I'm on my way...



Happy to report that I've already finished reading two books in the new year, both of which I borrowed from my beautiful friend Ryann after she listened to my concerns about not being able to get into reading lately (WHATTT???) and both of which I LOVED.  Seriously, I've seen Eat Pray Love about a hundred thousand times and had my doubts, probably just because it was so popular and I thought whatever the masses like, I wouldn't. Could I be any more stuck up about reading? Ugh, somebody shut me up....I was SO DEAD WRONG. This book was wonderfully written and incredibly moving. It couldn't have come into my life with any more felicitous timing and has inspired me beyond belief. If you haven't read it yet, START IT TODAY.

As for the stories in Listening is an Act of Love, they range from tiny and personal to large and historical, and every single one is gripping, and every single one is about an ordinary "real" person like your own grandma or neighbor or teacher or friend. They made me cry for mamas, farmers, 9/11 security guards, lovers, cancer patients, every single beautiful human being in our great interconnected web. And yes, now I want to interview everyone I know, and I thank StoryCorps for having that grand insight and intuition and knowing what an important project this is.

So now maybe I'm ready to tackle something more challenging? Or...we'll see. I'm just glad I'm on a reading roll again!

What about you - has anyone read anything particularly great lately?

Comments

mattbeatty said…
looks like you DID tackle some more challenging! yikes. i want to read eat pray love too, and i'm glad you gave it this scorching review. do you use goodreads?
February 1, 2010 at 7:20 PM
moonshinejunkyard said…
matt, i do use goodreads although i did not post a review there. however, i did see all the terrible reviews this book got (i know who the culprits are...staunch conservatives who don't like her somewhat rebellious and untraditional ways...) and i could easily debate each and every claim they make. some of the critiques of course, are a matter of personal opinion. i, for one, do not care if she is upper middle class liberal from a comfortable new england background, supposedly "spoiled" and choosing not to have babies. doesn't bother me a bit. she's a great writer, a thinker, and a challenger of ideas. i liked the book a lot.
February 1, 2010 at 8:01 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

pretty baby

Image
have you all seen the 1978 movie Pretty Baby?  addie has been telling me about it for years and finally darin and i watched it. i directly fell in love with the lush new orleans ambience, and you all know i fancy old brothels . the hats, slips, corsets, bloomers, petticoats, stockings, eyelet lace and cleavage...i was dying. the subject matter is somewhat difficult. brooke shields plays 12-year-old Violet, growing up in the brothel with her mother's (a glorious Susan Sarandon) nonchalant guidance.  saucy young Violet is over sexualized and objectified, and the film doesn't seem overly concerned about that fact. i kind of appreciated that indifference, as if glimpsing some other world with a completely different set of values, without judgment. however the scenes are shown with such grace and beauty that you get the feeling the director Louis Malle was somehow getting off on the whole thing. i guess that's what i found a tad disturbing. if
Read more

"I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin..."

Image
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belong to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. It struck me, when I read Song of Myself several years ago, that thirty-seven years old , that magical Whitmanesque age, was still in the future for me. How exciting that felt! To know that this wonderful age that was such a pure and boisterous beginning for the bard, was something I could look forward to. To know that I could set forth on new adventures, and sing the praises of the earth, and be wild and merry and voluptuous and bold. Now and forever. and especially at 37. And so suddenly I am here! That lu
Read more

handmade homes take to the open road

Image
i want this to be us so bad...rollin away in a fairytale bus made of wood and wheels, porch and books. this is from another book in the series of rad 70s handmade house books that i've written about before and missa wrote about here  ( raddest houseboats ever, ever, ever ) this one is all about handmade hippie houses on the road. we have it at the bookery in the locked case; it's a collectible and thus way out of my price range. but i still get to look at its gloriousness. these photos of the pages look much better than mine, found in this wonderful little delight here , check these caravans out: standing in the mist with its little terra cotta pots and windowpanes, killing this fairytale heart a mine. i can picture joey and emily in this one, our neighbors. and this one can house addie and art, and we'll drive cross the prairies together. this covered-wagon one seems the most fun of all. roll back the canvas and sleep
Read more