What I'm Reading - Left Brain Buddha

Left-brain Buddhas love to read! I love to curl up on my favorite chair by the fireplace, snuggle under a comfy blanket, and cozy up with a warm cup of coffee and a good book. Definite mind+soul nourishment!

A selection of the books in my reading queue!

You can see additional suggestions for online and “real book” reading on my Resources page. To read my posts about books and reading, click here. You can also learn about the Brilliant Book Club for Parents here.

Currently Reading…

{I tend to read many books at once…}

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. I love the Italian setting, and how the book jumps around in time — from WWII to the present day to 1960s Hollywood, and how you see the characters at very different points of their lives.

Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden by Karen Maezen Miller. I love reading Karen Maezen Miller — her words are simple and profound at the same time. This is about her family’s move to a home with a Japanese garden, and the lessons she learned.

Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Gorgeous yet simple introduction to mindfulness. How have I not read this before?

How to Talk to Kids Will Listen, and Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. Advice that actually works! I love this book ~ you can read a bit more about how it worked for me here.

… and what I’ve read and loved!

You can find my post about the 13 best books I read in 2013 here.

10 Percent Happier by Dan Harris. Harris writes honestly about his challenging and stressful work in television news. He eventually had an on-air panic attack, which ultimately brought him to meditation and mindfulness practice. He says mindfulness today has a bit of an image problem, with all the woo-woo that’s often attached to it. He describes it very rationally and how it fits into his very active mental life. It’s a great read for mindfulness and meditation skeptics, or those who think mindfulness means you will lose your drive!

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight. This novel is about a single mother who learns of her only child’s apparent suicide at the age of 15. The book goes back and forth in time, attempting to piece together Amelia’s teenage world through blog posts and text messages and Facebook status updates. It’s a gripping read, with some thoughtful passages about motherhood and ambivalence.

Me Before You by Jojo Mayes. So many people recommended this one to me. I enjoyed it, but it was sad.

The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman. As the title implies, this book shows how just thinking optimistically doesn’t lead to happiness, and shares timeless wisdom {from the Stoics, the Buddhists, and others} as well as current research about what he calls “the negative approach to happiness.” I loved it, and wrote this post about how we can think differently about happiness.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. A heartbreaking story told beautifully. Tartt works the English language like a master.

The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert. Just beautiful.

Carry On, Warrior, by Glennon Melton Doyle. A quick but inspiring read.

Maxed Out: American Moms on the Brink, by Katrina Alcorn. I think every working mother should read this ~ I couldn’t put it down!

The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. Powerful memoir about a tough childhood.

The Secret Power of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi. We tend to think of yoga in the West as simply an exercise and fitness regimen, but it is so much more! Devi’s book takes you through the Yoga Sutras of Sri Patanjali, believed to be compiled about 2500 years ago. The Sutras contain teachings distilled from many of the ancient Hindu texts ~ the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and likely some Buddhist writings as well. Devi goes through the Sutras in sequence, and provides helpful commentary.

One of my current goals is to deepen my yoga practice ~ not just increasing how much yoga I am doing, but going beyond the physical appreciation of the practice and making it one of my life practices. I am loving the wisdom from this book, and it is helping me connect to something deeper as I practice yoga. With simple insights and wisdom like “Asanas [postures] reintroduce us to our bodies” and “The physical body was created as a temple to house [the] Divine light” I am seeing yoga in a whole new way!

Devi starts each chapter with excerpts from the Sutras, followed by her commentary and interpretation. She continues inserting the original lines from the Sutras throughout the commentary, so you continue reading them and they take on more meaning each time. Devi ends each section with suggestions for incorporating the ideas into your yoga or meditation practice. I’m eager to share more insights with you as I continue to read!

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I love that this summer brought me TWO reads set in Florence! Bohjalian describes this book as his version of the Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers theme, set in Tuscany {just a little south of Verona!} during World War II. The book goes back and forth between the intense battles between Italian partisans and the Germans in Italy in 1943-44, and the hunt for a serial killer in Florence in 1955. I’m excited to take another literary journey to Italy and learn more about this part of the second World War. Just a few chapters in, this book is reminding me of another fascinating read, the true story of a serial killer in Florence, The Monster of Florence. I think my next Italy book needs to be about something other than war, murder, and plague-releasing crazies!

You can find my overly-ambitious Summer Reading List here.

Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was such a treat! It is beautiful. Howard Fry decides to walk the entire journey from southern England to Scotland to visit an old friend who is dying. The reflections on his life, the musings of his monkey mind, and his observations about actually seeing the world as he’s slowing down and simply walking are beautiful. I am loved this one! {You can read my Mindfulness and Gratitude post that I based on some of Howard’s reflections from the book here.}

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I absolutely loved reading Brene Brown’s Daring Greatly and Susan Cain’s Quiet. Oh, the beautiful synchronicity when we read two powerful books at once! You can read my mash-up review and how these two books inspired me here.

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I enjoyed my reading-completely-for-the-fun-of-it with Dan Brown’s Inferno. I loved that it is set in my favorite city in the whole world, Florence!! It is paced a bit slower compared to other Brown novels, but I relished my mental trip to Italy and totally indulging my history-nerd brain with all the references to Dante, Botticelli, the Renaissance… European history teacher bliss! 🙂

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I was introduced to Brene Brown through Liv Lane’s blogging e-course, and I am just fascinated with her writing! I have just started The Gifts of Imperfection. Brown researches shame, but writes about how we can live authentically and wholeheartedly and discover courage, compassion, and connection. I highlighted everywhere in this book, passages like “Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy, and gratitude into our lives.” I also loved her advice about the importance of establishing a gratitude practice. For this perfectionist, it was an eye-opening look at how soul-sapping perfectionism can be, and how I need to embrace “good enough.” I absolutely recommend all my readers read this book – I read it in about 2 days {concise and short chapters!} Check it out!

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While the image above shows quite a few deep reads, I also love reading literary fiction. I loved reading The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. The novel is described as an ‘epic,’ as it spans the years 1937-1945, tracing the life of Andras, a young Hungarian Jew who travels to Paris to study architecture on scholarship. The book portrays the experiences of the Jewish and immigrant minorities in pre-WWII France, and then, as you can likely predict from the years the books covers {at least this history teacher hopes so!}, describes Andras’ experiences as he returns to Hungary, is forced to serve in the Hungarian labor camps, and then to endure the German occupation of Hungary.

Though this is hardly an uplifting topic, I found it to be a moving and beautiful, though at times painful, story. I was drawn into the story right away ~ it begins with a touching love story { I rarely read romances but I loved this part of the book!}. The elements of luck, serendipity, and good fortune that are woven into a narrative about one of the most tragic events in history reminded me of the film Life is Beautiful. There are outrageous acts of evil alongside moving acts of courage and compassion, even on the part of the generals and officials running the labor camps. This is a story that shows humanity at its best and at its worst, depicting the physical, emotional, and psychological horrors of war as well as the enduring power of hope and love.

I definitely consider this one of the best books I’ve read this year. As a history teacher, I found the historical information fascinating. It has given me lots to reflect on about human nature, and is a powerful reminder for me to think of history in terms of the individuals who lived it and shaped it.