What I Really Think

As I've mentioned, we're heading back to the big island this summer. On the way though, we're stopping in the San Francisco area for two nights. Rather than staying in the city this time, we're going to return to Santa Rosa for two nights. With reservations set again at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in Santa Rosa. We'll be recreating a lot from that previous trips, with visits to Saint Francis (where we are now club members), Dutton-Goldfield, which we may join if they will ship to Jersey, J (another possible wine club to join as our friends are members so we know they ship here), Alexander Valley Vineyards (hoping to get some Cyrus), and Sausal (for their extremely old-vine zinfandels). We're also hoping for return meals at Bear Republic (lunch) and Petit Syrah (dinner).

View from St. Francis Winery

I know, it's a lot to do/see but hey, it's a plan - it doesn't mean we have to do everything.

Oh, and some other things on the agenda:

• Return to Russian River (Chris wants this more than me; I've been unimpressed).
• Cellars of Sonoma - wine bar
• Station 1870 - wine bar

Lastly, we may take advantage of Wine Country Shippers again (used them in Paso Robles), though in the summer heat, I'm not sure that will be best. We'll see.

I've been meaning to post about this for a while .... looks like we're heading back to the Big Island in July! Crazy as it may sound, Hawaii ended up being less expensive for us than heading up to Maine or back to Vermont. Why? Because Chris travels. All. The. Time. So with airfare and hotel covered, it just makes sense.

We'll be staying at the Hilton Waikoloa Village though I'd much prefer Kings Land (lovely time-share apartments), they don't take points at that property and beggars can't be choosers. Yeah, I know it's a real hardship.

On the itinerary I know we want to go snorkeling with Ocean Sports again. And we'll either bring our own bikes or rent from Bike Works again. Lastly, and definitely most important, we want to do an observatory tour like this one from Adventure Hawaii.

Got any other suggestions? Good hikes? Interesting bike rides? Tours?

I can't remember who chose our November book club selection, Mad Women, though I think it was Pam who spent some time in the advertising industry. I too feel as I spent time in the advertising industry having been weened on stories of creative meetings, client presentations, and actually given the opportunity to play with various toys and try different candies as my father vied for and kept different accounts.

So though I don't watch Mad Men, I was curious to read about advertising in the 60s and 70s from the women's perspective. And I think that was my only problem reading the book, I don't watch Mad Men and the author spends a lot of time comparing the actual stories of life with those that occur in the show, highlighting the similarities and the differences.

Other than being at a loss due to these comparisons, I enjoyed this read. Having started it on Saturday morning for a couple of hours, and finishing it on Sunday in a few hours, it was definitely a quick read. Also, not only did it give insights into advertising but really insights into what it was like to be a working women in that time period. Very interesting to see how far we have come and how little we have gained - a crazy juxtaposition.

Personally, I can't wait to discuss it at book club, and even more so, to discuss it with my Dad to see where he concurs and where he doesn't.

I want to be frank with you. I know the author of this book. She used to write a blog for Slow Travel A Journey of 1000 Miles... (you can find her out her new blog, Leaping Without a Net). That out of the way, I want to give you my honest assessment of The Virgin and the Griffin, maybe even too honest in an over-critical way to make up for our friendship.

The Virgin and the Griffin tells the story of Isabella, a young women of Perugia in the early 1500s, belonging to a family of weavers, during a time when women were not allowed to work (for commercial gain). The story is set against the backdrop of some potential upheaval between the noble families of the time and the Vatican (Perugia, as I learned, was under the control of the Pope). And this brings me to my first point.

The author's command of the history of Perugia Italy as well as its geography is amazing. She creates a vivid sense of place, so much so, that when I do finally get to visit Perugia, I will re-read this book in order to get a better idea of the places I want to see. Additionally, her knowledge of the textile industry at that time and the process through which the weavers work is also exemplary and presented in an interesting and easy to understand fashion.

But this leads me to a slight negative, there is so much history to impart that at times it felt as if the information became repetitive, repeating some of the back story (e.g., talking about the ruthlessness of the Baglioni or that they appeared at the top of the hierarchy of Perugia's nobles) in order to ensure the reader understood the context within which the characters lived. At the beginning, it slowed the story down a bit.

That said, once I was 30 - 40% in (again, Kindle reader here), I was hooked and did not want to put it down. The author develops her characters so well, and Isabella becomes so real that thoughts of their lives stayed with me well after the book ended. Again though this brings up three asides.

First, I doubt the author realizes this, but her main character has the same name as the main character of the Twilight series (yuck), which I had the unfortunate experience of reading (well, the first book), and every time someone spoke to "Bella" I had horrid flashbacks to Twilight and Edward Cullen - bleh.

Second, is in homage to another friend, Stephanie, I wanted more closure (Stephanie cannot stand a book without closure). I grew to really enjoy these characters (especially Letizia, who I wish we knew even more - perhaps a prequel?), and I wanted to know how the rest of their lives went. We're really only given a glimpse into maybe two years (sorry I don't have the book in front of me) of their lives and it wasn't enough.

Lastly, while I'm talking about characters, the story is told in the first person by Isabella though at times the author breaks and switches viewpoints to some of the other characters. I'm assuming (I know, bad to assume), that she does that to give us some insight into their thoughts/emotions but I think she's a strong enough writer that she didn't need to do this. I think Isabella's insights and those characters' deeds spoke loudly enough to their character and motivation.

If you like historical fiction, especially related to Italy (or specifically, Umbria), enjoy as story with good sense of place and character development, then read The Virgin and the Griffin. Personally, I'm looking forward to Sandra's second book as I still can't believe this was her first endeavor.

Unbroken , by Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of Olympian Louis Zamperini and those he served with in the Pacific front during WWII. It's not a story of military battles lost and won but of battles for the souls of men as Louis and fellow soldiers face war and struggle to survive after their plane crashes in the Pacific ocean (I'm not giving anything more away than what's in the prologue here).

When reading a book like this, the true story of some incredibly horrific situations that people actually faced, I hate saying I enjoyed it. I feel almost repugnant using that word as a voyeur into someone's tragedy but there's no escaping that I'm glad I read it.

The first part of the book, covering Louis' childhood and pursuit of Olympic dreams engaged me but then I found myself avoiding reading his story once the war started for two reasons 1) Ms Hillenbrand crams a lot of necessary but not necessarily captivating information about the planes and the war into this section 2) I knew a bit of the horrors that awaited Louis and I honestly didn't want to face them. Yet at some point, I was hooked and compelled to read straight through until I finished (probably from 25% until the end). Yes, that was me sneaking in paragraphs at the Yankee game whenever innings changed or pitchers changed or even when players argued calls (there was some bad umpiring at this particular game - and apologies to Rain for my distraction).

Spoiler Alert

But one of my main motivations to finish wasn't my impending book club meeting or to find out what happened to Louis (it's obvious from the get-go that he survives), it was to find out what happened to Louis' friend and pilot, Phil. Ms. Hillenbrand (probably intentionally) left his fate and the fate of many of Louis' colleagues in question until the end and I had to know - did he ever marry Cecy...

There were points in the story where I did get confused as to the soldiers that came and went, and some of the facts regarding life in the Japanese POW camps were stomach-turning (but you can't water that down, it wouldn't be right) yet this is definitely a book I think people should (must) read - if only to honor those in some small way that sacrificed so much.

What more is there to say about the book Fifty Shades of Grey? You either love it or hate it, I think. Guess I'm more in the latter camp.

Let's forget that it's a bigger fairy tale than say, the Sookie Stackhouse Series. I mean if you can believe in shape shifters and vampires, why not believe in a 27 year-old self-made gorgeous billionaire who pilots his own helicopters, has his own airplane (among other toys ;D) and wants to cure the hunger crisis in the world, falling for a 21 (or was she 22) year-old virgin?

This book has been so poorly written and in such desperate need of a good editor that any chance at a decent, believable love story is completely lost. For example, everyone murmurs in this book (197 times to be exact). Why not grumble, mumble or mutter sometimes instead? I guess murmur is just sexier. Well, then for god's sake, let them whisper!

I give it to you, the sex scenes can be hot, but even then after a while, give it a rest! Jeez, 528 pages in paperback form and what was the time span? Two weeks? Enough.

Plus, I go the distinct impression that the author had no experience with so much of what she wrote (the wine for example, or the booze). It was like she googled to find out what some good wines are and threw them into the book to demonstrate how sophisticated Christian Grey really is (at his ripe young age). Well, let me tell you, if anyone ever uses Hendricks Gin to make a gin and tonic in my presence, I'm going to slap them silly.

Look, if your horny rent some soft porn or read Lady Chatterley's Lover (the original 50 Shades). If you want a love story, get some Nora Roberts or Danielle Steel. Seriously people, we have to do better than this!

I was supposed to read Empire Falls several years ago for my book club, but only got about a third of the way through it before our meeting and never managed to pick it up again. However, when I saw I could take it out for free via my library's kindle loans, I decided to finally finish it.

I totally enjoyed the author's tone and the language used, as a matter of fact, I thought the language so well done, that I used this book to balance out the most recent book club selection Fifty Shades of Grey (review to follow), which was so poorly written, I felt as if I needed something to stimulate my brain. So I went back and forth between the two books, a chapter of each, just to prevent my brain from melting and oozing out my ears (okay - so maybe I don't need to review 50...).

My only complaint about Empire Falls would have to be the pacing. From the climax to the finish, I felt as if I was in my dad's car and he was driving 70, then hit the breaks and slowed, then sped up again, only to hit the breaks to slow again. So much so, that when I thought I was finally at the end, I wasn't and when the end finally did come, well, honestly, I didn't want it too. I wanted a bit more resolution - just to make sure everything turned out as I wanted.

I found the characters all flawed and in some ways, all likable. Basically, real people who all have issues and you just need to pick and choose whose issues you would most like to have around.

I only wish I'd finished this book in time for book club, because I really wish I had someone with whom to talk about it now.