Review: Nurturing Healing Love: A Mother�s Journey of Hope & Forgiveness

Nurturing Healing Love: A Mother�s Journey of Hope & Forgiveness by Scarlett Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This book just takes a few hours to read and tells such an inspiring story about love and healing.

A mother, whose son died in the Sandy Hook tragedy, tells her story of grief and healing after such a tragic loss, while also telling a story of hope and sharing her son's message to others.

During the months following the tragedy a year from last December, the mother tries many healing mechanisms, from therapy to spiritual practices, and finds the ones that help her most.

While the story may sound sad, this book is not one of sadness, but of hope and healing.

The mom and the son that remains move toward hope through helping others and spreading the message of love around the world.

I would highly recommend it to anyone.



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Review: How Should a Person Be?

How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I just couldn't finish this book even though I tried. It's been so highly praised, I had high hopes, but I just can't make myself do it.

If someone who loved it wants to share some insight, I'm open to hearing it, but I had a really hard time relating to the characters.



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Review: Stumbling on Happiness

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This book gives a clear idea of why people make decisions they think will make them happy, but don't always end up that way. In the end, we learn that the best way to determine if we should do something is to ask someone how they feel right now as they are doing the thing we are thinking about doing. Notice I didn't say to ask someone who has done what we want to do. The reason is we often have different feelings about what we have done or are going to do than what we actually felt while doing that thing.

For instance, how often does someone scream with fear while on a roller coaster, but then later say it was awesome? The same goes for those who get a masters degree. They may say once it is over it wasn't that bad, but ask anyone in the middle of getting their master's and you will hear a much different story.

Ultimately, your mind plays tricks on you on how you felt about circumstances and events in the past and how you'll feel about them in the future.

Read the book for a more extensive look at all of the ways we trick ourselves and to see some of the events people assume will bring happiness versus which ones actually do.



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Review: Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Gosh! it took so long to read it's hard to know what to write. I did enjoy it, but it stretched on, taking me months to read.

This is a bit of a complex novel in that it has many, many loves explored throughout--fleeting love, young love, persistent love, long-term love and old love.

It's an interesting look at how people choose who they want to love and who they choose to keep at a distance.

I'd recommend it to readers who don't mind a novel to take it's time in telling the story and want to explore ideas of different kinds of love throughout life.

I'd skip it if you're looking for an easy read or something that gives you immediate pleasure. While I've just finished "Love in the Time of Cholera," I get the feeling it's one of those that will have me reflecting the different aspects of it for a long time. I've been told that I need to read "One Hundred Years of Solitude," but I may need a bit of a break before embarking on that adventure.



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Review: Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect, and Happiness

Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect, and Happiness by Karen Rauch Carter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was a great intro into Feng shui. Several years ago, I was really into reading about Feng shui, but had not really practiced it in a while. When I found this book at Half Price Books last week, I decided it might be time to revisit it.
If you're not familiar with the concept, Feng shui is all about placing things in your home with intention in order to have the best outcomes in your life in terms of money, love, fame, health, etc. it also teaches about creating space for energy to flow in and out of your life more easily.
It's a quick read and offers many solutions to whatever design problems your home may have. For instance, there are good and bad places for your toilet to be positioned in your home. Your bed should not face a door.
I also liked that the author invited readers to learn other practices of Feng shui besides her own, being open to different practices of Feng shui.
Overall, I found the book helpful and easy to read and was able to apply the tips to my own home easily.



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Review: Mad About the Boy

Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



In some ways, I'm ready for Bridget Jones to grow up a bit. Even though she's middle-aged, I feel like she's got a lot to learn and maturing to do. I get that she is supposed to represent that part of us that sometimes just can't get our act together, but I had hoped she'd grown just bit from her earlier days. She also seems to end up with the men who make her most fell like a little child, so perhaps she has daddy issues?

Overall, I think it's hard to rate this book, as there is so much pressure to be the the first book we fell in love with. I'm not sure if I wasn't terribly crazy about this book because 1) it's not the first book 2) I'm not as young as I once was and therefore can't entirely identify with Bridget the way I could in my 20s or 3) it just wasn't as great as the earlier books.

All that to say, it's an easy read, that flies by, has some entertaining bits and can keep you occupied over the holiday. Just don't expect too much in the line of character growth, as I'm not sure that's where this character is headed.



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Review: The Valley of Amazement

The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



As always, Amy Tan tells a great story that winds its way this way and that.

Again, she shows the complicated relationship between mothers and their daughters through the lens of American-Asian women. Regardless of coming from a different ethnic background, there are enough similarities between mothers and daughters to lend a familiarity among most women.

While I have seen this book being compared to Memoirs of a Geisha, that should not make you think that this story will unwind in the same ways. This novel has its own twists, turns and surprises.

Some of the themes around love and relationships with men are also interesting as the main character gets a taste of some of the best and worst relationships possible.

If you enjoy stories that are original, complicated, yet keep a thread winding the story along and character development, you'll enjoy this one.



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