Eudaemonia

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367Sat, 10 Jan 2026 08:30:54 +0000WritingBooksDickens ChallengeLighthouse Writers WorkshopGrand Lake Writer's RetreatThe Foundling WheelElectionMemeTimothy HallinanCarleen BriceScott MattlinartcraftReading Like a WriterTherese Fowlerartistslife transitionspoetryErnest HebertOrange Mint and Honeybloggingcareercreativityloving booksOn WritingPatry FrancisRocky Mountain Fiction WritersSouvenirWriting Blogsauthorschangecharacter developmentAnnie DillardArt ProjectBalanceBook ReviewsCentral ParkCritique GroupsCritiquingFamilyJoshua HenkinKaren Degroot CarterMarcel ProustMatrimonyNew YorkNick ArvinPendulum FoundationTobias WolffVirginia WoolfcharactersreadingAlain de BottonAndrea DupreeBellowBill HendersonChris RansickChristmasCups of KindnessCynthia MuellerDavid Foster WallaceFelicia C. 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I’m thinking this could be a real-world group with a virtual component – like we could establish a Facebook group so that friends who are far away could participate in book and film discussions, but friends who are local could meet monthly and http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-somewhere-by-sea-salon_13.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-2689701478255268245Sun, 04 Jan 2015 19:17:00 +00002015-01-04T12:17:53.902-07:00Was it the Blue Pill, or The Red? There are moments, usually when I have some cable news network on to keep me company, when I'm overtaken by an all-encompassing, surreal, dystopian queasiness. It's like the blue pill from The Matrix has kicked in (or the red one, I can never remember) and I'm just now realizing that something  terrible has happened, we have gone past a point of no return and we are hurtling toward an http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2015/01/was-it-blue-pill-or-red.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-8607105935327079865Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:36:00 +00002009-12-28T23:28:44.506-07:00Ian McEwanSaturdaySaturdaySaturday by Ian McEwan spans the course of a single Saturday in the life of London neurosurgeon Henry Perowne. It's February 2003 and Henry wakes before dawn. As he stares out his window he sees a bright light that he at first assumes is a comet, but then realizes must be a plane on fire headed into Heathrow. The image and reporting on the plane will follow Henry throughout the course of the day http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/12/saturday.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-4373368563911237375Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:28:00 +00002009-12-22T22:30:50.456-07:00Instead of Talking About Saturday...I'm reading this.http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/12/instead-of-talking-about-saturday.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-4115976535793685470Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:54:00 +00002009-12-22T00:43:59.822-07:00Library: An Unquiet HistoryMatthew BattlesLibrary: An Unquiet HistoryWhen I opened this book and saw the opening quote from Jorge Luis Borges, I knew this would be no ordinary chronicle. Matthew Battles, a rare books curator at Harvard's Widener Library opens with his experience of trying to "read the library" and I was immediately captivated.Library: An Unquiet History by Matthew Battles is an exciting and comprehensive journey through the history of the written http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/12/library-unquiet-history.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-5039621226592930800Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:38:00 +00002009-12-21T07:26:25.770-07:00Don DeLilloFalling ManFalling ManIt seems fitting that of the books I've read in 2009, only two were audio books and both of them were 9/11 novels. I say fitting because I don't feel the same connection to an audio book that I do to a tangible book. I can't dog ear a page or highlight a paragraph. When I want to write my impressions about it, I can't go back and skim through to remember the names of characters or to refresh my http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/12/falling-man.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-4437386138594433529Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:29:00 +00002009-12-19T23:21:42.469-07:00Inherent ViceThomas PynchonInherent ViceOne of the benefits of being a selective reader is that I like and often love almost every book I read. It pains me to say anything negative about any book, but I do want to talk about this one. Of the books I've over the last few months, I least enjoyed Inherent Vice. See, I can't even come out and say I didn't like it.I should make a couple of points before I explain my problems with http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/12/inherent-vice.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-6972299918730014740Sat, 19 Dec 2009 06:43:00 +00002009-12-19T03:50:32.625-07:00Death in VeniceThomas MannDeath in VeniceThomas Mann published Death in Venice just prior to the start of World War I. At 73 pages, the novella doesn't waste a word. It's infused with signs and symbols rooted in Freudian psychology and Greek mythology.This story is about the artist and art and the balance (or imbalance) between intellect and passion.It begins:"Gustave Aschenbach -- or von Aschenbach, as he had been known officially http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/12/death-in-venice.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-2595714163934746826Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:01:00 +00002009-12-18T01:10:14.478-07:00BooksreadingWritingOne a DaySomething was changing for a long time. It took about a year to understand it, but now I do. People who've been coming here for a long time know that the original focus of this blog was on writing. For a long time I couldn't stop writing and I couldn't stop talking about it. I took classes and workshops and attended retreats and wrote the better part of two bad novels before I stopped to try to http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/12/one-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-3132387500146837304Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:18:00 +00002009-11-30T09:22:47.367-07:00Fill in the GapsFilling in the Gaps -- What I Said and What I ReadBack in April, I joined a group of readers who, at Moonrat's suggestion made lists of 100 books to "fill in the gaps" in their reading lists. I am such a fickle reader that I knew it was unlikely I'd work my way through my own list with any consistency. There's a list of books I've read in 2009 at the sidebar and clearly, I have a short attention span. What was I thinking when I read The Iliad (http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/11/filling-in-gaps-what-i-said-and-what-i.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-3186953562395624329Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:17:00 +00002009-08-23T09:20:46.887-06:00BellowCarleen BriceDavid Foster Wallacede BottonGaitskillKatharine NoelLorrie MoorePercival EverettProustSparkVicki FormanWells TowerWhat I've Been Reading and ThinkingThere's a funny thing that happens to me when I read great literature. I wonder if it happens to anyone else. I become mute. I feel incapable of communicating with other people in any meaningful way. I live in my head and I immerse myself in more literary work that knocks me out. The author who first got to me this way was Marcel Proust, but David Foster Wallace just about finished me off.I want http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-ive-been-reading-and-thinking.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-3424848542437125002Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:01:00 +00002009-06-29T00:50:45.284-06:00Carleen BriceChildren of the WatersDavid Foster WallaceInfinite JestInfinite SummerMatthew BaldwinThis Lovely LifeVicki FormanThe End of Spring and On to Infinite SummerBlogging and working out are very similar in that if you stop doing either, the longer you wait to get back into the routine, the harder it is to get started again. I've been reading so many great books lately and since two of them were written by friends and published this month, I want to send some positive vibes about them out into the world.I will dedicate separate posts to each of these finehttp://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2009/06/end-of-spring-and-on-to-infinite-summer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-8156311615335883250Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:07:00 +00002009-03-26T00:54:52.098-06:00Reading Like a WriterWhat I Look for in a Book      <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2008/12/faith-love-and-blue-volkswagens.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-3922381066746685070Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:52:00 +00002008-12-23T13:59:27.590-07:00Alastair SimScroogeThe Spirits Must Have Done Everything in One Night!Tomorrow night I'll turn down all the lights and pop in the DVD of A Christmas Carol, the 1951 version, starring Alastair Sim. When all else fails to get me into the spirit of the season, this movie never fails to get to me. This particular segment has be laughing and crying every time. It's all very timeless.What brings on the nostalgia for you?http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2008/12/spirits-must-have-done-everything-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-7671016301914522282Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:17:00 +00002008-12-22T14:30:08.932-07:00For Scott on the First Day of ChanukahWishing a very Happy Chanukah to Jews everywhere and in keeping with the holiday music video tradition, I offer up Adam Sandler's original Chanukah song:Just getting warmed up? Here's Part 2:Okay, okay there's one last Adam Sandler Chanukah video and then you have to go back to work:http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2008/12/for-scott-on-first-day-of-chanukah.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-567668315717895367.post-1477819466042752708Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:01:00 +00002008-12-20T23:11:03.425-07:00ChristmasGod Rest Ye Merry GentlemenGod Rest Ye Merry GentlemenI was talking with my Uncle Denis this morning and he reminded me that the John Hancock insurance agent that my grandparents had used to give us Christmas carol songbooks every year, which made me realize that's how I know every verse for every old traditional Christmas carol.Does anybody else remember those John Hancock songbooks? I'm pretty sure we don't see carolers anymore because they quit http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2008/12/god-rest-ye-merry-gentlemen.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lisa)10