The Graveyard Book: It just gets more and more interesting →
If such a thing as a “Young Adult Novel” masterpiece exists, then this is for everyone. This book is also considered a “Modern Classic.”
This book had the tone of the 2nd half of Stephen King’s book Fairy Tales because it is such a different world from Bod, Nobody Owens’s point of view was developed from inside the graveyard. His youth was unique of course, but the feeling of his dead parents and friends were natural to him and offered some important life lessons.
We learn about the importance of community and feel our life experience with children who grow up and go into the world to fail and get up and try again.
Bod learns from Silas, the ghost Silas that being alive means “infinite potential.” “You can do anything, make anything, dream anything,” Silas tells him. “If you can change the world, the world will change.
Silas obviously believes in free will as well as fate.This may seem to be a conflicting conclusion but free will relates to our exercise of will through choices in the present, whereas fate is the sum total of the effect of past choices that influenced our present life.
Exercise of free will in the past becomes our fate in the present.
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The 6:20 Man by David Baldacci →
This confrontation threatens to dredge secrets from Devine’s past in the army unless he participates in an undercover investigation into his firm.
This role will take him from the impossibly glittering lives he once saw only through a train window and even the expected routine of the financial world he is now part of to the darkest corners of the country’s economic halls of power.
As he commutes to work on the 6:20 train and looks out the window, he knows the killer may live there. He is now part of a high-stakes conspiracy, and Devine has a target on his back.
Work Matters: It Takes Technology, Insight And Strategies For Job Seekers In This Evolving World →
By Brent M. Jones
One review said about this book:
"This book is so timely to the world today."
Another reviewer said:
‘You may not be looking for a new job currently, but odds are you will at some point in your career. This book is a great place to start to help you navigate the new world of job searching. It is probably one of the most valuable and helpful books I’ve read. Every young person just leaving college or high school and preparing to enter the workforce should read this book.”
This book follows Work Matters: Insights & Strategies for Job Seekers in a Rapidly Changing Economy, published on August 25, 2020. The Pandemic was the elephant in the room when that book came out, but the new book, over 1/3 longer, focuses on how the task of changing a career, finding a dream job, or even finding the right employee has changed. Of course, it will continue to change, but the new reality and the headline for the article about this is:
"Technology is the significant change for Job Hunters.”
American Gods by Neil Gaiman →
American Gods is a fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman. The book blends the connections between American culture, fantasy, and ancient and modern mythology. It is a commentary on society that urges readers to look into their hearts and wonder if they have chosen their gods wisely.
American Gods begin with Shadow, a big man who has spent three years in prison for armed robbery and gets out in two days. He learned in prison to do his own time, and even with his enormous size and strength, he is introverted.
Shadow is let out of prison. He begins the travels that will take him on a journey that digs up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them to this land and the ones already here.
Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details of the book -the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution.
"This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.
Shadow begins his journey when he gets out of prison two days early, and coincidentally his wife is killed at the same time in an automobile wreck with her lover. He doesn’t believe that she is dead, and he immediately sets out to go where his wife lives. On his way, he meets a man who seems to know a lot about him and says to call him Wednesday. The man claims to have many names, and we learn that one of those names is Odin, an old Norse God, and Wednesday is a name that can be traced as coming from this God. Wednesday tells Shadow in this first meeting he wants to hire him.
Gaiman wants to show in this book a nation made up of a variety of the people of the world, all of who once at least were subject to particular Gods.
When Shadow arrives at his former home, he seems oblivious about how his wife died and waits to attend her funeral. That night in his hotel room, his conversations and encounters with his wife after she is dead are one of the most exciting parts of the book.
Wednesday sees that no one in America believes in the Old Gods; without belief, they don’t have much power. He succeeded in hiring Shadow as a gopher, and with him, he seems to be on a mission to move the new American Gods out of the way. They, of course, do not want to comply. Wednesday and Shadow travel across America and have a planning conference with many other older Gods. Sometimes it isn’t clear if they are even in this world or dimension.
The stories are exciting, and understanding the connections to the old Gods takes some work. The book is considered one of Gaiman’s best, but it took me two readings and doing some research to start appreciating it.
Boo Hoo little Coraline be brave, by Neil Gaiman →
As I re-read this, I asked myself, "If this was considered one of the most frighting books by the New York Times, then why?"
This is Neil Gaiman’s first fantasy book for children, but adults quickly.” absorbed the plot. The New York Times Book Review said it was “One of the most frightening books ever written.” Considering the body of scary books available, this seems like a pretty bold statement, but it is a testimony to Gaiman’s writing skills with this plot.
Coraline Jones and her family’s new home is an old house divided into flats. The space above and below has unusual tenants. The two lady tenants give them to give her a cup of tea and a unique piece of wood with a hole that you look through the special hole in it. The man above them, Mr. Bobo, has some trained outstanding warn Coraline never to go through the door. She sets out to explore and finds that the door returns to be just a door alone, and she opens it again, only to find a dark hall which walls behind it. The divided house is a terrifying house that evolves.
Evenmatter-of-fact,s back to the door alone and opens it again to find a dark hall, which she walks right into. What quickly looks like a terrifying situation is met with a matter-of-fact unquestioning approach, but Coraline tells us how she needs to act “to be brave.”
The long hallway leads to a parallel world where she becomes trapped,d. Gaiman excels in his descriptive writing of this other world, complete with “other parents” with large button eyes, and learns that her real parents have been stolen and hidden, and she finds what is left of three young children who were trapped there and had their souls stolen and hidden.
Her cat somehow makes it to this place, but it can talk in this world and is a help. Alive in a dark closet with the three soulless children, she decides to free her parents and then lost souls by challenging her not-mother to a contest,
The contest is another mother's struggle, but she finally gets back and saves her parents and the lost children, who can live alone. Even safe in the real world, she learns that her other mother has sent a severed hand to get the door key from her. She eventually overcomes that threat. Her parents seem to pay more attention to her after all this has happened, but they don’t remember what happened to them.
It seems less likely that the book's plot is designed to solve the children's problems of being ignored than it is to be scary. It works.
Fairy Tale a Novel by Stephen King →
This is a different book for Stephen King, but it doesn’t surprise his fans that he did such a great job with it—a good starting place for those afraid of his books.
The Fairy Tale is a dark fantasy published on September 6, 2022. The novel follows Charlie Reade, a 17-year-old high school kid who lives with his father, George, who inherits keys to a hidden fantasy realm and finds himself leading the battle between forces of good and evil.
When Charlie was seven years old, his mother was struck and killed by a van, and the resulting grief led his father to alcoholism, from which he eventually recovered.
One day, Charlie discovers his elderly neighbor Mr. Howard Bowditch injured in his yard and calls an ambulance. Charlie agrees to watch Mr. Bowditch's German Shepherd, Radar, while Mr. Bowditch stays in the hospital and cares for him when he returns home. Mr. Bowditch shares with Charlie his .45 caliber handgun and a stash of gold pellets that he uses to pay the hospital bills. Several months later, Radar's health has significantly declined, and Mr. Bowditch suffers a heart attack and dies. He leaves Charlie a recorded message, revealing that he is 120 years old and that the locked shed in his backyard contains a portal to another world. In this world exists a magical sundial that was the secret to his longevity. He also reveals the world as the source of his gold. Determined to prolong Radar's life, Charlie seeks out the sundial and revitalizes the dog.
The fantasy world adventure is the last half of the book, and it lives up to the title. It is a skillfully crafted fairy tale.
No Time Left, by David Baldacci →
A short story and a little unusal from Baldacci. This short story is about an assassin who at first seems kind of interesting. Usually you expect a short story by a big author will have a deep message or a real twist of irony.
This killer is somewhat stoic about his job. That leads us to thinking again that the story will be a real surprise. I have seen other reviews where the reviewer in the name of bordom reveal the plot. Pretty easy to do that because it has a short plot. I won’t be doing that. I won’t tell you that it is a little surprise who is kill target winds up being and where the target is.
The story could have been a useful part of a bigger novel and Baldacci is very capable of having done that. So why didn’t he? Maybe he just wanted to sell a cheap ebook? Even if he does he won’t make much at the cheap price and he will not gain new readers just make some of his old ones made.
I probably need to apoligize if you already know. Too bad. The story isn’t bad, after all Baldacci is a good writer. Even so I am giving it 3 stars. I am a generous reviewer. .
Literature of Belief Sacred Scripture and Relitious Experience edited by Neal E. Lambert →
The Literature of Belief focuses on sacred literature, some considered holy scripture, and concludes the nature of religious experience by looking at the sacred texts of several of the world's significant religions. This, along with studying the scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, opens the book's writings for comparison and often some reasons for the differences.
William James' definition of religion, "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand about whatever they may consider the divine," the very center of his definition of religion," is presented at the beginning of the book and was a practical reference point of looking at the various literature gave.
At the foundation of great religions lie holy books. Not all religious texts have the sacredness of scripture, but few religions survive and thrive without creating a literature of belief.
This book contained overviews of the writings of Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, and Latter-Day Saint Scripture. The respect shown for each religion is clearly of the most importance to this book.
The Cafe on the Edge of the World, by John Strelecky →
"The Café on the Edge of the World" is a worldwide bestseller designed to help people find a happy and fulfilling life and uses narrative fiction to tell the story and make the case.
The dialog takes place in a small café somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The man looking for answers is a stressed-out advertising manager named John, and a menu that comes with the following three questions: “Why are you here?” “Do you fear death?” “Are you fulfilled?”
A more interesting question might be why did this book become a bestseller? One reason might just be that many people question their lives and this seems to offer an easy answer.
Having just published Embrace Life’s Randomness Your Path To Personal Reinvention and Positive Change 2nd Edition I recognize that the three questions of Strelecky’s book are part of the free will vs’s determinism discussion in my own book.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story can make all the difference.
Desperation, by Stephen King →
In 1991, when he was driving his daughter's car cross-country, Stephen King first came up with the idea for the book “Desperation” as he passed through Ruth, Nevada, a small town with seemingly no inhabitants.
U.S. Route 50 is a transcontinental highway in the United States; the Nevada portion crosses the center of the state and is named "The Loneliest Road in America.” The name originates from large desolate areas with few or no signs of civilization. US 50 turns south from Interstate 80 after leaving Utah and looks like a shortcut to Lake Tahoe on the map.
Ruth is a small town in White Pine County, Nevada, along the route in the middle of the state. In 2010 it had a population of 440. Ruth was built as a company town for the adjacent Robinson Mine, a large open-pit copper mine, which was still in operation as of 2013.
In King’s story of Desperation, traffic and law and order are regulated by Collie Entragian, a giant uniformed madman who considers himself the only law west of the Pecos. God forbid you should be missing a license plate or find yourself with a flat tire.
There's something very wrong in this town, and Entragian is only the surface of it. The secrets in Desperation's landscape and the evil that infects the city are both excellent and terrifying.
Young David Carver seems to know what is wrong and why being in tune with the good that wants to fight the evil. Things don’t go well for David or any of those trapped in the town., David's father is attacked by a demonic eagle and murdered in front of him after watching his mother and father die. Just another, I can’t put it down, story by Stephen King.
The Storyteller by Dave Grohl →
I liked this book. He seemed to write for me rather than a particular genre audience.
Dave Grohl, the twice-inducted Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member for his work with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, decided to tell stories about his life and music on social media. The book gives a unique perspective on the grunge movement and the rock scene from the 80s.
Grohl says writing his first book, “The Storyteller,” was a familiar experience since it felt like his stories were individual songs. The book starts with Grohl’s love of the drums. He taught himself by watching others, using pillows for drums, and an account of how the young Grohl goes from grinding his jaws rhythmically to using them as drum beats.
He dropped out of high school with his mother’s support and approval. He joined Scream, a hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C. Eventually, Scream is suddenly defunct, and Grohl hears that Nirvana – then merely well-regarded was interested in him. He moves in with Kurt Cobain, who is home sleeping on the couch. The story includes Nirvana’s remarkable rise to fame.
In 2022 Dave Grohl’s net worth is $320 million. Not bad from starting from nothing at age 17 and 36 years later, wow!
Cobain dies from drugs, the band dissolves, and Grohl’s debut is a Foo Fighters album made in a home studio, playing every instrument himself.
I found the title “Storyteller ”rang true. The book is a well-written overview of a series of events and band groups that will be an education for some and others a trip down memory lane.
Write For Your LIfe, by Anna Quindlen Review
Anna Quindlen is an author that makes you better because you read her work. My own goal is to read her latest book, whatever that is, each year to recharge. She shows us how anyone can write and why everyone should.
In her book, Write For Your Life, she tells us what matters in life and where we can find our humanity. She answers that we see what matters to us through our writing. Quindlen says she wrote this book for “civilians,” who use the written word to become more human, more themselves.
Write for Your Life shows how writing connects us to ourselves and those we love in our lives. She encourages us to record our daily lives in writing.
Those thoughts resonated for me, having recently written the book: “Why Life Stories Change: As You Look At Your Own Life Story You See Yourself Differently” The book presents the thought that “We have a choice in putting together the narrative of who we are and who we become. We can pick which of the events we connect with, what we conclude about them, and then weave and reweave them into our story. As my story changes with the retelling, it changes me. I become different because of how I see the story.”
Writing gives you something to hold onto in a changing world. “To write the present,” Quindlen says, “is to believe in the future.
Choose Your Story, Change Your Life: Silence Your Inner Critic and Rewrite Your Life from the Inside Out by Kindra Hall →
When we consider our lives and the vast number of experiences we have had, it is clear that those events are stories, and we supply the plot lines and even the conclusions for many of them. Over time we create our decisions, and with each tale repeated, we reinforce our findings. The message of “Choose Your Story” is summed up in a quote by Seth Godin: “ We are not who we are because of our atoms, our molecules, our DNA. We’re who we are because of the stories we tell ourselves- about our pain, the hopes, and the dreams we live with.”
The author lays out the components that make stories stick and shows how we construct the beliefs and use them to prop up our conclusions. This allows us to catch glimpses of our subconscious at work, creating false assumptions.
The book offers a solution to findingour authenticl self in what turns out to be an approach that most anyone could follow.
Aspire : Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words by Kevin Hall →
Aspire is a self-help book that presents its life plan built around eleven words. The words are motivating, uplifting, and positive. This approach is not unique but the words chosen to make the points are not your everyday self-help words.
1) Ghenshai – “not treating anyone, including yourself, small.”
2) Pathfinder – “leader”;
3) Namaste – “respecting each person’s authenticity and uniqueness”;
4) Passion – “suffering for what you value”;
5) Sapere Vedere – “visioning”:
6) Humility – “being teachable”;
7) Inspire – “breathing life into”;
8) Empathy – “walking the path of another”;
9) Coach – “mentoring another”;
10) Ollin – “total commitment.”
11) Integrity – “being congruent.”
The message of this book is suggested to come from uncovering the hidden and often secret meaning of words. Some of the words may have been a mystery to many readers, but then they serve to point the reader to words well well stood in teaching the book's message.
Kevin Hall’s comments on Humility drill down into the meaning of the ord to make its value part of life’s purpose. This is an excellent example of just using a word to create a message:
"Humility is one of the most misunderstood and misapplied words in all languages. Humility is not being passive and submissive, nor is it distinguished by slumping shoulders, bowed heads, and subservient, downward glances. It is about being teachable and coachable. It implies a continual commitment to learning and growing, and expanding. It is living life in crescendo, with shoulders back and heads up as we reach and stretch to become our best, then extend ourselves to help others do the same. And then, we start again!"