I am alive my long-lost friends! For those of you who own and run blogs, fret not. I have not abandoned ye. I have just been simmering in my life for the last week, which didn't release me from it's maw until today.
The kids had finals this week, which really has nothing to do with me except that they are manic and panicked and stressed, which affects the mojo of the house. Andre workouts were put on hold for them. I went on a field trip with the 8th graders to Busch Gardens, there was a graduation rehearsal, early dismissals and graduation on Friday. My parents flew in. It was my mom's birthday. I had an annual physical in the middle of it all. My daughter had to show up at the new high school (along with a couple hundred other students) for a sports physical. The book list for high school was finalized and the parents immediately flew into a frenzy of black market textbook activity.
My son has one more week of school, but it should be low key. I assume they will be watching movies and playing games, which always makes me a bit nutty when I think about it. But at least there will be no middle-of-the-night cramming.
The graduation ceremony was beautiful, and I found myself thinking about the 11 years my daughter attended this school. She grew up here. And now she is moving on.
So suffice it to say, I didn't get much done at all. My house is a pig sty. I didn't read much, as I'm sure you will not be surprised. I did finish "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn and it blew my mind. Don't even wait for my review at the end of June. Get your hands on this book NOW. I also wallowed around in the most gorgeous and charming "Le Road Trip" by Vivian Swift, and I fell in love, head over heels. I just did start reading Karen White's "Sea Change" but haven't made much headway. Soon, I hope, if I can just catch up on my sleep.
On audio, I've been listening to "The Lifeboat" in the car and "The Informationist" on the iPod, just like I was last week. Since I've done no housecleaning or yard work, I've not made a huge amount of progress. I am hoping for more this next week.
One fun thing that we have started (I will blame my mother!) is geocaching. I first read about this over at Meg's. There are apps for your phone, where you can get coordinates of little treasures hidden all over the place. There are hundreds in Orlando alone. You find them...they are usually hidden in little containers...and leave your name in a log, and sometimes can even leave a treasure of your own in the hidden container. We have also been on some wild goose chases as well, as seen by my son in a tree here to the left. The kids think this is the coolest thing since sliced bread. They are living out their National Treasurer fantasies.
After horseback riding today, we are hoping to take in (finally) The Avengers, followed by a carefully-crafted RELAXING Sunday evening and Memorial day of floating in the pool and barbecuing. I can feel waves of normalcy rolling back in.
Don't lie to me, you opened this post (or maybe some people didn't even get that far) and were tempted to just keep on walking. I understand. There aren't many people I know in the blogging world that have any desire at all to read about the financial crisis.
But wait! This is written by Michael Lewis, author of "The Blind Side", "Moneyball" and "Liar's Poker". He is proven when it comes to writing a non-fiction book that appeals to all. So don't go anywhere. Read this for entertainment value if you will.
Combine the Michael Lewis effect with the fact that sadly, the financial crisis that brought Wall Street, the US, and ultimately the world to it's knees in 2006 and onward is a tragedy that we cannot ignore. We are still living in the dung pile that was made by investment banks, mortgage lenders, the bond credit ratings agencies, and the government. The effect has been insidious...homes are worth half of what they were five years ago, every neighborhood has a property or two with knee-high weeds in the yard and are in foreclosure, the unemployment is at an all-time high. This was Armageddon like we've not seen since The Great Depression.
I suppressed a groan when I learned we would be reading this book for the Heathrow Literary Society, but at the same time, I felt that to remain ignorant of the facts was irresponsible. This was going to do me good.
I won't bore you with the details...Michael Lewis does a much better job at explanations. He boils it down the best he can, still it is quite complicated. He describes the massive movement to put higher credit risk people in homes, and the creation of the "sub-prime loan" which was always shaky at best. To spread their risk, investment banks creatively compiled these toxic loans into beautifully wrapped packages that were disguised and rated as a good investment, when really it was a house of cards.
What was just pure, good fun in this book were the personal stories. Lewis profiles various characters that worked in the investment markets...a brilliant neurosurgeon with Asperger's who hid in his office and obsessively mastered the markets and the art of investing, an abrasive, wild hedge fund manager whose mouth had no filters, two unpolished college grads who couldn't get a proper job and started investing out of a garage...all of these larger-than-life individuals SAW what was coming. Long before the professionals did. They were like action heroes in this book. I was in awe.
To read about the chain of events that led to Doomsday is baffling. Mind-blowing. It is like the entire world lost their freaking mind. A non-English-speaking migrant worker with an income of $14,000 who bought a house for $724,000. A Vegas stripper who owned five properties. Something for nothing! Free money for everyone! High octane investment bankers who had created a derivative so complicated, few people understood it. But hey, they were making billions of dollars, so what the hell! Live it up, and sell, sell, sell!
At our book club, those who read the book (most that did had backgrounds in finance), there was emotion and anger. It is hard not to be enraged at the lack of consequences for those executives at the top of the food chain. It is hard not to want to move to Bali when you understand how the political goons used Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to start the whole avalanche in the first place.
But the small attendance at the meeting was telling. Most didn't have the stomach for it. I am the target audience...I am a CPA and my husband is knee-deep in the business. This man I love came home EVERY NIGHT FOR A YEAR AND A HALF raving about this debacle. Reorganizing our debt, moving money around, and damn near burying Mason Jars full of cash in the backyard. I had Wall Street at my dinner table more times than I care to admit. That being said, I had a hard time really grasping the enormity and complexity. After earnestly digging into the book however, I was gripped. I Googled. I watched documentaries. I read articles. I consider myself enlightened and invigorated for having read this book.
Note: I threw my normal review format in the trash for this one. This book was in a league all by itself.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Let's see a show of hands. How many of you are weary of hearing about the YA dystopian trilogy? Angsty teens? Where there is a "thing" that happens when they are 16, 17 or 18 years old...a surgery, an assignment, a marriage, a cellular change? It has gotten to the point where I read a synopsis and then proceed to eye-roll myself into a headache.
I shouldn't be so cynical. I know many of these books are really good (I am the biggest fan of Lauren Oliver). It is just...can't we come up with an original idea? Must we go there, over and over again?
Yet, goodness did I hear about this book. It was like a hoard of fevered teenagers stormed BBAW last year and anointed this book the best thing to happen to the literary world. Honestly, though, I would have ignored the frenzy had it not been for my daughter, who selected this book for a lit group at school. If I have a chance to find common ground with The Alien Who Was Once My Child, I take it. So I hopped on board the train.
Synopsis: Beatrice Prior has been born and raised in one of five "factions" in dystopian Chicago...Abnegation, where all are selfless. Once she turns 16, however, her nature will be evaluated, and she will be required to decide where she will spend the rest of her life. Will she stay with her parents in Abnegation, or move to Candor (honesty), Dauntless (bravery), Amity (peacefulness), or Erudite (intelligence)? With a deadly secret in her heart, she makes her decision.
She renames herself Tris, assumes an identity akin to her new faction, and begins the process of a rigorous, and often brutal, initiation. An initiation that will eliminate the weaker candidates via death or at a minimum, banishment to homelessness. In this struggle she becomes acquainted with (and attracted to) one of her trainers named Four, who is mysterious about his past but also feels like a kindred spirit.
Soon it becomes apparent that there are tensions brewing between the factions, and that something sinister is going to erupt and destroy their carefully-planned society and anyone who gets in the way.
My thoughts: I have heard many people compare this book, and the obsession it inspires in its readers, to The Hunger Games. And I can see that. There is a strong female character...a non-traditional beauty with the spirit of a pit bull...who has to literally fight for her life. There is also sexual chemistry (nothing inappropriate for teens) but is incidental to the overall plot. And the powers that be cannot be trusted.
But the book stands on its own. It is definitely fodder for the teen brain, judging by the reaction of my daughter and her friends reading it. But it was a compelling read for me as well. I read it quickly, and when I finished, I was wanting for the second book in the series, "Insurgent", which released on May 1. (Side story...I pre-ordered "Insurgent" from Amazon at a good discount, but when the rubber met the road, I ended up canceling the order and going to Barnes & Noble on May 1st to get it. The Alien Who Was Once My Child couldn't wait. I guess I understand.)
The writing isn't all that spectacular, but there is a good deal of action, and the character of Tris was my kind of girl. And Roth isn't afraid to throw important people under the bus (that is closest thing to a spoiler you will get) - I admire that in a writer. I also really just love Chicago, and got a geeky thrill from various scenes that featured this fair city. Like climbing the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel, or zip-lining from the roof of the John Hancock Building. Eh well, call me a nerd but I thought it was pretty cool.
So onward and upward! I must wait for the daughter to finish salivating all over Book Two, then I will get my hands on it and report back!
4 out of 5 stars
In the lobby at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighborhood in Boston. The building was designed by architect I.M. Pei, and was dedicated in 1979. Definitely worth your time to see this exhibit.
As a newly-converted lover of graphic novels, I was pretty excited to see several reviews of this series called "Fables", of which there are currently 15 installments. Graphic novels are perfect for the reading slump, or when you are deep into a chunkster and need some quicker reads to keep things moving. I was facing the Spring Readathon and thought it would be the perfect time to give this series a test-drive.
Synopsis: It is the modern day, and a number of characters from fairy tales (who call themselves Fables) have been kicked out of their homeland by The Adversary and are now residing in a secret community in New York City called "Fabletown". For those Fables who don't blend (you know, ones with fur or horns or physical peculiarities) must live away upstate at "The Farm".
This installment focuses on the apparent murder of Rose Red, Snow White's wild child sister. A reformed Big Bad Wolf, known as Bigby, is Fabletown's sheriff, and he intends to crack the case (with Snow White's help of course, if they can get past all their chemistry).
There are two men high on the list of suspects. Jack (climber of beanstalks and boyfriend of Rose) is the one who discovered Rose's blood-covered apartment but things don't add up in his story. Then there is Bluebeard, who is officially engaged to Rose but has some anger management issues and some dead ex-wives. Clever investigating on the part of Bigby is ultimately victorious in this fun romp.
My thoughts: Some graphic novels educate and inform on serious issues, like North Korea or growing up in a dysfunctional family, or being a 9/11 widow. This is not that kind of book. This is just light-hearted fun. I was reminded a little bit of an audio I listened to last year called "Gods Behaving Badly", where you take classic fictional characters and pull them into modern society and give them modern problems. In the story about the Gods, a little went a long way, and I was tired of their antics about halfway through the book. In small portions, like this graphic novel, it is the perfect antidote for all that ails you.
I consider this a successful experiment, and intend to get a few installments at a time from my library, just in time for the lazy days of summer.
4 out of 5 stars
Over two years ago, I read and reviewed Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay after it had been selected for one of my book clubs. Most people love this book. I'm not sure I loved it, but was completely taken in by the story of Sarah, a little girl who survives a Parisian Jewish round-up during WWII. I was less than enthralled by the modern day portion of the story about Julia Jarmond, who investigates Sarah's story while struggling with her own personal issues.
Because of my lukewarm feelings about the book, I wasn't in a hurry to see the movie. The movie had a very limited release, and was only showing in Orlando for a short time. But several friends of mine were able to see the movie and loved it. Plus I do love Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient) and thought she might be able to soften up my irritation with the character of Julia.
Overall, I felt a bit more positive about the film than the book. Thomas portrayed more of a thoughtful, feeling business woman and less of a whiner and martyr. But she and the little girl who played Sarah were the only actors that made any kind of an impression. The attraction is more the story, which is positively heartbreaking in so many ways.
The book-to-movie translation, from what I remember from my reading experience, was very true to form. The portrayal of Sarah was just exactly what you would want...full of fire and determination. There were no shortcuts taken, no major plot points eliminated, and the emotions and the tension was just as intense (if not more so) than the book. My stomach hurt almost from the very beginning, and knowing what was coming, forced upon me some really UGLY crying jags. No sniffling, but chest-heaving sobs, hands over the face, swollen eyes. There isn't anything graphic shown, but the implication of the various tragedies was just as bad.
I was unsatisfied with the ending of the book, and while all that predictability was muted by the movie, it was still there and came across as particularly corny. My husband was invested up to the last 15 minutes or so, but then proceeded to do a few eye rolls. I was more forgiving because I was still busy being emotional.
Overall, if you read the book, liked it, and don't mind a good cry, I would recommend renting this one.
Good morning all my friends! I'm coming to you with a smidge better attitude than last week. Just a smidge. My state of mind will improve tenfold once school is done which is in one week for my daughter and two weeks for my son. Then I can focus on regrouping myself and exorcising all the negativity that is trying to drag me down.
Next week is going to be completely insane, even for my standards. I'll save the blow-by-blow details for next Sunday, but it is finals week and my daughter graduates 8th grade (not a big deal to some but at our school it is huge) with all the festivities that come with it, so I am drawing a deep breath and fortifying myself now.
This week was fairly normal. We had our workouts with Andre, horseback riding lessons, a doctor appointment, and my husband got back into town. I missed book club on Thursday night (discussing Fifty Shades of Grey, so unfortunately I didn't get a chance to rant and rave over its horridness) because they had a sports orientation at my daughter's high school that night. I had a couple of meetings at school, the daughter and I worked the animal shelter yesterday, and the hub and I attended a wine-themed fundraiser last night at the Orlando Science Center.
I was excited to hear that a small, independently published book that I reviewed recently, "The Photo Album", was awarded an honorable mention in the Eric Hoffer Awards (for short prose and independent books). I've reviewed three of the author Kenneth Dixon's books now, and I love his work and am always happy when he publishes a new one. Way to go Kenneth!
I did the best I could this week with my reading. I've been distracted and twitchy, so I've not been at my most productive. I started, and am still in the process of reading "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn for a TLC tour, and people, it is rocking my world so far. Holy cow. What a brain-twister this one is. I love (love love love) it.
On audio, I finished "The Scorpio Races" by Maggie Stiefvater, and it was nice. I wasn't necessarily enthralled with all of it...my mind would wander...but the ending really impacted me and the narrators were excellent. I then started "The Lifeboat" by Charlotte Rogan in the car (MP3 review copy), and started "The Informationist" by Taylor Stevens on the iPod. "The Lifeboat" is OK so far, but is feeling a little slow. "The Informationist" though is making my brain buzz. I love the female protagonist, who is kind of a butt-kicking Lisbeth-ish personality, and is depicted by a smoky, velvety smooth narrator that I'm enjoying. A lot.
I'm not sure what we have on deck for today, except for church and horse. We had talked about seeing The Avengers, but I'm not convinced we shouldn't stay home and let the kids hit the books. There is always next weekend. Hope today is filled with relaxation and reading for you all!
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