Drop Dead Healthy by A. J. Jacobs

Drop Dead Healthy by A. J. Jacobs

One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection

It’s January and all thoughts here at Book Barmy turn towards new beginnings. It’s time to clean out the fridge, toss the leftover Christmas cookies, make a salad or two and get back to the gym – or at least dust off and organize my gym bag — small steps, folks, small steps.  So what better book to read than this?

In terms of dusting things off, I’ve had Drop Dead Healthy on my shelves for ages and never opened it.  Strangely, I can’t remember where I got it.  I wonder if it was a gift from a well-meaning fit friend?  But then I remembered, I bought this book last January during what now appears to be my annual mission to transform myself.  As one of quotes on this books says, “Why go to the gym when you can sit and read a funny book about it instead?”  USA Today

During this month of repent and resolutions, we are bombarded with a myriad of health fads, hard-sell gym memberships, hundreds of different diets —  not to mention, legions of healthy living articles, cook books and television shows.  Mr. Jacobs, on his own quest to get healthy and fit, takes us through his experimental dips into many of these fads and trends .. all with very funny results.

He goes “Caveman” with the Paleo movement and enjoys their diet of nuts and berries (but passes on crushed insects, despite their reputed high protein value).  I laughed out loud when Mr. Jacobs tries a pole dancing workout class where he was the only man among fifty women wearing high heels and sporting an alarming amount of cleavage.

In an attempt to combat the “Crimes of Excessive Sedentary Behavior” and consume extra calories while working, he bypasses the webpage advertisements for $400 treadmill desks and rigs up his own version — with his laptop perched on a stack of four cardboard boxes that teeter on an end table at the end of the treadmill — and he even dares to include a photo.

Mr. Jacobs mystifies his family by bringing home a toilet seat that requires a third world squatting pose to navigate, which he read was healthier than the conventional sitting position – again a photo is provided — thankfully, with the author fully clothed

Jacobs tries veganism, raw food, Atkins, juice cleanses, along with dozens of other diets.  He tries Cross Fit, anti-gravity yoga, running barefoot though New York (ouch and yuck) and Stroller-cise with other new moms and dads — “I push Zane’s stroller through Central Park while jogging, jumping, stretching and getting stared at”.

What Drop Dead Healthy does best is detail the author’s personal experiences and reactions — much like sitting with friend over coffee (non-fat of course) and listening to his funny and self-deprecating stories of trying to get fit and healthy.  However, we are laughing WITH him….not at him.  In fact, we cheer along as he posts his periodic checkup results and his slow, but steady weight loss.

Even the appendixes are fascinatingly funny – from how to fit in exercise all day long; “wear a diving weight vest all day – be prepared for suicide bomber jokes”  (or potential police arrest, I’d venture) to best food advice; “Don’t be so obsessed with healthy food that you end up alone in the corner eating organic kale and silently judging your friends.”

There is humanity to Mr. Jacobs story.  He finds inspiration in his loved ones.  His 90-year old grandfather who remained active in community affairs long after his formal retirement, his eccentric Aunt Marti, those adorable but rambunctious sons, and his endlessly patient wife, Julie–all are a constant reminder that healthy relationships are paramount in any well-lived life.  In the end, we are motivated to get some exercise in any way we can and eat healthier —  but the larger lesson is that health is highly personal – each of us must choose what feels right and healthy for us – a  balance of body, mind and spirit.

 

 

I just have to show you the back cover~~~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

N.B. I also learned that drinking ice water burns 8 calories a glass. If you drink 8 glasses, that’s 64 extra calories a day.  Now let’s see, a small glass of wine is 100 calories…

Missing ~~~

Book Barmy is only missing for now.  I’ll back soon with more book recommendations and reviews.  Watch this space.

Taking a little break ~~

I’m taking a wee break, while I enjoy the many treats and delights that surround me after Christmas. Especially some lovely new books.

Back soon. Happy Holidays, Book Barmy

 

Gift Ideas for the Romantic

When growing up outside of D.C., my best friend and I spent one hot and humid summer reading Gothic and regency romances, one right after another.  Her mother had scored a grocery sack of these paperback delights at a yard sale and we holed up in front of a fan and sighed over the romantic plights of the heroines.   These heroines were usually spirited (but always ladylike) governesses, the settings often a lonely country manor on a windswept moor and there was always — always a handsome, but notorious rake.

While I like to think my taste in literature has matured – there is still a bit of that 11 year old hopeless romantic inside me.   Now I read books in all sorts of genres and from authors far and wide.  Many a time these are noteworthy, important books that force me to confront worlds that are  cruel and unhappy.  To cleanse my palate, I sometimes secretly escape into books that are reminiscent of that long ago summer of Gothic romance reading.

Mary Stewart is probably best known for her Arthurian/Merlin legends – The Hollow Hills, etc.  I’ve never read those, but I do recommend her Gothic romance tales – re-published by the Chicago Review Press as “rediscovered classics”.

These are not “light” romantic reads.  The intricate plots and lush, detailed descriptions, require patience and attention.  But that is part of the enjoyment — a reader can get lost in these books, in a most enjoyable way.   There is always a bit of magic, love, suspense and the most wonderful settings.  And, of course, the requisite happy ending, if you please.

Ms. Stewart writes with an elegant and sophisticated style, she takes her readers down enticing, multi-layered paths. Her clues and hints are often embedded into the dialogue, which reveal the truth to the careful reader.

Because it is getting close to Christmas and I have lots to do, I’ll just give you the blurbs from each book – then you can decide which Mary Stewart to give that lovely romantic in your life – and maybe that’s you.  Happily, there’s no need to break the bank — all are available at your library or most used bookstores.

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The Ivy Tree By Mary Stewart

Mary Grey had come from Canada to the land of her forebears: Northumberland. As she savored the ordered, spare beauty of England’s northern fells, the silence was shattered by the shout of a single name: “Annabel!” And there stood one of the angriest, most threatening young men Mary had ever seen. His name was Connor Winslow, and Mary quickly discovered that he thought she was his cousin—a girl supposedly dead these past eight years. Alive, she would be heiress to an inheritance Connor was determined to have for himself.

 

Thornyhold  By Mary Stewart

During Gilly Ramsey’s lonely childhood, the occasional brief visits of her mother’s cousin were a delight, seeming like visits of a fairy godmother. Years later, when Gilly inherits Thornyhold, her house, she discovers that her cousin, with her still room and herbalist practices—and her undoubted powers—had long been known to the locals as a witch. She is approached by neighbors, some innocent, some not so innocent, but all assuming that she, too, is a witch, and a possible addition to the local coven. Gilly finds there is some truth in this, for she discovers that she can call on a kind of power in difficult moments.

 

Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart

Rose Cottage, a tiny thatched dwelling in an idyllic English country setting, would appear the picture of tranquility to any passerby. But when Kate Herrick returns to her childhood home to retrieve some family papers in the summer of 1947, she uncovers a web of intrigue as tangled as the rambling roses in its garden. The papers are missing. The village is alive with gossip.  Kate’s search for the truth brings her together with many childhood friends and neighbors, some suspicious of her return, but most eager to help. It also leads her down a trail of family bitterness, jealousy, and revenge–and into an exploration of her own past. She ends up discovering a long-hidden secret that will change her life dramatically–along with romance in a place she least expects.

Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart

A governess in a French château encounters an apparent plot against her young charge’s life in this unforgettably haunting and beautifully written suspense novel. When lovely Linda Martin first arrives at Château Valmy as an English governess to the nine-year-old Count Philippe de Valmy, the opulence and history surrounding her seems like a wondrous, ecstatic dream. But a palpable terror is crouching in the shadows. Philippe’s uncle, Leon de Valmy, is the epitome of charm, yet dynamic and arrogant—his paralysis little hindrance as he moves noiselessly in his wheelchair from room to room. Only his son Raoul, a handsome, sardonic man who drives himself and his car with equally reckless abandon, seems able to stand up to him. To Linda, Raoul is an enigma—though irresistibly attracted to him, she senses some dark twist in his nature. When an accident deep in the woods nearly kills Linda’s innocent charge, she begins to wonder if someone has deadly plans for the young count.

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Dipping back into these books for this post, I’m surprised these novels have not been tapped for a PBS or BBC television miniseries. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gift Ideas for the Gardener

Winter is actually a very pleasant time for gardeners.  There is very little to be done in the garden, so we can rest our weary backs, put our feet up and dream of spring with seed catalogs and Garden Literature.

Garden Literature, you wonder, really?

Let me assure you, there is nothing better than reading about other people’s gardens,  and despite the occasional pang of garden envy, we learn a great deal from our readings.

I’m not talking about your standard gardening reference books – the ones that help identify diseases and pests, or instruct on how to grow larger tomatoes.  No dear reader, this unique Garden Literature series is something else altogether.

Modern Library Gardening Series

Edited by Michael Pollan

 

These books are beautifully published (the covers alone catcalled me from a bookstore display table), they make lovely “dip in and out” reading, but most importantly, the series has rediscovered and published out-of-print and forgotten titles from both American and British renowned gardeners.

Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past, Gardening was the number one leisure activity and there were phenomenal garden writers.  They wrote articles in publications, authored books about their gardens, but mostly wrote of the pure delight of having and maintaining their gardens.  These are not dry treatises that go on and on about soil augmentation, but funny, down-to-earth and friendly writings that expose both the gardeners’ mistakes and successes.  But in each of these slim volumes,  whether a hobby, a pastime or as an all encompassing obsession – the joy of gardening shines through.

The publishers’ (Random House) summary of each book will give you an idea of the delight these titles hold for any gardener.

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First published in 1929, The Gardener’s Bed-Book is a much beloved gardening classic by the renowned editor of House & Garden magazine in the 1920s and ’30s. Each of its 365 perfectly sized little essays is meant to be read in bed at night after a long day’s work, either real or imagined, in the garden. A charming and mischievously funny companion to curl up with.

 

 

 

Old Herbaceous is a classic British novel of the garden, with a title character as outsized and unforgettable as P. G. Wodehouse’s immortal butler, Jeeves. Born at the dusk of the Victorian era, Bert Pinnegar, an awkward orphan child with one leg a tad longer than the other, rises from inauspicious schoolboy days spent picking wildflowers and dodging angry farmers to become the legendary head gardener “Old Herbaceous,” the most esteemed flower-show judge in the county and a famed horticultural wizard capable of producing dazzling April strawberries from the greenhouse and the exact morning glories his Lady spies on the French Riviera, “so blue, so blue it positively hurts.” Sprinkled with nuggets of gardening wisdom, Old Herbaceous is a witty comic portrait of the most archetypal—and crotchety—head gardener ever to plant a row of bulbs at a British country house.

In the Land of the Blue Poppies. During the first years of the twentieth century, the British plant collector and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward went on twenty-four impossibly daring expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia, in search of rare and elusive species of plants. He was responsible for the discovery of numerous varieties previously unknown in Europe and America, including the legendary Tibetan blue poppy, and the introduction of their seeds into the world’s gardens. Kingdon Ward’s accounts capture all the romance of his wildly adventurous expeditions, whether he was swinging across a bottomless gorge on a cable of twisted bamboo strands or clambering across a rocky scree in fear of an impending avalanche. Drawn from writings out of print for almost seventy-five years, this new collection, edited and introduced by professional horticulturalist and House & Garden columnist Tom Christopher, returns Kingdon Ward to his deserved place in the literature of discovery and the literature of the garden.

There are prefaces that entice even before you enter the book itself – from today’s gardening notables such as Jamaica Kincaid, Dominque Browning, and Penelope Hobhouse (don’t gardeners have just the best names?).

 Michael Pollan is the contributing editor to this series and perhaps he says it best:  

“these writers are some of the great talkers in the rich, provocative, and frequently uproarious conversation that, metaphorically at least, has been taking place over the back fence of our gardens at least since the time of Pliny.”

 

Here’s a Garden Literature series that will gladden the heart of the gardener on your list.

 

Gift Idea for the New Parents

Operating Instructions

by Anne Lamott

“There really are places in your heart you don’t know exist until you love a child” — Anne Lamott

I give this slim volume to every new mother, and no, I don’t think it’s weird to give a book at baby showers.  Remember, please, a book is never a bad gift here at Book Barmy.

There’s a lovely new Mom-to-be on my Christmas list this year and before I wrapped Operating Instructions I chuckled away in re-reading parts of this unique book.

Anne Lamott is best known for her book on writing (Bird by Bird) and her many books on her own brand of spirituality (start with Traveling Mercies).

She writes achingly, from her heart and everything she pens has a clear authenticity that strikes a cord with this reader.  Even her books on spirituality are affectionate, wise and very funny  —  regardless of your religious persuasion.

Operating Instructions is the honest and funny diary of her son’s first year.  She recounts difficulties with sleep deprivation, colic, struggles to stay free from her addictions, grief over her father’s recent death and the absence of her son’s father  — all conveyed with self-deprecating humor and wit.

This is not a touchy-feely-how-to-be-a-perfect-mother guide, this is a brutally honest look at the good, the bad, the ugly and the scary parts of  the first year of parenting.

Ms. Lamott confesses to the times she wanted to just “put him outside as an experiment in natural selection” and recoils at the little guy’s private parts.

She boldly expresses her liberal political rants against the Bush presidency of the time, so the book feels a bit dated in that respect.  But in all other aspects this is a timeless and valuable gift for any new Mom (or Dad).

After my recipients have read Operating Instructions, I usually get comments along the lines of a” breath of fresh air”, “so funny I was reading it aloud to my husband”, “great fun while nursing” and even “reading this book made me feel less isolated and more connected — I wasn’t the only frightened mother out there”.

So, let’s help out any of those new parents on your gift list — offer to babysit, take over a casserole, walk their dog and most importantly — give them this book.