tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8368851273807686514.post4169212282155132092..comments2024-03-09T04:51:46.937-08:00Comments on Chez Cerise: Why I readCathleen Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04419722276746803568noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8368851273807686514.post-16685309757224598822010-03-24T23:28:58.010-07:002010-03-24T23:28:58.010-07:00Okay, now for something truly weird:
My choices wo...Okay, now for something truly weird:<br />My choices would be <br />*Democracy in America by de Tocqueville<br />*One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn (I'm glad that's not my last name)<br />*Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne. <br /><br />Oh, and then there is <br />*Lord of the Rings Trilogy by Tolkien<br />*The World's Religions by Huston Smith<br />*The Origin of Species by Darwin (even if you don't want to read the entire book you must sit down in a bookstore and read the last paragraph. Wow!)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14390399826132926703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8368851273807686514.post-62661527387694050152010-03-21T17:05:36.319-07:002010-03-21T17:05:36.319-07:00Kurt & Christy - Thanks for some great titles ...Kurt & Christy - Thanks for some great titles to add to my list. <br />Christy, I definitely agree about Three Cups of Tea. I look forward to reading Mortenson's next book. I just recently read Eat, Pray, Love and have to admit I'm pretty jealous that E. Gilbert thought of that book idea before I did...<br />Kurt, I haven't read most of the books you mention. I have shared Into the Wild with many of my students, and I hope it gave some perspective to their struggles and how those struggles affect and are affected by family dynamics. <br />Thanks for your thoughts!Cathleen Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04419722276746803568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8368851273807686514.post-76066917847370834102010-03-15T23:37:38.171-07:002010-03-15T23:37:38.171-07:00Not to sound too trendy, but Three Cups of Tea and...Not to sound too trendy, but Three Cups of Tea and Eat, Pray, Love both changed me in some way in recent years. <br /><br />The other ones that have shaped me over many years: Catch-22, actually anything by John Irving (I also think David Sedaris is hilarious, but I don't think that I could say that he's made me who I am.), The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Jazz, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Glass Castle, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and many, many more I'm sure.<br /><br />I want to read The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama (maybe if I put it out there, I'll actually get around to it). I LOVE reading, but I don't do it often just because I love it so much. Once I pick up a book, I find it hard to think about anything else, and I just want to keep reading straight through until the end, without stopping to eat, sleep, pay attention to my family...Christyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12263816467991250616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8368851273807686514.post-19309056046224037252010-03-15T17:30:03.274-07:002010-03-15T17:30:03.274-07:00I always have great difficulty remembering the boo...I always have great difficulty remembering the books that meant the most to me, that provided the great leaps of developmental insight, or gave me solace. Of course, there is always One Hundred Years of Solitude and, for me, The Plague, as well as even more youthful books like On The Road, The Man With The Golden Arm (which should be, IMO, even now, at the top of any list of great American novels), and, yes, The Catcher In The Rye. <br /><br />But on to an actual discussion of sorts. First I'll start with your list, or a very small part of it. Into The Wild hit during the years of severe introspection that followed Craig's suicide. And thus it offered a great deal of solace, along with an adjustment to a "connected detachment" from a form of idealism lost to loss, as well as to daily work in the non-profit sector. In a very different, yet related, theme, The Disappearance by Geneviève Jurgensen, had a big effect upon me at the time. It gave voice to grief and permission to enjoy solace, and, well, to enjoy joy. And, uh, yeah, there were many books that held sway in the mid- to late-90s.<br /><br />For now, I'll mention a few more that come to mind:<br /><br />Surviving Auschwitz by Primo Levi<br /><br />Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number by Jacobo Timerman<br /><br />Adolfo Bioy Casares makes me laugh and think at the same time like no other author. And speaking of laughter, William Saroyan still makes me giggle late at night.<br /><br />Ah, but I know I am forgetting so much. If David James Duncan wasn't such an asshole, I'd probably have mentioned The Brothers K (oh, lord, and speaking of obsessions with Russian authors, uh, no, let's not go there) though The River Why is certainly a better book.<br /><br />Both of those harken back to the mid-90s, and their descriptions of family are quite incredible, IMO. All right, speaking of families, I must go now. Perhaps my memory will bring me back. <br /><br />Cheers.Kurt Kemmererhttp://www.facebook.com/kurtkemmerer?ref=profilenoreply@blogger.com