Reviews with TLC

The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010  by Lucille Clifton (edited by Kevin Young and Michael S. Glaser) brought all the feelings to the table. Clifton's poems have a sophisticated simplicity that lends beautifully to the complex issues she covers in this wide-ranging book of poems. Some of the more personal poems felt almost voyeuristic but left me wanting to know more. Clifton made me think and feel in poems that pulled me into the world from her point of view. As with any collection, some of Clifton's poems resonated with me more deeply than others. I enjoy poems that make me question what I think I know and challenge me to feel things beyond my experience. The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 certainly accomplished both. Currently Reading: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine  by Ilan Pappe The January 6th Report  Rifqa  by Mohammed El-Kurd Disclosure: This blog contains affiliate links meaning if you click on those links and make a purchase, ...

My Voice Sought the Wind by Susan Abulhawa is beautifully intense and intensely beautiful in its honesty and expression. The poems often seem simple at first glance but contain quite a bit of depth, often in only a few lines. Abulhawa expresses her experiences and her observations with an openness that is touching and engaging. Within her poems lies the humanity that  lives inside all of us and reminds us all that we can find more in common than we think if we just stop to see each other. I thoroughly enjoyed My Voice Sought the Wind and was a little sad when I got to the end because there wasn't more to read. Check back soon for my thoughts on other books I'm reading including: The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A history of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017   by Rashid Khalidi Reviews will be posted as I finish these books. Disclosure: This blog contains affiliate links meaning if you click on those links and make a purchase, I earn a commission at no addition...

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears surprised me not in its bombshells or its revelations but in its humanity. Reading it felt like sitting across from a friend who is catching you up on their life. To be clear, Spears really appealed to a younger generation than me as I'm a bit older than her, so I didn't follow her career that closely even though I did enjoy some of her songs when I would hear them. The Woman in Me feels both like it is guarded and vulnerable, which I believe tells us something in and of itself. Spears has always had to be careful about what she shares and what she holds close. The Woman in Me is a powerful reminder of how damaging and devastating the paparazzi was in the 1990s and early 2000s. There is a strong message here about the public's insatiable desire for the salacious. I felt Spears's pain and her fear as the paparazzi surrounded her, especially when she had her children, babies at the time, with her wanting that money shot and not caring ...

  Write On, Sisters! Voice, Courage, and Claiming Your Place at the Table by Brooke Warner addresses the issues women have faced in the writing world and publishing industry throughout time without getting bogged down in negativity. Warner also offers insight in the changes women have made and how changes in society are related to women who write. There are moments when Write On, Sisters! seems a bit redundant, but that redundancy also seems to drive home the point that women have to claim their place at the table and then hold on to it while not getting trapped in the room where the table sits. Toward the end of the book, I couldn't help but think instead of claiming our place at the table, maybe we're upending the table and building a brand new one that fits us - all of us -better by being more inclusive and diverse.  Check back soon for my thoughts on other books I'm reading including: My Life  by Bill Clinton We Should All Be Feminists: A Guided Journal  by Chi...

I'd wanted to read  Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay for quite a while. I decided with my to-be-read piles finally visibly decreasing, it was time to buy it and read it. I have mixed feelings about Bad Feminist . Gay is an engaging writer and her points are often interesting and thought provoking. I appreciate her insight into and honesty about feminism and the arguments around feminism; however, I found some of the references used to make points in the book haven't aged particularly well. At a few different points, I found myself pausing to doublecheck the copyright date of the book. Bad Feminist pushed me to admit, even if only to myself, some of my own doubts, blind spots, and stubbornness regarding feminism. I think if I'd read this book when it was released, I would've enjoyed it far more. Still, I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in feminism, intersectionality, and/or misogyny. Check back soon for my thoughts on other books I'm readin...

I moved a bit more toward workbook style guided journals than I have used in previous years. I found the ones I used this year to each provide some helpful insights as well as to have some less than insightful points. Whether this is because of where I am in my life journey or a fault of the journals is yours to decide should you decide to try them.   52 Lists for Calm  by Moorea Seal is  a list journal with prompts that one fills out weekly rather than daily. Some prompts are better than others. Honestly, I didn't enjoy this list journal as much as I've enjoyed others in past years. I never could quite figure out why. All I know is that instead of making me feel calm, somewhere around the middle of the year it began to feel like a chore. I've really enjoyed list journals in the past, so I'm not so sure if the problem was with the journal or with where I'm at in my life.   52 Lists for Bravery  by Moorea Seal -  This is another list journal I started at the...

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...

My reading list for 2020 was heavy on nonfiction. In fact, I didn't read any fiction at all, a rare year for me. I plan to incorporate at least some fiction into 2021, but we'll see. Right now I have so much nonfiction I want to read and research I need to do that fiction feels like a luxury. I'm sure I'll get back to it soon though. This list is my longest list year, by far. Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance - One of my two least favorite books I read in 2020, and perhaps in my life. I found this book to be reductive and stereotypical. He offered no new insights, and as a hillbilly found it quite insulting. Read more about my Hillbilly Roots  (also available on my blog, Write with TLC . (I disliked this book so much, I'm not providing a link to it.) Brave by Rose McGowan - This book is an intense look at the damage human beings can inflict on one other. McGowan's writing is blunt, bold, and raw. She shares her pain, her triumph, her anger, and her determination ...

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by Bell Hooks challenged me time and again. Hooks writing is always engaging and The Will to Change is no exception. The Will to Change looks at the way society molds the ideas of masculinity in connection with femininity. Hooks focuses on the influence of patriarchy on the roles men and women play in society starting with childhood. As I read, I struggled at times to let go of preconceptions I didn't even know I held. The Will to Change explores how men can live more whole lives and how that will benefit both men and women as well as society.

I was excited to read The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown because I enjoy her work research quite a bit and because I've long struggled with perfectionism. I thought this book was going to expand on I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't) , but instead it read more like it was refresher course. There were a few points that I had real contention with. For example, I was so bothered by her assertion regarding spirituality being necessary for wholehearted living that I went to her website and emailed her team. She seemed to assert, or at least imply, that atheists, agnostics, and other nonspiritual/nonreligious people can't live wholehearted lives. I want to know if her research included these groups because if not it demonstrates a flaw in her research. Her team has yet to respond. This part of the book caused me to question other parts of the book because I know from my own experience that ath...

Writing to Change the World: An Inspiring Guide for Transforming the World with Words  by Mary Pipher is an interesting look at using words to make a difference in the world. Pipher uses her own experience drawing attention to issues that matter to her and even discusses some of her failures. Writing to Change the World is more than a how to write effectively book. Pipher pushes writers to examine their attitudes, goals, and motivations while demonstrating how she's examined hers throughout her writing life. I felt moments of resistance as I read which shows the book is effective in provoking thought and creating an emotional connection. Writing to Change the World is not only a book about how to write to change the world but a book about creating change in the world.

Becoming by Michelle Obama lifted my spirits and touched my heart. Obama writes in a way that makes the reader feel like a new friendship is being forged. She writes her story without apologizing for who she is from childhood forward. She shares her insecurities, which somehow only make her seem stronger. She shares her journey from childhood through her time as First Lady of the United States. She talks about her missteps and her accomplishments with the same honesty. She shares her resistance to politics and living in the spotlight with unexpected openness. Becoming truly embraces the ongoing journey through life to becoming one's best self and embracing that self in any given moment. She shares stories that resonated with me and had me nodding along and other stories that my life experience doesn't give me context for. I felt like I understood life in general a little better from reading Becoming . I loved Becoming so much that I often snapped photos on my phone of pass...

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a written version of Adichie's Tedx Talk about how women's equality uplifts and supports whole communities.  I enjoyed her talk so much I wanted it in written form, so I could read it, ponder it, and keep it on my shelves to references at my convenience.   We Should All Be Feminists drives home the point about how women's rights are as important as men's rights. Adichie explores the myriad variations of inequality and beliefs around feminism. We Should All Be Feminists demystifies the idea of feminism and explains how feminism benefits everyone.

When I first saw I Know How You Feel: The Joy and Heartbreak of Friendship in Women's Lives by F. Diane Barth on the Amazon Vine Program page, I scrolled on past. I didn't think it applied to me. My friendships are... just fine. Then I started thinking about it and ended up back on the page ordering it. I'm so glad I did. While there wasn't all that much that I didn't know or hadn't surmised from my own life experience, Barth gave me a different perspective on what the knowledge and experience I had actually meant. Barth writes in a tone that feels a bit like having a conversation with a friend. She even includes a bit of friendly advice at the end of each chapter with her "what you can do" section. As I read I Know How You Feel , my thoughts traveled back over my entire life in an attempt to better understand all the friendships I've had with women over the years. Barth touches on the emotions, the actions, the beliefs, the expectations, and th...

How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith examines the habits women tend to develop that work in one part of their careers but don't translate well to other parts. Based on their years of experience coaching both men and women as well as research into women and men in the workplace, they've honed in on habits that women tend to adopt that men don't necessarily adopt while also referencing that both men and women develop habits that can stymie their advances in their careers. While there are moments the book feels a bit overly generalized, Helgesen and Marshall readily admit that there are women who don't adopt these habits and men that do. They deal with tendencies and how to address those tendencies rather than absolutes. One thing that sets How Women Rise apart from many self-help books is that it doesn't approach the subject from the concept of the broken or inadequate...