I read the best book! NO MORE MONDAYS!

I read No More Mondays and I was so inspired! It's about how we find what we need to do through thinking about where you want to go. Some of the stuff in there is common sense but a lot of it just rang true! I do so enjoy the work I do, I love getting to travel but I continue to struggle with the Mommy stuff - like wanting to be home!
So, I read this because I listen to Dave Ramsey a lot and I love his book -
and he mentions Dan Miller as an inspiration. If you know me you know I LOVE LOVE LOVE Dave Ramsey and am following the Total Money Makeover.

I am not going to do a whole review on it because I returned it to the Library, but I will say that I did BUY 48 Days to the work you love - after I read the No More Mondays and I am going to start finding a way to love the things I do!

Best part is - Dan Miller and Dave Ramsey both have a podcast that I download to my ITouch and listen to while I work out or in the car. You should try it.

Book Review: Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

Ah, a lovely read! I love the way Sophie makes me happy and sad at the same time... And even though I knew how it would end from midway through, I still WANTED to keep reading!

"Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella - copyright 2009

"Where's my necklace?" That's how the story starts, at a funeral for a 105 year old woman. It's a ghost story that's not quite the same as every ghost story you have read. So, Lara, our heroine, gets roped into searching for a beautiful necklace for her great aunt Sadie. And through the twists and turns, and ups and downs, this book is a good read.

Sadie is a fun gal, who, even though she lived to 105 years old, never really got past her first love. Much like Lara is trying to do. Sadie is an impractical ghost, with many demands and an interesting way of getting what she wants. Sadie finds a man for herself, but needs Lara to do the "human" thing so she can go on a date with him.

Lara is trying to have a life, get over an old flame, start her own business and find a necklace. She does find the necklace, but it's just out of her reach. And, as she falls for Sadie's guy, she is torn between the kinship she feels for Sadie and the real feelings she is having for the guy.

A journey of Lara's leads to a discovery of information that helps Sadie to have some peace about how her life was lived out. And it reminds us that everyone is someone who has lived and enjoyed life no matter what we think about it. All of us have a story. And telling it sometimes makes us sad but nonetheless also gives us healing. And helps those who choose to listen.

Book Review: The Bride of Casa Dracula

This book is the 3rd in the series of books by Marta Acosta about a Milagro De Los Santos - a vampire book. You know I love the vampire genre. I have already read the other two books prior to this one.

"The Bride Of Casa Dracula" by Marta Acosta, copyright 2008.

I'm never quite sure why Milagro is so entranced with Dr. Oswald, but she is. I think she wants to be normal and no matter what she does, it just is not her. The cutting, the vampire council, and Ian. That's what this book is about.

Edna, her favorite foil, is off with her paramour, and Milagro is left to deal with Cornelia and Oswald. You get the feeling from the very beginning that Oswald wants Milagro to be normal as well. I honestly think that what he loves about her free spirit is what he eventually decides is the straw that broke the camel's back.

Milagro tries throughout the book to deny to herself that Ian is the best choice for her, and in the end I am still not sure I don't agree. But she gives in - to Ian - and it just seems to work. Her friend Nancy designs Oz and Milagro's wedding but alas, it is not to be.

I do wish that Milagro would not be so worried about taking a man's money - let them give it if they want I say. She has done without love for her entire life, her mother and her ethnicity against her. Perhaps she will decide she loves Ian after all. Perhaps she will become a nun - highly unlikely.

Part of Milagro's problem seems to be that she is trying to be what others want her to be, and not what her destiny is. I do hope that Ian means it when he says that is what he will give her. She deserves that much. And I hope in the next book she writes more stories and gets credit for them.

I could not put this book down, wondering what Ms. De Los Santos was going to do next. I hope you love it like I do.

A Book Review: the end of overeating by David A. Kessler, MD

The End of Overeating (313 pages) is not my normal type of book to read, but I am an RD (dietitian) and I do find this body of work to be interesting because - I am overweight and overeat!

Wow, this book made me hungry. To start out with, most of the book is written at a great level for a person with a few years of college to understand. It promises to change the way you look at food forever, and I suppose it will. I can't look at a huge portion the same, and think, I can eat just half because Dr. Kessler is sure that I cannot stop at one.

This is a story about our insatiable appetite for sugar, salt and fat. Man, he describes so many delicious foods that I can't help but think of them while he's describing them. Which is what he is talking about, how we are obsessed with food and eating it - that it does not make us feel better only worse and through continued "conditioned hypereating" we gain more and more weight.

It is a rational explanation for the process our body goes through when we eat more than we need and more than we want. It seems to explain why we crave foods and eat food when we are full or satiated. He spends a great deal of the book explaining the phenomenon. So, I am clear when I say I understand how high sugar, fat and sodium lead me to eat more of the same.

But, nothing really of substance about what to do with it. I don't know if that is his plan, not to give us a guide but more of a description of the issue. He does say, eat less... Which all of us know. I can't say I am sure I like the amount of useful information in the book, because as a lay person I don't see a lot of use. Nonetheless, I am going to start working on logging my eating because of all of the things that work or don't, I think that helps the most.

Book Review: Breaking Dawn (4th in the Twilight Series) by Stephenie Meyer

It only took me a couple of days to make it through the 754 pages of Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer.
I do disclose some information that you might not want to know, so be wary if you read. But I won't tell you the ending.

"All I really saw was Edward's face; it filled my vision and overwhelmed my mind" (Bella)

Breaking Dawn is about children, Renesmee in particular. But I will start at the beginning if I can. They actually got married! In the first few hundred pages, so I had to wonder, what's going to happen - and what's with all the foreshadowing of "innocent children" and Bella dreaming of babies. Well, it's not long before we learn that Bella is pregnant with Edward's baby.

And then we see things from Jacob's point of view, whom I feel very sympathetic to about Bella, and learn of Bella's struggles through his eyes. Finally, the time has come for the birth, and with a baby that is half vampire, half human - it's a rough go. Nonetheless - at this point there are too many pages left for Bella to die, so she does not. Becoming an excellent newborn vampire with amazing control, and her own special power - that is something I won't tell you. The final chapters are about the struggle to save her precious baby, Renesmee. From the ever present Volturi, who see this baby as a violation of the laws.

This writing is superb! She could have made this book into many, but she keeps it together as one. The foreshadowing and developments and surprises in this book are many and I must say - extremely creative without being outside of the realm of the "supernatural" reality we are in with the series. Things that happened in the first book are still making an impact in the 4th, which is something very unexpected.

And the love that a mother feels for her child, the ability to share her child with others, and the strength of her bonds to all seem to tie this book together. At times, I disliked all of the vampire family (the Cullens) - but not for long. Each of them returns to the easy and lovely person I have loved all along. I even disliked Edward, but only for a second and it's easily forgiven. So, yes, I am still in love with him!

And in the end, everything is resolved that I needed to know about to feel peace with the series and a feeling that it had closure. That was a wonderful feeling. But as my friend said, I miss Edward. Such a love that he feels for Bella and has waited for is not a trivial thing for adults much less a teen. This is my favorite book of the series, by far.

"Forever and forever and forever" he murmured. "That sounds exactly right to me".

Book Review of the Week

I love Jennifer Crusie, she is such a great writer! I read her recent re-release of "Strange Bedpersons" this past week, and I think it's a winner!

First of all, I have read many books of hers, and I must say the newer books are very different, with stronger women and more complex plots. But, this one is as simple and lovely as they could be. I liked the spunk in Tess, the main character, but I felt the other people were superficially developed and could have had more depth. I kind of wondered what their motivation was, and throughout the book I was given hints but nothing solid. And my other thought is that Tess gives in too easily to Nick. For a feminist, she enjoys being taken care of.

But the story is fun, goes quickly and predictably, and the love is clear. I think it was a good read, and the sexual encounters are exciting and fun. Sort of like a harlequin romance, I knew how it would end but I did like the journey. And the interaction with Christine and Nick are worthwhile, she's a great secretary. So, I would say read this book if you can, you won't be sorry.

Book Review: Thank You for Smoking

This week I read the book Thank You for Smoking, Christopher Buckley, 1994.

You may wonder why I read such an old book but the truth is that I have read some of Christopher Buckley's new works and I have been wondering what the heck some of the acclaim is about. So I thought I would read the first book, since Nick Naylor is referenced in other books.

Can I just say that Nick Naylor is the King of Spin? He works for the Tobacco Lobby back before it totally lost all of it's teeth with the states suing them. And in this book, he is dispicable... You can tell he's doing it for the money, but then the "Captain" gets him inspired and next thing you know all heck breaks loose.

Nick is kidnapped and stuck all over with Nicotine patches, which ultimately causes him to stop smoking. (Throughout the book, he's a heavy smoker). What was meant to kill him does not work, and he becomes a celebrity. Later, the FBI is investigating and ultimately arrests him for "faking" the kidnapping.

I like Nick Naylor because he is an unlikely hero. I think that he knows he is doing terrible things but justifies them in his head. And, in the end, he does an about face as the real villian is brought to light. I like it that he feels he should do some pennance for his bad deeds and goes to jail for 2.5 years anyway. I suppose everyone gets their just desserts in this book by the end. It is an easy read, and quite funny at parts.

A Book Review: Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

The third book in the Twilight series, I will admit I am an addict.

Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer, copywright 2007.

I wonder sometimes how a 600+ page book can hold you throughout. I believe it is the love story of Edward and Bella that makes me keep reading, wondering what will happen.

I was drawn into the book because the ying/yang that is presented by Bella having 2 male suitors who are opposite in many ways. There are things to dislike about Edward, after all he left Bella for the entire last book, so she fell into the arms of Jacob. And guess what, Jacob does not want to let go. Who could blame him? Vampires are the mortal enemies of werewolves.

But Bella is addicted to Edward and seems to lose herself whenever she is near him. I'm not sure I find that empowering, but it is very teenager. And yes, there is always the issue because she is human and has a few mad, angry Vampires chasing after her. Victoria is back, and she has a great plan to create a diversion for the rest of the clan and get her revenge on Bella. In the end, as expected, Bella is fine.

But the deeper story here is that Bella must decide between the two boys who are enamoured with her. And your heart aches throughout the story for Jacob who you can sense is not going to have a fair fight, but he has a plan. Ah, how I wish I could have heard more of what Jacob thought throughout the book! Bella must decide, and that she does, but you have to wonder how such a solid decision could be made at this young age. I guess we all think we are grown at 18, only to realize it is just a foolish charade!

The fights, the winners and losers in the battles, and the teenage angst are very predictable, but if you like a happy ending you will not find one, because this one leaves you not so sure that Bella is sure about what she has chosen. The meadow, the field, the Cullens and La Push, I feel that I know the town of Forks so well. Will Bella be able to actually leave? Such a big decision to make.

I read these books because I myself am in love with Edward, and all of the beautiful vampires that Bella encounters. They are mesmerizing, and I read to learn what might happen next. So, I am off to the library to get the next book in the series.