Those of you that are regular followers of the Wild About Books Book Club Blog will remember my post “Dear Barrack”; a letter to President Obama.  Click here to see this post which I did print and mail to the President.

Mostly I forgot about it, but sometimes I wonder if Mr. Obama read my letter.  And sometimes I think about writing him again so that he understands what people are dealing with out here in the land of the real world.

Today my work phone rang and I answered it;

“Darby Schools, this is Lisa”.

It was the president’s office.   She was looking for the Lisa Poe that had sent a letter to President Obama last May.

“Yes!I am that Lisa Poe”.

“Great. This is Fiona from The Presidential Office of Correspondence.  President Obama reads ten letters every night and yours was one of them.  He has hand-written you a reply and we need an address to send it to.  If you give me your email address I’ll scan and email it to you too”.

I gave her the information, thanked her and told her to have a great  day.

What the heck?  This is amazing.

Lucky for him I had not started the ACA reporting forms process at work when I wrote that letter.  Maybe lucky for me too, I would end up in federal prison if I told him how ridiculous this has all become and that “affordable health care” is not only a misnomer but a complete farce.  This opinion being  from my perspective and experiences.  I’m sure that there are people who have better health care now.   I was hoping Mr. Obama would invite me to the White House for some more advice, but that was not the case.   Maybe I’ll just pop in one day and see if he’s available.  We need to talk about responsible gun ownership, archaic public school systems, unaffordable college educations, student loan rip-offs, GMO’s, and the dairy industry.  I should probably bring an overnight bag.

 

Thanksgiving is like the alarm clock of holiday gift giving.  A slap in the face to the short amount of time you have to not only decide what to get but to purchase it, wrap it and maybe even ship it.  If you’re shipping gifts, Thanksgiving is more of a panic button.  All the thought put into gift giving has now gone out the window and you are in a horrible place of just buying a gift that could honestly have anyone’s name on the tag.

 Here is my chart for you to follow for gift giving for the holiday season.  You can use this chart for birthdays, anniversaries and any time that society dictates that you need to bring a gift.

Easy Peasy:  Money; just give a check or a crisp bill of any denomination, although 20’s and up are more appreciated than ones and fives.  Money is always useful for the receiver and you can not get any easier for the giver.  There is nothing wrong with giving money.

Smart:  Gloves, socks, pistachios.  Gloves are lost all the time and a good collection is helpful.  Socks can be fun.  If you know your receiver has a hobby then you can be sock specific; hiking, running, hunting, skiing.  Be aware that gloves and socks come in sizes and you will need to be thoughtful enough to know if the receiver of the gift has large or small hands and feet.  I wear small socks, the stores always put the small socks on the top shelf.  I can’t reach them and have to ask for a step stool.  If you are six feet tall and wear a 4.5-6 sock you are probably unable to stand upright and would need the socks on the lowest shelve as well.  And who’s not going to smile when they open a Costco size bag of pistachios. This has the illusion of a large gift but in reality it’s mostly inedible shells.

Local: My personal favorite, shopping locally.  Most of my Christmas shopping is done at the local breweries.  The breweries stock a wide variety of promotional items such as shirts, growlers, koozies and stickers, You sit at the bar or table and they bring you everything, even a tasty beverage.

“..could I see that tank top in a women’s large please”

and they bring it

to you.

…”and I’ll take 3 of your hydro flask tumblers as well”.

Without moving from your bar stool, all of your Christmas shopping is done and you’ve shopped locally.

“….all of this shopping has made me hungry, could you bring me a pizza too”.

Consumables:  Sometimes you have to shop for the person who has everything.  The person who you know has a closet in their house that is full of all the presents you have ever sent them.  This person needs something consumable like chocolate or wine.  The other nice thing about chocolate or wine is that it is easily re-gift-able.

Personal: This may be my all time favorite even over local.  Personal can be a story or poem that you wrote for the person.  It could be something hand knitted or sewn.  Some hand-crafted jewelry or pottery.  It could even be a hand-written coupon for a foot massage by you.  Oh! A foot massage, there is nothing that beats a foot massage.  There is no money involved in this gift, yet the receiver will be thrilled to be given a foot massage.

Nocturnal Rodents:  I do not recommend this gift at all.  Giving nocturnal rodents is a poor choice.  If you or your children are the receivers of such a gift you will need to exam the relationship you have with the gift giver.  I can tell you from personal experience that you may be passively aggressively on someone’s shit list when given a nocturnal rodent.

Books:  Books are one of my favorite things ever. But giving books for presents is questionable.  You must really know the person well to pick out a book for them.  Using Wild About Books blog is an exceptionally good resource but still risky.  For example, one of my favorite books is “Born to Run”.  I love this book and you don’t have to be a runner to enjoy this book, in my opinion.  After I read this book I wanted everyone to experience reading this modern classic.  Let’s say I give this book as a gift to my son, daughter, mom, sister, dad, beautiful man, and best friend at work.  If I think about this more in depth, there is only one person in that list that might read and finish this book and that would be my dad.  As good as this book is, you would still need to have a passion for running to have an interest in reading “Born to Run”.  There is one person in my life who not only reads everything that I suggest but enjoys the books as well, my friend and superhero Carol.  I think this is rare to have someone who enjoys all of the books that you enjoy.  The answer to this book giving conundrum is simple.  Give a Kindle.  My Kindle has been a life changer.  It’s easy to read, downloads books on demand, very portable, battery charge last for weeks and you can adjust the font size to your eye needs.  A Kindle Paper White would make a great gift.  If the people you know already have an e-reader, then go for the amazon gift card.  You can purchase this online, give it online and they can use it online.  That’s almost as easy as the money suggestion.  With the amazon gift card the receiver can buy more books that they chose to read.

Happy shopping.  Several Christmas Bazaars in Darby today. If you are in the area check them out and I hear that  Santa will be at Bandit Brewery.

 

 

 

Darby Montana; a pretty spectacular place to live.  A population of about 850 in the town limits, the Bitterroot mountains on the west side, the Sapphires to the east and the Bitterroot River winding its way through it all.  There are lots of great things to do in the outdoors here, but what about the town?  What does our town have to offer? Can you get your Christmas shopping done in Darby?  Yes, you definitely can.  Darby has a lot to offer.  In one small block you can:

1. Get your dog washed
2. Buy some fishing flys or live maggots
3. Get some farm fresh eggs at the liquor store (as well as liquor, wine, and gifts)
4. After a long day of shopping you can bar hop between the two bars, The Sawmill and Dotsons (good for people watching and pool playing too, You can visit with the likes of “Pistol Packing Pete” who comes into the bar, not with his pistol, because that’s illegal to bring a gun into a bar, school or post office, but with his holster on.  The holster is not empty, he has a cordless screw gun propped in the holster.  Apparently Pistol Packing Pete has a hernia and needs the pressure to keep things in place. )
5. Get a great lunch or dinner at Mike’s Little Blue Joint (vegan options too)
6. A massage from Christina (and she’s a birth doula)
7. Yoga/Pilates classes from Wendy at Main Street Yoga
8. Get a work out at The Right to Bare Arms Fitness Gym
9. Get a Tattoo
10. Find almost anything at the thrift shop
11. Get an $8 haircut at Hope’s Cutting Corral
12. Get your hair done, nails done, makeup done, or a tan at The Electric Beach and Hair Studio
13. Drink a wide variety of craft beer at the Bandit Brewery and enjoy live music
14. Buy some organic fruit, veggies, local-made gifts and much more at the health food store, The Darby Mercantile.
15. Catch up on the gossip at the post office from the clerks when you mail your gifts.
16. Check out a book at the Darby Library to relax with after shopping.
17. Antiques (but I think only the tourist go there)
18. Candy store (tourist again)
19. Get your freshly harvested game stuffed at one of the two taxidermy shops
20. Get your skull bleached ( I’m not sure what this is or the cost, but it is available if you need it)

Consider  Down Town Darby for all of your Christmas shopping on  small business Saturday.  This list is full of ideas for presents and gift certificates and even time to enjoy yourself.  You’ll avoid the traffic as all of these options are within walking distance.  You’ll avoid multiple stop lights because there aren’t any. There also aren’t any crowds to wade through.  No lines.  Oh wait, there may be a line in the post office, but not because it’s busy.  There’s only one clerk at a time working the desk and she’s catching up on what each customer and their family have been up to since the last time they were in.  No reason to get stressed about it, just enjoy it.  Now you’ll have something to share next time you’re at Hope’s Cutting Corral.

Find more great tips and a wide variety of book suggestions at Wild About Books.  Books make great gifts too.

 

 

Time for the Wild About Books monthly book selection.  After a dry spell of not so good books, I’m happy to present a beautifully written southern novel set in the 1950’s.  I love southern novels, the food and the special southern way of speaking. The juxtaposition of having a black woman raise your children but make her sit out in the hot car to eat her dinner because she is not allowed in the restaurant.  I also like the setting of the 1950’s.  A decade that is remembered, by most, from the warm, loving and witty families of the TV.  It was all perfect.  What a great decade.

Was it really?

There was racial tension, female suppression, corporal punishment; makes you want to grow your hair out, do drugs and  love one another.  Perhaps the 50’s looked  good compared to the depression  of the 30’s and the world war of the 40’s.  It’s all relative.

Everybody has their decade. I’m a bi-decade late 70’s early 80’s.  My kids are from the zero’s.  I don’t know what you’re supposed to call that decade.  If you’re from the zero’s or the ten’s you should just not have a decade attached to you.  Skip that part. Tell them you’re a Pisces.  Get the subject changed.  John Cougar Mellencamp is not going to write a song called “It was the summer of zero zero”.

What did I do last night?  Stayed up really late and finished the December book selection.  I couldn’t put it down.  It wrecked me.  Stayed up late, slept in, missed yoga.  The book took over my being.

I was arguing with myself

“…… savor it, finish tomorrow”

“No!  Finish it”.

“You should go to sleep”

“One more chapter”.

“You might as well finish it now”

I finished it.  What a well-written book. It’s  Charlotte, NC native, Anna Jean Mayhew’s first novel and it’s a winner.  I highly recommend “The Dry Grass of August”.  Even if you’re not from the south, you’ll enjoy the characters and their struggles in a society and a decade that needs more exploration and explanation.

This book is available at the Darby Public Library as soon as I return it.

Wild About Books blog is a seriously great resource for book lovers.  Check it out.

 

 

“Hey, what’s new? What have you been up to?”

Each time I am asked these questions I come up with a lame answer.  One, because I’m not into idle chit chat and two because I can’t come up with a good answer.  

I was at an enchilada potluck bonfire party last night when a young man my daughter’s age asked these questions of me.  I thought of answering with my pat answer of let’s just stop this conversation in it’s tracks answer of “not too much new here”.  But something took over in me to answer the truth.  To remember what I’ve been up to lately.

I replied without pausing; “I’ve been thinking about working at the school another ten years. It’s a job that puts food on my table and a snowboard on my feet so I don’t want to blow that gig.  But I would like to start my own business and have something to keep me working when I do retire. I would like to start working and building on that now.  I’ve considered several business ideas.  For example, I could write a book or I could start my vegan veggie burger business. Maybe I’ll  start a hostel in Darby.  I have so many ideas.

 I’m also teaching myself to play the harmonica, which my dog is not happy about.  I’m training for a half marathon with the Good Times Running Club. I’ve run five half marathons and still dream of running a full marathon.  

 I just joined a book club with a couple of teachers and several high school students.  We are reading “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat”  Interesting read; thought provoking for sure.  

 The high school science teacher and I are planning a spring break backpacking trip.  We just received the backpacking permit to the Grand Canyon this week.  We plan on taking nine students and I’ll be working on some grants to help pay for the trip.  That’s another business idea I have, grant writer.  I’m going to practice grant writing for the school while I’m employed full time and see if I can become a professional grant writer.

 I also coached  junior high tennis this year.

I was appointed to be  on the Public Library board of directors.

I’ve improved in my yoga practice.  I can do side crow with one leg out to the side.  I can go from standing straddle to headstand without flailing my feet in an egg beater style.

  I am hoping to get some new cross-country skis this year.  Mine are 22 years old. I’ve reserved May Creek Cabin for the end of January to ski into for the night.   There is also a yurt on Saddle Mountian that I would like to ski into one night too.

I write a blog, but I’ve not been writing much since Brett’s accident and it’s time to get back to it.

My headaches have gotten so bad that I finally had to get prescription medicine and it’s working.

 I’ve started making my own toothpaste.  I’ve used the homemade toothpaste for several months and thought it would be wise to go to the dentist.  I wanted to make sure I wasn’t making a big mistake.  He told me my teeth were too perfect and that I might have problems with them because they were so perfect.  What? Did he say that?  I didn’t tell him about my homemade toothpaste.  I lied when he asked if I swished with mouth wash.  

Derek found a break in my dissertation to ask about my job at the school.

“My job doesn’t define who I am.  I don’t usually bring it up in conversation.  I’m the business manager of a public school.  It’s not a good use of my talents.  It is not very creative.  I fake most of it and don’t have much passion for the job.  

Why do I stay?

Because the pros outweigh the cons.  I have a three-mile commute,  I have a flexible schedule,  I make good enough money.  I can take off on powder Thursday when there’s powder.  I have some sort of health insurance, vacation/sick days, and a retirement.  I work with good people who appreciate the work I do. When it’s after hours and the school is empty I can ride my longboard in the halls.  These are good things and one should not take these pros for granted. I have a good job and sometimes I forget that.  

That’s what I’ve been up to.

Wild About Books blog followers don’t give up.  I’m reading 6 books right now.  I’ll have a book for you for the next post.

Let’s start this post with a look back on our first completed year of Wild About Books blog; a seriously great reference for book lovers.

August 5, 2014, was actually the first post.  We currently have 205 followers.  Our most viewed post at 155 views was “The UPS Man”.  The most viewed in one day and the most shared goes to “Dear Barrack”  My personal favorite was “Burton Deja Vu Flying V”  Our monthly book selection choices have all received two thumbs up.  My favorite book of the past year was “All the Light We Cannot See”

Recently, I’ve been in a slump for researching great books for the club, but I’m happy to announce that Ivan Doig ( from his grave) has pulled me out of this unusual dry spell.  Ivan Doig, one of the best authors ever, passed away last April.

This week as I was searching for a novel, I saw an Ivan Doig book in the list.

What?!

I’ve never heard of this one, where did it come from, when did he write this??    Apparently he has left us with one last gift.  “Last Bus to Wisdom” by Ivan Doig was published this week.  I’m so excited for this bonus.  I love his writing style.  I’m in love with his characters.  I’m afraid to read it too fast.  I think I’ll just allow myself one page a day.

But no, it’s like limiting yourself to 4 ounces of good wine.  It never happens.  You have 4 more and then 4 more.  But, you drink it slowly, savoring the flavor.  I’m reading “Last Bus to Wisdom” slowly, digesting and appreciating every single word, which is exactly how Ivan Doig should be read.  Don’t read it with the TV on in the background or after 12 ounces of wine.  You need to be aware and mindful.

Other great Ivan Doig books that I would like to recommend are “The Whistling Season” and “This House of Sky”  Doig is a native Montanan and he uses Montana as the setting for all of his books.

“Ivan believed that ordinary people deserve to have their stories told, and he did that in fact and fiction, beginning with This House of Sky, a memoir of his own upbringing in Montana; it attracted a wide readership and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He later wrote a second memoir and another book of nonfiction, but it is for his novels that he became enduringly read. The Two Medicine Country, an imagined region based upon the Montana landscape where he came of age, is the setting for the majority of his novels, including the so-called McCaskill trilogy (English Creek, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, and Ride with Me, Mariah Montana) and the New York Times-bestselling The Whistling Season, which debuted a favorite character, the itinerant charmer Morrie Morgan.”

Thanks for your readership of this blog and of the comments, likes, and shares.  I’ll continue to write, develop and evolve Wild About Books into its second year.  Enjoy.

The greatest invention ever:  The Public Library.

I’m not sure how we’ve gotten this far in the Wild About Books blog and have not discussed  how lucky we are as a society to have public libraries.  To be able to walk into a building, be surrounded by shelves of books, pick one out and take it home to read.  The end.  There are no strings attached.  This is what is expected.  Take a book and read it, bring it back for someone else to read and come get another one or three or eight.

I have used libraries all of my life.  Libraries are a source of comfort for me.  I can wander the shelves in search of nothing in particular, walk out with nothing and still consider this time in the library as productive.

I love when a book picks me out.  I walk through the shelves waiting for a book to pick me out as the perfect reader of its content. Try it next time you are in a library.  Let the book pick you.

The library does not care if I am unemployed or make millions of dollars.  The library does not care if I’m a high school drop out or have my doctorate. The library is open to everyone.  When I was a young mother, the library was a morning of entertainment for my children and I.  We could spend hours in the library, reading, story time and picking out books to take home.

The crazy part about libraries is that they are much much more than books.  They are a resource for so many other connections to the outside world.  They offer free internet, computers, printers, books on tape, videos, reading clubs, meeting rooms, newspapers, magazines, children’s activities, foreign film night and more. You can even download books onto your kindle.  Public libraries are an iconic spot in the community, a source of pride for a for a small town.

In Darby, a town of 850 people, the library truly is an asset to our community.  You can feel the flow of positive energy emanating from it’s walls.  The director and her staff are constantly implementing new and creative programs and visions for our library.  The volunteers work countless hours running the checkout desk, shelving books and helping patrons.  The Friends of the Darby Library auxiliary group put on fundraisers, write grants and assist the director and the board of trustees in any way that they can.  The board of trustees, of which I am the newest member, are very passionate about their local public library.

Yesterday I walked into our library and checked out eight books.  All the books I chose are books that I have read before.  I took them home to my family to pick one out for our river trip. Refer to the photo for some more reading recommendations for the summer.

Check out your local public library and don’t forget to thank the librarian.

Wild About Books

If you live in Montana and are not listening to live music this weekend, then it is your own damn fault.  There is so much live music happening just within 20 miles of my house that I would not have the capability of viewing it all.  There is nothing that takes the place of live music; not cd’s, not scratchy records, not NPR, nothing can match the beat of live music reverberating in your own heart.  Nothing makes you move in a way that you had no idea you could move, like live music.  You no longer look like a fool, you have become the music and it moves you and controls you and you surrender to its primal power.

On the flip side, there are the musicians.  They are completely and fully absorbed in their art.  Nothing else is taking place, they are living in the moment.  A prime example of mindfulness.  They clearly are not wondering if they took some meat out for dinner. They are not checking their phones.  Their passion alone is enough to make you enthralled as the watcher.  As I watched the third band beginning their set at last night’s live music venue, the bass guitarist looked out at the audience and said about his band; “you have no idea how much fun we are having”.

What’s the difference between a musician and a large pizza?

…….A large pizza can feed a family of four.

Here’s the music menu that I am aware of this weekend.  Starting on Thursday there was live bluegrass at The Bitterroot Brewery.  Friday there was a free concert in Hamilton featuring the iconic Big Sky Mudflaps.  Friday and Saturday were the annual Bluegrass Festival just north of Darby and the Wood Tick Music Festival up the West Fork.  I was at Wood Tick which is on a private ranch in a beautiful setting on Chaffin Creek.  Bring your lawn chair and even a tent if you would like to stay the night.  The music goes well into the night and the crowd is delightful.  Saturday night is the Bitterroot Brewfest featuring a live band as well.  If you were looking for big name bands you could take a road trip to White Sulfur Springs for the Red Ants Pants Music Festival.  Take a tent for sure to that one.

What’s the difference between an accordion and an onion?

…..  no one cries when you cut up and accordion.

If you haven’t had your fill of live music this weekend you can always come to Darby’s Last Fridays; music and art in the park, next weekend.  Art vendors, local wine and cider, children’s activities and the band for July 31st is Pinegrass.  This event is held on the last Friday of June, July, August and September in the Darby City Park from 5:00 to 8:00.  This is a relaxing evening of socializing, wine tasting, art vendors and, of course, live music.  Come as you are to this free event celebrating the beauty, art and authenticity  of Darby Montana.

I have been searching for a book for us to read and have not come up with one in a while.  So this month’s book choice is still up in the air.  If you are in need of a good book please feel free to browse through some old “Wild About Books” post and you’re sure to find something.  Here’s the link:  Wild About Books.  Or look at Amazon’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime.  Or, better yet,  it’s summer; go listen to some live music.  Dance.

 

 

I always feel bad for dads.  They struggle with the whole parent thing. Parenting is just not as natural to dads as it is to moms.  You can see it from the very beginning when handed their infant.  The father awkwardly takes the baby into his arms, stiff, scared.  There is nothing natural about the whole situation.

…and the silver spoon.

My advice to all you dads on this summer solstice of father’s days is that there is nothing you can give that takes the place of spending time with your child.  The key to a successful father/child relationship is time.  I don’t care if the kid bitches for the entire event.  In the end, the child will remember that you took them camping or golfing, they will not remember that they were an ass.

….little boy blue and the man on the moon.

Children remember evenings of broom ball in the back yard or dad’s invention of frisbee golf tournaments (who can throw the frisbee completely around the house in the least amount of throws).  Or who can forget dad hitting golf balls at you in the front yard.  Having your dad hit golf balls at you may not sound like a good time and probably looks dangerous from the neighbors view, but here’s the deal.  My dad was spending time with me and only me.  Now he wasn’t using one of those big clubs that you tee off with; he was using a pitching wedge, and I was catching the balls with his baseball glove and throwing them back at him.   Side note that my dad is left handed and I am not.  I’m catching golf balls with a grown man’s left handed baseball glove and have to take the glove off to throw the ball back.  It’s about spending time, not about the wrong glove or mixing up sports.

…..when you coming home, dad. I don’t know when.

It’s even tougher for the divorced dads.  They lose their mentor.  Any dad who loses the mom through divorce, death, substance abuse, abandonment, will struggle.  It’s not an easy task.  Mom’s are the glue that holds the familial unit together.  No.  Mom’s are more like a big bottle of Triflow Chain Lube.  Everything runs smoothly from gear to gear, up hills, down hills, as long as the mom is around.  As soon as you throw a dad and kids together without the mom, it’s going to be awkward.  Who’s going to make sure there is food? Who’s going to keep the conversation going? Who am I going to tell if my butt hurts?

….but we’ll get together then.

My divorced dad would take my sister and I out for pizza on a scheduled day.  We spent more time with my dad after the divorce than before. We were now scheduled in his week.  He worked a lot and played golf and now he had to pick up his kids and make plans with them.  We would sit at the Village Inn Pizza waiting for the pizza, watching how his Natural Lite would react when he added salt to it.  He would ask us lame questions, and we would respond with equally lame one-word answers.  We would look at his watch and ask how much longer for the pizza.  Eventually, it would arrive, and we would not have to come up with a conversation for a while as we ate quietly.  One night after pizza he talked us into seeing a dumb science fiction movie called “Star Wars”.  He drug us into the movie theater.  That’s another thing, for some reason kids don’t whine with their dad.  That’s for Triflow Chain Lube mom.  We don’t complain we just go along.  But Dad won some points that night. My sister and I came out of that movie in love with Han Solo and having imaginary Lightsaber wars the rest of the evening.  Time.

…..you know we’ll have a good time then.

 

 

I will be presenting a book for the month of June. I would also like to present you with other options in case you find yourself without a book to read or don’t think the June book is your cup of tea.

Presenting: “Lisa’s top 5 books she’s ever read that she can remember at this moment.”

#1. “The Brother’s K” by David James Duncan.

#2. “The River Why” by David James Duncan

David James Duncan is a fantastic writer and storyteller. I love his character development, his style of writing and his compassion for the human spirit, which he can portray through his writing. Both of these books are classics and should be handed down to the next generation.

#3. “The Poisonwood Bible” By Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is also a fantastic writer and storyteller. If you’ve never read a Barbara Kingsolver book, this would be a good one with which to start.

#4. “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall

You don’t have to be a runner to enjoy this book about the Tarahumara tribe of runners from the Copper Canyon in Mexico. A fascinating account of trying unsuccessfully to implement our societal ways on others.

#5. Number five is a tie. “Unbroken”, “The Warmth of Other Suns”, “Drive”, All the other Barbara Kingsolver Books, “The Book Thief”, “The Emerald Mile”, “The Untethered Soul”………..

Also, if you did not get a chance to read the May Book of the Month; “Nightingale”; you should add that to your list too. It was a very good read, and I highly recommend it. The survival of women in occupied France during World War II. Great story.

The June book of the month I have read before and am now re-reading. My mom is re-reading it as well. We both enjoyed the book before, but this time it has more meaning to our current life. It must have meant something to me from the first reading as I had saved the book in the storage shed. The book is Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment“.

“Time isn’t precious at all because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”

Once again we touch on the subject of living in the moment. I believe this is a talent that we should all practice. The past is history, the future a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.

I’m also reading Jon Krakauer’s newest book. He wrote “Into the Wild” and “Into Thin Air”. His newest book is “Missoula, Rape and the Justice System in a College Town” When this book first came out I was upset that he titled the book “Missoula”. A Rape town is not the way I would want the beautiful college town of Missoula Montana to be considered. Some of the reviews I have read in the Missoula Independent have praised Krakauer and Missoula for having the courage to address the subject of “date rape”. It is often dismissed due to “drunken college antics”. I’m curious if other societies have this issue. I believe in Europe that sexuality and nakedness are not as taboo as they are in the United States and, therefore, are not the proverbially “prize to win at the fair”.  Krakauer is more of a reporter than a book author. That is one reason I like his books. This reporter style writing makes this book “Missoula” a very difficult book to read. The facts are stated as told to the police. I believe everyone should be concerned that our society seems to say:

“….you put yourself in that situation; what did you expect.”

As if the act of rape is now the victims fault. Tough read.

For more book of the month selections as well as an entertaining blog post, check out Wild About Books.