Sunday, September 28, 2008

"The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow

"The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
2008, Hyperion
ISBN: 978-1-4013-2325-7

I would imagine it to be a very unusual situation for a person to go through life and not know another human being. Even if you are a stick-in-the mud old grouchy person, somewhere along the way you’re going to have contact with somebody.

It is in this contact, however brief it might be, that we teach and learn from each other.

I just learned a whole lot from Randy Pausch that I know is going to help me in how I live the rest of my own life. I read, “The Last Lecture” which is literally the last lecture Randy gave before he passed away in July, 2008, of pancreatic cancer. I also watched this lecture awhile back on YouTube and have placed it below this review if you’d care to have a look. It’s an hour long. It’s worth every second that you spend watching.

I was so impressed with Randy’s attitude toward life even before he learned he had cancer. I was even more impressed with how he chose to live his life after he received the news that he had 3 to 6 months to live.

I can learn from that attitude. Through reading his book I was made stronger. I am not, by any means, facing the horrible lessons he and his family had to learn, but I do have my own tough moments. I can come through them more easily having seen what he did with his tough lessons. I can.

Getting stuck in a rut is not fun. Many times a person doesn’t even know that they are in a rut. But, if you can have a hero, somebody to emulate, no matter how unrealistic that desire is you have a dream. The dreams of childhood are the dreams that sometimes die, but sometimes those dreams can follow a person into their adulthood. Randy is somebody who, as a respected teacher, a person in a position of responsibility, a grown up, mature and solid citizen said to me, “It’s okay to have a dream from childhood come true.” It’s nice to have somebody on your side and even though I never met Randy Pausch I feel that I know him now.

Seeing as how this is a book review site I want to give ringing praise for, “The Last Lecture”. I also want to say thank you to Randy Pausch for taking the time to share with so many people his own last words.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

“Remembrance” by Jude Deveraux

“Remembrance” by Jude Deveraux
1994, Pocket Books
ISBN: 0-671-74459-3

It’s fascinating to read about Soul Mates. People who aren’t happily married might wonder if they are ever going to meet their soul mate. People who are ecstatically in love with somebody might think they’ve already met their soul mate. People just flat out want to be with that one person who will please them no matter what, who will love them forever and who will be the only person in the world who understands them.

Jude Deveraux has given this wondering a twist in “Remembrance”. It’s a totally fascinating yarn. She examines the issue of Soul Mates in a way I’ve just never considered before. She takes us on a story of two people through lifetimes of involvement with each other and who just can’t seem to get it right.

You can see how the traits of each of the characters in this story; not just the soul mates themselves either, but the folks who surround them carry forward from one lifetime to the next.

It’s heartening to think that you’ve got more than one lifetime to get it right.

This is a hilarious story, it’s a gripping story, it’s a sentimental story, but above all it is a romance that stretches for hundreds of years.

If you like romances and dabbling in New Age stuff do see if you can get a copy of, “Remembrance” at your library or click on the links in this blog entry to get it at Amazon. And, more fun than that you can do your own past life regression and see if you can’t come up with something interesting to think about.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

“The Way of the Coyote” by Elmer Kelton

The Way of the Coyote” by Elmer Kelton
2001, A Forge Book
ISBN: 0-312-87318-2

I’m reading them out of sequence, but this is still terrific. “The Way of the Coyote” is more in the story of Andy Pickard and Rusty Shannon. Andy, once known as Badger Boy when he lived with the Comanche Indians, is growing up. Now, he’s living with Rusty, who rescued him. They are in Texas during the reconstruction after the Civil War in the late 1800’s.

While Andy lived with the Comanche it was considered a good trait to be tricky the way a coyote is tricky. Andy had to bring that way of thinking with him to help out in this story.

A little boy is kidnapped by the Comanche and Andy takes up the quest of rescuing the boy. There’s also trouble for everybody during this time of carpetbaggers who are bedeviling Texans. A pair of low-down brothers take a dislike to Rusty and whichever way he turns there seems to be trouble.

I love the way the story flows; the way Elmer Kelton writes. I’m glad he’s written a number of books because I will be on the lookout for more of them. I’m recommending “The Way of the Coyote” as a terrific read. It is a really good Western.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

“Magic Hour” by Kristin Hannah

Magic Hour” by Kristin Hannah
2006, Ballentine Books
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

I was poking through the library and took a turn down an aisle with the intention of getting Spirit to help me pick out a book to read. It’s no big deal, actually, because I’m a channel and I do things like this all the time. Most times I’ll be in the library and it’s like I’m in the grocery store; I have a craving for chocolate and only a chocolate chip cookie is going to satisfy me and so I know exactly what I want. But, this time I wheeled around the corner of the stacks with the express intention of allowing Spirit to pick the next book out.

Magic Hour” by Kristin Hannah is what caught my eye and right at that point Spirit said to me, “You’ll like this one.” And, I did.

Dr. Julie Cates is a renowned child psychiatrist in Beverly Hills. Right now, though, she is trying to piece together her practice and her life after one of her patients takes a gun to school, kills a number of children and then takes her own life. The court finds her innocent, but the media finds her guilty.

But, she’s lost her confidence and is seriously floundering. Her sister, Ellie, is the city police chief in a tiny Washington state town and needs her to come home as quickly as possible.

A tiny girl has wandered into town from the woods. She can’t talk. She has climbed a tree and there’s just no way anybody can get her to come down.

Julie takes charge and with patience begins to break through Alice’s silence.

You know when you open a book you figure on there being a happy ending? It’s like it’s a rule. I wasn’t too sure about this one. I kept getting closer and closer to the end and read faster and faster knowing in my heart everything was going to turn out right. It was close.

Magic Hour” is a terrific book. You won’t be able to put it down.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

“Sugar Queen” by Sarah Addison Allen

Sugar Queen” by Sarah Addison Allen
2008, Bantam Book
ISBN: 978-0-553-80549-9

Sugar Queen” by Sarah Addison Allen is an enchanting story. Josey lives with her controlling mother in a small ski resort in North Carolina. In the beginning of the story it would seem any hope for a bright future to call her own is not likely. But, slowly strange things begin happening and it is with these strange and magical things that Josey begins to move out of her rut.

She has had a crush on Adam the mailman for ages, but until Della shows up one day to live in Josey’s closet things just didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Josey meets Chloe and they become friends. With Della there to guide things along Josey and Chloe work out the tangled parts of their lives and as with any love story there are several happy endings with this one.

I just can’t give it away, but you won’t be able to put this one down. The ending was one of those O-Henry types where you just didn’t see it coming. You will love it.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

“Shadow Music” by Julie Garwood

Shadow Music” by Julie Garwood
2007, Ballentine Books
ISBN: 98-0-345-50073-1

It took me one day, from afternoon on Saturday to afternoon on Sunday to read “Shadow Music” by Julie Garwood. I’m a glutton sometimes and this was one of those books I just did not want to put down.

You’ve got a princess and you’ve got a bunch of nasty, wicked barons. She’s good. They aren’t. She thinks she’s on her way to be married. It’s in the Highlands of Scotland. She is being escorted by her loyal guard, soldiers who have had the guarding of her since she was a little girl.

They are fierce men, but they love her and would die for her. As they near the end of their journey they happen upon wicked doings. A man is being murdered. Princess Gabrielle cannot stand still to see such wickedness and notches up an arrow and lets it fly. It kills the leader of the pack of men who are busy killing the man. They rescue the man.

Turns out this man is the brother of a clan chieften. He is Colm MacHugh. How the Princess Gabrielle and Colm MacHugh wind up together is the best part of this story.

Very much a sit on the edge of your seat page turner. And, did I mention it’s a really good love story? Yeah…..yum.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

“Hard Eight” by Janet Evanovich

Hard Eight” by Janet Evanovich
2002, St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 0-312-98386-7

I usually wait until I’ve finished reading a book to write a review, but I had to make an exception with this one. “Hard Eight” by Janet Evanovich will leave you in stitches. I still can’t see straight I’ve laughed so hard. I mean the tears were streaming down my face. It’s page 214 where Albert Kloughn, the lawyer, gets stuck in the dryer at the laundromat. His office is next door and people are always coming over to ask him for quarters and to fix the machines when they break down.

Hard Eight” is about Stephanie Plum who is a bounty hunter. Her family lives in a little house that sits beside another little house in New Jersey. It’s the neighbor lady who is in trouble. Actually, she’s worried about her daughter and her granddaughter. That’s where the story takes off. So, it’s not so much a bounty that Stephanie is working on, but a mystery.

And, as always, Stephanie is a trouble magnet. There’s another part that I had a hard time not making noise with and that’s where the annoying and abusive husband gets sawed in half and put back together again with duct tape.

So, even though I can’t tell you how the book ends up, not like I’d want to do that anyway, because that would spoil things if you were to read this one for yourself, I really, honestly don’t know how this story is going to end. And, I can’t wait to finish it. I think you’ll enjoy it too.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

“Chopping Spree” by Diane Mott Davidson

Chopping Spree” by Diane Mott Davidson
July, 2002, A Bantam Book
ISBN: 0-553-10730-5

Chopping Spree” by Diane Mott Davidson is a neat mystery with a twist. Goldy Schultz is a caterer. She’s really good at it and is in high demand from all sorts of groups who want her to cater their dinners and functions. The problem is that she also has a tendency to get herself involved in the middle of mysteries. And, the only way she knows to get out of them is to solve them.

This places her in danger and nothing less than that happens in “Chopping Spree”. Her husband Tom is a detective on the police force and is moral support to her and also an inside line of important and helpful information when he can share stuff with her. He worries about her, though.

You know what the absolute best part about these books Diane writes are? It’s the recipes. Goldy caters a dinner and the menu is there in the book, they talk about the food that is prepared and you, the reader, get to see the recipe too! Talk about a double espresso latte.

In “Chopping Spree” an old friend, fond of riddles, tries to tell Goldy something that is bothering him, a problem he is having, and before he can talk to her he is killed. The story is Goldy finding out what happened and putting the bad guys where they belong.

Caught Dead in Wyoming - Sign Off by Patricia McLinn  It has been a long time, looks like five years, since I've written anything fo...