I’m hosting the New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge that also features a weekly Twitter chat and a read-along of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. I’m so excited about this! Especially now that there’s been time for a few people to join up. I imagine we’ll get more in the coming week as thoughts turn from festivities to the future.

The first New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge Twitter chat is Wednesday, Boxing Day. Everyone’s invited, even if you haven’t decided to join the challenge. It should be an energetic discussion about how books improve our lives. It’s at 9 Eastern / 8 Central US time. I’ll write a post that day to talk about how to participate in a Twitter chat for anyone who is new to that sort of thing. The hashtag is #NewYearBooks.

Read

I finished Culinary Intelligence by Peter Kaminsky. If anyone is looking for a book to inspire weight loss or healthy eating but isn’t a diet book, I highly recommend Culinary Intelligence. I’ll write up a review for Weekend Cooking in a few weeks when I’ve had a chance to make a recipe or two.

Last week, I was looking for another light read for the holiday season. I found it while Christmas shopping at the bookstore (where I do most of my Christmas shopping): Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh. I’ve been reading the Psy-Changeling series from the beginning. This world and its characters feel familiar now. Reading Tangle of Need was like taking a vacation in a place you visit every year — a place that happens to have changeling wolves and leopards alongside a race of people connected on a psychic network.

Reading

I’ve started my first book for the New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge: Smart Chefs Stay Slim by Allison Adato. I laughed out loud while reading the introduction by Chef Art Smith when I came to this sentence:

When it comes to eating, I think Allison hit it right when she noticed people would rather take advice from folks who wear chef whites than white lab coats.

Smart Chefs Stay Slim is going to be the perfect follow-up book to Culinary Intelligence.

For my bathtub book, I pulled Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah from my TBR pile. I’ve been reading Kristin Hannah since she was a romance novelist. I like her more serious fiction, too, and after several light books it was time for something a touch darker. The winter theme appealed since we’ve now seen our first snowflakes and may be shoveling snow on Boxing Day.

Will Read

I hope to start one of my other New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge in the next few days, the e-book 2013 Create Your Incredible Year by Leonie Dawson.

What are you reading?

It’s Monday! What Are Your Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Be sure to check out her post today to see her selections and the list of links to all the other participating bloggers.