A Sure Sign of Spring!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at  West Metro Mommy Reads  To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky (at West Metro Mommy). Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

This picture was taken by my sister in South Dakota last week. She loves her flowers and has an amazing garden. I know she is looking forward to getting out and digging in the dirt. 

Then 3 days later she took this picture...... alas, spring is not here yet.  Just outside her patio window, sat a lonely robin, looking like he may want to come inside. 

We are all anxiously awaiting warmer temperatures and sunny skies. 

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Review: The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel NF challenge #8

Title: The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story

Author: Lilly Koppel

Genre: Biography Memoir, Non Fiction

Publisher/Publication Date: Grand Central Publishing, June 2013

Rating: I liked it

Did I Finish: Of course, I did. 

Buy. Borrow, or Avoid?: Borrow or buy, the pictures at the back are worth the buy option.

Why did I read this book?:  It was the monthly selection for my F2F book club. 

Review:  The Astronauts Wives Club tells the real story of the women who stood by their men, some of America's biggest heroes.

Beginning with the Mercury Seven astronauts, the wives were thrust from the bleak living conditions on various military bases to almost royalty status. They were given clothes, makeovers, new homes and then expected to accept the press, Life Magazine in particular, into their lives and homes , all the while smiling, never showing fear, anger or ordinary stress.

From Annie Glenn, with her picture-perfect marriage to Trudy Cooper, who had a secret to hide from NASA, the wives came together to support each other through their husbands absences, infidelities, and then their husbands epic flights into space.

This memoir is written with candor and comedy and  with compassion and realism. You will come away with a different perspective of NASA, the astronauts and  the world of 1957 ( when Russia trumped the US with the first launch of a man-made satellite) to 1972 ( when Apollo 17, the final flight to the moon and the first night launch).

The space program continued into 2010, but this book only covers the beginning of the program up through the Apollo program. I lived that time period, as a teenage and a young wife and mother. I had no idea the government was so active in their day to day lives, and I had no idea of the tenuous marriages that mostly did not survive.

The one issue I did have with the writing, was that it seemed not to tell a story, but to recount happening after happening. It all seemed a bit mundane and I know the space program and the surrounding events were anything but mundane. I mean all this happened during the Cuban Missile crisis, JFK's assassination, the Vietnam War, the murders of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. our world was changing minute by minute.

the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbrosky

Synopsis from bookclubreader.com:

First published in 1999, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a modern classic that captures the aching, confusing, and glorious experience of being a teenager—all through the eyes, ears, and letters of the book’s narrator, Charlie. We don’t know where Charlie lives and we don’t know to whom he is writing. But Charlie’s haunting letters, addressed only to “Dear Friend,” bring readers straight to the heart of his struggles to fit in, to find the will to “participate” in life, and to cope with the realities of the larger world as he learns how to grow up.

My thoughts : 

This is one of several books I have read lately that use the epistolary format. I usually enjoy the format and in this instance I think it really fits well. At first I wondered who Charlie was writing to and then near the end, I decided it did not matter. Maybe he was writing to no one. I wonder if it was his way of "talking to someone", sharing what he couldn't share with his family or friends. Sometimes, it just helps to put your thoughts and feelings on paper.

I really liked Charlie and Sam and Patrick. Their characters were well thought out and developed. I understood the feelings of each of the characters.

I was really surprised at the ending. I did not see that coming, though as I look back it makes sense. No wonder Charlie had trouble asserting himself. The Perks of Being a Wallflower grapples with a universally complex and difficult part of growing up. It made me stop and try to remember all those years ago, and wonder what I should or could have done differently. 

Reading this book as a grandparent, I hope I listen to my grandchildren and encourage them to be present and to participate in life. To stand up for yourself and what you believe is right and above all to be honest with yourself and others.


I highly recommend this book to all parents or grandparents of adolescents. 

As an afterthought:  My first impression of the cover was that it was odd. Tiny font, in lower case on a basically blank background. Now I think it is inspired.


Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Though this book does not tell us where it's setting is, Charlie refers driving 2 hours to Ohio for Christmas. The author is from Pennsylvania so I am going to use Pennsylvania as it's setting.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros: Heaven is for Real

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph or maybe two of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph (or2) of the current book you are reading. Or in my case, just finished!

Title: Heaven is for Real
Author: Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent
Publisher: Thomas Nelson 2010


Prologue

The Fourth of July holiday calls up memories of patriotic parades, the savory scents of smokey barbecue, sweet corn, and night skies bursting with showers of light. But for my family,
 the July Fourth weekend  of 2003 was a big deal for other reasons. 

My wife, Sonja, and I had planned to take the kids to visit Sonja's brother, Steve, and his family in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It would be our first chance to meet our nephew, Bennett, born two months earlier. Plus, our kids, Cassie and Colton, had never been to the falls before. (Yes, there really a Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls. )  But the biggest deal of all was this: this trip would be the first time we'd left our hometown of Imperial,  Nebraska, since a family trip to Greeley, Colorado, in March had turned into the worst nightmare of our lives.  

Have you read this book?  Would you read on from this prologue if you knew nothing of the subject of the book?  I had, of course, heard of this book, read some excerpts and it was again recommended by members of my book club. Since the movie comes out the 17th of April, I decided I should read it.



Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4-7-14 Tartt, Baldacci, Chebosky, Burpo

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It is a great way to see what others are reading. So link up to Sheila's blog and join in the fun. Fair warning......it will add to your reading lists by leaps and bounds.!

This week I am still listening to The Goldfinch. I am enjoying it, but am finding it hard to find some alone time to listen to it. It is the audible version on my Kindle and my DH does not want to listen to it. "Sigh"

I read  Heaven is for Real in 2 days. Find my review here  on Goodreads. 

Mr. Busy and I started listening to The Camel Club . It is the first in a 6 part series I think. The second one is The Collectors. We borrowed both of these from our library this week. 

And because I finished Heaven is for Real in such a short time, I started on the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. This one had such hype surrounding it several years ago. I found it on sale late last year at our local bookstore, and decided to buy it. I am participating in a Mega Mix II challenge that is part of the Love of Reading group on Goodreads. The first item in the challenge is to read 3-4 actual print books off your personal bookshelf. So this qualifies as one of those selections. It is a small quick read, I am almost finished. Then I hope to start on the next selection for my F2F bookclub,

Well, that should keep me occupied, plus I am working on a personal challenge to finish a quilt top that I started in 2011. Pictures to follow when finished.

Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

The Land of Painted Caves

The Land of Painted Caves
Jean M Auel
6th in the Earth's Children series
Random House
2011
5/5

From the back of the book: In this , the extraordinary conclusion of the ice-age epic series Earth's Children, Ayla, Jondalar, and their infant daughter, Jonayla, are living with the Zelandonii in the Ninth Cave. Ayla has been chosen as an acolyte to a spiritual leader and begins arduous training tasks.
   Whatever obstacles she faces, Ayla finds inventive ways to lessen the difficulties of daily life, searching for wild edibles to make meals and experimenting with techniques to ease the long journeys, the Zelandonii
must take while honing her skills as a healer and a leader. And there are the Sacred caves that Ayla's mentor takes her to see: They are filled with remarkable paintings of mammoths, lions, and bears and their mystical aura at times overwhelms Ayla.
   But all the time Ayla has spent in training rituals has caused Jondalar to drift away from her. The rituals themselves bring her close to death, but through them Ayla gains A Gift of Knowledge so important that it will change the world.

My thoughts: This last in the series was a long time coming. And so when I was finally able to borrow a copy from a friend, I put all other reading aside to dive in. This is a long book, 828 pages, and as with all the preceding stories, it has great and glorious detail. Auel paints a wondrous picture of the Earth and its inhabitants during the glacial ice age. She writes in vivid detail of the living arrangements, the utensils used to cook and hunt and the family structure. She weaves a believable story of this amazing young woman and her life, now as a young mate and mother. If I have any criticism at all, it would be that the chapters describing the inside of the painted caves became a bit long for me.
     Ms Auel uses her stories to raise questions and maybe even give us some answers as why our modern day customs are the way they are. In this last story she delves into relationships and family structure. This book will sit with all her others on my 5 Happy Hands shelf.

Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday a blog word and more from The Land of the Painted Caves

Hosted by Kathy at BermudaOnion's Weblog , Wondrous Words Wednesday is one of my favorite weekly memes. It gives me a chance to learn new words, to explore new titles and most of all to share with others. Join us. Just hop on over to Kathy's blog, grab her button, create a post with your new words for the week and link up with Mister Linky back on Kathy's blog.



griot ~ noun.  \gre-o\    : any of a class of musician-entertainers from Western Africa whose performances include tribal histories and genealogies;  broadly: storyteller   Origin:  French

This word was discovered while reading a review of The Widow's Guide to Sex and Dating by Carole Radziwill on BookNAround.

Other words in my reading this week:   The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

numinous - adj.  having a mysterious, holy or spiritual quality.

describing the character's vision of the painted caves. "It was a very enigmatic, spiritual numinous and it gave Ayla a chill."

I could have guessed at the meaning, but I looked it up to be sure.


bumptious - adj.  proud or confident in a loud and rude way that annoys other people.

"She did, however, like the attentions she was getting from all the young men, both the young hunters and Willamar's apprentices, though the traders did back off when she was surrounded by all of the rather bumptious youths.



calcareous - adj   a)   resembling calcite or calcium carbonate, especially in hardness.
                           b)   growing on limestone or in soil impregnated with lime.


"The cave was high above the river valley floor, and reasonably dry inside, but it was calcareous rock, which was naturally porous, and water saturated with calcium carbonate constantly seeped though it."

I was pretty sure I knew what this word was describing. I have visited several caves in the Black Hills of So Dakota, so I am familiar with stalagmites and stalacites.

All these definitions come from Merriam Webster online dictionary.

I am almost finished with this book. (828 pages), so I may go on to a faster, easier read and then probably won't find nearly as many interesting words.