Three books: God, Korea, and automatons

Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief by Rodney Stark

This is my first book on Comparative Religions, and Stark does a nice job of reviewing the history and tenets of the "great" religions. I didn't find much information on Wiccans or female-centric beliefs. Nor did I get a deeper understanding about the different strands of Christianity. I did, however, learn a couple of things such as the origin of the name Jesus (Greek for Joshua) and the difference between Sunnis and Shiites regarding free will. Stark draws some interesting conclusions at the end about Christianity: it is the most "evolved" religion, and enables the rationality of science. Despite his controversal conclusions, his narrative is instructive and engaging.

Dates: 10-17 July 2011
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

*****

Please Look after Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin

I believe this book is the first Korean book to make the New York Times bestseller list, and it deserves to be so. This story is about a woman who gets lost in the big city, written from the perspectives of her children, her husband, and the woman herself. The novel made me think about my own relationships with women who raised me (my mother, my paternal grandmother), as well as my current role as a mother. The prose is beautiful and never becomes too sentimental. I'm not sure the novel is a good Mother's Day gift, but it should definitely be read.

Dates: 18-28 July 2011
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

*****

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

The subject matter was a nice break from heaviness of the previous books: an orphan boy and an automaton living in the Paris Metro. I also got to learn about automatons and the first science fiction movie. The format is also quite interesting: this 500-page graphic novel is not typical because the drawings, while they help drive the story, are completely separate from the words. I'm a little apprehensive, however, about Martin Scorsese's upcoming film adaptation.

Date: 28 July 2011
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars