Thanks for reading the September  2024 issue of This Awful Awesome Life. I hope you enjoy the Watermelon Salsa recipe in “The Twelve Months of Salsa.” Previous issues are available to read on our website. Go to www.thisawfulawesomelife.com and start scrolling or you can enter specific search criteria.

Our October issue is about “Women’s Health.”

Statistics for a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer in her lifetime are still stubbornly stuck at 1 in 8. The good news is that each year more women are getting yearly mammograms, and their cancers are being detected earlier. Early diagnosis is linked to higher survival rates.

We’ll have information on other cancers, heart disease,  and depression. Also we’ll be discussing ways to be healthy and reduce the risks of many diseases.

Orlando Bartro and I will be back with interesting articles for you.

Next month, we will have a Q&A with a professional narrator, Louise Porter. Louise is the narrator for the audiobook of Everything in Between. Find out how she got started, and read about how she makes the subtle vocal changes when different characters are speaking. Learn how you can secure her services for your next audiobook.

We’ll have another author birthday and our next salsa recipe because you need something tasty to snack on while you read the October issue.

We’re moving some of our regular features around to shake things up a bit and keep you on your toes.

I’ll have more streaming and reading recommendations. “What’s in a Word?” and “Dare to Believe,” will be back but we’ll be alternating some of our content. We’ll continue the monthly quizzes to exercise our brains, and we’ll continue reviewing books.

I’ll have a short story for you with a women’s health theme.

Stay safe. Stay well. You are important, and you are loved.

All my best,

Fran  

Answers to the September 2024 “Was it Something I Said?” Banned Books Quiz

1. “Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically.” Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

2. “It was love at first sight.” Catch-22 by Joseph Heller 

3.    “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

4.    “It was a pleasure to burn.” Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 

5. “A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, and , in a shield, the World State’s motto, Community, Identity, Stability.” Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

6.    “To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.” Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 

7.    “It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.” 1984 by George Orwell 

8.    “For as long as I can remember, my favorite color has been pink.” I am Jazz by Jessica Herthel 

9.    “August 25, 1991 - Dear friend, I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with the person at the party even though you could have.” The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 

10. “Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested,” The Trial by Franz Kafka 

11. “A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Communism.” The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels 

12. “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know where I was born.” The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

13. “All this happened, more or less.” Slaughterhouse -Five by Kurt Vonnegut  

14. “I was born with water on the brain.” The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

15. “Hello boys and girls. Hannah Baker here. Live and in stereo.” Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher