Charlotte's Web
E.B. White
Various Editions
Having a dual form of dyslexia I did not learn to read until later in life. Thus I never read children's books while a child. Maybe that is why I read so many still today. I read this as part of a children's literature course in university.
It is an interesting book, about friendship, commitment, compassion, change and death. As such it deals with a lot of the big questions of life in ways a child can grasp.
For me the most moving part was when Wilber confessed to Charlotte that he did not like the thought of her as a blood sucker, towards the end of her life. Only true friends can be that open and honest.
The book is a powerful tale of true friendship and how our close friends can transform not only us but those around us.
(First written as Journal Reading Notes in 1999.)
Ralphina, the Roly-Poly
Claudia Chandler
Leathers Publishing
ISBN 9781585974627
Claudia Chandler is a primary educator with a Masters Degree. This book is written to both be fun and to educate. It has bright vivid illustrations and a unique story. It is the story of a Roly-Poly bug in the garden that is lonely and wants to befriend the boy who lives in the house. It is the story of friendship and the story of learning to understand people and things that are different from us. It is a great little story with fantastic artwork.
The New Rules of Lifting:
Six Basic Moves for Maximum Muscle
Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove
Avery Press (Penguin Group)
ISBN 1583332383
The problem with most health and fitness information is that everybody has a different opinion, and far too often none of the ones you look at seem to match up. The advantage of this new book is that it goes back to basics. It has a focus on six basic moves that will help to optimize for maximum muscle. The focus is for both beginners and for elite lifters.
Schuler and Cosgrove write with a very fluid and engaging style. Their writing not only makes you want to keep reading but to try to implement their ideas. They go through a series of techniques, exercises, programs, nutrition and life. In the end they remind us that lifting is not life, and that we need to have a balanced life.
The six core exercises they focus on are: Squat, Deadlift, Lunge, Push, Pull, Twist and Combo moves. They use these core exercises to build the core of your strength and of your routines. For each of the exercises they have a range of variations.
Lou and Alwyn have written a great fitness book. The writing is excellent, the research impeccable. The book also contains an extensive section of notes, and a great index to go back and search for something you read months ago when it comes time to make a change. This book is easy to read, easy to understand and if you're motivated, trouble-free to implement.
So if you are looking to start working out, or have been for years and need to change things up, check out this book. It has tools to help you here while at university and for the rest of your life.
Other Fitness Articles:
Fall 2011 Programs
Workout program March 2012
My Gear February 2012
Fitness My Retrospective
TRX Articles:
TRX an Introduction
TRX Force
TRX Force Tactical
TRX Essential Flexibility
My P90X Series:
Phase I, Phase II, Gear, Phase III, Fitness Options, P90X at 120 Days Out
Health & Fitness Book Reviews:
The Primal Blueprint 21 Day Total Body Transformation - Mark Sisson
The Ten Commandments Of Lifting Weights - Jared Zimmerer
Toadally Primal Smoothies - Todd Dosenberry
Caveman Resurection - Jeff Pickett
40 Days to Optimal Health - Dr. Scott Morris
Eat Stop Eat - Brad Pilon
The Primal Blueprint - Mark Sisson
The New Rules of Lifting - Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove
Bench Press by: Sven Lindqvist
Sly Moves by: Sylvester Stallone
Fit for Eternal Life: A Christian Approach to Working Out, Eating Right, and Building the Virtues of Fitness in Your Soul by: Dr. Kevin Vost
Body for Life 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strenght by: Bill Phillips
Lose Fat Not Faith by Jeremy R. Likeness
Living The Good Life: Your Guide to Health and Success by: David Patchell-Evans
Dump your Trainer by: Ashley Marriott and Marc L. Paulsen
According to a BBC pole these are the actual Top 200 Favorite Books in the UK. I have tagged those I have read with this schema:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
5) Add a '@' beside those you dont ever want to read.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien - X +2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen - X 3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams - X +5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling - @
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee - X 7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne - X 8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell - X 9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis - X 10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë - X 11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller - X 12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë - X 13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger - X 16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame - X 17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens - X 18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott - X 19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell - @
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling - @
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling - @
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling - @
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien - X +26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy - X 27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving - X +29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll - X 31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez - X 33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl - X 36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen - X 39. Dune, Frank Herbert - X 40. Emma, Jane Austen - X 41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery - X 42. Watership Down, Richard Adams - X +43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas - X 45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh - *
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell - X 47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens - X 48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King - X 54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell - X 59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens - X 64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding - X 71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar - X +84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake - X 85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley - X 88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel - X 93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho - X +95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez - X +98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker - X 105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy - X 112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend - X +113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo - X 115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy - X +116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde - X 119. Shogun, James Clavell - X 120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham - X 121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle - X 129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood - X +132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck - X 134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King - X 147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian - X 150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad - X 159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling - X 160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White - X 171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley - X 172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco - X 175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery - X 181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens - X 183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay - X 184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh - X 188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. LawrenceLife of Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera - X 192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells - X 195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White - X 199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews - X
I've read 65/200. If you want to make this a meme based on the actual BBC list not the one currently floating around the blogsphere, just post and link back, or post a comment with your score. The complete list of what I have read since October of 1995 is here.
Previous Posts:
BBC The Big Read - Top 200 Books
Meme 100 Books 2009-02-25
Meme 100 Books 2007-04-28
The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
How do your reading habits stack up?
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
5) Add a '@' beside those you dont ever want to read.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.
Here's the list:
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - X +3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - X 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - @
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - X 6 The Bible - X +7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - X 8 1984 - George Orwell - X 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - X 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - X 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - X 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - X 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - X 15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurie
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - X +17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - X 19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - @
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - X +26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - *
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - X 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - X +31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - X 34 Emma - Jane Austen - X 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - X 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - X 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne - X 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - X 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - X 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - X 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving - X 45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X 47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood - X 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - X 50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert - X 53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - X 55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - X 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - X 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon - X 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - X 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - X 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - X 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - X 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - X 73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - X 82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - X 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom - X 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - X 90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - X 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery - X +93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - X +95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - X +
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - X +
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - X 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - X
I've read 51/100. I have also done a differ meme on 100 books. Now I can not find any record of this on the BBc or trace it back. They do have a listing of the Top Books for the UK.
If you want to play link back and share your results. The complete list of what I have read since October of 1995 is here.
Previous Posts:
BBC The Big Read - Top 200 Books
Meme 100 Books 2009-02-25
Meme 100 Books 2007-04-28
Charlotte's Web 
