Silver Linings Playbook

I am not a big movie goer but I made an exception for this movie.  I like the actors Bradley Cooper and of course Robert DeNiro a lot.  Until this movie I had never heard of Jennifer Lawrence having never seen the Hunger Games but she was wonderful.  In fact she was outstanding.  In case you have not seen this movie it is about a man who has some mental health issues. He comes home to find his wife with another man.  He goes “crazy” and spends eight months in a state institution.  Once released, he is determined to get his life and wife back.  He meets Jennifer a very complicated woman with problems of her own and the movie follows their relationship.

FYI I ordered the movie from Amazon.com and I am enjoying once again. It is a must have in your video library. Or if you don't want to own it stream it but watch it.

Romance Novels

 

I like to read romance novels.  In fact in the past I have gotten grief for liking books that read like a lifetime movie.  So what is wrong with that?  There is usually a hunkie dunkie and beautiful women, who meet up, fall in love and live happily ever after.  After all the crap that has been going on lately what is so wrong about that story line? What can I tell you I like happy endings.  They don’t usually happen in real life so I like to read books that have happy endings.

Alas all romance novels are not alike and so starting now and into the summer, I am on a quest to find a great romance novel, one that has a good story, good characters and here is the hard part to find, the novel needs to be well written.  

I used to have my favorite romance novelists but they have let me down.  I find if I read more than one of their books I start to feeling like their books are written based on a certain formula.  Boy meets girl.  They really don’t like each other that much.  Then they like each other a whole lot.  Then they decide they don’t want to get married.  Then they decide they might want to get married.  Then they break up.  Then they get back together and live happily ever after.  I think I just wrote the outline for a romance novel, dare I try?  Not right now.  Right now I will concentrate on finding the novel and I will keep you posted.

The Art of Saying Goodbye

by Rachel Bache

Some people are good at goodbyes.  I am not one of them.  Death is so permanent especially when you hold someone dear to your heart. I know those you love always live in your memories but memories fad.  My memory of the present really isn't great right now since my brain is overloaded but everyday "stuff".  And by stuff I mean a zillion passwords, a million appointments, Knowledge I need for my job and I can go on and on.  In the Art of Saying goodbye, Paisley finds out she is dying.  She is diagnosed with Cancer and it is very advanced.

Paisley lives in your typical neighborhood with your typical neighbors.  One day she decides to host a pool party at her house in the middle of the afternoon when the kids are in school. And so a Mom’s group is formed.  While the ladies are not best friends they do get together on a regular basis.  Paisley is clearly the catalyst for change and in her very subtle way brings changes to each of these women.  When she is diagnosed each woman handles and deals with the news differently. I think the author captured the process of saying goodbye  fairly well.

Wine Women of West Virginia

 

Recently I started reading the Washington Post again.  Let me clarify, I started reading the daily edition since I have always read the Sunday Paper.  In fact, reading a Sunday paper with a cup of coffee on Sunday morning has been a tradition since I was in High School.  The actual paper changed depending on which city I was in but reading the Sunday paper has been a constant. Any way certain sections of the paper have become my favorites.  I have blogged about articles that I have read in Living Local so if you missed those go back and take a look.

This past Wednesday I was reading the Food section, always one of my favorites.  Many of my friends are “foodies” and in order to even try to be five steps behind them, I like to read this section.  There is a wine column that I like.  This week as usual they made some recommendations which I am sure are excellent however I just can’t see myself spending $39 a bottle.  Please don’t get me wrong if that is something you choose to do by all means do so in fact check out the wine recommended in the Post.  I have included the link below for those of you who do not get the Post. If you are familiar with these wines, I would love to know what you think about them.

Lucky for me I am part of a wine club, but not any wine club.  We are the Wine Women of West Virginia.  I will get back to the name in a minute.  The wine club formed in a most unusual way.  A few years back a then colleague was having some surgery.  I called to ask if there was anything she needed and she said having company once she felt up to it would be great.  So a few of us from work, wine in hand, went to visit her.  We actually made it a wine tasting, setting up shot glasses to taste all the wines everyone brought. We ended up having a blast and decided to meet on a regular basis.  We now have ten members and all are amazing women and great friends.

The name came much later.  One of the members has the most wonderful cabin in West Virginia.  She invited us to the cabin for a weekend and the official club was born.  John Denver’s song Almost Heaven West Virginia does not adequately describe how great it is there. I can shed the stress of my life even if it is for a short period of time and refuel.  Being in the mountains is amazing. 

Picking wine for any of these gatherings is always fun.  I try to research each wine the way I would choose a book that I blog about.  There is a wonderful wine store in Laurel, MD on RT 198.  They just changed the name.  It was Corridor Wine and Spirits but now it is Total Wine.  I have included the link for it if you feel like checking it out.  I usually spend several hours there.  They have a wonderful staff that is incredibly helpful.  The other thing that is nice is that they often have cards that describe the ingredients in the wine so that if you are looking for a white wine that has vanilla, pears and butterscotch you can look on these cards. They have wine tastings on the weekend and I have discovered a few very good wines from the tastings. The link http://www.totalwine.com/

So pick up a good bottle of wine, gather some friends and Enjoy!

Here is the link to the Washington Post's Wednesday wine article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/5-blaufrankisch-wines-to-try/2013/04/15/29a7f626-a263-11e2-82bc-511538ae90a4_story.html

And if you are a beer lover, this article is for you

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-guide/wp/2013/04/17/beer-madness-who-will-emerge-victorious-in-the-battle-of-crisp-vs-hops/?tid=gog_ent_article_grid

The Unlikely Pilgramage of Harold Fry

By Rachel Joyce

Harold is a kind, gentle man who had a very difficult childhood. His Mom left when he was thirteen and his dad kicked him out of the house when he was sixteen. He marries and has one son. He has just retired and receives a letter in the mail from a former colleague, Queenie who informs him that she is dying. He writes a short note in response and sets out to post the letter. But the letter never gets posted. Harold decides to deliver the message to Queenie himself by walking.

 

His journey which turns out to be a five hundred mile walk from the southern tip of England to the northeast coast of England to Berwick-Upon -Tweed gives him plenty of time to mull over many, many events in his life and to examine the relationships he has had with people. If any of you hike you know how easy it is to let your mind wander and for you to go over things that you have experienced in your life. And you know how you end up analyzing certain situations finding that you are pleased with some of the outcomes and not so pleased with others.

 

 I found myself going to a map of England to follow Harold’s progress. The author does a brilliant job of telling Harold's life story; it is like peeling the layers off of an onion.  At first you see just a retired man who seems complacent and dull but as the story progresses you see so much more. This walk that Harold set out on ultimately turned into a pilgrimage to save a friend and to save him.  This will make a good summer read and a good book club pick.

Summerland

By Elin Hildebrand

Nantucket is an island a summer place, a place for tourists, a summerland.  But locals live on the island as well and this story begins with a high school graduation. Everyone who has a teenager knows what graduation entails.  There are lots of parties and a little drinking but usually everyone goes home and all is well.  Unfortunately for four teens, this was not to be.  Penelope, Penny to all is told something by Demeter which sends her in a tailspin.  She rushes to her boyfriend’s car and since she is the only who hasn’t drunk alcohol she takes the wheel. In the car are her boyfriend Jake, her twin brother, and Demeter.   She starts driving way to fast and crashes.  She and her brother are thrown from the car since they were not wearing seat belts. Raced to the hospital Penny does not survive and her brother is in a coma.  The other two walk away banged up but ok.  Physically ok.

The author then takes you through the wrenching emotions of a mother’s grief, a boyfriend’s loss of the love of his life, a brother who has lost half of him and all the other characters who deal with the pain, grief, guilt and heartache surrounding this tragic event. Everyone has to learn to live in a new reality and try to find a way to heal.  I have read other books by this author, but I think this is my favorite.

Garden Spells  by Sarah Addison Allen

Things at work have been a little hectic and when that happens I tend to read books on the lighter side.  I call it Reading Lite or Beach reads.  The books tend to be less serious and more fun.  Garden Spells is less serious and enchanting. 

Claire and Sydney Waverly are sisters who grew up in a small town.  Claire stayed and Sydney got out of Dodge or in this case Bascom, North Carolina at her first opportunity.  The Waverly family has the reputation as being a bit “different” having peculiar gifts.  Claire owns her own successful catering company and prepares her dishes with some very special ingredients from her garden.  In the center of her garden is an ancient apple tree that has a different effect on different people.  Knowing this Claire does not encourage or want anyone to eat any of the fruit from this tree.

In addition to these two sisters is a much older cousin Evanelle who pops up at odd times and gives Claire strange gifts whose purpose is not always readily known.  She walks around town handing things to people because she thinks they need them.  They think she is batty but they do put up with her.

One day Sydney returns home with a daughter and shatters the quiet life Claire has made for herself and that is when the story gets really interesting.

This is a good summer read or the kind of book that is just fun.

The Promise of Stardust

 

By Priscilla Sibley

 

Matt had known Elle since he was two and a half years old. He was sitting on his Mom's lap when they placed her in their arms. Until then he had never spoken a word but he called her Peep. Later they would marry. He was her whole world. They tried having children but each pregnancy had ended in a miscarriage.  She had a disease that made it almost impossible to carry a baby to term.  In fact, she had given birth to two premature babies both of which did not survive.

 

Then the unthinkable happened Elle had an accident. Not just an accident a catastrophic accident leaving her brain dead. The irony, Matt was a neurosurgeon and all his education and training could not save his wife. Just as they were to take her off of life support so that she could be an organ donor, they discovered she was pregnant, eight weeks pregnant to be exact. Matt's Mom who knew Elle all her life felt that Elle would not want to be kept on life support and she said there was a living will to back this up, Matt felt differently. He felt his wife given the circumstances would have wanted to try and have this baby living will be damned.  So he wanted to keep her alive long enough for the fetus to become viable and then they would take the baby and remove Elle from life support.  Given the fact that she was brain dead and given the fact that she had been unable to have a successful pregnancy while she was alive, was it fair to keep her alive to be a human incubator for this baby whose odds of making it were not good under the current or any other circumstances?  And what about other member of Matt’s family, is it worth alienating them and ruining relationships he had with them?

 

This book covers a whole spectrum of issues that I could talk and argue about for hours but I won’t because you should read the book and form your own opinion.  It is certainly a book that evokes many emotions.  I found myself sad, mad, and outraged just to name a few.  Read the book.  Tell me what you think.

Wild From Lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail

 

By Cheryl Strayed

I am on a non-fiction kick.  Non-fiction is a very different world for me since I have always been a fiction kind of gal. I really like it.

I picked up this book because of the cover, one hiking boot.  I don’t know why but I found it intriguing and so I started to read it. In most people’s lives there is a sentinel event or moment that can change the course of your life.  In Wild  this moment was when the author’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. After her mother’s death she feels empty.  She goes through a very difficult time starting with her divorce and a then addiction to drugs.

The book focuses on the author’s experiences while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. She actually decided to hike this particular trail almost on a whim.  She walked into a store saw the guidebook and decided this was something she needed to do. Her journey is a mix of physical and emotional pain.  But it is also a journey of healing.  It was a good book.  Check it out.