Book bits and random ramblings by Andrea Rowley. A collection of book reviews, random social commentary, real estate news, recipes, music, photos and whatever else I feel like sharing!
I don't normally read too many fantasy-type books, but this one had just the right touch of magic. In Garden Spells, we are introduced to the Waverly family. Each member has a special gift. Evanelle has a tendency to give people things that they only later on realize they need (two quarters for someone who, days later, needs to make an emergency call; new sheets for someone who suddenly receives a surprise visitor, etc.) Sydney is a Waverly sister with a knack for cutting hair in such a way that it brings out the very best in a person's apearance. Bay is Sydney's daughter. She knows where things belong; where a fixture in a house belongs, where a person belongs.
And then there's Claire. Claire lives in a special home with a special apple tree in the backyard. Anyone who eats one of that tree's apples will see the most important event of their life happen. The herbs in Claire's garden are also special. They help Claire to make delightful foods for her catering business that help people to see things in a different light; a woman who wants her husband to notice her more, a person who wants their friend to show more understanding, and discouraging unwanted attention from a new neighbor.
The author does a great job of weaving the mystical elements into the story without it feeling like a mystery. This is just the world of the Waverly's and everyone in the small town where they live knows it. It was a fun story, a quick read, and would be great for a women's book club.
What happens when a prince who is destined to rule England falls in love with a commoner? This is a fictional tale about the controversy surrounding Prince Edward in the early 1900s and his refusal to accept the expectations of his position. Prince Edward (David, as he is known to his family) falls in love with Lily Houghton and tries every possible way to disobey the king's command that he marry a princess. His father, instead, sends him away and thinks he has put his son far from the tempting situation.
But the distance only makes David more sure of what he wants. He decides he will refuse to take the crown and will pass his kingly torch to his brother Albert. Lily knows that David will make a wonderful king and decides that she, a simple commoner, cannot be the reason for David to give up his birthright.
The result is unhappiness for all involved parties. Prince Edward (David), although he is eventually crowned as king, refuses to marry the princess his parents had courted on his behalf.
I don't care for stories that end sadly, but this one had so much that was based in fact that I truly enjoyed the historical nature of it. Although we don't know the exact circumstances of this time in Prince Edward's life, we do know that he later on does abdicate the throne to his brother Albert, who becomes a great leader during World War II. Nice historic touch to this one.
I hate stories with an "ick" factor. And this wasn't your typical "ick" either. This is a story about Cornelia Brown who is waiting for her prince to ride in on a white horse. Well, more specifically, she is waiting for Cary Grant to show up in her life. Fixated with the old, classic love story movies, Cornelia's dates just never seem to measure up. That is, until Martin Grace enters her life. Not only is he the spitting image of Cary Grant, but he is a true gentleman besides!
Cornelia thinks she is in love, but there's just something that's not quite right.
In the meantime, the story flashes to 11-year-old Clare Hobbes. Clare's mother is slipping deeper and deeper into psychosis every day until Clare is faced with the realization that her mother can no longer care for her. Estranged from her uncaring and mostly absentee father, Clare doesn't feel she has anywhere to turn. When she realizes things have become dire, Clare makes a desperate phone call to her father to tell him what is going on. He doesn't listen and casts her worries aside, as Clare had expected he would. So Clare makes a plan. She creates lists for how to make it through each day so that no one finds out what is going on and takes her away from her mother. She manages for quite some time, but then her mother takes off, abandoning her completely, and her father is the only one to turn to.
Clare's father, of course, has no clue how to handle the situation, and even less clue how to comfort Clare over the loss of her mother and the fact that he had ignored her previous concerns. It is only when her father's girlfriend Cornelia steps in and holds her during her tears that Clare finally feels safe.
Cornelia, of course, cannot understand why Martin has no connection with his child, especially when she falls in love with her within minutes. And frankly, as the reader, I couldn't understand it either. I felt decidedly uncomfortable with the thought that there are parents out there who feel absolutely no connection with their child at all, and what can happen as a result of that. Ick.
The ending does make up for some of the ickiness, but I was definitely uncomfortable reading some of the passages in the book. As a parent of an 11-year-old, I was just sickened at the thought of such a young child feeling so unloved and having to be so grown up.
Okay, so maybe I have a little secret crush on Nicholas Sparks (I do keep reading his books, after all). But this one was a little bit of a departure from his typical lighthearted love story.
The main character, Erin, has escaped her abusive cop husband and is hiding as Katie in a small town far, far away from her previously life. Katie works as a waitress and keeps to herself, until she meets a widower named Alex, and a new neighbor named Jo. Katie opens up a bit to Jo, and then Alex and his two children become friends with Katie. She eventually lets her guard down enough to consider the possibility of that friendship becoming more. As Sparks develops those relationships, the story flashes back periodically to her abusive marriage and the intricate planning she had to go through in order to escape. It also focuses on her husband, Kevin, who has never stopped looking for her and is spiralling deeper and deeper into an alcohol-induced psychosis.
I didn't want to put this book down until I found out how it ended (so many of Sparks' stories, after all, have sad endings). And I don't want to spoil it for you, but the twist at the end was a good one! I really enjoyed the character development, especially Erin/Katie, who showed extreme strength in overcoming the obstacles that she faced in her life. I have always had a soft place in my heart for women who are trapped in situations that they cannot get out of, and her character definitely showed through. The book had just the right amount of suspense and storytelling. This would be a great book club read!
Copyright 2011
Knopf, Borzoi Books Random House
Adult Fiction 2 Bookmarks
A somewhat tamer version of "Sex and the City", this faintly entertaining tale of three friends who deal with the constant pressure of other friends getting married and having babies ended up being a little bit disappointing by the end.
Lauren, Isabella and Mary pop in and out of each other's lives, and the lives of too many other friends to list. The story basically follows the three who navigate their way through different jobs, different boyfriends, singleton times, and all sorts of craziness and jealousy. Of course, everything pretty much works out in the end (you wouldn't have expected anything to the contrary with as predictable as the storyline flowed).
But the author was pretty good at creating fun anecdotes and side stories so I wasn't ever really bored reading it. The story just lacked any meaning or real purpose. I didn't really care about any of the characters by the time I was done reading it and the whole "adults who's lives aren't keeping up with their friends' lives" theme is so overdone, I was just underwhelmed by this one.
Heard this song for the first time today and one line stayed with me: "Just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die. Gotta get up and try." Cool song! (Plus the guy in the video has amazing abs...)
Yes, I know. This is just about the stupidest book title you've ever seen in your life. What, you may ask, was I thinking when I picked it up and decided to read it? Well I'll tell you. I was thinking that a book with this stupid of a title must have something interesting inside in order to compensate for the ridiculous name (and I was also thinking that I saw this title on the list of "100 books you JUST MUST read" so it must have some redeeming qualities).
This is an unconventionally written tale about a small town on the Channel Island of Guernsey recovering after a five-year occupation during WWII. The story is written as a series of letters between a writer named Juliet Ashton who survived the war in London, and the residents of Guernsey who formed a literary society, in part to help them pass the time during the occupation, but mostly as a cover-up for when they were caught out after curfew one night by the Germans. Juliet also pens letters to friends, and the residents of Guernsey write to the friends once Juliet decides to visit the island in person.
The entire story was beautifully written, and so clever how the authors were able to convey the sentiments of the survivors of the war through the correspondence between the characters. As a reader, I was able to sympathize with them for what they had been through, but at the same time, was able to see their strength and their readiness to move forward with their lives despite the terrible experiences they had survived.
A very heartwarming story, clever and enjoyable to read. This would make a GREAT book club book and would be enjoyed by a wide variety of readers. Truly a great, great story (And yes, I would have given it 5 Bookmarks if it had had a better title).
As I usually do, I enjoyed this book by Nicholas Sparks. True Believer had a slightly different twist than most of his stories. Journalist (of sorts) Jeremy Marsh has stumbled across a story about a haunted cemetery in the small town of Boone Creek, North Carolina. Jeremy makes the trip to see what all the fuss is about and ends up in the middle of a mystery that he decides he wants to solve.
In the meantime, he meets the town librarian Lexie Darnell and thoughts of heading back to the big city start to slip out of his mind. Lexie, of course, has demons in her past and she isn't sure she wants to let go.
The love story develops in a fairly typical manner for Sparks and by the time you get to the end of the story you definitely have the "awwwwww" factor that we've all come to expect with these stories.
I was a little disappointed in the development of some of the characters or this would have gotten a higher ranking. But I sure do love a good love story.
Fun book! Young Desiree Christian-Cohen, a budding writer, decides she needs to get away from her life in New York City. With recently divorced parents, a recently out-of-the-closet father, and an elderly grandparent being cared for by her mother, she just can't take it anymore. She closes her eyes and points at a map and ends up a few days later in Honey Creek, Kansas.
Desiree spends the summer in Honey Creek, inveigling herself into the locale with her charm, wit and just the plain and simple fact that she is a tourist where they've never seen a tourist before. Desiree falls in love with the country folks, the simple life and a young man who is able to fill the void she didn't even know she had.
There were some bad moments in the book: when Desiree's ex-boyfriend shows up and threatens to ruin everything, when one of her new friends shows up at the local diner beaten up by her boyfriend. But for the most part, it was a light-hearted and fun book to read. My favorite line in the book was "Don't bother trying to understand someone else's life. It's one of those things that can't be done." Simple words from a simple character, but they rang true to Desiree.
Loved that the title is really calling her a city slicker and has nothing to do with the raincoat on the cover.
Although I've always been a fan of historical fiction, I picked up this book not so much for the content but because the title comes from one of my very, very favorite poems ever (yes, I have a secret crush on Lord Byron).
This is the story of Clara Carter's entry into the social world in turn-of-the-century New York City. Clara is a smart girl, not interested in the balls, the parties, the afternoons "in". Instead, she dreams of going to college and making a difference in the world, but her father and aunt have different plans. So Clara is thrust into the thick of things and is soon paraded in front of various potential suitors. However, her guardians have made her very aware that only one particular suitor will do.
Clara resigns herself to her lot in life and actually seems to start enjoying the dancing and dressing up. Frankly, I was disappointed in her character for not fighting the societal expectations more than she did, but what do I know about what life was like in 1891. Still, I would have liked her to have a little more spunk. In the end, she does become a little stronger of a person and does some good.
Not sure there's much else to say about the plot on this one. It's a nice little love story with a few entanglements thrown in: a best friend who is trying to woo the same guy, a father who is involved in scandal, etc. While it was quite an enjoyable read, there were a few details that were disturbing. Some to do with the practice of corsetting. Who knew how absolutely awful THAT was! I will never be jealous of a woman with an 18-inch waist again.
I recommend this if you like Jane Austen or the Brontes. It's similar in tone and topic. Not too deep though.
New translation by Susan Bernofsky
Copyright 2006
Random House Publishing
Classic Literature 4.5 Bookmarks
So I thought I would take advantage of being at home today and catch up a little on my blog posts. I've actually read quite a few books over the past six weeks, so I'll put a few reviews up here today.
This was a favorite of the books I've read lately. It is the story of an Indian Brahmin who gives up his life of class and privilege to become a seeker on a spiritual journey. I'm sure there are some who would read this and compare it to the parables written by Paulo Coelho. In reality, Siddhartha was written nearly 100 years ago and seemed to me a possible inspiration for some of Coelho's writings. If you appreciate Coelho's writings, you will enjoy this book as well.
Siddhartha is a young man who one day makes the terrible realization that perhaps the love of his mother and father, and even his best friend Govinda, would not be enough to "forever suffice to gladden him, content him, sate him, fulfill him." And thus begins Siddhartha's spiritual journey to find the thing that will give him the fulfillment he so desires.
He joins the Samanas, a group of wandering ascetics, who practice strict self discipline to help them on the road to enlightenment. When he finds that not to be the path to his goal, he leaves the Samanas and finds a road to the merchant class where he lives for many years. When he discovers that is not the answer either, he finds his way to a ferry station where he lives next to the river and finally finds the answer he is seeking. It comes down to something so simple, that he can hardly believe it himself once it comes to him. "....Everything that is appears good to me," he tells his friend Govinda when their paths cross at the end of life.
There were so many wonderful phrases and such descriptive prose in this book. It was truly enjoyable to read. At only about 120 short pages, I breezed through it in a short amount of time but did go back and re-read some of my favorite parts. Highly recommend this one.
I have always believed that most psychologists are folks who are a little nuts (in a good way, of course) and basically just want to figure themselves out (this is also why I think I would have been a GREAT psychologist). That theory is fairly evident in this debut novel by Noam Shpancer. The main character works in a center for the treatment of anxiety where he meets his latest client, a stripper whose anxiety has brought her an inability to get back on stage.
The psychologist deals with his own strange attraction to the stripper, all the while trying to encourage her to work through her fears. At the same time, he maintains a strangely obsessive relationship with another psychologist he had met at work and had a brief fling with at a business conference. He casually relates the fact that this fling ended with a child coming into the world (a child he has never met before), and casually mentions the fact that the other psychologist is married. It is obvious he has never really dealt with the issues surrounding that little love triangle and, frankly, he doesn't even know how to begin to examine his own role in it all.
In the meantime, the psychologist also teaches a night class and we get some nice diverting "lessons" thrown into the midst of the story. Add an angry boss (you know, the guy who runs the strip club waiting for his favorite stripper to overcome her anxiety and get her naked butt back on stage), and a lot of interesting self-talk, and it made for a fairly entertaining read.
I don't know that I would read this one twice, but I didn't feel like it was a total waste of time either. Just a kind of interesting little trip into the psyche of a psychotherapist.
Always fighting those depressive demons, when I saw a friend suggest this book to another depression sufferer, I decided to pick it up and see what it was all about. The book starts out with an interesting premise: that depression can be lessened by combining western science and eastern philosophies in a sort of multi-pronged approach to treatment.
I can buy that. The author spends quite a bit of time talking about brain chemistry and the "how" of depression, along with some of the positives and negatives of traditional treatments. He then goes into Ayurvedic theory, defining people into air, fire and earth types. The author explains how the different Ayurvedic types have different needs and respond to different treatments. I found that I am mostly an "air" type (with a little "fire" thrown in for good measure). I have cold hands and feet, prefer hot drinks, I sleep lightly and have a restless mind, am prone to anxiety but overly discriminating and compulsive in routine. Yep, that about sums it up.
So apparently I need to give myself more down time, create a more consistent schedule and eliminate stress. LOL. Wife, mom, Realtor......how likely is that?
I did get a couple of good tips from the book on some meditation exercises, and a reminder to journal my feelings (which I haven't done in a very, very long time). Plus a chapter called "Strategies of wisdom" which included a paragraph about the importance of having someone in our lives who really knows how to listen.
The author writes, "When someone listens not with their ears or their thinking mind, but with an open heart and a nonjudging mind, then the soul feels safe to come out and reveal itself....This kind of exchange is a gift for both the speaker and the listener, a relationship that goes beyond the unequal roles of helper and helped....Rather, the exchange is a relationship of two souls, in which 'the god in me meets the god in you' and both parties are the richer for it. The remarkable thing about such a soul relationship is that whether you are the speaker or the listener, you benefit a great deal."
Those words struck such a chord in me. To have that type of a relationship is something to be truly cherished. That one paragraph alone was worth reading the entire book.
Life After Genius
By M. Ann Jacoby
Copyright 2008
Grand Central Publishing
Adult Fiction 4 Bookmarks
Gotta love the smart kids. You know, the ones who skip ahead a grade. Then skip ahead again. Life After Genius is a story about one such kid from a small town (the kind of small town where people get trapped in a dead-end life and can never leave). The boy was named Theodore Mead Fegley. Teddy, as he was called throughout childhood, leaves for college in the big city at the age of 15, decides on a new persona and begins answering only to his middle name of Mead. Mead fits into the college scene like a square peg in a round hole, but muddles through and eventually begins to thrive.
So much so that when he is on the verge of proving an important math hypothesis but packs up and leaves school right before graduation instead, everyone around him scrambles to find out why.
Mead goes home to the small town and his eclectic family, including a helicopter mom (you know who you are) and an undertaker father. He tries to fit back into that world, even helping his father clean up the dead before burial, but won't answer anyone's questions about why he left college in the first place.
As the story unfolds we find out details about another smart kid named Herman who was in college with Mead. Herman, it turns out, had become somewhat of a friend to Mead. We learn he had something to do with Mead fleeing school but we don't yet know what the connection might be.
We also read about Mead's cousin, Percy, who had recently died a tragic death after escaping the small town post-high school and fleeing to the big city. One of the most profound moments in the book is when Mead is talking to Percy's ex-girlfriend about why they had broken up. She says, "I think I reminded him of his past. And he didn't want to be reminded. It was almost as if he feared being sucked back in." As someone who grew up in a small town and escaped out into the bigger world, I can completely relate to this sentiment.
I really enjoyed the flow of the writing in this story. I am also not usually a big fan of suspense, but there was just enough of that to keep me wondering page after page what was going to happen next. Oh, and I liked the clever cover of the boy's legs with two different colored socks (as a parent of a smarty-pants child who frequently wears two different colored socks, it struck a nerve). Good writing. Good story. Good ending. This is a recommend.
If I ever, ever complain about my childhood again, just slap me upside the head. The Glass Castle is the story of the childhood of author Jeannette Walls. I would say I've never read such a story before, but I just read one that was strikingly similar to this in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (reviewed here). In fact, that classic by Betty Smith is even mentioned in The Glass Castle.
Okay, so back to the book. The story starts out by describing three-year-old Jeannette, standing up at the stove with a boiling pot cooking herself a hot dog because she is hungry and if she doesn't fix food herself, no one else will. Jeannette's dress catches on fire and she ends up in the hospital for weeks on end. Finally, her parents snatch her out of the hospital and take off. Within a few days, Jeannette is back standing at a stove cooking herself a hot dog (because if she doesn't feed herself, no one else will). This sets the tone for a story of a childhood filled with neglect, siblings who can only rely on each other, and parents who cannot face the responsibilities of parenthood.
The Walls family moves from desert town to desert town throughout Jeannette's young childhood. Most of the time, not even staying long enough for the children to make any kind of life for themselves. The usual excuse for the packing up and driving off in the middle of the night is that someone is after them, but it seems that instead of facing the daily problems of life, the parents always just want a clean slate. The result of this transient lifestyle is that the children are faced with abject poverty and constant hunger, sleeping on cardboard, are never able to establish any roots, and know not to develop any close ties anywhere (there's even a terribly sad scene where, during one of these midnight runs, the father throws the family cat out the car window and leaves it behind).
Jeannette's father is a drunk who is a dreamer, clever but lazy (he dreams of one day building a glass castle for his family). Her mother is an artist who has some skills that could help the family survive but refuses to use them. They seem to love their children with the very barest definition of the word, but have no compassion nor ability to put the children's needs ahead of their own. As the children grow older and the family runs out of options, they end up returning to the father's hometown in West Virginia, an abysmal hole in the ground place where nothing good can come. In a freezing cabin that pours down water on them whenever it rains, eating food from the garbage cans at school to survive, and protecting each other as best they can, these children show their strength and determination by eventually pulling themselves out of it and leaving their parents' world behind.
I think the most difficult thing about reading this book was seeing the two very able-bodied parents sit idly by while their children went hungry. The worst of this for me was the scene where the four children haven't eaten anything substantial for days and the mother is caught sitting at the side of the room sneakily eating a candy bar. Who would do that? Surprisingly though, the author doesn't seem to resent her parents for raising her this way. She describes them with affection and kindness and is only saddened by their shortcomings.
This book was both fascinating and horrifying, but it was extremely well-written. I think of the things I went through as a child and they just don't even compare to what this family struggled through and survived. Highly recommend this one for all readers.
"Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod"
By Gary Paulsen
Copyright 1994
Harvest Books
Autobiography
2 Bookmarks
I have a secret. Truth be told, I'm kind of embarrassed to share it. Frankly, some people will find it shocking, especially considering the fact that I live in what seems to be the dog ownership capital of the nation, but......I don't like dogs. There. I said it. Let the hate mail begin.
There are a myriad reasons for my discomfort around Fido. Number one is the memory of when a cousin was severely mauled by a dog. I was not there, but heard about it in horrifying detail from a third party (grateful that after much medical intervention she was okay).
Number two would have to be the dog at the house by the Little Butte. As a kid, I would sometimes ride by this house on the way to my friend's place and the dog would rush at me, barking like a crazed lunatic and nip at my heels as I would peddle and peddle as fast as I could to get away (growing up in the country has its drawbacks. The fact that no one keeps their dog behind a fence is one of them). My heart still starts racing as an adult when I go by that house. In a car. With the windows rolled up.
Number three is probably the time a client allowed his dog to bite me (it was obvious the dog was extremely agitated and the owner didn't make any effort to restrain it). Very difficult position to be in, trying to be professional while screaming inside because of the gash ripped in my foot.
Other than that, it's just the normal stuff. Don't like dogs pooping in my yard. Don't like dog hair on my clothes. Don't like dogs jumping all over me. Don't like dogs drooling and schnozing all over me. Yes, I am a coldhearted bee-otch for not liking dogs.
That being said, someone who obviously doesn't know me well enough to know this little "secret" of mine, recommended a book to me: Winterdance by Gary Paulsen.
This story of a man who likes to "run dogs" so decides to run the Iditarod in Alaska was definitely not in my normal genre of book, but it came so highly recommended I thought I'd give it a try. And in fact, the entire concept of the story was so foreign to me it was difficult to grasp that it was autobiographical (yes, this ACTUALLY happened!)
The author puts together a team of dogs that are constantly attacking him, biting him, and attacking each other all the while training to run the race. They are not nice dogs. The situations this guy finds himself in are utterly miserable. And yet, he is somehow thrilled to be with the dogs and waxes eloquent for page after page about how wonderful an experience this is.
So this guy is dragged by the dogs, skunked because of the dogs, sleep-deprived, starved, poverty-stricken......and the race hasn't even started. And yet, none of it matters because of his obsession with the dogs. It was a bizarre concept that I truly believe only a dog-lover can understand. The guy gets enough donations together to get up to the race. Once the author gets to the part describing the race, I was sort of numb to the graphic descriptions of dog bites, dog crap and the other unpleasantries he was faced with on a daily basis. The race itself was a little more interesting, but the poor guy just keeps getting hit with one catastrophe after another (frostbite, hallucinations, chunks of ice floating away with people on them). It's enough to make me wonder why anyone in the world would ever have any desire to run such a race. But it takes all kinds, I suppose.
That being said, the story was somewhat well-written, straight-forward and detailed. It kept my interest, but most of the time while reading it I felt a deep-seated horror that someone would actually put themselves through this experience on purpose.
Many of you know that in my "other" life, I'm a Realtor. The reason I'm a Realtor is because I kinda love houses. Big houses, little houses, old houses, new houses, doesn't matter. Every house is a little different and little unique and they're all fun to walk through! But I digress. The reason for my diatribe on houses is because that explains why I picked up this book in the first place. House & Home, such a cozy title.
Sadly though, I was disappointed to learn that this book is actually about a woman who is so obsessed with her house that when she has to sell it (due to divorce), she decides to burn it down. As you can imagine, this does not end well.
The story itself isn't terribly written. There are moments that are somewhat interesting and keep you turning the page. But there are just a few things in here that are so bizarre as to be completely unbelievable...like the main character going on a long car ride with the husband of "the enemy" (the woman who is buying the house) just because they're both going the same direction and they want to save the gas or something.
There's a slight edge of infidelity in a few spots in the book, and a few weird characters that just aren't that believable. Plus, there weren't very many characters in the book that you get to know enough to actually care about.
After the week I've had, I really need to get back into life and be able to focus on something good. And I'm happy to say, I read a book recently that I can definitely call GOOD (although there are probably some out there who would disagree.....)
I don't usually read the trendy books (Harry Potter? Nope. Twilight? Naw. Hunger Games? NEVER!) But I finally broke down and read Fifty Shades of Grey. I read a review of it somewhere that called it "mommy porn", but I didn't really realize the exact level of the sexual content of the book until I was somewhere in the middle of chapter six. And maybe it's because I don't usually read romance novels that I was somewhat shocked, but YOWZA!
Okay, so let me go back to the beginning. Fifty Shades is about a young soon-to-be college graduate, Anastasia Steele, who meets an up-and-coming business mogul, Christian Grey. The chemisty between them is instantaneous. After running into each other on a few occasions, he asks her out. But the date is anything but typical. Christian, it turns out, has certain, ummmm......shall I say, proclivities? that soon come to light. So while Anastasia is overcome by her desire for this man, she is hesitant because of the things he is particularly fond of in the bedroom. Things related to leather. And blindfolds. And paddles. And chains.
As Anastasia and Christian become closer, the differences between them become more apparent. The story pulls them closer together and pushes them apart. The author does a great job of drawing the reader into the relationship of the two main characters, while at the same time throwing in some pretty detailed sex scenes.
I realize this is going to sound unbelievably cliche' (given the "I-just-read-it-for-the-articles" excuse that guys give when they're caught with a Playboy), but I really enjoyed the story of the emotional drama and tension between the main characters more than the sex stuff. Anastasia struggles with the idea that in order to have a relationship with Christian, she has to accept things she previously would have deemed unacceptable and she just isn't sure she can do it. And Christian struggles with the idea of having a relationship that isn't JUST about the sex with someone.
For my friends who don't watch R-rated movies: Sorry. I just cannot recommend this book to you. I would definitely rate this book far above an R rating. There is talk about making it into a movie but, frankly, I'm just not sure how they will do that without having at least an NC-17 rating (maybe lots of dark rooms with the impression of things happening without actually showing it?)
For everyone else: As long as you are comfortable with sexuality, I can definitely give this one a recommend. I enjoyed most of it. My biggest complaints were related more to the believability of the book. For instance, the story is set in Seattle with the characters supposedly native Washingtonians, but the dialogue occasionally includes words like "bloody", "crikey", and other phrases that no red-blooded American would ever be caught dead saying. They also at one point eat "biscuits" (crackers). And the main female character has a strong fascination with tea (Tea? In Seattle, of all places!) Do you think the author "might" be British?
It was definitely an enjoyable read, though, and I now have the second two books of this trilogy in my queue at the library. Four bookmarks from me.
This has been an unbelievably traumatic week for me. And since writing has always been good therapy, I thought I would write about my experience.
I spotted the first plume of smoke around noon while showing houses on Saturday, June 23rd. I remember thinking, “Ugh, a wildfire. Someone probably threw a cigarette butt down on the Waldo Canyon Trail. Idiot!” (I do not tolerate the inconsiderate morons who litter and put the rest of us in danger by throwing out their butts anywhere they want, let alone in a forest as dry as ours!)
As I drove up I-25 back to my office after showing the last home, I started to worry about the fire. It was very apparent that the smoke plume had grown significantly larger.
Monday afternoon with the smoke column rising.
That night I watched the news with my family. Yes, it was a wildfire. Yes, it was in Waldo Canyon. And yes, it was dangerous. We watched that evening and much of the day Sunday and into Monday as they evacuated neighborhood after neighborhood coming closer and closer to us.
The Incident Response Team was amazing as they immediately started holding press briefings twice daily to update the community about the fire. The fire moved in different directions every day, which was making things difficult. The Fire Manager explained some of the boundaries the firefighters were trying to set up to keep the fire from coming into the city. One of the main containment lines was Queen’s Canyon, just outside the Garden of the Gods area near Glen Eyrie. Two mountain ridges from housing communities, and just about five miles from our house.
On Tuesday I dropped my daughter off at her grandparents’ house so I could go to work for awhile. The wind was starting to blow. It was quiet at the office, but after a few hours people started going over to the western windows and looking out periodically and I started to do the same. The fire seemed to move faster than imaginable. The wind had gotten ahold of it and fanned it into a ball of flame. Before we knew it, the fire had visibly crested the second ridge from town, which meant it had passed the containment line the firefighters had established at the boundary of Queen’s Canyon.
Photo taken from my office Tuesday. My cell camera is terrible,
but you can see the flames sweeping down the mountainside.
Not good. I checked the fire about every 10 minutes. Each time I looked, more of the mountain was encompassed in flames and soon, it crested the first ridge of the mountain range near “the scar” (the old Queen’s Canyon Quarry), and raced down the slope toward the neighborhood of Mountain Shadows. At 4:30, I was finally finished with my work and rushed out of the office and across town to pick up my daughter. By this time, the western sky was black with smoke. The wind was gusting at about 25-30 mph. And there were so many flames.
This is what the flames looked like from the north as they
came down the mountainside into town.
Photo by Cassidy DeJong
Once I picked up my daughter on the eastern side of town and headed back west it really hit me that we were in trouble. As we drove toward the mountains, we could no longer see the flames racing down the ridge. Instead, we drove into a wall of black smoke pouring through the streets from west to east. We could hardly see the cars in front of us in some spots. Everyone was racing to get home and traffic was terrible.
We finally pulled into the house, where my husband was already packing up bins with our most valuable possessions. The wind was now gusting at about 40-45 mph and we could hardly see the homes across the street from us. I think the mandatory evacuation order was issued about 10 minutes after I walked in the door. We grabbed our cats, our lizard, some clothes, our important papers, medications, and a few irreplaceable items, jumped in the cars and left.
This photo taken closer to the fire. Where we evacuated from,
the smoke was surrounding the cars and blocking the viw.
But every once in awhile, the smoke would swirl up and we
could see the flames in our rearview mirrors.
(Photo courtesy unknown)
The traffic on our street was stand-still with everyone trying to get away from the wall of smoke and heat that was now bearing down on us. We were trying to get out of the neighborhood going south because of the neighborhoods north of us being evacuated at the same time. My husband and I were both listening to the same radio station when they announced they were closing all westbound lanes to incoming traffic and opening them up to evacuees going east. We immediately turned around, headed north and got out going east in a westbound lane. I tried to keep my daughter calm as she cried in fear the entire drive away from the flames. When we finally pulled into my in-laws driveway, I finally broke down and cried too, so thankful that we had gotten out and were okay.
The flames barreled down the mountain toward the houses
backed by 65-70 mph winds. Photo from the AP.
We knew there would be much loss. We hoped and prayed there would be no death. When the news finally came out, the loss was devastating. 346 homes lost. Two dead—an elderly couple that didn’t make it out of their home. The press briefing Wednesday morning was somber.
We spent three nights at my in-laws praying for the wind and the heat to stop. We had record high temps for several days in a row, including one day we hit 101 degrees, a historic high temperature for Colorado Springs.
As aerial photos of the burn area started appearing on social media and eventually even on the news, most people knew, even before the Incident Command Team released the list, of who’s homes had been lost.
Of the 7-8 families I know who live in that neighborhood, I was saddened to discover that one of my client’s had lost their home and all their possessions. Truly, that was the worst moment for me—to have it hit so close to home. But I was amazed at this family’s cheerful spirits and the smiles on their faces when they came to see me at my office a few days later. Truly an inspiration.
The fire destroyed 346 homes in a neighborhood of about 1800. The firefighters made heroic efforts to save most of the homes, facing down the flames that came barreling down the mountain backed by a 65 to 70 mph wind. They said later that the fire moved three miles in one hour that day. When it finally stopped, it was just one and a half miles from my home. I think about how fortunate we are for everything that we have. We are safe. Our neighborhood and home were spared. And, although this is not over yet, the fire is finally moving away from the city. We are hopeful that the pre-evacuation notice we are under will lift soon.
It sure makes you look at what is important in life and remember those that you love. My gratitude is overflowing for the 1200+ firefighters, police officers, forest service officials, and soldiers that are still out there trying to keep us safe.
If you'd like to see an amazing time lapse of the the first five days of this fire, watch this dramatic video by local photographer Steve Moraco:
Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown, 2nd Edition
By David Wiedemer, Robert Wiedemer and Cindy Spitzer
Copyright 2011
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Economic Non-Fiction
3 Bookmarks
Well if this won't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will. Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown is an economic theory book focusing on the state of the U.S. economy with predictions for the next several years.
The authors of this somewhat doomsday piece believe that there are several interlinking market bubbles (including real estate, stocks, dollar and government debt) that are in the process of popping. The first of these, real estate, has obviously already begun. The authors believe that a chain of events, including the current government policies of printing gobs of new dollars and taking on gobs of new debt (currently nearing $16 trillion), are going to lead to a major financial meltdown in the U.S., and even worse abroad, within the next few years.
Boy, I hope they are wrong. And as I was reading the book, I found it funny that the authors even talk about people like me hoping they are wrong. The title of the book comes from the "aftershock" the authors expect after the popping of all these economic bubbles. In a blatant oversimplification on my part, let me summarize. The authors believe that at some point in the very near future, we will stop being able to take on new debt because other countries will stop loaning money to us. At the same time, the dollar is going to become so hyperinflated that it will be nearly worthless. Do you remember the photos of post WWII Germany with the wheelbarrows of cash taken to the store to buy a loaf of bread? Yeah. And jobs will become even more scarce. Discretionary spending will come to a grinding halt. Real estate will suffer a dismal fate. And Wall Street will lose most of its value.
It's a fairly well-written book with logical arguments and plenty of detail. There were a few places where they lost me, possibly due to my inexperience with the whole investment side of things. Plus, the blatant plugs throughout the book for their financial services and investment opportunities were extremely self-serving and lessened the credibility of the book as a whole, in my opinion. But it was an entertaining and educational read with a little bit of an unconventional theory behind it that really got me started thinking more in depth about the economy and what is going on with government fiscal policies.
Garden Spells
