Holiday Shopping Made Easy!

Do you know what I like about CSN stores, other than they like my blogs?  They have everything from tv tables to luggage, furniture to dog crates, boots, shoes, handbags, the list goes on and on.One thing that is vitally important when ordering online is to buy from a reputable store since you can't actually touch what you are buying till you get it.
For example this is a line from the listing I'm reviewing for you.
Designed in the USA, bags are crafted in Taiwan at a women-owned facility that supports fair labor practices.
CSN stores are upfront, they also have a quality rating on the right side of the product display page that tells you what quality the item you order is!  AND they give important details, the straps on this bag adjust from the inside so there are no dangling straps.

Now you probably want to know the details about what I'm talking about, it is a backpack (for those books, this is a book blog you know!), a Dabbawalla Vintage Flyer Backpack.  Now isn't that cool?  Add a pair of aviator sunglasses and you are automatically stylish! It is $40 and I wouldn't mind having one.
CSN stores are offering special deals that run this week.  They are so special you can't use any other promotion codes with them.  As always, items that are over $69 and can ship by regular methods ship for FREE!! Check out these deals below.... and get started on your holiday shopping!
CSN Baby
CSN Games
CSN Fitness
CSN Toys and Games

Where Have I Been?

I've not been posting regularly.  I have joined the ranks of the gainfully employed.  I write for the internet now part time.  That leaves very little time (read none) for blogging.  But the folks @ CSN have been very good to me and asked me if I would let my readers in on some special deals they have this holiday season.  CSN has over 200 different stores online. They carry everything from handbags, to dog crates, to children's luggage.

Isn't this backpack cute!  You may ask what this has to do with books?  What better gift to give a child than a backpack with a couple books in it for Christmas?  This one is $19.98 with FREE SHIPPING.  Pretty neat huh?  Tomorrow I'll have a full review of one of their items and let you all in on some special deals CSN stores have going on this week.

Shallow Thoughts Blog

I found a new blog Shallow Thoughts Blog.  She comments on books and TV shows.  We don't watch the same TV shows (The Bachelor and related shows leave me cold as do Little House On The Prairie reruns) always but I do appreciate her comments about The Real Housewives Of Washington DC.  They are hilarious as are her comments about Little Joe (Pa on the Little House show etc.)
Her book reviews are warm and funny, OK the two or three I read were warm and funny.  Anyway check it out.
What REALLY got me is her book review blog is supposedly silly and superfluous?  Mine (I thought) was all solemn and like serious....as solemn and serious as I can be anyway. 

A Long Way Down By Nick Hornby

The basic premise of A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby is  (and yes I do use stilted sentences in order to get the books title and author in here) four people have rather bad luck of their own making but fate has a part to play in it.  So far I've described about 99.99% of the world and stories huh?  Not quite sure how I missed this book before.  It's good.  It's old but it's good.  The people are in Britain which I don't always find particularly stimulating or interesting but this time it just added to the plot, I swear it did, if you've read this blog I don't blather on about things I don't think are true, I just blather on about true things.  So these four disparate souls end up contemplating suicide and through simple (OK, not so simple but not extraordinary) means the guide each other back to normalcy if not happiness.  Naturally they learn quite a bit along the way.  Although this book is entertaining I do recommend it for anyone who has ever been "down" or depressed. 
I'd give it a 7 or a B, actually if I could have 100 books on a desert island for entertainment this might be one.  BTW I got my copy @ a thrift store while I was doing laundry while away from home...Dispatch was in the motel room and I told the lady who ran the laundrymat/thrift store that I had to go back and check on my dog.  She told me if he was well behaved and small he could come back to the laundrymat with me.  I decided to take a chance on the well behaved and he was a charmer.  Loved on people who wanted loved on, looked @ the others like "whatzamatter, never seen a BEECHON before"?

Furniture Review Not A Book Review

This is not the name of a book.  This blog is a furniture review.  Actually a review of stores. 

See this bedroom vanity?  See the Cherry Bedroom Vanity?  They are both available from CSN stores.
CSN has 200+ stores.  I am like one of the cheapest people I know.  I used to not buy paper towels because they were expensive.  We won't go into any more money saving tips other than you can pour fabric softener on a wash cloth and toss it in the dryer instead of a fabric softener sheet?  BUT I do look for the best deal.  I know before I make another purchase I'm going to check out what CSN has to offer.  For example I found dog crates for a lower price than my local discount store and they have FREE shipping on many items.
Check it out if you have time or just remember the name!

This is a book about dogs.  Thus it goes on Missouri Books and Animals That Give Pause too (both my blogs, I have one called Tresa's Blog too if you want to be really bored impressed.  The Art of Racing In the Rain is by Garth Stein.  I'd give it a 9 out of 10 or maybe an 8, not the most intellectually stimulating read I've had but it's a dog talking, gimme a break.  I bought this book for like $10 @ Wally world because I had to wait an hour in KC and had NOTHING to read and NOTHING to do which is a fate worse than death if you know me.  

You can buy it from Amazon by clicking to your right in that handy dandy amazon box.  In fact you can buy anything from amazon, anything, you are getting sleepy...back to the book review.

I love dog books.  I love books on training dogs, about dogs, by dogs, (supposedly, most of them are not trained for proper grammar) I love dog books.  This one is no exception.  I'm not saying it gives particular insight into your fido's secret life but who is to say?  So what happens in the book?  Basically it follows a dog through his years with a family, through good times and bad though this family seems to have the market on bad times cornered for awhile.  If nothing else read this book for the psychologically haunting scene with the zebra........I had a stuffed zebra when I was small, not again, I didn't know they were capable of such things....

The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Probably the best book I've read since Cell by Stephen King.  Stephen also liked The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle  by the way.  I had to look like three times to get Mr Wroblewski's name right so we will call him Mr. W from now on.

I think the best testament to a book is how much you remember and how it affects your life.  I remember bits and pieces of this book constantly.  I don't want to give anything away but when Edgar goes on his great adventure I found the book especially memorable (I felt like I was actually Edgar, a young boy with my dogs and not a grandma of young boys).  Actually it's been almost a year since I've read this book and I brought it with me in the truck to reread.  I could see some parts of the plot coming from miles away such as the sinister character but others were a complete surprise which is also a testament to a great book.  If you love dogs as I do and appreciate a mystery or thriller this is a book for you or if you like Oprah's Book Club books. It is the 2008 selection of Oprah's Book Club.  Although it's about a boy and dogs readers of Chick Lit or even love stories will like The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle.

Mr. W says that we write the books that we would like to read.  He goes on to say:

I wished I could read a novel about a boy and his dog, one that integrated our contemporary knowledge of canine behavior, cognition, and origins with my experience of living with dogs; if possible, something flavored with the uncynical Midwestern sense of heart and purpose so familiar from my childhood.

Mr. W also says that this is a story of a boy and his dog and ethics and character which pretty well sums the whole thing up.  The review also said this is a modern day Hamlet which could be true.  It's a beautiful beautiful book written so you are in the world which Edgar inhabits and no other.

Stephen King said when he got close to the end he kept finding excuses to put the book down, not because he didn't like it but because he did and wanted to prolong the experience.  I know that it's the book I chose to reread although it's only been a year since my first reading.  It's a book that will transport you away from the mundane, Mr. W is a superb writer and to think this is his first novel is astounding.

A Member of the Family by Cesar Millan

You can get this book @ Amazon. Some do not agree with Cesar's dog training methods. Personally I think like children, dogs are different and may require different approaches shall we say. Now don't get all up in arms about me comparing dogs and children, we have to raise and train both so I think it's a pretty good comparison. (this is mainly for my kids who are jealous of the dog and this means all 6 of you, I don't think Christi Lynn is jealous of him, she is the 7th child) A Member of the Family is worthwhile reading to say the least and the methods Cesar promotes to pick out a new puppy work, I can attest to that from personal experience. No we didn't get a puppy but we looked @ chocolate lab puppies. More on this later. The book in general? I'd give it a 7 out of 10 in general, for a dog book probably a 9 out of 10 but I can't think of one I'd give a 10 to so this one must be pretty good.
Some may not agree @ all with Cesar's choice of a pit bull for one of his dogs but I think it proves that nurture can overcome nature. Perhaps that's putting it too simply as it's more a case of the environment promoting decent dog behavior and discouraging anything else. The pit bulls name is Daddy and he is a sweetheart of a pit bull. I've known pit bulls, one of my first grand-dogs was a dalmatian pit bull cross named Polly, sweetest dog you'd ever want to know except she would lead her puppies deep into the woods when they reached about 7 weeks. (and any other puppies she thought should leave her "pack").
There are chapters by Cesar's wife and children which makes this more than a normal "dog" book. The human touch proves invaluable for finishing this book into a totally interesting read. Also the insights into different breeds and aspects of bringing a dog into the household prove invaluable. Like I said before I don't always agree with Cesar 100% but sometimes Cesar doesn't agree with himself 100%. My dog sometimes eats before me and runs ahead of me but he is just so proud he can smell the trail we have came down I hate to burst his little white fuzzy bubble. See Animals That Give Pause for more about my bichon and other animal stories.
Now about the chocolate labs? I can't remember how many there were, I wish I'd gotten some pictures but I was too enamoured with the dogs and puppies to take pictures especially when I found they had some yellow lab younger dogs. See Mugsey's Memorial for why I am so fond of these dogs. I don't know if I can paraphrase what Cesar said about picking a puppy in the book exactly but basically the idea is look for a puppy who isn't pushy or dominant but isn't shy and fearful either. It should be respectful but want attention and should give off a feeling of calm energy. Using those guidelines I picked out a little female with a black and white collar, when the dog owner got home he told me that was the best dog and he didn't even know I'd picked it out! If I'd used my usual puppy picking methods it would have been the noisiest most obnoxious one I'd picked out or the smallest one because I felt sorry for her. Not saying those won't make good dogs with the any kind of proper raising but the one that gave off calm energy is probably going to be easier to live with and train. (Dispatch was picked out for me, the owner brought him to me early because he was hogging all the food) That's what Cesar Millan's book promotes, picking out a puppy by providing specific guidelines that aren't foolproof but could help you avoid much heartache, he also gives ways to introduce a dog to a new baby or how to blend families and their dogs. Even if you are not planning on getting a new puppy or dog this is an invaluable interesting read.
Since I've had authors actually read my book reviews I'd like to say HI CESAR!!!! and Ilusion you are a saint. ;-)

Nothing to do with books but the Apple Festival Kings for two years are brothers!

And my grandsons! Semi big deal in our county, OK it's the biggest deal besides the occasional unexpected explosion or the tourists coming in April or leaving in September. Oh yeah the fairs, demolition derbys and beer gardens are pretty big deals too.

This is the FIRST and only time that brothers have won Apple Festival King two years in a row. Of course most people don't have kids 15 1/2 months apart either.

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The first picture is the Apple Festival King for 2008 Zach and his Queen, the second picture is Marcus the Apple Festival King for 2009 and his Queen and the bottom picture is of Zach, Marcus, Jacob, and Sara who looks something like her grandma.

Story is also on my NEW animals that give pause and Tresa's Blog and my old animals blog , in other words Grandma is braggin on every site she has!

This is all the more special because in different ways this year has been tough on the whole family. I wasn't able to be there for Zach and not for Marcus either but for different reasons but they know grandma is proud of them and can probably still beat them arm wrestling or wii boxing. (just had to throw that in if they read this)

Naturally Thin By Bethenny Frankel

This partial review originally appeared on my new blog TRESA'S BLOG.
The NEW and improved animals blog is HERE.


I'm only half way through but it makes sense to me. If you want to buy Naturally Thin from Amazon, you can click on it there. Bethenny Frankel writes well and despite the differences in our upbringing I didn't find her approach spoiled or unrealistic (she grew up eating in restaurants, she lived in cities, I grew up on the farm where everyone gained weight as they got older). The food bank idea is rather depressing since I'm one of those people who used to be able to eat and eat and stay @ 110 if I kept up my physical activity level. I won't say exercise because I don't exercise, I work, I hate to exercise for exercise shape and I can't see exerting that much energy and not making a physical difference in anything but myself. I suppose that is the immigrant farm person coming out in me? Back to the food bank, it seems that you have a food bank, like a bank account, makes sense, the more you exercise the more food you can take out of the bank, (the way I can think of it) if you take out too much with fudge cake for breakfast you will have fruit and vegetables and an egg white for the rest of the day? Make sense? AND the food bank continues from day to day but you shouldn't just quit taking food out or only take one kind of food out (starvation or fad diets) or the bank will get upset and not let you take so much out? Now that I've explained the whole premise of Naturally Thin (just kidding)Bethenny's recipes are a little ingredient happy and if you don't like portobello mushrooms you are pretty well up a certain cree but they are more intesting than most by far.

On a scale of 1-10 right now I'd give the book an 8 right now. Talk to me in a month if I follow it which of course I'm trying to do right now. Why? I weigh 150 again. I'm 5'4" and I can still wear a size 6 in stretch jeans, it's not so pretty as it was when I weighed about 140 a couple months ago. I'll keep trying to post about how this book does in the diet department. What made me decide to write about it this morning? It's what is going on in my life (besides having to give the dog a bath and defrost the fridge, it's an RV fridge evidently they are not frost free?) My husband quit smoking in June and has gained weight, surprise surprise. I cut down far enough where some days I have none and some days I have 3 or 4 which I consider pretty good for me. I will make no bones about it. I had to quit, I had blood clots and I'm not old or I don't think I am. Therefore I am gaining weight too. My parents were both overweight and I know what it does to you. I've never been obese and spent most of my life thin till I started working @ a computer. My husband and I plan on walking , haven't done so yet, the new tv season started! I did buy him Nike walking shoes though.

Back to the book, it's a GREAT idea and more sensible than most I've read. I started to pick up the one by Jillian Michaels because lets face it that is the body we want. Jillian Michaels book involves exercise, I won't do the exercise (I decided to quit fooling myself), I'm very muscled for my size which is a good thing and WHY I can wear a smaller size and eat more. It's hereditary, so is the fact my relatives are mostly all fat. So I'll let you know in this blog how it goes with the book Naturally Thin and my diet. I'm also trying to drink 8 12 ounce glasses of water or crystal light drink mix ( I HATE WATER) .

The book isn't bad and I ate sensibly yesterday because of Naturally Thin and it's entertaining enough I'm not skimming through. Buy it and judge for yourself. BTW this is only like the 2nd diet book I've bought in my life so that says something.


PS: You do have to exercise a bit but this book involves a little more than common sense, sometimes common sense needs to be presented in a different way to become clear to you and that's what this book does, present what makes sense, it's painful sometimes, ie no one needs more than one scoop of ice cream @ a time, but it's true!

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos is definitely in the chick lit category. You can buy Belong to Me here on Amazon. Looking for a good chick lit book to read on your early vacation, buy this one. While most of us can relate to parts of this book not eveyone has a college degree or an impossibly handsome husband (OK I think mine is handsome but don't tell him!!) but the actual story could be anyone anywhere. Marisa de los Santos has written a prelude to this book, Love Walked In, and she has a phd and writes poetry, it shows. The book is very well written, at least for me I thought I knew what was going to happen and then no it didn't make sense and then it did. New love and hope springing from tragedies and people remaking their lives are always worthwhile reading.
Overall I give this book a 9 out of 10.

Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell Part II

Ok, to be fair this isn't really part II but just another thought on the book, it's that good, needs more than one post.
Once again the link to buy the book Outliers is here@ amazon.com and the link to Mr. Gladwell's web site is here.

These two thoughts or theories on what childhood influences form successful adults from the book may be just givens for some parents. To others they may be like saying letting your children eat blue lizards will make their lives complete. I wish the book had came out and been required reading sometime before I was born. Forgive the paraphrasing and simplification of the ideas.

1. Support your child's interests and not only allow him time and materials to pursue the interests but actively encourage them. We all know about the soccer mom stereotype etc. but what if little Tommy would rather be rock climbing or be a watercolor artist? Soccer just won't cut it. My parents grade on this? My dad belonged to the archaeological society and I can tell you easy ways to distinguish a male skeleton from a female skeleton. My mother took me to the bookmobile. Other than that I was pretty well on my own, not uncommon in those days but I did feel neglected, what I would have given for a real library trip, good paints or a trip to a bookstore. I did better with my children, taught 4-H, learned cake decorating and taught my kids, they played sports because they wanted to, acted in plays, etc. How is the next generation doing? My daughter encourages every interest the children have and devotes her life to them plain and simple, sports, lessons, trips you name it. Are they spoiled (we are talking my grandchildren here remember?) OF course they are gloriously beautifully spoiled, are they obnoxious? Only when they act like grandma. They know they have it good and appreciate it.

2. Encourage your children to question new ideas or things they don't agree with and encourage them to discuss things with adults. I know every parent has uttered the words "because I SAID SO, that's why" but that isn't a good reason. IF your child has a thought as to why something should not be done a certain way listen to them @ least and give some weight to their thoughts. Encourage them to interact with other SAFE adults and make requests of them. Children who are taught to be seen and not heard all the time grow up to be invisible adults and even if they have brilliant earthshaking thoughts no one may ever know. Our families grades on this? About the same as previously although I'm not so sure the differences are so pronounced down through the generations. I did grow up talking to grown ups, my kids did too, the grandkids have no trouble doing so. The difference is in the children's effects on parental decisions, I had no effect, my children some, their children some. Why is this invaluable? About the age of 16 or 18 or 21 you won't be there to speak up for your children and they will need to and to adults who may not have their best interests @ heart or be merely distracted. In any case your child needs to know how to stand up and be counted with his/her Doctor, with teachers, cops, counsellors, sales people, landlords........ The more positive interactions they have had with adults the more finely honed their communication skills will be. The difference between two of the most intelligent men (IQ wise) in America is... one was brought up to question authority, he's a rocket scientist. The other was brought up to bow and scrape and get by as best as he can, he worked as a bouncer in a bar most of his life, didn't finish college because he didn't have the communication skills and basic life skills to make it all work.

Alas my life skills tell me it's time to go to bed so more on this outstanding book later.

Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

GOOD GOOD GOOD GREAT!!!!

Does that tell you anything? I may have to write more than one post about this book, it deserves more.

I admit I'm a compulsive reader, I started this book yesterday, read it @ work during lunch and then settled down last night and finished it. I may reread it soon. I've read Blink by Mr Gladwell but not The Tipping Point, if you read Blink, Outliers is much easier to read in my opinion and just a better book although Blink was outstanding in it's premise.

This book should be required reading for parents and teachers to say the least, sociologists will already have read it or should have, grandparents and anyone connected with children or humans (I presume that's all who are reading this?) for that matter should read this book. Some of the reviews say that Mr. Gladwell should have gone into more detail about the methods used for the theories presented, in my opinion that would have made the book duller and more tedious although I love those sort of things not everyone does. Perhaps Mr. Gladwell should do his next book on methods of statistical research which is just a fun fun subject. I'm being facetious here, OK?

The link to buy this book is here and Mr. Gladwells web page is here which is good reading in itself.

I think I will write more later, let me just say the book gave me insight into WHY Asian students surpass American students in math so often. To put the answer simply in a sentence or two asian words for numbers are shorter and more logical, when putting a numerical problem into words in your head the answer is practically a given, also humans can only remember for a certain time frame and if the name is shorter you can squeeze more numbers (names) into your memory? Make sense? NO??? That's why Mr. Gladwell devotes more than a sentence or two to it. Also centuries of labor and brain intensive rice farming in the Asian countries and success in farming being the difference between prospering and starving have helped cultivate a race of successfull natural mathematicians. Read the book, you will see why!

Outliers also gave me insight into why my own German and French heritage perhaps makes me want to nap when it's cold or rainy. It's not terribly cold but it's my day off and it's still early early spring here, snowed a couple days ago ie it's NAP TIME. Seems that the vast majority of Germans and French farmers (serfs and yes we all probably have a peasant or two in our heritage if our forefathers came from Europe) basically hibernated during the long European winters. They were VERY active during the late spring, summer, and fall but it was cheaper to just rest and wait for spring in the winter, they didn't consume so much food etc.

In my next post I'll give you more on the book Outliers and why it's so important a read. On a parting note my husband and I used to go to California quite a bit, he had trucks and drove one, of course we delivered in Los Angeles and life is quite different there than rural Missouri. There are still people here who haven't been out of the state or if they have it's just been to neighboring states, the cultural differences in the 90s were still huge between CA and MO. One observation I made was in Missouri if you get shot you probably knew the person who did it and why they were shooting @ you, in California that wasn't the case. In the chapter about the Southern code of honor and feuds Mr. Gladwell explains why this heritage of honor and revenge is so prevelent in the South compared to the rest of the country. What amazed me is I could recognize the cultural impact on my state even though my family didn't come to America till the late 1800s (and wasn't of English or Irish blood whose cultural heritage allowed the code of honor to fourish in the hills) the culture remained and flavored daily life.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

I loved it, it's been a month or so since I read it, I'm honest don't put on, but it's a great little read. Like most reviewers I say it's main drawback is it's too short. If you find the holidays somewhat ludicrous anyway this is the book for you. From Mr. Sedaris's stint as an Elf @ Macy's to the story entitled Six To Eight Black Men, this holiday satire is sure to entertain and amuse and that's what we ask of a book isn't it?
176 pages of pure fun, Holidays on Ice is available @ Amazon.com, clicky clicky, ok I need sleep, it's my Friday. I got my copy from my local library which is a great place, despite us having like a very small county population, remember support your local library AND your local bookstore!
BTW I haven't quit reading, just started working more hours, so am reading less and what's more have MUCH less time to write. I'll try to be a little more faithful, you haven't gotten even part of my puny unmeaningful thoughts on books I am simply panting to share with you.
OK, I'll go sleep.

The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan

Ok, it's long, 600 pages I think. It's got strange names in it. But it's mesmerizing. It follows an Indian woman for 70 years, first as a young girl briefly, then married and bearing children to a strange Brahmin man, well he disappears with naked men with long hair into the forest and casts horoscopes, other than that he's perfectly normal. They have two children who seem to almost be good and evil, the plump golden daughter whom everyone is drawn to and the scrawny slightly misshapen son who seems to repel most. The husband dies soon after as he had predicted but had hired a servant who is of a lower caste whom you soon have deep sympathy and admiration for despite his peculiarities. The tale soon has you in it's spell from this point forward. I thought oh boy a story about a widow, just what I wanted to read about. Then it turns out she can't touch anyone during the daylight hours because of some caste rule, by this time I was glad she wasn't being burned alongside her husband. She continues on and while upholding archaic harmful caste rules she manages to do good in the world and not only raise her own children but her grandchildren also.
It's a long book, if you don't like to read it's probably not for you, you're not finishing it in one sitting. But I do know so much more about India and it's culture from this book than I did before and I ENJOYED learning it. A great read, it kept me interested up to the end without much sex or intrigue other than basic family happenings albeit they were in India and tied up with caste and exotic foods and musical instruments it's a tale that is set from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s but is timeless in it's entertainment and enlightenment value.
Amazon link here.

Alexandra Penney Among Madoff Victims

CNN Link here to story.

She wrote "How to Make Love to a Man", I must confess I haven't read it, not that I wouldn't I just haven't, thought it sort of came natural? Anyway that said she was editor of Self Magazine too, evidently she thought up the pink ribbon for breast cancer with a friend.

Not that I've ever been rich but the woman was slammed in a blog called "The Bag Lady Papers" on the dailybeast.com, ( she wrote how she might have to sell a cottage and had ridden the subway etc, link here) The readers who blasted her called her a privileged princess. The woman did earn her money and lost it. I know the feeling, I've gone from hosting dinners for 12 people @ decent restaurants to having to sell things in a matter of months after that, coming out on top again and being worried about making payments a few months after buying my first designer purse. That is the one and only designer purse I own and I'm still carrying thank you very much. People do seem to be nicer @ least to your face when you are poor, when you get a little sucess people tend to talk badly about you, but if you fall from being sucessful from bad planning or circumstances people tend to jump like a bunch of vultures. I could have told Ms Penny this. I do feel for her though especially since I am now employed @ Wal Mart! The same Wal Mart where I used to go drop $300 @ a time for groceries and truck supplies and whatever else struck my fancy, sometimes more than once a week, chicken feed to some but exhorbitant in the midwest in 2004. Now I don't make that much in a week. Does this bother me, not really, I'm less stressed, or was till I started working the clearance dept which is a new experiment in our Wal Mart. I'm making MUCH less than I was charging for hourly free lance work a few years ago and less than I was charging for writing web pages but if I can make grocery money or my car payment now @ least I'm helping my husband not die early of trying too hard to keep our heads above water. I hope Ms Penny realizes it's all OK and I do admire her for writing about it, wish I had invested in jewels though instead of computers and books or do I? Computers and books are mighty comforting.

P. D. James The Private Patient

I read this book around new years and it was the best part of my new years, other than my husband was home and we had the day off! Yes I did sleep most of the day, no I didn't have a hangover but we did get in in the wee hours of the morning. My husband doesn't drink and I had to drive my car home, spent it with two of the kids and the oldest granddaughter in a typical Missouri fashion, in the shop, everyone has them that has a farm or a business, big tin building with a wood stove, handy for parties since most of them have plumbing now! Husband played cards with a bunch of guys, I'm not sure he knew when I came to the party? I hate pitch, did I tell you that? Back to the book.
It's a typical English whodunit but with twists, some of them modern, some of them hundreds of years old, a witch burning was one and a girl who had killed her sister but seemed to be completely without remorse. I can't recall if I had read any of P. D. James other books but I probably have. She has made a fan out of me. The freezer part was particularly horrifying to me and I don't have claustrophobia! Actually reading about the private lives of the detectives assigned to the case would have been a story in itself, maybe that's what makes P. D. James books so good, there's a story upon a story upon a story?
I'll tell you a secret, I can read Steven King on a dark stormy night, doesn't bother me. I can WATCH a scary movie alone if I want to see it and I am fine. I read a true crime book or a murder whodunit and I have nightmares? I guess the first two genres go into the file in my brain labeled fairy tale and the other two go into .....maybe this could happen..., I don't know but this didn't give me nightmares but it could have happened. I didn't see the final twist @ the end coming, the REAL motive but it does make me glad I haven't written an expose`. Saying I didn't have nightmares doesn't mean the whole thing wasn't plausible though.
If you like whodunit's or if you like England it's hard to put down and you find all sorts of reasons for continuing to read. The Private Patient is worth the read.
Once again I got mine @ the library, you can too or buy it @ amazon.com here.

The Last Lincolns by Charles Lachman

OK, I realize I'm weird, but to those of you who just like to read and perhaps have read a small set of encyclopedias for the fun of it or to prevent boredom The Last Lincolns is a treasure trove. I have read a couple books in between this and my last book review and one was an excellent English murder mystery but this is a cool book. Of course like I said you have to be a dedicated reader and somewhat of a history buff or just nosy perhaps but I actually know something of what became of the Lincoln family after the Presidents assassination now. The part about D. B. Cooper perhaps working for the family is totally weird but not why I finished the book, actually my mother had poisoned my view of Mary Todd Lincoln and I found myself more sympathetic towards the woman than I had been previously. I couldn't have told you before of Robert Lincolns involvement with the Pullman Company or that Mary Todd Lincoln exiled herself to Europe or was actually committed to an institution by her son for insanity. Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith was the last Lincoln and he just seemed like a regular Joe in a way, except for the estate of Woodstock Farms and having all the cars and women. He did describe himself as a spoiled brat earlier in life which seemed to have been true but he wasn't pretending to be something he wasn't. The quirks of the generations replicating themselves is fascinating, especially their aversion to publicity or even remembering Abraham Lincolns birthday, and the amount of historical paper which was lost is probably astounding, they burned some, some was used to prevent erosion?
Charles Lachman who wrote this is the producer of Inside Edition which perhaps made his point of view more interesting to this child of television. This book is just a good read, I couldn't sleep last night and got up to read it several times, a bad deal since I had to get up @ 5 am this morning but well worth the time.
I got my copy from the library, you can too or buy it here on Amazon.

Happy NEW YEARS EVE

I had planned to update but running out of time, have to go to work till 10 pm so wishing everyone happy holidays and happy reading, I'm still on The Toss of the Lemon. Not much time to read.
I've updated florenceview with the story of our Christmas and what I learned from it, just hope it sticks, and a little on animalsthatgivepause about what we can learn from our pets.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

From Baghdad, With Love by Jay Kopelman

A story of a dog named Lava and the people he inspired to save him. I got this book for Christmas and I'm not just saying I liked it because it was a gift, it was a great book, not only for the dog story but for the human side of the war.
Like so many others I suspect I followed the war closely @ first, plus my son was over there, but then life got in the way, this book explains what life is really like in Baghdad or was a couple years ago. For this reason this book is just not for dog lovers but everyone who has any stake in the war which means all of us.
Melinda Roth is a co-author with Jay Kopelman, I would like it if they had written a little more verbosely but the short paragraphs lend themselves to the story.
You can buy it @ Amazon here.