What are you reading now, and why?
As usual, I’m working my way through a combination of leisure and serious reading, with a mix of fiction versus non-fiction and dead-tree versus Audiobooks.
Bathtub Book:
A Theory of Expanded Love by Caitlin Hicks. Nothing beats a nice daily hot soak in a bubblebath with a book to disappear into, preferably one that can be savored one chapter at a time. A patient of mine brought me this as a gift. She is also from a large Irish Catholic family and had been in touch with the author. “I just know you’ll relate to this book,” she gushed, which often means I’ll hate it, but not this time.
Annie is a 6th grader who is smack in the middle of 13 children in an Irish Catholic family in Pasadena in the early 1960’s — exactly the same age as mimi2three was in our own southern California family of eight. The family similarities are startling at times, including an older sister who mysteriously disappears to a “Catholic retreat” up north for several months, along with the mysteries of Catechism, living in semi-permanent squalor and the yearning that comes with trying to get your mother’s attention in the chaos of such a large clan.
“Go to Meeting” Book:
We recently attended a meeting of a local group based on bringing civility back into our public discourse. While people from both the right and the left of the political spectrum were invited to the first meeting at the Norton Buffalo Hall (formerly of the California Grange system), the usual gang of hippies, lefties, Berners, healers, SNAGs and squishy independents showed up, with not a right-winger in sight to practice our tolerance on.
We watched a Ted talk by Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. While I don’t hold out much hope for the gathering (and I don’t need group therapy for freaked-out grieving lefties who aren’t interested in actually doing something) the book has been a wonderful and often counterintuitive read. If you think you make your political decisions based on rationality or facts, think again, and read this book, or check out one if his TED talks on YouTube.
Maybe This Will be the Solution to my Messy House Book:
the life-changing magic of tidying up by marie kondo is an absolutely charming book that comes with the basic premise that you should only keep possessions that give you a spark of joy when you handle them. Holding each object in your hands is essential as is feeling how your body responds to each article of clothing, etc. This simple premise made me realize I have a weird loyalty to objects, especially if they hold strong memories, were received as gifts, or if I spent enough money on them to feel like I really haven’t gotten my money’s worth yet. (see: innate Catholic guilt). This results in an unconscionable amount of clutter.
Once you have gone through the process of sorting out what sparks joy and discarded or donated the rest, the next step is finding the perfect permanent home for each object and always returning it to where it lives when you’re done enjoying it. While John was in Denver I cleared out my home office space and living room areas, dumping several garbage bags in the process. Gifts I had kept for years were thanked for the joy they gave both the giver and the receiver and sent on their way. Kondo also teaches a Japanese method of folding clothes that was unique and practical. Your t-shirts shouldn’t be stacked on top of each other in the drawer because the shirts on the bottom not only get forgotten, they also get their spirits crushed. Yes, objects are animate in this system, an intriguing notion. Shirts stacked on top of one another are for retail purposes. Instead, Kondo has you fold items so that they store vertically, so you can see everything at a glance.
Read the Book Before Seeing the Movie, AudioBook:
I’m only a couple of chapters into listening to Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly, excellently narrated by Robin Miles.
If the movie is a 1/10th as good as this book already is it should be amazing. Have any of you seen (or read) it yet?
What are you reading these days?
What do you recommend?
Have a great weekend!
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