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SkinnyDippingIntoBooks

Skinny Dipping Into Books

I like the rain. I want to have a spring bookworming rain party full out with wellies—but not those Hunter Boots; absolutely not—, with yummy airy things like puffed pastries, meringues, mini fluffy cheese cakes, mousse dessert, macaroon, biscuits, crepe, and Earl Grey tea, definitely Earl Grey tea.  and Tillandsia. We'd have lots of "air plants". Lots! And We'd read, but not anything structured. We'd bring books, trade books, read out-loud, pass books around between sentences and paragraphs. We'd leave with books we hadn't discovered.

 

I like books like I like my Jazz; euphoric, dangerous, occasionally a bit manic, sorrowful, bleak, raging, mood-incongruent, mournful, unforgivingly ragged, symbolic in a quiet way, warm apple pie for the soul. Give me a Plath style. Yōko Ogawa, M. Roach,


Criteria: Not rated on likability of characters. Not objective. I like Moxie Soda; chances are you don't.


time spent in that before bed reading slot:

5-until blurry eye 4-Later than I intended, but I still kept to my extended, extended reading time 3-I really should have been to bed an hour ago  2-customary 30 minutes. 1-book. side table. eyes closed.


How are common themes handled?

5-With an aesthetic that repurposes everyday themes into something fresh. Think of Hole Celebrity Skin covered by Cat Power  4-there is a comfortable air of familiarly.
3-Deja Vu 2. No deviation from its mates  1. Devastatingly trite, redundant, and stale.

Where would you keep it post-reading?

5-Next to my bed.  4-it's the center piece of my favorite bookshelf 3. On my other favorite bookshelf, but it's a bit dusty over their 2-Great cheap bookends 1-It never made it out of the box marked 'moving'.


Emotional response-

5- Where is my teddy bear? Emotional-hangover 4- If I wasn't so emotionally stunted I'd cry.
3. Did James Cameron co-wrote this? Artfully contrived. 
2- calculative emotional manipulation. This was literally written by James Cameron.1- I…feel…..nothing.

Mechanics (plot structure, voice, presentation, word choice, sentence structure, characters, writing style, pacing, and consistency):

5-Chanel 4-Prada 3-J-Crew 2-Gap 1-Old Navy

Currently reading

The Complete Stories
Flannery O'Connor
I am No One You Know
Joyce Carol Oates
Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls
Alissa Nutting, Alissa Nutting
Borderline Personality Disorder: The Latest Assessment and Treatment Strategies - Melanie Dean

I am pretty indifferent to this workbook. It presents an abridged, simplified, and frankly far from thorough framework of BPD. Assessment strategies and treatment plans are explored, but briskly and in a very cookie-cutter format.

Case studies are presented, but they reflect an adlibs, haphazard attempt at conceptualizing behaviors exhibited by BPD rather than sufficient exploration of the disorder. They were obviously the work of fiction, which decreases their effectiveness as well as the overall appeal of the book.
 
In the end this was a poorly rendered Cliffnotes version of material previously available that satisfied the need for assessment and treatment planning. Given that the format was barely an outline there wasn't much space to fully, and thoroughly present material. For example, areas exploring DBT were rather rough, and attempts to squeeze large bulks of information into such a narrow manual neglected a rather complex approach to therapy. Many of the treatments, especially DBT, are so detailed that they are not easily standardized into brief paragraph form.

This information is presented in less than 70 pages, making it laughable that it would carry the sub-title "The Latest Assessment and Treatment Strategies". This book would fit nicely alongside larger research material.