March 2008 - What are you reading?

"The Best Spiritual Writing 2001." No, I'm not 7 years behind on my to-read list. I just happen to have found it at a library used book sale. So far, it's had great writings about St. Francis, the exegesis of eating Italian food, and humility in the face of being chosen for Oprah's book club. There is also one poignant article written by a woman whose son died shortly before he was born. I highly recommend it, and look forward to searching out more books in the series.

I'm reading two Costa Rica books currently. Monkey's are Made out of Chocolate & Costa Rica Retirement book~

Still re-reading The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson. A couple three pages a night.

Laughter, according to Reader's Digest, is the best medicine, only I can't think of anything funny about influenza. I'm sorry you were ill, Preppie. Your report "What our masks reveal about ourselves" at Minnesota Public Radio's website is a professional, thoughtful, multi-media introduction to Barbara Cummard's photographic mural "Inside Out: Faces of Self."

Erin - "The exegesis of eating Italian food" - tell me more! I've always loved those "best of -- writing" collections. Definitely worth going back and reading past years!

Priscilla - I'd love to hear your thoughts on "Monkeys are made out of chocolate" - what an intriguing title! (if not totally appetizing)

weak reader - thanks for the feedback on the "Faces of Self" story. It was a thorough pleasure to talk to Barbara as well as the participants in the mask making. It left me wanting to organize a mask-making session amongst friends to see what we come up with!

As for the flu - I'm almost completely recovered, but don't make me laugh because it sends me into fits of coughing! ;)

Variation on a theme

"Life Cast (noun) An object created by taking a direct impression of a living subject." (definition printed in the book LIFE CAST, BEHIND THE MASK, Willa Shalit, Beyond Words Publishing, Inc.). There is a note on the front flap of the book cover that says that the proceeds from the book will benefit The Touch Foundation for the Blind. In the book there are photographs of Willa Shalit's life casts of Richard Nixon, Muhammad Ali, Richard Burton, Federico Fellini, Sophia Loren, Natalia Makarova, Paul Newman, Sammy Davis, Jr., Marcel Marceau, Louise Nevelson, Isaac Stern, Whoopi Goldberg, Seiji Ozawa, Rosa Parks, Ronald Reagan, Robin Williams, Jimmy Carter, Helen Hayes, Stevie Wonder, Alvin Ailey, Clint Eastwood, The Dalai Lama, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, N. Scott Momaday, Michelle Pfeiffer, H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Amy Tan, Dr. Edward Teller, Ted Turner, and, Dizzy Gillespie.
Willa Shalit's "personal reminiscenses" of the life casting sessions accompany each photograph.
There's also a warning in the book that life casting can result in injury.

I bought a copy of LIFE CAST, BEHIND THE MASK at Dayton's, now Marshall Field's, after working a volunteer shift at Minnesota Public Radio during a pledge drive. What fun!

One of the many photographs in LIFE CAST, BEHIND THE MASK shows a blind woman at a museum exhibit touching a life cast of Ronald Reagan's face.

Hi Marianne! At home we're reading "The Wright 3" which is a neat sequel to "Chasing Vermeer." They're young reader mysteries that balance being smart enough for adults and have enough of real life experiences for the younger set to understand.

On the bus I've got "The Learners" by Chip Kidd. Euan Kerr dropped it off at my desk and he was right in assessing I'd find it funny, engaging, and just plain good.

THE TRAINING OF THE ZEN BUDDHIST MONK, Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki. This is a facsimile edition of the work originally published in Kyoto by The Eastern Buddhist Society in 1934. Illustrated by Zenchu Sato. ISBN 0-914728-04-0. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The Red Tail Reprint Series is published by Wingbow Press and distributed by Book People, 2940 Seventh Street, Berkeley, California 94710.
"Life meant to the Chinese monks to be engaged in physical labour, to move their hands and feet, to handle tools, in order to accomplish some visible and tangible ends. This practicalness of the Chinese mind saved Buddhism from sinking into a state of lethargy and a life of mere contemplation, as we see this fact emphatically verified in the life of the Zen monastery." excerpt from THE TRAINING OF THE ZEN BUDDHIST MONK, Chapter 3, page 33. Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki.

Hmmm, here's to recovering from the flu!

Isn't Chip Kidd the man who is known for creating exciting book covers? It would be interesting to see what kind of writer he is.

I just finished "Mansfield Park" by Austen for a book club meeting (that I missed), and am racing throughThe Exception by Christian Jungerson for my other book club.

The Exception is a wild psychological thriller, and I haven't read one this good in a very long time. It takes place (mostly) in Copenhagen, which is especially interesting to me because we visited there last year. (I can just picture the whole thing!)

I'll have to check out LIFE CAST; it sounds great!

I'm ready to crack open Charles Baxter's The Soul Thief today. If anyone doesn't know, he's a Minnesota writer with a solid national reputation--I think I saw a review of this, his newest novel, in the New York Times. Baxter himself was a victim of a curious kind of identity theft--someone started presenting himself as Baxter and doing readings from his work. Maybe we could all have a conversation about Baxter's The Soul Thief.