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Sunday Reading

July 17, 2005

Karyn over at Vermont Diary invited me to participate in a book meme, and then Bobbie at Emerging Sideways invited me to the same meme. I was tagged by both of these cool chics about a million months ago... sorry, girls, I've been discombobulated lately. This not only is my first meme, it is a literary meme too... so I've had this feeling that I should sound literary with my answers. Yep.. very gooberish of me ~ this isn't a book report I'm going to graded on, for god's sake!

Here goes the bookish meme:

1. Total number of books I’ve owned: I couldn't even venture a guess. I am embarassed to admit that up until my late 20's I didn't read that much. (I know ~ this sounds terribly horrifying ~ especially to me.) When I was in grade school in the 70's the school system inflicted an incredibly stooopid reading test on unsuspecting, highly sensitive students (such as myself) to measure speed reading and comprehension. Perhaps some of you out there were subjected to the Dick and Jane stories that were projected onto a screen with a black bar that ran across lines of text. It started out incredibly slow, and then incrementally moved faster, and FASTER AND FASTER until the words became blurred gobs on the screen. I always walked out of the classroom with my heart wildly racing and wondering if my head was about to explode. It was panic-inducing. I was a book-on-tape junkie in the making.

What remained with me after this torture was a feeling of inadequacy and a perception that reading well required the ability to read quickly, which simply isn't true. It wasn't until college that I realized peope who speed read don't retain a lot, and can miss out on much of the artistry of what they are reading. I'm a visual person, but I also love the poetry of words. I prefer to savour books, eating them like perfectly ripe peaches, even allowing some nectar to dribble down my chin from time to time. I don't know about you, but speed-eating peaches isn't my idea of fun.

But, I'm getting off-topic. To finish my answer, I have no idea how many books I've owned. A ton of art and photography books including Henri Lartigue, Gauguin, Margaret Bourke White, and the letters of Georgia O'Keefe. I've held on to many of my favorite childrens books suck as Little Women, the Oz series, and a collection of pop-ups. I own a jag of software how-to books (I'm mostly self-taught) and quite a few spiritual books authored by the likes of The Dalai Lama, Sara Ban Breathnach, Kahil Gibran, and Joan Borysenko.

2. Last book I bought: I am a web designer, so I purchase quite a few industry-related publications. The last one was Search Engine Advertising ~ Buying your way to the top to increase sales by Catherine Seda. Keywords and meta tags will only get you so far with your online marketing, and I've learned quite a bit from this one.

3. Last book I completed: The Mermaid's Tale, by Sue Monk Kidd. I LOVE SUE MONK KIDD. If you're a daughter or a mother, please take a look at The Secret Life of Bees, which is her first novel. It's one of the wisest and most spiritual and wonderful novels I've read. I savored every word.

I read The Mermaid's Tale while lounging under a palm tree in Mexico this past April and found it to be a wonderful beach read. It takes place on an island off the coast of South Carolina where a deeply confused middle-aged daughter returns home to care for her suddenly crazed mother. Through her experience with the local monastery and the disintigration of her marriage, she comes to terms with the truth about herself and her family. I devoured this book and loved it so much that I only allowed myself to read a chapter a day near the end of my vacation. Seriously... I rationed the last 4 chapters so The Mermaid's Tale would be with me for the entire trip.

4. Five books that mean a lot to me:

The Land of Oz, by Fank L. Baum. I read most of the Oz books when I was in 4th and 5th grade, and if I could meet just ONE person from all of history, it would be Frank L. Baum. Oh, to possess the imagination of such a wonderfully inspired person! I owe a debt of gratitude to the spirit of Oz for shaping my creativity and love of magic and whimsy. Where would we be without Oz? Indeed, where would we be?

The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell. This book is from a series of interviews Bill Moyers conducted with Joseph Campbell just before his death in 1987. Campbell was arguably the foremost expert in comparative religious studies, with an emphasis on storytelling and archetypal mythology. The myth-makers of any culture are the writers and artists, and it is SO fascinating to hear how storylines and imagery appear in every culture and belief system.

Although I know many are threatened by such ideas, especially those who believe in God in a very defined and managed way. Discovering similarities which span across the globe and through time was extremely comforting to me. I craved a way of looking at the world that not only made sense, but one that was also creative and tolerant of other world views. I tell every single one of my friends to take a look at this book, or watch the PBS interviews. To hear Campbell re-tell some of the myths is completely enchanting... this is a classic!

The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron. This book is a classic to those of us who are not only artists, but also have a taste for the spiritual. She weaves both Buddhist philosophy and a 12 step approach for helping creative people in a rut to find their way through it. Although Julia is a screenwriter by trade, her advice and lessons will help any artist of any tradition light a creative spark that has dimmed, or even help someone who has never thought of herself as an artist tap into her internal creative well. Julia was the first person I found who connected the creative and spiritual. I can trace a line of breadcrumbs from this book to my Advent Calendar as well as this blog, which are the two creative projects of my adult life that are the nearest and dearest to me.

Living Buddha, Living Christ, by Thich Nhat Hanh. I first learned of this book back in the 80's when actress Kelly McGillis (of Top Gun fame) came to Washington to perform in a couple of seasons at the Shakespeare theater. She was interviewed by a local tv station, and during the spot she mentioned she gave this book to all of her friends. I saw her perform just before the spot aired and was very impressed, not only by her dramatic performance, but also by her candor and deep spirituality. Reading this book was the turning point in my life when I came to understand that other religions weren't something to run away from, but to be embraced. I found this Vietnamese monk had such beautiful things to say about both Buddha and Jesus, and he presented them so simply and so elegantly. A world opened up to me when I opened this book.

Savage Beauty, by Nancy Milford. This biography about the life of Edna St. Vincent Milay had me completely spellbound. Milford was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for this work, which also happened to be her very first. With unprecedented access to St. Vincent Milay's personal letters, via her surviving sister, Norma, Milford dissects a brilliant creative mind, a beautiful haunting face, a whimsically funny girl, but also a selfish and tortured soul. Millay lived her life to the fullest, without any apologies, and I found the prose in her letters to be elegantly accessible. I found myself inspired to start writing poetry while reading this book, and because of it, began to feel comfortable writing for the first time in my life. Highly, highly recommended.

4b.What are you currently reading: (I'm cheating and adding a question)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
I'm a book behind in the series, which I wholeheartedly admire and love. Where would we be without wizards? Both in England and Oz?

5. Which five bloggers am I passing this to? Like Karyn, I'm not good at following rules such as these. Here are a few bloggers I'd be interested in finding some book answers from... I won't email any of you, certainly only do this if you have the time, and you think it'll be fun.
Wicker Kid
Real Live Preacher
It's Important to Be Warm.
Land of the Timesink
Wandering Willow (who I owe another meme response to!)

Posted by vincent at July 17, 2005 09:22 AM

Comments

Posted by: dan at July 18, 2005 02:16 AM

Posted by: bobbie at July 18, 2005 05:46 AM

Posted by: Wandering Willow 2 at July 18, 2005 12:47 PM

Posted by: susie albert miller at July 20, 2005 12:54 AM

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