SEX AND THE SEASONED WOMAN

Sex and The Seasoned Woman by Gail Sheehy

Wow, what an interesting book of information about other women walking around this earth. I am so impressed how so many women who have had their trials and tribulations after decades can keep moving forward in love and work and be fine and complete. I was motivated by this book, by her words and the lives of other women. I have even joined a dating service because I want to leap in my life like many of these case stories. Unlike some women I seem to find that are unhappy and cruel or are pitiful alcoholics.

LITTLE BEE

Little Bee
by Chris Cleve

A best seller this year and I can see why. Again I get a political and history lesson from a novel. More so a current political lesson from news over seas we don't hear about nor do I care to hear during tough times. But these people's tough times are far worse and insane than we American's can imagine.

This is the lives of an English woman and an small African woman brought together by extreme tragedy on a beach in Nigeria.

It is very well written, provocative and quite captivating to read. The two women are the protagonists and with eloquence tell their personal stories of the main event and subsequent their lives as it merges together. It is tragic to the end, but they do emerge to a deep happiness fully felt through the words of this author.

HOME COMING - BERNHARD SCHLINK

Homecoming by Bernhard Schlink

Wonderfully written story of a man's search for the truth of his birth and his father. Living a life he thought he knew he learns clues from a story he found from his grandparents home an interesting homecoming story of a man and wants to find out the end. The parts of the book he found was just pages used as wrapping paper for some items. There was no ending. Then he finds out that the story may have been written by his own father who really is alive, not deceased as his mother had told him. So well written and descriptive of deep emotions.

SCARPETTA

Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell

Another fascinating adventure with Dr. Scarpetta in the realm of crime and autopsy. This one was about some little people, their relationship and the girlfriend getting murdered. She was involved with a cop who was a pervert and computer hack.
I got lost in the beginning with all the previous relationship that Scarpetta had with her boyfriend and detective that she had worked with. I should go back and start from the very beginning and enjoy them all.

LOST IN THE FOREST

Lost In The Forest by Sue Miller

Sad story of a woman lost in the forest of her life. About the betrayal of her first husband then the sudden loss of her current husband. It is also about the relationship she has and her husband has with their children. The Napa Valley is the back drop and not all accurate but nicely written.

Again, I did not like the characters very much for how they treated each other.

SUE MILLER

The Shore Limited by Sue Miller

A story of a woman and her reflections of the loss of her brother in 9/11 plane crash, her relationship with her own husband, an old fling and her brother's girlfriend. The book is of these individual people's lives. Sad for the most part, I did not like as many of the characters in this novel of hers, I did not approve of some of their relationships and selfish feelings. Approve, meaning I thought their positions were like a soap opera, where people interfere with others lives and gossip about it, rather than assisting one another like a feel-good movie.

MARTHA BECK

Steering by Starlight - Find Your Right Life No Matter What!
By Martha Beck

Live while you are alive...
Learn to be what you are in the seed of your spirit
Learn to free yourself from all things that have molded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road...
Never forget that love
Requires that you be
The greatest person you are capable of being.
Self-generating and strong and gentle-
Your own hero and star...
Be grateful for life as you live it,
And may a wonderful light
Always guide you along the unfolding road.

The World Below

The World Below
by Sue Miller

Wonderful story of a woman, her parents lives and her grandparent's lives. Back and forth from the present and the past it was delightful and thought provoking to hear the sensitivities of other times and thoughts.

Much of the story was of the grandfather who was especially touching to me. What a nice man, so generous and utterly reasonable and forgiving. As a man he admitted his faults, and as a doctor he admitted them too. He was the doctor to the mother of his future wife Georgia as her mother died from cancer. Before he courted his wife, he had sent her off to a sanitarian they refer to as the san for T.B. She had an interesting relationship with a young man there who was more seriously ill. I loved the journal this old past life woman wrote, I wish I could do the same thing.

The world below was about the town that may have been below the favorite lake and the world below the protagonist.

GET FAMOUS

or

Get Slightly Famous
by Steven Van Yoder

Full of useful and inspiring information on how to promote one's small business through the internet, media and networking and more. He seems certainly a go getter and motivational to others. I am surprised he is not more famous in and on the internet.

He outlined clear and easy plans to implement in marketing and promoting one's business. I enjoyed the read and am excited about the ideas.

J.A. JANCE

Damage Control
by J.A. Jance

Wow, this was a very good read. All the characters were interesting and the stories within stories were captivating.

The main story was about a woman sheriff and her relationship to her husband, family and staff. The elements of the book was about her solving a bunch of crimes that suddenly occur in their small town. All a mystery and all interesting. It was also about her discovering some family secrets along with the people of the town.

BODY CELLS AND THEIR STORIES

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot

This books was certainly well written and an interesting subject which was the life of the cells of Henrietta that was taken from her when she was dying of cancer. A cancer her husband gave her. Never the less, the cells went to thousands of scientists for research and it seems some profit making companies have had used the cells to discover some sort of medication.

Body cells were often used of course in research rather than throwing them away. I would not mind if my cells were used in research, the problem I have is when certain corporations make millions from the drug by overcharging patients. Yet this very long winded story was much of the dysfunction of this African American family that was poor and felt abused by the system that took their mother's cells. They fail to accurately blame their damn father for fooling around.

What about the Jewish bodies that were used in research and the Jewish bodies that were killed and the families that got "nothing?"

LINCHPIN

Linchpin
by Seth Godin

Pack full of inspiring information of life and success in our wold.
Be Remarkable
Be Generous
Create Art

WALLACE STEGNER

Crossing to Safety
by Wallace Stegner

Marvelous and eloquent writing of the life of an author with the love of his wife and friends. It was about an author and his relationship and how it developed and endured many years and his wife's illness. It was also about their relationship with another couple who are very wealthy and brilliant and their struggles through the years.

It was an in depth and an intimate portrayal of the essence of friends and loves that read eloquently and satisfyingly. A true reason to read a book and escape into other worlds.

THE THREE WEISSMANNS OF WESTPORT - A NOVEL

The Three Weissmanns of Westport
by Cathleen Schine

A nice story of a older man falling in love with a younger colleague then he leaves his wife high and dry. She had two grown daughters that he helped raise and they are among those he abandons.
Mother and daughters move in together in their cousins home of Westport and work on ironing out some relationships with others and themselves. Rather shallow but entertaining.

SUPER FREAKONOMICS

Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitution, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

Super Economic facts of life in our U.S. Amazing information of thorough studies are highlighted in this book by a couple of geniuses. I love economics and stats. Of course many can be attacked as usual, but we have to honor the results given after these investigations.

PATRICIA CORNWELL

Black Notice
by Patricia Cornwell

Just as usual in Cornwell's books this one is as entertaining and captivating but some times elementary. Just a few times in the story line it was down right silly in content. But this was a story of a strange weir wolf serial killer from Paris's upper class family who is protecting him. The famous doctor analyze the facts and travels with her detective. Her boyfriend has been dead for a year, yet suspicions arise that he may still be alive since she receives a letter from him given to a politician that was instructed to give to her at a certain time.

THE ART OF MENDING... YES, A GOOD THING!

The Art of Mending
by Elizabeth Berg

Another lovely book to read and learn from. A sensitive story of a woman, a mother and her families dynamics. Her loss and the repercussions of a life in the mist of a normal dysfunctional family. The family of a good husband, son and daughter and the haunting abuse of her sister by the hands of their mother upon her father's death. It was mainly of the story of the sister's emotions and the protagonists relationship to that. She was aggravated by her sister, then came to understand her as well as herself.

EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM - GONE!

Every Last One
by Anna Quindlen

What wonderful and sensitive writing this author reigns of. It is a tragic story, as all Quindlan's are, written with profound sensitivity, clarity and caring. It is of the mother as the protagonist, her family, a good husband, the complex dimensions of the family and then loss of most all of them. This was a meditation of loss, feelings, and attempts to move on. I was so drawn in to the depth of this book I was depressed while reading it. It is strange to me, that many books I read feel so shallow with just a cursory story. Then this author so obviously can manage to provoke the depth of me the reader's soul. I think it is the authors honesty with the characters feelings. Although sad, the book was a fine escape from my own reality, a lost in the space of words to go and languish within.

THE MISTRESSES DAUGHTER

The Mistresses Daughter
by A.M. Homes

Here is a personal account by a well known novelist and her experience with her real father and mother and her obsession to find out more about them. It is her autobiography. She is clearly revealing in her personal experience, her deep feelings and reactions. I thought many times about how she had the last word in a revenge as to how she was treated by others - her family. Her father was a complete jerk, his wife too. This is the wife who had no cause to even meet this daughter, a daughter as a result of her husband's affair with a much younger woman, a young woman who was in the employ of this man. What a cruel and selfish man. More than a autobiography, it is a meditation of a woman's life with the challenges of being a daughter of a mistress and man.

FAMILY TREE

Family Tree
by Barbara Delinsky

This book was wonderfully entertaining, finally a book I can get into after a few bad ones. This was a story about a lovely couple who has a baby but the skin of the baby is much darker than each others skin. A mystery ensues with accusations of infidelity through out the family. A little Christian in tone but I liked the bit of mystery and the character of the protagonists were sensitive and real.

DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND ROCK IN ROLE

Drugs are for people who don't know how to have a good time.

VALLEY OF BONES

Valley of Bones
by Michael Gruber

Way too elementary in story plot. So simple in dialog between a woman and man, it seemed silly. The story was too contrived that it did not seem realistic, it was boring. It was certainly not a provocative mystery. I cannot believe I made it through this book.

The plot was, I cannot remember, oh yes, this strange woman was found with a dead person and it went on about how amazing this woman's life was. First she was abused by her step father, used everyday of her life with him, then she became a prostitute, then a nun after she survived being shot in the back by the feds, then she went to Africa where she was a leader of an army and therefore a war hero. Then she was used to plot the death of this dead criminal all along having visions. Bull sh-t, I don't know how people can believe this or rather be intrigued in reading such dilemmas. Not an Oprah pick for sure. I used to send inspirational books to the woman's prison, do you think I would send this? - No.

PATRICIA CORNWELL

At Risk
by Patricia Cornwell

Too short of a book this time. I barely got into the story line before it closed up and ended. It was about a woman DA who is quite controlling and arrogant then gets victimized and in brief turns out to be quite ethical. Still way too short to have any depth of character in the protagonists. The cop - detective who worked for her seemed to be handsome and good, but was not as clear to me.

The Martha Rules
by Martha Stewart

I loved this book, she is beyond inspirational, so insightful and so direct. With focus, analysis and courage she claims were some of the points of her success. She abides by her own rules that she has set up. What great goal planning, set up a some rules or disciplines to live life by. She acknowledges her demands and certainly does acknowledges her colleagues that support her company as well as her cell mates. What a life and she still keeps on going forward even though most people her age are retired and just knocking around in their own gluttony of life.

STIEG LARRSON

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
by Stieg Larrson

A hard time getting into it. Larrson is great in recapping the last two books and their characters, but then adding more Swedish names and story line kept getting me lost. I missed the protagonist, she has been silent recovering in a hospital bed.

Finally , the main protagonist enters the picture after the first quarter of the book with her super duper abilities on the computer. She is such a grand role model women. The first independent and strong woman I have ever read in a detective suspense book either written by a man or a woman. I do not know how American women writers can still make their character women so dippy.

Over half of the book read and I was still bored and missing the main female protagonist. Too many male political espionage. The same with the end.

BRENDAN BRAZIER AMAZING FOODS FOR LIFE

Thrive, The Vegan Nutrition Guide
by Brendan Brazier

A revolutionary change of thinking in a vegan and raw (or rather semi-raw) diet. Amazing recipes for high energy. He speaks much of the body's intolerance of our modern diets. The book is well written and easy to understand. He has no footnotes for his claims on nutrition, yet 95% of his information does rings true of many other books and articles that I have read.

The book includes delicious recipes for drinks, puddings and power balls, all raw and very easy to make.

What stood out for me while reading about Brendan Brazier lifestyle, is that he is a die heart vegan but he is very strong, energetic and is an accomplished competitive athlete. So unlike many vegans who suffer from malnutrition, Brazier has the magic keys to quality nutrition for a vegan.

Malka of RC Cabinets & Closets

Wickett's Remedy: A Novel
by Myla Goldberg

Of course this was well written but it jumped around too much for me with a story that did not have a clear plot or interest.

It is about a woman who works hard as a clerk, very different in the days of the early century when there were model t's around. She meets a quite guy and gets married. He was going to be a doctor but starts this Wickett's Remedy, then dies. A salesman of his takes off with the formula and it makes him famous. The widowed wife goes through depression and then wants to be a nurse. Meets a patient and gets married. Never got paid for the Remedy.

That was about it. Not too passionate or deep.

THE SECRET SCRIPTURE - NOVEL

The Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry

OMG, I was absolutely bored in reading this. Yes, it was very well written, but the dialog of an old woman's life with her father, her husband and her relationship with her doctor as well as his life was a monotone journal of bland living - it was not my cup of tea. There was the two protagonists that both jumped around in history that got me lost more than several times since I was spacing out anyway. I kept on missing where I was, I do not believe I even finished reading the book since I got lost too many times. That is it, no more of this persons books.

ENTERTAINING

Daddy's Girl by Lisa Scottoline

Elementary story and vocabulary. Good detective story after awhile about a lovely law professor and her boyfriends and adventures in crime and mishaps. Entertaining and well written.

GREAT BOOK

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky
by Heidi W. Durrow

Sweet, well written book with wonderful revealing and sensitive characters.

A story of a young girl who is black - white, her mother is Danish and her father is American-African. She has mocha skin and eyes a blue. She is in the middle and not. Her mother has died and her father has left when she is raised by her paternal grandmother with issues of her own. Delightful writing, in narrative form.

PAT CONROY - A FAVORITE

The Water is Wide By Pat Conroy

His memoir, best forgotten, maybe, no not really. Always as usual well written, but his story with these kids on an island teaching with idiots was not enough story line for me at the moment. I am addicted to his other books, his words, his interwoven complex and insightful stories. I love his novels.

BITTER AND SWEET

Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by Jamie Ford

My goodness, if it were not for fine novels with historical events in them I would be of complete loss with my history of the US and the world. My best history lessons come to me now in my novels I escape in.

During the war with Japan and Germany, during the interment camps for our American Japanese and later times, this story of a American Chinese man takes place. The names have been changed because they are make believe but the stories are quite true and sad. I read of the author Pat Conroy reflect on his high school years of being a bigoted jerk towards American Africans, I cannot believe how thousands and millions of people in America; Christians and Jews can discord the crimes in other countries but continue to commit crimes upon their neighbors. But that is another story that continues on.

This novel story, is of a young American Chinese boy and a young American Japanese girl, experience white school bullies, intolerant school teachers and unrelenting parents. Good and bad. Their love for each other highlight their lives. Their continued travel through life and back to each other again. The book describes the life of all of us in those days, the good and the ugly.

My history lesson I finally embrace and am ashamed of. I would not have been so cruel, a lesson of care I 'knew' when I was only 10. I do not know what was up with Pat Conroy, except for testosterone, and I cannot understand that either. Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death...may you have mercy.

WALLY LAMB

The Hour I First Believed
by Wally Lamb

Wally Lamb is absolutely amazing. Lately, reading good books have been quite important in surviving the stress of our economy. I rather find it calming to escape into another world. Wally Lamb is a captivating, deeply thoughtful and a marvelous writer.

This story is of a man's life married to a school nurse who was caught up in the fire storm of Columbine High School and a convoluted family history mixed in with his own failures. A very thought provoking, sensitive and intriguing life story. I was feeling better about my situations compared to this poor guys life. I had to keep reminding myself that it is just a story, but I did feel better because of the way this man processed his circumstances and kept going forward. He was a real type of a man, portrayed with pain, mistakes, warmth and depth of heart. All the books other characters were equally as interesting.

THE LACE READER

The Lace Reader
by Brunonia Barry

Interesting book in style and theme. It was a story of a witch of sorts, a mystic, an intuitive, damaged and haunted young woman. Just like the lace itself, this novel was woven like the fabric of lace with the wonderful, beautiful and delicate play of thread and space. I want to read this author again to get lost in the potential of the woman's mind, to be further inspired by our gifts of the natural.

PAT CONROY

South of Broad
by Pat Conroy

Pat Conroy's books are classics in the history of American books. They are to be read over and over again for the poetry of reading the life and times of characters. I love, love his beautiful poetry of words in harmony. Yes, I agree with other critics that many of the stories in the book were not very creditable and carried on a bit, but Conroy's words tasted so sweet and delightful. He could have rewritten a phone book and I would have loved his writings. He has a gift of a golden pen and golden mind for creativity and story wrapping, wrapping the life stories of his characters together and away and then bring them back again. Leo the protagonist and his life long and childhood friends were all portrayed as authentic, emotional and interesting loved ones going through a intriguing life of Charleston. I so wanted to be part of their little group, to love and be loved by the most thoughtful people of the south. To be a vanguard of integration on a football team and school yard. To be part of their colorful lives.

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE

The Girl Who Played With Fire
- Stieg Larsson

The continued story of the infamous characters from the author's previous book with even more intrigue. Amazing and captivating with a satisfaction of karmic revenge. I cannot wait for the next book to come into the library.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
- by Stieg Larsson

Incredible, I was so captivated once I got past the first 50 pages. Larsson was a genius to intertwine so many interesting characters with several consulting stories. He writes with so much depth of character, so much personalities in their being. Unlike other crime detective dramas with a side kick. This woman side kick, not really a side kick at all, is more real, more powerful, realistically flawed, more intelligent and more ambitious. She is not a blond make believe cop obviously written by a simple man. I loved this character woman, she was deep.

FAMILY AFFAIRS

Family Album
by Penelope Lively

Bland and quite shallow. Written by an English author set in England with some interesting family members. Although, I think the author attempted to paint a lovely picture of this large families personalities, I found it all far too shallow in characterization. Much like the entertainment of watching a movie. When I read a book I desire to delve into the intimacies of the lives in the book. With many pages to achieve intimacies, this book just reported the story lives of the characters. A dull endeavor in reading and a failing for my time. The children of an English family having six children, with unusual parents and a nanny, could have been more enlightening if it were written so with depth and more sensitivity.

STORMY WEATHER

Stormy Weather
by Paulette Jiles

Very interesting new author for me. The book seemed at times rather epic and long, but quite enthralling while delving into the depth of the main character. It was of a young woman's struggles during the great depression with her family of two sisters and her mother, and a gambling father in the wild west of the 1930's on. After reading about Mc Donald's cheap trash hamburgers and then reading about what these people ate during the Great Depression, I feel privileged I can eat beans at times. How soon do we Americans forget what real poverty is and the strength it can build in us as individuals. I admired this woman for her willingness to keep going forward and being true to her self by not marrying right away. She wanted to be self-sufficient and work hard a hard land. She endured her father's and then her mother's gambling, and her sister's illness and playing around and she continued to help support them. She remained true to herself and created what she wanted as well as a descent and loving man in due time. I know it seemed to me that women were not independent before the Woman's Liberation Movement, but I was just ignorant to not fully realize that our country continued to thrive during rough times because of women's back bones. They always have and always will give the family and towns it's true strength as long as the continue their feminine endurance.

NAPA SOCIALITES

PASSING AWAY IN PROSPERITY

It was Howard who passed away. A client and friend for years. During my time of knowing Howard, he went on some strange kinds of diets and ate rich foods. He told me shortly before he died that he used to play tennis. I was surprised, because I have never seen him away from the dining room table. He told me he quit playing about 15 years ago. Then I said, that is when you started having health problems. He said, yes in amazement.

When I turned 50, I cut out eating so much meat and rich foods. I used to eat duck liver, my favorite, once a month, now I eat it once a year. Yet I see my cousins or friends my age , still eat rich foods. My cousins tell me that their high blood pressure and high cholesterol is because of their genes. But I have the same genes.

So my righteous opinion; "why are we worrying about what a heart attack feels like, why not prevent one in the first place?"

I was very sad to see Howard wither away so quickly and die and I was angry at the doctors that gave him all the pills and at Howard himself for going to them. He was staying for the last year near me so I got to see him a few times. He was brilliant and alert till they gave him morphine for the pain of a leg infection. A bacteria leg infection that amputated one leg and then was attacking the other leg. An infection that was resistant to antibiotics, a bacteria he got in the hospital.

Of course Howard was 86 years old, some say it was his time. But I ran into one of his friends the same day who is 90, that was taking out the trash on his farm. He was complaining about the food industry and the food people eat and the pills that they take. At 90, he still worked his land but would no longer get up on his horses. He told me, "I am 90, I am too old to ride those horses!" I see this old guy walk every day near me, on the other side of the highway from Howard's retirement home where Howard just sat.

The retirement home, where if you walk down through the halls you will see the names on the doors as the Who's Who of the Napa Wine Country. You can see all the famous names, the affluent names of those in the wine region on these doors in this retirement hospital. Then I see the bodies waiting in ... ?

I guess I am not aging gracefully. This is a hot button that irks me so; eating to kill oneself...

CHEW ON THIS

Children of the "Great Depression."

Children of the "Big Depression."

Chew On This, Everything You Don't Want To Know About Fast Food
by Eric Schlosser & Charles Wilson

This book was listed on Amazon.com as a book for the youth. It was easy reading and clearly written. I should read more elementary - Youth books, I can understand them more easily with out thinking too hard in the early mornings when I read.

My eyes were filled with tears while reading this book for the abuse we wage upon our children of this country in the food we feed them. We are in a financial depression right now and obesity from fast foods are rampant. What happened to eating beans and rice or a baked potatoes as my parents did during the "Great Depression?" I guess we should call our modern day depression the "Big Depression." Imagine how healthy and fertile our country would be if we ate 'real' food and most importantly respected the animals and the people who bring us our food. The banks have stolen and mismanaged our monies and then the food industry is raping our health by feeding us trash and we keep voting for the selling of this food by buying it.

Never the less, these stories and other facts in the book are very sad. Schlosser writes how fast-food supports our school systems with money in exchange for installing vending machines and fast food booths on school campuses. How Ray Kroc of McDonald's scopes out locations for his restaurants by going up in a helicopter to see where all community schools are. The reporting author also highlights other such tragedies as the shipping of Coke to a remote Alaskan community of Kasigluk, We ship them coke, not water, which is scarce there, not a dentist, or even toothpaste, we ship them COKE! The once healthy Alaskans, now have rotten teeth by the age of 5 and they keep airlifting the Coke because Coke is profiting.

Why are we so obsessed with our cars gasoline and not with the fuel in our bodies? Why do we have to have the best auto and finest finger nail manicure? Then because we run out of time, we rush to a fast food corner (after the manicure)?

The feeding of millions of Americans do not have to be in the production of fast-junk-food. As long a we Americans have to eat several hamburgers a day we will keep casting that vote by that purchase for the cruel practices on animals and filling our bodies subsequently with empty harmful calories.

Quotes:

• One out of every hundred people die within thirty days of having gastric bypass surgery in America.

• A study recently found that one out of every five American toddlers eats French fries every day.

• The farmers in Idaho who grow the potatoes haven't done nearly as well. There used to be hundreds of small companies that bought potatoes, and farmers were able to wait and see who would offer the best price. But the fast-food chains (and their desire for huge amounts of fries that taste exactly the same) have made a handful of fry companies extremely powerful. The small companies have either gone out of business or been bought out. Today three companies control about 80 percent of the American market for frozen French fries. And if potato farmers don't like the price being offered by those three companies, then they're out of luck.

• The new system is good for fast-food chains. They can buy frozen fries for about thirty cents a pound and then sell them to customers for about six dollars a pound. 
•  

SOCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY in BEING JEWISH

I met some client's here in Napa, that told me that they were Social Jews. It took me awhile to figure that one out. But it seems that they belong to their Jewish organization just for social reasons. Perhaps since they cannot get along with other organization. Maybe another organization such as the Kiwanis would be a better place for them. But I thought the Kiwanis' got together socially to work on projects to contribute to our community. No, I guess the Kiwanis would not be good for them either. If they join the Kiwanis they may have to contribute something. Wow, what is this community getting to if we cannot have contributing citizens. We used to be farmers here in Napa Valley, helping each other, now we are the so called socialites. What does that word mean anyway; socialites, it is pretty irrelevant to me. I don't think I want to be part of that group.

Anyway, these clients broke their word, unlike the old hand shake agreement and they actually B.S.ed me instead of allowing me serve them. They had all my 400 references, my best designs, an enormous amount of my talent and time and then the lied and said that they did not want to work with me because I did not want to do any work for them. Like, out of left field this came. It hardly made any sense. If I come out to someones home and take the time to design for them, doesn't that seem obvious that I am interested. These people had something mysteriously going on and could not be forthright and honest. They are my neighbors, but they don't care who they step on. Some people here forget that this is a small community and word gets around as to who scams and who doesn't. But that's some city people that end up moving here. Basically, they cut off their nose to spite their face. Like nose jobs. No wonder I hate nose jobs for what that old saying means. Why are we not happy with G-d's creations on our face as well as the talent and gifts of G-d's people and their neighbors?

CARRIE FISHER'S OWN WORDS

Wishful Drinking
by Carrie Fisher

I listened to this book on audio c.d. read by the author; Carrie herself. At first it was abrasive to my ears I almost threw it away. I guess I must have been in a bad mood. Besides, she is a very close friend of my dermatologist; Arnold W. Klein, whom I have had a crush on for decades. She is famous and I am not, so I did not like her. When I finally was at a lost of what to read next I started listening to her words again on my iPhone. It was a delight. She is honest, authentic, funny and revealing. It is a book of her life - up until now, and I loved her for it. Her observation of the Hollywood scene was accurate. Her marriages and relationships stories were for real and enlightening, I had to think about my own experiences and accountability upon reading her revelations in my mind of my own circumstances.

I am really sorry that she had to go through so many 'doctors' for drugs and elector- shock. Since her best friend is Arnie, my experience with him is that he advocated a more holistic medical treatment without so many drugs. I was surprised of her use of the drugs. But that is Hollywood and that is privilege, fortunately and unfortunately. Her brain damage from the drugs then to the elector shock I think ruined her lovely brain chemistry for sure. I wish she had gone Dr. Daoshing Ni for her anxiety, addiction and the brain chemistry damage from the drug use. Bummer, I wish I can know her too. She is a dear heart. At least I would love to do her closet!

BETH HOFFMAN

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
by Beth Hoffman

Eloquent and quint, is that a confusing description? I loved reading this book, and this author is fabulous. Now I am distressed that she does not have any other books ready for me to read.

The story of this young girl's life with a crazy mother who dies, an absent father and her move to her aunts house. The story was delightfully intimate, poetic, heart warming, inspiring and tasty. Her sentences were like poems of beautiful words I want to remember to use and hear again.

Closet World, Closets by Design parent company files for bankruptcy - Industry News Landing

Closet World, Closets by Design parent company files for bankruptcy - Industry News Landing

Besides being indited by the California State Attorneys Office for corruption.

FAMILY

Coast Road
by Barbara Delinsky

Interesting author I have never read before. At first I was afraid it was going to be a mediocre - typical love romance novel. I was pleasantly surprised with a delightful romantic love story involving a family and friends. Eloquently written with beautiful descriptions of the country sides. A delicate and creative story.

MADE IN THE U.S.A.

Made In The U.S.A.
by Billie Letts

I forgot how wonderful a writer Billie Letts is. I have been away from her too long. The story of a young girl and her brother as they become orphaned and discover themselves. Then as a new family who saves their lives as they themselves influence their new friends lives. Lovely story with tragic trials for these young children as they wander the streets of Las Vegas for awhile. Deep felt relationships are expressed between the cover of this books. A pearl of a book to relish.

COMMITTED

COMMITTED: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
by Elizabeth Gilbert

She is a lovely author that I have enjoyed in the past and have equally enjoyed here again in her newest book. I can read this one book again for the social information she states in stats. Very informative creating much introspection for myself. I also liked her expressions of her own desires and fears, for it shed a light on my own - brought those feelings to my surface again to honor and realize.

Her trails with her own relationship were interesting as well, her travels always are. She is a buoyant and courageous soul. A love story indeed to admire and pray for in myself.

GOOD FOODS

Farm City, The Education of an Urban Farmer
by Novella Carpenter

A delightful, entertaining, whimsical and eloquently written story of a woman farming with in the midst of an Oakland, California ghetto. Her trials and tribulations of this heartfelt endeavor journal-ed her days in the words of this book.

BREATHLESS WONDER

Breathless
by Dean Koontz

A science fiction hopeful story of strange human like creatures. Interesting and well written. I had never read this author's books before. I hope to find others more interesting. The other characters that he jumped around to, confused me and I never saw the relationships.

LUMBER TYCOONS

Serena
by Ron Rash

Reckless and ruthless lumber tycoon and his wicked wife's dominance and control. I did not care for the story line nor the ordinary repetitive vocabulary. The reader on this c.d. did not bother to capture the characters personalities either, so it was confusing to hear about this wicked woman in a mousy tone of voice.