The Writing Life

On the syllabus for the writing class that I'm taking, there is a recommended reading list. Annie Dillard's The Writing Life is one of the books on the list that I haven't read and I picked this one up first as I have meant to read Dillard's work for a while now. I've heard so much about what a fantastic writer she is. The Writing Life is a very quick read. Dillard shares her muses about writing and I enjoyed her insight and approach to writing (and in turn, life itself). There is little more to say about the tiny book, but I will definitely be checking out more of her work in the future.

Women Who Run With the Wolves

Years ago I joined a book club that met monthly to discuss Clarissa Pinkola Estes book Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype one chapter at a time. I think we met three times before the group fell apart and I pushed the book aside. I recently noticed it on my shelf and decided to finish it.

Pinkola Estes looks at different legends and stories about women throughout different cultures and dissects their meaning, explaining what can be learned from each tale. Though the back of the book labels it psychology, it is almost like a literary self-help book. It doesn't read that way, but Pinkola Estes points out not only problems for women that are perpetuated by our culture but solutions, or rather suggestions for how women can unleash the wildness inside them. I enjoyed the book, but almost wish I would have read a chapter per month as I had with the book club to let each section sink in before moving to the next. It's an enjoyable, interesting book that would particularly appeal to women who feel restless or unsatisfied with their life, as well as anyone interested in old myths and their meanings.

A Sand County Almanac

I somehow own two copies of Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac: With Essays on Conservation From Round River. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but having not one but two copies of a book I hadn't read was enough for me to pick it up. I immediately fell into a trance; Leopold's writing is simple and beautiful. I'd be lying though if I said that my feelings didn't shift as I continued reading. The book is divided into different sections and the entire first section: A Sand County Almanac, was absolutely lyrical and beautiful. I liked the second section: The Quality of Landscape and the third section: A Taste for Country a bit less. The final section: The Upshot was probably my least favorite. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the entire book, but there is something extraordinary about that first part of the book. But it's all well written, offering the reader a nice portrait of different landscapes and is a wonderful ode to nature. It also raises the challenge of conserving our natural resources, something that I always find appealing. It's definitely a worthwhile read.

Vagina: A New Biography

I picked up Naomi Wolf's Vagina: A New Biography when I saw that she was following me on Twitter. I was ecstatic when I saw my new follower. Naomi Wolf?!? I love her! I kept thinking. Then to prove it, I rushed out to get her latest book, one I had meant to read since it came out but hadn't gotten around to actually picking up.

I am grateful that I did and grateful for Wolf and her insanely insightful book. Wolf set out on a journey to understand the vagina and its connection to the female brain after suffering from a medical crisis. She discovers a wealth of information about female sexuality and creativity and shares it along with cultural history and her own personal experiences. The result is a book that is intelligent and wise, personal and engaging and one hundred percent worthwhile to read. I feel as if I understand myself better in a comforting way, a hey, maybe I'm not crazy, maybe that was a biological response kind of way. This book is a wealth of important information, so much I am tempted to start summarizing some of it... but everyone (male or female) should check it out for themselves. Or at least the last chapter. Wolf gives men the lowdown on pleasing a woman that more or less condenses all the information from each chapter into segments such as "tell her she's beautiful" or "gaze into her eyes." It's a definite worthwhile read, even if you just take the Cliff Note version in the last chapter. I will likely be rereading it myself in the future.