currant book list with quotes & short reviews

by ursula leGuin, a portland local. reccomended to me by grey after talking about women artists. i realized it's been awhile since i've read a woman author: a book by a women with gender issues.

by alex kerr, a gaijin that writes in japanese and wins japanese writing awards. a christmas gift to me from my older brother, because i am obssesed with all things asian, especially things japanese.

"what you are describing is the feeling of watching someone walking down an alley and turning onto the main street. just after they have turned, a last glimpse remains on the retina."

"when i ask my foreign friends in japanes studies to describe the most exciting moment of their lives, they respond along the lines of, 'i was meditating in a zen temple and i heard the swish of the silk robes of the monks as they walked by.'"

"calligraphy is perfect for the impatient types, and spending an evening drinking wine with a friend while writing calligraphy is for me the highest form of relaxation."

The Solace of Open Spaces

by gretal ehrlich. i first encountered her through this interview; she struck a chord with my wanderlust. i've been meaning to read her for a few years now. since i aspire to write about ranching in utah's west desert, i chose to first read this book about ranching in wyoming. it was definitely very nice. i think i'd give this book about 2.5 stars out of 5. i think i will also read another of her books, this cold heaven.

"Space has a spritual equivalent and can heal what is divided and burdnsome. My grandchildren will probably use space shuttles for honeymoon trip or to recover from heart attacks, but closer to home we might also learn how to carry space inside ourselves in the effortless way we carry our skins. Space represents sanity, not a life purified, dull, or "spaced out" but one that might accomodate intelligently any idea or situation.

"From the cleyey soil of northren Wyoming is mined bentonite, which is used as fill in candy, gum, and lipstick. We Americans are great on fillers, as if what we have, what we are, is not enough. We have a cultural tendency toward denial but, being affluent, we strangle ourselves with what we can buy. We have only to look at the houses we build to see how we build against space, the way we drink against pain and lonelines. We fill up space as if it were a pie shell, with things whose opacity further obstructs our ability to see what is already there."

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