Book Thread- what are you reading?
Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains
Posts: 816
"Growing Yourself Back Up" by John Lee, about to read it
for the second time. Really insightful about how/why people
trigger you & how to change.
https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Yours...ct_top?ie=UTF8
The Alchemist - a wonderful treasure of a book....
for the second time. Really insightful about how/why people
trigger you & how to change.
https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Yours...ct_top?ie=UTF8
The Alchemist - a wonderful treasure of a book....
Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 37
Big magic!!!!
I read this about a year ago and it immediately became my favorite book ever. I get excited just thinking about how brilliant it is.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Honestly it is a book that changed my life.
It is mainly about creativity, the sub title is "Creative Living Beyond Fear", but it is such and uplifting and empowering book that can be inspirational to anyone who reads it. It is about owning your uniqueness and your creativity, not letting fear hold you back and how we let fear run our lives and keep us from doing the things we are passionate about.
If you do anything creative at all definitely give it a read, but I think the message is a good fit for a lot of people around this forum. Maybe you are not trying to write a book or paint a painting, but are afraid of taking that step away from a relationship, or having trouble focusing on and taking care of yourself. I think it could apply.
I didn't read it with that in mind, so I am not sure if it will resonate the same, but I cannot recommend it enough generally.
These are some quotes from the book I found online:
“The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.”
“It seems to me that the less I fight my fear, the less it fights back. If I can relax, fear relaxes, too.”
“Own your disappointment, acknowledge it for what it is, and move on.”
“Basically, your fear is like a mall cop who thinks he’s a Navy SEAL: He hasn’t slept in days, he’s all hopped up on Red Bull, and he’s liable to shoot at his own shadow in an absurd effort to keep everyone “safe.”
“You don’t need to conduct autopsies on your disasters.”
“Go be whomever you want to be, then. Do whatever you want to do. Pursue whatever fascinates you and brings you to life.”
Ok I'll stop. Trust me - get it - I hope you love it as much as I obviously do!!
xoxo
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Honestly it is a book that changed my life.
It is mainly about creativity, the sub title is "Creative Living Beyond Fear", but it is such and uplifting and empowering book that can be inspirational to anyone who reads it. It is about owning your uniqueness and your creativity, not letting fear hold you back and how we let fear run our lives and keep us from doing the things we are passionate about.
If you do anything creative at all definitely give it a read, but I think the message is a good fit for a lot of people around this forum. Maybe you are not trying to write a book or paint a painting, but are afraid of taking that step away from a relationship, or having trouble focusing on and taking care of yourself. I think it could apply.
I didn't read it with that in mind, so I am not sure if it will resonate the same, but I cannot recommend it enough generally.
These are some quotes from the book I found online:
“The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.”
“It seems to me that the less I fight my fear, the less it fights back. If I can relax, fear relaxes, too.”
“Own your disappointment, acknowledge it for what it is, and move on.”
“Basically, your fear is like a mall cop who thinks he’s a Navy SEAL: He hasn’t slept in days, he’s all hopped up on Red Bull, and he’s liable to shoot at his own shadow in an absurd effort to keep everyone “safe.”
“You don’t need to conduct autopsies on your disasters.”
“Go be whomever you want to be, then. Do whatever you want to do. Pursue whatever fascinates you and brings you to life.”
Ok I'll stop. Trust me - get it - I hope you love it as much as I obviously do!!
xoxo
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 11,481
The Complete Tassajara Cookbook. I think this guy's attitude towards cooking is SO much healthier and more helpful than the "Iron Chef" super cook crap we have so much of today...
He tells you right up front, "This is a book to teach you to COOK. To smell, taste, experiment, feel. NOT a book to teach you to follow my recipes and procedures rigidly."
Also love that he deals with food in a "using what you have" manner. For instance, cauliflower: He talks about how a lovely, white, pristine, fresh cauliflower can be eaten raw or lightly cooked, w/o much need to gild the lily. However, that same cauliflower, if it has sat in the crisper for a week and a half, is certainly still edible, and SHOULD be eaten and not wasted, but you need to deal with it in a different manner to make it tasty.
(An aside--who else here is old enough to remember "The Tassajara Bread Book", that hippie classic of 1974?)
He tells you right up front, "This is a book to teach you to COOK. To smell, taste, experiment, feel. NOT a book to teach you to follow my recipes and procedures rigidly."
Also love that he deals with food in a "using what you have" manner. For instance, cauliflower: He talks about how a lovely, white, pristine, fresh cauliflower can be eaten raw or lightly cooked, w/o much need to gild the lily. However, that same cauliflower, if it has sat in the crisper for a week and a half, is certainly still edible, and SHOULD be eaten and not wasted, but you need to deal with it in a different manner to make it tasty.
(An aside--who else here is old enough to remember "The Tassajara Bread Book", that hippie classic of 1974?)
"O you must wear your rue with difference".
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,146
Still haven't finished reading "Psychopath Free" by Jackson Mackenzie. Been eyeing too many other tantalizing book titles. "Holy Sh*t" sounds interesting, I think I've heard about it before. Good title.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: TX
Posts: 380
Originally Posted by Bekindalways 
Love this.
I'm reading/listening-to Two Years Before the Mast.
I'm reading/listening-to Two Years Before the Mast.
Originally Posted by velma929
The Great Halifax Explosion.
I am currently listening to Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. Just finished The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain and The Mistake by K. L. Slater.
The Mistake was a huge trigger for me with abusive control, but it was a good story.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: East Coast USA
Posts: 5,700
I just finished A Gentleman in Moscow which I'll be discussing during my book club meeting on Friday.
Maudcat, regarding The Shining I read that while laying on the beach in Daytona Beach during spring break from college and although I was surrounded by total openness and bathing suit clad contemporaries the book scared the @#$% out of me. FWIW, I've never re-read it, but have seen the movie.
Maudcat, regarding The Shining I read that while laying on the beach in Daytona Beach during spring break from college and although I was surrounded by total openness and bathing suit clad contemporaries the book scared the @#$% out of me. FWIW, I've never re-read it, but have seen the movie.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 5
Originally Posted by Maudcat
Just finished Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, sequel, done years later, to The Shining.
Very good. Lots of AA in this one. King struggled with alcohol and cocaine at one time.
Very good. Lots of AA in this one. King struggled with alcohol and cocaine at one time.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,699
Just finished Julia by Peter Straub - CREEPY!
Not too long ago I finished Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart - some real brilliance in those pages.
And I am about to start the Alchemist - a classic that's been nagging at me forever to delve into!
Not too long ago I finished Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart - some real brilliance in those pages.
And I am about to start the Alchemist - a classic that's been nagging at me forever to delve into!
Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Wareham, Mass
Posts: 7,067
I loved the Gunslinger series.
King wrote something about the series where he said that he didn’t think it would take him so long to write it.
Years and years.
He said he would get letters from people stating that they were really old and could he step it up a bit so they could read the last one before they died.
Speaking of King, I just finished the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, but I read the last book, End of Watch, before the second book, Finders Keepers.
I kinda liked reading them out of sequence. Because I knew how things were going to turn out, I could see the foreshadowing in book two.
My gym has a take a book, leave a book shelf, which I love as it opens me up to writers I wouldn’t usually consider.
So I just finished Open House by Elizabeth Berg.
I have seen her books around, I just never read any of them.
It was terrific! About a marriag coming apart and how everyone copes.
Very funny in places, sad in others.
With the exception of her soon to be ex husband, who is kind of a cipher, and one really cruddy fix up date, the men the female protagonist meets in the course of getting herself together are pretty amazing.
So..I’m going to read more Elizabeth Berg.
King wrote something about the series where he said that he didn’t think it would take him so long to write it.
Years and years.
He said he would get letters from people stating that they were really old and could he step it up a bit so they could read the last one before they died.
Speaking of King, I just finished the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, but I read the last book, End of Watch, before the second book, Finders Keepers.
I kinda liked reading them out of sequence. Because I knew how things were going to turn out, I could see the foreshadowing in book two.
My gym has a take a book, leave a book shelf, which I love as it opens me up to writers I wouldn’t usually consider.
So I just finished Open House by Elizabeth Berg.
I have seen her books around, I just never read any of them.
It was terrific! About a marriag coming apart and how everyone copes.
Very funny in places, sad in others.
With the exception of her soon to be ex husband, who is kind of a cipher, and one really cruddy fix up date, the men the female protagonist meets in the course of getting herself together are pretty amazing.
So..I’m going to read more Elizabeth Berg.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Oregon Coast
Posts: 168
—It Starts With Food. By Hartwig. Best book I have ever read on how food affects health. I cleaned up my diet after reading this one and feel so much better!
—Self Therapy Workbook. By Weiss. A super helpful workbook to go through if you have some emotional healing to do.
—The No-Contact Rule. By Natalie Lue. How and why we need to go no-contact if we are to move forward after ending a toxic relationship.
—Two Years Before The Mast? Love it! I work on a tall ship in the summer and this is my alter-ego. Bravest and best thing I ever did!
—Self Therapy Workbook. By Weiss. A super helpful workbook to go through if you have some emotional healing to do.
—The No-Contact Rule. By Natalie Lue. How and why we need to go no-contact if we are to move forward after ending a toxic relationship.
—Two Years Before The Mast? Love it! I work on a tall ship in the summer and this is my alter-ego. Bravest and best thing I ever did!
Member
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 22
So it’s probably not very surprising given my name on here but one of my favourite books is To Kill a Mockingbird. Since breaking up with my ex alcoholic boyfriend I have been re-reading it. I always find I take something new away from it every time. I just finished the chapter on Mrs Dubose who was the cranky town lady hooked on morphine and thought I’d share this little snippet:
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.”
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.”
Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Chicago
Posts: 5,450
I finished Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff. A terrifically weird exploration of racism in America in the 1950's set in the landscape of H.P. Lovecraft's most memorable stories and conconctions.
Maudcat -- as a Stephen King fan you might very much enjoy it. Quick read.
Maudcat -- as a Stephen King fan you might very much enjoy it. Quick read.
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