I Wrap My Thoughts in Watered Silk by Louada Voellner

I have no picture for this one. It is out of print but I wanted to put it in my blog because it was written by a St.Louisan poet and published the year I was born. So this is it's thirtieth anniversary, along with mine. And though it is insignificant, like I am, I wanted to give it it's due on my insignificant little blog.
The author was elderly when she wrote it, which is a testimony to the art of poetry never leaving the soul. I'm going to share my favorite poem yet from this collection:

Faceless and formless
but real to my mind,
my Other Self.
a witch I call "Majesty,"
stands still as a hummingbird
in midair,
watching me.

-Louda Voellner



J.L.Wills

Averno by Louise Gluck

Oh I love it. Something about it on the store bookshelf made me pick it up and now I've fallen in love. This is poetry like I could never dream of writing. It is strong and lasting. A few of these poems made it into my all time favorite poem journal. Very searching, very honest. Five stars!

J.L.Wills

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

When I picked this up, I had no idea what to expect. My mouth stands open. I feel like I've read a map to the entryway of my soul. I keep going back and reading my favorite parts over and over. I am in love with these words. They come off the page in my own voice, like they speak from somewhere I have been already, remember acutely. Gibran himself is a prophet, only a prophet could speak such true words. I want to quote him here to give you a taste, here the prophet is speaking of love:

"For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

...

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears."

-Kahlil Gibran

Hungry Woman in Paris by Josefina Lopez

Wow, it's been a long time since I've read a streamline sensuality novel. Can't really call it romance, as Canela ends up single. Single and happy with her many sexual adventures. It was a good change from the usually heavy novels I pick up. And a much needed break from the work of non-fiction I am currently trapped in, reading as a personal gain of knowledge. Which I want...but don't enjoy nearly as much as a good, long, well-told lie. I enjoyed this little book. An easy read sure to make women of any shape and size repect it's story.

J.L.Wils

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Intriguing, nothing but. I was so absorbed in this cruel little book that I hardly noticed the end coming. It was written as hauntingly beautifully as the picure in the novel was painted. It has a circular poetic nature to the story and it's fascinating. I really don't want to say much about it, I feel as though any bit of summary would completely ruin the surprise. I only knew this book was a classic when I began to read it, I had no idea what the cover held inside for me. Because of that I truly enjoyed the book. So if you want to know why the Picture of Dorian Gray is so famously mentioned throughout history in other books and top rated music, I guess you will have to read it yourself.

J.L.Wills

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K.Rowling

My children and I enjoyed this wonderful little book. As dear to us as Mother Goose, bringing back those lovely memories of Hogwarts and our dear friends there. Each tale is followed by an excerpt from Professor Albus Dumbledore, which is also a bit of timeless wisdom. If you are a fan, I'm sure you've read it and I don't need to go on about J.K.Rowling's brilliance. And if you are not a fan you probably have no interest. But if you are curious, this little book may be the first step of yours into our world. Come on in and get lost.

J.L.Wills

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

The book reviews on this are great, the novel...not so much. To wrap it up in one fair sweep: I was bored. The entire time, bored. There was no connection between the main character and his situation. He was stale and distant from everything about his wife leaving him to his mother's death. Finally in the last paragraph, the very ending of the book does he show this bit of humanness, this bit of reality that is poetic and genuine. Oh, I tried so hard to enjoy this book, I pressed on with it though I wanted to fling it to the floor. And still after getting over half way through I hadn't even touched on anything minutely interesting, so I skipped to the last ten pages or so and claimed it finished. And even those last few pages were stale as last year's bread and I found myself blah-blahing through sentences, trudging toward the ending like through two feet of wet sand. There is nothing compelling in the story, nothing to move you forward because the main character is not compelled, he cares nothing for what comes his way, for the people around him, whether his wife comes back to him. Certainly I don't blame his wife for leaving him in the first place (which, by the way, is not even pondered by the character on why she left) because I was also ready to fly to another country and be done with this man. I'm sorry, I don't agree with the famous reviews of this one. I am dissappointed and can't believe I bought a hardback edition of this, which is going to the used bookstore today. These are the kind of books that make me think some of these book reviews have cash incentives behind them. Simply boring, a waste of my time.

J.L.Wills

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

This is a picasso of music and prose. A beautiful novel set amongst the ravages of WWII in Italy. There are four major characters; the burned english patient; the young nurse, Hana; the government hired thief, David; and the indian sapper, Kip. All of them so beautifully different. I loved it, swerving in and out of their lives, seeing what hurt them here or there, where they came from, how they all came to be so closely loved by eachother, how they had to leave eachother. It is a novel you have to be on your toes about. With the beginning of each chapter you are placed in someone else's life, in some other time. It is a mosaic of four lives. Not an easy read, but an elegant one. Four stars.

JLW

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

This is for the philosophical romantic, the reader of tragedy and the questioner of life. This is great writing. Never once was I bored or uninterested. Every page was full. And it's such a good look at post WWII Germans, which we don't hear much of. Most of the tragedy of that war is given to pity the genocide of the Jews, but what about the country that had to overcome such an atrocity on their hands, on their parent's hands, in their history forever, in their memories? It is a good story for many good reasons and I will probably read it again one day, not many books make it to my reread list but this one did. Nothing extravagant, just real.

J.L.Wills

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis

This is a wonderful book to read aloud to your kids. Me and the girls enjoyed every moment of this. I never had to ask them twice to come listen to me read about Narnia, in fact I had to be careful and make sure I could follow through with it because once mentioned they wouldn't be happy without a dose of Lucy, Peter, Susan, and Edmund. This is the second book but is always the first of the movies when movies are being made on Narnia. Still, the first book sets the stage and gives a fuller appreciation of the entire story. C.S.Lewis writes to enthrall not only children but anyone who has been a child once. He is brilliant.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this. And by the twentieth page I was scared. Really scared. The beginning is so dark and inescapable that I had to stop and remind myself to quit holding my breath. The middle is still tense but not nearly as quivering as the beginning of the book. It is written as a collection of newspaper articles and journal entries in the first person of many characters so you get personal with the all the main characters. And the ending is gallant, bloody, and unsure. I rave Bram Stoker, he did honor to the strength of femininity. It is a long book and it took me even longer being ill in the middle of it but it was such an adventure, such a great adventure.

J.L.Wills

Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou

When I read a Maya Angelou book or poem, I hear her low southern voice coming off the page. This was a marvelous little read, as is all Dr. Angelou's work. And I read it in honor of the upcoming holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Dr. Angelou is not only a wonder at pulling the heart of African-Americans out of darkness, but she is equally as strong at the heart of women. And each little morsel of love that she has written here gives empowerment along with humility. I enjoyed this deeply and find myself reflecting on it throughout my busy day, bringing peace and sanity to this chaotic world.

J.L.Wills

The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern abridged by William Goldman

I was excited about this book. I've loved the movie since I was a child, love to watch it still with my daughters. But I was dissappointed. Not disappointed enough to close it and put it away. I loved the story enough that I was determined to get through all of William Goldman's excerpts to get back to the story. I think, it must be the format he wrote it in. He just threw in his own paragraphs, stopping the story and explaining about this or about that. I was very interested in what he had to say but I didn't want to necessarily stop the story to read it, sometimes for 5 pages or so. I would have enjoyed reading it at the end of the book. And in the last excerpt I have to agree with Stephen King, Goldman did botch it up. I didn't want to read Goldman's thoughts every few pages, I wanted to read a crisply edited Morgenstern story. I wanted to be enchanted in the tale of true love and high adventure. Not stop every heartbeat to learn about Goldman's battle getting this published. I'm just...disappointed. It makes me want to edit it myself. But Morgenstern is priceless and I did enjoy his story, ever so much more than the movie. My advice is, if you read this book ignore the italicized Goldman, ignore it until the very end. Then go back and read what Goldman had to say once you've enjoyed your adventure. I still give it three stars because in this book is my only access to the original Morgenstern tale. And I'm assuming because of the Morgenstern Estate's dissapointment in William Goldman we will never see Buttercup's Baby, at least not any time soon.

J.L.Wills

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore Illustrated by Douglas Gorsline

This is a sacred treasure for me. I had the same print of this story when I was a child and the illlustrations are nostalgic. In fact I kept this book all these years, it's nearly as old as I am...but certainly I don't smell of attic and cardboard boxes. Some of you may know how my little sweet dog, Trixy, loves books as much as I do. Oh yes, especially the old smelly ones. She has devoured many of my sacred texts. Last year she got my copy of The Night Before Christmas, not just a little bit, it was torn and chewed every page. And I was devastated. No doubt I am fanatic over my books, I wasn't surprised at my easy tears and neither was my husband. That was a quiet day, every one gave me my space. So you can only imagine my delight at finding this in print again! I swear an opera singer was holding out a high F when my eyes laid on this little book. It took all I had not to shed a tear right there in the book store.

I gave it as a gift to my eldest daughter, she remembered my grief over losing my copy, and when she opened it she smiled the most beautiful smile and held it to her heart like it was the best thing I had ever given her.

This little $3.99 book is our best treasure of this Christmas 2008.

J.L.Wills

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

I love a good tragedy. And though this story is tragic, it is so real, so palpable that you are immediately drawn in. The verse is exquisite, sometimes unbearably so and you seem to choke on your heartbeat. The movie gave quite a different version, it appealed more to the popular romance. But Maugham didn't write this as a romance, it was a brave thing to write a novel like this, it debunks the popular romance. And that is exactly why it is a masterpiece in my eyes.

A truly lovely read; majestic, poignant, and eternal.

J.L.Wills

Kenny and the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi

Yes, it was fabulous. Tony DiTerlizzi is the owner of the fascinating imagination that brought us the Spiderwick Chronicles co-authored with Holly Black. Here he goes solo, and what a beautiful melody it is. I just love this little story and I know my dragon-loving daughter will find it perfect. A good moral story for kids, a brave story for kids and such a reminder for adults about how important it is to be open-minded, to listen to our children's tender hearts once in a while, to let go of "grown-up" reality and just maybe, step out on a thin wavering limb to reach that moist juicy apple...the sweetnes of life.

I recommend this to all ages, all genders. I truly enjoyed it. DiTerlizzi has scripted his name onto my all-time fav' authors list.

J.L.Wills

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

A great book. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The characters and the plot really smoothed out in this last book of the series. The descriptions of Bella's life "after" were the best descriptions Meyer has put into the series. And the "change" redeemed some of those weak qualities in Bella that, in the previous two books, were grating on my nerves. Bella suddenly had more resolve, more direction, more intention, she finally gives up hanging onto Jacob! I truly enjoyed this book as well as the first. Meyer wrapped it all up very cleverly. You end it with satisfaction, and almost...just nearly, feeling more powerful yourself, a bit magical. Though Meyer was not consistent through this series in putting out great literature, I do agree with the critics: she has a lot of potental.

J.L.Wills

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

This is a masterpiece. Tragically enchanting, Frank writes this from the viewpoint of himself as a child growing up into young adulthood. The poverty is wrenching, it took me a while to read this book because the sadness can become so intense that you just must turn away from it for some lighter reading every now and then. It is eye opening, and it is painful to open pampered eyes. Even poverty in America in the 21st century is pampered. But how could we ever see, or know that, if we don't stretch open those slitted, peaceful eyes. When you are finished with the book you are flooded with guilt, seeing that Frank McCourt did not suffer because of poverty, that starvation was commonplace and it never crossed his mind that this poverty would prevent him from success. You will struggle with him through hunger and disease and when he makes it back to America you will simply be as happy as he is, anticipating a whole new world.

Five stars.

J.L.Wills

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

I seem to just flip right through these books. They have a powerful plot, engaging still. But, this being the third book, I'm still disappointed at the character development, and the descriptions. Bella is not a strong character, she's swayed by every little whim of the people around her, in the end she does stick to her original desires but, she has a way of hanging on to the wrong things. She simply can't let go at the right time. For me, this is a huge character flaw and it bothers me. It's not what I want my girls to think is normal, or heroine-like at all. Bella is not a perfect character, but I can think of many imperfect characters that were still strong and made you love them with their many flaws: Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte's novel. Two completely flawed characters, yet powerful role models for young women. They were dignified and gutsy. I find Bella's inability to let go of Jake when she's ready to take Edward back...slouchy. And it makes things messy. Of course Edward remains the perfect gentleman, and I read lightning fast just to get to the next glimpse of him. But this book of the series falls considerably to a two stars. I hope the next is far better.

J.L.Wills

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

I want my own vampire, I have to admit that. This was an emotionally painful book though, but aren't all second books in a series? I guess I should have expected it. There was so much less of Edward and truly Bella doesn't hold as much interest for me which is mainly the fault of Robert Pattinson (the hotty that plays Edward on screen) but also the fault of her character. As a mother of two daughters I'm not sure Bella is a good role model. Her lacking self-confidence, her avoidance of her deepest feelings, her insincerity with her friends concerns me. It's not what I'm trying to develop in my girls. And still my disappointment at reading the words velvet, stone and marble at least every ten pages through a 500+ page book did put a damper on my hopes for the author. It wasn't enough to stop me though, the plot is intriguing, and at one point I started to just interject my own adjectives to get through it, i.e. rich, silky, tranquil, fluid, glacial, piercing, chilled...because I think these books could've been so much greater if more time and care had been spent in the sentences and paragraphs. Though this still will not be shelved with my all time classic favorites, it is a good book, and it will be shelved. With all of it's flaws it still keeps me peeping out my curtains, hoping to see a beautiful face there that's desperately in love with me.

J.L.Wills