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!

Sometimes I Go To Extremes

The last few days have been a roller coaster. I felt really bad one day, so I called up my support network. A phone call and a happy hour later, I felt incredible - motivated, confident, ready for action. The next day, rush hour traffic plummeted me back down into Nothing-Good-Can-Come-Of-Anything Land. I'm a Libra, so this is a real problem for me, but it's definitely a pattern of my neurosis. Black and white thinking. I like to say "there's no good-bad, right-wrong," but clearly I believe or at least behave otherwise.

I started making a list of the good and bad of today (and yesterday and this week), but there really isn't a mathematical formula for deciding if the day is good or bad. It's just the feeling. How can you rate a one-way two-hour commute followed by slapping your dog (gasp!), but getting one item done on your to-do list? Well, that's pretty easy: crappy day. But how about fighting and making up with your partner, having a good business meeting in which you felt utterly inadequate and inexperienced, finishing your Christmas shopping and wrapping, but wishing you had done more and clearing off your desk, but knowing the really important item(s) that don't have sticky notes on the desk still didn't get done...? Well, I guess that sounds pretty crappy, too, but because it's filled with positives, I think this day still has hope. Maybe Alvin and the Chipmunks can help?

Missed Opportunities

I'm really worried about missed opportunities. I think I'm on the right track in my life. That is, I'm happy with the way things are going, but I still worry about missing:

• my nephews growing up
• my neice, full stop.
• anything good my dad has to offer
• the remaining moments of lucidity of my grandmother with Alzheimers
• the opportunity to help my sick family members
• my chance to connect with my brothers
• opportunities to live or work overseas
• falling in love with a stranger overseas
• girl time
• seasonal sales at my favorite store
• great recipes listed in Food Day
• using coupons before they expire
• phone calls from people I haven't talked to in a while
• great seasonal food specials at yummy restaurants
• the perfect opportunity to wear ____
• the right timing for a witty retort
• the look in someone's eyes that says more than their words
• a diagnosis
• an opportunity to get my affairs in order
• life.

My Story of Food

I just watched this great little video called: The Story of Stuff.

It's in alignment with my values and also with my recent decision to stop buying so much...food. I'm all about not buying so much in general, but I've already got that one down pretty well as guided my my non-existent budget. The place where I find myself splurging and spending cash is on food. Well, we need food - we have to eat, right?

Yes. We need to eat. But neither in the quantities that we usually do nor the variety that we usually demand. I don't need to eat prepackaged cookies and puffed rice covered in cheese powder when I can make my own better cookies and a piece of toast with butter and nutritional yeast will do. (I know it sounds weird if you aren't used to eating nutritional or brewers yeast, but it's fantastic! Try it!) And I don't need to eat multiple servings to feel full and satisfied. I just do it because I'm bored.

So, I get all kinds of free food at work and that's going to be my guide. If I get free eggs, I'll make a quiche. Free greens and it's time for salad. Two happy effects of this are 1. it's free! and 2. I'll often get things free that are seasonal. That's a good guide for what are appropriate things to be eating at any time of year - for example, it's not necessarily the best for us to be eating pineapple and raw salads during the middle of winter when our bodies need our vital heat just to keep us warm. (Unless we live in the Caribbean, which is a fine option!)

I am going to buy food, but only food that I plan to use or eat within the current and next day. Generally, whenever possible, my meals should include something that was obtained free at work and I'm going to measure my servings so that I'm not overindulging all the time. This isn't just about weight loss, but I expect that will also be a happy side effect.

If ever I think I'm hungry and I'm not sure if it's real, I'm going to try to drink a glass of water and walk the dog before preparing food that I will sit down at a table and slowly enjoy. Wow, that sounds nice. Let's start with a healthy breakfast right now. :)

Cancer is THE Dirty Word

I've returned to the classroom a couple time in the last month and it feels good. Graduating in June felt great and I don't wish myself back into a full time education scenario, but I have enjoyed being in an active learning environment again. One of the lectures I attended was all about women's health and hormonal imbalance - the jist is that we interact with our environment and our current environment is full of chemicals that cause hormonal imbalance. This was not just fluffy talk, but backed up by hard science that shows that these chemicals actually interact with our bodies "stronger than expected" including stronger than natural plant lignans and pharmaceutical drugs. This is why we need to do our best to avoid chemical exposure, but also why that's not enough. Detoxification is also vitally important. Without strong detoxification programs, our bodies simply are not able to process the amount of chemicals that we come in contact with.

Now, part of the interest I had in her lecture is that she pointed out that most of the chemicals she was speaking about are NOT carcinogens. Nope, they are not known or even suspected of causing Cancer. That said, they still have major health impact. They cause hormonal imbalance which could be seen is such symptoms as fatigue, PMS, major menopausal symptoms, skin disorders, digestive disturbance and the list goes on and on. Somehow the public doesn't get excited or upset about chemicals until we attach the label "known carcinogen." And even then, at the whim of the FDA, we may not really get to hear that information. But that's a whole other part of the puzzle that needs to be addressed.

Since I'm speaking/writing puzzles, let me add another piece: The Story of Stuff. This video is all about the state of current economic activity. I think it has wide appeal and is appropriate for adults of all ... political persuasions. This video is much more about consumerism and its effect on our happiness, environment, fellow man and more, but it also touches on the existence of toxins in our world. Toxic chemicals into our factories = toxic products into our homes + toxic byproducts into our environment. And the environment, our world, is a CLOSED SYSTEM - we live in a terrarium and the atmosphere is our lid. Cutting a hole in the ozone does NOT have the effect of letting the toxins out.

The good news is, there is something you can do. There are FOODS we can eat to strengthen our body's natural detoxification processes and there are herbs if you need an extra boost. Interestingly, one of the great liver and kidney enhancing herbs (these are major organs of detoxification) is the common dandelion weed. Our bodies and our world needs detoxification and nature is showing us the answer all the time. And we apply more toxic chemicals to our lawns to kill it. Sorry, this was supposed to be the good news. Yes, we can strengthen our body's defenses. And, we can make choices about how we intereract with the consumer system. Buying organic isn't just about getting "better" food, but it's about changing the system. Demand creates supply - as more people are buying organic, farmers and farming industry are changing and responding. And yes, they charge more for it, until there is enough demand that supply increases so there is competition!

So I'm going to get off my soap box now and get on with my day, but the take home message is this: buy or grow organic broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, brussel sprouts and herbs and eat them.