Pneumatised!

I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and Parable of the Sower last month sometime. Both are excellent reads depending on your mood. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is light-hearted while Parable of the Sower is fairly dark, though probably not as dark as Titus Groan. The ending of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell might surprise a few readers, but if you understand the characters well, you’ll understand the ending.

I’ve been reading about human rights like I mentioned. Primarily I’ve been borrowing books from the library. I finished reading International Human Rights by Jack Donnelly. It is nominally an introductory to human rights (though the author writes to an American audience). Still it was a good introductory, I suppose. It was published in 2007, written just at the time when the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights was being replaced by the more prominent Human Rights Council. The change is probably a good thing as the UN Human Rights Council reports directly to the General Assembly of the UN (that is, all the members of the UN) rather than just the UN Economic and Social Council (which is composed of only 54 members of the UN, albeit elected by the General Assembly). Aside from this change, the book is fairly up-to-date. The cases in the book are older cases that are of historical note. For more recent news on human rights issues, you can read reports from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Right now, I’m waiting for a book to become available at the library. I have it on hold.

In the meantime, I finished reading a little introductory book on hieroglyphs. It is mostly about Egyptian hieroglyphs and includes a few chapters on Mayan hieroglyphs. These systems of writing are fairly logical. Aside from learning the meaning of different Egyptian hieroglyphs, it would be useful to actually speak the language because the Egyptian hieroglyphs also consist of phonograms (that is, images that represent sounds not the actual picture). The problem of course is that ancient Egyptian isn’t the same as modern Egyptian. Thus, the problem with translation of ancient Egyptian is that even if you can determine the sound of a word, it’s in ancient Egyptian and the word may have slightly changed meaning over the years. Of course, there are many hieroglyphs that have meanings associated with them and not just sounds making it quite an interesting writing system.

I also started learning how to write Chinese. Well, I knew a bit of the mechanics of how to write Chinese characters. What I’m learning now is mostly understanding Chinese characters and trying to recognize them. In some ways similar to how hieroglyphs work though the pictures over time changed to characters. For example, the character meaning “sun or day” originated from our standard sun circle with a dot or line in the center to a square with a line in the middle. Imagine drawing a vertical line down on the left side, then the top line and right line, then the line in the middle connecting the left and right, and finally the bottom line connecting the left and right lines. Remembering what some Chinese characters mean stems from understanding how it came that way. Other characters can be made from standard characters (called “radicals”). In this way, a meaning may be derived from two or more characters joined together. For example, the character for woman is one radical. The character for child is another. Now, to the Chinese long ago, a woman with a child was considered a good thing. Thus, the characters for woman and child joined together (written close to each other from left to right) means “good”. There are, of course, radicals that have no meaning and serve simply to help group Chinese characters together for ease of organization. Characters may also represent sounds only. Two Chinese words that sound similar except for the tone can be written differently by using a different radical that indicates which meaning to give to the sound. In this way, some radicals act like determinatives in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Interesting, huh? Characters represent syllables, which means that every syllable in Chinese has a character. This means that a word spoken in Chinese may be written with more than one character. Now, there’s this little problem of learning something like 3000 characters to actually be able to read a Chinese newspaper (basic literacy). A well-educated person should know about 4000 to 5000 Chinese characters. In any case, this is something I’ve been meaning to get around to because I really should be able to read and write Chinese. Never mind that Chinese brush writing is artistic in its own way. It gives an added style dimension to writing. (Oh, and in case you’re wondering, speaking Chinese is a separate system. The characters represent syllables of a word, but do not necessarily indicate the sounds you are to say. Thus, you have to learn how to say something in Chinese and associate it with the characters. Otherwise, the characters don’t necessarily tell you what sound to say – not like in English, when you see “t” you say the “tee” sound.)

I’m also learning Dutch. It seems fairly easy so far. It has some similarities to English and hm… I’m wanting to say French and German. I’m starting to remember some words like, “Dank je” (Thank you), “Goedemorgen” (Good morning) and “Doei” (informal “Bye!”), which is reminding me that I should say “Doei!” for now. I have some more reading and studying to do.

~~~CJ

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake is the first novel in a trilogy, the follow-ups being Gormenghast and Titus Alone. The trilogy is nominally an epic, which tells the story of the 77th Earl of Gormenghast, Titus Groan. In the first book, Titus is born to Lady Gertrude and Lord Sepulchrave to the initial dismay of his older sister, Fuchsia. The first book basically tells how Titus becomes the 77th Earl of Gormenghast before he’s even two-years-old. The world of Gormenghast is dark, quite gothic in feel. Fuchsia has the temperament you would expect of any fifteen-year-old girl – she does whatever she wants and rebels against even her childhood nursemaid, who she professes to love with all her heart. The book is well-written and leaves a remarkably fantastical world imprinted on your mind. Although I initially wasn’t planning on reading the whole trilogy and despite criticism that the next two novels aren’t as impressive on the imagination as the first, I’m intrigued enough to want to find out what happens to Titus Groan in his later years. The next two books will be on my reading list.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley written in 1932 still scarily reflects on modern society, even in this new millenium. What can I say about it that hasn’t already been said? Obviously, there’s a strangely polarized danger to trusting in either science or religion too much. Yet, in many ways science seems to be the new religion of the modern world, as it seems to be in Brave New World.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season eight) by Joss Whedon et al. is the comic/graphic novel version of Buffy. It continues the story after Sunnydale is blown up at the end of season seven. Volume one collecting issues one to five in graphic novel format is now available. There is also a continuation of the Angel serial. Look for Angel: After the Fall – it should be in graphic novel format once the comic gets to issue five.

I mentioned Fables before, I’m sure. I have pretty much caught up with the series I’m up to volume nine now, but I’ve taken a break from it to finish up some other books on my reading list.

If you’re interested in manga, some interesting ones are Blame!, Tsubasa, xxxholic, and Chobits.

I’ve been plodding my way through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Quite an amusing read! It’s 1006 pages so it will take me awhile to finish it, especially since I tend to change books every so often for variety. Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to finish a 1000-page book in five hours like a certain person I know.

I haven’t gone back to Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time yet. I find his serial quite absorbing and there are many plot lines to follow, so it’s best for me to read it when I have a good block of time available and I don’t have to think about doing anything else. I’m thinking I will get back to The Wheel of Time (book seven, A Crown of Swords) when I’ve knocked down my reading list a bit.

I’ve currently gone back to reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It’s been a few weeks and I want to know how Strange is doing overseas as a magic advisor. 😉 I think the novel is wonderfully written.

I also started reading the much shorter novel Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. It’s listed as science fiction and like Brave New World is a commentary on modern society and where it may lead. Well written in the first person narrative, it’s easy to get drawn into the story. It’s told through the eyes of an empath who must learn to control her abilities.

Other fiction books on my reading list are:

The Ghatti’s Tale – Book One: Finders-Seekers by Gayle Greeno
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Lady of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (I didn’t think I would read the rest of Bradley’s novels in this series, but something keeps drawing me back to them. Having read Mists of Avalon and The Forest House already, the next in the series are Lady of Avalon, Priestess of Avalon, Ancestors of Avalon, Ravens of Avalon, and Sword of Avalon (to be published in 2009). The last three books in this series are written by Diana L. Paxson rather than the late Ms. Bradley. I’m thinking if I like Ancestors of Avalon, I’ll continue reading the rest of the novels written by Paxson, but I’m sure I’m going to read up to Ancestors of Avalon.)
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (a recommendation by Nathan (see his blog))
Artemis Fowl (books two and three) by Eoin Colfer (This is such an amusing children’s fiction series. You can’t not like it. 😀 )
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Yes, I’m a little slow. Haha. Actually, it’s more that I’m not overly excited about the rest of the serial and I also don’t like reading hardcover books if I can avoid it. It’s an amusing children’s fiction serial and since I started it I thought I’d finish reading it. When the last book in the serial is available in paperback, I’ll read this one.)
Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi (Ever since I read Battle Royale, I have no hesitation about reading another Japanese novel, especially one that Nathan’s picked up. 😉 This book should be amusing.)
The Diamond Throne and The Ruby Knight (books one and two of The Elenium) by David Eddings (I found these down in our laundry room where people recycle books. Thought I’d read these sometime. I read David Eddings’ other serial before and thought they were amusing, although Nathan doesn’t like Eddings’ writing so much.)
The Tower on the Rift (book two of The View from the Mirror) by Ian Irvine (Nathan read both books one and two and lost interest because Irvine’s writing isn’t the greatest. I have to agree. The story sounds interesting, but I found it hard to finish the first book. I may read this book at some point, but I’m in no rush too. Maybe if I really, really want to know what happens to the main characters…)
Dhampir by Barb and J.C. Hendee (I don’t have this book yet, but it actually does sound interesting and the writing I’m assured is pretty good. The book is the first in a series.)

Aside from reading fiction, I’ve been studying various subjects still and still have a pretty hefty list of non-fiction books to read. For the most part, I’ve been studying astrology (Western and Chinese astrology) and topics related to reiki and healing. I’ve also finally gotten a chance to delve into human rights like I wanted (gee, that wasn’t obvious with the last few posts). I’m more interested in international human rights, which is why I’ve been researching Amnesty International. There is a new human rights book that will be published and released later this month (International Human Rights: A Comprehensive Introduction by Michael Haas) that I want to read. I’m in the middle of writing a few pages on human rights for my website. It’s a work in progress and won’t be available until I get through a few source materials.

~~~CJ

Most recently, I’ve been reading astrology books since The History of the Horoscope re-kindled my interest in the “ancient study of the stars”. After some searching I settled on buying a book called Aspects in Astrology by Sue Tompkins. It’s quite informative and provides a decent guideline of interpreting various aspects in a horoscope – always good to have a starting point. Another good astrology book is Robert Hand’s Planets in Transit. Like Tompkins’ book, Planets in Transit is a good guideline for interpretation, except for transits. Both these books describe the basic idea and theories behind interpretation and then give you interpretations with the caveat that you will always need to custom your interpretations to the individual horoscope.

Spending so much time studying (Western) astrology, I decided to study Chinese astrology in more depth. Years ago, I read Peter Shen’s The Traditional Art of Chinese Fortune Telling, which is quite amusing and practical. Recently, I picked up Derek Walters book, The Complete Guide to Chinese Astrology, which is about the best book on Chinese astrology you can get in the English language. Sadly though, I noted a few things in the book that were either incorrect or dubious. Most of the book was informative though. (I will recommend that you acquire the the 1992 edition of the book by Aquarian Press if you can as the appendices in the later editions of the book have been changed and instructions for their use are not clear. I also note that the missing line on page 64 reads “…the I Ching (see table opposite). Of the eight creatures allotted…” since the author has not cared to note this misprint in his own book.) I shall note also that this book by Derek Walters is lacking any real instructions on how to cast a Chinese horoscope. Of course that’s what his other books are for – you will want to read The Chinese Astrology Workbook and Ming Shu.

Chinese astrology is interesting because there are actually different branches of it – all of which are based on your birth time and date (according to the Chinese calendar, solar or lunar birth date – see my previous blogs about the complexities of the Chinese lunisolar calendar). One branch of Chinese astrology uses the I Ching. The Astrology of I Ching is the book that introduces this branch of Chinese astrology. The book consists of a translation of the “Ho Map Lo Map Rational Number” manuscript by W. K. Chu along with commentaries by W. A. Sherrill. It includes instructions for this branch of Chinese astrology along with the predictions. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in deepening their understanding of the I Ching and wanting to learn something of Chinese astrology.

After reading The Astrology of I Ching, I found a copy of The Numerology of the I Ching by Master Alfred Huang at the city library. It is an informative book and provides some interesting insights into the I Ching probably not found in other books. Based on this book, I would recommend getting his translation of the I Ching as I’m sure his insights have helped in translating the meanings of the I Ching hexagrams into English.

Then, after all the studying I decided to take a break. A change of reading material was in order and I was in need of something fun. I recently finished reading two children’s novels.

The first was a little book by Tolkien called Roverandom. The book is an amusing fantasy tale of a little dog who is turned into a toy by an impulsive (and perhaps thoughtless) wizard. The journey the little dog takes while a toy should bring you some cheer on a dismal day. Of course, the ending is a good one.

The second children’s novel was the first book in the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. Artemis Fowl is a twelve-year-old millionaire genius and “criminal mastermind”. In this first book in the series, Artemis Fowl challenges the minds of none other than… fairies! Of course, we mean fairies of all sorts, goblins, trolls, and elves included. Fowl’s devious plan unwittingly involves a spit-fire of a fairy called Holly Short. What happens when you’ve got these two together, you will just have to find out. The first book in Artemis Fowl is definitely an imaginative introduction to the series.

Now, I have set myself the task of finishing book six (Lord of Chaos) of The Wheel of Time and book one of The View from the Mirror. Three other novels I started reading as well are Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake, and Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon – all of which are well-written. Titus Groan and Gravity’s Rainbow are classic novels, and I’m betting Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell will become a classic in the years to come.

Okay, back to some fun reading…

Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

Men can be abusive. Women can be abusive. Abusers are likely to be men, but women can be as abusive. This has not been stated often enough. Women can be as abusive as men.

One key myth about abuse is that an abuser becomes one because they were a victim of abuse. Research into abuse shows this is not the case. Many abusers use the “I was abused and therefore I can’t help it!” as an excuse for their behaviour. Sometimes it’s true that it happened. Other times it can be a big lie. Not all abusers were abused in the past. In either case, when someone tries to excuse their abusive actions with “I was abused”, it is merely a ploy to garner sympathy. Once they have sympathy from others, they feel that their actions are justified and they are free to continue to be abusive – after all, others understand it’s because the abuser was abused before. The reverse of this myth is also true. Whether or not someone has been abused is no indicator that they will be an abuser. There are many people who were abused who do not become abusers.

How does one recognize abuse? What is it? How do you recognize an abuser? The book, Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy Bancroft, delves into this and more. The author also points out that a woman can be as abusive as a man, as there are cases of abuse in lesbian couples as well as homosexual couples.

Abuse can vary in levels. It can happen in small ways or in big ways. It often accumulates over the years. Often, abusers will start with something small to see what they can get away with. Then they gradually escalate the level of abuse.

There are different forms of abuse – physical, mental, and emotional.

Most people are aware of physical abuse. Not many people are aware of mental and emotional abuse.

Abusers are known to be controlling and angry. These two qualities are key aspects in an abuser’s profile. Abusers do not know how to deal with anger. They then take that out on the victim by attempting to control that person. Methods of control include everything from physically hurting someone (so they do only what the abuser wants and not what the abuser disapproves of) to injecting negative thinking patterns on the victim (with comments such as “You’re a whore! You’ll never amount to anything. You’re no good without me.”) Another key component of control is manipulation. Abusers will try to manipulate others. Manipulation is important to an abuser because it can help to confuse matters and hide their intentions. Manipulation is also important as it gives them the sense of control they need. Abusers will use manipulative tactics in order to maintain a line of dialogue between the abuser and victim in order to prevent the victim from leaving (the relationship). Often the victim will lose sleep, feel anxiety, or even worse, just get plain sick.

There are differences in male and female abusers. Female abusers may not ever physically abuse someone, but they can be mentally and emotionally abusive.

Abusers can be anyone you know. They can be your father, mother, brother, sister, cousin, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife. Abusers will often get as close to you as possible – physically, mentally, and emotionally. They will get to know everything about you as it helps them find ways to control and manipulate you and your life. Some abusers are also stalkers or will become one after the victim attempts to leave. They will attempt to be in every part of your life, never giving you a moment to yourself. Abusers’ ultimate goal is to control the victim because they cannot control their anger. Thus, abusers will never choose to leave a relationship permanently because they need access to the person. The person that leaves an abusive relationship is always the victim.

Abusers rarely change. They will convince themselves they have done nothing wrong. They believe they have done nothing wrong. Abusers are often in denial about their actions and may try to manipulate the victim into thinking s/he is the abusive one. Abusers are also capable of distorting the truth of the matter so that it looks as if the victim is to blame or is in the wrong.

I read the above book a few years ago when I was in an abusive relationship. The relationship lasted six months only (thankfully!) and consisted of mental and emotional abuse. After reading Bancroft’s book, I realized there were a few other relationships in my life that were or had been abusive. Along with an ex-boyfriend, other abusers in my life included an ex-husband, a sibling, and yes, even a female friend. In all of these relationships, the abuser was unwilling to change. I ended all of these relationships, and I am better for it.

I hope that people take all forms of abuse seriously. At least read Bancroft’s book and be aware of the issue. He exposes many myths about abuse and abusers and clarifies what really needs to be done. The best and only solution that seems to work requires the victim cutting all ties to the abuser. If you are counseling anyone in any form of an abusive relationship, be aware that trying to reconcile the two parties is not the solution. The victim needs to be removed from the abuser as soon as possible. If you are counseling an abuser, be aware that s/he will not change if s/he is in denial about the abusive behaviour.

(Side note: Abusers are controlling and angry, but not all controlling and angry people are abusers. Some people do learn to deal with their anger and control issues before it even becomes abusive behaviour. It seems though that once a person adopts abusive behaviour, they rarely change.)

Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

I finished reading The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley. She’s a great author, I have to say. Although the book seems to be another Romeo and Juliet type romantic tragedy, there’s still a twist at the end that I was not expecting. Compared to other fiction writers, she can make a fairly boring story intriguing with the way she writes. Somehow I suspect that even though I thought the story for this novel boring, it will stay with me a long time.

I started reading book six (Lord of Chaos) of The Wheel of Time. I made it through the 72-page prologue and into chapter one. Though now I’m distracted from it because I decided to start reading Ian Irvine’s fantasy serial, The View from the Mirror. I’m on book one, The Shadow on the Glass. I decided to read this serial because the story is interesting, though as Nathan likes to point out every so often, Irvine isn’t a great fiction writer. Nonetheless, I still find myself intrigued because I want to find out what happens to the main characters. Basically, Irvine’s book is the opposite of Bradley’s above – great story, but not the best writing.

I also found copies of David Eddings’ books, The Diamond Throne and The Ruby Knight from the serial, The Elenium, in our laundry room. (We recirculate books we don’t want through the laundry room.) I’ll get into that serial at some point too.

I put aside The World’s Religions for a bit since I have to review my WCC stuff, but I’ll probably get back to that book every so often because it is such a good starting point on other religions. I also finally found a good little book that covers the history and culture of China. It’s China: Its History and Culture by W. Scott Morton and Charlton M. Lewis, second edition, published in 2005. Thus, it’s fairly up-to-date.

I finished reading Gardner’s Witchcraft Today. Interesting, what “ol’ uncle Gerald” has to say about witchcraft. Definitely worth reading for anyone interested in Wicca – the tradition of witchcraft he started. Now, I have to read The Meaning of Witchcraft, and strangely enough, I saw it at the used book store last week. Of course, I snatched it up. I just haven’t had time to get into it yet. Plus, it’s good to vary my reading material so I don’t get too bored with one topic!

BB,
Cassandrah
(Too much to read, too much to do, and not enough time!)
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

I finished reading book five (The Fires of Heaven) of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time last week (I finished reading book four just around Samhain). Interesting story and characters. I got quite absorbed – at least until I thought my life was passing by because it takes me a while to read the 800 to 900 page books. Suffice it to say I’m taking a little break from the novels for a bit. Book 6, Lord of Chaos, is another long novel and I’d like to get some other work done before I find myself absorbed in another 900 paperback. There are a few other novels I’d like to finish reading. I started reading The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley and The Shadow on the Glass by Ian Irvine. Additionally, I have some books on my “must read” list.

Right now, I’m making my way through The World’s Religion (second edition) by Ninian Smart. It’s quite a good read because it is written for academia providing a relatively unbiased (are we ever truly unbiased?) look at many of the different world religions. I’m taking my time getting through the book though because there is plenty of information in each chapter. The book is divided into two parts, and each chapter is divided by geographic region. The first part focuses on the origins of each religion essentially providing a look at ancient religions. The second part discusses modern religion, although depending on the geographic region the time period for “modern” can vary. I’m on chapter four thus far, though I read both chapters on Chinese religion already since I’m already familiar many aspects of Chinese worship being ethnically Chinese myself. Ignoring the introduction and the first chapter on primitive religion, the first region encountered in the book is South Asia, which is primarily India but includes Sri Lanka and Tibet. The next chapter I’m reading is on Japan.

Another book that I’m reading right now (since I’m taking my time reading the world religions book) is Witchcraft Today by Gerald B. Gardner. This book has been on my “must read” list for a while and it was since it was newly published that I got a copy of it. Since getting involved with Wicca more and more, I’ve been more absorbed in reading mythology because in the Odyssean tradition there is strong emphasis on learning mythology. In any case, it’s time to read what “ol’ uncle Gerald” has to say about the religion I have chosen to follow. Plus, it provides a look at what used to be done originally in Wicca versus what is being done now. (Perhaps, if/when the time comes around I will write a review of the book.)

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

A while back, I posted that I was reading Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. I finally got around to finishing book three, The Dragon Reborn. Interesting books. Captivating. I just can’t believe there are eleven books in the series so far, at least three of which consist of more than 900 pages. Book four, The Shadow Rising, is over 900 pages. Before I can delve into that though, I decided to read Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (the novel version, not the manga, though the manga is probably quite interesting). This book has been lying around tempting me since Nathan bought it to read. I also have to read Nathan’s second novel, which I promised I would as soon as I finished reading book three of The Wheel of Time. Well, at least I have some interesting reading to keep me busy when I’m resting from my workouts the next eight weeks. I expect I will be fairly tired and needing loads of proper rest (writing will be very difficult for me to do during this time, but I will make an effort to keep at the reiki manuals).

So, okay, time to get back to reading.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

Yay! I finished book 2, The Great Hunt on Friday – onto book 3, The Dragon Reborn. I can’t wait to read it. I bought it but haven’t had time to read it yet. I’m making myself wait to read it as I have other things I should do. I’ve always had tons of books lying around to read and trying to catch up on old reading. But still can’t wait to read book 3 of The Wheel of Time. I also have to read Nathan’s second novel. He’s almost done editing it and then we’re going to try to get it published. 😀 I’m so proud of him. He’s quite talented and I think he’ll be a great writer someday. His stories are quite interesting and unique.

Okay, enough writing for me today. I need some more rest and then I can do some reading tomorrow – hopefully.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

I’m now reading the second book in the serial, The Great Hunt. I’m finding this one a bit more intriquing than the first book, although both books are quite good and I wouldn’t recommend not reading the first book in the serial. You’ll be missing alot if you skip any books in the serial. I can’t wait to get to book 3. 🙂

Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame