2006 Books: The Ones I Liked

[loreleyjacob]

1) No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies - Naomi Klein. A book that demonstrateds how brands have taken over our lives, and suggests various ways of dealing with it. It was a bit too long (over 600 pages), but I was fascinated by it. It read like a good newspaper in-depth article, and gave me a lot to think about. It also, indirectly, showed me

Comments

[inhumandecency]

Thank you for these reviews! I especially appreciate the pointers on art books, since I took up drawing this year. I've had a lot of fun messing around on my own, but I think it may be time to progress beyond drawings populated entirely by slimes and octopi.

I've seen you mention The Flyers of Gy twice... have you seen the collection it comes from? I think most of the stories in Changing Planes are equally good.

[loreleyjacob]

I've read "The Flyers of Gy" online, as a single story. I'll check out the collection. Definitely looking for more of this kind!

[inhumandecency]

I liked "Feeling at Home with the Hennebet," from the same collection, so much that I posted it in my lj. The post also has info on the book.

http://inhumandecency.livejournal.com/2006/01/01/

[loreleyjacob]

Thanks for the link!

[ravenedgewalker]

"8) The Xenophobe's Guide to the Israelis - Aviv Ben Zeev."

so should I be reading this before february???

[loreleyjacob]

I read "The Xenophobe's Guide to the English" before I came to Avalon last year ;) It's amazing (and amusing) how these little guides about stereotypical national behavior are correct.

[elfwreck]

I've looked at a couple of Cuhulain's books, and never managed to read them... the overt pushy "HARM NONE WICCA 3FOLD LAW" thing bugged me too much. (Not that they say "harm none" directly, but they imply that it's only acceptable to cause harm in direct self-defense or defense of a loved one... it's not okay to take harmful action against potential dangers. I have issues with "warrior" being used to mean "guardian" only.)

And, of course, the anti-satanism. The "We Are Not Those EEEEVIL People" propaganda. (Because of course, if we were satanists, we would be evil.) Combine that with the generic-eclectic-wicca theology (I *hate* the "facets" meme), and I can't get through enough of the intro to get on to the useful philosophy.

At some point, I read Robin Wood's When, Why, If... about Wiccan ethics. I read it too late... I was already solidly opposed to the threefold law being used as an "ethics" point. (If everything bad you do comes back to you three times, you don't need ethics. Just like we don't need "good ethics" to keep from

[inhumandecency]

You're right that a literal threefold law obviates the need for any self-awareness or ethics. But some stories are meant to be true, and some stories are meant to be made true. Perhaps the value of the threefold law is that once you start looking for it, you become sensitive to the effects of your actions. And that seems important, since many actions have long-term effects that aren't easy to see.

[phae_talon]

You know, Kerr Cuhulain lives in my town, and I still haven't read his books. I should prolly pick them up one of these days :)

--Phae

[frualeydis]

I didn't like "Wiccan warrior" much, but it was years since I read it, because it turned into another one of theose eclectic beginner's books. Also, it had a very american perspecitve. There's nothing wrong with that, but it sometimes resonates wrongly with my swedish/european experiences ways of thinking.(But Starhawk's books never feels like that, but then there's an huge difference in quality IMHO).
In general I'm not so fond of eclectic wicca books (except, again, Starhawk), my favourites are the Farrars and John and Caitlin Matthews. And Judy Harrow's "Wicca covens", but that's a specialized book about being a priestess and running a coven.

Anyway, I will copy this list so I can borrow some of the books.

/Eva