I’ve sort of fallen off the face of the earth.

The truth is, I have been unable to focus on reading.  A major medical issue has arisen in my family and I feel seriously ADD when it comes to reading.

I have, however, been doing a LOT of writing.  You can see what’s going on in my head at my other blog, Perilously Precocious.

Once the dust settles in my real life, I will post more here at this blog.  I think it’s beginning to settle now, but I make no promises.   I can promise that I will get back to this place eventually as reading and writing about it is something I take such joy in.

Love ya’lls.

This was sent to me by the author, and she ever-so-patiently waited for me to finally read and review it.
So here ya go, lady, thanks for not giving up on my review!

I loved this book.  There were some things I had to overlook… punctuation misuse or lack thereof was the biggest distraction, but overall, a very interesting story.  I’m thankful you shared this with us!

It’s written in epistolary fashion, as diary entries and letters.  I really like this – and wonder if this wouldn’t be a better format for the very similar book that I’m writing about my grandmother.   She’s on to something.

This story is about a Jamaican borne woman who travels to London with the intentions of temporarily staying, yet ends up living out the rest of her life there.  Part black, a single mother, and without any contact with her family, this woman raises her daughter all by herself.   There were many interesting parts of the story, and I especially enjoyed reading about the Jamaican voodoo and its cultural variances.  I learned from this book, and that’s always a beautiful thing.

The book is a narrative about her own mother’s life.  I’m totally excited for the author to have successfully printed this book, and hope that one day it is a pleasure for her great grandchildren to learn about their own families.

I was contacted by the author to do this review.

First and foremost, the cover of this book of poetry is lovely.  I love the background and image chosen for it.
You can see the artist’s blog here: http://klarocca2010.wordpress.com/tag/kimberly-larocca/

So…

Between the covers are hundreds of elementary, rhyming poems.   And rhyming is cool, if you’re into that.
She writes about love and life and relationships… all very real, very humanistic, and each poem has a clear but simple emotion identified within it.
Truth be told, I skimmed through the book.

This is so hard; reviewing someone’s personal poetry like this is so close to reviewing the person themselves, and I don’t want to give off an elitist, snobbish, or harsh review because I think this girl is probably very beautiful in her heart and soul– and even physically (though I don’t know).
Don’t think I’m judging you as a person, Kimberly.

With regards to your work, here are some things I would like to encourage as you grow and diversify as a writer:

Try mixing up the rhythms of your work.  It doesn’t all have to have the same pace or language.  You can add depth to your emotional expression by using the words as… like a paint on a canvas.   Mix up the structure.

Interweave language and embrace a thesaurus.  Words are beautiful.  Your experience is beautiful.  Diversify.

Less short poems.  More story writing within the poetry.  Give me something I can chew on.  Make me respond with breathlessness.

This book is laid out nicely, is easy to read, and I keep it readily at hand for when someone comes to me with an illness.  I *heart* this book.

And if you’re looking to support A Perilously Precocious Librarian book blog, buy your copy from Tattered Cover here.

When my MIL found this gem, I was completely and utterly envious.  I coveted this book so much that I was ready to order it from Tattered Cover.

But then, out of nowhere, she gave it to me!  Boy, I sure do have awesome luck often!

I’m into herbal healing and yet I acknowledge the benefits in some situations for western pharmaceuticals.  That being said, sometimes folks with whom I interact are on those pharmaceuticals, and are asking me about teas they can safely consume.  Without this book, I had always just had to default to the line, “Ask your pharmacist.  They’ll know.”

Now, though, I have an extensive, giant book on the interactions.  What interacts, what could be a harmful interaction, what the herb is generally used for, etc.

I am in love.

Ever since I got the book, it hasn’t gone far from my tea shelf.  I have hundreds of herbs to administer, and now I can see if it’s safe to mix them with other things.  YES!

And if you’re looking to support A Perilously Precocious Librarian book blog, buy your copy from Tattered Cover here.

So hey, ya’ll.  Sorry I haven’t posted in a month!  I got tripped up on this book and had to really take my time with it.

This was sent to me by the good folks at Sounds True.   I had asked for it specifically, then gave it to my Mom-In-Law because I thought she had wanted it.  All I asked was for her to let me borrow it so I could review it at some point.

When she gave it back to me, she said she wasn’t really interested.  It wasn’t what she thought it would be.

And that was just fine, because I was still gonna read and review it.  And then I opened the book and thought, “Hmm, this isn’t so bad.”

Well as it turns out, this was a pertinent life changer for me.

Let me back up a little and explain what it is.  The Akashic Records are something better-known in the metaphysical community than in mainstream language.  So.  Let’s see if I can put it out there properly.

Imagine there’s a library of all there is to know about you.  There is a section all about your past lives, a section about your future lives, and a section about this present life.   Every life lesson you will need to learn, every purpose you were ever given is stored in this library.  And essentially, when you’re asking a psychic to tell you “what it all means,” they are accessing this library.

This is a book that teaches you how to access your library and then heal your hurts through the eye opening experiences that comes from connecting with your eternal spirit.

Yeah.

You should probably read that again, because it really is that deep.

This being said, I tried it.

And truth be told, I believe it.

I asked about my purpose.   At first, I heard, “Hardship.”

Well, that goes completely against everything I believe.  I don’t even use the word, “Hardship” in my vocabulary.  No, everything that is difficult is a life lesson.  Every dissonance is an opportunity to see things more clearly.

So when I heard, “Hardship,” I freaked out and argued.  My higher Self (which is the language I’ll choose to use to describe the all-knowing) expected this reaction, I’m sure.  I waited a few days, processing the possibility that I am to go through hardship in this life.  Wondering, “What the heck am I supposed to do with that?”

Because I was so unsettled, I knew I had to go back and access it again, even if I didn’t want to hear what it was that was “popping into my head.”

So I took a deep breath, and tried it over.

What I found was that it wasn’t “Hardship” at all… it was “Beauty in Hardship.”

I can swallow that.  I’m good with that.  Ever since, I think something inside of me has changed.  When I see a homeless person holding a sign on the side of the road, I see their whole life.  I see the beauty and pain and laughter and sorrow that encompasses an entire lifetime, swept into one frail body at the corner of the street.  I can’t give them anything but a smile, but I know that they, too, have a life lesson to discover or understand.

I have been far more intuitive since accessing my records, also.  Is it weird that I, a rational being, would buy into this mumbo jumbo?  Maybe.  I guess the difference now is that I care very little about what judgment (weirdness) comes from admitting that I read a book like this and got way more from it than I had anticipated.

So.  Do I recommend this book?  I suppose.  I suppose that if you come across it or are totally intrigued by my review, then you are probably ready to read it.  Will it make you psychic?  *shrug*  I don’t know.  Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.   Will you benefit from it even if you don’t buy into the existence of the records?  Yes.  Emphatically, yes.   The chapters between the covers encourage you to look at your reality with an open mind.  Even if you’re not “accessing your records” you can use the verses as a meditative focus.  And I do believe that addressing the issues and challenges presented to you in these pages, you will grow as a person.

And who couldn’t use a little growth?

And if you’re looking to support A Perilously Precocious Librarian book blog, buy your copy from Tattered Cover here.

I was pleased when I received the book, it had a hand-written card from the author tucked inside.   A sweet thing to do, don’t you agree?

So about this book.  Truth be told, I’m kind of at a loss as to what to say about the book.  I liked it.  There was a solid plot: two lost souls dealing with their own lightning strike experiences.  Two children who grow up in rough ways, two very brilliantly-written characters who completely come to life as they deal with life.

It’s difficult to describe.  But I’m about to take a stab at it.

Say you’re an artist.  And you piece together this series of paintings that start out as two separate stories and come together into one tightly woven piece.  Like two rivers sort of gently merging into one.  And every bit of canvas is a little different, painted with a different set of paints and glued together with a myriad of mediums.

This book is kind of like that.  Only the artist uses words and imagery and emotions that are both pleasurable and disturbing.

I kind of see this work falling into the same category as the movie, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and maybe simultaneously something along the lines of “Labyrinth” (yunno with David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly as the princess in the ballroom? but no goblins.) with bits of “Donnie Darko” sprinkled in.  You might even throw a tiny bit of “Amelie” in there, only without the subtitles.

I don’t know what I’m saying here.  I don’t even like movies or television.  Except the aforementioned.  Those were excellent.

Truthfully, I’m not sure that I would categorize this book as excellent, because I’m not entirely certain what that taste is that’s left in my mouth.  I did enjoy it.  I had a difficult time putting it down nearly every time I picked it up.  But I put it down for days and let it sit with me instead of absolutely devouring it.

My ranking:  I have no idea.  I am going to lend it to my M.I.L. and then take it to work to give away, probably.  And I think I’m going to leave the notecard in the book, just so that maybe someone will pick it up and feel like they’ve kind of maybe just picked up a little treasure.

I was lent this book by my boss at work.  She was reading it, and it seemed so intriguing.  What I didn’t know, before I read it, was that it would be such a lovely collection of prose and imagery.

It is a memoir of Bartok (she changed her name) and her mother and sister.  Growing up with a mother afflicted with schizophrenia simply cannot be easy, and this is a catalog of the horrible, beautiful, regretful, guilty experiences Mira had with regards to her mother and her life.

The single most important thing that struck me was that in spite of her own traumatic brain injury and the emotional turmoil surrounding such a life, this author wrote brilliantly.  Yes, there were some disjointed parts– even outside of her mother’s letters.  But the words sang from their pages.

I copied down so many quotes and entries that I cannot put them all down here.  But there are two:

from The Memory Palace, pg 26

“Beautiful is what we see.  More beautiful is what we understand.  Most beautiful is what we do not comprehend.” Nicolaus Steno

“Later, I’m in the garden with Rachel.  I don’t want to tell her about the hospital, the zombies in pajamas, the nurses with their long trays of pills.  All that suffocating smoke, the windows with bars, the crazy lady going after me.  Instead, I open and close the  mouth of a yellow snapdragon, pretending it can talk.  We are putting on a play using snapdragons as characters.  The cast is made of tiny lions; the cluster of colorful stones and violets by our feet is our stage.   We are the Queens of the Flowers, rulers of earth and sky.  MY sister will make up stories with anything at hands.  She can’t help herself– a bunch of wilting daisies, a rotten apple, a caterpillar, or a rock.  OUtside we can do anything, be anything at all.  When we finish our play  we run fast holding hands across the three adjoining yards, our grandparents’, the Bentes’, and the Budds’  We run our behind the row of spruce and pine trees, our to the fields and woods to no-man’s-land.

We would like to keep running and running away.  She could write stories and I would paint pictures and explore the world.  We could travel to France or maybe to the Amazon.  We could live in the jungle or Paris or London or maybe someplace in Africa where people eat breadfruit and antelope meat.  We don’t want to be martyrs or priests, doctors or saints.  We would like to be wolf pups or birds.  We would like to be fast horses.  We want to be all the flowers of the field.  How far can we go in this stretch of tall grass and goldenrod?  How far in this forest of fragrant trees?”

from The Memory Palace, pg 58

The whole book is moving.  It was easy to read and totally enjoyable.  I would caution, though, folks who have gone through the terrifying experience of growing up with a parent with a serious mental illness, as this could absolutely be triggering for you.

However, if you read it conclusively, you will find Bartok’s ultimate sense of reconciliation– at least to the point where it is satisfying, if not sorrowful.

My ranking: great book!  I don’t know that I will purchase it, but I’m glad I could read it.  It was a beautiful glimpse into a challenging life.  I related to many of the parts– not from my own childhood, but from the stories of people I love.

And if you’re looking to support A Perilously Precocious Librarian book blog, buy your copy from Tattered Cover here.

Ha!

Hahahahaha!

Okay, now seriously.

I was given this book by Chelsea Green Publishing, which is one of my new favorite sustainable living publishing companies.  I was not paid for this review, and this is my honest opinion.

So… I *heart* reference books, and I think I *heart* them even more when there’s expletives in the titles.   But that’s just the rebel within me.  Really, this book is straight forward a reference all about manure, its uses, how-to utilize it, riddled with humor and fowl language.  (*giggling at my own punniness*)

Anyway, this book is incredibly informative about farming industries and how to manage manure in the face of farming.   There’s a chapter on every kind of animal manure you can farm with, and I am absolutely saving this for when I am living on my self-sustained castle in the mountains, complete with goats, chickens, greenhouses, and maybe even a pig and cow.

If you’re into sustainably living, if you’re into farming, you’ve got to get shit right.   This book will be a fantastic resource for you, complete with a plethora of information on everything you need to know about shit. Even human, cat, and dog shit.

I put it next to the shitter, and found it an appropriate read while using the can.

Hehehehe.

And if you’re looking to support A Perilously Precocious Librarian book blog, buy your copy from Tattered Cover here.

I want to start off by saying that this book took me FOREVER to get through.  Also, it was a wonderful gift from the folks at Sounds True, who did not pay me for this review.  :)

However, I did enjoy it, entirely.

It is a story that sheds light on the belief systems of a Hawaiian Shaman.   I am a big fan of shamanism, and have found it surprisingly cohesive with the other teachings of other shaman from different backgrounds.

What’s interesting to me, is that it seems that this ancient wisdom, regardless of where it comes– all primarily from indigenous tribes that have only minimally been touched by western spirituality/religions, having withstood time immemorial, and they’re relatively similar on numerous ideas.   That, to me, is freaking crazy.

Additionally, I’m impressed by the fact that many metaphysical beliefs incorporate the old ancient wisdom in ways that make me think that the pagan/shamanistic/tribal beliefs are perhaps core experiences through many spiritual encounters on this physical plane.  It seems like these systems are perhaps the core of the spiritual aspect of our BEing.

Anyway, this is a book that talks about a professor’s encounters with a Hawaiian Shaman, and while he doesn’t divulge the spiritual secrets that are utterly sacred, he did get permission from the Shaman before the book was written and before the Shaman was killed in a car accident.

I felt rather privileged to read it.  Kind of like I was glancing into the secret realm of spirit that up until now had not been divulged.

All of the stuff was fairly intuitive, as far as material went.  Yes, there is magic, it confirmed.  Yes, the world responds to us.  Yes, this is real, and our goal is awareness.

I don’t really want to get into all of the various aspects or details set down within these pages.  I do, however, want you to know that if you decide to read it, you’ll be fascinated and filled with a sense of awe and admiration for the experience.  You may even want to sell all of your worldly possessions and move to a tiny island with the intention of studying the spirit.

Of course, then again, maybe you won’t like it at all and consider it awkward bullshit with little to offer.  ;)  Either way, I’m thrilled to have it in my own collection and probably won’t be parting with it any time soon.

And if you’re looking to support A Perilously Precocious Librarian book blog, buy your copy from Tattered Cover here.

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