Book Blab

Write a book? Why not?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:45:00 +0000

Hey all,

Like many of you fab bloggers out there who have already or always wanted to write a book, I have wanted to be an author since I was about 8 years old, and have written a bit of this and that. I even signed up for NanoWrimo once! Anyway, Danielle LaPorte is an amazing coach-y motivational goddess and as it turns out she co-created this amazing thing called Your Big Beautiful Book Plan. This thing is so chock full of great info, much of it super valuable, and plenty of actual examples of query letters, hook pages, and book plan content that it is worth every single penny and then some. In fact, it's a steal at the price.

Your Big Beautiful Book Plan also has a multi-media platform with plenty of video and audio recordings of Danielle and her co-creator Linda interviewing top hot authors like Jonathan Fields of Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance. There are worksheets, and over 400 pages of utter yumminess to get you inspired to finally write and get your book out into the world!

This is an affiliate link and I am super proud to be an affiliate, truly.

Here is the blurb from the gals themselves:

Your Big Beautiful Book Plan is a digital program for people who want to get their word into the world — where it belongs. If you are on the prowl for a literary agent, ripe ‘n ready for publication, and secretly yearning to incite a bidding war for your prose…or stepping into the writing & publishing game for the sheer love of it, Your Big Beautiful Book Plan is a companion, a roadmap, a Bible for your book’s entire life cycle — from the blinking cursor to your first book signing tour date.

Creators Danielle LaPorte + Linda Sivertsen have landed six-figure book deals, independently authored + co-authored over a dozen titles (including several NY Times bestsellers), and helped thousands of writers devote themselves to DONE. We’re talking life’s work, in print and pixels. Decade-long dreams, on the shelf and on screen. The big Why, poured into words. These ladies love this stuff. And you’re going to feel the love.

MAILBOX MONDAY - APRIL 29, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:08:00 +0000

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by various peeps and this month it is being hosted over at Mari Reads.

It was my birthday last week, so my lovely daughter bought me the 3rd in the Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare!

So far it is as fabulous as I would have hoped, and I had forgotten where the last book left off, but it gets you up to speed in a nice subtle way.

What was in your mailbox this week??

REVIEW: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS BY JOHN GREEN

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:24:00 +0000

The Fault in our Stars by John Green
Purchased

I heard about John Green a few years back in those early months of my blog, and I just knew I would love him, but didn't realize how much until my thirteen year old daughter thrust this book into my hands. Back then I took out his book that was making the book blog rounds, Paper Towns, and read the first chapter and loved his wit, his writing style, and storytelling ability. But for whatever reason I had to return it to the library and put John Green on my must read list someday when my TBR pile was down to a reasonable few dozen. (insert maniacal laugh here)

My thirteen year old was asking for this book when it first came out, and finally she had enough money to buy it herself, and as any mother would celebrate, she read it in just a few days, could not put it down, and said the one thing that is music to every book-addicted-mother's ears after going to bed, "Just one more chapter, Mom!"

At one point in her reading she slowly came into my bedroom and said, "I'm so sad. This book is SO SAD!" But didn't tell me, knowing she wanted me to read it.

Once she was done, I started, and this book is one you will get into immediately. Like, within the first few sentences. Summarizing the plot is nearly impossible because there would be spoilers o'plenty, and I would never do that to you! I think the only way to safely summarize it is to quote the jacket cover here:

"Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten."

The thing with John Green is, he's kind of a genius. And when I say "kind of" I mean he TOTALLY COMPLETELY FREAKING IS! I love the way he writes, and he successfully enters into the mind of a teenage girl with the ease of, well, a teenage girl, and how he does that is anybody's guess. There are so many gems in here that teens will love it as well as parents of said teens. It rings true in many ways, and some ways that many of us hope we never have to find out, like: What does it actually feel like to be teenager with a terminal illness? What is that like for their parents? Their friends? Somehow amidst the heart wrenching premise, John Green manages to make things funny. Hilarious, even. Not unlike the academy award winning film A Beautiful Life that brilliantly and mysteriously managed to make us laugh out loud within the storyline framed by the holocaust. John Green actually makes us laugh in the midst of children having cancer, I'm not even remotely kidding about this. Not to mention that in his acknowledgements (which I actually like to read) he thanks the "Nerdfighters, for being awesome" and a heart. AND he is a Potterhead, and I want him to marry my daughter even though he is too old and already taken. LOVE. HIM.

I also just love his whole writing "thing" he's got going on, like this:

"I did not speak to Augustus again for about a week. I had called him on the Night of the Broken Trophies, so per tradition it was his turn to call."

The "Night of the Broken Trophies". I love this. This may not make sense right now, but once you read it, you will understand the reference, but that's not important here, what IS important, however, is the fact that he describes an event as the Night of the Broken Trophies, which in and of itself is so deliciously funny, and not in a ha-ha way, but in a clever witty way, which is awesome.

Hazel's whole attitude is witty as well, but in a dark way, which makes it charming and blatantly honest:

"And yet still I worried. I liked being a person. I wanted to keep at it. Worry was yet another side effect of dying."

Hazel is as real a teenager as any literary fake one I have ever not met. Her "voice" is believable, and maybe it is because I happen to have a teenage girl in my midst it hit me more in the centre. And when I would get to certain parts I would text her and say:

ME: omg, I just got to the part with (the thing and the stuff and the woo)
ELLIE: I KNOW, RIGHT? I WAS JUST LIKE, GAH. CAN'T WAIT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT IT!!

And later---

ME: (so and so stuff and things) Sobbing. Stupid book.
ELLIE: OH MY GOD NOW YOU KNOW MY PAIN. CAN WE PLEASE CRY TOGETHER? PLEASE??

And even later---

ME: Just finished The Book. One of the best books I have read, like, ever. And even more stellar because you gave it to me.

This book has heart, soul, smarts, awesome nerdiness that I uphold as sacred, and did I mention HEART?

The only caveat I will add here is there needs to be a little packet of kleenex attached to the back, like the kind your grandma would carry in her purse, with the sides all discoloured and the plastic all feathery from being in there for so long. A person needs the kleenex when you read it.

So, just go and buy it, and read it, then tell everyone about it. Okay? Okay. ;0)

RATING: 5 out of freaking 5 stars!!

REVIEW: THE GIVER BY LOIS LOWRY

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 01:33:00 +0000

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Kindle

I have had this book on my kindle for a couple of years now, when it was floating around the blogosphere. I had intended to read it plenty of times, but the other day when my 13 year old daughter came home and told me they were reading it in LA, and said how cool it would be if we both read it so we could discuss it, how could I say no?

To put it bluntly.....

IT WAS FRIGGEN AWESOME.

I loved everything about this book. First of all, I'm a huge fan of this kind of world. Dystopian at it best, and weirdly disturbing, but not too much. In fact, on the surface it appears that the people in this "land" have created Utopia, but it doesn't take long to realize.... um.... not so much.

The novel follows Jonas in this twelve year, and similar to The City of Ember, each twelve is assigned a job. Jonas, however, is given the most unique job of all - Receiver of Memory.

He begins his training with The Giver and he really does come across just like the photo on the cover. Or like Jeff Bridges, who will be playing him in the upcoming film adaptation. Which I think is the absolute perfect Dude choice.

The Giver starts nice and easy, and we soon realize that Jonas is starting to notice flashes of strangeness in his environment, and this is when we learn what his world is currently like, and how different it is from the memories he will soon experience and hold precious.

I really cannot give a summary of the plot without totally giving away the story, so I will only say that it is a super fast excellent read, and has very good book club discussion possibilities, or even just discussions with your children who might be reading it in class.

Loved it.

RATING: 5/5

TEASER TUESDAY: MARCH 12, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:19:00 +0000

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Should Be Reading! And anyone can play, you don't need a book blog!

Here are the rules:

Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"He heard voices calling to one another. Peering from the place where he stood hidden behind some shrubbery, he was reminded of what The Giver had told him, that there had been a time when flesh had different colors."

~ The Giver by Lois Lowry

For more Teasers, click here.

REVIEW: THE SHOEMAKER'S WIFE BY ADRIANA TRIGIANI

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 18:16:00 +0000

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Borrowed

I was very excited to read this book. At first glance I was super excited about the cover... the COVER, people! Just LOOK at it! As many of you, my lovely readers know, I am a sucker for a great cover. In fact, I have an embarrassingly large amount of books lining my shelves that I bought simply because the cover was a stunner.

Like this one.

Granted, I borrowed it, but same diff.

This story is written by a woman who not only is a bestselling author already, but she writes for TV and is also a director of film. This you can see in her writing, which is very visual, and absolutely reads like a film being run and fed directly into your mind. I loved it for that reason alone.

It is a love story. It is a girl meets boy, loses boy, meets friend, moves to the US kind of story. I love love stories where two people meet and due to their circumstances they cannot be together. Then they get separated and pine for one another over the years until the meet again... you get my drift. Unrequited love... one of the best kind to read about! One of the best examples of this kind of story is The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons, which I almost lost my mind over a few years back.

It starts out all fine and dandy. In fact, the first 1/3 of the book is AWESOME! Let me explain.....

We meet Enza and Ciro. Two teenagers growing up on a hillside in delicious Italy at the turn of the 20th century. But first we get a little back story of Ciro, which is heartbreaking when his mother has to abandon him and his brother at a convent in this little hillside village in Italy. In fact, this will come handy in later as Ciro pines so deeply for his mother throughout the book, that your heart just breaks at his mere mention of her!

Enza is a strapping and strong girl and her and Ciro meet as teenagers. She has just experienced a tragedy and Ciro and her are drawn to one another, and suddenly Ciro, a rabid playboy, is completely overwhelmed by his feelings for this girl he just met.

And here is where Adriana lost me totally.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ciro and Enza begin "stepping out" as they called it in those days, and finally they exchange a kiss. Which, apparently, knocks Ciro's socks off. Enza falls in love instantly, and it appears that Ciro has finally found the love of his life.

What happens next is so weirdly disjointed that I just could not get past it for the rest of the entire novel.

Immediately after this, Ciro returns to the church and discovers some strumpet in the arms of the local priest, and the priest decides that he must be banished from the village. This part is not strange, in fact a great little plot twist. Here comes the part I just didn't get. So, the nuns cook up a plan for Ciro to go to America and stay with relatives. And here's what I immediately think...."Oh, he's going to be so torn because he finally found Enza the love of his life! How awesome! This is going to be so great to read, he'll try to see her before he goes, he'll be devastated..." Think Les Misarables when right after Marius and Cosette meet and Jean tells her they have to leave, what does she do? SHE FREAKS OUT! She writes Marius a note, and then the whole carriage ride she is super sad and all piney wishing she could stay with Marius...

Do you know what I'm saying here?

Not only does Ciro not seem to give an Italian rats ass about Enza, he NEVER EVEN MENTIONS HER ONCE. Nor does the author even put her in his thoughts, at all. It is bizarre. In fact, the pining he does for his mother, which makes total sense btw, he should have been doing some of that for Enza for me to even remotely believe his chasing after her when they meet up again in NYC. But he so didn't. Not even once. Once he had been in NY for quite awhile, he kind of had a random flash of "some girl" he had shared a kiss with back in the homeland.

And from that point on I just could not possibly believe their undying love story for one second.

Especially later when they accidentally meet up again in America and eventually end up together in this long lost love affair.

And the whole last 1/2 of the book is quite boring, it is just a story about a woman working as a seamstress in the Opera in New York, while Ciro is trying to make it as a shoemaker in the same city. That's it. That's all.

So by the end, I was like.... that's it??

Very very disappointing.

RATING: 2/5

REVIEW: THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 14:49:00 +0000

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
ARC

I received this ARC last summer from Simon and Schuster Canada... whom I LOVE! Thank you, S & S, for sending me this fantastic book!

Alright, so I think I may have given away this review before actually writing it, as I did really love this one.

The story takes place in early 20th century, on a little plot of land with a lighthouse. It kind of reminds me of a Jodi Picoult type story line, with plenty of room for opinion!

Here is the blurb from Simon and Schuster:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

Stedman has crafted a stunning tale that will be great fodder for any book club as it is rife with moral dilemma. You will find yourself cheering alternately as the story unfolds, perhaps even surprising yourself as to which "side" you may land on!

She writes a very believable story that follows the correct social etiquette of the time, sometimes missing in other novels set in the same time period. I personally love reading books about solitary life, as I yearn for the life of a light keeper, or a park ranger, or a hairy hippy who rejects modern life for a log cabin deep in the woods. Sigh. I know I would probably go nutty after a few weeks, but on the busy days heavy with the loud buzzing of technology that is the backdrop of our lives these days, I really wish for the quite life that a day in 1900 looking after The Light would bring.

I highly recommend The Light Between Oceans!

RATING: 4.5/5

IN MY MAILBOX TODAY!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:51:00 +0000

Hi-dee-ho ---

I have in recent months put the 'ol kibosh on any ARC's or review copies coming in to my abode, but I just could not pass this one up when I got the request! A HUGE THANK YOU to The Random House Publishing Group for my review copy of Speaking From the Among the Bones by Alan Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie series of books. Exciting news for Flavia fans, she will be making her small-screen debut with a BBC production in the works with director Sam Mendes at the helm.

Flavia continues in this novel and here is the blurb:

Eleven-year-old amateur detective and ardent chemist Flavia de Luce is used to digging up clues, whether they’re found among the potions in her laboratory or between the pages of her insufferable sisters’ diaries. What she is not accustomed to is digging up bodies. Upon the five-hundredth anniversary of St. Tancred’s death, the English hamlet of Bishop’s Lacey is busily preparing to open its patron saint’s tomb. Nobody is more excited to peek inside the crypt than Flavia, yet what she finds will halt the proceedings dead in their tracks: the body of Mr. Collicutt, the church organist, his face grotesquely and inexplicably masked. Who held a vendetta against Mr. Collicutt, and why would they hide him in such a sacred resting place? The irrepressible Flavia decides to find out. And what she unearths will prove there’s never such thing as an open-and-shut case.

I can't wait to read it!

Have a wonderful day!

INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY BY JANET REITMAN

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:14:00 +0000

Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion
Library loaner

I actually read this a couple of months ago and loved it! I am fascinated by the world of Scientology and how bizarre it is. Janet Reitman is a journalist and has spent time in Iraq and other war torn areas.

The first section of the book, for me, was the most interesting because I had already heard all of the usual stuff about the "church" like the alien thing, the thetan thing, the billion year contract, etc. The first chapter was all about the history of L. Ron Hubbard. Let me tell you, once you read his back story, you will never EVER be able to look at Scientology the same again. The guy was a top rate wanna be star, who was also a compulsive liar about his life story. Or maybe you could call him a con artist. Either way, his rise to fame is very engrossing, and you can see how systematically he built his empire and how he hooked his followers. How anyone STILL manages to get recruited by the "church" is beyond me.

A few years out of curiosity I went into the only Western Canadian church in Edmonton. Basically it was in a grungy industrial area, and the front of the church looked like a parts shop. But when you enter, the first thing you see is a front lobby, kind of, full of books for sale about the "church" and a desk on one side. Also, in the lobby is a HUGE floor to ceiling portrait of John Travolta and his wife, and beside that a massive bust of Hubbard.

I was immediately greeted by a lady in her 50's, and told her I was curious what Scientology was all about. So she gave me a tour. I had my 2 year old with me, and so she tagged along. We walked down a long hallway and came into the room where they have their church services. It looked kind of like any other church in a building, chairs in a semi circle, and at the front was a podium and behind that on the wall was a large "cross", you know the Scientology symbol thing? And on the left hand side, big shocker, another massive bust of Hubbard. And on the wall at the back a huge painting portrait of the fearless leader. She told me the church services were on Sundays, and I asked if I could bring my daughter, and she looked almost shocked and said, "Oh no. We have daycare for the children." And my immediate thought was, why are children not allowed to the services? What are they talking about and preaching in this creepy place??

We then went back to the front of the building where she explained about the lectures and how when people take courses they listen to audio recordings in these little booths. She said that all recordings that people listen to MUST BE ORIGINAL recordings of L. Ron himself teaching. One of the first rules of a cult is that ALL information must come directly from the leader himself, this is how he keeps absolute control of his followers. So my second alarm bell went off. (the first being the children not being allowed). She then explained auditing to me and hooked me up to the e-reader. I held these two metal cylinders, one in each hand, and there was an indicator there that moved depending on how stressed I felt. Can anyone say "bio feedback machine"? But whatever, it is an E-READER apparently. She asked me my name, and where I lived, and the needle barely moved. Then she firmly pinched the back of my hand. The needle moved quite bit. Then without touching me she asked me to recall exactly what the pinch felt like, "Recall the pinch" she said. And if you watch any footage of an auditor working, they say the exact same thing. And the needle moved the same, quite a bit! Which was pretty cool. Then she asked me to recall the pinch again, and it moved a little less. She asked me about 5 times to recall the pinch until the needle did not move at all. So basically this is what they do with all of your traumatic or intensely emotional memories. You go over the event again and again until you have no reaction whatsoever. Hello... BRAIN WASHING!

She then proceeded to try to sell me auditing sessions at $1200 a piece, she said I would need about 6 of them. This was in 2000. And then she tried to sell me a bunch of books.

So, I can say, that it is not really so much a religion as it is a BUSINESS. And this is what this book essentially says over and over.

She managed to get interviews with your usual suspects such as Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, who at one time were extremely high ranking Scientologists and Mike Rinder was in two separate documentaries by a BBC journalist. The first one, he was part of the team that was following the journalist around and being quite horrible. And by the time the second documentary rolled around, he had left the church and was spilling all of its secrets, as well as shedding light on some of the behaviour of he and Tommy Davis during the original documentary. FASCINATING!

It is an amazing look into this bizarre world, and very frustrating to imagine the power that this small group has, and how celebrities who are seemingly intelligent are involved hook line and sinker.

A MUST READ for anyone interested in the inner workings of Scientology.

RATING: 4/5

Here is a link to the ENTIRE second BBC documentary, which is awesome, because it shows footage from the earlier one with Mike Rinder and then interviews with him after he leaves the church and can shed light on some of the weird stuff that went on during the making of the first one.

REVIEW: PROOF OF HEAVEN BY EBEN ALEXANDER M.D.

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:42:00 +0000

Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander M.D.
Kindle edition

I originally heard of this book when I saw an interview with Dr. Alexander on 20/20 a month or two ago. (Se below for segment) I PVR'd it so I could show my family, and they were equally blown away with what they heard. First of all, the fact that this guy is a neurosurgeon almost immediately makes you want to believe him. Rooted in science, he is forced to his knees by a bizarre meningitis infection that leaves him in a coma for 7 days. What followed was a proverbial trip down the rabbit hole.

What I loved about this book is that it was written within the experience he was having AND cutting to stuff that was happening in the hospital with the people around him at the same time. This became important later when as people were praying for him or mediums were attempting to contact him, there seemed to be a definite affect within the "spirit world" at these times. The only thing that got on my nerves slightly, was the way he very intentionally ended chapters, with a "cliff hanger" of sorts. This technique is awesome when it works, but when it is done over and over again through out a book, it becomes predictable and tiresome.

His description, however, of the various stages of "heaven" or the Earth Worm's Eye View and The Core, as he calls them, resembles other claims of near death tales. But it was his initial journey that had me going, "WOW. This sounds familiar, yet I have never ever heard anyone describe this before!" It was weird. But in a cool way. Like that he actually was describing a "place" that we have all been, and will return, and that is why it was so familiar to me in a very hard-to-explain kind of way.

All in all, a good solid read, definitely a conversation and/or debate starter. Dr. Alexander was not a man of faith before his coma, but his proclamations after he woke up are very powerful, and considering the man is a surgeon who is still working, it's not like he needs the money from the sales of his book. Or at least, I don't think he does, but who knows!

It's a fast read, which will have you, at the very least, say, "Hmm."

RATING: 4/5

REVIEW: WILD BY CHERYL STRAYED

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:07:00 +0000

Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Kindle edition

At first when I heard about this book on Oprah's book club I thought, "Meh." But then I ordered the sample (LOVE THIS FEATURE) on my kindle and found myself immediately drawn in.

Cheryl's journey both physical and emotional is a powerful and relatable one. The death of her mother catapulted her into a reckless lifestyle that had she not found the Pacific Crest Trail, she may have ended up in jail, or dead.

Strayed is an incredibly talented writer who is able to paint vivid pictures with her words. Her pain is palpable, and the day-to-day details of her trek is fascinating! I would have never ever in a million years thought of taking a trip like hers, but I found myself going, "Yeah, yeah, YEAH!" in agreement and googling and bookmarking every website and book on the PCT and long distance hiking, despite me having bad shoulders and various other "old lady" ailments that would make a trip like that problematic.

This book was hard to put down, and I was sad to see it end, and it left me wanting to read other books of similar tales.

I highly recommend this book to anyone!

RATING: 4/5

REVIEW: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER BY WALTER LORD

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:26:00 +0000

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Kindle Edition

With the recent theatrical re-release of Titanic, there was a new surge in Titanic books being re-released as well. And if not re-released, at the very least being brought from the back nether regions of the book store to the front shelves at the entrance. This is where I saw this book by Walter Lord. With a bit of research, it turns out that this is the "go to" book for Titanic enthusiasts, that retells the sinking in an extremely exciting novel format, and forgoes much of the science based details of the sinking that some books focus on.

Walter Lord's book was published in 1955, and is one of the most thrilled page turners you will ever read, that is, if you are a Titanic fan. After interviewing many survivors of the disaster, and culling through the pages and pages of testimonials, Lord strings together these memories into a thrilling tale of suspense, heroism, and tragedy. After I finished reading it, I wanted more. I went on a Titanic frenzy!

Reaching the 100 anniversary of the sinking was a sad day. I can't help but think about those that were trapped inside the unsinkable ship, and those that were on the stern when she went down. The stories of husbands and fathers saying goodbye to their loved ones, and watching from the ship as the life boats sailed away, knowing they were probably not going to survive, is heart wrenching to read.

There were also stories I had never heard of before, for example the chef Charles Joughin, who started drinking when the sinking started, and basically got stinking drunk. Whether it was his blood alcohol level, or some other unknown factor, Joughin managed to miraculously survive swimming in the freezing Altantic, while other perished. You can read more about Joughin's incredible story here.

What was great about reading this book, was that James Cameron had used many of the accounts in Lord's book in the making of his block buster film, Titanic, and being a HUGE fan of the film, it was fascinating to learn more of the back story of some of the survivors and victims depicted in the film.

All in all, a GREAT read, and the best Titanic book I have read thus far, though I haven't read many, truth be told.

RATING: 5/5

REVIEW: BRING UP THE BODIES BY HILARY MANTEL

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 23:08:00 +0000

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantal
ARC
Now available!

First off I wanted to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Christine Choe over at Henry Holt and Company Publishers for sending me a copy of this book!

The first thing I wanted to say is that I really enjoyed reading this novel. I am a huge sucker for all things Tudor and I love that Wolf Hall has been continued with Bring Up the Bodies with the story through Thomas Cromwell's eyes is brilliant.

Mantel's writing style is unique, and not an easy grasp, in my opinion, but once I got the gist of it I rather liked her way around the words. Now, I remember in Wolf Hall I was so confused by her use of the word "he" that I often times had no clue who was speaking, and it drove me nuts. I didn't get, at the time, that the book was written solely from Cromwell's view. So, when I was offered an ARC of the next book, I said "yes" and for some reason really grasped the concept well this time around.

I personally loved it when she would use "he, Cromwell, says" or at the end of a sentence by Cromwell, "he said: he, Cromwell." I don't know why, exactly, but it endeared the hell out of me. As does Cromwell himself. LOVE him. Now that doesn't mean he is not self serving, I mean, let's face it, he has a pretty cushy life as the right-hand-man of the king. But that does not mean he is without scruples. And Mantel sprinkles examples of his scruples throughout, which make me like him more and more. I now want to go back and finish Wolf Hall with this new appreciation for the point of view, and enjoy the relationship between himself and Wolsey, which as I remember had quite a humorous way about the two of them in the first book.

So, back to Bring Up the Bodies. This book brings us to the point in Tudor history where Anne Boleyn is no longer in Henry's good books. She has failed to produce an heir, and as it turns out is schtooping every able body in the county. She is not liked by many, and her cunning and calculated ways are a strain on everyone who is near her. Meanwhile, demure and tiny Jane Seymour is quietly making a place for herself in history, and when Henry finally has had enough... well, we all know what happens next.

In the telling of the story from Cromwell's point of view, we see the delicate politics that he faced in this time in Henry's court. In order to carry out the king's wishes, Cromwell will have to ally with some of his enemies. How will he handle himself in these instances? To what lengths will he go to pay for Anne's head?

A beautifully told version of a much told tale and a must read book for any fans of the Henry VIIIth era.

This book is also available in audio format by Macmillan Audio and the reading is done by the very talented Simon Vance.

And here is a video with Hilary Mantel about the book.

RATING: 4/5

For more information about this book click here.

MAILBOX MONDAY

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 03:14:00 +0000

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme currently being hosted by Burton Book Review.

How much do I love Simon and Schuster Canada! SCHWING!

Last week I received The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. (Release date July 31, 2012)

Here's the blurb:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.

I was super excited to see that this book is set in Australia, and I am a sucker for books set around oceans. It looks great, and I think it will be a great summer read!

And today I received:

The Blessed by Tonya Hurley Release date Sept 25, 2012
(Gorgeous cover!)

Here is the blurb:

What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them?

Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief.

How about that for a nice concise blurb!

For more Mailbox Monday posts click here!

COOKBOOK REVIEW: The Looneyspoons Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:48:00 +0000

The Looneyspoons Collection by Janet and Greta Podleski
Granet Publishing | November 1, 2011 | Trade Paperback

I have decided instead of starting a whole new blog for cookbooks and food, that I would just include a Foodie Friday post where I review a cookbook and share a recipe from it!

Today I am reviewing and sharing from the Looneyspoon gals, whom I adore. They are a super fun sister duo that focus on healthy eating without sacrificing flavour. Their recipes are easy and fun, and kids love the wacky names that they choose for them. One of our old standbys around here is the Lord of the Wings recipe, I make it about once a month, and it is a huge HUGE hit.

So far I have tried three recipes, they were all soup. I am a huge fan of soup. ANYway, the three that I tried were:

Thai One On - Exotic sweet potato and coconut soup with shrimp - This soup was excellent and super easy to make. What I loved about it was the coconut milk flavour. I did not add the shrimp, but I can honestly say that with the shrimp it would have probably made a 9 instead of the 8.5 that I gave it out of 10. Super tasty.
Bean Me Up, Scotty Spicy, high-fiber black bean soup with a sour cream swirl- This was rated a 10 by my finicky husband (especially in the soup department!) and by me, my oldest daughter gave it an 8 out of 10. This was so super yummy I can't even articulate it well enough to describe. The only thing I added was fried corn tortilla strips, super easy. You slice up corn tortillas into 1/2 inch strips and then fry them in vegetable oil until slightly brown and crispy.
The Squash Court - Silky butternut squash soup with pears and ginger - I was the only one that tried this soup and I gave it a 7. I'm not sure about the "silky" part of this soup, but it was pretty tasty. The only thing I might omit if I ever make it again is the 3/4 cup light cream, it doesn't really need it.

Here is the recipe (credit - Janet and Greta Podleski Looneyspoons Collection) * if someone in book blog land knows if for some reason I am not allowed to publish recipes from books, can you let me know??! Thanks!

THE SQUASH COURT

2 tsp olive oil or butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp grated gingerroot

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

4 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable

broth

3 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash

2 cups peeled and chopped pears

1 cup peeled and chopped carrots

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

3/4 cup 5 % cream or evaporated milk 2%

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook and stir until onions begin to soften about 3 minutes. Add gingerroot, curry powder and ground cumin. Mix well and cook for 30 more seconds. (I asked a friend who is a chef why I always had to cook curry powder for a bit before adding broth and he said it was to keep the curry from being gritty)
Add broth, squash, pears, carrots, salt and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 12 to 15 minutes or until squash and carrots are tender. Stir occasionally.
Working in two batches, carefully transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Soup will be very thick (mine wasn't). Return pureed soup to pot and stir in cream. Serve hot.

So far I love this book, and there are over 300 recipes in it! I highly recommend it!

RATING: 4 out of 5 spoons

A BETTER-LATE-THAN-NEVER REVIEW: CLOCKWORK PRINCE BY CASSANDRA CLARE

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 21:20:00 +0000

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
ARC

This book was sent to me an embarrassingly long time ago by Michelle over at Simon and Schuster Canada, and I first wanted to shriek THANK YOU! To her and them, as they have been very good to me despite my lollygagging.

Clockwork Prince is the much awaited sequel to Clockwork Angel and, although extremely excited that this book was coming out, I have to admit to being a wee bit nervous that it was not going to live up to book one. Which makes me want to poke sticks in my eyes when that happens.

But, alas, it did not happen this time! Clockwork Prince picks up where we left off in the story and is just as delightfully written as the first one.

We are taken back to the underworld of Victorian London Steampunk style, where Tessa Gray is still living safely among the Shadowhunters. But not for long as it is soon discovered that the Magistrate will stop at nothing to obtain Tessa and her powers to use for his own evil purposes. With the help of the dark and handsomely disturbed Will, and silvery glittery Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magistrates war on the Shadowhunters is a deeply personal one that is fueled by revenge.

The beauty of this story is two-fold. One, it is set in the enticing Victorian era with a twist. There are mechanical machines that are used as the Magistrates minions, and Clare's use of them is terrifying and reads like a movie script. There is magic and demons, and Clare has an extremely imaginative mind that creates the creepiest of visions in your head. Like the Warlock that comes to dinner with the 4th knuckle on each of his 6 fingers. Ick. Or the striking "woman" in the red dress with a long slit up the back to reveal her snake-like tail underneath. There are so any more visuals like that but done in such a believable way that it only adds to the setting and the story in general.

The second, and possible the best part, is the ongoing love triangle between Tessa, hot hot HOT Will, and sweet and nice Jem. Will is tortured, to be sure, and he vacillates between being a total dick to clutching her to him in a mad fever. Huh? No wonder she is so confused! And Jem is the quintessential "nice" guy who is always loyally by her side, and Will's and well pretty much the loyal guy that everyone can count on. Plus he has the hots for Tessa, and he's dying, so this all makes him pretty interesting.

The thing that I love about Cassandra Clare's writing, with this series anyway as I have not read the other one, is that the reason for Will's behaviour is a completely plausible one and an actually very satisfying one within the realm of the world that she created. You know how when you read a book, and often times a YA one, that the author seems to pull a completely obscure and ridiculous answer to a mystery or reason for a person's behaviour out of their ass and you are yanked out of the story and so utterly pissed off that you feel like heaving the book into the nearest fire pit?

Okay, maybe that's just me.

ANYway, I loved it. And since it was left as a relatively nice cliff hanger I can't WAIT for the next one to come out! The next book will be called Clockwork Princess and it will be released March 19, 2013!!

Thank you Cassandra Clare for creating this amazing world and the creatures in it!

For more on The Infernal Devices series you can click here.

And for information on her other series, The Mortal Instruments you can click here.

RATING: 4.5 STARS

In which I spend money on books.... again.

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:17:00 +0000

Okay, so I'm sure that many of you can relate to this story. I have A LOT of books around my house. I would guess that 97% of them I have not yet read. And despite my yearly promise to myself that I will not buy another book until I have tackled the hundreds that are already crammed in every small space in my house, I cave in probably within two weeks of making said promise. When I bought my Kindle I thought, "HA! Now I won't have to have book buying guilt as I won't have to add any physical books to my shelf!"

Um.....

So, now do I not only have still hundreds of books unread that we are tripping over, used to stop a table from rocking, whatever... you get my meaning, I also have probably about twenty samples and maybe half a dozen books waiting on my Kindle, and some I started and will never finish.

Book buying diet... FAIL.

Not to mention cookbooks, I have a THING for them. They also line shelves inside my kitchen, not in the hundreds but lets say there's more than two and less than thirty. (cough)

And while I was snooping around on the interwebs, always dangerous, I realized I had not stopped over at Pioneer Woman's abode in quite a few months, so I grabbed my Bailey's tainted coffee and knocked on her "www."

Well..... not only do I marvel in the force that her blog has become (a recent poll she took on one post about how young people feel took in over 46,000 comments. Thaaaaat's right, not 46, not 460... FORTY SIX THOUSAND people commented.) I started to meander around her recipe index and then I saw that... GASP (and that's a REAL gasp, not the Christian Grey variety) SHE HAS A NEW COOKBOOK OUT!

So there I was at Chapters this morning with my 5 year old in tow with every intention of just looking at it. I picked it up and it was gorgeous in all its pioneer woman glory. I took my daughter to the kids section so I could really give it the 'ol once over, and I looked once and it was over. It literally took me about three seconds of flipping to know I wanted it, nay... MUST HAVE IT. And then I looked up and saw a lovely display of YA novels just staring at me. One may have been winking, but I'm not exactly sure.

Next thing I know a copy of Divergent AND the new Pioneer Woman Cookbook had somehow magically ended up in my hands and I was handing them to the cashier with a gamblers glee at the blackjack table.

Here I sit on my living room couch like a dieter who just went on a binge. Even though it is just two books (I've done worse... much MUCH worse) I still feel like my house will actually be made of books someday, you know furniture, fridge, the whole thing.

Anyway, this is why I get very good at hiding Chapter's receipts like they are evidence of a crack habit from my husband.

Just like he hides receipts for his motorcycle doo-dads. Right? RIGHT?!!

TEASER TUESDAY! CLOCKWORK PRINCE...

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:56:00 +0000

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Should Be Reading, and anyone can play along! I haven't done a TT in months and months, so here goes!

Grab your current read
Flip to a random page and select two teaser sentences from anywhere on that page.
Try not to include any SPOILERS!
Make sure you let us know the name of the book and author so we can add it to our growing TBR pile!

My TT is from Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Prince which I got as an ARC back in November. THANK YOU MICHELLE FROM SIMON AND SCHUSTER CANADA! I am, obviously, waaaay behind on my ARC reading, but now that I have been spending more time with this one I am LOVING IT as much as the first one, which I LOVED.

Here is today's teaser:

"Starkweather's eyes swept over Tessa again, one last time, before he turned and stalked out of the room, his cloak flapping behind him. Tessa couldn't get the image of a great black bird of prey - a vulture, perhaps - out of her mind."

For more teasers click here.

FIFTY SHADES OF CRAP... MY THOUGHTS

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:09:00 +0000

Here's the thing, people, I realize that I will probably get hung up from the rafters by a large member of the +35 female Christian Grey club, but I just have to comment on the inexplicable phenom that is this book. I will say that this is not a review as I could not finish this book, I got around 1/3 in and just couldn't do it. But before I go any further I do want to say...

YAY FOR THE AUTHOR! Even though I personally think her book is a step below most erotica you can find in the used book store shelves, I think it is stupendous that she has become a total runaway success! Here she is a mom of two, and she decides to write some fan fiction, and literally within weeks she is a wealthy famous author. KUDOS TO HER! I love it.

Now, on to the negatives. This book is just not written well... AT ALL. And I know most people who are obsessed with it will argue that "It's escape reading! Just have fun with it!" Well, good for you if you can, but it is no only dreadful to read, it is chock full of complete an utter mistakes in story that pull you out of the story.

Example: Early on in the story Anastasia (barf, nice name) is waking up from being hungover in Christian Grey's (double barf on the name) apartment. He exits the shower in nothing but a towel, where she remarks in her head that he's got nothing on David the statue, meaning, NICE NAKED CHEST. Then skip ahead after their first virginal romp, because before he takes her down the road of dominance and S & M he, being such a GOOD GUY, decides he has to "take care of" her virginity first, like its a surf board he has to wax down before he takes it in the big waves. This part made me want to hurl, personally. ANYway, after their romp she finds Mr. Billionaire playing at the piano in nothing but a pair of flannel pants and she thinks, "Gee, I have never even seen his naked chest before!" HELLO, YES YOU DID, IT WAS ONLY ABOUT 20 PAGES AGO, MORON!

This kind of thing.

There is actually so much more I could say about how this book is thoroughly annoying and difficult to read, but I am not going to waste any more time on it. You can visit amazon.com and read almost 1600 1 star reviews that will echo pretty much exactly my sentiments on the subject.

What I am trying to figure out is what makes THIS BOOK so popular compared to say... any other erotic harlequin type of book? I mean, she is selling one every THIRTY SECONDS! And like I said, good for her, and this is not really a comment on her, she just wrote it, it's the folks that are buying it by the millions that I am directing this question to.

As I was racking my brain to try to figure it out, I thought, well, lots of people are probably buying it to satisfy their curiosity, like I did. And some are getting sucked in and some, like me, are not. The hype is totally out of control which is creating a kind of reading frenzy. As I was reading it I realized what it was that was irritating me about the writing. It is clearly written in a YOUNG ADULT style, and BADLY, and not edited well. It is basically a poorly written YA novel with graphic sex. Which makes sense since a large portion of the YA market is actually women between the ages of 35 and 45. There are hundreds of fan fic stories with more raunchy sex with Edward and Bella, or Harry and Hermoine, for example.

When I searched the interwebs for other reviews, I was kind of relieved to see other scathing reviews of 50.

Here's my final word on the subject: The argument that this book is escape reading and that you just have to let go of shitty writing is flimsy. The reason is because there is PLENTY of fabulously written escape fiction out there that you don't have to use too many brain cells to enjoy. Case in point: The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. And when I have to use TOO MANY brain cells TO READ a book because the writing is not good or the plot is full of mistakes and holes and inconsistencies then it is no longer feels like escape... it's TOO MUCH WORK.

And here's where I hoist a glass to my favourite escape reading heroes Jamie and Claire, where there is enough brilliance and heat to keep you satisfied for years!

For more reviews of this book you can visit Amazon.com

REVIEW: THE DRESSMAKER OF KHAIR KHANA BY GAYLE LEMMON

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:25:00 +0000

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Lemmon
KINDLE edition

It started out great, and what I learned overall about the plight of women during the time the Taliban ruled is huge. The author really had a way of helping me to feel and see through the five sister's senses, and for that I am grateful.

And I get that it is a true story, so it's not like she could create drama that wasn't there.

The thing is, once the sewing business was up and running, about half way through the book the story just went no where. They were successful, and they were fearful of being caught, and then nothing.

She did describe their fear very well, and I cannot even imagine living in those circumstances.

And the most startling thing was the ending, if you could call it that. There really wasn't one. It just kind of stopped. And then there was an "epilogue", and I use that word loosely, which was more or less just a very short summary of "where are they now" kind of thing.

I feel like she was up against a deadline or something? I would have loved to have had the story fleshed out more towards the end, and then a nice thorough epilogue.

All in all, I did learn a lot and have even more empathy for the Afghan people, and in particular the women, but I don't think I will be recommending it anytime soon.

RATING: 2/5

REVIEW: FAREWELL TITANIC BY CHARLES PELLEGRINO

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:44:00 +0000

Farewell Titanic: Her Final Legacy by Charles Pellegrino
Hard cover
352 pages
Published March 6, 2012

Can anyone say obsessed? I mean me -- although Mr. Pellegrino probably admittedly qualifies as well!

This book was fascinating. Charles Pellegrino has been studying the Titanic wreck for years, and is on the team of advisors for James Cameron's movie as well as his expedition dives -- all 13 of them!

Pellegrino also was friends with Walter Lord, who wrote the 1955 classic "A Night To Remember" based on all eye witness accounts of the sinking. This I now have downloaded on my Kindle and plan on reading it soon. Many of the accounts in Farewell are gleaned from over two thousand pages of interviews and correspondence between the two men, so these were my favourite parts of this book.

Although I also thoroughly enjoyed the science-ey parts of it, I got a bit tired of the whole "rusticle" thing. But that's just ME. Oh, and the 9/11 stuff, although extremely significant to the author and the expedition team on the day of the attacks (they were at sea at the wreck at the time), it did go on a bit too long in that vein.

I had just watched Ghosts of the Abyss the documentary that James Cameron did of his 2001 dive to the wreck, (which you can watch in its entirety on youtube) and this book was centered around this particular dive, so that made it probably more interesting than if I had NOT just seen the film.

All in all a good solid read, but not in my top recommendations for Titanic reads. What I really wanted was more of the accounts, which I had really not known, and Walter Lord's book will deliver them.

What was neat was the reference to some of the accounts and then directly referencing them with the 1997 film. Other than the personal accounts, that was the most enjoyable for me.

RATING: 3/5

MAILBOX MONDAY! APRIL 23RD

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:25:00 +0000

Hello all!

I haven't done a MM in a very VERY long time. I actually DID receive an exciting ARC in the mail today! I got the newest Hilary Mantel book that will be released in May!!! "Bring Up the Bodies" is the sequel to Wolf Hall and is all very Ann Boleyn. HUGE THANK YOU to Christine over at Henry Holt and Company!

I also bought a couple of books on my Kindle. After seeing Titanic in the theatre two weeks in a row, and with all of the info on it recently, I have become fairly obsessed and bought the 1955 classic A Night To Remember by Walter Lord, and Life Boat No. 8 by Elizabeth Kaye ( for 1.99!) today.

For more Mailbox Monday click here.

REVIEW: LEAVING THE SAINTS BY MARTHA BECK

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 23:56:00 +0000

Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith
by Martha Beck
Kindle version

I have long been a fan of Martha Beck's writing, she has a great way of reaching her reader, and her wicked sense of humour is what I most adore about her. I am currently reading her latest book "Finding Your Way in a Wild New World" and it is just as great as the other ones I have read some of, Finding your North Star and Steering by Starlight. She is a trained sociologist and a Harvard graduate, so combining her scholarly training with her humanness and humour, makes for a very delightful read.

I stumbled across this book somehow online, and since I have always had a fascination with the Mormon religion and the mysteries surrounding it, I knew I would like it. And I did.

Here many of the bizarre dogma of the religion are blatantly published, and not from lack of fear of reprisal. Any ex-mormon who outs their secrets, like the one where they believe that God lives in a planet called Kolob (however, if you try to research this online you will come up with a he-said/she-said scenario - which is very frustrating). And that Joseph Smith translated ancient egyptian hieroglyphics into what is now known as the Book of Abraham. (this was later disputed when the Rosetti Stone was discovered, and after decades of studying it, the code for deciphering hieroglyphs was revealed). It turns out that what Joseph Smith claimed to translate into the mormon text, is a version of the book of the dead. Again, this is a fact, but I am pretty sure that any devout mormons reading this might have a thing or two to say about this unfolding of events.

I could go on and on, but will not, because this is what I found most fascinating about this book and I don't want to give too much away.

Martha's father, as it turns out, was a high ranking apologist in the church and much revered by its members. In her book, her claims of abuse at his hands was widely poo-pooed and she was made out by her family and other church members to be a raving lunatic. Well, who wouldn't be? Raised in that house!

The only criticism I have of this particular book of hers is that she had a tendency to use a lot of REALLY HARD WORDS. I know this may sound kind of childish, but what I mean is I thank God I had a dictionary in my kindle, or I would have probably given up on it already. The thing is she must have mentioned about 87 times that she went to Harvard, and she used these unbelievably difficult words that even in the context of the sentence I still had no idea what the hell they meant. And what was most annoying was that she COULD have used a more common word easily in its place, and save me the clicking. Let me give you some examples:

filial - Of, relating to, or befitting a son or daughter (she used this one a lot)
ignominious - deserving or causing public disgrace
noblesse oblige - nobility obliges
ostensibly- apparently or purportedly but perhaps not actually.
vociferous - vehement (okay, seriously, WHY could she just not say VEHEMENT - she says vehemently)
amorphous - having no definite form
obstreperous - noisy; difficult to control.
amanuenses - a literary or artistic assistant
stentorian - basically means someone in ther 70's.
lugubrious - looking or sounding sad or dismal
commodious - roomy and comfortable (I guess "roomy" was just to NOT HARVARD enough)
perspicacity- keenness of mental perception (okay, this word just look impossible to pronounce, AM I RIGHT??!!)
vertiginous - causing vertigo

Wow, seeing them all listed like that makes me realize that that IS a lot of big words, and maybe I'm not really just an idiot.

And not to mention Greek Mythology references up the ying-yang, like "Damocles' Sword of Mormon".

So, all in all, a very interesting account of a daughter of a famous mormon leaving the church, and a bit of the history of mormonism to boot.

RATING: 3/5

For more about Martha Beck, her books and her coaching visit Martha Beck.com.

REVIEW: SOLD BY PATRICIA MCCORMICK

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:53:00 +0000

SOLD by Patricia McCormick
Young Adult

I read this book in three hours. This is not to say that I am some super human speed reader, it's to say that the book is that good and a fast read due to the almost poem-like format that the author uses.

In a giving circle I attend, our very first meeting we donated our dining out dollars to a charity called Nepal Youth Foundation. Here we learned about how NYF has rescued over 4000 girls, thus far, from indentured servitude. In other words, these girls, some as young as 6 years old, were sold by their poverty stricken parents, to what they thought were rich people who they then would work for as maids. In some cases, this was partially true, in that the girls worked as maid slaves working in horrible conditions, with very little, if any, money going back to their families. Some were sold to brothels.

And this is the story of Lakshmi. She is a thirteen year old Nepali girl who loves her family, but maybe not her gambling stepfather. She enjoys the simple pleasures of rural life in Nepal; taking care of her pet goat, talking with her loving mother, and eyeing the boy with the slanted eyes that she has been betrothed to. Her future looks bright ahead, full of love and babies and family. She even is allowed to go to school.

Suddenly the monsoon season comes and devastates their rice paddy, and her stepfather announces that she must go to the city to get a job.

What happens next is not hard to guess, but the way that Patricia McCormick has written this story is powerful and heart wrenching in its innocence.

The opening pages plainly spell out what I believe so passionately. It is not just the burdens of women in the developing world, but the power you give to women, their families, and the community when you empower women in the world.

"Let me go to the city," I say. "I can work for a rich family like Gita does, and send my wages home to you."

Ama strokes my cheek, the skin of her work worn hand as rough as the tongue of a newborn goat. "Lakshmi, my child," she says. "You must stay in school, no matter what your stepfather says."

Lately, I want to tell her, my stepfather looks at me the same way he looks at the cucumbers I'm growing in front of our hut. He flicks the ash from his cigarette and squints. "You better get a good price for them." He says.

When he looks, he sees cigarettes and rice beer, a new vest for himself.

I see a tin roof.

RATING: 5/5

For more information about the rescuing of girls in Nepal, you can visit Maiti Nepal (where the author did many interviews for research for this book) the winner of last year's CNN Hero Award, and Nepal youth Foundation.

REVIEW: STORIES I ONLY TELL MY FRIENDS by Rob Lowe

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:57:00 +0000

Stories I Only Tell My Friends
by Rob Lowe (Kindle Version)

Okay, so normally I would never have picked this book up, let alone read it. But, a friend of mine said it was awesome, and because I work in the film business, she thought I would appreciate it on that level.

She was right.

Rob Lowe can actually write, as it turns out, and I literally could not put this book down. Basically there are no big surprises here, but one thing that I really appreciated about this book was the way he handled certain... shall we say... more colourful areas of his life. Rob Lowe is classy, or at least he writes his memoirs with candor and discretion. Where some other celebs would dive right in to every meaty and pornographic detail of every aspect of their life, Rob Lowe does none of that. Oh, he covers all of the bases, even the hugely popular video romp he had with a couple of underage girls, but he glosses over things in a way that at the same time leaves you actually wanting the meat and porn, but being relieved and kind of satisfied that he has left you not feeling dirty after you have read it.

The book starts with his childhood and moves up through to his life as it stands today. I have to respect the fact that although he did veer off the highway of life down the road of has-been child actor a la Gary Coleman, he managed to course correct and create a great and memorable career in the drama world and, who knew, comedy of all things!

There is only one criticism I have of his book, and really it's a very minor one and actually made me kind of laugh in a way. Okay, well maybe there was two.

The first one was that he had a tendency to end chapters with a BIG REVEAL, which started to become extremely annoying and contrived and had me eye rolling a few times. Okay, Rob, I GET IT, you are describing something that happened, and describing the person it happened with and low-and-behold the paragraph/chapter ends with..."so, I turned to her as she walked away and said, 'Nice to meet you too, Daryl Hannah!'" Or, after talking about how much he wanted to meet his buddy Charlie's Dad, who was a famous movie star and then fatefully one Halloween night Charlie, Emilio, Chad and Rob were out creating shinanigans and a crazy man in camouflage make-up and fatigues jumps out of the bushes yelling about how he is "on patrol tonight! And there will be no monkey business!" And the paragraph ends with "Hey, Lowe, you said you wanted to meet Martin Sheen? Well, now you have."

I guess you have to read it to see what I mean, I could list about a dozen examples like this. I'm not saying that none of these events ever happened, I'm just saying that a little variation in delivery would have been nice.

The other thing is how Rob managed to stumble across people and points in the history of the entertainment business where, although they probably did happen the way he describes, are so numerous in number and he just casually happens to be in certain places, that I have to admit it makes me want to call foul.

For example: He was at a baseball game with his brother, who was getting harangued by another fan. An older guy steps in to help out, and it turns out he just happens to be the head puppeteer of the Muppets. Okay... it could happen. But then he invites them, kids he has JUST MET, to visit the set of a "little known film" (as he is always refers to in these such situations) called The Muppet Movie. It just so happens that he just coincidentally managed to stroll onto the set when they were filming the most famous scene in the entire film, the part where Kermit sings "The Rainbow Connection". Once again, leaving the name of the film to THE END, like I didn't see it coming like a parade float down the #1 highway with police lights flashing.

And then the time when he was in England and Sting invited him and his wife to visit, which they did, which I think is completely believable. And as they were hanging around at his house, Pavarotti "dropped" by and him and Sting started recording their duet "Panis Angelicus" for a new album. Sting and Rob weep openly as Pavarotti hits the high notes. Beautiful image. And then after Pavarotti leaves Rob says that him and his wife Sheryl are once again wowed as Sting records "If I ever Lose My Faith in You". Not some other obscure song from any other album, but one of his most famous ones.

There are a million of these.

I'M JUST SAYING.

But then again, I have a few stories that I no longer really share unless someone asks that involve famous people and visiting them in LA etc, that I am quite sure nobody believes, but they actually did happen exactly as I tell it. No lie. And I am not a celebrity.

I have to tell you there is one brilliant bit that still has me laughing. Rob worked with Christopher Walken and writes how Christopher talks in a way that I could have never imagined doing, but it WORKS. It goes like this...

"I saw. Your name. It's good. It was on a list. Of the cast. I'm ...glad it was you. I wasn't sure. If it was true."

Seeeriously! Is that not the best? I love Christopher Walken, like HUGE love, like if I worked with him I think I would pee every single day, kind of love.

I am going to give this a 4/5 because I think it is a great fast read that, if you knew anything about Rob Lowe in the 80's, or even if you know him from his recent work, it is a very honest look into how fame is lusted after like a porn star, and once claimed, it can have the same affect. It is ellusive, and can disappear as quickly as it showed up, and leave you feeling used and abused and taken advantage of. But once someone like Rob Lowe has the right perspective, life just seems all the more sweeter. I loved the arch he painted with his words, the arch of his dream, and how now he is living the dream he never knew was his to begin with.

RATING: 4/5