The Diet Dropout's Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find your easiest path to naturally thin by Stan Spencer

No hype. No fluff. This slim book is packed with myth-busting facts and practical advice.


You will learn:

The truth about common weight loss myths

The secret to losing weight and keeping it off

Why "fat genes" can't keep you from being thin

How to naturally boost your metabolism

How to calm cravings and quit emotional eating

How to keep a "slip" from becoming a binge

How to eat less without going hungry

How to get more exercise and enjoy it

And much more

With this book you will create your own weight loss plan—your easiest path to naturally thin. Take your first steps on the path today and leave dieting behind forever.

OK, so this is one of those books that I tried to win from Goodreads - many, many times. I finally gave up on entering after I lost something like 5 or 6 times. Imagine my shock when I realized my library system had picked it up! I would get to read it/see it after all, and I didn't have to keep being a "loser".

So this is definitely a different diet book - there's no "diet" here. The author provides the basic weight loss advice that we've been told for years, the one we really don't want to hear since we're looking for an easy fix: eat less overall, make healthier food choices, and get some exercise. Really, that's it! But it's laid out in a nice, easy-to-digest manner (no pun intended). Short chapters that explain why we are probably overweight now (changes to how food is prepared in conjunction with a much more sedentary lifestyle), how to handle cravings and stress, and how to start losing weight. There's a few basic recipes at the end of the book, and that's it.

So why did I enjoy this? Well, because I think it's the sort of thing that would actually be worth the money to have at home. It's inexpensive at $11 for the physical book, even less for the e-book ($2.99 for the Kindle version). It's got a little bit of cheerleading for the reader, but not so much that it's a turn-off. There's great advice about going slowly, how to add a healthy choice to each meal, how to get just a bit more exercise, etc. And lots of comments about how you shouldn't just throw in the towel if you have an "off day" or even an "off" meal. The doctor wisely reminds the reader that this is a life-style change, that it should be looked at for the long haul, and so mistakes/slips are going to be part of the process. That's probably the downfall of a lot of dieters - giving up just because they eat a cookie (or 20) or skip exercise one day (or a week).

I'm very glad to see this in our library, and I'll be recommending it to our patrons. And yes, I think I just might be buying a copy of this for myself.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Well, I read almost 400 pages, that is. Then I finally threw in the towel and gave up. I don't understand the fascination with Gabaldon's Outlander series. I never felt any great romance between Claire and Frank (her hubby in the here-and-now). In fact, she seemed rather bored with him at the beginning of the book. And while I did like Jaime, again, I didn't feel like it was a great romance, more two characters brought together by circumstances who happen to have some chemistry.

Bigger problems for me with the time-travel aspect. Why, oh why, doesn't Claire freak out more when she suddenly finds herself 200-300 years in the past? She's entirely too calm about the whole thing for my taste. I would alternate between "OMG, get me outta here!" and "Must be an acid flashback, a horrible fever, I'm dead" etc. Nope, she's just sort of "Hmm...OK, I'm in the same location but not the same century. Oh well!"

Finally intruding on my suspension of disbelief is the language issue. She says more than once that she doesn't understand her new husband (or anyone else) when they speak Welsh. But she seems to understand everything else perfectly. Well, I don't know about Claire, but the Enlish we speak now is NOT the English that was spoken a few hundred years ago. Anyone else ever struggle with Shakespeare? Yeah, exactly. So for her to only have comprehension issues when Welsh is used, or to only have trouble with one or two phrases her new companions use just didn't ring true to me.

To the friend that sent me the book, sorry. This is defiinitely a did-not-finish-nor-do-I-wish-to.

Everyday Energy Boosters: 365 tips and tricks to help you feel like a million bucks by Susannah Seton & Sondra Kornblatt

Since it's February, and since it's winter, I thought this would be the perfect time to peruse this little book. Who couldn't use more energy in the gloomy winter months, especially given that there's less light during the day and, depending on where you live, it's cold most of the time.

This started off well. I liked the authors' style, and I agreed with most of the suggestions, things like learn how to say no, get more sleep (but not too much), get out in the sunlight (what little there may be in the winter), take short walks, sing, dance, etc. Little energy boosters that I'm sure most of us are familiar with.

Then it got sort of strange. Suggestion 159 is "Get a Headset" - meaning get yourself something so that you can talk hands-free on your phone. This allows you walk around and multi-task, which should give you more energy, I guess because you are saving yourself time. But just a mere two pages later, we are told "Turn Off All Beepers, Pagers, and Cellphones" because often we are too connected. Um, what? And by suggestion 169, we are told to "Mono-Task". So, what would that headset be for again?

There are an awful lot of suggestions for "natural" energy boosters, meaning dietary supplements. I'm all for being healthy, but this book seemed to be pushing a lot of alternative vitamins and minerals, which I can't agree with. I know people want smaller government, but there is no oversight in the supplement industry, and that worries me. Some companies are great, and their products are exactly what they say they are. Others are much shadier, and you can either get what is basically a placebo, or you can get something that has far more of a substance than it you think you're getting. It's just too risky, in my opinion.

Finally, by the last third of the book, it sounded like the authors were getting desperate for ideas. In fact, I realized that one of the suggestions is listed TWICE; "Solve Your Problems While You Sleep" is suggestions 279 AND 312. I thought at first that they were perhaps wording it just a bit differently, but no - it's an exact duplicate. Sorry, but that's bad editing (or sheer laziness on the authors' part).

Overall, disappointing. I skimmed through a lot of the latter half, and I was certainly out of energy by the time I closed it for good.

Sigh

Yes, I'm still here. Yes, I'm still reading. No, I haven't given up on this blog.

Unfortunately, I'm behind on my reading. Just ask my reading goals/challenges on the two websites I use to keep track of my books; both are currently mocking my snail-like pace. I was doing really well, actually ahead of the game, then BAM! It's like I ran into a brick wall.

Actually, what I ran into was Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. It comes highly recommended by more than one friend, and after receiving a copy from on of those friends, I finally decided to give it a try. It was slow going at first, which was when I was still getting other things read. But now, I've almost reach the half-way point, and it's gotten much better. But it's a looooooooooooooooong book. I've got the mass market paperback, which clocks in at 850 pages.

And that's why I haven't managed to read anything else lately.

Hope everyone's February is going well. Other than trying to make my way thru the Highlands via time travel, I've been super busy at work with meetings, plans for Summer Reading, and the typical nail-biting preparations for the County budget sessions. Here's hoping that I finish this book, get something accomplished at work, and still have a job after June 1st.

See ya!

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith

Isabel is a single, twentysomething thrift-store shopper and collector of remnants, things cast off or left behind by others. [This book] follows Isabel through a day in her life in which work with damaged books in the basement of a library, unrequited love for the former soldier who fixes her computer, and dreams of the perfect vintage dress move over a backdrop of deteriorating urban architecture and the imminent loss of the glaciers she knew as a girl in Alaska.

Alexis Smith's debut novel unfolds internally, the action shaped by Isabel's sense of history, memory, and place. For Isabel, the fleeting moments of one day can reveal an entire life. While she contemplates loss and the intricate fissures it creates in our lives, she accumulates the stories - the remnants - of those around her, and she begins to tell her own story.

There's really not much I can say about the plot of this book, as it's pretty much exactly what the dust jacket states: a day in the life of Isabel. So I'll talk more about my overall impressions of this very slim work, if that's OK with you, dear reader.

The author has a nice way with words. For example, when describing Isabel's parents' impending divorce, the author writes: "When her parents were together, they had little to say to each other. The fissures in their family grew until the most important parts broke free and began to float away." When Isabel ruminates about her childhood dream of becoming a writer, the author tells us that her grandmother talked her out of it, saying "there was no market for being in love with words." It comes as no coincidence that our main character ends up working in preservation at a library, as it gives her a chance to save those very words that others write.

There are few characters here, and none of them are what I would call overly developed. There's Spoke, the war vet that Isabel crushes on at work (his real name is Thomas, and trust me when I tell you that even I had forgotten reading it the first and only time it appears - I had to skim back over the book to find it). His nickname does involve a bicycle, albeit in a round-about way, although it was a book that almost saved his life.

Isabel's older sister, Agnes, is mentioned but only in the flashbacks. Agnes is, of course, pretty and popular. Isabel describes herself as overweight, bordering on fat, but as a reader, I never really got that impression of her. Of course, many women think of themselves as "fat" when they're really just at a healthy weight, so perhaps that's the case here. My biggest reason for doubting Isabel's adult plumpness is that she shops in vintage shops, and as someone who has tried to do the same, I can't imagine her being able to buy anything is she was really that heavy. I'm not grossly obese or anything, but I have never been able to find a dress to fit me as such a shop. I see her as possibly curvy, but not fat.

This is a nice book with good writing, but ultimately it's not satisfying. Much like the postcard Isabel finds in first chapter of the book, the one of Amsterdam that has the message from M- to L- written on it, there's just enough to let the reader come up with some scenarios of his or her own. But not enough to know the whole story. Also, it's awfully short for a novel, especially as it's a smallish trade paperback with lots of white space on each page. If I had done a word count on it, I'm guessing it would come closer to being a novella. I will keep my eyes out for Smith's next work, though, as I think she shows real promise.

John Dies at the End by David Wong

STOP.
You should not have touched this book with your bare hands.
No, don't put it down. It's too late.
They're watching you.

My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours.

You might not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye.

The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.

THE IMPORTANT THING IS THIS:

• The drug is called soy sauce, and it gives users a window into another dimension.
• John and I never had the chance to say no.
• You still do.

Unfortunately for us, if you make the right choice, we'll have a much harder time explaining how to fight off the otherworldly invasion currently threatening to enslave humanity. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind:

NONE OF THIS IS MY FAULT.

Um, yeah. It really draws you in, doesn't it? The old "stop, wait, don't do it" - which just guarantees that you will, of course, open the book and read it to the end. Which I did. And now I'm trying to determine just how I feel about said book.

The writing isn't bad, although at times this really does read a bit stream-of-consciousness-y. OK, let's be blunt: it rambles. There are also jumps forward in time that had me a bit confused, as well as wondering what really happened. There are a lot of characters on the canvas, and I had trouble keeping up with them.

The biggest problem I had with this novel is that I'm still not sure what happened. Very disappointing when you finish a 466 some page book only to realize you're still not sure who the bad guys were and what really happened. Plus there's no real ending, per se. It just sort of stops.

I read some reviews on Amazon, just to see if I was the only one who closed this sucker and went "Huh????" I'm not. In fact, it would appear that you either love this book or hate it with the passion of a thousand suns (or some such thing). I find myself sitting firmly on the fence. I really did like some of the characters, and as I said, I thought some of the writing itself was pretty good. Wong, or should I say, Jason Pargin (the author's real name), has a way with words. But I felt like there were way too many words for this story. Tighter editing might have kept the story line on track better, which might not have left me scratching my head as much.

I guess the best way to give a rating/review of this book is to let you know there's a sequel out. But I'm not interested in checking it out. And that, in my humble opinion, speaks volumes.

Worth It...Not Worth It? Simple & Profitable Answers to Life's Tough Financial Questions by Jack Otter

Credit union or bank? Rent or buy a house? Buy or lease a car? Take or decline the rental car insurance? Renovate the kitchen or finish the basement? Buy stocks or a mutual fund? Every day we are forced to make financial decisions, but the right answers all seem to require complicated, mind-numbing research. And who has time for homework when you're paying for a bag of Fritos at 7-Eleven? Or filling out a benefits form on the first day of a new job? Thankfully, there's WORTH IT...NOT WORTH IT? [This book] demystifies complex, real-world dilemmas and breaks the answers down into simple, do this, not that solutions. Organized around six basic topics - Getting Started, Shelter, Automotive, Investing, Family Matters, and Retirement - this handy book is the Swiss Army knife  of personal finance.

I love finding little books like this, something simple that will hopefully give me the sort of help/advice I'm looking for. Sadly, while it looks good on the surface, this book doesn't really fit the bill.

Oh, there's good advice here, such as choosing the credit union over the bank, using your credit card over your debit card for things like gas (anyone who has ever been burned by the "hold" they place on your account has learned that lesson the painful way) and major purchases (fraud and damage protection), buy & hold over timing the market.

But for much of the rest of the advice here, there's one thing you need first: money. Otter advises buying over renting, pretty much what every other financial advisor will tell you. And that's fine, but it's almost worthless advice if you don't have money in the first place. I dare you to tell someone that you know for a fact is living paycheck-to-paycheck that they're crazy for renting, that they should take advantage of the low, low rates and bargains on houses right now. And I find it funny that the author advises buying, then turns right around and also says you should go with the 30/20 rule, that is, a 30-yr fixed-rate mortgage with 20% as a down-payment. OK, if I had that sort of money in the first place, would I have picked up this kind of book? Yeah, probably not. And what Otter and every other financial advisor seem to forget is that it's not just the mortgage. Sure, I could probably swing paying a mortgage payment right now, especially if we were able to find a house/mortgage that would have us paying approximately the same amount we pay right now where we rent. But there's also the increased costs to think about, too: the insurance for the home, the utilities, the taxes, the incidentals you have to purchase to care for said home (like a lawn mower). Once you factor in those costs, it's a bit of a different picture, one that isn't often discussed.

The section on investing has the basic advice I expected, but again, you have to have the money to invest in the first place. If I'm barely able to put food on the table, I have no business worrying about whether I should be stocks or get into a mutual fund. It's that sort of thing that a lot of advisers miss out on, the do you or do you not already have some money? I don't think one needs to be rich to start taking some of this advice, but yes, one does need to have some discretionary income at best. And let's face it, a lot of people these days are just not in that boat. Many are still licking their wounds from the Great Recession, still trying to keep their heads above water.

Short and simple, which I'll admit is nice. But disappointing overall.