Looking back to nearly 70 years ago, a pilot during the Second World War, lived probably the most memorable part of his life. He was a Fleet Air Army pilot, his name was John Fay. It seems that experiencing the war has shaped him and has changed his mind about many things. After writing several articles about his time in the air, Fay has now created an amalgamation of the events that took place between 1940 and 1946, providing intimate details about the training and regimes both he and his squadron underwent in the book Golden Wings and Navy Blue.

The book is predominately told through a historical timeline of events that take us through the arduous recruitment and training process to a series of death defying experiences.

For more details about the book, visit site http://www.goldenwings-and-navyblue.com/

50% of all sales donated to
Autism Society of America



Volume 1 issue 1 coming fall '08 take a peek!!


Excerpt of poetry by author Douglas Wake

Dance

Her dancing form swings about me here
Falling away and drawing near
She pulls me forward, holding my hands

She balances and spins on her toes
Comes close enough for me to kiss her nose
As we lose our breath and finish our dance



Excerpt of floetry by author Nancy Leat

My Mentality

So across this rope my feet dance swiftly
Skimming barely as if with flight I’m gifted
Sunshine is my shield, my smile, my infamy
Ain’t no way, no how, this negativity will get to me



Excerpt of Rantry by author Maria Mendoza

Better than Me

“So you think you’re better than me?”


Echoes from her smoked stained glass
Image neared mirroring
Drinking from my flask


The past now distant, the pain still here


Am I better?

Fun read! I always like history stories.

Taking historical documents (mostly newspaper clippings), Crew has generated as true as story as she can around the facts and woven a fairly solid story. However, it sometimes lacks in pizazz perhaps? Perhaps it is best as a young adult book, though the topics were pretty adult.

Interesting, and not bad for a quick read.

I always like Oregon History with a story. Easy read.

Enjoyable, easy read.

Read in Sept 2006

A retired widow goes back to San Fransisco to sell his home after spending time upon a sailboat. When he got home a terrible storm hit and through the clean up he made a good friend and also met his next door neighbor, a divorcee that also experienced a terrible loss.

A good book with typical Danielle Steel writing. Pretty predictable ending.

A beautiful, funny, and smart retelling of the Cinderella story. This one honestly gets better every time I read it.

Book Number 6 in my 50 book challenge.

Ella was given a horrible gift at birth by the fairy Lucinda: the gift of obedience. When she's given an order, Ella must do it. When her mother dies and Ella is sent off to finishing school, people not in her family begin to learn about the curse. . . or they at least figure out she must do what she is ordered to, they don't know why exactly.


Why didn't I like it? It was SOO hard to read. Many parts couldn't keep my attention and I caught myself skimming the book more than once.

A completely new take on the Cindarella story. Ella is granted the "gift" of obedience by her fairy godmother, but it turns out to be a curse: she has to obey every order given to her. She finally gets sick of it, and ventures out to find her godmother and give back the "gift."

I liked the book, it flowed well from the beginning to the end. It is also another interesting take on cinderella since it has the whole prince and glass slipper concept. It is also way better than the movie which left out critcal aspects of the book but again what do you expect from a Disney enchanted tale. I recommend the book for anyone who likes an enchanted tale and is looking for a quick read.

I tend to avoid the stereotypical fantasy-type novel. You know the kind I mean...The ones with dragons and barbarian women and warriors meeting in taverns and leaving to go on epic quests. DnD in novel format, basically. Novels like Book of Lost Things, thankfully, avoid those cliches.

BoLT takes a different look at classic fairy tales, and I have to admit I am a sucker for rewritten fairy tales. The book has everything it needs...It's enjoyable and quick paced. Though it's not a literary masterpiece, it's good for a fireside read. Though it has it's problems, they were not enough to turn me away from the story.

Which do you think will be read and savoured in 100 years time, the fairy stories of the Grimm Brothers with their roots in the old darkness of firelight nights or the latest Jodi Picoult about a life that the children of parents yet to be born will have no knowledge or interest in. Yet the same children when meeting the stories of world long faded even when written down by the Grimm Brothers will still be amazed and scared. Don’t believe me? Well I do story telling in pubs to adults and have known an entire bar go quiet and listen intently as a story of woods, princes and monsters enfolds in their mind.

It is from this deep well that John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things draws on as he tells the story of 12 year old David’s losing fight to keep his mother and family he knows a alive. His anger and grief causes him blackouts and a wish for revenge as his father deals with grief by marriage and work. David discovers the presence of the Crooked Man who can move between the world of living and story. Books start talking to him and boundaries blur so that when his anger and that of his struggling step-mother collide it sets into train his explosive entry into land of story.

Once there we meet traditional fairyland characters but from an adult and darker angle… Red riding Hood hunts out the wolf for sex and worse! It becomes clear that the adventures reflect David’s fears and the choices he must make as he struggles to deal with his grief and anger. To make the wrong choices will leave worlds destroyed but so will the right ones as he learns that happy endings are for fairy stories. But as heaven is what we make it, his death when it comes is not the end of the story.

This is not a children’s story but an adult story about when childhood ends and what life is made as we grow up. Its portrait of David trying to keep his mother alive and his feelings made me cry in the first 10 pages such was the lyrical nature of the writing. The stories within stories are not distractions as some reviewers suggest but insights into the characters that David meets and his own feelings and choices that he has to make. It has lots of comic moments as well as the Snow White and communist dwarfs’ episode shows. However, ultimately it’s a story about growing up and letting go of illusions, which makes it very sad and poignant. So if it gets to be a film think David Lynch or Tim Burton rather then Disney and you are on the right track about the tone of the book. Recommend for an easy enjoyable and moving read.

Hated it so much I couldn't even finish reading it. Blech.

Summary~

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

My Thoughts~

I just recently joined a book club at the library and this was the first book that I read. I had wanted to read Water for Elephants for quite a while and was glad I was making the time to. To be honest, I don't think this book lived up to all the hype. It was a cute story but I never felt any character-reader relationship with anyone in the circus. I had mixed feelings about Jacob because even though he was a sweet kid and I liked him the best out of all the characters in the novel, he also committed adultery with another man's wife and sat back and watched as both August and Uncle Al treated the animals and performers like crap. As I said before I really didn't care for August and Uncle Al as they treated their "co-workers" horribly and just seemed like the stereo-typical evil-doers. Neither of their deaths came as a surprise to me nor did I really care as I had no emotional attachment towards either one. Marlena I found extremely annoying and it felt like all she ever did was lay on her back and cry, I know that's harsh but I think there is some truth to it. Sadly enough, Rosie was the only one I felt any attachment to or really cared about. One thing that did surprised me was that Rosie killed August, I read the prologue before reading the book and the author made me think that Marlena did it. I did enjoy this book and am glad I read it I just never felt connected to the characters or the storyline. Overall, the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth was not very spectacular.

"I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred per cent!"--Horton Hatches the Egg

One of the best things about this book was the descriptions of being old. They seem so personal and believable that it's hard not to cry for the old man wondering what has happened to his body.
Equally good are the descriptions of the circus and the adventure the young vet has. It made me want to run away and join the circus. This story was everything it should be.

I loved this book! The circus, the Great Depression and wonderful characterization made this book difficult to put down. The animals in the book were so real that I wanted to reach out and stroke them. The author spun a tantalizing yarn and wrapped it all up beautifully at the end.

Water for Elephants takes place during the Great Depression. It's about a young man named Jacob, who joins the circus as a vet. Although I thought the book was good, I also thought it was over-hyped. The characters (and the plot) are somewhat stereo-typical, and the ending was so unbelievable I had to resist the urge to hurl the book against the wall. Still, it's a fast, kinda "fluffy" read that held my interest.

This is such a good book. I'm a little squeemish about the mistreatment of the animals, but back in those days there was no PETA and no laws on the books to do otherwise. The circus was a very difficult life for the performers; especially for the workers. Their living conditions were bad and they sometimes did not get paid; however, they seem to eat well most of the time. I'm falling in love with Rosie (the elephant) with her long eyelashes, her "smile" and who speaks Polish yet! I enjoyed the mix of "young" Jacob with "old" Jacob.

I just finished reading the book and loved it. And, I'm still in love with Rosie!

Follow a Great Depression circus train, meet a polish speaking elephant, get excited about your future in long term care and get a love story all in one. Couldn't put it down. Quick read, great photos.

Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants is one of those rare novels, that will be read and re-read, discussed and enjoyed for many years, by old and young alike. Destined to be passed between family and friends and back again, until the tattered, time worn pages resemble the books beloved central character and narrator.Jacob Jankowski, just days from the final exams at Cornell University that would have attached the respectable Dr. of Veterinary medicine forever to his name, had his world forever altered when his parents were killed in an auto accident. Alone, frightened and penniless, the 23 hopped a train, never intending to “run away with the circus”… although, looking back, as he sat in the nursing home telling his story, it seemed fate didn’t much care about intentions, especially during the depression. It was hard life, the Benzini Brothers Circus, hailed as the Most Spectacular Show On Earth - which of course meant, it wasn’t Ringling and anything that wasn’t Ringling… well, wasn’t Ringling. And so it went, from town to town, day after day — set it up, tear it down - the freaks and geeks, midgets and clowns worked, ate, performed, lived and often died together. The harsh conditions are made even more unbearable at times, by the greedy manager, Uncle Al and his insane animal trainer, August. Yet somehow, in the midst of despair friendships and laughter persevered. Although much of the laughter was alcohol induced, during the height of the depression and prohibition, you took what you could get.

The narrator’s transition from the young circus vet, to the elderly, cantankerous nursing home resident is a well crafted, bi-lateral view that pulls the reader into this fictional world and never lets go. Whether in his twenties admiring beautiful, equestrian performer, Marlena and caring for the animals he loved so dearly or in his nineties mulling over where to have breakfast and the indignities of old age, the warm, quick wit comes through loud and clear. From the big top to the nursing facility Gruen’s sharp, three dimensional, fictionally fluid characters will have you laughing out loud one minute, mouth agape in sheer terror the next.

Hurry, hurry, step right up, readers and book lovers everywhere - if you hunger for a reading experience chock full of every conceivable emotion, beautifully written and wholly engrossing, Water for Elephants is a wondrous world, where fact and fiction combine, delivering the most memorable and pleasurable hours, you will be spend with a book. Characters so sharply drawn and wrought with emotion that there nearly flow off the page. Sara Gruen’s depictions of depression era America is as beautiful as it is haunting. From unspeakable cruelty and brutality, to selfless acts of kindness, Water for Elephants not has it all, but delivers it with unapologetic honesty and genuine heart felt passion.

Happy Reading!
RJ xx
3Rs-Real Reader Reviews

My boyfriend took me book shopping for my birthday and he wanted to buy me a random book that I had never heard of or had any preconceived notions about. He literally picked this book off the table, looked at the back and said there was no description of the story; perfect! So he bought me this random book and I read it and enjoyed every minute of it. It was such a thoughtful and provocative love story, and encompassed all the elements of classic good vs. evil story. I loved the historical elements that were added to it as well. I loved the characters, especially Rosie! It was such a great book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good, powerful story.