Fool – Christopher Moore

OK, I wasn’t really sure about this book, until I had it in my hands and opened the pages. To my amazement, and this is no lie, in high school, I literally ducked every opportunity at which Shakespeare was forced upon my hands and told to read. Not that I didn’t get him, or his plays, I just wasn’t interested at what I thought was long drawn out, when in fact, is the opposite. But you really have to know how he speaks and what he means when it is said.

Christopher Moore’s “Fool” is based on Shakespeare’s King Lear. The warning page does say it all really… it goes like this:

“This is a bawdy tale. Herein, you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as non-traditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank. If that sort of thing bothers you, then gentle reader pass by, for we endeavor only to entertain, not offend. That said, if that’s the sort of thing you think you might enjoy, then you have happened upon the perfect story!”

I never read King Lear but from googling it and reading this book, it is quite a shocking and unbelievable tale in itself. Three daughters, a King, 2 of the daughters want to murder the King, the third is exiled to France. The fool is actually the King’s nephew, and all of the other characters equally have colourful backgrounds and intentions.

I was laughing out loud laughing, shaking my head, and nodding my head up and down at the tale as it was told. I have to say, What in the world were they thinking.

I have been told by a friend of mine that loves the author that he is hilarious and will take you on a ride you never have before been on and she was spot on! So, if you want a bit of Black Adder- Monty Python type of humor then you have hit it spot on. Well Done !!

Nearly forgot, This is book number 5 I believe in the Warm Up To Winter Reading Challenge Too…..But, then again I am so done with Winter…Can we PLEASE have Spring now!

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A Changed Man – Francine Prose

This book was published in 2005, before I even heard of her and before reading her latest “Goldengrove” this past fall. And when I read it, I fell in love with her writing.

In A Changed Man, the premise of the story is of a former neo – nazi gang person comes to the offices of the Brotherhood Watch, and wants to help them with what he has learned from being a member in the ARM. Vincent’s mission is to “save guys like him to becoming guys like him.”

When she shows up, they are alarmed to say the least and not sure what to think Vincent is invited into their fold and meets the head of the organization Mayer Maslow who is a Holocaust survivor, and built the foundation that he has founded to save people – “One Heart, One Person, at a time”.

Seemingly, he does start to change and become the person he wants to be, gets a desk job at the foundation talking about the organization he belonged, to be able to give them insight into what and how they work and think to be able to save more people like him.

This book was engaging, full of controversial ideas, and a really good read. It raised quite a few good points as well for being a work of fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is the 4th book I have read for the Warm Up To Winter Reading Challenge.

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Q and A (Slumdog Millionaire) – Vikas Swarup

I have to admit, after seeing the movie Slumdog Millionaire which is loosely based on this book, I was just pining to be able to read the book, and now I have.

The first sentence of the book – “I HAVE BEEN ARRESTED.” ” For winning a quiz show.” Now why in the world would he be arrested? The answer? Ram Mohammed Thomas is an orphan in the middle of one of the largest slums in the world – India. He has lead a pretty good life, and one of unimaginable hardship – No food, no place to live, uneducated formally, he comes through all of this helping who he can, and most importantly helping himself to having something, anything in the midst of chaos, corruption, lies, violence, sex, and hopelessness.

His adventures begin while he was staying in a rectory of a catholic church where the priest takes him in and takes care of him and teaches him many things. He has lived in “chawls” (slums) where even the basic necessities of life are fought over. He has had jobs where he talks to people and finds out about their deepest darkest secrets. He has met celebrities, and heads of state from different countries. And yet, he still sees the good in people, while trying to find a way or an opportunity to make his own life better. But after all of this, he is only out for one thing – Revenge.

He appears on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” which is called “Who Will Win A Billion” and through his life experiences he manages to answer the questions one by one. Until, well, I’ll keep mum about this, I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone.

The movie version itself was just as good, and rightly so, shows the darker side of humanity and the lighter side as well. There is this feel of wanting a better life, and striving hard for it. No matter how hard it is, you just keep on doing it. Sure, you will come across people that aren’t exactly honest and upfront, you just deal with it, and go on wanting to have a better life even though you look into the future and feel as though you are stuck, you just have to have to faith and energy to go on, and hope it does get better.

I would definitely recommend the book and or the movie, or even both. The movie has been nominated and won many Golden Globes, Screen Actor Guild Awards, and is nominated for many Oscars.

This is book number three i have read for the Warm Up to Winter Reading Challenge.

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Freud: Inventor Of The Modern Mind – Peter D. Kramer

Freud for the most part was a fascinating and stubborn person, who you either loved or hated.

As the book states, he is one of the more famous and outlandish theorizers of the modern age. His theories both ostracized and shocked the new realm that was to become “Psychiatry” as it is known now.

I have background in studying Freud from a few of my psychology and philosophy classes when I was in nursing school, and I have to admit in those texts I recall that he was said to be a pioneer of psychoanalysis. Which rightly so he is as well as the theory of the id, ego and the superego.

In this account, the author also accounts for his wild and outrageous theories (which there were many) of Cocaine being therapeutic (which he also used and tested before he wrote his theories), people that have psychological disturbances are all derived from sexual experiences. Which were all widely discounted.

Freud himself had a psychological symptoms as well. He pioneered “Talk Therapy” and while he changed patient records, and manipulated outcomes, he still is as famous, and controversial as ever. Further theories since, have suggested that further research that he gave clues to what therapy is what it is today.

The book opened my eyes to what happened based on his letters and journals, and personal accounts that have been researched, which gave me a fuller view of Dr. Freud instead of just reading about him in textbooks. and just getting a generalization. It is a well drawn out biography as to how and why he thought that he did and the no nonsense approach he had regarding psychotherapy and what effect it would have in the future.

It was a interesting book, I really did have a hard time putting it down for any amount of time.

This book was a biography, and if you do not have a background in psychology or the terms that they use, you will certainly have a lesson in this book for sure.

This is the first book I have read for The Warm Up To Winter Reading Challenge

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The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (Scaphandre et le papillon, Le) Jean-Dominque Bauby

I am amazed, totally amazed. Jean Dominque Bauby had the life that others dreamed of – Really GREAT job (Editor @ ELLE magazine), money, 3 beautiful children, friends, no cares in the world. Until…he had a massive stroke that caused him to be paralyzed, and cannot move a limb but has full mental comprehension. Cannot talk, or communicate to anyone, that is until a daring physiotherapist come up with a plan for him to be able to communicate with his one eye that is remaining, and a letter board that has the most frequently used letters in the alphabet. This is a short book – 139 pages in total.

I was totally enthralled after reading the prologue. At first I found it a bit mixed around with different periods in life and how is he is trying to come to terms with his CVA (Stroke) Depression, Being able to think, but not being able to communicate as he aptly put it “A Diving Bell and in my mind is a Butterfly” The images in the book he provokes are utterly amazing and take your breath away.

You want to feel sorry for him and how everything happened so fast, and yet when he wakes up, he is afraid and unaware of what has happened to him. So, he lays there in his hospital bed, with the sun coming in the windows and the wind from the sea drifting into his room. Alone, wanting to die since he thinks that there is nothing left to do but die. He has regrets as well, and wishes that he could go back and change who and what he has done wrong.

He then remembers that he was contracted to write a book – the female version of The Count of Monte Cristo. But, he instead writes about his life, his dreams while being in the hospital, and the butterfly inside his head, and the diving bell where sometimes he thinks he is drowning, thinking and not being able to communicate – with only a letter board and a secretary that is helping him in his quest.

I also had the opportunity to view the movie that it is made from the book right after reading it. I have to say, I enjoyed the visuals more so in the book then I did then watching the movie. Maybe it was because it was subtitled and had to focus on the words on the screen, since it was in French.

There was one scene in the movie when his secretary from the publisher takes him out on a boat for a sail on the ocean, and he has asked her to read from The Count of Monte Cristo ‘ ” “Alas, yes; the poor old gentleman is entirely helpless; the mind alone is still active in this human machine, and that is faint and flickering, like the light of a lamp about to expire.”

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that would want to partake in this epic story.

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Remembering the Bones – Francis Itani

Have you ever wondered if you were in an accident, conscious, and waiting ever so patiently for help to arrive what you would think about? Past things that have happened, births, deaths, family members, weddings, funerals.? Or would it be something like have I forgotten to turn the coffee machine off ?

Georgie, is in her 80’s and off to London, England to have a meeting with the Queen, along with 99 other people. It just so happens that Georgie was also born on the same day as the Queen, when she is driving to the airport by herself to get on a plane, and unexpectedly, runs off the road into a ravine not far from her home. As she is waiting for help to arrive, she is trying to stay calm and starts to remember her Grandfather’s Gray’s Anatomy book from 1901. As a child, she was attracted to this book, and as a way to stay alert and awake she starts to “Remember the Bones”.

I was drawn in to this book with such ease and acknowledgement that I read the whole thing in one day. After the first few chapters I was just pining to have her rescued so badly, it was like I was standing on the top of the ravine above her, wanting to help, but not sure to how I would accomplish the task or what I should use to rescue her with.

Francis Itani has a way of getting you into the story so much that you do not realize that you’re there alongside them until you put it down. Poignant, heartbreaking, laughter and grief will have you laughing or weeping alongside the characters as they feel what they are feeling and experiencing in this proseful tale of survival, love, and hard times.

I would definitely recommend this book.

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The Hour I First Believed – Wally Lamb

I just finished this book a whopping 723+ pages, in a matter of 2 days. It was like something was compelling me to read this as much as I could and once I started, well that was a whole other ball game in itself.

I learned of Wally Lamb, through Oprah’s Book Club, when his 2nd book I Know this Much is True was on her list of books to read. Back ooh about 8-9 years ago. Back then, I was married, in Nursing School full time, with a 12 yr old and a baby doing full time studies, burnt out and needing a break from it all. So, I was planning a trip to the U.K. for a friend’s wedding and I knew the flight was going to be boring as all hell…. Flights usually are, so when I was in Chapters I went and found it and put it in my carry on for the 8 hour flight.

I started reading it when I was stuck at the airport (major snow storm, and yes the middle of February) and I was hooked. I have read that book a total of maybe 5 more times since then, but before I lent it out to a friend of mine a few years ago, and haven’t gotten it back yet.

So in this long awaited novel, he integrated some major things that have happened since his last. Columbine, Katrina, Mental Illness once again, Grief, Love, and Family.

Caelum Quirk is married to Maureen. It’s his third marriage, and her second. They are living in Three Rivers (remember this town?) They live a quiet life until “Mo” has had an affair and after all of the legalities are finished and they have gone through counselling, decide to move to get a fresh start somewhere else. So, they move to Colorado, he is a Teacher and she is a Nurse – gets a job at one of the high school, and so does she as a part time nurse. Things are good, they settle in and get to know the town and the people they talk to on a daily basis. Well, one day Caleum’s Aunt dies, and while back east, something happens at the school which will change both of their lives forever. The Columbine Shooting.

Rushing back to Colorado, and missing his Aunt’s funeral; Caleum is a mess, worried, inconsolable, wanting to know whether Mo is fine or not, or if she is dead. After he finds her safe, but in a state of fear of nearly being killed by one of the assailants; she doesn’t get over it.

Wally Lamb has this way of engaging you in the first sentence eloquently, and slyly, and taking you into the the story as if you are there living it as a fly on the wall. Ever feeling as you go along into the story, he takes you not just superficiously into the characters lives but way into it going back in history to see why they are doing it, and having you turn page by page not wanting to put it down and deal with real life. I laughed, I cried, and felt so many emotions as I read all 723 odd pages, not to mention his difficulty with starting the story. I could identify with all if not some of the characters as the story lead it path in and out of my consciousness.

As always, A great profound book that I will proudly display on my bookshelf for many years and probably will read a few more times, as I have with She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much is True.

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The Given Day – Dennis Lehane

The Given Day is set in post war one and the Spanish flu epidemic, among a change in the midst. Between a white and a black family Dennis Lehane gives us an impressive blend of history, change and violence.

The Coughlin’s have an impressive history with the Boston Police Department. Danny is a patrolman, and his father is a captain. On Danny’s travels throughout his patrols and in the station house, there is discord – not enough money, have to pay for their uniforms and equipment. And, there isn’t any kind of benefits, and they are paid lower then other jobs in the city. There is talk of forming a union, and his father, and his best friend want to know more so they have him infiltrate all of the groups in the city not to mention their own group to get more information.

Luther Lawrence is unemployed. He used to work at the docks, and any other job he could find, but his girlfriend tells him of Oklahoma. So they move, end up getting married, and find jobs there. Until something happens. Luther leaves his girlfriend then wife in Tulsa, as he makes his way back North where he goes to Boston. He ends up working for the Coughlin’s, and the newly formed NAACP.

As these two stories start off individually, and then combine, it is clear that everyone has things they believe in. The story is about life, promises made, promises kept, things that will inevitably change, and some will stay the same. It is a easy read, although it is quite a large book, Dennis Lehane is a master of story writing, draws you in and in a way makes you know everything about the characters and the history of the situation. I have read some reviews where they have said that it was too drawn out, it should have been shorter, but I do not agree. I felt as though it was a perfect blend of history and feeling – not as a person reading it but the characters in the book as well.

This is the 6th book I have read for the Fabulous Fall Reading Challenge

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Goldengrove – Francine Prose

I am utterly speechless…and weeping..

Goldengrove is lyrical like poetry, spellbinding, and keeps you in the story even when you need to put it down and deal with real life.

This is the story of a family who loses a daughter, and afterwards, the most painful feeling you could ever feel. I know this in a personal sense, when I was 11 my brother who was 21 was killed in a car accident, then 2 years later my mother dies of a heart attack. You have the blurry glaze about you, you do and say things that you wouldn’t normally do, it rocks you to the core..Leaving you with the feeling of what is this, and did I deserve it.

Nico is the daughter who is left grieving since being so close to her sister, going through the stages of what she thinks she is helping her dead sister’s boyfriend and herself get or at least try to get through their grief.

The Grief that one feels as a family however close or not is something that you cannot describe in words I feel. You are feeling so many things at once, and cannot stop them from happening. You act differently, do things that you wouldn’t normally do. In this instance, it all happens and then some.

While I was about halfway through, something tugged at me in the book -

“But actually,” he said, “the strangest part is that she was alive and now she isn’t. That’s the thing I can’t get past. I can’t get my head around it. The absence. How someone can be here one minute, and the next they are gone. You tell them everything in your life and then they…can’t be reached. Unlisted number forever. I keep thinking that this little…episode, this little trick will end, and she’ll be back again, and it will have been some cruel joke.”

When I finished it tonight, while weeping, I hugged it and thought how can Francine get into the heart and soul of people grieving and knowing exactly how someone feels when they are going through it, or if she has felt grief on this magnitude in the past to be able to effectively portray it in life shattering wide open eyes. If you haven’t felt grief before you certainly will in this novel.

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Friend or Frenemy – A Guide to the Friends You Need & The Ones You Don’t – Andrea Lavinthal & Jessica Rozler

At first, I was curious about this book thinking it would maybe demystify some parts of a relationships I wasn’t aware of. A few yes, but for the most part I already knew most of the scenarios they talk about in this book. A few gave me some insight on a few new ones.

Being in the year 2008, there are all kinds of mediums that you can stay connected to – Internet, Crack berries, IM, Facebook and MySpace. In this book, they talk about these tools and situations, and some face to face situations that come up in the big bad world with some funny humour to make it go down a bit easier.

All in all I think that if A) you’ve been hiding since birth, and B) You have never had any friends, this book will definitely help you in your quest for friends and relationships.

I think it would be a good book for teenagers and pre teens that are having troubles in relationships, and que’s on how to patch them up or to stay away from certain people. As for adults, (don’t get me wrong) we have all been through some if not most of the situations that they discuss in the book in one way or another, and if you haven’t then where have you been hiding ???

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Yahoo Answers – Open Question

What is it about the fantasy-horror genre that gives it such widespread and enduring appeal?
During the mid-15th century, Vlad the Impaler ruled the southern region of modern day Romania, (a territory then called Wallachia). Tales of his atrocities were circulated by the German Boyars of Transylvania and became popular reading all over Europe. Even decades after his death, private press owners were guaranteed to make money reprinting these Dracula stories. When Bram Stoker resurrected the character in his 1897 novel, Dracula, he had an instant best seller. In over a hundred years, the book has never been out of print. The following century saw the birth of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, which in numerous polls (in both North America and the UK) was voted the book of the century, and its author the storyteller of the century. The success of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series only confirm the popularity of the fantasy-horror genre. What is it about fantasy and horror stories that give them such widespread and enduring appeal?
6 days ago
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6 days ago
Yahoo! Canada Answers Staff note: Author Max Turner’s newest book, Night Runner, is available through HarperCollins Canada. Find out more about Max here: http://www.nightrunner.ca

MY ANSWER

For me, The LOTR Trilogy came at a time where there was actual despair and drama in my life. The movies gave me time to reflect that anything that does happen I will get through it, gave me time away from what I was dealing with and gave me the message that I could overcome things that happened. On the other side of the coin, the fantasy parts was to just take you to another place and time. Not that it would actually happen in this time. Gives your imagination a boost to think outside the box… aka Brain Candy. Some people believe in these situations real or not. They are attractive to all ages not only just teens or adults, my son loves Harry Potter, and the LOTR Trilogy, its the adventure, the feelings felt, and what happens during the storyline that makes it interesting, and I am sure that they will stay interesting for a very long time to come.
1 minute ago

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Fabulous Fall Fiction What I have Read So Far

Well, I’m back to reading … after the glasses disaster, and the break I needed away from reading for a bit… It lasted about a week. The books on my new bookcase were making me feel guilty letting them lie there sad and not being read as they should be. Do I sound like just a bit of a nut yet ???

This is as far as I have reached in the challenge so far…

The Sealed Letter – Emma Donoghue

Home – Marilynne Robinson

Ritual – Mo Hayder

Anathem – Neal Stephenson

I have The Hour I first believed and The Given Day on order ..hopefully they will arrive soon, although, Wally Lamb’s book isn’t due until after the 11th of November.

I have Goldengrove on my bookcase waiting ever so patiently to be next in queue..along with some other books I have been wanting to read that I have purchased – Passchendaele, Remembering the Bones, and Dreaming Again, as well one or two more coming in the mail.

** Edit** I have read Goldengrove so that makes my total to 5 books read for the reading challenge and #6 is being read now – The Given Day by Dennis Lehane (edited November 21,2008)

Ritual – Mo Hayder

I was quite enthralled when reading this book. I could NOT put it down once I started it.

Flea, is a diver on the police force. One day while investigating a case, they come across a hand…just one and that’s all they find. As the investigation continues however, they find something more then what they bargained for. Rituals, Beliefs, Drugs, and most of all fear of the unknown – things that have happened in the past that affect their present day lives that eventually bring what they are investigating bring everything into focus, and questions are answered. And the story has it’s ending.

I found the book to lay heavy on the peoples backgrounds at first, but as the dialogue went on it entirely made sense. It was interesting to see how other people’s customs and beliefs are different and sometimes way out of the western world conscience happen. Sometimes, we are a bit blind to the fact that things happen in other cultures we rarely hear or even begin to contemplate. What is normal for us certainly not is normal for them. Culture is a weird and complex thing at times.

When reading this book, I was waiting ever so patiently, as events unfolded. It was SO hard, reading page to page, going from character to character wondering what was going to happen next. And then as I thought I knew who the bad guy was – I was wrong. As it twisted and turned the pages and the storyline, It was someone I would have never guessed, but thinking back to when the character was introduced it was entirely possible.

Mo Hayder in my opinion is a great writer, I will most definitely be reading the next in the Walking Man Series to see lies ahead.

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The Sealed Letter – Emma Donoghue

The sealed letter is one of a time long gone in England in the 1800’s where 2 friends meet their acquaintances once again after a 7 year silence between the two of them. Fido runs into her once friend just down the street near her press, where she is working as editor.

As time goes on, Fido’s friend who likes to use people to her advantage…Once her husband has found out her infidelity’s, he sets out on a grim and very public divorce from her. With all of the trials and tribulations of a trial set in full court, and then later on in the papers. In old England, at the time it stated that only 2 divorces were granted a year, then after the law changed, it was more then 100.

As in my own life, when I was going through a rather nasty settlement, it occurred to me reading this book, that much hasn’t changed. For instance, the parties trying to out maneuver the other to gain the win. You would think that in that time, with propriety, manners and a certain way, things wouldn’t have gone on like this, but civilly. I guess times do not change too much in that regard.

It was a good read, from a Canadian author. It was easier to follow then say Jane Austen, but that was a different time period all together.

It was also interesting to see how the law has changed as well, eventually giving way for women to be able to go to university, to vote, and to ultimately have a voice about political situations, things happening in the world, and just a general consensus about everything.

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Inside Out Girl – Trish Cohen

Inside Out Girl is the story of a young girl Olivia, who has a non verbal learning disorder. Len is her father who has been raising her alone since her mother died in a car accident 5 years before.

NLD is when people cannot interpret physical clues, which means Olivia is a bit weird, harassed at school for being a weirdo, and bullied.

Rachel is a single mother of two teenagers a boy and a girl, who continually test her boundaries. Being a publisher of a famous and well known magazine….Which is failing. And has a secret she’s kept to herself for 16 years.

As Rachel and Len meet, and begining to date, the hi jinks of the children, not to mention Olivia getting lost in a mall, is a very heart wrenching, real book. I just picked this book up from the library this afternoon, and just finished half an hour ago. I was literally engrossed entertained and sad at how the story develops, but yet there is a happy ending in the end.

I would absolutely love to see how in the end how things work out with the blended family. There are many important issues that need to be addressed when they happen or on the verge of happening in today’s hustle and bustle society. And being different doesn’t mean that you are a freak, or not worthy of friends. It just mean you are different and the need to be accepted as you are, instead of being judged as to what you are not.

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