Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom

"Tell you what. After I'm dead, you talk. And I'll listen." - Morrie Schwartz, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.

Tuesdays were their meeting days in college. Outside of Morrie's semester long courses, Mitch would spend every Tuesday they could both manage with his professor. It was their day of private lessons and bonding moments then. Now, nearly twenty years later, it is their day again. As Morrie so eloquently reminds Mitch in one of his several weekly visits, they are Tuesday people.

Have you ever had one of those mentors in your life - a friend, a grandparent, a teacher, or maybe even a colleague- who touched your life in a way that you could never imagine possible or begin to summarize? They understood you, perhaps when the rest of the world didn't, taught you lessons you could never forget and always tried to give you the best advice they could so that you could see the forest through the trees? For Mitch Albom, this person was his college professor; Morrie Schwartz. Tuesday's with Morrie is about the rekindling of Mitch's relationship with Morrie, twenty some-odd years after loosing touch, during the elder man’s dying days. In his old professor's final days, Mitch finds that he is learning the greatest lessons of all. These lessons aren't those that you can find hidden in a text book or even somewhere in the writings of Shakespeare. They are lessons about life, and, most importantly, what makes it fullest.

Fiction is usually my reading genre, but this non-fiction novel gave me a pleasant surprise. Most people have the misconception that novels in the non-fiction genre are dry, boring and lacking in emotion (even I do!); Tuesdays with Morrie is nothing of that sort. Tuesdays with Morrie is an unconventionally written biography full of soul. Instead of reading a chronological time-line of Morrie’s life from the beginning to the end, Mitch Albom displayed the last leg of Morrie’s life in as much of a personal way as possible. It isn’t necessarily about Morrie’s life, or death, as it is about the gifts he gave to the world that made him so spectacular; his lessons in particular. The novel, itself, is one long lesson; the last thesis. The lessons from Morrie, tucked inside Albom’s novel, are insightful and thought provoking. He was a remarkable man filled with enlightenment and depth.

Admirably, Albom often admitted faults of his own character in the pages of Tuesdays with Morrie, proving a strong sense of self. It takes effort to broadcast your faults to a mass amount of people. He portrays himself as a young man absorbed in his work and caught up in the detached moral fibers of society. Morrie is a man who loves to live life to the fullest forced to change his entire life because of Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). He is a dancer, a teacher and a kid at heart but ALS tries it’s hardest to rip that all away from him. There is, though, one other thing he is; an optimistic fighter.

Mitch Albom has a way of relaying Morrie's words so that we not only connect to the prophetic words that are spoken, but to the man behind the words as well. By the time the last page of the novel is turned, you feel like you knew Morrie and, if you are anything like me, his words will have touched you beyond compare. Even as I flipped over that last page and closed the hard cover, my eyes were red with tears and my pillow soaked. I cannot say the tears were solely out of sorrow, although they partially were (as the world "loosing" such a loving soul as Morrie seemed so horrible), because even until the final pages I found myself smiling. Morrie's personality and Mitch's portrayal of his old teacher keeps the novel lighthearted, even in the most gut wrenching scenes. After all, as Morrie so eloquently put it, he wasn't dying, he was just becoming part of the ocean that is humanity; death isn't permanent, so long as there are those that love you to carry on your memory.

So, grab a box of tissues, curl up in your favorite spot and open this heart warming novel. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself learning right alongside Mitch as his favorite professor gives his final lessons on living.

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Mitch Albom, originally a sports journalist, is a critically acclaimed author well known for his novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven. He is also the author of three other non-sports related novels, including Tuesdays with Morrie.

If you are interested in learning more about Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie or his other writings, you can visit http://mitchalbom.com/home/ , his official website.

The Alchemyst - Michael Scott

When I first came across Michael Scott's The Alchemyst: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, walking around in the labyrinth of Borders, I didn't know what to think. The cover, that of ancient runes and intriguing symbols, gave me a youthful, old-world impression of the novel but yet, at the same time, I found it oddly enchanting. It was so enchanting, in fact, that I picked up the book and flipped it over. No surprise, the book is even better than even the tantalizing synopsis puts forth.

The Alchemyst is the first book in a six-part series. Its plotline revolves around two teenage twins; Sophie and Josh Newmen. Like any other summer, the two twins are spending their time in San Francisco with their Aunt Agnes while their parents, who are archeologists and paleontologists, work in Utah. This year’s normal summer trip, however, quickly proves to be anything but average. Well-after settling into San Francisco and their jobs, the two twins are pulled, without warning or meaning, into a world of unknown when the infamous Dr. John Dee attacks the book store Josh is working at looking for the Book of Abraham. Nick Flemming, formally Nicholas Flamel, is the guardian of the book of Abraham and, not to mention, Josh’s boss.


A magical battle between the two ancient figures from history results in Flamel’s wife, Perenelle, being kidnapped and the Book of Abraham landing into unsafe hands. However, there is a catch – it is not the full Book of Abraham; Josh, amidst the battle, managed to rip out a few vital pages of The Final Summoning. Flamel knows that it will only be a matter of time before Dee returns for the book, and for the lives of them all. Now, in peril danger, Flamel races against time to find protection for the two teens, whom he believes more special than anyone could fathom, and to retrieve both the Book of Abraham and Perenelle before the end of the month. For, at the end of the month, time for the legendary figures will run out.


Proving to be a dangerous and deadly adventure from the get-go, the Alchemyst is one of those enthralling books that will have you locked in your room for days on end (if you don’t finish it first) and leave you hungry for more. I finished it within the length of a weekend, eating it up like it was a hot fudge sundae. My only issue with the book was that, by the time I had finished it I was so hooked I now had to wait until my next trip to Borders to get the next one!


Michael Scott proves himself a flexible author with his ability to weigh a sense of urgency and dangerous adventure in The Alchemyst and counterbalance it with charming wit and humor. The primary sources of the humor come from the twins themselves and their personal body guard, Scathatch, a figure from Celtic legend. Although old, Scatty is young in appearance and, at times, in personality. Ex.:


In the backseat, Scatty stirred. “Oh , not Ojai. Please tell me we’re not going there.”


Flamel twisted in his seat. “Perenelle told me to go south.”


“L.A. is south, Mexico is south, even Chile is south of here. There are
lots of nice places that lie to the south...”


“Perenelle told me to take the children to the Witch,” Flamel said patiently. “And the Witch is in Ojai.”


Sophie and Josh looked quickly at each other, but said nothing.


Scatty sat back and sighed dramatically. “Would it make a difference if I told you I didn’t want to go?”


“None at all.” - Pages 283-84, The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, by Michael Scott.


Aside from a captivating plot The Alchemyst has a beautiful portrayal of characters and a strong sense of realism. Although the twins are thrown into a world of unknown magical abilities they are not immediately in awe of it. In fact, more often than not they show a strong and true inner struggle between what they once knew and what is now before them. They do not immediately believe in the world they have stepped into and often wonder if they have been put on Candid Camera. Still, they do find this new world fascinating and, at times, terrifying. Equally realistic and pleasing to the portrayal of Josh and Sophie’s inner struggles is the portrayal of the rest of the cast. Most of the cast is based in some way shape or form off of old historical characters and legends, with Scott’s own personal twist. John Dee is a man who has his own agenda, he claims to be helping the Dark Eldars, but you never know quite what he is up to. Scathach is the protector of the twins, an ancient Celtic warrior and hero trainer and, not to mention, a spiritual vampire. Flamel, similar to Dee, is a man who you never know quite what he is up to but are constantly being reassured that he has everyone’s best interests at heart….but does he really?


The Alchemyst is a book that I strongly recommend, especially to lovers of magical series such as Harry Potter or even some of Tamora Pierce’s novels. The writing styles aren’t necessarily similar but the plot lines, like those stated above, are surely ones that will have you begging for more. However, even if you aren’t a fan of those books, I recommend picking up the Alchemyst and reading it, you never know what adventure you might find in the novel.


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If you are interested in learning more about The Alchemyst and its sequels – or if you are interested in Michael Scott or anything he has written under his name or his pen name, Anna Dillon, you can visit http://www.dillonscott.com/, his official website.

Surrogates

Bruce Willis brings this action sci-fi movie to great levels. Surrogates shows us what life would be like in complete solitude from the world, while at the same time being able to socialize. Only, in this life, you are not socializing in your own skin. The movie seems to prove more points to how precious each person's own life is than to rather have a true clear plot. It is a typical action movie, those who watch many action movies may be able to predict what happens along the way of watching the movie. There are reasons this movie is rated PG 13, but those who watch many action movies will probably not be fazed. Some things to expect are: Explisions, disturbing images, sexuality, drug related scene, and sequences of violence. Over all, good movie, but is something that you'd have to be in to to thoroughly enjoy.

Amelia

This movie was based on the true life story of Amelia Earhart. In the movie it goes through different details of her life, her personal life, to her life in the spotlight as a pilot. Some well known actresses and actors worked hard to make this legondary story come to life, their names are, Hillary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewen McGregor, and Christopher Eccleston. The movie seemed to capture the light of Amelia's story in a new way, while still keeping the the facts straight. My original fears going into this movie was that they would hollywoodize it too much, put too much of a new modern day twist and leave out the facts. But, they managed to keep a good balance between the two, they kept the facts, and made sure that the romance and fictional parts to the movie were kept to a reasonable level. The movie was not a doctumentory, but the content is still something that you could find in a text book. Amelia is an inspiring heart warming film that would be enjoyed by people of all ages.

:: Welcome :: Introduction

Hello,

My name is Katie - or you may better know me as BeyondTheCrystalShores. Have you ever gone to the movies or read a book and had so many opinions - good or bad - that you just couldn't wait for your best friend to watch it so that you could critique it together in late night phone conversations? Well, I've been there, done that, and mainly with my friend, VitaniCoyote. So, after years of complaining and rejoicing privately with one another in the most detailed of fashions we both buckled down and told eachother "let's do a review blog". Coming up with the idea has been much easier than the execution, however, it has been and will continue to be a progressive work in progress.

This is our blog, a compilation of reviews done by us after watching a movie or reading a book that we just couldn't help but talk about! You'll find the author of each review below the title of the post. Your comments and critiques are encouraged as well as any thoughts that you personally had about the movie or book. After all, any act is only as good as the reaction of its viewers.

I hope that you enjoy this blog, and that the information posted here can be of some help to you.

Thank you for taking the time to look at this blog

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May joy and happiness fill the spaces in your life. :)