Current Reading List

Here's what's stacked up on the bedside table:
A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Here, There, Elsewhere by William Least Heat-Moon
Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
Manage Your Day-to-Day edited by Jocelyn K. Glei
Pursuing Christ. Creating Art. by Gary A. Molander
Permission to Speak Freely by Anne Jackson Marie Miller

Now I'm not reading all of these at the same time or just one at a time. I just finished two of them. Manage Your Day-To-Day is a collection of essays on routine, focus, and creativity. Again and again the book promoted harnessing the power of frequency and routine. Even something as small as 15 minutes everyday will add up. So every morning beginning January 1st, I'm reading a book instead of watching the news while I drink my first cup of coffee. I've polished off two books this month so far doing this.

A Field Guide to Getting Lost is hard to describe and flat out amazing. I enjoyed the themes and concepts that she explores. So much so that I'm considering exploring them in a few paintings. More on this later. 

I do have this tendency to read more than one book at a time. Instead of reading one at a time, stack of books will tempt me into trying just a few pages. Just to see what it's like and if I'm going to really like it. And then I can't stop and I'm reading three books at once.

I'm currently these three:
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Here, There, Elsewhere by William Least Heat-Moon
Permission to Speak Freely by Anne Jackson Marie Miller

Permission to Speak Freely is one that I started and then probably put down because I started reading some addictive novel. It's a collection of essays. So it's easy to read a short essay and then switch to another book and switch back later. I am impressed with Anne's honesty and openness throughout the book. I find her whole concept of "gift of going second." By sharing your brokenness, your imperfectness, and your story first, it makes it a little easier for other person to share their brokenness.

I'm re-reading The War of Art because its been awhile and I'm feeling extremely stuck. I've become a professional time killer and I'm not making any art. I hate it and me for not getting back to painting.

Here, There, Elsewhere is another example of unfinished reading. I started this on vacation in October. I really enjoyed William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways and was hoping this would be similar. It's good but since it's a collection of travel stories, it's not as captivating as one epic road trip.

As you can see, I'm not reading any fiction at this time. I have a hard time finishing non-fiction books unless that's all that I'm reading. I've tried having one fiction book on the night stand and one non-fiction book, but the non-fiction book usually turns into a dust collector/coaster.

Yearning for the Open Road

Here's a picture of my summer reading list: "Blue Highways" by William Least-Moon, "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson, "Turn Right at Machu Picchu" by Mark Adams, "In Patagonia" by Bruce Chatwin, and "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. Truthfully, there's no way that I'm reading all this by the end of the summer.

For me, summer is for road trips. For the past two years, I have gone on a 2,000+ mile roadtrip around Memorial Day weekend. So as Memorial Day came and went this summer with no roadtrip plans and no vacation plans finalized, the travel bug bit me hard. Now I've got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell the open road.

The second best cure is a good travel memoir (or five apparently). I'm currently reading "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat-Moon. And it's been great.

In 1978, after separating from his wife and losing his job as a teacher, Moon, 38 at the time, decided to take an extended road trip around the United States, sticking to only the "Blue Highways." Heat-Moon had coined the term to refer to small, forgotten, out of the way roads connecting rural America (which were drawn in blue on the old style road atlas).

At first, a good story satisfies the travel craving. It's that little taste I needed. I get lost in the narrative and ride shotgun with the author through his journey. But after a while it starts to inspire. It starts to stir up that yearning for adventure. And that's when I relapse. The fever grips me and I get these really crazy ideas. I get to thinking, "well, if he can do a 13,000 mile road trip, why can't I do short one." Why can't I pull out the road map and plot some 3-4 week, 6,000 mile, cross country adventure?

So what would this crazy cross country trip look like? Roughly speaking it'd go something like this: I'd rent a car and drive west. I want to see Austin, TX. Maybe catch one of my favorite bands along the way to New Mexico. I'd stop and say hi to my brother at the Philmont Scout Ranch. Then visit a few national parks like Mt. Zion and the Grand Canyon. Eventally I'd make my way to California to visit my friend Susan Issacs. Here's where I'd return the rental car and switch to the train. I'd take the Coastal Starlight route from Los Angeles to Portland. After such a long train ride, i might rent another car and make my way to Glacier National Park. Once there, I might shift back to another scenic rail route called the Empire Builder and ride to Chicago. Then I'd hop on a MegaBus for the return trip to Memphis with a short stop in St. Louis, MO. I like the idea of mixed transportation. Taking a little bit of everything across country. I think i'd do this trip European style and travel very light. Everything would have to fit in a big internal frame backpack. The kind you'd go trekking across the mountains with. That way I could easily make the switch between car, rail, bus, or plane.

Could I realistically do this? Probably not. I cannot take off more than 2 weeks in a row at my current job. So I'd have to do half the trip at a time. But now I've run off into a tangent. This post was suppose to just be a short list. I really only meant to share with you my summer reading and now I'm outlining my great American road trip.

Recommend listening: David Ramierz "Carry Me Like The Wind"
For every line on my body I want a thousand stories
And for my heart to hold the great American novel 

Cool video by Donald Miller about his book

Are you living a great story with your life? from Donald Miller on Vimeo.

Are you living a great story with your life? That's just one of the tough and insightful questions that this book asks. I really enjoyed this book. You should definitely check it out. 

Angry Conversations with God by Susan Isascs

I've been doing a lot of research on prayer for an up-coming art exhibit. I came across this book. It's too funny not to share (folks who get upset with the occasional curse word or have no sense of humor should not read this book).

Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir

by Susan E. Isaacs

Angry Conversations With God began when Susan hit hit forty and found herself loveless, jobless, and living over a garage. When a churchy friend told Susan that she needed to look at her relationship with God was it like a marriage, Susan decided to take God to marriage counseling.

Angry Conversations chronicles Susan's spiritual history, from childhood faith to a midlife crisis, and all the bizarre church experiences in between.

A Dangerous Reading List

So you might wonder, where is all this creative energy coming from lately, Fudge? It's from this reading list. I have a tendency to read more than one non-fiction book at a time. I've been reading these three lately. I just finished Holy Discontent and I'm about finished with the other 2. Very inspiring and motivating. Read with caution.

48 Days to the Work You Love

by Dan Miller (Author), Dave Ramsey (Foreword) Holy Discontent: Fueling the Fire That Ignites Personal Vision by Bill Hybels (Author) Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles (Author), Ted Orland (Author)

my ever growing booklist

There are way too many books on my "to read" list. I don't even know where to start, but I know that I want my next read to be a book on art and worship.

It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God

by Ned Bustard (Editor)

Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture

by Makoto Fujimura (Author), Tim Keller (Foreword)

Art for God's Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts

by Philip Graham Ryken (Author)

This one is not an art and worship one but I love Don Miller's books.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

by Donald Miller (Author)

Better Prayers through Art

Two items that came to my attention recently that I thought were very interesting. They really reinforce the idea that art can add so much to your worship and relationship with God. Now I don't feel so bad about doodling in my bulletin at church.

Bored? Try Doodling To Keep The Brain On Task
by Alix Spiegel

The function of doodling, according to Andrade, who recently published a study on doodling in Applied Cognitive Psychology, is to provide just enough cognitive stimulation during an otherwise boring task to prevent the mind from taking the more radical step of totally opting out of the situation and running off into a fantasy world.

Praying in Color
by Sybil MacBeth

Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God by Sybil MacBeth introduces the active, visual prayer practice the author calls "praying in color." The book provides a little bit of memoir and theology and a lot of how-to. Step-by step instructions in Chapter 3 introduce "praying in color" as a way to do intercessory prayer. Additional chapters explain how the practice can be applied to learning Scripture, keeping Advent and Lent, practicing lectio divina, and praying in other ways.

Stirring Book Club

The Stirring Book Club will begin meeting the first and third Tuesdays of each month starting March 17, 2009. We will be reading the Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning.

We'll meet at Panera Bread Co. located at
714 Germantown Pkwy in Cordova @ 7:00 pm.

If you need additional information please email: bookclub@thestirring.net

An interesting take on The Ragamuffin Gospel that an artist would enjoy is the Visual Edition. Mind you it contains only 12% of the content of the original book, but it's very inspiring and creative.