Category Archives: It’s Monday! What are you reading?

I can’t believe that it is officially the last Monday of the year. I don’t know about you guys, but it seems like 2014 just flew by – I had a little great reading, lots of good reading and some disappointing reading. I discovered many new authors that I look forward to reading again and moved prior favorites from the auto-buy pile to the get from the library pile because they just don’t live up my expectations any more. As we enter the last 3 days of 2014, I have my normal multiple books in progress:

Listening:
The Light Between the Ocean – M.L. Stedman
After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

I picked this audiobook up after seeing it mentioned in a GR group and because it showed up on the popular book club books list and since I’m not in any real life groups, I was curious to see what groups (be they face to face or virtual) find interesting/choose often. I’m about halfway through right now and enjoying the story. The narrator is new to me, but I’m enjoying him so far – having grown up in Australia, typical “Australia” accents in audiobooks but me, but his works. I’m interested to see how the book finishes up.

Reading:
Waistcoats & Weaponry – Gail Carriger
Sophronia continues second year finishing school in style — with a steel-bladed fan secreted in the folds of her ball gown. She, best friend Dimity, sweet sootie Soap, and charming Lord Felix Mersey stow away on train to return classmate Sidheag to her werewolf pack in Scotland. No one suspects what or who would be aboard the suspiciously empty train.

I loved all of the books that I’ve read and listened to by this author – she is, IMHO, a good introduction to Steampunk (especially if you like a bit of a paranormal twist with Vampires/Werewolves). I listened to her Parasol Protectorate series and have been reading this series as its been released and can’t wait to see what Sophronia get’s up to in this newest book.

Death Cache – Tiffinie Helmer
Loving her is murder…

She shouldn’t have played…

Gallery owner Tern Maiski has always had a way with men, but the one she gave her heart to disappeared without a word. Now he’s competing alongside her and four others in a high-tech treasure hunt, and her pride isn’t the only thing on the line. So is her life.

He doesn’t play by the rules…

Geophysicist Gage Fallon’s relationship with Tern has been cataclysmic from the beginning. He cared too much, too fast and their passion threatened to consume him. Now he’s back on firmer ground and competing in a game that will risk more than his heart.

Once their group is dropped off in a remote area near the Arctic Circle, it quickly becomes clear that instead of hunting for treasure, they’re the ones being hunted. And the killer is dead serious about caching them in.

Ms Helmer is an author that I see recommended quite often on Amazon for someone with a unique voice in contemporary romance today and based on the one book I’ve read by her, I have to agree. I love the Alaska setting and you can tell that the author does significant research into the topic she is writing about. I’m only a couple of chapters into this book right now, but already intrigued with the whole adventure Caching thing (I have some friends who are super into it and i’m intrigued to maybe try it in the New Year).

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War – Karen Abbott
Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow—who were spies.

After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The beautiful widow, Rose O’Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful Northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy, and used her young daughter to send information to Southern generals. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring, right under the noses of suspicious rebel detectives.

I probably never would have picked this book up if I hadn’t seen the negative review for it in the Washington Post and subsequent discussions on the authors portrayal of events that occurred during the Civil War. So when I saw it on the new release shelf at the library I had to grab it. I’m about half-way through right now, but like the authors writing style and while there is a lot of detail, it is also a quick read (likely due to the typeset used). I’m trying to take my time reading it to absorb all the details.

Strength Training for Triathletes: The Complete Program to Build Triathlon Power, Speed, and Muscular Endurance – Patrick S. Hagerman
“Strength Training for Triathletes” offers a comprehensive strength training program for triathlon that will help triathletes build power, speed, and muscular endurance for faster racing over any race distance.

Certified USA Triathlon coach and NSCA Personal Trainer of the Year Patrick Hagerman, EdD, reveals a focused, triathlon-specific strength training program that will enable triathletes to push harder during training and on the race course when the effort is hardest. Triathletes who master this progressive strength training program will also become more resistant to injury, meaning fewer missed workouts.

“Strength Training for Triathletes” features 75 of the most effective strength training exercises for triathlon swimming, cycling, and running plus core strength and general conditioning. Full-color photographs illustrate each simple exercise, which are grouped so athletes can focus on their own individual performance limiters. Hagerman simplifies the science underlying strength training, offering easy-to-follow guidelines on resistance and reps that will make triathletes stronger through every phase of the season.

This is a review book from the publisher that I am currently reading. In 2014, I completed my first Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 run) and looking forward to doing another one in 2015. But I know that I need to factor in some strength training into my training program. So far, this book has done a good job in breaking down how to develop a training plan based on goals and I am about to get to the actual information about various exercises. While I have the kindle version to read, my one complaint is that tables haven’t come across well (formatting has been removed), so I see myself buying the print version in the future.

Yoga for Runners – Christine Felstead
As a runner, you strike the ground 1,000 times per mile, with a force of two to three times your body weight. You can feel that impact in the muscles, ligaments, and bone structures throughout your body. Thankfully, “Yoga for Runners” addresses both the physical and mental demands of the sport. Whether you are new to yoga or have practiced for years, “Yoga for Runners” provides you with the most effective poses–88 poses in all. Each pose is described in detail to ensure correct execution, maximizing the physical benefit and decreasing the risk of injury.

You’ll learn how simple yoga techniques can be incorporated into your existing running workouts and routines to eliminate chronic aches and pains. Discover how each pose can be sequenced to address a specific need, such as strengthen and lengthen the hamstrings, strengthen and increase mobility of the hip joint, eliminate lower-back and upper-body discomfort, speed the recovery process after a practice run or a race, maintain a strong core, or just restore and rejuvenate to prepare for an upcoming event. These sequences target all troublesome muscle regions. Anatomical illustrations and descriptions explain why these poses and sequences decrease your risk of acute or chronic injury as well as why they are beneficial to your training regimen.

After just a few weeks of following “Yoga for Runners,” you will feel stronger, more balanced, more in tune with your breathing, and more aware of your posture and technique. Your entire running experience–endurance, strength, breathing, and mental sharpness–will be more productive, positive, and enjoyable.

As with strength training, I know that I also need to building some Yoga/flexibility training into my workout plan – while this book is focused specifically on how Yoga can help runner’s, a lot of the issues also apply to cycling and I can see how I would be able to adjust recommendations to encompass cycling issues/imbalances. I borrowed this book from the library, but I can see myself buying it for reference in the future.

How about you – what are you reading on this last Monday of 2014?

Have you every had one of those weekends where you know the rest of your work week is going to be long and painful. That was me this weekend – being a Navy reservist, I do one weekend a month of duty – which normally means long hours – case in point, last night (Sunday), I didn’t walk i the door until 7:30pm after leaving at 5:30am. Yes, I know it probably seems a bit whiney and I shouldn’t but some days I get grumpy. I think I may put a grumpy bear warning on my desk at work. Hopefully, reading this week, will put me in a better place.

Murder in Murray Hill – Victoria Thompson
Frank Malloy has never known any life other than that of a cop, but his newfound inheritance threatens his position within his department. While trying to keep both his relationship with Sarah and his fortune under wraps, he’s assigned to a new case—finding a missing young woman for her worried father, Henry Livingston.

It seems the girl had been responding to “lonely hearts” ads in the paper for months before she disappeared. Her father thinks that she’s eloped with a deceptive stranger, but Malloy fears the worst, knowing that the grifters who place such ads often do much more than simply abscond with their victims. But as Sarah and Malloy delve deeper into a twisted plot targeting the city’s single women, it’s their partnership—both professional and private—that winds up in the greatest peril

I Shall Be Near You – Erin Lindsey McCabe
Rosetta doesn’t want her new husband Jeremiah to enlist, but he joins up, hoping to make enough money that they’ll be able to afford their own farm someday. Though she’s always worked by her father’s side as the son he never had, now that Rosetta is a wife she’s told her place is inside with the other women. But Rosetta decides her true place is with Jeremiah, no matter what that means, and to be with him she cuts off her hair, hems an old pair of his pants, and signs up as a Union soldier.
Rosetta drills with the men, prepares herself for battle, and faces the tension as her husband comes to grips with having a fighting wife. Fearing discovery of her secret, Rosetta’s strong will clashes with Jeremiah’s as their marriage is tested by war. Inspired by over two hundred and fifty documented accounts of the women who fought in the Civil War while disguised as men, I Shall Be Near To You is the intimate story, in Rosetta’s powerful and gorgeous voice, of the drama of marriage, one woman’s amazing exploits, and the tender love story that can unfold when two partners face life’s challenges side by side.

Designed By Love – Kelsey Browning
Ashton Davenport: Hot blonde. Old Money. Off-limits.
That’s how Mac McLaughlin sees her, anyway. And now that he’s enduring a temporary self-imposed exile in tiny Shelbyville, Texas, he’s seeing her way too often. Mac only wants to succeed as the contractor for the Lily Lake development in order to rebuild his reputation and return to Dallas, pronto. A sexy distraction like Ashton was not in the plans.

Mac McLaughlin: Hot builder. Cash poor. Hands-on.
Ashton kissed her trust fund goodbye and left her life as a society princess to prove she could make it on her own. Developing Lily Lake is her big chance, but it’s hard to stay focused working side-by-side with bossy, rough-around-the-edges Mac. Especially when he pulls off his shirt.

When the discovery of an endangered species derails the project, Mac can’t afford to stick around for a stalled job. His and Ashton’s explosive chemistry aside, he’s outta there…unless she can convince him that they just might be able to build something together

Judgment – Carey Baldwin
hen a coed falls prey to a sadistic murderer, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin “Caity” Cassidy and Special Agent Atticus Spenser are called in to testify–one for the defense, one for the prosecution. With warring approaches to justice, these two rivals have been butting heads for years–both inside the courtroom and out. And at first, this case appears to be no different.

But when a brutal attack leaves the accused man dead and Caity in critical condition, petty differences take a backseat to saving lives. As the lone survivor, Caity knows too much, and the killer–a madman calling himself the Man in the Maze–is coming back for round two. Now Caity and Spense must join forces to uncover the killer’s identity before Caity’s time–and luck–runs out.

Wish me luck on my reading week 😉