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Battle of the Books

Battle of the Books

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This weekend I held the enemy. A woman I sat next to was reading on her Kindle. Yes, she likes it, she said, but it’s not as light as it looks. She thrust it toward me. I reached out, a little hesitant. If I touched it, what would happen?

Nothing, of course. The kindle was a bit heavier than I thought it would be. But books are heavy, too. It’s not the weight of the thing that bothers me. It’s the mutability. Is it Virginia Woolf or Barbara Kingsolver? Is it a comic book or a cook book or an ancient record book like the ones from Prague Castle pictured above? In books, the ideas get all mixed up with the paper they’re printed on and that’s how they become (for me, at least) almost holy things.

The Checklist

The Checklist

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I’m reading (actually, racing to finish, because it’s a library book) The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. I discovered Gawande’s writing through one of those Best Essays volumes and have continued to read and enjoy his books.

This one is about how checklists save lives. He tells one riveting story about an operation gone wrong (his own error) and how a checklist ensured there was a large supply of blood on hand to transfuse the patient. One of the items on the checklist was for the surgical team to introduce themselves before the operation began. As a result, Gawande says,”We came into the room as strangers. But when the knife hit the skin, we were a team.” It was teamwork and cool, methodical action that saved the patient’s life.

Two days before our departure, I’m making my own checklists. Passport. Check. International Driver’s Permit. Check. I’ve always been a list-maker–and I’ve often faulted myself for it, thinking it the sign of a limited imagination. But reading this book has made me feel better about my habit. If lists save lives, think of what they can do for vacations.

Book Lust

Book Lust

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“Where is human nature as weak as in a bookstore?” — Henry Ward Beecher

The Friends of the Reston Library Used Book Sale is not for the faint of heart. I stumbled upon it this weekend and found myself on my knees sorting through books of essays as another woman (also on her knees) pulled them almost out of my hands.
I don’t buy many books these days. My house is full of them already. But the Reston Used Book Sale is a notable exception. Hardbacks for $1.50 and paperbacks for as little as 50 cents. How could I resist Rural Hours (1850) by Susan Fenimore Cooper (daughter of James), billed as one of the earliest pieces of American nature writing and the first by a woman? Or The Footpaths of Britain, complete with marginalia from a previous owner? Or Book Lust — a telling choice, given the quietly intent crowd at the book sale. Book lust. That’s what it is. That’s why I was at the book sale. It’s why all of us were there.

The Happiness Project

The Happiness Project

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I’ve just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, a book I heard about a couple years ago when I interviewed the author for a Woman’s Day story. Before the Happiness Project book, there was (and still is) a Happiness Project blog. It’s chock full of tips both practical and philosophical and I highly recommend it and the book.

As for my own “happiness project,” this blog is part of it. A New Year’s resolution come true (unlike the earnest but vague “worry less” sort of resolution I usually make) this one is forcing me out of my comfort zone. The sneaky truth about this resolution, and an underlying premise of Rubin’s book, is that happiness takes work. It requires speaking up and shutting up, list making and list shredding, risk-taking and even failure. But it’s all worth it. It is joyful toil.