She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain. (1873)
~ Louisa May Alcott ~
I felt it necessary to write about the two books I'm currently reading. Okay, so I cannot lie ... I've been slipping the articles from the current National Geographic in between these two books (I'm so fickle with regard to reading) ...
Elegy by Mary Jo Bang
Steve read about this book in the paper. He knew I would enjoy it and because he can't ever let me go without something he thinks I will like ... he immediately bought me a copy. It is fantastic. The poetry is unlike any I have read previously, which is so refreshing for a writer today. Mary Jo Bang confirms my theory that all great writing is completely full of passion, often painful and incredibly honest. I'm not going to say much about it, because you just have to read it. Oh and of course she just happens to be a Professor at Washington University ... Creative Writing, no less. A small sample and a link ...
Where Once
On the street, looking up, there you were.
A single helium balloon, imagine
A flat-face mouse in Mylar.
You floated the way you always liked to float.
You floated the way you always liked to float.
Now you have been renamed and imperfectly faced.
You've become the extreme form of nothingness
Sequestered, as at the end of a siege
Sequestered, as at the end of a siege
In a quarantined city hospitals are often reduced
To ideas and empty rooms.
You're still there for those who know where to look
You're still there for those who know where to look
And what to watch for, as in dreams—where
In spite of death color comes back,
Youth and a house and a red car and you
Youth and a house and a red car and you
And the paper on which you once drew a world
As a pack of cards that sequentially revealed the next
To last thing seen as an animal falls.
To last thing seen as an animal falls.
You stood on that ground and it was under your feet.
And then you walked away.
Ultraprevention by Drs. Hayman and Liponis
Mom bought me this book several years ago. I remember reading it the first time and highlighting certain portions that I felt were unique. Actually most of it is quite controversial, as it relates to a non-conventional approach to the practice of medicine in Western society. I am NOT a 'self help' kind of gal, but this one was spot on. I do believe we should be our own physician, and that you should take good care of yourself BEFORE you get sick ... not after you have a diagnosis (what a novel concept, eh??). After all, the Asian societies have been practicing preventive medicine for thousands of years ... we are just in our infancy in the U.S. Also, I thought with everything that has happened in our family recently I should read this one again. This time, I'm going to try the 6 week plan they describe in the book. We will see how it goes.
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