I bought this book as I was traveling – stuck in an airport as I recall and about to spend the next three hours sitting in a cramped seat – 5C – on the tarmac waiting for weather to pass and I barely noticed.  This book is absolute trash – like a soap opera and I loved it.

 I remembered the author from Sex and the City and thought; at least this will be funny – it was.  The characters are cutting and all-too-real.  Definitely gets you to thinking about what makes people tick and how one deed leads to another and another until you are down a road maybe you didn’t expect…

 This is a very light, amusing read that will keep you chuckles even in the worst of circumstances.     

I didn’t pick this movie night.  I was a little apprehensive for another Quentin Tarantino blood fest.  Happily, it wasn’t the gore that got you, it’s the tension.  Yes, there are moments best spent with your eyes closed (the skin carving) but I tell you – get thee to this movie!

 Gallows’ humor and wicked characters abound throughout this film.  How much did I love Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender) switching from German to the “King’s word” at death’s door, finishing his fine scotch and starting the gunfight – all while looking unflappable and gorgeous???  Or Christoph Waltz’s Col. Hans Landa in any scene – he is unbelievably dislikable yet disturbingly hypnotic.   And finally Brad Pitt returns to the roles he shines in – character acting (remember SNATCH?)  There is not one weak performance in the bunch and you know they all had a blast making the film.

 One of the qualities I like best in Tarantino movies is he believes his audience to be smart.  Of course there are echoes of earlier movies (The Dirty Dozen) – that’s the point, he takes it further.  It’s like a tip of your hat and now, see what I’m going to do. 

 I loved the use of several different languages and the opening scene would never have worked otherwise – oh my God, the tension was almost unbearable.  It was what was off camera that created the tension – I was feverishly worried his daughters were not safe outside all while Col. Hans Landa held sway…Get thee to this film! 

Fall is a time of Harvest – a time of plenty…and it can also be a time of fear.  Fear of failure, fear of not enough.  Do you have enough to get you through the long winter?  Enough money and resources?  Enough love?  Enough light before the long slumber of winter draws ever-near?

 One of my favorite kids book is Frederick.  Frederick is a mouse. Instead of gathering food for winter like the other mice, Frederick gathers stories, sunbeams and fairy kisses.  He brings the light in the darkest hour when tummies rumble and hope is all but lost that Spring will ever bloom again.  In that hour, Frederick reminds them of sunbeams and dancing dragon flies.  He brings them to cool, trickling streams and fresh beds of new grass. Summer is born again within the nest, even as the storm swirls on above…

 What adventures and pictures have you tucked away to remind you of warmer days in winter?   There is still time yet to gather sunbeams and daydreams to keep you company for your long winter’s nap.  After all, Harvest is here. 

I jumped on the Mad Men bandwagon this weekend.  I’m completely hooked.  I love the characters.  Each one has secrets, often behaving badly in one way or another only to shine a day later.  We witness the dregs and glory of each character as they struggle in quiet desperation – a desperation that is all too familiar our own lives. 

 Each of us struggles with moments of ‘quiet desperation.’  Sometimes these moments may stretch into how your life feels all the time.  It may seem like the grass is in fact greener over there on a different lawn or possible on that road not taken.  But that is an illusion that leads only to chaos – just watch Mad Men.

 The main character Don Draper is that illusion.  This man is miserable – on the inside, but all the world sees is someone irresistible.  Women want him and men want to be like him – yet he is lost.  He is desperate to feel – anything – to get into his own life.  Yet he can not – he tries with booze, work, success and many, many women to fill the ever-expanding emptiness within, but he is still empty.  In fact, more empty, for when he looks into the eyes of his daughter or son he knows each day he is less the man he wanted to be…Good stuff!!!

 It is easy to believe the person down the street or even in the next cubicle has it so much better than you, but that is just a myth.  Each of us struggles with our own brand of quiet desperation – maybe you cling to a past that needs to be let go, or hold to an idea of how it is supposed to look, or maybe something is ‘not enough’…

 I encourage you to stop looking over the fence and be where you are.  Forgive yourself for whatever failures or transgressions you have made, real or imagined – let go of the past.  Today is a new day and maybe, just maybe you will discover your own backyard is pretty nice place to be.   

Everywhere the debate on health care is being held – lots of shouting and exaggerating on all sides.  Frankly it is disgusting some of the lies being spread to ‘win’ the day – Nazis and death panels.  To be sure, this is insulting to all those touched by WWII in the very least.

 Beyond the lies, I am stunned by the Republican stance on this debate and its hypocrisy.  This party that wraps itself in the mantle of the morality and Christianity does not want to help the least among us.  Why?  Because who would pay?  Not me, says the Republican party.   UUuuuum, did they not read the bible or go to ethics class for this mantle they wear? 

 The phrases, ‘I am my brother’s keeper,’ or ‘the last shall be first’ are not just some nice words.  It is the truth and foundation of Christianity and every time they deny the least among us, they walk away from the God they claim to honor.  The shiny, golden bull draws them away…  

 What I hear tumbling from their lips is ‘not enough.’  There is ‘not enough’ money, debate, discussion, time, options, inclusion, exclusion…on and on the naysayers rail on stalling reform. 

 Let’s deal with the facts – according to the World Health Organization rankings of the world’s health care, U.S. is 37^th, between Costa Rica and Slovenia.  France and Italy top the list.  You know those countries we like to ridicule as being so silly. 

 We are 37^th.  Isn’t that statement alone enough to make you think – what is going on here in the richest country on earth that we can’t take care of ourselves better????  Something is amiss…

This book by Chris Bohjalian is haunting, brutal and fiercely honest.  Set in Europe during the waning days of World War II, a tale of love, growth and the grim realities of war unfolds.  The story is woven together by a variety of alternating characters, slipping in and out of different scenes as the plot requires.

 I liked this aspect of the novel, yet I wanted more of the characters.  I liked them, with their good and bad qualities for all to see.  How many German families went along with things?  To survive?  Perhaps even to thrive?  To protect their own families?  And truly, who could have ever imagined a plot so vicious could really be happening, even down the lane?

 When I read stories of WWII, I wonder what would I do?  Would I risk the safety of my own family to protect the condemned?  Surely in those initial moments I would protect, but would I continue – as the risks and fears mounted?  As I witnessed the punishment of those caught, could I continue? 

 This book reveals the flaws of men without judgment – surprisingly, for it would be easy to caste all Germans as bad, Jews as just victims, and war crimes like murder and rape as facts instead of indicators of boiling rage.  An eye for an eye, even if the victim had nothing to do with the initial crime…

 Bohjalian creates characters and scenes that stay with you long after the final page has been turned.  And for me, that is a sign of a good book – it gets me thinking, expanding the horizons to include not just the pretty places, but all places in the drama of life. 

Hoffman again creates moving, real characters engaged in the messy business of life.  The book revolves around the Moody family and of course, the name fits.  This is an unhealthy, struggling family – secrets, affairs and drugs abound, but also truth. 

 What happens when fathers ignore their children?  Is this a choice or is it a left over wound?  Born of your own longing for a life not lived…And better yet, where is grace found?  Can the unforgivable find forgiveness?  As always, yes, grace can find you in the strangest of places.    

 Be fairly warned though, I would not read this book if you are looking for something “happy, feel-good.”  However, the characters and the rawness of their experience stay with you in a good way.  In my own life, it has taken me years to discover – in every experience – I can only see in-part.  It takes many different voices to see all and even then it may take years. 

 For peace is only found when you choose to be peaceful.  It’s an annoying truth that you and only you, can transform your life from one of pain to peace.  It sounds almost too easy, possibly condescending, but blaming your past for where you are today only binds you to a broken place that could be, if you choose, to be left behind. 

I have very mixed feelings about this book.  99% of the book I enjoyed thoroughly – exciting plot, interesting characters, the flavor of a different culture…but unfortunately the hated 1% is the ending – which sucked.  It was as if Ms. Kazan just decided, “I’m bored with this, new project please.”   

Suddenly the plot halts and there is an epilogue providing scant details of each character’s end days.  What?  Who married who?  What?  The child?  Are you kidding me? 

 The problem with bad ending to me is I have invested time, energy and my emotions in these pages, come on I deserve a little closure!  I bet she would break up by text message…

 Thus I can not recommend this book, however good, because I am still annoyed by how crappy the ending was…If you are so blessed not to get hung up on endings – have at it and sink into the Ottoman Empire – intrigue, murder, politics and sex abound…

This book was recommended to me by a clerk in a bookstore.  I think it is his go-to suggestion for that thirty-something Mommy he believes is looking for a little more…Unfortunately, although I fit the type – not it.

 I liked the first third of the book fine and then her father also got sick – and that is where she lost me.  I immediately stopped liking her.  Absolutely I had compassion from her desperate place, but I (like her family too) was unbelievably annoyed and frustrated by her behavior. 

 Yes, I understand, she is sick and it is much easier to worry/obsess about someone else then to deal with her own fears, but that is my problem.  Where are her discovered coping skills?  Where does she face her own fears about illness?  What has she learned except she is still happily in the middle place?

 There was no awakening in this book – just the facts, sometimes presented with humor, but no lessons learned about why, how or what if?  It reminds me a little of Eat, Pray, Love – the central female voice is put in these sympathetic situations yet instead of shining through with grace, the dregs of ego break through with selfish fits and accusations.  Both women do what all of us do when faced with crisis – we become children.  We get mad, throw fits, become irritable, make accusations, blame others…and after awhile, maybe five minutes to never, our adult self steps in.  Where is Ms. Corrigan’s adult self? 

 When I finished the final page, my first thought was, What the hell was that?  What is she imparting except cancer just happens and gratitude for her wonderful father to still be alive so she can stay in the middle place of being a parent yet still being parented to by parents…Do yourself a favor and skip it. 

Started reading at 9am and was done by 3pm – fantastic beach read.  Hot sun?  Who cares.  In Just One Look by Harlan Coben you quickly become lost in a twisting plot of murder and mayhem with a liberal dash of humor.  A back review stated, you only put this book down to deadbolt the doors and windows.  Absolutely true – so I suggest reading in broad daylight, preferable in a public place as Eric Wu could be anywhere…