A Couple of Photos

Not that I'm by any stretch of the imagination a photographer, but this afternoon when I left school, the sky was just so interesting that I grabbed the digital camera which I'd had in my purse and snapped a couple of pictures. Not sure how they'll look on here, but I thought it was pretty cool.

~taminator40

Easter and Finished Reading

It's Easter Sunday and we spent the day first at church, then at Mom's for lunch (yum!), and finally at Jeff's parents' for a bit before heading home. I have to say it was gratifying seeing our church almost full on Easter, and I'm especially grateful to have seen the Guss family after their devastating loss. God offers them the assurance of seeing their son again someday, and that's heartening. I love our church family and I'm so grateful for all of them!

The girls had their usual Easter baskets full of stuff, though we do try to cut back a bit on all the sugary things. Hannah wanted two CDs, and Katherine wanted two movies, which was good. We had a very early Easter egg hunt around the house, then took off. Now I've got about 20 things I need to do online but of course blogging comes first!

I FINALLY finished The Limits of Enchantment by Graham Joyce. My friend Stephanie had recommended it to me and I felt honorbound to try it since I've foisted so many books on her. All I can say is, What a Disappointment! Suffice it to say that I found it less than enchanting on many levels. Arrgh. Here's the link to my Amazon review:

http://tinyurl.com/ynwf85

I'm now reading Allison DuBois's first book, Don't Kiss Them Goodbye. I'm enjoying it immensely so far. I want to become a psychic! Think there's a school for that? LOL

Happy Easter!

~taminator40

When a Friend Recommends...

I am currently reading a book recommended to me by a friend entitled The Limits of Enchantment by Graham Joyce. It's okay, but for a book I began last weekend and that is less than 300 pages, it should be moving much more quickly than it is. When I do pick it up to read, it's pretty good, but I do find my mind wandering occasionally. I wonder why some books that are such hits with people I know well just seem to fall flat when I pick them up? Is it mood? Is it some subtle shifting of the universe? I don't know what it is. The truth of the matter is, I am very good at foisting books off on people I think will really enjoy them, but I don't necessarily enjoy having books foisted off on me. And for some reason, I'm usually proved right when I do pick up a book a friend has recommended, unfortunately. This particular friend has read several books I've told her about, and she always loves them. She was so excited when she found this one and wanted me to read it. It's taken me a while to pick it up, and I even put it on my tbr_challenge list. I don't seem to have this problem with books recommended to me from my online friends. Maybe that's because we're all such book nuts and we know each other's styles so well? Or maybe it's my oppositional/defiant disorder...I want to be in control! All I know is that this particular book is dragging for me, and not for any special reason I can ascertain.

~taminator40

Did I mention...

Did I mention that I just love my new cat? I have to say that there were twinges in my heart when we first brought him home---I felt like perhaps I was being a bit disloyal to the late, great Rudi. But Angus has just stolen his way into my heart with his cute kitty ways, attacking his mouse (something that apparently must be done every half hour or the mouse will attack him), and showing his selling point (that humongous belly!). I think I might be in love!

~taminator40

Announcing...Angus!

Yesterday we visited a local shelter/animal hospital and came home with....Angus! He was actually named Vashi but we decided immediately that he needed a new name. He stole our hearts when he rolled over in his cage and showed us his tummy (and there's quite a bit of it). He's almost a year old, already neutered, and a sweetheart. He's spent much of his time here so far hiding under the bed, which we understand is normal behavior, though this afternoon he's really warmed up and came out to play. And he's going to have a sister! In a week or so, we'll be getting an 8 week old all black sister for him. The vet says they should get along because a) Angus is very laid back and 2) opposite sexes get along better. We are so excited to be a cat family again! ~taminator40

Pagan's Crusade Review

I finished my #8 book for the month today, Pagan's Crusade by Catherine Jinks. I enjoyed it! It's got lots of laugh out loud moments, and Pagan is a true teenager, despite the setting of twelfth century Jerusalem. There are three more books in this series, all of which I own (surprise, surprise, huh?) and I'll definitely be reading them, though it may be summer before I pick them up. I can recommend this one. Here's a link to my Amazon review:

http://tinyurl.com/2ztsj4


Have a great weekend and stay tuned for more information on Angus McCann, the newest member of the McCann household...

~taminator40

A Loss You Can't Deal With

Hannah called me at school yesterday to let me know she'd gotten home safely, which she does everyday. I expect it and often forget she's going to do it, but if the clock creeps too close to 3:00 p.m., I start getting antsy. But she's good about calling, and I know I breathe easier when she does.
However, when she called yesterday, it was her statement "Mom, did you hear about Mrs. Guss?" that just left me breathless. Joy Guss is one of her guidance counselors and a friend of ours from church, so of course I was curious and told her no. It was the next sentence that made me gasp involuntarily: "Her son was killed in a car accident last night." They had announced it at school that day, and just like that, we were all sucker punched.
Josh was only 15, a freshman at a local high school. He was a nice looking kid, and his mom was proud of him. He came to church with her some. We had had dinner with the Gusses not too long ago and had shared stories of the joys of raising teenagers. Joy had told us that when Josh complained, she reminded him that he was hers and she loved him. And now he's gone, one day after buying a book he'll never read, just minutes after completing baseball practice. Just like that.
As the parent of a teenager, I worry constantly about a lot of things, but car wrecks probably rank up there as one of the highest. Of course anything can happen at any time, but to know a life that one minute before had so much time before it is suddenly over literally makes me feel sick to my stomach. The fact that there is nothing that could have been done to prevent the accident almost makes it worse, because you can replay it and replay it and the outcome is still the same. I cannot imagine how Joy feels, though I'm sure at this point she's just numb. It will be the days, weeks, months, and years ahead that will bring the pain to the surface over and over again. I can be there for her as a friend, but I'm not her child and even her other child will never begin to replace the hole in her heart. There's one in my heart for her as well.

Yeah Me!

Yeah me! I was once again selected to be a member of Simon and Schuster's Readers' Advisory Board for the remainder of this year! I love getting the free books, some of which I might not have read had they not been sent to me, and some of which I wish I hadn't read but still love getting (does that make sense? Oh, well...). So I wonder what will be coming my way now? This past year I read several books from them that I really enjoyed, including Notting Hell, The Boleyn Inheritance, and Just Between Us. Ah, the joy of books! Can you ever have too many? I think not!

~taminator40

Being Historically Accurate

I admit it; I'm a fanatic for historical accuracy in historical fiction. Minor discrepencies don't bother me much, and many authors use them to make the book flow better or to speed up the action. In fact, whenever I encounter such an inaccuracy, I can almost bet that the better authors will have a few pages toward the end of the book explaining what's gone on and into the reasoning for the change or inaccuracy. I can respect that. It's a nod to those who know the time period well, and it assumes that we will understand the rationale.

Last night I began a book I'd had lying on my nightstand for a couple of months entitled The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson. It looked good, and the author is well-known for her biographies. Plus I'm a bit of a Tudor afficianado, though I'd never count myself among its experts. I made it to page 50 before chucking it; it's already been listed and requested at pbswap.com. I almost felt like I should've warned the requestor away, though I suppose to some people the problems I had with the book won't matter. But they matter to me and it makes me wonder: Why on earth would a well-known author play so fast and furious with the facts, knowing that the audience she's seeking to appeal to will be the one most likely to find fault?

I understand that the book is FICTION and as such, the author can do whatever she likes with the facts. I do not believe that exonerates her, however. How many people will pick up this book, with its stylish, headless cover, and, not knowing the time period, believe every word as fact? Don't tell me it doesn't happen. Recently on a book list, another friend and I enumerated for a third reader all the inaccuracies in Philippa Gregory's The Constant Princess. This reader took forgranted that the author simply brought to life the story of Catherine of Aragon by adding dialogue and a bit of intrigue. We extended the discussion into Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl, which is a wildly popular title (and a very good read as well, setting aside its inaccuracies). Once informed, the third reader spent a bit of time looking up facts herself and came up with a laundry list of inaccuracies in both novels, none of which she would have known about had we not brought the subject up.

So why does this matter? It matters in a day and age when history is pushed further and further aside in schools and students never learn the names and actions of past leaders such as Elizabeth I, King John, Henry VIII, or anyone else like them. Remember, when we don't know the history, we're doomed to repeat it! It also matters in that this is just another way rumor becomes fact; before we know it, the only view of Henry VIII is that of a fat, licentious despot (okay, maybe there's *some* truth to that, but only in his later years) based on works of fiction. Why do lots of people think Richard III was a humpbacked miscreant responsible for the murder of his brother's sons? Because Shakespeare said it was so, and few people have been bothered to learn the truth. And that's not fair, and it's just one more way we've managed to dumb down the population at large.

I could list the inaccuracies in The Last Wife of Henry VIII, but I won't list them here simply because this post is already long. And to be fair, perhaps after 50 pages, I might have found that this story picked up nicely and stuck to the details. I'm not counting on it, however; the missing Author's Notes pages at the end of the book told me far more about the substance of this book than anything else could. And that's a shame.

~taminator40

On the Porch Swing

I belong to an online group called OnThePorchSwing at www.yahoogroups.com. It's a nice group of readers who share what they are reading and help us all add to our tbr piles copiously. However, it never occurred to me until this afternoon (caution: "Duh!" alert) that some of my favorite times reading come when I'm ensconced on our own porch swing, book in hand, chips nearby, telephone outside with me, birds swooping by overhead. It's one of my very favorite sites to take a book to, and I miss it horribly during those long, cold months of winter when it's just too darned cold to sit outside for long. Now that our weather has thankfully taken an upturn toward spring, I've found myself perched gloriously (okay, just perched) on my swing, gently swaying in the breeze, the late afternoon sun warming both my body and my soul. There simply cannot be a better way to live!

I finished not one, but two (yes, I said TWO) books today. The first was one I'd been reading for a couple of days: The Vampire Who Loved Me by Teresa Medeiros, picked up soley because I needed something light for spring break and I have a thing for vampires these days. My amazon.com review can be found at the following web address:

http://tinyurl.com/yrbuwv

Secondly, I picked up and read I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron in its entirety this afternoon. I wasn't sure I'd like this one because I'd heard it wasn't that good, but I surprisingly enjoyed it! It's a collection of essays of Ephron's observations on life. I particularly enjoyed her chapter on the importance of books. The review, found at Amazon.com, is linked below:

http://tinyurl.com/34jxoz

So there it is! I feel as though my reading is picking back up and I enjoyed my time off during spring break. Now if only I could win the lottery so I could spend all day, every day, reading...

~taminator40