#24: Secrets of the Heart by Khalil Gibran

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100 books, book review, books, classics, Gibran, literature, philosophy, poetry

I went with another quick read for my twenty-fourth book of the year, choosing Khalil Gibran’s Secrets of the Heart.  Based on my previous experience with Gibran, I expected a deeply philosophical book written in beautiful figurative language.  As usual, Gibran did not disappoint. 

Secrets of the Heart is a collection of poems and short stories that reflect Gibran’s general philosophy of renouncing worldly goods in favor of universal brotherhood.  He writes in language that is both wonderfully symbolic and ageless.  My favorite selections from this particular book were “Dead Are My People” and “John the Madman.”  “Dead Are My People” is a poem about the death and suffering of the people of Lebanon during World War I and Gibran’s guilt about escaping that suffering by moving with his family to America.  “John the Madman” is a short story about a young farmer in Syria who reads the New Testament in his spare time (against the orders of local priests).  His observations of the real world and the sermons preached by the priests do not align with his own scriptural readings.  When he (rightfully) speaks out against the corruption and wickedness he sees, he is dismissed as a madman and shunned.  Both of these stories are well written and very profound.  Even if the other selections offered in Secrets of the Heart had no value, I would recommend the book based on these two stories.  Fortunately, the entire book is wonderful.  Although I would recommend The Prophet or The Madman more highly, Secrets of the Heart is well worth reading.

The Current Count

24 Read, 76 To Go

#23: One Hundred and One Famous Poems, edited by Roy Cook

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100 books, book review, books, poetry

Despite being a certified English teacher who ostensibly taught poetry to a group of 10th graders last year, I have read very little English poetry apart from Shakespeare and Milton.  I occasionally get the urge to correct that shortcoming and branch out a bit in my reading.  My most recent selection is one of those efforts.  One Hundred and One Famous Poems is exactly what it sounds like– a collection of one hundred and one famous poems.  It includes some well-known classics I had encountered before, such as Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade, Poe’s Raven, Whitman’s O Captain! My Captain!, Henley’s Invictus, and Kipling’s If.  It also includes several that I had never encountered.  My favorite of these was either I Have a Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger or Horatius by Thomas Babington Macaulay.

I enjoyed my brief foray into the world of the poetic.  I appreciate the value of a well-crafted poem, one in which every word must be carefully considered to extract every bit of poetic meaning.  If you are looking for a nice sampling of English poetry, I would recommend this book.  That said, I would much rather read a novel.

The Current Count

23 Read, 77 To Go

#2: Sand and Foam by Khalil Gibran

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100 books, book review, books, literature, philosophy, poetry

The work of Khalil Gibran has been a wonderful discovery for me over the past year.  Despite being one of the most popular authors of all time, and the third best-selling poet in history (according to Wikipedia), I had not heard of him until partway through college.  Even then I did not read any of his writing.  That changed last year when I read The Prophet.  I was immediately hooked on Gibran.  I read three other Gibran works in 2011, and chose another for my second book of 2012.

Sand and Foam is a difficult book to classify.  It is part poetry, part philosophy, part parable, and entirely genius.  Gibran manages to put simple truths into words that are both beautiful and profound.  Consider this line:

“I am ignorant of absolute truth. But I am humble before my ignorance and therein lies my honor and my reward.”

That level of self awareness and honesty is remarkable in any man.  Gibran’s influence over the past century has been much greater than many people realize.  As this New Yorker article points out, his quotes pop up everywhere.  A prime example: the opening line of The Beatles’ song “Julia” is a paraphrase of a line from Gibran’s Sand and Foam.  When The Beatles use you as a lyrical inspiration, you’ve done pretty darn well.

The Current Count

2 Read, 98 To Go

#54: The Madman by Kahlil Gibran

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100 books, book review, books, literature, poetry

I intentionally chose a shorter work for my most recent book, as I hoped its brevity might help kickstart my pace and revive my flagging hopes of succeeding in the challenge.  Kahlil Gibran‘s The Madman certainly accomplished that.  The book is roughly 75 pages long, but has so much simple beauty and wisdom crammed into those pages that it feels as if I have finished a philosophical tome of epic length.  Narrated by the titular madman, this book is a collection of parables and poems that remind me of Nietzsche’s Zarathustra or Hesse’s Steppenwolf. 

This book is short by necessity.  Any longer would be too much.  As it is, I could not put down the book as soon as I began reading.  If you are in a ponderous mood and want a book that inspires reflection, The Madman is an excellent choice.  This is the second work by Gibran that I have ever read (the other being The Prophet earlier this year), and I am hooked.  I recently purchased a single volume that has ten of his books in it, and look forward to reading them all.  I will leave you with one of the short selections from The Madman.

God

In the ancient days, when the first quiver of speech came to my lips, I ascended the holy mountain and spoke unto God, saying, “Master, I am thy slave. Thy hidden will is my law and I shall obey thee for ever more.”

But God made no answer, and like a mighty tempest passed away.

And after a thousand years I ascended the holy mountain and again spoke unto God, saying, “Creator, I am thy creation. Out of clay hast thou fashioned me and to thee I owe mine all.”

And God made no answer, but like a thousand swift wings passed away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the holy mountain and spoke unto God again, saying, “Father, I am thy son. In pity and love thou hast given me birth, and through love and worship I shall inherit thy kingdom.”

And God made no answer, and like the mist that veils the distant hills he passed away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the sacred mountain and again spoke unto God, saying, “My God, my aim and my fulfillment; I am thy yesterday and thou are my tomorrow. I am thy root in the earth and thou art my flower in the sky, and together we grow before the face of the sun.”

Then God leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of sweetness, and even as the sea that enfoldeth a brook that runneth down to her, he enfolded me.

And when I descended to the valleys and the plains God was there also.

The Current Count:

54 Read, 46 To Go

#7: A Boy’s Will by Robert Frost

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100 books, book review, books, literature, poetry, reading, Robert Frost

For book number seven I decided to venture into unknown territory– poetry.  I do not read a lot of poetry.  The poetry I do read is generally of the epic variety (Homer, Milton, Dante).  I now find myself teaching tenth grade English, and the first unit I am required to cover is poetry.  With that in mind, I decided to read A Boy’s Will by Robert Frost.  The only Frost that I had previously read was the poem “The Road Not Taken”.  I was very pleasantly surprised by A Boy’s Will.  Frost’s poetry is rustic and manly, with the added advantage of actually making sense.  A Boy’s Will was his first collection, published in 1915, and reveals a young man seeking his future by firmly establishing his roots.  If you are from rural America, Frost is the poet for you.  I particularly liked “The Tuft of Flowers”.  I look forward to reading more Frost in the near future.