I’m off to West Virginia tomorrow for the second time in three weeks to attend a funeral. My aunt and uncle died 17 days apart after 62 years of marriage. How sweet is that? Or perhaps I should say, bittersweet. Anyway, the bottom line is that I’ve been on a lot of planes lately and have had more time than usual to catch up on my reading. So while I don’t have any great wisdom to share today, I do have three book recommendations: 1) Karen Russell’s debut novel Swamplandia!, an exuberant, gothic-feeling tale about a gator-theme-park family trying to make ends meet; 2) Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows (a finalist for the Pulitzer) about how Internet use is affecting our brains; and (3) Gretchen Rubin’s New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project, which Rubin herself describes as “a memoir of the year I spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.” If you’ve got goals you’ve been having trouble meeting, start with the Rubin’s. After finishing just two chapters, my husband finally started exercising again!
