Motivational Monday

The last few weeks I have been focused on one thing - reading. I set a goal at the beginning of the year to read 100 books. Yes, 100 books. Just a few. Recently, I heard a reader will read an average of eight books a year, so to set a goal of 100 is kinda crazy. But I did.

And for the last few weeks I've been reading my bootie off! I am this close to my goal. I reached 96 books last night, which ties me for how many books I read last year {2013}. Four more books to reach my goal.

But, how is this motivational? Well, I suppose the fact that I set a goal in January and I'm almost there is motivational. I had months where I did really well {19 books in January}, but also had months where it didn't go so well {one in April...if I had only read a few more books that month!}. Now we're 12 months into the goal and I am almost there...I kept at it even when I had months that didn't go so well. I made up the lack of April in other months.

What I'm trying to say is this, while I love to read {your goal might be something else}, it is motivational staying the course, finishing a goal. Reading may not seem like a goal to some, but to me being able to say I read 100 books in one year is incredible. I was able to do something I love and feel accomplished. I read some amazing books {and some not so much}, but I followed through. I did what I said I would.

That's what motivation is all about. Setting a goal, following through to the end through the highs and lows of it. Some days you feel like you'll never reach your goal; other days you can't believe how easy it is. But, day after day you slog on in the hopes that at the end, you will accomplish what it was you set out to do.

So, by December 31 I will be able to say I read 100 books. That is my goal and that is what I will accomplish. And by doing so, I prove to myself I can do what I set out to do, no matter what obstacles {internal or external} come my way.

There are 16 days left in 2014, what goal will you accomplish before then?

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Well, we are the end of June and that means we're halfway through the year. I had a couple of goals for the year and I am going to go over them in total in another post, but this post is dedicated to my books.

My goal this year is to read 100 books by the end of the year. I have an obsession with reading and generally am reading multiple books at a time. I read a wide variety of genres including history, science fiction, mystery, sports, historical romance, horror, and anything that falls outside those that sound interesting. The books above are on my bookshelf currently from when I wrote my M.A. thesis on "How the National Sports Media Perpetuates Fan Stereotypes." It was a lot of fun researching that!

So, where do I stand in my goal? At this point I need 50 books to be exactly on track. Drum roll please...55! Woot!! Totally on track for 100 this year!

What are some of my favorites from this year?

Fever of War ~ Carol R. Byerly
Forgotten Tales of Pennsylvania ~ Thomas White
Shadow of the Titanic ~ Andrew Wilson
The Great War As I Saw It ~ Frederick George Scott
Lost In Italy ~ Stacey Joy Netzel
Solomon's Throne ~ Jennings Wright
The Seven Steps to Closure ~ Donna Joy Usher

Just so you know, I'm getting nothing for linking them over to Amazon for you. I just thought if you were interested in checking them out this makes it easier. These books were really fun reads and if you are interested go read up on them!

With six months of the year to go I need 45 books to reach my goal of 100. Here's to the next six months!

Update: Add another book to the list. Finished one while getting my hair done today. LOL! 56 books total.
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Thankful Thursday

Sorry it's been a few weeks since I've posted a Thankful Thursday. As much as I believe in Thankful Thursday, it was rough after loosing my Higgy.

But, I am back and ready to be appreciative. Today, I am thankful for the ability to read. I know that seems strange, but I have always been a reader. I've read since I was a little kid and have spent more money than I want to think about on books. Seriously. You know those hypothetical questions that we always answer for fun? The one that I always find fun to answer is, "If you could max out your credit card at any store, what store would it be?" My answer is always a book store!

Oh yes. I was the girl who took her handwriting book home in 8th grade so I could spend that 15 minutes each morning reading rather than writing. It was kinda funny when the teacher asked why I wasn't writing and I showed her I was done. BTW, I got an A in handwriting. LOL!

I remember reading Christopher Pike and having to stay up all night until I finished the story because he scared the living daylights out of me! I remember reading Choose Your Own Adventure books and reading through all the options. I remember reading the classics at my grandparents house in those books that were 3 inches by 3 inches. LOL!

Today, I read a variety of books - history, biography, horror, crime, romance, self-help, sports, fantasy... In general, if it sounds interesting I'm willing to give it a shot! Reading lets me go to another place, another time. It educated me on things that I didn't know how to do without having to ask. Reading let me be happy.

Favorite all-time book? Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 

Do you read? What's your favorite book? What should I be reading?
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June Books

June books! It was a good month for reading. Maybe not so much for other aspects of my life, but I did get a few books in this month. LOL!

1. The Five Kisses by Karla Darcy
2. Never a Mistress, No Longer a Maid by Maureen Driscoll
3. Why Prohibition! by Charles Stelzle
4. 12 Health & Fitness Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making by Michael Matthews
5. The Silver Locket by Margarey James
6. The Office Idiot Review by Pete Sortwell
7. The Variant Effect by G. Wells Taylor
8. The Top 30 Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes for Busy Women by Sarah Jessica Cook
9. R is for Running by Ray Charbonneau
10. Snow Bound by Blake Crouch
11. Conduct Unbecoming a Gentleman by Wareeze Woodson
12. Weight Loss Motivation Hacks by Derek Doepker
13. A Father's Odyssey: 75 Marathons in 75 Days by Terry Hitchcock and Peter Jessen (June 30, 2013)

Yup, that's 13 books for June. Not bad. Some books were longer than others, but a book is a book. Always fun to get lost in the pages of a story.

Top Books

Why Prohibition! is probably my favorite of all the books this month. Remember, I'm a history person, so this book may not be your thing, but I loved it! The book was written in 1918 and gave all the reasons why prohibition needed to happen and how to counter-argue those who felt Prohibition shouldn't pass. I loved reading all the arguments for Prohibition. It really is crazy all the reasons given that I never would have thought of: after the war, Europe would need our grain to rebuild; non-drinkers do not get paid as much as they should because bosses take into account the drunks at work; if passed, imagine all the money the family will have for food and luxuries. What I liked especially about this book is knowing how Prohibition went. It's interesting hearing the very logical explanations for Prohibition, which makes sense but that just didn't actually play out the way the dry's anticipated. Such a neat read not only for the content, but also for the writing itself. The writing style of the turn of the 20th century is truly different than how we write today. It's a great book to expose yourself to that writing style!

The Variant Effect was a good book too. I'll be honest, it was a bit graphic in terms of violence, but it was a really cool book. In a world where drug companies come up with medications that get passed quickly by the FDA, this book tells the story of a drug that cured just about everything, then it turned out to be worse than any disease it cured. Think zombies meet drugs with lots of violence and there you go. I liked this one because I've been on a zombie book kick lately and while this book kinda fit into that genre, it wasn't about zombies. It was definitely one of those books that I kept trying to find time to read it when I should have been doing other stuff. 

Don't Read

This month, there weren't too many in this category. I'll be honest, none of the books in June were awful (thank heavens!), so while the following books are not "don't read" worthy, I just wasn't digging them.

The Office Idiot Review is supposed to be a funny book and I've read another one similar that was funny, but this one just didn't seem to hit the mark. The premise of the book is the whole book are reviews of products by one particular office, where the people overlap in their reviews. Some of the reviews for office products were funny. But, for the most part, the reviews fell flat to me. I just didn't find them very funny. Maybe it was the story lines being woven through the reviews that didn't interest me. But, for some reason this book just did nothing for me.

Conduct Unbecoming a Gentleman is a mindless romance novel. I like these, especially in summer. Sadly, this one just annoyed me. The whole time the male protagonist just stuck to his own prejudices and refused to see what was in front of him. I get that's the way these books are supposed to go, but ugh. Maybe there were just too many examples of how the female protagonist was the opposite of what he wanted so the reader could fully be just as frustrated with him as she was. I don't know. I liked the premise of the book, but it just bothered me how stubborn the make was in this one. It was a decent read and I finished it, but it did make me a little annoyed...never good for a mindless romance novel.

The rest of the books were ok. Nothing to write home about, but not awful. I just love the Kindle because of all the books I read these days, unless it's a history or running book, I can pick something up for free on it and not worry if it's a great book or not. Best.Christmas.Present.Ever!

What did you read in June? Any recommendations?  

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January 2013 Books

I'm a book-aholic. I love to read. I would much rather read a book than many other "normal" activities. My favorite genres include history, sports, trivia, biography, (cheesy) romance (historical generally), sci-fi, and sometimes fiction.

On January 1, a friend posted to Facebook that he had read 30 books last year. This made me wonder, how many books do I read in a year? I've never kept track. It's never something I thought about, I just read. So, this year I decided to check and see. Why not? So, you can see I have a page at the top about my 2013 books - what I've read and when I finished it.

I thought I might chat a tiny little bit each month about the best ones and the ones totally not worth the price. In case you are inclined to pick up a book and need some feedback on a good one. Here's what I read in January:



1. 90 Miles to Freedom by K.C. Hilton (January 1, 2013)
2. Dublinside by D.M. O'hEidhin (January 2, 2013)
3. Opening Dante's Gate by Paul William Bear Brewer (January 6, 2013)
4. Me and My Ghoulfriends by Rose Pressey (January 7, 2013)
5. A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America, 1918-1920 by Dorothy A. Pettit, Ph.D. and Janice Bailie, Ph.D. (January 7, 2013)
6. World War I: History in an Hour by Rubert Colley (January 8, 2013)
7. Letters from Alcatraz by Michael Esslinger (January 11, 2013)
8. Just This Once by Rosalind James (January 17, 2013)
9. Always The Last To Know by Crystal Bowling (January 23, 2013)
10. Lincoln's Diary by D.L. Fowler (January 27, 2013)
11. Sweetly Seduced: Why We Can't Say No To Sugar by NJ Rickman (January 28, 2013)
12. To Hell With the Scale by Lee Marcus (January 28, 2013)
13. Christmas Night of the Living Dead by Bill Robertson (January 28, 2013)
14. Rules For A Lady by Jade Lee (January 30, 2013)

Top Books

 Opening Dante's Gate by Paul William Bear Brewer
 A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America, 1918-1920 by Dorothy A. Pettit, Ph.D. and Janice Bailie, Ph.D.
 World War I: History in an Hour by Rubert Colley
 Letters from Alcatraz by Michael Esslinger

Don't Read

Dublinside by D.M. O'hEidhin

Christmas Night of the Living Dead by Bill Robertson

Opening Dante's Gate took Dante's Inferno and explained how Dante came up with the levels of hell and how the same method is used today. It jumps around a bit at first, which threw me in trying to follow the storyline, but it comes together so well that the bit of wandering early on turned out ok. I liked the end and wouldn't have minded more.

A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America, 1918-1920 to me was interesting. The first chapter was all medical and I had a hard time following along. After that, it became less technical and more about the pandemic and what happened during it. Since I'm working on a book myself concerning the Influenza Pandemic, this was a great book to read.

World War I: History in an Hour lied a bit. Took me about an hour and a half to read, but I thought it was laid out well and very simple to follow. I'm not a battle person and this book did not focus on battles/generals/etc. It laid out the war and in the end, there was a list of what happened year-by-year breaking it down into even simpler terms.

Letters From Alcatraz was cool! I read it on my Kindle (as with three of the four Top Books) so the letters themselves were hard to read as I couldn't make them larger, but the transcriptions were there. There is a bit of history on Alcatraz itself, then there are chapters with letters written by some of the more well-known inmates, including Al Capone. 

I'm not going into why not to read Dublinside and Christmas Night of the Living Dead. I don't want to give them anymore publicity that I am here. Let's just say, they were awful. I almost stopped reading Christmas Night of the Living Dead, but it turned out being a short story and just as I was to give up, it ended. Thank God.

Have you read anything good this month? Do you read frequently?

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Stress

Pooka the cat is never stressed

A couple months ago I came to the realization I need to find a way to relieve my stress. I didn't come to this realization alone, I had some help from my doctor. Honestly, I didn't even think I had much stress in my life until I was asked by the doc if I had any stress. I suppose part of my stress was denying I even had stress.

Now I need to find ways to relieve it. I haven't done a good job so far. I keep thinking yoga, but with my back issues I have a hard time with many of the poses. I read a good deal to begin with, so I know that's not going to do it. I'll be honest, you may suggest the gym/working out. Yea...that actually adds to my stress levels many a time. Mostly if I miss a workout or a run.

This will be a work in progress. I'm not sure what the answer is. I know I feel calmer at the beach, but I live 3-4 hours away from the closest beach (well, one that's attached to the ocean). There is a local park with a lake, but I'm not sure that's the same thing. I think this year might just be me trying to find out what helps me de-stress.

What do you do to de-stress? Do you do it weekly or monthly? Is it something you do alone or with others?
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