"hello goodbye" is a novel by Emily Chenoweth -- the story of the Hansen family. The summer after Abby Hansen's freshman year of college she goes on vacation with her parents, Elliott and Helen, to a historic resort -- The Presidential Hotel in northern New Hampshire. This is to be a celebration of her parent's marriage and a chance to reconnect with old friends who will help them celebrate. What Elliott has told none of them -- including his wife, Helen -- is that she is dying. It's obvious to everyone that her health is fragile and the truth must come out but not before secrets are revealed and confessions are made. In the midst of this family/friends scenario Abby tests new boundaries and forges new friendships and makes a reconnection of her own among the young people who staff the hotel.
Although this book is not a biography, the author's own mother was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor during her first year of college and her father arranged a similar trip. The author has no notes or diary from that period but is able to draw on her own memories as well as her own experiences of grief and loss to craft a believable fictional story.
I found this book very readable and it certainly is one that would prompt a lot of discussion for groups. In fact, the copy I checked out from the library has book group discussion questions at the back of the book.
Although some might see grief as a depressing topic, I found this book uplifting. Despite the loss this family will experience when Helen dies, they are living life now!
pazt
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Thursday, December 29, 2011
"Fatally Frosted"
"Fatally Frosted" by Jessica Beck is another book in Beck's Donut Shop Mystery series starring Suzanne Hart. When a donut from Suzanne's shop proves to be the weapon that murdered a local busy body, she has to figure out who did it to clear her name. This time her police inspector boyfriend, Jake Bishop, is out of town because his niece is in the hospital and that family emergency has him out of the picture. However, Suzanne's ex-husband, Max, wants to be part of her detective team. There are enough suspects to cloud the sleuthing trail but in the end Suzanne successfully solves the case but not without almost becoming a victim herself. This is another fun, quick read by Jessica Beck.
Enjoy!
pazt
Enjoy!
pazt
Friday, December 2, 2011
Failure to Launch
"Failure to Launch" stars Matthew McConaughey as 35 year old Tripp - a man who still lives with his parents. Kathy Bates as his mom and Terry Bradshaw as his father are perfect casting in my opinion! Tripp has it made living at home with his parents because his mother cleans his room, does his laundry, and cooks his meals. When a woman starts to get serious about him, Tripp (who appears to have an aversion to a serious relationship) solves the problem by bringing them home for the night and, when they discover he still lives at home with his parents, the women end the romance and he doesn't have to do a thing.
Tripp's parents learn from some of their friends that they can hire Paula (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) to get Tripp to leave the nest because she is a pro at it. Paula seems to have relationship issues of her own -- doesn't want one!
Paula and Tripp each have a best friend to advise them -- although not always dishing out the best advice as far as I'm concerned! They add their own humor to what is billed as "a bright and breezy romantic comedy" by Gene Shalit of Today. However, this film does have its serious moments when the reasons Tripp and Paula don't want committed relationships comes to light and Paula wants to back out of her deal with Tripp's parents. This is a film well worth watching for the comedy as well as the serious, thought-provoking moments.
pazt
Tripp's parents learn from some of their friends that they can hire Paula (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) to get Tripp to leave the nest because she is a pro at it. Paula seems to have relationship issues of her own -- doesn't want one!
Paula and Tripp each have a best friend to advise them -- although not always dishing out the best advice as far as I'm concerned! They add their own humor to what is billed as "a bright and breezy romantic comedy" by Gene Shalit of Today. However, this film does have its serious moments when the reasons Tripp and Paula don't want committed relationships comes to light and Paula wants to back out of her deal with Tripp's parents. This is a film well worth watching for the comedy as well as the serious, thought-provoking moments.
pazt
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
"The Information Officer"
"The Information Officer" by Mark Mills is a well written historical whodunnit set in 1942 on the island of Malta. Max Chadwick is a British officer in charge of spinning the news on the island to keep the spirits of the locals high. It's about living life to its fullest in the middle of a war zone where one never knows if they'll survive to the next day.
When a doctor friend shares with Max that a young local woman has been murdered and she's not the first, he sets out to find out who is behind the murders. However, he's warned off by some higher ups and encouraged by others but he's really tested when a woman he works with and has feelings for appears to be about to become the latest victim. This is a novel with twists and turns but it is written in a style that is so real that I felt the conversations were just what you'd expect in a similar situation. It has its humorous moments, too. I liked it so well that I'm going to see if Mills has any other novels out there to read.
pazt
When a doctor friend shares with Max that a young local woman has been murdered and she's not the first, he sets out to find out who is behind the murders. However, he's warned off by some higher ups and encouraged by others but he's really tested when a woman he works with and has feelings for appears to be about to become the latest victim. This is a novel with twists and turns but it is written in a style that is so real that I felt the conversations were just what you'd expect in a similar situation. It has its humorous moments, too. I liked it so well that I'm going to see if Mills has any other novels out there to read.
pazt
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Stroke of Insight
"Stroke of Insight - A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey" by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. was one of the books my book club read earlier this year. We have a number of medical professionals in our group who were skeptical about Taylor's writing about her experiences for various reasons but one was that it is written about after the fact and from her memory which was likely affected by the rare form of stroke she suffered in the left hemisphere of her brain -- a "major hemmorrhage, due to an undiagnosed congential malformation of the blood vessels in my head, that erupted unexpectedly."
As a lay person, though, I saw this book from an entirely different perspective and found it enlightening. It is a book that I'd like everyone near and dear to me to read because some of Taylor's insights into the care of a person who has suffered a stroke include knowledge I'd like my family to have if I ever suffer a stroke. I want to continue to be treated with respect and dignity if I suffer a stroke or other serious illness plus I want to be treated with respect and dignity as I age rather than being spoken to as if I were a child (something I've observed in how others treat those who are "elderly.")
Taylor was 37 years old at the time she suffered her stroke and, as a Harvard-trained brain scientist, she was able to view what was happening to her in sort of a detached, clinical way while also realizing she needed to obtain help. Her determination and creativity in getting that help were also inspiring. Her recovery -- while slow -- has been miraculous in itself and her experiences have brought a new depth to her work as a brain scientist, I'm sure.
Taylor was lucky because she has a mother who was able to drop everything and leave her own life in another state to stay with Taylor until she was able to live on her own again. Her mother was also patient, supportive and instrumental in Taylor's successful recovery to becoming an independent, functioning adult again. Her mother used her teaching background to help retrain Taylor's mind to enable her to regain some of the cognitive abilities she had lost due to the stroke.
Although Taylor has a lot of admiration for the abilities of her left brain, she has come to appreciate the qualities of the right brain and has chosen to reinforce and use more of her right brain while still retaining the important qualities of her left brain that have served her well in the past but discarding those qualities she doesn't want to promote any longer. She has chosen not to reawaken the part of her left hemisphere that "had the potential to be mean, worry incessantly, or be verbally abusive to either myself or others.....I wanted to leave behind any of my old emotional circuits that automatically stimulated the instant replay of painful memories. I have found life to be too short to be preoccupied with pain from the past."
Taylor has chosen to focus on ways to retain the bliss and peace she felt while focused more in her right brain. On page 134-135 she says, "My goal during this process of recovery has been not only to find a healthy balance between the functional abilities of my two hemispheres, but also to have more say about which character dominates my perspective at any given moment. I find this to be important because the most fundamental traits of my right hemisphere personality are deep inner peace and loving compassion. I believe the more time we spend running our inner peace/compassion circuitry, then the more peace/compassion we will project into the world, and ultimately the more peace/compassion we will have with the planet. As a result, the clearer we are about which side of our brain is processing what types of information, the more choice we have in how we think, feel, and behave not just as individuals, but as collaborating members of the human family.
From a neuroanatomical perspective, I gained access to the experience of deep inner peace in the consciousness of my right mind when the language and orientation association areas in the left hemisphere of my brain became nonfunctional."
I loved Taylor's insights and the fact that she is focused on ways to access that inner peace she felt after the stroke when she was more aware of her right brain's functioning.
On page 129, she says: "I confess that although I celebrate being a solid again, I really miss perceiving myself as a fluid. I miss the constant reminder that we are all one."
The insights Taylor gained and shared in this book are ones I wish to be reminded of often so maybe that is why this book "spoke" to me. I, too, believe we are all one even though I haven't had the sense of knowing this in the same way that she experienced it as a result of her stroke but I believe it is the key to finding peace within ourselves and in our relationships with those we love and with the larger world or universe. Until we recognize that we are all one how will we collectively as well as individually achieve world peace?
pazt
As a lay person, though, I saw this book from an entirely different perspective and found it enlightening. It is a book that I'd like everyone near and dear to me to read because some of Taylor's insights into the care of a person who has suffered a stroke include knowledge I'd like my family to have if I ever suffer a stroke. I want to continue to be treated with respect and dignity if I suffer a stroke or other serious illness plus I want to be treated with respect and dignity as I age rather than being spoken to as if I were a child (something I've observed in how others treat those who are "elderly.")
Taylor was 37 years old at the time she suffered her stroke and, as a Harvard-trained brain scientist, she was able to view what was happening to her in sort of a detached, clinical way while also realizing she needed to obtain help. Her determination and creativity in getting that help were also inspiring. Her recovery -- while slow -- has been miraculous in itself and her experiences have brought a new depth to her work as a brain scientist, I'm sure.
Taylor was lucky because she has a mother who was able to drop everything and leave her own life in another state to stay with Taylor until she was able to live on her own again. Her mother was also patient, supportive and instrumental in Taylor's successful recovery to becoming an independent, functioning adult again. Her mother used her teaching background to help retrain Taylor's mind to enable her to regain some of the cognitive abilities she had lost due to the stroke.
Although Taylor has a lot of admiration for the abilities of her left brain, she has come to appreciate the qualities of the right brain and has chosen to reinforce and use more of her right brain while still retaining the important qualities of her left brain that have served her well in the past but discarding those qualities she doesn't want to promote any longer. She has chosen not to reawaken the part of her left hemisphere that "had the potential to be mean, worry incessantly, or be verbally abusive to either myself or others.....I wanted to leave behind any of my old emotional circuits that automatically stimulated the instant replay of painful memories. I have found life to be too short to be preoccupied with pain from the past."
Taylor has chosen to focus on ways to retain the bliss and peace she felt while focused more in her right brain. On page 134-135 she says, "My goal during this process of recovery has been not only to find a healthy balance between the functional abilities of my two hemispheres, but also to have more say about which character dominates my perspective at any given moment. I find this to be important because the most fundamental traits of my right hemisphere personality are deep inner peace and loving compassion. I believe the more time we spend running our inner peace/compassion circuitry, then the more peace/compassion we will project into the world, and ultimately the more peace/compassion we will have with the planet. As a result, the clearer we are about which side of our brain is processing what types of information, the more choice we have in how we think, feel, and behave not just as individuals, but as collaborating members of the human family.
From a neuroanatomical perspective, I gained access to the experience of deep inner peace in the consciousness of my right mind when the language and orientation association areas in the left hemisphere of my brain became nonfunctional."
I loved Taylor's insights and the fact that she is focused on ways to access that inner peace she felt after the stroke when she was more aware of her right brain's functioning.
On page 129, she says: "I confess that although I celebrate being a solid again, I really miss perceiving myself as a fluid. I miss the constant reminder that we are all one."
The insights Taylor gained and shared in this book are ones I wish to be reminded of often so maybe that is why this book "spoke" to me. I, too, believe we are all one even though I haven't had the sense of knowing this in the same way that she experienced it as a result of her stroke but I believe it is the key to finding peace within ourselves and in our relationships with those we love and with the larger world or universe. Until we recognize that we are all one how will we collectively as well as individually achieve world peace?
pazt
Friday, November 11, 2011
Calendar Girls
A few years ago I was loaned a copy of the DVD, "Calendar Girls," starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters and it's been hanging around my house ever since because I have rare opportunities to see the woman who loaned me the DVD. That's about to change when I attend a bridal shower for her only granddaughter tomorrow so I decided it's about time I returned the loaned DVD. I actually thought I'd already watched it but sat down one evening last week when my hubby was away (because he hadn't expressed any interest in seeing the movie) to view it. Clearly I hadn't seen it because there were only brief snatches that seemed familiar. I have to admit I watched it after a tiring week of part-time work and part-time grandparenting while our daughter was out of town so I did occasionally fall asleep but never longer than a few minutes the clock assured me.
I loved the movie which is based on a true story with some liberties taken, of course, for movie making. It's a story about relationships -- between women friends, between men and women and in marriage and it's a heart-warming story with some moments of angst but over all a movie that makes one feel good about the human race.
The story centers around ordinary women who are members of a Women's Institute which is a local group of "prim and proper" ladies listening to boring speakers week after week. But...when one of the member's husbands is diagnosed with a terminal cancer, her friends pull together to support her and, after his death, pull together once again to do something to honor his memory. As one might imagine, there is quite a bit of "interest" when their money-making plan turns out to be 12 of the women nude on a fundraising calendar. Where this leads these women and how it changes their lives is truly a heart-warming story and I encourage you to check out this movie.
pazt
I loved the movie which is based on a true story with some liberties taken, of course, for movie making. It's a story about relationships -- between women friends, between men and women and in marriage and it's a heart-warming story with some moments of angst but over all a movie that makes one feel good about the human race.
The story centers around ordinary women who are members of a Women's Institute which is a local group of "prim and proper" ladies listening to boring speakers week after week. But...when one of the member's husbands is diagnosed with a terminal cancer, her friends pull together to support her and, after his death, pull together once again to do something to honor his memory. As one might imagine, there is quite a bit of "interest" when their money-making plan turns out to be 12 of the women nude on a fundraising calendar. Where this leads these women and how it changes their lives is truly a heart-warming story and I encourage you to check out this movie.
pazt
Monday, November 7, 2011
"To Kill A Mockingbird"
Earlier this year my book club read "To Kill A Mockingbird" and it was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was disappointed when I learned that the author, Harper Lee, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her book, has never written another one because I was ready to read everything she'd written.
The book focuses on Atticus Finch, an attorney and widower, and his two children as well as the black housekeeper who helps raise the children. When Atticus is asked to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman, he takes on the case despite knowing it will not be well received by others in the small southern town where he grew up and lives. However, Atticus is a man who believes everyone has a right to the best defense and he also believes in the innocence of his client so he sets out to prove it. It's told from the point of view of his youngest child, a daughter, and I think that is the key to why this book is so well-received and loved.
Although I have a faint recollection of seeing the movie starring Gregory Peck, I didn't really remember the story line of the movie as I was reading the novel so I decided to find a copy of the DVD for my spouse and I to watch for date night. Even though I read the book fairly recently, I can't say for sure but I believe there are some discrepancies in the movie. However, they are not discrepancies that dilute the original message. It's more like they changed the order of some events -- and, of course, shortened them somewhat -- to make it more adaptable to a movie version.
The biggest names in the movie are Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall but Duvall doesn't even receive a credit anywhere on the cover of the DVD. He had a bit part and I suspect it must have been an early role for him.
I've heard that Peck was very particular about the movie roles he accepted and in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "The Big Country" (another of his movies I love) I see the thread of an honorable man. Was Peck also an honorable man who chose to play those types of roles? I think I'll check out some of his other movies to see if they're in the same vein.
After watching "To Kill A Mockingbird" I can't imagine anyone else playing the role of attorney, Atticus Finch. If you have never seen this movie or read the book, I highly recommend you do both.
pazt
The book focuses on Atticus Finch, an attorney and widower, and his two children as well as the black housekeeper who helps raise the children. When Atticus is asked to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman, he takes on the case despite knowing it will not be well received by others in the small southern town where he grew up and lives. However, Atticus is a man who believes everyone has a right to the best defense and he also believes in the innocence of his client so he sets out to prove it. It's told from the point of view of his youngest child, a daughter, and I think that is the key to why this book is so well-received and loved.
Although I have a faint recollection of seeing the movie starring Gregory Peck, I didn't really remember the story line of the movie as I was reading the novel so I decided to find a copy of the DVD for my spouse and I to watch for date night. Even though I read the book fairly recently, I can't say for sure but I believe there are some discrepancies in the movie. However, they are not discrepancies that dilute the original message. It's more like they changed the order of some events -- and, of course, shortened them somewhat -- to make it more adaptable to a movie version.
The biggest names in the movie are Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall but Duvall doesn't even receive a credit anywhere on the cover of the DVD. He had a bit part and I suspect it must have been an early role for him.
I've heard that Peck was very particular about the movie roles he accepted and in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "The Big Country" (another of his movies I love) I see the thread of an honorable man. Was Peck also an honorable man who chose to play those types of roles? I think I'll check out some of his other movies to see if they're in the same vein.
After watching "To Kill A Mockingbird" I can't imagine anyone else playing the role of attorney, Atticus Finch. If you have never seen this movie or read the book, I highly recommend you do both.
pazt
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