May 22, Thursday afternoon -- Reading John Sandford

On a sunny bench in Portsmouth Square in Chinatown, near the Financial District


Reading Phantom Prey, by John Sandford....contrary to what this picture looks like.

He wouldn't let me take his photo—too many people, he said, already had. And, he wouldn't let me photograph the book he was currently reading. He felt that this one was more representative to what he reads on a daily basis.

He likes Eastern Religion and Conspiracy Theory.

Back when he used to drink, he'd hang out at 540 Clement Street—which he thinks now has been "yuppified"--at a bar where he would bring his conspiracy theory photo collages. (I wish I'd followed up more on this...)

One night, after hanging out at the bar, he returned to his sleeping spot in the Castro and made up a song, singing really good, baritone, through his nose and mouth--the words were what would later become, he said, the chorus of a song that Sheryl Crow sings.

If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad

Apparently, someone overheard him and stole it from him and added some more words in around it.

Why does he study conspiracy theory? He wants to make himself heard--to be a weed of dissent. He used to talk on a late-night radio show.

He dropped out of school to study conspiracy theory right after John Lennon died.

This conversation landed me VERY late for work. And, I didn't even get to eat my lunch. But, life is good...I was, like my sister has joked, reading people. Almost as good as a book : )!

May 21, Wednesday evening -- Reading Fleetwood

Hanging with the chess players at Powell and Market Street

This is his book! Hip-Hop Tried 2 Kill Me. It comes out on Friday. Come to his release party at Marcus Bookstore at Fillmore and Geary Street, Friday between 6:30 and 8:30.

When he was young, he loved reading Maya Angelo and Sydney Sheldon, a lot, a LOT of Sydney Sheldon, who took him out of the neighborhood, all over the world, to the diamond mines of Africa, where he learned about exploitation.

His favorite book--the Bible. Favorite verse-- Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

I've started reading his book. It's very humbling. He begins by talking about his mother's death and how he couldn't get off the couch from smoking weed to go see her just before she died, and how much he loved her---she was a church going woman, a social worker, and the young girls in the neighborhood would come to her to get their hair fixed for church services and their cheerleading outfits sewed. She left him her house when she died and some money that he bought a nice car with and would get beer and weed and drive around with his "niggaz" and have parties at the house. ...and then there's an intervention.

Anybody up for going to the book party? I'll be there.

May 19, Monday evening -- Reading Ekhart Tolle

At Cafe Venice, the heart of the Mission District, as described by her friend, Angel--a guy wearing about three layers of San Francisco Giants gear--who stopped by while we were talking. He told us how he met a long lost cousin there....he and this other guy had started talking and they realized they had the same last name and are from the same region in Mexico. They put it all together.

Reading A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, by Ekhart Tolle. I photographed her a few months ago in this same window and she took me on a tour of the murals she's painted in the Mission! The one she's working on right now, if you want to check it out, is at Capp and 24th Street.

Are you or someone you know reading anything by Ekhart Tolle?

May 18, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Armistead Maupin

Waiting for the 38 Geary Bus in the Filmore District

Reading Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin. His girlfriend was talking about it and then in the morning it was there for him on the pillow. He's supposed to read it. She recommends to him all the books he reads, from Koontz to King to Fames Frey to the Sex and the City book, by Candace Bushnell. So far, of everything she's recommended, Tales of the City is the best. His favorite character--the gay man, Michael.

Favorite book?
Not yet.

In school he remembers reading Roots, by Alex Haley; The Color Purple, by Alice Walker; To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee; and Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong , by James Loewen.

Have you read the Tales of the City series?

Dear Dad and other blog readers,
I haven't forgotten about people reading.... I have not died or, worse, gotten the flu again. I even have a few photos that I haven't posted yet. I just, somehow, have gotten caught in other eddies and, tomorrow I think, will take the plunge and post everything I've backlogged.

If you've read all the recent entries and you need your people reading fix, try typing into the search field your favorite author's name, favorite book title, least favorite book title, your mother's name, etc.... or just going to the archive and seeing what people were reading last May, 2007.

As for me, I finally finished reading Kafka by the Shore--my "sick" book that my sister had been reading to me--and we had our book group discussion at Zeitgeist. Consensus: good, but it doesn't tie up as pretty as we'd like, but we decided we couldn't fault this, as "not tying up" and accepting events as meaningful allegory is, actually, a theme of the book.

Other reading-- Team of Rivals about Abraham Lincoln got some play, though I have not finished all 800 pages. Now, I'm working on the book that Duane, the shoe shine man gave me to read--scroll down a few entries for him.


Thanks for reading!

sonya

May 15, Thursday evening -- Reading Robert Meck

Right at quitting time on a hot and sunny Friday evening, the only person reading in Union Square

Reading Managing Projects with GNU Make, by Robert Mecklenburg.

Can you recommend any well-written technical books? ...my friend, K--, who writes tech articles for tech magazines, always tries to sneak past the editors a reference to Shakespeare or another literary hero.

May 15, Thursday evening -- Reading Sarah Lacy

At the book release party at Otis in downtown San Francisco, for Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0, by Silicon Valley journalist, Sarah Lacy. Books were in short supply--apparently they got held up in a cyclone....but the author graciously took down names of people who wanted autographed copies so she could personally mail out books when they arrived.

Incoming:

Intelligent conversation over low din of cocktail conversation among the Web 2.0 set--kids like me who have it together and are on the forefront of establishing their own startups that focus on user-generated material.

Outgoing, after 2 glasses of champagne, 2 parties, a 1 am bedtime and a full day of work:

A smattering of memories that include, but probably were not limited to

Favorite books/what he recommends--The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho…something else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach…and, by the same author, Illusions.

He also likes baby books. I didn't think I heard him right when he said this-- "baby books," but that's what he said. He recommends

Swimmy, by Leo Lionni –simple, but great moral, about a school of fish that swims together in the shape of a giant fish to outwit a predator; and, Hope for the Flowers, by Trina Paulus. He described the book, play by play. It's about caterpillars and butterflies and following your own life path, deciding what's right for you individually.

Six Thinking Hats, by Dr. Edward de Bono--he likes to read about creativity. He listed a few titles but they are lost. Mrinal, can you help me out?

Mrinal is co-founder of Crossloop, a site that connects people who are having computer problems with people who can fix them. There's a fun video that shows how to use the site.

What's your experience with Web 2.0?

May 13, Tuesday morning -- Reading Eckhart Tolle

Reading A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle. It was recommended by a friend. He’s listened to about six of the webcasts also and has not had a real worry in four or five days! The book is about self-talk--from the individual to why the nations can’t get along.

His favorite book of all time--Grandpa's Fiddle, by Timothy J. Halloran. He loaned it to me! It was tucked away in the storage cabinet there on the right, the door with the green stripe on it, with a stack of other books. “Give it ten pages,” he said. Well, I'm past that now, and am really enjoying it! The book was written by a friend of his, who was inspired to write it by a dream he had in which he was visited by an old man. His friend didn’t do any research, but somehow he knew things he otherwise couldn't possibly have known, because of these dream visits. It begins with a slave named Abraham being emancipated for his knowledge of how to seal barrels to keep rum fresh--his master had been running out of good farming soil, going into debt and, in order to get Abraham's secret, which would win him $3,000, he agreed to draw up a contract and set Abraham free.

I'm in the middle of three other books right now, but hope to finish and return the book to him before too long!

When he was a kid he liked comic books.

How do you prioritize the books you're reading?

May 12, Monday evening -- Reading Marina Lewycka

Waiting for the train

Reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukraine, by Marina Lewycka. It was recommended by her mother, who works in a bookstore. Something else her mom's recommended recently--Shopalot(maybe I got this wrong--I can't find an author).

Her favorite book--The Master and Margarita, by Bulgakov. She's a history buff and she enjoys the time period, which is Soviet-era Russia.

When she was a child she liked fantasy books, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis.

What books have you read for the time period in which they were set?

May 11, Sunday night -- Reading Gary Gutting

Reading Foucault: A Very Short Introduction, by Gary Gutting. He just loaned it to a friend and got it back—it’s lighter reading than he’s been doing, so he opened it up.

When is Foucault light reading? When you’re an Intellectual History major doing a senior thesis and reading primary and secondary sources on the counter-enlightenment philosopher, Johann Gottfried von Herder. Herder, he said, is known to be the founder of multi-culturalism, as well as historicism. He lived from 1744 to 1803.

What did he read before he got into the heavy stuff? When he was a child he liked The Berenstain Bears, by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

His favorite book of all time--The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde.

At this given moment, given the length of your day or intellectual curiosity that went unsated, would you be more apt to open philosophy or the Berenstain Bears?

May 8, Thursday evening -- Reading David Bach

At the Subway sandwich shop in Chinatown on her lunch break

Reading The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner: A Lifetime Plan to Finish Rich in Real Estate, by David Bach. When she reads she prefers finance books, generally by this author. She can't remember reading anything else.

Have you ever read anything by David Bach? My supervisor gave me his book, Smart Women Finish Rich, which I enjoyed.

May 7, Wednesday evening -- Reading Jon McGregor

Before the showing of Les Amours d'Astrée et de Céladon at the Clay theater for the San Francisco International Film Festival. She was delighted to have her photo taken. Books, she said, are her mission.

Reading So Many Ways To Begin, by Jon McGregor, which she got at the Mechanics' Institute Library, a membership library in downtown San Francisco. They have a lot of specialized books, but also fiction, and they have special events, like author talks and films and chess tournaments. The library makes her feel priviledged--it’s like being part of a private club.

Her favorite book? Tough question! She reads about ten books a week and doesn’t have a favorite. A good author she read recently was Denise Mina, who is Scottish.

As a child, growing up in Germany, she read a lot of American westerns by the German author, Karl May. How he wrote them, she doesn’t know, but he got it, she said, exactly right. In Germany there are no praries, deserts, sand storms, but when she read the books, she said the descriptions were perfect--“you can feel those horses pounding.” She re-read the books when she moved to the United States.

Are you a member at any membership libraries?