Life We Can All Relate To . . . Boyko has the voice to express
919315
Boyko has expressed in so few words what many of us may have experienced in our lives. Something everyone can and should relate to in one way or another . . . a mother who shows no or little love, sibling rivalry, father who is distant and seemingly uncaring, who at times we may feel that we even have a dislike for, but upon reaching the age of maturity, we come to realize that we do have compassion for others, no matter what our past life experiences may have been.

Boyko's smooth, sincere writing will capture from the very first paragraph, and make you reflect back on YOUR experiences, and how they have affected your future . . . which road will you take?

Being in a rather morose frame of mind when I read this, Boyko shows hope and inspiration to all who read his story, and proves that success is not solely based on 'material' things, but on what lies inside your heart, and that you must follow your heart despite what your obstacles are.

Thank you Boyko for an inspirational book that everyone should read. It is outstanding!
262256
It doesn't matter what you think about Kevin Sorbo or his acting career. When you pick up this book, discard all you think you know. This is a memoir of a human being who dealt with some traumatic events in his life...and just so happens to have played Hercules on TV. The honesty in which Kevin talks about all the events that occurred during the past almost 20 years is both remarkable and brave. Shortly into it, you will feel a connection to Kevin and the voice will be one of a friend rather than a TV star.

His journey is one that many of us can relate to and his recovery is both heart-wrenching and uplifting. One might even say herculean.

When you finish this book, you will have an entirely different perspective on Kevin Sorbo, and maybe even about yourself.
4173775
I've only listened to this album for a few days now, but it didn't take long to realize how good it is.  The music is good, the vocals are good, but where Gaines stands out is in his songwriting and lyrics.  He is a master lyricist!  As a person who pays particular attention to the lyrics of a song - how well the words capture life's emotions, feelings, events - I really appreciate this album and Gaines' obvious capabilities.

I really believe the stories his songs tell are universal.  Just about anyone anywhere could relate in some way to what he has to say, whether about love (in love or broken love), society and social issues, or self.

So, while I'd heard of Gaines before, and I understand he has contributed lyrics to some fine artists in the music world, I am very glad I took the time to heed a dear friends advice and give this album a listen.  Many thanks...

"...Your smiling face in a photograph, Remember how I made you laugh..."
4473000
The words of this song are true and meaningful.  I can relate to this song and Awesome.
696448
Where do I even begin with Landline?  The story is a bit hard to describe, as I have found out in the past few days of trying to get the word out about this book, but I think Ive got it: during one pivotal point in their marriage, Georgie gets the opportunity to talk to her husband in 1998, at another pivotal time in their pre-marriage relationship.  With honesty, humor and a generous dose of 1990s nostalgia, Landline filled in all of my empty spaces and desires where books are concerned. The dialogue, as in all of Rainbow Rowells books, was sublime.  It made me laugh and then it made me clutch my heart with its poignancy.  I loved every character in it, and I loved that we get to meet people in two time lines, simultaneously.  I will admit that this book spoke to me, personally. Rainbow Rowell captured so perfectly, so painfully, the way that your relationship morphs and changes through kids, jobs, and all of the little sacrifices you make in life.  Of course, at the center of this is Georgie, who is flawed and immensely relatable, with her intense desire to write and reach this career goal thats really a life goal, while feeling the sting being a working parent.  I am so glad that we got to know Neal in 1998 because I think it made me love him more in 2013, to be honest.

As I was thinking about the story, it occurred to me that this book could have easily turned into another story about a working woman who is trying to have it all.  Not that it isn't an important issue, but Landline kind of transcended that in a refreshing way.  Rather, it was truly about a relationship and a marriage. I know that sounds like an odd comment to make, but it could have just as easily been Neal staying home because of his job while Georgie took the kids to Omaha.  Im not saying that the author was trying to make some big statement by making it more gender role neutral, but it occurred to me that its rare to have a book about marriage that doesnt seem to draw lines back to roles as men and women or rely on that conflict for its plot.  It wasn't a commentary on the working mom issue, although I could relate to some of those struggles, it seemed to me to be about Georgie and Neals relationship and the choices they made between family, career, marriage, kids.  Its universally tough, gender aside.  Landline was everything I thought it would be.  It was a plot that pulled every emotional string I had and still managed to set me down gently at the end, knowing that happy doesnt always mean perfect, even for couples in books.
63465
As I sit here and listen to Devin as I type I realize that there is no shame in the life he leads. I believe everyone should take into consideration the things he say on this album. For example "YOU ONLY  GET ONE TICKET, MIGHT AS WELL ENJOY THE RIDE AND DO WHAT THE ____ YOU WANNA  DO"  In my opinion, the man is just REAL with what he says. MY  lifestyle can relate to Devin's because we both live that "HIGH  LIFE".....and no matter how old it gets, Devin/The Dude is an album I  can always roll out on!!!
3724247
I was fortunate to get my hands on an advanced copy of Fire Shut Up In My Bones by New York Times Op-Ed columnist Charles M. Blow. From the very first sentences of Charles Blows memoir, I was captivated. So much difference between our lives and, yet, so much sameness. His story telling perfectly exemplifies the connection Maya Angelou spoke of when she said, I am human, therefore, nothing human can be alien to me. However, the ability to capture the depth of this connection is a gift that few writers have actually given me. I feel like he pulled thoughts right out of my head and channeled them through his fingers and onto his keyboard.

Charless memoir can be succinctly described an account of growing up in the South, but as a person from such a very distinct geography from The South as Southern California, I don't think that captures the connections, the bridges of human experience that his story provides. As a Chicana (Mexican-American woman) who grew up in poverty in Southern California, my experiences resonate with those of a Black man who grew up in poverty in Louisiana. And that is the mark of truly breadth-reaching and breath-taking writing.

When he speaks of growing up in the South, there is little of that physical location that I can relate to, but his descriptions of his surroundings bring me there. My senses captured sights and sounds through his wordsfrom descriptions of the landscape that I could see in my minds eye to the packed earth that I could smell, feel, and taste with the keen appreciation that children possess.

It was the emotion palpitating from each sentence that carried me lyrically from one to the next. Many passages sang out so beautifully that I read them over and over, like I was playing my favorite song. I savored each word and lingered on each one.

His memoir also speaks of pain with an incredible bravery. Those of who are survivors of childhood abuse will feel a strong connection.  The anger, pain, and healing are all palpable.

He describes the complexity of psychological, social and emotional formation from childhood into adulthood with a clarity that is intensely relatable. I found myself thinking a number of times, I was like that as a kid or I did that when I was a kid.

And when I read about the kittenswell, my heart filled with a warmth of knowing, I knew thats what hed do. Ill leave it at that 

Not only will you know about Charles life and character after reading his memoir, but you may very well know yourself more profoundly as well. Its writing that emanates from the soul and made my heart both ache and sing. Thats what great writing doesleaves us mesmerized, fulfilled, and yet, contradictorily wanting more, and, in the end, we don't quite know exactly how all of that was accomplished.
2122737
The music draws you in, while the lyrics connect with an inner part of you. And his voice soothes and calms...
2176978
I like how it conversationally reads and depicts the raw realities of youth growing up in the suburbs.  I like how Stevo is the main focus and even though his struggles of loneliness and emptiness are very much the same struggles of his male comrades, girls, Roman and his parents to some degree, the focus on Stevo creates this greater feeling of the separation he feels from everyone.  I think the simple yet profound sentence, "YOU ARE HERE", articulates Stevo's subconscious centering him to the reality that he really IS present and is aware of what's going on around him and in his interactions, despite his outward behavior and despite what others, such as the therapist, tell him.  Cupertino is a good read and definitely portrays the harsh realities of youth struggles - universal, yet specific in terms of the economic class, culture and city.  A stark contrast to the Apple HQ life happening next door.
491557
In BOY TOY, author Barry Lyga takes readers on an incredible journey into a world that, for some, like main character Josh Mendel, is all too real.  Josh's life was changed at age twelve when his teacher took the role of educator far beyond the limits of acceptable behavior.  Lyga's story does not cut corners or mince words.  He is straightforward and direct in telling Josh's story.  His graphic descriptions may have earned him criticism, but they have also made his story a powerful one.

Josh Mendel loves baseball.  He is a wiz at math.  His best friend, Zik, seems to be the one with the rocky home life and all the problems, but not for long.

Mrs. Evelyn Sherman is the new history teacher recently transferred from the local high school to the middle school.  She is drop-dead gorgeous.  All the boys probably find it a bit embarrassing to stand up and leave the classroom some days.  Josh certainly does.

Josh's involvement with Mrs. Sherman begins when she praises his writing and asks him to help her with a project for her graduate class.  Honored and excited, Josh is eager to help.  Problems at home make staying after school, and later actually going home with Mrs. Sherman, a convenience for Josh and his parents.  He begins spending more and more time with her even after her project is complete.

At first, being in Mrs. Sherman's apartment everyday after school is exciting, because Josh gets to play unlimited video games, drink Coke, and hang out with an attentive, beautiful woman.  His time in the apartment becomes even more fascinating when Mrs. Sherman begins inviting him to help her cook dinner and sip wine with her.  Then kisses begin - tentative and then passionate.  The passion moves from petting to full-on sexual experimentation.

Josh is addicted.  There are feelings of guilt, but those feelings are outweighed by the incredible physical pleasure Mrs. Sherman offers.  Life is spiraling out of control.

The world comes crashing down when Josh finds himself playing spin the bottle with Rachel.  He and Rachel have been friends on the baseball field for as long as he can remember, but when Josh's newfound experience turns the innocent teenage game too sexually explicit, Rachel runs screaming to her parents.  The "game" is over, and Josh's secret is about to come out in the open.

BOY TOY is not a short romp between the sheets.  In fact, it has raised many eyebrows in the world of YA literature. Readers will see exactly what went on with Mrs. Sherman, but they will also see deeply into the world of a young man trying to continue with life, make amends to his friends, and make plans for his future.  It has a strong, powerful story to tell, and it tells that story well.

Reviewed by:  Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"
4445937
This is one beautiful memoir, standing tall above the multitudes which dwell on self-pity or obsessive self-interest. Angelou tells of her life in such a lyrical, affirming way that she speaks to the potential humanity in everybody. Her survival, despite tough challenges, is really about the survival of anybody who has had an inner self yearning to cry out, "I matter!"
  This book is about feeling and healing the emotional wounds of racism, to be sure.  But it is also about transcending that pain, drawing from it deeper levels of meaning about being truly human and truly alive. Or, as Angelou recalls her mother saying abuot the perversity of life, "in the struggle lies the joy."
  One enjoyable feature of this book is that many of the chapters "stand alone" as self-contained stories in their own right.  There is a recollection of a night listening to Joe Louis squaring off with a white contender, with blacks feeling the hopes of their people alternatively sinking and rising with punches taken and punches delivered.  In another chapter, Angelou vividly outlines a child's on-target perception of a religious revival as nothing more than a vehicle for adult retribution fantasies.  Sometimes, chapters focus on simple yet eternal truths, like the one which tells of the insidioius pull which a ghost story can have on a child's imagination. Even so, the sum is greater than the total of the parts, as each recollection somehow moves the ongoing journey of self-discovery along.
  Angelou also abounds with delightful metaphors, introducing such expressions as "harmony packed tight as sardines," and giggles that "hung in the air like melting clouds." Anyone who simply enjoys the creative ways in which words can take us back to the unvarnished center of human experience will find much to admire here.
  Having read this first installment of a multi-part autobiography, the reader will look forward to reading the subsequent works.  Angelou is telling her story in the best way possible -- how she liberated that part of her self that speaks and breathes and lives for ALL of us.  What a great poet she is!  May her words continue to  inspire and affirm for a long, long time.
456110
Barb Techel writes and blogs and gives speaking presentations about her dear little dachsie, Frankie, the Walk 'n Roll Dog. Well, Barb's gone and done it again, folks! Her new book is titled Frankie the Walk 'n Roll Therapy Dog Visits Libby's House.

The story is appropriate, entertaining and educational for all ages. It's difficult to communicate how lavishly it's illustrated with unique and charming renderings from Victoria Kay Lieffring. These pictures capture in stylized detail the range of emotions Barb writes about as the residents of Libby's Place discover, enjoy and finally, love Frankie.

The one of Daniel staring into the eyes of a rapt Frankie on page 30 is just perfect: sweet and the absolute embodiment of a clear conduit of bonding between members of separate species who nevertheless have discovered that matchless common ground of shared experience. And that's what this touching book is about, that which makes us all fellow travelers on this earthly plane: our shared vulnerability, and the reality that when all else is stripped away, all we have is each other and the comfort we can humbly share.

I challenge anyone to read this book and come away with dry eyes and without a smile of recognition. And it's that juxtaposition of the sometimes difficult realities of life with the always hopeful knowledge that each of us brings something of value to the world that we can share with each other that makes this little story something that will stay with you long after you've closed the cover.

I urge you to get a copy of Frankie Visits Libby's House for yourself, and consider it as a rich but affordable gift for those you care about. Kids will understand the straightforward lesson that therapy animals can reach older folks whose worlds may have contracted from their previous horizons. Teens and young adults will see a potential opportunity for public and personal service beyond their daily worlds. Adults will appreciate the many subtle messages of hope and inspiration.

There's no one who can't find an important and hopeful message in this true story, handled with such respect and grace by Barb Techel. Personally, I found it the perfect antidote to the insincerity and cynicism of so much of today's mainstream "entertainment" in the form of so-called "reality shows."

Refreshingly, "Libby's House" shows us a world where people still care for each other and try to soothe hurts instead of exploiting them; where humans can count among their proudest moments those they spend reaching out with love to creatures of other species; and where we can all recognize that those gifts can and do come full circle back to us from small, brown doggies on wheels, with big, floppy velvet ears and eyes that glow with the deepest understanding and concern for every living thing.
4079764
Having enjoyed Hornby's more recent novels, HOW TO BE GOOD and A LONG WAY DOWN, I thought I'd start reading his earlier novels. Hornby has a gift for taking on big existential themes like despair and suicide and presenting them with a gentle but incisive humor that doesn't trivialize them. And he peoples his stories with a heterogenous mix of characters who seem determined to misunderstand one another but who eventually make their compromises with life without too much loss of dignity and who discover something greater than romantic love or sex--a deep sense of community, a profound and inclusive sense of rootedness in a shaky and transient world.

ABOUT A BOY centers on the relationship between a young boy, Marcus, and an unattached, cool bachelor, Will, who has joined the boy's mother's support group SPAT (Single Parents-Alone Together) as a way to meet grateful but unclingy women. It is clear from the start that Hornby could have named this novel ABOUT TWO BOYS and the novel has much to say about what it means for boys and perennial bachelors to grow up. It has much to do with taking risks, opening oneself up to other people (even to those you want nothing from), honoring real losses, and taking life on life's terms. As the wise child Marcus observes, two is not enough. He believes in "human pyramids." "I feel better and safer than before," he tells his late-to-the-game real father, "I was really scared because I didn't think two was enough, and now there aren't two anymore. There are loads. And you're better off that way."

A word to those who saw the movie: The book is really worth reading, so don't dismiss it if you didn't like the movie. Although I can't imagine anyone but Hugh Grant delivering Will's lines (and all of the casting was excellent), the book does NOT end with a corny middle-school talent show. Hornby uses another event to bring the story to a head and resolve its many little plot lines, one more germane to the themes of the book. All in all, a more thoughtful and satisfying ending.
4365702
Indeed! There is a longing tenderness in Didi Benami's voice that is both intriguing and appealing. This is a bittersweet heartbreak song but neither mushy nor sappy, just right. Juxtaposed with the nostalgic sound are the lyrics confronting a relationship that is in limbo. While the theme may be edgy, the track is easy on the ears, could very well play on repeat or mixed in your favorite playlist. Didi is a star! Her artistry and dedication to her craft is inspiring. It is palpable in this song! 10/10.
408387
In this work the author, Shellie Anderson-Tazi opens her heart and shares with her readers the tragedies that life has  dealt to her.

Losing her baby, being diagnosed with breast cancer, and her husband walking out on her brought Shellie to a point in her life that she either gave in and accepted death and defeat, or fought back and battled for life.

She chose the latter.

In this work, the author  shares  8 steps  she used in turning her situations around. She shares her experiences, her emotions, her victories and her defeats, tucking it  all neatly together  with a gentle dash of faith. In an honest and clear way,  she opens her heart  and walks you through putting these steps into practice in your own life.

All in all a good self-help read. I think you will like this one.

Shirley Johnson
738730
Its possible that my circumstances  being coddled by the woman I loved most in the world  misled me into believing that time could be peeled back.

His father appears at the house of Miss Ona Vitkus who is 104 years old. He is filling in for the Boy Scout duties of his 11 year old son who has passed away. The boys duties to win his badge were simply to help around the house but he was doing so much more. He was making a recording of her life story and she was revealing more than she has ever told anyone. He was helping her to become the oldest person to ever have a drivers license. He was obsessed with world records and helping his new friend to be part of those records had become the obsession of both.  The father, Quinn Porter, is a musician who travels and has not been part of his sons life. Now his time with Ona is his way of making up for what he missed with his son.

Can memory be revisited to allow us to see now what we didn't see then?

The story travels through the past and the present, as we spend time with Ona and the boy and then Ona and Quinn. We meet Belle, the boys mother and explore the broken relationship between the boys father and mother. And we watch the relationships between the survivors grow. Chapters are pieces of the story, time between the boy and Ona, between Quinn and Ona, parts of Onas recordings, and list of the boys favorite world records. But everything in the story revolves around the boy and how his life and death made everyone.

It is rare indeed that I find a novel that is so richly layered, that explores relationships so deeply, and finds so much in the human heart. This is a novel that I treasured reading and that is on my list to reread in the future. I can heartily recommend this story.

This is Miss Ona Viktus. This is her life memories and shards on tape.
2446253
One of the things I love about this whole series - this book included - is how *real* the characters feel to me. I laugh or cry on almost every page; sometimes both. There are times when I'm going through life and I'll recognize that a choice I'm about to make has a similar quality to a choice that Tenzing made, and I gain insight into what kinds of results I might get by going down one path or another. Better yet, these seem to be accurate.

Like Tenzing Norbu, I long mistook my father's fear for anger. Sometimes I still do. In co-parenting an adolescent boy, I've found myself looking for ways to connect from the other side of this equation.

Reading this book as a man, I didn't just learn valuable lessons immediately applicable in my adult life (which I did), nor did I just have a fun quick summer read (it was that too). I could also feel the author's compassion for my own experiences as a boy. Like Tenzing, I long mistook my father's fear for anger (and sometimes I still do). In co-parenting an adolescent boy, I've found myself looking for ways to connect from the other side of the equation.

By the time I was done reading The Broken Rules of Ten, I knew I wanted to share it with this cherished twelve-year-old friend of mine. I asked if we could read it together, and he said yes. I've ordered a copy for him, and I plan to give it to him today. I'm excited to share the book with him, both to create space for connection and to give us fodder for honest conversations about our father-son-like relationship.