The River Why by David James DuncanThis is one of those rare perfect books that I will want to keep forever to loan out to friends in need of enlightenment or encouragement. It has everything: a good storyline; characters that are real, complex and that you would want to meet in real life; it’s funny; [...]

Whale Rider Movie ReviewWhale Rider is a lovely little movie about a rural Maori town in New Zealand and their search for a leader. It’s about the struggle for a little girl to be accepted, about the struggle between tradition and modern ideas, fulfilling your dreams, and about love within a family and within a [...]

Ice Cream – The Natural AlternativeThere are hundreds of ice cream flavors on the market. And many of them taste very good. Unfortunately, most ice cream is full of fake stuff… high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, preservatives, etc. Yuck.
I have found a great alternative. No, not some fancy expensive alternative. Just Breyer’s Natural Vanilla. [...]

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette WintersonThis is a neat little book that I read almost in one day. I found a lot of myself in it. Some of you may think that this statement is odd. After all, it’s about a British girl growing up in a small town under a severely [...]

Movie Review: The Science of SleepI started watching this movie, expecting a documentary from BBC or the Discovery Channel about sleep and dreams. It was definitely not that, but something much better. A Michel Gondry film. The director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, many of Bjork’s music videos, and several other amazing works, [...]

Movie Review: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindI absolutely love to see Jim Carey in a serious role. I think that Kate Winslet is beautiful. Charlie Kaufman (screenwriter for Adaptation and Being John Malkovich among others) is brilliant. And I think that Michel Gondry is an absolute genius. It also has Elijah Wood and Kirsten [...]

A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner by Khaled HosseiniI was already interested in the book based on a friend’s recommendation, but then I opened it up and found it was written by the same author as The Kite Runner and I was hooked. I loved both of these books.
Both novels are about [...]

Growing Up Female: A Personal Photo-journal by Abigail HeymanThis is one of those 1970’s style photo books. The kind with interesting photographs along with text (in this case handwritten). It’s very 70’s in that it explores what it is to be a woman, if a woman should live her life in the kitchen, etc. I [...]

Food and Healing by Annemarie ColbinThis is a thought-provoking book about how our diet affects our daily life from emotional, physical and spiritual perspectives. I found a lot of myself in Annemarie. She was Dutch but lived in South America for most of her childhood and adolescence. Then she moved to America. She was married [...]

Light a CandleAre you thankful for something? Or maybe you have a special wish, hope, prayer. Maybe you’re remembering a lost loved one. Maybe you just need a moment to meditate and think about the blessings you have in your life.
I am not a religious person, but I find comfort in spirituality. If you wish, [...]