Book Review -- These Is My Words

These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner


My rating: 5 of 5 stars







Some books just grab you by the heart and won’t let go. These Is My Words is one of them.

Sarah Prine is a tough as nails, young women growing up in the Arizona Territories. She can shoot a rifle, defend her family and friends, and fight Indians and outlaws too – heck, I’m not sure there isn’t anything she can’t do. Her family decides to migrate to Texas for a better ranching life, but they find nothing but tragedy along the way. On their return home to Arizona, Sarah meets Captain Jack Elliott, and thus begins the heart of this novel, based on the diaries of the author’s original family memoirs.

These Is My Words is a love story, an American western, a survivors tale, all wrapped up into one incredible saga. In fact, Sarah and Jack’s love affair rivals that of Scarlet and Rhett – and the great thing about Sarah and Jack was they made it work. It wasn’t without trials – Jack, as a Captain in the Army, was absent from home most of the time. Sarah, who could survive anything on her own, was desperate to have her husband (and the father of her children) home. Not a far cry from most modern day husbands and wives.

It is not without some graphic scenes – rape, mutilation, amputation – but they are written with restraint and left to the reader’s imagination. The romantic scenes are dealt with just as modestly. I would let my eight year old read them without her being any the wiser.

I fell in love with this book. Who can’t fall in love with two people so madly in love with each other? I almost felt guilty reading about their romance -- it was a guilty pleasure – and one I would be happy to read over, and over again.

Sum it up: A great historical, western romance, that will leave you breathless (or it did me!).

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Guest at Reading For Sanity

Please check out my guest post at the great group book blog, Reading for Sanity. They asked me if they could re-post my book club recommendations, and I happily agreed. They are a great resource for all things bibliographic -- great reviews, recommendations, and opinions. Please visit them often!

A House Divided!

OU-BYU Tickets on Sale Monday

Sooners, Cougars meet September 5 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

NORMAN, Okla. - Single-game tickets for the OU-BYU Football Classic at Cowboys Stadium go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m., on Monday, July 27. All single-game sales will be handled by Ticketmaster.

Tickets may be purchased online through Ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 745-3000.

Single-game ticket prices range from $50-$150.

Orders will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and tickets are subject to availability.

Needless to say, I will be BUSY at 10am tomorrow!

Boomer Sooner!

Road Rules for The Big Love Book Group

I was asked recently by a Goodreads/blogging friend, “How do you start up a book group? Do you have any specific rules?”

I’m sure there is an official book group handbook out there somewhere (it probably has Oprah’s seal on the front)…but here are my rules (and I made them up as I went along):

1. Ask a lot of like minded friends to join. I sent postcards to nearly everyone in my Relief Society. Only 10 women came to our first meeting. You must have die-hard readers, or people will drop out, or won’t read the book, or they will only come because there are refreshments. Which isn’t a bad thing necessarily, but for those who are there to discuss a book, secondary chatter is forbidden and non-participants eaten.

2. You need to decide at the beginning WHAT you want to read: Fiction/Non-fiction/YA literature/LDS-Deseret Book literature. My group DOES NOT want to read Deseret-type/church books, nor are they YA readers. We read mainstream adult fiction/non-fiction, with a few exceptions. It's easier to start out all "on the same page" than to hear people complain about what you are or are not reading (been there, done that). We have a WIDE range of ages -- twentysomethings to seventysomethings -- so we have to appeal broadly.

3. Try to pick a book that you've read before, so you don't have any surprise objectionable material. For some book groups, this may not be an issue. For ours, it is. Occasionally, we’ve chosen a book without first hand knowledge of the content and we’ve done OK. On the other hand, reading a book beforehand does not ensure that the reader has an accurate memory of the book’s content. For example, one of the very first books we read was The Red Tent. I had read it a couple of years earlier while pregnant with my daughter. My memory of the book was about a community of women who went to “the red tent” during, pregnancy, delivery, monthly issues, etc. I had a very romantic memory of the book. Needless to say, I had forgotten that there were several graphic scenes that nearly split up our newly formed group. Luckily, we worked thru it. There were several who chose not to finish it, and didn’t come to the discussion. But, generally, it is wise to have read the book in advance.

4. Pick something readily available and has multiple copies at the library, so people don't feel obligated to buy the book (we're in a recession folks!). The more people that have access to the book, the more successful the discussion. I hate the excuse, "I didn't read because I couldn't find a copy.” Our library has book group “kits.” They come with 10 copies of the book and discussion questions. They are extremely helpful.

5. Please don't pick something only available in hardback -- again, the cost issue and access issue. The Help won't be on our "to-read" list anytime soon, because there are 50+ holds on it at our library system and only available in hardback. The only time we've made an exception to this rule was when we picked The DaVinci Code, and for some reason, enough people had copies, there were plenty to pass around.

6. This is not necessary, but I'm the unofficial book group leader -- so I assign months for every member to discuss a book. It eliminates the blank stares that plagued us when we first started, and the question, "whaddya want to read?" Fortunately, we have enough members that we usually pick one book a year. Then we all volunteer to host once a month. For those of us with small children it's more difficult to host, but I try to host during the summer months when school/bedtimes aren't an issue.

7. Have LOTS of yummy refreshments! Because, really, it’s all about the food!

Book Group Recommendations

I recently joined a group on Goodreads.com called “clean reads.” It a like-minded group of women who enjoy books that are free of graphic sex, language and violence. Who wants to start a book, only to encounter a page/chapter/section full of gratuitous anything, I certainly don’t. And it would be nice if there were “warnings” on books that alert readers to the content (anyone want to write their Congressman??!!).

I’ve been a member of an LDS book group for 7 years. We meet once a month for 11 months out of the year (we don’t meet during December because of the holidays); so over the 7 years we’ve been meeting we’ve read over 70 books – most of which, I would consider “clean reads.” These selections would normally be posted on my Goodreads list or here on my blog, but they nearly all precede my participating in either cyber-venture, so for those who may be interested, here is the list in its entirety. I will try to post a comment next to the book if there is something that needs to be mentioned.

Please heed this warning: I don’t always remember EVERY word, sentence, scene of every book I’ve read. So, if you decide to read a book on this list and find something objectionable, I apologize in advance!!!

*(did not read due to new baby, sick baby, out of town)
**(exceptionally good book or discussion)

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

*At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon

*Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom

A Painted House, John Grisham

Fried Green Tomatoes, Fannie Flagg

**Expecting Adam, Martha Nibley Beck

The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown

Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell

Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes

Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier

The Red Tent, Anita Diamant (This book contained objectionable material – many members chose not to finish it).

In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd

Emily of New Moon, L. M. Montgomery

The Glass Blowers, Daphne DuMaurier

And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie

The Agony & The Ecstasy, Irving Stone

*A Return to Modesty, Wendy Shalit

**Jerusalem Vigil, Bodie & Brock Thoene (This was a great discussion!)

Evelina, Fanny Burney (I couldn't finish this book)

Song of Survival, Helen Colijn

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros

**My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok

**Life of Pi, Yann Martel (This was a great discussion!)

*Sarah: Women of Genesis, Orson Scott Card

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis

The Samurai’s Garden, Gail Tsukiyama

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George

Mutant Message Down Under, Marlo Morgan

*The #1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith

*Family : the ties that bind -- and gag!, Erma Bombeck

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou (may contain objectionable material)

Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

The Secret Garden, Frances Hogdson Burnett

*Alas Babylon, Pat Frank

Light on Snow, Anita Shreve

*The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (This was REALLY LONG!)

*The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman

Heavenly Village and Missing May, Cynthia Rylant

The Stolen Child, Keith Donohue

**Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

**The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom

The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom

*My Antonia, Willa Cather

The Memory Keepers Daughter, Kim Edwards

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, James L. Swanson

The History of Love, Nicole Krauss

Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer (may contain objectionable language)

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (may contain objectionable material)

*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith

Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns

Peony in Love, Lisa See (may contain objectionable material)

In Search of Eden, Linda Nichols

The Gift, Richard Paul Evans

My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult

The Giver, Lois Lowry

Devil in the White City, Erik Larson

Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat

Dreamers of the Day, Mary Doria Russell

**The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

Moloka’i, Alan Brennert (may contain objectionable material)

**Julie, Catherine Marshall

Back When We Were Grownups, Anne Tyler (this book was BORING!)

Peace Like a River, Leif Enger

Enemy Women, Paulette Jiles

Pope Joan, Donna Woolfolk Cross

The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield (may contain objectionable material)

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan

People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks (may contain objectionable material)

Book Review -- The Actor and the Housewife

The Actor and the Housewife: A Novel by Shannon Hale


My rating: 1 of 5 stars







I must first preface this “review” with the following disclaimers:

I’m not a fan of chick lit (is this book considered chick lit? – Mormon lit maybe?); I generally find it trite and friends get mad at me for taking it too seriously and not accepting it for “what it is!”

I’m not a reader of YA fiction; YA fiction has become significantly more mainstream lately, and many friends “cross-over” between YA fiction and adult fiction. With the exception of Harry Potter, I’m an adult fiction reader.

Because of the above, I’m not familiar at all with Shannon Hale’s YA novels. I know they are widely respected and liked. I know a lot of my friends have read The Princess Academy and her Bayern series and loved them. Because of their respect for her books, I decided to read both of Hale’s adult fiction books, Austenland, and her newest, The Actor and The Housewife. I planned on Austenland first, because I’m following an “Austen Challenge” on a book blog I follow, but, because The Actor and The Housewife is a new book, and only a 14 day check out – I had to fast track it to the front of my Hale reads.

Without holding back – The Actor and The Housewife was probably the most ridiculous book I’ve ever read. The premise: suburban, LDS, SAHM, sells screenplay to Hollywood – where by she meets top Hollywood, heart-throb, English actor (a Colin Firth/Hugh Grant/Kenneth Branagh/Ralph Fiennes kinda character) and they instantly become best friends. In the mean time, they both must maintain marriages, and she a family, while they carry on their best-friendness.

Now, Shannon Hale in her dedicatory page of Austenland, dedicates her book as such: “For Colin Firth: You’re a really great guy, but I’m married, so I think we should just be friends.” So, maybe this novel was an attempt to live out her fantasy of being best friends with Colin Firth. Or after she wrote it thought, “What a great premise for a novel – a normal, everyday Mom, being best friends with a hottie actor! Eureka!”

Somehow her quest to live out her fantasy or make this idea into a novel fails miserably. I never once believed that these two could possibly be friends. Or that men and women can maintain friendships without irreparably harming their marriages. Or that her husband, or ward, or kids, would tolerate such a relationship. Every scenario featuring both of these two characters is so far fetched it was laughable. Here is one: hottie Felix, having a lay-over in SLC goes to a screenplay workshop given by Becky. First off, what high paid actor flies commercial with lay overs? That would be ZERO! Here is another one: on another stay in suburban UT, Felix accompanies Becky to a ward pot luck. Seriously, ward pot lucks are painful enough to attend as members, can you imagine Brad Pitt going to one? And it was painful to read about too. I don’t think I will ever go to a ward pot luck again. There are other equally outlandish scenes, ones that I would find myself hollering at my husband to come listen to, “Honey, you got to listen to this!” He cringed most of the time and would say, “why are you reading this?”

Admittedly, the dialog between these two characters was witty and comical. If it had been a romantic comedy between two single adults, I think she could have managed a fun, likeable, entertaining book. And the last third of the book (for reasons I can’t explain, because it would spoil the ending – if you actually read it to the end) was FAR more successful than the beginning.

But all in all, The Actor and The Housewife was a stay-at-home, Mormon mommy, mess.


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A Twist on Modern Day Scripture

And it came to pass, that when the daughter of the Lord set forth to blog, while doing so, she put forth a pot of eggs to boil for the Sabbath day egg salad; she then unknowingly left the holy pot unattended, by which, the eggs boiled and boiled until all the water was evaporated; leaving nothing but dry eggs to rebel against the pot and EXPLODE all over the kitchen.

Thus saith the Lord…

Room 218 at the Spring Hill Suites

I checked online reservations – one night, $84 with an AAA discount and continental breakfast.

How long could I stay? One night? Two nights? Until they noticed I was gone? Until the money ran out of our checking account? Until I could walk back thru the front door?

The bleakness over the past 72 hours has made me seek shelter at a hotel. My husband has been gone to Youth Conference for three days, the children have declared all out warfare on each other, and I’ve turned into the crazy woman in the attic that Charlotte Bronte couldn’t even dream of writing.

I’ve come to the end of my rope (or any other appropriate cliché). I’ve lost all ability to mother. I’m nothing more than a cook, a launderer and maid. The clothes I wash, that I ask to be put away, get thrown under the bed. The food I cook gets sneered at and pushed away. The floors I mop, the toilets I clean, the sinks I scrub, the tables I dust, the rugs I vacuum, all are ceremoniously stomped, spit, or pee’d into or upon, and without thanks or recognition. My husband just received a promotion, and I realized no one will ever promote me to anything again. No employee of the month, no bonuses, no conference lectures. Nothing. Yes, I’m whining (you may start criticizing here), but I’m also trying to breathe, because I feel like I have kudzu growing over every internal organ I have and it’s choking me to death.

This has been brewing for months. In fact, I think my summer of “creativity” journey started as a way to push back at the impending doom I was feeling. “If I just keep myself busy, this will all go away” I thought to myself. “If I loose myself in things I want to learn about or create, I will feel better about all the things that are causing me to run far, far away.” The vases I’ve painted, the scarf that is being knit, the journal pages I’ve written, the miles that I’ve walked, they are all things I’m doing to keep myself from shattering.

I haven’t felt like this since the birth of my second son, and the post-partum depression that gripped me for months. After a particularly bad episode when he was two months old, I shoved him in my husband’s arms as soon as he returned from an opening night at the Theatre. He had screamed for nearly two hours. I was desperate. The only place I knew that was open that late was Barnes and Noble. I thought I could seek shelter from books. When I got there, I noticed B&N was particularly busy that night. And, why I wondered, was everyone dressed up? It was July, not October, and it looked like a Halloween party? In my delirium, I had failed to notice, until I’d walked thru the front door, that it was the release night of Harry Potter 5. Can you believe JK Rowling would have such bad timing? I would have to find another time and place for my break down.

This current episode was prompted by a pink lacrosse stick. One that my daughter wanted and my son had and decided to strike her with instead. My intervention turned ugly as I proceeded to grab the lacrosse stick and whack it against the table, just for drama, and hopefully, to get their attention. If that didn’t do it, it was my screaming, “Enough! I’m done!” I then went to the computer and logged on to the Marriott website, because if I didn’t, I was afraid something or someone would get harmed.

I called my husband at YC to warn him, “When you get home, I’m going to a hotel for the night. I have my bags packed. I just don’t want you to be surprised.” The clock never ticked so slowly. In an effort to bide my time until DH returned and to make some sort of peace with my children, I again sought refuge at B&N. That was until my 8 yr old from the back seat of the car, and in a totally perfect screechy voice complained, “Why are we going to the bookstore?” Ugh! I wheeled out of the parking lot so fast I’m surprised I didn’t hit something. So we went to the pool instead where I sat with my dark cloud over my head and my children frolicked as if nothing had happened. At least they appeared to have short term memories for mamma’s tantrums.


In the middle of this massive, personal collapse, I’m also dealing with a side battle with my 8 yr old daughter (the one who screeched from the back of the car). We too have had a silent combat brewing in recent months over her responsibilities at home. As a result, I’ve been harsh with her on multiple occasions recently, for which I feel horrible. In an attempt to step back from my selfish reaction to abandon the family ship, I decided, maybe this night at the hotel might be a good opportunity to have some mommy/daughter time. We will talk about or difficulties, try to reach some sort of understanding, in addition to getting pedicures, going shopping and eating dessert after dinner.

So, instead of going to the Spring Hill Suites alone…my daughter accompanied me on my camp out. We went to the craft store where we both bought paint-by-number sets, got pedicures (she has blue toes with white polka dots), shopping for a back-to-school out fit, dinner at her favorite restaurant, book buying at B&N (we made it back without complaint) and finally a double chocolate brownie at Starbucks. After we returned to the hotel, I read my book while she watched Hannah Montana and didn’t have to abide by a bed time.

Was this what I had in mind when I made my SOS reservation earlier in the day? No. Did it soften the impending doom that clouded my brain? Absolutely. Did I love spending time with my daughter? More than you know. Do I wish I still had a day in a hotel by myself? Yes, so I could read in their entirety all three books I had taken with me without the blare of The Disney Channel in the back ground; so I could have some private time to think through my troubles; and so I could sleep without being tapped on the shoulder at 7am and asked, “can we go down to breakfast now?”

I’m home this morning. The kudzu is still growing, but without the fertilizer of three days of mania. I have a Doctor’s appointment on Wednesday where I will talk about my issues and hope to find some answers (and maybe some meds). And if you want to throw things at me for my faults, I’ve already beaten myself up fairly effectively. And it did it with a pink lacrosse stick.

Book Review -- Peace Like a River

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger


My rating: 4 of 5 stars






Peace Like a River has been on my TBR “shelf” for 5 years. It was recommended to me by a friend, and for some reason, I’ve never gotten around to reading it. Finally, this was the month, and after completing it my thoughts are, “what took me so long?”

It is a story that is a surprising mix of heroic quest, cowboy romance and moral fable. Reuben's older brother Davy gets caught up in an escalating feud with two small-town bullies, is charged and tried for murdering them, and when the verdict seems about to go against him, escapes on horseback for parts unknown. Reuben, his father and his younger sister Swede set out in their Airstream trailer to find the outlaw Davy Land, and along the way, Reuben learns more than most of us about sacrifice, redemption and faith.

Reuben is an 11 yr old who worships his brother and is willing to do anything to bring him home. Swede is a lexiconic wunderkind, who weaves tales about out-laws and cowboys. Father Jeremiah is one step short of Prophet.

It’s a glorious, painful, tragic, and healing novel. One full of miracles and prayers. Enger is a master storyteller. Truly a gift.

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Pope Joan Contest

I haven't read the book, Pope Joan, by Donna Woolfolk Cross, but it's been on my Goodreads list for several years. The author and her publisher have dangled a carrot for those who are fans (or potential fans) of her book: Simply buy a new, Three Rivers Press/Crown Publishing paperback edition of Pope Joan during the months of June or July 2009 and send me the original receipt. In August, I'll pick randomly from the pile of receipts to select someone and their guest to join me at the U.S. movie premiere in the fall (exact date still to be determined).

Click here for details!

I think I will head to Barnes and Noble later this afternoon to buy a copy!!