It's time for a R&S Book Club!?

Question

This week I read The Elements of Ritual by Deborah Lipp for the third time, and I have to say it's still one of the best books of Wiccan/Pagan rituals out there.

So, I was wondering what books have you all read recently? I'm always looking for new favorite books as well as any book on R&S. What can you suggest?

Answer 1

Secrets, Gossip & Gods

(Its about Candomble.)

Answer 2

"Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimon. Hilarious.

Similarly, "The Long, Dark, Teatime of the Soul" by Douglas Adams.  

Answer 3

I recently finished The Golden Compass. It was really good.

Answer 4

Everyone should read "Prometheus Rising" by Robert Anton Wilson.  

Answer 5

holee bibble gratest book evr

Answer 6

I am in the middle of an interesting book about American comedians called "Comedy At The Edge - How standup in the 1970's changed America" by Richard Zoglin.

Why?  Because comedy and laughter are my gods!  

Answer 7

currently reading Nature and the Human Soul, by Bill Plotkin, Ph.D..  He's a wilderness guide and depth psychologist and has developed a model for "ecospirituality" that I find interesting

Also read The Mist-Filled Path by Frank MacEowan, a book on Celtic Shamanism

Answer 8

I just finished "A Brief History of the Dead', by Kevin Brockmeier, which was a interesting fictional story that was inspired by a religious belief held in some parts of Africa. The belief is described on the front page of the book using a quote from "Lies My Teacher Told Me", by James Loewen:

"Many African societies divide the humans into three categories: those still alive on the Earth, the sasha, and the zamani.  The recently departed whose time on Earth overlapped with people still here are the sasha--the living dead.  They are not wholly dead, for they still live in the memories of the living, who can call them to mind, create their likeness in art, and bring them to life in anecdote.  When the last person to know an ancestor dies, that ancestor leaves the sasha for the zamani--the dead.  As generalized ancestors, the zamani are not forgotten, but revered.  Many...can be recalled by name.  But they are not the living-dead.  There is a difference."  

Anyway, it's sort of a drama/science-fiction story about everyone on Earth except for one woman (Laura) dying from a plague, and because she's the only one left the people that are in the next world (like the sasha) are all people who were somehow associated with her in life.  They're trying to figure out what is going on in their world, because everyone else from there had suddenly disappeared.  (With all the people on Earth dying, all the dead that *aren't* associated with Laura move on to the zamani, leaving only the people that knew Laura.)  It was interesting.

Answer 9

Behind Closed Doors by Jenny Tomlin.

A real life story about her abusive childhood and how she overcame against all odds.

Answer 10

I got tired of reading weighty philosophical and scientific stuff.  Now I'm reading everything of Neil Gaiman's that I can get my hands on :)

Answer 11

Someone on here was talking about "The Celestine Prophecy" by James Redfield.  I want to read that.  And believe it or not something as a Christian I really enjoyed was "The Testament" by John Grisham.  Enjoy

Answer 12

"Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein.  I'll never see organized religion the same way again.  A classic, classic book.

Answer 13

We have enough problems over one book here and you want to introduce more?

Answer 14

Here's a couple that rocked my brain and life -

"The Shack" by William P. Young

"The Heavenly Man" by Paul Hattaway

Answer 15

"The Heavenly Man" was one of the greatest books I've read.

Answer 16

I have a few suggestions for the R&S book club...

1. The Holy Bible (of course)

2. "Piercing the Darkness" & "This Present Darkness" by Frank Perritti

3. "The Azusa Street Revival" by Frank Barttleman

4. "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" by Jim Cymbala

Elder Greg

(((SFCU)))

Answer 17

Frank Peretti's Piercing the Darkness. It is about spiritual warfare. Of course my favorite book that I depend on everyday is the bible.  

Answer 18

I read a lot of books. The last one I read in regards to R&S was The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manley Hall.

It gives a great overview of religions, groups (such as Masons) and cults.

Answer 19

The most recent book I read was called The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch. Here's an intro:

On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.

Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come.