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Thru My Looking Glass

7/28/2017

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"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."
                                                    ---Michelangelo


This past presidential election amazed me in so many ways, that I find myself continually doing researching that will help me understand what happened.  I have no trouble understanding why a large number of people thought we needed a change, because we had been living in an extremely liberal environment for eight years.  I reconciled myself to the possibility of a conservative America in my immediate future.

I knew that the very wealthy were tired of being taxed to care for the less fortunate, and although I didn't relish the idea of going back to a Reagan or Bush environment, I knew that we need balance in our country, and if the majority decided to vote republican, I hoped it would be a moderate candidate. Most importantly, I hoped it would be a moral candidate with a desire to serve our country above all.  

I can see why the very rich voted for Trump.  He is, after all, a reflection in the mirror for many of them.  He believes that they deserve to keep what they earn because this is not a socialistic state, and the money he is trying to save is money that he could personally lose.  It is understandable that you might want a president with his own horse in the race.  The Obama years were definitely focused on the needy, and it is understandable that the rich wanted a reprieve.

My questions lie with the large number of poor voters who so vehemently backed a man who was known to ignore the needs of his poor workers to achieve his own wealth.  What were they thinking?  And then I came upon a quote that made a bit of what happened clearer for me. "As John Steinbeck famously said, the problem with poor Americans is that 'they don’t believe they’re poor, but rather temporarily embarrassed millionaires' "

No one believes that he/she was born to be poor.  It is a temporary occurrence that happened due to bad luck, and we are taught that positive thinking will help us obtain our goals.  The people who voted for Donald Trump, rich or poor, related to him. Positive thinking took this regular guy and made him a billionaire (never mind his family wealth)  and he would help them do the same. Obama just looked at them as poor people that needed food, shelter and healthcare, while Trump sees them as down on their luck wealthy people who need a chance that he will provide.  He offered them a way out, and they grabbed the rope, frayed as it might be.

Things are becoming clearer to me now, and I believe there is a strong lesson for democrats in the victory of a man whose morality was in question even as voters cast their votes.  The vast majority of people don't want to be "given the fish" when they are hungry, they want to be told that they will be given the tools and opportunity to "catch the fish" that feeds their families.  Mr. Trump convinced these people that he believed in their abilities, and so he won their votes.  

We all want to believe we can achieve our goals, and in the book Confidence: How to Overcome Your Limiting Beliefs and Achieve Your Goals, author Martin Meadows gives us advice on doing just that by self-efficacy.  He explains that self-efficacy is the strength of your beliefs in your ability to complete a task, and his book supports his theory. 

On a lighter note, in Very Buried Cheesecake (Black Cat Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 4) by Lyndsey Cole we get to help solve a murder in Catfish Cove, a cute little town in New Hampshire. Annie Fisher is a charming protagonist, and we all need a bit of New England charm every now and again.

As always, complete reviews of both books follow this blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly 
Click on the book cover to order a title mentioned in today's blog
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Confidence: How to Overcome Your Limiting Beliefs and Achieve Your Goals by Martin Meadows

7/27/2017

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Genre: Self-Help
Click book cover for Amazon.com
New Self-improvement books seem to pop-up on shelves daily, and there seems to be just as many people anxious to read them.  We are a society filled with people who want to improve.  This desire drives us to find the magic button that will turn our dreams into reality.  After all, a famous Walt Disney quote tells us, "If you can dream it, you can do it," so shouldn't we able to dream our goals into realities?

Although I am not a fan of most of these types of books, I do believe that there is a place for them on many a book shelf.  Martin Meadows' book, Confidence: How to Overcome Your Limiting Beliefs and Achieve Your Goals, can be summed up in his often used term, self-efficacy.  He explains that it is the strength in your beliefs of your ability to complete a task.


In other words, if you think that you can do something it is much more likely that you will accomplish that task.  It seems a simple concept, but self-efficacy is wrapped up in a lifetime of success and failures that made us what we are today.  Although self-confidence is needed, not all confident people display self-efficacy in every task.  

Since I noticed many years ago that the more I believed in myself the more I achieved, I decided to read this book for tips on how to strengthen that aspect of my personality.  It is a clearly written book, filled with lists that delineate how to reach our individual goals.  While the concepts are basic, sometimes we need things spelled out for us, and Meadows takes us by the hand and leads us to our most important goal...believing that we can accomplish what we set out to do.

While I did know much of what the author explained, he definitely shared hints that I will use in attempting to accomplish my goals.  This is a short book, and I recommend it as a confidence booster.  After all, who among us doesn't need to feel that we are invincible some of the time?
​

- Beverly


Publisher - Meadows Publishing
Date of Publication - ​April 7, 2015
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Very Buried Cheesecake (Black Cat Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 4) by Lyndsey Cole

7/26/2017

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​Genre: Mystery
Click book cover for Amazon.com
Most Cozy Mysteries take place in a cute sounding town in New England, and Lyndsey Cole's, Very Buried Cheesecake (Black Cat Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 4) is no exception. Catfish Cove is a fictional little town in New Hampshire with all the usual suspects as characters.  Of course there is a cafe involved (what Cozy doesn't involve baked goods?) and a perky protagonist who owns it.  Annie Fisher owns the cafe and The Fine Arts Gallery, where she exhibits her photography.

Of course she gets involved in the requisite Cozy murder, when she comes across a body while walking her dog one day.  This isn't the first murder investigation she gets involved in, and the new detective in town suspects Annie is somehow involved.  

There is an ex-fiancé, a wedding to plan for, missing money, jewelry and a mysterious employee.  If there is a formula for to this type of writing, author Cole has it down pat, yet somehow it works for her.

Her supporting characters are fun do get to know (although #4 in her Black Cat Cafe series, this is the first I have read), and her protagonist is easy to like.  The story moves along quickly, and the mystery gets solved, but several  points seem a bit unfinished.  Even though the plot jumped around here and there, it was a comfortable read and did what it set out to do. It gave the reader the feel of small town life...and death.

Fun beach read.

- Beverly


Publisher - Lyndsey Cole Books 
Date of Publication - ​May 9, 2015
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Thru My Looking Glass

7/20/2017

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"The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation."             
                            ---Bertrand Russell


I remember very little about kindergarten or my teacher, Miss Hayes.  I remember that she seemed ancient to me (in retrospect she was probably fifty), and I remember her 
teaching us about cooperation.  The word seemed so big, but her explanation made sense to my five year old brain.  Two minds are often better than one.  Work together and you are more likely to succeed.

The next person who drilled that into my head was a Girl Scout leader during my several horrific days at Girl Scout camp.  I was twelve, and camping was not my thing, but my friends were going, and I was determined to join them.  The problem was, I was not able to put up a tent, rub sticks together or even cook marshmallows over an open flame.  The leader took me aside and pointed to the most successful scouts.  They were the ones who were working in teams.  Cooperating!  I sensed a theme.

When I began teaching, we attended mandatory workshops on cooperating with fellow teachers. Since teachers rarely have their own rooms, desks or even pencils, this was a good lesson.  I soon found myself teaching this same lesson to my own students as I fondly remembered "old" Miss Hayes.

When Arthur and I went to our Take Stock in Children orientation last week, the first thing the facilitator did after introductions was give each of us three pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  Each piece had a word that described a trait necessary in mentoring, and we were directed to cooperate and put the pieces together.  What might have taken an hour for one person took our group under ten minutes.

Somehow this simple lesson has been forgotten in Washington, D. C., and we need to remind our senators and representatives how important those early lessons were and still are.  It is shameful that in the World Health Organization's rankings of health care, the United States came in at 37.  Not even in the top twenty-five. We rank between Costa Rica and Slovenia!  How can this be?  Our insurance is disgraceful and isn't getting any better.  Although "Obamacare" has some major flaws, a contingency of democrats worked for years to put it together.  It definitely needs tweaking, but it provides the basic bones.  Although the republican plan has many problems, they are addressing some of Obamacare's weaknesses.  

Cooperation might put that jigsaw puzzle together, but neither side will acknowledge the other.  They are both blaming the other party for a failure to compromise, meanwhile we are suffering.  Please...republicans and democrats...contact your congressmen and congresswomen, and remind them of the importance of cooperation.  A kindergarten lesson that might help make our country whole again.

Speaking of kindergarten, I couldn't help but add Randy Cecil's The Horsefly and the Honeybee to my "to do" review list for this week.  It is a charming children's book that teaches cooperation in a beautifully illustrated way.  It is a wonderful gift idea for the young ones in your life.  

I also read/reviewed John Grisham's book, Camino Island this week.  It is a bit of a stray from his typical legal thriller, but it is a good story told by an expert story teller.

As always, complete reviews of both books follow this blog. 

Happy reading,

- Beverly
​Click on the book cover to order a title mentioned in today's blog
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Horsefly and Honeybee by Randy Cecil

7/20/2017

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Genre: Children's Book
Click book cover for Amazon.com
It is rare to find a children's book that is authored and illustrated by the same person, but Randy Cecil was able to produce the perfect pictures to make his words come alive in Horsefly and Honeybee.  I felt I had to review this book because it fits in perfectly with my blog this week. 

When the horsefly and the honeybee land on the same flower, neither wants to share.  They both end up running away, get in serious trouble, and find that only cooperating with each other will save them.

This simple story, aimed at pre-schoolers, is so beautifully illustrated that adults can enjoy reading it to their wee ones.  With few words on each page, there is no time for boredom, and children easily learn the importance of cooperation.  Hmmm...maybe we should send copies to the House and Senate!​

- Beverly 
​

Publisher - Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1 edition 
Date of Publication - March 27, 2012
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Camino Island by John Grisham

7/20/2017

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​Genre: Legal Thriller
​Click book cover for Amazon.com
​If you are a true fan of Grisham's legal thrillers Camino Island  may disappoint you, but my introduction to the popular author was The Firm, many years ago.  Although this is  not quite The Firm in excitement and character development, we do meet a young woman who, much like Mitch McDeere in The Firm, finds herself in over her head.

The beginning of Camino Island captured my interest immediately with a planned heist of priceless F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts from below Princeton University’s Firestone Library. The small group of thieves create a diversion on campus and abscond with their loot, leaving a small clue as to their identity.

Mercer Mann, a young novelist is recruited to help find the missing manuscripts, and tracks down a bookstore owner, Bruce Cable, who deals in rare books.  Since Cable is known to deal with those who are not always of the highest character, Mann befriends him, in an attempt to see if he has the stolen manuscripts, but when she learns too much, trouble follows.

Mann's  character is annoying at times.  She is having trouble finding a storyline for a new novel, and I wanted to yell out for her to just look around Camino Island. I was able to understand why she took on this challenge...the group that hired her offered to pay off her school loans and give her a large pay check, but I never fully understood why she was chosen in the first place.

I found Cable more interesting with his colorful clothing and never ending chatter.  The book lover in me enjoyed reading about his collection of first editions.  His life is an interesting one, entertaining authors and the townspeople of this Florida resort town.

Since Grisham does have a way with characterization, even the supporting characters held my interest, and the plot itself had just enough twists to have kept me going. I think Grisham had quite a bit of fun writing this particular novel (he got the idea while driving through Florida), and I believe you will have just as much fun reading it.

- Beverly


Publisher - Doubleday
Date of Publication - ​June 6, 2017
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Thru My Looking Glass

7/14/2017

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"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."
                                             ---Mahatma Gandhi


For some reason I seem to be running on "slo-mo" this summer.  I am getting things done, but it is taking me longer, as I take two steps forward and slip one step back.  I have decided that it isn't a bad thing to spend a few sweltering months contemplating my next moves, but I have even slowed down my reading.  There might be a few weeks with only one review, but I promise a fall season filled with top author reviews.  I have gotten advance review copies of some of my favorites, but it is too early to publish the reviews for them.

Meanwhile, Arthur and I decided to do a little community give back this coming year, and after a bit of research we found a terrific place to begin.  Take Stock in Children is a nationwide organization that is investing in our nation's youth.  I spent years teaching in an inner-city school and worked with too many bright young men and ladies who could not imagine themselves ever affording college.  It was difficult convincing a ninth grader to follow a strict academic curriculum geared towards a four year college program, when he/she came from a single family home where dinner was not guaranteed.  

When a child is recommended to the staff of Take Stock in Children, the staff makes sure that he/she fits a myriad of qualifications.  They must be eligible for the free lunch program and be willing to maintain a minimum solid C average throughout their four years of high school.  They must attend at least two workshops that are provided by the organization each year, and they must meet with a mentor on an average of two or three times a month. The meetings take place during their lunch period and must be taken seriously. If the student fulfills all of their requirements, they receive a college scholarship...guaranteed!
We went to a mentor orientation last night and we're both duly impressed.  These people care, and it shows in their results. They have a 97% rate of high school graduation as opposed to an 83% national rate as of 2014-2015.  Their college graduation rate is in the mid sixties, as opposed to a national rate in the high fifties.  That wasn't good enough for them, so they are adding to the program.  Now students are being given mentors during their college years to help them complete their degree.

High school is sometimes an impossible maze to students who don't have people advocating for them constantly, and sometimes it is all that these families can do to keep food on the table and a roof over their head.  Taking a day off of work to come straighten out a child's schedule is often not an option. When these children know that there is someone who has their back, and that their will be a college scholarship to help them out, college becomes an attainable dream.  

Art and I realize how lucky we have been in our lives.  We both have a college education that allowed us to work in careers we loved.  These careers afforded us the ability to advocate for our two wonderful children and to help them attain their career goals.  Our two are grown now, but there are many out there who need our help, and so we are off on this new adventure.  If anyone wants any more info on this wonderful organization, feel free to email us at madderlyreview@gmail.com. 

I did find time to read  Death Witness by Paul Batista this week.  It is a well written murder mystery that features a recently widowed young mother trying to solve her husband's murder.  While the plot isn't  the most original, Batista does a good job making his characters and plot come to life.  Definitely worth reading!

As always a complete review follows this blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly
​Click on the book cover to order a title mentioned in today's blog
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Death's Witness by Paul Batista

7/14/2017

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Genre: Mystery
​Click book cover for Amazon.com
When attorney Tom Perini, a former Heisman trophy winner, is murdered while jogging in Central Park, his wife Julie is devastated.  She suspects that this is more than a random murder and feels that there is something a bit off with the FBI agent who is assigned to the case.  When she turns to Tom's partner, Vincent Sorrentino, for help, they become embroiled in seemingly more than they can handle.  Who was Tom involved with, and what was he hiding?

In Death's Witness Batista, an attorney himself, involves the reader in his story from page one, and kept me turning pages well into the night. This mixture of politics, police work and the legal system might be a bit confusing at times, but for the most part it was easy to follow and fun to try to figure out.  The characters were engaging, and I often found myself feeling Julie's pain as she worked her way through the confusion of Tom's life and death.

I have not read any of Batista's other books, but I will be trying another soon.  

- Beverly


​Publisher - Oceanview Publishing; Reprint edition
Date of Publication - January 26, 2016
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Thru My Looking Glass

7/7/2017

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It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
                                                --- J.K. Rowling


Freedom of choice is often more of a burden than a choice.  We are presented with so many choices in our lives, and the consequences of those choices color our lives forever.  We are supposed to choose the career that we will spend the rest of our lives immersed in when we are eighteen years old, and we often pick our "forever mate" when we are just a few years older.  Since scientists maintain that one's brain doesn't have the ability to truly understand consequences until we reach our later twenties, making these choices in our late teens can be devastating. 

Many of us start families in our twenties as well.  Suddenly we are making choices for the lives of our precious children while we are still working with less than full brain capacity.  We become so righteous in our beliefs, and it is not until our children are grown that we look back and wonder, "What the heck was I thinking?"  

The vaccine choice is a scary one, with both sides feeling sure that they are correct.  When Mike and Beth were little, vaccines were a godsend that we would never think of skipping.  We had seen the horror of polio and measles epidemics first hand in our own youth and ran to have our children inoculated.  Children were at times blinded by measles, paralyzed by polio or killed by either one, so debating the worth of the drug that could prevent these (and other) diseases made no sense.

Life is a little different in the twenty-first century. Parents have had little direct contact with these diseases that were virtually wiped out thanks to years of vaccines.  What they were seeing was seemingly normal children who shortly after receiving these vaccines exhibited traits of autism.  Suddenly there were choices to be made, and it was terrifying.  In this instance the wrong choice could be life altering, or in some cases deadly.

I watched Beth struggle with those choices when dealing with her children, and I was relieved to see that she decided to rely on science. While there are definitely a number of anecdotal stories that seem to support the theory of vaccines causing autism, the scientific studies found no links.  What they did find is a large upswing in the number of children contracting measles, mumps, chicken pox, etc.  Not only is the choice of not vaccinating your child endangering your child, but the dent it is putting in "herd immunity" is endangering the most vulnerable among us.  Many children have diseases or immunity deficiencies that makes vaccinating them impossible, and their health relies on the children who surround them being vaccinated against these diseases.  While every parent has the responsibility to make the choice that is right for his/her child, sometimes that choice has a very real affect on someone else's child.

Age has not made me wiser in recognizing the right answers, but it has helped me to realize that my choices are not always the only right ones.  I have learned to research more before making any decision and to respect other people's decisions even if they differ greatly from my own.   My choice of a career at eighteen was far from the career I ended up enjoying for many years, but my choice of a "forever mate" in my early twenties couldn't have worked out better.  I guess my heart was smarter than my brain in those years.

One place I never go wrong is choosing a book.  When I was very little I chose books over toys, and as I grew older I chose them over television.  They have been my friends through thick and thin, and I can't imagine a day without them.  This week I had time for one book only, and I made it a good one.  David Rosenfeld's latest Andy Carpenter book, Collared, comes out in two weeks, and it is a summer reading must. Of course it includes a dog and a wrongly accused man, but there are other characters and events that make this a great read.

A complete review of this book follows this blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly
​Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog
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Collared by David Rosenfelt

7/6/2017

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Genre: Legal Thriller
Click book cover for Amazon.com
It is no secret that David Rosenfelt is one of my favorite authors or that Andy Carpenter is one of the protagonists I would most like to have over for dinner.  Andy is a lawyer who doesn't want to practice and Rosenfelt just keeps involving him in one weird case after another.  Although I enjoyed last years Carpenter book, Outfoxed, I thought Rosenfelt might be nearing the end of his run with Andy.  It felt just a little redundant, and yet I still wanted at least one more.  Well after reading this latest one, Collared, I have to say this might be his best.

Of course a dog figures into the story.  A dog is abandoned at the dog shelter that he runs with his friend Willie.  The note attached to its collar is an odd one, and they soon find out that it is the dog that went missing with a kidnapped child several years ago. 

Jill Hickman's adopted son and his dog were kidnapped two and a half years ago, and a tip lead police to her former boyfriend, Keith Wachtel.  Keith was found guilty, but the child was never found.  When Andy returns the dog to Jill, she asks him to please try to find out what happened to her son.

As Andy follows the clues, he starts to believe in Keith's innocence, and in typical Andy fashion, he begins his quest to have Keith exonerated.  The best part of this series is always the characters that surround our hero.  His wife Laurie, a former police detective, is always the steadying influence in his life.  The rest of the quirky cast make for some interesting reading, and Andy's dry wit keeps me laughing throughout.  Of course Andy's dog, Tara, is always a main character in his books, and the reader can have no doubt as to how much Author Rosenfelt loves his own dogs.

The only negative thing about this series is that it takes Rosenfelt a year to give me my next fix. To all of you lucky ones who have not read  Collared yet,  make sure that it is high on your beach read list and order it today.

- Beverly

​
Publisher - Minotaur Books 
Date of Publication - July 18, 2017
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