Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Natural healing

  • LIVE LIFE WITH EASE by Dr. Harish Malhotra, a practical self-help guide on self-healing

    LIVE LIFE WITH EASE by Dr. Harish Malhotra, a practical self-help guide on self-healing

    Readers of Dr. Harish Malhotra’s two previous books (Metaphors of Healing: Playful Language in Psychotherapy and Everyday Life and Pathways to Hope: Innovative Insights for Therapists and Patients) are in for a treat as his third title continues us on the healing path paved with entertaining metaphors. New readers too will enjoy holding Dr. Malhotra’s hand through life’s ups and downs as he takes us on a journey with 55 stories in Live Life with Ease: Everyday Paths to Self-Worth, each tale replete with his amusing touch.

    In chapters like, “Settle Into Your Ideal Lifestyle,” “Pain, Pain, Go Away,” “Overthrowing Fear,” and “The Weight of Eating,” Dr. Malhotra tackles universal themes in a lighthearted, yet practical way. By weaving these humorous metaphors, he blesses us with the way he sees life as we confront fear, worry, addiction, lack of self-worth, sleeplessness, and unhealthy eating.

    Take for example, the chapter “Infatuation,” where Dr. Malhotra advises us to employ the “Sleep on it/24-hour rule.” He compares decision-making to buying a new house – one that seems to boast a gorgeous skyline but is located on a dangerous street. “Let your excitement simmer down before making decisions. Reason may replace infatuation,” he counsels.

    In one of the more playful stories, Dr. Malhotra poses to the reader: “Are you like a fart or a flower?” Despite the silliness, he raises a sincere dilemma: why would we surround ourselves with people who are “toxic” and “seething with resentment,”  rather than those who are “fragrant” with a “pleasant demeanor and gracious words.” Point well taken, Dr. Malhotra, with a nod to our olfactory.

    We have to assume that Dr. Malhotra, a board certified psychiatrist in private practice in Summit, NJ, pulls from his more than 40 years in a white lab coat as many of the sketches include (imaginary?) dialogue between doctor and patient. “Don’t fight the smoke with a sword of worry,” he says to a patient who is anxious about the future.

    Throughout the book’s 304 pages (or 364 pages via e-reader), we feel like he is our own personal guru and we are a better person for it.

    In one of my favorites, “Dating, Inc.” he likens relationships to “Hair Softener or Chewing Gum.” Holding on too tight is like getting chewing gum balled up in your partner’s hair,” he says. “Some hair has to be cut off to get rid of the gum… Some problems in relationships stem from too much contact.”

    Perhaps the book, which makes a delightful gift for a college graduate or a loved one needing inspiration, can best be enjoyed as a bedside reader, referring nightly to the index to locate specific passages in times of stress: “Reframing Problems,” “Risk Taking,” “Welcoming Attitude,” and “Unlearning Habits.”

    For further inspiration, you can see Dr. Malhotra on his YouTube channel, “Helpful Hints for Hangups,” where he acts out the rousing metaphors with members of his family.

  • WAIT FOR ME by Janet K. Shawgo – WWII Historical Romance

    WAIT FOR ME by Janet K. Shawgo – WWII Historical Romance

    Second in the three-book Look for Me series, Wait for Me has the strength to capture readers as a stand-alone story with its new characters and historical setting. References to characters in Look for Me, the first book set during the Civil War, give sufficient back-story for the generational story of the White, Bowen, and Keens families.

    After the prologue shows Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, establishing the World War II setting, the story begins on September 23, 1940 in New York.

    “Jean Anne White-Shaw was reading the newspaper, listening to Glenn Miller on the radio and waiting for her son to come downstairs.” Songs from the Glenn Miller era become a powerful sensory cue for many scenes, some may say too many, while others may enjoy the trip down memory lane.

    However, the author excellently executes with the dialogue, bringing readers into the events and the characters’ emotions. The dialogue, coupled with excellent characterization, carries the story. It is strong, realistic, and shares considerable insight into the families. Readers connect to the people, and quickly find themselves engulfed in their story.

    Larry White is a reporter, a great nephew of Samuel White, a reporter during the Civil War; Susan Bowen is a nurse, a great niece of Sarah Bowen, a nurse during the Civil War; and Dealer Johns connects to the Keens family, going back to Mack, Sarah’s friend in the Civil War.

    “These were Samuel’s last handwritten notes from Gettysburg. Phillip…carefully removed his mother’s Bible and placed it in front of him. In the Bible was an envelope that contained two items he needed to give to Lawrence. … the necklace and note that were in Samuel’s possession when his body was brought back from Gettysburg.”

    Readers, watching the characters’ paths intersect, will eventually learn the connections to the characters in the first book whose similar paths these characters now follow. The plots and sub plots at times get a bit confusing, but as readers continue, they will make the connections, finding a finished story that is both cohesive and very good.

    The often-unknown role of women in wartime as travel nurses and pilots, as well as the use of herbs for natural healing, adds interesting and relative historical content to the story. The WASP pilots and their active role in the war effort was particularly fascinating reflecting Shawgo’s vigilance with her medical and military history research. Readers may find it interesting that Shawgo, along with being an award winning novelist, is also a travel nurse who goes where and when she is needed for national disasters.

    The satisfying ending holds just enough mystique to give a taste of what will come in the concluding book of the series, Find me Again, as well as stirring curiosity to go back to the first book, Look For Me, for the complete story in this engaging historical romance American saga that spans generations.