Reviews

Confessions of a Bone Woman: Realizing Authentic Wildness in a Civilized World by Lucinda Bakken White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Intuitive and spiritually engaging, Confessions of a Bone Woman is one woman’s authentic story of realizing her life’s higher purpose in becoming a spiritual elder. This is a memoir like no other, leading the reader along a subjective path of wonder, opening their mind to where primal instinct and vivid dreams connect to the animal kingdom, symbolism, reincarnation, and all things metaphysical, helping the reader embrace the true spirit of healing and self-discovery. As a young girl, Lucinda Bakken White’s soul is broken when her mother remarries, changing life dramatically. Forced to leave behind her carefree spirit and nurturing connections of family and place that once provided the rich profound early connection she once had with nature, the author finds life further disrupted when her step-father enforces unfamiliar influences that see her plummet into a disconnected world of false values, where personal appearances and possessions unwillingly replace free-spirit. 

It’s not until Bakken White realizes that living “the dream” of material success and popularity didn’t provide her with the personal value she had hungered for, confessing, “I know Wolf appeared in my dream as a symbol of my authentic wildness. Her haunting lonely howl was calling me back to my original self,” reigniting her call to the wild. And for the first time, she discovers the divine connection between animal and human when she unearths an ancient buffalo bone. This bone becomes a talisman she keeps close to her in order to stay attuned to harmony, describing bones to be symbolic where, “In my research, I read that, symbolically speaking, flesh is temporary and represents life on Earth. Bones, on the other hand, are regarded as eternal like the soul and never die.” 

Bakken White creatively weaves her readers through each chapter using sharp imagery that explores the alignment and unity between human, animal, and universe, making this memoir incredibly captivating. It’s hard not to be absorbed reading passages such as, “In many native cultures, Owl is considered a bridge between worlds: flying through the ethers communing with Spirit and walking on the earth plane with two legs like a mortal.” 

What I loved most was the teaching by way of comparison of the distinct patterns and parallel behaviors humans have in common with carnivores. “Wolves thrive in cooperative family lifestyle, reminiscent of ancient indigenous tribes.” It’s a lesson in reconnecting with what is important and meaningful and not taking for granted the abundance of beauty and significance nature grants. This is a beautiful spiritual homecoming, taking us back to our roots, teaching the truths and importance of how closely aligned humans and nature are and how easily our lives get caught up in the superficial materialism of the money-driven, egotistical world that encompasses us if we allow it. 

Over-Sixty: Shades of Gray: A Journey Through Life's Later Years by Barbara Paskoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here is a contemporary, uplifting look into the years of living sixty and beyond. Delivered with much-needed humor to lighten the load, the reader is successfully transported through the realities of getting older and how to best approach, and cope with, these changes when they arise.
This comprehensive overview will open your mind to matters you may not have already encountered or thought of and where health is placed at the forefront, providing a snapshot into some of life’s more serious challenges we might unluckily be faced with at some time or another. But don’t feel completely disheartened, for it’s not all doom and gloom as you might expect. Yes, health plays a major role in ageing, we all know that, but what about the positive up-side to getting older? And, yes, there seems there is an up-side. Retirement frees oneself up. So what about all that spare time on your hands; what will you do with that now? And how about the finances? Are they all in check? These are the type of questions that will get you thinking and where basic know-how is offered to provide some invaluable forethought. And then there’s the fun part of pre-planning one’s funeral that you might not have already thought about, where author Barbara Paskoff has it all worked out: “I’m making a guest list. If your name isn’t on it, it means I wouldn’t be caught dead with you.”
While each topic lends itself almost as a personal essay through the author’s own experiences, the messages conveyed remain effective, providing enough of an overview for the reader to make their own informed decisions and draw on their own conclusions, supported with both summaries and professional resources neatly tying up each chapter end.
I read through this book with the greatest of interest, particularly because I’m not yet sixty and, with saying that, I believe this book is not just precise for readers of that age group, nor is it gender specific; however, I did find that the book tends to lean a little more towards female interest than male. In fact, readers in their fifties (like myself) would find this book with true appreciation, providing a much-needed and important early insight, where time is the essence and pre-knowledge could hold the key before things sneak-up announced, which might, in fact, give a greater opportunity to overcome or avoid some obstacles otherwise left too late.
This a straight-forward, positive, go-to-guide that offers pre-planning and foresight on entering and living through our later years of life that will become a great resource for reference.


Bigger Than This: How to Turn Any Venture Into An Admired Brand by Fabian Geyrhalter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This isn’t just another guide book for new innovators trying to find the right niche for their product or service, instead innovators new and old will find valuable advice on realising why their brand is important and why connecting with consumers on a deeper level will be a game changer.
Every idea starts somewhere right? Well here you’ll discover why the heart and soul behind a business venture that’s not just driven by the dollar, but instead has a genuine cause will shine above any competitor, and why well-known brands and positioning within the market is not enough alone for maintaining success in today’s world of business.
Fabian Geyrhalter knows what makes one brand stand out above another being a renowned brand strategist for Finien Consultancy based in L.A, turning ventures into brands. Through real business case studies, he shows how success can be achieved by identifying, understanding and following eight traits and their commandments that will have your company’s brands singing success while being driven by the loyalty of its consumers.
This is a realistic, easy and logical companion for any business venture willing to realise and share the story behind their products. A must read for any entrepreneur.

Madeleine: Our Daughter's Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her by Kate McCann

A raw first-hand account given by the mother of the widely publicised disappearance of her four-year-old daughter Madeleine while holidaying with family and friends.

Following Madeleine's disappearance from the Ocean Club resort in the village of Praia da luz Portugal on 3 May 2007, Kate McCann takes on critics to deliver her personal account of what happened on the days leading up to, and the four years that follow with their on-going quest to find her daughter through their tireless efforts and help from benefactors that include J.K Rowling and companies like British Airways and Vodophone in helping launch The Madeleine Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned, and the Find Madeleine website.

While questions are raised over Madeleine's disappearance such as, was she abducted? Was it a burglary gone wrong? Did Madeleine wander off, or more sinister did her own parents play a role in her disappearance or worse her murder? These confronting issues soon expose a series of incompetent inaccuracies made by authorities throughout the entire investigation raising problems from judicial secrecy laws, translation, unnecessary delays, propaganda, suspects and false sightings which all hinder the search for one small innocent child.

To add to the McCann's growing frustration in finding their daughter, their translator Robert Murat becomes a key suspect in the investigation only to be cleared later with no circumstantial evidence, and instead the McCann's are put under the spotlight where they face not only the guilt of leaving their child alone that night, but mounting speculation from media and police focusing in on them as suspects themselves, changing the dynamics of the investigation from not just looking for a missing child; but looking for a conviction.

The age-old question of 'What if" is endlessly raised throughout Kate's recollections of events, times she draws on where she may have otherwise met with caution but instead overlooked and admits ,"This decision, one that we all made, has naturally been questioned time and again, not least by us. It goes without saying that we now bitterly regret it, and will do so until the end of our days."
This is truly a book you wish you didn't have to read but none-the-less must. As your heart goes out to the family in search of their precious daughter, hope for Madeleine's return remains paramount, a true sense of humanity is found among these pages along with the unfortunate set of appalling circumstances that will leave you wanting to scream with despair.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Wow! I now realise what everyone has been talking about. 'Wild' is a memoir I feel most of us can relate to at least one time within our lives, where perhaps we've lost our way whether briefly and need to find some kind of inner resolve to pull us from the depths of despair.

This openly honest account takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride revealing the author's deepest and inner-most personal experiences and thoughts that will leave you humbled by the raw truth of it all.

When Cheryl Strayed felt she'd lost everything following her mother's death, a family breakdown and her failed marriage, she stumbles by chance upon a book titled The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 1, California. At first she puts the book back only to return and purchase that very same book that would shape her life forever.

What did she have to lose? After all she was alone, separated and the idea of trekking this jagged line upon a map called the Pacific Crest Trail left her with a feeling of both promise and mystery.

Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail takes a special kind of courage, especially when you're a woman and doing it alone and without any prior hiking experience. It would take eleven-hundred miles to complete, crossing ever changing terrains, sleeping out among the wilderness, crossing deserts and forests, coming face-to-face with Brown Bears and Rattle Snakes, forming bonds with fellow hikers while living in solitude and confronting demons that appear inescapable.

It's a test of will where it breaks your soul before healing it. It's about bravery and determination, about never giving in and never turning back and that's how this memoir moves, with the author trekking from the town of Mojave on the Mexican border to just beyond the Canadian border at Cascade Locks with her only companion Monster, a backpack which is larger and heavier than any hiker would like to believe.

Cheryl Strayed's journey along the PCT takes the reader on more than just a trek through the wilderness, it reveals heartbreak and regret, it confronts some of life's biggest uncertainties and challenges, it allows the reader to view things from their own perspective, to engage, to associate, to heal, to sympathise and empathise, to laugh and to cry.

I highly recommend this read to anyone and everyone in any position in life, for we all can learn a thing or two from this experience.

Under the Birch Tree: A Memoir of Discovering Connections and Finding Home by Nancy Chadwick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Nancy Chadwick forms an unlikely bond with the family’s Birch tree she calls her birch buddy, and where it, as she recalls, “became a metaphor for living, a guiding symbol for finding home.”
In her debut memoir, Nancy uncovers a family disconnected through lack of communication, solidarity and harmony. It’s a story of true resilience in overcoming the effect her parent’s divorce has on the family unit. Thrown into a battle of self-discovery both personally and professionally, she must learn that to move on in pursuit of her own happiness, new beginnings and in search of new connections in finding home, she must first let go of the obstacles blocking her way.
This is a book that shows how faith can help conquer life’s hardships, forging a way through life‘s challenges and where reflection and discovery provides inner-strength and belief in one’s own abilities to succeed and to never surrender.
I was completely absorbed whilst reading Under the Birch Tree, showing how important connections are in establishing a solid grounding in life. This is a must read for anyone who has ever questioned their place in life.

Boy Overboard by Frederic P.  Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book really gives the reader a whole new perspective on "boat people", showing the reality why these people risk their lives and seek asylum by becoming refugees. I loved this book.














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