2017 Reading Quest 05

Book:  Life Goes On.

Author: Phillip Gulley

Info:  Copyright 2004: Waterville, ME:  Thorndike Press.

Where acquired: Library check out.

Rating (on a scale of 1-4 stars):  ✮ 

What it's about:  Sam Gardener is a Quaker Pastor who deals with the trials and tribulations of shepherding a difficult flock.  His wife and children are his saving graces, and he tries to take on each challenge with humor and kindness.

What I Liked:

• The book did have a few funny lines.
• As far as grammar and mechanics goes, it was well written.

What I didn’t like: 

• I had no idea this book was part of a series.  I'm used to reintroductions to characters, or at least a series name and number on the cover somewhere.
• The characters in this book are a mishmash of pure evil.  They are mere churchgoers who show no indication of a relationship with Christ, or that they even want one.  They spend all of their time being right instead of righteous.  However, the Pastor is no hero; he's a limp wristed, people pleasing cynic who seems to only be a Pastor for a steady paying job, rather than an enjoyable calling from God he blessedly gets well paid for. 
• For this to be Christian novel, it is absolutely faithless.  At one point, Pastor Sam angrily asks his hypocritical, backbiting congregation, "What does this have to do with Jesus?!"  However, I don't think he knows either.  Jesus doesn't seem to be foremost on anyone's mind, including the Pastor. 
• Most of the humor came across as a slap in the face of bitter cynicism.
• The angry tension throughout the novel was left unresolved.  Sorry, but no book I'm supposed to read for enjoyment should leave me with an angry case of heartburn.

Takeaway:  I'd read Gulley's Front Porch Tales a couple of years ago, but had no idea he'd written anything else.  This book was recommended by a friend who found the book delightful.  I don't see how.  Unlike Front Porch Tales, which was an enjoyable set of non-fiction short stories from the author's life, Life Goes On is the complete opposite--grasping, angry, and faithless.  If not for it's brevity, I would have left this tome unfinished.  I don't plan on reading any more of his works.  This book makes me want to reread a Father Tim novel so I can see what a true Pastor looks like.  I just might do that.

Itching Powder: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

What's the last thing you did that someone else thought was super? 

Can I answer that without sounding braggadocios?  Or worse?  Besides, I can't really think of anything I've done that qualifies as that spectacular.

The last thing you ate that tasted superb? 

The Voodoo Pasta I ate at Effina's at Christmastime.

Supersensitive, superstitious, superwoman, superambitious, supercilious, supervisor, superficial...pick a super word from the list and tell us how it relates to your life in some way recently or currently. 

Superfluous, as in unnecessary.  My life seems that way sometimes.  I want to live an authentic life that means something to someone.  All I seem to create right now are messy patches on an otherwise beautiful tapestry. And, yes, I've already read Purpose Driven Life three times, but still haven't found exactly why I'm here.

Do you love easily? If you're comfortable doing so, explain why you think that is. 

It depends on the object of my affection.  Jesus?  Yes, He's done too much for me not to love him (I John 4:19).  I try not to love material objects, but I thoroughly enjoy them.  Others?  I make a valiant attempt to.  There are people who feel their main purpose in life is to make themselves as unlovable as possible.  I've been that person myself, so I know it's a cover up for pain.  Sometimes I can get involved and freely love, sometimes, I have to just say "bless your heart" and move on.  Myself?  Now there's a different story.  I still don't freely love myself.  Rather sad since I'm always with me.  If only I could make myself more loveable...

Valentine's Day lands on a Tuesday this year. Will you mark the day in some way? If you're celebrating with a dinner out somewhere will it be on Tuesday or will you celebrate over the weekend? 

Valentine's day makes me miss my days at the preschool.  It was so easy and fun to celebrate with my babies.  Candy, gifts, good food, playing all day, and the biggest bonus of all, no nap time that day, make for a wonderful celebration.  I have no idea how to celebrate the day with other adults.  I want to do something for my coworkers and customers, but I'm not sure what is appropriate.  Looks like a job for Pinterest.

What's something you are loving right now? 

My reading chair.  My CEO was replacing his office furniture and gave me one of his old armchairs.  I'd had it sitting in front of my vanity table, but the table is uncomfortably tall for the chair.  Plus, the chair seemed to swallow all the space in my bedroom.  Simply moving a few things over and sitting the chair to face the rest of the room with a reading lamp makes it a comfy spot to read.  With my footstool, it creates a perfect angle for writing at my laptop.  Comfy, cozy. 

My plan for the chair is to have it reupholstered when I have my own digs to put it in.  I want it to look like this...

From picklee.com

My chair isn't exactly like this one, but their shapes are similar.  Of course, I will not be doing the upholstering like this person did; I am not that talented.  Hopefully I can afford to get my friends at Rochester's to do it.  Something else for the dream book.

Write a three word (or less) phrase you'd like to see on a Valentine candy heart.  

To steal a line from Whose Line is it Anyway?:  "I've always faked it."  OK, that's four words.  Lemmie try again... 

"Love me do...or don't."  Dang, that's still too many words...

"Put the lotion in the basket."  Nope...

"I tolerate you."
"No touchy."
"I'm broke."
"Valentine's day sucks."
"Goin' Stag Rules."
"Party 'till 8pm."
"Cupid's a dork."
"Because I'm tacky."
"Where's your mama?"
"Get a job."
"Jungle love."
"Beer & Pizza"
"What?"
"Sorry, I'm drunk."
"No, seriously..."
"Creepy."
"Bite me."
"Handshakes."
"Cheap date."
"Wash my car."

Yeah, I know it's not a phrase.

If you wanted me to be serious,

you should have said so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Insert your own random thought here. 

 

As if the heart quotes weren't random enough...

 

Team No Sleep keeps trying to come back to my house.  The past two nights have been horrid.  I think I've discovered part of the problem.  A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a different variety of laundry detergent because it was on sale (You're welcome, Mr. Ramsey).  Not being one to have sensitive skin issues, brands normally don't matter.  Well, I'd used this brand for years, but not this particular scent.  For several days now, I've been feeling itchy--at night it's much worse.  I'm going to have to chunk it and go back to what I was using.  I plan to redo my laundry and see if that gets rid of the problem.  That's not the only insomnia variable, but it's a big one.  Can't sleep and scratch.

2017 Reading Quest 04

Book:  When My Love Returns From the Ladies Room, Will I Be Too Old to Care?

Author: Lewis Grizzard

Info:  Copyright 1987: New York:  Villard Books.

Where acquired: Audio Library check out.

Rating (on a scale of 1-4 stars):  ✮✭✭✭ 

Category:  Glorious Rereads. The first time I read this book was in high school a few years after being introduced to the works of Grizzard by Mr. Godsdin, my 8th grade English teacher.

What it's about:  In a collection of various columns from The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Grizzard humorously covers such topics as flying, eating out, women, and nostalgia.

Favorite Quotes:

On telemarketers:  "So do it, folks.  Call the jerks back when the computer calls you and tell them to leave you the hell alone.  If that doesn't work, find out who's in charge, get his or her phone number, and then call them at two in the morning and ask them if they would like to buy a mule."

On electric hair dryers:  "I figure I have spent five minutes every morning for the past five years blow drying my hair.  That is six days of my life spent with Flash Gordon's ray gun pointed at my brain, which probably has windburn by now....I threw my electric hair dryer in the garbage, along with my banana cream rinse someone said would give my hair body.  I don't want body.  I also tossed my shampoo that smells like blossoming apricots.  The fragrance of blossoming apricots is for girls, and boys who drink whiskey sours and eat the cherries."

On his mother:  "I remember those hands so vividly.  They were warm, loving hands that could turn into lethal weapons when applied forcefully to my backside."

On his friend the entrepreneur:  "I'm not saying Rigsby often comes up with half-baked ideas that are supposed to make him a fortune and never do, but he's the same guy who tried to start a fast food franchise that featured 'burger on a rope.'"

On travel:  "New Orleans, I might add, is still here after hosting the Super Bowl and the annual showcase for mental illness known as Mardi Gras."

What I Liked:

• Grizzard's stories had me laughing through the entire book.
• He has a way of going from humor to a touch of nostalgia at the turn of a page. 
• I enjoyed his baseball stories.  Like him, I also enjoyed watching baseball with my father.

What I didn’t like: 

• The only thing I didn't like was that he lumped all TV preachers together in the same boat.  However, I will give him a pass on that since at the time, all he ever saw was the mess going on with Jim Baker and Jerry Falwell. 

Takeaway:  Having a bad day?  Read a couple of chapters of this book.  You'll be out of your funk in no time.