What I'm reading (The Farewell to Reading Rainbow Edition)

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

As it has been widely reported and blogged about that after 26 years Reading Rainbow is no longer going to be making new episodes! I can't say that it had a profound effect on me, but I appreciate a show that promotes reading for fun. It is something that I want to encourage in my own daughter, so to see an ally fall is sad. Thankfully she is a reader and is just getting old enough to start the Harry Potter books. That should keep her busy for a few years.

Speaking of reading for enjoyment, my reading list just increased by one book. Beloved has been set aside for now, hopefully to be picked up later. Gina suggested a new book to read in conjunction with my entering the medical field and working toward nursing school. This afternoon I started reading Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande.

I read the Introduction this afternoon and I'm hooked.

Medicine is, I have found, a strange and in many ways disturbing business. The stakes are high, the liberties taken tremendous. We drug people, put needles and tubes into them, manipulate their chemistry, biology, and physics, lay them unconscious and open their bodies up to the world. We do so out of abiding confidence in our know-how as a professional. What you find when you get in close, however...is how messy, uncertain, and also surprising medicine turns out to be.

See what I'm saying? I've got to go. I've got reading to do and report back on later.

Mantra

File this under running and reading and possibly nerd I think. So, I was doing a tough run earlier today when, as usual, my mind started to wander. I was having a tough run and started to think about other things to possible forget about the pain and stiffness in my legs.  I snapped back realizing I was slowing down. I needed something to focus my mind. I needed something to get over the pain. I needed a mantra. I've used several in my runs. Usually it's just something I come up with in the moment. Something specific to the situation. So here is what I came up with today.

I've been listening to The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King on my way to work. This seems unrelated, but I'll get there.  Having spent many years with this series reading each one eagerly as they were released It's fun to be able revisit them as audio while driving. It makes the commute much more enjoyable. The readers they've chosen are also excellent. Anyway, in the third book the gunslingers have a creed, a mantra, that they use to clear their minds, to focus.  It is...

I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I aim with my eye.

I do not shoot with my gun; he who shoots with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my mind.

I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart.

-Gunslinger's Creed

 Today I was thinking about that and adapted it to use while I was running...

I do not run with with my legs. I run with my body. (check your form)

I do not pace with my legs. I pace with my mind. (pain is all in the mind, deal with it)

I do not win with my legs. I win with my heart. (gut it out)

It helped as a reminder that there is much more to running than those two pumping legs below me. Even though they may be tired, sore, stiff or in pain that is a small part of what makes up the run. I can overcome that. Take stock of what's going on down there, but don't let it dictate how you feel about the run. There is much more. 

The Reading List

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

It occurred to me today that I've been wanting to write about some books I've been reading while I was scanning through NPR's Audience Picks: 100 Best Beach Books. I've read some of these books on the list, but I've never actually read any of them on a beach. I read one of them, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy on a plane going to and returning from a beach. Does that count? Finished the entire book in those two sittings. Great road trip book.

I don't know how I've gone so long without writing about books. I'm a constant reader, but I guess I don't feel particularly smart enough to comment, write about, or critique books. The huge hole in my reading education I'm about to reveal will clue you in on why I feel this way.

After a conversation with Gina which resulted in surprise and disgust on her part she decided that I needed a reading list. I needed to be educated on good books. Come on! I've read Into The Wild. Does that count? More looks of disgust. It's been fun to have a reading list. To have a guide through the good stuff. Here's what I've read so far, and what I'm reading now. This is no book review or explanation of the plot just a little rumination.

The Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger

There was a lot of pressure on the first book of the reading list. If I didn't like it I was warned it could be a relationship deal breaker. This is one of, if not her all time favorite book. I liked it, but didn't love it. It was a close call, but I think I have a pretty good reason for feeling this way. I think she identified with the main character much more strongly reading it when she was younger. Maybe I'm wrong, it's just a theory. I have to say it did stick with me. I look forward to revisiting it sometime soon. Maybe when Aiden is a little older I will share it with her.

Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Klosterman

Something a little lighter. This is somebody I can totally identify with: a dude that is just as self obsessed as he is obsessed with music and popular culture. His books are like having a conversation with the funniest person you know. I devoured this book and took a little detour off the reading list to read his book Killing Yourself To Live. In my opinion it's even better, since it's the same self obsession and wit wrapped in some semblance of a narrative.

One Flew Over The Kuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

Startling, Trippy, funny, scary and heartbreaking. Despite the physical differences of the character in the book and the fact that I've never seen the movie Jack Nicholson is R.P. McMurphy in my mind. If you haven't read it go read it right now. If you have read it check out the audio book read by Ken Kesey.

But Enough About Me - Jancee Dunn

This is my pick as "best beach book". She is the female equivalent of Cameron Crowe. The book is autobiographical, self depricating, hilarious and gives great insight in to some huge celebrities she has interviewed.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers

Another autobiographical work. I didn't realize how many of these I had read. He has a wonderfully distinct style that makes for a wonderful read. He's also gone on to do some great things with the fame and money he earned from this and his other works. Look him up.

Beloved - Toni Morrison

What I'm reading right now...errr..what I started reading a month ago, put down and haven't picked up again. I have to say the book didn't grab me immediately. Gina warned me at the outset that I'd have to give it some time. I just don't know if I want to invest the time to get in to it. Maybe I'll set it aside and come back to it at a later date. Maybe while I'm adjusting to a new schedule with work and all I need something a little easier to digest.