I used to think the Virginia Slim tag line “We’ve come a long way, Baby!” was empowering and celebrated the achievements women have made in the last hundred years in gaining equality.  Women can own property, women can vote; women can be working mothers or stay at home mothers without society telling them which path is better. Women can be CEOs, Presidents of Universities, Scientists, and Jet Engine Mechanics. Women can be anything they want to be.

On the surface, women have certainly come a long way.  What about under the surface?  Read the rest »

I’ve been pondering book jackets for the last few months. I’ve seen more jackets in the last few months than a model for Burlington Coat Factory does in the length of a ten season contract. My reflections have more or less been about why its assumed consumers need elaborate, more complex visual aids to capture their interest. A new published author told me recently people are not buying her book because the book jacket looks plain, boring and low-budget.

This bothered me for three reasons: Read the rest »

Jackfish, The Vanishing Village is an imaginary autobiography about a woman with a traumatic past and her need for redemption. Sarah Felix Burns has masterfully written a book so eloquent in description, yet so horrifically tragic that the line between beautiful and ugliness becomes blurred in a strangely contradictory way.

Burns did such a magnificent job of telling a story that was wrapped up in a small little village that vanished and using it as a metaphor for the main character’s life. Though I realized pretty early on in the story this was what she was doing, the whole story was woven in such a way the village and the main character’s life became synonymous with each other. Read the rest »

Blood Moon is about a girl who may or may not be “the one” that will save the Wiccan Community from falling. The vehicle for the story is Wiccan in nature. Because of this, there are some areas of the Craft we felt should be expanded upon to enhance the story. Unless you are or have been a practicing Wiccan, this book is pretty solid as a supernatural-mystery-thriller.

The strong character building between protagonist and a plethora of antagonists keeps the reader wondering who is who and what is what until the very end. There are some characters that we feel should have been made stronger, but overall the relationships made sense and were mostly believable. Read the rest »

I am an Anne Rice fan that fell by the wayside. I have loved the sensuality of her writing, before I knew what sensuality meant. It’s not necessarily the words, but the feelings she invokes with her use of language and descriptions. At one point in my life, I pre-ordered Anne Rice books, as I had to read them all as soon as they came out - I had to know what happened next. I could read her books over and over and pick out things I hadn’t caught the first time around. Eventually, the stories became a bit predictable and Anne Rice got the special place on the bookshelf for great authors that I’ll pick up again sometime in the future. I began reading some of her work again when she came out with “The Violin.” I liked the morbid sensuality of it. Some may find this an odd statement, but I thought it was an amazing love story. I was hooked again.

When she came out with the “Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt” I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Read the rest »

Baseball is back! I look forward to this time of year with great anticipation. We are two weeks or so from the start of Baseball season. I am having a hard time not counting down to opening day. Pitchers and Catchers - counted down, Spring Training - counted down, Opening day - trying not to count down, but for those of you counting… there’s 17 days.

This year, I decided to hold my own Spring Training to get ready for the season. Over the last year or so, I’ve acquired several books on the topic of baseball. I pulled them out in December - after winter meetings, and reacquainted myself with the sport after taking two months off. Read the rest »

I finished Roots sometime during the last week of February. I started it the second week of February and I feel like I’ve just lived through 258 years on fast forward. That’s seven generations for anybody counting. As silly as it may sound, every time I look at the book laying on my chair, I still feel exhausted!

Let me tell you…I loved this book! I laughed, I cried, I despised, I admired, I hated, and I loved. I don’t normally get that range of emotions from any one book. I had tears streaming down my face during the last chapter. Read the rest »

Occasionally, we hear an inspirational story about a victim of abuse. “Stand” is one of those stories. Debbie Williamson tells a tragic yet inspirational story of breaking the cycle of abuse.

Debbie’s story begins with dreams of having a happy household, unlike the one she grew up in. What she got was exactly the household she’d known all her life. Eventually, after a failed suicide attempt in which her youngest daughter found her lying close to death, she realized she had to make a change. This is simply one woman’s story of what she felt and how she made it out of the horrific destructive life she was in. More importantly, its about her ability to recognize and then break the cycle abuse.

Its not just inspirational for those who have been in abusive relationships, but also, for those who love and care about someone who has been a victim. Read the rest »