Gin Palace 📚 by Tracy Whitwell, a Book Review

           I've been taking notes, if you'd like to read along. Recently, I wrote about 2012's The Accidental Medium by the same author, Tracy Whitwell, and this is a sequel titled, Gin Palace. Wanna watch a likeable, funny, flawed (and in my opinion, relatable) woman make mistakes and learn from them and live and feel sorry herself and solve crime with the help of dead people before she goes home to her coffee and fluffy cat and her well-written variety of relationships? If so, then come along!

Tracy Whitwell

 

            I wonder...if it was coincidence, which in general I don't believe in, or if by train of thought I manifested the moment when a particular audiobook came up on YouTube:The Accidental Medium by Tracy Whitwell.

The Internet As a Tool For Compassion

         
          What if it's the stress, judgment and separation that is the illusion? Seriously, what if that isn't just woo-woo bulls**t talk?

          I really enjoy learning more about what life is like for other people. It's important in the growth of my empathy and in widening the acknowledgement of and celebration of other lifestyles, cultures, points of view, etc. There are plenty of pros and cons to the internet, and one big pro is how we can use it to educate ourselves bit by bit and feel connected to people thousands of miles away. Of course, I'm preaching to the choir, here, but I love that someone in Hartford could get the sense of community they need from people in Oslo, Nice, Lisbon, Austin, Reykjavík.

‘Friends Without Benefits’ by Penny Reid, a Book Review

This is my fourth Penny Reid novel, and I appreciate how she adds depth to storylines and to main characters. Her books do not settle for having either of those key story elements be dumb and two-dimensional.

               

                Elizabeth, our protagonist, is fulfilling her residency as an ER doctor, working her butt off, spending one wine glass-clutching night a week with her knitting group, occasionally “using” guys in casual relationships from which she simply wanted sex for just a couple of months at a time.

'A Girl Like You' by Gemma Burgess, a Book Review

I read Gemma Burgess's A Girl Like You recently. 

'Worth the Trouble' by Jamie Beck, a Book Review

Everything's okay. That's the summary of my reaction to this romance novel. Two good-looking, decent people struggle with their mutual attraction, have sex that is enjoyable without being explicit and eventually find a good middle ground with a happy ending. It's okay.

Thoughts

1. I cannot think of anything to write for a joking article titled, "How to Prove to Coworkers That You Are, In Fact, Not a Cat". I haven't yet been able to turn out something like this.

2. Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I've watched the now-defunct show "Magic City" because of him. Love him. And I want Steven Strait. That said, the show, which unfortunately was cancelled in 2013, was just pretty good. It contains things I find compelling, but...it was sometimes as if I was drawn up to a front row seat and left...disappointed, shifting in my chair, reaching for my phone. To help alleviate my guilt about saying that, I have to mention that Danny Huston was awesome, playing a self-centered murderer for whom torture came as naturally and mundanely as blinking, with more screen time, and possibly more darkness, than the Axe Man he played on "American Horror Story". Also, Jessica Marais was both a survivor with an ugly past and a ridiculously attractive manipulator who broke a young man's heart. Elena Satine was magnetic as a self-respecting working woman and embodiment of female sexual empowerment, and Olga Kurylenko, played one of my favorites - a well-meaning, talented, bighearted stepmother in love with her husband. That said, yeah, I'm sorry, but it was mediocre.

3. Saw the movie Steel Magnolias for the first time recently and liked it more than I expected to. After all, it ends with the Easter Bunny riding on a motorcycle.

Stacey Ballis' Writing

          I'm having thoughts about a novel I read, Off the Menu.

'Thirty-Two Going on Spinster', a Book Review

I’ve recently finished reading the novel Thirty-Two Going on Spinster, about a thirty-something self-proclaimed “spinster” named Julie who keeps living in the apartment in her parents’ basement for ten years after college graduation, working the same corporate assistant job she doesn’t like, reworking mathematical formulas and gossiping on the smokers’ balcony with her work friend Brown.

Skipping Through Books

I skipped to the end of a book once. Are you upset with me?