This Week In Books: #18
Feb. 12th, 2007 09:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanGoing strong for two weeks running now, I tackled four books in the past seven days. And what do you know? They were all good.
1) The Compass Of Zen - Seung Sahn
There is so much to this book that it's hard to know how to accurately sum it up. Sahn casts his net wide: Hinayana, Mahayana, and finally Korean Zen. Like many books on the subject, Compass consists primarily of verbal talks given by its author which were later transcribed and edited into text format. His compilers have gone to great pains to transcribe the text accurately, right down to Sahn's laughter and even physical actions. You might think that this would be distracting, but it isn't; in fact, it adds a great deal to the text. I was surprised by how many kong-an Sahn actually explains during the course of the book (although it should be mentioned that knowing the explanation and knowing what the koan means do not go hand in hand). I found Sahn's insistance on and discussion of the mechanics of reincarnation somewhat dubious, but overall, this is one solid text, and I recommend it, especially because I can't do it justice here.
2) Born Confused - Tanuja Desai Hidier
I went into Born Confused expecting a teenybopper chicklit turkey and was promptly blown away by how absolutely wonderful it was. Hidier adopts some trendy aspects in her writing--hyphens in lieu of quotation marks and a Francesca Lia Block-esque style in some descriptive passages. But don't let that fool you; there is a massive amount of substance and insight underpinning this frosting. Born Confused flawlessly captures the confusion and loss of adolescence without becoming syrupy or trite. Her characters are extremely nuanced, and what's more, they're often painfully ignorant of their own strengths and shortcomings, although the reader never is. The narrative juggles a huge cast and never drops a ball or sells someone short. I knew these people in high school. I was these people in high school. Combine this with wonderfully true to life settings (the dance club! the urban scenes! the college apartment! the house party! the food!) and you have an excellent, excellent read. Do yourself a favor and check it out now.
3) A Walk In The Woods - Bill Bryson
I've read one other book by Bryson, and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't anything to rave about. Thus, I wouldn't have picked up this book had it not been recommended to me by a dear friend, especially given its subject matter. A Walk In The Woods is Bryson's travel memoir of hiking the 2,000-odd-mile Appalachian Trail. "The best way of escaping into nature is to read...A Walk In The Woods" raves the NYT blurb on the front cover, which did nothing to endear me, as in my opinion the best way of escaping into nature is to forego books and go experience it firsthand. So imagine my surprise upon discovering A Walk... is funny. Terribly funny. Can't-stop-yourself-laughing funny. And engaging, and much, much better than *A Short History Of Nearly Everything Bryson captures what its like to be on the trail, both the beauty and the agony (and if you think that's too strong a word, you have obviously never camped along it in early April). All in all, a very enjoyable read.
4) Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Shunryu Suzuki
The text of this little volume is also an edited compilation of talks originally given by its author, the other Suzuki famous in American Zen. His "voice" throughout is measured and clear, and lacks the repetition of Sahn's text (making it a quicker read), but don't be fooled--there is a lot to digest in Zen Mind's relatively few pages. In fact, you have to digest everything in those pages, as there isn't an extraneous word to be found. Suzuki's explanation of zazen is perhaps the clearest I've yet encountered, and the book is worth reading for that alone, although there is also a great deal of thought-food on other subjects to be had as well. Read this one, too.
That will be all.
1) The Compass Of Zen - Seung Sahn
There is so much to this book that it's hard to know how to accurately sum it up. Sahn casts his net wide: Hinayana, Mahayana, and finally Korean Zen. Like many books on the subject, Compass consists primarily of verbal talks given by its author which were later transcribed and edited into text format. His compilers have gone to great pains to transcribe the text accurately, right down to Sahn's laughter and even physical actions. You might think that this would be distracting, but it isn't; in fact, it adds a great deal to the text. I was surprised by how many kong-an Sahn actually explains during the course of the book (although it should be mentioned that knowing the explanation and knowing what the koan means do not go hand in hand). I found Sahn's insistance on and discussion of the mechanics of reincarnation somewhat dubious, but overall, this is one solid text, and I recommend it, especially because I can't do it justice here.
2) Born Confused - Tanuja Desai Hidier
I went into Born Confused expecting a teenybopper chicklit turkey and was promptly blown away by how absolutely wonderful it was. Hidier adopts some trendy aspects in her writing--hyphens in lieu of quotation marks and a Francesca Lia Block-esque style in some descriptive passages. But don't let that fool you; there is a massive amount of substance and insight underpinning this frosting. Born Confused flawlessly captures the confusion and loss of adolescence without becoming syrupy or trite. Her characters are extremely nuanced, and what's more, they're often painfully ignorant of their own strengths and shortcomings, although the reader never is. The narrative juggles a huge cast and never drops a ball or sells someone short. I knew these people in high school. I was these people in high school. Combine this with wonderfully true to life settings (the dance club! the urban scenes! the college apartment! the house party! the food!) and you have an excellent, excellent read. Do yourself a favor and check it out now.
3) A Walk In The Woods - Bill Bryson
I've read one other book by Bryson, and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't anything to rave about. Thus, I wouldn't have picked up this book had it not been recommended to me by a dear friend, especially given its subject matter. A Walk In The Woods is Bryson's travel memoir of hiking the 2,000-odd-mile Appalachian Trail. "The best way of escaping into nature is to read...A Walk In The Woods" raves the NYT blurb on the front cover, which did nothing to endear me, as in my opinion the best way of escaping into nature is to forego books and go experience it firsthand. So imagine my surprise upon discovering A Walk... is funny. Terribly funny. Can't-stop-yourself-laughing funny. And engaging, and much, much better than *A Short History Of Nearly Everything Bryson captures what its like to be on the trail, both the beauty and the agony (and if you think that's too strong a word, you have obviously never camped along it in early April). All in all, a very enjoyable read.
4) Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Shunryu Suzuki
The text of this little volume is also an edited compilation of talks originally given by its author, the other Suzuki famous in American Zen. His "voice" throughout is measured and clear, and lacks the repetition of Sahn's text (making it a quicker read), but don't be fooled--there is a lot to digest in Zen Mind's relatively few pages. In fact, you have to digest everything in those pages, as there isn't an extraneous word to be found. Suzuki's explanation of zazen is perhaps the clearest I've yet encountered, and the book is worth reading for that alone, although there is also a great deal of thought-food on other subjects to be had as well. Read this one, too.
That will be all.