The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe - Marija Gimbutas

Subtitled "Myths and Cult Images"

This is an overview of ceramic decoration and various cult figures produced in pre Indo-european Europe in the late Neolothic period.  The artifacts are arranged by ritual functions, goddess and god myths or religious roles.

The decorative art work on the ceramics is spectacular.

I find it an interesting book for several reasons:

1)  The image Gimbutas creates of  a pre Indo-european culture and society built on very different grounds from the social structures and arts of the warrior culture of the Indo-european newcomers.

2)  The fact that some of the mythology, gods and goddesses and totemic animals survive even into Greek culture, especially in their drama - animal characters, performance with masks.  Greek culture than seems to occupy an intermediary position between this very ancient world and the european culture that grew out the the renaissance rediscovery of the Ancient Greeks.

3)  It is interesting to see mythical or symbolic or totemic thinking behind some of the images and cult figures from that time period.  It is striking how grounded in daily experience of the world this type of thinking is - so different from rational, linear, causal thinking.  Almost a "sideways" kind of thinking.  The purpose of this kind of thinking doesn't seem to be power and control so much as recognition of and participation in larger cycles or forces.
At first it seemed to me that we have largely lost this way of thinking but in fact it has just changed realms - from religion and the big unfolding of life, to consumerism.  Our myths are lifestyle myths; our cult priests and priestesses are celebrities, and our totemic figures and symbolic decorations are our purchases that allow us to identify with the myth, partake of it in some small way.  (Interesting how even such  longstanding human basic psychological process or structure can be coopted by the consumer society and the drive for profit...)

Gimbutas also has another book on this period that focuses on fleshing out more fully the life, religion and society of these Old Europe peoples.

Les désorientés - Amin Maalouf

Un roman à idées, alors ce n'est pas une lecture qui vous entraine, mais un livre intéressant quand même.  Maalouf explore les identités d'un groupe d'amis du Liban d'avant la période de conflits quand il y existait une vie intercommunautaire.  Il examine les réactions et réflexions communautaires et individuelles de ces amis qui viennent de tous les groupes ethniques et religieux du pays.  Il explore les divers effets de l'emigration sur les amis tant que l'effet des conflits sur ceux qui finissent par rester au Liban.  Subtil et bien réfléchi, et intéressant pour quelqu'un qui connait un peu cette histoire et qui suit les développements actuels.

Basic Arabic Grammar - Waheed Sammy and Leila Samy

Well laid out grammar with at least some answers to exercises.  Might be better used with a teacher.

- from TPL

Origins - Amin Maalouf

Not a particularly gripping read, but an entertaining account of his attempt to trace and discover something of his family's past.  The sections where he traces down a branch of his family in Cuba is quite interesting.

From this book, you get a sense of how quickly the particular is forgotten or mythologized, and how quickly the world changes, wiping out all traces of the past.  Kind of like looking down at your life from the moon - hardly visible, and of no importance.

In the Name of Identity - Amin Maalouf

An discussion of the nature of identity.  Some interesting points, others too idealistic to ever happen.

He presents an interesting analysis of the types of situations and events that lead people to simplify and narrow their identity to one or two overriding elements of what is normally a complex web of identities.  It is interesting that the dehumanization of ones own self precedes the dehumanizing of other groups in society which are then vilified as the Other.  In a sense you also become Other in that situation.

Early in the book he also analyses complexities of his own identity from familial to national to cultural to professional.

While he makes some comments about the evolution of Muslim extremism and the rise of the exclusive Muslim identity, he wisely avoids this minefield - which is any case, in a country like Lebanon, can be turned against lots of other religious and ethnic groups also.

Under One Roof: Lessons I Learned from a Tough Old Woman in a Little Old House - Barry Martin

An entertaining read.  Written to be popular.  The story of Barry's adoption of this isolated aging woman is inspiring.  What is valuable in this book is the different view he presents of ageing and the aged.  The dignity and respect he grants her is a real gift, one that should be given more often.  He also has some interesting things to say about dealing with the challenges of Alzheimer's.   Funny too, given that it is in the U.S. but there are also some points to consider around the "Nanny State", and the arrogance of experts.

Regeneration - Pat Barker

Barker's skill as a writer shows in her ability to take a story in which nothing much really happens on the surface, and still lead you through an excellent read.  The story is set in a rehab hospital for shell shock during the last year or so of WW I.   Why does it work?  It is based on real events - some of the characters are famous people from the time.  In the flashbacks of some of the patients there are some scenes of the kind of ugly, senseless violence typical of WW I.  There is some sex. She is very good at evoking the feel of the times - society, class relations, models of personal interaction.

While it is largely a critical examination of class and British society during the war period, there are also some interesting bits that go beyond the book.
The book brought to mind "Three Day Road" by Boyden, as a contrast.  Rather than a direct social critique, Boyden's book puts the war within the context of the native myth of the man-eating Windigo.  This is a critique of western society in a larger or deeper sense, moving beyond social tinkering to questioning the whole underlying modus operandi - a society that eats its own young.  This myth-based confrontation can even be extended beyond the specifics of the War to our way of being in general; capitalism as a Windigo model.

The most interesting part for me is when the main character, the head doctor, recounts an experience he has working as an anthropologist in New Guinea.  He has been questioning the locals about social and kinship relations, but then they turn the same questions back on him.  They are amazed and astounded by his account of European social and kin relationships, find them ridiculously hilarious and absurd.  This has the effect of unseating the anthropologist's deep, unconscious culturo-centric attitude of European superiority, of Europe and the West as.."the measure of all things" or something to that effect.  This is a profound thought, but on the margins of the book.