Time to Open the Mind and Explore!!!!

My first record of books read in a year. I am hoping to break the 75 mark. I think it's a great idea to take note of what I've read, otherwise it just becomes about what I have yet to read. You know?

If anyone has read a book I'm reading or have read, lets talk about it! If your in the process of reading it now, maybe we can read it together and exchange thoughts?

BOOKS READ IN 2010

1. The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho
2. Confessions of an English Opium Eater By Thomas De Quincey
3. Madame Bovary By Gustave Flaubert
4. Moderato Cantabile By Marguerite Duras
5. Reborn: Journals and Notebooks Susan Sontag
6. Under a Glass Bell By Anais Nin
7. A Room of One's Own By Virginia Woolf
8. A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer Edited by Eve Ensler
9. To The Actor By Michael Checkov
10. Letters to a Young Poet By Rainer Maria Rilke
11. Art and Fear By David Bayles and Ted Orland
12. My Forbidden Face By Latifa
13. The Inferno By Dante Alighieri
14. Listening By, Jean-Luc Nancy
15. One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed By, Melissa P.
16. The Art of Peace By, Morihei Ueshiba
17. Venus in Furs By Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch
18. Dune By, Frank Herbert

PLAYS READ IN 2010

1. The Island Devised by Athol fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona
2. The Chairs By Eugene Ionesco
3. Waiting for Godot By, Samuel Beckett
4. Children of Heracles By, Euripides
5. The Flies By Jean Paul Sartre (reread)
6. The Importance of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde
7. Ruined By Lynn Nottage
8. Platanov By Anton Chekhov
9. The Seagull By Anton Chekhov
10. Ivanov By Anton Chekhov
11. Come Blow Your Horn By, Neil Simon
12. Odd Couple By, Neil Simon
13. Glengarry Glen Ross By, David Mamet
14. Marisol By Jose Rivera
15. Roomful of Roses By, Edith Sommer
16. Trojan Women By, Euripides
17. Ten Blocks on the Camino Real By, Tennessee Williams

CURRENTLY READING

1. The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck
2. No Acting Please, by Eric Morris
3. The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein
4. Theatre of the Oppressed By, Augusto Boal
5. White Women in Racialized Spaces Edited By, Najmi and Srikanth
6. The Second Sex By, Simone de Beauvoir
7. Just Another Soldier By, Jason Christopher Hartley
8. Existential Psycho-Analysis By, Jean Paul Sartre
9. Men in Love By, Nancy Friday

Welcome to the group!

Thank you! I am excited to get to know this site better. Looks like everyone has lots of fun on it!

Welcome! Nice start to the year.

Hi!
Great list. I haven't read any of these, but I'm interested in hearing what you think of several of them.

I started about five other books since I posted this list! Susan Sontag's Reborn and Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary chief among them.

I'm finding Madame Bovary a little depressing but fascinating all the same. Its about this woman who marries some one she doesn't love but then tries to escape through fantasy instead of action. It's alarming to think one of the translators of the book killed themselves... It reminds me of what happened with The Sorrows of Young Werther many young people killed themselves after reading that book.

Literature can be so powerful - in good and disturbing ways. I will work to update more frequently now! Which shouldn't be too hard as I am on spring break!

Madame Bovary was definitely a worthwhile read! What I take away from it: addiction to fantasy is not conducive to a healthy life. On to Moderato Cantabile.

#8 So true - possibly spending too much time on any ONE thing is not conducive. I often run away (briefly) from my life through books, but not exclusively fantasy...
Madame Bovary was one of those books that really frustrated me, but probably it was meant to. Also, one of the early examples of the benefits of bad press.

#9 I agree spending too much time on any one thing is not productive ... I suppose unless you're moving forward with that one thing... obsession is the thing that's not good.

Its important to balance 'life' with reading I think. Reading can reveal things to you about your own life even.

Madame Bovary did get really bad press, it was almost banned because of one scene in the book too. Was that what you were referring to? It was a frustrating book, I had to read it in installments.

#11 - yes, there was a trial, and the book "won" and then everyone wanted to read it. Scandal can be helpful, in some ways.

One of the reasons I love reading so much is that I can go places and see things from the safety and comfort (and budget) of my couch that I might never see or learn about otherwise. I need to do a better job of keeping a reading journal. I often learn things about myself through my reactions to a story that I'm reading.

Reading Reborn: Journals and Notebooks is crucial to understanding Susan Sontag- the woman behind the fame. It helps break down the feminist, with almost mythic status, and lets us understand her as the flesh and bones human being she was- insecure, inquisitive, lover of music. It is inspiring to see how much she accomplished on top of how much she doubted herself. It also made me realize how important it is to keep a personal notebook- how it can be used as a tool to discover your own identity.

Glad to see you back! It has been a while.

Thank you and yes indeed! I am hoping to use this with more regularity!!!

Well, good! I look forward to seeing what you are reading the rest of the year.

waving hello!

I have just finished reading A Room of One's Own. A very interesting essay by Virginia Woolf. It was interesting to take into consideration that during the time period she was writing in (1920s)- she wasn't allowed to go inside the library at a certain university without a male superior accompanying her. Women still had a ways to go before they had as many rights as we do today.

And yet, her message at the end of the essay is still as resonant and as potent today as it was in the 1920s. Her most remarkable point to me is that the best writer would have an androgynous mind. I think in order for men and women to have androgynous minds- seeking identification through opposition to the other sex must end. Woolf writes that Shakespeare had an androgynous mind. I just saw 'The Merchant of Venice' in Shakespeare in the Park in NYC and I saw what she meant. Shakespeare's characters, their personalities, are not singular to one sex. Both sexes could have felt and thought all the feelings and ideas that were expressed in the play. One sees Shakespeare play with this idea, when Portia dons a mans clothes and goes into court and wins a case all the other defendants (all men) could not solve. Through this disguise of the sex- gender is proven to be a flexible mobile element. The only thing that was limiting was the actual roles of the men and women- women were confined to household caretakers and the wives- as was customary in Shakespeares time.

So I believe Woolf is advocating for an androgynous mind in the face of the sexist history of mankind, in order to be a true poet, and master of thought.

I love A Room of One's Own. I agree with you - her message is definitely still relevant today.

Just finished reading, 'A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer' A compilation of writings (edited by Eve Ensler) speaking out about and against violence against women.

A profoundly disturbing selection of powerful and overwhelming testimonies of women who have been abused or about women who have been abused. It was presented as a theatrical event in NYC to raise awareness and funds to go towards community agencies fighting violence against women. The book is divided into the four sections in its title. Each section represents a way women react to the violence perpetrated against them. At the end Eve shares the ways in which you can help with this movement.

I recommend reading it in installments, it is an important and very heavy read.

I love A Room of One's Own too. Have you read Tillie Olsen's Silences, which touches on some of the same issues from a different perspective?

I have not read it, thank you for suggesting Tillie Olsen I hadn't heard of her either. I will add Silences, to my list of books to be read. The next book I am reading about Women and Fiction is Roberta Rubenstein's Boundaries of the Self. Promises to be a good read! =)

You should also try Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, a great memoir on the writing life.

Bird by Bird sounds great. I will check it out, thanks for the recommendation! I love to write- short stories and poetry- these books will probably encourage me to commit pen to paper!

I just finished reading To the Actor by Michael Checkov. It describes the initial moments that lead to inspiration, and gives you ways to remind yourself of the inspired state and encourage yourself to attain it. I have already begun to use some of the exercises he wrote about in the play I am currently in at the NYC Fringe Festival. They have been very helpful.

I like Checkov's response to peoples oft asked query : why does a talented actor need to train? Checkov wrote: why does an intelligent child need an education?

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke touched on so many things I have been thinking about lately. Chiefly the fact that we are essentially on our own in the world and must take time to be alone in order to expand our selves to our fullest potential. The introduction to the book says when you read this you feel like Rilke is talking directly to you, and for you... so true. Of course I recommend it to anyone... whether you're a young poet or a veteran his words of wisdom will be appreciated.

Just finished Art and Fear I definitely picked this book up at the right moment. Many interesting observations on what it means to be an artist and explore yourself and your understanding of the world through art. Interesting to hear that most students of art cease being artists once they graduate school. They don't make the transition from the protected goal oriented school system into the real art world, where they are not coddled nor expected to succeed.

I am graduating this December, and I already have a play lined up for the month after I graduate, but I must confess I feel the pressure of working towards having a succession of artistic projects (esp ones that pay) for the whole year and beyond. It will be stressful but hopefully as this book encourages I will continue to make use of my human voice and connect through my art!

The sentiment you've expressed above in #26 regarding the poetry reminded very much of Hemingway's stories, though he always seemed to subtly counter that feeling with deep yearnings for connections between his characters. That juxtaposition is probably closer to the reality.

I think there are probably many differing realities, but also I think they all bleed into one another... like that feeling you talk about of yearning for connection between characters- I think that could be a way of describing loneliness. Or perhaps seeking to absolve loneliness. Rilke I think is suggesting we don't fight against our loneliness, but rather embrace it, and learn through it.

It is difficult to say there is a clear cut reality... it seems we all create our own reality in the midst of all the conflicting information we receive from our lives. Perhaps that is what makes us feel alone, and also seek for some kind of connection as Hemingway's stories express.

I just finished reading My Forbidden Face a disturbing account of the author Latifa - pseudonym growing up as a young woman under the Taliban. It is remarkable that this young woman was given the opportunity to write about what women in her country were going through- and I will not be able to forget the terrifying things she and women she knew had to endure.

Quick example so you know what you're in for (as a reader) : The Taliban would ride around and seemingly randomly whip women who were just walking by. They were forced to wear the burka (full body covering), and also to wear all black. One day Latifa is walking by a group of women and all of a sudden the Taliban begin whipping them... they are running in fear but the Taliban are chasing them, and Latifa can see blood dripping down from their burkas. Latifa begins to run terrified that she too will get whipped for no reason. She later finds out the women were beat because they were wearing white socks or shoes and that is a crime because their flag is white and so it is as though they are trampling the flag.

This is a PG story out of the many disturbing true stories from My Forbidden Face. It is a necessary, must read book, that will enlighten you and show how Muslim extremists are in no way representative of the teachings of Islam.

#30: That one sounds like a tough read, but I am going to look for it despite that fact. Thanks for the recommendation, Lillian.

I looked through your list of plays read this year-I also read Waiting for Godot this year and loved it. If you haven't visited the BBC Radio 3 website, they have many recordings of dramas you can listen to, including Beckett.

#32: That is so great, I went on the site and snooped around- I will definitely be frequenting it often to check for recordings to listen to. Thanks for recommending it!

#30: You are most welcome, I am happy to see you are going to look for it!

#33 You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it!

Just finished reading Dante's Inferno. It was a disturbing read, but also very engrossing - I missed my stop twice on the train because I was reading it.

But I can't help but notice how arrogant Dante was to assign great historical and religious figures to hell, and to imagine how they might be punished. Also that he makes one of the greatest poets alive (Virgil) his mentor, and has Virgil call him his son on several occasions. It is a very self aggrandizing book.

Reading The Inferno felt a lot like going to the museum. Every page there were some footnotes with explanations to all the historical references he was making. So it compared with looking at a painting in the museum and then reading the plaque for the historical context of the art. It was a history lesson as well as a piece of poetry.

It is a classic, but should be read with a shrewd eye so one doesn't get swept into believing that these people are actually in hell, it is after all Dante's hell.

I was just reviewing the books I read this year so far, and remembering how each of them changed my life a little. How powerful books can be.

I just discovered your wonderful site and am looking forward to contributing.
Hello Everyone,
Cyn Naden
Pasadena, CA

Just read "The Art of Peace" by Morihei Ueshiba, it reminded me to work on grounding myself, and to work for inner calm. Lots of short messages about Peace, and encouraging spiritual growth.