My Reading Blog

After a walk and breakfast, what a better way to start the day than by sitting on the front porch enjoying a cup of coffee and listening.  So quiet, except for the birds singing - how happy they sound - and so many different varieties.  Listening to the wind blow thru the trees.  Listening to a boat motor on the lake.  Listening to nothing but God speaking quietly.  If only I can really listen and hear and pay attention to what He is telling me.  Sounds so simple, but yet it's so hard.  So many "things" clutter up my mind and my ability to truly listen is drowned out. Listening - an art Listening - a challenge Listening - practice Listening, just listening

Saturday The weekend Already hot and humid at 8:00 a.m. Two dogs to walk (dog sitting for JAC) Laundry to do Bathrooms to clean E-mails to read and answer Time to relax, read, make cards A day to enjoy alone No cares, no worries Thank God for the blessings He has given me.

What a page turner - Lisa kept the story line going throughout and I didn't want to put the book down. Book Cover:  Lisa Scottoline returns to the courtroom with a taut and intriguing legal thriller where the line between lawyer and client vanishes - and the search for justice turns into a fight to the death. Benedetta "Bennie" Rosato may be tall, blond and built to last, but she's no sucker for a man in uniform.  She's a maverick laywer who prosecutes police misconduct and excessive-force cases, and business at her firm of Rosato & Biscardi has never been better. Bennie's latest client is Bill Kleeb, an activist roughed up by police during a demonstration at a pharmaceutical company, Furstman Dunn.  It's an open and shut case of police brutality until Kleeb confesses to Bennie that the protests are only part of the story.  Angered at Furstman Dunn, Kleeb's group plans a far more violent punishment for the company president. Then without wa...

Well, I've become a fan of Elizabeth Berg.  I like her writing style and feel her characters' emotions.  It's light reading, but has some good thought provoking topics. Book Cover:  In this new novel, beloved bestselling author Elizabeth Berg weaves a beautifully written and richly resonant story of a mother and daughter in emotional transit.  Helen Ames - recently widowed, coping with loss and grief, unable to do the work that has always sustained her - is beginning to depend far too much on their 27 year old daughter, Tessa, and is meddling in her life, offering unsolicited and unwelcome advice.  Helen's problems are compounded by her shocking discovery that her mild-mannered and seemingly loyal husband was apparently leading a double life.  The Ameses had painstakingly saved for a happy retirement, but that money disappeared in several large withdrawals made by Helen's husband before he dies.  In order to support herself and garner a measure of m...

As I was browsing the book shelves at the library looking for an Elizabeth Berg novel, I came across this book by Elizabeth Buchan.  From reading the jacket, it sounded like a good book. Book cover:  Fanny Savage had a 19 year record - earned with patience, devotion and contentment - as the perfect wife to an ambitious, idealistic politician.  Life is a whirlwind of public engagements and unquestioning loyalty to the party, to appearances and to her husband.  Her job description is to look good and remain silent whatever the cost.  But much as she and her husband love each other and their teenage daughter, Fanny senses within herself a creeping restlessness.  Increasingly she feels the fragility of happiness and the part of her she had buries - the brilliant partner in her father's Italian wine business - begins to resurface.  She has given two decades of her own life to being the Good Wife.  Was it worth it, after all?  Could it be time fo...

Eight years ago today (it was Father's Day), Dad passed away and went to his home in Heaven.  I miss him.  It doesn't seem possible that it's been eight years.  It's seems like yesterday that I would pick up the phone to talk to him and share the events of the week.  I remember him as a loving, caring, God fearing, hard working man.  He didn't have an easy life growing up in the depression years, enlisting in the Army to fight in WWII, farming and being a carpenter, serving on the Selective Service Board when there was a draft, being a courier for the hospital, losing Mom to cancer, mowing grass for the church and neighbors; but, in everything he did, he did it to the Glory of God and always had a smile on his face. He instilled in me my faith in God, to be a hard worker, to help and care for others.  He was a role model for not only me, but to everyone he met.  I thank God that he was my Dad. I miss you, Dad and I love you.  Thanks for the th...

Never thought I'd enjoy a book from a dog's perspective.  But this book is a wonderful read! Book Cover:  "A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope - a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it." Enzo (the dog) is very astute in his knowledge of life and car racing.  He is very frustrated because he knows what's wrong and how to fix it.  And, if he only had "thumbs" his life would be wonderful.  He is a true friend to his master and family. Garth Stein has woven a "tale", but truth is, it is probably very close to what goes on in a dog's mind.  I have often wondered what Max thinks about things.  Maybe he's frustrated too that he can't express himself.  He doesn't watch tv like Enzo did, so I don't think he knows about dying and going to Mongolia where he will be incarnated to a human. A great read and a book...

After reading "The Surgeon" by Tess, I had to read more of her work. Book Cover:  "The overnight ER rotation at Springer Hospital is a calm one, which suits Dr. Toby Harper just fine.  While Toby is fiercely proud of the stripes she earned as a resident in a big-city ER, she's come to appreciate the pace at Springer  But no hospital could have been prepared for the man Toby admits one quiet night.  Delirious and in critical condition from a possible viral infection of the brain, he barely responds to treatment.  And then he disappears without a trace.  Under fire from the hospital administration for literally losing a patient, and fearful that she's missed a life-threatening diagnosis, Toby knows she must find the patient.  Her hunt is intensified when a second delirious patent dies in the hospital's care.  But even more chilling is the discover that the infection an only be spread through direct tissue exchange.  As this disturbing new thr...

I listened to this book during my drive to Illinois and then finished it while the girls were sleeping. Book cover:  "When their daughter, Willow, is born with osteogenesis imperfect, a rare and painful disease, Charlotte and her husband watch their perfect lives fall apart.  As medical bills mount and Willow's pain becomes too much to bear, Charlotte has no choice but to sue her doctor, her one-time best friend.  While her husband is uncooperative, Charlotte must set personal feelings aside for the well-being of her daughter and financial security of her family." This was a very painful and thought provoking book to listen to.  The OI disease was not something I had heard about and fortunately it is a rare condition.  OI is a disease of the bones, where they are so brittle that they break even while in the womb.  Willow was born with five broken bones and two more were broken after birth.  The story gives you the insight to the problems and diffic...

What a fantastic 10 days these have been - yes, there's been some trying times, but M & P are so refreshing and delightful to be around that those fussy times are forgotten.  The time they spend playing and interacting, the hugs and kisses, the babbling and investigating are so enjoyable.  I truly love being Grandma.  And I still have two days to go to enjoy them!!!! During their down times, I've been able to do some reading, cross stitching (have to get those Christmas stockings finished) and crocheting.  So my daughter reminded me that I haven't blogged about all the books I've read and listened to these past 10 days.