Chew & Digest Books

It is time once again, to step out from behind the book and get to know one another better.

We all have a story and a life beyond the book and thanks to Danielle from There’s A Book, we get share. She asks the questions and we get to answer.

Who is your favorite male character, in a book or on a TV show/movie? Why?

This one had me stumped. Was I supposed to pick a male character that was my personal  superhero? One that made me weak in the knees? A male that I wish my dad had been more like? The leader of my tribe if I found myself on Survivor? What does “favorite” really mean, to me?

I decided to go with a male character that I could relate to, even though, in choosing him, I would be admitting some major character defects. He just also happens to be the main character in my favorite book.

The enigmatic, hopeless romantic, fatally optimistic, Jay Gatsby is my favorite character. While I don’t really consider my past near as shady as Gatsby’s, it was indeed colorful.

What appeals to me about Gatsby is that his goal was his love, Daisy, and no matter what was happening or what was in the way, he never lost sight of that goal. I didn’t have to fight a war, become a bootlegger or do anything illegal to get my man, but there was a lot that we had to go through that seemed insurmountable at the time. That is what I have in common with Fitzgerald’s most compelling character.

I was convinced that we were meant to be and driven, in a healthy way, to do everything that I could to remove the roadblocks that others saw as deal breakers. I continue to be the cheerleader in our relationship. Call me the Little Orphan Annie of Love; “the sun will come out tomorrow!”

Gatsby may have been very flawed and obviously didn’t realize that he was after something that didn’t really exist. I can only hope that I don’t end up learning the same thing in the end of this crazy thing we call love.

Focused. Hopeful. Romantic. Heedless. Obsessive. My fatal flaws.

It also doesn’t hurt to picture Robert Redford in the role….I know that Alan Ladd played him first, but come on, we are talking Robert Redford!

Books completed last few weeks:

• Shadow of Power by Steve Martini
• Angel Island by Erika Lee & Judy Yung NF
• The War Lovers by Evan Thomas NF
• The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June by Robin Benway
• The Falcon Fund by John Ferguson
• While Galileo Preys by Joshua Corin
• The Grand Design: Strategy and the US Civil War by Donald Stoker

Books on tap for this week:

• Angel of Death Row by Andrea D. Lyon
• Conquer the Chaos by Clate Mask
• Penguin 75 by Jim Sterne
• Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century
• The Art of Choosing by Sheena Ivengar
• The Strange Case of the Composer and the Judge by Patricia Dunker

Posts/Reviews last week:

• A Bit About Me(ME) I’ve Got the 411!
• Show Your Love of Handmade
• The Alchemy of Murder by Carol McCleary

Books I Still Need to Write Reviews On:

• I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali

My Good News:

I have books coming out of my eyeballs, but it is a good feeling!