April Book Club

Good morning!

Yesterday’s less intense workout apparently left me feeling rejuvenated because today’s workout was sweaty, intense and awesome!

I began my time at the gym with 20 minutes of steady state cardio on the elliptical before completing the circuit workout on the agenda for today through the Best Body Boot Camp program I’m following.

It was definitely challenging, but in a good way. I find it so much easier to push myself during circuit workouts because I know I’ll be done with a certain exercise in no time at all since the bursts are often quite short. It’s easier to pound out a ton of mountain climbers or burpees if you know you only have to do them for 40 seconds!

Breakfast

Breakfast was another waffle extravaganza!

Perhaps the word “extravaganza” is a little excessive, but I adore this combination!

I topped two toasted Van’s multigrain waffles with a mixture of ricotta cheese and cottage cheese, a sliced pear and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.

Don’t forget the spice! It adds so much!

April Book Club

Time to select the book for April’s Book Club!

As always, the following books were taken from your recommendations on the PBF Facebook page.

Please vote on the book you would most like to read below. On Thursday, April 26 I’ll post my review of the book along with discussion questions for us to talk about in the comments section of the post.

Also, if you post a review of the selected book on your blog before April 26, please email me at pbfingers@gmail.com and let me know so I can be sure to include your review in the link up of book reviews that will be included in that post as well.

The contenders for the month of April include…

• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long.

Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author’s tale of gothic strangeness — featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess,a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

January 1946: Writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

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Please vote for the book you would most like to read. The winning book will be announced tomorrow!

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