Inexpensive Love Gift For Moms in Your Life?

By

Cherished PulseSubtitle: Unconventional Love Poetry
Authors: Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball
Genre: Poetry/Love
Author's Web site: www.howtodoitfrugally.com/poetry_books.htm
Available on Amazon as paperback or for Kindle www.budurl.com/CherishedPulse

Reviewed by Mark Logie (London), originally for Amazon

 

Magdalena Ball's poems in this collection display a considerable interest in, and enthusiasm for, nature, both on this planet and in space. This is appropriate for "unconventional love poetry" as love for someone else often makes them seem to be everything (ie, the universe); it is also not what we expect since, on the face of it, love has no connection with outer space or the natural world on earth. This particularly appeals to me.

The awe in which we hold the cosmos together with its beauty and loneliness also make it ideal for poems about love. For instance, "Galactic Collision", one of my favourites, is about the virtually catastrophic fusing of two people in love with each other. The comparison of a human heart to a black hole is amazing, bold and apt: after all, a black hole is so powerful that nothing -- not even light -- can escape it. And true, deep love, draws us in and won't let go. She then goes on to underline this by going to the other end of the scale: light ("black hole/ expanded into a cartwheel blaze"). Love it.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, on the other hand, explores the inner recesses of the human world: the heart, the mind and the home, neatly complementing and counterpointing Ball's macroscopic world-view (or should that be "universe-view"?). As they say, "Home is where the heart is".

Howard-Johnson's skill is in choosing original settings for poems that address different sentiments from the expected. It is also evident in her relaxed style, which cuts to the emotional crux of her works in a simple yet elegant way and embraces the real issues rather than the simplistic pseudo-sentiments of most commercial greetings cards. For example, the bittersweet "Dreaming Lilacs", primes the reader to expect a poem about intoxicating, fulfilled love through its vivid evocation of place and utilisation of all the reader's senses ("It's you who had me dreaming lilacs,/ breathing April's sweetest tears, tasting sugared lemon rinds,"), then reveals that it is really about expired or unrequited love ("... As if you/ were with me,/ as if you loved me."). Brilliant.

All in all, a superb collection: different yet not totally unfamiliar.

Roll on the next collection!

~Mark Logie is an award-winning poet & short-story writer;. He is the author
of "On the Road to Infinity" & "You Have No Power Over Me"

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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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

The Feel-Good Guide for Getting a Job In Bad Times and Good

How to Interview Like A Pro

Subtitle: Forty-Three Rules for Getting Your Next Job [Kindle Edition]
Mary Greenwood. JD. LLM (Author)
Published by iUniverse
Kindle Edition
ASIN: B004JHZ26C

Who would have guessed.

I read this book because I thought I might be able to recommend it to my retail clients, but it turns out, getting a job is very like selling a book! So it’s suitable in many ways for my author-clients, too.

Getting a job isn’t much different than it was in the back in the days when I interviewed at PR firms and magazines like Good Housekeeping. Though we have many tools at our disposal that weren’t available back then, the basics are similar. And industry to industry, we can learn so much from the general (yet detailed!) information Mary Greenwood gives us in How To Interview Like a Pro. Basic business skills like Mary imparts here, are useful for at some level for about anyone who must earn a living.

Mary’s number two rule is that a job hunter must “prepare a good elevator speech.”  It’s a subject (along with pitches in general) that I cover in depth in my book, the new edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) .

She also says “Make a list of everyone you know. Well, if authors had followed my advice on building contact lists in that same book, they’d already have a list of everyone they know. A job hunter would only need to review that list to find influential people with contacts of their own who will lead them to other jobs, recommend them to others, and generally hold their hands through the process.

Going hand in hand with this process is Mary’s rule “Telling everyone you know you are looking for a job.”  Mmm. Chapters in The Frugal Book Promoter on networking, too! Greenwood, of course, expands this rule to “Tell everyone you would like to know you are looking for a job.” Here she covers making new contacts using social networking.  Yep, industries are all pretty much the same. We can surely learn from one another!

Mary’s rules are born of experience, both general and legal. Her book moves us along from rule to rule—lickety split—right down to the never-nevers like “Never say you don’t have any more questions.” Interviews go both ways. If they don’t, the interviewer may form some opinions you’d just as well he or she didn’t.

One of the reason things move so quickly are Greenwood’s anecdotes. You’ll come away from this book feeling as if you aren’t alone in your search and knowing how to make sure you aren’t. You’ll know the basics and the details, like how to answer about any question an interviewer is likely to ask.

One of the best things about this book is Greenwood’s Introductory Rule: “Getting a job is like parking. You have to be at the right place at the right time.” If you keep that in mind—along with her little protractor story (yes, this is a tease—I think you should read this book!), you’ll hang in there and know one day you’ll be exactly in that place at that time.

Now, here’s the thing. I believe that almost anyone in the business world could benefit from this book. From interviewee to interviewer. From author to retailer to IT guy or gal. Sometimes the books we get the most from are the ones we don’t think we need in the moment.  Have it ready. It’s way more than a get-a-job book.

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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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Fantasy Novelist Called Genius

Mythica: GenesisScott S. Colley, author
www.krullstonepublishing.com
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 978-0-9833237-0-9

This review appears on Amazon by Bonnie S. Curley:
I just finished reading Mythica Genesisl and I loved it from the beginning to the incredible ending. I am so impressed with the brilliant writing of Scott Colley. He is a genius and a very talented writer. The story was so compelling and easier to follow than I thought it would be when I first started reading the novel. The vocabulary, the descriptions and details of the terrain, the weather, the characters, their surroundings, the fight scenes were amazing. The characters were so believable and I loved the bond between the brothers. I absolutely loved every page of this book and am hooked on his style of writing and will eagerly await his next book. What a creative imagination! I absolutely recommend this book to everyone looking for a great story and a brilliant writer.


~Submitted by Krullstone Publishing, LLC
Charlotte A. Ivey, charlotte@krullstonepublishing.com

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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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Author Turns Sex, Interviews, Sudy into Pickup Artist Book

Confessions of a Pickup Artist Chaser

Subtitle: Long Interviews with Hideous Men 

By Clarisse Thorn
Available on Amazon and Smashwords

Nonfiction: Feminist Theory/Se

ISBN: 9781476129211 


Reviewed by Katy Huff originally for Amazon

 

I picked up this book for the David Foster Wallace reference in the title and the sexy reputation of the author. I only put it down so that I could eat something without endangering my Kindle. It's a fast-paced, chatty, cerebral, and ultimately sex-positive and feminist dissection of the pick up artist subculture, which turns out to be a seedy amalgamation of internet fora, night clubs, nerds, hedonists, misogynists, misandrists, sociopaths, and ordinary men (and women).

Clarisse is unflinchingly honest (radically honest, even) about the occasionally hot, often tormented, and chronically analytic headspace she experienced as a sex-positive feminist investigating the bizarre subculture of pick up artistry. She risks endangerment of her sanity, her feminist paradigm, and her person to stalk, interview, and, yes, flirt her way through the underworld of geeks and sleazebags of pick up artistry.

I was morbidly fascinated as she fluidly reviewed the myriad vocabularies, philosophies, and 'techniques' that have evolved within this strange community. I was then relieved when, after outlining and explaining this disturbing world, she tore it to shreds in a dissection that is too honest to completely please anyone involved: pick up artists, feminists, and innocent bystanders will all leave with a lesson or two.

I can only hope she's already conducting her next undercover investigation of the next fascinating subculture she'll write about.

~Learn more about Clarisse Thorn

http://clarissethorn.com/

http://facebook.com/clarisse.thorn

@clarissethorn

Sex + Relationships Editor, Role/Reboot

http://www.rolereboot.org/sex-and-relationships

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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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Linda Brooks Reviews Literary Novel Set in Australia

Black Cow

By Magdalena Ball

http://www.magdalenaball.com

Published by BeWrite Books

http://www.bewritebooks.com  

Feb 2012, Genre: General Fiction

ISBN: 978-1927086469

Reviewed by Linda Brooks

In this cunningly crafted novel Magdalena Ball takes us to the heart of a family floundering on the brink of self destruction. And it is truly a destruction of self we are watching in painful clarity. The multitude of material goods that clutter their concrete lives is in direct contrast to the idealism and truth of their youth. It is a life they have first chosen, then drifted with, but is now surely choking the essence of their whole family. Magdalena has put a stark mirror to their lives. Freya and James are too close to see, but close enough to know fear. It takes time for this fear to have a name. Time for the lifestyle of the parents to implode on not only themselves, but their children.

Essentially, James and Freya are in a hell of their own choosing and as a reader we can palpate the pulse of the chaos of their lives. But for all their materialism and struggle, we can see shadows of their former, purer selves – and this compels us to hope for their redemption before they even begin to hope for themselves. These are not two people who we hope hit rock bottom, but we sense strongly that this is precisely the stimulus that will push these two out of the miasma of their illusory success. The disconnection of the family is terrifying. With each stroke Freya forces in the pool, and each entry of James into the boardroom as CEO, we sense life out of control, but we become invested in them. These are two people who have a growing sense of loss of self, and we tense with them as they gradually discard old ties and clear away the debris of what once was their sense of achievement and identity.

It is a shedding as painful as the decline, and the authenticity of their journey is never lost in glib phrases or overnight solutions. We see the courage of Freya as she battles her own connection with the material life she loves. We experience the raw terror of crossing the tight rope between old and new. Sometimes we flinch. Even as they cut the umbilical cord to their former selves, fresh revelations of are made and further unravelling is revealed, until Freya and Edward reach a point where we see a glimmer that the best is yet to be for this family. There will be no return to the dysfunction of the old. Reconnection with each other and their children will not be abandoned. We know this as we see both Freya and James glimpse the change in their children. The black cow becomes a symbol of their renewal.

There is an authenticity and honesty about the revelation of their characters and the torment of the children that is the inevitable collateral of a lifestyle that is decaying. And yet Ball doesn’t demonise the lifestyle, but skilfully reveals the people Freya and James had meant to become before they became lost. The dreams they let slip away, the hopes that died.

Secondary characters are deliberately peripheral. Their lives have become too shallow for real life, real connections. Ball peels back the layers of the relationship as she brings Freya and James back from the brink of their own carefully scripted disaster, giving hope in change to sustainable solutions for their lives, both environmental and emotional. It is a hope we cannot help but savour. A hope that compels us to re-examine our own lives and seek meaning, and the courage to sacrifice in order to live without compromise, or regret. To check the compass of our own yesterdays, todays and tomorrows.

~The author also wrote Sleep Before Evening and is the author of several books of poetry. She also runs The Compulsive Reader, www.compulsivereader.com.

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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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Girl with Dragon Tattoo Reviewed by UK Reviewer

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Author: Stieg Larsson
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Crime

Reviewed by Owen O'Hagan, United Kingdom

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

If I’d stopped reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo twenty pages in, when I originally wanted to, I would never have experienced the compelling, clever and engrossing story that followed. It may get off to a slow start, but this book will keep you on edge until it’s all you can think about and you have no choice but read on.

Dragon Tattoo’s central mystery was beyond exciting. Ageing business-man, Henrik Vanger, employs journalist Mikael Blomkvist to solve the mystery of his great-niece, Harriet’s, disappearance and the truth slowly starts to reveal itself. I wanted to know what happened to Harriet, as much as the characters did themselves. At first, the amount of suspects in her case may seem overwhelming, but this particular part of the plot remains intriguing rather than complicated. The writer, Stieg Larsson, who tragically passed away shortly before the books were published, cleverly introduces characters and will leave you suspicious of each of them at some point.

Here lies a major strength of the book; its two protagonists. Blomkvist is a strong main character, who I gradually grew to understand and like. He has his flaws and is most definitely not the most likable character ever written, but his investigation into the disappearance of Harriet connects you to him. I even felt invested in his bazaar, accepted relationship with a married woman. I felt like I was on the case with Blomkvist and therefore grew to know him. It was small moments, like his relationship with a stray cat, that gave him some much needed depth, and made him three-dimensional

The second and perhaps the most unique character I’ve ever encountered, is Lisbeth Salander - the girl with the dragon tattoo. She’s a deep character, who is cold and calculated, but there’s something incredibly likable about her persona. She’s fiery, and doesn’t let anyone walk over her. It’s almost endearing. Salander’s sub-plot has likely attracted more attention than the main storyline itself. She loses her beloved guardian, only for him to be replaced by a disturbing and horrific monster of a man. This is where Larsson takes the story to a much darker place. It’s distressing and in your face, but that’s what’s so strong about the novel; it makes no excuses. Its conclusion is one of the most satisfying I’ve read, as well as one of the most shocking.

While Salander’s sub-plot is impressive, the same cannot be said for the story surrounding the political and financial scandal Blomkvist faces, thanks to his adversary, Wennerstrom. This very storyline is what put me off the book after merely reading the first chapter. The pages are full of information dumps, mostly about finance and business, and will likely go over the heads of many readers, leaving them bewildered and put off. I was relieved when the Harriet mystery was introduced, as the scandal was only mentioned occasionally, becoming background noise. Unfortunately, the mystery surrounding the Vanger family, that is full of compelling twists and shockers, concludes far before the end of the book. Instead, the focus returns to the scandal, and my interest levels dropped by a huge extent. This to me was a vital flaw in the novel – the main bulk of the book was enticing and gripping, but the beginning and the end fell flat. This was a disappointment in a book that had potential to be outstanding.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is at its core, an incredible thriller. The main mystery will steal your attention until its shocking conclusion. The characters will have you investing in their motivations and relationships. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t do enough to pull you into the story, and runs out of steam at its end. Please read this book, once you get past the first few chapters and delve into the mystery, you won’t want to put it down.

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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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Your Clutter, This Book

If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Get Rid of This Clutter? T
Subtitle: Tools to Get it Done!
By Sallie Felton

Are You Conquering Clutter or Has Clutter Conquered You:?

What do Sallie Felton and Oprah Winfrey have in Common?

 

Peter Walsh loves both of them!

WANNA GET RID OF CLUTTER?

A how-to book power-packed

with specific strategies

to help you conquer

physical, emotional, and mental "clutter".

Buy 1 book & receive $10,000 in Bonus Gifts

Let's face it!

Everyone has clutter to some degree or another!

It's how you deal with the clutter that makes the difference

between conquering your clutter and

allowing your clutter to conquer you!

In her book, If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Get Rid of This Clutter?, author, radio personality and life coach Sallie Felton walks you through the practical and organizational strategies that make it easy to stay organized; but this book goes deeper and uncovers the hidden reasons why it can be so hard to get clutter free and stay that way.

What’s mental clutter?

· Does the chatter in your head never slow down?

· Does your mind never grow still? Are you constantly going over your to-do list in your head?

· Even when your body is exhausted, your brains just keeps going and you never feel rested or focused?

That’s mental clutter screaming at you, loud and clear!

What’s physical clutter?

· We all know it is all that “stuff” taking up space in our environment.
· Even paper piles become physical clutter!

And emotional clutter?

· It stems from the heart.
· Have you even not had closure with someone? How does that make you feel?
· Have you been hurt or feel less positive about yourself?


In If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Get Rid of This Clutter, Sallie Felton discusses how she de-cluttered her entire house, basement, attic, garage and sheds in 12 months, 365 days; taking you step by step how to do this, how to prioritize and keeping up. She shares with humor and wit her wins, her struggles, her procrastination and how she overcame it. http://bit.ly/GetRC

You don’t have to hit the ground running, but we guarantee, this book will motivate and keep you on tract to conquer the smallest to the largest areas inside and out. Learn from the expert.

Sallie Felton wears many hats as a Professional Life Coach (PCC), International Talk Radio host, facilitator, motivational speaker and author of 3 books. Her unique approach, which is equal parts honesty, playfulness and genuine compassion, is what's earned Sallie accolades from clients, colleagues and guests from her 2 radio shows, "A Fresh Start with Sallie Felton" (empowerment and positivity) and "Light at The End of The Tunnel" (support for those with or dealing with a loved one suffering with depression). As she says, "In order to move forward you have to start where you stand."

Dr. Anna Maria Prezio, Author of #1 Bestseller, Confessions of a Feng Shui Ghost-Buster, says, "What a treasure this book is! I've been fighting clutter (emotional and physical) for years without success and it's so important to feng shui your world! Now, at last we have a guide to help us unravel our issues and clear our lives of clutter once and for all. This book offers so many tips, methods and ideas for de-cluttering that if you follow the steps, you can't fail. I'm already making list of projects to tackle and feel like I can wade through them to victory! I'm also de-cluttering my life of unwanted relationships and past hurts/regrets, etc. Thanks so much!"

And here's the best part, when you buy the book today, you'll receive more than 100 downloadable bonus gifts you can enjoy and share. http://bit.ly/GetRC

Let's face it; everyone has clutter to some degree or another! It's how you deal with the clutter that makes the difference between conquering your clutter and allowing your clutter to conquer you.
In her book, If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Get Rid of This Clutter?, author and life coach Sallie Felton, walks you through the practical and organizational strategies that make it easy to stay organized; but this book goes deeper and uncovers the hidden reasons why it can be so hard to get clutter free and stay that way.

~Submitted by Denise Cassino
Publicist: Book Marketing Specialist
303 838 3399
skype: denise.cassino
www.BestsellerServices.com
www.spiritoftheseasoncatalog.com
www.mybestsellerlaunch.com
Twitter @DeniseCassino

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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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :