Due to my skin biopsy I have not been able to do much. I drove into work today and even that hurt (who knew you used your abs so much when you turn around to look for cars while changing lanes!). I probably should have been diligently working on some paper and the ever-looming thesis, but due to a number of factors I just couldn't bring myself to. Instead, I indulged in one of my favorite hobbies, reading for pleasure (ok, I did read the latest Science and New England Journal). I had the luck have two books that I had been meaning to get to, so I picked them up and distracted myself from my pain. Matt (and the rest of my family), have a joke about my reading abilities. When I am reading something, the rest of the world is dead to me. Additionally, I read really fast. I read the entire Last Lecture in one 2-hour sitting.
The first book was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I purchased this book for two reasons. The first was that I had seen in my MANY people's hands over the last few months. On the bus, at the gym, on planes, it seemed like everyone was reading. The second was the description and the fact that it was being made into a movie. I find it odd that a personal memoir can be made into a film. After finishing the book, a first-person narrative about the author's year long adventures in Italy, India, and Indonesia coping with depression, a divorce, a break-up through a search for a relationship with god, I am still perplexed on how on the movie will turn out. LOTS of the dialog in India is the author having conversations with herself. I am intrigued about how "movie magic" will make this not seem hooky.
The second book I read was the aforementioned The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I read this book in one sitting, laughing and crying at the same time. I could relate so much to this book, as my own father wrote my sister and myself letter with "words to live by" when he was preparing to undergo treatment for his brain tumor and his colon cancer. He survived those battles, only to die unexpectedly from a cardiac complication of those battles 13 years later. Even though Karen and I were "adults" when we read his words, they are still timely and poignant to me. Randy knew he was dying, and was able to eloquently write a novel for EVERYONE, not just his children to learn from. I have had this book on my nightstand for several months, not being able to bring myself to read it because of the knowledge that it was a father's writing to his kids. I think it was sitting on my nightstand so that I would read it at the right time. Given the upcoming difficulties ahead of me, this weekend was the right time.
I don't know when I will next get to indulge in surrendering an entire afternoon to a book. I don't think it will be for a while. I am grateful that I took that time this weekend. It has allowed me to clear my mind for the challenges ahead, with a little wisdom for the authors of both books helping me along.
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