Book #12 of my #booksof2017 came as a surprise. It should have been Fight Club, until it got stolen in the streets of Nicoya. While I was positively surprised by Palahniuk, who I had originally dismissed as unlikeable about 10 years ago, and will most likely finish reading Fight Club eventually, stumbling upon German autobiography/novel "Neuland" in a Costa Rican hotel lobby was a happy accident: throughout the 400pages, author Ildikó von Kürthy goes on a journey to find herself, to challenge herself and to, eventually, return to herself. It's not one of those abstract self help books, it's an honest and quite entertaining account of everyday life. Of routines and how to break out of them. Of memories and how to keep creating new ones. Of beauty and what that actually means, inside and out. Of love, and the endurance thereof. At times hilarious, I'm glad the book came to the conclusion that, while it's important to try new things and face your fears, first and foremost, we have to be kind and forgiving towards ourselves, and most importantly, not take ourselves too seriously to be happy.📚 🌺📚🌸📚 #books #book #read #neuland #reading #feelinggerman #litlover #egosum #life #findyourself