A Shooting Star by Wallace Stegner

Back in September 2007, I was on a Wallace Stegner kick and read a bunch of his books. A couple of weeks ago, I re-visited Stegner and found one that I hadn't read yet.

I wished I hadn't read it. But no, I read every single of the 433 pages...alas, not one of my best decisions as of late.

With good books, I don't want it to end. With this book, I could not wait for it to end. It was bad. I disliked the main character throughout the whole book.

Don't read this book.

If you want to read some Wallace Stegner, here are some that I've already reviewed and would recommend (read Angle of Repose!).

Angle of Repose

Remembering Laughter

The Spectator Bird

All the Little Live Things

Crossing to Safety

Finding the Love of Your Life: Ten Principles For Choosing the Right Marriage Partner by Neil Clark Warren

The author of this book, Neil Clark Warren, might sound familiar to you because he's the founder of the popular eharmony.com website. But before he did that, he wrote lots of books. His book, Finding Contentment, greatly influenced my own life and I try to read it once a year.

I first came across this book, Finding the Love of Your Life, back in the 90s when I was visiting a friend and stayed in the guest bedroom. I flipped through the book and found it to be pretty interesting, especially since dating seemed like a mystery to me. Well, I think dating still does kinda seem like a mystery. I didn't have time to read the whole book that night, so I skimmed some sections.

When I saw the book a couple of months ago at a booksale, I picked it up so I could finally read it cover to cover.

Warren describes choosing a spouse as "life's single most important challenge." This is what he writes: "Your choice of whom to marry is more crucial than everything else combined that you will ever do to make your marriage succeed...Most of the failed marriages I have encountered were in trouble the day they began. The two people involved simply chose the wrong person to marry."

He goes through ten principles for choosing a spouse, most notably: Get yourself healthy before you get married. And Master the art of intimacy in which Warren writes: "Most individuals don't have time to figure out what's really going on inside of themselves - let alone take time to share it with others."

This is a great book, full of good things to think about in terms of emotional health and the dating process. I'm gonna keep it in my library so that I can pass it on to any of my single friends who want to read about dating. Or, if you're one of those single friends and would like to read it, let me know and I'll send it to you.

Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper

This is by Anderson Cooper of CNN fame. He recalls his experiences covering various disasters such as the 2005 tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and Somalia. He interweaves some, but not much, of his own personal life and the losses and grief he deals with himself. He shows his compassion and humanity through his descriptions and seems pretty honest and aware of his own reactions to what he sees and hears.

I enjoyed this book, especially the section on Hurricane Katrina. The writing was easy to read, but some of what Cooper writes about was not so easy to read. I probably wouldn't buy this book, but I recommend reading it if you can check it out from the library. Or you can borrow my copy.

What Cooper writes about Katrina:

"Here [in the United States], you grow up believing there's a safety net, that things can never completely fall apart. Katrina showed us all that's not true."

Standing in the Rainbow by Fannie Flagg

I finished reading this book by flashlight inside a tent while camping in Yosemite. It's a nice way to finish a book.

I've reviewed a couple of other Fannie Flagg books already, including Can't Wait to Get to Heaven and A Redbird Christmas. This book is like the others - enjoyable, funny, and sweet. The characters are quirky but real with their own wounds and challenges. I became quite fond of some of them. Overall, an entertaining read.

A Neat Bookshelf

Thanks to faithful reader, Emily, for sending in this picture of a wonderful bookshelf!

I have not been reading.

I have not posted any new books for awhile for one very good reason: I haven't finished any lately! This is a source of frustration to me. I started a new internship about 2 months ago and man, that has really cut into my reading time. So I am determined to be more intentional about Self-Care and making more time to read. So hopefully, I'll have some more reviews up here shortly.

A Life at Work: The Joy of Discovering What You Were Born to Do by Thomas Moore

Eh. You can skip this one. Do/read something else to figure out what you were born to do.