Have you met Frank Abagnale…. err…. Frank Williams, Robert Conrad, Frank Adams, or Robert Mojo? They are all the same man. AND not a fictional man either… but a con man of epic intelligence and a “no fear” attitude that brought him far.
During Franks great conning years he sweet talked his way into a pilots uniform and co piloted a Pan Am jet… this “Pan Am” masquerade brought him money, fame, and women from all over the world. Frank also practiced law without a license and forged over $2.5 million dollars in checks – all before he was 21.
Abagnale lived a life of luxury and fantasy until the law caught up with him. Now recognized as the nations leading authority on foul-play, Abagnale shares his incredible, occasionally hilarious true story of being a man with a mission.
Truth really is stranger than fiction.
I seen the movie Catch Me If You Can many years ago, starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DeCaprio (as Frank Abagnale). I really enjoyed the movie and knew it was based on a true story and that was that.
Then last month, Audible.com had one of their fabulous audio book sales I chose this one for $4.95. Turns out, that was a great $5 buy! As soon as I started listening, I knew I was in for a treat. Narrator Barrett Whitener tells it like it is and I was quick to realize that this audio was going to be better, MUCH better, than the movie.
Told in great detail, Catch Me If You Can is Frank’s true retelling of his start during his teenage years as he had bigger dreams and wants than he had money. His swindling career started with his own father (which he regrets to this day), and went as big as posing as a Pan Am Pilot and receiving all the perks that go with it.
When you listen to how Frank makes things happen for himself you will be astounded how simply he gets away with things. A few phone calls posing as reporters, students, and trainees, gets Frank the information he needs, a few questions to the right people finds him being fit for uniforms, receiving the tools to make forged licenses, and at one time – even flying on a fake passport.
Franks story is one that is both frightening (at how simple his forgeries are!) and astoundingly laughable (Franks escape off a plane through the toilet is certainly one I will not soon forget!).
If you are looking for an interesting and well narrated audio, look no further than Catch Me If You Can. I find myself still talking to friends about this one!
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (November 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316001929
ISBN-13: 978-0316001922
Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; assassination was a family specialty. Cleopatra appears to have had been with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and–after his murder–three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends.
This was our book club read while I was in Honduras. I had the best of intentions to read it before I left, but life happenings, a very sick dog, and hard decisions made that… ummm… not happen. Upon my return from Honduras I connected with a couple of the girls in the group and they shared not only their thoughts… but also pictures!!!
We were all surprised by the role of women in Egypt during this time. They had so many rights and were held in such high esteem. They were able to own land and many riches and sometimes the husbands were the ones left at home weaving by the loom. We wondered what created the shift in our culture to relegate women as so far beneath men that we had to struggle in the last century to get some of our rights back. One of the questions in the discussion guide asked if women could ever go backward in rights again and all of us believed it would not happen to us again.
While we still do not know a lot about Cleopatra even after reading the book, what we did learn was fascinating. She was very rich and slightly manipulative. She was charming and even (look at the pictures in the book) kind of ugly.
The Bookies advice to me.. dont bother reading it. Most of the girls did not finish it, finding it hard to get into. However I was also told it is not as long as it looks.. the last 60 pages are pictures.
Overall with 8 Bookies in attendance, the book rating was way below average.
The food however – was fun:
A sampling of appetizers!Fig Newtons because Cleopatra called for sweet figs on the day she committed suicide and also Greek yogurt because that is just fun. 🙂
and finally – Amy was our very own Cleopatra:
Amy - really gets into the book club book
Which leads me to burst with pride for our AWESOME book club! As I sit here and write this review I am prompted to jot down a few (ok maybe more than a few) reasons I enjoy the Bookies so much:
1. We go the extra mile to make the reviews interesting
2. Special event months like our Summer Queen event, Classic Hat and Read month, and Christmas party
3. Digging deep for bonus info on books and authors
4. We value each others opinions
5. We agree to occasionally disagree 😛
6. Food that is prompted by the books we read
7. An amazing and passionate group of girls that have turned from a group of book lovers to friends
8. Stretched to read books and genres I may not have chosen but found out I enjoyed
9. It’s ok to not read the book. 😯
10. 10+ years of Bookies, started in August 2001 with 3 girls and now 10 years later we have 14.
It was a morning to remember. On July 24th, 1915 in downtown Chicago, over 2,000 Western Electric Employees and their families, dressed in their best and went to board the Eastland for the annual company picnic. The Eastland was a breathtaking steamship and many came to watch as the ship loaded the excited and happy employees and families.
Then… the unthinkable happened.
The Eastland (as you will find out within the book, was never a very stable feeling ship) rolled over in the Chicago river, trapping many of those on board within its body. The woman, who were dressed in high boots, jewelery, large skirts, and over coats, became human anchors. Men were said to have trampled children, and shoved aside women in the panic to escape.
In the end, after three days of rescue attempts… 844 men, women, and children died.
The interior of the Eastland changed suddenly, as if by the dark magic of a fun house mirror. Floors became walls, port holes became skylights, and the gigantic influx of water turned the mahogany trimmed rooms into sealed chambers worthy of Harry Houdini’s worst nightmares.
Page 72
The entire Sinclair family - all eight of them perished on the Eastland
So Sheila, why the morbid fascination with tragedy?
Well… I don’t really know – but morbid fascination seems harsh… I would say more an interest in history, and what seems to me to be important history.
I am always surprised when I find out about something like this and realize if not for certain circumstances, I may have never heard of the Eastland and its tragic demise.
Readers of Book Journey may remember that in June of this year I went with three of my good friends to Chicago for a long girls exploratory weekend. The plan was… there was no plan. We would land where we landed, stay where we stay – but our destination was Chicago.
On our second day there we hopped on a double-decker tour bus and enjoyed the sights of Chicago…. at one point our tour guide stopped and showed up where this large steamliner, The Eastland, had overturned in 1915 killing 844 people.
I was stunned. As I looked at the spot being pointed to, I did not understand. The ship was docked – not moving. In still waters. Near the bridge where many people were watching. How did they all die? Why were they not saved? How does something like this happen?
I had to know more.
Upon returning home to Brainerd I was sharing my trip experience with Lloyd Anderson. He was familiar with the sinking of the Eastland and I mentioned to him I had to know more about this tragedy. A couple of weeks ago, Lloyd came into my office with this book that he had checked out of the library for me. Life had moved on for me and I had forgotten my desire to research this ship…. Lloyd had not.
The Sinking Of The Eastland traveled with me to Honduras and back. (Yes, Brainerd Library, the book is fine). I devoured the information inside.
Well written, and powerfully intense, I read about entire families being taken by this disaster, I learned of the divers who sent rescue teams at first into the chilly waters… that later became recovery teams instead. I read of every day public hero’s who dove in time and again to save people (and succeeded!) and I read of scoundrels who picked the pockets of the 800+ bodies lined up on the streets waiting to be identified.
For most of the book, I wept.
Jay Bonansinga writes a story that is at once heart wrenching and painful – he reveals mistakes that could have been avoided, and a captain that abandoned his ship. And while all this may be perceived as a hard HARD read… it is an important one. And you know what? Life is hard. All stories can not end sugary sweet and leaving you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
I for one am glad I spent time this past week with The Eastlander and its occupants. I now have a new mark on my heart… it is ship shaped.
It is almost Christmas. The snow is falling deeply and beautifully outside. Families all over are making plans, buying gifts, decorating trees and homes that smell of gingerbread. The anticipation clings in the air as it seems the world has taken a united breath and held it… wondering, excitedly, what is next.
Nora Peterson once again feels like she is standing on her last nerve. She digs the Christmas decorations out of storage wondering when her husband will be home from his latest business trip to participate in what should be a family event. It looks like once again it will be her and her 17 year old twin children, Christi and Charlie who understand the importance of this tradition. After all, it is almost Christmas and soon both Christie and Charlie will be off making their own lives.
During this same time, a stranger to the Peterson’s, Jenna Montgomery is trying to stay upbeat as she makes homemade waffles and plasters a smile on her face for her daughter Heather. Heather is twenty years old and has suffered almost all her life from a heart defect. She has been on the donor waiting list for what feels like forever, and time is running out. As Jenna looks across the room at her daughter, she wonders if this will be their last Christmas together…
At Nora’s home…. A doorbell rings that will change the dynamics of her life forever. At Jenna’s home, the long anticipated phone call comes…
Will one family’s tragedy become another families answer to prayer?
In parallel, alternating chapters, One Perfect Day follows the lives of these two women as their story unfolds. When tragedy strikes the Peterson’s home, the family is left to make a hard decision about organ donation. The story centers much around this decision being made in the core of intense grief, a decision that can very well save others lives.
Nora’s story is one of battling grief and loss, as well as struggling with the depression that can follow such tragic events. As she questions everything, her family and her best friend try hard to wrap her in love. How does one go on after something like this happens? How does one get up in the morning? Breath? Forgive? Heal?
Jenna’s story follows the miracle side of her daughters new heart. Sure there are opportunities for heart rejection, but now that this big weight is lifted off their lives and the impending thoughts of “their last Christmas together” seems to disappear and as each day shows improvement and healing… it makes room for something else in Jenna’s life. Something there was no room for in the fear of losing her daughter….
There is hope.
The two families never meet and I think that is a brilliant choice by author Lauraine Snelling. It would have been easy to pull them together in the end and let them see what they have done for each other… both healing in their own sense of the word. The fact that this is not the case, adds a sense of imbalance as you wonder whether their paths will cross and the result is a good read, without the all too neat ribbon and bow packaging in the end.
I have to admit, I do not read many Christmas related stories due to the overall neatness that seems to be within the pages of such reads. The overall sugary perfect effect leaves me with nothing to ponder on. This was not the case in One Perfect Day. This book left me not only with thoughts on families coping with tragedies the best they know how, but also on the importance of organ donation.
This book is a recommended read this winter as you curl up in a comfy chair and a hot cup of cocoa. A small, quick read that packs a lot of punch within its pages.
Enjoy!
Lauraine Snelling is a Christian Fiction author who with this book, I have now read for the first time. She has a wonderful way with character development. Her story weaves and twists between the two families as smoothly as though she were figure skating.
In nineteenth century China, 7-year-old Lily lives among such traditions as foot binding, and match makers, where daughters are meant to be matched to men of power, as a daughter… is a lowly thing, where sons are raved on and honored and live in their birth homes forever.
Girls, such as Lily were paired with laotongs, “old sames” friendships that were meant to last a lifetime and Lily is paired with Snow Flower who is believed to come from a higher social standard which will be good for Lily’s eventual husband matching.
The girls quickly become the closest of friends, sharing messages of hopes and dreams sent to one another on handkerchiefs and within the folds of a fan.
As the years pass and the girls grow to young women their times together change from girlish whispers and giggles to talks of their arranged marriages, loneliness, and motherhood. As time passes, things change and Lily and Snow flower are torn apart.
Now, Lily, years later, as Snow Flower lays close to death – Lily recaps what happened, and how she can possibly ask for forgiveness from the one person who was always by her side.
It is not often I will say this, but if you have not read or listened to this book – I want you to drop everything and run to your local book store, or your favorite online ordering spot and secure a copy for yourself. Trust me, you will be glad you did.This is one of the best books I have listened to this year.
This was not the type of story that takes a while to get into… no, from the very beginning I entered nineteenth century ChinaI was taken in by the sites, and by the traditions as Snow Flower and The Secret Fan is filled with tradition… painful images of foot binding, match makers, and most importantly… the laotong (a friendship that I will go into more when I post the movie review tomorrow.)
And really… that is what Snow Flower And The Secret Fan is about is friendship… a friendship that is more powerful than all the other relationships in Lily’s life…. and that… makes for an amazing story.
Normally when I am done listening to an audio it goes on my giveaway shelf as I know I will not listen to it again. This time, I will be hanging on to this audio book as I know I will listen to it again someday and remember Lily and Snow Flower.
As the story opens, Jacob is living out his days in a nursing home and hating every second of it. Now in the last stages of his life, he recalls a happier, carefree time, when he literally had run away from it all and joined the circus.
It had not started as a happy journey however. Jacobs parents are killed in an auto accident week before he is about to complete his college medical exams to become a veterinary. Once he has buried his parents, Jacob learns that the home he live sin was mortgaged for his schooling and he is about to lose it all. With nothing left but the shirt on his back, he takes off and jumps a train, soon to be discovered as a Benzini Brothers (second-rate at best) Circus Train.
Water For Elephants is the story of Jacobs time with the circus, starting from the bottom of the bottom and working his way up not only in stature, but also in the eyes of Marlena, the wife of the jealous and abusive animal trainer, August.
In 2009, my book club, The Bookies, read Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. In a phrase, we loved it from “I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other.” Our group loved this book and it led us to such a great discussion of the realities and harshness of the inner workings of the circus. Later, when it came to out year in review awards that we do every year, Jacob won for our favorite male character in a book club read for 2009, and Sara Gruen took our best newly read author award.
On November 1, the DVD release of Water For Elephants will hit the stores. (SSQQUUEE!!!!) I was offered a pre screening of this movie to post my thoughts on and having loved (LOVED!) the book so much I jumped at the chance to see the DVD.
I did not have time to get the Bookies together for a screening, but still plan to do so…. instead, I treated myself to the viewing of this movie one evening and was as giddy as a school girl to experience it. Robert Patterson (Jacob) and Reese Witherspoon (Marlena) are cast well. I was very impressed with how they handled both the parts.
Although it has been two years since I have read the book, it easily came back to me through the movie. Charlie, Camel, Kinko… there are some colorful characters in both book and movie!
I would have liked to have seen more of the flash backs we see in the book of older Jacob to young Jacob, but honestly, I feel the movie works and is a beautiful compliment to the book.
If you have not read the book I highly encourage you to do so, and certainly make sure you get a chance to see this movie as well. For those of you who have, or will be, experiencing both book and movie, I am attaching a page of questions for you to review with your book group or friends.
Eric Caine, a War On Terrorism veteran, finds himself in a hospital with no recollection of the car crash that put him there. A missing persons report has been filed on him and that was 8 days ago!
Eric is feeling lost, confused, and alone when a chance encounter at a bar helps Eric gain a little perspective. He relocates to Venezuela where he had spent his childhood and then things take a turn again as a catastrophic event threatens the stability of the country. Eric now finds himself running for his life from a team of CIA assassins as he works to uncover a conspiracy that is nothings as it seems.
I am not much of a terrorist/war/CIA/assassin/politics type reader. Admittedly this book wasa bit of a genre stretch for me, yet I wanted to read and review it anyway.
Why?
Genre stretching is a good thing and I have found that sometimes a book out of my genre zone will grab me and if not for my willingness to stretch myself, I may have missed it.
Take Sleepers Run for instance. I did enjoy the action packed read and if ACTION is what you enjoy, Sleepers Run has it in spades. There really is no release button as you follow Eric’s story from the beginning to the breathless end 345 pages later.
Eric himself is a bit over the top as characters go…. picture MacGyver, Superman, Jason Bourne, Jackie Chan, and maybe a little Indiana Jones… all rolled into one character. Yup. Eric has moves. While at times I found this almost humorous as I thought, “how will he get out of this one….”, it still kept me turning pages to see where it was all going.
Friend and foe alike are tossed in throughout this read and I honestly never felt connected to any of them, Eric included. The book to me became more about the action and page turning then getting to know and care about any of the characters…. in the end, as I reflected on the read… I was not even sure that this was necessarily important. Perhaps a different take than my normal reading style but not a bad one… just different.
Fans of espionage type reads will probably get into this more than I did, but for this being a stretch for me… I was held enough to read through the book and enjoy it.
Who doesn’t like a big juicy steak from a world-famous restaurant such as New York’s Lombardo Steak House. The place is famous for their menu, the clientele…. and now the gruesome murder of a mob lawyer.
In the restaurant at the time of the murder is reporter Nick Daniels, conducting the interview of a lifetime with a legendary bad boy of baseball. Nick is shocked and shaken as the hit-man slips through all the activity without a hint of who he may be. When Nick realizes he actually has a key piece of evidence on his recorder, he proceeds to investigate the case himself despite dangerous warnings for him to back off.
New York’s Lombardo’s Steak House is famous for three reasons–the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Effortlessly, the assassin slips through the police’s fingers, and his absence sparks a blaze of accusations about who ordered the hit.
As Nick continues to get closer to the truth… the truth becomes closer to him as well… first with his friends… and then even closer when they go after his family.
Chapter 2,489 ….. ha ha…. a little inside Patterson humor…. 😉
It is nothing new to hear me rave about a James Patterson audio. I have enjoyed many of his audio books immensely, especially the Mike Bennett Series he writes with Michael Ledwidge: Step On A Crack, Run For Your Life, Worst Case,and most recently Tick Tock. These books are filled with action, amazing narration, and honestly not gruesome as some of writing can be.
For all of the above reasons… I was excited to get my hands on Don’t Blink. And then…. I dont know what happened. I must have blinked.
The story line was kind of all over. I never felt I knew enough about Nick Daniels to care about him. He may as well have been named Joe Blow. He goes after a case that causes many (MANY) people to get killed. Friends, people trying to help him… suddenly it feels as though I am just read leaping from one attack to another… he barely gets out of one jam and then there is another and then anaother… and then when you think “whew… it’s over!”…
there is another.
In the end for me it was all a little too much…. enough plot here for two books. I didn’t really feel any connections to anyone and it actually became work to follow what was going on and who was after him now…
maybe I did blink and somehow missed the point, but that is my take on this one. Not a hate… just not a love. 😀
Step right up and don’t push… you will all get a chance to enter. The Night Circus is a mysterious Circus that opens only at night. It comes with no warning, and leaves the same way… but if you are lucky enough to catch it you are in for the time of your life. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves.
While attendees rave about the never-ending tents filled with amazing sights to see, what they do not see is the underlining workings of the circus. Celia, who has been raised with the circus since a child is running the Night Circus as a competition that even she does not quite understand… her opponent… could be anyone, friend or foe… she is unsure…. all Celia does know is that she must continue to work bigger and better in this mysterious game as she will soon find out – the stakes are quite high.
(push play above for a little review theme music)
The Night Circus first came to my attention at BEA this past May during a dinner with bloggers and publishers. The conversation at my end of the table was centered around a book, this book, that I had never heard of. “…as big as Harry Potter,” fell on my ears and that was enough of a sell for me. After all, have I not spent hours and hours of reading and looking for a book, a series, that has touched my life as much as Harry Potter and come up empty?
I searched the Book Expo the next day but the word was out… and all advanced copies of Night Circus were gone. I left with a promise from the publisher that they would send me a copy and yes, a couple of weeks after the expo, a lovely black and white striped circus wrapped book arrived in my mailbox. I did not remove the wrapping for the next several months… savoring the anticipation.
I started the book in print… while reading heard about Jim Dale narrating the audio version (Jim Dale also narrated the Harry Potter books) and purchased the audio version from audible.com to finish out the book.
First off know this… Celia is not the main character. Nor are the twins that are talked about frequently throughout the story – Widget and Poppet. No. The main character is indeed the circus itself. If ever life was breathed into a place, an object… this is it. The circus lives and breathes just as much as I do as I write this review.
The beauty of this book that I think could align it with the Potter books is the immense detail… carousels do not only go round and round… but beyond. Tea pots come to a boil on cue and tea is poured free hand from them. Celia wears a dress that changes color to compliment whatever the person she is talking to is wearing…a particular visual I loved were the trees that have poems running down the trunks.
At times story lines may appear unrelated…. but just wait as this is the real magic of the novel…. when it does come together there is a bit of magic to it all for the reader… I referred to it as a party for my mind.
While the book at first may appear to be all cotton candy and caramel apples…. you will quickly discover it is indeed a tightrope walk of event after event… each carefully placed to make the circus function as it does and one misstep…
could bring it all down.
Did it touch me as much as the Harry Potter books? No… but I have a lot of history with Harry. I have heard the buzz that the Movie rights have been purchased and that does excite me as I believe this read would make a visual feast. I will certainly be in line early to get my ticket.
Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have a houseful. Five children, all girls… well, women really, living in a home in Georgia England during the Regency period.
Of the five, Jane is the oldest and the beautiful one, Elizabeth is the fast tongued smart one, Mary is bookish, Kitty is immature and Lydia… oh Lydia is the wild one.
Mr. Bennett is a pretty well put together man especially considering how over the top his wife, Mrs. Bennett can be. Set firmly on doing all she can to help her daughters marry and marry well, Mrs. Bennett will stop short of nothing… even to the length of sending Jane by horse to visit Mr. Darcy during a rain storm in hopes that she would become ill and have to stay at his home until she is better.
Her plan… works to that extent… but not all is she had hoped. 😉
Elizabeth is the one who comes to Jane’s rescue, appalled at her own mothers behavior she nurses Jane back to health,avoiding as much as she can the man who annoys her so much, Mr. Darcy himself.
What follows is a story that is described as a comedy of sorts, of sisters and men in their lives, and really… Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.
Maybe... I should watch the movie...
This is my first time reading Pride and Prejudice. My book club started a tradition many years ago that every October we would read a classic. Back then, I was not thrilled by the idea, now… I love it. This gives us all a chance to experience one of the greats… we do not always like them, but they have always been pretty fun to review.
My personal thoughts on the read were I really enjoyed it. While some in the group struggled with the language, I enjoyed figuring it out as I went. The words are different than we use them, and it was fun to see words used differently in sentences and while they were a mouthful to read.. they made sense.
As much as the Bookies loved Mr. Darcy, I was odd man out on this one. I realized he changes throughout the book… but his snottiness (hoo yeah I said it!)in the beginning especially towards Elizabeth rubbed me wrong and I still wasn’t over it at the close of the read. I know this is supposed to be one of the great love stories… and I agree it was a good read, I just didn’t really like Darcy. Yes I know I am in the minority… but remember I do not read romance reads. 😀
I did however really enjoy the book and am so happy to now be able to say I have read Pride and Prejudice! The Bookies had a good discussion over the book, the era, The Bennett’s, fun with the language, and overall it rated a 3.5 rating out of 5.
We did dress up as we like to do for our Classic read – hats were requested, but you could go further with the look if you wanted to.
I wanted to. 😀
Here are a few pics of our evening:
The Bookies in attendanceA little candid pencil shot while we were setting up for the picturesKaydi wore her grandmothers wedding dress!
The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Pride and Prejudice
I purchased my copy of Pride and Prejudice at Barnes and Noble
Book Journey 