Reviews with TLC

I've been intrigued with Brené Brown's work since I listened to her Ted Talk on Vulnerability. I finally got around to starting to read her books. I expected I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough" to be a reiteration of all the things I've heard her say in her talks and classes and in her interviews. It was that but it was also more. In fact, it was more than I expected or perhaps was ready for. I sat down intending to simply read the book and ended up deciding to take her advice and work through the exercises. I didn't always like the answers that arose for me, but it was worth the time it took. I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't) pushed me to examine my thoughts and my attitudes toward shame and blame and vulnerability and strength. I started the book thinking that I'd already done this work, so this would just be me learning more about the topic. Brown breaks ...

The characters in Forgotten Reflections by Young Im-Lee took up residence in my imagination in a way that felt like I was living with them even when I wasn't reading. I walked the small village with Isuel and Jung-Soo. I felt the depths of the forest and the pain of war with Jung-Soo and Dae-Gun. I felt the fear and the confusion. I felt the excitement over both the little moments and the monumental moments shared. The heartache of betrayal and family secrets and the bravery of the villagers rang through the pages. Forgotten Reflections bridges the past and the present through the eyes of a granddaughter desperate to understand her grandmother and her family history. There's a thread of rebellion and strength that weaves through Forgotten Reflections demonstrating that human beings find a way to rise to the occasion when faced with dire circumstances. Mythology confronts reality while bravery and cowardice fight their own battle. Forgotten Reflections is a love story surr...

No Acute Distress Poems by Jennifer Richter explores life, death, illness, self-autonomy, and family life in poems filled with raw honesty combined with both despair and hope. In explorations of how our bodies can both betray us and heal us, Richter demonstrates how intellectual knowledge sometimes struggles to reconcile with emotional connections. Richter's use of language is inventive and lyrical while remaining approachable and relatable.  No Acute Distress feels at once highly personal and undeniably universal bringing the reader into Richter's life and her into the readers' life demonstrating how people's lives affect one another directly and indirectly.