bookshelves: read-but-not-owned, self-help
Although nominally about focus, this book is really more about battling inner demons - procrastination, self doubt, and one's proclivity towards burning bridges. A lot of this material can be found in other self-help books, but I'd recommend this particular book if you are in a state of inertia. ]]>
bookshelves: read-but-not-owned
There should be more books like this about using rhetoric for evil domestic purposes. The curious and almost unappealing title refers to his view that we should embrace arguing not necessarily an undesirable sign of friction, but as a discipline, like mathematics, that we should learn to see its manifestations in everyday life - from the way we eat and dress, to the way we interact with loved ones. The book is deceptively crafty, because while he points out the rhetorical depths of everyday Thurber-esque male-female relations, he surreptitiously uses the same rhetoric on you to bring you into this new way of thinking, sometimes finding himself unable to resist letting you in on it with the occasional "See what I did there?"
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I read around too, keeping it, you know.. light and breezy. But I never read more than two at a time: short fiction, and some non-fiction/self help on the side. Any more than that and I start thinking maybe I should be picking better books.
And every so often there's that intense page-turner of a book that snaps you out of the reading-around rut..
And Google Reader. Google Reader demands just as much attention as a book, but frankly, I'm just not getting that much out of it. It's like I'm always trying to keep my unread op-eds under 500, and while I admit it keeps me informed, I can't ever imagine it changing my perspective. Lately I've been wanting to just hit SHIFT-A to all these incessant news blogs, shut off the computer, and just finally knock out Thomas Friedman's Hot Flat and Crowded. ]]>
Mark
took the never-ending book quiz.
| questions answered: | 54 |
| correct: | 38 (70.4%) |
| skipped: | 5 |
| best streak: | 9 |
| questions added: | 0 |
bookshelves: currently-reading
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For picture books, I have to go with the picture books by the 'Sandman' team of Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean:
Coraline
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
The Wolves in the Walls.
They're funny and creepy enough for older readers, but they're still by all means readable for the younger set. McKean's mixed media art and Gaiman's original storytelling are so unique, virtuoistic, and imaginative, it's hard not to appreciate them, whether you're immersed in the story or you are taking a step back and admiring the craftsmanship of it all. ]]>