What I've been reading

Change Your Mind: a practical guide to Buddhist meditation
by Paramananda

"With key reminders on the importance of our body and suggestions on working with it in meditation, he also considers the distractions, and how to set up and maintain a regular meditation practice."

These Buddhist books are tricksy creatures. The first time through they are a bit like that book about Richard III, because I don't have the baseline information to build upon and make sense of it all. If I leave them for a bit, I find that I've gained a bit more knowledge about Buddhism and sometimes another piece of the jigsaw clicks into place. This is one of those books, and I've got just enough baseline knowledge for it to be occasionally helpful. I'll put it away now and come back to it in a year's time, and I'm sure it will make even more sense.

Faro's Daughter
by Georgette Heyer

narrated by Laura Paton

"Fiery, strong-willed Deb Grantham, who presides over a gaming house with her aunt, is hardly the perfect wife for the young and naive Lord Mablethorpe. His lordship's family is scandalized that he proposes to marry one of "faro's daughters", and his cousin the proud, wealthy Max Ravenscar - decides to take the matter in hand."

This must be my guilty pleasure, for I'm sure Georgette Heyer is not a sophisticated author. But Regency chick lit is so much nicer than 21st century chick lit - no embarrassing descriptions of snogging or bedroom activity, a kiss on the hand is more than enough thank you very much. It also stops just a whisker short of the type of farce exemplified by The Men From The Ministry, where if there are two letters to be sent you can be sure they will go in the wrong envelopes, which becomes quite wearing on the twentieth repetition. But I do love Georgette's characters, especially her females, even though the 180 degree shift in virtually the last paragraph is a tad unrealistic.

Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories
by R. K. Narayan

"An enchanting collection from India's foremost storyteller, rich in wry, warmly observed characters from every walk of Indian life - merchants, beggars, herdsmen, rogues - all of whose lives are microcosms of the human experience."

Very interesting stories set in a different place and a different time and written in occasionally unfamiliar English. It all makes for a confusing and sometimes upsetting experience, laced with beauty and poignancy. The subjects of the stories are often put upon, bullied or simply poor and unfortunate - there are few stories of joy or redemption in this lot, or if there are, I can't bring them to mind now that I've finished. So it can't say I really enjoyed the stories, but somehow I still did.

The Blessing
by Nancy Mitford

"It isn't just Nanny who finds it difficult in France when Grace and her young son Sigi are finally able to join her dashing aristocratic husband Charles-Edouard after the war. For Grace is out of her depth among the fashionably dressed and immaculately coiffured French women, and shocked by their relentless gossiping and bedhopping."

I wasn't particularly interested in the story, but I do love her writing. She has a particular knack for endings, which I noticed in her other books - the story just keeps going when there are so few pages left that it seems impossible to understand how she will tie up the ends, and then she just finishes and it's fine.

The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver

narrated by Dean Robertson

"The story is told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it - from garden seeds to Scripture - is calamitously transformed on African soil."

I enjoyed this book from the start, but not quite to the end. It's a book of two halves, the first about the lives of the family as they live in the jungle village, and the second about what happens to each of them afterwards. If the book had ended at the midpoint, or perhaps told the future direction of each character much more briefly it would have been fine. The second half wasn't terrible, it just wasn't as good as the first half. But the first half was excellent.

Wild Awake: Alone, Offline & Aware in Nature
by Vajragupta

"What is it like to be completely alone, attempting to face your experience with only nature for company? Here the author recounts how 'solitary retreats' have changed him, how he fell in love with the places he stayed in and the creatures there."

I was keen on the idea of the solitary holiday before getting involved with the Buddhists, who make a point of encouraging the solitary retreat. It's not for everyone, but I like being on my own, and this book describes the practice beyond what I've ever done before. I've previously rented an apartment in a town, and spent my time making clothes, visiting local attractions, watching films, reading and eating out. The type of solitary retreat described in the book is far away from towns and includes thinking, reflecting, meditating, walking, reading, writing, and doing much less in the way of organised activities. I may give it a try some time, but my leave from work is nearly all committed for the next 12 months already.