fiery skull diaries

i have a lot of reading to do. well, not really that i “have” to do it; no one’s grading me, waiting to test me, or holding me accountable (hooray!). but reading was an integral part of my growing up years, and it’s important to me to read as long as i’m alive and have a functioning brain. if my eyesight gives out, shit, i’ll learn braille, and listen to books on recording.

the summer before i moved to college, i worked in a small, locally owned ice cream shop in my hometown’s downtown. the days were slow, and in the long stretches between customers, i had time to read (reread, more accurately) the lord of the rings trilogy (starting with the hobbit, of course; it’s the only proper way to understand the whole story!). i am STOKED that they’ve finally made a movie series of the hobbit. i decided it was time to reread that book again to refresh my memory. i finished it a couple of days ago, and husband and i already have our tickets for the movie premiere (in just TEN MORE DAYS!!).

during college, it was nearly impossible to do any “pleasure” reading, and that was a hard thing to get used to. my quality of life would have been much better if i’d been able to read things i actually wanted to read – and i have a funny little feeling that some of my grades would have improved, too. “college was great except for the classes,” amirite?

after college, we were terribly broke newlyweds. i longed for bookcases full of books i loved, but our “extra” money often went towards eating at a restaurant with not one, but TWO (!) dollar signs beside the name on urbanspoon, going to a movie (i became an expert at sneaking in $1.50 popcorn and drinks from the café inside target), or buying a pack of beer we’d been wanting to try but had been putting it off because it cost more than $6.99.

as we’ve gotten out of debt and on our feet in the last few years, more stable now than unstable, i still put off investing in books because… well, we had no bookshelves! we already had boxes of books that hadn’t been touched for years stacked in our spare bedroom; why buy new books without a place to put them? so i finally purchased a bookcase this summer, and now it’s very difficult to pass up books i want to own. i have a lot of flexible time on my hands these days, and while i might not know what my next step is in life, i do know that if i don’t spend a good chunk of this soul-searching time entrenched in good literature, i will certainly feel that i have wasted something.

if you’ve read my “about” section, you may recall that the name of this blog is inspired from a story in women who run with the wolves. but the funny thing is, i haven’t even read the whole book yet! it’s so rich, i can only take it in small bites. and even if i go for two months without picking it up again, it still gives me something to digest every day. there’s a good reason it’s a bestseller. if you are a woman and you only read one more book for the rest of your life: this is the one.

stoddard wrote things i want my daughters to know: a small book about the big issues in life for her two girls. i don’t have daughters, of course, but when i opened this book and saw the table of contents, i knew i had to have it for myself. some of the chapters i’m most looking forward to are you don’t have to prove anything to anyone, don’t save the best for last, your soul is not for sale, and listen to the wisdom of your body.

amazon had a sale on half the sky: turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide last week. having just watched the documentary a couple of weeks ago, i took the sale as a sign that it was time for me to get the book. i urge you to watch and/or read half the sky, too. so important. with over half of humanity’s population being women, what affects us affects everyone… and you won’t believe some of the unspeakable things that are happening to women right now.

so here’s where i am now with my pile of books:

1. the perks of being a wallflower: finished november 10th.
2. the hobbit: finished (third time) december 2nd.
3. women who run with the wolves: 56% finished (291 pages down, 226 to go).
4. happier at home (see my post about this book here): 32% finished (88 pages down, 190 to go).
5. things i want my daughters to know: unstarted.
6. half the sky: unstarted.

i have the ambitious goal to have ALL of these books finished by december 31st. hey, i read all seven harry potter books in eight days; how hard can it be?

ps. i unknowingly created an optical illusion when shooting one of these photos. did you spot it?