#52 "The First 20 Minutes Personal Trainer" by Gretchen Reynolds

As part of training to walk across Ireland I'm trying to actually follow a practical training schedule. Right now that means adding cardio and strength training and building up the hours spent hiking every week. The First 20 Minutes is full of little tid bits and cultural hearsay versus the latest scientific studies to help you form a guilt-free and reasonable exercise routine.

#51 "Blind Your Ponies" by Stanley Gordon West

I loved every word of this book. I know nothing about basketball, and very little about small-town Montana, but the 40 or so characters, each trying to find some way to cope with the life they've had were incredibly captivating.

5 stars, every single day.

#50 "The Miserable Mill" by Lemony Snicket

Yeah... I read another one. But that's 4/13, so I promise you there will be no more than 9 more.

#49 "William Shakespeare's Star Wars" by Ian Doescher

This script is a re-writing of Star Wars in Elizabethan English with lots of famous Shakespeare lines thrown in. It's entertaining enough, but a pain to read in just a few sittings.

#48 "The Absolutist" by John Boyne

This book is absolutely brutal. Unlike reading Atonement or Regeneration, both set during World Wars and dealing with similar issues of sex, scandal, sexuality, and the mental tradgedy that is created by war, there was nothing good in this book. No happy moments, no character you wanted to love and support, no jokes that disrupted the just terrible, aweful, no good, very bad life that Tristan Saddler has.

#47 "Sabriel" by Garth Nix

I listened to one of the books in this trilogy a long, long, long time ago on a road trip. I fell asleep half way through and by the time I'd woken up, the story was so far gone that I couldn't follow. My losing interest really frustrated my dad. But true to my 12 year-old word, I tried again. This time with reading instead of listening, and it went much better.

The Abhorsen trilogy is much more engaging, and much easier to follow now. And I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Lireal.

#46 "The Wide Window" by Lemony Snicket

Three out of 13. I need a break and some adult lit now.