Lust, Money & Murder, Mike wells

Lust, Money & Murder

Mike wells

Overall, Lust, Money & Murder is a good read. The book flows. Mike Wells presents Elaine (the main character), with full bodied details. She is believable. The storyline is pretty realistic. Elaine’s father Patrick Brogan, is of Irish descent. He is a hard working construction worker who does a few shady things to be able to afford daddy’s little princess’ private school, modeling lessons and such.


Lust, Money & Murder, lives up to it’s name; there is a little bit of lust, a lot of money, some murder and just enough of a mystery to leave you thinking about whether or not to read the next book.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist

byPaulo Coelho

　

The overall story is redundant and sermonic. The book does not give light to the complexities of life nor the individual. The characters are flat. Every other sentence contains at least one reference to either "The Soul of the World", or "The Personal Legend", or "Follow Your Heart". The Alchemist has been translated into many different languages, and regrettable, it feels like it.

While I am critical, certain points from Coelho’s book were not lost on me, I simply view life as a complex puzzle with endless possibilities for learning and growth. For the life of me I cannot understand how some individuals imprison their dreams like they are unspeakable taboos.

Coelho offers the same story we have heard a million times over, in fables such as; Sinbad, the Prince and the Pauper and even the 1983 movie Trading places, with Eddie Murphy, yet not as entertaining.

The Alchemist is the story of Santiago, the shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. First, like Sinbad, Santiago wants to change his social economic standing. Santiago has dreams. Like the Prince and the Pauper, Santiago finds the treasures of his dreams very different from reality. Finally, like the movie Trading places ,Santiago learns, the grass is not always greener on the other side and money can’t buy happiness.



By the end of the novel I was skimming most passages and praying for closure. Happily, it came and I closed the book shut.


T Portlock review

2012

Note:

During a Misfit book club meeting one of our members pointed out author Coelho targeting a younger audience. And truthfully I hadn’t considered the audience the author was aiming. Something I did not consider.

This was my thoughts on the book, what are yours?

Question of the Month March,

 the Question:

Aliens who have never encountered humans or earth,

  ask you to educate them with better understanding of humans,

Choose one book you have read;  

 1 rule, no bibles.

What 1 book would you choose?

My philosophy, of what it is to be human, is having freewill, having the capacity for great courage, the ability to love something greater than ourselves such as God, and future possibilities. We are driven by our weaknesses‘, our hatreds, our social environments, and our realities.

With this idea in mind consider the question,

Aliens who have never encountered humans or earth,

ask you to educate them with better understanding of humans,

Choose one book you have read;

1 rule, no bibles.

What 1 book would you choose?

Before I give you my answer I want to give you the answers I got from all the people I polled.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and Neil Gaiman from J. Davis and C Vazquez

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex by John Gray from P. Welks



One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Book, Dr. Seuss (Author) from A. Hill Sr.

The five people you meet in heaven, Mitch Albom from T. Howard

The Cradle Will Fall by Mary Higgins Clark from C. Singleton



The Tommyknockers by Stephen King from Ms. Price



The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan… from J. Washington



Clive Barker's Hellraiser Vol. 1 by Clive Barker, from W. Chiang




Textbook of Humanology: The Complete Science of Human Analysis by John Bryce Adams by my 11 year old nephew D.J Hill who read it in school.



And my choice is

The Iliad, by Homer
Question did not have a right or wrong answer only an opinion.

What are your thoughts?