Reading on a Jet Plane

As one can imagine, traveling 30 hours each way to and from India I had plenty of time to catch up on reading. Here are a few recent favorites I'd love to pass on:

Haround and the Sea of Stories
Salman Rushdie
  A very charming story about Haroun and his Father the Sha of Blah and their efforts to maintain the art of story telling via adventure.The Sea of Stories is being poisoned and Haroun and his friends must save it. Whimsical and special.
Thanks of Sam Niver

Barrel Fever
David Sedaris
  My first Sedaris read, his first book is absolutely hilarious. His stories are less like writings and more like acting on a page. Sedaris creates entire tangible characters in a matter of paragraphs adapting speach patterns and mannerisms that are brutally dysfunctional. A great pick but be warned that it is grim... in all the right ways.
Thanks to Jensen Blaine

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera
  An instant favorite. This book poses a question that has become a theme in discussion for me of what is happiness and how do we define lightness (happiness) and darkness (burden). Is life worth living despite it's hardships? Are those hardships worth engaging in in order to create a more layered/adult/full life? A phenomenal read. Dense, a little slow sometimes but absolutely incredible.
Thanks to Raffi Mercuri

The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
  I picked up a collection of Hemingway short stories last year and loved it, this is my first full novel of his. His writing is slow but enchanting, absolutely masculine and true. This story teaches of social dysfunction and living your life to the fullest.
Thanks to Brandi Stepp

Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
   A heartbreaking read about life in a concentration camp. As Frankl explains though it is not an emotional account of internment life but rather a psychological observation and report of how survivors found meaning in their lives despite the atrocities they encounted. An inspiring book.
Thanks to Evan Ream

So yes the theme of my reading over all was "how are you going to live your life?" which very well may be the theme to my year so far. It's a great theme for college in general. Among these "look yourself in the mirror" types of course there must be humor. These folks also share shelf space with Scott Pilgrim 1-6 by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Bossypants by Tina Fey, Moonwalking with Einstein by Josh Foer, Several Shell Silverstein books, as well as all of my art collections.Balance of course.