The Big Read

Sleep is not coming easily, so I just read a friend's blog. She has this list from The Big Read which endeavors to encourage community reading initiatives. This is something that has always been of interest to my mother, and she passed on to me an extreme love of reading, though I admit I only read for about 20 minutes a day anymore. I used to read for full days at a time! Anyway, of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only six. I find this a bit hard to swallow - I have read 49. (Maybe 50 - I can't remember if I finished Anne of Green Gables, so I didn't count it. I do remember that she goes to live at her aunts? house? after she is orphaned? and the aunt is mean. I think. Or maybe I made that up. I also remember green wallpaper?)

So, the boldface are books I have read. The underlined boldface are books I would definitely read again, because I loved them so much. The italics are books I'd like to read, but to be perfectly honest, I have not heard of many of the books on this list which were not read, so please comment if you think I would like one of them. (Generally, I read whatever I can find and am still working on Adam's collection after 7 years together...) Some other books that I love are in my profile - but I am surprised that some books didn't make the cut: The Picture of Dorian Gray (love this), Beloved (hated it, but it was literature...), The Scarlett Letter (pretty good), and a recent one, The Poisonwood Bible.

What would your list look like?

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (HATED IT)
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (HATED IT)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (DID NOT HATE IT, BUT THE SWEETNESS GETS TIRESOME)
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (can't remember...)

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (hated)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker (HATED IT)
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams (This movie - a cartoon! - scared the crap out of me as a child. But perhaps I am ready for the book...)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Eating This, Not That

I bought a new book: "Eat This - Not That". You've probably heard of it. (It was all over the book store.) It addresses my most formidable adversary in the weight loss battle: unplanned meals. This includes meals eaten out at a restaurant, holiday meals, and party meals.
When left to my own devices, I do OK. Luckily, I already enjoy preparing home-cooked meals from fresh foods, so I have few issues with packaged goods. It's a whole new ballgame when I have reached the food table at a potluck supper, which includes everyone's specialty item. The longer I avoid the temptation by chewing gum or simply sitting at an inconvenient table, the more likely I am to crack under pressure and begin devouring brownies Tasmanian Devil style. I am just a blur with crumbs flying out in all directions to the average bystander.
The purchase of this book was prompted by my friend (who also bought it) and a recent trip to "Romano's Macaroni Grill" (incidentally given an "F" grade in the book). I perused the menu, and found only 2 items listed as "Smart Choices". One was a salmon fillet with broccoli on the side, the other was "Skinny Balsamic Chicken" listed right next to the obviously more delicious "Basalmic Chicken". The skinny recipe was unappealing due to its proximity to its regular counterpart, and the salmon lacked flair. I have salmon in my freezer at all times, and if I am paying $14.95 a meal, it better be for something I can't/won't make myself. This left all the pasta dishes. I reasoned that I could limit myself to half an entree and still be ok, but which to choose?
On the bright side, Macaroni Grill does list its nutrition information online, a feature I find extremely useful as a calorie-counter. On the dark side, I ended up choosing the pasta dish with the most calories of any other dish!! This, while I was attempting to make the right choice. That is where the book comes in. The basic premise is that simple substitutions can go a long way in reducing overall calorie intake. For instance, the chicken burrito bowl without rice at Chipolte has 489 calories, while the chicken burrito has 1092. It also reveals some truths which even the health conscious may not be aware - like fish tacos may sound like fewer calories than steak fajitas, but they are really not.
I think I can live without some frills like cheese or mayo, and I can begin training myself to eat half the meal by getting a box right off the bat. It is either that, or skip these wonderful meals altogether, and to me, that's just not living.

The Countdown

I finished reading "The Dorm Room Diet" yesterday. I guess the fact that I knew I would need to read it quickly was inspiration. As expected, it is pretty much the same as "You: On a Diet" which is written by the author's father. I read the "You" book over a much longer period last fall. But, as a motivating tool, I think reading the new book helped. It put me back on focus, and I actually had a good week last week, meaning I managed to suck in an average of 1584 calories and went to the gym 3 times. I put the time into planning this week as I had done "back in the day". (I will have one party and another "pizza meeting" this week, but I feel more resolved to overcome these roadblocks than I had before reading the book.
There are only two new behavioral changes I would like to try based on this book. The first is to drink a glass of water before every meal. I drink a 20 oz bottle of water every day before breakfast, but I do not drink much water throughout the rest of the day. It turns out that drinking before every meal is a challenge. I am very impatient with my meals. Once I have decided to eat, and taken the time to prepare my food, there is not much that will distract me from beginning to shovel it into my face. (I usually manage to hit the mouth, but the stains on my shirts are testament to my aim.) But, I have only just begun this tactic, so I will continue.
The other habit I am hoping to adopt is to count to my age before consuming an unplanned treat. This has proved very very challenging. My count goes something like this: eye a muffin that is sitting in the fridge and frankly taking up too much space, and begin. One, two, fridge door still open; three, four, grab the muffin; five, six, take off the wrapper; shebin, chomp chomp, swallow, eight...I have actually continued counting after this. So, I will have to work on this one too. The idea for both of these, of course, is that you are taking the time to truly decide if the need for your food is based on hunger, or if it is because you can't fit the groceries you just bought into the fridge.

Motivation

Oh yeah baby, that's just what I'm talking about. I started reading "The Dorm Room Diet" today, but I needed only to read the introduction in order to find that negative motivation I so desperately need. First off, this book could have been written by me, as the author described her childhood and teenage years as if they were pulled from my own diaries. (Side note: Did anyone see that movie about the number 23? I was slightly worried that the girl would murder her room mate in the end...) Anyway, she drones on for a few pages about how she was always overweight (though I question how she remembers being overweight at age 2.) I too, have always been overweight. I remember in 2nd or 3rd grade gym class when we were building a human pyramid (probably not allowed these days). I was the only girl on the bottom - the teacher said I had "broad shoulders." The author of the book related a few similar stories, blah, blah, blah, and then said that at her fattest she was my exact height and weight. Yes, my current weight - after losing 10 lbs.
Honestly, I'd like to see a picture, because I personally think people would be surprised to learn how much I weigh. Most of the weight is in my "nether" regions - the legs and the gigantic butt - which are luckily areas that can be disguised by baggy clothing. Or perhaps it is only me that can't see this extra poundage since I rarely look at my backside in a mirror. I am only hoping that this girl carried all her weight up top and that I actually look like a super model in comparison. Because this is a little too much negativity.

Me on a Diet

For the past two weeks, I started to become a bit too happy with myself. As you, constant reader, probably know, I need some negativity for motivation. I NEED to feel lumpy and overweight so I can convince myself NOT to eat the pie in the fridge. This unsolicited happiness is the result of my trip to the doctor where I found out I had lost 10 lbs, and seeing friends and family whom I hadn't seen since the winter when I was still carrying the extra weight. Many have noticed my successes, including "sort of strangers". I look better, I feel better, and....I realize that I am losing interest in the diet.
HOWEVER - I still haven't met my goal of being within the normal weight range for my height. What to do? The answer: a book. I may have neglected to mention this, but I was originally inspired by a book called "You: On a Diet" which stressed that the body's reaction to fewer calories and more exercise will vary from person to person. It encouraged me to adopt my current philosophy: "Do the best you can with what you got." I knew at the time that I was not doing the best I could due to the lack of gym time, and the unabashed consumption of free brownies whenever they presented themselves.
Today, I actually bought two books on a very extra long walk to the bookstore. One was geared towards college students and written by the daughter of the "You" book, so I bought it for my sister (who, duh!, is in college). Knowing I will see her in a few weeks time, I decided to read this one quickly before I give it to her. Hopefully, it gives me the motivation I am looking for...

Looking at the Big Picture

I recently added a new tab to my file. I wanted to see how many weeks I was actually successful at meeting my two goals: to eat less, and to exercise more. This past week was a slight disappointment because I had no good excuse, like a holiday or a fun party, for my lack of restraint. It turns out, exactly half of my 14 weeks have been similar disappointments. However, I have still averaged 1614 calories over these weeks, and I have rarely exhibited enough self discipline to stick with anything for 14 weeks. I think I could do better, but I suppose I could do a lot worse.
For kicks, I visited my old fit day calender. For starters, it appears I managed to stick to the program for almost 3 weeks from late January 2007 to mid February so I have made definite progress in program longevity. I averaged 1792 calories in those 3 weeks. Compared to my last 14 weeks, in which my highest average was 1680 calories, I am not doing too badly. I have also averaged 4 times at the gym per week this year, and in those 3 weeks, it appears I lost interest in logging in the activities.
Looking at the big picture is interesting, and, in my case, gratifying - though not as gratifying as my recent trip to TJ Maxx, in which every pair of pants in my size fit. I haven't officially gone down a size, because I was never willing to admit a larger size last fall, though I should have. (I did try on one pair of capris in the next smallest size - while they did not fit well by any stretch of the fabric or strategic lighting, I was able to forcibly connect the button and zip up the fly.)
But, looking at the big picture in the beginning is overwhelming, and probably why most diets ultimately fail. I have taken a lot of good advice from "You - On A Diet" which suggests that weight loss is extremely personal, based on a person's habits, lifestyle, social standing (i.e. amount of money), and metabolism. To paraphrase, what works for me probably will not work for you, but I think it might be useful for me to focus in on the little picture (for me), and show you the process behind the progress. I find that focusing weekly on one goal (while keeping the over all goals in mind) has been my key - it keeps me from being intimidated by the daunting task at hand, and it keeps me interested for more than 3 weeks at a time. So, over the next few days, I will share some of my personal mini-goals, based on my past behaviors and inadequacies.
Looking at this week, it appears I will need to revisit a mini-goal: limiting my coffee intake.