Monday, October 11, 2010

Body 2, Head 0

Instead of mind over matter, my running career seems to consist of faking out my whiny brain, trying to shut down the negative chatter, and just continuing to put one foot in front of the other in a relatively straight line (if not watched carefully, I am like a horse given her head--always turning back to the home stable). Today was a win. I actually forced myself out there and took a run. And I really do mean forced. I did not want to go. I knew I should go. I knew I really needed to go. But I did not want to see the pavement any closer than from the window as I lounged on the couch with a book. Do you see what I am up against mentally with this running thing?! And yet the head lost today because I got out there despite my internal dialogue. Of course, I had to listen to myself trying to defeat me most of the way through the run. On the plus side, by the end of the run, the voices in my head were silent and I didn't feel as badly as I have the past few times out. Signs of improvement I think. Maybe the next time this happens I can actually try running a bit farther instead of stopping. This time though, I was tired of pushing my glasses up my nose and the call of the barking dogs left at home reeled me in.

I don't know how people who wear glasses and not contacts do it. My eyes have been red and itchy and since I was uncertain if I have allergies (never have until I moved here) or if I was suffering from pink eye, I haven't been wearing my contacts. So the run meant that either I ran with glasses or I ran blind. And I mean truly blind. Having had a terrible foot injury when I was able to see and being a klutz of the first degree, I decided that running blind was one of my dumber considerations. And that's going some! So I left my glasses on and plugged away. When the doggoned things weren't slipping down my nose, they were fogging up turning them into a whole new kind of road hazard. I'm going to have to go back to thinking about running blind (still not my best idea) or concede allergies and just put the contacts in regardless.

Other than the glasses thing, the run itself was uneventful. Same route as usual. Same huffing and puffing as usual. Same internal negotiations about when I can stop running as usual. Same jiggly bits as usual (you'd think this would be helping the weight loss plan but it's not). I did learn something new post run though. I learned that if you putz around in your yucky, smelly running clothes long enough for the too small sports bra to dry, it is significantly easier to peel off than when it is oozing sweat. You're welcome for that mental image. :-) And with that bit of worthwhile advice, here's hoping that the body beats the head into submission some more this week and the number of times I run goes up (even if I stop posting about each and every one).

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books.

Books I completed this week are:

The MacKenzies: Cole by Ana Leigh
Dreaming in Chinese by Deborah Fallows
Agnews Grey by Anne Bronte
Running the Books by Avi Steinberg
The Time in Between by David Bergen

Bookmarks are still living in the middle of:

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Great Lakes Nature by Mary Blocksma (this is going to take me all year as I read her year's entries on the corresponding days of this year)
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

Reviews posted this week:

Not one daggummed thing!

Books still needing to have reviews written (as opposed to the ones that are simply awaiting posting):

Safe From the Sea by Peter Geye
The Miner's Daughter by Alice Duncan
Miss You Most of All by Elizabeth Bass
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Secret Confessions of Anne Shakespeare by Arliss Ryan
The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye
The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi
Rainy Lake by Mary Rockcastle
Ill-Equipped for a Life of Sex by Jennifer Lehr
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow
Finding Marco by Kenneth Cancellara
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson
Sweet Dates in Basra by Jessica Jiji
The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
The Laments by George Hagen
Smart Girls Think Twice by Cathie Linz
Proust's Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini
Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Georgia's Kitchen by Jenny Nelson
A Slender Thread by Katharine Davis
Cooking With Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson
Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturini
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Sex, Drugs, and Gelfilte Fish edited by Shana Leibman
Daughter of the Queen of Sheba by Jackie Lyden
The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter by Holly Robinson
Daughter of the Bride by Francesca Segre
Chronicles of a Midlife Crisis by Robyn Harding
Going Away Shoes by Jill McCorkle
Half Empty by David Rakoff
She's Gone Country by Jane Porter
The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart
Huck by Janet Elder
Out of the Shadows by Joanne Rendell
I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee
Never Trust a Rogue by Olivia Drake
After the Fall by Kylie Ladd
Heart With Joy by Steve Cushman
The Lacemakers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri
The Known World by Edward Jones
Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist
Web of Love by Mary Balogh
Pure Dead Frozen by Debi Gliori
The Best American Travel Writing 2009 edited by Simon Winchester
The Concubine's Daughter by Pai Kit Fai
The Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal
The MacKenzies: Cole by Ana Leigh
Dreaming in Chinese by Deborah Fallows
Agnews Grey by Anne Bronte
Running the Books by Avi Steinberg
The Time in Between by David Bergen

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Waiting on Wednesday

This meme is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on.
For me, I can't wait to read: The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart. The book is being released by Tarcher on January 20, 2011. The publisher's site reads:

Many families today are governed by a myriad of technological devices. As they scramble to get ready in the mornings, hardly a word is spoken as the kids text their way out the door and their parents jockey between an overwhelming number of new emails and voicemails.

Such was life for journalist, radio host and mother Susan Maushart. But when she realized that she couldn’t go to the bathroom without her iPhone, she knew something had to change (“I was the Amy Winehouse of Windows Live Messenger. Was it time to check myself in to rehab?”). In The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (And a Mother Who Sleeps with Her iPhone) Pulled the Plug on their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale, Maushart details how her family survived – and even thrived – without technology for six months.

Before undergoing what she and her kids came to call “The Experiment,” Maushart had become increasingly appalled by the way her children, aged 18, 15 and 14, inhabited media: “exactly as fish inhabited a pond – gracefully, unblinkingly and utterly without knowledge of the alternatives.” So when she first pulled the plug on her family’s armory of electronic weaponry, Maushart and her family weren’t sure how to adjust.

But within a matter of weeks, the single mom was astonished to discover that they were actually having meaningful discussions at the dinner table. And before “The Experiment” was all said and done, her daughter rediscovered sleep; her son rediscovered his saxophone; and Maushart rediscovered her relationships with all three of her children.

Insightful and deliciously witty, The Winter of our Disconenct reveals how technology, though often necessary for our lives and work, can prevent us from nurturing our most important relationships. Using the most recent research to support her personal experience, Maushart shows how having fewer tools to communicate with can actually help us to communicate more.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Exercise and all that fun stuff

So today was training day 3. Yes, I know I started last Wednesday (and yes, today was garbage day too but apparently I timed it correctly as there was no truck in evidence today and I only had to smell unpleasantness from the cans too full to close, but I digress) which means I rested more days than I ran but I did also have a day with a tennis match in there too. And seeing as we lost in a 3 set tie breaker, I'm willing to fudge it a little and say that it partially counts as an exercise day. Of course, we lost because of a combination of lack of conditioning on my part and unforced errors (also sadly mainly attributable to me thanks to the aforementioned lack of conditioning) so the day just reinforced the need for me to be out on the road putting in the mile(s). And in case I needed additional reinforcements, only one of my very cute tennis skirts still fits me. Worse yet, today's sports bra (no, I didn't run *or* do laundry this weekend but I did dress up like Gene Simmons in KISS so I was more productive than you thought, no?) no longer contains all it was designed to contain so I look like I'm smuggling very lumpy cantalopes in my bra. And you know any time you start comparing a part of your anatomy to rotten fruit, things have gotten out of hand. So I was back out on the road today.

The weather was perfect for running with only a mild breeze. I felt phenomenal. It was almost like being in shape again. Then I turned the first corner and hit the first hill. My short lived dream of feeling good when I run right now died a miserable death. The women walking behind me whom I had just passed were dangerously close to overtaking me (how mortifying would that be?) so I powered up the hill and lost them. OK, they made a different turn than I did but it sounds like I actually put on a burst of speed if I say it the other way. I started feeling reasonably decent again at the halfway point but was back into self-negotiation mode by the time I hit a mile. I was also breathing like I have emphysema and not interested in swallowing my own spit by that point. Yes, I must have made a charming sight: dumpy brunette chugging down the road hawking loogies about every fourth foot fall. My neighbors who work have no idea the spectacle they're missing. I did manage to run all the way home again instead of stopping short and once at my driveway, I tried to take my pulse. Nevermind that I had no watch to time it with. It was clear that the poor overworked heart was pumping somewhere between cardio workout and heart attack level, probably leaning closer to heart attack.

Now I'm feeling good that I went out and did it. Tomorrow is a spin class and Thursday is another tennis match. Friday could be more tennis but I'm sure I'll squeeze in some more running soon. I have to really since I'm behind the training schedule for the half in January. Good news though, my sister is behind too and says she thinks she'll have to walk some of it. Not that I believe her for one moment especially since she probably walks faster than I run. But I'm on it now.

Monday, October 4, 2010

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books.

Books I completed this week are:

Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist
Web of Love by Mary Balogh
Pure Dead Frozen by Debi Gliori
The Best American Travel Writing 2009 edited by Simon Winchester
The Concubine's Daughter by Pai Kit Fai
The Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal

Bookmarks are still living in the middle of:

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Great Lakes Nature by Mary Blocksma (this is going to take me all year as I read her year's entries on the corresponding days of this year)
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal

Reviews posted this week:

Honolulu by Alan Brennert

Books still needing to have reviews written (as opposed to the ones that are simply awaiting posting):

Safe From the Sea by Peter Geye
The Miner's Daughter by Alice Duncan
Miss You Most of All by Elizabeth Bass
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Secret Confessions of Anne Shakespeare by Arliss Ryan
The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye
The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi
Rainy Lake by Mary Rockcastle
Ill-Equipped for a Life of Sex by Jennifer Lehr
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow
Finding Marco by Kenneth Cancellara
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson
Sweet Dates in Basra by Jessica Jiji
The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
The Laments by George Hagen
Smart Girls Think Twice by Cathie Linz
Proust's Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini
Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Georgia's Kitchen by Jenny Nelson
A Slender Thread by Katharine Davis
Cooking With Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson
Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturini
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Sex, Drugs, and Gelfilte Fish edited by Shana Leibman
Daughter of the Queen of Sheba by Jackie Lyden
The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter by Holly Robinson
Daughter of the Bride by Francesca Segre
Chronicles of a Midlife Crisis by Robyn Harding
Going Away Shoes by Jill McCorkle
Half Empty by David Rakoff
She's Gone Country by Jane Porter
The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart
Huck by Janet Elder
Out of the Shadows by Joanne Rendell
I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee
Never Trust a Rogue by Olivia Drake
After the Fall by Kylie Ladd
Heart With Joy by Steve Cushman
The Lacemakers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri
The Known World by Edward Jones
Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist
Web of Love by Mary Balogh
Pure Dead Frozen by Debi Gliori
The Best American Travel Writing 2009 edited by Simon Winchester
The Concubine's Daughter by Pai Kit Fai
The Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Interview with Katharine Davis, author of A Slender Thread

A big welcome today to Katharine Davis, author of East Hope, Capturing Paris, and her latest book, A Slender Thread. Katharine was a good sport about answering my questions:

Which book or books are on your bedside table right now?

Tinkers, by Paul Harding. I read it early in the summer but it’s a must re-read. I just finished Father of the Rain, by Lily King which left me breathless –a truly gripping story. I’m also dipping in and out of E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View because I’m working on a novel that takes place in Florence.

What was your favorite book when you were a child?

The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I can’t remember anything about it now but I remember reading it over and over.

What book would you most want to read again for the first time?

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier. It was the first adult book I remember reading and has one of the greatest first lines in fiction “Last night I dreamt I was at Manderly” or something close to that. That novel turned me into a reader.

How did you get started writing?

I’ve always been a huge reader and writers were the rock stars of my world. I’d had a career teaching French, raised two children, and at the age of 50 decided to “become” a writer- if not then, when? I quickly learned that I loved to write and stopped worrying about “being a writer.” So, I’m an extremely late bloomer and I do get a little cranky reading those lists of the brilliant ones under forty! If you love writing, it’s never too late.

If you heard someone describing your books (or just the latest book) to a friend out in public, how would you most like to hear them describe them/it?

I would love to hear, “A Slender Thread was an amazing book. I can’t imagine how Lacey survived. You just have to read it.”

What's the coolest thing that's happened to you since becoming a published author?

I think getting fan emails from strangers. I am always delighted to hear good things from readers- I love knowing my books are being read and enjoyed.

What was the first thing you did when you heard that you were going to be published?

I called my husband, my children, and all my friends. I was so excited. Then I worried that “they” would change their mind. Had I really heard this correctly?

Tell us three interesting or offbeat but true things about yourself.

I learned to drive in Switzerland and my teacher wore a lab coat and swore at me in German. I hate pigeons and cross the street if a group of them are in my path. I never smoked because I hate lighting those little paper matches.

If you couldn’t be an author, what profession would you choose and why?

I’d love to be a country singer and tell sad love stories in perfect harmony. In reality I’m not at all musical, can’t sing, or play an instrument. Yet, I think it would be a thrill to sing outside if front of a huge audience under a starlit sky. This will never happen!

What’s the hardest thing about writing, besides having to answer goofy interview questions like these?

Keeping the faith. Can I get the story that’s growing inside my head onto the page and make it live for a reader? Can I stay with it month after month, year after year? The most difficult thing is believing in myself and not giving up.

Are you working on something new now? If so, give us a teaser for it.

I’ve started a novel that takes place in Florence, Italy in 1969. Three women, aged 21, 51, and 81 are all at the same Pensione and their lives intersect in unexpected ways. This summer I’m cooking Italian, playing Italian language CD’s in my car, and of course I hope to visit Florence for necessary research.

Be sure to check out Katharine Davis' website for more information about the book and for her Thursday Thoughts Blog.

Friday, October 1, 2010

It's National Reading Group Month!

October is a busy month. It's National Breast Cancer Awareness month. It's the lead up to Halloween. And best of all for those of us who are book obsessed, it is National Reading Group month. And that means that the Women's National Book Association has published it's annual list of Great Group Reads. Once again I was lucky enough to be on the panel that selected these wonderful books. They're books to read and discuss with others. They'll make you think and argue and laugh. Hopefully they will inspire great discussions in book groups, in stores, on the bus, and on street corners. I've read them all (duh!) so I have my favorites among them (no one but my mom can get that info from me though, sorry). Now I'm challenging you to read them and let me know what your favorite or favorites are. And I won't even give you a time limit to do it in, especially not the insanely abbreviated time limit in which I had to read them!

Here's the official list of the lucky thirteen in the order they appear on the official page which also has blurbs and links to other resources:

Blame by Michelle Huneven
The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle
Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship by Cathie Beck
Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin
Room by Emma Donoghue
Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye
Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson

Now get reading!

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