Time for another book update.  I read 3 books in the last month. I have now reached my goal of 30 books for 2013.  I am not going to change the goal for more. I will just see where I end up at and use that for myself for 2014.

A note on how I choose my books. I don’t buy books very often. I just can’t afford to buy as many as I read! I don’t get to the actual library as much now, but I can browse the library online and check out Kindle books. I just see what books are available and if one sounds interesting, I check out the reviews on Goodreads.  That’s done me pretty well as far as avoiding most stinkers. For my free Kindle book a month (with Prime), I read the Amazon reviews, but they are not quite as unbiased because they sell the books and some of the reviews can be suspect. I will also check out any book on the Amazon list in Goodreads.

On to this month’s books!

The Dark Monk by Oliver Potzsch.

I had high hopes for this book. I really enjoyed the first book of the Hangman’s Daughter series.  I love historical fiction, but this book was lacking some things.  Like the first book, it involves the hangman, his daughter Magdalena and her boyfriend Simon, the son of the town physician, trying to solve a murder.  The problem is that you find out who the murderer is very close to the beginning and the rest of the book is just kind of figuring out the motive and learning about the Knights of Templar.  So, it was a little disappointing in that regard.  The characters also became a bit repetitive with the same dialogue and situations (i.e., the hangman is shunned in the community, yet everyone seeks him out privately).  I had read this was a problem with the 2nd book and the series picks up again better in the 3rd book, so we shall see. Borrowed the Kindle Lending Library.

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Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

 This book follows Piper Kerman’s 13 month prison sentence spent in 3 different facilities. She spent the majority of time in Danbury and it was interesting to read about how prison relationships, routines and rituals form. It also makes you wonder what purpose prison serves for nonviolent offenders, which is what most women are in for.

Ms. Kerman was very lucky in that she had an extensive support network on the outside and a good life ready to accept her back, which is not what most of her fellow inmates would experience. She also pointed out how guards and other prison official would make note of how different she was from other inmates and that she shouldn’t be there. She seemed to keep pointing this out and it started to come across as her being better than everyone else.

This book is good to read in order to understand exactly how nonviolent offenders are punished and how there really is no idea of rehabilitation, but just marking time to get out.  I think this book certainly opens a dialogue about prison reform and who really should be going there.  Borrowed from my library via Kindle.

There is now a cable show based on her book, which I found out after climbing out from under that rock.

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In Cold Blood – Truman Capote.

John had just finished this and told me I should read it, so I did.  One of the few time I actually did something he told me to.   I don’t really know what to say about this book. It’s disturbing, depressing and just really good. Of course, you do go into the book knowing that it is about the murder of the Cutter family and the 2 persons responsible, but it is amazing how Capote is still able to build a lot of suspense and anticipation. This book really  was the first of the true crime genre and very well written. I didn’t really feel much sympathy for the 2 men, although I did feel kind of sorry for them in that I don’t feel they received a fair trial and you really realize how mentally ill they both were.  Highly recommended.  Borrowed from my library via Kindle.

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Seems like a dark month of reading now that I look back at it LOL!

And can’t leave without the pink picture of the day!  This is the new cover for my phone!

Time for another book update post!  I actually read a lot over the last month because the books were short.

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The Woodcutter – by Kate Danley.

I really, really enjoyed this book.  A very unique twist of Grimm’s fairy tales.  It’s the story of all fairy tales through the point of view of the woodcutter. He is the protector of the woods and the fairy tales start going wrong. It starts with Cinderella being killed and the woodcutter needs to find out who is interfering.  A bit of a murder mystery with a touch of fae.  There is a lot of good imagery in it.  It took me a few chapters to warm to it, but then I had trouble putting it down. If you have a soft spot for fairy tales, you will enjoy this book.

Borrowed from Kindle Owner’s Lending Library.

The Golem and the Jinni – by Helene Wecker

I LOVED this book! Loved it!  I can’t believe this is a debut book by this author, either.  It is the story of 2 mythological figures. One is a golem who is brought to life, but her master is killed. The other is a Jinni (kind of a genie), who is a fire spirit who gets trapped in human form. They end up in NYC in the old immigrant neighborhoods and eventually meet.  What I love about this book is all of the layers of story.  A golem’s sole purpose in life is to obey a master, so there is much analogy with free will and going against your nature.  The jinni is more the opposite as a selfish free spirit caged and working for others. Their struggle to find where they fit in is so very well written.  Then there were the humans that they interacted with, only a very few who knew their true nature, and how they dealt with it. I was sad when this book finished. This is easily now my favorite book that I have read all year. Borrowed from my library.  Go read it now!

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The Dinner – Herman Koch.

I can’t understand why this book is an international best seller. It does seem similar to Gone Girl – and I hated that book, so maybe why I disliked this one so much?

None of the characters are likable at all, which isn’t a total necessity to liking a book, but they are very disturbing and don’t do anything that makes you want to root for them.

I think the premise of the book is a bit odd as well. The book is about 2 sets of parents (2 of them brothers), who meet at a 5 star restaurant to discuss the futures of their respective sons, who have committed a very bad deed. Why on earth you would go to a 5 star restaurant to discuss this is probably what bothers me the most. Would you not want to do this in private?

The other part was how the narrator would leave out information and say “but I don’t need to tell you ____ because that is too much information and you can figure it out”. Like the naming of restaurants, parks, schools, the illness his wife had in the past. I don’t get that. When he comes out and describes other things that you would think he wouldn’t want to admit to rather than something so pedestrian as a restaurant.  Anyway, I kept waffling about finishing this book and then went ahead hoping it would get better, which it didn’t. Borrowed from my library.

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I Could Pee on This

This was a cute little collection of poems told from a cat’s point of view. Also lots of cat pictures.  Not too much to say other than that. Borrowed from my library.

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And then, I read a stupid, stupid romance book.  I wanted something totally mindless to read and figured a bodice ripper would fit the bill.  So, I looked up free books on Amazon and picked one with a high star rating in the historical fiction category.

Problem 1:  It was a romance novel.

Problem 2:  It was a pirate romance. (I know!!!!)

Problem 3:  People giving the stars LIE!!!

I don’t know what on earth I was thinking as this type of book usually sends my feminist antennae into overdrive and this book was no exception, let alone the insipid dialogue and writing style.  I am not even going to list the book here because I know a lot of people like these books (as evidenced by all the stupid stars!!!) and this is just totally all my issue, so I don’t want to drag a book through a scathing review when I am biased.  I’m still counting the book on my list, though, because I mucked through it.

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Anyway, I am going to easily surpass my goal of 30 books this year.  I may change my goal. What are you reading?

Another monthly update of what I have been reading.  I am ahead of schedule for my Good Reads 30 book challenge this year, which isn’t really surprising when I actually relax enough to read.  I read pretty fast when I have a chance to sit down and do it, which I have been making sure I do.  Especially with the way work has been lately.   Oh, and my new computer is still not set up.  The process started today, but there was a problem with it (surprise, surprise).  I am hoping the old computer holds together long enough to get this new one set up so I don’t lose any work time.

Now the books!

Salt, Sugar and Fat by Michael Ross

This book is really about the rise of the processed food industry and it is kind of scary, really.  It all comes down to money.  Even supposed ‘healthy’ foods are only designed with the idea of making lots of money and the purported health benefits are tenuous at best.  The book is in 3 parts, each dealing with sugar, salt and fat and how the 3 combined actually magnify each other as far as  palatability and desire to eat more.  I really found the inner workings of some of the companies intriguing as well, particularly the egotism.  At one point, Kellog’s dictated what type of car you could drive into the lot. You had to be in a certain level of the company to drive certain cars.  Ridiculous, no?

Anyway, I would recommend this book to read.  It will make you angry, but it also gives you a lot of food for thought – pun intended, I suppose!

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The Bread is in the Bed by Glen Stanford

Okay, I guess my secret is out.  I have a desire to own a bed and breakfast.  I figured out that really is the only way I can get the property I want with gardens and that would be my job to take care of it.  Anyway, this book was free for me to read through Amazon prime (which I love!) and I got it to try to convince myself I *didn’t* want to do it.  In fact, the book tries to humorously get you to not do this business.  It’s about how to run a B&B effectively and think about whether it is something you should be doing.

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The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck

This was a short book, but really a good book.  It’s the story of Ms. Ora, her housekeeper Blanche, and a homeless man (the Pecan Man).  They cover for 2 related crimes and the book follows the fallout of the the lies told and the crimes themselves on the characters.  Racism and societal prejudice are common themes throughout the book.

So much of the story is about the lies you tell and how it affects you for the rest of your life and how coming clean in the end is the only way you can have peace.  I really recommend this book!  It’s a very short read, but a very good one.

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The Good Knight (A Gwyneth and Gareth mystery) by Sarah Woodbury

This book was okay. Good for a summer beach read. I like reading about medieval times and I like mysteries, so thought I would give this a try.  It’s about a a songstress and a knight.  They reconnect on the way to a wedding trying to solve the mystery of who murdered a king and who is setting up Gareth.  The mystery was solved about 70% through the book, so the rest seemed a bit of ‘now what?’

At times it felt the characters were too 21st century in their words and actions, so the book would lose some of the atmosphere. I think the author could have made this story better by fleshing out the characters more with descriptions and going into more depth of their history. Things were mentioned in passing that would have added a lot more depth and empathy for the characters had this been delved into.  Again, a lighter summer read – library loan only.  Not sure I would bother reading the other books in the series.

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*** Just a note that I don’t put any Amazon linkies to these books because I didn’t purchase any of them.  These were all borrowed.

I currently am about finished with a really good book that I will share next month!

What are you reading now?

2013 book challenge of 30 books is well under way and I am doing pretty good – a little over halfway there.  Three more books since my last update.

The Night Circus –  by Erin Morgenstern

There were a lot of things I liked about this book: the imagery being the biggest. Most of the characters were developed well, although the 2 main characters (Celia and Marco) were probably the least developed, which is odd.

This is a story about a circus where the magic is real, not an illusion. There is the understanding that anyone can develop true magic talent, but most choose not to (or don’t know that it is possible). I know the real story is supposed to be about a competition between the 2 magicians, but honestly – there was no competition, or it was lukewarm at best with absolutely no sense of urgency. Probably the big downfall of the book is the touting of this fierce competition which just… wasn’t.

I found some of the timeline jumping to be a bit confusing as well. Not quite sure of the purpose of that.

This was a debut novel from Erin Morgenstern and I think she did a really good job. There were some times when the romantic dialogue between Celia and Marco dipped into YA territory, but otherwise I enjoyed her style of writing.

Definitely a read, but do a library loan.

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The Hangman’s Daughter – by Oliver Pötzsch

A historical mystery.  I do love period novels.  This one was quite interesting involving solving a mystery of murdered children with a midwife being suspected as a witch.  The town’s hangman believed the midwife and the story was about him and a physician trying to solve the mystery.  I am not sure why the title is the Hangman’s Daughter, though.  She is in the book and one of the main characters, but not *the* main character.

I enjoyed the authentic period feel of this novel. It turns out that the author’s family lineage is from the hangmen, so he did a lot of research in the writing of this novel and it shows.

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My Antonia – by Willa Cather

What can I say about a classic novel?  Whenever I read a classic, I am reminded once again why they are classics.  They stand head and shoulders above everything else. The writing is just so captivating in this book.  It’s funny, there really isn’t a plot per se, but the book just draws you in with life in rural Nebraska.

It’s the story of Antonia, an immigrant, told through the eyes of a childhood friend.  There are quite a few themes in this book like life as an immigrant, the power of the land, the power of the past to connect people.  It’s just such a good book.

Here is a snippet of the beautiful writing

There were no clouds, the sun was going down in a limpid, gold-washed sky. Just as the lower edge of the red disk rested on the high fields against the horizon, a great black figure suddenly appeared on the face of the sun. We sprang to our feet, straining our eyes toward it. In a moment we realized what it was. On some upland farm, a plough had been left standing in the field. The sun was sinking just behind it. Magnified across the distance by the horizontal light, it stood out against the sun, was exactly contained within the circle of the disk; the handles, the tongue, the share—black against the molten red. There it was, heroic in size, a picture writing on the sun.

You can get a free copy of this book here for digital media, so go do that now!

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What are you reading?

I tell you – work is kicking my butt lately.  It’s been very stressful and I can barely wait until vacation next week.

I have been working my way through my 30 book challenge this year.  I love my Kindle!  The only thing I don’t like about checking books out of the library on the Kindle is that you can only borrow them for 14 days with no renewal, so if you don’t finish, you have to get back on the list to borrow again.  I ended up having to get this book out in a few installments because of that.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles DuHigg.

Nonfiction on this one.  I have to say this is one of the more interesting nonfiction books I have read in a while.  It explores how habits are created in our mind and how it affects everything from how companies market to us (Febreeze) to creating social change (Rosa Parks).  Really fascinating.   The book actually seems a lot longer than it is because there is a very large section of citations at the end.  He actually also gives a plan of action on recognizing pattern habits and how to change the cycle.  Definitely recommend this book.

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The Painting by Nina Schuyler

If you like books that use the words themselves for imagery, you will love this book.  Color and art are very central for this book.  It follows the story of 2 sets of people in the time period of WWI.  There are 4 people in Japan, 2 of whom are in an arranged marriage (Ayoshi and Hayshi).  Ayoshi pines for her lover and paints pictures of them together.  To hide the paintings, she wraps her husband’s pottery in them before they are shipped off to France.

In France, Hayashi’s painting is discovered by Jorgen, who lost a leg in the war, and the painting brought back his deadened emotions.  The story in France revolves around Jorgen and Natalia and how the war affected them.

The 2 stories are only connected by that painting. They never really come together, but an interesting device because neither story was long enough to warrant a whole book.  I really enjoyed this one.

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The last one I finished (last night, in fact) is:

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore

This was a very, very good book. It follows the lives of 3 African American women (Odette, Clarice and Barbara Jean) – dubbed The Supremes – who grew up in Indiana in the 1960s and how all the events in their lives shaped where they ended up.  None of them left their home town for various reasons. Every week, they meet at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, which is kind of the central hub for the book. It’s really a study in friendship – the good and bad parts, racism and social status.  It tackles a bit of everything: infidelity, religion, alcoholism, cancer, ghosts, mother/daughter relationships, etc.

At times the writing did dip into a bit of stereotyping and I found it a little strange that with the three women, Odette used first person narration and the others used third person. I am not sure why.  I also didn’t care for the talking to ghosts that Odette did.  It seemed a bit silly, but I think maybe it helped bring in some back story that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.  I did tear up a bit near the end of this book.

I can see this book becoming a movie really easily.  You read that here first!

I recommend reading all of these.

Now time to walk up the street for a kiddy cone and keep counting down to vacation 😀

I realize I haven’t updated the books I have read in a while.  I have been reading still.  I have the goal of 30 books this year.  There are no links with these books, fyi.

There was New Orleans Noir edited by Julie Smith

This was a very good collection of short stories about New Orleans. The book is in 2 parts – the first part contains short stories pre-Katrina and the second contains stories post-Katrina. Of course, being noir, they all involved crime of some sort. Some on the humorous side, some very dark. A couple made me angry. Noir really fits New Orleans, too. There are other cities in this series, but I think the noir format suits New Orleans best.  Recommended.

On the short story train, here was a very short book. I didn’t realize how short it was with only 6 stories in it.

Among The Mermaids by Varla Ventura.

This was a collection of short stories about mermaids (male and female), but they were all classic short stories from I believe the early 1900s  and, therefore, very charming.

Think and Grow Thin by Charles D’Angelo

This book actually has good solid advice in it.  It’s based on the principles of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (also a good read). The testimonials really got on my nerves, though, as they were just fawning over the author for the most part.

I do like that half of the book deals with the emotional and mental aspects of losing weight, which is 90% of the battle.

His food program is designed to take choice out of the equation and if you want to follow a very limited menu, then it would work for you.  It stays exactly the same for 2 week intervals. I think I would get bored with it, but I have used the concept myself in the past (and it worked when I needed it).

I just finished Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen

This was a really powerful book about slavery. It’s a novella and the underlying theme in it is the importance of literacy.  Maybe that hit home for me being a literacy tutor.  I know there is a sequel to this and I want to read it and find out what happens to the characters.  It is not for the squeamish. Some very hard to read stuff about slavery, but that was reality at the time.

So, some pretty good stuff here.

Now on to the mochi.  Sometime when John goes away for the weekend, he will bring back a little present for me of some sort.  He stopped at a Japanese bakery and brought home a couple things that sounded interesting.  One was a mochi something or other.   Kind of looked like a snowball from the outside. It was a pretty purple color

Turns out, this was a glutenous rice filled with a red bean paste.  It had a very gelatinous outer coating and a softer middle.  I have decided it was not my cup of tea.  I ate some of the inside and threw out the outside.  I don’t do gummy LOL!  Have you ever had a mochi dessert?

Happy Tuesday!  I am behind on stuff. Busy yesterday and behind on exercise, guitar practicing, blogging, reading blogs – all that stuff. Gah!

I did start off the day with 15 minutes on the bike trainer before breakfast.  It is easy having that ready to go in the room right off our bedroom. No excuses.  My goal is 45 minutes on the trainer today.

John and I can still bike together, but it just isn’t the same.

Then it was time to eat!

Protein pancakes!

Anyway, as I alluded to on the Thanksgiving post, I am back off the running wagon again.  I was out one day and I just realized I really don’t enjoy running all that much.  I mentioned to John one day a week or so ago that I didn’t want to go out and run and his reply was “Don’t run, just go for a walk”. So I did and I haven’t run since.  I do have to say that my back and leg feel better for not running.

Of course, this totally goes against my desire to do the duathlons next year.  I just cannot seem to make up my mind about it. What is wrong with me? If I say I am going to pick up running again in the spring, someone please slap me, okay? Just not too hard.

Work sped along this morning and I was so productive.  Hooray for productive days!  Lunch break included some Fage and apple topping.

Looks like dessert, but it’s not! I used a Macoun apple for this one, but I defnitely prefer a firmer, more tart apple – a la granny smith.  However, John always picks out the apples when we shop and he doesn’t like the grannies 😀

Update on another book I finished. I actually  finished this early last month, but forgot to write about it.  It’s called Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  If any of you grew up in the 80s and played video games – this is the book for you!  It really had a lot of nostalgia for the 80s in it, so I was all over that.

(my link)

It’s set in the future about 30 years  from now, and most people spend time in a virtual world instead of reality (like now!). The creator of the virtual world dies and he decides to leave his vast fortune to anyone who can solve the puzzles he puts in the virtual world. So, it is the story of the gamers trying to figure those 80s themed puzzles out with some evil guys thrown in there.  Very entertaining and a good study on how we project ourselves online versus in real life.  It’s a fast read and I highly recommend it.

John made me a latte today.  The day went by really fast!  I paired the latte with my yummy dried pineapple.

Look at lazy Pixie on my ottoman. If she isn’t on me, she is near me.  😀

Raise your hands if you are eating leftovers still!  Dinner was leftovers, but not Thanksgiving – more of the soup variety.  The last of the corn and crab chowder.

That’s some creepy lighting.  I need to get my makeshift lightbox out from wherever it is.  I’m thinking the basement?  😯

I snuck in some more trainer riding and guitar practicing.  Free night tonight!  Woo Hoo!  I’ve got 200 calories to spend on my snack tonight, which just might be all clementines