Protein Shakes: Her Free Soul

As part of my quest to try and be more healthy (and maybe loose weight in the process), I decided that being vegetarian reduced my protein intake. A lack of protein can effect an intake of B vitamins which help with cell metabolism. Simplistically B vitamins can help in the production of red blood cells and neurotransmitters. The benefits of having B vitamins can help with the reduction of anxiety, depression and improve energy. I have known for years I have lacked B vitamins being vegetarian and these past couple of weeks I have been tired and lethargic. I wanted to address that and thought I would introduce a protein shake into my diet.

I have and probably never will be a big breakfast fan so I figured instead of skipping breakfast I could introduce a protein shake into my diet. Similarly rather than reaching for that very tempting bag of chocolate of an evening I could instead supplement that with a protein shake. These are not intended to be a replacement meal with in my diet but more adding a meal I would rarely eat anyway and offering an alternative to an unhealthy (well at the levels I eat chocolate it is unhealthy, as I have no moderation when it comes to chocolate) snack in an evening.

I had been looking at meal replacement shakes and looking at different brands before Christmas before deciding that I did not think it was healthy for me to give up a relationship with food and replace it with shakes. Unfortunately I have not always had the best relationship with food. I am quite neophobic – I hate trying new foods and new meals. If I have it into my head that I will not like a food for possibly trying it when I was a child, to not liking the texture (for example, I could cook a load of vegetables and make a stew and eat it, but blending that into a soup…I won’t eat it). I still need to have a relationship with food and work on making it as positive as I can. So meal replacement was not an option, but adding something additional to my diet was.

I decided on trying Her Free Soul shakes. What drew me to them was the aim of their product which was to:

Help regulate female hormonal balance
Sources of vitamins, minerals and fibre
Improves energy, focus and athletic performance
Contribute to physical and mental well-being
Reduce tiredness
Improve mood and psychological function
Her Free Soul

This appealed for me so I decided to take a little more of a look around the website. They have a Whey powder which is vegetarian and a Vegan powder. I decided to take advantage of their New Year 20 percent discount code and ordered the Whey Protein Starter Pack. This pack included two bags of Whey Protein Shake, a tumbler drinks container and a bag. I would have opted for the Whey Protein Blend + Shaker or just the protein shakes on their own but with this discount it meant I wouldn’t have got free shipping with them and this allowed me to order both flavours (the Whey Powder only has two flavours, whilst the Vegan option has more).

I loved the slogan on the box the products were delivered in. My slogan now comes with bite mark customisation

Delivery was fast and I was able to get them within 48 hours.

My initial impressions of them are quite positive. I really like the taste of the vanilla one and that is my favourite of the two. The chocolate one I did not feel was very chocolatey, at first I thought this was because I added 400ml rather than the recommended 250-300ml of liquid. I followed the recommendations the second time and I still didn’t feel it was as chocolatey as I would like. Third time I added a teaspoon of Hot Chocolate powder to it, and the fourth time I added 2 teaspoons and the taste is more to my liking. It is chocolatey enough now that I consider it a treat shake and an equal replacement to giving up a bag of chocolate. For now I have only tried them with adding water (and the additional chocolate powder), but over the course of February I may experiment with adding different liquids or food items to the shakes. I might even experiment with baking with the powder. I did transfer the contents from their original packaging to a glass container so I could see how much powder I had left and I am not always the best at keeping the sealed packages closed.

I’ll check back in at the end of the month to give another review of how I feel about the shakes and whether I feel they have made an improvement to my diet.

Box was successfully upcycled into the Kitten’s playbox. Result.

Plan of Action: March

Spring is here, maybe? I don’t know. The weather of late has been pretty sad and depressing. It has definitely put my off last month’s plan of walking more. However, I am still trying to make small but permanent changes that will hopefully over this year actually become permanent.

Protein Shakes

I started this last month and I’m going to continue in March. My plan is to have 4 scoops a day.

Exercise!

Last month didn’t really go down for exercise. My aim is to do 10,000 steps a day with running and walking. I’d also like to start working on my core and strengthening it, but this month will be more trying to work it into my day rather than pushing myself. So I will look at beginners plank challenges and work up to trying to survive a minute of planking (hate planking). My plan is also to get out when the weather is nice but if it is not I will go to the gym…and push myself to actually go.

Corset/Waist training

I own a waist trainer and I briefly used to wear it when I slept. However, I have been looking into it a bit more and I read about someone who wears a waist training for Anxiety. Since I am starting a new job this month I really want to focus on trying to find techniques to help my anxiety and depression. I also think that waist training will help to target the area of my body I have self esteem issues. It’s an experiment for a month with an inexpensive waist trainer and I’ll see how it goes.

Mindfulness

As mentioned above. I am starting a new job. So I planning to take me time in the evenings to relax and rest. I’m planning to make some cooling DIY sheet masks and I have just purchased an Aromatherapy Humidifier Light. I’m going to focus on relaxing and maybe look into mediation. Also I am going to try body brushing and Gua Sha for my face take the time to do something that feels good and take the time to relax whilst doing it.

Vegan-ish

I’d like to try and look at a vegan diet. Now my protein shakes contain Whey powder so they are not vegan. I also want to eat some butter and cheese to help promote healthy hair so there will be some limits to a vegan diet right there. That being said I also want to explore more vegan proteins, more vegetables and would like to aim to have one vegan meal a day. I would also like to try to explore alternatives to bread or a least cutting down my bread consumption, which isn’t high to begin with but I find that quite often when I do not know what to eat I turn to a sandwich and bread as a quick option. I’d like to try to meal prep a little more and look at freezing more portions of healthy meal preps and looking for healthier options when I am in that ‘I don’t know what to eat’ phase.

Water

I did have a pretty revolutionary break through with water last month. I’ve found it slipping a little bit this last two days. So that slight transgression needs to be nipped in the bud because it becomes a regression back into old habits.

I’ll check back in at the end of the month to see how well my goals have been progressing.

February in Review

How cool is today? The 29th of February. This is the 9th Leap Year I have lived through and the 8th 29th of February I have seen (I wasn’t born in February 1988 to officially see it). I cannot believe we have two months of 2020 under our belts already. Where has the time gone?

I think February has been a productive month in a sense. Looking back over my goals for February I wanted to:

Do 10,000 steps a day
Introduce Protein Shakes to my diet
Not calorie count
Up my Water consumption

The 10,000 steps a day was a fail. I started off so well and pushed myself to go out…but when Storms Ciara and Dennis developed, I did not want to go out walking in the at times 80mph winds and the impressive rains. So I did not do as many steps as I would have liked to. I think hopefully with the turning point in seasons, we are very much at the end of winter so hopefully with Spring the weather will improve to encourage outdoor activity.

I did write a first impressions of the Protein Shakes, why I choose them and I still want to post this, even though my first impressions were over a month ago now. I would like to give a more prolonged view of them. The thing that held me back was taking photos. I did introduce protein shakes to my diet and stuck to it really well until perhaps this past week. With a new month though I am going to remotivate myself to take them.

I was successful in not calorie counting. I did make some delicious meal preps that focused on putting a lot of vegetables and looking at healthier options. This past week I have slipped though so I would to jump back onto that. I have also been looking at promoting healthy hair, whilst I think the quality and condition of my hair is very good, I would like to continue looking after it. I think it is important to keep a certain amount of good oils and fats in your diet so I have been trying to eat cheese and butter regularly. I think with the addition of Protein Shakes I am going to start getting a lot more protein into my diet to help with healthy hair promotion.

Water. By far this month I am impressed with my water consumption. I posted that the Microcurrent Facial was instrumental in getting me to drink water, prue water, not mixed with squash. I have largely drank either 1,600 or 1,200ml of water everyday since the 10th February. However, for March I am thinking of dropping this down to a goal of 800ml to 1,200ml. If you are not used to drinking at lot of water or you are not sweating it out…you body in the beginning does not know what to do with all this water, particularly as it is winter – you are not losing it through sweat as much. So I find I am going to the toilet ALL the time. Well that is an exaggeration but it feels like I need to go a lot more than normal, so I am cutting down for the moment. If I find myself becoming thirsty I will drink more.

I am really impressed though. This month I am not as bloated as I have been previously and I am finding I am not conscious about my weight. My issue I have always had is my stomach. I am happy with my body apart from my stomach which I felt was were I was carrying my stomach. Whilst it is still not flat and beautiful it is not as bloated as it used to be and this makes me feel better. I think I need to look into core exercising. Something I’ve never really done before to see if I can tone my stomach. I think trying to boost a healthy diet and tone my problem area is more important than what the scales are telling me and that I need to count calories.

My Relationship With Water Has Completely Changed in 10 Days

I used to hate water and never drink it. I hated the taste. I know that may sound weird to some people. I mean water tastes of nothing right? How can you hate the taste of it? I don’t know. I think there was a little bit of a mineraly taste to it.

I live in an area which has hard water. So it makes sense that I could taste something additional in the water. Hard water contains calcium, iron, magnesium and manganese. This occurs when rain water falls into water supplies which have a bedrock with limestone and chalk deposits.

Now when I go to North Wales, where I have family. I loved the water there. The water from the tap didn’t taste as minerally and my hair felt so soft and nice when washing with the water. This is because the water is soft water which has a higher sodium content but is low in other minerals.

So as I didn’t particularly like the water taste I drink a lot of other things. My drink of choice for years has been Cola. Mostly either Coca-Cola or Pepsi. I used to drink full sugar Cola. Now thanks to the Sugar tax that was implemented in 2018. Soft drinks companies began to lower their use of sugar in drinks to avoid being charged more for sugary content. Places that served drinks such as Restaurants and Pubs also began switching to lower sugar content. I switched to Sugar Free Cola such as Pepsi Max and Coke Zero. That I did notice a transition period as I whined myself off so much sugar but I was still getting the caffeine I was addicted to.

Now I have tried to do previous New Year’s Resolutions to drink more water. These often went hand in hand with drinking no Cola. The result previously was a major sugar and caffeine withdrawal. You feel crappy. You work Cola back into your diet. Cola intake goes back to normal. Water goes out the window.

So what has changed in the last 10 days? To break this cycle. Well on the 10th of February I got a Microcurrent facial, which I have documented in this blog post. The therapist said I may be thirsty more and need to drink more water when I got home. I did need to drink more water. In fact, I drank 1,600ml which has been my water target since getting a fitbit about three years ago. I rarely, if ever reach that target.

I was thirsty from the microcurrent facial and I craved water. But rather than mixing it with sugar free squash etc. I wanted the water immediately so just drank the water. I found the water easier to drink than squash and could gulp down a glass much more quickly then I could with squash.

The next day. I woke up and was still thirsty and again I drank 1,600ml of water.

The next two days I drank 1,200ml per day.

Then I have been drinking 1,600ml of water everyday until yesterday.

Yesterday I felt a bit meh. I woke up with a headache and a sore throat. I felt crappy. Yesterday was a Wednesday. For Monday and Tuesday I had been really good with drinking protein shakes and smoothies, eating yoghurt (topped with too much Granola which is a vice of mine) and eating a lot of rice and vegetables for meals. I wanted to eat these crisps (chips for an American audience) which I am completely in love with. The problem is they don’t come in the small 30g bag we are used to in the UK. They come in the bigger share pack sizes more similar to American crisps packages. I can’t seem to say no and will eat the whole bag. So I convinced myself and rationalised that I wasn’t hungry. I wanted to eat them. I didn’t need to eat them and I promised myself on the Wednesday I could eat what I wanted.

So my Wednesday what the hell day started with a can of Cola. I hadn’t opened a can of cola on the Tuesday (I did drink cola though…I have discovered that if you open a can of cola in the evening and don’t drink much of it it still retains it’s fizz overnight and you can drink it the next day). As I wasn’t feeling great by 11:30 I reached for some comfort food. Crisps and Peanut M&Ms. Currently addicted to them. I did drink some water. 800ml…but that is half of what I have been drinking recently. I went out for dinner and the cinema. At the restaurant I ordered a cola. They didn’t have Pepsi Max so I went for full sugar, which although full sugar, it has actually reduced in sugar quite a bit following the 2018 Sugar Tax.

Last night I struggled to sleep. That’s not unusual for me and I do have medication that can break my sleep pattern a little bit. But I was also thirsty. I craved water, but I didn’t drink more than 800ml because I didn’t want to spend the whole night waking up and going to the toilet because my body does not know what to do with all this sudden influx of water.

Today. Woke up. Had my protein shake…mixed with water. Measured out my 1,600ml of water for the day and I’m sipping my way through it. I think I am finally on the drinking water bandwagon, which is a good bandwagon to be on.

I will still maintain a steady intake of Cola. I do enjoy drinking Cola. I like the taste and I do think I am addicted to the caffeine. Not drinking tea and coffee my only other source of caffeine is chocolate. However, I am hopeful that maybe finally I have a better balance with my intake of water being higher than my intake of cola.

This might actually be a New Year’s Resolution I have completed and I might finally have made a permanent change in my life. I hope so.

The Ordinary

As detailed in my last post I made the decision to challenge myself in 2020 to look after my skin. Since the New Year I have started a ritual of looking after my skin. I am finding it great to have improved skin, that is brighter and shines (not from oil of the teen years). I feel more confident with my skin and I am enjoying taking the time to give myself a little bit of a pamper and to look after my skin.

Like for so many people, I am confused about skincare products. There are tons of products out there that all claim to offer you the world but you are not really sure if they will, or if they will work for you. I was watching a couple of YouTube videos on different people’s skincare regimes and I discovered a company that appealed to me. They are called The Ordinary and they claim to be an abnormal company, offering great skincare without the heavy price tag. I was intrigued and watched people’s skincare videos using The Ordinary. I decided to give them a try.

Now the website is a minefield of different products and I was left perplexed about what to get. So I searched their website and read some reviews and watched even more YouTube videos. I also looked at availability in the UK and where I could buy it. I discovered that the high street chain Boots offered it. Great. So I went to Boots and looked for it in store and could not find it. Not Great. Ordered online and picked it up the next day. Back to being great again. Boots were limited on what selection of products they carried but that was ideal for me as a beginner as I could narrow my search down and try a skincare regime.

I went for:

The Ordinary: The Daily Set.

Price: £15 for three Products:
Squalane Cleanser
Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5
Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA

The Ordinary: Lactic Acid 10% + HA 2%

The Ordinary: Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

The Ordinary: Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%

The Ordinary: 100% Organic Cold Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil

The first use was in the morning so I kept it simple and used the Squalane Cleanser, the Hyaluronic Acid and the Natural Moisturizing factors. My first impressions of the Squalane Cleanser were not great, I hadn’t seen anyone use it on YouTube video hunt and I expected it to do a foam cleanser. I expected some kind of bubbles. It’s a cream cleanser that goes on and you take off which warm water. I have always preferred soapy cleansers over cream. So I mixed it with water in the beginning expecting a reaction of soap that didn’t come. I was more impressed with the Hyaluronic Acid and I was intrigued by the gel like consistency. My skin instantly felt moisturised and hydrated and I really enjoyed it. Next I used the Niacinamide, this is supposed to be very good for those with acne prone skin. When i first applied it I got a tingling sensation. It wasn’t painful or uncomfortable, I could just feel it tingling on my skin. I let it soak in a little bit before moving onto the next step, which was the moisturiser. The Natural moisturizing factors was like standard moisturisers in consistency and it went on smoothly and absorbed well. I was impressed with the results of my first attempt, my skin felt clean, brighter and moisturised. However, I started to notice after a couple of minutes that product was rubbing off and going into little globs of product…is globs a word? It looked like my skin was flaking, it was not skin, it was product. So I took a towel and gentle exfoliated the excess product off. I eventually learnt I was using too much Hyaluronic Acid and have cut down and I don’t have this effect anymore.

Now before I continue. My first impressions of Squalane Cleanser were a disappointment but we have actually become good friends. I think I will be introducing a foam cleanser into my routine but will be doing a double cleanse, Squalane first, foam cleanser second.

For the evening routine, I must start by saying I watched a YouTube video in which someone showed their The Ordinary skincare routine for a month, and there was about 15 products, maybe more. She would put the lot on her face and her skin did look amazing. I did the first night and quickly decided for me, less would be more, so I use all the products, but not every night and I do alternate what I use.

For my first night routine, I cleansed with Squalane cleanser (this time I applied it correctly, not with water and not expeting it to foam) washed it off and then applied the Lactic Acid to my face. I did really want to try the Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, but Boots did not have it. I also wanted to try the AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution. However, I had never used a chemical peel or a chemical exfoliate before. Advice from the Ordinary’s website was to start with a gentle chemical exfoliate and work up to the AHA peel. So I selected the Lactic Acid. I did get a burning sensation from it when I first used it. It wasn’t painful, but then having had a lot of kittens over my life, who love to use humans as a climbing frame I have a high awareness of pain and I have grown a tolerance to it (my current kitten used to like to eat on top of the work surface but couldn’t climb their herself, so up my leg, hip and waist she went). I didn’t find the sensation unbearable, I imagine those without the built up pain barrier would. I washed it off and applied the Hyaluronic Acid, Niacinamide then the moisturiser. That was pretty much the same as my morning routine with the introduction of the Lactic Acid. I then went on to add the Vitamin C Suspension. I was impressed with the silicone consistency, it was super smooth almost like primer. By then I was feeling very oiled up. I let that soak in and about 90 minutes later applied the Rose Hip Oil to my face. I then felt very oily but enjoyed massaging it in and taking the time to relax and enjoy the experience. I did however have flash backs to being a teenager and the horrible greased up skin feeling. It was too much for me and my skin and I do not think I’ll ever apply the whole lot at the same time again.

The only product out of the evening routine I do not particularly enjoy is the Vitamin C Suspension. I like the product, but I have used a Vitamin C cream in the past and what I do not enjoy it the smell when you have had it on your skin for a period of time. Especially when you wake up in the morning. My kitten also didn’t enjoy the smell so she avoided me for a little bit. I know use it during the day if I am not going out and I wash it off as soon as I start to notice the unpleasant to me smell.

The Rose Hip Oil I do enjoy but I was more interested in trying The Ordinary’s B Oil. I was placing an order for something else and picked up a new bottle of Hyaluronic Acid (I was using too much and thought I’d run out, cut back on it now so not using it up as much) and I ordered the B oil to try. I will went until I have used up the Rose Hip Oil.

The Weight Loss Journey Continues

So it is the 1st of February. The start of the last month of winter, my Dad has the belief that this is the hardest month of the year, but once you push through this month you get to Spring and with it longer, brighter and warmer days that make life a little bit easier. I do feel that January is perhaps a hard month to start a new year, in the middle of winter. It is cold and trying to break old habits, particularly if they involve diets that strip away comfort foods away and encouraging you to go out to get more fresh air and exercise…when it is cold and wet is not the best way to encourage these new steps. Perhaps it is better to start them in the spring or summer when it is a more pleasant experience to be outside or to switch warm, stodgy foods in favour of salad and uncooked fruit and vegetables.

Reflecting back on January…was it a success? I didn’t gain any weight, well that’s not strictly true I did gain 0.1lb of weight. This lack of weight gain however was more due to good fortune than me directly trying to improve it. I could have been a lot worse, but equally it could have been a lot better.

So what is the plan for February? Well I’m going to challenge myself to:

10,000 steps a day. It doesn’t have to be running, although I would like to try and get running in there. Simply being outside and trying to get 10,000 steps in one or two bursts of activity a day would be good and sometimes going out for a walk in less daunting than going for a run.
Introducing shakes to my diet. Now the shakes I have chosen are NOT meal replacement shakes but shakes designed for women to introduce vitamins that are particularly lacking in a vegetarian or vegan diet. I follow a vegetarian diet and have done since I was 7. I think lacking in essential B vitamins does impact on one’s energy levels and in January I was feeling particularly tired all the time which impacted on my mood and my enthusiasm to do anything.
Zero calorie counting! This month is about trying to pick healthier options, including more fruits and vegetables into meals but realistically I am not going to restrict what I want to eat, especially not when I am feeling low and craving foods I like to eat.
Water. Lots of water and drinking more water over cola.

I’ll check back in at the end of February beginning of March to let you know what successful this month’s plan of action has been.

The Book Challenge

So for 2020, one of my goals is to read more books. Reading for me has always been a chore. I have dyslexia so reading has not been one of my strongest tasks. Often at the end of a busy day at school, I would be too frustrated to read for fun. Later, at University I had a degree that required a lot of reading (actually most degrees require that…) so reading for fun at the end of the day was never an option for me. Reading films as well can also be quite a challenge and requires me to pause the film for a bit and come back to it on occasion.

This year although I would like to see how far I can get down this 100 Books Everyone Should Read Before They Die (Ranked!) list from Business Insider.

Although the first thing I did was to change the order. A couple of authors appear on this list more than once (J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling for example), I’ve moved them together so I can follow the book story, rather than chop and change to another book. I have a feeling I would, if I enjoyed the story, wish to continue with it, and for J.R.R. Tolkien in particular, The Lord of the Rings was ranked higher than the Hobbit, even though the Hobbit is set before. With J.K. Rowling I will probably break from the list and read the missing books from the series, so after Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, I would read the Chamber of Secrets and then come back to read the Prisoner of Azkaban. Also, I moved the Bronte sisters together as I thought it might be interesting to compare their styles.

One thing that perplexes me about this list is: why does the Lord of the Rings get lumped together as one book, when other series, like Harry Potter or the Hunger Games, get more than one listing on the top 100?

The challenge is to see how far down this list I can get in 12 months. Wish me luck!

Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird (01/01/2020-09/02/2020)
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Anne Frank – The Diary of Anne Frank
George Orwell – 1984
George Orwell – Animal Farm
J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
J.R.R. Tolkien – The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings
1. The Following of the Ring
2. The Two Towers
3. The Lord of the Rings
F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
E.B. White – Charlotte’s Web
Louisa May Alcott – Little Women
Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451
Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
Margaret Mitchell – Gone with the Wind
J.D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye
Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
Mark Twain – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain – The Adventure of Tom Sawyer
Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins – Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins – Mockingjay
Kathryn Stockett – The Help
C.S. Lewis – The Chronicles of Narnia
C.S. Lewis – The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe
John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck – Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck – East of Eden
William Golding – The Lord of the Flies
Khaled Hosseini – The Kate Runner
Elie Wiesel – Night
William Shakespeare – Hamlet
William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet
Williams Shakespeare – Macbeth
Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time
Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens – Great Expectations
Douglas Adams – The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Frances Hodgson Burnett – The Secret Garden
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – The Little Prince
Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
Lois Lowry – The Giver
Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
Shel Silverstein – Where the Sidewalk Ends
John Green – The Fault in Our Stars
L.M. Montgomery – Anne of Green Gables
Stieg Larrson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
The Holy Bible: King James Version
Alice Walker – The Color Purple
Alexandre Dumas – The Count of Monte Cristo
Betty Smith – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Lewis Carroll – Alice in Wonderland
Truman Capote – In Cold Blood
Joseph Heller – Catch-22
Stephen King – The Stand
Diana Gabaldon – Outlander
OrsonScott Card – Enders Game
Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina
Richard Adams – Watership Down
Arthur Golden – Memoirs of a Geisha
Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca
George R.R. Martin- A Game of Thrones
Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea
Arthur Conan Doyle – The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes (#3)
Victor Hugo – Les Misérables
Yann Martel – Life of Pi
Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar – Celebrating Silence: Excerpts from Five Years of Weekly Knowledge
Ken Follett – The Pillars of the Earth
Roald Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Bram Stoker – Dracula
William Goldman – The Princess Bride
Sara Gruen – Water for Elephants
Edgar Allan Poe – The Raven
Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel
Gabriel García Márquez – One Hundred Years of Solitude
Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife
Homer – The Obyssey
Pearl S. Buck – The Good Earth (House of Earth #1)
Agatha Christie – And Then There Were None
Colleen McCullough – The Thorn Birds
John Irving – A Prayer for Owen Meany
Jeannette Walls – The Glass Castle
Rebecca Skloot – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Crime and Punishment
Cormac McCarthy – The Road
Tim O’Brien – The Things They Carried
Hermann Hesse – Siddhrtha
Toni Morrison – Beloved
Kurt Vonnegut – Slaughterhouse
Abraham Verghese – Cutting for Stone
Norton Juster – The Phantom Tollbooth
Fyodor Dostoyevsky – The Brothers Karamazov
Helen Keller – The Story of My Life