Monday, January 28, 2013

Recipes from the Dump--#5 finished

A quirky kind of read, a single mother that is struggling finding a relationship and shedding weight.  Also problems with job, neighbors, yard--living near dump, along with her emotional issues with the first Iraq war.  It was better than I expected, not great literature but also not mindless chic lit either.  I am surprised this is the only book listed on PBS by the author.  For a first book I think it is good enough for the author to deserve a 2nd book.  I will have to wiki her to see if any insight as to what has happened with her.

I have posted it on PBS and there are 14 copies a head of it so it won't be moving any time soon.  Oh well, it is a decent book so having it sit on my bookshelf is no big deal.  I am still reading Earrings and also just started Passion & Principle about John & Jessie Fremont.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Princes of the Tower--#4 finished

An interesting study of what happened and what evidence is out there about the tragic murdering of King Edward V and his younger brother Richard Duke of York.  At around their ages of 12 and 10, their father King Edward IV died and their uncle Richard was to provide them protection until they came of age.  Well instead Richard had his own designs for the crown and locked them away in London Tower and eventually had them killed.  Richard became Richard III but his reign was short and have problems from this and other things that he caused.

Henry Tudor had a claim to the throne and eventually gathered an army in France and crossed over to England where a great many of the aristocracy joined up with him after Richard III problems.  Henry became Henry VII and later the father of the more famous Henry VIII.  A very interesting time in England.  I read the books The White Queen and The Red Queen which is all about this as well.

Well I have posted this book on PBS and there are 3 copies a head of it but hopefully it will move.  I was the 6th transaction for this copy so I hope it can keep moving around the PBS world.  I am still reading Recipes from the Dump and started Earrings and might be starting a vampire sci-fi short story book as well.

Friday, January 18, 2013

The Land of Painted Caves--#3 finished

This is the last book in Jean Auel's series that started with The Clan of the Cave Bear.  I really enjoyed the series and have to give some credit to this series as to starting me back up reading back in the mid-90s.  All that being said, I think this was the weakest of the books.  There just wasn't much more new stuff going on.  The author also repeated much of what happened in earlier books to remind the readers but the reminders seemed to just be too much and even repeated reminders way too many times.  I still liked the characters and the story lines but just seemed like to much stuff in here that could have been cut away.  It made me think she wrote each chapter independent of the others so this caused her to repeat past stories too much.  Oh well not terrible but not a great end to the series either.  I should probably state that there was quite a time period from the book before this one to this one--like 10 years give or take a couple so that is probably why she repeated or flashed back so much, figuring some readers might not have read all the earlier books.

I am keeping this one as a keeper right now.  There are some WL for it but I have the others in this series so figure I will keep this one as well.  I am still reading The Two Princes' in the Tower and Recipes from the Dump.  Might look to add a 3rd tomorrow--too tired tonight to think about it.

Running

I am back running again.  It had been almost a month or maybe a little more than a month since I had run.  A couple things happened that kicked it back in gear for me.  1. At work we are doing a biggest loser contest.  Each person who wanted in paid $25 and the top 3 will get in the money.  I think there are 12 people in so some decent money if I get first.  My goal is to lose at least 20 pounds and I think that is doable.  Not sure if that will win it but should get me in the money but even if not I will be 20 pounds lighter.

2. I found a half marathon at the end of March here in St Louis for Down Syndrome awareness.  It is not a big event and is actually pretty close to my house so it fits for all reasons.

We weighed in on Wed 1/9 and I ran on Saturday morning--4 miles.  Then on a very cold Sunday night I ran 2 miles outside.  Then Monday & Tuesday I ran 3 miles each night at the community center.  Then Thursday I ran 4 miles outside.  No run tonight but I will get a run in on both Saturday & Sunday.  My mile times are not bad, all runs averaged below 13 minutes and the Thursday run the first two miles were below 12 minutes and overall I think it was 12:20 average.

I am also dropping some weight by sticking with some simple rules to start--no fast food, no soda, eat a salad as one meal a day and no late night snacking.  Those and exercise pretty simple start and am down 7 or 8 pounds.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Ride of Your Life--#2 finished

This is a book by Lyn St. James the race car driver about her life.  I had heard of her as a driver back in the '90s, I guess, but that is really all I knew of her.  It is a pretty interesting story, where she was basically a secretary married to a guy that liked to race cars.  She wanted to try racing in the '60s or '70s and he let her have an older car of his when he moved up in class to a newer car.  She took off from there.  She didn't go into much of the relationship with her first husband or even the 2nd husband--I think it was only the two.  The book bounced back in forth between some of her experiences and her attempt to qualify for Indy in 2000, which she did but it was a very good story.  An interesting touch the surface kind of book about her, but there has to be a lot more that was left out.  I am not sure it will ever be written though since she is sort of out of the news now--that is too bad because racing could use some more diversity.  Good read and good stories about racing.

I have already posted it on PBS and there are a few copies a head of it, like 3 or 4.  I guess it will be sitting around for a while and that is okay.  I am still reading Land of Painted Caves, around 340 pages in but it has around 770 so long way to go yet.  I am also reading The Princes in the Tower about the 2 princes killed in the London Tower in 1483 and the mystery and attempts to figure it out.  I also just started tonight Recipes From the Dump.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Where the Road Bottoms Out--#1 finished

Day one of the new year and already a book is completed.  I can guarantee I will not keep up this pace. I did have around 75 to 80 pages to go last night so it wasn't like I was holding off finishing until today either.  This was an okay to not okay short story book.  I really didn't understand most of the stories and what I did it wasn't really enjoyable.  A couple stories were okay to good but most didn't connect with me.  Oh well that is short stories.

I have posted it on PBS & there is 1 WL for it so I hope it gets accepted and moved soon.  I am still reading The Ride of Your Life by Lyn St. James the '80s & '90s female race car driver.  I am also working on The Land of Painted Caves, not quite 300 pages in with a long way to go still.  Will be looking at my bookshelves for a 3rd book to put into the mix tonight.

2013--What to blog on

2013 is here and I am asking myself what to blog on.  I will continue to do my books read list but I will mix other things in as well.  Last year was just a books read list--wasn't feeling very writy last year.  I will try to get back to a couple years ago about maybe getting some goals down in writing and a little follow up throughout the year.  Okay I guess now on with the show.