50 Book Challenge

[sabrinamari]

Well, I can read without guilt now. Many friends are doing the 50 book challenge, and I'm joining in. Really, it's cheating on my part---I read voraciously and fast, and can knock off 50 books really fast, so it's not actually a challenge for me. For me, books are drugs, and I think of them in the same way I think of working out---my forms of mainlining heroin.

But hey, I might as well count the number of times that I shoot up. And I can give quick reviews. So I'm in. Currently, I'm reading: "What Would Buffy Do? The Vampire Slayer Spiritual Guide," by Jana Reiss, a Ph.D. in divinity who studied at Princeton and Columbia. I'm discovering that the Buddhist themes and strong moral universe of the show are a big part of the reason that I love it so much. I'm also re-reading "Hogfather," cause it's Terry Pratchett, god of fantasy, and seasonally appropriate, "The Beginner's Guide to Walking the Buddha's Eightfold Path," by Jean Smith and then, at work, I just read a chapter of a cool book on the epidemic of obesity in the US (title to come later). Oh, and I'm reading "Forests of the Heart," by Charles de Lint, about a curandera who moves East and starts hanging with a group of ethnically diverse denizens of Faerie. So, OK, I was reading this stuff *while* finishing the diss, and I felt guilty about that, but I'm free now, and can read with a clean conscience. I'll note when I'm done and post bigger reviews to these and then start the next set of drugs, uh, books.

I ordered that round yesterday on Amazon.com---it's a group of 6-7 books on resilience---how to get it, what resiliency looks like, the findings of studies of very resilient people, and a resiliency how-to. Oh, and one book on dealing with narcissistic people successfully without being sucked into the void of their dysfunction---useful for those with controlling, self-absorbed parents, peers and contacts who lean in this direction.

And I'm off to my second therapy appointment today. Yeah, personal transformation! Go, psychotherapy!

Comments

Go Sabrina!

[catpaw67.livejournal.com]

You are inspiring me to look through my stash of books and think about what I really want to read. Hey, are we on for yoga next week? Tuesday night. I think the class starts at 6:30. Hugs and congrats on finishing the endy bits of your diss!!!

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

I *love* Hogfather. I try to read it every year at Yule. I didn't get to it this year. :-/

Charles de Lint is a god, himself. Forests is awesome. Have you read Someplace To Be Flying? That's another of my favorites of his.

> I read voraciously and fast

Y'know, I used to read very quickly; I learned speed-reading in junior high, and used to go through books like a house on fire. Over time, though, I've slowed down significantly; I've come to savor the language (in well-written stuff, anyway), and I like "hearing" the individual turns of phrase in my head. If it's really well-done, I read it not much faster than I would read it aloud. (Occasionally I actually DO read a well-turned phrase aloud. :-) I get fewer books read, but I enjoy my time reading more.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

I've read one other Charles de Lint book---karen gave it to me. I don't remember the title, but I *loved* it---it was a series of short stories set in the same city that he has tended to write about

I agree that the language of a great writer is one of the most compelling things about a good book! Sometimes I read phrases out loud, too---I know what you mean about "hearing" them in your head.

[quiet-wyatt72.livejournal.com]

Congrats on finally finishing. I can only imagine.

15 years. Whew. I can only hope it does not take me as long.

Good to know that the printer/fax/scanner, coolpad, extra battery and accessories and microphone came in. I'll phone to get the list of accessories so I can check them off the purchase list.

Keep me abreast of the literature you're reading. I'm starting to put together a course on "Paganism in Literature" (Apuleius, Sacher-Masoch, Tom Robbins, Starhawk, Dante, etc..) and I know de Lint is an author I need to keep track of for this. Don't know his stuff personally though.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

de Lint writes fiction---is that OK?

[quiet-wyatt72.livejournal.com]

Yes. I need to know more about authors who write what could reasonably be called "pagan" fiction.

I expect this will overlap, but will not be exhausted by, the common fiction categories of "Science Fiction" and "Fantasy."

For example, Tom Robbins has clearly written novels with an openly Pagan emphasis--"Even Cowgirls get the Blues" and "Jitterbug Perfume," among others.

[shakti-lemaris.livejournal.com]

Yay, reading! Yay reading *and* looking at pictures! I just chewed through volumes 1-10 of the Sandman twice! I never caught the fever back in the 80s-90s when they first came out...not sure why.

Didn't read Hogfather again, but I'm pretty much caught up on Discworld, unless something's come out since "Monstrous Regiment."

Now I'm reading Starhawk's new book and something called A Polemic Against Love that I sorta stole from Matty...

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what the most recent Discworld novel is, but I need to find out. There are few things as good as settling down with terry Pratchett for a nice long read.

OK, maybe sitting down with Neil Gaiman!

[paganpilgrim.livejournal.com]

Yey! Your really done! Wow! Congrats! Do continue to make suggestions, I am always looking for good things to read!

[methastra.livejournal.com]

I'll trade you "What Would Buffy Do? The Vampire Slayer Spiritual Guide" for my "The Quotable Slayer" when you're done! :-)