Quantum Wellness

Quantum Wellness: A Transformative Guide to Health, Happiness and a Better World by Kathy Freston

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'd give this book three and a half or even four stars for readers who are just starting out on their journeys to health. It meshes well with what I've learned about meditation and with what other Oprah guests have said (people like Eckhart Tolle, Dr Oz, Louise Hay, Deepak Chopra, and so on): live mindfully and increase your awareness to what is happening within and without, "leaning into wellness." I greatly appreciate how Kathy Freston breaks healing down into "The Eight Pillars of Wellness"--meditation, visualization, fun activities, conscious eating, exercise, self-work, spiritual practice, and service--and then further breaks those down into activities to try. She encourages readers to make conscious choices to be healthier in body, mind, spirit, environment, community, and the world.

The part I resisted the most was in the chapters on food. I already eat a very healthy diet, so that wasn't a problem. However, Kathy is very passionate about being vegan, and I am really not there yet. It didn't help to be reading this section while eating my lunch which included chunks of chicken. I completely agree that the appalling conditions under which most food animals are raised are unacceptable and must be stopped already! But I KNOW where most of my eggs come from, and those chickens are quite pampered, so I have no plans to turn vegan just yet. Lean into vegetarianism, maybe, but not veganism. Besides, quite a few of the meal plans & recipes she includes in the appendix are foods/ingredients I can't eat because they contain gluten. (And some because I just don't like them and/or they are impractical to prepare in my circumstances.)

Overall, though, I enjoyed the book and do recommend it.


View all my reviews.

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent romance novel! Entertaining, a good story, and part of a series. I'm not sure how I missed the first book in the series (The Lost Duke of Wyndham), but all through this one, I kept thinking, "She must be planning another book featuring Grace Eversleigh because it seems like there's a whole 'nother story here." Turns out, yes, Julia Quinn wrote Grace's story first! (Both novels are about a dispossessed duke.) And since Amelia Willoughby has four sisters, it looks like Ms. Quinn should be able to get at least four more books out of this series. Hooray!


View all my reviews.

The Diamond of Drury Lane

The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun, fast-paced read. Just a delightful book with a spunky heroine. There's even a glossary in the back to help teens understand some of the British slang circa 1790. What little swearing there is, is mostly archaic (i.e. "...you old fogrum!"), and there isn't any sexual content, so it's "safe" for tweens and teens to read. The narrator/heroine is about 10 years old, and most of the other main characters are her age up through about late teens or so. Julia Golding brings the streets and alleyways of London to life, so I'm glad this is apparently the first book in a new series.


View all my reviews.

Why Don't You Understand?

Why Don't You Understand?: Improve Family Communication with the Four Thinking Styles by Susie Leonard Weller

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's going to take a few more read-throughs and a lot of practice to master the habits and techniques Susie teaches in this book, but I think the effort will really pay off in the end.

Before I went to the conference session Susie led last month on Whole-Brain thinking, I would have described myself as a "left-brained" thinker, with a preference for the logical, linear types of thought-processes. Then I went through her exercises and discovered that actually I am split about 60/40 between quadrant "B" (Practical) and quadrant "C" (Relational), with only a tiny bit of preference for "A" (Logical), and no preference at all for quadrant "D" (Creative--this part was no surprise at all). Research shows that it takes 100% MORE energy for the brain to function in the quadrant diagonally opposite to a person's personal preference, but practicing can make it easier to do. This explains why being creative is possible but so exhausting for me! :}

Given my aforementioned preference for practicality, what I loved most about this book were the examples of dialogue & real-life applications/situations. What I wished there were more of...were yet more examples. :) But I think what is of the most value is the chance to think about and respect other people's ways of thinking and points of view. Ideally, both parents (or any adults in any situation) can learn to calm down, slow down, and make better decisions that work for everyone involved. Like, for example, adapting bedtime so that the practical-thinking child has a routine, the creative child gets to pick a transportation method (i.e. piggyback or magic carpet ride), the logical child understands why the rules exist, and the relational child gets the snuggle time s/he craves.

I highly recommend this book to all adults, but especially those who have kids with opposite thinking styles.


View all my reviews.

The Hard Questions

The Hard Questions: 100 Essential Questions to Ask Before You Say "I Do" by Susan Piver

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'd give this book 3 1/2 stars, actually. Perhaps 4 down the line when I have a chance to actually use the questions as jumping-off points for discussion with my boyfriend.

I liked the introduction and how thorough it was. I liked that it's a tiny book and didn't take long to read. I liked that the author introduces each chapter and then gives the questions, allowing plenty of room for discussion because she explains that the book is intended to be used over a period of days or months and not in one sitting.

It seems to be similar to a book my friend N. recommended to me, except that one had something like 1001 questions in it. Obviously 10 times the number of questions to answer probably covers more ground and more thoroughly, but perhaps the benefit of The Hard Questions is that you're more likely to discuss them all? At any rate, I love the idea of discussing important questions with your partner in a safe environment with the goal of understanding and evaluating underlying assumptions, beliefs, values, and goals.


View all my reviews.

In Mozart's Shadow: His Sister's Story

In Mozart's Shadow: His Sister's Story by Carolyn Meyer

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars

I cannot believe I read the whole thing. It felt more like a recitation than a novel. I'd had high hopes for it, and I was interested in the subject matter (the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's older sister Nannerl), but...it was pretty boring. Flat. The most interesting part was when she was about 28 or 29 and fell in love with an older man whom her father refused to let her marry. Yes--her father was a wretchedly domineering man and totally wrong about, well, most everything. In fact, her father was an excellent example of how NOT to parent, although he at least did love her & her brother. The most interesting thing about the book was actually not IN the book but in my head as I pondered the effect--for good or for ill--bad parenting had on Mozart's legacy of music.

I spent most of this book praying that Nannerl would rebel against her father. Didn't happen, of course. She pleaded with him a few times--about being allowed to train in Italy as a musician (she was an outstanding pianist), about being allowed to travel with him & "Wolferl," and about being allowed to marry Armand d'Ippold, etc., but she never defied him. Mozart did rebel and was eventually allowed to marry the woman he chose. But no one else ever defied Leopold Mozart or bothered telling him the truth. Not that he would listen anyway. I wonder if he was truly this autocratic in real life, or if it's just Carolyn Meyer's vision of him?

This book is categorized as YA fiction, but I'm not certain many teenagers would like it. It wouldn't be among my top recommendations, at any rate. Not enough dialogue, character development, or even plot. I'm sure the chronology was pretty accurate, but the 30 or so years of Nannerl's life that it covers are almost entirely depressing.


View all my reviews.