Ashley can READ!

I dunno, perhaps you could call it a self-improvement binge, but I might be on one. Because I want to read a bunch of books. Such as:

The Color Code (in progress; WILL finish!!)

7 Habits of Highly Effective People (read the intro and maybe a little beyond)

Bonds That Make Us Free (started it forever ago but it is PERFECT for me and I need to read the whole thing)

To Draw Closer to God (my friend used it in her lesson on Sunday and it looked pretty and I thought it would have to be a good read.)

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus (not just because my favorite movie is Clueless, but my mom said it was pretty entertaining and that I could benefit from it)

Le Livre de Mormon -the Book of Mormon (always in progress) in FRENCH! (Just on the side when I feel I can comprehend it late at night, to brush up on that lil side language of mine.)

Another book I really want to read but it's not quite on this list (because the list is too big as it is) is the Church distributed "Teaching: No Greater Call". I want to see if it is applicable to non-classroom teaching/influence. But I don't need to worry about influencing people until I'm perhaps more awesome and more "Highly Effective", haha. So it can wait.

Since most of those books might be tell-tale titles to reveal my issues, why don't I go a step further and recommend some other books I have ALREADY read that I find to be super helpful and amazing??? Ok.

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (I will always recommend this to anyone who is suffering from Depression. It is PRICELESS. I haven't even gotten through the whole thing but as much as I have read remains a great source of power and hope in some low times.)

The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands (Haha! Seriously. I was trying to save my relationship back in the day, and this didn't do it, but it's still very good information for the ladies!! I will probably read it again when I find a husband.)

Non self-helpish would be (re-reading) Harry Potter 7, and Eat Pray Love.

I'm actually already over 50 pages into EPL. I saw the movie a few weeks ago and... it didn't really affect me too much. I suppose I was just kind of confused; left wanting and wondering enough that when I saw the book there on my friend's desk I decided to start reading it. Let me say this: the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, is so engaging and witty that I find myself in awe and JEALOUS of how she expresses herself. When I imagine my own hypothetical future literary works, I have a hard time believing I could could be more honest than her, or work my own quirky sense of humor in such a refined way. Again- I'm only 50 pages in but everything has been charming and I expect it to make otherwise boring or disagreeable subjects further in the book very intriguing. Which is kind of scary.

After only a few pages it was clear that the movie could never do justice to Ms. Gilbert's writing. I "lol" all the time! And it's a memoir! She's just being real and really clever.

So the last thing I want to say is of course on a negative note. It's that I'll be starting probably 2 classes this semester and I'll probably FINALLY get a job so I don't even know how I can do this reading with those things plus homework. We shall see though! I'm sick of not making better use of my strengths. Time to work it. Less time on Facebook, more time with my nose stuck in a book.