Books of Augusr

Moving Day.  What would you do if you were moving across country and the movers arrived a day early?  The elderly couple figures they'd gotten the day wrong.  Imagine their shock when the real movers arrive the next morning and they realize all their possessions have been stolen!  Will they get them back?  Read and find out.  I loved this book!

Mrs. Fletcher.  A middle-aged woman re-invents herself.  B-.

Somebody's Daughter.  When his ex-wife appears sobbing that her child, who may be his, is missing and begs him to help find her, he agrees and finds a tangled web of secrets and lies.

The Gatekeepers.  What is the most powerful non-elected, non-Senate confirmed person in Washington?  The President's chief of staff.  He (no she's yet) controls access to the  President, interacts with various factions in the White House and sometimes gives the President his blunt opinion on important matters.  This fascinating book chronicles chiefs of staff from Nixon through Obama.  I highly recommend it.

Books of July

I read a lot in July.  Here's the list:
The Hellfire Club.  I read it because I like to watch The Lead with Jake Tapper.  Didn't care much for the book, which was billed as an inside look at Washington.  The main character seemed to get victimized throughout.  C+

The President is Missing.  I'm not a fan of James Patterson, but I read this book because it was recommended by our librarian.  Another inside Washington book.  It was okay.  B

The Outsiders.  I've never read this book.  I picked it because it was listed as a "favorite book" on PBS Great American Read.  I enjoyed the "outsider" gang but it wouldn't be my favorite book.  B

The Marriage Lie.  My favorite book of July.  Husband flies to Orlando to be the keynote speaker at a conference.  An hour later, wife receives a call from the airline that he died in a crash of a plane bound for Seattle.  I recommend this one.  A

Three Days Missing. By the author of The Marriage Lie.  Mom gets a call that her son is missing from an overnight campout.  But is he?  Another A

The Last Breath.  An earlier book by the same author, Kimberly Belle.  Not as good as the two listed above.  Daughter comes home to care for her father, who is dying.  He's been let out of prison, where he is serving a life sentence, so he can come home to die.  Is he innocent...or guilty?  B+

Heart of Darkness.  Another choice from the PBS list.  Ship captain is obsessed by stories of Mr. Kurtz as he sails upriver to find him.  Again, it wouldn't be my favorite.  B  (I voted for To Kill a Mockingbird)

The Other Woman.  Yes, Daniel's Silva's books about Israeli spy, assassin, art restorer are pretty much alike, but I love 'em and wait expectantly for the annual July release.  A

Wait for August.  Some really good books coming!

Major Life Transition

My freshman year in college I read an article in Seventeen Magazine that would set me on a path that I would follow until this day.  The article was about the relatively new field of speech pathology.  I thought that sounded interesting and the following year when I had to declare a major, I decided on that.  Of course, growing up in the Fifties, I didn't expect to actually have a career.  I wanted a college degree.  That was a secondary goal.  My main goal was to get married, have two children, a nice house, two cars and a dog.  Once I achieved that, I would bid speech pathology goodbye.  

But I didn't.  I worked for the Houston Independent School District for a while, then got married, had two children, etc. 
Then I got a divorce.  I returned to college, got a Master's in speech pathology and audiology and went back to work for the next fifty years.

Choosing speech pathology as a career was one of the luckiest and best choices I ever made.  I've never seen it as a "job" but as a calling.  I've been privileged to hear children's first words, hear their garbled speech become intelligible, watch them learn to read and express themselves in writing.  Along the way, I've shared families' amd children's lives and language.  It's been the perfect profession for me, but now it's time to move on, or as one of my four-year-old students said the other day, "Miss Thelma, now you'll be 'attired.'"  

This is a major turning point for me, but I know the time is right. The road ahead is a little scary but exciting.  I've loved going to work every day and I have so many memories to cherish.

So I'll end with words from "A Chorus Line:"
     "Kiss today goodbye
    And point me toward tomorrow.
    Wish me luck,
    The same to you.
    But I can't regret,
    Won't forget
    What I did for love.

    Love is never gone.
    As we travel on,
    It's love that we remember..."

Just before my husband died, he said, "You'll be all right.  You'll do something good."  I hope so.

Movie RecommendationL

Last week I saw a documentary that I highly recommend:  Three Identical Strangers.  
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet a carbon copy of yourself?  That's what happened to triplets separated at birth.  They met at age 19 when one enrolled at the same junior college as another and kept being called by the wrong name.  The two were written up in the newspaper and the third triplet saw the article and realized that these two young men looked exactly like him.  The three became famous and eventually opened a restaurant called Triplets in New York City.
But the story didn't end with their unexpected reunion.  Their families wondered why they were never told the children they adopted were identicals, why they were never told about the other families or why the boys were separated.  It's a dark and fascinating story.  I won't spoil the rest of the story but if you see the movie, you'll be amazed at what happened and why.

Still Together

Several years ago I joined a grief support group.  I'd been a widow longer than the other women who came so I was over the first throes of widowhood, but as they say, grief never goes completely away; it just changes over time.  We met every Tuesday morning.  Over time, some dropped out and others joined.  We shared our grief and our fears and our loneliness but also our steps forward into our "new normal." We began having monthly Friday night dinners, getting together for special events and always having lunch after our meeting.

The formal meetings ended last fall, but we'd formed a bond that has remained unbroken.  We have lunch every other Tuesday, play Mah Jongg each week (yes, I'm learning to play, too) attend events together. Today several of us went to a Celebration of Life for a group member who recently passed away.  On the way home and during lunch at my apartment, we shared personal memories of her.  I'm glad we've kept our friendships intact so that we can share the good time, the sad time and even the lonely times with others who understand.

Questions to Ponder

My book club is reading I Woke Up Dead at the Mall, and in it the newly dead girl has to answer a series of questions about her life.  So at our next meeting we will discuss these questions.  I think they are good ones to consider no matter where you are in life, so here they are:
1. My greatest regret is....
2. Thinking of my most recent birthday
    a. I got everything I wanted
    b. I wanted more
    c. I didn't care about gifts
    d. I didn't celebrate my birthday.
3. Here is what I will/would miss the most
    a. Food
    b. People
    c. Sex
    d. Other.....
4. My favorite place on Earth
5. The worse thing I've done in my life (so far)
6. The best thing I've done in my life (so far)

And here's the other, which is probably a question for the newly dead:
7. I would prefer to 
   a. Return to the kind of life I was living
   b. Start over in a different life
   c. Keep what I want from my life and throw
      the rest away
   d. Undecided

I'm not going to share my answers and you don't have to either but if you like, you could leave a few in the Comment section.
   

Books of June

Shelter in Place:  After the last one I swore I would never read another Nora Roberts book but I was sick with a chest infection and I thought this one might keep me from coughing so I got it on my Kindle and I really enjoyed it.  It's about various people who were in a mall when a mass shooting took place and how it affected their lives (and don't worry--there's romance, too).

Before We Were Yours:  Based on true events about an orphanage in Memphis that takes children from their families and adopts them out.  Of course the people in the story are fictional but the orphanage and its abusive practices were real.  This one has been on the best seller list for some time.  I enjoyed it.  (And yes, there's romance, too)

I Woke Up Dead at the Mall. Who could skip a book with such an intriguing title?  My book club is reading it.  It was quirky and funny and a fast read.  (Bet you didn't think there'd be romance in a book about dead people but there is)

Humans by Christopher Seddons.  This is a very long book that begins with primates and continues through the rise of civilization.  I love books like this, but the writing was so boring that I slogged through it over several months when I had nothing better to do.  Too bad, because I love reading about the earliest humans.  (No romance here.  I'm sure there was along the way but he skipped that in favor of the square footage of dwellings, etc.)

Happy Reading and Happy Fourth!