Finished Reading - The Blind Side

Description (from publisher):

One day Michael Oher will be among the most highly paid athletes in the National Football League. When we first meet him, he is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or how to read or write. He takes up football, and school, after a rich, white, evangelical family plucks him from the streets. Then two great forces alter Oher: the family's love and the evolution of professional football itself into a game in which the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist becomes the priceless package of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback's greatest vulnerability: his blind side.

Book StatsTitle: The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game 
series:

Author: Michael Lewis
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 978-0-393-33838-6
ASIN:
(Amazon Standard Identification Number)
date published: October 2009 (movie tie-in edition)
format: Trade Paperback
genre: nonfiction - sports
pages: 352
ages: 16? 12?
Grade: C+



My StatsDate Finished: May 22
fiction or non-fiction
new or re-read
own or borrowed or review
from the shelf or new purchase
print or electronic
if new, purchased at ...Costco
challenge or just because



Reviewed at...Book Dragon's Lair 
amazon

Powell's
Fictionwise/eReader
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble
publisher
GoodReads
LibraryThing
Shelfari



Challenges150+
One Million Pages

50 States/Where are you reading
Mt TBR
Spring Reading Thing

copyright Gina Francis 2009-2012

Finished Reading - 28 Days to Hope for Your Home

Description (from publisher):

Are you overwhelmed by the mess in your home?

Have you ever wondered if there’s no hope for you?

I know that feeling. I’ve experienced it too. I’m so glad that now I can say . . .

There is hope! For anyone!

28 Days to Hope for Your Home is not for the mildly disorganized! Develop four habits over four weeks. Discover hope for real change in your home.

Book StatsTitle: 28 Days to Hope for Your Home
(NOT for the Mildly Disorganized)
series:
Author: Dana White
publisher: Amazon Digital Services
ISBN:
ASIN: B007VQE8NG
(Amazon Standard Identification Number)
date published: February 2012
format: ebook
genre: nonfiction, How-to, cleaning
pages: 72
ages:
Grade: B


My StatsDate Finished:  May 12
fiction or non-fiction
new or re-read
own or borrowed or review
from the shelf or new purchase
print or electronic
if new...purchased at ...
challenge or just because


Reviewed at...Book Dragon's Lair
amazon
Powell's
Fictionwise/eReader
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble
publisher
GoodReads
LibraryThing
Shelfari


Challenges150+
One Million Pages
ebook
The Unread Book
Spring Reading Thing

copyright Gina Francis 2009-2012

Finished Reading- The Gardner Heist

Description (from publisher):

Shortly after midnight on March 18, 1990, two men broke into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and committed the largest art heist in history. They stole a dozen masterpieces, including one Vermeer, three Rembrandts, and five Degas. But after thousands of leads—and a $5 million reward—none of the paintings have been recovered. Worth as much as $500 million, the missing masterpieces have become one of the nation's most extraordinary unsolved mysteries.

After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves. A tale of art and greed, of obsession and loss, The Gardner Heist is as compelling as the stolen masterpieces themselves.

Book Stats
Title: The Gardner Heist
The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
series:
Author: Ulrich Boser
publisher: Harper Paperback....HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780061451843
ASIN:
(Amazon Standard Identification Number)
date published: March 2010
format: Trade paperback
genre: True Crime (Art related)
pages: 226
ages: 18+
Grade: B

My Stats
Date Finished: April 16
fiction or non-fiction
new or re-read
own or borrowed or review
from the shelf or new purchase
print or electronic
if new...purchased at
challenge & just because...had it on my shelf since 2010, fit a challenge but sounded good


Reviewed at...
Book Dragon's Lair~ scheduled
amazon
Powell's
Fictionwise/eReader
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble
publisher
GoodReads
LibraryThing
Shelfari

Challenges
150+
One Million Pages
Spring Reading Challenge
Mt TBR
Read 52 books in 52 weeks
Spring Reading Thing
Spring Reading Challenge
Read & Review
50 States
Where are you reading
Memorable Memoirs

copyright Gina Francis 2009-2012

Finished Reading - How Lego Built a Comback

Description (from publisher):

With children growing up faster than ever and pop culture running rampant, Lego’s little plastic bricks were inexorably losing appeal. The Danish toymaker lost its way when it tried to recast itself as a lifestyle brand, but a new leader brought a different vision of the future -- and forced his idealistic managers to focus on the bottom line. Here, in this brief eBook, is what you can learn from their experience.

Book Stats
Title: How Lego Built a Comeback
Author: editors of New Word City
publisher: New Word City
ISBN:
ASIN: B005BREX3M
(Amazon Standard Identification Number)
date published: July 2011
format: ebook
genre: nonfiction, business
pages: 341 KB approx. 14 pages


My Stats
Date Finished: February 11
fiction or non-fiction
new or re-read
own or borrowed or review
from the shelf or new purchase
print or electronic
if new...purchased at
challenge or just because


Reviewed at...
Book Dragon's Lair
amazon
Powell's
Fictionwise/eReader
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble
publisher
GoodReads
LibraryThing
Shelfari

Challenges
150+
One Million Pages
ebook
Free Reads
Why Buy the Cow
Where are you Reading
A to Z

copyright Gina Francis 2009-2012

Finished Reading - Great Short Poems

Description (from back of book):

This outstanding anthology of short verse offers poetry lovers an impressive sampling of more than 150 masterpieces spanning over 400 years of English and American literary history. Although short in length (the longest are 24 lines, most 16 lines or less)., these poems are long on beauty, power, imagination, and originality.

Attractive and inexpensive, this compilations of carefully chosen verse contains many of the most loved, most anthologized poems in the English language. Students, teachers, and any lover of great poetry will treasure this splendid collection

Book Stats
Title: Great Short Poems
Edited by Paul Negri
publisher: Dover Publications (Dover Thrift Edition)
ISBN: 978-0468411057
date published: February 2000
format: Trade size
genre: poetry
pages: 64
Ages: 14+

Grade: C

My Stats
Date Finished: Feb 2
fiction or non-fiction
new or re-read
own or borrowed or review
from the shelf or new purchase
print or electronic
if new...purchased at
challenge or just because


Reviewed at...
Book Dragon's Lair
amazon
Powell's
Fictionwise/eReader
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble
publisher
GoodReads
LibraryThing
Shelfari

Challengesoff the top of my head, there may be others.....

150+
Mt TBR
Off the Shelf
One Million Pages Read
12in12
A to Z
Read & Review
Mixing it Up
The Eclectic Reader
Around the Stacks

copyright Gina Francis 2009-2012

Finished Reading - A Three Dog Life

Description (from author's website):

When Abigail Thomas’s husband, Rich, was hit by a car, his brain shattered. Subject to rages, terrors, and hallucinations, he must live the rest of his life in an institution. He has no memory of what he did the hour, the day, the year before. This tragedy is the ground on which Abigail had to build a new life. How she built that life is a story of great courage and great change, of moving to a small country town, of a new family composed of three dogs, knitting, and friendship, of facing down guilt and discovering gratitude. It is also about her relationship with Rich, a man who lives in the eternal present, and the eerie poetry of his often uncanny perceptions. This wise, plainspoken, beautiful book enacts the truth Abigail discovered in the five years since the accident: You might not find meaning in disaster, but you might, with effort, make something useful of it.

Book Stats
Title: A Three Dog Night
Author: Abigail Thomas
publisher: Harvest Books
ISBN-10: 0156033232
date published: September 15, 2007
format: trade paperback
genre: Memoir
pages: 183 plus group discussion question
ages: 16 +/- any interested, really

Grade: B

My Stats
Date Finished: January 26
fiction or non-fiction
new or re-read
own or borrowed or review
from the shelf or new purchase
print or electronic
if new...purchased at
challenge or and just because


Reviewed at...
nowhere yet
Book Dragon's Lair
amazon
Powell's
Fictionwise/eReader
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble
publisher
GoodReads
LibraryThing
Shelfari

ChallengesOne Million Pages
150+
Memorable Memoirs
What's in a Name
A to Z

copyright Gina Francis 2009-2012

Finished Reading - P.A.C.E. The 12-Minute Fitness Revolution(review too)

Description (amazon):

PACE is the ONLY doctor-designed program proven to help you reclaim a young, lean and effortlessly energetic body in as little as twelve minutes—guaranteed! PACE is a growing revolution. It’s already practiced by thousands of people in dozens of countries around the world. PACE overturns years of failed ideas and exercise advice. PACE upends current exercise trends by revealing their flaws and offering a more effective, more natural way of moving our bodies. This book will show you how to replace the flawed and ineffective theories the have been mistakenly accepted without proof with what really works. Join the PACE revolution and your body will soon become naturally strong and resilient. You’ll join the cutting-edge group of thousands who now feel energized, motivated, and ready to take on any challenge. And the best news is that joining the PACE revolution takes on average only twelve minutes per day.PACE is the ONLY doctor-designed program proven to help you reclaim a young, lean and energetic body in as little as 12 minutes—Guaranteed!

Review
I love this book. I wish I could tell you about my success in following the program but I can't. Only because I didn't do it! I still plan to but this is clearly a case of "do as I say, not as I do" ;)

You've heard of interval training? Most of the programs I found were for people who were already athletes. If interval training is so great, where's the program for the rest of us?

This is interval training for the rest of us. That is a simplistic view of the book. Dr. Sears believes, and has the research to back him up, that our modern lives are killing us. Our bodies are still conditioned for caveman living in a fast food/drive everywhere life.

Think about this. You walk to your car, walk into your office, walk to your car, walk into your home. Oh yes, you stop by the gym (on a good day) and do your 20-minute minimum of moderate intensity cardio.

Your caveman ancestor walked for most of the day foraging then, ahem, ran like hell when a predator spotted him. Sure there were lots of problems with the ancestor way of life ;) but when we lost the "ran like hell" part of our day, we lost a big chuck of our health.

Not just fitness or I look great, but health.

Dr. Sears explains what's wrong, why it happened, and how to fix it. There are lots of graphs and research snippets to back him up but there are also examples from his own medical practice.

There is one example of a women who was so out of shape that walking for 45 seconds then resting for 45 seconds was her interval training. (page 90)

PACE allows you to start from any level of conditioning. If you can stand up, you can do PACE.

page 90

It's difficult for me to express how much I enjoyed this book. I didn't follow through the first time I read the book but I'm ready to revamp the way I think about exercise and get with the PACE program. Read the book a couple of times. First, enjoy it as you would any novel. Laugh at parts and cry at others...and want to slap someone upside the head. Let it perk for a while then go back and really read it. Write down what you need to do to improve your health and live a long, healthy life.

Now to decide what to do with my gym membership and personal training sessions!


Disclaimer: I received a complimentary review copy of this book without any obligation to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and may differ from yours. Book information courtesy of amazon.

Book Stats
P.A.C.E.
The 12-Minute Fitness Revolution
by Al Sears, MD

Wellness Research and Consulting
ISBN 978-0979470394
February 2010
Trade Paperback
health/fitness
298 pages


My Stats
Date Finished: 2nd time: Oct 9
fiction or non-fiction
new or re-read
own or borrowed or review
from the shelf or new purchase
print or electronic
if new...purchased at
challenge or just because


Reviewed at...
Book Dragon's Lair
amazon
Powell's
Fictionwise/eReader
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble
publisher
GoodReads
LibraryThing
Shelfari

Challenges
Review-a-Thon
Non-Fiction

copyright Gina Francis 2009-2011