self help reading + music

from The Book of Illusions, Paul Auster:

Dearly Beloved wakes first, and as she opens her eyes and sits up in bed, her face tells us everything--moving rapidly from joy to disbelief to guarded optimism. She springs out of bed and rushes over to Hector. She touches his face (which is dangling backward over the arm of the chair) and Hector's body goes into a spasm of low-voltage shocks, jumping around in a flurry of arms and legs that ultimately lands him in an upright position. Then he opens his eyes. Involuntarily, without seeming to remember that he is supposed to be invisible, he smiles at her. They kiss, but just as their lips come into contact, he recoils in confusion. Is he really there? Has the spell been broken, or is he only dreaming it? He touches his face, he runs his hands over his chest, and he looks her in the eyes. Can you see me?, he asks. Of course I can see you, she says, and as her eyes fill with tears, she leans forward to kiss him again. But he is not convinced. He stands up from his chair and walks over to a mirror hanging on a wall. The proof is in the mirror, and if he is able to see his reflection, he will know that the nightmare is over. That he will see it is a forgone conclusion, but the beautiful thing about that moment is the slowness of his response. . . We are looking at him as he looks at himself, and in this eerie doubling of perspectives, we watch him confront the possibility of his own annihilation. Double or Nothing.

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beautiful-and-sunny-with-chance-of-showers playlist:

the fray – over my head
jimmie dale gilmore – I’ll never get out of this world alive [kinda catchy?]
the stills – still in love-(logic will break your heart) [late morning clouds pass over]
elliot smith - twilight-(from a basement on a hill) [love this]
built to spill - traces
neko case – dreaming man (neil young cover)
land of plenty soundtrack – the weight of the world [so pretty]