Sunday Salon ~ June 15th

I didn’t really get a lot of reading done today.  Yesterday morning I finished Phyllis Zimbler Miller’s “Mrs. Lieutenant” and I whipped through those 486 pages in three days.  I will be writing my review tomorrow and posting it here by Tuesday (my time). 

Today I started James Patterson’s latest thriller, “Sail“.  The catch phrase on the cover says, “The Perfect Vacation Has Become The Perfect Nightmare”.  It’s about a mother who takes her three troubled children on a two month sailing cruise out in the Atlantic with the aid of her former brother-in-law.  Her husband had drowned in a scuba accident a few years before and after remarrying, she was feeling distant from her kids so thought that sticking them on the family sailboat for the summer might help unite them again.  So far her plan isn’t working at all. 

I haven’t read a James Patterson novel in years and I’m remembering why.  It’s like watching a blockbuster movie that everyone has waited for with great expectations and you want to like it but so far you’re wondering why you spent $20 on the DVD.  I’m hoping that it picks up otherwise it may end up back on the shelf. 

What do you think of James Patterson novels and other big named authors who crank out what seems like fifty books a year?  Have you hung in there as loyal fans or have you moved on?  Do you mind the same formula no matter what the story line and if the characters change or do you read the books because they are like an old friend and entertaining?  I guess I like the variety that reading different authors gives me.  I know that when you read my blog as the summer goes on and you see that I’m reading the Twilight series you may call b*&l s$%t on me but keep in mind that Stephenie Meyer admittedly writes those books as an story arc and not sequels.  It’s one big story that is too long for one book to contain. 

Today’s Favorite Song

I just picked up Alanis Morrissette’s new cd “Flavors of Entanglement”.  I have all of her previous cd’s so I didn’t buy it on iTunes but went to the PX and bought the cd to add to my collection.  It’s really really good and that’s not just my opinion.  The critics are digging this album.  Like her smash album, “Jagged Little Pill”, which was released June 13th, 1995, this album is Morrissette’s response to her breakup with fellow Canadian and movie star, the gorgeous and hilarious Ryan Reynolds.  Reynolds is now engaged to actress and wanna-be singer Scarlet Johanson and I’m sure that hasn’thelped Morrissette’s recovery.  The sound of this album is amazing.  The rhythms and melodies are strong and catchy and the lyrics pull you in.  I played the cd in the car after purchasing it this afternoon and I found myself almost crying on my way home while listening to track #5 titled “Not As We”.  The lyric that really hit me is:

“…I’m barely making sense for now

I’m taking it ’til I’m pseudo making it

From scratch begin again but this time I as I

And not as we…”

WOW!  What powerful words.  Unfortunately there is not a video for this song yet but I did find the video for the single from this album, “Underneath”.  I have also included the video for “Ironic” which my college girlfriends and I acted out ourselves on road trips as well as a little treasure of a song, “Unsent”.