Alzheimers: The tale of two Robertsons

As a rule, I don't pay a lot of attention to Evangelist/Talk Show Host/Politician Pat Robertson. This week, however, he got my attention when he answered this question from a viewer . . .



Robertson's comments are the beginning of a slippery slope of ethical issues that can confront a marriage. People change in marriage even when there is not a physical cause for the change. I am a much different person than I was 13 years ago and possibly not the man Amy thought I would become. When I got married, I thought I would be at the company I was working at until I retired, much like my Dad did before me. But 5 years ago I lost that job which led to the journey I am now as the primary home educator of the family.


His phrase Alzheimer's is a kind of death is a chilling one. You could replace Alzheimer's with mental illness, Lou Gehrig's disease, cancer and even joblessness if you wanted. While all of these change a marriage and often not for the better, they are not a reason for divorce.


A different perspective comes from the example of Robertson McQuilkin who was president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary (Now Columbia International University, which I attended in 1995). In 1981 his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

His decision was to retire from public life including his president ship of CIU in order to care for his wife. Listen to his resignation speech. It is a rebuttal to Pat Robertson's response. Except it was delivered 2 decades before Robertson. It is the Godly response of a man who so obviously loved his wife.





Mcquikin gave that speech in 1990 and took care of his wife from then until her death in 2003.


His phrase "it's not I have to, but I get to" is such a different thought than Pat Robertson's response. What if the Robertson from Virgina answered the viewers question by citing the response of the Robertson from South Carolina? He certainly wouldn't be the subject of ABC news reports and hundreds of comments on the 700 club FB page, but he would be much better grounded biblically. Which presumably, is what his 700 club viewers are tuning in for.


On a more personal note, about the same time Mcquilkin was dealing with his wife's Alzheimer's, my grandfather passed away of a disease that for 2 years masked itself as Alzheimer's. Before that most people in my family figured my robust grandfather would outlive my frail grandmother .


But in the 2 years that my grandmother took care of my grandpa a transformation took place in her. She was put in a situation that tore her apart but in the end made her a stronger and more vital person. My grandfather died in 1989 and this "frail" woman he left behind lived 16 more years remaining active in the lives of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. In 1989, I did not know my grandmother very well; being 1 of 30 grandchildren will do that to you. But in the last act of her life, we spent much more time together. My older two children spent much time with her. During the last few weeks of her life she would come in and out of consciousness. One night my wife overheard her having a conversation with God. She was telling Him that she could not go yet because there were still great grandchildren she had not met. One of those great grand children she was referring to was Puppy who was born a few months after Grandma died. I believe the experience of caring for her husband was at least partially instrumental in her strong finish in the last act of her life.




McQuilkin wrote an excellent book in 1998 about 20 years into Muriel's illness, about his wife and his decision to care for her. A Promise Kept is not only the name of the book, but it also defines what McQuikin, my grandmother, and so many others did through the years. Pat Robertson shrugs off those vows in the video while so many others have embraced them.

The New Pooh Review

On January 13th I posted the trailer for the new Winnie The Pooh film entitling the post six months and two days from now to signify when the film was coming to theatres.

The film came out today (Friday July 15th 2011)

My Six words: Six Months Two Days go fast!

I mean, wow do they fly. The whole family and I were all planning on going today. Amy had other things going but I took 3 kids and 3 stuffed animals and we had a fantastic time.

The film is just over an hour which is about the only bad thing I can say about the movie. It takes all the best elements of the books and movies and blends them together for a hilarious, mesmerizing and extremely satisfying experience.

One review of this movie said this was a perfect film for Pre K and Kindergartners and they are not wrong. I think it is also a perfect film for older children and adults. My soon to be 7th grader was laughing the loudest of anyone in the theatre.

Animated movies have grown up a lot over the years. There are some that are so adult that I wouldn't ever consider taking my children to. Winnie The Pooh is quite the opposite. It is a film that I would want to watch even if I didn't have children. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

For more Six Word Saturday click here.

I thought Super Hero Movies were for Kids.

Friday Fragment Time here at the pretty good Coral.

First of all let me start out with a rant. My temp job ended on Tuesday, so I have had the ability to do things between 3 p.m and 11 p.m. that eluded me when I was working. So, Wednesday I went to see Green Lantern. Over the past 5 years there have been a plethora of super hero movies, the majority of these films feature the comic book heroes I grew up with.

Now when I think of super heroes, I think of 6 - 12 year old boys. If I were making Super Hero films they would be my target demographic My problem is that with few exceptions almost every super hero movie that has come out in the past ten years is not one I would want a 6-12 year boy to go to. Especially not my 6-12 year old boy.

Green Lantern is no exception. It is a dark scary movie that would certainly give my son nightmares. There is also sexual content that would preclude me from having good old Spider Droid watch it.

Over the past 5 years I have previewed many of the super hero movies, Iron Man, Spider Man 1&2, Fantastic 4 among others and there was always something in those films that kept me from letting Spider Droid watch it.

What bothers me is that many of these movies are marketed for children and that children would love watching super hero movies. My son is always disappointed when he asks about a movie I have screened and I tell him it's not for kids. He always gives me a look that says a Super hero movie that's not for kids, what's the point of that?

For Fragment 2 I will move from rant to review.


I recently had the joy of reading a great book to my kids. It is called Marvin Beeederman, Super Hero - The curse of the bologna sandwich.

The thing I really liked about this book is not just that it's funny, it's how it's funny. It uses one of my favorite methods of humor, repetition. It repeats parts of the book over and over until the mere mention of certain words are pure hilarity. I am looking forward to reading other books in this series.

Fragment 3

Continuing the superhero theme. Here is a video of one of the super heroes of the animal kingdom, the mighty dolphin.




Well that's all the fragments I have time for today. I have had a super time. For more Friday Fragments click here.

Little Town on the Prairie

Little Town on the Prairie is the 7th of the nine Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It takes place in De Smet, South Dakota (then just called the Dakota Territory.) The book follows The Long Winter and precedes These Happy Golden Years.

If you have not read any of these books before you might wonder why Laura Ingalls Wilder refers to herself in the third person. This is because when she originally submitted her book as a first person narrative, it was rejected by the publisher. When she changed it to referring to herself in the third person, it was then accepted.

As I said in yesterday's post, I like to read these books aloud to the children because they go back to a long ago time, and while doing so, I can teach values that are timely even for our modern age.

In this book, we see the return of Nellie Olsen, Mary goes to college, and also the beginnings of the Almanzo Wilder/ Laura Ingalls relationship which develops more in the next book. I love Almanzo and even though he only shows up once every 50 or 60 pages, I am always glad when he does.

One of the best parts of this book is Laura's determination to study hard so she can become a teacher. What is most interesting to me is that Laura does not even want to be a teacher. She only wants to do it so she can provide money to her family so Mary can go to and stay in a special college for the blind. Especially touching in the book is Laura and Mary's last walk together before Mary and her parents take the train to Iowa to take Mary to her college.

The book is also very humorous and especially fun for reading out loud. From Pa's dream of getting his haircut, to the exploits of Kitty, the Ingall's cat, who is a scourge to gophers and a nemesis of local dogs, this book is every bit funny as it is poignant. I guess that's why I like these books. Modern life is sometimes stressful, funny, miserable, inspiring and heartbreaking all in the same day. It seems that life on the prairie was no different.

In researching this review, I found biographical information on Laura and her family. One thing I read said that when Laura's daughter Rose died in October 1968,and that she was the last direct descendant of Charles and Caroline Ingalls. I am not quite sure if that is true. Thanks to Laura's fine chronicles of her family, I think that the descendants of Charles and Caroline include anyone who reads and absorbs these fine Little House books.

Next Time: The Lost Art of Reading

I Beat The Odds - A Review

This post is in the 68th



Published at Imagineering


The NFL Draft ended yesterday at about the same time as I was finishing Michael Oher's book, I Beat the Odds. Oher (pronounced oar), was drafted in 2009 by the Baltimore Ravens and was the subject of the book and film The Blind Side.

I Beat The Odds tells a similar but slightly different tale than The Blind Side. Oher makes it perfectly clear that the Touhy family taking him in was just part of his dynamic transformation and not the only reason for his success. He does this repeatedly but not to take away the generosity of the Touhy's or to diminish the great changes that happened in his life because of the book and the film. He writes about the steps he took to get himself out of the ghetto and the life he was in because He wants others in his situation to realize that they don't have to be adopted by rich people to have changes in their life.



I really enjoyed this book. I have read many of the chapters out loud to my family and they enjoy it as well. This is an encouraging book and a must for anyone who works with or wants to help families in child services.

Fall TV 2010: My likes and dislikes

I kept track of the labels I used most in my initial 300 blog posts on this here blog. I have been counting down the top 25 labels thereof since then. Today we are bubbling under the top 10 with # 11: Television.


Even though I am unable/unwilling to watch broadcast television in its traditional venue on a television, that is not to say I do not watch television. Thanks to DVD sets I borrow from our library system and websites such as Hulu, I consume many television programs. I then in turn blog about some of them here. Many of my television posts are about the phenomenon that is Chuck. So much so that it has its own label in the top 25. Today's post will not be about my favorite nerd herder/super spy. Today's post will be about an over 30 year passion of mine.

I love the new television season. Even in the years that I consumed no television at all in any venue, I have followed the television season with much anticipation. The new television season reminds me of a new season in professional sports. You will have some winners and losers; you just can't be 100% sure of who they are going to be.

Something I have noticed over the years is that the t.v. programs often change a little after the initial or pilot episode. Sometimes it takes a show a little while to find it's way. This has taught me to give a show a second or third look even if I wasn't too thrilled initially. There are some shows however, when one look is one too many.



Thanks to Hulu and CBS.COM I have been able to watch many of the new t.v. programs for this year. In today's post I will give a quick review of each show I have so far consumed. There are some shows I have not watched yet like The Event and some shows like No Ordinary Family and Law and Order Los Angeles that have not yet premiered. Here is what I've seen so far:


Hawaii 5-0 CBS - I don't remember ever watching a full episode of the original 5-0 back when I was a kid. I of course knew the characters and the taglines and the theme song. I did watch a number of episodes from Season 2 of the original to get ready for the new one. One thing I noticed is that my 4 year old really enjoyed watching these old shows with me. I enjoyed them alright but nowhere to the point that I thought I misspent my youth or anything like that.

The new show wants to put a 21st century spin on the franchise. Here's a hint: if you want to put a 21st century spin on a show, don't hire anyone from Designing Women to play the Governor of Hawaii. It is not Smart (pun intended) casting. The first episode had some merit. I wasn't all that wowed with the plot, or action but there is a good deal of chemistry between Dan-o and McGarrett and I could imagine being there next week, aloha.

Running Wilde - Fox. I haven't been a regular viewer of a Fox comedy since Duet in the network's inaugural year. Running Wilde will not be next. While the first episode didn't exactly impress me, I did not loathe it either. The romantic coupling of an egocentric and a save the world girl is not a new thing. It has been done many times and often better than this. There is some quirky humor and it is possible I might watch it again, although highly doubtful.


Undercovers - NBC. I like spy action shows and I also like romantic comedies. So I gave this a shot. Aside from the comic relief of an assistant spy, there was not much I liked about this show. Chuck, Covert Affairs, Burn Notice and Human Target all do this genre much much better. I will give it another chance but if it continues to be Hart to Hart with action sequences, I will pass.

Chase - NBC. This is 2 shows in a row where NBC is throwing out shows that are currently being done much better. I did like Chase, but isn't this show an awful lot like In Plain Sight? One Marshall chases criminals the other relocates witnesses. The difference is that In Plain Sight so far does it with more pathos, humor and originality. I certainly will watch this one again, but I am not going to hunt it down every week.

Outlaw - NBC. A new show with Jimmy Smits definitely got my attention. I like law shows and this one showed a lot of promise, until I watched the first episode. There is just too much sex and innuendo in this show and not enough law. I decided that I would not watch a second episode but my wife said that the 2nd episode had more merit than the first. She was right. She also said something very telling: she said all the people on Smits' staff add nothing to the show. She was right about that as well.



My Generation - ABC. There are so many t.v. shows these days that are fake documentaries that it is difficult to keep track of all of them. This one stands out. in that it is a drama rather than a comedy. I didn't think that much else stood out about this show that catches up with a bunch of Austin, TX high school students from the class of 2000, 10 years later. It's an okay idea, but so far not very intriguing.


Detroit 1-8-7 - ABC. Of all the new shows I have seen,this is far and away the best. It takes the cop genre to a new level. The show had good writing, believable characters, humor and some innovative ways of telling a story. I thought I knew how the pilot would end. I pride myself on being able to figure how loose ends will be tied up in a 1 hour episode. I knew the episode would end with a certain ring tone. It was the minute before the ring tone that blew me away. I am looking forward to watching this groundbreaking show again and again.


Next time: Apple Picktures

Summer Reading Ended Before Summer Actually Did

Summer drew to a close at 3:o9 a.m. GMT 9/23 for the year of 2010. In good old Central time that is 10:09 p.m. 9/22. Summer is over and it is now time to report how I did in my Summer Reading. The answer is I did lousy. I hoped to read 20 books and read less than 10.


This is the book that did me in.



















I have heard for many years how the book was far superior to the movie. So instead of watching the movie, I got the book from the library. I found the premise of the book very captivating. Time travelers in literature, are a generally glorified lot. The idea of time travel as genetic defect is very intriguing. From the excellent prologue on, this book shows the time traveller and his wife both with many adverse effects of his disease.


I really did enjoy the dual narration from the principal characters. I especially liked when they were both describing the same scenes from differing POV. I also liked how the story moved in and out of time but still maintained a chronal cohesiveness.


However, at times the cohesiveness would slip and I would not know when or where the characters were forcing me to go back and read again. The book is also quite lengthymhich is okay when done right. The secret of a great book is no matter how long it is, when you are finished you still want to know more. If you make the book over long you run into the possibility that the reader may stop wanting to know more even before they finish reading. Or in this case, I ended up needing to have been told more than I actually was. Unanswered questions after 500 pages are in my mind never a good thing.


I often will read several books at a time and I read Time Travellers Wife in fits and spurts. In between those spurts I started several other books but only finished one.





















I am a big David Rosenfelt especially his Andy Carpenter series. Dog Tags is not one of Rosenfelt's or Carpenter's better efforts. I don't mind if his plots go to the dogs but I'd hate to see his writing head there as well.

As a whole it was a pretty good book. But there were some things on a book level and a series level that I found unsettling. On the book level, I am used to twists and turns of the legal and illegal worlds that Rosenfelt sometimes makes us privy to. However, I thought the subplot concerning the jury was either underdeveloped, poorly conceived, extremely unrealistic, or all three. on a series level, while I liked the addition of a new 2nd chair lawyer, I don't like the direction Rosenfelt seems to be heading with some of the other ensemble characters. Willie's role in this book was far too contrived. Also, I miss song talking!


So, there we have it. While I have not achieved my goal of 10 books read, I have achieved my goal of reviewing each book I did read and posting those reviews here. Sometime later this fall I hope to put up a Summer Reading 2010 page on this blog so you can have all the reviews in one more manageable place.

Next Time: Fall T.V.

Introducing the three "C's": Coleman, Calhoun, Concert

We went to a concert at church last night. It was very good. The opening act was a guy named Ben Calhoun who used to attend the same church I used to attend so I got that going for me.

Calhoun makes a great impression. He has an excellent voice, boundless energy and showed a great deal of versatilty switching from guitar to piano on the following number, A little Billy Joel like ballad which I quite enjoyed.

Sure it's a little distracting that he looks like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura Pet Detective, but he makes it work for him. After his set and a short intermission, Paul Colman took the stage. Colman, an Austrailian who spent 3 years with the Newsboys (The band not the paper deliverers,) has a unique blend of hillarity, passion and raw talent. Even those not familiar with his work would be familiar with his opening number.

Our whole family went to the concert and quite enjoyed it. The fact that both girls fell asleep during the concert, notwithstanding. Everyone was up at 6 a.m. for Amy's birthday breakfast so by 9:30 they were all pretty crashworthy.

One of my favorite parts of the concert was when Colman and Calhoun gigged together. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera had gone out, so I have no footage to share.

While Paul Coleman and Ben Calhoun have not made it on my list of top three Christian artists (Allen Levi, Michael Card, and Randy Stonehill, if you had to ask, ) last night's concert gave them a both a step in the right direction. I would highly recommend their music. And I would highly recommend sugarless gum to my patients who chew gum. I would also recommend sugarless gum to my patients who did not chew gum, but hey, that's me.

Next time: I hope she doesn't make me regret it....

Despicable Me Vs. Toy Story III

After 300 blog posts were completed on this blog earlier this year, I looked back on my 25 most used labels and from time to time I count them down here.

Label# 16 (3 way tie) Reviews

I have reviewed many things on this blog. Books, films, & music. Today I am going to compare two movies my family watched yesterday . While most of the family went to watch Toy Story III again with Amy who had not seen it yet, Spider Droid and I went to see Despicable Me.

I had taken everyone but Amy to watch Toy Story III on opening day in 3D. I can only vouch for about 90% of the movie as I made 3 runs to refill popcorn. What I did see was quite entertaining. I definitely enjoyed TS3 and would recommend it somewhat highly. (PS Amy did not like TS3 at all...she found it violent, scary, and poorly written, but that's just HER opinion, and this is NOT her blog!)

I will say though, that it is not nearly as good as the original and while I had first thought it better than TS2, I realized afterwards that much of the plot of 3 is just a reworking of 2. I also thought that the 10 (4 * $2.50) extra dollars I spent on 3-D were wasted. (The 4.50 I spent on the kids popcorn were a shrewd purchase with my multiple refill trips) The only thing that was really enhanced by the glasses were the short at the beginning and the Despicable Me trailer.

There was also a more dark side to TS3 that I thought was unneeded. Without giving away the plot, the danger the main characters were in the end caused my youngest daughter nightmares (which is why we didn't take her when Amy went yesterday.) The suspense in the other 2 films was much less scary.

I will admit that I did cry like a baby at the movie's conclusion. If the theme of the movie could have been toned down just a bit it would have been a much better ending to a fine series.

Now while TS3 was a movie that I thought would be fine for the whole family it was not, at least for ours. Despicable Me was a movie that I thought would only be suitable for Spider Droid and myself, but after watching it, I am convinced that all the kids would love it.

Despicable Me is one of those films where you laugh from beginning to end. We didn't buy popcorn this time so I can say that for the entirety of the film. The movie quickly shows it has depth beyond the premise of an aging villain trying to pull off one final evil plot.

Because of timing issues we did not see the movie in 3-D. It would have easily been worth the extra $5.00 ($2.50 * 2(Do I have to spell out everything for you?!!!!)). From the 3-D trailer I saw at TS3 and from the version we saw, it is easy to tell how the 3-D experience would add to the visual excitement of the film.

But even with all the visual excitement, it was never where I thought it would overwhelm a certain 4-year old of mine. The tone of this movie is not nearly as dark as a tale of a villain bent on evil schemes could have been. I would recommend it much more than I would TS3.

Well that's what I have for you review wise.

Next Time: Blogging Class

Things Fortnightly

I am a few book reviews behind and have decided that these reviews will be my "things" for this edition of things fortnightly.

Review 1: Down To The Wire By David Rosenfelt

David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter books are series that my wife and I enjoy very much. Down to the Wire is Rosenfelt's second foray outside the series. The result is a much more satisfying read than his previous Carpenterless contribution: Don't tell a soul.

While I still prefer the Andy Carpenter books, Down to the Wire takes some of the more evocative elements from Don't Tell a Soul and even a secondary character and creates a vibrant, humorous page turner.

Review 2: A Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova

This book is a memoir of Soviet life from the late 1950's through the 70's. Gorkhova presents a sometimes sentimental and sometime sardonic view of growing up Russian.

Having lived in Russia from 1992 to 1994 this book really struck a chord with me. While my Russian experience was in a different continent (I lived in Far East Russia and she lived in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg ) in Europe and both Gorokhova and her mother (the 2 principal characters) in the book were both residing in New Jersey by the time my Russian adventures began, Their Russia and my Russia were eerily similar.

This enchanting memoir really swept me off my feet. Her use of the English language is much more powerful than my own and it is not her native language. I would have liked to have read more about her husband and daughter. But like most good books, you are left wanting more.

Review 3: Autumn With the Moodys by Sarah Maxwell

A few years ago I picked up this book at a home school seminar. It is the second a four book series. My daughter Emma really enjoyed it, so this Summer I read it to the whole family, a chapter at a time after dinner.

It is the story of a home school family with 4 children and a 5th on the way. This particular book follows their exploits through the season of Autumn. While the book is based on the author's own family, it reads like a fiction in comparison to our own family. The children get along with each other and are generally obedient and compliant.

I was actually pretty surprised that all 3 of my kids like the book when our own life is so different than theirs. I would highly recommend this book, but be prepared if your family doesn't stack up. Another feature of a good book is that it leaves you wanting more for yourself.

Those are all the things I have for today. If you would like to share your things link them below.

Next Time: A rant about a beer commercial

Six Word Book Review

I am trying to write book reviews about all the books I read this summer. Book reviews take time and that's not always a commodity I spend well so I decided to try a six word review.

The book:

The Review: Riordan's Myth book does not miss!

A few extra words: The first paragraph and the chapter titles (Chapter 1: I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher + Chapter 10:I ruin a perfectly good bus are some of my favorites) alone make the book worth the time it took me to read.

I originally read it to discover if it was appropriate for my 8 year old son. My verdict is this: I don't think He is ready for it yet. Perhaps when He is 10. That isn't to say it isn't for any 8 year olds. I just thought that there were certain aspects of the book that I don't think He is ready for. I think any adults who are wondering what this series (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) is all about should read the book themselves. I think you will enjoy it and be able to make a good determination as to whether your own child would like it.

To review more Six Word Saturday head over to Showmyfacedotcom.

Next Time: Catching Up.

A Good Book

The Best of Good by Sara Lewis is the second book this summer I have read at my wife's recommendation. Like The Help, it is a fantastic read.

Tom Good, the protagonist, is a living testament to the phrase, "You are never too old to be immature." Good, for some compelling reasons had never grown up.

To call Good conflicted would be like calling Lake Michigan wet. A bartender who's never touched the stuff. A musician whose only successes were "fakes."

Good's life, the tumultuous past, and the stilted present come together when he hears that an old girlfriend is in town and that she has a son that looks just like Good did at that age. This propels Good to examine himself and leads to a story of a life turned around.

The Best of Good is in some ways reminiscent of Judith Guest's Ordinary People and in others of Nick Hornby's About a Boy. The way Lewis crafts this book is masterful. Late in the book, a quilting storyline is introduced. Lewis has actually quilted Good's story for us. She brings out disparate parts of his character and history throughout the narrative and brings all these pieces together by the end of the novel.

Next Time: Soccer Pics Kick

Robin Hood - A Review

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle is by any definition a classic work of children's literature.

I just read the above pictured edition (Available at Amazon).

Even if you are well acquainted with the legend and have seen the movies and television programs there are many stories here that I have not seen in film. Even the familiar tales of Robin Hood's first meetings Little John and Friar Tuck both come to life here in more detail than I had previously encountered. The encounter with Friar Tuck is my kid's favorite part and they often quote it and make themselves laugh in the process.

The book originally published in 1883 still has a freshness and originality to it. The adventures are as enjoyable and intriguing as if they were just told for the first time. One aspect of the writing that both dates the book and casts it in a bad light is it's stereotypical treatment of Jewish people. This may have been acceptable in the late 1900's but I was surprised these crude comments weren't edited out of modern editions. Unlike Mark Twain's derogatory language in Huck Finn, I don't see any purpose educational or literary to keep them in the book.

The Maid Marian is the only notable figure missing from Pyle's stories. This makes the book heavy on adventure and light on romance. This suited me and my Son quite fine. (He hates it when his adventure stories are interrupted with kissing).

The edition pictured above features some fine discussion questions by Arthur Pober Ed. D. Next fall I am going to read the book to my kids as part of school and use some of the discussion questions for writing assignments.

Next Time: Home School Conference.

Schemers - A Review

I have been reading Bill Pronzini's nameless detective books since I was in high school. During that span of over 25 years Pronzini has been cranking out these noir classics of the pulp collecting detective. Over the years Nameless has gone from a single operative to a family man who has operatives working for him.

This has allowed Pronzini the ability to write multiple cases at once intertwining a theme throughout the narrative. The 2009 nameless installment Schemers has two cases involving nameless and his operative Jake Runyon matching wits against an emotionally unstable stalker and the perpetrator a seemingly unsolvable book heist.

Pathos and description are two of Pronzini's signature traits. He deftly handles both in Schemers. From the eerie prologue to nameless's closing victory over an old friend/nemesis, Pronzini shows why he was recently named A Mystery Writers of America Grand Master.

In terms of storyline and character development Pronzini was not at his best. There were some plot points that I thought were not as fully explained as some of his previous points. There was some ambiguity that I thought would make the story more palpable if it could have been resolved. That being said, Bill Pronzini's Schemers is still a worthy addition to this long running series.

Next Time: You only have what they wrote.

Good help and a good book are hard to find.

My wife and I both love books. She loves reading them and I love having them. See. I'm a keeper and she's not. Don't get me wrong she's definitely a keeper. She's worth keeping around and then some, but she doesn't need to own a book once she's read it. I probably have 100 or more books at home that I have never read. She probably read 100 books this year that she does not own.

So when Amy read a book earlier this Spring and wanted to read it again, and now tells me she wants to own it, I knew it must something special.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is indeed, something special. The story takes place in 1960's Jackson, Mississippi during the Civil Rights period. Stockett turns in a beautiful, poignant book that is at turns hilarious, harrowing and heartbreaking. (The alliteration society called and they want their h back.)

The Help is one of those books that tells first person narrative of the same events in multiple voices. It has been my experience that in books like theses,one of the voices is usually more realistic or fleshed out than the others. When that happens I generally wish they told us the story in one strong voice rather than adding in several lesser ones. This is not so with The Help. Skeeter, Abileen and Minnie, are all complete characters adding their own distinct pathos to the tale.

The tale itself is the story of how African American domestic servants raise white southern children from birth, often becoming closer to these children than the parents themselves. It is a story of how these 3 heroic women from diverse backgrounds begin to chronicle the good, bad and ugly of this way of life in the deep south.

When you have a story with heroes, you need villains and The Help has one of the best (worst) evil characters that I have seen in print in quite a while. Skeeter's childhood friend puts a face on racism. Hilly shows us from the first chapter that above all else she cares about keeping the lines between black and white clear, distinct and unequal. Watching Hilly ruin the lives and livelihoods of anyone who dares cross her is sobering.

Stockett does an excellent job building tension in The Help. She would bring out some snippet of character development and then let us ruminate on it for 100 pages before developing it further. There were also several unexpected twists and turns along the way.

The best part of the Help is the dialogue. Each of the main characters has a lovely way of expressing themselves rich in colloquial expressions. My favorite part was when Abileen told her young charge Mae Mobely about a special man from space, Martian Luther King, who was hated because he was green.

The first book I read during my Summer reading plan, is always the best I've read at least until I finish another. After starting with The Help, I am not sure how any books will be able to overtake this one.

Next Time: Conventional Wisdom

One Million Arrows Blog Tour

Sunday March 7th, 2010

12:34 p.m.

I have never been very good at deadlines. I am a champion procrastinator. I could even be a better one, but I keep putting off practicing.



About a month and a half ago, Julie Ferwerda contacted me about reading and reviewing her book One Million Arrows. She even sent me a copy of the book. I began reading it at once; the first two chapters were amazing. I set it aside expecting to finish it soon. Life happens, as it often does and as 2010 has been a busy, stressful year so far, it got missed.



I was supposed to go to church, visit my new nephew and go to an Oscar Party today. But I have been sidelined with a sore throat and other illnesses and opted to stay home. I may try to make the Oscar Party tonight if my health improves (Hey, I have my priorities). After resting for a few hours, I checked my e-mail to receive Julie's reminder that today is the last day of her blog tour. Seeing as I have some time on my hands without the pitter patter of my darling rug rats (for the record we have a wood floor), I will read as much of the book as I can in the next few hours and report back in.

4:33 P.M

I have read most of the book and I can highly recommend it to all. It is a book about, if I could quote the Flash Dance theme song for a moment, taking your passion and making it happen. It's actually a book about taking God's passion and making it happen. It tells the story of M.A. "PAPA" Thomas and his vision of using orphans to change the world.

The book is broken up in 3 parts Gather, Sharpen and Launch. Each section tells a little of Papa's story but generally give practical insights and inspiration from other believer's whom Ferwerda calls arrows.

The book reaffirms some basic concepts that I already believe. One is that we should not let the church raise our kids but have the parents take that responsibility. As a father, I have been failing too long in taking the leadership of our home. I would like my children to make an impact in this world for Christ. In order to do that I need practical insights on how to do that. I believe Mrs. Ferwerda does just that. I also need to just do it (first Flash Dance, now Nike).

I recommend than you read this book and then take one thing and start applying it. I am going to start working through the Westminster Catechism with my 10 year old as one of the Arrow Makers in the book does.

Head on over to OneMillionArrows.com to see how to get a copy of this magnificent book. The book is available at Amazon for $ 13.95. As a regular Amazon shopper I know that with any qualifying purchase of $25.00 or more that there is a free shipping option. So you might want to consider buying a copy for a friend as well. Click here to go to the book's page on Amazon.

That's enough being salesman Joe, I now revert to blog guy Dave to tell you this . . .



Next Time: Structured and Unstructured

Poems for Children Nowhere Near Old Enough to Vote.

In preparing for our unit on poetry I checked out many volumes from famous poets. Being from Illinois, Carl Sandburg came to mind. Carl Sandburg lived from 1878 to 1967. Poems for Children Nowhere Near Old Enough to Vote is a volume of his work found and published after his death. I like everything about this book: the title, the introduction, Istvan Banyai's clever illustrations, and especially the poems.

The poems are about body parts and common objects. There is simplicity and logic in them. The first four lines of "pencils" gives us a glimpse of this:

Pencils are to hold when you write.
Pencils come loose unless you hold them.
One pencil writes many thousand words, if you know the words.
Pencils too pointed break their points and then laugh at you.

I enjoyed sharing these poems with my kids. I think the benefited from seeing how to look at familiar things from differing perspectives. In another of his poems, Sandburg describes music by saying, it is when your ears like what they hear. If poetry can be described as when your eyes like what you see, I would have to say Poems for Children Nowhere Near Old Enough to Vote is pure poetry.


Next Time: Sickness Disease

Six Word Saturday

As I wrote earlier this week, I took the week off, for the most part to concentrate on regular old life. Any blogging I did do was in preparation for the blog carnivals I am hosting next week.

Well, I am back and back with my contribution to Six Word Saturday.

Here goes . . .

Six words for blogging. Reviews: four.

I really like Six Word Saturdays at Show my Face.com. It is a challenge to condense your week into six words. I guess that's why I enjoyed The four world film review (FWFR) so much.

It is strikingly similar to Six Word Saturdays but it is relegated to film reviews. Your reviews can be less than 4 words but not more than 5. The idea is you submit these film reviews and then they are either accepted or rejected by the editorial staff at fwfr. Once accepted then your reviews can be voted on by other members if they enjoyed them. From 2005 to 2008 I had 657 reviews approved which is good for 105th all time of fwfr reviewers.

My first review was of the movie Return to Me. (Love grows where transplanted).

I have reviewed films from 3 different centuries: Edison's Kinetoscopic record of a sneeze from 1894 (Lights. Camera. Ahchoo), 1986's Peggy Sue Got Married (Turner ignores time warner), and Crash from 2004 (Six degrees of segregation).

Other reviews I am quite fond of are

Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace: First shall be fourth.

Cars - Herbie Fully downloaded.

Legend of Bagger Vance: Golf War Syndrome.

Wizard of Oz: Garland's dream role.

Braveheart: Wallace lethal weapon too.

Emperor's New Groove: Me llama, David Spade.

American President: 1600 (Pennsylvania) First Dates.

Jonah: A Veggietales Movie - Animal, Vegetable, Biblical.

I especially enjoyed the ones where I actually was able to make salient points about the film even while making a pun or two. For example . . .

A River Runs Through It: Redford's Reel - Great Casting.

Breaking Away: Cycling down 'Rocky' road.

I mentioned that I used to like fwfr. I still do. I just kind of grew out of it. Writing 657 film reviews in 3 years will do that to a guy. I recently submitted a few new reviews. One that was just accepted was: The Dark Knight (Knight dark. Joker Darker.)

I will leave you today with four word reviews of my 3 favorite movies of all time.

I'll just say the reviews without the titles. The first person ( who is not my wife.) who can give me the correct title of each film will win a bag of ramen soup.

1. Angel gives Christmas absence.

2. Swampdwelling Muppet becomes star.

3. Brother drowns. Mother frowns.

So those are my six words about four words. To see more Six words click here. For more reviews, albeit book reviews longer than 4 words, come back tomorrow for the Book Review Blog Carnival.

Next Time: Book Review Blog Carnival. Didn't I just say that?

Christmas On The Radio

Amy and I both enjoy the theatre. While neither of us has seen a Broadway show, Amy has seen several shows in London and I have seen fine performances at other cities with a tradition of stage excellence such as Khabarovsk, Russia and Louisville, Kentucky.


We also like to see shows in Elgin, Illinois and it's little sister city, Chicago. Amy will sometimes give her family members the gift of going to a show. Last year, she bought tickets for her Mom and Aunt to see a stage production of the movie "It's a Wonderful Life", performed as a radio play. Say that with a cookie in your mouth!


I mean it! Go get a cookie! I'll wait.



Amy's Mom and Aunt both enjoyed the show and I thought it might be a nice one for Amy and I to attend at some point.



So, this summer, when I saw the 2009 schedule for an Elgin theatre, I was glad to see they were putting on "It's A Wonderful Life" on December 5th, I bought 2 tickets for the 2:00 show and decided to surprise Amy with them as an early Christmas present.

By definition, as a surprise, Amy did not know about it beforehand, In retrospect, I should have done some sort of save the date thing. Amy scheduled Lucy's Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party at the exact same time and I didn't notice the double booking until we had already sent out the invites.

Providentially, there were two shows and I was able to switch our tickets to the late show without giving away the surprise to Amy. On Saturday after Lucy's party, Amy and I went out to a dice dinner and then I took her to the play.

The premise of the show is that it's Christmas time in the 1940's and a radio station is about to do a live performance of "It's A Wonderful Life." A snow storm keeps the majority of the cast from getting to the station. We are told at the onset, that if the show does not go on, the radio station will fail. This forces 2 of the support staff and 2 of the actors to play all the roles and to do the sounds.

What followed was a delight for all in attendance. It's one thing to hear a drama on the radio, but to watch actors literally having a conversation with themselves as they play two roles is astounding. Amy especially liked watching the actors make use of facial expressions and other body language while performing their lines. I liked watching the actors running from one mike to another or to the sound table to make sure the scene got properly executed. It was very interesting to be both behind the scenes and in the audience at the same exact moment.

Next Time: Dude! Where's Your Manners?

The Man who Loved Books Too Much.

Book Stealer: Sociopath or misunderstood collector?

I have written HERE before about Library Things Early Reviewer program. It's a great program. I especially like it because it gives me the opportunity to add books to my library without paying for them. Certainly, I need to review the books to better my chances of winning more in the future. But since I am at least as passionate about blogging as I am about reading, it certainly does make for fun on a budget.

My most recent free book from Library Thing, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much. It is the fantastic but true account of a criminal stealer of books, the used book seller turned detective who brought him to justice, and the author whose own obsession threatens to impede the impartial chronicling of the story and make her a character in the tale as well.

If you are the type of person who skips introductions, prefaces, and prologues in works of nonfiction.and saunters right down to Chapter 1, don't make that mistake here! Allison Hoover Bartlett crafts a gripping page turner from the first sentence of said prologue. From there she chronicles the obsessions of the 3 main characters of her book.

First is the titular star of the book, John Charles Gilkey. The word sociopath does not appear in the 258 pages from prologue to afterward, unless you contend as I do, that Gilkey is a walking definition of the word.

My Merriam-Websters dictionary defines sociopath as "see psychopath", and defines sociopathic as "of relating to, or characterized by asocial or antisocial behavior or a pyschopathic personality". Neither of those definitions prove to be very illuminating, so I ambled over to Dictionary.com where they define sociopath as "a person, as a psychopathic personality, whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience." It is the last part of the definition that describes Gilkey. Here is a man amassing hundred of thousands of dollars of rare books by credit card fraud, who refers to his activities by benign words like "I got a book here," rather than saying I used bad check and stolen credit card numbers to steal those books.

Gilkey sees people in two categories 1) people to impress with his collection and 2) people to help further his collection. The problem is because of the way he obtains his books, there is no one who can possibly fit in the first category. That is, until he begins to use the author and the promise of being featured in her magazine article and books as an audience to impress.

The second obsessed character chronicled by Bartlett is Ken Sanders, the lapsed Mormon turned bookseller turned detective. Sanders is obsessed with justice. While he is very eager to share his stories of how rampant and destructive thievery and fraud is in the rare book industry, he is very reluctant to have Gilkey portrayed as anything other than twisted and depraved. His obsession with justice is so strong he often asks Bartlett if her readers will find him more crazy than Gilkey.

Finally, the third obsession is that of Bartlett, the chronicler of this tale. While Gilkey's obsession is collecting books he can't or won't pay for, and Sander's obsession is keeping legitimate collectors safe, and bring illegitimate ones to justice, Bartlett's is more difficult to define. Her obsession is with collecting their stories. In doing so she becomes so involved that Gilkey begins to show her "probably" stolen goods and confessing many crimes. He even tours a bookstore that he has stolen from with her. She gets so intertwined in his dealings that, she must seek legal advice to make sure she has not crossed the line from chronicler to codefendant. Her angst translates well to the page and adds to the readers' enjoyment.

In the books afterword (also a must read), says "this story had me under its spell from beginning to end." Many writers write stories that they are enchanted by, sometimes these stories are crushed under the weight of such enchantment. Bartlett deftly manages to mesmerize the reader under the same spell. I recommend it for your collection. I urge you to pay for it.

To see more SIX WORD SATURDAY go to Show my Face dot com. Also get ready to participate this coming Thursday in Three Things this Thursday.

Next Time: I thought we all knew the President's address.