C.A. Gray's Blog, page 7

Review of The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

My husband was reading this one as we passed through Boston on a way to another trip, and was so enamored of it that he told me I had to read it too. I’d fortunately started it by the time we made it to Boston, so I was able to appreciate some of the historically relevant sites more than I otherwise might.

Adams is one of those founding fathers nobody really thinks of, except in reference to the beer. But it turns out (at least according to Schiff), this was by his own design. He was mediocre for the majority of his life, and if he’d lived in a different time, perhaps always would have remained so–but he was born “for such a time as this.” I had no idea that Samuel Adams, cousin of John, was almost the primary driving force behind the scenes. He fomenting anger against the British by his myriad of pen names under which he published essays far and wide (and I did take issue with the way in which he spun current events to suit his purposes–if it wasn’t outright disinformation, it was at least cherry-picking). He was the one who made back room deals to get all the power players on board, to come together under a common purpose. He and John Hancock were for a time considered the most dangerous revolutionaries of all. But he left behind so few records of his involvement that he was almost lost to history, once the revolution was won.

Very compellingly written!

My rating: ****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: historical only and minor

Political content: historical only

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Review of Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen

This took me a couple of false starts, but I’m so glad I stuck with it… even though it’s not a happy story, it was fascinating.

I felt terribly sorry for Katherine (Kate, as Henry called her) for most of the story–nearly all of it, really. She had a very brief interlude of happiness in her marriage, as Henry’s first wife. But we see Henry VIII through her eyes, so even though the story could certainly have been spun such that I’d have found him eminently hatable, through Katherine’s, I saw him as a petulant, spoiled child who never grew up. She adored him throughout (at least in this version), even as she watched the intrigues in court steal him away from her, followed by her one time lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn. Even though Katherine was portrayed as saintly, and never said anything against Anne even in private, the way the story depicted Anne made her the most loathsome creature I could possibly imagine. I was eagerly awaiting the moment when Katherine would learn that Henry had turned on Anne, only to find that Katherine died before Anne’s downfall. She essentially died because Henry more or less imprisoned her for refusing to acknowledge that her marriage to him had been illegitimate all along, and she wasted away as a result. Henry was almost as culpable for Katherine’s death as he was for Anne’s later, or for another wife named Catherine whom he also had executed for adultery.

I also felt terribly sorry for Katherine and Henry’s one surviving daughter, Mary. Now I understand far better why she became “Bloody Mary,” and where her hatred for Protestants came from. At least as depicted in this story, Katherine was a devout Catholic, and truly believed she was serving God as best she knew how–she was even willing to die a martyr’s death for her beliefs, if it came to that. Henry, on the other hand, had such obvious ulterior motives for the church split that his hypocrisy was evident to all, even if he himself could not see it–and this was why all the people adored Katherine and despised Anne. They could see it too. Mary was caught in the middle of all of this, forced to watch her father banish her mother, separate mother from daughter, and declare Mary illegitimate, while parading the smug other woman in court. And he called all of this God’s will.

I don’t know if I want to keep reading about all the rest of the Tudor intrigues, as the whole thing is so sordid, but I did look up the Wikipedia summaries of Henry’s life and Anne’s, and found that when I read the latter, I didn’t hate her nearly so much as I did while reading this novel. Anne was a much more nuanced character, depending upon which historian handles her, I guess.

My rating: ****

Language: none

Violence: it was there but handled well

Sexual content: present and goes into more detail than I cared for

Political content: historical only

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Anne of Windy Poplars

After having gone to Prince Edward Island, where I finished “Anne of the Island,” I wasn’t quite ready to stop reading about Anne, even though all the romantic tension between her and Gilbert is by now resolved. That’s certainly the most interesting part, but once she’s an adult, Anne herself is such a delightful, lovable character. It almost doesn’t matter where she is or what she’s doing.

This book is told probably 50-60% in letters to Gilbert, while he’s off in medical school during their long engagement. Anne’s adventures in this story correspond to most of the events in the film version of “Anne of Avonlea,” which I’d forgotten. That was fun to discover. But mostly, it’s fun to read about how she overcomes all negativity around her, no matter how entrenched, by her sheer winning attitude and determination to see the best in everything and everyone. It’s so inspirational. It makes me feel like that’s possible for all of us, if we only had her outlook.

My rating: ****

Language: none

Violence: none

Sexual content: none

Political content: none

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Lean On Me

I love Beth Moran books so much that I wonder why I don’t ever attempt to emulate them in my own writing. She manages to be uplifting without being even close to cheesy… largely because she tackles some seriously dark subjects. This one covers drug addiction, murder, stalking, and suicide… and yet, I had the impression after reading this book that if Moran isn’t a Christian herself, she’s certainly sympathetic to religion (and I rather think she does belong to a church herself). She depicts Christian groups favorably, and yet she manages to not come across preachy, which is the pitfall most Christian authors tend to fall into. I’m very impressed.

The protagonist in this story is Faith (not her real name, though–she changed it many times in order to hide from her mother’s murderer). She had a very rough childhood and young adulthood, but when the story opens, she’s engaged to a multimillionaire. He’s a good guy, sort of, but she doesn’t belong in his world, and doesn’t love him. Still, she wants the security he offers her, and especially offers her drug-addicted brother Sam. But when looking for a venue for the wedding, Faith finds herself joining a church choir, where she finds a group of women who truly love her for who she is, and who force her to be her authentic self. She also accidentally falls in love with the single pastor who is supposed to marry them.

The story is, in a few places, over-the-top… but I didn’t mind. Even though Moran never shies away from heavy subjects, there’s always a very satisfying happily ever after.

My rating: *****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: there is some but it’s tastefully done

Political content: none

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Anne of the Island

I finished re-listening to this while I was on a cruise visiting Prince Edward Island, timed that way on purpose of course. I learned while there that Avonlea was based on Cavendish, where LM Montgomery lived almost her whole life, and saw the house (belonging to Montgomery’s cousins) that inspired Green Gables. There was even a Lover’s Lane and a Haunted Wood adjacent to the property! (We didn’t have anywhere near long enough to explore it as it was a tour, but what a treat to see it!)

I can’t necessarily say this is my favorite of the Anne series, as it’s really very much a continuation of the first two–very episodic. But Anne is grown up in this one as in the last, all of her childhood foibles already behind her, and she’s rather perfect in every way except one: she’s completely blind to how she feels about Gilbert. That makes for the most sustained conflict in the whole series, and it features more prominently in this book than any of the others, even though it was in the first two books to some extent as well.

I’d forgotten how the films were a mish-mash of the first several books in the series. Much of the rest of the substance (except for the part about Gilbert) from this book doesn’t appear in the films at all, and there are a lot of characters from this book that never do either. But that meant I felt like I was almost reading it for the first time. Almost.

My rating: *****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: none

Political content: none

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Vibrational Medicine

After going down the rabbit hole of the damage from manmade EMFs, I then naturally turned to healing frequencies as the other side of that coin. Most of the books in that realm are a little “woo-woo” for me, but this was written by an MD, so I thought I’d give it a try. For about half of it, it absolutely did not disappoint, postulating physical correlates for what had long been otherwise relegated to the “spirit” realm (I was especially impressed with the explanation for what an aura actually is, and how one can photograph it!) I skipped over the sections on homeopathy and Bach flower remedies since I use those all the time–long ago I wrestled with whether there was anything to that, decided there was, and have more or less satisfied myself with the mechanism of how it works (to the extent that it can be known at this point).

Later on in the book, it kind of went off the rails in my view, considering any and every esoteric philosophy in human history as equally valid. I do have a problem with believing in non-falsifiable ideas (I’m a Christian for, I think, very rational reasons; now I accept it as a foundation for everything I can’t prove, because it has otherwise been proven trustworthy). That said, it made me think… I suspect most of the long-held energy medicine approaches rooted in alternative religions actually correspond to a physical phenomenon, and perhaps specifically, to the flow of electrons in the body (and the subsequently generated electric and magnetic fields).

My rating: ****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: none

Political content: none

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Healing is Voltage, Jerry Tennant

Astounding!

As I started to learn more about healing frequencies, this book came up again and again as a suggested read. I didn’t actually read it until I’d heard the author speak at a recent medical conference though. It blew me away–not least because a prayer of mine for some time had been to understand the connection between physics and biochemistry. I knew there *was* one, but had no idea how to begin researching the question, since it was such a big picture concept, and that’s not how our Western minds tend to think. We usually compartmentalize subjects such that they are more easily digestible.

This book is a big part of the answer. Many other books I’d read recently had discussed the concept of healing frequencies, and the vital force as they pertain to Eastern healing modalities, but not until I read this book did I come to think of all if those concepts as voltage: literally, the flow of electrons. That changed everything… particularly when applied to ideas mentioned here but also in many other works I’ve read recently as well, regarding how acupuncture meridians are literal semiconductors, particularly when hydrated (with water in its liquid crystal form, as Gerald Pollack wrote about in “The Fourth Phase of Water.”) It’s a circuit.

I definitely didn’t agree with everything the author argues past this point, though. I’m still quite a skeptic on the concept of chakras (though I am open to being convinced, if it can be proven that there is a physical explanation for them, as it now turns out there is for acupuncture meridians). I didn’t follow his proprietary approach to re-establishing charge via the biomodulators he sells for thousands of dollars, and indeed, there were a few too many proprietary offerings sprinkled throughout the book(s) for my taste. Even so, I could overlook that for the core idea, which was pure gold.

My rating: *****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: none

Political content: none

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Anne of Avonlea, L.M. Montgomery

I re-read this too in anticipation of visiting Prince Edward Island. I’d forgotten what was actually in the book and what was just in the Megan Follows movie version… this is quite different, as it seems the movie “Anne of Avonlea” encompasses this book, plus “Anne of the Island.”

This book is just as episodic as the first, but unlike the film, the majority of it does still take place in Avonlea. This is the book where, after Anne returns from Queens and wins the Avery scholarship, she decides to give it up in order to stay with Marilla after Matthew’s death, because Marilla’s eyesight is declining. Marilla also adopts a pair of twins, Dora and Davey, which doesn’t happen in the film at all–and Anne mostly helps with raising the mischievous Davey, since Dora never gets into any trouble at all. Anne meanwhile takes the school in Avonlea, while Gilbert (to whom she is now speaking, though she’s largely oblivious to his feelings for her) gives up that school so that he takes the one in Carmandy instead, so that she can stay at Green Gables with Marilla. She and Gilbert, who also doesn’t go straight to college for financial reasons, continue their studies together by correspondence, and they also start an Avonlea improvement club, which gives them lots of reasons to continue interacting with one another as friends.

Anne’s favorite pupil is a boy named Paul, who is Anne in miniature, with his vivid imagination and inherent goodness. His mother died, and his father is away… but then Anne comes across Miss Lavender, a middle-aged spinster who once had a tragic romance with Paul’s father. Anne gets to participate in reuniting them, and this foreshadows the trajectory of her own relationship with Gilbert.

Neither the twins, nor Paul, Miss Lavender, or most of the other characters unique to this book appear in the film, but it’s still a fun read, and it has all the feel of ‘living’ in Avonlea that I loved about the first book.

My rating: *****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: none

Political content: none

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Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery

I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed this before!

I re-listened to the version of “Anne of Green Gables” read by Rachel McAdams, because we’re soon to go on a cruise to Canada and visit Prince Edward Island and Halifax. Mostly I wanted to go because I love this series so much!

The story is episodic, which I think some of my favorite stories seem to be, interestingly enough. It’s less about the overall plot, so much as the series makes me feel like I can inhabit their world, in turn-of-the-century Prince Edward Island. It’s so idyllic, such a simpler time, where there are quirky characters who have flaws, but nobody is truly evil. There’s misunderstandings and selfishness and mishaps galore, but also wild flights of fancy, deep and moving relationships, and gorgeous description. I almost feel like Avonlea itself is a character in the story.

Anne is a girl that probably every bookwormish little girl can identify with. She has a big heart, and a big imagination. She’s adventurous, idealistic, and she loves pretty things. She also feels everything deeply. She’s an orphan who, through a twist of fate, gets adopted by Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert (brother and sister), almost in spite of their intentions–she’s just so irresistible. Everyone ends up falling under Anne’s spell, even though (as it’s firmly established for at least the first half of the book), she’s “terribly skinny and homely, and her hair’s as red as carrots!”

My favorite part of all the books is her relationship with Gilbert Blythe. He’s the handsome boy-next-door who inadvertently insults her at the beginning, and she gives him the cold shoulder almost the entire way through the first book, even though he secretly adores her. And she’s not indifferent to him either, though she can’t exactly explain, even to herself, how she truly feels about him.

I read these as a child and have no idea how many times since. Definitely some of my all-time favorites!

My rating: ****

Language: none

Violence: none

Sexual content: none

Political content: none

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The Body Electric, Robert Becker

I almost never read paperbacks anymore, but I did this one because there was no e-book option, and I’d heard from so many different places that it was one of the most important books on the subject of how electricity and biology interact that it became worth it. I’m in process of transposing my highlights to my Evernote notebook by hand…

Becker was, I believe after reading this, not just a brilliant scientist willing and able to think outside the box, but a man of integrity as well, willing to fight against the establishment and risk his career in order to do what he could to alleviate human suffering. His experiments proved, stunningly, that electricity is not just involved in, but the driving force in healing and even regeneration. He first established this with salamanders, known to regrow limbs after their loss. But then he was able to establish that the same thing was possible in mammals as well, provided the positive polarity electrical signal sent out from the adjacent nerves were not interfered with by allowing the wound to heal over too quickly. His one lasting contribution to medicine was that this approach made its way into mainstream orthopedics for non-healing fractures, and now electrical currents are used to stimulate bone healing, and he won a Nobel Prize for this. But he had such big dreams, of helping regrow limbs for human beings, or triggering healing within the spinal cord itself for those who had suffered spinal cord injuries. It certainly sounds to me like all of these things are possible, based on the studies he performed, but I’ve never heard of any of it before. It seems that research on all these frontiers completely stopped, possibly in the 80s, when Becker’s research itself came to a halt.

Many of the powers-that-be came against him because Becker also used his insights into the power of electricity to heal to extrapolate that manmade electromagnetic frequencies could interfere with the body’s own signaling processes, and cause potentially tremendous suffering. Here the book was a repeat of many others I’ve read on the damage from EMF, but it was grounded in the concept that frequencies can heal as well as harm. How do we know which will do which? It seems that is an area ripe for research, which (so far as I know) still isn’t being done. The last chapter of the book was dedicated to all the political intrigue that conspired against him, and the psychological reasons behind it. Much of it, as Becker put it, wasn’t so much about financial gain as it was just about pride. The ‘establishment’ did not want anyone to challenge their own contributions to academia, which meant that anyone with a revolutionary idea didn’t get funding. Those who pandered to the existing power structure got grants, got published, and eventually made it into the pantheon of the old guard themselves… which only served to perpetuate the system. Eventually when a new idea couldn’t be hushed up, the old guard would mock on one hand, while taking credit for their opponents’ work on the other. Then of course, financial incentives of industry put pressure as well.

What all of this ultimately suggests to me is that a lot more miraculous things might be possible than we think, even from an objective scientific standpoint… but if it doesn’t make it into the mainstream, for whatever nefarious reasons, the rest of us may never know.

My rating: *****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: none

Political content: heavy, but not in a right/left kind of a way so much as the minutiae of academic machinations. 

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