WHAT ARE YOU READING?

 What are you reading this week?

                                                                                                                by Lumn from Pexels

         Enquiring minds want to know.

What's the best book you've read lately? 

        I'd love to hear about it. I'll be posting reviews from blog readers.  

        Here are some of my current favorites: 

Malcolm Gladwell   Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

Can you make a sound decision in the blink of an eye? Can you tell genuine from fake at a glance? Can you assess a dangerous situation in a heartbeat?

Malcolm Gladwell’s fascinating book tells how our brains work, and why decisions that we can’t explain to others (or even to ourselves) are often brilliant.

Non-fiction from Little, Brown and Company, 2005     277 pages

 

Susan Nolen-Hoeksema’s The Power of Women is subtitled: “harness your unique strengths at home, at work, and in your community.” Practical suggestions on how to improve family relationships and make your work productive and fulfilling. It’s a tribute to the power of womanhood, but men will benefit from it too. Nolen-Hoeksema gives excellent examples of how to listen to your teen and how to make your voice heard at work.

Non-fiction from MacMillan Audiobooks, 2009     5 hours

 

Hot detectives, sweet revenge, and tea cups with legs add to the fun in Fast Women, by Jennifer Crusie. Best line: “I’m very gullible. I believe everything I think.” A romantic comedy with teeth. And legs.

Fiction from St. P Press, 2001     358 pages

 

Were you brought up to be neat, polite, and perfect? What did you miss out on? What would you do, if you could choose your dream career or talent? In Brave, Not Perfect,  Reshma Saujani says, don’t just dream, do it. Her subtitle says it all: “Fear less, fail more, and live bolder.” Celebrate your failures, learn from them, and keep on going.

Non-fiction from Currency, 2019     197 pages

 

Avon Green was born without arms. That doesn’t slow her down.

She solves mysteries, integrates into an alien environment, and

 bonds with a cactus in Dusti Bowling’s novel, Insignificant Events in

the Life of a Cactus. Next time you hear yourself say, “I can’t,” go

 on-line and check out real-life armless people. The

 accomplishments of Jessica Cox and Trisha Unarmed (to name only

two) would be impressive if they were fully-armed.  What they do

 armlessly will inspire you.

Fiction from Sterling Children’s Books, 2017     262 pages

Who would you be, if you were raised by a wild animal? Karen

 Hesse’s novel The Music of Dolphins gives you a glimpse of what

your life might be like. What does it mean, to be human? Are

 animals capable of humane acts?

Fiction from Scholastic Press, 1996     181 pages

 

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

 Black History Month and President's Day 

                                           Photo by Rodnae Productions

                                           

   Let one of the quotes below inspire you to express your dreams.

 Or describe a meeting between Abe Lincoln and Michelle Obama.

               Or Michelle Obama and Harriet Tubman. 

                             Or anyone you want.

                   You can participate in their dialog, too. 

                         What would you say to them?

            "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember,

 you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to

 reach for the stars to change the world.”

“I had crossed the line. I was free; but, there was no one there to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.”

“I looked at my hands to see if I was still the same person now that I

 was free.” 

                                                           -- Harriet Tubman  1822-1913

 

“The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you into eternity.” ― Marcus Garvey 1887-1940

 

Michelle Obama: “History has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.”   1964—

 

Those who deny freedom for others, deserve it not for themselves.

                                                        -- Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865

 

    “Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”

                                              ― George Washington  1732-1799

    “Our attitudes towards things like race or gender operate on two

levels. First of all, we have our conscious attitudes. This is what we

choose to believe. These are our stated values, which we use to direct

our behavior deliberately . . . But the IAT [Implicit Association Test]

 measures something else. It measures our second level of attitude,

 our racial attitude on an unconscious level - the immediate,

 automatic associations that tumble out before we've even had time

 to think. We don't deliberately choose our unconscious attitudes.

 And . . . we may not even be aware of them.”

Malcolm Gladwell, Blink:The Power of Thinking Without Thinking           

                                                                                            1963—

Lots of food for thought in Blink, and in all these quotes. 

We may be racist without being aware of it. 

Check out Ruby Pratka’s “Espresso” website: 

“20 Books to Better Understand Race/Racism.”

HAPPY HEART DAY

 Happy💓 Valentine's Day!

Have fun with these creative writing prompts on love.

                               Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels

Write about "The Perils and Pearls of Love." Thanks for the topic, Jim. 

                            Write about love or anything you want.

 Need inspiration? 

Do you agree or disagree with these famous quotes? Consider this a literary True or False Valentine’s Quiz. You decide the correct answers.

 

Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds.  

                                                      William Shakespeare

 

If you love something, set it free; if it comes back, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.                                                                              Richard Bach

 

 Love means never having to say you’re sorry.  Erich Segal

 

A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.  David Mitchell

 

Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.  Shakespeare

 

Who ever loved who loved not at first sight?  Shakespeare

 

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.  Shakespeare

 

Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.  

                                                                               Dr. Seuss

 

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.  

                                                             Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

 Every person has to love at least one bad partner in their lives to be truly thankful for the right one.         Hubert H. Humphrey

 

      Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do. Loving people live in a loving world.

      And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.

                                                                           Robert A. Heinlein

 

          Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.   Lord Byron

          I wonder how many people don’t get the one they want, but end up with the one they’re supposed to be with.   Fannie Flagg

 

COLORFUL WRITING

Colorful Writing—Let Your Words Flow!

 Imagine a river of rainbows. Now turn those misty rainbows shades into saturated colors—molten lava reds, sunset oranges, sunflower yellows.

                                                                Photo by Steve Johnson

This colorful writing exercise will loosen the muscles of your

 imagination. Dive in and keep writing. Don’t edit, don’t pause.

 Write the first words that come to mind.

 Artist Paul Klee said, “Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet.”

 Colors speak every language.  They show our moods, feelings and

 memories.  They describe physical things such as mountains and

 lakes and fields.  Some people think in colors.  Four-year-old Quinn

 said, “There are colors in heaven that we don’t have on earth.” 

             Invent a new color and give it a name.

Think of colors of invisible things:  the wind, gravity, love.

Write a paragraph using colors instead of words for things like the

 sky, a baby’s face, a rainbow, someone’s name, a summer morning.

Pick a color.  Think about all the things that are that color.  How do

 you feel about them?  Imagine that your entire body is this color,

 inside and out.  Imagine you are a magnet, drawing everything that

 color to you.

            What is the shape of your color?

               How does it move?

            What dances does it like to do?

            Where does it go when it flies?

            What season was it born?

            Where does it take you?

            What is its favorite time of the day or night?

            What does your color wish for?

            What does it dream about?

            What hides behind it?

            What sounds does it make?

            What is it a song of?

            Who are its friends?

     Most of these colorful ideas are from Karen

 Benke’s fabulous book Rip the Page! Adventures

 in Creative Writing. Buy it! You’ll like it!