Weekly Geeks 2009-42: Podcasts?

I haven't done a Weekly Geeks post for quite awhile! This week's topic:

Share with us a podcast you love, preferably book related, but not necessarily so. Give us the link, of course, and share with us details about that podcast and why you enjoy it so much. If you have a couple or three favorites, share them all!

I used to listen to podcasts a lot more when I was working - often to drown out the noise of downtown construction or of chatty co-workers. The ones I listened to most are not necessarily book-related, but authors are often interviewed and it sometimes piqued my interest about their books. These are all such high quality shows and the podcasts are all quite reliable (not all programs are!)

• Fresh Air with Terry Gross. I'm so glad this is a podcast because I rarely remember to tune in when it's on the radio. Terry is a fabulous interviewer and her guests cover a very wide spectrum, from authors to generals to actors.
  
• Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet - this is where I heard Matt Sanford interviewed about his book, Waking, that I reviewed last week. She has very thought provoking shows with guests such as Karen Armstrong, Rachel Naomi Remen, the late poet John O'Donohue and Mary Doria Russell.
  
• The Story with Dick Gordon. Wonderful interviews with everyday folk who have interesting stories to tell.
  
• This American Life with Ira Glass. Just brilliant. Sometimes funny, often poignant. David Sedaris is a regular guest as is Sarah Vowell. Hint: you need to download this one the week immediately following the airing of the show for the free podcast; after that they're available for 99 cents each (still a good deal).
  

I'm grateful for this theme this week because now I'm remembering how much I enjoyed listening to these shows while I worked or rode the bus. I must make time for them again.
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Friday Fill-ins 11-13-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.

1. The last band I saw live was probably the same band I’m going to see tomorrow – Motherlode

2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is time with our families.

3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is almost non-existent.

4. Thoughts of music fill my head. (Of course, now that you mentioned bagpipes, Amazing Grace is running through my head!)

5. I wish I could wear pierced earrings.

6. Bagpipes can sometimes make me feel melancholy.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to quiet time at home, tomorrow my plans include a band rehearsal, dinner with friends and a concert, and Sunday, I want to read and sing. Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where In the World Are You? The Glass Castle

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls page 56:

After dinner, the whole family stretched out on the benches and the floor of the depot and read, with the dictionary in the middle of the room so we kids could look up words we didn't know. Sometimes I discussed the definitions with Dad, and if we didn't agree with what the dictionary writers said, we sat down and wrote a letter to the publishers. they'd write back defending their position, which would prompt an even longer letter from Dad, and if they replied again, so would he, until we stopped hearing from the dictionary people.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

Hmm, where am I? Bouncing around between small mining towns, big cities (Phoenix, Las Vegas), West Virginia, the desert; living in trailers, an abandoned train depot, available shacks, with family - never very long in one place, with parents like mine. Read More!

Liza and the shoes

Our six month old puppy Liza loves to go for walks. She can tell when I'm putting on my shoes that it's time - see how she "helps" me put them on?

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Sunday Salon: RW&R Rising from the Dust

Poor little blog, you look so lonely. I've been off spending time with my photo blog and neglecting you. So in honor of my decision to pay more attention to you (including writing book reviews) I've decided on a makeover. What do you think of your new look?

So first, Saloners and other readers (if there are any of you left!) a little update on my reading progress. I was aiming for 125 books for 2009, but at some point last month, I realized I'll be lucky to reach 100. And that's just fine. My challenges were tending to cause me angst, which defeats the whole purpose of reading books, yes? I do have a fun challenge set up for 2010 (more details later) that involves a lot of the books I've been wanting to read anyway, and almost all of which are on my bookshelves already.

Just to have some closure on my challenges: out of nine challenges, I've completed all but two. Here are the stats:

• What's In a Name: 6 of 6
• Dewey's Books: 5 of 5
• Decades: 6 of 10 (I'll be reading at least one more of these before year's end)
• Pub Challenge: 9 of 9
• Booker Prize Challenge: 10 of 12 (The 2009 winner, Wolf Hall, is waiting in the wings, very close at hand)
• Orange Prize Challenge: 12 of 12
• Essays: 20 of 20
• Short Stories: 25 of 25
• Classics: 4 of 4

As of today, I'm at 79 books read for the year.

And as promised, here is a book review.
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Waking by Matthew Sanford

I heard Matt Sanford on an NPR program about a year ago and his story touched and fascinated me. In 1978, at age 13, he was in a terrible auto accident that killed his father and sister and left Matt a paraplegic. In this memoir he tells of years of pain, anguish and coming to terms with his paralysis and the grief of losing his father and sister.

Matt spends a number of years in a gray world, disconnected emotionally and spiritually from his body. At some point he becomes aware that his healing story will not involve walking or becoming like one of the super hero paraplegics paraded in front of him for inspiration. Eventually Matthew is introduced to yoga and experiences what he calls an "energetic sensation within my mind-body relationship." He pursues yoga intensely - though it is not a linear progression; he experiences many setbacks. Eventually, Matt goes on to teach yoga to both walking people and those with disabilities.

I was drawn to Matt's story partly because of my own experience with yoga and with progressive physical limitations. It is a good reminder to all of us to stay conscious of our bodies, not to take them for granted; and that we can change the healing stories that practitioners tell us and that we tell ourselves.

Beautiful writing; highly recommended.
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How to Tell People They Sound Racist

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Friday Fill-ins 11-06-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.



1. Plans and schedules are necessary evils.

2. I'm happy when things flow.

3. The last thing I drank was coffee (duh).

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is friendship.

5. I like feta cheese on my pizza.

6. Dear November, Thank you for the beautiful autumn leaves.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a quiet evening, tomorrow my plans include not much and Sunday, I want to do more of the same.

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Friday Fill-ins 10-16-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. So are we going to New York in September?

2. A finished bathroom! is what's up ahead.

3. I love to sing.

4. I have a virus of some sort.

5. I walk a puppy almost every day now.

6. A good book is one of the true elixirs of life!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting over my virus, tomorrow my plans include reading and Sunday, I want to go visit my Dad. Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 10-13-09: Life and Fate

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.




This week my teaser is from Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman page 231:

Nearly everyone believed that good would triumph, that honest men, who hadn't hesitated to sacrifice their lives, would be able to build a good and just life. This faith was all the more touching in that these men thought that they themselves would be unlikely to survive until the end of the war; indeed, they felt astonished each evening to have survived one more day.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm in Russia; it's 1942 and I'm alternately in a German concentration camp, a Russian labour camp, Kazan, Stalingrad, on a cattle car bound for the gas chamber and a tank corps in the Urals. Life is not easy for any of us. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 10-02-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. I have a history of procrastination; I’ve been meaning to write about it but keep putting it off.

2. Fluent Spanish is something I wish I knew.


3. I'm eating (or recently ate) too much.

4. Time to get on the road to better health.

5. So that's it, that's all she wrote!

6. Enough is better than nothing!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to pampering our puppy after her surgery, tomorrow my plans include tile shopping and the farmers market and Sunday, I want to read!

. Read More!