Book Review: Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

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This was not one of my favorite books written by Jodi Picoult. Many items didn’t sit well with me and I was not even happy with the ending. The book kept my interest very much and it wasn’t the writing at all, I believe it was the main character that I didn’t like. The story was uncomfortable and sad. The setting was a small town in New Hampshire and two families are intertwined with each other. The little girl, who was born with a disability that made her bones break easily. She was 6 at the time in the book. In this family is the father, who is a policeman, the mother and the older sister. The other family consisted of a mother who is an OBGYN doctor, a husband who is an orthodontist and their daughter who is friends with the older girl. The two women are best friends and the doctor is the one who delivered the little girl with the disability. There are also other stories going on with the lawyer, and the older daughter none of them happy. The mother of the little girl with the disability decided to bring a malpractice suit against the doctor (best friend) because she should have had options about whether to have the baby or end the pregnancy because they knew about the disability. She was doing this for the money to make sure that the little girl can be taken care of well for the rest of her life. This was breaking up her marriage, a great friendship, the daughters friendship and definitely affected the little girl with the disability. It bothered me that really what the catalyst of this was that the woman didn’t have the perfect child that you always hope for. So of course, I won’t tell you the ending, but it only left me frustrated.

Here’s What’s Going On

First off with our warm and wet weather my morning glorys will be reaching up to climb soon. The week has just shown a growth spurt. There is a rotten dandelion weed behind the trellis that I just can’t get the roots out and it keeps coming back.

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The hollyhocks are putting on a good show this year. I have really dark maroon ones.

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Also some really light pink ones.

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My candystriped daylilies are just going to be a profusion of blooms very soon. They are going to be mighty pretty. I have several bunches planted around the yard.

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The pots of begonias like the sun and wetness. Full and vibrant these are.

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I signed up for this online course last October but was not able to participate in it when it opened. It is still up until October 1st, 2015 and I am going to start it again, possibly today. I signed up because I needed more work with drawing faces. These ladies have different styles and there is a lesson with each one and also Effy Wild who is the wonderful lady that put the class together. It looks like you can take the course for half price right now and she is putting together a second Radiant Faces Course that will be starting in October.

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In the first lesson we were to choose a picture to use, so I am that far.

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I did get the notebook done though and even made a few for my friends.

Indiana Woodlands with watermark

Yesterday I finished up my Indiana Woodlands poster. My inspiration was from a biology class that I took, where we tromped around the woods in search of species. I added some of the critters that we found also. Prints can be purchased in my Etsy shop.

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All the drawings are from pictures that I took from our journeys.

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Since I finished my painting I am putting my attention back onto my little quilt so I can get it finished and posted in my shop. I will be adding much embroidery. I really love quilting and needlework together. This little quilt is named “Words to Live By”.

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Another flower that is blooming in my garden is the balloon flower. What a wonderful blueish purple.

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I love the way it blows up like a balloon before it blooms.

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A decorating project that I am going to start is recovering the dining room chairs. I found this fabric on the greatly discounted rack at Joann’s and it was just what I was looking for. The green will be the chair pad covers and then the others I am making a banner to go at the top of my three windows in that room.

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I have picked up this book again and have gotten into it. When I finish it I will give it a review.

Pioneer Girl

I got an email that this book has shipped. I bet it is out in my mailbox now! Tomorrow my niece Wendy and I are going to his an Antiques fair and an Art fair in Fort Wayne. I also plan to go to the Farmers Market in the morning. I should come back with lots of pictures to share. Hope you have a great weekend! and as always….. Thanks for stopping!

Books

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I was taking inventory tonight of what books I have to read. I then realized I had 4 that I had started but didn’t finish. I think school and life took over. This will be the first one that I am going to finish. My dear friend Colleen sent this one to me. She worked at a high school and Jodi came and spoke. She got an autographed copy for me. This is a very special gift. She also sent a picture of herself and Jodi. I love autographed books, it’s a favorite of mine.

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I also started this one. I wasn’t too far into it and can’t quite remember what it was about, but it is on my list to restart and finish.

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I was pretty far along and there was a double murder and I still have no idea who did it. I will find out.

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This one was good as I recall. One of the main characters had a form of autism that was Aspergers and that is one reason why I started reading it along with it being a Jodi Picoult book. A very near and dear person to me has Aspergers so I was especially interested in this book.

Billy Joel

This was on my must read list and I just ordered it from Amazon. I am a Billy Joel fan and this came out in October.

Pioneer Girl

This was also on my must read list. It came out in early this year and it was so popular that they had to print some more copies. I ordered this and should get it by Friday. In September I am taking a trip to Colorado for a mini art retreat with Geninne. I am driving so I plan to stop at Mansfield Missouri where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived her adult years and wrote the Little House books. I am looking very forward to both. I will give my book reviews when I am done. Thanks for stopping!

 

Book Review-Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

Leaving time by Jodi Picoult

This story touched on many topics; the plight of elephant poaching, elephant sanctuaries, psychics and the afterlife, murder and mental illness. The setting is Africa and a female doctor is studying the habits of elephants and grief and documenting it for study. To me this topic was very interesting, much more than I had anticipated. Elephants are very interesting animals. There is much intelligence and family instincts it appears from the information in this book. A man who has started an elephant sanctuary in New England comes to Africa to gather information about elephants and the female doctor and the man fall for each other. He travels back to New England and the doctor finds out she is pregnant. She eventually decides to go to New England and inform the man about the baby. She decides to stay and they get married. In the first few years it begins to unravel because of mental illness, and the cost of keeping the sanctuary solvent. There eventually is a murder and the doctor comes up missing. The daughter is now a teenager and with the assistance of a psychic and a retired detective she tries to find out what happened to her mother. I enjoyed this book as I always do anything written by Jodi Picoult. It has twists and turns and a surprise ending which is good. It was a good read to start the summer with. I recommend it. Thanks for stopping!