THIS IS HOW H LP FOR THE SELF

This is How  Help For The Self  Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness Molestation Fatness Spinsterhood Grief Disease Lushery Decrepitude and More  For young and Old Alike by Augusten Burroughs - And there's a little mirror on the cover just in case you think that your self might not need any help! Augusten Burroughs is an expert at overcoming personal hardships and getting his life together, so of course his self help book is good reading.  The answer as always is, you gotta wanna, and you really can do it when you decide to do it. (Whatever "it" is). Recommended, especially for those who read self helps all the time but never get anywhere.  You might find that you're already there!  Or you might find that one little nugget of information that helps you finally push past your block and find a better way to live with yourself. 

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS * THE SILVER STAR * FLYING CHANGES

  The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman - The title of this book is beyond reproach, and it perfectly describes one of the main, albeit inanimate, characters. It's a love story that takes place in Australia in the early 20th century and many people have loved this book. Me, not so much. There are too many flowery descriptions of nature, and something about the author's voice which I can't pin down but which was impersonal while telling a personal story. So while it's good, and while it gets really suspenseful, I could picture it all happening in Lifetime-movie form as I was reading.

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls - Fabulous. This is fiction by Jeannette Walls, narrated by a precocious 13 year old girl in the 1970s. I couldn't put it down. It reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird, and I loved all the characters, I loved the story, and I'd read it again someday. All the highest praise for the best book I've read in ages. If you only have time for one, and you and I have similar taste in books, make it this one.Flying Changes by Sara Gruen - Sara Gruen wrote Like Water For Elephants which I loved. I expected similar with Flying Changes, but it's actually a modern story about horses and families and stables. It's a fast read, and it gets better as it goes along. So much stuff happens to the main character that it gets unbelievable, but that's the kind of book it is. It's a run of the mill book and story for the horse people. Apparently there is another book about these characters, which I may or may not read. Sorry Sara! I am going to recommend it to my horse friends, though! Did you notice that I've written this post with only one space following the period on my sentences? I'm a super fast typist (sorry, make that keyboardist) and learned to follow a period with two spaces. When I do this when writing to or in front of my son, he can't stand it, so I decided to get with it and train my flying fingers to the new "standard". I'm not sure I like it, though. Paragraphs look too dense and take me longer to read, and then I tune out. What to do?

Z - A NOVEL OF ZELDA FITZGERALD * BEING ESTHER

Z - A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler - Zelda led such an interesting life that she didn't really need fictionalization. When I was young I read all the biographies about F. Scott Fitzgerald and his flapper wife, Zelda, and by all accounts they were fun and crazy and a little messed up. There wasn't as much to learn about Zelda in those days, especially about the time after she "went mad". In today's enlightened world, we can read a novel by an author who did extensive research and brings Zelda to life with actions and conversations and thoughts. I liked getting to know this Zelda who maybe wasn't so crazy or different after all. This Zelda is intelligent, but still a product of her times. She followed her man and when she doubted him, although he loved her, his insecurities led him to treat her with the superiority that was his due in those times. Here, however, Zelda's memory is treated with respect and she is remembered by a wider audience than she ever would have imagined.Being Esther by Mariam Karmel - What is it like to grow old? The question we all have, but don't always have answered. In this novel, 85 year old Esther lets us know what it's like to be her, in her body, in her thoughts, in these times, and with these people who know her. There is something compelling about this book. I'm glad that it crossed my path.