Book Reviews of Various Kinds

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. I certainly did--downing more Easter candy (my favorite kind!) than is necessary for any human being, dyeing eggs twice, receiving the most AMAZING Easter basket from Skyler, and visiting with lots of family and friends. I just adore Easter. Great holiday, all around.

I recently finished reading A Tale of Two Cities for the second or third time. I love that book! Even when I get a bit lost in the language (Dickens isn't always the easiest to follow in his long asides and crazy descriptions), I still adore the story. And the end? THE END! Is amazing. I'm always so moved by how things turn out. Brilliant. If you haven't read it yet--get 'er done, peeps. You'll be glad you did.

I have also recently returned to the world of Facebook, after taking a break for the Lenten season. (Is that actually a phrase or did I make that up?) Taking 40+ days off of Facebook has taught me a few things about myself, life, social networking, etc. The most fascinating thing to me was realizing how many friends I don't have any connection with outside of Facebook. Even friends who literally live 5 minutes from my door were fairly nonexistent in my Facebook-free world this Easter season. What is that all about?! Well I'll tell you what I think its about: this whole social network world skews or shuts down any REAL social life you may have. Or--to say it another way--perhaps it gives you a false sense that you have a social life when in reality...yeah. Anyway, think about it. (And read this!)

Secondly, I discovered that {GASP!} I don't need Facebook in my life. I had plenty of activities with friends, dates with my BF, enjoyable evenings, and I even had things to keep me busy when I wanted to veg and do nothing (i.e. books to read! blogs to peruse!). To be honest, I often forgot about Facebook. The idea of hopping on the site didn't even occur to me most days. AND THAT WAS OKAY. Crazy, right? I'm sorry if I just blew your mind, but I've got to speak the truth.

My conclusion, really, is that Facebook has its place. But its "place" shouldn't be anywhere near the center of my life--social, or otherwise. Spending time on Facebook should be kept to a minimum. Using it to keep in touch with long distance friends is awesome, but using it in place of actually talking to or seeing friends who live down the road is RIDICULOUS. I'll still use it, I think, but I'm going to also make extra effort to maintain real connections with friends, too. You see, I still like Facebook, but I'm wary of falling into the trap of its addictive appeal. If I'm not careful I fear I'll be poking everyone I know within the week. And we don't want that, now do we?

**Gold Star to all of you well-balanced people who figured all of this out without needing to shut down FB for more than a month. I salute you.

Images from here and here