FRIDAY POTPOURRI: TIDBITS FROM THE EDGE — MAY 25

Welcome to Friday Potpourri, during which I will share snippets about reading, life, etc.

I’m currently reading Objects of My Affection, by Jill Smolinski:  a book about a woman who takes on the task of decluttering the home of an eccentric artist.

My fascination with this topic is no secret…as a collector of all kinds of objects, ranging from books to dolls and fairytale images, I think I might be searching for validation and reassurance that I am not actually a hoarder.

Maybe it’s because someone called me a hoarder once and the label pierced my sensitive soul…lol

But after reading a memoir about the topic, along with other interesting articles, and after watching the hoarder show, I’m fairly certain I haven’t crossed that line.  Didn’t I just talk about this topic, though, you might ask?

Yes…but what is inserting itself into my thoughts today is a horrific dream I had last night: I had only hours to pack up my house and move.  I’m not sure why the haste, but the panic I felt at the prospect woke me up with a pounding heart.  And I didn’t want to go to sleep again!

Once awakened, I started obsessing about my laptop shopping.  What does this have to do with anything?  Well, I do tend to ruminate over unresolved issues when I awaken in the middle of the night, so naturally, everything I had learned in my shopping exploration yesterday was right there, floating in my mind, and keeping sleep at bay.  Finally I was able to set that aside with the reminder that I didn’t have to decide anything right then and there.

Something else that is keeping me up at night is 11/22/63, by Stephen King; I’m reading it primarily at night.  Bad idea?  I can’t put it down, though, and I’m more than half finished.  I’m totally engaged!

Have you read either of these books?  I’m glad they are quite different from one another, as I sometimes have difficulty keeping details separated while reading two books at once.  I know many people can read several, listen to a few on audio, and keep it all sorted out…but I’m not one of those people.

But I just know that I’m loving the character of Jake Epping, who is living in the 1950s and 60s as George Amberson and finding himself totally connected to the people and the place where he has landed.

King has really brought the flavor of that era to life for me, reminding me of what it was like being young during those iconic times.

Yesterday, I finished reading Another Piece of My Heart, by Jane Green (click title for review)…and again, enjoyed every minute, even when I was frustrated with the characters.  A very emotional read for me.

I think my weekend will be full of intriguing books, strolls through malls, and lunches in some of my favorite places.  What does your weekend look like?  What are you excited about?

TUESDAY INTROS/TEASERS: OBJECTS OF MY AFFECTION — MAY 22

 

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading.

Just grab your book and share the opening lines; then find another excerpt that “teases” the reader.

I just received this book in the mail last week, and since this blog is about obsessions, collections, etc., it seems fitting to celebrate it here.  Objects of My Affection, by Jill Smolinski, tells a story about a personal organizer who tries to reform a “hoarder.”

Book Description:

In the humorous, heartfelt new novel by the author of The Next Thing on My List, a personal organizer must somehow convince a reclusive artist to give up her hoarding ways and let go of the stuff she’s hung onto for decades.Lucy Bloom is broke, been dumped by her boyfriend, and had to sell her house to send her nineteen-year-old son to drug rehab. Although she’s lost it all, she’s determined to start over. So when she’s offered a high-paying gig helping clear the clutter from the home of reclusive and eccentric painter Marva Meier Rios, Lucy grabs it. Armed with the organizing expertise she gained while writing her book, Things Are Not People, and fueled by a burning desire to get her life back on track, Lucy rolls up her sleeves to take on the mess that fills every room of Marva’s huge home. Lucy soon learns that the real challenge may be taking on Marva, who seems to love the objects in her home too much to let go of any of them.

While trying to stay on course toward a strict deadline—and with an ex-boyfriend back in the picture, a new romance on the scene, and her son’s  rehab not going as planned—Lucy discovers that Marva isn’t just hoarding: she is also hiding a big secret. The two form an unlikely bond, as each learns from the other that there are those things in life we keep, those we need to let go—but it’s not always easy to know the difference.

Laugh-out-loud humor, heartfelt writing, relatable characters, and a charming premise all come together to make Objects of My Affection the next read for the fans of Jennifer Weiner, Emily Giffin, and Allison Winn Scotch.

***

First Chapter/First Paragraph Intro: 

I remind myself as I enter the coffee shop that it’s actually a good thing I sold my house and, for that matter, almost everything in it.   Sure, some may find my situation pitiful—a thirty-nine-year-old woman reduced to sharing a bedroom with her best friend’s preschooler daughter.  But  for purposes of this particular job interview—I pause to look around to see if anyone is looking around for me—it makes me even more of an expert.  Will Meier is going to be downright impressed that the woman he’s thinking of hiring to clear out his mother’s home barely has a possession left of her own.

Not that I’ll mention anything about it to him.

A man at the counter orders one of those ridiculous coffees that sound as if you should get a cake with several people around it singing “Happy Birthday” rather than something in a paper cup.  Then he turns his attention to me.  “You must be Lucy Bloom.”

This is my guy.  “Hi, and you’re Will Meier!  Nice to meet you,” I say, shaking his hand.  He’s tall, fortyish, clean-cut, and wearing a business suit with the sort of ease that makes it clear he doesn’t usually waste his mornings hanging out in coffee shops.

“I recognized you by your book.”  He points toward the copy of Things Are Not People that I’m clutching.  “What can I get you to drink?”

“Coffee, black.  Thanks.”

***

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book, so this opener tells me that I’m going to enjoy it.  The narrator sounds like someone trying to make the best of her changed circumstances, even finding a bit of humor along the way.

***

Teaser #1:  (After the interview, the client takes Lucy to meet his mother).

Will starts to unlock the front door, then turns to me.  “I feel I ought to say something to prepare you for this.”
“Don’t worry about it.  I’ve seen messy places before.  I have a teenager.” p. 7

Teaser #2:  I’m braced for what I might see, but what hits me before anything else is the smell.  Although that’s probably because it’s so dark that relying on my sense of sight is pointless.  The smell isn’t horrible.  We’re not talking rotting corpses or anything.  It smells…dense.  As if I need to breathe in deeper to get enough air.  I wonder how long it’s been since anyone’s drawn the drapes and thrown open the windows.  p. 9

***

Okay….now I’m really ready to dive in.

What are the rest of you spotlighting today?  I can’t wait to see!

BITTERSWEET TALE OF LOVE, LOSS, DUTY, & DESTINY — A REVIEW

 

 

In the opening pages, Christopher Andersen’s After Diana: William, Harry, Charles, and the Royal House of Windsor describes the moments after the fatal crash on August 31, 1997. He then moves on to detail the events in the ensuing years, providing a portrait of a woman, her sons, and the monarchy as it moved into the twenty-first century.

Occasionally moving backward into the years when Shy Di first burst upon the scene, we come to see a “fleshed out” picture of the woman who would forever change the royals in subtle ways.

Their mother’s tragic and much-publicized death came at a time when her two sons were very vulnerable to her loss. Approaching adolescence, the heightened visibility of their lives “after” resulted in much tabloid footage that showed them each, but especially Harry, as “spoiled party animals.”

Without their mother’s influence, and with the kind of detached parenting provided by Prince Charles, the Heir and the Spare did go through a lot during those years. But as time passed, and as they gained some maturity, there was evidence of her imprint, in that “both William and Harry were taking on many of the causes she had championed, and finding some of their own.”

I enjoyed this chronicle of life in the royal family, and how Diana’s influence still lingers. I also liked discovering a bit more about Camilla than I had previously known. She worked hard to overcome being the “most hated woman in England” after Diana’s death.

Since this book was published in 2007, much in recent history was obviously uncovered. However, there were already hints of the William and Kate coupling…which was fun to see in its beginning stages.

In the end, I liked this summing up, when describing Diana in her final conscious moments: “…What would she (Diana) have thought if, by some miracle, she could have opened her eyes ten years later? True, it would have been hard to see Camilla replace her as a Princess of Wales destined to become Queen—harder still to see Camilla step into the role of stepmother to her two boys.

“There is much about the changed world of the royals, however, that almost certainly would have pleased Diana. The Princess had fought to humanize the monarchy, to replace frosty hauteur with self-deprecating laughter, aloofness with compassion, and soul-deadening inertia with change. As history’s renegade Princess, she paid a heavy price for trying to drag the Royal Family, kicking and screaming, into the twenty-first century. Diana was betrayed by her husband, ostracized by the Royal Family, spied upon by powers both foreign and domestic, and hounded by the same voracious media that had made her the world’s most idolized human being.”

Between the beginning and the end of this book, there were also wonderfully entertaining details about the daily lives and rituals of the royals. Totally captivating, and worth four stars.

---

SUNDAY POTPOURRI

Today is one of those beautiful days outside, so I’m planning to take Noah, my 7-year-old grandson, to the park later.  I’ll be tucking my book in my handbag and enjoying the scenery in between pages.

Earlier, I did my Sunday Salon post, and spent some time visiting other salons.  I like this aspect of Sunday, along with the eggs and turkey bacon (and mimosas!).

I read a bit, and then was inspired to write my third Soap Opera Magic post.

One of the advantages to having been around for eons is the little bit of history I’ve soaked up over the years.  Not that soap history is winning any kudos, but for those of us who enjoy trivia…well, that’s just one of my quirks, I guess.

When I was working in the trenches, still, I used to hear coworkers talking about their favorite soaps, and I would join in.  We’d have rather lively debates, since emotion reigns when it comes to these stories.  Then I would visit clients, most of whom enjoyed their “stories,” and these soaps would be another way to find common ground.  At least I told myself that these commonalities were door-openers.

In one building in which we worked—toward the end of my social work journey there—we had a TV in the break room.

But of course, I had a VCR at home, recording those soaps.  When I watched them later, it was a nice transition from the harsh realities of my work and my clientele.

Perhaps these fantasy moments were the only thing keeping me sane and out of the bars.  LOL.

So now I’m back to reading Barbara Walters’ Audition, which is really moving along.  I’m looking forward to posting that review…maybe tomorrow.

Happy Sunday!

SUNDAY POTPOURRI

This morning’s paper reminded me of some issues that I haven’t thought about in awhile.

The article about child abuse, entitled Breakingpoint, continued with a story that periodically shows up in the pages of our local newspaper, fueled by furor over rising child abuse and allegedly insufficient responses from the child protective agencies.  In May 2009, an article appeared, which I blogged about in my Who’s Who site, detailing recent and rather alarming statistics in the County of Fresno (where I live and worked for more than three decades).

Today’s article about the phenomenal increase in referrals of child abuse reminded me of an ongoing cycle that only escalates during difficult times.

In my five novels, I fictionalize some of my social work experiences…not only to illustrate the very real problem, but to make real the day-to-day lives of those who face these problems everyday.  And to showcase how some of these individuals deal with the reality.

In a short story entitled Family Values, that can be downloaded on Amazon Shorts,  I describe how stress translates into an incident of violence that escalates during a holiday event.

Here is an excerpt:

They huddle around the table like so many crows perched on a fence, all in their own little worlds.  At the head of the table and assuming his rightful role as patriarch, Father dictates the flow of the platters, gesticulating and grunting, but otherwise ignoring the assembled family members.  To his left, the mother of the four adult children watches and waits, assuming her role of keeping glasses of water filled and platters of food replenished.

The eldest son, Irving, has taken up his position at the opposite end of the table, while, on his left, his sister Skye’s children sit across from their mother, their Aunt Sara, their Uncle Sidney, and their grandmother (when she isn’t hopping up and down to serve!).

Back home after two years away filling in for professors on sabbaticals…one in Canada and another in Hawaii…he feels like the conquering hero in some ways.  Resting on his laurels and sitting back to receive the long-awaited kudos for his prestigious new job in Southern California…A permanent professorial position this time.  Now Irving Franklin is basking in the holiday ambience, just waiting for the long-anticipated praise from his parents and siblings for his accomplishments.  After all, he has a Ph.D., the first family member to earn post-graduate degrees.

He feels mildly disappointed that Skye, the older of his two sisters and the mother of those four rather annoying children, has seemed so underwhelmed by his accomplishments.  Not that she has done anything overt, exactly.  She simply nods and smiles distantly and listens only half-attentively as he describes the past two years.  But then again, what can one expect from a hippie!  He feels a sudden wave of disgust as he thinks about how she is still stuck in that whole sixties thing…After all, it is 1979, and the eighties are right around the corner.

More is revealed as the story progresses, illustrating how even the most ordinary-appearing family has issues and secrets.

A FASCINATING AND EMOTIONAL JOURNEY — “Swallow” Review

“Swallow,” by Tonya Plank, is one of those books that sounds frightening, and it is. But it is so much more!

From the first page, I was so fascinated that I simply could not put it down. It’s a story about Sophie Hegel, a shy New York lawyer from a small Arizona town. She is a graduate of Yale Law School, an achievement that she doesn’t seem to feel she deserved. She is excited about landing her first job handling appeals, and her engagement to the love of her life would seemingly forecast wonderful events in her future. So why, then, does she suddenly find herself unable to swallow? As if a huge Fist Ball (hereinafter referred to in the book as FB) had suddenly grown in her throat?

When the condition begins occurring regularly, and when she starts to lose an alarming amount of weight, she seeks medical advice, and, of course, therapy. But unfortunately, nobody can tell her much. And the therapist is one of those who seems to just repeat everything she has said, without offering any help or opinions.

Sophie’s dramatic experiences in this journey through her psychological condition (Globus Sensate) was so fascinating. My mind kept traipsing along various pathways (considering my own background in social work!), as I imagined all sorts of causes. The fact that Sophie’s father is distant and emotionally unavailable grabbed my attention, just as his career as a pornographer sent up red flags.

What about Sophie’s past experiences may have contributed to her condition? Why does this condition recur just at the moment when her life seems destined for good things? And what, if anything, can she do to turn things around?

I wish I could give Swallow more than five stars. It is that engaging!

HUMP DAY POTPOURRI

In these troubled economic times, stories about families working to put their lives back together are even more poignant than usual.

While I was a social worker, I often encountered and, in fact, worked to assist families struggling with addiction issues.  Finding treatment and then maintaining that hard-won sobriety in a supportive environment was often a key to success.

Spirit of Woman  is an organization/treatment center in Fresno, CA, that has been addressing these issues for many years.  In today’s Fresno Bee, there is an article on the front page of the Life section that spotlights this particular program.

Apparently, an old hotel has been renovated and serves as a home for rehabilitating women who have recently been reunited with their children.  The women learn to live “sober,” while caring for their children and completing necessary tasks to help maintain the home.  They attend classes and therapy throughout the day.

In the article, the founder/chief-executive-officer is seeking donations to help improve the rooms.  A pleasant environment, which is a key factor in promoting a chaos-free life, is necessary.  While the rooms now are clean and neat, they are showing the wear of age.

Now some may say that these women should be happy just to have a place to stay—and that’s certainly true—but we all know that our environments are crucial to our inner well-being.  Our surroundings do not have to be expensive in order to achieve this feeling.

Personally, whenever I am depressed or feeling frustrated with things going on in my life, I look around my home and take comfort in the few beautiful objects that seemingly encircle me with warmth and comfort.

Studies have shown that people even respond positively to certain colors.  Some colors evoke peace, while others stir up more negative emotions.

All of this is directed toward eliciting compassion from each of us for those less fortunate…those who are struggling—with the consequences of their own poor choices, certainly—but who still deserve our empathy and any strength we can offer.

If you wish to reach out during this season, I am sure that there is a place in your community, just like this one in mine, that could beneft from your used and no longer needed items.

During this upcoming holiday season, my vow is to turn away from my own feelings of self-pity (for the tough economic times, etc.) and look around at those less fortunate.  I am sure to find many!

THE LONG JOURNEY…

Find this book HERE:

 

“Because I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep…”

This excerpt from a Robert Frost poem, a favorite of mine from long ago, is the central theme of the novel “Miles to Go.”

The story spans more than thirty years and highlights a friendship connection between two women who meet in college, protest the radical causes of the sixties and seventies, and discover that the journey to adulthood is riddled with many obstacles—ruts in the road, if you will—that prevent the realization of some of their early goals.

They learn, in the process of growing up, that despite the promises of their youth—even their most fervent vows—that the journey can be tangled indeed.  But the most vital realization is that friendship can sustain you, even when you stumble or fall.

I first began this novel when I endured a painful and unexpected loss in the early eighties.  Writing in longhand, on long yellow legal pads, I wrote endlessly, without any particular goal or plot.  I was simply seeking catharsis.

Then I set it aside and got on with other things. 

I rediscovered it in a drawer near the beginning of the Millennium, when I was at a point of reexamining many issues, including what constituted my future.  I was approaching retirement from a social worker career and wanted to explore new options—an old love, in fact.  Writing this novel became an obsession, and having set up my computer in an upstairs bedroom, I began.

Lindsay Malone and Gia Greenbaum became the two college friends, who maintained their friendship connection from the sixties and beyond—for more than thirty years.  I explored with them their relationships, their parenting issues, and their career choices…and journeyed with them along the paths that often veered completely away from their college aspirations. 

Lindsay battles the angst of personal loss—the mysterious death of her brother, while in his prime—and the demise of her youthful marriage.  She struggles with chemical dependency, even as her clients in her social work practice do the same.  The irony does not escape her.  Many relationships follow, but not until she has become independent and on her own for a few years does she finally find the companionship of an interdependent partner.

Gia’s quest is more political, and after spending time as a lobbyist for radical causes, she attends law school…then she takes up the pursuit of environmental issues, along with others near and dear to her heart.  She, too, finds that relationships elude her…after her divorce, she dabbles with single life until finally she finds the perfect mate for her.

It is no coincidence that many exploits of the primary characters are closely drawn to my own experiences.  However, I must add that the characters and their adventures are embellished—completely fictionalized—so that this novel is, in that sense, a fabrication.  Though not a memoir, it does resemble one at times. 

Because I struggled with this one more than the others, I put it aside again and published three other novels before finally bringing this one to life.

Indeed—I did have “miles to go” before it saw the light of day.

EXCERPT – “IRREVERSIBLE CHOICES” – PROLOGUE

 

 

She awakened slowly on that crisp fall day, and for a brief moment, a glimmer of well being hovered near the edge of her awareness.  Just for a second.  But then it all came crashing down upon her, the whole horrid mess.  Could she ever again feel the awe of a new day, without the regrets, the fear, or the anxiety?  Or was the rest of her life going to be just like this?
And then through her awareness came the jarring sound of the alarm, reminding her that not only did she have a past to contend with, her present demanded that she show up. 

She had to get dressed, get ready for work, and hope to somehow shove the intrusive thoughts and feelings down.  For her job she had to be professional, even cheerful, and on some days she could manage it without too much difficulty.
 She could tell that today was not going to be one of those days.
Downstairs she could hear the trickle of the coffee into the pot, obeying the commands of the timer she had set the night before.  As she waited for that first cup, she stared out the window at the lawn covered with leaves, those beautiful reminders of autumn.

 Her cat Sage scratched at the front door, anxious for food.  She grabbed the bag of cat food and opened the door upon the first day of the rest of her life.