Waste of Oxygen

In the past two weeks, I've read two books about really smart people making historic contributions to modern society: Free For All about Joe Papp and the Public Theatre and The Audacity to Win, David Plouffe's book about the Obama campaign. Both are fascinating tales, moving and powerful, about brilliant people doing brilliant things.

And then I realized I spent approximately twenty five minutes dissecting favorite episodes of "Saved by the Bell" yesterday with my friend's new boyfriend and I wonder....what will the book about me say?

Welcome back, Sarah! YAY.

House of Mirth

I bought this book at the half-price bookstore in my hometown last May and gave the first 50 pages or so a desultory look-through before going back to being distracted by the internet. I finally picked it up again a few weeks ago, tired of the guilt I felt every time I saw its unbroken spine on the shelf. Finished a few minutes ago and now I'd like to go to bed please, pull the covers over my head and listen to sad music until morning. 

I have a bad habit of getting so deeply involved with the characters of well-written novels that my identity begins to merge with theirs. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Actually, isn't that the reason people read? For a momentary respite from the daily tedium of life inside our own bodies?  Wharton's writing is so clean, the edges so crisp and well-defined, that once you decide to give yourself over the world she creates, it becomes impossible to get away until she sets you free. You're stuck in Lily Bart's hot fever dream of a life as she descends from New York society queen to...something else . For those of you, like me, who managed to avoid reading this book through high school and college I don't want to give away the ending. Think of it as an episode of Gossip Girl where the stakes are way higher and everyone is smarter and more evil (though I imagine Blair Waldorf could hold her own in this set without a wrinkle of either perfectly waxed eyebrow). Depressing though it is, this book is worth reading if only for the chance to get to know the original mean girls while engaging with a great artist at the height of her powers. 

Things As Elegant, If Not More Elegant, Than Hedgehogs

-cappuccinos with the copious amounts of foam
-when the subway and I reach the station at exactly the same time and I don't have to wait
-ny times sunday magazine
-gummy vitamins
-when Sarah calls while I'm grocery shopping and I get the combined happiness of talking to Sarah and finding instant oatmeal on sale

Books That Are Very Important Capitalized

I was in the midst of reading one Important Book (The Mayor of Castro Street) but that wasn't enough, I was too impatient to start on the Important Book Du Jour, Eating Animals. It was an upbeat two weeks.

The former is a phenomenal read. The best class I took at Northwestern was Gay and Lesbian History because its history we're a part of and I find that fascinating enough to outweight the cheesier implications of such a statement. The latter...as someone who has been drinking all that Kool Aid and then some, I enjoyed it, but anybody else would be better off reading the incisive New Yorker review of the book. For those of us who don't eat meat and like skinny jeans paired with Converse, Eating Animals is a great read. for the rest of the world... you should probably just re-read Everything is Illuminated.

Also, I'm not giving up on you, Sarah.