What I'm Reading

So I finished up my last library book The 100 Thing Challenge. I sincerely recommend it. The author is not against buying things or having nice things. What he's against is mindlessly buying things just to have things, and how doing so can distract you from TRULY living an enjoyable life. 

The phrase he repeats many times over, to reiterate his perspective of mindless purchases, is "American style consumerism."

He scaled down his personal possessions to 100 items (counting some things in groups, i.e. socks. he didn't count each sock or even his pairs of socks as an item. He counted his "collection" of socks as one item. He also DIDN'T count shared family items, i.e. couch, kitchen table, etc.)

I was also reminded by Katie, about a book by Judith Levine called "Not Buying It. My Year Without Shopping." Ouch. I can see that being even more of a challenge. I'm only 7 pages into it, but her disclaimer is this: "....will purchase only necessities for sustenance, health, and business, groceries, insulin for our diabetic cat, toilet paper, internet access."

I'm in the reading/narcolepsy chair. It's where we all go to read, but where I inevitably fall asleep drooling and snoring.

I also found another book at the library called "Why Gender Matters". I love this topic, so I'm super excited to start this one. I get so frustrated with the mindset that boys and girls are essentially the same apart from genitalia, so we should treat them the same. Uh. No, we're not. We're different physically, so it only makes sense we'd be made different emotionally and mentally as well. Therefore, we respond differently to situations and experiences.

The third book I had waiting for me at the library was For Women Only: what you  need to know about the inner lives of men.

This topic is also sort of along the same lines as Why Gender Matters. I've only skimmed the Table of Contents, but I can see the wealth of information already!

Having been raised by my dad, I can attest to the reality and relevance of Chapter 2: Why Your respect means more to him than even your affection.

Growing up, I remember my dad CONSTANTLY touting his desire to be respected and its importance. I'm constantly praying about and trying to find ways to be a better wife, so hopefully this will help :)

Sorry it's hard to read the cover. But, a shot of my crazy cat on a catnip-fueled rampage should make up for it, no?

 There ya have it. Hopefully I'll be able to finish these before they're due.

What kind of thought-provoking, non-work or school related books are you reading?

A Great Site I've recently found is called YOUR NEXT READ. It gives you recommendations based on other books you've read. Really cool.