Too Many Damn Vampires and Much Good Wisdom
Keep Your Literature Off My Body!
Did I tell you I gave up on the Twilight series? As tashewolf predicted, I got to Book 4 of 4 and turned a corner to find the author sucking on a crack pipe and I could take no more! There was a rather significant plot development early in Book 4 which I found to be repugnant, and that was it for me! I read a paragraph. I slammed the book shut. It stayed on my nightstand for two weeks should curiosity get the best of me as I thought it might. Never did. After two weeks, I just returned the book to the coworker who loaned it to me. I asked him to give me the bullet points of what happened next. I'm so happy I stopped reading! That was surely the right choice for me. Had I continued, I would have thrown a shoe. And even beyond that, with the ridiculous frequent theft from Wuthering Heights, how did I not see one more robbery coming? Silly me, I feel foolish for not calling it. Oh well. Glad I left that by the wayside. Book 1 was delicious junk food. Books 2 and 3 were just overstuffing myself long past the point of hunger. Book 4 was nauseating to me.
Personal Finance Reading
Much more enjoyably, I just finished reading Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan. READ THIS BOOK. No, really. Read it. Read it if you're doing well, read it if you're not doing well, read it if you're confused about your money and what to do this year. Read it. I love Suze Orman's plain speaking no nonsense style. She has such a wonderful way of cutting to the heart of matters to deal easily understood advice, and make sure you understand what she's saying. Suze also acknowledges the emotional component of finance which a lot of other financial gurus ignore. It's easy to know what the smart decision is, but it's not always easy to follow it. Suze is mindful of that sort of emotional difficulty, and incorporates it into her advice. This book has lots of good advice for people who are struggling with money this year, and good specifics on houses, loans, student loans, retirement funds, healthcare. In her typically wonderful way, she also has, "How can I do better?" advice for people who aren't yet struggling. One paragraph I particularly enjoyed offered 3 simply challenges to the reader. Can you...
...go one day without spending any money at all?
...go one week without charging anything on a credit card?
...go one month without eating in a restaurant?
Ouch, Suze -- that smarts! I know you said at the beginning of the book that this is an action plan, not a study plan, but I didn't think you meant me! The first two items on that list would pose no problem for me -- but the third? No restaurants? Really? For a whole month? Well... I'll think about it! How's that? I know, "Not good enough," I know....
Anyway, do yourself a favor and read this one. It's a quick read, and you can easily skip the sections that don't apply to you. The ones that do are so totally worth the price of admission.
Trace
Did I tell you I gave up on the Twilight series? As tashewolf predicted, I got to Book 4 of 4 and turned a corner to find the author sucking on a crack pipe and I could take no more! There was a rather significant plot development early in Book 4 which I found to be repugnant, and that was it for me! I read a paragraph. I slammed the book shut. It stayed on my nightstand for two weeks should curiosity get the best of me as I thought it might. Never did. After two weeks, I just returned the book to the coworker who loaned it to me. I asked him to give me the bullet points of what happened next. I'm so happy I stopped reading! That was surely the right choice for me. Had I continued, I would have thrown a shoe. And even beyond that, with the ridiculous frequent theft from Wuthering Heights, how did I not see one more robbery coming? Silly me, I feel foolish for not calling it. Oh well. Glad I left that by the wayside. Book 1 was delicious junk food. Books 2 and 3 were just overstuffing myself long past the point of hunger. Book 4 was nauseating to me.
Personal Finance Reading
Much more enjoyably, I just finished reading Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan. READ THIS BOOK. No, really. Read it. Read it if you're doing well, read it if you're not doing well, read it if you're confused about your money and what to do this year. Read it. I love Suze Orman's plain speaking no nonsense style. She has such a wonderful way of cutting to the heart of matters to deal easily understood advice, and make sure you understand what she's saying. Suze also acknowledges the emotional component of finance which a lot of other financial gurus ignore. It's easy to know what the smart decision is, but it's not always easy to follow it. Suze is mindful of that sort of emotional difficulty, and incorporates it into her advice. This book has lots of good advice for people who are struggling with money this year, and good specifics on houses, loans, student loans, retirement funds, healthcare. In her typically wonderful way, she also has, "How can I do better?" advice for people who aren't yet struggling. One paragraph I particularly enjoyed offered 3 simply challenges to the reader. Can you...
...go one day without spending any money at all?
...go one week without charging anything on a credit card?
...go one month without eating in a restaurant?
Ouch, Suze -- that smarts! I know you said at the beginning of the book that this is an action plan, not a study plan, but I didn't think you meant me! The first two items on that list would pose no problem for me -- but the third? No restaurants? Really? For a whole month? Well... I'll think about it! How's that? I know, "Not good enough," I know....
Anyway, do yourself a favor and read this one. It's a quick read, and you can easily skip the sections that don't apply to you. The ones that do are so totally worth the price of admission.
Trace