Day Seven's Summary

I finished reading Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan this morning. What a great read! It's marketed towards the high school crowd, but after several references to the sitcom My So-Called Life, I knew this book is really for my generation.

The book is about the "five-minute" relationship between two strangers that turns into an unforgettable first date complete with great music, drunk loyal friends, ex-girlfriends from hell, and the possibility of new love.

I also finished Patti Digh's Life is a Verb: 37 Days to wake up, be mindful, and live intentionallyy. It's a great self-help book with tons of stories, exercises, examples and laughs to get you going. The inspiration for the book come from Digh's father. Her father was diagnosed with lung cancer and died just thirty seven days later. This is not a book of sadness or grief, but one that celebrates life and the human potential fully. I cannot say enough about the book, but I can say this: go out and buy it now. Also go and check out Patti's blog: http://37days.typepad.com/37days/

The Worst Loss

Comfort: A Journey Through Grief by Ann Hood (2008)
160 pages

5/5 rating

As a bookworm, there is always going to be books that I shy away from because of subject matter. Dsyfunctional families and sexual violence are among the subjects I rather not read about. But after read Head Butler's glowing review of Comfort, I had to wishlist this book on paperbackswap.

Hood's memoir about her life after losing her five year old daughter, Grace, is heartbreaking. She shows the reader what her grief looks like: the inability to comprehend that her daughter is gone forever, hiding from the mothers whose children went to school with Grace, and refusing to listen to the radio because Grace loved the Beatles and their music was bound to be played.

Comfort is a book that once you've finished the last page, you want to go back to the beginning and start to read it over again.

Update, Hour 6

So far:

Books read - 2

Total pages read - 214

Mini-challenge completed: 4

It feels so crazy to me that we've been doing the Read-a-thon for seven hours now. It doesn't feel that way. Though next year I will have a laptop so I can sit outside, read, and cheer.

I just finished reading Ann Patchett's What Now? It's an extension of the graduation speech she spoke at Sarah Lawrence a while back. I really liked. It reminds me of Anna Quindlen's A Short Guide to a Happy Life. My favorite quote from the book is:

"What now is not just a panic-stricken question tossed out into a dark unknown. What now can also be our joy. It is a declaration of possibility, of promise, of chance. It acknowledges that our future is open, that we may do more than anyone expected of us, that at every point in our development we are still striving to grow. There's a time in our lives when we all crave the answers. It seems terrifying not to know what's coming next. But there is another time, a better time, when we see our lives as a series of choices, and What now represents our excitement and our future, the very vitality of life. It's up to you to choose a life that will keep expanding. It takes discipline to remain curious . . . "

The end of my weekend of books

The Resurrectionist (2008)

Jack O'Connell

304 pages

4 out of 5

Last Thursday was the last day of spring semester and I was determined to squeeze in as many books as possible. But as we all know, life happens and I only squeezed in a few books. I enjoyed myself though.

The Resurrectionist is about Sweeney, a widower and pharmacist, and his comatose son, Danny. Sweeney blames himself for the accident that caused Danny's coma and hopes that the Peck Clinic can give Sweeney the miracle he thinks he need. Sweeney and Danny's story crosses with the freaks of Limbo, a comic book Danny loved. As Sweeney digs deeper into the story of Limbo and its inhabitants, he also finds out he should look beyond the surface of things and family is more than just the blood of your own.

The Book of Other People

Edited by Zadie Smith (2008)

304 pages

5 out of 5

The Book of Other People is a collection of short story edited by the talented Zadie Smith. It contains stories by Chris Ware, Miranda July, ZZ Packer, Jonathon Safran Foer, and many others. Years ago Zadie Smith asked the writers to make up a story about character, a character and name that story about he/she or it. The result is now my favorite short story collection.

Some of my favorites are:

Jonathon Safran Foer's Rhoda about his grandmother

David Mitchell's Judith Castle

Chris Ware's Jordan Wellington Lint - tragic and yet funny

J. Johnson by Nick Horny

I started this book months ago and picked it up this morning only to read the whole book in a matter of two hours. Though I usually give away books after I read them, I know this is one I will be rereading many times.

Triple Thursday

Yesterday the UPS man came and gave me the five packages from Amazon.com that I've been waiting for. Three great books for me to read and try in my own way to change the world and get my creative juices flowing. Every Monday Matters by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza, 52 Projects by Jeffrey Yamaguchi, and Not quite what I was planning edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith.

The subtitle for 52 Projects is Random Acts of Everyday Creativity. The book is filled with artistic projects that are so simple to do and you don't need money or artistic skill to do such as project #10: making a poster or project 29: stuffing an envelope with as many things as you can and mailing it to someone special. You don't have to do the projects in the exact way the author suggested. You can come up with something of your own. 52 projects is a great book that has me jumping to do my own. You can also do the projects with your children. My family and I are going to work on project 10 this weekend. The author, Jeffrey, also has a website that goes with the book.52 projects is the muse for the everyday person.

Not quite what I was planning: Six word Memoirs by famous and obscure writers is edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith for Smith Magazine.Smith magazine is a "storytelling community: a place to read, write, and share stories." That's their words but it's more than that. Smith magazine is a great place to hang out online for a couple of hours and just get lost, becoming an active part of the website by submitting your own experiences along with other readers. In November of 2006, Smith Magazine asked their readers to submit their six-word memoir. It was a hit and they received thousands. The memoirs range from funny ("I think, therefore I am bald,") to tragic ("Everyone who loves me is dead,") to thought provoking ("Cursed with cancer. Blessed with friends.") With no more than five memoirs on a page, you can read this 240 page book in one sitting or take your time. Now, I'm trying to come up with my own six-word memoir.

Every Monday Matters: 52 ways to make a difference by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza. Every Monday matters is about changing Mondays from those days that you hate to arrive to days of reward by doing simple things to change the world around you. Monday #37 is about mentoring a child while Monday #22 is about thanking your local firefighters.Information for each Monday is concise and only two pages long.The exercises are creative, doable,and will probably turn Monday into one of your favorite days of the week.

The Pub Challenge

I really don't know how I forgot to sign up for The Pub challenge, but I have. For this challenge you have to read at least eight books published in 2008. Here's my list:

1. Other people's love letters - Bill Shapiro
2. My mistress' sparrow is dead - Jeffrey Eugenides, editor
3. The book of other people - Zadie Smith, editor
4. Homecoming - Bernhard Schlink
5. People of the book - Geraldine Brooks
6. The Voyage of the Short Serpent - Bernard du Boucheron
7. The Geography of Bliss - Eric Weiner
8. Teh Monsters of Templeton - Lauren Groff