I went to see the movie Inside Out with a friend this pm. I had been told by a fellow nurse that her grade school age children did not like the movie. They said it was not funny. The young children in the theater tonight did not seem to get much from the movie. And the friend I went with didn't think it made much sense. But I loved the movie. I cried a couple times and felt it really explained about how you need to have sadness along with joy and how if you let anger or fear get out of control it can be very destructive. I felt it demonstrated how sadness can bring us through to a deeper joy and a more mature experience. I think you have to have a mind that functions a little abstractly to grasp a lot of the movie and most kids don't think abstractly according to Piaget before adolescence. Therefore I have reservations about considering this a children's movie. Never the less, this 58 year old grandma really liked it and I would encourage people to go see this movie and judge for themselves what they think of it.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Monday, July 27, 2015
Wagons West: Nebraska by Dana Fuller Ross
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The second book in the Wagons West series is Nebraska and I finished listening to it on audio this afternoon. As I noted on my review of the first book, Independence, the series is not historically accurate but it is an enjoyable read. I would label the series good fluff reading. For example, in Nebraska there is a lot of confrontations with Native Americans but if one reads the diaries of actual Oregon Trail Pioneers there was very little contact with Native Americans and what there was did not involve any conflict. That is not to say that no wagon train was ever attacked by Indians because there were incidents. But they were few and far between while in the book there were several occurrences. Also Fort Madison is in Eastern Iowa and not eastern Nebraska. In the book the wagon train winters over in Eastern Nebraska at Fort Madison. The wagon train in the story also starts out from Independence Missouri in the fall and by the end of the book they are preparing for their second winter on the trail. In reality the pioneers started out from Independence early in the spring and made it their goal to be at Independence Rock Wyoming by fourth of July and in Oregon by fall. It is a 2000 mile five month trek. While I can see the first wagon train taking longer to take and entire season to cross the plains seems like taking a liberal view of history. There are many such instances where the author digresses from the reality of the Oregon Trail experience. Never the less, the book has adventure, suspense and romance. I am enjoying the series and recommend it as entertainment with a cautionary note about the lack of historical accuracy. Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information. There is also one link to follow in the text. In both the real world experience and in the book as the pioneers came to end of the great plains they came across rock formations suddenly jutting out of the plains. It was an experience to have spent all those miles of no scenery and then suddenly see these major rock formations. Earlier in the summer when I was in Western Nebraska I took some photos of a couple of these rock formations. Enjoy the slide show I made that follows of photos of both Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff National Monuments in Nebraska.
Friday, July 24, 2015
#Havana62 by Philip Gibson
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This little book was free on my kindle a few months back and I was intrigued by it so I picked it as a download. It is less than 200 pages long and packed full of information. The author tells the story of the Cuban missile crisis as if there had been social media sites at that time. It is informative and well written. I now have a much clearer picture of everyone's point of view that was involved in the decision making at that time. I do have to admit that it took me almost six weeks to read the book. I have been really busy and overly tired when I finally got to bed at night and turned on my kindle. I would read a very short time and fall asleep. So the last several books I have reviewed I have listened to on audio while I was reading this one very sort book. I really don' t think it was the book's fault. I would recommend this book. Students who are studying the various times in history that this author has written hashtag books about would do well to read them. Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information. And enjoy the video that follows.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Wagons West: Independence by Dana Fuller Ross
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Independence is the first book in a series of 25 Wagons West books written by Noel Gerson under the pen name of Danna Fuller Ross. It is about a fictitious wagon train that the book presents as the first wagon train to travel the Oregon Trail. I can find no historical record of this wagon train or any of the people depicted to be on board. I also can find no indication of the story line in the book that the British or the Russians tried to sabotage any of our wagon trains. Although it is true that the British did not want to help the settlers to succeed once they got to Oregon. The routine of the pioneers on the wagon train in the book also differs from what I understand the true routine that was followed to be. But it is the Hollywood version of how things were on the wagon trains and it is a fun book. So therefore while the author takes great poetic license when it comes to historical accuracy the book is a very enjoyable novel. It has adventure and romance and is a fun and easy read. In this first book of the series the wagon train starts out in Connecticut and travels as far as Independence Missouri, which is where the Oregon Trail actually began. Of the 25 books the first four have to do with the Oregon Trail and I will probably finish those. I doubt I continue on with the series after that. The characters in the book are likable and the book is one I would recommend for light reading. Please click on the book title and authors name above to follow the link to more information. And enjoy the following video that I took of the wagon river crossing simulator at the National Park Interpretive Center in Casper Wyoming.
Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
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Recently, I was on a road trip with my daughter and son in law. It was a very long road trip and we listened to a few audio books to help pass the time. One author I felt I could trust our time to was Jodi Picoult and we chose her newest book. We could not have made a better selection. The novel is called Leaving Time and is about the mother/daughter relationship in both people and in the animal kingdom - specifically elephant moms. A daughter is in search of her mother who became a missing person ten years before. The daughter is aged 13 in the book. The mother is a research scientist who studies the grieving patterns of elephants. In this book Jodi Picoult has woven a sit on the edge of your chair masterpiece. If it doesn't make my top ten list for 2015 I will be surprised, although I have enjoyed some really good books this year. The book also has a shocker ending that I would not have guessed in a million years. It is wonderful. Also featured in the book is an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee that exists in real life. You can read more about it HERE. I was so impressed by the book and the elephants in the book that when I was looking for a way to say thank you to my brother in law for dog sitting my daughter and son in law's two dogs while we took the trip I decided I would adopt an elephant in his honor at the sanctuary. My sister and brother in law are so excited about their adopted elephant they are talking about taking a side trip to visit her during a vacation they will be taking soon that will bring them near the sanctuary. I would encourage everyone to not only read Leaving Time but to talk their book clubs into reading it also. Please follow the links by clicking on the authors name and book title above. And enjoy seeing my adopted niece, Tange, in the following video.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Paper Towns by John Green
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Best selling young adult author John Green has created a masterpiece in his novel Paper Towns. I have not read The Fault In Our Stars by the same author but I did read Looking For Alaska by him and it too was wonderful but I think I like Paper Towns even better. This book reached in and touched the part of me that got left behind after young adulthood. It is about the fakiness in high school and running away to find who you really are. It is full of poetry and the meaning that poetry can convey. A journal is weaved through out the book and what happens to the journal in the end is very touching. This is a story that will make you belly laugh and make you scream "YES!". While it is okay if the young adults read it, the baby boomers really need to get between the covers of this one. Please click on the title and author's name above to follow the link to more information and enjoy the video where the author talks about the new movie coming out later this month based on this book. All book clubs need to read this book.
The Innocent by David Baldacci
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Contemporary popular novelist David Baldacci has done it again in his novel The Innocent. I have read two of his books from The Camel Series and enjoyed them both. This is my first novel of his Will Robie Series and it is a sit on the edge of your chair book. In this book, Will is an assassin who has a soft spot for the under dog. Baldacci's books were first recommended to me by a contact of a contact on FB who insisted if I read one of his books I would be hooked. I have to say while this author's books are out of my normal genre of the historical novel I do enjoy his work. David Baldacci novels would be considered political thrillers. He writes best sellers and his books are very popular. He also is involved in literacy through his Wish You Well Foundation. Please click on the links in this blog to learn more and enjoy the two videos that follow:
Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
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Since I really enjoy trying to figure out the mystery of Pretty Little Liars on Netflix it only seemed normal that the books would be fun too. Unfortunately, the TV series cleans up the books, and I would not consider the books appropriate for young adults. See this site review on the book series. So I will continue to enjoy the television series but will not take time for another of the books in the series. I also would not be comfortable if I had a teenager having them read this book. And if an adult male liked the books I would think he had a problem. I do not recommend these YA novels. I rarely give a bad review but this book is full of sexual innuendoes and endorsement of problem behavior for an age group that could use more positive goals placed before them. I tried to find a video to post about the series but could only find appropriate ones about the tv show not the books so therefore there will not be any video with this book review blog.
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