"Forever Young" starring Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis is a 1992 movie that I'm sure I saw when it first came out but when my spouse and I watched it again on DVD last night, it was all new to me as I remembered very little of it. It was a great movie, though.
Mel Gibson plays a test pilot, Daniel McCormick, and the movie opens in 1939. He's in love with his childhood sweetheart (played by Isabel Glasser) but before he can get up the nerve to ask her to marry him, she's taken away in a tragic accident. Danny sinks into a deep depression and finally convinces his long time pal (played by George Wendt) to use him in a top-secret cryogenics experiment.
When Danny awakens in 1992, his pal has died and Danny hasn't a clue how to survive in a world that has changed so much over the last 50+ years. He's befriended by a young fatherless boy (Elijah Wood) and his mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) who is a nurse.
As the days go by and Danny tries to find people from his past, he finds his pal's daughter and learns his former sweetheart and soulmate survived her tragic accident and he is determined to be reunited with her. However, there are a few obstacles in his way -- deteriorating health and the government. It's a great story about the survival of a lasting love and the measures a couple will take to be runited. pazt
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
"The Caliph's House - A Year In Casablanca"
Tahir Shah is the author of "The Caliph's House - A Year In Casablanca." It is the story of how he uprooted his family - a wife, small daughter, and newborn son to move to Casablanca from England. Not having a lot of money he jumped at the offer to purchase "The Caliph's House" for a modest amount. What he discovered was that the home needed alot of work, came with three guardians and lots of evil spirits. The work to restore it took a year and his telling of how it came about makes for a great tale. He started out thinking like an Englishman but had to learn to think like a local to accomplish anything.
Tahir's grandfather was Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, the son of an Afghan chieftain. When he was 23, he traveled to Edinburgh to study medicine, fell in love, and married Bobo, a girl from an Edinburgh elite family when she was 17. The marriage was not sanctioned by her family so she ran away to marry him and live abroad. They were married more than 40 years and when she died suddenly of cancer just weeks before her 60th birthday, he was devastated. He decided to move to Morocco because it was a country where they had never lived or traveled together.
As Tahir tells the story of restoring his new home, he also searches for information about his grandfather and the two stories make a fascinating read. I love his storytelling and look forward to reading another of his books. pazt
Tahir's grandfather was Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, the son of an Afghan chieftain. When he was 23, he traveled to Edinburgh to study medicine, fell in love, and married Bobo, a girl from an Edinburgh elite family when she was 17. The marriage was not sanctioned by her family so she ran away to marry him and live abroad. They were married more than 40 years and when she died suddenly of cancer just weeks before her 60th birthday, he was devastated. He decided to move to Morocco because it was a country where they had never lived or traveled together.
As Tahir tells the story of restoring his new home, he also searches for information about his grandfather and the two stories make a fascinating read. I love his storytelling and look forward to reading another of his books. pazt
Sunday, January 11, 2015
"No Second Chance"
Harlan Coben's "No Second Chance" is a great mystery that kept me working it out through all its twists and turns. Just when things begin to make sense --- here comes another twist!
Dr. Marc Seidman wakes up in a hospital bed after being so near death that he wasn't expected to live. What he wakens to is almost worse than dying -- a dead wife and a 6 month old daughter who has disappeared. When he recovers, he returns to work as a plastic surgeon but all the time holding out hope that his daughter will be found alive. When a ransom demand is met -- thanks to his wealthy father-in-law being able to supply the funds, he's devastated once again when the ransom is collected but his daughter is not returned.
Dr. Seidman is not your ordinary plastic surgeon who rakes in the big bucks. He works with a partner to help those with disfiguring injuries but little money and is willing to go round the world to do his work. His fascination is with the process of rebuilding a person from their injuries. He also lives near his parents so he can assist his mother with some respite care for his father who is basically incapacitated.
Unlike Agatha Christie books where we don't really receive any clues to help us uncover the murderer, Coben does give us a clue early on and sprinkles hints around it throughout the book. I knew it was important and puzzled over it but didn't figure it out until our hero did.
If you love mysteries that twist and turn and surprise you, read this one! pazt
Dr. Marc Seidman wakes up in a hospital bed after being so near death that he wasn't expected to live. What he wakens to is almost worse than dying -- a dead wife and a 6 month old daughter who has disappeared. When he recovers, he returns to work as a plastic surgeon but all the time holding out hope that his daughter will be found alive. When a ransom demand is met -- thanks to his wealthy father-in-law being able to supply the funds, he's devastated once again when the ransom is collected but his daughter is not returned.
Dr. Seidman is not your ordinary plastic surgeon who rakes in the big bucks. He works with a partner to help those with disfiguring injuries but little money and is willing to go round the world to do his work. His fascination is with the process of rebuilding a person from their injuries. He also lives near his parents so he can assist his mother with some respite care for his father who is basically incapacitated.
Unlike Agatha Christie books where we don't really receive any clues to help us uncover the murderer, Coben does give us a clue early on and sprinkles hints around it throughout the book. I knew it was important and puzzled over it but didn't figure it out until our hero did.
If you love mysteries that twist and turn and surprise you, read this one! pazt
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
"The Long Walk Home"
"The Long Walk Home" is Will North's first novel although he is an award-winning author, coauthor, or ghostwriter of half a dozen nonfiction books. He divides his time between Seattle, WA, and Great Britain and has written several other novels after this one was published in 2007. I'm tempted to take a Friday afternoon off to see if I can catch him with his community of writers and dear friends who like to gather at Ponti's Restaurant almost every Friday afternoon but that might be challenging given there are several restaurants by that name in Seattle!
I loved this book! American Alec Hudson has walked from London's Heathrow Airport to Fiona Edwards' bed and breakfast located on Tan y Gadair Farm in Wales -- located at the base of a mountain that Alec and his late ex-wife, Gwynne, climbed many years ago. He's there to scatter her ashes on the mountain as her last request. What Alec finds in Wales is something totally unexpected.
This is a love story -- or perhaps I should say four love stories -- so beautifully told that I felt like I could reach out and touch all the characters. I wanted them to be real so I can sit down and have tea with them. North has a way of writing that invited me into the story and brought the characters to life with such reality and humor that I didn't want the novel to end. The story begins in April of 1999 and ends in December of 2005 but really that's only the beginning! pazt
I loved this book! American Alec Hudson has walked from London's Heathrow Airport to Fiona Edwards' bed and breakfast located on Tan y Gadair Farm in Wales -- located at the base of a mountain that Alec and his late ex-wife, Gwynne, climbed many years ago. He's there to scatter her ashes on the mountain as her last request. What Alec finds in Wales is something totally unexpected.
This is a love story -- or perhaps I should say four love stories -- so beautifully told that I felt like I could reach out and touch all the characters. I wanted them to be real so I can sit down and have tea with them. North has a way of writing that invited me into the story and brought the characters to life with such reality and humor that I didn't want the novel to end. The story begins in April of 1999 and ends in December of 2005 but really that's only the beginning! pazt
Sunday, January 4, 2015
"The Drop"
"The Drop" is a stand alone novel by Dennis Lehane and the hardback copy is 207 pages so it was a fairly quick read but I stretched it out and made it last several days by reading it at bedtime.
The story centers around Bob, a lonely, single bartender, whose parents are deceased and he has inherited their home. He works in his cousin's bar but the bar is currently the cousin's in name only -- It's more of a front for a local Chechen mafia and they use it as a place to drop cash.
Bob tends the bar and goes about his duties faithfully and diligently. At home, though, there is no one waiting so, when he finds an abused puppy in a trash can, he rescues it and meets Nadia. Nadia has her own problems but she does know how to take care of a puppy so she's able to help him get started in the care and training of a dog.
Events begin to get a little sticky when two bumbling stick-up artists rob the bar of one of its drops and that puts Bob and his cousin in the path of the Chechen's who want their money back. Throw in a curious cop who attends mass with Bob and the original owner of the puppy (a not so nice man) who decides he wants his dog back and there's a mix of dangerous currents that threaten to turn into a major storm. Who will survive and how?!
I love Lehane's stories (and their twists) and look forward to his new novel coming out next year, "World Gone By." In the meantime, though, I'll have to read the three I've yet to read. pazt
The story centers around Bob, a lonely, single bartender, whose parents are deceased and he has inherited their home. He works in his cousin's bar but the bar is currently the cousin's in name only -- It's more of a front for a local Chechen mafia and they use it as a place to drop cash.
Bob tends the bar and goes about his duties faithfully and diligently. At home, though, there is no one waiting so, when he finds an abused puppy in a trash can, he rescues it and meets Nadia. Nadia has her own problems but she does know how to take care of a puppy so she's able to help him get started in the care and training of a dog.
Events begin to get a little sticky when two bumbling stick-up artists rob the bar of one of its drops and that puts Bob and his cousin in the path of the Chechen's who want their money back. Throw in a curious cop who attends mass with Bob and the original owner of the puppy (a not so nice man) who decides he wants his dog back and there's a mix of dangerous currents that threaten to turn into a major storm. Who will survive and how?!
I love Lehane's stories (and their twists) and look forward to his new novel coming out next year, "World Gone By." In the meantime, though, I'll have to read the three I've yet to read. pazt
Friday, January 2, 2015
"The Hanged Man's Song"
John Sandford's "The Hanged Man's Song" is another Kidd novel featuring Kidd, an artist and computer whiz well as a professional criminal. He's joined in this novel by his sometime partner, sometime lover, LuEllen, who is a thief -- and a very good one because she's never been caught. By the way, LuEllen isn't even her real name and she won't divulge her true identity even to Kidd.
Part of Kidd's professional criminal activities have been aided by a professional superhacker -- buried so deep that no one knows who his real identity is or where he's located. He's known only as Bobby. When Bobby disappears from cyberspace, Kidd and his friend, John, know something isn't right so they set out to locate him. When they do find him, he's been murdered and his computer and more have been stolen from his house. This is bad news not only for Kidd and John but a lot of other people out there. Whoever has the computer not only killed Bobby but is in a position to cause trouble for many.
Before Kidd and John (with a little help from LuEllen who insists on tagging along) get very far into their investigation secrets start coming out on the national news. These secrets could harm a lot of politicians as well as the government. John and Kidd must get the computer back before some of their secrets come out.
Per Sandford's usual fast-paced style, this book is hard to put down once the chase is on and the chase starts almost at the beginning! pazt
Part of Kidd's professional criminal activities have been aided by a professional superhacker -- buried so deep that no one knows who his real identity is or where he's located. He's known only as Bobby. When Bobby disappears from cyberspace, Kidd and his friend, John, know something isn't right so they set out to locate him. When they do find him, he's been murdered and his computer and more have been stolen from his house. This is bad news not only for Kidd and John but a lot of other people out there. Whoever has the computer not only killed Bobby but is in a position to cause trouble for many.
Before Kidd and John (with a little help from LuEllen who insists on tagging along) get very far into their investigation secrets start coming out on the national news. These secrets could harm a lot of politicians as well as the government. John and Kidd must get the computer back before some of their secrets come out.
Per Sandford's usual fast-paced style, this book is hard to put down once the chase is on and the chase starts almost at the beginning! pazt
Thursday, January 1, 2015
"The Pearl That Broke Its Shell"
"The Pearl That Broke Its Shell" is, I believe, Nadia Hashimi's first novel. Nadia's parents left Afghanistan in the 1970's before the Soviet invasion and she visited Afghanistan for the first time in 2002. She is a pediatrician and lives with her family in suburban Washington, D.C.
Nadia's novel tells the story of two women and is set in Kabul in 2007. Rahima and her four sisters live with a drug-addicted father and no brothers.and, in a society that values male offspring and devalues females, this is a problem. The family's hope lies in an ancient custom called bacha posh. Bacha posh would allow young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she becomes of marriageable age. Rahima's mother decides Rahima will become Rahim for now and that leaves her free to attend school (as a boy named Rahim) and run errands for her mother.
Rahima's mother has a sister who is crippled, unmarried, and very outspoken. When she comes to visit her nieces she begins to tell them the story of Shekiba, their great-great grandmother, who also lived as a male for a time and how she ended up in the king's palace. She encourages her nieces to get as much education for themselves as they can but that is difficult for all but Rahima when their father forbids his daughters to continue to go to school.
Unfortunately, the time comes when the three oldest girls (including Rahima who has been singled out by their father's employer to be his 4th wife) are married off all at the same time and the family is torn apart. The money received for marrying off his daughters also fuels their father's drug addiction and, as the married daughters learn later from their aunt, their mother also spirals into drug addiction after losing all three of them to marriage at once -- leaving the two younger daughters to fend for themselves.
This novel gives us a picture of what it is like to be a woman with no rights in Afghanistan who can be married off to a man the age of her father or even older. He can treat her in any manner he wants and it is often abusive. The jealousy of the other wives and a cruel mother-in-law can make life almost unbearable. Bearing a son for her husband may bring some relief but not always.
Rahima's aunt encourages her to continue to educate herself despite the harsh conditions she finds herself in and to always be looking for a better life. What hope is there, though, to escape from an abusive husband when you live in a guarded compound and travel nowhere without your husband and/or guards? However, women do escape!
This is an extremely well written novel and I can't recommend it enough. Both Rahima and Shekiba are fascinating and the author goes back and forth between the present and the past recounting their stories. pazt
Nadia's novel tells the story of two women and is set in Kabul in 2007. Rahima and her four sisters live with a drug-addicted father and no brothers.and, in a society that values male offspring and devalues females, this is a problem. The family's hope lies in an ancient custom called bacha posh. Bacha posh would allow young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she becomes of marriageable age. Rahima's mother decides Rahima will become Rahim for now and that leaves her free to attend school (as a boy named Rahim) and run errands for her mother.
Rahima's mother has a sister who is crippled, unmarried, and very outspoken. When she comes to visit her nieces she begins to tell them the story of Shekiba, their great-great grandmother, who also lived as a male for a time and how she ended up in the king's palace. She encourages her nieces to get as much education for themselves as they can but that is difficult for all but Rahima when their father forbids his daughters to continue to go to school.
Unfortunately, the time comes when the three oldest girls (including Rahima who has been singled out by their father's employer to be his 4th wife) are married off all at the same time and the family is torn apart. The money received for marrying off his daughters also fuels their father's drug addiction and, as the married daughters learn later from their aunt, their mother also spirals into drug addiction after losing all three of them to marriage at once -- leaving the two younger daughters to fend for themselves.
This novel gives us a picture of what it is like to be a woman with no rights in Afghanistan who can be married off to a man the age of her father or even older. He can treat her in any manner he wants and it is often abusive. The jealousy of the other wives and a cruel mother-in-law can make life almost unbearable. Bearing a son for her husband may bring some relief but not always.
Rahima's aunt encourages her to continue to educate herself despite the harsh conditions she finds herself in and to always be looking for a better life. What hope is there, though, to escape from an abusive husband when you live in a guarded compound and travel nowhere without your husband and/or guards? However, women do escape!
This is an extremely well written novel and I can't recommend it enough. Both Rahima and Shekiba are fascinating and the author goes back and forth between the present and the past recounting their stories. pazt
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