Sprightly Books
There is a particular image of books that pops up from time to time in literature: stacks of books inhabit the quiet, long-forgotten libraries, waiting with trapidation for a chance reader, an avid reader who would change their fate. Such a reader would restore their dignity by dusting their covers & lovingly turning their pages.
Contrast that with the image of books that, instead of inhabiting a quiet library, lead a lively existance in my mind. The ideas and reflections they contain instigate the inceasent questionning and reevaluation of knowledge. It is because of such characteristics that I call certain books, mentioned on my blog and on this site, sprightly. Once you read them, I hope you will, too!
Biographies & Memoirs |
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by Azar Nafisi I imagine that despite their cheerfulness, most people are fighting with what is unspoken, as Azar Nafisi put it in her beautiful memoir, The Things I've Been Silent About, "At some point, the unarticulated, that which read mor |
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by Barack Obama You know how when you learn a new word, you suddenly hear it used everywhere? The same seems to be true when it comes to reading. Just before coming to India, I immersed myself in Barack Obama’s autobiography, Dreams from my father. Barack described how shocked he was when he found out (by chance, in a library in Indonesia) that there were “treatments” offered to Black people to lighten their skin color. I was shocked, too, and ashamed. Above all, however, I was surprised. Shortly after we arrived in India, I saw a read more |
Ethnographies & Related non-fiction |
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by Barbara Demick The author speculates on the reason for the overwhelming lack of colors in the Korean landscape, and the explanation goes far beyond mine, related to the read more |
Novels |
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by Karolina Caran As Julian journeys through the reality of his youth, he challenges the tyrannical postwar censorship that surrounded and strangled both art and gay relationships. His tale is a testimony to the strength of read more |
Psychology |
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by Carl Rogers One professor said she was entirely happy with what I had written,but another one said she'd be entirely happy if I connected my findings to Carl Roger's (1963, 1995) theory of motivation. I am very fond of this particular theory because read more |
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by Annie Rogers It is not a new idea. Annie Rogers, for instance, describes how she listens to and analyzes the conversations with abused girls, in order to help them articulate and overcome their traumatic experiences. Yet, the "unspoken," or the "unsayable," as Rogers refers to it, is crucial for read more |
