Top Ten

According to Newsweek, here's Netflix's top ten movie rentals:

1. 'Crash' (2005)
2. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' (2008)
3. 'The Bucket List' (2007)
4. 'The Departed' (2006)
5. 'Iron Man' (2008)
6. 'No Country for Old Men' (2007)
7. 'The Pursuit of Happyness' (2006)
8. 'The Proposal' (2009)
9. 'Gran Torino' (2008)
10. 'Casino Royale' (2006)

It's Better Than It Could Have Been

I've been thinking that yesterday's post didn't quite fit with my Simplifying and Destressing theme, but then I realized that without my simplifying and destressing efforts, my stress level right now would be even higher than it is. My decluttering and simplifying efforts at home are really going well. I have such positive feelings about my progress in that area. Because of some of the new habits I'm cultivating, my house is staying cleaner and clutter free, so although I may be stressing about work-related things, my home is not adding to the problem and it's a haven at the end of the day instead of one more thing to stress about.

And even though I'm not progressing as swiftly on the Simplifying and Destressing at the office as I am at home, a few things I'm doing there are at least keeping me sane in the middle of all the grading and prep. I've already told you about never leaving the office without a clear desk, and I would never have believed just how effective a strategy this is. I feel a sense of order when I walk out the door in the evening, and when I walk in the next morning things seem to be a little more under my control.

Another thing I've been doing is keeping a "Most Important Things" list. Before I leave for the day, on the top sheet of my notepad I list the things that absolutely, positively must be done tomorrow. These usually have to do with the following day's classes, but not always. On another sheet, I keep a running list of things that need to be done, but not immediately. When I get to work, I immediately start in on my must-do list, doing nothing else (but teaching classes) until those are accomplished. Then, I know I'm at least ready for the next day. If there's extra time, I move on to an item on the not-so-urgent list. These lists don't lessen my load or get my work done for me, but they do remove the fear of realizing at the last minute that I'm unprepared or have forgotten something important.

Additionally, I keep reminding myself that the extra work I'm putting into Comp I now will pay off in less stress in the future. A stitch in time . . .

Stressing over Simplifying

In three installments last week, I published a list of 72 ways to simplify your life that I found at zenhabits.net. I think it's a really great list. As soon as I found it, I knew it would help me on my quest to declutter and simplify. The problem, as is always true for me, is my perfectionist personality.

You see, perfectionists are not perfect. They just feel strongly that they should be, and that's the problem. Being one, I feel as if I should do all things perfectly, and preferably yesterday, which of course is a huge reason that I've had trouble simplifying. Simplifying your life is a huge, overwhelming task, and since I couldn't do it all right away (and perfectly), in the past I didn't do any of it. I just worried over it and stressed about it.

But this time, I'm doing it differently. I decided to choose a few items from the list, implement them, and when I've accomplished those or feel comfortable with a new habit, I'll choose one or two more and move forward.

So far, so good.

The first item on the list instructs you to make a list of your top 4-5 important things. By realizing what you value most, you'll be able to prioritize your decluttering and simplifying accordingly. So, here's mine:

1. Spending time with my husband, family, and friends.
2. Having time for non-work-related reading.
3. Living and working in a peaceful and orderly environment.
4. Being well-prepared to do my job.
5. Exercising and eating healthfully.
6. Having some time for myself every day. (No, this is not a duplication of my pleasure reading priority. More on this later.)

OK. I cheated. But that's my top six.

Come back tomorrow for the next step in my quest for simplification.

Simple Living Manifesto, Part III

Last installment:

51. Live life more deliberately. Do every task slowly, with ease, paying full attention to what you’re doing.

52. Make a Most Important Tasks (MITs) list each day. Set just 3 very important things you want to accomplish each day. Don’t start with a long list of things you probably won’t get done by the end of the day. A simple list of 3 things, ones that would make you feel like you accomplished something.

53. Create morning and evening routines. A great way to simplify your life is to create routines at the start and end of your day. Read more on morning routines and evening routines.
54. Create a morning writing ritual. If you enjoy writing, like I do, make it a peaceful, productive ritual.

55. Learn to do nothing. Doing nothing can be an art form, and it should be a part of every life.

56. Read Walden, by Thoreau. The quintessential text on simplifying. Available on Wikisources for free.

57. Go for quality, not quantity. Try not to have a ton of stuff in your life … instead, have just a few possessions, but ones that you really love, and that will last for a long time.

58. Read Simplify Your Life, by Elaine St. James. One of my favorite all-time authors on simplicity.

59. Fill your day with simple pleasures. Make a list of your favorite simple pleasures, and sprinkle them throughout your day.

60. Simplify your RSS feeds. If you’ve got dozens of feeds, or more than a hundred (as I once did), you probably have a lot of stress in trying to keep up with them all. Simplify your feed reading.

61. But subscribe to Unclutterer. Probably the best blog on simplifying your stuff and routines (along with Zen Habits, of course!).

62. Create an easy-to-maintain yard.

63. Carry less stuff. Are your pockets bulging? Consider carrying only the essentials.

64. Simplify your online life. If you have too much going on online, pare down.

65. Strive to automate your income. This isn’t the easiest task, but it can (and has) been done. I’ve been working towards it myself.

66. Simplify your budget. Many people skip budgeting (which is very important) because it’s too hard or too complicated.

67. Simplify your financial life.

68. Learn to pack light. Who wants to lug a bunch of luggage around on a trip?

69. Use a minimalist productivity system. The minimal Zen To Done is all you need. Everything else is icing.

70. Leave space around things in your day. Whether they’re appointments, or things you need to do, don’t stack them back-to-back. Leave a little space between things you need to do, so you will have room for contingencies, and you’ll go through your day much more relaxed.

71. Live closer to work. This might mean getting a job closer to your home, or moving to a home closer to your work. Either will do much to simplify your life.

72. Always ask: Will this simplify my life? If the answer is no, reconsider.

How am I doing? Tune in next week for an update.

Simple Living Manifesto, Part II

26. Create a simple mail & paperwork system. If you don’t have a system, this stuff will pile up. But a simple system will keep everything in order.

27. Create a simple system for house work.

28. Clear your desk. If you have a cluttered desk, it can be distracting and disorganized and stressful. A clear desk, however, is only a couple of simple habits away.

29. Establish routines. The key to keeping your life simple is to create simple routines.

30. Keep your email inbox empty. Is your email inbox overflowing with new and read messages? Do the messages just keep piling up? If so, you’re normal — but you could be more efficient and your email life could be simplified with a few simple steps.

31. Learn to live frugally. Living frugally means buying less, wanting less, and leaving less of a footprint on the earth. It’s directly related to simplicity.

32. Make your house minimalist. A minimalist house has what is necessary, and not much else. It’s also extremely peaceful (not to mention easy to clean).

33. Find other ways to be minimalist. There are tons. You can find ways to be minimalist in every area of your life.

34. Consider a smaller home. If you rid your home of stuff, you might find you don’t need so much space. I’m not saying you should live on a boat (although I know some people who happily do so), but if you can be comfortable in a smaller home, it will not only be less expensive, but easier to maintain, and greatly simplify your life.

35. Consider a smaller car. This is a big move, but if you have a large car or SUV, you may not really need something that big. It’s more expensive, uses more gas, harder to maintain, harder to park. Simplify your life with less car. You don’t need to go tiny, especially if you have a family, but try to find as small a car as can fit you or your family comfortably. Maybe not something you’re going to do today, but something to think about over the long term.

36. Learn what “enough” is. Our materialistic society today is about getting more and more, with no end in sight. Sure, you can get the latest gadget, and more clothes and shoes. More stuff. But when will you have enough? Most people don’t know, and thus they keep buying more. It’s a neverending cycle. Get off the cycle by figuring out how much is enough. And then stop when you get there.

37. Create a simple weekly dinner menu. If figuring out what’s for dinner is a nightly stressor for you or your family, consider creating a weekly menu. Decide on a week’s worth of simple dinners, set a specific dinner for each night of the week, go grocery shopping for the ingredients. Now you know what’s for dinner each night, and you have all the ingredients necessary. No need for difficult recipes — find ones that can be done in 10-15 minutes (or less).

38. Eat healthy. It might not be obvious how eating healthy relates to simplicity, but think about the opposite: if you eat fatty, greasy, salty, sugary, fried foods all the time, you are sure to have higher medical needs over the long term. We could be talking years from now, but imagine frequent doctor visits, hospitalization, going to the pharmacist, getting therapy, having surgery, taking insulin shots … you get the idea. Being unhealthy is complicated. Eating healthy simplifies all of that greatly, over the long term.

39. Exercise. This goes along the same lines as eating healthy, as it simplifies your life in the long run, but it goes even further: exercise helps burn off stress and makes you feel better. It’s great.

40. Declutter before organizing. Many people make the mistake of taking a cluttered desk or filing cabinet or closet or drawer, and trying to organize it. Unfortunately, that’s not only hard to do, it keeps things complicated. Simplify the process by getting rid of as much of the junk as possible, and then organizing. If you declutter enough, you won’t need to organize at all.

41. Have a place for everything. Age-old advice, but it’s the best advice on keeping things organized. After you declutter.

42. Find inner simplicity. I’m not much of a spiritual person, but I have found that spending a little time with my inner self creates a peaceful simplicity rather than a chaotic confusion. This could be time praying or communing with God, or time spent meditating or journaling or getting to know yourself, or time spent in nature. However you do it, working on your inner self is worth the time.

43. Learn to decompress from stress. Every life is filled with stress — no matter how much you simplify your life, you’ll still have stress (except in the case of the ultimate simplifier, death). So after you go through stress, find ways to decompress.

44. Try living without a car. OK, this isn’t something I’ve done, but many others have. It’s something I would do if I didn’t have kids. Walk, bike, or take public transportation. It reduces expenses and gives you time to think. A car is also very complicating, needing not only car payments, but insurance, registration, safety inspections, maintenance, repairs, gas and more.

45. Find a creative outlet for self-expression. Whether that’s writing, poetry, painting, drawing, creating movies, designing websites, dance, skateboarding, whatever. We have a need for self-expression, and finding a way to do that makes your life much more fulfilling. Allow this to replace much of the busy-work you’re eliminating from your life.

46. Simplify your goals. Instead of having half a dozen goals or more, simplify it to one goal. Not only will this make you less stressed, it will make you more successful. You’ll be able to focus on that One Goal, and give it all of your energy. That gives you much better chances for success.

47. Single-task. Multi-tasking is more complicated, more stressful, and generally less productive. Instead, do one task at a time.

48. Simplify your filing system. Stacking a bunch of papers just doesn’t work. But a filing system doesn’t have to be complicated to be useful. Create a simple system.

49. Develop equanimity. If every little thing that happens to you sends you into anger or stress, your life might never be simple. Learn to detach yourself, and be more at peace.

50. Reduce your consumption of advertising. Advertising makes us want things. That’s what it’s designed to do, and it works. Find ways to reduce your exposure of advertising, whether that’s in print, online, broadcast, or elsewhere. You’ll want much less.

To be continued . . .

Simple Living Manifesto, Part I

You know me. I can't do anything without researching it first, and simplifying is no different. I ran across this list, Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life, at zenhabits.net. A lot of these suggestions really make sense to me. I'm going to post the list over the next couple of days, and then, if I'm brave enough, I'll let you know which of the suggestions I try to implement and how I progress.

The Long List

There can be no step-by-step guide to simplifying your life, but I’ve compiled an incomplete list of ideas that should help anyone trying to find the simple life. Not every tip will work for you — choose the ones that appeal and apply to your life.

One important note: this list will be criticized for being too complicated, especially as it provides a bunch of links. Don’t stress out about all of that. Just choose one at a time, and focus on that. When you’re done with that, focus on the next thing.

1. Make a list of your top 4-5 important things. What’s most important to you? What do you value most? What 4-5 things do you most want to do in your life? Simplifying starts with these priorities, as you are trying to make room in your life so you have more time for these things.

2. Evaluate your commitments. Look at everything you’ve got going on in your life. Everything, from work to home to civic to kids’ activities to hobbies to side businesses to other projects. Think about which of these really gives you value, which ones you love doing. Which of these are in line with the 4-5 most important things you listed above? Drop those that aren’t in line with those things.

3. Evaluate your time. How do you spend your day? What things do you do, from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep? Make a list, and evaluate whether they’re in line with your priorities. If not, eliminate the things that aren’t, and focus on what’s important. Redesign your day.

4. Simplify work tasks. Our work day is made up of an endless list of work tasks. If you simply try to knock off all the tasks on your to-do list, you’ll never get everything done, and worse yet, you’ll never get the important stuff done. Focus on the essential tasks and eliminate the rest.

5. Simplify home tasks. In that vein, think about all the stuff you do at home. Sometimes our home task list is just as long as our work list. And we’ll never get that done either. So focus on the most important, and try to find ways to eliminate the other tasks (automate, eliminate, delegate, or hire help).

6. Learn to say no. This is actually one of the key habits for those trying to simplify their lives. If you can’t say no, you will take on too much.

7. Limit your communications. Our lives these days are filled with a vast flow of communications: email, IM, cell phones, paper mail, Skype, Twitter, forums, and more. It can take up your whole day if you let it. Instead, put a limit on your communications: only do email at certain times of the day, for a certain number of minutes (I recommend twice a day, but do what works for you). Only do IM once a day, for a limited amount of time. Limit phone calls to certain times too. Same with any other communications. Set a schedule and stick to it.

8. Limit your media consumption. This tip won’t be for everyone, so if media consumption is important to you, please skip it (as with any of the other tips). However, I believe that the media in our lives — TV, radio, Internet, magazines, etc. — can come to dominate our lives. Don’t let it. Simplify your life and your information consumption by limiting it. Try a media fast.

9. Purge your stuff. If you can devote a weekend to purging the stuff you don’t want, it feels seriously terrific. Get boxes and trash bags for the stuff you want to donate or toss.

10. Get rid of the big items. There’s tons of little clutter in our lives, but if you start with the big items, you’ll simplify your life quickly and in a big way.

11. Edit your rooms. One room at a time, go around the room and eliminate the unnecessary. Act as a newspaper editor, trying to leave only the minimum, and deleting everything else.

12. Edit closets and drawers. Once you’ve gone through the main parts of your rooms, tackle the closets and drawers, one drawer or shelf at a time.

13. Simplify your wardrobe. Is your closet bursting full? Are your drawers so stuffed they can’t close (I’m talking about dresser drawers here, not underwear). Simplify your wardrobe by getting rid of anything you don’t actually wear. Try creating a minimal wardrobe by focusing on simple styles and a few solid colors that all match each other.

14. Simplify your computing life. If you have trouble with too many files and too much disorganization, consider online computing. It can simplify things greatly.

15. Declutter your digital packrattery. If you are a digital packrat, and cannot seem to control your digital clutter, there is still hope for you.

16. Create a simplicity statement. What do you want your simple life to look like? Write it out.

17. Limit your buying habits. If you are a slave to materialism and consumerism, there are ways to escape it. I was there, and although I haven’t escaped these things entirely, I feel much freer of it all. If you can escape materialism, you can get into the habit of buying less. And that will mean less stuff, less spending, less freneticism.

18. Free up time. Find ways to free up time for the important stuff. That means eliminating the stuff you don’t like, cutting back on time wasters, and making room for what you want to do.

19. Do what you love. Once you’ve freed up some time, be sure to spend that extra time doing things you love. Go back to your list of 4-5 important things. Do those, and nothing else.

20. Spend time with people you love. Again, the list of 4-5 important things probably contains some of the people you love (if not, you may want to re-evaluate). Whether those people are a spouse, a partner, children, parents, other family, best friends, or whoever, find time to do things with them, talk to them, be intimate with them (not necessarily in sexual ways).

21. Spend time alone. See this list of ways to free up time for yourself — to spend in solitude. Alone time is good for you, although some people aren’t comfortable with it. It could take practice getting used to the quiet, and making room for your inner voice. It sounds new-agey, I know, but it’s extremely calming. And this quiet is necessary for finding out what’s important to you.

22. Eat slowly. If you cram your food down your throat, you are not only missing out on the great taste of the food, you are not eating healthy. Slow down to lose weight, improve digestion, and enjoy life more.

23. Drive slowly. Most people rush through traffic, honking and getting angry and frustrated and stressed out. And endangering themselves and others in the meantime. Driving slower is not only safer, but it is better on your fuel bill, and can be incredibly peaceful. Give it a try. Read more.

24. Be present. These two words can make a huge difference in simplifying your life. Living here and now, in the moment, keeps you aware of life, of what is going on around you and within you. It does wonders for your sanity. Read tips on how to do it.

25. Streamline your life. Many times we live with unplanned, complex systems in our lives because we haven’t given them much thought. Instead, focus on one system at a time (your laundry system, your errands system, your paperwork system, your email system, etc.) and try to make it simplified, efficient, and written. Then stick to it. Here’s more. Another good article here.

To be continued . . .

List Guilt

Every time I run across any kind of "Best" book list, it makes me feel bad. No matter how much I read, I never have read nearly enough of the books on the list to make me feel better about myself as a reader. This past weekend, Kane Webb's recurring "Best Books" article appeared in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. He admits that his list is "wholly objective" and "highly eccentric." Basically, he asks avid readers among his acquaintances this question: "What was the best book you read in 2009--and why? It doesn't have to be new, just new to you. Re-readings don't count, unless you can make a great case." Here's the list:

Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West Hampton Sides

Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood Jeffrey Marx

The Road to Serfdom Friedrich Hayek

Oliver Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout

Finn Family Moomintroll Tove Jansson

Zeitoun Dave Eggers

Revolutionary Road Richard Yates

Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer's Life Michael Greenberg

Tried By War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander In Chief James M. McPherson

Huge James W. Fuerst

How'd I do? Well, I did read Revolutionary Road this year. And I bought Olive Kitteridge and am planning on reading it sometime this Spring. I'm consoling myself by remembering that Webb did say it was a eccentric group of readers and by the fact that Part II of the list is coming soon. Maybe all the books I've read are on there.

Stephen King's Top 10

Stephen King published his Ten Favorite Novels of 2009 the other day in Entertainment Weekly. (Not all these novels were published in 2009.)

1. The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters

2. Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates

3. Hollywood Moon, Joseph Wambaugh

4. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

5. 2666, Roberto Bolano

6. Shatter, Michael Robotham

7. Drood, Dan Simmons

8. Gone Tomorrow, Lee Child

9. Ravens, George Dawes Green

10. Rough Country, John Sandford

I just bought the Sarah Waters novel, The Little Stranger, the other day. I was introduced to Waters by one of my professors at Ole Miss. We read her novel Affinity in a Gothic Novel class, and I read Fingersmith on my own. I also read Yates' Revolutionary Road this year. I've read several of John Sandford's novels, but not the one King recommends. Actually, to be more accurate, I guess I've listened to several of his novels on CD during my back and forth trips to Oxford.

I always feel better when I've read something on somebody's Top Whatever list, or at least have a passing acquaintance with one of the authors on it.

These Are the Best

The New Yorker just published its list of The Best Books of 2009. Here it is:

NONFICTION
Lords of Finance, by Liaquat Ahamed (Penguin Press; $32.95). Central bankers and the disaster of the gold standard.
Somewhere Towards the End, by Diana Athill (Norton; $24.95). Reflections on life as a nonagenarian.
Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters, by Louis Begley (Yale; $ 24). A compact treatment of a complex case.
Germany 1945, by Richard Bessel (Harper; $28.99). A powerful picture of a nation in defeat.
Hiding Man, by Tracy Daugherty (St. Martin’s; $35). The life and work of Donald Barthelme.
Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s; $24). Caught between Hurricane Katrina and the war on terror.
My Paper Chase, by Harold Evans (Little, Brown; $27.99). Memories of the newspaper trade.
Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer (Little, Brown; $25.99). A playful yet serious vegetarian manifesto.
Flannery, by Brad Gooch (Little, Brown; $30). The quiet life behind Flannery O’Connor’s fantastic fiction.
Dorothea Lange, by Linda Gordon (Norton; $35). From society photographer to photographer of society.
Fordlandia, by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan; $27.50). Henry Ford’s Amazonian folly.
Go Down Together, by Jeff Guinn (Simon & Schuster; $27). Behind the myth of Bonnie and Clyde.
Beg, Borrow, Steal, by Michael Greenberg (Other Press; $19.95). Notes on a freelancing life.
A Strange Eventful History, by Michael Holroyd (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $40). The linked lives of two nineteenth-century stage stars.
Marx’s General, by Tristram Hunt (Metropolitan; $32). Friedrich Engels, the industrialist who bankrolled “Das Kapital.”
Lit, by Mary Karr (Harper; $25.99). The author of “The Liars’ Club” finds God.
The Magician’s Book, by Laura Miller (Little, Brown; $25.99). Reading C. S. Lewis as a child and as an adult.
Trotsky, by Robert Service (Harvard; $35). Stalin’s rival is not to be romanticized.
A Paradise Built in Hell, by Rebecca Solnit (Viking; $27.95). Natural disasters and the power of community.
The First Tycoon, by T. J. Stiles (Knopf; $37.50). Cornelius Vanderbilt’s grand gambles.
The Death of Conservatism, by Sam Tanenhaus (Random House; $17). A movement’s maladies.
The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci (Doubleday; $26.95). A view from the bench.
The Parents We Mean to Be, by Richard Weissbourd (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; $25). Why we should beware of overpraising our children.
The Evolution of God, by Robert Wright (Little, Brown; $ 25.99). The development of religion from the Stone Age to now.

FICTION AND POETRY

The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday; $26.95). Revisiting the post-apocalyptic world of “Oryx and Crake.”
The Anthologist, by Nicholson Baker (Simon & Schuster; $25). A crafty bagatelle on poetic themes.
The Way Through Doors, by Jesse Ball (Vintage; $13.95). A dizzyingly circuitous inversion of the Scheherazade legend.
The Collected Poems & Unfinished Poems, by C. P. Cavafy, translated from the Greek by Daniel Mendelsohn (Knopf; $35 & $30). Modern Greek’s great master.
The Immortals, by Amit Chaudhuri (Knopf; $25.95). Tradition and modernity in Bombay.
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis , (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $30). Small but perfectly formed fictions.
Sonata Mulattica, by Rita Dove (Norton; $24.95). A verse sequence about a biracial violinist who played with Beethoven.
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, by Geoff Dyer (Pantheon; $24). A diptych of cosmopolitan emptiness and spiritual seeking.
Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann (Melville House; $27). A neglected classic about a couple’s resistance to the Nazis.
Wanting, by Richard Flanagan (Atlantic Monthly; $24). From Tasmania to the Arctic with Sir John Franklin.
Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn (Shaye Areheart; $24). A sinister thriller about a girl who survives her family’s murder.
The Magicians, by Lev Grossman (Viking; $26.95). An artfully self-reflective fantasy novel.
Tinkers, by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press; $14.95). The death of a patriarch in nineteenth-century Maine.
The Believers, by Zoë Heller (Harper; $25.99). Family secrets and rivalries in the aftermath of 9/11.
Censoring an Iranian Love Story, by Shahriar Mandanipour, translated from the Farsi by Sara Khalili (Knopf; $25). Passion and repression in the Islamic Republic.
The Vagrants, by Yiyun Li (Random House; $25). A novel of political upheaval in China.
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel (Henry Holt; $27). Tudor intrigue.
Upgraded to Serious, by Heather McHugh (Copper Canyon; $22). Poems of compassion and verbal intricacy.
Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger (Scribner; $ 26.99). A gothic yarn around a London cemetery.
Brooklyn, by Colm Tóibín (Scribner; $25). Emigration, love, and homesickness.
Love and Summer, by William Trevor (Viking; $25.95). Irish provincial life in the nineteen-fifties.
Lowboy, by John Wray (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $25). A schizophrenic rides the subway.

List with a Twist Revisited

Last Thanksgiving, I posted a literary list of things I'm thankful for. I thought I'd do a rerun of my List With a Twist

here (with a couple of additions):

I decided to do a “What I’m Grateful For” list with a twist today. Of course I’m thankful for family, friends, my health, my home, my car, my job, and all the other wonderful things I’ve been blessed with. But here’s a list of things that I am also thankful for:

1. novels
2. bookstores
3. Jane Austen
4. similes & metaphors
5. libraries
6. short stories
7. epiphanies
8. puns
9. electronic databases
10. adults who read to children
11. poetry
12. amazon.com
13. Shakespeare
14. a well-crafted sentence
15. drama
16. interlibrary loan
17. anthologies
18. limericks
19. signed copies
20. journals & diaries
21. free verse
22. freedom from censorship
23. onomatopoeia
24. satire & spoofs
25. audiobooks
26. the willing suspension of disbelief
27. blogs
28. grammar handbooks
29. quotable lines
30. Microsoft Word
31. gripping plots
32. film versions (sometimes)
33. foreshadowing
34. book shelves
35. satisfying conclusions
36. the 23rd Psalm in the KJV
37. memorable characters
38. dictionaries
39. allusion
40. friends who read
41. alliteration
42. clear and present thesis sentences
43. whodunits
44. new words
45. the classics
46. shades of meaning
47. re-reading
48. imagination
49. reading out loud
50. sequels

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to add

51. palindromes

52. book circles

53. Brit Lit students who love to discuss what they've read

10 Most Pirated Books

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the ten most pirated ebooks of 2009 are:

1. Kamasutra

2. Adobe Photoshop Secrets

3. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amazing Sex

4. The Lost Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

5. Solar House – A Guide for the Solar Designer

6. Before Pornography – Erotic Writing In Early Modern England

7. Twilight – Complete Series

8. How To Get Anyone To Say YES – The Science Of Influence

9. Nude Photography – The Art And The Craft

10. Fix It – How To Do All Those Little Repair Jobs Around The Home

What? No Jane Austen?

Booking It-LOL

What's the funniest book you've read lately?

Well, that's gotta be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. But I've already written a post about it. If you want to, you can read it HERE.

And there's another JA spoof coming out soon. I'll tell you about it later.

Try This

I just finished reading Barbara Brown Taylor's An Altar in the World, and in her chapter "The Practice of Saying No: Sabbath," she includes an exercise that I've adapted a little and am going to try. I invite you to try it, too.

First, get a pencil and a piece of paper and find a few minutes that you can be alone. Then, on one side of the paper, list "all the things you know give you life that you never take time to do." What makes life meaningful to you? What's the life like that you live in your innermost dreams? What do you do in the life you meant to live but haven't gotten around to yet? Think about standing at the end of your life looking back over it: what would you wish you had included? changed? left out? Do not judge yourself or edit your list. "Promise not to shush your heart when it howls for the list it wants," Taylor encourages.

Now, flip the paper over and "make a list of all the reasons why you think it is impossible for you to do [or be] those things." That's all.

But now a seed has been planted. Maybe your longing heart will find a way through all those excuses. I hope mine does.

Booking It--Preferences

Which do you prefer? (Quick answers–we’ll do more detail at some later date)

Reading something frivolous? Or something serious? Serious (but not always)

Paperbacks? Or hardcovers? Hardcovers

Fiction? Or Nonfiction? Fiction

Poetry? Or Prose? Prose (unfair question, though. I like both.)

Biographies? Or Autobiographies? Autobiographies

History? Or Historical Fiction? Historical Fiction

Series? Or Stand-alones? Series

Classics? Or best-sellers? Classics (but I love the occasional best-seller)

Lurid, fruity prose? Or straight-forward, basic prose? Straight-forward, I guess. "Lurid" prose???

Plots? Or Stream-of-Consciousness? Give me plots! Please!!

Long books? Or Short? Long

Illustrated? Or Non-illustrated? Non-illustrated means more to read

Borrowed? Or Owned? Owned

New? Or Used? New

Booking It--15 Children's Books

Here are the rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen children's books you've read/remember being read to you that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

Strawberry Girl

Winnie the Pooh

The Trixie Belden series

The Nancy Drew series

Charlotte's Web

Little House series

Any book by Beverly Cleary

Curious George

The Hundred Dresses

Aesop's Fables

Caddie Woodlawn

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Hatchet

Sarah, Plain and Tall

I don't know the name of it, but it was a Little Golden Book about a pig named George who ate so many doughnuts he exploded.

100 Most Beautiful English Words

I'm not sure that these are the exact ones I'd have chosen, but according to Alphadictionary.com, here are the 100 most beautiful words in the English language. Of course, words like "erstwhile" and "quintessential" are beautiful. But "fluke"? I love the word, but I'd classify it as funny rather than beautiful.

Thanks to Ian for bringing this site to my attention.

Aestivate--Ailurophile--Assemblage--Becoming--Beleaguer--Billet-doux--Brood--Bucolic

Bungalow--Chatoyant--Comely--Conflate--Cynosure--Dalliance--Demesne--Demure

Denouement--Desuetude--Desultory--Diaphanous--Dissemble--Dulcet--Ebullient

Effervescent--Efflorescence--Elision--Elixir--Eloquence--Embrocation--Emollient

Ephemeral--Epiphany--Erstwhile--Esculent--Ethereal--Evanescent--Evocative--Fetching

Felicitous--Fluke--Forbearance--Fugacious--Furtive--Gambol--Glamour--Gossamer

Halcyon--Imbrication--Imbroglio--Imbue--Incipient--Ineffable--Ingenue--Inglenook

Insouciance--Inure--Lagniappe--Lagoon--Languor--Lassitude--Leisure--Lilt--Lissome

Lithe--Luxuriant--Mellifluous--Moiety--Mondegreen--Murmur--Nemesis--Niveous

Odalisque--Offing--Onomatopoeia--Opulent--Palimpsest--Panacea--Panoply--Pastiche

Peccadillo--Penumbra--Petrichor--Plethora--Propinquity--Pyrrhic--Quintessential

Ratatouille--Redolent--Riparian--Ripple--Scintilla--Sempiternal--Seraglio--Serendipity

Surreptitious--Sumptuous--Sussurous--Symbiosis--Talisman--Tintinnabulation

Umbrageous--Umbrella--Untoward--Vestige--Viridescent--Waft--Wherewithal

The Hurrieder I Go, The Behinder I Get

This past week has been jam-packed with way too much to do. Necessary things. Things I simply cannot ignore. I'm leaving today for the CSC in Nashville, and this is all the stuff I had to get done in the last week:

1. Write the paper that I'm presenting at the CSC

2. Read Gilead because Marilynne Robinson will be a plenary speaker

3. Make minor corrections to my dissertation, proofread the Works Cited page (again), and get the finished version back to my director

4. Prepare to teach a class on "Images of Women in Literature," which I taught on Friday afternoon

5. Prepare for Honors Symposium.

6. Re-read Frankenstein before I teach it at Honors Symposium.

7. Shop for and prepare a nice Father's Day meal

8. Start teaching Honors Symposium on Monday

9. Download and fill out a bunch of graduation-related paperwork, drive to Ole Miss and run around campus, handing in one form here, picking something up there, taking it to another office on the other side of campus, paying fees, etc., and jumping through all necessary hoops prior to the defense, then driving home (same day)

10. Submit an essay for a critical edition of Mansfield Park

11. Pack for the CSC

That doesn't even count things like laundry. Boy, I'm tired.

Booking It--Sticky

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Poisonwood Bible

Persuasion

The Count of Monte Cristo

Lonesome Dove

Native Son

The Grapes of Wrath

A Tale of Two Cities

Lord of the Flies

Jude the Obscure

A Thousand Splendid Suns

The Handmaid's Tale

Charlotte's Web

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter

The Weight of Water

I know I'll want to change this list later, but I followed the 15 minute rule.

And the Pulitzer goes to . . .

The Pulitzer Prizewinners for 2009 were announced on April 20.

LETTERS, DRAMA and MUSIC:

Fiction - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)

Drama - Ruined by Lynn Nottage

History - The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (W.W. Norton & Company)

Biography - American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (Random House)

Poetry - The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin (Copper Canyon Press)

General Nonfiction - Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (Doubleday)

Music - Double Sextet by Steve Reich, premiered March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA (Boosey & Hawkes)

You can check out the complete list HERE.