COMMENTARY: "2012--Here We Come!"

Well, 2011 has drawn to a close…..finally! It’s been a rough year with health issues, surgeries, family concerns, work stress, school stress and everything in between, but I survived. And I’m now looking forward to the new adventures coming in 2012.

There’s something rather cathartic about these New Beginnings we are lucky enough to experience on the first day of January every year; a fresh start, a clean slate, a renewal of life. There are times when the day-to-day stresses are so overwhelming that they smother any ability to see the big picture of life. These New Beginnings are, in a way, an apology from life for the crap we’ve had to deal with every day. Sometimes just being able to take a deep breath and let go of the tough times and the sad times and the mistakes we’ve made is a necessary step in moving forward and progressing as human beings.

If there were no clean slates, we would be constantly bogged down by those negative experiences and life would surely become an extremely unpleasant undertaking.

I did two small activities this year that made me realize just how stuck I’ve been in that negative mindset. First, every day during the month of November, I posted on my Facebook status something I’m thankful for. You’d think that would be a pretty easy task, but it was not. There were days I really had to reach into the depths of my brain to find something “good” to say. I realized that forcing myself to see the good in life when I sure didn’t think there was any actually did make the day better. So, in December, I decided to keep the good thoughts coming and I posted one of my “favorite things” every day. Those days when I felt stumped trying to think of something to say made me realize I need to have more favorite things in my life.

But really, the thing that made it so apparently obvious that I need to be more positive, was a gift my daughter gave me for Christmas. She called it an “Optimism Box”. In reality, it was just a simple Kleenex box on which she had written in marker a message on each side: “If you are stressed, just be optimistic”, “Sometimes it’s good to be optimistic”, “Don’t worry, be optimistic”. On top she had written “The Optimism Eater” and inside the box she had several little notes including “If black cats were bad luck…I wouldn’t be alive. So proves they are not!” and my favorite: “Bear hugs are good….just not from a bear.” (Okay, so she may not have the exact definition of optimism down, but I got her point). Opening that gift, I laughed until I cried. Partially from overwhelming love at my sweet little kid who noticed I had a tough time this year and was trying to make things better. And partially from sadness that my sweet little kid was obviously affected by my reactions to life.

So as 2012 peaks his squeaky clean little head around the corner, I will be making a concerted effort to bring the positive around me. To show my little mini-me that life is good and that happiness is free. So if you catch me being a complainer this year, just give me a smile and quick reminder, “Don’t worry, be optimistic!”

SONG OF THE DAY: "Color on the Walls (Don't Stop)"

My new favorite band: Foster the People
"Color on the Walls (Don't Stop)"

BOOK REVIEW: "The Shade of My Own Tree"

The Shade of My Own Tree
By Sheila Williams
Copyright 2003
Random House Publishing
Adult Fiction
3.75 Bookmarks

An abused woman finally finds the courage to walk out on her husband after 15 years of marriage. Opal Sullivan finds that courage and heads out to begin her life anew. Over the course of her journey, she realizes many things.

First, that she will never truly be free of her ex-husband. Second, that she likes living under the shade of her own tree. And third, that life is full of nothing but surprises.

Normally, a book about domestic violence is not something I have on my radar. But I liked the title of the book and immediately "got" the significance of the phrase. And I was pleasantly surprised with the manner that the author handled the subject matter. It was not terribly graphic but got the point across when needed.

I really liked that the author gave the main character the strength to go out there and do the things that she did, including helping other women in abusive relationships. The reader gets a great feel for Opal's struggles and her triumphs in overcoming them.

I really enjoyed this book and would absolutely recommend it! Would make a great book club read.

BOOK REVIEW: "An Ideal Wife"

An Ideal Wife
By Gemma Townley
Copyright 2010
Ballantine Books
Adult Fiction
1.5 Bookmarks

Wowza. This is the most typically typical British novel I've read in a long while. Jessica Wild-Wainwright (even the name is typical!) is madly in love with her perfect, perfect husband Max. Unfortunately, Jessica is not so perfect (quite the opposite, in fact).

And so, Jessica sets out on a mission to become the ideal wife.

Now just so you understand, Jessica is so far from being the ideal wife that it is, frankly, difficult for the reader to imagine her becoming what she has set out to become.

There's just a slight problem with her plan. Jessica has a dirty little secret that she has kept from her husband that is now coming back to haunt her. An ex-fling is extorting her for money and she isn't quite sure what to do about it.

You get to watch as Jessica tries to make up for the dirty little secret by attempting to learn to be a good cook, how to iron, and volunteering at a soup kitchen.

One particularly amusing episode of Jessica's attempts at wifely perfection leaves poor Max laid up in the hospital for a week.

Unfortunately for Jessica, her efforts are a dire failure. Soon it becomes apparent that her secret can stay a secret no more. And throw on top of that a couple of thugs from the Russian Mafia, a long-lost father that she never knew, and a few million pounds of money that she doesn't know what to do with.

Stories like this always have a happy ending, but they usually have quite a nail-biting climax and this was no exception. It was a quick read, and there were a few moments that were even kind of fun. But for the most part it was just so much like so many other British novels I've read that it was boring.

Open this one only if you really like predictability.

BOOK REVIEW: "This Fine Life"

This Fine Life
By Eva Marie Everson
Copyright 2010
Revell Publishing
Adult Fiction
3 Bookmarks

A young girl comes home after graduating from a prep school where she has lived away from home for the past four years. Mariette is not sure which direction to go. Her mother wants her to "marry well". Her father wants her to go to University. Mariette just doesn't know what she wants.

But when Mariette stumbles upon a young man in a stairwell at her father's company who takes her breath away, just doesn't really think about it any longer. Keeping Thayne Scott a secret from her parents doesn't last long, and soon Mariette is forbidden from seeing him since he is not in the same social class as her family.

Mariette soon finds a way to go to him. They run away together and, surprise! They elope. But it's not all fun and games when Mariette realizes the kind of life she is going to have with Thayne. The two stumble through life's ups and downs together and Mariette tries to understand her husband's calling.

I enjoyed reading this book for the most part. There was definitely a bit of religiosity strewn throughout the story but it was not obtrusive. The characters were a bit weakly defined, but you sort of got the gist of who they were as people. A nice Sunday afternoon read.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Land of Painted Caves"

The Land of Painted Caves
By Jean M. Auel
Copyright 2011
Crown Publishers
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

Well here it is! The last in the Earth's Children series. It was published back in, I think, March of this year and I finally got around to reading it (after making my way back through the series again). I think this may be the thickest of the books. With 757 pages, it was certainly daunting.

Okay, first let me point out what annoyed me about this book. After writing five other books in this series, for some reason, the author still feels like she has to write the book as if it's a stand-alone book. Meaning, that in each of these books, she feels she has to re-cap all the important events of all the previous books in the series. A great number of those 757 pages were reminders of what I just got done reading in the previous six books, which was unbelievably tedious!

I was ready for some new material! Some new characters, some new subject matter. Instead, the recaps just went on for page after page after page. I'm guessing that 99% of the people who will read this book are addicts of the series (as I am), and already know the history of the characters. The recaps were totally overdone.

The other thing I didn't like was the basic plot of the book. The main character, Ayla, has become something of a spiritual leader of the group. Because of that, she is taken on a tour of the sacred sites of the people. Much of the book is the travel from one sacred site to another, from one painted cave to another. Not much variety in the storyline.

Whew! Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me just say I still love this series. I still really enjoyed the characters and the situations they found themselves in. I enjoyed being able to picture the landscapes and the surroundings. I enjoyed the descriptions of the different medicines and rituals observed by the people. I imagine I would have made a great cavegirl!

Normally when I read a book and have more negative things to say than positive, it's going to get a low rating. But hard for me to give anything by this author a low ranking when I really enjoy these books so much. Even with the 757 pages, I made it through the whole book in less than a week. Snatching a paragraph here or a paragraph there between other things going on in my life.

My frustrations really have more to do with it not quite fulfilling my expectations and not with any lack on the quality of the writing. Do read this one!

BOOK REVIEW: "Love in a Time of Cholera"

Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Copyright 1988
Vintage Books (Random House)
Adult Fiction
2.5 Bookmarks

A strangely odd and depressing story to have been made into a movie. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm pretty sure it's not one I would really enjoy watching.

Basic plot of the book is this: young boy falls in love from a distance with young girl, expresses his love solely through written letters since it's nearly impossible for them to actually meet face to face, father finds out, takes daughter away for a length of time, but boy manages to continue writing letters which are sneakily delivered to the girl, father thinks he's successfully ended the little love affair and thus returns the daughter home where she, nearly on accident, runs into the boy face to face. Girl turns tail, runs and marries the first man who proposes to her. Boy never gives up hope that he will be with girl (once the husband dies, of course). And so he waits. And waits. And waits. Most of the book is the waiting. And then suddenly, almost without warning, the characters are in their 80s.

I won't spoil the ending because it actually is kind of an enjoyable book to read, and many readers out there would appreciate it. It is very well-written with beautifully detailed sentence structure and compelling narrative.

Particularly meaningful, as I have always felt that it was easy to love through the written word. Being able to write what you feel and to read between the lines of what someone else has written is, for me, the ultimate romanticism. It is an art that is lost, and is painfully missed.

I probably would have given it a higher score if I didn't feel so sad when I finished reading it. It needed a little lightening up, but I suppose with a name like "Love in the time of Cholera", I shouldn't have expected it to be much more than depressing.

SONG OF THE DAY: Young the Giant - "Cough Syrup"

I feel this song today.

BOOK REVIEW: "making love to the minor poets of Chicago"

making love to the minor poets of Chicago
By James Conrad
Copyright 2000
Thomas Dunne Books
Adult Fiction
2 Bookmarks

Well frankly, with a title like that I expected a lot more. After all, I love "love", love poetry, and loathe all things Chicago; it made for an interestingly incongruous picture in my mind. But instead of being interesting, I just simply found the book boring. And weird. Actually more weird than boring.

So the basic story is this, a failed poet stumbles upon this opportunity to write a poem to save humanity from the nuclear waste stored beneath Yucca Mountain in Nevada. It seems that someone has been commissioned to paint a painting to be placed at the mountain to warn future generations for the next 10,000 years or so that it's going to take the nuclear waste to lose its dangerousness, and so this poet believes she can convince The Powers That Be that a poem should be called for as well.

So, maybe a slightly interesting premise, but the execution was severely lacking. First of all, the one who wanted to write the poem has to ask a colleague of hers to actually get in contact with The Powers That Be because, oh yes, the colleague's ex-husband is the painter who's been commissioned to do the painting. Since she has an "in", of course, they agree and you would think the story would move forward from here. Instead, it ended up being just a really discombobulated mess of minor storylines dropped in here and there that really had nothing to do with anything.

There was a seriously over-stereotyped group of gay characters linked to the poetry department at the local college. And I mean seriously stereotyped. I was even mildly offended by a scene in the book that is set in a gay bar where the author actually makes fun of the music playing "a groggy male vocalist was whining about someone having blue eyes, green eyes, and gray eyes" (which just happens to be from my very, very favorite New Order song ever!)

At the end of the book, two of the characters take off from Chicago and end up near Yucca Mountain (one of them even volunteering at the nuclear waste facility for a period of time for no apparent reason at all). And then that was the end of the book.

There were a few entertaining scenes written into the book, but really just not much substance or purpose to the story. The review on the back cover called it "the ultimate love story of the nuclear age" (Dale Peck). That one really left me scratching my head. Love story? There was no love story here.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Shelters of Stone"

The Shelters of Stone
By Jean M. Auel
Copyright 2002
Crown Publishers
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

Book Five of the Earth's Children Series takes the main characters, Ayla and Jondalar, back to Jondalar's home, the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii. Ayla is nervous to meet Jondalar's family but after more than a year of traveling to get there, she is ready.

As has been the case with all the groups of people they've encountered on the way, Jondalar's people are startled by the woman with the horses and wolf as traveling companions. But because they remember Jondalar, some of them are more willing to accept her at face value, including Jondalar's family, although some members of the community hold grudges against Jondalar and take it out on Ayla.

Once again, Ayla comes to the rescue of various individuals in her new community, including a baby who is being neglected and a boy who gets gored by a wooly rhinoceros. Ayla struggles with her innate ability to heal and faces some tough choices.

In The Shelters of Stone, Ayla and Jondalar finally become officially "mated" and have a baby to expand their family as they start this new life.

This is not my favorite book in the series. Partially because it is so dang long (753 pages, in case you were wondering why I haven't posted anything in awhile). Partially because now that they're "back home", they have to re-tell their story several times (and the author includes these retellings in the book), which gets a little redundant. However, it does have some interesting plot twists and new adventures for the pair, as well as some very novel characters.

Once again, I do really love Auel's ability to tell a story and capture the feeling of a situation through her words (although the "adult" portions of the book are pretty over-the-top graphic). And this is the last "old" book in the series (one that I have read before). Next will be the last book in the series that was just published this year, The Land of Painted Caves (watch for my review as soon as it comes up in my library queue!)

BOOK REVIEW: "The Year of Pleasures"

The Year of Pleasures
By Elizabeth Berg
Copyright 2005
Random House
Adult Fiction
3.5 Bookmarks

Betta Nolan does what many of us often dream of doing; she sells her house, picks up and moves halfway across the country. Unfortunately, she only does this after the death of her beloved husband, John. The two had planned to retire together, then move to the country. But when John is diagnosed with cancer, their plans change.

Near the end of his life, John makes Betta promise she will finish what they started, and so Betta sells the house shortly after John's death and starts driving. She finds herself in a small, midwestern town and buys the first house she sees.

As Betta confronts her new life alone, she meets many new and interesting characters, feels much pain, and tries to move forward.

The author does an absolutely amazing job of delving into the feelings and fears that Betta goes through during this process. Grief is an incredible thing, but to feel it through the words written by the author was a new experience. At one point, Betta can't sleep. She keeps thinking she hears her husband talking to her. "I left the lights on, pulled back the bedclothes, and climbed in. I listened carefully: nothing. I turned out the light and listened again. A car going by, my alarm clock ticking. I took of my coat and boots, then lay back down. Some nights lasted weeks."

When I was about two chapters into this book I thought for sure it was going to be a 5 Bookmark book. In the end though, I really felt like the author let some really great opportunities get away from her.

After John's death, Betta finds a box with dozens of small slips of paper that John had written on; "Japanese tea ceremony", "iron grates", "Soprano gone--good". Betta is at first confused, but eventually realizes what John was trying to tell her. The memories Betta recollects as she's looking at these slips of paper were entrancing, but unfortunately, the author left it at that. They ended up being no more than just a sideline to the story.

That author also seemed to miss a few beats with another angle of the story. Betta meets a gentleman who is interested in her. She tries to force herself to move forward with him, but it just never feels right. I think the author could have explored this area a little bit further and gone into more detail about why she wasn't ready for another relationship yet, but instead she just sort of lets it fizzle and then get snatched out of her hands.

There were definitely parts of the book that I liked, and other parts I was disappointed with. One thing that always made me catch my breath were the moments in the book where Betta "remembers" that she's grieving. She thinks, "...part of me still lingered at John's side, staring both at him and at the future without him, waiting to see if he were going to change his mind and come with me after all." Heartwrenching for anyone who has ever loved another.

Although there was never a clear explanation for the title of the book, I did really enjoy reading it. There were a few moments where I would find a small tear in my eye, but it was good because it made me remember those in my life who I have lost, and appreciate those in my life that I still have.

BOOK REVIEW: "What the Dog Saw"

What the Dog Saw
and other adventures
By Malcolm Gladwell
Copyright 2009
Little, Brown & Company
Non-Fiction
4 Bookmarks

Some of you may remember the book The Tipping Point that I recently reviewed. What the Dog Saw and other adventures is by the same author, Malcolm Gladwell, and he delivers yet again. This book is a collection of articles Gladwell wrote for The New Yorker magazine.

This collection of non-fiction observations about the world around us is eye-opening. Each article is like a story of life, pinging the nail right on the head. From stories about what makes a great infomercial salesman to why there is only one kind of ketchup, Gladwell discusses minor genius in a way that will really make you think.

The section on predictions goes into detail regarding the Enron scandal, the problems of homelessness and plagiarism. My favorite from this section was The Art of Failure, a discussion of why some people choke and some people panic, with the leading example of the famous tennis player, expected to win, hitting one bad shot and then another and then another because she choked.

The last section, on intelligence was absolutely my favorite section! Every topic here was interesting to me. Subtopics in this section include "Criminal Profiling Made Easy", "What Pit Bulls Can Teach Us About Crime" and "How Do We Hire When We Can't Tell Who's Right for the Job?", among others. I most especially enjoyed the piece entitled "The Talent Myth: Are Smart People Overrated?", another story using Enron as the example.

I think what makes Gladwell's books so interesting is that he takes something you already know about, turns it on it's head, and tells you about it from a completely different perspective. Not only is it the ultimate "looking at something in a way you didn't before", it really is "looking at something in a way you never dreamed of looking at it".

I would recommend this, and other Gladwell books, to anyone who likes to think, and especially to those who like, and have the ability, to think outside the box.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Plains of Passage"

The Plains of Passage
By Jean M. Auel
Copyright 1990
Crown Publishers, Inc.
Adult Fiction
5 Bookmarks

Book four of the Earth's Children Series by Jean M. Auel, follows Ayla and Jondalar's journey from the end of the Great Mother River back to his homeland far to the west. It takes them nearly one year to complete the journey and they have many adventures along the way.

With two horses and a wolf for companions, the travelers are not welcomed easily anywhere they encounter other humans. The groups they meet are very wary of the newcomers and some even hide. But the pair do visit with some groups that remember Jondalar from his trip to the east.

With dangerous river crossings and changing weather chasing them down, the two face a perilous journey. They survive some near misses that leave your heart pounding! Some of the groups they encounter appreciate Ayla's skill as a medicine woman and she puts those skills to use frequently. A few places along the way are tempting to Ayla, who is tired of traveling. But she knows that Jondalar wants to go home and so they keep moving.

I suppose the most notable section of this book deals with Jondalar being captured by a group called the Wolf Women. He is held captive in a society where women run the show and the men are mere prisoners (I wish!) With Ayla's help, Jondalar finally escapes and the two work together to help free the other men who have been held captive by the Wolf Women.

As usual, I loved this book (who wouldn't love a book about a man, a woman, two horses and a wolf traveling together during caveman times?) I really am enjoying re-reading this series, despite the over-the-top "adult" scenes (again, don't let your kiddos read these!)

I'm getting close to the end! One more book to go before the new one in the series! I've only read Shelters of Stone (book five) once, so I'm looking forward to re-reading it! Review for that one coming soon!

BOOK REVIEW: "An Amish Gathering"

An Amish Gathering
By Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller and Barbara Cameron
Copyright 2009
Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publishing
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

Who would have thought the Amish had such good love stories? This collection of three Amish novellas was absolutely delightful!

In the first story, A Change of Heart by Beth Wiseman, the main character Leah knows she doesn't fit in with Amish society. She's no good at the things that are expected of a good Amish woman, prefers activities that are frowned upon (in particular, writing) and she has no illusions that that her abilities and preferences will be changing anytime soon. She tries to do as she is supposed to but never in her wildest dreams did she expect to find someone who appreciates her for who she is.

I think this was my favorite of the three novellas. I suppose that is because I could sympathize with Leah quite a bit, being raised in a culture where certain things were expected but never quite fitting in or being able to fulfill those expectations.

The second story, When Winter Comes by Barbara Cameron, was really sad. The main character Rebecca lost her twin sister in an accident years ago but hasn't quite completed the grieving process. She returns every winter to the spot where her sister died and mourns anew. But only a very special friend can help her get past the loss of her sister and move forward with her life.

This story was very heartrending. I could really feel Rebecca's grief as she looked across the ice where she had last seen her sister alive. I remember feeling that kind of grief after my mother died so whenever I read books with that kind of imagery it sort of brings those feelings back.

The third story, A Place of His Own by Kathleen Fuller, also had some dark themes in it. When Josiah left the Amish community with his father years ago, no one knew where they went or why. So when he returns unexpectedly and readies his family farm for sale, no one is more shocked than his neighbor and former best friend.

This was a sweet story, perhaps even a bit too sappy for me, but still enjoyable.

I don't know very much about the Amish community so reading about some of the things they are allowed to do (like play volleyball and bake monster cookies) was surprising. This is a lovely collection of stories that really was a pleasure to read.

BOOK REVIEW: "One Sunday Morning"

One Sunday Morning
By Amy Ephron
Copyright 2005
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Adult Fiction
1.5 Bookmarks

Hmm.....this is a tough one. This longer-than-a-short-story-but-shorter-than-a-novel seems to be a commentary on the social strictures of New York society during Prohibition. When a group of ladies happens to see someone they know in a compromising situation, they make immediate judgments which cause a series of assumptions that affect all of their lives to varying degrees.

When the young lady in question is sent away, the gossipy voices start to carry some weight.

The story has some nice imagery and some unique twists and turns but, frankly, I was never quite sure what the purpose of the story was. Perhaps a mini-lecture on avoiding the very appearance of evil, perhaps just a self-indulgant trip into another time.

I didn't really enjoy this novella. It was very short with not much attention paid to developing characters. There were many dialogues throughout the book that seemed to be required solely to tell the reader what was going on. While I certainly understand that method of getting a point across, it was so obvious that it became annoying.

I prefer clever short stories with witty endings and this one doesn't really fit in that category.

BOOK REVIEW: "What Men Want"

What Men Want
By Deborah Blumenthal
Red Dress Ink
Copyright 2006
Adult Fiction
3 Bookmarks
Spoiler Alert!

With a book title like What Men Want, of course I (as a woman) was curious. What do men want? I sort of thought the book would be a cute tale about some woman who finds out what men want. Instead, I found a book about a print journalist (columnist, actually) with a live-in boyfriend who is not quite right for her and a journalistic nemesis who only serves to cause her grief. Nothing about what men want at all, actually.

Meet Jenny George. With a boring name like that, I was not intrigued. Even the author thought it was a boring name and spent several paragraphs throughout the book commenting on the commonness of the name. And then, of course, is her nemesis Slaid Warren (MUCH better name for a character in a novel!) who continually calls to flirt with her in a weird, competitive sort of way.

When Jenny's boyfriend decides to trade her in a for a hotter model (literally), I sort of thought she would finally figure out the "what men want" part of the equation. Unfortunately, she just experiences a few ups and downs of the dumpee sort, then lands in the lap of Slaid Warren and that is about it. No mention of "what men want" at all! I assume the author was intending for us to simply believe that men want Jenny George, but I don't buy it.

While the misleading title was a bit of a disappointment (because, don't we all want to know what men want?), I did enjoy reading the book. Some funny scenes and witty banter. It was a cute story after all, although it did leave me a little empty in the end.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Lonely Polygamist"

The Lonely Polygamist

By Brady Udall

Copyright 2010

W.W Norton & Company, Inc.

Adult Fiction

3.5 Bookmarks

In honor of my recent addiction to Sister Wives on TLC, I read The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. I browsed the jacket description of this book and was fascinated...a polygamist with four wives who has, of all things, an affair. Honestly, I can't even imagine a man having enough time or energy for four women, let alone five (plus the challenges of keeping the 5th one a secret from the other four!!) It sounded hilarious and I thought I'd check it out.

So I started into the book and, frankly, I was a little disappointed. There were a lot of really sad things that had happened to the main character (a death of a child, a stillbirth, a wife who is a bit of a mental case). It didn't turn out to be quite the comedy I was expecting.

The main character, Golden Richards, lives in a somewhat typical polygamist community near Virgin, Utah (as an aside, I have a great photo of one of my husband's buddies standing in front of the Virgin, Utah, sign back when they were teenagers. This poor, teenage boy had lost a bet and had to stand in front of the "Virgin" sign and have his picture taken.....hilarious). Anyway, Golden owns three houses for his four wives and shuffles between them, always spread too thin to really do much good (I imagine this is a fairly accurately painted picture). Golden's construction business isn't doing so well, so he ends up having to take a job outside of town. And that's when the trouble begins.....just up the road a bit.....in Nevada......where prostitution is legal.

I won't spoil the story here, but suffice it to say that Golden's situation reminds me of that old story about how a lie spreads itself around and comes back to haunt you. Golden allows one little inkling of bad thoughts enter his mind. Then another slips in. Then another and another, until he isn't quite sure exactly what kind of person he really is. And those little thoughts definitely come back to haunt him in the end.

I was disappointed with the ending. It was quite sad and depressing. And it sure made me feel sorry for just about anyone who lives this kind of life (even the happy-go-lucky Brown family on Sister Wives). But generally-speaking, it was an enjoyable read. Probably a little higher ranking for someone interested in the topic, and lower ranking for someone who really thinks polygamists are quack jobs.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Mammoth Hunters"

The Mammoth Hunters
Earth's Children Series
By Jean M. Auel
Copyright 1985
Crown Publishers
Adult Fiction/ PaleoFiction
4 Bookmarks

And again we are on to the next book in my favorite book series, Earth's Children, by Jean M. Auel. The Mammoth Hunters, book three of the series, is my least favorite (at least, so far.....I still haven't read book six, but I'm working my way that direction!) The entire storyline of this book always causes me great anxiety and nail-biting suspense whenever I read it (even though I already know how it ends).

In The Mammoth Hunters, the main characters Jondalar and Ayla finally leave their magical valley and go exploring. Lo and behold! They run into other Others, a tribe (or cave or clan or whatever you'd like to call it) of mammoth-hunting humans. They invite the pair to stay with them for the upcoming winter and they agree.

There's a problem, though. Jondalar and Ayla still have a little trouble communicating (in that her first language is the language of The Clan and his first language is of a people who live more than a year away), which leads to problems actually quite typical of those in a relationship defined by poor communication. One thing leads to another, and soon both Jondalar and Ayla think the other one doesn't love them anymore. Of course, this is exacerbated by a handsome member of the mammoth hunters tribe named Ranec who does everything he can to rip the lovers apart so he can have Alya himself.

And so as this yo-yo of Alya being tugged between Jondalar and Ranec continues for page after page after page.....after page......I always get to a point when reading this book where I just want to skip to the end! But not really. Because it is very well-written. And entertaining. And enjoyable. And I do love the full story. And, really, would they have truly known that they loved each other without having this tormented episode right in the middle of the series? Perhaps not. *sigh*

Just a little warning again, though. It does still have some of those "adult-ish" scenes with words like "his manhood" and "her supple flesh", so no, I would not recommend reading this one aloud to the kiddos.

And I can only give it four bookmarks instead of five, just simply because of the torment I felt the entire time I was reading it! (Seriously. I do not do well with suspense novels. I've read this book five times, obviously I know how it ends and yet it still causes me grief!)

BOOK REVIEW: "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall"

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
By Anne Bronte
Oxford University Press
Copyright 2008 (New Edition)
The Classics
3.75 Bookmarks

Of course, you all know I love Victorian fiction. I had actually read this book a long time ago, but didn't have much recollection of it. So I decided to sit down and read it again. I had to sit a long time, though......I had forgotten that it was a very time-consuming read. Although it is not a thick novel, it is full of "old" English and takes a few extra moments to get through the dialogue and description. However, regardless of the length of time it took me to read it, I did enjoy it yet again!

In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte tackles the unpleasant question of "what should happen if you were to marry the wrong person?" In our day and age, obviously, divorce is the answer. But in Victorian England, divorce was still unbelievably taboo and would result only in the complete and utter devastation of the divorcee's character and reputation, not to mention leading to her complete ostracization by all society. Not a pleasant outcome, to be sure, which we learn from a diary that details the events that take place when Lady Helen Huntingdon finds herself in such a situation.

Helen is a willful girl who marries the gentleman she thinks is best for her, although she is warned otherwise by caring (and wiser) relatives and friends. She soon learns the folly of her choice, but is stuck with no way out. As her circumstances become more dire, Helen puts together a plan of escape. She hides away with her young son at Wildfell Hall. Her location is precarious. Her secret is great. And the last thing she expects (or will allow) is to fall in love with a neighboring farmer (ooooooooooo! Exciting!)

The first few chapters of the book were a little confusing; trying to keep everyone straight was a challenge. But 50 pages in the reader will suddenly have a much better grasp of what is going on (and, frankly, the book gets more interesting by the page!) However, I would only recommend this little Victorian treat to other lovers of Victorian literature (i.e. Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, etc.) If that's not your cup of tea, well, too bad for you!

COMMENTARY: Real Estate Could Get a Whole Lot Uglier....Again

Ouch. This is not good.

Every once in awhile something comes up in my "real" life that, frankly, kind of sucks. Right now is one of those times. My "real" life is Real Estate. That's what I do. Helping buyers and sellers buy and sell their homes.

And right now, federal regulators are trying to make that part of my life a whole lot uglier.

Congress recently created the Qualified Residential Mortgage rule (abbreviated QRM), to take affect this year. This regulation was intended to protect lenders and borrowers from the risky lending practices of a few years ago that have led to this debacle of Foreclosures and Short Sales. There are provisions in this rule that federal regulators are now very narrowly defining as requiring borrowers to put down a MINIMUM of 20% when purchasing a new home, or requiring hefty fees and significantly higher interest rates for those loans.

Now I don't know about you, but so far in my "young" life I haven't had 20% to put down on a home purchase. That's a big chunk of change! Not that there aren't buyers out there who can do that; it's just that there aren't very many. Honestly, not very many at all.

I think we all agree that there was some pretty irresponsible lending going on there for a few years. But the reality is that many of us responsible buyers also bought homes during that same period of time and very few of us put 20% down. I make my mortgage payment every month (have never even been late on it, thank you very much!), but if I had to put 20% down on my next house, it would be an awfully long time before I'd be able to do that (according to statistics from the National Association of Realtors, it would take the average person 14 years to save up that much for a downpayment).

Congress never intended this regulation to be so narrowly defined and the National Association of Realtors is asking Congress to press federal regulators to include an exemption in the QRM to allow for traditional loan programs similar to the loans available today; well-underwritten products such as 30-, 15- and 10-year fixed loans with from 5% to 20% down to include Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI).

Of course this is important to me because of my livelihood, but it is important to YOU because you own a home! If you were to try to sell your home in a marketplace where buyers were only allowed to buy if they had 20% down, how much do you think your house would be worth? Unfortunately, supply and demand is real. If there are 5000 homes on the market and 5000 buyers, housing prices are stable. If there are 5000 homes on the market and 50 buyers, prices will plummet. And boy, do I mean plummet.

Please call or email your Congressperson, Senator and anyone else you can think of TODAY to let them know you want mortgage loans to stay affordable!

Look up your Congressperson and Senator by clicking here, then enter your zipcode: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/.

Call or email them today. Tell them to protect America from the QRM. Tell them to keep mortgage loans affordable for qualified home buyers. Tell them America cannot afford another housing crisis.

Anyone who owns a home -- or merely wants to own one someday -- is going to be affected by the outcome of this. Please take the time to make the call.

BOOK REVIEW: "Room"

Room
By Emma Donoghue
Copyright 2010
Little, Brown & Company
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

Imagine your world is an 11x11 room and the few belongings that occupy it. That is the world of Jack in this horrifyingly stunning book by Emma Donoghue. Jack is five and has never known anyplace other than Room. He sees the outside world on TV and he knows it is just pretend.....all of it. Nothing is real to Jack other than this confined area he has lived in his whole life.

Jack's mother, known in the book only as Ma, has been held captive in Room for seven years. Two years into her ordeal she has a baby and thus begins Jack's world. He doesn't know what he is missing because he's never been anywhere else. He knows nothing other than Room, Bed, Duvet, Rug, Chair, Wardrobe and Skylight. But Jack's mother is worried. Their captor has lost his job and Ma is afraid of what will become of them if he loses his house. Jack is five and his mother knows they have to escape. She comes up with a daring plan, focused on Jack. But is he strong enough? Can he do what he needs to do to get them both to safety?

I don't want to spoil the story, so I won't go into any more details. But I will tell you that once Ma's plan is set into motion, my heart pounded for page after page as the story unfolded.

Some positive commentary on the story: The author did a great job of having Jack narrate the story from the perspective of a child who doesn't know any world other than this confined space. Jack's character has such a limited understanding of, well, everything, that there always seems to be something just a little odd about how he says things and views things. The intensity of the story is incredible. From the moment you start reading, you feel the story building to the climax, which actually comes earlier in the book than expected (for which I was grateful! My thudding heart needed a break!) And, for a change, you get to find out a little bit about what happens to the character "after" the main event.

Some negative notes: The entire topic of the book was so incredibly disturbing. An unbelievably evil man builds a shed in his back yard for the sole purpose of keeping a girl hostage. He thinks of everything and leaves her no possible means to escape. As I was reading, I had a sick little knot in my stomach just contemplating this actually happening to anyone. Horrifying does not even begin to describe it.

This was a very quick read. I can't say I enjoyed reading it, but I'm glad that I did (if that makes any sense). I feel it made me, somehow, a better person. And I truly could not put it down.

BOOK REVIEW: "Jimmy"

Jimmy

By Robert Whitlow

Copyright 2005

Westbow Press

Adult Fiction

3.5 Bookmarks

I was all set to give this one four bookmarks....right up until page 371. Then it rapidly dropped down to 3.5 due to an unpleasant ending. I hate it when that happens, especially when I really did like the book!

Jimmy is a novel about a 14-year-old boy in a small town in Georgia with lower mental capacities than other children. The book documents his struggles and triumphs in a world that seems to swallow him up.

Jimmy views life around him with an innocence that goes beyond naivete. His world is black and white and those who surround him with love make sure that whatever he needs to understand is explained to him in the simplest terms possible.

But when Jimmy accidentally finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, things that are beyond his understanding become his downfall.

This was a very well-written book. The story of love between Jimmy and his step-mother, and between Jimmy and his grandfather, was incredibly heartwarming to read. The author spent a great deal of time developing Jimmy's character and, although it was simple, his soul truly shone through in the writing.

A great book.......until the last few pages.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Valley of Horses"

The Valley of Horses
By Jean M. Auel
Copyright 1982
Crown Publishers
Adult Fiction
5 Bookmarks
Exceptional!

And this is Book 2 of the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel. I previously reviewed Book 1, Clan of the Cave Bear. This is the continuation of Ayla's journey.

As The Valley of Horses begins, Ayla is traveling alone to find people like herself, The Others. She travels far and for many days but doesn't find anyone. Instead, she finds herself in a beautiful valley where resides a herd of horses. Ayla finds a perfect cave and decides to stay for a few days, which turns into a few more, then eventually into an entire summer. As she plans for her winter stores, she faces the reality that she is still alone.

Auel, again, does a great job of explaining the intricacies of pre-historic chores like fire-starting, leather-scraping, and flint-knapping. Ayla is eventually joined in her cave by a baby horse and a baby lion. Auel creates a strong sense of family amongst the three cave dwellers.

Interspersed between the events occuring in Ayla's existence, Auel begins to tell a tale of two young men on a journey of their own. As they travel to new and exciting territories, Jondolar, and his brother Thonolan, experience adventure, love and hardship. As the days pass, they draw nearer and nearer to the valley of horses.

And, as I'm sure you can guess, Ayla finally has her first opportunity to meet someone of The Others: people like her.

This is my favorite book in the entire series. There is not a dull moment in this book as Auel does an incredible job of keeping the reader interested and anticipating what's going to happen next. I am always sorry when I get to the end of this one.

Again, this book has adult content and is not for young readers (there's a particularly "interesting" scene that starts on about page 470......*ahem*), so keep out of reach of children please!

BOOK REVIEW: "A Monk Jumped Over a Wall"

A Monk Jumped Over a Wall

By Jay Nussbaum

Copyright 2007

The Toby Press, LLC

Adult Fiction

4 Bookmarks

Funny title caught my attention browsing at the library. Picture of a guy in karate pose standing on a scale of justice helped me drop it into my bookbag.

I don't usually get into lawyer-themed books (or police-themed or CSI-type or pretty much anything with too much suspense--my heart can't take it!) So when I first started reading and discovered this was going to be "lawyery", I groaned.....and kept reading (like I usually do). But this time, I was pleasantly surprised. By the end of Chapter 4, the main character, J.J. Spencer, is in a street brawl with a bike messenger and things start to get really interesting.

The main gist of the story is that J.J. was sort of forced by circumstance into law school and he doesn't really know if that's what he wants to be when he grows up. As a matter of fact, he knows it. His hero is a cop who used to help his family when he was a kid, and really, he just wants to help people too. So when an opportunity comes at his law firm to hold a hand out to someone who really needs his help, he does it. Only he doesn't really think about the consequences first and ends up starting a whole chain of events in motion that he is unable to stop.

In the process of all this, the main character has some flashback moments of law school and some of the people he has known. The title of the book comes from a lunch he has with a law professor where the professor is eating soup called A Monk Jumped Over a Wall where he explains the story of how the soup got it's name. Apparently there was once a monk who sat in the monastery day after day doing whatever it is that monks do. But then one day, someone made this soup just outside the monastery, and the aroma wafted over the wall. The monk was so intoxicated by the smell that he jumped over the wall to get the soup, and never returned to the monastery.

All of us have a life path we have chosen. And sometimes something comes along that pulls us off that path and veers us in a direction we never could have expected (for good or bad). I sort of took that as the "theme" of the book.

Just the right balance of good story-telling, emotion and suspense. I'd recommend this one all around and think it's appealing to men and women alike.

BOOK REVIEW: "Breathing Lessons"

Breathing Lessons

By Anne Tyler

Copyright 1988

ATM, Inc., Publisher

Adult Fiction

1 Bookmark

I really hate it when I'm only a few chapters into a book and I'm already starting to feel like I really, really don't want to finish. Unfortunately, this was one of those books. Even more unfortunate, I am the type of person who usually finishes the book anyway. I continually tell myself, "this has to get better....this really has to get better". (Thus, the explanation for why I sat through the three miserable hours that was The English Patient.)

I also am continually telling myself, "There has to be some point to this," or "I can't believe I have to know how this ends." Torturous. Simply torturous.

But finally, I did finish the book. And it was soooooooooo not worth it.

Breathing Lessons is basically a commentary on a miserable married woman and the miserable relationship she has with her husband and the miserable relationship she has with just about every other person in her life. There are some moments where I'm pretty sure the author is trying to paint a "realistic picture of how women feel," but honestly, any woman who feels the way this woman is portrayed is probably on about six different kinds of anti-depressants and probably eats six chocolate bars every day just to make herself feel better. Okay, so maybe there are a lot of people like that out in the real world. But frankly, it was just depressing and miserable to read about.

The way the title character attempted to control and manipulate everyone around her was truly appalling. I know many of us (me sooo included here) have moments where we've butted into other people's lives (maybe some of which we regret), but the fact that this woman thinks she can control the outcome of everyone else's life is just......wrong.

Not a pleasant book to read. Not one bit.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Clan of the Cave Bear"

The Clan of the Cave Bear

By Jean M. Auel
Copyright 1980

Crown Publishers

Adult Fiction

5 Bookmarks Exceptional!

Okay, let me just preface this review with the fact that Earth's Children is my favorite, favorite, favorite series of books. However, Ms. Auel is a bit of a, shall we say, methodical writer. Book 6 of the series, Shelters of Stone, came out in 2002 when I was at home with my few-months old baby. And just this month, March 2011, book 7 has been released (Nine years to write a book? Really?) And as much as I loathe the fact that I had to wait so long, I am greatly, greatly, greatly looking forward to The Land of Painted Caves. Of course, I am number 494 in the library queue of 643 readers waiting for this book so it will probably be awhile before it reaches my excited little hands. So in the meantime, I decided to refresh my memories of the rest of the series. And, of course, I started with Book 1, The Clan of the Cave Bear.

This series of books is an historical fiction about a history that we really are making a whole lot of guesses about: the time before history began. The main character, Ayla, is a Cro-Magnon human girl who loses her family in an earthquake and wanders aimlessly until she is found by a band of Neanderthals, who call themselves 'the Clan'. Despite her differences, the Clan take her into their fold. Ayla does what she can to fit in with this new family, but she is hindered by the advanced evolutionary changes that make her so different.

Ayla struggles with submitting to the male authoritarianism of the Clan. She loses her language as she learns to speak with her hands in the way of the Clan. She develops close bonds with the woman and man who care for her, but fights constant battles with those in the Clan who don't want her there.

Auel employs wonderful writing skills to describe the plight of Ayla in this foreign environment. She also emphasizes the plight of the Neanderthals as the reader realizes some of the reasons why that race of humanity disappeared. Auel truly makes an effort to research her material and includes as much "fact" with the fiction as she can (maybe that's why it takes 9 years to write a book!) I took an Anthropology class last year and was reminded just how much Auel takes from actual history and incorporates within the stories. Everything from clothing worn to tools used to the way the cave they called home was organized.

There was a movie made in 1986 based on this first book (and starring Daryl Hannah).
The movie wasn't very good, but it did prompt me years later to start reading the series and I am so glad I did! I even borrowed a bit of the tone from the title when naming my blog.

There is a mystical quality to the story, even though the tale itself is so historically based. There is some adult content in this series, so grown-ups only. But, as you can tell by the fact that this is my favorite book series, I do highly recommend it.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

The Picture of Dorian Gray

By Oscar Wilde

Copyright 2003

Barnes & Noble Classics Publishers Classical Fiction

3.5 Bookmarks

I had seen this book listed on those "100 Books Every Person Should Read" lists, but had never really known much about it. When I read the synopsis, I thought it sounded interesting so I decided to add it to my own "Books I Have Read" list.

The Picture of Dorian Gray begins with an artist painting a portrait of a wonderfully handsome young man. So wonderfully handsome, in fact, that the artist seems to have become completely and utterly enamored with him, putting his whole soul into the painting. Shortly thereafter, when the painting is complete and Dorian himself sees how stunning the portrait is, he makes a wish that he could always be as young, inspiring and handsome as he is in the portrait and that the portrait instead should be the one who ages. A wish that, surprisingly, takes place.

As Dorian's activities shift into something sinister and forbidden, the selfishness that dominates his life begins to show on the face in the portrait while his own face remains as serene and beautiful as it always was. One of my favorite lines from the entire book was, "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about," a comment on the degree of narcissism into which Dorian would soon slip.

A few random comments about the story:

1. It was interesting to me that Dorian's friends and acquaintances who were aging around him only commented in passing about his unchanged appearance.

2. Dorian seemed quite fascinated with the phenomenon that was occurring, observed it almost like someone would watch a science project, and yet continually maintained a level of indifference at his own actions.

3. I was sorry that the love story ended the way that it did.

4. Many in literary circles over the years have commented about the sexual undertones in this book (mostly due, I think, to Wilde's own scandalous life at the time). However, I didn't feel like it was unnecessarily sordid. Nor did I feel like it took away from the power of the story.

A few random comments about the writing:

1. I rather enjoyed the descriptive nature of each passage within the book. Wilde uses lovely phrases to express his thoughts (and the thoughts of his characters).

2. I also rather enjoyed the witty Victorian-style banter perfectly placed within the story.

3. Wonderfully sickening suspense at the end of the story, just waiting for Dorian to make the realization of what he had done.

This story is definitely not for everyone. There is a noticeable level of debauchery throughout most of the book, certain events with a definite "ick" factor, and just the mere incomprehensibility of the nonchalance shown by the main character for the choices he makes. But I did enjoy reading the story and am glad to check it off my list.

BOOK REVIEW: "Moon Over Tokyo"

Moon Over Tokyo
By Siri L. Mitchell
Copyright 2007
Harvest House Publishers
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

Yay! A book I liked! The main character, Allie O’Conner, lives and works in Japan. Even though she’s been there for a long time, she still feels like she doesn’t quite belong. When her only real friend in this foreign land moves away, Allie prays for a new friend. What she doesn’t expect is to run into her old high school nemesis, Erik Larsen. And what is even more unexpected, is that she finds herself (albeit reluctantly) calling him friend. Will he become more?

I won’t go into a more detailed synopsis because this is a book you ought to read yourself. But I will tell you that I really enjoyed the character development of this novel (after some of the recent books I’ve read, it was really refreshing!) The author also focused on description of the setting, really bringing Japan into view, including many unknown landmarks as well as more expected Japanese sites (including Sumo wrestlers and cherry blossoms).

I loved the flow of the story, from Allie’s torn connection to the novel she’s never quite gotten around to writing, to Allie’s trouble with finding her way around a local shopping mall, to the recurring dream Allie can’t quite wrap her head around.

Lots of symbolism, beautiful description, plus a cute story. What more could you ask for?

COMMENTARY: Kindles, Nooks and Other Literary Crooks

If you check out my little “About Me” on the sidebar, you will know how much I love holding a good, old and dusty book in my hands. I love the way the pages feel, that old book smell, the crinkle of the dust jacket. I just love books!

So now the new reading rage is e-book readers. There are a variety of readers, the most popular of which seem to be the Kindle and the Nook (both costing roughly $150 retail). There are quite a few versions of each, offering a variety of different features. But the basic premise is, you have this nice little device you hold in your hands that you’ve paid a gob of cash for, then you pay another chunk of cash (not as much as a hardcover book, but more than many paperbacks) every time you download a book to your reader. The reader stores the book for you and allows you to access it at any time. You can hold thousands of books in your hands at any one time!

But wait. Don’t you ever read a book and think it’s so great that you want to loan it to a friend? I love my friends, but I’m not sure I’d be willing to loan my $150 electronic device to a friend for a long enough period of time for them to read it (especially when there are children and dripping sippy cups to contend with). Apparently, however, there is a feature offered that allows you to share your library if you have a friend or family member with the same e-book reader. They just have to register it to your e-book reader. Sounds a little complicated, probably not worth the trouble, and just not as nice as handing them the book in person so you can gush on about how good it was.

And of course, neither the Kindle nor the Nook will allow you stare lovingly at a bookshelf, tracing your fingers along the spines of these stories you love as you decide which one you want to read again. Nor do they allow you to flip through the pages as you reminisce about how much you enjoyed the story held therein. No. They merely keep the story in an electronic database forever. So these stories, whether you loved them or not, will most likely be relegated to the same fate as those thousands and thousands of digital photos you’ve taken and stored away on the hard drive of your computer, never to be viewed again.

And what about the kiddos? Are we going to get to a point where we sit down and cuddle together on the couch to read our bedtime stories from an electronic screen? I think not. I want my child to turn the page. I want her to see the pictures. I want her to learn to love holding books in her hand just as much as I do.

So consider this my official declaration that I will NOT succumb to this little fad. Any errant gift-givers out there beware; if a Kindle shows up on my door, I will return it…….and use the proceeds to buy about eight beautiful hardcover books for my shelf.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Thin Place"

The Thin Place

By Kathryn Davis

Little, Brown & Company Publishing

Copyright 2006

Adult Fiction

Zero Bookmarks

Do not....let me repeat, DO NOT read this book. Well, attempt to read may be more accurate. What a huge letdown this book was! I read the synopsis: a story about a place where the world of the living blends with the world of the dead--sounded kind of cool! I like ghosts. I liked the movie "Ghost". I liked "The Sixth Sense". Heck, I even liked "Ghostbusters". So I got the book and started reading.

The story starts out with three friends taking a trip to the beach. They see a guy laying on the sand and make the realization that he's not breathing. So two of the friends leave to go get help. The third girl stays. Turns out he doesn't end up dead after all, although there's no explanation about what happened.

Then after just a few pages more, I was mightily confused. Several more characters had been introduced into the story, but not much description. Who are all these people? After 20 pages, I couldn't keep one character straight from another. And new characters were being introduced left and right, with no description of who they were and why I was reading about them. Several characters were introduced in such a horrid manner, that I wasn't even sure which gender they were. And many of the characters had odd and ambiguous names "Mees, Piet, Sonny, Billie", which didn't help (turns out Billie is female.....I think).

The story jumps from a pack of dogs roaming around town killing chickens, to a person (female, I think) who has an embarrassingly quiet crush on a man, then to an unhappily joined couple with a husband who lives in a tent, then to a single lady with a cat who has a "friend with benefits", then to a group of folks who are trapping a bunch of beavers, then to someone's daily horoscope, then to a police blotter, then to a group of girls being followed by a creepy guy in a Dart, then to a crazy lady at church and the group of self-righteous churchgoers that are trying to keep the crazy lady out of the church, then to a woman who was in the hospital after a car accident that we never read about..... Then finally, somewhere around page 170, you find out that Mees (the girl who stayed with the dead guy on the beach) has some kind of gift. Of course, the author doesn't tell you what kind of gift. No no! Lucky you, you are expected to infer that her gift is something to do with raising the dead.

So here I am, 170 pages into this book. And here is the first hint of something (anything) that has to do with the synopsis on the pretty little dust jacket. Frankly, I was a bit miffed. I read a few more pages, but the story (if you want to call it that) kept jumping from one of these strange little scenarios to another, laced with these characters that you can't connect to at all because they haven't been described at all. Is that a female? Is she tall? Is she a brunette? Is she young? Is she old? You can't picture anybody so there's no way to connect to any of them at all and there's no way to connect them to the completely unapparent story that is supposedly going on around them.

I mean, isn't the whole point of a person writing a book to tell a story?

I read a few more pages after that then decided to stop wasting my time. If anyone knows me at all, they know it is a rare, rare book that I don't finish. But this one was just such an utter waste and there was not one redeeming factor about it, so I can't even give it half a bookmark.

Oh, and I did have a little chuckle when I sat down to write this review as I checked out the "reviews" on the back of the dust jacket. You know, the comments that the author gets another author to write for them? My favorite was "What an odd and entrancing novel The Thin Place is? (by Andrea Barrett). Another was "The Thin Place combines elements that ought to be unmixable..." (by Mary Gordon) And lastly, "Davis's approach to novel writing is so original and the results so magical that trying to review her fiction in a thousand words on a tight deadline feels as doomed as trying to review one of Blake's prophetic books." (by A.O. Scott of Newsday)

It was hilarious! The reviews on the back of the dust jacket were insults hidden in praise-ish words! It was awesome.

So needless to say, I am not recommending anyone read this book. Really. Don't beat your head against a wall like I have for the past four days.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Tipping Point"

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

By Malcolm Gladwell

Copyright 2000

Little, Brown & Company Publishing

Non-Fiction

3.5 Bookmarks

As recommended by my fellow blogger and friend, Brian, I took a few days recently to read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I don't usually read very many non-fiction books, but this was a good use of my time.

The Tipping Point is a commentary on why people do many of the things they do. As in, why do certain social activities (or clothing styles or crimes) become trends. He calls them social epidemics.

Gladwell asserts that the way trends get started is a lot like a medical epidemic. Gladwell uses case after case of ideas that passed from one small group into a larger portion of the population. He argues that just a few people in society are the ones who get the most done. He calls these people Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. Basically, the Connectors are those who know everybody. The Mavens are those who seem to know everything that is cool and new. And the Salesmen are the persuaders; those who are so charming and likeable that whatever they say, other people believe. These three groups of people are why social epidemics occur, according to Gladwell.

Gladwell has several different ideas about how these three groups of people work and also discusses other factors that affect the production of social epidemics.

This no-nonsense take on how big social changes happen was well-written and a quick read. I was able to take some of Gladwells ideas and see how applying them to my own career as a Realtor would be useful. For anyone interested in theorizing on why things happen, such as why criminals commit crimes, why a certain sneaker becomes THE thing for teens to wear, why pre-schoolers LOVE Blue's Clues, etc., this is a great book to help you in your search.

Although I'm pretty sure there is still no logic anywhere that can explain the whole "pants on the ground" epidemic that's still going on around us.

BOOK REVIEW: "A Prayer for Owen Meany"

A Prayer for Owen Meany
By John Irving
Copyright 1989
Modern Library, a division of Random House, Inc.
Adult Fiction
3.5 Bookmarks

I have unbelievably mixed feelings about this book. It's on that list of "100 Books Everyone Should Read", so I picked it up and gave it a whirl.

Let me give you the quick synopsis first. Imagine a young boy who is not "normal". He is small....much smaller than all the other boys his age. He has a funny voice. He thinks differently than other children. Imagine this boy surprising his baseball coach by actually hitting a ball when he is at bat. Imagine that ball sliding foul near third base and striking his best friend's mother in the head, killing her instantly. Shocking? Indeed, but maybe not quite as shocking as many incidents that follow in this obviously allegorical novel about young Owen Meany who is marching bravely forward to meet his destiny.

The story follows young Owen Meany and his best friend, John Wheelwright (who narrates the story from a point much later in life), through Christmas pageants, private school escapades, a stuffed armadillo, television commentary, an amputated finger, work at a quarry, enlistment in the army and so much more. The book is laden with story after story after story about the events that happen in Owen Meany's life (so much so that there came a point during my reading that I was beginning to wonder what the point was of there being so many side stories and incidental occurrances that didn't seem to link in to the main theme at all).

So while we're at it, let me get my negative comments out of the way. Number one, the book took simply FOREVER to read. It seemed to go on and on and on (see my comment above). There were a few times I almost gave up (and anyone who knows me knows I finish a book once I start it....but this one was close to being one of those rare instances when I didn't!) Number two, the book itself was extremely anti-war, anti-government and anti-American (certain passages left me with a very sour taste in my mouth). And number three, in my opinion, there is about a third of the book that becomes terribly repetitive and, frankly, boring; flashbacks, flash forwards, visits to an island, obsessions with newspaper stories about war, comments on the nonsexuality of the narrator (by the narrator)--it was really just too much.

Now on to the positive. There were some extremely poignant moments in this story. After John's mother is killed by that errant baseball, he says "When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time--the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers." As someone who has lost my mother, I could completely relate to this comment.

As Owen Meany grows older, although not much bigger, he begins to express his belief that everything happens for a reason, that there are no accidents, and that he is an instrument in God's hands. He lives every moment of his life believing this. And the many incidents that happen to him during that life all inspire the reader to eventually believe the same thing.

There were some really neat things in this book. I really liked the author's use of capital letters for Owen Meany's voice. It emphasized the fact that his voice was "unusual" when you would read it as such: "WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO REFER TO ME AS 'LITTLE,' AS 'DIMINUTIVE,' AS MINIATURE'? says Owen Meany. Once Owen Meany is old enough to join the Army, that is exactly what he does because that is what he believes he is supposed to do. He makes a great statement, "THE ARMY OFFERS YOU THE ILLUSION OF CHOICE--THE SAME CHOICE AS EVERYONE ELSE."

I also really liked the development of the relationships between the characters. Even the minor characters were woven in and out of the story in such a way that you could truly believe this was a true friendship, a true family and a typical community.

I won't be a complete spoiler and tell you what happens at the end, but as is typical with most allegories, you don't really need a spoiler. You really only have to read the first few pages to know how this is going to end.....it just takes an awful long time getting there. Only in the very last few pages of the book is Owen Meany's destiny fully revealed.

And to be quite honest, up until about page 632, I was planning on rating this book 2 Bookmarks. I was frustrated that it had taken so dang long to finish, that there were so many little seemingly pointless side stories, and here I was, nine pages from the end and still no "big reveal"! And then it happened. It started on page 632 and was WHAM BAM, THANK YOU MA'AM (as my mother used to say) until the last line in the book: "O God--please give him back! I shall keep asking You!" So many of the seemingly pointless stories were tied together at the end, I felt a 4 Bookmark rating would have been appropriate, but I had to knock it down a little just due to the fact that I spent so much of the time during my read HATING it!

RECIPE: Blue Hake Fish in Tarragon

Blue Hake Fish in Tarragon
(AKA New Zealand Hoki)

4 Blue Hake filets
1/4 cup white cooking wine
1 tsp tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp 0nion powder
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp paprika
4 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat 9x12 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Rinse off Blue Hake Filets in cool water and pat dry, then place into baking dish at least one inch apart. Pour white wine evenly over top of fish. Mix together tarragon, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. In this order, sprinkle spice mixture, breadcrumbs, parmesan, then paprika over the fish. Lay small dabs of butter evenly over the fish. Bake for 20-30 minutes until fish flakes easily. Serve with lemon juice or sauce mixture from baking dish.