1. Super-strength: Working it daily, eating well. Just a matter of time, tenacity, and metabolism. And a little bit of bat-mojo wouldn't hurt. (Send some vibes my way, gentle readers...)
2. Streamlining the Stuff at Chateau BG: Actually chipping away at detritus daily. 'Twill take at least three months, I'll warrant, but never fear: I'm Flylady-ing all over it!
3. Honing my superpowers to global status: Going OK, but not fabulously yet. Last week: quite unfocused, what with all that is possible and minding the gap between specific skills necessary to expand powers on the interwebs and actual skills possessed. Undaunted, but must devise a bat-plan. Determined to use advice from current read The Alchemist: strip away all potential doing until I'm down to my "Personal Legend" alone, and then follow the omens in that direction.
4. Meet the Titanic: Crafted a note/speech-to-say when I attempt to meet the neighbors. Waiting for a semi-not-rainy day to execute wee plan. Should I wear my cape?
5. Abstain Jane: Fine on alcohol, not so great on sweets, as predicted. Not sure why I decided to try this anymore... Oh well: any abstaining should help with #1, so I'll persist for this month, at least. WWBGD?
MFB, for certain,
BG (L)
'Nother Incidental Action: Must get working on my bouffant.
p.s. BONUS: Blog Hop (a question from crazy-for-books.com every Friday):
Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?
Actually, I'm quite promiscuous in my choice of books. Literary fiction is by far my favorite, followed by well-crafted contemporary non-fiction - literary or otherwise (e.g. Malcolm Gladwell, the Heath brothers, Karen Armstrong, Brenda Miller, Gretl Ehrlich, etc.). The former, I've enjoyed since I was a kid: my mom took us to the library just about every week, and our bookshelves at home were full of Steinbeck and Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Joyce... The latter has - to my eye - thickened up considerably as a genre in recent decades.
However, if it's well-wrought, I'll read just about anything. Cookbooks, YA, sports books, short fiction (love a great short story), poetry, graphic novels, etc.
Perhaps better to answer: Why do I NOT read what I don't read? What drives me away?
Bad writing, first and foremost. The same old tired tropes. Hence, I rarely do "genre fiction"/pulp fiction at all. Why waste my life's hours on the same old plotline, recycled in mediocre prose?
And I try not to read anything that doesn't impress me or draw me in or seem useful by the third chapter anymore, unless it's for professional reasons. (e.g. YA books often bore me, but I'll read them because I need to know what my students are reading. Some books I've read (for this blog!) despite feeling bored because they're part of the current popular canon, so I read them to better understand my own culture. PD books about teaching sometimes offer way too much case study narrative, when I want to cut right to the chase w/the practical strategies and then judge for myself if they're valuable. I still read those books, but I'll skim or skip the narrative portions. In all three cases, the reading-for-change process at least redeems otherwise blah books by my own choice of creative or community actions.)
p.s. BONUS: Blog Hop (a question from crazy-for-books.com every Friday):
Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?
Actually, I'm quite promiscuous in my choice of books. Literary fiction is by far my favorite, followed by well-crafted contemporary non-fiction - literary or otherwise (e.g. Malcolm Gladwell, the Heath brothers, Karen Armstrong, Brenda Miller, Gretl Ehrlich, etc.). The former, I've enjoyed since I was a kid: my mom took us to the library just about every week, and our bookshelves at home were full of Steinbeck and Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Joyce... The latter has - to my eye - thickened up considerably as a genre in recent decades.
However, if it's well-wrought, I'll read just about anything. Cookbooks, YA, sports books, short fiction (love a great short story), poetry, graphic novels, etc.
Perhaps better to answer: Why do I NOT read what I don't read? What drives me away?
Bad writing, first and foremost. The same old tired tropes. Hence, I rarely do "genre fiction"/pulp fiction at all. Why waste my life's hours on the same old plotline, recycled in mediocre prose?
And I try not to read anything that doesn't impress me or draw me in or seem useful by the third chapter anymore, unless it's for professional reasons. (e.g. YA books often bore me, but I'll read them because I need to know what my students are reading. Some books I've read (for this blog!) despite feeling bored because they're part of the current popular canon, so I read them to better understand my own culture. PD books about teaching sometimes offer way too much case study narrative, when I want to cut right to the chase w/the practical strategies and then judge for myself if they're valuable. I still read those books, but I'll skim or skip the narrative portions. In all three cases, the reading-for-change process at least redeems otherwise blah books by my own choice of creative or community actions.)
Want to weigh in on a book-question each week? Visit http://www.crazy-for-books.com/ every Friday and fire away. Then visit the other folks' blogs to see what they have to say...
No blog? No problem. Just comment here to express yourself.
No blog? No problem. Just comment here to express yourself.
1 comment:
Laurie, I am with you on reading anything so long as it is well-wrought! I too get so tired of the worn tropes... too many good books out there to waste time on the expected. I want something that makes me FEEL and changes me somehow. Thanks for the Paulsen recommendation! I hadn't heard of that one -- of course the guy's got like 100 books, so that's probably not all that surprising. Thanks!
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