Thursday, March 10, 2011

Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy

Subtitled as 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done In Less Time, this was a pretty short (2:40 audiobook) book that basically outlines how to get off your duff and get a move on, in work and your personal life.

Is it The Word? Probably not, but most of it did seem like common sense. I did use some of the suggestions already such as starting your day (or ending your night) by making a list of tasks that need to be done that day (or the next day). I know how necessary this is, but sometimes once I get to work, all hell breaks loose and there's no time. As Tracy says, MAKE TIME. I started doing this this week and it really did help focus me on what needed to be done. Tracy expounds on the fact that only 1-3 of your daily tasks are essential to your work/job. Working to identify those tasks and only doing those tasks is ideal but I couldn't see me trying this at my job.

I'm not going to continually tell myself I'm awesome, like he suggests, but I can tell myself that this little book was well worth reading and actually using.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell

As an audiobook, I enjoyed this much more than her other books (as of late). The annoying characters (Marino, Lucy and Benton) didn't seem quite as annoying. Although I still don't care for any of them.

Scarpetta is working in Dover, fulfilling her obligation for accepting a military scholarship for college. Scarpetta is called back to the CFC when Lucy and Marino fly in to get her because a body in her morgue has suddenly started bleeding. What starts as something innocuous and simple turns into a drama-filled mess with Jack Fielding, her deputy in chief, the FBI and the government.

The book is fairly fast paced and only spans a day or 2 in Scarpetta's life. Although I have been disappointed in the last few Scarpetta novels, this one cheers me and makes me hope we're back on the right path.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Twelve Red Herrings by Jeffrey Archer

Sometimes all I need are short stories. Archer created 12 stories that throw a twist (or red herring) into the mix. One Man's Meat... even includes 4 alternate endings. I somehow always choose the sad sack ending.

Do Not Pass Go was quite a good story about an Iraqi man just trying to fly home from Turkey. Cheap at Half the Price was a little....ballsy for a woman but also made me cheer for her. Never Stop on the Motorway has been told before, many many times.

There were only a couple of stories that caused me to go Meh, but the rest made up for those.