wispfox

Via yendi, Paperbackswap

It makes me very happy! [edit: you can put 'wispfox' in the referral line, if you like. Or not, up to you. :)]

The line in Ghost, by the Indigo Girls, which says "the Mississippi's mighty, but it starts in Minnesota at a place which you could walk across with five steps down" means I just added seeing the source of the Mississippi to the things I want to see, in my year of wandering.

Because of this, I'm wondering if there are any other places in the US that I should visit, based on lines from songs. Alternately, suggestions from books.

Anyone have any musical or literary suggestions for places to travel in the contiguous US?

My mom lent me a book when she last visited (actually, she tried to lend me multiple, but I was only strongly interested in this one) called "Born on the Wrong Planet", written by a woman with Asperger's, among other neurologic disorders. As with when I read "Thinking in Pictures" by Dr. Temple Grandin, there were many moments of remembering and understanding. More with this one than with "Thinking in Pictures", probably at least partly because I don't have much facility with visual information (reading and writing use my eyes, but are verbal, not visual), but almost certainly also because I never had a problem of being physically unable to communicate (I just didn't necessarily know that I should, or how to say what I wanted to say).

( I blather about the book and some of the memories it sparked, and I relate some quotes from it )

Since my commute is going to be longer once I move, I've decided to try out Simply Audiobooks

This ought to be interesting. :)

The Last Unicorn has a... not-a-sequel. (via ladytabitha)

By psongster, Happiness: a research report.

By cmeckhardt, by way of randysmith, The major way that people in this culture communicate concepts that are not lexicalized by English is by referring to shared experiences.

In teratogenesis, by corivax, When Google Takes Over The World


Now, I nap. (actually taking today off, rather than working from home, as I feel worse than - not better than - yesterday)

Not that I don't already have bunches of books to read... but!

I'm curious as to how many of y'all have read and suggest reading the books from the Fantasy and Science Fiction Masterworks series, which ones, and why.


I've already read:

Fantasy Masterworks #6 and 19 (which is the reason I even know about these - it consumed my brain until I finished it)

SF Masterworks HCs #1, 2, 6, 7, 8. SCs #7, 24, 25 (the short story, not the book), and 44.


I strongly recommend both of the Fantasy ones I've read (Riddle Master & Amber series - although the first bunch of Amber books was better than the second bunch) - they were both fascinating.

SF HC #6 (Childhood's End) tends to haunt my brain, and I still haven't decided if it's in a good way (which probably means it is).
SF HC #7 (Moon is a Harsh Mistress), I liked.
SF PB #25 (Flowers for Algernon)'s short story, at least, haunts me just as much as Childhood's End. (Huh. I apparently only like SF an amazing amount if it haunts my brain)
SF PB #44 (The Lathe of Heaven) is something I've seen the movie for, and read - fascinating story.

(Huh. Why don't I have a reading icon?!)

aelisdeliria lent me a book, called _Welcome to the Ark_, by Stephanie S. Tolan. It's... captivating. I _must_ own this book.

The reason I'm writing right now is a quote which I had to share...

"How smart do you feel?"
"Comparatively?"
"No. Just you yourself. How smart do you really feel?"
"Truth?"
"Of course, truth!"
"I've spent my whole life trying not to know how scary it was to have people call me the smartest kid in the world. Because I don't know anything."


*shiver* Yeah. Not to that degree, but yeah.

Still too energetic for sleep.

Books! Seriously, my brain is now stuck on books, from reading LJ comment replies.

I have no idea if I can manage to suggest them without getting all lost in my head, but I shall try!

( Books and/or stories I recommend )

Probably lots more, but sleep calls. And I don't feel like getting up to look at my bookshelves.

Oh, I know what other things I found in other people's journal I liked. Quotes! From a book I'm even in the middle of reading!

If the Buddha Dated, specifically. And apparently starandrea just finished it. ;)

"The key is to remember that people hurt others because they are unconscious or unaware. If only we could, even for just a fleeting moment, grasp that we would all love each other if we could, if we were free from the armor we have used to shield our hearts. When we realize that the enemy is unconsciousness, not another person, we will bring fresh air to our bitterness, and create more spaciousness in our minds and hearts."
-Charlotte Kasl

"We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us."
--Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

"Expect everything to continue just as it is. Will that be okay with you in six months? A year? Five years? It might seem like a contradiction to base a current decision only on the present moment, when impermanence is one of the basics of Buddhism. The point is this: To make a decision based on reality, we have to accept that it will be this way forever because the prsent time is the only truth we have. Otherwise, our decision is based on projections and wishful thinking."
--Charlotte Kasl