There are few things that make me as happy as a good bar of chocolate. As a child, candy was in short supply and the idea of venturing inside a candy factory seemed heavenly. I so remember that first view of Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The river of chocolate became a permanent fixture in my memory. Years later I would tour the local Braum’s ice cream factory and when they dipped the frozen ice cream on a stick into the stream of chocolate I went right back to my childhood and the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Julie Dawn Cole’s defining role will always be that of Veruca Salt in that same movie. In her autobiography I Want It Now! a Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Cole shares how she went from a childhood of poverty to one of privilege while filming the movie.

Cole went on to have a successful career as an actress and raised two children. However, the role of Veruca will stay with her. The movie opened with great promise, but took years to become the iconic movie that it is now. It wasn’t until the success of the video tape and then later the DVD that this movie really became a mainstay of pop culture. Looking back we can see the ways that this film became a part of our lives. In fact, the image of Gene Wilder as Willie Wonka has it’s own twitter account and meme. The reader of Cole’s memoir finds that the behind the scenes events were as wholesome as the movie itself. There was very little conflict or misbehavior. In this day of child stars playing out their disfunction in the every day glare of modern media, it is refreshing to see Cole and her costars return to a normal life after the movie with varying results. Cole is the only one who remained in the acting profession throughout her life. The others pursue careers ranging from accountant to veterinarian.

Cole’s tag line is reflected in the title of her book – I want it now! She portrayed the role of a little girl of privilege who’s father indulged her every whim. It’s ironic that this very attitude has become the norm for many children and teenagers, especially those in the public eye. The author of the book that the movie is based on, Roald Dahl, foreshadowed this current reality with accuracy. Not only do we want the chocolate and the riches now, we want the fame and attention now as well. Unfortunately for many the now comes too readily and often leads to tragic results. How encouraging to know that Cole was not one of those cases.

The comedy business is a man’s world. Many of the things that a lot of people think are funny are just not very ladylike. Crude language, body parts and smells, pratfalls are all standards in the comedy universe. Women have had to fight to be included as equals. Of course, women are a necessity in sketch comedy, but were often viewed as support, not as the star. Tina Fey entered the business during a time where all of this was changing. She grew up as many comedians do, a bit of an outsider. As an adult she gravitated to Second City in Chicago and found a place in the touring company. It was here that she realized the inequity of the system and fought to establish a balance.

Bossypants is Tina Fey’s account of her success in the competitive comedy business. She became head writer at Saturday Night Live shares a bit of the backstage happenings during that time. 30 Rock started on NBC as a quirky little sitcom without much of a direction. As head writer, producer and star, Fey was instrumental in the ultimate success of the show. She built her family around the business. Few shares much about her struggles as a woman, a wife and a mom. She brings so much humor to all that she does. This was a fun read and having watched 30 Rock over the years it was easy to visualize her expressions as I read. The popular and innovative show has recently ended and Fey’s future in television and film is unknown. However, I’m sure that she will be successful and remain a Bossypants.

Years ago I thoroughly enjoyed a little sitcom called Less Than Perfect. The stars of this show included Sara Rue, Zachary Levi, Andy Dick and Sheri Shepherd. I have followed them since on their various shows, especially Chuck and The View. Sheri Shepherd just shines on the daytime talk show and I was excited to find out she had written a book. Shepherd’s memoir, Permission Slips: Every Woman’s Guide to Giving Herself a Break, details her journey from a legal secretary to comedian to actress to talk show host. Shepherd shares how her childhood shaped her life, especially her family’s involvement with the religious group Jehovah’s Witness. One of the hallmark’s of the group is the idea that the world is ending imminently. Even after she left the group, she adhered to that believe and used it as an excuse to avoid paying bills, including traffic tickets. This eventually landed her in jail for a short time, which changed her life.

Shepherd centers her book around the idea that women put too much pressure on themselves to be perfect and should give themselves permission to let go of some of these expectations. It is a soothing reminder that we need to let go of the past and look towards the future. In this day and age of instant access to information about people, it is interesting to read this book and realize all of the changes that have taken place in her life in the time since writing the book. In the book she seemed reluctant to expect to find true love. Her tales about her young son detailed the troubles he had as a result of his early arrival. She has now found love again with her husband Sal and her son is flourishing. Her success on The View is just part of her successful career and she has written another book about dealing with Diabetes. She has given herself permission to succeed and be happy, no matter the past. A great lesson for all of us.

Tonight at dinner, I ordered a peach cobbler. Not always a fresh peach fan, my husband was a bit surprised that I ordered it. When it came cooked in it’s own little pan, with a scoop of fresh ice cream, I dug in. In a flash, summers from my childhood came to my mind and a film strip of memories played. I remembered my dad stopping at the roadside farmer’s stand and purchasing fresh from the orchard peaches each summer. Then we’d go home and make them into cobbler, or slice them and eat them with ice cream on the back porch.

There are so many foods that stir emotion in me. Most of the people I know have the same experience. One of my friends almost cried when she told me about eating at a local restaurant in her hometown with her current beau and how the memories of her granddad and the many meals shared there with him came to her during that time. But I’ve recently discovered that not everyone is so emotionally tied to food memories. What a joy to find a kindred spirit in Shauna Niequist!

In Niequist’s recent book, Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table, with Recipes, she shares stories about her life and the ongoing relationship she has with food. She explains her battle with her self image and how her love of food has effected that image. She recounts the food she has enjoyed while traveling around the world. At the end of most stories, she also share a favorite recipe. Throughout this unusual storytelling, Niequist opens up about her relationship with her husband, her family and friends, and the struggle with infertility. She shares the unbridled joy of giving birth to her second son and the accompanying fear that the newborn life arose in her. She ends the book with reflections on communion and the special place that the bread and wine hold in her heart.

This book was chosen for our July book club book at church and the resulting conversation was enlightening. Through discussing the book, we were able to get to know each other better through the tales of our childhood and the food that we remembered. One of the common experiences we discussed was communion and the meaning it has for each of us. We were reminded that this sacrament is to be shared in our faith community. Two very simple foods that hold so much meaning for us all.

When I was growing up in an era of three main tv channels, you only knew about things if they were in writing, on the news at 5, 6 or 10 or if you experienced it first hand. If a photograph was taken you would not see the results for weeks, or even months. It was easy to live in your own little world, unaware of what others were doing. My how times have changed! Much of what happens now is reported instantaneously and we can see exactly what we’re missing. The title of Mindy Kaling’s memoir, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, plays on the fear that we’re missing out on something, somewhere. Kaling’s collection of thoughts and remembrances takes us back to her childhood in the Boston area. She shares the experience of growing up as a first generation Indian American. She takes us through the teenage trials of finding one’s identity while surviving middle school and high school.

One of the major turning points in her life is the discovery of Saturday Night Live. I remember the first time I saw SNL. My parents had picked me up from soccer camp in Texas and we were going to spend some time traveling around visiting relatives. That night in the hotel I watched SNL for the first time. I vividly recall the experience. For Kaling, she had found her people. She knew that these bits brought her great joy and she craved the experience of giving others that experience.

However, as the good daughter of her Indian American parents, she first pursued a college education at an Ivy League University. She was hugely successful at college and entered into the post college years anticipating similar success. She moved to New York City and had just enough of a struggle to provide witty stories before landing on the writing team of The Office.

Kaling’s stories are so much fun to experience through her writing. I could hear her voice as I read and see her facial expressions. Her new television show, The Mindy Project, is one of my must see shows. If you ever feel like you’re missing out on the “in” experiences, get together with Mindy Kaling through her writing and acting and you will find a kindred spirit.

One of the really fun things about reading is the ability to travel through the authors writings. Diane Morlan takes the reader to a small town in Minnesota in her two books Too Dead to Dance and Shake Down Dead. Three childhood friends work together to discover the secrets behind murder in both books. Jennifer Penny, Megan Murphy and Sister Bernadine have been friends since grade school and the same dynamics that bound them together then connect them now that Jennifer has returned to their hometown. Morlan does a great job of grabbing the readers attention from the very first. The first book centers around a Polka festival and highlights the areas heritage. The second book highlights deals with local politics and the secrets of a prominent family in the area. Jennifer jumps right into solving these mysteries and puts herself in peril as most good cozy protagonists tend to do. I look forward to Morlan’s next mystery and a return to Minnesota with the girls.

I’ve always like the idea of having tea – the British type of tea. Taking a break from the day and enjoying a biscuit and a spot of tea. The one time I visited England I enjoyed this tradition, complete with cucumber sandwiches. This may be one of the things that drew me to Susan Alison’s book White Lies and Custard Creams. That and the fact that it was free!
The large cast of characters took a while to connect with. The setting was unclear and I struggled to visualize where the action was taking place. However, about a quarter of the way in I became fully engaged and began caring about the characters and what would happen in their crazy lives. By the end of the book I was a bit sad to see them all go. A little bit romance, a little bit personal journey and a lot of intrigue, Alison weaves together the characters and their stories to provide for an exciting journey.

When I was a younger adult, I spent hours upon hours reading romances. Every Danielle Steele bestseller made its way into our house to be read in a few days time. I eventually realized that these books set an unrealistic example of what romantic love was really like and soon moved on to other types of writing. More recently, I have found some sweet romances that are fun for a quick read on my Kindle. These romances are often a tale of redemption or renewal for a young woman who has experienced heartbreak. One of my very first e-books was by Heather Wardell Life, Love and a Polar Bear. This free e-book is the first in what she calls The Toronto Series. I recently download the next four books in this series Go Small or Go Homes, Planning to Live, Stir Until Thoroughly Confused and A Life That Fits. The Canadian city of Toronto is an essential character in these books. Some characters even reappear briefly in other volumes. These books are a little bit formulaic, but are fun, easy reads. Wardell diverges from the common romances where a man is the key to a woman’s happiness. She build strong female characters and doesn’t always provide a storybook ending.

I also download another of her works Seven Exes are Eight Too Many. This book centered on a reality show theme. I have never been a big fan of this genre, so it took me a long time to really become engaged. I was able to figure out the outcome quickly and basically just worked to finish this one.

There are six more books in the Toronto collection and I look forward to reading those. I hope they are more like her earlier works and not Seven Exes. It is nice to experience a city that I have never visited and anticipate returning through Wardell’s book soon.

My family always gives me an exasperated sigh when we have to return to the house to check to see if the garage door closed or the curling iron was successfully unplugged. This sense of leaving something undone is a heritage I inherited from my mother, as did my sister. Image young Sarah’s panic when she realizes that she left her little brother locked in a hidden cupboard in her family apartment. When the French police came for her family, Sarah thought they would return within the day. She hid her little brother as a way to protect him. Her parents had not shared the reality of what would probably happen should they be taken away. When her parents were sent away, Sarah did her best to return to her little brother. Her quest to return to her brother and the legacy of that quest are the basis for Tatiana De Rosnay’s popular novel Sarah’s Key.

I was reluctant to read this book. Knowing the basis premise, I was afraid that it would just be too tragic. Once I finally decided to read it, I was instantly engrossed in the dual story of the World War II era Jewish family and the modern French/American family. De Rosnay wove the two tales together with a touch of intrigue that compelled me to keep reading. She provided elements of history and romance that balanced the tragic element of war. The ending was a little bit unsatisfying, leaving a few dangling elements. Sarah’s Key spent a great deal of time on the Bestseller’s Lists and a quick read revealed exactly why. I was sad to let the characters go when I finished this book – a true sign of a good novel.

From an early age we are taught how to care for ourselves. We learn how to dress ourselves, keep ourselves clean, provide food and other nourishment. However, we often go years without learning how to care for our soul. Lisa Colon DeLayhas written a short series of articles that she has combined into an e-document she calls Soul Care for Creators and Communicators. Within this document are many jewels of advice that speak to my soul. She discusses what Soul Care is and how it differs from traditional therapy. She lists 10 Signs that an individual may need Soul Care. All of this is tied to our spiritual journey. In the second volume of her work, she discusses Isolation and Community and the importance of avoiding isolation. Volume Three gives us 8 Paths to Learning. Volume Four shows the many Slumps, Burnout and Frustrations that we encounter and how the Sabbath can provide comfort for the journey. Volume 5 details God’s Grand Story from Creation to Redemption.

I found this work good for my soul as I travel down my specific journey. After years of full time paid ministry I gave a great deal of my soul to the work of the church. I encounter many of the slumps, burnout and frustrations that she discusses. Since leaving paid ministry, I have developed a tendency to isolate myself. This attempt to heal and protect myself from further frustrations, I often find myself causing my soul greater damage. Avoiding community takes me into my self thought and that can be a scary place to be. I find her list of 8 Paths to Learning to be helpful and need to print it out where I can reference it often. These 8 paths are: 1. Through the Holy Spirit 2. Through Scripture 3. In community 4. Through spiritual guides/teachers 5. Through Sacraments 6. Through devotional practices 7. Through Christian History/Tradition 8. Through the created world, a.k.a. “nature. These seem obvious, but I too often find my self spending my time watching tv or scanning the internet. I hope to focus on these 8 paths more often in the days to come and to care for my soul in the way that God intends.