Tag: Books

G is for Gabaldon Grants Gilbert Glass Grapes

15 Comments

Blogging from A to Z

The Tuesday quiz will be the next post!

actorCary Grant

A few fun facts about the suave Archibald Leach…He was born in England in 1904.  When we was 12 his mother suffered a severe nervous breakdown so he ran away at 13 and joined Bob Pender’s Troupe, but his father found him and brought him home.  A year and half later he rejoined the troupe (with his father’s blessing) and travelled around England before the troupe headed to New York City in 1920. He worked as a stilt walker at Coney Island and as an audience plant with a mind-reading act before working on Broadway. He became a US citizen in 1942.  Married five times, divorced four and the father of one child.  He died in 1986 at the age of 82 of a stroke.

My favorite Cary movie if The Philadelphia Story.  Do you have a favorite?

bookThe Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Jeannette writes about her childhood traveling from state to state with her parents and three siblings.  She starts by telling her first memory, when she was boiling hotdogs and caught herself on fire – at the age of three.  She spends six weeks in the hospital before her father breaks her out.  So begins the adventure that is her life.  The children grow up in extreme poverty.

It is the even-handed way that Walls tells her story that makes this book so wonderful.  She is not bitter or pointing fingers.  During her childhood years she and her siblings accepted their life and their parents and it was only later after  a move to West Virginia when things became unbearable that she became frustrated.  I am in such awe of her ability to come out of her situation intact and successful.  I don’t really want to spoil too many details because I think once you start reading it you won’t be able to put it down and at 288 pages it won’t take you long to finish.  Cannot recommend it highly enough.

authorDiana Gabaldon

I read the first four books in her Outlander series back to back and this was no small feet since they were all 600+ pages.  I also read them at a time when I was still working for Barnes & Noble and hand sold these to many customers, even quite a few men!  It has romance and adventure, history, war and time travel.  I met her at a book signing and she was smart and beautiful, add that to talented and she’s an easy pick!

movieWhat’s Eating Gilbert Grape, 1993

Usually I fall in love with the performances or the story, but in this case I can’t choose one because I loved them both.  Obviously, Johnny Depp is going to give you a good performance and this is one of his most normal roles.  He plays a long-suffering man of the house struggling to keep it all together with little thought to his needs.  But DiCaprio’s Arnie equally shines and he was more than deserving of the Academy Award nomination.  This was Leonardo before Titanic and showing his acting chops.  I was amazed at what he pulled off.  Those two performances alone make this movie a must see.

 

E is for Ever Ethan Emerson’s Executioners

7 Comments

Blogging from A to Z

Daily bookish and filmish picks.

bookThe Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer

This  book about convicts and the death penalty is one that challenged the way I thought about both.  It’s based on a true story in 1976 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980.  I read this 15 or so years ago and I still remember the way it made me feel.  If you can commit to over 1,000 pages, it’s worth it!  I’d say 3 might be a little young to appreciate it but Gage wanted to take a look over breakfast anyway.

execu

 

 

movieEver After, 1998

I’ve seen this movie more times than I’m willing to admit.  This is a  romantic retelling of the fairytale Cinderella as the great great great-granddaughter of the real Cinderella wants to set the record straight.   Drew was luminous as Danielle/Cinderella.  And Angelica Huston as the stepmother?  Perfection.  This is a Cinderella story that I think has a great message for girls.  Hint-Cinderella doesn’t wait to be rescued, she takes care of  that herself.

authorRalph Waldo Emerson

In college, I took a class on transcendental authors during a particularly difficult time, it was the quarter that my grandfather was sick and passed away. I was forced to read and keep a journal and these writers (Emerson, Thoreau) really comforted me somehow.  I’m sure some of my world view comes directly from reading them.  I haven’t taken the time to read them in awhile and I need to remedy that.  Here’s a quote that I need to keep handy as I reach my limit of the new 3-year-old tantrums I’ve been living with.

“Men are what their mothers made them.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you want to try Emerson or think that you should, read Self-Reliance, start here.

actorEthan Hawke

He’s been in some very good movies – Dead Poets Society, Reality Bites, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.  I find him likeable and enjoy his performances.  I did think it was in poor form to knock up the nanny though.  Was he trying to become a cliché?

D is for DaVinci Dirties Deaver Downey

13 Comments

Blogging from A to Z

These are the same four categories every day and the best match I could come up with for the letter.  It was a good mental exercise!   Some people have been commenting that they are all time favorites, but unless I say so that’s not the case.  But they are the best person, book or movie for each letter 🙂

authorJeffery Deaver

I really love Deaver’s series about a former NYPD criminologist who became a quadriplegic in the line of duty, Lincoln Rhyme. Great mysteries with lots of red herrings and flawed characters.  I’ve read and loved the first 9 of the series and #10 came out last year so I need to find time for it.  The first book, The Bone Collector, was turned into a movie starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie that was pretty good.  I’ve read some of his standalones and prefer to revisit Lincoln instead.  He was a lawyer before turning to writing full-time.  Good choice!

actorRobert Downey Jr.

I first remember seeing Downey in Weird Science back in 1985 (watch this 30 second clip, he’s totally 80’s)

But it wasn’t until the sugary sweet romance, Only You, in 1994 with Marissa Tomei that I recognized his good looks and charm.  He had well-known addiction issues that kept him off the screen for awhile but he managed to keep acting and rebounded with amazing commercial success as Sherlock Holmes and Tony Stark (Iron Man and Avengers movies).  He is so quick and witty that he brings a spark to all of his roles.  I loved him in Tropic Thunder and The Soloist along with many others.  He’s so fun to watch and brings energy to every movie he’s in.

movieDirty Dancing, 1987

This movie takes me back to my teens every time I see it.  There are so many cultural references that make it a must see for teen girls, I think.  I loved the story of an awkward girl falling for an older, much more experienced man and I adore the soundtrack. She’s Like the Wind makes me melancholy when I hear it, maybe, due to the lost innocence of youth.

bookThe DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

I loved this book. Once I started reading it was impossible for me to put down.  Honestly, we were going to a party  (and I love parties) the day I started reading and I took the book with me in the car so that I could read for the 15 minutes it took us to get there, never mind that I get sick if I read in the car.  Luckily no headache but I was grumpy that I had to put it down.

I love puzzles, I love fast-paced thrillers, and I thought the story of a possible descendent of Jesus was captivating.  Some people won’t read it because of the sacrilege of Jesus having a child.  Okay.  But it is fiction so I don’t think your religious views are really going to be challenged here.  I’ve gone on to read all of Dan Brown’s books but this is still my favorite one.  Although I liked Digital Fortress too and that starts with a D 🙂

C is for Craig Coben’s Christian Crash Confederacy

21 Comments

Blogging from A to Z

Product DetailsAmerican on Purpose by Craig Ferguson. Finished book 4-2-14, rating 4/5, memoir, 268 pages, published 2009

There’s just something about Craig Ferguson that I love.  I don’t often watch his show BUT BG (Before Gage) I was able to catch him more often.  I think it’s the twinkle in his eye, his Scottish accent, and his intelligence that make him so easy to watch.  If you are a fan of his then you should read this book.  It tells of his life growing up in Scotland and his love affair with America from a young age.  He is first rocker, then stand-up comedian, then actor, but through it all he is an alcoholic with a drug problem.  His wrap-up at the end of why he became an American citizen will make you smile,  be a little proud and give some hope for our idealized potential (if you are American).  He tells his stories with humor, embarrassment, appreciation of his good luck, and honesty.  It was good memoir for fans.

This book is in my personal library and I finally read it!

 

authorHarlan Coben

I fell in love with Coben when I first read Tell No One in 2001 and went on to gobble up everything he wrote.  I had a chance to meet him at a book signing in Houston and he was so personable and funny and so appreciative of all the fans who had turned out that it made me that much more happy to support his career.   I actually purchase his new books in hardcover, one of the few I do that for.

bookA Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Some of you may know this Pulitzer Prize winning book (In 1969, at the age of 32 this college instructor took his own life. It was three years later that his mother found his manuscript and handed it over to Walker Percy. He in turn handed it over to the people who would make it a publishing success.)  The tragedy of how it came to be published adds an extra layer to the book, a books that is full of layers already.  It’s satire, the characters are outrageous and the New Orleans setting is perfect.  Not for everyone, but I laughed, a lot, and fell in love with Ignatius J. Reilly.

 

actorChristian Bale

He got me as Bruce Wayne in 2005’s  Batman Begins. I have gone on to watch and love him in so many other movies; The Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma, American Psycho.  The man has range and depth and I’m likely to watch any movie that he’s in the cast.  Do you have a favorite Bale movie?

movieCrash, 2004

I saw this many times the year it came out. I loved each of the individual stories and I loved how they all came together.  It made me think about stereotypes and how much one act or person can affect so many others.  It won an Oscar Best Picture and I don’t think you can go wrong with this all-star cast.

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen w/ GIVEAWAY

30 Comments

Lost LakeLost Lake. Finished 3-19-14, rating 4.25/5, fiction, 294 pages. pub. 2014

Suley, Georgia, is home to Lost Lake Cottages and not much else. Which is why it’s the perfect place for newly-widowed Kate and her eccentric eight-year-old daughter Devin to heal. Kate spent one memorable childhood summer at Lost Lake, had her first almost-kiss at Lost Lake, and met a boy named Wes at Lost Lake. It was a place for dreaming. But Kate doesn’t believe in dreams anymore, and her Aunt Eby, Lost Lake’s owner, wants to sell the place and move on. Lost Lake’s magic is gone. As Kate discovers that time has a way of standing still at Lost Lake can she bring the cottages—and her heart—back to life? Because sometimes the things you love have a funny way of turning up again. And sometimes you never even know they were lost . . . until they are found.

from Goodreads

There are so many things to love about Allen’s writing.  She has a light, lyrical quality that encourages fast and happy reading.  And even though I always consider her books happy, she embraces difficult topics, like how to move on when who you love has died.  Her characters are always so true and somewhat quirky and the icing on the cake is the magic that movies the story along.  All of these make her books a delight to read.  This was no exception.

Kate, her lively daughter Devin, and her great-aunt Eby are great anchors to this story of never giving up.  Strong females at different stages in life but able to lean on each other as family.  Kate, once she had woken up from her year of grief, saw Devin’s spirit and let her be exactly who she wanted to be.  It was heartwarming.

Lost Lake made me wish it were a real place so I could make my reservations today.  I loved the idea of the whole town getting behind Eby so she doesn’t sell her property.  I loved each unique character’s back story. They were all engaging.  I loved the romance of Paris.  This is great Southern fiction with charm and the magic of childhood.

My only complaint is that  it needed to be longer.  It felt somewhat unfinished, or maybe just hurried.  Or maybe it’s just that I didn’t it to end because I have to wait so long for another one to be written!

There’s a Facebook Quiz to see which character you’d be and I got Kate- “Who you are now is not who you started out to be. Your life is a journey. You follow the signs. Even when you’re lost, you don’t lose faith that you will get to where you’re supposed to be eventually.”  If you take the quiz come back and tell me what character you got, I’d love to know!

I received this book from She Reads.  Go on over and see what other bloggers think about this one.

I ended up with two copies of this one so I’m giving one away.  Let me know you want it by leaving a comment and including your email address. And if you want to earn extra entries you can visit (or revisit) yesterday’s Lost quiz.  I’ll draw a winner Monday at noon.

 

One Shot by Lee Child

26 Comments

One Shot (Jack Reacher Series #9)One Shot. Finished audio 3-19-14, rating 4.25/5, thriller, pub. 2005

Book 9 of the Jack Reacher series (Killing Floor) (Die Trying) (Tripwire) (Running Blind) (Echo Burning) (Without Fail) (Persuader) (The Enemy)

Unabridged audio 12 hours.  Read by Dick Hill.

Six shots. Five dead. One heartland city thrown into a state of terror. But within hours the cops have it solved: a slam-dunk case. Except for one thing. The accused man says: You got the wrong guy. Then he says: Get Reacher for me. And sure enough, from the world he lives in–no phone, no address, no commitments-ex-military investigator Jack Reacher is coming.  Reacher’s arrival will change everything–about a case that isn’t what it seems, about lives tangled in baffling ways, about a killer who missed one shot-and by doing so give Jack Reacher one shot at the truth…. 
from Goodreads

Oh Reacher, you wily devil you.  Reacher, ex-military, loner with a taste for justice, is only found when he wants to be.  He heads to the midwest from Florida so that he can make sure that the soldier who escaped punishment in the service gets his just rewards as a mass murdering civilian.  Only Reacher is also being sought for murder and he has to keep moving to stay one step ahead of those who are trying to kill him.

I always enjoy reading about Reacher’s antics and seeing where he’ll end up, since the world is his home.  This is one of the more solid thrillers and a good standalone for non Reacher readers.  I can see why they chose this one to base the first movie on (come back Friday for my comparison of the two).  The cast is good, lots of moving targets and bad guys, solid police work and Reacher only gets one short roll in the hay so it doesn’t take over the story.

I checked this audio out of the library and it is read by Dick Hill, who has read all of Lee Child’s books I’ve listened to, and he has become Reacher for me.  He almost makes me want to listen to them all instead of reading!

I’m curious.  With a show of hands, who has read a Reacher book OR seen the movie?  

Sundays with Gage – Loving Elephant and Piggie

21 Comments

We’ve been enjoying some books from the Elephant & Piggie series by Mo Willems for the last several weeks.   The illustrations and stories are easy to understand and full of things to talk about.  They also lead to very simple activities that take little preparation.  I would recommend all four of the ones we’ve been reading.  They are especially good for beginning readers as the words are large, simple and repeated.  I’ll list them in the order that Gage likes them best.

Can I Play Too? (An Elephant and Piggie Book)Can I Play Too?  Ages 3-5.  57 pages

Themes- Frienship, Making friends, Thinking outside the box for solutions, Inclusion

Snake wants to play catch with Gerald and Piggie and embarrassment, sadness, and determination come into play.

I hope I’m not spoiling anything here by saying that Piggie’s solution to the no hands problem was using the snake as the ball.  Jason and Gage used his blue snake to play catch.  There wasn’t a lot of catching , but he tried and he had fun throwing.

snake2   snake1

Should I Share My Ice Cream? (An Elephant and Piggie Book)Should I Share My Ice Cream?   Ages 4-6.  64 pages

Themes- Friendship, Sharing, Doing the right thing.

Gerald buys an ice cream cone and before he eats it he wonders if he should share it with Piggie.  As he goes back and forth on whether to share, the cone melts. Piggie saves the day.

So, this activity took less than 5 minutes of preparation, just long enough to cut and tape together a “cone” for the (dirty) “ice cream”.  We were able to watch the melting process in action without the mess 🙂  It took over 3 hours to totally melt.

ice cream1   IMG_5665   IMG_5666

I'm a Frog! (Elephant and Piggie Series)I’m a Frog!  Ages 4-8.   64 pages

Themes- Pretend play

Piggie pretends to be a frog and Gerald doesn’t understand what’s going on until Piggie explains how he too can pretend to be something else.

The picture is terrible, but you get the idea. After reading the story we all took turns pretending to be other animals and then guessing what they were.  He’s mid-jump.

frog1

Pigs Make Me Sneeze! (An Elephant and Piggie Book)Pigs Make Me Sneeze!   Ages 3-5.  64 pages

Themes- Friendship, Getting sick

Gerald thinks he allergic to Piggie because he can’t stop sneezing around her and is relieved to know that he is only getting sick and they can still be friends.

No pics with this one because aside from pretending to sneeze and taking turns saying bless you we didn’t really do much.

I can’t wait to check out more of the Elephant & Piggie series!

The Innocent by Taylor Stevens

20 Comments

The Innocent (Vanessa Michael Munroe Series #2)The Innocent. Finished 3-10-13, rating 4/5, thriller, 331 pages, pub. 2011

Book 2 of the Vanessa Michael Munroe series (The Informationist)

Eight years ago, a man walked five-year-old Hannah out the front doors of her school and spirited her over the Mexican border, taking her into the world of a cult known as The Chosen. For eight years, followers of The Prophet have hidden the child, moving her from country to country, shielding the man who stole her. Now, those who’ve searched the longest know where to find her. They are childhood survivors of The Chosen, thirty-somethings born and raised inside the cult who’ve managed to make lives for themselves on the outside. They understand the mindset, the culture within that world, and turn to Vanessa Michael Munroe for help, knowing that the only possibility of stealing Hannah back and getting her safely out of Argentina is to trust someone who doesn’t trust them, and get Munroe on the inside.

from Goodreads

In this second Munroe novel, she is just as brutal and lethal, but she is also more damaged and vulnerable, and that made this book better than the first for me.  After some after-Africa downtime, Munroe’s best friend Logan finds her and begs her to help him find the daughter of a very good friend a fellow cult survivor.  Munroe needs to work and she loves Logan so she says yes and they head to Buenos Aires and she prepares to infiltrate The Chosen, a religious cult, and get the girl out.

In my review of the first book I said that I didn’t necessarily like Munroe and certainly wouldn’t want to grab a coffee together, but this book had me liking her more. Munroe has her own history of growing up on the streets and living through torturous experiences and so her task of getting close to The Chosen and the survivors felt right.  And her having Miles Bradford as her wingman for the operation was great since I already knew their history and was hoping for a little more heat.  I was not disappointed.

I thought this one took a little more time to get sucked into, but it was worth it because by halfway through I didn’t want to put it down (and only did so to do laundry!).  If you know about the author’s history then you know this book was close to her heart.  She knows about this culture and is living proof that people do break free and thrive.   Here’s a link to her website that gives you a little of her history.

Munroe is a great series heroine – there need to be more thrillers out there with kick-butt women leading the way.  I do think that this should be read only after reading the first one (The Informationist).  I bought this with my own money when I heard Taylor speak last year.

The Traveler by Daren Simkin

14 Comments

The TravelerThe Traveler. Finished 3-4-14, rating 3.5/5, fable, 48 pages, pub. 2008

Once, there was a boy named Charlie. He had a pretty nice life . . . but it wasn’t perfect. So one day he packed up all his time—all his round, squishy years and square, mushy months, down to every itsy-bitsy second—in his suitcase and locked it up safe, said goodbye to his parents, and set off to find something better to spend his time on. Charlie traveled all over the world in search of the perfect thing to make him happy, but that turned out to be much harder to find than he thought. In the meantime, his itsybitsy seconds and silky, smooth hours and raggedy days ticked away and vanished, and soon they added up to weeks and months and years—so that once Charlie stopped his traveling and realized what he really needed out of life, it was almost too late. Almost.

from Goodreads

I rarely have the opportunity to browse library shelves. I usually go in with a purpose or am picking up books on hold, so when I had forty free minutes at the library, I somehow found this very slim book in the fiction section.  I think the only reason I’m mentioning this is because if I actually just talk about the book my review would be over.

I thought this was a sweet 5 minute read.  There isn’t exactly anything profound about spending your time wisely as advice, but it left me with a smile on my face and a little nod in agreement.  If you have a moment I’d see if your library has a copy.  I also think it could be a cute gift for a young person going offi into the great unknown for the first time.  They might not fully appreciate the lesson (not many do in their youth) but it is packaged in such a way (easy to read with illustrations) that you can be pretty sure that at least they’ll read it!

This book  was written and illustrated by two brothers and dedicated to their sister.

So how often do you browse your library bookshelves?

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida

9 Comments

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with AutismThe Reason I Jump. Finished 2-25-14, autism memoir, 150 pages, pub. 2007 (English translation 2013)

You’ve never read a book like The Reason I Jump. Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one at last have a way to break through to the curious, subtle, and complex life within.

 In his introduction, bestselling novelist David Mitchell writes that Naoki’s words allowed him to feel, for the first time, as if his own autistic child was explaining what was happening in his mind. “It is no exaggeration to say that The Reason I Jump allowed me to round a corner in our relationship.” This translation was a labor of love by David and his wife, KA Yoshida, so they’d be able to share that feeling with friends, the wider autism community, and beyond. Naoki’s book, in its beauty, truthfulness, and simplicity, is a gift to be shared.

from Goodreads

Reading books told from the perspective of a person with autism is hard for me.  It’s difficult to imagine my Gage having to deal with all of that on a daily basis, but I read the introduction written by bestselling author David Mitchell, whose own son suffers from autism, and decided that this one would be worth the read. And it was.  Yes, there was a place or two I cried, but overall this book gives some hope and clarity.  This is a 13-year-old boy who can’t speak and yet has the ability to communicate his feelings letter by letter, word by word, paragraph by paragraph.

I think everyone should read this book.  It’s short, the book contains illustrations and a few pieces of short fiction by Higashida, but the bulk of it is Higashida showing the world that autism does not mean unintelligent or unaware and that they are hurt when they disappoint the people they love.  Every person with an autism diagnosis is not the same, not even close, each one having strengths and problem areas- just like every other kid, but everyone will gain a better perspective after an hour with this book. He does not speak for every autistic child, like he sometimes says he does, but he does offer a real insight into his emotional world.

I wish there had been more, but what there was is good. Did you know that in the U.S. 1 in 54 boys is being diagnosed on the spectrum?  I think everyone should take the time to learn a little more.  Here’s a taste of one of the questions…

Why do you ask the same questions over and over?
It’s true, I always ask the same questions. “What day is it today?” or “Is it a school day tomorrow?” The reason? I very quickly forget what it is I’ve just heard. Inside my head there isn’t such a big difference between what I was told just now and what I heard long ago.

I imagine a normal person’s memory is arranged continuously, like a line. My memory, however, is more like a pool of dots. I’m always “picking up” these dots – by asking my questions – so I can arrive back at the memory that the dots represent.

But there’s another reason for our repeated questioning: it lets us play with words. We aren’t good at conversation, and however hard we try, we’ll never speak as effortlessly as you do. The big exception, however, is words or phrases we’re very familiar with. Repeating these is great fun. It’s like a game of catch. Unlike the words we’re ordered to say, repeating questions we already know the answers to can be a pleasure – it’s playing with sound and rhythm.

I checked this out from our library.