It is obvious to me that I am not going to get through either the book on my kindle nor the audio book on my IPOD before the end of the year. Well maybe the book on my kindle but I do not think it will make this list. Therefore I think it is safe to go ahead and post a Top Ten List for 2012 from the books I have read. I looked back over my posts for the year and came up with a total of 26 books. There is no reason to post again what the books are about as there is a blog for each one already. Of the 26 books I have read this year my favorite ten are:
10. Destiny Of The Republic by Cancice Millard
09. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
08. Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
07. Sign Talker by James Alexander Thom
06. At Home by Bill Bryson
05. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
04. 1000 White Women by Jim Fergus
03. The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
02. The Poison Wood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
01. The Outlander Series (books 2-7 this year) by Diana Gabaldon
Although I consider Margaret Atwood's works dark I am mesmerized by her novels. A couple of years ago I listened to Oryx and Crake and while the story haunted me I knew I would return to another novel by Margaret Atwood in the future. Finishing up The Year Of The Flood last Thursday evening has made me an avid Margaret Atwood fan. I liked it much better than Oryx and Crake.Oryx and Crake is an excellent back ground novel for The Year Of The Flood which tells the story of what happens after Oryx and Crake ends although there is some over lapping of time between the two novels. The audio format of The Year Of The Flood is especially cool. It has three voices and also music. The book follows two women as their lives unfold up until a plague wipes almost all of the population of the Earth and what follows is the story of these two women's survival along with those close to them. Both of the women spend time with an environmental fringe group called God's Gardeners prior to the plague and the life style of this group is featured as a contrast to the more main stream life style of the people who live in the scientific communities and the life styles of the poor people who live in the shells of what were once cities. Margaret Atwood writes a tale of caution of what the future could hold and this novel cries out to us to change our ways. Especially chilling is the saint days of the God's Gardeners Group which are named after the leaders of our current environmentalist movement's leaders. The children of the God's Gardener group learned to recite the names of the expired species of animals which was very sad. And one of the expressions of this group that I found meaningful was to "put light around" a person who needed support. A college level class could be taken on this novel and I am sure one is offered in some universities as there are so many layers of meaning to the story. Be sure to click on the title and author's name above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video below from the play list of God's Gardener's Hymns.
When my kids were junior high age I had the opportunity to get a way for a few days. As I was telling them good bye, I promised souvenirs for them and asked them if there was anything special they wanted. My youngest, in his usual straight forward way replied, "I don't know mom but please don't bring me anything with Lincoln on it.". Which probably demonstrates that while other people get excited when they go to the Bahamas or off on some sort of cruise, if you tell me you will go with me to Springfield Illinois I am one happy person. After all the whole Abraham Lincoln story is such a moving one. So when Bruce told me that he would take me to see the movie Lincoln while it was in the theaters, since I assumed I would wait till it came out in rentals, I was very much looking forward to it. On this past Saturday night I was not disappointed. This movie made the hair on my arms stand up over and over. And dinner at Casa's on Stellhorn was yummy too.
This little mystery is a delight and a series I will enjoy more of in the future. M.C. Beaton creates a hilarious heroine in Agatha Raisin and this book is a belly laugher. A career women retires early and moves to a small town in England. Her adjustment to a new life and the situations she gets herself into are a hoot. A light mystery story this book is great fun. Next time I need an escape I will reach for the next book in the Agatha Raisin series. Click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video below. The video is of the audio book. I read the book on my kindle. It is available in paper back also.
I probably oue you an email. Or maybe a text message or even a phone call. My last few blogs have been rushed. And any FB postings have been on the fly. So I thought perhaps I would take just a minute to update in a general blog because I don't have time to answer the growing pile of emails in my ebox and let people know I did not fall off the side of the earth. Well maybe I did kind of sort of fall in something. Seriously though, exchanging 5200 text messages with one person and spending innumerable phone minutes with him since the third week of October does not leave a girl a lot of spare time. Since I am not sure where to start perhaps I will start with the past weekend.
My last trip had been in August to see my son in Denver. I have pretty much been home since then. So I was over due for a road trip. Bruce had been to NE Indiana three times and since it was my weekend off and he had visitation with his youngest son I was invited to Ohio for the weekend. It was beautiful weather for the first of December driving down and I took the scenic route leaving south out of Fort Wayne and down through Decatur and across 33 to 75. The small towns were fun to drive through and there was much to see. Things got especially picturesque as I passed through the area SE of Dayton. I arrived safely late Saturday afternoon as clearly I don't leave early in the morning for any where and also I wanted to allow space for those visiting on the other end. The GPS that Nicole and Michael gave me for my birthday got me there although I am still more than a little awkward with using it. After arriving we watched a documentary that I had started to watch with Nick in Denver and then it had become time to leave to catch my train so I missed the end. Said son G was into a ball game on the tube in the living room so we watched the following on the television in the TV room.
Following which said son G chose where we went to dinner and while there daughter A arrived with her husband and two of her children so I met a few more family members. After dinner we watched a movie which even though it had won an Academy award a few years ago I had never seen so was glad to get to watch it. It was excellent:
On Sunday we took said son G to a buddy's to throw around a foot ball and lunched at Ruby Tuesdays. After which we wandered around a large flea market that is located near Kings Island. I headed home around ten Sunday p.m. and had the unfortunate experience of driving through way to much fog but since I had to work on Monday afternoon I felt it was necessary.
So as you can see I am busy. If you are in the category of my life that is dubbed "close female friend" you have been hearing from me. Other wise your email, text or phone call has probably been left unanswered. Certainly at 55 both Bruce and I have each gathered enough baggage to proceed with some caution. Never the less we have now dubbed this as "seeing each other" and clearly we both are saying "so far so good". So um, you know how it is . . .
Michael Crichton is (was - while I still enjoy his books he has passed away) one of my favorite authors. Congo is the third book of his that I have enjoyed and I am sure I will return to his books in the future. It is a story of a group of people who are going into the congo to a lost city to find diamonds and have to fight off all sorts of danger. One of the most difficult being a new species of gorilla that was bred in ancient time to guard the diamonds. There is also a volcano that erupts not to mention attacking hippos. The book is Michael Crighton's usual action packed adventure with the added delight of a gorilla that was raised in captivity and trained to communicate with sign language. As has been many of Michael Crighton's books this one was made into a movie. Click on the author's name and the book title above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the movie trailer in the video that follows. I not only recommend this book but the two other Michael Crichton books I have read - Next and State Of Fear.
After working together to put on our Thanksgiving Dinner this past week (note he is a good gravy stirrer) Bruce had brought a movie for us to watch on the DVD player he brought me to go with the flat screen TV the kids had given me the prior weekend. It was a very cute movie.
When I am asked, I am quick to say that I don't watch slasher movies and that books that are psychological thrillers give me nightmares. Never the less, I enjoy an occasional book by Tess Gerritsen. As an internist, Tess Gerritsen's attention to detail during the autopsies and her psychological descriptions of not only the serial killers in her books but of the heroes and heroines too are fascinating. As usual I have not read the Rozzoli and Isles series in order and I wish that I had so I will have to eventually go back and enjoy the ones in the series that I have missed. A couple of years ago I listened to an audio book of her Body Double. I never would have discovered Tess Gerritsen except that, in the days before my IPOD, when I was listening to audio books on my cars CD player, I purchased a "lot" from eBay of books on CD. One of these books was Body Double and I enjoyed it although I watched behind my back for several months after that when walking to and from my mailbox after work. So when I was looking for a book to listen to on my Ipod during my commute around the end of October I selected The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen to compliment the Halloween season. The book is about Detective Jane Rozzoli's investigation of a series of murders by a criminal they have dubbed the apprentice due to his copy cat style of a serial killer that her team put behind bars the year before. Please be sure to click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links for more information. Enjoy the video that follows.
After a to die for dinner of BBQ ribs at North Side Grill in town Bruce and I watched a DVD of Playing For Time starring Vanessa Redgrave. It is a TV movie from 1980 about the concentration camps during the Holocaust. I have wanted to see this movie for a few years now and have never been able to find it so was very glad that Bruce was able to find it for me and I finally was able to see it. The movie is very thought provoking as you can tell by clicking on the links with in the text above. It made the conflicts within the various groups of the concentration camp clear and it also really made the horror of how the people were treated in the concentration camps real.
The November selection for my library book group is The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson. I started it toward the end of October thinking it would take me awhile to read it but it was a quick read so I finished it before the first of November. It is the story of a family and their holiday season. I have read James Patterson's books before but not to often because they generally give me nightmares. Not so with this book. It is very G rated and a fine book for all ages and all audiences that want an ivory girl type experience. This book will not make it into my top ten list for 2012. It is not a bad book but there is nothing particularly striking about it. It is a book about a widow who has her children home for the holidays and is also having her wedding at the same time. Three men have proposed and no one but the widow knows who the groom is going to be right up till the time she announces her choice during the actual wedding. I would not recommend it but if you like light romance novels then this is the book for you. I am not big on weddings being a happy ending and I would not have picked the man she chose. Click on the title of the book and the authors name above to follow the link to more information and enjoy the video below.
Jude Deveraux is known for her love stories and I am not a fan of love stories. No Harlequin Romance Novels for me! But when a contact from another site recommended this book to me it sounded interesting and I thought it would make a good book to read in October since it included the occult in the story line. So I moved it from my wish list to my kindle a week or so ago and two nights this last week I was up way past my bed time with my nose in my kindle. This book is a comedy/ romance/mystery/scary kind of book and I really enjoyed it. I actually laughed out loud more than once while I was reading it and was on the edge of my - well I don't read in my chair but it is obvious what I mean. In this novel a young woman takes a job as an assistant to an author and they move to a small southern town to write a novel about an old unsolved murder mystery. The murder turns out to be involved with a spell from the devil as the author and his assistant do the research to solve the crime. Perhaps the book would have been a lot more frightening to me if I were a person that believed in a personified evil but since evil to me is more of a negativity rather than a man dressed in red with a pitch fork I was not overly terrified. Jude Deveraux does a nice job with character development and the book is an easy read. I flew through the book. While I would say this is under the category of "fluff book", there is a time and a place for fluff. I highly recommend this for a Halloween novel. Remember to click on the author's name and the title of the book above to follow the link to more information.
This is the second time I have blogged about this book. About a year ago I listened to it for the first time on audio. I enjoyed it so much that I nominated it to be one of my library reading group selections for this year and it was selected for this month. Therefore I listened to it again to refresh my mind on the details and I enjoyed it just as much the second time through. It is a fun read. This is one book that really lends itself to the audio presentation.There are two readers and the female voice did a superb job of changing her voice to reflect the different accents of the different female characters. If an audio book fan this is a good choice. Historical fiction is my favorite genre and I really got lost in this book and swept away to another world. It starts out with a historical fact that once a Native American Chief did ask for white brides as part of a peace treaty. His request was not granted and took place fifteen years prior to the time the novel is set. The novel is fiction and great fun. In it one thousand white women set out in answer to a request to help our government in a secret program to assimilate the Native Americans by agreeing to marry into the tribe and have a child. They come from various backgrounds and problem environments that they seek to escape from. Their story is told through the fictional diaries of a woman named May Dodd which are uncovered from a medicine man's bags by May's great grandson during his genealogical research. While it is not realistic on some fronts it is a delightful fiction story that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. Be sure to click on the link at the author's name and title for more information and to enjoy the video found below.
A novel written through the eyes of five women, The Poisonwood Bible is a masterpiece. A mother and four daughters accompany their mentally unstable husband and father to the Congo as missionaries. As each speak, first the mother and four young daughters and later the mother and three grown daughters, both their personal experiences and the history that is being made around them unfold. The book begins in 1959 and explains the end of colonial rule of Belgium and the wars that followed. Exploitation becomes real as it takes place in front of them and has taken place in the past for people the girls develop relationships with. The family struggles with the differences in culture and the ways their original message emerges as inappropriate. This book challenges one's belief system, one's political opinions, and one's entire life outlook. While I listened to it on audio book, I felt from the beginning I should have read it on my kindle instead. During the beginning, the reader switched from voice to voice with out enough of a pause and I became lost more than once. But as the book went on, either I got a hang of the rhythm or she slowed down as I was able to follow much more easily. If the audio book had used different people for the various voices it would have been clearer. In spite of the challenges of listening to the novel, it will definitely be in my top ten for 2012 and might even be in the number one spot. For people who are not offended to have their opinions and beliefs challenged I recommend this book. For those who prefer the status quo I would not encourage them to read it as it is an apple cart upsetter. As for myself, I will read more of this author. Click on the author's name and title above to follow links to more information and be sure and enjoy the short video that follows.
After checking out The Clan Of The Cave Bear on my kindle from my local library, when the two weeks expired and I was not finished with it I decided to go ahead and buy it rather than wait for the book to become available again. It is the first of a five book series by Jean Auel that are referred to as The Earth`s Children series. While I enjoyed the book and it held my interest, I have not yet decided whether or not I will read any more of the books in this series. The novel takes place in prehistoric times and a five year old Cro-Magnon girl whose family is lost to her in an earth quake is found by a clan of Neanderthal people who adopt her. She is considered the ugly duckling and although loved by many of the clan, she is abused by others. In fact in general the women of the Neanderthal Clan were not treated very well. I am not sure I want to read five books of cave men abusing cave women. Yet there are adventures and plenty of acts of kindness to go with the more negative parts of what Jean Auel`s imagination says life in prehistoric times might have been like. Please click on the title and the author`s name to follow the links and learn more. And enjoy the following video of an interview with the author.
This book should be required reading for all of us. In fact I am amazed that I have made it to age 55 and just now read it. (Or to be more accurate, I listened to it on audio. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is the book selection for my library book group this month. Since I am reading another book on my kindle I decided I had better listen to it in order to be sure I got through it in time for the meeting next week.) About half way through the book I decided that the reason I never read it as a teen as I was probably not allowed to. But I mentioned to my younger sister I was reading it and she said "Oh yes. I remember that book. I read it back when I was in school." So I can't blame rules at my home of origin on not having read it sooner. Still, this book should be required reading for all of us. If you have not read it. Do so.
This book is the coming of age story of a girl named Francie Nolan who lives in Brooklyn New York with her "Momma" and "Poppa". Also she has a younger brother. The family structure changes some over the time period the book covers which is roughly from the time she is eleven till she is almost seventeen. The family is very poor. Her grandparents were immigrants and unable to read or write. Her maternal grandmother is firmly convinced that education is the path out of poverty for the children and encourages her daughters to make sure their children receive an education. There are several places in the book that bring tears to the eyes and the ending even though a happy ending is a tear jerker.
Please click on the title of the book and the author's name above to follow the links to more information. And enjoy the video below. This book will be toward the top of my top ten list for books I have read or listened to in 2012.
Even though I was off this pm I still didn't get the TV turned on and the convention watched. But about midnight I looked for Bill Clinton's speech. It made me think of a blog I posted in 2008 just before the election which I will repost at this time with a few changes to make it appropriate for 2012:
Huston Smith
in his classic "The Worlds Religions" describes two schools of
Buddhist thought. While I am
unable to remember the correct names for the two groups, I do remember
the illustration that Smith uses to explain their differences. Those who
are compared to traveling in separate little boats are those Buddhists
who tend to stay apart from the world for a solitary journey toward
enlightenment. The second group are those who are compared to be
traveling in a larger boat with a several on it and are those
Buddhists who tend to journey toward enlightenment within a community.
The idea is of moving from one shore of unknowing to the opposite shore
where one is enlightened. Choosing to do so either alone or in a group
is a basic difference in outlook. As we approach this years election we have a similar choice to make. What is our outlook? Are we people who
travel from point A to point B in our own solitary raft not caring if
the water is full of drowning individuals? Are we intent only on "me,
myself and I" making it across the water? Or do we allow some others on our rafts? Who do we let travel with us? One life partner perhaps? Maybe we will add our children? Perhaps there is room for three
closest friends? Do we extend the group to include our neighborhood?
Where do we stop? Do we add our city, our state, our country? Or do we include the entire population of planet earth in our traveling
companions? Each of us has to make these choices for ourselves based on
our individual perspectives. My image of the Republican way of
thinking is that of the Buddhist in the little boat or an every man for
himself mentality. A wife and children might be allowed on the self
sufficient wise choice maker Republicans raft - as long as they
followed directions and did not rock the boat. My image of the
Democratic way of thinking is that of the big boat. A concept of group
cooperation. A long row boat with many people at the oars, working
together to make progress. I am not sure who I think should be in my
boat. Yet I am a person who feels that as a member of society I have
responsibilities in that society therefore my boat is a bigger boat
than some would choose their boat to be. November is approaching.
How big is your boat?
While I was looking for my blog that I re-posted above I ran across another post I had gotten from a contact on that site. I got a chuckle out of it again so wanted to share it here:
Political Science for Dummies
DEMOCRAT
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for
being successful. You push for higher taxes so the government can
provide cows for everyone.
REPUBLICAN
You have two cows. Your
neighbor has none. So?
SOCIALIST
You have two cows. The
government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. You form a
cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.
COMMUNIST
You
have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with
milk. You wait in line for hours to get it. It is expensive and
sour.
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows. You
sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
BUREAUCRACY,
AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows. Under the new farm program the
government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the
milk down the drain.
AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You
sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one. You
force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised
when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts
stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses. Your stock
goes up.
FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows. You go on
strike because you want three cows. You go to lunch and drink wine. Life
is good.
JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows. You
redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and
produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably
crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school.
GERMAN
CORPORATION
You have two cows. You engineer them so they are all
blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a
hundred miles an hour. Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of
vacation per year.
ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but
you don't know where they are. You break for lunch. Life is
good.
RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You have
some vodka. You count them and learn you have five cows. You
have some more vodka. You count them again and learn you have 42
cows. The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really
have.
TALIBAN CORPORATION
You have all the cows in
Afghanistan , which are two. You don't milk them because you cannot
touch any creature's private parts. You get a $40 million grant from
the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the
money to buy weapons.
IRAQI CORPORATION
You have two cows. They
go into hiding. They send radio tapes of their mooing.
POLISH
CORPORATION
You have two bulls. Employees are regularly maimed and
killed attempting to milk them.
BELGIAN CORPORATION
You have
one cow. The cow is schizophrenic. Sometimes the cow thinks he's
French, other times he's Flemish. The Flemish cow won't share with
the French cow. The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's
milk. The cow asks permission to be cut in half. The cow dies
happy.
FLORIDA CORPORATION
You have a black cow and a brown
cow. Everyone votes for the best looking one. Some of the people
who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black
one. Some people vote for both. Some people vote for neither. Some
people can't figure out how to vote at all. Finally, a bunch of
guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking
cow.
CALIFORNIA CORPORATION
You have millions of cows. They make
real California cheese. Only five speak English. Most are
illegal. Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.
A father is devastated. His six year old daughter has been murdered. Taken from their campsite in broad daylight, all that is ever found of her is her blood stained dress in an old shack in the wilderness of Oregon. Three years later this father returns to the crime scene to wrestle with his grief and anger. Paul Young (also known as William P Young) authored the novel The Shack as a gift to his adult children. He wanted to explain to them his belief system and chose to use a fiction book as the medium to do so. When evaluated from this perspective The Shack does a decent job of presenting the author's belief system in a clear way. It also holds the readers attention because it has a story line that holds interest. The book jumps on major life questions such as why tragedy is a part of our lives, the concept of forgiving those that have hurt us deeply, and the Christian imagery of the trinity. Written from what seems to me to be a mainstream protestant view point, this novel should hold a great deal of appeal to a large audience. It would not appeal to conservative Christians. There is no hellfire and brimstone point of view in The Shack. Two different colleagues at work suggested this book to me a couple of years ago. It did not seem like my kind of book so I thanked them and told them I appreciated their concern. Then a few weeks ago Audible offered it for free so I went ahead and downloaded it. After listening to the book I still am of the opinion that it is not my kind of book. The belief system explained is one that has at its center a very personified deity. My belief system has a creator that is more of a total sum of many parts. The belief system of the book is one with an afterlife with recognizable intact loved ones in it. My belief system is one in which after death many parts return to a creator to become again part of the total sum from which it came. The belief system in the book is one where a deity intervenes while my belief system is one where intervention is carried out by us taking care of one another. The belief system described in the book is one based on emotion while I choose to reason through things. Therefore, while this is not going to make the top ten list of my favorite books for this year, I would recommend it to quite a few friends who are mainstream Christians. It is a well written book which holds the readers interest. Click on the title and the author's name to follow the links to learn more.
For almost an entire year my audio book listening has been of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Therefore when I reached the end of her seventh novel in the series on Monday afternoon I felt like I had lost an entire community. At least, that is, until the eighth book comes out next year. An Echo In The Bone takes place during the American Revolutionary War and Jamie and Claire temporarily leave The Ridge and spend a good bit of the book trying to get back to Scotland. But once back home it is not long before they rush and return to America so that Claire can operate on one of the grandchildren's tonsils. I enjoy this series as it has adventure, history, romance, sex, and medine a mixed in together. Please click on the title and the author's name above to follow links to more information and enjoy the video that follows:
A couple of years ago I reviewed this book because I had listened to it on audio but since that was before I moved my blog and I just recently finished reading the book on my kindle I want to review it again. This was the book I decided to check out from my library online services for my kindle to see how it worked as I knew if the two weeks ran out before it was over I would not panic since I had heard the entire book prior to but it was a book I wanted to revisit. The two weeks did run out on me - twice. So when I needed to choose a library book to add to my kindle for my train ride out to Denver I decided it would be a perfect time to finish it up for the second time. And so it was. This is the second Bill Bryson book I have enjoyed. Several years ago library reading group read his Notes From A Small Island and as a result I am an avid Bill Bryson fan. I will read more of his work. Returning to topic, At Home is a book in which he walks from room to room of his house and describes the history of some objects in each room. I enjoyed the history of spices while in his kitchen, the stories of the men who braved the South American jungle and the North American forests in the early 1700s gathering new plant species samples and returning them to Europe while walking with him in his garden , the history of pigments in paint while in his bedroom , and the human journey of food preservation while in his dining room. Bryson develops each area into interesting fact filled pages that makes me think of his books as a "Where's Waldo" for adults although there are few pictures. Please click on the title and author's name above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video below.
Snuggled down into my train seat while one small town after another sped past the window, through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and then Nebraska was certainly an appropriate time for me, curled up with my kindle, to finish reading Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. Half way through the book when I climbed onto the train, I reached the end of it about the middle of Nebraska. A contact had blogged about Sinclair Lewis last year. I had not been exposed to him in school like most Americans so he was a new author to me. His topics seemed interesting so I decided to start with his most famous work to see how I liked him. Main Street is a novel that tells the story of a young woman named Carol. She is a college educated woman who works as a librarian in Minneapolis. At a social gathering, mutual acquaintances introduce her and a single doctor from a small town upstate. After a year of dating during his visits to the city, they are married and he takes her home to "Gopher Prairie". The next four hundred or so pages explain how Carol experiences the disillusionment of marriage and the frustrations of arriving in a small town as a newcomer. Carol is in many respects rather silly as she is young and has a lot to learn. Never the less, the way that the author is able to capture her experience and express it is amazing. Although written around 1920, I found the book remains in touch with the small town experience in our country today. Having experienced both marriage and moving into small towns as an outsider more than once in my life, I found this a book that while reading I could nod and say that I knew exactly where Carol was coming from more often than I rolled my eyes at her immaturity. In fact, as the story progressed, she matured. It is required reading for many students and perhaps if I had read it as a young person and had not the experiences I have had that made the story real for me, I may not have liked it as well. On the other hand, reading it from the perspective that I now have, I not only very much liked the book, but I admire Sinclair Lewis' skill in not only being able to pick up on the experience but to express that experience in novel form. Among the books read and listened to on audio in 2012, Main Street by Sinclair Lewis will be in my top ten. Click on the book title and author's name above to follow links to more information.
Rarely do I go to Walmart and when I do, I go late in the evening, at least eleven o'clock or after. After all it is not the most socially conscious place to shop. Not much there is American made and the employees have no bargaining rights and not so very good working conditions. So overall I just feel a little guilty when I shop there. Not only that but, when I shop at Krogers or CVS I bring my market bags. At Walmart, as long as I am being bad, I figure I could use a few more trash can liners. Occasionally though, I need an item or two and just a few groceries. Certainly I had a need for a couple of new sweat pants and hoodies for my up and coming very long train ride, so this evening, shortly after eleven, I headed out to Wal-mart, sloppily dressed in very old sweats and with out a stitch of make up. As expected, when I arrived at the store there were just a few customers along with the exploited employees stocking the shelves and a few other people who shop late at night. I meander through the store and wander up to the check out and suddenly the place is packed with people. I had no idea that The Hunger Games DVDs went on sale at midnight. Who would have thought. Hmmm. maybe I should put the trilogy on my kindle.
While it might seem a little odd to read a Christmas Story in August, that is what I did. Rosamunde Pilcher's Winter Solstice has been on my wish list for quite some time and I finished reading it last night. It is an enjoyable read. While very G rated, the characters that Pilcher creates are very down to earth and have the same sort of behaviors that we all have, but without the in depth details that modern novels often contain. It is a story of loss. Five different individuals who have experienced recent major loss travel to a area of Scotland to be alone and ignore the holidays. They are all people without anyone to spend the holidays with. These five voices each begin the various chapters of the book and are introduced to one another as the story progresses. By the end of the book they celebrate a traditional Christmas together. It is a story of over coming grief and venturing out to try friendships again after suffering intense hurt. The "lonely hearts club" Christmas that Pilcher creates is delightful and the song "if you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you are with" came into my mind. It is told in a very positive manner and I enjoyed the book. It is not going to make it in to my "top ten of 2012" but I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good book to curl up with this December. Click on the title and the author's name to follow links to more information.
Jodi Picoult's novel Change of Heart will be on my favorites list of books that I have read in 2012. It is a book of many layers and as the August selection for my library reading group, will offer an opportunity for discussion on many levels. This is a story of a man on death row who is convicted of a double murder of a little girl and her step father. The mother/wife of these victims was not at home at the time of the murders because she was at a OB/GYN appointment. At the time the novel begins the baby is now an 11 year old girl who was born with a congenital heart and is now in desperate need for a transplant. The death row inmate convicted for her sisters death hears of her need on the news and wants to donate his heart to her as it is time for his execution. The story introduces: a priest who became a priest due to sitting on the jury that sentenced the death sentence in this case, a lawyer from the Civil Liberties Union that is the daughter of a Rabbi, doctors, a judge, a warden, fellow inmates, correctional officers, a conservative fundamentalist preacher, a grieving wife and mother, a sick little girl, and a burn victim from a case of arson. The novel wrestles with the pros and cons of capital punishment, the definition of religion, the gnostic gospels, medical ethics, and legal ethics. It is the kind of book you have to intermittently stop reading and ponder awhile. Please enjoy the following video of the author and don't forget to click on the title and the author's name above to follow the links to more information. I highly recommend this book.
In the wee hours of this morning I finished reading the book selection for my library book group this month. It is called Best Friends, Occasional Enemies and is written by Lisa Scottoline. This book would definitely come under the genre of "chick lit" and is an easy read. While I would never have selected it as reading material, one of the neat things about being in a book group is getting exposed to books you would never go out of your rut of interest without the push to read. I enjoyed the book and do believe there is a time and a place for a fluff book. If I ever do need a fluff book I will pick up another one of this author's books. It is also a book that, in the right circumstance, would be an appropriate gift.
Lisa Scottoline also writes novels but some of her books, like Best Friends, Occasional Enemies, are collections of essays. The following video is an audio presentation of the introduction of another one her essay books. While it is not the book Best Friends, Occasional Enemies that this blog is about, it is similar in style and format. Be sure and click on the title of the book and author's name above to follow the links to more information.
The sixth book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series is A Breath of Snow And Ashes. Set in Colonial America on the eve of the Revolutionary War this novel takes place in a favorite time frame of mine. The story of the families that live on FraziersRidge continues throughout the book with continual excitement, adventure and sexual episodes to keep the reader, or in my case, listener, very interested. To learn more about the series click on the author's name and book title above. But as this is my sixth post on this series I wanted to acknowledge the reader in the audio book series and I very much enjoy her presentation of the novels. The following videos are two parts to an interview with the reader.
This evening I finished reading Sign Talker by James Alexander Thom. It is about the Lewis and Clark expedition but it is told through the eyes of the Native American that did the hunting for the expedition and communicated with the many tribes of Native Americans that the party met along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to read more of James Alexander Thom's works. A friend recommended this author to me last winter. James Alexander Thom lives in Southern Indiana. He was a marine and is married to a Native American woman. As I read this book I remembered some of the areas mentioned that I have driven though at various times in my life. It was easy to imagine them as they were in the early 1800s as I read Thom's descriptions. The people involved in the expedition came to life for me. I was not that familiar with the details of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and found it fascinating. I never knew that Merriweather Lewis had the mental health issues that he did and that he committed suicide. I never knew that they even had a Native American along to hunt for the food that kept them alive. I highly recommend this book. As always, click on the title of the book and the author's name to follow the link to learn more.
