To Read Is to Fly
“To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.”
― Alberto Manguel
You can also find me on Goodreads and LibraryThing.
I have heard very good reports on Shambhala's "The Best Buddhist Writing" series, so I was excited to have the chance to read an ARC of the 2013 edition via Netgalley. I found this volume to have a wide-ranging collection of essays and excerpts from books covering everything from introductions to meditation and to basic concepts in Buddhism, to engaging slice-of-life essays exploring how the writers incorporate mindfulness in hectic lives, and even a piece in which Kay Larson traces the influences of Buddhism on John Cage's 4'33" (drawing on her work in her book [b:Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists|16171197|Where the Heart Beats John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists|Kay Larson|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1372041993s/16171197.jpg|21763103]. The Table of Contents presents a who's who of Buddhist writers, both established writers and relative newcomers: Pema Chödrön, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joseph Goldstein, Natalie Goldberg, Sylvia Boorstein, Dzongsar Khyentse, Sakyong Mipham, Norman Fischer, Philip Moffitt, Karen Miller, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Kay Larson, and Lodro Rinzler. This volume is a wonderful introduction to recent writings on Buddhism and mindfulness, and should help readers to find new favorite writers in the field.
Currently reading
The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan
About Women: Conversations Between a Writer and a Painter
The Relic Master: A Novel
Limonov
Tourists with Typewriters: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Travel Writing
Inventing Exoticism: Geography, Globalism, and Europe's Early Modern World (Material Texts)
Among the Ruins: Syria Past and Present
Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul
In Light of Another's Word: European Ethnography in the Middle Ages
Intimate Outsiders: The Harem in Ottoman and Orientalist Art and Travel Literature
