Reading list update

46. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It’s a novel about train circus life in the 1930’s. Fabulous. Read a real live review here, then go buy it, check it out, trade for it - however you get your hands on it, you’ll be glad you did. (cross-posted in regular blog)

47. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. Story of a doctor in the 50's whose wife gives birth to twins - a healthy boy, and a girl with Down's Syndrome. He gives the girl away to be institutionalized - but tells his wife that the girl died. The nurse who helped deliver the babies, unable to leave the girl in an instituion, raises her instead. I enjoyed this book (though not as much as Water for Elephants).

48. Storky: How I Lost My Nickname and Won The Girl by Debra Garfinkle. I read this book because it was recommended for me on Amazon.com, and I usually enjoy their recommendations. I didn't realize until about halfway through that it's a Young Adult novel. Regardless, it was a funny story, and I thought it was a nice break from the heavier novels. It's the journal of a 14-year old high school freshman, dealing with his parent's divorce and a nerdy reputation. I liked it (check it out, don't buy it).

Out of the three, Elephants is a must-read. Absolutely.

Making my way

Friday Weigh-In: Down 1.8 pounds this week. Total of 17.2 pounds lost, and 12.8 remaining to my current goal.

Also, finished book 45: The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer. Very interesting concept here: a baby boy is born looking like a 70-year old man. As he grows older, he looks younger. Basically, his body ages in reverse, while his mind ages normally. At the end of his life, he has the mind of an old man, living in the body of a young boy. The story is set in San Francisco at the turn of the Twentieth Century. The premise is more interesting than the book itself, I thought. It was okay, but I wish I had spent my time reading Water for Elephants, or at least a Marian Keyes novel.

Friday Weigh-In

This week, down 3 pounds even. Total of 15.4 pounds lost, and 14.6 remaining to my current goal.

Friday Weigh-In and Reading List

43. Northern Lights by Nora Roberts
44. Miss American Pie - A Diary of Love, Secrets and Growing Up in the 1970s by Margaret Sartor

The Nora Roberts book was a romance mystery type novel, and I don't usually do mysteries and murder novels, but I do love me some Nora Roberts, so it was good.

Miss American Pie was on my Amazon.com Recommended list, so I checked it out at the library. It's a collection of excerpts from Sartor's diary from ages 14 - 18. It's totally random observations that go from shallow and teenaged to meaningful and spiritual. It wasn't as great as I hoped, but it was interesting.

As for the Friday weigh-in, we did have some forward progress this week. 1.4 pounds lost for a total of 12.4 pounds lost, and 17.6 remaining to my current goal.

Good Readin' Ahead

40. In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant
41. The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
42. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

All very good books. But if I had to choose, I'd definitely recommend Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Please read this book. It's about a young boy who lost his father in the World Trade Center collapse. He lives in New York City, and he spends his time trying to unravel the origin of a mysterious key he found hidden in his father's closet after his death. The boy is a strange, neurotic creature (he wears only white, he writes letters to famous people). He's a phenomenal character. The book also has pictures, which is a cool addition. I loved this book, seriously.

The Picoult novel also had graphics, interestingly - her story is interwoven with a comic book story, so there are comic book pages throughout. This is different than the other Picoult novels I've read, and I enjoyed it.

And you already know that I love Sarah Dunant, and I loved this book, no exception.

As for my weight loss, I lost 3 pounds last week - yay! Then the Yus came and I gorged, and I gained 2.8 pounds back. So - boo. But at least my total number is still a loss. Hopefully this week will show better progress. Currently 11 pounds lost, with 19 pounds to my current goal.

All around updates

39. Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

What a great book. I absolutely loved it. I'm currently reading In the Company of the Courtesan, also by Sarah Dunant, because I enjoyed Venus so much. A definite recommend.

Before I left for Kazakhstan, I was working towards a 30-pound weight loss goal. I had lost 4.8 pounds towards that goal, with 25.2 more to go. While I was gone, I lost another 6 pounds (a cautionary tale of horse meat and mayonnaise), with some-odd ounces, so now I am at 10.8 pounds lost, with 19.2 pounds to go.

If I hit this goal, I will weigh less than I did when I met my husband in high school. Although I can't ever imagine having that body back, what with baby pooch and other pregnancy-related malformations, at least I will be at a more ideal weight. And if I lose this last 19.2 pounds, I'm setting another 20 pound goal. But, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Total weight lost since beginning of the year: 36 pounds.

Updated reading list

34. A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
35. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
36. Firefly Cloak by Sheri Reynolds
37. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
38. Wives Behaving Badly by Elizabeth Buchan

Haven't officially weighed since I've been back, but certain I lost some weight in Kaz - so hopefully still on my way to the next weight loss goal.

33. Sushi for Beginners

by Marian Keyes. My second read by her, and she doesn't disappoint. Kind of a girly book, but definitely enjoyed it. Next up is some heavier reading. Enough of the light stuff for now!

Updated Book Count

Pre-Kazakhstan
23. The Probably Future (Alice Hoffman)

Books I read in Kazakhstan (not in order):
24. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
25. The Undomestic Goddess (Sophie Kinsella)
26. Dress Your Family in Denim and Courderoy (David Sedaris)
27. Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris)
28. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
29. Little Earthquakes (Jennifer Weiner)
30. The Hundred Secret Senses (Amy Tan)
31. The Known World (Edward P. Jones)
32. True Believer (Nicholas Sparks)

I'm a big fan of Sophie Kinsella. She is a London-based author, so her writing has the funny English slang and feel. She writes quasi-chick lit. She is a good choice when another Middle Eastern novel or slavery novel feels like too much work, but you can't stand the thought of another Jennifer Wiener-esque fat girl chick lit novel. So I'm a big fan of hers (along with Marian Keyes, who writes simiarly, but not as funny, in my opinion).

David Sedaris is a master storyteller. His two books that I read were compilations of essays about his life. I loved LOVED them. They are a quick read, and you will laugh a lot.

Yann Martel's story was incredible. Probably one of my favorite books of all time. Please read it. Please. Life of Pi. Go now, go on, go buy it.

I enjoyed the Amy Tan story. I haven't read her major hit classic The Joy Luck Club, but if this book is an indicator, then I am looking forward to reading it. And The Known World, this is a book where you need to think through the entire story. There's no part of the book where you can let your mind wander or relax. The cast of characters is huge, and the story is kind of sad. It's a Civil War-era story of a former slave who now owns his own plantation and slaves. A black man owning black slaves is an interesting story. I enjoyed the book.

Nicholas Sparks, eh. Not great for me.

So, I'm halfway to my goal of 60 books this year. I wonder if my reading will slow down with the addition of another baby? I still have a backlog of stories in my nightstand waiting to be read! Must make goal!

22. The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes

What a welcome respite from the heaviness I’ve seemed to be reading lately. This is a not-quite-chic-lit book, and the characters, what characters they are! This is my first experience with Marian Keyes, and I have to read more. This particular novel takes place in Ireland and London (as I suppose most of her work does), and I loved reading all the English and Irish slang. She created some wonderful characters, male and female, all ages. My favorite character in this book was the 2-year old Ema, who reminds me so much of my own 3-year old, always coming through with something hilarious to bring joy back into joyless situations. Here’s an example: (To set the scene, Ema’s mother Lily is speaking - she is in the throes of writing a charming new book about the joys of life, and she tries it out on her own mother and Ema.)

That first night I read what I had written to Mum and Ema.
“Darling, it’s adorable,” Mum said.
“Dirty,” Ema agreed. “Filthy.”

Another passage:

Daily, I continued to write, the words pouring from me, and every night, when we put Ema to bed, I read that day’s work and Mum raved about it. Ema, too, offered comments. (“Jiggy.” “Seedy.” “Farty.”)

Funny stuff! I also loved the Russian neighbor Irina who works at the make-up counter. I felt like I could go on reading about these characters for much longer than the 500+ pages Keyes delivered.

I’m not offering much in the way of plot lines here, but the book really gets into the publishing industry, which I found fascinating. It illustrates the relationships between authors (hopeful and already signed), their agents, the publishers, and the readers who love or hate them.

Will definitely pick up more Keyes to read. Next up is Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic. I didn’t see the movie (with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman), so I’m going in fresh. My only other experience with Hoffman is Here on Earth, which was written in the very strangest present tense, and was dark and a little creepy, but I enjoyed it.

Friday Weekly Weigh-in

Lost this week: 4.8 pounds.
Total lost this goal period: 4.8 pounds
To goal: 25.2 pounds

Finally! The scale grudgingly gives a little. As close as I can approximate, I've lost about 18.5 inches total. It's so grand. But still such a long road ahead.

21. The Pact by Jodi Picoult

I finished this book, The Pact by Jodi Picoult, a couple of weeks ago, actually, but forgot to post anything about it. Maybe I'm trying to forget it entirely. It wasn't a bad story; in fact, it was a rather compelling story. But from the first chapter to the very last word of the book, it was the heaviest, most sad story I've read in a long time, maybe ever.

The story revolves around two families, who are best friends, whose lives are so intertwined, they are like one big family. The women are best friends, the children are practically siblings. Then the two oldest children get older and fall in love - just the way their parents wanted it.

A phone call is received in the middle of the night, and both sets of parents find out that their children were found together, shot, in an apparent double-suicide attempt - she dies, he lives. It takes a while for the police to wade through the evidence - was it a botched double-suicide, or did he kill her?

There is no way to find happiness in the story. I wonder if Picoult wrote it this way on purpose? If you've read this one, I'm very curious to hear your views.

Next up, some chic lit from Marian Keyes. A much-needed break.

Friday Crappy Weigh-in

Friday weigh-in: +.8 pounds. ACK! Total lost: 0. To goal: 30 pounds.

I think I'm starting to figure this thing out. On the weeks where I squeeze in some sort of exercise (even if it's mowing the lawn or just walking around the mall) I lose more. Go figure, exercise = losing more weight.

BOO.

20. Little Children by Tom Perrotta

I finished book number 20 last night (a third of the way to my goal of 60 books this year!). This was my first experience with Tom Perrotta, but I have heard of him before. He wrote the book Election, which was turned into the movie starring Reese Witherspoon (I haven't seen it). The reviews for this book said it was very funny.

The story centers around two stay-at-home parents: Sarah, mother to 3-year old Lucy, and Todd, father to 3-year old Aaron. Sarah is young, very educated, but bored (and feels wasted) staying at home with Lucy. She is a strong feminist and never saw herself in the wife/mother role. Todd is a law school graduate who can't seem to pass the bar, and instead stays home with Aaron while his gorgeous wife makes documentary films. These are only the two most central characters; there are at least three other very strong characters that make their mark on the story (including a fresh-out-of-jail pedophile whose very presence sends the neighborhood into uproar). Sarah and Todd end up in an affair, both trying to recapture their youth before having children, looking for something they aren't finding in their "stay-at-home" lives. They, more so than Aaron and Lucy, are the little children referenced in the title.

I like the book because it ends well. I'll leave it at that to keep the storyline under wraps. I hated that it took an affair for certain lessons to be learned, but in the end, it works. Very good.

Next up, another Jodi Picoult novel, The Pact.

Weekly Weigh-in and Book 19

Friday weigh-in (2 weeks, actually): Down .8 pounds. To goal: 29.2 pounds.

Not great, but I did manage to negate the 4-pound midweek gain!

Also, I finished Book 19: The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd last night. I thought it was a little creepy, frankly. It's the story of a woman who, in an apparent mid-life crisis, leaves her husband and college-aged daughter to care for her crazy mother, and falls in love with a monk. Their love, of course, doesn't work out, and she returns home to her family. This wasn't my favorite (obviously, as I'm giving away the spoilers). Her other book was so much better. On the whole, I give it a blah.

18. The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

This is a very hard memoir. It's hard to read because it is infuriating. It's the story of Jeannette Walls, now a journalist in New York, as she grew up in the most dysfunctional family. She and her siblings were basically left to fend for themselves while their parents chose to live without jobs, a home, food, basically transients transversing the country. It's such an intriguing read, to see what she came through and how she ended up. There were times I had to put it down and just be mad for a while, but I really found it - well, enjoyable isn't the right word, but maybe fascinating, and I felt so much sympathy for her and her siblings. Very good read.

17. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

The premise of this book is very interesting. It's a story about a perfect family of four, two parents and two children. The youngest child is discovered to have leukemia at age 2. She needs a bone marrow donor, and no one in the family is a perfect match. So the parents have a third child - a "designer" baby girl, the embryo specially chosen to be a perfect genetic match for their older daughter. At first the baby donates her cord blood to her older sister, which sends the older sister into a remission. Then as the years go by, the leukemia comes back, and the younger sister again donates - blood, bone marrow, until she feels like she can't give anymore. The book chronicles her difficult decision to stop donating to her sister, and her legal journey to become medically emancipated. I thought it was a super read.

Friday Weigh-In - GOAL!

2.6 pounds lost this week. Finally reached the goal! Actually a little bit over the goal, and that combined with a few pounds lost prior to setting the goal adds up to a loss of 25 pounds even.

I now weigh the same as when I got married - no more baby pounds! But I have to say, that weight is redistributed in a not-so-nice way. This doesn't really bother me; post-baby body will never be pre-baby body again, unless I fall into some vortex where I can afford plastic surgery. It feels good to see that weight on the scale though, that's for sure.

New goal: Lose 30 pounds. This will put me at my high school weight.

Friday Weigh-in (2 Weeks)

Down 3.6 pounds for the past 2 weeks.

Lost to date: 18.4 pounds.

To reach goal: 1.6 pounds.

16. Memoirs of a Geisha

Finally - FINALLY - finished Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. It took me about 115 pages to begin to enjoy the story. And then, when I got to the end, the first line of the Acknowledgements from the author reads, "Although the character of Sayuri and her story are completely invented..." I read the book actually thinking it was a memoir, silly me. So it was a little startling to find out that it was complete fiction (read: James Frey). The story was okay. Not sure I could recommend it, unless you are a real history buff - there's more history than story, I thought. One thing I must appreciate is how much research and work the author must have done to put this novel together. That much is undeniable.