Reading List : Growing Again

I just went crazy with my library's online hold program. Mostly books on CD, but a few paper books as well:

• Botany of Desire (from my reading list/permission slip)
• The Secret Life of Bees (from my reading list/permission slip)
• Prince Caspian (because I enjoyed listening to Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe and forgot to continue!)
• Blink (never finished reading it before)
• The Tipping Point (because I enjoyed Blink so much)
• The Limbreth Gate and The Windsingers (because I discovered that one of my favorite authors writes under not one, but two pseudonyms!)

I don't think I'll even be increasing my reading time, but with the schedule change, I'll still be able to listen in the car, read on breaks at work and now, not feel guilty about it!

Oy! Hate When That Happens.

Was reading two good books and just finished both of them...the other book I'm reading is at my office. Can't listen to my books on CD except in the car or on my home computer at the moment. And the next book to be delivered to my library for me is the 4th book in the Twilight series, but I haven't read the 3rd book yet! My reading schedule just got wonky! I hate when that happens!

Too Much Reading

Lately I've been doing too much reading and not enough studying. So I tried to impose a rule on myself that I'm only allowed to listen to books on CD in the car until I finish that one lingering board exam. Well, fat chance of that working. Since I instituted that policy, things have only gotten worse, although I did get a lot of studying in yesterday. Here's my current reading list:

On CD:
Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver

Books:
The Host by Stephanie Meyer
Sky Coyote by Kage Baker
Midwife...something or other... (paperback I picked up somewhere)

Also just finished:
Dead Man's Mirror and Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (both on CD)
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
The Ladies Number 1 Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes

On the other hand, I returned Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge and Tiger Claws by John Speed to the library unfinished so maybe there is hope yet.

I'm not stalking, I'm FOLLOWING

I love following blogs - when Blogger made this feature available, I had no idea what a time saver it would prove. At that time, I was regularly reading maybe 3 blogs. As time goes on, that list grows - in part because I do seem to want my daily fix of other people's lives/observations/writing/recipes and in part because "following" makes it easy (that is, allows me to be a lazy reader). At present, I think I'm actively following 10 blogs - not many by blog reading standards, but a healthy amount from my busy B perspective.

I love that I can just log onto my own blog and see if anything new has come up. I don't have to click on my "favorites" list or type in the 10 URLs, I don't have to have fill my inbox with subscription feeds and I don't ever miss a post because the 10 I'm following aren't all everyday writers. I can log on and write my first scrambled thoughts of the day or my closing musings and catch myself up in minutes. Yes, I love following.

Radio Head

Since I got my new car in October, I've been so pleased to have a radio. At first, I listened to radio music a lot and was happy to hear some great tunes. Then I played a few cassette tapes that I hadn't listened to for ages, having no other cassette player. Then I got addicted to NPR - that, along with reading the paper during my breaks at work kept me pretty well in tune with the goings on locally, nationally and internationally. This winter, I was probably better informed than ever before in my life and could finally understand people who read several newspapers and watch the news (their reasoning, but probably still not all of their conversation).

At some point along the line, though, I remembered recorded books. I just finished listening to Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees on CD and found it a delightful listen while driving to and from work. Light enough that I could focus on my driving, but a great story. The second recorded book I tried, The Thrall's Tale, was not as compelling and I find myself scanning stations and listening to NPR again and find that I'm out of touch! My partner blogged about the AIG bonus scandal before I'd even heard about the AIG bailout!

I'd like to be well-read and up to date with current events both, but it seems that there are not enough hours in the day!

Suzie Homemaker

Despite my mother's urgings, or perhaps because of them (and her example), I've always had home-making aspirations. I think I would love to be a homemaker, though I'm not sure I could or would give up working now that I've found and trained for a career that I love. But my recent reading list and the move have definately rekindled those thoughts.

I spent much of last night cleaning out our food cupboard, pouring mysterious Indian ingredients into glass jars, emptying expired food into the garbage or drain so we could recylce the packaging and adding my food to A's collection. We are not going to starve, this much I know. Although we may get food poisoning if we're not careful. We both had food expired anywhere from 2002 to last month. Though part of me wants to exit much of these Indian ingredients that A keeps around for when his mother cooks, I feel like putting them in my jars gave me a kind of ownership over them and now the other part of me wants to cook them. I'll probably never make food like his mom's, but at least I can try to make Indian recipes without having to buy everything myself.

So, recently reading A Dress A Day has got me interested in sewing again. E bought me a sewing machine a couple of years ago at a church rumage sale and I've never cleaned, tuned or used it, but I find myself now wanting to learn to sew. I'm all ready to take it to the shop and sign up for a class. There's something about having one-of-a-kind clothing that you chose yourself that really appeals. Being able to make 8 dresses of the same style with different fabrics and details is also amazing - talk about a different take on a work wardrobe! The financial argument in this post helped me feel good about sewing even if something doesn't turn out right. Another couple posts I really liked are this one about style and this one about packing. Oh, and yes, this is what got me obsessed with packing.

On a totally different reading list topic, I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. In discussing raw food with E of late, I've had trouble accepting that raw food is THE way, mostly because so much raw food travels so far (coconut, tropical fruits, etc.). It wasn't even a carbon footprint issue with me, but more of a macrobiotic ideal. This book provides both an inspiring and entertaining memoir as well as many reasons to enjoy one's local food economy. I am sad to see that I'm beyond the 1/2 way point and will soon have finished this book.

Next up, a good Madhur Jaffrey cookbook for those Indian recipes. If my boss can make great samosas using her recipes, I should be able to make a passable Indian meal.

Synchronicity

So, A and I went to the Police concert a while back and A can't stop talking about Synchronicity this and that. Mostly related the the album, but I keep staring the phenomenon in the face.

Synchronicity:
1 : the quality or fact of being synchronous (relating to occurring at the same time)
2 : the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality —used especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung

It's not really a psychic event of synchronicity that has happened, but several small coincidences that remind me of our web. A few years ago, my friend sent me Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country. Bryson traveled to Australia during the time that I happened to live there and described how several American divers were lost off the coast of Cairnes which happened just before I arrived! How unusual to read about my own experience (reading about this in the local paper) in someone else's book.

Another very similar one last night. I wanted to call A right away as he's the only one who shared this experience with me. When we were traveling on the east coast, we drove through Vermont, only stopping long enough to lose our camera at the post office at the state line and to eat in Queechee in a little diner I found online that specializes in local foods. Well, I couldn't have picked a more appropriate place, apparently, because Barbara Kingsolver, in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle describes visiting exactly this restaurant during her year of local food explorations. I don't think most people would think it was a big deal, but for me, it's like a brush with fame...one that makes me excited and also vaguely uncomfortable.

Permission Slip: Never to Read Good Books Part 2

It's a strange day and I find myself needing something to do. Having already rearranged all my furniture this week, it's time to move things in and out of the house. In addition to hauling certain belongings to and fro the garage, I'm taking books to the bookstore. Lucky for me, they purchase lots of used books and I have more than a few to spare.

It's hard to give up some books that I really think I'll never read, so in the spirit of permission and knowing I can always find them again if I need them, here's a list of a few that are hard to let go:

• In the Shadow of Man by Jane van Lawick Goodall - a great read, but my strong admiration for Mrs. Goodall does not mean that I must keep each and every one of her books in my house.
• Through a Window by Jane Goodall - likewise.
• Are We Unique? by James Trefil - a journey about human and other intelligence
• Edison's Eve by Gaby Wood - mechanical life and artificial intelligence, I expressed interest in this book years ago at a new acquaintance's house and she bought me my own copy, which has remained sadly unread. I know longer remember the name of the acquaintance nor have I read the book, so despite my renewed interest on reading the back, it must go.
• Animal Minds by Donald Griffin - more of the same.

Okay, maybe I'm not ready to let these go. They're staying, along with Pasta e Verdura (Pasta and Vegetables), a cookbook full of pasta sauce recipes. My recent interest in pasta has secured its place on my shelf. I have about 9 books of my own that might actually make it out the door and a bag in the garage that I'm not going to go through - it's just going straight to the store. And then I'm picking up Joining Hands and Hearts for the wedding I'm doing in a couple weeks.

Social Commentary

I can't really comment enough on the books I'm reading these days. At present, it's Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility. I suspect this subject matter sounds not very interesting to many but would prove inexplicably so were one to pick up the book. That advise and etiquette columns are posted in major news publications every day supports this assumption and I have a theory as to why. Etiquette columns and books are an interesting social commentary. Miss Manners has piercing powers of observation and a witty writing style that are the perfect combination for a pleasurable every day morsel (as in the newspaper) or for a more hearty meal (as in the books).

I will provide here an example that I've been chewing about and noticing in my life the last couple of days. I can't recall from which book I gleaned this gem, but it's basically the increasing tendency for people to take offense at other people's words and actions. It's interesting because this predisposition to search for offense naturally results in taking offense and much unhappiness for all parties involved. The offending act may be something completely innocent, teasing, a faux pas (per m-w, social blunder), or an intentional offense, but in most cases, the best reaction is to rise above. Even were someone trying to offend you, Miss Manners sometimes advises not to acknowledge it as an offense. She slyly observes that this actually is the best way to get the better of ones enemies. Yes, I really enjoy this Miss Manners.

[Also, Miss Manners points out that while we are ready and willing to take offense, we, as a society, don't want to limit our behavior so as not to provide offense. So we're just a powder keg waiting to go off - hence road rage and similar acts of spontaneous violence - she writes often of the time when only a duel would avenge the family honor and celebrates that we aren't in that time, but I question that we aren't.]

In observing my own life, another strange place I'm noticing offense taken where none is meant is for circumstances. Not necessarily circumstances beyond ones control, but just circumstances. I find people making conclusions about circumstances that exist, such as 'I haven't found x, so you must not have it.' That puts me in the relatively uncomfortable (for me or for them) position of contradicting them. When these are my customers, I especially wish I did not have to contradict them, but at least the contradiction can often be in the form of good news, 'Actually, we do have that - it's right here.' I think about all the conclusions I draw about circumstances and people and realize that I'd like to keep a more open mind - instead of 'they must not have,' I'd like to think 'I have not yet found.'

In my personal life, I have a friend that I do not trust to speak the truth clearly. I often rely on her tone of voice to interpret what is actually being said, but sometimes draw conclusions that I don't like. A typical interpretation on my part goes something like, 'her tone of voice is uncomfortable, she's uncomfortable telling me this, she doesn't want to tell me this, she thinks this will make me upset or uncomfortable, this makes me upset and uncomfortable because ___.' I find reasons to be upset and uncomfortable to justify my conclusions based on her tone of voice. The unfortunate part is that tone of voice is a valuable social cue, but I also think that if I make too many conclusions based on that, and above all, if I come to negative conclusions, that I should instead assume it's not about me or look for evidence to support or deny my conclusion before getting upset or acting on it.

So basically, I've been thinking about these ideas for days and had many more eloquent examples and turns of phrase planned out, but you know me, as much as I like writing, it's also a relief to leave it and go on to the living. However, the connection that brings this post full circle for me is linking it to The Four Agreements. Making conclusions is really like making assumptions and taking offense is really like taking things personally. So, all this new age spirituality (which I love) is linked and provides a means of being more mannerly. When I was attending school at an Adventist university, one of my TAs to whom I am eternally grateful, called the Ten Commandments 'a recipe for happy living.' See, it all comes around again and again - I'm so glad, because now I don't have to worry if I don't get it the first time.

I Should Just...

I’m reading a great book right now, Miss Manners' Basic Training. Yes, an etiquette book – I’ve actually looked up more etiquette books online and am ordering some new ones through inter-library loan because I’m enjoying this one so much. I believe in manners. I think sometimes people confuse manners with being shy or reserved (this was a comment I got in my recent job review). A former beau complimented me on being polite and at that time, I was surprised to have this quality ascribed to me. After some thought, it’s a quality that I look forward to further cultivating. I remember being impressed and pleased to receive a thank-you note after having some new friends over for a game night. Such a simple gesture meant a lot to me and enhanced my desire to share my hospitality. (I know, I know, I have not gotten into that habit myself – Thanks, C – for a beautiful NYE dinner!)

In Basic Training, Miss Manners is advising people about what to say for all occasions and addresses the case when people have troubles in their lives. What should we say? According to Miss Manners, a simple 'I’m sorry' is enough and she reminds us that saying “Just do…x” is not appropriate as it belittles the person, suggesting they could not have come up with your seemingly simple advise on their own (and many other interesting and amusing unmannerly habits – you’ll have to read the book for more!).

I was thinking about writing about a party I attended last night and thought to myself, "I should have just not gone," and realized that I was ‘just’-ing myself! I was being rude to myself. Yes, I think staying home or leaving the party earlier would have been my preference for the evening and may have resulted in a better outcome, but there is no ‘just’ about it. For all today’s “I should have just,” it was a bit more complicated at that time I decided to go and learned that I was not going to be supported in leaving early. So, I want to treat myself with better manners and sincerely say “I’m sorry, self, that you felt bad or did not have the evening you intended.”

Goals # 53: Reading list

53. Read a book every week for 2 months


So, I started posting my reading list and all the books I was getting from the library, but I was embarrassed at how many I returned, and late at that, unread and actually unopened. I did manage to read a book or more every week for the past 8 weeks, though. It helped that they were series books, so my attention was already given and I knew I liked the style of these authors. It's been fun, but I remember now being totally absorbed in reading when I was a kid. I have to find a place of balance, doing some reading, but not getting interested in the stories at the expense of my own life.



Here's what I've been reading:
Week 1: December 31-January 6 Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Week 1: January 7-13 Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
Week 2: January 14-20 The White Dragon and Dragonsong by AM
Week 3: January 21-27 Dragondrums by AM
Week 4: January 28-February 3 Fool's Errand and Golden Fool by Robin Hobb
Week 5: February 4-10 Fool's Fate by RH
Week 6: February 11-17 Ship of Magic and Mad Ship by RH
Week 7: February 18-24 Ship of Destiny by RH
Week 8: February 25-March 1 Shaman's Crossing by RH.

(Young?) Adult Reading

Sundiver by David Brinn - Returned unread.
Armegeddon's Children by Terry Brooks - Returned unread.
The Girl Who Heard Dragons by Anne McCaffrey - Read the first story, then realized it was a collection of short stories, so I returned it.

Freedom's Landing by Anne McCaffrey - Very interesting read, but seems incomplete...maybe there's a sequel that I missed? If so, I would happily read it as this one was good.

Dragonflight - Really liked this introduction to the Pern World series. After returning the above books, I checked out Dragonquest and The White Dragon to complete this trilogy. I finished reading all three with the vague sense that I may have read them before, but no confirmation. I also found that these books are shelved in the Young Adult section, which surprised me. What surprised me more though, was the fact that I really don't want to be seen reading YA books. It seems an arbitrary distinction, since Dragonflight was in the general fiction section and the rest of the trilogy was in YA, but it still affected my desire to read other works.

I checked out a few others in the Pern series that were also from the YA section. I'll probably start on them, but in addition to their YA distinction, they are very short which is always less interesting to me since I like a meaty book.

Not sure what's coming next, but thinking about getting the Chronicles of Narnia since I never read that as a child - how did I miss this?

A Night on the Border

A and I ran for the Border(s) tonight - not Taco Bell, but the bookseller. I tend not to go to bookstores too often since I try not to purchase books, and I especially avoid big box bookstores, but we had a nice evening and I accomplished yet another of my 101 goals.

Number 47: Identify my favorite section of the bookstore - Completed.

I added this to my list of goals, because shortly before starting the 101 goals project, someone asked me which section was my favorite and I didn't have an answer. Not just because I don't visit bookstores, but because whenever I do, I'm overwhelmed by the many sections and subjects that I find interesting. A pointed out tonight what a balm it was for the soul to look at great photographs - while I enjoyed that part, too, the section that really made me happy to be there was the FOOD section! I read about vegan cooking, cupcakes, wine and wok cooking tonight and learned a lot. More importantly, I learned which books were worth another look and which ones I really didn't need. I didn't purchase any books, but I did order a couple from the library, including Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Can't wait!

Yum....

Reading List: January

Without guilt, I've taken more books out of the library. I'm enjoying reading again so much that I think it's a worthy distraction. Though I had a reminder today at work that I can do anything I set my mind to, including finishing my thesis. Considering hiring a thesis coach to help me get it out of my hands.

At any rate, I'm reading Love in the Time of Cholera, which was a slow start for me, but after the unfortunate death, when we go back into history, it gets really interesting. It's actually quite a sexy book.

From the library, I currently have:
Dragonflight, Freedom's Landing and The Girl Who Heard Dragons, all by Anne McCaffrey; Sundiver by David Brinn and Armegeddon's Children by Terry Brooks. I decided to expand my knowledge of fantasy authors and check these out.

Permission Slip: Never to Read Good Books

Life is too short for me to have long reading lists of books I think I should read, for whatever reason, including that I think I would enjoy it. I was going to just put the citation for my latest "note to self" book, but I decided to unload the entire reading list that I carry around in my Palm Pilot. I have permission NEVER to read these books. But, now that the list is here, I can always look here if I need something to read.

The book listed on my scrap of paper is from this Sunday's New York Times Business section in an article called Innovative Minds Don't Think Alike. The book is Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath, 2007.

The sideways string of queries that comes to me with all my attention on reading these days is: what does an author have to do these days to get their book published? Is it easier or harder than in previous times? And do electronic media and the ease of inter library loan affect book sales greatly? Is publishing (of books) still a lucrative business? Will the authoring of books as a creative endeavor cease to be possible except for one's own edification?

The list from the Palm:
Diet for a New America
Diet for a Small Planet
Stolen Harvest
Diabetes Solution
Phantoms in the Brain
Walking the Tiger - Peter Levine
Passing - Nella Larson
Unweaving the Rainbow - Dawkins
Remarkable Recovery
Emotional Intelligence
Spontaneous Healing
Cancer as a Turning Point - LeShan
Minding the Body, Mending the Mind
Love and Survival
Reviving Ophelia
Prozac Nation
When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron
Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty - Pema Chodron
Silent Spring - Rachel Carson
The Art of Happiness
On Doctoring
The Minds of Billy Milligan
The lost art of Healing
Coyote Medicine
Chicken Soup and Other Folk Remedies
Rx for Living
Best American Science Writing
Botany of Desire
Potatoes not Prozac
Toxic Psychiatry - Breggon
Loving Kindness - Soltzman
Body Outlaws
The Body Project
CUNT
The Hero's Journey - Campbell
The Power of Myth - Campbell
The Four Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary - Anglese Arrien Ph.D.
Consumers Guide to Effective Environmental Choices - Union of Concerned Scientist
My Grandfathers Finger
Fried Green Tomatoes
The Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson
Significant Others - Craig Stanford
The White Bone
The Lost Sisterhood - Ingerham
Holy Blood, Holy Grail - Ingerham
The Benefactor - Susan Sontag
Death Kit - Susan Sontag
Volcano Lover - Susan Sontag
In America - Susan Sontag
I, etc. - Susan Sontag
Illness as a Metaphor - Susan Sontag
Refuge - Terry Tempest Williams
Secret Life of Bees
2150 AD
ProEvo
Cold Mountain
All About Love
The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You - Dorothy Bryant
The Way of The Peaceful Warrior - Dan Millman
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Waiting for Godot

Reading List

These one's are going back to the library:
Assassin's Quest
Moloka'i
Raising Fit Kids in a Fat World
Banewreaker
Godslayer
Rant: an oral biography of Buster Casey

1. Assassin's Quest - read almost the entire book before remembering that I had read it already. My memory seems to be a bigger problem than I thought. I can't remember most of high school, either. Seems that fantasy as a genre still has a great hold on me as well as people I wouldn't expect. While volunteering in the garden, several patrons asked about my book. I wouldn't have imagined some of them readers at all and definitely not of fantasy fiction. I had to hunt this author down several times using the Web-based librarians to help me, because I couldn't remember the her name or the name of any of the books in the series though I remembered loving them. The second time through was just as moving and I look forward to reading the next trilogy.

2. Moloka'i - about a patient with leprosy a.k.a Hansen's Disease living on Moloka'i Leprosy Colony in Hawai'i. A great combination of history, medicine, beautiful scenery (I love reading about Hawai'i and can't wait to visit!) and emotion.

3. Raising Fit Kids in a Fat World - I seem to have lost this book somewhere in the condo and it's overdue and on hold, so I can't finish my read, but since I don't have children, that's probably okay. I started reading it more for the ability to share it with my patients. It's Christian based philosophy, but I think it's accessible for non-Christians as well. The little I read seemed interesting and positive. A couple articles in this month's Utne also discussing our focus on fat - such an important and double edged topic.

4. Banewreaker and Godslayer - I loved Jaqueline Carey's Kushiel series, but I just didn't get into this one. I was interested to discover, however, that there are two authors with this same exact name.

5. Rant - I decided not even to start this one. His other books, especially the one where the people got locked into the old theater, made me nervous and I don't need anything to add to that these days!

Words of Contempt

Reading Blink which describes the theory of "thin-slices" or how we utilize and gather relevant information quickly to come to rapid, seemingly instinctive, conclusions. Basically, we often make decisions in the blink of an eye and then continue gathering information to try to justify that position. It's fascinating and starts out with information about relationships which is timely and of great interest. Having done some video research myself, I enjoyed reading about how the researcher watched and coded interactions between couples second by second for different emotional cues. The number one indicator for a relationship breaking up was contempt, often shown by rolling of the eyes, and this occurred as often in men as in women.

They described contempt as closely related to disgust, though Webster (below) uses the synonym disdain. I think this is also related to condescension (also below). In my own life, I'm so sensitive to people seeming to condescend or patronize me that I often jump to conclusions and assume everything they say is meant in that way. This is also described in the book - the pattern of how things are received, which can be general to all people or specific to a single person and is another independent predictor for the success of a relationship. I wonder if these things can be changed? I shall read on.

Contempt:
1 a: the act of despising : the state of mind of one who despises : disdain b: lack of respect or reverence for something2: the state of being despised3: willful disobedience to or open disrespect of a court, judge, or legislative body

Condescend:
1 a: to descend to a less formal or dignified level : unbend b: to waive the privileges of rank2: to assume an air of superiority


Patronize:
2 : to adopt an air of condescension toward : treat haughtily or coolly