Three Things

The list of books I want to read after the semester ends grows almost daily.  I actually picked up a book this week and read it, even though I really should have been working on an annotated bibliography.

I probably can't afford to do that much more, but if I again read a book as a procrastinating tool, it'd be one of these three...

Source: google.com via Natalie on Pinterest

After hearing an interview with the author on NPR a few weeks ago and then reading Brandi's recommendation, I'm convinced I'd love The Night Circus.  I tried to get my hands on this one at the library earlier this week when I had two hours between classes and forgot to bring homework for the next day with me, but apparently it's good enough that it's checked out of the university library and the four public library locations that have it.

Source: google.com via Angie on Pinterest

I pretty much missed all the hype for Everything is Illuminated, but then, I rarely read anything that's popular while it's popular.  I'm just frequently behind the times like that.  My sister got me a copy of this and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for my birthday, so I'll be taking them both on over Christmas break.

Source: goodreads.com via Katie on Pinterest

I've read mixed reviews of The Marriage Plot, particularly from readers who loved Middlesex (which I thought was brilliant) and The Virgin Suicides (which I haven't read).  It seems it's good, but not as good as his previous work.  But then, how do you follow up a Pulitzer Prize?

So, what are you reading?  And what would you like to read?  

Before I Die

Dreams, big, small, adventurous, or simple, can be a food for the soul.  They push us forward into the next day and the next and every one after that, giving us the impetus to expand our lives and grow.  Most people probably have some sort of mental list of things they'd like to do before they die, things that may seem in the future but get closer every day...yet get lost in the every day.  

Earlier this year, Candy Chang, a cofounder of Civic Center and TED fellow among numerous other accomplishments, launched Before I Die, a project that transformed the side of an abandoned building in New Orleans into a giant space to articulate and share dreams.  It's a giant chalkboard, with spaces for people to fill in their hopes and dreams.  Some of them are inspiring, others a little heart-breaking, and a few are even kind of funny.  

Since the initial project, Before I Die has been recreated in at least nine other cities, using the Toolkit from Civic Center, and people continue sharing their dreams.  What would you write? You can share your dream here.  

All images are borrowed from here, available for use for publicizing the project.  Oh, and yes, I found this on StumbleUpon.  I'm sure I'm not the first person to blog about this project, but I really, really love it.

Stumbled.

Guys, I just discovered StumbleUpon.  I know, I'm like a billion years behind the rest of the web.  I mean, I've seen it before, sure, I just never tried it.  But yesterday, Tina, author of English Muse posted about it and I clicked on over.  Now I'm hooked.  I've got a whole bunch of things I'll be sharing with you soon.

So far, this is on the list of the coolest things I've found.

It was posted by him and made by them and it's a little bit awesome.

If you're on StumbleUpon, I'm liltoiloflove.  If not, you should join, unless you have things that you really should be doing, like schoolwork or real work, because the internet is a very easy place to get distracted in.

Right, I'm going to work on my homework now.