Books & Reading
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Fight Club (FPF 13)
I took a couple of nights off this week. Things haven’t necessarily been any busier, but my creative motivation has been off. I just haven’t had the energy to blog or read or do much of anything besides come home, have a drink, and vegetate in front of a show (we’re binge-watching Ozark right now). I have a three-day weekend ahead, though, so I’m hoping to get my chi-washed and my energy back on track. I’ve got a lot of writing to do, what with the second half of February Photofest and oh… 75 more stories for The 💯 Story Challenge. (You can also find these published on my Medium…
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The Da Vinci Code (FPF 12)
I’m a big fan of Dan Brown. The first book I read by him was The Da Vinci Code, which I enjoyed so much I bought the illustrated version (because I spent quite a bit of time going down internet rabbit holes while I read the book, since I didn’t know nearly enough about the settings or the art or the history in the book). As the story moved through various places (Paris, London, Edinburgh…), I found myself looking at maps and pieces of art and looking up various people, events, and landmarks. The illustrated version does a lot of this work for the reader, so I’d definitely suggest it.…
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Snow Falling on Cedars (FPF 11)
It’s been a long time since I read this book, or any by Guterson, to be honest. But…I can say with assuredness, that he is one of the great contemporary writers of the Pacific Northwest, my home state of Washington, more specifically. I wrote a rather lengthy research paper on his works in college, the focal point being Snow Falling on Cedars, which is a beautiful historical novel centered around a murder case on San Piedero Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the mid-1950s. A Japanese-American man is accused of killing a well-respected white fisherman, and the novel centers around the court case, as well as flashbacks…
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Untamed (FPF 10)
I first came to Glennon Doyle via her blog momastery.com. Her confessional style drew me in, and I loved the stories of her family life, her struggles as a mom and wife, and her vulnerability and honesty. She was so easy to connect to. So I’m not at all surprised that her messages have gone viral and that she has since become a published author and speaker. Her first memoir covers her experiences with an eating disorder, early confusion with her sexuality, addiction, and the struggles of her first marriage. The second memoir, moves us forward from the struggles of her first marriage, to finding herself divorced, successfully…
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A Moveable Feast (FPF 9)
I’ve long had a passion for Ernest Hemingway. It began with The Old Man and the Sea and “Hills Like White Elephants,” both of which I read in high school. We used Hemingway as a model for writing spare prose and using dialogue to tell the story. These are skills I took with me as a writer, and I have since always felt an affinity for and connection with Hemingway’s style. He doesn’t let language get in the way of the story. He lets the story drive the narrative, and he gets to the point without letting description get away from him. I see him as minimalist, whittling away his drafts…
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The Kiss (FPF 7)
Read an excerpt of The Kiss HERE. A bit of background on the author’s life can be found HERE. And an interesting article regarding the book from the NY Times can be found HERE. This Kiss is a memoir I read for a class I took in college. It is difficult to read, as it is about an incestuous affair between a young woman and her father. It doesn’t come across as provocative, though. A good memoir, which this surely is, should tell the story and confess without apology. This one does that, even in the face of the eye-widening, taboo content. Obviously, this story is not for everyone. But,…
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Prozac Nation (FPF 6)
I read Prozac Nation at a time in my life when I was just beginning to come to terms with my mental health “issues,” for want of a better description. This book and others helped me to name the experiences I was having and to eventually begin a dialogue with medical professionals and begin working my way out of the dark. I haven’t read anything by Wurtzel since More, Now, Again. So I wasn’t aware, until my search for links for this post, that Wurtzel died of metastatic breast cancer in 2020 . Here’s the NY Times article: Elizabeth Wurtzel, ‘Prozac Nation’ Author, is Dead at 52 Here is a link…
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A Natural History of the Senses (FPF 5)
A Natural History of the Senses is a vibrant celebration of our ability to smell, taste, hear, touch, and see. Poet, pilot, naturalist, journalist, essayist, and explorer, Diane Ackerman weaves together scientific fact with lore, history, and voluptuous description. The resulting work is a startling and enchanting account of how human beings experience and savor the world. It asks and answers such questions as: How do perfumers know which scents allure? Why does music move us? How did kissing on the mouth begin? What is our craving for chocolate? It illuminates the phenomenon of pheromones and looks into the question of whether they control us. Incorporated in its superb reporting and…
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Refuge (FPF 4)
I won’t be posting on Fridays. For February Photofest or the #100StoryChallenge. I take that day off from writing because I hang out with friends/colleagues after work and then have Date Night with Mr. D. So here is post 4 for February Photofest. Today’s memoirist is Terry Tempest Williams. This is another author I came to in college, and the first book of her’s that I read was Refuge. It’s a fascinating look at family, place, and spirituality. I grew up for part of my young adulthood in southern Idaho, very near the Utah border, and while I was not raised Mormon, I have family that was, and I was…
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Wild (FPF 3)
I can’t remember why I read Wild by Cheryl Strayed, or even when…but I know I finished in a weekend. This is exactly the kind of memoir that I love – a confessional narrative that is raw, honest, rich with personal introspection, questions, and lessons to be learned. I also enjoyed the movie, which came out shortly after I finished reading the book. Here’s an interesting related article. I live near the PCT. We’ve actually hiked part of it (and while it was beautiful, it was tough…balancing on giant rocks along the waterline, planning around the tides, sandy beaches, climbing ladders overland when we couldn’t hike around them). While…
