light vs. dark.

I have yet to read a novel as complex or engrossing as Salman Rushdie's Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, the story of an enchanted princess who falls in love with a mortal and together, they bring many powerful children into the world. It's folklore at it's finest as we are fast forwarded to present day (or a little after) where all of the decadents can be found scattered across the world, only tied together by their common lack of earlobes and their superheroish powers. The rest of the novel is apocalyptic, set in Manhattan. There's love, magic, and war. If you like to read about any of those things, then you'll be delighted.

but are we too late?

After reading Mark R. Levin's Plunder and Deceit: Big Government's Exploitation of Young People and the Future I think that every young person should take the time to do the same. As a member of the rising generation, I am going to inherit this mess, and I want to know everything. Levin tells everything.

Our annual debt as a country has exploded from $10 trillion to 18 trillion and rising under the current President. My generation and my children's generation will be paying the interest off this debt in a world where good jobs are harder to come by. And this is just a tiny blimp in the problems our country is facing, and what Levine touches on in this book.

It's clear that Levin doesn't care for Obama, and some may find this book to be a ploy to stop our generation from voting for candidates like Obama, and that may be true. But facts are facts, and current events are current events, Levine is here to educate us. The moral of the story is that if we want a better America, we are going to have to build it ourselves.

migwech.

::REPOST (because there's no laboring today)::

I just finished reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by my new spirit animal, Cheryl Strayed. At the age of twenty-six this woman hiked 1,100 miles of the PCT, ALONE. Just her, Monster (her backpack), and her 4 toenails. This is her memoir of her time on that trip, also going back to how she found herself doing something so seemingly impossible. Her mother passed away when she was twenty-two, leaving her heartbroken enough to totally sabotage her marriage and dive into a heroin haze. She decided she needed to find herself, so she went on a very long walk until she did. She had no prior training, just a reference guide and nothing to lose. This was such a beautiful story. I loved the many people she met along the way. And how things didn't go as Cheryl had planned pretty much ever. Her hike was interrupted countless times. There were detours and mishaps, but she finished what she started.

I would love to channel my inner Cheryl Strayed and do something this extreme. But I'm a married lady. So instead I've decided to go to my cottage by myself and do a 3 day juice cleanse. Because, I mean, that's almost the same thing, right?

it may kick ass for you.

I honestly only have eyes for her aunt? relative of some kind? -  but I had to give Stephanie Evanovich a try, and was pleasantly surprised by her debut novel, Big Girl Panties, which I reviewed almost two years ago, here. It was a tad raunchy, but her heroine was a chick I could get behind.

Now I just finished The Sweet Spot, which is Evanovich's second novel, and I want to say was a prequel? Because we met Amanda and Chase in her first novel, and they were already happily married. Well, I don't feel quite as warm and fuzzy about this one. It was like 50 Shades of Gray with a blue eyed Kim Kardashian, if she would have ever dated a baseball player and allowed him to spank her. It started off well enough. Amanda, semi-independent restaurant owner, business lady, foxy meets Chase Walker, America's favorite baseball player, (if America liked New Jersey) and he wins her over by coming into her restaurant every night until she will go out with him. Adorable beginning, really. And then the spanking came. I'm just not into it. Not that other ladies won't appreciate the gory details, the novel definitely still deserves to be featured on the blog, it just wasn't for me.

this series is so good.

Alan Sitomer's Caged Warrior series is a kick ass young adult novel collection that your middle and high school aged boys are sure to love. The second of the series, Noble Warrior came out in July and is just violent enough to make the kids who hate reading want to read for pleasure.

The series revolves around McCutcheon Daniels' who is a star fighter in an underground Mixed Martial Arts circuit in the slums of Detroit. These are fight to the death kind of fights, and he is forced to compete to appease his crazy father, and keeps himself alive to protect his little sister. You'll have to read book number one for yourself to get the rest of the details on that one.

Noble Warrior will spoil Caged Warrior, just a little warning before I continue. In Noble Warrior, McCutcheon, his mother, and sister are now in the Witness Protection Program, but McCutcheon still cannot escape his demons. So instead of playing it safe, he decides he wants revenge, and he'll do anything to get it.

a theory that works.

My parents desperately need to train their little yippy dogs, but refuse. They never trained their children either so it makes sense. But I did share what I learned from Team Dog: How to Train Your Dog the Navy Seal Way this AMAZING audio CD I received by Mike Ritland with them. And so far, they are ignoring me. But if you're planning on getting a new dog anytime soon, I would listen up.

First of all, Ritland is VERY descriptive (and repetitive) on how to train your dog. He's super NAVY oriented, lots of teamwork and mutual respect between canine and master, stuff like that. Keep in mind that this book is filled with the basics for every new dog owner, you are not expected to send your puppy into a raging battle on the sea after reading this book. Ritland will also show you how to turn your new BFF into a well-trained social dog which is necessary if you're the sidewalk café or dog park type of person. Which if you're not, you should probably also pick up a self-help book for yourself on being more social. Just a thought.

when people talk.

Honestly, it's not summer until I've read Elin Hilderbrand's annual Nantucket novel. Sitting right here.

 

 

I've been looking forward to The Rumor since the weather got warm, saving it for my three-day mini vacation to my cottage before school begins. This work of fiction was created while Elin was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. And although I didn't fall in love with the characters like some I've met in her past novels, the storyline was on point as usual. The entire premise of the story was to shed light on the ugliness and ridiculousness of rumors spread in small towns (or small islands). It's main characters, Grace and Madeline who are best friends, their husbands Eddie and Trevor, and their children, Allegra, Hope, and Brick had their own share of drama that was all typically misunderstood by the gossiping cliques on Nantucket, except for when it wasn't. These characters also learned that their reputations aren't as important as who they are as people. And the eyes of loved ones are the only eyes they should worry about impressing. Eddie learned that one the hard way.