Reading
Dear followers,
I have not been using Goodreads as much as I used to. I have been in a writing mood and reading has been confined to dipping in and out of books I began reading years ago, or books I began re-reading; I also started to read blogs by Indie writers and established writers, which has proved very enjoyable. I even wrote a response to the Paulo Coelho blog about the broken vase. (I still haven't worked out whether this is the real Paulo Coelho on Wordpress, but it doesn't matter because I enjoy reading the short posts which have deep meaning.
I am reading four books at the moment, Shapeshifters, a book about a practicing GP, which doesn't - he says - break his hippocratic oath, although I am not sure..., since it does reveal details about patient examinations; still, I am glad he wrote it; it feels literary- is beautifully written, except chapter 7, Reshaping the Heart, which to me did not ring true because I have typed probably a thousand medical letters and they were different in their delivery, more rhythmic and standardised, poetic in that sense, due to the often repetitive order of many of the opening and closing phrases, to allow for efficiency, I believe, than the letters in this book have suggested. They do not come across as real letters, but perhaps here is where the difficulty lies with regard to patient confidentiality....
I am also reading another book published in 2018 called Everybody Died so I got a Dog, a light-hearted memoir. The author has the same name as a girl I once befriended when I lived in Surrey, as a young girl; I also recognise myself as the orange squash drinking, tea and toast character she describes.... It is a homely and warm book and great reading if you grew up in the 60s and 70s; very honest and so lovely visual memories of social behaviours of that time.
Another book I picked up is The Tao of Gung Fu. I read about this book years ago (yes Gung Fu not Kung Fu), and hoped I would run into it one day, and there it was in Dorothy House in Broad Street, Bath, propped up and waiting for me last week - so far it is about the push and pull of relationships and how the best way is that of being firm and gentle; I have always aimed for this in my dealings with my children, but I have sometimes failed, and it is good to be reminded....
The final book is a book I picked up first called Ugliness A Cultural History by Gretchen E. Henderson; a stunning examination of attitudes to ugliness. I found this one in Dorothy House in Bath as well. I have written an essay called On Beauty, published on my wordpress site- http://hermionelaake.wordpress.com which has morphed into something longer and this book's subject matter compliments my research perfectly. I may refer to it later as I develop my research on beauty further in my essay.
I find I need to be in a relaxed mood to read, which is very different from that of when I am writing; I am receptive and drawing things to me when in a reading mood, whereas when writing I am putting things out that I have analysed, and sometimes that I am analysing and processing in the moment.
I tend to blog once a year on this site, so more from me in 2020.
Much love,
Hermione
I have not been using Goodreads as much as I used to. I have been in a writing mood and reading has been confined to dipping in and out of books I began reading years ago, or books I began re-reading; I also started to read blogs by Indie writers and established writers, which has proved very enjoyable. I even wrote a response to the Paulo Coelho blog about the broken vase. (I still haven't worked out whether this is the real Paulo Coelho on Wordpress, but it doesn't matter because I enjoy reading the short posts which have deep meaning.
I am reading four books at the moment, Shapeshifters, a book about a practicing GP, which doesn't - he says - break his hippocratic oath, although I am not sure..., since it does reveal details about patient examinations; still, I am glad he wrote it; it feels literary- is beautifully written, except chapter 7, Reshaping the Heart, which to me did not ring true because I have typed probably a thousand medical letters and they were different in their delivery, more rhythmic and standardised, poetic in that sense, due to the often repetitive order of many of the opening and closing phrases, to allow for efficiency, I believe, than the letters in this book have suggested. They do not come across as real letters, but perhaps here is where the difficulty lies with regard to patient confidentiality....
I am also reading another book published in 2018 called Everybody Died so I got a Dog, a light-hearted memoir. The author has the same name as a girl I once befriended when I lived in Surrey, as a young girl; I also recognise myself as the orange squash drinking, tea and toast character she describes.... It is a homely and warm book and great reading if you grew up in the 60s and 70s; very honest and so lovely visual memories of social behaviours of that time.
Another book I picked up is The Tao of Gung Fu. I read about this book years ago (yes Gung Fu not Kung Fu), and hoped I would run into it one day, and there it was in Dorothy House in Broad Street, Bath, propped up and waiting for me last week - so far it is about the push and pull of relationships and how the best way is that of being firm and gentle; I have always aimed for this in my dealings with my children, but I have sometimes failed, and it is good to be reminded....
The final book is a book I picked up first called Ugliness A Cultural History by Gretchen E. Henderson; a stunning examination of attitudes to ugliness. I found this one in Dorothy House in Bath as well. I have written an essay called On Beauty, published on my wordpress site- http://hermionelaake.wordpress.com which has morphed into something longer and this book's subject matter compliments my research perfectly. I may refer to it later as I develop my research on beauty further in my essay.
I find I need to be in a relaxed mood to read, which is very different from that of when I am writing; I am receptive and drawing things to me when in a reading mood, whereas when writing I am putting things out that I have analysed, and sometimes that I am analysing and processing in the moment.
I tend to blog once a year on this site, so more from me in 2020.
Much love,
Hermione
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Thoughts
This revolution in writing that is taking place is interesting. There are so many people writing, or at least maybe there always were, only now we have the opportunity to read more authors. This is in
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