Hump Day Happy

First things first: Happy birthday, Cousin Ron! Your birthday is always special, but this one seems even more special than usual. =)

Though I’m an avid reader, I rarely “review” books. It’s a rare book that hasn’t required a lot of its creator in terms of sweat, time, love, and energy. Even if I don’t particularly enjoy a book, I respect the effort that went into it, and I can’t imagine making some glib or offhand comment that would discourage anyone from reading it. Reading enjoyment is completely subjective: Something I don’t like could be someone else’s favorite book ever, and vice versa.

That being said, I’ve read a couple of books lately that I want to mention because I think they may be of interest to some of my LJ readers. The first is The Prayer Chest: A Novel About Receiving All of Life’s Riches by August Gold and Joel Fotinos. The second is Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever by Joel Derfner.

I listened to a radio interview with authors Joel Fotinos (who is our own monkjoel) and August Gold, the writers of The Prayer Chest, in which Joel explained that the idea for The Prayer Chest came to him in a dream. He felt compelled to share the dream with his friend and colleague, August. When she went home that night, she sat down and wrote the first few chapters of the book without stopping. At its most basic, the story is a spiritual tale about a man, Joseph, who is struggling with loss and hardship in the late 1800s. When he finds a wooden chest, the prayer chest, that has been in his family for generations, and the journal contained within it, he begins to open up to the possibility of change and hope through prayer.

In the radio interview, Joel said he’d been surprised by how the book has appealed to such a wide variety of readers, not only people of various faiths, but people who describe themselves as not religious at all. August talked about how people are spiritually hungry, and how prayer is hardwired into all “Beings.” A bit of an idealist myself, I was moved by this story in which people’s lives are enriched when they open their hearts to one another, and I was also intrigued by what Joseph’s ancestor has to teach him about the power of prayer. If you’re interested in learning more about The Prayer Chest, there’s a web site at theprayerchest.net.

The second book, Swish, is by another Joel. I’ve been reading Joel Derfner’s blog, The Search for Love in Manhattan, for a number of years. I’ve always enjoyed his witty way of telling a story, so when Tim and I were looking for contributors to our anthology, he was one of the writers we approached. You’ll see how dead-on our instincts were when you read his story “De Anima” in Fool for Love.

Joel previously wrote Gay Haiku, and since he’s so often made me laugh, I expected Swish to be funny, and it is. What I didn’t expect was that it would also contain more serious musings on attempting to become “the gayest person ever.” With his usual wit, Joel tackles the complexities of family, friendship, and romance. Then, at the end, having gone undercover to an Exodus conference, he provides one of the most compassionate, thoughtful accounts of the “ex-gay” movement that I’ve ever read. By turns frustrated, impressed, infuriated, and moved, Joel takes his readers beyond a knee-jerk reaction to such organizations to look into the hearts of the people who seek answers from them.

Time with a good book always brings me happiness, so I’m glad to have read both of these. Most of you already know that same happiness, but there’s always room for more, right? If you’d like to comment with a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25, Little Dog will paw through this book and find your answer.

34 thoughts on “Hump Day Happy”

      1. Thank you – not quite back to normal but there’s still hope. 🙂

        And the thought of OJ and champers in silk pjs is putting a smile on my face. 🙂

        Reply

    1. Thanks–I try to make it a regular Wednesday feature, but I miss now and then.

      And the book says:

      “‘Friday’s child is loving and giving'”

      (I always liked that rhyme–I’m a Monday’s child. You?)

      Reply

      1. I think it is a lovely way to celebrate mid-week…

        (I’ve also always enjoyed that poem. It is neat that my numbers brought the poem up. I am a Wednesday’s child, myself… and here we are ~ on a Wednesday. *grin*)

        Thank-you, again.
        This was fun!
        🙂

        (I’ll be ordering Swish on payday. Thank-you for mentioning it. It sounds very good…)

        Reply

  4. Even if I don’t particularly enjoy a book, I respect the effort that went into it, . . .

    I can’t remember right now who it was, but I remember reading how a famous novelist (it might have been Balzac) who said that while he thought a collection of poetry he read wasn’t that good in terms of quality, he appreciated the obvious emotion and enthusiasm that went into the poems.

    . . . and I can’t imagine making some glib or offhand comment that would discourage anyone from reading it. Reading enjoyment is completely subjective: Something I don’t like could be someone else’s favorite book ever, and vice versa.

    If at all possible, I prefer to say something positive rather than negative. The only problem with that is that I’ve noticed there is a rather superficial tendency for people to assume that the more negative the review, the reviewer must be more of critical thinker. I kept getting blah grades on my reviews for this history seminar I took until I just absolutely tore this one book apart. I was just bullshitting my way through it too. I hadn’t had time to really read the book so I just tore the book apart to intimidate my professor. The result was that she gave me the best grade I ever got for a book review! I swear, I give up.

    As long as a reviewer tries to be fair, and explain why they reacted to a certain book, then that’s reasonable. Whenever I read a review, I’m reviewing the reviewer in terms of trying to determine whether their reasoning for their opinion seems logical. I’ve written various customer reviews for Amazon. I just trust people to be able to review my reviews, rather than worrying about how they react to them. I guess that personal decision everybody has to make and that’s the one I came to. But yeah, I’d hate to think that my review kept somebody from buying somebody’s work. I’m essentially soft-hearted and I don’t want to do stuff that might hurt somebody else in some way. So far I haven’t posted anything that was less than a 4/5, although I wasn’t soft-peddling my opinions. I just posted about books and movies I ended up having a good opinion of.

    Reply

    1. Whenever I read a review that’s vicious on Amazon, I always think it’s the author’s ex who wrote it.

      Balanced, professional reviews give enough information to allow a potential reader to make up his/her own mind as to what about the book sounds appealing (or not). I admire people who can do those kinds of reviews.

      Reply

  6. Since I started sanding, scraping and power washing prior to starting to paint the house I need all the happy I can get. I’ll use the actual monetary amount that I’ve spent of paint and supplies this week to select my happiness … therefore if you please 237 and 18. Next week I’ll probably use the hours and minutes I’ve spent working.

    Reply

      1. That sounded so good after I got cleaned up from painting I had to make some to go with my boneless pork loin that had been slow-cooking in the crockpot all day. In addition to the cranberries and oranges I added a slight tipple of Alice White Shiraz from Australia. I was very happy. Next time I do stuffed turkey breast. I’m nominating you for sainthood.

        Reply

    1. For Dash:

      “playing the Nutcracker Suite at Christmas brunch

      For you:

      “grapefruit, sliced bananas, berries, cornflakes, and poached eggs for breakfast”

      Reply

  12. Thanks for the recommendations – I’ve added them to my “list” . . . I totally agree with your not liking to review because a book you really didn’t enjoy might be someone else’s favourite, but it’s always nice to learn of a good “read” to investigate.

    I know I’ve had a couple of your “numbers” before, but might I request another, please? 43 and 9.

    Reply

    1. There is no limit to how many times you can make requests. =) If you don’t like your answer, you can even request again. Happiness never gets hoarded on my LJ–it’s meant to be shared in abundance!

      From the book:

      “chefs’ outfits”

      Reply

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