It's Monday, January 25th! What Are You Reading?

 

It has been a long, long while since I voluntarily undertook and completed a 720 page book, but I did last week! I finished A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. First and foremost, this story is about love. And friendship. Yanagihara (I love saying her name!) follows one character, Jude St. Francis, for decades and the relationships that thread through his life. We know something bad, very bad, happened to Jude in his childhood; that is no secret. You need to pull out your thesaurus for words to describe the horrific things this character faces. Like all of us, his experiences formed who he is, and we see the impact this has on his relationships. I cared about these characters so much that what happens actually hurt. I am still thinking about them two days out and will, most likely, continue to do so. While it was expansive and epic, it was also one of the most difficult books I have ever read due to subject matter. Not for the faint of heart! I highly recommend this book.

After setting down A Little Life, I stood before my book shelves looking for something fun and light. There isn’t much “fluff” there though I wish there was for this very reason, but I did find one to fit the bill, The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter. Have you read Beautiful Ruins? He wrote that too, but this has a far different feel. It is cheeky and hilarious. The writing is crisp and clever. While I am only 60 pages in, this guy is funny! I am having fun, and it’s exactly what the doctor ordered. (I just now discovered there is a movie based on this book starring Jack Black. Hmmmmm...)

I am also working my way through a second collection of poems by Mary Oliver called Dream Work. I am liking it even better than her Pulitzer Prize winning American Primitive, which I adored. There is a special poem in this one. It is the reason I picked up Oliver to begin with. After I finish, I will tell you the story.

Can’t wait to get my hands on My Name is Lucy Barton. I am a huge Strout fan since Olive Kitteridge. 

Tell me about you. Anything. Which book are you holding this week?

Hosted by The Book Date!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Yep! It is Monday. It has been a long time since I have told you, my long lost blog, what I am reading. As you will soon note, I am all over the place. In a good way, but still.

Here goes!

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. I have been dabbling with this one for several months. Last night, I (re)picked it up and I am so thrilled I did. It is lush.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nejisi Coates. This is an important book.

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. I am listening to this one, and it is an easy listen. I find Hornby books good for this. Engaging.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf. Been wanting to read this for some time. I have very little experience with Woolf. This, I hear, is a good place to start and I scored this at my favorite used bookstore, Better World Books, this weekend (along with Naked by David Sedaris).

Finished lots of great stuff too, but I need to leave something for my next post!!!

What’s going on in your reading world these days? And did you watch last night's Super Moon?

Let The Weight Gain Begin...NO WAY!

The New England Journal of Medicine and just about every other resource I have looked through debunks the well known myth that the average person gains 7-10 lbs. over the 8 weeks beginning in early November through the first week of January. They say you only gain approximately 1 pound.

Huh? I don’t know which 195 people they weighed and measured for this one but come on! They don’t know me.

Raise your hand if you, personally, have experienced this holiday phenomena!

My hand is held high at the moment. I usually gain a solid 5-6 lbs. And believe me, it’s hard earned because I exercise a TON! If I don’t burn at least 500 calories a day (5-6 days a week), I’m grouchy.

Here’s the problem, though, for me!

Those damn holiday pounds gained while still exercising my ass off are really, really hard to remove come January. My body is used to its extra girth by then. It’s winter and I need an extra fat layer for warmth, right? As for my favorite sweatpants...Why can’t I wear them EVERY SINGLE DAY (I wash them!)? I don’t really but I’d like to at that point.

My workout partner, Big Dave, and I discussed it this morning because we’ve talked about it for the last several holiday seasons; the fact that we gain too much weight then it’s a bitch to get off.  [As background, Dave is an ex-college football player (lineman are huge) and weighed 350+ lbs at 6’5” when I first met him probably 9-10 years ago). Now he is, obviously the same height, weighing in at about 225 lbs. but he works really hard from a nutrition and exercise standpoint and looks fantastic.]

So here’s the deal…my deal, our deal.

We are weighing ourselves on Monday, November 5^th. The goal is to weigh the same exact weight (good or bad) on January 7^th. That’s 9 weeks.

Knowing my mind far too well and considering the fact that my weight is rather low right now (at least I think it is but I don't weigh myself everyday), I’m going to eat my face off this weekend and come in heavy on Monday for the weigh in.

I don’t know, we’ll see. I find scales scary so the trick will be on me, no doubt.

The point is, wherever we are two days from now, we won’t weigh more than that on Monday, January 7^th.

I can still have fun, eat and drink wine, but I’ll have a little thingy in the back of my head reminding me about moderation. Moderation is a hard concept for me.

Anyone feel like doing it too? Come on! We'll look like this, won't we?