Category Archives: What to Read

An Exclusive With Kim Thúy

Kim Thúy is the poetic author of two incredible books: the award winning book Ru: A Novel and her latest release Mãn. [You can read DoPW’s review here.]

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq0wrDVXS9E]

What makes Kim’s works so breathtaking is how she has mastered the craft of telling a story using very few, yet precise words, to illustrate a moment in the most poetic way.

Kim has graciously agreed to do an interview with DoPW.  If you have yet to read her works, you’ll understand what makes her books so special as you read through her interview.  I sighed throughout the interview from the beauty and truth to her words.  

man1.  Please tell us a little about yourself.
I am 47 years old, female, a bit shy of 5 feet, vacillating between 110 to 115 pounds but I still often think that I am invisible–or could be invisible. I love being on the bench observing others as much as being the one who points out to others the beautiful things existing around us. I spend a lot of time sharing the words I like with friends. Once, I began typing a page I wanted my best friend to read.  By the end of the month, she had the whole book emailed to her one bit at a time. However, some photographs would say that I move constantly, making their work impossible sometimes. My publishers worry I might fall off the plane after travelling to 22 cities of 13 countries in 6 months, crossing 18 time zones more than once. Personally, I think I am very still, almost motionless. The numbers contradict with my state of mind due to the fact that I am very slow–slow thinker, slow writer, slow at understanding jokes! So, my mind never gets to follow my body. It remains at the same spot at all time, which helps me not feeling the pace I guess…
2.  You’ve worn a lot of hats so far in this lifetime.  You’ve been a seamstress, interpreter, lawyer, restaurant owner, as well as an Award-winning author.  In Ru, you mention that this has a lot to do with realizing that you can do everything you’ve ever wanted to do after your aunt Six gave you a tin filled with professions she dreamed for you.  This allowed you to realize that you could dream your own dreams.  What other dreams have you had for yourself?  Of the jobs you’ve had already, which was your favorite? 
I never thought I could be any of things I’ve done. I simply followed the waves as they came to me. Everything was way beyond my ability, professionally and mentally and physically. But, as an immigrant, every job opportunity is considered to be a gift. And my responsibility is to be worthy of the gift. I have not had any dreams since the refugees camp where I did dreamed for constipation. The open pit was hopelessly horrible… After the camp, everything has been bigger than my imagination could imagine. My dreams have all come to me before I knew how to dream them.
 
I have loved all my jobs. Without them, I would not have been able to write the things I have written. Without them, I would not have seen all the complexity of life. Without them, I would not have known how to see the essence of things amidst chaos.
 
 3.  In your books, you share the stories of the immigrants that have left Vietnam and have settled in Quebec.  Each person has their own unique story.  Which stories have had their biggest impact on you?
All of them since together, they tell our collective story. Each one is interesting and mostly, important.
 4.  You have a very unique writing style.  You use very few words to tell a story.  Each choice of words weaves together a beautiful tale that strikes a person deep within their soul and leaves the reader gasping at the beauty of the words.  There is an art in using very few words to tell an entire story.  Were there any writers that inspired you to write this way?
The Lover by Marguerite Duras was my first book in French, or more precisely, the book which exposed me to literature. My uncle read it with me sentence by sentence to help me understand why Duras is exceptional and revolutionary. My mom used the book for my dictées from the first to the last page. And finally, I learned it by heart to absorb the musicality of the French language.
 5.  Be truthful, how long does it take you to write each paragraph?
Each paragraph had 3-4 pages at the beginning. Everyday, I read from the first sentence down. Everyday, I would delete, rewrite, delete and delete some more to take away all excess. And to make everything feels as light as a feather in the wind.
 6.  In Ru, you wrote about living the American Dream.  What does the American Dream mean to you?
It means possibility and freedom and hope.
7.  Mãn is a beautiful tale about the different forms of love, including how love is shown through food.  Can you tell us what kind of memories different types of food brings back to you?
It is mostly the food from street vendors in Saigon I did not have the right to eat due to the lack of hygiene. Even though I have eaten from the street and on the street once I could decide for myself, these types of food still attract me the most because they carry a lot of forbidden desires.
8.  One of the saddest stories in Mãn was the explanation of the dog tags.  “Before he left, he’d gone to see her in uniform and given her the plate to offer her “the life he hadn’t lived” and his dream of her that would be eternally a dream if he didn’t come back to retrieve it” (p. 135).  Then we discover that he did not choose her in the end.  He didn’t come back.  What Maman does ‘out of love’ shows great strength even in the greatest of heartbreaks.  In the stories you have collected throughout your lifetime, how have these individuals coped after letting go of their dream to be with the person they loved?
I simply LOVE your questions, especially this one. The broken heart people I know have a thing in their gaze–nothing identifiable or tangible but there is a certain void and depth at the same time. As well, I find them ‘man’, not serene as such but there is a calm in them, the calm of sadness maybe…or the calm of someone who no longer struggle, who has given up a part of themselves. Like Mia Couto has written, it feels like their organ to dream had been amputated from them…
[This reference is from Mia Couto’s The Tuner of Silences]
9.  There are two things your books did for me: 1) They made me very hungry; and 2) I now have a very strong desire to travel around Vietnam.  If readers wanted to take a literary journey through Vietnam using your books, what are the places/experiences you would want them to see/try above all?
The markets and more markets. Just sit in the middle of any of them, have a fresh sugar cane juice or a coffee and watch the flow of people in their daily lives.
10.  The tale of the Vietnamese immigrant is very humbling.  Many came from being well off to all of a sudden being refugees with nothing, scrounging for food, shelter and warmth.  I know a lot of immigrants come to North America with a dream.  Most times it isn’t for themselves.  It’s for their children.  They dream of their children having a better life than the ones they had.  Growing up, did your parents have dreams of the person they wanted you or your siblings to become?
They wish us choosing medicine or dentistry or pharmacology so that we have a stable salary from a stable profession. They wished a steady life for us. My brothers became a dentist and an actuary. I was a lawyer in one of the top 3 law firms in Canada but got lost somewhere on the way to the office at one point 🙂
11.  You’re a mother, too.  Do you find yourself in their shoes?  Do you also have dreams of your children having a better life than you have?  Or do you feel you are the one setting the example of how there are endless possibilities of the person they can become?
I have no specific dreams for my children. I only ask and help them to always make the most out of everything they do and be the most of what they can be. My second son is autistic. So, I often remind my older one to not waste his privilege to be born with no handicaps.
12.  What dreams for yourself do you still have on your list of things to be in this lifetime?
I have received too much from this life already. I do not need more. Actually, I feel very guilty for all my privileges–great family, good health, kind friends, generous readers and critics, unexpected love and affection…. I do not deserve this much.
 
 13.  What’s upcoming for you?  Are there any new projects coming up?
I am writing my next one. Enjoying every single minute, every single word… Writing is bliss.

 

Kevin Costner’s New Book

Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015.
Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015.

These days, you’ll find a lot of celebrities aspiring to cross one more thing off of their bucket lists.  Bruce Willis, for example, will be starring on Broadway for the first time ever in a theatrical adaptation of Stephen King’s “Misery,” alongside “Roseanne’s” Laurie Metcalfe.  Kevin Costner decided he wanted to finance and release a book of his own alongside Jon Baird (writer) and Rick Ross (illustrator).

Together, they created “The Explorers Guild: Vol. 1.”  This book has been in the works for the last 8 or 9 years.  Baird wrote the book, Costner gave his input and ideals, and Ross illustrated the book.  What they came up with was a novel they hope will be passed down from generation to generation, sitting next to the likes of Jules Verne or Joseph Conrad up on the bookshelf.  Costner’s need to have a perfect product like his previous works is reflected in the beauty of his first book.  This book is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Rick Ross (l) with Jon Baird (r). October 21, 2015.
Rick Ross (l) with Jon Baird (r). October 21, 2015.

The paper is soft and delicate with a beautiful layout.  Each word leads up to the graphic novel story, so you’re not just reading text, you’re also reading a comic strip.  They are interwoven together to tell the story.

While the topic of the evening was on how this unique book came to life, Costner, who is a master storyteller, told a few stories of his own.  He spoke about two films that made a huge impact on him as a child: “How the West Was Won” and “Giant.”  He also spoke about the moment he decided to become an actor, and when he encountered Richard Burton on a plane.




Costner was very inspiring as he spoke about the things in life that inspired him to become the person he became from acting and directing to this new book.

Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015.
Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015.

Here is the audio from the talk at the Modern Museum of Art (MOMA) in NYC on October 21, 2015. The talk becomes very interesting (and inspiring) during the last half when Costner starts telling his life stories.

We’ll have a review of “The Explorers Guild: Vol. 1” soon.




End of Summer Weekend Reading Material

The summer is starting to wind down.  With only three weekends left, many are running off to get that one last vacation in before the fall arrives.  For me, June, July and August are my months for vacation, which means taking a bit of a break from writing and the blogs.  September is when I’m back in the saddle again.  From film festivals to NY Fashion Week, to movie premieres, to NHL training camps, to the start of the Metropolitan Opera season…my working season begins.  That means the content on this site will increase.

There will be more interviews from authors, publishers, celebrities, and artists.  There will be more reviews, talks about books, films and the arts, a special fashion edition, and a new project unveiling that I’ve been working on over these last couple of months.

If you think content isn’t going up fast enough, as my artist friend Borbay describes the site…the word “Perfectionist” is in the title.  That means that the content here is meant to be far superior so it takes a little longer to create it.  People will just have to wait.

For now, let’s talk about what reading material is on the radar.


1.  Kim Thúy, Mãn and Ru: A Novel.

I had the pleasure of meeting Kim Thúy back in May when she was signing copies of her latest book Mãn.  I had never read her works before.  I just saw the book in the Book Expo newsletter from Random House Canada and knew I wanted to get my hands on it.  She signed it “To Michelle, Thank you so much for coming back to me again.”  You’ll find out soon on the site why that little inscription is a bit serendipitous {TEASER}.

What I was not expecting from Mãn was how beautifully written the book would be.  It’s a quick read, but also the type of book you have to reflect upon as you go from chapter to chapter.  Each chapter is only a paragraph or two long.  In that one simple paragraph, she can tell an entire story, but she does it so beautifully that you go back and re-read the sentence, stumbling over each word slowly in order for it to sink in.  

What makes Kim’s works in both Mãn and  Ru: A Novel so unique is that she has perfected the art of storytelling by using very few words to tell an entire story.  Each word she has chosen sinks deep into your soul and you are left pondering the words over, letting your tongue roll over each phrase she has chosen in each tale.  

Both books are a compilation of stories of Vietnamese immigrants.  She weaves each of their stories from one to another, using a choice word in each chapter to connect to the next story.  For instance, she uses the word ‘red’ to end a story in one chapter and then uses it again in the following chapter to tell the tale of another immigrant.  That one word can create a strong connection from one person to the next.  In a way, it’s the same as how people read and connect to her books, no matter where they are from.  The term “communism” can create a bond with a person in Eastern Europe because they can understand the struggle the Vietnamese went through, even though their experiences were totally different.  That one word means something powerful to them.  That one word is a lifetime of stories and struggles, of hunger, fear, anger and upset.  Just one word can invoke so much passion in a person…just like a simple word like ‘red.’  That’s what makes Kim Thúy’s books so thought-provoking…one simple word can create a flood of feelings that enables the reader to connect to the book itself.  

Her ability to weave these stories together using choice words is also a way of understanding how everyone in the book is essentially linked to each other.  They may have in common that they are all Vietnamese immigrants, but there’s more to it.  It links their life experiences from how we show love through food to what it means to let go of the person you love.  From coming from well to do families to all of a sudden finding themselves as refugees in a foreign land, living as janitors, seamstresses, farm hands, etc.  Then there are those who come from poor families who marry up and move to North America through marriage.  She opens our eyes to the life of the immigrant in North America.  They may have been from rich families or were doctors or professors in Vietnam.  They sacrificed who they were to start over again in another country.  Some were stripped of everything, others found opportunity.  How do they evolve under those circumstances?

The stories are all very humbling.  The writing style is unique and beautiful.  I will forewarn you that you will be very hungry after you read her books.  I have been eating Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai food every single day since I read Mãn.   As you’ll discover in the book, the connection with food is about love…the love a mother shows to her child.  The love a wife shows to her husband.  It’s what bonds a family and friends together.  

I highly recommend reading both of her books.  You will not regret it.  Your soul will thank you for the fresh drink of beauty.


2.  Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman: A Novel.

If you’ve read the reviews of Harper Lee’s latest Go Set a Watchman: A Novel, people are really mad.  It’s not even a story.  It’s just a rant.

SPOILER: Atticus Finch is a racist.

That’s what really has everyone up in arms.  But that’s because most of us had no clue when we read To Kill a Mockingbird that Atticus was anything but fair and colorblind.  To find out he was a racist?!?!

This is where I want to remind everyone that Go Set a Watchman: A Novel was the first novel written by Harper Lee.  It was also rejected by the publishers.  They liked the characters, but it needed a stronger story.  Go Set a Watchman: A Novel laid the foundation to the setting and the characters, but it needed a story.  That’s when Lee came back and gave the publishers a new book entitled To Kill a Mockingbird.  That was the book they published and it became a Pulitzer Prize winner.

What makes Go Set a Watchman: A Novel so difficult to digest is that it takes place 20 years after To Kill a Mockingbird.  We know the story.  We loved Atticus Finch, Scout, Jem, Dill and Calpurnia.  How could we all of a sudden be shocked that Atticus was a racist and that Calpurnia didn’t really care for her or Jem?

You have to keep in mind that Go Set a Watchman: A Novel was the first book, not the second book.  It was also the book that was originally rejected.  When she came back to the publishers with To Kill a Mockingbird, maybe she decided to make Atticus fair and not a racist.  Maybe Calpurnia really did care about the kids and didn’t care about the fact there was a black and white barrier.  Maybe Harper Lee fixed what was really wrong with Go Set a Watchman: A Novel and made the characters into ones that would be cherished for all eternity when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird.

Those are the things you need to keep in mind when you read Go Set a Watchman: A Novel.

Would I recommend it on its own?  No.  It’s a rant, not a story.  BUT, if you’ve read To Kill a Mockingbird, you need to read Go Set a Watchman: A Novel to truly understand the entire context of the times, racism, and Alabama.  For those who are writers, it’s actually an interesting look into how you can be rejected from one story, but you can go back and rewrite it based on the same characters and create a masterpiece.  Sometimes a complete do over is the key.  She learned from her mistakes and came out with one of the best novels of the 20th century.  That is a life lesson within itself.

Currently reading: Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop: A Novel.

I decided to take a little break from reviewing the tall stack of books I received from publishers so that I can read something without the pressure of it feeling like ‘work.’  I was ordering a couple of books for the Book Club when Amazon recommended this book.  It looked like such an interesting story that I decided to order it as my ‘fun’ book (i.e. a book I chose, rather than was chosen for me by someone else).

I always love stories that take place in Paris, but I really love stories that involve books as a means for adventure.  Any book lover understands that love of the book itself and what the adventure means.  They understand that little happy place.  So take a bookshop apothecary that is located on a barge, a bookseller that finally opens up that letter the love of his life left for him when she left him 20 years ago, a bestselling author that is being hounded by crazed fans and you have an adventure of how a bookseller is trying to make amends with the love of his life by setting sail on his bookshop barge to make right where he went wrong.

In all honesty, I kind of want my own Bookshop Apothecary…a bookshop that prescribes the right books to people, rather than selling whatever books people want to buy.  Sometimes the latest novel just isn’t the right book for that person during that time in their life.  Trust me when I say, I’d like to take back all that time I spent with Gillian Flynn’s “Dark Places.”  I put up with it because it was a Book Club book, but damn if I’ll ever read another one of her books willingly.  She’s too dark for me.  An Apothecary would have stopped me from even purchasing that book, explaining that the book just doesn’t go with my personality.

I will say that I am enjoying this book.  I’m now at the part where he embarks on his adventure.  It’s really exciting.  The author has already used the love of books to charm me into loving the lead character.  Can’t wait to find out what happens!

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September is a big month for publishing houses.  The majority of new releases come out at that time.  Stay tuned for our list of what to read in September.

Book Review: Circling The Sun

"Circling the Sun" by Paula McLain is due to be released on Tuesday, August 28th.
“Circling the Sun” by Paula McLain is due to be released on Tuesday, August 28th.

If there’s any book you need to pick up this summer, let “Circling the Sun: A Novel“ from Paula McLain be at the very top of that list.  If you’ve read “The Paris Wife,” you already know how spectacular the story was.  “Circling the Sun” is even better.

Like “The Paris Wife,” the main character is based on a real person.  McLain starts off by introducing us to Beryl Markham, a woman who is on a journey to become the first person ever to fly from London to New York.  [There were people that had flown from New York to London, but never from London to New York.]  As her plane starts to stutter, her life flashes before her eyes and we are transported to Beryl’s days of youth when she was a young girl running wild on a farm in Kenya.

McLain takes you through Beryl’s life as a wild child who hung out with the Kipsigis tribe and learned how to raise horses with her father.  She trained with the boys of the Kipsigis tribe on how to hunt, make bows, and snap whips.  She rode horses and trained them to race, just like her father did.  She was a tomboy through and through.

By the time she was sixteen, her father’s horse farm started to fail, so her father pushed her into marrying a neighboring farmer.  Not knowing each other very well ended up leading to a divorce a few years later.  Before her father left for Capetown, he told Beryl to get her license to be a horse trainer, so she set out to become the first woman to ever get a license to be a horse trainer.

She went to work at a family friend’s ranch where she could log her hours and prepare for the exam.  She took the exam and a few weeks later received her license to train horses to race.  This would become her livelihood.

As her first marriage was slowly disintegrating, she started to have indiscretions.  She soon began to learn how the colony could damage her and the people around her through gossip.  It’s even more amazing how the gossip traveled.  You think you’re alone and no one else will know, then all of a sudden everyone knows.

If you’ve ever seen or read Out of Africa, both Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton play prominent roles in Beryl’s story.  Both women would end up falling head over heels in love with Denys.  Beryl, though, may have loved him more.

McLain takes us through Beryl’s triumphs over the years, her relationships and adventures from one year to the next.  This book was so well written and the story was just so fascinating, just like “The Paris Wife,” I had a hard time putting it down.  McLain is a master storyteller.  Beryl is an inspiring woman.  She was the first woman to ever be a licensed horse trainer.  She was not only the first person to fly from London to New York, but she was also the first woman to do it.

Beryl made her share of mistakes and learned from them, but she also valued her freedom.  She was a wild child from the start and no one could truly tame her or domesticate her.  Like Denys, it wasn’t in their nature.  They valued their freedom more.  That is truly why they were so drawn to each other.  They understood that need inside of each other to not be caged.

Denys was the love of her life.  He was also the love of Karen Blixen’s life, as well.

In the end, Denys truly belonged to Karen.  She could write the other woman out of the story (Out of Africa) like she never existed, because Denys was hers in the end.  She was considered the grieving widow, even though they never married.

This story was absolutely incredible.  It will make you want to book your next vacation to Kenya to go on a safari expedition, to see the rolling hills or the flamingos flying off at the sound of horses hooves on the beaches.  The book is beautifully written.

Circling the Sun: A Novel will be released on Tuesday, July 28th.  You’re going to absolutely enjoy this tale.  Paula McLain is proving again and again why she is a master at her craft.

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Disclaimers: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive monetary compensation.  I received a free copy of this book in exchange for writing a review on the blog.  All content and opinions are my own.

Book Review: Come Away With Me

Come Away With Me by Karma Brown. This is the Advance Uncorrected Proof and not the official cover. The release date is August 25, 2015.
“Come Away With Me” by Karma Brown. This is the Advance Uncorrected Proof and not the official cover. The release date is August 25, 2015.

I’m just coming off of a very long vacation, so I’m very behind in posting up content.  It doesn’t mean I wasn’t working in some way or another.  It does mean I was able to find some time to catch up on a lot of reading material.

The first book I’m going to share is Karma Brown’s “Come Away With Me” from Mira Books.

The book is about a young woman named Tegan Lawson.  She is going through one of the most difficult times in her life.  Before, she was newly married, expecting a baby, and everything was just perfect until a car accident left her childless for the rest of her life.  Her husband, Gabe, was behind the wheel that night.

Dealing with the loss of their unborn child and knowing that she will never be able to have a child again, left her severely depressed and angry at her husband.  It was his fault this happened.  She blamed him.  How does a marriage survive this?

She and Gabe have a Jar of Spontaneity where they place their dream destinations.  She pulls out three pieces of paper to determine where they will go to help get Tegan out of their apartment.  It’s an attempt to help fix Tegan (and their marriage).  She draws out Thailand, Italy and Hawaii from the jar.

In Thailand, they start off in Bangkok and then head to Chiang Mai to ride elephants and buy art painted by elephants.  In Italy, they head to Ravello, Italy so she can learn how to cook Italian food just like Gabe’s mother.  In Hawaii, she learns how to Hang Ten.

This adventure is a spiritual adventure for Tegan.  In each place, she’s learning how to be herself again.  More importantly, she’s learning how to be happy again.

What will surprise the reader is that the story isn’t quite what it seems.  There’s a twist at the end that will leave your heart pounding and wanting to just embrace Tegan into your own being to protect her, because you understand her in ways you never thought you would be able to.  The story will break your heart from the very beginning, but then you’ll find hope and promise at the end that makes you realize no matter how horrible things can be, you can always find your way out of that dark place.  No matter how crushed and broken you are, you can be happy again.

I will warn you, for those who have been in that place of deep grief, depression and sorrow, the first 100 pages will be difficult for you.  It was for me.  Brown dives so deeply into that depression and loss, you’ll feel like putting the book down and not going through with it.  There were some points in the beginning where I wanted to throw the book across the room because I was so mad at Tegan.  I wanted to shake her and say, “Get over it.  Get your ass out of bed.  Move forward with your life, dammit!”

I found that if you stick with it, you’ll find the adventure that awaits is worth pursuing with Tegan as she reclaims her sanity, her peace of mind, her happiness, and herself.  The story does get better.  More importantly, for those who have found themselves in that deep misery that you can feel when you have lost someone you love, this is a way of finding hope that things can and will be alright.  You can feel that deep sorrow and grief that feels like it will never end, but you won’t always feel that way.  It’s just a moment and that’s what Karma Brown explains all throughout this book as she takes Tegan from her happiest of times, to her worst of times and then to her new self.  These tragic moments change you forever, but the journey that follows is one that makes you an even greater person than you were before.


come Away With Me 2Come Away with Me is due to be released on August 25th.  For those who have lost someone, and for those who love to travel, as well as enjoy reading spiritual adventures, I highly recommend this book.  I will say that this book was not what I expected at all.  Karma’s note of “Hope you enjoy!” that she inscribed in the front made me want to say, “Thank you for writing this book.”  I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to.  I went in expecting nothing and came out of it thinking…this is the kind of story that sticks with you for the rest of your life in a very good way.  The book doesn’t just make Tegan into a better person, it turns the reader into a greater person as well.  You realize just how weak you can be, but also how strong you can be after life deals some of the hardest blows you’ll ever experience.

After reading this book, I started my own Jar of Spontaneity.  I drew out four pieces of paper of places I will be going to over this next year.  I pulled: Vietnam, India, South America and Bolivia.  Tegan suffered a lot in the realization of what she lost after she lost the baby and her reproductive organs.  It hit home for me because surgeries can oftentimes change you when you realize you can’t have kids anymore.  I haven’t traveled overseas since my surgery.  This book prompted me to go out and do those things again, because I’ve found that some of the greatest journeys into your own being happens when you travel.  Thanks, Karma, for reminding me it’s time to take that step forward.

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Disclaimers: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive monetary compensation.  I received a free copy of this book from Harlequin Books in exchange for writing a review on the blog.  All content and opinions are my own.

Book Review: The Witch Hunter

The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker.
The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker.

Book Review – The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker.  Released June 2, 2015 by Little, Brown and Company.

I am a sucker for Young Adult Fantasy Fiction, so when Little, Brown handed me a copy, I couldn’t wait to read it.  I don’t remember where I heard about the book before, whether it was from Book Club or a book recommendation from Amazon or Barnes & Noble, I knew I wanted to read it because it’s right up my alley.

First off, I love stories about witches.  This is what intrigued me about the book:

Elizabeth Grey is one of the king’s best witch hunters, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and doling out justice. But when she’s accused of being a witch herself, Elizabeth is arrested and sentenced to burn at the stake.

That is what captured my attention.  I didn’t read anything beyond those two sentences, but it was enough to get me to want the book and read the book from start to finish.

What is this book like?  Consider it the female version of the Spook series “The Last Apprentice” by Joseph Delaney meets Xena: Warrior Princess meets Pirates of the Caribbean meets Disney’s “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” meets Jon Snow.  I only mention Jon Snow (Kit Harington) because that’s who I would have cast as John the healer in the movie version of this book.

This book starts off with the two witch hunters, Elizabeth and her friend, Caleb’s, search for a few warlocks/necromancers who are practicing dark magic and attempting to bring an old magician back to life again.  They’re required to capture, not kill these wizards.  They bring them back to be tried before they are burned at the stake, because all forms of magic are outlawed in the land.

After accidentally killing a wizard in the book’s introductory hunt, she and Caleb head to the local pub where she discovers that Caleb is going off to party with some palace girl.  She stays behind and decides to drink her woes away with glass after glass of ale (which actually ends up being absinthe).

While at the pub, she runs across a pirate and the king’s fool.  They capture her and try to get her to talk.  But she’s so out of it, she’s no help to them.  She lies about who she is (a witch hunter), pushing it off as if she is just some kitchen maid.  They let her go.

On her way back to her room, she finds a guard outside of her door.  He’s been sent there under the King’s orders.  She knows why he’s there, but she doesn’t want to go with him.  She stumbles and out of her pocket falls some special herbs that are used in terminating pregnancies.  The King’s guard sees it and accuses her of practicing witchcraft.  He arrests her and takes her straight to the Inquisitor, Lord Blackwell, Duke of Norwich, the man she works for.

Despite being one of his witch hunters, Blackwell sentences her to death by burning at the stake.  Caleb swears he will get her out of prison.  He promises he’ll come back for her.

He never does.

As she is on the verge of dying, rotting away in a prison cell, an unlikely individual walks into the prison to save her.  The most wanted wizard in all of the land, Nicholas Perevil, springs her from her prison…and thus begins her new adventure.

Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book.  When it got to the end, I was happy it was over with (because you should see all of the books I need to review).  But as the days went by as I was preparing the review in my head, I kept thinking…you know, I’m not done with this story yet.  I want to know what happens to Elizabeth next.  The way it ended, I expect to see another book after this.  The story just doesn’t feel like it’s over yet.  It feels like we could get a few more books out of this tale and develop these characters stories more.

This is Virginia Boecker’s debut novel.  While at times, I thought it was a little crazy she added so many different elements like pirates, wizards, witches, revenants, nymphs and scary looking creatures you never want to meet in a dark alley, she actually masterfully pulled all of these vastly differing characters in and weaved an intricate tale where all of their stories worked well together…including the pirates.

Think about it…how weird would it be if J.K. Rowling threw a pirate into the Harry Potter books?  That’s what Boecker did.  You think it’s dumb at the start, but as you go along on their journey you realize just how important having a pirate is in this tale…and then you can’t imagine the story without the pirate or the revenants.  They are all instrumental in helping a witch hunter find herself.

The characters were developed so well along the way, you can’t help but fall in love with the friends Elizabeth makes along the way.  You even feel sympathy for the evil wizard himself.  After all, there’s a reason to the madness and need for power.  In a way, for Lord Blackwell, it’s the only way he believes he can save their kind.

Elizabeth’s tale is about one of growing up.  She grows up believing a certain way, but when taken out of that element and forced to see the world in a new light, she is forced to come to a reconciliation of what she was taught to believe was right, and discovering for herself what is right in her heart.

A couple of my favorite quotes from the book:

  • He’s asking me the question I’ve always asked myself.  How an unremarkable girl like me could live through unimaginable danger like that.  I didn’t know then, not really, and I’m not sure now.  I offer up my best guess anyway.“Because I was afraid to do anything else except live.”
  • “You can’t undo your past.  You know that as well as I.  But you also can’t foresee the future.  Not even Veda’s prophecy can do that.  What you want to do next, who you want to be, where you want to belong, that’s entirely up to you. As I always say, nothing is written in stone.”

For those who love YA Fantasy, I recommend reading “The Witch Hunter.”  This is the kind of series that can only get better after each book…and yes, according to Virginia Boecker’s Twitter, there’s a Book 2!  You’ll fall in love with the characters.  Imagine John (the Healer) as Kit Harington (Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow)…trust me when I say you’ll fall head over heels in love with his character.

You can find out more about the book and it’s author from her website.  You can also follow her on Twitter @virgboecker.

You can purchase the book at Amazon.com by clicking on the link: The Witch Hunter

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Disclaimers: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive monetary compensation.  I received a free copy of this book from Little, Brown in exchange for writing a review on the blog.  All content and opinions are my own.

Book Review: Like My Father Always Said

mchughBook Review – Like My Father Always Said…: Gruff Advice, Sweet Wisdom, and Half-Baked Instructions on How to Fix Your Stuff and Your Life, by Erin McHugh

Just in time for Father’s Day, Erin McHugh’s “Like My Father Always Said…” is a collection of sayings from fathers that McHugh gathered after creating a similar book for mothers in Like My Mother Always Said…: Wise Words, Witty Warnings, and Odd Advice We Never Forget.

Fathers tend to give advice that is very unusual and quite different than the wise sage advice we get from our mothers.  Here are a few quips from the book:

“Do it right or do it again.”  – Norm, father of Erik

“Those of you who are standing around saying it can’t be done are bothering those of us who are doing it.” – Dewey, father of Jean

“If you can’t go one way, go the other.” – Henry, grandfather of Josie

“Do whatever you want to do-Figure it out and I will explain it to mom later.” – Bob, father of Robin

“Don’t ever think you are better than another person.” – Edward, father of Tina

“When you surround yourself with good people and work hard, good things happen.”  – Dick, grandfather of Tommy

“Your only responsibility in life is to be kind.” – Freddie, father of Marion

“Keep your head down and stay the course.” – Robert, father of Christina

I selected these quotes to share here because they go right along with the theme of this site.  It’s about living every single dream possible.  These little instructions above are just a few of the many items you will find throughout the book.

This book will make a great gift for fathers, or just about anybody out there.  As I was reading through this, I had wished my father had given some sort of bits of wisdom like this.  But after reading the advice from all of these different fathers, I feel much wiser than I did before.

I think the most interesting quote in this book came from Brad Meltzer.  I had just met him the day before when I read his contribution to this book.  It really made me laugh at how supportive his father was of his writing career.  He was his biggest fan, so much that when he woke up from anesthesia after his surgery, he told his son that he was selling his books in heaven.  Brad’s response had me laughing.

That was the story that touched my heart the most.

If you pick up this book for your father for Father’s Day, make sure to pick up a copy for yourself and your siblings, too.  All of the sayings in this book are great advice for everyone.  It’s a quick read that you will definitely enjoy.

I always say it takes a village in order to help each other.  McHugh managed to create a village of fathers to give sound, maybe a little crazy, but wise advice to us all.

The book is available now.

You can follow Erin McHugh on Twitter: @ErinHere

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Disclaimers: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive monetary compensation.  I received a free copy of this book from the author and Harry N. Abrams Books in exchange for writing a review on the blog.  All content and opinions are my own.

Reading: How to be French

Children seeing large bubbles for the first time in Paris, France. (c) Michelle Kenneth
How to Be French: French children seeing large bubbles for the first time in Paris, France. (C) 2011 Michelle Kenneth.

Hello Lovelies.

In my research this month on “How To Be French,” I found some rather interesting articles worth sharing.

1. 10 Eating Rules French Children Know (But Americans Don’t), from Mind Body Green.  By Rebeca Plantier.

If there’s anything this author has discovered is that her children know how to be French better than she does.

This was one of the most interesting articles I read this past week.  It really makes you rethink how you eat, how much you eat and what you eat.  For instance, instead of grazing throughout the day (like most Americans do), it’s important to eat three meals a day.  You want to be hungry when you approach each meal so that each meal will be a complete pleasure.

After reading this article, I decided to make lunch the heaviest meal of the day and eat lighter in the evening (like a salad or a soup).

I will say that taking the advice from this article, I approach each meal differently, savoring each bite with pleasure.

2. 44 Classic French Meals You Need to Try Before You Die, from Buzzfeed. By Marie Telling.

Consider this your French food bucket list.

I’ve been sharing this list with my foodie friends.  We’ve been salivating over the pictures.

Don’t be dismayed if you love French food, go through the list and realize you’ve probably only had a handful of these dishes.  Imagine this list as showing you the possibilities of enjoyment you can add to enhance your life.  I’m making it my mission to either try these dishes at a restaurant or learn to make them this year.

3. 12 Fashion Secrets to Steal From French Women, from Stylecaster. By Leah Bourne.

For those who want to build a Fantasy Wardrobe, I highly recommend starting here (we’ll discuss this topic further this month on the blog).  While French women appear to have the best taste in fashion, it looks like the way they build their wardrobe is all about class and common sense.

They very rarely wear trendy clothes.  They never wear stilettos.  They invest in neutral colors.  They buy qualitative clothing, which means buying more expensive clothing (which also means owning less clothing).  This is not about having a lot of clothing (like us Americans who amass a rather large collection of clothing).

I’ve noticed there are a large number of French women carrying around an Hermès Birkin bag.  Believe it or not, this article explains how it is possible for them to own a bag that costs between 4-6 figures (i.e. the down payment on a house, or in some cases, the cost of an entire house).  [Forbes did an article on how you can buy your first Birkin.]

Simply put, they wait and save for that investment piece.

This article will make you rethink how you’ve crafted your own wardrobe.

4. 7 Secrets to Decorating Like the French, from Domaine.  By Julia Millay Walsh.

French homes always appear so posh, put together, and elegant.  This article explains how you can get the French decor at home.

5. French Women Don’t Get Fat, by Mireille Guiliano.

This is on my list of books to read.  The author of this bestseller is currently in the NYC area talking to a group of French loving New Yorkers about the French life.  Like the first article listed in this post, Guiliano goes into more detail on how French women eat and live.  They’re thin, eat these incredible meals, eat carbs (and chocolate), yet they stay incredibly slim.  How is it possible?

It’s not about depriving yourself, it’s about embracing the finer things in life and ENJOYING THEM.

On Sunday, I’ll dive more into living that positive mindset.

6. FAVORITE BLOGGER: French Country Cottage.

This is one of my favorite sites to be inspired on how to decorate the home.  The styling and pictures are just absolutely gorgeous!  I recommend following this site.  I’ve been following it for years.  Make sure to also follow her on social media.

French Food Made Easy: Laura Calder

French Food at Home by Laura Calder includes some of the most amazing French recipes you’ll ever taste. Laura simplifies it for you.

Before moving this site to a new platform, I experimented with a topic last year to see how it would be perceived.  Each month would get its own region and we would take a look at all things from that region.  We’re revisiting FRANCE and all things FRENCH to start off Diary of a Perfectionist Wannabe’s relaunch since it was so popular last year.  We’ll take a look at French food, arts, culture, photography, books, etc. all throughout this month.

Each week we’ll be showcasing a cookbook and divvying up a few of the recipes from the book.  This week’s French recipes are from Laura Calder’s book French Food at Home.

For those just starting out learning how to cook French food, it can seem a little daunting.  As James Peterson writes, you could end up using every single pot and pan in your arsenal just to make one meal.

Calder makes the different processes of making French food a little easier.

For instance, this fabulous Honey Hen recipe with Lemon Pasta was so good, you’re not going to want to share it.

Honey Hen with Lemon Pasta
Honey Hen with Lemon Pasta

Honey Hen

Honey Hen
Honey Hen

Ingredients

1 chicken (3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard*
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence

[*You can use Whole Grain Mustard as a less spicier substitute for Dijon mustard.  It is equally as good.]

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Melt the honey in a saucepan and whisk in the mustard and herbs.  Pour over the chicken pieces in a baking dish, and roll them around to coat well.

Bake, turning occasionally, until the meat is cooked through, well browned, and veiled in its dripping hot sauce, 40 to 45 minutes.*

[*Cooking times may vary.]

Lemon Pasta

This is one of my favorite, easy and simple pasta recipes from Laura Calder.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Grated zest of 4 to 5 lemons*
1 cup heavy cream
1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
Salt and Pepper
Lemon juice to taste
1/2 pound fresh egg pasta

[*For extra zing and/or color, use a mix of lemon/lime zests.]

Instructions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.  While you wait, melt the butter in a saucepan.  Stir in the lemon zest. Pour over the cream and bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat and add the cheese, stirring to melt.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add lemon juice to taste.

Cook the pasta.  Drain, return to the pot, and toss with the sauce.  Divide among four serving plates, garnish as you like, and serve immediately.*

[Note: This dish must be eaten hot.  When it goes cold, it basically turns into cold butter and pasta noodles.]
Toast Soup
Toast Soup

Toast Soup

If you’re like me, it’s a little difficult to get through an entire loaf of French bread.  Instead of tossing the bread out when it starts to go stale, Toast Soup is the answer.

Ingredients

6 slices smoky bacon*
4 cups chicken stock
About 8 cups cubed French bread (roughly 1 loaf)
2 cups milk, more if needed
2 teaspoons sherry or balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard**
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

[*Note: When purchasing bacon make sure it says “Smokey” not “Smoke Flavored.”  There is a major difference.] [**Note: You can use Whole Grain Mustard as a substitute for Dijon mustard.]

Instructions: 

Fry the bacon until cooked but not necessarily crisp.  Pour over the stock, bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover, and let infuse about an hour.

Meanwhile, toast the bread on a baking sheet in the oven until quite dark, but not burnt. Transfer to a large saucepan.

Strain the stock over the toast, reserving the bacon.  Add the milk, vinegar, and mustard and purée until very smooth with an immersion blender.*  Taste before seasoning with salt and pepper.

Cut the bacon into slivers and refry until crispish.  Reheat the soup, whisking in the cold butter at the last minute to give it gloss.  Serve piping hot with the bacon bits scattered over.

[*Note: For added texture, do not purée all of the bread in the soup.  Leave a few pieces as is, but purée the majority of the soup.]

* * * *

Laura Calder’s book is one of my favorites.  It’s a great beginner’s book into learning how to cook French food.  She makes things simple because creating an elaborate French dinner can seem absolutely terrifying.  The recipes are easy to intermediate and everything tastes absolutely wonderful.

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Reading Material: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Over the last ten years, I have come to fall in love with the writings of Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  His claim to fame is the amazing novel, “The Shadow of the Wind.”

A friend had suggested I read this book, because she heard someone else suggest it.  I read the book, absorbed it, and fell madly in love with the story.  Zafon went on to write two books connected to this bestseller: “The Angel’s Game” and “The Prisoner of Heaven.”  Each book lived up to the extraordinary storytelling of “The Shadow of the Wind.”

For those who love books, the adventure into a Zafon book creates a new-found love of books all over again.

Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, many of Zafon’s books that pre-date “The Shadow of the Wind” were originally written in Spanish.  Now, for the English speaking bibliophiles who love Zafon’s works, we have to wait for the translations into English.  They have been slowly, but steadily coming out one by one.

Within those translations, we discover Zafon’s first love…young adult fiction.  That’s how he started out, writing young adult fiction.  Each story he’s written is so miraculous that it stays with you for life.  You never forget a Zafon tale.  He is a master storyteller.

I am currently reading his final young adult fiction book, “Marina.”  Over the past year, I’ve struggled with getting back into reading and traveling the world.  A lot changed in me after the tumor was removed.  Many things that I loved, I didn’t care for anymore, even though I knew it was important to fall back in love with those things again.

“Marina” has finally made me fall back in love with books and travel again.  Zafon is such a masterful storyteller that you can’t help but get caught up in the story.  You hate putting the book down because you feel like the story is going to continue on without you and you may miss something.  You not only connect with the characters, but you truly feel like you, yourself, are part of the story…that this is now a part of your own story.

I have never encountered a writer that can continually, work after work, do what Zafon has done.  He captivates the reader from page one, drawing them into this tale of wonder and intrigue, making us see the streets of Calcutta and Barcelona as if we are standing there with the character, looking over our shoulders as we, too, can hear the snapping of a twig behind us.  We can feel the heat of summer, or the crisp breeze of autumn, hear the rustling of the leaves, and feel the adrenaline rush through us.  It’s what makes us quickly turn the page as we become sucked into the world Zafon has created.

I have had many favorite authors in the past, but Zafon is clearly in a league of his own.

When discussing his hopes for his young adult fiction, Zafon wrote on his website, “They remind me of what the discovery of reading meant to me.”  That is exactly what “Marina” has done for me post-op.  I’ve read many books since my surgery.  From Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” to Alexandre Dumas’s “The Count of Monte Cristo,” to the “Divergent” series and Joseph Delaney’s “Spook’s Apprentice,” none of them have instilled in me the love of reading, adventure and travel like Zafon has done.  He raises this sense of excitement and intrigue in his work that makes you want to be a better human being, because you understand how important knowledge is through books.

If you are new to Zafon, I recommend starting with “The Shadow of the Wind” and then moving through the subsequent novels that followed.  Then after you’ve read the adult fiction, go back and read the young adult fiction.  You will begin to see his mastery in storytelling.  It is as if he has perfected the craft like no other before him could.

After I read “The Shadow of the Wind,” I only wanted to read more and more stories about the love of books, but nothing compared to that masterpiece.  He made me fall in love with books all over again.

Picking up “Marina” all these years later, he’s done it to me all over again.  I have fallen back in love with reading and wanting to travel the world.  He’s helped me rediscover the two things in life I love most.

Here are Zafon’s works (in English) [click on picture to purchase at Amazon.com]:

2015 Book Challenge

A resolution I make every year is to read 52 books a year (a book a week).  These last two years I’ve kind of slacked off due to dramatic life changes.  In 2015, I plan on getting back on track.

While perusing Pinterest, I saw that Popsugar had pinned this reading challenge from their site.  I think it’s a brilliant way to come up with ideas on what to read next.  So I’m joining the Popsugar Book Challenge.  You should join us!  You can click here for a downloadable printable.

Here’s their challenge:

2015 book challenge
PopSugar.com’s 2015 Reading Challenge.

If you find a great book this year, please pass the information along in the comments!

October Reading Material: The Vampire Chronicles Continue

prince lestatOne of the items on my bucket list is to read all of Anne Rice’s novels.  I’ve read many, but not all of her works.  When I finally read Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, I started to rethink keeping this wish to read all of her books on my bucket list.  From darkness comes light and if she was going religious on me, I wasn’t going to continue reading her work.

But alas, she decided to return to what made her so famous to begin with…Vampire Lestat has risen from the dead (again).  Mrs. Rice has decided to resurrect her anti-hero, the Vampire Lestat in her new novel, Prince Lestat.

Here’s a little snippet from Barnes & Noble:

The novel opens with the vampire world in crisis…vampires have been proliferating out of control; burnings have commenced all over the world, huge massacres similar to those carried out by Akasha in The Queen of the Damned . . . Old vampires, roused from slumber in the earth are doing the bidding of a Voice commanding that they indiscriminately burn vampire-mavericks in cities from Paris and Mumbai to Hong Kong, Kyoto, and San Francisco.

As the novel moves from present-day New York and the West Coast to ancient Egypt, fourth century Carthage, 14th-century Rome, the Venice of the Renaissance, the worlds and beings of all the Vampire Chronicles—Louis de Pointe du Lac; the eternally young Armand, whose face is that of a Boticelli angel; Mekare and Maharet, Pandora and Flavius; David Talbot, vampire and ultimate fixer from the secret Talamasca; and Marius, the true Child of the Millennia; along with all the other new seductive, supernatural creatures—come together in this large, luxuriant, fiercely ambitious novel to ultimately rise up and seek out who—or what—the Voice is, and to discover the secret of what it desires and why . . .

And, at the book’s center, the seemingly absent, curiously missing hero-wanderer, the dazzling, dangerous rebel-outlaw–the great hope of the Undead, the dazzling Prince Lestat . . .

This being the month for all things spooky and scary, reading any of Anne Rice’s supernatural books will not only make you fall in love with these villains, but they will also make you look at history very differently.  Rice’s re-telling of history through the world of the supernatural is what makes me love her stories so much.

Stuart Townsend as Lestat in Queen of the Damned.
Stuart Townsend as Lestat in Queen of the Damned.

One of my favorite novels by Rice is Memnoch The Devil.  The way she depicted the temptation of Christ made me wonder if perhaps the devil was just misunderstood.  She gave new meaning to the term ‘sympathy for the Devil.’  That book made me look at the Bible very differently.  What if everything about the Devil was just a misunderstanding between God and his angel?  The Bible vilified him, making him out to be the bad guy, when instead all he wanted to do was to help.

If an author can change your way of thinking like this, they would have to be a master at their craft.  Anne Rice is definitely the master of hers.

After reading why the Christ the Lord years happened (she was close to death on several occasions and turned to religion during that time), and then why she turned away from Christianity afterward, I forgave her for the Christ the Lord years.  Those years were the years she needed to know something bigger than all of us was looking out for her.  We all find ourselves in those moments in our lives.  The Christ the Lord years were just the years when she needed God.

When you look at the progression of her work, you realize that the books she placed before us were just a reflection of her own world at that time.  It was about her own spiritual growth, it was about dealing with the death of her child.  You begin to see that these books are not just supernatural chronicles, they’re a chronicle of the things she was going through in life.

Even in Memnoch, she was grappling with the duality of good and evil.  That perhaps, the way religion is taught to us is a lie.  The Devil was and still is an angel.  What if his whole story was just a lie?  What if he was only trying to help, not deceive?

These are questions she posed to the reader.  She made you re-think how you viewed the world.  Instead of going on what religion tells you is the truth, what if there was another truth?  That was the whole purpose of Memnoch.  What if there was another truth?  It was her way of making you re-evaluate how you perceive life, God, and the world, that makes me believe that, like the gothic novelists before her, her works will be celebrated and adored centuries after we’re gone.  Why?  Because you’re a different person after you read her work.  She awakens your mind to question what you believe and take on the possibility that what you believe may not necessarily be true.

It’s understanding that, you begin to realize there are always other truths.  You will never know which truth is the real truth.  Every story has many different sides.  You can’t just listen to one and consider it the only truth.  You have to hear all sides.  Even when you hear all sides, you’re not always going to come up with one singular truth.  You begin to see that the duality between good and evil is really not a duality.  It’s just a misunderstanding of what is good.

While I’m only in the sixth book in The Vampire Chronicles (The Vampire Armand) out of 11, I will definitely be purchasing Prince Lestat to add to my library.  The Vampire Chronicles are worth spending time enjoying.  It may not scare you, but the stories will stay with you.  I’m glad to see Lestat is back.  I didn’t start to love him until The Tale of the Body Thief.  To see that he lives to see another novel, this, indeed, makes me happy.

The book is due to be released on October 28.

UPDATE: Just a few minutes after posting this, Anne Rice tweeted that her first book signing for Prince Lestat will be on 10/28 in NYC at 192 Books.  You must purchase the book through 192 Books in order to attend the event. DETAILS.  Space is limited {I have my order in for the event!}.

Labor Day Reading Material

It’s the final days of summer.  With only 3 days remaining before we officially kick start our autumn mentality, here are a few books worth picking up during your last few days of relaxation.

Half-Broke Horses

half broke horsesI’m not a lover of Westerns, but imagine looking at it through the eyes of a woman.  Then imagine being one of those women who lived every single adventure you can ever imagine.  Cowgirl.  Pilot.  Horse Jockey.  Teacher.  Wife.  Mother.  Ranch Caretaker.  Gunslinger.  Gangster selling booze during prohibition.  Gambler that’s better at poker than the rest of the gunslingers at the table.

This was the life of Jeanette Walls’ grandmother.  Her story is a great story, especially for women.  It’s inspiring to read because you begin to realize what it takes to live every dream you can dream for yourself.

Imagine being a 15 year old girl traveling 500 miles on horseback to teach at a schoolhouse then seeing a plane fly overhead and think to yourself, “Some day I’m going to fly a plane.”  She actually went out and did just that.  She was more than just a teacher or a girl living on a ranch.  She was a tough, courageous woman who had no fear of living every dream she could think of for herself.

That is what is so inspiring about the story.  She had no fear of living her dreams.  When the opportunity presented itself, she grabbed it by the horns and rode it out…just like these half-broke horses that came into the ranch.

It’s a quick read.  I finished it in less than two days.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

a tree grows in brooklynIf you’re interested in reading a classic, I highly recommend this book about a girl coming of age in Brooklyn, New York.  This is the book that really got me started on trying to live more simply at home and started my de-cluttering campaign.  It made me re-think being absorbed in consumerism, and learning to cut back and be more of a minimalist (I thought about it, it didn’t fully shape into being).

I really loved this story, as well as did everyone in my book club.  In this recession, it’s good to read about stories of harder times.  If we think we had it bad, our grandparents had it worse back during the Depression era.  But the thing is…they survived on the bare minimum.  That’s what so intriguing about the book.

This story is about how one family survived in poverty before, during and after the Great Depression era.  It’s a story you will never forget.  It’s also a story you will enjoy immensely.

The Golem and the Jinni

Golem_and_the_Jinni_book_coverSpeaking of New York stories, this story is about two cultures: the Jewish and the Syrian culture.  One tale is about the Golem and how she comes about living in New York City, another tale is about a Jinni that finds himself in a different time in the shop of a tinsmith in another neighborhood of New York City.  This story is about how to very magical creatures collide and try to survive without anyone (but a few people) know about their true nature.

All of this comes to a head when a very evil man decides to use them for his own evil purposes.  This story is about correcting the wrongs of the past, and learning to live when you are just so different from everyone else.

This was a great read, especially in understanding two very different cultures and watching them collide in this great city called New York City.

 Cloud Atlas

cloudatlasI have a new favorite author and his name is David Mitchell.  I saw the movie and read the book.  As always, the book was way better than the movie, because it goes into more detail.  What I loved about the story is that it really made me think of the various lives we live and how it is always in a constant state of repeat in each lifetime.  The people we meet all have a meaning in our lives.  We may play our roles differently in each lifetime, but the end result is always the same.

OR is it?

Then again, it makes us ask ourselves what our roles are in each lifetime and our own purpose to the grand design.  Sidney Poitier talks about this in his books, how each generation is meant to mean something greater in further generations.  Each generation is setting the tone for what is to come.  Each generation plans and prepares and creates the backdrop to the greater story.  Each story leaves its clues for future generations, even if it is for the same set of souls that are repeating the same story line again and again.

The book is amazing and will really get you to think about your own purpose to the story we’re living.

A Winter’s Tale

a winter's taleSpeaking of purposes in life and our timing…Mark Helprin brings one of his greatest stories he’s ever written…”A Winter’s Tale.”  This book is also a movie starring Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe (with a surprise appearance from Will Smith).  If you want to know if you should pick up the book, see the movie first.  There are elements in the movie that made me want to dive further into the story…mainly because it was about destiny.

What if your purpose was to save someone, but it wasn’t the person you thought you were supposed to save?  You meet your one great love, a person you were destined to love, only to lose all of your memories, walk through this lifetime with no recollection of who or what you are, just to save one soul.  That is the story of Peter Lake, except his journey is a bit more on the magical side.

With angels and demons trying to help or thwart his progress, as is the struggle with all humankind when they are chasing after their destiny, we go through this tale of adventure with Peter Lake as he discovers love, friendship, fear, loss, and love far greater than he could ever imagine.

And yes, the irony here is that the story takes place in New York City, too!

What can I say?  Some of the best stories come from my fine city. 🙂

Happy reading this weekend and have a safe, wonderful end of the summer Labor Day Weekend!

The Right Book of Art

booksCoffee table books, especially large books of art, are never cheap.  Finding the right one for your home when there are so many to choose from may seem a little daunting at first.  Then when you’re at the bookstore and find just the right book, it’s either too big to carry home or the price tag doesn’t match your budget.

In the picture, you can see the large Manet and the Tissot.  In the background, there’s a Bernini and Rubens.  What you don’t see is the big book from the Louvre, another on Italian architecture and another on Flemish music.  Either I have a love for large books or I found them on sale.

Trust me, it was the latter.  My library has seasonal book sales where people in the community donate books they don’t want (including the area schools).  I picked up all of these art books for $2 each.   It was just luck that I happened by when they were unloading so many art books.

I picked up books from my favorite artists, and artists I wanted to know more about, like Bernini and Tissot.  I chose books that had large illustrations, but also had plenty of details in the narrative where I could learn more about the artists.

Out of all books I’ve found on artists, this book is my favorite from David Sylvester on Magritte: Magritte: The silence of the world.  I loved it so much the first time I saw it, I didn’t return it to the library until it was 6 months overdue.  I couldn’t justify spending $100 on one of my own.  Luckily, it went down to $30 (guess what I’m getting for my birthday), because there is a newer version (published in 2010): Magritte

 

Finding the right book is all about what you want to take from the story of the artist.  Does his work speak to you?  Does the artist’s story speak to you?

The reason why Magritte’s book was very meaningful to me all surrounded the story of the artist and why he chooses to hide the face of the subject in his paintings.  His story brinks on the form of madness, the loss of someone he loved, and disconnection.

I’ll spoil the story for you…Magritte’s mother committed suicide when he was a child.  She drowned herself.  When they pulled her out of the water, her nightgown was over her head.  That’s how Rene Magritte saw his dead mother.  That’s why he paints faces like that.

After having lost someone dear to me, I understood Magritte’s loss and how, at times, it can force you to the brink of madness…the memories.  I think, for myself, I related to Magritte because someone I loved had committed suicide when I was younger.  I understood how he felt and I could see his loss in his paintings.  I could feel that same sorrow, but I also saw the great beauty and bigger understanding of the universe as a whole in his paintings.

Discovering an artist you can relate to and finding the right book that tells the story in a way that moves you, THAT is the right art book for you.  Many of the art books I own are both decorative and they also help me to learn more about the artist.

Magritte’s story by David Alexander is told so well…like I said, I had a hard time parting with the book.  You may think I had a hard time parting with the book because I love Magritte’s work…that’s not true at all.  I actually don’t like his work at all.  His artwork haunts me.  To me, his artwork is my definition of insanity, but at the same time, his artwork is like a ball of memories for me…and yes, that ball is a symbolism in his artwork.

Find an artist that speaks to you in ways you can’t even imagine, like Magritte speaks to me.  His work comes from a very dark place in the psyche.  For those who have lost someone they loved to suicide, his work explains things that cannot be explained with words.

There are plenty of artists and books out there that help people to heal.  Magritte was my way of healing and understanding.  For the next phase in my life, who knows what artist’s story will define me and my life.  When I discover that book, it will be when I need it the most.

 

 

Weekend Reading: Normandy, France & D-Day

ddayToday we remember D-Day. June 6, 1944. Seventy years ago today, the end of World War II began in the Battle of Normandy.  By late August 1944, the Allies were able to liberate Western Europe from the control of Nazi Germany.

My grandfather used to tell me stories of D-Day.  He was in France at the time (as a soldier), but did not participate in the raid.  What he brought back from that moment were French stamps and coins, including Nazi money.

These were items that were passed down to me.  Each time I touch these relics, I think of what my family was feeling during that time period.  I think about that moment in time and how many lives were lost.  I think of the state of the world during that time.

For those who don’t know the story of D-Day, go down memory lane with The History Channel as they tell the story of long ago.

Also of Interest

I just came across this beautiful blog today written by a woman in Normandy, France.  The pictures and stories are of a life lived.  Very beautifully done: My French Country Home.

Response to The Case of A*

I received this letter (hand-delivered) through someone that had read my blog post about “The Case of A*.” I was really surprised to read this letter (or to have received it).

It brought a tear to my eye. I just pray that poor A* will get the help he really needs in the justice system before he takes a step in the wrong direction.

Response to The Case of A*




I will admit that I was surprised that an inmate in a prison would respond to the original post. I think it was a fear for A* and his future, that he might some day wind up in prison, too.

Of all the twists and turns in this case, you can only pray that this child will grow up to fight the odds and become an outstanding person in his community and in his own pursuits and endeavors.

Will exposure to his mother cause him more harm? Will it cause irreparable harm? Or will his mother turn out to be a better human being and actually take very good care of her son for once?

Only time will tell. If anything, I hope he knows that there are people that care about him and love him very much. Even if his circumstances change, he has a father, aunts, uncles and cousins, even friends of the family that all care about him and love him very much.

He’s always been such a beautiful, loving and caring soul. These struggles he has in his life now are only supposed to make him stronger. He has the capacity to do something amazing for someone else in his life, no matter what happens to him. I just pray that his mind and emotions don’t become so damaged that he’ll make all the wrong decisions because he feels the world failed him.




The Case of A*

The Case of AThere is a family court case I’ve been following for the past year. This case goes all the way back to the time A* was 2 years old. He is now 11 years old.

His parents never married, but they have been in a constant custody battle for the past 9 (going on 10) years.

The trial finally arrived this week…and what came out of it has left me in complete shock.

I’d like to go over a few things that came up in this case that has me scratching my head and thinking…so this is what NY State has to say is the correct way to parent a child?

1. The father is a very caring man. Loves his son…he would give the world for his son. He’s been going full force into this battle for his son because his son asked him to.

He pays for all expenses his son incurs. Pays for schooling, sports, activities, dental, health, clothes, etc.

He really goes all out to take care of his son.

He and his family make sure to give A* the best life possible. They are a loving and caring family.


2. The mother has been a party girl her entire life. She’s a drunk, was drunk the majority of the time during her pregnancy.

She recently got drunk and told A* when she stumbled into the apartment that she was going to put a hit out on him and have him killed.

She’s hit him with knives. On numerous occassions, she’s told her son how much she hates him. She hits him all of the time. Degrades him all of the time and makes her son contemplate killing himself (he’s already been known to hurt himself purposely by ramming his own head into the wall).

3. A* says he wants to live with his father. He hates his mother. He talks about how he wants to kill both the mother and his step-father.

He tells his father he loves him all of the time. He’s a sweet kid with a pure heart that is kind to everyone. He’s more like his father and is a very loving child.

But when the subject of his mother comes up, you can see the child change into an angry child filled with hate and disappointment towards his mother.

His mother told him that if he didn’t lie to the Court and tell the Court that his father was a bad father, then she would have his father killed. So naturally, the child fearing for his father’s life…LIED to the Court…and then later confessed that the reason why he lied was because his mother said she would have his father killed if he didn’t.

4. The court’s decision in the matter…

The father is a bad father. There is something wrong with a child hugging his parent and telling him that he loves him all of the time.

The father is wrong to place the child into sports or take him to get his teeth done.

The mother’s drunkenness and threats to have the son killed along with hitting the child with a knife has been overlooked.

The bad parent is the FATHER according to the Court and the mother is raising the child the way the child should be raised.


CONCLUSION. Am I wrong in thinking that something is wrong with this situation?

The mother is being rewarded and being told that her method of parenting is the correct way, while the father’s method was wrong.

The father is being ripped of his custodial rights over the child. The court has refused him entry saying that he is a scumbag.

When the child was first taken away from him, he acted like any normal parent would act…out of anger on the verge of insanity that his child was taken from him. His child is his world. Any normal person would have the same reaction. You see it in the animal kingdom as well. The parent will go after whoever has taken their child away.

His son was handed over to a woman who is a drunk and threatens the son with death all of the time.

Am I wrong in thinking that the Court is wrong? The Court has decided that the bad parenting is the good parenting and the good parenting is the bad parenting.

Or is this a child that has slipped through the system that no one really cares about?

A*’s friends talk about how suicidal the child has been after he was stripped of all rights to see his father. He’s hurt himself continuously because of it.

The interests of the child are non-existent. What this court case is really about…the mother and the father.

The mother is punishing the father for leaving her. That’s what this court case is really about…and A* is caught in the middle.

For many years, the mother was absent in the child’s life. During the summer when he was out of school and all vacations, she willingly sent him to his father because she wanted nothing to do with the child.

She ran out on the child when he was just a few days old. That left the child in the hands of the father…that is why the child bonded so well with the father and not the mother. Those first few days are the most precious days of bonding for the parents. If it is gone, it cannot be repaired.

Then she came back months later (the drunk that she was) wanting back in…and then she kidnapped the child stating that if the father wanted to see him again then he had to marry her.

Well, marriage wasn’t forthcoming, but she moved in.


The real reason why this has gone on for so long is because the mother is in love with the father, but based on everything that’s happened, the father of the child has no interest in the mother. Because she knows that, she is trying to make his life a living hell and destroy him because she did not get what she wanted out of him…his love.

Sure, this could end up as a book someday, but all of this is a true story.

And the Court has given the mother full custody and told the father to give up because he is a scumbag that should not be allowed anywhere near his son ever again.

Did I miss something in all of this? How is it that the mother that didn’t give a rat’s ass about her son (still doesn’t) is being awarded her meal ticket and the father is being accused of being the scum of the earth?

Is it not okay to love your children?

Is it okay to be a drunk that threatens to have your son killed?

Is it not okay to nurture and care for your children, put them up in the best schools, go to their after school activities, place them in after school activities (sports, etc.)?

Is it okay to beat your children?

Is it not okay to take your child to the dentist to have their teeth fixed?

Is it okay to demean your kids continuously?

I don’t think I got the memo that good=bad and bad=good. But apparently the NY court system believes that bad parenting is good parenting.

This is yet another child lost in the system that will end up on the front pages of the papers when either his mother kills him or he commits suicide.



The Greatest Love Stories

love_in_the_time_of_cholera_wallpaper_6_800Ok, everybody..don’t kill me for asking this, but I need some help with a summer project I’m working on.

I’ve enlisted a couple of friends to help me, but I thought I would see if by posting something this would get more responses.

I was Googling the ‘greatest love stories of all time’ and came back with ‘Wuthering Heights’ as number one. Of course, I’m sitting there thinking…WHAT? That’s got to be the absolute worst book of all time. I wouldn’t even call it a love story. Love turning into evil…that’s not a true love story. Why in the world would some great library say that love turning into evil is the greatest love story of all time?

Forget Romeo and Juliet.


Perhaps some guy thought ‘Wuthering Heights’ up just because he was obsessed with some chick that turned into a bad ending…and that’s why it hit #1 on the list.

So I’m not using ‘Wuthering Heights’ as a model this summer…thank you very much.

Let me explain what I’m looking for in this project…

I am looking for the most inspiring love stories in book or movie format…especially stories that talk about FATE/DESTINY. “Serendipity” with John Cusack is a good example for the movie category.

I’m starting on “Love in the Time of Cholera” later this week when I finish “Dreamers of the Day” (a historical novel based in 1918-1921 about the days of Lawrence of Arabia and Winston Churchill).

What books/movies inspired you and made you think that love was worth it all? Or books/movies that made you sigh thinking…WOW…

You can post the comment here or email me at: msmichellekenneth@yahoo.com.

And guys…come on, there’s got to be a good one out there for you. My brother swears by “Notting Hill.” Well, at least the soundtrack. 😉 And right after I wrote that…my brother calls me to ask me if he sounds like he’s high when he talks on the phone. Brothers…




The Septembers of Shiraz

septembers of shirazI just finished reading “The Septembers of Shiraz” by Dalia Sofer. It really made me think a lot about religion, privileges and circumstances.

I’ve learned over the past few years that it is difficult to be friends with people that are not in the same class as you financially. The main reason has a lot to do with how money makes others feel.

For those who have abundance and can buy their own freedom, they can’t trust those who do not have these same privileges. Why? Because the green eyed monster can take its toll. In places like Iran (where the setting in this book takes place) where the mullahs rule, having abundance is looked down upon.

They will rob a man who worked hard to have the finer things in life. They will say that they have a right to those things. They take from others what they did not earn. They justify their thievery by saying that someone who worked hard for those things did not deserve them.

The thing is, we see this everywhere. People who are less fortunate blaming those who are fortunate and worked hard. That’s not to say that everyone doesn’t work hard. It’s just sometimes people think that people that are more fortunate didn’t earn it or work hard for it. We all do…but the type of labor performed is different in every circumstance.

Some people work 18 hour days and even though they have a family, they are married to their work moreso than to their own families. They miss out on that treasure because they’ve determined that providing for them was more important then nurturing them.


Others make their family their priority, and in some people’s eyes, that makes that family the richest family around. Some people can’t have a family, so seeing a couple with a few kids running around will make them a little bit jealous.

What one man’s fortune is can be different for the next man. It doesn’t always involve money. Being fortunate requires a lot of work in life (no matter how it’s performed). We oftentimes give up one thing so that we can have another thing.

I gave up the thoughts of getting married and having a family of my own because I was more fortunate in my career. I’m already well aware that if I were to have a family I would have to choose whether to give up my career or let my children be raised by nannies. With the way my life has been going, it’s better to just forego making that decision and continue doing what I’m doing…that is until God changes my circumstances.

A lot of people assume I’ve always had money. The truth is…there was a time when I had to hit rock bottom in life and try to be the starving artist in order to realize what it was I wanted out of life. I remember how my diet consisted of chicken broth (which ironically is still the case but that’s due to different circumstances).

During that time, I didn’t have a choice…I could only afford chicken broth. Now, it is a choice.

I always like to remind myself of where I came from and how I rose above those circumstances to be where I am today. I was fortunate in my path in life. But this is my path. It is not meant to be traveled upon by anyone else but me.

We make choices as we go along this path in life. We have a choice of suffering or letting go of the suffering and realizing that we don’t have to suffer in life. We are in charge of our own life and the choices we ultimately make.  Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” is a great example of this.

When people allow jealousy in to dictate how they will treat the next person…it’s not right. Shakespeare did not call it the green eyed monster for nothing! Jealousy is a monster. It changes people. It makes them bitter, evil and mean. It does not serve anyone any good to be jealous. It only promotes more hate in the world.

The “Septembers of Shiraz” really made me think a lot about life and our circumstances. It’s not just a story of a Jew that is thrown in prison by mullahs in Iran. It has a lot of deep meaning to it.

It also really made me dislike religions even more. It’s just amazing how much hate is spread if you believe differently then the next person. To be ridiculed, tortured and forced to believe in something you don’t is to me…absolutely STUPID. Can’t we all just get along?

You believe how you want to believe. I’ll believe how I want to believe. The only thing we can agree on…is just being neighborly. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.