Reviews with TLC

Five O'clock Twist by Joanne Pence is a quick and entertaining read. In this fifth installment of the Rebecca Mayfield series, Rebecca struggles with her feelings for Richie Amalfi as she gets caught up in an investigation that keeps pushing her toward him. Pence delves into a few of the other characters, like Vito and Shay, a little deeper sparking my curiosity about their backstories and making me hope she will flesh these characters out more in future books.  I particularly enjoyed a point in the book where Richie's concern for Spike, Rebecca's dog, shows us a softer side of Richie in part because it addressed the "what about Spike?" loop in my brain. I always enjoy Spike's appearances in these books. Rebecca is torn between her work, her feelings, and her need to protect those she cares about.  Five O'clock Twist was a fun read though it felt like it ended a bit abruptly. I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series. Check back soon ...

Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin Neff, Ph.D. pushed my buttons... mostly in the best way. Neff offers her research, her own experiences, and her observations mixed with information from myriad disciplines ranging from spiritual to neuroscience. I had read quite a bit of what Neff offers in other places, but she pulls it together in a way that makes it easy to understand and that makes self-compassion feel accessible and attainable. Her arguments for shifting from self-esteem to self-compassion and self-appreciation were better than I expected. She includes exercises along the way to help the reader access self-compassion. Self-Compassion feels like an introductory course and left me curious about what the research has shown since its publication. Neff supports and explains her premise of the life-changing benefits of self-compassion so well that I began to re-examine my own self-compassion journey with a bit more compassion... Check back soon for...

Trouble by Janelle Brown is a short story about assumptions and the consequences of those assumptions. Told through the eyes of a mother trying to do the right thing and recognizing things in her daughter's friend and the friend's mother that bring up her own insecurities affecting her decisions and opening her up to make assumptions that lead to consequences she doesn't foresee. Brown weaves the story in a way that both intrigues and creates a bit of discomfort as the reader feels their own assumptions rise and fall through the interactions between the characters in Trouble . Overall, I enjoyed reading Trouble  because the characters and their interactions were so relatable while also being complicated. Check back soon for my thoughts on other books I'm reading including: Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself  by Kristin Neff Five O'Clock Twist  by Joanne Pence The Collected Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Reviews will be posted as I fini...

Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing by Margaret Atwood intertwines philosophy, memoir, and examples to explore the writing life. Atwood weaves together seemingly disparate parts of life to demonstrate how interconnected every aspect of life and writing are. Atwood discusses the writer's relationship to life, living, truth, deception, and shadows and the interpretation of all of these in the works they write complete with examples from a slew of writers. She explores how writers use those interpretations to communicate with the readers for whom they write. Atwood's descriptions of her journey to become and remain a writer offer glimmers of hope and inspiration for writers on their writing journey. I found concepts, experiences, and emotions to which I could definitely relate; however, there were also parts to which I couldn't relate. This is the nature of being a writer reading another writer's experience in the same way that it is the nature of being a human...

The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie pulled me in with its blatant societal role reversal for men and women. Told from the point of view of Obinna, the househusband of a successful and powerful woman in a matriarchal society, it was easy to empathize with his point of view as he prepares for a visit from and then visits with a childhood friend, Eze, who has remained single. The many direct and obvious parallels with current society are intriguing, interesting, and thought provoking without feeling heavy handed but still driving home the power of inequality. There's a beauty to the simplicity of  The Visit  that allows it to unfold as realistic and plausible by reversing the roles to explore not how women might handle the situation differently but how men would feel if women handled being in power the same way men have. Check back soon for my thoughts on other books I'm reading including: Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing  by Margaret Atwood Self-Compassion: ...

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown offers encouragement and guidance to approach life from a direction that focuses on what is essential instead of trying to do/be everything. I had been looking forward to reading this book so much I almost started it when it arrived even though I was reading 4 or 5 other books at the time... Yes, I needed a lesson in essentialism. McKeown writes in an easy to understand format and presents some ideas that are quite relatable, yet I couldn't help but feel like this book is written from a place of privilege and therefore isn't as universal as it seems. When McKeown offers the example of a CEO whose doctor suggested he take a year off to address his health issues, I guffawed. Seriously? Who can actually do that? I can't even imagine a doctor making that suggestion. This is only one example of the privilege bleeding off the pages in the anecdotes he shares to make his points. I kept wondering who picks up the slack ...

Self-Love: Journey of Self-Discovery and Emotional Healing to Help You Feel Good Enough: Guided Journal by Suzanne Heyn started off putting me on edge because my copy was put together incorrectly. I considered returning it but decided to just go with the flow. It made the entire experience feel like I was reading and writing backwards, an interesting brain exercise. Heyn offers an essay before each daily prompt. I found some of them interesting but mostly felt like this was work I'd already done. Heyn does what the book promises, but also leans into religion and spiritually in places that felt limiting but that could be because my personal beliefs don't align with hers.  I bought the book to help me explore a specific reason for a dip in my self-love. By twisting the prompts, I was able to kind of hone in on my issue. Overall,  Self-Love  was good, but I don't think I'm its target audience. Someone who is earlier on in their self-love journey might find the book far...

Write a Poem a Day: 30 Prompts to Unleash Your Imagination by Sage Cohen offers a fun and interesting take on providing poetry prompts. Cohen leads with the prompt for each day and offers examples of poems, inspirational quotes, encouragement, explanations, and personal anecdotes in various combinations. Write a Poem a Day offers prompts that pushed me to think even if I sometimes didn't feel like a particular prompt worked for me. Interestingly, though, I managed to write a poem every day, sometimes more than one. Sometimes the poems I wrote were only loosely inspired by the prompt, but I'm okay with that. I think the point of prompts is to prime the brain to write not to dictate the outcome. As I worked through the prompts, I kept thinking back to conversations I've had with teachers about how to teach poetry in a way that engages students.* I think Write a Poem a Day holds potential to inspire those teachers if not the students themselves.  Write a Poem a Day  is a gr...