American Wife/Primary Colors

Disclaimer: These book choices were made apolitically and will be discussed as apolitically as possible.

I picked up American Wife as part of the "Buy 2, get a 3rd free" promotion at Barnes and Noble (along with Netherland and Stumbling on Happiness).  When I read the back, I thought it sounded kind of like Laura Bush.  Turns out the similarity is more than coincidental, and it's essentially a fictional memoir of the former first lady (and our current "neighbor," if you consider people living in much fancier neighborhoods two or three miles away to be your neighbors).

A few months ago I picked up and read Primary Colors.  It was only $1 at Half Price Books and a book I'd wanted to read.  I think it's been well-established by now that it's about the Bill Clinton campaign.

In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone and save some typing, I've made a helpful reference guide comparing the two books.  Please remember that any observations are about the fictional characters, not the real life people they are depicting, even if I decided not to bother with their fictional names. (Click to enlarge)

 

I'll let you decide which one seems like more fun.  Both books are about a character who compromises because he or she thinks it's for the best.  Both will make you feel pretty cynical about politics and politicians--but who doesn't feel that way anyway?  American Wife is certainly more a relationship drama than a novel of political intrigue but is not for prudes, despite its seemingly wholesome protagonist, while Primary Colors is about the thrill and mudslinging of the campaign trail.  Finally, if you are a huge fan or critic of the main characters' real life counterparts, I would recommend you stick to non-fiction.  There's no need to get riled up by praise or condemnation of a fictional character. 

Why I Live in Dallas

I'm only about halfway through my next book.  It's the City of Dallas' fault.  If it weren't so darn nice here, I would have been reading more. 

Here are some of the distractions Dallas has thrown at me this week:

• Rise No 1 - Ben and I celebrated our anniversary by going to a new-ish restaurant here in Dallas.  Rise specializes in souffles.  We tried two--the truffle-infused mushroom and a port and pear dessert souffle.  Everyone raves about the "marshmallow soup"--which was good even though served at the temperature of lava--but they have the best french onion soup I've ever tasted.  If you find yourself in Dallas craving a light but satisfying dinner, I recommend Rise.  As long as you let me come with you, of course.
• Weather - With temperatures hovering in the mid-70s for the past few days, the out of doors has been tempting.  Three kids I'll estimate at 10 years old even joined Ben and I as we tossed around a frisbee at the park down the block from our apartment.  Part of me wanted to warn the kids they shouldn't play with strangers, but hopefully they are just good judges of character.  (Note: I took a class during college to learn how to throw a frisbee.  It was my required "wellness" course, and it met at 11 pm on Thursdays.  Seriously.  It finally came in handy, as I was able to teach the kids to throw the frisbee so it flips upside down; it's a great advertisement for the benefits of higher education.)
• Dallas Stars - Wednesday night we met up with a friend at a team sponsored watching party.  I prefer to watch hockey on TV in the comfort of my home, where the refreshments are free (or at least cheaper) and I can pause the game on the DVR.  However, the benefit of the watching party is that they give away free things.  Ben won a puck autographed by Stephane Robidas and I won a hat and lower bowl tickets to today's game. 
• E-Clinic Emergency Vet - My sister's dog Blueberry cut himself while they were out for a walk on Tuesday night, and there was a night and weekend vet clinic nearby.  He is now recovering nicely. 
• Shopping - There are 25 square feet of retail for each person in Dallas. Sometimes this is a reason NOT to like Dallas, as it is all a part of the materialistic culture.  However, if you are looking for something, you can generally find it at your desired price point.  We hit several stores this weekend, including one of our new favorites (Nordstrom Rack).  Dallas does need to get an H&M though. 
• Proximity to family - Although Dallas is about six hours away from home, it's a drivable distance even for a weekend trip.  My parents and two youngest sisters are coming down for Spring Break for most of this week, and I'm very excited to have them here. 

Perhaps it is all excuses, but part of me thinks that the "random things Darci is up to" posts might be more interesting than the ones about my latest read, if more narcissistic.

Stumbling on Happiness

If you enjoy reading those articles about the latest strange discovery by psychology researchers, you will love Daniel Gilbert's book.  It is 263 pages of "that's really interesting," a string of anecdotes about the things that people don't realize about themselves.  It's well-researched, as far as I can tell, but written in a funny, informal style.  

On one hand, the book is a bit depressing--essentially, studies show that people are really bad at knowing what makes them happy.  However, the fascinating aspects outweighed that for me. 

Two parts in particular resonated with me.  The first is that our now selves have a really difficult time determining what our future selves will want, even though we most of our decisions are for the benefit of our future selves rather than the here and now.  We put money in our 401(k) instead of blowing it on a trip around the world because we want to retire comfortably, but our 70 year old self is disappointed we didn't have more exciting experiences when we were young enough to enjoy them.  Now, clearly we can't live in the moment and have to make decisions for the benefit of that stranger waiting for us in the future, but it does explain that moment when you look back 5-10-15 years in the past and say, "Why did I ever think I would(n't) want to do that?"  (In my life, see my young self's resistance to sushi and quickly abandoned plans to major in Communications.)

The second is that the reason we sometimes feel much worse about little things is that our emotional immune system doesn't kick in.  When something horrible happens to threaten our self worth, our mind starts generating rationalizations--she was having a bad day, he was just joking, they're a bunch of idiots.  It happens so automatically we don't realize it's a justification and can believe it.  But the small things don't trigger the same defense mechanisms, which is why we have trouble getting over the tiny slights (like the sales manager at work who once condescendingly called me "sweetheart" on the phone--I still regret not hanging up on him) and sometimes resent people more for insults to our loved ones than to ourselves (as much as we'd like to think it's just because we're selfless).

In short, a fast, fun read that will provide you with much psychological trivia.

Personal note: Tomorrow I celebrate my second anniversary with my wonderful husband.  I am a very blessed woman, and it's a safe bet that my future self won't disagree with my now self on that fact.