You either like Lewis Black or you deem him annoying – I am of the former group.  I enjoyed this book immensely particularly chapters jesus loves me, this I know; golfing in the kingdom and in the land of seagulls and gingham.

 Black is honest and funny.  He loves the ritual and mystery of a ‘higher power’ yet hates it’s translation through the tongues of fools, conmen or worse, murderers.  It seems to rattle his senses a bit and for a man who protests at having no faith, me thinks he protests too much.  An examined faith is a living faith.  I would say Black’s religion has a lot of wicked humor, love for all and a healthy dose of raunchy sex.  Enjoy!

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 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… 

What happens when you discover the ones you love best are intent on hurting you?  And what if, they are your family?  This book focuses on secrets, mental illness and childhood wounds.  Exquisitely written, the book reveals a family and a community still reeling from a past tragic event that threatens to be repeated today.

 Marnie and Diana are sisters, born into a dysfunctional family and they spend much of their early years clinging to each other for safety.  The father has left for greener pastures, thus leaving them with their mother, a brilliant artist.  Unfortunately, the mother is also mentally unstable and really unfit to be a mother.  Yet somehow the girls make it into adulthood on the kindness of their neighbors and own innate talents. 

 Both sisters battle their own memories and fears of turning into their Mother in some way, big or small.  Almost every woman I know fears this pull of becoming, “just like her.”  And when mental illness complicates the picture, this pull becomes even more real and frightening…

 I know this family.  Yes, a more extreme version of mine, but I recognized their mother – a confusing mix of love and cruelty.  Her intentions are to be a supportive, thoughtful mother, yet her fears cloud her words and deeds.  Her words and actions begin as support, only to twist oddly, thus inflicting pain… 

 I know this mother.  My mother has always been one to point out any flaws or mistakes I make because in her mind she is “helping me.”  She is revealing to me all my “not enoughs” before someone else can.  Instead of being my biggest fan growing up, she was my critic, “judging – to protect me from the others.”  Needless to say, this was crippling.  By trying to protect me from possibly failing or emotional pain, she guaranteed I felt “less then” because she always found fault.

 Interestingly, I know I am not alone in this dynamic.  When I went to college, I soon realized many of my friends also struggled with this type of dynamic with one or both of their parents as well.  Gratefully I also discovered my Mom may be difficult, highly dysfunctional,  but she is not the worst of them.   And I also was reminded; her unintended cruelty was always mixed with love.  (This does not excuse the offenses, rather to give them context…)

 People are not perfect.  Some battle demons daily to keep a tenuous grasp on reality.  Some days they succeed and some days they do not.  Some days I don’t hold it together and I fall into despair, only to crawl my way out later when I find the light again.    

 This book begins in the dark.  The characters crawl around each other and their collective issues blindfolded.  Each wounded in part, only to discover healing in the light of truth – as it is for each of us.

Does your relationship feel stuck?  Going through the same patterns over and over?  Bored?  Read Passionate Marriage.  My husband and I just finished reading this life-changing book.  I’m serious – life-changing, however – not for the faint of heart.  This book is blunt with a capital “B.”

 Schnarch believes the dynamics of your relationships, for better or worse, are displayed in your sexual behaviors (i.e. who wants what, frequency, satisfaction…)  Thus what’s happening or not happening in the bedroom, is just another stage for the “real issues” of your relationship – trust, deserving, respect, etc. 

 Maybe you think you and your partner “can’t communicate anymore,” Schnarch explains how you are in fact very much communicating and how, why, when…There are about 4 or 5 couples he follows through their “time in the crucible.”  The whole concept of emotional fusion and self-soothing was keenly beneficial to not only my relationship with my husband but with everyone else in my life.

 This is a must read!

This is a “chick” book and I loved it.  If you’re twenty-two or seventy-two, you will find yourself reflected back in the characters of this book.  Each character has there own separate voice that sometimes, as in life, strays from the ideal we each set in our minds… 

Actually this is my favorite part of the book…viewing the prism each character interprets their experience and how this certain prism impacts the “truth.”  We see the surface of behaviors and then pull back the curtain to discover “the hurts” driving each character. 

 While I read, I was reminded that each of us can only view the other in part, much is hidden.  It is the hidden parts that must be revealed and brought out into the light for peace to be found…As in the main character Georgia’s stubborn, proud attitudes that kept her from opening letters her lover’s, James, sent years before.  How often to do each of us create upsetting events, even words in our minds that never come to pass?   

 These characters are sometimes frustrating in their self-sabotage, but isn’t that the truth of it?  Isn’t each of us truly our own worst critic?  Judge and jury?  Making assumptions based on our own fears and hurts instead of stepping back and viewing the full picture. 

 What helps to soften the self-sabotage is humor.  The book is funny and insightful.  The characters often poke fun at their own faults and of each other too.  It feels very natural and human. 

 Best of all, this book of complicated emotions and behaviors doesn’t end with your traditional happy ending.  Like life, it’s good and bad…and even sometimes, seemingly unfair.  Happy reading!