Friday, January 21, 2011

My Kindle Bookshelf

I am a very, very avid reader.  I will read just about anything and everything.  I have had my Kindle since Christmas Day and have completed 8 books and started 3 others.  I am reading Little Women again and trying to read The Imperfectionists, but I am struggling with that one!  I am a little anxious to fill my Kindle for the upcoming Disney trip so I took part in the living social Amazon $10 for $20 deal this week.  (I made newbie purchase one as well so I could have $40!)

So here is what I have to read on my upcoming trip:

1.  The Help  Kathryn Stockett     
This one comes highly recommended by numerous friends!

Amazon's Description:
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

2.  The Long Run Matt Long
I have noticed quite a few bloggers reading this one lately.  I read the excerpt in Runners World and was intrigued.  Newbie calls me a "marketers dream."  I will "drink the kool aid" as he says and stories like this inspire me to do amazing things.  Ultramarathon Man is the whole reason I decided to run a marathon!  I have a feeling tears are going to be a big part of reading this book for me!  The mere description of this book is choking me up!

Amazon's Description:
On the morning of December 22, 2005, New York City firefighter Matt Long was cycling to work when he was struck by and sucked under a 20-ton bus making an illegal turn. The injuries he sustained pushed him within inches of death. Miraculously, after five months in the hospital and more than 40 operations, Matt was able to start his recovery. In addition to his physical injuries, Matt found the psychological consequences of the accident nearly as hard to process. In the 18 months before the accident, he had competed in more than 20 premier athletic events and had qualified for running’s most prestigious race, the Boston Marathon. After the accident, one doctor told him he’d be lucky if he could even walk without a cane.

The Long Run
is the emotional and incredibly honest story of Matt’s determination to fight through fear, despair, loneliness, and intense physical and psychological pain to regain the life he once had. It chronicles Matt’s road to recovery as he teaches himself to walk again and, a mere three years later, to run in the 2008 New York City Marathon.

3.  Brain Training For Runners: A Revolutionary New Training System to Improve Endurance, Speed, Health, and Results     Matt Fitzgerald  

Amanda at Runninghood seems to be really enjoying this book.  I want to become a faster runner.  There are times I feel like I could be doing this running thing a whole lot better than I am and I am hoping this book helps me to achieve that.

Amazon's Description:
Based on new research in exercise physiology, author and running expert Matt Fitzgerald introduces a first-of-its-kind training strategy that he's named "Brain Training." Runners of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels can learn to maximize their performance by supplying the brain with the right feedback. Based on Fitzgerald's eight-point brain training system, this book will help runners:

- Resist running fatigue
- Use cross-training as brain training
- Master the art of pacing
- Learn to run "in the zone"
- Outsmart injuries
- Fuel the brain for maximum performance
- And more

Packed with cutting-edge research, real-world examples, and the wisdom of the world's top distance runners, Brain Training for Runners offers easily applied advice and delivers practical results for a better overall running experience.

Have any of you read these books?  What are your thoughts?  What books would you recommend?

6 comments:

  1. Loved The Help. You should also look at Unbroken by Laura Hillebrand.

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  2. have you read the 19th wife. it's a fictional story but is an interesting and intriguing story about a Mormon family (or a couple).

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  3. Yay! So glad you are reading Brain Training! I love it! I also loved The Help! Great read. I actually just read about another blogger reading this book too. ;) Enjoy!

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  4. Hope you enjoy The Long Run. Matt has an amazing -- and inspiring -- story. Charlie Butler

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  5. I read The Long Run by Matt Long and I liked it. His story is definitely inspirational, but there is a little too much "macho drama" for me. It is worth the time to read it as I think it will help you be grateful for the time you get to spend out on the road.

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  6. The Help is one of my favorites. Hope you like it as much as I did.

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