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first what are you reading?

Salazar Coaches Two Athletes to Medals in London: UPDATED

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I thought about making my “First, What Are You Reading?” post this month about the Olympics, since we, like most families, are watching the Olympics pretty frequently this.  But we aren’t really reading any books about the Olympics.

I’m grateful that now I do have a a connection and a reason to write about the Olympics (I thought about labeling this post “my 3 degrees of separation from the Olympics”).  No, it’s not because Michael Phelps looks uncannily like my oldest nephew (though he does, really!).  It’s because Alberto Salazar, author of the June book I reviewed for The Catholic Post, can now call himself the coach of two Olympic medal-winners, Mo Farah and Galen Rupp, who took the gold and silver medals, respectively, in yesterday 10,000 meter race.

Here’s my review of Salazar’s open memoir, 14 Minutes: A Running Legend’s Life and Death and Life.  I asked Salazar about the Olympics in our Q&A (you can read the whole thing here), and here’s what he said:

We are lucky to have some of the finest distance runners in the world as members of the Nike Oregon Project. They include Mo Farah, a citizen of Great Britain, who joined our team two years ago, and Galen Rupp, a native of Portland, Oregon, who I have been coaching for more than a decade. Besides being ideal training partners, they are also great friends. Mo and Galen will both be running the 10,000 meters at the London Olympics, where they will be competitors rather than teammates. It will be very interesting to see how that plays out. 

Well, we can all see how that played out, the joy both teammates had for each other as they placed first and second.  In particular,  I noticed that USA Today has a great article about Galen Rupp’s silver medal and Salazar’s long-term coaching strategy.  ESPN also reports about how Farah and Rupp worked with each other to help keep Farah (and Rupp, it turns out) paced well through the 10,000 meter race.  Here’s a great photo from ESPN from just after the race:

Congratulations to Farah, Rupp and Salazar!  I’ll be watching the 5,000 meter race later this week, and hope for more medals from the athletes of The Nike Oregon Project.

Update, Wednesday, August 8: Rupp and Farah both easily won places in the finals of the 5,000.  That race will be Saturday.

I also discovered today Malcolm Gladwell’s fascinating (as usual) profile Alberto Salazar, “Alberto Salazar and the Art of Exhaustion,” in The New Yorker.  He calls Salazar’s memoir “absorbing.”

First, What are You Reading, Volume 24: The Quotable Edition

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Here are my answers to the four questions I ask on the first of each month:

first, what are you reading?

what do you like best about it?

what do you like least?

what’s next on your list to read? 

As always, I hope you’ll consider your current reads on your blog and/or sharing here in the comments or on Facebook.  Happy reading!

First, what are you reading?  

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Also, Magic for Marigold, a lesser-known novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

What do you like best about them?

I’m re-reading the great Tolkein books to and with our 9-year-old son.  I’m not sure our family will be seeing the movie version of The Hobbit when it comes out at Christmastime (, but I want our family to be introduced to the real books before seeing any movie versions.   I haven’t seen the movie versions of The Lord of the Rings since they were out in the theater many years ago, when my kids were far too small to see them.  I’m not really sure if I’m ready for them to see those movies, but we are definitely becoming a more Tolkein-aware house at the moment.

The Hobbit has so many great quotes, I want to keep running for my iPhone (where I keep quotes these days) while I’m reading it aloud.  Because it’s usually downstairs “docked” for the evening, I don’t get to do so, and I want to remedy that somehow.  Maybe I’ll just have to keep a pen and index card with me.  Here’s one that I wish I could find a way to put up somewhere in our house:  

It’s the description of Elrond’s house, (also known as the Last Homely House), where the dwarves and Bilbo have their last respite before heading towards their dangerous adventures:

“His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.  Evil things did not come into that valley.”

My other favorite quote would have to be the frequent times when Bilbo thinks something along the lines of “Not for the first time did Bilbo wish he were back in his tidy hobbit-hole.” 

Magic for Marigold is a sweet story about a girl being raised by an eccentric assortment of relatives, and her adventures.  My favorite quote here is at the end of an exchange between Marigold and her melancholic mother.

“’I don’t think you were a coward at all, dearest.  You were very brave to go right on when you were so afraid—and keep going on.’


‘If I could have picked my mother I’d have picked you,’ whispered Marigold.”

What do you like least about them?

The Hobbit is just great through and through; there’s everything to like and love about this classic.

Though I hate to admit it, there is a reason that Magic for Marigold is not well-known. It’s not the best of LM Montgomery’s work—it’s more an assortment of vignettes than a cohesive story.  Still, the characters are loveable and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable read.  It’s especially worthwhile for Anne of Green Gables lovers, or young people who might want a fun summer read.

What’s next on your list to read?

Our family is recently back from vacation with extended family, and I have a lot of great suggestions from my siblings of good recent reads.  I’ve got a lot of library requests in at the moment.

So, what are you reading these days?  Any books you would like to share?

First, What Are You Reading? Volume 23, July 2012

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Updated:  I’ve added back in the link I made many moons ago, but haven’t used in also many moons, since Bonnie was gracious enough to write her own here on her blog, Learning to be a Newlywed.

Here are my answers to the four questions I ask on the first of each month:
first, what are you reading?
what do you like best about it?
what do you like least?
what’s next on your list to read?

As always, I hope you’ll consider your current reads on your blog and/or sharing here in the comments or on Facebook.  Happy reading!

First, what are you reading?  

All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending by Laura Vanderkam.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.

What do you like best about them? 

Vanderkam is a kindred spirit; she’s one of those writers I read (surprisingly rare) who I wish I could go out for coffee with and just gab.  She seems like an interesting person who would make a good friend.  I really enjoy her writing style and her general take on things.

Last year, I read Vanderkam’s first book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think and reviewed it in a prior “first, what are you reading?”    I liked that book pretty well, but I really  enjoyed All the Money in the World.

All the Money in the World explores the ways people spend money and how we can be more intentional about spending, saving and giving.  Every chapter offers very specific ideas and conversation starters.  Like 168 Hours, Vanderkam offers outside-the -box ideas for tackling the specifics.  For instance, she recommends people think of how life would change if you had all the money in the world, or at least all the money you needed.  Would you quit your job? Travel more? Give more to charity?  Then she challenges readers to do just that.

Vanderkam has a great chapter on dreaming big when it comes to charitable giving.  I hate when books about finance don’t stress this.  She points out that being intentional and thinking creatively about giving to charity can be great for both the charity and one’s own happiness.

This marks the umpteenth time that I have read Pride & Prejudice.    It may seem wrong for me, who has so much new to read, to revisit this book, but it makes me happy, so there.

The ostensible reason for reading P&P again is that last month, my daughters and I saw an excellent theater production of “Pride & Prejudice” at the Lifeline Theater in Chicago. I wrote about that here. It was a terrific production, and I highly recommend if you live in the area and love Jane Austen, you consider going to it.  We loved it!  It’s been extended until July 8, with good reason.  I wrote more about that here in my “literary pilgrimage.”

So after we saw it, I was determined to again re-read the novel and see how “lesser” lines from the play compare.  The play was remarkably true to the book, except in the play at several points, the character Elizabeth Bennet talked directly to the audience.   It was utterly charming and funny, and I loved that touch about the play.

What do you like least about them?

Really, I liked just a bout everything about All the Money in the World, except I wish I had more time to discuss it in our family and talk over financial literacy, and in particular passing that on to our children.

Last month, I wrote about how I found Michael Hyatt’s Platform helpful, but not as applicable to a busy mom.  I find both of Vanderkam’s books really helpful right now in my life, with a mix of work and family.

What’s next on your list to read?

I wish I could start reading Sense & Sensibility to keep reading Jane Austen, but I really need to branch out next month.

I’ve started to read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien with our 9-year-old.  We are having a great time, and I hope to work through the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy after finishing The Hobbit.  I’m not sure if anyone in our family will be going to see the forthcoming Hobbit movie this winter, but at least we will have read the book ahead of time if we decide to see it.

So, what are you reading these days?  Any books you would like to share?

A Great Kids Book: The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey

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In my occasional series of highlighting great picture books that are worth “having,” not just reading, here’s another “great kids book”:

As I mentioned in my review of The Temperament God Gave Your Kids, I am a big fan of “numbers” books–the 7 Habits, the 5 Love Languages.  There’s something about categorizing personality types, productivity and self-improvement that I find irresistible.   It just helps me understand these kind of concepts better, as well as put them into practice.

High on the list of these books is The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey, son of Stephen Covey, who brought the world the many 7 Habits books.  My favorite “7 Habits” book for grown-ups, not surprisingly, is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, though I have certainly read quite a few of the series at one time or another.

But truly, if you want a great distillation of the “7 Habits,” as well as teaching certain concepts/virtues to yourself or your children in a relatable way, nothing beats The 7 Habits of Happy Kids.

In the book, Sean Covey creates the sylvan community of “7 Oaks” populated with cutesy (but not too cutesy) animal characters like Goob Bear, Jumper Rabbit and Sophie Squirrel. (Stacy Curtis provides the charming illustrations).  Each of the 7 Habits is illustrated in a story featuring several of the animal characters.  For “Have a Plan” (which corresponds to the Covey habit “Begin with the End in Mind”), Goob Bear plans carefully how he will spend his lemonade-stand earnings, and Jumper Rabbit does not.  Jumper blows all his money on junky toys and candy, while Goob buys the bug-collecting kit he previously spotted, as well as some other well-planned treats.

We’ve read The 7 Habits of Happy Kids many times at our house, both as a group and and individually.  I put it out from time to time so kids can peruse it again.  We always come away with fresh insights.  At one time, though my now-aging children deny it, we had a song to go along with the 7 Habits that I found very catchy and endearing.  Even if our song didn’t stick, I’m hoping the message of the 7 Habits did.

First, What Are You Reading? Volume 22 June 2012

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Well, I completely and totally neglected to post “First, What Are You Reading?” on the first of the month.  I usually prepare these posts well in advance, but that just didn’t happen in May.  I could offer many excuses, but the shortest and best of many is that I’ve been doing much more reading than writing lately.  


Even though I didn’t write about what I’m reading before the first of the month, through the magic of blog dating, this post is dated June 1, so that I don’t have to rename this, “Fifth, what are you Reading?”  That might get kind of confusing.  It’s likely that e-mail subscribers to the post may think, “Why didn’t I get this several days back?” since you will receive it, and read it on June 5.   This is why! 


So, without further ado, here are my answers to the four questions I ask on the first of each month:

first, what are you reading?

what do you like best about it?

what do you like least?

what’s next on your list to read? 

As always, I hope you’ll consider your current reads on your blog and/or sharing here in the comments or on Facebook.  Happy reading!

First, what are you reading?  

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by the super-popular and super-productive Michael Hyatt.

I actually found this book via Catholic blogger Brandon Vogt, who put up a link to the book on Facebook. It seemed like an interesting read, and I’ve heard lots of great things about Michael Hyatt over the years.  

Elsewhere, I’ve also been reading, and preparing to read aloud, many, many picture books that are retelling of classical myths.  I’m teaching two classes at a local “College for Kids” summer program, one being “Classics for Kids.”

What do you like best about them?

Hyatt has an great encouraging writing style, and there’s a lot of good information.  I especially felt great when reading suggestions I’ve already implemented.  And I definitely gleaned a lot of worthwhile tips for a re-design of my blog and increasing my “sphere of influence.”

Classics for Kids is a meant to be a little bit of Greek, a little bit of Latin, and with luck, lots of fun. The kids are 4th to 7th grade, but I will be reading a “Classical Picture Book of the Day” each day to introduce the kids to a Greek or Roman myths, or classical concept.

You might think of picture books as “little kid” books, but they are great for all ages.   I’m very influenced on this by Cay Gibson, who wrote A Picture Perfect Childhood about the importance of reading and enjoying great picture books.

Cay ran a now-quiet yahoo group called “Literature Alive!” where moms, librarians and others and others talked about books for kids.  One year, she set up a picture book author “study,” one per week, and members would share their favorite books from each author.   The binder filled with the authors and books that we studied is still around the house.  I loved that year!  I only know Cay online, but someday I hope to meet her in person.  She’s really a kindred spirit and I am eternally grateful to her for her guidance and influence on me through the years.

Here are just a few of the Classical PBOD (picture books of the day) I’ll be reading:

The Trouble With Wishes by Diane Stanley (Narcissus)

Pandora by Robert Burleigh

King Midas and the Golden Touch by Charlotte Craft, (with wonderful illustrations by her mother, Kinuko Y. Craft)

Theseus and the Minotaur by Leonard Everett Fisher

What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? By Julie Ellis

What do you like least about them?

Platform is subtitled, A Step-by-Step Guide for Anyone With Something to Say or Sell and it really outlines very concrete, specific steps to take to grow your online presence.  But I find some of these kinds of books, and Platform fits in this category, not as applicable to mere mortals like me, and especially for a mom whose main role (happily!) is taking care of a family.

I’m not, nor do I desire to be, a “huge name” blogger, nor do I have all the time he recommends to be a recognizable “brand” at this point in my life by following all his steps. At the same time, I do have a sphere of influence, starting with my own family, out to those I know personally (or, as we bloggers like to say, IRL –in real life), as well as those I know online and people who visit the blog.  Being aware of this, and being mindful of how one can have a big impact on others, is a helpful take-away from this book.

What’s next on your list to read?

Clearly, I’ve been doing a bit more reading than writing, so I’m going to try to remedy that.  But summer is also a great time for reading, I’ve got many books on the shelf for reading or re-reading, and I will be sharing lots more great books this summer.

So, what are you reading these days?  Any books you would like to share?

First, What Are You Reading? Volume 21, May 2012

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Here are my answers to the four questions I ask on the first of each month:

first, what are you reading?

what do you like best about it?

what do you like least?

what’s next on your list to read? 

As always, I hope you’ll consider your current reads on your blog and/or sharing here in the comments or on Facebook.  Happy reading!

First, what are you reading?  

The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life  by Robin Zasio. 

Various Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace.

What do you like best about them?

Dr. Zasio is a featured doctor on the A&E series Hoarders and specializes in treating hoarding and other anxiety-related conditions.  I’ve never seen the show, but reading this book really makes me want to DVR a couple of episodes.  She is really excellent at describing why normal people—not just the people who end up living in total chaos—accumulate stuff and hold on to it, and ways to manage that better.  Basically, for her it comes down to anxiety—we manage our anxiety about stuff by deferring decisions about it.  If we can learn to manage the anxiety of getting rid of things, through healthier thought patterns, we can have more orderly spaces.

I think I’m like most moms in that I feel annoyed by stuff everywhere much of the time, but this book gives me hope to tackle some of these projects.  In fact, last week I did tackle a major purge of my home office, filled with far too many books I get to review for the Post.

In addition, different people have a different tolerance for clutter.  For instance, if I’m in the midst of a purge, I don’t mind disorder because it means I’m getting rid of things, and then the final product is less stuff.  My husband meanwhile, likes things more orderly (read: stacks), but may have a little more trouble letting go of things, in particular, the printed word.  At one point he said, “You know, I realize that I’m not the Vatican archivist, and I don’t have to keep all these old issues of L”Osservatore Romano.” I think he was joking about being the Vatican archivist.

I think much of the tips and tricks I gleaned from this book I’ve learned over the years from  http://flylady.net/.

I love everything about the Betsy-Tacy books since discovering them when our chlldren were very small.  My daughters & I have read them all, from Betsy-Tacy to Emily of Deep Valley.
It’s bittersweet that because of a family reunion, our family won’t be able to attend the Betsy-Tacy Convention in Minnesota this summer.  You can read more about the convention here (the sound you hear is me weeping in the background, of all the things I’ll be missing).

Truly, I am heartbroken not to be at the convention.  I’d love to meet other Betsy-Tacy lovers and be part of all the events, such as a book-signing with Meliisa Wiley (she wrote the preface to the recently released edition of Carney’s House Party.)  But our family is planning a trip soon to Minneapolis, and we’ve arranged a tour of Betsy’s house.
So, in the meantime, both for solace and preparation for our own visit, we are re-reading lots of Betsy-Tacy books.  I just finished Betsy’s Wedding.

What do you like least about them?

The title of The Hoarder In You is a bit off-putting for those who might feel accused of being a “hoarder” instead of just “Vatican archivist.”  Otherwise, lots of good “stuff,” pun intended.

I love nearly everything about the Betsy-Tacy books.  In Betsy In Spite of Herself, (one of the high school books) there is an unfortunate recurring theme of using a Ouija board.  It’s clear from the book and the time period that they perceived it as something like playing Monopoly, but it still freaked me out more than a bit when I first read it when kids were really small (not to them; we read only the first four books when they were smaller). 
By the time they were old enough to read the high school books, we talked to the kids about the occult (and, yes, I’m such a nerd, read to the Catechism to them).  I explained how it was a parlor game for them, and we know better today so we wouldn’t go within a mile of something like that.  It’s a bit like how in one of the later Little House books, you explain to kids that it was culturally okay for Pa dressed up in black-face and performed with other men of the town, but would never happen today. 

Otherwise, I really love all the Betsy-Tacy books.

What’s next on your list to read?

I’m still working through a list of potential fiction for my July column—previously fiction was going to be June, but I’ve got a GREAT book and Meet a Reader for June, so I’m pushing fiction off to later in the summer.

So, what are you reading these days?  Any books you would like to share?