What are you reading? 2011

[Kristen.C]

I read the book a few years ago and agreed with a lot of the points in it and then fully disagreed with others-- like how they talk about avoiding "fake food" but then tell you to eat soy mayo, soy meal, soy milk, soy cheese, etc. Either cut those things out or not, but a dietary lifestyle where you replace everything with soy is not healthy. I think there are a lot of better resources out there for nutrition advice than this book offers.

Slightly off topic-- when I checked the book out of the library I had put it on a hold request and went in to pick it up. The girl who went and got it for me was a very proper and timid young Asian woman and the look on her face was priceless as she brought the book to me from the hold shelf. She was horrified and then I was totally embarrassed.

[Macaela25]

Holistic Nutrition? I think I'm going to pursue Religious WhackJobbery myself.

I bet no one's really waiting for "Bankrupt B!tch! The Sequel - Since Everyone Hated the First Book".

[judymd]

listened to it on audio a few years back.
No soda, diet or otherwise and fresh fruits and veggies, steamed fish, very very little meat.
yeah, I'd be a skinny b!tch if I ate that way every day!

[Whispered]

Congrats to our hcw authors!!
Thats such a huge accomplishment and displine~

Right now, I'm into mysterys and finishing up sue graftons, U for Undertow.
Before that, Cj box.. mystery.. that was good.
and lol before that, Diane Motts Davidson book.. love her series!!
and the chocolate and baking~~

[texxie]

I am currently reading the Blue Bloods series.

[Hina]

I don't know why I didn't think of making this offer earlier - sometimes there's just too much going on in life, I guess.

I've got two books published by small presses (they are NOT self-pubbed) - the first is a Young Adult book pubbed about a year ago and is about a young Sioux Indian girl who discovers her people's history after the death of her parents and the second, which just came out, is a fantasy/romance about a young woman who is wicked shy and finds herself in another world after an accident.

They are both available electronically so if anyone has a Kindle or doesn't mind reading on their computer, let me know via email or PM and I'll mail you a free copy of either, or both, of the books.

Here's the titles, if you want to read up on them on Amazon: Assiniboin Girl and Keeper of Memories.

I don't want anything for the books, no strings attached - I'm just a serious book lover who likes to share.

:)

Kathi very kindly send me her book via e-mail and I read it two sittings.

'Assiniboin Girl' is a story of a young teenager Mary Two Dogs who finds herself lost after the death of her parents. Not only Mary losses her parents, she suffers another loss when she has to leave her home town of New York City and move in her with her aunt in a small town in rural Georgia. Mary is the only non white in this tiny community and is constantly bullied by her school mates. Her aunt is an under cover FBI agent and fearing that Mary is unsafe here sends her to an Indian reservation in Montana.

Once again Mary has to make her home in a strange place- though the reservation she is moving to is where her parents were born and raised, they left it long before Mary was born and she has no affinity, no sense of connection to to her kin. Thus begins the turning point in the life of this young woman- we watch as she discover her roots, claims her ancestry, learn to be one in Nature in the tradition of her ancestors and morph from a victimized 'Red Girl' to a 'Warrior' worthy of Sioux–Assiniboin that came before her.

I love the way Katie provides the window in Mary's soul as she lets go of the crippling grief of losing her parents and learns to move on, finding her own place in life-with her head high and her spirit strong. There is a strong sense of other world about 'Assiniboin Girl' this is a highly spiritual book- there are scenes of existing in more then one realm at the same time. Mary has constant visions of a Sious girl, Mapiya, who lived four centuries ago and the novel goes into flashback where Mapiya narrates her own life story. Katie does an excellent job of enriching her novel with interesting details of the time period. The readers learn that native Americans used to cook their food in sacks made from buffalo stomachs, that they had bundles of sweet grass next to them when they ate so that they can use it to wipe their hands. We learn that a young man would attract a female by playing the flute outside her tipi, how a young women would paint her face to make herself attractive to her suitors- sounds familiar? Makes you acknowledge that humans and their rituals stay same over the centuries and beneath the different skin hues we are all essentially the same with same desires, fears and hopes.

'Assiniboin Girl' is full of colorful characters- the old wise grandmother who teaches Mary to let go of her insecurities and find her inner strength, disocver her own authentic self. The book narrates the transformation of Mary from Mary Two Dogs to 'She-Who-Remembers'.

The book is classified as young adult fiction but it is the kind that is enjoyable by people of all ages- all back grounds. I see this book being read by a young girl in America as well as young woman in Poland or Pakistan and resonating with all three of them with equal intensity. I am looking forward to have it read by my 9 year old daughter as well as my fourteen year old niece.

I thank Katie again for sharing her words with me and I congratulate a fellow member of our HCW community who also belongs to the revered community of 'Published Authors'.

[brokenangel]

I'm reading Dogtown tales of rescue, rehabilitation, and redemption. It is based on a animal rescue in Utah called Best Friends. A sad and inspiring book if you are a animal lover.

[uncommon]

In all seriousness, I am reading Mastering the Art of French Cooking from cover to cover lol. My geekery knows no limit.

(On a similar note, I am also reading the 4th Harry Potter book for the first time.)

[mcscheatzle]

Anna Karenina
I finished War and Peace earlier this fall so I thought I might as well keep on with him

[garyandkathi]

OMG Hina! I've been so busy with school I totally zoned on this! Thank you so much for the kind review!

:)

Kathi

Kathi very kindly send me her book via e-mail and I read it two sittings.

'Assiniboin Girl' is a story of a young teenager Mary Two Dogs who finds herself lost after the death of her parents. Not only Mary losses her parents, she suffers another loss when she has to leave her home town of New York City and move in her with her aunt in a small town in rural Georgia. Mary is the only non white in this tiny community and is constantly bullied by her school mates. Her aunt is an under cover FBI agent and fearing that Mary is unsafe here sends her to an Indian reservation in Montana.

Once again Mary has to make her home in a strange place- though the reservation she is moving to is where her parents were born and raised, they left it long before Mary was born and she has no affinity, no sense of connection to to her kin. Thus begins the turning point in the life of this young woman- we watch as she discover her roots, claims her ancestry, learn to be one in Nature in the tradition of her ancestors and morph from a victimized 'Red Girl' to a 'Warrior' worthy of Sioux–Assiniboin that came before her.

I love the way Katie provides the window in Mary's soul as she lets go of the crippling grief of losing her parents and learns to move on, finding her own place in life-with her head high and her spirit strong. There is a strong sense of other world about 'Assiniboin Girl' this is a highly spiritual book- there are scenes of existing in more then one realm at the same time. Mary has constant visions of a Sious girl, Mapiya, who lived four centuries ago and the novel goes into flashback where Mapiya narrates her own life story. Katie does an excellent job of enriching her novel with interesting details of the time period. The readers learn that native Americans used to cook their food in sacks made from buffalo stomachs, that they had bundles of sweet grass next to them when they ate so that they can use it to wipe their hands. We learn that a young man would attract a female by playing the flute outside her tipi, how a young women would paint her face to make herself attractive to her suitors- sounds familiar? Makes you acknowledge that humans and their rituals stay same over the centuries and beneath the different skin hues we are all essentially the same with same desires, fears and hopes.

'Assiniboin Girl' is full of colorful characters- the old wise grandmother who teaches Mary to let go of her insecurities and find her inner strength, disocver her own authentic self. The book narrates the transformation of Mary from Mary Two Dogs to 'She-Who-Remembers'.

The book is classified as young adult fiction but it is the kind that is enjoyable by people of all ages- all back grounds. I see this book being read by a young girl in America as well as young woman in Poland or Pakistan and resonating with all three of them with equal intensity. I am looking forward to have it read by my 9 year old daughter as well as my fourteen year old niece.

I thank Katie again for sharing her words with me and I congratulate a fellow member of our HCW community who also belongs to the revered community of 'Published Authors'.