Janet's comments (member since Jun 27, 2008)

Janet's comments from the Constant Reader group.

What about people who give 110%,150%, or some other variation? If I give 100%, I've given everything I have; there is no more.

I just added this to my amazon wish list.

Gabrielle,
I'd like to echo your sentiments. Life's experiences do indeed change your perspective forever. The entire arc of my life would be different if my second child was not born with a disability. Having survived my home burning down has made me more conscious of how much more important my loved ones lives are than the things I possess.

As a result of events in my life, one thing I try to never do is tell someone else “I know how you feel”. I may have similar challenges but their complicating factors are not the same as mine. Each person’s story is different; I try to remember to honor their uniqueness and not judge their resulting responses.

Newengland, great list! I’ll have to print it out to remind me not to use any of them in my writing. Some of those are so commonly used I'm sure many people are unaware of the redundancy.

Carol, It boggles the mind but, I've heard people ask how much something is in the dollar store.

MAP, Carlin was great. I miss him.

I know debate over appropriate word/ grammar usage has caused problems in the past so I'll try not to start any controversies. But I just want to scream every time our local news begins. EVERY night, and I do mean every night, they begin with an ominous “Breaking News”. Hello, isn’t that redundant? They use the phrase to indicate an occurrence of recent information. Isn’t that what news is? The phrase is used so often it has become routine and has lost any sense of urgency.

Beej, you eloquently expressed communal emotions. We had moved to Maryland 2 weeks before 9/11. One year later these vicious murders took place. I clearly remember the gripping widespread fear across several states while we prayed for the capture of unknown monsters.

It is strangely ironic that this killer’s execution is to take place on the same day as the memorial for those brave soldiers murdered by one of their own at Fort Hood. So sad to know evil can virtually hide in plain sight. The only solace is to know their ilk is among the minority. Most people have generous spirits in times of crisis as was evidenced by the heroes tending to the fallen in Texas while risking their own safety.

I spent some time at Amazon.com, typed the name of the book or the author, and when the detail page came up clicked on the search inside the book feature to get a feel for the author's style of writing. In addition, I read some of the customer reviews. That helped narrow my choices down.

I missed most of the October birthdays. So, a happy belated birthday to all I missed.

I'll wish Happy Birthday to all CR born in November. When I send wishes individually, I keep track of them at the start of the month, but as the weeks progress my good intentions kind of fall by the wayside. So, Happy Birthady now.

Capitu wrote: "Janet, it is nice to see you around here. We missed you.

It is too bad that the book did not work for you or Ruth. But that happens, and there is always another book coming along. Welcome bac..."

There have been several reasons I've not been posting lately. First, after getting a Mom's Choice Award for my novel, I was invited to be in on the judging of a few books for next year's awards. This has cut into some of my other leisure reading time. Second, the war theme of so many recent CR selections was getting to me. Third, life kind of gets in the way sometimes. Fourth,... Oh, I know, excuses, excuses, excuses.

It is nice to be missed though. Thanks.

I've been putting off writing my second novel for awhile now. I've learned writing is the easy part compared to publicity & promotion. Close to a half million new titles were published last year alone. Without the backing of a major publishing house, producing a quality novel takes a significant monetary investment in good editing, typesetting, and cover design, publicity and so on. I plan to resist the urge to join the crowd compelled to write because of a specific month.

Having said that, the writing bug has been gnawing at me. I've given myself until the end of the year to conclude publicity for A Pebble to Polish and then I'll let loose on book number two.

I really wanted to participate in discussion of this book; I thought the topic would be a refreshing change from all the war theme books lately. Somehow, I just couldn't get into this novel though. Perhaps it was the way it was translated, but I found the style of writing boring and finally gave up pushing myself to read it around page 68.

I love that. Sometimes I feel so ingnorant about computers. It's good to know I'm not the only one!

One of the art books I had was Jansen’s History of Art (Thanks for reminding me Gabrielle). Others featured the works of Renoir, Degas, Michelangelo, Goya, one from the Prado museum in Madrid and one of collections in the Hermitage.

Yulia, I think one of the reason's the books were so comforting was because they reminded me of my days studying art at Moore College of Art back in the 1970's. The proximity of the college to the Philadelphia Art Museum was one of the best things. As a student I could walk to the Museum and get in for free with my ID.

I must admit to being greatly surprised. Past winners such as Mother Teresa and Desmond Tutu were honored for their accomplishments. While I think the president is a good man, I just don't see what he has done to warrant winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

I miss my art history text books and some books about famous artists filled with their paintings. There were other priorities after our house burned down 5 years ago and I just never got around to replacing them. It's not that I took the time to look through them as often as I'd like, but it was somehow comforting though knowing they were waiting for me on the shelf whenever the mood struck.

Yulia, a very happy birthday from me too! October is a great month: my wedding anniversary, both my kids birthdays, and of course- Halloween. This great holiday is a fabulous excuse to dress up, play like little children scaring each other and be young at heart no matter what your age.

I'm not sure why I checked my Amazon page today. Imagine how pleased I was to see the Midwest Book Review posted a very brief but 5 star review of my novel, A Pebble to Polish on 9/8! I checked Midwest Book Review's home page which indicates their page was last updated on 9/1, so hopefully they'll post in their own newsletter/ lists of reviews soon as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Pebble-Polish-Jane...

At the risk of repeating some observations by others, here are my impressions:

To paraphrase a common saying: "Truth is in the eye of the beholder.”

This novel painted the picture of a hard, fear-filled life. One thing that impressed me was the author’s ability to portray differing perspectives of the same reality. Enno Kluge and Emil Borkhausen felt downtrodden but owed a living from others. Otto, initially a craftsman, in the role of a foreman was irked by those he perceived to be lazy workers. The Quangels imagined their postcards inspired resistance on a far greater scale than they did. Most people who encountered the missives were terrified of potential accusations associating the treasonous messages back to them which might lead to torture and death. Escherich views himself as superior to quivering objects of his interrogations and later finds himself similarly transformed after torture.

In what may have been viewed as small acts, the varied cast of characters were compelled to demonstrate tremendous bravery in the face of potentially devastating consequences. Eva Kluge stood firm in banishing Enno from her life and started over in Brandenburg. Judge Fromm attempted to save Frau Rosenthal, confronted the Persicke family, and twice smuggled vials of cyanide. Of course the most obvious is the writing and distribution of the postcards by Anna and Otto.

Reading this work compels introspection. Faced by injustice, how to respond? We are left with options of major confrontation, flee, do nothing, or quiet acts of opposition which might only result in the self-satisfaction of not succumbing to tacit compliance.

Happy Birthday, Barbara. Many more years of good reads!