Reaching For Peace.

As the Juba Peace Talks complete themselves and the peace agreement is waiting to be officially signed (despite mysterious postponements by the LRA), I ponder peace and happiness.

I've often reached for happiness in many different ways, my first addiction in books. Then came music, TV, friends, partying, etc. But after I learned happiness is more mercurial than that, I began to search for it in other people, in my career, in life circumstances. If only I had that perfect job, or that perfect dog, or that perfect house, or that perfect baby.

But now I feel as if I'm progressing to a new level of understanding of happiness. Real happiness at least, not just the immediate gratification pleasure happiness that our culture is so addicted to now-a-days. Happiness is that funny and kind note from a friend. Happiness is finishing a good book having learned something about yourself and life (I guess I kept that one from childhood). Happiness is a comfortable silence with a loved one. Happiness is learning something new. In short, happiness is a myriad of things bound together by one force... me. It isn't one Ultimate thing, but a million little things that make me happy. Maybe I'll never write that perfect novel, perhaps I'll never find that perfect job, but that doesn't mean I can't be happy and it doesn't mean that I failed in any way. This is perhaps one of the harder things for my overly ambitious mind to accept.

What is happiness to you?

Jhumpa is backa!

And in my favorite form of hers too! As much as my disappointment in her novel, The Namesake, I'm thrilled that she's written another collection of short stories, which is her forte after all. Eek, so many books, so little money...

A Wrinkle in Time: A Review

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle has been a warm fuzzy memory from my childhood for a while. I was fearful of rereading it because it had inspired such awe and inspiration for me as a child, I was afraid it'd lose that magic. Much to my pleasure, it was just as amazing as I remembered, and perhaps even more so with the growth of my knowledge in child literature.

To say that A Wrinkle in Time is innovative is an understatement, especially keeping in mind the time period it was written in (1959-1960, published in 1962 after nearly 30 rejections). The ideas are unique and push the limits of your mind (well, at least my mind, but my mind is quite limited when it comes to science), in such a way that as the introduction by Anna Quindlen says, I still don't completely understand the concepts of the book. The characters are strong and memorable, as well as faulty and realistic. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Meg is given the gift of her faults, what an elegant way to tell children to accept yourself, faults and all?

L'Engle created a beautiful and challenging book for children that can still strike awe and inspiration in adults as it did with me. I never read the rest of the books in the Time trilogy, but I've purchased them and they are waiting dutifully in my TBR stack. I can't wait!

5*

The Seahawks' Spittle Shocker!

Two Super Bowls after the Seattle Seahawks poor showing in Super Bowl XL, fans are still bitter, and immature. At least he was arrested for this... oh yeah, and throw in a marijuana charge for good measure:

A 24-year-old South Kitsap man — and self-proclaimed Seattle Seahawks fan — was arrested Sunday for allegedly spitting on the hamburger he prepared for a man wearing Pittsburgh Steelers attire, according to Kitsap County Sheriff's Office reports.

Deputies said the 37-year-old man in Steelers garb took his daughters to a Mile Hill Drive fast food restaurant Saturday evening, and "began trading friendly barbs about his team and their victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL," reports said.

One employee told the man that he'd "better not say that to the guy that's making your food," but the man thought it was a joke, reports said.

That is, until he opened his "clamshell-style" hamburger container and discovered what he called a "loogie" on his hamburger.

The 37-year-old told his daughters to stop eating, demanded a refund and called the restaurant's district manager.

A deputy was informed by the manager that the person responsible may be a 24-year-old South Kitsap man who was near his quitting time when the incident occurred.

Eventually, the man confessed to spitting in the 37-year-old's hamburger container to "gross him out ... because he was a Steelers fan," deputies said.

He was booked into the Kitsap County jail for fourth-degree assault and possession of marijuana and released.

This is too hilarious to even be mad about, well, unless someone spit in my burger, of course. I think this Steelers fan can take one for the team.

Water for Elephants: A Review

Sara Gruen's story, Water for Elephants, takes readers back to the Great Depression, circus style! Alright, so it isn't all fun and games, as it might sound. Gruen bluntly relays the cruelties and ugliness of the circus during the Great Depression, and not just to the animals.

Told by a male protagonist, Jacob, in extreme old age (90 plus years, he can't remember exactly), a story of horror, romance and grief unfolds. Reeling from the death of his parents, Jacob drops out of Cornell and runs off to join the circus, sounds like a familiar plot, right? However, this circus is one of odds and ends gathered from dying circuses around the country. In the Great Depression, money for entertainment is not readily available, making circuses a dying cause that era. Jacob quickly falls in love, the catch? She's married to a man who possibly has bi-polar (my own diagnosis after analyzing his erratic behaviors) and shows immense cruelty to both humans and animals alike. Enter Rose, the elephant. A smart and mischievous and therefore utterly lovable elephant who quickly becomes the center of the story. With a violent climax, Gruen tries for the big reveal ending, which worked for some according to a couple of girls in my book club, but for me I predicted it halfway through the book.

Added to the blunt realities of the circus, Gruen does not shy away from Jacob's confinement in the "old folks home." Written with stark realism and contrasted with Jacob's younger years of freedom and independence, Jacob's present life in the home is depressing and extremely well written. I actually liked the chapters of Jacob in the home better than the exciting flashbacks because of how well written they were and also for the fact that it's easy to make a story about the circus interesting, but to make chapters about an old man sitting around in an old folks home interesting, now that's good writing. I was touched by those chapters and found extraordinary understanding and compassion in Gruen's writing. And not that I'd culturally ever do so anyways (Asian cultures tend to take care of their own elderly with reverence and respect), but I know for sure now that I'd never let my mother's feet touch the floor of any nursing home.

I wasn't exactly sure of Gruen's purpose of making the story a flashback, however. A mutual consensus of the book club was that there wasn't a "bigger meaning" easily gleaned from this book. The best I can come up with is a comparison between freedom and confinement in many different contexts. First, with Jacob having the freedom of running off to the circus with his whole life ahead of him and then contrasting that with the confinement of a nursing home where he's not even allowed to use his walker without permission. Also, the confinement of the animals and later their freedom which reeks havoc on the circus. And also the illusion of freedom with the circus folks, although many of them were trapped in the circus due to their unusual appearances or out of fear of being redlighted. And of course Marlena's confinement in an emotional and verbally abusive marriage, when she'd thought she was freeing herself from a boring and tedious marriage when she ran off with August. This does seem like the most consistent theme in the novel, however it did not strike any "aha!" cords in me or move me deeply in any way. More so, this book seemed like a light, enjoyable summer read (despite the cruelty in the book). The ending felt a little bit too convenient and tied up with a pretty red bow, and some of it was not so much believable to me, but it was fine because by the end I didn't expect huge aspirations for the book. It was more of a good story just for good stories sake, and that's just fine by me. The characters were memorable and the story was interesting.

3*

The Sandman - Dream Country: A Review

A small break in the continuous story of The Sandman for a book of short stories in Dream Country. While losing some of the suspense of the other books that was one continuous plot line, it added texture and seemed to give life to many of the smaller interesting ideas that Neil Gaiman had been musing over but had been unable to incorporate into an entire book on its own.

Gaiman keeps with his dark and disturbing ideas in these stories, especially Muse in which a Muse is captured and brutalized by two separate writers looking for fame and fortune. Gaiman also brings fun twists of perception as he idealizes a world run by oversized cats. And of course, the charming story A Midsummer Night's Dream, that brings the world of Faerie together with Shakespeare's famed play. The last story, Facade, came off a little flat for me, but all in all, it was an enjoyable read and once again it stretches your imagination.

Where does this crazy man keep getting his ideas?

5*

Eat, Pray, Love: A Review

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert is a book about, well, one woman's search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia. The memoir is a brutally blunt look at Elizabeth Gilbert's "rock bottom" and her way back to happiness. The book invokes strong emotion from those that read it, so it seems, and tends be either loved or hated.

I took to the memoir without judgment, rolling with Elizabeth wherever she was in her journey. I'd been to the point in life where I was crying in the bathroom, unsure of myself and about my place and path in life. Who am I to judge her life crisis or her emotional breakdown? I found some of Elizabeth's methods of coping odd, but was okay with them because I have some odd ass methods myself.

The "eat" section of the book was incredibly slow for me because frankly, I don't care about food. I'm one of those people who if I could get through life without having to eat I'd do it. One less thing to do, after all. I'm also the type of person who can't function if I'm hungry, which really annoys me. I hate having to take care of myself overall, but having to feed myself three times a day, jeez what a pain. I also have fairly simple tastes, I'm definitely not a connoisseur of any sort of food, so in general, Gilbert's continuous descriptions of food fell flat on my tastes and I ended up skimming some of those parts, as much as I hate to admit that I skimmed, I did.

"Pray" was my favorite part of the book. As I'm a recent devotee to yoga and have been attempting to practice meditation, I appreciated Gilbert's frankness with the difficulties in practicing meditation and prayer. I felt that this part of the memoir touched me and met me where I was at spiritually, and frankly I'm more interested in developing countries such as India than any European country. I really felt touched by this section of the book and I admired Gilbert's devotion and struggles spiritually.

"Love" was entertaining and finally there was the juicy sex that everyone was looking for! Hope I didn't give anything big away, but for those frustrated in Italy that Liz wasn't getting laid by some hot Italian twin, fear not, her time will come. But this section also brings up some controversial topics when dealing with developing countries that I also had had some experience with. When someone Gilbert considers a friend begins to try to take advantage of her and get money out of her, Gilbert questions their friendship, but another foreigner to Bali explained to her that this was her friend's only chance to get anything in life and that to her this was survival for her and her daughter. I had a similar experience when in Uganda where a conference participant and someone I had considered a friend had told everyone that he had been robbed, again. Out of compassion many of the American participants gave him money to help him buy the things he'd lost only to find out months later that he had not been robbed at all but had lied to us to get money from us. I was both disappointed and hurt. But after reading Eat, Pray, Love I've thought about the situation a bit different, realizing that this Ugandan was in fact raising his two younger sisters on his own and did not have a job because the job market in Uganda is extremely sparse. It was survival for him, but on the other hand, did he deserve the money from us any more than the other Ugandan participants, all of which had their own individual struggles and family they were caring for, and yet they did not lie to us or ask for a dime from us? I always come back to my dear friend Abramz, whom I look up to and admire. He was helping children affected by the war with his Breakdance Project and paying for it all out of his own pocket, and also had not been able to obtain a job. And yet when I asked if I could purchase a copy of his CD, he refused to let me pay for it because he considered me his friend and would not take money from me. The only way I ended up "paying" for it was giving him a donation to his project in lieu of paying for the CD. So I guess I'm saying there are different ways people in developing countries can approach visiting Americans. One Ugandan took whatever he could get from them while they were there and then basically severed all ties with them since the lie, once revealed, made him untrustworthy. Abramz, on the other hand, decided to value the friendship more than the money, which was meaningful to me because although I know that I'm more well off than most of the Ugandans who were in the conference, I wanted to be seen and treated as a person, not a bag of walking money. And in return I've recently donated a large sum of money to Abramz, money I'd been saving up monthly for him, and that he'd never have dreamed of receiving. I can guarantee you that the amount of money that the Ugandan swindled out of us Americans was even half of what I've donated to Abramz, and I'm happy and feel fulfilled donating this money to Abramz because I have complete faith in his character.

Either way, I enjoyed reading this memoir. It provoked some thoughts and emotions about myself that I found useful and meaningful. Some of the ladies in my book club did not like this book because they felt that either it hit too close to home or that the author was "whiny." I guess I understand if it hit too close to home it'd be hard to read, but to call the author "whiny" and selfish annoyed me. I mean, um, hello, it's a memoir, it's supposed to be all about herself and her own thoughts. I found Gilbert extremely candid and brave and not whiny at all. Hell, I'd be twice as whiny as she was in many of the situations, so who am I to judge? Really, I had no judgment of the author's personal journey any more than I would of a friend going through a personal journey. Frankly, I'd have more judgment of myself than I did of the author because I respect people trying to figure things out for themselves and having the grace to find humor in it as well. I definitely don't prescribe to everything that she did for myself, but that's okay. Some of it was useful to me, other parts weren't, but it didn't bother me. Whatever I didn't find useful I just found entertaining and moved on.

4*

The Life Of A Social Worker.

I realized that I hadn't posted on my blog for almost a month, and this is my quibbling explanation (or excuse, however you'd like to view it).  Not only do I owe an explanation but four whole book reviews, which will have to be done another night since this is already pushing my bedtime.

But as it is, all the rumors and talk about social workers are true... it is hard work.  Not that I'm complaining.  I've chosen it and I truly love it, but it is exhausting and out of my love and passion it takes up far more than the measly 40 hours a week of any normal job (though, in the USA, that can be argued for many jobs now-a-days).  I've been challenged and filled up more in these months in this profession then in the nearly two years as a Project Coordinator for an IT Consulting Company (god, that just sounds soooo boring and lame, doesn't it?)  There are days I've driven home in tears after sustaining an hour tantrum by a child.  I'm not sure if I've explained my exact niche in the huge social work field, but I'm what's called an Intensive In-Home Specialist, which basically means that I work within people's homes with the entire family for children who are either at risk for an out-of-home placement or are coming back from one.  So when I say that one of my kids had an hour long tantrum, these aren't your run-of-the-mill tantrums I'm talking about.  Either way, there are the stresses of the job that make me come home and tell my husband quite crossly that I don't ever want to have children.  Then there are the days that I come home and tell my husband - making it clear that there is to be no discussion, of course - that if a certain child were to be put up for adoption we'd adopt him immediately.  I've grown to deeply care for the children I work with, even those that most challenge me.  It is great and fulfilling work.

But leaves me really freaking drained and with barely any time for myself!!

Needless to say, I'm still trying to learn the balance of the job.  How much of your time, your heart, your thoughts do you give to the job without completely losing yourself?  I'm toeing the line right now, and am reaching back to those things that are important to me to pull myself back a bit.  Maybe if my loyal and very-angry-by-my-absence readers were to leave me comments demanding my attention back to my blog, I'll be more inclined to give myself the time to blog and write, which truly are important things to me.

Despite shamelessly begging for your love, I do promise to catch up on my reviews and to write interesting and intriguing blogs again about the issues that strike at my heart.  Most specifically all that has been going on in Africa as of late, with Kenya in an uprising and Uganda on the verge of peace, my eyes and ears are pointed towards the news from these countries.

And of course the huge splashes the Steelers are making in free agency... I mean, hello, Mewelde Moore!  Can the Steelers stop stealing from my other team please?  Ahh, when loyalties cross paths, what's a girl to do?

The Kite Runner: A Review

I had heard a lot of hype over this book and since the movie was coming out, predictably I made a huge effort to get this book read. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini was not what I expected. For some reason I was expecting a more politically minded, look-at-how-the-Taliban-has-changed-people type of book, but in fact, all of the main characters who stay in Afghanistan stay remarkably the same (except they get older and a little ragged around the edges). The Kite Runner is a well written book with a nice story behind it. It enlightens you on life in Afghanistan before and after the Russian occupation (and then the Taliban liberation... and then the Taliban occupation). It is a sad story about the fall of a friendship and the fall of Afghanistan.

Truth be told, I really didn't know much about the history of Afghanistan, and I sure did learn a lot from this book. That might be my favorite thing about the book. There are many nice things about this book. It has some really beautiful moments and scenes in the book. The description of the kite running was, of course, the most beautiful and interesting. The story of the friendship between the boys was interesting, but got a little old after a while. Overall, I felt like all of the relationships in the book end up coming off dry in the end due to being beaten into the ground. Okay okay, I get it, the father was distant from the son! How many more little examples do we need? I guess this is the product of a story being told in flashback, if it's taking place in the present then you don't feel like the character's just continually rehashing the same point over and over again.

The "Big Scene" that took place early in the book that haunts our narrator was disturbing and sad, and there were other scenes that definitely got to you and disturbed you. While I was interested enough to keep reading and find out what happened, many of the plot twists seemed a bit too convenient to me and just cheapened the emotion of the story. I thought the ending was a little quaint and anti-climatic (following the over-dramatic near ending, if that makes sense). The mood of the book just didn't feel consistent to me.

The inelegant point I'm trying to make is that while the book had some powerfully written scenes scattered about here and there and while the story was interesting, it just didn't grab me and it didn't stick with me after I was finished reading it. I was just kind of like, alright, it's over. Next book. So I guess I was disappointed with all the raving and ranting people had been doing over the book because all in all it was just alright.

3*

One Mango Tree.

I've been meaning to blog about this great project, One Mango Tree, for a while.  What's truly amazing about it for me personally is that I know the great girls behind this project because they're from the amazing group that I visited Uganda with!  The project is to empower the women of Northern Uganda and I couldn't think of two better people to facilitate this project than Halle (the US Coordinator) and Kate (the Uganda Coordinator).  And the products being sold are just awesome!  I know I have a bunch of purses and skirts that I'd had made in Uganda while I was there and I just love them and it's so great that now you can get these unique and beautiful items online!  I'm about to buy me a yoga bag!  You can read a lot more about the coordinators and the Ugandan women creating these products on the website, One Mango Tree.  To read an interview of one of the Coordinators, check out this link.  

And please, go online and buy buy buy!  Your money couldn't be going to a greater cause.

You'll be empowering women and helping people who have truly been through atrocious times.  

And plus, the stuff is sooo cute!  Great gift items too!  Isn't Valentine's Day coming up?

At Least I Know I'm Fertile.

According to the Chinese Zodiak, people who are born in the year of the Pig are extremely fertile. This belief and the added belief that babies born in the year of the Pig will benefit from the pig's image of being fat and happy has made this past year on the Chinese calendar a baby boom in China:

Chinese hospitals have been submerged in recent months under a tide of pregnant women; newborns are arriving in droves; and companies that manufacture diapers are upping their advertising budgets.

...

Since time immemorial, prospective parents have been told, children born under the pig's patronage will benefit from the animal's image as fat, happy and prosperous. Now, couples who schemed to have their babies in these blessed times are hoping for good fortune.

"My family already has two pigs, including my father, and I want to add one more pig," said a pregnant 28-year-old Beijing secretary who identified herself only as Ms. Lian.

Well this is good news to my family who are absolutely desperate (so it seems by the constant hounding) for me to have children... immediately. I am a proud Pig, but I've never heard of this extra perk of being a Pig until now. Maybe this fertileness will work out in my favor since I want to wait a bit longer to have children, so when I'm an old and decrepit thirty years old (which is Way too old to start having kids according to my family) I'll still be fertile enough to pop out a couple of kids.

Adrian Peterson - Pro Bowl MVP!

Fortune Cookie.

How did I celebrate Chinese New Year, you ask? Well other than going down to visit my folks this weekend (traditionally we Do celebrate Chinese New Year for 15 days after the new moon), today Hubs and I got food from our favorite Chinese restaurant and my hubby got this curious fortune...

Every man is a volume if you know how to read him. :)

And yes, the smiley face Was in fact at the end of the fortune. Hmm, a volume, like a novel? Is it trying to say that men have a lot to them if you can learn how to read them since they don't say things directly? And what does it mean that a man got this fortune himself? Maybe it meant something else by "volume" and we have a case of Engrish.

And speaking of Engrish, I was recently enlightened to this amusing website, Engrish.com. Meanwhile, my brother got some Engrish in person while he was visiting China. I'll definitely keep my eye out for some while I'm in Hong Kong this summer...

Picture courtesy of  my brother.

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Year of the Rat.

What The Giants Did To The Patriots.

And yes, that is my actual dog getting humped by my friends' actual dog. Poor Vladdy...

I Should Have Been a Guy.

As I do every year around this time of year, I'm beginning to feel a bit down. Not because it's the winter and cold and dreary (especially not that since it's 60 degrees and beautiful today here in NC!) and not because the Holidays are over... but because football season is coming to a close.

I'm excited about the Super Bowl party I'll be attending tonight, but I truly, really, seriously hate the Patriots and I'm not looking forward to seeing them make history. I'm a Steelers fan through and through and if any team's going to make history I want it to be Mine and none other. Plus, I just can't stand the chauchiness of Tom Brady and the sleeziness of Belichick. I wouldn't say I'm a Giants fan whatsoever, and up until the Giants' recent run, I've been less than impressed with Mr. #1 Pick Eli Manning, but the Giants are the lesser of two evils at this point and time.

After the Super Bowl, I do have the Pro Bowl to look forward to, especially since Ben is finally be recognized for his amazing season. Although I'm still extremely annoyed that the Steelers team decided to award LB James Harrison, who had one amazing game and a solid season overall, the team MVP award when other than that one Monday night game against Baltimore I wouldn't say we won or lost a game because of him. Meanwhile Ben had his most amazing season ever, was the second best QB in the whole league, second only to Tom Brady who broke the TD passing record, and Ben pretty much carried the team through a multitude of injuries AND behind a sorry and struggling O-Line and his team doesn't even recognize him? Not to mention that he has stepped up as a leader on the team. That irks me, but I suppose that's the Defensive minded Steelers for ya...

The draft is always fun to do some research on and prepare for, but then after that is the slow slow days of summer and no football. Depression. What's a gal to do with herself?

I've come to the realization recently that I should have been a guy. I've always gotten along with guys better than girls (girls are so catty after all!) I used to play football during recess with the boys when I was in elementary school, and played with some of my guy friends when I was in high school (full tackle too, and boy could I lay a guy out!) I wanted to play hockey when I was in junior high. Of course I lived in Minnesota so that wasn't too unusual, but we couldn't afford the start-up equipment. Most of the times I don't mind being a tom boy, but around that time of month (god, I don't Need that drama) and when my hubby's guy friends invite him out to boys' night out which includes something I really want to do (like watch football, go to a hockey game or a monster car show, etc.) I get annoyed. I don't care if he goes out with just his guy friends, but couldn't they just go out and get wasted like normal guys? Why do they gotta do cool things that make me feel left out? All I get invited to do from my gal pals is shopping, and while shopping can do a heart good, it's nothing like drinking some beer and watching a game! Let the testosterone fly! I think I've scared my father-in-law while watching a football game with him. Hey, girls have testosterone too, maybe my levels are just a smidgen higher.

Anyways, I'm off the the Super Bowl party and I sure hope the other girls at this party won't be yapping my ear off while the game is on! God I hate that!

Atonement: A Movie Review

Having read the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan last year, I was eager to drag my poor hubby to the movie, though Keira Knightly was in it, so at least he had some eye candy (although she's suddenly skinny as a pencil, which is kind of unattractive to my hubby - much to my advantage).

I'm quickly becoming a pseudo connoisseur of books turned to movies (just because of my frequent reading/watching of them) and was pleasantly surprised by how well the movie followed the book (this rarely happens). The actors were well picked for the characters and the plot followed the book to a T. I felt that movie was extremely well done and the acting was great. I was impressed by the way the director, Joe Wright, incorporated a historical relevance into the movie because although the book didn't necessary give a historical relevance to the book specifically, the setting of the novel during WWI was a huge part of the novel and I felt that the historical relevance was naturally incorporated into the novel. Wright does so in the movie with class and in a manner fitting to the feel and theme of the movie. The movie was moving and powerful with a good pace and absolutely perfect editing. It's been a while since a book turned to movie (or just any movie out in the theaters recently) has been this satisfying and impressive to me.

Hopefully the Coen Brothers do as well with No Country for Old Men, which I'm planning on watching next weekend - as long as my hubby finishes the book by then...

No Country for Old Men: A Review

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy was my first McCarthy experience. I actually own All the Pretty Horses but had never gotten around to reading it. With the movie out for No Country for Old Men I was finally motivated enough to read my first McCarthy novel and finally found out what all the fuss was about!

No Country for Old Men is a modern day western story. Partly told from the point of view of an aging Sheriff, the book is not only about the actions of the story, but about how it relates to the direction our world is going. The Sheriff seems to waiver between having hope and being hopeless about our world, and his narrative sprinkled through out the book add a deeper context to the story.

McCarthy's writing is to die for, literally (at least in the novel, literally!) He brings simplistic writing to a whole new level. His writing is amazingly descriptive, but the truly amazing part about it is that he barely goes into detail about anything at all! He's a master of describing a scene or a situation by the way a character says something or by their body movement. His subtly is extremely well calculated and well thought out, and something that I personally strive for as a writer. Of course I tend to over-describe (if you couldn't tell). His writing is so articulate and well thought out that I read somewhere that the action in the movie is literally taken from the book, word-for-word, which is usually very difficult to do when turning a book into a movie because of how much descriptions of action is left out or glassed over. McCarthy not only describes nearly every action, he does so with simplicity and clarity. The book is fast paced, suspenseful and an extremely satisfying read. And at the same time it goes much deeper than that, it is a well written literary novel that ultimately connects the story to a much larger and meaningful picture. In every way that I believe McCarthy could strive for, I believe that this novel was a success. I'm pushing my husband to finish the book by the end of this week so we can see the movie this weekend!

5*

The Sandman - The Doll's House: A Review

The second TPB for The Sandman by Neil Gaiman series is called The Doll's House. The story centers around a woman named Rose who also happens to be a "vortex." The book is as dark and twisted as the first one, and illuminates many sides of humanity both truthful and horrifying. The art in this series is more vivid and brighter than in the first TPB, but still carries that horrifying feeling with it. As I said with the first book, this is not a book I'd like to read before going to bed! It was absolutely thrilling and once again a master plot written by Neil Gaiman. A must read for anyone who liked the first TPB or for anyone who loves a twisted, horror story. Gaiman's not afraid to lay it all out there for the readers and this series is not for the weak stomached.

5*

Snow and Stuff.

Today was the first snow fall at my new home of Raleigh, NC! My hubby, having grown up in the Midwest and thinking this snow is no big deal, is out braving the crazy roads in order to run some errands. Let's hope the roads aren't as crazy bad as all the North Carolinians make them out to be!! Especially because I was dead set on watching Atonement tonight...

Today feels like a lazy, stay in cuddly day, and that's pretty much what I've been doing all day. I'm about to clean up a little around here, but I also hope to finish (or at least nearly finish) No Country for Old Men so that my hubby can read it next and then we can see the movie next weekend. No Country for Old Men is definitely a "guys" book, but as I am, as are many cool ass women, a tomboy at heart, I love it. It's written with amazing simplicity that I'm insanely jealous over and the action is so well written that I've heard the movie pretty much takes the action scenes word for word straight from the book, which is extremely rare and hard to do when turning a book to movie!! I really think my hubby will love the book, I'm excited for him to read it...

A couple of links for those feeling the adventurous bug. This is the non-profit that I traveled to Africa with. They are a really great non-profit that are good at making the relationships and equal interactions between Americans and the Ugandans the lynch pin of their program. Please share these links with anyone whom you think would be interested:

International Art Academy Immersion
More Than A Game! Sports for Social Change Immersion

Snuggles, everyone!