What Are You Reading Right Now?

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Comment by wiffledust on September 29, 2010 at 2:56pm

hi, bettina!so glad you're back! thanks for those great suggestions. as someone who is in the northeast, i must say that autumn is a great time to be up here. after that, though, bettina..be happy you are where you are!!! ......maggie, to kill a mockingbird is without a doubt one of the best books ever written and certainly one that changed my life. they are great characters for sure. and a great american story in every way. but you're so right that the accents are done so perfectly. it reminds me of how well they're done in huckleberry finn. .....

as for self help books, at one point in my life, i was totally into them. but i'm much less so now. now it has to be something really great. and sometimes they come along. but they DO prey on people's misfortunes when they are the same old thing cranked out. and they make up such a huge section of borders compared to the literature, it DOES make you wonder!

Comment by Bettina Woolard on September 29, 2010 at 2:25pm

I'm reading The Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett. I think that it was written around the turn of the last century. As a New Englander by birth now living in the South West, it makes me nostalgic.

Here's another book I read recently that I really enjoyed: My Father's Paradise. It's a biography of the author's dad, who's the world's leading expert on Aramaic. That may sound dry but, believe me, it isn't.

Comment by Maggie Friend on September 29, 2010 at 1:51pm

I'm currently rereading To Kill a Mockingbird. I love the way you can hear the soft, slow melody of southern speech in Harper Lee's writing. And I love Scout and Atticus--what wonderful characters! My father particularly loves this book (and is happy to know that I am rereading it) because it is descriptive of many aspects of his childhood growing up in the deep south.

With regard to self-help books: I eschew that title and generally that genre because so often charlatans make a fortune out of our misfortune. However, I am well aware that some books transcend that narrow perception and read more like deep wisdom. Sometimes this is familiar to us and feels "right," sometimes it is paradoxical and gives us something to ponder for a while. Some books distill ancient teachings from the great religions of the world that make them more accessible than they might be otherwise. Wayne Dyer has never struck a chord with me but I know that he does with many and suspect that he is one of those rare writers in the genre who distills true wisdom.

My personal preference, which is surprisingly close to "self-help" in some ways, is to read Buddhist texts. They are full of such basic wisdom that I can read a paragraph or two written in the simplest language and ponder the implications for days.

Comment by wiffledust on September 29, 2010 at 1:35pm

thanks, sheree! what a great title...mudbound!!! and what a terrific description you gave. you made me want to reach into that story right now...and i just may!!! helen, the self help books tend to say the same thing over and over again, it's true. once in a little while, though, someone does something with a new twist that's fun.

Comment by Sheree on September 29, 2010 at 9:37am

Just finished Hillary Jordan's "Mudbound" and have started Jeannette Walls' "Half Broke Horses."

"Mudbound" was an amazingly well-written story that had my interest from the first page. The dialogue is very real and the characters come to life immediately. Post WWII cotton farming in the Delta, white land-owner with sharecroppers (black and white), broken down farm that becomes isolated from civilization when it rains, KKK. Excellent read. I'd never heard of it before I saw it on the shelf.

The Jeannette Walls book is one I've heard about for awhile and follows her memoir, "The Glass Castle." It's the true-life novel about her grandmother, Lily Casey Smith. I'd seen Jeannette on 20/20 a few years ago and found her life fascinating. Homeless to well-heeled daughter with a mother living in an abandoned New York tenement. I haven't read her memoir but plan to if the novel doesn't disappoint. Just now, I'm having a bit of trouble with her writing style and find her a bit hard to follow. The chapters are short and choppy and so far I'm having a hard time staying interested.

Comment by Helen on September 29, 2010 at 8:34am

Ooh, I've been to Jim Thorpe! (Please excuse my random interjection!)

I've never read any self-help books, but whenever I've come across those kind of messages I've found it interesting that it feels like someone telling you something you already know, but you just didn't realise it.

Comment by Lillian Gaffney on September 28, 2010 at 8:32pm

Funny Lisa, reading self-help books for twenty years now, and am in constant repeated information. And yet, I never seem to tire of them. These books are like companions that feed my spirit and keep me on the good foot. It's like reading a daily affirmation, or having a best friend that shed's light on a daily basis. I'm sure I will enjoy his book.
I love Jim Thorpe, only stayed one night there.

Comment by wiffledust on September 28, 2010 at 8:22pm

hey lillian! i really like "the power of intention" better than the excuses begone. i'm anxious to hear what you think. glad you're having fun in jim thorpe...such a cute place up here!

Comment by Lillian Gaffney on September 28, 2010 at 3:43pm

Finished Wayne Dyer's, Inspiration on vacation and am now reading his, Power of Intention gifted to me by our Aunt who saw me reading Inspiration. She is a big fan of QVC where she purchased this hard copy and his six CD set, stored it in the attic and during our visit to her house in Jim Thorpe she kindly gave it to me. We listened to the tapes on the thirteen hour drive home. I feel so connected to Wayne Dyer, we have a history in common.

Comment by Helen on September 23, 2010 at 1:46pm

So I finished Beyond The Body Farm. I'm going to look into reading some of his fiction books, too. In the meantime, I went to the library at lunchtime and picked up Seinfeld and Philosophy (Yes, that means Jerry Seinfeld!). I've wanted to read this for a while, but it wasn't available. I sat and read the first chapter there and then, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into more!

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