Rearranging Words

Trifecta gave us another word puzzle for this weekend's 33 word challenge.  The puzzle is as follows:

Below are photos from the 33rd page of one of our very favorite books, Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge.  What we want you to do is to scour the page (click to enlarge), choose 33 words, and reshape those words into a piece of your own.  Your piece does not have to tell an entire story.  We just want to see what you can do with this particular word bank.  Punctuation is up to you.  Use whatever you need, whether or not it appears in the photos.
While I did not include the photos, here is the link back to Trifecta's page for the photos.  While you're there, check out other solutions to this word puzzle!

Here's mine -

Remnants of corporeality

 

Hidden umbrage

State of panic

 

Gull bones at the water’s edge

Starflowers on pine needles

The fat seagull squawking

 

The inner blankness

A need to devour life

 

No comforting quiescence

Beautiful Boy

I got a bit behind on my book reviews, so keep an eye out here as I am hoping to get caught up over the next few days.  On that note, here's the next one.

Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff

This was an interesting book.  I read the companion book, Tweak by Nic Sheff, a while ago.  Tweak is Nic's story about his battle with addiction.  Beautiful Boy is his father's side of things.  One of the more intriguing points I found in the book is that it doesn't read like a typical memoir, though there are elements of that present.  Sheff tends to focus more on what was going through his mind as the events occurred.  Now, I have read reviews that were critical of that, and I can understand why if you go into reading this book expecting a typical memoir.  But, working in the addiction field, I can tell you Sheff's mind set as he conveys it in this book is common among the parents I work with.  In that respect, I found this point of view fascinating.

David Sheff was a writer prior to this book.  He was writing non-fiction magazine articles when his son started the family on the emotional roller coaster of addiction.  So, when Sheff wrote Beautiful Boy, he did so armed with a significant amount of research into addiction.  Much of that research is added to the book.  This research does break up the story a bit, but he fits it into the story in a way that I think lends strength to the emotional aspects of the story.

In the end, I found this to be a great book about one family's experience with addiction.  I would recommend reading Tweak first.  By doing so, you will get a better picture of the events so, when you read Beautiful Boy, the emotional side of this book will make more sense and come through clearer.

Room

I also finished reading Room by Emma Donoghue this week.  I must confess, this one I started reading quite a while ago but just didn't finish.  I am glad I did, though.

Room is told from the point of view of a little boy who turns five part way through the book.  The first half is alright.  I wasn't overly impressed, but Donoghue does an excellent job of telling what's going on through the eyes of a five year old and making it believable without being annoying.

It's the second half that I loved.  Here's your warning - I am going to give away one tiny bit of the book.  So, stop here if you don't want to know anything about what happens in the second half.  The way Donoghue treats the transition from Jack and Ma's captivity to their freedom  is amazing.  She contrasts Jack's sense of fear and distrust of anything that isn't Room with Ma's intense craving for life to be normal again.  Those conflicting points of view are what really make the second half for me.

Again, I am torn between loving the ending and being frustrated at not having a clear happy ever after.  I won't say what happens in the end but there are a number of questions unanswered at the end.  On the other hand, Donoghue chose a brilliant place to end the book as well.

I would say that this is a book worth checking out for anyone interested in fiction, relationships, psychology, or things along those lines.  Think Jaycee Dugard, even though this was written before she was discovered.

A Memory of Light

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.  I've been debating how to review this book.  Two big reasons.  One, it is book number fourteen, the final book, in a long running fantasy series (Book 1 - The Eye of the World - was published in 1990).  Two, it's taken FOREVER to be published and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't gotten there yet.  But, here goes.

Overall, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.  It does a great job of tying up a significant number of story lines that came out in the rest of the series.  Just as in the other couple books Sanderson wrote after Jordan died, to me Sanderson stayed true to the characters and tone Jordan began. 

There were a few parts that seemed to bog down to me.  I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but parts of The Last Battle seemed to be a bit too detailed to me as does some of the events in this book leading up to it.  I could have done without some of the detail.  I can see what they were trying to do in writing those scenes the way they did, though.

The other issue I had was that some of the Talents and abilities in characters like Egwene and Aviehenda seemed to have gotten left behind in this book.  I don't know if that was intentional due to an agreement that they didn't fit in as well in this book, or if there was just so much else crammed in this book that these details got missed.  I am going to think it was intentional and not sloppiness.

I do like how the book ends despite it also being frustrating to me.  There are still some unanswered questions and scenarios.  Now, don't get me wrong, the major story lines are all tied up well.  It's just that there is a definite sense of "But what happened after that?" to some of it.  I can't give any examples without giving away stuff, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

In the end I would say this book and the entire Wheel of Time series is one any fantasy fan should read at least once in their lives.  Jordan has done a great job of creating a cohesive fantasy world, spinning out a myriad of different story lines, and bringing them back together again for a cohesive ending.

20 Hrs., 40 Min.

I've actually finished two books in my Goodreads challenge so far.  But, I'm going to review my second one first.  Partly because it's shorter and a stand alone book so it's easier for me to figure out how to write about it without giving anything away.  And, partly because I'm also linking up to Trifextra's weekend challenge with this book.

The book is 20 Hrs., 40 Min by Amelia Earhart.  The 33 word quote I chose for the Trifextra challenge is this:

“…on the flight I think two questions have been asked of me most frequently.  First: Was I afraid?  Second: What did I wear?  I’m sorry to be a disappointment in answering the first…”

 

I love the idea that these were the two most frequently asked questions upon Earhart's return from being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.  By the way, she goes on to say she was not afraid on the flight.

 

The book is a quick, easy read.  From a literary stand point I didn't find much remarkable about it.  But, I don't think that is a fair way to judge the book.  Earhart's voice comes through clearly in her writing, so much so that she has become a person I would put on my list of famous people in history I wish I could meet.  She is straight forward in her telling of this part of her story and gives credit where credit is due.

 

Earhart wrote the book shortly after the flight was made.  She points out several times she was merely a passenger on this flight.  She is careful to make clear she felt the credit for the flight should be focused on Wilmer Stultz, the pilot, and Louis Gordon, the mechanic, who actually flew the plane.  Earhart came across to me as someone who was not looking for the fame but was willing to use it to advance one of her passions - aviation.

 

Interestingly, aviation was NOT Earhart's main love.  She, at heart, called herself a social worker.  She was working in a settlement house prior to Friendship's flight across the Atlantic and, once in England, her favorite part of the trip was visiting settlement houses in London.

 

Overall I enjoyed the book.  While some dispute how much of her fame was deserved and how much she merely capitalized on the work of others, after reading this, I think she was very aware of this balance.  Some of her fame came from the work of others and she acknowledged this.  Yet, Earhart also did many things to earn the fame in her own right, such as setting the female aviation altitude record at one point.

Two Choices

Once again, I must apologize if this is a bit rough.  I'm writing it at about 10:00 PM after a LOOONG day at work preceded by multiple other LOOONG days at work.  But, that's what I get for working in the behavioral health care field with teenagers some times.  In all honesty I love my kids I work with, it just gets rather overwhelming at times.

Anyways, I did combine Trifecta's prompt, the word path as in course, route or way of life, and part of Write at the Merge's prompt, a stained glass window to bring you this.  I did just, unfortunately, realize I didn't get this done in time to link up to Trifecta's challenge, but that's okay. 

It is the next part of the story of Emma, James and Kris.  If you've missed some of the story, the tab labeled One Night In Dusseldorf at the top will give you the links to the rest of the story.  Here it is.  Please enjoy.

I still couldn’t wrap my mind around what Kris was saying.  It sounded so unbelievably ridiculous, but he was serious.  I could almost hear the air between us crackling with the tension of the moment.  He wanted me, needed me, to believe him.  I just stood there like an idiot unsure of myself.

“Follow me,” he snapped, loping off into the woods.

I trailed behind him, still trying to digest his words.  I rounded a bend in the path and stopped.  The path descended into a small hollow.  In the center was a small rough stone chapel like building.  The windows were stained glass that threw brilliant rainbows around the clearing.  It looked like a sea of color had rained down and filled the depression.

Kris gestured and I stepped up to the building.  It was older than I’d first thought.  Being the daughter of a historian specializing in architecture came in handy right then.  I estimated the tiny structure to be at least five to six centuries old, maybe older.

“My great-great grandfather built this chapel.  He wanted to remind my people of the choice we made back then.  My people were dying, hunted and feared by missionaries to this land who didn’t understand us.  A druid came to my great-great grandfather and offered him a choice.  One path led to a life where we survived but had to adapt to a new world.  The other one ended with my people being hunted down like rabid dogs.”

As he told me this story, we circled the chapel.  Each window depicted in surprising color and detail different scenes from the story.  We stopped in front of the south end.  The window covered most of the wall.  And indicated the choice that was made.

“We agreed to become the guardians of the druids.  That druid changed us to make us better protectors.”

Then it happened.  The air around Kris shimmered.  He disappeared.  In his place was a black wolf watching me with Kris’s eyes.

Also, please head on over to Trifecta and Write at the Merge's websites to read other great authors and their inspirations from the prompts.

Reading Challenge

As if I didn't have enough else to do with a 6 month old, working with teenagers full time, writing here, participating in different writing challenges each week, a large variety of craft projects and trying to get back in shape for this summer, I've found something else to add to my list of things to do!

I'm taking Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge.  As you can see on my page, there is now a little bar that keeps track of the books I read this year.  Anyone who knows me well would ordinarily laugh at the goal of reading 100 books in a year.  I at least used to be able to do that in 6 months, or less.  But, given all of the above items, I figured this would be a challenge but not overly outrageous.

A bonus for you lucky readers, I'll try to review at least a little about the books I read here.  Please keep in mind that I'm not any kind of professional reviewer, but I'll do the best I can to give you a coherent grasp of what I think of the books I read.

Wish me luck!