As RAO Reviews has really grown this year, I’ve purchased us a domain and we are almost completely moved over to the new location. This is one reason reviews have not been posted lately, but I promise we are working on some. The launch of the new domain should happen by the end of this month *crosses fingers*
Celtic Passage by Deirdre Ní Chinnéide
Celtic Passage by Deirdre Ní Chinnéide. © 2007 Sounds True. Music CD. Celtic/World/New Age. 13 tracks. Total Time: 53:12. [ Purchase ]
Hailing from Inis Mór, the largest of the Árran Islands, Deirdre Ní Chinnéide, a psychotherapist who works in the specialized field of trauma and recovery, uses her passionate voice and lyrics to take us on a journey to healing. Dipping deep into the well of Irish heritage and Celtic Christianity, Deirdre weaves a moving tapestry of past and present, of ancestors and saints.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. © 1998 Wordsworth Editions. Originally Published 1854. ISBN 1853260932. Paperback. Classic Fiction. 448 pages. $4.99 US. [ Purchase ]
Synopsis
Set in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, Margaret Hale’s life is turned upside-down when her father gives up his parish and moves their family to Milton, a city in the north of England. Milton is so much different than everything Margaret had been used to - going from the south of England to the harsher northern part of the country, where the people all depend on the cotton mills for their jobs - and she and her family have a very tough time adjusting. Margaret’s father takes up teaching, and one of his students is the proud Mr. Thornton, owner and manager of a local mill.
In a story not unlike Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Margaret and Mr. Thornton soon discover they have feelings for each other, but pride, bruised egos and major misunderstandings seem to be in the way of their ever forming a more lasting attachment.
Drood by Dan Simmons
Drood by Dan Simmons. © 2009 Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-3160-0702-1. Hardback. Historical Fiction/Horror. 755 pages. $26.99 US. [ Purchase ]
Synopsis
On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens–at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world–hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.
Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?
Review
I scored this from LibraryThing Early Reviewers and the publisher was awesome enough to send me a finished book! Yes, it could double as a doorstop, but that’s never stopped me reading a book before.
Earth’s Echo by Robert M. Hamma
Earth’s Echo: Sacred Encounters With Nature by Robert M. Hamma. © 2002 Sorin Books. ISBN 1-8937-3246-0. Paperback. Ecopsychology. 190 pages. $12.95 US. [ Purchase ]
Synopsis
Using brief excerpts from the work of nature writers as touchstones for meditation, the book leads the reader to reflect on the sacred reality of nature as found in different settings: the seashore, the river, the forest, the desert, and the mountain. It translates the traditional monastic practice of sacred reading, known as lectio divina, into an easily accessible four-step form.
Review
For a small book it packs in quite a lot. At first glance you think “oh oh, a book written by a guy with a Bachelors in Theology and a Masters in Divinity…Ergo Christian reading”. Think again!
A New Science of the Paranormal by Lawrence LeShan
A New Science of the Paranormal: The Promise of Psychical Research by Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D. © 2009 Quest Books. ISBN 978-0-8356-0877-0. Paperback. Science/Paranormal. 133 pages. $14.95 US. [ Purchase ]
Synopsis
Citing documented cases, he [LeShan] offers the only current view for making a serious study of important subjects like clairvoyance, mediumship, and psychic healing. (excerpted from back cover)
Review
A New Science of the Paranormal includes both a rational agenda for furthering this field known as “psychical research” and anecdotal information in the form of case studies. Psychical research is still very much held back because many view it as an inferior science. This is one of the main points LeShan brings up in the book, that we need to move beyond this thinking and understand that not all sciences can be proven using the same methods. Anthropology, astronomy, geology and others have moved on from this thinking and are still very much excepted as legitimate sciences, so why the backlash in regards to psychical study?
