Bittersweet.

my deep, abiding love for reading is matched by little else in my life. i have devoted many a precious minute (ok, hours) of my life and welcomed many a dawn in the process of devouring delicious books of various kinds. some have been purely educations, some just for fun, some inspiring,  a couple of tear-jerkers, a love story thrown in here and there, a few ridiculously good-humored picks, several that inspired me and a few that have stirred the very core of my being. if you are not a book person then i don't think you can really grasp the feeling that comes from immersing yourself in the words of someone else and seeing the world through their eyes for a brief moment in time. it is even more powerful when the author somehow captures YOUR point of view or the essence of your beliefs. at the turn of every page you are left thinking that they must have been inside your head carefully excavating the thoughts that you were unable to articulate on your own.

i made it my mission long ago to make my reading list diverse. it keeps me on my toes. i pick new books based on a litany of things - recommendations from friends, book clubs, top-pick lists, the cover art, the first page, the author's bio, if its on sale ... honestly i have a hard time finding reasons NOT to buy books. that being said, sometimes a book just finds its way into my life at the exact right time. call it luck. call it destiny. call it divine intervention. whatever the term is to describe the good fortune i have had over the years for this phenomenon to continue to happen has been a blessing in my life. serendipity in deed. i cannot put into words the humbleness of my heart every time i realize it has happened again. so it is with the book i began reading a few days ago. so far, every word has pierced deep and with the accuracy of a skilled marksman has found exactly the place to land in order to fill the holes of my soul. 

Bittersweet by Shauna Neiquist 

thoughts on change, grace & learning the hard way

"Bittersweet is the idea that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful, that there is a moment of lightness on even the darkest of nights, a shadow of hope in every heartbreak, and that rejoicing is no less rich even when it contains a splinter of sadness. 'It's the practice of believing that we really do need both the bitter and the sweet, and that a life of nothing but sweetness rots both your teeth and your soul. Bitter is what makes us strong, what forces us to push through, what helps us earn the lines on our faces and the calluses on our hands. Sweet is nice enough, but bittersweet is beautiful, nuanced, full of depth and complexity. Bittersweet is courageous, gutsy, audacious, earthy. "

"This is what I've come to believe about change: it's good, in the way that childbirth is good, and heartbreak is good, and failure is good. By that I mean that it's incredibly painful, exponentially more so if you fight it, and also that it has the potential to open you up, to open life up, to deliver you right into the palm of God's hand, which is where you wanted to be all long, except that you were too busy pushing and pulling your life into exactly what you thought it should be. I've learned the hard way that change is one of God's greatest gifts, and most useful tools. Change can push us, pull us, rebuke and remake us. It can show us who we've become, in the worst ways, and also in the best ways. I've learned that it's not something to run away from, as though we could, and that in many cases, change is a function of God's graciousness, not life's cruelty."

"My little brother paid a buck to see your underwear."

"Do I stutter?"
"Could you describe the ruckus, sir?"
"Hey, how come Andrew gets to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up, it'll be anarchy."
"Face it. You're a neo maxi zoom dweebie, what would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen?"
"That's right, I'm Abe Froman." "... the Sausage King of Chicago?"
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
"By night's end, I predict me and her will interface." 
"Oh God! ... The dog wet on the picnic basket."
"I know I'm old enough to be his mother, but when the Duck laid that kiss on me last night, I swear my thighs just went up in flames. He must practice on melons or something."
Wyatt: "Gary?... By the way, why are we wearing bras on our heads?"'
Gary: "Ceremonial."

Are you feeling nostalgic for the 80's yet??
After his unfortunate passing in August 2009, I blogged about the late John Hughes and my slightly neurotic love for his cinematic legacy. His movies set a precedent. They were life-changers for some. They revealed teenage angst in a way no one had ever done before and no one has been able to replicate since. They played a huge role in my life and so many others in my generation. With the relatable topics, casts of lovable & despicable characters, a library full of unbelievably quotable scripts and just a pure watch-ability that had people hitting the rewind button for decades ... It is just pure 80's gold friends!!

I can't begin to express the excitement I am feeling at this moment. Last month marked the 25th anniversary of The Breakfast Club - um, my favorite movie of all time!! -- and I just stumbled across this gem out in the blog-o-sphere that was released in the same month. 

YOU COULDN'T IGNORE ME IF YOU TRIED. 

The Brat Pack, John Hughes and Their Impact on a Generation. 

Written by Susannah Gora, a former Associate Editor of Premiere magazine, the book is said to be full of behind-the-scenes context and tales from a handful of the most beloved Brat Pack films, present-day interviews with many of the actors, and a comprehensive profiling of John Hughes, the prolific director who brought so many of these generation-defining movies into our lives. Interviewees include a long list of actors including the fabulous Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick, Anthony Michael Hall, John Cusack, Jon Cryer & Mary Stuart Masterson.

I. AM. SO. E-X-C-I-T-E-D!!
< insert obnoxious, high-pitched, SQUEAL here >

I will be needing to own this book. ASAP.

OH HOW I LOVE THIS MOVIE.
"Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us: in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain ... and an athlete ... and a basket case ... a princess ... and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club."