Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Book'em? Dunno.

Most of you know that I have this terrible habit of checking email before I am even vertical. Usually, I check work news first, however this morning, I wanted to peruse through the list of International finalists for the Man Booker Prize. A list of thirteen was announced for this bi-annual award. To my surprise upon checking the news, our baker's dozen became a mathematical dozen due to John le Carre's withdrawal from the list. His statement's reasoning: he does not compete.

Respect the artist. Though I have only been following the MB prize for a little over ten years, I have no recollection of an author's withdrawal. Literary agents and writers with much more experience than me will be analyzing this statement in detail today. The Man Booker Chair, Rick Gekoski is leaving him on the finalist list.

There are a host of items where you will find me pushing myself to be better or stronger, but I am not a competitive writer. This news sound bite has me asking the question: do you compete and if so, for what end?

Monday, March 28, 2011

Share (this) Point

Because I have methodical tendencies, I thought best to finish The Witch of Portobello before moving to The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives. (I am very excited to begin Shoneyin's read but more on that later this week.)

Two lines from last night's read made my Kindle highlights and one of them felt appropriate to share on a Monday morning:
"And the best way to know who we are is often to find out how others see us." (Location 204)

Saturday, March 26, 2011

18 Reasons to Be Cheerful

It is a celebratory week and weekend for many of my dear friends including GBC Pa1ge. In that vein, I pause from books to pass a nod to them:
  1. Having a very large coffee
  2. Ability to touch favorite bridges
  3. Paris in the spring
  4. Pools of water
  5. Your attention to detail
  6. Broadway show-tunes
  7. Ipod full of songs
  8. Running in the rain
  9. Traveling up front
  10. Hot air balloons
  11. Diners open late which serve messy burgers
  12. Always taking the path least choosen
  13. Your favorite mug
  14. Dancing
  15. A late night walk
  16. Victories in racquet sports
  17. Individuality
  18. Dreams which come true
Enjoy the weekend!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Sunrise Sunrise

There is something quite nice about purchasing a triple espresso before a long drive, listening to music a little too loud, and singing not quite at the top of your vocal range, but really darn close. When you can do this as the run rises, revealing a host of your favorite clouds, the morning is off to a fantastic start.*

*Writer acknowledges the above sentence is a bit cheerier than normal tone and perhaps was influenced by caffeine infusion or recent happiness read. She will leave it up to you to decide.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Spring into Action

Spring. For me this means my weekend was filled with fashion magazines and a few new French items for my wardrobe. I made a distinct transition to white reading water. I took long drives, long runs and invested a little more than $15 in a new do. I also started a new book.

The extra minutes of daylight which have been creeping in since winter have lifted my mood. How do you welcome spring?


Sunday, March 20, 2011

Happy Tho Lucky

One of the things that makes me happy is to stay up late or get up early with the aim to finish a book. As I sipped my final drops of coffee this morning, I thumbed through the acknowledgement pages of The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. My takeaways from the book: be kind, be mindful, and set goals. At least those were my thoughts until this morning when in "December," Rubin makes a distinction between goals and resolutions: "You hit a goal, you keep a resolution." Good point Ms. Rubin.

It was interesting to follow the author's journey toward the pursuit of (more) happiness. Rubin was not an unhappy person when she started; she wanted to build good habits and improve her happiness. She admits that her life is (was) not a bad life. Indeed, one of the lessons from my "Year of Service" is that there is always another who has more challenges than we do. So how do we live every day? I think that is the question to ponder. One of Rubin's truths is that "The days are long but the years are short." This quip will stick with me as will a series of other mantras (she calls them commandments) that are repeated throughout the book. I think most of us reach points of reflection as to whether or not we are happy. To be happier, we must "do" rather than "be."

Friday, March 18, 2011

If We Took a Holiday


The day after a holiday is always an interesting day. One can feel up/down, excited/dreading, energized/tired or a host of other positive/negative feelings which can sometimes be influenced by the amount of reading water consumed on the holiday and/or whether or not you ran into someone you didn't want to see.

So, on this post-Patrick holiday, I will keep with the Friday photo tradition and offer this day-after-holiday shot from the 145th St train station on New Year's Day 2011. Though taken not long before noon, it is rumored that the photographer was still in her festive wear (minus the crystal headband as it was, after all, Sunday).

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Lady in Red

This week we have moved past pi day through the Ides into the day before St. Patrick's Day. Thinking the 16th must also have some significance, I took a look through history.com and discovered that in 1850, The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was published. I read the work many years ago but perhaps now fitting I add it back to the queue.

Allegedly, today is National Artichoke Day as well, but I will leave well enough alone.

Monday, March 14, 2011

3.14 to 0 in 60 seconds (and 32 words)

In honor of my fellow math geeks, a tribute to π 's first 32 signifcant digits:

Yes. I mean
a thing alkalized to create words
the sense actively abandoned
meaning concluded
are to the sensible
with circle to circle
this pie
tho appalled not pi
created crediting maths
[ ]

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Witch Way Did He Go George?

It is generally the same time each month (the weekend before GBC) that I search for the email to remind me of the month's read. As a reminder to you, the next books up for discussion are:
So with Kindle loaded, a little time on my hands this weekend, and invoking the luck of the Irish, I may actually finish the book before the Ides of March. Happy reading.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Don't Give Love a Bad Mane

This has been a week where I have been at the mercy of my Outlook calendar to find time for lunch, if I am lucky. In times like these, I tend to consult humor for a bit of a boost. March is also a month of birthdays for some of my very favorite people so this morning in pursuit of inspiration for the rest of the week and as a nod to the Pisces and Aires among us, I picked up a fable by James Thurber "The Lion Who Wanted to Zoom."

This two paragraph tale is a battle of wits between the eagle who wanted a mane and the lion who wanted wings. Using his strength, the lion won the wings but was challenged to jump off a tall rock by the eagle. Gravity took its natural course and the lion crashed, bursting into flames giving the eagle an opportunity to reclaim not only his wings but the lion's mane. Being a playful eagle, he donned the mane to surprise his she-mate who (being a bit scared) shot him with a pistol thinking he was a lion. Thurber's moral:

Never allow a nervous female to have access to a pistol, no matter what you're wearing.
(Russell Baker's Book of American Humor, p 451)

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Three Falling

The June chapter of The Happiness Project was subtitled "Make Time for Friends." One of the author's goals was to "Make three new friends" during this summer month. My original goal when I moved to my new locale (also in June) was to make one new friend. I had a bit of a slower start, but in January, I ended up with two new friends via an introduction. Within a week, this couple introduced me to one more person and suddenly with three new friends, I felt like I had a network (and options). "Three's a crowd" and suddenly I was happier.

Three is an auspicious number in yoga, in religion, and as a grouping technique when decorating. I once had a friend who always referred to her demanding Mother, Grandmother and Aunt as "The Trinity." Three is the 2nd prime number (for the math geeks). The Earth is the third planet from the sun (for the space geeks). "3" was a chart-topping Britney Spears song (for the pop music geeks and blog writers about books). Finally, three consecutively bowled strikes is a turkey. (I am sure all of you are feeling much more complete with this little nugget of trivia.)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Give A Little Bit

In less than two years an idea was conceived and implemented last night to give away one million books. World Book Night had its controversy with concerns that this increased distribution would cause a perception of the reduced value of books. As I have already mentioned, my best and earliest memories were of free books, and I am currently a book purchaser so we have at least one case to dispute this theory.

While hard to find news of how the event turned out due to BBC limitations on US video access, I did find a link from The Guardian discussing the Friday readings in Trafalgar Square.

Another nice read is a list of books from various authors on which titles they would give away and which books have been nice to receive. (Having just finished it, I was pleased to see Great Expectations by Charles Dickens on the list).

Friday, March 4, 2011

Particle Man




"Any device in science is a window on to nature, and each new window contributes to the breadth of our view."




Continuing with our photo Friday series, I snapped this picture in West Chester, PA last summer. Hope you find a new window today.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Happ(y)enstance

It is probably a good thing that my 12:30 am post disappeared with technical difficulties today. (Write with reading water and edit sober...although I missed the editing phase.)

So as a replacement to that which was lost:

It has been said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Although I have moved through Rubin's chapter "March: Aim Higher," my last few days have been more about feeling rather than reading. [Seriously, Aim Higher? Do you know me?]

So as I rang in March last night with a hamstring-screaming yoga session, my teacher spoke of kindness to one another and of remembering love. As we practiced Dhanurasana [a.k.a. try to snap yourself in half pose] and I was encouraged to lift higher, she spoke of surrender.

In written text and mindful practice, the idea and pursuit of happiness are converging on me.