What Book Have You Read Recently?

[Pathless]

I am in one of my not-finishing-a-book phases. Currently scattered haphazardly around my life are the following (note that this is an incomplete list):

Several big books about Art Nouveau
The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
She's Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg (that's right, I listed it earlier. I got sidetracked. It's been sitting)
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas (this one is very difficult to read; I find it amazing and depressing and discouraging as hell) (I also found this interesting critique of Arenas' memoir)

The last three books that I have finished are:



Day of the Locust by Nathaniel West:

Quite descriptive and entertaining. Some nice use of language, although the author's abuse of pronouns in the last third of the book or so made it difficult to follow the story and irritated me. This book was also existentially and absurdly violent, which was a minus for me, and had some really unsatisfactory gender/sex themes which I think were at least partly a product of "the times" in which it was written (1930s).

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett:

Pure entertainment, haha, funny and wacky, yay for Terry Pratchett. Had to read this to lighten myself up after digging through Before Night Falls.

Blueprint for Disaster: A Get Fuzzy Collection by Darby Conley

See above.

[Muslimwoman]

Am currently reading Ed Husain - The Islamist

Get it, read it ..... go on, what are you waiting for?

If you want to understand Islamic radicalism it is a must read.

[mee]

How Can Blood Save Your Life?
Presents moral and medical aspects regarding the use of blood, and shows how this bears on saving your most valued possession: LIFE. Illustrated.


just finished reading this one ,

[mee]

Just finished reading...... MARLEY AND ME....... its about a dog and his family he is a labrador, it is quite funny but towards the end it is sooooooo saddddddd could not stop crying .

[dauer]

I will soon be finishing:

Amazon.com: Integral Halachah: Transcending and Including: Books: Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi,Rabbi Daniel Siegel

which is a book on integral nee psycho- halachah. I've been waiting for a while to see something that goes this in-depth into integral halachah. It's structured after the shulchan aruch. I wasn't surprised by anything in it but am glad I now have it as a resource.

I am also soon going to be reading Ken Wilber's

Amazon.com: The Integral Vision: A Very Short Introduction to the Revolutionary Integral Approach to Life, God, the Universe, and Everything: Books: Ken Wilber

It's got lots of flashy graphs and I like graphs. Hopefully it will tell me something I didn't come across in Integral Spirituality.

[Pathless]

Ah, Ken Wilber! Someday I will get around to reading him.

I finished She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, a funny and wrenching memoir by Jennifer Finney Boylan (formerly James Finney Boylan), and have now moved on to She's Not the Man I Married: My Life with a Transgender Husband by Helen Boyd, who maintains a blog entitled (en)gender about transgender issues and her own experiences.

[Pathless]

"Acting With Compassion: Buddhism, Feminism, and the Environmental Crisis" by Stephanie Kaza, an essay found in the anthology Ecofeminism and the Sacred, is a valuable look at the intersection of Buddhism, feminism, and ecology. Kaza provides a critique of the patriarchal structures of Buddhism as well as limitations arising from misuse of anger within both feminism and environmental restoration work. Her approach is more synthetic than critical, in that she works to fuse the positive qualities of these different paradigms in an effort to strengthen all three.

The anthology is rich and diverse, touching on issues of Christian eschatology, feminist revisions of Christianity, critical analysis of the concept and meaning of "Mother Nature" in a patriarchal paradigm, and presenting different angles on cultural spiritualities and the appropriation of native/indigenous traditions by culturally dominant westerners.

[juantoo3]

Getting to the last chapter or two of the first book in the Foxfire series. Figure I'll start on volume two when I get done. I am pretty sure these are long out of print, I've had mine for almost twenty years and never quite got around to reading them. They are interviews with Appalacian mountain folk of former generations about day to day living; how to skin a hog, how to make lye soap, how to build a log cabin, that kind of thing.

Breezed through a little hundred page self help book "Monday Morning Leadership" last week for a training program I am taking part in.
Being selected for the training program is a pretty big deal to me, meaningless to everyone else here I'm sure. Luv ya'll anyway!

[Pathless]

Originally Posted by juantoo3

Getting to the last chapter or two of the first book in the Foxfire series. Figure I'll start on volume two when I get done. I am pretty sure these are long out of print, I've had mine for almost twenty years and never quite got around to reading them. They are interviews with Appalacian mountain folk of former generations about day to day living; how to skin a hog, how to make lye soap, how to build a log cabin, that kind of thing.

I think these books are still in print. At least they were 7 years ago when I worked for one of the largest corporate bookstores in America. We always had plenty of new, fresh copies of the many volumes on the shelves. This is a large series of books, isn't it? At least ten volumes.

[Pathless]

****: A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio

Inga Muscio is one of my all-time favorite writers. She is a working-class, kick-ass, balls-to-the-wall, hardcore, vegetarian, totally rad, feminist, lesbian, ****lovin' genius. **** is her first book, het second book being the even more brilliant and scathing Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil. She is currently working on a third book which I will be happily reading whenever it is available. She keeps a website at Inga Muscio.

I like this book for so many reasons that to list them all would be a copyright violation (although that doesn't seem to stop google from reproducing many pages from many books in scanned fascimile for us all to peruse at our leisure--which I think, ultimately, is a great thing, aside from google being another giant conglomerate). One of the most memorable lines in the book--and there are so many--has gotta be:

Originally Posted by Inga Muscio

We are in dire need of a grandmother-based government.

Love it.
Read this book.

[path_of_one]

I tend to keep a few at a time...

I'm re-reading one of the James Herriot books for fun in odd moments when I am waiting for something. I can't stand lines and just sitting, so anytime I feel like I'll be bored for more than 30 seconds I read a few pages. They're great books for entertainment without getting so involved you want to keep reading until you get to the end, and without necessitating any heavy thinking.

I just finished "A Gracious Plenty," and liked that, as well as "A Druid's Handbook," which was interesting and a good read. I found it interesting to see another group's interpretation of Druidic practice and see the similarities and differences with my own group's.

I'm nearing completion of "The Cloud of Unknowing," but it will take me years (forever?) to digest it.

Re-reading "Listening for the Heartbeat of God" for a group study. It's a great book; loved it the first time and expect I'll get even more out of it on the second time 'round.

[Snoopy]

Eastern Philosophy – Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad.

Normally I find philosophy rather too dry; no doubt that’s my loss. Anyway, this book provides a good background in all things Eastern; India, China and Japan in the main. So if you’re interested in the philosophical side of Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Jainism and the Hindu philosophical schools then this might be a good one for you. It was a stimulating read, but rather like Western philosophy, there’s only so much of it I can take before my eyes start glazing over.

s.

[mee]

Jehovah’s Witnesses—Who Are They? What Do They Believe?
Describes who they are, their modern development and growth, what they believe, the practical value to your community of what they preach, and their worldwide organization and work. Illustrated


and its online too.

[China Cat Sunflower]

Hi Mee,

What book are you all on in your current book study?

Chris

[dauer]

I'm reading two books right now.

Amazon.com: It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome! RSI Theory & Therapy for Computer Professionals: Books: Suparna Damany,Jack Bellis

is just awesome. It's very informative but written in plain English. It addresses RSI as a systemic problem rather than focusing on particular manifestations. The other book I'm reading is awesome too:

Amazon.com: The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief, Second Edition: Books: Clair Davies,Amber Davies,David G. Simons

My friend just finished schooling for massage therapy and said this was used as a reference. I found that out after I purchased it. It's so well diagramed and explained, and the treatment really does make a difference.