Something Borrowed (plus others by Emily Giffin)

I'm kind of cheating here because I didn't actually read the book. However, I just watched the movie on my day off (thank you Rosh Hashanah!). I have been putting off watching the movie because the book is on my to-read list and I like to read the book first. But last night I was standing at the Red Box by our house and this was the only movie that appealed to me so I rented it. I've read a couple of Emily Giffin's books: Love the One You're With and The Heart of the Matter. I liked the first but not the latter. Not really, anyway. Both books entertained the themes of disloyalty and infidelity, but for whatever reason Love the One You're With had more redemptive qualities. The Heart of the Matter left me feeling agitated and sad. Quick rundown: the main characters are Tessa and Nick, who live a comfortable life with their children in a nice neighborhood. Nick is a surgeon who begins to go through some sort of mid-life crisis (in my opinion). Basically, he forgets who he is and blames it all on his wife. He enters into an affair with a single mother whose child has been badly injured in an accident. He eventually confesses to his wife what he's done and begs for forgiveness. At first she tells him to get out, but then later decides to forgive him. While this might make her seem weak to some people, I actually saw her as brave. She had been deeply hurt and betrayed by the man that she loved and she tried everything she could think of to make him happy. He was a surgeon that was hardly home, and instead of putting forth effort into maintaining a relationship with the woman he fell in love with he ran away to another woman. So when he begged for forgiveness and she eventually granted it, I perceived her character as strong enough to realize that even though people (especially men) make very stupid mistakes sometimes it doesn't mean they don't deserve a second chance. If she had decided to hold onto her anger she would have only hurt herself more. We don't always have it all together, and sometimes we need others to see our strengths over our faults. She loved him, and I believe that she let her unconditional love for him allow her forgiveness and acceptance. It takes a strong woman to do what she did.

Now onto Something Borrowed. I enjoyed the movie. Rachel and Dex were likable, and Ethan was a strong supporting character who helped Rachel to realize the truth. Once she gained a better sense of who she was and who she wanted to be, she was able to tell Dex that the ball was in his court and that she wasn't going to sit around and be second-in-line. There is this theme of cheating that continues to present itself in Emily Giffin's stories, but it seems that she uses it to test her chracters and push them to realize who they are and who they want to be. And that's what life is: a constant test to help us decide who we are and who we want to be.

I'm looking for Something Blue next - any reviews?

Heaven is for Real

I'll begin by mentioning that I didn't need a book to tell me that Heaven is real. I know it's real. But I requested this book from the library months ago because of a couple reasons. It was on the New York Times Bestseller list for like, ever, AND more than one person recommended it to me. So it arrived and I read it, rather quickly in fact. It is a fast read.

For those of you that haven't heard of this book, here's the gist. A pastor and his family, who live in Nebraska, had a run of misfortune. Just when they thought things had turned a corner, their young son got very ill and needed an emergency appendectomy. All of his internal organs were toxic and he needed additional surgery after the appendectomy to further clean out the toxins. The young boy was practically on his death bed, but then miraculously recovered. This part I believed.

Not long after his release from the hospital, the young boy indicated to his parents through a series of comments that he had been to Heaven, had seen God, conversed with Jesus, and met dead relatives. The boy was four, but it took the family YEARS to find out about his "trip" to Heaven during the appendectomy. I absolutely believe the boy had this spiritual experience because I have had the blessing of knowing someone who had a similar meeting with Jesus as a young child. I believe that Jesus comes to people in their times of need, especially children who are quick to believe, unlike most adults. Children's hearts are pure and innocent and they radiate love, which makes them more receptive to spiritual "visits" and guidance.

What bothered me about this book was the preachy tone, the frequent use of scripture references to validate the young boy's spiritual story, and the author's (father's) assumption that the boy had no prior knowledge of things the boy referenced about Heaven. The father is a pastor and I just cannot believe that the family's home did not center around God, Jesus, and other scriptural references. And I didn't understand why the family waited so long to get information from the boy about this rare and important "visit". The book seems like a ploy to get money (which they have no doubt accomplished) and try to save all the non-believers.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I wanted it to speak to me and reveal things that would help me on my own life journey. But it really didn't. I am joyful that this young boy had such an awesome spiritual experience that he was able to share with his family and the world. I just wish there had been more details about that, and less of the evangelical preachiness.

But read it. It may speak differently to you.

THE REALLY COOL THING about this book is the reference to a young prodigy named Akiane. She is a Lithuanian-American born to atheist parents, and she began having spiritual visions as a four year old. This piqued my interested because she wasn't raised in a spiritual or religious home, yet she had visions of heaven and angels and, believe it or not, Jesus. She was featured on CNN and Oprah, specifically because of what she did with her visions. She is a prodigy painter and has created masterful paintings of her visions. One of these depicts Jesus as she claims to have seen him, which if you read the book mentioned above, you will learn that the parents of young Colton tried numerous times to find pictures of Jesus and have Colton confirm that's what Jesus looks like. The only picture Colton said "yes" to was the one that this young girl Akiane painted. Click on the link belowto get to the picture, and please take some time to browse her other paintings. Keep in mind she was a child (8 years old) when she painted Jesus, which to me looks like professional quality.

http://www.akiane.com/store/

Scroll down to Age 8 and it's the second painting in, titled "Prince of Peace"

Let me know what you think after you look at these photos!

Secrets to Happiness

Despite what the title suggests, this is not a self-help book. It's a novel. Set in New York City, this novel follows the lives of several characters as they try to create and make sense of their lives. Some of them make (in my opinion) poor and harmful choices, but each seems to learn more about themselves through the process. And isn't that what life really is - a process? Focus on the journey, not the destination. Really this novel does just that. It takes the reader on the journey of the lives of these characters, who are all connected in some way. It's common for the reader to identify with the main character in a book, but I didn't find that to be the case here. In fact, I couldn't identify with any of the characters and I think that's because there was a lack of depth to them. It's like the author only grazed the surface when introducing them.

But, that aside, it was an entertaining read. At times I found myself laughing out loud while reading in bed because it was so funny! The humor was needed and welcomed to off-set the often depressing natures of the characters' lives. With that said, I didn't think the author addressed the title at all. The last page or so of the book offered an attempt to wrap up the content of the book, but nowhere did it explicitly address any secrets to happiness. So, if you're looking for that you won't find it here. But if you're looking for an entertaining read set in NYC, pick up this book and give it a read.

Now here's where it gets interesting. About a year ago I went to a psychic, just for fun to experience something that up to that point in time I'd only read about. The psychic turned out to be a sweet older woman living in a fairytale house that could only be accessed by driving through a diner parking lot into a small opening in a line of shrubs. Her name was Betty and she was delightful. Anyway, she told me I had an Indian (meaning Native American) spirit guide who came to me when I was 4. She then told me his name. I hadn't given it much thought until I was about halfway through this novel. I came to a chapter where the title was the name of my supposed spirit guide. That's funny, I thought. Then I read the chapter. Not so funny anymore, because the title of the chapter actually referred to the name of a character who acted like an all-knowing guide, and he happened to be a Native American. I put the book down, tried to make sense of what I just read, and then picked it up and reread the chapter. I wasn't making it up. The words were right there on the page. So I have to wonder if I was meant to read that book, and what, if any, message is being relayed to me. What is this book trying to tell me?

So far, I haven't come up with much of anything in terms of clarity. If you end up reading it and have some suggestion as to its possible meaning, drop me a note. I'd be interested to read your thoughts.

The Morganville Vampires

Volume 1 (includes books 1 and 2: Glass Houses and Dead Girls' Dance)

A friend recommended this series to me after learning of my fondness (and borderline obsession) with the Twilight series. I didn't know if I would like this book, but I gave it a shot anyway. After the first chapter I was hooked. Maybe it was because I felt I shared a small bond with the main character, Claire, a nerdy girl more interested in academics and learning than other teenage interests. She's so smart, in fact, that she graduates a year early and finds herself off to college at the young impressionable age of 16. Because she is so young, her parents insist that she go to a college closer to home rather than Yale or Caltech (California Institute of Technology). Lucky Claire gets to attend TPU in Texas instead because her parents think she'll be safer there. If only they knew how Claire would be treated there. Black eyes, bruises, and death threats greet Claire at TPU, courtesy of the meanest mean girl around: Monica Morrell. After stumbling upon a classified ad for a roommate, Claire lands herself in the Glass house with new friends Michael, Eve, and Shane. And that is when the fun (and danger!) begins!

I found it extremely difficult to put this book down and am really excited to get my hands on the next volume. Why do I feel like I'm going through withdrawal?

Are vampires REAL? Some people think so.

The Blue Bistro

Have you read The Help by Kathryn Stockett? This book is nothing like The Help in content, BUT it is just as captivating. I couldn't put it down! The Blue Bistro takes place in Nantucket and it spotlights a young woman with an inability to settle down. Meet Adrienne (yes, I occasionally thought of Rocky while reading). She's been in the hotel business for some time, but never in the restaurant business. She goes looking for a job and finds herself at The Blue Bistro. Meet Thatcher, the owner, who happens to be looking for an assistant manager, but finds more than that. Adrienne immediately spots his watch, which she guesses to be a $10,000 Patek Philippe. On her first night at the restaurant Adrienne finds her new boss, Thatcher, to be actually quite, well, bossy. He doesn't like her outfit and he orders her around all night. She came to Nantucket with three rules written on a napkin: (1) Become self-sufficient (2) Do not lie about past (3) Exercise good judgment about men. It seems like they would be easy to follow...

The Legend of Bagger Vance

This book differs radically from the movie, so if you enjoyed the movie and are expecting the same thing, you might be disappointed. It would be very difficult for Hollywood to capture the true meaning of this book in a two-hour movie.

I requested this book from the library after hearing Wayne Dyer mention it in one of his presentations. Apparently the novel, written by Steven Pressfield, is based on the Bhagavad Gita, where Bagger exists as God-like teacher and guru. It follows the story of Rannulph Junah, an amateur golfer from Savannah, Georgia, who is commissioned to play what would become a legendary match against two golf greats: Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen. The game of golf is simply a metaphor for the game of life. The novel is written from the point of view of a man named Hardy, who accompanied Junah and Vance during that fateful match. There is an additional character, Michael, in the novel that is not present in the movie, and Junah's story is told to him by Hardy.

The novel really is wonderfully written as it explores man's greatest fears and the illusion that we are in this life alone. We all have a Bagger Vance that walks beside us, advising us and encouraging us, we just have to stop and listen.

Mother Teresa (DK Biography)

We as an American society are at a loss for good role models. When asked to create biography posters of people they admire, middle school students typically choose professional basketball players like Kobe Bryant, singers like Justin Bieber, actors like Miley Cyrus, and soccer stars like David Beckham. Occasionally a student will choose a parent, sibling, or other relative that has inluenced the student in some way. While all of the people chosen by the students have at least one admirable trait, rarely has a student chosen someone like Mother Teresa, a woman who consistently exhibited truly admirable qualities while working tirelessly to make our world a better place.

If you can ignore her religious affiliation with Catholicism (if it bothers you), I am confident that you will find that she was a remarkable woman. This particular book explores her childhood (born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) in the Ottoman Empire, the day she decided to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary, her years spent teaching children, and her life-changing decision to start the Missionaries of Charity, a group of nuns and eventually lay people that ventured into the depths of India's slums to treat and care for the sick and dying. Today the Missionaries of Charity has expanded internationally.

While reading this very quick yet informative biography, I found myself stopping frequently to grasp the magnitude of the effect Mother Teresa had not only on the people of India, but on all the people of the world. Her perseverence and dedication to a life of helping others is not only admirable, but inspirational. She touched those affected with leprosy when others wouldn't. She chose a life of simplicity over one filled with possessions and the newest gadgets. She chose to spend her life spreading love to those that needed it most. She was a refuge to people who had lost all hope.

I have so much to learn from this extraordinary woman. In a society ruled by television, videogames, superstars, grossly overpaid athletes and CEO's, this biography of Mother Teresa offers an opportunity to go within and observe how we're living our own lives. Who do we want to be? There is no reason why company CEO's and oil moguls should be earning million-dollar bonuses while people around the world starve to death and don't receive adequate medical care. There are more than enough resources on this planet to accomodate everyone, if only we could learn to adopt an attitude of sharing instead of greed. I think that only when we begin to understand that what we do to/for someone else we do to ourselves, will we be able to change this global catastrophe. We have a lot to learn about how to treat other people, and thus ultimately our selves.

This book is a starting point.