occidental mythology

I turned 31 yesterday, so it’s time to check in! I started “counting” my reading for the blog on my 30th birthday last year even if I didn’t actually start blogging until December. Without further ago, during the past twelve months:

In Reading

Books read (this year): 95! Which is way above my usual pace and consisted of a lot of stress-reading, but is also great because this means that I have a nice little cushion for any times coming up when my reading slows. Obviously, not all of these are on the blog yet, but they’re nearly all written and ready to go.
Books read: (total): 95. Since this is the first year, these numbers are the same.
Male/Female Authors: I like to keep track of the proportion of male v female authors I’ve read. I’m not inclined to go on a only-women authors spree, but I do like to be cognizant of it. And as it so happens, this year I’ve read 48 books written by men and 47 written by women, so close to a 50-50 split.
Most Read Genres: I read 63 fiction books (most read sub-genre: contemporary fiction) and 32 non-fiction (most-read subgenre: history).
Kindle/Hard Copy: I definitely read more on my Kindle this year: 58 ebooks and only 37 hard copy. My general pattern to make sure I’m making progress through both my backlist and my ARCs is to read 3 ARCs for every 5 backlist books. The ARCs are almost entirely ebook, and for the backlist, I generally alternate ebook v physical book, so that’s how those numbers got so sideways.

In Life

I thought it would be neat to keep track of what major-ish events were going on in my life as I read each year. I’m actually getting ready to launch a new feature here on the blog: at the end of each month, there will be a Life Notes or something like that kind of post, where I’ll talk about what I read and share some highlights from my actual life. I’ve noticed similar posts around the book blog community and I think I’d like to get in on the fun!

Girl’s trip to Denver: This actually predates the blog but postdates the 30th birthday on which I started tracking my reading, so it counts. Two of my best friends and I do a long weekend together every year, and so last November, we spent three days in Denver, which was a really cool city, but not as cool as getting to see my best friends again! They still live in the town we all grew up in, which is in Michigan, so I don’t get to see them often and it’s always a special occasion when I do! I was reading: Oriental Mythology
Got a dog: Lord Stanley joined our household right after I started this blog! He’s almost five now, and he’s the cutest and the sweetest and he’s definitely a pain in the tuchus, but he’s worth every second of it. I was reading: Occidental Mythlogy
Went to San Francisco: We do a work retreat every year, and this year’s destination was San Francisco! Which I’ve been to before, obviously (Reno is only about a 5 hour drive, so it’s an easy trip over the hill (read: Sierra Nevada mountains), particularly in the summer. This was the winter, but it was still super fun. I was reading: Creative Mythology
Went to my best friend’s baby shower: Remember how I barely get to see my friends? Well, when it’s best friendship, you go to Michigan at the end of January for a baby shower. My “nephew” was born in March and he’s just the best. I was reading: Still Creative Mythology. This was only a week after the SF trip, so it’s not bad, but you guys that book took me so long to read and I hated it so much.
Got married: My now-husband and I have been together for four years at this point and he’s my favorite guy and now he’s mine forever with a ring and everything! I was reading: Zodiac
Honeymooned in Chicago: I’d been to Chicago, but not in quite some time, and Husband had never been. He’s not a laze-on-the-beach type, so we thought Chicago would be a good time…there’s so much to do and see and eat! And we did and saw and ate and it was fantastic. I was reading: Song of Achilles
Weekend in Lake Tahoe: This was only a vacation to me, my husband unfortunately spent most of it working (his workplace holds an annual event at the lake). But I got to go to fancy dinners and on a nice boat cruise, so I had a lovely time! I was read: The Other Side of the River

And, in honor of my first year of reading and blogging, I’m giving away a copy my favorite book that I reviewed on the blog this year! I read a lot of great books, but my favorite was Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men. So here’s how it’s going to work: if you’d like to be entered to win a copy of this book, please leave a comment below sometime in the next week (through October 16). I’ll use a random number generator to pick a winner and then reach out to you for your contact info, which I’ll only use to send you your book from Amazon (either paperback or Kindle, depending on your preference). Thanks for reading along this year!

“Contrast to this emphatically social emphasis the Indian idea that the ultimate realization of truth is to be experienced alone, in yoga, in the forest; the Chinese, that a accord is to be experienced with the Tao, the Way of nature and the universe, which is the Way of one’s heart, as well. In the Book of Moses, on the contrary, the way of God, who is transcendent, is either within nor in nature, but in the group- this group alone, with its laws, which are the only facts of real moment to be known.”

Dates read: December 6-26, 2015

Rating: 5/10

Perhaps I’m just getting more used to Joseph Campbell’s writing style, perhaps it’s just that The Masks of God has shifted to a religious tradition with which I am very familiar (not only the Judeo-Christian belief system I was raised in, but the Greek and Roman mythology that I’ve loved since I was a child), but for me, Occidental Mythology was the most accessible volume of this set for me so far.

In this third volume, Campbell talks about the mythology of the so-called Western World: Greek myth, Roman myth, ancient Arab/Hebrew myth, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Like in the previous volume on Oriental mythology, I’m side-eyeing this category fraud a little: Middle Eastern myth of the ancient world is much more closely related to Egyptian mythology than the Jewish religion that eventually developed, but he clearly doesn’t want to break it up like that because it doesn’t fit his thesis. But even with nonfiction, you have to accept that you’re on the road the author is taking you on, even if you think you know a better route.

His Western bias isn’t as obvious as it has been previously until the conclusion chapter at the very end…maybe he feels less of a need to editorialize on home turf, but he doesn’t shy away from criticism of this tradition either. He points out factual and logical inconsistencies within texts like the Bible, and reminds the reader that their holy books were often written long after the facts alleged therein had taken place (or not actually taken place, as the case may be). He also touches on internal conflicts and differing interpretations, and the power struggles that went on behind what we today would consider long-settled matters. Even through his bias, he treats all world mythology (including the Judeo-Christian tradition) as, well, mythology, reminding us in the Western World that our dominant religious belief system is, at its heart, the myths of a nomadic tribe of desert sheepherders.

I won’t pretend that I’m not happy that I’m almost done with this set. While it’s been interesting and sometimes illuminating reading, it is, like I’ve said already with the other volumes, very dense and challenging to read as a pleasure exercise.

Tell me, blog friends: Have you ever thought of your own religious beliefs as mythology?

Year 1: An Update (and Giveaway!)

Book 11: Occidental Mythology

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