My friend (and fellow Silent Book Club organizer) Vicki Ziegler (of Toronto) and I set each other a challenge. We decided to individually write on the topic of how to keep reading during a pandemic. We did not share our ideas with each other before writing. Only after finishing our respective pieces did we reveal them to each other. Two...
The following is a guest post by Vicki Ziegler, a book lover, blogger, web designer, social media manager, information architect, and organizer of Silent Book Club events in east end Toronto. The two of us set ourselves the challenge of writing about the same topic: how to keep reading during a pandemic. Below is her response. I’ll share mine with...
“Good day,” said the attorney, while entering the small meeting room in the prison. “It’s not!” cried the inquisitive one, who was chained to the table. “Surely your mother did not name you ‘The Inquisitive One?'” “Surely your mother did not let you leave home in that wretched old suit?” (The inquisitive one was in an uncharacteristically bad mood. Which...
I want to share some facts and myths about concussions and post-concussion syndrome, just in case this information helps someone out there. From personal experience, I know that searching on the Internet for answers to concussion and post-concussion syndrome issues is a bit of a paradox. When I’m experiencing symptoms, I don’t feel well enough to search for such information...
Don Quixote is one of the greatest masterpieces of Western literature. But what does that mean, exactly? What’s great about this book? What wisdom does it have to offer? That’s what I’d like to briefly answer in this blog post. For a fuller answer?—you’ll have to read the book yourself. Don Quixote satirizes melodramatic books (and people who take such...
I have concerns about the holiday known as Valentine’s Day. Dedicating an annual day to the idea of love is not a bad thing. But Valentine’s Day, as it is practiced in our culture, is not equivalent to celebrating love. Love comes in many forms. We can love family, friends, animals, and the whole world. But Valentine’s Day skews toward...
Let’s take, as a sample, the first sentence of chapter IV of the first part of Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. This great and classic novel was written and published in the early 1600s in Spanish. Part I was published first. Ten years later, part II was published. The two parts are now together known as Don Quixote and...
I have read the masterpiece Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, twice in my life. The two experiences were quite different. This was in large part due to the fact that I read two very different translations of the book. Don Quixote Reading #1: Bargain-Bin Translation The first time, I was in my early 30s. I had picked up the...
I had a blog post almost complete and ready to send yesterday. But as I was coming to my conclusion, I realized that I had written myself into a corner. I had made a mistake. My entire thesis turned out to be untrue. Often, I do not know exactly what my conclusion will be until I write it. Often, I...
I want to share how things are going with the gratitude practice my friend and I initiated a few weeks ago. Since research shows that cultivating gratitude can increase happiness, my friend and I started texting each other every night. In the texts, we would each list three things we were grateful for that day. (I wrote about the genesis...
What’s it like to have your world confined to a small space? I think most of us know, having lived through the past year. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I read the book Solitary, by Albert Woodfox, out of curiosity as to whether there were any lessons to be learned in looking at the pandemic experience through...
Killing It on Twitter Some time ago, I noticed someone on Twitter who was killing it. He had multiple tens of thousands of followers. He posted original content ten to fifteen times a day. People were commenting on and interacting with his posts. Like me, he had written books and was trying to get them published. I was curious what...
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Books previewed
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
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