Great Book!!!

     So, I was totally unable to post yesterday because I got sucked into a really great book and didn't want to put it down until I was finished.  I will be getting to a review of it later in this post.

     On Tuesday I ran 5 wonderful miles on the treadmill, yesterday was 3 miles on the treadmill and 7 on the bike, and today was 10 miles for my long run.  I am definitely back to normal after the unfortunate funk of last week. 

     As far as writing goes, I am a little stuck.  I have been a lot more into reading than writing for the past few weeks.  I was really excited about my new story, but I am now thinking it's not as great as I thought.  I am probably going to try to write it anyway, just to finish something.  Even if it's not as good as I had originally thought it was going to be, at least it will be good practice.

     Now for my review...

Title:
Baby Huey: A Cautionary Tale of Addiction
Author:
James Henderson
Price on Amazon:
99 cents
Number of Stars: 5 out of 5 stars

     This is the story of an average black man and his spiral into the world of crack addiction.  This is one of those stories that you know from the first few chapters isn't going to end well, but like a train wreck you can't look away.  A scarily accurate depiction of how drug addiction can happen to anybody.  A lot of people don't understand how easy it is to get sucked into drugs, and this story is a great example of how sometimes it really only takes one time.  I have known more than a few drug addicts, and I also know that sometimes people you could never imagine even thinking about using drugs can fall so far under it's spell that there is no chance for return.  It really is an amazing phenomenon, can you think of anything else in the world that has that kind of power.  There are a few situations in the book that would make it iinappropriate for school aged students, but otherwise I would say that this book should be required reading for all graduating high school students. 

     On top of the fact that this book has an amazing lesson it is also extremely well written.  The characters were all extremely believable.  It wasn't just a story about some guy addicted to crack, it was about John Dough and his struggle to live.  Every time he would start heading in the right direction, he would ruin it all by doing crack.  That's how drug addiction is, once you are an addict you will be one forever, it doesn't matter if you have been sober for 10 years, use one time and you will be right back where you were.  I could really relate to John's wife Doreen and her feelings toward him and his new addiction.  What do you do if you find out your husband has been using crack?

     The story doesn't end in a completely terrible way, but it does show you that drug addiction only leads to a few different endings, most of which are not good.  I think that this book would be great for any recovering addict or anybody struggling to understand how someone close to them became an addict.  Drug addiction is so taboo in our society and most people don't really understand how much control drugs can have over a person.  While this story isn't technically true because it's fiction, I know there are people going through this right now as I type this.  This is a story that you will think about long after you have finished it.  I highly recommend this book to anyone (over the age of 16, because of a few scenes that are absolutely not appropriate for young children).  Great Book!

     I won't be posting tomorrow since I did today, but I will see you all on Monday.  I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Until Then,
SJ Hanson
    

Another Book Review

     I am feeling much better today.  I spent most of the weekend in bed getting better and I am finally starting to feel normal again.  I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head right now for my new story.  I am hoping to get a lot of it down on paper this week.  I am much more excited about this idea than I ever was about my original idea, so I am going to focus on developing this short story first, then get back to the novel. 
     I managed to get to the gym on Saturday for 4 miles on the treadmill and around 5 on the spin bike.  I was also able to read A Land Of Ash and so I thought I would give you all my review.

Title:
A Land Of Ash
Author: David Dalglish, David McAfee, Daniel Arenson, John Fitch V, Michael Crane, Robert Duperre
Price on Amazon:
.99 cents
Number of Stars: 5 out of 5 stars

     This is a collection of short stories about the aftermath of the Yellowstone Caldera erupting.  The first few stories are about different people trying to get somewhere safe or preparing for their inevitable death.  "Shelter" by David Dalglish was a bit of a tear jerker.  Another one from this collection that I really enjoyed was "Secret Mission"  Also by David Dalglish.  This one was totally heartbreaking and really makes you think about things.  One that wasn't quite so sad was "The One That Matters" by Robert Duperre, it's about a hero of sorts and a little lighter than some of the other stories in the collection.

     I was able to connect with many of the characters in these stories and enjoyed most of them.  I found this little collection to be really thought provoking.  I found myself asking questions that had never occured to me before, like what would I do in that situation?  I really enjoyed the style of the different authors.  I felt like they did a good job of working together to make a cohesive story.  This collection could almost read like a novel instead of several seperate short stories.

     I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars because I really enjoyed it, I would recommend it to anybody who is a fan of the horror genre, but it is also great for someone who is looking for a really thought provoking read.  This is definately a dark book without so much of a happy ending, but it was a great book anyway.

     That's all I've got for today, I'm off to work on my story.  I will see you all on Wednesday.

Until Then,
SJ Hanson

Still Not 100%

     I'm sorry to say that I am still not feeling great.  It's been a really long week for me.  I am hoping that I will be able to rest a lot over the weekend and get to feeling better.  Unfortunately, I have nothing for the blog again today, I just haven't had the motivation to do anything this week. 

     I would like to tell you all that the new story idea I have is developing nicely.  I decided to try this one in more of an outline and then write kind of style.  I have a good bit of it outlined already and also have many ideas for the characters, so I am hoping to get some work done on it this weekend while I'm getting better.

     I did workout a few times this week.  I went to the gym on Wednesday and ran 3 miles, which were 3 of the most exhausting miles I have ever run.  Yesterday was 4 miles, and they felt better, but still not as easy as they should have been, then about 5 miles on the stationary bike.  And this morning I ran 8 miles and then dragged myself to work.  Right now, all I want to do is sleep.

     So, hopefully on Monday I will have something to write about.  I would like to read something over the weekend, so maybe I'll have a book review.  I am supposed to run 4 miles tomorrow to finish up my week, but that's going to depend on if I still feel icky when I wake up in the morning.  Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will be back on Monday and hopefully back to 100%.

Until Then,
SJ Hanson