Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post—feel free to steal the button—and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries! Want to share your loot? Marg has the Mr. Linky this week!I returned nine books to the library today
and only took one out: Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life?: Personal Stories from 25 of North America’s Leading Teachers edited by Stephen Cope. Finding this book has prompted me to finally blog about (and start) a personal reading challenge that’s been rattling around in my brain for quite some time.My idea is to start from one book—I’ve chosen Devotion: A Memoir by Dani Shapiro, which I haven’t finished reading yet—and go from it to another author mentioned in the first book. In this case, Shapiro writes about coming across a book by Stephen Cope (Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, which she calls “a page-turner of yoga metaphysics”). I looked up Stephen Cope in my library catalogue and the only one of his books they have is the one I took out, Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life? Since I’ve been taking a meditation class and I’m flirting with the idea of meditating every day (see item #36 in my 40/40 Challenge), this book sounds right up my alley. And the fact that it’s a collection of essays by 25 yoga and meditation practitioners means I’ll have lots of options for book #3!
Rules for the
- The author of the next book must be mentioned in the previous book, either in the text itself or in the bibliography.
- If I get stuck (no authors are mentioned or I can’t find their books easily or none of the ones mentioned is of any interest to me), I can go back one or two books and start again with a different author.
- Priority should be given to books I already own or that are available through my library system. (The idea is not to encourage more book buying!)
- My aim is to read at least 6 books between now and March 31, 2011.
Edited to add:
I’ve changed the name of this challenge and created a button and sign-up page, so please do join me if you’re interested!
Avis, YEAH!!! I hope you start doing yoga - it is actually pretty tough - but you feel very good afterwards.
ReplyDeleteAs for meditation, I would LOVE to be able to say that I am capable of doing it for more than 5 minutes at a time, but its hard - even after all these years, I still can't do more than a few minutes at a time.
I really like the book you mentioned though and I might try to get my hands on it.
Thanks for letting me know about it.
Fun idea for a challenge! I'll have to try to think of a subject I want to read a lot about and won't get tired of. Six books in a year should be doable, though. I'll see what I can come up with!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your challenge!
ReplyDeleteMeditation sounds like a good thing!! Good luck on your challenge and I'm so proud of your restraint by bringing home only 1 book!!!
ReplyDeleteI've sworn off challenges but this one sounds like it would be really good for me. I've been keeping up a frantic pace lately and could do with a bit of meditation. I'm impressed that you returned 9 books to the library and managed to only come home with 1! I tend to take out 15 at a time and only manage to read about 5.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great challenge concept - enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good idea for a challenge! Good luck with it!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds interesting. Many times I've wanted to read a book mentioned in another book but just never get around to it or it's not in my library.
ReplyDeleteBut I'd like to try. I think 6 books in one year is doable. Let me think some more and then I'll write a post about it if I decide to join!
Whoo-hoo, thanks, Tina, for your enthusiasm. I've actually done yoga before, though not in a few years. As for meditation, well, I'm still working on that!
ReplyDeleteAli, I'm excited that you might join in this challenge too! I'm going to have to work on a button for it and do a proper challenge announcement post...
Thanks, Cat!
Staci, my restraint had much to do with the fact that I got to the library only 20 minutes before it closed!
Kathleen, I know what you mean about keeping up a frantic pace. It's so hard to slow down, I find. Hopefully, meditation will help, although I'm still at the stage where I'm reading about it rather than actually doing it!
Thanks, Booklover and Marg!
Callista, that happens to me all the time, that I come across a book mentioned in another book and think I'd like to pick it up but never do. I hope you join me in this challenge! (I'm thinking it needs a more creative name too, but I wrote up this post at the last minute as always, and that was the best I could come up with on short notice!)