the one that came in the mail.

As part of my budget plan, I signed up for paperback swap. You swap books with other members and only have to pay shipping costs for the ones you send out. You get a free book credit for all of those books you ship. It's been kinda fun and also helps me clean my shelf of less than desirable books.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php

Ann Patchett is an author I collect. I didn't rave about Bel Canto like others but I really liked Truth and Beauty. She gave a commencement speech at Sarah Lawrence and the book What Now? stems from it.

I didn't like this book as much as Anna Quindlen's A Short Guide to a Happy Life.  Love.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Short-Guide-to-a-Happy-Life/Anna-Quindlen/e/9780375504617/?itm=10&USRI=anna+quindlen

Patchett  discusses being a waitress and how it was the best ever preparation for being a novelist.  And I thought about how working in a psych ward was distressing and hard but gave me such compassion for the diversity of people and the emotional struggles others go through - struggles they didn't necessarily ask for.  Working at Fairview was the most challenging job I've had yet in this lifetime and yet it changed me forever.

What Now? was only 97 pages but it made me think.

My favorite line? "It's up to you to choose a life that will keep expanding."