Something different today! I’m slowly working towards my goals, but there hasn’t been much to report. Just the grind of getting things done and trying to balance what I want to do with my life with my actual job. It’s tough. But things have slowed down the past couple of weeks so I’ve been able to get some reading done!

For some unknown reason the first book I decided to read after my grueling month of work was Sixty: A Diary of my Sixty-First Year  by Ian Brown. As someone in their twenties, it’s interesting to see the perspective of someone at the other end of their life (Sorry, Ian, but it’s true.) He worries about a lot of the same things I worry about: money, relationships, accomplishing great things in life. He does talk a lot about health and death, which I found both boring and panic inducing. Mostly this book just helped to increase my feeling of existential dread, which I don’t usually have. Imagining myself and sixty and whether or not I’ve lived the life I’m aiming for now caused a sense of fear I don’t usually feel. I guess at the very least it will help me work harder. Thanks Ian.

Recommendation: Read it!

My ever increasing need to be productive led me to my next book Do the Work by Steven Pressfield. This is one of those books that everyone who works in a creative field seems to tell you to read. I personally found it to be one long motivational quote. That works for some people, but I’m prefer books which give me concrete tools to improve my life (lists!, pomodoro method!, reward systems!). It just really depends on what kind of self-help books, you find most helpful.

Recommendation: Pass for me, but maybe not for you!

Frothy fun! That’s what I need and that’s what this book is. It’s been on my To Read list for ages and I’m glad I finally read it. It doesn’t have a traditional narrative structure (peppered with emails, police reports and memos) and I think it’s all the better for it. All the characters are witty and delightful (even the terrible ones) and everyone is smarter, prettier, better dressed than I am. This is a book that believes it’s readers are smart and can put together the pieces. We are and we can! Escapist fiction! Exactly what you need once in awhile.

Recommendation: Read read read!

So that’s something different for now. Don’t worry, I’ll be droning on and on about goals and New Year’s Resolutions soon.

Until tomorrow.

233 days to go.