And then two years later...

And then two years later...

Life or GOD has once again place so much on my plate (or so it seems), that it has taken time to get to the point I am in now. All most normal. I have continued to read, as readers know it is part of our lives like breathing in air.

I have meant to sit down and just let my book-thoughts get "outdoors". No one may read these lines but it is nice to see them (thoughts) elsewhere besides floating inside of my head (there is not much room after 60 yrs of hording words and stories)! But the love of good books is never far from my daily plans.

So much to tell you on what I have read in all these months. The best author I found is sadly not writing any longer. But Stieg Larsson did write a trilogy of fiction-drama books. He wrote a lot of other material mostly non-fiction in his native Norwegian. I really did enjoy THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO/THE GIRL WHO LIKED TO PLAY WITH FIRE and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST.

I read a biography by a good friend of Larrson and it leaves me to wonder if Larrson had not written from a personal side of his? The movies are well done but not the last one. You must read the last book (a little tedious ) but worth the effort it connects all the dots.

Did I tell you of the author Sandra Dallas, I'll check if I didn't I will write next about this author.

Well, glad I took my first plunge and I hope to see you soon.Blessings to all out there!

Life Continues...

If you have at all read any of my old blogs you will (sort of) that illness had decided to visit me and mine. Life, it has a way of providing that 'change' of scenery that we at times take for granted.I never realized it had been so long since my last blog. If you've (?) thought I was gone for good, well I'm back. I thank GOD that I am a reader, I don't know what I would have done through all these months if it wasn't for my rosary and my public library. Life is allowing GOD to show me a more normal time now, I hope it will last until my sick memories fade a little. The rosary is God's answer to us both as a pacifier and as a panic button (to be used as often as needed). But here is a list of some of the books that have helped me keep from going over the edge and protesting the Vatican as to why we can't join a convent with a husband in tow (joke).

The first great thing is that I have discovered a new mystery-crime-detective author; he is Henning Mankell-THE RETURN OF THE DANCING MASTER-great read and that took me to search out other works of his that have been translated from the Swedish language.

A new entry of my favorite duo writers Charles Todd in A MATTER OF JUSTICE.

COLD CASE by Kate Wilhelm reminds us of the great locations for mysteries in Wash. state.

When I was to down to focus my eyes on pages, I turn to the audio-books among which I re-listen to THE BONESTETTER'S DAUGHTER-by Amy Tan.

I can continue but this was only my "proof of life" bit. Enjoy life and remember who to thank!

Month of the Souls

If we are really true, I guess all twelve months count as souls to be added to the list of our deceased. Last week we lost another good author and I think director too. Michael Crichton.
He wrote COMA-JURASSIC PARK- and a lot of other books that at some point dealt with the theme of science in our society and where men are taking it. He received his medical licence but writing took over. He is the author who made science easy to read and left me worried of what was possible with medicine and bioethics in the wrong hands. He was young in his early 60's;
young to me since I'm in my 50's. It is sad to see authors leave us since they are hard to come by. Just like George Simenon was for sociological police stories. I was so hooked on this books just after high school. He not only gave you the crime, the criminal but also the why, the real
deep down reason for the persons to take their last step to loosing their freedom forever.
Not like Sherlock Holmes (the character) who gave you the why and how without ever you, the reader knowing the details until Holmes let you know at the end in his apartments before he startes to play the violin or smoke his opium.
As readers we learn things from books some are neat and useful others aren't but we really are what we read. Reading fills in the gaps that are left behind in our lives. Reading adds spice to our lives and make life more interesting, so we too can be cops or criminals without leaving our armchair. So we say thank you to our GOD for giving us good authors and pray they live nice long healthy lives!

Leaves are falling!

This year is flying past me. Is it just me or is getting old makes my days grow shorter and the hours seem to have less minuets than before? My worries are getting less but I consider that all those sayings that I've heard for years are finally kicking in; like LET GO-LET GOD or LEAVE IT AT GOD'S FEET or the prayer of saying constantly JESUS I TRUST IN YOU is finally producing fruit in my heart or have I placed a pair of rose colored glasses instead of my bi-focal ones?
Whatever the reason, I find that I start looking for interesting biographical books. I read lives of saints but ones like Loretta Young (if you know who she was?), saints or sinners a life that someone or the same person deems that it should be known to others, would seem worth the time to read it I suppose. With that I guess I give to understand that mine is very boring, and I guess it is very true only I have to add that I thank GOD that my life is a very blessed one.
I have a book I purchased a while ago on Alice Roosevelt, another on Dorothy L. Sayers and on
Edith Stein (who I think is now blessed in the Catholic Church). Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen are great to read at this time of year.
More men books come to mind like THE GRUNT PADRE and PRIEST BLOCK 25487.
Why is it that autumn is related to thinking more diligently on life and our way of almost crossing into another new year?
The good thing is that we have Christmas to buffer between thinking of souls and starting a new year. The Christ Child is there to help us cross over and start (like a child) into a new year full of promises and hopes.
As you see my thoughts are very sobering today and I'll sit down and write of bright and happy books on another day that is not cloudy like today. Poems and mysteries are so much more fun on days like today. Did Agatha Christie ever write an autobiography?

History made mandatory!

Last day of another month! Time is the reason we stress out! Who needs messages and drugs all we need is extra hours to feel better!
Enough on personal life, what can be done to better the human race is a good thought.
Making history mandatory not just a little twice a week course can be an answer. Starting in the 5Th grade (when we as kids begin to feel we know it all). If we can teach the children (who God willing will become adults) that history will repeat itself unless we can do things differently. Bad history can be avoided. First have the books written with truth in every sentence. Next as the children grow older have them read books like CITIZEN SOLDIERS by Stephen Ambrose. Don't have them read too much before 1900 since we have had since then so many wars to cover. NIGHT by E. Wiesel, or PRIEST BLOCK25487 by Jean Bernard, just that one war (WWII) will serve to teach them how everyone suffered. Albert Spear's SPANDAU DIARIES or a woman's view like BERLIN DIARIES by Marie Vassiltchikov. Fiction to understand the stress on human nature like Nevil Shute's A TOWN CALL ALICE or ORDEAL. The list is endless, but if we see where we as a society went wrong then we can avoid repeating the same again and again. Voices in books are written by those who lived it we do we insist on committing the same errors?

This is a hot one!

Summer,where did July go to, if you see it let me know, I am short one full month. Life is making a time-traveler out of me, but I don't go anywhere, I just stand still and loose days and weeks in a flash.As I came to finally sit down and think that the days are getting really hot all over our country, my mind went to good books I've read dealing with sunny days and heart warming stories.Three came quickly to mind. The first is HOTEL PASTIS by Peter Mayle, who wrote A YEAR IN PROVANCE; this one has a little mystery but it does have a lot of French country life in it.But the ambiance is truly French.
EXTRA VIRGIN, is yes about olives and their oil. This is a nice simple story of two London friends (at least I think they're British), who end up buying an old but could be made profitable house and land. It is in a little village called San Pietro, in the area of Liguria in Italy.The author is Anne Hawes.
The last book is UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN by Frances Mayes. No the book is nothing like the movie that came out come years ago. The book though is about a couple who give up the 'rat race' and become part of a small community in the Tuscany part of Italy. This book truly reminded me the most of the 12 years I spent in my home town in Mexico, as a mother of two soon to be teenagers.
We are all "travelers" in this world and these books just focus on things that could happen when we try to fit into other cultures, you see things from another prospective.

Good Authors Give Us Good Movies

I have been meaning to look and see what else has Amy Tan's written. After seeing the movie THE JOY LUCK CLUB, I looked her up. Actually that's always been a good tip for finding new authors. If you like a movie then check to see if it has been based on a book. Sometimes they are and that gives you a name to look up in the library catalogue.
Getting back to Tan, I did try to read one or two but my all time favorite is THE BONE SETTERS DAUGHTER. This book really had that special touch that has you intrigue and reading until the late hours when your eyes feel like they are on a paper plate!
Then came the autobiographical THE OPPOSITE OF FATE, which was great for me because I loved the JLC movie and the Bonesetters Daughter book so this book tied them up nicely to see what they meant in her life.

It's the same with some other writers like Leon Uris and two of his books MILA 18 and TOPAZ did he not also write EXODUS ? They all sort of tell us how life was;both in world politics and the characters of these stories, in the 40's up to the 60's.
And these where also made into great movies. But good authors sometimes don't make their way on to the big screen, like George Simenon, maybe because the few that were made didn't give us that deep study on the workings of the human mind, which books give you, the slow turns and time to get the point before the actual act or crime is committed?