Tattoos on the Heart ....

The Power of Boundless Compassion

By Gregory Boyle

I JUST finished reading this book and I had to share it with you!

I would consider this a must read for anybody. Adult that is.

Caution: This is a compilation of real stories about gang members and their lives.

The language is real and rough. If you are easily offended, this book is not for 

you. But if you interested in hearing how one man is making a big difference

in a real way, this book is for you! 

Father Gregory will make you re-think and re-define your definitions of

 success, failure, forgiveness, compassion, and hope.  He reminds us that

these are all deep wells that God wants us to draw from when we are 

internally (as well as externally) judging the worth of another Soul on this planet. 

Further, Father Doyle reminds us that whether you are a nurse in an ER or a homie from the hood,

 He will use you right where you are and just as you are!

But don't think this is all heavy spiritual reading... It is not.

I laughed as much as I cried. Humor abounds in his skilled story telling. 

The same, but different: I would compare this to Ann Voskamp's 

Best Seller "One Thousand Gifts" , only much grittier. 

From the Back of the book:

“Destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality” ( Los Angeles Times )— Tattoos on the Heart is a series of parables about kinship and redemption from pastor, activist, and renowned speaker, Father Gregory Boyle—now in paperback.

For twenty years, Father Gregory Boyle has run Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention program located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles—also known as the gang capital of the world. In Tattoos on the Heart, he has distilled his experience working in the ghetto into a breathtaking series of parables inspired by faith.

From giant, tattooed Cesar, shopping at JC Penney fresh out of prison, we learn how to feel worthy of God’s love. From ten-year-old Pipi we learn the importance of being known and acknowledged. From Lulu we understand the kind of patience necessary to rescue someone from the dark—as Father Boyle phrases it, we can only shine a flashlight on a light switch in a darkened room.

This is a motivating look at how to stay faithful in spite of failure, how to meet the world with a loving heart, and how to conquer shame with boundless, restorative love.

Winner of the 2011 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Creative Nonfiction

 This was a GOOD book! 

You should read it!

The Grapes Of Wrath, Book Review

This month's book club read was John Steinbeck's  The Grapes of Wrath.

I will be honest with you. I was looking forward to racking up another classic on 

my "I read that" list.  I had read Of Mice and Men years ago and liked it. So I thought

this was an obvious choice. 

I finally finished it this week and it left me scratching my head, wondering who decides

which stories will be "classics" and which stories won't. 

I'm not saying that I didn't appreciate the story and the great descriptive details

that were so helpful in understanding the plight of migrant workers from our 

own mid-west.  As well, the mistakes of Big Government and Big Banking were 

not lost on me either. In some ways it reminded of our most recent housing bubble.

What I found disturbing is the fact that this book is required reading in many 

high schools and in some jr. high schools. It has a lot of adult content and 

adult situations. I would not recommend it for anyone under 30. Why, you might ask.

Most young people in our country today would have no way to relate to this level

of misery, pride, dignity or desperation and hopelessness. I think that it takes some

living and experience to be able to see beyond the pitiful and depressive subject.

I think that this important time in our history is better taught by a good history teacher.

I also HATED how it ended! What happened to young Tom Joad? Did AL and 

Agnes make it on their own? Did the family even survive the first year in California?

Really Mr. Steinbeck? How could you leave your precious reader dangling?

Does anyone else ever ask, 

"Classic? Says, who?"

A Book Review: The 19th Wife

For March our book club read: 

The 19th Wife 

by David Ebershoff

From the back of the book:

Faith, I tell them, is a mystery, elusive to many, and never easy to explain. 

Sweeping and lyrical, spellbinding and unforgettable, David Ebershoff's  The 19th Wife combines epic historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense. It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a family's polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife.

Soon after Ann Eliza's story begins's a second exquisite narrative unfolds-a tale of muser involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his father's death.

And as Ann Eliza's narrative intertwines with that of Jordan's search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith.

My thoughts:

I found the Ann Eliza story line fascinating. I liked the historical fiction and the details. I thought that Mr. Ebershoff did a wonderful job of weaving historical documents and fiction into a believable tale. I liked this part of the story so well, in fact, that I hated the entire second story line. I felt like it was completely unnecessary.

I'm not a total prude and I understand that this lifestyle still goes on and that it holds horrible consequences for the young men that pose a threat to the "community".  But I really felt that the graphic language was over the top. I usually try to avoid this kind of trash when I pick a book. I hate to be blindsided and frankly was embarrassed that I chose it for my group of ladies. 

SO if you opt to read this selection, my recommendation is just read the Ann Eliza story, or at least be forewarned that the other story line has LOTS of graphic language and adult sexual situations. 

I'm Joining in for Literary Friday

Yay! Friday!

Hello all you lovelies! 

I'm sorry that I have neglected you. 

But don't think that I have not thought of you this week. 

 

A quick thank you everyone that participated in Fresh-Cut Friday!

We had some amazing participants. 

If you want to see, all the links are below. 

You won't be sorry!

I also wanted to do a quick book review.

I'll be joining RickiJill for Literary Friday

 If you are looking for a good read... this might be a place to start.... 

I'm just saying.

From the back of the book: 

An unvarnished portrait of a marriage that is both ordinary and extraordinary, Dancing on Broken Glass takes readers on an unforgettable journey of the heart.

Lucy Houston and Mickey Chandler probably shouldn’t have fallen in love, let alone gotten married. They’re both plagued with faulty genes—he has bipolar disorder; she, a ravaging family history of breast cancer. But when their paths cross on the night of Lucy’s twenty-first birthday, sparks fly, and there’s no denying their chemistry.

Cautious every step of the way, they are determined to make their relationship work—and they put their commitment in writing. Mickey will take his medication. Lucy won’t blame him for what is beyond his control. He promises honesty. She promises patience. Like any marriage, there are good days and bad days—and some very bad days. In dealing with their unique challenges, they make the heartbreaking decision not to have children. But when Lucy shows up for a routine physical just shy of their eleventh anniversary, she gets an impossible surprise that changes everything. Everything. Suddenly, all their rules are thrown out the window, and the two of them must redefine what love really is.

My Take:  I loved the the book. I loved Lucy. I was totally in, until the end of the story. 

The last chapters actually made me SOB! I was so emotional drained by the time I 

reached the last 2 chapters that I think I just felt like I was done. The closing chapters

are all about Micky, and honestly I just felt that it was to far fetched and not really believable.

That aside, some of the writing is absolutly beautiful. The author also takes on some 

very heady real life issues in meaningful ways. It was food for some amazing conversation 

for book club. 

And that, my friends, is a good thing!

I'm off to have a great weekend. 

I hope you are too! 

Good Enough for Literary Friday!

OOOOOH! To my sweet reading friends.... THIS WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!

All the girls in the book club gave it 2 thumbs up. It was the perfect choice for our  October meeting.

All based on historical facts, this story read like the best suspense novel ever!

Just enough gore that you know what happened but a lot is left to the imagination, which I personally is a sign of a really good writer. 

If you end up reading it or have read it... Let me know. 

I would love to hear your thoughts! 

From the Back of the book:

Their fates were linked by the magical Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, nicknamed the “White City” for its majestic beauty. Architect Daniel Burnham built it; serial killer Dr. H. H. Holmes used it to lure victims to his World’s Fair Hotel, designed for murder. Both men left behind them a powerful legacy, one of brilliance and energy, the other of sorrow and darkness.

Here, then, is your ticket to the greatest fair in history—a place where incredible dreams came to life alongside darkest nightmares.

I'm joining in for Literary Friday.  Go see Ricki Jill for more great reading selections!

It's Time For A Book Review!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

By Lisa See

Tomorrow night is Lit N Latte and I finished my book just in time.
I have to say that this is the first book in a long time that I absolutely loved!
I always rate books or stories on their ability to suck me in and take me to another place and time. This story does both! I found myself picking the book up to read it, even if I could only do a page or two.
The story is about love, life and female friendship in the early to mid 1800's in China. It takes the reader to a far away time and depicts the hardship of life for women in an exotic and, at times, horrific way. The author takes us on a journey through the entire life of a woman. It begins with her despised birth into a family, because a girl born into a Chinese family is considered a worthless branch on a tree. The story continues through footbinding, the contracting of an arranged marriage, years of education into submission, her wedding to a man she has never met, child birth, the servant hood that she must endure in her husbands family and hope of finding some worth as a Mother of a son or sons. The only respite is the arranged lifelong friendships that she is allowed to have.
The story is full of enchantment and the kind of friendship we rarely experience in todays world. It is also a story of regret and forgiveness.

I hope you read this story and enjoy it as much as I did!

Have a great week!

Lit N Latte for November!

Here is my review for this months book. We read Gift From The Sea
by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. I have seen it for years and heard various women rant about how great it was. It has been a popular book since it was first published in the "50's. I had thought that someone that had endured the heart break that she and her husband did early in their marriage would have something very substantive to say about love, marriage, child rearing, friendship, faith, or any of the many subjects pertaining to being female.

Sad to say I was disappointed. The book is broken into chapters titled by types of sea shells. The shells represent different stages of a woman's life. I thought the comparisons were a stretch. And the descriptions were lacking meat. It's like having a finger sandwich when you were craving a steak. I thought that it was just another piece of pop psychology from the baby boomer generation. She even had the audacity to write about a time of life or "stage" that she hadn't even been through yet. Did I say I was disappointed? I guess the thing that just really bothered me was the "inner self stuff".

I did glean one or two points from the book. That is, that we as women, sometimes expect our relationships to be all things at all times. In fact, most relationships are only made of a series of moments and memories. They are what they are in that moment. I think this is true and I thought it was a good reminder that we shouldn't put so much pressure and expectation on our friends. We also need to make time for ourselves when we can be alone and where we don't have all the information coming in. (WHAT?! leave my computer off?! ) We do need to shut down every once and awhile.

Our next book is On Strike for Christmas by Sheila Roberts