Zen Fishing and other Southern Pleasures
Dec 4, 2006

Author: Dorothy K. Fletcher
Publisher: Ocean Publishing
Publication Date: 2005

"As you know, living in the South is not just about long, dusty back roads, hell-hot heat, and Leonard Skynyrd music. It is also about living in and about celebrating cool evening breezes, radiant beaches, and warm, inviting backyards. Is it any wonder that when contemplating such joyful places and things that a Zen-like state descends upon a person? Reading Zen Fishing and Other Southern Pleasures will certainly “put you in a mind” to feel good about life."

This is what Dorothy said to me that grabbed my interest right away in this book. It's so true, so many "Southern" things are simple, down-home, backyard pleasures with family and friends.

This is a book of short stories and poems, all based on the simple pleasures of life. When life seems too hard, take a moment to watch a butterfly, look at hoofprints in the cement on some odd corner, or remember words your grandpa said before he passed. Or simply just take your coffee out to the porch and watch the sun rise and world wake up.

This is a very pleasant book, and the short stories are great to read "on the go". Have just a minute before lunch ends? Read one story or a poem. For my busy life, this was a great way to read and not feel frustrated by loose ends hanging until I had time to finish.

It also reminded me to look for those bright clouds in my day.

Straight Up
Dec 1, 2006

I love to read but rarely make the time other than the last ten minutes before I fall asleep or on a rare "all me" day off. That is my ultimate luxury...snuggling under the covers with a good book and no other agenda. Some time ago my friend Michael featured Lisa Samson's latest work on his blog noting that anyone who promised to read and review it on their OWN blog would be sent a free copy by the publisher. Since I am all about free books, I put my name in the pot and boy am I glad I did! Not being familiar with her style, I was totally unprepared for the brilliant writing found in Straight Up.


Heroines Georgia and Fairly are cousins, bound together by painful losses and an eccentric Uncle Geoffrey who loves them both as dearly as he does the ragtag group of searchers-of-truth that comprise what Fairly calls his "cult." Both women have chosen paths in life that some would consider frivolous...Georgia drowning her sorrows in the bottle and Fairly passing time as a fine furniture buyer for rich clients. Their pasts and present cross at Uncle G's home in Lexington, Kentucky when Georgia moves there to try to get her life together one last time and Fairly is called in by their uncle to ease the transition.

Woven into the tapestry that is God's will for this family is a little girl named Clarissa who is living out her own nightmarish childhood soaked with anger fueled by alcohol. That God can work His mysterious ways even in that sort of darkness is the true meaning of faith that this book delivers.

If you have ever wondered if you'd get another chance to do what you were meant to do with your life, this tale of redemption will soothe your soul even as it tests your limits for seeing the tragedies in life as opportunity for growth. Is there a heaven? I sure hope so...and I sincerely hope that it is just as Lisa describes it in Straight Up. Her characters are rich with humanity and their situations easily recognized as the ones that we humans face each and every day just like Jesus did.

Thanks Lisa, for keepin' the faith. ^j^



Straight Up
Published by: Waterbrook Press, 2006
Author: Lisa Samson