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California Bookwatch
Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
Common Ground for US
Carl Nordgren
Torchflame Books
https://torchflamebooks.com
9781611536287, $19.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Common-Ground-US-Carl-Nordgren/dp/1611536286
Common Ground for US was conceived in optimism and rests on an attitude of hope cultivated for over twenty-five years of Carl Nordgren's life. It's just the panacea for negativity and angst in modern times, charting the creation, sentiments, and approaches of a notion that thwarts the usual vision of the future as being problematic, frightening, and hopeless. From the start, Nordgren states his huge capacity for loving others - even strangers such as his readers - and acknowledges that some of the ideas in his book are purposely repetitive to reinforce their importance.
As Nordgren envisions how educators, consumers, and everyday individuals can join together to create something greater for everyone, readers will appreciate the uplifting visionary passages which present this game plan in both idealistic and realistic terms: "The stories of our journey will examine and highlight the many innovative pedagogies proven to help students become producers of their education, developing creative skills as they learn, acquiring new understandings and knowledge of traditional subject matter most effectively. The creativity that public school teachers have long displayed as they've done what they can with what little they have is another important storyline. Teachers will be continually recruited and celebrated as important servant leaders in these stories."
From issues surrounding resource management, preservation, and allocation to changing paradigms through more purposeful language and attitude choice, Nordgren offers solutions and insights based on studies, past experience, and reflections on how such choices could be better made:
"What happens to your thinking if you were to say, "I wonder how I can create advantage from this opportunity." Once again, it doesn't necessarily mean you will nurture it, care for it, invite others to come and work on it together, but, at least incrementally, using that language directs your thinking that way. In the unknowable future, there will be challenging situations where we have the opportunity to carefully select the best language for the new situation. When COVID arrived and we were told we'd be better off if we respected and maintained six feet of social distancing, did you quickly realize that was the wrong language creating the wrong story?"
The result is more than a blueprint for social and personal change, but a lesson in applied positivity that is sorely needed in shifting modern times (indeed, at most any moment in human history). Librarians who acquire Common Ground for US for their collections will want to especially highly recommend it for book clubs and all kinds of reading groups, from political science students and readers of social issues to those committed to personal, interpersonal, and social change who look for both practical, uplifting concepts and supportive approaches to making a difference.
The Social Issues Shelf
See Us, Know Us: Profiles of Disability
Jennifer Chassman Browne
Torchflame Books
https://torchflamebooks.com
9781611536461, $39.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/See-Us-Know-Profiles-Disability/dp/1611536464
The thirty portraits of disability presented by Jennifer Chassman Browne in See Us, Know Us: Profiles of Disability provides rare personal glimpses into the perceptions, abilities, and lives of those living with all kinds of disabilities. Her book mitigates the generalization of the 'disability' label with insights into the diverse paths and impact the term and its incarnation can take. Each person profiled receives a narrative biography, a poem, and a powerful series of insights that defy generalization and categorization - two of the limiting, depersonalized ways in which disability is kept at arms length from the world. Disability is too often marginalized, erased, and misunderstood. The general term embraces a wide range of conditions and prejudices which remove bigger-picture thinking and humanity from lives.
Chassman Browne's portraits celebrate artistry, activism, insights, and powerful routes to achievement and living which often can stem from disability's roots. Such is the case of Eve Clark, who at age 25 was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and forced to adjust her trajectory, moving from a career as an optician, which required fine motor skills, to starting her own construction company. She then founded a travel agency to help those with disabilities more easily move through the world. As she and others adjusted their mindsets, set new goals, employed creative methods and approaches to life and career, and redefined the nature of success, readers learn about coping methods, all manner of adaptive routines, success, and surprising joys that come from the unexpected wellsprings of disability.
The result is a gathering of biographies of seemingly common people who are, in fact, extraordinary in many ways. Photos, poems, and reflections make this collection a powerful statement of hope, achievement, and perspective that should be in the libraries and on the shelves of anyone interested in ability, disability, achievement, and positivity.
The International Studies Shelf
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Publishing
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk
Those seeking holiday or special occasion books worthy of gift-giving that are packed with images and art will find Mitchell Beazley's Voyage Collection worthy of library acquisition and home keepsake collecting alike.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Voyage-Collection-Mitchell-Beazley/dp/1846017122
Japan (9781846017124, $60.00) packs in nearly 300 photos to accompany a play list of music and discussions of Japanese history and culture to bring the country to life: "In the traditional Japanese lifestyle, minimalism is the order of the day: you live in a minka, the Japanese house whose floors are covered with tatami mats and whose rooms can be modulated thanks to the sliding rice-paper panels known as shoji."
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Amalfi-Coast-Collection-Mitchell-Beazley/dp/1846017114
Amalfi Coast (9781846017117, $58.99) does the same for the Southern Italian coastline and villages, using color photos and music play lists to create an immersive experience of the sights, sounds, peoples, history and culture of the region, creating a "you are here" experience that is the second-best thing to personal travel: "Ravello offers one of the finest panoramas of the Gulf of Salerno. Your gaze slides over the whitewashed chapets and house scattered among vineyards and olive groves, down to the sea where the sunlight sparked with a rainbow of colours." These two blends of travelogue, art, history, and cultural insights offer armchair visitors the best in visual explorations that are unequalled elsewhere.
The Biography/Memoir Shelf
The Missing Child
Paul T. O'Connor
Torchflame Books
https://torchflamebooks.com
9781611537161, $29.99 Hardcover/$19.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Missing-Child-Life-Lived-Missed/dp/1611537169
The Missing Child: The Life She Lived and the Life She Missed presents son and author Paul T. O'Connor's survey of his mother Charlotte Ann Frazier O'Connor's missing pieces of life as he traces her adoption and mercurial past.
O'Connor was motivated to probe his mother's life by a series of unanswered questions about not only her origins, but her psyche. As he interviewed those who knew her in various ways, he "...was repeatedly astounded by the troubles she faced and flattered by the people who remembered her kindness, wisdom, and generosity." The history began as an investigation of both sides of his family, but soon came to center upon Charlotte, even though it embraces the experiences of four families.
Readers interested in not just memoirs but genealogical research and family ties will find The Missing Child packed with unexpected mystery, connections, and discoveries that may invigorate their own investigations of family members and puzzles. Charlotte's story progresses as a series of discoveries that embrace photos, a mother's writings and reflections, and storytelling documentation. These elements lend appreciation to the impact family tales hold on generations who may later explore their meaning and truth. Especially notable are passages in which the author reflects on the impact of his mother's life experiences:
"To further her misery in the Rockview years must have been her feeling of isolation and loneliness. Her sisters were twelve miles away, a twenty-five-minute drive, and her friend Jeannie no longer lived down the street. She may have been friendly with the neighbors, but she wasn't social with them, and she was still only in her mid-forties. Despite her declaration that she was done cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry for a man, it's hard to believe she didn't harbor some wish to be with someone again."
Through The Missing Child, readers come to know not just one mother's trials, choices, and questions, but those of the generations that surround her. O'Connor opens the door of his family's experiences and allows everyone to walk right in and make themselves at home. He also pulls the lid away from family secrets and genealogical challenges in a manner that encourages readers to embark on their own journeys of probing the past.
The result is a powerfully compelling saga that will appeal to a wide audience who may largely have no familiarity with the author or his family, but will find, by the story's conclusion, a wealth of insights that can apply neatly to their own quest for family connection and understanding. Librarians that choose The Missing Child for their collections will want to highly recommend it to book clubs for its accessible moments of realization, its dual probes of family and history, and its insights into the ultimate impact of genealogical research.
The General Fiction Shelf
Jetson's Journey
Brock Alston
www.brockalston.com
Natchez Press
9798995823209, $18.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Jetsons-Journey-Novel-Brock-Alston-ebook/dp/B0HBS9QT4T
Jetson's Journey is a novel about life upheaval, a black Lab dog named Jetson, and Michael Smith, who leaves town with his dog after losing his family. Both dog and human feel that a major life connection has been broken, isolating them. How each finds a way through grief to rebuild those connections is the subject of a story that at first sounds like a typical trip-with-dog tale, but soon proves itself beyond its subjects of grieving, recovery, and new possibilities that emerge from vast life changes.
From the start, Brock Alston builds a powerfully compelling account of change as Michael is called into the boss's office to suddenly find that his San Francisco job is no more after six years at Stellar AI. It was more than just a job - all his money and savings have gone into keeping his young daughter, Anna, alive. Thus, it's about more than just getting fired:
"His ability to save her life just walked out the door with his job." Michael has spent years trying to manage everything around him. When he loses his job, he confronts his family without the inherent upbeat attitude that has marked his ability to both confront and survive life's deepest challenges. Jetson arrives in the midst of this chaos, but his introduction at first only portends further struggles. How Michael decides to accept Anna's desire for Jetson is the first mark of a new life attitude which Alston succinctly captures: "The weight of his family's expectations presses down on him the way it always has. He can't give Anna the treatment yet. He can't promise Amber the bills will stop. He can't fix the big things - not today, maybe not for a while. But he can give them this one small thing - a dog, one yes he can put in their hands right now."
The beautiful new arrival, which can "throw a ball and make angels in the sand," changes everything as Michael learns how to both let go of and embrace life. As Michael develops a relationship with Claire, thanks to Jetson's folly, they begin confronting life together - including the possibility of losing Jetson, which calls forth Michael's old patterns of response which Claire confronts: "Your problem?" Hurt mixes with anger in Claire's expression, disappointment sharpening her features. "We came here together. We got lost together. And now you're just - dismissing me? Telling me to leave while you handle everything yourself?"
"I'm trying to protect you."
"I don't need you to protect me!" The words echo off the trees. "I need you to work with me." This powerful journey will attract a wide audience of dog-lovers, people-lovers, and those interested in how forces in life dictate revised responses. Librarians seeking a moving story powered by a dog, a man's transformation, and life changes will find Jetson's Journey uplifting, revealing, and ultimately worthy of many a book club discussion. Readers will find its powerful assessment of how change is truly incorporated and reflected back into the world makes for a story worth reading - and loving.
Life After Universal Basic Income: A Short Story
Paul D. Edwards
Independently Published
9798233819964, $12.99 Paperback/$5.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/After-Universal-Basic-Income-Short/dp/B0H1SQ6MWC
Don't let the title fool you. While Life After Universal Basic Income: A Short Story may sound like nonfiction, it takes a real-world idea and extrapolates on its future impact in a story that opens in 2027 and concludes in 2163. It's also not as short as its subtitle might indicate - which lends it further value for its depth. Here, the United States passed the Universal Basic Income Act in 2027, where every citizen gets $1,000 per month from birth, deposited into a trust until adulthood. The story follows four children born into very different families. The money impacts their lives in unexpected ways.
Universal Basic Income is not a new concept, but Paul D. Edwards takes a different approach in how he extrapolates the impact of the policy. The story imagines a world shaped by the end of scarcity and a vision of financial security for all that proves to hold its own challenges and unexpected results, creating an especially thought-provoking series of intersected lives and experiences. Edwards contrasts the approaches these inheritors take to reinventing not only their lives, but the wider world. This not only crafts believable, intriguing fictional scenarios, but invites readers already interested in UBI to consider its possible applications in disparate lives:
"Across various sectors, young adults were leveraging their UBI to invest in art, renewable energy startups, advanced agricultural technologies, and even experimental space exploration ventures. The common thread was a willingness to embrace risk, a belief in future innovation, and the financial security provided by the UBI that made such risks tenable. Anya, for example, had begun investing in a collective that was developing advanced atmospheric carbon capture technology, a field she was passionate about and one that held immense long-term potential, both environmentally and financially. Her contributions, while not enormous, were consistent, ensuring that the project had a steady stream of funding, and she was building a personal stake in a technology that could shape the future of the planet."
Legacies, leverages, passion projects, and diverse approaches to managing and applying UBI's largess creates different pathways through characters who hold disparate backgrounds and approaches to impacting their world:
"Elias's legacy is not a sum of money, but a collection of voices - the laughter of children playing in a bygone era, the solemn pronouncements of community leaders, the quiet reflections of everyday citizens. He speaks of the honor he feels in being entrusted with these narratives, in preserving the echoes of lives lived for future generations. "This archive," he explains, gesturing to the rows of meticulously labeled digital storage devices, "is a testament to the fact that every life has a story worth telling, and that preserving those stories is a fundamental act of respect for the past and a gift to the future. My UBI allows me the time and the freedom to be the conduit for these invaluable memories."
The result is a fictional extrapolation that holds many important opportunities for discussion, debate, and discovery by a wider range of readers than fiction or literature enthusiasts alone. This is why Life After Universal Basic Income: A Short Story is especially recommended for libraries and readers interested in the UBI concept and its fictional applications to society. The book club and reading group discussions that stem from Life After Universal Basic Income: A Short Story's characters and ideals will be stimulating and lively.
The Historical Fiction Shelf
Neanderthal Sunset
Steven Burgauer
Battleground Press
B0H3FS4YP1, $3.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Neanderthal-Sunset-Steven-Burgauer-ebook/dp/B0H3FS4YP1
Neanderthal Sunset will delight readers of early Neanderthal experiences and prehistory sci-fi and takes place in the last days of the species. Clan leader Strong Arms observes some puzzling newcomers to his world not realizing that they portend the end of his people:
"The cold-adapted, light-skinned Neanderthal peered out from the rock overhang. He was puzzled and somewhat alarmed by the similar-looking but technologically superior beings that confronted him. Though he didn't realize it yet, these new humans brought with them a new way of interacting with the world, a way that would initiate a slow but irreversible slide toward extinction for the clan. In time, they would drive the clan into peripheral areas of Europe where resources were diminished or less familiar."
Steven Burgauer weaves compelling history into the story to bring this world and its tribes to life, with the rich blend adding immediacy and an unusually deep sense of place and time to this prehistory setting:
"Between yawns, he mumbled to her, "Before I went to sleep last night, I left you some sweet porridge in the turtle pot. If you are that hungry, get it yourself."
"Such a lazy man you are," Brown Curls growled back at her man, smiling. Brown Curls rearranged the ground-bed before she went outside. The groundbed she and Strong Arms slept on at night was soft and cushiony and made from natural materials they collected - a bottom layer of dry moss acted as a natural cushion and provided insulation; broad oak and maple leaves added soft insulating volume; tall grasses and ferns filled the gaps and could be used as a final topper; several hides taken together made for a comfortable blanket."
This sets the stage for a powerful survey of resource management, perceptions, and even a weaving of possibilities surrounding the origins of myths which have become part of human heritage:
"Strong Arms dropped his meat and went to investigate. He knew nothing of fossils or pre-historic animals or even how wind or water erosion might reveal a previously buried skeleton of a long-dead mammoth. Like the fossilized dinosaur eggs and protoceratops skulls found in the Gobi desert, which gave rise to Medieval legends of birdlike griffins; or the elephant skulls found in Mediterranean caves, which led to the Greek legend of the Cyclops; this skull would surely ratify existing legends of giant one-eyed ogres."
Readers of prehistory novels usually receive plenty of drama and action, but the added value of Neanderthal Sunset which sets it apart from most lies in its injection of history and extrapolation of insights and observations Neanderthals might have made in the waning sunset of their existence. This creates a markedly vivid account as Strong Arms faces the advanced technology of bows and arrows, buries loved ones and grieves loss, and cultivates superstitions that answer questions about his world.
Libraries seeing popularity in Jean Auel-style stories where Neanderthal and homo sapiens clash will find Neanderthal Sunset deserves a prominent place among the classics, while readers seeking a series of especially evocative insights about shifting worlds, places, and peoples - especially those who take over in unexpected ways and change the world - will find this novel exceptionally vibrant.
A Plea for Freedom
Raymond Hackney
Torchflame Books
https://torchflamebooks.com
9781611537055, $19.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Plea-Freedom-Raymond-Hackney/dp/1611537053
A Plea for Freedom is a novel set during the American Revolution and tells of fifteen-year-old Daniel Asbury. He joins the Virginia militia to see the world, only to find himself embroiled in not just battle, but encounters with Native Americans and tests of his moral and ethical acuity. Raymond Hackney bases this experience on the true events in the life of an historical figure, adding fictional drama and embellishments to give the novel a sense of urgency, immediacy, and characters that flesh out Daniel's persona and encounters. His use of the first person captures an immediacy to Daniel's experiences that personalizes his struggles with Native Americans, his fellow white men, and the values tested in the course of his efforts to survive:
"In the hours, days, weeks, and months that followed, I grappled with having killed another human. I had no problem killing a deer or a bear to feed the family, but this was different. This man had a life. He probably had a wife and children. Not only did I hurt him, I hurt them as well. I was not so sure I could do that again. Was it right to just let him kill me? Still, this brought guilt that I had not anticipated when I signed up for the militia."
As he faces captivity, the unknown in a trek north away from freedom, and is forced on a journey into Canada where he faces the option of being conscripted into hated King George's army or dying, Daniel defies his conditions to support his values. Hackney paints a thoroughly captivating picture of this brash teenager who is thrust into adult considerations and concerns. Freedom proves consistently elusive in many ways, and Daniel is constantly forced to reconsider his choices and trajectory. Readers survive the wilderness and follies alongside him, absorbing the political and cultural challenges of these times.
Librarians will want to highly recommend A Plea for Freedom to a wide age range, from mature young adults to adults seeking vivid stories about the American Revolution and encounters with Native Americans. The novel's ability to contrast and bring these milieus to life, as well as the values and growth opportunities of the times, will make it attractive to historical fiction book club circles, who will appreciate its vivid opportunities for debate.
The Professor in the Attic
Mark Perretta
Heaven Above, Earth Below LLC
9780997143966, $19.99 Hardcover/$9.99 Paperback/$2.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Attic-Mark-Perretta/dp/0997143967
The Professor in the Attic is a historical novel set in 1945, as World War II rages and rockets destroy London. English professor Thomas Thorne is one of many who live with this onslaught, but he refuses to simply hide from the bombs, employing his wireless radio to transmit calls for resistance and courage. His choice to transmit activism over anguish results in a much-needed series of encouraging broadcasts about survival and defiance that hold the power to change all who listen.
Mark Perretta embeds many messages about individual action, consequence, and possibility into his novel, which holds special relevance for modern times and ordinary readers: "Listen to that," Elara said, her eyes wide. "One man running fast enough to outpace the dark. That's what a voice can do, Thomas. It can reach across an ocean and tell the truth."
A professor dedicated to "catching the conscience of the king" and the injection of literary allusion as history unfolds and the professor and those around him are challenged in many different ways makes for a gripping story. The Professor in the Attic supersedes most World War II scenarios with the added value of literary reflection. From Sarah's questioning of her own imminent decision to "bring a child into a world on fire" to the relevance of Shakespearean literature to unfolding events, Perretta creates a balance between individual choices and events that test all manner of men and women. His focus on how these choices ultimately affect and change life even under the most dire of conditions will prompt many reflective moments in readers: "Frequency 14.2. He thinks words can keep the ceiling from falling in."
Words, literature, decisions, and lives threatened juxtapose to create a powerful set of experiences that result in miracles. Libraries and readers seeking uncommon World War II historical novels replete with hope, defiance, literary and social reflection, and a sense of purpose and possibility not seen elsewhere should consider The Professor in the Attic an exceptional read. Book clubs and reading groups with many different interests will find the story thought-provoking, engrossing, and surprisingly uplifting as a lone professor uses a radio and his literary insights to influence and change his world.
Nothing Left to Lose
Len Joy
Hark! New Era Publishing
97981995778998, $9.99 Paperback/$2.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GXLJRYWF
Nothing Left to Lose tells of a family fractured by political struggles and vision. It focuses on Tawni Carter, who became alienated from her opinionated daughter Charlotte over her dedication to a Midwestern pro-life nonprofit at the cost of her marriage and family.
Tawni's story opens in 2018, but the timeline shifts between past and present as events draw readers into the source of these discontents and family angst, which ripples between community involvements and interpersonal loggerheads. Tawni has instigated a competency hearing that embroils Charlotte in a court battle, charging her adult daughter is unable inability to operate as an adult in society in an effort to prevent her from getting an abortion.
As the backdrop moves through California and disparate lives and choices, Len Joy crafts a moving saga that traverses the 1960s, '70s, '80s and beyond as a woman moves through changing times, making decisions that hold wide-ranging impact on her world. From generations divided by circumstance and choice to the process of how broken threads are woven back together, readers receive a powerful novel of loss, redemption, discovery, and change. This offers numerous opportunities for considering family members and circumstances in a different light. The result is a novel replete with rich elements of legal and psychological battles that swirl around Tawni's Pro-Life League and the circumstances that lead her to run an organization and juggle her family ties in questionable ways.
Libraries and readers interested in sagas about family discovery, dysfunction, and connection will relish how all these elements coalesce with social and political challenges, creating a story perfect for book club and reader group discussion about family ties and transformation.
The LGBTQ Fiction Shelf
End as Lovers
T.Q. Sims
Mars + Pan Books
9798234068668, $24.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/p/books/end-as-lovers-the-lovers-trilogy-book-3-t-q-sims/96fd1dabeca1fcb7
The third book in The Lovers Trilogy, End as Lovers, concludes a reality-busting sci-fi/LGBTQ+/romance/spiritual series with a hard-hitting wrap up especially recommend for prior fans of the series. The reality-devouring MaalenKun the Shadow has designs on Earth, with Casey Isaac and his warriors the only force that might be able to vanquish this impossible annihilating force. Casey grapples with other things besides a mandate to save the universe - his own evolving abilities, the fate which predicts his choices and importance, his uncommon love and its powerful impact, and a team which battles their emotional and physical connections to each other as well as the universe. Individual dilemmas wind into the pursuit of greater good, as when Oscar Kenzari confronts an impossible situation under a mandate to locate a missing relic that could change everything even though his heart has been broken.
T.Q. Sims shifts character perspectives (clearly indicated in chapter headings) to add a full-bodied feel to evolving events. This allows readers to step into the hearts and minds of a disparate group of would-be heroes as they confront not only their mission, but each other and their own hearts. From Karma's wings and angels to emotional responses to these new experiences, the story builds on passion and reaction as much as confrontation and evolving events: "Ehsan rubs his chest with his atypical limb, his airy tunic rippling under his touch. His brow furrows. "There's this tremble of not-quite-anxiety inside me. Feels like I'm going in the wrong direction."
End as Lovers will delight prior series readers who have followed the evolution of each of these characters and their challenges to this ultimate grand finale. Libraries that choose The Lovers Trilogy to enhance their sci-fi and LGBTQ+ collections will find End as Lovers a powerful conclusion that features many unexpected moments of revelation, realization, faith and love. It aptly addresses internal shadows and healing processes with equal passion and compelling moments of revelation.
The Literary Fiction Shelf
Bodies of Water: Short Stories
Marylee MacDonald
Grand Canyon Press
www.grandcanyonpress.com
9781963361148, $10.99 Paperback/$2.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Bodies-Water-Stories-Marylee-MacDonald-ebook/dp/B0H5NT9PMN
Bodies of Water: Short Stories is a literary collection of short stories that offer vignettes on life that at first seem disparate both in setting and character perspective. Spanning the globe and many situations which challenge in different ways, these tales offer glimpses into people who adapt and respond to life in ways that also embrace themes of water.
Take the opening story, "Drought." Here, the absence of water makes as much impact as its presence in other stories in the collection, as seen through the eyes of Fernando Romero, who observes both the demise of Lake Powell and his father as interlinked events: "Papi had been talking about the frogs. The way they used to be. The way they weren't anymore. Papi wouldn't talk directly about the cancer. Instead, it was the way the creek had dried up and killed the frogs. What did Papi expect, a frog chorus at his funeral?" Creeks, marriages, and lives dry up as Romero hones new objectives for his life even as he cares for his aging parents and observes the inevitable, uncontrollable ebb of tides and waters that support them all.
Contrast this story with "The Banana River," set in a Florida backdrop in which Margie Flynn, who has been a caretaker for her ailing mother, then non-relative Herman Snelling upon her death, must make the tough decision to move away for work that allows her to continue paying for his assisted living needs. Margie seeks an adult who will step into her role helping Herman in her absence, but instead she receives Haitian worker Gaston, his aide, who already has too many responsibilities at the nursing home, and who advises her to do as they would in Haiti and take Herman into her home and life. Abuse, anger, need, and connection coalesce in this story to produce an especially thought-provoking scenario in which Margie comes to realize the real roots of family and responsibility. Memories of canoeing on the Banana River with him and learning about rhythm and life lend to newfound understanding.
Each story crafts a new world and personalities that teeter on the shores and shoals of life carrying grief, redemption, love, and understanding as baggage. Each tale offers a different insight about the values and perceptions that shape life. The result is a powerfully evocative set of short stories that will prove especially attractive and revealing to libraries gathering literary works strong in psychological revelation and connection and readers and book clubs interested in mirrors of success, achievement, and better understanding.
The Mystery/Suspense Shelf
Burning the Raven Tree
Janyre Tromp
Ember & Vine Press
https://emberandvinepress.com
9798999731340, $18.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Raven-Tree-Myth-Infused-Historical/dp/B0GTN5C3GC
Burning the Raven Tree blends mystery, thriller, folklore, and gothic intrigue in a tale set in a Northern Michigan small town. Rumors surround seer and child-killer Colwyn Cueny, who lives alone in a forest and faces accusations and innuendos. When Chicago attorney Marcus Lenarsic arrives to board with her, he becomes mired in the myths and legends, lives, and legal conflicts of not just Colwyn but the entire area. Janyre Tromp builds a compelling atmosphere from the story's opening lines:
"There are good reasons Mama used to call the wee hours of the morning the witching hour. There are wraiths who wake when the clock strikes two. They tiptoe into your sleep, taunting until you wake with real screams scraping out your throat, chased by the desperate prayer that the navniki ghosts aren't real and the past won't come crawling into bed with you. They are the reasons I'm standing at the edge of the cherry orchard again, panting, breath puffing into vapor trails as I try to shake off the memory singed into my closed eyelids. The frigid sting of Michigan's April air burns my lungs, trying to anchor me in the present. But the smell of distant smoke tinges my nostrils and drags me under the dark spell. It's just the neighbor's wood stove. Just a wood stove. Unfortunately the mantra has never worked well."
Issues of powerlessness, change, ghosts of the past and lost children who haunt the living, and the lure of a raven tree that fuels nightmares and the specter of a Baba Yaga-type witch makes for a vivid portrait of desperation, terror, and nightmares that lures readers from the start. As magical realism weaves into everyday reality and suspense marries with folklore and mystery, readers will appreciate how vividly and unexpectedly the plot evolves.
Equally engaging are discussions revolving around family secrets and interactions, revelations about accountability and disappearances, justice system impacts, and possible traitors. These emerge as Marcus finds his life entwined with Colwyn's dilemmas and the heartache and angst of an entire community. From traps of forest witches and the lure of vulnerable Elizabeth (whom Marcus has fallen in love with) to Colwyn's betrayal of his trust, Burning the Raven Tree excels in creating a Gothic atmosphere with twists most readers won't see coming.
Libraries will find that the novel will widely appeal across genres, from thriller and mystery audiences to fans of Gothic romances, folkloric and supernatural fiction, and psychological twists of fate and circumstance. Packed with riveting moments of discovery and intersections of belief and choice, Burning the Raven Tree is thoroughly engrossing, darkly atmospheric, and hard to put down or predict.
Church Shoes
Robert Tucker
Tell-Tale Publishing Group, LLC
https://www.tell-talepublishing.com
9781952020377, $25.00 Paperback/$4.95 Ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Church-Shoes-Robert-Tucker/dp/1952020379
Church Shoes opens with the specter of a mother abducted. Only her church shoes remain, abandoned on a country road. Her daughter Alice reflects that, despite their stormy relationship, she has needed and still needs her mother. And she doesn't even know if she's alive or dead. Her disappearance after church on a Sunday impacts the family and shows that the "safe house" they'd been moved to has been compromised. Their father, who received threats against the family, knew this was possible, but the sixteen-year-old daughter narrating this tale rejects her father's view of what might have happened: "Mother valued decency, above all else. Even if we could have afforded class, decency was more meaningful. In my wildest imagination, she would never have had a lover."
Instead, a journey begins in which a daughter resists moving away to a different, supposedly safer place in favor of staying put and getting answers. A year later, she's still hoping to discover that her mother is alive. Robert Tucker creates a moving saga that weaves together family connections FBI investigations and drama revolving around fake FBI agents, the involvement of Nazis and Hitler-supporting systems, and more. Readers won't anticipate the many twists and turns this story takes - which makes it satisfyingly mercurial and filled with surprises. As the central themes of the book - a missing mother, church and shoes, and mysterious connections in Mapleton - draw disparate characters together, readers are treated to a series of haunting memories and possibilities that evolve as intriguingly as the plot.
Tucker examines various symbolic situations in the course of the story, from what Nora's church shoes truly represent to a daughter's quest to regain or gain control of her life and a normalcy which always feels elusive. The political evolution that impacts family life is as intriguing as the underlying simmering drama that places Alice in a maelstrom of change and moral and ethical quandaries. The result will please a wide audience of novel readers, those who like thrillers and mysteries steeped in the lives of realistic people confronting their pasts and possibilities, and powerfully unpredictable events and personalities. Librarians will find Church Shoes a fine collection addition.
The Lies Between the Lines
Sheila Lowe
www.sheilalowebooks.com
Write Choice Ink
9781970181623, $.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Between-Lines-Handwriting-Mysteries/dp/1970181621
Though The Lies Between the Lines is the 10th book in the Claudia Rose forensic handwriting mystery series, prior familiarity with Rose or her cases is not a prerequisite for thoroughly enjoying her latest adventures. Events swirl around not one, but two new cases Claudia accepts which involve a forged signature and threatening notes. Claudia's handwriting analysis skills are put to the test as each case reveals disturbing undercurrents; some of which reach out to touch and affect her own life. As handwriting analysis techniques dovetail with growing intrigue and threats, Claudia finds the cases hitting far too close to home.
Tragedy strikes, and the seemingly disparate circumstances coalesce into a firestorm of possibilities she never saw coming. The prologue captures the atmosphere of an empty parking structure that turns into a deadly backdrop for one lone man. This sets a stage of possibility that draws readers into the first chapter, which succinctly captures the premise of Claudia Rose's unique investigative skills. She posits that not only is every handwriting unique, but it reflects "the person who wielded the pen in a way that no other psychological test could." As she compares handwritings, draws conclusions about their creators, and becomes fed up with a case that seems to hold no possibility of resolution, Claudia tackles the mystery of a set of hateful cards and the possibilities in a parking garage confrontation.
Sheila Lowe crafts a powerful survey that ebbs and flows as Claudia also tackles a series of rising threats seemingly far beyond her forensic handwriting analysis skills. Jury proceedings, patterns in not just handwriting but motives and approaches to life, and theories that involve trial stress and dubious testimonies add courtroom drama to the evolving connections Claudia makes in the course of especially challenging scenarios and possibilities. The result is a study in research, problem-solving, personal struggle, and handwriting analysis which will delight libraries and readers seeking mysteries that sizzle with personality and process. Newcomers as well as prior Claudia Rose fans will find her latest dilemma thoroughly compelling as ex-husbands, life events, and relationships twist and tangle.
Natural Causes
Nikki Stern
www.nikkistern.com
Ruthenia Press
9798996092208, $14.95 Print/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H66GDR29
Natural Causes is the fifth book in the Sam Tate mystery series, opening with Todd Fisher's hike in a national park with his new spouse Elena before the quest for a better view leads him off-trail and into disaster. The second chapter moves to P.I. Sam Tate as she visits a hospital to see her colleague and friend, FBI Special Supervisory Agent Dakota Williams. The latest case which is revealed shortly thereafter involves the disappearance of developer Todd Fischer in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Questions immediately arise, from what branch of the government is going to be involved in the investigation to lucrative partnerships, eco-terrorism, secret laboratories, and victims of toxic environments. A host of threads evolves around not just Todd's work and disappearance, but the efforts of special interests who would participate in suicide bombings and more to achieve their goals. This propels Sam far beyond the usual whodunit case into investigative routines she is both ill-equipped to handle and uniquely qualified to challenge. From questions about apparently loving relationships that may not be such to motives that include family, Natural Causes creates a powerful embrace of events.
Moral and ethical quandaries and questions about betrayal, friendship, and toxic people and substances alike propel the plot into unexpected directions. Readers already familiar with Sam Tate's astute, savvy skills will be pleased to find here a different test of her abilities, while newcomers can to immediately delve into her world and imbibe of its special forces. Libraries seeking a memorable mystery that sizzles with action, twists of plot, and a host of possibilities and characters will find find Natural Causes a winning addition.
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
Soul Proprietor
Stephanie Vance
https://www.stephanievance.com
GFB
www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781967510801, $19.95 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Proprietor-Stephanie-Vance-ebook/dp/B0GXFZ45GZ
In Soul Proprietor, Tiffani Lutatio has logged over fifty years working as a salesfiend for Hell's Soul Exchange, aspiring for a sales record that will earn her promotion to demon and a coveted spot in Hell's C-Suite. Her record for renting souls has been flawless - until, in her excitement, she breaks a sacred rule of Hell by renting out a porn star's recalled soul. Hell hath no fury like a devil's rules scorned, and so Tiffani finds herself moving from the cusp of all-time success to teetering on the brink of a failure that will haunt her eternally. The only way out is to make a bargain beyond the devil himself, granting three wishes to her customer. In the process of redemption, she stumbles into a long-held secret that makes her snafu look light in comparison as she romps through a world of Portland bars, mortal behavior, and the dubious effect of developing a conscience over her choices and opportunities.
Soul Proprietor is delightfully difficult to easily categorize. Its supernatural romp through the underworld and mortal affairs will draw fiction readers who enjoy tales of demons, deities, and dilemmas; while those who appreciate undercurrents of humor will delight in how Tiffani confronts the forces that overlay her life:
"Madam chair, I'm just trying to find innovative ways to make more sales. Isn't that an activity all salesfiends are encouraged to engage in?"
Mr. Abernathy, a Malice C-Suiter who looked like everyone's meanest teacher in high school, frowned at her. "It's 'in which every salesfiend is encouraged to engage.'"
Tiffani suppressed an eye roll. It wasn't the first time she'd seen a Malice fiend engaged in unrelenting grammar correction. His real crime, though, had been beating the principal of his high school into a coma with a bulletin board because the principal had forgotten the apostrophe in "It's time for the Spring Fling."
From her transgression of organizing game nights at her apartment that host mortals, angels, and fiends alike to her confrontation over treachery, her inadvertent impact on her friends when she drags them into her dilemmas, and her wider-reaching impact on Hell itself, Soul Proprietor is at once hilarious, intriguing, unexpected, and delightfully original. Libraries and readers seeking novels replete with both fun and thought-provoking adventure will find Soul Proprietor just the ticket to recommend to fiction readers who enjoy elements of supernatural encounters, humor, epiphanies, secrets, and funny realizations.
The Poetry Shelf
Stone & Star: Poems in Voices Across Time
Beatriz Fitzgerald Fernandez
Old Scratch Press
www.oldscratchpress.com
9781957224565, $9.99 paper, $4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Stone-Star-Poems-Voices-Across/dp/1957224568
Stone & Star: Poems in Voices Across Time represents an intersection of nature, human affairs, time, and place. Its poetic adventures juxtapose the immediacy of modern times with insights about the past and future, using jumping-off points as common as a museum visit ("A Modern Day Amazon visits the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston") to draw these connections as Beatriz Fitzgerald Fernandez wonders:
"Where have you gone, all my sisters?
From these marble stone veins
your blood won't spill
as it once did - on that faraway plain
we tested our battle axes and spears
against Roman swords and plated armor."
Womens' lives evolve across vast expanses of time and experience as poems capture a different world, as in "Emily Bronte Addresses Her Creation":
"I named you after the things I loved -
the heath I walked on every good day of my life,
the stone cliffs I climbed as a girl,
yours was the companion spirit I found there,
your face the vision that hounded me,
when clouds churned across those wind-worn heights."
As the literary and historical connections unfold, free verse poetry readers will especially appreciate how these rich veins of natural and human concerns dovetail. From a reflection on Lincoln's 1865 last journey to the milieu of a winter botanic research lab, Fernandez weaves her poetry through a myriad of places and experiences designed to capture a sense of kinship and connection in an age where both seem too often lacking. The collection's foundation rests upon stories of stones that appear and disappear throughout; yet the sense of this book as whole is that it unifies and delights the psyche with interlocking experiences and reflections that ultimately unite the perceptions and fates of men, women, and nature.
Librarians and readers seeking contemporary poetry that is truly haunting and worthy of reading group and classroom discussion alike will find Stone & Star: Poems in Voices Across Time an extraordinarily perceptive, evocative collection, as in the poem "To 'The Woman'" (Sherlock Holmes Addresses Irene Adler):
"Perhaps it's only the blinking
of one panther's gleaming eyes
meeting another's in a fern-filled jungle.
We were ill-met, it would seem - and yet,
I know I'll never find your like again."
The Coloring Book Shelf
The Little Frog Coloring Book
Maybell Eequay
Summerdale
c/o Octopus Publishing
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk
9781837999231, $12.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Frog-Coloring-Book-Creativity/dp/1837999236
The Little Frog Coloring Book is an adult coloring book promoting mindfulness through Little Frog scenes. It includes affirmations and wisdom as it adds to the Little Frog series of self-care titles, expanding their impact with such admonitions as "I will make sure that laughter is a priority in my life." The result is a lovely little book of self-care sayings and coloring opportunities that will serve as a fine gift for new age thinkers, self-help and spiritual readers, or any adult holding a prior affection for Little Frog sayings and a proclivity for coloring and art.
The Business Shelf
The Good Sales Manager: Life in the Middle
C.T. Fitzgerald
https://ctfitzgerald.com
RCT & Associates, LLC
9798218949556, $29.99 Paperback/$14.99 eBook
Author's Website
https://ctfitzgerald.com/product/the-good-sales-manager-life-in-the-middle
The Good Sales Manager: Life in the Middle compliments C.T. Fitzgerald's prior book, The Good Salesman, and is based on experience and fact, giving business readers a solid set of insights which worked for the author. In fact, Fitzgerald points out from the start, all kinds of managers - not just sales managers - will benefit from many of these reflections, making the book wider-reaching than its title may imply. The subtitle emphasizes that the sales manager position actually stands in the middle of different processes - thus, it represents a unique position in which roles and actions, both internally and above and below the company position, impact a sales manager's outcomes.
It begins with the basic query of why one would want to become a sales manager before moving to questions of how the position is carried out. Some surprising insights about how that position becomes stronger or weaker stem from Fitzgerald's forty-something years of observation and experience:
"Why do I firmly believe that sales managers should be successful sales trainers, first? A manager who can train (and was probably a salesman himself), knows how to evaluate sales talent, knows how to improve sales deficiencies, teaches company policy, demonstrates how to do things correctly, teaches new people how he wants things done, passes on his enthusiasm, creates a strong relationship with that trainee, and, with time, creates and nurtures a highly effective sales group."
Chapters delve into the training process and qualities which make for superior sales management approaches, providing important tips on professional standards, business opportunities specific to the managerial position, choices involved in developing different kinds of relationships, and more. At each step, Fitzgerald embeds his advice with real-world experience to reinforce the opportunities and challenges under discussion. The result can be applied to all types of management positions in all kinds of situations, making The Good Sales Manager: Life in the Middle an appealing, important, and practical slice-of-business-life set of examples, admonitions, and insights that libraries, business schools that teach sales and/or sales management, and business readers will want to acquire and consider one of their tools for success.
The Emergent Leader
Don Gregori
Torchflame Books
https://torchflamebooks.com
9781611537246, $19.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Emergent-Leader-Building-Leadership-Self-Mastery/dp/161153724X
The Emergent Leader: A Guide to Brand Building, Leadership, and Self-Mastery provides business leaders with a survey of the role and choices involved in company management. The book identifies six key areas: brand building, exploiting gaps, fostering a culture of innovation, driving efficiency, career management, and managing stress, reviewing the situations and options involved in making better executive decisions. Business readers who anticipate the usual pragmatic blueprint of advice will be pleased to learn that Don Gregori incorporates left-brain thinking into right-brain approaches to business. He marries the creative with the practical to build strategies that come not just from business experience, but all disciplines:
"Organizing elements around an idea is a key step for being creative. Steve Jobs definitely agreed, stating, "Creativity is just connecting things." Being creative is bringing a concept to life by thinking differently. We need to string together components in new ways that may be hard to see, initially."
From what makes for a great communicator who can teach by crafting a compelling story to applying lessons from the flexible mindset of a child, The Emergent Leader offers many lessons from sources business leaders won't anticipate, allowing for a more multifaceted, appealing read than most business books. Even more important are sections of "take action" and "takeaway" roundups that synthesize each chapter by solidifying opportunities leaders can take advantage of. Insights on what makes for a winning approach allude to other disciplines and experiences with psychological insights that, again, business readers won't expect:
"The rule books need to be ignored when we recognize that a moment is rife with opportunity. If we were just playing the cards, then the rule book would be a bible. But, the truth is, we are playing the people at the table. We win big not when we predict specific cards that will be played, but how those cards will be played by the person holding them."
The result is highly recommended for a broad audience, from business libraries and reading groups to general leadership circles interested in better understanding and utilizing the tools that stem from life experience and improving understanding of the shared traits of productive people who become leaders in diverse circles.
The Travel Shelf
National Parks: A Family Travelogue Adventure Through All 63 US Parks
Antonio Lopez
Torchflame Books
https://torchflamebooks.com
9781611537031, $19.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/National-Parks-Travelogue-Adventure-Through/dp/1611537037
National Parks: A Family Travelogue Adventure Through all 63 US Parks outlines the journey of the Lopez family and their mandate to visit all 63 US parks. Few would embark on such an endeavor with their first newborn child, but Lopez framed a vision from a map that became the family goal: "....to visit all fifty-nine national parks with our son by the time he reached the age of eighteen. To be precise, before he went off to college. That would be the framework for the family adventures to knit us together for good."
The idea was to share experiences as a family. The travels which reinforced family ties receive vivid depiction in chapters arranged by national park which review new experiences in each place. Armchair readers can enjoy vicarious exploration alongside the Lopez family, tasting the unique atmosphere of each national park: "This park had always been on my mind, and I envisioned visiting in a perfect world. The world was not in a perfect place, but summer solstice had just passed, and we would have the delight of a sunny, long, warm, perfect day with family, sights of a lifetime, and thousands of wild animals."
American and park history blend into the stories, creating a backdrop for better understanding each park's influences, evolution, and value as the Lopez family navigates different environments and states. Contemporary issues also surface, as Lopez experiences Death Valley as he reflects on its future: "We spent the rest of our days in the park zooming past the desert, walking with our son, and taking it easy. From time to time, I think about climate change. The entire American Southwest one day may resemble Death Valley National Park. By that time, we might not be alive. I wonder how Death Valley will be in the future."
Marathon racing, another Lopez passion, is also narrated in the course of these journeys, which will delight those additionally interested in foot racing. The result is a delightful interplay of family bonding, national park scenarios, bigger picture thinking, history, and marathon race experience that offer eye-opening glimpses into the park system and the opportunities families have to travel and enjoy nature and one another. Libraries and readers will find National Parks: A Family Travelogue Adventure Through all 63 US Parks, with its black and white family photos peppered throughout, an especially uplifting read.
The Self-Help Shelf
Boost: Energize Your Life One Small Step at a Time
Dr. Volker Hack
https://www.volkerhack.com
GFB
www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781967510658, $18.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Boost-Energize-Your-Life-Small-ebook/dp/B0HDFCYP48
Boost: Energize Your Life One Small Step at a Time is a treatise on energy level management that opens with Dr. Volker Hack's own energy loss - a life-changing event, since he was previously a high achiever able to ignore any fluctuations in his energy levels. His illness taught him how to prioritize those levels, pay attention to their patterns, and ultimately build and preserve a different approach to life, career, and health which is reflected in Boost, a lesson in mindfulness and transformation. High achievers, in particular, will find these lessons invaluable keys to not just preserving their approaches to life, but fine-tuning them to build more flexibility and awareness into their goal-oriented approaches to life.
The book doesn't limit itself to Hack's experiences, but includes those of over twenty individuals who contribute their own energy-management strategies to this book. Chapters thus build an understanding of energy, management systems, and step-by-step processes for positive change. This will attract action-oriented readers with exercises, revised approaches to life and achievement ideals, and a sustainable long-term approach to transformation. Readers will especially appreciate the built-in flexibility of approaches which eschew the usual rigid admonition of self-help formula writing to encourage adaptations and creative adjustments to the guidelines and exercises presented within:
"Productivity isn't one-size-fits-all. The Pomodoro schedule may be too rigid for some, especially during periods of deep concentration. For others, frequent pauses could disrupt momentum while you are in a creative flow. So, while Pomodoro is a great place to start, experiment with the length and frequency of your work sessions and breaks. Trust your instincts and adapt your schedule based on your energy levels and the nature of your tasks. When you allow yourself this flexibility, you'll find it easier to stay focused, energized, and motivated throughout your day."
The result will appeal to readers ranging from business and career goal-setters to self-help, psychology, and health students. Anyone who seeks a combination of applied, tested techniques for revised living and tested "power moves" for long-lasting wellbeing will appreciate this book's ideological and practical intersection. Librarians can place Boost: Energize Your Life One Small Step at a Time in the hands of a wide audience of patrons and can also highly recommend it to business and self-help reading groups interested in the foundations of attitude and work adjustment.
The 5Ms: Proven Practices to Prevent Burnout and Reset Your Life
Amrit DePaulo
https://www.the5ms.com
GFB
www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781967510788, $18.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/5Ms-Proven-Practices-Prevent-Burnout/dp/1967510784
The 5Ms: Proven Practices to Prevent Burnout and Reset Your Life considers the types of business and social demands that encourage burnout. It goes beyond most books about burnout to analyze the social pressures involved and how to recover from a burnout situation. It also tackles the bigger picture of not just identifying and recovering from burnout, but adopting preventative practices which range from mindful eating and life choices to meditation, music, and resetting brain networks for better responses. Tips stem from research, the findings of psychoanalysts and health professionals, and a range of research on behavioral change. These translate to specific routines, discoveries, and patterns of adaptation that intersect with Amrit DePaulo's own efforts, providing a satisfying blend of research studies and personal experience:
"At some point during my early experimentation with mindful eating, I tried something that made me generally uncomfortable and anxious: eating breakfast in complete silence and before I had an opportunity to be swallowed up by work. No phone. No laptop. No podcast. No music. Just me, a crispy bagel with a bit of butter and cream cheese, and the sound of my own chewing. The first three minutes were excruciating."
This blends with the feel of a memoir as DePaulo reviews his own life and those situations which injected quandaries or success into his mindset and ventures. Readers won't expect the level of personal insight that stems from a book about burnout, nor the powerfully thought-provoking moments of transformation that occur from such everyday experiences as a mother's boyfriend's departure:
"For years after he left, I would think about him sitting in that living room every morning. I wondered if he was still meditating somewhere in Nepal, still waking before sunrise, still chanting that low hum that made the air vibrate. I wondered if he thought about me. But mostly, I tried not to think about him at all. Because thinking about Tenzin meant thinking about my father, who'd also left and never come back. It meant thinking about how the men in my life kept disappearing, kept teaching me things and then leaving before I understood what they'd taught me. So I stopped sitting on the cushion. I stopped watching the sunrise. I stopped believing that stillness was worth choosing."
These many moments of discovery, realization, adaptation, and life changes inject powerful, unexpected reflections into the subject of addressing burnout which, in turn, propel The 5Ms into unexpected territory. Librarians will thus want to highly recommend The 5Ms to readers who range from business and self-help audiences to those who enjoy memoirs that center on personal transformation and efforts to effect positive change. Readers choosing The 5Ms receive much more than a singular attention to burnout, but a broader inspection of life influences and consequences which can easily apply to all kinds of situations. Why place this book at the top of a reading list? Because its promise, for those seeking mindfulness in their own lives, is absolutely compelling:
"The 5Ms are training wheels for awareness. Eventually, you forget the wheels are on because you're already balanced without them. Then one day, you realize you haven't thought about the 5Ms in weeks, yet they're quietly everywhere. You find yourself chewing more slowly without effort. You listen before responding. You walk when you're restless. You turn toward beauty without planning to. Presence is just where you live now."
Soul Damage, Soul Remedy
Mariane E. Weigley, JD
Weigley Publications, Inc.
https://weigleypublications.com
9780988499065, $16.95 Paper/$7.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Damage-Remedy-Emotional-Fragmentation-ebook/dp/B0GYQJKH2Z
Soul Damage, Soul Remedy: How to Heal the Soul from Emotional Abuse and Energy Fragmentation addresses a topic that most everyone can understand but few truly comprehend: how to recover from emotional abuse. Survivors often struggle with long-lasting effects of such abuse with little knowledge of how to banish them forever. Mariane E. Weigley uses insights gained from energetic healing to address these lasting impacts, guiding readers into pathways of restoration and healing which are often bypassed by traditional therapeutic approaches.
Weigley combines insights from her own life, such as her mother's death, to blend personal experiences into the bigger picture of energetic healing processes. She delves into the nature, process, and feeling of "fragmentation" to chart survival tactics and their lasting influence, and she helps readers understand how this survival tactic moves from short-term benefit to long-term detriment. From the healing power of physical closeness to creating an effective journal about the major events of life and the grief threads that run through it, often unresolved, Weigley crafts not one but a series of approaches to ultimate resolution that helps readers not just understand, but grow. She also emphasizes that the process isn't just about control - it's about absorption of grief, negativity, and processes which often result in becoming stuck and fragmented: "When it comes to healing, the Involuntary calls the shots. We can't always control how our bodies and minds will react."
The result is a powerful self-help guide which will appeal to both self-help psychology readers and spiritual thinkers interested in doing the work to address fragmentation and soul damage of the past. Librarians interested in titles that move beyond psychology circles alone to help a broader audience from all walks of life who struggle with past abuse, in whatever form it takes, and present-day reactions and influences will find Soul Damage, Soul Remedy's unique blend of spiritual and psychological advice to be uplifting, accessible, and worthy of book club as well as individual recommendation.
The Holocaust Studies Shelf
Inheritance of Memory
John Kornfeld, Ph.D., Editor
https://book.holocauststoryproject.org
Mango Moon Media
https://www.mangomoonmedia.com
9781948749992, $21.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Inheritance-Memory-Holocaust-Survivors-Children-ebook/dp/B0HG336SFZ
Inheritance of Memory: Holocaust Survivors and Their Children Share Their Stories is an anthology of insights about the Holocaust that juxtaposes the experiences of survivors with the lasting impact on their children and families. Many collections gather survivor memories, but Dr. Kornfeld's focus on intergenerational trauma adds an extra dimension of insight to the experience as children narrate their parents' lives and how their own childhoods and values were shaped by the Holocaust.
Some may think that these stories of the past are about a bygone era, but as the editors point out, today's situation with Israel, Gaza, and Palestine are all marked by what happened in the Holocaust, as well as shifting perspectives of modern Jewish people on the concept of "Never Again" and the foundations of their contemporary survival tactics. These lend yet more dimensions of precedent and understanding to current events which hold their origins in past trauma, and are key to better understanding the perspectives, choices, and lasting impact of these situations on modern life. Insights on what it meant to grow up with these survival stories come from all kinds of experiences, and are one of the ways Inheritance of Memory differs from most other Holocaust stories.
One example lies in Emily Hendel Winfield's "Terrified and Alone: My Parents' Story:" "Return she did, terrified and alone, a young Jewish woman who knew that non-Jewish Poles would happily turn her in to the Gestapo if they caught her outside the ghetto gates. I grew up with my mother always telling me that Polish Catholics instinctively knew who was Jewish and who wasn't."
Inheritance of Memory will attract a wide audience, from middle and high school to book groups and readers of Holocaust memories and literature to book clubs and reading groups interested in intergenerational trauma, healing, and the impact of history on social and political choices. Packed with thought-provoking ramifications for the future, Inheritance of Memory tracks the origins of traits and behaviors which both support long-term survival and ultimately influence prejudices and the developments and directions of nations.
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
www.midwestbookreview.com
Diane C. Donovan, Editor & Senior Reviewer
12424 Mill Street, Petaluma, CA 94952
phone: 1-707-795-4629
e-mail: donovan@sonic.net
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