A Reading Vaction

 I had intended to try and bring some projects on this vacation to get ahead on them for work. But I just couldn't bring myself to pack any of it. I justified this by saying I needed to make sure I had enough room for bringing back all the wonderful things I would be receiving for Christmas. Yay! Presents

So when I got to my parents and came to the same startling re-realization I always have that they live in the country and have terrible cell service. I began to wish I hadn't be so quick it not bring my projects with me. I mean when else would I find such a large chunk of down time again and what was I going to do now? The answer ended up being right in front of me. I would catch up on reading. A past time I'd recently picked back up and was always sad to never seem to have enough time to do as much of as I wanted to.

I started by finishing the book I had started on the flight home. My boyfriend, Matt, had just finished it and as we both love this author I was excited to get the chance to read it. Which I did seemingly all in on breath. Damned by Chuck Palahniuk was a delight. I enoyed it immensely. I did find the scene with the giantess demon a bit unnecessary but respected the authors correlating it to an adventure Gulliver has in his travels. In fact all the correlations to other stories and movies made the book a lot more fun in a strangely nostalgic way that I don't think I'd be able to explain. So I won't. If you enjoy his works or are looking for something different I recommend this as a fun, fast read with an ability to make you think a little bit more about your own mortality and what that entails.  More about the author and his works can be found by clicking here.

http://chuckpalahniuk.net/

They say things come in their own time and I would say that has proven itself evident with the timing of this book. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I picked it up after my brother told me he was interested in it after showing me this video clip. Surprisingly it piqued my interest for a couple of reasons. I was already thinking a lot about resolutions with the end of the year so nearly upon us and I am always looking for soft ways to try and quietly help my mother, who suffers from depression, to see the happier side of herself.  So while we we out at a books store I picked it up. I loved it. It was a delightful read full of personal insight that was relate-able and comforting. Rubin made me feel it was acceptable to be myself; whether or not that was person she (or anyone else for the matter) would actually care to be friends with. It made me happy to be me and it inspired me to try to find more ways to be happy and to share that happiness. More about the project and the author here.

I am now on my way into rediscovering a tale from my youth, The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Granted it was told to me through an animated movie and I never really thought about it as a book until I was much older it has still been on my reading list for shamefully longer than I would care to admit. I look forward to seeing how the film and the book compare.