Dan Brown's "Inferno"

  

****THERE WILL BE SPOILERS****

  I wasn't sure how I felt about the book overall, but I've had time to let it sink in and, I liked it. Didn't love it, but I liked it. The ending was a bit eh, kind of like, OK, I'll wrap this up in a pretty bow for everyone. I'm terrible though, I looked up transhumanism so I could understand it, and after I read what it was, I pretty much guessed how things were gonna go down. I didn't get it 100% right but I was close. So it wasn't that big of a twist/shock point when the truth was revealed. I was happy Sienna turned out to be a "good guy", but at the same time it felt cheap. The real "bad guys" in this novel are, us, the human race and our penchant for destroying the planet on which we live. And The Consortium, they were also the villain. But it's kind of a grey area with that. 
  All the trickery and disinformation that Brown threw at us was a bit annoying, to me anyway. It was an over-the-top illusion on such a grand scale, but then again, that is the point, to show how powerful and deceptive The Consortium is. I think really what I like/enjoy most about Brown's works (and I've only read two), is his historical and locale descriptions. His detailing of art, architecture, historical facts and icons, are breathtaking and always make my artistic-wanderlust-soul, yearn to visit every place, see every building & piece of art he describes. 
  I did dig the plot, the overpopulation, how we're over consuming natural resources, water shortage, reducing fish from over fishing, letting species of animals and flora & fauna die out, the destruction of precious, and vital, ecological wetlands, forests and jungles, and so on. That's all a very real concern worldwide. 
  My only criticism really is, his storytelling is mediocre. I felt that way with Da Vinci Code as well. He writes short, fast-paced information filled chapters that end with cliffhangers, which make the  readers "HAVE" to read the next chap just to see what happens. This also makes for a very quick read. Overall, I enjoyed & liked it. I would give it a rating of: X1/2-XX (out of a XXX rating system) Leaning more towards the X1/2. 

Stay Booked! Happy Reading!

Winter of the World: The Century Trilogy.II by Ken Follett

   This is the third book (and the 2nd in The Century Trilogy) by Follett I have read, Pillars of the Earth, and The Century Trilogy: Fall of Giants, being the other two.  I FU(KING LOVED THIS BOOK!  It was the most emotional hijacking book I've ever read in my entire bife, (book-life).  Follett is a pure genius.  And that word doesn't even do him credit.
   Pillars, was extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary.  Follett created some of the most memorable characters I've ever "met".  I never despised, physically, with every fiber of my being despised, a character(s) as much as I did the Hamleigh's, especially William.  And I don't think I've ever fallen quite in love with a character before, as much as I did Aliena.  Brilliantly crafted and hit on every emotion a human can experience.
   Segway that review into my 2nd Follett book, Fall of Giants (FoG).  FoG is a beautiful, fact-laden, historical fiction work of bart (book-art).  It is hands down the best historical fiction book I've ever read.  Follett researched, with painstaking details of historical facts and wove a compelling, emotional hijacking, tale of history; war; love; human atrocities; human spirit and tenacity; familia bonds, and world politics.  I can not rec this book enough.  Having said that, this book was tame in comparison to Winter of the World (WoW).  

   WoW was all of what FoG was, but on heroin laced crack.  By that I mean, every description of FoG would be intensified by 1000.  It was the most emotional hijacking book I've ever read, EVER.  I've never had a book that I absolutely loved, with every part of my booky-being, that also made me physically ill.  I seriously had to have a drink of booze after some scenes.  I'm not fu(king about when I say this.  It was such a gut-wrenching punch in the face, kick to the nerps, emotional roller coaster of a novel.
   This book marks the 5th longest book I've read, with the following as the top 4 longest: The Count of Monte Cristo (1276pgs); The Stand (1153pgs); FoG (1000pgs); Pillars (976pgs), respectively.  These 5 books just happen to rank highest in my coveted "Books to Read Before You Die Sexxily" list.  I think they rank so high, besides the fact they're all bloody brilliant, because the authors took their time to write not just a story, but an adventure.  Compelling reads that not only captivate the mind of the reader, but their body and soul.  They created characters that become so familiar that you hurt when they hurt, cry when they are sad or some tragic misfortune befalls them, you laugh raucously when something inane or whimsical is said or happens, you hate, with fierce intensity, the bad guys and get extremely irate at villainous acts of evil, you become so capsulized in these "people's" lives that you feel everything.  I honestly could go on forever with how much I loved WoW, and it's characters, but my limited feeble words, could never do it the justice it deserves.  While I read this bart, I had posted mini-reviews, (in my Facebook Book Club).  So with every end of a reading session, I posted a mini-review on it.  The following excerpts are from those mini-reviews.  I will end this particular section by saying this, if you don't read Folletts' Pillars, FoG, WoW, before you submit to the Grim Reaper, you will leave this plane of existence, unfulfilled.  As a bookie, these books are MUST reads.

*** I took care not to give away too much when I posted my mini-reviews, but...WARNING THERE WILL BE SPOILERS***
Mini-reviews of WoW, from JaSexxy's Book Club for Sexxy Bookies (the date at the end of each mini-review is the date of when I posted it).  The names, Sonia, Melissa, and Chris, are all friends of mine that did a read-along for WoW.  I also did a read-along with Sonia & Melissa for Pillars, & FoG:

• Started WoW, and WOW! I love that Follett lists the cast characters in the beginning, lots of our faves (and not so faves) from FoG, and lots of new characters, including children from our fave couples. Starts up in 1933 with Maud & Walter, that's all I'm saying, they have 2 kids now, Walter works at the Reichstag (the German parliament that oppose the up and coming Nazi party), and Maud works at a newspaper, that also opposes the Nazi party, but that's all I'm saying! (Jan.31)

Just finished chap.1 of WoW... FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKKing HELL!! (Jan.31)

• Determined to finish chap.3 before the Super Bowl starts (Feb.3)


WoW update: Just finished chap.2. Poor Daisy! Fuggin Lev man, still a jerkwad ahole. Sonia Cruz y Melissa Harris, where you at?? (Feb.3)

• WoW update: Finished chap.3 last night. Bloody hell there was a tense scene in London's East End. But this chap ended on a somewhat high note. It's amazing to me how Follett can keep track of all his characters without confusing the reader. And how much depth he gives each character to affect the reader. George R.R. Martin did not do a good job with that in his Game of Thrones series. I'm bout a quarter way through WoW and have not been disappointed yet. I'm 716pgs from the end, and I am already dreading it being over. (Feb.4)

WoW update: Just finished chap.4. FUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKING HELL! So intense and insane. And infuriating! Grrrrrr <--see! Four chapters in and we really don't get much on Billy and his fam, and his son is a rock star, but is only in it sparingly and then, well, FUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKING HELL! This book is gonna be the death of me. Or make me an alchy, well, more of one anyway. Melissa & Sonia, where the fugg are you two in the book so far? (Feb.4)

• WoW update: Just finished chap.5.I. Holy figgy flop! This shizz is insane! I'm all stressed out. This book is so amazingly good. How one can read it and not be affected by it, is beyond me. Rich in historical fact and dynamic fiction, this book has you going through every emotion known to the human being. It draws you in and sets you down in these characters lives and you as if you are in that setting and that you are intimately close to every person. I can't wait to start Part Two: A Season of Blood tomorrow. Hope you all are reading something as enjoyable as I am. Stay Booked! Happy Reading! (Feb.5)

Bloody hell my grammar was atrocious on this. Meant to say: How one can read it and not be affected by it, is beyond me. Rich in both historical fact and dynamic fiction, this book has you going through every emotion known to the human being. It draws you in and sets you down in these characters lives and makes you feel as if you are in the setting and that you are intimately close to every person.

• "He was the pillow she put her cheek on. He was the towel with which she patted her breasts when she got out of the bathtub. He was the knuckle she put in her mouth and sucked thoughtfully. How could she have ignored him for four years? The love of her life appeared before her, at the Trinity Ball, and she had noticed only that he appeared to be wearing someone elses dress clothes! Why had she not taken him in her arms and kissed him and insisted they get married immediately?" (Feb.6)

WoW update: Ehrmahgawd! Just finished Part II: A Season of Blood - 1940 pt.I & II. All kinds of craziness happening! German's invading France, Lloyd in the thick of it, Erik Von Ulrich makes you sick, then gives you hope, then makes you mad; Teresa pops back in for a minute; Daisy becomes super awesome, and more shocking revelations with the fictional characters and more engrossing historical facts unfold. I'm almost 50% through this and I'm having anxiety about not wanting to stop reading, but not wanting it to end either. Such is the dilemma with great reads. Can't wait to delve back in tomorrow! Night night bookmites! (Feb.6)

• It's Friday! You know what that means... It's FReading Friday! Making up words is fun.
I think I know what's gonna happen with certain characters. I have a feeling Carla von Ulrich is gonna end up with Werner and Erik von Ulrich is going to turn Werner in for being anti-Nazi. I could be completely wrong about this but that's what my book gut is telling me. (Feb.10)

WoW update: Finished Part II, chap.VIII, 1941.I. That was a brutal section to get through. I've read of the Nazi atrocities, and accounts from Jews that escaped. It appalled and disgusted me when I read it then, as it does reading it now. Pure fu(king concentrated evil they were. It sickens me to know this went on and how blindly and ignorantly people followed it. I've become emotionally invested in these characters lives and because of it, I feel the raw emotions they feel. Yes, it is only a book, and these are fictitious characters, but the events were very real. We lose a major character in this chap, one of my fave characters in FoG and in WoW. Very very sad moment. I've gotten as far as chap.VIIII, 1941.II.III. I will resume tomorrow. Need to decompress from the last chapter first. (Feb.10)
   **Comments to this post**
   **Chris: I had to put it down at this point too. He was one of my Favs and it was very emotional. It only gets worse however if you can believe that
   **Jason (me): Yeah I can imagine how much worse it's going to get. That fuggin "hospital" in Akelberg, fugg man. I read about those years ago, but having this emotional connection to these characters, though they are fictitious, makes it that more emotional.
I have a feeling Chuck is gonna be off'd. He's in the navy, in Hawaii, pretty much sums that up. And I just know Erik von Ulrich is gonna turn on his fam or friends, or both. I actually just finished 1941.II. It was tame. I think Follett knew he had to put something lighter after 1941.I. I'll start 1941.III tomorrow.
   **Sonia: Arg you are making me emotional at work. I am going to dread getting to that chapter. I get a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.

• WoW update: Fu(k. Just finished 1941.IV. Fu(k. I have very rarely, maybe once or twice, cried during a movie, and I've probably cried three times reading a book, well now four times. I didn't cry cry, but I teared up and felt the gut wrenching pain of overwhelming sadness, agony, grief, anger, and heartache. The attack on Pearl Harbor was devastating to read and the loss of a character I liked, all combined to make my heart break and my eyes well up with tears. This book drags your emotions over hot coals and broken glass then douses you with lemon juice. Despite that, it is so well written that despite the horrors of this world and these true events, you are compelled to keep reading. Keep going cause there has to be hope, there has to be redemption, there has to be healing. And as history dictates there will be, and that drives the reader to keep going, to endure it all alongside these characters that the reader has bonded with. It's become a personal journey that one cannot escape, but must be strong enough to continue until they've reached the end. Bloody brilliant novel. (Feb.16)

• WoW update: Man oh man this book is rough. Finished 1942.I & 1942.II.
The former was the retelling of the battle of Midway (with a brief stopover in Britain to Daisy. A small time character gets offed). Follett writes in a way that has the reader utterly stressed beyond control. The fight scenes are highly intense and even though you know the outcome (it's history), you have no idea if the characters you have come to know and love, will live or die.
The latter, 1942.II, takes us back to Germany and the Von Ulrich family where another scene of suspense and tension is laid out for us (with a brief stopover in Russia to Volodya & Zoya, which ties into the German scene with the Von Ulrich's). I can't say much without spoiling it, but fuggggg, my whole body was tense. I'm gonna need a massage, therapy and lots of booze when I'm done with this book. I love it! (Feb.17)

• "She had believed that love was something she could bestow upon whomever she liked, and that her main responsibility was to choose cleverly. Now she knew that was all wrong. Cleverness had nothing to do with it, and she had no choice. Love was an earthquake." ~Follett-Winter of the World~ (Feb.19)

"He had little experience of kissing girls-and none of kissing mature women of eighteen-but he liked the feel of her soft mouth so much that he moved his lips against hers in little nibbling motions that gave him exquisite pleasure, and he was rewarded by hearing her moan quietly." ~Follett-Winter of the World~ (Feb.19)

WoW update: Just finished 1942.III. This was a tamer chap, but only by a smidgen. It was all focused on Greg Peshkov, who I've come to like. He has a great moment of defying, and turning the tables on his ahole father, Lev, then some interaction with Jacky Jakes, shocker moment. A very tense moment during the early stages of the Manhattan Project. This chap ends with a bit of a surprise, and not a bad one. I'm 73% done and I am dreading every page that takes me closer to the end. I want to stay in these people's lives longer; enjoy there joys, hurt when they hurt, cry when they are sad, get angry at the injustice & horrors they endure. It's like they are an intricate part of my life and I don't want to let go. Such a bloody brilliant book. (Feb.19)

• WoW update: Frickity Frick! Just finished 1943.I & 1943.II.
1943.I was spent in Britain focusing on Daisy and Boy, who just becomes a bigger wanker nob. Some really good moments that I won't share and ruin, and some really frustrating moments that make ya angry.
1943.II is spent in Germany with Carla, Werner, and that icehole Macke. Lots of tense moments in this chap. Ends wonderfully though! Started 1943.III but I'm fading and need to try and capitalize on some sleep. I'm only 204pgs from the end. I'm anxious to see how things unfold for everyone, but I dread coming to the end. Oh books, you wonderful wonderful torturer! Stay Booked. Happy Reading! (Feb.20)

• OMSJ! I am sitting at Jiffy Lube waiting on my car, and just finished WoW: 1943.III. I'm sitting here with my eyes welled up with tears. This is such a heart wrenching book. Jayzus, I need a drink. (Mar.1)

• Melissa y Sonia, the end of 1945.I, have booze handy, lots of it. Fucking hell. I knew it was coming, but still, fucking hell. (Mar.21)
**Side note: you'll notice I've gone from spelling curse words with symbols, to just fucking cursing.  That's how powerful this book is**

WoW update: It's been awhile since I've updated, mainly b/c I had taken a break from reading it. I just wrapped up 1945.I & 1945.II.
1945.I was intense and emotional. I felt nauseated and disgusted with the human race at the end of it. 1945.II was not much better and I broke out in goose bumps at the part the U.S. bombs Hiroshima & Nagaski. That chapter at least ended on a more pleasant note, but you get the feeling of a devastating future plot line with the Peshkov clan. Fucking hell is all I can say. And now I need to try and sleep after this?! Fucking hell...(Mar.21)

• WoW update: Just wrapped up 1945.III & 1946 & started 1947. Nothing emotionally jolting, thank Zeus, but still some fu(kity fu(k moments. I'm only 39pgs from finishing, and I'm torn, as I am with all great books, with that mixture of exaltation of coming to the end and a wrapping up (of sorts since technically this is a trilogy so there will be no "wrapping up" per se) the story, and the undeniable dread and anxiety of not wanting it to end. I am happy I will have finished reading this before I move. Idt I could wait too much longer to know what happens. I only wish book 3, provisionally titled 'Edge of Eternity' was coming out this year instead of next. Though, it may be best, since it will give me time to recover from this book. (Mar.24)

• WoW update: Finished. Bloody hell. XXX rating. I need a drink and a therapist.
It was an amazing book. Emotionally draining, but fuggin amazing. (Mar.26)
**Comments to this post**
   **Sonia: I just got through the battle of midway.. Oh the stress! I woke up with a mild headache.
   **Jason: So stressful!
   **Melissa: I'm trying to catch up! About 55% through...
   **Jason: Oh it gets so much worse from there Mel
   **Melissa: So stock up my liquor cabinet and line up my therapy appts right now?
   **Melissa: "you mean that there are Chinese pansies?" "well, what the hell...at least you're not a republican"
LMAO!!
   **Jason: I love that quote!! I have it written down. Lol.
   **Sonia: I am hoping to finish it up i am on page 499.
   **Jason: 499? Mine was like 940pgs
   **Sonia: No I am on page 499. Total page on the nook version is 738.
   **Melissa: I have the day off so I've been sitting out in the back yard with the dogs, reading. It's a gorgeous day, so relaxing....and then I read the Pearl Harbor part.
   **Sonia: Ugh ... The stress of reading that part.
   **Melissa: The visualization of the sailors trying to hold on as the ships sank. And poor Woody. Heart-wrenching.
   **Sonia: Oh it killed me to read that!
   **Jason: Poor Woody :(
I teared up when his bf talked to Woody's mom, what's her name? My memory sucks. Rita?
   **Sonia: I thought it was Rose my memory sucks too
   **Jason: Something with an R for sure. Lol
   **Sonia: LOL,,,, that is all I remember that its with an R, will i check and report back!
   **Sonia: Rosa
   **Jason: That's it!! We were both close
   **Melissa: Wtf?? Did Chuck die??!!
   **Melisaa: Psychiatric patients being taken away by the SS. The mad leading the mad.
   **Sonia: It really is disgusting! And Maude surprised me.
   **Melissa: Oh my gosh, me too! Carla rocks though.
   **Jason: Yeah how heartbreaking was the scene when Eddie goes to Rosa. And the scene before it.
   **Jason: Mel... Wait, it gets worse. Poor Carla.
   **Jason: Sonia... Are you done yet?
   **Sonia: Sometimes I slow the pace of reading scared of what the SS is going to do. Carla is awesome and brave with what she has seen she could of stood back and done nothing out of fear but instead she pushes forward. It's reminds me of a documentary I saw two weeks ago of 1/2 Jewish girl and a German guy that fall in love but he goes into the military and eventuall he is part of the plot: Valkerie to kill Hilter.
   **Melissa: Ohhh, I love Carla. Dammit.
I can't believe how 'regular' people lived during this time. Not just the soldiers, but the courage required for everyday life. And I think about the things that scare me in my life. What a wiener.
   **Chris: Hopefully there's better times ahead in the next book. I kept waiting for something good to happen in WOW and it just got worse and worse.
   **Melissa: Ugh, I was hoping it would get better too. Guess I'll give that up.  Sonia, where are you? I'm at 85% - pg 794 of 941 or something like that. I quit my job on Tuesday and don't start my new one for two weeks so lots of good reading time for me. I can't believe Lloyd saved Boy and he was STILL an ass. I hope he lives to marry Daisy!!
   **Chris: Sorry I thought you guys had finished already, the worst is yet to come, get ready
   **Melissa: I don't really "like" your comment, just wanted you to know it was no problem. :)
   **Sonia: @melissa My nook app has 513 of 738
   **Melissa: O mg Carla. I want to throw up.
   **Jason: I can't imagine there's better times ahead with the civil rights movement, cuban missile crisis, and Vietnam conflict coming up. I am curious to see how he wraps it up.
And Mel, that scene had me so nauseous. Fu(king horribly disgusting.
   **Chris: It was the hardest most emotional book I've ever read.
Jason it should end ok since the last 20 years of the Century were very good. The fall of the Soviet Union, the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Hopefully he ends on the positive.
   **Jason: I wonder if he's going all the way through the 80's. I guess he would be, makes sense. And I totally agree Chris, most emotional book I've ever read. Just hijacks every emotion without anything you can do to stop it.
   **Melissa: Yes it is, and yes it does, and you can't stop even if you want to. I got so apprehensive knowing what was coming and I wanted to stop reading, but I just couldn't.
   **Sonia: I dread every time the book heads into Germany. The SS were so evil just to look their way and not look their way brought their attention to a person. I would never want to leave the house had I been a German during those time and my goodness I can't even begin to imagine the fear the Jewish people and people that Hitler didn't feel fit his views or appearance of what his Germany would look like.
   **Jason: The Russians are no better when they get into Germany. Very interesting to see the form of East/West Germany after the allies occupy
   **Chris: Damn Russians!! Lol
   **Sonia: My biggest complaint like movies, I have become extremely picky because of Follett. I have Dan Brown to read when the books gets released in May and I am going to try to read The Hobbit and hope I enjoy the books.
   **Melissa: I know what you mean, Sonia. I'm nearing the end and I have several books to choose from next and I'm afraid none of them will measure up..how could they?
   **Jason: Agreed. Follett is impossible to follow. I need light reads after this, but I know I'll be caving something of substance right after the light reads. Just need to find something of substance that at least comes close to Follett.
  **Sonia: Those are the words I was looking for Melissa!! Jason I feel the same way!!!

That dear readers is my humble review of one of the best books I've ever had the pleasure and honor to read.  Read it, you will regret it if you don't.  Stay Booked! Happy Reading!

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

So begins a by Madeleine L'Engle.  She uses the classic, and every writing teacher's "do not use", Bulwer-Lytton opening line.  I never read this book as a young-adult, I'm sad to say, because it was a pure joy to read.

I read the Introduction and Afterward, the former written by a friend of L'Engle, the latter written by her granddaughter.  It's amazing to me that this book has been banned so much.  It was denounced by "some Christian groups" because it "glorified witchcraft and new-age spirituality", and also criticized by the non-religious for being "too overtly Christian".  It was deemed "heretical" by the fundamentalists.  So one can see the problems it faced upon its 1960's release.  Like all "controversial" books it gained notoriety from plain simple misunderstanding.  Those that couldn't, or wouldn't, understand its true meaning, condemned and banned it.  It's funny, and quite sad, how small minded us humans can be.  Madeleine was initially turned down by virtually every publisher at the time.  Mainly because none of them could figure out how to categorize and market the story.  It was a children's book, but with adult themes, and words "too difficult" for children to understand.  It was science fiction, but with religious themes.  It was a marketing nightmare. 

Excerpt from the Afterword: Her agent at the time, Theron Raines, loved the book and worked with her through two or three drafts.  My grandfather also served as firm and good editor.  Gran read chapters excerpts to her children, and their enthusiasm for "what happens next" also encouraged her.  But she did not sit down to write a "children's book" or a "fantasy novel"-she wrote to please herself.  A few publishers rejected the book with comments like these:

"If it were a short fantasy, that would be different...I would advise the author to do a cutting job on it-by half."

"For me there isn't quite enough story value." (load of shyte on that comment, IMO)

"It's something between an adult and juvenile novel."

She was advised to make the book more accessible so children could understand it, to change the plot, change the characters, change the book entirely.  She was very tempted.  The urge to do the publishers' bidding was made more acute when both her agent and her husband suggested that perhaps she ought to give the publishers what they were asking for.  Perhaps, they suggested, she was being stubborn.  She certainly was stubborn, but if she wrote to please herself and no other outside audience, she also, as she said, was "a servant to the work" and as such had no authority to change the book.  After a year of rejections by multiple publishers, she asked her agent to return the manuscript, insisting that so much rejection was too painful, and no one was going to understand what the book was trying to do.  Then, at a party she gave for her mother during the Christmas holiday, a friend insisted she send the manuscript to John Ferrar. He had read and admired her first novel, so Gran was sufficiently encouraged to meet with him.  He liked the manuscript, but just to be sure, he sent it to an outside reader for assessment.  It came back quickly with this note: "I think this is the worst book I have ever read, it reminds me of The Wizard of Oz."  To John Farrar's credit, that comment convinced him to publish.  The publishing company's faith in I Wrinkle was more than vindicated when it became an immediate critical and popular success, winning the Newbery Medal in 1963."

I know, I've not said one word in regards to plot, or characters, or anything pertaining to the story, but I think a book's history is important.  It gives an already special book, even more meaning and makes it that more dear to our booky hearts.  Now that have given you some background on it, here's the skinny, I loved it.  

Book Synopsis: It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course.  Let me be on my way.  Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract".

Meg's father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared.  now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him.  But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?

This is the synopsis and it only touches upon the vast depth of what this story is about.  The novel itself is only 200 something pages, but it holds so much depth of character and life.  I love that it mixes both science and religion.  I'm not religious, and the religious themes did not bother me, they were great.  I love the mix of both for this reason, in life there is both.  Religion does not trump science, and science does not trump religion.  They can live together, and L'Engle proves that.  We live in a world that the people of it need faith to get through their lives, but we also live in a world that requires science to survive.  These two things shouldn't be enemies, but partners.  L'Engle shows us that it is possible and if we expand our minds, we can see that.  This book can't be classified and I love that it can't.  Because to me it represents life as it is, duplicitous.  It is a YA novel, but with strong adult themes. Things aren't always black and white, one definite way or another.  I respect and admire L'Engle for not caving in to the narrow-minded publishers, and staying true to herself and the life she breathed into this beautiful novel.  And I am fan of this work of art for all those things, and for one more reason... At the very heart of this book, besides all the political, religious, fantasy, YA, adult, good vs evil themes, what this book is really about is one thing, Love.

I may not have been a child when I read it, but I certainly had child-like awe while I read it.  I highly rec it and give it my highest rating XXX.  Stay Booked! Happy Reading!

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

"The only real failure, is the failure to try.  And the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment, as we always must.  We came here and we tried, all of us in our different ways.  Can we be blamed for feeling we are too old to change?  Too scared of disappointment to start it all again.  We get up in the morning, we do our best.  Nothing else matters.  But it's also true that the person that risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing.  All we know about the future is that it will be different.  But perhaps what we fear, is that it will be the same.  So we must celebrate the changes, because as someone once said, Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end." ~The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel~

I LOVED it!  Bloody brilliant!  It isn't going to be for everyone, one has to enjoy British films, I think, to enjoy it.  But whether you enjoy British films or not, it was wonderful.  Great cast, acting, and locale.  Beautifully shot, and superbly acted with a well written script and plot.  Dev Patel was perfect in his role, funny, charming, personable, just delightful!  And he held his own with the veteran actors.  Maggie Smith was a cantankerous delight.  Tom Wilkinson was a subtle strength.  Dame Judi Dench, bittersweet.  Bill Nighy, played a more subdued role, but did so wonderfully.  All the actors were fantastic.  And Tena Desae, oh my, she is a yum yum, yummy delishy curry dish.  Wo sigh...

Def a must see.  I give it XXX out of 3XXX's.  Stay Entertained! Happy Viewing!

New Burchases 2.16.13

Oh B&N buy 2 get the 3rd one free, you are a wicked temptress that I am too weak to resist.  Picked up the following new books:

                                Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

       http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12600138-ready-player-one


                           The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13536315-the-sense-of-an-ending

                                                           
                                     Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

             http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5886881-dark-places

Very excited about these!