June 2023 MBR The Buddhist Studies Shelf

The Buddhist Studies Shelf

The Language of Flowers in the Time of COVID
Joan D. Stamm
Mantra Books
c/o John Hunt Publishing
www.johnhuntpublishing.com
9781803411903, $15.95, PB, 152pp

https://www.amazon.com/Language-Flowers-Time-COVID-Finding/dp/1803411902

Synopsis: In 2020, as COVID-19 spread from Asia to North America, Zen Buddhist and ikebana practitioner Joan Stamm was forced to cancel her long-anticipated trip to Japan, where she had planned to research a flower temple pilgrimage and learn the deeper meaning of flowers known as "little Buddhas".

But with lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, Stamm, who lives on a mountain on an island in the Salish Sea, sequestered herself like a hermit and turned to her own flower garden for solace and meaning as the pandemic engulfed the world around her.

"The Language of Flowers in the Time of COVID: Finding Solace in Zen, Nature and Ikebana" tells the story of Stamm's life and spiritual journey as a Buddhist through these difficult times. Using traditional Japanese flowers as seasonal indicators, Stamm speaks the poetic language of flowers to explore ancient flower metaphor as it relates to the pandemic and the many manifestations of impermanence in one of the most tumultuous years in American history.

Critique: Fascinating, inspiring, eloquent, contemplative, thought-provoking, "The Language of Flowers in the Time of COVID: Finding Solace in Zen, Nature and Ikebana" is offers a combination of personal memoir, Buddhist philosophy, and the biological science/metaphorical interpretation of flowers in a time of universal crises. While available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99), "The Language of Flowers in the Time of COVID: Finding Solace in Zen, Nature and Ikebana" will prove a welcome and enduringly popular addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Buddhism, Biography/Memoir, and Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections.

Editorial Note: Joan D. Stamm (https://joandstamm.com) is the author of A Pilgrimage in Japan: the 33 Temples of Kannon, and the award winning Heaven and Earth are Flowers: Reflections on Ikebana and Buddhism. She is also the co-founder of Cold Mountain Hermitage, a Zen Buddhist study and practice group, and a certified teacher of the Saga School of Ikebana.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.

The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com

Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129

To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review