SILENT BUT DEADLY by Mark Tatulli

If you ever have had the experience of being caught off guard with the most hilarious moment and laughing so hard that you blew grape juice (or whatever you were drinking) through your nose , I can guarantee you that you will have a comparable repeat laughter outburst with Silent But Deadly: Another Lio Collection .

So…

You have been warned.

No fluids (or Cocoa Puffs) while reading this book.

Artist, Mark Tatulli, creates a silent world filled with the dark imagination of a little boy, Liō; a child that happens to love his pet squid, monsters, and a crabby little girl named Eva.

Tatulli’s creation is wonderfully original, yet reflects some of the bizarre humor of my personal favorites like: Gary Larson, Berkeley Breathed , and Charles Addams .

Although I am usually very generous about sharing books from my personal library, Silent But Deadly: Another Lio Collection, is staying right here with me.

Nope…

you can’t have my copy,
and I’ll send an undead bunny after you if you try to take it!




LORETTA'S RATING:

(5 out of 5 stars)



Silent But Deadly available at You Are What You Read Book Store

LEARN MORE:


Lio — Gocomics.com: Comics, editorial cartoons, email comics, comic strips

Interview with Mark Tatulli

THE STREETS OF BABYLON by Carina Burman Translated by Sarah Death

Take a Swedish literature scholar ( who also happens to be a very talented novelist), toss in a Victorian era mystery in London, add in a fictional narcissistic mystery writer by the name of Euthanasia Bondeson, and some sleuthing through such places as a “molly house” for cross dressing gentlemen of 1851 during the Great Exhibition…

Well…

You have the makings of an absolutely delightful who done it.

The Streets of Babylon: A London Mystery is the first book of a trilogy. I certainly look forward to reading the rest of this series.

And just a post note for those of you weary of translations… this book was seamless. If I had not been told, I would not have been aware that this work was translated from Swedish to English.

ENJOY!

4 out of 5 stars


The Streets of Babylon available at You Are What You Read Book Store

More Books from Marion Boyars Publishers

THE SPIRIT OF THE PLACE by Samuel Shem

RELEASE DATE: June 2008

On the surface The Spirit of the Place could be looked upon as a romantic novel about a physician who must grudgingly return to his hometown upon receiving word of his mother’s death.

Relationships ensue, old wounds are reopened, insights are gained, and life moves on. But, that is truly not what this story is about.

This work is layered with theme upon theme about being wounded, being forgiven, and learning to bloom where you are planted.

The central character of this story, Dr. Orville Rose, holds within him repulsion towards the physical deformities that can afflict a human.

How many healers enter into their profession in order to heal something that has been deformed in their own lives?

Such is the case for Dr. Rose, who learns that as his heart of stone melts to a heart of flesh that he has been crippled. He finds that he has been handicapped throughout his life with emotional burdens carried with him from childhood, and the complicated fresh grief over the death of his mother.

“It’s not how we’re crippled… it’s how we walk.” (p.330)

3 out of 5 stars

The Spirit of the Place available at You Are What You Read Book Store




Samuel Shem is the pen name of Dr. Stephen J. Bergman. You can learn more using the links below:

AUTHOR’S OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

The Official Website of Samuel Shem


MORE BOOKS by SAMUEL SHEM:





AVAILABLE ON DVD:

Hazelden -- Bill W and Dr Bob DVD

AND…

Here’s a list of more books about doctors (from a terrific med student):

Giving Thanks by Iyanla Vanzant (Audio)

I have entered a new terrain; the world of audio books.

Our public library system now has OverDrive--Library Services which allows one to download library audio books from the comfort of the home computer.

I have gotten totally hooked.

Though, I have discovered that having fiction read aloud doesn’t work well for me. I don’t want to hear someone else interpret the characters’ voices or their pacing. I don’t want be distracted by the narrator’s vocal idiosyncrasies.

But, when I get to non-fiction works…WOW!

Put the headphones on and let those babies go!

I have been gulping down biographies, political science, business books, and on a lark I downloaded an inspirational piece from a name I am familiar with, Iyanla Vanzant, although I really couldn’t tell anyone why that name would be familiar.

The whole UNABRIDGED audio book plays through in 90 minutes. Much of this time is spent listening to the narrator (who happens to be the author) b-r-e-a-t-h-i-n-g… very, very, very…s—l—o—w—l—y.

I realized that this book was not meant for me. While listening to this woman’s pleasant voice, I felt the experience to be too intimate. Her resonant voice sliding directly into my brain via my heavy duty headphones was… um, well… embarrassingly overwhelming.

I was looking for inspiration and I got meditation.

Although her topic is quite a good idea… live life with an attitude of gratitude… reciting my gratitude for my strong healthy hips just didn’t float for me. The author also spoke of attracting the positive to one’s self.

I lurch at anything that smacks of the latest wave of “laws of attraction” in which people attract gobs of wealth to themselves. I found my mind drifting during the listening wondering if this was another one of those “you get what you deserve” mantra.

That whole wishing for stuff spirituality is older than old. I remember fondly in the 1980’s when my friend, Ellen, entered into a yoga group. I think she was seeking enlightenment. After a few of these yoga classes Ellen informed me over a glass of wine that the group was about “meditating for toasters” and other snappy household items. I laughed, she shrugged, and she avoided yoga classes for over a decade after that experience.

I sure hope that is not what Iyanla Vanzant ‘s work is about.

Unfortunately, this morning while preparing this review, I found out that the author appears on Oprah’s television show frequently.


Uh-oh.

May I mention that I have acquired an Oprah aversion? I fear that the mighty O is getting an empress complex.

So who may benefit from this audio cd?

I can think of several people.

If you are feeling down about your body image, this work is for you. If you need help with anxiety, this work is for you. If you feel overwhelmed by life, overloaded by a cascade of negative experiences to the point where you can not see one shimmer of light… yes, this would be a good one for you to listen to.

As for me and my unenlightened happy to be middle class messy big hipped self? Thanks Ms. Vazant for the reminder to be grateful for what I already have.

Amen to that!


Giving Thanks available at You Are What You Read Book Store

Feather Man by Rhyll Master

Not everyone will be able to read this book.

The story opens with the horrendous details of childhood sexual abuse told fearlessly in the disassociated voice so common among those who survive such trauma. Readers may want to close the book and walk away because the human suffering is so raw. But, those who have survived such attacks know that this turning away is what the world perpetually does to the abused; the ones who must emotionally disconnect in order to survive another day with some sanity still intact.

I beg the reader to stay put, sit down, read, and learn.

According to United States statistics, 1 out of 4 girls are sexually abused before reaching age 18. ( Statistics, Prevalence and Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse )

ONE OUT OF EVERY FOUR GIRLS.

I believe it is safe to say that for many of us statistics are just numbers. Considering the immensity of those six words written above one can hardly wrap their brain around what these numbers reflect.

The best way to begin understanding the impact of sexual abuse is to learn one story at a time.

Feather Man is a such a story. This book is a chronicle of the never ceasing burning pain that smolders within the psyche when the child’s body has been violated. The narrator/victim, Sookie, describes the suffering as a chook* pecking at her heart.

Author, Rhyll McMaster, masterfully draws from her lifetime as a poet to maintain two reflections of Sookie’s journey into womanhood: Sookie’s life as reflected by her relationship with four men, and Sookie’s interior dialogue that presses the story forward to an unexpected conclusion.

The author states that Feather Man is strictly a work of fiction, but her writing completely encompasses those subtle nuances that a survivor will recognize instantaneously. Rhyll McMaster has channeled and put into words the silences that keep sexual abuse locked deep in the mind. Any one who has survived trauma such as Sookie’s will certainly find a narrative voice that may help to define the darkness that has rooted deeply into the injured heart.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who works with survivors of sexual abuse, those who have been some way along on the journey to healing from abuse, and to anyone who truly desires insight into the interior lives of many women.


*chicken

Feather Man available at You Are What You Read Book Store

LINKS




CHAPTER 1 Excerpt

rhyllmcmaster.com

Literary Ventures Fund

The Reader's Journey

Confusion rages

from the noise of the television,

the stereo,

the computer,

the traffic outside,

the dog barking in the yard,

the neighbor's vacuum cleaner roaring

through shrill sirens racing to another emergency

as the boom box on the sidewalk resonates

and shakes the fillings in my teeth.

Unperturbed,

I lay down silently with my quiet companion,

opening the leaves

that submerge

into a forest of light green words,

small seeds

ready to plant

in an eager heart

fertile with the thirst for knowledge.

This is the journey of a reader.

copyright, 2008, Loretta Kelly

Reading Quotations

"Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors." Joseph Addison (1672-1719)



Thomas Moore:
"The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul."



"Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house. "
- Henry Ward Beecher



"A library is a hospital for the mind. " Anonymous



"I divide all readers into two classes: Those who read to remember and those who read to forget. "
- William Phelps



"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life." Mortimer J. Adler (b.1902)

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed and digested."
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

"He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, as in all fortunes."
-Barrow

"All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality -- the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape."
- Arthur Christopher Benson

"A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators."
-Malcolm Bradbury (b.1932)

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." -Ray Bradbury (b.1920)

"There are three schoolmasters for everybody that will employ them -- the senses, intelligent companions, and books. "
-Henry Ward Beecher

"Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are" is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you reread.
-François Mauriac

"October is crisp days and cool nights, a time to curl up around the dancing flames and sink into a good book."
- John Sinor





"I've never known any trouble that an hour's reading didn't assuage."


- Charles de Secondat





"I cannot live without books."


-Thomas Jefferson





"The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. " -James McCosh





"Outside of a dog a book is man's best. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."


-Groucho Marx





"I must say that I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book. "


-Groucho Marx





"A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. "


-Chinese Proverb





"Anyone who has a library and a garden wants for nothing."


-Cicero





"He who destroys a good book kills reason itself."


-John Milton





"Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep, for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as the latter."


-Paxton Hood





"Don't join the book burners... Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book. " Dwight D. Eisenhower





"Except a living man, there is nothing more wonderful than a book."


-Charles Kingsley





"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all of the miseries of life. "


-W. Somerset Maugham





"Never read a book through merely because you have begun it."


-John Witherspoon





"A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever."


-Martin Tupper





"What's a book? Everything or nothing. The eye that sees it all. "


-Ralph Waldo Emerson





"Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings."


-Heinrich Heine





"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends: they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers."


-Charles W. Eliot





"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. "


-Richard Steele





"I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened to me. I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke in me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive."


-Malcolm X





"If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads."


-Ralph Waldo Emerson





"In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read."


- S. I. Hayakawa

Free Audio Books

LibriVox is a service that offers free audio readings of books available in the public domain for the United States.

You can search for specific texts here:



LibriVox Catalog Pages


Or browse using this link:




LibriVox Catalog Pages


ENJOY!

Free Online Library with Amazing Material

Any bibliophile is going to be jumping for joy over this site:



Internet Archive: Text Archive


ENJOY!

Surprised by Joy - William Wordsworth

Surprised by joy -impatient as the wind

I turned to share the transport - Oh! with whom

But Thee, deep buried in the silent tomb,

That spot which no vicissitude can find?

Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind -

But how could I forget thee? Through what power,

Even for the least division of an hour,

Have I been so beguiled as to be blind

To my most grievous loss? - That thought's return

Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore

Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,

Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more;

That neither present time, nor years unborn,

Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.



Reflection:

Wordsworth wrote this poem about his deceased 4 year old daughter, Catharine.

Sometimes words can not capture the truth of a profoundly emotional experience...

we use the phrase,

"Words escape me."

But, in this work, Wordsworth summons up the power of maintaining two conflicting emotions in one moment. The polar opposites of deep grief and overwhelming joy.

This poem does not resolve the conflicted feelings. There is no morale at the end. No lessons to be learned.

Just a small taste of the sweetness and the bitterness of life.

A feast in a brief moment of time.

RESOURCES:

Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works.