Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for

Peculiar Children 

by

Ransom Riggs

Each October I try to either read or listen to a book that is just a little bit creepy for Halloween.  This year I really hit the nail on the head with Ransom Riggs's young adult masterpiece Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  I was the perfect Halloween book for me.  I chose to listen to it on audio, which I do while driving my commute to work,  and was on the edge of my car seat more than once.  The book even caused me to miss my turn a few times.   It is a delightful story about a somewhat nerdy young man named Jacob who is the beloved grandson of a Jewish man who survived the holocaust.  When the book began I assumed, as did Jacob's father, that  the grandfather was having schizophrenic episodes expressed by  his behavior and stories.  The grandfather is mysteriously killed by wild dogs,  and Jacob finds his grandfather.  At the time he finds him he insists that he saw a monster in the vicinity of his grandfather's body and that his grandfather was killed by the monster.  Then the father (and the reader) assumes that Jacob had a hallucination from the stress of finding his grandfather's mutilated body.  After a couple years of therapy, Jacob convinces his parents to let him visit the Welsh island his grandfather used to tell his stories about.   His parents agree,  hoping it will help Jacob find closure to realize all the outrageous stories his grandfather used to tell were just nonsense.   The remainder of the book is on edge of the chair,  time traveling,  monster fighting fun.  The book ends a little abruptly and leaves the reader wanting more.  I sure hope the rumors of a sequel are true.  The book has also been made into a movie that is to be released March of 2016.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to learn more.  And enjoy the video that follows.  While this book is not my normal genre,  it is a great book to read and enjoy for "young adults" of all ages.    And besides,  there is two more days of October left.   Spending the time with this book would be a great way to finish up the month!

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

The New Jim Crow

by

Michelle Alexander

In a very articulate manner,  Michelle Alexander presents shocking facts about what is happening in our nation's poor neighborhoods between the covers of  The New Jim Crow.   This book is an important work that should be read by everyone.  I disagreed with some parts of the book.  For example I do not think that we arrived where we are today by a systematic plan by those in power.  And I have had personal accountability too ingrained in my psychic not to think that there are some choices made by at least some of the victims in this situation.  Nevertheless,  the facts remain and speak for themselves and splitting hair over fault or pointing accusing fingers does not solve our current crisis.  There are innocents caught up in the system and there are great costs in human potential that is being wasted.  One can't argue with the reality that, even though I think we arrived where are more of a result of an evolution of events rather than a plan,  our current economic system is tied to sending people to prison.  Many people are employed by our nations private prison system.  It is big business.  A great deal of federal money is poured into police departments as rewards for arrest numbers.  And property in the form of cars and houses  along with cash, are confiscated by police departments with the cost of getting them back exceeding the value, causing many to loose their property.  As a nation,  we have a lot of work to do to repair the damage being done and to dismantle the system that is currently in use.  With our current events in recent years involving events in our cities to not read this book and educate ourselves about this problem amounts to poor citizenship. As I indicated,  one does not have to agree with all parts of an opinion in order to learn from the facts presented.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to learn more.  And watch the video that follows.

Dinner And A Movie

Last pm I drove up to my daughter's home in Indiana and we went to the apple orchard in order to make apple crisp today.  When we got home from the orchard we made Taco Soup and Crab Quesadillas.   While we had dinner we watched a movie that I have been wanting to watch for quite some time.  I had stopped by Red Box more than once and it had always been checked out.  The Woman In Gold is a wonderful movie!  Enjoy the trailer that follows and do rent and watch the movie!!

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

The Paris Architect

by

Charles Belfoure

En route to my daughter's last pm, I finished listening to The Paris Architect.  The author does a wonderful job of describing Paris during the German Occupation of WWII.   The characters created are believable and quickly become individuals one cheers on for the duration of the book.  The architect referred to in the title is a timid French man who is,  while designing munitions factories for the Germans,  designing hiding places in apartments and homes throughout Paris.  These ingenuous hide-a-ways were being used to conceal Jewish people while arrangements were made to smuggle them out of the country.  There are portions of the book where the Gestapo is carrying out torture for interrogations that were hard to listen to but these parts make the architect's fear real to the reader/listener of this novel.   This is a well written book that is about a favorite time period in my preferred  genre.  I highly recommend it to others.  Please click on the author's name and title above to learn more.  In the story,  the architect's mistress is a fashion designer.  Please enjoy the video that follows about the survival of the fashion industry in Paris during the occupation.  

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Go Set A Watchman

by

Harper Lee

Prior to listening to Go Set A Watchman I refreshed my memory by listening to To Kill A Mockingbird and I highly recommend to anyone that  it has been a while since they read To Kill A Mockingbird to re-visit the book prior to reading this one.  I did not read the reviews of Go Set A Watchman prior to enjoying the book and I am very glad I did not.  Some of the reviews are very critical.  I loved both books.  In fact,  I hesitate to admit it, but as an adult, I like Go Set A Watchman best.

The stories are set in the same setting but,  although Go Set A Watchman was written first,  it takes place 20 years later.   Scout is on vacation visiting her home town in southern Alabama from her residence in NYC.  Brown vs The Board of Education has been handed down by the supreme court and the white people in the south are angry.   A back lash is taking place and Scout finds her father on what she considers the wrong side of the argument.  For those of us who loved Atticus in Mockingbird it is a shock to see his idea of equality  has a separate but equal condition.   He falls off the pedestal for both the reader and for Scout too.  She is completely disillusioned with her father when she watches him participate in the local county Citizen's Council.  What follows that event is a breaking away for Scout of Atticus being one and the same as her conscious and the realization that she has her own belief system and opinions.  The title of the book is based on an Old Testament verse in Isaiah which is about setting standards in one's life.   

Please follow the links above by clicking on the book title,  author's name,  and colorized text above.  For those that know me,   you realize I re-discovered the following video recently and find it an especially good explanation of something my mother used to tell me.  She would say "One of the hardest parts of growing up is realizing that your parents are not perfect,  and then learning to love to love them anyway".    In this "coming of age" story Harper Lee is right up there with Betty Smith and her A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.  Go Set A Watchman is a great read.  Don't miss out.    

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird

by

Harper Lee

Since I was unable to remember how long ago I had read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee,  when her newly released book came out,  I decided that before I read it,  I needed to re-visit To Kill A Mockingbird.  I have been listening to it on audio and finished it on my way home from work tonight.     There was very little of the book that I remembered so I am very glad that I chose to "read" it again.   It is one of those classics that should be read by every American more than once.  It is the story of a family in the mid 1930's in Alabama that stand up to unfairness related to race.  It is a well written story that captures one's heart.  It was published in 1960 and made into a movie in 1962.  It has won awards and is so famous that I feel there is not a lot more I can say about it that has not been already said.  I am looking forward to it's sequel,  Go Set A Watchman,  even though the reviews say it will be upsetting.    Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information.  And enjoy the video of the movie trailer below.

Labor Day Afternoon At The Movies

I have been waiting on the new Robert Redford movie to come out for months and was very excited when it was released last week.  Not only do I adore Robert Redford still - but I admire his environmental work.  And Bill Bryson is a favorite author.  In fact,  I totally enjoyed the book he wrote that this movie is based on.  I do not remember so much foul language in the book or as many sexual innuendos but the book was a belly laugher and the movie was rolling in the aisle funny.  We barely got in because the theater was sold out for the showing we went to.  Don't miss this movie.  It is great fun.