Almost wordless: The bittersweet was a bright splash of color against the dried prairie plants at Mckee Marsh.
——————————–
More Wordless Wednesday. © 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Dream More:
Celebrate the Dreamer in You
Written and read by Dolly Parton
Genre: Inspirational
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publish Date: November 27, 2012
Format: Audio, 2 hours
Audio Listening Level: Easy
Rating: 4 of 5
Dolly Parton shares her philosophy on life in her new book based on a commencement speech that she gave to graduating students at the University of Tennessee in 2009. Now she expands on her beliefs and urges readers to dream more, learn more, care more, and be more.
Written in a conversational style with much humor and wit, Dolly offers her words of wisdom and advice gained over a lifetime of achievement. Her biggest wish is for people to dream more and stay true to those dreams. She tells us it’s alright to be a dreamer. That’s where great ideas start. She confesses she has always been a dreamer, still has dreams and will never stop working. She said it would be ok to drop dead on stage doing what she loves. Yes, she said that!
Using examples from her life beginning with her childhood and growing up poor, Dolly talks about her early dreams of going to Nashville to be a star, doesn’t shy away from talking about her style of big hair, tight clothes and creating an appearance she was happy with. She is so open and forthcoming it’s difficult not to like her.
I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Dolly herself. Her vibrant personality and her enthusiasm for life shines through. As a bonus, she treats the listener to some of her music occasionally bursting into song on a few of the tracks. I highly recommend the audio version. You can’t help feeling good when you are finished listening to this book.
——————————–
Source: Review copy.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Mailbox Monday
Mailbox Monday was created by The Printed Page. It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their home last week.
Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blog each month. The November host is Kathy at BermudaOnion’s Weblog .
Last week I received one audiobook for review and a couple of wins.
For review from Harper Audio:
Flight Behavior
by Barbara Kingsolver
Discontented with her life of poverty on a failing farm in the Eastern United States, Dellarobia, a young mother, impulsively seeks out an affair. Instead, on the Appalachian mountains above her farm, she discovers something much more profoundly life-changing – a beautiful and terrible marvel of nature. As the world around her is suddenly transformed by a seeming miracle, can the old certainties they have lived by for centuries remain unchallenged?
A win from Dolce Bellezza:
12-21
by Dustin Thomason
From the co-author of the two-million copy mega-bestseller The Rule of Four comes a riveting thriller with a brilliant premise based on the 2012 apocalypse phenomenon—perfect for readers of Steve Berry, Preston and Child, and Dan Brown.
For decades, December 21, 2012, has been a touchstone for doomsayers worldwide. It is the date, they claim, when the ancient Maya calendar predicts the world will end.
A win from Books Bones & Buffy:
Ghost Planet
by Sharon Lynn Fisher
Psychologist Elizabeth Cole prepared for the worst when she accepted a job on a newly discovered world—a world where every colonist is tethered to an alien who manifests in the form of a dead loved one. But she never expected she’d struggle with the requirement to shun these “ghosts.” She never expected to be so attracted to the charming Irishman assigned as her supervisor. And she certainly never expected to discover she died in a transport crash en route to the planet.
What are you reading?
——————————–
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
The Things That Matter
by Nate Berkus
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Publish Date: October 16, 2012
Format: Hardcover | 336 pages
Rating: 4 of 5
I thought this would be a coffee table book, filled with gorgeous photos and decorating ideas and not much else. I was wrong. Yes, there are beautiful photos of inviting interior spaces of about a dozen different homes, but the accompanying text tells a personal, engaging story about Nate and his relationship with the individuals featured.
Nate begins the book with some background information about himself. He talks about his family, his childhood, his years in college and how he eventually ended up in the world of design. He also talks about personal relationships and the pain of losing his partner, Fernando, when they were caught in the tsunami in 2004 while vacationing in Sri Lanka. The bulk of the book features a close look at the interior design of friend’s homes and in the final chapter we get to see how Nate’s own apartment is designed and what some of his special pieces of art and furniture mean to him.
One of my favorite sections was the chapter on Dr. Ruth Westheimer, an old friend, who asked him to help her with some design ideas. She is a fascinating woman who experienced much loss in her early years. The items she has in her home all have meaning to her and she did not want to get rid of any of them, but she felt “stuck” and needed some advice on arranging her things. Nate viewed that as a challenge when some interior designers would call it a deal breaker and refuse to help.
I read an advance copy of this book which did not contain the final color photos. (I was able to look through a finished copy at my local library and can confirm the photos in the finished copy are beautiful). None the less, I was impressed with the collections and arrangements and how ordinary items held such special meaning for many of these people. In one sense, some of the rooms appeared cluttered, with many objects displayed on tables and shelves (I would hate to have to dust them, but then again, I bet most of these folks have a cleaning service!), but on the other hand, it’s comforting to be surrounded by things you love, which is really what this book is all about.
It was a joy to see so many of the rooms were filled with book and bookshelves, some very creative ones. I’ve always surrounded myself with my books and was happy to see others doing same. Also pleasing to me was to see a lot of artwork of birds on display: paintings, photos and even Brian Sawyer’s taxidermy collection that he received from his great uncle. Yes, stuffed birds! Both creepy and beautiful, looking down at you from shelves on the wall and perched on tables.
This book has inspired me to consider having some of my own photography printed and framed for display on my walls and to remove the meaningless artwork that’s now taking up space. And as I clean out closets and go through boxes I’ll look at some of these items I’ve stored with a new eye and perhaps put some of them out on display.
Nate’s fans will especially enjoy reading this book, but it will also appeal to those who enjoy design and seeing how others arrange their private homes.
——————————–
Source: Advance review copy.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
A few weeks ago I heard a thump on the patio door and when I went to see who was knocking, I found a very annoyed hawk sitting on my deck. I slowly opened the door to see if the bird was injured. When she saw me she quickly got up and flew to the top of the garage. Had the bird been hurt I would have called the wildlife rehabilitation center for assistance.
I am pretty sure this is a juvenile female Sharp-shined Hawk. Coopers Hawks and Sharp-shins look a lot alike but the placement of the eye near the center of the relatively small head and the lack of white tips on the tail tell me it’s probably a Sharp-shined. Females are significantly larger than males and this hawk was about a foot tall, a male would be a few inches shorter. The yellow eye tells me this bird is young. Adults have red eyes.
She sat atop the garage for about 5 minutes, feathers ruffled and ego bruised, but otherwise appeared to be alright. Then she flew into a neighbor’s tree. I saw her again a few days later but this time she stayed clear of the door. I have several bird feeders and lots of little birds in my yard which attracts hawks looking for a quick snack.
Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Black Friday
Today is Black Friday here in the USA, a media created frenzy that has turned the Friday after Thanksgiving into the busiest, craziest, shopping day of the year.
I can remember when the day after Thanksgiving was a pleasant shopping experience, a day to wander through the shops and malls, see the Christmas decorations and displays and ending with a stop at a favorite coffee shop or restaurant to recap the day. You have to be able to remember back to 1980s though to appreciate what it used to be like. Now with the rise of the big box stores and cut-throat pricing, those days are gone.
I know I’m not alone in my distaste for the loss of holiday spirit and the crass commercialism of what used to be a pleasant 4-day holiday weekend, but enough people are participating in the frenzy to keep the retailers happy and it appears to be here to stay. For the first time that I can recall, department stores opened on Thanksgiving Day. If people didn’t like it, they would stay away, but folks were lined up outside the doors hours before the stores opened. I have to wonder though, does this increase sales or just move them up a few days?
An Alternative to Shopping
If you’re not out shopping, or are in a different part of the world, head over to Jenn’s Bookshelves for some Thankfully Reading Weekend activities. The fun will be going on through Sunday with link-ups to other participants and mini-challenges. No rules, no pressure, just read!
For those of you braving the Black Friday crowds, stay safe! I’m staying home today and catching up on a little reading, write a few reviews, listen to some audio while I tidy up the kitchen from yesterday’s Thanksgiving dinner and maybe do a little shopping online. Saturday I’ll be out birdwatching and walking off some of those Thanksgiving Day calories.
I’m halfway through the audiobook of Steve Jobs, my December bookclub pick. I’m almost finished with The Things That Matter by Nate Berkus and then I’ll be starting Giving Up the Ghost, a memoir, or The Prankster, a scifi send-up that sounds a bit bizarre, but I enjoy the unusual.
What are your weekend plans?
——————————–
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Waging Heavy Peace
by Neil Young
Narrated by Keith Carradine
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publish Date: September 25, 2012
Format: Audio, 12 hours | 30 minutes
Audio Listening Level: Easy
Rating: 4 of 5
Neil Young is still going strong. With his entertaining and engaging memoir, he proves he hasn’t burned out or faded away.
Neil looks back on his life, the good, the bad, his mistakes and his achievements interspersed with opinions and stories in a stream of conscious manner rather than a chronological life story. He talks about his family, his children, how his father’s influence eventually led him to writing and of course the music. He talks about many influential people within the music industry, most of which I was unfamiliar with, but that more ardent fans will appreciate.
He doesn’t shy away from discussing personal issues like his son’s medical problems and relationships with the women in his life. He talks about giving up all recreational drugs and drinking, fearing a resultant loss of creativity, and worries of one day suffering from dementia like his father.
I am not always a big fan of the rock star memoir genre often finding them too heavy on the sex, drugs and groupie tales, but this was not like that. Sure, there were some tales of wild parties and drug fueled times, but told in context and not glorified.
This was more than just a nostalgic trip back though the 70s and 80s. Not only has Neil Young been an influential musician and a supporter of environmental and philanthropic causes, but he continues to be an influence on the future with his plans to create a better system of audio delivery. He is developing a new method called Pono (originally called Pure Tone) which will deliver studio quality sound. He doesn’t try to hide is distaste for mp3’s low quality, how the shuffle button ruined the album, and how YouTube makes things more difficult for performers. He returns to the topic of music quality a few times throughout the book and if you don’t about Pono by the end, you haven’t been paying attention!
Read by Keith Carradine in a conversational tone that matches the stream of consciousness style of writing, the story moves along at a fast pace, keeping the listener engaged. Told in a single voice, this is an easy audio to follow and was a great choice for me while I multitasked around the house. The one criticism I have with audio versions of memoirs is that I miss seeing the photos that are often included in the print book. Some audio versions are now including a pdf file of the photos but sadly this one did not. I did take a look at the print copy and it does have a photo at the beginning of each chapter, many of them from the 70s and 80s, something avid fans would appreciate having.
Enjoyable and entertaining, music and memoir fans will find this a satisfying read.
——————————–
Source: Review copy.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Under My Apple Tree 