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read to live, live to read
tender whispers
cooking and eating
domesticated
beloveds
7w
read to live, live to read
Happy all the Time
•••
My favorite Laurie Colwin — a beloved, take-it-everywhere-for-the-rest-of-your-life kind of book. It’s a treasure box of wisdom— but what feels particularly striking is how it surfaces the (many) ways we build our domestic and aesthetic lives, the places we locate pleasure and beauty.
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103
10
5w
cooking and eating
A box of kishu mandarins in the dead of winter
•••
Hands-down one of the best gifts you could give yourself or someone else. Like eating eternal sunshine! Divine ambrosia of the earth! They fit nicely in a pocket or the palm of your hand and can be peeled in a single go. Imagine sending them to someone having a hard time, or a friend who is ill and housebound. I would be THRILLED to get these in the mail in the cold heart of January, or to ward off the woes of March Sadness.
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101
6
4d
read to live, live to read
A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin
•••
Before I read Lucia Berlin I was a pretty devout novel reader who dabbled in short stories. She changed that! The range of her narrative powers is magnificent; she plumbs the depths with biting observational prowess and intensity and HUMOR. She uses her own life as material, but you will never know if what you’re reading is fiction or reality. Reading this was an experience of open and audible reaction, looking up from my fugue state to make eye contact with someone, anyone, who could confirm how good it was. Also: foreword by Lydia Davis. **Note: I found out after reading this that she, like me, was a lowly and underpaid adjunct lecturer at the same institution (although, she advanced up to full professor status!). We would have taught in the same building. This knowledge was a talisman that fortified a wobbly period of life.
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52
6
6w
read to live, live to read
Anna Karenina, narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal (2016)
•••
Listened to 26 glorious hours of this production while in a morose mood driving from Vermont to Colorado—just so rich and propulsive, Maggie is GREAT. Still had about 10 hours left to ease me into the landscape / spiritual adjustment upon arrival.
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14
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