Eat Pray Love
Eat Pray Love

Ok, I resist reading this book because it just seems a bit too "touchy feely" even for me.  But there it is, beckoning to me on an airport store shelf.  Plus I love Julia Roberts and have every intention of seeing the movie...so...  The author, Elizabeth Gilbert takes us thru the traumas of her self absorption.  From her neurotic yet intelligent viewpoint, she takes us on a journey of self enlightenment that sometimes jars my nerves so greatly that I skip a page .  She has such a restless tortured spirit for so much of the book that I feel myself becoming aggravated.  Still, she is so vulnerable in laying bare her angst, that I give her points for the sheer audacity of coming forward with it all.

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Karen Koehlerbook review
Loosening Up

I'm speaking today at a seminar for AAJ in Chicago.   I've been watching the speakers and have a co-presenter, Tony.  They are all whip smart and articulate.  But there is one behavior pattern they share.  They are so stern faced.  So serious.  They believe in what they are saying.  They want to communicate their position, their passion.  Their words are spoken emphatically and with precision.   The audience mirrors back the gravity of the occasion.

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Karen Koehlerlawyer seminar, aaj, public speaking
Rubber Neck
Rubber Neck

I can't believe I don't fall today.  My head is spinning this way and that when I should be looking for potholes.  I'm in the Theater District with the old fashioned flashing marquees on every block.  The lake - as in The Lake - is about half a mile from the hotel.  I go thru the Millenium Park with its fields, tennis courts, and groomed perfection.  The Lake looks like the ocean.  It is a bit windy so there are waves and you cannot see to the other side.  I run past the aquarium and museums, turn back and the city view --- well.

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Karen Koehlerrunning, traveling lawyer
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

This book got better and better so that by page 300 I couldn't wait to turn the page.    It played out in my mind like a movie - more focused on plot twists  than in depth character development.  There are two heroes - Blomkvist the polyanna reporter and Salander the social outcast rogue investigator.  I wasn't prepared for the sadism since I didn't read any reviews.  So be warned - it is gross in places. 

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Karen Koehlerbook review
The Vagrants
The Vagrants

China in the 1970s was not a particularly joyous place.  At least not for the parents of Gu Shan who begin the day (and the novel) girding themselves for her execution.  I decide to read this book because it and the author (Yiyun Li) have been given good reviews.  There are substories within the main story - a cast of odd  characters including an unfortunate 12 year old girl who when in utero, was the  recipient of a brutal beating by Gu Shan (a political dissenter).

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Karen Koehlerbook review
Communing with Nature

At the last minute the sun makes an appearance so I run out the doors of the Davenport Hotel and head towards the river.  Spokane has the wonderful “Centennial Trail” that winds its way from the city through Gonzaga to the out and beyond. As I jog into the country (well, it is country-like in places) I feel like little red riding hood venturing into the forest with all its little creatures. 

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Karen Koehlerrunning, traveling lawyer
My Office

I spend more time in my office (awake) than any other room in the world. I have two computers, one of which is currently playing '70s funk music. There is  cool artwork on the walls and I will find myself fixating on different colors or shapes throughout the day. I have no paper files hogging space so my few books can breath alongside pictures of my girls and Ed.

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Karen Koehlerlawyer life, lawyer office