Isn’t this great!  National Book Lover’s Day!

Hello Fellow Readers!

We should celebrate.  How do you celebrate National Book Lover’s Day?  Since I have never celebrated before, I think the choices are wide open.  The following are some choices that I came up with –

1.  Buy a book.  This is always my favorite choice but one I am trying to cut back on…
2. Borrow a book. Go to the Library and find a new book to start.  Stand in the Library and inhale the bookish fumes.
3. Look at the “sale e-book” sites and pick a new book to read. (also one I am trying to cut back on)
4. Go outside and read a book for a period of time.  If you are like me, this might be a long time…
5. Go out and get or make cupcakes to celebrate. The more frosting the better. Carefully eat a cupcake while reading.
6. Look around your house and pick your favorite book and crack it open and start reading it again. Ahhh.. the pleasure.
7. Take a book with you on a date to a coffee shop for a mini celebration.
8. Write your favorite author (via their publisher – no stalking allowed) to tell them what a great book they wrote.
9. Go to a bookstore and buy your favorite book for a friend that might need to find this perfect book.  (Or if they have an e-reader, send them a copy via Amazon.)
10. Okay this might be my favorite choice – go and buy some books for a local school or classroom.  A great way to pass along your love of books to the next generation.

There you go. Ten ways you can celebrate National Book Lovers Day.  Go forth and celebrate!

As long as I am finally here, I will tell you about a couple of the books I have read lately.

I had completely missed anything about this book when it came out but it was my library book club book for July.  When Breath Become Air is an amazing, fantastic, lovely, and sad book.  When I read the description, I was not inclined to read it but one of the things about book clubs is that you get to stretch to read things you might not ordinarily read. The author of the book is Paul Kalanithi. The story is incredible.

“At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient struggling to live.”

Summary from the book jacket

What that book jacket does not tell you is that prior to going to medical school, Paul Kalanithi had received a Masters in English.  He knows how to write. The writing in this book is beautiful. You wonder along with him about life and medical decisions. I though this book was wonderful.

The book I read right after that was another book that dealt with death but this book was more about the aftermath of death. Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant  was far better than I thought it would be. Okay, I did not read Sheryl Sandberg’s first book, Lean In. I found it hard to believe that she had the answers for women. Her life was certainly nothing like mine and I just didn’t see her as my personal career adviser. (Okay, I am a touch cynical.) Putting that aside, I had read great reviews about the book and had seen several interviews that intrigued me.

In case you don’t know who Sheryl Sandberg is, she is the Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. But in the context of this book, she is a widow. She was married to David Goldberg, who suddenly died on a trip to Mexico. She found the body in the exercise room of their hotel. The subtitle of this book is Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy. The book chronicles her struggle with her husband’s death, it’s affect on her and her children.

“Just weeks after losing Dave, I was talking to Phil about a father-child activity. We came up with a plan for someone to fill in for Dave.  I cried to Phil, “But I want Dave.” He put his arm around me and said, “Option A is not available. So let’s just kick the shit our of Option B.”

Live is never perfect. We all live some form of Option B. This book is to help us all kick the shit out of it.”

The book follows Sheryl through those tough times and the things that she did to cope with her life. I thought there were good ideas and thoughts. I think it is helpful and I recommend that you take a chance with it.

I have included an interview that Ellen did with Sheryl Sandberg if you are interested.

I hope your summer is going well and you are finding lots to read. If you can pass along suggestions, I would love for you to let me know the good books you have read.

Time to go celebrate!

Thanks for reading!