All posts tagged: books

Station Eleven and other books like turquoise blue seas

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How do you choose what worlds to get emerged in? I finished a book last week and I’m having a hard time moving on. My book selections are pretty random, but afterward I usually see the beautiful symmetry of adding this particular world to the thousands of worlds I already hold within. A Facebook link led me to a Buzz-whatever like list of books that “contain horror in completely ordinary settings” and I am so down with that. Of Station Eleven: A novel they said, “that moment of genuine terror when the internet goes out forever in this post-apocalyptic world.” For all my talk of wanting to usher in a new evolution of consciousness more aligned with the planet we live on, I’m not really into dystopian, post-apocalyptic books. They are too bleak and lack the beauty I crave in my worlds. I devoured The Hunger Games, and moved on. I’m happy that the movies are somehow better. But it’s not somewhere I want to live. I went into Station Eleven blind and found something …

Old Hollywood on the page

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A well-written biography is the intersection between life, story and truth – my three absolute favorite things. To follow someone’s journey through their whole life, their highs and lows, regrets and lessons learned, is a very intimate thing. And unlike fictional stories, it feels more intimate because it is all true. Sure, they can’t all be gems, and it’s up for debate whether the fault lies with writer or subject, but the really good ones – oh gosh. It really is like gaining a friend. You come to know this person. You laugh with them at their silly stories, you read the poignant moments over and over, marvel at their perfection, and ultimately, you cry when they die, no matter how rich and wonderful a life. Mainly, because it was so rich and wonderful. In October I went to Hollywood for a few days to hang out with my favorite girls – Rita Hayworth and Gene Tierney – and I took a tour of the Warner Bros lot to get the feel of a historic …

Love Him Madly: A Jim Morrison memoir and why I love biographies

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I read on average about a book a week. Sometimes a particular book will take me three weeks to finish, and other times I devour three books a week, making a conscious choice to choose reading over all other activities. But mostly reading is just a natural part of existing for me. I read in bed at night, I read in the bathroom, I read while I eat or wait. I’m not a book snob. I read pretty much anything but I think I’m particularly drawn to biographies and true crime. But I space that out with literary fiction, young adult fiction, pulp fiction, horror, how-to guides and non-fiction of all kinds. I’m addicted to reading because it adds layers to my world that I otherwise wouldn’t get to experience, and I read to understand all aspect of the world. The world, of course, usually means people. I’m not very good at making friends with people who aren’t already a lot like me, with vastly the same experiences, so I read to understand the people …