One Plus One: a Novel

          Here is a novel that combines the realistic with the romantic. The author is JoJo Moyes, a British writer who is successful in her home country and is gaining recognition in the United States.

         Our heroine is Jess, a single mother with two children, who works many hours as a co-partner for a house cleaning service and also as a barmaid. She has sent her estranged husband, who is unemployed and supposedly in the throes of depression, to live with his mother until his prospects improve. Jess is reluctant to ask him for child support since he cannot support himself. Jess’s stepson Nicky is the victim of bullies. Her daughter Tanzie is a math genius who is offered a scholarship to a prestigious private school but Jess has difficulty making up the final ten percent of fees needed. Despite her problems, Jess has an optimistic outlook on life, believing that something will turn up to solve their problems.

         Then we meet Ed. He is a techie geek who co-founded a software company with his friend; eventually selling it to “the suits” (businessmen) but still working for the company. Ed is a millionaire, although not as wealthy since his ex-wife got a lot of his money in the divorce settlement. Ed also is one of Jess’s house cleaning clients; they do not care for one another.  Things fall apart for Ed when he is charged with giving “insider information” to a romantic partner. An investigation ensues and Ed is asked not to return to work until the enquiry is completed.

         Jess is told that there is a math tournament in Scotland for which Tanzie is eligible, winning one of the prizes could pay towards her schooling. Jess, the children and the dog take off in a dilapidated old car, breaking down on the highway. Charged by the police for driving without insurance, who should come to the rescue but Ed, who in an attempt to avoid his personal problems and a desire to do something to boost his feelings of self-worth, offers to drive them all to Scotland in his car.

         The road trip that follows, and the events beyond it, are at turns hysterical and serious.  The characters in this book are fully fleshed out and encourage the reader to care about each one. Comedy and pathos combine, yet things work out in the end; making for an enjoyable reading experience.

Brooklyn: a Novel

           Both a coming-of-age novel and an immigrant’s tale, Brooklyn: a Novel, written by Colm Toibin, tells the story of Eilis, a young Irish woman who is intelligent yet inexperienced in the ways of the world. We meet Eilis first in Enniscorthy, Ireland, during the early 1950s, where she lives with her widowed mother and her outgoing elder sister Rose. Jobs are hard to find in Ireland; Eilis’ brothers have left the country to work in England. Rose contacts Father Flood, an Irish priest working in Brooklyn and arrangements are made for Eilis to get a job there. The author portrays Eilis as a submissive daughter and sister, afraid to leave her home for the unknown yet willing to do so because it is expected of her.

            As Eilis embarks on her journey across the ocean to her new life in Brooklyn, she rides a roller coaster of new experiences that include independence, adjustment to a new culture, and romance. She meets Tony who comes from a warm Italian family, much different from her own. She attends Brooklyn College, earns a certificate in bookkeeping and obtains the promise of a bookkeeping position from her current employer. Her life is going well; then, tragedy strikes. Eilis is notified that her sister Rose has died. At first bereft and then guilt-ridden when her brother sends a letter urging her to go to Ireland to look after their mother, Eilis and Tony confer and together decide that she will visit her mother for a short while and then return to Brooklyn to Tony and her new life. Tony insists that Eilis marry him in a civil ceremony before leaving for Ireland, to be followed by a church wedding when she returns.

            Once in Ireland, Eilis falls into a routine of caring for her mother, meeting up with friends and garnering the interest of a young man who she previously thought to be ill-mannered. Also, she is offered a job at the company where Rose worked. Never having told her mother that she was going with a young man in Brooklyn, Eilis is unable to tell her that she has married. It looks as though she could settle into life in Ireland again, although it would be a deceitful choice. But then a chance encounter with an old employer shocks Eilis into honesty, confessing to her mother about Tony and beginning her journey back home the next day.

Spruce Up Your Fall Wardrobe Now

With school beginning in September, and autumn weather arriving soon after, this is the ideal time to update your wardrobe. Here are some books to help.

            Lawrence Zarian’s Ten Commandments for a Perfect Wardrobe is written by Zarian, who is a fashion advisor to celebrities and a television personality in his own right. He takes the reader through his personal struggles in weight control and self-image, then details the before-and-after stories of celebrity makeovers, including photos.

Style Bible: What to Wear to Work is written by Lauren Rothman, a fashion/style expert featured in various magazines and television shows. She helps both men and women discover the best work wardrobes for themselves according to their industry, city and gender. Shopping tips for both in-store and in-closet are presented.

Magical Fashionista: Dress for the Life You Want is written by Tess Whitehurst, an intuitive worker and energy counselor. She relies on the use of Western and Chinese astrology, Feng Shui, psychology and more to help the reader discover her true essence and express it through wardrobe and accessories.

Style and the Successful Girl: Transform Your Look, Transform Your Life is written by Gretta Monahan, a businesswoman who owns several boutiques and spas, and is Rachael Ray’s go-to fashion/style expert. Photos, stories, and sidebars assist the reader in dressing for success.

Wear this now: Your Style Solution for every Season and any Occasion is written by Michelle Madhok, an online shopping and style expert who is the founder and CEO of  Shefinds Media. Design advice and shopping tips abound in this book!

Elizabeth is Missing

     Fiction with a shot of mystery, this is author Emma Healey’s first book and it features an unlikely protagonist, Maud, who is an eighty-something British woman diagnosed with dementia. Still living on her own at home, with much supervision by her daughter Helen and a series of caretakers, Maud manages to get around and into things, relying on notes to herself and her increasingly faulty memory. 

   Currently, Maud is fixated on the idea that her friend Elizabeth is missing. She constantly tells Helen about this, she makes several visits to the police station to report on it, forgetting each time her previous visits, and she suspects that Elizabeth’s son Peter has in some way mistreated her and caused her disappearance. But this is not the first time someone has vanished from Maud’s life. Shortly after the end of World War II, her married sister Sukey disappeared and was never found, despite the family’s efforts.

   The reader follows the two different stories, one current-day and one in 1946, seeing how Maud’s memories and actions combine to solve these two mysteries. The relationship between Maud and Helen is sensitively drawn and all of the characters are three-dimensional. While there are no happy endings, the reader roots for Maude and her determination.

Dog Days: Books about Canines

            Here are some recently published books about “man’s best friend”. Learn what makes them tick and how to ensure their health and safety.

How Dogs Love Us: a Neuroscientist and his Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain, written by Gregory Berns. He is a medical doctor who has used MRI imaging technology to research how the human brain works; in this book he describes his experiments using MRI to study the canine brain.

Medicine Dog: the Miraculous Cure that Healed My Best Friend and Saved My Life is written by Julia Szabo, a journalist who writes on pet topics. When her dog Sam suffered from severe osteoarthritis, Julia researched and found a medical technique called Vet-Stem that uses the dog’s own stem cells to regenerate the joints. Since Szabo was a lifelong sufferer of chronic inflammatory bowel disease, she decided to see if the same technique could help her own medical condition. She found a physician who cured her perirectal fistula with stem cells.

The Dog Lover’s Guide to Travel: Best Destinations, Hotels, Events, and Advice to Please Your Pet – and You is written by Kelly E. Carter and published by National Geographic. Divided into chapters covering the different regions of the U.S. and Canada, each consists of listings that include descriptions of hotels, services and activities designed for dogs. Attractive color photos add to the reading experience.

Canine Cuisine
Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dog: the Definitive Guide to Homemade Meals is written by Lew Olson, a raiser of dogs and American Kennel Club judge. From covering canine nutritional needs, to feeding your dog through all stages of life, to remedial diets made simple, this book covers it all.

The book Dog-Gone Good Cuisine: More Healthy, Fast, and Easy Recipes for You and Your Pooch is written by Gayle Pruitt, who also has written The Dog-Gone Good Cookbook. The recipes are designed for both canines and humans and cover breakfasts through dinners as well as desserts and juices. Recipes are accompanied by color photos of rescue dogs.

Paleo Dog: Give Your Best Friend a Long Life, Healthy Weight, and Freedom from Illness by Nurturing His Inner Wolf is written by Jean Hofve, DVM. She explains what the healthy canine diet should be and presents some recipes exemplifying this. Other canine health topics are discussed too.

 

 

 

Destiny of the Republic: a Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President

     Today’s society doesn’t know much about James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States. He was in office for only a few months before dying as a result of an assassination attempt. But this well-written, factually dense book, written by Candice Miller, introduces us to a noble individual, one who is erudite yet a man of the people. Born into poverty, Garfield managed to obtain a college education and then went on to become a major general during the Civil War and later a member of the House of Representatives and a senator. Drafted as the Republican Party compromise nominee for president in 1880, Garfield won handily. Some of the goals of his administration were civil rights for African Americans, civil service and post office reform, and universal education.

     However, a successful term for Garfield was not to be. He was stalked by and eventually shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a psychologically unbalanced rejected Federal Office seeker who had delusions that Garfield was causing harm to the country and had to be removed. 

     After Garfield was shot, Dr. Bliss took ascendancy over other physicians in the care of the President. Unfortunately, even though the wound wasn’t as serious as originally thought, not all American physicians used sterile practices, including Dr. Bliss. Garfield eventually succumbed to blood poisoning and a fatal heart attack. Tragically, even although his vice-president and successor, Chester A. Arthur, managed to push through some of Garfield’s planned reforms, a promising presidency was cut short.

Overwhelmed: Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time

  Brigid Schulte, a journalist for the Washington Post and a wife and mother, has undertaken a comprehensive investigation of modern-day life and its dearth of leisure time. Primarily focusing on working parents, especially mothers, Schulte relies on a large quantity of studies and interviews with sociologists, neuroscientists and working parents to interpret how American society has arrived at this non-stop way of life. She also compares our work, nurturance and play habits with those from other cultures so that we can observe some of their more sensible ways to manage time.

  Schulte offers advice on how spouses can equally share responsibility for children and home through paid maternal and paternal child care leave, staggered work schedules, working from home, and more.

  Schulte finds that the American “ideal worker” myth and multitasking as a life ideal is keeping us from reaching our true potential. Only with meaningful “play” experiences can we expand our creative potential and make life worth living.