Wonder

This just earned itself a place on my list of favorites. A rare gem. I don't remember a book that made me cry this much, especially so early on.

It breaks my heart when kids are robbed of a carefree childhood. It's just not fair.

But that Auggie.. he truly is a wonder. Did not expect a little fifth grade boy to change me, to teach me about life today, but he did.

As an aside, I felt so old, reading about the teachers, parents, and students communicating through texts and emails. Googling and Facebooking. When I was in fifth grade, internet was still a relatively newfangled concept! I don't even think I knew anyone who owned a cell phone, let alone have one myself. The idea of texting would have blown my mind!

"Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world." -August Pullman

Stumbling on Happiness

I have no idea what this says about me, but lately I prefer reading non-fiction to fiction. This was the exact opposite a few years ago. Maybe I've become disillusioned to storytelling after reading one too many bad novels (ie Twilight series -_-). Or got especially hooked on Malcolm Gladwell's fact-ridden anecdotes. Who knows.

Currently reading: Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert.

I read about it somewhere, and it had good reviews on Amazon, so I checked it out a la biblioteca. It doesn't seem so much self-help than an exploration of how humans work. Hopefully it'll be an interesting read.

Siblings

I ate lunch with my brother today. Because it was cold and rainy, I was craving pho. And, as it turned out, so was the rest of the city.. pho restaurants must love this weather! The first place we went to was packed, so I suggested we just go to the other, less popular one down the street. Our discussion:

Me: Should we go to Vietnam 1?

Bro: Ok. But I hope it isn't closed on Mondays.

Me: It's Tuesday.

Bro: It's Wednesday.

LOL. Owned. Apparently the S siblings are really bad with the days of the week.

Anyway. So maybe I was subconsciously thinking about family/siblings afterward, because this was what I picked up for my break time reading material during my typical study sesh at B&N.

I love learning about personalities and what makes people who they are.. although surprisingly, I was never especially keen on psychology/sociology classes in college. This book doesn't really say anything new about typical traits of oldest/middle/youngest/only children, but it's fun making comparisons with myself, as well as people I know. I slightly deviate from the standard oldest sibling.. while I am a serious, parent pleasing, goal setting/achieving, list making, first born daughter, I lack natural leadership skills and kind of have the secretive and diplomatic tendencies of a middle child for some reason. My brother is a through-and-through fun-loving, social butterfly, baby of the family.

So yes, I think birth order does have impact on personality.

One more night until liberation..

Currently reading. Being the impatient cheapo that I am, going through chapters in between studying at Barnes and Noble. Actually, cheapo is uncalled for in this case.. I just dislike buying books that aren't favorites.

Reads just like Tina Fey's Bossypants, but I prefer this. It's more youthful and less jaded, but like Tina's, has the right amount of hilarious nerdy uncoolness that I totally get. :)

Weird place

I had a few opportunities from friends to go out and about this weekend, but I turned down every single one in the name of studying. Yet I'm still procrastinating.. I hate this. I'd rather work really hard and then be free to go hang out, but I'm stuck in this limbo of neither work nor play. Bah.

Part of my day was spent re-reading Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz. I found, and consequently bought, a copy at a thrift store last weekend for 50 cents, so I've been sporadically picking it up to read this week. I'm identifying with it in ways that I didn't when I first went through it, and it's just reminding me of God's great love for me. Like his desperate love for me.

Listening and reading

Obsessed with this song for right now. Iron and Wine-Fever Dream.

I'm always in the middle of a book. Or several. I just finished Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, and just started Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Very different books.. I think The Road may be kind of scary. Or not scary, but eerie. Haunting. That's what I got from the first few pages. And the cover. I know what they say about judging books by their covers, but look at it! I just really don't think there will be rainbows and butterflies popping out anytime soon..

Cartoons

In college I randomly came across and read my friend's copy of Persepolis, and until now that's been my only experience with reading graphic novels. I didn't realize that it's a pretty big genre.. I thought it consisted only of Spiderman, Batman, X-men, etc comics.

But then I came across a blog post about other ones, which inspired me to pick up a couple at the library. Just finished Shortcomings, and I'm dying to read Ghost World.

Never thought I would be into reading comics, but there you go.