Apparently what my brain wanted after reading fantasy was to go straight into nonfiction, so today, I read Being Mortal by Atul Gawande and Grit by Angela Duckworth.

On a tangential note: why do some books seem to grow brown faster than others? My copy of Grit is seriously and unevenly affected by this. There are brown splotches on the cover and in the pages. Luckily, the readability is not affected, but I’m so confused because this is kept in the same conditions as other books who are not affected by this browning.

Both books are great, by the way. At first, I was wondering if I chose a book that was too heavy when I started rereading Being Mortal, but it soon reminded me about what a thoughtful book it is. Gawande doesn’t just talk about the end of life, he talks about the quality of life and the role that medicine should play a part in it. I liked the example of the books about Ars Moriendi or the Art of Dying, which showed us that we don’t have to give up total control about the end of life (neither can we control it totally with medicine), but rather it’s something we can think about and plan for within limits.

Moving on to Grit: I took the Grit test in the book and apparently I’m on a 3.6 on a grit scale, which means I’m somewhere in the middle. The book does make me wonder if I’m not gritty enough as a person, but after a while, I realised that there’s one thing that I have been consistent about – reading and to a lesser extent, writing.

Just being consistent isn’t enough, though. Duckworth makes the point that we have to use deliberate practice in order actually get better at something. Have I been deliberate in my reading and writing? Not always. But I have been learning more about writing and I try to get better so I’m feeling hopeful.

Tomorrow will be the last day in my May Rereading series, and I’m thinking of reading something light and funny. Stay tuned for the last post!