“The Impostor”

What happened to the lion? I got kind of a creepy vibe in the beginning. My mind continually flashed to the short story, “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury. The setting in post apartheid South Africa came with its own challenges: deserts, jungles, a highway, a town struggling to survive. Daddy issues, an escort, a golf course, poverty, and a tie to organized crime. Power, Revenge. Friendship. Depression. I wish I could say the end justifies the means, but I’m not sure it did. Galgut left me with one burning question…in the end, what happened to the lion?

“Blackout”

What could possibly go wrong in your life if you chronically lie? Lie to your family. Lie to yourself. Alcoholism. Lies. Career track. Llies. Parenting. Llies. Partner. Lies. 

Blackouts. Brain waves. RFID chips. Cell towers. Memories. Rape culture. Monied justice. Hiding the truth about everything. Friendships developed. Trust. Support. Healing.

Some of the reviews I read on Amazon were less than flattering. I found this book intriguing. I so hoped the ending worked out the way I wanted it to. For a thriller, I’m not sure it hit all the “buttons.” However, I did stay up late to finish it!

“Thunderstruck”

Living your best life…the end justifying the means to get there. I slogged through Marconi’s turbulent life to get back to the Crippen’s storyline. A murder mystery tangled in the race to make wireless telegraphy profitable. What does it take to succeed? To be happy? How do social conventions help and hinder? A race against time and technology. And at what cost? Fortunes? Relationships? Love? To what degree would we sacrifice to find just one? In the end what would we have accomplished if we didn’t follow our passion? Our name written on history becomes our legacy. Living our best life, leaving behind the broken lives of those we once loved.

“One Toe” by Lori McMullen

It was time,

To put my toe in the water.

To watch the ripples form,

To look at a future without the routine I’d come to know.

I had become a dinosaur,

Extinction casting a long shadow on my career.

Dipping my toe,

Could leave pieces of the puzzle undone.

Leaving behind a life,

That seemed filled with urgency.

Just one toe is all it took,

To set new ripples of my life in motion.

The ripples now,

Slower, gentler, different.

Just one toe,

To find a new normal, a new fulfillment.

A new set of ripples to carry my life forward.

Retired from teaching, after 21 years: June 2019

Written: June, 16, 2023

“One of Us Is Dead”

“I took care of my clients.” - Jenny (351)

“America was built on the backs of others. We’re just carrying on the tradition.” - Olivia (283)

Entitlement. Greed. Bullying. Manipulation. Finally…a plan.

Is money the root of all evil, or is it the love of money that is evil? What if money was the basis of your power? What if you coveted what you could hold over someone’s head to push yourself up the social ladder? When will those whose backs you stepped on to get ahead have had enough? How do we stop the constant manipulation from ruining our lives? Why do we tolerate those types of people in our lives, even if we think their values are corrupt? How do we say “enough is enough?” Can friendships forged of a common “enemy” be enough to find a solution?

One of them did, indeed, end up dead - but it didn’t happen the way I thought it would. It’s always good to have a plan.

I could NOT put this book down! Great read!!

“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”

“These are the years of my prime. You are benefitting from my prime.” (43)

I recently met a man who read books by reading the first 100 pages, and then skipped to the end. “I suppose you read the whole book, even if you don’t like it?” Yep. I wish I had met him before I started reading this novel, maybe I would have taken his advice after page 50.

Impressionable. Unconventional. Opinionated. MANIPULATIVE. Betrayed. 

Ok, I have to admit I was mildly intrigued. Which leads me to wonder…did I ever hit my prime as a teacher? I might seek out the film version of the book just to see someone else’s interpretation.

“Dragon Teeth”

Action. Twists. Turns. Deceit. Ladies. Passion. AND DINOSAURS!

What better adventure to have as a young college coed than to dig up fossils? What if the adventure didn’t turn out quite the way you imagined it? What if, during this adventure you ran into the likes of Wild Bill Hickok and Wyatt Earp?  Would you stick it out or catch the first express out of Deadwood? How do you reconcile all that you thought you knew with what you know now? Where will the adventure take you when you return home…if you return?

Enjoyed every minute of this novel…Crichton threw in enough history to keep me reading. Of course, the dinosaurs helped too.