Margaret Lesh

I can certainly relate to the protagonist, for I know how it feels to be the outside and not quite fit in. I can't wait to read the rest. It's funny and yet touching at he same time.This was a wonderful book. I really loved it! What I liked best about was the quirky yet endearing characters of Becca, Kat, and Bobby. Becca is quite a complex character, yet easy to relate to probably to those who are teens or young adults, but also to those like me who remember what it was like to be finding your way and learning who you are during those years. I highly recommend it to the librarything reading community. I liked Becca as the protagonist, but I particularly liked Bobby and found him intriguing, wondering what would happen to him in life. I look forward to reading more of M.C. Lesh's books, and plan to start Normalish about Becca's younger sister soon. You should get a copy and read My Friends Are All Strange. I loved this book.… (more)

My Friends Are All Strange is another psychological fiction. I have been reading a lot about crazies lately. This is my third book. This talks about a strange girl named Becca. Becca is a senior in high school. Due to lack of sleep and pressure for the SAT and college applications, she had an episode in the school cafeteria. She took of her shirt because she felt too hot. Her mom brought her to Brookside to allow her to sleep and get back her normal sleeping habits. Also to manage her condition which is still to be known.

While in Brookside, Becca met new friends who are like her suffering from some disorder. Will Becca be able to overcome whatever is plaguing her mind? Would the doctors be able to diagnose what is really wrong with her brain?

The book is about Becca's journey as she struggles to take back the control of her mind. She has an imaginary friend who is illegally occupying her thoughts. Becca wants to get rid of him because he is not helping. He keeps on blaming Becca for everything. Troy, the illegal brain squatter is in Becca's dreams and those dreams are not pleasant. Worst of all, he is around even when Becca is awake.

Becca has always been strange even before the big episode in the cafeteria but it was managed because of her father. Her father was always there to comfort and calm her down. I think her condition got worse right after the death of his father. Also, she was never diagnosed. I just thought, if her condition was referred to an expert in the early stages, the incident at the cafeteria could have been avoided and Becca would have been better off. But at least, the doctors and psychiatrist were able to help her and in the end, she felt better. Troy was no longer living rent-free on her mind. I am at least glad that she has become well and is on her way to conquering college.

I signed up to read the book because the title is very intriguing. I was thinking what kind of strange friends? I thought there was a hint of paranormal or horror but it wasn't. It was all about the strange workings and disorders of the mind. Some may be in the genes, others caused by a tragic or traumatic event and the mind has its own way of coping, strange as it may.

I was not so taken by the book. I admit Becca's character is weird but is endearing in some ways. I just expected more. I was a bit deflated when I found out that the strange friends were just people with mental and behavioral issues. I was expecting something else. Probably, some special traits other than the love for Hello Kitty and skills in playing pool.

I guess, the book is reminding everyone to not forget our mental health. To always get enough sleep and to try to manage the different stresses of daily life. Whether they are emotional, social, physical and psychological. All these problems, no matter the size could always have an impact to our health -physical and mental. The best takeaway I could get from it all is to always get enough sleep. Sleep could always cure everything. For me, sleep has always been my go-to remedy. If I am unhappy about something, I will try to sleep it off. To at least give my mind and heart some rest. And when I am depressed, I would prefer to sleep the whole day. And if something is really off, consult a doctor. Early diagnosis could mean a lot. Early intervention could spell a better quality of life for that loved one. Above all, an ounce of prevention is always better than a pound of cure. It would also help if you have a very good support system of friends and family who will always be there for you, no matter the state of your affairs.

I give the book two and a half stars. Thank you Margaret Lesh for the eARC.… (more)

The cast of characters:

Julia Hawthorne-Florez: The story's main character is 36 years old. She's the office manager of Acme Medical Supply Company. It is the world's most boring job. Julia is a matchmaker, just not a very good one.

Javier Florez: Julia's husband. Javier is 38 years old. He's an artist with a custom screenprinting business. He is a very patient man and has politely urged Julia not to make any more matches because people find it annoying and he's afraid of becoming a social pariah.

Sylvia Cruz: 36 years old. She's a bookkeeper at a Mexican bakery and lives with her parents and older brother Raul. She had the misfortune (or fortune) of moving across the street from Julia.

Ted Wilson: 32 years old. An accountant at Acme Medical Supply Company, Ted is shy, sensitive, handsome, worries about his overweight kitty, and is also very patient. (He works with Julia.)

Lisa: 36 years old, Julia's best friend since childhood, and a dominatrix by trade. She is catnip to men. An unapologetic feminist, she has never shown a softer side.

Frank Florez: 54 years old, a biker, and Javier's father. He's handsome and macho, and we don't quite know what he does for a living.

Chris: Julia's brother, is pushing 40. He's an Episcopal priest, and he happens to be gay. He's experienced the wrong side of a Julia fix-up and is always happy to give her advice.

Welcome to Finding A Man For Sylvia. Julia probably has a match for you.

Available 11/23/12 from Musa Publishing as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.… (more)

I only have one problem with this book. It wasn’t published soon enough. I have, you see, gone through Breast Cancer myself. Not like Margaret’s – hers was Stage IA, a very mild form of Breast Cancer, while mine was Stage IIIB, the last stage before becoming metastatic (spreading to other parts of the body, such as the liver, lungs, etc.).

This is not to say that I in any way am belittling Margaret’s mild cancer. Rather, I applaud her for her strength. Other than a very few friends, I had no family. She, on the other hand, has a loving husband and, at the time of her first bout with cancer, a two-year old son. She had a lot more to lose than I. And that is what matters in all cases, isn’t it? Our loss as it affects our families.

It felt as if I were walking to the gas chamber or gallows.

In December of 1999, when her son was two, Margaret had her first bout with breast cancer. The terror must have been horrific, even if she bore it well and doesn’t make a big deal of it in her book. She had a lumpectomy and radiation, and then lived a normal life, enjoying her husband and child and life itself, until 2012, when a ‘possible’ lump showed up again in the same breast that had given her trouble before. Now, things were different. Now, some serious issues would have to be addressed, and things would be different. It was time for the breasts to vacate the premises. And so begins her story of her diagnosis, treatment, and reconstruction.

Sometimes the only way to deal with horrific things in life is through a dark sense of humor. – Margaret Cho

The thing I truly admire about Margaret’s story is how she lays it out in a humourous manner. Oh, believe me, this story is not a funny one. The fear, pain and nausea, the surgeries and drains and pain, (oh, and did I mention pain?) is terrifying. At times, it is horrifying, and at others simply humiliating. I am right there with her on the nurse who looks at you like you are a bug to be squished on the floor for asking for a bedpan when you are too drugged and too agonized to make it to the bathroom. I was fortunate – I had the services of some of the best doctors and nurses in the world, at Littleton Adventist Hospital in Littleton Colorado, for my chemo treatments and multiple hospital visits (nothing like internal bleeding and constant vomiting and fainting to land you into a bed with multiple wires and tubes sticking out). I never had a single nurse or doctor treat me with anything less than compassion and respect (well, except for one doctor, and I think he was just a jerk, no matter what. Well, he was the one sticking the tubes up my bum and down my throat to find the bleeds. I suppose if I worked with people’s bums all day, I would be bad tempered too…)

Sometimes I say the medication is even tougher than the illness. – Sanya Richards-Ross

While some parts of cancer treatments can be different, interesting and ‘cocktail party worthy’ (take baldness, now I found that funny in and of itself, and never wore a wig. Hey, might as well laugh at yourself, right?) what isn’t funny or fun or anything even remotely pleasant is the chemotherapy. Sitting in a lounger for hours at a time while poison was being pumped into my veins was sure to send me into a full-blown panic attack, even at my weakest. Bring out the knock-out drugs! I told you, I had the Best. Chemo. Nurse. EVER.) Chemo is not fun. It leaves you weak, sick, tired, unable to eat or drink without having it come right back up again. Margaret covers the issue with her usual kindness and panache, pointing out the problems, but refusing to let it drive her down into the dark lands of her psyche. I admire that. I mostly just slept. For days and days. . .And that whole “you are going to go into menopause at the speed of the Shinkansen (the Japanese High-Speed Train System)” complete with hot flashes and weight fluctuations? So not fun. Margaret didn’t say how much weight she lost – I lost 60 lbs. Now, if I could have kept off about 30 of those! LOL

One of her nipples was lying on the bathroom tile.

The part that Margaret went through, that I didn’t, was the reconstruction. I was 53 at the time, and hadn’t had a lover for over 20 years – why did I care? (We could get all up in the childhood and later sexual abuse, etc. but that doesn’t fit here.) The point is, I have to admit – the double mastectomy, in my case, was much easier than her reconstruction! I still had the pain, and the drains, but she went five months getting doses of saline injected to ‘stretch out’ her tissue, building new breasts. Nah, I will take my ‘barely there’ scar, the occasional odd look, and some ongoing tenderness across the chest. Hey, I can at least sleep on my stomach these days! When I was a D-cup, that was so not happening….. Her story of the reconstruction was sort of creepily fascinating to me, as I didn’t have it done. And of course, hearing the story of her friend who had reconstruction, and then one of her nipples fell off when she was toweling after a shower? (You have to read the book just for that part of the story.)

Overall, if you have the slightest interest in what your friend, family member, coworker, etc. is going through, you have to read this book. If you have the possibility of Breast Cancer yourself, are going through treatment, or have had cancer previously, you have to read this book. It is by turns scary and funny, but always compassionate.

Highly recommended.

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/staging To learn about the stages of Breast Cancer

http://www.breastcancer.org The main site, this is the be-all and know-all site for Breast Cancer information

http://www.cancer.gov/ The home site for the National Cancer Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health. There is Breast Cancer information here, but also research and information regarding a large number of different types of cancer.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/druginfo/breastcancer Another segment of the NCI website, you can find information about different chemotherapy medications. Margaret was on Tamoxifen. I, on the other hand, had ATC therapy. A combination of Doxorubicin (Adriamycin), Taxol (paclitaxel) and Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan). You can find additional information on any of these drugs at:

https://www.navigatingcancer.com A great site for more info on cancer and cancer treatments… (more)