Book Review - I've Got Sand In All The Wrong Places

One of the best parts of being a librarian are some of the perks I’ve discovered along the way. As a long time bookseller (close to 16 years; shameless plug – I owe my education and my career path to Barnes & Noble. More of that another time, but BN – seriously? Thank you.) I was familiar with ARCs – Advanced Reader Copies – of books. I’ve been gifted with a few from some of my favorite authors – Jodi Picoult, Dean Koontz, Claire Cook, not to mention many others. I’ve even got an original ARC of a little known book by Stephenie Meyer called Twilight – maybe you've heard of it, by chance? As I dropped back my hours bookselling to fulfill my new full-time career, I found less and less chances to obtain ARC treasures. Until I read about Net Galley one day. Net Galley is an opportunity for me to read ARC e-versions of many upcoming books for free. The “cost” is in order to keep on being gifted with free ebooks, I need to write a (hopefully favorable) review online and share it – through Amazon, GoodReads, blogging, websites, etc. At first it was just great fun – I started requesting and receiving many books. Some were really good, others, not so much. But I also discovered the more I read and reviewed the more perks came at me. Like auto-approval from certain publishers. Again, at first, it was just from publishers who really just wanted to get their books circulating. But one day a major publisher put me on their auto-approved list and more choices opened up to me, and a few more publishers added auto-approval to my profile. Recently I saw a book advertised that looked like a good read from St. Martin’s Press; ”I’ve got Sand in All the Wrong Places” by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella, a dynamic mother and daughter writing team. I’ve read a few of Lisa’s books but was essentially clueless about the weekly column she and her daughter write. I’ve become an instant fan.

"I’ve Got Sand in All the Wrong Places" is one of the best books I have read in a while. I loved it from the first page and found myself laughing out loud throughout the whole thing. As adult women in the 21^st century, we all essentially have the same cares and concerns about life and living – growing older, dealing with curve-balls, both big and small. Lisa and Francesca offer light-hearted words of wisdom, and their down-to-earth wit prove that life can be taken much too seriously.

There is one chapter with a more serious note; Francesca shares the story of a brutal physical attack. Her vivacious nature allow her to share that story and her ongoing recovery as a victim of a terrible crime. It’s a healing process, and although Francesca and her mother are not certain she will continue to live life as guileless as before her attack, she perseveres and forges on, sharing her story and not allowing herself to fall prey to becoming a cowering victim of fate. I found this inspiring, and I also found (past that chapter) her outlook on life wonderfully refreshing. She continues to move on. That is what this book is about; moving on each day. As women we can either give in to calamitous doom, or we pull on our big-girl panties and continue on with forward momentum. I say Good for you, Lisa and Francesca. Thank you so much for the gift of this wonderful book!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114256-i-ve-got-sand-in-all-the-wrong-places

It's Never Too Late To Begin Again

In December while on Christmas break I discovered mention of Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. I began the main exercise of that book – an activity called Morning Pages. The idea of morning pages is a catharsis of sorts; to clear one’s brain from the debris that we all have floating around inside of us. As early as possible upon rising for the day the idea is to hand write 3 8 ½ by 11 pages of thoughts. It’s not exactly journaling, and it is written for no audience to read. It is stream-of-consciousness writing and from it patterns in life emerge and we can sort of clear and address any blocks we might have – clearing the way for creativity, but not just as an artist or writer, but in our careers or jobs; our family life; wherever we might be blocked. It is a fabulous exercise. I do find it a challenge to rise an hour earlier to do this exercise, and sometimes I don’t have an opportunity to write until after work, but I feel it is helping me in my life. I feel clearer, more focused. I am able to concentrate and even think about the future through different eyes. It’s interesting that it took me this long to pick up that particular book; it was published in the mid-90’s and as a bookseller from 1998 through 2014 I have seen that book countless times, never taking the time to discover what it was about. It’s made a world of difference to me.

When I saw that Julia had a new book coming out – It’s Never Too Late To Begin Again, and that I could read it through Net Galley in exchange for a fair book review I completely jumped at the chance. Admittedly, when I began reading it and discovered that Julia primarily wrote it for newly retired people I nearly balked at reading it. But then I remembered that The Artist’s Way was not written purely for artists, either, so I continued on. The book is written to help individuals realize that it is never too late to begin life again. Some of us are considering out place in life, contemplating a change in our life style or career, and some of us are in an in-between stage of life; some people are just beginning retirement and are uncertain what life will bring next. Regardless of where we are, I believe this book can help us discover our next desire or course of action.

 I have not finished the book,  and I really don’t want to. It is one of those books that I am just delighting in reading and I truly do not want it to end and be over. I’ve skipped ahead, skipped back, re-read the inspirational quotes, flipped forward again – I keep reading back and forth, but I am not ready to be finished with it.  A few years ago in my first job as a school librarian I worked for a private school. We held our twice annual book fairs at the local Barnes & Noble, and that suited me fine; I worked at that particular store part-time, and book fair weeks were a lot of work, but fun, too; being a bookseller and school librarian during that stage of my life were probably some of the most fulfilling days of my career. Parents were so appreciative of my knowledge and honesty, and steering the children toward “just-right” books was such a pleasure and so satisfying. At the same time, in between visits from the kids (they rode on the bus as a field trip to the store and often parents would meet them there), the parents would wander the store and I could talk books to as many as wanted to. One particular mom had been fighting cancer over that past year. She had two daughters; one was on the verge of “graduating” 8^th grade; the other had graduated the year prior. In our chat at the store she spoke frankly of her illness and her fears of dying from her illness. I don’t know how the conversation drifted, but we began speaking of the afterlife. And from that I told her of a book I had read on the subject which captivated me – Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss. She ended up purchasing it, and a few weeks later she called me and left me a voice mail. When I first heard her voice, my heart beat incredibly fast and lodged in my throat. She said, Kim, I just want you to know I have not finished the book, and I do not want to. I thought – oh, no! Then she went on in a rush of laughter – she loved it, thought it was fabulous and did not want it to end, which is why she was not going to finish it.

That is how I feel about Julia Cameron’s newest book. I don’t want it to end. It is not a book designed to be read in one sitting. It is intentionally set up to be spread out over a twelve week period. There are tasks involved – Morning Pages, Walking, creating a Memoir, an Artist Walk. Each are activities designed for soul searching; for rediscovering ones passions – or even finding them for the first time. I am very new to Julia Cameron and her books, but I am truly enthralled with her writing and her suggestions. I look forward to continuing with this book and never really finishing it. Julia – thank you so much for your gifts to your readers.