Passages

It's been AGES since I've had time (or made time) to read a good book. AGES!

But I recently borrowed the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy from my mom. My parents will be back from Florida soon and I should give her books back, so over the past week I started reading the first book. I finished it on Friday, and immediately started in on the second book, which was so captivating that I spent much of last night until the wee hours reading and finished it today. I've gotten other stuff done here and there throughout the day today, but interspersed with duties like laundry or dishes or cooking I've already read about 250 pages of the third and final book in the series. I'm half-tempted to stay up into the crack of dawn again tonight. At this pace, I may finish the third book by sometime tomorrow.

It's so fun!

The books themselves have some terrific intrigue, which I love -- gotta love a good mystery! -- and a strangely sympathetic (though highly complicated) lead female character named Lisbeth Salander. Sometimes the prose gets bogged down in details when I want it to keep moving into the next bit of important conversation or action, but in general it's got a good pace and a complex, fascinating story.

I know this is probably old news for many out there, as these books have been around for quite a while (and even had films made from them, in Sweden, and one so far in the U.S.). But I've always come to things at my own pace, in my own time, so... there you have it.

Nevertheless, I just wanted to talk about it for a moment. I feel like a lot of my entries these days, however sporadic, have been either about silly things like insomnia or "negative" things like my health or my previous job or other complicated frustrations of the sort. So I feel an increasing need to find better balance in my life, both mentally and physically, and this is one step I'm taking to achieve that. I'm reading more, I'm working harder with my therapist, I'm investigating potential avenues (like yoga) that used to be highly helpful to my overall sanity and positivity and mental strength, and I'm trying to clear out some of the physical and mental clutter.

As Spring inches its way into the surrounding areas, bringing with it sunshine, greener grass, and the start of buds on the trees, I want to let that newness and warmth seep into my bones and keep propelling me forward in these attempts to revitalize.

And there's nothing more revitalizing than reading a good book!

;)

What are you all reading these days? Anything good? Anything you want to recommend? Let's hear it!

2009.

What a year.

I'm not even sure where to begin. I looked back on my entry for last year, January 2009, and I had so much hope for things to be different, for me to work on things and take better care of myself and be more creative and see great changes occur. That didn't happen in the ways I wanted. Not really, not completely. In most ways, I feel like not a lot has changed from the end of last year to the end of this one.

However, I didn't want to get mired in that one entry. I didn't want to get discouraged by the seeming lack of change. Because even though things are not where I'd like them to be, in looking at the rest of my entries for the year, I do see some promise, a glimmer of light amidst the frustrations and anxieties.

( Looking back... )

So. What does all this rambling mean? I suppose it may not mean much to any of you as you likely had your own goals, interests and struggles in the past year. Frankly, I'm impressed if you took the time to read this entry at all! *laughs lightly* In an overall sense, I guess writing all this out is my way of showing myself that no matter how bleak the year seemed, no matter how hard things got, I did do the very best I could. It wasn't all bad. In fact, parts of it were very, very good. And those are the parts I need to remember as I take on this new year, and this new decade.

Wow. A new decade. Where did the time go? I feel nervous and a bit anxious -- because I feel like I have so much to accomplish, so far yet to go -- but I also feel positive. Like this new year is a fresh start for me, an opportunity to refocus and keep striving.

This year I make no predictions or promises. I have no earthly idea what 2010 will bring. I only hope that I can rise to its challenges and be open to the multitude of possibilities out there waiting for me.

I hope 2010 brings each and every one of you enormous joy, good health, and an abundance of accomplishment, in whatever ways you can possibly imagine. Let us all dare to dream a little more. ♥

Happy New Year, everyone!

"A home without books
is a body without soul."

~ Marcus Tullius Cicero


I was going to be all poetical-like and write an imaginative post about the rich, wonderful worlds of plot and character development, and what it all means to me, as a reader and a writer... but honestly, who's got the time when I have stacks of books to read?

Throughout the course of this year I've found myself struggling to find focus. Granted, it's difficult to maintain even a semblance of structure in life when one is without work. I know it sounds silly, but it can be scary, frustrating, and downright boring living without any sort of schedule.

It's a marvelous thing, to have purpose. It feels rewarding to be productive and driven, to find joy and energy in the completion of a task, whatever it is that captures your attention. Therefore, at a time when everything feels so aimless, I think I need to give myself more positive motivation.

Case in point: every time I gaze upon the piles of unread books cluttering my living room floor, I feel scattered and anxious, completely at a loss as to where to start. I clearly need some direction!

Inspired by willowmina's "New Book Challenge 2008" in which she declared her desire to read one new book per week this year, I have decided to make a list of my own. I don't have the time to commit to one-per-week, especially given the chaotic craziness of my current life, but I figure this list will help me to pick a book, any book, and stick to it. Even better, it will give me a visual benchmark, as I check off a book from my list and gleefully move on to the next.

This list, containing all the books from those aforementioned dusty stacks, is full of variety: mystery, suspense, fantasy/sci-fi, philosophy, psychology, memoirs, and even reference books. Plenty for me to choose from. And seeing them all in an organized fashion such as this helps me to breathe easier. It doesn't have to overwhelm me anymore; I can see what I have and what awaits my attention. All I need to do is open a book.

Without further ado, in no particular order, these are some of the books I will be reading throughout the rest of this year.


Sherry's Reading List 2008

Title	Author
Firefly ~ The Official Companion Volumes One & Two	Joss Whedon
I’m Just Here for the Food	Alton Brown
The Poet	Michael Connelly
Eats Shoots & Leaves	Lynne Truss
Art & Fear	David Bayles & Ted Orland
Letters to a Young Poet	Rainer Maria Rilke
God’s Debris	Scott Adams
Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates	David Cordingly
The Secret Language of Eating Disorders	Peggy Claude-Pierre
The Measure of a Man	Sidney Poitier
The Elements of Style	William Strunk & E.B. White
Writing for Your Life	Deena Metzger
Dreams from My Father	Barack Obama
The Audacity of Hope	Barack Obama
The Dead Zone	Stephen King
Tigana	Guy Gavriel Ray
Loving What Is	Byron Katie
Self Esteem	Matthew McKay & Patrick Fanning
Storm Front ~ Book One of The Dresden Files	Jim Butcher
On a Pale Horse	Piers Anthony
Bearing an Hourglass	Piers Anthony
The Power of Myth	Joseph Campbell
If You Want to Write	Brenda Ueland
The Bourne Series (4 books)	Robert Ludlum
The Human Stain	Philip Roth
Wicked	Gregory Maguire
The Philosophy of The X-Files	Dean A. Kowalski, ed.
The Original Sherlock Holmes	Arthur Conan Doyle
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose	Eckhart Tolle
The Heroine’s Journey	Maureen Murdock
Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha	Tara Brach
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World	Isa Chandra Moskowitz

P.S. Please feel free to make recommendations. What have you been reading? What books do you treasure? Though it may take me a bit of time to get to your suggestions (as you see how many books I already have ahead of me), I'd still love to know. As always, like Fox Mulder, I’m open to the possibilities!