Category Archives: Books + Reading

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets. His works like “Fire and Ice” and “The Road Not Taken” are known all over the world; but my absolute favorite Frost poem is “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. It’s simple but vivid, and the last stanza is, well, you’ll see…

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I wanna know // Who is your favorite poet? What is your favorite poem?

Xoxo,
Tiera

30 Days of Lists: Books I Want to Read This Year

I’ve got about a million books I want to read, this year and beyond. Here’s a little snippet of that list:

I wanna know, what are your favorite books? What do you want to read?

Xoxo,
Tiera

Reverb 10: New Name

December 23: New Name

Let’s meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?

If I could pick any name in the world, it would be Aliena. I got the name from the novel (and, later, miniseries) The Pillars of the Earth. Aliena is a strong and inspiring character — She always does what’s right, stands up for her family, puts herself last… And gets the handsome artist in the end! — and such a beautiful name :)

Aliena, portrayed by Hayley Atwell, in TPOTE miniseries on Starz

If I ever have a daughter (don’t hold your breath!), I’d name her Aliena — But spelled differently (maybe Alyena) because it has the word “alien” in it and that’s not really fair for a little girl, haha!

I wanna know, what name would you choose for yourself? Why?

Cheers!
AlienaTiera

Imagery via 1 and 2

Goodreads: Introducing the 52 Book Challenge

Thanks to my Grandma Anne, I’m a voracious reader. She read me stories at bedtime whenever I was on the Big Island, bought me the entire Nancy Drew series as a young girl, and turned me on to some of the greatest books I’ve ever read.

Thanks to my parents, I’m the proud new owner of a Barnes & Noble Nook! Happy Christmas to me :) And now I’m even more excited than usual to read!

So in the spirit of challenging myself this year, and to make the most of my new gadget, I’m setting myself up with the 52 Book Challenge — Yup, I’m going to try and read 52 books this year. 52 weeks, 52 books; I hope I can keep up!

I have quite a wishlist in the works, of things I want to read (but I wish I could also share my B&N Nook wish list, cause there are even more books), and I’ll be sharing my progress here on Side Culture. I’m also trying to keep up with what I’m reading on Goodreads, so if you’re on that website, let’s be friends :)

Wish me luck!

I wanna know, what are you challenging yourself to do this year? Got any book reccommendations?

Cheers!
Tiera

Goodreads/In Other Words: Favorite Quotes from Eat, Pray, Love

So a few weeks ago I finally finished “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. I didn’t think I’d like it, but I identified a little with her journey of self-discovery and pursuit of peace and the diving; And the book had some beautiful moments. (And I’m waiting for the Julia Roberts movie to be available on Netflix).

A couple of quotes stuck with me, and I’d love to share my faves! Be warned, though, there’s a lot of mushy/spiritual/love/self-helpy stuff ahead :)

• I wanted what the Greeks called kalos kai agathos, the singular balance of the good and the beautiful.
• Look for God. Look for God like a man with his head on fire looks for water.
• This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.
• Happiness is the consequence of personal effort… You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.
• There’s a crack (or cracks) in everyone… that’s how the light of God gets in.
• I think I deserve something beautiful.
• That’s the thing about a human life – there’s no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed.
• Someday you’re gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You’ll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing…
• See, now that’s your problem. You’re wishin’ too much, baby. You gotta stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone oughtta be.
• Please go to this pizzeria. Order the margherita pizza with double mozzarella. If you do not eat this pizza when you are in Naples, please lie to me and tell me that you did.
• They [Zen Buddhists] say that an oak tree is brought into creation by two forces at the same time. Obviously, there is the acorn from which it all begins, the seed which holds all the promise and potential, which grows into a tree. Everybody can see that. But only a few can recognize that there is anther force operating here as well – the future tree itself, which wants so badly to exist that it pulls the acorn into being, drawing the seedling forth with longing out of the void, guiding the evolution from nothingness to maturity. In this respect, say the Zens, it is the oak tree that creates the very acorn from which it was born.
• Liz, you must be very polite with yourself when you are learning something new.
• The resting place of the mind is the heart… The only place the mind will ever find peace is inside the silence of the heart. That’s where you need to go.
• One of these poems I wrote after having been here only a month. The other, I wrote this morning. In the space between the two poems, I have found acres of grace.
• The Lazio fans always stop [at the bakery] on their way home from the stadium to stand in the street for hours, leaning up against their motorcycles, talking about the game, looking macho as anything, and eating cream puffs. I love Italy.
• …One must always be prepared for riotous and endless waves of transformation.
• He was powerful, she says, and I died of love in his shadow.
• What would I do if you never came here? But I was always coming here. I thought about one of my favorite Sufi poems, which says that God long ago drew a circle in the sand exactly around the spot where you are standing right now. I was never not coming here. This was never not going to happen.
• A family in my sister’s neighborhood was recently stricken with a double tragedy, when both the young mother and her three-year-old son were diagnosed with cancer. When Catherine told me about this, I could only say, shocked, “Dear God, that family needs grace.” She replied firmly, “That family needs casseroles,” and proceeded to organize the entire neighborhood into bringing that family dinner, in shifts, every single night, for an entire year. I do not know if my sister fully recognizes that this IS grace.
• I know this simple fact to be true, for I myself have abandoned people who did not want me to go, and I myself have been abandoned by those whom I begged to stay.
• I’m so excited about school. I’m such a shameless student. I laid my clothes out last night, just like I did before my first day of first grade, with my patent leather shoes and my new lunch box. I hope the teacher will like me.
• I want to have a lasting experience of God,” I told him. “Sometimes I fell like I understand the divinity of this world, but then I lose it because I get distracted by my petty desires and fears. I want to be with God all the time. But I don’t want to be a monk, or totally give up worldly pleasures. I guess what I want to learn is how to live in this world and enjoy its delights. But also devote myself to God.
      Kenut said he could answer my question with a picture. He showed me a sketch he’d drawn once during meditation. It was an androgynous human figure, standing up, hands clasped in prayer. But this figure had four legs, and no head. Where the head should have been, there was only a wild foliage of ferns and flowers. There was a small, smiling face drawn over the heart.
      To find the balance you want,” Kenut spoke through his translator, “this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it’s like you have four legs, instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God.

I wanna know… Did you see the film with Julia Roberts? I haven’t yet, but I’m going to save it on Netflix :)

Xoxo,
Tiera

PS: To keep up with what I’m reading, find me on Goodreads! Let’s be book buddies :)

Imagery via We Heart It