Some easy but profound spiritual reading:
The Power of Compassion - A series of stories compiled and edited by Pamela Bloom - just wonderful. find it here...

1.The Film Club by David Gilmour. Wonderfully emotionally literate narrative non-fiction tale of a father who pulls his son (who hates school) out of school altogether and decides to home educate him by asking him to watch films of his father's choice and then talk about them to him (or not) wonderful - a very easy read and you don't have to know anything about film to enjoy this book. Should be compulsory reading for fathers... especially those that have kids that are failing in the current education system. Fabulous.

5. As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade. By Mark Thomas. Naive? I was. Gullible? I was. I had NO IDEA what our Government gets up to, that the UK is the second biggest arms dealer in the world or of the levels of corruption and lack of even basic ethics that sometimes (or should I say 'Frequently' Mark?) occur at Westminster. All this and he's funny too. Brilliant narrative non fiction. Don't be put off by the cover.Click here to go to the amazon page...

6. True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
Mark, another of my Favourite non-fiction writer, this time based in the US, teaches creative writing to young offenders. Hard to decide whether to cry for the young men or laugh with joy for the wonder of Mark's work and perseverance. Click here for amazon page

7. Will Storr vs The Supernatural. My recommended best piece of narrative non-fiction since 'The Game.' Utterly brilliant - intelligent, compelling (it ruined my weekend as I just didn't want to put it down) genuinely scary and, I believe, very important piece of writing - Fan Bloody Tastic. And if you don't believe in ghosts before you start you probably will by the end. Don't read it is you are of nervous disposition and live alone. Really! Click here to go to the amazon page...

8. Utopian Dreams by Tobias Jones was my book of the year in 2007. Just when we were all about to despair... along came Tobias Jones with a book about the need for community. This book is erudite, wise, lucid, clever, humble and very important; a profound joy and a complete relief. Here is someone expressing what we are all thinking, sorting out the confusion, and offering a way out of the mess we're all in. If you have ever dreamed of selling up and going to live in a community... read this first.

9. The Spiritual Tourist by Mick Brown. I really love this book. I love the genuine spirit of enquiry and the laid back humour. It tells me more about the spiritual disciplines Mick Brown visits than numerous religious tomes would and I enjoyed reading so much that when I got to the end I started over again. Particularly fascinating on the controversial figure of Sai Baba and more so as Mick is not a believer or a follower of anything other than a little gentle Buddhism.

10. As If by Blake Morrison (about the James Bulger Murder) I have long believed that 'To understand all is to forgive all' (Voltaire). Many people don't agree but I often wonder how those adults braying for two ten year old boys to be locked up as 'evil animals' would feel if they could see a video of the boys lives. What must they have been subjected to - we must ask ourselves as adults - to have been able to commit such a murder?

Morrison goes further than this... in order to understand he looks inside himself... as any good actor, Buddhist, Christian, believer or humanist must do. Every good actor that seeks to play a murderer must find the seeds of a murderer inside himself. It's only then when we truly see how, had the dice fallen differently, any one of those three boys could have been our sons - that we can have the compassion and empathy that such a case cries out for.

It is 2009 now and yet STILL emails circulate asking us to add our names to complaints that the judge had compassion and offered them new lives and new identities. So if you get such an email, and feel inclined to add your name - read this book first.

And if, like me, you are saddened by the lack of understanding and compassion displayed by humanity, read Blake Morrison's book. As he says so wonderfully - even if you don't agree that 'To understand all is to forgive all' you may agree that to understand nothing is to forgive nothing. This is all around us. The alternative, the way of peace and of forgiveness has to be worked hard for. So thank you Blake Morrison - for this exceptionally brave piece of writing. And for teaching us about wisdom and compassion.

3. Rumi: Selected Poems - Penguin Classic edition. |Poetry/ Philosophy/ Spirituality
He keeps the soul alive, and inspires me to celebrate the senses and cook with spices and... well, he makes me think about love. Click here to go to the amazon page...

Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama.

This book, which is not ghosted, was written when he was 33 years old long before he had any thoughts of a political career. In it he explores what is means to have a black African father that he never knew and a white American mother and seemingly to belong no-where. As he grows up he has to discover what it means to be black while being raised by white parents and, while doing so gives the reader a gentle and loving education into the issues of race.

As a white 'middle class' girl these are not issues that I have ever had to consider. It's easy for me to say 'I don't see colour, I only see people' as I have never had to see colour, I have never been reminded of my colour or had assumptions made about me based upon it.

But the book isn't just about colour - it's also about our inheritance, whatever that may be, it's about our personal history and having a sense of it, about understanding our parents and being able to forgive them because of that understanding. And about embracing and celebrating our inheritance.

It is a deeply moving book and I found myself crying more than once despite the fact that it is not written in a way that manipulates emotion. I would give this book ten stars even if it were written by an unknown author who never wrote another word. The fact that it is written by a man the man who is now Mr President is purely an added pleasure.

If a truly great book is one that alters us in some way and enables us to see the world around us differently - then this book succeeds on every level.