Day One - Take Two

Before you do any scrolling to see what Day One - Take One or just Day One looks like, let me just tell you, that entry doesn't exist.  I'd planned to do a Day One entry but considering I didn't do too well on the first Day One, I feel it's better for all concerned that there be no written documentation that there was such a thing.

But that brings me to the point of this "series" I hope to be documenting. 

Over the last few years I've steadily been putting on weight.  A lot of weight.  I've always known I was a stress eater but I'm finding I eat for other reasons - that don't involve the need for nourishment - as well. 

I had lunch with a friend of mine a month or so ago and I hadn't seen her since I started gaining so much weight (30 pounds in the last two years!!!) and I brought it up.  She asked me why I thought I was eating so much and I mentioned that I was a stress eater but the fact was, there hadn't really been anything I could attach to a recent stress related eating binge and I kind of danced around the answer after that.

A few days later I was sitting in my living room watching TV and I got up to get something to eat.  It wasn't a meal or snack time and I wasn't even hungry, I just felt like eating.  That's when I realized I also eat when I'm bored.  Funny that I'd never considered that but there it was - I eat when I'm bored.

And it's not like I eat healthy stuff during these times either.  I don't buy a lot of junk food because I know I'll eat the bulk of it in one or two days but that doesn't mean all my "healthy snacks" are healthy either.

So, I've been looking at all of that and decided that I need to change things.  I don't want to do a fad diet or any diet that wouldn't be sustainable after I reached my goal weight (which will take some time to get there *sigh*).  I want to incorporate a healthy diet with exercise.  Sounds good, right?

Well, yesterday I got up and had avocado toast, followed by a thirty minute walk around the neighborhood.  I have a treadmill but it's too easy to stop after only a few minutes but if you're walking the neighborhood, you still gotta get back home!  So I decided walking the neighborhood might be the best approach while it's still comfortable enough to walk outside.

Anyway, I won't go into detail but it started falling apart around lunch time.  I have a recipe I make with daikon and brussel sprouts that I love.  It's very light, very few calories.  I had that just before lunch time.  I wasn't hungry after that but it was so early so I had a banana.  I mean, I don't want them to go bad.  I bought them to be snacks, etc.  So where was the harm?

I'll tell you the harm, it's that "I'm bored, I'll eat" habit that I need to break.  As I suggested, it went downhill after that.

So today is officially a second take on Day One.  I had avocado toast again and did my 30 minute walk around the neighborhood.  I just had a sensible lunch (stuffed peppers, yum!) and I just need to stay on course from here on out.

Here's hoping Day Two is next and there's not a "Take Three" to Day One!  :)

Pounds desired to lose:  50
Pounds to go:  50

Just not up to dealing with you today

I recently went on a trip and came home and promptly got sick.  This has happened before and I don't know if it's the difference in the climate, allergens or both or something else altogether.  I do know that when I've ignored it in the past, it evolves into something way worse so I've gotten to where if I see it coming, I go to the doctor to head it off at the pass.  Which is why I went to the doctor the other day.

Here's the thing though, I wanted to beat the crap out of the nurse and if I'd had the energy to do so, I might've done it.  So here's how the interaction with the nurse went:

It started with the nurse asking me to step up on the scale.  I don't do this anymore.  It would be one thing if it was necessary to get a right dosage of a medication that might kill me if the wrong dosage was prescribed.  But given that no diagnosis had been made at this point, I knew this wasn't the case, so I declined.

That resulted in the first smirk I got from the nurse as she said, sarcastically, "Really?!?"

To which I replied, "Really, I'm not going to weigh today."

She looked at me in disbelief as she told me she had to weigh me, it was just what they did!

I repeated, "I'm not going to weigh today."

Then she suggested that I look at her and she wouldn't tell me what the scale said, as if I didn't already know what it would say and that my reluctance to get on the scale was because I didn't want to know what I weighed.

That's when I smirked at her and just repeated that I wouldn't be weighing today, as if maybe she hadn't heard me before.

We went back and forth a couple of more times before she gave up and told me to sit in a chair so she could take my other vitals.

The blood pressure machine was on my right side but due to a medical procedure I had done several years ago it's better if all tests that can be done in the arm are done on my left arm, which is why I started exposing my left arm (I had on a sweater).  Her smirk and sarcasm reappeared as she wondered out loud why I would want it taken from my left arm.  When I told her why, she was less sarcastic and inappropriate.

That is until she asked me if I had any allergies.  I said yes and listed them, including my allergy to tetanus shots.

She said, "Really?  You're allergic to tetanus?"

I said, "Yes."

"Oh?  And you have a reaction?"

"Yes, I do."

"I looked at your chart."

I just looked at her confused because I didn't have any idea what her looking at my chart had anything to do with me being allergic to tetanus shots.  Then she told me I'd had several tetanus shots at this clinic before and I was even more confused because I've never had a tetanus shot at this particular clinic, and I told her so.

That's when she really showed her ignorance and said, "Almost every visit you've ever had here is listed as TB!"

That's when my smirk and sarcasm came back.  "You do realize that TB stands for tuberculosis don't you?  Tetanus and tuberculosis are two very different things.  So yes, I've had TB tests here before but I've NEVER had a tetanus shot here before."

She looked sufficiently embarrassed and had me go wait back in the waiting room for an exam room to be available and I didn't see her again. But I think it's a sad state of affairs when the quality of the medical personnel don't know the difference between a TB test and a tetanus shot!

Book Review Club - February 2019

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@Barrie Summy

This month I will be reviewing Michelle Obama's Becoming. 

The thing about autobiographies is that sometimes you learn things the author didn't intend you to learn about them.  It may be in what they say, what they didn't say, or how they said something.

What I learned from reading Becoming is that Michelle Obama is the warm, welcoming and inclusive person she seemed to be when she was First Lady.

Becoming tells her story from a young age through her years in the White House.  It's not the story of a black woman - it could be anyone's story.  She does note observations she made growing up about where certain family members seemed to complain about being passed over for promotions in work because of the color of their skin but it wasn't something she dwelled on and never seemed to consider it a hindrance to achieving her own goals in life.

She went to Princeton and Harvard.  She was making her way as an attorney at a successful law firm and was on the path to partnership.  But she felt unfulfilled, wanting to be involved in things that produced meaningful change in the world.

And then she met Barrack. 

Barrack was (is?) a lot more laid back than Michelle but their vision for things was similar.  She left the law firm and went to help put together programs that helped kids and families get a better education and medical assistance where it was desperately needed.  Barrack went into politics.

They were both having positive impacts on communities and loving their work.  But when Barrack said he wanted to run for president, it wasn't something she was excited about.  She didn't want to hold him back though and agreed to campaign with and for him, all the while believing he wouldn't get elected.

While in the White House she implemented programs slowly so that it wouldn't appear she was trying to affect policy - something Hillary Clinton had cautioned her about (from her own experience as First Lady).  She talks about things she was able to accomplish and the impact she believes she had on the people she was trying to help while her husband ran the country and the two of them were trying to raise two well adjusted daughters.

In my mind, before reading this book, I felt that Michelle Obama was someone who carried herself with grace and dignity and her story is told with grace and dignity.  I liked her before I read this book and I like her more since reading it.  There were stories that made me laugh and stories that made me cry.  And it wasn't always pretty.  It made me appreciate the privileges that I have and left me wanting to help others that don't share those same privileges.  It was an inspiring and interesting book about an inspiring and interesting woman.

I highly recommend it. 

For more book reviews click on the icon at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Book Review Club - December 2018

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@Barrie Summy

This month I will be reviewing THE GIRL WITH SEVEN NAMES.  Our host, Barrie, reviewed it in February and I requested an eBook loan from my library.  The hold list was such that I had to wait more than four months for the book to become available.

The book is about Hyeonseo Lee's life and journey from North Korea to South Korea.  Her journey started more as teenage rebellion rather than an intention to defect.  China was literally across the river from her house.  A friend wanted to cross the river to prove she could but Lee's mother told her no when she asked permission to join her friend.  This frustrated Lee because she knew her brother had crossed the river several times.  Then one day she decided to just do it.  She decided to go visit family members in Shenyang for a couple of days and told her brother to let her mother know after she had left.

Shenyang and China were so different from her home in North Korea and she was enjoying seeing all the sights and getting to know her relatives so she didn't immediately return as planned.  She received a shock when her mother called a month later and said they were in danger and she couldn't come back.  Shortly after she had left a census was being done for an upcoming election and since she was of legal age to vote her absence was noticed so her mother had to report her as missing.  If she had returned it would look suspicious and she and her family would likely be subjected to punishment that could include public execution.  So she stayed away.

She stayed with her aunt and uncle for about two years before they coordinated an arranged marriage for her.  Not wanting to marry the man she'd been promised to, she ran away and lived on her own for the first time.  Knowing that if she was discovered she would be deported back to North Korea she felt she couldn't trust anyone.

Eleven years after she first crossed the river she was finally legally in South Korea and had convinced her mother to join her.  Arrangements had been made for her brother to get her mother across the river in China where Hyeonseo would meet them.  Her brother was not planning to defect with them as he was planning a wedding to a North Korean woman whom he deeply loved but things did not go as planned when they crossed the river and if he returned to North Korea he would've been subjected to punishment which could include public execution.  As a result he had to defect as well.

One of the things about their transitioning into their new lives that stuck with me is as bad as things were in North Korea, none of them had ever intended to leave.  It made me think of a child that has the alcoholic, drug using, abusive parent who gets put into the foster care system and is placed in a healthy environment for the first time but the desire to return to this abusive parent stays with them because that's all the know - they don't understand people being kind to them and treating them well because it's not their known experience.  According to Lee's telling, free thought was not only discouraged but not allowed.  She mentioned that her parents never discussed their feelings about things in front of her for fear she'd repeat them in public and get them all in trouble with the government.  It's hard to believe such controlling leadership exists in this day and age and makes you appreciate the freedoms we currently have.

This is one of those books that makes you stop and think about things.  It's also a compelling and interesting read.  I would highly recommend it.

For more reviews click on the icon at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Risk Factors

I saw a doctor the other day to discuss a medical concern I had.  It was at a facility where they have the ability to run a surprising amount of tests.  And to pay for this equipment I think they run every test they can on every patient they see.

Before I saw the doctor they ran a few tests on me.  Everything was clear.  So they ran more tests.  I still hadn't seen a doctor.

When the doctor finally came in to see me, he told me the tests were clear before he proceeded to tell me my options.  You see, this facility has the capability of having overnight guests, so to speak.  The doctor informed me that there were two risk groups - high risk and low risk.  A low risk person would be sent home.  A high risk would be invited to stay overnight.  He said I fell in between those two and that the option was mine as to whether I stayed or not and he would give me time to think about it and he left the room.

Shortly after he left the room someone came back to get me so they could do even more tests on me (equipment is expensive!).  Again, everything was clear.

When the doctor came back to see me he asked what I had decided - as if it's still my choice.  I told him I was going home to which he replied "okay but you're going to have to sign a waiver stating you're leaving against my orders".

Huh?!

At no time did he so much as suggest I needed to stay overnight.  Although, as I type that, giving me a choice may have been that suggestion but he definitely did NOT make it sound like it was necessary.

In any event, I asked why I needed to stay - what were the risk factors that kept me from being low risk?  His response - my age and weight.  That's it.  Every test had disproved any issues that would warrant an overnight stay but then, if I left they couldn't charge more for my visit.

But it makes me wonder, do they offer overnight stays to everyone of "a certain age" and weight?  Because those "risk factors" are present with me at this time, even if I hadn't gone in to discuss a particular issue.  I can't change my age so I guess that will always be a risk factor.  And I know my current weight puts me at a higher risk for a lot of things.  But that I have some control over.

So, I decided to start walking again.  I have a treadmill in my living room but I decided to walk outside.  Today was my first day.  One of my neighbors was out so I asked her to join me - and she did.  The funny thing was she didn't want to take the longer route I suggested, yet she took off like it was a foot race!  I was winded and sweating half way through and she had no discernible side effects from the walk.

Anyway, we agreed we'd walk together when we could and hopefully I'll whittle away at the weight risk factor that makes doctors wishing to pay for their expensive equipment offer me overnight stays. In the meantime maybe I can find a counter thing for my blog to track weight loss so I'll feel a bit more accountable.  :)

Book Review Club - October 2018

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@Barrie Summy



This month I will be reviewing The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.  I came to know about it because Sara Haines of The View recommended it as a summer beach read thriller and I borrowed it from my library.

The story is about what happens when Richard and Vanessa Thompson divorce and Richard is about to remarry.  It's primarily told from the viewpoint of Vanessa and tells / shows the great lengths she goes to to try to stop Richard from getting remarried.  Part of the book flap and amazon blurb is:

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife.
You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing

That is all true.  There are twists and turns that are completely unexpected.  The book is divided into three parts.  At the end of each "part" there is a bombshell revelation that you don't see coming - or at least I didn't.  It left me with a 'what the heck' feeling at the end of each part. 

But speaking of a what the heck feeling, I want to compare it, to a degree, to a murder mystery.  In a murder mystery the author deliberately misleads you and has you second guessing the conclusions you've come to.  The author will drop little clues for you to follow.  You might have thoughts like "but I thought . . . didn't he say . . . wasn't it the brother who" and I think that's normal for a murder mystery.  It makes me feel more involved in the story, like it's an interactive book almost.  I had those type of thoughts with this book too, well actually only in part one of the book.  The thing is, this wasn't a murder mystery and when I had those thoughts I was going back to find passages earlier in the book to clarify.  I thought the author had screwed up.  Even when I got to the bombshell moment where it's all explained I was a little confused for a minute.  Again, this was only in part one of the book but part one is roughly 150 pages of a 340 page book.  Part one was told in a unique way that initially confused me before I realized that I'd missed clues the size of boulders that could be seen from outerspace!  I can't say anymore without giving away spoilers but I will say that when all is said and done, it was totally worth it.

That all said, I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down.  It was totally worth the read and has some jaw dropping revelations in it.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the thriller genre.

For more reviews, click on the icon at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Book Review Club - June 2018

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@Barrie Summy

This month I will be reviewing My Pride and Joy by George Adamson.

Before I go into the actual review of this book I want to put out a couple of disclaimers.  One is, I read this book between two and three years ago.  Having just watched Born Free today though, I felt inspired to write this review for the book review club.  The second disclaimer is that around the same time I read My Pride and Joy, I also read all of the Born Free books (there are three) written by George's wife, Joy, as well as a bunch of articles and I watched a number of interviews and documentaries.  I mention these things because there may be some unintentional bleed over from other materials captured in this review.

With that said, My Pride and Joy is the life story of George Adamson, as told by George Adamson.  It starts from when he was a young boy and follows his life to becoming a game warden in Kenya and his work with rehabilitating "domesticated" lions so that they can live in the wild.

I'll be honest and say that the first part of the book about his childhood and young adulthood did not hold my interest well and therefore I didn't retain a lot of that information.  (Maybe I needed a third disclaimer?  :-/ )

But I do remember when he first met Joy.  She was married to husband number two at the time.  George was drawn to her but considered her off limits until one day she bluntly told him that she was interested, her marriage was over and she had permission to divorce and marry George.  George was stunned but confirmed with the husband what Joy had said and when he found it was true, he did marry Joy.  He had concerns that she would be too "delicate" for the life he led but he quickly found that she held up just fine and never complained about the conditions in which they had to live.

From many of the things I've read about Joy, she wasn't a particularly pleasant person and George actually addresses that in his book.  He admits that she was difficult and put off many people because of how she was.  Despite the fact that Born Free had been written mostly by using his notes and that he had helped edit the book, he didn't receive any proceeds from the books or movies.  She used this money to manipulate situations and eventually cut him off completely financially when he refused to do as she "demanded" when Bill Traverse (who played George in Born Free) refused to make her the star of a documentary he was working on.  He (Bill) had wanted to film a documentary on the work George was doing on lions to help bring awareness to the need for conservation.  By this time Joy had moved on to working with cheetahs and wanted the documentary to be about her.  George refused to insist that Bill do his documentary on Joy so Joy cut George off financially.  George was unable to pay his workers (who stayed with him anyway) and had to eat camel and military rations to survive.  But he never complained and continued to have affection for Joy up until her murder by a disgruntled employee she had refused to pay.

A lot of the book was about his work with lions.  He talked about working on the movie Born Free.  He was the film consultant (Joy wasn't allowed on set, much less allowed to give input, even though she "authored" the book).  He didn't like the treatment the lions were getting and he threatened to walk off the film, if they didn't change.  They changed and he stayed. 

When filming ended he bought as many of the lions as he could so that he could work with them and help them to be able to live in the wild.  Two of the lions from the film were brother and sister and named Boy and Girl, respectively.  He spent a period of time in one particular area with the lions.  Girl had adjusted well but Boy had gotten injured.  When George was told they had to move on, he left Girl behind and took Boy with him.

George loved Boy to the extent that when George was murdered (trying to save tourists, I believe, from poachers - something from another source not the book since his book doesn't cover his own death), he was buried next to Boy, per his known desire (Joy's ashes were spread over Elsa's grave - at least some were anyway).

He also talks about a lot of other lions that he worked with and the trials, successes and failures he had in doing that.  It was abundantly clear that he loved his work and the animals he worked with.  Some of the animals went off and he didn't always find out what became of them.  He related those stories to question marks, saying that the best possible outcome was the question mark because it likely meant a successful re-introduction into the wild (some animals they found evidence of their lack of success in the wild, which is why the question mark was a good thing).

In general, the book was a story of a man who was a true conservationist who cared more about the animals in the wild than he did just about anything else.  He didn't seek fame or fortune and got by with whatever he had to without complaint.  I think a testament to the type of man he was is that his crew stayed with him even when he wasn't able to pay them.

I really enjoyed this book, even though I did have difficulty in the beginning of the book which covered his early years.  Otherwise, top notch book that I highly recommend!

For more reviews click on the icon at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Heartbroken

This post is going to be a hard one to write.  Just over two months ago (March 15th), I had to make the gut wrenching decision to have my sweet Harley put to sleep.  Two weeks prior to that I had taken him to the vet for a quarterly check up (I took him that often because he was on steroids and I wanted to keep tabs on how they were affecting him).  He didn't seem symptomatic to me so I wasn't expecting (or prepared) for a bad report on him, but as it turned out (unrelated to the steroids) he was suffering from age-related kidney failure.  Once I knew what was going on, he went downhill fairly quickly so I took him in for a follow up well before I was expected to only to find that things were much worse than Harley had let on, and that's when I decided I had to do what was best for him even though it broke my heart.

I remember the first time I met Harley.  I had two other dogs, Max and Brewsky at the time.  I also had (and still have) a doggy door.  You see where I'm going with this, right?  I came home one day to Max and Brewsky greeting me at the door like they always did but there was a third dog there as well.  He seemed the most happy to see me of the three, like he'd heard a lot about me and was happy to finally be meeting me.  He was very sweet but I assumed he belonged to someone, so I put him out.

He howled outside my living room window (after I fixed the hole in the fence that had allowed him into my backyard and then my house) for hours.  He started camping on my front porch and howling when my alarm would go off in the morning (even though I liked to snooze for an hour or so before getting up).  He'd be waiting for me when I got home to be let in to play with his new friends.  He wouldn't ever eat anything here though.

Then one day I saw him follow two girls and another dog to a cul de sac a block over.  When he wasn't on my porch a few days later when I came home I drove over to the cul de sac and found him in a front yard chewing on a toy near a water and food bowl.  I knocked on the door to talk to his owner only to find they were only feeding him and were tired of doing that and planned to call the pound on him because his previous owners (who they knew who were) had just discarded him.  Knowing that if they called the pound he would be destroyed, I took him home with me saying I'd find a home for him.  From that day forward, he was my dog.

Harley was unlike other dogs that I've had in my life.  He marched to the beat of his own drum, as they say.  He did things I'd never seen other dogs do.  For one, I had a kiddie pool in my backyard when I got him.  He didn't get in the pool often but he would stick his face in the water and blow bubbles.  It was funny to watch.

Of all the dogs I've had in my life, he was probably the most curious of them all.  He would see or hear something and he had to go investigate.  Whenever I would have workers over to my house he would have to follow them, wherever they went.  If they went into the attic he would sit by the pull down ladder and wait for them to come back down.  He just liked being in the thick of things.

He was unable to tell the difference between real life and the TV - in some areas anyway.  Many years ago there was a movie trailer to some animated movie that had a cat meow - Harley thought it was a real cat and would come running through the living room out the doggy door every time it played on TV.  He'd look over his shoulder to see if Max and Brewsky were backing him up but they'd look at him like "dude, it's the TV, be cool!" and not go out with him.  One night I found the trailer online and played it several times and he came running every time.  It may have been cruel of me but it was funny.  :)

 

 

Harley was a pretty laid back dog but if he didn't like something, he would let you know it.  If I disturbed him and he didn't want to be bothered, he would let out a low growl.  He wasn't aggressive about it at all, and it wasn't even really a warning, it was just his way of letting me know he wanted some "me / Harley" time and I should come back later.

 

A few years ago I had a surgery and couldn't lift anything for a period of time.  Prior to this time I was having to assist Harley getting onto the bed at night.  Since I wouldn't be able to do that for a while, I moved the ottoman from my sofa to the foot of the bed for him to use as a stepping stone.  I figured it would be there a month or so and then I'd move it back into the living room.  Well, it never made it back into the living room because Harley decided he liked it for a bed - not one on the floor (and I had four of those in my bedroom alone) and not one he had to "share" with me.  I tried to move it back into the living room and it didn't go over well, so it stayed in the bedroom for the remainder of his life.  In the living room he had his own couch (pictured above), in addition to two other floor beds.  Harley wasn't spoiled or anything.  :)

 

The last four years of his life it was just the two of us.  I knew he was in tune with me and my movements but since his death I'm becoming more and more aware of how in tune I was with him.  It's been two months and I still hear things and look to see his reaction.  When I drop or bump into something, I still expect him to come running to check it out.  I was aware on some level I was doing that when he was alive but that I'm still doing it to this day, I realize I was more in tune with him than I really understood.

 

I miss him so much.  There's no doubt in my mind that I made the best decision for him but my head and my heart are still at odds about it.  He has a very special place in my heart and I'll be eternally grateful that I was allowed to have him in my life for as long as I did.  He was 12 years old.

 

 



Book Review Club - May 2018

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@Barrie Summy

 

A new month, a new book to review!

This month I will be reviewing Sweet Tea Tuesdays by Ashley Farley.

Here is the blurb from amazon:

Three best friends met every Tuesday for twenty-six years. And then they stopped.

From the author of the bestselling Sweeney Sisters Series comes a novel of friendship, family, and hope.

When new next-door neighbors Georgia, Midge, and Lula first assembled on Georgia’s porch in Charleston for sweet tea, they couldn’t have known their gathering was the beginning of a treasured tradition. For twenty-six years they have met on Tuesdays at four o’clock, watching the seasons change and their children grow up, supporting each other in good times and in bad. With their ambitions as different as their personalities, these best friends anticipate many more years of tea time. And then, one Tuesday, Georgia shares news that brings their long-standing social hour to an abrupt halt. And that’s only the beginning as unraveling secrets threaten to alter their friendship forever.

I agree with amazon that it's a book about friendship, family and hope.  It's also a story about what happens when life throws you curve balls - we don't all handle it all that well.

From a storyline standpoint, I read this book very quickly and wanted to know what happened next and how things all worked out - it definitely kept my interest.  From a writing perspective I felt that at times it was a bit stilted but not overly so.  The characters were interesting and sympathetic. 

The story was told from the perspectives of Georgia, Midge, Lula and Lula's youngest daughter, Lizbet in alternating chapters.  There were things that were somewhat predictable but there were two story threads that ended in ways I hadn't expected.

I enjoyed the book.  I started it Sunday evening and finished it early Monday afternoon.  I would recommend it.

For more book reviews click on the button at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Book Review Club - March 2018

It's that time again, to review great books that we've read.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm only about two-thirds of the way through THE RHINO WITH GLUE-ON SHOES but I feel confident writing this review because it's a compilation of stories told by various vets from across the world about their experiences with their animal patients.  This book is one I'm reading for my zoo volunteer book club.

The stories are wide ranging and the amazon description is as follows:

A moray eel diagnosed with anorexia…A herd of bison whose only hope is a crusading female doctor from Paris…A vet desperately trying to save an orphaned whale by unraveling the mystery of her mother’s death…This fascinating book offers a rare glimpse into the world of exotic animals and the doctors who care for them. Here pioneering zoological veterinarians—men and women on the cutting edge of a new medical frontier—tell real-life tales of daring procedures for patients weighing tons or ounces, treating symptoms ranging from broken bones to a broken heart, and life-and-death dramas that will forever change the way you think about wild animals and the bonds we share with them.
From a root canal on a three-thousand pound hippo to one doctor’s heartbreaking effort to save a critically ill lemur, here are acts of rescue, kindness, and cross-disciplinary cooperation between zoo vets and other top scientists. We meet highly trained specialists racing against time and circumstance to save the lives of some of the most exotic animals in the world. Shoes designed for racehorses help a rhinoceros with a debilitating foot disease. A kangaroo survives spinal surgery performed by a leading human doctor. These unforgettable stories capture the bonds that develop between vets and their animal patients, the ingenious measures many vets have tried, and the remarkable new insights modern medical technology is giving us into the physiology and behaviors of wild animals.

At once heart-quickening and clinically fascinating, the stories in this remarkable collection represent some of the most moving and unusual cases ever taken on by zoological vets. A chronicle of discovery, compassion, and cutting-edge medicine, The Rhino with Glue-on Shoes is must reading for animal lovers, science buffs, and anyone who loves a well-told tale.

Two of the stories actually come from zoo vets where I volunteer . . . dung beetles who have bugs and a story about a giraffe who needed orthopedic help because she didn't stand up right away and her mother accidentally stepped on her.  The giraffe story is beyond where I've technically read but because of the zoo connection (and my love of our giraffes), I read it out of turn.  That chapter's opening paragraph is:  "Hello.  My name is Lauren Howard and I'm calling from the zoo.  I was wondering if I could speak with one of your orthopedic surgery instructors?  No, I'm not a patient.  You see, I have a giraffe with a leg problem . . ."  Click.  "Hello?"

All of the stories I've read are well written and compelling.  While not all the stories have happy endings, you see the collaboration between veterinarians across the globe and the compassion and bonds that develop with their patients.  I'm really enjoying it and highly recommend it to animal lovers.

For more reviews, go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

February 2018 Book Review

 I recently saw a bumper sticker that said "I like animals more than people."  My first thought was I needed one of those bumper stickers myself.  The book I’m reviewing this month is THE ELEPHANT WHISPERER by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence and I would venture a guess that Mr. Anthony might share that sentiment as well.

The blurb on the back of the book says:  When Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of ‘rogue’ wild elephants on his reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse.  But he was the herd’s last chance of survival and in order to save their lives, Anthony took them in.

In the years that followed he became a part of their family.  And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.  In The Elephant Whisperer, he tells of his heartwarming, exciting, funny, and sometimes sad experiences with these huge yet sympathetic creatures.

The main thread of the book is about his relationship with the elephants.  They had been badly treated and witnessed family members being killed in front of them so they were very distrusting of humans when they reached Anthony’s game reserve, Thula Thula.  They escaped the confines of the reserve not long after arriving and were aggressive enough that the townsfolk wanted them destroyed.  Anthony plead for their lives and managed to get them back to his game reserve but was told in no uncertain terms, if they escaped again they would be shot on sight.  As a result, Anthony took extra measures to ensure they didn’t escape again while also attempting to gain the trust of the matriarch of the herd, Nana, knowing the others would trust him if she did.

Through this story you get to know the animals and care for them.  But the story wasn’t just about elephants.  It was about life in Africa as well.  There were side stories about other animals and incidents and things he went through having to deal with poachers as well as African traditions, among other things.  It wasn’t a one note story.  The writing was fluid and there were parts where I laughed out loud and parts that were, as the description says, sad.  But it was very good book.

Actually, I absolutely loved this book.  I think anyone who loves animals or has an interest in African culture would also love this book.  I highly recommend it.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I read this book because it was the February choice for our zoo’s volunteer book club.)

For more reviews go to www.barriesummy.com.

January 2018 Book Review

The book I will be reviewing this month is We're Going To Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union.

This is another book where I didn't know who the author was but I saw her in an interview and she got my attention.  In my mind I knew I would read and review this book and, also in my mind, I had the review written before I got the email from the library telling me the book was available.

After I finished reading the book I felt there was an unintended message in the book that needs to be talked about.  Based on what she said in the interview I thought the book would be inspiring and an "every woman" book.  What it is is a black woman's book - I would even go so far as to say an angry black woman's book.  I wasn't expecting that. 

She doesn't hold anything back either.  She goes deep and unapologetically lays it all out there.  She talks about growing up in a predominantly white community and trying to pretend she was white as well, going so far as to snub other black students who enrolled in her school.  Her parents had told her that to be successful she would have to work harder than anyone else and she would have others take credit for her work.  It's a message some of us have heard before but she was told this because her skin color would hold her back.

She talked about a guest appearance she made on a sitcom.  The director came over to her and told her they'd need her to stand on a mark and went on to explain that this allowed the cameras to keep her in the shot.  She took offense to this because she believed he did this because he thought she was stupid because she was black.  She then went on to talk about all the things she had accomplished up to that guest appearance and compared it to the "lack luster" accomplishments of the white stars of the show she was appearing on.  It was clear that she wasn't over the incident, even though it happened more than fifteen years ago.

Later in the book she talked about having to teach her sons about what they could and couldn't do because of their skin color.  She had talked about this in her interview and it broke my heart and was one of the reasons I wanted to read the book.  If I had been asked a couple of years ago about racism in this country I would have said it was dying.  But because of the events of the last couple of years, I now know that's just wishful thinking.

The conversation, as I've heard it, has always been about the racists though.  It's been that racists aren't born, they're taught to be that way.  In reading this book though, I feel that there needs to be a conversation on the other side as well.  Black babies aren't born believing that their skin color puts them at a disadvantage, that's something that's taught as well.  And maybe that is a conversation that's happening but if it's not, it should be.  Gabrielle was upfront with what she had been brought up to believe (work twice as hard so someone else can take credit for your accomplishments) and it was stated as if it were fact and not something that was wrong with the system.

Given the climate we currently live in I know that dramatic changes are unlikely in the near future but we've got to stop teaching our kids that skin color matters because it doesn't and shouldn't.  I didn't go into reading this book thinking I was reading a black woman's story but that is what I read and while I don't know that I could say this book was for everyone, I did feel that there was a message in it worth sharing that made it my pick for reviewing this month.

For more reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com

December 2017 Book Review

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I've been writing my reviews a month or two in advance so when I email Barrie my selection for the month, it's usually ready to go.  This month she let me know that in March Sarah Laurence had reviewed the book I'm reviewing this month.  You can read her review here.  She wrote a very lovely review and it's spot on about the book.  My take was a bit different because I had a different expectation going in, based on the title.  I still enjoyed the book enough to make it my pick for this month but if my review doesn't sell you on the book, Sarah's will!  That all said . . .

This month I will be reviewing Sy Montgomery's The Soul of an Octopus A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness.  This book was a New York Times bestseller written by an author who was won a number of awards and honors, including a lifetime achievement award from the Humane Society of the United States and the New England Booksellers Association.

I volunteer at a local zoo and we started a book club recently and this was the first book for our group to read and discuss (it was decided that all books would be animal focused, given we're all zoo volunteers).  It was presented as one we could use to learn information about an animal we have at the zoo and therefore share more information with our visitors.  Given the title and how it was presented to the group I thought I would learn tons of information about octopuses (turns out that is the correct plural for an octopus).

While I did learn some new information about octopuses, the book was more of a recounting of the author's experiences with octopuses, primarily at the New England Aquarium in Boston.  It was interesting to hear the personality descriptions of the different octopuses she got to know and be around.  Most are very curious creatures and a lot of the descriptions reminded me of a small child discovering new things and having new experiences.  From that aspect, I did enjoy the book.

From the perspective of I was excited to learn tons of new things about the octopus, it was a bit disappointing.  The author did not have enough information about the octopus to fill an entire book so she filled the book by sharing stories about unrelated adventures she's had, personal information about the people she got to know while visiting the Aquarium and a whole chapter (30+ pages!) on her getting her SCUBA diving certification so she could see octopuses in the wild.  (It's worth noting that I did enjoy this chapter, it just wasn't octopus specific and seemed like filler, given the title of the book.)

The Aquarium doesn't breed its octopuses so there isn't a steady flow of octopuses to fill their octopus exhibit.  This means that every octopus they have has been taken from the wild for this purpose.  The author doesn't address the concerns over this other than to say that there is an abundance of octopuses in the ocean and this use of them does not hurt their status.  But it did make me think.  I have struggled with animals being kept in captivity but feel slightly better that the zoo I volunteer at doesn't remove animals from the wild.  The animals we have were either born in captivity and know no other life, were injured and can no longer survive in the wild, or were captured by others and then later had to be surrendered and placed at our zoo.  Animals that have been injured and can be rehabilitated and returned to the wild are returned to the wild.  The Aquarium this book focuses on, however, takes the octopus from the wild for the soul purpose of drawing a crowd to see it.  The author described a situation where one octopus died suddenly (they only have one at a time) and there was a desperate need for a new one because they HAD to have one on exhibit. That process was disturbing to me and tainted my enjoyment of the rest of the book - but I did finish it!  And there are a lot of sweet stories about the individual octopuses. I can't give it a wholehearted "must have" recommendation for the reasons I mentioned but if you love animals and would like to learn a bit more about the octopus, you might enjoy this book.

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November 2017 Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

This month I will be reviewing Eileen Cook's THE HANGING GIRL.  I've been a fan of Ms. Cook's for years and she's never disappointed.  But I have to say I was not expecting this book. And I mean that in the best way possible.  It is a great book and I highly recommend it.

I'm at a loss for words though because I just finished the book and I was not expecting the final twist the book ended on.  I did not see it coming - at all.

The book has a bit of everything in it.  There's a paranormal element to it (sort of), with some mystery and thriller added into it as well.

As with all her books, Ms. Cook told a great story and tied up all the loose ends nicely.  It was very well written but it is different from other books she's written.  I'm convinced there isn't a genre that she couldn't write and be successful in.  This was yet another good book by Eileen Cook.

The blurb for the book:

Skye Thorn has given tarot card readings for years, and now her psychic visions are helping the police find the town’s missing golden girl. It’s no challenge—her readings have always been faked, but this time she has some insider knowledge. The kidnapping was supposed to be easy—no one would get hurt and she’d get the money she needs to start a new life. But a seemingly harmless prank has turned dark, and Skye realizes the people she’s involved with are willing to kill to get what they want and she must discover their true identity before it’s too late.

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Sleeping with a Night Light

I've had a doggy door for my dogs for more than 15 years now.  I didn't get it so I could be lazy about taking my dogs out but rather so they didn't have to wait for me to go out.  That said, I will admit to enjoying its convenience over the years.

Fast forward to a few years ago.  My sweet dog, Harley, got very sick.  He stopped going outside to eliminate and he wasn't eliminating inside either.  I got very concerned and started dragging (literally!) him outside to try to encourage him to do his business.  If he did do anything, I gave him a treat.  Well, that caused a bad learned behavior when he got better to where he didn't (and to this day doesn't) want to go out without me because there was/is food involved if he did/does something.  He only goes out without me if 1) it's a sudden "urgent' need to go out; 2) I'm out cold asleep or not home; or 3) I don't get up to go out with him until it reaches the "urgent" need to go out. 

That said, I will usually go out with him anyway because now I track what he's doing so I know everything is working well and I document it, in case I need it later.  Then, a few days ago, he went out without me.  I decided to follow him out so I could document what he was doing and sat on the little "stoop" at the back door like I usually do.

We have this family of frogs that visits us quite often so I wasn't alarmed when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye.  I'm not afraid of frogs or anything but I do like knowing where they are so that I'm not startled if they move closer to me.  So I looked over to where the movement had taken place.  Only it wasn't a frog . . . it was a snake!  And not only was it "next" to me, part of it was actually UNDER me!

Unlike frogs, I AM afraid of snakes as in deathly afraid of snakes!  When I saw the snake I screamed and suddenly (although I have no memory of moving) found myself on the other side of the patio.  I stood there a moment trying to figure out what to do.  Did I go in and get a shovel or hoe and try to kill it?  Did I go get my camera to take a picture of it so I could show it to people to identify the kind of snake?  And how did I do either of those things with the snake between me and my house?

I finally decided to chance it and run in the house.  I opted for the camera, I guess because it was closer.  By the time I got back outside it was climbing between my walls.  I snapped the picture and then stupidly decided to try to coax it back out of the path it was taking into my walls by using a long tree limb.  When I touched it instead of coming back out of the wall, it scampered in more quickly.  It probably would've ended up between my walls anyway but I ensured that it did and more quickly at that.

I immediately came in and called my stepfather and emailed him the picture.  He assured me that it's a non-poisonous snake but I really don't care - I want it gone.  Thing is, I haven't seen it since it crawled between my walls.  Logic tells me that it's long gone by now but my irrational fear of snakes tells me it could show up anywhere in my house at any second.  I can't get near cabinets without checking for a snake.  I can't crawl in bed without checking under the pillows and covers first.  And, I can't sleep without a light on so that I'm not getting up in total darkness where I couldn't see the snake slithering by.

So, if you drive by my house and see a light on in the middle of the night, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm still up, it just means I'm still traumatized by my experience with a snake who may or may not still be somewhere in my house.

October 2017 Book Review

It's time for another book review and this month I will be reviewing Kim Gruenenfelder's Love the Wine You're With.

I'm a HUGE fan of Ms. Gruenenfelder's work and preordered this book almost THREE YEARS AGO so was like a child on Christmas morning when it finally got released and I got the email that it was on its way to me.

As with her other books, this is a book about friendships and trials and tribulations you go through in life and with your friends.  It's also told in first person POV for each or the characters, in alternating chapters so you get a good perspective of each of the characters.  Once again she told a story where I had no idea who love interests were supposed to be and even though that's typically a deal breaker for me in a book, it didn't bother me in this book . . . something about the way she tells the story.  It makes me think about how people talk about head hopping in writing and how no one but Nora Roberts can do it without it being distracting.  Kim Gruenenfelder can keep me guessing who the love interests are until the final page and I don't care - I just enjoy the ride.  :)

I was going to tell a bit about the characters and the storyline but found that the amazon blurb did it better than I could have so here is the amazon blurb on this book:

Jessie is finally about to realize her life-long goal of owning her own house, the first step to a wonderful marriage, kids, and life with her boyfriend of three years, Kevin; except after they find the perfect place, Kevin suddenly gets cold feet.

Nat is having a passionate affair with her gorgeous British boss Marc—unfortunately, he’s married. Now what?

Holly is an actress who still waits tables to pay the bills, and who is coping with the recent loss of her father. A particularly bad audition, where she snaps and tells off a big director, leads her to wonder what to do when you stop loving what you do. (And also what to do about her hot neighbor. Because, you know, hot neighbor.)

After each girl finishes a particularly awful workday, the three friends meet at their favorite wine bar, which has been sold by its owner for a huge profit and will close that night. In a moment of tipsy brazenness, Jessie suggests that the three of them open their own wine bar in the gentrifying Echo Park area of Los Angeles. An unapologetically girly place for good wine and good friends—which leads to a challenge for each woman: how do you fix a life that’s not actually broken, but needs an upgrade?

This book was fun and funny and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning finishing it because I couldn't put it down.  It took almost three years to get to me but it was definitely worth the wait!  I highly recommend this book.

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September 2017 Book Review

This month I have a 2-fer book review.  Both are about the same topic - Chris McCandless - a young man who ventured out on his own at age 22, only to die 27 months later.

I first heard of the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer through Jessica Brody's Free Book Friday website.  While I entered the contest to win a copy, I had a copy from the library before the results were announced (I didn't win).  After I finished reading the book I immediately borrowed an eBook from my library of The Wild Truth by Carine McCandless.  I read both books within a three day period.

The blurb that caught my attention (there is a much longer "blurb" on amazon) was this:

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter.  How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

Before I get into the specifics of my review, I would like to point out that I enjoyed Into the Wild enough that I purchased a copy and had it sent to my stepfather.  The only reason I didn't do that with The Wild Truth too is that I didn't feel it would appeal to my stepfather but I would definitely still recommend it to others.

Okay, that all said, Jon Krakauer is a journalist.  When Chris' body was discovered in Alaska he was tasked with writing an article for the magazine he worked for.  He had a hard deadline so it wasn't as in depth as he would've liked. The article garnered international attention and received more mail than any other article every had in the history of the magazine (I believe that record still holds to this day).  That, combined with his own interest in nature outings, caused him to want to dig deeper into the story.  He sought (and got) the permission and cooperation from Chris' family to write the story of Chris' journey.  To do so, he used journals that Chris had kept about his adventures, as well as pictures he had taken along the way. Because of this, he was able to meet with and interview many of the people that Chris had encountered along the way.  In this way he was able to piece together the events that made up most of the last 27 months of Chris' life.

As for the writing of the book, Krakauer is a good writer.  However, there wasn't enough material to fill an entire book.  Because of this there are several chapters dedicated to other "adventurers" with some small comparisons to Chris' adventures.  Two whole chapters are dedicated to Krakauer's own adventure in the wild.  From that perspective, I found the book to be a bit self serving.  There are times in the book where he is setting the scene with much description and atmospheric language.  None of this relates to Chris' story other than it sets up the environment of an interview he had with someone who met Chris along the way.  It was a bit distracting and unnecessary, in my opinion. But, as I said, I liked the book enough that I had a copy sent to my stepfather.

The Wild Truth is written by Chris' sister, Carine McCandless, and was published eighteen years after Krakauer's book.  It doesn't speak much to Chris' travels but rather gives some insight into what made him abandon his life and go out on his own.  According to Carine, she and Chris were brought up in a very abusive household.  She goes into great detail about the abuse and why she had asked Krakauer not to disclose the abuse.  At about the halfway mark in the book is when she learns about Chris' death. The rest of the book details events that brought her to the point of telling of the abuse and how it impacted Chris and his life decisions as well as her own.  Like Krakauer, Carine is a good writer.  That said, as with Krakauer's book, I felt this one was a bit self serving but I also understand why she may have felt the need to tell this side of the story.

Regarding the abuse Carine details in the book, I believed everything she wrote about it.  Any doubt I had about it was removed when I saw the pictures that were included in the book (Into the Wild did not have pictures).  Chris looks unhappy in all the pictures from his childhood up until the last picture taken on the night he graduated from college - just before he left and broke ties with his family.  Chris had taken a camera with him and there were many photos of himself as well as pictures of himself with others.  He looks happy in all of those pictures.  The last picture taken of him was believed to be taken within days of his death.  He was holding up a sign in the picture that reads: I have had a happy life.  Goodbye.  God Bless All - and he was smiling and looked happy in the picture.  By that point he knew he wasn't making it out alive but he was at peace and genuinely looked happy.  So, I believe Carine's claims of abuse.

I did want to touch on one topic that was rather interesting to me.  The blurb for Into the Wild mentions that Chris abandoned his car, which is a bit misleading.  He had driven his car into a governmental area marked with NO TRESPASSING signs so when it wouldn't start for him, he wasn't in a position to seek help.  He left a sign on it saying that whoever could get it out could have it.  He'd removed the license plates and the VIN took authorities to the rental car establishment Chris had bought it from and since they didn't want it back, the car was used in undercover operations for many years after Chris left it behind.  :)

Reading both books gave a more clear picture as to what happened to Chris McCandless than either did on their own but I could recommend either without hesitation.

For more reviews, go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

May 2017 Book Review

With my reading of Liane Moriarty's What Alice Forgot I believe I've read all of her books now.  And because I LOVED What Alice Forgot, it is the book I will be reviewing this month.

It starts out with Alice dreaming about being in a pool and her toenails are all painted a different color, as are the person who is next to her in the pool.  It's a peaceful dream but suddenly someone from the real world is calling out to her and won't let up.  This is when she finds herself surrounded by people as she lays next to a stationery bicycle in a gym.  She's being told that she fell off the bike and hit her head but it doesn't make sense to her because she doesn't go to the gym, much less work out!

As she's being wheeled out of the gym, people she doesn't know are making comments that make no sense to her.  And her big concern is for the baby she is carrying.

She calls her sister who seems standoffish to her and the secretary at her husband's office is downright rude to her and she doesn't understand why.  When her sister arrives at the hospital she notices that her sister looks . . . old.  This is when she is told that it is ten years later than she thinks it is.  Not only is she not pregnant, she has three children - that she doesn't remember.  And she's going through a very contentious divorce.

Last month I reviewed a time travel book and this was kind of like that, but in a different way.  Alice hadn't really traveled through time but her mind was stuck ten years in the past.  "Watching" her go through this was fun because she was so sweet and innocent.  But, through the interactions with the people she loved, you discover that maybe in the present time, Alice isn't this sweet and innocent person anymore.

At one point I found myself comparing What Alice Forgot to the movie Regarding Henry, starring Harrison Ford (I love this movie!).  In that movie Henry (Harrison Ford) is a corrupt, heartless attorney until he is shot in the head and loses his memory.  He becomes this endearing, gentle man that you just want to hug and take care of.  With Alice you don't know what caused her to be the way she is because she doesn't remember and no one is telling her but I felt the same way about her as I did Henry.

Then, I started thinking about the changes that I've been through in the last ten years.  A lot has changed.  I've lost two of the three dogs I had ten years ago.  Instead of going into an office daily, I volunteer once or twice a week.  There have been major physical changes to my body.  Relationship changes.  Things that would be difficult to process.  But, like Alice, if I woke up next to a stationery bike at a gym and told I'd fallen off of it, I too would wonder, when did I start going to the gym?  :)

In any event, I very much enjoyed this book and reading about Alice's journey over the past ten years as she slowly gets her memory back.  I highly recommend this book.

For more book reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

April 2017 Book Review

This month I will be reviewing Prada & Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard.

The amazon blurb says:

To impress the popular girls on a high school trip to London, klutzy Callie buys real Prada heels. But trying them on, she trips, conks her head, and wakes up in the year 1815!

There Callie meets Emily, who takes her in, mistaking her for a long-lost friend. As she spends time with Emily's family, Callie warms to them, particularly to Emily's cousin Alex, a hottie and a duke, if a tad arrogant.

But can Callie save Emily from a dire engagement, and win Alex's heart, before her time in the past is up?

More Cabot than Ibbotson, Prada and Prejudice is a high-concept romantic comedy about finding friendship and love in the past in order to have happiness in the present.

I've always enjoyed time travel books because it's fun to see how and what the characters respond to in the time they've been transported to.  In Callie's case, when she wakes up in 1815 her first thought is that someone must have moved her to a wooded area because she's no longer in front of the Prada shop where she'd purchased her shoes.  She starts walking until she comes to a house - a castle really - and finds herself in a "home" that doesn't have phones, electricity or indoor plumbing.  She doesn't immediately understand that she's been transported to another time, instead she believes that the occupants of the home are eccentric and are "play acting" that they live in the past.  And she thinks they've taken it a bit too far!  :)

Once she realizes that she's the one that's out of place, she tries to figure out what her "mission" is that will enable her to return home to the twenty first century.  In the process she crosses the line of proper etiquette and jumps to the wrong conclusion in several instances, in a fun and loveable way though.  :)

This was a quick fun read for me.  The only issue I had was the chapter breaks.  In a lot of instances they seemed misplaced.  There's a season finale of How I Met Your Mother where Barney says "It's gonna be Legen . . . wait for it" and the next season opened with him saying "dary".  That's what the chapter breaks reminded me of because it felt like it should've been all done at the end of the one chapter and started fresh on the next one.  And at least once there was an instance where I thought it was a perfect spot for a chapter break but there wasn't even a paragraph break.  But other than that, it was very fluid and easy to read.  I'd definitely recommend it!

For more book reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

March 2017 Book Review

This month I will be reviewing Trevor Noah's Born a Crime.  That I came to know about this book is a pure fluke.  It's another situation where I had recorded a talk show and watched an interview of someone I had never heard of before and they talked about their book.  Normally I would fast forward through the interviews of the individuals I didn't know (or had no interest in) but for some reason I didn't do that in this instance.

I'll be honest, what drew me in was the fact that he's from Africa.  For the last couple of years I've been fascinated by all things Africa and have been reading books, watching movies and documentaries and doing whatever else I could to get information about Africa.  So, when I heard he was from Africa and that because of the laws and traditions in South Africa, his birth was a crime, I immediately put the eBook on hold at my local library.

I waited months for it to become available and almost didn't check it out when I was told it was available because I was back to feeling that I had no idea who this person was and wasn't sure I wanted to invest my time into reading his story.  My fascination with Africa won out though and I'm glad it did.

This is a story about a young man who had the odds stacked against him.  His mother wanted a child but didn't - at the time - want to be burdened with a husband so she made an arrangement with a friend for him to father a child with her.  The problem was, he was white and she was black and the act of sex between the races was illegal.  As a result, special care was taken when they were in public to hide the truth of who his parents were because otherwise his parents were subject to criminal charges.

The book is written in an interesting way in that he starts each chapter off giving information about what was going on in South Africa at a particular time and then follows it up with an applicable story from his life.  In reading this book I discovered that Trevor Noah is an incredibly intelligent and funny person who grew up with an amazing mother.  His mother is someone who refused to be held back by her gender or her race and she taught Trevor to push his boundaries and not limit himself to what others might put on him.  And the love between the two is evident in this book.  I very much enjoyed reading it and would highly recommend it.

For more book reviews, go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

February Book Review

This month I will be reviewing Suzanne Finstad's Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood.

This is the story of Natalie Wood's life, starting before she was born when her mother immigrated to the US.  She was already married and had one child, Olga.  Her husband had come before her and informed her he had a mistress when she arrived.  After some time her mother, Maria, divorced her first husband and took up with two other men, eventually marrying Natalie's father while also keeping her affair going with the other man.

Natalie's mother had seen a fortune teller who had told her that her second child would be known around the world and would be beautiful.  When Natalie was born, she did everything in her power to make sure the fortune she had been told came true.  She was the driving force behind Natalie's career, at least when she was younger.  She would lie and manipulate whoever she had to - including Natalie - to get Natalie parts in film.  The fortune teller had also said that she - Maria - would die by drowning in dark waters.  Maria imparted that information in such a way that Natalie grew up believing that is how she would die and was deathly afraid of the water for her entire life.  Yet, when parts came up that required Natalie to get into water, her mother would force her because otherwise "she would lose the part".  Her mother had also told her that she was too small to have children and if she ever sat on a man's lap she would become pregnant.  She did this in an effort to make Natalie afraid of men so that she'd always be with Maria.  She would use traumatizing events and acts to manipulate Natalie so that Natalie grew up very superstitious and fearful of so many things.  It was heartbreaking to read a lot of what her mother did to her.  And her focus was so much on Natalie that the rest of her family suffered.  For much of Natalie's life, she was the sole support for her entire family and she felt the responsibility for that at a very young age.

The author wrote this book after doing interviews with "more than 400 people" who knew Natalie - her friends and even her family.  With very rare exception, everyone who met Natalie adored her.  The few that didn't necessarily feel that way had more of a feeling that she was standoffish on a particular set but those close to her would say that it was a difficult time for her or that she was insecure about the role.  Like I said, most people thought the world of Natalie.

Robert Wagner was noted as having not participated, despite several attempts on the author's part to interview him.  It's worth noting that Mr. Wagner has said that there are things in the book that are "fabricated" and that on two separate occasions in the book the author states that "through his reps" Mr. Wagner denies specific things included in the book.

That's one of the things that made the book ring more true to me.  Anytime there were conflicting "recollections" of events or periods in Natalie's life, the author included all sides of the argument, so to speak.  It wasn't a one-sided "this is what I believe" kind of book. 

She goes in great detail about the events leading up to Natalie's death.  She points out that one witness came forward when there was the possibility of monetary gain but also that Robert Wagner hasn't ever publicly disputed the accusations made by this witness.  Ultimately she let's the reader draw their own conclusion, not just about her death but about her life.  It was a very interesting read for me.  It was by no means a fast read but it was one that had my interest from the beginning to the end.  I would definitely recommend it.

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