Beyond Recall

Beyond Recall By; Stephen Klye-Reveiwed By;Deanna
Artemis is Goddess of the hunt, Protector of children..
and a hideous disease that suddenly strikes three continents,causing fever, convulsions, unstoppable bleeding, anhd 100 percent fatality in hours. A jungle nightmare like Marburg or Ebola, except for two things: Artemis isn't natural, it's an ungodly bioweapon aimed at America. And it kills only women.
But Artemis was created by a woman, Nobel Prize winning Dr.Rachel Lesage, for the one reason that the U.S. government can't understand. To save humanity.
Because another global catastrophe is looming, one the superpowers have ingnored. Now, with implacable logic, Rachel Lesage is about to stop Armageddon-by unleashing the Apocalypse.
The story is fictional but, with a storyline of truth behind it.Our world is heading into all kinds of problems for the furture.People only see yesterday,today,and one day ahead.Not many people think about what can happen is 20 years or 30 years.Instaed of trying to fix a small problem .They will wait until it is a huge problem then try and fix-it.Could it be to late.In the story the government will not render to terrorist threat.Which I could understand because then they will let terrorist make the rules.All the terrorist wanted was a couple of million to Educate three world countries and other countries about overpopulation and birth control.The government was right about not given into the terrorist threat.But they spent millions on finding and taking down the terrorists.If they had the money to use on terrorist threat Why could they not spend some money on an educational program for birth control.All they care about was who had control.If we are the richest country why cann't we spend some money on the problems when they arise before,they are huge problem?This book made me think about the problems that are ahead of us and furture generations.
Maybe I put to must throught into the book?

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters, by Mark Dunn

I truly loved this book. But it isn't for everyone. You need to enjoy words and wordplay. It's a very cleverly conceived and written book about a fictional present-day autonomous island nation off the coast of North Carolina. This society, called Nollop, honors native son Nevin Nollop, the author of "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," which, if you're a typist, you know like the back of your quickly moving fingers. This is an epistolary novel, which means the story takes place in the form of letters, mainly between two teenage cousins, Ella and Tassie. Their language usage quaintly sounds like one of an early century. Their society eschews modern technology, like telephones and computers, so they communicate via written letters delivered by boys on horses.

When, in the main town square, the tiled letters start falling off the statue of their great hero, Nollop, their governing council believes it's a sign from his spirit that they should learn to live without those letters, and they ban everyone from speaking, writing, or reading those letters. As more and more tiles fall off, it gets more and more difficult to communicate. The author is able to brilliantly write each chapter eliminating another letter or more, with great skill.

The government metes out drastic punishment for the use of the forbidden letters, and the situation gets more and more serious, though the tone of the correspondence exchanged remains sarcasticly humorous. This book is a satire on the powers of government, but also makes you realize the power of words on our lives. I read this book very quickly, wondering how it would all end for dear Ella and Tassie, and the good citizens of Nollop.

If you enjoy wordplay and a clever story, by all means, read this book!

Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale

Having greatly enjoyed the movie of the same name, I thought it would be interesting to read this autobiographical memoir of Frank Abagnale's years on the run from the law. However, while truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, the fictionalized account that Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks brought to life in the film adaptation was much more entertaining and intriguing, and certainly more deserving of the title Catch Me If You Can.

If you've seen the movie, you'll recognize the main plot. Frank runs away from home at the tender age of 16 after his parents divorce and poses as a Pan Am pilot to earn free flights and, more importantly, make his fraudulent checks seem more believable. Additionally, the book delves more deeply into Frank's so called "addiction" to the ladies, often stewardesses. He does settle down at times, posing as a doctor, a lawyer, and a sociology professor, all through the use of faked credentials. It is interesting to see exactly how he accomplished all this (and there were a few close calls), though he does repeat himself at times.

Unfortunately, what's missing from the book is the best part of the movie, namely, the other side. The FBI is mentioned regularly, but we don't get to see what they're doing to try to catch Frank. There are no Christmas phone calls or, really, any major interactions between FBI agent O'Reilly and young Frank until the afterward. While there is still some excitement in the chase (yes, he really did escape custody through an airplane toilet), it mostly comes from close calls and self-imposed ethical conflicts on Frank's part.

The book was originally published in 1980, and, obviously, airport security is much more stringent now. Additionally, the fear of identity theft has become more mainstream in the last decade. In an "interview with the author" after the epilogue, some of these points are addressed, but the big picture is left incomplete. I am unsure if security issues prohibited Mr. Abagnale from delving into more detail in terms of check security measures he helped create, or if it was merely a case of him creating them after the original publication. Either way, the book still stands without it, but it would be much more powerful and relevant with it.

In my opinion, while not an awful book by any means, I suggest that you save your money and just rent the movie instead. Keep in mind that it's only about 80% true, but that other 20% really ties the plot together and provides at least 50% of the entertainment. Rating: 3/5.

Sky Dancer, by Witi Ihimaera

So, this is the first review I've written in a number of years - please forgive me if it's a little disjointed and/or incomprehensible... (but also point it out, so I can hopefully improve going forward!)

Witi Ihimaera is a well-known NZ author; outside of New Zealand, he's probably best known as the author of Whale Rider, made into a film a few years back. He's also one of my favourite NZ authors, although he writes of a world I never saw any more than glimpses of, growing up. I think perhaps that's a lot of what fascinates me; how there could be this whole entire world existing right alongside ours, all the time, and yet all we ever saw were displaced edges, thrust into classrooms and learnt by rote, or glimpsed in passing but never understood. I think probably this sort of thing occurs wherever you have one culture alongside another; even as some merging occurs, some deeper parts just never seem to transfer over.

Sky Dancer is an interweaving of the mythic and the prosaic; on the one thread, we have a portion of the Maori creation myths, where the god Tane opens the gates of Heaven for the birds to claim the land and the sea; and on the other thread, a young woman in modern day NZ fleeing with her mother to small-town Tuapa, trying to escape her mother's problems.

The threads cross in a prophecy written in the Great Book of Birds, and handed down from mother to daughter amonst the handmaidens of Tane: that in the third year of the second millennium as it is counted by Man, Armageddon will come; the sky will open, and birds of the future will stream through to fight once again the Great Battle where the seabirds, the manu moana, will challenge for dominion over the land birds, the manu whenua. However all is not hopeless; as well as this second chance granted to the seabirds, Tane will send to the landbirds a chick to assist in the battle - the young woman, Skylark O'Shea. Who, as it turns out, is contrary, antagonistic, and doesn't believe a word of any of this...

Sky Dancer is the story of how the first battle between birds, but mostly of the second; of how it came to be that it was to be fought at all; of how a reluctant Skylark was dragged along to help fight a battle she didn't believe was anything more than a myth, helped along by an assortment of characters across the length of the country, and hounded by seabirds at every step.

It's not Ihimaera's best book, but it's far from bad. The plot falters here and there - gets a little too caught up in intermissions, and a little too preachy here and there - but overall, it's a good read; and if you like discovering myths and cultures of other cultures, then it's a very good book for this. Don't be put off by the fact that the story switches between human and bird characters - my father, who scorns fantasy of any kind and will usually run a mile if there's any hint of fantastical elements, thoroughly enjoyed this book. (Moreso than I did, I think, and I *do* love fantasy).

Anyway, to conclude; I enjoyed this book. It's a good story, well written, and a very good introduction to some Maori myth, although you'll probably need to watch out for where the actual myths end and the storytelling begins...

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Destined to become a modern classic, Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner is half a coming-of-age tale about a young boy looking for his father's acceptance and half a novel about atonement and cultural conflict. As a young boy growing up in Afghanistan in the seventies, Amir is a disappointment to his father. His mother died giving birth to him, and there is a mild undercurrent of resentment on his father's part because of this. Amir is a sensitive and creative lad, scholarly rather than athletic, and pacifist rather than assertive. His one true friend is Hassan, the son of his father's servant. The relationship between Amir and Hassan is deep and complicated; while Amir truly loves Hassan, he is also ashamed to be with him in public because Hassan is illiterate, an ethnic minority, and deformed with a harelip.

The turning point of the novel comes with the region's annual kite fighting competition. In kite fighting, the goal is to fly your kite so that your string cuts your competitor's string, with the last kite flying as the winner. The children act as "kite runners," who go and retrieve the broken kites. Amir enters the competition with Hassan as his runner. When Hassan does not return from running a kite, Amir goes to look for him and finds Hassan being assaulted by several boys in an alley. Rather than fighting for his friend, Amir simply watches unseen. Hassan is ashamed from the assault while Amir is ashamed for doing nothing; as a result, the two drift apart and are eventually separated after Hassan is accused of stealing.

In the second half of the novel, Amir is living in the United States with his father when he gets a phone call from an old friend of his father's in Afghanistan. He tells Amir to return to Afghanistan right away, as he is very sick and needs Amir's help very badly to do something. Amir leaves his wife to go see what his father's friend wants and is told a startling secret. The revelation of this secret drives the plot for the rest of the book, and, while the ending may not be "happy", it is hopeful.

The writing style of the book is supurb and has the feel of a memoir even though it is completely fiction. As I said above, this book will definitely make its way into the English canon because of the many profound themes it contains. The twists are well-plotted and logical, but not obvious. This is one of those books where you think back to what happened earlier and go, "Oh, that's why he said it that way." There's plenty of action to keep readers engaged and aware that the plot is moving. Issues of abandonment and culture are present throughout the book and connect the many plot points.

There are parts of the book that are violent and graphic, but never simply for shock value. If you are a reader of serious fiction, you will not be disappointed by this book. Rating: 4.5/5

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

I loved this Book! Ms. Russell manages to combine Jesuits, interstellar travel, child prostitution, artificial intelligence and soul searching in an extraordinary combination that left me feeling as if I knew most of these character intimately. I was not only enthralled with these people, I wished I could meet them! The novel moves between the year 2016 when this odd assortment of people meet, become friends and prepare for an other worldly journey and 2060 where we learn the results of this mission to Rakhat. As unlikely as this all seems, it is a wonderful coalescence of adventure, mystery, spirituality and friendship!
I was supposed to review The Children of God the sequel to this, but I figured I would post this first. I also read her Thread of Grace, a very different type of writing than this but equally wonderful.

The Poison wood Bible

by Barbara Kingsolver

Gather your courage and step in to the deep dark jungles of the Congo following the footsteps of the Poison wood preacher and his five wives. The story starts out in the year 1959 with a Baptist Minster and his family headed for the Congo jungle to bring the light of Jesus into the darkness that dwells in the deep the African heart. We meet Brother Price, his wife Orleanna, and four daughters Rachel, Adeh, Leah and Ruth as they are preparing for the trip over to Kilanga to spend a year as missionaries. Once there they discover that their journey will not end with only a year but will extend over a life time as the jungle takes root into their souls. This story is a well crafted combination of the characters journey through life and the turbulent history of the Congo all told in a rich vibrant manner that allows you to hear, see, touch and smell Africa through all the eyes of the family. Each chapter is told in the insightful view of each character by rotating through Orleanna, Rachel, Adeh, Leah and Ruth's personal perspectives of what is occurring at the moment.

The author carefully crafted her characters with unique personalities which causes you to love and hate them at the same time. They become inextricably human as the book progress causing you to feel the joys and sadness each one experiences. You can't help but feel the pull of the jungle and the strife it's people face on a daily basis to survive.

I wish I could put in better words the way this book affected me. It got under my skin and has left me with a warm glow. I highly recommend this book for TBR pile.

reviewed by Tesse aka blissful2beme

Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman

Is religious faith a journey of discovery for you rather then a destination? Does your religious experience feel like home rather then a prison so all are welcome? Is the following joke funny or in bad taste?

A man falls over the edge of a cliff. Hurtling down he manages to grasp a tree branch and whilst not religious, he shouts for God to give a helping hand. To his shock a voice from the heavens says ' I shall put out My hand to help thee. I shall hold thee securely. Just let go and trust in me' The man is silent, overwhelmed by the Voice and its message. Looking down, in a small voice he whispers, 'Is there anyone else up there?


If your answers are along the lines of ...Satin get behind me... then best not to read either this review or the book. Because you are about to deal with a detailed argument that the New Testament for example is not the inerrant word of God but a human document created by people trying to live and practice conflicting views of what Christianity meant over 350 years. Christianity in becoming the state religion leads to an Orthodoxy in the form of the Nicene creed and the final victory of one of the many Christian sects. The others are suppressed and their books burned, the Pagan temples are destroyed and anti-Semitism becomes part of popular culture. The diversity of the Christian voices lost is explored by Bart D. Ehrman in his book, Lost Christianities. Charles Freeman explores the impact of the Constantine Christian church in The Closing of the Western Mind.

Misquoting Jesus explores a more simple issue of Textual criticism and the attempt to find the original or more realistically the oldest copy. The challenge is that the written document gets changed as it is transmitted over time given changing medium and tools as much as these wider political and theological struggles. Bart D. Ehrman reveals why these issues shaped his personal journey from being a Christian that saw Billy Graham as a dangerous liberal. He was at university struggling to explain why the Mark reference of 1 SAM.21:2-6 was not wrong. Having written a very complex argument to show it was not a mistake, he gave the paper in and it was given back with the comment, "'maybe Mark just made a mistake'. This opened the floodgates for him to look at explaining the other mistakes and so re-framing what the Bible and his faith was.

The book explores the simple oddity that Christianity with the exception of Judaism was the only book based faith of the period yet 97% more of early Christians were illiterate. Any books and writings were copied from church to church by amateur scribes barely literature themselves. It took most of the 350 years for an agreed cannon to emerge so again hit and miss what versions survived( Virtually most of the complete documents only go back to the 4th century with fragments going back to the 2nd century. These complete older copies themselves did not get rediscovered until 200 odd years after the bible and the King James version was printed based on incomplete and inaccurate manuscripts).

What got copied over the medieval period was more accurate because of professional scribes but textual critics can trace whole families of texts where the same mistakes are transmitted. Bart D. Ehrman explores the tricks of the trade of how texts get judged as accurate. The primary rule appears to be the harder the reading the more likely to be accurate. By this he means that scribes tended to simplify and harmonise texts that appear to be at odds to "common sense" or with what ever theology was dominate at the time.

The issue of textural accuracy began to become a serious political and theological issue as the Bible was translated into local languages as part of the growth of Protestantism. John Mill in 1707 brought the issue out in to the open by showing that 30, 000 variant readings(to day this is known to be 200,000 mostly spelling mistakes, slip of the pen , missed words etc buts its the theological editing and missed/added key sections that Bart D. Ehrman concentrates in in the book) This caused and in some way still causes a major problem for Protestants. If your faith is based in the authority of the Bible as the word of God then it not being accurate undermines that authority as the Catholics were eager to point out. They preferred the justification for authority being based on the church and Pope. Protestants reacted by either denying the existence of mistakes or accepted that the Bible was substantially accurate but seeking for originals or older more accurate versions would not do any harm.

Another reaction older then the textual criticism discussed is associated with Christian groups such as Quakers. Here the issue is that the Bible is not a closed revelation but a living and dynamic one based on a personal relationship's with God and that experience leading to convincement and changes in the world. John Wolman for example, guided Quakers to oppose slavery although the Bible accepts slavery as normal, the issue being how to treat them.

After discussing the mechanics of how the text get altered Bart D. Ehrman explores the complex theological battles of the early days that affected the text. For example those Christians who saw Jesus as Human only, those that saw him as human but adopted by God, those that saw him as divine only etc. The other battle was with the role of woman who had a powerful presence in the early church and the texts reflected the battle to suppress them. A third battle was with Pagans and Jews which he shows how they left their mark on the texts

In these chapters, he also explores the wider issues of who wrote what for what theological purpose. Mark written for the early more Jewish Christians who favoured Jesus as human whist John written with the more sophisticated pagan criticism in mind that Jesus as God would not show human emotions. These ideas and that the New Testament is not a literal history but a series of meditations in line with a liturgical timetable is explored further in Rescuing the bible from Fundamentalism by John Shelby Spong.

As you can see lots of big issues but the book is simple and clear and you can come to it fresh or experienced and still learn. I strongly recommend it. You faith may be changed or challenged but

recognise and accept that there is another dimension to life than that what is obvious to us. Live with obstacles, doubt and paradox, knowing, that God is always present in the world.

The Alchemist's Daughter by Katharine McMahon

The girl followed the Alchemist from the time she was a child, her only wish was to please him and make him proud. She studied, she learned, she could speak and read several languages. She knew the Latin names of all the plants, trees and animals on the estate. She knew the properties of water and fire. She was Emilie Selden, the Alchemist’s daughter. He wrote of her each night in the Emilie Notebooks. She was his most interesting experiment, his crowning achievement and he loved her dearly. Her mother was a mystery to her. Her only inheritance from her mother, a bit of ribbon and the stark, isolated room in one of the unused portions of the manor. The region of England they lived in was very isolated and she was so naïve. Falling in love too easily, giving herself too freely, she found herself with child by a man she loved. His power over her was sensual and easily bought. Her father turned her away, banishing Emilie, her husband and her future child from Selden. She traveled to London where she strived to be the great lady her husband wished her to be. She loved him, trusted him, and was betrayed. The story is of her journey from childhood to woman she was to become. This is not the sort of book I usually read. To be honest, I saw it more as a high level romance novel. Though I enjoyed it, it didn’t grab me and hold my attention like I thought it would. The blurb on the back cover talked of how she and her father were attempting to breathe live into dead matter. That was the story line that caught my attention. It was a great disappointment to me that so little of the book was actually about the experiment unless you see it in the symbolic sense.

Reviewed by Kathy
http://www.bookmooch.com/m/inventory/kathyb

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

Arthur & George is an masterful novel based on the true story of two fascinating people and actual events that occurred in Britan. It is hard to describe this book without being a plot spoiler! Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes investigates a criminal case, that appears to be a gross miscarriage of justice, centering around George Edalji. George is the somewhat naive son of a Parsee vicar of a small English church and a Scottish mother. George has no friends, he is shy, quiet and reserved, and is quite a study in contrast to the ever popular Arthur. Barnes unveils the history of these two characters in short staccato bursts, revealing each character's boyhood, development and eventual occupation, until finally their lives overlap. It is not only a story of victimization, it is a story of love, loss and what it means to be different - even if you don't believe you are - in an often cruel world. Surprisingly, it was George I admired more, when all was said and done. His quiet stoicism is often the metal which gets us all through life. Arthur & George is a great read, although the beginning chapters were making me slightly dizzy from the machine gun pace of developing their characters, eventually it slows down and becomes so engrossing that you have to continue to turn each page. I highly recommend it. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Julian Barnes is a great storyteller, I will be adding his other works to my wishlist.


abe books author interview: http://www.abebooks.co.uk/docs/authors-corner/julian-barnes.shtml
Julian Barnes other books include, Flaubert's Parrot and England, England, both of which have also been nominated for the Booker Prize.


Mary Jones
aka tobiejonzarelli
Bookmooch inventory
Bookmooch wishlist
Librarything catalog
Random 'Novel' Thoughts

Cooking Up Murder by;Miranda Bliss- Reveiwed by;Deanna

Annie and Eve are best of friends.When Annie has trouble getting over her ex-husband who has left over a year ago to be with a dry cleaner girl.Eve comes up with a way to get Annie out and to meet new people or maybe a new guy.Maybe at the same time Annie can brush up on her kitchen skill at the same time.Eve's idea is to sign them up for cooking classes.

Annie was not to sure about the cooking class as she know she can not even boil water without almost burned down the house.She said o.k. to the class to keep Eve happy.She know going with Eve to meet someone new was out of the question.Eve was the gorgerous one.She walks into the room and all eyes would be on her.Annie is an average looking woman who can not cook to save her life.

First night at cooking class she meet the teacher with a scottish accent named Jim.She think is hot but knew she was out of his league.Guys like him aways go for the model types like Eve.Has they are leave and go home Eve remembers she left her watch at the cooking class.All Annie was think about seeing Jim again at the school.When they return to the school they saw agruement between a student for the class and a guy in the alleyway.

As they where leaving the building they heard noises from the alleyway,so they what to see what the noise was.The guy who was agruing earlier laying on the ground dying.By the time help came he was gone.They decided to undercover what take place in the alleyway and a murderer.

The only danger they throught they would encounter was Annies cooking.Maybe this class is cooking up more then a full-course gourmet meal.Maybe this one time Annie will win a heart of a man who she throught to be out of her league.The story has a little of everything.Mystery,love,hero,and alot of gourmet spice and some salt to add to the wounds.There is definitely more things cooking in the class then food.

Dark Demon by Christine Feehan

In a land where vampires and demons lurk below the surface of society, unknown to most humans, there is one woman who has fought them all her life. Natayla, part Carpathian, part Human, part Mage, has been alone for almost a full century since the loss of her twin brother to the hands of a Hunter - her mortal enemy. Stalked to the end of the earth by her enemies; she finds her self drawn to the hills of the Carpathian Mountains in search of something unknown calling out to her. Her journey is fraught with danger from all sides from humans and monsters with no one to call friend she is forced to accept the help of a stranger, Vikirnoff. In the heat of a battle. Natayla finds herself indebted to Vikirnoff and must care for him as he was gravely wounded while protecting her against the demons who seek her life. They discover they have a bond that reaches far back in time but Natayla won't have any of it as she will take orders from no one and Vikirnoff just wants a woman who will obey him. But Vikinrnoff has a secret which will destroy their blooming love...he is a hunter... and she is his prey.

This is a pretty good paranormal love story about vampires, demons and slayers. The two main characters are pleasant enough. I liked Natayla as a character and felt she could have had a bit more fleshing out on her past but I suspect that is being held for another book since the ending kind of just left it open. Vikirnoff is a typical alpha male.. all about being the man. I was disappointed in the ending since it felt a bit rushed. Plently of action all though out the book, one moment in a huge battle the next in each other arms happily making out. The side characters really didn't get fleshed out much. I really felt that the writer could have given more information on their pasts or personalities but it was more of Hi, I am so-so, I am with so-so, and that is all you get to know. I will admit I do not read many romance novels so this might be in the norm for them. I just normally expect to get to know the supporting cast a bit more. I think the story line has the makings of several more books to come.

Over all it was an enjoyable book to read. I do not regret reading it and would recommend it to my friends.

edit: Ha! I should have done a bit more research on the series. This book is actually the 16th book in the series. The supporting cast are featured in the previous books so if you want a long series to read.. this is it. Here is a website that you can get more info on the series

Click here to mooch this book:
Paperback
Hard Back

Reviewed by Tesse
BookMooch Inventory
Librarything

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

You are a decent sort of person, respect the neighbours, keep on the right side of the law. But if you could die in the next few days as you flee your home, possessions and community what then? Could you keep decent, fair minded and above board? These are questions that Irene Nemirovsky explores.

In the first section, Storm in June she explores the impact of the fall of Paris in June 1940 falls and like a pebble falling into a pool we follow how this affects the life of various families and individuals. The Pericand's are an upper middle class family who flee and in the course of the flight the two sons, Hubert and Phillipe discover to fateful costs the depth of their political or religious pretensions. In Gabriel Corte the emptiness and selfishness of many intellectuals is explored and exposed. Or with other characters how the ordinary working class people were mistreated and trampled over.

This is not a history book but a moving story where we dip in and out of peoples lives as they deal with extraordinary events. In the second section, Dolce she explores how French and German lives interweave with each other in a small village two years after the invasion. Some of these characters and events have been touched on in the first section of the book but both sides have virtues and flaws. The writing and tone is superb and runs in the French naturalism tradition(think Zola).

Given the humanity of the writing and the story, its deepens the tragedy that she had escaped the death camps of the Russian Revolution only to die in Auschwitz. These fragments of a planned 5 part novel survived as her young children grabbed the diary as a memento of their mother whilst fleeing and hiding amongst relatives and friends. Their father also being snatched and dying in Auschwitz, a few months after their mother. The daughters found it too painful to read and so didn't discover until the 90's that the small bearable print was in fact the two sections of this novel.

Weep for what may have been and enjoy what we have. Highly recommended even for the fellows.

Book Review: Self-Made Man by Norah Vincent

Self-Made Man is a look at what it’s like to be a man, written by a woman who successfully disguised herself and lived as a male for 18 months. The author, Norah Vincent, a writer for The Los Angeles Times, says she undertook this experiment out of curiosity for the differences between men and women, not from any deep feelings of being a man trapped in a woman’s body.

The various chapters in the book address different aspects of our lives—life, love, work, etc. Her male alter-ego, Ned Vincent, joins a men’s bowling league, lives in a monastery for a few months, goes on dates with women, visits strip clubs where “he” endures lap dances, and joins a men’s psychotherapy group.

The author is a lesbian who, from her earliest memories, has been perceived as a rather “masculine” female. Ironically, once she became “Ned,” most people assumed she was a gay man because she came off as being feminine, which really surprised her. At some point in most of her relationships with the people she met, she eventually revealed herself to be a woman. The reactions of the people are varied, and quite interesting.

The stress of having to pretend to be someone she wasn’t, for so long, and lying to people with whom she’d developed close friendships, eventually took its toll on her mental health, which she explains toward the end of the book. After reading the book, I listened to an interview with her on www.npr.org, which was a nice follow-up to the book.

I found her experiences fascinating and very enlightening, though sometimes she went on a bit too long with her analyses of our gender differences. After finishing this book, I wanted to explore gender differences even more, so I am now reading Deborah Tannen’s Talking From 9 to 5, about men and women communicating in the workplace.

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

While it didn't touch me the way in which The Notebook did, Dear John remains an engaging and moving story. John Tyree is a young man who comes across as a bit rough around the edges. After realising his life is heading nowhere fast, he joins the army in an attempt to get back on track. It is while he is back home on leave visiting his father than he meets Savannah and falls in love. These two characters are total opposites in both personality and life experience but their connection is still convincing. John returns to the army to finish his tour, promising Savannah that he won't re-enlist when his time is up. But then 9/11 happens, everything changes and John makes the decision to re-enlist. It's no surprise given the title of the book, that John is soon the recipient of the famed "Dear John" letter. (If you aren't familiar with the concept of the "Dear John" letter, it is the generic term used to refer to a letter which a woman writes to her partner while he is away, originally while at a battle front, in order to break things off.) Despite the title making it obvious from the outset that their relationship is doomed, there are still plenty of revelations throughout the story to surprise the reader and keep you thoroughly engaged. The character Savannah did tend to annoy me somewhat simply because she seemed too good to be true. I found the ending to be a tad farfetched but at the same time I don't think any other ending would have been any more believable. Dear John is a love story but I believe that John's character is what sets this story apart. There is a gritty rawness to him that lends itself to the narrative and perfectly counteracts "golden girl" Savannah. Because it is John that narrates the story, the sugar sweetness of Savannah is a little more palatable. There is a sadness and a sense of melancholy that pervades this text but it isn't a dark tale despite several potentially depressing themes being dealt with, 9/11 being just one. I did enjoy the book very much, it wasn't The Notebook by any means but Dear John endeared itself to me all the same.

Bri

The Suspect by;John Lescroart (reveiwed by;Deanna)

Dr.Caryn Dryden is found floating dead in her hot tub.Is it an accident or murder?The only suspect is the husband who has an iffy alibi.Gina Roake,a partner in Dismas Hardy's firm,is eager to take on such a high-profile case,especially when the client's innocence seems so easy.The police refuse to look elsewhere for a suspect because 99.9 times it is the husband.Gina reveals they are a few who may gain for the death of the doctor.Even the daughter can gain freedom from her mothers grip.The story is more focused on the husband.It is not a bad read.The story could have spread a little more time on other suspects and characters.The suspect is know other then ..........Read the book and you will find out.

Cupcake

by Rachel Cohn

Defiantly not a book on cooking! Let's join our heroine CC as she embarks on the road to adult hood. Fresh from high school CC decides to chase her dreams and move to Manhattan to live with her brother. Only problem is that it is harder to let go of her first love then she imagined. CC learns that life isn't what you dream it to be but what you make it to be. Along the way she discovers her true family in life and what it means to truly be yourself.

I will admit at first I wasn't very enthusiastic about reading this book. The first couple chapters were very hard to follow because the main character, CC was very adolescent in her views and vocabulary, almost like the writer was trying too hard to make her seem like a 18 year old. As the pages turn and you learned more of the characters it became clearer that the writing was not forced but intentional in order for you to see CC's growth as a person and how she was maturing in thought and personality; which made the book more rich and enjoyable.

I enjoyed the odd characters like Max and Mold; whom I would imagine to be actual people living in a town like New York. I couldn't help become attached to the characters and feel the love, happiness and sadness as life took it's hold on all of them. The book ended well and I got a good happy feeling out of my experiences with it. So I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes "journey of life" stories.

Click here to add this book to your wishlist on Bookmooch.

Tesse
BookMooch Inventory
Librarything

PS... I know this wasn't on my list but I couldn't find my other book I listed as a choice so I just grabbed this one off my pile. I will find the original book and read it too.. :)

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture

by Ariel Levy

This book is amazing... I think the author summed it up when she said:

"This is not a book about the sex industry; it is a book about what we have decided the sex industry means....how we held it up, cleaned it off, and distorted it." (Ariel Levy, excerpt from book page 198)

What is feminism to you? How does it equate to our existence as a woman? Why do we strive so hard to be "manly" in our daily activities? How did sexuality become feminism? When did Porn Stars become the Cool Role Models? Why are our kids driven to look sexually "hot", when half of them don't know what sex is all about?

All these questions are looked at in this witty book written by Ariel Levy. She takes the reader inside behind the scenes to talk to the people who are putting out the images we are all striving to be like. You get a view into the inner sanctums of playboy, girls gone wild, CAKE, old school feminist,Strippers, Porn Stars, Teenagers, Lesbians and much much more. If you think you know feminism and how it equates into a woman's sexuality or just curious about it all, this book is a must read for you.


I have to admit, I have never been stopped and asked by so many strangers "what is that book about" as I have been with this one. It is guaranteed to cause a sensation just from the cover alone. I loved the witty tone it had as the author explained some of the really absurd norms we have these days. I found each chapter a pleasure to read and Ariel posed a tons of questions which set me to pondering the reason behind all the madness these days. One question she did not really address is "why is this happening". We see a big jump from conservative feminism to raunchy feminism; she show a great picture of what it was and what it is now but no history on the between time; how we changed over to what it is. I enjoyed the section she had on the teenage girls and was pleased to see a section from a boys perspective. What the male interviewee said made a lot of sense. As I read the statements from the women who were interviewed I couldn't help but wonder why they needed to be so "manly" in their behaviors, why do they feel they need this trade off. I found the book to be a very informative book and will recommend it to many of my friends.

Click here to add it to your wish list at bookmooch.

Tesse
BookMooch Inventory
Librarything

The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai by John Tayman

John Tayman, has marvelously succeeded in this sweeping history of the exiles of Molokai. It bears tragic witness to the banishment of the victims of Hansen's disease to a hostile isolated island beginning in 1866 with twelve men and women and one stowaway child and continuing for over a century. Along the way we are confronted with legislative debates such as, "Is it a crime to be afflicted with leprosy?" and although the necessary answer is no, it is a disease, in actual fact these people were treated as criminals. They were rounded up and forcibly exiled. The pages are littered with historical figures and events revealed in both their humanity and their inhumanity. We find Robert Louis Stephenson, Jack London, Mark Twain, and even more recently a skittish John Wayne . We witness Pearl Harbor, and the establishment of Hawaii as the the fiftieth state.
While we do find the posthumous saints such as Father Damien Joseph De Veuster who by one account dug over 1300 graves, and we also find much cruelty. The account of the Dying Den, bears witness to a man being dumped from a wheelbarrow to the threshold of this hell in order to, "spare the sensibilities of the other hospital inmates."
Probably the most succinct description of the history of this disease, "leprosy itself [is] a rich source of ironies, populated ... "with rogues and vagabonds, saints, and martyrs.""
Although this is not a casual read it is worth the time, this lesson must be re-learned and not repeated.


Mary Jones
aka tobiejonzarelli
Bookmooch inventory
Bookmooch wishlist
Librarything catalog
Random 'Novel' Thoughts

Feel free to visit me!

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

This Is my 2nd May trail challenge. So you want a historical account of the key 19th century Presidents, supported by in-depth analysis of how the shifting political culture reflected the growth in international power? Wrong book. This is one of those humorous shaggy-dog stories about the morbid fascination of the author with, well not to be too delicate, three murdered Republican Presidents: Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley.

Each has their own chapter but it's the detail of whom and how they were killed, what happened to the killers and plotters, how they were captured that captures the imagination of the author. We track these events through the historical flotsam and jetsam: a plaque stuck unseen in a foyer, bullets and bone fragments, run down museums etc. As we read we also share in the ups and downs of her life and family as she seeks to touch the "relics" of the departed and so make them real. She raises an interesting theme with Lincoln who becomes a saint rather then a human politician. He didn't fight the Civil War to free slaves. His greatness was that he grew and did free them. But when assassinated his flaws were buried with him and a political myth grows.

A lot of political history is subtly interweaved from the changes in campaigning styles( it was considered bad form to campaign as President so you invited people to drop by when you were in town) to the gradual birth of corporate donations. Or the politics of the Federal state when Senators were elected by the State Congress and majority of Federal funds came from the New York custom house. A curiosity of the three deaths is that Todd Lincoln, the only surviving son of Lincoln was present at all three deaths. Look up the German meaning of his name, a irony that he was only too aware of. He lived to see the Lincoln Memorial built in 1922. Another interesting question she raises is why democratic, dynamic America chooses to build its capital and many of its national memorials in the style of imperial Classicalism so clearly at odds with its political values.

Do I recommend it? It is a fascinating read for what it reveals about liberal Americans-political equality rather social democracy is the buzz- and the lack of historical roots that are thin in time and fragmented in the name of progress. But that's not the purpose of the book. So I wouldn't recommend it to a English reader unless they have a passion for 19th Century American history and 21st century Reportage. Americans get your copy now and remember a time when Republicans had a more embracing vision of political values.

submitted by John (ablueidol)