I am committing to reading 10 good books this year. I read a lot, but mostly non-fiction related to work, and I seldom read more than 60-70% of a book. I get agitated when I feel that writers are repeating themselves just to fill up pages.

I enjoy reading articles and blogs online, but have come to realize that they just can’t cover subjects to the degree that a good book can. I am narrowing down my list of blogs that I will tend to, focusing on ones that either educate or inspire me. More on that in a future post.

For now, these are the TEN BOOKS I COMMIT TO READING THIS YEAR:

Life is a Verb by Patti Digh – which I bought myself for Christmas. I follow the author Patti Digh on twitter and her blog is fantastic! “37 days to wake up, be mindful, and live intentionally.”

Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts – another book I bought myself for Christmas. I adore Kelly Rae‘s creations and one of her lovely prints adorns my foyer. Her book includes a lot of her art as well as others’. “Inspiration and Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings.”

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein- this was one of my favorite books as a kid, and my daughter is in a real “giving” stage right now. She made ornaments and handed them out to strangers last month. I got upset when she gave her Christmas presents to people a week early, but she cried and said she couldn’t help it because she just like to make people happy. She’s a sweetie and I think she’ll enjoy this book.

Driftless by David Rhodes – I heard a spot on NPR the other day about this book and knew right away that it was going to make my list. Why? Because it’s set in my home-state of Wisconsin. Read an excerpt.

Eve’s Revenge: Women and a Spirituality of the Body by Lilian Calles Barger - Sounds right up my alley.

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kidd – she probably doesn’t remember this, but Julie Clawson and some other women recommended this book to me when we were at the Emerging Women’s East Coast Gathering in Virginia Beach in late 2006.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - gotta have some good fiction to even things out. I heard positive things about this book a few years ago, and I own the book. ‘Bout time I read it!

Now onto books more geared toward my day job:

Sex on the Brain by Daniel Amen, Bonk by Mary Roach, and TA Today: A New Introduction to Transactional Analysis by Ian Stewart.

And if I’m really on top of things, I may even post book reviews!

little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don’t be afraid

look     the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms
and i’ll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won’t be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you’re quite dressed
you’ll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they’ll stare!
oh but you’ll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we’ll dance and sing
“Noel Noel”

“little tree” by e.e. cummings, from 100 Selected Poems by e. e. cummings. © Grove Weidenfeld, 1959.

for Carol

I had seen them in the tree,
and heard they mate for life,
so I hung a bird feeder
and waited.
By the third day,
sparrows and purple finches
hovered and jockeyed
like a swarm of bees
fighting over one flower.
So I hung another feeder,
but the squabbling continued
and the seed spilled
like a shower
of tiny meteors
onto the ground
where starlings
had congregated,
and blue jays,
annoyed at the world,
disrupted everyone
except the mourning doves,
who ambled around
like plump old women
poking for the firmest
head of lettuce.

Then early one evening
they came,
the only ones?
she stood
on the periphery
of the small galaxy of seed;
he hopped
among the nuggets,
calmly chose
one seed at a time,
carried it to her,
placed it in her beak;
she, head tilted,
accepted it.
Then they fluffed,
hopped together,
did it all over again.

And filled with love,
I phoned to tell you,
over and over,
about each time
he celebrated
being there,
all alone,
with her.

“Cardinals” by John L. Stanizzi, from Ecstacy Among Ghosts.

Amphibious

by Erin Murphy

My daughter wants to take
a framed oil painting to school,

a nude with loose breasts and a belly
ripe as the full moon. Why? Because

we’re studying frogs, she says,
and it’s a frog. I cock my head

to consider the angle of the draped arm
but can’t get past the female form.

My daughter, though, is swimming
in amphibians, bringing home

scribbled pictures of tadpoles sprouting
splayed feet. At night, she sleeps

in the bedroom I painted pink,
her shelves lined with confectionary

teapots and cups. By day, she wants
to be her brother when she grows up.

Lately, she’s morphed into
a creature who’d rather squirm free

than be held. O, how we see what we
want to see. My daughter, looking at

a nude, sees a frog for show-n-tell.
I look at her and see myself.

“Amphibious” by Erin Murphy, from Dislocation and Other Theories. © Word Press, 2008. Reprinted with permission.

The marriage-bed is the center of happiness,
a point from which all things ripple outward,
a nest from which all things learn to fly.
It is the sign of return, part of the great rhythm
of the seasons and of the years.
It is the dream of return, the strength and faith
that sing of home.
It is the wren’s nest woven of twigs and string,
the swallow’s nest of saliva and mud.
It is what we return to, as migratory birds
passing over marshes and fields
dream of the end of the journey.
It is what frightens night-devils away,
even in winter.
It is the tree that grows through the house,
the hollow of the tree that has never known death.
It is the crystal of all feeling, the flower of all
understanding, the small containing the large.
It is the nautilus growing its many chambers of love.
It is the sudden outburst of one who has long been silent.
It is the idea that a calla lily can be shaped
like a wineglass on a long green stem.
It is the heart-stone.
It is the name of all names
that thinks it is a star and a rose.
It is a conch-shell rough on the outside,
pearly in its intimacy.
It is a snail rolling over and over
building a staircase.
It is an animal, an almond, a repose.
It is an oyster opening in the full of the moon.
It is a mouth telling a secret.
It is a kiln where clay battles fire.
It is the simple happiness of sleeping on a boat.
These are the walls we’ve pressed back into a circle
in the shape of our merged bodies
And it will take a long time for the waves
spreading from the center of our intimacy
to reach the ends of the world.

From the Writer’s Almanac:

WEDNESDAY, 1 NOVEMBER, 2006
Listen (RealAudio) | How to listen

Poem: “The Marriage-Bed” by Michael Simms, from The Happiness of Animals. © Monkey Sea Editions.

I can’t say enough how much I adore etsy.com and the amazingly beautiful handmade creations available there. I have about 20 different necklaces in my “favorites” and when this one went on sale, I snatched it up. It’s funny to me how wearing something so lovely and delicate just brightens my day.

For fun, I probably should have purchased, instead, the fun “birds and bees” necklace and worn it for “Let’s Talk Month” when I’ll be educating parents on how to talk to their kids about sex!

By Diane Lockward
From Eve’s Red Dress, copyright 2003

Today I dress for you

in scarlet. I am

a tomato, plump

and luscious. I pulsate

with seeds.

Today I clothe myself

in yellow. I am

a peach, succulent

and ripe.

For you, I swathe myself

in gold. I am

all melons, oranges,

tangerines, nectarines.

I am a garden of earthly delights.

I am the red apple

you would fall for

a thousand times.

I am the apricot you would die for.

I am all strawberries,

blueberries, raspberries,

and cherries, all these and more.

Today I am royal for you.

I dress in a gown

of purple plum.

Come, lift me out of my skin.

I have always loved Klimt’s work, and this piece was discussed in my erotology studies today. It is so gorgeous.