We call ourselves the Bluestocking Babes and have been reading books together for over 5 years now.
I totally meant to post this yesterday for List it Tuesday over at Artsyville, but the day filled up with a sick girl and other non-computerish endeavors. It’s not a handwritten list, but it did hit my email on a Tuesday, so I printed it out and taped/stapled it my journal. {with room to doodle over the next few days. 
}
Continuing to move through Susan Fincher’s The Mandala Workbook with more Circle exercises. The bleed through on the paper, in this handmade journal found on Etsy, was initially a source of frustration. But I am incorporating the bleed through into entries on subsequent pages and learning a lot about working with what I’ve got in front of me instead of putting a ton of energy into something that I can’t change. The following two mandalas are a case in point. The circles and dots in the teal mandala were created around the structure of the bleed-through from the spider web mandala. The quote from pg. 42 really spoke to me as I am in a the midst of an extended fast.
“The mighty task is to submit to the unknown within and without and allow yourself to be transformed by the experience… Fasting, going without sleep, and separation from the community were often part of these rituals of transition.”
Moving forward.
In the summer I get to squeeze in more reading-what-I-want. It’s usually a funky mix. Here’s July’s stack of books:
* A little non-fiction: The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout, Ph.D. {because I find psychology fascinating.}
* A little romance {because for me, plane reads are a lot like beach reads. My sister and I share the same love of a well-written romance novel with spunky characters; that and chocolate are our guilty pleasures. When I arrived at her house for our mother’s birthday trip, she handed me the latest Julia Quinn romance. Good sister. Fun book.}
* Some forensic mystery {my favorite fast reads}: I picked up Down River by John Hurt because the Bluestockings {the fabulous book club that I hang out with once a month} read The Last Child by him and I enjoyed the writing. I’ll be reading more from him. Have had Jefferson Bass books on the “To Read” list for at least a year, and even had the first two from my favorite bookseller George at Eagle Eye Book Shop . Mmmm, I found them {the books not the store!} a little contrived, but so full of interesting forensic details, that all was forgiven. {George, I’ll be by soon to pick up the rest!} The Monster of Florence by Preston & Spezi is another book that’s been in the stack. Started it on the plane home from the birthday extravaganza. I found it an interesting match to my non-fiction book on sociopaths.
* With the Bluestockings: The Help by Katherine Stockett. We met at my house this month so, I oven-fried some chicken; made a bunch of southern-style vegetables; served with cornbread and cheddar cheese biscuits and finished off with a Carmel Cake. I’ll mention again, that I critique book club books a little differently than books for pleasure or for school. There are “good discussion” books and books that are “good reads”. This one was both.
* Anna Karenina is in the stack because I’m reading it to discuss with a friend who wrote several papers during her senior year of college. {After over 20 years, I had to re-read it just to remember characters, much less be able to discuss it!}
* As usual there’s a cookbook in the mix. I picked up a copy of Sweet Tea, Please by Vicki Prescott, at an art gallery in Oriental, NC where the Bluestockings were visiting one of our own. {She-who-has-moved-but-has-yet-to-miss-a-book!} Great recipes and fun vignettes in between.
* And to top it all off, The Thomas Merton gift book is a handful of writings on solitude. It hasn’t made it off of my desk to the boys in AU. I may just have to get a second copy.
