BOOK REVIEW: Of Myst and Folly

Leah Cutter’s Of Myst and Folly captures a dreamlike quality which is sometimes nightmarish, sometimes intriguing and occasionally even tedious.

The dreamlike feel of this book is so complete, I cannot be sure if some things in the book are mistakes or an attempt to further the surrealism of the narrative. One character named Basad is referred to as Basar a mere nine paragraphs later. Dragons are described as six-legged, then as having four feet.

If you enjoy wyrd stories, you may enjoy Of Myst and Folly. The story has no surprises and the action is hampered by the dreamlike narrative. A fun read, but probably not a story that you will long remember.

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you are an author and would like to have your book considered for review CLICK HERE.

Lessons from the Dying

Today's post is very personal. Reading this, you might think it happened long ago. It actually happened last week. We are still facing my father's imminent death.

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My father's life was nearly over. His blood just decided it didn't like his body anymore.

All of his mental faculties were intact, and his pain was manageable. Except when he was getting blood transfusions. That caused him unbearable pain. His condition being terminal, he had decided, "No more transfusions."

He was in hospice in his home on the bayou in Louisiana. A former architect, he had designed his waterfront home himself twenty-two years earlier. It was here he would live out his days. It was here he would die.

I was staying with him and my stepmother. He had had a particularly rough day, and had decided to lay down for a nap.

I got my laptop and was trying to get some writing done when he got up to go to the bathroom. The family had agreed that as long as my father could do for himself, we would let him. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he shuffled along. He went in and shut the door.

It was perfectly normal at this stage of his decline for him to take some time in the bathroom. This evening was no exception. I listened carefully as I typed in case he should need me.

At length, I heard the toilet flush and the sound of running water as he washed his hands. Soon the door opened and he shuffled back to bed. He slipped himself under the covers in his usual, slow manner.

He lay there a moment as I continued to work. (Well, work may be a strong term, since I wasn't getting much done. But that's another story.) Then I heard him speaking.

I looked over at him. He wasn't talking to me. He didn't seem to be talking to anyone, just laying there with his eyes closed, talking. Then I realized hew was praying.

I got up and went to his bedside. I wanted to hear his prayer, to pray with him. "Teach me to be a true disciple of Christ," he murmured, "and grant me the strength to do Your will." He paused a moment, the fingers of his right hand carefully folded over his left fist, then added, "Amen."

I stood in silence. I could barely comprehend what had just happened. My father -- my dying father -- was praying for the strength to do God's will. For a long moment, I could do nothing. Finally I managed a whispered "Amen."

He opened his eyes. For a moment, we held each others' gaze. "That was a beautiful prayer," I told him.

"Thank you," he said, smiling weakly.

My stepmother heard us talking, and called downstairs, "What's he saying?"

"He was just praying," I called back.

"I was praying," he said, "and God answered my prayer through Bruce.

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BOOK REVIEW: Effie's Senior Year

Four Reasons to Like Effie's Senior Year by Tracy Marchini

4.) All six of Effie's misadventures are included in this one book.

     4a.) I like misadventures.

3.) Effie is a great character

     3a.) Okay, she's not anyone I would aspire to be like.

     3b.) On the other hand, as the fat, insecure girl she perceives herself to be, she is a believable character.

     3c.) Marchini does an excellent job of getting the reader inside Effie's head.

2.) Effie has come a long way by the end of these six stories.

     2a.) Even if she doesn't realize it.

1.)The lists were clever.

     1a.) And fun.

     1b.) And awesome.

     1c.) And a great way to show the reader what Effie is thinking (see 3c. above).

What I Didn't Like About Effie's Senior Year

1.) Effie's potty mouth.

     1a.) No, I do not consider myself a prude.

     1b.) Yes, I did talk that way my senior year, so you could say it's realistic except....

     1c.) Some of the swears seem like they were forced into the text with a shoehorn, as if Marchini felt her book wouldn't sell unless she made some magical quota of swear words. In fact, Effie's sister Ophelia has at least one unauthentic-sounding swear as well.

     1d.) Don't get the idea that it's all swears. They actually make up only a small portion of the book.

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you are an author and would like to have your book considered for review CLICK HERE.

Who is This Guy?

Here are a few random (and not-so-random) facts about me:

• I enjoy iced tea, but not coffee.
• I try to eat healthy, but I am foiled by the M&M's in the trail mix.
• Speaking of foils, I took fencing in high school.
• I am easily distracted.
• I prefer a phone call to a text message.
• I love a tall glass of ice water on a hot day.
• I like hot days. I was born in Louisiana, you know.
• I'd like to wear contact lenses, but they make my left eye go lazy.
• I'm definitely not a morning person.
• Occasionally, I enjoy a walk all by myself.

BOOK REVIEW: Paleo Intermittent Fasting Recipes

This cookbook by Angela Anottacelli is part of the Caveman Cookbooks series.

I learned three things from this book:

1. I have a lot to learn about intermittent fasting.
2. I have a lot to learn about the Paleo Diet.
3. I have a lot to learn in the kitchen.

All of which means I am probably not the best person to review this book. Of course, I'm not going to let that stop me.

As far as my research tells me, intermittent fasting is just what it sounds like, so I fail to understand what "Intermittent Fasting Recipes" are. As for the Paleo Diet, I thought it was eating only the kinds of foods cavemen might have eaten, but the book has a lot of ingredients such as yogurt (a favorite) and coconut milk. I also hadn't given much thought to how a Paleo meal is prepared, but Anottacelli includes recipes that use techniques I'm sure Paleolithic people couldn't have; things like deep frying and freezing.

And as for me in the kitchen, what can I say? I had no idea a mandolin was anything other than a stringed instrument.

Realizing it would be best if someone else did the actual cooking, I have not made any of the recipes in the book. Not yet, at least. I'm not sure where to find hemp hearts or ghee, either. It would have helped to have a guide to let the reader know where to purchase the more exotic ingredients.

Still, the recipes sound yummy. I'll see if I can get someone to help me out in the kitchen. (If I use a mandolin to cut the sweet potatoes, is the music sharp?)

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you are an author and would like to have your book considered for review CLICK HERE.

Am I a Wuss?

I have been reading (and reading and reading) and I have observed a trend which disturbs me.

While I enjoy books with action and thrills, I have noticed a lot of authors include extremely graphic depictions of torture and violence. It is often so egregious I can't even bring myself to finish the book.

Now I fully understand that conflict is at the very heart of storytelling. And violence is a form of conflict. On the other hand, I have found most readers have vivid imaginations. Is it really necessary to spell out each and every gory, tortuous (dare I say, psychotic) detail?

I'm sure I could argue that violence is an easy way to have conflict in a story, but that is not what I am ranting about. I am talking about the kind of over-the-top descriptions that leave nothing to the imagination.

I won't mention names or titles, but one such book has a scene in which a character is severely beaten with a baseball bat. The author described each blow, every crunch of bone, each tooth that was knocked out. I actually stuck with this book until another scene in which a different character was bound, a garden hose forced down his throat and...I couldn't tell you, I stopped reading.

As a writer, I feel the author could have gotten more mileage out of these scenes by being more vague. After all, telling me someone is being tortured with a garden hose, then cutting away to another scene leaves a lot to the imagination. And although as a reader I may imagine the most vile abuses, I won't be able to confirm them.

Another such book described, in detail, the torture of a twelve-year-old. A twelve-year-old! In. Graphic. Detail. That book inspired the visual at the top of this post. And it wasn't the only one: Yet another book opened with a group of naked children being severely beaten.

I had agreed to read that last one in order to provide a pre-release review. When I contacted the author and told him why I could not, in good conscience, recommend the book his response was, "It gets better." I'm sure that will look great on the back cover: "A gripping tale that is ultimately better than the brutal abuse of children."

In some of these books, I wonder about the story itself. It doesn't seem as if the violence is moving the story along. Rather, it seems as if the plot is just a vehicle to get from one ultra-violent scene to another.

So, what do you think? Has literature changed? Or am I just a wuss? Every book has an audience, but what are your feelings? Can things like torture, assault and rape be depicted too graphically? Do you prefer the author to leave some details to your imagination? Or do you want every lurid detail in hi-def surround sound? Share you thoughts in the comments.

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BOOK REVIEW: Mr. Waggles' Pet Resort

This is a wonderfully delightful book by Elizabeth Grace. It is an excellent choice to read aloud to a child.

The entire story is told from the perspective of Mr. Waggles, who laments the fact he is a "mutt." His person, Peter, has just purchased an old hotel and plans to turn it into a pet resort. It is fun to read about the exotic mix of animals that come to the resort for a stay. And one of Mr. Waggles' friends discovers something unusual buried in the lawn.

A fun story in which Mr. Waggles makes some friends and a few enemies, too. The book includes some simple illustrations, but they don't particularly add to the story. I look forward to more of Mr. Waggles' adventures.

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you are an author and would like to have your book considered for review CLICK HERE.

The Reality of Mortality

As my father approaches the end of his life, I find myself thinking about death.

When I was 13 years old, my mother succumbed to a relatively short fight with cancer. I had been mostly unaware of how sick she was. I'm sure my family (my mother included) thought it was best if I didn't know she was dying. Who knows? Perhaps they were right. After all, I was only a child, and not a terribly mature one at that.

Flash forward 37 years and my father is now dying. I am an adult now, past middle-age myself (unless I live to be a hundred). This time I am aware of my father's declining health. And knowing that, I am doing what I can to create some more memories with him.

In ancient Egypt, people, especially royalty, were obsessed with death. In modern America, we have gone to the opposite extreme. We live in a society that has built whole industries to help us deny the reality of death. Most of us will never see a corpse outside of a funeral home.

People die in many places. Some die in hospitals. Yet when was the last time you saw a dead person in a hospital, outside of a hospital room? Wherever people pass away, you can be sure you won't see a body. At least not for long.

When we see a corpse lying in state at the funeral parlor, it has been prepared and made up. This is said to give the body a "natural appearance." Of course, there is nothing natural about a person stuffed with sawdust and covered with mortician's wax and makeup. These things do not make the corpse look natural: They make the body look more like it did when the person's soul inhabited it. They make it easier to deny the reality of mortality.

Death denial is quite pervasive in our culture. There are numerous corporations selling us products to help us  stay young-looking, eliminate wrinkles, even products that claim to reverse skin aging, all so that we can go about our lives as if we were doing something -- anything -- other than marching slowly and inexorably toward the grave. Hospitals and nursing homes routinely extend lives for years, even decades, so we can all say, "Grandma lived to be 92." Few of us are willing to admit her life had little quality after  age 75.

If you are still reading this, and this sort of thing interests you, I recommend you read  Caitlin Doughty's book Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory.

And if you, like me, are dealing with the reality of mortality, my sympathies. Feel free to share your story in the comments.

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