Category Archives: Year In Review

January 1, 2015

Book List Archive 2014

By terraluft

It’s New Year’s Day – time for reflection and putting away Christmas decorations. It has become tradition to capture my yearly list of books I’ve read from the site and archive them as a blog post with a little insight about each one. Long gone are the days I had time (or energy) to review every one as separate posts. However, if you’re on Goodreads, friend me up since I give at least a little blurb and a rating there when I finish reading. Here’s my efforts this year to become remain a well-read author.

  • The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor (work book club) – Self-help is not my favorite genre but this one was fabulous and just what I needed at the time. It even influenced my January blogging.
  • These Is My Words, Nancy E. Turner (book club)
  • Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell – the movie was better. Rarely is this true, but this time it is.
  • The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson – rocked my epic fantasy world like nothing else since Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time.
  • Wild, Cheryl Strayed – a great read and another surprise since I rarely like memoirs
  • A Prisoner of Birth, Jeffrey Archer (book club)
  • Beatrysel, Johnny Worthen – one of the best books I read this year. Mostly because it was dark and unique and spoke to  me deep down in my core like nothing before it. (Caution: Not for the faint of heart!)
  • Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson – more than hooked on this author and this series especially. I devoured it!
  • In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer, Irene Gut Opdyke (book club)
  • The Colony: Genesis, Michaelbrent Collings (not my favorite this year!)
  • Eleanor, Johnny Worthen (ARC*) – seriously, if you haven’t read this book go get a copy right now. Kids and adults and everyone in between will love this one. Johnny won Utah’s Writer of the Year for this book and it was deserving.
  • NOS4A2, Joe Hill – fabulous horror book like Stephen King used to write.
  • The Circle, Dave Eggers – (work book club)
  • The Tipping Point, Malcome Gladwell (work book club)
  • Monster Hunter International, Larry Correia – great military fiction with a supernatural twist
  • Heft, Liz Moore (book club) – one of the best we read this year.
  • Copper Descent (ARC*), Angela Hartley – one of my first blog tour posts
  • The Shining, Stephen King – I read this as a kid and wanted a re-read before the sequel. Not as frightening the second time around.
  • Doctor Sleep, Stephen King – changed the way I look at a mundane piece of the world. Still the master!
  • Second Firsts, Christina Rasmussen – (book club) – great read about dealing with loss. It was amazing to help deal with the loss of my health at the time. Little did I know I’d need it on such a deeper level later.
  • ITIL Service Operation – technical manual for a certification. Not a light or very enjoyable read, but necessary. I lament all the great fiction I could have read instead!
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman (my pick for book club) Amazing, amazing. I love Gaiman!
  • Monster Hunter Vendetta, Larry Correia – guilty pleasure via Audible
  • Plot and Structure, James Scott Bell – great read if you’re a writer
  • Call the Midwife, Jennifer Worth (book club)
  • Divergent, Veronica Roth (book club) – I wanted to hate it after seeing the movie but it was better and I didn’t.
  • The Colony: Renegades, Michaelbrent Collings – got a free copy on Audible and hoped the sequel was better. It wasn’t.
  • The End of Dieting, Joel Fuhrman – the book my doctor told me to read when embarking on veganism
  • Suspect, Robert Crais – recommended author to study on writing action which did not disappoint
  • Mitosis, Brandon Sanderson – more like a short story but I had to buy it so it counts!
  • Heart of Annihilation, C.R. Asay – (book club) another blog tour visitor (written by my writing group buddy)
  • The Giver, Lois Lowry – my oldest had to read it and kept talking about it and the movie was coming out so…
  • How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie (book club)
  • ITIL Continual Service Improvement – another technical manual and certification that took far too much time away from “real” reading. But I passed!
  • The Martian, Andy Weir – best science fiction of the year that I happened to just stumble upon on Audible.
  • The Fault In Our Stars, John Green – did not live up to the hype!
  • Revival, Stephen King
  • Insurgent, Veronica Roth
  • Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler – great stories and a great behind-the-scenes look on the writing process of successful authors.

I have a rule that life is too short to waste time on books I don’t like after a few chapters. This list does not include two books I put down only partially read this year. One of them being Outlander, yes the same one everyone raves about and that they made a television series about. The other was some drivel that I don’t even remember the title of. Given all the time outside of work it took me to obtain two new professional certifications this year, I got a ton of great reading in. Can’t wait to do it all again in 2015! Happy reading to all my fellow readers out there.

*ARC = Advanced Reader Copy in the publishing world. Which means I got to read it before it was available to the public. Always a fabulous thing for an impatient woman like me!

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January 4, 2014

2013 In a Nutshell

By terraluft

I’m reading a book called “The Happiness Advantage” with my work book club. I’m not a huge fan of the self-help genre (and for some reason these are the kinds of books that always get picked by the group) so it is taking me months (and hopefully not countless library fines) to finish this one even though it is a fabulous book. What I’m learning is that success, performance at work, and general happiness are all a product of your positive outlook on life and not the other way around. As I am wont to do with every book I read, I’ve been internalizing all the different points the author makes and realize that somehow intuitively I’ve been applying some of these principles in my life already. Mostly because 2013 was by far the most roller-coaster of a year to date in my life.

Here’s a recap of the year:

  • I’m so glad to be alive since I didn’t die from the pulmonary embolism
  • Happy birthday, I’m done taking Coumadin! Let’s celebrate with leafy green vegetables!
  • I finished my first novel – finally!
  • Just kidding, back on Coumadin
  • Wait, why did I just gain thirty pounds in a couple of weeks? 
  • Good news, mammograms don’t hurt and I have medical proof I have a great rack
  • Wow, biopsy of the kidney really hurts but not as much as finding out I have a chronic kidney disease that I will never get rid of.
  • I’m officially more of a yogi than a runner but that’s okay
  • Treatment of kidney disease commences and I am feeling better
  • Started teaching yoga at work since no one else would get the ball rolling
  • Treatment isn’t working, how ’bout chemotherapy? We settled for vegetarianism and immunosuppression after I argued with my doctor for a plan that didn’t come with cancer side effects later.
  • Immunosuppression sucks ass! Time for a pity party from hell
  • Just kidding, I’m over the pity party and ready to BE healthy instead of wallow
  • When the dose is finally right, immunosuppression is actually great since I feel fabulous now!
  • Focus turns back to fitness and surprise – yoga is keeping me from being any worse off than I was before this whole mess.
  • Everyday yoga practice commences – I’m addicted
  • I finished my second novel – in a month!
  • Christmas in California’s warm weather – although the Californians think it is winter we know they are crazy.

The book is full of examples of positive psychology and proof that you are more productive and successful if you first start with a positive outlook rather than saying that once you get {fill in the blank} I’ll be happy. The one that struck me the hardest was talking about how there is a small subset of people who are more successful and happier because they can more successfully pick themselves up off the mat after failures or setbacks. They are the people who define themselves not by what has happened to them but instead by what they can make out of what has happened.

There is no doubt about it that I am a changed person because of the last year. I have always lived life with a touch of spontaneity but now I’m even more apt to jump first and ask questions later. I also cherish my relationships with people – not just those closest to me but everyone I know – differently and more deeply. I know more than most how tenuous life is and how today just might be your last. If you know me in real life and I tell you that I love you, rest assured that I mean it. But that isn’t where I stopped. Back in October when I was deep in my pity party, I could easily have stayed there dwelling on how bad my life was and how I had been forced to turn vegetarian and how I will never be cured and blah blah blah. But instead, I switched my focus to all the things that could have been worse. I’ve never been hospitalized with all this insanity of health issues, I only had a couple of weeks that I couldn’t do yoga to the fullest, and I am able to do whatever I want now in terms of fitness – although running is again something I have to build up to since it has been so long since I did it. I learned last month that the six months I thought I had of immunosuppression treatment is actually a two year gig but I’m rolling with it. It isn’t chemo after all. Sure, I’ll have to be far more diligent with my facial waxing since one of the side effects apparently is increased hair growth but there are worse things, right?

If I’m recapping 2013 in a nutshell, I’d say it gave me a far greater perspective on how I want to live my life. I am still grieving in many ways about the loss of my perfect vitality but I’m also taking steps to get past that loss. I didn’t lose a husband, and I didn’t get a terminal illness (chronic doesn’t directly translate to terminal after all) but I did suffer a loss in the form of seeing the end of my life as I had previously defined it. Instead of wallowing in the grief, I’m redefining my life and living that new life fully. I’m not one to make resolutions with the New Year but I’m far more prone to reflecting this year. As I look ahead to 2014 and all the craziness I’m certain is in store for me and my little family, above all I am happy and hopeful. May your 2014 be the same whoever you are and wherever your circumstances find you. Thanks for reading!

    1 Comment | posted in Everyday Life, Random or philosophical thoughts, Year In Review

    January 2, 2014

    Book List Archive 2013

    By terraluft

    Time for out with the old and in with the new posts recapping the major accomplishments of the past year (and cleaning off the side bar to make room for tracking this year’s list). I thought 2013 was going to see far more books under my belt since last year was truly an overachiever one when it came to reading. However, I’ve had far more energy to be off my couch in recent months and you can’t listen to audible while doing yoga like you can while running.

    • The Winter of Our Disconnect, Susan Maushart (book club) – this book changed my children’s lives and is well worth reading
    • A Memory of Light, Wheel of Time #14, Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson – so much better than I ever hoped for and well worth the 15 years it took to wait for the end of this series.
    • Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power, Rachel Maddow – disturbing and eye-opening
    • Firefly Lane, Kristin Hannah
    • Still Alice, Lisa Genova (book club) – frightening look at Alzheimer’s
    • The Reservoir, John Miliken Thompson
    • Mistborn: The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson 
    • Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo
    • Dark Places, Gillian Flynn
    • 14, Peter Clines – best scifi read this year
    • And I Don’t Want to Live this Life, Deborah Spungen (book club)
    • The Dog Stars, Peter Heller
    • Mistorn #2: The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
    • Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (book club) – this time I read it instead of listened and loved it even more
    • The Kitchen House, Kathleen Grissom (book club)
    • Mistborn #3: The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson – the ending of this series cemented Sanderson’s place as my new favorite fantasy author
    • Old Man’s War, John Scalzi
    • A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness – this was a haunting read that stuck with me a long while
    • Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol S. Dweck (work book club)
    • Horns, Joe Hill – one of my very favorite reads this year
    • The Rent Collector, Camron Wright (book club)
    • Joyland, Stephen King
    • Hounded, Kevin Hearne
    • The Dog Stars, Peter Heller (my pick for book club so I re-read it in print instead of listening). This is a far different book in print than in audible and I liked the audible far better.
    • Hexed, Kevin Hearne
    • The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman (book club)
    • Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge – not my favorite scifi and proof that if you put something down twice it probably doesn’t deserve getting finished
    • The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman – also one of my favorite reads this year – such a great one!
    • Mistborn #4: The Alloy of Law, Brandon Sanderson
    • Happy Money, Elizabeth Dunn (work book club)
    • Slim for Life, Jillian Michaels
    • Immortal Instruments: City of Bones, Cassandra Clare – I hope the movies are better than the books
    • The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (book club) – I’m now officially a huge Gaiman fan, too
    • Mothers & Other Liars, Amy Bourret (book club)
    • No Plot? No Problem!, Chris Baty – oh how I wish I’d read this years ago to make NaNoWriMo easier!
    • Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson – read aloud with hubby on our road trip
    • The Name of the Wind: The King Killer Chronicles Day One, Patrick Rothfuss – also read aloud for hubby on our road trip after I filled him in on the first half; and yet another epic fantasy series I want to grab the next one immediately.

    That’s thirty seven books this year. A far cry from the goal I set of fifty but still impressive since the theme this year was apparently fantasy. I read some major tomes that in terms of sheer number of pages alone could count as several books. I set the goal of forty books in 2014. Whether I hit that goal or not, you can be certain I’ll be reading every chance I get!

    Leave a comment | posted in Book Reviews, Books, Year In Review

    January 16, 2013

    Race Archive 2012

    By terraluft

    Another aspect of my life summed up and recapped for another year.  This aspect did not live up to my overachiever, make-each-year-better expectations for myself but it is what it is.  This was a regroup and recover from injury year for me that was unfortunately cut short due to that pesky pulmonary embolism but I still accomplished almost everything I set out to do.

    Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back
    June 15-16, 2012
    200 miles Logan to Park City
    personal mileage: 13 miles
    *worst Ragnar ever in record heat and first one without Hubby due to his injury – I hate running in summer heat!

    Salt Lake Half Marathon & Relay
    Sept 1, 2012
    3-woman relay team
    personal mileage: 6 miles

    Big Cottonwood Canyon Half Marathon
    Sept 22, 2012    *sold out before I could register 😦

    SoJo 5K
    Oct 20, 2012
    *ran this one WITH a pulmonary embolism – and still won my division! Worst three miles I’ve ever run in my entire life.

    According to Nike+ which is still my favorite way to track my running, I ran one hundred and fifty miles this year.  And I know that many of those miles are actually walking at work since after Ragnar I didn’t do much running to train for the races that I did.  Plus, I chalked up basically zero running in November and December when I was recovering from the “glad you didn’t die” episode.  Compared to five hundred miles last year and three hundred the year before that, maybe I know what I gave up in order to read more in 2012 and more importantly why I went into 2012 barely able to run again after injuring myself.  I still love to run and don’t need to do races or rack up the most mileage to know just how much.  As I grow older and more introspective, I have come to realize that I run for me and the way it makes me feel and not for what other people think of me when I do it.

    I’ve also learned this year that after the hype is over and I’ve done a race once (or more) that I need different goals to keep myself motivated.  Hubby and I are skipping Ragnars entirely in 2013 and I’m biting off a little more achievable goals for myself.  The only goal on the horizon is a half marathon six months from now with plenty of time to prepare slowly so no more injuries!  2013 will be a year of improving my overall health and doing as much running as I can.  It won’t be hard to improve after the crazy year 2012 was, that’s for certain.

    Leave a comment | posted in Running, Year In Review

    January 15, 2013

    Book List Archive 2012

    By terraluft

    It’s that time again!  Time for me to recap my year reflecting on how crazy my goals are for myself while comparing them from year to year to show what progress I’m making on being the best overachiever I know how to be.  Last year I was bragging about how brilliant I was at combining running with audio books so I could *double* my reading.  The total for 2011 was a whopping eighteen books.  Hold onto your hats, people.  2012 saw over double the number of the previous year. 

    • Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides (the prose of this book still haunts me with its beauty)
    • The History of Love, Nicole Krauss (book club)
    • Letters for Emily, Camron Wright (book club)
    • Bullet, Laurell K. Hamilton
    • Uglies, Scott Westerfeld (book club)
    • The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern (my pick for book club)
    • The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (re-read for hubby on a road trip because of the movie)
    • Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins (re-read because hubby insisted – I made him read the third himself because I hated it so much the first time)
    • Towers of Midnight – Wheel of Time #13, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (20 years later the series still isn’t finished)
    • Following Atticus, Tom Ryan
    • Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen (book club)
    • Defending Jacob, William Landay (book club)
    • Dies the Fire, S. M. Stirling
    • One For The Money, Janet Evanovich
    • Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand (book club)
    • The Ice Limit, Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston
    • Are you there Vodka? It’s me, Chelsea, Chelsea Handler
    • Hit List, Laurell K. Hamilton
    • Variant, Robison Wells
    • Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
    • On the Island, Tracy Garvis-Greaves
    • A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs (another road trip read to hubby)
    • The Gods of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs (had to find out what else happened!)
    • Calico Joe, John Grisham (book club)
    • 11/22/63, Stephen King
    • The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker
    • The Hollow City, Dan wells
    • Divine Misdemeanors, Laurell K. Hamilton
    • The Chaperone, Laura Moriarty
    • The Wind Through the Keyhole – Dark Tower 4.5, Stephen King
    • Before I Fall, Lauren Oliver
    • Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
    • 50 Shades of Gray, E. L. James (so wish this one wasn’t on the list!)
    • Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card (book club)
    • 50 Shades Darker, E. L. James (another waste of reading time I fully regret!)
    • The Maze Runner, James Dashner (book club)
    • Stranger In A Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
    • Legion, Brandon Sanderson
    • Hate List, Jennifer Brown (book club)
    • Lucifer’s Hammer, Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
    • The New New Rules: How Everyone But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass, Bill Maher
    • Radical Frugality, Nic Adams (work book club)
    • Area 51, Bob Mayer
    • Orchids For Lila, September Roberts (my friend from my “other” book club’s first published work!)
    • One Second After, William Forstchen

    Yes, you counted them right… (wait, you didn’t count them?  Well I did of course!) That’s forty five books in a year.  When two years ago all I could muster was a book club book a month and that was stretching it.  I read a grip of science fiction and remembered exactly why I love that genre so much.  I wasted far too much time on the oh-so-popular drivel otherwise known as 50-Shades.  I discovered I really like character/situation stories like Before I Fall, On the Island, Hate List and Defending Jacob that make you think about what you would do if you found yourself in an unusual situation.  I got to visit Mid World with my favorite Stephen King characters of all time even though I thought he was done writing their stories.  I found I am definitely NOT a Jane Austen fan.  My two favorites for the year were Middlesex and Gone Girl for far different reasons.  And, I’m looking forward to the conclusion of The Wheel of Time just as much now that it’s here as I was twelve years ago when I first started reading the series.

    How the hell did I read more than double the amount of books this year than I did last?  I have no idea except we took two long road trips that accounted for four of them and a couple of them were short and frivolous audio books that only took a couple of hours.  I don’t know how I’ll top this year but we’ll see what next year brings when it is all said and done.  Here’s to another year of happy reading ahead regardless!

    Leave a comment | posted in Book Reviews, Year In Review

    January 7, 2012

    Let the madness continue

    By terraluft
    We got into the sold out Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back!!!  Our number came up on the waiting list this week and I literally was jumping up and down when I got the phone call.  I wanted to scream but kept at least my voice composed for the angel on the other side of the line with the news I’d been waiting ever so patiently for months for.
    And so it is official – training starts the first of February.  Race day mid June with a semi-new crop of fellow crazies.  I’ve already substituted two runners from the original twelve who committed and paid back in July when we got on the waiting list.  Luckily I had two people waiting in the wings for a shot at joining the party. This year Hubby and I will be in “the other” van so we can experience the entire race route.  Since Hubby is back to tip top shape and is officially one of the strong runners, we have to be in the van with the ubber-hard “Ragnar Hill”.  And this year I’m taking a leg with shorter total mileage.  I learned my lesson last year.  Hard means hard when it’s labeled as such regardless of how innocuous the elevation map makes it look.
    I use Nike+ to track my running – it’s the coolest app on my iPhone – and every year they give you a rundown of the previous year.  I ran a total of five hundred miles in 2011 averaging three runs and ten miles a week.  Pretty impressive considering I haven’t run more than a couple of miles since Thanksgiving.  Compared to 2010 when I *only* ran three hundred seventeen miles I’m pretty happy with myself.
    I’m slowly easing myself back into training mode.  I ran twice this week and it still amazes me to wake up in the morning without pain in my foot.  All the physical therapy and massage therapy has worked wonders and I’m so grateful it was so easily solved.  It’s insane how much you get out of practice when you stop doing cardio regularly and I’m trying not to get frustrated that I can’t just head out and easily do three to five miles at a time.  I have January to get back to where I was before I have to start hard core training.  Twenty three weeks until Ragnar.  I hope it is enough time.

    Leave a comment | posted in Ragnar, Running, Year In Review

    January 3, 2012

    Race Archive 2011

    By terraluft

    Another list for my OCD.  Although this one seems tiny compared to 2010.  But it represents double the training effort so I’m recording it anyway.  Officially 2011 was the year of Ragnar.  The best part: doing both of them with my Hubby.

    Ragnar 2011 – Wasatch Back Relay
    June 17-18, 2011
    (192 miles, Logan to Park City, UT)
    Personal mileage: 21 miles
    Team time: 38 hours 05 minutes

    Ragnar 2011 – Las Vegas Relay
    October 21-22, 2011
    (195 miles, Lake Mead to Red Rock, NV)
    Personal mileage: 14.2 miles
    Team time: 33 hours 31 minutes

    I also trained for a half marathon in October which I got two weeks away from and had to cancel because of my injury.  The injury I could no longer ignore…  sometimes reality really bites.

    Leave a comment | posted in Running, Year In Review

    January 3, 2012

    Book List Archive 2011

    By terraluft

    Time once again to file away all the things from last year and clean up the sidebar for the new year ahead.  This year I successfully read more – thank you, Audible!  I doubled the amount of reading for my own pleasure this year by combining reading and running.  Still one of my most brilliant ideas!

    • Flirt, Laurell K. Hamilton
    • The Wave, Todd Strausser (book club)
    • The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady, Elizabeth Stuckey-French (book club)
    • Sarah’s Key, Tatiana de Rosnay (book club)
    • Dream Chaser (Dark Hunter #14), Sherrilyn Kenyon
    • The Help, Kathryn Stockett (book club)
    • State of Wonder, Ann Patchett (my pick for book club)
    • Icy Sparks, Gwyn Hyman Rubio (book club)
    • Five Quarters of the Orange, Joanne Harris (book club)
    • Pride (Shifters #3), Rachel Vincent
    • I Don’t Want To Kill You, Dan Wells
    • The Whistling Season, Ivan Doig (book club)
    • The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time #12), Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
    • My Name is Memory, Ann Brashares
    • The Aquariums of Pyongyang, Kang Chol-Hwan (book club)
    • American Gods, Neil Gaiman
    • The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi (book club)
    • Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson (book club)

    Leave a comment | posted in Year In Review

    January 17, 2011

    Book List Archive 2010

    By terraluft

    Time once again to placate my OCD tendencies and convert my side-panel list of books I’ve read into a posting for safekeeping.  This list is as dismally short as it was last year but I was also doing a lot more running than reading this past year so who is really complaining?  Instead, I’m thanking my book club for keeping me committed to reading at least a book a month!  And here’s to more time for reading in 2011!

    • The Unit, Ninni Holmqvist  (book club)
    • The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, Katherine Howe  (book club)
    • Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
    • Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
    • The House at Riverton, Kate Morton  (book club)
    • Mr Monster, Dan Wells
    • Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett  (book club)
    • I Am Not A Serial Killer, Dan Wells  (book club)
    • Life of Pi, Yann Martel  (book club)
    • Oceans Apart, Karen Kingsbury  (book club)
    • Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen  (book club)
    • Pavilion of Women, Pearl S. Buck  (book club)
    • Change of Heart, Jodi Picoult  (book club)

    Leave a comment | posted in Book Reviews, Year In Review