Book Harvest Book Reviews

2011-07-11T01:39:00.000-07:00

So I have been wanting to read this book for a long time...LONG TIME--

Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

So I bought the audio version of it and listed to it on my way to a friend's house. And by the time I got there, the book had absolutely shut me down in regards to money and completely made me self-conscious of every purchase I was making.

Now, I know that's the point, the point is based on the idea that Money = Freedom, which I completely agree. But it says things like, "Once you've bought your sewing machine, that's the last sewing machine you have to buy in your lifetime and you can cross it off your list."

Statements like these make me panic-- dear gawd, if this is my last sewing machine in my life, I better make sure I buy the right one...which shuts me down and I do nothing. "The right one" - it's a killer in money and art.

Nothing will ever be "the right one" including spouses, sewing machines and poems-- but things can be "good enough."

Your Money or Your Life has you actually figuring out what your ACTUAL hourly wage is, for example, if you make $25 an hour, but to commute to work you spend $5 on gas, $10 on a ferry ride, $500 a month on daycare, etc.... You don't make $25 an hr.

Once all the expenses needed are taken into account for you to be at work, then your dollar-per-hour may only be $15 an hour, or $8. This formula helps make it easier to figure out if you *really* want to buy something-- now that $8 sandwich costs you an hour of your time, do you really want to get it now, or do you want to wait 30 minutes until you're home and eat the food you know you have in your refrigerator?

Don't get me wrong, this is an awesome book. It completely can change the your views on money and how much you *really* need and to put your TIME as your top priority. As a writer, I love this. As a Capricorn, this book was almost a little too much. I had listened to her talk for my 3 hour drive and when I went into a consignment shop to buy a new summer coat I needed (well, she may argue "needed" but I had just given my old coat to Goodwill, so I believed I needed one!) I found one for $20 and it was truly hard for me to buy it. I felt as if I had already failed.

Time has passed since I read the book and money moves more freely from my pocket again (both good and bad), but sometimes I need to feel as if I've found a middle ground-- How to Be a Poet and Live with Freedom Without Being a Stingy Jerk, will be the book that I need to read--or write.

Still, if you really need an overhaul for your money situation, while I still put The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life (as it type this I see it's $3.98 right now at Amazon!) as my top choice for changing your life to YOUR priorities and helping you be less materialistic and swayed by consumerism, but this would be #2. As hard as it was for me to feel normal after reading it, I learned a lot and I'm glad it freaked it me out a bit. It's a good reminder of what my goals in life are.

Oh and I heard this from Chris Rock of all people, "Being wealthy is not about having a lot of money, it's about having a lot of options." Oh, that is so true!

Summer Reading for 2011

2011-06-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am feeling thankful today for the writers and artists in the world. And I'm also thankful for books.

Here's a list of what I've read, what I'm currently reading and what I plan to read this summer--

TOP PICK for Parents--

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School Alexandra Robbins --- I just started reading this, but am tearing my way through (I have the eBook edition).

If you have kids, especially tweens-teenagers (5th-12th grade), I highly recommend this.

It discusses that the qualities that can make a child "unpopular" in middle school and high school are the qualities that make them a successful and strong adult. (BTW, unpopular kids in school included Bruce Springsteen, Steve Jobs, Lady Gaga, Steven Spielberg -- though all I kept thinking when I read this was how I wished I went to Bruce Springsteen's high school...)

It looks at the different "types" of kids (through real observation of actual kids) exploring The Gamer, The Popular Bitch, The Weird Girl, The Loner, The Geek, The New Kid, and some others.

Anyway, I have a feeling I'll be finished with this in a couple of nights and will do a full review of it. So far, it's been hard to put down and is a great reminder how important it is to follow your own path & help your kids do the same (despite the high school/middle school push to conform to the beliefs/values/personalities of others).

Great Summer Read (hilarious)--

Bossypants by Tina Fey. I read the eBook extended version, which had extra photos & even a short audio file (which was kind of cool), but I bet this would have been hilarious in (Audio) because she narrates it.

For the Visionary-Wanna Bes--

Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible by Daniel Burrus - A pretty interesting book on how companies and people make the right choices because they know the difference between a hard trend & a soft trend, as well as other "triggers" that can help you see where the future is going.

The triggers he offers are smart (if you go to the Amazon page, the first review has a great summary of them). However, much of the book looks at the internet and towards the end, his own business, which for me, wasn't as interesting as when we were exploring the ways to get FlashForesight.

Also, while I'm a writer, I have also always been stronger in math and business (no fooling), so I do want to say since I know many of you who read this are more artisty, writerly types, there is a lot of talk about business, companies like Crocs, Starbucks, etc, and really, not too much discussion on the arts.

But I did find the idea of having Flash Foresight interesting in many aspects of our lives.

For those Looking for Calmness--

Buddhism for Busy People: Finding Happiness in an Uncertain World by David Michie --

I'm listening to this book and it's a good listening voice because the author is English--the only weird thing about the audio edition is that every so often, it goes completely silent, there's this sort of stop/start element to it as if the recording studio didn't know how to manage pauses or editing. It doesn't really change the content of the book, just something I noticed.

The book is lovely though. I'm not sure someone who is well-versed in Buddhism would like it as much as it goes over the principles of Buddhism and the basics, but for me, it's an interesting account of how a London business man ended up adding Buddhism to his life.

And as an extra benefit, I've started meditating again. 10 minutes a day. Not much, but a start.

For the Poetry Lovers--

Dean Young's Fall Higher I haven't purchased this, but plan to very soon. He just had a poem on Poetry Daily you can read here.

Jeannine Hall Gailey's She Returns to the Floating World will be out this month! You can pre-order. I have had the pleasure of reading this book pre-release since Jeannine is a good friend of mine, and it was pretty incredible mixing Japanese folklore and myths with modern life.

2011-04-07T01:17:00.000-07:00

Melody won the Perugia Press Poetry Prize for her manuscript of poems, Each Crumbling House. Perugia Press is one of my favorite presses because they consistently publish books I love (such as Jennifer K. Sweeney's How to Live on Bread and Music, a book I keep on my desk - my highest compliment), so it didn't surprise me that I also loved Melody's work as well.

Victoria Chang wrote in the blurb for Melody's book that "Melody Gee proves to us through her poetry that first-generation Asian American experiences still matter and will always matter. But even more so, her quietly unsettling and powerful book speaks to the whole human experience through its exploration of inheritance. These are haunting poems about culture, nature, and ultimately about love."

And I agree, these poems are about the human experience. Melody's work is immediate and brings the reader directly into the poem, scene, or moment. She writes to share an experience not block you from it. She is accessible, smart and has some of the loveliest openings lines ever.

Here are a few of my favorites--

The field is not us.
We are clover and the field is
not clover.

from "The Field is Not Us"

~
No one starves here. The women
do not chew the soles of their shoes
for juice and fibers.

It seems, MaMa, nothing
you told me is true.

from "What You Believed"

~

The story I tell is a fish
gaping its gills in my hands.
The only place I have
to set it down is prairie.

from "A Fish in Prairie"

~
The whole book is visually pleasing like that. From "Rain, California" where "I am eating orange slices dripping/from the sangria pitcher" to "The wind drives a current in my red/wine ocean, and I am bringing/you back to me slowly..."

So many poets are writing from their back corner of their minds these days, full of abstract thoughts, intended confusion, blissful uncaring, but it was refreshing to see that these poems do not come from that place--they come from heart and history. They come from story and shape where "trees burn with monarchs" and the details of "As a girl, you leashed crickets with ox hairs/and baited bees with sweet tomato flesh."

She is a poet who crafts her poems as doors into this world that moves from China to America through the house of history and self. We are in the poems too, as witnesses and readers. We experience "a flock of gulls erupt from the sand, pushed into flight" just as we experience "I have inherited a father/whole language I cannot fold my tongue to."

I lost myself in these poems and found myself in San Francisco 1929, in Li-Hing Lei village 1957, in a wedding in a garden.

I am thankful for this poet for writing a book of poems that so gracefully weaves through history into present time, that shares culture, family, and the art of story so well. I may be late in saying how much I like this book, but it doesn't take away the gift of this talented poet, one who is definitely carving a path for herself and one who I expect more good things from in the future.

Melody's bio (stolen from her website):

Melody S. Gee's first poetry collection, Each Crumbling House, won the 2010 Perugia Press Book Prize. (Available here.) Originally from Cerritos, California, she attended the University of California, Berkeley and the University of New Mexico, and has taught at Purdue University, Ivy Tech College, Saint Louis University, and the University of Missouri - St. Louis.

Her poems and essays are published or forthcoming in Blackbird, Copper Nickel, Southern California Review, Dogwood, Packingtown Review, Alligator Juniper, The Greensboro Review, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Washington Square Review, and Crab Orchard Review, among others.

A Pushcart Prize nominee, winner of the Robert Watson Literary Prize for poetry, and a 2008 Kundiman Asian American Poetry Retreat fellow, she currently teaches writing at Southwestern Illinois College and lives with her husband, Paul, in St. Louis.

You can visit her website here.

Book Review: Heather Cadenhead's Inventory of Sleeping Things

2010-12-18T07:28:00.000-08:00

When I first received Heather's chapbook, Inventory of Sleeping Things (Maverick Press, 2010), I almost mistook the Table of Contents for a poem because she has such interesting titles such as “The Cracking of Bones Makes the Same Sound as Falling in Love,” “A Coat on a Love Seat, Translated,” “The Difference in Being Dead and Being Alive is Motion.” Reading these titles, I knew there would be some expected moments in this chapbook and as I read, I was right.

The first thing I noticed about Heather’s work is her ability to create fresh images out of every day words. She writes in the first poem of the chapbook, … but I want a sky that swallows ideas. And guess what? So do I. Who knew I did, until she wrote that?

This is what I love about finding a new poet, the surprise of how she sees the world. The next poem, “Idea” has another image that I haven’t been able to remove from my mind:

I sift through it like my grandma used to sift through

my candy bucket on Halloween. GOOD and NOT GOOD:

chocolate bars lined up like gravestones by the garbage bin.

Sometimes the best ones get thrown away.

And I love this poem’s meditation on what an idea is, each stanza is a unique image of what an idea may be. She ends with another favorite couplet:

Finally, I put it in the closet like a finished sketchbook,

once useful to me. But, really, just taking up space.

The whole book is filled with these insightful lines taking our ordinary language and turning it into something extraordinary.

From “Our Share of Plums”:

My hair is a house

for your fingers.

From “Crooked Here” after next-door neighbors have installed a new light on their porch:

…Now they shine

when they move, like actors in a spotlight. Sometimes, I applaud from the window, soundless.

From “The Difference Between Being Dead & Being Alive is Motion”:

With you, the order of living things is broken…

Some mornings, you spend hours underwater.

It is a way of hiding.
You wonder at the fish…

For me, this is what I so enjoyed about this chapbook, how the poet writes to create a new and fresh look at the world and less about wanting to dissect meaning or force the reader to see her perspective. She allows the poems to exist on their own—through images and moments—and the reader is there as the observer and allowed to establish to her own feelings and ideas.

There is no pushing by the poet with judgmental language to make you feel one way or another, you are given a poem, a moment, a meditation, a poem spoken to another and as readers, we are there to find the freshness in the moment. We find the surprise in the relationship and taken to a new place where, as in the poem “Dusk” someone might be in the stars tomorrow or finding out she kept that letter you told her to throw away.

It’s a gift to find a new poet. This is my first time reading Heather’s poems and if this is just her first chapbook, I can only imagine the good things she has in front of her in the poems she will write.

Heather Cadenhead resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Her poems have been featured in journals like Ruminate, Relief, Illuminations, and others. In 2009, her poem “The Wedding” received an Editor’s Prize from New Plains Review. In 2010, her poem “Illiterate” was nominated for Best of the Net anthology and she was featured as the June poet for Chantarelle's Notebook. She also works in publicity for Thomas Nelson Publishers. For more information, seehttp://www.heathercadenhead.com

Heather Cadenhead

Uncommon Genius by Denise Shekerjian

2010-11-15T04:49:00.000-08:00

Uncommon Genius by Denise Shekerjian

I have started rereading this book I purchased a few years back by Denise Shekerjian. Oddly enough, this book was published in 1991, but I find the information just as useful today. The book looks at quite a few MacArthur Genius grant winners, their lives, their creativity, and their thoughts.

What I like about this book is how it looks at these artists, writers, inventors, scientists, with an examining eye on creativity and creative impulse. One of the biggest lessons I think I have received from this book is that these are creative people just living their passions, deeply. They are not focusing on how this passion can make them 1) wealthy 2) famous 3) _____________ fill in the blank. They are doing their art, their passion, their desires because they cannot live their lives without doing it.

There are many notes in the back of books the author read before she wrote this and it was truly amazing how much research went into this book. These are not just basic interviews. These are well-written accounts with background and details about MacArthur Genius Grant winners and their passions.

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Mary Karr - LIT : Recommended Reading

2010-11-13T04:48:00.000-08:00

I'm finally finishing up the memoir by Mary Karr called Lit. It's about how she lived her life as an alcoholic for many many years. Mary Karr is probably best known for me book, The Liars' Club: A Memoir, but also a book of poems, Sinners Welcome: Poems, Viper Rum (Poets, Penguin), and The Devil's Tour.

I am listening to Lit on audiotape, which I highly recommend because it's read by Mary herself and it has that nice twang of her southern book that make it feel as if the book is being spoken just to the listener.

It's a pretty amazing story, first on how much she could drink and exist (and be productive) in her life and two, how much work it was for her to be an alcoholic. From the hiding of beer cans and wine bottles, to buying them her alcohol from different liquor stores that no one caught on. And if they did, no one said anything.

There was a surprising scene (well, to me) where she mentions Thomas Lux and as a writer. Also I was interested in her process of becoming a writer which you learn throughout the book. I have about 4 more chapters left, I think. She's still drinking at this point and I wonder how this book will end.

For those of you who like memoir and if you are in academia or are a writer, you will probably find yourself completely lost in this story of alcoholism, creativity, being a mom, and keeping up appearances. The behind-the-scenes look at one person's alcoholism was pretty amazing, but again, I was also amazed with how much she could get done while being an alcoholic. A good observational account of what her life was.

168 Hours

2010-09-29T06:06:00.000-07:00

168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam (May 2010)

So, first I need to be honest here, I am a sucker for books like these. Anything that can help me be more "productive" or allow me to look at how I'm spending my time in life can interest me. This means, anything from today all the way back to Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I like books that show us new ways of looking at the world and using our time.

Second, I didn't read this book, but listened to it on audio book while I did house chores. I must say, I felt as if I was really taking advantage of my time by listening to the book and doing housework.

Here's what I liked in the book -- The idea of "Core Competencies," that there are certain things in your life that only you do well and should focus on - your main priorities in life and your tasks in life should bring you to these goals, whether your goal is spending time with your family and raising a child well or whatever your true dreams are. To quote her: "there should be almost nothing during your work hours - whatever you choose those to be - that is not advancing you toward your goals for the career and life you want."

I think when the book is focused on this topic and idea, it's completely on the right path and including most people who are interested in this. We each need to decide what is most important for us and do the things in our life that help us achieve our most important goals. If you are doing something that isn't moving you toward this, you either drop it or find someone to do it for you.

The one chapter though that really seemed a little out of it, was the chapter on outsourcing. While I totally agree it's absolutely fine to pay someone else to do something you either dislike to you or a task that eats away at your time so you can use that time for something more important (being with your family, writing, etc.), there's a point where I thought, "Um, this book was not written with me in mind because if I did these things, while I would have X numbers of hours with my family, we'd be eating Ramen every night." Karen a reviewer on Amazon had that same gripe as she wrote in her review that a better title for the book might be: 168 Hours: How To Buy Yourself Some Free Time On Over $100K A Year.

The other issue is that this book seems to be written to fit a certain type of person-- a female, upper-class, married woman with kids (though that said, I did see some positive reviews from men on Amazon, which was good and went against my assumption.) A lot of the book is giving women (or men) the okay to allow someone else to do their chores, so if you're someone who feels guilty for asking someone else to do your laundry, this book will allow you to feel okay about that. Also, if you don't have a supportive partner (or a partner at all), this book doesn't really address that concern.

But I don't just want to point out what some might see as negatives, but there was a lot of good info in this book and I did listen to it twice. There's the time log, which I think everyone should really do if they want to see exactly where their time is going (though kind of humorously, each person who did their own time log said that "it wasn't really a normal week"), the idea of figuring out your "core competencies" and focusing your time on those (just because you're busy doesn't mean your productive), the reminder that we don't need to do it all and certain things can be done by other people so you can have your time back.

The book has a good flow to it and the author has a good way of sharing information. I'd love to see her write a book just focusing on our priorities in life without the feeling that one needs to be making X number of dollars to cover all the costs and hiring a home staff. Her gift is conversational voice and ease of sharing info. And honestly, she is being true to her lifestyle and what works for her, so it's hard to dismiss her more costly ideas (aka "outsourcing) as they do work for people who have enough money to afford them.

While I can't give this book my highest recommendation, I'd recommend The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life by Cecile Andrews if you really are serious are getting your time back and changing your views on life, 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think was an enjoyable listen and I appreciate that she doesn't knock moms who work, but instead suggests that work and motherhood can happen together, you just need to work around the chores of life and keep your goals and priorities in your mind as you make choices for your life. These are the things I like hearing and remembering as I make choices in my own day and my use of time.

Here's a good article with the author, Laura Vanderkam on Happy Mom.

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Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces by David Biespiel

2010-09-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces by David Biespiel (Kelson Books, July 2010)

This book just arrive in my mailbox to review and I am so looking forward to reading it! Whatever is currently on my nightstand, this book will knock it off. I'll let you know how I like it.

Here's the description on Amazon--

Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces cracks open the creative process and invites readers to take a fresh look at the mysterious pathways of the imagination. "Failure is the engine of creativity" writes poet and critic David Biespiel in this provocative book based on his 2009 lecture at the Rainier Writers' Workshop. Biespiel candidly tracks his own development as a writer and challenges traditional assumptions about writing that can stifle creativity. The liberating message: Working past the brink of failure -being free to try and discard and try again-is what allows the creative process to playfully flourish, keeping the spirit open to unexpected discoveries. Both beginning and experienced writers-as well as artists, musicians, dancers, and anyone else on a creative path-will benefit from this elegant, surprising, and fresh perspective based on methods developed exclusively at the Attic, the unique literary studio Biespiel founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1999. Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces will revolutionize the way readers look at their own creative process. It is a rich and rewarding book, a captivating glimpse into the inner life of some gifted writers and painters-and above all, a guide to a lifetime of discovery.

***It only has 114 pages, so I should finish it quickly.

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2010-09-09T11:55:00.001-07:00

I'm a huge Chip Kidd fan, so I was intrigued when I saw he co-authored True Prep with Lisa Birnbach, author of the 80's The Official Preppy Handbook.

As someone who once wore a blue Izod shirt under a pink Izod shirt, let's just say I *may* have read or browsed the Preppy Handbook. So there is definitely an inner-preppy part of me that is interested in this new book.

Anyhoo, here's a couple videos for you.

The first is Chip Kidd talking briefly about True Prep and how the Official Preppy Handbook changed his life, but mostly, he talks about comic book heroes and graphic art. The second is a book trailer for True Prep.

Oh and by the way, if you do have an original copy of The Official Preppy Handbook, they are going for quite a bit of money online right now.

True Prep: It's a Whole New Old World

The Official Preppy Handbook

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Upcoming Book Reviews --

2010-09-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

Frances McCue's The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs: Revisiting the Northwest Towns of Richard Hugo (Samuel and Althea Stroum Book)

Cristin O'Keefe's poetry collection Everything Is Everything

Dorothy Barresi's American Fanatics (Pitt Poetry Series)

The Least of These: Poems by Todd Davis

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Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Confident & Courageous Daughter

2010-06-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Confident and Courageous Daughters by Joann Deak (published 2003)

If you have a daughter coming up to the "tween" phase or in the tween phase (ages 8-12), this is a book for you as it helps explain all the things girls are going through and offers ideas on how to parent through these new waters.

For me the book is worth it for just for the section on girl friendships and how exploring those relationships. It discusses cliques, fitting in and how some girls use "camouflaging" as a way to protect themselves while they go through what can be an awkward stage of development.

The goal is help your daughter not lose her self or her voice in the process of this change.

Anyway, I read the book in just a few evenings and actually enjoyed it with its examples and shorter sections written in a very easy to read and digest style.

Highly recommend for anyone with a daughter between 8-12 or read this before your daughter becomes a tween! Probably a better way to go!

Summer Reading! Poetry!

2010-06-24T08:53:00.001-07:00

I am so behind sharing my summer reading list with you.

Here are the book of poems I am currently reading (or have read):

Allen Braden: A Wreath of Down and Drops of Blood (The VQR Poetry Series)

Elizabeth Austen: The Girl Who Goes Alone (Floating Bridge Press Chapbook)

Rachel Contreni Flynn: Tongue

Alexandra Teague: Mortal Geography

Arda Collins: It Is Daylight (Yale Series of Younger Poets)

Karen Finneyfrock: Ceremony for the Choking Ghost

Robert FanningAmerican Prophet

Jennifer K. Sweeney: How to Live on Bread and Music

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Summer Reading List!

2010-06-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

The Creative Habit: Learn It And Use It For Life by Twyla Tharp - I highly recommend this book. This is my second time reading it and I love it. While she is a dancer, her words help all artists with routine, inspiration, ideas. Probably one of my all time favorite books.

~

The Artistic Mother: A Practical Guide to Fitting Creativity into Your Life by Shona Cole. A great book for people who want to try new ways to create such as photography, collage, and even poetry gets a mention! I love that she wrote this book while being the mother of 5 (five!) kids. Inspiring!

~
The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us: Christopher Chabris & Daniel Simons (I'm enjoying this!)

~

Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World by Mary Pipher (Finished! Loved this.) It's interesting because it goes into how after Mary became a huge success and so well-known with Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, she basically had a nervous breakdown.

For anyone who has dealt with anxiety or can become easily overwhelmed, this is an incredible look at how for some of us, there is "too much" and we can feel or get overloaded.

~

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein (had a hard time getting into this and set it down, will try to pick it up later...)

Mini Reviews -

2010-04-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

The Alchemist's Kitchen  Poems by Susan Rich - I keep this book on my desk because it's inspiring to me as a poet to reach to it and read a poem or two before I start my own writing. I saw Susan pop up on a lot of blogs this weekend at AWP, so I'm guessing that a lot of you will have this book on your desk too. Enjoy it. It's her 3rd book of poems and really a great mixing of subjects and themes throughout. A very satisfying read.

RECOMMEND!

Living Oprah: My One-Year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk  Robyn Okrant - I am a huge fan of these "one-year memoirs," where a writer decides to do something for a year then reports on the results in hopefully a smart and witty way. I'm only into the first chapter of this, but am already enjoying it.

She wanted to try living her life by doing everything Oprah said she should do. She blogged about the experience here, and it looks like she's onto a new project called Ready.Set.Wife.

Still reading, but I think this will be a RECOMMEND book if the author continues the same style and wit she has established early on in the book.

Do-Over!: In which a forty-eight-year-old father of three returns to kindergarten, summer camp, the prom, and other embarrassments   by Robin Hemley. Here's another "memoir" with a similar take, Robin Hemley decides to return to all the events in his childhood that didn't go well.

If you've never read Robin Hemley, he's both an incredible writer, and funny. He wrote my favorite short story "Reply All" about an email that takes on a life of its own. I heard him read it and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard.

Anyway, Do-Over is in Robin's witty, insightful style and is right now the book I don't want to end. I am actually refusing to read the last couple chapters because I do not want to stop reading this book. I will be sad when it's over.

RECOMMEND! - This book has just been a joy to read. Robin's a fantastic writer and I love the situations he ends up in.

Autobiography of Andre Agassi: OPEN  I'm kind of embarrassed to post this one here as 1) I'm not really a fan of Andre Agassi 2) This is my second famous-person memoir I've read in two months (um, the first being Howie Mandel's Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me - I know, it's not even confession Tuesday and I'm tossing these things out), but I have to tell you, I am a sucker for reading books that show how one person got to the place he or she is at in life. I am always curious to what came into play, the person's hardwork vs. luck, their motivation, desires, passions.

But honestly, while I finished this book, towards the last couple of chapter I was ready to whop Andre over the head with his "I hate tennis. No, I *really* hate tennis" mantra and crybaby attitude for not making his own choices in life. Still, I finished the book and let me tell you it was LONG. When you begin a book and the narrator says, "I was 7 years old..." you know, you're going to be there for a while.

I'll summarize his life for him: forced to play tennis as a kid (all his brothers and sisters were, he was just the best and the last chance for his dad to have a tennis pro son), went to a tennis school where he got terrible grades, rebelled, drank, became pro at 17, started losing his hair, married Brooke Shields, did meth, got off drugs, divorced Brooke, married Steffi Graf, had 2 kids, opened a school for troubled youth.

Anyway, I liked it enough to finish it (read: I was curious about how an athlete gets hooked on drugs as that seems insane to me and also how he ended up with Steffi Graf because I'm shallow that way), but the NY Times liked it more than I did. I'll just say, there's 8 hours of my life I'll never get back.

PASS ON THIS - I can't say I can recommend unless you are a huge Andre Agassi fan and really want to learn the inner details of how his life played out.

Review: Marrying George Clooney: Confessions of a Midlife Crisis by Amy Ferris

2010-02-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Memoir of the Year--

Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis by Amy Ferris (Seal Press, 2009) $16.95

Not all authors can combine humor, heartbreak, candidness, and the ability to tell a great story, but Amy Ferris does this. In her new memoir, Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis, she shares the details of her own mid-life menopause, quitting smoking after 32 years, married life, as well as the having to care for her mother who is suffering from severe dementia.

The book begins with an insomnia-filled Amy up at 3 a.m. googling old boyfriends. How could I not love a book that offers that gem in the first chapter? Written in short vignettes, I could not put the book down once I began reading it. Each section offered a new surprise, laugh-out-loud humor, and definitely some guffaw-moments, such as the section "Ragtime," which may have you asking the males in your life some intimate questions to the more poignant section "Kathy," about the death of her best friend.

Ferris’ book does what many other memoirs don’t do, it tells the truth. Not just the good stuff, but the complex emotions we feel and the ridiculousness of daily life happening around us. Ferris is not afraid to be candid. She shares her private thoughts as well as her nighttime fears from believing she has some incurable disease to answering an email at night to a friend’s concerns about death in saying she’s “more afraid of being forgotten. Her honesty offers a calmness to the reader in that we are not alone in our thoughts and feelings.

The book is unique in its format—different fonts, font sizes, italics or boldness throughout its pages. At first, I thought this layout would be distracting while I read the book, but what I realized was how the quirkiness of the book’s appearance only adds to the anecdotes Ferris tells and mirrors the distinctiveness of her writing and voice.

Ferris is wise, hilarious, and has successfully created a book that draws the reader into her world of junk drawers, insomnia, and the intricacy of relationships. Marrying George Clooney was a highly satisfying read from beginning to end and I would add that it was definitely the best and funniest memoir I read all year. Highly recommend.

29 Gifts - Cami Walker

2010-01-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

29 Gifts: The Website

I first heard about 29 Gifts on an "Inspiring Women" radio show. It was early in the morning and I wasn't exactly sure what I was listening to. What I learned was the woman being interviewed had been diagnosed with MS and her spiritual advisor gave her the suggestion of "give a gift each day to someone for 29 days..."

I was intrigued by this idea and when I purchased the book, I wasn't sure what I would get. If it would be an instructive manual on gift giving, a self-helpy how-to-change-your-life guide, or something else with a memoir spin. I was thankful to learn it was something else, that in fact, this is Cami Walker's story of how she overcame some challenges in her life brought on by MS, too many medications, her own thinking, and took back her life by focusing on giving to others.

The memoir soars along giving you backstory on Cami's life as well as sharing the gift she gave each day (for 29 days) and how it worked out. The book is easy to follow and has an interesting spin on how when we focus our thoughts on others we can start to forget our own troubles.

Throughout the book, I never lost interest and found Cami's candor refreshing and her story, unique and told with spirit and character. I finished the book in two days. It's a great read if you're looking to be inspired a bit and it might even be a new New Year's resolution for you to add into your January. The idea of giving a small gift each day (a gift that does not have to be material) is something that could be added into everyone's life and really, that small step just might make this world a little better place.

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Other thoughts--

This makes a great gift (hostess gift, birthday gift or otherwise).

The 29 Gift Website:

There is also a 29 Gift website to track your own progress and document your own attempt at 29 days of giving gifts. I joined this website to document my own gift giving (I'm on day 11) and the community of people who are doing this is diverse and supportive.

The only knot I get in my stomach about this website is the boutique section where you can buy an "Affirmation Mirror" that reads "I am a gift" for $14.29. The website says that 20% of the proceeds go to making the world a better place, but it doesn't really say how. I guess I shouldn't be surprised in this world marketing and toys to go along with the movie, but I just don't want to see such a good idea of giving become a money-making opportunity for those behind the scenes. But I guess I can understand how it expanded to that, and well, the 29 Gift journal is kind of cool (though I do wish I could see or know exactly how the money is being used as they are not a non-profit organization).

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Final Thoughts--

Definitely Recommend: 29 Gifts! the book (a great read!)

Recommend: the website for the blog aspect to document your own attempt to give 29 gifts.

Not sure I recommend: the website's boutique. I still need to learn more about where the money is going...

January Gill O'Neil's New Collection of Poetry: UNDERLIFE

2009-12-27T08:26:00.000-08:00

I plan on keeping better track of the books I read in 2010.

And while it's not officially 2010, I consider this lovely book that just arrived in my mailbox as one I love--

January O'Neil's Underlife (New Voices)

and wow, what a great book! First, the book is absolutely gorgeous to hold. It's an incredible quality and has French flaps* which I love in books! But even better, the poems inside! While there were some I recognized (one even appeared in Crab Creek Review), many of these poems were new to me and how I love them.

Self-Portrait, a short poem with a great last line is one of my favorites, but I also love "The Kerning," which is in Crab Creek Review. But there are so many others-- Permanent, She's Closest to Breaking, Take Care (which has the title to the collection in it...) and oh so many others...

I definitely recommend picking this book up for your 2010 reads. It's beautiful in so many ways.

*What are French flaps?

French flaps are simply extensions of the paperback cover that fold inside the book. Not only are paperback books featuring French flaps sturdier and more attractive, but they are also useful because the flaps can be tucked back into the book to mark the reader's place.

Mini Reviews

2009-11-12T10:19:00.000-08:00

I'm going to do some larger book reviews coming up in the next few weeks, but just wanted to let you know what I'm reading or have read lately. I've mentioned the Clooney book before, but it's because well, I'm still finishing it up and will have a full review coming soon --

Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis
by Amy Ferris - I'm completely hooked on this book and am almost finished with it. The author is both honest and hilarious in her look at menopause and being in her 50's. Complete candor, she has no fear to say how she's feeling, what's annoying her, odd things her husband does, and just her thoughts on life in general.

She dropped the F-bomb throughout the book, so if you're a reader who dislikes that word you'll either get used to it by page 7 or be completely annoyed and put down the book (sort of like my mum did when I suggested she watch "Pulp Fiction" - dear God, what was I thinking with that recommendation?)

Anyway, fantastic book! I plan to devote a whole blog post to it because it has some things (such as font size, photos of cats, etc) that I haven't seen with memoirs that I want to discuss.

Final thoughts-- HIGHLY RECOMMEND (while women may like this more than men, I think men with a wife 45ish and up might appreciate having a look into what craziness happens -or may happen- during menopause)

_____________

For Poetry I just finished--

Mister Skylight
by Ed Skoog- I have a full review of this book at Book of Kells.

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These final three I'm reading are just my kind of books. They are all non-fiction, include some sort of studies in them, and discuss the human thought process or our human experience in them. I love the weird facts they each include and they are what a friend called "edu-tainment" - educational stuff shared in an entertaining way. These are the books where I always learn something and understand myself or the world better because of them.

These make great Christmas presents because 1) you look smart giving them 2) people feel smart receiving them 3) they are gender-neutral - both men and women love them (though if I think I had to choose what gender would prefer them, in general, I might lean towards men- though I've had a few women friends read them and enjoy them greatly)

ALL THREE OF THESE ARE HIGHLY RECOMMEND (so far...)--

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina

Okay, I love this book. It has great information (including that the brain needs an afternoon nap- I knew this!) There are 12 principles on how the brain works and how we can improve our minds. While that sounds a little self-helpy (and maybe there is that), it's intriguing to learn these ideas on how our brain functions best.

Like the other 3 books, I'm in the early chapters, but really enjoying this. (Though for some reason, I spent the week referring to it as "Brainwise" and not BRAIN RULES - which tells you a lot about why I am reading this book...)

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Dan Ariely - I'm in the early stages of this book, but already am fascinated about how companies and restaurant market us knowing how humans make choices. Even we might choose a mate in bar (clue: always go to a bar with someone who is just a little less attractive than you, if you want to be picked up!)

This is a quick summary of how the brain works and as I said, I'm still in the early chapters of this book, but already loving it.

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubnar - This book is currently receiving pretty poor marks on Amazon, which makes sense to me as it's the follow-up book to the fabulous Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.), a book I loved.

Had others not read Freakonomics first, I think they'd love or highly like this book, but because there is something to compare, it comes in second. I feel this would be a fair assessment so far (again, I'm still on the early chapters of this and I read one review that when the authors hit the chapters on global warming, the books goes off a cliff...), so I'll let you know.

So far though, I'm finding it quite interesting.

For Christmas gifts, start with Freakonomics and move to this for a follow-up birthday gift.

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Coming Soon - Book Reviews (A Preview of What I'm Reading...)

2009-10-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'll be doing reviews on these books soon--

Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis (Seal Press)
by Amy Ferris

***I started this last night and I am loving it...

Then, Something: Poems (Tupelo Press)
by Patricia Fargnoli

Pat is a favorite poet of mine. I've already enjoyed quite a few poems as I did the casual "browse" of the collection and so far, so good! I am looking forward to reading this cover to cover. I am pretty sure this will be on my highly recommended list.

Mister Skylight (Copper Canyon Press)
by Ed Skoog

***I have to admit, I'm not familiar with Ed's work, but I know was the poet-in-residence at Richard Hugo House, so I'm curious to see what has to offer. So more on this soon!

And I was just contacted by the folks who published Freakomics (one of my favorite books) and there's a SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
(published by William Morrow) coming out on October 20th, 2009!

Nin Andrews recommended it to me this year, and it was a great read, so I'm looking forward to this new "Super" version.

Summer Book Reviews: What I've Been Reading

2009-10-01T10:37:00.001-07:00

Previously posted on Book of Kells, Summer 2009

What I've Read--

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else By Geoff Colvin -- Let me save you $18, I can summarize this book for you right here -- His theory is that people aren't born with "talent" (i.e. Tiger Woods, Mozart, Bill Gates, etc.), but were born into the right circumstances with teachers who helped them and taught them intentional practice. He talks a lot regular practicing of something vs. practicing in a focused way. Practice is not fun, but it is what makes the difference. Not talent. In the end, he concludes that anyone can be good at something but it just takes 10 years of intentional and focused practice. 10 years was the magic number in his mind with practicing with focus and intent several (or more) times a week.

It's an interesting book, but was a little too close to Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell for me. It even had some of the same examples like Bill Gates. Of course, I read Outliers first, so that may shade this review a bit.

So while I'd recommend this book if you're interested in this topic, I'd recommend OUTLIERS first.

This book still had good info and I did finish it, but I think I just read it close to Outliers. But honestly, the main idea is that it's practice not talent that matters.

* * *

Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
by David Sheff - RECOMMEND!

I've been listening to this book on my iPod and it's pretty powerful walking back through a child's life from being born into addiction to see if you can figure out how someone falls into this world. There are no answers. David Sheff does a great job of sharing this story of his son's addiction and how it hurts families and what the parent goes through.

On a personal note, my sister is/was an addict. She was out of the house when I was 4, but her dramas have stayed with us through the years even though she now lives on the other side of the country from us. She has basically become the poster child for our family on why not to use drugs. Because of what I've seen in my own family, this book is a fascinating look into addiction.

I would recommend the print version of this book vs. the audio (which I'm listening to), because the book is read by the author and while he is a pretty decent reader, when he tries to talk in the voice of a child it's somewhat annoying to me. He also has that kind of smug professor voice that gets a little tiring to listen to.

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Grayson: 50 cent library late fee - and I never read it.

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Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You
by Ray Bradbury - HIGHLY RECOMMEND! -

Ray says it better than me, so here's a snippet:

"...if you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. It mean you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market, or one year peeled for the avant-garde coterie, that you are not being yourself. You don't even know yourself. For the first thing a writer should be is --excite. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it would be better for his health."

(Note: Ladies insert "she" for "he" in this passage.)

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I have a few more books I'm working on, so more later. I hope you've had a summer of good books. I'd be open to any you'd like to recommend.

Back to Writing - Book Recommendations to be Inspired : The List for Artists

2009-10-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Previously published on the blog Book of Kells, September 2009:

For many of us with kids in school, when the school year begins, so does our writing.

Sometimes I swear I'm hardwired to write from September to May, to throw myself into the work then completely neglect it during summer. This is how I operated during my school years and college. I spent every summer on college on "Unemployment Row" at Greenlake with my lawn chair.

Now as an adult, I do a similar thing, except replace "Unemployment Row" with "Family Plans" and you have my life.

So I've been returning mindfully to writing first before I jump in, that I will save until September when my writing shed will have a bowl of non-pariel chocolates and I will cut blue hydrangeas to put on my desk.

If you are feeling uninspired and looking to be inspired I have a couple of book recommendations for you as autumn comes and asks us all to quiet our social plans and come inside to write...

1) Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

***A fantastic book by genius grant winner, Twyla Tharp. From the School Library Journal: Tharp shows how and why artists must actively seek and nurture inspiration. The dancer/choreographer draws heavily on her personal experiences to guide readers into cultivating habits that give birth to success.

Most libraries have this book and I have checked out the copy so many times I feel as if I own it. I should eventually just buy this book because it's one that inspires me and reminds me there are so many of us trying to live the creative life.

2) David Lynch's Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity

***Okay, this was a recent surprise find for me. I downloaded the audio book from the Seattle Public Library last night and it's been a treat to listen to. I think it's only 2 hours, so it's a quick read (191 pages) or listen.

I would recommend the audio version of this book. David Lynch (Twin Peaks creator among other things...) is reading it and listening to him makes it much more conversational and enjoyable. There's a huge focus on Transcendental Meditation, which he has been doing for the last 33 years (he does 20 minutes of this meditation 2 times a day and hasn't missed a meditation in 30 years).

Publisher's Weekly wasn't really impressed with this book--some of the chapters are a quick blink--but I think they missed the point of this book. It's a fun, quirky book with a unique perspective by someone who began as a visual artist then became a film-maker and is written for creative people who are working in the arts, not a self-help guide, but a series of stories about happy accidents and how doors open when you find your path.

Also, great lessons. My favorite being the painter that said, "You need 4 hours of solitude to get one good hour of painting." (For me, this can be my writing life!)

This was published in 2006 and as I said, our public library had the audio version online and they have pretty inexpensive versions on Amazon (it looks as if it must be out of print). But if you like David Lynch, get the audio version as it's nice to hear him talking in your head.

3) Hugh McLeod's Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity

****I mentioned this book a few posts ago and just wanted to bring it up again since I finished it in 2 days and enjoyed it.

For this book, I recommend the print edition especially since the author is a cartoonist and many of his drawings are included throughout the pages.

This book probably won't teach you anything you don't know as an artist/writer, but it's good reminders and enjoyable writing, plus his cartoons can be pretty funny. It's one of those books where you feel like you're having a beer with the artist/writer and he's telling you what's worked for him.

A very easy read and should be available in your local library system (I got mine from our small community library, and I tend to think if we have the book in our system, your library should as well).

4) Cecile Andrew's The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life

***I have mentioned this book before also, probably because I read it cover to cover every fall. I think it's an incredible book for those of us living a creative life and helping us get back to things that are important to us. It's not about self-imposed sacrifice, but a greater understanding that we don't *need* a lot of the stuff we have and actually the more stuff you have, the more responsibility you have (the care of it, the storage of it, etc.)

I was surprised that this book got quite a few negative reviews on Amazon because for me it's the best book on changing your choices to live a better life and slowing down.

From the Amazon review:
The Circle of Simplicity speaks to readers seeking to find greater peace and happiness by eliminating some of the clutter and distraction in their lives . . . Her book emphasizes the value of slowing down as a way to find time to reconnect with a community.

For me, it's a reminder to spend my money on things that bring me happiness - experiences not things-- a lesson that I had to relearn from my materialistic teenage years to my rushed and overworked twenty-something years when money just slid from my wallet on "convenience purchases" such as eating at the Red Tomato every day for lunch instead of bringing a bagged lunch to quick purchases that weren't really thought out-- um, the gym membership I never used, never even found time for that...

So each fall, I pull out my Circle of Simplicity and remember all the things I've forgotten over the year about living simply, which itself is a creative process. For me, it's about reconnecting with my creative life, not being the waster, the quick-buy out-of-ease person, the person I can be when I'm not paying attending or living intentionally. It's about getting back to what matters to me, family, writing, friends, experiences that make me a fuller a person.

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Quickie: Womanomics Book Review

2009-10-01T10:33:00.001-07:00

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Quickie--

I read Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success
as suggested by January

Diane Sawyer calls it: "A personal, provocative and challenging book for career women who want less guilt, more life."

While it does deal with women who are working a job outside the home, specifically the corporate world (a planet I left many moons ago), I still found it a satisfying and usable book for my own situation.

One thing I left with was that Dorothy from Oz feeling-- you've had the power all along.

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Apologies to an Apple- Poetry Book Review

2009-10-01T10:32:00.001-07:00

Previously posted on Book of Kells, 9/24/09:

Link to Read. Write. Poem. Blog tour...

Read. Write. Poem. is sponsoring a virtual book/blog tour of Maya Ganesan's wonderful book of poems, Apologies to an Apple and I am lucky enough to have the first day, September 24th, which is also Maya's 12th birthday.

Now, for most people, having a book is remarkable, but having a book and virtual book tour on your 12th birthday is even more remarkable!

And another remarkable thing? Maya has poems in our next issue of Crab Creek Review. She is the youngest poet we've ever published and in that same issue we are publishing 90 year old Madeline DeFrees, who may be the oldest poet we've published. I love that!

You might be wondering, how I learned of Maya Ganesan. A couple years ago a friend of mine asked me if I'd consider writing a blurb for a young author, "She's eleven and publishing her first book of poems." I was concerned and hesitant. She said, "Let me send you her poems and you can see for yourself." I did and I was amazed.

Maya does not write like any eleven year old (now 12!) I have ever met. Her poems offer insight and are rich with the world around her.

Some, like the poem "Sold," even offer a Rumi-like quality:

I have sold time
to whoever
would pay the price for it.

She writes to nature around her:

The sparrows have received
my invitation, it seems--

(from "Invitation")

She write to the details of life:

Ribbons, and Bibles
stolen from chapels.

I trust
every single of a thousand coastlines

(From "Requiem")

This is definitely a book you will want to check out and if you have kids, a great example of how poetry can written thoughtfully and insightfully at any age. I wrote in my blurb for her, "I am amazed by this young poet and can only imagine the wonderful things she will bring to the literary world in her future." And I do.

Happy Birthday, Maya!

Welcome to Book Harvest

2009-10-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

I am a writer, poet, and editor who in keeping a blog of my writing life (Book of Kells), found I was doing more and more reviews of books. These reviews would come in between posts about poetry and writing and while I loved having this be part of the conversation, I wanted to create a place for the reader, the booklover, to come and see what I really loved.

So I created Book Harvest, a blog of my favorite books.

Please use it to find books for yourself as well as others. I hope during the Christmas season, this can be a good place to find books for others as gifts.

You will probably find books in the genres of memoir, creative non-fiction, non-fiction, and poetry here as those are my favorites. However, I do occasionally read fiction, but if I post a fiction book here, know I consider the very best because as a writer and editor myself, I am ridiculously picky when it comes to fiction.

I'll start by posting some past reviews I did on my Book of Kells blog. Then move forward with some of the new books I am reading.

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions, drop me a line.

Also, I am open to receiving review copies of books, however I cannot guarantee I will post a review of your book on this site because I am only posting reviews and links of my favorite books here. However, I will give your book a mention on my Book of Kells blog if I don't review for it here.

You can contact me at kelli (a) agodon.com for more information where to send your review copies.

Thanks for stopping by.

best,
Kells