Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

This tiny book was a Christmas present from my mom. Conversational, engaging, and divided into bite-sized chapters often arranged around a particular story or anecdote, it was easy to read before bed or whenever I had a spare moment.

The book avoids being saccharine or sappy, which is impressive when one considers that it was written by a man dying of terminal cancer and trying to impart life lessons. I thought it might be a tearjerker, but even I, prone as I am to weeping over pages, only got misty once, near the very end.

It's written very simply and isn't great literature, but is a fascinating record of one man's life and achievements, as well as an important reminder to appreciate and embrace life to the fullest while you have it. And though I'm pretty sure one doesn't fully appreciate the gift life is until faced with one's irrevocable mortality, Pausch's entire life, not just the period after his diagnosis, is an inspiring model of attempting as much.

Willa Cather, My Antonia

I actually finished this sometime last month, but hadn't gotten around to posting it here.

I enjoyed that it had very short chapters the perfect length for reading just before I fell asleep; that Ter had been reading it when she came to visit me in Italy; and that it was about a state where I lived, off and on, for half a decade, and brought back good memories. In addition to those recommendations, it was also an interesting story, and well-told.

I'd include some of my favorite quotes (one about how the primary feature of Nebraska, when one is driving through it, is that it keeps going, and the other about feeling attuned to the universe), but I ended up finishing it and racing it back to the library on my bike with just minutes to spare before it was overdue. So I guess they'll have to wait.