I normally practice book-monogamy (one book at a time) but ever since finishing Moby Dick I've been a real reading-slut; jumping in and out of tomes, one book to another - often in the same reading session!
See, MD took over my literary-life for like 4 or 5 months (because I'm a painfully slow reader)... so now I'm over-compensating for the variety I missed while I was stuck in that one book for so long.
I'm also on a mission to read more of what's on my personal bookshelves before buying or borrowing any more books. I'm sure I'm not the only person guilty of picking up lots of second-hand books before finishing the last batch. And, I'll admit, I sometimes buy old books just because they're pretty...
So I'm trying to go through some of those.
From my stack of "pretty-looking" books, I read the slim volume,"The 39 Steps" by John Buchan (a former Governor General of Canada dontcha know?). Alfred Hitchcock made a movie of it too. It was a great farce and a quick read. I really like books from the 19-teens. I like how they used language then. Efficient but still poetic. Oh, and I finally read The Great Gatsby also.
I just read "Just Kids" by Patti Smith and now I'm reading a biography about her. She's cool. I didn't know much about her before - I just knew that I should think she's cool. Now I can confirm that I do believe her to be very cool.
I'm trying to read "The Secret Daughter" because my mother-in-law said it was good but the infertility issue raised in the first few pages has kept me from getting into it any further. Still too sensitive for that I guess... but it stares at me from the table while I avert my gaze.
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Well, enough preamble, I'm really here today to come clean with my recent, dirty, little reading secret: I've been reading self-help books.
I got them all a couple months ago at a thrift store on the same day. I guess someone was finished with all of them- for better or for worse. The ones I got are among the "classics" of self-help so I was interested to look inside and see what has made them household names.
Here's my stash:
I bought them with an ironic shirk but I'm reading them in earnest. I want to do better in life than I feel like I'm doing (mostly when it comes to social anxiety)... and I'm sure there are many people in the world who can give me advice on that - so why not read some of these and try to learn something? Or at least get better ammunition to bash them with...
Anyway, I put the proud-looking ostrich on top there as a reminder to get my head out of the sand, as I'm wont to do, and keep it out!
I haven't gotten through them all yet but I will admit that so far they have offered more than simple common sense.
This is where I'm at:
* I've read most of "Feel The Fear". Key learning, if it doesn't actually kill you (and most things don't), then you will be able to handle it... you WILL be afraid... but you can handle it.
* I'm about half way through "7 Habits". I'm really liking its emphasis on character and principles versus personality and trends.
* I'm also part way through "Early Retirement Extreme" -which is actually NOT from the thrift store. The Husbo got that one. We aren't planning to retire very early but do really like his ideas about saving money, being self-sufficient, wasting less, needing less, how much and what you "really need", etc. I think more people should read this one.
i feel like i should be reading stuff like this too....
ReplyDeleteit's kind of cheesy but kind of good.
ReplyDelete(i feel like i'm in a constant battle against my own cynicism.)
Congrats on finishing Moby Dick. I think you were just nearing the end when I saw you.
ReplyDeleteI haven't delved into self help books before either, but my boss recently recommended to me a book called The Introvert Advantage (I have it on hold now at the library). I joked to her the feedback in my recent performance review was the same as what my parents would hear on parent-teacher night all the way back to elementary school: John does great work, we just wish he'd speak up more.
Interestingly, I read this post in Google Reader, and immediately below it was this one: http://boingboing.net/2011/09/30/when-illustrators-were-almost-as-famous-as-the-kardashian-sisters.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29
oh yeah! back in the "golden age" illustrators were big time!
ReplyDeletei probably wouldn't have been an illustrator in those days - for both technical and social reasons (too much of each required!!)
i should look into that introvert book. i went out on Friday night and met like 30 new people at once - now I feel like I need 30 days to stabilize! hahaha!