FREE Book!

At this time of year, it's easy to get stressed.  With all the decorating, buying and wrapping gifts, throwing and attending parties, traveling, and so on, it's easy to forget yourself and get lost in stuff.  Next thing you know, the holidays are over, you're exhausted and thrilled just to go back to your regular routine, without even having enjoyed the holidays!

This year, try something different.  Make an effort to stay calm and enjoy all the events associated with the season.  How?  One way is to read the book that I wrote with my best friend and her daughter.  It's a step-by-step plan designed to keep you focused on what's important at this time of year.  The book is featured below and it's FREE!  One less thing to worry about.

Chapter 1:  Don't make the choice to feel stressed.

Chapter 2:  Just Say No

Chapter 3:  Eat More Turkey

That's it!  That's your holiday less-stress plan.  Now get out there and enjoy the holidays.

Friday Fun: Lists & More Lists!

As I mentioned previously, I kinda like lists.  I'm not sure why - I guess they just seem orderly and I like orderly.  Over on another online community I belong to, Sploofus, we've had some recent conversations about favorite movies, books, and songs.  It's very difficult for me to pick only one favorite, so how about a list?  How about 3 lists?!!

Favorite Movies

1. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
2. Dead Poet's Society
3. Manchurian Candidate (The original, not that horrible re-make)
4. Johnny English
5. The Princess Bride
6. Clue
7. Rear Window
8. Dial M for Murder
9. Witness for the Prosecution
10. Star Trek (the new one)

Favorite Books 

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (there aren't a lot of books I re-read, but this one I periodically read again - it's just so good!)
2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
3. The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
7. The Passage by Justin Cronin
8. The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston
9. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
10. Everything Lee Child has written

Favorite Songs

1. Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin
2. Eyes of a Stranger by Queensryche
3. Animal by Def Leppard
4. Time by Pink Floyd
5. Kashmir by Led Zeppelin
6. Darkness, Darkness by Robert Plant
7. Killing the Blues by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
8. Promises by Def Leppard
9. Cold Shot by Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
10. Sign of the Times by Queensryche

What would be on your top ten lists?

Whatever Wednesday: Book Review & Body Image

Saturday was a gorgeous day here in Southeast Missouri, so I decided to take a walk up to the library, which is only about 1/2 a mile from my house.  I browsed for an hour or so and picked up several books, magazines and movies.  One book, Body Outlaws, promised a look at women who were living happily within their bodies, no matter the shape or color; those who believe "self-acceptance is not defeat."  I thought surely this book would fit in perfectly with the view I try to bring to my life and to this blog.

Instead, I found essays by women so profoundly obsessed with their bodies and looks that I was aghast and disbelieving.

One woman wrote about her endless despair at her "brown face" and the perceived mystery behind it that seemingly allures and ensnares men.  For example, she is sitting in a restaurant crying to a friend about how men always stare at her while a man at a nearby table actually does so.  He leaves, comes back and tries to present the woman with earrings he has just purchased for her.  She just cowers and is flabbergasted.  "Oh, woe is me!  I'm so beautiful and mysterious that men want to get to know me.  Woe, woe, woe!" (Not an actual quote.)

How about opening up on this guy and letting him know that his actions are creepy and inappropriate?  Tell him proudly that your heritage is Indian and the Egyptian earrings he just purchased are not only way out of line, but way off in terms of ethnicity.  Tell him to get lost.  Have you ever considered that maybe you're just pretty and the ethnicity is part of that?  Be happy with your "brown face" and stop your friggin' whining!

Then there's the woman who goes off on Barbie dolls.  Sure, we've all met people who found these unnaturally proportioned dolls to reinforce negative stereotypes of women, but this gal took it to a whole other level.  She said Barbies "ultimately succeed where Hitler failed" by making people think that blond-haired, blue-eyed women are the ideal.  Wow!  There is just so much wrong with her thinking that I can't even begin to address it all.  Let me just say that she might want to seek some counseling to find out why she feels so insecure when comparing herself to a child's toy.

Then Body Outlaws continued on with essays about big butts, small stature, shaving and many other body image issues.  One common theme seemed to be that little girls learn at a young age whether or not they are pretty (read: important), and whether they are or aren't can scar them for life.

Maybe this is my age talking, or maybe it's that I never considered my looks to be my most marketable or lovable trait, or perhaps it's my inability to put up with shallow people, but here goes.  Get Over It Already!!!

To me, self-acceptance is not obsessing positively OR negatively about your looks.  It's about doing what is best for your health, making yourself as presentable and/or professional as needed for your job and your life, and getting on with things that matter.

In a world with a host of body image problems, Body Outlaws is actually just part of the problem.

A Story for All Ages

Harry Potter is a big deal at our house.  Our daughter was 9 years old when the first book was released.  There was all kinds of buzz, both good and bad, about the book, so I read it after Carrie did to see what the hullabaloo was about.  I loved it!  We continued to enjoy the next few books as they were released.

One day, Carrie decided that since her dad was always building things and rarely picked up a book, she would read the books to him while he worked.  So she read book after book to him.  One night, she went to bed, having stopped reading at a pivotal moment, and Alan finished reading the book, having caught the bug, so to speak.

When the 6th book came out, we went to the midnight release because we simply couldn't wait.  I remember Carrie had her friend Lydia over that weekend, and the girls spent every waking moment reading it to each other.  I had to grab it when they went to sleep, and then Alan got it after I fell asleep.  We all finished it that weekend.

For the final book, we got 2 copies so there was less sharing and coordinating that had to go on.

We were also at the midnight showing of the first movie.  I think we stood in that line for hours, and there were only about 6 people in the line in front of us.

So now the first part of the 2-part finale opened this weekend.  Alan and I didn't do the midnight showing because he had his eyes dilated yesterday and wasn't up to going out, but I think we'll be at one of the late shows tonight or tomorrow.  (Stop by and say hi if you see us!)

I know the haters like to dump on the stories because they involve witchcraft (though the same people are fine with wizards in Lord of the Rings.  Go figure.), or the fact that Harry often breaks rules (and always pays the consequences).  And I know that J.K. Rowling has not written great literature here, and borrows heavily from other sources.  But what makes the stories so great, to me anyway, is the central idea about friendship.  How just because you're a blood relative of someone, that doesn't mean you are going to be like them, or even that you have TO like them.  And it's the friends you love who are your true family.  And home is where the heart is.

Those are important issues, ones that we should probably consider.

Plus it's just a lot of fun!!

In case you've somehow had your head in the sand and have missed it, here's the trailer for the newest release.  Makes you wanna go see it, doesn't it!!?

More Books!

As I've mentioned, I've been reading lots of post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels this year and I wanted to tell you about a few.

Mockingjay is the third in a series by Suzanne Collins.  While I think the first book of the series, The Hunger Games, is the best, this provided a nice conclusion to the story.  Some people might find it a little darker with its war and politics, but I didn't find it any darker than the first two, in which children have to kill or be killed in a twisted government scheme to keep the masses subdued.  Though the books are considered young adult books, they are a good read for adults as well.

The Passage by Justin Cronin is what I'm working on right now.  It is a story about the creation of "virals" and the consequences thereof.  Virals are what we would call vampires, but they are not sexy, sparkly, or in any way romantic.  They are terrifying killers.  The story of how they were created is just as fascinating as the story of how the survivors live in a bleak, barren world.  The book is 766 pages, but it is worth the time you'd have to invest to read that many.  I'm not even finished yet (page 692), but I can already say that I love this book.  I'm really excited to find out that this may be the first of a trilogy.  I can hardly wait to finish the book tonight to find out which characters are likely to appear in a sequel.

Speaking of interesting takes on classic monsters, another book I really enjoyed this year was World War Z:  An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks.  What made this book so interesting is that the oral history style of the book made the whole thing seem so real.  In addition, I liked that the book wasn't just about zombies eating people, but was much more about the political and tactical maneuvers that would have to be implemented if such a situation really did arise, thus lending more reality, and more creep factor, to the story.

I guess now I just need to read a really great take on werewolves.

Books, Books, Books!

My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter.  ~Thomas Helm

I think Helm sums it up nicely.  One could say that the test of a poor novel is dreading to open it up again once started.

I'm afraid that's my opinion of my selection for August's book of the month.  I just couldn't enjoy picking it up and opening it.  My sister-in-law said she got to page 29.  I didn't even do that well.

If you're really interested in it, it's The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein.  If you'd prefer the movie version, one was made in 1994.  Of course, hubby says it wasn't that great, either.

So next up for me is Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.  It's the final part of a trilogy of post-apocalyptic/dystopian (P-A/D) young adult novels.  I have found that young adult novels very often are good at the P-A/D works.  They tend to be shorter and quicker paced than many others, and often just as enjoyable while being quick reads.

If you are interested in reading Mockingjay, be sure to start at the beginning with Hunger Games, then read Catching Fire.

To those who have a hold on the book at the local library, just hang on - I'm getting there. : )

If you like mysteries, I just found a writer I like.  Her name is Alex Kava.  Her newest book, Damaged, got a positive blurb from writer Lee Child so I had to try her out.  Really good stuff.

Speaking of Lee Child, he's a favorite author of mine.  His character, Jack Reacher, is a former MP turned drifter who frequently helps out underdogs he meets in his travels.  I'm not sure about the end of his latest book, 61 Hours, but I guess time will tell...

Happy reading in September, everyone!!

August's Book of the Month

The August Book of the Month is The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein.  Heinlein was a popular and sometimes controversial science fiction writer.  This particular novel was written in 1951 and was Heinlein's only novel with an alien invasion plot.

Alien invasion, you say?  I thought you were reading post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels, Davis!  Ah, but this novel is also post-apocalyptic.  Since it was written in the 1950's, the fear of Communism and the Cold War were upon the American public.  This novel takes place sometime after the Cold War turned hot, and the world the aliens invade is much different from what we know now.  This should be an interesting foray into how fear plays into the plot of such novels.

Though Heinlein was popular, this book may be difficult to find.  (There was only one copy at my library.)  Here is a link where you can download the audio book for $7.49, if you want to go that route.  I hope you enjoy this sci-fi adventure and I'll see you in a month to discuss it.

The Time Machine

Let me begin by saying, "Wow!"  I don't think that any book of only 76 pages has ever made me think so much about science and sociology, or caused me to do so much research before.  I could probably write a ton about my thoughts on the book, but instead, I'll try to hold myself back.  (I've included lots of links to related topics, definitions and so on.)

The Time Machine

1.  The Science.  Wells manages to be both more broad-minded and less specific on this subject at the same time.  His broad-mindedness played out in his concepts of the 4th dimension.  I loved his explanation of how time is the 4th dimension.  "Can a cube that does not last for any time at all, have a real existence?"  He also explained to his friends that while it was easy to move in the 1st and 2nd dimensions, machinery seemed to be needed to move in the 3rd, so the logical assumption is that one can move in the 4th with the proper machinery, as well.  How neat!  Also, Wells looked so much further ahead than many writers.  One of the best-known novels that looks to a dystopian future is Orwells' 1984, which was written in 1949.  That's only 35 years in his imagined future.  Wells' Traveller, however, goes to the year 802,701.  And then even further to see the Earth dying, roughly 30 million years hence.  That's looking ahead!

Strangely enough, though, Wells is not very specific about the title object.  He tells us that it is made of nickel, ivory and quartz, and possesses levers and screws and a seat.  We know that the 2 levers that move the machine through time can be removed for safety and we can assume what the thing may have looked like, helped in large part by any of the film versions we've seen of it.  However, we don't know how it works.  Wells doesn't try to explain the physics of the thing at all.  I found that to be not at all bothersome, though, as the story is really much more about other things.

2.  Sociology and Fear.  As I stated when I first decided to read this book, I wanted to know what the fears of the author's time would impart to the work.  Wells lived in the midst of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, and the division of classes, and the fear that the division was unhealthy, is clearly seen in the evolution of the two human-race descendants of the future, the Eloi and the Morlocks.  While one may not agree with Wells' socialistic views, nor his ideas of how humanity might evolve, it is still interesting to see how his views fueled his imagination.  A lesser fear, played up in the 2002 film, is the loss of knowledge.  The relatively simple lives of the Eloi and Morlocks seems to have caused them to lose intelligence, which the Traveller notes early on.  Upon finding crumbling books in the museum, he remarks, "the thing that struck me...was the enormous waste of labour." 

3.  Literature and Language.  I truly enjoyed this book on the literary level.  This is the first novel by Wells, and also the first of a sub-genre.  I found words I'd never heard (cicerone, etiolate, halitus, and deliquesce) and had to go look up.  I enjoyed seeing a writer in 1895 use the word "Kodak" to so obviously mean a camera, when I didn't realize the word has such universal usage that early.  Normally, I could finish a book of this length in one sitting, but it took me days to finish because I kept commenting on it to my husband, making notes about my thoughts, and looking up the definitions of words.  A truly enjoyable read.

So what did you think of it?  You can post your comments below, or you can head over to the Facebook page, go to Discussions, and add any thoughts, comments, questions, or links to the thread there.  I look forward to seeing what you think.

H.G. Wells

We must not let the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery. - H.G. Wells

I just started reading The Time Machine (http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/timemachine/1/) and 2 pages in, Wells already had me saying, "Hmm..." His way of explaining scientific ideas is just incredible and I can tell already that I'm going to enjoy this book a lot.

I wanted to let you in on some popular fiction Wells references that you may want to look into after reading the book before we discuss it, just for fun.

The one I'm looking forward to most is the 1985 Doctor Who episode "Timelash," in which the Doctor encounters an energetic young man named Herbert who comes along for an adventure. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timelash) Part of me wants to watch the episode immediately, but considering that hubby and I are watching all the Doctor Who episodes from the beginning and we're only up to 1976, I'll probably just wait for it.

I've seen the 2001 movie The Time Machine, but I haven't seen the one from the 60's, so I may check that one out. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine_%281960_film%29)

Another movie I enjoyed was 1979's Time After Time, in which Malcolm McDowell, playing Wells, pursues David Warner as Jack the Ripper into the year 1979. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_After_Time_%281979_film%29)

And then there was this week's season premier of Warehouse 13. I won't say anything more about the show (spoilers), but you might want to watch it even if you're not a fan of the show, just to see the spin they took. (http://www.syfy.com/rewind/?__source=Syfy_Global_Nav)

I hope you enjoy reading up on Wells, as well, before we discuss his first novel. He seems to have been quite the ladies man, an extremely prolific writer, and an all-around interesting person. I may just have to read several more of his books....

July's Book of the Month

"There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it."

Drum roll, please....

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is my selection for July.

There is a theory that horror movie monsters are a reflection of what society at that time fears. I believe the same is true for post-apocalyptic and dystopian works. So I thought it would be fun to read works in a rough chronological order and take a look at what was going on in that time period, as well.

Wells created the Dying Earth subgenre of post-apocalyptic literature with this novel, so this is a landmark work in several ways, which we'll discuss more later.

Since this is a well-known work, there should be multiple copies in your library if you prefer book-in-hand, or you can simply read it here: http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/timemachine/1/

Happy reading!

Book of the Month

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. ~Henry Ford"

I didn't read Alice in Wonderland or Anne of Green Gables or Little Women when I was young. I was too busy reading about Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, Nero Wolfe and Perry Mason. Yes, I'm a mystery fan from way back. Oh, sure, I ventured into other genres on occasion, but mysteries were always my main source of reading enjoyment.

Then one day when my daughter was in high school, she suggested I read a book she had recently read and loved called The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I read it and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Then I started reading other books she and her friends were reading: The Kite Runner, The Life of Pi, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Blindness.

Now I enjoy lots of different genres and some of my favorite books are those not starring an arm chair detective who stumbles upon a corpse. I even joined several book clubs, both online and in the "real" world, to discuss these exciting new finds. However, most of these book clubs have devolved into gossip sessions because the members didn't read the book.

So I thought it might be fun to do a book club here! I'll pick a book the first of the month to read and at the end of the month, we'll discuss it. Even if I'm the only one who reads it and I just write a blog about it, that will be fine with me, because at least I'll get to have my say about the book.

Be sure to stop by on July 1st to find out what the selection will be. In the meantime, go try something you wouldn't normally read.