What are you reading?

[Kobi]

All about love : new visions / Bell Hooks.

Everyone who has witnessed the growth process of a newborn child from the moment of birth on sees clearly that before language is known, before the identity of caretakers is recognized, babies respond to affectionate care. Usually they respond with sounds or looks of pleasure. As they grow older they respond to affectionate care by giving affection, cooing at the sight of a welcomed caretaker. Affection is only one ingredient of love. To truly love we must learn to mix various ingredients-care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust, as well as honest and open communication. Learning faulty definitions of love when we are quite young makes it difficult to be loving as we grow older. We start out committed to the right path but go in the wrong direction. Most of us learn early on to think of love as a feeling. When we feel deeply drawn to someone, we cathect with them, that is, we invest feelings or emotion in them. That process of investment wherein a loved one becomes important to us is called "cathexis." In his book Peck rightly emphasizes that most of us "confuse cathecting with loving." We all know how often individuals feeling connected to someone through the process of cathecting insist that they love the other person even if they are hurting or neglecting them. Since their feeling is that of cathexis, they insist that what they feel is love.

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All About Love offers radical new ways to think about love by showing its interconnectedness in our private and public lives. In eleven concise chapters, hooks explains how our everyday notions of what it means to give and receive love often fail us, and how these ideals are established in early childhood. She offers a rethinking of self-love (without narcissism) that will bring peace and compassion to our personal and professional lives, and asserts the place of love to end struggles between individuals, in communities, and among societies. Moving from the cultural to the intimate, hooks notes the ties between love and loss and challenges the prevailing notion that romantic love is the most important love of all.

Visionary and original, hooks shows how love heals the wounds we bear as individuals and as a nation, for it is the cornerstone of compassion and forgiveness and holds the power to overcome shame.

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Fascinating reading for a snowy day.

[ONLY]

Originally Posted by ONLY

Finished "Orange Is The New Black" couple of weekends ago and have been reading "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris

Originally Posted by ONLY

Last night I finished "To Kill A Mockingbird" and started "Orange Is The New Black" Just as I enjoy a variety of music, anywhere from Bee Gees to Three doors down to Lionel Richie to Linkin Park, I have been enjoying a variety of very different books

Just finished "MockingJay" the 3rd book in the Hunger Games. Was pretty good. Now I think I will look through my books and start up a new read.

[homoe]

The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter

Thought I'd check out the book before the movie is released on Feb 7th. If your interested in art, history, or just looking for a very interesting read, I'd suggest this book!

[Yew]

I am reading this fasinating article about phantom sensations in people who are transsexual

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/p...-gender-brain/

[The JD]

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh

It's finally out: my favorite blog is now a book! If you're already a fan of the blog Hyperbole and a Half, you'll no doubt recognize most of the content of this book, but will love it all the more. There were a few chapters/posts that I didn't recognize, but I'm not sure if I missed it in the blog or if it's actual new content created just for the book. Either way, it was an unexpected bonus.

Each chapter/post is on different colored pages, which is good when skipping around: it would be hard to distinguish one story from another, just based on the artwork, which looks like a 5 year drew it (which is, of course, part of the blog's brilliance)… so the color-coded chapters are really handy. The placement of art on the page is nice too.

Allie Brosh has launched dozens of hilarious (to me) catch phrases that cause mostly blank looks in those around me when I say them…which is often ("I made food! I'm magical!" "Cake is the only thing that matters." "Can't anyone see how dead these are?" "Clean ALL the things!") Now maybe the rest of the world will catch up and recognize the manic brilliance they've been missing.

[~baby~doll~]

Queering Marriage: Challenging Family Formation in the United States (Families in Focus) by: Katrina Kimport

This is a fascinating book on how same sex marriage impacts heterosexual privilege. In certain ways it supports the family values of the past, while building new bridges into a new worldwide cultural expansion. It illustrates how we as gay people have altered the thinking of millions of heterosexual couples. They have understood marriage is more than just a fact of life which is natural and taken for granted. It is to be cherished because we have been fighting for the ability to love and share in marriage. Must read.

[homoe]

Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck

It was described in a blurb I read as the Help meets To Kill a Mockingbird

[Redsunflower]

I'm reading 'Envy and Gratitude', a collection of papers by Melanie Klein.

The woman is awesome if not a little bit scary.

[cinnamongrrl]

Today I received my long awaited cookbook.... Wildly Affordable Organic.

The author conceived the idea of the book when she accepted a challenge to live and eat well on the amount of money the government gives for food stamp benefits.

She found that its actually possible to eat well on under 5 dollars a day. And enjoy nourishing meals at that. All her tricks and secrets of success are in this wonderful book....

author: Linda Watson

[EnderD_503]

Currently reading Soccer vs the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics

Just started it, but looks like it's going to be a good read.

Just finished Tina Fey's autobiography attempt, Bossypants. I recommend you don't bother reading it. I like Tina, love her comedy but her prose is so very pedestrian.

Just started the Rosie Project. Just a few pages in I know I'm going to love it.

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1405912790"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1405912790[/ame]

[cinnamongrrl]

I just started reading Walden....

I didnt know til I started reading it that this book has inspired world leaders...(Ghandi was mentioned). I have found life altering wisdom...and Im not even that far into it....
Thoreau says things that Ive thought and could never word so eloquently....the greatest of which... that we spend more time doing than just BEING....Im going to make a more concerted effort to just BE....

[deathbypoem]

Currently reading 3 books.

Almost finished with "Stolen Innocence" By Elissa Wall

Still reading:

Secrets from the southern living test kitchens

Azar Nafisi: Things I've been silent about


They are super thus far

[cinnamongrrl]

From the library....

Homegrown Tea by Cassie Liversidge

It's all about growing things you can make tea out of. It goes beyond herbs to common flowers and roots. And to think, this thought did occur to me when I planted some ginger root the other day since it was sprouting...

[The JD]

Just finished Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. If you like thinking about diseases, parasites, vectors and hosts, and combining all that with (yet another) theory on the origins of vampires, you'll like this book.

The fictional narrative is pretty gruesome, but even more gruesome (and fascinating) are the interspersed chapters that describe non-fictional parasites and the very real ways that the host's behavior changes to accommodate the parasite. Example: Rats infected with the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis become attracted to the smell of cat pee. They seek it out, increasing their chances of finding the cat it belongs to, and increasing the parasite's chances of getting into a cat's gut, which is the only place it can start its reproductive cycle. Nifty, huh?

All the real examples of the mechanisms of disease strengthen the story, and makes it seem that much more plausible... or at least really enjoyable. Highly recommended.

[mythy]

Originally Posted by The JD

Just finished Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. If you like thinking about diseases, parasites, vectors and hosts, and combining all that with (yet another) theory on the origins of vampires, you'll like this book.

The fictional narrative is pretty gruesome, but even more gruesome (and fascinating) are the interspersed chapters that describe non-fictional parasites and the very real ways that the host's behavior changes to accommodate the parasite. Example: Rats infected with the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis become attracted to the smell of cat pee. They seek it out, increasing their chances of finding the cat it belongs to, and increasing the parasite's chances of getting into a cat's gut, which is the only place it can start its reproductive cycle. Nifty, huh?

All the real examples of the mechanisms of disease strengthen the story, and makes it seem that much more plausible... or at least really enjoyable. Highly recommended.

Buggar me thats bloody scary chuck

[cinnamongrrl]

Because I forgot my current book at my new place....and cuz I feel nakie wirhout a book to read...

I'm reading... John Muir: Nature's Visionary by Gretel Ehrlich

The book gives (what seems to me) snippets vs complete views into the life of this exceptional man....but I'm learninga lot just the same...

[Kelt]

10% Happier by Dan Harris

"After having a nationally televised panic attach on Good Morning America, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. After learning about research that suggests meditation can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain, Harris took a deep dive into the underreported world of CEOs, scientists, and even marines who are now using it for increased calm, focus, and happiness. "10% Happier" takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America's spiritual scene, and leaves them with a takeaway that could actually change their lives."

Only about half way through I'm enjoying this. He's a good storyteller.

[clay]

"Love Is Enough" by Cindy Rizzo....

[The JD]

Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible: The Fascinating History of Everything in Your Closet (by Tim Gunn, of course)

I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. It's written just as Tim would speak it, so I keep hearing his voice in his head while I'm reading. And the history lessons are fun too!