C. A. Cameron

Tough goings from a gutsy, gifted woman

Revisado: 06-16-24

Accounts from a traveler to antique lands ... in the 21st century.

Johnny Cash sings "...I've been everywhere, man, crossed the desert's bare, man, breathed the mountain air, man, of travel I've had my share, man, I've been everywhere."

Jo Patti defies definition: graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, author, widow, parent, acupuncturist, linguist, teacher, administrator and traveler. She practices Traditional Chinese Medicine, no stranger to combat tactics, student in Shin Lao in China and open to this world and other worlds just beyond the everyday human experience.

And sensible enough to know that one tandem parachute jump was enough to know it would be the only one parachute jump, ever.

Be advised that her reporting from a teaching position in Ankawa of ISIS atrocities came upon me, sitting quietly at home on a Sunday evening. There are some words in the description of human depravity which you cannot unhear. I understand that neither can Jo Patti unhear them as they are part and parcel of her work and her travels. I wish with all my heart these horrifying events had not occurred for them to have been spoken, heard and written.

Death of her husband and son in 2013 on K2, disappearances of friends, phone calls from individuals who should not have had her number, the unknown mystery of silent, huddled children guarded by Russians on an otherwise sunny, busy beach, a midnight attack which left her bruised and battered for months ... nope, not even a Dan Brown.

Not fiction. Just life in the Jo Patti Munisteri lane. And from her preface, she candidly admits much of what she has been taught and studied for years in Native American practices are never written and she will not reveal.

So as much as you listen to this book, know there is surely more you will never hear.

What I got was enough, whew!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Do not shy away from a memoir thru pain & grit

Revisado: 06-08-24

Risa August and her chirpy, often critical and dismayingly ominimpresent tumor wrapped around her carotid artery narrate this unputdownable memoir of a Colorado wedding planner and Gestalt coach's startling journey from abundant health to whimpering on the sofa in relentless pain throughout her once fit Ironman, mountaineering body. Acromegaly was the diagnosis, after years of knowing something really was not quite right ....

I used to live in both Boulder and Seattle, so I took a personal interest in the audiobook. I did not Google anything about Ms August until this Saturday morning in a rain-washed Coimbra, me wrapped in my pink bathrobe, cup of coffee, longing for ... more! More, Risa, more!

And ... I'll bet you might, too.

Especially noteworthy a listen if the prospective reader has any experience cycling the PCH as part of the Washington to Mexico long-distance ride. In a car, solo on the road, on a clear October day, it was a real nail biter, but in that wind ... well, you will just have to listen to find out! (Although she was not wearing either the tutu nor the tiara that particular day).

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Simply could not relate to her

Revisado: 05-23-24

I must have read a good half dozen memoirs of hikers who have walked the Appalachian Trial. Since my own 2002 walk of 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago, I am amazed at everyone who must take lock, stock, tent, cookware, shoes, socks, phone, hat, sunscreen, etc., etc. and walk in all weathers up to Maine or down to Georgia.

At least walking in Spain, you get a bed to sleep in, a beverage of choice, usually a hot meal and no requirement for a trail name; everyone is simply on a first name basis and English by and large the lingo franca.

But Sky Dragon packed so much emotional baggage I am surprised she made it out the door. She is speaking so rapidly and with a pronounced accent that early on, I lost the plot. And what I could make of it, I further lost ... in interest.

At some point, there was some argy-bargy about a man with a "45" hat taking her to an overnight in which unpleasant words in volatile situations made her distinctly uncomfortable and then ... I feel asleep. I had 54 minutes left when I awoke at 4:28 AM and I never replayed what came before nor what came after.

Here's the thing. I have Audibled and Kindled my way through AT trail memoirs from PTSD vets, a disconcertingly whiny and frail Englishwoman, one divorcee who kept gnawing bits of the AT off over the years, a Scotsman who made long distance walking interesting and appealing, the inimitable Bill Bryson, even a "how to walk the AT", more out of curiosity than intent. And numerous accounts of the Camino de Santiago and the Pacific Crest Trail, rarely bested by Cheryl Strayed's "Wild". By and large, these were not professional writers; they had simply done something which powerfully changed their life, set it down on paper and handed it the reader. "Here! It was a big deal for me, hope you like it, I had a lot of folks who helped me get it to you along the way. Peace out!"

But this lass? Give it a pass!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Enthralling, beautifully written, five stars!

Revisado: 05-20-24

Marsha Jacobson's journey through body dysmophia, low self esteem, marital challenges, corporate shenanigans and single parenting are not new memoir topics. I can rattle off a half dozen titles i have recently read as I sought solutions within my own experiences in all of the above ... and more.

However, I "sampled" Ms Jacobson's own read of her memoir and her voice sold me within a sentence. This is the woman. This is the voice. I am in for the ride of one woman's life and within her words will be compelling opportunities to learn more of why my footsteps took me down certain challenging paths.

Because this is why we read, we listen.

Thanks and a tip of my hat to Ms Jacobson, well done and not a word out of place -- just so you know, at the end of the day, I am looking for me. And indeed more of 'me' was that bit more awake and aware to my choices and their consequences than I had been 8 hours and 12 minutes earlier.

i believe this memoir will ring most surely true with the mature amongst Audible listeners. The young single mother of toddlers facing a long night shift and rent payment worries will surely find encouragement and that precious gift of hope that unexpected gifts and serendipitous moments when it can all change for the better. Seize those moments! Trust that whatever is before you, you can handle! And the newly divorced, the recently widowed, the woman -- or man! well done you, male/transgender person who picks up this read! -- slips into the newly solitary bed, the single cup of coffee facing a day of solitude or creating busyness to work through hours until night, will also find "Aha!" moments. And that would be me.

There is a moment within this memoir which, if, trusting you are alert and discerning, you will pause this recording. "What in the world just happened and how with all I know of myself and the other she presents as in this room would I handle this dangerous moment?" Do. Pause. Do. Ask. Of self. Because this is not a computer simulation, this is not a laptop game. This is a real as it gets ... what do I do?

For many of us, time to listen to an audiobook has to be honed into our everyday life. I have listened on all our major transport options, in laundromats, on city and country walks, making meals, at bedtime. I foumd myself making this listen a priority, not even a cup of coffee or a snack. Just me, my chair by the window overlooking the streets in a sunny Portuguese town and a respectful surrender to her memoir, letting it flow through my body and soul. And every moment was worth every moment of my time, too!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Well written and one of his best

Revisado: 12-18-23

Be aware that in his many years as a winning jockey, Mr Francis became deeply cognizant of the vulnerabilities of the human body to injury and to pain.

There is a section in LONGSHOT which a sensitive reader will likely wish to skip when it occurs during the (excellent) narration. Well, you cannot. Although this particular section does seem to go on rather longer and more painfully than you wish — that is the point. The reader must “be” in this world of intense discomfort — or, just stick to reading Agatha Christie. (And I dearly love A Christie.).

And horses. If you could care less about horses, or fell or were thrown off a horse or pony as a child, or for some atavistic reason fear them, seek murder mystery reading elsewhere. Equus IS Dick Francis.

The innocent, the murderous, the cunning and the wise who race, literally, through his plots and stories. Never a dull moment!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Disappointing, befuddled, gave up at Chapter 9

Revisado: 11-27-23

You hate your job. You love yoga. You suffer a generous salary at a job you hate but oh! yoga renews you.

What is a girl to do?

Someone, perhaps yourself, suggests and you foolishly do, write a memoir.

Early in the book is a long-winded story detailing a business trip with Ms DiVello's superior and the sole woman in top management. The superior is falling down drunk at 2:00 a.m. and appears for the client presentation the next morning wearing dark glasses and clearly unwell. I'll cut it short, to the place where the superior leaves the client presentation about to vomit. Ms DiVollo attempts to save the presentation and at its conclusion, discovers her vomited-soaked boss splayed under a toilet in a client bathroom. I was muttering under my breath, "You have a Blackberry. Take photos of this drunken mess of a woman sprawled under a toilet at client offices and send it to Corporate, with a note, 'What do you want me to do? She refuses to go the hospital." So much would have been accomplished if she had done so! Aaargh!

You see, I have fifty years experience working at a varity of major and minor firms in USA and UK, and I am familiar with those who have ground their heels determinedly onto the upper rungs of the ladder, who glance downward, who yell, "I made this mess and I want you to clean it up".

Call an ambulance. The woman is an alcoholic. You would be doing her a favor to face that fact rather than cowering on the bathroom floor enabling her denials.

An inexperienced 20-something, she does not do that. She scrapes her boss off the bathroom floor and suffers further humiliations, key amongst them, her boss spewing accusations Ms DiVello is plotting to oust her and take the job for herself.

I am an ex-Catholic. In my childhood at parochial school, I was taught to revere those bleeding, eye gouged, battered and roasted saints. Ms DiVello was showing all the signs of martydom. A martyr to money.

And after a long, hard day of pushing the need for money onto others, the need for money is pushing her around. This, Ms DiVllo, is not new. This ... we know.

Because there is the book cover! Sends a confusion message, does it not?

The cover portrays a woman, business suited, sporting sparky red heels and in her four hands, implements by which the corporate world was trying to kill her. The inference appears either to Lord Shiva (often portrayed dancing on a recumbent demon) or, Kali (popularly shown dancing on a recumbent Lord Shiva). Oh, and they are Hindu saints and yoga originated in india! So, yeah, there's that.

But here's the thing: the artwork presents a woman who is not frowning, displeased, saddened, or angry. Not even in tears.

Smiling.

The artwork shows the woman on the cover of the book is smiling.

Not wearing Prana in warrior pose looking invincible and fulfilled. No.

But, wait here just a darn minute! She hated her job. Right? And, she quit to teach yoga.

So, where is the artwork of a woman wearing Prana in warrior pose ... maybe a desk full of papers in the background? On fire?

Confused and irritated, I gave up at Chapter 9.

I will tell you one thing: she has a good agent. Or a PR firm -- well, she should. This book has ZERO reviews on Audible, yet a note at the bottom of her first person account of writing the book in "Cosmopolitan" indicates praise from "Shape" and "Working Mother" magazine.

Well, not me. Peace out!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A perfect pairing for a vexatious summer cold

Revisado: 11-26-23

It is no secret Dame Agatha had short, crusty words to about this vexatious Belgian, as her editors placed before -- I see them nervously twitching their ties and stammering to her behind their desks -- yet another order for Monsieur Poirot's presence on the pages. "Your fans, dear lady, they demand him!"

And then David Suchet came along and wrote this delightful account of his commitment to bring to television audiences around the world the authentic Poirot, down to the swan on his cane, the mirror shine on his shoes and impreccable sense of order, decorum and justice.

I was able to find the entire pantheon of episodes online, hauled my laptop into a cozy spot alongside my chair and watched them in the order Mr Suchet takes such pains to detail in his book. I had seen most of them before, I had read all the books at least twice over many years and yet ... between sneezes and naps and taking of pills -- I had the most marvelous cold I have experienced in 75 plus years!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Rainy day listen ... in need of a palate cleanser

Revisado: 10-19-23

Set in the mid 2000's, there are some unsettling description of violence which delivered quite the visual jolt to this listener. I watched "Game of Thrones" so no stranger I to unhappy people rearranging enemy body parts in wincing detail ... but nowhere else in a Grisham which I can recall (they do rather blur though, don't they?) was it to this level. Well, it is called The Dark Web for a reason and what one finds there which remains forever never unseen is at one's peril. Only, even if true, I wish he had not.

I live internationally and I am familiar with all but the Morrocco portion of the book, either as a visitor or a resident. So, I got to sit in my chair, listen to the rain and imagine myself in many of those locations --- oh, wait, there was a plot which went along with this travel narrative, too, right? Mitch^Abby and children and a whole lot of plane travel, cell phone calls, disapperances, threats, revolutionary smarminess from da' bad guys and me, as a fan of red wine, entirely too much white wine.

Past midnight, rain stopped, book ended, part of a three credit Audible purchase deal and you know, I will listen to the next one, too. I cannot not. Peace out!
* * * * * *
Somewhere in the past several months, I met a gentleman who had attended a seminar in which Grisham spoke and had a few words with afterwards. Said Grisham was THE nicest, more charming, intelligent man and yes, his eyes are really that blue!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

After many a year it was time for a re-listen ...

Revisado: 10-19-23

...in preparation for listening to the its long-awaited follow up, THE EXCHANGE. Did I have to, as I knew the plot? Well, rain was forecast for two days and I thought 'why not'. Perhaps, in hindsight, I could have just rewatched the movie for the third time in a dozen years. Nope, listened. Dozed off late until the midnight hour, but knew where I was in the plot anyway.

19 hours ... wait, what? Surely not! But yes, 'tis so, an early work by J Grisham and in need of pruning: badly. Also, this is not the Scott Brick I was used to; this is his actor voice, not his narrative voice.

And this is just the first taste of Mitch and his instatiable coffee habit, his strange eating -- no, actually, make that "not" eating habits --and diners table 'shoving their plates away' before getting down to business.

I have memories of working at a major Florida law firm, and the character of Mitch observing the scene of a scowling Avery and three semi-hysterical secretaries in a blur of file cabinets, snapping fingers and paper, paper, everywhere, preparing files for a Houston flight. The sheer violence of well dressed people in an expensively furnished office, hissing under their breath at the colleagues, the anger, the narcissism, the not so veiled threats and the blame! Not fiction, folks: fact.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A Kiwi Knight who kept me up for many nights

Revisado: 04-13-23

Sam Neill captured my, um, fanciful intimate interest -- if I can put it that way -- as PBS presented "Reilly: Ace of Spies". And over the years, I have watched his acting prowess go from strength to strength. (Note to self: Watch "Restoration" again.). And every bit of it is captured in his warm voice during this 12 plus hours of memoirs. It took me several weeks of "just ONE chapter before I go to sleep".

I do appreciate that Mr Neill does draw a discreet curtain around his choices of lady friends. Oh, he is definitely keen to share many odd, startling, dangerous, ridiculous and hilarious adventures, but the bedroom door is firmly shut. Don't worry: you shall not be bored!

Look, 12 hours is a lot. And he does a great job in bringing the reader into a generous portion of it, and, free of self-pity, his recent chemotherapy and medical trials with cancer.

Above all, he is a New Zealander. With an OBE, fine ... but for all his travels all around the world, it is to this windswept land mass perched not near much else in the Pacific Ocean which holds his deepest devotion, respect and love.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 15 personas