Author: Christine Elias

One of my book clubs is reading The Golden Mean. The other has selected Wolf Hall. Now these are good books.

Wolf Hall won the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The Golden Mean was short-listed for the Giller Prize.

But I am not reading them.

What I have read in the last two weeks.

1. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.
2. Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink.
3. The Child by Sarah Shulman.
   It’s a novel. Yeah, I read fiction on my own accord outside of my book clubs sometimes. Right now, I’m about halfway through it. So far I like it.

The Golden Mean is sitting on my shelf — I bought it some time ago. I read the first page and I’ll admit it was engaging despite the fact that it takes place in ancient Greece.

Wolf Hall is like 1000 pages long and it takes place in the 1600s (I hate period fiction and the Middle Ages are the worst). I have not purchased it yet.

I think I will have the flu when that group meets. The bad one…

So do you think that one has to work towards a goal (or several) to be happy?

I read recently that striving towards goals — short term, mid-term and long term ones — is one of the ingredients of a happy life.

I have some goals, I guess. There’s this project at work that I have to get finished and I have been meaning to organize the credenza.

Longer term goals include being able to retire before I am too old to enjoy myself — or before I drop dead.

The only real goal I have is to be happy. It is a short term, mid-term and long term goal.

Whatever it takes — I’m working towards it. Some days I succeed and other days I don’t. I find scotch helps as does shopping.