Work Night Movie

Having watched the following on Netflix with a client recently I really felt as I was watching this movie that if someone had teen kids or grand kids it would be a good movie to watch with them as a starting point to discussion.  It is graphic with the language that was posted on social media that caused the upsets.  I found this to be a well presented film.

A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson

 A Walk In The Woods

by

Bill Bryson

The conclusion I reached upon completing my third book by Bill Bryson was that I want to read more of his writing.  First I had read Notes From A Small Island and then later At Home and enjoyed them both so I was glad to see the book for the Wilmington Public Library book group for March was A Walk In The Woods.    In fact, it is the Clinton County Reads spring selection so there will be events across the county starting in the beginning of March and on through the beginning of April.  And a good choice it was.   I found the book very funny and amusing and very nostalgic.    It is a book about Bill Bryson's attempt to through hike the Appalachian Trail with his childhood friend.    He paints a vivid picture of the fears and hardships experienced as he explains the history of the trail and the areas traveled through along with the environmental changes that have and continue to take place in the Appalachian region.   The book is just delightful and I highly recommend it.  The reason it was nostalgic for me is two fold.  To begin with my brother in law and a couple of his friends started out on the trail a few times in their youth and I remember all the hopes and dreams and plans that they went through.  Then around age forty I had aspirations to hike the trail only I had the idea of doing it in increments.   I hiked an afternoon of it in Pennsylvania back in the 80s and was interested in doing more of it.  So it was in the late 90s that I hiked an afternoon of trail in the Smokies and then in preparation of what I had hoped to lead to an overnight hike I did a day long hike.  Which cured me.  Carrying my lunch was enough.  I had no further aspirations to carry a tent and all the other equipment on my back.  I must say though that after reading Bill Bryson's A Walk In The Woods,  I am missing my day hike experience and very much missing my half day hike experiences.    And I hope to do some more walking as this spring,  summer and fall arrive.   Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows for an excellent slide show of sites from the entire trail.  

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

The Bean Trees

by 

Barbara 

Kingsolver


On my way home from work this afternoon,  I finished listening to The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver on audio.   This is the second book by Barbara Kingsolver that I have listened to on audio and I intend to either listen to or read every novel she has written.   I really like her writing style and I like that she addresses social issues  incorporating them into her novels.    The Bean Trees is about friendships and relationships.   In many ways it is a coming of age story of a young woman named Taylor.  The novel is set in the 1970s so,  for me,  is nostalgic.   Today this novel is required reading in many university settings.  Some of the social issues that are brought up are teen pregnancies,   abuse of women by their husband,  sexual abuse of children,  living conditions on a Native American reservation,  and Guatemalan illegal immigrants.  The novel begins with Taylor growing up  in Kentucky and saving her money from her after school job at the hospital lab to buy a beat up old VW bug.  After graduation she leaves home to find a new life,  although she is not sure where she is going.  She just knows she is not going to be like many of the girls she went to high school with and end up pregnant and alone.  Along the way she stops for vehicle maintenance and a sandwich in Oklahoma and inadvertently does so on Cherokee land.  While there a Native American Woman hands her a baby and tells her that she is the baby's aunt,  that the baby's  parents have died and that Taylor must take the baby and care for her.    As soon as she finds the need to change the toddler's diaper she discovers the tell tale signs of sexual abuse.  Taylor finds herself settling in Tuscan, Arizona where she finds work and forms friendships.  Among her friends are a couple that are on the run for their lives from the Guatemalan Civil War.   During the 1970s and 1980s I can remember much debate about whether or not the United States was on the wrong side of the Guatemalan conflict and Taylor's friends are not on the same side as chosen by our government so they were in the country illegally.   Kingsolver does a fine job describing this fictitious couple's experience and making it real to the reader.     I highly recommend this book.  Please click on the title and the authors name above, and the link in the text,  to find more information.  And enjoy the following video.  Underneath the video find a quote from the You Tube site about the video.





" 'Guatemala', a song and human rights video from the Pete Sears album "Watchfire", features Sears on piano, slide guitar and vocals, David Grisman on Mandolin, and Enrique "Quique" Cruz on Quena. Music was written by Pete Sears, and lyrics by Jeannette Sears. The video was produced by Sears in 1988, right after his 13 year run as a member of Jefferson Starship. It was made by a non-profit video production company started by Sears, Jeannette Sears, film director Ray Telles, Mary McCue, and Mark Adler. It was a project of "Earth Island Institute" and was funded by Jerry Garcia and the Rex Foundation, and the Tides Foundation. Hundreds of free copies were distributed globally at no charge to human rights organizations working to bring the genocide of the Mayan population of Guatemala to the attention of the world. Amnesty International recently played the video again as part of a presentation on Central America. Sears and his wife, Jeannette, have visited Guatemala many times since their first trip in 1978...just as civil war was breaking out." ~posted on You Tube by "Permagrinsf"

The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag

The 9th Girl

by

Tami Hoag

     This novel is one of those a person can't put down.  I would not have chosen it to read because not only am I not a big fan of the mystery genre but the slasher thriller ones are less my idea of what I want to read than the cutesy mysteries.   The 9th Girl is about a serial killer and the murder of a teenaged girl which makes it all the more horrific.   It is the February book group pick for the Columbia City library with which I am trying to still read along following my move to South West Ohio.   The reason I liked this book is because along with the sit on the edge of your chair story line was a group of teenagers and the angst that comes with the social groups in high school.  There is a strong message against bullying in the book that I really like.  One of the detectives on the murder case has a teenaged son named Kyle who was friends with the murder victim.  He is a cartoon artist who creates and draws super heroes and has to deal with bullies bothering him and his friends at school.  Kyle looks up to  Georges St-Pierre  who is a martial arts fighter that is involved in helping to stop bullying in our schools.  The anti-bullying theme is accompanied with stressing acceptance of others.  These are values that are important to include in our novels, movies and music today.  When so much that entertains us is violence,  it is refreshing when some decent values are slipped into the story line.   By clicking on the links located at the title and author's name above and others located throughout this blog you will follow links to more information.  Please enjoy the interview with Georges St-Pierre that follows.