Welcome to Issue 58 of the SUPERIOR BOOK PRODUCTIONS newsletter!
I’m happy to announce that I’ve had an article about Marquette’s own Carroll Watson Rankin, author of the classic children’s book Dandelion Cottage (1904), published in the latest issue of Michigan History Magazine. The magazine’s editor saw one of my Marquette blogs about Rankin and approached me to write the article, which I felt was a great honor since it is a statewide publication and I consider Rankin one of my literary ancestors in writing about Upper Michigan. You can get a copy of the magazine at: http://www.hsmichigan.org/store/back-issues/.
Those of you in Upper Michigan might also like to come to the Writers of the Northern Persuasion event at Finlandia University in Hancock, MI this spring. There will be talks in March by authors John Smolens, Sonny Longtine, and UP Poet Laureate Andrea Scarpino, as well as an all author meet-and-greet book fair with over fifteen U.P. authors and presentations about writing and publishing by Gretchen Preston, Stacey Willey of Globe Printing, and myself on April 9. For more information about the event, visit http://www.finlandia.edu/campusread.
This Month’s Great Book Quote:
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
—Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
If you’re tired of reading fantasy romance novels with impossibly handsome hunks and unrealistic heroines, then try something a lot closer to reality. Wouldn’t you rather read about real people with real problems anyway, and learn how they overcome those problems?
Seconde Nimenya’s new novel A Hand to Hold offers just that—a story about characters living real life events in New York City and struggling to find happiness and a little romance in life. The heroine of A Hand to Hold is Adina Springfield, a middle-aged woman who was orphaned as a child in Ethiopia and adopted by an American couple. When the story opens, Adina has been divorced for a couple of years and is struggling to make ends meet as a single mother supporting her three children. When she loses her job, Adina is forced to ask her ex-husband, Charles Kumi, for financial help. Charles and Adina have a difficult past, so the last thing she wants to do is ask him for help, nor does he make things easy for her.
To read more, visit A Hand to Hold.
The Unitive Field is a surprising book. It’s full of color and beautiful pictures, but more importantly, mind-blowing concepts as big as the black holes in some of its images. Fredrick Swaroop Honig’s goal in writing this book is to combine the science of physics with the science of consciousness. Honig achieves that goal with great simplicity in this short 140-page book that will leave you filled with wonder and wanting to read it again to make sure you didn’t miss anything.
The book is organized into twelve primary chapters, each one asking a fundamental question that remains unanswered in the current standard model of physics. Honig then provides insightful answers to these questions. While I’m not a scientist, I found the answers fascinating and life-affirming. I have read books on quantum physics that have made me believe in the scientific basis of such ideas as the Law of Attraction; therefore, this book resonated with my spiritual side and I found that the science in these pages validated many of my own beliefs about life, the Universe, and our reason for being on this planet.
To read more, visit The Unitive Field.
Clark the Mountain Beaver has spent his life living quietly in his burrow. He has been shy and usually only ventures out at night, but one day, he decides he will have an adventure and leave his burrow during the day when most of the other critters are about.
What follows in Karen Shea’s new book Clark the Mountain Beaver and His Big Adventure is page after page of beautiful illustrations as Clark discovers not only what the outside world is all about, but he educates his new friends on just what a mountain beaver is. You see, Clark is constantly being confused with the more popular American Beaver, although he doesn’t have the long tail and is much smaller than his famous namesake, plus he lives underground in a burrow rather than building a lodge.
But despite any identity confusion he experiences on his adventure, Clark discovers that the world is full of fascinating creatures, most of whom are very friendly.
To read more, visit Clark the Mountain Beaver and His Big Adventure.
The Remarkable Man begins with a gripping scene. Author Dwayne Klassen, long before he considers writing a book, is on a sky-train transit system. An elderly Indian couple is seated across from him with their grandchildren. A large, belligerent skinhead enters the train; his body is covered in Nazi racial slurs, his hands are clutching a beer. He sees the Indian man and says:
“Hey, old man, it’s time for you to die,” he snarled. “Me and you are going to have a little fun.” With that, he punched an advertising sign above the man’s turban with such force that the bang startled everyone in the car.
Klassen was left wondering what to do....
To read more, visit The Remarkable Man.
Heightening Your Happiness is a new book by Karen Degen that builds on many positive thinking techniques that have come before it, but it stands out because Karen puts her own spin on how to achieve happiness and she offers practical techniques to make that happen. She teaches her readers, no matter what their situations, how to determine and get rid of the obstacles that are holding them back in life, even if they don’t realize what those obstacles are. Sharing examples from her personal life, from those nagging fears and the mind chatter we all have to her experiences living through a major earthquake in New Zealand, Karen takes readers through a series of practices that will have them finding new joy and meaning in life, and most of all, a renewed sense of happiness.
While I don’t have room to discuss all the great points in this book that Karen makes, for me, her discussion on stress was the most helpful.
To read more, visit Heightening Your Happiness.
