December Whatnot
Posted: 2017/12/01 Filed under: Early Review, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: Alex Garland, childrens book, Connie Willis, Cornell Woolrich, Dorothy Gilman, Early Review, Erin Taylor, Fiction, Grant Faulkner, Larry Brown, librarything, Mark Salzman, mystery, Nero Wolfe, Noel Streatfeild, NonFiction, Rex Stout, Richard Flanagan, Running, russia, science fiction, series, southern, Thailand, Tod Davies, Tom Bissell, yoga Leave a commentHere’s something of a shocker. I am running a 5k during the first week of December! Actually, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise because I mentioned signing up for it in the last post…just yesterday. But. But! But, enough about the first week of December. Let’s talk about the last week of December! I am looking forward to a week off from work with nothing to do except read, read, read. Another opportunity to gorge on books is a six hour car ride when I won’t be driving. A perfect opportunity to finished a shorter book! And speaking of books, Here is the list:
Fiction:
- God Lives in St. Petersburg and Other Stories by Tom Bissell ~ in honor of a day in December as being one of the coldest days in Russian history.
- Fay by Larry Brown ~ in honor of December being Southern Literature Month.
Fearless Treasureby Noel Streatfeild in honor of Streatfeild’s birth month. Actually, no library would lend Fearless Treasure without charging an ILL fee so I am reading Ballet Shoes instead. Good thing I wasn’t looking forward to reading fantasy!- Wanting by Richard Flanagan ~ in honor of Tasmania’s taste fest which happens in December. To be honest, I don’t know how I made this connection.
- The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis ~ in honor of Willis being born in December. Confessional: this is a huge book so I started it a little early (AB & print).
- The Beach by Alex Garland in honor of Thailand’s Constitution Day observance in December.
Nonfiction:
- Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman ~ in honor of Mark Salzman’s birth month being in December.
- Nero Wolf at West Thirty Fourth Street: the life and times of America’s Largest Private Detective by William S. Baring-Gold ~ in honor of Rex Stout’s birth month.
Series continuations:
- Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Buddha by Dorothy Gilman ~ to continue the series started in September in honor of Grandparents’ month.
Early Review for LibraryThing:
- I was supposed to receive Jam Today by Tod Davies last month but hasn’t arrived yet. Maybe I’ll get it this month.
- I am also suppose to receive Pep Talk for Writers by Grant Faulkner by Dec 29th, 2017. We’ll see about that!
For fun:
- Hit Reset: Revolutionary Yoga for Athletes by Erin Taylor ~ because I’m still trying keep running.
If there is time:
- Between the Assassinations by Avavind Adiga ~in honor of Vivah Panchami
- Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich ~ in honor of Woolrich’s birth month
What’s More Scary?
Posted: 2017/10/31 Filed under: Early Review, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: africa, audio books, biography, blindness, books, Charles Bock, Charles Williams, Confessional, Dorothy Gilman, Early Review, Fiction, greece, halloween, henry james, idaho, Jason Roberts, Justine Hardy, Leon Edel, librarything, Margaret Doody, Maria Alyokhina, mystery, Nancy Butler, NonFiction, Patrick McCabe, Peter Allison, romance, Running, series, travel, Vardis Fisher, Victor Klemperer, world war ii Leave a commentI have been in physical therapy for my hip for more than a month now and here’s the sad, sad thing. I don’t feel much different. I still have trouble sleeping a night (last night I woke up every two hours) and runs haven’t been that much easier. I managed over sixty miles for the month and finally finished the dreaded half (the one I have been babbling about for months now. Yeah, that one). I definitely made more time for the books. Here is the ginormous list:
Fiction:
- Aristotle Detective by Margaret Anne Doody (finished in a week).
- All Hallows’ Eve by Charles Williams.
- Discarded Duke by Nancy Butler (finished in a week).
- Beautiful Children by Charles Bock (AB / print). Word to the wise, don’t do it!
- Breakfast on Pluto by Patrick McCabe
Nonfiction:
- Whatever You Do, Don’t Run by Peter Allison (AB / print; finished in less than a week).
- Sense of the World by Jason Roberts (AB / print).
- I Will Bear Witness: a Diary of the Nazi Years (1933-1941) by Victor Klemperer ~ in honor of Mr. Klemperer’s birth month.
- In the Valley of Mist by Justine Hardy
Series Continuations:
- We are Betrayed by Vardis Fisher.
- Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman ( finished in four days).
- Henry James: the Treacherous Years by Leon Edel (Can you believe I actually finished this within the same month?).
Early Review for LibraryThing:
- Riot Days by Maria Alyokhina (read in four days).
We Interrupt Myself & Moi
Posted: 2016/11/04 Filed under: books, Confessional, Early Review, NonFiction, yoga | Tags: books, Confessional, Early Review, librarything, NonFiction, Running, yoga Leave a commentCan I talk about books and running at the same time? I just have to. In the August batch of the Early Review program for LibraryThing I “won” a book called The Boy Who Runs by John Brant. I was pretty excited to read it because as you may have guessed from my other ramblings besides books I’m pretty excited about running. [Reading about running is probably the next best thing to running.] Notice I said I was pretty excited to read it. Past tense. Was. It would have been all well and good if I had actually received the book. Because I haven’t. Not yet. Bummer.
Fast forward to this week. Another message on LibraryThing. “Congratulations, you have won Yoga for Athletes by Ryanne Cunningham.” Another Early Review book! Under normal circumstances I would be beside myself with joy. Besides being excited about books and and being excited about running I am pretty excited about yoga for athletes. [I’ll give you an example: I won Yoga for Runners by Christine Felstead in 2014 and I STILL use it as a bible for routines both before and after runs. I not only read and reread her book, I went on to buy not one but two of her yoga videos. I became a huge fan all because of LibraryThing and the Early Review program.] But, getting back to my original rant. Notice I said would be beside myself with joy. Would be. I’m not beside myself with joy because in the past 12 months I haven’t received three books (four if you count Dorothea’s book that I can’t seem to get ER to acknowledge). Given that track record there is a chance Cunningham’s book won’t make it to me. Bummer. It’s not LT’s fault. I know once I’ve “won” a book it’s up to the publisher to get it to me.
The good news is Cunningham’s book is slated to be published this coming Tuesday. I’ll wait a month and borrow it from my local library.
Where the Road Ends
Posted: 2016/07/09 Filed under: Book Reviews, Early Review, NonFiction, Running | Tags: 2016, book review, Bryon Powell, july, librarything, Meghan Hicks, NonFiction, run, Running Leave a commentHicks, Meghan M. and Bryon Powell. Where the Road Ends: a Guide to Trail Running. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2016.
Reason read: for the Early Review program for LibraryThing. Perfect, isn’t it?
The first time I laid eyes on the cover of Where the Road Ends I instantly thought “cheesy” and when I glanced through the pages I was reminded a little of a middle/grade school textbook, all glossy and full of pictures. But, that is where the fluff ends. As far as content goes, Where the Road Ends is chock full of great information. Most of it might be second nature to the more experience ultra runner but for beginners this book is a perfect must-have. The layout of information chapter by chapter is intuitive, starting with just learning and ending with full-out racing. In between is a plethora of everything you need to know: how trail running differs from the road, how to navigate the terrain, what equipment to use, how to stay fueled and hydrated (especially on the long desert runs), and so on and so on. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover (or lack thereof). This is a well organized informative book.
Anatomy, Stretching & Training for Marathoners
Posted: 2016/06/17 Filed under: Book Reviews, NonFiction | Tags: 2016, book review, fitness, june, leisure, NonFiction, Philip Striano, Running Leave a commentStriano, Dr. Philip and Lisa Purcell. Anatomy, Stretching & Training for Marathoners: a step by step guide to getting the most from your running workout. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2013.
This was a weird book for me. The goal of the book seems to be of two minds: either getting you fit enough to run a marathon (minus the cardiovascular endurance piece) or supplementing the idea that running is a good exercise for losing weight. The focal point of the book is strengthening and stretching key muscles that are used while running. Beyond that, there is very little about running aside from what to wear and where to run. The mechanics of running are largely ignored. But, to be fair, thrown in is a strange sample marathon training schedule. I’ll get to my comment on the training schedule later. But for now let’s focus on the good news.
There were a bunch of things to like about Anatomy, Stretching and Training. For starters, the overall layout of information is comprehensive and intuitive. I appreciated that the illustrations highlight the key muscles affected by the stretch or training move while the photograph of the individual doing the same thing highlights proper form. The anatomy information was, by far, the most informative aspect of the book. A neat little feature, one I’m sure everyone makes a beeline to find, is the stretching and strength training routines at the end.
Now for the bad news:
- Page 9 – The last time I checked, a marathon is 26.2 MILES. In the introduction the last sentence is, “Take the time to learn how to run right, using the guidelines found in the following pages, and you’ll soon be entering that 26K.” Assuming that the “K” in that sentence is kilometers a 26K is the equivalent of 16.16 miles.
- Page 10 – I don’t know how they measure calories but I’ve never heard of a running program that burns 100 calories in an hour. As a 114 lb woman I burn approximately 100 calories for every mile I run. Maybe they meant mile instead of hour? That would make more sense.
- Page 17 – I have looked at many different training plans for running marathons and they all agree on one thing – tapering mileage before a race. The sample marathon training plan supplied for Anatomy calls for a 20 mile run the day before running the marathon. Is that normal? To be fair, it might be a typo. It’s the only day that doesn’t actually have the word “run” after the mile distance. It just says “20-miles.” The question is 20-miles what?
- I think the authors resorted to referring to yoga when they didn’t know what to call a certain stretch (like the back stretch = cobra). This causes confusion in regards to the high lunge/low forward lunge. For practitioners of yoga, a high lunge is done without either knee touching the ground, whereas a low lunge has the placement of the back knee of the ground.(p 86-87).
- Some detail information is not consistent. Some exercises have times regarding how long to hold a move and/or how reps. For example, the standing quad stretch is to be held for 15 seconds at a time and repeated three times. The very next exercise, the sprinter’s stretch, doesn’t have that information. It would have been nice to see some consistency.
Yes, 16 miles is an impressive distance to run but it’s not a marathon.
…Why I Run…
Posted: 2016/01/08 Filed under: Book Reviews, Fiction, Graphic Novel | Tags: 2016, book review, comic, january, Matthew Inman, NonFiction, Running Leave a commentInman, Matthew (aka the Oatmeal). The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2014.
Reason read: because I’m still stuck on running books even though I’m officially done being psycho.
I cannot, cannot, cannot stress how frigging funny this comic* is. I found it while searching for something completely (and I do mean completely different), but sooo happy I found it. In a nutshell, it’s the illustrated running biography of Matthew Inman, better known by his comic name, the Oatmeal. But, he’s not your typical athlete. When he runs he’s chased by a “fat cherub” he calls the Blerch (the little voice in your head that convinces you you’re better off sleeping in late or eating cake or both, maybe even at the same time?). And speaking of cake, Inman is not immune to food addiction. He runs so that he can eat “like a fast moving dumpster” (p 18). His words not mine. See what I mean? Funny. There’s more: slaying kraken, being vain, running from Giant Sparrow Bees in the mountains of Japan, tips on running a marathon; there are even race stickers. And much more. I kid you not. Maybe it’s because I am a runner (kinda sorta maybe) but I had more laugh-out-loud moments than I knew what to do with.
As a postscript, I had this quote of Inman’s taped to my treadmill for the longest time (long before I even knew of the Oatmeal or his book): “The Blerch is a horrible anthropomorphized white blob, a monster made of mayonnaise and hatred…” Why did I have this taped to my treadmill? Because everyone has a Blerch.
*I can’t call it a “graphic novel” because it’s not fiction, but it’s not your typical comic book either. You just have to read ti to see what I mean.
Smoothies for Runners Book
Posted: 2015/09/07 Filed under: book review, NonFiction, Running | Tags: 2015, book review, cookbook, Lars Andersen, NonFiction, Running, september Leave a commentAndersen, Lars. The Smoothies for Runners Book. Atlanta: Nordic Standard Publishing, 2012.
I am super glad I didn’t pay a lot for this book (okay, I got it for free). Where do I begin? First of all, it’s supposed to be an e-book. Right in the very beginning, the “How to Use This Book” section it talks about “clickable Table of Content.” Not with print you can’t.
I was also disappointed with the contradictory nutrition information. Andersen writes, “sugar comes in many forms…fruit juices should be consumed in post-run smoothies only” and yet three different pre-run smoothies feature fruit juices (apple, orange and pineapple). Another editing issue was the misinformation about a smoothie on page 49. Andersen talks about the importance of peanut butter as a protein but the smoothie (in the “green” section) doesn’t include peanut butter.
The organization of the recipes is a little wonky. While the smoothies are in three different categories: carbohydrate, multivitamin and green, the pre and post run smoothies are jumbled together. It would have been great to have further organization of all the pre-run smoothies grouped together before the post-run smoothies.
Last complaint – all the recipes come with a black and white photo of the smoothie. That tells me nothing. I’m wondering if the e-book version was in color?
Because Andersen mentioned his other books twice I got the feeling Smoothies for Runners was just a vehicle for promoting his other work. This one just felt cheap.
There are only 36 smoothies in the book and I’ve tried a handful. The “apple, grape, apple juice and honey” smoothie was refreshing but I don’t think it energized my 13 mile run any more than a Gu.
Runner’s World Cookbook
Posted: 2015/09/01 Filed under: book review, NonFiction, Running | Tags: 2015, august, book review, cookbook, Food, leisure, NonFiction, Running Leave a commentGolub, Joanna Sayago and Deena Kastor. Runner’s World Cookbook: 150 Ultimate Recipes for Fueling Up and Slimming Down – While Enjoying Every Bite. Rodale Books, 2013.
Can I tell you how much I loved this cookbook? When it was due back at the owning library I didn’t want to give it up! It took everything I had not to renew it again and again. Everything about the book was gorgeous, from the food to the photography. This is one book I am definitely going to buy for myself had to buy for myself.
As someone who is starting to take running a little more seriously (as in serious enough to train for something longer than a 13.1 miler), I needed a little help with the other parts of (ahem) training. Stuff like strength training and yoga was the start (and oh so helpful), but I needed even more than that and that’s where nutrition came in. I had heard a great deal about the Runner’s World cookbook thanks to magazines like Running for Women. Finally, I borrowed it from a library and was not disappointed. The recipes are yummy and I have lost 12 pounds. So get out there and eat!
Marathon: the Ultimate Training Guide
Posted: 2015/07/14 Filed under: book review, NonFiction, Running | Tags: 2015, book review, Hal Higdon, july, leisure, marathon, NonFiction, Running Leave a commentHigdon, Hal. Marathon: the Ultimate Training Guide. New York: Rodale, 2011.
Reason read: In a word, Vegas!
I’ll be honest – I read this in sporadic fits. I didn’t sit down and read huge chapters all at once, but rather only a few pages at a time. Yes, Hal Higdon is a master at the marathon. Yes, he has run hundreds of races all over the world. Yes, he deserves all the accolades showered on him. But, but. But! It’s a little off-putting when he’s the one tooting his own horn. In the beginning his statistics on how many visitors his website gets, how many people download his marathon plans, and on and on got a little wearisome. His stories of besting other runners left a bad taste in my mouth (one incident in particular – a runner passed him during a marathon and was really excited to have “beaten” the great Higdon. Higdon couldn’t let the runner bask in this feat and instead assured the man he wasn’t racing this marathon but simply running it.) Having said all that, this is not a book that should be ignored. By all means, if you are planning to run a marathon, read this book. I’ll say it again, read this book. It’s a wealth of important information. Everything from nutrition to cross training is there (all the typical information)…and even some advice you might not expect, like a training plan for women designed to work around that time of the month. Yes ladies, there is a plan for your period. So, hubris aside, this is a great resource for every kind of runner.
Runner’s Diet
Posted: 2015/06/26 Filed under: Book Reviews, NonFiction, Running | Tags: 2015, book review, june, NonFiction, nutrition, Running Leave a commentFernstrom, Madeyln. The Runner’s Diet: the Ultimate Eating Plan That Will Make Every Runner (and Walker) Leaner, Faster and Fitter. New York: Rodale, 2005.
Reason : yup. Still on the running kick.
Author fact: Dr. Fernstrom is the founder of the Weight Management Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Book trivia: don’t expect recipes.
The Runner’s Diet is chock full of information, both about running and nutrition. While a great deal of the information is pretty standard stuff, I took it as necessary reminders (keep your head up when you run and be diligent about portion control, for example). Despite the basic hand-holding I think I was looking for more structured information, maybe even specific diet plans. I know that comes from not having the imagination to come up with menus of my own.
