My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor.✔✔✔✔

I saw Dr. Taylor being interviewed on Oprah, then a short time later, she was interviewed on CBC Radio. Both interviews convinced me this was a book I had to read. Jill, a 37-year-old neuroanatomist surgeon, woke one morning to find she had suffered a major hemorrhage in her left hemisphere as a result of an undiagnosed congenital malformation of the blood vessels in her head. The two first chapters are the explanation of the makeup of the brain, the functions of each hemisphere, and then she goes on to relate the stroke, plus her recovery from it, which took a full eight years.

But in experiencing this trauma, plus the recovery, Jill also discovered that the brain can be trained - that the two sides of the brain, although opposite in makeup, complement each other, and as humans we can tap into the right side more often to make us better people, to control those aspects of our left side which limit us. So the stroke was a blessing - a revelation that by "stepping to the right" we can all uncover feelings of well-being that are often sidelines by the "brain chatter" of our left side. We can talk to our cells, acknowledge the work they're doing in keeping us healthy, asking them to work a little harder when we need them to, tell our left brain to take a rest, ask our right brain to help us out.

For example,, are you feeling angry? Give yourself 90 seconds, then let it go - you'll be a lot happier and a lot healthier. Live in the present moment, feel your body as a living, self-energizing vessel.

I enjoyed this book so much I read it twice to make sure I spent enough time meditating on it and trying to apply its philosophy to my own life. I find the process somewhat similar to the technique from yoga whereby you take your breath and wrap it around any pain your body might be experiencing in order to ease - and in some cases, assuage - the pain, or the other yoga technique used by our instructor after a period of meditation when you feel completely relaxed, at ease and fully alive - she says ""You can return to this feeling at any time in your day". I've found both of those techniques valid and useful.

As the back cover says: "This book is about the wonder of being human", and this is something I've become very interested in as it relates to one's spirituality, because I believe that what - or who- is called God is actually ME - the very core of one's being, the spark that inspires, strengthens, and guides me comes from within. Then that spark in each and every person finds energy between them, and that is the connection between us all. There IS a lot of wonder in that!

House Rules by Jodie Picoult.✔✔✔✔

I must have been ready for a page-turner, because I just swallowed this book up, thinking all the while about both Darren Bates of KL and David's client, Leslie from London, who knew all the important dates in our family's life, including Betty, Helen and Malcolm's, and recited them off to me when I first met him. Some years ago I read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time", about an autistic boy who sets out to solve a murder, and it was probably better-written, but this one was more entertaining. Picoult definitely has a formula to her books, but the formula works, and she writes well, with extremely detailed research.

I copied and pasted the following description and review, simply because I was lazy....

"They tell me I'm lucky to have a son who's so verbal, who is blisteringly intelligent, who can take apart the broken microwave and have it working again an hour later. They think there is no greater hell than having a son who is locked in his own world, unaware that there's a wider one to explore. But try having a son who is locked in his own world, and still wants to make a connection. A son who tries to be like everyone else, but truly doesn't know how. "

Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject -- in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do...and he's usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger's -- not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, flat affect -- can look a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them. For his mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication of why nothing is normal because of Jacob. And over this small family the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?Emotionally powerful from beginning to end, House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way -- and fails those who don't.

Elizabeth by Randy Taraborelli.✔✔✔

As a young teenager, I was a star-struck movie actress fan, and Elizabeth Taylor was one of my favorites, probably because of the movie Giant, which I absolutely adored. Any meagre allowance I ever received as a kid was saved so I could buy Photoplay magazine or Modern Screen; I read these avidly and with awe at the life styles of the rich and famous.

I remember when ET divorced Michael Wilding and married Mike Todd, then the devastation she endured when Mike Todd was killed in a plane crash. This was all big news back then, with many, many photos and stories to tease the appetite. I followed her antics with Richard Burton less closely because I was at university by then, and busy with my own antics, but I do remember wondering why she had ever married Eddie Fisher, and also thinking that Richard Burton, a very strong individual, was more suited to her. Her succeeding marriages were of less interest, because by then I was mature enough to wonder why she kept marrying these men! She was the one with all the money, after all. ( In 1994 her NET worth was $650 million)

So reading this unauthorized bio was sort of a nostalgic journey for me because much of the material was well-known to me. I did not know much about her childhood, other than the fact that her mother, Sara, was the original "stage mother", a role she played right up to her death at age 99. I did wonder why Elizabeth had these numerous, debilitating illnesses and accidents - the author lists them at one point, and it's absolutely incredible how just about everything that came her way came with a high degree of intensity - brain tumor, broken hip(2x),alcoholism, drug dependency, weight issues, acute pneumonia,hip replacements, etc. Burton maintained that she thrived on her illnesses, yet she did recover from all of them, and she shows no sign of giving in to herself. The author suggests that her illnesses were a way for her to take control of her life - especially as a young actress under contract, an illness was her only way of getting out of doing movies she didn't want to make. But how can you plan such things? Myself, I think she was just a high-maintenance person: everything was done to extremes.

The author is very kind to her - he doesn't sugar-coat too much but he does make excuses for her a lot of the time.It was well-written and an interesting diversion for me, plus a trip into my own past!

New York, by Edward Rutherford. ✔✔

This was a long read - 866 pages -and it could've been shorter, like so many other books written by men. Why is that, I wonder? I read it for a couple of weeks before going to Toronto, then renewed it at the library so I could finish it when I got back home. At 866 pages, I wasn't going to lug it onto an airplane, and anyway, the book was so heavy, they'd probably have either taken it away from me, or put one of those pink tickets on it and stowed it under the cabin!

I can't really say why I stuck with it, because it wasn't all that wonderful - I'd give it two stars I guess. I enjoyed the first part, with the Dutch and the natives living close by each other, then later the British invading and trying to impose their laws on the New World. The geography of the area, and how it developed into the huge city it is now was interesting, too, as was the obvious importance of money- getting it, maintaining it, keeping others from getting it, taking it away from others, hiding it from spouses, using and mis-using it.

I think the author really captured the essence of New York and the people who have lived there for hundreds of years, but his characters, all basically members of one family, were not particularly colorful: the real star was the city itself- valid enough I guess, considering the title of the book.

Of all the books written by Rutherford, I still think his first, Sarum, was his best. I started reading Russka, but there were too many characters to keep straight and I couldn't be bothered continuing. I read about half of London, but I was still teaching then, and long books were too onerous a burden for me at that time. I read about thirty pages of The Princes of Ireland before I decided I much preferred Frank Delaney's "Ireland", so I quit reading it. I've never read a book about New York, so I pushed through to the end, and I did learn a few things, so I guess it wasn't completely in vain!

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.✔✔✔✔

Wow!! This was great - absolutely wonderful. Probably the best novel on racial discrimination that I've read since To Kill A Mockingbird, and The Help may well join it as an all-time classic. Three women - Minny, Aibileen, and Skeeter - tell their stories of the relationship between black maids and their white lady bosses, the maids' relationships with the children of the house, how women control each other, the fear, the tenderness, abuse, violence,threats - it's all there and told with such authenticity. The author explains that she wrote this book as a tribute to the black woman who raised her back in Mississippi - not only to honour her, but to acknowledge her lack of understanding of how the maid was treated.

There were a few things I didn't like - the story of Stuart Whitworth didn't really add to the novel, and it wasn't really resolved when he left either. Actually, there was a sense of unfinished material here, which makes we wonder what's coming next - will these questions be answered? Why were characters like Miss Leefolt, Miss Celia the way they were? Does Aibileen manage to survive without work as a maid?

Anyway, it was a special read, and I'm glad I purchased the book. It's a keeper for sure.

Thoughts about choosing a book for next year's book club list

I should look again at Clara by Janice Galloway. It's a beautiful book about Clara Schumann, her artistry, her relationship with her father, with Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms.

Alice in Wonderland, along with Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin, with a tie-in to the movie about Alice coming out this year.

Somewhere Towards The End by Diana Athill.

Updated: June 2, 2010. I'm recommending Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving.✔✔

For some unknown reason, I think it's important to read John Irving. Maybe it's because his Prayer For Owen Meany is one of my all-time favorite books, and I enjoyed The Cider House Rules, too. Last year, I read part of A Widow For One Year and gave up on it, so this year when Last Night In Twisted River was published, I thought: what the heck, I'll try again.

I actually thought for 200 pages that it was going to happen. The incidents in the town of Twisted River are colorfully described, the characters are interesting, and even though the subject of log-jamming doesn't appeal to me, I liked that Dominic, or Cookie, was an excellent cook. But then I began to notice things like an annoying predilection for capital letters- names of towns in the various areas where Dominic and his son Danny lived, names of rifles ( like , who cares?), names of famous authors- all scrunched together in paragraphs, as if he was trying to impress us with his wide knowledge. Then there were the women: Carmella, Rosie, Six -Pack Pam, Injun Jane, Katie, Lady Sky- all of whom seemed to have no other purpose in life than to screw Dominic, Ketchum, or Danny. And Danny! Well, he becomes a famous author, and when Irving goes way, way too deeply into his various successes as a writer, who he knows ( see capital letters above), where he writes, what inspires him, ad nauseum, you can't help but be convinced that Irving is writing about himself, whether to prove to himself that he actually exists, or that he is a good writer, or a famous one - which in this case is not one and the same thing- when I think about setting this novel down and turning to the next one in my list - I don't!! I kept on reading! He does tell a good story, but all this other "stuff" around it makes it more of a chore than a reading experience. I also found myself wondering how a female writer would have handled the same story, then that led me to wonder what it is about many male writers that they write way too much- this novel would have been better if it had been about 200 pages shorter.

But, I think I've finished with this notion that you "have" to read John Irving. You don't....