Today I underwent a retreatment for a root canal. If one can have a bad dental year, I’ve experienced that in 2009. I have had five separate teeth needing varying degrees of work from fillings to onlays to crowns. And with one thing after another happening to tooth #18 (yes, I now know the official tooth number), it has been a long road traveled filled with potholes and pain, to say the least. However, despite my frustration, anger and exasperation associated with this tooth, I finally feel optimistic that I am on the road to recovery.

The reason why we had to retreat this tooth is because the original dentist who performed the work missed a canal altogether. This resulted in months of pain and the inability to chew on that side of the mouth for a good six months. Although some of my family and friends have suggested that I blame my dentist, it isn’t entirely her fault, since she didn’t perform the original root canal. Her associate, however, better cross the street if he sees me coming!

While I waited for the numbing effects to take hold and prep me for the dental service to come, I plowed through the last few chapters of my latest book, The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs. This book really was a delight to read, despite my obvious fascination with knitting clubs. It does start off a little slow to start, but becomes a speed read about a third of the way through. This is because there are quite a few main characters that Jacobs needs to fill in with backstory and history to really get the story moving.

The basic premise of the story centers around Georgia Walker and her daughter Dakota, and their little knit shop Walker and Daughter. All of the characters weave in and out of their lives to build this core group of interesting personalities.

I really enjoyed the story and actually want to read the sequel Knit Two, but I have to wait for it to come in from the library. Instead, I’ve decided to start The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters, which I’ve read a chapter in already. I’m not sure where all this reading gusto has come from, but I’m going to ride the wave as long as I can.

Speaking of reading gusto, The Friday Night Knitting Club makes No. 12 on the Books of 2009 resolution goal. I have completed my goal, and it isn’t even November!

Books of 2009 total: 12

This year I read:

• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Twilight
• New Moon
• Eclipse
• Breaking Dawn
• Free-Range Knitter
• Practicing the Power of Now
• The Green Book
• Bad Cat
• Emma
• Lifehacker
• The Friday Night Knitting Club

I am giving myself a Resolutions Trophy for my accomplishment. Now doesn’t that feel nice! I still have two more months to continue with my reading goal, so who knows how many books I’ll close out with for the year.

I also have additional resolutions to complete, including the Stash Knit Down 2009, which is going well—I am still a week ahead of schedule.

Since my last update of the resolutions post, I have run a 5k, which I forgot to officially write about here. Some of the other resolutions, like run three times a week, has been a difficult goal to meet considering my varying illnesses and work schedule. This will be a goal to continue next year.

I also never did get around to a best of 2008 post, which at this point, seems like a silly topic to discuss so late in the year. I’ve decided to shoot for a best of 2009 post, which I may need so I think more positively about the past year.

Paying bills and saving is an ongoing process, which has also been delayed due to some health issues that have come up. Again, next year should be more promising.

All in all, I am pleased that I met my reading goal and that I’m still going strong. I don’t ever anticipate reading a great deal more than I have this year considering my job as an magazine editor has me reading 24/7, but I’m glad I got in some really good fiction books that I enjoyed.

I flipped through Lifehacker, written by founder of the site of the same name Gina Trapani. There were quite a few good tips that I took away from the book (like emailing your future self, some backup tips, keeping an inventory of your valuables with pictures and Flickr, and creating a personal wiki.

For someone who doesn’t already have their own processes and organizational structure, this book can whip your skills into place. If you already have some processes, then you’ll probably have to pick and choose what you’d like to adapt, or change altogether. I recommend the former—essentially working in new features into your existing life.

I am ahead of the game when it comes to my reading goals this year. I have already started The Friday Night Knitting Club too, and have a few other books on the nightstand I’d like to finish before the end of the year.

Books of 2009 total: 11

I finished reading Emma! Yay! It took awhile for me to get through this book and I’m not really sure why. The language was a little flowery but overall I liked the plot and the character development. I am looking forward to reading the other Jane Austen books.

Books of 2009 total: 10

I know, I know. You’re thinking, “Can you even count that as a book?” But with 244 pages (albeit with huge pictures and type), I’m counting it as a book. A small book, yes. Kind of pushing the limits, sure. But a book none the less. Since I have so many other books in the works, I’m sure I’ll pass the 12 mark for this year so I’m not too worried about it.

Books of 2009 total: 9

I finished The Green Book last night. It was a pretty quick read, although I was a little disappointed. I wanted a little more practical information on types of products, hows and where tos, but instead it threw random facts like how much energy could be saved if all of America did something. Although that is compelling, since I’m already committed to a greener life, I’d rather know how to do something rather than what will happen if me and my dearest friends did something.

For someone just getting into small green changes, I would recommend this read, but for more serious, already committed individuals, you’re probably looking for something more advanced. Keeping looking.

This is my eighth book this year, which keeps me on track. I’m still trying to read more, and I’m about a quarter through Emma. I don’t know why I’m reading this so slowly, but I hope to plow through this now that I’m done with this library book.

Books of 2009 total: 8

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How many have you read?
How do your reading habits stack up?

I’ve read 19 books on this list (the bolded ones). For someone who is such a slow reader, I thought this was pretty good. The books in italics are the books on my shelf waiting to be read.

1. Pride and Prejudice—Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings—JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre—Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series—JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird—Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights—Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four—George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials—Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations—Charles Dickens
11. Little Women—Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles—Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22—Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca—Daphne Du Maurie
16. The Hobbit—JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong—Sebastian Faulk
18. Catcher in the Rye—JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler’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
27. Crime and Punishment—Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath—John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland—Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows—Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina—Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield—Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia—CS Lewis
34. Emma—Jane Austen
35. Persuasion—Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe—CS Lewis
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
41. Animal Farm—George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code—Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude—Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney—John Irving
45. The Woman in White—Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables—L.M. Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd—Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale—Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies—William Golding
50. Atonement—Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi—Yann Martel
52. Dune—Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm—Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility—Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy—Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind—Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities—Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World—Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night—Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera—Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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
66. On The Road—Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure—Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary—Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children—Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick—Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist—Charles Dickens
72. Dracula—Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden—Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island—Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses—James Joyce
76. The Inferno—Dante
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
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
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven—Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection—Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness—Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince—Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory—Iain Banks
94. Watership Down—Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces—John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice—Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers—Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet—William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory—Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables—Victor Hugo

After a recommendation from my cousin-in-law, I picked up Practicing the Power of Now. She had said that it put things into perspective for her and really helped her out. So I was interested to see what this whole thing was about.

I’m happy to say that I agree with her assessment. The book is fairly short so it’s not overwhelming like other self-improvement books tend to be. It’s short, easy to read and to the point. It essentially explains how you should focus on experiencing the now because you can’t do anything about the past or the future. For someone who obsesses a tad, this is a good perspective to practice. Of course, that’s the key, isn’t it? Practicing it. I am hoping to give it a try over the next few weeks to actually test if there’s any improvement. I’m also interesting in picking up the original book, The Power of Now, but that may have to wait a bit. I have plenty of books on the nightstand to get to.

Books of 2009 total: 7