Book Worm

One of my current (and possibly temporary) goals is to start reading better books. By better, I mean ones that are better for me. For you churchy-types, ones that will bring me closer to Christ, or at least not push me farther away from Him. I don't mean that I am going to start reading only church books or only those published by Deseret Book. Personally, those aren't for me. My delimma is that I love murder/mystery/autopsy/detective stuff, but those usually contain some language (not to mention violence) that makes me a little uncomfortable. I, like most, will try to gloss over it and enjoy the meat of the story, but sometimes it gets to be too much. It's times like those that I start thinking I need to make a change. But change to what? I'm totally at a loss. I've been dry eight days now and am really suffering. I was desperate enough to start reading a book that Matt had been given by someone at Franklin Covey called "Meeting Amazing Grace." It's some kind of relationship-strengthening book - not for me. After about ten pages, I couldn't take any more. Then, still being desperate, I picked up a book my mom had given me last Christmas called "I Feel Bad About My Neck" by Nora Ephron. Now, first of all, I am the type of person who, if someone recommends a book, immediately has NO desire to read it. I noticed this book on Cathy's bookshelf some time back and her opinion of it didn't inspire me to read it either. Nora Ephron is a screenplay writer for such movies as "Bewitched," "You've Got Mail," "When Harry Met Sally," and "Sleepless in Seattle." So, being desperate, I decided to give it a try. I mean, the inside of the jacket says, "Utterly courageous, wickedly funny, and unexpectedly moving..." How could I go wrong? Well, luckily, the book is only 137 pages long, so I was able to wipe it out in a day (with kids) - out of desperation I kept reading. I can honestly say that I didn't laugh once. There was not even a point where I considered that it is me reading it and that I could see where others might find it funny. There was, however, one paragraph that I at least found worth mulling over. Ms. Ephron is talking about death, not being able to avoid it, and what we can do about it - basically nothing - but brings up some interesting points:

"Do you splurge or do you hoard? Do you live every day as if it's your last, or do you save your money on the chance you'll live twenty more years? Is life too short, or is it going to be too long? Do you work as hard as you can, or do you slow down to smell the roses? And where do carbohydrates fit into all this? Are we really going to have to spend our last years avoiding bread, especially now that bread in America is so unbelievably delicious? And what about chocolate? There's a questions for you - what about chocolate?"

Based on my own feelings about people recommending books, I am not going to recommend this one. But know that if you should desire to read it, Cathy and I both have copies you can borrow and probably even have (sorry, Mom).