Reviews with TLC

Ho w to Produce an Audiobook on a Budget by Renee Conoulty - I bought this book as part of my research into producing my books as audiobooks. The book was short and interesting. It is simple to understand, and I look forward to putting the tips to use when I start recording my books. Storyteller: How to be an Audio Book Narrator - Companion Script - Lorelei King & Ali Muirden - Another book I bought as research into recording my books as audiobooks. This book covered the act of telling the story in a way the microphone picks it up for the audience. While the book contained some interesting content, the format didn't work particularly well for me. I didn't feel like I learned much from it. Though I suppose I'll see when I start recording my books. So You Want to Start a Podcast: Finding Your Voice, Tellling Your Story, and Building a Community That Will Listen by Kristen Meinzer - I bought this book as part of my research into whether or not I want to start a podcast...

  Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay (also in poetry) is a novel written as a series of poems. Tregay does an excellent job pulling the reader into the life of Marcie. Marcie's mother moves the two of them across the country when Marcie's father leaves for another man. Marcie is devastated to learn they're not returning to Idaho at the end of the summer. As she seeks to feel connected to someone, anyone, she makes some questionable decisions as many teens do when faced when suddenly having to be the adults when a parent is unable to be a parent. The reader is taken along as Marcie faces her life, her parents, her decisions, and the consequences of expectations and conformity. This story contains elements of a love story but on a far deeper level is about how to embrace being one's self in a world that often tells us who we are is unacceptable.  Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe (also poetry) is a compilation of Edgar Allan Poe's fiction and poetry. Here...

  A Promised Land by Barack Obama offers a glimpse into the presidency of Barack Obama. Obama brings the reader into the story in what feels more intimate than it is. A Promised Land covers Obama's life up to the presidency and through a portion of his presidency. It's been called the first installment in his biography. His writing style is distinctive and, as he admits in interviews, sometimes verbose. Obama comes across as someone who thinks deeply and considers his moves carefully. I felt like I understood his reasoning for the decisions he made even when he didn't convince me they were the right decision. Overall, A Promised Land is a look inside the man, the President, the husband, the father, the citizen who is Barack Obama. Love him or hate him, he seems to know who he is and this book personifies that even more than his first two books did. Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle prompted quite a reaction in me that resulted in the blog post, Masks of Me , on Write with T...

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert promises to inspire and empower. Maybe it does for some people. It is well written and easy to understand. Written as part self-help, part memoir, Big Magic explores Gilbert's struggles to challenge her fears and embrace her creativity in a way that aims to help the reader do the same. I found some parts of it interesting, but overall I didn't find it changed anything about my relationship with creativity. To be fair, that might be because I'm pretty happy with my creativity and was before I started reading it. Rising Strong by Brené Brown continues exploring Brown's research into vulnerability and, really, into human interaction and behavior as a whole. Brown's research often pushes her to examine her own life, and she shares those experiences in her books. Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the stories and lose track of her research while reading even though she cites the research often. I always g...

  Vegan Cheese: Become a 5-Star Cheese Maker by Earnest Cinnamon is filled with interesting vegan cheese recipes. I bought this book as part of my research into making vegan cheese. Sadly, with all the research I've done, I haven't actually made very many of the recipes, so I can't say how well the recipes work. The book was inspiring and interesting though. I hope to eventually make some of the recipes. T he How Not to Diet Cookbook: 100+ Recipes for Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss by Michael Greger is filled with interesting recipes. While I can't claim to have made many of them, I have used several for inspiration for my own recipes. I hope to make more the recipes as time goes on. I would highly recommend this cookbook to anyone trying to find interesting ways to eat a plant-based or vegan diet. Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by Colin T. Campbell (also in nonfiction) breaks down how the nutrition industry has broken down nutrition to its barest element...

52 Lists for Togetherness by Moorea Seal left me feeling lonelier and more alone than I imagined a journal ever could. I've done other 52 List Journals and enjoyed them for the most part. This one, however, really made me question my relationships as time and again I couldn't figure out which, if any, of my friends would be willing to participate in the sharing lists. I think it might work for some people, particularly if two or more people agreed to do it as a bonding exercise; however, to do it solo just didn't work for me at all. The Life Organizer: A Woman's Guide to a Mindful Year by Jennifer Louden was kind of interesting but didn't really do much for me. The questions didn't give me a single "ah-ha" moment or make me dig deeper into my motivations. I did my entry every Sunday to set up for the week and then promptly forgot the whole thing. Sadly, it quickly became one more activity to check off my task list. All that said, I think for someone...

  Naked for Tea: Poems  by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is a book of poetry that gently but fiercely challenges conventional thought and expectations for living an acceptable life. Trommer paints pictures that ache in one moment and celebrate in the next. She explore life without apology. Please by Jericho Brown challenges the perception of life that says if we do all the right things, life will work out right. Brown unapologetically explores the way love and violence can get too mixed up in our minds leading us to equate love with violence until we stop fighting back. Brown explores expectations, conformity, and power in this examination of society, family, relationships, and culture. With poems that often feel voyeuristic, Please is more of a demand than an apology that requires the readers to examine their perceptions of the world around them. When Love Rises by Michelle G. Stradford combines poetry and sketches to paint a story of love, loss, and rediscovering love. Filled ...