Friday, January 3, 2014

What I’m Reading Now

One of my resolutions this year is to read more. Reading is a comfort to me, an escape. One of my favorite things to do is to grab my coffee (or wine), draw a hot bath and read a book while soaking.

bethinbath

After I finished that damn Ironman and I actually had time to breathe, I started reading again. These three novels were first:

A sweet, touching, sad story for any dog lover. It actually changed the way I felt about dogs. Made me wonder if they really are studying me and having conversations with me in their heads. I now know Heidi is judging me for blaming my farts on her.

The story of a woman taking care of a quadriplegic and what she learns about herself along the way.

I’m not a huge historical fiction reader, but I loved this book. Something about that time in US history is fascinating to me – when the west was still raw and unsettled. It is hard to believe that something like an Orphan Train really existed, but it did.

Right now I’m reading this one:

What’s next?

The Husband’s Secret

With or Without You

The Apartment

Five Days at Memorial

The Signature of All Things

Tenth of December

That is correct. No running books. I run so many hours per week – do I really need to always be reading about running too? Sometimes, but not always.

Another resolution for me is to branch out with my interests. I want to be a person who is interested in many  things -in learning and doing new things. I think books can help you do that.

However, I do find that this applies:

interrupted

Best book you read this year? Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Favorite genre? Memoirs (just got a new list of the best memoirs of the year HERE)

SUAR

46 comments:

  1. YOU MUST read The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. I'm a huge reader (I read a lot, I'm not huge) :) and this was my favorite book of 2013. I read Me Before You, and enjoyed it. Orphan Train is on my list.
    Kelly in Michigan

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  2. I am currently reading failing forward by John Maxwell and the zone diet.. yes yes I am a complete nerd. Self improvement is my goal this year. My other goal is optimal health and complete my first triathlon.

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  3. I am currently reading failing forward by John Maxwell and the zone diet.. yes yes I am a complete nerd. Self improvement is my goal this year. My other goal is optimal health and complete my first triathlon.

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  4. Me Before You, I'm adding that to my Amazon wishlist. Thanks for the list!

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  5. Really want to read The Interestings b/c I have heard so much about it, as well as Me Before You. I am in the middle of an Alice Munro short story collection right now (not loving it) but next up will be GoldFinch by Donna Tart--big epic novel that is getting big, big reviews from NPR and friends. And confession--I hardly ever read running books. Too many good books of other genres to read.

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  6. Wild is one of my definate favorites, I agree that Secret Keeper should be on your list! My favorites are memoirs and novels - Jeannette Walls is good. I just got done reading the Book Thief recently.

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    1. I agree about Jeannette Walls. Glass Castle is one of my all time favorite books (a memoir! - although hard to believe it is really true)

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    2. Loved Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls!

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  7. I cried while consuming (aka: listening to the audiobook) the Art of Racing in the Rain. I hate when people think I'm listening to a music. Obviously, I wouldn't be standing still if I was! I really hope the movie of Wild is as good as the book, but I realize this may be an unreal expectation. Several of my friends Reese Witherspoon in Ashland when they were filming this summer!

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  8. I'm reading The Interestings right now too. It's pretty good, but long!

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  9. I now want to read the art of racing in the rain but I'm worried I'll cry too much! Hmm I do love dogs though. Hopefully its worth it :)

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  10. Just finished Goldfinch...LOVE. Wild was just ok...I feel she didn't do enough to pull us to her current life. Her whole adventure didn't strike me as all that brave. The Art of Racing in the Rain was so sweet.

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  11. I am a huge historical fiction fan. I love reading about something that actually happened but with fiction thrown into the mix. I also read a lot of YA, dystopic and time slip books. I'm a bit schizophrenic in my reading.
    I highly recommend "The WInter Sea" by Susanna Kearsley, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Starz is producing the series this year. YAY!) and in YA this years 2 best The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Eleanor and Parks by Rainbow Rowells.
    And if you're into more social media friend me on Goodreads under Kareby. Great way to check out reviews on all books!

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    1. I just did a post about books too- here it is!
      http://www.growingupmo.com/2014/01/book-lover.html

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  12. I love reading biographies. Over the last year or so I haven't read much due to training but like you I want to change that this year. I also tend to read in the tub and right now I'm reading The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls.

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  13. I loved the Interestings. The Husband's Secret and the Signature of All Things (from your list) are also very good. I also read Tenth of December but I don't love short stories--some brilliant writing but not my favorite. Have you read Goldfinch (Donna Tart)--best of 2013, which was an excellent year for novels. Are you on Goodreads? It's a great way to track your reading and get ideas.

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  14. I am reading Double Cross by the mobsters Sam and Chuck Giancana. Not normally my kind of thing but so far it is okay. It connects the mobsters to Kennedy etc.
    Next on my list is Elizabeth Smart's book ... but I am afraid....

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  15. I'm a huge reader. I just finished "The Book Thief" and really loved it, but it took some getting into. I love nonfiction too, the weirder the better. "Stiff" was one of my favorites this year!

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  16. I LOVED the Art of Racing in the Rain. One of my favorite books. I haven't done much reading lately, but now that I'm finished with graduate school I'm excited to get back to it. Thanks for some good suggestions.

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  17. I quite enjoyed the Art of Racing in the Rain. And I cried. A lot. But I'm a sucker for a good dog story. I did NOT really like Cheryl Strayed... We read it in my Book Club and I was, shall we say, the loudest critic. But to each their own! That's what makes discussion about books so lively!

    My fave read of last year: The Orphan Master's Son. A fictional depiction of life in the ever mysterious North Korea. I can't say that it was the best book I ever read, but it was so compelling that I couldn't put it down. And I had weird dreams for three weeks.

    My fave genre: historical fiction. I love to get lost in a time period not my own!

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  18. I love reading! I tend to read way more in the summer - hello laying out!!! Now most of my reading is in the middle of the night when I can't sleep anyway - probably why I can't think of any of the titles of books I've read recently.

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  19. I love to read all kinds of things except crime novels, so you don't have to worry about me buying up all the Nora Roberts or James Patterson novels, like ever. I just read "The Flamethrowers" and loved it. I dont read in the tub anymore, I fell asleep almost drowned the last time and completely ruined my copy of Born to Run. FYI, Mr. Bubbles Extra Gentle, no so gentle, completely ate the ink right off the pages.

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  20. I loved all the books you've listed...and loved the Husband's Secret. Another book, along the lines of Me Before You but way more edgy is The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison. I would never have picked it up but I got a free download from Starbucks. Loved it!

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  21. Right now I have a book being held for me that I'm debating reading - it is the memoirs of the commandant of Auschwitz. I know it will be a terribly hard read emotionally, and I honestly wonder if I should wait to read it until my work is less stressful.

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  22. My fav place to read is outside in the sun with my mug of D.P. and my kids locked inside. Okay, not really but they do have orders to leave Mom alone unless they are bleeding. Have you read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls? Crazy memoir. Just joined up as a follower from Healthy-Intuition.com. Love your sarcasm!

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  23. I am reading "Wild" right now and I am enjoying it. I haven't been able to stick with it constantly...but I hope to finish it soon. I love "Art of Racing in the Rain." One of my favorites and it also made me think about how my own animals think! I still wonder! You should read the book called "The Room" it is very very good. Every different, but I dont think you'd mind it. Its about a family who lives in a room against their will.

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    1. I did read "Room" and really liked it. Kind of dark, but a very compelling story!

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  24. Nine trips between California and Hawaii last year gave me tons of reading time. Two (make it three) favorite reads: Les Miserables (the complete novel, I had never read it all and it took me months to finish), Bonhoeffor: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (WW II history) and Alberto Salazar's 14 Minutes.

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  25. I just finished The Orphan Train and was also fascinated to learn that orphan trains existed. Another good book about foster care systems, though more current, is The Language of Flowers. Really beautifully written.
    The Husband's Secret also drew me in--I couldn't stop reading.

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  26. Will The Art of Racing in the Rain make me cry like Marley & Me??
    Love Memoirs of a Geisha and all of Dan Brown's books.

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    1. Yes it will, no doubt. It's a tear jerker.I also loved Memoires of a Geisha.

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  27. I enjoyed Wild and The Art of Racing in the Rain (but the ending made me cry like a baby).

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  28. My favorite book this year was Brain on Fire. Its a true story, and I could not put it down, and then was mad at myself for finishing it. I'm also a huge fan of Delivering Happiness, the story of Zappos, an Onward, which is Howard Schultz (Starbucks CEO) telling his story as a leader.

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  29. Read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. You will love it. I was sad part way through reading it because I knew I could never read it again for the first time. It's the most immersive book I've read in years.

    You will probably get a kick out of The 100 year old man who climbed out a window and disappeared. It's hysterical in places.

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  30. Just finished reading Mira Grant's books. If you fancy a change there is nothing like a zombie, government conspiracy, end of civilization as you know it, type of book....

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  31. OMG, that ecard. I swear it is one of my biggest pet peeves. I can't stand when people constantly bug me while I am reading and carry on a conversation. Growing up my mom used to do it to me ALL the time. My fiance does it sometimes but he has learned that it annoys me to no end so has made an effort to do it less.

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  32. Even better than the husbands secret is her other book " what Alice Forgot" amazing!! Loved wild and the art of racing in the rain. Another fav is the poison wood bible. Recently started getting into audio books so I can run and read at the same time;)

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  33. I loved Wild as well, but my favorite book from 2013 was The Silver Linings Playbook. It does have running in it, but that's not the focus of it.

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  34. My favorites this year: The Night Circus and Beautiful Ruins. Have you read Unbroken? Fantastic true story (with a little bit of running thrown in).

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  35. Love getting all these recommendations - thanks for the prompt! I'm in the middle of "Tell the Wolve's I'm Home" - loving it. I am saving my running inspiration books for Florida.... upstate NY is sit by the fire and read make believe right now.....

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  36. "The art of racing in the rain" and "Me before you" were the last two books I read, ironically. Now on to "Defending Jacob" by William Landay, super good and quick read.

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  37. I absolutely LOVE these book posts! Just added a bunch of the suggestions to my Amazon Wishlist, which is already ridiculously long.

    My most recent reads:
    The Circle Trilogy by Nora Roberts - think Twilight for adults, could NOT put them down!
    Beyond Blonde by Kathleen Flynn-Hui, a quick, fun fictional story about an upscale hair salon.

    I'm currently reading The Key Trilogy by Nora Roberts.

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  38. A reader and a runner. Very nice. I'm a new fan!

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  39. Have you read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn? I just started it for a book club. Excellent so far!

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