The Little Blue State Legislature concluded its two year legislative session last night, or more accurately, at 5 o'clock this morning. Once the session ends, my work returns to a more normal schedule: no driving to Capital City several days a week; no checking the state website to see what mischief those crazy senators are cooking up for the defenders of liberty; no sitting outside representatives' offices hoping for an opportunity to clue them in on the (often unintended) damage they are about to inflict on the constitution. Don't get me wrong. I love what I do, and some of the finest people I know are politicians. No really, I mean it, but that's a blog post for another day.
The good news is that there's a four-day weekend coming up, and starting the following Friday, a week at the beach. I've been accumulating books at an alarming rate, and the tower of reading matter next to my bed is both enticing and daunting. So here goes --
Cost Roxana Robinson
The People of the Book Geraldine Brooks
Nudge Cass Sunstein and Richard Tholer
Certain Girls Jennifer Weiner
Here if You Need Me Kate Braestrup
March Geraldine Brooks
Influence Robert Cialdini
Digging to America Anne Tyler
Secrets in the Dark Frederick Buechner
Property Valerie Martin
Writing Tools Roy Peter Clark
Within These Walls Carroll Pickett
Keys to Drawing Bert Dodson
Fabriano sketchbook
I'll be posting reviews as I work down the pile.
Showing posts with label 2008 Reading Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2008 Reading Challenge. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
2008 Reading Challenge - January - Part 2
Here is the remainder of the list of books I read in January -- I think I need a little fiction for February!
101 Things I Learned in Architecture School -- Matthew Frederick
It's only 101 pages long, and I keep thinking I'm finished with it, but then I come back to it again. I am fascinated by the interplay of our interior experiences and the external world -- not only how we respond visually to images, but also how we respond to spaces. How does a building feel holy or home-like or bureaucratic or majestic? Frederick conveys the work of architects both as nitty-gritty how-to, like his suggestion that plans and drawings be rolled with the drawing surface on the outside so that they'll lie flat when laid out on a table; and aesthetic theory, like his observation that an appreciation for asymmetrical balance demonstrates a capacity for higher-ordered thinking. He covers everything from how to draw a straight line a discussion of ego and design.
Eat, Pray, Love -- Elizabeth Gilbert
The jury is still out on this one. Reading it felt indulgent and a little escapist, but I loved the descriptions of Italy. I enjoyed the sojourn in India a bit less, and by the time Gilbert reached Bali, I lost interest, and only got to the end so that I could find out how her journey ended. She's a terrific food writer and travel diarist, and a few sections of the book are laugh-out-loud funny, but I'm not adding it to my list of great spiritual memoirs.
Microtrends -- Mark Penn
January must have been my month for books that could be read in small, small bites. Mark Penn is a well-known pollster and the man who defined the term "soccer moms" in time for the 1992 election. Here, he examines the niches of American society, and instead of "soccer moms," he brings us "cougars," middle-aged women who date younger men. Hmmm . . . wonder if that's what happened to the soccer moms.
How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian -- Mark Bittman
Speaking of books that you read in bites, this cookbook is yummy, wonderful, and written by one of my favorite cookbook authors, Mark Bittman, who writes the New York Times weekly column "The Minimalist."
Personal Village -- Marvin Thomas
I had several conversations in a short time with people I care about who expressed a sense of loneliness and a lack of satisfying friendships. One of them asked me point-blank how I maintain a maze of personal connections. I wasn't sure how to answer, and several days later came across this book. I hoped to find a way to talk about building community that would be helpful. I found in this book an enlightening discussion of the different levels of relationship that form a full sense of community. Some people in our lives enrich us by being friendly and familiar touch points as we move through our day, and we can be the same to them. My father taught me the importance of honoring the people I encounter daily by learning their names, asking after their children, noticing their absence when they're ill or on vacation. I know the names of most of the security guards in my office building, the secretaries at the school my children attend, the mayor of our town, most of the people who work on my hall, and many of my colleagues, and they know mine. Thomas describes other levels of relationship --neighbors, friends from church, and people we socialize with occasionally. More intimate are the relationships with our closest friends and family. Thomas believes that we need some of each kind of relationship at a variety of levels of intimacy, but that each of us is better at some kinds of relationships than others. For instance, I love being part of the civic community, but I am not so great at somewhat mid-range relationships in groups, like clubs or sororities, though I know people who get tremendous satisfaction from these associations. I'm lucky to have some close friends and a family that I not only love, but enjoy spending time with.
When I had a chance to resume the conversation with one of the people who inspired the purchase of this book, I was aware that my friendliness with cab drivers and co-workers had been mistaken for more intimate friendships. The two of us then talked at length about what makes the right mix of relationships for different people, and I learned a lot about which realms of our respective social networks felt full and which felt empty. Emptiness in different areas produces very different kinds of loneliness.
On my bookshelf for February--
March -- Gwendolyn Brooks
Tin House: Graphic Issue -- Win McCormack, et al,
The Thirteenth Tale -- Diane Setterfield
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die -- Chip Heath and Dan Heath
101 Things I Learned in Architecture School -- Matthew Frederick
It's only 101 pages long, and I keep thinking I'm finished with it, but then I come back to it again. I am fascinated by the interplay of our interior experiences and the external world -- not only how we respond visually to images, but also how we respond to spaces. How does a building feel holy or home-like or bureaucratic or majestic? Frederick conveys the work of architects both as nitty-gritty how-to, like his suggestion that plans and drawings be rolled with the drawing surface on the outside so that they'll lie flat when laid out on a table; and aesthetic theory, like his observation that an appreciation for asymmetrical balance demonstrates a capacity for higher-ordered thinking. He covers everything from how to draw a straight line a discussion of ego and design.
Eat, Pray, Love -- Elizabeth GilbertThe jury is still out on this one. Reading it felt indulgent and a little escapist, but I loved the descriptions of Italy. I enjoyed the sojourn in India a bit less, and by the time Gilbert reached Bali, I lost interest, and only got to the end so that I could find out how her journey ended. She's a terrific food writer and travel diarist, and a few sections of the book are laugh-out-loud funny, but I'm not adding it to my list of great spiritual memoirs.
Microtrends -- Mark PennJanuary must have been my month for books that could be read in small, small bites. Mark Penn is a well-known pollster and the man who defined the term "soccer moms" in time for the 1992 election. Here, he examines the niches of American society, and instead of "soccer moms," he brings us "cougars," middle-aged women who date younger men. Hmmm . . . wonder if that's what happened to the soccer moms.
How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian -- Mark BittmanSpeaking of books that you read in bites, this cookbook is yummy, wonderful, and written by one of my favorite cookbook authors, Mark Bittman, who writes the New York Times weekly column "The Minimalist."
Personal Village -- Marvin ThomasI had several conversations in a short time with people I care about who expressed a sense of loneliness and a lack of satisfying friendships. One of them asked me point-blank how I maintain a maze of personal connections. I wasn't sure how to answer, and several days later came across this book. I hoped to find a way to talk about building community that would be helpful. I found in this book an enlightening discussion of the different levels of relationship that form a full sense of community. Some people in our lives enrich us by being friendly and familiar touch points as we move through our day, and we can be the same to them. My father taught me the importance of honoring the people I encounter daily by learning their names, asking after their children, noticing their absence when they're ill or on vacation. I know the names of most of the security guards in my office building, the secretaries at the school my children attend, the mayor of our town, most of the people who work on my hall, and many of my colleagues, and they know mine. Thomas describes other levels of relationship --neighbors, friends from church, and people we socialize with occasionally. More intimate are the relationships with our closest friends and family. Thomas believes that we need some of each kind of relationship at a variety of levels of intimacy, but that each of us is better at some kinds of relationships than others. For instance, I love being part of the civic community, but I am not so great at somewhat mid-range relationships in groups, like clubs or sororities, though I know people who get tremendous satisfaction from these associations. I'm lucky to have some close friends and a family that I not only love, but enjoy spending time with.
When I had a chance to resume the conversation with one of the people who inspired the purchase of this book, I was aware that my friendliness with cab drivers and co-workers had been mistaken for more intimate friendships. The two of us then talked at length about what makes the right mix of relationships for different people, and I learned a lot about which realms of our respective social networks felt full and which felt empty. Emptiness in different areas produces very different kinds of loneliness.
On my bookshelf for February--
March -- Gwendolyn Brooks
Tin House: Graphic Issue -- Win McCormack, et al,
The Thirteenth Tale -- Diane Setterfield
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die -- Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Saturday, January 26, 2008
2008 Reading Challenge -- Part 1
Inspired by Besomami and other blogging friends, I'm joining the 2008 Book Challenge. I've read quite a few books so far in 2008. Stay tuned tomorrow for a second installment.
Book #1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- J.K. Rowling
I had to wait until now to read this because Garden Girl and I (mostly Garden Girl) have been reading the entire series aloud to Sprout, age 8. I was very, very patient through volumes 1-6, reading a chapter or two each night, but once the pace picked up, I could not put The Deathly Hallows down, and so spent all of New Year's Day curled up with Harry and company.
Book #2
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk -- Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
This book about communicating with children crosses my path every few years, and each time I am struck anew by its wisdom and usefulness. I happened to be struggling with a difficult policy issue when I read it this time, and discovered that Faber and Mazlish's approach works as well for children as it does for adults. One nugget, particularly useful in my line of work, "Instead of explanation and logic, give a child his wishes in fantasy."
Instead of This:
Explanation and Logic
Child: I want my Toast Crunchies!
Mom: We don't have any dear.
Child: I want them! I want them!
Mom: I just told you there aren't any in the house.
Mom: Have some Nifty Crispies.
Child: NO! (throws himself on floor)
Mom: Now you're acting like a baby.
Try This:
Give the Child His Wishes in Fantasy
Child: I want my Toast Crunchies!
Mom: I wish I had some in the house for you.
Child: I want them!
Mom: I hear how much you want them.
Child: I wish I had them now.
Mom: I wish I had the magic power to make a giant box appear.
Child: Well, maybe I'll have some Nifty Crispies.
(Believe it or not, this technique transformed an emotionally charged policy debate from a shouting match to something resembling civil discourse.)
Book #3
Our World -- Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver's partner Molly Malone Cook was a noted photographer and gallery owner whose death inspired Mary Oliver's most recent poetry collection, Thirst. In Our World, Cook's photos and Oliver's prose are joined in a beautiful tribute to their long and loving relationship.
Book #4
The Nine -- Jeffrey Toobin
OK, I'm a Supreme Court nerd. I read most of this book in one sitting. Jeffrey Toobin recounts the end of the Rehnquist court and the beginning of the Roberts court with deft portraits of the justices and a lucid account of how this branch of government functions -- or doesn't. It's worth reading just for Toobin's account of the court's 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore, which changed the course of our nation's history and diminished the stature of the court in the eyes of the country and the world. No other book has convinced me more completely that the 2008 election will determine the fate of liberal ideals for the next fifty years.
Book #1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- J.K. RowlingI had to wait until now to read this because Garden Girl and I (mostly Garden Girl) have been reading the entire series aloud to Sprout, age 8. I was very, very patient through volumes 1-6, reading a chapter or two each night, but once the pace picked up, I could not put The Deathly Hallows down, and so spent all of New Year's Day curled up with Harry and company.
Book #2
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk -- Adele Faber and Elaine MazlishThis book about communicating with children crosses my path every few years, and each time I am struck anew by its wisdom and usefulness. I happened to be struggling with a difficult policy issue when I read it this time, and discovered that Faber and Mazlish's approach works as well for children as it does for adults. One nugget, particularly useful in my line of work, "Instead of explanation and logic, give a child his wishes in fantasy."
Instead of This:
Explanation and Logic
Child: I want my Toast Crunchies!
Mom: We don't have any dear.
Child: I want them! I want them!
Mom: I just told you there aren't any in the house.
Mom: Have some Nifty Crispies.
Child: NO! (throws himself on floor)
Mom: Now you're acting like a baby.
Try This:
Give the Child His Wishes in Fantasy
Child: I want my Toast Crunchies!
Mom: I wish I had some in the house for you.
Child: I want them!
Mom: I hear how much you want them.
Child: I wish I had them now.
Mom: I wish I had the magic power to make a giant box appear.
Child: Well, maybe I'll have some Nifty Crispies.
(Believe it or not, this technique transformed an emotionally charged policy debate from a shouting match to something resembling civil discourse.)
Book #3
Our World -- Mary OliverMary Oliver's partner Molly Malone Cook was a noted photographer and gallery owner whose death inspired Mary Oliver's most recent poetry collection, Thirst. In Our World, Cook's photos and Oliver's prose are joined in a beautiful tribute to their long and loving relationship.
Book #4
The Nine -- Jeffrey ToobinOK, I'm a Supreme Court nerd. I read most of this book in one sitting. Jeffrey Toobin recounts the end of the Rehnquist court and the beginning of the Roberts court with deft portraits of the justices and a lucid account of how this branch of government functions -- or doesn't. It's worth reading just for Toobin's account of the court's 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore, which changed the course of our nation's history and diminished the stature of the court in the eyes of the country and the world. No other book has convinced me more completely that the 2008 election will determine the fate of liberal ideals for the next fifty years.
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