Daily in L.A.

A sweet book written from the perspective of a young man with autism. He's bright and quirky and takes everything literally which the people around him are challenged to remember in the day to day chatter of people.

I liked the book, it's a quick read, and gives you a different perspective on how some people's brain works.



Amazon Link

* a 1/2" of apple cider vinegar in a glass
* a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid
* 1 hour

= Yummy fruit fly soup





This fruit fly remedy was one of those things I read on a SPAM type e-mail. But I gave it a try and it's amazing how well and how quickly it works. This morning was different. I thought I had two fruit flies in my kitchen. I put out the formula, came back an hour later, and here is what I found. Might have had something to do with the fact that today is trash day and the trash is old.

I think the sweet and strong smell of the apple cider vinegar draws the fruit flies to the liquid and the drops of dishwashing liquid break the surface tension so that the fruit flies fall in when they land.

I thought this was a hilarious account of the behind the scenes things that happen while traveling that travel writers are not allowed to talk about in their glossy, glowing reviews. The author also had interesting points of views and insights about worldwide travel. Some of the stories were a bit on the raunchy side but if you can get past this, this is a fun read especially for those who travel a lot.

Recommended reading, especially for travelers.




Amazon link

Author's website

I picked this book up at the library at 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon and finished it at 11:30 p.m. the same night. That included time to drive home and prepare dinner (I ate it while reading the book). This is author Alice Sebold's true account of her rape while she was in college. The story of the rape and the after effects on her life and the response of the people all around her is compelling and insightful. I highly recommend this book to others for reading.




Amazon link

I find myself becoming more ecologically minded. I'm not sure how it started, it seemed to just take over me slowly. Watching someone scrub dishes while the water runs down the drain is something that makes me want to say something to the washer or makes me want to leave the room so I don't go nuts.

I moved from a place where there were three types of trash cans outside (1) regular trash, 2) recyclable trash, 3) yard/food/compost trash) to a place where there is just one big dumpster for all the trash. I still want to sort but have nowhere to sort the dumped stuff, too.

The other day I looked on-line for how I can create my own compost pile for food scraps. Freaky.

I think it all started for me when I heard about huge patches of trash just floating in the Pacific Ocean, whole piles of lack-of-responsibility and I-don't-want-to-think-about-that-right-now.

I found this 30-second video on YouTube. I don't know where it was taken or what language they are speaking. It doesn't matter really.

All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true...I was made for you

I climbed across the mountain tops
Swam all across the ocean blue
I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules
But baby I broke them all for you
Because even when I was flat broke
You made me feel like a million bucks
Yeah you do and I was made for you

You see the smile that's on my mouth
Is hiding the words that don't come out
And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed
They don't know my head is a mess
No, they don't know who I really am
And they don't know what I've been through like you do
And I was made for you...

All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true...I was made for you

Oh yeah, it's true... I was made for you.

*****************

I love this song, especially her voice as it rises on the chorus. If you haven't listened to her songs yet, do so soon. Also try Turpentine and The Heartache Can Wait.

The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved

This was an interesting non-fiction book talking about the life of Raymond Chandler, the twenty-something homes he and his wife lived in the Los Angeles area and the very unique marriage he had to his wife, who was 26 years older than he was. It wasn't fabulous but it wasn't horrible. The author did some editorializing and speculation which I didn't care for very much. I recommend it if you're a fan of Raymond Chandler.

Amazon link to "The Long Embrace"

Very, very good and engaging book. Hard to read but good to read.

Book's website

Brutally honest account of a U.S. Navy Seal who ends up being the lone survivor of a 4-man mission in the mountains of Afghanistan. He does a great job of describing the Navy Seal training process and the behind-the-scenes feelings of some of the military personnel. The story telling is somewhat weak, even with a ghost writer, but it's absolutely compelling. I definitely recommend this book to others to read.

Amazon Link

"Everyman" is about a man who has died and is reflecting on his life. The story takes you around to many points of view and jumps in the chronology of his life but it's never confusing because everything is in context, leading you there and back around again. Roth, like Ian McEwan, tends to ramble and go out on tangents but in the case of Roth, the tangents give you more insight and details that ties everything in together, making things more interesting, whereas with McEwan, it feels like his words are for the sake of having words.

I liked this book and would recommend it to others. Immediately after I finished it I started reading it again so I could pull out more details from the opening scenes after having had a chance to get to know the main characters.

I just saw the coolest movie on the IFC Channel (IFC comes as a basic channel with my DirecTV) - the movie is Primer. Unfortunately I have no clue what happened in the storyline as I became very confused. The story is about a couple of engineer friends who are messing around in a garage and inadvertently come up with a way to do time travel. But this isn't a sci-fi movie, by any means. 'smatter of fact when I first started watching it it looked like a home movie and was somewhat irritating becaue the characters talked over each other. But I stuck with it and my mind is a little blown away, kinda like when I saw Mememto. Pardon me while I go Google this story so I can understand what I just saw. :-)

Here's a preview.

Now this is my kind of book. Non-fiction, interesting, good asides, compelling writing, investigative journalism. The author is the same who wrote "Into Thin Air" about the fatal Mt. Everest expedition in 1996. That's a good read, too, I highly recommend it.

The author wrote an article about Chris McCandless, the protagonist of the story, for Outdoor Magazine. He was so compelled by the story that he researched further and wrote a book. It's now been made into a movie by Sean Penn.

I liked the book a lot and would recommend it to others.

I haven't eaten sunflower seeds in forever. The other day, in the market, I got a hankerin' to have some. I was probably hungry. The smallest bag they have is 5.25 oz. Dang sunflower seeds. Now I type with salty hands and salt dust is all over my work area. Historically I don't stop eating them until they run out or my mouth is burned raw from the salt. Fun! :-D



I love what it says on the bag: "Eat. Spit. Be Happy."

Just finished this highly recommended book today. I think Ian McEwan is just not for me. I've read three of his books in the last month and none have hit the spot. His literary style is lyrical and rambling while slightly annoying. People have really raved about this book. I'm going to have to go back to them and find out what exactly was so fabulous.

I'm pretty sure I read this book years and years ago because I kept having a sense of familiarity with the characters and the circumstances, though I couldn't remember how it ended.

Recommendation: Read it and determine for yourself if you like this author.

This book was a good read, it had more substance than a beach comber book and a little less substance then a more literary book, such as "Atonement" by Ian McEwan.

I was slightly dissatisfied when I finished reading it because I wanted it to move me more. It was also weird to read an end of a book and know with absolute certainty that there would be a sequel.

Recommendation: I recommend this book for an interesting read to pass some time but not if you're looking for a book that will stay with you and resonate for a few days and make you think.

I recently finished reading this book, the same author who wrote "Amsterdam", which you may recall I very much disliked. I'd heard from people that they really liked "Saturday" so I decided to give it a read anyways.

In "Saturday", McEwan tells the story of a single protaganist on a single Saturday in England. Along the way he includes many almost stream-of-consciousness thoughts which are interesting in their own way. McEwan is definitely a good writer, it's just that I'm simply not a big fan of that writing style.

Just as I can appreciate that Dave Matthews is a wonderful musician but not enjoy his music, I can appreciate that McEwan's "Saturday" is a wonderful book but not enjoy it myself.

I recommend the book for others to read because so many people I know have enjoyed it.





Books in process:
"The Russian Concubine" by Kate Furnivall

"King Leopold's Ghost" by Adam Hochschild

"Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis

I read it yesterday. When I finished reading it I was surprised I finished it in one day. I'm not THAT fast. The story was good and had more content then pulp or Danielle Steel but it was more of a romance and a story of forgiveness than it was heavy and deep. The author has been compared to Anne Tyler, who wrote "Breathing Lessons" and the "Accidental Tourist", if that helps you.

Recommended for a rainy day when you want a nice read that is deeper than Jackie Collins but not as heavy as Farewell to Arms.



From Bookmarks Magazine
In her first two novels, Sleep Toward Heaven and How to Be Lost, Amanda Eyre Ward asked questions about loss and forgiveness: Is salvation possible to achieve? What are the costs of achieving it? Does everyone deserve it? Forgive Me, as the title suggests, blatantly explores these questions and other big themes-from apartheid to race, globalization, and motherhood. Filled with plot twists, Ward intersperses Nadine's story with the first-person journal entries of young boy in Nantucket. Her spare, compelling prose touched most critics deeply; as Nadine travels back to South Africa, her own questions also captivated them. In sum, Forgive Me is a page-turner with deep moral underpinnings.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. -

Meh.

It was okay. McEwan's ability to write is easy to absorb and follow without feeling like I want to skim large portions of his book. But his character development and creating a web of suspense is lacking. I was surprised to find that the book took a Hitchcock like turn because I didn't think McEwan was THAT kind of writer. I think I'm right.

I read the Amazon.com reviews and most people seemed to agree with me. You never care about the two narcissistic main characters enough to care about what's going to happen to them. And the ending? So amazingly obvious that I thought for certain that it couldn't end the way I thought it was going to end. But it did.

I'll go ahead and read "Saturday" and probably "Atonement" but I wouldn't recommend "Amsterdam" to anyone.

p.s. Reading a book in large print makes me feel like I'm a speed reader.

I went to the library today and picked up five new books to read. That's a lot. I even put some back.

Everyman by Philip Roth - recommended by American Airlines magazine

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan - recommended by nobody. The author is the same guy who wrote Atonement, out in theaters right now and nominated for many Golden Globe awards. Speaking of Keira Knightley, she has an unusual smile. I decided to start my reading with this book. I was sucked in right away.

Saturday by Ian McEwan - see "Amsterdam" above

Forgive Me by Amanda Ward - recommended by American Airlines magazine

The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnicell (?) - recommended by a woman in the gym locker room. She also recommended The Long Embrace but that wasn't available.


I wasn't planning to go the library today but ended up there because my car battery died and I called AAA and they said I had to have the engine running for 20 minutes. The markets (my intended destinations) were too close so I went to the library instead.

Off to make a batch of steel cut oatmeal and put away groceries.