The Book Stacks

About the Book

Are you like most people? You’ve got a busy and full life, a successful career, friends and family, and yet, for some reason, you feel like something’s missing.

Do you find yourself wondering, “Is this as good as it gets?”

Many of us feel this way. We long to be more alive and present in our lives, more in touch with ourselves, and closer to those we love. Yet no matter what we do, we can’t seem to get there.

But, no more!

Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want shares with you my proven four-step approach to overcoming fear and connecting more deeply with yourself and others.

The Long Version

In the beginning of Living Like You Mean It, Dr. Frederick talks about a ‘feelings spectrum’ with people who feel too much at one end and people who have a feelings phobia at the other end. Given that this book is meant for people who want to deal with their feelings phobia, I was convinced that I fell on the ‘feel too much’ side of the spectrum and thus didn’t have anything to learn from this book.

Boy was I wrong.

In this book, Dr. Frederick takes us on a fascinating journey through the evolution of our feelings – starting at birth. Before I knew it, I found myself examining my reactions to things as well as my lifetime habits. Let me tell you – I have discovered the roots of a lot of behaviors.

The thing I appreciated most about this book is that Frederick doesn’t preach to you. The feeling is almost like he is just as fascinated as the readers are at all of this, so you feel like you’re talking to a comrade rather than being drilled like a teacher. His conversational and friendly tone always made me feel comfortable.

The Short Version

I highly recommend this book. Even if you think you don’t need this book, you may be surprised at what you can learn from it.
-
Check out Mr. JM’s review by clicking here.

***
Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want
By Dr. Ronald J. Frederick
http://www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com/
ISBN: 978-0-470-37703-1
Length: 208 Pages

Licensed Educational Psychologist reports that only 2% of children identified with Learning Disabilities have true neurological deficits.

Oakland, CA – February 17, 2009– Before you invest time and money in expensive educational programs and tutoring services, you should read Learning Disabilities, Understanding the Problem and Managing the Challenges. Etta K. Brown, Licensed Educational Psychologists states that the ego damaging failure of learning disabled child, and the suffering and challenges to their parents and teachers is needless because 98% of children identified with learning disabilities can be helped back to normal neurological function through simple changes to their environment.

Current research has demystified learning disabilities, identifying the specific changes in our environment and the sociological changes in family structure that are responsible for the10 to 20% increase in learning disabilities every ten years since World War II; and unless there are immediate changes in the way we parent out children, the increase is likely to continue to increase into the next century and beyond.

Etta Brown, Principal Psychologist, at Ceres Psychological Services states, “While many environmental factors have been identified as a cause of learning disabilities, the factor having the most impact upon the child’s development was found to be his relationship with his parents and their attitude toward his success. All other factors in the environment are secondary to parenting.”

“Other important factors in the child’s environment include nutrition, allergies to food, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals. A lack of sleep and physical exercise are additional factors. And, most importantly, when these factors are removed by involved concerned parents, the brain returns to normal functioning. “

“To prevent, mediate or correct the cause of your child’s specific learning disability”, Ms Brown continues, “you simply clean up the child’s environment.” “ Researchers report that, in some instances, suggested methods have shown results in only a few days.”

Removing harmful causes from the child’s environment first requires a commitment on the part of parents or primary caretakers to identify and eliminate them. Once the commitment is made, a short learning curve is required while the parent or primary caretaker becomes familiar with what to look for, and what to do if it is found.

If you are the parent or primary caretaker, this may modify your lifestyle while you improve your parenting skills, but the decision to make a difference in the life of a child is a major decision that every parent or primary caretaker must make.

Ceres Psychological services has the stated mission of reducing the incidence of learning problems in the children of the twenty-first century, by helping parents rear children ready to learn. They have launched their efforts with a parent manual entitled Learning Disabilities, Understanding the Problem and Managing the Challenges.

You, as a parent or primary caretaker, are not alone in the effort to provide an appropriate education for your child. This formation is readily available, and summarized for immediate application to the situation. Concerned parents are assisted with consultation, and support through four easy steps: make a commitment, empower yourself, apply the information and give it a few days.

Parents and others are then encouraged to note the change in the teacher. Your child’s improvement will be so rewarding that the teacher will begin to interact with him differently in the classroom and he will improve even more.

***

Ms Brown is a graduate of Kent State University with an Educational Specialists Degree with a major in School Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Special with certification to teach the emotionally disturbed, mentally handicapped, and learning disabled student grades K-14. Her 20 years experience in public education suggests that she might be handy to have around.

Understanding Learning Disabilities

It feels like all I am talking about lately is editing this or editing that. While I love editing, you would think I could talk about something more interesting than work every now and then…

I’m pre-posting this by a bit, but the husband should be back home safe and sound from his work trip tonight. Crossing fingers he isn’t told to stay there longer.

Remember to play the Monday game for your chance to win a book of your choice and bookmark.

Newly Arrived:

Reading:
The Daughters of Moab - Kim Westwood
Scattered Leaves – Richard Roach
Song of Sorcery – Elizabeth Scarborough
Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul by Kathy Balland

Going to Read:
Writing as a Sacred Path - Jill Jepson
Arrows of Time by Kim Falconer
Saffron Dreams – Shaila Abdullah
The Vision – C.L. Talmage
Fallout – C.L. Talmage
The Scorpions Strike – C.L. Talmage
Kissing Games of the World – Sandi Kahn Shelton
Supernatural – Graham Hancock
Neutron Star – Short story collection – Larry Niven
Firebirds – Fantasy/Sci-fi Anthology – Edited by Sharyn November
The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
The Redemption of Althalus – David and Leigh Eddings
The Serpent Bride – Sara Douglass
The Twisted Citadel – Sara Douglass
Season of Sacrifice – Tristi Pinkston
Copper Star – Suzanne Woods Fisher
Copper Fire – Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Lost Diary of Don Juan – Douglas Carlton Abrams

Upcoming Reviews:
Living Like You Mean It - Dr. Ronald J. Frederick
Mr. JM Review: Undone – Karin Slaughter

So what’s on your list?

Welcome to this week’s A Book By Any Other Name!

The game works like this: Each week I will choose a word and offer a few titles that I’ve come up with containing that word in the title. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles.) I would also like the author, but that is just so I can find the book if I want to read it.

The current challenge: I challenge you all to reach 31 titles containing the weekly word by midnight Friday, (with no more than 10 titles commented per person and not including *my* title in the total.)

My forfeit? If you make it to 31 titles, I will draw a name from the participants and that person will win a copy of any one of the books on this page along with a bookmark (or two!). I’ve decided this is a much better way of doing things rather than offering the SAME book over and over.

Choice is good!

So if you’d like a chance to win, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Monday where you’ll get another chance to win a book - regardless if you have won a book previously!

(If you’re feeling pouty about the ten titles per person limit, why not get a friend to come and comment as well? The more, the merrier.)

The word this week is:

Brother

I Say: Brother by James Fredericks

You Say…

I have probably mentioned this before, but I am a tour coordinator for a virtual book tour company – Pump Up. Because of this and the nature of the business, the topic on people’s lips most often is reviewers.

Where are they? Where do you find more? Who are good reviewers instead of people who just like to trash books? Who will read ebooks? Who won’t?

All those questions and more routinely make their way through our staff group. While virtual tours can be made up of only guest posts or only author interviews, there is no doubt that a lot of good reviews on the internet will help you in your endeavour to sell more books.

One topic in particular has been in discussions both in the staff group and in another blogging authors group I am part of:

Paid reviews

Most reviewers out there are grateful for a copy of the book (hard copy more than ebook) in exchange for a review posted on their site. Bookmarks and other extras are always welcome, of course, along with extra copies available for giveaway, but most of the reviewers I work with would never think of charging authors for a book review.

Yet it still happens.

A lot of people I have talked to think charging for reviews skews the entire process. If you’re paying for a review, you expect it to be positive, correct? So how can you trust the reviews on a site that charges?

That’s the general line of thinking, anyway.

Then there is a company I know of that charges people (way too much, in my opinion) to become a part of their reviewing team, just to make sure they don’t get people who sign up to review and then ‘run’.

Do you think charging for book reviews is unethical? On the other hand, would you pay to become a reviewer for a publishing company?

In Bad Dreams [Horror Anthology]
Volume One: Where Real Life Awaits
Edited by Mark S. Deniz and Sharyn Lilley
http://www.eneitpress.com/

About the Book:

A contemporary horror anthology where death shows its many faces: subtle, sublime and pointlessly cruel. In a place you could walk past any day of the week, with people who could live next door, this is where death can reach you in any season and become, in truth, the worst dream of all.

The Long Version:

I reviewed the first short story of this book a (long) while back, so if you would like to read it, click here.

Strange though it may be, horror is one of the first genres I started reading when I was a child. The thought of the unknown, things beyond our knowledge and understanding, always lured me back to anything and everything associated with horror.

From stories that make you sit back in stunned (and sometimes confused) silence to stories that make you shudder with horror, In Bad Dreams includes many different types of things that scare us all while keeping to a fairly contemporary time.

(You could argue some stories are more contemporary than others, but they all have a feel of ‘could be happening somewhere in the world right now.)

Shock of all shocks, I don’t have any nitpicks on this one. I think the stories are beautifully arranged and the editors are to be credited for putting out such a superb anthology of horror.

The Short Version:

In Bad Dreams is an excellent collection of many types of horror – the ‘why did it happen’ to the outright scary – that is sure to please any horror fan. I recommend it.

I am running so late on this one and on my other blogs as well. Ack. I hate running behind.

“Which do you prefer? (Quick answers–we’ll do more detail at some later date)

(Yes, I know, some of these we’ve touched on before, and some of these we might address in-depth in the future, but for today–just quick answers!)”

* Reading something frivolous? Or something serious? It depends on my mood, really. I think that I read more serious stuff overall, but there are times I *need* some lighter reading.

* Paperbacks? Or hardcovers? Paperbacks.

* Fiction? Or Nonfiction? Hrm. I read more fiction than non-fiction, but I do enjoy non-fic.

* Poetry? Or Prose? Prose.

* Biographies? Or Autobiographies? Autobiographies by a small margin. The only true expert on someone’s life is the person who lived it.

* History? Or Historical Fiction? History! I like historical fiction, but I have always loved history.

* Series? Or Stand-alones? Either. The only thing that is annoying about a series is having to wait so long for the next one.

* Classics? Or best-sellers? Neither?

* Lurid, fruity prose? Or straight-forward, basic prose? Fruity prose is annoying, though I will tolerate it to a certain level.

* Plots? Or Stream-of-Consciousness? Plots, thanks.

* Long books? Or Short? Doesn’t matter as long as it is a good story.

* Illustrated? Or Non-illustrated? I guess it doesn’t matter, though I rarely read books that have pictures.

* Borrowed? Or Owned? If I love it, I’ll pay for it. But I’d rather borrow it first.

* New? Or Used? I love getting new books, but if previous owners have been kind, there is no reason not to go used.

How I Came To Writing

When I was in the eighth grade our history studies focused on how colonists came from England to settle in Canada. It was mentioned that some immigrants came as indentured servants, working on farms for several years to pay off their passage; and it was pointed out that some of these indentured servants were the same age as we were in the eighth grade. Our assignment was to imagine that we were indentured children newly arrived in the Canadian colonies, and to write a letter to our families left behind in England.

It was assumed we would write about clearing the land, planting crops, building farm houses and everything else from our history lessons.

When I began the assignment, the first words I wrote were: “Dear Mother and Father, it is with great regret that I write to tell you that my sister, your daughter, died of typhus on the ship to Canada.”

I went on to express remorse over not sharing food with her and to describe the loneliness of the dark winter nights without her.

Later in the day, when the teacher was reading the assignments, something happened without expectation or warning.

The teacher took me and my assignment to the principal’s office.

The principal demanded to know what was wrong with me.

It was generally accepted in the eighth grade that the ultimate calamity was to be dragged to the principal’s office. And worse than that was to be asked by the principal to explain yourself when you had no explanation.

As I sat between the principal and my teacher, and resigned myself to the misery of their demands and derision, it occurred to me that I was the only one in my class who had caused so much trouble with something I written … and maybe I had something that the others didn’t have.

***
F. W. vom Scheidt is a director of an international investment firm. He works and travels in the world’s capital markets, and makes his home in Toronto, Canada. He is also the author of a new book, Coming for Money (Blue Butterfly Book Publishing), a remarkable and provocative novel about the world of international finance and the human quests for success, understanding and love. You can find out more about his book at http://www.bluebutterflybooks.ca/titles/money.html.

This week I have been looking at all the sites I write for. I am wondering if I need to step back from a couple of them and/or change the focus.

I don’t like it when I get restless like this, but it happens every so often. I look at everything I’m doing and begin to examine if it’s getting me to where I want to be…

Remember to play the Monday game for your chance to win a book of your choice and bookmark.

Newly Arrived:
Writing as a Sacred Path - Jill Jepson

Reading:
The Daughters of Moab - Kim Westwood
Scattered Leaves – Richard Roach
Song of Sorcery – Elizabeth Scarborough
Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul by Kathy Balland

Going to Read:
Arrows of Time by Kim Falconer
Saffron Dreams – Shaila Abdullah
The Vision – C.L. Talmage
Fallout – C.L. Talmage
The Scorpions Strike – C.L. Talmage
Kissing Games of the World – Sandi Kahn Shelton
Supernatural – Graham Hancock
Neutron Star – Short story collection – Larry Niven
Firebirds – Fantasy/Sci-fi Anthology – Edited by Sharyn November
The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
The Redemption of Althalus – David and Leigh Eddings
The Serpent Bride – Sara Douglass
The Twisted Citadel – Sara Douglass
Season of Sacrifice – Tristi Pinkston
Copper Star – Suzanne Woods Fisher
Copper Fire – Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Lost Diary of Don Juan – Douglas Carlton Abrams

Upcoming Reviews:
Mr. JM Review: Undone – Karin Slaughter
In Bad Dreams – Horror Anthology – Edited by Mark Deniz and Sharyn Lilley

So what’s on your list?

Welcome to this week’s A Book By Any Other Name!

The game works like this: Each week I will choose a word and offer a few titles that I’ve come up with containing that word in the title. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles.) I would also like the author, but that is just so I can find the book if I want to read it.

The current challenge: I challenge you all to reach 31 titles containing the weekly word by midnight Friday, (with no more than 10 titles commented per person and not including *my* title in the total.)

My forfeit? If you make it to 31 titles, I will draw a name from the participants and that person will win a copy of any one of the books on this page along with a bookmark (or two!). I’ve decided this is a much better way of doing things rather than offering the SAME book over and over.

Choice is good!

So if you’d like a chance to win, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Monday where you’ll get another chance to win a book - regardless if you have won a book previously!

(If you’re feeling pouty about the ten titles per person limit, why not get a friend to come and comment as well? The more, the merrier.)

The word this week is:

First

I Say: First by Kim Pritekel

You Say…

Another Sunday, another rambling from yours truly…

For a while now, I have been thinking about putting a rating system into effect for the reviews I do here, but I have never had the time to really think about it. And so I have just been putting up reviews with no ratings. I have tried to switch up the way I do reviews just to make them sound/look a bit more interesting.

But still no rating system.

I’ve been looking at other reviewer’s blogs (mostly for work - have I mentioned that I’m a virtual book tour coordinator? Let me know if you want to review books!) and rating systems come and go. I haven’t seen enough to call it some kind of trend or ‘the’ way to do it.

Even so, I’m wondering if people find them helpful. If they do, I want to start incorporating some sort of system here.

Personally, I don’t go much on rating systems. If a reviewer truly loved a book, then the enthusiasm shows through their words. I don’t need a five out of five stars to know when someone has been so inspired/consumed by a wonderful book.

On the other hand, though, some people are more comfortable with rating things poorly than actually verbalizing that they really didn’t like a certain book. A moderate review can be tagged with a one out of five stars to show what the reviewer might not be saying…

As you can tell, I’m really on the fence about this. What do you think? Ratings? No ratings? Don’t give a flying kangaroo about what I do with my reviews?

C. L. Talmadge has a 3 part series called Green Stone of Healing – The Vision is the first book in the series.

From the back cover blurb…

Green Stone of Healing® series is epic fantasy packed with romance and intrigue that chronicles how State backing for exclusionary religious practices leads to the complete destructionof a mighty island nation called Azgard.

The Vision launches a multi-generational tale with Lt. Helen Andros, an opinionated, tough-minded military physician who is also vulnerable, an illegitimate orphan in a nation divided by race and rank.

That might be so but it’s also a good read. The ‘chronicling’ mentioned is presented almost imperceptibly as the story unfolds, and it’s a hard book to put down. Helen Andros’ plight is complex and detailed and explained through a series of adventures that seems at times to have headlong pace.

One improvement is needed I feel – the complexity of the royal and other relationships in the book make it very hard to follow who’s up whom and why they do it. It needs a preface detailing the families and sides – which are Turanians and which are Toltecs, and also where the titles are duplicated.

Trying to sort out the structure of the land in which Helen faces her trails is difficult when in one paragraph someone is Lord Nimrod and later he’s Lord Avalon or Duke of Avalon. These confusions make the story hard to read.

Of course, when I got to the end of the book, there was the Glossary which gave a lot of this information, but I needed it at the start. I don’t often go straight to the back of a fiction book – too much chance of seeing the ending and spoiling the story.

The Vision starts in gripping fashion, with an old lady talking to some kind of wraith-like being about the past of an Empire now gone. Interestingly she is apparently speaking from the depths of the ocean. Lady Mary Atlas tells us the story of how Azgard, mightiest nation of Earth, came to an end.

We do not learn how she came to be in her plight. We do not learn how Azgard died in The Vision, nor do we get more than the beginnings of the machinations of politics that have apparently brought down the mighty houses of the land.

What we do get is a fast paced story of a figure who starts outside of both races in Azgard, caught up unknowingly, by birth, in a struggle that is going to lead to a disaster on unprecedented scale. In the mix we have veiled references to mysteries of our past, not least of which is the Toltec race, one of which we know little but which we think might have been ancestral to the great nations of South America.

Thrown in are hints of Atlantis, some references to times in Egypt (called Khemyt, the pre-Greek name for Egypt) and small dabbles in the realm of the spirit, with references to healing power, astral travel and other psi abilities.

I don’t normally read fantasy (although that has changed somewhat since I married a fantasy enthusiast) and once again I have read a book that is obviously planned as one of several, something which annoys me a little, particularly when the book isn’t a complete story but relies on you getting the next book to finish what should have been in the book.

In this case however, at least most of the loose ends were brought together. Helen Andross has been given a past and the main characters outlined, even if the ongoing pursuit of Lord James has been left hanging.

It also helps that my wife has books 2 and 3 on the shelf – which I WILL be reading. The Vision is an enjoyable book, written to enthral even if confusing as to rank and relationship.

Follow-up to last week’s question:

Do you keep all your unread books together, like books in a waiting room? Or are they scattered throughout your shelves, mingling like party-goers waiting for the host to come along?

When things around me are disorganized, I tend to start getting a little bit cranky. You wouldn’t know it looking at my desk right now, but there is an organization to the various piles.

That’s why I have TBR shelf. It’s within arm’s reach right now, actually.

Since I started reviewing books, they quickly piled up to the point I needed a shelf. I had several books that I hadn’t read yet shipped over from the States as well as review books I’d been offered. I ended up saving money to buy a shelf so I could move them all to one area.

Another shelf, about a forty-five degree left turn of my head out of view, is where I transfer the books after I have read them once and have yet to pack them.

That is, anyway, if I intend to keep them.

If I have read a book and either not enjoyed it or enjoyed it enough to want to share it, the book goes to the bottom of my TBR shelf. That is where I store the books that are on this list and the books I intend to ‘release’ for BookCrossing.

Lots and lots of fun.

So, if you ever come to my place, no matter how messy it looks you know that I really am organized.

Hehe.

When it comes to managing your weight, it is important to go beyond what you see on the outside. Although it is easy to see the physical aspect of your body, it is what’s on the inside that truly matters. To discover the mind-body connection, is to find the answer to permanent weight management.

When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, ultimately it’s not just about the food. In fact, if you focus on food and tell yourself not to eat, your subconscious mind (which is where your habits and emotions are) will take over and you will eat anyway. Especially if you keep re-affirming to yourself that you must stop eating. You see, the subconscious mind does not respond to negative thoughts.

If you tell yourself that you want to lose weight, your subconscious will not respond because the mind does not want to be a “loser”. In the same way, if you say that you want to “quit” smoking, your mind will respond to that with the attitude: “I’m no quitter”. So you must think and feel positive if you want results. A more positive thought is to “release” the weight (and any negative emotions such as anger and loneliness which can lead to over-eating.) Using a guided meditation (or visualization) can help you to relax, re-connect and feel more positive.

To get to the root cause of why you are over-eating, and then resolving that issue, is what stops the vicious cycle of dieting. After all, diet is a four letter word, and deprivation never works. If you deprive yourself, then you can end up binge-eating, or yo-yo dieting, which is harder on your health than simply being overweight.

If there are particular times during the day when you over-indulge in food, they you can ask yourself: How do I feel? Am I feeling lonely and comforting myself with food? Do I feel tired and I am simply trying to get energy from food (possibly sweets)? To stop and think, and understand why you are eating, can help you to get to the true meaning of the weight imbalance. When the root cause is found, another alternative can be used besides eating.

Should you enjoy eating the foods that you love? Yes, you should. Part of enjoying life is enjoying your food. But in addition to your love of food, must be the love of yourself (with the help of positive thoughts and emotions). So rather than focusing on the external issue of weight, you must take care of yourself on the inside, and the outside will take care of itself.

***

Kathy Balland is the author of: Lose the Diet – Transform your body by connection with your soul. For a FREE half hour guided meditation audio to help you relax and reconnect, sign up at: www.LoseTheDiet.com. The book trailer is: www.DietFreeMovie.com. Follow Kathy on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/LosetheDiet

Yet again this week, my husband has provided my inspiration for the post title. I’ve been talking a lot about work lately to him because I’m feeling absolutely swamped and have felt so for about the past fortnight

Remember to play the Monday game for your chance to win a book of your choice and bookmark.

Newly Arrived:
…

Reading:
The Daughters of Moab - Kim Westwood
Scattered Leaves – Richard Roach
Song of Sorcery – Elizabeth Scarborough
Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul by Kathy Balland

Going to Read:
Arrows of Time by Kim Falconer
Saffron Dreams – Shaila Abdullah
The Vision – C.L. Talmage
Fallout – C.L. Talmage
The Scorpions Strike – C.L. Talmage
Kissing Games of the World – Sandi Kahn Shelton
Supernatural – Graham Hancock
Neutron Star – Short story collection – Larry Niven
Firebirds – Fantasy/Sci-fi Anthology – Edited by Sharyn November
The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
The Redemption of Althalus – David and Leigh Eddings
The Serpent Bride – Sara Douglass
The Twisted Citadel – Sara Douglass
Season of Sacrifice – Tristi Pinkston
Copper Star – Suzanne Woods Fisher
Copper Fire – Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Lost Diary of Don Juan – Douglas Carlton Abrams

Upcoming Reviews:
Mr. JM Review: The Vision – C.L. Talmage
In Bad Dreams – Horror Anthology – Edited by Mark Deniz and Sharyn Lilley

So what’s on your list?