Some good reads

Exercising every day and reading while I'm on my dumb bike is doing wonders - for my reading anyway. I've read a few good books in the last few weeks that I wanted to share with you. Check them out if you have time.

Book One: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

This book was great. I actually got lost in it - meaning that I completely lost track of time or where I was or what I was planning on doing while reading it. That hasn't happened for a long time. Ms. Gilbert writes about a year in her life when she tried to find herself - after a messy divorce and an unhealthy relationship. She is trying to find God, balance, inner peace, and self-acceptance...things I think that we all want for our lives and the lives of our loved ones most of the time. She writes about spending 4 months eating her way through Italy and finding the calm that she had long ago lost. I've been to Italy. I think that Italy can do that for a person. She then goes to India and spends 4 months meditating in an Ashram outside of Mumbai. I know that I don't have the personal dedication to do such a thing, but how would it be to dedicate that much of your life to searching for your soul, your God (whomever he or she may be), and yourself. Missionaries from churches all over the world do this all the time, but us regular folks who don't probably should take the time to find ourselves. She then spends 4 months in Bali - learning from a Balinese medicine man, relaxing, meditating, and letting herself fall in love.

I think that once we do find that inner peace - even if we don't find it every day or even if we lose it for years at a time - that life is so much better when we find it again. The book really got me to thinking about my own life - those three simple words "eat, pray, love". I do those things - I'm good at those things (some more than others) and it's always amazing to me that when I really let myself go, and give of myself to my family and to others, and to God - that everything falls into place.

Book Two: Brothers In Arms: The Epic Story of the 761St Tank Battalion, WWII's Forgotten Heroes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony Walton

I haven't finished this one yet, but I'm close and boy is it good. A week or so ago I told my dad that I needed a good WW II book to read and he gave me this one. It is about the only African-American Tank Battalion to see combat during WW II. This group of men was sent to the European Theater to fight under General Patton during the end of WW II as the Allied Forces were marching into Germany. The stories of valor, dedication, brotherly love and most of all pride for country in spite of huge obstacles leaves me without words.

I am always amazed at the pride and dedication and ability to overlook injustice by people who deserve to be treated equally and fairly but aren't. The group of men that made up the 761st tank battalion were some of the most decorated men of WW II - in spite of it all - the hatred, racism and inequality.

This is a very moving and inspiring true story.

Book Three: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Upon the recommendation of my 13 year old brother, I borrowed this book. It is pretty funny. I tried to read some parts out loud to Ross but I was laughing to hard to get any of the words out. The book follows an illustrated diary format and it only takes an hour or so to read the whole thing - trust me - you want to make the time.

If you want to think back to 7th grade, with illustrations, then this is your book. If you aren't sure which reading group you belong in ("Einstein as a Child" or "Bink says Boo") then you definitely need to read this book.