Books for Jack and Ennis

[Front-Ranger]

We love our two guys so much that I'm always on the lookout for some self-help books that will  help them understand themselves and each other better and turn that tragedy into a happily-ever-after. Here's my beginning on a required reading booklist for Jack (cause he's my favourite, if you haven't figured that out yet after 7,000-odd posts!!)

The Myth of More by Joseph Novello
When Misery Is Company: Ending Self-Sabotage and Misery Addiction by Anne Katherine
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Todd Gilbert
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel P. Goleman
Burnt Toast: And Other Philosophies of Life by Teri Hatcher

[Kelda]

Some of you guys might know that I love love love the Amazing Race - I love travelling and wish I could do more - so I enjoy living vicariously through this show.

Anyway, I bought a book from the shows presenter - Phil Keoghan. About how to set yourself personal goals.

No Opportunity Wasted

No Opportunity Wasted is a philosophy about turning thought into action. No more shoulda, coulda, woulda. Think big, challenge yourself, ditch the excuses, ... live life NOW. He describes 8 ways to create a list for the life you want.

This is because as a teenager he had a near death experience.

Aged 19, on one of his first TV shoots, Phil was exploring by scuba a sunken cruise liner in New Zealand's Marlborough Sounds. In one of the upturned interior cabins he became trapped and couldn't find his way out. In the nearly pitch-black fjord water he became disorientated. His scuba tank had little air left. He began to panic. He couldn't find the way out in the dark unfamiliar upside-down space. In the support boat above no one was aware of Phil's increasing desperation. As breath by breath the air expired from his tank he was beginning to sense that his next breathe might be his last. The support crew on the surface began to worry. A rescue diver was sent down to find Phil. With hope almost gone, he was frantically pulled to the surface.

After the shock Phil reflected on where he was at and on how precious life is. He sucked in the O2 and the next day went back to the wreck and repeated his nearly fatal dive. He also began to write a list of all the things he wanted to achieve before he died. As he worked through the initial list of 100 Things To Do, other lists evolved, which he did too. This has led to a life filled with adventure and few regrets. A life shaped by the mantra: 'No Opportunity Wasted.'

He splits the list into 8:

1. Face your Fear

2. Aim for the Heart:

3. Rediscover your childhood:

4. Get lost:

5. Test your limits:

6. Leap of Faith:

7. Shed your inhibitions/Express yourself:

8. Break new ground:

http://www.noopportunitywasted.com/

[Wishes]

I'm not so sure I have ever thought self help books worked but these all do sound worth looking into. Thanks And I have loved the A R also.

[Kelda]

I'm not so sure I have ever thought self help books worked but these all do sound worth looking into. Thanks And I have loved the A R also.

Yes - NOW is my first 'self help' book, but I think I might try out dry toast too.

Wishes - I think we were actually seperated at birth!!! such similar tastes thoughts etc!

[Front-Ranger]

Self-help books probably wouldn't work for Ennis. All he ever read was Hamley's saddle catalog. Too far-sighted. Sometimes I used to read to him tho. I read a passage from The Virginian, and he seemed to like it very much.

Now, Jack was always reading. The newspaper, handbills on telephone polls, second-hand books. I know cause he was always trying to use those high-falutin words but mispronouncing them, like vertebrates, orientate, etc.

[Kerry]

Self-help books probably wouldn't work for Ennis. All he ever read was Hamley's saddle catalog. Too far-sighted. Sometimes I used to read to him tho. I read a passage from The Virginian, and he seemed to like it very much.

I agree, Lee. But I'd like to think that he might have tired of that dreary old catalogue during those long, lonely nights in the trailer, after Jack had passed away.

Whilst browsing through Higgins's gift shop one day, as he waited for his postcard of Brokeback Mountain to arrive, I'd like to think he might have come across Louise L. Hay's iconic "You Can Heal Your Life."

This might have inspired him to then read Louise L.Hay's "Love Yourself, Heal Your Life Workbook."

The healing power of the exercises in the Workbook could have prompted him to read further:

* "Life! Reflections on your Journey," by Louise L. Hay

* "The Power is Within You," by Louise L. Hay

* "Absolute Happiness - The Way to a Life of Complete Fulfilment," by Michael Domeyko Rowland

* "The Dynamic Laws of Healing," by Catherine Ponder

* "Don't be Afraid to Say you're Lonely," by Christopher Martin

And after reading all that (and getting a new pair of spectacles), he might feel inspired to move onto:

* "Gay Spirituality - The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness," by Toby Johnson

* "Queer Cowboys and other Erotic Male Friendships in Nineteenth-Century American Literature," by Chris Packard

Just a short reading list for you, there, Ennis! Enjoy! 

[Front-Ranger]

These sound really good! I'm gonna head for my library and see if they have some of them!

[Kerry]

These sound really good! I'm gonna head for my library and see if they have some of them!

Suggest starting with "You Can Heal Your Life." It's brilliant. I'm not sure that I would have made it through my Mum's death without "You Can Heal Your Life."

[mvansand76]

Guys, what a great idea for a thread! I will keep my eyes open for any good book for our boys! Maybe they should start with some happy ending BBM fanfic?

 

[Kerry]

Guys, what a great idea for a thread! I will keep my eyes open for any good book for our boys! Maybe they should start with some happy ending BBM fanfic?
 

Absolutely, Melissa! I'm definitely in favour of a happy ending for our precious little darlins! 

[Kerry]

These sound really good! I'm gonna head for my library and see if they have some of them!

Lee (and Ennis!    ), I can recommend this wonderful site:

www.louisehay.com

Enjoy! 

[moremojo]

I think Jack for one would have really enjoyed getting his hands on one of the infamous Straight to Hell chapbooks edited by the late, great Boyd McDonald. These are chock-full of no-frills, no-bullshit steamy stories of true-life man-on-man sex, written in the colorful vernacular of Everyman and completely free of the inner censor's regards for propriety and piety. They would also have shown Jack (and Ennis, for that matter) that men who enjoy other men's bodies are absolutely EVERYWHERE, and that homosex is one of the most common, most natural of all occurrences contained in this life.

[Kerry]

I think Jack for one would have really enjoyed getting his hands on one of the infamous Straight to Hell chapbooks edited by the late, great Boyd McDonald. These are chock-full of no-frills, no-bullshit steamy stories of true-life man-on-man sex, written in the colorful vernacular of Everyman and completely free of the inner censor's regards for propriety and piety. They would also have shown Jack (and Ennis, for that matter) that men who enjoy other men's bodies are absolutely EVERYWHERE, and that homosex is one of the most common, most natural of all occurrences contained in this life.

With utmost respect, Scott, I fear such books would prompt Ennis to run, screaming, for the hills!        

I have no doubt, however, that Jack would love them!        

[Artiste]

Wow, that is a very good subject... your thread here Front-Ranger, for Ennis and Jack, and for us all too! Thanks! You are very encouraging!

There is a book on a gay male couple... to be shown to a child, and /or an adult, or to a teenager, or to a grand-parent!! I think that I still have it, since I cherish it!! It is full of pictures likes paintings of that FAMILY of two males as lovers, and a child they keep care of... it seems to me that is the story!!

A wonderful story, can you tell the title?

Hugs!