#26 "The Robber Bride" by Margaret Atwood

I am quite comfortable not talking for days. No pressure to sound funny, intelligent, pretending to be someone that I'm not. I remember during my insecure days telling my future wife that I'm not that funny. Makes me think of George on "Seinfeld" doing the exact opposite of his instincts since following his instincts has led him nowhere. Mine were to try to be what the ladies wanted and who knew being myself would land me such a HOT BABE!! I am just as comfortable being with my wife as I am by myself. Relaxing on the couch after the girls are asleep, discussing our relationship after the girls are asleep, and talking about random things after the girls are asleep.

Independent Movie "It's a disaster"

One conversation we discussed a couple on a movie where a girl at the attractiveness of an eight was dating maybe a six, if Tom Arnold were to be considered a six. My wife pointed out that if the tables were turned there is little chance an eight guy would choose to be with a six girl. It's not fair. What can I say?? I don't know why guys get duped by the physical beauty of a woman while the gals can look past the appearance to more important attributes. Yeah you look good but you're thirty years old and still shoveling out popcorn behind the counter of the movie theater. All I can say is blame it on the te te te te testosterone.

From left to right Roz, Tony, and Charis

Entering the world that Margaret Atwood created in "The Robber Bride" we encounter the lives of three middle aged women: Roz, Charis, and Tony, friends since college, standing at the funeral of another woman who at one time robbed each woman from the man they loved. Zenia, the sneaky, charming, vixen deceptively entered into a deep bond by telling each lady conflicting harrowing stories of survival through the harsh elements of her past. In their confidence she slowly and methodically duped all three ladies and their men into thinking she cared for them only to steal the men away and ditch them as soon as she got bored.

As they walked away from the funeral they reminisce over that heartrending chapter of their lives that seems to have come to an end providing, hopefully, some needed closure.

Tony, at the present, is a history professor in her spare time enjoys recreating major battle scenes in history to give the losing side a chance to win. She married her college lover West. In her college days she was a short hobbit-like woman with the insecurities to boot. Many acquaintances but few friends she was treated by most like a child. She was invited to a party by West where she was subsequently introduced to Zenia. Zenia was everything that Tony wanted to be. Smart, sexy, quick-witted, and most of all desired by many men. Zenia invaded Tony's space with her magnetic personality bringing her out of her shell. Being friends with a woman like Zenia makes you feel special. They bond sharing with each other their dark secrets and stories of their heartrending pasts. How painful it was when Zenia stole Tony's love, West, and ran away with him only to abandon him once she stole his money.

Charis, at the present, a spiritual, naturalistic woman working at a store named Radiance which sells items such as healing crystals, tarot cards, and new age music (you know these stores). When she met Zenia, Zenia was wearing sunglasses in the yoga class that Charis was teaching. Approaching her after class Zenia revealed a story of struggle with cancer and searching for alternative methods for healing. Right up Charis' alley. You know Charis is all about alternatives to modern medicine. Taking Zenia into her home where she is also harboring a draft dodger and lover, Billy. Billy, unemployed, meets up with other friends to discuss antiwar sentiment and treats Charis like she's an idiot. He initially dislikes Zenia but one day runs away with her to be abandoned after she steals away his money and possessions resulting in Billy's suicide.

Roz, at the present, is a mother of three children president of a fashion magazine and close friends with Charis and Tony. These three bond through the similar experiences of tragedy after encountering Zenia. Roz recognizes Zenia from her college days now working as a waitress at a restaurant. They eventually bond via Roz's father who supposedly saved Zenia during the war. Roz who's memory of her father is limited and the desire to know more about him set the stage for their relationship to begin. You know what happens. YUP, Roz's husband who is a philanderer, moves in with Zenia under Roz's nose and YUP gets ditched soon afterwards with a load of money.

Gathered together at their emo-style restaurant where the servers and occupants are tatted and pierced in a variety of places and clad in dark clothes, they discuss their feelings after the funeral. They notice a woman entering that closely resembles Zenia only slightly skinnier standing at the bar now. Is this a look-a-like or was her death also a lie? If so, why is she here? Scouring the room for another victim or preparing for a second go-around with us. She looks straight through us like she doesn't recognize us. The three friends cannot rest until they find out the truth. Whatever that is.






To be frank, Margaret Atwood created a well articulated, "Lifetime" style story. It kept me on the edge of my seat as I became engrossed in each woman's world. The raised from the dead Zenia  added more intrigue. I am not a "Lifetime" channel type of guy but if my wife were watching this movie I would find myself putting down the book or closing my laptop to see how this one will end. I will not recommend for the typical male reader but I will add this to my accumulating list of books for my wife to read. By the way it was made into a TV movie.

For your information other books on my wife's list. "The Life of Pi", "The Poisonwood Bible", "NurtureShock", "11/22/63", "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", and a few more. 

bookinthroughbooks: #25 "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel

bookinthroughbooks: #23 "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel: Nope, this isn't "Water for Elephants" or "Chocolat". I am however enjoying my tasty coffee beverage with some homem...

#25 "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel

Nope, this isn't "Water for Elephants" or "Chocolat". I am however enjoying my tasty coffee beverage with some homemade mint chocolate creamer, minus the OH SO yummy hydrogenated oil to help reduce my high cholesterol, in honor of my new blog post. My coffee is much better than the book though.

"Like Water for Chocolate" is a story of love, mysticism, heartbreak, and food. Tita, a fifteen year old girl and the youngest of three sisters, falls in love with a neighbor boy named Pedro who comes to ask her Cruella Deville-like mother, Elena for Tita's hand in marriage. Elena denies this request on grounds that family tradition states the youngest daughter's role is primarily to take care of her mother until she dies. As a consolation Pedro marries Tita's sister Rosaura as a way of staying near to Tita. Their odd love for each other continued through Rosaura and Pedros' marriage, children, Tita's marriage to Dr. John Brown and Rosaura and Elena's death. By their forties Pedro and Tita finally get to be with each other.

"Turns out dad has been putting murdered cows in our hamburgers."

The end to me was like the finale of "How I Met Your Mother". Throughout the story you are rooting for Pedro and Tita to run away and damn the rest of the family. At the end you like Dr Brown who helps to free Tita from her tyrannical mother and to live her own life. Passion overrides and her loins tell her to be with Pedro instead. Just like in "HIMYM" I don't think Robin and Ted were meant to be or it would have BEEN from the start. Sorry, I've been harboring that resentment since the "HIMYM" finale. Time to cast off the series into the wild blue yonder (is that the correct term YONDER?). "Bobs' Burgers" anyone?

I'll elaborate even more. Poor Tita forced into the life of servitude to her mother only to find a little respite cooking in the kitchen. Here is the location where Tita's passion finds its release from the frustrations and joys of life. As she creates meals for special occasions like Pedro and Rosaura's wedding the partakers of the meals have unusual reactions to the way the meal was made. During a passionate exchange in the kitchen between Pedro and Tita while preparing a meal, Tita's aunt Gertudis reaction after eating the meal had her burning with lust to the point she tore her clothes off and ran for a cold shower eventually running away with a Mexican general on a horse.

The Pedro and Tita exchanges were rife with deep emotions. She loves him and he loves her. What love can endure the fact that he was married, doinking and having a child with Tita's sister. Unfortunately after her young niece died, blaming her mother, she escaped to Dr. Brown's home where he looked after her and helped her to recover from the traumatic experiences of living with her mother, the love of her life doing the nasty with her sister, and her niece's death. At the same time that they planned their wedding Rosaura dies. So now Pedro comes calling in his jealous tirade for her to choose him over the doctor now that both Rosaura and Elena are dead (oh yeah her mother died too).

Who to choose, the respectful doctor who was by your side during the hard times whom you love or the guy that was married to your sister and did I mention this included sex with her too but you feel great passionate "LOVE" towards. Oh yeah when Pedro called for her hand in marriage they really didn't know each other that well. Not like they were friends for years.

Not all good stories leave you feeling happy.

bookinthroughbooks: #24 "Youth" by J.M. Coetzee

bookinthroughbooks: #22 "Youth" by J.M. Coetzee: He went, ever on the move, with the slow, shuffling step of wandering beggars who are nowhere at home. Stijn Streuvels Read more at htt...

#24 "Youth" by J.M. Coetzee

He went, ever on the move, with the slow, shuffling step of wandering beggars who are nowhere at home.

Stijn Streuvels

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/stijn_streuvels.html#TfEG1h7g0W4lolER.99

He went, ever on the move, with the slow, shuffling step of wandering beggars who are nowhere at home.

Stijn Streuvels

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/stijn_streuvels.html#TfEG1h7g0W4lolER.99

J.M Coetzee, an author whom I've never heard of, has nine books on "The List". I thwart the feeling that there may be some bias towards specific authors. To those that are like me in my ignorance of this renown author I will give a short bio. According to NobelPrize.org, J. M. Coetzee, a South African born in 1940, is a graduate of the University of Cape Town with degrees in English and Mathematics also later receiving his PhD in English, linguistics, and Germanic languages at the University of Texas at Austin. A few of his books have won literary awards. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003 "who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider" Nobel Prize. What?? In my history of reading award winning books they use a lot of big words and/or discuss concepts and ideas that are just way over my head.

How pleasantly surprised I was with "Youth". A fictionalized memoir of John, a young man of 18 years from South Africa who abandoned his uninspiring life for a more stimulating life in London for the purpose of unleashing the magnificent poet inside of him that his former home had kept captive. London, a city that has housed some of the greatest artists ever known.

Everything in John's life centers around the idea of becoming a renown poet. Working at a 9-5 job as a computer programmer is only a means to sustain life while he hones his art. Relationships are a physical necessity only when it doesn't intrude on his ultimate purpose in life. Loneliness and social awkwardness a necessary part of becoming a great poet. The feelings of insecurity that John's present situation brings out will only make him a better poet. The struggle. In John's view of the world, happiness is not as strong of an emotion as the depths of despair felt in the pit of the stomach of an unsatisfied life.

Quote reminds me of the main character.

What I really enjoyed about the novel is I could relate to the main character. Not a bad kid only confused. He desired intimacy without commitment but when an inebriated woman offered herself to him, regretfully, he declined and was accused of being gay. I have been in similar situations. Once at a strip club I was given an opportunity for sex and I turned it down for moral reasons. Yeah, morality is what brought me there in the first place? I won't get into the time I talked to a woman whose husband frequented a strip club and witnessed to her my beliefs. In a club. A strip club. I digress. Where was I? I also empathized with the stuck in the bubble thinking. Questions like "Am I the only one with this specific struggle? Nobody understands what I'm going through nor cares. Life is only worth living striving after the dream. No exceptions!!"

I am not that smart. Those that fear the high and mighty big words, rest assured. Although this story uses higher diction than "The Hunger Games" or "Divergent" which are geared towards teens you will not be needing a dictionary constantly to follow "Youth". Coetzee truly is intelligent just in the way he is able to express thought clearly through this 18 year old boy. While reading I didn't at all feel like I was listening to a boring lecture from a prestigious pretentious professor but someone that knows they are smart and doesn't have to prove it by flaunting his high vocabulary.

#23 "Fingersmith" by Sarah Waters and #21 "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

2:40pm: Leaving work. Thinking how I'm looking forward to spring. I really need to blog after kids are asleep tonight. I have five books finished that need to be blogged and I am so looking forward to the other books on my queue. Baby Blues ah parenting...
3:00pm: Walk in through the front door of my house to the screeching sounds of delight from my daughter Layla as she waves her arms while in her high chair as my wife had just finished feeding her. Maggie excitedly runs to me and gives me a hug and kiss. Amy frazzled. We hug each other, more like locking our bodies together knowing when we release our grasp we will be sucked into the void of parenthood.
3:10 pm-8:45pm: I wanted to just let the kids watch TV while I laid on the couch for the next few
hours. A couple more episodes of Sesame Street and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse won't cause them to have ADHD will it....? The fear of them suffering with learning difficulties wins out. So, got on the floor and played with the girls. Reading, puzzles, become a human jungle gym, diaper changes, baths, dinner, dishes, medicines for Layla, take dog out to go potty, massage Layla until both of us are exhausted and put her to bed.

8:46pm: What I wanted to do was drink a big glass of wine and start working on my next blog and then cuddle on the couch with my wife while we catch up on our DVRed shows. What I did was drink a little over a serving size glass of wine (to make the bottle last longer) and watched our shows while cuddling on the couch with my wife until I am about to pass out.
10:00 pm. Passed out in bed. Attempted to read but managed to stare at the same page and read the same few paragraphs over and over again. Maybe I'll get up at 5am and work on my blog for an hour before work.
5:45am. Damn got fifteen minutes to get ready for work. Maybe I'll work on my blog after the kids go to bed tonight.

I will be brief with these next two books and chances are I will do this in the future too.
"Never Let Me Go" , children raised in a boarding school type environment unaware initially they are clones who are being raised to eventually have their organs "donated" to "real" people. Sounds gruesome. It was. Hoping for a happy ending, for instance, a few escape from their fate after being pursued by these organ thieves to live normal human lives like the rest of us working 40+ hours a week at a life draining job.
Well, I was naïve. I was really rooting for the three main characters, two girls and a boy. Even though I expected a depressing end the author writes an intriguing story with a little mystery, love, likeable characters that kept me glued in up until the literal gut wrenching end. The novel definitely elicited a strong emotion from me. Sadness, despair and I guess that's the tell of a good author. Not a story for the casual reader looking for entertainment, but if you want to cry or have knots in your stomach by all means check it out.

Next. "Fingersmith", a story from the point of view of two orphaned girls, one, Susan Smith, raised by a family of pickpockets and thieves, the other, Maud Lilly, raised by her well-to-do pervert of an uncle in a house of privilege trained to read and copy his collection of lewd books. A scheme was devised by a Mr. Rivers to steal an inherited wealth due to Maud Lilly once she marries. He hopes that by getting Susan hired as Maud's personal maid they could work to trick Maud into falling in love and marrying Mr. Rivers. Once married he would place Maud into an insane asylum and both schemers will walk away with a large portion of the inheritance. With so many twist and turns I wasn't sure how this story was going to end.

Don't forget as I have mentioned earlier this is a novel told from two perspectives. Describing the same events from two sides is definitely unique but it came across to me long and monotonous. It's like reading the Gospels back to back to back. Even the most avid biblical scholar will get bored with the same story even if there are a few different details. Fortunately the monotony only lasted about halfway though the book.

I liked it overall. The finish was a surprise, the lifestyles of the characters were interesting, and the story told in a unique way would be the reason for it to be on "The List". I'd like to add that my hours of watching "Downton Abbey" did come in handy with the high society English life. The character Susan was a maid who I just couldn't help but picture as Daisy in the Downstairs of Downton with her wise-assed remarks.

#22 "Watchmen" by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins

The other day my wife expressed humbly and with satisfaction her amazement with my continued commitment to reading and blogging. It's not an easy thing to lovingly admit to your husband that he doesn't have any follow through to finish these tasks. Not only am I not offended but I appreciate her honesty. So many times I get gung ho about something and realized once I got started how much time and effort it required. Not only that but expectations unfulfilled can halt all good progress. Plants and vegetables die (who knew they needed watering this much), planking(abdominal exercise) to get better core strength resulting in rectus abdominis spasms, jotting down how much it costs to make the meals we usually make to organize grocery budget more proficiently (sounded fun initially). If my first two excuses weren't good enough I just get bored and quit. I don't have that gene in me that will see it through to the end like my wife. She has this internal checklist and the idea that one item just doesn't get finished is preposterous. Does anybody else relate with either of us?? Knowing my past habits I give a great deal of credit for my dedication to my readings to these well written, interesting, and thought-provoking stories so far. I'll add to my pro side that when it comes to my family I am not a quitter. Perhaps I expect marriage and children to be hard work, but rewarding.


Yay!! A book with pictures. I was truly excited to read "Watchmen" which is a sort of superhero story and the only graphic novel on "The List". Growing up I wasn't much for reading. I preferred, as I have mentioned before, climbing trees, tetherball, kickball (basically anything with a ball), and video games. I hated sitting. Now I just sit with one or both legs tucked under my rump. Recently my wife and I have read many of the graphic novels of "The Walking Dead" inspired by watching the television show of the same name. Not bad. I proceeded to scour the comic book store for something more woman friendly for my wife. What I found was woman superheroes with huge bazangas beating up bad guys. Women who understand the large chest plight, if these women can fight crime without their boobs popping out we need to improve support for the simple desire of going for a run in comfort.




"Watchmen", with its miniscule amount of boobage is a story about a collection of mostly unsuperherolike characters containing no special powers, excluding Dr. Manhattan, who all don masks and outfits in an effort to conceal their true identity while they attempt the clean the city of criminal scum. Unfortunately with their nemesis' either in prison, dead or choosing a more legal path to evil schemes, became politicians, crime continued. Streets filled with gambling and prostitution houses, murder and violence witnessed by demoralized onlookers, the threat of nuclear war looming. How will the imperfect watchmen fight against this universal disease that has no face or body to pound into submission. If God didn't rid the world of sin by destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, is it truly possible to eliminate evil from the world? An evil that all are infected with.

At the same time the decommissioned watchmen mourn the violent death of one of its former members who was presumably thrown out of a window of a skyscraper. The remaining members are apprehensive feeling that someone is in the business of taking out the watchmen one at a time. Rorschach, Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, Ozymandias, and Silk Spectre band together one last time to uncover who killed one of their members, The Comedian, and if there is any truth to their suspicions.

If that isn't all the majority of the graphic novel delves into the lives of each remaining member of the watchmen. A far cry from "The Justice League". Moral heroes? I don't think so. One's a sex fiend, no that would be two, one lacks the ability to understand human emotion, and there's the one that was committed, and the smartest man on the earth who is in it for the fame and money. Each began by deciding to stop turning a blind eye to injustice and to do something to better the world only to become jaded due to the citizens they were protecting's protests.

For a comic graphic novel style book I was impressed with the original idea of unsuperherolike heroes as well as the art. The wording sometimes was of higher diction quality but the plot and
character development was well done. Worth reading.


Nite Owl



Ozmandias



Comedian

Rorschach



Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre