Movie Update

Best movie of the year....The Town! Hands down had the best story line and acting over The American and Social Networking. Skip The American, but Social Networking was worth the money. For 1 it makes you slap your forehead and say, "why didn't I think of that?" Secondly it's a fun little history lesson of how something so big could start out small and be a great success. It had fun characters and a mystery to follow through the whole movie as to who was going to get credit and who should get credit.

Red Carpet fall TV

Well, it has begun...so much TV and so little time! There are several new shows, but the best TV I've seen is Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice. The season premiers rocked!
I wasn't sold on Undercovers or Chase. However, I loved the dynamic in The Whole Truth and Hawaii Five-O. Is your head spinning yet? Try to keep up because we also have a new Law & Order out of L.A. Two other new cop shows Blue Bloods with Magnum and Detroit 1-8-7 from our old writers of NYPD Blue, can't miss those!

So I have to ask about Heroes and Mercy? Those were 2 of my fav's from last season!
I have to catch up with The Good Wife yet. Can you feel my pain?

I'll give more details on each winning show next time, meanwhile, get busy catching up!

Beach Road written by: J. Patterson & Peter De Jonge

I certainly don't mean to sound like a Patterson groupie or anything, but I have to say Beach Road is yet another fabulous tale full of colorful characters and enthralling story line that you won't want to put down until your done. And then....he or Peter throw us this curve ball just when you think the stories over!

I was initially daunted by the number of characters it tells you from the beginning that we will have to keep straight, but each chapter is titled with the characters name. We are reading their POV for the most part.

The story begins a bit graphic with some of the most colorful characters yet they don't play much of a part in the big story. Tom the washed up ex-athlete now small town lawyer, his old heart throb from high school-Kate who is not washed up but fed up and a young basketball star are the main characters that tell us the story. The story is of a triple murder in a otherwise quiet low crime area of East Hampton.
Add in a drug dealer, a few quick ruthless murders, an old love affair and a town divided by the supposedly racial motivated murders and you've got a heck of a story!

Happy reading and let me know what you think of the ending!

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

Sarah's Key is an amazing story that delves into an event called
Vel' d'Hiv'. This was the round up of all Jewish residents in France that led to the death of 4,000 children alone. It's told by two different points of view, in two different time periods. Sarah, a young Jewish girl and her family experience Occupied France in a heart wrenching tale starting in 1942.
Julia, an American journalist living in France, tells her story beginning in 2002. Each story line is full of intensity with a constant flow of new tribulations being added in as Tatiana holds your undivided attention.

This book will make you cry and break your heart all the while it is impossible to stop reading to find out what happens in the end to these irresistible characters.

5 out of 5 stars.
Happy Reading

A Wrinkle in Time written by: Madeleine L'Engle

I know what your thinking....Tina this is a young-readers book I read in the 4th or 5th grade. Well, I didn't and it was recommended by another author (Anna Quindlen) as her awakening to the want to write as a young child, so I couldn't resist. Besides it's just another research project for my future young reader's books.

It's small so it doesn't take much time and it's a page turner so well written you won't think it's meant for 4th graders. Having said this: if you have a 4th grader I highly recommend it for a girl or boy. It is science-fiction, although I don't want that to deter you from reading it because it's an absolute delight with more of a mystery feel than sci-fi.

The main character Meg is a 12 year old girl who's constantly in trouble and her bad attitude is blamed on the mysterious disappearance of her Father. To top that off she feels like an oddball in her own quirky family that you will immediately fall in love with. The first line of this book is famous "It was a dark and stormy night", who wouldn't want to read on from there?!

You'll find a lot of beautiful lessons that this book has to offer. The first and foremost is the ability to recognize that we all have different gifts and to not sell yourself short if you haven't discovered your gift as of yet. During the hunt for her father, Meg discovers that some of her traits that seem a negative can actually be a strength when channeled correctly.

Aside from the lessons for your children; the author does a great job of giving you a clear and colorful picture of each scene and character sometimes with a dry sense of humor. This 1962 book truly is a timeless piece that any writer or reader will enjoy.

Happy Reading!

The Help written by Kathryn Stockett

This book recommended by a good friend, was a joy! The Help is historical fiction that transports the reader to a time not so long ago-not too far away, but as foreign of a life style as a foreign country a century ago, for most of us.

The characters all have a distinctive voice and special in their own way, not all of them are likable though. They tell a story about the South that points out the bigotry still very much alive and rampant in the everyday life of families in the 60's.

It also shows a time when woman were expected to be pretty little housewives and nothing more. College, if you were privileged enough to attend was for the purpose of finding yourself a good husband. That brings us to the main character "Skeeter" she is a lot of fun to read, easily relating to her. She like many of us stuck between our families vision and what our true potential could be if we didn't have a ton of baggage being carried around.

I don't want to give any more away. Be sure to read or download the very enjoyable audio of this book, read by 4 different-very talented ladies.

Happy reading!

Reading books that teach vs reading the easy ones

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
I started this book with lots of zest for the content, but it's a hard book to read, very "text book" style with more facts than my old brain can remember. My first inclination is to pick a different one off the shelf. I'm resisting knowing that once through this text book, the size of a phone book, I will have gained the knowledge I craved when I picked it up.

This lesson holds true for many parts of our lives. We crave something deep or meaningful yet we are not necessarily willing to put the work into it that it requires. Examples: relationships with the opposite sex or with God. (I have to say that a relationship with God is simpler than the opposite sex.) Another example is an education. We want to learn something new, but do we take the steps to enroll in a class or research it, often not.

As our parents or teachers probably told us all: "if it were easy everyone would do/have it."
I'm going to keep plugging away so that I glean all from it I can. Please be patient for it's review.