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Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Friday Five and All My Feelings

Posted in Books, Friday Five, Hope, Lament, Music, Poetry, Revolution on January 20, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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“Five” is more of a guideline, really.

Because I believe in reaching beyond limits and breaking all manner of ceilings, I’m not going to limit my links this week to five. I believe we can all benefit from going beyond our limits today (and also tomorrow…and for the next four years…). Going beyond our limits and doing and being more is something it would be good for us all to learn to practice.

Things I saved from the Internet this week:

  1. Happy birthday to Michelle Obama on Tuesday. BookBub lists five books she has mentioned loving, because reading and knowledge are power. And I love people who read to kids. This year, I want to follow her example. Reading to children is the only thing I miss from working daycare.
  2. Off the Shelf compiled a similar list of what has been on Barack Obama’s bookshelf.
  3. Ann Patchett wrote a touching goodbye tribute to the Obamas.
  4. My friend Bola has created a character that I can’t wait to see on the screen. A black mermaid? Yes, please. Follow The Water Phoenix on Facebook.
  5. I am not your Teachable Moment – from Everyday Feminism.
  6. Dallas is getting a new independent bookstore – Interabang Books, coming in May!
  7. Another reason to get a piano – studying/playing music is linked to increased civic engagement, improved reading comprehension, and better math skills. While I am firmly in the camp that believes that defending the study of music because it’s good for other things is “like defending kissing because it gives you stronger lip muscles for eating soup neatly,” I also recognize that it is good for other things. And we may need it to be good for other things…
  8. …because Betsy DeVos. Tell your senators no. Here are some ways.

And my favorite thing I’ve read this week – it’s long, but so worth it. To Obama, With Love, and Hate, and Desperation.

Edited to add – my friend Jamie Wright Bagley has a poetry e-course that is up on her website. It’s free, but it’s only available for a limited time. You want to do it!

 

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Friday Five – Books, Baubles, and Boxes

Posted in Books, Friday Five, Getting It Together, Resolutions on January 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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I love structure. I am comfortable with making vague goals, because I know that as soon as I voice them, I already have structures in mind for achieving them that don’t necessarily come through in words. But if, like me, you are interested in improving your reading diversity, choosing products that are both better quality and produced by better business practices, and ridding yourself of all the clutter/debris/extraneous mess that you have stashed in your home, here are a few more structured ways to do that.

  1. Modern Mrs. Darcy’s 2017 reading challenge. I like that she has reading for fun and reading for growth challenges. I also love her highly organized tips (including printables) for tracking your reading and that she offers the chance to join an online book club for those who want social support.
  2. Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge is my favorite challenge for finding things to read that I never would have read before. They, too, offer social support via their Facebook group and give you the opportunity to meet in person with people you’ve met via the challenge. Bonus – discount on an order if you finish the challenge!
  3. Inc.com praises ThirdLove bras. I NEED ONE. Also Thinx, which has great ramifications for women in countries where feminine hygiene products aren’t readily available. A lot of people have tried them and sing their praises (even though the HuffPo article says “total disaster,” indicating that the chooser of that title doesn’t understand what the words total and disaster mean), so I’ll spare you my personal recap when I try them. Unless they’re terrible, which I don’t anticipate.
  4. Peter Walsh is doing a 31-day decluttering challenge this month. Each day takes about 10 minutes, so it’s not too late! Go! Go! This is not a drill!
  5. And bonus – for those hoping to up your donations to charities this year, here are some tips from Consumer Reports on how to choose a charity that uses the money in the way they claim to use it.

If you were looking for structure to some of your goals, hope this helps!

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2017 Resolutions

Posted in Books, Resolutions, Wild, Writing on January 1, 2017| 2 Comments »

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I have a stocking that’s mine (on the right) and a stocking that’s a reminder that I’m not alone in the world. This is the first decoration I put up every year, and it’s my favorite. I like starting the season with the hope that  life will not inevitably always be the way it’s always been.

I love this time of year. I love the invigoration of setting new goals. I am nervous about this year because of the political climate, but I am refusing to give up hope. I am anxious, but I am determined. I am sad, but I am unwilling to settle for wallowing.

My goals for 2017 are pretty simple. Most of them are a continuation of things I’ve already started to do. Some of them are specific, but most of them are unruly, because the main goal is to embrace the wild.

  1. Wild is my word for the year, and I want it to spread throughout my world like fire. I want to burn away all that is not true, beautiful, just, and good. I realize that’s a tall order, but I can’t very well start my year of wild by taming my expectations.
  2. Read 100 books.
  3. Learn conversational Spanish.
  4. Continue to make my home a place that is welcoming and does not hinder the life I create. This life looks like cozy nooks and a well-stocked kitchen, pantry, and bar for spontaneous hospitality. This life looks like flowers on the table and blankets on the couch. This life looks like finally getting the last of the boxes unpacked from the move last summer.
  5. Continue to improve my health and well-being. This will probably look like a significant weight loss. I have 22 more pounds to go to reach my birthday goal, but as – much to my chagrin – I no longer have the metabolism I had when I was twenty, this will probably look more like 15 pounds, which is still pretty great. This will also look like pearls in my ears, red on my lips, and cute shoes on my feet, as emotional well-being is often manifested in how I care for myself physically.
  6. Finish at least one manuscript and publish a 2018 calendar.
  7. Run a 5K.
  8. Go on a writing retreat (can be alone or an official one with a group).
  9. Get paid for writing in some way. This can be as simple as submitting a piece for publication and having someone say yes, but I want to see tangible proof that it’s something I can do.
  10. Continue/establish beloved traditions. I want to have baking weekends. I want to have parties that people come to expect every year. I want to have traditions that are just mine – that embrace the single life I have now instead of waiting on other people to have traditions.

Do you make resolutions? If so, what are they?

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Reading Wild

Posted in Books, True, Wild on December 28, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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“The best way to save coffee is to save what’s wild.” From Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love by Simran Sethi

Reading is the main way through which ideas and action are loosed for me. Many of the books I’ve read this year have revealed truths long buried in my soul and have reminded me of why I do some of the things that I do.

In 2017, I am going to set my goal to read 100 books (a goal that I have not met in the last few years, but we’re going to ignore that. Hope springs eternal). In addition to books I enjoy with my book clubs and books I read just for fun, I am going to read more of the following:

  1. Books like A Man Called Ove that remind me that love is meant to be wild and scandalously extravagant and helpful and generous.
  2. Books like Bread, Wine, Chocolate that help me focus on the why (fighting oppressive food systems that leave people in poverty and destroy biodiversity) behind the what (loving coffee and food and talking about it a lot) of my passions.
  3. Books like Between the World and Me that continue my education on justice issues.

I also want to continue to read my daily news, except I want to read with more intention of finding quality (i.e., well-researched, well-written, lacking in tactics such as clickbait that give the impression that they are more fluff than substance, etc.) information to share with others.

Do you set reading goals? If so, what are your goals for 2017?

 

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Friday Five – Favorite Book Lists of 2016

Posted in Books, Friday Five on December 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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I love a good book list, especially at this time of the year. I’m reflecting on books I’ve read this year and making plans about what to read next year. If you like book lists, too, here are some that are informing my to-read lists as of late.

  1. For holiday hilarity, enjoy Book Bub’s list of laugh-out-loud holiday books.
  2. A new batch of Gilmore Girls this year renewed my longing to tackle Rory’s Reading List. It’s daunting, so I won’t finish it this year. Maybe this decade. Maybe.
  3. The New York Times polled famous readers to see what books got them through 2016.
  4. Read it Forward reports on twenty-five authors sharing the best books they’ve ever received. 
  5. And finally, one of my favorite bookstores, Book People in Austin, list their favorites of 2016.

What would make your list?

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Charlotte and the Twelve by Andi Cumbo-Floyd

Posted in Andilit, Books, Revolution on November 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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I received an advance copy of Andi’s new book, Charlotte and the Twelve: A Steele Secrets Story. I am so grateful for this new chapter in Mary Steele’s education as an advocate for those whose voices have been silenced or stolen.

As with Steele Secrets, where we first met Mary and her friends, this book deals with race relations and the uncomfortable conversations surrounding them. More importantly, it emphasizes that these conversations are absolutely necessary if any kind of justice is ever to happen. Some of the characters wrestle with their privilege and their guilt. Some of the characters bury their anger, and some of them embrace it. People say the wrong things. They call each other out. It’s helpful to see the tension in these conversations, and I appreciate that, although it’s written for a young audience, Andi didn’t try to mask the tensions.

The parts I loved the most were when old friends and family were unexpectedly reunited. The writing of that peculiar mix of joy and anguish was exquisite. Andi has a gift for holding multiple experiences – anger, grief, relief, guilt, love, discomfort, hope – in the same hand and honoring them all through her words.

Another thing I love about Andi’s writing, particularly with these characters and this ongoing story line, is that there were no tidy bows tied on the ending. It is an admission of all the work left to do and a firm exhortation to do it.

Charlotte and the Twelve releases today, and I encourage you to buy it. Enjoy!

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Chicken Scratch by Kelly Chripczuk

Posted in Books on November 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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This may be my most favorite book advertisement ever.

Today, Kelly Chripczuk’s book Chicken Scratch: Stories of Love, Risk, and Poultry launches into the world. I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy, and you should go buy it immediately.

Kelly uses humor and her gift as a storyteller to impart wisdom through her experiences of raising and loving chickens. The subsequent softening of the lines between secular and sacred is reminiscent of Kathleen Norris’s The Quotidian Mysteries.

I love this collection of stories. It reminds me of growing up on our farm, even though we didn’t have chickens. It makes me want to encourage my parents to get chickens. The lessons of life and death, our longing to be gathered and brooded over, and finding the extraordinary nestled in the ordinary make frequent appearances in this treasure of a book.

And while reading, I, too, became very attached to the Polish chickens. Like Kelly’s son, I also love them with my whole heart. I wonder what the pet deposit on a pair of Polish hens would be at my apartment…

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Get your own copy of Chicken Scratch today. You can also visit Kelly’s blog for a sneak peak, a link-up and the chance to win a signed copy (and also lip balm).

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Call Me

Posted in Books, Revolution on September 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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“And so to challenge the police is to challenge the American people who send them into the ghettos armed with the same self-generated fears that compelled the people who think they are white to flee the cities and into the Dream. The problem with the police is not that they are fascist pigs but that our country is ruled by majoritarian pigs.” Ta-Nehisi Coats – Between the World and Me

Today I had a post scheduled about how living a year of true also makes for a year of happy. This week, however, like far too many weeks before it, has been heavy, so while I am still happy, I also hold heartbroken in my other palm.

This holding juxtaposed forces is probably good practice. I have hope for the world, but the world is so broken. Every day, dozens of terrible things happen, and that’s just the things I know about from reading my daily hour of news.

There are many pieces already out there about our most recent tragedies and what we can do to combat racism. My favorites are from Luvvie Ajayi, A’Driane Nieves, and Rebecca Lee. I also like this idea – support activists on the ground by paying their bail.

I can listen and I can speak and I can donate (well, I can donate a little. I work in education). These situations make me panicky, though. They make me want to call all my friends of color and say, “Are you okay? Are you safe at home?” I can do all the things on all the lists and that still might not save my friends’ lives tomorrow.

But I will say this – call me.

If you have car trouble or need to stop somewhere or want someone near just in case…if you are in a situation in which having a short, white friend present might be…culturally helpful…call me. Until the world is a better place for you, if a white face is what they need to see to be comfortable and not shoot to kill, I will bring my white face to you.

I’m not sure what we’ll do if they decide that I’m the next thing that threatens them. But I am not free unless you are free. A freedom that excludes you is not anything I’m interested in having.

It might not help. I might not get there in time. I realize this is a naive and terrible solution.

But I can’t burn the system to the ground by tomorrow.

So call me.

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Snapshots – 8.22.16

Posted in Books, Snapshots, Work on August 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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Last week was books, reading, flowers, and welcome.

Our church book club selection this month was The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro. It was a quick, fun read. The review on the back that said it was as if Bridget Jones’s Diary and The DaVinci Code had a baby was spot on.

I love that I have a table with enough room for a bouquet of flowers.

Kim fed me on Monday. It was delicious. Charlie was disappointed in my lack of interest in throwing the whats-it, though.

And yesterday was our big move-in day to the residence halls. It was my twelfth move-in and the first one where I wasn’t drenched in sweat by the end of it. I love my new job.

What was your week like?

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Snapshots 8.15.16

Posted in Books, Snapshots on August 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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Now my pictures look like summer. Finally. I am enjoying Susannah Conway’s August Break challenge on Instagram. I’m also enjoying the shoes Natalie got me for my birthday in March. That is, I finally made time to fancy up my toes so that they didn’t look like claws and could face the light of day.

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I’ve also been reading like crazy. Roxane Gay’s An Untamed State is one of the best things I’ve read this year. Go read it immediately. I mean, maybe. Take care of you and be advised – gruesome brutality/rape descriptions abound.

September will be when I start the link-up process for Snapshots. I’m excited to see what all of you add to this conversation!

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