Sam Reviews "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan

I'd like to start by saying that I've always been a harsh critic of young adult books, even when I was the target reading age.  So, my personal review and opinion of this books is as follows:  it wasn't bad.  There was a serious "cheese factor" when it came to Tiny Cooper.  Some of his quirks I could appreciate but a lot of his quirks were over the top and (in my opinion) unrealistic.  I didn't feel the issues tackled in this book were especially serious or life altering.  And, despite my love of musicals, I didn't see the "genius" in the book's showcased musical, which was disappointing.  I do feel teenagers will appreciate this more than I do, as I tend to prefer books with more mature themes.  This just kind of seemed like a little snippet out of two people's diaries.  It wasn't especially moving or educational, it was just a nice story.

The opening quote, "You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose" is from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy - unless it's a really old quote I just heard on the show first. 

"I feel bad for her - I do. A damn shame, really, that I had to have a mother. It can't be easy having me for a son. Nothing can prepare someone for that kind of disappointment." 

"I don't know if there's anything more horrifying than a goth girl getting all cuddly." 

"I don't even picture it.   Instead I'm in it. How I would feel with him here. That peace. It would be so happy, and it makes me sad because it only exists in words." 

"He is both the source of my happiness and the one I want to share it with." 

"You know how people are always saying your parents are always right?  "Follow your parents' advice; they know what's good for you."  And you know how no one ever listens to this advice, because even if it's true it's so annoying and condescending that it just makes you want to go, like, develop a meth addiction and have unprotected sex with eighty- seven thousand anonymous partners?  Well, I listen to my parents. They know what's good for me. I'll listen to anyone, frankly.  Almost everyone knows better than I do." 

"In the ensuing silence, I have the time to contemplate the word cute - how dismissive it is, how it's the equivalent of calling someone little, how it makes a person into a baby, how the word is a neon sign burning through the dark reading "Feel Bad About Yourself"."

"Anything that happens all at once is just as likely to unhappen all at once." 

"Since they are theater people, they are all talking. All of them. Simultaneously. They do not need to be heard; they only need to be speaking." 

"I don't just feel depressed - instead, it is like the depression is the core of me, of every part of me, from my mind to my bones. If he got blue, I got black. That I hate those pills so much, because I know how much I rely on them to live. No, I couldn't say any of this. Because, when it comes down to it, nobody wants to hear it. No matter how much they like you or love you, they don't want to hear it." 

"Your mom and I had dinner with the Porters on their yacht years ago, and in the span of a single meal - in that two hours - the boat went from feeling like the most extraordinarily luxurious experience to just being a boat. You're our yacht, bud. All that money that would have gone into a yacht, all that time we would have spent traveling the world?  Instead, we got you. It turns out that the yacht is a boat. But you - you can't be bought on credit." 

"Such is life. We grow up. Planets like Tiny get new moons. Moons like me get new planets." 

"If you try to ruin someone's life, it only gets better. You just don't get to be a part of it." 

"Shouldn't letting go be painless if you've never learned how to hold on?" 

"I am going to stay the same, and the same, and the same, until I die of it." 

"I'm not saying I'm innocent. I'm saying you're guilty too." 

"...When did who you want to screw become the whole game?  Since when is the person you want to screw the only person you get to love? ... Who even gives a fuck about sex?!  People act like it's the most important thing humans do, but come on. How can our sentient fucking lives revolve around something slugs can do. ... You know what's important?  Who would you die for?  Who would you wake up at five forty-five in the morning for even though you don't even know why he needs you?..."

"Being in a relationship, that's something you choose. Being friends, that's just something you are." 

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."  - Oscar Wilde

"The pure and simple truth, is rarely pure and never simple. What's a boy to do, when lies and truth are both sinful."

"That's it - hundreds of texts and conversations, thousands upon thousands of words spoken and sent, all boiled down into a single line. Is that what relationships become?  A reduced version of the hurt, nothing else let in."

"We acknowledge that being the person God made you cannot separate you from God's love." 

"In some ways, you are who you are because other people observe you; but in some ways, you are who you are in spite of other people's observations of you." 

Sam Reviews "There I Go Again" by William Daniels

There's a few three or less star reviews of this book because people wanted it to be all about Boy Meets World.  I am one of the top die hard fans of Boy Meets World and Mr. Feeny, but it's important to remember this is William Daniels' autobiography of how he "Came To Be" all these beloved characters.  This book was not advertised as "All the Fun Things That Happened Behind the Scenes of Boy Meets World".  This is a book about a man, and the life he lived, while also portraying characters on TV he didn't expect to be very popular at all.
This book was everything I wanted it to be:  the story of William Daniels and an inside view of which roles he enjoyed and took pride in.  I learned more from this book than I probably ever would have on my own time and now I have a handful of movies and shows to add to my "to watch" list.  I appreciate William Daniels' honesty and humanity in this book, and I'm glad I took the time to read it.

"Whatever success I've had in my life - and I've had considerable success - has come to me almost accidentally.  ...  I'm left with the feeling that none of my success was really due to me.  
"When I'm sent a script to consider, I only see its problems, not its strengths.  I have almost always had to be talked into a role, even when the project turned out to be tremendously successful.  I've been known to go to the wrong theater to audition for a role I subsequently got - and played for years.  Once, while auditioning for a musical, I forgot the lyrics of a song I'd sung for months on Broadway; they hired me anyway.  I insisted on having no billing on a series I thought was silly, and that series (Knight Rider) ran for years and even after all this time I still get fan mail.
"I went 'ass backwards' into just about everything - and what a lucky guy I've been."

"Many of us without name recognition make a fine living,  put our kids through college,  and,  if we're lucky,  enjoy long careers precisely because we can play many different kinds of roles.  ...  As a character actor I became a start,  but a very small one,  and I saw time and again how the big stars - the leading men - surrounded by sycophants, lost their sense of reality and then lost everything..."

"When you think about it,  it's a huge compliment for an actor to be remembered for a role he played.  It means that ... I helped create a character, a person utterly different from myself,  yet someone real enough to lodge in someone's memory."

"Sometimes kids can suffer without even knowing they are suffering."

As I'm reading the chapters about his parents it's all so sad.  His mother was this overbearing pageant mom basically and his dad was just a very depressed man.  There's a scene in Boy Meets World, Season One, Episode Three "Father Knows Less" where Mr. Feeny explains how his dad wouldn't let him stay up to hear Truman announce the end of the war, not for any good reason, but because education was important.  And I always remember that scene resonating with me and I wonder if it's because some of the sadness about it was somewhat truthful to how his dad probably was as a person. 

"I know, at this point, I must sound like some kind of idiot.  Did it never occur to me to tell my mother I didn't want to do this?  The kindest thing I can say on my own behalf is that I was a young man who, from a very early age, was taught to take directions from a mother I must have loved or feared very much.  Probably both.  This was the pattern of my life throughout my childhood, in the army, and even in college:  following someone else's instructions or suggestions without instigating anything myself.  I noticed that I was able to break the pattern when I finally learned to say no, and that became a life-long pattern in and of itself."

"'Life with Father' ... was a snapshot of a family in the 1890s headed by a father whose impossible standards create humorous situations with all of the other characters in the show.  It was the first sitcom, if you will.  And America loved it."

"Then it struck me, right there on Fifth Avenue, the hypocrisy of confessing to something that was so lovely and innocent.  It was absurd. [sex with his girlfriend]
"And for me that was the end of Catholicism, with its idea of original sin."

"There is no greater satisfaction for an actor than performing before a live audience, to cope with an audience from the beginning of a performance to the end.  First they may be coughing, rustling in their seats, flipping pages in their programs, and wondering if the play is going to be worth the price of the tickets.  And then you slowly but surely command their attention with your stage presence, your focus, and your conviction.  Finally it is so quiet you know you have their full attention.  You can let your acting impulses take over and carry you wherever they will, for as far as the audience is concerned you can do no wrong."

"I never played a bricklayer, so 'Life with Father' turned out to be life with a kind of 'father' indeed."

There was a part in the chapter "Go West, Young Man, to Northwestern" where William talks about Bonnie deciding to go to New York and he had to decide to go with her or stay at school on scholarship to complete his Master's degree.  He followed Bonnie - again I wonder if the writers of Boy Meets World were inspired by some of William Daniels' stories seeing as how this is basically how the show ended.

I never put the dates together but the fact that William Daniels knew Marilyn Monroe is pretty amazing.  And he worked with Audrey Hepburn. 

It's crazy that his wife carried a baby a month longer than she should have and lost him at a doctor's judgement

"My good friend Gene Wilder stepped in and acted as my 'surrogate' to help Bonnie bring Robert home."  -  So casually mentioned. 

[On adoption] "Those bumbles can,  I'm  told and believe,  with proper care and love,  turn into very nice people."  -Edward Albee, who was himself adopted. 

Look into the movies:  A Thousand Clowns, Two For The Road, The Presidents Analyst, and 1776.

I wasn't expecting there to be pictures in this book, but boy am I glad there are!  He's hardly recognizable, if the caption wasn't there I'd doubt myself haha (there's more pics in the book than I posted).  But I also just had to say how amused I am that young William Daniels looks pretty similar to Will Friedle when he played Eric!

 I was thinking about when I was a boy just a little younger than you are.
There was a war going on.
It's hard to picture you as a boy.
Did your parents call you Mr.
Feeny? I used to ask my mother why I could only have butter on my toast two mornings a week and she said, "Because of the war in Europe.
" And I wondered why there was never enough candy and she told me, "Because of the war in Europe.
" oh, and I longed for a pair of sneakers.
But I couldn't have any.
Those Europe guys stole 'em? No, no.
The rubber had to be diverted to the war effort.
There was a version of a sneaker available but it was made out of recycled tires and left black marks on the gym floor.
Hey, you took gym? They made me.
Anyway, I prayed every night for an end to the war in Europe.
Not from any altruistic desire for world peace.
Just a boy's selfish wish for buttered toast and sneakers.
Then I heard that Mr.
Truman was going on the radio that night to announce the end of the war.
And I went home and asked my father if I could stay up with him to hear the president.
Do you know what he said? I'm guessing it's either yes or no but we both know how well I do on multiple choice.
He said "Tomorrow's a school day.
"l don't want you up with me.
" So you're saying your dad really knew the value of education.
No, I'm saying my father didn't want me hanging around with him and his drinking buddies.
As a result, the next day at school I was rested and fresh and ready to learn.
I see your point, Mr.
Feeny.
No, I don't think you really do, Cory.
What do you suppose I learned in school that day? I know this has got to be a biggie Iike the Magna Carta or something.
I have no idea what you learned that day.
Neither do l.
You see, Mr.
Matthews education is not about obscure facts and little test scores.
Education is about the overall effect of years of slow absorption concepts, philosophies approaches to problem-solving.
The whole process is so grand and all-encompassing that it really can't be threatened by the occasional late-night no-hitter.
It is important that a boy spend time with his father.
Buthow do you know that? Your dad didn't let you stay up with him.
That's precisely Why I do know.
ALAN: Cory! over here, Dad having a drink with Mr.
Feeny.
It's just apple juice.
How's the store? oh, the store is fine.
Just a small grease fire at the rotisserie.
Tomorrow we'll run a special on blackened chicken.
-Alan.
-George.
Better come in, kiddo.
About time for bed.
Sure, Dad.
Umare we ever gonna study that European sneaker war? I think you'll get to it sometime in the course of your education.
Good, 'cause it sounded really interesting.
oh, it was.
Well, good night, Mr.
Feeny.
Good night, Mr.
Matthews.
Ahem.
I, uh just want you to know I'm gonna have him in bed every night when he's supposed to be.
Well, I want you to know that if I did have a son and the opportunity presented itself to wake him up to watch a baseball game or to listen to the president on the radio or for absolutely no reason at all Well good night, Alan.

Read more: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=boy-meets-world&episode=s01e03

So, how come you're sitting outside in the dark? I was thinking about when I was a boy just a little younger than you are.
There was a war going on.
It's hard to picture you as a boy.
Did your parents call you Mr.
Feeny? I used to ask my mother why I could only have butter on my toast two mornings a week and she said, "Because of the war in Europe.
" And I wondered why there was never enough candy and she told me, "Because of the war in Europe.
" oh, and I longed for a pair of sneakers.
But I couldn't have any.
Those Europe guys stole 'em? No, no.
The rubber had to be diverted to the war effort.
There was a version of a sneaker available but it was made out of recycled tires and left black marks on the gym floor.
Hey, you took gym? They made me.
Anyway, I prayed every night for an end to the war in Europe.
Not from any altruistic desire for world peace.
Just a boy's selfish wish for buttered toast and sneakers.
Then I heard that Mr.
Truman was going on the radio that night to announce the end of the war.
And I went home and asked my father if I could stay up with him to hear the president.
Do you know what he said? I'm guessing it's either yes or no but we both know how well I do on multiple choice.
He said "Tomorrow's a school day.
"l don't want you up with me.
" So you're saying your dad really knew the value of education.
No, I'm saying my father didn't want me hanging around with him and his drinking buddies.
As a result, the next day at school I was rested and fresh and ready to learn.
I see your point, Mr.
Feeny.
No, I don't think you really do, Cory.
What do you suppose I learned in school that day? I know this has got to be a biggie Iike the Magna Carta or something.
I have no idea what you learned that day.
Neither do l.
You see, Mr.
Matthews education is not about obscure facts and little test scores.
Education is about the overall effect of years of slow absorption concepts, philosophies approaches to problem-solving.
The whole process is so grand and all-encompassing that it really can't be threatened by the occasional late-night no-hitter.
It is important that a boy spend time with his father.
Buthow do you know that? Your dad didn't let you stay up with him.
That's precisely Why I do know.
ALAN: Cory! over here, Dad having a drink with Mr.
Feeny.
It's just apple juice.
How's the store? oh, the store is fine.
Just a small grease fire at the rotisserie.
Tomorrow we'll run a special on blackened chicken.
-Alan.
-George.
Better come in, kiddo.
About time for bed.
Sure, Dad.
Umare we ever gonna study that European sneaker war? I think you'll get to it sometime in the course of your education.
Good, 'cause it sounded really interesting.
oh, it was.
Well, good night, Mr.
Feeny.
Good night, Mr.
Matthews.
Ahem.
I, uh just want you to know I'm gonna have him in bed every night when he's supposed to be.
Well, I want you to know that if I did have a son and the opportunity presented itself to wake him up to watch a baseball game or to listen to the president on the radio or for absolutely no reason at all Well good night, Alan.

Read more: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=boy-meets-world&episode=s01e03 I was thinking about when I was a boy just a little younger than you are.

There was a war going on.
It's hard to picture you as a boy.
Did your parents call you Mr.
Feeny? I used to ask my mother why I could only have butter on my toast two mornings a week and she said, "Because of the war in Europe.
" And I wondered why there was never enough candy and she told me, "Because of the war in Europe.
" oh, and I longed for a pair of sneakers.
But I couldn't have any.
Those Europe guys stole 'em? No, no.
The rubber had to be diverted to the war effort.
There was a version of a sneaker available but it was made out of recycled tires and left black marks on the gym floor.
Hey, you took gym? They made me.
Anyway, I prayed every night for an end to the war in Europe.
Not from any altruistic desire for world peace.
Just a boy's selfish wish for buttered toast and sneakers.
Then I heard that Mr.
Truman was going on the radio that night to announce the end of the war.
And I went home and asked my father if I could stay up with him to hear the president.
Do you know what he said? I'm guessing it's either yes or no but we both know how well I do on multiple choice.
He said "Tomorrow's a school day.
"l don't want you up with me.
" So you're saying your dad really knew the value of education.
No, I'm saying my father didn't want me hanging around with him and his drinking buddies.
As a result, the next day at school I was rested and fresh and ready to learn.
I see your point, Mr.
Feeny.
No, I don't think you really do, Cory.
What do you suppose I learned in school that day? I know this has got to be a biggie Iike the Magna Carta or something.
I have no idea what you learned that day.
Neither do l.
You see, Mr.
Matthews education is not about obscure facts and little test scores.
Education is about the overall effect of years of slow absorption concepts, philosophies approaches to problem-solving.
The whole process is so grand and all-encompassing that it really can't be threatened by the occasional late-night no-hitter.
It is important that a boy spend time with his father.
Buthow do you know that? Your dad didn't let you stay up with him.
That's precisely Why I do know.
ALAN: Cory! over here, Dad having a drink with Mr.
Feeny.
It's just apple juice.
How's the store? oh, the store is fine.
Just a small grease fire at the rotisserie.
Tomorrow we'll run a special on blackened chicken.
-Alan.
-George.
Better come in, kiddo.
About time for bed.
Sure, Dad.
Umare we ever gonna study that European sneaker war? I think you'll get to it sometime in the course of your education.
Good, 'cause it sounded really interesting.
oh, it was.
Well, good night, Mr.
Feeny.
Good night, Mr.
Matthews.
Ahem.
I, uh just want you to know I'm gonna have him in bed every night when he's supposed to be.
Well, I want you to know that if I did have a son and the opportunity presented itself to wake him up to watch a baseball game or to listen to the president on the radio or for absolutely no reason at all Well good night, Alan.

Read more: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=boy-meets-world&episode=s01e03

So, how come you're sitting outside in the dark? I was thinking about when I was a boy just a little younger than you are.
There was a war going on.
It's hard to picture you as a boy.
Did your parents call you Mr.
Feeny? I used to ask my mother why I could only have butter on my toast two mornings a week and she said, "Because of the war in Europe.
" And I wondered why there was never enough candy and she told me, "Because of the war in Europe.
" oh, and I longed for a pair of sneakers.
But I couldn't have any.
Those Europe guys stole 'em? No, no.
The rubber had to be diverted to the war effort.
There was a version of a sneaker available but it was made out of recycled tires and left black marks on the gym floor.
Hey, you took gym? They made me.
Anyway, I prayed every night for an end to the war in Europe.
Not from any altruistic desire for world peace.
Just a boy's selfish wish for buttered toast and sneakers.
Then I heard that Mr.
Truman was going on the radio that night to announce the end of the war.
And I went home and asked my father if I could stay up with him to hear the president.
Do you know what he said? I'm guessing it's either yes or no but we both know how well I do on multiple choice.
He said "Tomorrow's a school day.
"l don't want you up with me.
" So you're saying your dad really knew the value of education.
No, I'm saying my father didn't want me hanging around with him and his drinking buddies.
As a result, the next day at school I was rested and fresh and ready to learn.
I see your point, Mr.
Feeny.
No, I don't think you really do, Cory.
What do you suppose I learned in school that day? I know this has got to be a biggie Iike the Magna Carta or something.
I have no idea what you learned that day.
Neither do l.
You see, Mr.
Matthews education is not about obscure facts and little test scores.
Education is about the overall effect of years of slow absorption concepts, philosophies approaches to problem-solving.
The whole process is so grand and all-encompassing that it really can't be threatened by the occasional late-night no-hitter.
It is important that a boy spend time with his father.
Buthow do you know that? Your dad didn't let you stay up with him.
That's precisely Why I do know.
ALAN: Cory! over here, Dad having a drink with Mr.
Feeny.
It's just apple juice.
How's the store? oh, the store is fine.
Just a small grease fire at the rotisserie.
Tomorrow we'll run a special on blackened chicken.
-Alan.
-George.
Better come in, kiddo.
About time for bed.
Sure, Dad.
Umare we ever gonna study that European sneaker war? I think you'll get to it sometime in the course of your education.
Good, 'cause it sounded really interesting.
oh, it was.
Well, good night, Mr.
Feeny.
Good night, Mr.
Matthews.
Ahem.
I, uh just want you to know I'm gonna have him in bed every night when he's supposed to be.
Well, I want you to know that if I did have a son and the opportunity presented itself to wake him up to watch a baseball game or to listen to the president on the radio or for absolutely no reason at all Well good night, Alan.

Read more: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=boy-meets-world&episode=s01e03

Sam Reviews "The Impossible Knife of Memory" by Laurie Halse Anderson

I once believed that "Speak" was Laurie Halse Anderson's only book, and I loved it.  I recently learned she's actually written a lot of books and I was very excited to read them.  Unfortunately I was mostly disappointed by this book.  I really wasn't invested in the story until the last 80 pages, which is a huge difference from the instant hook I felt while reading "Speak".  That's not to say this is a bad story, it's features a strong young woman character handling a tough situation admirably.  I guess I just don't relate enough to this book to find it interesting, but I still want to read more books from her.

"There are two types of people in this world:   1.  Zombies  2.  Freaks. ...  everyone is born a freak. ...  every newborn baby, wet and hungry and screaming,  is a fresh-hatched freak who wants to have a good time and make the world a better place." 

"It's always there - fear - and if you don't stay on top of it, you'll drown." 

"Sometimes I wonder if he cheats on us, too, if he's looking for new kids who won't disappoint him." 

"It doesn't matter how much she loves him,  he's not going to change." 

"I called mom back to tell her I hadn't killed myself and then we got into a fight. Why?  Because I didn't make my bed this morning."

"'You go to a cemetery on purpose?'
"'Isn't that the point?'"

"I kissed him until everything that hurt inside me melted into a pool of black water so deep I couldn't touch the bottom. As long as I was touching him, I wouldn't drown." 

"'Do you think we've crossed the border...to the next town yet?'
"The moon chuckled. It did. I heard it."

"The remembering takes up every breath until there is no time for today.  I pour a drink, ten drinks, so I can forget that I have forgotten today."

"Here's what you don't know. By five o'clock that morning, the officers had all gotten the message that the war would end that day. But lots of them ordered their men to keep fighting.  ...  Almost eleven thousand soldiers died on November 11, 1918. ...  Politics beats out freedom,  honor,  and service every time. Don't ever forget that." 

"Killing people is easier than it should be.  Staying alive is harder." 

"Odysseus had twenty years to shed his battle skin.  My grandfather left the battlefield in France and rode home in a ship that crawled across the ocean slowly so he can catch his breath. I get on a plane in hell and get off,  hours later,  at home."

"I added it to the growing list of things I never thought I would do but did anyway." 

"The clouds scuttled away from the sun and blinding light reflected off the fresh snow.  We were standing in a sea of glass shards,  millions of tiny frozen mirrors."

"I've been standing on the edge with you for years."

"Out there on the edge, the spinning of the earth had slowed to give us the time we needed to start giving each other again."

Sam Reviews "Riding in Cars with Boys" by Beverly Donofrio

I really should stop going into books blindly.  I had never heard of his movie (or at least never seen it) and had no idea this was an actual memoir.  (Although, it does go to further prove that I subconsciously read similar genre books really close together, been on a memoir/autobiography kick lately).  Anyways, I went into this book expecting fiction, but it was really a memoir of a girls teenage life and how in eventually affected her adulthood, though her adulthood is a back burner subject.  I liked it, I thought it was going to be a juicer story, but it was good, it was real and raw and honest and I appreciate that in books like this.

"Lately I've been thinking of the things I did and feeling like a maniac mother. Lately,  I've been looking at my life like there's something to learn.  ...  i hear Frank Sinatra singing "My Way."  I think,  That's it.  I wasn't a terrible person. I just did it like Frank Sinatra." 

"When I was single, I had a job, I had money, I bought nice clothes,  went on vacations. I did what I pleased. Then when you marry,  you too where the man wants. ... If you want to be happy,  stay single." 

"I wondered if I'd still remember Bobby when I was thirty or forty. I'd be an adult,  but in my memory he'd still be a kid.  ...   wondered if Bobby was the lucky one.  ...  Bobby would never get the chance to spread his wings and learn too fly. I wondered if any of us would." 

"I felt like Hester Prynne must've felt in the next chapter,  the one that never got written, the one where she's in the woods on her way to the rest of her life and finally rips off that ridiculous A and throws it in the camp fire." 

"That was the thing with my mother. I'd bought this beautiful fourteen- year- old with- a- rebuilt- engine emerald- green Volkswagen after four years without a car -  which,  incidentally,  was not only going to take me to college but eventually off welfare - and all my mother had to say was, Better keep it clean?" 

"I've been thinking lately that maybe there's a big design, that the end is already there in the beginning and there's nothing we can do about it,  not in a lifetime. Nothing we can do about the events, but  plenty we can do with them."

Sam Reviews "The Shack" by William Paul Young

I am going to give this four stars because it was a well written story that was easy to read, even if i didn't necessarily love the content all of the time.  I was lent this book under the premise that it's "religious but not so religious that you'll hate it".  Let me just say, while this is a very different (and in my opinion good) way to view, discuss, and write about religion, this book is So Very religious.  There were a lot of things in the way this author explains religion that I love but I still walked away from this confused and questioning things and I don't know if that's a great thing.

Overall, the concept was unique and interesting and I was pretty well entranced with this book so I read it pretty quickly.  I think it's a good read for a lot of people as long as you're okay with reading about God a lot.

"From the few stories Mack has told me, I know his daddy was not a fall-asleep-happy kind of alcoholic but a vicious, mean, beat-your-wife-and-then-ask-God-for-forgiveness drunk."

"Techno gizmos that somehow make everything go faster, as if life weren't going fast enough already."

"Suffice it to say that while some things may not be scientifically provable, they can still be true nonetheless."

"Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets." - Paul Turnier

"Even his efforts to shake it [The Great Sadness] off were exhausting, as if his arms were sewn into its bleak folds of despair and he had somehow become part of it." 

"He was a rich man ... in all the ways that mattered." 

[On the death of his father] "Well, life is hard sometimes, but I  have a lot to be thankful for."

"Please call me Sam. Short for Samantha, but I  grew up kind of a tomboy and beat up the
kids who would dare call me Samantha to my face." 

"Emotions seemed so near to the surface, and  even the least bit of kindness seemed to poke holes in his reserve." 

"God had completely stopped any overt communication with moderns,  preferring to have them listen to and follow sacred scripture,  properly interpreted,  of course. God's voice had been reduced to paper,  and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellects. It seemed that direct communication with God was something exclusively for the ancients and uncivilized,  while educated Westerners' access to God was mediated and controlled by intelligentsia. Nobody wanted God in a box,  just a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges,  or was that guilt edges?" 

"Sometimes honesty can be incredibly messy."

"Oh, don't go [talk to God] because you feel obligated. That won't get you any points around here. Go because it's what you want to do." 

"You were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation,  not the other way around.  ...  Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly. ...  And if it's left unresolved for very long,  you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place." 

"Let's pray that the human race never escapes Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere." -C.S. Lewis

"He knew that it didn't matter whose fault it was  - the mess from some bowl that had been broken,  that a planned dish would not be shared. Obviously, what was truly important here was the love they had for one another and the fullness it brought them. He shook his head. How different this was from the way he sometimes treated the ones he loved." 

"Being always transcends appearance - that which only seems to be. Once you begin to know the being behind the very pretty or very ugly face, as determined by your bias, the surface appearances fade away until they simply no longer matter." 

"I'll never get tired of looking at this [starry sky].  The wonder of it all - the 'wastefulness of creation', as one of our brothers has called it. So elegant,  so full of longing and beauty even now." 

"Growth means change and change involves risk,  stepping from the known to the unknown." 

"What you're seeing here is a relationship without any overlay of power. We don't need power over the other because we are always looking out for the best. ...  Humans are so lost and damaged that to you it is almost incomprehensible that people could work or live together without someone being in charge. ...  It's one reason why experiencing true relationship is so difficult for you. Once you have a hierarchy you need rules to protect and administer it,  and then you need law and the enforcement of the rules, and you end up with some kind of chain of command or a system of order that destroys relationship rather than promotes it. ...  When you choose independence over relationship,  you become a danger to one another. Others became objects to be manipulated for your own happiness. Authority,  as you usually think of it,  is merely the excuse the strong ones use to make others conform to what they want."

"Even should we find another Eden, we would not be fit to enjoy it perfectly nor stay in it forever."  - Henry Van Dyke

"Such a powerful ability,  the imagination!  ...  But without wisdom,  imagination is a cruel taskmaster."

"I live in the present. Not the past, although much can be remembered and learned by looking back,  but only for a visit,  not an extended stay."

"To force my will on you is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are not helpful or healthy. ... Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience; it is all about relationships of love and respect."

"What they [my children] do might affect my pride,  but not my love for them."

"[God] doesn't stop a lot of things that cause her pain. Your world is severely broken. You demanded your independence, and now you are angry with the One who loved you enough to give it to you. Nothing is as it should be,  as Papa desires it to be,  and as it will be one day. Right now your world is lost I  darkness and chaos,  and horrible things happen to those she is especially fond of." 

"This life is only the anteroom of a greater reality to come. No one reaches their potential in your world. It's only preparation for what Papa had in mind all along." 

"Even if you had been to blame,  her love is stronger than your fault could ever be." 

"As well-intentioned as it might be,  you know religious machinery can chew people up."

"These terrors  [institutions,  religion,  politics,  as economics]  are tools that many use to prop up their illusions of security and control. People are afraid of uncertainty,  afraid of failure. These institutions,  these structures ave ideologies,  are all a vain effort to create some sense of certainty and security where there isn't any." 

"Just because I [God] work out incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn't mean I orchestrate the tragedies. ...  Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist,  but where there is suffering you will find grace  in many facets and colors." 

"If anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important,  everything you do is important. Every time you forgive,  the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life,  the world changes; with every kindness and service,  seen or unseen,  my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again."

Sam Reviews "Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man" by Tim Allen

I'd like to preface this by saying my knowledge of Tim Allen begins and ends with Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, "Last Man Standing", and that he is from Detroit, Michigan.  I'd never seen any of his stand up comedy before reading this.  Because I wasn't familiar with his stand up, a lot of the jokes he tried to incorporate into his book went over my head and I had to read things a few times to realize he had segued into a joke.

After getting mostly through this book, I did search YouTube for a few clips, and it honestly seems like he really only ever had one set as a comedian and most of the jokes from his set made it into this book, so if I had been familiar with his stand up I probably would have been disappointed by this book for it's lack of new content.

All of that being said, I don't think Tim Allen is very funny (oops).  Also, jumping around to stories that seem somewhat unrelated may work well for a stand up set, but it falls flat in a book and made things severely lacking in flow and continuity.

However, the last chapter, the one that mostly talks about being a dad to his daughter was really touching.

The first interesting fact I learned in this book was this his real name is Tim Allen Dick, and that people in Hollywood encouraged him to drop the Dick from his name.

"They're just words.  The symbols and meanings - positive, negative, enlightening, insulting - are in our heads, which is why the power of some words has a lot to do with all the social and sexual dysfunction in this country."

"Men look at women the way men look at cars.  Everyone looks at Ferraris.  Now and then we like a pick up truck, and we all end up with a station wagon."

"Even guys who weren't homosexual before will, after a while, try something,  Prison and Hollywood are exactly the same thing."

"[Thoughts on] Guys with other guys girlfriends - Without even trying, other guys are nicer to your girlfriend than you are.  Even if they're not really after her, she'll find it easy to lean on their shoulders, ask what they're thinking, and how she can get her concerns through to you."

"I'm also a bit suspicious of any two people who don't struggle with that decision [to get married].  ...   Marriage is a big decision.  Big enough to procrastinate about a decade."

"A lasting marriage is like a job.  But here's the problem with jobs:  They're great when you first get them.  Then about a week into it you realize, "There are a few problems here."  Then they get repetitive and boring.  And pretty soon you think that the guy in the next cubicle has a much better job, which would suit you just fine.  The trick is to get past this."

"Men have all the destructive tendencies.  We're encouraged to be little destroyers from birth.  These traits come in handy, though.  Once we have a family, we'll destroy anything we have to that threatens it.  Women like us for that.  Sometimes men get so confused they actually destroy the family."

"'Philanthropist' means 'love or benevolence toward mankind, in general.'  ...  The definition includes the idea that a philanthropist is someone who makes an 'effort to promote the happiness or social elevation of mankind, by making donations.'"

"A 'philanderer' is someone who 'makes love without serious intentions."


I found this video randomly as I was looking for Tim Allen's stand up.  They read bits of the book and just kind of talk about it, but their opinion is pretty similar to mine. Plus there's excerpts from the books so you can get a taste of it haha

Sam Reviews "The Ballad of Tom Dooley", (Ballad #9) by Sharyn McCrumb

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, it is number nine in a series but I don't think I'd ever realized that without Goodreads telling me it. My preferred genre is more modern day time with modern day stuff going on.  I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with the bluegrass song "Tom Dooley", but it's one of my favorite songs from when my family would get together and jam out to old school music like this.

Because of my familiarity with the song, I picked this book up at a $5 bag sale at the Flint Public Library.  I admittedly struggle with books that are set in an older era and in a setting with a dialect, but this book was so easy to get into. There were some word choices I struggled over since I don't read historical fiction or books set in the south but this book overall was so well put together and easy to get through. It only took me a month to read because I wasn't putting in the effort to make it through, had I just sat down and done it I could have easily read through this book in a week. I found the characters to all be unique and well developed and I really love the main character, Pauline. The story was thorough and interesting, and even with knowing the folk song about Tom Dooley, I still enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot.

"A case of law is a chess game for those who make their living at it, and a great sorrow for those who get caught up in its web."

"A man died bravely, doing perhaps the only noble thing he ever achieved in his brutal, useless life.  Another fifty years of living would not have improved him, for he had only a minute's worth of courage, and  he spent that."

"People will tell this story for a century ... they will sing about it, and spin fanciful tales, and act it out, turning all it's principals into Sunday- school sweethearts and black- hearted villains. It will all be nonsense. At least I remember what was real." 

"I advise you not to go hat in hand to any relatives you may have, for your kinfolks will treat you worse than ten strangers ever would, and they'll think themselves charitable while they are doing it." 

"Any man who insists on taking up with a beautiful wife ought to pay dearly for the purchase." 

"She'd not trouble a doctor to help her do it [birth her baby] when there were midwives a-plenty to be had. What would a man doctor know about bringing babies into the world anyhow?" 

"Is it not a wonder that the human race lives on at all?  All men give you is pain and sorrow, and I cannot see why any woman would have aught to do with them." 

"Never in my life had I felt much of anything for anybody. For me one person was the same as all the rest, and all of them let you down sooner or later.  Trusting people was just asking for trouble.  I tried to figure out what folk wanted, and I'd give it to them,  so long as it got me what I needed,  but I never put any feelings into it.  It was just a way to get along in this world.  Whenever I heard somebody talk about this deep feeling they had for someone they said they loved, I thought I must be missing something, but I didn't know what it was.  It never seemed to profit them that had it,  though,  so I reckoned I was better off without. And maybe they were only fooling themselves,  anyhow,  for I couldn't see that love made any difference in how they acted - not in the long run." 

"People believing it will make it true. That's as close to truth as we ever get this side of heaven."

"Women's anger is different.  We burn long and slow,  and you may never see the flames,  but that doesn't mean it's over." 

"She would not be comforted with common sense, so I gave it up, and let her rave." 

"She had moved clear into the future, and  she'd be sleepwalking until she caught up to it." 

"It's funny how easy it is to make people believe what they want to believe or what they are most afraid of." 

"Mostly it's easy to tell people what they want to hear. You just figure out what you really think and then say the opposite."

"They loved each other, I suppose,  or what passes for love with young and passionate people,  whose impulses are not tempered by education or moral guidance. Their lives were without purpose or direction, and so perhaps they became each other's purpose." 

"Whatever they felt for one another,  that lust that made everything else in the world fade to insignificance: I never felt that.   Never did.  And I could never quite figure out whether I envied them their transports of sentiment or whether I pitied them, as one would a madman whose delusions blind him to the realities of life.  But they died young, and I lived on for decades,  ending up revered and prosperous in a mountain mansion, safe from the riptides of emotion that sweep lesser men away to their deaths." 

"Ann was like a shooting star in my life,  so beautiful it takes your breath away,  but I reckon what you really need to find your way in the dark is just a good steady lantern." 

"It is dangerous to jest with fools,  for they are liable to believe anything." 

"She was beautiful, you know.  Like having a fairy maiden out of an old ballad come to stay, but you know how those songs end.  The fairy always goes back to where she came from. She never stays forever.  And after a while it seems like it was all a dream." 

"He'd not find a woman like her again - and maybe he'd live longer for the fact of that."

"When I was little, I used to think that if you climbed to the top of the mountain,  you could touch it [the moon].  But one night I climbed all the way up the ridge, and  when I got there,  the moon was as far away as ever. Now, I reckon freedom is like that. You think that if you just go someplace else you could touch it, but  when you get there,  it will still be a million miles away."

"The Foster women seem to have the power to bewitch a man,  like the fairy queen in the old ballads,  but sooner or later,  he wakes up on a cold hillside,  with a handful of dust and ashes, and after that all he wants for the rest of his life is a plain ordinary woman who will share his burdens,  instead of a moonshine maiden who gives you dreams and leaves you with nothing."

"I shall go to Wilkes County for good, and I  will take care to steer clear of tragedies,  so no one will ever think to ask what became of me.  The people who live happily ever after - they don't appear in the history books. They just fade away. I reckon that's what happiness is. " 

"Doctors,  as a rule, do not attend their patients' funerals, and  it is for similar reasons that lawyers absent themselves from public executions:  it is daunting to have to face one's professional failure squarely in the cold light of day."