What Are You Reading Right Now?

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Comment by wiffledust on April 8, 2014 at 8:45am

Here's a book that might shake up your thinking: 

"From the New York Times bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed comes a brave, frank, and exquisitely written memoir that will change the way you see the world.

Barbara Ehrenreich is one of the most important thinkers of our time. Educated as a scientist, she is an author, journalist, activist, and advocate for social justice. In LIVING WITH A WILD GOD, she recounts her quest-beginning in childhood-to find "the Truth" about the universe and everything else: What's really going on? Why are we here? In middle age, she rediscovered the journal she had kept during her tumultuous adolescence, which records an event so strange, so cataclysmic, that she had never, in all the intervening years, written or spoken about it to anyone. It was the kind of event that people call a "mystical experience"-and, to a steadfast atheist and rationalist, nothing less than shattering.

Comment by Robin Williamson McBrearty on February 7, 2014 at 11:01pm

Worth the read

Comment by wiffledust on February 7, 2014 at 10:46pm

Thanks for this, Robin! I, too, have been exploring the books that made movies, and it is often so much more satisfying. I wouldn't have known the Horse Whisperer was even a book had you not written this

Comment by Robin Williamson McBrearty on February 7, 2014 at 10:37pm

Just finished The Horse Whisperer; had seen the movie years ago.  The movie seemed pretty faithful to the book until the ending; book was a surprise.  Very well-written, interesting character studies (human and equine).

Comment by wiffledust on February 7, 2014 at 5:23pm

Some good biz books for indie biz folks in this article http://creative-boom.com/tips/the-best-books-for-freelancers-entrep...

Comment by wiffledust on January 30, 2014 at 1:04am

"My Age of Anxiety..Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind" by Scott Stossel. If you or someone you love have wrestled with anxiety, this is a book you need to read. 

Some reviews:

“Ambitious and bravely intimate…A thrilling intellectual chase.” —The New York Times

“The most accurate representation of the anxiety sufferer’s mindset that I’ve ever come across….I suspect that much will be made of Stossel’s bravery, but praise should be given to his literary achievement and the arrival of a substantial, if challenging, voice capable of elucidating the 130 year history of “magic” pharmaceuticals….The book is a startling achievement.” —Steve Danziger, Open Letters Monthly

“Books exploring personal experiences of mental illness tend to be either over-wrought accounts of personal trauma that shed little light on the world beyond the author’s nose, or the more detached observations of scientists and medics. It is rare to find works that bridge these objectives, which is one reason that the writer Andrew Solomon achieved such success with The Noonday Demon….Stossel’s book deserves a place on this higher shelf.” —David Adam, Nature

“‘My Age of Anxiety’” is a brave—and quite possibly perverse—book, one that will leave you squirming and fascinated in equal measure….There is much pain here, but humor, too….Without meaning to, Stossel has written a self-help manual. There is no miracle cure for anxiety, he suggests—we can manage our fears and worries, even if we can never quite tame them.” —Matt Price, Newsday

“On the one hand, the book is astonishingly thorough and lucidly written. It’s a fascinating look at that linchpin of the human condition—the primitive fight-or-flight response—and how it resides in our psyches in a time of IEDs and SSRIs. Rare will be the reader who doesn’t spot him or herself somewhere in Stossel’s sweeping analysis, as he digs into parenting styles, performance stress, talk therapy, medication, depression, fear of flying, blushing, you name it. On the other hand, you have to wonder if “My Age of Anxiety” is so good, so copiously reported and completist, in large part thanks to Stossel’s harsh expectations of himself....His perpetual agony has become our reading pleasure.” —Matthew Gilbert, The Boston Globe

Comment by wiffledust on January 11, 2014 at 9:18am

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline...amazon description below
Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to “aging out” out of the foster care system. A community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse...

As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.

Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life – answers that will ultimately free them both.

Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.

Comment by wiffledust on November 4, 2013 at 9:20pm

Anne Lamott..."Stiches"...read anything by Anne. She's a joy!

Comment by wiffledust on October 30, 2013 at 12:39am

thank you for this, cindi! i will check it out.daily kos is often written well..

Comment by cindi a morgan on October 29, 2013 at 11:48pm

I can't recall how I heard about it, but I just finished reading David Harris-Gershon's memoir "What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried  to Kill Your Wife?" You may recognize the author if you read Daily Kos, as he's a featured writer there. Part emotional story-telling, part fascinating history lesson, this book is phenomenal. Highly recommend it!

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