First off, thanks to everyone who commented on my previous post about my quitting contemplation. It was very reassuring to read your encouraging and supportive thoughts and advice and I’m feeling much better about the state of my blogging habits. The Type A/OCD part of me wants to continue with the every book idea, at least for now, since I’ve made it this far. If it gets to be too overwhelming again or perhaps for 2011, I’ll reconsider my book blogging approach. So for now, it’s onto talking about what I’ve been reading:

eye-storm-cvrwidecGene Robinson’s book, In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God, was my church book club’s May selection. It was a book that I looked forward to discussing with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety, as our church had experienced a very painful split when the Right Reverend Robinson’s election as Bishop of New Hampshire of the Episcopal Church. A sizable portion of the parish elected to leave the Episcopal Church and join one of the Anglican denominations. Friends and families were divided and although many opted to stay, it’s something that has left its scar.

For me, the election of Gene Robinson was one of the pivotal events that brought me back to the church. I had grown up in the Anglican church in Canada, but left in my teens as I began to see a difference in how I viewed the world and how I perceived the Christian faith, a difference that to my mind, was not compatible. I spent many years searching for a faith that did match my own beliefs, but nothing ever really fit. Moving to the Bible Belt did not help matters much, as many of the Christians I encountered only reinforced my belief that that faith was not where I belonged. But slowly, I began hearing the call to return, and made some tentative moves to see if I could find a church that would allow me to worship while not forsaking my personal beliefs about human rights and equality, one where I felt both emotionally, spiritually and mentally fulfilled. Along with other factors, the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire and then Katharine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop were two very important reasons for my decision to join the Episcopal Church and to proudly call myself a Christian once again.

Robinson’s book is a collection of this thoughts and beliefs as to the reasons why he was chosen, why he feels it is vital to minister to minority groups and those on the fringes of society, and the importance of being a church of inclusion rather than division. The book club meeting was, to my immense relief, a calm and respectful discussion, as members shared their own thoughts on his election and how the book helped them better understand Robinson’s beliefs and motivations. I came awayfrom the book and the meeting feeling once again, thankful to be an Episcopalian and to count these people among my fellow believers.

My husband and I watched the film version of Fantastic Mr. Fox, but it wasn’t until the credits rolled that I realized it was based on a book by Roald Dahl. So of course, I had to go and read it for myself. Prior to this, the only Dahl book I’d read was The Witches, which I enjoyed immensely (and the movie is not bad, either!).

For those of you not in the know, Mr. Fox is a family man who must outwit three farmers whose unsavory habits (such as not bathing and eating donuts mashed with goose livers) would only incite a gleeful disgust from readers both young and old and serve only to make us cheer on Mr. Fox and his animal compatriots all the more. As much as the farmers are bent on Mr. Fox’s destruction, he is determined to keep his family – and the rest of the animals – safe from harm.

I have a soft spot for foxes, actually. Many years ago I participated in a group meditation to find our spirit or ‘totem’ animals (don’t laugh!) and mine apparently is a fox. In the meditation, I encountered several animals but the fox kept turning up, and when I asked him if he was my spirit animal, he nodded and said “It suits you, don’t you think?” Ha! I suppose it does. 

Well, as I said, I saw the movie before I read the book, which is not my usual MO. Still, I definitely preferred original story over the adaptation. The film version is very much a product of Wes Anderson’s mind – his creative stamp is all over it and even if I hadn’t known that he directed it, I would have recognized his involvement. Much like a Tim Burton movie, Wes Anderson films have a certain tone and characteristics. In this one, we have a young fox who practices existential meditation and another who continually seeks his father’s approval. And of course, many of the usual suspects, including Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson, provide the voices of the characters.

While the book and film share much in common, the adaptation seems to lack the childish whimsy of the original, replaced instead with eccentricities and innuendo and is geared more towards an adult audience.

It may come as no surprise that I have a serious case of wanderlust. I love to travel and cannot seem to settle down for too long. So far I’ve lived in three Canadian provinces and three American states (not to mention the interprovincial and interstate moves) and will probably move several times more. Each time I think I’ve moved for the last time and have ’settled down’ but after a time, the itch to see what else is out there becomes too strong and before we know it, we’re looking around to see where we want to go next. I’m sure it’s partly a case of ‘the grass being greener on the other side’ but also it seems like there’s just too much to see in one lifetime to tie myself down to just one place.

That being said, we don’t travel internationally nearly as much as we’d like to, finances and vacation time being limited as they are, so in order to satisfy that desire, I sometimes resort to living vicariously through the experiences of travel writers, such as Seth Stevenson in his book Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World. In it, he shares how he and his girlfriend decided to throw caution to the wind – and their material possessions into a storage locker –  and circumnavigate the globe. Which of course, is easy to do nowadays, just hop on an airplane and in the course of some hours, you’re done. But Stevenson sees airplanes as an anemic form of travel, one that focuses too much on the destination and not enough on the journey. They opt to take any mode of transport besides a plane, setting off on a freighter across the Atlantic and proceed to employ various modes of travel, including a ferry in northeastern Europe, a train across Russia, bicycles in Vietnam and a geriatric cruise ship to Australia and a rental car through the Outback. Along the way he relates his escapades with humor and a laissez-faire attitude, which, along with ample supplies of liquor, make for a mostly stress-free and laidback adventure – and great fun to read.