What are you reading?

afixer · 09-23-2012, 06:45 PM

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Missionary-Position-Practice-ebook/dp/B007EDZ20O/ref=sr_1_10?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1348447301&sr=1-10"]The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice: Christopher Hitchens,Thomas Mallon: Amazon.com: Kindle Store[/ame]

and still reading this.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-ebook/dp/B003UYUP58/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1348447453&sr=1-1&keywords=emperor+of+all+maladies"]The Emperor of All Maladies: Siddhartha Mukherjee: Amazon.com: Kindle Store[/ame]

.

tazz · 09-23-2012, 07:19 PM

"Lovely Bones," "Red Dragon," and "The Perfect Storm"
and my general magazines; Newsweek, RollingStone, et al.

femmennoir · 09-23-2012, 08:10 PM

I am starting Winter Journal, from Paul Auster, preparing to thoroughly enjoy it.

Elle*

pinkgeek · 09-23-2012, 09:30 PM

New book by Sheri Reynolds! I love her stuff!!

SoulShineFemme · 09-24-2012, 10:28 AM

I started reading 50 Shades Of Grey on the airplane Saturday. Parts of it are quite delicious.

lillith · 09-24-2012, 10:30 PM

Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

LoyalWolfsBlade · 09-27-2012, 06:26 AM

The Curious Human Phenomenon by Peter Masters in book form
and
Scent of Triumph Jan Moran on Kindle app for my laptop

easygoingfemme · 10-07-2012, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinkgeek

New book by Sheri Reynolds! I love her stuff!!

Oooh, I didn't know she had a new book out! Love her too. First met her with Rapture of Canaan.

Exciting...

Dance-with-me · 10-07-2012, 09:59 PM

I'm binge-reading several things by Karen X. Tulchinsky. I'd read several of her short stories in anthologies of erotica, but wanted to check out her books. I read Love Ruins Everything on my weekend trip, and had so much fun reading it that I jumped right into its sequel, Love and Other Ruins, when I got home tonight (a butch and her new femme love are central to the stories). I am also about 1/3 of the way through the much more serious and very well written The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky, which won a couple of book awards in Canada. And In Her Nature also arrived, which I may keep on my bedside just for the cover photo.

Dance-with-me · 10-07-2012, 10:07 PM

Related question: Does anyone else like to do what I call "binge-read"? I enjoy reading a number of different books by an author in a row, or reading a bunch of books in a series, or several books on particular topic or theme, or even several books in a certain format (graphic novels or books written as if they were a personal journal, for example). I enjoy the chance to compare and contrast things within the book I've read, while they're all fresh in my memory.

Martina · 10-07-2012, 11:39 PM

Last week I finished a book called Re-enchantment: Tibetan Buddhism Comes to the West by Jeffrey Paine.

He can write entertaining journalistic prose, which I appreciate. But he leaves a lot of stuff out (How can he not mention Pema Chodron?) and gets some things wrong (A google search will reveal that Zina Rachevsky is not a member of the Russian nobility). He has no bibliography, and I can see why. It would have revealed his failure to do enough research.

Still, it is totally worth reading. It is a series of profiles of people who were significant in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the west. There's not much about the organizations they founded or the obstacles faced or anything other than personality.

I hated reading the sections on the lamas who tried but screwed up badly (IMO) -- Chogyam Trungpa (slept with a lot of followers) and Jetsunma (completely crazy -- sorry, if you are a follower). I was surprised at how difficult those chapters were for me to read even though I knew about these people. I also cringed through the entire chapter on Hollywood Buddhists.

On to the good stuff. I had already read a book about Tenzin Palmo's life. She is a British woman who spent 12 years in a Himalayan cave meditating. But I still enjoyed his chapter on her, probably just because it was better written than the book I read -- Cave in the Snow. It's an amazing story.

I also loved reading about Lama Yeshe, who died in 1984. It made him come alive. And Jan Willis, one of the first western followers of Tibetan Buddhism, now a Professor of Religion at Wesleyan. Here's a picture of them.

The section on Harold Talbott, a person from a privileged background, who very early on went to India and studied with now storied Lamas, was wonderful. He is the person who introduced Thomas Merton to the Dalai Lama. What is cool about him is that, while he has accomplished some things -- edited books, translated, run Buddhist centers -- basically he has spent his life practicing. He always felt like a failure in some ways. He's from a very accomplished family, and by our standards, he kind of wandered through life. But his equanimity is so well described. It makes you see the difference between one of us and someone -- a relatively ordinary someone (no great lama or teacher) -- who has spent his entire life in practice. And there are real differences.

The chapter on the Dalai Lama is full of the magical stories you read elsewhere, but it is still lovely. In fact the book is written by a believer in the magical side of Tibetan Buddhism, so it can be alienating if you are put off by that. I am listening to a book on Audible right now called The Naked Buddhist by Adrienne Howley, an Australian nun. I do not enjoy how she teaches Buddhism (too simple and preachy), but I appreciate that she teaches from the position of an absolute atheist. She does not believe in any of the magic or superstition. I believe in some of it. But I think that an emphasis on the magic -- and certainly on lama worship -- obfuscates the dharma.

Anyway, the book was a pleasure to read and filled in a lot of the gaps I have re lamas and others who are often mentioned in this tradition (Western Tibetan Buddhism).

I am now reading one of the Jason Bourne books written by Eric Van Lustbader. Cliched but good. I hate it when someone comes and interrupts a conversation JUST when our hero is about to learn a key piece of information. Grrr.

Sassy · 10-10-2012, 08:39 PM

Two-thirds of the way through Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey and I'm of two minds about it. I love the writing and the characters, as usual. But this book's story is starting to piss me off. If we make one more u-turn.... RAWR!!! ... Other than that, still love Moirin and her simple free-love, hippy chick ways (I *so* relate to this character and her interaction with the world around her.) ... Also, a part of me definitely wishes she'd just dump the little stick fighter boy and go back to Ch'in to hook up with the princess... but I suppose if she did that the story would be over. LOL.

MissItalianDiva · 10-16-2012, 05:00 PM

A sweet note left on the bathroom mirror ...

Duchess · 10-06-2012, 11:13 PM

girl_dee · 10-07-2012, 05:40 PM

Just finished *Secret Daughter* by shilpi somoya gowda... it was a good quick read.

always2late · 10-07-2012, 05:52 PM

Re-reading "Friday" by Robert Heinlein

09-23-2012, 06:45 PM	#1
afixer Member How Do You Identify?: human Preferred Pronoun?: ma'am Relationship Status: adrift in my head Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: in and out of the woods Posts: 989 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 491 Thanked 1,507 Times in 659 Posts Rep Power: 8660555	[ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Missionary-Position-Practice-ebook/dp/B007EDZ20O/ref=sr_1_10?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1348447301&sr=1-10"]The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice: Christopher Hitchens,Thomas Mallon: Amazon.com: Kindle Store[/ame] and still reading this. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-ebook/dp/B003UYUP58/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1348447453&sr=1-1&keywords=emperor+of+all+maladies"]The Emperor of All Maladies: Siddhartha Mukherjee: Amazon.com: Kindle Store[/ame] . __________________ keep reading and reading 'til your eyes grow weary. trouble won't find you if you are knee deep into a book. Justin Townes Earle

09-23-2012, 07:19 PM	#2
tazz Member How Do You Identify?: Athlete/tomboi Preferred Pronoun?: she, her, cutie Relationship Status: Estoy recibiendo cómodo con él Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: you never know where i might end up ;) Posts: 1,365 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,807 Thanked 1,759 Times in 642 Posts Rep Power: 20456639	"Lovely Bones," "Red Dragon," and "The Perfect Storm" and my general magazines; Newsweek, RollingStone, et al. __________________ "She walks a different path than some of us, but those on her wavelength enjoy the journey with her." --DLOS

09-23-2012, 08:10 PM	#3
femmennoir Member How Do You Identify?: femme, naturellement Preferred Pronoun?: Elle Relationship Status: single Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: new york Posts: 686 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 76 Thanked 1,223 Times in 478 Posts Rep Power: 5661332	Going organic! Wait....not the right thread! I am starting Winter Journal, from Paul Auster, preparing to thoroughly enjoy it. Elle* __________________ You will hear thunder and remember me, And think: she wanted storms. The rim Of the sky will be the colour of hard crimson, And your heart, as it was then, will be on fire. Anna Akhmatova "White nights"

09-23-2012, 09:30 PM	#4
pinkgeek Member How Do You Identify?: that grrl Preferred Pronoun?: she, her, grrl, piranha, monkey Relationship Status: captured.... Join Date: May 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 377 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,054 Thanked 1,456 Times in 311 Posts Rep Power: 13998707	New book by Sheri Reynolds! I love her stuff!! __________________ ------------------------------------ ~pink "I‘m heir to madness. Vessel of perversion. Your nightmare should you cross me." ((Want to read about my life in Hawaii and my ongoing war against the roosters and my pony size dog and my wedding?)) http://www.alohafemme.wordpress.com/

09-24-2012, 10:30 PM	#6
lillith Member How Do You Identify?: Femme Preferred Pronoun?: She, her, hey you! Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 514 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 204 Thanked 688 Times in 225 Posts Rep Power: 5173241	Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy __________________ now how can you ignore a dancing pink elephant? and how i so wish it would rain here.

09-24-2012, 10:28 AM	#5
SoulShineFemme Senior Member How Do You Identify?: All girl. All the time. Preferred Pronoun?: She, Her Relationship Status: Married to my beloved ONLY Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Living in Canada with U.S. Roots Posts: 2,472 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,775 Thanked 1,361 Times in 455 Posts Rep Power: 11561204	I started reading 50 Shades Of Grey on the airplane Saturday. Parts of it are quite delicious.

09-27-2012, 06:26 AM	#7
LoyalWolfsBlade Senior Member How Do You Identify?: Pre-Op FtM, Preferred Pronoun?: Masculine ones plz Relationship Status: Single but haven't given up on finding the One Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: I gaze upon the same moon as you do Posts: 3,827 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 13,214 Thanked 9,646 Times in 3,123 Posts Rep Power: 21474853	The Curious Human Phenomenon by Peter Masters in book form and Scent of Triumph Jan Moran on Kindle app for my laptop __________________ Life should never be stagnant hence my quest for new knowledge will continue until my last breath. Wolf

10-07-2012, 09:59 PM	#9
Dance-with-me Member How Do You Identify?: Femme Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: earth Posts: 419 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 264 Thanked 1,926 Times in 378 Posts Rep Power: 21474849	I'm binge-reading several things by Karen X. Tulchinsky. I'd read several of her short stories in anthologies of erotica, but wanted to check out her books. I read Love Ruins Everything on my weekend trip, and had so much fun reading it that I jumped right into its sequel, Love and Other Ruins, when I got home tonight (a butch and her new femme love are central to the stories). I am also about 1/3 of the way through the much more serious and very well written The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky, which won a couple of book awards in Canada. And In Her Nature also arrived, which I may keep on my bedside just for the cover photo.

10-07-2012, 10:07 PM	#10
Dance-with-me Member How Do You Identify?: Femme Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: earth Posts: 419 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 264 Thanked 1,926 Times in 378 Posts Rep Power: 21474849	Related question: Does anyone else like to do what I call "binge-read"? I enjoy reading a number of different books by an author in a row, or reading a bunch of books in a series, or several books on particular topic or theme, or even several books in a certain format (graphic novels or books written as if they were a personal journal, for example). I enjoy the chance to compare and contrast things within the book I've read, while they're all fresh in my memory.

10-07-2012, 11:39 PM	#11
Martina Senior Member How Do You Identify?: * Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: * Posts: 4,999 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 13,409 Thanked 18,284 Times in 4,167 Posts Rep Power: 21474854	Last week I finished a book called Re-enchantment: Tibetan Buddhism Comes to the West by Jeffrey Paine. He can write entertaining journalistic prose, which I appreciate. But he leaves a lot of stuff out (How can he not mention Pema Chodron?) and gets some things wrong (A google search will reveal that Zina Rachevsky is not a member of the Russian nobility). He has no bibliography, and I can see why. It would have revealed his failure to do enough research. Still, it is totally worth reading. It is a series of profiles of people who were significant in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the west. There's not much about the organizations they founded or the obstacles faced or anything other than personality. I hated reading the sections on the lamas who tried but screwed up badly (IMO) -- Chogyam Trungpa (slept with a lot of followers) and Jetsunma (completely crazy -- sorry, if you are a follower). I was surprised at how difficult those chapters were for me to read even though I knew about these people. I also cringed through the entire chapter on Hollywood Buddhists. On to the good stuff. I had already read a book about Tenzin Palmo's life. She is a British woman who spent 12 years in a Himalayan cave meditating. But I still enjoyed his chapter on her, probably just because it was better written than the book I read -- Cave in the Snow. It's an amazing story. I also loved reading about Lama Yeshe, who died in 1984. It made him come alive. And Jan Willis, one of the first western followers of Tibetan Buddhism, now a Professor of Religion at Wesleyan. Here's a picture of them. The section on Harold Talbott, a person from a privileged background, who very early on went to India and studied with now storied Lamas, was wonderful. He is the person who introduced Thomas Merton to the Dalai Lama. What is cool about him is that, while he has accomplished some things -- edited books, translated, run Buddhist centers -- basically he has spent his life practicing. He always felt like a failure in some ways. He's from a very accomplished family, and by our standards, he kind of wandered through life. But his equanimity is so well described. It makes you see the difference between one of us and someone -- a relatively ordinary someone (no great lama or teacher) -- who has spent his entire life in practice. And there are real differences. The chapter on the Dalai Lama is full of the magical stories you read elsewhere, but it is still lovely. In fact the book is written by a believer in the magical side of Tibetan Buddhism, so it can be alienating if you are put off by that. I am listening to a book on Audible right now called The Naked Buddhist by Adrienne Howley, an Australian nun. I do not enjoy how she teaches Buddhism (too simple and preachy), but I appreciate that she teaches from the position of an absolute atheist. She does not believe in any of the magic or superstition. I believe in some of it. But I think that an emphasis on the magic -- and certainly on lama worship -- obfuscates the dharma. Anyway, the book was a pleasure to read and filled in a lot of the gaps I have re lamas and others who are often mentioned in this tradition (Western Tibetan Buddhism). I am now reading one of the Jason Bourne books written by Eric Van Lustbader. Cliched but good. I hate it when someone comes and interrupts a conversation JUST when our hero is about to learn a key piece of information. Grrr.

10-10-2012, 08:39 PM	#12
Sassy Member How Do You Identify?: Female Relationship Status: Together Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: In the sunshine Posts: 598 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 815 Thanked 1,929 Times in 460 Posts Rep Power: 19641164	Two-thirds of the way through Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey and I'm of two minds about it. I love the writing and the characters, as usual. But this book's story is starting to piss me off. If we make one more u-turn.... RAWR!!! ... Other than that, still love Moirin and her simple free-love, hippy chick ways (I so relate to this character and her interaction with the world around her.) ... Also, a part of me definitely wishes she'd just dump the little stick fighter boy and go back to Ch'in to hook up with the princess... but I suppose if she did that the story would be over. LOL.

10-16-2012, 05:00 PM	#13
MissItalianDiva Senior Member How Do You Identify?: Miss Twiggy Preferred Pronoun?: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and that shit doesn't sound atrocious! Relationship Status: divorce happens..all that glitters ain't gold Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: SLC Utah Posts: 2,284 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,768 Thanked 7,159 Times in 1,793 Posts Rep Power: 21474854	A sweet note left on the bathroom mirror ...

10-06-2012, 11:13 PM	#14
Duchess Senior Member How Do You Identify?: Absolute Femme Preferred Pronoun?: She Relationship Status: Toe curling :-) Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Atlanta Posts: 2,382 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,792 Thanked 5,592 Times in 1,521 Posts Rep Power: 21474854	The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff __________________ *無料のライブ*

10-07-2012, 05:40 PM	#15
girl_dee Practically Lives Here How Do You Identify?: Femme Preferred Pronoun?: dee Relationship Status: Hitched up Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Livin’ the Dream Posts: 24,079 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 30,560 Thanked 54,830 Times in 13,908 Posts Rep Power: 21474873	Just finished Secret Daughter by shilpi somoya gowda... it was a good quick read.

10-07-2012, 05:52 PM	#16
always2late Senior Member How Do You Identify?: Femme Preferred Pronoun?: m'lady Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: NJ Posts: 2,000 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,834 Thanked 6,231 Times in 1,462 Posts Rep Power: 21474854	Re-reading "Friday" by Robert Heinlein __________________ Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there ~ Rumi