Our Recommended Books, Music & Movies for Surrender

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Last updated 4/7/2005

  Books

1.   A Deeper Surrender : Notes on a Spiritual Life

    by Stuart Perrin (Paperback - 2001)

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   From Amazon.com: "A deeper sense of surrender." These were the last words Stuart Perrin's spiritual teacher said to him before being killed in a plane crash. For years, Perrin had sought insight and spiritual teaching throughout the world, only to finally find them in the laughing, Buddah-esque form of Rudi, a popular, iconoclastic, Jewish-American guru. In A Deeper Surrender, Perrin distills Rudi's teachings--while adding a generous measure of his own -- on relationships, sex, livelihood, spiritual development, teachers, students, yoga, and perhaps most importantly, staying centered and getting grounded. The teachings are full of paradox. We fight and we surrender, we struggle and we let it happen, we engage and disengage, we advance, retreat, study with a teacher, go it alone. How could it be otherwise? Spirit is so overwhelming, so mysterious, so real, as to dwarf our conceptions and belief systems. Simply put, find your own path to spiritual growth as it unfolds in front of you. A Deeper Surrender is an indispensable guidebook for treading a spiritual path without getting stranded, distracted, or lost.
 

2.  A Year By the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman

    by Joan Anderson (Paperback - 2000)

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    From Amazon.com: "I'm beginning to think that real growing only begins after we've done the adult things we're supposed to do," confides Anderson, a journalist and author of children's books (Twins on Toes, etc.). She came to this conclusion after a year living alone in a cottage on Cape Cod. Feeling that her marriage had stagnated by the time her two sons were grown, Anderson surprised and distressed her husband by refusing to move out-of-state with him when he accepted a new job. In this accessible memoir, she shares the joy and self-knowledge she found during her time of semi-isolation. In order to supplement the income from her royalty checks, she found a job in the local fish market and began making new friends who sustained her. After her hot water heater broke down and her husband refused to help, she earned additional money for the repair by digging and selling clams. Through vivid and meticulous observations about the natural world, Anderson makes clear her strong affinity for the ocean, with its changing tides, subtle colors and burgeoning life. A Memorial Day reunion brought Anderson and her husband closer; shortly thereafter she embraced his plan to retire and live with her in the cottage. Anderson has recently begun a "Weekend by the Sea" program for women who need time to reflect.

3.  Imperfect Control : Our Lifelong Struggles With Power and Surrender

    by Judith Viorst (Paperback - 1999)

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   From Amazon.com: Whose life is not impacted, if not defined, by issues of control? Judith Viorst, author of bestselling Necessary Losses and the recipient of various awards for her journalism and psychological writings, cobbles an answer from a variety of sources--the works of biological and social scientists, psychoanalysts, philosophers, personal stories, and her own inimitably fresh point of view. Fascinating, funny, and insightful, Imperfect Control invites readers to seek the balance between power and surrender.

  Music

1.   Inside Monument Valley

   ~ R. Carlos Nakai (Audio CD)

    Original Release Date: 1999

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From Amazon.com: The sublimity of Inside Monument Valley isn't in the lovely flute music created by jazz musician Paul Horn and Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai, or in the informative, clear liner notes and crisp photos, but rather in the exquisite interplay between Arizona's Monument Valley (the birds, insects, rain, thunder, and echoing canyon walls) and the highly inspired, all-improv music created by two immensely talented artists. The 1998 release Mythic Dreamer was special for the lyrical, spiritual music Nakai created on his first solo flute album after several years, and Inside Monument Valley picks up where Nakai's inspiration left off, like the inhalation of one breath after the exhalation of the last. Horn adds an interesting texture playing European-style transverse flutes and soprano sax. He complements Nakai's Native American flutes perfectly too, never overwhelming the listener with busy or distracting notes. The two musicians wandered into Monument Valley ready to record whatever their muses gave them, and the field-recording aspect of this CD worked wonderfully--probably because in some instinctual way the two artists knew it would. The power of bubbling thunder makes itself heard on "Rain God"; a fly makes a sizzling cameo past the mic on "Alhambra"; even Horn's doggy has something (quite comical) to say. But the recurring playful duels between the ravens' assertive calls and Nakai's flute are the best highlights--and well typify the beautiful essence of this album: living beings speaking to one another through song.

2.   Voices From Heaven

   ~ The Soweto Gospel Choir (Audio CD)

    Original Release Date: 2005

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From Amazon.com: South African choral music is renowned for passionate singing and soul-stirring harmonies. The Soweto Gospel Choir is made up of top talent from throughout that hard-scrabble yet celebrated Township. All sixteen tracks were seemingly recorded studio-live with no overdubbing or after-the-fact prettying-up. "Paradise Road" is led by a powerful pair of female voices who sing in English about walking hand-in-hand toward a place where there will be no more pain. It is almost unbearably poignant. A ceremonial yet ecstatic version of "Amazing Grace" renews the power and grandeur of a seriously hackneyed hymn. The selections are either sung a cappella or accompanied by a guitar-led mbaqanga combo, plus drums, hand-clapping, stamping, exhortations, whistling, and high-pitched ululations. There is even a taste of sacred R&B and hip-hop! The lord being praised here is obviously a robust but loving realist; the voices are redolent of humanity in all its fragile, undying splendor.

3.   Give Up

    ~ The Postal Service (Audio CD)

    Original Release Date: 2003

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From Amazon.com: Give Up, the debut release by this indie supergroup composed of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Tamborello from Dntel, is a smart, quaint, and often transcendent little pop record. The roots of the album lie in "This is the Dream of Evan and Chan," a woozy, gorgeous song recorded for the rad 2001 Dntel album Life is Full of Possibilities. With Jimmy in L.A. and Ben in Seattle, the two simply mailed tracks back and forth, collaborating via (you guessed it) the United States Post Office. Lyrically it’s far breezier and happier (though not too happy) than anything Gibbard had written up to this point for Death Cab. The music is an elastic, very smart update of synth-pop and the melodies crystal clear, while the backing vocals courtesy of Jen Wood and Jenny Lewis are spartan and pretty. The songs stick in your head for days at a time. Forget the tags that have been thrown up against this music--Poptronica? New new new order? Please just enjoy this album. It just might be a classic--but of what exactly, we’re not quite sure.

  Movies

1.   About a Boy (Full Screen Edition)

     Starring: Hugh Grant, Toni Collette

     (2002) ~ DVD

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From Amazon.com: A box-office smash in England, About a Boy went on to charm the world as another fine adaptation (following High Fidelity) of a popular Nick Hornby novel. While High Fidelity transplanted its London charm to Chicago, this irresistible comedy was directed by Americans Chris and Paul Weitz (American Pie) with its British pedigree intact. Better yet, Hugh Grant is perfectly cast as Will, a self-absorbed trust-fund slacker who tries to improve his romantic odds by preying on desperate single mothers. His cynical strategy backfires when he recruits the misfit son (Nicholas Hoult) of a suicidal mother (Toni Collette) to pose as his own son, thus proving his parental prowess to his latest single-mom target (Rachel Weisz). The kid has a warming effect on this ultimate cad, and what could have been a sappy tearjerker turns into a subtle, frequently hilarious portrait of familial quirks and elevated self-esteem. From start to finish, it's a genuine treat.

2.   Tango

     Starring: Miguel Ángel Solá, Cecilia Narova

     (1999) ~ DVD

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From Amazon.com: Much of this extraordinary movie deals with the Tango; its origins, its importance to the Argentine culture. The dancing is superlative, the music is wonderful. Amidst the music and the dancing, is a taut, dramatic love story. The depth of the story is not necessarily in the character development, but rather in the blurring of the imagination and reality experienced by the main character. This back and forth between reality and the imagination is marvelously portrayed as a result of Saura's sophisticated direction. At times you think you are looking at the characters only to find that you are looking at reflections. The cinematography and lighting are superb. A moviegoer does not have to have an affinity for the Tango to appreciate this movie. The terrific acting, beautiful use of light and color and the surreal thought processes of the main character are worthwhile in their own right, but the music, dancing and insight into the production of the show within the show are truly wonderful.

3.   Kolya

    Starring: Zdenek Sverák

    (1997) ~ DVD

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From Amazon.com: Winner of the 1997 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this charming Czech drama uses the backdrop of the Russian military occupation in Prague for its funny, sad, and ultimately delightful story of a 55-year-old man's friendship with a 5-year-old boy. It doesn't exactly start out as friendship: Louka is a cellist who lost his symphony job after writing a sarcastic remark on an official form, and although he's struggling financially he still enjoys the company of several young women who find him irresistibly sexy. The last thing he needs is a surrogate child, but that's what he gets when young Kolya is abandoned by his mother, a Russian woman Louka had agreed to marry so she could avoid being sent back to Russia. The mother runs off to her boyfriend in Germany, leaving Louka with a 5-year-old kid who only speaks Russian! As directed by Jan Sverák (whose father, Zdenek Sverák, plays Louka), this predicament offers a lovingly detailed account of how Louka and Kolya discover each other, and how their mutual awkwardness evolves into a heartwarming father-son relationship. While the Russian presence creates an atmosphere of suspicion and restriction, the deepening connection between Louka and Kolya turns this into an unforgettable film, beautifully photographed, sensitively performed, and directed with just the right combination of subtle sentiment and harsh reality. Its Oscar was definitely well deserved.