Books Read in June 2011

Berry, Steve
- The Amber Room
Fiction, divorced couple go on a journey to solve the mystery of the famous Amber Room that disappeared during WWII from Catherine's Palace in Russia.

Blackwell, Juliet
- Hexes and Hemlines
Fiction, third paranormal cozy mystery in A Witchcraft Mystery series.

Carroll, Rick
- Hawaii’s Best Spooky Tales: The Original 
Fiction, famous spooky stories from the Hawaiian Islands.

Heckman, Victoria
- K.O.’d in Honolulu 
Fiction, first in the K.O.'s police cozy mystery.  Eh...

Mayes, Frances
- Under the Tuscan Sun 
Non-fiction, author's adventures in purchasing and renovating a villa in Tuscany, has recipes, fictional movie based on this book starring Diane Lane.

Silva, Daniel
- The Rembrandt Affair 
Fiction, tenth book in the Gabriel Allon mystery series surrounding the theft of a painting during WWII.

Dream: Head Shots & Ghosts

I actually had four dreams last night.  In the first one, I was having a discussion about witchcraft and ceremony with a group of people.  Then we had our own ritual.  In the second dream, I was in a white room with a group of people, and we were either at work or in a store, and someone starting firing a gun in the next room.  We all scrambled to hide as he came closer to the door, but he ended up killing several people.  I was almost to the next room, when I was shot twice in the back of the head.  It didn't hurt, but I could feel the heaviness and pressure in my head.  I knew I had to get to the next room before I died, and I struggled to my feet and had just made it to the doorway, when I woke up.  The third dream had something to do with my cats and my old apartment, with a lot of people coming and going.  In the fourth dream, I was with my brother and my parents in our old Victorian house that has been in a number of my dreams.  Outside, it's one size, but inside, it seems to expand to whatever setup I need, and it's full of hidden rooms and secret passageways.  My parents were trying to go to sleep in the bedroom, but my brother and I were playing the piano in the next room, then we went to the mall to shop for clothes and video games and ended back in the same room playing the piano.  When we finished, I looked up and saw a girl running up the stairs in the hallway.  My brother and I followed her, but she was afraid and kept running faster.  When we reached the third floor, it was a dusty old room without any furniture.  There were four other ghosts up there, and all of them were afraid of us except for one girl that I had spoken with before.  As we talked, the other ghosts came around and joined the conversation.  They were all upset about something and trying to get me to help them...but I got woken up.

Books Read in May 2011

Golden, Arthur
- Memoirs of a Geisha
Fiction, tale of a girl who is sold into the life of a geisha.

Patterson, James
- Honeymoon
- Lifeguard 
Fiction, Black Widow murder mystery, so-so; lifeguard/pool guy is set up as the murderer in a killing spree.

Stewart, Carol Lynn
- Door in the Sky 
Fiction, half-Basque witch, Gascon daughter of the local nobleman, fights her way to freedom under the cloud of charges brought during the Inquisition.

Tan, Amy
- The Bonesetter’s Daughter
- The Kitchen God’s Wife
Fiction, tale-within-a-tale of a Chinese-American woman learning about her ancestors in China; another tale-within-a-tale of a Chinese-American woman who learns of her mother's early life in China.

Dream: Forbidden Loves

The first night, I had a dream that I was very interested in a guy, only to find out that he was only interested in his sister.  She said that he was upset about being in love with a woman he couldn't have.  The second night, I dreamed that I was interested in a guy, but he was only interested in his dog.  This is just getting bizarre.  

So when I woke up yesterday, I finally realized this was all coming (I hope!) from the book I'm currently reading.  It's about a woman who is in love with a man who is in love with another man who is in love with both of them.  So, the one man slept with the bisexual, got upset, slept with the woman out of guilt over his feelings for the man, but he kept calling out the man's name while he was having sex with her, which upset her, so afterwards, she slept with the bisexual (how's that for a run-on sentence?).  Anyway, the book is not about who slept with who, it's about the daughter who was conceived that night who ends up being raised by the two men after her mother disappears.  Complicated?

Books Read in April 2011

Christie, Agatha
- Miss Marple:  The Complete Short Stories
Fiction, collection of the Grand Dame's English cozy mysteries.

Harwin, Patricia
- Arson and Old Lace
Fiction, first in the Far Wychwood cozy mystery series about an ex-pat American living in a small English village.

Havens, Erin
- Warriors: Forest of Secrets
- Warriors: Rising Storm
- Warriors: A Dangerous Path
- Warriors: The Darkest Hour
Fiction, last four books in the Warriors cat series starring Rusty/FirePaw/FireHeart, a cat who leaves the comfort of a home with the two-legs to find adventure and acceptance with the feral Thunderclan.

Kimberly, Alice
- The Ghost and Mrs. McClure 
Fiction, first in the Haunted Bookshop cozy mystery series about a woman who owns a Rhode Island bookshop, and the private investigator ghost who helps her solve mysteries.

Lee, Lisa
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Fiction, the entangled lives of two young girls in 19th century China.

Shayne, Maggie
- Eternity
- The Gingerbread Man 
Fiction, first in the Immortal Witches series about a couple who keep finding themselves living through one lifetime into another, and their journey to find each other and escape the evil one; police detective works with a young woman to solve the cases of a serial child killer.

Dream: Hair Clumps

I had the oddest dream the other night.  Like all my dreams, it was long and involved, but the most interesting part was me running my hands through my hair and pulling out fuzzy clumps of dead hair.  My hair started out very poofy, but as I got more clumps out of it, I could see and feel clean, shiny healthy hair underneath.  I filled up one wastebasket, and still had barely made a dent in all the clumps.  I figure the dream was about clearing out old "dead" stuff and making room for new things/ideas/ways of life.  Rebirth.  Basically, the same decluttering process that I've been working on in my room.  I think Stalking Tiger is happy that I'm finally working on something productive.  It's been a long time coming!

Poetry - "Druid Magick"

Druid Magick (© Naomi L. Shank, 1991)

I followed him up the trail, a fragrant purple and gold dusting the rolling hillside.  His tall spare frame clothed in simple white cotton, worn leather sandals cradling feet like oak roots.  Curling silver tendrils of hair flowing downward, reaching almost to his waist.

On the far hill stands the ancient henge, eternal and shimmering in the fading solstice light.  Swirling mist lies low, sheltering the treed vale below.  My heart racing in anticipation, we step lightly over the bubbling brook.  Twinkling rainbow spray over the tumbling, giggling water.

Reaching the tall stones, he turns and smiles, the face I'd thought as granite now kind and loving as any father's.  Moving to the center, I close my eyes, senses reeling.  My heartbeat steadies.  Silence.  Energy, like tiny sparks of light trickle in a kaleidoscope of colors down my skin, my feet grow roots anchoring me to the earth.  I open my eyes.

He turns now and faces the North.  His grizzled beard flecked with down, he stands straight and tall, one hand outstretched, beseeching, the other clamped tight, certain, round the knobby stave of ashen wood.  Sunlight glinting off the ruddy hairs of his raised forearm, he calls out in ancient tongue in a voice graveled and deep.

Turning, he circles the ring of white, white stones -- East, South, West, then North again, voice growing ever stronger, ever clearer, touch, touching me deep, deep inside me.  Feel my heart grow, my soul takes wings!  And as he closes his eyes, I weep.  And as the ground beneath my feet begins to tremble, I burst into flame.