Avidmom's Adventures Continue 2013

Questo è il seguito della conversazione Avidmom Reads Adventurously in 2013.

Questa conversazione è stata continuata da Avidmom's Adventures Come to an End 2013.

ConversazioniClub Read 2013

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Avidmom's Adventures Continue 2013

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1avidmom
Modificato: Set 19, 2013, 8:32 pm


"With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy?" - Oscar Wilde

2avidmom
Modificato: Nov 13, 2013, 1:26 pm

2013 Books completed:


1. Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
2. Get Out of That Pit by Beth Moore
3. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
4. Waking Up the Karma Fairy
5. A Life of Jesus by Shusako Endo
6. The Summons by John Grisham
7. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
8. Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church by Philip Yancey
9. Man in the Music: The Creative Work of Michael Jackson by Joseph Vogel
10. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
11. No! I Don't Want to Join A Book Club: Diary of a Sixtieth Year by Virginia Ironside
12. Hick by Andrea Portes
13. Maus II by Art Spiegelman
14. Santa Evita by Tomas Eloy Martinez
15. Everything I Know About Life I Learned From My Horse by Gwen Petersen
16. True You by Janet Jackson
18 The Other Great Depression by Richard Lewis
19. No Ordinary Time
20. My Day by
21. The Art of Racing in the Rain
22. Inside Scientology
23. The House of Mirth
24. Life Without Limits
25 The Hiding Place
26. Douglass and Lincoln
27. Unclay
28. One Doctor, Cold Cases, Close Calls and the Mysteries of Medicine by Dr. Brendan Reilly
29. The Wounded Spirit by Frank Peretti
30. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
31. Misery by Stephen King
32. Also Known as Rowan Pohi by Ralph Fletcher
33. I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert

3avidmom
Modificato: Ott 26, 2013, 7:10 pm



Goal #1: Last Year's List
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (F)
White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov(F)
The Making of Modern Medicine by Michael Bliss(NF/Medicine)
Space Chronicles by Neal Degrasse Tyson(NF/Space)
The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz(NF/Sociology/Politics)
December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World by Craig Shirley(NF/American history)
All My Patients Are Under the Bed by Louis J. Camuti (NF)
Expecting Adam by Martha Beck(NF)
Waking Up the Karma Fairy by Meg Barnhouse(NF)
(These last two were recommended by my aunt.)
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson(NF/American History)
Two Rings: A Story of Love and War by Millie Werber(NF/WWII)
The Orion Nebula by C. Robert O'Dell (My uncle went to high school with this author!)(NF/Space)
Unclay by T.S. Powys (F)

Goal #2: Bible Reading (New Testament)
Matthew ✔
Mark ✔
Luke
John ✔
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation

Goal #3: Christian Fiction and/or Nonfiction
Get Out of That Pit by Beth Moore (NF)
A Life of Jesus by Shusako Endo
Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church by Philip Yancey
Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life by Nick Vucijic
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Goal #4: Other genres (Sci-Fi, Graphic Novel and pop. authors)
The Summons by John Grisham (Pop. author) (Finished Feb. 3)
Maus II (graphic novel)
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Misery by Stephen King

Goal #5: Audio Book
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (Playaway audio book, narrated by Christopher Evan Welch)

Goal #6: BOB (Bag of Books)
Get Out of That Pit by Beth Moore (Started 12/31/12, finished 1/3/2013)
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul on Tough Stuff
Finding Moon by Tony Hillerman
The Autobiography of Malcom X
One Fine Day The Rabbi Bought a Cross by Harry Kemelman
The Summons by John Grisham
Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene

Other Categories:
American History:
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt
Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader & a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery & Save the Union by Paul Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick

Classics:
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Unclay by T.S. Powys

Medicine
One Doctor: Cold Cases, Close Calls and the Mysteries of Medicine by Dr. Brendan Reilly

4avidmom
Modificato: Ott 26, 2013, 7:06 pm

Books Acquired in 2013


Somewhere in this huge stack is:
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Favorite Father Brown Stories by G.K. Chesterton (I learned about him in the Yancey book I read a little while ago)
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (read previously)
Dracula by Bram Stoker (read previously)
H.G. Wells: Collectors Book of Science Fiction by H.G. Wells
Everything I Know About Life I Learned From My Horse by Gwen Petersen
Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between The World's Greatest Chocolate Makers by Deborah Cadbury
A Heartbeat and a Gutiar: Johnny Cash and The Making of Bitter Tears by Antonio D'Ambrosio
The Other Great Depression: How I'm Overcoming on a Daily Basis At Least A Million Addictions and Dysfunctions and Finding A Spiritual (sometimes) Life by Richard Lewis
True You by Janet Jackson
In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story by David McCullough
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Some stuff for the kids:
Avenue Q: The Book
I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
Every Zombie Eats Somebody Sometime: A Book of Zombie Love Songs by Michael P. Spradlin

The book on top is not a book but a journal given to me by my friend. Supposedly I'm supposed to write in it. So far, nothing. It is a pretty book, though.

I like owning my own copy of Les Miserables. It should make for very good reading and if I need to reach something high up on a shelf, I can stand on it. :)

Also bought and brought home this year (but not in the stack):
Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader & a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery & Save the Union by Paul Kendrick
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Silence by Shusaku Endo
I absolutely had to have my own copy of this as it is probably my favorite book.

The Death and Life of American Journalism by McChesney & Nichols
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Wounded Spirit by Frank Peretti

5avidmom
Modificato: Nov 15, 2013, 6:14 pm



BOOKS ADDED TO TBR/WISHLIST THROUGH LT/CLUB READ/ETC.
Hitty (The Hibernator)
When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy (LT)
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. Recommended by EnriqueFreeque (in posts #24)
Faith and Treason: The Gunpowder Plot by Antonia Fraser (Nielsen GW)
Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz (LT)
The Favored Daughter by Fawzia Koofi (interview on The Daily Show)
The Black Rose by Tananarive Due(radio)
Seven Days: The Emergence of Robert E. Lee (wildbill)
The Key to Rebecca, The Eye of the Needle by Ken Folet; Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Ms. Mathews)
Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight by Travis Langley (Murphy-Jacobs)
Economix by Michael Goodwin (bragan)
600 Days of Edward/Edward Adrift by Craig Lancaster (detail-muse)
Surrender on Demand by Varian Fry (rebeccanyc)
How to Like Paul Again (NielsenGW)
Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill (SassyLassy)
Resistance : a woman's journal of struggle and Defiance. by Agnes Humbert (mkboylan)
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Rachbxl/kidzdoc)
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan (mkboylan)
The Man Who Walked Through Walls by Marcel Ayme
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan (The Daily Show 7/17/13)
The Last of the Just (labfs39)
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama (rebeccanyc)
Citizens of London by Lynne Olson
One Doctor: Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine by Brendan Reilly (NielsenGW)
Christian Nation: A Novel by Frederic Rich (richardderus)
The Reason I Jump

6Polaris-
Lug 1, 2013, 6:15 pm

Hi Avid, just saying 'hello' and liking your new thread. Beautiful flowers, and don't book covers just look great?

7avidmom
Lug 3, 2013, 11:29 am

Thanks Polaris! I've never had to continue a thread before. It's kind of nice to start over - sort of like rearranging the furniture. :)

8JDHomrighausen
Lug 3, 2013, 11:52 am

What a fascinating reading list. I feel like we LTers are friends at the gym, pushing each other to read that last page, get those reading goals done!

9avidmom
Lug 3, 2013, 1:56 pm

get those reading goals done!
I think I can I think I can ....

10avidmom
Modificato: Lug 3, 2013, 5:18 pm

"Churchill once said that to encounter Franklin Roosevelt, with all his buoyant sparkle, his iridescent personality, and his inner elan was like opening your first bottle of champagne. Roosevelt genuinely liked people, he enjoyed taking responsibility, and he adored being president. Alone among our modern presidents, he had “ ‘no conception of the office to live up to, ‘” political scientist Richard Neustadt noted, “ ’he was it. His image of the office was himself-in-office.’” He did not have the time or the inclination for a melancholy contemplation of the “burdens” of the presidency. “ ‘Wouldn’t you be President if you could?” he once naively asked a friend. “ ‘Wouldn’t anybody?’ ”


No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Written in the exact same format as Team of Rivals, Goodwin once again does what she does best: teach history by telling a story. Just like my experience in reading TOR, I expected to learn a lot of things I hadn’t known before and to be interested until the end. What surprised me was how enamored I became with the eccentric Roosevelts (especially Eleanor) and how entertaining this book was. All of the fiction writers in the world couldn’t come up with a story this interesting!

No Ordinary Time starts on the evening of May 9, 1940. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, now in his second term in office, has just received the call that Hitler’s armies have simultaneously attacked Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and France. “The phony war” was over. Although this was not a big surprise to anybody, it was not a matter of if but when, the timing could not have been worse.

The United States, still nursing wounds and memories from World War I and the Great Depression, were reluctant to engage in another conflict. England, herself so unprepared for war, according to the author, were borrowing canons from museums! Compared to Germany’s military, the U.S. had nothing in terms of materiel and man power in terms of either quantity and quality. Compounding the situation further, many of the U.S. isolationists felt that the country was protected by the oceans. In his address to a joint session of Congress a week after the attacks, “Nearly a third of the president’s address was devoted to a skillful schoolmasterly description of the flying times from Greenland, the Azores, and the Caribbean Islands to key American cities, to show that, in an age of air warfare, despite the claims of the isolationists, the natural barriers of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans no longer afforded the same protection they had in the past … he warned that Nazi Germany not only had more planes than all its opponents combined, but appeared to have a weekly productive capacity that was far greater than that of its opponents. How could America respond to this alarming situation? Roosevelt’s answer was bold. He asked for … an additional half-million men for the army, to purchase guns and equipment, to build modern tanks, and to construct naval ships. The he made a dramatic call for a staggering productive capacity of fifty thousand planes a year, which would in only twelve months put America ahead of Germany, creating an aerial armada second to none in the world. ….According to Irving Holley, an army historian, “ ‘the President’s big round number was a psychological target to lift sights and accustom planners in military and industrial circles alike to thinking big.’ “
“To cope with present dangers, he admitted, the nation requires “ ‘a toughness of moral and physical fiber,’” but these are precisely “ ‘the characteristics of a free people, a people devoted to the institutions they themselves have built.’”
When he conveyed the idea that the country could rise up over the obstacles it faced, nobody could argue with him. Struck with polio as an adult and paralyzed because of it, everybody knew that Roosevelt had had his own uphill battles to climb. Under any other leader, with things looking so bleak, things may have turned out very differently. Roosevelt’s brilliance was the way he made the war everybody’s war. He expected the American people to pull together, take on the impossible and succeed, and they did. Isaiah Berlin wrote that “Roosevelt ‘believed that with enough energy and spirit anything could be achieved by man.’” His bedrock faith in the American people proved contagious. History shows that not only did the country of Roosevelt meet his expectations, but exceeded them. Historian Bruce Catton tries to put it into perspective:
“ ‘Say we performed the equivalent of building two Panama Canals every month with a fat surplus to boot; that’s an understatement, it still doesn’t begin to express it all, the total is simply beyond the compass of one’s understanding. Here was displayed a strength greater even than cocky Americans in the old days of unlimited self-confidence had supposed; strength to which nothing – literally nothing, in the physical sense – was any longer impossible.’”

During the not-so-ordinary time of the Roosevelt administration, the White House itself wasn’t a typical White House, it was more of a hotel where guests of the President and/or the First Lady would come and stay, sometimes for years. Famously, one of the strongest friendships he ever enjoyed was with Winston Churchill. Brought together because of the war, the two seemed like they had been best friends all their lives. When spending time together personally, they would work very hard on the pressing issues of the war and then, when all that could be done was done, they would go off and play even harder. Both world leaders were very social and were very great conversationalists. Much to Eleanor’s dismay, both enjoyed a good stiff drink too. Roosevelt made friends quickly and seemed to thrive when surrounded by people who helped him in his work and who could help him relax. His wife didn’t fit into that latter group.

While FDR was a mix of hard work and hard play, it seemed his estranged wife was a case of hard work and no (at least hardly any) play. Many times the First Lady was on the go from the break of dawn to the next break of dawn! Eleanor Roosevelt came from wealth as well as FDR, but her childhood was not nearly as happy. Her alcoholic father, who adored her, died when she was young and her mother never seemed to approve of Eleanor. Growing up with a low sense of self-esteem, things changed when she went to England to school and met a teacher who praised Eleanor for her intelligence. She blossomed at that school. After marrying FDR, her confidence would falter again under her overbearing mother-in-law. FDR’s mother seemed to have a say in every aspect of the young Roosevelts’ life, even how the children were raised. Eleanor’s self-esteem plummeted. Her friendships with some other women (to her mother-in-law’s chagrin many of them lesbians, who FDR’S mother termed “she-men”), however, would prove an important fountain for her emerging self-confidence. Her friends encouraged her to teach (which she reluctantly gave up after going to the White House) and to write. Her column “My Day” appeared in thousands of newspapers six days a week across the country. When she discovered a lengthy affair FDR had been having in the early years of their marriage, instead of divorcing, which would have been “political suicide” for FDR (also rumor has it that his mother had vowed to disinherit him if he divorced), the two reinvented their “marriage.” They lived separate lives; yet there was a seemingly unbreakable bond of affection and mutual admiration between them. Eleanor was more than happy to serve as FDR’s legs and eyes out among the people. From FDR she learned how to look beyond the surface in a situation and get a real feel of how people were being treated. This became Eleanor’s cause: people, most notably those living on the fringes of society.

It made no sense to Eleanor to fight for democracy abroad but not at home. She was very concerned about the plight of the needy (and started her own community in the Appalachians), the African-American population, the role of women in the work force, the refugee children in England who needed a safe place to come during the war, and the displaced Jewish refugees. (Eleanor wanted to provide easier access for the displaced Jewish refugees here; but FDR thought the best way to help the Jewish population was simply win the war.) She was dead set against the internment camps for the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. She didn’t see the great social changes she wanted to, yet great strides were made, albeit painfully and slowly. The desegregation of the military and in the factory started in the WWII years. A lot of these changes came about because Eleanor Roosevelt lent her voice and position to these causes. She was well loved by many and hated by as many because of it. If FDR would be confronted about her, he would say “She’s my wife. I can’t do anything about her.” So, while President Roosevelt’s main focus remained outward - on how to win the war abroad; Eleanor focused inwardly – on how to win the war at home. It was a great balancing act and it worked.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to be elected for an unprecedented four terms. His death in April 1945, only a few months into his fourth term, (and sadly, only a few short weeks before the victory in Europe), sent the country into a state of mourning. Many teenagers and young adults of that era had not known any other President. “Those who had just reached the legal voting age of twenty-one in time for his fourth election had been only nine years old when he took the oath of office for the first time. Schoolgirl Anne Relph remembered riding her bicycle back to the playground after hearing that Roosevelt had died, “ ‘and feeling, as a child, that this was going to be the end of the world, because he was the only president I’d ever known. I was almost not aware that there could be another president. He had always been THE PRESIDENT, in capital letters. ‘”

“It may well be that a social revolution is not possible without war or violent internal upheaval. These provide a unity of purpose and an opportunity for change that are rarely present in more tranquil times. But as the history of other countries and America’s own experience after World War I illustrates, war and revolution are no guarantee of positive social change. That depends on the time, the nation, and the exercise of leadership. In providing that leadership, Franklin Roosevelt emerges as the towering public figure of the twentieth century.”

*******
5 Stars is not enough for this book that won Goodwin the Pulitzer Prize.

11RidgewayGirl
Lug 3, 2013, 2:28 pm

That was a great review! Now, go post it on the book's page, please.

12avidmom
Lug 3, 2013, 2:53 pm

Thank you so much Ridgeway. It's a great book!

Now, go post it on the book's page, please.
Done. :)

13NanaCC
Lug 3, 2013, 3:20 pm

This is going to be high on my TBR. I loved Team of Rivals, and I have always been fascinated by the Roosevelts. Thank you for such a wonderful review.

14avidmom
Lug 3, 2013, 4:20 pm

>NanaCC - It's another tome but I found it an easier read than Team of Rivals. There was never a dull moment.

15avidmom
Modificato: Lug 3, 2013, 8:44 pm


Since my copy of No Ordinary Time belongs to the library, and they tell me I've held onto it long enough, I wanted to make a spot to post some quotes by Eleanor that didn't quite fit into the review, but I thought were interesting.

"We do not have to become heroes overnight," ... "Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down. ... The thing always to remember," she said, is that "you must do the thing you think you cannot do."
*************************************************************************************
In his State of the Union address on Jan. 6, 1941, Roosevelt presented his lend-lease plan to help the Allies and went on to speak of other goals also being fought for at home: "equality of opportunity, jobs for those who could work, security for the needy, the ending of special privilege for the few, the preservation of civil liberties for all." Eleanor was thrilled to hear these words being spoken by her husband. However, all was not peachy keen with the First Lady. She found reason to take the Republican party to task publicly in her "My Day" column:

"... she angrily observed that the Republicans had failed to applaud the president's adress. " 'It looked to me as though those men were saying to the country as a whole, 'we are Republicans first. We represent you here in Congress not as citizens of the U.S. in a period of crisis, but as members of a political party which seeks primarily to promote its own partisan interests.' This is to me shocking and terrifying. There was running through my mind as I watched them, in what would have been an act of childish spite, if it had not been such a serious moment in history, the lines of a song which was popular when I was young: 'I don't want to play in your yard. I don't love you any more.'"

************************************************************************************
When Eleanor met professional women, she was awed by them:
"If ever I had to go out and earn my own living," she conceded, "I doubt if I'd even make a very good cleaning woman. I have no talents, no experience, no training for anything."
These same women Eleanor was so in awe of inspired her to do things and discover her own innate talents. What a transformation to go from feeling like she couldn't even be a good cleaning woman, to, in the years before her death at age 77 in 1962, being "often called 'the greatest woman in the world'."

16NanaCC
Lug 3, 2013, 5:47 pm

"we are Republicans first. We represent you here in Congress not as citizens of the U.S. in a period of crisis, but as members of a political party which seeks primarily to promote its own partisan interests.' This is to me shocking and terrifying. There was running through my mind as I watched them, in what would have been an act of childish spite, if it had not been such a serious moment in history, the lines of a song which was popular when I was young: 'I don't want to play in your yard. I don't love you any more.'"

This sounds so familiar.....

17avidmom
Lug 3, 2013, 6:36 pm

This sounds so familiar.....

Yep!

18baswood
Lug 3, 2013, 7:15 pm

Excellent review of No Ordinary Time. I learnt a lot just from your review.

19Polaris-
Lug 3, 2013, 7:40 pm

Great review. I learnt a little about FDR and the New Deal when I was a sixth former at school (ages 17-18), and was always an admirer of him from afar as one of the greatest US Presidents. I also know that Churchill was extremely grateful that he was in the White House when the Second World War came around. I was lucky, as very few Brits are taught much at school about any American administrations really... But I never really learnt anything about Eleanor.

I have to put this on the wishlist it sounds great.

20avidmom
Lug 3, 2013, 10:00 pm

>18 baswood: & 19 Thanks baswood and Polaris. My knowledge of America during WWII when I began the book was pretty sketchy, at best, and I live here!

21avidmom
Lug 3, 2013, 10:27 pm


This was posted by my friendly bookstore on their Facebook page. It's been hot here lately. And humid. And icky. And gross. I don't like it; nobody in their right mind does. Here in the Southern California desert we're used to triple digit heat, but not the humidity. And when it's 103 degrees at 6:30 in the evening, one has to wonder what we've done to make Mother Nature so mad.

So yesterday my friend and I attached the prerequisite heat shields (well, it would have been a good idea) to her car and went out to lunch and then, of course, to the bookstore. I tried to be good and not buy too much to add to my mountain of books brought home already, but I found some stuff to give away (I feel less guilty that way.)

For my son:
A book on one of his favorite video games, "Super Scribblenauts: Prima Official Game Guide"
And an audio book by his favorite YA author, Jerry Spinelli, titled: Smiles to Go.

For my mother, who is on a Bible study kick with my aunt:
What Paul Meant by Garry Wills

The timing could not have been better because waiting at the bookstore was a book on Roosevelt's first 100 days as President: Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America by Adam Cohen.

Also brought home was The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith. I've already read it but I own most of the series and this particular title had been missing from it.

22NanaCC
Lug 3, 2013, 10:50 pm

Mother Nature has been rather cruel all around this year. We had a late start to summer as it stayed quite cold. We have had rain almost every day for the past few weeks. The sun will come out just long enough to get your hopes up. And it is hotter than I like it (not 103, thank goodness), but humid. Tornadoes in the Midwest. She must be mad about something.

23kidzdoc
Lug 6, 2013, 10:14 am

Wow! I loved your review of No Ordinary Time, avidmom, and your quote about the Republican Party's response to FDR's 1941 State of the Union address was chilling and, as you said, all too familiar. This definitely goes onto the wish list.

24RidgewayGirl
Lug 6, 2013, 3:51 pm

Weatherwise, we're having a great summer in the SC. It's much cooler than normal, with thunderstorms most afternoons. Of course the mosquitos are thriving, but so are the gardens. It's humid, but that's an immutable fact in this part of the world.

25avidmom
Lug 6, 2013, 4:50 pm

>22 NanaCC: & 24 Humidity! Mosquitoes! Yuck. A nice thunderstorm, to cool things off and break up some of the humidity here, I'd be all for it! As a Midwestern gal, I know about humidity and mosquitoes and there's not too much of either one (usually) around here. I don't miss either of them. I do miss the summer rain, though.

>23 kidzdoc: Thanks kidzdoc. I loved No Ordinary Time and hated taking it back to the library today.

26avidmom
Lug 6, 2013, 5:07 pm

I've been going through my old American Heritage magazines and found some interesting articles.

Marking them here:

"The Wrong Man at the Wrong Time" about the presidency of Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression.
http://www.americanheritage.com/content/wrong-man-wrong-time?page=show
To understand the popularity of FDR it's important to understand the unpopularity of Hoover.

"Churchill Offers Toil and Tears to FDR: The world-shaping relationship between these two giants got off to a rocky start"

http://www.americanheritage.com/content/churchill-offers-toil-and-tears-fdr
***********************************************************************

Going back a little further in time, and one of my favorite articles:
"Strong Enough to Float an Iron Wedge: How Coffee helped win the Civil War"
http://www.americanheritage.com/content/%E2%80%9Cstrong-enough-float-iron-wedge%...

27avidmom
Lug 12, 2013, 12:04 pm


28rebeccanyc
Lug 12, 2013, 2:50 pm

#27 Love it!

29avidmom
Lug 12, 2013, 3:54 pm

>28 rebeccanyc: It's funny because it's true!

30avidmom
Modificato: Lug 12, 2013, 5:55 pm


Eleanor Roosevelt's My Day: Her Acclaimed Column: Volume III: The Postwar Years

Eleanor Roosevelt didn't let the death of her husband slow her down too much. It was only a few days after the funeral that she picked up with her column, "My Day." This book is a compilation of her "best" columns (or, I gather, excerpts of her best). The book is organized according to year and before each column is a little paragraph or two explaining what was going on in the world at the time to give the writing some context. As I went through the book I marked the passages I thought were most interesting or inspiring.

At first I was disappointed when I saw that this was the postwar years, I originally wanted to read the columns that were written during WWII, but since No Ordinary Time ends at the death of Pres. Roosevelt, it turned out to be rather nice to pick up the story where I left off, April 1945. (FDR died April 12).


HYDE PARK, APRIL 24 - "Before very long, the simple stone which my husband described very carefully for us will be in place. But in the meantime the children and dogs will be quite unconscious that here a short time ago a solemn military funeral was held, and they will think of it as a place where flowers grow and where the hedge protects them from the wind and makes the sun shine down more warmly. And that is as my husband would have it. He liked children and dogs and sunshine and flowers, and they are all around him now."

1946
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 16 - "My visit to Frankfurt was packed so full of emotions it is hard to give you an adequate idea of what I saw and how I felt. Yesterday morning, we visited the Zeilsheim Jewish displaced-persons camp. It is one of the best, since the people are living in houses previously occupied by Germans. ... They made me a speech at a monument they have erected to the six million dead Jewish people. I answered from an aching heart. When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?..."

1947
Eleanor was no big fan of Henry Wallace, Roosevelt's last vice president, but she still found reason to defend him from Sen. McCarthy's Red Scare, which was starting to grow rampantly during the post-war years.

CAMPOBELLO ISLAND, N.B., JULY 24 - "...It stated that the Un-American Activities Committee was going to examine Henry Wallace and anyone suggesting his nomination as leader of a third party because, forsooth, they heard that the people backing a third party were all Communists. This is really too idiotic. Naturally the Communists in this country are going to back a third party - they are a disruptive force and a third party would be something which they would back. But to label all liberals as Communists just because you or I think them foolish to consider a third party is just plain arrogance. When will our sense of humor reassert itself and dominate our foolish fears? ..."

1948
Eleanor, whose main priority in life was always people, wrote about her dilemma when finding a man on the sidewalk in New York. When this column was being written Eleanor was working hard with the U.N. on the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights".

NEW YORK, MAY 15 - "...He lay there drunk or ill or asleep - very thin and very poor-looking. People glanced at him and hurried by. Some of us made sure he was breathing. But here in a big city, what did one do with a stranger who lay senseless and helpless on the sidewalk? What we did do was to report him to the first policemen we met - which I suppose was the proper thing to do - but it left me feeling very odd. The story of the Good Samaritan kept running through my head, and I wondered whether it was possible in a big city to feel the same responsibility for your fellow man as you would feel on a country road. ... And the next day, at Lake Success, as we argued about human rights at a committee meeting, I wondered how many human rights that poor man had. At heart I imagine I am really a country bumpkin - I like to know my neighbors and to have some sense of responsibility for them."

"PARIS, DECEMBER 10 - I would have been delighted to see in the preamble a paragraph alluding to the Supreme Power. I knew very well, however, there were many men around the table who would violently be opposed to naming God, and I did not want it put to a {roll call} because I thought for those of us who are Christians it would be rather difficult to have God defeated in a vote."

1949
HYDE PARK, JULY 15 - "... This is no real reason why every school should not teach every child that one of the important aspects of our life is its spiritual side. It might be possible to devise a prayer that all the denominations could say and it certainly ought to be possible to read certain verses from the Bible every day. It probably would do children no harm to learn to know some of the writings of other great religious leaders who have led other great religious movements."

HYDE PARK, NOVEMBER 14 - "News of a recent Supreme Court ruling has pleased me more than anything I have read in a long time, since it seemed a step forward in the field of conservation. The ruling, by upholding the power of the State of Washington to compel persons engaged in commercial logging operations to reforest cut-over areas, reaffirmed the concept that man is the trustee of the land for the general welfare. ..."

HYDE PARK, DECEMBER 16 - "I might as well own up to the fact that to please my son,, Elliott, I have broken all my vows and finally am sitting for a portrait done by Douglas Chandor. ... And while I hope that this portrait of me will be kept from public view until after I am dead, I have to acknowledge that he is a remarkable painter and that my grandchildren will find in me much more that is pleasant and agreeable to look at in an ancestor than really exists! ..."
This portrait is included in the picture section of the book.

1950
LOS ANGELES, JANUARY 18 - "... My son, John, took Anna, Miss Thompson and me to lunch yesterday at Romanoff's and I had the pleasure of seeing a number of the famous Hollywood people - Walter Wanger; George Jessel; Freman Gosden and Charles Correll, of "Amos and Andy" fame; and Humphrey Bogart, who flattered me greatly by bringing me a copy of my book, This I Remember, to sign. ..."

HYDE PARK, MARCH 24 - "The other night I went to see T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party." ... I came out not knowing what the play was really supposed to make me understand. I don't usually find plays difficult to understand and thought perhaps I was too far back to hear the lines clearly, so I certainly am going to buy the play and read it. Perhaps, however, many of us like to be bewildered, and if we don't understand the author's meaning very well we decide he must be doing something extremely clever! ..."

1952
NEW DELHI, MARCH 1 - "... We returned in time for a reception given at the Ladies Club in Lahore. Then I spoke to a group of students at Lahore University and later attended a large women's dinner at which some of the younger women did folk dances for me. And in a very few minutes I taught them the Virginia reel, dancing it to their own Pakistani music."

In 1952, McCarthyism, or the Red Scare, had really taken hold and Eleanor found more than one reason to confront it.

NEW YORK, APRIL 19 - "I wonder if many of my readers noticed that an organization that seems to stem somewhat from the old America-Firster group was formed the other day to prove that General Dwight D. Eisenhower is closely associated with Communists. This type of thing is becoming so ludicrous that each time it happens we should point it out and say to ourselves: 'How stupid can we be? Is hysterical fear turning us all into morons?'..."

When Mary McLeod Bethune, a lady who Mrs. Roosevelt looked up to, was accused of being a Communist, Eleanor did not keep her mouth shut. Mrs. Bethune had been the Director, Division of Negro Affairs in the National Youth Administration from 1936-1944 and had founded the Bethune-Cookman college in Florida. Mrs. Bethune served as president of the school for 20 years. When a speaking engagement was cancelled because of the accusations, Eleanor took to her column to defend her hero.

NEW YORK, MAY 3 - "...She is the last person that I can imagine any thinking person would believe to be a Communist. This is again that pernicious thing that we are allowing to bedevil us: guilt by association. She is accused, I believe, of having gone to Communist-front organizations to speak, even of having belonged to some of these subversive groups. ... if she went to them to speak, she undoubtedly did them good. Mary McLeod Bethune would meet the devil and confront him with Christ and I would feel quite sure that she and Christ would triumph. If it were not so sad to have respected and beloved American citizens insulted and slighted, it would be funny. But those of us who have loved and known Mrs. Bethune for many years must speak up in her defense. If we do not, then this country of ours is in danger of curtailing the liberties for which our forefathers fought. ... people should be considered innocent until they are proved guilty under the law ... a life of work and service should carry some weight against the idle accusations of a group of extremists. ..."

HYDE PARK, AUGUST 29 - "... The only organization I ever sponsored which had any degree of Communist control was the American Youth Congress in the early thirties ... the bulk of the membership was not then, and was never later, Communistic. ... My devotion to my country and to democracy is quite as great as that of Senator McCarthy. I do not like his methods or the results of his methods and I would like to say ... that I think those of us who worked with young people in the thirties did more to save many of them from becoming Communists than Senator McCarthy has done for his fellow citizens with all his slurs and accusations. .... I despise the control they {Communist representatives of the USSR} insist on holding over men's minds. And that is why I despise what Senator McCarthy has done, for he would use the same methods of fear to control all thought that is not according to his own pattern - in our free country!"

HYDE PARK, SEPTEMBER 24 - "...What is required is that where a man is a public servant he should not receive money from sources which, no matter how respectable, may bring some undue influence to bear. These friends might expect some return for their gifts at a given point where their own interests are concerned and a public official .... would perhaps find it difficult to vote according to his conscience against the wishes of people who had been upholding some special interests of his. ..."
**************************************************************************************************************
Her column, "My Day," was a platform for her to write about everything and anything - from the pleasure and practicality of freezing one's own garden-grown vegetables to what was happening at the U.N. to the adventures of FDR's little Scottie dog, Fala. She spoke on radio and, in the early 50s, actually hosted her own TV show, "Eleanor Roosevelt's Weekly Forum." I think if she were alive today she'd probably have her own blog, write books and be a frequent guest on "The Daily Show" or "The Colbert Report." She was incredibly witty, smart and compassionate. Most of all, she was an idealist who really thought she, and everybody, no matter who or where they were, could contribute to make the world a better place.

http://www.radley.org.uk/userfiles/file/OR/pdf/Old%20Radleian/2010/Douglas%20Cha... (scroll down to page 14 for Chandor's portrait)

http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/browsebyyear.cfm (an electronic compilation of all her columns by year)

31baswood
Lug 12, 2013, 6:05 pm

Enjoying reading those excerpts from Eleanor Roosevelt's My Diary.

32avidmom
Lug 12, 2013, 10:24 pm

>31 baswood: baswood, she sure was a go-getter and didn't slow down at all. I love the fact that Humphrey Bogart asked her for her autograph! That's pretty awesome!

33NanaCC
Lug 13, 2013, 12:29 am

I have always been impressed by stories of Eleanor Rooseevelt. I am looking forward to reading No Ordinary Time, and the diary entries in "My Day" sound fascinating.

34avidmom
Lug 13, 2013, 3:20 pm

I agree with you Nana, she is impressive. We could use more people like her. I am looking very forward to what you think of No Ordinary Time!

Eleanor Roosevelt's Human Rights speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPVWmmVKVk0

35detailmuse
Lug 16, 2013, 5:52 pm

>10 avidmom: No Ordinary Time: wow! Terrific review, onto the wishlist. I printed the quotes in >30 avidmom: to read offline.

>21 avidmom: Perfect image. Those temps are now in my area.

36avidmom
Lug 16, 2013, 9:48 pm

>35 detailmuse: Thank you detailmuse! No Ordinary Time was one of the best books I've read in a long time. Those "My Day" columns were fun to read.

37avidmom
Lug 16, 2013, 9:55 pm



Sunday morning on my way to give Big Kid his weekly driving lesson, we discovered this swallowtail butterfly in the corner of the front yard. Big Kid was nice enough to take lots of pics. for his butterfly obsessed mama.

38NanaCC
Lug 17, 2013, 9:34 am

I planted a butterfly bush near my front window. It attracts loads of butterflies, and hummingbirds too. Double the pleasure!

39Polaris-
Lug 17, 2013, 5:13 pm

Great passages and comments on Eleanor Roosevelt's My Day. This one stands out for me (tweak a few select words and this could almost be a Jon Stewart quip):

NEW YORK, APRIL 19 - "I wonder if many of my readers noticed that an organization that seems to stem somewhat from the old America-Firster group was formed the other day to prove that General Dwight D. Eisenhower is closely associated with Communists. This type of thing is becoming so ludicrous that each time it happens we should point it out and say to ourselves: 'How stupid can we be? Is hysterical fear turning us all into morons?'..."

40avidmom
Modificato: Lug 17, 2013, 6:02 pm

>39 Polaris-: Polaris, I think Eleanor would be a great fit on "The Daily Show."

>38 NanaCC: Nana, you would fit in so well here - with our hummingbird feeders & big butterfly bush in the back yard! Unfortunately, we don't get as many butterfly visitors as I'd like to. When a butterfly does show up people here actually come and get me!

41Polaris-
Lug 17, 2013, 6:08 pm

Is what you Americans call a 'Butterfly Bush' the same as what we do in Britain? Buddleja sp. is the genus. They tend to be disregarded by many as they are such hardy shrubs that their urban habit is often a crumbling wall or an overshadowed or neglected rooftop, but I think they make a lovely garden feature if given the right space to grow in - an uncramped corner for example - and the flutterbys really do love them!

42NanaCC
Lug 17, 2013, 8:14 pm

Paul, I believe that is correct. "Even though there are over 100 species of Buddleias (also written Buddleja), most commercially available butterfly bushes are variations of Buddleia davidii. These bushes are hardy to minus 20 degrees and grow between 6 and 15 feet tall."

43SassyLassy
Modificato: Lug 18, 2013, 8:44 am

>41 Polaris-: That's the one. They are not nearly as hardy in my part of the world, which is probably why they are considered such a treat here. The season is such that they never get to 15 feet, six if you're really lucky, but the blooms are wonderful.

ETA It's been an amazing year for butterflies. I've had to get out guides more than once. Has this happened in other parts of the world?

44avidmom
Lug 18, 2013, 11:33 am

We have quite a group of hummingbirds in our backyard and a beautiful Mr. and Mrs. Oriole (gorgeous birds - sound funny though) but not a lot of butterflies. *sigh*

45avidmom
Modificato: Lug 18, 2013, 11:38 am

Hmmm .... This sounds like something ER would say but it's not ....
"What's up with that? Is our country so divided that my mere proximity to the "other side" prompts otherwise sensible adults to scoop up their marbles and go home?" - Mike Rowe


Mike Rowe was on "Real Time with Bill Maher" last Friday. It was a good one. Not everybody was happy about Rowe being on the show: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=627279553948858&set=a.15134249154256...

46avidmom
Modificato: Lug 21, 2013, 12:38 am


The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Narrated by Christopher Evan Welch

One of my goals for this year was to get through an audio book. On one of my last trips to our local library I found these neat little devices called "Playaway" - a preloaded audio book. Stick in some ear phones, press the button and go. (The librarian even handed me a triple A battery for the thing! What service!) They didn't have a lot of titles to choose from (lots of books on CD, but not these little doomahickies). This seemed to be the most promising among the tiny Playaway collection.

The Art of Racing in the Rain, is about Enzo and his master Denny. Enzo tells his story and we get to see what the world is like through his eyes. Enzo is a little ticked. Why do monkeys have thumbs? Dogs are so much smarter. Stupid monkeys! Why can't dogs talk? He could be so much more help if he could talk to Denny. But, no, he's just a dog. Just a "dumb dog." And, of course, Enzo is smarter and kinder than quite a few people. (The fact that dogs are smarter than some people isn't news to anyone who's ever had the joy of owning - or being owned by - a great dog.) Enzo is a very learned dog; his master Denny leaves the TV on for him when he's away. Enzo learns a lot from TV. One day he watches a life-changing documentary about Mongolia. In Mongolia they believe if a dog is very good, he will get to be a man in the next life. One of Enzo's dreams is to come back as a man and talk to Denny.

In Enzo's eyes, Denny is not only "the best master ever", he is the Champion with a capital C. Not only can Denny stand on two feet and chew his food slowly (a fascination to Enzo), he is, according to Enzo, the best race car driver that ever was. Enzo can't (usually) go to the track with Denny but he gets to watch Denny's races on videotape. One of his favorites is watching a particular race where the drivers are forced to race in the rain. Denny is a master at racing in the rain. Racing in the rain takes special skill. Through the course of the story Denny marries and starts a family. Enzo has to deal with these new people. Then the rain falls in Denny's life and when it does it's a hard, hard rain. Denny can race in the rain on the track; can he race in the rain in real life?

Of course, Enzo is right there by Denny's side loving Denny and loving the people Denny loves and wishing he could do more to help.

This was a sweet story and a great read (or listen) for anyone who loves dogs. It was fun to hear Enzo narrate his life and how he had a better understanding of people than the people had of each other. He's a deep thinker, this Enzo, and he philosophizes quite a bit. The ending is a bit predictable (and corny) but it works here. Not quite Hallmark-y, but close.

I've been under the weather this week so this was a great thing to do. Lay in bed ('cause I had no energy to do anything else, though I gave it the old college try once or twice) and listen to somebody read to me. Christopher Evan Welch did an excellent job as the narrator.

A good 3 and 1/2 star read that 1) Made me miss my old departed black Lab from years ago (that's a big hole in my heart still) and 2) made me want to go out and get a dog.

This was a good start for my ventures into audio.
****************************************************

47NanaCC
Lug 20, 2013, 9:50 pm

Avidmom, does your library have MP3 downloads? Sometimes there is a bigger selection there. You would need some sort of an MP3 player in order to listen though. I have an iPod, and download to that. I also get free Kindle loans that way.

48avidmom
Lug 21, 2013, 12:48 am

Yes they do Nana. I'm not sure if it's that extensive of a collection but it's an option. Now that I know I can get through an audio book I might give it a try. :)

49kidzdoc
Lug 21, 2013, 3:03 am

Nice review of The Art of Racing in the Rain, avidmom.

50NanaCC
Lug 21, 2013, 6:33 am

>48 avidmom: My library system doesn't have a huge selection of Kindle books, or at least not many of interest to me. But I have found some good ones. My son has done audio, but I have an Audible membership, so pay my monthly fee for credits that I use when I am in the mood for new audio books. My daughter lives in a city, and their library system seems to have a huge selection of Kindle books available for free download. You do sometimes have to wait in line for the good books.

51Polaris-
Lug 21, 2013, 9:12 am

Free audiobooks from the library have been my big discovery of the last few years. Especially good for when I was self-employed and doing loads of long drives. Now that I'm not though, I like to still have one on the go in the car for the commute, (especially nice for when the radio news is just too grim - i.e. pretty much all the time!) or sometimes parked up for lunch somewhere quiet with a nice view (Wales is good for that!).

Basically, about every month or so, I log in to my profile on the local library's county network - search through on another tab all of my most recently added on LT, and see how many are available at the library (they can order it in if the physical copy is held at another branch somewhere else in the county, or in storage). I'm often surprised by how many that ARE. I add them to a list on the library website that I have going on my profile, so when the mood takes me for a new audiobook - all I have to do is check my 'audiobooks' list that I've been gradually adding to over the previous months...

52dchaikin
Lug 21, 2013, 11:21 am

Catching up, love all the stuff about FDR and ER (and was glad to read your educated trashing of the movie in your part 1 thread). That comment Polaris highlighted, "...is hysterical fear turning us all into morons" struck me as well as so appropriate for our times...although the definintion of what that fear is of today is not so simple as when she wrote.

But...she seems soft on McCarthy. ??

I won't read The Art of Racing in the Rain, but really enjoyed your review. It seemed an apt metaphor for life difficulties.

53avidmom
Modificato: Lug 21, 2013, 12:37 pm

>49 kidzdoc: Thanks kidzdoc.

>50 NanaCC: & 51 Nana and Polaris, I'll stick to the freebies from the library as much as possible. I've been tempted to join audible.com before but have resisted so far. Our library system works much the same way; I can request just about anything. Unfortunately, more times than not they don't have the titles I've added to my wishlist. But the times they do have a title I want makes it OK.

>52 dchaikin: Thanks Dan. But...she seems soft on McCarthy. ?? I don't know about "soft" but since, at the time these columns were being written, she was a delegate to the U.N. she tried to be "tactful" in her criticisms. There was a little comment at the end of the book that said once she no longer was working with the U.N., she didn't hold back anymore. It was clever advertising for the next volume in the series: Something along the line of "If you want to know what she really thinks, read our next book!" Clever.

54detailmuse
Lug 22, 2013, 6:22 pm

I also thought The Art of Racing in the Rain was a sweet story and I liked Enzo, the philosopher dog.

While easing yourself into audiobooks, you might try some memoirs, especially humorous ones and/or those read by the author, for example Bossypants and Anne Lamott's personal essays.

55avidmom
Lug 22, 2013, 9:53 pm

>54 detailmuse: I fell in love with Enzo. If Bossypants is a title my library has, I will certainly check it out. Thanks for the recommendations.

56avidmom
Modificato: Lug 28, 2013, 1:23 pm





Golden Era Productions

I have to hand it to the Scientologists, Golden Era is a pretty spot.

57kidzdoc
Lug 28, 2013, 1:52 pm

Gorgeous photos!

58JDHomrighausen
Lug 28, 2013, 2:17 pm

The strangest part to me is the cross at the top. Did they buy the property from a Christian church, or are they trying to make a statement about themselves?

The local Scientology center in downtown Mountain View closed and I was pretty glad. But then I saw they simply had moved. Darn.

59avidmom
Lug 28, 2013, 4:52 pm

Thanks kidzdoc. They are borrowed *ahem* from the Internet.

I can't figure out the cross either. ?????

60avidmom
Modificato: Ago 5, 2013, 1:58 pm


Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman

This may not have been a book I would have chosen to read normally. I have little more than a passing curiosity in the subject of Scientology as a religion. However, having lived with Golden Era Studios in my back yard for so many years now, my curiosity ratcheted up a notch or two. When bragan reviewed this particular book last year and said that indeed, Golden Era was written about quite a bit, I knew I had to get to this one. Fortunately, my library had a copy.

My “introduction” to Scientology came about in the form of a very excited L. Ron Hubbard trying to sell me his book Dianetics through the television airwaves. Then when I moved to this area of Southern California, I used to have to drive past Golden Era Studios on the way to school and/or work. Since there was such a cloud of mystery surrounding Golden Era, it was inevitable that the rumours would start flying about. They ranged from the benign (and hopeful): it was going to be a gimmicky restaurant – because of the giant ship (think Captain Jack Sparrow’s “Black Pearl” rising up in the middle of the desert!); it was going to be a small family amusement park (because of the castle); it was going to be a resort (there’s a gorgeous golf course); to the not-so-nice rumor that it was a studio for porn films. Or worse: snuff films! Of course, none of the rumors proved true. Golden Era, it was eventually discovered, was run by the Church of Scientology, which, of course, led everyone to the question: what’s Scientology.

Inside Scientology does not really answer that question completely. Reitman chooses to focus more on the organization of Scientology so if you want to find out what Scientologists believe this may not be the best place to answer that particular question. But if you want to know where Scientology came from and how it has evolved (or devolved perhaps) into the organization it is today; this is a great starting point. For those who are mildly curious and feel no need to dig deeper, this book will probably fit the bill. (And there is quite an extensive bibliography at the back of the book for those who want to delve deeper into the subject.) There is quite a bit of background on L. Ron Hubbard. The author delves into his personality, his sci-fi writing career, the over-the-top success of Dianetics when it first came outin the 50s. What I found quite disturbing was Hubbard’s one degree of separation from Alistair Crowley who called L. Ron Hubbard a “con artist”!

Although the book focuses mostly on the organization of Scientology there is information on Scientology doctrine. You’ll learn words like “thetan” and “engrams” (“Painful or traumatic moments … recorded in the reactive mind as lasting scars”) and “auditing.” It’s interesting to find how Hubbard introduces new words or redefines old words which makes for what some former adherents have called an “Orwellian” atmosphere. There are some, um, interesting concepts too from the “tone scale” Hubbard wrote about in his book Science of Survival. According to Hubbard there are “…eighty emotional ‘tones’ or levels, ranging from +40.0 (serenity of being) to -40 (total failure). The higher up the tone scale a person was positioned, the more emotionally and spiritually alive he or she would be….” Where one registers on the tone scale also determines one’s body odor and whether one has bad breath. Hubbard also wrote about the origin of life too:
“In his 1952 book The History of Man, Hubbard ventured away from the psychological into what could easily be read as pure fantasy. But Hubbard began the book by telling readers it was ‘a cold-blooded and factual account’ of the past sixty trillion years of their own existence. … Scientology helped fill in the blanks {of evolution} by explaining the various phases of development through the prism of engrams. Some engrams on the evolutionary chain could be traced back to a mollusk-centered era, dominated by a deadly incident known as the Clam….”


As the book progresses, Reitman exposes more of the cult-like and scandalous aspects of Scientology: how people sign billion year contracts (not only are you hooked for this lifetime, but for all the lifetimes to come); the way the believers are forced to literally spy on each other and report the least little infraction; and the harsh punishments doled out to those who commit any actions against the organization. A lot of time is spent on the Florida case of Lisa McPherson, who died suspiciously under the “care” of the Scientologists there. There is an interesting account of how the Scientologists went up against the IRS – and won. There’s also quite a bit of information on how the Scientologists are told to infiltrate and spy on organizations – or people - (no matter who they are) who are perceived as any kind of threat to the church (i.e. "suppressives"). Hubbard had come up with the “Fair Game Law” which dealt with “…Suppressive Persons, both within and outside the church … such enemies ‘may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.” A whole chapter is spent on the recruitment of Tom Cruise, who apparently had the red carpet rolled out for him at Golden Era Studios, the church’s International Base. And then there’s a chapter on the International Base itself – which I read with probably more interest than most given its close proximity. It was a little disconcerting reading about people who found themselves needing to escape from a place I’ve driven by so many, many times.

This was a good book and I learned a lot from it. If I have one complaint is that there’s more focus on the negative aspects; I would have liked to have known why people are attracted to this particular brand of religion and what they get out of it. There was only one interview with someone who had nothing but positives to say about the church. What is a Scientology church service like? What's the meaning of the eight-pointed cross? The doctrine of Scientology is here, but it is sketchy at best. I don’t think it’s quite the author’s fault, though, it seems that Scientology is a very esoteric religion. Even the most dedicated have their moments:

“Cruise, in the meantime, had reached OT3 … For seven years he’d waited to discover the hidden truths that he’d been promised would change his life. When he did, he had what many former Scientologists say is not an atypical reacton – “ ‘He freaked out and was like, What the fuck is this science fiction shit? As Marc Headly put it – and he took a step back.”


Well, apparently not for long.

************************************
Remember when Tom Cruise jumped Brooke Shields case on the Today show because she was taken medications for her post-partum depresson? (Scientology is very anti-psychiatry.)
It led to one of my favorite moments on "Scrubs":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHlGjt6E_X8

Here's a link to bragan's review: http://www.librarything.com/topic/142910#3671916

61detailmuse
Ago 5, 2013, 4:41 pm

>there’s more focus on the negative aspects; I would have liked to have known why people are attracted to this particular brand of religion and what they get out of it.
Me too. And like you, a bit more doctrine. But you took me from a "should know" more about Scientology to a "want to know." Love your personal connection to the topic :) Great review.

62rebeccanyc
Ago 5, 2013, 5:23 pm

I probably don't want to know more about Scientology, but I really enjoyed reading your review of this book and learned a lot from it.

63Polaris-
Ago 5, 2013, 7:35 pm

Really interesting review of Inside Scientology. Your 'local' perspective adds a novel angle. It's not a subject I know much about so I certainly learned a lot too.

64baswood
Ago 5, 2013, 7:51 pm

Sounds like science fiction to me, enjoyed your review.

65dchaikin
Ago 5, 2013, 10:01 pm

Great review. The theology doesn't interest me at all by itself, but I am curious what draws and keeps people in.

66bragan
Ago 6, 2013, 9:31 am

Yeah, I agree, the one thing that I thought was lacking in the book was a little more exploration of what ordinary Scientologists actually believe and what their day-to-day practices are. But I definitely thought it was a worthwhile read, and I'm glad you seem to have, as well!

67avidmom
Ago 6, 2013, 11:40 am

>61 detailmuse: Thanks detailmuse. Be prepared to have your mind boggled.

>62 rebeccanyc: Thanks rebeccanyc. I'm not sure if I'll read anything more on it or not.

>63 Polaris-: Polaris, if it wasn't for Golden Era so close, I'm not sure if I'd have ever been even remotely interested. Now the latest rumour I've heard around here is that if you have the misfortune of having your car break down next to Golden Era, you'll never be seen again! It's kind of like the haunted house in the neighborhood - except instead of ghosts we have Scientologists!

>64 baswood: Science fiction indeed, baswood! And what's up with the "deadly Clam incident"? Oh, nevermind. Not sure I want to know. LOL! (I didn't even get to the evil alien Xenu, even Scientologist don't know about that one until they reach a certain level. (That's what Cruise was freaking about in that quote above.)

>65 dchaikin: Thanks dchaikin. I've seen a few interviews on youtube with "former" Scientologists - the interesting thing is is that they leave the organization but still believe in Scientology. To leave the church means cutting all ties to family and friends on the "inside."

>66 bragan: Thanks for bringing yet another book to my attention bragan. I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It was recently brought to my attention that I had a very distant relative (someone I probably only met once or twice at a family reunion) who was a very devoted Scientologist. Her siblings said it was hard for her to get out of it and she didn't, as far as I know, hold any position in the church itself.

68JDHomrighausen
Ago 6, 2013, 2:55 pm

I really enjoyed your review! I too have heard of these "independent Scientologists." I am not sure what the appeal of the method is, as Reitman makes clear that it is based on pseudoscience and snake oil.m I read one of Hubbard's scientology books and it was one of the most poorly written and repetitive piles of paper I have ever read. It struck me as thinly veiled Freudian psychology, though Hubbard adamantly denies that connection.

Oh, and as for contracts. One ex-Scientologist I know had to sign a contract stating that she would never speak against the church in public.

69kidzdoc
Ago 6, 2013, 3:14 pm

Great review of Inside Scientology, avidmom!

70avidmom
Ago 6, 2013, 4:15 pm

> Thanks Jonathan.

I am not sure what the appeal of the method is,

Me neither. The best I can come up with is that it makes such great promises: total fulfillment and freedom from negativity. Then it puts tangible things in your hand (if you can afford 'em): E-meters, books, tapes, DVDs. Also, this idea of obtaining level after level on the "Bridge to Total Freedom" I guess is attractive to some. ????????? I'd have to read something by an actual former Scientologist to get a grip on it. Personally, I'll stick with my Christian faith. It's so much easier. One thing this book did was make me appreciate my faith more. Seems to me that Scientology focuses on your effort while Christianity is pretty much a done deal when you "sign up" - not that following Jesus isn't an effort but it's certainly not the oppressive one these folks have to make! One former scientologist in the book said he had spent $600,000 on Scientology paraphanalia. Can you imagine?

One ex-Scientologist I know had to sign a contract stating that she would never speak against the church in public.
Red flag alert!!!!

What book did you read?

>Thanks kidzdoc!

71JDHomrighausen
Ago 7, 2013, 1:31 pm

I don't remember. It wasn't Dianetics. I suspect Hubbard's Scientology books repeated themselves quite a bit (he wrote so many!) so I'm not sure it really matters which one, lol.

72fuzzy_patters
Ago 7, 2013, 1:44 pm

That's a very interesting review of Inside Scientology. I've never really had any interest in learning about it, but your review has piqued my interest. From some of the postings in this thread, it sounds very cult-like.

73avidmom
Ago 7, 2013, 7:16 pm

>71 JDHomrighausen: Maybe you've suppressed that particular memory. ;)

>72 fuzzy_patters: Thanks fuzzy_patters. It certainly is an interesting topic!

74avidmom
Modificato: Ago 8, 2013, 9:05 pm



When I told my friend I was reading the Scientology book she told me I had to watch this.

Joaquin Phoenix's character, Freddie Quell, who we get to see from the very start of the movie, is socially awkward and already off balance mentally. It's just after WWII and Freddie and many of his companions are suffering from what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder. More than likely, however, Quell's mental health has been a bit shaky for a long time. He's an alcoholic to boot and he's not a nice drunk either. He becomes aggressive when he drinks. Through a series of events he, quite literally, stumbles across a ship off the coast of California commandeered by "The Master" and his loyal band of cohorts. Freddie then finds himself under the wing of "The Master" (Hoffman) and a part of the beginning of Master's new movement: The Cause.

This is most definitely a very loose adaptation of the story of L. Ron Hubbard and the first days of Scientology. If I hadn't just read Reitman's book the allusions to Scientology would have been lost on me, though, and I would simply have wondered where the film writer came up with all these bizarre ideas. Tenets of Scientology show up here: things like "traveling through the Time Hole," (i.e. "auditing") where people are taken back to their past lives (Hoffman's explanation for it is almost exactly what I learned auditing to be through Inside Scientology) in order to erase all their traumas and the "communication's exercise" Freddie and Master's son-in-law engage in under the watchful eye of the Master. At one point The Master's wife (Amy Adams) says "this is something you do for a billion years or not at all" which is a definite piece of the Scientology puzzle - those billion year contracts faithful employees sign.

My friend told me that this was a very weird little film and she was right. Some of the scenes were mildly unsettling. There's no one to root for in this film; no underdog, no giant conflict except the very subtle one inside Quell himself who seems to vacillate between giving himself 100 % to "The Master" and his Cause or turning his back on the whole thing entirely. Whether The Cause has helped or hindered Quell is also a mystery.

Whether or not I liked this film is also a mystery! The acting in this film is superb all around but the problem here, for me at least, was at the end of the day, in spite of Joaquin Phoenix's stellar performance as the awkward Quell, I simply didn't care what happened to him next.

I'm glad I only spent $1.99 at my local video store to see this. Next time I want to watch Joaquin Phoenix do anything I'll grab my copy of Walk the Line.

75Mr.Durick
Ago 9, 2013, 1:21 am

I saw The Master almost a year ago. I thought that it was pretty good. It seemed to me that it wasn't as explicitly about L. Ron Hubbard as the reviews made me expect; I took that to be more of a disappointment than a fault. Now I think that you are telling us that it is more about him than I had known; cool.

Robert

76baswood
Ago 9, 2013, 7:34 am

The Master gets a fairly high rating on IMDB from movie goers. I will catch it when it turns up on TV.

77avidmom
Ago 9, 2013, 12:02 pm

>75 Mr.Durick: It certainly is Mr. Durick. L. Ron Hubbard lived at sea for quite a while, opened a center in England (which is still there I imagine) and even his affinity for Kool cigarettes, if I remember right, is part of his story.

>76 baswood: It is a strange film - because the subject matter is strange and the characters are not that likeable. My friend who recommended it to me has always claimed not to be a "movie person" but one who watches film to see the acting - and the acting here is, IMO, pretty superb. But it's not a nice little escape film. It's uncomfortable. I'd like to know what you think of it, baswood.

78avidmom
Ago 12, 2013, 12:09 pm

With summer vacation coming to an end (*sobs uncontrollably*) my oldest son and I made a trip to our local video store - one of two left standing in our area - and along with The Master rented Gangster Squad and Hitchcock.


It was my son's idea to get this one, not mine, but I ended up liking it more than I expected. Sure, the mob violence scenes were gruesome. I can't really say how much gruesome actually was on screen since I closed my eyes through those parts. It is a violent movie, not as violent as some others, but there is a lot of gun fire (not a movie to watch if you have a headache!) The story was a good one though and one supposedly not too far from the truth of what really happened. Mickey Cohen's mob is taking over Los Angeles and is buying up the supposed Good Guys in uniform and judge's robes. What to do? Simple. Take the uniforms off the really Good Guys, tell 'em to leave their badge at home, turn them into an undercover Squad that adapts mob tactics to get rid of the mob. Fight fire with fire as they say. It was a lot of fun to be able to cheer for the good guys for a change - heroes who do what is right simply because it's right with absolutely no chance of recognition or glory.

79avidmom
Ago 12, 2013, 12:59 pm



This was one of the best movies I've seen in quite a while. Alfred Hitchcock's career, as well as his marriage, is on shaky ground. He is looking for a new project: something that will catapult him into a new level of greatness. He can't find anything worth putting on screen though. And then somebody puts the book Psycho, based on the serial killer Ed Geins, in his hand. Paramount studio is against the idea. Psycho is too gruesome, too terrifying. Besides, Hitchcock is the Master of Suspense - not horror. They don't want to back the movie. Hitchcock is so passionate about his choice, though, that he and his wife mortgage their home and put up their own money to make it. Paramount, apparently, comes on board as well and we get a behind the scenes look at the making of the classic Psycho and Hitch's directing style -a style that could be cruel at times. We also get a glimpse into why he chose the particular screenwriter he did and why he chose Anthony Perkins to play the lead. Whether Hitch's career and marriage can survive his obsession with his latest project is the central question of the movie.

His wife, who actually plays a more prominent role in "Hitch's" career than most suspect, is not too thrilled with the idea of turning Psycho into a movie. She tells Hitch that the sensationalistic story is "claptrap" in the beginning. But, she has unwavering faith in her husband as a director. She does not have unwavering faith in Hitch as a husband, though. She's on the edge of having an affair - maybe. And Hitchcock has always been obsessed with his leading ladies. There's enough jealousy on both sides to ruin the couple.

The story behind the making of the American horror classic is a good one too. Even though you know that the success of Psycho is inevitable, you still find yourself holding your breath when the movie is rolled out at the end. If Psycho would have failed, the Hitchcocks would have suffered a pretty great financial loss. They gambled and won - but it just could have easily gone the other way.

Helen Mirren is such a wonderful actress that you can read every thought in her head by just the expression on her face. Anthony Hopkins absolutely and totally disappears into his role as Alfred Hitchcock. Also, I absolutely loved when Hitchcock breaks the fourth wall at the beginning and end of the movie just like he did on his show "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour."

This is one I'll probably buy and add to the collection.

80baswood
Ago 12, 2013, 5:32 pm

Enjoyed your review of Hitchcock

81Mr.Durick
Ago 12, 2013, 6:07 pm

I am glad to have your take on Gangster Squad* and Hitchcock.

I saw trailers for the former several times and wondered how it might compare to Mulholland Falls. The reviews were tepid, so I put it on my if-I-get-to-it list, and I didn't get to it.

I don't remember whether I saw any trailers for Hitchcock although I suspect I did. Once again the reviews were tepid. Coming out of another movie across town I ran into a couple I know going into Hitchcock, and it rose on my list. But its stay was short, and I didn't get to it.

You make me want to see them, and I suppose I could. I have, however, too big a stack of DVD's that I haven't watched. Perhaps if it rains DVD's...

Robert

82avidmom
Modificato: Ago 12, 2013, 6:41 pm

Thanks baswood.

Thank you, Mr. Durick.
I wasn't expecting anything from Gangster Squad except a lot of violence and a silly plot but it turned out to have an interesting story. Still, I would consider it a "popcorn movie" - fun while it lasts.

I didn't read any reviews of "Hitchcock" so I had no preconceived notions. While it may not be a great movie, IMO, it's a pretty good one - and lots of fun - especially for Hitchcock fans like yours truly.

83Jargoneer
Ago 13, 2013, 5:34 am

>79 avidmom: - I'm not sure if it has been released in the US but earlier in the year the BBC also produced a film about Hitchcock. Called The Girl, it's about the next film he made, The Birds, and his relationship with Tippi Hedren. Since it is largely based on her account Hitchcock doesn't come over very well in it but the performances are excellent. (Sadly BBC4, after producing a series of great bio-pics about performers, the last about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, have been told to stop by the powers that be).
It could be interesting to compare and contrast the two. (I'm waiting to see Hitchcock on DVD but no sign of it yet on Lovefilm).

84SassyLassy
Ago 13, 2013, 9:03 am

>81 Mr.Durick: I think Mulholland Falls was much better. As avid says, Gangster Squad was probably a popcorn movie, though the cast is excellent.

85avidmom
Modificato: Ago 13, 2013, 12:37 pm

>83 Jargoneer: Thanks Jargoneer. I'll have to see if I can find that one. There's a not too subtle hint in the movie that Hitchcock was a little too obsessed with his leading ladies and perhaps a bit of a perverted peeping tom as well. I have a vague memory of watching an interview a few years ago with an author who had written a book about Hitchcock and he didn't come off too well in that either apparently. He was a genius, though.

>84 SassyLassy: I haven't seen Mulholland Falls SassyLassy but I wouldn't doubt it's better. Gangster Squad was fun though.

ETA: What luck! I was just channel surfing and stumbled across "The Girl" - unfortunately it was in Spanish. LOL! It comes on later today (in English!) so I've got the DVR all set to record.

86avidmom
Ago 13, 2013, 9:49 pm

For all the Big Bang fans out there - we have company.
http://www.cbs.com/shows/big_bang_theory/news/1001121/

I cried at the end of an episode once too.

87detailmuse
Ago 14, 2013, 10:08 am

>avid: sweet! I most remember when Sheldon first hugged Penny -- season one I think, at the gift exchange.

88avidmom
Ago 14, 2013, 11:25 am

Yep. "The Gift Basket Hypothesis."
That's the one!

89avidmom
Ago 18, 2013, 2:51 pm


*snort*

90kidzdoc
Ago 19, 2013, 5:02 am

Whoa. That may be the most impressive superhero power ever...

91Jargoneer
Ago 19, 2013, 11:52 am

>89 avidmom: - when I was younger I always wondered what the point of Batman-Superman team-ups were. What exactly did Batman bring to the team? The ability to look mean and moody? Not much when compared to Superman's powers. Looking at your picture has now answered my question - Batman makes the coffee! I wonder if he does little bat cakes.

92avidmom
Ago 19, 2013, 2:44 pm

>90 kidzdoc: Yours truly has decided, because of some health issues, to give up the coffee for a while. It has taken superhuman strength. I haven't yet started sleeping upside down or fighting crime. But, I was mean and moody for a while - I mean, more than my usual level of mean and moody. At least, that's what they tell me here.

>91 Jargoneer: Haha! Mystery solved!

93avidmom
Ago 23, 2013, 10:26 pm



The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Because of the events that happened in Chapter One of this book, I jumped to a few conclusions about where this novel, on the list of one of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century, was going. There was the chance encounter between Miss Lily Bart and a certain gentleman. A mention of “pulses quickening” on each side was made but each maintained a rather cool distance from each other. So, I assumed this was going to be some kind of high society romance novel where Lily and her should-be-man would meet in certain drawing rooms where they would stare at each other over cups of tea with their pinkies pointed outward and neither one making a real move towards the other. Or Lily would end up with the wrong man and Mr. Right would show up and rescue her from her ghastly mistake! Then, because of some of Edith Wharton’s subtle satirical writing I thought The House of Mirth would be a social satire: a biting look at New York high society. While my assumptions were not completely wrong they certainly weren’t right either. The House of Mirth is about poor Lily, an old maid at 29, who finds herself trying to swim in the upper echelon of society where she is used to being but no longer has the means necessary to keep herself there:
“Affluence, unless stimulated by a keen imagination, forms but the vaguest notion of the practical strain of poverty. Judy knew it must be “horrid” for poor Lily to have to stop to consider whether she could afford real lace on her petticoats, and not to have a motor-car and a steam-yacht at her orders; but the daily friction of unpaid bills, the daily nibble of small temptations to expenditure, were trials as far out of her experience as the domestic problems of the charwoman. Mrs. Trenor’s unconsciousness of the real stress of the situation had the effect of making it more galling to Lily.”


The book is a series of Lily plotting to regain her social and financial status. Lily’s charm and beauty has kept her in the good graces of her high society friends, despite her financial predicament, for quite a while. She knows this can’t last though so she sets out to snag the most eligible bachelor around. She has caught the admiring eye of more than one wealthy gentleman so she should have no problem. But Lily does have a problem: herself. For some inexplicable reason, Miss Lily has a heart and scruples. It’s not in her to marry for convenience, although she thinks it is, and she simply cannot bring herself to climb the social/financial ladder on the backs of others. At first, I thought it would be hard for me to sympathize with Lily yet alone empathize with her. As the story progressed I found myself identifying more and more with Lily. When characters in the novel would treat Lily badly or snub her, I called those people bad names under my breath. I wanted to crawl inside the pages of this book and give those people a good beating!

Although some parts of the story were a bit predictable, there were enough twists and turns in the plot that kept me guessing. It made the book a page turner. Even though I struggled a bit with Wharton’s flowery prose-y language, I had to see what was going to happen next. I just had to know what was going to happen to Lily!

At the time I picked this book up I was miserably ill (emphasis on the misery part!) and wanted to escape thoroughly and completely. This book did that for me. I loved it. Miss Lily Bart will remain with me for a long, long time.

******************************************************
(My only true complaint I have about this book is about the book cover.
I think it's terribly boring!!!)

94avidmom
Modificato: Ago 24, 2013, 2:42 pm



Jargoneer recommended this movie to me after reading my "Hitchcock" review. In some wonderful twist of coincidence, I happened to catch it on TV that same day! Jargoneer is right: Hitchock doesn't come off well. He comes off as a lecherous, dirty old man. Tippi Hedren comes off as the nice girl-next-door just trying to make a living when Hitchcock casts her in his next movie masterpiece: "The Birds." She is thrilled with her chance at the big time at first but then her Cinderella story turns on her when she finds herself trying to fend off the unrelenting advances of "Hitch." While I didn't take this as gospel truth: it seemed too black and white to be reality, I got the feeling that there was more than a little truth to it, especially after seeing an interview with Tippi Hedren. The making of two movies are featured here: "The Birds" and "Marnie." I have seen the first but not the latter. I certainly appreciate "The Birds" and want to see "Marnie" now, a movie I have not seen yet.

"The Girl" may be a bit tabloid-y and a bit superficial, but I liked it well enough and I really liked the actress who played Tippi Hedren.

Thanks Jargoneer for recommending this one.

95NanaCC
Ago 24, 2013, 11:19 am

Excellent review of The House of Mirth, Avid. I loved that book, and you really did it justice with your review.

96baswood
Ago 24, 2013, 4:58 pm

Hope you are feeling better now avidmom. Great review of The House of Mirth. It is so good to get lost in a book.

97avidmom
Ago 24, 2013, 10:17 pm

Thanks Nana. Reading more by Wharton is on my to do list. I'll have to go back and read the "Introduction" and "Commentary" included in my copy.

Thanks baswood!

98Linda92007
Ago 25, 2013, 9:32 am

Great review of The House of Mirth, avidmom. I loved Ethan Frome but haven't yet gotten around to delving further into Wharton.

99avidmom
Ago 26, 2013, 11:49 am

Thanks Linda. We had to read Ethan Frome in 9th grade English class and I did not like it then. I have a feeling I'd feel differently about it today.

100Polaris-
Ago 26, 2013, 12:03 pm

Great review of The House of Mirth. I've never read any Edith Wharton so found it very interesting to get your impression.

Nice review of "The Girl" as well. We were lucky to catch it on British TV in the last Christmas holiday period. You've summed it up very nicely - we felt pretty much the same as you did. The acting performances though of Sienna Miller and Toby Jones (Hitchcock) were both superb. Jones won many plaudits a few years ago when he played Truman Capote. Funny, because I think there were two major Capote biopics at that time (the other had Philip Seymour Hoffman...), and then Jones is cast as Hitchcock exactly when there's another major production out at the same time (with Anthony Hopkins this time)! Weird.

101NanaCC
Ago 26, 2013, 12:58 pm

I saw "The Girl" on HBO a few months ago. I thought it was well done. I thought at the time it was a shame that two Hitchcock presentations were released at about the same time. I had forgotten that it had happened with the Capote releases until Paul mentioned it above.

102avidmom
Ago 27, 2013, 6:40 pm

Thanks Polaris & Nana.
I too thought it was a strange coincidence that there were two Hitchcock movies out around the same time.
If I had to recommend one movie over the other, I would recommend "Hitchcock" but then I really, really loved Sienna Miller (who I'd never heard of) in "The Girl." Loved her 60s era outfits too!

103avidmom
Modificato: Set 1, 2013, 12:00 pm



.... except, of course, during those times when you can't find the book you're reading because your house has become such a disaster lately ....

104avidmom
Modificato: Set 2, 2013, 9:27 pm

"My name is Nick Vujicic... I am twenty-seven years old. I was born without any limbs ... Every day I hear from strangers ... They approach me in airports, hotels, and restuarants and hug me, telling me that I have touched their lives in some way. I am truly blessed. I am ridiculously happy."


Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life by Nick Vujicic

My friend saw Nick Vujicic (and no, I don't know how to say that) on a Christian TV program and wanted very badly to read this. So, I found a copy and gave it to her and then, after she breezed through it, she passed it on to me to read.

You can probably tell by the cover (*duh*) that Nick has no arms or legs. It's a rare congenital medical condition called "phocomelia." As his Aussie Mum told him when he was younger, he was perfectly normal - he was just "missing a few bits and pieces." What he does have in abundance is an exceptionally strong spirit and an incredible sense of humor about his situation. An avid Christian (his father is a pastor in Australia), Nick spends his life running his "Life Without Limbs" organization and giving inspirational lectures around the world, including places where poverty and despair run rampant.

Life Wiithout Limits is one-half autobiography and one-half inspirational cheerleading. Learning about his challenges he faced growing up - and still today - was interesting, but as far as the "cheerleading" half, there wasn't much here that I found new or profound. Then again, I've been around the block a few times and have read more than one self-help/improvement book. Maybe if I was younger this book would have had a more profound impact. Since his target audience is a lot younger than yours truly, I don't really think it's fair of me to criticize the book for not having anything new to offer to me personally.

So, even though I found myself reading a lot of platitudes that I've already heard/read before, there were a lot of things here that did take me back and surprise me. His sense of "can do" attitude is pretty inspiring. Nick skateboards, scuba dives, and is a pretty good swimmer. Fishing is one of his favorite hobbies. He ain't no dummy either: he has a double major in accounting and financial planning. Nick's sense of humor is pretty awesome and he loves to play practical jokes. (Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q7Ce5Dp4kU) Nick recently married and is about to become (or has become) a father. Incredibly sincere and compassionate, Nick has touched multitude of lives around the globe with his speaking and charitable organization. He doesn't limit himself to Christian organizations either, he seems willing to go anywhere where he thinks he can do some good. It's hard not to admire this guy. No, it's impossible.

At the end of the book Nick lists his "Ridiculous Rules." Like I said before, nothing really surprised me here either, except this one, under Nick's "Play for Life" rule:

Dr. Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist and founder of the National Institute for Play, says that we are hardwired to play and that to neglect our natural playful impulses can be as dangerous as avoiding sleep. Dr Brown studied Death Row inmates and serial killers and found that nearly all of them had childhoods that lacked normal play patterns. He says the opposite of play is not work, it is depression, so play might well be considered a survival skill. ...... Studies have shown that being "lost" or totally engaged in your favorite activity, whether it's playing Monopoly, painting a landscape, or running a marathon, may just be as close to true happiness as we can get on this earth. ..." Now, that's something to think about!

Vucijic wraps up his semi autobio/inspirational book with this: Christians often are told that we are "the hands and feet of Christ" on earth. If I took that literally, I might feel a bit left out. Instead, I take it spiritually. I serve Him by touching as many lives as I can through my testimony and my example. My goal is to reflect the love of Christ for us all. He has given us life so that we might share our gifts with each other. This fills me with joy, and it should fill you with joy too...."

A quick, easy and fun read.
It gets 3 and 1/2 stars from me.

Also, here's a new discovery. Photographer Glennis Siverson
http://www.glennisphotos.com/site/
She's an award winning photographer.
Glennis is legally blind.

105JDHomrighausen
Set 2, 2013, 7:38 pm

> 103

Haha! I totally get you! I spent the last two Saturdays helping my mom unpack and re-organize her book collection. She had doubles and even triples of some books simply because she couldn't find her previous copies and therefore didn't know she already had a given book.

We eventually sorted books by genre and alphabetized them, which is a lot more than I do. I have bookcases for different genres and within that genre everything gets thrown onto the bookcase. It works well enough for me.

106avidmom
Set 2, 2013, 7:42 pm

>105 JDHomrighausen: That sounds so familiar!

107Mr.Durick
Set 2, 2013, 8:14 pm

I kept losing track of my copies of Plotinus, so one year at the Friends of the Library big annual sale I bought all of the Great Books copies of Plotinus that they had. All of the copies were the same, but some were marked more expensive than others. I showed that to a friend among the Friends, and she marked them all at the lowest price, something like a dollar. Now I don't know where any of them are.

Robert

108avidmom
Set 2, 2013, 9:00 pm

Hmmm .... maybe that particular book and you were not meant to be ..... :(

109SassyLassy
Modificato: Set 4, 2013, 12:42 pm

Great review of The House of Mirth. I really enjoyed reading about your reactions to the book as you went along.

Interesting ideas about play. There doesn't seem to be enough of it anymore.

110detailmuse
Set 3, 2013, 5:34 pm

>104 avidmom: avid -- the opposite of play is not work, it is depression
Interesting!
I saw a news segment (CBS I think) on Nick Vujicic, he's full of life and energy and I really enjoyed your review.

111kidzdoc
Set 4, 2013, 6:42 am

Nice review of Life Without Limits, avidmom!

112avidmom
Modificato: Set 4, 2013, 1:21 pm

Thanks SassyLassy, detailmuse and kidzdoc!

That part about "play" really struck home with me. During my junior college days I took a class called "Psychology of Self-Adjustment." (I needed an elective and a mental adjustment, win, win! More importantly, it fit into my schedule.) It turned out to be an interesting class. The teacher was a big fan of Gary Applegate's Skill Development Theory. At the end of the semester, as part of our final, we had to come to class and play. The teacher thought, at first, that everybody would be excited to come to his silly "fun party" and play like little kids but experience from previous semesters had taught him that more than half the class wouldn't show up. So, he decided to make it a part of the final. Those who didn't show up flunked the class.

We had a pinata, played relay races, etc. etc. ..... It was all very silly. And fun.
It's the only final I really remember.

Not sure how adjusted I am, but I did get an A in the class. :P

113avidmom
Set 6, 2013, 1:04 pm


Reading truth of the day!

114NanaCC
Set 6, 2013, 1:05 pm

>113 avidmom: Oh, so true!

115Polaris-
Set 6, 2013, 2:26 pm

^^ Ha!

116kidzdoc
Set 6, 2013, 9:05 pm

>113 avidmom: Yep. I'm sitting in my parents' living room, reading The Kills by Richard House, and even though I'm enjoying it I've been wistfully gazing at Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty by Alain Mabanckou, which is on the coffee table, along with my nearly 300 book laden Kindle.

117avidmom
Set 7, 2013, 12:20 pm

Haha. I thought we could all relate to that one, for sure.

118avidmom
Set 7, 2013, 12:51 pm



If it was't for my local library I may never have seen this movie. It was an old video copy and apparently well used. The last time I checked it out the videotape bit the dust right before the end. Aggravating to say the least. That's what when I decided this movie needed to be owned. Finally, I found it while out shopping last week for a pretty decent price.

Here's my lengthy review:
Best movie ever.

FYI:
Nobody says "Play it again, Sam."

119NanaCC
Set 7, 2013, 12:52 pm

Casablanca is in my top 10 movies. I love it.

120rebeccanyc
Set 7, 2013, 1:03 pm

Casablanca is probably my favorite movie, and I've seen it so many times I can quote almost all of it; the combined Godfather I & II are a close runner up, though.

121JDHomrighausen
Set 8, 2013, 9:01 am

That button could also be just as true if it said "buy other books."

122avidmom
Set 10, 2013, 12:27 am

123avidmom
Set 10, 2013, 12:30 am

Nana and Rebecca, the DVD version I have has some special features on it I'm looking forward to seeing - especially late Roger Ebert's opinion of the movie.

124avidmom
Modificato: Set 14, 2013, 9:47 pm

Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. "Corrie," he began gently, "when you and I go to Amsterdam - when do I give you your ticket?"
I sniffed a few times, considering this.
"Why, just before we get on the train."
"Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes ... you will look into your heart and find the strength you need - just in time."



The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

When JDHomrighausen mentioned he was reading The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, I commented on how that book had had such an influence on me when I was younger. Before I knew it, I was scanning my messy bookcases for the book to make sure it was still there. There it was. Then I was thumbing through it, then I was skimming through it. Before I knew it I was reading, again, this incredible story. It occurred to me that maybe a book that I read when I was 13-years-old would not have the same impact on me a few decades later. It surprised me to find that it did – but probably for different reasons than it did the first time around.

The Hiding Place is Corrie ten Boom’s autobiographical account of her and her family’s life in their big house, the Beje (bay-yay) in Haarlem, Holland. The book starts in 1937 with the 100th anniversary of the ten Boom’s watch shop, a landmark in the community. The ten Boom’s had lived above the watch shop in the Beje for generations. Staunchly devoted Christians, the ten Boom’s day began every day with Bible study and prayer. Corrie and her sister, Betsie, both unmarried and middle-aged by this time, still lived at home with their father, Casper. Casper, lovingly called “Opa” (grandpa) in the neighborhood, led these studies. Even the employees of the watch shop attended this morning ritual. Generations of the ten Boom family had been raised with a special love and respect for the Jewish people. When Nazi Germany invaded Holland in the early days of WWII their Jewish neighbors came to the Beje for help. Well aware of the risk they were taking, the ten Boom’s opened themselves and their home to anyone who needed help. The strange architecture of the three-story Beje, which was actually two homes that had been connected, made it an ideal hiding place. A special room was created in Corrie’s third floor bedroom in case of a Nazi inspection. The day finally came. The ten Boom’s were caught and taken to concentration camps. Corrie and her sister were eventually sent to the women’s only camp, Ravensbruck.

It sounds like a depressingly sad story but here, out of the darkness of occupied Holland and in the horrific Nazi concentration camps, comes a very hopeful story. The dark parts of the story are very dark; the things that the ten Boom’s saw while imprisoned in the concentration camps are hard to grasp. But there is a lot of light here as well.

The light in this dark story comes in the form of a series of little, tiny coincidences – simply too many to discount as mere luck. A lot of the “miracles” here are simple little ones: a Nazi doctor making a bogus diagnosis so that Corrie and her sister can remain together; a contraband Bible that someone gives to Corrie, a bottle of liquid vitamins that never runs out. Little by little and time after time it becomes quite apparent that Someone was taking care of the ten Boom sisters in this horrible situation. The big miracle here occurs at the end of the story. How can you forgive the people who treated you, your family, your neighbors, your friends, - your whole country - so cruelly? But Corrie and her sister did. Corrie ten Boom went on to fulfill her late sister’s wishes to start a home, a place of healing, not only for the survivors of the camps but for their captors as well, and the citizens of Holland who sided with the Nazis during the war.

The first time I read this book it changed the way I felt about my Christian faith. The personal God that the ten Boom’s believed in, and seemingly for good reason, was a paradigm shift for me as a young teenager. This was not the God I had been taught to believe in. The God I was taught about, when I was taught at all, was this very far away, cold, distant being. And I’ve always remembered Corrie’s conversation with her father when he tells her that God will give her the strength she needs when she needs it to handle things as they come, not before. The Jesus I had envisioned in my mind was this wimpy, martyred weakling. But the ten Boom’s had a plaque by their hearth in the Beje proclaiming “Jesus is Victor.” I had never associated the Jesus I knew of with anything close to victory. I started to want to know the God the ten Boom’s knew. Now that I’m older and have gone through some hard things, I’m more struck by the way the ten Boom sisters were able to forgive their captors. No other book has had a bigger impact on my spiritual life than this particular story. I’m so glad my grandmother put it in my hands when I was a young teen and that Jonathan inadvertently prompted me to read it again.

It certainly brought one particular Psalm to mind:

Psalms 139: 7-12
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.


I think every Christian should read Corrie's story at least once.

Here's a link to the ten Boom museum in Holland that MerriKay (mkboylan) provided:
http://tenboom.com/en/

125dchaikin
Set 14, 2013, 10:18 pm

Touching comments on The Hiding Place. I have to admire her ability to treat Nazi collaborators well - I still haven't forgiven them.

126RidgewayGirl
Set 15, 2013, 7:41 am

The house really is so complicated and on so many different levels that the inability of the Gestapo to find the secret room is entirely believable. If you are in Amsterdam, it's worth visiting.

127Polaris-
Set 15, 2013, 8:42 am

Really interesting post on The Hiding PLace Avid. I can't believe that I've not heard before of such a fascinating and inspiring story. I suppose that growing up Jewish I was only ever going to hear about one Dutch story of hiding from the Nazis... which is a shame, and wrong, as it's clear that the impact this story had on you as a teenager was very significant and why shouldn't Jews learn of Christians who risked everything to help them? Well, of course, we do, but this particular tale eluded me. Thanks for enlightening me.

RidgewayGirl - I WAS in Amsterdam quite recently and didn't know about this place! Gutted! We're hoping to find a good excuse to have another long weekend there next year, so I'll plan on visiting the house if we do end up going.

128NanaCC
Set 15, 2013, 10:25 am

You and Jonathan have pushed The Hiding Place to my wish list. Thank you for the excellent review.

BTW, I am still reading No Ordinary Time which I am really enjoying, thank you. I had to get a book pillow though (thanks to Chris, it came as soon as I mentioned it), my arms kept getting tired. :)

129rebeccanyc
Set 15, 2013, 10:49 am

It certainly sounds like a fascinating book, and I appreciate both your and Jonathan's reviews and perspectives. Forgiveness is a concept that I find admirable in many ways, and I understand that the idea is that forgiving benefits the foregiver as well as the forgivee. However, although I certainly haven't thought about this from a religious perspective, I am reluctant to believe that forgiveness is always a good thing. Some acts just don't deserve forgiveness in my opinion.

130avidmom
Set 15, 2013, 12:02 pm

>125 dchaikin: She makes it clear in the book that the Dutch citizens who sided with the Nazis were more hated and mistreated after the war than the Nazis themselves. It makes sense to me.

>126 RidgewayGirl: I wouldn't have known that the Beje was still standing as a museum if Merrikay hadn't posted that link. The picture I had in my mind of it was a drab, dreary place so I was really surprised to see how pretty it actually was. How great that you actually got to go there!

>127 Polaris-: Polaris, I hope you do get a chance to read the story and go to the museum. They did make it into a movie (you can see clips of it on the museum website). I've never seen it so don't know whether it's any good or not.

>128 NanaCC: Nana, it's not a very long book and it's an easy read, even if the subject is rather heavy. I'm so looking forward to your comments on No Ordinary Time! It's another Goodwin doorstopper! A book pillow! That's a great idea!

>129 rebeccanyc: I have to admit that I too have a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept of forgiveness - especially in this instance. Even Corrie ten Boom admits that it was a major struggle for her; her sister was the one who seemed to have this miraculous ability to have compassion for their Nazi captors - even while they were being cruel to her. It boggled my mind (and Corrie's too). She ends her story with her first confrontation with one of the Nazi officers years after the war. It's a pretty powerful moment in the story.

131detailmuse
Set 17, 2013, 5:55 pm

avid, a very interesting review of The Hiding Place, and personally moving. Onto the wishlist.

>118 avidmom: haha I had a similar first viewing of Casablanca -- decades ago I finally taped it from TV onto my VCR … but the tape ran out before the movie did, and ended as they all stood near the plane. I didn’t know who got on till I called my mom to find out the ending. I watch it often; an outstanding film.

132JDHomrighausen
Set 18, 2013, 1:59 am

Rebecca,

"However, although I certainly haven't thought about this from a religious perspective, I am reluctant to believe that forgiveness is always a good thing. Some acts just don't deserve forgiveness in my opinion."

Ten Boom noticed that the only survivors who were able to build a happy post-war life for themselves were those who had forgiven their tormentors, captors, and persecutors. I tend to think of forgiveness of not really being a choice that one can decide whether or not someone else deserves. And, as ten Boom would say, it's all grace, and grace is given especially to those who don't deserve it. :)

Susie, you mentioned the many little coincidences that led ten Boom to believe God was at work in the midst of the camp. I read an article questioning that. Specifically, they pointed out that ten Boom wrote the book 15-20 years after the events took place. They wonder to what extent her memory and need to make an inspirational story out of her torment changed the narrative. I suppose we will never know.

133rebeccanyc
Set 18, 2013, 11:35 am

That's interesting about forgiveness, Jonathan, but I'm not sure I'm convinced. Wouldn't ten Boom be likely to observe people who agreed with her perspective? And I guess I'm not sure I understand what you mean by grace. Sorry to hijack your thread, Avid!

134avidmom
Set 18, 2013, 3:18 pm

Sorry to hijack your thread, Avid!
Don't apologize! Hijack away XD

135avidmom
Set 18, 2013, 3:25 pm


We're celebrating today.
Big Kid passed his behind-the-wheel test this morning!
Hallelujah!

136avidmom
Set 18, 2013, 5:01 pm

>132 JDHomrighausen: I can see their point. Still, I don't think I would ever forget the kindness of a Nazi doctor/officer(s) or the crazy "Hey, these flea-ridden quarters are actually a good thing after all!" no matter how much time had gone by. LOL!

137edwinbcn
Set 19, 2013, 5:06 am

> 126 If you are in Amsterdam, it's worth visiting.

>127 Polaris-: I WAS in Amsterdam quite recently and didn't know about this place!

When you are in Amsterdam, you may visit the Corrie ten Boom museum, but remember it is NOT in Amsterdam. It is in a nearby city, called Haarlem, about 15 km west of Amsterdam.

138RidgewayGirl
Set 19, 2013, 5:18 am

Yes, it is in Haarlem, which is an easy 15 minute suburban rail ride away. It's a good addition to a visit to Amsterdam, given that most people don't specifically visit a suburb of a city. I should have written more clearly, but I would also suggest a visit to the Dauchau concentration camp if one was in Munich, or to Arlington National Cemetery if one was in Washington, DC, neither of which are technically within the limits of the city mentioned.

139avidmom
Set 19, 2013, 8:31 pm


"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." - Walt Disney

140avidmom
Set 21, 2013, 8:11 pm

141NanaCC
Set 21, 2013, 8:41 pm

142kidzdoc
Set 22, 2013, 9:51 am

143avidmom
Modificato: Set 29, 2013, 6:01 pm

Every speech or conversation he {Douglass} had during the time revolved around one conviciton: "the ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN EVERY PART OF OUR COUNTRY IS THE BEST AND ONLY WAY TO RESTORE OUR DISTRACTED AND WAR-SMITTEN NATION TO PERMANENT PEACE. "



Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader & a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery & Save the Union by Paul Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick

Ask anybody who's spent at least five minutes in a high school American history class what the Civil War was about and they'll most likely answer you with one word: slavery. A few hundred years ago, though, when the war first started, warring factions on both side would tell you it was about anything but. Frederick Douglass, a freed slave and a powerful orator on the side of the abolitionist movement set out to convince the people that the Civil War needed to be an "aboliton war." He saw the Civil War as the greatest chance for the freedom of his people; it was a chance he could not allow to be squandered. Indeed, while both sides were steeped in heavy duty denial on the slavery issue, Douglass made the case that the root of the conflict was slavery itself and the only way to end it would be to end slavery permanently. Although Abraham Lincoln was against slavery personally, he felt that, as President, he had no Constitutional powers to end it. Douglass was vexed by the president who seemed neither strong enough to preserve the Union, nor moral enough to champion emancipation."

Clearly, Douglass, a man with a renowned reputation in abolitionist circles and with great support from England, was no fan of Abe. At least, not at first. Little by little, though, Douglass's attitude toward Lincoln did begin to change. He began to understand, especially after their first meeting in 1863, that Lincoln was not as slow moving and inept as he had thought, but simply very cautious. Explained Lincoln to Douglass, once he made his decision on a matter, he never went back on it. Lincoln had great respect for Douglass, and Douglass, just like most of the other "Rivals" of Lincoln, came around to respect the President as well, even if he did not do everything he wanted him to do. He never, though, withheld criticism of Lincoln and Lincoln never stopped valuing Douglass's opinion. Even though Lincoln and Douglass would meet face to face only three times, his influence on the country and on Lincoln cannot be denied.

The book itself is divided into the years of the Civil War so it provides a great time line of events in chronological order and how opinions shifted over time. There is a chapter or two devoted to the Massachusetts 54th, one of the first African-American regiments allowed to actually fight in the Civil War which I found very interesting. For me, though, I think the greatest thing the book did was show how incredibly stressful this time was for Douglass. The frustration he felt was palpable but his mission was too great for him to rest.

In pivotal speeches, both Lincoln and Douglass grasped that powers beyond human comprehension were somehow guiding this war's end. Each man knew the power of their individual purposes, but humbly accepted that they were to be pieces contributing to a larger course determining the destiny of their country.


Frederick Douglass has always been somebody I wanted to know more about and this book was a nice little bit of history and showed the powerful connection between two great leaders of the time. Douglass and Lincoln focuses mainly on how these two men's destinies collided. IMO, the brilliance of Douglass was that he was very dogmatic in his thinking and the brilliance of Lincoln was that he wasn't.
*********************************************************************************************************

I also have to admit admiring Frederick Douglass's undeniable bravery an audacity. After escaping from his owner an writing his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass "... almost taunted his former owner Thomas Auld to recapture him by not only revealing the name his owner had known him by, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, but by actually mailing the slaveholder a copy of the book. ..."

I'd give this book 3 and 3/4 stars.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

An excerpt from the introduction of the book that appeared in American Heritage magazine in 2009: http://www.americanheritage.com/content/lincoln-douglass?page=show

144avidmom
Set 29, 2013, 5:49 pm


I've always loved this movie so I was really glad to get a little more information from the book about the 54th Regiment. Matthew Broderick plays the Regiment's leader, Col. Robert Gould Shaw. A few years ago Broderick was featured on the series, "Who Do You Think You Are," a show that traced famous people's family histories. There was a very touching moment when he found out his great, great (???) grandfather had actually been a Union soldier who had fought at Gettysburg (if I remember right). It was cool. :)

145NanaCC
Set 29, 2013, 10:05 pm

Nice review of Douglass and Lincoln.

146RidgewayGirl
Set 30, 2013, 4:16 am

Yes, interesting review of Douglass and Lincoln. There are no reviews for this book. You should add yours.

Glory is a very good movie.

147avidmom
Set 30, 2013, 11:29 am

Thank you, Nana & Ridgeway. I'll add my review. Poor neglected book. :(

148baswood
Set 30, 2013, 2:19 pm

Excellent review of Douglass and Lincoln, which I knew nothing about until I read your review.

149avidmom
Set 30, 2013, 11:32 pm

Thanks baswood. The whole Frederick Douglass story is a fascinating one. He spent some time speaking in Scotland and England. Douglass really loved England where he didn't have to deal with the racist attitudes of the bigoted people in the States. It was his English admirers who took up a collection and bought him his freedom.

150kidzdoc
Ott 1, 2013, 8:50 am

Nice review of Douglass and Lincoln, avidmom! I'll add it to my wish list.

151detailmuse
Ott 1, 2013, 8:24 pm

Avidmom, a wonderful review. Have you read anything by Colum McCann? I haven't read his newest novel, Transatlantic, but know it includes a section where Douglass tours Ireland to speak about abolition.

152avidmom
Ott 1, 2013, 8:38 pm

Thanks kidzdoc. I was very excited to find that particular book a few months ago at my favorite discount bookstore since I was just about to finish Team of Rivals. Book fate! :)
Thankfully, Douglass and Lincoln is not as long as Goodwin's Team of Rivals!

Thanks detailmuse. I haven't read anything at all by McCann but have read plenty of very positive reviews of Transatlantic here in CR and know he's one of the stories in the book.

153avidmom
Ott 3, 2013, 10:27 pm


October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

154dchaikin
Ott 3, 2013, 11:01 pm

Great review of Douglas and Lincoln - two inspiring personalities for me personally. Interesting how much Douglas exhausted himself working against slavery. You have left me wanting to read some kind of biography of Douglas.

155rebeccanyc
Ott 4, 2013, 11:21 am

Agree that the Douglass and Lincoln book sounds interesting, and your review was as well.

156avidmom
Ott 4, 2013, 11:51 am

Thanks Dan and Rebecca. Douglass and Lincoln is a relatively short book (around 250 pages) but it is very well researched. Douglass is one of the people I ran across during my Civil War tangent of more than a decade ago and he is definitely somebody I've always wanted to know more about.

Interesting how much Douglas exhausted himself working against slavery
I actually worried about him throughout the book, as did a lot of people in his inner circle, but he proved himself to be an incredibly strong individual in every sense of the word!

157Polaris-
Ott 4, 2013, 9:16 pm

Great review of Douglass and Lincoln Avid.

158avidmom
Ott 4, 2013, 9:50 pm

Thanks Polaris!

159Linda92007
Ott 5, 2013, 9:23 am

Excellent review of Douglass and Lincoln. I love your observation that the brilliance of Douglass was that he was very dogmatic in his thinking and the brilliance of Lincoln was that he wasn't.

160avidmom
Ott 5, 2013, 2:32 pm

Thanks Linda! I think they balanced each other out quite nicely.

161avidmom
Ott 5, 2013, 4:39 pm

162Mr.Durick
Ott 5, 2013, 5:16 pm

If a book is well written, I always find it the right length.

— Robert Durick

163avidmom
Ott 5, 2013, 7:01 pm

Brilliant. :-)

164avidmom
Modificato: Ott 5, 2013, 11:36 pm

‘And what did you say?’ enquired Death.
‘That Mr. Solly do trust I to clean his silver teapot,’ answered Winnie, ‘and then I said that I didn’t carry no angel’s message for nothing, and Gabriel offered me eternal life as a wage.’
‘And what did you say to that?’ asked Death.
‘That I would sooner have a packet of Mrs. Mogg’s sweets,’ replied Winnie …..


Unclay by T.S. Powys

Death has come to Dodder, England to “unclay” two of its residents. Who these two residents are Death can’t remember; Death has a terrible memory, and he has lost the signed and written orders his Master has given him. No matter, though. John Death simply decides to take some time off, as it were, in Dodder, where he can take a little rest and look for his lost Treasure. Here he can rub elbows with the mortals, maybe have a little fun with the locals – especially the girls.

The local villagers in Dodder eye Mr. John Death with no more or no less suspicion than they would any other newcomer. They seem to accept him as one of their own surprisingly rather quickly. Rev. Hayhoe is the first to befriend John Death; he feels Mr. Death is a kindred spirit. His friend, Mr. Death, makes Mr. Hayhoe feel less lonely for the first time in a long time. Little impish Winnie, the youngest and possibly the brightest in the Village, hurts Death’s pride by teasing, taunting, and escaping him. Lord Bullman, full of wealth and pride, is suspicious of him. Farmer Mere tries to swindle him. Mr. Death outwits (almost) every one of them. Death uses his time in Dodder to his advantage and has a few dalliances with the local women, to his and their benefit. Not only is the grim reaper pretty clever, apparently he is quite the ladies’ man. Mr. John Death really has only one local girl in mind, however: Susie Dawes. For the first time in his long career serving his Master, Death is confronted with these strange mortal feelings of Love and Jealousy for more than one mere mortal man in the Village wants Susie for his own. Death has competition and maybe the game’s not quite fair. Somewhere near the beginning of the story Joseph Bridle, the one man in Dodder who truly loves Susie, finds and silently keeps the lost Treasure, the written orders signed by his Master that Death has lost. The two names on the list are Joseph Bridle and Susie Dawes. Will Death ever recover his lost Treasure? What is going to happen to Susie and Joseph? What about Susie’s others “suitors”? Indeed, what’s going to happen to all the other residents of Dodder when Death himself, scythe and all, is living in their midst?

On the surface, Unclay reads like a romantic gothic horror story complete with the sun hiding behind clouds and little mice scampering back into their holes when Mr. Death appears. Make no mistake about it, though, Unclay is an allegory. Like any good allegory, the somewhat stereotypical characters represent a certain human characteristic. How does Pride deal with Death? How does an innocent heart perceive Death?

For all its deep philosophical thought, Unclay is an incredibly entertaining novel. The story is hard to predict and there is more than one storyline to follow. Some of Powys' observations of us silly mortals are subtle and profound; some are more snarky and funny. Regardless of Death being somewhat of a ladies’ man, Unclay is in no way sexually explicit although it certainly is sexually implicit. (I have to admit to laughing out loud and probably blushing a little to the glaringly obvious sexual innuendo found at one certain point in the story.) There are no dull moments here in Death’s adopted village of Dodder! Reading this book felt like a fun romp through the English countryside where I was introduced to a whole bunch of interesting characters and some new ideas.

Throughout this incredibly strange and entertaining story, Powys challenges our attitudes toward God, religion, Life, Death, Love and Sex. Here's the big question: Is Death our Enemy or our Friend? Do we really want to live forever or would we rather, like young Winnie, have a few sweets here and now?
‘ “They two won’t be missed,” I told ‘e, and throwing a kiss to Gabriel with me fingers, I ran off. --- Will you take a sweet?’
Death took three.


165NanaCC
Ott 5, 2013, 9:33 pm

What a great review for a book that sounds very interesting and entertaining.

166avidmom
Modificato: Ott 5, 2013, 9:43 pm

Thanks Nana. For all its inherent weirdness, it was quite a fun book! Glad you liked my review, but make sure to look up dmsteyn's also.

167JDHomrighausen
Ott 6, 2013, 2:36 am

Susie, I greatly enjoyed your review of Douglass and Lincoln. W.E.B. DuBois, in his Souls of Black Folk I read a few months ago, greatly admired Douglass as an African-American intellectual who was not afraid to speak unpopular truths. Perhaps because DuBois saw himself the same way, contra Booker T. Washington. Did you read DuBois or Washington on your Civil War tangent?

I wish I could have tangents; now all my reading is school related.

168rebeccanyc
Ott 6, 2013, 7:35 am

I agree with Colleen and I hope you will post the review so I can thumb it.

169Linda92007
Ott 6, 2013, 9:39 am

Great review of Unclay. I also hope you will post it. I am not very familiar with Powys. Have you read others by him?

170avidmom
Ott 6, 2013, 1:21 pm

>167 JDHomrighausen: Did you read DuBois or Washington on your Civil War tangent?
Thanks Jonathan. No, I haven't read any DuBois or Washington (unless they were quoted and referred to in the other books I read). OF course, my Civil War tangent was more than a decade ago and I don't remember much of it. (Where was LT when I really needed it? LOL!) I can understand why DuBois greatly admired Douglass. He was a brave, brave soul.

>168 rebeccanyc: Thanks Rebecca! I'll post my review. It seems like I always forget to do that!

>169 Linda92007: Thanks Linda. Unclay was one of those books I stumbled upon while reading other people's threads. This was my first Powys. I would like to read more Powys (even if our philosophies don't quite mesh), but he seems to be an author hard to come by here in the States. If it wasn't for a nice friend of mine going on an internet hunt for me, I probably would have never gotten my hands on a copy.

171baswood
Ott 6, 2013, 4:50 pm

Excellent review of Unclay, which sounds a whole lot of fun. One for the wish list

172avidmom
Ott 6, 2013, 9:10 pm

It was a whole lot of fun, baswood! I'd love to know what you think of it.

173wandering_star
Ott 7, 2013, 11:33 am

I'm wishlisting Unclay too!

174avidmom
Ott 7, 2013, 12:18 pm

>173 wandering_star: Thanks wandering_star.

As I've said before, finding a copy here in the States can be difficult so here's a link to the Sundial Press that dmsteyn recommended:
http://www.sundialpress.co.uk/

175avidmom
Ott 11, 2013, 7:49 pm

176dchaikin
Ott 11, 2013, 9:51 pm

Oye - our government...

That is an awesome review of Unclay.

177avidmom
Ott 12, 2013, 12:38 am

What government?

Thanks Dan! Unclay was the most reading fun I've had in a while.

178avidmom
Ott 12, 2013, 4:40 pm

Movies!

My son loves Kubrick movies and I had planned on reading at least one Stephen King novel this year, so, when this came on television this week as part of a Kubrick marathon, he DVR'd this. A few days ago when the weather turned cold and rainy we sat down to watch it. I'm probably one of the few people on the planet who hadn't seen it until now. The Shining is one of the movies whose main scenes you feel like you've already seen - even if you haven't. Nothing really surprised me here except for the psychological/supernatural underpinnings. The scenery is gorgeous. So, there it is, my first King film. I liked it more than I expected and I hadn't really expected to like it that much. The only thing that really bothered me about it was the film score. It sounds like a Kubrick film!

179avidmom
Modificato: Ott 12, 2013, 9:50 pm


"The High Cost of Living"

Zach Braff, who I came to know and love on my favorite sitcom, "Scrubs" as Dr. John Dorian ("J.D.") stars in this bittersweet drama that I finally, (finally!) managed to catch on cable the other day. It's an interesting, even if it is a little far-fetched, story. Henry (Zach Braff), an American expatriate living in Canada, makes his living dealing drugs. One night Henry, out partying and making his drug dealing rounds, accidentally hits a pregnant woman in the street with his car. Panicked, Henry makes his way to a phone booth, calls an ambulance and flees the scene leaving the unconscious pregnant woman there in the street! It's reprehensible. But that's where the drama comes in. Henry's not a heartless jerk; his conscience bothers him so he tries to find out what happened that night. He goes searching for the pregnant lady in the street. He eventually finds her and (here's the far-fetched part), the two form a friendship. The problem is is that Henry, naturally afraid of jail time, can't seem to make his way clear to tell her that he's the source of her anguish.

"The High Cost of Living" is not a "fun" movie; it's rather depressing (especially at the beginning). The sweet parts balance the bitter ones out, though, so it's not intolerably sad. Watching the sincere friendship, the absolute light in this rather dark movie, develop between Nathalie (his victim) and Henry is rather uplifting, which makes Henry's secret just that much more agonizing. I thought Zach Braff did an amazing job here as Henry (but maybe I'm a bit biased in my opinion), as did Isabel Blais as Nathalie. It's worth checking out.

180baswood
Ott 13, 2013, 5:49 pm

Jack Nicholson's finest hour?

181avidmom
Ott 13, 2013, 6:58 pm

>180 baswood: I hope The Shining wasn't Nicholson's finest hour! Or anybody else's, for that matter!

182avidmom
Ott 13, 2013, 7:40 pm

Because of my upcoming job interview Wednesday, I had to go somewhere and buy job interview appropriate clothes. And then I bought books (which is why I need a better job in the first place .....)

This one I'm pretty excited about:
The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again by McChesney & Nichols
This should prove a very, very interesting read.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The nice guy who rang up my purchase asked if I'd ever read this. I had to 'fess up and say "no." He said that when I did read it to find a nice, quiet corner to read in. Yes, I said, isn't that how all good books should be read? :) His point was that Pride and Prejudice was a very, very, very good book.

The Wounded Spirit by Frank Peretti
Peretti is a Christian fiction author. This Present Darkness is one of my favorite books. This is Peretti telling his own story of being bullied as a kid. It has a Christian slant, of course, but I respect Peretti as an author and, since I work at a school with kids, I thought this couldn't hurt. I could probably sit down and read this in one afternoon; it's very short.

183wandering_star
Ott 13, 2013, 7:47 pm

Good luck with the interview!

184RidgewayGirl
Ott 13, 2013, 10:31 pm

I'll keep my fingers crossed for your job interview.

185avidmom
Ott 14, 2013, 1:05 am

Thanks wandering_star and Ridgeway!

186avidmom
Ott 14, 2013, 1:06 am

187rebeccanyc
Ott 14, 2013, 12:18 pm

Good luck with the job interview, and another great image!

188avidmom
Ott 14, 2013, 12:22 pm

Thanks Rebecca! I don't know what's stressing me out more at this point: not getting the job or getting the job!
I love that image too ... posted by my favorite bookstore on their FB page. HA!

189avidmom
Modificato: Ott 14, 2013, 2:30 pm

"For centuries, medicine had been considered more than a “helping profession,” it was a vocation, akin in many respects to religious ministry. But, in our increasingly secularized society, even the (non-religious) “Samaritan” role of doctors – empathizing with and helping others, has been devalued, sometimes even ridiculed in the ascendant business culture of medicine. This new culture has even changed our vocabulary. Doctors and nurses have become “providers” of medical care, itself now a “commodity.” Patients have become “customers,” the “consumers” of medical care.”


One Doctor: Cold Cases, Close Calls and the Mysteries of Medicine by Brendan Reilly, MD

One of my long-term reading goals is to read more books about medicine, specifically more about doctors. NielsenGW had posted an excellent review of this book on his thread of this one and I immediately requested it from my library. This book was just what I wanted: a look inside the mind and heart of a doctor. Dr. Brendan Reilly, the senior attending physician at New York Presbyterian teaching hospital, takes us with him through a few weeks in the not-so-recent past of seeing patients. There is a real-time moment to moment “you are there” feel to the patients and cases presented. In contrast to popular shows like “House,” where it seems the doctors get to focus on one (or maybe two) hard to diagnose and/or treat patients, Dr. Reilly and his team of interns are faced with multiple patients, and multiple decisions to make, in a short period of time. They seem to, quite literally, bounce from one patient – and one decision - to another. It’s not always easy to decide what is best for the patient; one course of action may cause more hurt than harm – every course of action has its drawbacks - but no action at all may have fatal consequences.
We bounce this around, too, decide to try this, then that, we’ll see. …. On days like this, doctoring feels like pinball: nonstop random events – intercepted here, altered there, prolonged or postponed by this or that, the bells and boinks sounding all around – and sometimes you can’t be sure whether you’re the guy pushing the buttons, manipulating the levers, and bumping the machine, or whether you’re inside the machine, whether you’re the pinball itself.”


Dr. Reilly talks a lot about decision making, a subject he has researched himself, and the “intuitiveness” a doctor develops over time. As advanced as our medical technology is, there are still things CTs, MRIs, and EKGs can miss. Even a simple test can come back “inconclusive,” or with a “false/positive or negative” result. A sharp doctor will rely on his intuition and experience, not solely on lab results. It takes a lot of courage to do so. Missing something can be just as devastating to patient care as testing for something that doesn’t exist. We want our doctors to be perfect – and any doctor, I’m sure, wants to be right 100% of the time. Simply put, doctors are human and make mistakes. That’s another point Reilly brings up: doctors need to learn from their mistakes, certainly most doctors do, but so often, they’re afraid to even confess to themselves that they’ve even made a mistake. When they do have the courage to face an error, there seems to be nowhere to go for support. Reilly quotes Dr. David Hilfiker’s article, “Facing Our Mistakes” in the New England Journal of Medicine:
“There is no permission given to talk about errors, no way of venting emotional responses. Indeed … I lapse into neurotic behavior to deal with my anxiety and guilt. Little wonder that physicians are … defensive about our judgments … blame the patient or the previous physician when things go wrong … yell at nurses for our mistakes … have such high rates of alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicide. At some point we … need to find healthy ways to deal with our emotional responses to those errors.”


The main focus of Reilly’s is not inevitable medical error, though, but a lack of general practitioners, those old-fashioned doctors who get to know their patients well. There’s an inherent risk, Reilly argues, for patients who lack a primary care physician, the one doctor who has a better view of a patient’s big picture of health. A “perpetual intern” (according to his wife), Reilly practices what he preaches. During rounds at New York Presbyterian, a patient asked Dr. Reilly who her doctor would be over the weekend. “I told her that I cover my own weekends, because, if you’re sick enough to be a patient in the hospital, it’s safer if you’re seen every day by the doctor who knows you best.” He goes on to point out the risks of hospitalized patients being cared for by doctors who don’t know them:
“… the early recognition of delirium – by definition an acute change in the patient’s mental status – requires familiarity with the patient’s usual mental status. In acute care hospitals, where so many patients are cared for by doctors and nurses who have never met them before, hospital staff will be far less likely to recognize the telltale changes in affect or behavior that herald the onset of delirium. Worse, when elderly hospitalized patients develop florid delirium – agitated, wandering, disruptive behavior – hospital staff often assume that the patient has dementia (that is, long standing irreversible cognitive impairment). A vicious cycle then ensues. Psychoactive drugs … are given to calm the “demented” patient’s agitation, which drugs often only make the patient’s delirium worse… It happens all the time.”


Old fashioned general practitioners seem to be a dying breed; more med students are choosing to specialize because that’s where the money is. There is quite a disparity between the compensation a general practitioner receives for his/her service and the rate of pay a specialist receives. While nobody can argue that specialists aren’t necessary, for they certainly are, a general practitioner is just as necessary, Reilly argues, so why shouldn’t they be paid the same? It’s our business model of medicine that Reilly seems to be bothered by. The reason more med students choose to specialize is pretty apparent – and practical, when you consider the costs of medical school and how indebted a new doctor finds himself upon graduation. But, a human body cannot be divided into bits and pieces; everything needs to work together and without that one doctor who knows a patient well, who has a big picture view of his/her patient, a patient’s healthcare may suffer.

I really enjoyed this book and am very glad to have read it but I do have some complaints. The flaws Reilly points out in our present day healthcare system, the human side and the business side, are made very clearly without offering any clear solutions. The writing here bounces around heavily from present, to past, to present, to past, with a discourse on decision making or healthcare insurance, etc. (depending on the chapter) inserted between all this, made it hard to follow at times. For instance, if I was “going” with Dr. Reilly to see Mr. X, a hospitalized patient during his rounds at New York Presbyterian, it may take us quite a few pages to get there! By the time “we” got there, I was thinking “Now, who is this guy again and what’s his problem?” As a trained medical coder, I had no problem with the medical terminology included here, but readers without a background in medical terminology may find themselves a bit stymied at times since Dr. Reilly (usually) doesn’t explain them. One Doctor is not a long book, I was never bored, and finished it in less than week but there seems to be so much information here and so much Dr. Reilly wants to talk about it seemed like it was hard to see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

My diagnosis: 4 1/2 stars. Highly recommended.

190baswood
Ott 14, 2013, 6:02 pm

Fascinating review of One Doctor: Cold cases, Close calls and the Mysteries of medicine It all sounds so real. Not a book I would read but I enjoyed your review of it.

191rebeccanyc
Ott 14, 2013, 7:06 pm

Ditto what Barry said, and please post it on the book page so I can thumb it.

192avidmom
Modificato: Ott 14, 2013, 9:26 pm

>190 baswood: It all sounds so real.
baswood, That's what I really loved about it, its "real-ness." There's a lot of frustration and "Monday morning quarterbacking" when things go wrong, but there's also a fair amount of joy when things go right.

Not a book I would read but I enjoyed your review of it.
That's what I love about LT; other people read books so I don't have to! HA!

>191 rebeccanyc: Thanks Rebecca. I really struggled with what to say about the book; it's packed with all sorts of information and digressions! If I wasn't so interested in medicine, I may have given it a bit lower of a rating.

193avidmom
Modificato: Ott 15, 2013, 6:34 pm


The Wounded Spirit by Frank Peretti


Peretti's This Present Darkness, a Christian piece of fiction, is on my list of favorite books. So, when I saw something in the bookstore yesterday with his name on it, I became very curious. The book is very short and very simple. Peretti, after the tragic events of Columbine High School, felt compelled to reach out to victims of bullying since he himself had been a victim as a kid. His main point throughout the book, which has a Christian slant, is that bullying is wrong (no matter how old you are) and everybody from teachers and parents to kids themselves, have a role in stopping it. Maybe in the year 2000 this was a new (ish) concept. It's nothing new under the sun now. The autobiographical parts Peretti includes of himself and his rare congenital medical condition, one that caused a terrible deformity that took years to correct and that was the source of his being an easy bully target, I found very interesting simply because I learned something about the author. He is a pretty simple, witty and engaging writer and I think it was his humor and writing style that kept me turning pages last night, not the subject matter of the book. I enjoyed the hour and a half it took me to read it, but that's about it. My opinion of Peretti as an author hasn't changed and I can't say that this particular little book did not not impress me, but it certainly didn't impress me too much.

194detailmuse
Ott 21, 2013, 8:17 pm

Enjoyed your review of One Doctor. I followed the blog of a general practitioner many years ago and thanks to your review I looked her up again, she's still blogging at Musings of a Dinosaur.

195avidmom
Ott 21, 2013, 9:38 pm

Thanks so much DetailMuse! I loved her flu shot plug & her chicken soup offer. My doctor has a Halloween/flu shot party. They take a day where all they do is administer flu shots & he and the staff dress up. Last year the theme was the "Wizard of Oz." Didn't witness any of it (and have never had a flu shot shhh!!!) but it did sound like about as much fun as you could have doling out shots. :)

196NanaCC
Ott 22, 2013, 6:14 am

Nice review of One Doctor: Cold Cases, Close Calls and the Mysteries of Medicine. And I like your doctor's idea of a flu shot party. With 7 grandchildren, aka "little germ carriers", I get a flue shot every year. :)

197avidmom
Ott 22, 2013, 11:37 pm

Thank you Nana. Boy I understand the dangers of kids and germs! I'm a bit of a germophobe myself, my kids call me the "wash your hands" lady!!

198kidzdoc
Modificato: Ott 23, 2013, 10:44 am

Fabulous review of and comments about One Doctor, avidmom! I'll definitely buy and read it soon.

In contrast to popular shows like “House,” where it seems the doctors get to focus on one (or maybe two) hard to diagnose and/or treat patients, Dr. Reilly and his team of interns are faced with multiple patients, and multiple decisions to make, in a short period of time.

That's absolutely right. Whether I'm working by myself or with the team of medical students, interns and residents we always have a load of 10-15 patients on the inpatient service that I/we round on during the morning and see again in the afternoon. Usually most of the patients are healthy kids who have straightforward illnesses such as asthma attacks, pneumonias or urinary tract infections who are easily to manage, but there are always a few kids with chronic conditions, complicated illnesses (such as a pneumonia with a pleural effusion or empyema), or illnesses that are relatively difficult to diagnose.

It’s not always easy to decide what is best for the patient; one course of action may cause more hurt than harm – every course of action has its drawbacks - but no action at all may have fatal consequences.

For me that isn't as common as it would be on an inpatient adult medicine service, where the patients have more chronic illnesses and are generally more fragile than kids, who are quite resilient and whose bodies can compensate when they are seriously ill. Sick kids can crash fast and hard, though, so it's important to be able to recognize the early signs of impending demise. That's where a good, astute nurse who can tell that something is wrong with her patient, even if she doesn't know exactly what's going on, can be invaluable to ensuring that the child has a good outcome. Your quote about the early recognition of delirium is spot on, but there are other signs that can indicate that a patient may be going downhill, including changes in blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate, i.e., the vital signs. A high heart rate and a low or widely spaced blood pressure (the difference between the systolic and diastolic blood pressures, or the top and bottom numbers that are commonly listed) can indicate that a patient is going into shock, especially if he has weak pulses and a prolonged capillary refill (the time it takes for blood flow to return after you press on someone's finger or toe nail). Most medical professionals and students can recognize when a patient is what I call "capital S" Sick, but it's much better to pick up on the early signs of deterioration, which can often be reversed, rather than waiting until the patient is obviously in trouble, which is much more difficult to treat and recover from.

Sometimes the best thing to do is to observe the patient repeatedly during the day, and review her history with her family, in the case of a sick child. I've seen serious mistakes when a doctor decides to do something for the patient without thinking about the possible consequences of her actions. We teach the residents that occasionally the best approach is to "don't just do something, stand there". The vast majority of mothers are superb caregivers who know their children well, and by listening to them and taking a good medical history roughly 80-85% of the time a diagnosis of the presenting illness can be made. So many times a harried ER doctor has told me about a patient and has made a diagnosis, which proves to be an incorrect one after I sit down and obtain the History of Present Illness from a parent or grandparents, which occasionally changes the entire plan of care, and sometimes changes who should admit the patient, e.g. myself if a child has vomiting due to a gastrointestinal infection, or a surgeon if the vomiting is due to appendicitis or an intestinal obstruction.

Dr. Reilly talks a lot about decision making, a subject he has researched himself, and the “intuitiveness” a doctor develops over time. As advanced as our medical technology is, there are still things CTs, MRIs, and EKGs can miss. Even a simple test can come back “inconclusive,” or with a “false/positive or negative” result. A sharp doctor will rely on his intuition and experience, not solely on lab results

As you alluded to, much of intuition is based on experience, which comes from seeing dozens, hundreds and thousands of patients with a particular medical condition, such as pneumonia. Not all pneumonias are the same, and not all patients respond the same way to a particular infection; what can be a routine illness in one child can be a fatal one in another one. Looking at laboratory and radiographic data can be very important, but it isn't a substitute for closely assessing the patient, and learning about her course from her parents and the nurse that is caring for her. Labs can be misleading, and subtle radiographic findings can be missed by even the best radiologist.

The main focus of Reilly’s is not inevitable medical error, though, but a lack of general practitioners, those old-fashioned doctors who get to know their patients well.

That is becoming a very rare breed. The vast majority of primary care pediatricians operate in group practices, and it isn't uncommon that a child is seen by multiple doctors over the course of a year, especially for sick visits when his usual doctor may be booked up or not working that day (most full time pediatricians work four days a week and one weekend a month, but many of these doctors work part time, due to family responsibilities, and may only work two or three days a week). A sick child who is seen two or three times in the space of a week is very likely to see two or three different doctors, which makes it more difficult for any of them to make a proper diagnosis in a difficult case. That sometimes holds true for us as well; tomorrow I'll go back to work, after being off for nearly two weeks, and I'll almost certainly see a few patients that one or more of my partners are seeing today. The simple cases won't be hard to manage, but it will take time for me to become familiar the more complicated ones. On the other hand, sometimes it can be helpful for a patient to have "a new set of eyes" cast upon them, as all of us can reach a incorrect diagnosis based on our initial impression, and every so often a new doctor comes in, starts nearly from scratch (again, by obtaining a good history from the parents), and come to a completely different and ultimately correct diagnosis.

One thing many of us will do is "run a patient" by a partner or a consultant in difficult cases, which can include having that second doctor examine the patient and talk with the parents. I don't think I've ever met a family that didn't appreciate or approve of that method of care.

more med students are choosing to specialize because that’s where the money is.

That is true, due to the length of time it takes to become a practicing physician (four years of college, four years of medical school, and at least three years of postgraduate training (residency)), the high cost of undergraduate and medical education, and the low salaries that residents earn. When I was a resident, we figured out that our hourly wages, based on a typical work week, were barely more what we would have earned by working at McDonald's! (During my intern year my car was totaled by another driver, and I didn't earn enough money to buy another one, so I went without a car and took public transportation for more than two years, while my non-medical friends were getting married, raising children, and buying houses.) Many residents are married with young children, so family considerations are very important. In addition, many more women are going into the field of medicine (my residency class, for example, had 16 women and only two men, and my graduating class from medical school was the first in the school's 100+ year history that had a majority of women). The vast majority of them will marry and have children, so they can't work the hours that the old GPs used to and still take care of their children properly. And, as we commonly say, "doctors get paid to do, not to think". In other words, those physicians who perform operations and procedures are paid far more handsomely than those who don't. I can exceed my daily salary, in which I work 8-12+ hours seeing patients, by going to the ER and sewing up two lip lacerations, and it would take me less than an hour to do both of those procedures.

You might be interested in a book that I just started yesterday, Proper Doctoring: A Book for Patients and Their Doctors by David Mendel, a British physician, which was reissued by New York Review Books last month. I'll probably finish it this weekend.

Sorry for my very lengthy reply!

199avidmom
Modificato: Ott 23, 2013, 7:10 pm

Thanks kidzdoc! I enjoyed reading your lengthy reply, no need to apologize!

"Sick kids crash fast and hard ..." Yep. Having two kids of my own I know that to be all too true! My mother once volunteered to babysit my youngest who had the flu so I could go to work that day. I called to check on him and she told me he was perfectly fine, so I went off to run a few errands before I got home. As soon as I walked in the door I naturally went to check on him (he was asleep). He was burning up so I took his temp - 104.5! My mother felt horribly guilty (even though I told her it wasn't her fault at all) and refused to babysit for any more sick kids after that.

The vast majority of primary care pediatricians operate in group practices, and it isn't uncommon that a child is seen by multiple doctors over the course of a year, especially for sick visits when his usual doctor may be booked up or not working that day (most full time pediatricians work four days a week and one weekend a month, but many of these doctors work part time, due to family responsibilities, and may only work two or three days a week)
My kids' pediatrician is probably, for many different reasons, the best doctor I've ever met. She has a stellar reputation in our community but she is a part of a group practice (that has offices in our city and another one), she does have a family of her own now (she was single and fresh out of med school when she became my oldest son's doctor) and it is nearly impossible to see her! I learned a long time ago that if I wanted to schedule a routine appointment with her to call a few months in advance!

Looking at laboratory and radiographic data can be very important, but it isn't a substitute for closely assessing the patient,
Before I started my medical coding course and reading medical records, I would have said that medicine was a science. After getting my feet in the water of what really goes on in patient care and diagnosing though, I would say that I think medicine is more of an art supported by science - not the other way around. It's nice when things are straightforward and black and white, but they're not always that way.

When I was a resident, we figured out that our hourly wages, based on a typical work week, were barely more what we would have earned by working at McDonald's!
Yep. My favorite TV show "Scrubs" addressed that issue with one episode where the main characters (interns) were stealing silly incidental stuff from the hospital. "Your average intern has over $100,000 in unpaid student loans and makes about as much money as a waiter."

I can exceed my daily salary, in which I work 8-12+ hours seeing patients, by going to the ER and sewing up two lip lacerations, and it would take me less than an hour to do both of those procedures.
Dr. Reilly addresses that issue too quite a bit, in a few different ways.

I'll have to put Mendel's book on the wishlist.

200avidmom
Modificato: Ott 23, 2013, 10:57 pm

I’m a big fan of the movie, “V for Vendetta,” and have been interested in reading the graphic novel for a long time. I finally got my hands on a copy from the library and was immediately impressed by the artwork and writing here. It wasn’t an easy read for me at first. I had to train myself to first look at the pictures and then the words because when I read the words without paying attention to the art I would get confused a bit and have to backtrack. Once I had my eye and brain on the same page, so to speak, I found “V” hard to put down.



Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...


The story begins with Evey, a poor 16-year-old girl, who is rescued by the mysterious Guy Fawkes masked “V” and taken to his underground lair where he hoards the banned vestiges of culture: art, books, and music. Evey, who has known virtually nothing but living under the controlling thumb of fasicst England, is sheltered and educated by V in rather unique ways. It's V's education of Evey and her subsequent transformation that is at the heart of the story. While we keep up with V and Evey, we also get to know the people in authority who keep “order.” The struggle is between the terrorist/anarchist V who is trying to destroy “order” (which to him is disorder) and the governmental authorities who are fighting to keep the fascist order they’ve worked so hard to create.

V for Vendetta is not an unfamiliar story; it has the same dark and dystopian feel of Orwell’s 1984 and Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. What makes the story unique is the character of “V,” and the choice of the authors to set the story in the (then) near distant future of 1997/1998. Reading Evey's description of the start of the new "order" in England only a few days after our government shutdown was a little unsettling:
There were riots, and people with guns. Nobody knew what was going on. Everyone was waiting for the government to do something … But there wasn’t any government anymore, just lots of little gangs, all trying to take over, and then in 1992 somebody finally did … It was all the fascist groups, the right-wingers. They’d all got together with some of the big corporations that had survived. ‘Norsefire’ they called themselves. They soon got things under control. But then they started taking people away …”


Having already seen the movie, I already knew the main parts of the story before I started reading and was pleased to see that the movie did the book justice. There were a few differences. The book spends more time focusing on some of the characters inside the government and Evey is younger and more childlike. I was a little disappointed that some of the memorable quotes from the movie (“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”) were not in the book. Also, I would have loved to have seen V’s very alliterative speech in the opening scene of the movie (starting at 2:55) in print: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDO0Hc4klic

It was a good 3 ½ to 4 star read for me and am so glad I got a chance to read the book that the movie came from. Maybe it’s because graphic novels (this is only my second one) are turning out not to be my cuppa or maybe it’s because the movie was a pretty good one (Hugo Weaving is an excellent V!), I think I would recommend the movie over the book.

201avidmom
Ott 31, 2013, 1:11 am



At the beginning of the year I had set a goal of reading “pop” authors. Only two authors came to mind, really, when I set that goal: John Grisham and Stephen King. The Grisham book I read over the summer, while not a bad book, left me wondering what all the fuss was about. I went into the King book half expecting to be disappointed. Truth be told, I did start Misery, get a little put off by a bit of the writing at the beginning, put it down, and then go on to something else. Being the law abiding citizen that I am, though, decided that I had to go back and give Mr. King his allotted 50 pages before I invoked the Pearl Rule. I’m glad I did because I found myself totally sucked into the story. I was expecting a very superficial horror story (like a B Hollywood movie) but found that this particular story has a lot going on in it. King uses this particular story to write about the writing process and even the way readers can get so emotionally involved with fictional characters that they have physical reactions to what they read.

I already knew the basic story going in: famous author is rescued by a criminally insane obsessed fan who holds him hostage. After rescuing Paull from a near fatal car wreck, Annie takes care of Paul then holds him hostage and forces him to literally write for his life. She forces him to resurrect his famous character, Misery, the star in his series of money-making popular books. It’s miserable business for him; Paul was overjoyed to get rid of Misery by killing her off in his last book and get on to his more “serious” work. Adding to Paul’s misery is his realization of the extent of Annie’s insanity and that she has isolated him like a pet in a cage with virtually no chance of escape. He is totally at her mercy. What makes Misery a scary story is that the character of Annie, with her mental illnesses that cause her flip on a dime personality, seems totally plausible. Paul is left trying to stay one step ahead of Annie’s crazy thinking to stay alive; he learns what to do and what to say, even what to write, in order to stay in her good graces – or so he thinks. One minute she is all light and kindness, and then the next the sun goes behind the clouds and the big bad dark storm comes and there’s nowhere to hide from Annie’s terrifying brand of craziness. Giving the choice between meeting Annie Wilkes or Dracula, I’d choose Dracula any day of the week!

*shudders*

While I don’t think Stephen King is necessarily the best writer around, he certainly is a great, and very entertaining, storyteller. I get what the fuss is about.

202NanaCC
Ott 31, 2013, 9:42 am

I saw the movie Misery, and that was enough for me. I am not a fan of horror, and that is an understatement. I did read The Stand many years ago, but that may be the extent of my Stephen King reading. It seems odd that I can read some of the murder/crime stories, but can't get through the more bizarre horror. My imagination does take flight.

203japaul22
Ott 31, 2013, 10:52 am

I too have been pleasantly surprised by King's writing. I hadn't read anything by him except for The Shining in high school until a couple of years ago. I've read The Stand, 11/22/63 and Full Dark, No Stars (a short/long story collection) and have really enjoyed all of them. He's wordy, but there's always something psychologically interesting in his writing and he sure does know how to keep you turning pages. I'm sure, as with any author that has written the vast amount of books that he has, that there must be some duds in there, but I'm enjoying discovering him. I'll keep Misery in mind to get to some day.

204avidmom
Ott 31, 2013, 6:14 pm

>202 NanaCC: My son and I are going to brave the movie today. After reading the book I'm almost afraid to watch! I think the movie toned down some scenes, thankfully.

>203 japaul22: "Pleasantly surprised" describes my feelings pretty well. I think the "psychologically interesting" part is what I liked the most about Misery.

205lyzard
Ott 31, 2013, 6:18 pm

I always come away from Misery with a desperate longing to read the novel in which Paul resurrects his heroine - which believe me is not my usual sort of reading! I find the excerpts brilliant and hilarious, and am therefore utterly horrified by----well, you know!

Spoiler

I'm slightly worried by the fact that I find more lingering horror in the destruction of a manuscript than in physical mutilation.

206baswood
Ott 31, 2013, 8:23 pm

You have trod where I fear to tread avidmom, enjoyed your review of Misery

207avidmom
Nov 1, 2013, 10:42 am

>205 lyzard: I had a similar reaction to the manuscript murder.

>206 baswood: Not sure I'll ever go there again baswood!

208avidmom
Modificato: Nov 1, 2013, 11:40 am



My oldest son watched this with me yesterday and his reaction was different than mine. He said "Whoa! What a ride!" and thought it was really good and the suspense was done very well. Annie's freak out moments scared him. My reaction, after having read the book, was much different. I understand why they had to tone down the movie and change some things a bit but my verdict after reading the book and watching the movie is that the book is much darker and scarier.

Kathy Bates won an Oscar for Best Actress.
My movie buff son is a big fan of the Nostalgia Critic. Bates comes in as #9 on his "Top 11 Scariest Performances of All Time."

209Polaris-
Nov 2, 2013, 11:33 pm

Great review of Misery Avid. I 'enjoyed' the movie (sort of - I was wincing in all the right places...) at the cinema, but I don't usually read those sort of books. I do have King's recent 11/22/63 on my shelf to read though.

210avidmom
Nov 3, 2013, 12:53 am

>Polaris, as a rule I avoid all things horror related. Reading & watching Misery (and earlier this month watching The Shining) was a bit of a stretch for me.

211bragan
Modificato: Nov 3, 2013, 6:24 pm

Not that you'd know it from the decidedly lackluster review I just gave 11/22/63, but I really do think King is one of those authors who is too easily dismissed by those who tend to equate "popular" with "shlocky." At his best, the guy really can write a story. (Alas, at his worst, he doesn't seem to know when to stop writing.) If you're looking for more King, I personally think The Shining is his best, at least of the couple dozen of his books I've read. (It's also noticeably different from the movie in a number of ways.)

212avidmom
Modificato: Nov 3, 2013, 8:44 pm

Since King just released a sequel to The Shining, I might read it next. But it'll probably be a while before I get 'round to another King.

213avidmom
Nov 4, 2013, 12:57 am

This is the book my son picked out at the bookstore today. The last YA book he read that he really liked had teenagers hanging out at an IHOP too. He said that he likes books that feature high school kids hanging out at IHOP. I read it this evening. Not really sure why - I think I was just craving a good little escape story.



Bored and restless, Bobby Steele and his teenage friends sit at their local hangout spot, the International House of Pancakes, and come up with a crazy prank. They decide to create an imaginary kid to apply for admission at Whitestone Prep. High School. Kids at the private school live a life Bobby and his friends, with their working class upbringing, can't even imagine. When "Rowan Ian Pohi (IHOP spelled backwards)" gets accepted the three friends think it's quite hilarious and they agree that the prank ends here. Impulsive Bobby has other plans; he decides to become Rowan and attend the expensive private school. Things at home are bad for Bobby; ever since "it" happened, his family's reputation has been tarnished. It's hard to tell whether Bobby decides to become Rowan in order to run away from his family name or to get away from his substandard high school. Once he gets to the prep. school, how long can he keep up the charade of being Rowan?

Even if it is utterly predictable, this YA novel still managed to be a very light and entertaining read - one of those books you can devour in one sitting like I did tonight. Bobby is a good kid and you want to see things work out for him.

What can I say? It was fun while it lasted, but that's about it.

3 Stars.

214avidmom
Modificato: Nov 4, 2013, 1:24 am



So many new (old) cookbooks to choose from today. This one came home with me. It's a gorgeous book. After I brought it home, I sat down, looked at all the pictures and gained five pounds.

215avidmom
Nov 6, 2013, 8:18 pm


Great literature reading great literature: Frankenstein reads Don Quixote.
Awesome pic.

216kidzdoc
Nov 7, 2013, 6:09 am

217avidmom
Modificato: Nov 9, 2013, 11:50 pm

Thanks kidzdoc. :)
Too bad I found it too late for actual Halloween.

This gets my vote as best Halloween costume EVER!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152012045319709

218Polaris-
Nov 10, 2013, 11:17 am

That is BRILLIANT! Love it!

219labfs39
Nov 11, 2013, 5:15 pm

Yay! I caught up! I enjoyed all the discussions, particularly of One Doctor, and I put Unclay on my wishlist. I'm glad to see someone else including their movie viewing on their thread. I don't watch movies very often, but when I do, it is often related to my reading, as yours often are.

220avidmom
Nov 11, 2013, 6:55 pm

Thanks labfs39! We love movies here (my oldest son being the real movie buff). I thought I would drive him crazy comparing Misery, the book, to the movie version while we were watching it. To his credit, he said that he enjoyed letting him know where the differences were.

221labfs39
Nov 11, 2013, 7:41 pm

How old are your sons? I have a ten year old daughter. We still read aloud almost every night, and although she isn't ready for more adult movies, we share a love for Anne of Green Gables and Colin Firth's Pride and Prejudice. We also have a long commute and often listen to audio books together. Oh, and I love library book sales too!

222avidmom
Nov 11, 2013, 8:02 pm

My oldest is 19; my youngest is 16 soon to be 17. The oldest goes to college full-time (and is looking for a job!); the youngest is still in high school and wants to go to med. school. Now, see, if I said "Anne of Green Gables" or "Pride and Prejudice" to my big "kid," he would have no idea what they were about. Say "Colin Firth" and he could probably tell you every movie Firth has ever been in. Big kid is NOT a reader, although he did say he could be talked into giving an audio book a try.

I am a big, big, big fan of libraries! All the libraries here have a "book room" where you can buy donated books for a $1 or less (depending). Every once in a while one of the libraries will run a "$2 a bag" book sale - all the books you can stuff in a bag for $2. Those are lots of fun.

223avidmom
Nov 11, 2013, 9:48 pm



I caught this HBO documentary last week and almost wish I hadn't. It's quite an upsetting story; it doesn't really get any worse than kids killing kids. On February 12, 2008 an 8th grade boy, Brandon McInerney sat behind his gay classmate, Larry King, during class in the computer lab at school. Brandon pulled out a gun and shot Larry twice in the back of the head. Larry died two days later on Valentine's Day. The motive for the shooting? Because Larry, a gay teen, had played the "Valentine game" with Brandon. He had asked Brandon to be his Valentine in front of Brandon's friends. Brandon felt embarrassed by this, apparently, and probably got teased about it, but why he chose such a drastic measure as bringing a gun to school and shooting Larry right in the middle of class is incomprehensible.

The filmmakers try to make sense out of the senseless by digging out the details of both boys backgrounds and what was going on between them in the days leading up to Larry's murder. The expected similarities show up here. Both boys come from broken families and have had to deal with abuse, and on Brandon's side, the drug addictions of both his mother and father. There is speculation that Brandon may have been a budding neo-Nazi, a white supremacist who couldn't handle Larry's homosexuality or the fact that Larry was biracial. Defenders of Brandon, mostly white female jurors from his first case, bring up a somewhat valid point that Brandon was studying the Holocaust at school and was just naturally curious. But, the extensive amount of drawings found in his notebooks and the two or three books on Nazism found in his backpack may suggest otherwise. There seems to be a need to defend the deceased Larry too. Apparently Larry had begun wearing high heels and makeup in addition to his required school uniform and had started calling himself by girl's names. Teachers worried that this would cause problems for him, that he would be bullied, beat up, etc. There were also rumors that Larry was going around the school saying that Brandon was his boyfriend; that they had gone on dates but had broken up. Defenders of Brandon say that Larry was sexually harassing Brandon. One of the jurors says, "Yeah, they talk about Larry's civil rights, but what about Brandon's?" (Um, what about little Larry's right to live.) (!) They make a good point, though, that the school wasn't around to help either of these kids.

And then there's the school and the teachers. Maybe they didn't do enough; maybe they did too much. When Larry started coming to school wearing makeup and high heels along with his school uniform, one of his teachers went to the principal and said she was worried that the kids would take Larry out behind the school and beat him up and that something needed to be done to protect Larry. Another teacher took a much different approach and took Larry aside and gave him some tips on how to dial down his makeup. She even gave him one of her daughter's "old" formal dresses. When Brandon shot Larry in this particular teacher's first period class, she was scapegoated for Larry's death and eventually fired. The students and the teacher who were in class at the time of the shooting unanimously complain that the school did nothing to help them after the tragedy. According to them, they were left on their own. A lot of the kids in the film voiced the same opinion: "The school didn't do ***t!"

The first case against Brandon was dismissed as a mistrial. (He was later tried again and was sentenced to 21 years). What's interesting is that after the first trial (or mistrial) quite a few of the jurors became part of a little "Save Brandon" club. Even Brandon's defense lawyer had a little "Save Brandon" tattoo on her wrist. I can totally (well almost) understand the defense's wanting Brandon to not be tried as an adult since he was 14 at the time of the shooting, but her almost fan-worship of Brandon seems a little much. In a little blip at the end she talks about what a wonderful kid Brandon is and what a great spirit he has but, except for his older brothers telling us what a good and "clean cut" kid he was, the filmmakers don't really give us a clue as to why people think so highly of him.

What disturbs me most of all, though, is that in his closing arguments in the first trial states that Brandon "...didn't pull a Columbine...." and go on a killing rampage. There's a part of my brain that gets this lawyer's point; and another part of it that can't even think about it because my head'll explode. What a world we live in!

This story upset me on so many levels: as a mother, a school employee, and someone who's lost a friend to a senseless murder. It's just a tragic story all around and I found myself feeling everybody's pain. It left me feeling angry, sad, and incredulous.

But mostly sad.

224avidmom
Nov 11, 2013, 9:59 pm

So, after that cheery movie above, I thought I needed some fun ...



As a card carrying member of the Colbert Nation, I had to read this. It is a good book, it won "The Stephen T. Colbert Award For The Literary Excellence."

Here's Stephen's and my review(s):

"A great read!
(Yep. A fun read.)
I laughed, I cried,
(I laughed, sometimes out loud!)
I lost 15 pounds!
If only!!!!
I cannot recommend this book highly enough."
Um ..... well .... I like him on TV better. :)
Stephen Colbert

Once you're armed with my knowledge, you should never again be afraid to speak up. For the more you speak up, the louder you become. And the more you speak up in my voice, the louder I become. If someone has a problem with it, just say, " 'Well, it's not just my opinion, it's Stephen Colbert's opinion, and I happen to agree. '" Then it's two against one, and we win.

225labfs39
Nov 11, 2013, 11:11 pm

#222 Ok, your boys are both older. On your profile page, you had written you had a middle schooler, so I thought maybe we had kids of similar ages. The movie you wrote about sounds horribly depressing and frightening. Also mystifying. I wonder what the fascination was with Brandon? I'm glad you read something humorous after that. Brr. Did you see Colbert's interview with Maurice Sendak, and the book they wrote? Although it's an older interview, they replayed it when Sendak passed away last year. It was very funny.

226Nickelini
Nov 12, 2013, 12:18 am

Well, that's just really, really sad. (the movie)

Tonight my husband and I watched a documentary on "the Real War Horse" which was about horses in WWI. It was depressing and sad too, though they are still animals in the end. You win with the depressing story.

227avidmom
Nov 12, 2013, 1:32 am

>225 labfs39: I"m sorry, labfs39, I really, really need to update the info. on my profile! I wrote that four years ago; so much has changed since then! That movie was depressing and sad. I wonder what the fascination was with Brandon? Me too. The documentary tried to get all sides of the story represented but they kind of dropped the ball on that one. I thought of going back and watching the movie one more time because I felt maybe I had missed something, but I just didn't have it in me to go through it again.

I did see that Colbert/Sendak interview. One of my favorite Colbert moments.

>226 Nickelini: During my Civil War phase, I saw so many pictures of soldiers - and their horses - dead on the battlefield. It had never occurred to me what danger the poor horses were in too.

You're right, though, "Valentine Road" is much more depressing.
This little Nightline video sums it up better than I did:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oemCVS9K4a8

228avidmom
Nov 12, 2013, 2:06 am



What a coincidence. Just as I start reading Colbert's silly book, we manage to accidentally catch him on PBS "Great Performances." The Broadway play, "Company," is about Bobby, "35" and single and all his married (or soon to be married) friends. It starts out on Bobby's 35th birthday and spans his 35th year. Bobby is in high demand from his married friends. (My youngest said "Oh, so the point they're making is that when you get married make sure you have a single friend to talk to.") When he's not socializing with them, he is trying to meet "the one." After spending time with all his married friends and seeing all their troubles first hand, he wonders what the point of marriage is. It is a mostly funny show with a bittersweet drama underlying the whole thing.

Here's Stephen Colbert in a more dramatic moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COxzO9iihvY

I'm glad I got to see it through the magic of PBS.

229baswood
Nov 12, 2013, 8:00 am

Excellent review of the HBO documentary. It sounds a horrific case. You don't tell in what part of the States this murder took place and whether this would have been significant as to why there was a mistrial or to reasons for Brandon's actions. I can understand the effect it must have on mothers/fathers with children at school.

230rebeccanyc
Nov 12, 2013, 9:38 am

Wow, that was super disturbing on so many levels.

231avidmom
Modificato: Nov 12, 2013, 9:03 pm

>229 baswood: Thank you Baswood. The shooting took place in Oxnard, California which is on the coast of Southern California. The mistrial was declared because the jurors couldn't reach a unanimous decision on whether to charge Brandon with first or second degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.

>230 rebeccanyc: Wow, that was super disturbing on so many levels.
Most definitely! The whole story bothered me. Maybe that's why I decided to write about it. I needed to vent.

232RidgewayGirl
Nov 13, 2013, 4:03 am

Please read something about unicorns and wildflowers next.

233avidmom
Nov 13, 2013, 1:06 pm

Unfortunately, I don't have any books about unicorns and wildflowers around but I do have this long-stitch picture I made when I was 14.


Unicorns and flowers.
I feel better already.

234VivienneR
Nov 14, 2013, 1:02 am

Beautiful!

235avidmom
Nov 14, 2013, 8:04 pm

Thank you, Vivienne.
Questa conversazione è stata continuata da Avidmom's Adventures Come to an End 2013.