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Sunday, September 16, 2012

Shock's Summer Reading


Hey! My scheduled post went out successfully, so I can set up more like that one.

 Unfortunately, I cannot schedule comments to your pages. If I could, I'm not sure they'd be understandable or pertain to the post at all. Ether way, I will find time and a better wi-fi to re-connect and catch up with all that I've missed.

 Without wifi, I read. A lot. It's to be for your benefit, though. Knowledge is only power through the use of another faculty to serve others, I always say.

 That said, this post is titled "Shock's Summer Reading" because I'm a little late on the book reports. Here is the list of recently devoured word entrees.

My Novel or Varieties in English Life by Edward Bulwer Lytton. Published 1836.

 This was a six-hundred page beast. It was the first of three works in the Bulwer's Works Vol. III.

 To write a review on this book would take a more than a post, so I'll leave this one to be described later. I loved it!

 Zicci by Edward Bulwer Lytton. Published 1836.

 A much more digestable forty-five page tale about an ageless mystic who's part of a secret immortal society. The inclusion of a serum made from both synthetic and homeopathic sources was the fountain of youth. The Mystic, Zicci drank this bubbly green stuff and went out to find either love or another recruit for his eternal brotherhood. The character himself does the most mysterious things to lure both a woman and a man to seek his definite being. Should either attain the knowledge? Only I know, hahaha.

 The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, A.J. Arberry, and Reynold Nicholson. Copyright date: 1995.

 I hadn't really focused on any one individual from Rumi's era(1207 to1248), nor any one from Persia in history. Noting the gap in my knowledge, I snapped this random pick up as soon as it showed it's graceful self to me.

 Rumi, (Jellaluddin Balkhi, to some), became a writer of poetry of the most spiritual kind. I had no idea that he was so large in academic circles, most likely due to my lack of academic credentials. But no matter, I dove into the spiritual messages beak first.

 This guy is timeless. He made sure by broaching subjects that no one else would touch. He wrote a parable about a woman who does something very wrong with a gourd. When someone from the thirteenth century A.D. gets me to say "Yuck" aloud, I pay attention.

 The sensational style of shocking people doesn't stop with just vege/animal love, he seems to revel in the blashempy of fictional accounts of both Jesus and Muhammad.

 How wild it was for me today to hear of the Bicile' movie making a big stink in the world to cause deaths over a depiction of Muhammed.

This guy was doing this over seven hundred years ago, and not only did he peeve off the muslims, the christians somehow allowed him to live out his life.

note to self, "If you are a great dancer, poet, and spiritual guru, you will not die in the hands of extremists."

 So, I've got the poet and dancing stuff down. Now for spirituality. I've got eons, but it won't be easy.


The Messie Motivator by Sandra Felton

 I'm actually not reading this book just for myself. I'm reading it because I am in a long line of Messies. That's what the author calls hoarders. That's what
the hoarders in the book call themselves.

 The book is full of positivity and tips to de-clutter and organize not only a life, but a self dignity in shambles.

 In an example of her dignity-saving activities is telling people who are being disrespectful off in an even tone.

 From experience, I know that even tones are not effective alone. If I were to have a regular place, I would be a hoarder.

 But I do not have one, therefore my hoards end up being just tiny parcels seperated by miles. I still need work, but this book is very social. I'm not too social, and would not attend a meeting with other Messies. In that, the program would work for me only in the tips and self-help categories.

 The Survivor Bill Clinton in the White House by John F. Harris.

 This was a pleasure to read because I was fascinated with the many aspects of the president himself and his office. This intimate collection of mixed personal accounts and recollections from his staff made reading it fascinating.

 I voted for him in his first term. I know Elliot will hate me for saying that, but I retort with my current status as Green Party enthusiast.*

 If you're a member of any party and share their views(platform), you're partisan. Sorry, without seperation into these rival groups, there's no way to achieve any goal on any groups agenda.

 I've diverged. The book was finishable, but I was left without the true answer I was looking for when reading it.

I've decided to clip this into two more digestible pieces. The second includes Pat Hatt's A Not So Singular World, so stay tuned for more!


*edited for grammar

19 comments:

  1. I didn't know about this irreverent side of Rumi. I will have to do some investigating for myself.

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    1. The irreverence is the fault of my phrasing. It seems I place him as the shouting blasphemer, when indeed he is not. The depictions themselves, being forbidden by each religion, were the shock value of the piece, not the treatment of the religious leaders.

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  2. Some interesting titles there especially the Clinton one!

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    1. Most of them picked me, so the choices really were Randoom!

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  3. No worries about the lack of comments. Everyone has been busy with their own things. :P

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    1. Thanks. The day we sit truly idle is the day the world stops moving.

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  4. I've never heard of Rumi saying anything blasphemous... on to Google.

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    1. Your search may not find fru I have gone upon the assumption that writing a fictional account of Mohammad or Jesus was included in the forbidden depictions written in the holy texts.

      For me to make that assumption is wrong. Calling a fictional story blasphemy may not be blasphemous.

      I think that in losing his best friend, Shams, Rumi was given the potential to mix all deities, all religions, and all spirituality into the one energy. Love.

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  5. Wow you have been doing a lot of reading :) Some good choices too, but nothing I've read. Which sucks. That I haven't read these that is. I'm pretty sure you can set up a bot to comment on our posts, but it takes time and efforts, and the comments are the same generic stuff you see as spam.

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    1. I'll probably opt out on the bot, but I'd love to see a service that would print my favorite blogs in a physical paper that I could read. I'd call it the Daily Blogck, only because I'm 99.9% sure that name isn't already taken.

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  6. What a diverse assortment of titles. I like that. Literature from the 1800s isn't nearly as 'bad' and 'unreadable' as some might think.

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    1. True. It was the hardest thing for me to read since Beowulf in Olde English. Fortunately, this was much more modern, and the descriptions of setting, character, and action were expertly executed.

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  7. Wow you've been reading away. The Clinton one would be an interesting read, actually they all sound interesting. And a review of mine too, that cat likes such a thing coming due haha

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    1. No better way to learn the craft than to immerse oneself in it, I say. And I hope to buy more of your novels to review. More on that in the next post. The cat must wait.

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  8. It's good to see you again and I'm glad you got the scheduler to work. I bet reading Clinton's was fascinating.

    Meh, a good review of Pat is fine, but not the cat!! The cat is just mean LOL

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  9. Welcome to Dude Write. I'm a fellow member and I think your blog is great. I recently returned from Turkey where I visited the shrine of Rumi and witnessed the Whirling Dervishes. Quite remarkable. By the way, you're a gifted writer with a keen sense of humor. I hope you'll visit me sometime at Chubby Chatterbox. Take care.

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  10. Haven't read any of those novels...interesting list though...By the way, did you change the color/background of your site? It looks different....Either way, nice color and artwork combo.

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  11. Some interestin' readin' ya gettin' done, bro! I'mma gonna hafta put some of these on the back-order after I get my Phil Gordon poker books in~!

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  12. Wish I could have voted for Clinton. Hopefully I can vote for another one in 2016 :)

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