Book #4: Crime and Punishment

To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. In the first case you are a man, in the second you're no better than a bird. Truth won't escape you, but your life will be cramped. -Razumihin, Crime and Punishment

Alienation, heroes, poverty and the psychology of the criminal are major themes presented in Crime and Punishment. Dostoyevsky paints a picture of a man with much potential who- some may say- threw that potential away by committing the heinous crime of murder. But upon the act of murdering a helpless old woman, he  was illustrating a principle of the 'superman', a superior man who was above the law, and therefore almost had a duty to break the laws, which were only in place for the average men. So, in his own mind he was acting correctly, but ended up turning himself in to the law at the very last, to face his punishment.

Good things: amazing novel about good vs. evil, the criminal psyche, strains in relationships
Bad things: There are many characters in this novel, all of whose names are Russian, making it a little difficult to stay on top of all of them, really long- so if you can't finish it all w/in a certain amount of time it gets discouraging


I have to be honest here, and the truth is that I didn't actually read the entire book. It's just SOOOOOO long! I read half of it, but didn't have much free time so was losing track of all the characters. I found a detailed summary on cliffsnotes.com instead and finished it that way. One day I'll come back to it... When I'm not in school trying to 'make the grades'. Maybe this summer?? It really is a phenomenal novel I would recommend to anyone with tons of free time!

Book #3: Racing Weight

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back. -Prefontaine

 Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance, by Matt Fitzgerald of Runner's World Magazine, is a great nutritional guide for the endurance athlete looking to improve their performance in ways other than training more. He presents a "5-step plan for endurance athletes."

Step one. Improve your diet quality.

Step two. Balance your energy sources.

Step three. Time your nutrition.

Step four. Manage your appetite.

Step five. Train Right.

I don't want to give anything away in the actual book itself, so you're just going to have to read it yourself! I will say that I love learning about fitness and nutrition, and this book was a gem! I really enjoyed everything it had to offer, and  may share some of my newfound wealth of knowledge in later posts. :)

Nobody falls halfway. (AKA book #2)

He realized that he had thought only about the first step, never imagined the last. 

 -Colum McCann

 My second book of the year was the "National Book Award" winning best-seller Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. The preface opens with a man walking a tightrope between the world trade centers (the twin towers), and the first chapter embarks on a completely different story. The book is sub-divided into four smaller "books" and each had three or four chapters, each respectively following the story of different people's lives. Eventually you see how these people from different socio-economic statuses (statii??) are all inter-related, even though they may not directly know each other. Let the Great World Spin connects the reader on a personal level with individuals who are normally looked down upon or immediately judged without further thought... but that's all i'm going to give away of the story line.

Let the Great World Spin is a fantastic read if you want a novel that will capture you and leave you feeling like you have a different (better, even?) outlook on life. I can't really describe it, but you can read it yourself and find out! I mean, there has to be some reason why it was a national book award winner and best-seller.
That said, I do have to warn you of a few problems with the writing. You have to keep in mind that this is a very realistic, worldly book. There is a whole lot of cursing, because that's real. There are differing views of God presented, because there are real people out there who see things that way. There is prostitution and drugs presented in a very real manner because there are people who don't know of a better way to live- for them it's the only means of survival. This book will open your eyes to a side of the city (in this case, New York) that you probably have never considered before. But if you can get past these issues then I would definitely recommend this book to you as a great read.

If you have read it, or decide to read it please let me know either on here or facebook! I would love to hear any feedback you may have!

Progress.

You might have noticed that I changed my blog. It was on purpose, don't worry! (Because I know you will.)

One of my recently (last few days) thought up New Year's Resolutions is to read 100 books this year. It was pointed out to me that this is about 2 books a week, and since I'm in college, that is extremely unrealistic. (Unless, of course, Dr. Suess and Amelia Bedelia count.) SO, my new and improved goal is to read 50 books this year. And if I read more that is totally okay. I plan on writing up a little something for every book I read to keep you updated!


I still need to make a final list of my resolutions, but, it's already evening of the 19th so it's not like you're holding your breath! I'll get around to it...

BUT without further ado........
.... my first book review!!!


Book #1. The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain.

The lovely story of a prince and a pauper, trading lives by accident, and how it changed their, and many other people's futures, and everyone was eventually better off. Sorry if that ruined the ending for ya ;)
But for real, that's pretty much all that happened...

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become. - C. S. Lewis

Life Realization #24: I like cold weather, except when i'm exercising in it.

I can't believe it's been a year since I started this thing... and to think, I started it to keep people updated on my progress towards a race I didn't complete- yet. I will run a marathon, but I kinda want to wait until after college. Maybe right after college, like the summer afterward, but still after. And I still want to run for Team in Training. Not very many of my goals in general have changed over the last year, but we'll come back to that later. I have updates for you!

I'll start with Christmas day. It seems like a logical place to start, and maybe even finish. So on Christmas day it started snowing in the late afternoon. This was the first time it had snowed in our area on Christmas in over 1 or 2 hundred something years! Well, my brother lives a few miles away at his own place, so that night my brother and his dog got in the front seat of my boyfriend's Mustang convertible, my boyfriend was driving, and I was in the back seat behind my brother. We were obeying all the traffic laws, going the  speed limit, using turn signals, etc. Well we stopped at a stop sign, and BAM! - we got hit by a truck. Specifically, a '96 fire engine red F-150, "Built Ford Tough" (c). We were kinda freakin out a little bit. I hit my head on the roll bar, but nothing serious. The dog (a 20 yr old pug, yes, 20, that wasn't a typo) was fine. The driver of the other vehicle pulled over and came towards our window to see if everyone was alright. The driver was my dad! What are the chances....

The Happy Ending:
My boyfriend's car wasn't completely totaled- just almost. And it got a new shiny paint job! My dad's truck walked away with a tiny dent in the bumper. Built Ford Tough. Good slogan. Too bad the Mustang isn't "Ford Tough" too.

So I believe that pretty much catches you up from last year! I'll add a New Year's post later =]

Congratulations are in order for the Pumpkin!

Hold on, man.  We don't go anywhere with "scary," "spooky," "haunted," or "forbidden" in the title.  ~From Scooby-Doo

The girl's dragon tattoo. That I drew :)

That's exactly how I feel about scary movies. So I didn't really feel too bad when I skipped out on some movie that had "Ghosts" in the title somewhere (which should be in Shaggy's list up there) after the Halloween get together at the bowling alley.  On the bright side, Halloween was still a success... even though I'm awful at bowling and therefore never do it, giving myself no opportunity for improvement. But my costume was awesome.

Agent P, Lisbeth Salander (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo),
and the Nerd. No party is complete w/o the nerd.

Sidenote: I ran with a friend a few days before Halloween, and we were discussing how/why on earth people stick a light into a hallowed out pumpkin with a face carved in it around Halloween. We came up with some great theories and suggestions, but I researched it (and no, I'm not a nerd. Dork, maybe. Nerd, no.) Turns out that Halloween is the night that all the ghosts come out of the grave to steal as many souls as they can, so frightened villagers used to believe that if they left a hallowed something out with a scary face and light in it that it would scare the ghosts away, and they could sleep peacefully, and their souls would be safe. Well, they used a whole bunch of different vegetables- starting with gourds and squash, then eventually figured out that pumpkins are the best because they are hard to break and hold their shape well. (And, as my running partner pointed out, watermelons would roll away, but pumpkins have a flat bottom.) They were called Jack-O-Lanterns because something about Jack and it looking like a lantern with the light in it. That's where I quit reading :)

That's all I got. No motivational speeches for today.... Hope you had a great Halloween :)

One child saved can change the world.

Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. ~James Dean

Life is so brief. Once a moment passes- it's gone. Forever. What are you doing with those moments? Are you investing yourself fully into everything you do? When you are at work, are you giving 100% of everything that you have for that 8 hours every day? Or do you goof  off, trying to pass the time? Do you invest yourself fully into all of your relationships? I'm not just talking boyfriend/girlfriend, but I mean do you care about those you encounter daily? That girl you sit by in your history class- she's been looking really sad lately. Do you even know her name? You never know; you two could end up being really good friends, or at least make going to class less of a chore. There are so many opportunities we miss on a daily, minute-to-minute, moment-to-moment basis. And in the span of a moment, it could all be gone.
 
Last Friday I decided to break from running to swim some laps at the pool. (A lifeguard should be in top swimming shape, right?)  When I got there every lane already had two people, so I sat down and messed around with my phone for a minute. I heard a loud bang, looked up, and saw the lifeguard diving into the water. I looked further and saw a girl face down in the water shaking. I grabbed a backboard and started to run over, but saw that another lifeguard-certified guy was already down there, so I dropped it and ran over to help. He pulled her out of the water- she was still having a seizure- and put her on her side. She was unconscious. A woman nearby started to call campus security, and a guy who had been swimming called an ambulance. I figured out who this girl was and called my boss and then residence life so they could call her parents. It was so terrifying. She finally regained consciousness and moved a little bit, but she couldn't really speak. We all just stood around staring at her, unable to do anything for her until the paramedics arrived. They finally did, and took care of her and took her to the hospital. She is completely fine now; it turns out that she was epileptic, and has seizures every once in a while. No big. I had never seen a seizure before, so it was kind of a big deal.

This whole situation got me thinking about my appreciation for- not just life- but everything in life. Many people go through the motions of life without ever fully living. When I look back on my life, I want to be able to say that I sucked out all the possible life that I could have.

At the risk of seeming like I'm just throwing God in here as an afterthought (because I'm really not), how can we possibly live to our fullest without Him? If He created us (which I believe He did) then only He can complete us. I write all of this with only life in light of God in mind.
 

Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes