New Rules of LIfting for Women

I read this book a while ago called New Rules of Lifting for Women.  I quite liked it, because it has tons of nutritional information, as well as workout programs and recipes.  Now I know there are lots of books out there structured in similar ways, but I liked that this book focuses on the importance of weight training for women.

I do believe that most women do not lift heavy enough weights, if any at all.  And it becomes more and more important as we age and start to lose bone density.  Most women are afraid of being bulky, in fact somebody at the gym just told me this exact thing today.  But they don't realize how hard it is to actually gain muscle, especially for women.  And muscles burn fat, for hours after the workout!  I actually wish I had more muscles, and I try lifting heavy every time I go to the gym.  But I think my genetics is especially bad for muscle building or something because it is extremely hard for me to get definition.  

This book actually says that cardio is not needed at all in order to burn fat, all you have to do is to lift heavy weights.  I understand the science behind that theory, and that sometimes too much cardio makes you lose muscles.  But I still have trouble not doing any cardio, maybe it's because it's been so ingrained into our minds that cardio = weight loss.  So I do both, and of course there are benefits in doing cardio as well since after all it is working the most important muscle in the body - the heart.  

The nutrition part of the book is very good, and written in a way that is no non-sense and easy to understand.  I read about nutrition all the time, so I have heard most of what's in this book, but I think it would be very beneficial for many people.  It tells you not to be afraid of carbs.  =)

Anyway, all this stuff is written in pretty good detail in the book.  I have to say that I agree 100% with the authors' view point.  Nothing in this book talks about any magical diet or workout program that can give you instant results.  It's just all hard work and discipline!  No short cuts, just helpful facts!

I also did some of the weight programs and found the first few on the easy side.  But I guess that's to be expected since it's meant to be the beginning of the program.  Then it got tougher, but I kind of fell off the wagon and stopped doing it.  So I will have to get back into it, and can't speak too much about it now.

Anyways, I just thought I'd share this little book.  It's a pretty quick read, and has tons of good info!  Not to mention some simple and good recipes too.  So check it out if you are in the market for something like this!

Eat Pray Love - Meh

I jumped on the bandwagon and read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert which was recently made into a motion picture starring Julia Roberts.  I picked it up because I heard good reviews about it.  Well, by "heard", I mean I saw some friends' updates on Facebook about how thankful they are for this book.  They are the same friends that constantly post about how things have been so horrible in their lives but no matter because they have faith in God.  Blah blah.  I don't have anything against any religion or personal beliefs at all, but I find the people who post stuff like that suspicious.  Should've known not to trust them.  Let's just say I now think we should no longer be friends.  Or I should hide their feeds at the least.

I always like to read travel books, and since this book takes you to 3 countries, I thought that I'd find it interesting.  But after a few pages in, wow is this author self-absorbed!  I know it's a weird thing to say about an autobiography of sort.  The book is about her search for God or some kind of higher power, so naturally it is about her personal struggles and findings.  But even knowing that, she still comes off as a pretty vain individual, I don't even know how that's possible.  She tries to sound cute and funny but whatever story she was describing always circles back to her and she found every opportunity to show how much she'd done in her life, how many places she traveled to, how easy it is for her to make friends, and how she always manages to get a boyfriend.

***The following may be a spoiler if you plan to read the book.  But I'd suggest borrowing it from a friend if you must.

At the beginning of the book, she recounts a period of her life during which she was so depressed and was crying every night in her bathroom because of her failing marriage, amongst other things.  Oh, but she won't tell you why because it's personal.  Wtf?  You have to give your readers SOMETHING.  That was about 10 pages in.  Then she talks about how things got so bad that she moved out of her house and immediately started living with some yogi named David who she was madly in love with.  Ok, so we can pretty much assume that she cheated on her husband.  Her husband was so upset about whatever happened that we are not supposed to know, that he refused to sign the divorce papers, even when she offered him every financial asset that *she* provided during their marriage, she was quick to point that out.  She's so upset and depressed, and this dragged on for years, as well as for page after page after page!

Finally, things were not going well with David, but he did introduce her to his guru in India which gave her the idea to go there and live in an ashram.  But she didn't leave until her publisher offered her a huge advance for writing this book.  Even then, before she goes to India, she had to make a pit stop in Italy for a few months to indulge herself.  Ok, Italy has many religious ties.  However, she doesn't visit one single church or museum or anything to experience the culture.  All she did was eat pasta and gelato and gained 23 pounds.  But she also quickly pointed out that most of that weight were supposed to be gained because she was underweight from her years of depression.  Spirituality through gelato, I guess?!  She was also learning Italian, and had hot Italian twin brothers as language exchange partners.  She really wanted to kiss one of them, but she had always had one boyfriend after another her whole life since high school and decided to impose celibacy on herself.  But she was also constantly think about about David, and her ex-husband.  I was so bored at this point and was pretty much skimping through the pages.

Finally she got to India, but she didn't talk about India at all!  It was all "me, me, me".  She made some friends there, but all her conversations with them involved: how do I quiet my mind so I can meditate, what went wrong with the ex-hubby, is David my soulmate, etc. etc.  Seriously is this what one thinks about while searching for God?  No wonder she didn't make much progress the entire time she was there.  The passage in India felt like reading something written by a teenage girl.

At last, she arrived at Bali.  Must admit this was my favorite part of the book.  Because she actually did write some things about Balinese culture and people.  Though I felt her vision of the "Balinese culture" was very skewed and probably not the true representation.  Here again, she was supposed to be learning spirituality from a medicine man.  He was an old man who spent all his days curing all these poor villagers of different ailments, sometimes didn't even have time to eat, but at the end of his days she made him teach her how to find God, meditate, and be happy.  No consideration for the poor old man.  That really annoyed me.

Then she made a good Balinese friend who was so poor that she was about to become homeless with her 4 children.  So the author did a very nice thing and asked her friends and family to donate money to the Balinese woman to buy her a house.  After getting the money, all of a sudden this Balinese woman was portrayed as a con artist because she wasn't planning to buy a house before the author left Bali - the time frame was only a month or so and even she admitted that real estate is very tricky in Bali.  So the author and her Brazilian lover (she is now no longer celibate - in fact she was having so much sex that she got a urinary track infection... LOL!  By the way she is 35, not 15) decided to trick the Balinese woman by making up some story about taking the money back, so that she would hurry up and buy a house.  LOL!  This was comical.  I didn't understand why the woman had to buy a house before the author left Bali.  It wasn't a pre-existing condition for giving her the money, so why not let her take her time. 

Ugh, anyway, at the end of the book, I thought that she really didn't advance much as far as finding God.  In fact, it just proved her own point that she ended up with a man.  I can see the whole cycle repeating itself when her relationship with the Brazilian goes downhill.  The whole time I read this book I was hoping she would have more insightful things to say.  I guess maybe I'm just jealous because I wish I could get $200k advance and go travel for a year, but I really think that I would actually take the time out to learn more about the places I go to and people I meet. 

I wouldn't say this is the worst book ever, but it was rather disappointing.  When I was reading it on the train ride to and from work, I was kind of embarrassed and consciously hid the book cover, lol.  I respect the author's personal problems she faced, but she sounded like someone I would want to stay far away from in real life before she drowns all her problems on me.  I picture her as someone who pretends to listen to you when you have a "conversation" with her, but always reverts back to talking about herself.  It's too bad because the premise behind this book is great, I just wish it wasn't so painful to read!  I'm annoyed that I helped fund this venture.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I just finished reading this book called The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I've been reading on my way to and from work on the subway, which is great because otherwise I would not have time to read leisure books right now.  It's the first of the Millennium trilogy, written by the Swedish author Stieg Larsson who actually died before the novels were found and published.

So the book became a sensation in Europe and now in North America.  My boyfriend actually read it first and liked it.  Then he took me to watch the movie that was based on the book.  So by the time I read the book, I already knew what happened already.  Of course, as always, I find books better than movies because they just have much more detail. 

This book has unique characters based on an investigative financial journalist and a anti-social crazy computer hacker genius.  They are definitely a unlikely pair, actually the polar opposites of each other.  But fate has them intertwined, and they wind up being in the middle of a global complicated financial fraud as well as a serial murder.  

I really like the development of the characters, especially the girl.  The description of her past is just enough for the reader to understand why she is the way she is, without being too detailed and boring (I could be kind of ADD).  And I think you do sympathize with her even if she does seem so strange in the beginning!  The plot development is a good pace for me as well.  Even though I knew what happened at the end, it still kept me turning the pages. 

So I got the next book in the trilogy - the The Girl Who Played With Fire.  Very interested to see what the new plot will be about!  Also, the American version of the movie just got casted so it will be interesting to see how the movie turns out.

Everyone Worth Knowing - Lauren Weisberger

 

I just finished reading Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger.  She's the same author that wrote The Devil Wears Prada, which was immensely popular especially due to the movie with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway.  Hard to believe that The Devil Wears Prada was her very first book ever to have published!  I personally didn't find the book that great.  In fact, it gave me a lot of stress reading it.  But I do think it's a cute idea (and a great title) and I did like the movie a lot.  Then I read her next book Chasing Harry Winston, again another great title to get all the girls to grab it right away.  I liked it more than the first one, and I heard that they are making it into a movie or a TV show too.  But not sure if/when that will happen.

I think Lauren Weisberger definitely came out at the right time with all this "chick lit" stuff being very popular as a result of authors like Candace Bushnell (think Sex and the City, Lipstick Jungle, etc.).  I guess there is something very captivating to read or watch about the lives of the "young and fabulous".  It's like watching Heidi and Spencer on The Hills, hating them but can't stop watching at the same time just to see what stupid shit they are up to next.  The main characters in these books are always a "regular" girl, very relate-able to the rest of us, and quite content being invisible.  But they somehow always manage to get their foot into the "other world" of the elite society, however willing or unwilling.  Of course the girls always have a job like a writer most of the time (for fashion and social magazines and newspaper columns), an aspiring writer, a fashion designer, or in PR.  The stories are pretty similar too, the girl will either have a rich girl friend or meet a nice rich guy (who they fall in love with) who introduces them into the other world.  They will in turn have fabulous high end designer shoes, purses, clothes, accessories, but they always remain true to their former selves, and realize at the end what truly matters.  Ok there, that's the gist of all the plots in every single one of these books.

Of course, however predictable the plots are, I still have read all of them!  They are just fun and entertaining to read.  If you start reading them knowing that they won't be the next greatest English novel, then you will most likely enjoy them more.  I guess I could use my spare time more wisely by reading classics, but sometimes I just don't want to think too much!  Haha... these books are totally easy reads that I can finish in a few days.  They don't use big words, and they have some funny plots/conversations and pop culture references.  I'm sure the authors bank on this type of books though, especially when they get made into movies or shows.  Not a bad life at all!  Maybe I should look into this... afterall, it doesn't seem to require much writing skills to be able to become a chick lit writer!  I just need to have some decent ideas, come up with an amazing girly title and cover, and really learn about all the high end brands and popular restaurants/places (I'm almost there already!).  All in the name of "research".

Anyway, back to Everyone Worth Knowing.  Like I said, the plot and writing style are pretty much exactly the same as the other books.  The main character Bette starts as a girl with a regular banking job in NYC, gets fed up and quits.  Then stumbles upon a job in the "it" PR firm, then her life transforms and she's frequenting fabulous places with fabulous people.  Of course there is a guy or two in the plot as well.  I don't want to spoil too much.  It seems that Lauren Weisberger has been developing her characters a little better than her prior books.  For example, Bette comes from an extremely hippie family, and she has a gay Republican uncle.  So at least there are some more colorful characters that are memorable.  All in all I enjoyed reading it.  I would give it 3 stars out of 5. 

True Blood & Sookie Stackhouse Series

The HBO show True Blood has to be my favorite show on TV right now.  I just love it!  I even went to the HBO store in NYC last September and bought myself a Merlot's t-shirt like the one Sookie wears in the show!  I also got my boyfriend a Bon Temps Football shirt like Jason's.  It doesn't look like a cheesy t-shirt, and he wears it a lot, but nobody ever registered it as a True Blood shirt.  Sad.  I guess our friends aren't real True Blood fans!  I wanted to get the True Blood drinks too, but they were out of stock.  =(

I am anxiously awaiting the 3rd season.  I never thought that I would be into a vampire show, since there are so many shows and movies out there right now about vampires.  Like that stupid Twilight series.  Ugh, I don't understand why anybody past the age of 13 would like it, but apparently some of my facebook "friends" love it, as per their status updates.  I seriously thought about deleting them from my friends list after I saw their obsessive, multiple status about it.  But I hid their feeds instead.  Hmmm... anyway, so how I got into True Blood is I accidentally saw one of the True Blood episodes on HBO one night when I was channel surfing, and it just caught my attention right away!  This was actually a really good show!  Then I had to go and find the earlier episodes.  I couldn't stop watching them!  They have really good cliff hangers at the end of each episode.  Then of course when I got all caught up, I had to wait for the new episode to air every week.  And then second season was over!  =( 

I like True Blood obviously for the great acting, story line, and good writing.  But I really like how it's aimed at adults, and not teenagers like Harry Potter or Twilight.  Don't get me wrong, I love Harry Potter, I read all the books and watched all the movies.  But it was still aimed at teenagers to begin with, though it got much darker later on.  Anyways, since I was waiting around for the 3rd season of True Blood to start, I figured I would seek out the Sookie Stackhouse books to try to get over my withdrawal. 

 

I bought the box set from Barnes & Noble and started reading them right away.  They are really fast and easy reads.  Each book is about 300 pages or so, and I can finish one in a day or two.  The writing style of Charlaine Harris, the author, seems to be aimed more at teens though.  I don't think she has particularly good writing skills, but her plots are creative, and I never got bored.  They are definitely entertaining to read.  They are also different from other fantasy type of books.  While she writes a lot about different types of supernatural beings, the setting is still in today's modern world with normal human beings that live like you and I everyday, only with secret supernatural beings (and not so secret vampires) among them.  It's definitely an interesting concept.  I do wonder if there are other things out there that we don't know about??

The first two seasons of True Blood are loosely based on the first two books of the series, so I definitely picked up on the similarities.  But there are also some distinct differences.  For example, Tara and Lafeyette are not big characters at all in the books but huge characters in the show.  Jason is never addicted to drinking vampire blood in the books either.  The books do mention the maned, but only a little bit.  Not nearly as drawn out a story line as the show made it out to be.  That was the most annoying part about the show in my opinion.  That character was just annoying and pointless in the show.  They focused way too much on her, I don't know, maybe they will lead to something in later seasons.  Also, Bill is not nearly as likable in the books as the show (Eric is WAY more likable!), and Sookie is kind of a slut in the books!  Hahaha... I mean I still like her character, but she does get around.  The show seem to be drifting further and further away from the books though.  So I could see 3rd and later seasons becoming way different.  Maybe they will keep Sookie and Bill together forever in the show, who knows?  But that would be boring and I hope they don't do that. 

Well the downside about reading all the books is that I sort of know what is going to happen in later seasons so that kind of takes some of the suspense away.  Like I pretty much know who took Bill at the end of season two, but of course I won't ruin it for everyone else who hasn't read the books!  Also, the writers of True Blood could make it completely different anyways.  So I'm still excited to watch season three.  I hope knowing what happens in the books won't make me confuse the two plots of the books vs. show together!