Posts Tagged: books

Hillbilly Elegy — A Resilient Memoir

April 21st, 2017
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Hillbilly Elegy

Friends and colleagues told me Hillbilly Elegy was the book to read if I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of white working class voter participation in the 2016 Presidential election.

Yes Hillbilly Elegy, a New York Times best selling memoir, does deliver compelling first person thoughts and experiences about how it feels to be white and poor and growing up in rust-belt Ohio but more importantly, it gave me unexpected insights into the ability of a young child to find the inner strength to keep going while living in trauma.

If read from that point of view, Hillbilly Elegy… Read More

Memoir: When Breath Becomes Air

August 15th, 2016
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Dr. Lucy Kalanithi and Dr. Paul Kalanithi with their daughter, Elizabeth Acadia.  Photo Courtesy of Lucy Kalanithi   When friends find something special, they want to share it with others. I recently found a book that is beyond special and today my friends, I would like to share it with you. “When Breath Becomes Air” is a beautiful and touching book about giving yourself up to the unexpected joys of life but also fighting with every ounce of energy that you have within your being when you find your ability to experience those simple and spectacular moments in life is… Read More

Mermaid — A Memoir

January 8th, 2016
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My wonderful son and I share a love of reading all kinds of books.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, or biography. A good story always grabs us and we like to share books that we discover and enjoy so much that we can’t put them down until we arrive at the last word. As a Christmas present, he gave me a memoir titled, Mermaid, a book that neither of us had read but still his instincts told him that this would probably be a book I would enjoy. He was right!  I loved it and whipped right through… Read More

Our Souls At Night — Fantastic Fiction

July 13th, 2015
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The darkness of night time has a way of intensifying the emotions of life. I think that is why when we are having a bad time of it during the night and cannot find our way to a good night’s sleep that we are consoled by the light of a new day. I know that if I happen to wake up in the middle of the night and find myself staring at the ceiling that my most urgent worries immediately travel to the front of my brain.  How am I going to pay that bill?  Why did I say that… Read More

Torch By Cheryl Strayed

February 20th, 2015
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As soon as I finished reading Wild, Cheryl Strayed’s fantastic New York Times best-selling memoir (http://crylaughheal.com/wild-by-cheryl-strayed/), I wanted to read more of Stayed’s work. I enjoyed seeing Wild the movie and thought it should have received more attention in terms of nominations but what I really wanted was to read more of Strayed’s honest and direct thoughts about the gritty aspects of life and loss, what happens to us through our friendships and who and how we love. I wanted to read more of the her words, and the way she chooses to put them together.  I truly have never… Read More

She’s Come Undone — Fantastic Fiction

November 17th, 2014
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I am always on the lookout for books about how people deal with adversity and in “She’s Come Undone,” the incredible writer Wally Lamb introduces readers to a resilient and unforgettable character by the name of Dolores Price. This is one of those books that I have heard friends enthusiastically talk about for a long time and I have always intended to read it.  Well, I finally took the time to read it for myself and “She’s Come Undone” is truly a great read! This is a story of love and hope and the importance of friendship in dealing with… Read More

The Light Between Oceans — Fantastic Fiction

October 11th, 2013
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You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend ~ Paul Sweeney The above quote captures the way the way I felt when I recently finished reading, “The Light Between Oceans.” by M.L. Stedman. If you are looking for a book of fiction that will transport you to another time and place, then I would highly recommend “The Light Between Oceans” to you.  It is beautifully written and for a first novel, an amazing piece of storytelling. Essentially, it is a story of stunning loss,… Read More

What Am I About?

May 16th, 2013
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One of the presents that my insightful son gave me for Mother’s Day is a book about blogging. From the very first post I wrote, he has always been my biggest supporter.  I love it! He is always asking me what I am going to write about and I run ideas by him to get a younger point of view and I also ask him for permission to write about him or something he said or did.  Some writers would disagree with requesting permission from him but I feel it is the polite thing to do and asking also prevents… Read More

Revisiting Maurice Sendak

January 16th, 2013
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Maurice Sendak is known as an internationally renowned prize-winning children’s book author and illustrator but he also has a message for adults too. When children read his most famous book, “Where The Wild Things Are,” they run around and play as if they are monsters, just like the ones in Sendak’s book.  Spontaneously and instantly, children enter Sendak’s world with love and abandon. Adults may want to join the children in their play but their “adultness” sometimes holds them back.  “Oh, that’s a child’s book” or “I can’t play like that” or “I shouldn’t play like that” are some of… Read More