The Clock of Life
Author: Nancy Klann-Moren


This book is not one you can just read once and then forget. The message of this book will stay with you forever. The story takes place in the South and at a time when people are fighting for Civil Rights.

The main character is Jason Lee who on his first day of school becomes friends with a colored boy named Sampson. Jason Lee was always being called names and hit because of it. But that would not stop him from being best friends and blood brothers with Sampson.

Jason was at an age where he wanted to know about his dad. He was only told his dad died in Viet Nam and was a hero. His mom and uncle would not talk about him. Whenever he asked about his dad his mother said, “too hush up as it would upset his uncle who was hurt bad in the conflict.”

Jason did find out that his dad was a Civil Rights Activist and had been beat because of it more than once.

I know I am skipping major parts of this story, but to do it real justice it would take me hundreds of words to describe it. I will tell you that the ending will blow you away. I will tell you that I am going to buy some copies myself to give as Christmas presents.

Rated PG for violence and language.

Jetpack Jenny

I liked the cover of this book. It is colorful and invites people to turn the page. The main character is Jenny. From the beginning of summer she volunteered to be an assistant to Mr. Suchare who is a family friend. Jenny’s father was always talking about how brilliant Mr. Suchare was. So Jenny would go to his house and help him in any way he might need. There was really not a lot to do so Jenny started working on a jetpack that was to be her science project. She hated flying because of the long lines of people trying to get their tickets and checking in their bags. By time they got on board the plane Jenny was always tired.
Jenny had borrowed a lot of books from the library and was working on a jetpack that would help her so she could fly by herself and avoid airports. Then one day Mr. Suchare had her sit down and told her she was “The Chosen One.” He told her that she was the only person who could save the world from an alien attack.
This is the type of book where a parent could read a chapter each night to their kids. The chapters are not long so the book could hold the attention of younger children. I think the best age group would be 6 to 9 year olds.
Rated G and 3 stars

The Reality of the Virtual and Presage
by Betsy Cheung

The language in this book is not one that is spoken every day. If in your daily life words such as quasi monopolistic or megalomaniacal idea or even quantum physics are used then you would be fine. But for me I had to look up the meaning of each word.
In the first part of the book page 28 is followed by page 60 and then to 45. My feeble mind was having enough problems without the pages to be out of order.
Yet when the book changed to “Presage,” it all began to come together for me. I have so much respect for the author and her abilities. If you read the other reviews of this book or the jacket you will know more about this book than I could write in two hundred words or less.
One of the many things that I did find interesting is that God and science were mentioned together. One character wanted to reach to heaven and know about God. Now that is something I do know about.
This book is high impact and fast. Once I looked up words I had never heard of in my life I did found this book to be interesting.
Rated PG for violence

Marilyn Monroe, On the Couch, Inside the mind and life of Marilyn Monroe.

By Alma H. Bond, Ph.D.


One of the things I liked about this book is the fact that, Dr. Bond did a lot of research and has made each conversation believable. This book may be fiction but by all accounts the things Marilyn could have said; I can resonate with Dr. Bond getting them right. This story is Marilyn talking to her shrink and what was said.

The books starts with a little girl named Norma Jeane Mortenson. Her mother suffered from mental illness and was in and out of mental hospitals all of Norma Jeane’s life. The child was left with friends sometimes and then orphanages at other times. Norma Jeane was a very sensitive little girl. The sexual things that happened to her stayed with her, her whole life. She felt like she was never good enough never smart enough and love never lasted. Her own father she had never met and she had a tendency to become attracted to older men. I was surprised that she had a death wish. Life did not really matter to her. She expressed her feelings in poems she wrote. Or took poems of other author’s and she would change some of the words to fit her life. People can say a lot of bad things about her, but everything she did related back to her childhood and what happened. She wanted to become a very good actress and a mom. She got her first wish but was never able to have a child of her own. She was the sexiest, most beautiful woman of her time but plaque by the way her life lead her. I was born in 1951, and remember my dad and mom talking about the way she died. They think that President JFK and his brother Bobby were responsible for her death. I don’t have an answer for that, but do know she finally got her wish. She went to sleep and never woke up again. To me she was a delicate butterfly who finally got to spread her wings and fly. Excellent book!
Five Stars
PG 16

The Keeper Of The Diary Judith Diana Winston Chewut Press 3435 Ocean Park Boulevard suite 107-37 Santa Monica, CA 90405 www.The Keeper Of The Diary 978-0-9643282-11 $21.84 485 pages Sandra Heptinstall Reviewer I have never read a book like this one before. It is called Visionary Fiction. In fact I did not even know there was this type of genre. What I do know is that the author is brilliant. The story begins with a young woman who lives in San Francisco and has a promising business as a fashion photographer. Yet she has a strong desire to move to L.A. Her friends think she is crazy to go to a place she hates and live there. Yet it is like a strong current is running through telling her she must move. While she is there she works where ever she can get a job. She is broke most of the time and can’t even come up with the money she owes her roommate for her half of the apt and bills. Then one day she gets a call from an old friend who says he found a job for her. It was to be a photographer to tourist heading to Egypt on vacation. It is only for two weeks and the job pays will pay $2,000 dollars and also pay for meals and hotels on the trip. Cassie decided to take the job as she needed the money. One day she discovers a diary in her camera case. As she goes to pick it up she is shocked and her fingers burnt. As she begins to read it she is pulled into what is written. I was pulled into this story also. This story is mysterious, mystical, full of surprises and life changing for Cassie. For me I had to read some parts twice to understand where the story was taking me. This is not a fast read nor is it a lite one. For me the story did not sit well because of my beliefs. But I have to be honest and will give this book five stars.

A Christmas for Katie

I love reading books about Christmas and the Amish religion also. This little book did not let me down. It is the story of Katie who is six and a half years old and Amish. Katie has a mission to get the plastic nativity scene in front of the library fixed up by Christmas Eve. Miss Donovan the librarian does not show much interest in doing so. Katie told her mom that “Miss Donovan seems sad because she does not have a love life.” Katie’s poor mom told her not to be butting into someone’s personal life and that she has a head of grey hair all because of Katie. Then one night Miss Donovan was getting ready to close the library for the night, when the new deputy Conner Fields comes in and asked if he had time to check out some books. While he was there they both heard a noise from outside and an old woman was on the ground saying someone attacked her. From here on the book is pretty predictable. I do want to say “Mom and dad if you are looking down then I’ m so sorry for the way I acted as a child.” Katie and I have a lot in common. Rated G

The Road to Grace

There are so many things I have enjoyed in this book. One is the beginning of each chapter it will say Alan Christoffersens Diary. An example of what I mean is on chapter 13 and it reads as the following. “Whether cautionary or exemplary, there has not yet been a life lived that we cannot learn from. It is up to us to decide which ours will be.” Alan is walking from Seattle, WA to Key West, Florida. Along the way he meets many people each with their own story. I will share with you two people he has meant. One is a polish man who has an unimaginable story of being in a concentration camp and losing his whole family. I have to be honest and say his story made me cry. Then we have the one about the differences in being a tramp or a hobo. Hobo’s, do a lot of panhandling and begging for money. Tramps don’t beg unless they have too. Tramps work and travel from job to job. They don’t have a home or car so they hitch hike. To me what I found to be really profound is the author telling us what the Grace of God really is. How he found it and how we can also. Rated G