Hey, there! I'm hoping you had a lovely weekend and spent it partying or on a lake or going on long walks or something equally worthwhile. The majority of my Saturday (thanks for asking) was spent being sunburnt and windblown and occasionally running at a track meet, which is how lots of spring Saturdays are spent and suits me just fine. (Oh hey, alliteration.) That was followed by a mad dash straight from the finish line of my one and only race to work, which may have included a wrong turn and twenty a few miles in the wrong direction. That is the last time I try to make money and track meet in the same Saturday.
Other than that, evenings been laid back and given me some quiet hours to sit on the couch and soak up some new reading material, and I couldn't be happier about that. Actually, the only thing that's making me happier about the insides of these books is their outsides. And I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I mean look at them! Look at those coordinating color schemes.
They're so perfect together and something tells me that if the books I'm reading match, I have to be doing something right in life. Not just anyone can pull that off.
Did I mention that the words inside are so good, too? Let's talk about those.
Maybe you've heard of Hannah Brencher? She writes here and in her memoir, but she was first known for writing love letters to all of New York City, in a way that is entirely not creepy.
The book paints a panorama picture of Hannah's move away from her identity and into big, unknown New York City, and deals with giving things up and hoping for things that seem to big and so many things that a lot of people fight with in some way. It's an incredibly real, inspiring story, of course. But what's pulling me in more and more is the way it's told - girlfriend can put words together in such a beautiful way. Here, you try.
"I thought this would only be a story to show those children of mine how much human hands do matter. Within a world that is always talking too loudly about what it means to "matter," I wanted this entire story to tell them the truth of it: that they will matter when the sun is up and when it is down. When there is sunburn on their shoulders or when their shoes no longer fit. Or their luggage never arrives. Or they come back from Paris with a ramshackle heart and one less body beside them. I wanted this story to convince them that they matter, always, and that the point has never been to know it but just to accept it."I mean, seriously. I could read it forever just to appreciate how good it sounds. Keep writing, Hannah!
On the other end of the literature spectrum (but, happily, very close by as far as colors go): Top Dog by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman. According to the back cover, it's somewhat of a staple among successful, suit wearing types - found "in briefcases of Wall Street traders and Madison Avenue madmen" and "being debated in the halls of academia." (Also: in my hands as I sit beside the pool with my eyes squinted barely not shut, preparing for a busy day of more lounging and maybe some beach volleyball.) Basically, this book is everywhere where big and important things are happening.
I'll probably read it again when I'm done. There's a lot of information packed into the pages, most of which I could apply to the things I do in some way. Lots of new ideas in fewer lines, which makes it both impossible to read quickly and hugely interesting. It's all about competitions and the people who comprise them: men vs. women, those who crack under pressure vs. those who rise to the occasion, disharmonious teams vs. a group of best friends. I'm learning so many things that I wish I'd known before, along with a bunch of names of enzymes and things (be prepared for lots of biology-related words!) It's worth it. It's given me a lot to think about and has challenged a lot of pretty widely-accepted ideas (yay, free speech and open discussion!) I'd recommend this one, too.
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