I'm currently in a small island off the coast of Indonesia. It's 7KM big and it's perfect.
My highlight of the day is alternating between taking long afternoon naps and having long reading sessions. On that note, I just finished The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. That was not a light read and probably not the most travel friendly book. I'm still wrapping my mind around some concepts and I definitely had to use the Kindle's dictionary A LOT.
Talking about God is not an easy task but I found her approach and writing to be very easy to digest. I'm glad I got to read the book during a time where I have absolutely no distractions.
It's an interesting subject and if you are into it I think her book is -at least- a good starting point. I got a lot of other books that I added to my Kindle's wishlist from her bibliography. From Plato to George Steiner.
Not to sound smartsy pantsy but I think Plato and I would get along pretty good. I think we could like hang out or whatever and of course Socrates too...if they were alive that is.
Reading and researching about God is one of my all time secrets. I grew up in a Christian home but I never fully understood religion. Or maybe I did but I never felt it was MY thing. When I was about 18 I stopped attending my family church and decided to try and find my own way to God. Since a church was the place where I thought God was supposed to be found, I decided to go to as many churches I as needed to in order to find the "right one".
I finally found a place where I felt at least safe. Safe to be myself and not judged for being the average christian that I am, safe to break the mold of what's expected and not expected. This is the place where Heinz and I go to every sunday.
Of course my quest did not end there. Fast forward many years later and I'm still searching for God. I'm still trying to make sense of it all.
Karen's book is not a religious book but it did help me be way more empathetic towards religion.
Since it was not an easy read I took a break from it and read The Fault In Our Stars. It took me one night to read this book because it is sooooooooooo freaking good. The book was here at the villa and I grabbed it because the cover is bright and colorful. I can't believe people say "don't judge a book by its cover" when clearly it's THE first thing you notice. I always take the cover into consideration before reading a book. I hate when a book gets turned into a movie and then the book gets reprinted with the movie's cover! I never buy those...ever.
The Fault In Our Stars made me laugh, cry and laugh and then cry again. I coudn't put it down. When I was finished reading it I thought...this would make a great movie! I searched online and well, the producer in me was totally right. It is being turned into a movie and it's schedule to open/debut next year (Does a movie debut or open?)
I will be checking it out for sure! The actress is the girl from The Descendants and I looooooooooove her! I think the casting is pretty awesome. I don't know why this is not getting the attention it deserves. Everything revolves around the cast of Fifty Shades of Gray which by the way my mom asked me if I had read it because apparently someone highly recommended the book to her.
-No mom, I haven't.
And I don't think I will read it either. I have 82 books on my Kindle's wishlist that I need to read. Why is it that my list is always getting bigger instead of the opposite? So before I even consider adding Fifty Shades to my queue I really need to get some books off my list first.
So, The Fault In Our Stars is a book by John Green. It's a love story but not a cheesy one. It's a raw-non-sexual-life-has-many-layers kind of love story. As I read it my heart kept growing and the distance between Heinz and I kept shrinking. With each page I kept getting closer and closer to Heinz who was sleeping next to me.
Hazel and Augustus are both cancer survivors but trust me, it's not a cancer book. It's an awesome book that is what it is.
This is the sort of book I needed to read on that precise day. I've always felt that the books and writers I love seem to magically find their way into my hands.
I found Murakami through running. I found Amelie Nothomb (only my favorite writer ever) by pure magic. I was walking through the aisles of our Madrid local library -our Saturday morning ritual- when life gave me Hygiene and the Assassin. I had just walked passed the international section when I decided to make my way back. No one was behind me so it's impossible to have taken the book out of its place. When I was walking back the book was on top and I grabbed it. Life changed.
I found Junot in a thrift store and I'll stop right here just for a moment because apparently Miley Cyrus was recently reading this book too and I really don't know what to make out of the fact that Miley and I may like the same reading material. Huh? discuss.
Back to now.
Now, in the littlest island while searching for God, I found The Fault In Our Stars.
I love how the universe/God/life works. Even if I don't understand it, even when there are times when life doesn't make sense. I love how it all works out at the end.
Ok, off to do some snorkeling now.
P.S. Links are affiliate, opinions are my own.
