The July BAM topic is Independence. In my usual convoluted way, I found Blindsided by Richard M. Cohen. I am not sure why I thought a book by a man who lives with multiple sclerosis and who has survived two bouts of colon cancer was the book to read for the topic of independence. I know that when I started the book I was thinking that anyone with a chronic illness might be interdependent rather than independent, but that is probably because I don't deal with chronic illness. Now, having read the book, I would say that Cohen is very independent - maybe too much so for his own good.

I read a couple of reviews before I read Blindsided. I had heard some things about Richard M. Cohen since his wife is Meredith Vieira, anchor on the Today Show. He is an amazing human being. How he and his family have managed is beyond me. MS has been part of Cohen's family for three generations - his father and grandmother both had it. Cohen tells his story well and it is evident that he has great skills as a writer.

However, this book and I did not meet each other at the right time. I did not have enough patience for the style and may be even the content. As a relatively healthy person, maybe I just can't face the scary parts of chronic illness. So although this is a well written book, I just couldn't get into it.

So this is not really a review. I may try to read other things by Cohen. If I need to know more about chronic illness - I may even come back to this particular book. I did not do this book justice, but sometimes that happens. On to next month's challenge.

Here it is, almost a month since I posted last. Shameful, shameful. I may be the only person actually reading my blog, but I promised myself that I would keep it up in some way or another.

All I have to say at this moment, I finished two more books from my TBR pile and I gave the BAM challenge an idea for August. The first book is Quiet in His Presence which I liked very much. I am not crazy about the "his" part, but I will get into that when I post my review on Shelfari. The second book was The Bridal Wreath - definitely not my favorite book. More as I said - on Shelfari.

For the BAM challenge we will be doing cold books in August. Right now I need to finish the book I am reading for the July challenge which is independence.

Life is speeding along - our vacation, even at two weeks, was too short.