April books
April saw the completion of seven books, including my first audiobooks.
14: Nancy Clark's Food Guide for Marathoners: Tips for Everyday Champions by Nancy Clark. I got this one from the library because I'm still having trouble figuring out how to eat for running. I'm fine for going three miles and under, but anything beyond that finds me running out of steam all too often. There has to be a fix somewhere. Since the book is aimed at people running 26 miles, I can't take the suggestions literally, but I've found I eat way too much fat and not enough complex carbohydrates. I've been trying to cut back on fat (trying...not necessarily succeeding) and to increase the carbs to about 50% of my diet, mostly in the form of fruit, and that seems to be helping, at least on the days I have running clinic. I had to return it to the library immediately after finishing it, because someone else put a hold on it, but I think I'll get back in line and read it again.
15: Marathoning for Mortals: A Regular Person's Guide to the Joy of Running or Walking a Half-Marathon or Marathon by John "The Penguin" Bingham and Coach Jenny Hadfield, M.A., C.P.T. I checked this one out since I'll be starting training soon for the Soaring Wings Half, and because I enjoy John Bingham's columns in Runner's World magazine. This one is way, way, way better than The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women. I propose that one go out of print and with the paper saved they print more copies of this book. The training plans are very do-able (they have you run x many minutes per day instead of x many miles, which seems more comfortable to me) and there's suggestions on food and necessary equipment, sensible advise for beginners and experienced runners alike, and a load of "you can do it" testimonials from real people, including one by LiveJournal's own wildcelticrose on page 176. I'll probably end up getting a used copy of this from Amazon Marketplace so I can refer back to it as I get closer and closer to October.
16: The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (audiobook). John brought this one home from the library at my request, to listen to while we drove to Dallas. This is my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia books, the first one I ever read, when I was about 8 or so, and even now I re-read it ever few years. I love it because it's an excellent adventure and is the only book of the series which can stand alone on its own merits. All the others you have to at least read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to understand. Sophie didn't pay as much attention as I had hoped, but she did listen along, and John thought it was OK too, although I think he would have preferred music. I, however, was delighted by the whole thing. It was like being a little kid and being read to again, and your whole job is just to listen and let your imagination soar. The CDs total a little more than five hours in length, which was also perfect...we started them as we got on the interstate at Mayflower and finished just as we pulled into Craig and Cherise's driveway.
17: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (audiobook). This one was actually my introduction to the world of audiobooks, even though I completed it after The Horse and His Boy above. John brought it to me earlier this year because I was complaining about how boooooooring the treadmill is, even with my iPod. I've been saying for a while now that I intended to re-read HP&TDH before part one of the movie comes out this fall, since I'd only read it the one time (on the day it came out, natch) but I didn't know when I was going to get the time, because it's like 760 pages long and I have so many other books which I haven't read previously that need reading. And even the audiobook is 21 hours long! So when John brought it to me I ripped the whole thing into iTunes and made a "Harry Potter" playlist, and the rule was I could *only* listen to it while running. And it worked well as bait; I was amazed how much detail of the book I'd forgotten in the last three years, and if I wanted to finish a chapter, I had to run that much longer. I'll give this two thumbs up, because again, it's very pleasant to be read to, and because Jim Dale is an excellent narrator. I'm about to start Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters next, but I think once I get that one done I'll get the first Harry Potter book on CD and allow Jim Dale to read the whole series to me.
18: My Jesus Year: A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith by Benyamin Cohen. Benyamin isn't just a rabbi's son, he's an ultra-orthodox rabbi's son. He prays all the prayers and keeps kosher and wears the tztitzis. But he's no longer excited by Judaism and he's always felt a pull towards Christianity, in a grass-is-always-greener sort of way, so he gets approval from his rabbi (not his father) to spend a year investigating different Christian churches, from the Catholics to the Mormons. A very interesting read, especially to get a picture of modern Christianity though the eyes of an outsider.
19: Eat This, Not That! The Best (& Worst!) Foods in America! The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. I checked this one out because I'd seen the column on which the book is based in Men's Health magazine, and because I was curious about the content. This is the 2009 edition of the book, the original of which was published in 2007, and it's amazing how much the franchise has exploded in the past three years. The premise is an appealing one...by making more sensible choices while eating out, you can still eat stuff you want and lose (or at least not gain) any weight. And who wouldn't like that? The books focuses mainly on restaurant meals, which is not quite as useful for me as it might be for someone else, mainly because a) I rarely eat out and 2) many of the chains profiled don't have outlets in the Greater Little Rock area. But it would be a helpful read if, for instance, you travel a lot for business and are frequently stuck eating road food.
20: Bob Dylan Revisited: 13 Graphic Interpretations of Bob Dylan's Songs. Very pretty.
14: Nancy Clark's Food Guide for Marathoners: Tips for Everyday Champions by Nancy Clark. I got this one from the library because I'm still having trouble figuring out how to eat for running. I'm fine for going three miles and under, but anything beyond that finds me running out of steam all too often. There has to be a fix somewhere. Since the book is aimed at people running 26 miles, I can't take the suggestions literally, but I've found I eat way too much fat and not enough complex carbohydrates. I've been trying to cut back on fat (trying...not necessarily succeeding) and to increase the carbs to about 50% of my diet, mostly in the form of fruit, and that seems to be helping, at least on the days I have running clinic. I had to return it to the library immediately after finishing it, because someone else put a hold on it, but I think I'll get back in line and read it again.
15: Marathoning for Mortals: A Regular Person's Guide to the Joy of Running or Walking a Half-Marathon or Marathon by John "The Penguin" Bingham and Coach Jenny Hadfield, M.A., C.P.T. I checked this one out since I'll be starting training soon for the Soaring Wings Half, and because I enjoy John Bingham's columns in Runner's World magazine. This one is way, way, way better than The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women. I propose that one go out of print and with the paper saved they print more copies of this book. The training plans are very do-able (they have you run x many minutes per day instead of x many miles, which seems more comfortable to me) and there's suggestions on food and necessary equipment, sensible advise for beginners and experienced runners alike, and a load of "you can do it" testimonials from real people, including one by LiveJournal's own wildcelticrose on page 176. I'll probably end up getting a used copy of this from Amazon Marketplace so I can refer back to it as I get closer and closer to October.
16: The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (audiobook). John brought this one home from the library at my request, to listen to while we drove to Dallas. This is my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia books, the first one I ever read, when I was about 8 or so, and even now I re-read it ever few years. I love it because it's an excellent adventure and is the only book of the series which can stand alone on its own merits. All the others you have to at least read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to understand. Sophie didn't pay as much attention as I had hoped, but she did listen along, and John thought it was OK too, although I think he would have preferred music. I, however, was delighted by the whole thing. It was like being a little kid and being read to again, and your whole job is just to listen and let your imagination soar. The CDs total a little more than five hours in length, which was also perfect...we started them as we got on the interstate at Mayflower and finished just as we pulled into Craig and Cherise's driveway.
17: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (audiobook). This one was actually my introduction to the world of audiobooks, even though I completed it after The Horse and His Boy above. John brought it to me earlier this year because I was complaining about how boooooooring the treadmill is, even with my iPod. I've been saying for a while now that I intended to re-read HP&TDH before part one of the movie comes out this fall, since I'd only read it the one time (on the day it came out, natch) but I didn't know when I was going to get the time, because it's like 760 pages long and I have so many other books which I haven't read previously that need reading. And even the audiobook is 21 hours long! So when John brought it to me I ripped the whole thing into iTunes and made a "Harry Potter" playlist, and the rule was I could *only* listen to it while running. And it worked well as bait; I was amazed how much detail of the book I'd forgotten in the last three years, and if I wanted to finish a chapter, I had to run that much longer. I'll give this two thumbs up, because again, it's very pleasant to be read to, and because Jim Dale is an excellent narrator. I'm about to start Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters next, but I think once I get that one done I'll get the first Harry Potter book on CD and allow Jim Dale to read the whole series to me.
18: My Jesus Year: A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith by Benyamin Cohen. Benyamin isn't just a rabbi's son, he's an ultra-orthodox rabbi's son. He prays all the prayers and keeps kosher and wears the tztitzis. But he's no longer excited by Judaism and he's always felt a pull towards Christianity, in a grass-is-always-greener sort of way, so he gets approval from his rabbi (not his father) to spend a year investigating different Christian churches, from the Catholics to the Mormons. A very interesting read, especially to get a picture of modern Christianity though the eyes of an outsider.
19: Eat This, Not That! The Best (& Worst!) Foods in America! The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. I checked this one out because I'd seen the column on which the book is based in Men's Health magazine, and because I was curious about the content. This is the 2009 edition of the book, the original of which was published in 2007, and it's amazing how much the franchise has exploded in the past three years. The premise is an appealing one...by making more sensible choices while eating out, you can still eat stuff you want and lose (or at least not gain) any weight. And who wouldn't like that? The books focuses mainly on restaurant meals, which is not quite as useful for me as it might be for someone else, mainly because a) I rarely eat out and 2) many of the chains profiled don't have outlets in the Greater Little Rock area. But it would be a helpful read if, for instance, you travel a lot for business and are frequently stuck eating road food.
20: Bob Dylan Revisited: 13 Graphic Interpretations of Bob Dylan's Songs. Very pretty.