Reading Inspiration: Books I'm Currently Reading/Read Recently

I'm getting there.

I'm finally embracing reading through a digital medium lately. More than once a night has it been since, that I have been going to bed with my iPad and not because I've been reading Real Simple and HGTV magazine. I've been on my iPad and heavily engrossed with some fiction work I've stumbled upon while traveling.

Now, more than ever, it's so easy to fall off the reading track. It's so easy to get distracted by social media, the lights of technology and the beep of a notification. There was this article on Elite Daily, which was about readers being the best people to fall in love with. That made me think I wouldn't even like myself then because I wasn't reading so much!

Actually, there is such evidence. Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, reported in studies published in 2006 and 2009 that individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and view the world from their perspective. This link persisted even after the researchers factored in the possibility that more empathetic individuals might choose to read more novels. A 2010 study by Mar found a similar result in young children: the more stories they had read to them, the keener their “theory of mind,” or mental model of other people’s intentions. - Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer, TIME Article by Annie Murphy Paul

Anyway. I'm getting back to reading and reading without any distractions {meaning iPad's wifi is turned off} and here are my current reads. I hope you're getting a lot of reading done, too!

• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Finally, something that's not set in the US --- Don Tillman is a professor in genetics in Australia. He is one of those people afflicted by Asperger's disease where he is devoid of any emotion and his approach in romance is very scientific and methodical. If you ever wanted to hear Sheldon Cooper think, this may be an intro to that :P Don embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
• I've always had a thing for nerds and this kind of affirmed it so. Why? Because nerds can be good at whatever they need to be good at. Wink, wink :P
• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. One of my close friends C's favorites is this book and over the course of our friendship, she made it known that this was an amazing book. At that time, I was like, "Anthony Bourdain, who?" Having no TV can do that to you --- so I stayed away for a long time. Now that I'm sufficiently hooked on his show, apparently, his book even better. It was like the sex, drugs and rock and roll of the New York culinary scene. Amazeballs.
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. This is a story of a former alpha male who becomes quadriplegic and an ordinary girl who takes care of him. I must've sobbed an entire five minutes towards the end. What a good read. :)

That's all for me right now. I have a couple of other titles in my bookshelf {Mindy Kaling's Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me?, Alain de Botton's Art as Therapy among others} but I'll save them for another day.

Happy Thursday!
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xx