Is there anyone out there who, like me, reads to keep themselves motivated and on track? If so, what are you reading, what have you read to keep your motivation up?

Right now I am reading Fast Food Nation and next in line I have The Fat of the Land.

I read cookbooks. They are my inspiration for learning new ways to prepare food. My love of all things food helps me as well.

Deb, I read cookbooks too. Recipes online--I can spend hours just browsing.
I recently bought the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book and I am loving it. While I can't indulge myself too often in baked treats, I do a lot of baking around the holidays for gifts and this will be wonderful then.

Time passes so quickly when reading the cookbooks, don't you find that as well? I get so involved that three hours can pass without my being aware of its passage!
I get the newsletter from a site that uses King Arthur in their recipes. Have you had a chance to look through the book yet? Is it one that you'd recommend?

Bob's Red Mill also has a new whole grain cookbook out that you might want to check out.

Deb, I'd definitely recommend this whole grain baking book from King Arthur. There's all kinds of hints and information and some helpful illustrations. This is not a picture book, though they do have a few color pages in the center. The measures are given by weights as well as volume for all recipes and each gives the nutritional information as well, even giving how much whole grains in a serving. The recipes were tested in their own kitchens. The list price is $35 US and at first I thought too pricy, so I went to a bookstore to check it out before buying. I was going to try to get it cheaper online rather than in a local bookstore. I fell in love with it at the bookstore though and couldn't bear to be parted from it! I stayed up late that night just reading through it. This is a BIG cookbook! It was worth every hard earned penny I spent on it. I have only tried three recipes so far but each has come out well. I have KA flour available to me locally, I know some locations might not have it and they do say all recipes were tested using their own flour which may differ from other brands.
I also recently put in a catalog order to them as well. If their products are not available to you locally you can mail order, the service is good. I am unable to get their white whole wheat locally--at least so far--and I did order that direct.

BTW, I found my library has a copy of the cookbook, yours might too if you'd like to check it out free first.

Carolyn, thanks for the info on Bob's Red Mill. I have made a bread recipe from their site but did not realize they had a similar cookbook. I'm going to look into that.

Thanks F.A. That sounds like an awesome book to get. I'll have to check out the Chapters book store here in Ontario. Chances are they will probably have it.
I've never seen the K.A. flour here at all. I'll get it touch with them and see if they can suggest a substitute that's available here in Canada. Right now I prefer to use unbleached flour for pretty much all my baking. I do have regular all purpose flour just in case I need it. I'm going to look into using a different flour that I can add to my unbleached. It's made from quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wa). It's loaded with all sorts of good things that's not found in processed flours.
I have the Larousse and refer to it all the time. It is a huge book, but it has a ton of information in there. I also have the "Silver Spoon", the Italian 'bible' of cooking. I'm still reading through that and its another huge book. I also get the 'Canadian Living', 'Everyday Food', 'Blueprint', and 'Chocolat'. Then there's the internet that is continually updated. So I have lots of reading material to go through.