Creative Meanderings

Some time last year a colleague received a copy of this book as a gift from his students. As he already had read it, he offered it to me. I had heard about it and all the hype that surrounded it when it first came out in 2006, but to be honest I was quite skeptical about it. It sounded like some sort of new-age religious/spiritual book that people fell in love with just because it could be called religious without having a religion attached.

The book felt like a marketing scam throughout. While the ideas behind the secret are worth considering – imagining positive things happening/existing and having them happen – I am still in some doubt about the whole thing. Of course, it never hurts to test out its theory:  Imagine for a month something unimaginable happening. Imagine that it has already happened and you are living life with it. For example, imagine that you receive $50,000. Think as if you already have it. Do this for at least a month and you’ll see it start to happen because the very fact that you’ve thought it, you’ve sent energy out into the world bringing it to you.

Sound like a scam to you yet? 🙂 Still…it can’t hurt, right? 😉 I’m not yet a believer in this actually bringing me $50,000 in the next few months. However, I do believe in positive thoughts, energy. I do believe that if we stay positive and imagine the best, there’s a much higher chance of success than if negativity pervades. So, I guess I have to say I’m still undecided about The Secret. I’ll keep you updated if my positive energies bring about my visions in the next few months.

Thus ends my reading updates. I’m afraid I’m going to have to switch my energies to more academic readings for a while, but I thoroughly enjoyed my summer reading and look forward to the next holiday when I can treat myself to more literary escapes!

-T

What a book! Recommended by my BFF to read and part of Oprah’s Book Club, I had recently considered reading this book, but wasn’t sure as I am still not sold on contemporary fiction – though from my summer reads, I’m not sure I can say that anymore!

This novel by Kathryn Stockett was a great read. I could hardly stop reading it and that was on my iPad! It had a bit of _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_ feeling to it, but it was much more inspiring. I felt not only the position of the black women who were hired as help, but also the feminist movement that the main character was struggling with. I don’t want to write too much detail about the novel because I definitely recommend this as a must-read.

All I know is that there is no way that I could have lived in these times…I barely make it in my own time…. 😐

More to come…

-T

James Patterson usually entertains me. Some might not be a fan of his writing or find it quality work, but when I read mass printed paperbacks, I’m just looking to be entertained. So, as another option found on the beach house bookshelf, I couldn’t really pass it up.

Patterson has a few serial characters that he continues to develop and one is Alex Cross, an African-American detective with three kids and his grandmother. Through the novels we’ve seen Alex develop relationships, solve crimes and for me, become interested in his family. This novel takes a slightly different point of view in that it’s a novel about a novel about the Cross family history in the South – Mississippi.

It did have a _To Kill A Mockingbird_ feel to it and it did sort of bring out the same kind of stories of the struggles of the blacks in a horribly racist and inhumane part of Mississippi. These stories need to be retold as often as possible to remind us of where we have come as a society and where we still need to go.

I read it quickly and easily. I was moved and at the same time bored with the story. No real reason why….

More to come…

-T

As part of my yearly reading of something philosophical, I decided it was time to finish Plato’s _The Republic_, which I had started for a Philosophies of Education course at Teachers College.

I enjoyed reading the thoughts of Plato through Socrates and comparing the philosophies of society now with the ideas of then. Times have not really changed much, surprisingly, over the years. For example, consider Socrates’ argument about the separation of men and women. He states that only humans deem females as the weaker sex with the men trying to make themselves better as a gender. Other animals have females as the hunters or protectors (like the lions); or the men are prettier and in need of attracting the female (as in the birds). So, why do we as humans, supposedly the superior race, feel the need to separate the genders opposite to what is considered “natural” to other species? It’s just a rhetorical question and something to consider – no need for responses! 😀

Though I do not always follow Socrates’ if a=b and b=c then a=c logic, because I do not always believe this to be true; it’s interesting to consider his arguments in this manner. I often wondered if he believed these arguments himself or was simply playing devil’s advocate and trying to get a rise out of the men who are the “Great Thinkers” and “Wise” of the society. It seems that Socrates’ nature would agree with my musings….

It’s no wonder that this is a foundational read for philosophy and I know I’ll have to revisit it to remind myself of the challenging societal questions that were argued so many years ago and yet continue to be without answers.

More to come…

-T