October Minis: Dracula, Meg Wolitzer, & more!

Hellooooo, readers!  And HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVE!  I will be celebrating this weekend by trick-or-treating with a small monkey and a Ninja Turtle.  Let's honor the holiday with my first round of mini book reviews for the month of October.  Three books to discuss with you today...

Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
Harper, 2011
personal purchase

Here we have a psychological thriller with a unique premise: Christine has suffered a brain injury that erases her memory almost completely every evening when she goes to sleep.  So each morning, she wakes up unaware of where she is, or who is sleeping next to her (poor, forgotten husband).  She has to re-learn her entire life.  Unfortunately, this also means that Christine is easy to manipulate--who can she really trust if she never remembers anyone from day to day?  She finds a journal that she's begun keeping with the help of her doctor, and realizes that her life may be very different than what is being presented to her.

While the suspense and twists in this book are intense (as expected), for me, they were slowed down quite a bit by Christine's journaling style (which is how much of the book is narrated).  For someone who has to furtively write in her journal each night before her husband catches her doing it, she writes in such flowy, painstaking detail.  This felt disingenuous and made it hard for me to find her believable as a character.  However, the story itself is delightfully convoluted and will get your heart rate up (even though I did figure out the "bad guy" a good bit before he/she was actually revealed).

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Grosset & Dunlap, 1897
personal purchase

The most famous vampire story!  I'd been saving this book as a spooky October read for years, and finally got around to it.  It was well-worth the wait, as this was a perfect novel for this time of year.  If you're unfamiliar, Dracula is the tale of how Jonathan & Mina Harker discover, and attempt to take down, the wily vampire Count Dracula, along with their mentor, Van Helsing, and a few brave friends.  There's garlic and wooden stakes and bats and a castle in Transylvania!  How can you go wrong?!?!  The story is told through letters, diary entries, telegrams, and journals written by the main characters.  I loved this format, as it gave the narrative a more modern, fast-paced feel than its publication date would have you expect.  I was a little annoyed by how Mina Harker is treated as a female character (Stoker alternately builds her up as a smart, independent woman, then breaks her down as the male characters keep her out of the loop in order to protect her delicate lady-brain), but otherwise this book was fantastic.  Do yourself a favor and put this one on your Halloween reading list!
(Has anyone seen the film adaptation of this from the early 90s?  From what I can see, it looks like Coppola kind of massacred the plot.  Also, Keanu Reeves?  Srsly?)

The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
Scribner, 2003
personal purchase

This story is told by Joan Castleman, in her mid-60s and wife of the (fictional) famous novelist, Joe Castleman.  It's immediately clear that Joan is a tad bitter about her life these days.  As she flies to Finland with Joe to a ceremony in his honor, she flashes us back to their early days of courtship and marriage.  By the end of this quick 200-ish page read, you have a REALLY good understanding of why Joan is disgruntled.

This was my first Meg Wolitzer novel, and I was beyond pleased.  The writing is fantastic: snappy, beautiful, intelligent, and humorous, all at once.  While the title left me thinking that the purpose of the novel was a character study of Joan-as-wife, I soon realized that Wolitzer was also making some interesting statements about the "wife" role in general: what it symbolizes, its value within a family, and how much some women give of themselves when they take on the title.  There was even a surprising twist at the end.  I'm impressed with everything that Wolitzer was able to pack into such a short book, and I can't wait to read more of her work.

What was your best read of October?

The Well-Read Runner: Monster Scramble 10K recap

A quick recap for you of the Monster Scramble 10K that I ran last Sunday, October 18.  You may remember that this was the 10K I was fundraising for in order to support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  I'm DELIGHTED to report that I was the #1 fundraiser in the Rochester area!!  I reached a grand total of $765, and am so appreciative of every single person who donated.  It felt awesome to hand all that moola over to a great cause!!

The race took place at Mt. Hope Cemetery in downtown Rochester.  I'd never been to the cemetery before, but heard it was a great place to run if you love HILLS.  Knowing that beforehand, and taking my recent health issues into account, I knew going in that this was not going to be a PR race.  I was happy to take this one easy and enjoy the ride.

The race started at 10am, but I was parked at the shuttle pickup by 8:45.  I am not real familiar with downtown, and knew that I would have to park a few blocks away and take the shuttle to the race.  Plus, the night before, Tater Tot got a cold, and my husband and I decided that they would not be accompanying me to the race.  (There was a 1 mile trick-or-treat walk for families at the same time as the race...Small Fry was sad to miss out!)  So I planned to get there early in order to give time for the shuttle, packet pickup, and then a possible shuttle trip back to my car to drop off stuff (there was no bag drop...kind of inconvenient when they were giving out so much stuff at packet pickup) before heading back to the start line.

Pre-race.  Those are some super-cool Halloween tights/stockings from Target.  Never ran in stockings before this.  Was not as terrible as expected.  ;)

Unfortunately, I overplanned this one, because I was fully checked in by 9am, and had an hour to wait for race time...outside...in the cloudy 39 degree day.  I was not the only one who was early, and you could tell we all regretted it!  My fingers and toes were fairly numb by the time the race began (and that was with gloves and Drymax socks on).  Note to self: don't get there quite so early next time!

I'd had peanut butter toast for breakfast, and ate a banana around 9:30.  I probably could have done with more fuel, but I have such a hard time working up an appetite on race mornings.  I had my small handheld water bottle with me during the race, though the course was very well stocked with water along the way.  (I also held my friend Liz's bandana from a Muck MS event she did earlier this year, that says "I Muck It With MS"...it gave me some extra good juju when I needed it!!)  :)

Finally, 10am approached.  The start line was at the very bottom of a very, very, very long and steep hill.  3, 2, 1, GO and off we went up that hill!  I was feeling my lack of recent hill training immediately, and made it about 80% of the way up before I had to stop and walk the rest.  Oh well.  Kind of a kick in the pants right at the beginning, but I didn't get down on myself about it.  Hit the top of the hill, and back up to pace I went.

Pretty much all of my race photos are awful because the photographer was stationed at the bottom of a rocky hill that required you to be looking down and watching your footing the whole time!  Oh well!

Honestly, much of this run was very uneventful.  The cemetery actually made for beautiful scenery (as odd as that may sound), and it wasn't a very crowded race (even less so in the second half, when the 5Kers peeled off).  Just me and my music, trying to keep a decent pace and enjoying the run.  Yes, I did walk many of the hills, but because I knew I hadn't trained like I should, it didn't bother me.  But the 10K was two loops of the 5K course, and it was a bummer to watch all those racers finishing while I made my way up that killer hill again!!  :)  However, I did enjoy that everyone was much more spread out for the last 3 miles.

I finished this one in 59:29.  Not close to my fastest, but still under an hour, so I was pleased.  My stomach was feeling a little delicate afterwards (what else is new for me??), so I walked around for a while and watched the Best Costume awards being handed out before getting back on the shuttle and heading home.

Overall, this was a very fun race that supported an excellent cause.  Even though the course itself is challenging, I would love to do it again in future years, if only for the opportunity to fundraise again.  That said, I think this race would benefit from two things: a bag drop, and some sort of warming tent (depending on the weather).  But, neither of these things were a dealbreaker...just would have made the day a bit easier.

Have you done any Halloween-themed races?  Any great running costumes to share??

The Well-Read Runner: In Search of Mojo

OMG, a Well-Read Runner post that's not on a Sunday!  These running posts are getting insidious!!

Full confession: I have slacked way off on running lately.  At the beginning of October (like 10 seconds after I signed up for the Four Seasons Challenge, OF COURSE), an unexpected health issue (long story, but basically a heart arrhythmia) came up that required me to stop running for about a week.  At the end of that week, my doctor gave me the okay to continue my running regimen as usual, even though a few more tests are being done on me through the end of this month.  While the doctor's okay should have been enough to make me lace up the shoes again, it wasn't...at least, not entirely.

I've been running since my doctor approved it, but the runs haven't been much fun.  They've been fraught with worry (will the palpitations start up again?  Will speed work aggravate them?  If I didn't fuel/hydrate the right way before the run, will they come back?).

And let me tell you--not-fun running kind of sucks.  It's real hard to get up at 5am on a Tuesday to knock down 4 miles when you know you're going to spend 90% of the time stressing out.

At this point, the medical testing is nearly completed, I have fewer and fewer reasons to worry, and runs are getting a bit easier, mentally.  But all this has left me feeling rather dispassionate about developing a training plan for the Winter Warrior half on January 9.  A twelve week program would have me start training around...now, but even with the OK from my doctor, I feel like I've fallen out of my running routine and am having trouble getting the motivation to make any sort of training schedule.

That said, I have a general idea of how I'd like to structure each week.  I'm going rogue and not following a strict Hal Higdon/Nike +/whatever schedule this time around, because I've learned a few things about my body with the last two half marathons, and want to adjust accordingly.

Sunday: long run,
Monday: yoga,
Tuesday: run,
Wednesday: BodyPump (just tried this earlier in the month, LOVED it, been looking for some good strength training!!),
Thursday: rest,
Friday: run,
Saturday: rest.

I know, that's only 3 runs a week.  But for this cycle, I really want to add yoga, I really want to add strength training, I really don't have time to double-up workouts in one day, and I really want 2 rest days.  So that's where it leaves me.

However, if I make those 2 weekday runs work for me (maybe speed work one day, hills the other), it should be adequate.  Winter Warrior is on a completely flat course anyway, so I could probably skip hills and perhaps just do a longer weekday run (4-5 miles instead of my usual 3-4)...because the big factor in the WW race is getting used to running in the arctic cold.  So time spent outside on the roads is valuable no matter what.  Right?  This is what I'm telling myself!

I'm hoping that if I keep to that schedule, I will fall back into a happy running routine within a couple of weeks.  We all have peaks and valleys with this crazy sport, don't we??  And apparently, this is one of my valleys.  But I know it's time to climb out...I just need to find the foothold that will get me started.

How do you find your running mojo when it goes missing?

Updates: Reading, Running, and Redheadedness

Hello, friends!  I know, things have been largely silent around these parts lately.  So, I figured it's time for some updating, as well as some new plans for the future format of the blog.

I have three categories of updates to share, so let's start with:

1. The New and Improved Redheadedness of the Well-Read Redhead

I cut ALL my hair off, y'all.  Well, almost all.  It FELT like all.

Ignore my laundry on the chair.  Why does my nose look so big?  I hate selfies.  Also, yes, my hair is darker, but I promise still red.

I needed a haircut badly, and was feeling completely frustrated and out-of-love with my long hair.  I'd been debating a pixie cut for 5 years or so, but never had the confidence to pull the trigger.  However, my disdain for my long hair (the blow drying!  the straightening!  the wrangling while running!  the constant put-it-in-a-hat on bad hair days!) reached a peak, and it was time.  I sent pixie cut ideas to my stylist-friend Mandy, brought some wine over her house, and The Cut was made.

Final verdict: why didn't I do this sooner???  I am in love with my newly shorn hair.  Yes, I have to style it each morning (pixie cut bedhead is a serious thing), but the styling time is minimal and very easy.  I thought I was going to want it a bit longer/messier, but soon after the cut realized that I prefer it a bit shorter and sleeker (my husband referred to Claire Underwood in her brunette phase...haha).  Yes, I will be keeping this style up for some time!

2. Running (Or Lack Thereof)

I had a big thing written here with my running updates (it's been a little rocky lately), but it was making this post too long, so I'm saving it for a Well-Read Runner post later this week.  Check back soon!

3. Reading (Or Lack Thereof)

Obviously, not a lot of book talk has been happening around here.  I've been struggling with two things: one, finding adequate reading time, and two, finding the motivation to blog about it.  I actually finished a book at the end of September that I have yet to find the energy to write an entire post about--a first for me since I started blogging 3 years ago.  That said, I don't want to give up this space, as I still love to recommend books to others, and this is my favorite vehicle for doing so.  What's a girl to do?

I've decided that, for now, the best thing is for me to read low-pressure (meaning, no deadlines).  So, I will be taking a hiatus from blog tour reviews for a while (yes, even for TLC, and you know I love TLC tours).  I will finish out the last two books I'm doing for TLC with full reviews, and then it's all free-range reading for the forseeable future.

With that, I will be making the blogging-about-books more low-pressure as well, by switching to mini reviews for a while.  My current plan is to do one post at the end of each month with mini reviews of everything I've read (and at the rate I'm currently reading, it won't be that long of a post!).  While this does mean less posting overall, I have a lot more enthusiasm for that format right now, and I think it's more important for me to have energy behind my posts vs. a larger number of posts.

Even though I haven't had a lot of time for reading, I am actually loving my current read: Dracula by Bram Stoker.  I've been saving this as a spooky October read for a long time now, and it is perfect for the season!!  Can't wait to share a bit about it here next week.

Alrighty, that's all for now.  I know things haven't been nearly so active around here as they were in the past, but thank you to all that are sticking with me as I figure out the blog's next stages!

Everything She Forgot by Lisa Ballantyne

Title: Everything She Forgot
Author: Lisa Ballantyne
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: October 6, 2015
Source: copy provided by the publisher for an honest review

Summary from Goodreads: 

They’re calling it the worst pile-up in London history. Driving home, Margaret Holloway has her mind elsewhere—on a troubled student, her daughter’s acting class, the next day’s meeting—when she’s rear-ended and trapped in the wreckage. Just as she begins to panic, a disfigured stranger pulls her from the car just seconds before it’s engulfed in flames. Then he simply disappears.

Though she escapes with minor injuries, Margaret feels that something’s wrong. She’s having trouble concentrating. Her emotions are running wild. More than that, flashbacks to the crash are also dredging up lost associations from her childhood, fragments of events that were wiped from her memory. Whatever happened, she didn’t merely forget—she chose to forget. And somehow, Margaret knows deep down that it’s got something to do with the man who saved her life.

As Margaret uncovers a mystery with chilling implications for her family and her very identity, Everything She Forgot winds through a riveting dual narrative and asks the question: How far would you go to hide the truth—from yourself…?

My Review:

Having never read any of Lisa Ballantyne's other novels, I was not sure what to expect from her latest thriller.  I've read a lot of thrillers lately, and I was wondering how Ballantyne would make hers stick out from the rest of the pack.  I was pleasantly surprised!  Ballantyne keeps this book going at a fast pace, and her writing excises the extraneous detail and description that I find often plagues other mystery novels.  The plot never lets up, and I was hooked right up to the end.

One thing that really impresses me about this book is that it is a thriller, but it is not bogged down in a lot of violent, gruesome detail.  I've found extreme violence to be commonplace with most of the suspenseful novels I've read lately, and while I don't have a problem with that as a literary tool in general, it can get difficult to read such graphic violence over and over.  There are some vicious scenes in the book, but they are few and far between, with much more focus placed on the motives of the characters and their personal struggles.

Ballantyne uses a multiple-narrator format, which works well for the type of mystery she weaves together here.  That said, I was surprised by a few of the details she chose to reveal before the end.  There was one "big" reveal in particular that I felt was let out of the bag a bit early, and there was also one primary narrator whose story ended up feeling rather ancillary to the rest of the plot.  The multiple POVs were definitely necessary for how the book rolled out, but I do think they could have been used a bit more poignantly, especially around the conclusion.

While I do think those caveats are worth mentioning, I don't think that should push you away from the book as a whole.  Everything She Forgot grabbed my attention right from the get-go, has a cast of characters that will make you run the gamut of emotions, and does a great job balancing the labels of "captivating thriller" and "heartwrenching family drama".

William Morrow is hosting a giveaway of Everything She Forgot!  Three lucky readers will win a copy at the end of this blog tour.  Enter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Purchase links:

AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE

INDIEBOUND

The Well-Read Runner: BIG news...65.5 miles of it!

Remember a few weeks back, when I mentioned that one of my goals for 2016 is to complete Rochester's 4 Seasons Challenge (4 half marathons during the year, 1 in each season)?

About that.

My husband told me well before my birthday (September 24, in case you forgot!) that he was going to give me the entry fee for the 4 Seasons Challenge.  All I had to do was tell him where to make the purchase.  However, our local Fleet Feet (the owners of which also own the local race timing company) said that they were not opening registration for 2016 yet, because they had "new details" to iron out.  Oooooh, mysterious!

So my birthday came and went last week, with no news of 4SC.  The anticipation was killing me!  I just wanted to register already!!

Then, the news struck.  On September 30, Fleet Feet announced that the 2016 challenge will have two options: you can either do the 4 half marathons, OR you can do the first 3 half marathons, and then do the full Rochester marathon in September (instead of the Rochester half, which runs at the same time).

Registration was set to open the next day, October 1.

What's the difference between the two options?  Other than an extra 13.1 miles, not much.  You still get all the same 4SC swag, and the same giant medal at the end of all 4 races (at each race, you get the finisher medal but then also 1/4 of a GIANT 4SC medal, the 4 pieces come together once you have all of them).  The same feeling of SUPREME AWESOMENESS when you finish all 4.

But I just.couldn't.resist. the challenge.  So I woke up October 1 and signed up...for the marathon option.

I AM RUNNING A MARATHON NEXT YEAR!  MY VERY FIRST ONE!!!

I am SO EXCITED and also completely FREAKING OUT!

I have said for a while that I wanted to have my first marathon be a BIG one (Chicago, NYC, etc), because who knows if I'll want to do a second marathon?  But this opportunity was just too cool to pass up.  So now I have to do a second marathon too, I suppose!  But that's okay, because if marathons are anything like halfs, I'll enjoy the second one a LOT more than the first.  ;)

Many thanks go out to my husband in advance, as we did chat about this before I signed up, and he has expressed his full support for this endeavor...something I will certainly need as the mileage builds up next summer.  My husband and my kiddos are my biggest cheerleaders, and I definitely could not do this without them!

Sounds like 2016 is going to be quite the year for my running.  For now, I have to focus on training for the first of the 4SC halfs, Winter Warrior, coming up January 9.  Already ordered some new thermal tights to get me going (I ran the relay this year and it was -15 degrees)!  Stay tuned...

Anyone else committed to a big race for 2016?  Something you've never tried before?

Let's talk about BANNED picture books!

Happy BANNED BOOKS WEEK, reader friends!  This is one of my favorite reading weeks of the year, and yet again, I am hopping on the "banned" wagon with Sheila from Book Journey for her Banned Books Week event.

Usually I try to read/review an adult fiction novel for this oh-so-special week, but I lost track of time and didn't get around to doing that this year.  Instead, I felt it would be the perfect time to talk about banned children's picture books.

If you're anything like me, you heard the words "banned children's picture books" for the first time and did a double-take.  Picture books?  REALLY?  I disagree with banning books in general, but at least with YA or adult novels, I can see exactly what material the "banners" find objectionable...sexual content, violence, etc.  Still not worth banning, but I at least understand what got their panties in a twist.  But picture books?  What's so wrong with Dr. Seuss and Where's Waldo?

Apparently, a lot of things.  Like teaching our kids to love the Earth.  THANKS, LORAX.

(A California school district banned The Lorax because it would turn children off to the idea of logging.  Stop loving the Earth, kids!  Just stop!)

You know what else sucks?  Liking other people, even if they are different from you.  WTF, TANGO.

(And Tango Makes Three, an adorable book based on the true story of a same-sex penguin couple at the Central Park Zoo, is often banned because it raises the topics of homosexuality and nontraditional families.)

And let's not forget the insidiousness of creativity and imagination!  That's a no-go, Maurice Sendak!

(Where the Wild Things Are, a Caldecott Award winner, has been banned in some schools because it promotes witchcraft and the supernatural.)

I think I am even more bothered by the banning of picture books than I am YA/adult novels, because at least teens and adults can be sneaky and find ways to read the books anyway, if they really want to.  ;)  However, young kids are largely limited to the books that their parents and schools provide to them directly...and if their parents and schools are keeping certain books out of reach, then chances are that they will not get access to them, period.

Plus, these books touch on topics that are SO great to introduce at a young age!  A 5-year-old who regularly reads books such as And Tango Makes Three is going to be much more kind and accepting to LGBTQ peers as he/she grows up, because they will already have relationships like that as part of their mental framework.  (Not to mention, if they later come out as LGBTQ themselves, they may feel more confident knowing that this is a lifestyle they have not only read about, but discussed with family/friends, for a very long time.)

Is it easy to talk to a young child about sexual orientation, or divorce, or bullies, or any other complicated topic?  Of course not.  But don't picture books with relevant messages make it a little easier?  By putting the topics in a format that is familiar to kids, picture books are doing half the work for us!  And a book paired with thoughtful discussion is a far better option than no discussion at all.

So get out there, parents! Aunts! Uncles! Grandparents!  And everyone else buying books for the younger generation.  Pick up a banned picture book for your littlest reader friend, and help them expand their lil' mind.  :)

What's your favorite banned picture book?  Have you used picture books to approach any tough topics with your children?