31Jan/120

Books I read in January 2012

- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Such a classic!

- Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko. I really love this book. There is so much great information here about the value of leafy greens and of drinking green smoothies. It's also good inspiration for keeping going with drinking green smoothies daily

- Nutrition for Health, Fitness, & Sport by Melvin H. Williams. I'm not finished this one yet, but it's my final textbook to read for my nutrition course. Interesting information but it's a TOUGH read!

- The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis. Another wonderful classic. I forgot how short the books in the Narnia series are, though - I read this one in about an hour.

- The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. Yes, I'm reading the whole series. Whee!

- Lose Weight Without Dieting or Working Out! by J J Smith. Some pretty good basic information here, focusing on whole foods and relieving the body of toxins and such. But it's kind of just like any other book of this genre.

What books have you read recently?

Filed under: Lifestyle Editing, Monthly Book List No Comments

24Jan/120

Books I Read in December 2011

How are we in 2012 already? How have I not written a blog post in over a month? Time flies by!

I added up all the books that I read in the 2011. They amounted to 61 books that I read all the way through, plus another 11 books that I started reading but never finished. Awesome! I have absolutely no idea how I managed to read all those books when I had such a crazy busy year.

Here are the books that I read in December 2011 (the ones I can remember, anyway ):

- His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (the trilogy). I've loved this trilogy for years. So much adventure! These are can't-put-them-down type of books. It's also a really good series to read no matter what your age is.

- Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman. I had only read this book once before, so I didn't remember it at all. Great book though.

- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book is such a delight to read. I read it about half a dozen times as a kid, but hadn't read it in about 10 years. Love it. Such amazing writing and the story is very compelling. Now I need to track down a copy of the film and watch it.

What books did you read this month? What was your favourite book that you read in 2011?

Tagged as: adventure book, alethiometer, harper lee, his dark materials, philip pullman, to kill a mockingbird No Comments

8Dec/110

Five Tips for Writing a Novel

I've been working on my novel a lot the past month or so and in that time I went from about 15,000 words to 30,000. A novel is generally between about 50,000 and 90,000 words, so I still have at least 20,000 more to go!

It can be tough to work on a novel consistently, especially when you have paid work to do, but here are some ways to ensure that the creative juices keep flowing:

1) Set a timer and word limit. I find that if I decide to myself that I'll spend two hours working on my novel today, and that I'll write 2,000 words, I can actually get that done. The amount of words you get written depends on the amount of research you need to do and such - but if you set yourself some solid deadlines, it can work well. This is also a good technique when you live with others, since you can tell them that you're working so you are not to be disturbed.

2) Read out loud. This is very helpful for dialogue especially. If dialogue isn't your strong suit, read the lines out loud (if a friend is willing, ask them to read the other character's lines). You'll be able to figure out right away if the sentences sound natural. For descriptive sections, this is also useful for checking that everything flows smoothly.

3) Take a break. There's no sense in staring at the computer for hours without writing anything (or, worse, with writing crappy lines). Instead get away from the computer - read a book, take a walk, grab a coffee with a friend or do research for your book. It will help you feel refreshed for when you do go back to the novel.

4) Edit. If you're stuck, begin reading the entire story (what you have already written, anyway) from start to finish. You might catch a few errors, and you also might get new ideas for where the story should go next.

5) Ask for help. Get a friend to read your story and then discuss it with them afterward (or after they've read each chapter, depending how long each one is). Find out what they liked, what they didn't like, what sections confused them, what they'd like to read more about, and if they have any suggestions for where the story could go.

Share your tips for working on a manuscript in the comments section below!

Tagged as: edit novel, feather pen, how to write a novel, story ideas, tips for writing, working on manuscript No Comments

1Dec/110

Books I read in November 2011

- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I've read this book countless times and every time I read it, it's still as wonderful as the first time. I love this book. It's one of my favourites. Kostova is my hero. She writes all about Dracula and incorporates really interesting tidbits of history... it can be a creepy book, but it's just so thrilling! Do read it.

- The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Wow! I was impressed by this book. It was another one that I wasn't super interested in reading, but others urged me to, and I am so glad they did. On the front cover, there's a quote saying that "This could be one of the most important pieces of fiction since To Kill a Mockingbird." I couldn't put it much better myself. Which reminds me, I need to read To Kill a Mockingbird again. I read it when I was a little kid and loved it, but it's been years since I last flipped through those pages.

- Ella Enchanted by Gail Garson Levine. This used to be one of my favourite books, and it's another one I've read a million times. My copy is tattered to bits. Since it's for 10-year-olds, I haven't read it in years. But I still loved it reading it this time around. It's not complex writing, but the story is very sweet, and the author is an excellent writer. A very good choice for little girls to read, and I think adults can enjoy it too

- The Twilight saga (all four books) by Stephanie Meyer. I've already openly admitted that I read the Shopaholic books, so I guess this is prime time to admit my love for the Twilight series, too. Teenage girl at heart, right here. One day I spent five hours straight reading one of the Twilight books. They're kind of addictive.

What books did you read this month??

Tagged as: cinderella story, dracula story, elizabeth kostova, ella enchanted, Stephanie Meyer, the help, the historian, Twilight No Comments

17Nov/112

Books I read in October 2011

Huh. I'm rather behind on this blog post! I blame it on Internet problems

I did a very bad job of tracking the books I read in October and I'm afraid I can only remember two of the books that I read, besides my nutrition books. I know I read more books than these two, but can't for the life of me think what they were! Ah well.

The nutrition books, for my correspondence course, were The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets: Issues and Applications, Second Edition by Virginia Messina, Reed Mangels, and Mark Messina, as well as Becoming Vegetarian: the complete guide to adopting a healthy vegetarian diet by Vesanto Melina, M. Sc., R.D., and Brenda Davis, R.D. I quite enjoyed these two, even though at times they could be a little dry. Very informative though!

The two novels that I read were absolutely excellent. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was one I hadn't been planning on reading, but I was told that it was amazing so I decided I'd give it a shot. It turns out that this book really is incredible. It made me cry three times! I can't remember the last time a book elicited such a strong reaction from me. It is a very moving story and Niffenegger is a genius.

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin was the other book I read, on recommendation from the father dear. I was blown away by Martin's talent. I don't usually like him in his films, usually because they're comedies and I just don't like him in that role. But he wrote this book with such a lovely style. I don't think I liked the characters, and I'm not sure I liked the story (I can't really decide, to be honest), but even so, I can tell a good writer when I read them. And Martin is very talented. It makes me want to watch the film Shopgirl again, which he wrote and starred in... at the time I first saw it, several years ago, I didn't much like it, but I think I'd like to watch it just to appreciate the talent, even if I'm not a fan of the story.

Have you ever read a book or watched a film where you could appreciate the quality of the skill and style, but just weren't into the story so much?

Tagged as: an object of beauty, becoming vegetarian, books i read, great novles, nutrition books, October 2011, Steve Martin, time traveler's wife 2 Comments

1Nov/111

Sometimes rules you learn in school aren’t useful when applied to the real world

This article investigates six ways your schoolteacher sabotage your business writing. Definitely worth a read! Number 6 really resounded with me. I recall being frustrated in grade school one time when a teacher crossed out the "And" at the beginning of a sentence I'd written, because it wasn't "correct." My response was that I knew it wasn't correct, but I was deliberately breaking the rules because it sounded better and fit my story well and I'm a good writer, dammit, so I'm allowed to make my own rules!* Cheeky little monkey, I was.

Do you follow all the rules? Or have you discovered that the rules you learned in school are not to be applied to business writing?

*Okay, I didn't say it in those words. But I was thinking it

Tagged as: business writing, correct grammar, grammar rules 1 Comment

25Oct/110

Occupy Toronto protest

Last week I was in Toronto for a few days, and I visited Occupy Toronto (Toronto's version of Occupy Wall Street) the first night that it was set up. It was fascinating to witness the rhetoric of an international protest such as this one. Here are some of the signs that I snapped photos of which I thought were interesting:

Have you seen any protest signs lately? What do you think about the ones above? Share in the comments section below.

Tagged as: greed breeds corruption, Occupy Toronto, occupy Wall Street, people over profit, protest signs, rhetoric of a protest, toronto protest No Comments

11Oct/110

In the media: how a conversation plays out

Westwood showed this to me - it's hilarious. Skip forward to Act 10 (about the 25-minute mark, up to the 28-minute mark). It's a quick little way to demonstrate how a conversation plays out. Listen and giggle!

Click here to listen to the Neo-Futurists at work.

Tagged as: rhetoric of conversation, the Neo-Futurists, this American Life No Comments

4Oct/112

Books I read in September 2011

I'm not doing a very good job at posting regularly on this blog, am I ? Ah well. At least I did a lot of fun, light reading this month!

Books I read (and finished reading) in September:

- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling. Classic. Love love love.

- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling. Please see above.

- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling. Please see above again I adore J. K. Rowling. She has a fantastic writing style, she is very engaging and she tells a great story!

- Nutrition Now by Judith E. Brown. As I mentioned last month, this was required reading for my second nutrition course - which I successfully completed and took the exam for last week! I received 92% on my exam, hurray! And partially that's because Brown's book was so interesting. I really liked it and it was a great learning aid.

- Le Divorce by Diane Johnson. I picked this up at a secondhand bookstore because the title was familiar and it sounded like a chick flick I would like... I was about a third of the way through it before I suddenly realized that I already knew the story. I'd seen the film years ago when it first came out and then had forgotten all about it! So that was funny. It was a decent book, although the characters were a little wishy washy.

- French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I must be on a French kick or something. Anyway, this book has been a bestseller and people rave about it but for some reason I never got around to reading it. I'm so glad I finally picked it up! It's an excellent read - not only does it have very good advice (and tasty-looking recipes!), but Guiliano is also funny and sweet.

Books I read part of in September but haven't finished yet:

- Breaking Free From Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth. I read this book just a few months ago but felt the need to pick it up again. I'm reading it slowly to savour it. Roth is wonderful.

- Sex, Art, and American Culture by Camille Paglia. I read some of Paglia in one of my rhetoric classes and was immediately intrigued, so I was excited to read more of her (rather than just the couple of essays I'd read in class). She is incredibly well-read and has interesting perspectives. I don't always agree 100% with everything she says, but I find there's a lot of value in reading her work. I'm a big fan.

What books did you read in September?