My friend Shelly recommended I read this book and I trust her so I purchased it and I finally got to it this past Feb 2009.  I have to say it was quite interesting, I was expecting a religious, preachy novel about hell and damnation but I was surprised to be actually, totally into it while I was reading it.  The ending let me down because he did such a fantastic job of leaving it up to the reader to believe what they wanted to believe happened.  Then at the end, he explained it….at least that’s how I felt after reading the last Part….having somewhat of a medical background it all made sense.  I didn’t want it to make sense; I wanted my imagination to continue to ponder everything I had read and I loved having that feeling of ethereal wonder and spiritual introspection……this text made me question my beliefs.  Maybe I’m just showing how incredibly inept I actually am but I didn’t get the purpose of the ending.  I truly enjoyed myself and thank you Shelly……got any other great suggestions?  I passed the book on to a friend as the epilogue suggested I do and I’m writing the review here as the prologue suggested I do……I guess I’m doing my part to start the “movement” that they are hoping for.  ha ha ha.  It’s worth the read either way.

I chose this book from a literary catalog, probably a year ago or so and it has sat at the bottom of my steps, in my bottom-of-the-steps-should-read-next pile since then. I finished it around February this year 2009, starting it on a plane as usual.  I was wanting to read something entertaining and I hadn’t picked up a western since my initial venture into that genre two summers ago with Louis La’more, I felt it was time again and this one promised a female heroin. She delivered, I must say. The plot twisted around and wafted back and forth through time until you really weren’t sure what happened and when and I couldn’t put it down. You must read it, it’s an interesting twist on a western set up and you will fall in love with her characters and you will sympathize with our female heroin. Trust me.

I’m not sure why I purchased this book. I started reading this one on my return trip from Canada this year and boy was it a doozey. I had to keep reading because the premise of the main character is so outlandish and unbelievable he/she gave the author complete cart blanche to turn her/him into anything he absolutely wanted and reason through it to make you believe the story was possible.

Very funny, at times I would talk to my friends about a twist I came upon in the book because I felt I just had to share the ridiculousness of this story. There is definitely a “Forrest Gump” type quality to the way the story is told and it’s an interesting idea to think that one person could succomb to all of the changes in their lifetime and still come out of it sane.

I’d say it was worth the read but I have to also say that I closed the book after the last page saying to myself: “Oh boy.” while scratching my head. You’ve got to be the judge, you’ve got to read it to fully understand what I’m saying. We can discuss once you’re through.

This is a book I probably read around Christmas time of 2006, it really reminded me of growing up on the farm, so much so that I lent it to my Dad and he read it and loved it as much as I did. I re-read it recently and it was just as wonderful.

This woman did what I would love to do but I know I’ll never have the guts. She was raised on a farm but separated from it in adulthood and then she bought a farm in the Catskills and lived alone there with her 150+sheep, geese, chickens, pig, dogs etc. She renovated the 100-year-old-and-then-some house and the outbuildings mostly herself, she fed the animals alone; even during the winter, and she loves that life alone in the country.

The book is about her life there and how she survived in order to ensure that her animals survived. It’s a wonderful account of her cunningness and struggles with success at such an endeavor later in one’s life. Very inspiring and, as I mentioned, I just wish I had her heart. I would probably be looking for my own farm right this minute but I’m too spoiled by modern day society and trinkets.

I have to say first that I love Garrison Keillor so I didn’t even preview this book, I just bought it without even knowing what it was about. (By the way, check it out on Saturday nights on NPR; that would be radio, usually in the 80s or 90s on your FM dial: “Prairie Home Companion” An extremely hilarious, old-fashioned radio show.)  I read this book on the way to, and during, a business trip to Canada earlier this year 2008.

You absolutely can’t go wrong with a book whose first line of the first chapter is: “Evelyn was an insomniac so when they say she died in her sleep, you have to question that.” So funny! My kind of funny anyway. This book is full of life, death, sarcasm, family issues, morbid humor, sex, and life after death. You won’t be able to put it down, you’re going to love it.

Curl up and get lost in Lake Wobegon…I try to, every chance I get.

Very interesting time twister. Albom never ceases to peak my interest in the realm of the unknown. Or should I say…the possibility or probability of life after death? This is an interesting play by play of one person’s trip through a life changing event. I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out exactly what was happening or what would happen next….quick read because you won’t want to put it down until you finish it. I loved this book! Let me know what you thought.

I read this book on my flight to Salt Lake City in April of this year 2008, I got through it that quickly so when I say a quick read I mean it.  I brought along another book, just in case I finished this one, for the return flight:  The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald.  I’m still getting through that one page by page because once my travel was over in April, work got even more time consuming and I haven’t given myself the time I should to read for pleasure.  Have to work on that because I’m sure “The Egg” is a good one.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I was in Hastings and I was looking for Shopgirl and this was right there next to it so I bought both books. I love his use of the English language and the way he tells the story of these slightly less than normal humans. Definitely an amusing summer read.

Great little novel….movie isn’t bad either. Please check this one out; you won’t regret it.

I probably read this one early on in 2007.  A book of relationships and an insight into the lonliness of being single.  I love the use of the English language as is always a given with Steve Martin.  “Propinquity:-nearness in space, time, or relationship.  I read his books with a dictionary close by so I don’t loose on ounce of inflection.

At times sad, at times hilarious, reality always.

My January read, a Christmas gift from a friend who gets me.

I loved this book because everything Mr. Welsch said about moving to the country after living in the city is so true. My favorite parts were the stories of the attitudes of the people who have lived in the small town and rural area their entire lives and how reserved they are about a “stranger” moving in. I could relate completely. It takes years and years for them to accept that you are staying, to accept you as one of their own, and to treat you like your are not a complete imposition in their lives. Once they do though, it’s like having a huge extended family…you would never feel that with city living.

Okay, so I wanted to read one of Louis L’Amour’s books at the recommendation of a new friend…..well, not so much his recommendation as to try and figure out what the fuss was all about….maybe get up in his head a little. I’m an open-minded gal and I sincerely believe that no written word is a waste of my time. Some things you like and some you don’t but they change your gray matter in one way or another regardless.

I had my daughter go into the basement of the local library where they keep more than 100 of this author’s greatest works and pick me out one. She did, back at the beginning of June…I tend to read a page at a time because that is all I seem to have time for. There was a coincidence noted in the first chapter that had me hooked right off. The “death horse” or the horse that brought on so much bad luck that they branded it with a skull and cross bones was named Robin! Well…..after that I knew I had to finish this one soon.

My friend, if you are reading, it’s now mid July and I have finally finished my “virgin western”. What I would like to know is what is the name of the sequel because this surely can not be the end of this story. You know all about this guy….what book comes next and/or tell me what happens next! You can’t end a book like that! Do they all end that way? I searched for a good 5 minutes to find another chapter, page, word, something! Can anyone out there help me?

Otherwise, not bad. Light reading and I got so caught up in the scenic descriptions I wanted to get out a map and follow his adventure along; definitely worth the abrupt discharge at the close. Favorite line: “She was right behind me before I realized. I smelled her before I heard her, she moved that quiet.”