Book Review: My Own Worst Enemy: how to stop holding yourself back – by Janet Davis

Book: My Own Worst Enemy: how to stop holding
yourself back
Author: Janet Davis
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Date: March 15, 2012
Genre: Christian living
Pages: 172
Price: $14.99; less for e-book
My rating: An inspiring, encouraging read, especially for women who self-sabotage and want to break that cycle.

I received an ARC (advanced reading copy) through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

First I must say that even though I stated the genre as “Christian living”, this book can be helpful to anyone seeking a way to break free of the nagging voice in her head …

“Just who do you think you are?”

Have you ever heard that in your own thinking? Have you held back because of what others will say or what they would think of you being so bold as to share your thoughts or talents? Why, you could look proud or cause someone to be jealous! Pish tosh! (By the way, pish tosh means rubbish, bunk, a ridiculous proposition.)

In her book, Janet Davis addresses the many ways women sabotage themselves and hold themselves back from being all they are made to be. To quote: “Women often find that the biggest obstacle to being all they were created to be is themselves. Though they long to succeed, they can’t silence the voice inside whispering, “Just who do you think you are?”

In three sections and thirteen chapters, the author addresses various situations while using her own life as an example along with those of other women. She also parallels those stories with women in the Bible. (I did question a few of her suggestions regarding Biblical situations, but that did not overshadow the overall ministry to women through this book.)

Section One Chapters are: The Unimagined Life; The Unworthy Life; The Unlived Life

Section Two Chapters are: Identity: Pretense vs Presence; Creativity: Conformity vs Uniqueness; Shining: Recoiling vs. Radiance

Section Three Chapters are: Choosing Vulnerability; Choosing to Say No; Choosing to Tell Your Story; Choosing to Re-Create in the Midst of Loss; Choosing to Persevere in the Midst of Injustice; Choosing to Grow Up; Choosing to Say Yes to God

At the beginning of each chapter, Janet poses something to consider, then at the end she revisits that thought and adds a list of questions for the reader to answer. Those questions can go as deep as you allow them to, depending on how much time you want to take, how serious you are about dealing with the problem, and how much you are willing to face.

My Own Worst Enemy: how to stop holding yourself back is a great read-alone book, but it also can be used in a small group of women who get together to work through the questions and help one another address the problem of self-sabotage.

If you have not been aware of how adept woman are at undermining themselves, you may be surprised as to how subtle is that inner voice. My Own Worst Enemy – by Janet Davis – may be just the book you didn’t know you needed.

You can find My Own Worst Enemy: how to stop holding yourself back listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading … and, Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Still Alice – by Lisa Genova

Book: Still Alice

Author: Lisa Genova

Publisher: Gallery Books

Date: January 6, 2009

Genre: fiction novel; mental health

Pages: 337; paperback

Price: $15.00 US; also available from Simon & Schuster Audio & as an e-Book

My Rating: A ‘must-read’ for anyone dealing with Alzheimer’s in any way, or wanting to know more about what it’s like – from the inside of it.

This is a book I discovered at a meeting of our local Alzheimer’s Support Group. I was urged to read it, so months later – when I felt I was ready – I borrowed it. [As an aside: We meet once a month, and I highly recommend that you join a support group if you are a caregiver of anyone with dementia.]

At first I put off reading this book. I lent it to my sister to read, she said, “Read it!” I lent it to one of our respite workers, he said, “Read it!” Finally, yesterday .. I read it.

This book will open your eyes to, and broaden your understanding of, some of the inner workings of Alzheimer’s disease and what it is like to be its victim. Even though this is a work of fiction, the author did extensive research and study to get it right. It is so very believable. To me, it felt as if I were reading the memoir of an actual person, I felt the frustration and pain of her family, and I laughed out loud at one incident which was both funny because of what happened and sad because of why it happened, and in another place I had tears in my eyes because of the truth of it.

This is a painful and terrifying disease. Even as I write this review I feel the emotion of it. Alzheimer’s steals its victim away, a little at a time. Lisa Genova so aptly described the disease through her characters and helped me better understand the cruel reality of what I (and my sister) deal with every day in some capacity.

Lisa’s main character, Alice, is a very intelligent, highly regarded and respected professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard University. She and her husband (also a Harvard professor) had brought up their three children and now, at only fifty years of age, Alice knows something is seriously wrong with her memory. She puts off telling anyone and sets out on her own, at first, to find out what is going on. What she learns changes her whole world, and that of her family.

The author draws the reader into the lives of Alice and her family in a very smooth and captivating way. I wanted to know, I needed to know, and Lisa does not disappoint as she covers two years in Alice’s life.

At the end of the book, there is a section of Discussion Questions for a group, or for personal study of the novel. There is also an interview conversation with Lisa Genova.

Lisa Genova, holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University and Still Alice is her first novel.

Now, to you I say, READ IT!

You can find Still Alice listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: I Only Cry at Night – by P. Allen Jones

Book: I Only Cry at Night: Living With Sickle Cell Disease
Author: P. Allen Jones
Genre: biography, healthcare
Pages: 182
Publisher: CreateSpace
Released: October 15, 2011
Price: $14.95
My Rating: A must-read for everyone willing to learn about this devastating hereditary blood disorder.

No matter how much you think you know, or don’t know, about Sickle Cell Disease, this book will give you a perspective you cannot have aside from having the disease yourself or knowing well someone who does. There are still many misconceptions about it and much misunderstanding.

Ms. Jones has opened her heart and invited the reader into her life, the good and the bad. In a personable writing style she tells in an honest way about her upbringing in a large family that had little understanding of how to deal with Sickle Cell Disease – the sorrows, the heartaches, the chronic pain and suffering, the dashed hopes and dreams of a child. Many times she could have given up, could have despaired and not tried again, but being a determined and insightful person of faith she fought her way through everything that stood in her way. She is still fighting, but now it is not only for her own life but for the benefit of others afflicted with the devastating blood disorder that is, as yet, incurable.

Starting with her earliest memory at age four, she very visually relates her story, easily pulling the reader into each scene. You will learn about her dysfunctional family life and the prejudice she suffered at school even when she was an achiever, the inadequate medical treatment she received due to lack of understanding about Sickle Cell Disease, her brushes with death, her determination to make a success of her life as she struggled through adolescence and into adulthood with the knowledge that she would probably die young. And you will walk with the author, hoping for her through each chapter as you learn what life is like for those born with the disease. You will feel frustration because of misinformation and then satisfaction as this brave woman continues to strive to spread awareness of Sickle Cell Disease, how to treat it, and how to live with it.

Did you know that Sickle Cell Disease:

is found in many races throughout the world?
has been reported in twenty countries, and of those only a few have the needed care programs?
has a life expectancy of 42 for males, 48 for females?
is not contagious but is a genetic disease that causes terrible physical pain and complications and must be managed very carefully?
is not yet taken seriously enough to be funded responsibly nor studied enough to make a significant difference for the people who live with it all their lives?
is easily detected with a blood test that will show if a person has the disease or is a carrier?

P. Allen Jones, a Sickle Cell Disease advocate, has written a book that is well worth reading. In this book she not only shares how this disease has affected her own personal life and how she had to learn to cope with it in all areas of life, but having done a great deal of research she has included valuable information with disturbing statistics.

One negative note: the first printing of her book was a frustrating disappointment to the author because of the poor editing. If you happen to obtain a copy of the first edition and can overlook the common errors that should have been picked up in editing, then do read the book for its message. There is now an improved second printing. Even if you get a first edition you will not miss the author’s sincere voice; it is strong and clear and real. You will be much better informed for having read I Only Cry At Night: Living With Sickle Cell Disease.

Visit www.pallenjones.com for where to purchase her book, and for locations of her scheduled book signings and talks.

You can find I Only Cry at Night: Living With Sickle Cell Disease listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

New fairytales found! Do you hide away your treasure?

This morning I came across a news article that caught my attention.

We all are familiar with the collection of fairytales known worldwide that were written by the Grimm brothers Jacob and Wilhelm. Well, it seems that at about the same time that they were collecting those tales, there was a historian by the name of Franz Xaver von Schönwerth who was also gathering myths, legends and fairytales. For decades he talked to country folk, servants, and labourers, recording on paper their local habits, traditions, customs, and history that otherwise were passed to next generations only by word of mouth. The Grimm brothers admired his accuracy, and Jacob told the king of Bavaria that Von Schönwerth was the only one who could ever replace them in their work.

Von Schönwerth’s research was compiled into a book called Aus der Oberpfalz – Sitten und Sagen, which translated: is From the Upper Palatinate – customs and legends. It was released in 1857, 1858 and 1859 in three volumes, but, sadly, all his meticulous work never gained popularity and was forgotten. Last year the present cultural curator, Erika Eichenseer, published a book of selected fairytales by Von Schönwerth. If you are interested, you can find it here: http://amzn.to/xEvOma

Eichenseer, while looking through Von Schönwerth’s collection in Regensburg, also discovered 500 new fairytales he had recorded and which had been locked away in an archive for over 150 years! Many are not mentioned in other European fairytale collections. So, in 2008, the curator helped to found the Franz Xaver von Schönwerth Society devoted to studying his work and publicizing it. Work has already begun on an English translation. Eichenseer said, “Their main purpose was to help young adults on their path to adulthood, showing them that dangers and challenges can be overcome through virtue, prudence and courage.”

Another society member – Daniel Drascek, a professor of language, literature, and cultural sciences – was quoted as saying, “Schönwerth’s legacy counts as the most significant collection in the German-speaking world in the 19th century.”

Why am I telling you all this? I found this news story to be fascinating, amazing, and sad. It made me wonder …

What if your work is so well done, even to be envied by other writers, but for one reason or another it just doesn’t make it? Would you keep trying? Would you file it away?

Do you keep those things – those treasures you so passionately created – that are rejected time and again, or do you finally give up in despair and toss them?

Do you have a secret file, or a ‘just in case’ file, for your rejects or those stories you just aren’t ready to send out there?

And finally, do you feel inspired or encouraged by this story? Would you want your work to find its place even long after you are gone?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Read the full story here: Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany (guardian.co.uk)

What is your favourite quote about reading or books?

Here are a few interesting quotes about reading and books. Some are funny, some are serious, but all are thought-provoking. Enjoy!

“A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into exquisite hours of delight.” – Charles de Montesquieu

“The time to read is any time: no apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is necessary. It is the only art which can be practised at any hour of the day or night, whenever the time and inclination comes, that is your time for reading; in joy or sorrow, health or illness.” – Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948)

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all of the miseries of life.” – W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

“So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall.” – Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” – Emilie Buchwald

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”

Do you have a favourite quote about reading or books?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! and thank you

Before today is gone forever I want to mention the famous and talented Dr. Seuss – Theodor Seuss Geisel.

He was born March 2, 1904 and lived until September 24, 1991. That’s 87.5 years.

I read somewhere that sometime along the way one of his teachers or professors told him he couldn’t draw and his art would not catch on. hmmm I guess somebody was wrong! That goes to prove that you should never give up if you are passionate about your talent. It may be just what the world is waiting for.

If you would like to read lots of information about Dr. Seuss, go here.

No doubt everyone reading this is familiar with something Dr. Seuss wrote. Two books that I particularly enjoyed reading to my daughters are

Green Eggs And Ham and

Horton Hears A Who!

It was a fun challenge to read those long connecting thoughts without stopping to take a breath, and I could never begin to tell you how many times those books were chosen as bedtime stories! I got really good at reading Dr. Seuss – with great enthusiasm! 🙂

Now I’ll join with the throngs of captivated children and admiring readers, writers, illustrators, and everyone else who loves his books, and say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DR. SEUSS! And Thank You!

What Dr. Seuss books were the most popular in your house?

Is there one Dr. Seuss book in particular that you wish you had written?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Get e-book — Brevity of Roses — free today!

This is a quick post to let you know of a great book promotion — Brevity of Roses — by Linda Cassidy Lewis. This is her debut novel.

Right now … TODAY (February 24) … you can get Brevity of Roses in E-Book format for free on Amazon for a few more hours. If you want the digital version of this book then don’t wait … get it NOW for free HERE. There are only a few hours left to take advantage of this great offer.

If you don’t have a Kindle you can download one, also for free, off Amazon for use on your computer. Even though I prefer ‘real’ books, I do have a pc Kindle with a few books on it, including Brevity of Roses.

If you want to first take the time to read a chapter or two of this book by Linda Cassidy Lewis – you can do that HERE.

So hurry! there is not much time left. Go HERE to download Brevity of Roses for free.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂