Books that I'm reading

I have no idea how I have time to read. Most nights I'm so pooped by the time I get in bed...but there is something about taking a few minutes to read that makes me feel like I'm getting to relax. I try to read at least a page or two. Sometimes I will read when I'm trying to get Punkie down for her nap, or on the weekends. I have so many things I want to read all of the time. Right now I'm reading one of the most amazing books I've found. I've got 3 books going on right now and I'd like to talk about each of them.

The first is a book I just got at the library. I picked it up because of the big changes that Adelaide has had in terms of her temper etc. I know she is growing and things are normal, but it's nice to read. The book is called Your One-Year-Old: The Fun-Loving, Fussy 12-To 24-Month-Old. It has totally validated everything that we've been going through, which just makes me realize that there is nothing I'm doing wrong to cause her to act this way. I am still in the beginning of the book, but think I'll probably read the entire series because so far everything has been very accurate. It's short and to the point. It talks about their eating, sleeping, play habits etc. I just really like it because it's easy to pick up and read for just a minute or two, and I feel like I always want to be reading at lest one book about my baby.

The second book is called The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I heard a yoga teacher mention it once and that was enough for me to buy it. It's a novel partly about a 12 year old genius girl who plans to commit suicide when she turns 13, but before hand is writing down her amazing thoughts. I have to admit sometimes I wonder if I'm actually smart enough to read this book, it seems to be for the smarty pant big vocabulary type people...but so far I get it. The other character is the concierge for the apartment building (it's based in Paris) and she is ugly and has giant bunions ( I love bunions) and seems to have some great things to say about life as well. Overall I think it's a book about life, and I like it. The reviews say it's sad...so we will see where it takes me.

Lastly is the most amazing of all books so far - Anam Cara:a book of Celtic Wisdom. I don't know what it is about this book, but I think I must have just found it at the right time. It's amazingly spiritual without being religious, and it really makes you think about things differently. This is the book that my yoga teacher did a reading from that I couldn't forget about. It's a book that I plan to read over and over, and I think it has something for everyone in it. It's poetic, philosophical, and just beautiful. Here is part of a section called "Love as Ancient Recognition" that really touched me. I hope it makes sense on it's own...

"Real friendship or love is not manufactured or achieved by an act of will or intention. Friendship is always an act of recognition. This metaphor of friendship can be grounded in the clay nature of the human body. When you find the person you love, and act of ancient recognition brings you together. It is as if millions of years before the silence of nature broke, your lover's clay and your clay lay side by side. Then in the turning of the seasons, your one clay divided and separated. You began to rise as distinct clay forms, each housing a different individuality and destiny. Without even knowing it, your secret memory mourned your loss of each other. While your clay selves wandered for thousands of years through the universe, your longing for each other never faded....."

If you are any sort of spiritual journy what so ever - I highly reccomend the book.

So what are all of you reading out there? My other favorite book of all time is called Angela's Ashes. It took me years to finally read it because I thought it was a dumb name for a book - but it is my favorite ever now - and I love the name too.