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I hope you have a blessed Saint Patrick’s Day. Take it easy on the green beer now. Best be leavin’ that shillelagh in the umbrella rack.
When you get yourself home from all your wearin’ of the green why don’t you set yourself down and read a good book?
I’ll be reading “The Pint Man” (Doubleday) by Steve Rushin.
Tip one for me…
Vick Mickunas
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The new book by Michael Lewis was published today. “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” (W.W. Norton) is a painful dissection of how the US economy took that huge swerve into the ditch. We are still trying to extricate ourselves from this financial muck job. Lewis takes readers through the depths of the chicanery that created this massive boondoggle. As Bernie Dingle, my next door neighbor used to say: “It ain’t pretty.”
This timely book was an instant number one in sales today on Amazon.com.
Vick Mickunas
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“Lift” by Kelly Corrigan (Voice/Hyperion, 89 pages, $16.99)
Once in a great while, a small book comes along and packs a mighty punch. These books are quick reads, yet they stay with us. I call them soul searchers. When you read such a book, you’ll often end up pondering big questions — things like what is the meaning of life?
Let me offer examples. Robert James Waller’s “The Bridges of Madison County” comes to mind. A seemingly simple tale of sudden passion, “Bridges” mines some deep soul caverns. Then there’s Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays With Morrie,” a book that celebrates a deeply lived life.
I just found another. “Lift” by Kelly Corrigan is a deceptively simple book. Corrigan’s first book, “The Middle Place,” was a memoir in which she described her bout with breast cancer.
This mother of two young girls was dealing with that situation when she learned that her father had bladder cancer.
This second book is quite short. It is written in the form of a letter to her daughters. Corrigan decided to write it when she realized that her eldest, a third-grader, was already changing and spending more time with her friends, on the computer or sending text messages. Childhood can be so fleeting.
She worried that her daughters will not recall enough of their childhood. She writes: “You won’t remember how it started with us, the things that I know about you that you don’t even know about yourselves. We won’t come back here.”
Corrigan’s reasons for writing are poignant: “You’ll remember middle school and high school, but you’ll have changed by then. That means you won’t ever know me as I am right now — the mother I am tonight and tomorrow, the mother I’ve been for the last eight years, every bath and book and birthday party, gone.”
This fond letter to her children will resonate with readers, particularly women. The author reflects that “people rarely rave about their childhoods, and it’s no wonder. So many mistakes are made.”
Her perception of her own reactions will ring true with many moms out there: “Almost every day I yell at one of you so loudly that my throat hurts afterward.”
Their mom’s observations will be appreciated one day: “I don’t mirror your emotions enough, though I can’t say why because when I do, it seems to calm you down. I forget to praise your effort instead of your achievement…”
The book’s candid reflections are enhanced by the author’s decision to include some other maternal perspectives.
Her cousin Kathy has lost a child in a tragic accident. Her friend Meg is single and wants to have a child so she takes a different route to motherhood. This book honors the power of the maternal bond.
Corrigan wrote an essay, “Transcending.” The video of her reading it has generated more than 4.5 million views so far on YouTube. Her writing reveals a perspective that is by turns wistful, humorous, and incredibly wise.
From her essay on YouTube: “Things will break — they always do.”
Vick Mickunas
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No, not our Ohio Senator Brown, the other one. You know, the guy who just won a special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s empty seat in Massachusetts? The Republican won. You know the guy, Senator Brown. First name Scott.
Publishers have been fighting over the chance to publish this book. The publisher Harper Collins won the bidding war. (They also published Sarah Palin’s recent memoir).
To find out more click HERE:
Vick Mickunas
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After watching this video. Perhaps you have seen it already? I hadn’t. While the participants seem quite amused I had a different reaction; sheer terror. This video has a sort of HG Wells meets Orson Welles “War of the Worlds” element going on. Microwaves are us.
Watch this - click HERE:
OK, and here’s the link that disproves it all: click HERE:
I’m so gullible. That reminds me. I actually believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass distraction based on evidence as flimsy as that cell phone video. I’m so naive.
Vick Mickunas
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment More: what do you think?
I wrote a post last week that asked readers how they feel about the US Postal Service. There were some interesting responses. To read the original thread click HERE:
Then read this recent comment from someone who actually works for the post office. You might find it informative.
“I just wandered onto this website and have been reading some of the ridiculous comments made by some really misinformed people. As a 16 year postal employee, I would like to comment on a few things from experience.
First of all, TRS, you don’t subsidize the USPS. They have been self-sustaining for more than 35 years. You pay for your postage and that in turn pays for the services we provide. Check your facts before you write, your tax dollars do not support the USPS.
For all the people who had one problem with a package or got a piece of someone elses mail: if you had any idea of the amount of mail and parcels that are handled every day, you would be amazed that you only had a problem with ONE item. Why is it that ultra sensitive and oh so “perfect” people don’t allow one error before throwing the baby out with the bath water?
“I got a piece of the neighbor’s mail so we need to shut the postal service down!” People, except Vick, have no clue what the process is like to get your mail where it needs to go. Go ahead and go with UPS or FedEx. It is only a matter of time until they mess up a parcel for you and then you will have to bash them too. Not to mention there prices are outrageous and try as you may, you will never get them to deliver your letter mail.
Then there is the small problem of the approximately 800,000 people employed by the USPS. What kind of impact do you think shutting us down or privatizing would do to them and their families? If you want to do some research, see how Japan is liking life with their postal service in the private sector now. Oh, and see how much it costs them to send a first class letter.
We still have the cheapest postage rates in the WORLD. If we go private, there will be independant businesses with competing stamp prices and just see what kind of service you get when they pay the employees $9.00 per hour to do what we do now, especially in bad weather. We work in snowstorms, ice storms, thunderstorms, you name it, they do not let us off for weather unless it is paralyzing to the entire area.
I need to say kudos to you, ‘downsized’. All postal employees everywhere would appreciate your kind comments. Thank you for noticing the effort we put in to get your mail to you. I wish more people could see first hand what we dedicate ourselves to do for our customers. I go above and beyond what I am required to do for my customers every week and I’m sorry but I just get tired of that handful of people who whine about one piece of mail among the thousands of pieces we sort daily that gets delivered incorrectly or lost.”
1Rural Carrier
How do you feel about US Postal Service now?
Vick Mickunas
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Karl Rove’s memoir, Courage and Consequence came out this week. I just checked over at Amazon.com and his book is currently their best-selling book - apparently there’s a receptive market for it.
Congratulations, Karl.
Vick Mickunas
Permalink | Comments (34) | Post your comment More: booms and busts
Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..
Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News.
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