Monday Moments - All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert

 All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert is a stunning memoir about love, passion, abuse, craving, and redemption. 

cover blurb : In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) met Rayya Elias. They became friends, then best friends, then lovers - a pair of addicts on a collision course to  catastrophe.  Self-destructive tendencies became the unstable partner.  What if your most devastating heartbreak opened  a pathway to your greatest awakening? 

I have to say this was amazing, frustrating, annoying, and yet compelling to read. I don't think I would have  liked these two in person when they were fighting - way  too intense. Rayya sounds like an intriguing person who could be way, way too much.  Elizabeth Gilbert can be almost too into herself (in my  opinion). And Yet......I found myself turning  pages, shaking my head, and fascinated at watching the trainwreck. Then sad for the finale.  

This would not be everyone's cup  of tea,  but I'm glad I read it (yeah, I sorta speed read through a lot). 

Finally Friday - Sisters: Loved and Treasured

 cover blurb - Beacons of support, understanding, and love, sisters  are there for us through it all - childhood, the formative teen years, and adulthood. Journalist, Deborah Roberts curates a collection  of conversations,  meditations, and anecdotes from  her own sisters, celebrity friends, and everyday people. Sisters shape lives and it matters. 

Here's Lori and me.  She's ten years younger, but we are close.  It's amazing. We have sent each other the same Valentine card. We have similar humor and we just share the bond of the Crowther family. We can just say a word or reference and we know what "crazy" we are talking about.  Our middle brother, David, is in the mix, but sisters bond...oh, it's a thing. 

I enjoyed these essays  from Viola  Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jenna and Barbara Bush, Shonda Rhimes, Deborah Roberts, and so many more. I could identify and appreciate every feeling, every nuance, every special sister moment.  

Sisters Loved and Treasured by Deborah Roberts and her interviews was an engaging read.  I do feel sorry for folks without a sister to share all the special  moments of life. 

Let's Be Friends

 Let's take a beat and think about our NATO allies. Let's think about the purpose, the history, and the power we have to do good.

Beautiful Denmark. Lovely Copenhagen. Long time friends. From what I understand, they let Greenland be Greenland. Let's let them. 

I'm being far too simplistic and idealistic, but why are we messing up a perfectly good situation?

Why sow chaos and discord?  Again - I have no real knowledge or  authority, but I question if there's really a plan?   Like - okay, we have Venezuela....now what?   

That's all.  We'll be back to regularly scheduled book reviews, etc.   I just had to blather what's been stewing in my brain.  

Mange tak   (thank you)

MLK Day Salute

Now is the time to revisit Martin Luther King, Jr - his words, his thoughts, his ideals. 

What would he think of America today? There was progress.  Note the word "was".  I fear the current regime's actions are moving us backwards.  I am a senior white woman, living a fortunate life. However, I do care about all people, and perhaps I'm too idealistic and "woke", but I think it helps everyone if we help those less fortunate, if we "make real the promises of democracy."

How do we work above all the noise out there?  How can we read past what the algorithms dictate? It is hard work to try to find many sources to sort out a story.  And somehow, we still have to have faith in our vote. That's one way to not be silent. 

Armed masked militias - seems cruel to me. Shooting protesters - no! Rounding up working people - no. To me, the amount of time and effort and money in being cruel should be spent on processing folks so  they can keep their jobs - be the roofers, the landscapers, the farm help - so much work that, say, American teens, don't want to do.  It's all complex and above my pay grade, but at this juncture it seems like the border crossings are contained. Now we're just being mean. 

I liked this New Yorker cartoon.  Struck a nerve. 

MLK Day should offer us some reflection. Where are we? What do we lack? How can we be better? How can we bolster democracy?   It will be 250 years in July.  Are the Founding Fathers rolling in their graves? 

P.S. It is very petty to remove MLK Day from our  National Park "free  pass" day.  Seriously?  

It is ridiculous to be removing information from the Smithsonian museums that reference black history. 

WTF
 

Finally Friday - It Was the Way She Said It

 It Was the Way She Said It by Terry McMillan is an excellent compilation of short fiction and non-fiction essays. 

Her book Waiting to Exhale put her on the national stage in the early 1990s. But the works in this volume are (cover blurb) provocative, boundary-pushing short stories, capturing the struggles and triumphs of  Black life in America with vitality and honesty. McMillan's inimitable voice bravely explores the dark corners of human relationships with compassion, humor, and nuance.

I've always enjoyed her books. Her short stories and essays are really strong. Her characters, her humor, and her candor are eye-opening. 

From her 2016 Life Lessons Essay: When I watch the news these days, the vitriolic tone of some of the  rhetoric feels like we're heading back to the sixties and seventies. I'm not going.

I just want us to respect each other for the content of our character and not  be disrespected because of the color of our skin. We are Americans. 

I highly recommend diving deeper into Terry McMillan's words. 

Whatever Wednesday - An Inside Job by Daniel Silva

 Daniel Silva's An Inside Job continues the brilliant legacy of Gabriel Allon. He's a brilliant art restorer. He's also a lethal warrior.  He has a commission to restore a lost masterpiece of Leonardo Da Vinci. 

But a dead girl is found in the Venetian Lagoon. 

She's a mysterious key to a lost painting, ruthless mobsters, Vatican theft. 

cover blurb - The action moves at breakneck speed from the galleries and auction houses of London to an enclave of unimaginable wealth on the French Riviera - and finally, to a shocking climax in St. Peter's Square where the life of a pope hangs in the balance.   Whew!!! 

Silva knows how to write and his hero, Gabriel Allon, is intriguing.  This is a page turner.

Very entertaining.  Very current. Very on point.   and I say again - Whoa!  and  Whew!

Monday Moments - Is This Thing On?

 So, I was kinda done with the world on Friday and needed to escape.  How about a marriage falling apart movie?  Yeah, that's the way to go. Popcorn and a soda - escape for two hours watching some misery.  Ha!

Is This Thing On? is directed by Bradley Cooper and he does a good job.  Will Arnett (Alex) is superb and Laura Dern (Tess) is always glorious  to watch. They've been married for over twenty years and are pretty much fighting all the time.  So they agree to split and divorce. The movie basically follows them struggling to make the divorce amicable for their two sons. 

Incredibly well acted and very realistic. Alex is in finance by day and then finds standup comedy by night. It's sheer happenstance that he goes into a comedy club. To not pay the entrance fee, he had to sign a sheet and do some comedy bit.  Turns out it's a bit therapeutic and he gets some laughs. He finds himself "alive" and challenged. It's a new world with some new friends.

What happens when Tess coincidentally sees him perform and she's the butt of his jokes?  Sorta a turn on? Are they kidding themselves? 

The  movie  feels very New York City real... like not really normal folks, but movie folks real.  I enjoyed it. The acting is really good and the difficulty of navigating  marriage is spot  on.  It's work.