The Dance of Intimacy

by Harriet Lerner

This is a really complicated book, and way less formulaic than a lot of self-help books. It consists mostly of lengthy descriptions of clients from Lerner's practice and how they handled their intimacy troubles, with Lerner explaining the theory behind the situation and the mechanics of the solution. Having read it once, I may well read it again -- there's a lot of material for such a comparatively short book.

The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 3

by Neil Gaiman

As with the previous volumes, loooooved it. I am going to be so sad when I get the next volume and finish it and there aren't any new Sandman issues to read (yes, this is my first time reading most of them. I'm a latecomer). The whole collection is awesome. I really liked "Ramadan" and the series of stories bookended in the End of the World inn, between realities. SO AWESOME. Plus, a spiffy retelling of the Orpheus myth! A winner all-round.

As the year begins...

Here's a list of the books I'm currently in the middle of reading:

1. The Absolute Sandman: Vol., 3
2. The Dance of Intimacy
3. The Parable of the Talents
4. Colon Classification
5. The Practice of the Magical Diary
6. Chicken Qaballah

Yeesh. I gotta FOCUS a bit more.

2009 In Review

This hasn't been a good year for me in terms of actually documenting the books I read (or, I see looking back, numbering them correctly as I went). Grrrrrr. However, here's a list:

1. The Absolute Sandman: Volume 2
2. The Unseen University Cut-out-Book
3. Triumph of the Moon
4. Be a Goddess!
5. Smart Packing for Today's Traveler
6. Emily's Book of Strange
7. Coraline
8. Agyar
9. Storm Front (re-read)
10. Fool Moon (re-read)
11. Watchmen
12. The Dark Knight Returns
13. Break Through Pain
14. Pornology
15. The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke
16. Will I Ever Be Good Enough?
17. The Principles of Aikido
18. Grave Peril
19. Summer Knight
20. Death Masks
21. Blood Rites
22. Dead Beat
23. Proven Guilty
24. What Happy People Know
25. The Folklore of Discworld
26. Pride and Prejudice
27. White Knight
28. Small Favor
29. What Rich People Know
30. Domino: The Book of Decorating
31. The Key to Solomon's Key
32. Unseen Academicals
33. Nation
34. The Usual Error
35. Sister Light, Sister Dark
36. The Dance of Anger
37. White Jenna
38. The Parable of the Sower

38 books! Waaaaay more than last year. Go me! Let's see if I can read more than that this year.

Yeah, more capsules

Sigh. Been so damn busy! I'm still reading, but not managing to actually write up the books.

26. White Night - More Dresden Files. I hadn't read this one yet, and when I realized there were TWO paperbacks out in the series I hadn't read, I broke down and got 'em. So fun to read new adventures!

27. Small Favor - the most recent paperback in the Dresden Files. Good stuff! More faerie adventuring, which was win.

27. What Rich People Know - This is an interesting book. It's basically a collection of interviews with rich people, gathered by a guy who went door to door in the richest neighborhoods in the US, knocking on doors and asking people their secrets. He broke down what he learned into five basic lessons, each with its own chapter: open your eyes, luck doesn't exist, the economics of obsession, the myth of risk, and humility. I liked it, but mostly what I got out of it is that I probably don't have enough drive at the right things to make it rich. You have to get really, really obsessed to make a lot of money, and the things I'm obsessed with aren't things that pay. That was a useful lesson, though -- I'd rather stick to the things I love and work at an ok job to support my hobbies than try to find something I love that will pay and do it 70 hours a week. I just don't want to be rich badly enough. And that's ok.

28. Domino: The Book of Decorating - this is a guide to decorating put together by the staff of the now-defunct decorating magazine, Domino. I quite enjoyed it, if only for the lush, gorgeous photography. It has some good ideas, too!

Catching up: Capsules

OK, I've been really, REALLY bad about keeping up with my booklog lately. So, here are capsules of the books I've finished but not blogged:

16. Will I Ever Be Good Enough? - A great self-help workbook.

17. The Principles of Aikido - a top-notch overview of Aikido, both the actual techniques and the history and philosophy of the art.

18-23. Grave Peril - Proven Guilty (rereads) - Yeah, still rereading the Dresden Files. Still loving 'em. I just got the two new ones and am stoked.

24. What Happy People Know - an interesting book about the psychology of happiness and what you need to know to be happy. The author spends way too much time bashing conventional psychology and psychotherapy for my taste, but there's some good material here.

25. The Folklore of Discworld - A wonderful look at the folklore of Terry Pratchett's Discworld and the related/similar folklore of our world. Fascinating but light reading.

26. Pride and Prejudice - rereading for the umpteenth time because I bullied a friend into reading it. Still as awesome as ever. Still so so so much better on the page than the screen, especially if that screen has Colin Firth on it, bah! Don't get me started. The only P&P adaptation I actually enjoy is the old BBC one from the 80s.

The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke

By Suze Orman

This is a pretty awesome book for folks in the 20-35 range looking to get a handle on their finances. Suze lays everything out in her classic, no-bullshit style. I don't agree with everything she says (she insists couples who live together have a joint checking account but never says why, and her system for dividing expenses between couples sort of assumes that neither person is ever going to be unemployed), but most of her stuff is really good. She has a bunch of info online too, though you need a code from the book to get access.

She lays out plans of attack, talks budgeting (though without simple, pat answers to everything), explains complex stuff in straightforward terms, and generally gives young folks everything we need to get ourselves on our financial feet. I was very pleased to note that I was already doing most of the stuff she recommended (like focusing on paying off debt before trying to start saving). Woo!

Book 15 in 2009.

Pornology

By Ayn Carillo-Gailey

This is one of those books where I can't tell if it's a true story or not. It's funny and entertaining (and has a lot of good info on porn and the sex industry along the way), but it's also got a lot of the standard, predictable chick-lit stuff that annoys me. So, I'm glad I read it, and I enjoyed it, but I did a nonzero amount of eyerolling along the way.

Book 14 in 2009.

Break Through Pain

By Shinzen Young

I got this book because of a coincidence -- I was in Mountain View for lunch with my Dad and stopped in front of East/West Books to look at their sale rack. I happened to have been dealing with a lot of pain lately, and so this title jumped out at me. It was on massive markdown, so I got it. I'm so glad I did, it's really interesting.

The basic premise of the book, as I understand it, is this: suffering is the result of struggling against pain. If you don't struggle, the pain stays but it's transformed. The book explains a straightforward, deceptively simple method of learning to stop resisting pain. It's based around Zen mindfulness meditation, and comes with a CD to guide you through the exercises described in the book. Shinzen shares his own experiences transforming pain, and those of some of his students as well.

I haven't done a ton of work with the process yet, but I will say that when my knee acted up this week I tried to observe the pain without resisting it, and I could feel the muscles around my knee relax as I did so -- which lessened the pain. Interesting stuff.

Book 13 in 2009. (yeah, I know, I'm behind on updating my booklog. This is book 13, I just haven't posted the other books I've read recently. I'm working on it.)

The Dark Knight Returns

By Frank Miller

This was a really interesting book. I'd heard a lot about it in Batman fandom, and so was psyched when I got it for my birthday. The art is a bit peculiar, but I dug the story and was immensely pleased that Robin is female in this story. Good times.

Book 12 in 2009.