The Savage Detectives

Apparently, November is also known as "Family Reading Month." I guess that's not really a bad thing, considering I have one whopping less of a novel to read. Well, I thought it wasn't a bad thing until I asked my father to give me a description of his current read so I could post the information on here. David, my father, belongs to two book clubs. Reading is a very big part of his life. Sadly, this isn't necessarily a good thing.

Anyways, the book he decided to tell me about was 600 pages long and I couldn't keep up with his babbling about some Mexican gangster with a name that sounded like "bologna". He was in this "movement," which was really a gang that sold marijuana to make money. And, uh, somehow, somebody got locked in some cop's house or something. The blurriness really increased at this point. David was mentioning like 30 new characters.

Anyhow, we're just now getting to the middle of the book, which is a collection of random interviews of people who saw the guy and his girlfriend after they escaped the house. Then, the third part of the book was the story of them fleeing to Paris and some crap. I couldn't make much sense of it. He said the novel was great, and I took his word for it.

By the way, the book is called The Savage Detectives. (This may be the only piece of information I can be certain of..I hope..)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

Sean Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens is a self-help book brimming with applicable information that will greatly improve one's life.  The seven habits are realistic ways to deal with obstacles and not only succeed but exceed your goals. 

 The habits include being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, prioritizing, thinking win-win, and seeking first to understand, which means listening before speaking. 

 The book has bluntly brought to my attention many flaws in my personality and lifestyle.  For example, I procrastinate a little too much and am not a very good listener.  However, I think my worst flaw is that I almost never think win-win, or, in other words, think there is a solution in which both the opposition and I can succeed our goals.  I tend to value my own opinion more than others, which makes this habit difficult for me.  Fortunately, I am trying to change my ways and have set a goal to be more open-minded to others' wants and opinions so that we can both obtain our wants.