Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was a little helpful but not exactly a cure to procrastination. But I've been starting stuff and slicing it up. Eating frogs is still rough though.

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The Every-Other-Day Diet by Krista Varady

The Every-Other-Day Diet: The Diet That Lets You Eat All You Want (Half the Time) and Keep the Weight Off by Krista Varady
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think this is a good book. I know a lot of people who are on this diet and have been very successful with it. And it's not a scam... because there's nothing to buy. And it works. I'm a big fan of it!

That said, it's tough to maintain this. It's easy to go back to it, but it's hard to maintain.

I actually read the 5:2 diet first and have lost 15 pounds (pounds that were previously stuck) and all my attempts to do EOD just result in 5:2. But like I said I know people who successfully do EOD, and 5:2 is just EOD less days a week, so either way, this is a good read and good challenge.

Plus, this has health research behind it. There are studies completed and some underway proving longevity increases with this lifestyle diet.

A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining...by Will Bowen

A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted by Will Bowen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My rating is only temporary based on the writing being okay but not deeply elaborated upon with additional research or psychology. However, you're supposed to do as he says to be mindful and of and stop your complaining. His time estimate for a solid start is 21 days. If I make it and my complaining has been dramatically reduced in 21 days I'll add more stars. I think that seems fair.

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From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Siblings Claudia and Jamie run away from home with a plan to stay in overnight in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a kid growing up in New Jersey, one of the joys of reading the book was that we had a few field trips to The Met, so it was fun reading a book that took place in a setting that was both known and extraordinary.

As an adult, I appreciate the kids' financial plan for staying several days in New York City. Here's a fun computation. The kids leave with $28.61 and assuming it takes place the year of publication, 1968, adjusted for inflation, they have today's equivalent of almost $200.* So for example, pie in New York City is 25 cents, today's almost $1.75.

*https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=28.61&year1=1968&year2=2016

Also, check this out!:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/11/michelangelo-met-museum-young-archer.html

For kids (when I first read the book, the internet wasn't even a thing yet):
Museum Kids- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

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Shakespeare Project 2016

I am trying to read many (maybe not all) of these.

Play- First Performed Date

1. Henry VI, Part II- 1590-91
2. Henry VI, Part III- 1590-91 
3. Henry VI, Part I- 1591-92 
4. Richard III- 1592-93 
5. Comedy of Errors- 1592-93 
6. Titus Andronicus-1593-94 
7. Taming of the Shrew- 1593-94 
8. Two Gentlemen of Verona- 1594-95 
9. Love's Labour's Lost- 1594-95 
10. Romeo and Juliet- 1594-95 
11. Richard II- 1595-96 
12. A Midsummer Night's Dream- 1595-96 (saw play)
13. King John- 1596-97 
14. The Merchant of Venice- 1596-97 
15. Henry IV, Part I- 1597-98 
16. Henry IV, Part II- 1597-98 
17. Much Ado About Nothing- 1598-99 
18. Henry V- 1598-99 
19. Julius Caesar- 1599-1600 
20. As You Like It- 1599-1600 
21. Twelfth Night- 1599-1600 
22. Hamlet- 1600-01 
23. The Merry Wives of Windsor- 1600-01 
24. Troilus and Cressida- 1601-02 
25. All's Well That Ends Well- 1602-03 
26. Measure for Measure- 1604-05  (saw play)
27. Othello- 1604-05 
28. King Lear- 1605-06 
29. Macbeth- 1605-06 
30. Antony and Cleopatra- 1606-07 
31. Coriolanus- 1607-08 
32. Timon of Athens- 1607-08 
33. Pericles- 1608-09 
34. Cymbeline- 1609-10 
35. The Winter's Tale- 1610-11 
36. The Tempest- 1611-12 
37. Henry VIII- 1612-13 
38. The Two Noble Kinsmen- 1612-13 (maybe not written by Shakespeare) 

Reading Resolutions 2016

Happy New Year! This year my goal is 12 books from the below list: 3 from Dad, 3 from Kevin, 3 from friends, and 3 that won the Pulitzer Prize.

Three Novels My Dad Loved:

• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (on night table)
• Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter 
• The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman 

Three Books Kevin Recommends:

• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (short stories) by Alice Munro (on night table)
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

Three Recommendations from Friends:

• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (on night table) - Michele
• Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
• Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushde
• Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan/ Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy- Jaime
• Personal History by Katharine Graham- Allison
• Life and Other Near Death Experiences- Chrissy
• anything by David McCullough- Sarah B

Three Books That Won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction (highlights are ones I read):

• 2015) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• 2014) The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
• 2013) The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
• 2012) No award... Finalists: 
•  Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell 
•  The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 
• 2011) A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan 
• 2010) Tinkers by Paul Harding 
• 2009) Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout 
• 2008) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz 
• 2007) The Road by Cormac McCarthy 
• 2006) March by Geraldine Brooks 
• 2005) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 
• 2004) The Known World by Edward P. Jones 
• 2003) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
• 2002) Empire Falls by Richard Russo 
• 2001) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon 
• 2000) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
• 1999) The Hours by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
• 1998) American Pastoral by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin)
• 1990) Rabbit At Rest by John Updike
• 1983) The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Harcourt Brace)
• 1982) Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
• 1979) The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
• 1967) The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
• 1961) To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• 1953) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway