Yellow Wallpaper

Now you can all have that Alanis Morissette song stuck in your head too. You're welcome.  Earlier this year when I was interviewing for my current job, one of the questions I was asked was something about a life lesson I had learned recently (I don't remember the exact wording). I responded by saying that I had been working on owning my choices--both good and bad. I (like many people) have a tendency to backpedal on mistakes I've made, by blaming the circumstances or other people. Another common reaction to mistakes is to spend hours, days, or weeks berating yourself for being a 'bad' or 'stupid' person. I don't think that's healthy either. Another part of why I answered that way was was that one problem I had in my last job was a work environment that often made me question or defend my decisions. That was often stressful, but it also taught me to clearly articulate why I had made certain choices, both to myself and to others. Sometimes I was wron

The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro This was another historical mystery that jumped back and forth between the past and the present; it was an interesting read and I didn't guess the ending before I got there, but it had some weak spots in both the plot and the writing. I did like how well the author described the world of contemporary art and felt that the best parts of the work were her descriptions of art techniques and the current art market. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney This book was similar to Freakonomics and NurtureShock in that it consists of scientific studies retold in more easily understood terms with cute examples. On the one hand, it was a fairly easy and fun read. On the other hand, I felt like I gained quite a few little insights that will be helpful to me in the long run. 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson Another historical book, this time set in the aftermath of World War 2. I thought it w