lauralh: (hi there)
Nonfiction first.

Ruth Reichl, Tender at the Bone
Her memoir was like a female straight David Sedaris who cooks instead of smokes. Well ok not quite that funny but pretty close. Plus, you know, recipes.

Howard Bloom, The Lucifer Principle
Psychology and sociology of "evil," hierarchies, and how power corrupts.

Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Terrence McKenna, Food of the Gods
Elaine Morgan, The Descent of Women
These three books are basically about evolution. The first two posit different theories about religion and the origin of consciousness, and the latter introduces the "aquatic ape" theory.

Walter F Otto, The Homeric Gods
Elizabeth Wayland Barber, When They Severed Earth from Sky
Two books that try to make sense of myths. The former puts Greek myth/religion into context, the latter shows that myths are most likely a coded form of oral history.
lauralh: (cynical or sarcastic)
Steve bought me Batman Begins and a training manual for my birthday. (13 DAYS) Reg and I watched it last night. I mean, we saw it in the theater too. I still like it. I'm not sure how Cillian Murphy gets cast as psycho creeps instead of as Victorian Gentlemen, and I can't help seeing him both ways.

Actually, in The Descent of Women, there's an interesting explanation about sex and violence. Read more... )
lauralh: (cynical or sarcastic)
Just read Elaine Morgan's The Aquatic Ape, which has an appendix by Sir Alistair Hardy, the progenitor of this theory. It's just over 150 pages, succinct and to the point - practically an abstract, really. For those of you unaware, it's the theory that some primates started to live in lakes/rivers/seas for a while, just long enough for man's ancestors to lose their hair, develop subcutaneous fat reserves, straighten their pelvis, and start talking. Oh, and also to move the vaginal canal pointing the other way, so doggy style is a fun treat rather than the norm. I'd read a little bit about it before and it made enough sense, but now I'm all but convinced.

I also read Shade's Children by Garth Nix, a fast-paced juvenile SF novel that really pulls you in. Oh the competition. Although I think he just wanted to make a movie, 'twould work quite well for that. (Just a hint of sex. I mean, there's already nothing hotter than being the last of your kind, hunted for your brain to be put into androids so the overlords can play battle games, but you also get to fuck based on winning a lottery.)

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Laural Hill

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