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BLOGGER: Deborah Heiser
How often have you wished you had a good source for finding a good read?
Let’s all share our favorites! Send in your book recommendation by commenting below. I’ll add your review to the posting. In the meantime, start reading the reviews we have so far…
here we go…
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Recommendations by Debbie Heiser
1) Just started “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett – great recommendation from Jackie and Laura! The book takes place in 1962 Mississippi – follows the lives of three women, a 22 year-old women and two maids. (read Laura’s more descriptive review below). Haven’t gotten far enough to say much, but so far it is well written and I can’t wait to read more.
2) Finished “To My Dearest Friends” by Patricia Volk. Good read about women in their 60′s – the only down side is that they spoke about being 60 as if it is old. I choose to think of 60 young, but other than that – it was a good read.
3) Finished “Sleeping Arrangements” by Laura Shaine Cunningham. It is a memoir – about a girl being raised by her uncles on the Grand Concourse after her mother dies. It is not a “downer” as my one sentence description would make one believe.
4) Started “Eclipse of the Sunnis” by Deborah Amos. This is a great book – It is well written, and it is thought provoking. About “power, exile, and upheaval in the Middle East”. Not a beach book – a book to make you think.
5) Finished “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” – thanks for the recommendation, Laura! A great read (see Laura’s review below for a description). A definite recommendation!
Happy reading everyone!!!
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A great self-help read: Recommended by Debbie Heiser
OBESE FROM THE HEART by Sara Stein, MD
As my all male family (including the bird) watched the football game I read a great book: Obese from the Heart by Sara Stein. Dr Stein writes about herself as an obese woman who has struggled with weight all her life. What struck me about this book, what makes it so different from so many other books, is that it does not apply only to obese or overweight individuals. Although I’m constantly saying I want to lose the last 5 lbs. of baby fat I gained from having my children (now 4 and 5), I’m not obese and have never been. This book resonated with me because Dr. Stein talks not as a doctor, but as a person, about so many of the issues that plague us and that can lead to obesity (among, I must say, other issues as well – such as depression and anxiety). Overwork, stress, bottling up our emotions, are things so many of us can relate to. This book doesn’t preach about eating, not eating, doing or not doing. Dr. Stein writes from her heart in a way that makes obesity understandable, personal, and completely relatable. I would heartily recommend reading this book, whether obese or not.
To find out more about how to buy the book, ebook, and kindle editions go to http://obesefromtheheart.com
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A novel recommended by Laura Nolte Cirincione:
The Help is a 2009 novel written by American author Kathryn Stockett. It is also available in audiobook.
I read The Help and it was really good. It was about Mississippi during the 1960s and the relationships between “the help” and their white employers. Enjoy!
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A novel recommended by Clive Priddle:
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It’s The Tudors meets Game Change
(I’m not recommending that, using it as a referent!): C16th England, awash with political uncertainty, religious confusion, and treacherous loyalties. What could be more fun? It’s a long book, so save it for a vacation or long trip. But if you like it she’s at work on a sequel or prequel or whatever. And she’s a terrific understated but very skilled writer. Not flashy but very acute. She deserved her Booker prize…
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Novel recommendations by Vivian Weinberger:
I am currently reading a Pat Conroy book called South of Broad.
I enjoyed 2 other books by him, Beach Music and a book he wrote about teaching black children who lived on a Hilton Head type of Island in dire poverty. I may be partial because I know the area he writes about, South Carolina, and particularly in this book, Charleston.. ( I’m still short of halfway thru). Vivian
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Novel Recommendations by Dawn Eig:
I second Clive’s recommendation Debbie. I have it on my list at the moment. For something a little more light, check out The Last Samurai by Helen De Witt. Its about a single mom in England with a 6 year old child prodigy. funny, clever and interseting.
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Recommendations by Laura Traynor:
Here are a few:
Recently finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See; set in remote 19th-century China. It’s a lifelong story about two women who became laotong or “old sames” (aka BFFs) at age 7 and the rigid codes that governed their lives despite two very different paths.
Last year’s favorite was Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, which is 13 short stories, connected by, Olive and those characters she comes to know and love in a rural coastal town. Speaks to lives lived, regrets and joys along the way.
Am currently reading A Year in Provence, probably 10 years behind everyone else but it’s a lovely respite on a cold winter’s day.
Another favorite is The Working Life: the promise and betrayal of modern work by JoAnn Ciulla; speaks to the meaning and place of work in our lives and how ” pressures of our consumption-driven, global economy frequently lead to the compromise of individuals’ ‘higher’ values when making decisions affecting the overall quality of their lives.”
More to come as I think of them!
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Thomas Matlack gave a recommendation of a book he read on Twitter:
TMatlack Just finished The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage) by Stieg Larsson and loved it. Perfect antidote to Tiger Woods.
He also has his own book which Lisa Hickey, who worked on the project describes…
The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Frontlines of Modern Manhood
How often does a book actually change you? Once, twice a year, max? Well, when it does, hold onto it tight.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I helped publish The Good Men Project. The book – and the 31 stories in it, might now be turned into a Broadway Play, a movie, a tv show, a magazine. And yes, I might profit from some of those things if they happen. Just to be clear.
But…for the record….the book changed me before any of that. It changed me when I read the half-finished manuscript in my car one rainy afternoon in Boston. It changed me because it was guys, telling stories, of defining moments in their lives. Telling those stories with truth and insight and wit. And as one of the founders of The Good Men Project, Tom Matlack, says “it’s the stuff guys don’t usually talk about.”
From the photojournalist in Iraq who helped me realize that bearing witness to atrocities of war has a grace all it’s own to the dad who watched his son succumb to a drug overdose, to the guys who talk about sex and racism and failed marriages along with beautiful, poignant, second-chance marriages, The Good Men Project opened my eyes to a world that had been around me all the time but I just never before was able to see.
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Dorothy Sander is promoting her book “Saying Goodbye to Mom – and other Reflections on LIfe after Fifty”
I recently released an eBook I believe might be of interest to your readers: Saying Goodbye to Mom – and other Reflections on Life after Fifty is a collection of my writings over a two year period of time during which I experienced a variety of mid-life transitions, from empty nest to caring for an aging parent.
My hope is that my reflections on this common experience will bring comfort and support to others as they encounter similar changes.
If you would like a free copy to review please let me know.
It is available on Lulu.com:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/saying-goodbye-to-mom/8207365
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Comment below if you’ve read any of these books or if you have any others to add to the list!
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Tags: amazon.com, book, book review, books, boomers, ebook, ereader, fiction, google, imagineage, ipad, kindle, literature, midlife, mystery, non fiction, obesity, read, Review, self help, suspense
I recently released an eBook I believe might be of interest to your readers: Saying Goodbye to Mom – and other Reflections on Life after Fifty is a collection of my writings over a two year period of time during which I experienced a variety of mid-life transitions, from empty nest to caring for an aging parent.
My hope is that my reflections on this common experience will bring comfort and support to others as they encounter similar changes.
If you would like a free copy to review please let me know.
It is available on Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/saying-goodbye-to-mom/8207365
Thanks,
Dorothy Sander
I just learned of a new book called How To Keep Mom (and yourself) Out of a Nursing Home. It is written by a physician who has admitted thousands of patients to nursing homes in his career. He is board certified in family medicine, geriatrics and palliative medicine. In it he gives practical steps for ALL of us, young and older, which will help us to live independently as long as we can.
As a caregiver for my father and also a registered nurse who has spent a bit of time working in nursing homes, it was my number one goal that my father wasn’t going to end up in one. This, of course, is why the book spoke to me, personally.
Slightly Dented Halos shares a panoramic view of life with seniors. Over the course of 5-1/2 years, my in-laws lived with us, bringing a tone of chaos but also great joy. It wasn’t easy, much laughter and many tears, but I’d care for them again if given the opportunity.
Slightly Dented Halos is available (and ON SALE) through Amazon.com or as an ebook of http://www.lebrary.com.
Deborah Windrum would like to suggest her own book to ImagineAge readers. If you would like to renew your sense of purpose or sustain your momentum whatever the stage of your career or state of your work place, you will find inspiration in “Harvest the Bounty of Your Career”. Explore the roots, branches, fruits, and seeds of your life to date as you journey through the imagery of a tree metaphor and the progression of fine art images that it evoked. Harvest’s questions and processes will energize your work life and jump start your legacies. The book includes nineteen full-color, original art plates; a soft cover with lay-flat binding; and a tear-off bookmark on the back cover flap. Sample a chapter at http://harvestthebounty.com/wp-content/uploads/files/Harvest_Roots.pdf. Thanks!
Sounds like a great book. Thanks for sharing, Deborah!
I’ve got two books to add to the queue, both of which I’ve written.
The “little” one first: How to Efficiently Settle the Family Estate, a 72 page eBook. Chances are that your parents or you have *planned* an estate; there’s lots of guidance and marketing around getting that done. But if you’ve lost your second parent or spouse and it’s time to *settle* an estate, well how do go about it? There’s stuff to sell, a home to close, vehicle to transfer title, insurance policies to sniff out and claim, financial entities from the corner bank to the retirement fund holding company, and a final tax return to prepare (and find large deductions for). Unique guidance from a lay person who’s been around this block. Save tons of time, sweat, and estate proceeds. Sampler file for free download.
http://www.HospitalPatientAdvocate.com/products/efficiently-settle-the-family-estate/
And now the big book: Notes from the Waiting Room: Managing a Loved One’s (End of Life) Hospitalization. Hospitals tell us to advocate for our hospitalized loved one. They don’t tell us why (too scary) or how (to involved). I do. I’m recognized as a nationally contributing patient advocate/activist by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Notes has received 7 book awards and is endorsed by a full range of medical providers and policymakers (MDs, RNs, Chaplains, ethicists, and a former Colorado governor. Most importantly, it’s written by an experienced informed lay person who’s beholden to no one and interested solely in best empowering you, the patient-family.
Notes is 2/3 about how to advocate during *any* hospitalization. Because its context is each of my parents’ terminal hospitalizations, Notes’ last third is about revisioning end of life to increase the likelihood of dying in peace—like 90% of us say we want yet only an inverse number achieve.
Learn about why we lose the first week of a hospitalization to confusion and disarray; what hospitals actually provide, how to go about advocating, who to talk to and who not to waste time complaining to, how to find help in the hospital, forecasting and ethical support, the complete do not resuscitate conversation for this especially important and misunderstood aspect of medical treatment; and much more.
We can’t begin to change things we fail to explore. Don’t wait until your patient-family member bursts through some hospital’s double doors on a gurney. That’s a very touch time to begin trying to learn.
http://www.hospitalpatientadvocate.com/products/notes-from-the-waiting-room/