Machel Shull's Blog

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book starts off with Greta Wells losing her beloved twin brother during 1985, dying from AIDS. We soon find out that Greta's marriage is falling apart, too, because Greta has been off tending for her brother illness and her husband and her grew apart.
Greta lapses into a deep depression that eventually leads her to shock treatment to help regain normalcy and overcome grief in her 1985.
This book deals with these themes:
Who is to say anyone ever overcomes grief? Who is to say there are magical words to heal the torn soul from feeling lost and alone? Who is to say that we can rebuild our life? What is the point when life can hurt so deeply?
Well, inside the pages of Greta Wells, Greta is given a chance to live again in two past lives of herself, finding her brother very much alive in 1918 and 1942. The Greta from 1985 travels through time during her electric shock therapy; like skipping stones, each Greta shifts, living a week or in the new era.
1918, 1941, 1985
There are three wars in each World War 1, World War 11, the epidemic war of AIDS.
This book sounds clever, like time travel, different worlds, historical fiction...IT'S NOT.
This book examines the human heart and all of the pains and wrongs that we must endure.
Greta is able to learn by living these other altered worlds of her life, that life is still worth living.
That sometimes, mini miracles occur when we think we are at the bottom, looking up...something shifts and life turns over new again.
The writing here is such that I cannot describe it with one word like 'lyrical.'
Imagine feeling chills in your legs as you read a paragraph aloud to your husband because the writing is not only telling the fiction story but can be lifted into the air as breathlessly as a song and heard by another that can understand the beauty of these words without reading the book.

***
When others tell me they don't read because they aren't into fiction or it's to takes to much sedentary time, I don't know how to put into words all they are missing; that their soul may never sour to the heights of beauty I just experienced by reading Andrew Sean Greer's book.

So many quotes to share inside that book, that I must go back and find each of them and highlight them to share.
His book LESS may be a favorite of mine, a little more than this one, but Greta's soul found a will to live even if it meant breaking the barriers of time to do it.
A thread of hope always exists...if we can bare this life enough to find it.
Keep reading.
Yes, I recommend



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Arthur Less, LESS book recommendation

a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3..." style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">Less by Andrew Sean Greer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


SPOILERS-I have reached my limit on my top favorite 30 book shelf awhile ago..but actually this one belongs on the 'the books that made time stand still.'
Not all books that win awards end up being my favorite. But this book LESS, may be my favorite book since Life of Pi.
I found myself just reveling in each vignette, each country, each memory, each metaphor, analogy, Lessian Blue that revealed itself to us in a view across the Tahiti blue sea.
The narrator? I won't spoil that. But, I became overwhelmed with joy when I began to guess who was telling the story. I have to admit I did speed read the ending and then had to go back to read and drink in slowly.
The prose in the book reminded me of the beauty of detail, true writing and what it means to love a character. I predict Arthur Less becomes like Holly in Breakfast at Tiffany's; forever immortal in the words of literature.
BRAVO to ANDREW SEAN GREER.
My heart soared. My heart sank. My heart laughed with fondness and tenderness of Arthur's big midlife jaunt just to miss an ex's wedding. I loved the truths and the flaws of Arthur's character that kept revealing just a little more as we followed Arthur across the world just to forget Freddy.
But the scarf, the yellow one that showed up in Japan took my breath away. The the Goodwill box and the odds of it ending up there at that very moment at the end of his journey to reveal to him just how much Freddy had meant and how he was more than just a past beau.
A symbol and a memory sent to Arthur via his mother's yellow scarf that had been left behind and donated to charity after cancer had taken his mother away...that memory really pierced my soul.
The book starts off quietly with a simple task of taking a journey to author events and a teaching
stint in Berlin, but be forewarned-It soon gallops into your heart at full speed when the plane touches down in Mexico.
Of course, I love Mexico.
I loved the memories of Robert, the poet.
I loved the Skype session at the end...well, closing in toward the end of the book.
I loved the memories from different time periods scattered in and around the world on Arthur Less's journey to forget that he's turning 50 and he just lost the love of his life.
I love it more than I can write here.
This book reminded me of Life of Pi in some strange way and also of Evening by Susan Minot.
Characters reflecting on what was lost and time past and how to move forward anyway...whether that means to live another day, to die or to find out when you arrive home in the middle of the night after a trip around the world, someone might be waiting under the yellow light of your doorstep awaiting your return.
Do we get to return?
Does life go in full circle?
Somehow Arthur less finds himself for the first time as he reaches in a little deeper to reflect on what it means to love, lose and to love again.



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MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW- LIVE LOVE SOUL

I am so excited to find out that Midwest Book review named me in their “Small Press Book Watch,” for 2016.

“LIVE LOVE SOUL is a riveting read from first page to last. If you only have time to read one self-help book this year, make it Machel Shull’s “Live Love Soul!” ~MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW – Machel-Shull-books-MIDWEST-REVIEW-2106
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/sbw/...
Live Love Soul: A Soul’s Guide to Happy
Machel Shull
Ayni Books

An Open Letter to Yann Martel

https://t.co/9XvyCwiC8V #LifeofPi #YannMartel @penguinrandom An Open Letter to Yann Martel. -Please add LA to Book tour #LifeofPiFans pls RT

— Sophie Machel Shull (@mimishull) February 1, 2016

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Much to write, but later. The 5 star says it all.
***I wasn't sure at first with the Richard Gere letter thing. I wasn't sure if I would love Bartholomew or not. Or his pretending games to stay sane in a world that was filled with just his mom and her dementia at the end of her life.
BUT...
Goodness, I was wrong. Within a few pages, I became hooked on Bartholomew's plight.
From Wendy to Max to the Priest to Elizabeth the librarian, this story is full of twists and turns.
What I love about Matthew Quick books (I have read two so far) that there is always a thread of childlike faith that pushes the main character forward to battling out to obtain their dreams or wishes.
Just like Pat Peoples, Bartholomew believes in The Good Luck of Right Now and a make believe Richard Gere star that comes to his aid when he needs a bit more confidence. I won't use the word Quirky, but yes, that is one that I see here listed often to describe this book, I find this book to be a deeper read than that, one that uncovers the lives of a few folks that live outside the normal acceptance of norm.
I was genuinely touched and happy with the outcome in this book and surprised by a revelation later on that I found to shed great light on what does happen often in life:
A belief is set in stone and a world of thoughts are built around it and a person thinks what 'they think' is true. When sometimes we make mistakes. What is really the truth could be a hidden thing we will not see until later. ~
This happens to Bartholomew. But illusions can hold meanings and safety and the one B. has about Richard Gere helps him bridge the gap of grief of losing his mother to walking on his own two feet in the real world.
I loved this novel and will be reading every book he has written over the next month! Always thrilled to fine a new author that inspires and teaches and shows me knew things about life. Matthew Quick does this in his novels:).



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DOCTOR SLEEP ROCKS THE HOUSE

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Yippee! Just finished THE SHINING and going in for the kill with DOCTOR SLEEP. I'M A GROWN UP NOW. Yep:)

Well. Well. Well. What can I say? I have become a CONSTANT READER OF SK. I am back in the groove of reading a few of his books in a row and it has been so entertaining!

I loved the SHINING. The book, which the movie was based on but did not stay true to, showed a more human said to John Torrance, Danny's dad. His mom wasn't just pushed around by him either. No. You understood that this was a person battling the good and evil and he ultimately lost. You never saw that in the movie. If I had to guess why SK wasn't thrilled with the movie, I would say because it lost the 'goodness' in Jack that tried so desperately to beat alcoholism. I also loved the scrapbook stuff where he was obsessed with it and went down to the basement constantly to piece together the past. That was lost, too.
I know this is Dr. Sleep, here but now thinking of how THE SHINING really did lead well into Dr. Sleep. I read them back to back. I fell in love with Danny as a child and believe it or not, Jack, his father. He tried so hard to finally get it right. So when it went wrong you had more sympathy for his character verses the ax maniac Jack in the movie version. I also missed the animals made out of hedges in front of the hotel. They would come alive and chase the characters. And that was way more menacing than just a maze. (Although, the maze worked in the film version.)
So onto DR. SLEEP! ONTO the book that rocked the house, too. I actually cried at the end when Dan told his story about 'canny' and 'Deanie' in the past and how that was his bottom with drinking. I was more involved in this story than the Abra story, but eventually, I became hooked with Abra, too, as she hit her teenage years.
After I finished Dr. Sleep, I told my husband, "Those that don't read SK have it wrong. They think he just writes horror stories or something scary and dark."
But what I have discovered the thread I see through the 12 books I have read is SK weaves in the humanity of his characters, their struggles, their weaknesses and you as a reader can really relate to them as 'REAL PEOPLE.'
There is evil in this world. Dark and scary things do happen. And to read about that can teach us the power of the light, too. The light is what ultimately conquers in both books. I think that as a reader it's important to switch up genres. To learn about both sides. To see life in the darkness of the worst struggle and what happens to a character when life seems bleak, awful and...will they prevail?
We all have our own struggles. Life is a constant battle. And sometimes in most of SK's books that I have read, a thread of light can shine through and the monsters of this world can be beaten.



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THE SHINING! CLEAR THE DECK~

The Shining by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My eleventh SK book. Maybe the best yet...I always think that about all of his book that I am reading....except maybe INSOMNIA. (No offense Ralph!)

Okay, so I'm late the party. I had never read the Shining until this week. I just spent my entire birthday gobbling up the pages with much delight. Turning 43 and reading THE SHINING for the first time is realizing you have faced your childhood fears and you are no longer afraid.
His writing ranks up there (if not better and is because I love all of his books and in this case the reference of the book I loved, I never loved another book by this author) with Barbara Kingsolver, Amy Tan, Those Man Booker prize folks and who knows a Pulitzer.
I always thought that his books were more just scary novels...I never they were -postpone all birthday plans! Clear the deck! I must finish THE SHINING!
I will be forever eternally grateful for reading THE JOURNAL KEEPER by Phyllis Theroux. In her book she suggests to read ON WRITING by SK so I did. And after that? How could I not start to unearth his books??
One by one, I am.
I tried to speak candidly with the guy behind Barnes and Noble (a nice older gentlemen) about my love for Stephen King. I tried to tell him from what I had read (I had gone back to buy DOCTOR SLEEP) that the book truly was far more riveting than Krubrick's film interpretation of the book. (Which has lead to all of these bizarre theories, another alley I won't go down right now.) Any how, the man behind the counter completely disagreed with me and said, "It's one of the best adaptations ever of a film made."
That's when I realized, Ahhh...you are not a true SK fan... (a secret thought of mine, not literally spoken.)
I'm going on. I am going on because I am still quite jazzed up about a book I stumbled upon mid-life due to my fear of THE movie Salem's Lot.
That movie shattered my nights as a child and I vowed to never get involved with the scary SK guy by reading his books...
So glad I grew up and faced my fears to realize I had been missing out on one the greatest writers of our time. Forget HORROR.
How about clear your life for 2 DAYS EXCEPT FOR COFFEE because you have SK in the house!! Yippee:)
After reading 11, I have a good almost 40 or so to go, I can space those out over few years (if I can hold myself back) so I can enjoy a new SK books...well for quite awhile. Maybe some things are worth savoring later in life like a good tequila.

Those snobs out there that haven't cracked up one of his books or someone like me that was just to damned afraid are missing out on going to another planet...albeit temporarily. So:
Get over your snobbery!
Get over your fear!
And discover why reading a book is still more fun that checking a FB or Twitter of a site or an audio book or a movie. THE SHINING WAS PUBLISHED six years after I was born. The fact that it is more fun than an amusement park or even lunch with my girlfriends is only a testament to the superb craft at writing and story telling. His character development makes me believe in writing again, in stories, in books. So don't be a snob! Don't be afraid. Walk over to the other side and become a....what?
A CONSTANT READER!



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BOOKS TO READ IN 2014 - BESTSELLER MIDDLE AGE BEAUTY

MIDDLE AGE BEAUTY, released on December 13, gained worldwide press for its anti-plastic surgery approach for women and men. Featured in the NY Post and in The Daily Mail UK and Beauty World News, MIDDLE AGE BEAUTY hit #2 on hot new releases on Amazon US, UK and top #25 bestseller in France. In the UK, Middle Age Beauty hit the top #20 spot on UK PAPERBACK in its first week of being published.
Author Machel Shull resides in Southern California with her family in the beach town of Cardiff-by-the-Sea. She has been a public relations writer and a marketing executive for eight years in the San Diego area. As a former International Face model and an actress, Machel shares the nitty-gritty on aging, and exposes the pressures women receive to buy into a billion dollar industry of Botox. "Don't buy into the expiration dilemma. Look within, refine your health and make your appearance part of your daily 'joy' that matters," she writes. This book shares the 'beauty trinity' that is key to feeling great, being healthy and taking care of your soul. Mrs. Shull interviews top psychologists, doctors and nutritionists regarding health, soul, and holistic healing, while weaving in her own personal experiences that share how to find the right balance during your mid-life journey. She uncovers the hidden dangers and facts that you should know before ever injecting your face with a foreign substance.
In a world that is encouraging women to feel insecure about their looks and age, MIDDLE AGE BEAUTY empowers women to embrace their natural self first by seeking a more soulful and meaningful experience.

Read Land of Dreams by Kate Kerrigan. I loved it!

Land of Dreams by Kate Kerrigan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


CAN'T wait to read trilogy book three. ELLIS Island started Ellie's journey & this will be so exciting to read!! Kate Kerrigan also writes under (or did in the past) Morag Prunty.
~Well, well, well. Here I am with a red nose, swollen eyes from crying from happiness at the ending. So many great quotes in this book about life, the passage of time and how we lose and love and there is much loss through the chapters of this life. We cannot own anyone. We raise our sons and they will leave us and become adults...
LAND OF DREAMS is the third book in a trilogy set written by the great writer, Irish writer, Kate Kerrigan. ELLIS ISLAND topped the NY Times Bestseller's list this year and it is well deserved by a tremendous writer that speaks candidly about the hopes, love and loss in all of her books that I have read.
The star character in this trilogy set is Ellie Hogan. She falls in love when she is young, marries the love of her life and so the story begins...
I love Ellie. I loved this book about Ellie as a mother with her two sons and her oldest running off to Hollywood to be an actor during the 1940's (Think the golden era period.)
~This story had much heartbreak to it, but real heartbreak that felt real and real to life, so when I read a story that rings so real, so true, well, if you love a character you will go through their suffering, too. Ellie experiences great joys in her time in Los Angeles, too. But I don't want to give it away. This book is too good. You must discover on your own.
First you must read ELLIS ISLAND, then CITY OF HOPE, followed by LAND OF DREAMS.
I had a deep fascination with old Hollywood when I first moved there. I would read everything about the studios, watched all of the old movies I could get my hands on...and reading LAND OF DREAMS captured that era, captured Los Angeles. The descriptions were so real and so vivid, I was right there with Ellie reaching out to touch the sun. I was with her at the Manzanar camp, I was with her when she ran down the Hollywood Hills to catch a cab after finding out the man she had been seeing was seeing somewhere else.
I must say at the end of the book, I began to worry about the conclusion. What would happen to Ellie? Gees, I wanted something grand to happen...AND IT DID.
When you open your heart, the world flies open and great things happen.
Here is a wonderful quote in the book:

"When you love something or someone, you want to hold onto them tight and never let them go, but life doesn't work like that. You had to take the things you loved and scatter them about you like petals, throw them to the wind as if they meant nothing to you. Then God might send you something else to love; someone new to care for. Then again, He might not. Life was, with or without God, a chancy business. The only hope was to let go. Of everything."

Kate Kerrigan is in my top five favorite contemporary female authors. I don't want to compare her to anyone else because she has a style of her own that always touches me deeply in my heart.

I would love to read about Ellie again!

Here are some of her books that I have read that you need to discover:

Miracles of Grace
Perfect Recipes for a Marriage
Ellis Island
City of Hope
Land of Dreams

Review on Love and the Goddess by Mary E. Coen

http://machelshull.com/love-and-the-g...