I’m reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic and swimming in all the gems of her creative wisdom. It’s one of those books that reminds me writing […]
Reading With Intense Concentration
In the opening episode of Gilmore Girls, Dean tells Rory he first noticed her while she was reading with intense concentration. An accident involving a […]
When you give me an Arthurian legend . . .
I spent three hours reading (and finishing) Once & Future this morning by my apartment pool. The new young adult novel is a futuristic re-imagination of Arthurian legend. It’s set in space and Arthur is reincarnated as a girl, Ari. It’s also fantastically queer.
The Stockdale Paradox
I’m reading Good to Great by Jim Collins and in it, Collins recounts his talk with Admiral Jim Stockdale. Stockdale was a prisoner of war […]
The Tao of Pooh
This morning I plucked The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff from my bookshelf. I first read the book (that explains the principles of Taoism […]
The Muffin Story
I read a short fanfiction story a few years ago that sewed itself into my resolve. I was married and deeply unhappy and spent whatever […]
The Spiral
My coworker described it like this to me a while ago: it’s a spiral, revolving around a fixed point but we’re at a different vantage each time we come around. I can read the same sentence and it takes on new layers of meaning with another six months of life and experience.
50 Books
I’ve read 50 books so far this year. 30 were physical books; 20 I listened to the audio versions. I haven’t read at this pace since high school (though really all I’ve done is replace fanfiction hours with published works). A few books have been bad, most of them average and entertaining, a few amazing.
Bookstore Wonderland
I don’t think I’ve ever walked out of BookPeople without spending $100. It’s one of the reasons I had to reinvest in the wonderful library system. BookPeople is Austin’s independent book store. It’s downtown, next to Whole Foods and REI, and a little bit of a wonderland for book lovers. There’s always signed editions, and irreverent feminist knick knacks, and customized staff recommendations lining all the shelves. Their card collection alone is magnificent, as proved by my mother who spent nearly as much on greeting cards as I did on books. It’s all I can do not to throw handfuls of money at them.
Starting My Queer Young-Adult Happy Endings Book Club
A few months ago I started a book club with my coworker. She had mentioned years ago that she used to belong to a queer […]