Summer Reading - add your recommendations and reviews
Barra
soto zenniewandering in a cloud in beautiful, bucolic Victoria BC, on the wacky left coast of Canada Veteran
Here are some of my recent faves - which just happen to have Buddhist themes
A Tale for the Time Being
by Ruth Ozeki
This is by an Everyday Zen sangha sister who sets her story partly on a small island off the coast of British Columbia where "Ruth" (a character based on the author) finds something washed up on the beach, likely debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami. It turns out to be a diary written by a 16 year old Japanese girl named Nao (pronounced "Now") who writes about the challenges she faces in her life, her father's struggles, and going to stay with her 104 year old grandma, who is a nun living in a Buddhist monastery. Lots of dharma lessons woven in to the many layers of this story.
The World
by Bill Gaston
This one also starts on the west coast of Canada with a retired teacher who accidentally sets his house on fire while burning his mortgage papers, then finds out that he does not have any insurance, due to not having paid his premiums. He then sets off on a cross country road trip in a dilapidated car, to meet up with an old friend who is in her last days, due to having cancer. She is still well enough for socializing and he meets up with her father, who had run off to teach the dharma in Nepal, but now has Alzheimers. He is in a nursing home and wants confirmation that the proper chants have been said before meals. It is a fun story, again with a lesson on every page, if read from a Buddhist perspective.
and finally - the book that I discovered while travelling through Laos -
Thirty Three Teeth
by Colin Cotterill
Part of a series, and still my favorite, about an elderly police inspector who is haunted by a spirit that he doesn't quite understand, but who comes in handy for solving crimes. He and his co-workers (a woman with a gift for forensics, and her assistant a very helpful man who happens to have Downs syndrome) are challenged with a lack of proper resources, since they are operating in the context of a Communist government. Written by a guy who has lived in SE Asia for many years and understands the nuance of a culture where spirits are real and active entities who like to mess with their corporal counterparts.
Comments
If you are up for dharma challenges I would recommend Training the Mind by Trungpa Rinpoche. Read it twice to absorb the lojong teachings. Then read Pema Chodrons Start Where You Are which is also lojong teachings.
As far as non-buddhist non-fiction you could read a book by Dean Ornish about a healthy diet called, The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health by Dean Ornish M.D.
"How to barbecue children and convince neighbours it's chicken!"
(Only kidding!)
(They're more like pork, really.....)
I am currently reading:
"At the end of the Day"
"The Paper Garden"
and
"The Life of the bumblebee".
I just picked up the first of the Outlander books (by Diane Gabaldon I think her name is) and will start that this weekend. My oldest takes his college entrance exam (ACT) tomorrow and I will have 4 hours to kill waiting for him. Reading seemed a good option! I have to put some lighter reading and fiction into my reading, otherwise I get burnt out on Buddhist study, lol.
I'm also reading
The Yamas and Niyamas-The Ethical Practice of Yoga by Deborah Adele (very much in line with Buddhism)
Ayurveda-The Science of Self Healing by Vasant Lad
The Conscious Parent by Shefali Tsabary (excellent, well in line with Buddhism)
Mr. Mercedes-Stephen King
Along with still working through the various commentaries of Lojong and CTR's Bodhisattva book.
I'm also re-reading (for about the 20th time) One by Richard Bach.
Our Sangha just finished going through The Bodhisattva Way of Life and we will choose our next book this weekend. I won't be there to vote though, since I'll be leaving at 4:45 to take my son to his ACT test
Was it you asking about good 'Ayurveda books' and i said I'd ask my mum....?
My Brief History by Stephen Hawking. Nice autobiography with photos.
When China Ruled the Seas by Louise Levathes. A good read about China's world trade in the early 1400's.
The only fiction book I'm reading at the moment, and which I highly recommend, is "The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes," written by Tibetan novelist Jamyang Norbu.
Then, sparked by my love of the 4NT and the N8P, and very intrigued by the Tibetan take on them, I am finishig "The Heart of the Buddha's Path," by his HH the Dalai Lama, and about to read Chögyam Trungpa's "The Truth of Suffering and the Path of Liberation."
In my pile of books to read I have Charlotte Joko Beck's "Everyday Zen," Bhante Henepola Gunaratana's "Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness," Mark Epstein's "Going on Being," Safran's "Psychoanalysis and Buddhism" and Aronson's "Buddhist Practice on Western Ground."
I know that when we actually leave on vacation, which will happen the second week of July, my travel companion as usual will be Lama Surya's "The Big Questions."
@federica yep, that was me!
PM coming....
@karasti - those Outlander books become an addiction. Big tough Celtic man (be still my heart)(sigh)
Enjoy it!
Does it have to be a Buddhist genre?
if you look at the list, @LeonBasin, you'll see that's a 'no'...
I am currently munching on Pema Chodron's "When Things Fall Apart". Clear, simple, and ego shattering
I'm going to re read The heart of being:Moral and ethical teachings of Zen Buddhism by John Daido Loori.