Tag Archives: book

PW Recommends: Books to Read Now

For those who love Young Adult Fiction, here are a few books to peruse.

  1. Edgewater by Courtney Sheinmel is filled with mystery and intrigue as we follow Lorrie Hollander, a young rich girl who all of a sudden has her trust fund cut off while at riding camp.  Thinking that her absent-minded aunt forgot to pay the bills, she returns home to discover that her trust fund is missing.  With only a few dollars in her pocket, she tries to buy gas and a drink only to discover she doesn’t have enough money for both when she meets Charlie, the son of a senator, who pays for her purchase in exchange for joining him at a party in his family’s home.  What Lorrie later discovers is that her predicament and money problems are directly related to Charlie’s family.  What begins as a rich girl gone broke turns into something much more…explaining why her mother left her and her sister behind with her senile aunt and where all of this money is really coming from.  It’s an ending no one is expecting.




2.  Mysteries of Cove by J. Scott Savage.  If you liked “City of Ember” by Jeanne DuPrau, you’ll like this new series.  Imagine a world where doing anything ‘creative’ is a crime and the word ‘invention’ is a curse word.  Welcome to the Cove, a steam-powered city inside of a mountain.  Why the city is this way is a mystery, especially to Trenton Coleman, who loves inventing and all things mechanical.  Along with Kallista Babbage, they discover a mechanical dragon.  Together they try to put it together and leave the Cove.  What they were not prepared to learn was why the city was hidden inside of a mountain and why any mechanical noise was forbidden.  When they learn why, it’s too late and it jeopardizes the lives of everyone inside the Cove.  They’ve attracted something to them that was better off left alone.  [Mysteries of Cove is a series.  The second book was released last year.]




3. Court of Fives by Kate Elliott.  For those who loved “The Hunger Games,” you will love “Court of Fives.”  Jessamy lives in a world where a mixed race child will never rise in society.  Add in every sexist thing you can of how a woman will never be equal to a man, and you have a good idea what kind of society Jessamy lives in.  The Fives is a maze where various contenders compete in five different trials.  Winners of the Fives live handsomely, but there is one catch.  They have to reveal their face.  It is because of this that Jessamy allows someone else to win, so as not to embarrass her father, a famous soldier who would be humiliated if he knew his illegitimate daughter had competed and won in the Fives.  Things take a turn for the worst when her family’s patron (the man who cares for them financially) dies.  The patron’s death splits up the family and sends Jessamy to live her dream of training and running for the Fives without fear of embarrassing her father, but she finds something much more sinister is happening to her family.  It is up to her to save them.  [This book is the start of the Court of Fives series.  The third book will be released this summer.]




Disclosure: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work.

I received these books from the publishers in exchange for an honest review and promotion of these products.  


Book Club: A Man Called Ove

Hello, everyone.  It’s time to discuss the first official book club selection for 2017: A Man Called Ove.  Even if you haven’t finished reading the book, feel free to come back here and post your thoughts either here or on the Facebook page after you’re done.

Let’s start off…

The Book Club Questions

  1.  What did you think of the book?
  2. Who was your favorite character in the book and why?
  3. With the story going back and forth between present day and the past, do you think the progression of the story was easy to read?
  4.   Ove is a unique character.  Did you find his character relatable?  If so, how?  Does he remind you of someone?  Does he remind you of yourself?
  5. Ove’s attempts at taking his own life fails every time.  Do you find the failures to be purely coincidental or maybe something more otherworldly happening?
  6. Ove went from wanting to die to wanting to live for today and fight for the people around him.  What were some of those significant markers that occurred that made him realize he wasn’t alone?
  7. The film “A Man Called Ove” was nominated for Best International Film at the Academy Awards this year.  Did you get to see it?  How did you like it?  Was Ove how you imagined him to be?  Did the film do the book justice?
  8. What was your favorite part of the book?




My Answers

  1. I really enjoyed this book.  It was very comical with incredible characters.
  2. I loved Parvaneh.  She was always right in his face trying to make sure that Ove did right for himself and for others.  She was the right relationship he needed to come into his life.  She was the daughter he never had.  I also loved the cat.  That cat was something else.  When he walked in and knocked down the pills, it was like he was saying, “I know what you’re trying to do, so stop it!”  I also loved that he went wherever Ove went.  Who takes their cat everywhere they go?  It wasn’t even Ove’s cat!
  3. I liked the progression of the story.  In my other book club, there were some people that did not like the way it went back and forth.  For me, I liked that it would leave a  little detail that made you question what happened and then the next chapter would explain what happened in the past.  It’s a lot like having a conversation with someone.  You are trying to explain how X happened, but then realize you need to fill in the historical context.  I liked learning about Ove’s history as the author tried to explain how he got to be the way he is now.
  4. Ove is a little on the weird side, but I saw a little of myself in him.  How people don’t know how to change a tire mindboggles me.  That was the first lesson I ever had when I started driving…you have to know how to change the tire on a car.  You have to know how to parallel park.  In Ove’s tirade, you need to know how to back up a car with a trailer hooked up behind it.  Life for Ove is very hands on and mechanical.  He expresses his emotions and who he is as a human being by doing things for others.  He shows he cares by repairing fences, fixing cars, teaching people how to drive, etc.  He is not one to be emotional or affectionate.  He shows he cares by doing things.  The man has a big heart, even if he acts like he doesn’t care.  You know he does.  I have a friend that says she hates people, but I find her to be the most compassionate person when it comes to people.  She’s always out helping the homeless, her family, her friends, etc.  She acts like she doesn’t care, but she really does.
  5. Ove trying to kill himself made me laugh every single time he failed at it.  I really loved that part of the story.  The fact the fail happened over and over and over again makes it look like there was something otherworldly trying to stop him from taking his life.  One person from my book club thought that his wife was looking out for him by sending all of these people into his life so that he knew he was not alone and that the world still needed him.  I can definitely see that.
  6. Parvaneh was a huge part of letting him know he wasn’t alone.  Just her arrival with her husband and kids was a huge marker.  The fact that her husband doesn’t know how to do anything shows that they need Ove to help them with ‘the simple stuff.’  Parvaneh needing to learn how to drive shows that Ove is still needed (like teaching your own daughter how to drive for the first time).  The two girls look up to him as a grandfather.  They become the grandkids he never had.  The two teenagers made Ove remember the compassion of his wife and the things she did for the children.  Jimmy didn’t have anyone to look up to except Sonja, Ove, Rune and Anita.  Jimmy didn’t want to be forgotten so he tried to patch things up in a subtle way between all parties.  Ove finding out from Jimmy that they had kept Rune’s condition quiet helped pave the way towards two friends rekindling their friendship.
  7. I saw the film and enjoyed it immensely.  They did not fit in the entire story and made a few subtle changes, but they weren’t so bad as to step completely away from the book.  The book though was better.  Ove in the film was exactly how I imagined him to be.
  8. My favorite part of the book was when Ove hit Parvaneh in the nose.  That’s when I fell in love with her character.




Next Book Club Selection

Our next book club selection is “The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto” by Mitch Albom.  We’ll begin discussion of the book on May 1st.  I hope you’ll join us.

Disclosure: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work.

The PW Book Club 2017

The PW Book Club is going to be a little different this year.  I’ll be sharing Amazon Kindle First’s selections and sharing which book I chose, but separately from the book club.  The 2017 book club itself is going to be based on five selections of books you can purchase now.

Those books are:

Here are the dates for discussion.  If you want to sign up for the group, just add your email address to the PW Book Club on the top right of the page.

March 1: A Man Called Ove

May 1: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

July 1: A Dog’s Purpose

September 15: Leaving Time

November 15: The Best of Everything

I’ll have discussion questions posted up for those who want to use the questions for their own book clubs.  I hope you’ll join us.  Details will follow.

Disclosure: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work.

The 2017 Reading Challenge

Each year, I try to commit to reading a book a week. That is 52 books a year.

With every book read, I reward myself monetarily so that I can purchase something very expensive that I really want.  In past years, I used that money to purchase a very expensive designer handbag.  This year, I am using my earnings to save money for my new home.

I created a reward system as a way to force myself to save.  This year’s reward system is designed to help me save more for my new home, as well as declutter my library (both physical and electronic).


Make the Time to Read

This past year, I found other lovers of books reading more than 100 books in a year.  While that is an incredible challenge to complete, I resolved to read more than 52 books this year.

I’ve heard from a lot of people lately how they are lucky to read one book a year.  I don’t know what they are doing, but everyone should be reading more.  It is important to keep challenging your brain and your mind.  We need to always be continuously learning.

I am a very busy person, but I also make the time to read.  It is important to analyze what is sucking away your time.  I bet the main culprit are your devices.  Put down your phones (unless you’re reading a book on it).  Stop scrolling through social media.  Stop playing games all of the time.

Take a moment to disconnect.


You can find time to read.  You can even listen to audio books.  I do.  At the office, I’ll put my headphones in, find a free classic on audio and listen to the book.  That counts as part of the reading challenge.

If you have some free time at the office, find an ebook on Kindle Unlimited and read up on a subject matter that can help you with your job.  Many ebooks are 50-100 pages and are very quick reads filled with so much information on how you can be better at your job.

When you’re commuting, listen to an audio book or read a book.  You can get books for free at the library, including the latest ones.  You can even download library books to your devices.

There are many ways you can indulge in reading a book every single day.  Seriously…you can listen to a book and play Candy Crush at the same time.

I would like to challenge all of you to read a book a week this year.  I’ll be sharing my resolution with you in hopes that it will inspire you to read more books.

We should never stop learning.  We should always encourage each other to become more educated, even if it is just through books.  There is always something new we can discover in books.


My Reward System

So without adieu, here’s how my resolution works.  You can use this as a guideline when you set up your own reward system.

REWARD SYSTEM

Classic = $100
Library Book (i.e.  free book) = $50
Book purchased in 2017 = cost of book x2
Review Books* = $25
Personal library + donated after reading = $50
Personal library = $30
Electronic book = $10

[*I am asked to review books by authors and publishers on a regular basis.]

You don’t have to create your own reward system exactly like mine.  Construct your chart based on the type of books you want to read and how much you can afford to save towards whatever your goal is.

I put classics at $100 because they are considered ‘smart’ books, meaning, it takes a little longer to read.  Since one of my resolutions this year is to minimize more, if I donate the book, I’m rewarded a little more than if I keep the book.


Keep track

Finally, keep track of what you read.  Keep a list of the books you’ve read in the form that is easiest for you.

I record my list in my calendar so I can see the date each book was completed.  I also write down the name of the book so that I when I look over my resolutions at the end of the year, I can see what types of books I read for the year.

I also record the name of the books read on a pretty piece of paper…like a library card.  I noticed this in the movie “Mr. Church” and thought that would be a cute idea to keep track of what I’m  reading all in one place.

Also, since I sometimes forget if I’ve read a book before, I keep a notebook of all of the books I’ve ever read.  There have been a few times when I’ll get 3/4 of the way through a book before I realize I’ve read the book before.  I am not one of those that likes to re-read books, because there are so many books out there that need to be read and so little lifetime with which to do it in.


PW’s Reading Challenge: Books Read 2017

For those wanting to follow along with my resolution, here are the books I’ve read.  I will be doing a review of each book on the site and linking to where you can purchase the book at Amazon.  [Note: When review is complete, review link will be live.]

If I am able to interview the author, I’ll also put a link to that interview as well.

So happy reading and good luck.

Currently reading: Silence by Shūsaku Endō and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

    1. Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan.
    2. Lost Horizon by James Hilton.
    3. I am Jim Henson by Brad Meltzer. Review
    4. I am Rosa Parks by Brad Meltzer. Review
    5. I am Helen Keller by Brad Meltzer. Review

Disclosure: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work.




PW Book Club: Anat Talshir’s “About the Night”

About the Night by Anat Talshir
About the Night by Anat Talshir

Hello everyone.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s book club read. I know I did.

This month’s read, “About the Night,” had us diving into a love affair between an Arab and a Jew right before the wall in Jerusalem went up in 1947.  Two newlywed lovers are forced to find ways to secretly see each other, before it is inevitable that they have no choice but to try and move on with their lives behind their respective side of the wall.

Years go by.  One continues to hold a flame for the other, the other decides to move on with life, thinking the other will do the same.  For both, they share a special kind of love.  This is the type of love people search for their entire lives.  It’s the kind of love that carries one through to the end of their life, no matter how long they have to live severed from the other.


Questions.

  1. What did you think of the book?  Did you like it?
  2.  Did you think this story was realistic?  If you found the love of your life and were separated from them, would you wait for them or would you move forward with your life?
  3. Have you met the love of your life?  Could you relate to that special love these two shared?
  4. Did the historical aspect of this story help you to relate to the issues facing Israel today?  Did you get a sense of the racism and cultural differences between Arabs and Jews?  Did it help you to understand the struggles facing an Arab and a Jew falling in love?
  5. Lila is a woman with great strength.  When life handed her lemons, she did the best she could do with them to keep on shining, even when they were tossed at her door.  In her heartbreak, we see Lila rising above to help people, even if it wasn’t the popular opinion of the people in her community.  Did you find her character an inspiration?
  6. Did you think Elias made the right decision after he was beaten by the police?  Could you do the same?
  7. What were some of your favorite quotes in the book?
  8. Would you recommend this book to others?




Feel free to leave your answers below, on GoodReads (see the link to the PW book club on the right), or on the PW Facebook page.

Kindle First July Selection: Midair

Midair

I apologize for the late selection for this month’s Kindle First selection. I celebrated my 40th birthday on July 1st and then went on vacation…just a staycation and a break from everything work related.  But enough about that…about this book.

This month’s selection is “Midair” by Kodi Scheer.

“I had a secret: I wanted to leave the earth in a spectacular fashion. Specifically, by leaping from the Eiffel Tower.” So begins this provocative coming-of-age novel about a teenage girl bent on self-destruction and revenge, set in the City of Light.

It’s the summer of 1999, the end of a millennium. In the mind of Nessa Baxter, a girl from rural Illinois, Paris is the remedy for all of her woes. The death of her beloved brother and the betrayal by her classmate Kat has left Nessa bereft and doubtful about her future. She plans to exact revenge on Kat during their renegade French Club trip. Along with classmates Whitney and Kiran, the four girls embark on a series of misadventures in Paris. As part of her plan, Nessa starts a game of Truth or Dare that spirals out of control.

A suspenseful psychological drama, Midair is the story of a young girl’s descent into darkness and the secrets we keep, even from ourselves.





So far, the reviewers are giving “Midair” 4 stars overall, which is very promising that this will be a good read.

We will have the book club on September 15th.

For those who are new to Kindle First books, Amazon selects 6 books a month before its release to the general public and makes them available to Amazon Prime members for free.  After a month, the book becomes available for sale to the general public.  For Prime members, you get 2.5 months to read the book, 1.5 months for non-Prime members.

You can join the discussion by posting your comments below (or in the book club post thread on September 15th), on the PW Facebook page or in the GoodReads.com book club for The PW…all links are on the side.  You can also sign up for the club by entering your email address in the PW Book Club Sign Up on the right.

Looking forward to chatting about “Midair” with you in September.

We’ll be discussing “About the Night” on Friday, July 15th. I have to say, I enjoyed this book so much, I ended up ordering a physical copy to highlight the beautiful phrases throughout the book.  For those who have read the book, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.


David Duchovny’s “Bucky F*cking Dent”

David Duchovny's "Bucky Fucking Dent"
David Duchovny’s “Bucky F*cking Dent”

Last Monday, David Duchovny discussed his latest novel “Bucky F*cking Dent” at the New World Stages in New York City for Hudson Union Society.

Duchovny spoke about a side of him that most people are not used to…his literary side.  The actor best known as Agent Fox Mulder (The X-Files) and Hank Moody (Californication) received his education from both Princeton and Yale, majoring in Literature.  He didn’t know what he was going to do with his degree, except maybe become a literature professor.

Instead, while at Yale, he became interested in acting.




Now, he’s returning back to his literary side.  For those who are writers, his talk is very inspiring and funny.  For those stuck in a rut, it’s good to know we’re not alone, especially when a critic enters your mind of how you’re not good enough.

Here is the audio from his talk.

I originally was not going to attend this event, but when Hudson Union Society sent me an email saying I could go for free, I decided to go.  You could say that was the universe encouraging me to go.  I had no idea that this would not be a talk about Duchovny’s acting career, but a discussion on being a writer.

The main thing I learned from Duchovny was this…write for yourself.  Don’t write for anyone else.  Just write for yourself.  Tell your story, don’t let others tell your story for you.  You have an opportunity to be the narrator in your story and tell your own tale.

Looking at this site and my novel, I realized that sometimes I let my mind think of what other people want and what they want to read.  I waste so much time trying to figure out what to write for other people that I forget why I write to begin with.

I shouldn’t care what other people want, because I stop being true to myself as a writer.  I have to focus on telling the story I want to tell.  I find that people are more inspired from what I write when it comes from a true place.  People can sense your passion and admiration.  It gets them inspired as well.

Writing from a cold place…one that is reporting and uncaring…I’m not telling those stories anymore.  I am going to remain true to myself as a writer.  Thank you, David Duchovny, for reminding me of who I am.  I am a writer.

For those who are writers, I highly recommend listening to the audio from his talk.


Book Club: Star Sand

Roger Pulvers "Star Sand"
Roger Pulvers “Star Sand”

Sorry for the delay on posting this up. I literally forgot until this morning and had to smack my head for forgetting to check my calendar (and I’d written this down at least 5 times).

Feel free to respond in the comments below or later on this evening on the Facebook page.  I’ve also created a space on Goodreads for all discussion on books at PW.  It will also allow for a chance for everyone to get to know each other, to discover, talk and recommend more books.

Here are some questions for “Star Sand”:

  1. Did you like the book?
  2. Who was your favorite character?
  3. What did you think of the book split up into three parts?
  4. In this day and age, do you think if we were caught up in a war that we could take in and care for an enemy deserter?
  5. Do you think if we were at war, do you think you would be able to live like the people of Hatoma Isle?  Not only did they seem resourceful, but they looked out for each other.  Do you think you could do the same?
  6. Star Sand is named after the type of sand that is found at Hatoma Isle.  Did reading about this little island encourage you to want to visit and gather your own bottles of star sand?
  7. The brother echoed a lot of the war’s propaganda.  This is something you see a lot of in most countries.  What were you thoughts on the brother?  Do you think he was right, keeping strong to what the government said was the right thing to do?  Or do you think holding true to the human side was the right thing to do?
  8. Do you think the sisters knew about the cave and what was going on in there?
  9. What did you think of the ending?

I’ve posted my answers to the above questions at the Goodreads discussion board. You can find the Star Sand discussion here.

Reading Material: What I Read (May Books)

For those who are challenging yourself to read more, I wanted to share with you a few of the books I’ve read this past week.


[usr 3]

1. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.  With the trailers coming out for the new Tim Burton movie, this story looked absolutely fascinating, so I ordered the first three books.  I finished the first one in the series last week.

I will say the first book was a little boring.  I think he spent too much time setting the story up in this first book, so I’m hoping that the next book really gets into the adventure.

I do like what the author is doing as far as these characters are concerned.  Consider the first book the background that lays the groundwork to the adventure.  The second book (so far) is starting the kids off on that journey.


[usr 5]

2.  31 Days to Radically Reduce Your Expenses: Less Stress. More Savings.  As part of a new series I’m starting here, I wanted to do some research and get some new tips on being frugal.  I always like to stay abreast of what people are saying about personal finance and how to be more frugal.  While I incorporate a lot of the author’s tips, I did learn a few things along the way.

I really liked her “Household Wish List” suggestion.  I also tend to splurge during Christmas.  While having a Christmas Savings Account is nothing new, it made me think that it’s not such a bad idea to buy Christmas gifts throughout the year, but also create a savings account for all of those big ticket purchases.

It’s definitely worth a read and FREE to read if you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber.


[usr 5]

3. Six Dollar Family.  What I love about this book is how it got its name.  The author started off with $6 to her name, living in a homeless shelter to now on her way to her first 6-figures.  A lot of her tips are drastic, but I was just so amazed.  I loved how she incorporated her DIY for medicine and toiletries in the book.  She takes the all natural approach to those DIYs, which end up working out so much better than the expensive stuff at the store.

I downloaded all of the apps she suggested + more.  The way I look at life is that you need to bleed every single dollar…make sure you get as much as you can out of every single dollar you spend.  Who knew that I could get double the rewards back if I use the Ibotta app and Checkout 51 to report my shopping receipts?  You didn’t know either?  That’s what I’m saying about this book!

She took being frugal to a whole new level.  I learned so much and even bookmarked her website: Six Dollar Family.

A definite must read for those looking to save money and be even more frugal than you already are.


[usr 5]

4. Resthaven.  I have not put up my review of this book on Amazon.com yet for a reason.  It’s because the detailed review will come from this site first.  I also want to read the other book by Erik Therme before doing an interview with him (yes, that was a teaser).  Note that I gave this book a 5/5 stars.  Why?  I got to the very last sentence of the book, flipped the page and did a “Whaaaaaatttt?”

The next page was the author page.  I flipped back to the last page and re-read the last two lines and did a “Whaaaatttt?”  Then I did an “OMG.  I need the next book!”

Yeah…that’s how good this book was.  I definitely recommend this.  It’s a thriller and mystery all wrapped up into one.  Loved it.


PW’s May Kindle First Book Club Selection

About the Night by Anat Talshir
About the Night by Anat Talshir

The May Amazon Kindle First selection is Anat Talshir’s “About the Night.” Here is a description of the book.

On a hot summer day in 1947, on a grandstand overlooking Jerusalem, Elias and Lila fall deeply, irrevocably in love.

Tragically, they come from two different worlds. Elias is a Christian Arab living on the eastern side of the newly divided city, and Lila is a Jew living on the western side. A growing conflict between their cultures casts a heavy shadow over the region and their burgeoning relationship. Between them lie not only a wall of stone and barbed wire but also the bitter enmity of two nations at war.

Told in the voice of Elias as he looks back upon the long years of his life, About the Night is a timely story of how hope can nourish us, loss can devastate us, and love can carry us beyond the boundaries that hold human beings apart.

For Amazon Prime members, you can get the book now for FREE a month before it is released to the general public.  For those not Amazon Prime members, you can pick up a copy of the book on June 1, 2016.  We’ll be discussing the book on July 15, 2016.

For those who would like to join the discussion, sign up in the PW Book Club email box to the right.  Details will be sent to you as the date draws nearer.

For those who would like to join our next book club discussion, Roger Pulvers’ “Star Sand” will be discussed on June 15, 2016 to give people, that weren’t able to get an early release copy through Amazon’s Kindle First, time to read the book.  Also, if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, the book is a free Kindle Unlimited book.  The Kindle price is $5.99, paperback is $9.91.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them either in the comment section below or on the Facebook page.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

PW’s April Kindle First Book Club Selection

Roger Pulvers "Star Sand"
Roger Pulvers “Star Sand”

This month’s Amazon Prime Kindle First selection for the PW Book Club is Roger Pulvers, “Star Sand.”

This book is a war fiction novel that takes place during World War II. Here’s the Amazon blurb:

In 1958, a diary is found in a cave on the small Japanese island of Hatoma. Alongside it are the remains of three people.

The journal reveals the story of Hiromi, a sixteen-year-old girl who’d grown up in the United States before living in Japan in the midst of World War II. One day, while collecting star sand—tiny star-shaped fossils—Hiromi finds two army deserters hiding in the seaside cavern—one American, one Japanese. The soldiers don’t speak the same language, but they’ve reached an agreement based on a shared hope: to cause no more harm and survive. Hiromi resolves to care for the men—feeding them and nursing their ailments—despite the risk that, if caught, she’ll die alongside them as a traitor. But when a fourth person joins in on their secret, they must face a threat from within. The diary abruptly ends, leaving everyone’s fate a mystery.

Decades later, in 2011, a young female university student decides to finally determine who died in that cave and who lived. Her search will lead her to the lone survivor—and bring closure to a gripping tale of heroism at a time when committing to peace was the most dangerous act of all.

For those that are Amazon Prime subscribers, the Kindle First book is FREE.  For those that are not Prime members, you’ll have to wait until May 1, 2016 to get your copy.  Kindle First is offered exclusively to Amazon Prime members.  Kindle First contains a selection of books picked by Amazon editors and made available one month prior to its release for free to Prime members.

Not an Amazon Prime member?  You can join by clicking on the ad below.

If you’d like to join the Book Club discussion, you can join by entering your email in the box on the right.  Details on the Book Club discussion will be emailed to you later in the month.

For those who are not Amazon Prime members, but would like to join the Book Club, the Book Club will discuss the book on June 15, 2016.  This gives Prime members two and a half months to read the book, and non-Prime members a month and a half to read the book.

If you have any thoughts or questions you’d like to post for the discussion, feel free to leave the question/comment below or on the Facebook page.

Happy reading!




PW’s First Book Club Discussion

the light of the fireflies

For those wanting to participate in this month’s book club discussion for “The Light of the Fireflies,” you can find the discussion HERE.  Feel free to share your thoughts of the book on the Facebook page.

Since this is the first book club, we’re making this open to anyone who’s read the book to comment on the book.  So if you haven’t finished reading it yet, no problem.  It will remain on the PW Facebook page.

Also, you can comment on the book here if you don’t have Facebook.

Here is the original Facebook discussion and my responses to kick the book club off.

“The Light of the Fireflies” by Paul Pen Discussion Thread.

Hello everyone.

My name is Michelle Kenneth and I’ll be moderating our first book club discussion for Paul Pen’s “The Light of the Fireflies.” This is an Amazon Kindle First book, so if you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you get early access to the book before it is released for FREE. On the first day of every month, they release a group of selections that you can choose from.

For March, I selected Paul Pen’s book. I’ll be selecting the next book tomorrow after they release their selections. [In the future, as we get more interest in the Book Club, I’ll let someone else pick out the next month’s selection.]

So on to the discussion…

1) What did you think of the book?

2) Were you shocked by the ending of the book?

3) When they revealed who the father of the child was, were you surprised at this revelation? Did you assume the baby’s father was who the sister claimed the baby’s Father was?

4) What did you think of the real story of how they ended up in the basement and how they attained their burns?

5) As the boy tells the story from his point of view, he knows his brother is just a little off, but never to the extent we see in the back story. Based on what is revealed in the back story, did you imagine that the brother could be dangerous to society?

6) Overall, what were your thoughts on the book? Would you recommend it to your friends/family?

Diary of a Perfectionist Wannabe:  I’ll start the discussion off…

1) Simply put, I did not like the book at all. Generally speaking, the incest involved and the elements of what the brother did to that girl…just not something I would normally read.

2) I was shocked by the ending of the book. I think as a woman, I’m generally concerned for the safety and well being of other women. I assumed the sister was the victim in this, sexually abused by her father. I never imagined she was actually a very bad seed. She was just altogether evil. Did she deserve getting knocked up by her brother? Was that some sort of justice? I don’t think it was. At the end, when she is killed, I thought it was a saving grace for everyone. They were safe from her torment, and she finally escaped her family.

3) I assumed the entire time the father was the father of her child. I never even imagined it was the brother that had knocked her up.

4) I really didn’t like their back story. This family was absolutely crazy. If they had called the police to begin with, they never would have gone into that basement. They never would have received those burns. I’m sure the town would have taken into account that the child had a mental disability. He didn’t report that he had found the girl because he did not know he was supposed to do that. Sure, there may have been villagers talking about how the kid sexually assaulted the girl while she was broken, but they could always move and start over. Why hide the corpse? The boy just didn’t know better. The Sister, she was evil within herself. She would have been better off leaving her family, especially after the way they ‘saved’ the boy the way they did.

The next question is…would you have followed in their footsteps or would you have called the police to save your disabled son?

5) I was very shocked when I read what the Brother did to the girl. It was just difficult to fathom he was a sexual deviant. Then to find out he had sex with his sister…I have to ask how that happened. She seems to fight well for herself. Was she raped? Did he have sex with her while she was asleep? How did he do it? It’s obvious she hates her brother and always has. How was he able to take advantage of her?

If you were in the Sister’s shoes, would you have tried to kill the baby, too? Personally, I don’t even want to think about being in her shoes.

I also could not imagine that the Brother was a danger to society. Part of me thinks that the family just made one too many wrong decisions in an attempt to ‘save’ their favorite son, thus making the situation out worse than it really was. It’s not like the boy killed the girl (or did he)?

6) Overall, I didn’t like the book. I assumed that the reason why they were all in there was because of some nuclear attack or apocalyptic happening…or maybe they wanted to be rid of society that judged them for their appearance after a fire. To find out why they went down into that basement…come on. They were a family of cowards.

Would I recommend this book to anyone? No. Just because it’s not my type of book. A lot of people on GoodReads recommend the book, even though it is very dark.

This book is so haunting it will stick with you for life just because of the disturbing images throughout the book. All throughout the book, I kept wondering how in the world the author came up with this idea.

As we go along and make this a regular book club, we’ll change how the book club is done, so make sure to sign up with your email to join the PW Book Club on the right hand side.  Also, as more people join, I’ll let others pick out the next month’s Amazon Kindle First book on the first of the month.

I’ll be announcing next month’s Kindle First book tomorrow.

For those who don’t know what Kindle First is, you can read more about it HERE.




PW Book Club: March Kindle First Selection

the light of the firefliesThe first official PW Book Club Kindle First selection is “The Light of the Fireflies” by Paul Pen.

Here’s a synopsis of the book from Amazon.com:

A haunting and hopeful tale of discovering light in even the darkest of places.

For his whole life, the boy has lived underground, in a basement with his parents, grandmother, sister, and brother. Before he was born, his family was disfigured by a fire. His sister wears a white mask to cover her burns.

He spends his hours with his cactus, reading his book on insects, or touching the one ray of sunlight that filters in through a crack in the ceiling. Ever since his sister had a baby, everyone’s been acting very strangely. The boy begins to wonder why they never say who the father is, about what happened before his own birth, about why they’re shut away.

A few days ago, some fireflies arrived in the basement. His grandma said, There’s no creature more amazing than one that can make its own light. That light makes the boy want to escape, to know the outside world. Problem is, all the doors are locked. And he doesn’t know how to get out…

For those who are Amazon Prime members, Kindle First books are part of your membership.  You don’t have to pay anything extra.  It’s FREE.

What is Kindle First?  Amazon Prime members can choose one of six books selected by Amazon editors before they are released to the general public.  Even if you don’t finish the book by the end of the month, it’s still yours to keep at no charge (i.e. it’s FREE).

If you are not an Amazon Prime member yet and would like to join in this month with the Book Club selection, you can try the service out for free for the next 30-days.  If you take advantage of all Prime has to offer (books, music, movies, photo storage, free 2-day shipping) and want to continue after the 30-days, you are charged for the year up front (about $110 depending on your state’s tax).  For those who want to cut back on streaming services, Amazon Prime is like Netflix, Dropbox, and iTunes/Google Play Music all wrapped up into one membership.  It figures out to be about $8/month, which is a pretty substantial savings.

For those who want to join the Book Club, we are going to do a LIVE chat at 4PM ET on March 30th.

How can you join the live chat?  Sign up using the email link under PW Book Club on the right hand side.  I’ll email the details and reminder as we get closer to the date.  In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments you want to make while you’re reading, feel free to comment below.

Looking forward to chatting with everyone.  Happy reading!

The Reading Challenge: 52+ Books This Year

The Reading Challenge- 52+ Books This Year
One of the resolutions I make every year is to read 52 books a year.  At the end of last year, as I started following more and more bibliophiles on Instagram, I was shocked to see that some people read over 100 books by the end of the year.  I could never imagine doing that feat.  52 books seemed doable, even though that resolution went to the wayside over these last couple of years.

This year, I wanted to make sure I didn’t just read 52 books, but that I read MORE THAN 52 books this year.

My method of attack is this:

  1.  Read 50+ pages every day.  On the weekends, read 100+ pages.
  2. While you’re at work, walking, doing dishes, getting ready for work, listen to audio books.
  3. Once a month, do a quick read that’s less than 150 pages.
  4. Finish books you started in the past, but never finished.

After seeing all of the different Instagram challenges, I thought I’d do my own to get people to challenge themselves to read more this year.

Here is how the challenge works:

  1. Choose a Reward for Yourself.  Pick out an item that you really want, that you could save for along this journey.  Be it a vacation, a luxury handbag, a pair of obscenely overpriced shoes, a class you’ve always wanted to take…pick something that would be considered a serious treat for yourself.  You should reward yourself for a job well done.  Make sure this is something you’re going to enjoy!
  2. Come up with a pricing system.  This will depend on the price of the item you are saving for and what you can afford.  For instance, I reward myself if I don’t purchase the book.  If it was free, a library book, or a gift, I put away $25 after I’ve completed the book.  If it’s a classic (a more challenging smart book), I reward myself $100.  If it’s a book for Book Club that I purchased, I allow myself $20.  If I purchased the book in order to read it, because I just had to have it, only the retail price listed on the book goes into the reward jar, and the amount I actually paid for the book comes out of the reward jar.  Taking the money out of the reward jar to pay for the book is my way of making sure I don’t spend money on unnecessary purchases.  The only exception to purchasing the book is if it is for the Book Club.  If the book is currently in my personal library, because I am making it a challenge to read what’s actually in my personal library this year, I’m rewarding myself $50 per book completed.That’s the reward system I’ve set up for myself.  As you can see, the books I really want to challenge myself to read more of, I set the prize at a higher price in order to encourage myself to read more of those books.
  3. Keep track of what you read.  I used to keep track in a journal of what I read every year, including the amount I earned.  Now, I keep track in my calendar.  I keep stickers handy so I can place a sticker on the days where I completed a book.  It’s a good way to visually see my progress and if I’m staying on track with a book a week (at the minimum).
  4. Don’t dip into the reward jar until the first day of the year.  I’m speaking from experience here.  You are doing two things for yourself…you are working hard towards a goal and you need to learn to save for the reward at the end of the journey.  It is no fun if you get to the end of the journey and realize there’s no reward money there because you spent it already.For many people (including myself), saving money can be very difficult when we live in a society where we get what we want, when we want it.  We don’t save for the future or save for something we want.  Since I started the KonMari method, I have stopped the consumer cycle.  I was literally overflowing with stuff.  I vowed that if I wanted something new, I would have to save for it using the reading challenge.  I’m not allowed to buy the item now.  I have to work towards earning the right to have that item, so that I would appreciate it more in the end because I would know how hard I worked to earn that item.Keep the money in a safe place.  Keep it safe from yourself (if you think you’re going to dip into the jar).  Earn some interest off the money while you save.  Just keep plugging at that savings and don’t touch it until January 1st.

But It’s March

Ok.  I know I started this challenge for you to join in March.  If you’re a bibliophile, you’ve probably already read at least 10 books this year already, so you are on track.  If you are starting from scratch, we can go at this in 2 different ways.  You can either: 1) fast track (and over the months I’ll tell you how) or 2) do this as a full 52-week challenge, let the challenge run through 2017 and you can access that cash on March 1, 2017.

Whichever method you decide to do, I’ll be helping you along.

For those who are Amazon Prime members, I’ll be making recommendations from the Kindle First collection.  If you choose the same book that month, I’ll have a Book Club sign up where we can discuss the book at the end of the month.  [Amazon Prime members can choose one book each month from the Kindle First collection.  These are books selected by the Amazon editors to read prior to the book’s release date.  If you’re an Amazon Prime member, this is part of your membership, no extra charge.]

For those who need to get their extra books in via audio books, I highly recommend Kindle Unlimited.  It’s around $10/month to access many books on your Kindle device or app.  Just make sure when you select the book to borrow that it says Read and Listen For Free on the tab.  If it doesn’t, you may have to pay extra for the Whispersync/Audible audio recordings.  What about Audible membership?  Audible is $14.95/month and that’s just for one audio book a month.  Kindle Unlimited with Whispersync/Audible allows you to read the book and if you need to put the book down, you can switch it to audio and listen until you can read the book again.  Audible doesn’t allow that.  It’s just the audio book.

The only reason you should have Audible is if you want a book that is not audio available on Kindle Unlimited.  I used Audible for Book Club selections when I was having problems getting back into the swing of reading books again after my surgery.  2016 is actually the first time I’ve actively been reading a lot of books since my surgery in 2013.  I didn’t want to give up Book Club, so I listened to the books until I got comfortable with reading books again.  So if you’re concerned about not being able to read as much, seriously consider audio books.  You can listen to them wherever you go when you can’t pick up the physical book.

The March Challenge

March Books

So here’s the March challenge.  We essentially have five weeks this month.  Your focus is going to read/listen to no less than five books.  Here are the five books I’ll be reading.

    1. Kindle First [TBD]
    2. Book Club Selection – A Confederacy of Dunces (falls into the Classic category)
    3. A book about the Circus – Water for Elephants: A Novel (this book is available with audio for Kindle Unlimited members, remember to look for the ‘Read and Listen for Free’ option)
    4. A short book [TBD]
    5. A book about Time Travel – Time’s Divide (The Chronos Files) (next book in the Chronos Files series, also a Kindle Unlimited book)

Anything beyond five books is a free for all.

For those not in a book club, I highly recommend joining a book club.  You can find these at your local library or bookstore.  It’s a great way for you to meet other bibliophiles such as yourself.  It gives great insight into the book that you may not have even realized while you were reading.  It’s also a good way to meet new people and make new friends.  Books are meant to be shared.

If you don’t want to join a book club, since our book club is reading a classic, you can substitute option #2 with a classic or read what we’re reading.

For the Amazon Prime members that choose the same Kindle First book as I do and want to join in our own book club, please comment below, tweet me (@MichelleDoPW or @MichelleKenneth), ping me on Facebook, or tag me on Instagram (@diaryofaperfectionistwannabe).  I’ll share the additional details in an upcoming post.

For those taking the March Challenge, ping me on social media using the hashtag #PWMarchBooks so that we can all find each other and share what we’re reading this month.  I’ll Repost/Retweet, etc. so we can all connect to each other.

* For those playing catch-up, include a short book of poetry and choose at least 2 books this month that are less than 150 pages.  If you can, try to boost your reading by listening to a couple of audio books.  You can listen to these in the car, at work, while you’re working out, walking, etc.

The Interview: Poetic Author 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.




Mission 40

santorini14September begins a new season for me and this is what I have planned for the site.

Why is September the start of a new season?  

Well, consider it a little like going back to school.  Each new school year is the start of a whole new you.  That’s what I always loved about the fall.  Autumn marked the start of a renewal and a chance to do things differently…actually, better than you did them before.

It means new clothes, new books, new activities, new learning experiences, and a whole new workload.  September marks Fashion Week.  For me, it also marks the start of my hockey season when I go back to covering hockey for Inside Hockey.  The hockey season starts on September 17th for me.  I’ll still have plenty of film screenings and premieres to attend, as well as a few film festivals.  The Metropolitan Opera season also begins for me and I’m starting it off with Turnadot.

September also marks the release of many new books from various publishers.  We’ll be sharing what’s new, as well as have a few special interviews with authors.

Mission 40

I’ve been tinkering with the idea of sharing the new journey I’m on.  I’ve kept it under wraps these last couple of months because I’ve been trying to add some structure and thought into what exactly I wanted to do.  Next year, I turn 40.  With that, I have always had a specific goal in mind for myself of who I wanted to be at 40.

I’ll admit that I’ve laid that goal to the wayside for so many years because I’m a bit of a procrastinator.  I kept thinking, “Oh, next year…I have plenty of time.”  Well, I can’t say that anymore because next year is 40.  Now is the time to get my butt in gear.  I have to start being that person I envisioned myself to be at this age and that’s where Mission 40 comes in.  Mission 40 is a challenge I’ve created for myself to push myself into being the person I’ve always dreamed I would be at this age.

What does Mission 40 entail?  

The number one thing on this list is my overall health.  After dealing with four tumors in this last decade, it’s time to start improving my overall well-being.  Maybe instead of four tumors in this next decade it will be one, or maybe I’ll get lucky and not have another tumor again for the next 30-50 years.  I have the cancer gene, so it is inevitable that I will get another tumor or cancer in some form at some point in my lifetime again.

The goals I am setting with my overall health entail:

  • Exercise
  • Diet
  • Brain Health (i.e. increasing knowledge through learning and brain challenges)
  • Soul Health (i.e. Meditation)
  • Beauty (hair, nails, etc.)
  • Less Stress
  • Overall Happiness
  • Getting more sleep

There are also certain personal goals I’ve set for myself careerwise that I am putting into action as the new season begins.  There are certain bucket list items I’d like to check off, too.  There are so many things I’d like to do over this next year in order to increase my overall happiness in life.  A lot of that has to do with becoming more involved.

I’ve also started working more within the community, working on issues that we face in order to make the community better through service.  I’ve also been getting more involved globally on how to evolve humanity by working towards eliminating many of the problems people face like poverty, war, slavery, and inequality.  It’s time humanity evolved and I’m working to put that into action.

I’ll have a special section set up so that you can follow along with what I’m doing on a day to day basis…a journal, so to speak.

My ultimate goal is to reward myself with a special trip to South America next year to see Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands.  If I can get over my fear of snakes…maybe I’ll take a little trip into the Amazon as well.  All in all, this is the adventure I’m planning for…a little 40th birthday present to myself…a South American adventure.  Before I can do any of that, I want to be in a certain place in my life before I reap the rewards.

For those interested in joining me on my Mission, I’ll explain how you can become more involved with the adventure I’m on so you can construct your own Mission for yourself.

 

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.