I am heading to the gym this morning and happy about it. (Surely that must be a sign of Spring?) Then I am hanging out with my friend Wendy for catching up and girl time. In girl code that is manicures and pedicures and maybe we will grab a salad after that…. this is something I rarely do so it just sounds fun 😀
I may then take a walk through Best Buy and look at my options on laptops for when the day comes that I need to make that purchase. Yes, I am still on my original one… odd but it is working just fine now.
Later tonight hubby is talking me out for seafood buffet and I am super excited – we both love seafood and while it is about a 30 minute drive to get there – it is worth it.
I have a lot of reading to catch up on this weekend… I need to finish Wench for Tuesdays book club, and I really want to finish The Eyes Of The Heart today or tomorrow…. I was hoping to have it done by now but this week I feel like I have been tired…. and I don’t know why… I just have been and going to bed early which is usually prime time reading for me.
Ok – I am out… hope to get some “blog reading” time this weekend too… I am so behind. 😀
A few weeks back I had a wonderful experience reading the book A Tiger In The Kitchen. I loved the book, I loved the imagery, and oh yeah.… I loved the food.
After reading the book I made quick time of contacting author Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan to tell her how amazing I thought her book was and if she would like to stop by Book Journey and share with my readers a little about herself, the book, and what may be next.
I was thrilled when she said yes.
Please welcome author, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan!
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Cheryl, as a coffee lover, I have to know how you take yours?
Cheryl: My favorite coffee is Singapore-style coffee — in old-school kopitiams (or coffeeshops) there, the beans are wok-fried with lard or butter and corn kernels to give it a buttery, nutty flavor. The coffee “uncle” will then add condensed milk and sugar to the brew — it’s incredibly delicious. I also like “yin yang,” which is a cup of coffee and tea combined in equal amounts with condensed milk and sugar added to the concoction. I’m a big tea lover, too, so yin yang is the ultimate morning beverage for me.
Now I want to try that coffee! 😛 Growing up in Singapore, were you a reader? (If so I would love to hear what books captured your attention!)
Cheryl: I read voraciously as a child — I remember my mother taking me to Singapore’s national library every Saturday to check out nine books a week. I could have read more but that was the maximum number of books we could take out, even after combining my family members’ library cards! Enid Blyton was the author who first captured my imagination as a child — she was a very prolific British children’s author who wrote several series involving plucky children going on all sorts of adventures. I adored the Secret Seven, Famous Five and Malory Towers, about a girls’ boarding school, series. Most of all, I loved The Faraway Tree, which was about a group of city kids who move to the English countryside and are totally unhappy and bored until they discover an enchanted tree inhabited by fairies and other magical creatures. I later moved on to Judy Blume, Anne Tyler, Ernest Hemingway and more but the creativity in Enid Blyton’s books were truly an early inspiration.
When did your interest in journalism start?
Cheryl: I knew as a child that I wanted to write for a living and when it came time to apply to colleges, journalism seemed like a way to be able to make a living doing it so I interned at The Straits Times, Singapore’s national newspaper, right after high school. During my internship, I wrote an expose of an illegal dog farm in which these poor dogs were kept in deplorable conditions — tiny, dirty cages etc. — that resulted in the Singaporean officials immediately swooping in and fining the owners. After seeing the power of the press and its ability to right wrongs, I was hooked.
Oh that is amazing! I have always loved the power of words! Your move from Singapore to Illinois had to be one of excitement and a little fear too…. can you share a little bit what that was like?
Cheryl: I moved from Singapore to Evanston, Illinois, to study journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. It was a terribly exciting time but also terrifying, naturally. I’d traveled widely before but moving all by myself halfway across the world at age 18 was something else entirely. I loved learning about American culture (Friends! Seinfeld!) through my new friends and dorm-mates but it was also trying sometimes — Singapore is near the equator so it’s sweltering hot all year round. The first winter I was at Northwestern, which is on a lakefront, there was a day when the windchill was minus 70. That was dismal. I also missed Singaporean food desperately — back then it was impossible to find good versions of the curries and fried noodles I grew up eating anywhere near me.
How long a flight is that from New York to Singapore?
Cheryl: There is a direct flight from the New York area to Singapore that takes 18 hours but usually, most flights (with connections and all) will take you close to 24 hours.
Oh wow! 24 hours! You mention the fried noodles and the curry that you miss and even thinking about it makes my mouth water. I still can picture that scene of the pineapple tarts, when you walked into the kitchen to discover that you were about to make 3,000 tarts. How long did it take the 5 of you to complete that project?
Cheryl: That was quite a scene! It was a two-day process to make all those tarts — but along the way we made a variety of other cookies, as well. On the first day, we prepped the pineapples — skinning them, gouging out the eyes, chopping them up into small chunks, running them through a juicer — and made the jam. The jam then has to cool overnight before we make the butter cookie base the next day, brush those cookies with beaten egg, top them with jam and then bake them. It sounds like a lot of work but it’s so very worth it. Pineapple tarts are out of this world.
The bonding of family cooking together puts an amazing picture in my head. Can you describe what that was like with your family? When you talk about missing out on that time with your Grandmother and learning her secrets and talents in the kitchen, do you feel that you accomplished that goal through the family members who did teach you?
Cheryl: I had never cooked with my family before so throughout the year, I felt like I was connecting with them in a way that I never had before. When you’re in the kitchen with your family for hours, that’s when old stories and jokes are going to be shared. I learned a lot about various family members and my ancestors and that was a very special experience. It was also lovely to see the younger generation getting curious about the process as well — my 10-year-old cousin Matthew, for example, even set aside his iPhone games when he saw us cooking sometimes and joined in with the assembling of rolls. I’m a big proponent of passing down the recipes and stories of families so it was touching to see Matthew joining in. I feel fortunate to have had this experience — you do often take your family members for granted and it can be too late to ask them to teach you. My maternal grandmother was already starting to lose her memory when I was back for that year — if I had waited any longer, I’m not sure she would have remembered all the recipes that she was sharing with us.
This book came about as the result of being laid off from your job. That devastating event freed you up to be able to travel and spend the time with your family and learn the traditions. Do you look at that time now as a blessing?
Cheryl: I definitely do — after I’d gone back to learn how to make my late grandmother’s pineapple tarts, I wanted to take a year off and travel back to Singapore to learn more recipes but there was just no way that I could have asked for the time off to do it. Right when I was rather despondent about that, the Wall Street Journal decided to eliminate its fashion bureau. I was in shock at first but literally, by the time I got back to my desk from the meeting where they laid us all off, I knew that this was what I wanted to do. I don’t think I would have had the courage to request a sabbatical to go on this journey if that hadn’t happened. I’m very thankful for that.
Do you have a favorite recipe either from the book, or personally that you enjoy making?
Cheryl: I have so many recipes I adore — it’s like asking a mother to pick her favorite child! One of my favorite dishes is this dish called tau yew bak, which basically means soy sauce meat. My late grandmother used to make this with pork belly or duck and it’s basically meat braised for hours in a stew of dark soy sauce (which has the consistency of molasses and is rather sweet), cinnamon sticks, star anise, sugar and garlic. (I have a recipe for the duck version of this in the book.) My family also adds cubed tofu and hard-boiled eggs to this stew — you want to cook it long enough so that the tofu cubes are saturated with the gravy and the eggs are the color of milk chocolate. Now that I know how to make it, it is part of my regular rotation in New York — I don’t often make it with duck, though. (Putting my hand in the cavity of a duck is still not one of my favorite things.) I’ll do it with cubed pork loin, ground beef or pork and cubed tofu. People often think Southeast Asian cooking is daunting because the recipes sometimes have many steps and ingredients — I like to look at the recipe, try to understand the flavors of the dish, why they work together and figure out how I can simplify it for an easy weeknight meal. That’s what I’ve done with my grandmother’s tau yew bak.
Tau Yew Bak
What next for you? Another book? *fingers crossed*
Cheryl: I’ve started on my second book, which is about women in their thirties. I can’t say more about it right now — but I hope you enjoy it as much as you liked A Tiger in the Kitchen!
It is a tradition around here for me to ask each author I interview to share a little known fact about themselves. (Ie. a hobby, a funny or embarrassing memory), an unusual talent, a trip you have taken, an instrument you played in school, an award you once won…)
Cheryl: I once drove four hours across Sicily (and four hours back) just to have lunch at a restaurant. It was a place that I’d heard of and was terribly curious about but where we were staying (Palermo) was nowhere near it. It didn’t deter me, however — the group of us just piled into two cars and went on this zany, hours-long road trip across the island just to lunch at Ristorante Duomo in Ragusa. It felt a little like we were in The Cannonball Run — but with lunch as the reward. We got very lost on the way back and I remember it being incredibly late at night by the time we made it back to Palermo. But the lunch — so fresh, so inventive — was worth the crazy, exhausting road trip. A good meal, to me, is always worth the extra mile — or, hundreds of miles.
Oh that is a wonderful fact! Thanks so much Cheryl for joining me today! I am so excited about your next book too!
Readers: Please take time to check out Cheryl at her website. Her book A Tiger In The Kitchen was a delight to read and you can see the link to my review below.
It was nice sleeping at home last night – in my own bed. When I serve for our week with the homeless we stay overnight in a church. The Sunday school rooms are converted to bedrooms for the families, and for the host overnighters. On Tuesday night I was the host overnighter. Usually there are always two of us that stay overnight as hosts, which is fun as that becomes catch up times with friends while we hang out before we sleep. This time however, there is one lady in the program with her 4 month old baby girl and I stayed alone.
I would have never dreamed that I would sleep in a church and now it has become this inside joke as that is the taboo thing to do, fall asleep in church. I can tell people proudly – I have never slept in my own church( due to our buildings layout we are not able to host there) …. however there are four others in our area that I can say that I have. 😛
We sleep on cots that travel in a trailer from church to church. It isn’t that bad other than the fact they are super narrow and when guys stay over night I can imagine they must be really uncomfortable. One couple that serves brings their own air mattress when they stay overnight. Probably not a bad idea…
Anyway…
that is where I was on Tuesday and then in the morning I drove the guests to the day center where they go seven days a week from 8 am – 4:30 to do laundry, shower, and work on finding affordable housing and jobs if they are not currently working. It really is an amazing program and has a 92% success rate in our community that once people are back on their feet and in homes with jobs that they remain that way and do not fall back into homelessness.
Our group serves once a quarter and after this week I think our next time is in July.
Today will be nice, I have work and then a workout and then HOME. Yes…. that’s it… no meetings tonight… and that feels good 😀
I will leave you this morning with this discovery I found at Barnes and Noble on-line… Rachel Ray reading Green Eggs and Ham:
Helen Ames was a beloved wife and a prolific author.
Was.
Since her husband Dan died she no longer feels that she is either. Unable to move on from his death, Helen is not sure how to do life without him. Her writing is non existent and a particularity disastrous speaking engagement leaves her wondering what purpose she serves without the titles “wife” and “author”.
Meanwhile, Helen’s 27 year old daughter Tessa is losing patience with her now seemingly helpless and smothering mother. Tessa longs for branching out into her own life but feels anchored down by her mom’s overbearing neediness. Tessa is constantly being called upon by Helen to help with the household tasks that used to belong to Dan.
Then Helen discovers that the finances that she never paid much attention too as Dan told her never to worry as there was plenty for her to live on and then some…. these very finances have had a significant withdrawal, made by Dan before he died. Suddenly Helen has a new set of worries…. what did Dan do with all that money? How will she now provide for herself when her accountant tells her she needs to be careful financially but seems to have no skills or ambition to learn anything new?
My adventures with Berg continue. 😀
Out of everything I have read/listened to by Elizabeth Berg this one may have been the biggest stretch for me. And the reason for that is silly. It’s Helen.
Helen has qualities I just don’t like. She is co dependent. Needy and unsure of herself in every way and for some reason these characteristics…..
bug me.
I know that is ridiculous and I wonder what I find in myself that makes me want women, fiction and not, to be strong, independent, and able to stand on their own two feet.
Ok… that said, I did enjoy listening to this on audio and applaud Elizabeth Berg for not only being an amazing prolific writer, but also reader. I have really come to enjoy her audios and when she reads them herself – even better. I can not say that about every author I have listened to on audio that has read their own work.
While Helen is this character that is not sure which way to turn – I am quite sure she is exactly the character that Elizabeth Berg meant her to be. You can hear it is Elizabeth’s (as the narrator) voice and I wish I had a couple examples in my head right now of that dialogue that Helen would have as she pretty much questioned every step she took. Unfortunately, one of the down falls of audio is that I do not have the pages to flip back through to make that perfect quote so you can go “oh yeah…. I see what you mean.”
As the story line continues you see that Helen does start to find her own way and her relationship with Tessa is very realistic as Tessa tries hard to be patient with her mom while at the same time trying to get her mom to be responsible for her own life and making things happen. One of the things I really enjoyed in this audio was how often Tessa came to this point:
“Mom. Mom. Mom. MOM.”
I think I may have loved this even more because it is said in a dead pan voice.
Final thoughts: I did enjoy this audio. It was not a favorite from this author mainly because some of the plot created many unanswered questions… I did however still appreciate the diversity in writing that I have come to enjoy in Elizabeth Berg’s work.
I had a whole weekend of leisurely writing and yes don’t tell my husband who believes I worked like a fiend writing all weekend, but I napped too! SO why on this Wednesday morning am I feeling like I am coming off a 20 hour work shift?
Last night I stayed in town as it is our serving week to stay with the homeless. There is no reason why I should not have had some good quality reading of blog time as from 8 pm on I was alone, just me and Laptop (yes – LAPTOP, I will get to that in a minute…. ) but when I tried to read through some of the Monday Meme posts…. I was just ….
tired.
As for Laptop…. if you have been around this weekend you know he died on Sunday afternoon. Yup. Would not turn on. I have had some opportunities the last couple weeks with Laptop and I think I know his issue…. even took pictures of the broken wires (very CSI of me!) to show how he died. I even… and this is harsh so be warned…
I even pulled his plug.
Then…
Tuesday evening as I was preparing dinner I sat at the table and pushed his power button, just like old times… and
a message came on the previously blank screen:
Plug In – Your Battery Is Dangerously Low
So – well…. wow! I ran for the plug-in and when hubby and Chance got to the table I told them do not look directly at it…. but look…. Laptop is BREATHING!
It’s a March Miracle!
I realize I am still probably on borrowed time so my plans to invest in a new one are still in place and I have now emailed myself all important documents off this one so I can no longer say “yup…. there went my book.”
I have another busy evening tonight but Thursday is looking promisingly uneventful and I do plan to read the Monday posts as I am in need of my book fix. 🙂
Marlo is normally a quiet, peaceful town. Yet recently a website has popped up called Listentoyourself and it contains residents of Marlo’s most private conversations… conversations that were held in the privacy of their homes with people they trusted. Soon accusations are flying and the local police force has its hands full trying to sort it all out.
Damien Underwood has been a journalist most of his life. He has been the creator of the Marlo Sentinal’s crossword puzzle until as of recent he has been offered a chance to do a bit of reporting as well. Damien along with his best friend Police Officer Frank Merrit are surprised by the sudden popularity of this website that is ripping the town apart.
And Damien has his own home to be concerned with as well, his wife Kay is struggling to fit in with the Cheer Mom’s, his daughter Jenna, normally sweet and easy-going has become sullen and in trouble at school for hitting another girl, his son Hunter is spending too much time in his room on the computer and Damien is concerned with what he may be looking at.
What is happening in Marlo?
This is the first Rene Gutteridge book I have experienced. A few weeks back, Hannah at Wordlily celebrated a whole week of Rene Gutteridge and I was curious….
As “the power of words” is the theme of this post, Hannah used the power of her words to influence me to give this author that I honestly do not think I have ever heard of, a try. I am so glad that I did. And now I am going to use the power of my words to tell you why. 😀
LISTEN is a book surrounded all around the one question. How responsible are we for our words when we think no one is listening? What author Rene Gutteridge shows through this book is something I have always believed, words are powerful tools. Words can lift someone up and they can tear someone down.
In Marlo, neighbor literally turns against neighbor. While the website Listentoyourself does not mention names – the conversations written out for all to see is word for word of what was said. People are hurt, in some cases they wrongfully believe some of the writing is about them, even more so, they decide who said it and react to it.
I really enjoyed that while the website is much of this book, it is not the only storyline that Rene Gutteridge has weaved within the pages regarding the power of words. While Damien is working the website angle, his wife Kay is involved in the words that people say about each other – gossip. As she tries to fit in with the Cheer Moms and they point the finger at one mom in particular Kay becomes part of the vicious circle of spreading words that hurt. And a third story line comes in with Jenna and the mean girls (oh wow – they are MEAN) at school.
Every Monday evening I am in a small group that meets and discusses a study that we are doing and last night we touched on the subject of the power of words. I smiled as it reminded me of this book.
While the book is not without flaws, there were a couple unresolved items and I was left with a few questions, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a book I did not want to put down and enjoyed the reminder of the power of words, as well as the power of truly listening. I will most definitely read more of Rene Gutterridge.
This year I started the WHERE Are You Reading Challenge and I have already been having a lot of fun with it. The idea was to just read what you are planning to read anyway – and just see where in the world you are reading. I offered prizes as you got to the end of the year if you were able to read in each of the 50 states, and bonus entries and prizes for those who read outside the states. You can find all details here.
Each month, I would like to recap where we have been and how this challenge is going for us. Here is where I am for the month of January 2011:
In February I have read 13 books and 4 audio ( 11 books so far in January, and 6 audio). On my Reading Map they have landed: (Jan and Feb combined)
Georgia
North Carolina
New York (2)
Minnesota (3)
Vermont
California (2)
Mississippi
New Jersey
Maine (2)
Illinois (2)
Connecticut
Washington
Missouri
Massachusetts (2)
Utah
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Washington
Iowa
One unknown (Clementine – friend Of The Week!)
Saudi Arabia
Australia
Singapore
I am having so much fun this and love seeing where I am reading!
For those of you participating in the WHERE Are you reading challenge, please feel free to create a monthly wrap-up post and link it here if you would like. I plan to do this each month. For those of you who are not connected to this challenge, it is not too late to start your map and join in! Challenge details here.
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As for the February comment winners –
My randomly drawn winner of a book out of the “Reading Cafe” (Yes, I changed the name…. more themed for me 😛 )is:
Thanks everyone – I so appreciate your visits and love discussing books with all of you. The March contest – starts today 😀
I have been having some lap top “opportunities” so please bear with me while I get this all straightened out. I am missing my blog visiting time and will be back to visiting soon. 😀
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.
I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme I love to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment. You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.
Whew! What a week! I have been busy and well…. the usual. 😀 Pre posting and planning on the weekend does have its benefits 😉 Here is what this past week looked like:
All that – plus I finished another two books and two audios that I have yet to review. (Driving 3+ hours to the cabin each way this weekend really gave me a little audio time 😀 )
As for this week…. looking at my schedule I do not have a lot of evening meetings this week which helps me plan out my reading…. so here is what I will have on the plan:
The true story of Courtney Miles’ rescue of over 300 people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. While government officials posed for cameras, a boy from the projects with no driver’s license stepped up and showed what “drive” is all about. LAST BUS OUT tells how Courtney Miles stole a bus, charged past a police roadblock, and argued with a National Guardsman who threatened to lock him in the makeshift jail at the Greyhound Bus Station. Sick with worry about his missing grandmother, he drove his passengers to safety, then went back into the city at midnight to help others. His adventure would ultimately lead to starting his life over on the opposite end of the country, far away from the three women he loves – the mother who abused him, the grandmother who taught him to survive, and the girlfriend who would betray him. LAST BUT OUT chronicles Courtney’s life alone while his mother was repeatedly jailed for selling drugs. At seven he woke up on Christmas Eve with a gun in his face. At thirteen he witnessed the murder of a man three feet in front of him. As a high school junior he lived alone in an empty house without electricity or water. Courted by gangs who knew he was hungry, “Streets”, as he was nicknamed for his solitary life on the streets, lived apart and kept his record clean – until the day he risked his freedom to save his neighbors.
A PUPPET IS CROWNED. THE TRUE HEIR REMAINS HIDDEN. A ROGUE’S SECRET COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING.
War has come to Melengar. To save her kingdom, Princess Arista runs a desperate gamble when she defies her brother and hires Royce and Hadrian for a dangerous mission. As the power of the Nyphron Empire grows, so does Royce’s suspicion that the wizard Esrahaddon is using the thieves as pawns in his own game. To find the truth, he must unravel the secret of Hadrian’s past–what he discovers could change the future for all of Elan.
I received this series last year and totally dropped the ball on finishing it. The series is good and with this third book I plan on doing all three reviews together.
As the reader is guided through the author’s libraryAhis “Magic Kingdom”Avarious books, manuscripts and mementos become the stimulus for meditations about Christian faith and about the people who have touched his life. We read at length about the folly of writing a novel about Jesus; to do so, the ordained minister writes, “would be to cheapen and somehow dishonor the bond between us.” We see the author’s fatherAwho committed suicide at the age of 38Anot only as a distant figure, alcoholic and adulterous (“the empty place at [the] center” of Buechner’s childhood), but as a charismatic Princeton alumnus who once seemed so full of promise. The memoir’s penultimate chapter is a tribute to the author’s beloved brother, Jamie, who died as Buechner was finishing the bookAhe had called and said he had “incurable cancer of virtually everything and didn’t intend to be around for more than two weeks if he could possibly help it.” Such a momentAa pitch-perfect blend of tenderness and sardonic lyricismAtypifies the poetic intensity of the memoir. Also of note is the second chapter, about Buechner’s friend, the late poet James Merrill, who appears in the author’s dreams: “and it is always goodbye that we are saying again as if to make up for never having had the chance to say it properly.”
I have a couple audios I am starting as well but this post has been a real “opportunity”. First my lap top appears to have moved on to greener pastures. Using my husband’s lap top tp put this post together in Internet Explorer has turned out to be an evening of formating and missing pictures…. and well….. at this point I am just trying to get it posted. 😀
I am excited to see what you are reading so please remember to link up your “What Are You Reading” post below where it says “click here”. 😀
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Robert “Yummy” Sandifer was a real person. He was born in 1983 and lived in the Roseland area of Chicago. He received his nickname “yummy” because he loved his sweets.
Yummy, at just eleven years old, became a poster child for youth gang related violence. A series of tragic events led to his appearance of the cover of TIME magazine in September 1994.
Eventually….
this same series of events…
also led to his death.
I am not a big reader of graphic novels, but occasionally one will catch my eye, much like this one did. Based on the true story of Robert “Yummy’s” life, this story is told with a fictional character Roger, who tells the story through his eyes of how Yummy became initiated into a gang called the Black Disciples, how we killed a girl, and how eventually he was killed as well.
When I think of a story like this – I do not think of it as a graphic novel. But it is. And in this case, it works. Following Yummy’s story through the pictures was much like there and illustrator Randy DeBurke creates emotion and feeling through his illustrations of Yummy as well as the extended family and the gang members. Author G. Neri writes with great feeling as well and together – this book won in the Cybils.
Yummy’s dad was in prison for drug possession. Yummy’s mom was in and out of jail – 42 times on convictions for drug use and prostitution. Yummy was left in the care of his grandmother who at times had up to twenty of her grandchildren staying with her. It was easy for Yummy to sneak out to the troubled streets of Chicago for days at a time and not even be noticed as missing.
What is frightening about what I have just described is that this is a common occurrence in many areas of our world. Kids looking for a play – for a way – to belong. I have seen this when I have traveled to Honduras – the gangs are even greater and more dangerous now then when I went for the first time in 2004. Currently they have 14 murders a day in the main city of Tegucigalpa. But I am not taking only of a third world country problem…. no… this is all too common in the Unites States as well. New York, California, Florida, and of course Chicago – Yummy’s area, just to name a few.
What I did not know is that the laws at the time of this book were that young criminals would go to Juvenile Facilities and then be out once they turned 21… this is why gangs liked to recruit young kids to do the crime, as if they were caught – it was not a life sentence. The fact that the gangs found this “loop-hole” in the system floors me… who thinks this way?
What is apparent in this book is that Yummy is a kid that wants to belong. Unfortunately he finds that acceptance through the gangs. As you read through this book you will see Yummy as this tough mean-spirited kid trying to make an impression…. and at other times you can find him in front of the tv with his teddy bear.
Who was the real Yummy? In and out of trouble for years, he was desensitized from authority. What can be done about these gang crimes and especially saving the young ones like Yummy?
Photo out of Time Magazine
While this book was an emotional read, I am so glad I did read it. I finished this book on Friday and have not been able to stop thinking about it. When you look at all the circumstances that played into Yummy’s life… all the pieces that were missing in his life (love, family stability, a safe home, a positive adult influence, security…) Honestly? It makes me want to hug my kids and tell them how much I love them.
David Wheaton is on his death bed. From his boat in the Pacific Ocean, he shares his life memories – hopes and regrets with his daughter Emma who has come to be with him these last days. Having had 9 wives and eleven children, David has had quite a life. As an actor, there is one role he had always hoped to play and now regrets deeply he never had the chance to do so – and that was the role of King David. Emma’s husband had struggled writing a play for David Wheaton to create the much coveted role for him.
While Emma works to gather the family for David’s final moments on earth,as readers we see the parallels between the two David’s – in some cases even hitting a little close to home for the Wheaton family.
Luke 24:22: Certain women made us astonished
I read this book as our first read of 2011 with the Faith N Fiction group. Madelaine L’ Engle is most known for her work with children’s books, probably mostly known for writing A Wrinkle In Time (a book I have never read).
I thought this would be a book I could read within a couple of days and be done in plenty of time for our discussion that started in early February. This turned out not to be the case. I spent much time getting to know the characters as tends to happen for me when a book is loaded with characters such as this. I back track and try to capture who each person is as they are introduced. That fact, as well as just a busy time of life caused me to pop in late to the discuss points of what was an interesting read.
A theme that was brought up that I personally enjoyed was how as David recalls his marriages (all eight of them!) as they often reflected the life and wives of the Biblical David. You could almost hear the whispers of the Biblical David’s wives coming from between the lines. Written with a witty and lyrical pen, I found L’Engle’s writing to be just what I would have expected from a family such as David’s who was deeply embedded in the arts of acting, producing, and such.
If anything, I found, as well as a few in our group discussion that the parallels between the two David’s became a bit much. Not so much the parallel itself, but the fact that the author had a habit of pointing out that this was a parallel with things like “…. much like the David of the Bible….” I prefer to figure these things out for myself more than feeling like I am led by the hand through a read.
Another part of our group discussion was a heavier topic in the book that I do not wish to give away but unfortunately is a topic that is all to real for many of us. Some felt it was tiring to constantly see this come up, while other found it as I mentioned here – something that is real. (Hope I was not too cryptic here but trying hard not to give anything away.) 😀
A well-rounded read that covered many topics. David has really had the life and Certain Women, being told in a reflective manner is a brilliant way to write this particular story.
I found the book descriptive and while more work to read than I had planned for, I am glad I had the opportunity to read and discuss this book.
For me personally I recall the part where David (Wheaton) reflects on how badly he has screwed it all up and how he wishes he could change the way he handled many things in his life. David in The Bible also lived with much regret, and this reminds me of how God used those of us who are broke, damaged, vessels and fills us up. A reminder, that we all are human – we are going to screw this thing up, and God will still be able to use is if we only let Him.
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