Missing Max is a work of fiction that details the impact of a missing child. This family goes through some very profound changes as they struggle to deal with the reality of a missing infant and the psychological torture that comes from such a situation.
Each person struggles to hold on to their sanity in different ways. A teenaged daughter blames herself because of the circumstances surrounding the actual taking of the child. She morphs into an unknown personality as her guilt takes her places emotionally that no one can reach. She acts out and eventually she hatches a place to replace her young brother as a way to make things right.
The father hides himself in his work. The mother tries to deal with her loss by throwing herself into the world of missing children by volunteering at an agency that tries to help families find their children. The eventual strain of the relationships within the house and those individuals relationships with others in their circle of influence threatens to burst as they all try to come to a place of healing. Will the child be found? Are things as they really seem? Was this kidnapping a stranger abduction or is there an evil more bizarre at work behind the scenes?
For anyone who has ever wondered how someone survives such an ordeal as having a child kidnapped this book does a fine job of simulating the lengths to which the devastation can reach. I recommend this book written by Karen Young and published by Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc in 2010.
Listen is a Christian Mystery which was written by Rene Gutteridge. The story is one right out of today’s society…the powerful impact of the words and actions that take place online and how they affect people and communities in their daily life.
In the story of Listen, a little quiet town named Marlo suddenly becomes a hotbed of intrigue and crime because of an anonymous poster who writes words taken right out of people’s mouth…private conversations not meant for public consumption. No one seems to know how it is being done or why. Yet, words meant for private conversations are suddenly being posted online and wreaking all kinds of havoc in relationships in the small town of Marlo.
How does this change the environment when trust is removed between two people having conversations? Is the line between online life and real live being blurred? How can partial conversations taken out of context cause such emotional misery? Crime takes on a whole new face when people words are used against them in an online forum. Why are people drawn to the misery of others and how do they avoid becoming a victim of such a violation of trust? Is this a form of bullying?
I think reading this book is important for those who don’t necessarily understand how words and actions online can be misdirected. Listen was published by Center Point by association with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc in 2010.
The Returning is a work of Christian fiction. It was written by Ann Tatlock . It is the story of John and Andrea Sheldon’s family. A family that started out on shifting sand and entered into a full force windstorm- a separation which includes a 5 year prison term for causing the death of a stranger.
How does a family rebuild itself after a death, the birth of a special needs child, incarceration…infidelity and poverty? Children continue to grow and emotions become confusing and conflicted. Does a jailhouse spiritual conversion translate to a real true spiritual commitment to live a life dedicated to service to God and following his leading? Is it easier to be a Christian inside prison walls or outside prison walls?
This story is a story that is played out around the world; it is painfully experienced by each individual in a family that is unfortunate to have to go through such trials. I found this story of spiritual growth to be life affirming. It is a story of encouragement for families who are struggling with reconnecting after a deep and profound brokeness that seems insurmountable. It reinforces the very basics of faith, family & commitment.
The Returning was published in 2009 by Bethany House Publishers a division Baker Publishing Group .
Three Wishes is a story about three friends who have chosen journalism as their careers each woman, Pam, Carey and Beth, successful professionally in their own right. Personally, each woman is at a cross road in the decision making process in their approach to parenthood. So far, relationships have not been stable enough to bring a child into the picture. The question remains, how to fulfill their desire to parent a child.
Carey is the first of the three to choose an un-traditional route. She forgoes waiting for the perfect man to drop into her life to co-parent with…instead, she purchases sperm from a donor at a sperm bank. Does she follow through with her plan to become pregnant by an unknown man?
Pam and Beth are also on the path towards changing the course of their future. How does this decision to go forward with a plan to parent, change their lives? Is the road smooth; or is there heartbreak for any of the three women? This story brings into question the idea of whether we as individuals are in control of the direction of our lives or is there a force outside of ourselves that steers the ship?
I found the book, Three Wishes, interesting enough to finish reading. It is thought provoking…how far does one go to become a parent? Oh by the way, the story is about real women…and, is a true story! Read it and see how things turned out for each woman.
Three Wishes was published in 2010 by Little, Brown and Company; Hachette Book Group.
Denial is a fascinating book on the subject of terror and terrorists. It is not your typical book on the subject. Jessica Stern has written the book as a way of processing her own childhood experience of rape and the interactions of the people in her life at the time of the event; and how the situation of denial affects each of them today.
Jessica Stern is an expert on post traumatic stress and terrorism. She has made a career out of those subjects and yet, she appears to be just now as she writes this book to begin to see that both of those subjects have shaped her inside and out. Her relationships with her father as well as others in her life has been formed and limited by her past experiences. I think that you will find this book enlightening as the subject denial is often woven through many of our lives in layers without even understanding it’s root cause. See how Jessica Stern ties all of these ideas together as it relates to terrorism of any kind and how she begins to understand how denial was both a nemisis and a comfort from the time of her rape to the completion of this book.
Denial, A Memoir Of Terror was published in 2010 by ECCO, a imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. Their website is: www.eccobooks.com or you can visit the author’s website: www.JessicaSternBooks.com
This Time Together, Laughter and Reflection, written by Carol Burnett is a wonderful written part of her autobiography. I’ve read her earlier book and enjoyed it immensely; she writes with authenticity and sensitivity. Her book leaves you feeling like you knew her all along… she is funny, smart and caring.
Carol’s television show was a constant companion as I was growing up; and, viewing pieces of those episodes at any time can still make me laugh. Her cast of characters and her co-stars all became family friends; I still think of them fondly when I recall evenings that my family spent watching her television show. Carol is more than an entertainer…she is a genuine person and that comes across in her performances, as well as her writing. This book is a collection of random thoughts and experiences through the years and makes for a nice, relaxing time while reading. I especially enjoyed being a fly on the wall when Carol writes of her time with Lucille Ball. Lucy was a trailblazer and also a big part of my growing up years so it is wonderful to read of their relationship. Both women are legends who had to be strong and stand out in their chosen profession…one previously dominated by men.
The book is a great way to have a window into some of her relationships and experiences with both famous and non-famous people, as she relates these stories. There is humor and humanity on every page as well as sentimental reflection scattered throughout. You won’t be wasting your time if you want to get to know Ms. Carol Burnett a little better; just spend a little time reading through, This Time Together, Laughter and Reflection.
This book was published in 2010 by Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc. You can find their website here: www.crownpublishing.com You are able to purchase this book there.
Kitty Kelley who is known for writing what is considered to be negative, tell all, biographies has written one about America’s warm and fuzzy television talk show icon, Oprah. While this biography is very different from her other biographies in that she doesn’t disclose any real big powerful career fireworks; it still is an eye opener for the reader who expects that they know all about the subject of the book, Oprah.
For one thing, I consider myself to be a person who is well read, well informed on most social issues of the day regarding many of our leading celebrities. Oprah is definitely a celebrity extra-ordinare. She has fame, power, a benevolent image and lots of money. This is a successful combination and I think that many people admire her for what she has been able to achieve in her lifetime. She started out with very humble roots and she has climbed to the peak of success in her chosen field.
We have all heard bits and pieces of innuendo and gossip over the years about Oprah. We have all heard about her close relationship with Gayle King, with her long time companion Stedman S. Graham as well as Oprah’s struggle with her weight and her spiritual journey to a higher self. We all knew of her sexual abuse as a child/teen and her pregnancy that resulted in the birth of a baby who died shortly after birth.
What many of us have not heard are the behind the scenes moments of her climb to success. We have heard rumors and innuendos on occasion. However, we have not heard over much about her obsessive need for control…contracts that bind pretty much anyone who makes an appearance or does business with her in anyway from speaking out about their experience or their knowledge of her. This was one of the most fascinating parts of the book for me.
While on one hand, I can certainly understand a celebrity’s need for privacy-as we all know, people will sell out a celebrity to a tabloid for money. So, in some ways to protect any kind of an opportunity for a private life a celebrity must take desperate measures to insure that an employee or acquaintance isn’t going to make common knowledge violations of a person’s right to keep certain pieces of information out of the public eye. However, it appears that this goes to the extreme when the person is Oprah Winfrey.
I also found the allegations of extreme greed, excess when it comes to material things for both herself and her friends or beneficiaries of her gifting to be somewhat troubling. Oprah is an intelligent woman who is informed on so many subjects and yet, the instances that were shared in the book about her extreme extravagence seemed disappointing to me. Her relationships come across as desperate and the antithesis of so many of her educational talk shows about women in dysfunctional relationships; this too was sad.
Now Kitty Kelley has been accused over the years of being a little too free with factual points in her books…in this book it is alleged that she has interviewed over 800 people in her research for the book. She has a big publisher behind the sale of this book and in doing so…I am sure that they made certain that all the information in the book was able to be defended legally or there would be a very large price to pa,y both in a monetary way and in the form of reputation.
At the end of the book, I felt that I had a more complete idea of who Oprah is and who she projects herself to be. What it boils down to is that Oprah is a complex woman of many layers. She desires to do good and does in many ways, she controls what she can and struggles with the areas of life where she can’t control circumstances, she loves and fears, she praises and condemns, she supports and holds back her support when she feels strongly about a subject that she is passionate about. Is that any different from any of the rest of us?
Is Oprah too big for her britches when it comes to influencing others? Some would say yes, some would say no. Do her ambitions in life jive with the goals of a person on a good and true course with a spiritual journey to their best self awareness and ability to live with a life of purpose? Only God can answer that one.
Have you ever read a book that was filled with so much introspection that you felt as if you were invading the writer’s right to privacy? At first I felt that way while reading; Orange Is The New Black-My Year In A Women’s Prison; then, I decided to experience the book in a manner in which I felt that it was written. I believe it was written in such a way as to educate, inspire, encourage and to challenge those who read it to understand that everyone who goes to prison is human and has value.
Often I think society tends to think of those in prison as people who are unworthy of consideration; after all, they did the crime and they must do the time, right? Lock ’em up and throw away the key until they have served their time, right? Well, part of that is true in the sense that criminal behavior must have consequences otherwise we would become a world of continual chaos with little accountability for our behaviors. However, what many people dismiss or never even consider is that there are so many layers of issues that cause a person to do the things that they do to find themselves in the position of becoming incarcerated at all. Not everyone who ends up in prison is hopeless or unworthy of a future of freedom; even though there are some prisoners who should not again be turned loose on society.
Then, also consider this…for each person incarcerated; there is a mother/father/sister/brother/son/daughter/aunt/uncle/cousin/grandparent/ friend/neighbor, etc who is affected by what takes place when a person they care about enters the prison system.
A prisoner’s world is turned upside down when their basic freedoms are taken from them. Rules and expectations are different; and relationships must be forged with strangers out of necessity, in what is probably the most stressful time in that person’s life, just to be able to survive their prison term. Fear, frustration and anger are part of the package as well as loneliness and shame. How a person chooses to proceed can affect the rest of their life. Do they keep former relationships alive or close off to those people who knew them before prison? Should they form friendships with other prisoners or try to be invisible? How long is their prison term and how do they best navigate all of the changes in their life once they have been convicted?
It is no small thing to maintain a relationship with someone who is behind bars. After all, there are limited opportunities to visit in person, talk on the phone, exchange letters with one another. Add to that, someone has to “hold down the fort” no matter how long that person is jailed. Life never stops changing and that includes children who grow up, people within relationships with the prisoner who become ill, pass away, or are hospitalized. Don’t forget the financial hardship on innocent family members who must struggle to maintain a place to live, jobs, child rearing, pay legal fees, and handle all things pertinent to paying the bills and helping everyone “left behind” as they struggle with the emotional implications of having a loved one incarcerated.
I think Piper Kerman does a fine job of shining a light on all of these facets of life, and more, when a person is convicted of a crime. Of course her book is about her experience as she went through the system. How decisions she made as a young women impacted her future with her friends, family and future mate. The shame, the frustration, the acceptance of her fate as well as her determination to make the best of the prison time by learning what she could from the experience and turning it into a personal development of sorts.
While her journey into this phase of her life is not something I would recommend to a person searching for a deeper understanding of the criminal justice system and it’s impact on American society; I would recommend this book to anyone who wants, or needs, to know how to navigate the most challenging shock to the loss of freedom when they or a loved one is facing a prison term.
Piper’s book is the next best thing for learning from the experience besides having to go through it personally. I think it is an eye- opening book, and one definitely worth reading. I will warn you that there is some rough language in places…however, because of the nature of the book; I would expect most people could understand the context of it’s use. This book will challenge you to think about how you view the prison system and those who are a part of it.
You can learn more about Piper here on her website: http://piperkerman.com/ and her book was published , in 2010, by Spiegel and Grau, which is an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group.