Today I think…

The reviews will be posted there on Saturdays.

Filed under: Moving Day, Saturday ]]> http://divapat.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/the-black-cat-is-moving/feed/ 0 Patricia 232323232%7Ffp 6)vq=59(2)4(4)25 )WSNRCG=33 7(4(665335vq0mrj http://divapat.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/thereby-hangs-a-tail-by-spencer-quinn/ http://divapat.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/thereby-hangs-a-tail-by-spencer-quinn/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 05:00:28 +0000 Patricia https://divapat.wordpress.com/?p=802 ]]> Having read the first in the Chet and Bernie Mystery series, Dog On It, I was looking forward to the second; but sometimes subsequent books in a series are not a good as the first.  In this case, no disappointment, Spencer Quinn’s second book, Thereby Hangs A Tail, is as funny and engaging as the first.

Chet is a dog and tells the story from his point of view, not always understanding human words and ways.  Chet and his human, detective Bernie Little, are hired to protect Princess, a dog show competitor.  Before they begin the job Princess and her owner, Adelina, are kidnapped.  While they are  on the hunt for the kidnappers Bernie’s sometimes girlfriend, Susie, disappears.  All this keeps Chet and Bernie busy.

Chet has no worries about the outcome of the missing people and dog because he knows he and Bernie are a great detective team.  Bernie remembers everything and Chet has the best nose for sniffing out the bad guys, though he tends to be distracted by his rambling thoughts.

Quinn has written a funny and interesting mystery peopled with some quirky characters and entertaining dialog, especially Chet’s.  This is truly a funny book about some unfunny happenings that explores the partnership of a dog and his human and the love and loyalty they share.

Did I like the book?  Oh, yes.  But the question about Chet that is left unanswered has me impatient for the next Chet and Bernie Mystery.

Manny DeLeon is the about to be ex-manager of the Red Lobster.  This is the last day of business for this New England restaurant.

It is four days before Christmas, a big storm is blowing in, and nobody wants to work the last shift.  Manny does his best to keep his dwindled staff happy so they will serve the last diners.  While he is juggling managing the staff and doing maintenance chores and placating disgruntled patrons, he is also trying to figure out what to do about his pregnant girlfriend at home and the waitress at work he who loves.

Bottom line this is about a hardworking, basically good guy, trying his best.  But his best is not quite enough.  Sad.

Webster is a young paramedic who saves the life of a beautiful young woman, Sheila.  They fall in love.  They marry and have a daughter, Rowan, and do not live happily ever after.

When Rowan is two years old, Sheila leaves them and father and daughter  go on without her.  All seems fine until Rowan’s last year of high school when she begins to quietly rebel and distance herself from Webster.  On the night of the Senior Dance there is an accident…and the return of Sheila into their lives.

There are times in the early years of Sheila and Webster’s relationship that are touching and beautiful as only young love can be.  But in the midst of that love is also great sadness and the knowledge that love does not always conquer all.  When they see each other again years later it is with acceptance of who they were together and who they have become while apart; the one thing that has not changed is their love for Rowan.

Well written with brutal honesty of emotion there are many questions and few answers, much like real life.  Anita Shreve deftly explores the deeper and more tender places of the heart.

Do you feel like you are sleepwalking through life?  Maybe you need an awakening, an awakening of your spiritual life.

Pastor Stovall Weems believes a way to that awakening is in four steps:

1.  experiencing surrender
2. experiencing passion for God
3. experiencing God’s goodness
4. creating space for God

In his book, Awakening, Pastor Weems gives encouragement and practical advise to help the reader understand the four steps.  Surrender anew and totally, be passionate and fall in love with God, know God’s goodness and what grace really is, and open a place within for God to fill.

The steps are taken with prayer and fasting.  Prayer here is threefold; righteous, effective, and fervent.  Fasting is something to enjoy, once you find your “fasting zone”.  With prayer and fasting comes an agreement with God, alignment with His will, and your assignment, the purpose of your life.

Part Two of the book is the Awakening 21-Day Plan.  Included are different types of fasts, sample menus, and tips on preparing for the fast and ending it.  There is also a 21 day guide; each day has a scripture, short devotion, bible reading plan, prayer focus, and a place for notes. 

Overall I thought the book was  interesting and has some good points and suggestions. I especially like the inclusion of the 21 day guide.   But I do not know if it is something that will “revolutionize your relationship with God”  as the book cover claims. 

There are many personal stories of Pastor Weems and testimonies of others.  These are interesting and have their place in the book. But, there is the feeling that if you follow this books suggestions you will not only have an awakening but a miracle.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for this review.

On Friday July 15,1988, Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew have just graduated from university in Edinburgh and have just met.

She is working class, studious, serious, with an off beat sense of humor, attractive without knowing it, and a bit awkward.  He is upper class, handsome and knows it, just wants to have fun, and barely made to graduation.  Very different people yet they find themselves quite taken with each other.  That is the beginning.

Emma and Dexter spend the next 20 years in and out of each others life.  They have fun, they fight, they laugh, and they cry. They remain friends.  She finds a career she likes and if not happy accepts her life.  He is semi-famous and miserable.  That is the middle.

Emma and Dexter have a falling out and later reunite. They are the same but very different.  They are certainly older and maybe wiser and still friends.  Then something happens.  That is the end.

Nicholls is great with dialog and his characters are real and easy to relate to.  Sometimes you want to slap Emma and Dexter other times you want to give them a hug. 

I liked it.

Because of his “consumption” Dr. John Holliday leaves his well-to-do family and home  in Atlanta and moves to a drier climate in the West.  At twenty-two he is sick, scared, lonely, and in Texas.  He gambles professionally and lives with Kate, a prostitute, who is his intellectual equal.

Kate is ambitious and convinces Doc to move to Dodge City, Kansas, a boom town with lots of money to be made from the cattle drovers.  In Dodge City Doc opens a dental office but still gambles as there is little money  in dentistry.

Doc finds purpose in his dental practice but because of his frail health he is usually in pain and fatigued making dentistry difficult at best.  He struggles with the pain and  his relationship with  Kate using alcohol to ease the suffering caused by both.

It is in Dodge City that Doc meets and becomes friends with Wyatt Earp.  A friendship that stands the test of time and the differences of the two men and lasts for the rest of Doc’s life.

I like historical fiction and this book was most interesting.  The way Russell weaves fact and fiction it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.  I found myself liking Doc and Wyatt, but not so much Kate.

Some of the stories within the story are funny and tender but most are sad.  Television and movies tend to glamorize the Old West, this novel does not.

Betty White is Betty White is Betty White.  There are no surprise here. Reading her book is like watching her on television, she writes like she talks.

Her book has interesting stories and some humorous anecdotes.  She tells a little about her mother and father and her late husband, Allen Ludden. There are comments about her friends and co-workers and animals.  She does not dwell on anything disturbing or sad, she just moves on with life.

Betty White has had a long and successful career in show business and has no plans to retire.  At 89 she is well-liked and respected not only for her work but for who she is.  After all, what’s not to like about Betty White?

This, her latest book, is an entertaining quick and easy read. 

Joe and Lucy own a fishing camp in Maine and every summer Harry is a guest for a week or two.  The  camp is a place of respite and renewal for Harry.  He and Joe and Lucy become, if not friends, something more than guest and hosts.

After thirty years of visits, Harry makes his last visit to the camp.  He is dying and has two things he wants, a day of fishing in a place he loves  and to leave a gift.

Told in the voices of four people, Joe, Lucy, Harry, and Jordan, we hear the stories about their lives and loves and how they are intertwined.  Each one has a life of secrets, fears, courage, friendships, and forgiveness.

The characters are believable in the telling of their story.  They are by turns stories of loving and being loved, causing hurt and being hurt, forgiving and being forgiven, and always trying to stay true to their own personal code of honor.

A book about prayer that is not especially religious sounds impossible, but Kate Braestrup pulls it off.  She explains what prayer is and how to pray, making it clear that there is no right or wrong way to do it.

There are many personal examples of her prayers and prayer practices and habits.  She tells stories of how prayer is part of her work as Chaplain of the Maine Warden Service,  her family, and friendships.  She gives suggestions about how prayer can be made part of daily life without it being boring or repetitious or become a burden.

As with her book Here If You Need Me there is honesty and humor in her approach to the spiritual.  You do not have to be a prayer warrior to find something you can use to explore prayer or expand your own prayer disciplines.  If you are new to prayer this is a great book to begin learning about prayer.

Beginner’s Grace has practical suggestions and thoughts on how to incorporate prayer into your  everyday life.  There are examples of the prayers of Braestrup and others to use as they are or as a stepping stone to your own prayers.

Whether or not you pray or go to church or feel that your are at all spiritual this is a book well worth reading.