A poem for a snow day..

A poem by Billy Collins that I feel traps the feeling of a serene snow day..

Snow

I cannot help noticing how this slow Monk solo
seems to go somehow
with teh snow
that is coming down this morning,

how the notes and the spaces accompany
its easy falling
on the geometry of the ground
on the flagstone path,
on the slanted roof,
and the angles of the split-rail fence

as if he had imagined a winter scene
as he sat at the piano
late one night at the Five Spot
playing "Ruby, My Dear,"

Then again, its the kind of song
that would go easily with rain
or a tumult of leaves,

and for that matter it's a snow
that could attend
an adagio for strings,
the best of the Ronettes,
or George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

It falls so indifferently
into the spacious white parlor of the world,
if I were sitting here reading
in silence,
reading the morning paper
or reading Being and Nothingness,
not even letting the spoon
touch inside of the cup,
I have a feeling
the snow would even go perfectly with that.

A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s by Stephanie Cootz

Well, I have taken a several month break from my blog and several people have questioned if I had given it up entirely. Truth be told, I have been somewhat lazy and very busy. However, this weekend I had a wonderful, multiple-book weekend which was food for this introvert's soul. One of the books that made up my weekend was this wonderful, englightinng and somewhat disturbing non-fiction work. With this book, Cootz combined a brief history lesson of the challenges women experienced in the decades after World War II and before the mainstream women's liberation movement of the 70's with a review of a cutting edge book written in 1963 by Betty Friedien. Cootz confirms and dispels some of the common thoughts about the groundbreaking book The Feminine Mystique. I read parts of this book while in undergrad and agree with reviews it is somewhat dated and repetitive by today's standards. However for that time, it was very groundbreaking and gave a name to the "the nameless problem" experienced by many middle class women. Having had the fortune to be born into a family where my career and educational opportunities were strongly encouraged, it was an honest look at how we career women of the 21st century only have our opportunities due to the legacy and courage of these women who dared to speak out. Since reading this book, I will definitely talk more to the matriarchs of my family about their feelings and experiences during this time. From this book, I was given the gift of looking into the past to appreciate the lives of women who have went before me. I recommend this to any woman, it truly speaks to the struggles of women both then and now.

Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin

So, I was watching My Life on the D-List and realized that I had never read Kathy Griffin’s book. I then downloaded it right onto my Kindle and read the entire thing yesterday. I must say it was literally “laugh out loud” funny. What was great about this book is not just that it is hilarious but that she was so honest as well. Throughout the book, I felt that she was having a conversation with me and we were just two best buddies hanging out talking about our issues (for me, that is the BEST, I know I know, WEIRD.:))

Anyway, Kathy’s path to “stardom” is fraught with ups and downs but she seems to stay true to herself throughout the book. I REALLY liked how Kathy gives a lot of credit to her family for grounding her and then supporting her throughout the entire process of achieving her dream, although they really didn’t “get” it. I think that is the best kind of family-the kind who will support you and be there the best they can, even if they have no idea what you are doing or talking about at the time  I would definitely recommend this book; she keeps it light but not so much that you feel like you will float away from the lack of substance. As a side note, I may be somewhat biased, given that I’m a HUGE Kathy fan and have been to one of her shows and watch the D-List every week. Just giving ya’ll a heads up.

The Extinction Event By David Black

The Extinction Event By David Black

This book was one that I picked up from an NPR book recommend, which I can now say was a bit misleading. The author, David Black, has been a writer for both books and screenplays for many years. You may know his work from CSI Miami or Law and Order. His writing is heavy handed with dialogue, likely as a result of writing many years for television. This book is a fast-moving thriller or rather it attempts to be. The characters are not well developed and I had a difficult time caring or even understanding the motivation and interaction between characters. Throughout the book, I kept thinking, “okay, it’s going to get good now” but unfortunately, the awesomeness never really happened for me. Honestly, I think if I was going to pick between James Patterson and David Black, it would be Patterson hands down, which if you know me says A LOT. In summary, I think this book would be a much better movie than book, which again says it all about this book.

A Tale of Two Books..

Having recently read two memoir-type books recently about food and the of a person's weight to life, I thought I would combine and somewhat comparrelationship e the two the post:

Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite by Frank Bruni
Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth

Both are books about food and our relationship to it. Having dealt with this issues my entire life and daily, I am always interested to know how others navigate it. Here are two books that both address the issues in very different but similar ways, as I will discuss below.

Born Round: A Summary

Bruni was born into an Italian Amercian family where many of the life and culture centered around food. Interestingly, he had two brothers who were close in age but did not suffer from the obsession and delight with food that he experienced at a VERY early age. Throughout Bruni's life, he fought with the association between his weight and self-identity and somewhat expectantly turned towards negative ways to handle this- crash diets, laxatives, bulimia, etc. Towards the end of the book, he does seem to draw some conclusions about this life-long battle with food and how he finds a solution for himself.

Women Food and God: A Summary

Roth wrote this book less as a story of her life but more as an instructional book as how to make food the non-center of ones life. She leads lengthy retreats teaching men and women how to train their minds to view food as a symptom of what is going on inside instead of a problem how to be defeated through the next crash diet or extensive hot yoga session. Roth is very honest with others about her own struggle with weight and even gives several "rules" that she follows to enable her to live a life free of diets but still have a life free of a prison made from one's weight.

Now for the comparison and my own thoughts about the two books. First, I appreciated both of the great honesty that the authors are able to discuss their own issues, both in the past and present. In Bruni's book, I feel like the told the tale of his battle with weight more as a chronological list of what occurred than what was going on mentally with his triggers for the emotional eating and mental health issues. He only delves into this in a few sentences at the end of the book, which could use some more exploring, at least from my perspective. The end game for Bruni is that one can decide that a life of health is more important than that of gluttony and the old timeless cliche of "eat less than you burn." In my opinion, Bruni leaves one with a question if he will be able to continue his healthy eating and working out lifestyle in the future since he has not seemed to conquer what is behind the issues in the past- in my opinion, the REAL work, but then again, I am a therapist:)

For Roth's book, I feel like she provides real, practical tools that may be somewhat more difficult to implement than Bruni's method. She, like Bruni, does promote complete honesty with oneself, which is difficulty with some of us who are more likely to be delusional about what we REALLY look like or eat without direct confrontation. Roth concentrates more on how one uses food to soothe or fill other needs. She recommends some Zen-type meditative techniques to combat some of the daily drum beat of life that can be very stressful and frustrating-often when one (like myself) turn to food. I definitely recommend this book for any woman who has ever struggled with how to handle the stresses of life without packing on the pounds. Additionally, what I think both of the books have in common is pointing out the fact that emotional eating can be another form of addiction; however, when this is ones drug of choice, everyone can see it ALL THE TIME. This book is a short read but will leave you thinking about the suggestions and "rules" after finishing the book, which I feel is the hallmark of a book worth reading.

The 19th Wife: A Novel by David Ebersoff

This is one of those books I picked up at a used book store that looked somewhat interesting. Its a book that tells two parallel stories, which if done well, can make the book all that much more interesting. First, it follows the story of a woman who was part of Brigham Young's harem in the 1800's. It also has a story of a guy who is attempting to free his mother of a crime he feels she did not commit-that of murdering her husband. The plot thickens here because his mother was a part of a sect of present day Mormons who condone extensive polygamy. The story if told through faux documents that record the early day of Mormonism. I really liked this book more because of the story of how women (and others) can be dominated by another race or gender, not only in the Mormon community but in society as a whole. It does a good job in telling the story of the Mormon culture and how an intelligent, thoughtful person becomes part of a culture that seems to be the outside as bizarre.