Faith Fiction and some other stuff

Who knew there was such a category of books called Faith Fiction? I certainly did not. It is I suppose the equivalent of Christian rock music. I find it quite interesting that Christianity is almost used as some sort of marketing strategy. I mean most religions do have characteristics of propaganda to further their agenda, but I never imagined it so explicitly in contemporary fiction. Lately, I have seen more commercials on TV for churches like the one for the United Methodist church too. It's not bad or anything. I'm just saying. Are their memberships dwindling?

The book kind of made me laugh in a tsk tsk way. The main message I got from it was "Christians are people too!" There were themes of fighting the stereotype (I was blissfully unaware of ) of being a pastor's wife and a feminist - that is a contradiction apparently. I have no right to mock the book because I don't have the benefit of the experience of growing up under the faith.

My religion has been a huge part of my family life but I have rarely experienced it as part of the majority culture. I believe I would find that quite strange if I ever came across Hindu faith fiction (I bet they exist) or Hindu rock music. The only type of literature I have come across is when the main characters happened to practice Hinduism and I have heard some music that was a cross between a Sanskrit sloka and a country/western song. Let's just say that was pretty unique, and maybe it grows on you. It hasn't yet though.

Permission to Succeed

This is exactly how it happened. I interviewed for a grad assistant position and thought I didn't do well. They didn't call me back when I thought they would. That's the back story.

I decided to do a mock interview- for practice I suppose. I was so down about not hearing back I was quite negative in the interview. That proceeded to make me more bummed. So I went to the library and checked out a few books on improving self-esteem/confidence. The librarian was nicer than usual when she was checking out my books.

Driving home, I'm nearly in tears :(. Then I get a phone call! I got the job!! I read/skimmed these books anyway because I don't like feeling sad. I need to think preventive not reactive.

• Breaking Murphy's Law: How Optimists Get What They Want From Life. Was too sciency. I think it was the author's dissertation turned into a book.
• The Confidence Plan. I liked this. Great, inspirational quotes at the beginning of each chapter and strong ideas.

Permission To Succeed. By Noah St. John. It's a must read when a person feels low. He really nailed how I felt. He defines it as success anorexia. The idea that many people do not allow themselves to appreciate their success, self-sabotage. They feel they don't deserve it. His entire point (IMO) was that we must first accept that it is okay to be successful. That we must fight the negative perceptions of ourselves, the Negative Self that tells us that we are bad and no one likes us, that we don't deserve anything, etc.

He made a lot of valid points and made me feel a lot better. He says it himself - many of the self-help books tell you the how but not the why. It is important for us as humans to accept ourselves and appreciate what we have, then we are truly successful.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

So Labor Day weekend went to visit the family. My cousin has these very popular children's book series called Diary of a Wimpy Kid. They won some awards I think. So so good. It reminded me of a cartoon kid friendly version of Doestoevsky's Notes from Underground. It's the story of your everyday kid who bumbles his way through life. But his life is so real. I mean it's not perfect, sometimes you feel sorry for him, other times you feel mad at him for doing a mean thing, sometimes you want to laugh at his antics. But he's a real kid. It's nice to read a book about a kid who isn't perfect for a change. In most kid books, everything gets solved at the end. In these books, the ending is not perfect, in fact it kind of stinks. I loved, loved this book!

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

So I went on a three week hiatus visiting family in India. Most of my vacations to India consist of sitting around my grandparent's house with nothing to do, but this time was pleasantly busy. I usually read quite a few novels but I didn't this time. On the airplane, I started this novel My Sister's Keeper and it's brilliant.

The story is about a young girl named Anna who would like to be medically emancipated from her parents. Her sister Kate has a rare form of leukemia and Anna was created as sort of a designer baby, the perfect match for her sister. Anna has always donated blood, platelets, etc and now she is expected to donate a kidney. She doesn't want to for reasons unknown till the end of the novel.

Where is the line one draws on being selfless?

Disclaimer

This is NOT a book critic/review site. It's more of I read this book and I write how it makes me feel or what it reminds me of. I don't analyze the books thoroughly at all and I'm nowhere near qualified to do so.

Books have always been my best friends, always there when I needed them and quite dependable. I find I usually reflect my life through them. They mean a lot to me and they help me understand myself better.

One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell

Candace Bushnell is the lady who wrote the Sex and The City book that sparked the popular TV series. I never really got into that show. I think because the women live in this idealistic NYC life where sex has no consequences and a person can afford anything, where the biggest problem is buying a pair of super expensive shoes. I'm not really into that because I can't really relate, going shopping for expensive things isn't my thing and I certainly don't have the kind of celebrity problems the characters have.

I actually expected this novel to be in the chick lit category, but it wasn't really about that. There was something dark in her writing.

Although I must commend Bushnell for doing a thorough portrayal of the shallow lives of the rich around sex, drugs, and the pursuit of money. Perhaps her intention was to show that at the core character, people are generally the same. That the rich and famous don't have it all and search for happiness too. We seek the approval of those around us and who we care about and that manipulates us to do things we regret. Her characters lie, cheat, steal, pretend to get what they want. Interestingly enough, I noticed that the main driver of all of this was loneliness, that I can relate to. One character Lola, basically the slut of the book, forms relationships with people because she cannot bear to be alone. Another character, the movie star Diamond Schiffer for 20 years pretends to be apathetic towards the one she loves. Who hasn't put up that wall in order to protect ourselves from any hurt?

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

Yesterday I read the entire novel at work from start to finish. Clearly, I have lots to do. Also, clearly I am doing work right now by writing this blog post. By the way what is the etiquette on the number of times a person should ask for work to do?

Back to the novel. Interestingly this is the second novel this year I read about sheep. The first one I read was about detective sheep, don't ask.

Haruki Murakami is a fantastic writer. His style flows easily and the content is so wonderfully bizarre that I cannot help reading it. His novels are actually in Japanese and I have read a English translated version, which is an artform in itself. I am told this is his strangest novel and he is best known for The Wind up Bird Chronicles. A Wild Sheep Chase is about a man who is sent on a mission to find this rare sheep that apparently takes over people's bodies. When the proverbial sheep is in that person's body he has built an entire mafia like empire and exhausts its human host towards death. It sounds like scifi or horror but it isn't. I think the sheep is a symbol of greed and power that take over one's mind. I have not read a "strange" book in a while, so this novel was a nice change of pace.

He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo

This book really killed my self-esteem. The entire premise of this book is that if a guy is into you, nothing will stop him. There won't be excuses. Some people have told me that I am intimidating, so I let things go that most guys are shy. Apparently, that shouldn't stop someone either. If the guy is too shy to even talk to me, then apparently he's not worth it. Greg also says we should not do the asking, that guys like the 'chase'.

If what this guy says is correct, then does that not mean no one has been into me ever? I didn't think I was that bad looking or that awful of a person. In fact, I know quite a few wonderful ladies who also fall into this category. My question for Greg is what is wrong with the male population?! Can someone kindly explain? It makes me irritated.