I am not a science fiction fan.
It’s not that I am anti-science
fiction, it’s just that there are so many other genres I enjoy, I just rarely wander into that area.

A close friend of mine told me I should read the book
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
Not you MUST READ this book, or your life will be without
meaning , just a simple “you should read
this” and there was something about that cryptic statement that lured me to the
sci fi collection.

The story centers around the battle for mankind to survive

When I was in high school, our social science instructor
informed us that “someday, a mental health check up will be as common as a
physical health check up.”
Sadly, that has not come to pass. I’m saying sadly because all my friends and most of my family
could benefit from some therapy, and you can include me in that list,
too. Then again, who wants to be “normal”?????
In Shrink Rap by Robert Parker, our
Detective Sunny finds herself working for stunning romance novelist Melanie Joan Hall.
Sunny is doing her darndest to

There have been times when—rebelling against all those
literary assignments of yore—that I have read nothing but what could best be
described as trash.
After devouring 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse by Garth Johnson, at least now I know what to do with all
that trash.

This volume showcases a collection of the most inventive work being
made with recycled materials. The book shows examples of how to turn your trash into works of art, fashion, jewelry, housewares, interiors, etc.

When I was a small child, our local library was in the dark
basement of the County Courthouse. Cold,
bleak, uninviting, yet its volumes still held magic that I have never
forgotten.
The years have passed and today’s library has morphed into
an organization scarcely recognizable—yet the magic continues.
I’ve thought a lot about this--change, and how things do not
stay the same.
Will books in their present form cease to exist?
Will this technologically advanced world of e books, tablets
and other technology eat us alive?

Man in the music
The creative life and work of Michael Jackson

“You’re taking THAT book?” someone asked me as I picked up a copy of Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson and was flipping through the pages.
“Well, I was thinking about it,” I replied.
“Well, you shouldn’t waste your time on things like that,” offered the self-appointed book police of my reading list.
That did it.
For SURE that book was going home with me now.
After all, it is MY TIME and I get to choose how I will or will not waste it.

First, I want to say that I think what you read is no one’s business but yours, meaning, no one should judge you if you choose to read only westerns, or only graphic novels, or only Harlequin romances. We read for different reasons. I might read a text book to pass an exam, a book on carpentry to complete a project, or a mystery for entertainment. Or perhaps I’ll read something that’s pretty much totally fluff. It’s like frosting on the cake, or gravy on the mashed potatoes. You don’t have to have it, but every once in a while, it’s good to treat yourself.

“The sad and solemn night
Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires;
The glorious host of light
Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires . . . .
And thou dost see them rise,
Star of the Pole! And thou dost see them set.
Alone, in they cold skies,
Thou keep’st thy old unmoving station yet.
--William Cullen Brant
“Hymn to the North Star”

You would have to be living on the dark side of the moon to have not heard of the book The Help.
With all the reviews that have been published what on earth would I have to add to what has already been said about Kathryn Stockett’s destined-to-become-a-classic?

“Bank has started callingAnd the wolves are at my doorThree dollars and change at the pumpCost of livin's high and goin' up.”
--Ronnie Dunn from Cost of Livin’

One of my favorite feel good stories is the true life story of millionaire-gone-belly-up, Michael Gates, in How Starbucks Saved my Life. Its subtitle, A Son of Privilege learns to live like everyone else, attests to something I’ve tried to instill in my children for years: Having money does not equal happiness.