A profoundly personal and illuminating chronicle on a growing public health problem.
A heartfelt memoir about the repercussions of Lyme disease in one woman’s life.
Wood-Giles’ debut begins with surprising facts about Lyme disease, including the fact that it can adversely affect one’s immune system within just two weeks of infection. The Canadian author, a married mother of two, then goes on to detail her harrowing ordeal, which began while she was training for a physically demanding hike along Ontario’s Rideau Trail. She’d previously experienced leg-ligament injuries while playing hockey, so she was glad to return to intensive exercise. She also felt that the multiday hike would act as a salve for her grief over her father’s death. Due to her previous tenure as a park manager, she knew to get tested for Lyme infection when she discovered several ticks on her back, but she put it off until after the hike was over. Over the ensuing months, Wood-Giles was plagued by lethargy, labored breathing, and endless cycles of colds and viral infections. She also experienced chest pains and rapidly deteriorating cognitive function, which disturbed her supportive husband. She found some hope in listening to religious podcasts, but her feelings of powerlessness and dread grew as her mysterious ailments compounded. Wood-Giles passionately and vividly narrates this often distressing tale, and readers will express concern and apprehension as she navigates a maze of clinical diagnoses, trial-and-error treatment options, and other setbacks before her eventual recovery. She tells of how she became inspired to help others by disseminating lesser-known information about the contraction, incubation, clinical assessment, and treatment of Lyme disease. The author also effectively imparts her knowledge of how sugar, gluten, and stress can be detrimental to the health of Lyme patients. Several pages of resource materials, including a section of lyrically written self-care advice (including puppy therapy!), further fortify this significant, engrossing story.
A profoundly personal and illuminating chronicle on a growing public health problem.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-982211-32-5
Page Count: 242
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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