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New Year, New
YouBooks to Change Your
Life.tmp) By Tamar
Love It's January 1st ... the beginning of a
whole new year, filled with hope, promise and the opportunity to
bash yourself in the head for once again breaking every resolution
you set for yourself the night before.
This year, instead of making resolutions, make changes.
Get Your Bearings
If, like most of us, you're floundering, aware that you'd
like to enact change, but unsure of where to begin, Harold Bloom
offers a creative compass with which to guide your quest.
Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative
Minds is an encyclopedia of sorts, an encapsulated look at
one hundred creative geniuses, mostly authors, all dead, all of whom
were fiercely original thinkers. Select a mentor from a varied list
that includes Proust, Kafka, Woolf, Dickinson, Cervantes, Chaucer,
Paz, Borges and Hemingway, and get reading.
Stop Procrastinating & Start
Moving
Before you can make real change, you'll need to get rid of
the clutter, whether it be physical or mental. To remove the
tangible debris of your former life, pick up Sink
Reflections, a perky, yet useful, guide to getting your home
and life in order. Marla Cilley, otherwise known as The FlyLady,
offers tried-and-true innovations for gaining control of your home,
room by room.
To clear less tangible clutter, try Eat That Frog! 21
Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less
Time, a curious little book that likens unwelcome tasks to
eating frogs -- if you do it first, you'll have the worst part of
your day behind you. While both books are a bit on the cutesy side,
a lighthearted tone helps soften otherwise dreary reading material,
and the information is presented in a palatable enough format so
that even if you cannot quite master the principles therein, you can
at least tackle the guidebooks.
Become a Lady and/or
Gentleman
Good manners are more than knowing which fork to use or when
to write a thank-you note; they are key for gracious, stress-free
living. Judith Martin's (a.k.a. Miss Manners) newest book,
Star-Spangled Manners: In Which Miss Manners Defends American
Etiquette (For a Change), examines American manners as they
evolved since the days of the founding fathers, helping readers
better understand the importance of behaving well.
More practical is The Modern Gentleman: A Guide to
Essential Manners, Savvy & Vice, a hipster-chic guide to
modern manly manners. Covering everything from dating to mating,
booze, domesticity and dressing for dinner, The Modern
Gentleman is an indespensible guide for men -- and the
people who wouldn't mind if they smelled a little better.
Trim Your Waistline
How many times have the words "exercise regularly" appeared
on your list of New Year's resolutions? Babar's Yoga for
Elephants, Laurent de Brunhoff's newest book about the
elephants of Celesteville, might help you finally keep your exercise
resolution. A surprisingly comprehensive introduction to yoga, this
book, while "intended for elephants interested in yoga," makes
amusing the wretched task of getting into shape.
Exercise alone is great, but for life-changing results, you
also need to alter your eating habits. If healthy eating is your
objective, try Conscious Cuisine: A New Style of Cooking from
the Kitchens of Chef Cary Neff, a glossy tome by the
executive chef of Miraval Spa. Lavishly illustrated with enticing
photographs, this book is filled with simple, healthy easy-to-make
dishes suitable for fine dining and everyday eating.
If your aim is to lose a few (or more) pounds, get on the
Atkins bandwagon and try cutting the carbs: 500 Low-Carb
Recipes: 500 Recipes from Snacks to Dessert, That the Whole Family
Will Love will show you how. While the book doesn't contain
pretty pictures, mouth-watering or otherwise, the fun, tasty recipes
will vastly enliven the diets of the carb-free, who might be getting
a little tired of meat, cheese and lettuce.
Get a New Look
Women who want to change their style will be amused (if not
informed) by The Looks Book, a guide to style targeted
at teenaged girls. The first half of the book details two valuable
messages -- "every body is different" and "beauty is in the eye of
the beholder" -- lessons we would all do well to remember,
regardless of our age or gender. The second half of the book defines
a couple dozen different kinds of styles, from Goddess to Bad Girl,
Chic Geek to African Queen, enabling readers to borrow a style if
they're unable to come up with one of their own.
Beauty advice for adults can be found in Bargain Beauty
Secrets: Tips & Tricks for Looking Great and Feeling
Fabulous, a truly fabulous guide to dirt-cheap beauty. While
aimed at women, men, too, can discover thrifty secrets for better
hair, skin and nails. Our favorite tip: use Crisco as a bargain
alternative to body moisturizer.
Explore the World
Before you get too comfortable with your life, take a few
weeks (or months ... or years) to see the world. Avalon's updated
guide to the ultimate traveling machine, Great American
Motorcycle Tours, describes hundreds of doable rides across
the US. Whether you're a Lone Wolf or part of the pack, you need to
feel the wind on your face and the thrum of a hot motor between your
legs ... and if not now, when?
Those who do not enjoy bugs in their teeth might prefer
Anthony Bourdain's new book, A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures
in Extreme Cuisines, an account of the notorious chef's
global search for the perfect food. Although not a travel guide,
Bourdain's book may inspire you to get off your duff and see the
world -- or at least try Burmese food.
Get a Job
It's January, you live in the Bay Area and you need a new
job. Face it -- you also need help. Fortunately, help is to be had
in the newest editions of two industry staples, Cover Letters
That Knock 'Em Dead and The Damn Good Resume Guide: A
Crash Course in Resume Writing. Both books are reasonably
priced and filled with solid, powerful examples of resumes and cover
letters from which you can borrow key phrases -- just make sure you
don't copy too closely!
If, after you've waded through one -- or all -- of these
handy guides you can't quite motivate yourself to make any of the
changes about which you've just read, don't despair. The truly
glorious thing about browsing through books is that the act is
valuable enough in and of itself. So what if you can't seem to lose
ten pounds? You've just read ten books!
Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred
Exemplary Creative Minds
by Harold Bloom
Warner Books; ISBN: 0446527173; November
2002
Hardcover; 832 pages; $35.95
Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop
Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
by Brian Tracy
Berrett-Koehler Pub; ISBN:
1576751988; October 2002
Paperback; 144 pages; $12.95
Sink Reflections
by Marla Cilly
Bantam Doubleday Dell; ISBN:
0553382179; October 1, 2002
Paperback; 223; $14.95
Star-Spangled Manners: In Which Miss
Manners Defends American Etiquette (For a
Change)
by Judith
Martin
W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN: 0393048616; November
2002
Hardcover; 224 pages; $24.95
The Modern Gentleman: A Guide to
Essential Manners, Savvy & Vice
by Phineas Mollod & Jason Tesauro
Ten
Speed Press; ISBN: 1580084303; October 2002
Hardcover; 288 pages;
$21.95
Babar's Yoga for
Elephants
by Laurent de
Brunhoff
Abrams Books for Young Readers; ISBN: 0810910217;
September 2002
Hardcover; 48 pages; $16.95
Conscious Cuisine: A New Style of
Cooking from the Kitchens of Chef Cary Neff
by Cary Neff
Sourcebooks Trade; ISBN:
1570719268; October 2002
Hardcover; 352 pages; $35
500 Low-Carb Recipes: 500 Recipes from
Snacks to Dessert, That the Whole Family Will
Love
by Dana
Carpender
Fair Winds Press; ISBN: 1931412065; October
2002
Paperback; 480 pages; 471 pages
The Looks Book
by Rebecca Odes, Heather McDonald, Heather
Drill, Esther Drill
Penguin USA; ISBN: 0142002119; September
2002
Paperback; 160 pages; $17
Bargain Beauty Secrets: Tips &
Tricks for Looking Great and Feeling Fabulous
by Diane Irons
Sourcebooks Trade; ISBN:
1402200080; October 2002
Paperback; 256 pages; $14.95
Great American Motorcycle
Tours
by Gary McKechnie,
Peter Fonda
Avalon Travel Publishing; ISBN: 1566914485; October
2002
Paperback; 419 pages; 95
A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in
Extreme Cuisines
by
Anthony Bourdain
Ecco Press; ISBN: 0060012781; November
2002
Paperback; 288 pages; $14.95
Cover Letters That Knock 'Em Dead, 5th
Ed.
by Martin John
Yate
Adams Media Corporation; ISBN: 1580627935; November
2002
Paperback; 304 pages; $12.95
The Damn Good Resume Guide: A Crash
Course in Resume Writing, 4th Ed.
by Yana Parker
Ten Speed Press; ISBN: 1580084443; October
2002
Paperback; 80 pages; $9.95
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