Today is the last day of the Blogathon and I am proud to say that I met my goal of blogging every day in May. I also managed to sustain my daily yoga practice for 30 of the 31 days of May. I am still counting that as a personal victory. Especially since May included a trip to the east coast with 2 plane and one train trips. I think it is safe to say that I have built 2 new good habits. I intend to maintain my daily yoga practice indefinitely. I am planning on dropping my daily blog writing habit and only posting 3 days a week. I am a bit nervous about that transition because I can see the skipped days becoming a habit of their own. Only time will tell.
However, I didn’t want to end my 31-day streak with only a victory dance. I figured this post deserved to have some real content as well.
In this week’s, Mental Floss blog, Jason English asked readers to list the last 3 books they read and whether they liked them. As I have mentioned before, I am a voracious reader. I thought I would share the 3 books I read this weekend and the 3 books I am reading right now. In case you think the groupings are odd, I am a heavy library user, so the order in which I read books is determined primarily by when they become available. I am a literature snob, so I usually read nonfiction. I will admit that like everyone, I have some fiction that I love that I would rather not admit to loving with the world. Suffice it to say that my tastes are really not as highbrow as the following 2 lists might suggest.
Books I have just completed:
1. Why be Happy When You Could Be Normal by Jeanette Winterson. This memoir is a companion book to Winterson’s debut, a fictionalized autobiography called Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. I read Oranges so long ago that all that remain in my mind are impressions. Why be Happy tapped into those memories and their emotional valence, giving Winterson’s life story added depth. This is the kind of book best read in a reflective mood. I had to stop reading and give myself the mental space to process her writing several times over the course of reading it. After finishing it, I immediately put Oranges on hold at the library. I would recommend (re)reading Oranges before reading Why be Happy because Winterson references it often. I considered putting Why be Happy down and rereading Oranges first, but I just couldn’t. I found Why be Happy just too compelling to stop.
2. The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome and One Man’s Quest to be a Better Husband by David Finch. I really wanted to like this book. I was so intrigued by an inside perspective of a very high functioning man with Asperger’s sharing his view of the world. Unfortunately his writing is just not as entertaining as David Sedaris’ recounting of his OCD or evocative as Temple Grandin’s autobiography. My husband, who had also been looking forward to reading the book, didn’t even bother to finish it.
3. 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans by Karl Pillemer, Ph.D. This book reads the way comfort food feels. No surprising revelations just warm comfort. I am very lucky in that I got another chance to have grandparents after mine died while I was still too young to appreciate them. For those out there who wish they had had asked their grandparents what really matters in life, this is the book for you. If you haven’t hit that stage in your life yet, make sure this books stays on your reading list for when you are ready for their words of wisdom.
Books I am reading right now:
I am currently working my way through Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdin, PH.D., Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle. and Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries and Trailblazers who Created the American Superhighways by Earl Swift.