January 2, 2014 · 11:28 pm

New Year’s Oooops.

2013 was not my best year for keeping up my New Year’s resolutions. But, I have to confront my failures so here goes.

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  • Eat Healthier: I wanted to give up milk, cheese, and red meat. I did great job UNTIL I went to my niece’s bat mitzvah. Then, I completely fell off the wagon. I ordered the veggie dinner at the reception. But, with so much festivity in the air– I ate BACON at breakfast and cheese. After that, I was lost. Six weeks of healthy eating and then bust! I did manage to give up cows MILK, I am now 100% almond. So at least that is something!
  • Complete 40 Hot Yoga Sessions: I only made it to 22 sessions. I was going at least once a week until the kids summer vacation happened. After June, I never got back on track. I guess there is always this year.
  • Read 60 Books: Completed! 78 books, actually. I throw this one in every year. I know I can and will get it done so I have to add it to stack the deck in my favor! I did however say I was going to read 12 health related books. That was an epic failure, only 4!
  • Work out for 300 Hours: I go t the UP BAND for 2013 and declared war on sitting down. As part of that I wanted to see if I could log 300 hours of working out, gym, hiking, yoga. I managed to achieve 339 hours!

Now I have to come up with resolutions for 2014. Or I could resolve to just be.

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December 31, 2013 · 5:02 pm

The Second Empress is Second Best

The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's CourtThe Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon’s Court by Michelle Moran
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed a number of Moran’s books and The Second Empress was a tolerable piece of historical fiction. It has taken me a few days to work up to writing a review on the book because I have nothing to say about it— either good or bad.

The Second Empress is the account of Napoleon’s second wife. Most people think of Josephine when they the of the Emperor but he had another wife and a son! The story is not exclusively about his second wife… It is more about his sister compared to his second wife.

Three characters tell the story of The Second Empress. The shifting point of view helps the narrative and Moran is smart not to attempt story telling from Napoleon’s point of view.

From the historical perspective, the book seems rushed… It does address much of Napoleon’s rise or his fall– slight glossing over of Russia and his escape from Elba.

This is a quick read worthy of a snowy weekend or a lazy beach read… Nothing more. But, in that category it’s very solid!

I don’t think it’s Moran’s best work. I preferred her books on Cleopatra’s Daughter and Madame Tussaud. This was a little weak, but in terms of story telling seems on par with The Heretic Queen.

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December 21, 2013 · 4:14 pm

Allegiant: Not so Good.

Allegiant (Divergent, #3)Allegiant by Veronica Roth
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Allegiant is the third book in the Divergent trilogy. It takes place in bombed out Chicago and tells the story of people who live in “factions” based on whatever character trait they feel is most important–selflessness, honesty, intelligence, strength, you get the idea. These factions unravel and we follow two young people, Tris and Four, through the dramatic events.

Stop reading here if you want to avoid SPOILERS!!

So, by book three Tris and Four decide to venture outside of Chicago and see what’s beyond the city. What they find is a group of government scientists who are constantly watching the people in Chicago and using their faction based society as an experiment. We soon discover that the people in Chicago are the decedents of genetically altered people and are considered genetically damaged…

It gets more complicated and absurd from there– oh please! I mean did it really have to be so over the top?

In the end, Tris dies while trying to erase the memory of the scientists so they will treat the genetically damaged as regular people. And Four is left to go on with her.

The book really seems as if the author was looking for a quick ending. The writing is so so. And, she does an awful job reminding the reader what happened in books 1 and 2.

I enjoyed the first two books, but this is a mess! SKIP IT!

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December 15, 2013 · 10:13 pm

Welcome Back Bridget!

Mad About the Boy (Bridget Jones, #3)Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ha! Ha! Ha! Bridget Jones is back! Please stop reading here if you don’t want to read any SPOILERS!

I enjoyed the original books (although the second one was not as good) and I was bit nervous to catch up with the crazy Ms. Jones turned Mrs. Darcy all these years later.

In book 3, Darcy has passed away and Bridget is now a “geriatric mother” of two young children and SINGLE. Much like the past books we follow Bridget the ups and downs of dating, only this time we see her as a cougar trying to date a man who is 21 years younger than herself.

Fielding stays true to the character and points out the absurd in everyday life without making us feel guilty and with her snappy brand of humor.

Some of the details are just too real– too many plastic toys from Amazon for Xmas and the ubermom at school.

I also love Bridget’s friends (although they play less of a role in this novel than in the previous ones). And, Tom’s Paltrow obsession is too funny!

The only draw back to the book is the very end. I wish Bridget would have kept going on her own instead of finding a new man. It’s too much like the old ending with Darcy. Plus, I think it would be a good message to women that they can go it alone and don’t always have to the quickly wrapped up happy ending.

I also could have done without all the farting and vomit talk, but I’ll over look it!

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December 13, 2013 · 9:06 pm

Get Healthy!

Life Is Your Best Medicine: A Woman's Guide to Health, Healing, and Wholeness at Every AgeLife Is Your Best Medicine: A Woman’s Guide to Health, Healing, and Wholeness at Every Age by Tieraona Low Dog
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed Life is Your Best Medicine by Dr. Low Dog. The book is a helpful guide for women about living a healthier life.

Low Dog has a very interesting background and worked as an herbalist, mid-wife, massage therapist, and finally a doctor. She combines these different points of view with well researched health data that includes a variety of topics. Unlike some books and authors who push some kind of strange new age approach to healing, as a doctor, Low Dog does a great job combining alternative medical approaches with western medical science and research. There is certainly a place for both and Low Dog does a good job marrying them in a useable and helpful way.

I loved the sections on herbs and the five senses. I highly recommend reading those parts if you are pressed for time and want to skip the rest of the book.

A few of her tips are a little goofy. But, she is speaking to a wide audience who has different levels of health and the practice of healthy behavior.

Some of the data she offers on health studies is flooring… Video game violence, city vs. country walks, on and on.

Well worth a skim, or a full on study.

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December 10, 2013 · 7:15 pm

Wizard of Oz: A Booky Mom Review

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz, #1)The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

I listened to the audiobook version of The Wizard of Oz read by actress Anne Hathaway. It was a special Audible.com production and they gave away a free download for the Thanksgiving drive ‘over the river and through the woods’. The audio version worked out very well it was the perfect amount of time for our drive and the story really keep both my kids (5, 7) quite in the backseat!!

Hathaway did a nice job reading the story and provided different voices for each of the characters.

This was my first time ‘reading’ the story and my knowledge of The Wizard of Oz was primarily limited to the movie. I have also the newer Disney film as well.

I was surprised to learn about all the differences between the film and the book. And, I was even more amazed to learn the shoes were not ruby at all,instead they are silver!!!

I am sure it’s because the movie version is so etched in my mind, but I think the changes in the movie made the story better.

All and all I am glad I finally heard the real version of the story!

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December 7, 2013 · 7:11 pm

Sarum: A Book Review!

Sarum: The Novel of EnglandSarum: The Novel of England by Edward Rutherfurd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked up Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd because I have an interest in that area of England. The book details more than 2000 years of human life in Southern England around what is today Salisbury.

This long book is similar in style to books by Mitchern (think Hawaii, Texas, Alaska).

For me some parts of the book were better than others. I enjoyed the pre-historic sections as well as the building of Stonehenge. The Roman period was well done and I liked the portion about King Alfred. Although, I think he could have done more with that section.

I was very disappointed with Rutherfurd’s handling of the period after 1066 and Henry II. After all, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine was held under house arrest at Sarum after her failed rebellion against Henry! Clearly, Rutherfurd had to condense history in order to keep the book under the 1000 page mark, but I really like that period.

The building of the famous Salisbury Cathedral was well portrayed.

I did like the author’s treatment of the American Revolution and the letters home about what was happening.

I feel as if the 1st half of the 20th Century was very much glossed over but I liked the discussion of American troops in Britain. I especially enjoyed the social issues the author talked about such as the difference in pat between the British and American soldiers.

All and all, the story was a little slow for me and it got bogged down at certain points. I keep picking up these epics and yet I find myself struggling to get to the end of them. Unless you truly love these very long sweeping stories, stay away.

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November 18, 2013 · 6:18 am

Spartacus—


Ben Kane’s second book on the slave leader, Spartacus does not disappoint.

Kane uses what little (very little) is known about Spartacus to piece together and imagine a gripping story of the man and his troops.

Historical fiction always faces the problem that the reader knows the outcome. Writers in this genre cannot rely on twisting plots to entertain the reader and must use character rather than plot to make the story come alive. Kane does a great job keeping the reader interested in a story that we all know ends poorly for the Hero.

Kane builds relationships between Spartacus and his men– both his loyal followers and the men who might not have been quite so loyal.

And, I was pleasantly surprised to find his battle scene writing to be truly gripping. As a woman, I tend to get a bit bored during battle scenes. It’s one of the things I did not like in Bernard Cornwell’s books. But, I loved Kane’s approach! He immerses the reader in the battle through the eyes of one of the key characters, Carbo. This is great because I was expecting that we’d see it through Spartacus’ point of view. I could truly tell there was a great outpouring of emotion as Kane wrote. Blood, pain, excitement seeped through the final pages.

I also like the through nature of Kane’s writing about the Roman period. He’s afterward and glossary are a welcome edition to the book.

I would recommend this book and thought it was even better than his first one!

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November 12, 2013 · 8:50 pm

Tell the Wolves I’m Home


Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a young adult novel about an early teen in the late 1980’s dealing with the AIDs related death of her uncle.

It is a story of strongly written characters (not to be confused with strong characters)who are dealing with how relationships change over time. Over and over the reader is hit with the idea that we can never really understand other people. June, the main character, realizes she only knew one side of her uncle. June realizes her mother had another dream in life. June realizes her sister is hiding things and reacting to June in negative ways not because of June, but b/c of the sister’s own issues. Things are never what they seem.

It is a lesson that many people in life never really learn. Instead of judging others we should act with compassion. (The theme of compassion is finally realized at the end of the book by June’s mother and June’s forgiveness with her sister.)

Throughout the book we see the guiding hand of Finn, June’s dead uncle, leading all the characters to find each other. He seems to say not only do you need to find each other, but stop trying to “understand” each other and just enjoy the time you have with “only the best people”.

As I said, I thought the characters were well crafted and multi-layers. I a few issues with June’s sister–she seems to be overly dramatic. Additionally, the father is somewhat MIA as a character. I was disappointed by this because the author does such a nice job with other characters I want to see what Brunt would have done with the dad if she allowed herself more time.

I also loved the book because I am only a few years younger than June and I lived very near where she grows up. All the references to the time period and location brought me back to the time and place. (High school parties in the woods, how people dealt with the fear of the unknown that AIDs symbolized at the time, taking the train to New York, the Cloisters — a favorite childhood place of my own as well–, the suburban in the city, 1010 WINS and on and on and on.. If only the garbage barge could have made it into the novel!)

While I really liked the book for the stated reasons, it ended rather abruptly. And, for me, it was not the kind of compelling YA literate that really grabs adult readers — Its no Book Thief or Hunger Games.

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Aside

Sheryl Sandberg meet Bookymom

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to LeadLean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

I have so MANY reactions to this book I am not sure I can get them all down…

I expected to HATE the book. But I don’t. Rather it has motivated me to really think about the mom issue and the woman issue.

Her comments on the mommy wars are very accurate. Both sides are trying so hard to justify themselves that it’s a fight to the finish. But what is being lost in the fight are the kids.

But throughout the book I got the impression I get from many modern liberal women— you are free to make choices as long as it’s the feminist choice.

Sandburg wants women to have more ambition, but why is taking care of kids not ambitious?

She also completely blows past the hard science issues of biology and the difference in men and women with a few comments on how her hubs cannot breast feed. And, she cites only one study on the impact on children of working mothers— when there are many others that speak to negative effects of day care And positive effects of stay at homes until kids hit 4th grade for upper and upper middle class families.

Our real problem is that feminists won’t allow a real discussion and study of how working effects kids and families. It may have no effect, it may be negative and it may be positive. But a liberal dominated agenda that ignores studies they don’t like wont help us get to the bottom of what’s going on…

I am also for more involved dads. But in the real world and not the rarefied air Sandberg inhabits— I know a handful and they mainly only take of the kids b/c they don’t have jobs and their wives do. That is not an active choice— but it is a change that may have a long-term pay off in changing the culture— ie women working outside the home in the war.

Lets also talk about men who don’t want to date powerful, successful women. Many women who value getting married make dating harder on themselves by being successful and can barely get a date much less put men through tests!

And she’s pushing a capitalist paradigm in a quickly changing post-capitalist world. Most women got into the workforce not by choice but for money. B/c over the last several decades a single income isn’t enough…. We need to dig even deeper and think about what’s happening to the American system and change our thinking about the myth of Horatio Alger.

She also complexity ignores sexual harassment–which is a huge issue for young women in the work place.

I have tons more to say— but I have a four-year old who needs me–

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November 8, 2013 · 4:28 am