Secret Books

A new-found Sunday habit of mine is to head over to the local mega-bookstore and spend a good 2 or 3 hours perusing the shelves. I pick 3 or 4 eye-catching books out and then find myself I nice secluded corner to sit down in a read. I usually head to the sociology & community section, since the books there typically look at societal situations. They're interesting and typically too expensive (and expansive) for me to actually want to buy, so I take me time to look over them there until my attention fades and my interest has sufficiently waned.

Although not belonging to the above references section, per se, a favorite read has been the PostSecret book series. In case you live under a rock, PostSecret is , and I quote: "an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard." Effectively what it means is that you get to view a selection of secrets people have posted in, along with their choice of accompagnying art-work. Obviously, the theme of the entries is secrets that people are too scared to share with anyone in their own lives. The range of post cards go from loving, to heart breaking, to funny, to odd and to scary.

I, myself, actually own one of the books in the series. I don't take it out often, but it's a really good way to calm my mind when I'm feeling a little frantic. I read through the pages, digesting all these little thoughts, wishes and fears from different people. My mind slows its racing and I become calm, because they are examples of everyone's little calamities. They also give the feeling of shared experience with so many strangers.

I don't get why people don't sit on the ground more often. It just feels go good.

I'm pretty sure all of my friends also look at the weekly update to the PostSecret blog, though none of us ever talk about it. I've seen the blog URL in peoples' internet browsers and mentioned how I really like the blog. The other people present always reply that its one of their favorites too. Beyond that recognition though, we never talk about it. It's both surprising but expected: it's all about secrets and people who like it probably sympathize with the thoughts of hiding things about themselves or what they've done. So apart from saying "I like it", to really talk about the postcards that you liked the most or found terrible would probably say too much about yourself and what you potentially hide.