What’s so endearing about Falling For Me is that David does not try to portray herself as perfect. She’s just like any other single woman out there, putting her best foot forward trying to fall in love—the only difference is, she’s working on falling in love with herself first.
Category: Non fiction reviews
A review of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
While I didn’t find myself showering with my copy of Ready Player One, I did find it an enjoyable read. However, I feel that fans of virtual gaming will get far more from this story than I did. Young adult males, in particular, will eat this up. Ready Player One is Willy Wonka with balls; it’s Total Recall meets The Matrix meets the Mario Brothers. It’s scarily familiar and horribly possible.
A review of The Sense of An Ending by Julian Barnes
The Sense of an Ending is a beautifully crafted exploration of a character arc that happens too late to affect change. The motion from clever smugness to painful self-awareness is flawless. The absolute control of Barnes’ prose coupled with the philosophical power of his meditations has resulted in a book that’s as dense and powerful as it is readable.
A review of Waiting for the Apocalypse by Veronica Chater
One of the lovely parts of the story is Veronica’s language—she paints a complex picture of her family, using heavy doses of metaphorical language and lots of questioning about how her life unfolds. She is quite trapped in her lifestyle. She writes much later, looking back and many of the incidences described are all about falling away, falling down, or just not making it.
A review of The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images by the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism (ARAS)
Most essays take a vivid and telling image as their point of departure, but then range more widely. On the whole, the essays are provocative and richly suggestive, rather than exhaustive; and it is unlikely anyway, to my way of understanding, that the meanings and resonances inherent in a symbol can ever be fully enumerated. That is why they remain vital as symbols, able to intrigue, fascinate and transport.
A reviw of Spirit Junkie: A Radical Road to Self-Love and Miracles by Gabrielle Bernstein
In our busy world where achivement and ticking boxes seems to take priority over everything else, the message is a critically important one, however it’s delivered. Call it “ego”, or fear, or self-sabotage, and talk about God, spirit, ‘-ing’, or simply our own inner, innate capabilities. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Bernstein’s book is powerful and effective, infused with extraordinary energy and passion.
A review of Sculpting the Heart: Surviving Depression with Art Therapy by Joyce White
The book is an encouragement to risk, go deep, and try new ideas. Practising what she preaches, White opens up about her own struggles with depression, divorce, and health problems. Despite the honesty that underlies the book, White is never dour, using herself as an example, and asserting the unique voice that every person has.
A review of Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown by David Yaffe
He devotes a chapter to Dylan’s voice, an incredible instrument, the thing that primarily differentiates him from a poet of the page. Another chapter, the second, looks at Dylan and cinema: films he has made (e.g. Renaldo and Clara), films that have been made about him (e.g. Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There).
The Leading African-American Literary Critic of His Generation: Henry Louis Gates Jr. and his book Tradition and the Black Atlantic: Critical Theory in the African Diaspora
In England, writer Zadie Smith and actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and rock singer Kele of Bloc Party have made their own giant splashes, as had the androgynous singer Ephraim Lewis, before he died; and Ejiofor played a cross-dressing designer in Kinky Boots, and Kele is gay and alludes to that experience in his songs.
A review of Alternate Beauty by Andrea Rains Waggener
Alternate Beauty is a treasure trove of self-realization for more than just the main character; it can be life altering for the reader as well. In her original world Ronnie desires to be a fashion designer. As a youngster, her mother dashed those dreams and although her desire was strong, she let it go to sink her sorrows in food. We all have something we desire to do or have and we let it go due to deep seeded fear.