what i'm reading now

Winter is my favorite time of year to read. As the days grow shorter, the stack on my nightstand gets proportionally taller, and I love it. Here's what I'm working through at the moment:

1 | A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough by Wayne Muller 

I picked this up on a whim while out Christmas shopping. Anyone endorsed by Mr. Rogers seems worth a try. Haven't started yet, but I have high hopes.

2 | A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot

This book is CHANGING MY LIFE, no joke. Punk rock atheist-turned-homeschooling Catholic mom. Feels like she can't breathe under the weight of her household duties, financial woes, and childrearing. So she creates a way out. (Spoiler: The answer is not running away or selling her children to the gypsies.) Conversion stories/doubters are my favorite these days, and keeping Pierlot's "Five P's" in mind (prayer, person, partner, parenthood, provider - in that order) has already altered the landscape of my marriage & life in beautiful ways. Her "rule" also suits my routine-oriented personality so well. 

3 | A Permeable Life: Poems and Essays by Carrie Newcomer

My godmother gave me this book for Christmas and pointed me in the direction of Newcomer's On Being interview, and I'm officially hooked. So hooked, in fact, that I'll be flying down to Georgia at the end of March to see her perform live, courtesy of the aforementioned (fairy) godmother. Simplicity, gratitude, community... It's all here, and I want to soak up as much as I can.

4 | Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin, SJ

I'll be honest, it's been extremely difficult for me to get down with the whole "Jesus" thing. The call to faith has been unwanted and annoying at times, like a fly buzzing around my ears or a repeated tap on the shoulder that I can no longer brush away or ignore. For many years, I've had a practice of imagining people I don't like or find repulsive as small children, since it is impossible for me not to love and forgive a very young child. At Christmas I had a stupidly huge revelation on the Jesus front: Start with the infant. I do not need to befriend Jesus the man; my path, my way in, is to love Jesus the child. I've had Martin's Pilgrimage on my nightstand since Caleb was born, but I think now I'm finally at a place where I'm open enough to, well, open it.

5 | Modern Calligraphy by Molly Suber Thorpe

Because I've gotta feed my left brain too, you know? Since leaving the classroom to stay home with Caleb, I've had the opportunity to create stationary for several friends and clients. This fall I designed a custom wedding suite, along with day-of paper goods, for two lovebirds. The digital aspect was fun and necessary, but doing the lettering for their place cards reaffirmed for me how much I LOVE and NEED to create with tangible materials and my own two hands. Hoping this book will help me hone my skills. Plus, it's a fantastic way to relax.

Clearly, I'm not so big into fiction at the moment. I think I gravitate towards a juicy story more in the summer, and then I tend to zip through books in a day or two. Winter, on the other hand, lends itself to a slow pace and deep processing. I'm good at that :)

What are you reading these days?

Title: Bossypants

Author: Tina Fey
Publishing Info: Regan Arthur Books / Little Brown and Company, 2011 (ebook edition)

I laughed: Especially hard at the part featuring all things Modess (a highlight of Fey's, ahem, "transition" into womanhood).
Her descriptions of summer theatre camp and the resulting shenanigans with the myriad of misfit friends she makes there also had me going.

I cried: Mostly from laughing so hard. However, at one point the teenage Fey confronts a strange truth about how she views others and the world that gave me a knot in my stomach (page 32).

I took notes: On Fey's discussion of more serious fodder, such as women in comedy (I loved her description of Amy Poehler putting a fellow SNL cast member in his place for a sexist remark, page 94) and women at work in general.

Recommendation: Couldn't put it down. Plus the ebook version features Fey reading a chapter from her book, full of behind-the-scenes info about life at NBC and Fey's hit show, 30 Rock. This one's a

oh, how they grow! and introducing...

Remember how I said my Summer Reading List was prone to change? Well, good thing, because almost immediately after posting it (and delving into approximately three of those books), I added five more titles. What can I say? Kid:Candy Store, Emy:Books. 

If that lollypop were a book, we'd be on the same wavelength. 

Although replacing it with chocolate might have the same effect.

Andy also gave me an iPad for our wedding (amazing!), so of course I was obligated to finally check out the whole e-book revolution. (Conclusion: Accessibility is a major plus, but I'm still so in love with the sensory apects of reading an actual book - the texture and smell of pages, the weight shifting in my hands - that it's hard to settle for a less dimensional reading experience. Not to mention the the gloriousness of real-life, physical bookstores, may they rest in peace.)

Luckily I chose a winner for my first e-book: Tina Fey's Bossypants. Purchased in a matter of seconds, read in a day.

My digital library also now includes the following:

Read it in three days. I know, I'm a couple years late. 

It was still fascinating.

In the middle of this one as we speak. 

Saving this for the plane ride. Maybe. I think.

While I was back in Chicago, a friend also loaned me this:

It's satisfying to have a summer goal I can actually accomplish. 

After finishing Fey's book, though, I realized I wanted to do more than just share the titles/covers of what I'm reading for once. And so the idea for my first-ever blog series was born: The Book Report.

It is as it sounds: When I finish one of the books on my list, I'll do a mini-review with rating. Simple. (Funny how something I hated doing in school becomes pleasurable when there's no longer a grade attached.) Hope you'll check back soon!