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Who Are You Reading?

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Media
Posted on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:16:47 PM EST
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DougJ at Balloon Juice, a site I read daily, points us to this bit on what people are reading. For the most part, I no longer read the people they ask "what are you reading?(Brooks, Rich, etc.) I find it all pretty boring.

What do I read? The NYTimes (not the WaPo much at all anymore.) Krugman. Kevin Drum. Yglesias (interestingly not reading Ezra much at all anymore. No particular reason.) Digby. Greenwald every day. Daily Kos every day. A few smaller sites - Docudharma, Corrente, Susie Madrak's site. Booman. Can't remember what else. Not as much reading of political blogs lately.

I do read a lot of sports blogs though (I know, Sports Left is mighty quiet. I've been busy and, well, uninspired.) Among those I like Team Speed Kills (a blog about SEC sports), Alligator Army (about the Mighty Gators sports programs) and especially Podium Cafe, a cycling site. I love Bill Simmons' column at ESPN.

What are you reading these days?

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    Just finishing, (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by KeysDan on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:11:52 PM EST
    "The Death of American Virtue, Clinton vs. Starr", by Ken Gormley.  A fascinating, page-turner that relives that national turmoil in a manner that effectively organizes known facts, provides new information and offers critical perspectives based on interviews with a wide spectrum of parties to this historical episode, including President Clinton and Ken Starr.  Highly recommended.

    Raymond Chandler, l's ately. (5.00 / 2) (#25)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:14:42 PM EST
    I'm still working on lessons in Pashto and Urdu, even though I wrecked my ankle. That's not really 'reading,' I suppose. I hate to admit it, but I've beeen re-reading in two areas-- Caesar's works on the Gallic wars, in Latin, trying to improve (and there are plenty of translations and my Latin is... well, self-taught), and everything and anything about wars in Central Asia, afghanistan and Pakistan, WWII-present.

    I WILL make it back, I WILL either get called up or go civilian, and go back overseas. If I can prevent one needless death, i've done my job, limp or no. Doesn't matter if the mission is FUBAR, it's the current mission.  the he inI guess I was hitad roo many times in the Ranger Regiment, lol.

    When it comes to fiction, detective stories, Hemingway on occasion, or Gabo Marquez. Gotta keep those languages.

    It must run in the family. My navy aviator nephew speaks Mandarin, and my son is bilingual.

    So much to read, so little time! (5.00 / 1) (#34)
    by Anne on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:56:13 PM EST
    TL, of course
    Corrente
    Glenn Greenwald
    FDL News Desk
    Marcy Wheeler
    Physicians for a National Health Care Program
    Sports Illustrated/ESPN - the NFL stuff
    Local newspaper sports blog
    Food blogs: Joy the Baker, Food Network, Cooks Illustrated

    I read the paper version of my local newspaper - the Baltimore Sun, and the Sunday WaPo - the magazine is the best part, and I do the crossword.

    Also do the NYT Sunday crossword - gotta keep the neurons firing!

    I follow links to blogs that others cite; I can't read Booman or Bowers or DK or Yglesias on a regular basis: I don't want my blood pressure to give me a stroke.

    In my "spare" time, I'm in the library picking up stuff to escape into: mysteries, quirky novels, cookbooks.

    I love to read; as far as I'm concerned, a love of reading is truly a gift.  If only I had enough time to do as much of it as I wanted!  Everyone who knows me laughs when I say I want to go into the bookstore for "just a minute!"

    This was a banner week for me (5.00 / 1) (#45)
    by Cream City on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:30:20 PM EST
    because my grown daughter, back in college now, "fb'ed" (wrote on Facebook) to me and one and all that she is becoming her mother . . . because, for the first time in her life, she could not put down a book and had to stay up half the night to read it.

    She wrote that she now, at last, loves reading -- and wants to talk with me about books.  This would be a first in two dozen years!  And she writes, with pride, that she is becoming a nerd.

    This is the latest in a series of revelations that have made me pen regular messages along the lines of "Who kidnapped my daughter?!"

    But this time, I replied that having missed all those years when all those other parents drove around with those boastful bumper stickers about their kids, I am going to get a bumper sticker made just for me:  "Proud Parent of a Belated, Late-Blooming Nerd Student.  So What If She's Already 24?"

    Parent

    the student becomes the master, (5.00 / 2) (#49)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:49:25 PM EST
    Strong in the force she is!

    What a wonderful gift for you, also.

    Parent

    Since I began to live with cats (5.00 / 1) (#79)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 11:46:47 PM EST
    my reading time has been hugely shortened.  I do most of my reading in bed before going to sleep (sometimes in the past for hours), but it doesn't work when a warm, soft, purring, insistent creature walks into your lap and then climbs up your chest, smiles at you and reaches his/her paws up to your face.  Oh, my goodness.  Even if the cat weren't in the way, the endorphin rush from sleepy affectionate cat makes me drowse right off.

    The only time I can safely read is during the cat when cats are Outside, but I don't usually have time then.

    Parent

    I really like it that you capitalized (none / 0) (#87)
    by ZtoA on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 02:08:03 AM EST
    Outside. It is a state of mind for a kitty and it does not last long - just till one is just about to fall asleep, then they are at the window doing extremely annoying things in order to come inside to do extremely endearing things.

    Parent
    Heh (5.00 / 1) (#105)
    by gyrfalcon on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 10:16:36 AM EST
    It is indeed a state of mind.  My most affectionate, almost obsessive warm cuddler Inside after dark is the great fierce warrior Outside in the daylight hours, wandering too far for my comfort and wreaking havoc on the local vole population.

    He asks to come in every couple of hours for a little smackerel of something from his food bowl, and I play doorman, figuring the draw of an easy snack helps to keep him from wandering as far away as he might otherwise.

    My other cat is a homebody who is eager to be Outside but mostly sticks around the house, where she ecstatically receives the gifts of expired voles Himself returns with from the wild and lays at her feet from time to time before disappearing into the fields in search of another.

    Parent

    If you like food blogs (none / 0) (#47)
    by cawaltz on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:40:29 PM EST
    The Pioneer Woman Cooks is a great one, as is Annie's Eats and I've gotten lots of easy peasy recipes that are pretty darn good from Our Best Bites.

    Parent
    Have you (none / 0) (#90)
    by Matt v on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 02:35:40 AM EST
    checked out "The Book Thing" in Baltimore? Go on a weekend, and bring five or more cartons. If you love books, I guarantee you'll likely spend several hours there and go home with a great selection at no cost.

    Parent
    I'm reading less at work - behaving myself (5.00 / 1) (#52)
    by ruffian on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:07:51 PM EST
    really, though, I don't take smoke breaks and I'm not chatty in the halls, so I feel like I'm entitled to read a little extra.

    What I do read every day:
    Orlando Sentinel paper version
    TL, Greenwald, Corrente, Salon front page, HuffPo headlines  
    Apple blogs: tuaw.com, appleinsider.com
    entertainment/social - televisionwithoutpity.com, facebook

    Often: James Wolcott, digby, firedoglake, naked capitalism, housingbubbleblog, tapped, media matters, slate

    Less than I used to:
    DailyHowler (just got depressing)
    TPM (WKJM? Still wondering)

    Current books:
    Paper - Tipperary - Frank Delaney
    audio: Prince of the Marshes - Rory Stewart
    iPad: Grounded - Seth Stevenson
    iPhone: Idiot America - Charles Pierce

    Typically I keep a few going like that while I'm just starting them all, and one will take over as the primary book until it is finished. Right now it is 'Tipperary', a good yarn historical novel. I'll probably get done with it tomorrow, then live in my headsets until Prince of the Marshes is finished. The books I read on the phone are always ones it is easy to dip in and out of.

    I'm finding the iPad reading very enjoyable. Sounds stupid, but the page turning adds a lot to it. The pages even react appropriately to the speed of turning them and where you grab them. So far I've quickly skimmed/re-read a couple of the free classics, then bought Grounded, a travel memoir by a Slate writer I like.

    A howler (5.00 / 1) (#69)
    by ruffian on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 10:01:35 PM EST
    from David Brooks - whom I never read, but was in the article BTD linked to:

    I should say, when I got this job, Robert Novak gave me good advice: interview three politicians every day. I bet I average about 20 a week. Quite often that gives you an idea of what's not true. For instance, I'll read a blogger and they'll have a very plausible explanation about something but when you actually talk with people, you find out it's not true.

    For an insane moment I thought he meant he talks to politicians, and figures what they say is not true. But noooooo -  he goes to politicians to fact-check bloggers. That explains a lot.

    Absolutely (none / 0) (#82)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 11:55:06 PM EST
    mind-boggling.  Good. Grief.

    Parent
    Hmmmm (5.00 / 1) (#95)
    by jbindc on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 06:49:43 AM EST
    As a person who sits at a computer for 8-12 hours a day and reads documents for a living, I don't have the energy to read like I used to.  Thank goodness for internet access at work (or, like in the case of the current project I'm on - wi fi, so I can access the outside world through my iPod.)

    TL
    Corrente
    Glenn Greenwald
    FDL
    Taylor Marsh
    The Hill
    Politico
    The Corner
    Hot Air
    The Volokh Conspiracy
    The Confluence
    the front pages of WaPo, the Detroit News, and the Detroit Free Press (also for Detroit sports - Go Wings!)
    The Onion

    I am also actually in the middle of 4 different books - Triumverate (about Hamilton, Madison, and Jay and the struggle between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists), Virginia at War - 1861, Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster ( screamingly funny chick lit that a guy could love), and Bridget Jones' Diary.

    I am also listening to O, Pioneers! as an audiobook while at work.

    Damn (5.00 / 1) (#126)
    by lambert on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 06:47:01 PM EST
    Now I can't say that Corrente is the blog everybody hates and nobody reads any more!

    what I'm reading. (5.00 / 1) (#129)
    by robert234 on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 07:05:52 PM EST
    A hero of mine, Howard Zinn, died recently. We are both in our 70's, and even though I've virtually read everything that he has written, It's been over many years since I read one of his works. So I'm planning to read some of them again. I consider him unargueably, the greatest historian ever--of course quality and clarity, but mostly for his unmatched HONESTY. He destroys lies and propaganda like antibotics destroy infection.It's his books that should be in our schools from junior high through senior high. The book I would recommend everyone read first is, A PEOPLES HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

    History (none / 0) (#1)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:23:41 PM EST
    Carol D'Este, "Warlord." Churchill from birth through 1945.

    Outside of TL I don't consider blogs "reading."

    Jim, I do follow (none / 0) (#33)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:48:08 PM EST
    your links. I don't always (or even usually) agree with your interpretation of what they say, but I read them.

    Parent
    Heh. I was going to put Atrios on my (none / 0) (#64)
    by ruffian on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:40:48 PM EST
    list because I do go there every day, but calling it 'reading' is a stretch! Had to think about it, so I left it off.

    Parent
    I call it hinting (none / 0) (#98)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 07:09:06 AM EST
    He does have the gift of saying volumes in two sentences.

    Parent
    Surprising how many dormant blogs (none / 0) (#2)
    by andgarden on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:23:47 PM EST
    are in my reader. Plenty of overlap with your politics/news list. I would add Balkinization.

    I should really pare back on the overlapping Politico feeds I subscribe to.

    Funny, they ask 17 people (none / 0) (#3)
    by masslib on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:27:25 PM EST
    what they are reading and only 3 of them are women, meanwhile women make up 65% of the book market.

    I read this site, correntewire, alegre's corner, and the confluence.  Yves, Susie, Paul Krugman, and firedoglake.

    Oh, and I read Robert Reich everyday.  I've actually had some fairly heated emails exchanges with Reich when I felt he was too busy misreading the public in support of his favorite pols, but man, on policy, he is just so good.  I keep coming back to so many ideas he's proposed.  I really like what he has to say.

    Oh, and of course I am reading books... (none / 0) (#5)
    by masslib on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:31:49 PM EST
    I'm reading The Historian by Kostova.  And, I am reading Slapstick by Vonnegut.

    Parent
    Let me know if you like (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by Cream City on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 06:11:35 PM EST
    The Historian; I did.

    But I've had to put away the books for a while, as yesterday I got a lovely stack of reading -- my senior history seminar students' preliminary papers, the penultimate stage after three months' work and several stage in developing their work.

    So there could be no more fun reading for me.  I get to revel in seeing how well they have learned to not just read history but to do history, and some have tackled some formidable primary sources.

    And then I get to see if I can give them any last gentle direction for their last revisions.  No more red pens at this stage, though, as those already have instilled the fear of the goddess in them along the way.  Now they get respectful black ink for their accomplishment!

    And I get to look forward to returning to books in a month or so.  I'm taking notes here. :-)

    Parent

    I have stopped being gentle. (5.00 / 2) (#28)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:25:51 PM EST
    As a mattng of fact, one of my students was saying yesterday in class, before I walked in, "Do you know what this guy is? He doesn't give a sh!t about you."

    I had to disabuse the class of that notion, but remind them that I would cry with them after they failed.

    As I told them, if they have learned how to learn, it doesn't matter what grade they make. Process, not facts.

    Parent

    Agree about process (none / 0) (#46)
    by ZtoA on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:36:25 PM EST
    when I was teaching my students often just could not get the exercise I was teaching (I taught in two week segments with specific goals, readings and skills). But the next exercise would show that they were incorporating the last segment.  It happened so often I adjusted my grading accordingly.

    Reading? Besides TL? (and the usual suspects) Right at the moment I'm reading and searching for history of pigments. Just bought my first tube of true Chinese Vermilion - a $70 tube of oil paint and quite a deal at that. Its very poisonous so that will be fun too. Any fellow artist's suggestions for interesting materials (oil painting) info and discussion would be greatly appreciated!

    Parent

    Oh, I know, Jeff -- (none / 0) (#48)
    by Cream City on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:46:03 PM EST
    and we will not note the surly youngster in my otherwise stellar seminar of seniors.  (I have TWO Phi Beta Kappas in a small seminar -- just inducted.)  I learned from a supervising teacher long ago, when teaching middle school (an initiation of fire), to be cheered by the best and the brightest aspiring to excellence, while also doing my best to get the others (often quite bright but distracted by too much else in life, especially in this economy) above competence.

    I also learned to be scary as h*ll early on to get them all going.  That allows me to ease back to gentle direction now.

    Of course, again, these are seniors.  It's almost akin to the joy of teaching grad students.  As you can imagine, I must adopt different personae with the frosh and sophs, who can be just so . . . sophomoric.:-)

    Parent

    cream, ztoa, (5.00 / 1) (#57)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:25:27 PM EST
    allow me to tell you about abject strageness: I came back here afyer my injury, and was lucky enough to get an understanding teaching gig at a community college. I still don't get around well, and when hired I was still on a morphine pump.

    Well, in the middle of nowhere, bumfuct north Alabama, one of my students asks, : are you Jeffinalabama, who was in (a foreign country) in 1980 waiting to invade Iran?"

    I responded, "wha wha wha wha wha?" Erudite reply, I know.

    turns out his granddad was one of the air force crew. He remembered EVERYBODY on his manifest list, and bragged about it to his grandson.since my

    After that wonderful incident, a forty-ish fellow showed up with his son. His first comment was, "I remember you, you was a major. You went forward before the strikes, didn't you..." Desert Shield/Storm.

    I wanted to avoid past specifics, but of all the places to teach...

    I decided that anonymity is a myth. We interact with too many folks who remember too much.

    /No such thing as a quiet, simple life.


    Parent

    yes, (and I love this term) (5.00 / 1) (#63)
    by ZtoA on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:37:56 PM EST
    abject strangeness!

    As to this: " I decided that anonymity is a myth. We interact with too many folks who remember too much. No such thing as a quiet, simple life."

    Nooooo! Say it isn't so!

    Parent

    I almost think I stole (none / 0) (#66)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:56:02 PM EST
    that from Hunter S. Thompson, but maybe it's my contribution.

    No clue, but I probably 'borrowed' it. :-) honesty.It doesn't help a lot, but it means I have to remember less. I wish I remember the comic I got that one from.

    Parent

    I've long been convinced (5.00 / 1) (#76)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 11:14:25 PM EST
    there are really only about 400 people in the world.  The rest is done with mirrors.

    I came to this conclusion when somewhere in my 20s, I was just barely beaten out for a slot as a delegate to the Dem. national convention by another woman, who turned out to have been my best friend in 6th grade whom I hadn't seen since.

    Trust me, 400 people tops.

    OK, maybe 500.

    Parent

    No escape (none / 0) (#65)
    by ruffian on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:51:06 PM EST
    When I moved here to Orlando I became friends with  lady at the dog park who happens to teach in a local college with my brother's ex-wife's (C) current husband (P). C and P moved here 20 years ago with my niece J who was about 3 at the time.  I guess they did not tell people the whole story - that J had a different bio-dad, my brother.  I can understand that - why go into a big deal when you are in a brand new place and no one knows or cares anyway?

    Then I show up 15 years later and meet their friends and talk about their daughter as my niece. People kept asking 'Now how are you related to P again'? Raised a few eyebrows.

    the world is just too small.

    Parent

    do you think we (none / 0) (#68)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:57:19 PM EST
    might be magnetically attracted to wierdness?

    Parent
    Well I know wierdness is attracted to me anyway (none / 0) (#70)
    by ruffian on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 10:05:22 PM EST


    Parent
    CC I know you are responding to Jeff but (none / 0) (#54)
    by ZtoA on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:11:37 PM EST
    OMG I know what you mean about middle schoolers and teaching that level. First of all - I love that age - really. I hang with my nephew who is 'graduating' 8th grade soon. And he brings his buddies over (I live only a block away) and we all hang.

    But, maybe, 20 years ago I agreed to go to an 8th grade art teacher's class and do a presentation. They sat there, and there was NO eye contact. Strange expressions on their faces and slumpy body language. I thought it was a complete failure till, afterward the teacher told me how "fascinated" his class was. (?!!?)

    Parent

    That brings back memories (none / 0) (#56)
    by Cream City on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:22:22 PM EST
    as my student teaching was at the middle-school level -- and in an insane, stressed, huge. inner-city junior-senior high school, so I was teaching the tiny seventh-graders while some of the students there were almost my age and got out to vote.  And that was before the 21st Amendment to lower the voting age to 18. . . .

    I determined that K-12 bureacracy and seventh-graders were just beyond my abilities, so I went instead into my minor field the day after student teaching was done.  Yes, I opted for journalism, daily newspapering and all its deadlines, as low-stress compared to seventh-graders.:-)

    Months later, I got my teaching review at last and also was stunned to read that I had done well and had a high recommendation.  Ha!  No way, I said; never again will I endure the hormonal hell of seventh-graders in my life.

    Of course, then I foolishly had children of my own, who inevitably became . . . seventh-graders.  But at least that was one seventh-grader at a time, not forty-plus in a room, all at once!

    Middle-school teachers are saints.  Period.

    Parent

    Good for you (none / 0) (#75)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 11:09:52 PM EST
    Actually, the best teachers I've had in my life that I've learned by far the most from are ones who also made me cry.

    Everybody's different, but I'm absolutely one of those who needed to be pushed hard, sometimes unfairly hard, to really master things.

    Not that one should aim to make students cry, I hasten to say.  But with good, capable students, there's everything for them to gain by having tough teachers who demand a lot from them.

    Parent

    And, I still read the paper copy (none / 0) (#14)
    by masslib on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:53:01 PM EST
    of the NY Times, and WaPo every Sunday.  I sometimes read the Economist.

    Parent
    I liked 'The Historian' a lot (none / 0) (#61)
    by ruffian on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:32:43 PM EST
    Recently read her new novel 'The Swan Thieves' too, but did not like it as much. Learned a lot about painting though.

    Parent
    I've lost my (none / 0) (#74)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 11:06:40 PM EST
    affection for Reich somewhere along the line because his judgment seems to me to be too much impaired by his personal political passions.  But if you haven't read his memoir of his years in the Clinton administration, called something like "Locked in the Cabinet," you should.  It takes some liberties with the facts in aid of telling a good story, but it's quite charming and a wonderful read.

    Parent
    Yeah, no, his opinions (none / 0) (#99)
    by masslib on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 07:45:30 AM EST
    can be colored by his like or dislike of certain politicians, but really he's got some very good proposals.

    Parent
    I used to read Alegre all the time (none / 0) (#97)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 07:06:06 AM EST
    I need to start again, and Susie too

    Parent
    Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (none / 0) (#4)
    by NealB on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:28:52 PM EST
    I read it 30 or so years ago. It was written in the late 50s.

    I thought I'd (finally) read the newer copy I'd bought fifteen years ago.  The first copy I read was a misprint with twenty or so pages missing and pages out of order. The newer copy I'm reading also a paperback made of actual paper, a reprint, actually reprinted with actual ink, from the 80s or 90s, roughly.

    It's funnier than I remembered.

    Econoblogs (none / 0) (#6)
    by BDB on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:31:50 PM EST
    Particularly naked capitalism, but it's got a great blog roll and I often jump to other sites via it and Yves' links post.  

    Im looking for any (none / 0) (#10)
    by jondee on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:40:25 PM EST
    oddly exciting book uses the words "war" and "lord" in the title..

    In the meantime, Im reading Stand Still like the Hummingbird by Henry Miller and The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. Both full of the best advice I've ever ignored..

    Parent

    Not that I know anything.. (none / 0) (#15)
    by jondee on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:54:18 PM EST
    but this line of Miller's in his essay about Lautreamont is worth the price of the book:

    "Baudelaire was a rain of frogs, Rimbaud a nova (which still blazes), and Lautreamont a black messenger heralding the death of illusion and the nightmare of impotence to follow. Had there been only these three sinister luminaries in the whole of the nineteenth century that century would have claim to being one of the most illustrious in in all literature.."  

    Parent

    rereading THE DIVIDED MIND (none / 0) (#7)
    by Dadler on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:33:45 PM EST
    By the renowned Dr. John Sarno, of NYU Medical Center.  Indispensible knowledge for any real "health"care reform.

    And books on adoption.  

    BEYOND CONSEQUENCES, LOGIC, AND CONTROL is excellent.  Beyond that actually.

    Sarno has some interesting theories (none / 0) (#19)
    by Anne on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 06:24:29 PM EST
    about pain, one of which is that its origins may not be as physical as people think.  What, you say?  But, I have a herniated disk - how can that not be the source of my pain?  Well, how do we explain the MRI's of people who don't have pain, and clearly have herniated disks?  Why aren't they crippled and incapacitated with pain?

    The mind-body connection fascinates me, and Sarno's theory that pain can be one way the mind distracts us from what our real problems are, what we are trying to avoid confronting, is, I think, something anyone with chronic pain ought to at least consider.  It's not that pain isn't real, but it can be about discovering the source for it and dealing with it once and for all.

    As someone who has struggled for years with anxiety, I know the mind's ability to use the body exists; as I've gotten older, the conundrum for me is wondering whether what I experience from time to time is an actual physical problem, or just my anxiety having its way with me.

    Parent

    Sarno, IMO, is a genius (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by Dadler on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:31:15 PM EST
    His books, and the genuinely healing knowledge I received from them, and still get on re-readings, really saved my life.  I started with stomach and allergy stuff when I was a little traumatized kid, had severe back pain by the time I was a teenager, along with other inexplicable (at the time) pains and conditions.  The best part is, if you can accept the diagnosis, the healing comes from knowledge and perhaps some psychotherapy.  Listen, if you looked at an MRI of my back, please, you'd wonder how I could walk, but I'm fine as a fiddle, the most flexible fool in my family.  Although, I must say, after I licked the back pain, I started to get much worse plantar fasciitis pain, really debilitating onsets, but, you know what, I know where that pain comes from, and in a few minutes it's gone.  Now, I am admittedly a really lucky guy to have found him and to have understood, almost instinctively, that he was right and that his diagnosis was spot on.  And I've been cured.  How often does that happen with an incorrect diagnosis?

    Anyway, read the books, and here's a link to an old 20/20 segment on him.  Though I'm usually not a big fan of John Stossel, his report is a great intro to Sarno and psychosomatic (mindbody) medicine.

    Parent

    One of the things I've been told in (5.00 / 1) (#38)
    by observed on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:11:53 PM EST
    yoga class is to tune into feelings of discomfort and pain and not run away from them.


    Parent
    Wow, yes (none / 0) (#77)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 11:21:43 PM EST
    That has really worked for me in certain circumstances.  What's also worked in other circumstances is distancing myself emotionally from the pain. A failed est adherent friend suggested this when I had just brutal 24/7 sciatica pain for over a year, and it definitely helped. Instead of thinking, "Ow!!! I hurt!!" to think, "Oh, Gyrfalcon's leg hurts.  That's interesting."

    Point being with either technique to stop experiencing it as a battle, as something being done to you.  Either delve into it fully and wallow in the experience (works best for me if the pain is self-limiting) or step aside from it and just observe it, which worked best with the long-term chronic pain for me.

    But fretting about it is what makes it hardest to deal with.

    Parent

    Apparently you don't know Dadler very well. Yet. (none / 0) (#20)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 06:27:09 PM EST
    He and ye are two peas in a pod, you are.

    Parent
    Not sure what this means, but (none / 0) (#30)
    by Anne on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:35:40 PM EST
    whatever.

    Parent
    I'd say that (none / 0) (#32)
    by jondee on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:45:03 PM EST
    could only be a good thing.

    Parent
    It means you're preaching to the choir re: Sarno (none / 0) (#101)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 09:34:45 AM EST
    to Dadler. Dadler's one of the few old-timers left here on TL, and I like him alot.  

    Parent
    Yes, I've read (none / 0) (#26)
    by Zorba on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:20:20 PM EST
    Sarno's theories about pain and I think he is on to something.   The "herniated disk" versus "no herniated disk" versus "back pain" or "no back pain" stats are illuminating, as well.  I have known so many people with herniated disks who have had disk surgery and have received absolutely no pain resolution, or their pain has actually gotten worse.  OTOH, I have known back pain patients who have undergone physical therapy, massage therapy, water therapy, or a combination, and have received some relief.  As for me, yoga and water exercise keeps my back problems very manageable.  I'm not letting any surgeon within a city block of my back, unless it's an absolute emergency, thank you very much.

    Parent
    I had a trainer for weighlifting (none / 0) (#42)
    by observed on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:22:48 PM EST
    who had a herniated disc, and he kept on lifting enormous amounts. He was fanatical about form, because he couldn't afford to do things wrong at all.


    Parent
    Interesting (none / 0) (#100)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 08:25:55 AM EST
    I do think that some people do just experience more feelings of pain than others though, and my belief has to do with sensitivity testing puppies at 7 weeks by pinching the skin between their toes and making a note of how much pressure is required before the puppy squirms or yes...even cries.  And many of them won't cry at all and those dogs have thusfar in my learning kept that same pain tolerance throughout their lives and even deal with having hip dysplasia much more differently than other dogs in the same boat.  A human being taught to be more tolerant of their body pains is a very interesting concept.  P.S. You were right about falling in love with my new washing machine.  When does your first bottle of soap go dry?  I've washed the whole house and I'm only about halfway there.  And everything is so clean, and the softener seems to work better too and smell better as well, pretty amazing washing machine.

    Parent
    OP list reads like an echo chamber n/t (none / 0) (#8)
    by BTAL on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:38:18 PM EST


    What's OP? (none / 0) (#11)
    by masslib on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:42:55 PM EST


    Parent
    Yeah (none / 0) (#12)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:45:29 PM EST


    Parent
    Original poster? (none / 0) (#13)
    by Spamlet on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:47:41 PM EST


    Parent
    It's (none / 0) (#27)
    by michitucky on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:24:49 PM EST
    Original Post

    Parent
    Rereading (none / 0) (#9)
    by AlkalineDave on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:38:19 PM EST
    Steve Coll's Ghost Wars.  When I'm done with that, It's probably onto Taliban and Descent into Chaos by Ahmed Rashid.

    Book club book, to which I am listening (none / 0) (#16)
    by oculus on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 05:56:24 PM EST
    on audio, is "Outcasts United," by Wayne St. John.  Non fiction about refugees from Africa, Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan, etc., resettled in Clarkston, GA.  Also reading P.D. James' "Talking About Detective Fiction."  Just finished Pico Iyer's "The Open Road," about the 14th Dalai Lama.  And Anne Tyler's latest novel "Noah's Compass."  

    Skim LAT on line everyday.  Skim front page of NYT everyday and read the Arts section everyday.  Plus, natch, TalkLeft, Glenn Greenwald, and Digby.  Shouldn't admit I also skim "home" and "politics" headlines of Huffington Post.  

    "Martin the Warrior" (none / 0) (#18)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 06:13:01 PM EST
    from the "Redwall" series.

    On the strong advice of my 10 y/o son.

    I read blogs (none / 0) (#21)
    by robert72 on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 06:32:59 PM EST
    from the relatively sublime to the ridiculous.... TalkLeft, DK (although the Obama idolatry and the 'I am so smart and educated and everyone else is stoopid' diaries have just about finished me there), The Confluence, Cinie, Docudharma, Open Left, Daily Howler, Widdershins, FDL - and smaller ones, too, like BlueLyon and Corrente, Hullabaloo and Uppity Woman. And then Paul Krugman, Glenn Greenwald and the Drudge Report. Eclectic!
    And now I am on a British mystery kick - I am just finishing up the sets by Martha Grimes and Dorothy Sayers....

    Clean murder... (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by dkmich on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:03:35 PM EST
    I love Agatha Christie.  I also love Rex Stout.  He did Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin in 1030s New York.  

    In addition to the usual suspect blogs, I also read OpenLeft.  

    Parent

    Love Rex Stout (5.00 / 3) (#35)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:01:56 PM EST
    Some Buried Caesar. Lily Rowan naming Archie Escamilllo.

    Parent
    If you like Stout and haven't (5.00 / 1) (#36)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:06:24 PM EST
    examined Chandler... I've been on a candler kick lately. It's like reading film noir.

    Can't recommend him more. I bought about $70 of his works about three weeks ago. His short stories are powerful.

    Parent

    Love Chamdler (5.00 / 2) (#39)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:14:02 PM EST
    My favorite though is Martin Cruz Smith.

    Parent
    No Elmore Leonard? (5.00 / 1) (#127)
    by lambert on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 06:52:28 PM EST
    City Primeval?

    Unknown Man #89?

    Gold Coast?

    All great!

    Parent

    Since you're from Florida you've probably (none / 0) (#41)
    by observed on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:15:56 PM EST
    read Charles Willeford.
    If you haven't, I recommend him.

    Parent
    My Florida-based reading (5.00 / 1) (#43)
    by Cream City on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:25:11 PM EST
    is pretty much the marvelous books of the hilarious Carl Hiassen.

    Therefore, I am convinced that the entire state is crazy.

    Parent

    My niece gave me 'Nature Girl' when I moved here (5.00 / 1) (#62)
    by ruffian on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:36:44 PM EST
    Such a great book - I need to read more of his.

    And your impression is correct.

    Parent

    John D. MacDonald (5.00 / 1) (#128)
    by lambert on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 06:53:07 PM EST
    Travis McGee -- all of them!

    Parent
    Try Miami Blues, by Willeford. (none / 0) (#44)
    by observed on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:25:41 PM EST


    Parent
    Only familiar with GorkyPark and (none / 0) (#51)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:52:22 PM EST
    Red Square. Any suggestions?

    Parent
    'Rose' is wonderful (none / 0) (#55)
    by ruffian on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:22:07 PM EST
    Read it a long time ago so I can't remember plot details, but it is a mystery set in a coal mining town.  Smith is so great at capturing atmosphere that the feeling of the book has stuck with me all this time.

    Parent
    I'll find it. (none / 0) (#59)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:28:15 PM EST
    Thanks for the suggestion.

    Parent
    Martin, (none / 0) (#88)
    by Matt v on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 02:16:49 AM EST
    himself, is said to favor Peter Hoeg for his creation of Smilla Jaspersen in "Smilla's Sense of Snow", a wonderful mystery thriller.

    Parent
    Rex Stout is awesome! (5.00 / 1) (#125)
    by lambert on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 06:45:55 PM EST
    That is all.

    Parent
    Have you read any Elizabeth George (5.00 / 1) (#58)
    by ruffian on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:25:42 PM EST
    Inspector Lynley mysteries? Modern day English murder mysterie in the 'clean' cerebral style. Very well written. Masterpiece Theater did not do a good job with them, sorry to say, so if you have seen them on TV and did not like them, don't give up on the books.

    Parent
    Yes. Absolutely hooked (none / 0) (#93)
    by dkmich on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 06:48:16 AM EST
    on mindless, clean murder mysteries.   I even reread and reread my collection.  

    The Cat Who series is another one of my reads, mostly because it is set in what sure sounds like Michigan's upper penninsula.  

    Parent

    I also love (none / 0) (#103)
    by robert72 on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 09:59:09 AM EST
    Caroline Graham, and her Midsomer Murders. Very well written.... and P.D. James, too. Wonderful reading.

    Parent
    Meant to type 1930s NY.... n.t (none / 0) (#94)
    by dkmich on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 06:49:00 AM EST


    Parent
    Kevin Drum? (none / 0) (#22)
    by pluege on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 06:59:39 PM EST
    really? BTD, you're way too smart to waste your time with that.

    Drum is bad on health care (none / 0) (#78)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 11:27:51 PM EST
    but he's got the most wide-ranging, open-minded blog out there. (He's also by far and away the best, clearest, cleanest writer in the blogosphere.)  Drum is interested in learning stuff about all kinds of different things from various points of view, something you can't say about many blogs.

    He's got two horribly obese cats he refuses to deal with sensibly, but other than that, he's somebody I'll go to war to defend, even though I often disagree with him.

    Parent

    Used to read drum a lot (none / 0) (#91)
    by pluege on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 03:44:05 AM EST
    my advice is not to waste your time. there is nothing there and worse.

    Parent
    Not TPM? (none / 0) (#31)
    by MKS on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 07:39:29 PM EST
    ....skimming Drudge to see what else is going on.....

    Alan Furst is great reading.  Spy stories set in WWII occupied Europe....

    Besides you? (none / 0) (#37)
    by Gisleson on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:06:38 PM EST
    Media Matters for America
    The Immoral Minority
    Hullaballoo
    Firedoglake (which has pretty much replaced the Great Orange Satan on my reading list altho I do skim their frontpage RSS feed daily)
    TechDirt (Mike Masnick is very good on copyright and patent issues)
    Pharyngula
    Wired

    and, sadly, about a hundred other blogs on a daily basis, but I start with those. And Raw Story, Think Progress, TPM Muckraker, etc.

    TalkLeft was off my list for a while. I really enjoy reading you when I agree with you, less so when I don't.

    Pharyngula is good (none / 0) (#40)
    by observed on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:15:03 PM EST
    but he sure has a lot of passion for a subject I'd rather not think about.
    What I mean is that questions of religion barely interest me.
    Furthermore, I'm convinced that one cannot root out irrationality; at least some people seem to be hardwired to have mystical mindsets.

    Also, he can be quite pompously trite sometimes. I've read diatribes against religion which contain nothing that wasn't said thousands of years ago, and better.

    You must have read about Singh's big victory in the libel case in Britain, if you go to Pharyngula.  That was good news.

    Parent

    I was happy to see that Singh is suing them (none / 0) (#50)
    by Gisleson on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 08:50:37 PM EST
    but I've always thought chiropractors need to be more tightly regulated and slotted in with the physical therapists. They're not on a level with M.D.s, D.O.s or N.P.s, not in my book.

    Parent
    Homeopathic chiropracty would be (none / 0) (#53)
    by observed on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:08:36 PM EST
    an improvement.

    Parent
    I'm reading (none / 0) (#60)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:28:35 PM EST
    For my Global Health course:

    Sickness and Wealth: The Corporate Assault on Global Health
    ~ Meredith Fort (Editor), Mary Ann Mercer (Editor), Oscar Gish (Editor), Steve Gloyd (Editor)

    Last night our lecturer was a DDS turned documentary photographer who covers women's health and welfare issues in developing countries.  His web site is here:
     Stirring The Fire

    Donald, there are some fiction (none / 0) (#71)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 10:06:52 PM EST
    works from befor 1950 concerning the Boers. One is about a Boer raised by English, returned to a Boer family at 13... I think it's called "Southern Cross." I was amazed at the insight I gained from that one, and I just read it last year.

    Have you examined the voertrekkers yet? good insight into the white Afrikaaner existence, and the disdain, at best, for the British. It isn't famous, but deeper than it might appear.

    Also, there's a story about a man and his pit bull that walk through south africa... nothing to do with politics, but a great dog story. Admittedly, I'm partial to pit bull stories, since I sleep with one every night (or at least a mix... a maligned breed).

    Titles? (none / 0) (#81)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 11:54:12 PM EST
    Jeff, if you can come up with the titles, I'd be really grateful.  It's a period and place I know little about, and I find good fiction is a wonderful way to start to learn.

    From a quick Google, I don't think "Southern Cross" is the right title, since all the books with that name seem to be about the U.S. South.

    Parent

    It will be Monday, since I have to go to the l (none / 0) (#104)
    by jeffinalabama on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 10:14:48 AM EST
    library to find it, but I'll find it.

    Parent
    southern cross (none / 0) (#106)
    by pukemoana on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 12:17:41 PM EST
    would refer to the constellation of stars that those of us in the southern hemisphere know.  google's probably sending you towards references to the american south because it's picking up that you're in the usa (that's what it does, right?)

    Parent
    I'm telling it to find book (none / 0) (#109)
    by gyrfalcon on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 01:21:33 PM EST
    titles.

    Parent
    Here's the title: (none / 0) (#151)
    by jeffinalabama on Wed Apr 21, 2010 at 08:54:00 AM EST
    "Southern Cross: a Novel," by Brigid Knight. Out of print. Another title by her is "The Covenant." Not the Mitchener book, though...

    Parent
    I read Twitter (none / 0) (#72)
    by Coldblue on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 10:16:55 PM EST
    I've chosen to follow news and commentary and go wherever the links take me.

    I hardly read anything online (none / 0) (#73)
    by shoephone on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 10:30:54 PM EST
    unless it's related to my writing or schoolwork.

    Blogs? Pffft. TL, occasional Greenwald and Corrente. That's it.

    I read books. I'm about 30 pages from finishing Tim Egan's "The Worst Hard Time." Before that, "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones, and "The Plague of Doves" by Louise Erdrich.

    Why are you going (none / 0) (#80)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 11:51:03 PM EST
    to South Africa?  Vacation, or some other reason?

    I'm unlikely ever to get there, but it's a place I'd really like to see.  I gather it's one of the absolutely most beautiful countries in the world.

    Political Stuff (none / 0) (#83)
    by xanamanax on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 12:33:34 AM EST
    Every Day
    Talk Left, Glenn Greenwald, The Daily Howler, Media Matters, Think Progress, Paul Krugman, Taylor Marsh, Alegre's Corner, The Confluence, Tom in Paine, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, MyDD, Open Left

    Occasionally
    Digby, Atrios, Talking Points Memo, Corrente

    Nixonland. (none / 0) (#84)
    by oldpro on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 12:44:39 AM EST
    Reliving my 20s and 30s.

    Great stuff.

    Hofstadter's (none / 0) (#85)
    by Matt v on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 01:59:53 AM EST
    Le Ton beau de Marot, which I was quite fortunate to obtain at no cost and in pristine first edition form from "The Book Thing" in Baltimore. Great place; over 200,000 ever-changing volumes, all free to anyone who loves and wants books.

    TL and long sprawling novels (none / 0) (#86)
    by Raskolnikov on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 02:02:08 AM EST
    I've seriously cut back on my information intake in the last several months, got to the point of compulsion.  I check TL for blogs, but otherwise I get my news a week late from The Economist.  Currently reading Bolano's 2666, and enjoying the hell out of it.  Also toward the end of Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow and somewhere toward the middle of Nabokov's Pnin.  At this point just trying to get done with those three so I can start Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

    as far as reading blogs go (none / 0) (#89)
    by ZtoA on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 02:21:40 AM EST
    TL is unique, IMO.

    Most leftie blogs are still in the primary war zone. There are the post Hillary and the post Obama blogs and they mostly do not mix in my blog reading experience. The commenters do not co-blogitate like the commenters are forced to here at TL.

    Also, BTD, I know that there are many more readers here than commenters (as is usual) but one of the reasons is that commenting here is intimidating. Honestly. Most here are obviously very intelligent, very informed and proficient at their game and are not open to rah-rah nonsense. There are many (like myself) who do not comment on the more legalize posts, but who try to follow along with great interest at the legal arguments. After all, law, and legal reasoning affects us all.

    So, in conclusion, after all the blogs and newspapers (etc) that I've read (and gotten bored with because I know what they are going to say before hand and there is no real debate anyway, just name calling) I truly think that Talk Left is rather unique in its value.

    Leftie? (none / 0) (#107)
    by waldenpond on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 12:38:44 PM EST
    TL is not a leftie blog.  Good grief.... BTD states repeatedly that he is centrist.  He's the main writer and sets the agenda on this site.  Jeez, the guy is a 'global war on terror' supporter and pushing preventive detention as the focus writer on the blog and people think this is a left blog?

    Parent
    Jeralyn is Left (none / 0) (#124)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 04:48:18 PM EST
    especially on Criminal Defense issues.

    No question that there is no Truth in Advertising in terms of my writing on this blog.

    Parent

    Just read Imperial Cruise (none / 0) (#92)
    by Buckeye on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 06:42:03 AM EST
    I would highly recommend it, although I warn you that you may not feel too proud of America after you do.

    Currently reading The Road from Ruin.

    I usually read Greenwald every day now (none / 0) (#96)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 07:02:17 AM EST
    I read Naked Capitalism, check what Digby has to say and also check out whatever Atrios might be hinting at.  I used to read Sirota but he got boring.  I'll check out Krugman, but he bores me now too after giving up on writing about what the real fixes are because those won't happen in the near future.  I read Booman now after a very long hiatus of giving rip at all :)  And today he has something up about always thinking that Blackwater was untouchable because they had all the guns and all I got is an eyeroll.  Booman dude, Blackwater does not have all the guns....the U.S. military has all the guns and they don't like competition from mercenaries or anyone else on the globe.  The Marines even slapped Blackwater around a few times after they arrested them in Iraq.  Blackwater was always going to be done with when Bush was done with.  Booman and thinking, it gets a little too deep but it isn't boring....usually entertaining.

    NY Times online (none / 0) (#102)
    by Coral on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 09:47:39 AM EST
    Glance at more than read the political blogs, with Firedoglake at the top of the list for more in depth posts. Krugman, always.

    Books: Mavis Gallant short stories (brilliant!), re-reading Borges (brilliant in a totally different way), The Shadow of the Wind (not brilliant, but fun through repetitive).

    Interesting that no one here lists (none / 0) (#108)
    by oculus on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 01:15:52 PM EST
    "Informed Consent."

    I can't read Juan every day (none / 0) (#112)
    by Gisleson on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 03:35:54 PM EST
    because the more I know about what we're up to in that part of the world, the angrier I get.

    But yes, he writes more truth about the Middle East every day than the NYTimes does in a month of Sundays.

    Parent

    Informed COmment (none / 0) (#113)
    by squeaky on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 03:40:59 PM EST
    Informed Consent is a pron site...

    Parent
    "Informed Comment" is the website to (none / 0) (#114)
    by oculus on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 03:42:41 PM EST
    which I was referring.

    Parent
    Yeah, Yeah, Yeah... lol (none / 0) (#115)
    by squeaky on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 03:43:33 PM EST


    Parent
    Evidentially. (none / 0) (#116)
    by oculus on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 03:45:13 PM EST


    Parent
    Just Finished (none / 0) (#110)
    by kaleidescope on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 02:12:03 PM EST
    Peter Matthiessen's great re-working of the Watson Trilogy, "Shadow Country."

    I am about to tuck into his "The Snow (none / 0) (#111)
    by oculus on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 02:23:41 PM EST
    Leopard."

    Parent
    The Snow Leopard. (none / 0) (#117)
    by Dr Molly on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 03:46:01 PM EST
    Bring the tissues! Very sad parts about his wife's illness and death. But an incredible piece of literature I think.

    Have you read his At Play in the Fields of the Lord?

    Parent

    I don't recall reading anything of his. (none / 0) (#119)
    by oculus on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 04:02:52 PM EST
    Interested in TIbet after finishing Pico Iyer's "The Open Road."

    Parent
    Ah, the Tibet thing. (none / 0) (#122)
    by Dr Molly on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 04:12:56 PM EST
    I think you will love the book.

    Parent
    For Non-Fiction Try (none / 0) (#130)
    by kaleidescope on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 10:12:23 PM EST
    In the Spirit of Crazy Horse.  In spite of the First Amendment, it was banned for several years.  It will break your heart and really, really piss you off.

    Parent
    So much to read. (none / 0) (#118)
    by Dr Molly on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 03:51:45 PM EST
    News/politics blogs I read mainly:

    BTD
    Greenwald
    Shakesville
    Daily Howler
    Hullabaloo
    NYTimes

    and a few others now and then. I am trying to get in the habit of just reading main posts and not the comments section, but it is a hard habit to break (especially at TL!).

    I also frequent some science blogs and cooking blogs.

    I seem to always be reading a couple of books at once. For fiction, I'm currently reading Barbara Kingsolver's latest - The Lacuna. It's good. And I read a lot of non-fiction science stuff, and some obscure philosophy of science stuff when I feel awake enough to absorb it.

    So you prefer your BTD unsullied (none / 0) (#120)
    by oculus on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 04:03:24 PM EST
    by comments?

    Parent
    LOL, something like that. (none / 0) (#121)
    by Dr Molly on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 04:11:02 PM EST
    I do enjoy reading certain commenters, but the sparring contests sometimes drive me batty. (Not just on this blog.) If I could break my blog addiction, I could read more books.

    Parent
    Me too re breaking blog addiction. And (none / 0) (#123)
    by oculus on Sat Apr 17, 2010 at 04:35:38 PM EST
    I am really only addicted to part of this one.  Let me know if you find a solution.

    Parent
    I only read all the comments (none / 0) (#131)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 08:42:03 AM EST
    on this blog now.  I will read comments on other blogs to specific postings and diaries that interest me, but I have also been breaking with so much comment reading.

    Parent
    I only read the comments at TL. (none / 0) (#132)
    by oculus on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 11:23:49 AM EST
    Sometimes I wish I didn't.

    Parent
    Lately there has been some (none / 0) (#133)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 11:50:56 AM EST
    pointed yet unfounded anger.  I was catching up on my Stephen Colbert this morning that I had DVR'd.  He interviewed David Sheilds who has some book out there called 'Reality Hunger'.  I haven't read it, but it has something to do with no longer citing quotations you use from other people.  He argues that it is an outdated practice.  I guess the whole book is full of quotations that he didn't want to cite as well but his publisher wouldn't go with that so all the cites are on the last ten pages.  On the cite pages there is a dotted line that is a cue to those who buy the book to cut those pages out.  So Colbert cut those pages out, threw the book to the side, went and fetched the book jacket and wrapped it around the last ten pages and then said into the camera with "the book" in hand, the book is called 'Reality Hunger'.  I died laughing, but it made me think about you and Cream City too for some reason.

    Parent
    Cream City, certainly. But moi? I have to (none / 0) (#134)
    by oculus on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 11:58:46 AM EST
    really discipline myself to even skim those closing pages of notes.

    Parent
    Unfounded? (none / 0) (#135)
    by squeaky on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 12:16:24 PM EST
    Anger can never be unfounded, it is a human emotion that about as unfounded as morning dew. Anger may be misdirected, socially inappropriate, but never unfounded.

    Fake outrage, on the other hand, aka ersatz anger is always unfounded.

    Parent

    Hmmmmm I wonder why you (none / 0) (#136)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 12:21:19 PM EST
    felt the need to inject some strange sort of justifications of what I know not at this exact moment and thread :)?

    Parent
    Yeah (none / 0) (#137)
    by squeaky on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 12:26:12 PM EST
    Good point, it has become worthless to respond to you of late.. must remember to make a note so I do not repeat.

    Parent
    Curious. (none / 0) (#138)
    by oculus on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 12:31:46 PM EST


    Parent
    Yeah (none / 0) (#139)
    by squeaky on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 12:42:23 PM EST
    Unlike MT and I, you and I will remain an enigma to one another. Must be because we come from such an entirely different place.

    IOW, I ofted do not know what you are talking about either.

    Parent

    The blogosphere (none / 0) (#140)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 12:48:52 PM EST
    by way of its very design and make up and lack of physical being presence tends to be a very enigma rich environment.

    Parent
    YMMV (none / 0) (#141)
    by squeaky on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 01:04:57 PM EST


    Parent
    Do I really have to google this? (none / 0) (#142)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 01:13:07 PM EST
    I don't text.  I text one person, that is my daughter and only because she only seems to get communications made through texting.

    Parent
    The funniest aspect (none / 0) (#144)
    by lilburro on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 01:58:00 PM EST
    of the oculus/squeaky dynamic is that you two are the biggest opera fans on the board.  You could possibly one day stumble across each other IRL!

    Parent
    Not Really (none / 0) (#145)
    by squeaky on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 02:33:15 PM EST
    I hate Italian Opera... which covers a good part of the opera buff(a)'s meat and potatoes.

    Parent
    I am hoping to run into kdog in NY next (none / 0) (#146)
    by oculus on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 10:24:23 PM EST
    week, although I doubt he frequents the Met.

    Parent
    I know what you are talking about. (none / 0) (#147)
    by oculus on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 10:25:18 PM EST
    Just can't figure why you decided to talk about it at this particular place and time.

    Parent
    Nothing To Do With Place and Time (none / 0) (#148)
    by squeaky on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 10:31:51 PM EST
    Only to do with the notion of "unfounded anger", which not possible, imo.

    Anger does not need justification. It is a biological function.

    Parent

    Good to know. So we are off the hook (none / 0) (#149)
    by oculus on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 10:34:29 PM EST
    for being angry?

    Parent
    Sorry (none / 0) (#150)
    by squeaky on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 10:43:39 PM EST
    I do not understand what you are talking about. Off what hook?

    Anger can be misdirected and create a terrible mess, in which case you would be on the hook.

    The brain, for adults, allows us to make judgements as to how we use our emotions.

    For instance, being angry at a policeman, and punching her in the face, would not be using good judgement. A better option would be screaming at the top of your lungs in your car with the windows closed, bashing some pillows, or thrashing about in a body of water.

    Parent

    This has been (none / 0) (#143)
    by lilburro on Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 01:50:53 PM EST
    a very interesting thread to read.  I read

    TL
    Rising Hegemon
    Digby
    Ezra Klein
    Gawker (their political posts can be interesting, and they're always funny)
    Jezebel
    Pandagon
    Toog - He's one of my favorite musicians and a quirky guy.

    Who Are You Reading? | 150 comments (150 topical)

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