No Longer Waiting For Dead Men’s Shoes

·         In LaurenBaratz-Logsted’s Waiting For Dead Men’s Shoes, A Mini Monroe Comic Mystery, twice divorced book store owner Colin Quimby dies the evening of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. His body is found by the one employee who loved him and wasn’t related to him, Mini Monroe. She looks for his killer among his family and friends, while falling a cute cop along the way.

    

    Baratz-Logsted has written a funny, cozy mystery that kept me guessing through the course of the story. I loved the relationships and how they developed, especially the budding romance between Mini and the cop who arrives to take initial statements from those discovering the body. I laughed a lot while reading this cozy mystery.

    

    However, the story is dated by references to various movie actors, particular candies, and television networks. These factors detracted a little from creating a totally believeable secondary world on Baratz-Logsted’s part. The author’s style of talking with the reader was also a little disconcerting, though that could be just my lack of reading works where the imaginary wall is broken.

     

    Overall, I really liked this book. I loved Mini and would like to read more stories about her and her strange but loveable cast of famliy and friends. I look forward to finding more of Baratzx-Logsted’s mysteries and romantic novels. I give the book 5/5 stars.

    

    I received a copy of this mystery from the publisher through the NetGalley review program, for my honest review.

 

Tackled by North of Hope

"Are you over it yet?" someone asked once.

"Have you moved on?" asked someone else.

I knew these were questions asked froma place of discomfort, by people who did not know, who didn't know what to say. Still, the queries came at me like blades. There is no such thing as getting over it, I wanted to scream, I wanted to whisper. There is no such thing as moving on, at least not how you've understood it before. It's like being tackled by something you hadn't known existed, then lying breathless on the ground, getting up slowly, and starting to walk again, alongside this thing, along with this thing. It's no wonder some stories describe the grim reaper as a person or thing hooded and unknown that shows up at our doors, takes up residence in our homes and lives and bodies, a thing dark and physical.

I had to learn to understand the world differently. I had to relearn the world, ... I had to relearn myself ... I did not know how to do this kind of learning. I did not want to learn this kind of life.
excerpted from North of Hope by Shannon Huffman PolsonUnderlining is my emphasis

Long time readers will know and recognize in the above words some of what I have gone through since September 2011. I did not write those words though, Shannon Polson did in her memoir, North of Hope. I was reading along, as you do, underlining good bits as you can see in the quote, (shh! don't tell my mom, I think she's a book purist!), having a good day with the window open reading a breeze tickling the hairs on my neck.

Then I read those words.  I started crying, not sobbing or loud, crocodile tears. Just crying. There's even a huge exclamation point next to these paragraphs and the corner of the page is turned down. It's page 57 if you need to know. I try to distract myself from feeling as write now even.

K realized I was crying and came over to ask what was up. I shared the words Polson had so eloquently put together explaining her grief at the loss of her father and step mother. She said, "That's you!" I just nodded and smiled through my healing tears, like a soaking rain on a spring night.

I have had many people ask me, "How are you doing?" or "Are you back to normal yet?" or "Can you go back to work yet?" I know they are speaking from that same place of disquiet that Polson described. My getting bacterial meningitis and almost dying is very similar to reminding them of their own mortality just as the death of a parent or step-parent does for our friends and coworkers.

I tried to work for a while, but the constant headaches and having to find coverage for my shifts just left me exhausted. The migraines weren't letting up and that was before preventative and abortive medications for them. Now, I still get migraines about 66% of the time, I do the math each month to know just how many days are lost to the residual effects of bacterial meningitis. I'm still angry about it, I guess.

The part in these few paragraphs that fits so exactly and well with my life is what I drew the title for this post from. "It's like being tackled by something you hadn't known existed, then lying breathless on the ground, getting up slowly, and starting to walk again, alongside this thing, along with this thing." This is my life with meningitis. I did not know what it was, now I can give a medical treatise on the subject of the meninges. I even know how to spell meninges finally. I was unable to do much of anything for the whole month of September 2011. I ramped up to working slowly and started to walk, but that proved to strenuous. I'm still extremely pissed that that is so. I hate having to be on first Short Term Disability and now Long Term Disability insurance payouts because it means I am stuck. I'm not where I want to be gosh darn it! And, that's frustrating as all get out.

I've had to relearn everything in my life. How to dress to avoid migraines (sunglasses, big hats, even inside buildings in the dead of Maine winters). How to avoid migraines in every possible and still have them show up, so why bother with behavioral modifications. How to take daily meds to prevent migraines causing me to think about them on a more frequent basis than I want. How not to go out in bright sunlight without sunglasses on. How to wear those sunglasses when under florescent lights. And on and on and on.

I did not know how to do this kind of learning. Neurologist doctor and his wonderful assistant have been greatly helpful in teaching  this kind of things. Mom and grandma have taught me about prayer and miracles. A jewish friend online has been praying for me. I figure we both believe in the same God, just have differences of faith and opinion on Jesus' role and the Trinity and all that comes out of those sorts of things.

Anyways, it's time for my second cup of coffee, this one's down to dregs and has gone icy. I'll be back with more to share about this fascinating and thought provoking read!

Please feel free to leave comments about your challenges with things that changed your life and how that helped you. What helped you when you were challenged Enjoy!

BookSneeze® has provided me with an advanced reading copy for my review.

Wings of the Storm: Total Reaction

I started out thinking I wasn't going to like Susan Sizemore's novel Wings of the Storm. A lot of my friends are big Dr. Who fans and really like the blue time traveling Tardis and "timey-wimey wimbly-wombly" goings on. Me, I can take it or leave it, but if pressed, the Fourth Doctor is my Doctor. Sizemore's time traveling heroine goes through a blue time and space continuum back to the 12th or 13th century. I thought I was in for a cheesy romp through Doctor Who with off cast characters.

Instead, I got a believable secondary world with loads of fully realized characters. Daffyd ap Bleddyn and Jehan FitzRose can't figure out if they love or hate each other. A baroness is given a makeover to make her more appealing to her young knight of a husband in a time when marriages were contracts for the transfers of land and money, more than love. The vagaries of life in a distant time compared to now are highlighted by the heroine's coming to terms with being stuck in the past and no way of returning home.

The story ended and I didn't want it to end. I wanted to see the heroine deal with the aftermath of some things. I also wanted to see more of the relationship that had started in the book. I'd like to see a sequel to this with the same characters.

I received my copy of this book through the NetGalley program from the publisher for my giving my honest opinion.

The Fact/Faith Debate: Initial Reaction

I'm just getting into the book, The Fact/Faith Debate, by Jack Gage, and so far I can tell it's interesting. And, not in that strange, don't know what to say interesting.

He's setting up the spectrum between atheistic just the facts ma'am kind of understanding of our world and faith based only understanding of our world. I'm Catholic, which the Catholic Church believes in Faith and Reason. A past church I attended believes Creationism, that the world is literally 6,000 years old with people and dinosaurs walking the Earth in tandem. That confuses me. I'm on the side of faith, but closer to the facts than not. I'm faith filled, but skeptical.

Then, he get's into when did sentience occur and who first thought about why something happened. Was it homo sapiens or Australopithecus' Lucy or some other far flung ancestor? We'll never know but it is fun and fascinating to wonder about it.

I can tell this is going to be a great read. I can't wait to finish it! The publisher gave me a free copy to provide my honest review.

"I Am" Renewal From Within The Garden: Initial Reaction

I'm reading Dr. Lucie K. Lewis' book, "I Am" Renewal From Within The Garden, and am currently 18% of the way through the book. It is a memoir of the Spiritual Mother she had in her godmother who passed on months before the birth of her only child, a boy. She discovers that the bedrock of her godmother's Spiritual Motherhood is her deep and thorough knowledge of the Scripture and a true relationship with God. Dr. Lewis begins to study the Scriptures for herself and finds 13 "I Am" statements of Jesus in the book of John and one in the book of the Revelation.

I'm at the point where she is about to get into the meat of the "I Am" statements. I am extremely excited to be reading this book. My beloved grandmother, Norma, is my Spiritual Mother much as Dr. Lewis' godmother was for her. Grandma always was telling me Bible stories growing up, and telling me she was praying for me, and telling me she was praying for the family and urging me to too, and, she still is! I love her dearly, even when I walked away from her kind of religion, I still loved her and God, just in different ways. She worries that our family won't be in heaven when she gets there. I remind her that our job is to plant the seed and that like the parable of the seed, some will grow deep in relation with God, some will kick it aside, and others won't even understand, but all that's asked of her, us, is to share the seed. She seems frantic at times that she'll disappoint God. I can't presume to think for him, but the stories he told of himself, don't seem like he will be upset with her. In fact, I think the opposite, and very much the opposite.

Anyways, enough about my grandma. This book is looking to be a great addition to my bookshelf. I'm grateful to the publisher, Creative Futures LLC, for providing a free copy through the NetGalley website for me to give my honest review.

Happy reading!

North of Hope: Initial Reaction

I received my first selection through the booksneeze.com review program the other week, North of Hop: A Daughter's Arctic Journey. It's about Shannon Huffman Polson's journey through the Alaskan wilderness and the wilderness of her own grief. I have been reading it this morning and on page 39 she finally arrived in the land, despite touching down in a plane there on page one.

She had grown up in Alaska, but life took her far away. Then her father and stepmom were journeying through the Alaskan wilderness when they were attacked and killed by a rouge bear one year prior to when the book starts. Polson has come to Alaska to take the same journey with her adoptive brother and his coworker friend, or maybe more than friend, Sally. Polson is very wrapped in her own grief so there's no hints as to whether her brother and his coworker are more than just friends by the end of the second chapter.

I'm about to start Chapter 3, about a piece of Mozart's so we'll see how that connects with the story. Vienna and Alaska are very different places, so I'm curious to see how she connects the two parts.

*BookSneeze® has provided me with an advanced reading copy for my review.