Organize Your Life!

Summer Reading Suggestions –
Audrey Moriarty, Given Memorial Library
May 2008


Before I Die by Jenny Downham

Tessa is 16 and won't make it to 17. She is dying of cancer. She makes a list of all the things she wants to do before she dies, including having sex, trying drugs, and falling in love. Her choices are sometime reckless and/or dangerous, but what's the worse that will happen? She is at times wise, sensible, self-pitying, angry, apathetic and gentle; honest reactions to her fate. The book is about being alive and enjoying it when you can. It reminds me in some ways of The Lovely Bones. Keep Kleenex nearby.

Black Olives by Martha Todd Dudman

Black Olives takes place in the space of one day. Virginia is in the drugstore browsing when she spies her former lover across the store. The break-up is a year old, but she is still an emotional mess. She scurries out of the store without him seeing her, and then, sees his car and suddenly gets in the back seat. She curls up in his old sweater and other items in the back and he comes to the car and she remains undetected. During the ride, she wavers between fear of discovery and excitement in her illicit ride. She relives the relationship-- what went wrong, and what was great. Does she get caught? What happens?

The Fiction Class by Susan Breen

Arabella Hicks is a frustrated writer. By day, she proofreads corporate reports and works on a novel, by night she teaches a fiction class and visits her aging mother in a nursing home. Because it is a class, Breen gets to have a lot of characters that would never be together. Each week is a different assignment that she discusses with both the students and her mother. The students grow from strangers to friends as Arabella learns about herself, her confidence and her relationship to her mother through all their writing.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

Laurel Hawthorne wakes in the middle of the night to see the ghost of a young girl at her bedside. The ghost travels to the window and Laurel follows, and sees the body of a young girl floating in her swimming pool. Laurel hadn't seen a ghost in thirteen years and she thought she had left that all behind when she married and moved away. Laurel turns to her rebel sister for help, and the two of them uncover their own family skeletons and discover the cause of the girl’s death.

The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris

This book picks up somewhere after Harris' delightful Chocolat left off. Vianne Rocher, now Yanne Charbonneau, is in Montmartre, working in a nondescript chocolaterie and leading a nondescript life. No bright colors, no red sachets, nothing to draw attention to her or her two daughters. Then Annie speaks to the beautiful and exotic Zozie de L'Alba and their quiet, safe life begins to crumble. Can Yanne survive the secrets Zozie seems to know or will she run again?

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

  Sloane could be a sibling to Amy and David Sedaris.  Her witty, succinct and off-beat observations on life experiences are refreshing and humorous.  This is a book of essays and a great “pick up and put down” book.  It tells you something about her when she claims to have written the cover story for the “worst-selling issue of Maxim in that magazine’s history.”


In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

  In the first paragraph, Michael Pollan tells us what we should do:  Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Why then, should you read the rest of the book?  Because it is interesting and informative.  If, indeed, food needs defending, then from whom?  His answer is:  from the food industry and from nutritional science.  He asks when did food turn into “nutrients” and how did we stop consuming food and start eating ‘edible food like substances?” In a nation that is obsessed with nutrition, there are more fat people than ever before, and fewer healthier ones. He suggests that we eat what our great grandmothers would recognize as food.

Life on the Refrigerator Door  by Alice Kuipers

   This book is a touching look into the life of a mother and daughter who are running out of time and don’t know it.  Mom is an obstetrician with the wonderful duty of bringing new life into the world, but it is a job that can’t be corralled and demands a lot of time.  Claire is a teen-ager in the midst of an exciting new world of boys, dates, homework, activities and babysitting.  They end up reading messages to each other on sticky notes on the refrigerator door, missing dinners with each other, shopping trips, plays and appointments.  The entire book is a series of mini-messages on sticky notes and they appear as such in the book.  The message:  life goes by fast.  More Kleenex.

The Plague of Doves  by Louise Erdrich

   Most of this book is based on the after effects of the unsolved murder of a farm family in the off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota.  The Ojibwas, whites and mixed blood families live together, most of them having forgotten or never known the facts of the murders or the parts their ancestors may have played in the drama.  The story is told from the viewpoints of several narrators, and paints a vivid portrait of the times and the culture.



The Thing About Life is That One Day You’ll Be Dead by David Shields

   This book is filled with both facts and anecdotal information and reads like an entertaining novel.  Dave writes with love and humor about his long-lived father, who is happier and in better shape than Dave ever was.  Interesting bits that I learned from this book:  in the Paleolithic age half of all babies died before reaching their first birthday; right now, 70% of all people die after age 65, as opposed to 1900 when 70% of people died before age 65;  in the US there are now over 37,000 centenarians (the majority are female, white and widowed!);  in families of more that one child, the longer-lived sibling  is most often considered by all to be the one with a better sense of humor.

www.SandhillsOnline.com, the area's original onilne resource for the Sandhills, including Moore and Lee counties, has added more functionality to help the community!

Functionality and features that were implemented were:

• Free classifieds section so you can report a lost or found animal/pet, list your items for sale or items you are looking for
• An enhanced business directory of the area.  We already were utilized by thousands daily for locating services
• An enhanced calendar.  Free for residents to post events
• An enhanced submission of area news by the area residents - just type in your story or what you would like to share and we'll edit it and release for the public to learn about
• Area video library, expanding weekly
• Real Estate section with just a few select properties to showcase

Google ranks SandhillsOnline.com very highly.  You will find what you need in SandhillsOnline.com!  If you are a business, you will find that the low monthly rate is just a shred of what you pay for other media sources and channels.  Your exposure can be measured by the internal tracking avaliable to you!

 Thanks!

Monica Zimmerman

910-528-2418

Christmas in July

 Early Bird Specials & Shopping Under One Roof

Pampered Chef Cindy Allen - Pampered Chef Consultant: Visit us for our Christmas in July and let me help "pamper you" for all your kitchen needs. See our latest products, test them for yourself, place your order....or...host a show and earn FREE, ½ PRICED &  DISCOUNTED products to stock your kitchen or give as gifts!  Christmas is just around the corner...less than 150 days to shop and Pampered Chef makes great gifts for Christmas, Birthdays, Bridal & Wedding Showers and House Warmings or to just Pamper yourselves and make life a little simpler!  Earn those gifts for FREE….ask me how!

Just Jewelry Gretchen Bornhorst- Team Leader. Just Jewelry…….. For Women with Higher Values than High Priced Jewelry!! Take a break from the heat to stop by and shop for gifts for  Christmas, Birthday , Just Because or treat your self to unique affordable jewelry.  Numerous styles, of both fashion and sterling silver jewelry priced from $9.00 - $26.00, will be available for you to purchase to take home that day.  When you schedule a show during this Open House you will receive an additional 10% off your purchases, plus FREE Jewelry the day of your event!!!  This could be a Total savings of 20% off plus many FREE Giveaways- Well worth your time to visit us!!!!! 

PartyLite Dee Riley - Decorate, Illuminate and Celebrate your life with PartyLite. Be the first in your group of friends to see the 2007 Winter/Holiday catalog and product.  Candles of such High Quality, to good to be sold in stores.  The average Hostess receives $100.00 in Free Product of their choice plus hostess
specials and 1/2 price items. How soon do you want your free candles?
 
Arbonne Laura Lee Williford – Arbonne Consultant. Come see, smell, feel and even taste the Arbonne difference! We have unparalleled skin and body care, about face color cosmetics, hair care, weight loss and nutrition products, aromatherapy, herbal remedies, and more! Formulated in Switzerland and made in the USA, we take a natural approach to health and wellness. Our over 300 products are pure, safe and beneficial.  Ask  about how to get our products free and up to 80% discounted!

Receive 10% Off Order or Free Shipping

Light Refreshments

Door prizes every 30 minutes

Grand Door Prizes at End of Night

Where:                            65 Red Fox Run Clarendon Gardens Pinehurst

When :                  Monday, July 30th                                    5:30pm – 8:30pm

 DIRECTIONS – From Pinehurst Circle – Take Route 2 Pinehurst to traffic light (Route 5). Right at light onto Route 5. Left on Linden Road. After Pinewild on right and train tracks, make left into Clarendon Gardens. Left on Quail Run. Left on Horse Creek Run. Left on Red Fox Run.

RSVP

Cindy Allen                Cell 783 5094    Home 947 1960

Gretchen Bornhorst    Cell 639 0808    Home 673 2474

Dee Riley                  Cell 315 9499   

Laura Lee Williford Cell 603 1790