TITLE: INDEPENDENT PEOPLE
AUTHOR: Halldor Laxness
DESCRIPTION: Halldor Laxness won the 1955 Nobel Prize with this one. It's the story of Bjartur, an indentured servant who purchased his freedom with 18 years of hard work. Bjartur sets out to be truly independent by owning his own farm-- which happens to be cursed. This saga dissects the Icelandic social system, Bjartur's psyche (& those of all other characters), & illustrates the effects of war and greed on both. E. Annie Proulx, Jane Smiley & I agree: It's one of the best books ever written. Don't read the Introduction. Gives away too much. R rated for Explicit Poverty.

TITLE PLAY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
AUTHOR: Swami Muktananda
DESCRIPTION: Play of Consciousness is the spiritual autobiography of Sw. Muktananda, an Indian meditation master who died in 1982. He wrote it as a teaching device for his students. The book opens with a tightly written and comprehensive guide to Hinduism and yoga. The second part describes his spiritual experiences. They read like sci-fi, but you sense their utter authenticity. You may get culture shock. Translated from Hindi or one of the Indian languages and written by an older, Hindu monk, the language is flowery, exquisite, and somewhat antiquated. Muktananda talks about gurus and disciples. The word ÒguruÓ has been maligned in the West. ÒGuruÓ means ÒteacherÓ. Muktananda's essential energy roars through POC. You may find yourself nodding off or falling into meditation. You may only be able to read a page to two at a time. That's fine. Just keep reading. It's a classic.

TITLE TOUGH TRIP THROUGH PARADISE
AUTHOR: Andrew Garcia
DESCRIPTION: This book's handwritten manuscript was found in a dynamite box in its author's Montana cabin after his death at age 88. Garcia was an original Western settler, arriving in Montana in 1878, one year after the famous Nez Perce Chief Joseph's surrender. If you want authentic Old West, here it is. Garcia tells it like he saw it, favoring neither Native Americans or Europeans. He marries three Indian women (sequentially) and leaves his past world behind. This book has romance, beauty, humor, deadly adventure. Danger. Thrillers come nowhere near this true story. Most of all, Andrew Garcia's soul shines through his writing. What a dear, good man. I wish I could have met him.

TITLE CEREMONY
AUTHOR: Leslie Anne Silko
DESCRIPTION: A classic in Native American literature, Ceremony tells the story of Tayo, a young Native man who returns from W.W.II with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Silko's masterful writing interweaves the personal, social and societal causes for Tayo's illness with traditional Native legends and cures. Beautiful, inspiring and very harsh. Like Tayo's life. A stellar book. I have a list of study questions our Book Review used in examining this book. E mail me if you want them.

TITLE COLD MOUNTAIN
AUTHOR: Charles Frazier
DESCRIPTION: One of the most romantic books I have ever read, Cold Mountain is a slow, sweeping epic of a slice of American history. Heartsick and disillusioned, Inman, a Confederate soldier gravely wounded at Petersburg, decides to walk home to the Blue Ridge Mountains. He longs for Ada, the preacher's daughter he left behind. He longs for healing from the war's physical and spiritual ravages. His trip takes him through the turmoil and insanity of the time. While Inman makes the almost impossible journey home, Ada fights for her life. Raised to make polite conversation and sketch, she must find the means for survival within herself. Winner of the National Book Award. National Best Seller.

TITLE THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
AUTHOR: Jean-Domininque Bauby
DESCRIPTION:Feeling sorry for yourself? Life got you down? Read this. In 1992, the author was the 43 year old editor of the French Elle. A witty bon vivant with two children and a full life, Bauby suffered a massive stroke that left him completely and permanently paralyzed. He could blink his left eye-- that's it. This book was written by Bauby blinking as a reader read a special alphabet aloud. Blink= Write that LETTER. The book was written like that, letter by letter. It's short. Depressing? No. Lovely. A lovely, moving, haunting memoir of a man who used his mind to entertain and delight himself when that's all he had. He tells of the hard parts: His children's visits. Old acquaintances calling him a vegetable. But this is a magnificent final song. Bauby died 2 days after the French edition of this book came out. It was the #1 International Best Seller in Europe. Praised universally by critics. Inspiring.

WINNER OF FIVE NATIONAL AWARDS!

Sandy Nathan's new book,
STEPPING OFF THE EDGE: Learning & Living Spiritual Practice
reads like a good novel, while teaching the great truths of humanity. A powerful tale of insight and spiritual unfolding, this book will take you to new realms of thought and feeling.

"Sandy's book has got to be one of the most fun to read books about spirituality ever written." Natural Horse Magazine

YOUR LIFE IS YOUR SPIRITUAL PATH!

TITLE ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTIN'
AUTHOR Rick Bragg
DESCRIPTION:
Inspired writing. See Writer's Corner for more discussion. Pulitzer Prize winning, New York Times reporter, Rick Bragg, tells the story of growing up Òpoor white trashÓ in Alabama. Seldom have I read more compassionate, truthful, heartfelt words. Mr. Bragg's love for his family, his mother and his country blasts through. Just as truthful is his depiction of the alcoholic father who deserted his family and the crushing effect of their subsequent poverty. Simple. Beautiful. Unforgettable. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

TITLE ARRANGED MARRIAGE
AUTHOR Chitra Divakaruni
DESCRIPTION: A group of short stories around the subject of arranged marriage. These stunners will leave you breathless. Sad, poignant, beautiful. Unforgettable. Haunting. I like this book as well as Divakaruni's poetry. Read this before Sister of my Heart. Divakaruni uses one of the short stories as the basis of Sister.

TITLE MISTRESS OF SPICES
AUTHOR Chitra Divakaruni
DESCRIPTION: A haunting contemporary fable, fantastic and sensual. Tilo, a young woman from a faraway place, makes her way through magic and pirates to a mythical healer. She's trained in the mystery of spices and ordained as an immortal master. Once ordained, she finds herself transported to Oakland, California (!?) as an old woman tending an Indian spice shop. The fun begins. How do desire for individual happiness and duty interrelate? A best seller. Great fun.

TITLE GUNS, GERMS & STEEL
AUTHOR Jared Diamond
DESCRIPTION: Perhaps one of the most important books I've read, Diamond asks the question: Why did some human cultures innovate and prosper, and end up colonizing the rest? Why did other cultures not develop past stone tools? Gives a scientific answer not based on race. Diamond is one smart fellow. A mature scientist. He uses everything he knows in this book. Guns, Germs & Steel is a Pulitzer Prize winner, winner of the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, and a National Bestseller. Acclaimed by The New Yorker, New York Times, almost everyone else, major professors and-- Bill Gates. A must read for any thoughtful person. Great book club selection.

TITLE THE LONG WAY TO LOS GATOS
AUTHOR Verne Albright
DESCRIPTION: THIS BOOK SHOULD BE A BEST SELLER!!! We've known author Verne Albright for years as the affable and articulate announcer at our Peruvian Paso horse shows. And yes, we knew that he rode two Peruvian Paso horses from Peru to the United States in the 1960's. But we didn't know the whole story. Braving vampire bats! Cholera! Typhoid! Malaria! Bubonic plague! Crossing the Matacaballo (Horsekiller) Desert. Or the Andes! The Peak of Death, where the weather is so extreme that people often freeze to death standing up. And the human problems. The revolution in Nicaragua. Anarchy in Colombia. Banditos. Trying to find food for his horses where there wasn't any. Also horse shoes and vets. (Though he did find a witch doctor. Who cured the horse.) If you like horses, horse stories, adventure yarns, tales of bureaucratic despair, and romances, this is the book for you.

TITLE ONE THOUSAND WHITE WOMEN
AUTHOR Jim Fergus
DESCRIPTION: In 1874, Cheyenne war chief Little Wolf makes an unusual proposal to the President of the United States: In order to heal the wounds between the red and white races, Little Wolf offers to trade the United States government 1000 horses for 1000 white women. The women will marry his warriors. The resulting children will meld the two civilizations and bring peace. This is engaging, rewarding fiction, superbly researched and spell binding. It is fiction. I repeat: FICTION! Try and put it down.

TITLE HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER'S STONE (Book 1)
AUTHOR J. K. Rowling
DESCRIPTION: When my cousin, Marcia, said the Harry books were winners, I knew it was true. She has taste. Of course, The New York Times, Publishers' Weekly, Booklist, and you name it, agree. So do I-- I was hooked in 3 pages. Gobbled my way through the remaining three books. I'm waiting anxiously for the Rowling's next effort, out in 7/00. Already Amazon's top seller, in advance orders alone. You don't have to be a kid to love this.

TITLE HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (Book 2)
AUTHOR J. K. Rowling
DESCRIPTION: I'll just continue from Book 1. These books legitimately deserve adjectives like: Charming. Witty. Inventive. Delightful. Beguiling. Fun. Rowling doesn't loose her touch throughout. I thought #3 of the series was the best. This is the story of wizard child Harry Potter at Hogswart, a boarding school for witches and wizards. There, he is willful, disobedient, and delightful. He lies to the staff and gets in one scrape after another. All wonderfully resolved.

TITLE HARRY POTTER & THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (Book 3)
AUTHOR J. K. Rowling
DESCRIPTION: Strange creatures, weird teachers, great names (Hogswart!?), a fun reality to enter when real reality pinches. Author Rowling was a struggling single mother, a Scotswoman, when she got the idea for the firs t Harry Potter book. She received a small endowment to allow her to finish. The rest is history. You go girl! You go endowments for the arts!

TITLE THE SAGAS OF THE ICELANDERS, Intro by Jane Smiley
AUTHORS: Various
DESCRIPTION:Roots time for me. I am half Icelandic. People tend to think of the ancient Norsemen as barbaric murderers. Well, they went a-Viking, and you probably wouldn't want to meet them on one of their "shopping trips". But the Norse had a rich and complicated culture, their own religion, and some of the most powerful sagas in the world. Icelanders were the scribes and intellectuals. The Icelandic sagas have been compared to the Greek in scope and power. Sample a civilization that's been glossed over by European history. Check out Independent People, by Halldor Laxness, for an example of a modern Icelandic genius' writing. It's in the previous section.

WINNER OF FIVE NATIONAL AWARDS!

Sandy Nathan's new book,
STEPPING OFF THE EDGE: Learning & Living Spiritual Practice
reads like a good novel, while teaching the great truths of humanity. A powerful tale of insight and spiritual unfolding, this book will take you to new realms of thought and feeling.

"Sandy's book has got to be one of the most fun to read books about spirituality ever written." Natural Horse Magazine

YOUR LIFE IS YOUR SPIRITUAL PATH!

Buy from Amazon

TITLE THE LONG WAY TO LOS GATOS
AUTHOR Verne Albright
DESCRIPTION: I'm including this book in horse books and regular books because I think it's such a great read. Continuing the blurb I started above---Verne rides from Peru to California, surpassing one obstacle after another after another until the reader feels like tearing his/her hair out and murdering most of the officials in South America! I was anxious the entire time I read this book-- which fortunately wasn't very long: I couldn't put it down. What a tale! Why did he do this? He was a young guy in his 20's. He wanted to promote the Peruvian Paso breed. And also, the ride seemed like a good way to condition one of the mares for the Tevis Cup (the 100 mile endurance race) in Auburn. Yeah. Riding her from Peru should do it. If you like horses, horse stories, adventure yarns, tales of bureaucratic despair, and romances, this is the book for you.

TITLE HEAVENLY GAITS:The Complete book of Gaited Riding Horses
AUTHOR: Brenda Imus
DESCRIPTION: Are you tired of aching after every ride? Do you dream of pain free riding? Liberation can be yours! Try an easy gaited horse! I made the switch, and I'm glad. This comprehensive book discusses all the gaited breeds-- Saddlehorses, Peruvian Pasos, Icelandics, many more. Explains what lateral gait is. Why suffer? Figure out which breed appeals and GO FOR IT!

TITLE HORSE FOLLOW CLOSELY: Native American Horsemanship
AUTHOR: GaWaNi Pony Boy
DESCRIPTION: Sick of boring old dressage? Overdone eventing? Wacky Western riding? In this stunningly beautiful volume, GaWaNi Pony Boy describes the roots of Native American riding. When Europeans arrived in the Americas, horses had disappeared long before. GaWaNi shows how the first Americans took to horses-- and created an awe inspiring bond and culture. I have not met GaWaNi, but I knew my husband would love his horsemanship the minute I saw this book. GaWaNi doesn't clip his horse's faces-- something my husband totally approves.

WINNER OF FIVE NATIONAL AWARDS!

Sandy Nathan's new book,
STEPPING OFF THE EDGE: Learning & Living Spiritual Practice
reads like a good novel, while teaching the great truths of humanity. A powerful tale of insight and spiritual unfolding, this book will take you to new realms of thought and feeling.

"Sandy's book has got to be one of the most fun to read books about spirituality ever written." Natural Horse Magazine

YOUR LIFE IS YOUR SPIRITUAL PATH!