Athena

Yes, well done !

x That's excellent ! Congratulations!

Thanks ! I'm glad these kinds of books are useful to you too.

Thanks ! Here's the quote: "I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk."

The Mind Gym - The Mind Gym 2: Tijd Maken (translated from: Mind Gym 2: Give Me Time) Genre: Information Format: Paperback Pages: 256 Synopsis (GoodReads):The problem of not having enough time is as old as time itself, and so are most of the proposed cures. The trouble is, they don't seem to work. The Mind Gym: Give me time proposes a radically different approach to time and how we use it. Combining extensive psychological research with five years of testing amongst The Mind Gym's 100,000 members, this book offers practical solutions that will make you feel great about how your time is spent. The book is packed with techniques including *how to achieve more by slowing down * tiny time investments that deliver massive returns * how to say 'no' and be loved for it * simple ways to get other people to want to do your work for you * how to get time with people who haven't got time for you And there's no need to read this book from cover to cover. The questionnaire at the start guides you directly to the chapters that will help you most My thoughts: This is the second book written by the Mind Gym team (mainly written by the two creators of Mind Gym). This book is about time and time management. It contains chapters on the different aspects of time and how we feel about time. The book is written in the same style and has a similar layout to the first Mind Gym book. Since I quite liked these elements then, I did now too (for more information see my review of the first book here). I enjoyed some chapters more than others, because some are more useful to me than others. There were a few bits about for example having meetings which were of less use to me since I don't have much meetings and when I do have them, they're very tiring for me. A few times, ie. when automatic pilot was discussed, I felt my thinking works differently and thus those bits weren't of much use to me. But I'm sure they might be of use for other people whose thinking is 'neuro-typical'. The piece was about how people do a lot on automatic pilot and how it'd be better for the results if people thought with what they did. I already think with everything so for me it's a moot point. There is a chapter on how to read faster, which I quite enjoyed. There are pieces of text that you can read and time yourself. They say the average amount of words per minute is 200. I timed myself, at the first piece of text, at 415 words per minute. I have to say I found the text a bit complicated and think I can read faster if it's a different text, or perhaps if it was in English instead of Dutch (since I don't read much Dutch anymore). But I don't know, maybe I can read both languages the same, really. The tips they had to read faster don't really affect me, ie. they talked about subvocalisation, which is when people say the words in their head. I don't do this anyway so I can't really be getting faster by not doing it. I pretty much already do what they suggest . There were other chapters that were of more use (although I did enjoy reading the ones that were of less use, I definitely did!). For example, there was a chapter on concentration graphs, and how some people have more energy in the morning and others in the afternoon and evening. I'm definitely a morning person. They suggested to do more heavy tasts when you have more concentration. I kind of already do this, I had already deduced this for myself. Hmm, it might sound like this book didn't contain that many useful tips, but that's not true. There are some tips for example, on saying no and on guarding your time, how to not lose so much time doing unimportant things, how to not lose much time to certain 'time-sucking' people (my words, not theirs. I can't remember which Dutch word they used). They talked about generators and parasites, things/people that give you energy or time or things/people that take it away. All these chapters were quite useful for me. Again I wished I'd have kept more notes, but I could re-read the book if I wanted to. I enjoyed the quizzes and tests in the book, to for example find out your time style. There are people who think about time in different ways. They compared the time style with two types of birds (but I don't know what the English word is for one of them). The concentration graphs were also compared with birds (but again I don't know the word in English for one of the birds). Overall I quite enjoyed reading this book. Rating: ***** (9/10)

That's a beautiful cover of the book! Great review of Titus Groan, very detailed ! Bimbo is so cute and beautiful ! I've got a lot of plushies (or however you call them in English.. I prefer our Dutch word! Knuffel, which is the same word we use for 'hug'). Some are in my room, some are upstairs. I love my knuffels. It's great to see and hear about yours .

Have fun with your new book !

x Ah, I can imagine that. Those things can be very tasty! Good luck . x x Thanks !

Thanks . Wow, I'm sorry to hear about your family, that must be very difficult. Good luck at keeping and staying healthy . I agree, some fatty and high sugar food tastes very good! Though I find I don't miss it as much as I used to, since I started to eat more healthy. Ah I see, here the choices are a bit more limited, in take away restaurants. We don't have an indian take away restaurant, though the chinese take away does do some indonesian type dishes. We don't get take away very often tbh, we usually just cook (half of the take away restaurants don't delivery at home so you have to go and pick it up which also costs time.). But I can see it's convenient, that's very true. And I do like it, we don't do it often though and most aren't cheap (the only thing that's cheap really is chips with a burger etc. The rest costs quite a bit, if I remember correctly). Thanks for your thoughts on the matter .

Heart of Darkness is also on my TBR, in an omnibus.

Since my last read-a-thon was a bit of a fail (for me), I'm looking forward to the next one in December (6, 7, 8 December), I hope to be doing more (enjoyable) reading . My boyfriend has said he might try and read a bit in his non-fiction book (If The Allies Had Fallen by Dennis Showalter and Harold Deutsch). It'd be fun to sit on the sofa together and read.

I've now read 124 books this year, I should be reading at least a couple more books before the end of the year, which means I'll surpass my stretch goal of 125! This is quite exciting .

Dr. Phil McGraw - The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom Genre: Information Format: Kindle Pages: 464 Synopsis (GoodReads):Dr. Phil McGraw's #1 bestselling phenomen is changing millions of lives--free yourself from diets that don't work and discover the ultimate weight loss solution. You have made the decision to take control of your weight. Dr. Phil McGraw's powerful bestseller gives you the tools for life-changing weight loss. If you're ready to get real about your weight, if you want to end the frustration of the diet cycle, you have found the ultimate solution — The Ultimate Weight Solution. This groundbreaking, scientifically sound plan is a step-by-step, personalized approach that transforms you from the inside out, as you gain control over your: * food habits and emotional eating traps * portion control * exercise and lifestyle choices * restaurant and social dining * strategies for right thinking * daily food plan with sample menus ...and more! It's your health, it's your life, it's your decision. My thoughts: I started to read this book (as my Kindle read) as I've been busy with losing weight and eating healthier. This was an interesting book. I enjoyed Dr. Phil's writing style. I've read one other book by him, Self Matters, a few others are on my Kindle that I've yet to read. Life Code is on my wishlist but I can't buy it off Amazon.com (unavailable in my region), somehow it's not released outside the US or something. Sometimes, especially in the beginning of the book, Dr. Phil made certain assumptions about the reader, which in my case weren't true some of the time. Now I realise that they'll probably be true for a lot of people, it just bugged me a bit (but this is probably just me, though. I used to be upset when an author used first person in a story.) I thought that one of the good things about this book, is that it's not just about weight loss or food, but also about for example the reasons behind overeating and what you can do about it. The book is pretty motivating, it has strengthened my resolve to keep on doing how I've been doing and eat healthy and lose weight. The seven keys were pretty interesting to read about. They all made sense and are important in weight loss. The book doesn't tell you specifically to eat certain foods, but it mentions two groups of food, healthy food and unhealthy food. It also shows you a meal plan, dividing up the plate each meal and putting down certain things of certain food groups. While it made a lot of sense to me, I've alwals had a bigger dinner and a smaller lunch and breakfast, with dinner having proteine, carbohydrates and vegetables and the other two meals not necessarily so. This is how I've grown up, though, and the culture in the Netherlands. It does mean though, what I've been doing food-wise, is pretty good . The book contains several tests about certain aspects of weight loss, eating, exercising and more, this was pretty fun and informative. One thing that stuck out was that on one of the tests, the question was how often do you eat at a fast food restaurant. The A answer was rarely, and the B, C and D answers were 1-2 times a week, 3-4 times a week and 5+ times a week. I don't know anyone here in the Netherlands who eats at a fast-food restaurant more than once a week! I guess in other countries, such as perhaps the US, it might be different. Generally here it's not the culture at all to go to a fast-food restaurant. It's certainly not cheaper or anything (according to my brother, who went to the US, it's quite cheap there to buy fast food, compared with here). There's also a chapter on weight loss resistance (in part three of the book), if there's anything biologically why you might not be losing weight. This was interesting, since part of my weight loss is caused by my medication. Exercising (the sixth key if I remember correctly) is difficult for me though, because physically moving my body requires mental energy. I realise this is hard for some people to understand (my psychiatrist only recently seemed to understand it). Going to a gym is simply not an option for me, there would be so much input to process. But my boyfriend and I are thinking about buying some home equipment, so we can exercise more from home (other than walking, but my boyfriend doesn't do well with walking a lot, the tendons on his feet are too short so he always walks on his toes and it hurts him.). This would be much easier for me and with the equipment bought I'd be more motivated to actually go and use it. It'll always cost energy but I can try and minimise the input while still doing good things. Overall I quite enjoyed reading this book and think it's useful for people who want to lose weight (like me). Rating: **** (8/10)

Great review ! This book is on my wishlist.

My guess is The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber.

x Sounds good! My boyfriend has some of the Assassin's Creed games, he's played two so far (1 and 2). I've watched him play, it looked interesting. I hope you enjoy the other games too . My boyfriend owns the first three Killzone games but he hasn't played them yet. He likes the Call of Duty games but he doesn't play multiplayer so we wait until the games have been out for a while and then buy them (since it's only a short single player). Knack looks interesting! Have fun .

Beautiful poem !

Wow, that's terrible . Poor, poor people .

x Me too . x x That's very interesting, and it makes a lot of sense .

That's true! I'm somewhat less bothered by my TBR ebooks, as well. But then it's easier to forget which ones I have, because more difficult to go and look at them.

I think it's concentrated but I'm not sure. I'll have to go and look on the bottle. I love the smell of it too!

Is it historical fiction?

x Eucalyptus oil? Is it the same one you'd put in a bath? I have some of that.. Not sure if that'd work though.

x This makes sense! I'm glad things are going okay for you . x x Can I ask how much of your collection is TBR? I understand if you'd rather not say. x x Thanks ! x x Very strong of you! x x That's good! Personally I don't normally buy books on a weekly basis, but if I'm in town I always go to the charity shop, every once in a while I order lots of books online or buy Kindle ebooks and if there's a book fair nearby I hope to buy a lot of books there too (usually a few times a year). x x This sounds like a good idea! I do try and read a bit each day, though it depends how I feel. My mojo seems to come and go, there are days and weeks where I read a whole lot and there are times where I don't read much. Thanks for your replies everyone, it's inspirational !

x This makes sense, I hope you can still afford necessary things like food though! x x Wow, I didn't know there were libraries that let you check out as many books as you want! In the Netherlands, as far as I know, depending on which card you have, you can have a limited amount of books, ie. 4 or 8. I went to the library every week as a child each time borrowing the maximum amount of books and reading them. I didn't know in other countries you can borrow more than a couple of books at a time. I stopped visiting the library much since our library doesn't have a lot of English books etc. x x That's clever! I don't think I could do this though, at any time our internet could be down for a while and then I'd not have any other Kindle books to read. But I'm glad it works for you . x x They don't sound like stupid ideas at all to me! If it works for you, it works . x x This sounds good!