According to his son, the author, who lived a rather reclusive life, died at the age of 91 of natural causes in his New Hampshire home.

I remember Catcher in the Rye being a subject of controversy, one of those books that my parents didn’t want me to read, it was about a rebellious teenager during the 1950’s (I was born in 1951) and had things in it they didn’t think I needed to fill my mind with.  I did eventually read it, and I suppose they were right.  Filling the mind with a story about a character, Holden Caulfield, who tended to have a self-destructive personality, experienced periods of depression, suffered a nervous breakdown, could be fairly vulgar at times, and explored sex, to name a few things, was probably not the best thing to be filling my mind with…and to imagine what teens are filling their minds with now…well don’t suppose I want to go there right now, that’s a subject for another day.

The book is still widely read today, I think (but am not sure) it may even be on reading lists, and read as part of English classes in public schools.

The author chose to live a life out of the public eye to the extreme, not doing interviews and fighting against biographical writings about his life.  That life has now ended at the age of 91.

I never missed the opportunity to watch this adventurous French diver when one of his many documentaries would be on television.  He enjoyed his life and his work to the fullest.  Cousteau spent enough time in the oceans to be well aware, back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, of the damage being done to our ecosystem and made each of us watching aware of the damage that we were doing to our oceans.  But he also let us see into a spectacular and beautiful world that most of us never would have seen without his help.  Today is the anniversary of the publication of one of his classic books, “Silent World“, published in 1953, which later was made into a film.

Best-selling and Pulitzer Prize wining author, John Updike, has died at the age of 75 after his battle with lung cancer. I smiled when reading that he was born in Reading, PA, wondering how much the name of the Town you are born in influences your profession.

His writing skills developed early in life and are attributed to his mother who encouraged him to express himself in writing because he had a speech difficulty and struggled with a skin condition called Psoriasis.

He was Harvard educated, and wrote for a time for The New Yorker. He wrote many novels, short stories, and more, and was a literary critic. He is best known for his Rabbit series, two of which won him Pulitzer Prizes…”Rabbit is Rich” and “Rabbit at Rest”. And for those who would rather view than read, and remember the movie “The Witches of Eastwick”, it was based on the book by Updike.

I don’t have details on his death, except that it was the end of a battle with lung cancer.
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I’m an “oldie but goodie” enough to remember Cher when she was married to Sonny, and they were just starting out in the entertainment industry. I distinctly remember lying on the beach at the Jersey Shore with friends, and our transistor radio blaring “I Got You Babe”. There were no iPods back then, or CD players, or music downloads…we were still listening to vinyl records and an occasional tape….and not the little cassettes, the big 8-tracks. The melody and words are playing in my thoughts as I type as clear as can be!

Of course that was way back then, and this is very much now. Cher has come a LONG way and continues to be on the go! She has written or co-authored several books, including “The First Time”, “Cooking for Cher”; and books have been written about her, including “Cher: If You Believe”, and “The Cher Scrapbook”.

She is as beautiful and talented as ever, and presently performing in Las Vegas. In May of this year she replaced Celine Dion at the Caesars Palace for what will surely be a real “Cher Las Vegas” experience. For the Cher fan, it’s great to know that she is still on the move, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing from her for a long time to come.

Am I the only one that remembers Cher in the early days?

72 years ago today one of the most loved novels of all time was published, “Gone With the Wind”. The book was my favorite kind of book, many pages with a story that I never wanted to end. I have watched the movie more times than I can count, living vicariously the trials faced by Scarlett O’Hara during the Civil War era on her Plantation in the beautiful south.

I remember thinking her statement, repeated often throughout the movie and book when flustered by a problem she could not solve. “oh, I’ll think about this tomorrow” such a wise thing…perhaps this is why I am a master procrastinator - LOL! Of course there were her self-serving relationships with men, and her famous romantic relationship with Rhett Butler, played by the dashing Clark Gable in the movie. Even as I type this, I’m wanting to pull out my old video cassettes (no, haven’t purchased it on DVD yet) or better yet, my old copy of the book, and read it again.

Margaret Mitchell started the book while she was recovering from an injury and had little else to occupy her time, except to be inspired by the stories she had heard while growing up, so she began typing, and the rest is history. I’m sure that is one injury that she was thankful for in the end!

The book and DVD are available below. The DVD set is the more economical 2 DVD set, there is also a deluxe edition with 4 DVD’s, just do a search for Gone With the Wind in the DVD category, and you’ll find it if you want the more expensive edition.

Am I the only girl that dreamed of the day when she would one day own a horse? I loved horses and reading any book I could get my hands on that had anything to do with horses, so reading “Black Beauty” was a natural for me.

So, may I just say thanks to the wonderful author, Anna Sewell, born this day in 1820, for capturing the imagination of a girl like me, and yes, I did realize my dream and did own a beautiful horse for a few years after graduating from High School.

Today is Dr. Seuss’ birthday, he was born in 1904, and I remember well many of his books, including The Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and so many other books that made learning to read a fun experience for young…and old!