COMMENTARY: Health Care Reform

You may be a compassionate person. You may worry about those less fortunate than yourselves who don’t have health insurance. Or you may worry about the fact that YOU don’t have health insurance. If either is the case, there are some things you need to know NOW about the Health Care Reform Bill.

Here are the main hits:
1. The bill is going to be up for a final vote in the Senate on Thursday, Christmas Eve, at 7 a.m. Eastern Time.
2. There is no accurate estimate of how much this bill is going to cost the American public. That means YOU and me. Would you ever agree to buy something without knowing first what it cost? The worst estimates indicate the bill could add as much as one TRILLION dollars to the budget deficit. That is $1,000,000,000,000, in case you were wondering.
3. Several Senators have been bribed to vote for this bill with special “deals” they’ve been given for their states. This includes an additional $100 million in Medicaid payouts for constituents in the state of Nebraska, and $300 million in additional aid for Louisiana. Do you think that a bill that required bribery to get the votes is going to be a “good” bill?
4. The Senate bill allows taxpayer money (read “YOUR money and MY money”) to be used to fund abortions. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, it doesn’t matter. Not blocking public funding for abortions is a travesty.
5. The provision in the bill that most closely resembles a “public option” is called the Class Act. To summarize, the Class Act is basically long-term health care insurance being offered by the federal government to all Americans. Then people like you and me sign up for it. But here’s the kicker. We pay premiums to the government for five years WITHOUT ANY BENEFITS. The government will use this money to fund other portions of the health care bill, then when they have to begin providing benefits to those of us dumb enough to have signed up for this program, it will go bankrupt. But instead of allowing it go bankrupt, of course the federal government will come in to “save” it (because, of course by then it will have become an entitlement), which is going to result in an ENORMOUS tax increase for all Americans, regardless of your income.
6. With the Senate bill, ALL residents of the United States will be REQUIRED to purchase health insurance. If you do not purchase health insurance, you will be the lucky recipient of a tax penalty of an amount up to 2% of your household gross income (or $750 per person, whichever amount is greater).
7. New regulations and restrictions are going to be imposed on all insurance companies currently doing business in the United States. So if you like your health insurance now, don’t be surprised when your premiums go up and your benefits go down.
8. Business owners with at least 50 employees who do not offer health insurance as a benefit will be taxed $750 PER EMPLOYEE per year. This will result in a loss of jobs, lower wages paid, and businesses going bankrupt. If you are the lucky employee of a small company who just makes that 50 employee cut-off, but is struggling to get by, you can kiss your job goodbye.
9. The amount of contributions to a flexible spending medical account will be limited based on your income. What sense does this make?
10. The government expects to pay for this health care plan, in part, by cutting Medicare and Medicaid. Just as the baby boomers are coming into Medicare-qualifying age, the government thinks they can cut those costs? If the government actually does cut Medicare and Medicaid, it will be the most vulnerable of our citizens who are left out in the cold. This will result in an ENORMOUS loss of service to the senior citizens of this country, as well as the poverty stricken.
11. Due to the new restrictions and regulations, it is going to become harder to be a doctor. Not only that, but the payouts to the doctors for Medicare and Medicaid recipients will be even less than they are now. This is going to result in some doctors closing their doors altogether. And it will become nearly impossible to find a doctor who will take Medicare or Medicaid. No one can work for free.
12. Cost-sharing subsidies will be offered to those in low-income brackets. These subsidies will go toward purchasing health insurance (but there is no indication that these subsidies will be enough to cover the actual cost of purchasing health insurance).
13. If you do not have health insurance, in additional to the wonderful “fine” you get to pay, you will also no longer be able to deduct medical expenses on your itemized tax return unless your medical expenses are over 10% of your taxable income.
14. A $2.3 billion fee will be charged ANNUALLY to pharmaceutical companies. If you think your prescriptions are expensive now, you just wait!

BOOK REVIEW: "Possibilities"

Possibilities

By Debra White Smith

Copyright 2006

Harvest House Publishers

Adult Fiction

4 Bookmarks

I think I may have found a new favorite "current" author. Debra White Smith takes the stories of Jane Austen and transforms them into modern times.

In "Possibilities", the author takes the story "Persuasion", and gives it new life. We meet Allie, an heiress to a fortune who falls in love with the gardener, but cannot be with him because of their differences in class. After a traumatic breakup and years gone by, the two are reunited through happenstance, but both are hesitant to go down that path again.

Although, I will admit, I adore the very British tone of a good Jane Austen novel, I will say that I loved how the author took the "meat" of the Jane Austen novel and put it into a modern setting with modern language and modern characters. Nothing like a good love triangle to make a good story great! Smith's Frederick comes on the scene just as heroic and tragic as Jane Austin's Frederick. And Allie is every bit as externally-strong and internally lovelorn as Anne Elliot. The tension in the book was great.

I plan on reading Smith's other Austen-esque novels and will report here as I make my way through them!

BOOK REVIEW: "Growing Up on the Edge of the World"

Growing Up on the Edge of the World

By Phil Callaway
Copyright 1971

Harvest House Publishers

Adult Fiction

3 Bookmarks

Wow. Okay, so I started reading this book and it was kind of a page turner, so I kept turning the pages. Then, when I was fully four chapters into the book, I made a startling realization. I have read this book before! This phenomenon is called "deja lu'", apparently, and is not all that uncommon. The shocking thing, I suppose is that I was fully four chapters in before I remembered that I'd read it before. And worse, I couldn't remember how it ended! So guess what? I had to read it again (it was, after all, still a page turner).

So other than the fact that it was obviously not memorable enough for me to remember it the first time (even though it really does have a unique cover...), it actually was a decent book!

This story revolves around young Terry Anderson and a shocking discover that he makes. Should he keep it? Should he tell someone? Not knowing what to do with his new-found secret, we watch Terry go through all of his options and wonder what choice he will make. The line in the book, "You're not much good until you find out how bad you are," tells you that Terry does make some "wrong" choices through the process. He learns some tough lessons and you wonder what could possibly happen next.

I really liked the way the author portrayed Terry and his siblings. They felt like a real family. I especially loved the scenes where they are staying awake in bed one night while an older brother pretends to host a call-in radio show. Funny stuff.

So even though I did forget I had read the book before, I really do recommend it. It's kind of a mystery, and kind of a "story" story, with a little bit of "coming-of-age" tucked into it as well.

BOOK REVIEW: "A Sound Like Thunder"

A Sound Like Thunder
By Sonny Brewer
Copyright 2006
Ballantine Books
Adult Fiction
3 Bookmarks

While I didn't understand the title until nearly the end of the book, I will say that "A Sound Like Thunder" was an enjoyable coming-of-age read! In a small fishing town in the early 1940s, we meet Rove MacNee. Named for a drowned pet dog, Rove's life starts out conspicuously. Rove grows up with a tough father, an unhappy mother, and a grandmother who adores him; not unlike a lot of the rest of us out there.

Much of the story is told in the first person by a much older Rove MacNee. How he dealt with the pitfalls of teenagerhood, the realities of watching his parent's marriage holding together by a thread, and dealing with such issues as death and first loves. This story is a memoir of Rove's view of life and the events that he experienced. It is a "story" story, written for the sheer purpose of telling the tale.

The author's use of the older voice and the younger voice of Rove to relate certain incidents was interesting. The description of the sailing and the fishing were eye-opening to a "land-lubber" like me. There was one scene in particular where the narrator describes what it feels like to toss a perfect throw of a fishing net; the exhilaration he felt, the pride in his eyes after seeing the net sink into the gulf. I could really feel the passion felt by Rove in that one, perfect moment.

The story moved quickly, even though it was long. There were even a few "can't put it down" moments. It was not off-the-charts, but it was a good read.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Back Nine"

The Back Nine
By Billy Mott
Copyright 2007
Publisher Alfred A. Knopf
(div. of Random House)
Adult Fiction
3 Bookmarks

"The Back Nine" by Billy Mott was an interesting take on the old washed-up sports hero story. Meet Charlie McLeod, fleeing from an unknown something in his past. Charlie lands at an out of the way members-only golf course near San Francisco and falls into a job working as a caddie, something of which he is very familiar. As the story develops, we learn that Charlie is a former child prodigy of the golf game. Something terrible happened to him and he lost his ability to play.

But a miracle is about to occur. Charlie is about to pick up a golf club of his own again. And when he does, he is overcome by the pull of the game. The hunger for success. The drive to beat himself on the greens. While Charlie is finding his way back to the fairways, he catches the eyes of all the players and caddies around him. Particularly one player and one caddie who then attempt to exploit Charlie's long lost talent.

Charlie's character is dark and troubled, and the author does a good job of leading us to discover the reason for Charlie's anguish. Through the course of the story, Charlie goes through some highs and lows and even finds love. But throughout, the thread of the power of the game of golf carries on. Charlie is drawn to it.

If you're a golf fan, you will more appreciate the subtleties of the storyline. The detailed descriptions of the courses; the grass, the pin placement, the lie of the ball. The subterfuge was actually almost a minor sideline to the main theme of the story, which was Charlie getting past his past. It was interesting, and it ended on the happy note that I always prefer. All in all, a decent read.

BOOK REVIEW: "Austenland"

Austenland
By Shannon Hale
Copyright 2007
Bloomsbury USA
Adult Fiction
3.5 Bookmarks

Okay, pretty much anyone who knows me knows that I love anything and everything Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice--one of my favorite books and movies. I remember dragging hubby and a male friend to go see "Sense and Sensibility", the movie, when it came out in theaters years ago--an event hubby STILL complains about to this day (it was payback for being dragged to go see "I Know What You Did Last Summer"--I hate scary movies, even if they're the fakey kind of scary).

So I find this book at the library about a woman who also loves anything and everything Jane Austen, and of course I can relate, so I check it out. The character in the book, Jane Hayes, has a secret obsession with Mr. Darcy (and I can totally understand why). She seems to compare all the men in her life with him. And it's ruining her dating world. No one can measure up to the steamy, sultry, tempestuous Mr. Darcy.

A distant relative discovers Jane's secret obsession and bequeaths a trip to "Austenland" to Jane in her will. Jane travels to England and to a world she has previously only known in books. Taking in the experience of living in this historical fiction world, Jane faces some interesting challenges, men who are acting the part of her regency dreamboat (or are they acting?), etiquette rules she has only read about, and love triangles like no other. In the process, Jane discovers a few things about herself.

I have often thought I was born in the wrong century, and this novel let's the reader play along with Jane Hayes and act out what it would be like to have been born into Jane Austen's world.
The author, Shannon Hale, creates a fun story that can be appreciated by any Jane Austen fan. The story was lighthearted, and maybe a little bit too predictable at the end, but it was still an enjoyable read!

BOOK REVIEW: "The Garden of Eden"

The Garden of Eden

By Ernest Hemingway

Copyright 1986

Scribner Publishing

Classic Literature

3 Bookmarks

Ernest Hemingway, author of the classics "A Moveable Feast," "The Old Man and the Sea", and "A Farewell to Arms," among others, penned a number of novels he never quite completed. After his death, some of these unfinished works were published by members of his family. And so we arrive at "The Garden of Eden".

Ahhhh...young love. David and Catherine are newlyweds, honeymooning at a beach resort while David works on a new novel that he's been writing. His last novel has received positive reviews and things are looking up for David on a professional level. On a personal level, the couple's days are filled with leisure and lovemaking. Life is good.

But one day, something changes. It starts as a small, erotic journey David is led on by Catherine. But it soon turns dark and sinister. Catherine becomes someone that David doesn't know. He accepts the change with hesitation, as what else is there to do? But then when the darkness spirals into something even more erotically dangerous, David finds himself unable to control the world around him, not even the novel that is finding it's way onto the pages of his notebook.

A good author is able to challenge the reader to open their minds and look at life through a different set of eyes. Hemingway succeeds, but at a price. Although the novel was never completed, the story does have an ending, just not one the reader might have hoped for. If you're looking for a book to give you warm, fuzzy feelings after reading it, this is not the book for you. But it does make you think.

BOOK REVIEW: "Dear John"

Dear John

By Nicholas Sparks

Copyright 2006

Warner Books

Adult Fiction

4 Bookmarks

I've read some good books lately and this is definitely one of them. By the author of "The Notebook", this is another tale of love and sadness that pulls you in and rips your heart out (I love a good book like that!)

In this story, John Tyree leaves home after high school, an angry teenager who doesn't understand his father, and really doesn't even understand himself. John joins the Army and comes home only rarely to visit. It is during one of these visits that John meets Savannah. She is everything that John is not. She is soft and gentle where he is rough and rugged. She is religious and committed where he is floundering. But somehow, they fall in love. Through short visits and long letters, their love grows.

But things happen, as they always do, to interrupt a good love story, and this one is no different. Will John and Savannah be able to overcome the odds and get over the obstacles that come their way? Will they be able to face the logistical challenges of their relationship? Is love strong enough? I'm not going to be a spoiler on this one....you'll have to read it for yourself to find out.

I always enjoy a good Sparks novel. They are easy, quick reads; but they are always stories you just don't want to put down. I recommend this one!

BOOK REVIEW: "Candles on Bay Street"

Candles on Bay Street
by K. C. McKinon
Copyright 1999
Doubleday Publishing
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks
(spoiler alert!)

Alright, so really, I generally don't like books that make me cry. Especially ones that make me cry because someone is affected by cancer. But this book is an exception (I realize I just gave a big part of the book away, but maybe you're like me and have been personally touched in an excruciating way by cancer and like to avoid the reminders).

If I had known that cancer would be a part of this book, I probably wouldn't have read it, which would have truly been a shame. "Candles on Bay Street" is set in small-town Fort Kent, Maine, where veterinarian Sam Thibodeau is faced with some very tough choices when his childhood friend and lifelong crush, Dee Dee Michaud, returns to town after a very long absence. Both of their lives have changed dramatically (he is married, and she has a child), but the friendship is still there. Soon after Dee Dee starts up a candle-making business and begins to create a community for herself, Sam starts to notice something is wrong. Dee Dee is sick and getting sicker.

The story progresses from there and you will have to read the book to find out how it ends, but I do want to share my commentary on the way this book is written. The author pulled me in to Fort Kent and made me feel it was my own small town growing up. The people were so real. The incidents that were occuring in their daily lives were real. The writing was real and McKinnon's words conveyed the beauty of the setting with ease.

I felt each characters' joy and pain at various different points in the book. At several points in the book, I did weep like a baby. In part, because it brought up so many memories of my mother's own battle with cancer that she lost in 1995. But also, in part because I truly felt the character's emotions as written by the author.

I would definitely recommend this book, especially for someone who likes a good tear-jerker.

COMMENTARY: "Away So Long....."

No, I did not fall off the face of the earth. No, I did not contract some terminal disease and die. No, I did not "quit" my blog. But I did start school. College, to be more precise. So here I am, working, going to school, being a mom, being a wife, running a household.....no wonder I haven't had any time to post anything! I have been reading (when I can) and have read some good books. I'll get the reviews on here as soon as I can, but I just wanted to take a moment to.....what....vent, maybe?

I knew it was going to be tough going back to school after nearly 15 years. I knew it was going to be taxing on my personal life, a challenge as relates to my work life, and generally-speaking, I did know things were going to be different. But I just didn't realize how much it was going to take out of me. I'm not 18 anymore (duh!) and these long hours are tough! I'm finally finding ways to manage my time more efficiently, but there are certain things that are definitely not getting as much attention as they used to (housework being number one on that list *sigh*).

I love school, though. I love that I'm back in school. It feels so good to be learning again. My number one goal in life was always to graduate from college. It may not seem like a big deal, especially now that I'm pretty well established in a career and probably won't be changing that, but it is a big deal. Neither of my parents, nor any of my siblings, graduated from college (most didn't even attend any college). My sister, Emily, however, has been a huge inspiration for me on this whole back-to-school thing. She is in nursing school (and working and being a mom herself) and she is doing awesome! She will be graduating long before I will and I'm so proud of her. But when she started, I kind of started looking at my own life and said, "if she can do it, so can I." And so here I am, starting back in college and doing what I always promised myself I would do.

My first two classes are Intermediate Algebra (a class I have already taken and HATE that I have to be taking again....*sigh*) and Geography, which is, in actuality, not really a geography class so much as a liberal geo-political commentary on the world. I chuckle and shake my head in this class on a frequent basis. But the thing that makes me chuckle the most at school are the "kids" I'm in class with. Especially the "guy" who comes to class in bare feet (because he "doesn't like shoes") and the kid who listens to his ipod so loudly during class that I can hear all the lyrics two rows away (seriously, when did that become acceptable in the classroom?) So I have fun with the people-watching as much as anything else.

It's good to be learning, though. It's good to be exercising those brain-muscles that have been atrophying for so long. It's good to be doing this thing!

BOOK REVIEW: "Caspian Rain"

Caspian Rain
By Gina B. Nahai
Copyright 2007
Macadam Cage Publisher
Adult Fiction
5 Bookmarks
Exceptional!

Let me just start out by saying this is the best book I have read so far this year. Caspian Rain begins by painting a picture of a young schoolgirl walking along the streets “in a city with blue mountains”, dreaming of better luck and a better life, “once upon a time in a land of miracles”.

In reality, the girl is an Iranian Jew, trapped in a land of class warfare, in a world where she exists at the bottom of the totem pole. But when her “miracle” appears and offers to pull her up out of the ghettos of her childhood, she thinks her luck has finally come. To the contrary, though, this turn of events ends up turning her world upside-down.

Caspian Rain is narrated by Yaas, the daughter of this unfortunate schoolgirl. Yaas takes us through the ups and downs of being a Jew in a land where Islam rules, a world where parents can prevent the divorce of their adult children, where extra-marital affairs are accepted and almost expected, where women have no rights, no rule, and no life of their own.

The author introduces us to such diverse characters as Chamedooni, a snake-oil salesman with a proclivity for cutting the hair off of girls in the morgue; the “ghost brother”, who rides his bike silently on the streets, ever searching for his path to heaven; and Niyaz, the high-class harlot who threatens them all. All these characters step in and out of the lives of Yaas and her parents as they struggle to accept their lot in life, and fight to create an illusion of being better than what they were born to be. The tragedy is that, in the end, no one can fool the world enough that it will ignore your fate.

I felt such a sense of sorrow for the characters in this tale; being so helpless to create a better world for themselves, and yet always always holding out hope that things will get better. The world we see in Caspian Rain is painful; a simple and beautifully tragic story to give us all a reason to appreciate what we have been given in our own lives. Exceptional!

BOOK REVIEW: "the watermark"

The Watermark
By Travis Thrasher
Copyright 2001
Tyndale House Publishers, inc.
Adult Fiction
2 Bookmarks

I finished reading The Watermark over a week ago, but I have been torn about how to write this review. There is a part of me that liked the book. It had a certain sense of “can’t-put-it-down”ness. The characters were interestingly drawn. And the feeling of not being entirely sure what was going on kept me on the edge of my seat for a time.

But once I figured out what the real story was, it sort of felt….well, wrong.

Sheridan Blake (cool character name, by the way) is 28 and returning to college. For several pages of the book, you don’t know why he was absent so long. But the reader eventually learns that Sheridan has done something bad. Very bad. And not only that, but he got away with it.

Sheridan is torn up from his guilt and remorse, or at least he is supposed to be. In reality, it seems he is just trying to forget his past and ignore its importance in his life. Fairly early on in the book (and periodically throughout the remainder), the author points the story in the “if only he could look to god for forgiveness” direction. It seemed to me that these gratuitous pleas for Sheridan’s soul were thrown quite haphazardly into the book. They almost seemed like a weird sidenote.

Toward the end of the book, the plot started to become quite predictable and cliché, which was disappointing. Some of the choices the characters made seemed very out of character. And I really wasn’t sorry when the book ended. And that’s all I have to say about that.

BOOK REVIEW: "Train Man"

Train Man
By Hitori Nakano
Copyright 2004
Del Rey Books
Adult Fiction
3 Bookmarks

Before there was Facebook, there were chat rooms. Before chat rooms, there were bulletin boards. And in “Train Man”, by Hitori Nakano, a love story unfolds before the reader's eyes on the pages of an innocent bulletin board “thread”.

Tren, a self-professed computer geek, has found himself in a quandary. Riding on the train to work one day, he witnesses a group of women being accosted by a drunken geezer. Tren does something completely out of character for himself; he comes to the rescue and saves the women from what he presumes is an assault waiting to happen. But when one of the women (a young, attractive one at that), sends a thank you gift to Tren, he hardly knows how to react. So he turns to his virtual “friends” on the bulletin board and asks for their help.

This entire book is written as a routine bulletin board “thread”; each post dated and timed from each individual user. Tren takes the advice of the other computer geeks on the thread and calls the girl to thank her for the thank you gift. The relationship progresses from there with the computer geeks giving Tren (a very inexperienced young geek) advice at every turn. What unfolds is a beautiful love story filled with sophistication from the young woman, and innocence and geeky-ness (two of my favorite male qualities! ;-) from the young man.

The writing style of the bulletin board was very clever, I thought. The book was originally written in Japanese and translated into English two years later. A fun book and a quick read.

COMMENTARY: Here Comes The Rain Again...

We are a little spoiled in Colorado Springs with our average of 300 days of sunshine per year. This year has been tough on us with day after day of clouds and rain. Our lawns our happy, and so are our water bills, but are we?

If I go too long without the sun, I start to feel groggy and depressed. The sun is a lifeline to…well…life, if you will. The bright sunshine in the morning helps us wake up. The warmth of the sun gives us comfort and a sense of fullness. The constant motion of the sun in the sky helps us track our progress for the day. The shadows tell us it’s time to hurry up because the end of the day is drawing near.

But when the clouds roll in and just stay and stay and stay, everything feels a little…off. It’s more difficult to get out of bed in the morning. It’s impossible to know what time it is without referring to some kind of electronic device. There’s no sense of movement or warmth.

How do the people of Seattle survive with their average 43 days of sunshine per year? I don’t know. Really. I don’t have a clue. I went to Seattle once. I was there for five days; no sunshine at all for five days. I was unbelievably ready to leave by the end of those very long five days (let me make myself clear….I was actually ready to leave BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY at that point).

There is a mood disorder called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), related to the changing of seasons. People who have been diagnosed with this disorder become depressed most commonly during the winter (in fact, many people know the disorder by the name “winter blues”) and occasionally during other seasons of the year. Believe me, I can relate! There is something to be said for the healing power of the sun.

And yeah, I am grateful we are not in a drought and I am grateful my garden is getting lots of water; but really, can’t the sun just come out and play for awhile?

BOOK REVIEW: "The Pastures of Heaven"

The Pastures of Heaven
John Steinbeck
Copyright 1932
Robert O. Ballou, Inc.
Classic Literature
4 Bookmarks

Take a voyeuristic look at Las Pasturas del Cielo, The Pastures of Heaven, with author John Steinbeck and you will be welcomed into a world of fate, longing, disappointment, and resignation. This collection of interconnected short stories tells of the lives of the inhabitants of a secluded valley near Salinas, California. Each tale draws the reader closer and closer in to the core meaning of the name of this enchanted place.

This lonely collection of farmhouses and cabins is a final resting place for the hopes and dreams of three generations. From the single farmer who finds an abandoned baby on the side of the road, to the new school teacher fresh from the city, each character is portrayed in stunning detail. Their ambitions are all different, but the end result of each story ties them all together.

One of my favorite stories in the book revolves around the Whiteside family. A man who has decided to create a legacy, purchases land and builds an estate. He envisions the home being filled with children and imagines the home passing from generation to generation so that he can live on forever. This man and his wife, unfortunately, are able to have only one child. While this saddens them greatly, they direct their son, when he becomes an adult, to carry on their wishes. The son is very much like his parents, and he too wants to continue on this legacy. That son, however, is also only able to have one child, and when that child decides he doesn’t want to stay in the valley, the only reasonable conclusion to the story results.

There is such variety and eccentricity in the characters of this masterpiece; from the prostitutes who ask forgiveness each day from their statue of the Virgin Mary, to the chicken farmer who thinks nothing of visiting his friend (the warden of the prison) and witnessing executions, to the man named “Shark” who leads everyone to believe he is the possessor of great wealth, when in reality, he is as poor and destitute as his neighbors.

I truly enjoyed this book. It is one of the better “classics” that I’ve read and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to expand their literary horizons.

BOOK REVIEW: "On Chesil Beach"

On Chesil Beach
By Ian McEwan
Copyright 2007
Doubleday
Adult Fiction
2.5 Bookmarks

Imagine, if you will, a man and a woman on their wedding night. Now, although it may be hard to imagine for those of you out there who aren’t Mormon, try to imagine what it would be like if that wedding night were your FIRST night together. And so begins the story of Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan.

It is 1962. Florence and Edward are in love and this is their wedding day. McEwan guides the reader through the emotions of each of the characters in turn. Edward, who has waited for this moment since the first day he laid eyes on beautiful Florence. In fact, it is for this moment that he has waited his whole life. And then there is Florence. Florence, who is filled with fear and dread and disgust. Florence who acknowledges her obligation and tries as hard as she might to swallow the bile that seems to creep up her throat whenever she even thinks about what is to occur after the wedding ceremony.

The happy couple sit in their honeymoon suite at a hotel on Chesil Beach and slowly pretend to eat their wedding dinner. Small talk is the order of the day. Edward contemplating how he might begin the…ahem….proceedings. Florence contemplating how she might avoid them.

The author flashes back through the couple’s courtship; from the moment they first meet, through every moment that Edward attempts a physical advance toward Florence, through every moment that Florence grants Edward a token reward for his efforts. By the time their wedding day has arrived, they really are nowhere near the level of intimacy one would normally assume in this situation. It is a recipe for disaster.

The characters of this book were quite intoxicating. Each manages to be narcissistic and eager-to-please at turn. The alternating selflessness and selfishness of each of them clearly demonstrate that neither character really knows who they are. If this book weren’t so well-written, I would tell you to avoid it merely to avoid the horribly sad and depressing ending. But McEwan’s storytelling ability is quite thought-out and it is, generally speaking, worth the read just for the quality of that.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Good Life"

The Good Life
By Erin McGraw
Copyright 2004
Houghton Mifflin Co
Short Story Collection
2 Bookmarks

Hmmm…I’m really not even sure what to say about this book. Normally, I really like short stories. They are usually detailed, and yet pithy, and then have a dramatic surprise at the end. This collection of short stories fell short of my expectations by quite a bit.

As the title of the book indicates, these stories are about “life”. However, I really felt like instead of the “good” life, the stories were more about people who are trapped in a life they don’t really want.

I think that my favorite was a story called “A Whole New Man”, about a man named Frederick who is somehow talked into going on a makeover show with his wife. The author describes Frederick’s lack of opinion on the issue in such an amusing way. And then when Frederick actually gets his makeover and he must deal with the feelings he experiences as a result, I did feel quite a bit of empathy for him (me who HATES to get my hair cut and feels a sense of loss for days and days whenever I can no longer avoid it).

In reading other stories, I think I just totally missed the point. I would get to the end of a story (which usually wasn’t an “end” at all), and wonder exactly why the author had written it in the first place. Some of the characters were oddly….well, odd. Like the woman who falls in love with her priest. Or the young girl who is sent to live with a woman her mother admires but whom she’s never met. Or the recovering addict who finds peace from her mother by attending early morning mass. Some of the concepts to the stories were interesting, but they really fizzled in the end.

There were a few good moments in the book, but not enough to justify the time I spent reading it.

REAL ESTATE: New Carbon Monoxide Detector Law

Starting on July 1st, 2009, real estate law in Colorado is changing. The new law taking effect requires all Home Sellers and Landlords to have Carbon Monoxide (CO) Detectors installed within 15 feet of any bedroom or sleeping area if the home has a gas-fired heating source, appliance, fireplace or an attached garage. There is a link to the actual State House Bill 1091 below. The alarms are available for purchase at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, etc., and can cost anywhere from$15 to $50. The goal, obviously, is to keep the population of Colorado safer by ensuring that (eventually) all homes will have CO detectors installed.

The law comes a little too late for one local family. In December 2008, the Murphy family, who had recently moved into a rental home in Manitou Springs, became ill with what they thought was the flu. They stayed home and rested, but when Joel Murphy awoke one morning to discover he couldn't walk, he called 911. He saved his own life and the life of his 2-year-old son, but tragically, Joel's wife Kelly was already dead.

Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches, dizziness and nausea. The gas is produced by fuel that is incompletely burned, from fireplaces, furnaces, or even barbecue grills. This new law will help prevent senseless tragedies like the tragedy suffered by the Murphy family in Manitou Springs.

You can read the law and some general information below:

Carbon Monoxide Bill Signed into Law: Colorado's Governor Bill Ritter signed HB 1091 into law recently. The new law will cover all new residential construction and existing single-family and multi-family housing units offered for sale, transfer or rent. Beginning July 1, 2009, a seller or landlord of residential real property containing a fuel-fired heater or appliance, a fireplace, or an attached garage will be responsible for assuring that a carbon monoxide alarm is properly installed within 15 feet of the entrance to each room lawfully used for sleeping prior to the sale or lease of the property. No person shall have a claim for relief against a property owner or their authorized agent if a carbon monoxide alarm is installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s published instructions.

POEM: "Us" by Andrea Rowley

US

I saw it in your eyes
The day we met
I knew you knew
For I knew, too

Perhaps it was your smile
Or the way you held my glance
Or maybe it was nothing
But a comfortable realization

So natural
So synchronized
Each day is a year
Each moment, an eternity

Nothing breaking
Ever together
Hand in hand
Walking towards forever

By Andrea Rowley, for my dear husband Justin.

14 years ago today we met,
and each day we get to begin

the rest of our lives together. With love...

(print by Alfred Gockel, one of my favorite artists....)

BOOK REVIEW: "How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life"

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life
By Mameve Medwed
Copyright 2006
HarperCollins Publishing
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

Okay, so I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for a good chamber pot story. How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life is a well-written novel about Abby Randolph, a “professional” antiques dealer, who doesn’t always seem so professional. Especially when she stumbles upon a chamber pot with some unique features. She doesn’t think much of it herself, but when a colleague urges her to take it on Antiques Roadshow, she is surprised to learn of the pot’s origins.

Wait a minute. Let me back up. Really, this isn’t a story about a chamber pot at all. Really it’s about how sometimes life IS a chamber pot that we may find ourselves wallowing in. And somehow, we have to find a way to crawl out of it. This book is about the main character doing just that.

Abby has just broken up with her boyfriend Clyde, a man she somehow always knew wasn’t really her soulmate, even though he seemed to fit into her life okay. She is pining away, but not really for him; more for the idea of togetherness. A part of Abby is also pining away for Ned, her childhood crush, and someone more suited to meet the needs of her soul. Unfortunately, Ned has done something totally idiotic that Abby simply cannot forgive.

So through these relationship ups and down, through her visits to flea markets and tag sales, through her antique discoveries, through a lawsuit mired in bitter selfishness, Abby Randolph slowly but surely climbs her way out of that chamber pot. It is a fun journey.

Definitely more geared for the female crowd, but I would recommend this book if you’d like a lighthearted read, if you are an amateur antiquarian, or if the Cambridge area is of interest to you. Lots of historical and geographic references, not to mention a fun title, and just plain readable!

BOOK REVIEW: "Bitter Milk"

Bitter Milk
By John McManus
Copyright 2005
Picador Publishing
Adult Fiction
1 ½ Bookmarks

Weird, weird, weird. This entire book is written from the perspective of an invisible friend (or maybe it’s a dead twin, or a multiple personality…it’s never really clear which one it is), which was kind of interesting. But the flow of the book really bothered me. It’s written as sort of a stream of consciousness exercise. No breaks in the story at all (read “no chapters”!) And the dialogue is not offset with quotation marks, which was really odd to me at first, but since it’s the invisible friend relaying the entire story including who said what, I suppose that explains why.

This is a story about Loren, a young boy facing some very interesting issues in his everyday life. His mother wishes she were a man, he is very overweight due to the fact that for 11 years he’s been feeding his insecurities with the world (not helped by the narrator of the book, Luther, who is constantly demeaning and belittling Loren), and he doesn’t know what is wrong with his mother. Loren doesn’t fit in at school and he doesn’t fit in with his eclectic (at best) extended family. When his grandmother dies and then his mother disappears without a word, Loren is forced to find his way on his own for the first time in his life.

The best part about the book was watching Loren transform into a person of substance. He decides to do something about his weight. He decides to ignore Luther’s rumblings in his brain. He goes on his own looking for his mother. He decides to choose who he will associate with in his very, very messed-up family. You almost had to like the kid for a few pages there. Set in the backwards hills of East Tennessee, this book is a glimpse at what lack of education could do to a person.

The worst part about this book was that it really had no point. In the end I asked myself “why in the world did I just read this?” I hate it when that happens.

BOOK REVIEW: "Madame Mirabou's School of Love"

Madame Mirabou’s School of Love
By Barbara Samuel
Ballantine Books
Copyright 2006
Adult Fiction
4.5 Bookmarks

What a fun book! Particularly fun because it is set in Colorado Springs so I know all the little nooks and crannies that are mentioned. This is a story about a recent divorcee who is trying to discover what she wants to be when she grows up. It is a story of rediscovering how to love someone else, as well as discovering how to love yourself.

The story starts out with Nicole trying to come to grips with the fact that she has just accidentally blown up her house and now has to find another place to live. Nicole finds comfort in smells, her “Scents of Hours” as she calls them (by the way, I think that would have been a much more appropriate title for the book); perfumes that she concocts related to certain experiences in her life. Some of the perfumes she creates are “Winter Suppers”, “The Apartment on Academy”, “Picnic in Cheyenne Canyon” and “The Man at the Bar”.

The book gracefully walks the reader through Nicole’s trials of living on her own, missing her daughter (who is living with her ex-husband), meeting new people, finding work, and finding meaning in her life. The story flows from page to page, occasionally interspersed with Nicole’s wonderful perfume journal entries that bring to mind scents of my own past.

I really enjoyed the story and didn’t want to put the book down. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a pleasant read.

BOOK REVIEW: "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity"

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity
By Bill O’Reilly
Copyright 2008
Broadway Books
Autobiography
4 Bookmarks

Well, I will say that this book was a little surprising. Most people either love Bill O’Reilly or they hate him. And to be honest, I hadn’t really formed a solid opinion before reading his book. On his television show, I have always found him blunt and opinionated (not necessarily bad things in my book). And I have always appreciated his verbosity. I am a lover of words myself, so his “word of the day” always hits a soft spot for me.

I suppose I expected this book to be a political commentary, but it really wasn’t. It was an autobiography of O’Reilly’s upbringing and early experiences that shaped his opinions and made him the person that he is today. He sums up his early childhood by saying, “Life was simple: You want it—make it happen. Somebody bothers you; deal with it.” Could life really be that simple? O’Reilly spends a lot of time lauding the virtues of lifelong friends and detailing various exploits. He spent his formative years in various Catholic schools, and after reading this book I can definitely see how his religious background comes into play with his political alignments.

I found this book quite interesting, actually. Reading about the childhood of someone who was raised so vastly differently from me is always intriguing, but when reading about it in the context of the public persona of the adult Bill O’Reilly, it was quite eye-opening.

I don’t agree with O’Reilly on all his political opinions, but after reading this book, I do feel that even though he is a brash and straight-shooting individual, he comes at it with heart and soul. And that he is one of those people who means what he says and says what he means.

There were some very lighthearted parts of the book. My favorite, I think, being the chapter called “Mysteries of the Universe” where O’Reilly details items of pop culture that he just never “got”. Items such as the movie Love Story, rap star “Snoop Dog”, and the disappointing series finales of Seinfeld and The Sopranos. I found his pithy commentary on these cultural icons to be highly entertaining.

There was definitely a somewhat conservative overtone to the book, mostly due to the religious nature of O’Reilly’s upbringing, but other than that, the political commentary was very minimal. I thought it was a pretty good “story of my life” book and would recommend it to anyone who is willing to sit through “The O’Reilly Factor” on FoxNews.

COMMENTARY: Regret

I find “regret” to be fascinating. We, as members of the human race, all seem to view regret differently. I know people who wallow in sadness over past regrets. These are the people that cannot forgive themselves for choices that they’ve made and are constantly bringing up things from the past that cannot be changed. These tend, in my opinion, to be the pessimists of the world who don’t think the future is very bright. They spend so much time reliving past miseries that it is difficult to imagine anything better.

And then, at the opposite end of the spectrum, are the folks who proudly boast that they “don’t believe in regret”. What does that mean, anyway? I actually know several people who say this, and it is something I don’t fully understand (which, I suppose, is why I find it so fascinating).

What does it mean to “believe” in regret? Does that mean that you must solely focus on the things you’ve done (or not done) and let it hold you back? Or does it mean that you acknowledge those poor choices, learn from them, and try to do better the next time around?

Personally, I’m a follower of the second train of thought. I think if a person ignores regret, they are missing an opportunity for growth. And that’s not to say that I don’t think people ought to move forward, because obviously I do. But I think if we look at a choice that’s been made as something that really doesn’t matter, then we are being wasteful of a gift we’ve been given.

Regret can mean a lot of different things, really; contrition, disappointment, penitence, grief, remorse, etc. But really, it’s all about doing something or not doing something that affected your life (or someone else’s life) in a negative way. It’s been said that when you die, you will have more regret for the things you’ve not done than for the things you’ve done. I suppose I’ll have to wait until my deathbed to test that theory.

We’ve all been faced with a crossroad in life; that one decision that veered you to the left or right. You know, in your heart of hearts, that if you’d made a different choice at that pivotal moment, your life would be vastly different than it is today. Some people may regret that choice, some people may be oblivious to the fact that they even had a choice, and some people will be satisfied with the choice that they made. And sometimes the choice we’re faced with cannot have a perfect outcome; for instance, when you must choose from the lesser of two evils, as the saying goes. In that instance, regret must also come with a healthy dose of resignation.

Probably my biggest regret in life is not finishing college (*gulp* it’s hard to admit that publicly). But I was faced with one of those lesser of two evils choices years ago. Either give up college (for the time being), or move four states away from the man who is now my husband. I know it is a little cliché, but it is what it is. I’ve often said over the years that I would go back to college and “fix” that little regret, and I do regret that I haven’t done it yet. But, to be honest, I’m glad I have that regret, because I feel it there constantly niggling in the back of my mind and I KNOW that someday that regret is going to push me enough to actually do it. I feel as though if I were the kind of person who didn’t “believe” in regret, college would be the furthest thing from my mind. And that would be a shame, really.

I will admit that there are some regrets that are difficult to bear. The night my mother died, I forgot to tell her “goodnight” and “I love you” before I went to bed. In my memory, before that night I had religiously hugged her and told her goodnight and I love you every night previous to that. The regret that I was wrapped up in my own existence that particular day and forgot to say those precious words stays with me and reminds me often to tell my husband and daughter that I love them. And what if I didn’t have that regret? Would those words mean less to me? I think they would.

And what of the words that have been spoken that have caused people to cut themselves off from my life (another terrible thing to have to admit)? Do I regret those words? Well, I certainly regret the outcome, but again it is one of those lesser of two evils things. Do I say something that I feel absolutely must be said even though the consequence may be the end of a relationship? Or do I not say anything and wait for disaster to strike and be one of the people who stand around shaking their heads and saying, “I knew I should have said something,” or “I knew I should have done something”? A difficult choice to make and a regret that cannot be avoided no matter the way you go. As sad as the outcome is, I do not regret the words because they needed to be said and I can only hope that they were heard.

I will admit that there have been moments in my life when I have gotten wrapped up in regret and that sometimes it has been difficult to take a step back and look at things from an outside perspective. And, to be honest, I feel like those are instances where my regrets have held me back. By focusing too much emotional energy on something that is unchangeable, I allowed myself to stagnate for certain periods of time when I could have been moving forward and growing. And yes, I will ruefully admit that I identify more with the folks wallowing in their regret than the ones who don’t “believe”. But at the same time, I do acknowledge the damaging results that regret can cause if you don’t allow yourself the opportunity to learn and step past the regret. And the reality is that if I hadn’t gone through those difficult points in my life, I would not be the person that I am today.

On the flipside, it is a little ironic that sometimes there are things in life that you think you’ll regret and then you do them and you realize you don’t regret them at all. It’s all part of that growth. And I think it goes back to the idea that in life you will regret the things you haven’t done more than the things you have.

And I will say this: I don’t regret that I have regrets. I’m grateful to have learned from the mistakes I have made and feel I can move forward and be a better person for them.

So my question to you is: Do you believe in regret?

BOOK REVIEW: "The Everything Parent's Guide to Raising a Successful Child"

The Everything Parent’s Guide to Raising a Successful Child
By Denise D. Witmer
Copyright 2004
Adams Media Publishing
Self-Help
3 Bookmarks

Well, I have to say that it is kind of a difficult thing reviewing a book about parenting. Everyone has such different ideas about what makes a good parent. There were some really good suggestions in this book, but there were also some parts of the book where the author tells you what you need to do, but not really HOW to do it, which was a little frustrating.

One thing I liked about the book is that in each category, the suggestions are broken down by age group. One of the sections of the book deals with organizational skills in children. I followed one of the suggestions of this section and wrote lists for my daughter breaking down some her chores and routines to manageable tasks. It used to be very difficult getting her to clean her room, but we sat down together and wrote a list of all the different parts of cleaning her room (i.e., making her bed, putting stuffed animals on the top bunk, putting all the Littlest Pet Shop toys in their bin, putting all dirty clothes in the laundry basket, etc.), and now when she cleans her room, she can do each task one at a time without getting overwhelmed.

I definitely agreed with the section of the book that talked about modeling behavior for your children. The old “do as I say, not as I do,” does not ever work, which is why I have a huge pet peeve with parents who smoke or use foul language around their children. If children hear you say something inappropriate, you can be certain they will repeat it at the MOST inopportune time (and nobody likes a potty-mouthed kid). I also think it is important for parents to protect their children from being exposed to other people who speak inappropriately or do inappropriate activities around children.

One of the sections I had mixed feelings about was the section on Discipline. Basically, this section says to use Time Outs, Privileges/Rewards, and Natural/Logical Consequences over all other forms of discipline. I don’t know about you, but pretty much none of these work for my kid. When she was younger, the Time Out worked somewhat, but now the only thing that really works is “The Lecture”. She dreads that pretty much over anything else (except maybe the threat of a spanking which, of course, the book categorically disapproves of). Now, I’m probably going to get all sorts of comments from folks who think spanking is the WORST thing a parent could ever do to their child, but they have probably not been faced with a child who doesn’t care if every belonging she has is taken away, who doesn’t care if she’s not allowed to watch TV for a month, and who doesn’t care if she is forced to sit on the stairs for an hour. Sometimes, you just have to do what you have to do (by the way, before I had a child, I SWORE I would never spank….) Of course, it’s been eons since I’ve had to actually spank her—the threat apparently carries a huge amount of weight in a 7-year-old mind.

Anyway, enough about that. Some sections of the book that didn’t give enough information were the sections on forming good habits, practicing self-discipline and building your family’s strengths. None of these sections spelled out practical ways of accomplishing these tasks; it just said they were important.

But basically, I liked most of the suggestions the book had. I always want to know what I could be doing better as a parent. And finding better ways of doing things is always great.

Next up on the Parenting Book front? How to talk to your child about sex. Yikes. I don’t think I’m ready for that one quite yet.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch"

The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch
By Marsha Moyer
Copyright 2002
William Morrow/ HarperCollins Publishers
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

A woman who is not in love with her husband of 14 years (and never has been) is confronted by his death in a farming accident. Lucy Hatch must somehow move forward in this heart-filled tale of grief, love and new beginnings.

Moving back to her hometown after such a long time, Lucy must face her judgmental mother, deal with having no money, and finding out that she doesn’t really know who she is. She meets a man who she had known of in high school and finds herself falling in love for the first time. Everyone in town sets their tongues wagging at this little development, but Lucy takes it in stride. She takes a job at the local florist shop and starts getting her life back in order.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was lighthearted, and yet it dealt with some very real life issues. Who am I? What do I want out of life? Who do I want to be? I think we all deal with those questions at one time or another, and this book was an interesting look at how to process those feelings.

My favorite part of the book was when Lucy finally allows herself to grieve her husband’s death. Even though she didn’t love him, losing him was still losing a part of herself. Her anguish at making that realization brought me to tears.

BOOK REVIEW: Children's Books

I am proud of my kid. She is in the top reading group in her 1st grade class and she reads really, really well. I attribute this to the fact that I started reading to her when she was just a few days old and I’ve read to her every day since then. When she was young, it was a story before every nap and bedtime. Now, it’s about 20 minutes of chapter books before bedtime at night (in addition to the time she is required to read herself for homework).

Over the years, I’ve read some really good children’s books (and some not so good ones). So I thought I’d tell you about my favorites.

There are some great board books out there (intended for the infant to toddler set). One of the first board books anyone gave us for my daughter was the book “Silly Sally” (by Audrey Wood). This is a lovely book filled with deliciously sing-sing rhymes and an alliterative character (alliteration, by the way, is my favorite rhetorical device). The book chronicles how “Silly Sally went to town, walking backwards, upside down". The artwork is entertaining for even the smallest children and the story is lots of fun.

My favorite bedtime book from when my daughter was small is, “Time for Bed” (by Mem Fox). All I have to do is hear the words, “It’s time for bed, little mouse, little mouse. Darkness is falling all over the house”, and I get all nostalgic for those great snuggly moments we had together.

The book “Guess How Much I Love You” (by Sam McBratney) created a very fun tradition in our family. The book goes through a competition between Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare of how much they love each other. “I love you as high as I can reach,” says one. “I love you right up to the moon,” says another. And so now my daughter and I will occasionally start a little competition of our own. “I love you more than all the stars in the sky,” is definitely a favorite.

Once my daughter came more to the age of awareness of her surroundings, we moved on to books for the 2-5 crowd. There are lots of books in this age group that help to teach young children values and help to strengthen their character. One of my favorites is “Webster, the Scaredy Spider,” (by Max Lucado). The beautiful computer-generated photos, and the path to Webster learning to be brave through God’s help, are a very fun read.

Another favorite for this age group is “Olivia” (by Ian Falconer). This is a wonderful book about a little girl and the stresses of her day-to-day existence. What to wear, a trip to the beach, the confusing art at the art museum, her cat and her little brother, are discussed in such a childlike tone that it is easy for your child to relate. The illustrations in this book are simple, and yet enough. I love at the end when Olivia’s mother tells her, “You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway.” And Olivia says, “I love you anyway too.”

It was about this age that we discovered the “Little Critter” books, by Mercer Mayer. This is a fantastic series of books about a little porcupine named “Little Critter” and his family. Over the years we collected at least 20 of these books because they are just so fun to read (for both child and parent!) One of my favorites in this series is called “Just Me in the Tub,” about Little Critter taking a bath. In this story Little Critter tells us all the steps to taking a bath, from running the water, pouring in the bubbles, washing, time to get out, etc. But what makes these books so much fun, is the illustrations. As Little Critter is telling us how important it is to carefully step out of the tub onto the bath map so he won’t splash water everywhere, you see in the illustration all the water that Little Critter already splashed everywhere from his game of pirates being caught in a terrible storm at sea. This series also features books that open up lines of discussion between parents and children. With titles like “Just a Trip to the Dentist,” “The New Baby,” “Just Lost,” “A Very Special Critter,” and “I Just Forgot,” these books make it easy to talk to your children about important things they face in their own lives. I highly, highly recommend owning at least a few of these books!

For the next age group (5-8), check out anything written by John Lithgow. My favorite is “Micawber,” a tale about a squirrel who discovers a talent for painting with his, er, tail. Lithgow’s books are magical for his use of rhyme and verbosity. Where else could you find the word “peregrination” in a children’s book? I also love his book "I'm A Manatee."

To help children learn how to tell time, try “The Grouchy Ladybug” (by Eric Carle). By far, my favorite of Eric Carle’s books.

Another fun book that all kids this age like is, “Skippyjon Jones” (by Judy Schachner). Just something intrinsically entertaining about saying that name 40 or 50 times!

My daughter is sort of a bat fanatic. She loves all things bat. So, of course, we have about 20 books dedicated to bats. My favorite being, “Bats at the Beach” (by Brian Lies). An ordinary group of bats takes a trip (at night, of course) to enjoy all the things the beach has to offer. From “bug-mallows” toasting "on slender sticks", to “sailing in the wing-boat races,” to wearing their “moon-tan lotion”, this is a clever take on what going to the beach would be like for nocturnal creatures.

As my daughter has gotten older, we’ve moved onto “I Can Read” books and a variety of chapter books. My favorites of the “I Can Read” books are the “Frog and Toad” series (by Arnold Lobel). Frog and Toad are best friends and are always getting into one scrape after another, but their friendship always pulls them through. These are fun to read to your children, and then once your child is learning to read, fun for them to read to you.

We are just beginning our foray into children’s chapter books. We have loved the “Little House” series (by Laura Ingalls Wilder), and are getting ready to start reading “The Secret Garden” (by Frances Hodgson Burnett). I can tell you right off that I do not particularly like the "Magic Treehouse" series (by Mary Pope Osborne). In my opinion, they are the same story written over and over and over in different locations. But for some reason, my daughter just LOVES these books.

Two other children’s books that I find to be highly overrated are “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom,” (by Bill Martin Jr. and Jon Archambault), and “Where the Wild Things Are” (by Maurice Sendak). Both are award-winning books that are really hyped in literary circles. I felt like there was basically no purpose or redeeming quality to the book “Where the Wild Things Are”. “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” is highly irritating to read and I just don't think it succeeds in it's intended goal of helping children learn the alphabet.

So there you have it, my favorite children’s books (and a few not-so-favorite). Now get out there and read to your kids!

BOOK REVIEW: "The Man from Stone Creek"

The Man from Stone Creek
By Linda Lael Miller
Harlequin Books S.A.
Copyright 2006
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

I don’t usually get into “romance” novels very much, but I do love historical fiction. "The Man from Stone Creek" is a western pseudo-romance (you know, no graphic sex scenes) filled with gunslinging rangers and women of questionable character, as well as the upstanding members of the small town of Haven, Arizona.

Maddie Chancelor runs a small shop (as well as the post-office) and tries to keep her younger brother out of trouble. But when Sam O’Ballivan shows up in town as the new school teacher, both he and Maddie are taken by surprise with the attraction that develops between them. Sam, however, is hiding a secret. He’s really a lawman trying to take down a gang of thieves. And when things go south, Sam is forced to realize what’s really important to him and to his future.

The criminal aspect of the story is actually pretty interesting. I particularly liked the character of Vierra, a Mexican who comes across the border to try to help Sam capture the gang of thieves. There were some good twists and turns with that part of the plot.
I enjoyed the book, but thought there were a few avenues that could have been better explored. There were a lot of characters in the book that weren’t very likable and at the conclusion of the story that fact really stood out to me. But all in all, I was glad I read it. And I might read something else by this author again in the future.

BOOK REVIEW: "Chocolate Beach"

Chocolate Beach
By Julie Carobini
Bethany House Publishers/Baker Publishing Group
Copyright 2007
Adult Fiction
3 Bookmarks

“Chocolate Beach” didn’t quite have that “can’t put it down” thing going for it, but it was still a fun read. Bri Stone, the funky, witty and cool main character thinks she has it all. But when things start happening that throw her life into a spin, she isn’t quite sure what to make of it. So she throws herself headlong into the changes that are coming her way (and she even creates a few changes of her own).

The descriptions of beach life in this book are entertaining and almost make you want to brave the hurricanes to experience what it’s like to be a beach bum. Bri has a carefree attitude in most areas of her life, including parenting, marriage and her job. But for any woman, thinking her husband is cheating on her can be devastating. Bri takes it in stride, however, and always keeps that “cool girl” attitude. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Bri imagines herself barging into her husband’s office “demanding to know where he was going yesterday with his too-thin, bleached-blond legal associate”, but she realizes doing that would be “just too daytime television.”

I would hate to call this a “frou-frou” book, but its close. Very light-hearted, easy read with some fun twists and turns.

BOOK REVIEW: "Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor's Story"

Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor’s Story
By Lynn C. Tolson
1st Books Library Publishers
Copyright 2002, 2003
Biographical Memoir
4 Bookmarks

This is the memoir of Lynn Tolson. Her journey begins with the reliving of a terrifying suicide attempt. And why? Why would this young woman want to end her life? That is the question. And so Lynn carries you through her story, from the molestation she endured as a child, the emotional abuse in her household, the mental illness of a parent, a teenage rape she suffered, the adults around her that didn’t believe her, and the mind-numbing drug use that she experienced in the years leading up to this attempt to end it all.

This story is one of survival. As you read through the things she has experienced, the reader begins to understand why Lynn tried to kill herself, why she didn’t think life was worth living. Lynn endured unimaginable suffering in her life and in her own mind. The book relives her feelings of inadequacy and fear. You learn, through the course of the story, that Lynn escaped the pain she was suffering by turning to drugs. The drugs, in turn, took away her will to live. It was a vicious cycle of pain.

Then one day, everything changed. Lynn met a woman who changed her life. A therapist who told her it was going to be okay. Who told her she was worth it. Who told her she could do something more with her life. And then, slowly, slowly Lynn finds her way out of the hole she’s been in for so, so long. A victory against her childhood. A victory against those that assaulted her. A victory to champion hope for anyone else who has ever suffered in the way that she suffered.

This book was emotionally difficult to read at times. You just wanted to reach into the pages and hug this young woman and tell her it was going to be okay. But it is an important book because it brings to light things that happen to young women all the time. And if we talk about it, maybe the next young woman this happens to will find an advocate, someone who will believe her story and help her find safety before she sinks into a place where she feels the only option is death.

COMMENTARY: Sage Advice

Here is some additional sage advice I've been given over the years. I find that as I try to live life and remember everything I'm supposed to do, pithy phrases and quotations stick well and are easy to recall when necessary:

1. Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.
2. When all else fails, take a deep, cleansing breath.
3. Always work hard, no matter what the job. Nothing gives you a better reference than a good work ethic.
4. If you treat a person like they are the person they ought to be, they will eventually become a person who deserves to be treated that way.
5. People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
6. You can have everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people to get what they want.
7. In marriage, give 100 percent. If you give 100 percent and your spouse gives 100 percent, you'll have a good one. If you both only give 50 percent, it won't be enough to last.
8. Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.
9. True victory is not about finishing first; it is about finishing regardless of how many times you fall.
10. There is no failure except in no longer trying.
11. If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.
12. Watch a sunrise every now and again. It is good for your soul.
13. Remember people's birthdays.
14. Have a firm handshake.
15. Write thank you notes.
16. When someone is relating an important event that's happened to them, don't try to top them with a story of your own. Let them have the stage.
17. Let your children overhear you saying complimentary things about them to other adults.
18. Smile when you answer the phone.

BOOK REVIEW: "How the Dead Dream"

How the Dead Dream
By Lydia Millet
Copyright 2008
Counter Point Press
Adult Fiction
2 Bookmarks

Let me just say first that “How the Dead Dream” is quite possibly one of the most bizarre books I’ve ever read. And let me say secondly, that I absolutely HATED the ending. This is one of those books that you don’t really know how the story ends…you are left hanging and have to make an assumption of what happens…which is a HUGE frustration to me.

So that being said, let me tell you about the good stuff. You start out in this book by learning about T., a young boy who has an obsession with money. Well, obsession is really putting it mildly. He extorts money from his classmates, earns money through surreptitious means whenever possible, and he even goes through a period of time where he carries coins in his mouth because he wants to really “feel” the money. The description of T.’s childhood is incredible. He is an odd character, to say the least, but the author’s ability to make you understand his oddities is magical. The author is so matter-of-fact about T.’s weirdness that you almost begin to see it as normal.

The book travels through T.’s childhood and then adulthood, until he becomes the caretaker for his ailing mother. The mother is another interesting character. My favorite part about her is when she dreams that she dies and (instead of going to heaven or hell) she is trapped in a Waffle House. To her, it is the most horrible horror of horrors to think that when she dies she will spend eternity in a Waffle House (I’m sure most of us can relate to that). This is the beginning of many life-changing events for T. The story turns in a whole new direction and starts to focus on T.'s newfound obsession with "last" animals (species who are facing extinction); which is pleasantly ironic because of T.'s chosen career as a real estate developer. Like I said, the story turns.

I did enjoy reading this book and would have given it a higher mark if it wasn’t for the way the story ended. If you don’t mind having to use your imagination a little bit to get some closure at the end, though, I would recommend this one just for the sheer ability of the author to make you see things so vastly differently than the way they actually are (not to mention the fact that the book has an interesting name and an intriguing cover...)

BOOK REVIEW: "The Extraordinary Mrs. R: a Friend Remembers Eleanor Roosevelt"

The Extraordinary Mrs. R: a Friend Remembers Eleanor Roosevelt
By William Turner Levy and Cynthia Eagle Russett
Copyright 1999
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Publishers
Biographical
¼ Bookmark

What an extraordinary waste of a tree! I have never read anything so laced with syrupy-sweet sentimentality and obsession.

Author William Turner Levy (who, by the way, always refers to himself in the third person by his FULL name) is apparently a rather huge fan of the Roosevelt clan. He miraculously finagles an introduction to the former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and amazingly becomes her “friend”.

This book is an exercise in remembering details for Mr. Levy. He talks about each meeting he had with Mrs. Roosevelt, describing in extraordinary detail what the leading lady was wearing, what she was eating, what she said, what she did, how she smiled, how she laughed, how the sheets felt, and so on and so on. “YAWWWWNNN!”

There were a few redeeming moments in the book (thus the ¼ star given), such as when Mr. Levy tells of the picnics Mrs. R gave for the local boy’s home each summer. You almost got to liking Mrs. Roosevelt after that little bit of information.

But the rest of the book was really just a rampant run-on sentence describing a woman who is obviously being stalked by Mr. Levy.

Do you remember the guy on U-Tube after the whole Britney Spears debacle? “Leave Britney Alone! Leave Britney Alone!” That is who Mr. Levy reminded me of frequently as I was reading his interpretation of Mrs. Roosevelt’s private life.

So, obviously, I would not recommend this book to anyone.....ever.

BOOK REVIEW: "Walden"

Walden
By Henry David Thoreau
Copyright 2007
Literary Classics Publishing
Classic Literature
5 Bookmarks

I’ve often made attempts to read “the classics”. I failed miserably at my encounter with Paradise Lost. I made it through Dante’s Inferno, only to be halted in my tracks by his Purgatorio. I do have a love for the Iliad by Homer (mostly due to high school AP English—thanks Mrs. Brown!), but I struggled mightily when trying to get through its sequel, the Odyssey.

So I decided to move forward in time several hundred years and see if I could find something a little more my speed. What I found was Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. And I’m so glad I did! What a treat it was to read this book.

Walden is a memoir, of sorts, of a time in Thoreau’s life when he decides that people are too caught up with the “things” of life and believes that they have forgotten what it really means to live. He moves himself to a small plot of land on the banks of Walden Pond with basically nothing but the shirt on his back. He scrounges wood enough to build a small shack, which he improves periodically as opportunities allow. He eats of the berries around him, the fish in the pond, and whatever else makes itself available to him.

But this book isn’t really about how to live on nothing in the wild. Instead, it is a book about opening your eyes to really see the world around you and to find your place within. Thoreau writes, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” That line really struck a chord for me. Anyone who knows me would tell you that I frequently get sucked into the stress of work and home and family and responsibility, and that I forget that the world is good and that I am grateful to be alive. But I am grateful to be alive! And this book was a reminder of that.

Walden is almost a series of essays about a series of philosophical standpoints on a myriad of topics. But it is also lighthearted at times, and soothing to the soul.

One of my favorite parts of the book was when Thoreau was describing a battle between a legion of black ants and troops of red ants on his woodpile. He describes the battle as though it was being fought by human soldiers in the field. And while it is a little gory at moments, it really brings to the forefront the idea that even the little things in life are meaningful to those concerned.

Thoreau lived at the pond for four years and records the observations of his social experiment in an effortless and thought-provoking manner.

I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a stimulating read. I definitely plan to add it to my collection!

BOOK REVIEW: "Remind Me Again Why I Married You"

Remind Me Again Why I Married You
By Rita Ciresi
Bantam Dell/Random House Publishers
Copyright 2003
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

A funny title for a funny book. Lisa Strauss thinks she’s a writer, although she must pretend to be a suitable corporate wife for her husband’s business associates. Lisa struggles to come up with interesting writing material since her world consists mainly of cooking, cleaning and other stay-at-home-mom duties. Soon Lisa turns to Eben, her husband of five years, and begins to write detail after thinly-veiled detail and weaves a tale that eventually becomes the book Lisa had always wanted to write.

Lisa wants so much from life, but feels trapped in a moment, a moment where she must be mother, supporting wife, cook, housekeeper and more. Lisa hides in her writings and draws a portrait of her fears with words. She lives and breathes, like any normal woman would, and like many of us, she wants more out of life than what she has.

Ciresi’s writing style is witty and lively. The description of the character’s mundane life made me laugh on numerous occasions. I could easily compare certain moments in the book to things I’ve experienced in my own life, and it made it very easy to relate to the character.

In the end though, Lisa finds happiness in her existence and with her family, and even finds some success with her passion for words.

A good read.

COMMENTARY: What Makes a Good Book "Good"?

So I have a question. What makes a good book “good”? I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately (what with all the spare time I have on my hands these days). And I’ve asked a few people what they think. My 7-year-old daughter thinks that the most important feature of a good book is that it has interesting pictures. She also doesn’t like a book to be boring and wants an exciting story to read. My husband also thinks a book needs to be exciting and have a minimal amount of dialogue. Nothing would bore him to tears faster than the emotional lumberings of an author like Jane Austen (who, by the way, is one of my favorites).

Well, that makes sense for them, I suppose. But why is it that sometimes the most plot-deprived stories are the best books I’ve ever read, and that some of the most exciting storylines are just not that enjoyable to read? And I don’t really need pictures if the author is good at painting them for me with words.

So here is my list of the top six things that make a good book “good” to me:
1. Relatable Characters. I have to be able to relate to the people I’m reading about, at least at some level. I may be able to sympathize with them. I may hate them because they are so awful. Or I may fall in love. But I have to FEEL something about the characters or I just have no interest in reading the book.
2. Use of Language. I really don’t like books that are written at a 4th grade reading level, generally speaking. I want to be challenged by the words in a book. I want to twist my mind through detailed, expressive and complex sentences. If I have to re-read a sentence in a book to really understand it, I don’t look at that as a bad thing. One of the best authors at doing this is Ayn Rand (“Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead”—two of the best books I’ve ever read). “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy was also an incredible read for that same reason (not to mention the fact that it was exciting…)
3. Unique Storyline. Nothing I hate more than having a little bit of déjà lu (that feeling that you’ve read this before) when it’s a book you haven’t actually read. That “same old, same old” story just doesn’t do it for me. I want to read about something new and interesting! Give me a character I’ve never seen, a plot that I’m impressed with, or a locale that I’m excited to learn more about. Give me something NEW!
4. How It Makes Me Feel. If I finish a book and I feel like I’ve been left hanging, or if the ending was uselessly sad or upsetting (the book doesn’t necessarily have to have a happy ending, but the ending needs to have some purpose), or if I feel like I’ve just wasted hours of my life on a stupid story, the book will not be on my favorites list. I want to feel good when I finish a book. I want to feel like I got something out of it, like I learned something, or just that it made me happy to have read it.
5. Does It Make Me Think? I will be glad I read any book that can make me think. If you tell me a story and it makes me question my own life, my own existence, you were successful. One of the best books for this was “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. You read this absolutely incredible tale about a boy who was given a death sentence, which he somehow survives, only to make you question the very core of your own beliefs.
6. Good Title and Interesting Book Cover. So maybe it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things what the name of the book is or what the cover looks like, but if the title is boring, I'm not even going to pick it up. And if the cover is grotesque or disturbing or ordinary, it doesn't make me want to open up the pages to see more. Startle me with a provocative title and I'm much more prone to read you!

So what makes a good book “good” to you?

BOOK REVIEW: "Lady Luck's Map of Vegas"

Lady Luck’s Map of Vegas
By Barbara Samuel
Copyright 2005
Ballantine Book Publishers
Adult Fiction
5 Bookmarks

I just love a good road trip. Driving along, listening to my tunes, taking the time to stop and think. Something about it is just so healing. And healing is exactly what the main character in “Lady Luck’s Map of Vegas” really needs.

India is a 40-year-old single woman who is dealing with some interesting issues in life. And faced with what could be the biggest decision she’ll ever have to make, she and her mother head out on a road trip to find India’s twin sister, Gypsy, who has disappeared again. Gypsy is schizophrenic, and although she is a brilliant artist, she sometimes goes off her medication and disappears. India and her mother, Eldora, are worried, but they manage to make it down Route 66 and check out all the usual stops that Gypsy makes when she is wandering.

That is the basic “sum up” of the book, I suppose. But it doesn’t even begin to touch the surface of what this book is really about. “Lady Luck’s Map of Vegas” is about past mistakes. It’s about forgiveness. It’s about letting go of fear. It’s about accepting the things you cannot change. It’s about love and loss and living life.

This story touched me on so many levels. Not only is it set in two of my favorite cities (Colorado Springs and Las Vegas), but I feel like it was such an emotionally honest story about a family in crisis, a family that could easily be yours or mine. The characters were vividly written (and it didn’t hurt that there was an exquisitely attractive Irishman in the mix!) There are also moments in the book that are dark and terrible, and I appreciated that the book opened my eyes to the plight of families whose lives are affected by schizophrenia.

“Lady Luck’s Map of Vegas” is not the first book that I’ve read by Barbara Samuel, but it definitely won’t be the last. I highly recommend this one!