Spreading the gospel

A few weeks ago an email was sent out by the Exhibits Team at work. They were putting together an exhibit of books that had had a profound impact of people's lives. They asked us staff members to contribute with a succinct paragraph describing a book that "changed your life." Now, I've read a lot of wonderful books that I've never been able to get out of my head, and I'm not even sure I could explain why they touched me. If I tried, I'd probably write three pages. A succinct paragraph about a book I'd read and loved? Forget it. I can't even leave a succinct voicemail message. (Ask my husband.)

So, since I was doing three things at once before I got the email, I decided to make it easy on myself. I chose Your Money or Your Life, which we surprisingly have in the collection despite our academic library status. I wrote a few short sentences about how performing the "life hours" calculation that the book describes had really had an impact on my purchases, and that I was going to Starbucks much less these days.

Lame, yes. But maybe someone will be moved to borrow the book.

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Speaking of books that touched my life, the novel All the Names by Jose Saramago was one reason I wanted to become an investigator. I could explain, but it would take three pages.