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Showing posts with label Nonfiction: Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nonfiction: Family. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Family Relationships: Perfect Gift for Father's Birthday of Father's Day

Title: Fathers’ Wisdom –
[A Powerful Collection of Stories from Fathers around the World.]
Author: Jennifer Karin Jordan
Genre: Family Relationships
Publisher: Square Tree
Release Date: June 15, 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0990319054
Available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Fathers-Wisdom-powerful-collection-stories/dp/0990319059 

Reviewed by Marlan Warren

"I view all my children as angels of God whom He has entrusted to my care."
 —Darwin Bicknell ("Wisdom from a Stepdad") “Fathers’ Wisdom”
 
I could not read Jennifer K. Jordan's “Fathers’ Wisdom” without thinking of my own father. He took his parenting role very seriously, and would have appreciated a book like “Fathers’ Wisdom, ” which sets out to honor all fathers everywhere, and was inspired by Jordan's love for her father. Both her parents were no longer alive when she interviewed her first dad. Now, fourteen years later, “Fathers’ Wisdom” has emerged with over 50 fathers' stories. The California author spoke not only with American-born dads, but sought out men whose roots ranged from Germany to Afghanistan to Japan.

What I expected were sugar-sweet tales told by fathers who would want to put themselves in the best light possible. What I got was impressive honesty, and a nearly anthropological study of what makes good fathers tick.
"It's incredible to see my heart in someone else's body."
 —Gabriel Hall ("Yoga Dad") “Fathers’ Wisdom”

Fathers include a yoga teacher; golf entrepreneur; magazine editor; artist; actor; Holocaust survivor; pastors; as well as Japanese Americans who experienced World War II "internment" and battle. On board are also fathers outside of the nuclear family paradigm: foster dad, divorced dad and stepdad.

One of the most moving moments is when Holocaust survivor Bernard Sayone must explain to his son what happened to his own father at the hands of the Nazis. In a world that often values machismo in all its various forms, it's refreshing to hear tales of male sensitivity, longing and heartbreak.

“I teach my kids to be honest, whether they are alone or someone is watching.“
—Bob Gilder ("Integrity") “Fathers’ Wisdom”

All the fathers speak with admirable candor about their relationship to their children, and their view of fatherhood itself. As different as they are, they all seem to agree on one thing: lead your children by example.

“There isn’t just one way to be a father.”
—Pastor Bayless Conley, Cottonwood Church ("God in All") “Fathers’ Wisdom”

Each chapter concludes with an uplifting author suggestion of how to honor the wisdom shared by each dad, such as: “Today let’s be people that others can count on.”

If I were packing a Time Capsule, “Fathers’ Wisdom” would be one of the first items I'd put into it. For if the world should almost end in fire or ice, it would be nice to show future generations the good that men were once capable of doing.

========================================================================MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author Website: http://www.amazon.com/Fathers-Wisdom-powerful-collection-stories/dp/0990319059
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fathers-Wisdom-Book-1468257520134855/
Twitter: @jkjwisdomseries


MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Marlan Warren
Roadmap Communications
Book Publicity by Marlan
1831 Winona Blvd., #104
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 347-6762
roadmap.girl@hotmail.com

Roadmap Girl's Book Buzz

Book Publicity By Marlan



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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Crystal J. Casavant-Otto Reviews Swimming with Maya

Title: Swimming With Maya
Author: Eleanor Vincent
Author's Webssite (Link): http://www.eleanorvincent.com/

Genre/Category:  Family Relationships / Motherhood / Memoir / Loss / Organ Donation
Purchase link: http://www.amazon.com/Swimming-Maya-Mothers-Story-ebook/dp/B00BCMCUX0/
ISBN-10:  0988439042

Swimming with Maya appeared on my TBR (to be read) pile toward the end of my pregnancy. The memoir was said to be "heartbreaking and heart-healing," but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to handle the heartbreaking part under the circumstances. I picked up Swimming with Maya and put it down after a few pages. I loved the story but was fearful of how I might deal with the loss and heartache Eleanor had to endure. Vincent’s writing and her triumphant spirit kept pulling me back in. I was so drawn in by the heart-healing part of the story that I found myself enjoying the memoir so much I couldn’t put it down.

No parent wants to think of the unthinkable death of a child; and yet each of us does. We don’t want anything to happen to our children, and yet as we carry them we fear miscarriage, after they are born we worry about sudden infant death syndrome, then there are school shootings, traffic accidents, etc… since death is a fact of life, we encounter thoughts and fears of loss each and every day. Eleanor Vincent raised her two daughters, Maya and Meghan, virtually as a single-parent and in my opinion this makes the mother-daughter bond even stronger.

It’s impossible to imagine what Eleanor Vincent was feeling when her 19 year old daughter, Maya falls from a horse and is left in a coma which eventually took her life. Eleanor's made the courageous decision to donate Maya's organs. Eleanor uses her difficult situation and Maya’s death to tell an inspirational and motivational story and Eleanor is even stronger (as is the reader) at the end of the story.

Swimming with Maya was more about triumph than I had imagined. I was thankful to have read through the difficult times to see the memorable and motivational message. I admire Eleanor Vincent for being able to put her story down on paper for all to read. I cannot imagine the tears that were shed as she relived those moments that would forever change her life. Thank you to Eleanor, Maya, and Dream of Things Publishing for sharing this triumphant story with readers everywhere. My personal thanks to Eleanor for writing in such a way the healing is more pronounced than the hurt – it was this reason alone I was able to read and finish Swimming with Maya.
 



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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Just What Mothers-in-Law Need!

Title: The Mother-in-Law’s Manual: Proven Strategies for Creating Healthy Relationships with Married Children

Author: Susan Abel Lieberman, PH.D.
Genre: Nonfiction/Family Matters
Publisher: bright sky press
ISBN: 978-1933979410



Originally reviewed by Karen Cioffi for Bookpleasures.com



The Mother-in-Law’s Manual is a wonderfully insightful and at times humorous advice manual for dealing with not only in-laws, but also other family members. Having recently seen a commercial for Monsters-in-Law, with Jennifer Lopez, it was refreshing to read a much more realistic portrayal of mother-in-laws, especially since I am one myself.

Lieberman’s first chapter explains that when our children are young we are afforded an abundance of advice from professionals such as Dr. Spock. But, when our children are grown, leave the nest and marry, we are left to fend for ourselves. Lieberman’s analogy for the marriage is: “They are moving to a new country that they will create together. Yes, we get territorial. Use my bill of rights. Celebrate my holidays. Serve my food. Even if we don’t see it like a competition, we are likely to consider each deviation a loss.”

Situations that never existed before are now ones that can cause hurt, sadness, and even anger, along with satisfaction and happiness. This book delves into all the emotions that come into play. The child who was once yours now belongs to someone else. The author alludes to the fact that this is more of an issue when it is your son and you are dealing with a daughter-in-law. But, whether son or daughter, the dynamics of the family change.

The Mother-in-Law’s Manual is jammed packed with bits and pieces of wisdom. One of my favorite gems comes right after the “10 most recommended rules” for mothers-in-law which are all the same, “Keep your mouth shut.” Lieberman cleverly explains: “Even if we could follow the rule(s) and not say one word that would be heard as contentious, judgmental, argumentative, or critical […] our children would still hear contentions, judgments, arguments, and criticisms.” As a mother and mother-in-law, these are words that ring true. At times it seems you just can’t win. I thought this section was so funny, I had to read it to my husband.

It is difficult to do justice to all the pearls of wisdom in this book. It explains not to fret over the small things, our perceptions and our intent matter, when not to offer advice, and so much more. It even considers the roles of grandparents, children’s relationships to aging parents, and the aging process itself as Lieberman coins as “zippy to droopy.” She even includes a glimpse of her relationship with her own mother, the frustrations and sometimes guilt that is inevitable when a parent reaches an old age or is ill. Having taken care of a quadriplegic mother my experiences are somewhat different, but in some aspects they are the same. When watching your parent age, you wonder if you’re looking at your future.

Lieberman’s efforts produced an impressive book that all family members should read. Her research involved interviews with as many mothers-in-law across the country and from different backgrounds as she could. She even interviewed a number of daughters-in-law and sons-in-law. Many of these interviews are in the book. Some of their stories/advice sounded familiar, others were surprising. But, they all brought another element of enlightenment. Adult children who read this, married or unmarried, will hopefully gain insight into their parents as not only Mom or Dad, but as individuals with a life of their own including hopes, needs and feelings.

One final gem from the book that struck a chord with me is in Chapter Ten: “I understand my children are not my friends, that our relationship is that unique connection between parent and child. But, there is a way in which we are candid and honest with close, old friends, yet show a carefulness, a respectfulness that can be forgotten with parents. As soon as we begin to feel superior to a friend, the nature of the friendship shifts.” Lieberman hit just about every nail on the head with The Mother-in-Law’s Manual. I give this book 5 Stars and highly recommend it.

About the author:
Susan Abel Lieberman currently lives in Houston and works as an executive coach. She has written five books, including New Traditions: Redefining Celebrations for Today’s Family. The Mother-in-Law’s Manual springs from the realization that her assumption that anyone would be thrilled to have her for a mother-in-law was off base. Rather than accepting family tension, she put her skills as a researcher and an executive coach to work to improve the situation. Ordained as an interfaith minister, Lieberman also holds a master’s from Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburg. As a wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother, she is well-versed in the challenges presented by every stage of family life. The Mother-in-Law’s Manual brings her personal and professional insights together to help mothers-in-law everywhere start a new chapter in their family life.

About the reviewer:
Karen Cioffi-Ventrice may be reached at
http://www.dkvwriting4u.com
http://karencioffi.com/media-page/
She blogs at http://karenandrobyn.blogspot.com and is co-Author of Day's End Lullaby. She is also author of The Self-Publisher's Guide, Writing, Publishing, and Marketing - You Can Do It!, and Walking Through Walls
Tweet with her at http://twitter.com/KarenCV

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
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Friday, April 3, 2009

Carol McManus Shares Love of Family, Cooking and her Foody Business

Table Talk - Food, Family, Love
A cookbook by Carol McManus
Paperback: 114 pages
Publisher: Vineyard Stories (August 13, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 097713847X
ISBN-13: 978-0977138470

A Series of Quotes from Reviews

"An attractive and temptation-filled cookbook...chock full of recipes to encourage and entice. Sitting at a table is about feeding the body and soul, and Table Talk celebrates both the love of eating and the love of family." --Martha's Vineyard Times

"Full of tasty recipes with New England flair and abundant color photos of island life, the new cookbook from Carol McManus is about as gift-basket ready as it gets. The vibrant paperback...comes off as warmly authentic. The recipes are fairly simple and straightforward, making them a boon for both time-starved and skill-deprived chefs. All in all, Table Talk has the makings of a great little keepsake, the kind you're tempted to keep around for yourself." --Boston Magazine

"When Table Talk arrived in my mailbox, I was immediately sucked in the second I opened the cookbook and read Carol s forward. Then I continued to flip through the book and you know what... I sat there and read through the entire thing, front to back. The recipes are very appealing, simple and special... the majority have ingredients I already have on hand. The photography is stunning. Most importantly, the core values of Carol and her family shines through in each little snippet, quote and story behind life on Martha s Vineyard and the recipes to accompany such a life." --dineanddish.net

Synopsis

What owner of a popular cafe tells you to stay at home and eat? And why does she start her book with the words, "We need to bring back the family meal." Carol McManus, proprietor of Espresso Love, a well-known cafe on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, raised five children and put a meals on the table each day, while still working full time. She has written a cookbook that stresses family meals and included 80 recipes that help you put your family back to the table. Citing scientific studies that show family meals impact on everything from children's school grades (they get better) to premature sex (they wait longer), she recalls her own beliefs: "When my children were small and started to bicker, I'd gather them in a huddle and ask, 'Where's the love? We're family.' And one place we could always count on getting together, every night was the dinner table."

This is family-friendly food, designed to help recapture life the way it was meant to be lived. The ingredients are from items grown close to home, and the recipes are easy enough for every day preparation--many simple enough to reassure even the most inexperienced cook. The cookbook is divided into six useful sections: the Dinner Table, the Breakfast Table, the Healthy Table, The Weekend Table, the Dessert Table and the World's Table, designed to satisfy our more global palates. The recipes range from the simple to the sublime. Many of them feature food Carol's mother, to whom she dedicates the book, cooked, such as a home-made veggie burger called "The Mama."

Others are food served in her garden cafe off Main Street in Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard. Accompanying the recipes are charming photographs, quotes and stories. Here you'll find the recipe for Presidential Muffins, created for former President Bill Clinton when he vacationed on the Vineyard during his presidency. Carol offers up the story of when the president came into her then-tiny shop in the corner of one of the Island's hotels to buy his muffin, dazzling both her and the Secret Service.

The book's bright, attractive design also makes use of quotes from people as diverse as comedian Buddy Hackett and movie star Sophia Loren (who notes, under a picture of spaghetti and meatballs, "Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.")

Accompanying the cookbook are tips and suggestions for getting meals to the table, including ways to engage children in cooking without letting them slow down the process. This is a must-have cookbook for every household with children -- or just people who like to eat.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Garden of Hope for Tolerance, Love Marriage and More

Garden of Hope: Autobiography of a Marriage
By Maryanne and Lennox Raphael
Hopewell Publications, 2006
Trade paper, 221 pages.

Reviewed by David Henderson for Tribes.org

Lennox and Maryanne Raphael were extremely connected from the beginning of their courtship and subsequent marriage that took place in exotic regions of Mexico and Central and South America in the early 1960s. An interracial couple, the story of their 11 year marriage, is told in Garden of Hope: Autobiography of a Marriage from both of their points of view.

This unusual and intriguingly successful dual autobiography written long after their marriage ended in divorce in the early 1970s reveals that they are still uniquely connected. Each writes passages under their own names, usually in tandem. The book ends soon after the birth of their son, Raphael, a day after Christmas in 1968. This work is dedicated to their son and his new family in more ways than just the words in the frontispiece. Over the dedication “For Raphael, Ginger and Zeal” is a photo of them. As divorce is often most difficult for the child, this book could also be looked at as a loving explanation that they all participated in. The son, Raphael, now, in his late 30s, wrote the foreword. He speaks gratefully of being able to share in their beatific romantic moments when they came together as a couple. He is also able to understand some of the problems that led to their divorce. He is glad they live in the present having never allowed their problems, that seemed so huge at the time, to destroy their future Being too young to have remembered them together, he is grateful “to find a forgotten snapshot of [his] parents in love.” He notes with happiness that today they are still “optimistic, exceptional and bubbling with creative enthusiasm.”

Garden of Hope concentrates on the high points of their marriage. Perhaps a new genre is born here, The Raphael’s union began in the earliest and perhaps most difficult days of the 1960s, well before the assassinations of President John F, Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy. And at the threshold of Flower Power, Black Power and The Summer of Love.

The young couple, in their early 20s, met in Kingston, Jamaica, in April of 1961 and came together almost at once. Lennox was a Trinidadian journalist who was building a career having left a local newspaper in his hometown to take a job with a magazine in Kingston. Maryanne, a more than promising scholarship student at Ohio University, had joined a Black sorority as the sole white person and for that was featured in Ebony Magazine and on the cover of Jet magazine, the two major African American magazines of the time. She had graduated with the highest of honors and won a scholarship to the Sorbonne (in part for a manuscript written in French). She completed the program and traveled through Europe. In 1961 she was in the West Indies living on her own.

After a rather whirlwind courtship that was based on an intense meeting of their minds and spirits and complete truthfulness, they married in Tampico, Mexico and for the next several months were never apart. They lived on very little money. On a whim they traveled to Brazil where they had many adventures and became well known as poets and painters, even to the point of appearing on TV. But they had insights about Brazil as well where there would be a particular South American surprise twist to their own interracial marriage:

In fact, we found the Brazilian boast of racial equality very shallow. . . . both black and white Brazilians praised their country as a racial utopia and loved to point the accusing finger at the United States where, in fact, its citizens (fellow Americans) were making active progress towards racial understanding. . . . Much unlike Brazil where (we were assured by many) the cosmic solution for all racial problems was for blacks to marry some one as light as possible so their children would be lighter than they were; and would in turn marry lighter until the dilution process had eliminated Africa as a recognizable identity.

They topped their south of the border adventures by traveling across the southern United States by bus at the height of the Civil Rights movement — and not once, but twice! They both seem to have had a guileless naiveté that may have helped to protect them from suffering any outrageous consequences of their actions. These adventures were witnessed by Greyhound passengers and the mysterious local policemen who appeared, seemingly, out of nowhere to silently accompany them as they waited in white waiting rooms (this was still the late Jim Crow era when there were separate facilities in the South for blacks and whites).

Maryanne Raphael writes eloquently of the inequality of those facilities personally experienced when she had traveled alone through the southern United States. By insisting on staying in the black sections her unusual positioning made it possible for her to go back and forth between the black and white Jim Crow facilities. When Maryanne and other women were in need of sanitary napkins; she was urged to go into the white facilities.

At this particular stop, the Blacks were forced to use two outhouses, one for men and one for women: and they were lined up around the corner. However, the Whites had a large waiting room with enough toilets for thirty women. They even had showers for 25 cents. And, of course, vending machines for Kotex, or Tampax, as the white women chose; and for toothpaste, deodorant, combs, perfume, etc.

For some, those physical aspects of American history may be a surprise and could be in danger of being lost to public cognizance.

But it would also be in Brazil where Maryanne had a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized for some weeks. Looking back they both admit it was the very beginning of the end of their marriage. But it would take years to jell. Lennox, having to be very careful with Maryanne and watch her and protect her from being institutionalized again, gladly took on that role as a young husband. But he had to admit, looking back, that that began to wear away the youthful blush of their young love. It was very interesting to get a retrospect point of view throughout a quite moving love story.

After her recovery in Brazil they traveled to meet his family in Trinidad and then on to Waverly, Ohio in southern Appalachia to meet her family. If the breakdown in Brazil was the beginning assault on their union it just may have been the interaction with her strictly catholic family that was the most difficult to bear.

There were childhood memories regarding African Americans that she had confided to Lennox early in their courtship that gives some indication of the state of that region and some of the conflicts that came from their visit.

She had told of “some of the terrible games that sought, unsuccessfully, to shape my life.” She had resisted those forces that “would make me a faceless, formless, conscienceless white American girl of catholic upbringing.”

When we went swimming, someone always shouted, ‘Last one in is a nigger baby!’ And we would scramble head over heels because nobody, even me, wanted to be a nigger baby.

We kids never made a choice without counting, ‘Eanie, Meany, Minny Moe, catch a nigger by the toe; if he hollers let him go … ’

We learned very early to spin our superstitions around Blacks, Whenever two kids started picking on one, the solitary one would say, ‘Two on one is a nigger’s fun.’

Whenever someone made an unpopular or uncalled for suggestion, he was told, ‘No remarks from the colored section,’ and we all would laugh ourselves to tears and wet pants.

The grownups, like my father and uncles and the teenagers around said, ‘I’m sweating like a nigger at election,’ or if someone took a drag of their cigarette and wet it, he was told, ‘Stop nigger-lipping my smoke.’

Ohio was an essential territory of the underground railroad for slaves seeking freedom, often from the southern border states of Kentucky and West Virginia. Some of the sayings that got into the lexicon dealt directly with the heritage of slavery and the social conditioning, especially during the formative years of white children. This was necessary to perpetrate “the peculiar institution,” and the subsequent institutionalization of racism. But there were other institutions that were also problematic.

They had given her parents the impression that Lennox was Catholic and that they had been married in the church. During their visit they confessed to her parents that they had had a non-Catholic wedding. But to Catholics and those from many other religions as well, to marry outside of the church is tantamount to not being married at all.

Maryanne’s parents were of that conviction.

The young interracial couple struggled through the two week visit, and then came to New York City, where they would begin to realize their goals as writers, and embrace a community that accepted them as they were. Brief mention is made if their involvement with the Umbra Workshop and with Lennox’s important work for the East Village Other, an influential weekly newspaper of the time.

One of his most memorable assignments was to cover Martin Luther King’s funeral. Their son was conceived during that time. Amusingly enough Maryanne became the first pregnant “Slum Goddess” in EVO. And as a result became a well paid model for medical magazines where she was photographed in her ninth month completely in the nude. It is too bad those photos are not in Garden of Hope.

But there are decent photos of the attractive young lovers in this surprisingly delightful and fulfilling book. Looking back, both have produced significant works and their impressive literary activities continue. Maryanne Rafael has intriguing books about Mother Theresa, among many others, and Lennox Raphael, who now resides in Copenhagen, continues to write poetry and plays, and work within artistic organizations. His ground-breaking play “Che,” is significant in theater history, especially in relationship to the City of New York in the 1960s.

Garden of Hope is certainly a successful collaborative autobiography and could be an inspirational model in many ways.

Perhaps it will encourage more couples to write the stories of their romance.
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© David Henderson

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