Books | Book Chatter

I’m not a competitive person. I’ve never been athletic but when Dawn from She Is Too Fond of Books asked me if I wanted to be a member of a Game On Diet team, I thought it would be a good way to form some new habits (hopefully good ones).

Jennifer over at Book Club Girl, who has been following the plan now for three weeks, generously donated the books and will be our mentor throughout our 4-week journey.

I DETEST the word “diet” though so I will refer to it as a “plan” from here on out.

Ahem. Okay, so basically we form teams and we get points for doing certain things well, and we lose points for really screwing up. The game lasts for four weeks and during the game, we can encourage or taunt one another as needed. Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

One of the first things we have to do, is determine some bad habits to give up. These don’t even have to be food related. Once we’ve determined them, we need to come up with some good ones to replace them. It all means points so here I go:

Habits to Lose

-Bites, Licks and Tastes of my kids’ food. This will be a hard one for me.
-No blog reading or mindless surfing of the web between 6-8pm.
-Stop “salting” my food. I consume way too much salt.

Habits to Add

-Flossing every day
-Using night repair cream every night (my skin will thank me).
-Stretching for 5 min every morning and evening.

I like to introduce my teammates. We are calling ourselves the Ding Dongs. Yes, we named ourselves after a snack food.

Amy at My Friend Amy

Julie at Booking Mama

Jill at Fizzy Thoughts

Jill at Rhapsody in Books

We are competing against two other blogger teams. You can see who is participating here.

If you’d like more info on the book, click here. I will be posting blog updates, weekly but the real action will take place on Twitter. To follow all of our ups and downs, use the hashtag #gameondiet.

Wish us luck!

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading. Here’s my one find:

Strangers by Anita Brookner

Here’s the blurb from Barnes and Noble:

Paul Sturgis is resigned to his bachelorhood and the quietude of his London flat. He occasionally pays obliging visits to his nearest living relative, Helena, his cousin’s widow and a doyenne of decorum who, like Paul, bears a tacit loneliness.To avoid the impolite complications of turning down Helena’s Christmas invitation, Paul sets off for a holiday in Venice, where he meets Mrs. Vicky Gardner. Younger than Paul by several decades, the intriguing and lovely woman is in the midst of a divorce and at a crossroads in her life. Upon his return to England, a former girlfriend, Sarah, reenters Paul’s life. These two women reroute Paul’s introspections and spark a transformation within him.

Paul’s steady and preferred isolation now conflicts with the stark realization of his aloneness and his need for companionship in even the smallest degree. This awareness brings with it a torrent of feelings–reassessing his Venetian journey, desiring change, and fearing death. Ultimately, his discoveries about himself will lead Paul to make a shocking decision about his life.

I had never heard of Anita Brookner before but she also wrote Hotel Du Lac which won her the Booker Prize and I have heard of that book but unfortnately have not read it myself.

By the way, isn’t the cover great on this one?

What did you find this week?

Chatting with friends about books and life…