Category: Novel

Book Santa Fe Blog
For The Love of Books

“Ghost with Two Hearts” Book Review by Carmen J. Otto
The book “Ghost with Two Hearts,” is an absolutely amazing read! The way Michael French wrote this book makes it so easy to pick although very difficult to put down. “Ghost with Two Hearts” has an amazing storyline, and made me feel as if I were a part of Adrian’s trip to Japan. After reading this book I am rethinking the clear definition between right and wrong. You should do the right thing even if it might not benefit you although I think sometimes our human nature convinces us that if it doesn’t benefit us, it can’t be the right thing. I often found myself taking pause to contemplate my own life while I was experiencing Adrian’s adventure.

I would give this book 5/5 stars because of how interesting the book was and how the plot twists kept me guessing. After reading “Ghost with Two Hearts,” I want to read all of the other books Michael French has written.

I would recommend this book to anyone that loves adventure and who enjoys not knowing what to expect next!

Bio for Carmen J. Otto

Hi! I’m Carmen and I’m a high school sophomore who lives in the corner of a cornfield in chilly Wisconsin. I love cows and horses and I tolerate all of my siblings (there’s six of us)…kidding, not kidding… I do however love to read and my room is filled with books of all kinds. I enjoy discovering new authors and going on adventures through books.

http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/2023/03/5-star-review-for-michael-frenchs-ghost.html

Michael R. French - Ghost With Two Hearts -- WOW Tour -- 3/23/2023

"Lemons: In an Orchard" by David John Baer McNicholas (Author)

1/29/2022

0 Comments

Available on Amazon

Dear Reader,
I describe myself as a ghost hunting wizard who lives in a bus. I’m also a student at the Institute of American Indian Arts,
where I study creative writing. It’s an emotional education. When I say that I mean that it’s unnatural to try and separate ideas from
the feelings we have about them. I know that scientific/philosophical rigor claims to do just that, but positionality informs us that
this is impossible. Moreso, that claiming it diminishes the perspectives of the people we other. Enough didactic introductions, let’s
look at the book and the process of writing it.
Writing Lemons: In an Orchard was a deconstruction of my experience as a white man. It was a meditation on a person I
hated, his entire family seemed a train wreck I had to pour-over every scattered piece of bloody shrapnel. I had to feel his pain and
confusion, and get to the root of it. At its most personal this book is a story of an estranged father, himself a broken boy, whose
comforts of success and privilege dissolve in front of our eyes. How he is transformed by the things he thought he’d put to bed
informs the emotional story of the book. At the beginning of the book, the narrator is described as a pile of human remains torn to
pieces by wild animals. By the end of the book, one has to wonder if he isn’t more alive than that.
I wrote the novel in Santa Fe, NM, as my first fall here became my first winter. I was living in this Thor El Dorado shuttle
bus built on an E-350 cutaway. I woke up every day and wrote. These were the days of the dwindling public assistance money from
New Hampshire. Work was something in transition. I was writing, but not for an income. I was writing more for the outcome. Dr
Bronner washed me in the Santa Fe river everyday from July to December. That river, or an analog of it, made it into the novel. My
body was a mess when I got here. Years of chronic pain and parasomniac episodes, combined with mid-life collapse, unpacking
themselves. I walked everywhere with a gnarled, vine-twisted walking stick. Slowly. As one pedestrian in Arizona remarked to the
back of my head, “in the middle of the damn sidewalk.”
The inspiration for the novel came from a short drive I took out to San Diego and back. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do
with myself. I came out to Santa Fe to study at St. John’s College, but quickly disabused myself of that notion. I was thinking, ‘do I
go back or do I stay?’ I decided to visit the Pacific Ocean. On the way back to Santa Fe, I drove through massive citrus fields in
California. There were just lemons as far as I could see for miles. I thought, there’s a novel in there.
I ruminated on it for a month until I found my narrator. He’s a sick man, a jerk, although he doesn’t think so. He
monopolizes the text with his travails, lost on the lemon farm, peppering his narration with pseudo-intellectual right-wing bigotry
and personal recollections, the meanings of which he seems almost verging on apprehending. And then there are the dreams. The
fever dreams of a man left to exposure, infection, and starvation.
Of course, he meets some other characters, denizens of the lemon grove who guide him on his path to be re-united with his
soul, which has been searching for him for a long time, as he is an old man. In dreams, we often encounter children. Jung tells us that
these children are manifestations of our inner child. Each time I encountered a child in my own dreams, I felt drawn in by
innocence, only to be murdered in some mythical way. I have been given the death touch by a six year old vampire. I’ve been
stabbed in the neck by a toddler driving a tank. This mysterious child figure plays as gentle antagonist to the narrator.
The reality of the story is a warped construction anchored in the concrete voice of the narrator. From the beginning, you
learn not to trust him. As his story becomes more fantastic, his disbelief reads as a credible account. I wanted his truth to be complex,
told in lies and irony. The magical elements of the story, when discredited by the narrator, feel like the most concrete part of the
story. The physical rigors of the lemon orchard itself, an alien terrain. A dream of nudity.
I hope readers pick up on the humor of the story. It was fun to write and I definitely laughed at some of my own bullshit. I
let the world around me be a part of it. The story would have been incomplete without the conversations I had with friends while I
was writing it. I was parked at the Patrick Smith Park on East Alameda when a drum circle showed up and started making rhythms.
I wrote them into the story and then got out of the bus and danced while they drummed, around my cane, like a magic staff. Music is
healing. Stories are healing. The river is healing.
I could not have written this book without Santa Fe. Even though New Mexico is not mentioned once in the text, the
theme of healing which permeates the subtext is one that I found here. I would love to hear from readers of my novel. You can find a
contact page on my website: ghostofamerica.NET Until then, I’ll be in the bus.
Thanks for reading,

0 Comments

Review of Ronald Chapman's "My Name is Wonder"

10/12/2016

1 Comment

by Tange Dudt

My Name Is Wonder

My Name Is Wonder Synopsis
My Name is Wonder is a tale of adventure that will have you thinking from the first page until well after you’ve closed the book. This beautifully written novel chronicles the transcendent adventures of a little goat with big dreams. Join Wonder and his wisecracking guide, the mysterious crow Mac Craack, on a journey through the scenic landscapes of the American Southwest and into the heart of a mindful presence. Along the way, you’ll meet an unforgettable cast of creatures, each with an important lesson to teach.

Ronald Chapman

About The Author
Ronald Chapman is owner of an international speaking and consulting company, Magnetic North LLC. In addition to international accreditation as a speaker and national awards for radio commentary, he is the author of two novels, My Name is Wonder (Terra Nova Publishing, 2016) and A Killer's Grace (Terra Nova Publishing, 2016 and 2012), two works of non-fiction, Seeing True: Ninety Contemplations in Ninety Days (Ozark Mountain Publishing, 2008) and What a Wonderful World: Seeing Through New Eyes (Page Free Publishing, 2004) and the producer of three audio sets, Seeing True: The Way of Spirit (Ozark Mountain Publishing, 2016, 2005), Breathing, Releasing and Breaking Through: Practices for Seeing True (Ozark Mountain Publishing, 2015), and Seeing True – The Way of Success in Leadership (Magnetic North Audio, 2005). Ron provides a wide array of social media content at www.SeeingTrue.com, content for people in substance abuse recovery at www.ProgressiveRecovery.org, and other content from his master site, www.RonaldChapman.com. He holds a Masters in Social Welfare from The University at Albany (New York.) Prior to his relocation to Atlanta, Georgia in 2008, he was a long-time resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Ronald can also be found online at:

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1338592.Ronald_Chapman

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/seeingtrue/

My Name is Wonder Review

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It is an anthropomorphic book which follows a goat named Wonder as he travels through life trying to figure out where his place is in the world. As a young goat, Wonder knew he never truly belonged at the farm and was different from the other animals. He wanted to explore and know more of what the world has to offer. His father finds him a teacher, Oren, to make him strong spiritually to help prepare him for his upcoming adventures. When Wonder finally leaves the farm, a trusty side-kick, a crow named M.C., acts as a guide in order to help him along this journey. All along the way, Wonder meets interesting characters and faces new challenges.

I took away many messages from this book such as to keep your head up and eyes on the ‘Light’ when others try to keep you down or when facing sorrow; it is okay to be different and follow the path laid out for you; and do not live your life as others would have you live it. These are wonderful messages for children and adults alike. I know I would have benefited from this as a child, but reading it as an adult it doesn’t hurt to be reminded from time to time how it is important to live in the moment and show kindness to everyone around you. This would be a great book for parents to read together with their kids to discuss the messages in the book. The children will love the characters and adventures Wonder encounters, but the adults will love the spirituality in this book. I know I will reread this one again and probably learn something new that I didn't catch the first time around. It will be fun to accompany Wonder along the way once more.

About Tang Dudt

Tangalene Dudt served in the Army for eight years and now works as a contractor for the US government.

She lives in beautiful Arizona with her wonderful husband and loves to read, garden, hike, and run ultra-marathons.

Each year Tange resolves to read 100 books. She knows she will make her goal as she's already read 96 in 2016!

1 Comment

Book Santa Fe Blog
For The Love of Books

"Lemons: In an Orchard" by David John Baer McNicholas (Author)

Review of Ronald Chapman's "My Name is Wonder"

Book Santa Fe

Archives

Categories

​Book Santa Fe Blog​For The Love of Books​

"Lemons: In an Orchard" by David John Baer McNicholas (Author)

Review of Ronald Chapman's "My Name is Wonder"

Book Santa Fe

Archives

Categories

Book Santa Fe Blog
For The Love of Books