What Are You Reading in 2010?

[Zippity]

So, what are you reading?

[Lyn]

"The 19th Wife" by David Ebershoff

...it is about a murder in the YZL (Yearning for Life community in Utah), I just wish the author would get on with solving the murder instead of dwelling on the history of the Mormon church and one of Brigham Young's wives.. Now in saying this I am a member of the Mormon church and I know the history, but I am having a hard time trying to see what that has to do with someone being murdered in modern day, and by a group that is a break away from the original church...He is dwelling too much on the history...I am finding that he has 4 pages on the murder/who dunnit and about 20 pages on the history. I am saying to myself, ..."yeah yeah..the history is good, but who killed the guy, why did he get killed etc, let's get back to the mystery.

Now the next question is....Why am I reading the book if it is anoying me...it is for Book Club!!!

[Zippity]

Jillian Michaels--Master Your Metabolism: The 3 Diet Secrets to Naturally Balancing your Hormones for a Hot and Healthy Body

I almost didn't read this. The title comes off as a gimmick, which I suppose it is. I mean, the book marketplace is pretty competitive, so they do what they can to get you to pick it up off the shelf. After reading some reviews, I decided to give it a try.

If you have difficulty losing weight this is an interesting, and potentially eye-opening book. You do not have to be overweight, however, to suffer symptoms of metabolic disorders--sleep issues, lack of energy, skin problems, even exaggerated symptoms of PMS can be tied to metabolic disorder. I had a lot of this information already, so for me it was mainly a refresher course, although she did explain some things well that I probably didn't fully understand the first time around, and I found it motivating to have this information presented to me again in a very straightforward, well-supported, no-nonsense style.

I found the diet pieces of this book well supported and reasonably convincing. I should mention, however--this isn't a weight loss book. If you are looking for menus or meal plans or lists of what you should be eating--this isn't the place. What she's telling you is how you should eat, and most importantly, why. To summarize: "Mother Nature knows what she's doing. If it has a mother or grows in the ground, you're good."

Toward the end, the authors add a section about environmental toxins--particularly things found in cosmetics and personal care products, or home cleaners. I found this section an afterthought, honestly, and not nearly as well supported. When I read that part, I didn't feel convicted or convinced--rather, I felt like I still needed to do my own research, because the information wasn't complete. It's good food for thought, however, and gives you some possible "next steps."

[Zippity]

The Biggest Loser 30-Day Jumpstart

If you watch The Biggest Loser, this is probably a decent buy. If you don't, you won't get half the book. It's full of references to different contestants.

This is a weight-loss book. It tells you what to eat and what exercise to do in a day-by-day, meal by meal format for 30 days.

I bought it mainly because I wanted some fresh ideas for meals. Most of them are simple and fairly inexpensive--this isn't fancy food. I like that. It's fresh, simple and delicious.

That said, they try to give you a lot of variety in your meals. It's expensive to eat like that, and we rarely do. Following this exactly as it's laid out--in a step by step format--could be quite spendy, not to mention wasteful.

Good ideas, though. I got some new food ideas from it, and even a couple of healthy-remake ideas for food we already eat. Not a bad choice.

[EmilyD]

Funny you should ask ...:moose:
My goal is for 3 books a month, plus daily reading of 4 others.

For Jan:

U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton for my mystery fiction. She is a series author whom?I have read all the rest of her books, Have not started it yet, but will soon.

The Red Heart by James Alexander Thom is my regular fiction choice. I am about half way through it now. It took me a little while to get warmed up on it, but now it is getting really interesting. This book is about a pre-Revolutionary War young girl, stolen away from her parents by the Deleware Indians and raised in kind "captivity". She was "adopted" by an Indian woman who's daughter and husband had been killed by whites. Later, the "mother" sends her to her parents during military raids. The "mother" is then killed in a raid so the grandparents raise her. All this is going on in the foreground as the "birth" family is searching for her in the background.

I find this book to be very factual as I know history. It is also very readable. I read his book, Follow the River, and found this book to be every bit as good as the first.

Thin is the New Happy by Valerie Frankel my non-fiction choice. I have read bits and pieces from it and am sure it will be readable when I get to it.

*****************************************

I just returned from the book store with three new finds:

Living Oprah by Robin Okrant (a memoir). Quite frankly, I almost didn't pick this book up. I have the 2 other books that this book is a take off of. Both are religiously based and I feared a "bashing" book. However, after reading several excerpts from it, I decided to purchase it. It is based an a year of her using Oprah shows, magazine, .com, and another Oprah source that I haven't heard of to "discover" her real-self. The places where I read (I generally choose a book by opening at random pages and seeing how easily it reads and I comprehend). I found many things that grabbed my interest immediatly. More on it later.

The Coupon Mom's Guide to Cutting your Grocery Bills in Half by Stephanie Nelson. It looks like a good book .. will report back in later on what I have learned.

Start Over, Finish Rich by David Bach. This is also a non-fiction book written by a serial writer about obtaining riches through sensible living and wise use of your money. I have read a couple of his books before and enjoyed them. This book is about getting "back on track" in 2010. Will let you know about it later also.

So I am set for this month on non-fiction.

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The four dailies are all non-fiction:
Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach
Year to Success by Bo Bennett
First Ladies Fact Book by Bill Harris
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson compiled by Thomas Johnson

[Karis]

I got a Half Price Books gift certificate for Christmas this year. It has taken every bit of fortitude not to go and hit the 20% off sale , along with the bag of goodies I need to turn in for cash and SHOP.
The problem is that there is this stack of things from the last visit that hasn't become any smaller.A good amount of my books I have purchased are for reference: when I want to curl up with Emily I can spend and afternoon reading her on the couch, even though I could read her on the computer.They are much like my cookbooks that I keep- because it just isn't the same reading the recipe I need on Cooks.com when I can sit and ponder " The Joy of Cooking".
So I hope to conquer these books sometime:

How the Irish Saved Civilization- Thomas Cahill

The Cellist of Sarajevo- Steven Galloway

What I really want to buy is Mastering the Art of French Cooking

I saw the movie Julie and Julia, own a copy and can't want to see what she puts in her Sole Meuniére....and I if have been doing it correctly all these years.

[Thena]

Well, I am hoping I can stay awake long enough to read my new book Read the Bible in a Year, it's one day at a time.

[Lyn]

Here is my reading list for 2010

Personal:

The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
The Bridge to Holy Cross by Paullina Simons
The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons
All Harry Potters (again)
Beadle of the Bard by JK Rowling
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Portaits in Sepia by Isabel Allende
Ensign (monthly )
New Era (monthly)
Twilight series (if I have time)

Scripture Study:

Old Testament (for Sunday School)
Book of Mormon (for Seminary)
Becoming a Great Gospel Teacher by Rob Eaton and Mark Beecher
Christ and the New Covenant by Jeffrey R. Holland

Book Club:

Feb - The Rice Mother by Rani Manika - read it in Nov
March - The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - finished it last night

April -The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
May - The Séance by John Harwood
June - Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
July - The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
Aug - The Zoo Keepers Wife by Diane Ackerman
Sept- Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Oct- The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
Nov - The Best of Timesby Penny Vincenzi
Dec -The Better Woman by Ber Carroll

[Zippity]

Kindred In Death; Fantasy In Death--JD Robb
These are still good books, after all this time.

Cry Wolf--Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs does some excellent urban fantasy. The world she has created is interesting, plausible, and entertaining. This is the first book of her "Alpha and Omega" series--created alongside her Mercy Thompson series, and there is some crossover between the two. I found it a fast, enjoyable read.

Julie and Julia--Julie Powell
I wanted to like this--I really did. I wanted to read it before I saw the movie. (What I hadn't heard is that the movie is a whole lot better than the book. Oh well.) I made myself finish it, long after I'd have put down any other book and walked away. It is not particularly well focused, first of all--she is all over the place with this book. A good editor could and should have reeled her in a lot, but that apparently did not happen. The author is totally self absorbed, often juvenile and just plain whiny. Parts of the book are very entertaining or even laugh-out-loud funny, unfortunately you have to read the whole thing just for those little tidbits of good. I had high hopes for some kind of "author has a revelation and vows to get a grip" but that didn't actually happen. Really, save yourself the trouble and go see the movie. I hear it's good. The one thing I can give her credit for is that I think I'd actually like to read some of Julia Child's stuff now.

[Zippity]

Silver Borne--Patricia Briggs
A new Mercy Thompson novel. Her characters carried this one for most of the book, which is the primary reason I read them--she has some excellent characters. The story on this one fell a little short for me, but it's still a worthwhile series for those that like urban fantasy.