Office by Alex Penny

freckles make me strong.

I live in Seattle. These are things that catch my attention, pique my interest and/or make me want to pass notes in class like a 7th grader

January 6, 2012 10:01 am
Done!  I have set reading goals for myself every year since 2009 and I always fall short, until this year. Being disciplined about reading more, be it short or long books, fiction or non-fiction, has definately been worth the effort. I met some wonderful characters. I learned a bit about the workings of the world and the human heart and I am the better for it. Below is the full list. Titles in bold are some of my favorites. The Call of the Wild by Jack London Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl In Cold Blood by Truman Capote My Life in France by Julia Child Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green The Bro Code by Barney Stinson Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Joseph T. Hallinan Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama The Maytrees by Annie Dillard Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald I Wanna Be Your Shoebox by Cristina Garcia The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner Up in the Air by Walter Kirn Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

Done! 

I have set reading goals for myself every year since 2009 and I always fall short, until this year. Being disciplined about reading more, be it short or long books, fiction or non-fiction, has definately been worth the effort. I met some wonderful characters. I learned a bit about the workings of the world and the human heart and I am the better for it.

Below is the full list. Titles in bold are some of my favorites.

  • The Call of the Wild by Jack London
  • Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell
  • The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket
  • Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
  • The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
  • In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  • My Life in France by Julia Child
  • Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green
  • The Bro Code by Barney Stinson
  • Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
  • Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
  • Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
  • Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
  • Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Joseph T. Hallinan
  • Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
  • Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
  • The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama
  • The Maytrees by Annie Dillard
  • Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • I Wanna Be Your Shoebox by Cristina Garcia
  • The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  • Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
  • The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
  • Up in the Air by Walter Kirn
  • Barrel Fever by David Sedaris
January 4, 2012 4:30 pm
"I like to see people reunited, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and the crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can’t tell fast enough, the ears that aren’t big enough, the eyes that can’t take in all of the change, I like the hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone."

—

Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I love this passage so much. Anyone who travels or moves with frequency knows all too well,  our center is constantly shifting. Of course, so is everyone else’s. But at some point you pause, and in that pause you realize that you no longer have a singular home. There is no one place the come back to because the people and things you care about stretch across the map like a web. Your happiness is fractured. To varying degrees, everywhere you go something or someone is always missing.

Here is hoping in 2012 the missing is outweighed by the end of missing and the lions share of that particular impatience can be laid to rest.

October 25, 2011 10:00 am
I have made it through 20 books!  With the end in sight, I have 8 books left to read in the next 10 weeks. Update: Outliers: The Story of Success(Gladwell, Malcolm) Will Grayson, Will Grayson(Green, John and Levithan, David) The Bro Code (Stinson, Barney and Kuhn, Matt) Anne of Green Gables (Montgomery, L.M.) Good in Bed (Weiner, Jennifer) Brief Interviews with Hideous Men(Wallace, David Foster) Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average(Hallinan, Joseph T.) Holidays on Ice(Sedaris, David) Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain(Sacks, Oliver) Previous book list.

I have made it through 20 books!  With the end in sight, I have 8 books left to read in the next 10 weeks.

Update:

  • Outliers: The Story of Success(Gladwell, Malcolm)
  • Will Grayson, Will Grayson(
  • Anne of Green Gables (Montgomery, L.M.)
  • Good in Bed (Weiner, Jennifer)
  • Brief Interviews with Hideous Men(Wallace, David Foster)
  • Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average(Hallinan, Joseph T.)
  • Holidays on Ice(Sedaris, David)
  • Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain(Sacks, Oliver)

Previous book list.

June 17, 2011 3:21 pm
I am nearly halfway to this year’s reading goal of 27 books! The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World (Weiner, Eric) The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Obama, Barack) Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty (Yunus, Muhammad) The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald, F. Scott) I Wanna Be Your Shoebox (Garcia, Cristina) The Maytrees (Dillard, Annie) Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose (Hsieh, Tony) Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (Bourdain, Anthony) The Secret Life of Bees (Kidd, Sue Monk) Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays (Sedaris, David) Up in the Air (Kirn, Walter)

I am nearly halfway to this year’s reading goal of 27 books!

  • The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World (Weiner, Eric)
  • The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Obama, Barack)
  • Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty (Yunus, Muhammad)
  • The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald, F. Scott)
  • I Wanna Be Your Shoebox (Garcia, Cristina)
  • The Maytrees (Dillard, Annie)
  • Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose (Hsieh, Tony)
  • Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (Bourdain, Anthony)
  • The Secret Life of Bees (Kidd, Sue Monk)
  • Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays (Sedaris, David)
  • Up in the Air (Kirn, Walter)
May 23, 2011 3:29 pm
"And as I sat there, brooding on the old unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning —
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

—

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

I just finished the Great Gatsby. It has such brilliant and satisfying closing lines.

May 10, 2011 12:00 pm
"Once poverty is gone, we’ll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They’ll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society - how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair."

—

Muhammad Yunus, Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism

I am reading Yunus’ first book, Banker to the Poor, right now. Everyone interested in ending poverty should read this book. He turns a lot of age old ideas about banking, non-profit work and economic advancement on their heads and you are inspired to reconsider it all. His unrelenting determination to run Grameen Bank without caving to preconceived banking and social mores is inspiring. Read this book!

September 13, 2010 11:12 am
"The United States spends over $87 billion conducting a war in Iraq while the United Nations estimates that for less than half that amount we could provide clean water, adequate diets, sanitations services and basic education to every person on the planet. And we wonder why terrorists attack us."

—

John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
March 2, 2009 12:14 pm
"My father warned me that sadness cleaves to sadness, and that depressed people go around in hangdog packs. Common disaster is the worst reason for a friendship. In picking your friends, he said, you should consider what great things you can do together. You are assembling a team, he told me, not a teatime cozy of crybabies, and he made me promise never to become part of any orphans’ or bereaved sons’ club, because sitting around in a circle of pity getting your worst qualities praised and reinforced was no way to move forward with a great life. That is the way down, he said, making a roller-coaster motion with his hand, but you shall go up."

—

Chris Adrian, A Better Angel (via thebronzemedal)