The Noticer, Book #20

Well here I am at book #20.  Let's see, doing the math it took me about 6 months to read 20, so maybe I will read 40, unless I pump up the numbers with shorter and quicker books, like say picture books or something!!  :)

Andy Andrews is an author I have come to love with his slow and easy going writing that sounds more like he is telling you the story right in the very room, not that you are reading the words off a page.  He has an amazing life story in which he overcame many obstacles as a young man and learned lessons through the hard times.  

This book is a way he weaves the lessons he learned into a fiction setting, that is really non fiction but you don't realize it.  Two things jumped out at me about this book:

1. I am a goldfish and Roger is a dog. (You have to read the book!)
2. A story within the story ~ 

'Five seagulls are sitting on a dock. One of them decides to fly away. How many seagulls are left?'

'Well.....four.'

'No,' Jones responded. 'There are are still five.  Deciding to fly away and actually flying away are two very different things.   Listen carefully to me. Despite popular belief to the contrary, there is absolutely no power in intention. The seagull may intend to fly away, may decide to do so, may talk with the other seagulls about how wonderful it is to fly, but until the seagull flaps his wings and takes to the air, he is still on the dock.' (p.111)


This book I HIGHLY recommend, along with pretty much anything he has ever written!!!



Orange Beach, Alabama, is a simple town filled with simple people.  But like all humans on the planet, the good folks of Orange Beach have their share of problems—marriages teetering on the brink of divorce, young adults giving up on life, business people on the verge of bankruptcy, as well as the many other obstacles that life seems to dish out to the masses. 

Fortunately, when things look the darkest, a mysterious man named Jones has a miraculous way of showing up.  An elderly man with white hair, of indiscriminate age and race, wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt and leather flip flops carrying a battered old suitcase, Jones is a unique soul.  Communicating what he calls “a little perspective,” he explains that he has been given a gift of noticing things that others miss.  “Your time on this earth is a gift to be used wisely,” he says.  “Don’t squander your words or your thoughts. Consider even the simplest action you take, for your lives matter beyond measure…and they matter forever.”

Jones speaks to that part in everyone that is yearning to understand why things happen and what we can do about it.  (picture and description from amazon.com.)