Rhett Butler's People

This is a book based on Gone with the Wind. It is by Donald McCaig.

I saw this book in a bookstore a while back and didn't even put it on my list. I am not sure why. Then the other day, I saw it while I was at the library and decided to read it. I am glad I did.

Gone with the Wind is a great book and movie. The characters are very memorable. Some may argue that many unpleasant details were papered over, but then we live in very negative times.

Sequels and the like for it are a good idea.

Scarlett, the actual sequel to Gone with the Wind from a few years back, was also a good book and a pretty good movie as well. The book here, Rhett Butler's People, seems to ignore some of what went on in the Scarlett book.

As to the Rhett Butler book itself, I liked a lot of things in this book, but I would have preferred if it had spent less time on battles, deprivation and KKK activities and more time on other things. Belle Watling is a great character, and it was interesting to learn more about her and see things from her side. It was a real shame that Mammy and Prissy did not pay larger roles in the book; I especially loved the Mammy character in the original book and movie as she reminded me of a housekeeper we had when I was very young who I liked very much.

I think the book is really worth a read and hope you give it a try.

Thirty Years

Tomorrow, it will be 30 years since I graduated from high school. Seems like it was yesterday and a thousand years ago at the same time. A lot has happened since then, some good, some bad, and a lot very unexpected!

This has been a month of many other anniversaries for me as well. 40 years since my first communion, and I can still remember the day quite well. 20 years since finishing grad school, and 10 years since finishing law school.

When I was getting my diploma 30 years ago, I guess I thought I would be "further along" than I am now in life, but then maybe my definition of that has changed - as it should have. There is still time to meet that new standard.

I'll let you know later how that turns out if I get a chance.

The Teahouse Fire

This is a novel by Ellis Avery. Overall, a great book.

It is the story of a French American girl who goes to Japan with her missionary uncle. There is a fire soon after they arrive in Kyoto, and the little girl runs away. She is taken in by the Shin family who teaches and performs the Japanese tea ceremony. This may seem a little far-fetched, but the author makes it believeable in the book.

The girl is given the Japanese name Urako and becomes a servant/companion for the young daughter in the family, Yukako. Urako remains with the family for about 25 years while many big changes go on around them in the Japan of this time (1866-1891).

As the story moves along, the reader learns about Japanese customs and attitudes of the time, including its rigid social structure and racism. The Shin family is very devoted to the tea ceremony, perhaps as is suggested in places, too devoted. I found them to be a bit extreme myself.

The close relationship between Urako and Yukako deteriorates and comes unraveled near the end of the story, and Urako returns to the United States. Yukako dies many years later without the two speaking again, but a package from Yukako eventually reaches Urako after Yukako has died. The contents of the package seems to heal the rift between them.

Overall, the book was very good, although it was hard to follow the time sequence now and then. I do think the author made a mistake ending the book with that scene with the two flapper lesbians. Yes, that is what she did.

Let me know what you think if you read the book.

The Gnostic Gospels

This is a book by Elaine Pagels on important Gnostic literature and its context in the ancient world.

I liked the book and found that I have a lot in common with the Valentinians! The book was a little short perhaps given the amount of material covered, but I think Ms. Pagels probably still did her subject justice.

The book tackles the subject via a set of themes, such as the Resurrection, not by individual works or authors. This probably was the way to go to keep things straightforward in a short format.

I think what surprised me the most was how closed minded the "orthodox" church fathers were about gnostic ideas. Some of these were pretty way out, but many really weren't and made quite a bit of sense to me.

Ms. Pagels seems to believe that the structure of the "orthodox" church and its relatively simple, if authoritarian approach, as set up by the "orthodox" fathers, was what helped it win out over the gnostics and survive to this day. Her argument is pretty convincing.

The wholesale rejection of gnostic ideas, even for those "capable" of appreciating them, seems to me to have been a real tragedy, however. Jesus seems to have said things to support both viewpoints and maybe he really meant to do that. Ms. Pagels gives good examples as to how there is support for both in the New Testament; even if you don't buy these (I did), recall for example, that Jesus spoke in parables and only explained them to some people.

It was not until recently that we really had a chance to see what this second path involved. Maybe it is what many who are leaving Christianity today find missing.

If you give the book a try, let me know what you think.

Hidden Moon

This is a book by James Church and is the second book in the Inspector O series that started with A Corpse in the Koryo which was reviewed here a few months ago.

I liked Hidden Moon, but it was not as good as Koryo in my opinion. Koryo had a lot more North Korea background/local color that made it more interesting. In both books, there is no clear solution to the crime and a heavy "political" angle. Hidden Moon centers around a bank robbery which seems to be a new thing for North Korea, but there are other things involved as becomes apparent as the book progresses.

Hopefully, there will be another book in the series and one more like Koryo. Hidden Moon is still worth a read, so give it a try if you like detective stories with political angles. Let me know what you think if you read it.

Maximum Achievement

This is a book by Brian Tracy.

A friend recommended this book to me a few years ago. I recently bought it and after a while started reading it. Even though I liked the book, it took me months to get through it - maybe it was a lot for me to process.

In any case, the book is very good. I liked the first part of the book better than the second (even considering the sales examples in the first part which I kind of groaned through), but the second does make many good points if in a somewhat overly repetitive way at times.

I think the main thing I got out of this book is that you have to really, and I mean really, decide on what you want before you can surely have it. This was something I had not been doing, even though I thought I was, and as soon as I did it, people started coming to me with what I needed with little or no effort required on my part. It was pretty amazing and happened like the book said. I hope this continues!

There are other important points covered as well, like forgiveness and giving. I had some winning moments on these as well. This book is not all about getting.

I do highly recommend the book! Let me know how it works for you if you decide to read it.