#38: Read a book, cover to cover

Date Completed:  3/13/2010

I hate reading - I got Dad’s math gene instead. Mom tried over the years to help me balance my left brain analytics with right brain creativity. She did a great job because I love music, dance, theatre, art and other culture. Mom also passed down the gift of editing because she’s a true grammarian whom I’m sure would conjugate verbs just for fun. People have teased me about my “red pen” style of editing, but for some reason, they still come back for more. I suppose that makes me a decent technical writer – brevity is always better – but I never developed a love for reading. Thinking over the past five years, there are only a few books I’ve read completely (in no particular order):

1. Laurie Graff’s You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs (I found this in an airport bookstore after a delayed flight when I was consulting - turned out to be great)

2. Laurie Graff’s Looking for Mr. Goodfrog (This is the follow-up to Laurie's other book and I couldn't resist)

3. Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin’s Skinny Bitch (Yes, I was really vegan for a while)

4. Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo’s He’s Just Not That Into You (This is another airport find and I wanted to read it before seeing the movie - I actually found it better than the movie because it doesn't sugar-coat the truth)

5. Elie Wiesel’s Night (Elie won the Nobel Peace Prize and this book was on Oprah’s book club list - I was completely engaged from cover to cover)

6. Laurie Notaro’s We Thought You Would Be Prettier – True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive (Laurie has made me laugh since 1991 - we went to ASU together and I looked forward to her weekly article in the State Press - some of you may also remember her writing for the New Times)

7. Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands (You guessed it - airport find - but while I laughed, I actually found some things valuable! Now...if I'd just apply them...)

8. Rae Orion’s Astrology for Dummies (As I type this now, I wonder if that’s really Rae’s given name – nevertheless, an AWESOME read!)

I really enjoyed each of these books – actually, if I didn’t, they wouldn’t be on my short list of those I’ve finsihed! My 2010 goal was Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture, which I would absolutely recommend to everyone. This book identifies a number of unique individuals who served as mentors and inspiration to Randy – some whom he had pictures of in his office. I wonder how many people (other than me), hung pictures of Randy in their offices after reading this book. I won’t give away any details to those of you who might add this to your book list. I’ll simply leave you with two closing thoughts:

1. "Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”
2. Buy a box of crayons.

For more information on this book, or to see the video of Randy’s last lecture, visit www.thelastlecture.com.