Book Review - Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache Series

I suppose I'm cheating by reviewing these novels collectively.  I can't really help it.  They were so captivating that I couldn't stop to review them but had to hurry on to the next installment.

Booklogged has been working on me pretty hard to read these and I wonder why I ever resist her suggestions.  She and I traveled to Quebec three years ago this month.  I found the graves of some of my ancestors in a little town called Sutton near the Vermont border.  We fell in love with the place as well as nearby Knowlton.  These books are set in the same general vicinity and the charm of Penny's village of Three Pines and the wonderful people who live there take me back to that priceless journey.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, our main character finds himself visiting Three Pines all too frequently if you judge a village by the number of murders that take place there.  But, he (who resides in Montreal) and the locals are such a delightful combination I found myself disappointed that the fifth volume wasn't centered in Three Pines.  That is until I actually read it.

Penny artfully uses her mysteries to examine human nature.  Her insight is magnificent and delightful.  Great writers teach us about ourselves and so it is with Penny's work.  As she examines the hearts of her richly developed characters she gives me a view into my own heart and motivations.  Inspector Gamache is set up to be the bench mark of character and wholeness.  We measure the others and ourselves against his qualities we are all wont to emulate.  As they, and we spend time in his presence we grow in honesty, candor, integrity, peace and surety.

Here a couple of quotes that impressed and inspired me:

Our secrets make us sick because the separate us from other people.  Keep us alone.  Turn us into fearful, angry, bitter people.  Turn us against others and finally against ourselves.

Attachment masquerades as love, pity as compassion and indifference as equanimity.

She looked at him.  She often felt foolish, ill constructed, next to others. Beside Gamache she only ever felt whole.

I can't think of a thing I'd rather have said about me than that last quote.  It would be so grand to be so confident and comfortable with one's self that you only ever spent yourself lifting others.  It is interesting that while Armand Gamache spends his time catching murderers, he accomplishes much more by helping heal broken hearts and souls.  His chief weapon?  An attentive, listening ear.  I need to spend more time with Armand Gamache.

The next novel in Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series is set in Quebec City, another favorite place of mine.  There are hints that Three Pines, still plays a role, however.  It is called Bury Your Dead and is expected out in September.

I've often dissed on book series', but this time it occurred to me that it is a very efficient method considering that characters need not be introduced more than once.  In this case, I have such a fondness for several characters, I look forward to spending more time with them.

People say Quebec is not a very welcoming place and that they despise Anglo-phones.  Such was not our experience.  We spent a day and a half in eastern Quebec and never found anyone who spoke any English.  Still they treated us with kindness and were most pleasant in their efforts to assist us despite our language and cultural differences.  If others have a different experience my guess is they took the disharmony with them in their own luggage.  I suspect Louise Penny would say the same.

A joyous five stars!

Book Review - He Restoreth My Soul by Donald L. Hilton Jr. MD

There has long been a debate as to whether pornography is addictive.  Dr. Hilton's book clearly puts the debate to rest.  The book is replete with scientific evidence to back his claim.  As President Gordon B. Hinckley claimed many years ago, pornography is indeed addictive, pernicious and destructive.

The book focuses it's attention, however, on recovery.  Addiction is heinous in it's devastation and allure.  It is nice to visit the subject with such a positive, hopeful, realistic expectation of emancipation from the clutches of this horrible vice.

If you or a loved one has fallen into this horrible trap, I recommend this book as a great place to start toward leaving the devastation behind.  If you are a Church Leader may I suggest it as well.  It is important to realize that abstinence is not the same as recovery and such an assumption is a dangerous one.

Dr. Hilton makes it plain that this problem exists at epidemic proportions and must, though uncomfortable, be addressed broadly among the population.  The book was recommended to me by a General Authority in connection with the LDS Church's Addiction Recovery Program.  I in turn recommend it to you.

Me And Bobby McGee

Last night Sweetie was playing a selection of Roger Miller stuff on her iPod and up came his version of Me and Bobby McGee by Kris Kristofferson.  I've heard so many versions of it and supposed that Janis Joplin's was the first one recorded. Up until now, hers was my favorite.  I had always thought I was prejudiced by first recordings.  Nobody seems to do them justice after the original.  My supposition was that I have a resistance to change so every first recording, therefore, becomes my preference.

Much to my surprise, I discovered that Roger Miller was the first to record that much loved song!  And his rendition seems to be my favorite!

According to Wikipedia 55 major artists have recorded a rendition of Me And Bobby McGee.  I wonder if that is a record, no pun intended.  Janis Joplin's version took the song to the top of the charts, but not until after her death.  It was her only number one single.

Whose version is your favorite?  I'll compile the stats in a couple of weeks.

Book Review - Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Holy Cow!  This was a long time coming.  I've been busy in the "thick of thin things" and sure enjoyed getting back to more reading.

Gaiman and Pratchett were amazing in this collaboration!  A story of the end of the world featuring an angel and a devil who rather botch things, or do they.  You might say the Apocalypse comes off with a hitch.  Or was it a glitch, or several. We humans have a tendency to mess things up, but occasionally, we do things right as well. Blame it on Heaven or blame it on Hell eventually, the buck stops with us.

Good Omens is a glorious romp through the meadow of human nature.  We are so funny and these guys have made it their millennial mission to point that out.  I laughed out loud on page after page.  Mostly at myself.  There is a bit of me in every character in the book; all fodder for funny.  I learned to take myself and life a little less seriously and realized that humanity and the human experience is a joyous blessing to be celebrated!

The Trouble With The Biggest Loser

I like The Biggest Loser.  I've watched it regularly for years.  There is something very inspirational about watching the successes of people you grow to love.

A friend called me last night.  He was looking for someone who'd recorded LOST.  I hadn't.  When I asked him why he'd missed it, he said, "I thought I had set it to record on the DVR so I sat down with a bowl of ice cream and watched The Biggest Loser."  My friend is morbidly obese.  I went to bed wondering what is it that appeals to him watching that show.  I have several friends, including myself, who do the same thing.  Week after week we cheer for our favorite contestants from our comfortable sofas, while eating and loafing ourselves into oblivion.  We don't seem to have the slightest inclination to let the program affect our behavior.  We seem to enjoy the show without the slightest personal discomfort.  There seems to be a huge reality disconnect, when it comes to watching this particular "reality" show.

I'm not finding fault, I'm just trying to understand.  While I wouldn't qualify to be a contestant, I am overweight and have other issues that I'm not addressing either.  Are we vicariously letting someone else lose our weight for us?  I think maybe we are.

Eating disorders are so closely aligned with other addictive behaviors.  To me there is little difference between running to the bottle or the fridge for a fix.  We don't like ourselves, or how we feel and so we seek something external to ourselves to help us feel better.  Be it alcohol, narcotics, hallucinogens, Twinkies, gambling, porn or adrenalin, if we are looking for a way to escape our discomfort, we are looking in the wrong places.

That was apparent in last night's episode where Darris ran all day and then stayed up late stuffing his face.  Home for a month, running daily, completing a full marathon in 4 hours and 2 odd minutes, he still gained two pounds.  What's up with that?  Why would Darris "sabotage" himself after all that effort?

Here's what I think.  While there is so very much good about The Biggest Loser, the program has some fundamental flaws.  One of them being the Ranch.  Now don't get me wrong.  These are generally people who won't get better without a major, even institutionalized intervention.  The Ranch is literally saving their lives and there is no getting around that.  The problem lies in the fact that in that artificial environment many are not learning to deal with real life.  Bob and Jillian seem to be very aware of this and the program makes great effort to prepare the contestants for reality.  Still they often fail.  Here's why.

The Biggest Loser deals well with the physical and emotional side of addictive behavior, but they entirely neglect the spiritual aspect.  The 12 Step model established by Alcoholics Anonymous is so uniquely successful because it does not neglect the spiritual component.  The "higher power" AA includes in its approach to recovery is essential to every recovery.  God and a spiritual connection to Him is a vital component in obtaining and maintaining sobriety.  There is no getting around it.  A higher power is part of Biggest Loser's success, don't get me wrong.  Too often though, that higher power is Bob or Jillian or $250,000.00.  This works, until you no longer have Bob or Jillian to serve you.  Or until you no longer have the financial carrot dangling before your eyes.  Here again, Bob and Jillian recognize that the contestants need to be weaned from the trainer's influence, but they try to introduce self as the alternative and self is the absolute worst higher power they could choose.

Darris was clearly struggling without his higher power, while at home.  Absence from Bob and Jillian and his friends at the Ranch, left a painful void in his life and automatically he went right back to his old "go to" remedy to fill that emptiness.  Koli, had the same problem, so he went to Vegas and found a substitute for Bob and Jillian in another trainer.  Even Sam was not enough to keep Koli going at home. That rather surprised me.  But then on reflection, Sam has his own life to live and surely couldn't devote his whole time to Koli.  That's the way it is for each of us.  Our lives are inconsistent.  Our relationships are inconsistent.  We are inconsistent.  The only thing consistent in our lives is God, if we'll let Him provide.

Bravo!  To all the contestants on this inspiring show for their courage, effort and success as they shed the physical and emotional baggage of their lives.  I just hope that in the process they discover what I am discovering, that spiritual emptiness is what got us in our predicaments in the first place.  I am a physical Schmiegel inhabited by a Spiritual Golum when I neglect to connect with God.  I am quick to feed my body while starving my Spirit.  We all recognize physical hunger, but most of us have not been taught to recognize spiritual hunger.  We experience the discomfort, but not realizing what's causing it, seek to satisfy the pain with things that cannot satisfy.

The answer is not knowledge.  Darris knew he was hurting himself.  Koli was embarrassed too.  My friend knows there's a better way than to eat ice cream on the couch.  The same goes for me.  Why are we failing amid so much success?  Because we are climbing the ladder of success, sometimes with Herculean effort only to find it leaning against the wrong wall.  The goal that will make us happy is not weight loss, it is not a quarter of a million dollars or a title or record or a good job.  The goal that will make us happy, fulfilled, satisfied and ultimately successful is a healthy, well fed Spirit that is constantly connected to God.