Sunday, November 14, 2010

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.

Monday, November 8, 2010

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.