Moms will LOVE Cowboy and Wills by Monica Holloway (so will everyone else!)

From Barnes and Noble
The day Monica learns that her lovable, brilliant three-year-old son, Wills, has autism spectrum disorder, she takes him to buy an aquarium. It's the first in a string of impulsive trips to the pet store to buy animals as a distraction from the uncontrollable, crushing reality of Wills's diagnosis. But while Wills diligently tends to the growing menagerie, what he really wants is a puppy. And one Christmas, when Wills is six, Cowboy Carol Lawrence joins their family.
Like all dynamic duos, Cowboy and Wills complement each other perfectly. Wills is cautious, fastidious, and irresistibly tenderhearted. Cowboy, a rambunctious golden retriever, is overeager, affectionate, and impulsive. And from the moment Cowboy enters their lives, Monica sees her son step a little farther into the world.
Soon, the boy who could barely say hello to his classmates in kindergarten is sharing stories of his new "sister" Cowboy during morning circle. Children crowd around them at the park, and instead of running away, Wills, holding Cowboy's leash in his sweaty fist, proudly answers all of their questions. With Cowboy, he finds the courage to invite kids over for playdates, overcomes his debilitating fear of water to swim along beside her in the family pool, and, after years of gentle coaxing, Wills finally sleeps in his own bed with Cowboy's paws draped across his small chest.
Through it all, Cowboy is there, dragging him toward other children, giving him the confidence to try new things and the courage to face his worst fears. And when Cowboy turns out to need her new family as much as they need her, they discover just how much she has taught them — about devotion, about loyalty, and about never giving up.
Sometimes it's what you don't know to hope for that saves you. For Monica, her husband, Michael, and their son, Wills, salvation came in the form of a puppy with pale blond fur, chocolate brown eyes, a fondness for chewing the crotch out of underpants, and a limitless capacity for love.

(A quick apology…I read this book waaay back in January and then got further behind than a one-legged man in a butt-kickin’ contest. I adored this book and can’t believe I’m just now reviewing it. *Hangs head in shame……And, although I am terribly behind on reviews, I sometimes find it much harder to review a book that I love. I finished the last couple of chapters sitting on the counter in the laundry room so my family wouldn't see me crying like a little girl. It's easy, fun and, yes, maybe even a little mean, to be snarky and slam a bad book. But it's not simple to describe and evaluate a book as good as this one.)

I’m not much for non-fiction, and yet it seems like when I finally read a non-fiction book, I’m often surprised by how wonderful it is. Cowboy and Wills is one such book. Even though we see the struggles that this family go through, this book deals with it in an unflinching, straightforward manner, with humor and grace.

Over the next year, as Wills slowly navigated the preschool mine field of noises and messes and crowded hallways, my animal fixation persisted. With every new problem Will encountered, I bought a new pet. We now had six more hermit crabs and two more hamsters. I cruised Petcos the way drunks frequent bars.

I loved this book. Wills is shown to us as the adorable sweet little boy he is, a child on the autism spectrum. But Holloway doesn’t define Wills solely by his diagnosis. Rather than focusing on what Wills is unable to do, she opens the world for him in ways he can connect. Cowboy and Wills is a delight, as I suspect Wills himself is. (And it's a keeper, one of the permanent residents on my bookshelf). I loved Monica Holloway’s unflinching and wry style and thanks to Cowboy and Wills, I now have her first book, a memoir, Driving with Dead People on my Sony Reader.

(Review copy provided by Sneak Attack Media)

My rating:

The Passage by Justin Cronin: You've Gotta Read This Book!!

From Fantastic Fiction website

'It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.'

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear - of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he's done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey - spanning miles and decades - towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

The Passage by Justin Cronin is, in a word, WOW!! I know, I know, this is the book really getting all the buzz this summer. But there is a good reason for that. IT’S REALLY GOOD!! So good, in fact, that I had a hard time writing a synopsis of it, and I don’t think the blurb I swiped from the website does a very good job of it either. This book just grabs you in the first couple of pages, pulls you in and doesn’t let go. It’s sort of The Stand meets Patient Zero meets The Postman. (Hey…no laughing, I LIKED that movie.)

The book takes place over almost a hundred years, the first part is pretty straightforward, and then it takes a giant step forward ninety-two years. It’s a little disconcerting, how the manner of living has changed, slang used in everyday speech is a bit different, and the author doesn’t waste any time explaining these changes. But these differences are to be expected. We certainly don’t live or speak the same as our counterparts did in 1920. I really liked the expectation that we readers could figure out these changes on our own. I realized pretty early that I’d better pay attention, or I was going to miss something important. This might be a long book, but that’s not because it’s crammed with unnecessary filler, but because it’s an epic novel, and worth every single word. Even though The Passage is book one of a planned trilogy, Cronin manages a terrific ending. The conclusion leaves us with a great starting point for book two, and yet still has a sense of finality to it.

If I were pressed to come up with a complaint about the book, it would be twofold. My Sony Reader has spoiled me, and The Passage was a regular book. It’s heavy. And I would have loved to be able to have it on my Reader instead. I took it everywhere with me, so I could read while waiting in line, or for the gas pump to fill, the movie to start, etc. and did I mention? It’s heavy. I would have loved to have it on my Reader. My other complaint is that I have to wait until 2012 for the next book. 2012?? And then two more years for the last one? Arrrggghhh!!! I almost wish I’d waited until 2014 when I could read all three consecutively. Sigh…..I guess it’s a good thing that I’ve got myself a hardcover copy to go with the advance reader copy I already had. And okay, I put an e-copy on my Sony Reader as well. I’m just being prepared. This way, when I read it again, I can have a copy upstairs next to the bed, a copy downstairs next to my chair and a copy for my purse when I’m out of the house. (Did I mention…it’s heavy??) Oh yeah….I’ll be reading this one more than once…

The Passage by Justin Cronin is a hundred different kinds of awesomeness. The best book I’ve read this year. Beg, borrow or buy a copy, but dang it…get going…it’s worth every single page it’s written on and every single penny it’ll cost you. A new addition to my favorite books and favorite authors list, Justin Cronin and The Passage, WOW!!

(Review copy provided by Ballantine Books)

My rating:

Jay Meets the Bibermans and the Vincati

Watch this one, it's not too long and completely worth the time!



Perhaps I've mentioned my favorite book this year in passing? No..you don't recall? Oh, well then, let me tell you about it. It's called Big Sid's Vincati: The Story of a Father, a Son, and the Motorcycle of a Lifetime by Matthew Biberman. Rather than re-run every thing I've said, you can read my review of this book here, read a bit about the big doin's that took me down to Jay Leno's gargage where I got to meet the author and his dad, Big Sid, here and okay, you can see a guest post by Matthew Biberman about his experience in coming to the left coast and hangin' out with Leno here. (What can I say? I've warned you all that I'm a terrible nag, and you really should listen to me and read this book!)

And I'm now adding to my personal list of people who love this book. 30 year old male lawyer, 52 year old housewife, mom and bookish blogger, 53 year old motorcycle guy, 75 year old female phone company retiree, 55 year old female CFO, 54 year old lawyer and motorcycle guy, 42 year old female lawyer and voracious reader and 59 year old comedian, car/motorcycle guy (and hugely successful tv guy.) (Yup...I'm talking about Leno here...he loved it too.) So what are you waiting for??

Here..I'll make it easy for you. All you've got to do is click here and tada!!

Review: Fragment by Warren Fahy

A long-range research ship called the Trident is filming a reality show called Sealife in the debut novel, Fragment by Warren Fahy. The show’s cast includes bright young scientists and is directed for a woman searching for the right drama to re-energize her career. The ship is drawn to a tiny island, Henders Island, so far from any human contact that it only appears in one small notation in a ships log from 1791. This island isn’t a mutant anomaly, or a lost world frozen in time, or a modern day version of The Island of Dr. Moreau. Instead, it is a place unlike anything anyone in the world has ever seen; a place that has evolved over countless eons, on a completely different path than the rest of our planet. A place where one life form after another threatens to destroy anything put in front of it, and could cause worldwide devastation if it were to ever leave the island. In the midst of this chaotic ecosystem, a species is discovered that must be saved against all odds.

When I finished reading Fragment, my first thought was, “there’s no way this is a debut novel”, the writing is just too good. So I toddled off to my computer and googled away. It seems I’m wrong; it most certainly is Warren Fahy’s debut novel. Although he has been a bookseller, editor and the lead writer for RockStar Games Red Dead Revolver, as well as the author of a few articles, this is his first novel. I’m not of the video game generation, so the Red Dead bit…okay, means nothin’ to me. But I’ll say I wasn’t surprised. I’ve watched my kid play some video games and the creatures in the games are fantastical and imaginative. (Okay, and lots of times creepy, gory and weird too!) The imagination of the author in creating the creatures on Henders Island is sort of reminiscent of a video game, but with lots of detail, scientific research and information. Kind of like a video game for literate grown-ups!

I was lucky enough to score an Advanced Readers Copy and didn’t realize until the end of the book that there was both a map of the island in the back, as well as pencil drawings of a couple of the creatures. This brought me to the authors website, where there are some really beautiful renderings of some scenes from the book, as well as links to drawings of all the creatures. It was interesting to me that the pictures were pretty much as I’d imagined the creatures to look. The descriptive talents of Fahy are so terrific, that the pictures only enhanced the book for me, I was sort of glad I’d envisioned the critters for myself before I looked at the sketches and paintings. But, when you read the book, or if you’re curious, you should take a peek at Fahy’s website. You can find it HERE.

I’d really love to see more books by Fahy, his style, imagination and creativity made the book a compulsive pleasure to read. Another one of those multi-tasking books, where you read while you cook, clean, wait at Starbucks for coffee, at red-lights waiting for green, etc.

Fragment hit the bookstores on June 16, look for it, its really good!

My rating:

Review: Relentless by Dean Koontz

Cullen “Cubby” Greenwich’s newest novel is a big hit, skyrocketing the charts and everyone loves it. Everyone, that is, but a reclusive, yet renowned critic, Shearman Waxx. Waxx’s critique of the novel is filled with vicious and inaccurate statements, and it bugs Cubby to no end. His wife Penny, a successful author and illustrator of children’s book, tells him to let it go. His brilliant son, Milo, also known as “Spooky”, tells him to let it go. Even his dog, Lassie, seems to be telling him to let it go. But Cubby just really wants to get a look at Waxx, just one quick peek, to see the face of the man whose words can make or break a career. That quick look will trigger the sociopathic Waxx to go after Cubby and his family. Soon the Greenwich’s are running for their lives, certain that Shearman Waxx personifies evil. But they ain’t seen nuthin’ yet, just wait till they meet up with Shearman’s mom, she’ll make Shearman look like your average TV cop show garden variety psycho of the week.

First, a disclaimer, I'm a huge Dean Koontz fan, so it's no surprise that I loved this book! If you've not read any of his books, or its been years since you have, you should pick up a copy. Koontz is the only author I've read that can write a suspenseful, terror filled book that can make you laugh out loud. Only in a Dean Koontz novel, in the midst of terror and fear, do you find descriptive passages in the narration such as this:

“Beyond the service-island overhang, in the windless night, the rain came down in such straight skeins that the rigorous lines should have proved the law of gravity to any disbeliever, of which I’m sure there are multitudes, considering we live in an age of enthusiastic ignorance, when anything well-known for centuries is not only suspect but also considered worthy of being rejected in favor of a new theory more appealing to movie stars and deep-thinking rock musicians.”

Koontz always manages to endear us readers to his protagonists, blending horror and humor, love and fear, loyalty and danger, adding a big dose of compassion and common sense. In short, his characters are not only the people we want to meet and befriend, but also they’re the kind of people we’d like to be. (Cubby and Penny, that is….not Shearman, unless you’re sort of the sociopathic, cuckoo type. Then I guess that old Shearman would be your hero,huh?)

The lightheartedness and humor that Cubby and Penny fill their lives with comes shining through in this story. Filled with fascinating, eccentric, lovable characters, Relentless is aptly named. The Greenwich’s dogged determination to keep their family safe, loved and happy contrasts with Shearman Waxx’s relentless intention to destroy them. And we readers are taken for a thrilling and “relentless” ride.

The book went on sale yesterday, June 9. For cryin’ out loud, why are you sitting there…go get yourself a copy!

My rating:

Welcome to a brand new blogger!

Bodie's Blog is a brand spankin' new blog. The author is probably on the "youngish" side compared to most of us, but check her out! She'll be reviewing books, tv, movies and sometimes even food. (or whatever strikes her fancy!) Let's give her a big cyber welcome!!

Its nice to see a high school freshman join our ranks!

Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

In Jodi Picoult’s novel, Handle With Care, Sean and Charlotte O’Keefe are fighting for a happy and healthy life for their children. They’re youngest daughter, Willow, has been born with a disease called osteogenesis imperfecta. When Willow is born, she already has seven broken bones. Within hours of her birth, she has to be resuscitated and suffers even more. Osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease is a defect in the collagen in the person who has it and causes the bones to break from the slightest pressure. The O’Keefe’s lives are overcome with sleepless nights, physical therapy, hospitalizations, insurance problems and the financial burden that promises to undo them completely.

Handle with Care asks the big questions. The “What If” question. The “What would you do for your child” question. What do we do for security, not necessarily justice but security? Told through the voices of Willow’s parents, her doctor, her sister and her mother’s attorney, the novel tells the story of how one person’s actions and decisions have consequences far beyond what they imagined.

The storyline follows the decision of Charlotte to file suit against her doctor for “wrongful birth”. Never mind that Charlotte loves Willow and the doctor is her best friend. She decides that it will be worth anything she has to do to secure a financially safe future for her daughter. Conflict arises when Sean vehemently disagrees with Charlotte. Another subplot revolves around the older daughter, Amelia and her problems. We also follow Charlotte’s attorney in her quest to find her birth mother.

This is a stunning book. The ability to see all the points of view give the reader a whole different insight into this complex issue. Not only did the book send me off to the Internet to read about this disease, but I also thought about this book for a long time after finishing it. Handle with Care is one of those books that puts you inside the characters, makes you live their lives with them. It shows there are no easy answers to the huge issues we sometimes face.

The following quote sort of illustrates the general feel of the novel for me: Charlotte and her attorney, Marin are speaking.

“My mother’s in a nursing home now”: Charlotte said. “She can’t remember who I am, so I’ve become the keeper of the memories. I’m the one who tells her about the time she baked brownies for the entire senior class when I ran for student council, and how I won by a landslide. Or how she used to collect sea glass with me during the summer and put it in a jar next to my bed. I wonder what memories Willow will have to tell me, if it comes to that. I wonder if there’s a difference between being a dutiful mother and being a good mother.”

“There is,” I said, and Charlotte looked up at me, expectant.

Even if I couldn’t articulate the difference as an adult, as a child, I had felt it. I thought for a moment. “A dutiful mother is someone who follows every step her child makes,” I said.

“And a good mother?”

I lifted my gaze to Charlotte’s. “Is someone whose child wants to follow her.”

Handle With Care hits the bookstores tomorrow, March 3. Get yourself to the bookstore and buy this book!!

My rating:

The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan

I picked up The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan with the intention of glancing through the first chapter before I started cooking dinner. Dinner was late. I got soap bubbles splashed on it from reading while I washed dishes. I got by on much less sleep than I need. This morning, I did an extra couple of miles on the treadmill so I could read. I left an hour early to pick up the kids from school, so I could sit in the car in 104 degree heat and read. My husband was worried I'd slice my finger open when he saw me chopping onions while reading. Wow....what a wonderful memoir. I was a farm girl from Montana, about as far removed from John Grogan's childhood experiences as a person can get, and yet, I swear I saw my family and my life in his story. This is one of those wonderful books, you'll laugh out loud, and you'll finish it in a puddle. I read a post on LibraryThing that suggested you wear sunglasses for the last few chapters, then nobody will see your tears. It's just that touching of a memoir.

Personally, I didn't think that Marley and Me could be topped. I was proven wrong. What a wonderful wonderful book!

My rating:

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, should be required reading for everyone. Infidel exposes the truth that so many Politically Correct idiots refuse to acknowledge. Islam is NOT a religion of "peace and tolerance". I get tired of hearing that line from every talking head and politician eager for votes. We have to understand that this is a religion based in fanaticism, steeped in violence toward outsiders and each other, and filled with illiterate uneducated superstitious people.

This book is effective on so many levels. From the personal story of her life to an overall indictment of the worlds fastest growing religion. When Ali was a child of five, three adults held her down on a kitchen table, while a fourth mutilated her. " In Somalia, like many countries across Africa and the Middle East, little girls are made "pure" by having their genitals cut out. There is no other way to describe this procedure, which typically occurs around the age of five. After the child's clitoris and labia are carved out, scraped off, or, in more compassionate areas, merely cut or pricked, the whole area is often sewn up, so that a thick band of tissue forms a chastity belt made of the girl's own scarred flesh. A small hole is carefully situated to permit a thin flow of urine. Only great force can tear the scar tissue wider, for sex." Culturally relevant some will argue. That doesn't make it any less evil. Slavery was culturally relevant to our plantation owners in the south, that didn't make it anything less than evil. I'm pretty sure that Hitler and his pals would argue that gas chambers were culturally relevant to the Third Reich as well. Evil is simply that…evil. If its done in the name of religion, or a government.

Ali points out the fatal flaws of multiculturalism. Compassion for immigrants merely perpetuates the cruelty and ignorance. Islam has declared their Prophet to be infallible, and since no one is allowed to question this, it has become, as Ali says, a "static tyranny". At least during the time it took for this child to heal up, the almost daily abuse at the hands of her mother and grandmother abated. Can you imagine hogtying your child, placing them on their belly with their ankles and wrists tied together and then beating them with a stick? And then can you imagine this to be an acceptable, wide spread and common practice, to make sure that girls are, above all, obedient in all ways?

As you can imagine, Ms. Ali is not a terribly popular woman with believers in Islam. And, with the case of Salman Rushdie, the Danish comic strip artist whose name I can't seem to recall, Daniel Pipes, etc., she lives with armed guards. As Michelle Malkin says, "The Religion of Perpetual Outrage strikes again!"

In the meantime, in an effort to appear open and accepting, the West does such stupid things. We attack the religions our systems are historically based on while ignoring the evil wrought by Islam. Look around, tiny little examples exist everywhere, even something as simple as banning the wearing of Christian Chastity rings in one London school, while allowing Muslim headscarves on girls. (I suppose if we encouraged the wearers of the Chastity rings to have their genitals scraped off, it would be less offensive than their wish to wear a ring on their finger…) Oriana Fallaci said, before her death from cancer, "the hate for the West swells like a fire fed by the wind. The clash between us and them is not a military one. It is a cultural one, a religious one, and the worst is still to come." Ali takes this even further, she lived it, and now she warns us all. I just don't know if we have the courage to listen.

(Posted on myspace July 5, 2007 and librarything March 7 2008)

Eddie's Bastard: A Novel by William Kowalski

Great book!!! Mr. Kowalski tells stories in the same way that Jonathan Hull does, in fact the relationships between his two main characters, Billy and his grandpa, reminded me a lot of some of Hull's characters. I picked the book up when I was at the library, simply looking for anything to read since nothing I had ordered was available yet, and its really a great read! It's a wonderful thing to finish a book and want to applaud! (Of course, that means that the next 4 books I read will probably pale in comparison.....)

(Posted on myspace, June 5, 2007)

The Taking by Dean Koontz

I've found myself thoroughly enjoying the new, optimistic, and yes--joyous Dean Koontz. Don't get me wrong, he still has the squishy gooey creepy bad guys down pat, but after a run of some seriously downer books, its been wonderful seeing the world through the prism of optimism and hope that his latest books show.Even through the optimism however, he still manages to cleverly skewer some of our societies most closely cherished and politically correct ideals. Perhaps I like these books because I really am one of those people who see the cup as half full and consider our world a pretty darn good place. Or perhaps I agree with much of his underlying message about our society. Perhaps I even like the fact that this book actually sent me to my dictionary, something that seldom happens. This author loves words, uses them well and paints pictures of beauty and reflection with them. Maybe that's why the books appeal to me. Then again, maybe I simply like a good story, with honest, ethical,moral, decent and kind good guys. Whatever is the case--I've read a bunch of books so far this year--this is tied for number one! (Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper is the other one--sad, but terrific!!)

(Posted on Amazon, August 23, 2004)

Losing Julia by Jonathan Hull

Just now getting around to reviewing this book. Losing Julia was the best book I read in 2001. What a wonderful book--"Like most bookworms I read so as not to be alone, which often annoys those who are trying to make conversation with me......Books aren't just my defenses, the sandbags I use to fortify my position, they are also the building blocks of my soul, and I am the sum of all I read...." Jonathan Hull "Losing Julia" ....What more can be said.....a simply astonishing book.

(Posted on Amazon, December 29, 2002)

This is still one of my favorite books.

One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz seems to have come out of wherever he has been. After a run of cynical and not very upbeat books, Mr. Murder and the like, he seems to be recovering his sense of wonder, hope and even joy. The characters in this book are people that he really seems to like. This book was terrific! It's nice to see some optimism and hope in the world--I was sorry to see the story end and as is usual, the next three novels I read, paled in comparison. Keep it up, Mr. Koontz--it's nice to have you back!

(Posted on Amazon, December 29, 2002)