June Cleaver's SITREP

It turns out that I wasn't the only one that thought Lady Chatterley's Lover wasn't so classic. Our book club met yesterday at noon and it was assuring to me that the consensus was D. H. Lawrence had a problem!

After dissecting and discussing what we all deemed to be a tawdry selection, we had to move on to the selection of our next read. Because Eckhardt Tolle's A New Earth had been brought up by email as a choice before the meeting we all had a chance to voice our opinions on that. It was reassuring to me that this group all had the same reservations about it and for the same reasons. It is lauded as the path to enlightment and in being one with the universe and god (little g) because god (little g) is in each of us and Mr. Tolle can guide us to that path of ultimate spirituality. (huh?) Anyway, we also all agreed that it wouldn't be bad to read it so that we can equip ourselves with information and be ready with a Biblical response. And that means that we have to be about reading scripture and knowing how to respond thoughtfully.

As we were discussing this and what to choose as our next selection, we talked about why we read, and how we make the choices of what to read. Some of us just go to the bookstore and browse, some use guides (I often use the help of World Magazine), and of course we all use the helpful suggestions from friends and family. Sometimes a controversy will arise over a selection that hits mainstream that we hear about in the news, like the whole Harry Potter phenomenon and Christians objecting to it for spiritual reasons. Something like that will definitely make you think twice about reading a book. In the end though, you should, like one of our ladies said, "never make a selection that would harm my soul."