The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - the unfinished book...

I read this book in high school (possibly the late years of Junior High) and recently decided to re-read it. In part, I wanted to remember the details so I could figure out when Kathryn might be old enough for the book.

It's been taking me an extraordinary amount of time to re-read this book. Even David noticed the delay and inquired about it. The truth is that it's a pretty intense book. I love the parts of the book that explore the ancient religion of the goddess and found myself talking to Kathryn about the goddess and the concept that all women carry within them the maiden, the mother, and the crone. (Megan, I remember you teaching me about that also!)

I know that Gwydion/Mordred will bring down his father (Gwydion/Arthur) and there are really no surprises or shocks in store for me. Of course the Arthurian legend is the story of how the tribes of Britain were first brought together by one of their own, instead of by the Romans. From my perspective, however, the real story is one of a mother who made the horrible mistake of not raising her own son and how he turned into someone who couldn't love or lead others as a result. It was painful for me to read when I was still in the "maiden" time of life - but now as a mother myself, I can't seem to bring myself to finish the book. I kept setting it aside for days at a time and I'm finally putting it aside for good.

Don't get me wrong - it's a wonderful book...very well written with amazing detail. As a woman, don't be surprised if you find yourself looking at the moon and sun in new spiritual ways. I actually hope that there are men out there who would read this and look at women in a new way.

Kathryn usually indicates who should read her books in her reviews. In this case, perhaps the perfect reader is a woman in her early twenties, right before she becomes a mother. I'll try to remember to hand it to Kathryn when she's in college.

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman

Jennifer:
First of all, I'm normally not obsessively drawn into non-fiction books (as I believe I previously posted...).

Secondly, I did not create this blog so that I could write about eating more grains and vegetables.

And yet, I find myself compelled to write about this book because I stayed up late reading it, and was so excited by it that my husband got his own copy to read after I told him how important it was to me that we read it together. Mark Bittman's attitude about food and eating is probably the healthiest and most realistic one out there. (And by "out there" I mean the United States.)

In short, if a person makes an effort to eat primarily plant-based foods (keeping meat in the diet but at a much lower level than is typical for our country) and avoids any processed/prepared foods which contain more than five familiar-sounding ingredients (if you don't recognize the ingredient, you probably shouldn't be putting it in your mouth anyway, n'est-ce pas?) - then that person will feel a lot better, have a much lower environmental impact on the Earth, and will probably end up losing some weight in the process. I'm telling you that after just a few days of letting myself having all the veggies, fruit and grains I wanted; eating when I got hungry; and avoiding junk - I felt a heck of a lot more energetic.

It's a short book, inspiring and (best of all) singularly realistic in it's approach. Plus...it's chock full-o-recipes. Gotta love that detail.

Percy Jackson And The Olympians BY: Rick Riordan

Kathryn: This is a series of 5 books, and each one is amazing! I started reading them a while back but I stopped. I recently began reading them again, and found that I really like them! I think that any teacher who teaches mythology should have their class read this. I would recommend this for ages 9-99. It is amazing!!