Karen's Book Nook

I read Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert while taking my daily walks.

About the book: Most of us spend our lives steering ourselves toward the best of all possible futures, only to find that tomorrow rarely turns out as we had presumed. Why? As Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains, when people try to imagine what the future will hold, they make some basic and consistent mistakes. Just as memory plays tricks on us when we try to look backward in time, so does imagination play tricks when we try to look forward.

Using cutting-edge research, much of it original, Gilbert shakes, cajoles, persuades, tricks, and jokes us into accepting the fact that happiness is not really what or where we thought it was.

Smart, witty, accessible, and laugh-out-loud funny, Stumbling on Happiness brilliantly describes all that science has to tell us about the uniquely human endeavor to envision the future, and how likely we are to enjoy it when we get there.

My thoughts: This book was not what I was expecting at all. I thought it would be a zen type of book talking about the way to attain happiness and focusing on feelings and expectations, priorities, enjoying the simple things in life… etc.  What it turned out to be was a heavily science based look at the way the brain works and perspectives. I liked that it was read by the author and also that I took it in “3 mile doses” as it was a lot to digest. It was recommended to me by a friend and had it not been, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up as it’s not the typical read for me.

Rating 3/5

I finally finished Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

About the book: Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s revolutionary diet is not about willpower, it is about knowledge. Eat to Live offers a healthy, effective, and scientifically proven Six-Week Plan for shedding a radical amount of weight quickly. The key to the program’s success is simple: health = nutrients: calories When the ratio of nutrients to calories in the food you eat is high, fat melts away. The more nutrient-dense food you consume, the more you will be satisfied with fewer calories and the less you will crave fat and high-calorie foods. Eat to Live will help you live longer, reduce your need for medications, and improve your overall health dramatically. It is a book that will change the way you want to eat. Most of all, though, Eat to Live will enable you to lose more weight than you ever thought possible.

My thoughts: Since I’m a vegetarian and “mostly vegan” anyway, I was anxious to read this book. I love his philosophy and hope that I can incorporate what I learned into my day to day living. Giving up caffeine will be tough as will losing my taste for junk food. I don’t eat tons of it but do love chips and sweets. Eating meals will be no problem it’s the snacking that always does me in!  Although this was a library book, I likely will purchase it because I like the recipes in it and would like to pick it up when I start to waver in my eating for health lifestyle.

Rating 5/5

Counts towards: Library Challenge, 100 Book Challenge

My latest quick read and purse book was Go Tweet Yourself: 365 Reasons Why Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other Social Media Networking Sites Suck by Janelle Randazza.

About the book:

My Thoughts:  It’s True!! LOL… I am a Twitter early adopter and belong to most Social Networking sites but everything she said about them is true. I laughed out loud at a lot of the points that she made and she picked up on all of the annoying things about the sites that I find and complain about.  Regardless, I still Tweet and use Facebook daily to keep in touch with my friends.

Rating 5/5

Having a husband with Celiac’s Disease, I’m always interested in books about living a Gluten Free lifestyle. I picked up The G Free Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

About the book:  Elizabeth Hasslebeck For years Elisabeth Hasselbeck couldn’t figure out what was making her sick. She asked doctors and consulted nutritionists but no one seemed to have any answers. It wasn’t until spending time in the Australian Outback living off the land on the grueling Survivor TV show that ironically her symptoms vanished. Returning home she pinpointed the food that made her sick — gluten the binding element in wheat. By simply eliminating it from her diet she was able to enjoy a completely normal healthy life. But that wasn’t all. Hasselbeck discovered the myriad benefits that anyone can enjoy from a gluten-free diet: from weight loss and increased energy to even the alleviation of the conditions of autism. In this all-inclusive book Hasselbeck shares her hard-earned wisdom on living life without gluten and loving it. She gives you everything you need to know to start living a gluten-free life from defining gluten – where to find it how to read food labels – to targeting gluten-free products creating G-Free shopping lists sharing recipes and managing G-Free living with family and friends.
My thoughts: Since we have been living this lifestyle for quite a few years now, the information about Celiacs and food was not new to me but good just the same. For someone new into the journey, the information is useful.  I personally was interested in her story of  discovery of her disease.  Also, because the G-Free person in my home is a male, I never paid much attention to Gluten in beauty products. In fact, I never realized that some cosmetics could contain gluten and should be avoided. There is also a chapter on eating G-Free for good health even if one does not have Celiacs.

Rating 4/5

Counts towards: Library Challenge, 100 Book Challenge,

My little purse book was The Power of No: How to Keep Blowhards and Bozos at Bay by Beth Wareham.  I read snippets here and there when I had a few moments.

About the book: The terrible yes years. You know them well: You’re suckered into working late and often, unflattering haircuts and poodle perms, back-fat-exposing blouses, too small jeans, treacherous friendships, and dudes who kiss like a Saint Bernard all because you couldn’t use that one little word that one little word with so much power N-O. More here.

My thoughts:  Much of this book was irrelevant to me because I’m not in the dating scene but I did get a few laughs from it. Her  writing style is “in your face” and she didn’t beat around the bush. It was a good little book to carry around and read in sections.  Since I feel that I have a good balance of commitment and being able to say No in my life, it wasn’t a “necessary” read for me but for some folks, it may be.

Rating 3/5

Counts towards: Library Challenge, 100 Book Challenge

I finally was able to get to  The Time of My Life by Patrick Swayze & Lisa Niemi. I had it on request as soon as I saw her on Oprah and she mentioned it.

About the book:

In a career spanning more than thirty years, Patrick Swayze has made a name for himself on the stage, the screen, and television. Known for his versatility, passion and fearlessness, he’s become one of our most beloved actors.

But in February 2008, Patrick announced he had been diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Always a fighter, he refused to let the disease bring him to his knees, and his bravery has inspired both his legion of fans and cancer patients everywhere. Yet this memoir, written with wisdom and heart, recounts much more than his bout with cancer. In vivid detail, Patrick describes his Texas upbringing, his personal struggles, his rise to fame with North and South, his commercial breakthroughs in Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and the soul mate who’s stood by his side through it all: his wife, writer and director Lisa Niemi.

A behind-the-scenes look at a Hollywood life and a remarkable love, this memoir is both entertainment and inspiration. Patrick and Lisa’s marriage is a journey of two lives intertwined and lived as one–throughout their years in Hollywood and at home on their working ranch outside Los Angeles, and culminating in the hope and wisdom they’ve imparted to all who know them. This book will open the door for families, individuals, and husbands and wives to grow, bond and discover entirely new levels of love and sharing, proving that life shouldn’t be lived as a series of endings, but rather as the beginning of greater strength and love.

My thoughts: I enjoyed this autobiography and it was a quick read. It really was about his life, marriage  and career and didn’t focus on his illness. There is a mention of it in the last chapter and that ultimately was the reason to write the book in the first place but the story was definitely about his life and career not his death. Of course we all know how it ended but when this book was written he was still looking forward.

Rating 3.5/5

Counts towards: Library Challenge, 100 Book Challenge

Started my new audiobook Pointing from the Grave: A True Story of Murder and DNA by Samantha Weinberg today while working around the house and going out and about.

About the book: Weaving together cutting-edge genetics and forensic criminology, courtroom drama and multiple perspectives, Weinberg’s book is an ambitious and riveting tale of crime and the science that has been developed to counter it. In 1984, Helena Greenwood, a chemical pathologist and successful executive in the burgeoning biotech industry, is sexually assaulted in her San Francisco home. Paul Frediani is eventually arrested as the primary suspect-after he is caught exposing himself to a 13-year-old girl. But following the initial arraignment, Greenwood is found viciously murdered in the front yard of her new home in Southern California. More here.

Reading another one by one of my favorite educators, Esme Raji Codell.  It’s a booklist of sorts with lots of suggestions of children’s literature throughout the ages.

About the book:

Are children reading enough? Not according to most parents and teachers, who know that reading aloud with children fosters a lifelong love of books, ensures better standardized test scores, promotes greater success in school, and helps instill the values we most want to pass on.

Esmé Codell-an inspiring children’s literature specialist and an energetic teacher-has the solution. She’s turned her years of experience with children, parents, librarians, and fellow educators into a great big indispensable volume designed to help parents get their kids excited about reading.

Here are hundreds of easy and inventive ideas, innovative projects, creative activities, and inspiring suggestions that have been shared, tried, and proven with children from birth through eighth grade.

Rereading two books by an inspirational teacher… Rafe Esquith. I read them both a few years ago but pulled them back out again. Good teachers are always learning and it’s important to remember why we wanted to teach in the first place, especially during a trying year…..

Reading paper books is tough now that I’m in school but I’m still squeezing in some audio books while commuting and working around the house. Today’s book is Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope by Jenna Bush.

Written and read by former First Daughter, Jenna Bush.

About the book:

Ana’s story begins the day she is born with HIV, transmitted from her mother, who dies just a few years later. From then on, Ana’s childhood becomes a blur of secrets—about her illness, her family, and the abuse she endures. Shuffled from home to home, Ana rarely finds safety or acceptance. But after she falls in love and becomes pregnant at seventeen, she embarks on a journey that leads her to new beginnings, new sorrows, and new hope.

Based on her work with UNICEF and inspired by the framework of one girl’s life, Jenna Bush tells the story of many children around the world who are excluded from basic care, support, and education. Resources at the back of this book share how you can help children like Ana and protect yourself and others.