July 31, 2007

Obesity Can Be Contagious

I heard this on the news earlier this week and fluffed it off- I mean come on!

It did however peak my interest. Here is an article from the NY times. Research shows that your friends can make you obese. Interestingly neighbors and family members do not have a similar effect.

July 30, 2007

Visual Journal Pages II

Home with the sniffles today. Here are some recently created pages.










Visual Journal Pages I

Here is a sample of pages created this summer. It is an interesting exercise for me to use images and not just words.










July 23, 2007

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I've been on the library waiting list for ages for this new book by Khaled Hosseini, and finally got my hands on it this weekend. I read the book in almost one sitting, and in certainly less than 24 hours. It's the story of 2 women in Afghanistan. We meet each woman as a child and follow their individual stories until their paths intersect. Written in a deceptively simple style, this story traces the lives of these women, their hopes and dreams, their heartaches, their loves and losses.

I don't think it was amazing as "The Kite Runner", but would recommend it.

July 17, 2007

Recent Reads

One of the great joys of a vacation for me is the oodles of reading time available. I love curling up with a good book, and the sheer joy of being able to simply loose myself for hours in a good read is delightful.

1. Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham
My book club book for June. I love other works by the author, so was really looking forward to a great read. Was very disappointed. The idea of a story in 3 parts with the same characters is fun, but I simply could not get into this book - and when one of the characters turns up as a giant lizard from another planet in the 3rd story - he totally lost me.

2. Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan
Took me a little time to get into this book - it needs a good solid couple of hours for the story to really start to gel, but once I was in, I was hooked. A fun read about the mishaps of adventure travel, with a dash of problems in Burma. Told in quintessential Amy Tan style.

3. Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
A quick read about characters in a little town in Ireland. Not as interesting as some of her other books, so would not recommend it, but is probably an good beach read - nothing too dark or complex.

4. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
There is so much hype about this book I thought I'd give it a read. It's a New Age self-help book centered about the "Law of Attraction" - in a nutshell, you attract to you what you think about or focus on. Some interesting quotes, but the writing is atrocious - what is with all those exclamation marks?

5. A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
A reunion story - best friends from high school gather 27 years later for a wedding in the Berkshires. Story of regrets, missed opportunities, lives contiued without each other. An interesting read, if only to imagine what it would be like to meet up with my high school buddies again.