June 2025 Reads

I've just re-read Lord of the Rings. I first read it as a teenager more than fifty years ago, and I have re-read it regularly since then. I still find new insights every time I do so.

>1 John5918: I have never read and I should. I won a set of books by J.R.R. Tolkien from a challenge at my local library.

Finished Serpent by Clive Cussler.
Begins with the sinking of the Andrea Doria in July 1956. I graduated in May and was home before I had to go to work and watched it on TV.
I have studied the Maya, Olmec, and Toltec of Mexico and also have read a lot about the Phoenicians so this book was a great read for me.

Just finished God of Surprises by Gerard W Hughes. I first read it thirty or forty years ago and it made an impression on me then, but re-reading it now I was surprised at how fresh it still is and I certainly gained new insights. It's a guide to the spiritual journey from a Catholic Ignatian perspective, but much of it would probably also speak to other faith traditions, "a guidebook for the inner journey in which we are all engaged” in the author's own words. On finishing the book I was moved to read his interesting obituary (link).

I read The Serviceberry a long essay published in book form. The author examines the "gift economy" of indigenous people, how it imitates the natural world and its emerging forms in capitalist economies. It got 5 stars from me.