Learning from Failure

One of the books on my list of titles read was Big Magic: Creative living beyond fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love. In the book is a section called "Hungry Ghosts" about failure.

A key sentence at the beginning of the section says: "...I have come to understand what part of me is suffering when I fail: It's just my ego."

Later she says: "Some version of that hunger dwells within all of us. We all have that lunatic presence, living deep within our guts, that refuses to ever be satisfied with anything. I have it, you have it, we all have it. My saving grace is this, though: I know that I am not only an ego; I am also a soul. And I know that my soul doesn't care a whit about reward or failure. ... "

I commend the whole book.

The web site for the book (the author's site) is: http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/books/

Books Read 2015

Here is my list of the books I read during 2015. I read a total of 26 books during the year. Almost all were books which arrived as Advance Readers Copies. That has helped to broaden the choices of what I read. They will stay on the Currently Reading page for most of January.They are listed in reverse chronological order (i.e., the last book I read is at the top of the list).

Choosing Hope: Moving Forward from Life's Darkest Hours by Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis with Robin Gaby Fisher ARC

Magna Carta: the Birth of Liberty by Dan Jones ARC

Expatriates: A Novel by Janice Y.K. Lee ARC

Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell ARC

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell ARC

Mrs. Sinclair's Suitcase by Louise Walters ARC

Seeds of Grace: A Nun's Reflections on the Spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous by Sister Molly Monahan

The Rocks: A Novel by Peter Nichols ARC

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert ARC

Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, in Brief (2nd edition) by Henry M. Robert III, Daniel H. Honeman, and Thomas J. Balch with the assistance of Daniel E. Seabold and Shmuel Gerber

Church of Marvels: A Novel by Leslie Parry ARC

The Gates of Evangeline: A Novel by Hester Young ARC

X by Sue Grafton ARC

The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley: A Novel by Jeremy Massey ARC

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson ARC

Listen to Your Mother: What She Said Then, What We're Saying Now edited by Ann Imig ARC

Stepdog: A Memoir by Mireya Navarro ARC

Discontent and Its Civilizations: Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London by Mohsin Hamid ARC

Hall of Small Mammals: Stories by Thomas Pierce ARC

The Girl on the Train: A novel by Paula Hawkins ARC My review

Watch Me Go: A novel by Mark Wisniewski ARC

If I Knew You Were Going to Be This Beautiful I Never Would Have Let You Go by Judy Chicurel ARC

Living Abroad in Panama by Miriam Butterman

Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister ARC

Clementine Churchill: an undersung hero

I just finished reading Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell.

Clementine Churchill lived an amazing life. She was incredibly under appreciated, both in her time, and now. I feel like I know a fair amount about Eleanor Roosevelt who was an incredible advocate. Clementine Churchill may well have done more for Britain (and the free world) than Eleanor, but has received almost no credit.

Born into impoverished nobility, she was about a decade younger than Winston Churchill. This book draws heavily from the copious correspondence between Winston and Clementine. They were generally not model parents, and the book does not sugar coat their shortcomings in this area. Clementine was privy to most of what Winston dealt with (including state secrets). She advised and challenged Winston, and was often the only one who could challenge him. She tempered him in many ways, and often re-wrote speeches and memos.

For a book where you know how it will end (there are no secrets about history), it was a gripping read. I even pushed it ahead of other books on my "to read" pile.

ALA Midwinter 2016

Here is my tentative schedule for ALA Midwinter. Note that it is still tentative!

This year Midwinter is VERY early. I'll be in Boston starting the night of January 6, and leaving on the 12th. (If you are looking in December, you will have to page forward to January to see anything in the calendar view. I have not figured out how to make "Agenda" the default view.") Clicking on any event will show details. And do note the time zone note on the bottom. Here, I am seeing things in the Central Time zone, not sure how true that is for others.

Here is my tentative schedule for ALA Midwinter. Note that it is still tentative!

This year Midwinter is VERY early. I'll be in Boston starting the night of January 6, and leaving on the 12th. (If you are looking in December, you will have to page forward to January to see anything in the calendar view. I have not figured out how to make "Agenda" the default view.") Clicking on any event will show details. And do note the time zone note on the bottom. Here, I am seeing things in the Central Time zone, not sure how true that is for others.