FEAST OR FAMINE

Caught in a Cat Romance  by Airie McCready (2025) is a picture-poetry anthology of cats, specifically the Sphynx and Devon Rex cats – the hairless cats. The photos are stunning and a beautiful accompaniment to the poems.    The 24 cat poems are a delight to read. Examples include “If their souls had a song” –  “Sealed in a Purr” – “A Clock & A Cat – and ”One True North.” Evident in the poems is the ability of the cats to heal a person.  Reading the poem “Cat Medicine” sums up the physical and mental healing of being with a cat: “When I touch your back, my pains slips away. Maybe for a minute, an hour, a day.”   These poems are both personal, reflecting inward, and external, in praise of all the poet’s cats, naked and furred. It’s a wonderful escape to read this anthology. 

  Paws for a Moment  by Zohar Kohavi (2025) is a memoir-type book about the author’s life with his cat, Cato, for 21 years across three continents. The author reflects on daily life, illness, aging, and grief. This pet story is a meditation on love, loss, companionship, and the blurred boundaries between human and animal interactions.    The book is structured as a series of titled prose-poems or micro-essays. Each section can be read on its own but are also interconnected with other sections, copying the way grief and memory circles, doubles back, and resists closure in one’s mind.   I like the way the author doesn’t romanticize the challenges of caring for an aging animal. Instead, he captures the frustration and tenderness. As the author states, “Writing brings him back to life. Revives our relationship. Strums the delicate strings of understanding between us.”    Although this book is intensely personal, it has universal appeal and resonance. The n...

  Phoenix Rising - Against the Odds: Chronicles of Resilience (Book 3): Rebuilding Lives Amid A Nation In Turmoil   by Jordan B Smith (2024) focuses on fictional individuals and communities who are putting their lives back together after a national upheaval. Set in a politically and socially fractured country, the narrative follows multiple perspectives: grassroots activists, displaced families, and reluctant leaders. Themes include loss, adaptation, and the question of what a rebuilt future should look like.   The novel begins in a school where a faction of the community is lobbying for teachers to use artificial intelligence as an aid to their teaching instruction - pointing out that students learn in different ways and AI would add to the varied methods of teaching. Teacher Benjamin Diamonds has developed an innovative AI program aimed to revolutionise the way students learn. Tensions and opposition from teachers and parents who prefer "human-centred education" are aut...

Hasmik Mkhitaryan’s  Café for Two: Decoding Masculinity – What Men Live By ( 2024) is set in Manhattan and is a conversation over coffee between two elderly male friends on Wall Street.   They discuss work burnout, loss of love, the weariness of divorce, and loneliness. A chapter is dedicated to each emotional phase. As they talk, they make intellectual references to classical literary novels and society’s changing norms, particularly what masculinity means in the modern age.   I like the strong introduction to the novel, setting a powerful atmosphere of the bond between the two men. I like the dialogue between them. Sometimes, it feels scripted and repetitive, but overall, the tone is conversational storytelling in a gentle, philosophical way – sometimes sad, but always open and honest.    To each other, they have nothing to hide. Their emotional pain is raw and real. The narrator’s friend talks of keeping up appearances and expectations in the professional wor...

    The Writer’s Compass: 50 tips to help navigate your storytelling journey (2025) is written in 10 parts, including: writer’s mindset, writing process, motivation, techniques, balance, advanced skills, style, reader engagement, editing, writer’s block, writing pitfalls, and moving the story forward.   I particularly liked the overwriting section (i.e. removing excess writing) with examples, including “how to fix it.” Keeping the story intriguing and converting the passive voice into the active voice are also good sections. The author also provides helpful apps for organizing manuscripts and editing.     This book is well presented, with clear, insightful, and useful advice and tips, covering everything from the importance of taking breaks, freewriting, and overwriting.  As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. MARTINA NICOLLS MARTINA NICOLLS   is an Australian author and international human rights-based consultant in foreign ai...

From Soil to Soul: African Vegan Recipes  by Stephane Kotto and the Pan-African Plant-Based Alliance (2024) is unique and more than a recipe book.    The book’s biggest strength is its deep and diverse dive into African plant-based cuisine covering dishes from the five regions of the African continent: South, East, Central, West, and North. It does more than provide recipes as it weaves in history, Pan-Africanism, Ubuntu philosophy, and Maat principles linking plant-based eating to cultural identity and ethical values.   It is educational with information on health, history, and environmental sustainability. It takes a strong stance against neocolonial food systems, promoting self-sustainability. The incorporation of indigenous knowledge pushes back on the myth that veganism is a Western concept.   Another strength is that it reinvents classic dishes using plant-based alternatives instead of simply removing animal products – such as plant-based mince in South Af...

The TRIPLE TREAT BOOK CHAT was created by Georgian poet,  Tamar Zhghenti ,  and  I present , in 20-30 minutes,   a  review  of three  contemporary books under one theme. For our  4 th   Podcast, the theme is  Icons and Idols.      The TRIPLE TREAT BOOK CHAT Podcast include s  a literary review of each of the  three poetry collection s, an author bio, a short excerpt  from each book and a classic novel for review .   The  Podcast follow s  a theme with a triple format: 3 contemporary books, 3 bios, 3 reviews, 3 excerpts, 3 questions, 3 answers, and 1 classic literary book. Voila!   Episode 4: Icons and Idols In this 29-minute Podcast, we’ve chosen the following three books:    Taylor Jenkins Reid:    The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Louise O’Neill:              Idol Carol Lynch Williams:...

  The Beatles Guide to Love & Sex:  How the Fab Four Inspired a Cultural Revolution, 2 nd edition by Scott Robinson (2024) explores the songs of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney. Although Paul and John composed most songs, all four band members wrote love songs. The author, who has written six books on  The Beatles , states that more than half of the band’s 213 songs are love and romance songs.    The book is sectioned by years with sub-sections that explores the songs and romances during that period. The five sections are: 1957-1961: I Saw Her Standing There; 1962: With Love, From Me to You; 1966: And When I Woke, I Was Alone; 1969: All I Have to Do is Think of Her; and 1970: Christ, You Know It Ain’t Easy.   The interesting and compelling part of the books is that readers catch a glimpse of four lads from Liverpool growing up – from teenagers to teen idols – as they progress from first loves to first marriages to divorces ...