Book May 6th Through May 27th

The audio books for this time period had some back and forth.  It started with 10% Happier : How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story.  I was interested in his story but found it is not something I really want to incorporate in my life now to the extent he has. Mindfulness is something I want to incorporate in my life without the daily meditation.  Once I had finished with that one The Happiness Project was finally available again through the library. I was so close to finishing it before it was due last time that I had it completed on the evening I rechecked it out.  Due to finishing it that night I was able to start on Boys in the Trees. I just had a passing awareness of Carly Simon before this book. It was really interesting to hear more about the music scene in the late 60s early 70s. I have listened to/ read several biographies from this time period and it is fun to see the overlap.  This was a longish book to listen to and I had made the error of putting myself on the wait list for several audio books at the same time. As usually happens to me all of them came up at the same time so I tried to "hurry" and listen to as many as I could before they were due.  Happier at Home was the next one up and I was able to get through it. Very little of it applied to my life and I found it disappointing. Despite this I forged ahead with another book by Gretchen Rubin. Better than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives was next and I really had a hard time getting through it. It might be because I listened to all of these books so close together but they were extremely repetitive. She also seems out of touch with the masses and overly forceful about her opinions which is essentially what all of these books were.


In print I finished Not Buying it: My Year Without Shopping. This book was really a waste of my time, she did not go without shopping and also seemed out of touch with everything going on other than the art scene in New York.  The next book I picked up was smallish and ended up done before the weekend was out. 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life, this book was not the most well written but it really struck a cord with me. It has led to me renewing some resolutions I have had and ended up blogging about here.  It has really kicked in that I can finish my currently reading list this year ( this was after some despair that I might not finish it). This led me to skip over a couple of other books and pick The Freedom Manifesto back up. It was due before I could finish it so I will have to get it back from the library the next time I go.  In parallel I have been reading Vertical Vegetable Gardening usually while I am sitting in the bathroom with the boys taking their baths.  I managed to finish it last night and dropped it at the library this morning. I found some good information in it but not sure there was enough to warrant purchasing.