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A friend gave me Still Alice the day before my flight back to Illinois to visit my 87 year old mother.  I hadn’t yet picked out a book to read on the plane, so this was one less decision to make. So, today I’m talking about a serious subject for Barrie Summy’s Book Review Club.  Don’t forget to check out Barrie’s other great book club reviews for November. 

 Still Alice was on the New York Times bestseller list and after reading it, I can understand why.  This is a must read for anyone with a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle who seems to forget more than normal.

As we age, there is always the word that we can’t quite remember or we go to the kitchen then forget what we went there for.  But approximately 5.3 million people in the US are living with Alzheimer’s Disease.  Many more have mild cognitive impairment and are unaware of their problem.

Still Alice is a fictional story of Alice Howland, a fifty year-old cognitive psychology professor at Harvard University and world-renowned expert in linguistics who discovers she’s got a form of Alzheimer’s Disease known as Early Onset Alzheimer’s.  This form of the disease strikes people in their 40’s and 50’s and is hereditary.

Still Alice is a touching story of living with Alzheimer’s Disease from Alice’s perspective.  We see her struggle with accepting the diagnosis; hiding the disease from her family, friends, and co-workers; and living in a body she no longer understands.  We see the impact her disease has on her husband and the dynamics in their relationship.  And we see how her family rallies around to assist in her care when she needs them most.

I laughed and cried and couldn’t put the book down.

First-time novelist, Lisa Genova, won the 2008 Bronte Prize for this book.

She clearly captures the beautiful and terrifying aspects of Alice’s life as her disease quickly progresses.  Although written as fiction, this book offers valuable information about the disease.  With the millions of baby boomers reaching retirement age, there will be many more millions of people diagnosed with dementia.  If you are in this age group, I urge you to read this book.

Posted: November 1st, 2009 under writing.
Comments: 6

Today I’ve decided to talk about the Kindle for Barrie Summy’s Book Review Club.  Don’t forget to check out Barrie’s other great book club reviews.

 I didn’t know what to get my husband for Father’s Day, so I consulted with my daughter and decided that since he is an avid reader and our bookshelves are overflowing, what better present than a Kindle.  I checked out the smaller 6” and larger DX 9.7” models.

It was a toss up, smaller and less expensive ($359.00) vs. larger screen and costlier ($489.00).  But the ultimate decision on any purchase lies in it’s use.  What will he use it for?  What capacity will he need?  What features most closely match his needs?

While you can read a book on both Kindles, the new DX model with the larger screen is more convenient if you want to subscribe to journals and newspapers or purchase college textbooks. 

So far, we haven’t subscribed to any journals or newspapers, but we purchased a textbook the other day.  The download took more than 60 seconds.  I think the wireless connection in our house was slow, so I can’t say whether it will always take a longer period of time to download, but we’ll see.  We did download several samples(The first chapters or pages of a book).  Those downloads were quicker, 60 seconds or less.

The text-to-speech is very clear with English.  However, I happened to download a book that included several foreign words and I needed to check the text to identify the word.

The rotating display is cool, but sometimes you had to tilt the screen upright before the display turned to landscape mode.

 I love the way you can be reading several books at a time and the Kindle knows where you left off in each of them.  The menu screen is easy to use and allows you to jump to different locations in the book, search for a particular word or phrase, add a bookmark, highlight, and add notes.  The charge lasts several days.  You can also turn the wireless option off when you are not downloading a book and of course Amazon has made purchasing books so convenient and easy.  I know I haven’t talked about all the features, but it’s a busy day with lots more to do, so I’ll end here.

 If you haven’t gotten the idea yet, yes, my husband agreed to share his Kindle DX with me.  He’s pretty good about sharing.  I try to read my books while he’s at the office and he gets access nights and weekends.  It’s kind of like sharing a cell phone in the early days of cell phones when you only kept it in the car for emergency use.  I’m guessing that as time goes by, we may need to buy another Kindle, and maybe by that time there will be more competition in the electronic book market.  But until then, I’ll sit back, pick my feet up, and enjoy the Kindle DX.

Happy reading everyone.

p.s.  Amazon is now saying that that Kindle DX is sold out.  Glad I got mine early.

Here are the stats on the Kindles from Amazon 

Posted: July 1st, 2009 under Uncategorized, writing.
Comments: 5

I just reread a great book I’d like to share with you, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  The story is about a boy from Spain who became a Shepard in order to travel and see the world to follow the path of his Personal Legend.  As the boy travels, he meets up with a King, a fortune teller, and an alchemist, each of whom help the boy find his treasure.  The boy sells his sheep and sets out on his journey to the Pyramids in Egypt, encountering one obstacle after another.  He heeds the advise he received from a King to watch for and follow the omens that appear.  He meets up with an Alchemist who is known to change lead into gold.  The Alchemist, sees the strength of purpose in the boy and helps him reach his treasure.

I was struck by several passages that I’d like to share with you.  It reminds me of my own journey into yoga, from the first day I stepped into a yoga class, through all the yoga retreats, and teacher training.  To my upcoming trip to India and advanced training in Vedic Healing I’m scheduled to take later this year.  See if any of these passages also resonate with you.

When the boy first decided to look for his treasure, Paulo Coelho wrote:

“He still had some doubts about the decision he had made.  But he was able to understand one thing:  making a decision was only the beginning of things.  When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.”

Later, when the boy was fearful of being killed by the Arabs at war in the desert:

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.  And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”

So when the boy forgot about his fear:

“his heart began to tell him things that came from the Soul of the World.  It said that all people who are happy have God within them. … Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him. …But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them – the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness.  Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.”

Then the boy thought he had learned all he needed to learn about finding his Personal Legend, but the alchemist said there was one more thing to learn:

“before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. … That’s the point at which most people give up. … Every search begins with beginner’s luck.  And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

 There are so many thought provoking passages in The Alchemist, but I’ll stop here.  I’m sure that most everyone has had a dream they wanted to pursue sometime in their life.  Did you go after the dream or did you convince yourself it would never work out before you even began?  Were you afraid to go in search of your dream?  Did you have beginner’s luck but give up after you encountered some adversity?  Are you truly happy with your life?  If any of these passages or questions struck a cord, I encourage you to read The Alchemist.

 A few notes about the author:  Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1947.  He was a nonconformist and sought out new things.  He followed the teachings of Carlos Castaneda.  In 1988, he wrote The Alchemist which sold only nine hundred copies and the publisher decided not to reprint.  But following his dream, he found another publisher.  The Alchemist went on to sell more copies than any other book in Brazilian literary history.

 If you want to see more book reviews, stop by Barrie Summy’s Blog and meet others in the Book Review Club.  

Posted: February 3rd, 2009 under present moment, writing, yoga.
Comments: 9

Last night I saw the play 33 Variations.  It’s a fictional story surrounding the composition of Ludwig von Beethoven’s  thirty-three variations of Anton Diabelli’s waltz.  It was a wonderful play written and directed by Moises Kaufman.  But while some might view the play from the perspective of seeing one of Beethoven’s works come alive, I viewed it as a process of change and living in the present moment.

One the surface, Beethoven began with a simple waltz by Diabelli and transformed it into thirty-three different musical works of art.  During the play, we discovered the process of composing a piece of music, showing through Beethoven’s sketchbooks how he would draft a set of notes in pencil, then pen over a revision until he arrived at the final product.  In addition to depicting the music, Kaufman also portrayed the life of Beethoven as he descended into deafness, the process of a maestro at the height of fame plunging into the depths of illness.  Kaufman blended the past with the present day by including a musicologist sleuth, diagnosed with a debilitating illness, who’s out to discover why Beethoven was so obsessed with these musical variations.

The play made me pause and think about the process of life, how nothing stays the same, how everything changes, yet change happens day by day, moment by moment. 

At the macro level, we are born and grow.  At each stage of our life, the process continues.  We learn.  We work.  We love.  We experience the world around us.  Each year, each week, each day, each breath, is a new beginning.  As we focus more closely on our life, we can examine our career, and home life and see how each successive event in our live transforms us into the person we are today. 

As a writer, I think about the process of writing.  Typing subjects and verbs. Stringing sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into pages of text until the words are transformed into a story.  As a stained glass artist, I think about the process of creating a work of art.  Designing a window, cutting the glass, leading and soldering and mudding until what was once small plates of glass and strips of lead have been transformed into a piece of art.

Everything is a process.  And every process begins and ends in the present moment.  

Posted: April 27th, 2008 under Stained Glass, present moment, writing.
Comments: 4

What is Creativity?

Julie Cameron in The Artist’s Way says that “Creativity is a spiritual experience.”

I’ve heard writers say, “When I’m in the zone, the prose flow from somewhere deep within me.”

I’m in the process of rereading Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power of Now.  On pp. 19-20, he writes, “All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.  The mind then gives form to the creative impulse or insight.”

I had to pause after reading that statement and really think about what it says.  I’ve been writing for many years and more recently I’ve channeled my creative energy into my stained glass art.  I definitely agree with all these quotes.  There is someplace beyond my mind, beyond my thoughts, where ideas form and I give birth to them either on the page or in my stained glass.

So the question for you is this.  How do you define creativity?

Posted: April 11th, 2008 under Stained Glass, mindfulness, present moment, writing.
Comments: 4

I took some time this morning to catch up on all my magazine reading.  The stack has been piling up since the first of the year.  Seeing the stack was a reminder that I haven’t been taking enough “me” time. 

As I breezed through the February issue of Yoga Journal, I came across an article “Create a Life You Love” by Nora Isaacs.  The article suggests ten ideas to help you reconnect with what truly makes you happy.  Among them she suggests: get energized about your future, plug into your spiritual self, let go of the old, serve others, honor your physical self, be daring, soothe your mind, notice your surroundings, create community, and  make a date with nature.

Ah.  For me, that pretty much sums up the changes that I’ve tried to make in my life over the last two years.  Let me tell you, changing your lifestyle isn’t for wimps.  One of the hardest changes for me was letting go of the old.  How often do we stay stuck in a job we don’t like, justifying our misery with one excuse after another?  Maybe we stay in a bad relationship because we’re too afraid to be alone?  Or maybe it’s just too hard to let go of bad habits: eating fattening foods, drinking alcohol, smoking, ignoring our body’s need for exercise.  I’m grateful that I didn’t have to deal with all the things I’d mentioned, but believe me, I had plenty on my plate.

Focusing on some of the other ideas the author mentioned in the article, like looking at my spiritual self, serving others, soothing my mind, being more aware of my surroundings, creating new communities of friends, and taking the time to be in nature have helped me refocus on who I truly am, and how I want to live my life.

How’s life treating you these days?  Are you happy?

Maybe it’s time to come up with a list of things we do each day to make us feel happy and more alive, then strive to do more of those things each day.  I’ll start with a few of my favorites: watch the sun rise, be aware of my breath through daily breathing exercises, be grateful, get a massage once a month, exercise, practice yoga, meditate, smile, create stained glass, write, tell my family and friends how much I love them.

What’s on your list?

Posted: March 7th, 2008 under Stained Glass, exercise, healthy eating, meditation, mindfulness, writing, yoga.
Comments: 5

Did you ever think of your life as a Story? A story with a beginning, middle, and end. We have goals, motivation, and conflict in our lives. Our story begins when we are born. Then, it’s a rollercoaster ride to the end.

I’ve recently been studying the structure of a story by reading “The Comic Toolbox” by John Vorhaus. I’m picking up the proverbial pen – again – and starting a new novel. So I’m looking at the core of what makes a story interesting. I like the simple way that John describes a story.

“The door open. The hero takes control. A monkey wrench is thrown in. Things fall apart. The hero hits bottom. The hero risks all. The hero gets something in the end.”

When we think about our lives, we can see a series of stories. Some more dramatic than others, but a story nonetheless. Every incident in our lives, like a heart attack, is a story. Our journey through heart disease is a story. Our childhood, teen years, aging – they are all stories.

Something happens in our lives. We take control of the situation as best we can. Something else comes along to upset the status quo. Things go from bad to worse. We seem to sink to the bottom of the deep blue ocean, drowning in our own misery. Then, we encounter our spirit and fight to get our lives back on track. The story can end badly or have a happy ending.

The one thing I like best about a story, no matter if it’s fiction or non-fiction, is that I can influence the ending to my own story. The choice is mine. I can wallow in my sorrows and complain about all the misery around me or I can look at the good and positive aspects of my life and be grateful. The choice is mine. Personally, I’ve always been partial to a happy ending.

Enjoy your day.

Sandy

Posted: January 17th, 2008 under writing.
Comments: 2