins: “The center was not holding” (Didion 84).

The primary example of Didion's active ignorance of the rules of writing is her use of passive rather than active verbs. There are 17 “being” verbs in the first two paragraphs, alone. Readers might find it difficult to read the essay, as a passive verb presents itself in every two to three sentences. According to the common standards of writing, a sentence like “They have been to a meeting of people who practice a Western yoga, but they do not seem to want to talk about that” would benefit from some verb replacement. Substituting “attended” for “have been to,” as well as replacing “they do not seem to want to talk about” with “they seem to want to avoid talking about” would make the sentence stronger, grammatically. Didion, however, feels it is more important to parallel her grammar with her main point, which is effective in this case.

Another ignored rule is Didion's lack of specificity in certain instances. She describes Deadeye's house: “Somebody else is asleep on the living-room couch, and a girl is sleeping on the floor beneath a poster of Allen Ginsberg, and there are a couple of girls in pajamas making instant coffee” (87). Didion never names the “somebody” or any of the “girls.” This neglect of specificity sets the tone perfectly, though; the society Didion describes is a foggy one in which people often forget details like names. Lack of specific detail actually furthers Didion's message in this case.

Didion's use of informal language also follows her idea of society. She refers to arriving at Deadeye's house again by writing, “Deadeye's old lady, Gerry, meets us at the door of their place” (108-109). The term “old lady” would be frowned upon in most essay or journalistic instances, and rightfully so. But in the case of 1960's San Francisco, in the midst of hippies and junkies, the name fits. This use of language aids Didion's point, as do all of her writing faux pas.

The idea of rebelling against stereotypically “strong” sentences directly reflects the rebellion of the generation Didion portrays. This manipulation of language is what makes Didion a master of higher journalism. Didion's rebellion in the face of “good writing” is a direct reflection of a shifting, fumbling society. We, as writers, can still feel the effects of both the society and Didion's actions of the time, and they are powerful effects, indeed.

Fiction is the make believe things we dream about, write about and hear about. It is full of the imagination as the things are not fully understood by mankind. Fiction is not real, yet some in culture live and believe in the fiction. These things are false, though not to everyone. Vampires and ghost are fiction. To take the world in Fiction is to bring something new to the people. We are always after the fifth element.

NON-FICTION

Non-fiction is a place surrounded by love. The dreams of men, women and children are here. Non-fiction is things that happen contemporary and things that have happened in the historical past. This is the things of the true and truth. A Preacher and President are Non-fiction. To veiw the world in Non-fiction takes the place at what are the truths. We are always after the newest in Physics and its affinities.

IDEA

People tend to live in the contemporary present. This basically tends to only be compared with people that read books and write them. A non-fictional life is usally a good hard and honest life compared to the hype of fiction. To identify with them gives good insight on how to veiw the literal mind.

Irshad Manji is a Muslim woman who was expelled from Uganda as a child with other Asian families by Idi Amin and started a new life in Canada. In Toronto she experienced the contrast of western freedom and the harsh, closed minded, unreflective attitudes of the Islamic classes in the madrassa where thinking was actively discouraged. The book is written as an open letter to Muslims to encourage them to be reflective and to engage with the western modernity.

The book is full of detail on the rich history of Islam. She has a lengthy chapter on the recent history of Palestine in which she discovers that the Israelis are self critical in a western democratic way and the Islamists are responsible for much more than they will admit. Uncritical support for Palestine and an anti-Jewish stance is sometimes the only thing that unites Muslims from different parts of the world. The book is worth it for this frank and thorough analysis alone.

Her survey indicates that what is wrong with Islam is tribal insularity, deep seated anti-Semitism, and an uncritical acceptance of the Koran as the final and therefore superior manifesto of God's will. The Koran is learned by rote in a language alien to most Muslims and its contradictions and inconsistencies are ignored as it is interpreted by authoritarian male dominated conservative societies. Her vision is of a reformed Islam that empowers women, promotes respect for religious minorities and fosters a competition of ideas. She wants to revive the idea of "ijtihad" the lost tradition of independent thinking that flourished in a past golden age of liberal Islam.

She identifies the ambiguous relationship of Islam to the west and especially the USA. Muslim voices continually chant anti-American propaganda but educated Muslims choose Western education and American products. In the USA Muslims are free to practice their religion as they choose which contrasts with the freedoms they are denied in conservative Islamic societies. She is most critical of desert tribal Islam which is single minded, harsh, Arabic, Koranic and fundamentalist and with Saudi money is now highly influential in other traditionally more tolerant Islamic communities around the world.

She bases her hope form change on a new agenda in which women are empowered in Islamic societies to become citizens and not just property. Through economic independence they will reform society from within and below. For democracy to grow, desert Islam needs to be opened so that other Muslim viewpoints can be heard.

Manji calls on the west not to be too polite in our conversations with Muslims. She suggests that we must not be afraid to challenge them on such issues as human rights abuses, discriminatory practices, and treatment of women under the dictatorship of Sharia law.

"Had I grown up in a Muslim country I'd probably be an atheist in my heart. Its because I live in this corner of the world where I can think, dispute and delve further into any topic that I've learned why I shouldn't give up on Islam just yet."(p.208) Irshad Manji has had death threats and hate mail yet continues to work as a writer, journalist and human rights campaigner.

This is a must read book that leaves you with an impressions of what is wrong with Islam today even if you cannot remember all the detail she cites. I found I wanted to go back and re- read sections so that I could reflect more deeply on the points that she makes.

Cyril S. Rodd has edited this collection of essays by twenty-six former students and colleagues, covering a wide range of issues. The list of contributors is like a current who's who in British Methodism with notable Anglicans contributing as well. (Contributors include Trevor Rowe, Stephen Dawes, Geoffrey Wainwright, Brian Beck, John Simmonds, John Habgood, Graham Slater, Norman Wallwork, Chris Hughes Smith, John Munsey Turney, Peter Graves, Phillip Luscombe, Ivor Jones et al.)

The essays are grouped into three sections. The first is a series of reflections on ministerial training and the ecumenical model developed at Queens College, Birmingham. The second section entitled “Theology in Experience” contains personal testimonies of the writers describing how their theology has been worked out in their experience and ministry. The final section looks at theology and practice as found in more theoretical issues in church life. I am sure I will not be alone in the experience of resonating with some of the authors but finding that I was not on the same wavelength as others. The book ends with brief biographical details of Bill Strawson and a list of his publications. The editor has done a thorough job and each essay is clear and easy to read

This is a wide-ranging book with a deep, yet very accessible, scholarship. Bill's example encouraged his students to develop wisdom and vision by which to live and love and this collection of essays offers insights from his students and colleagues that search for the wisdom that is central to practical theology.

In the introduction the then president of the British Methodist conference, William Morrey (2004-5), said, “This book is a fitting tribute to Bill and his ministry.” It is a reasonable cross section of middle of the road Methodist thought from the last 40 years and is recommended.