Happy 2019, readers! We may be war torn, scarred, battered, and bruised, but we somehow made it through 2018 mostly intact. It was a rough year, y’all. I don’t know about you, but my 2018 was filled with only highs and lows. It didn’t feel like I had that many average days. As I type …
Author Archives: ThePluckyReader
Learning to Forgive Yourself
When you look back at the road map of your life, does it look like you expected it to? Did you expect the twists and turns? Did you expect the detours you were forced to take? Do you regret them? I don’t regret the path my life has taken, not by any means. I don’t …
Review – Becoming Starlight by Sharon Prentice, PhD
A few months ago, I was contacted and asked to review a book about a Shared Death Experience (SDE). Honestly, I was a little leery. I had to do some research on the author and on the concept of SDE before I would commit to a book about it. But I do enjoy learning and …
Giving Hands
This weekend, I went with some of my students to ring the bells for the Salvation Army. I love taking time to give back to my community, and I love it even more when I can share that experience with my students. I am aware that my life is a life of privilege and any …
The Restorative Properties of Hallmark Movies
Today, I curled up in bed, exhausted from Thanksgiving and Black Friday and ready to dive into a good book. My 50-pound mutt climbed up in the bed with me and snuggled up (don’t tell my wife. We don’t allow dogs in the bed.) I didn’t like the silence, so I turned on the Hallmark Channel …
Review – The Golden Sequence by Jonni Pollard
I recently had the opportunity to read The Golden Sequence by Jonni Pollard. This book came as a surprise to me, just bundled in with another book I had been asked to review. Let me tell you, surprise books are the best kind of surprise. The Golden Sequence is much along the same vein as …
The Zone – How I Conquer NaNoWriMo
This year I am participating in NaNoWriMo. For the uninitiated among you, NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writers Month, is an annual challenge writers take to try to write an entire novel in the month of November. Since its inception, NaNoWriMo has changed slightly. Many writers, myself included, are using the month to focus hard …
Review – Brother John by August Turak
Recipient of the prestigious Templeton Prize, Brother John is the true story of a meaningful encounter between the author going through a mid-life crisis, and an umbrella-wielding Trappist monk. This magical encounter on Christmas Eve eventually leads the author, and us all, to the redemptive power of an authentically purposeful life. Uplifting, deeply moving, and set …
Review – The Burn Zone: a Memoir by Renee Linnell
If you’re anything like me, you find the psychology of cults very interesting. I cannot tell you the amount of hours I have devoted to reading about Heaven’s Gate, Scientology, Children of God, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Growing up, I had friends who were in a cult and I think that probably sparked the fascination …
We Are All New York
I’m sitting here in an apartment overlooking Midtown and listening to the sounds of New York City. I’m at a white desk, typing on my laptop and I wonder: is this what Carrie Bradshaw felt like? Did she sit, narrate in her head, and write with awe and wonder at the city around her? Or …
